A/N: This chapter went through a number of different versions before I settled on this format. I appreciate your patience as I worked out the kinks! I know that the flow in this chapter can be a touch confusing, but the idea is you get some sort of the same level of confusion as the character herself. I also know that it's not terribly exciting, but it will pick up in the next chapter, I promise.

Annnnddddd I should probably apologize for not posting in like… a week.

I poured my laundry into the washer, indiscriminate of color or care instructions, and added an adequate amount of soap before slamming the lid down. Hiei's inconsiderate actions had left me a little steamed around the edges, and I was taking it out on the poor washing machine.

Grumbling something foul under my breath, I turned the little dial, and pretended for a moment that it was a miniature voodoo of Hiei's neck. I didn't hear any gurgling screams from the underbrush, so I guess it didn't work.

I made sure the machine was running before I went to the kitchen – I can't tell you how many times I have hit "power" instead of "start" on a washing machine. It's embarrassing, really.

I almost ran over Genkai, who was on her way out of the kitchen with her tea. I could only imagine what horrible thing she might have done to me if I had stubbed her toe or something.

"Uh, hi, Master Genkai."

"Dead girl." She greeted me with her customary grunt. I tried to keep my face from twitching. How hard is it to say 'Aria'?

"I'm just curious – where is everyone? I haven't seen Kuwabara or Yusuke – not to mention Kurama – in a while." I had seen neither hide nor hair of them any of the days Genkai had been training/beating me.

Genkai slid the shoji to the common room open with her foot, and without bothing to turn and face me I could tell she had a sour look on her face. "They were here when we thought that you were dangerous. Now that we know you're completely useless they don't need to check on you." And with a swish of the shoji she was gone.

Surly old woman.

I poured my laundry into the washer, indiscriminate of color or care instructions, and added an adequate amount of soap before closing the lid. I shook my head a little, trying to rid myself of the feeling of déjà vu. This is the apartment laundry, I reminded myself, not Genkai's.

Although, spookily enough, it seemed like somehow both my apartment complex and Genkai had managed to purchase the same brand and style of washing machine. What are the odds of that?

I turned the dial, and almost hit the "power" button instead of "start". I shook my head a little, trying to wake up a little more, and hit the right button.

I generally liked doing laundry in the early mornings – no one else from the complex was in the common area, and I could occupy the one lonely chair next to the door and read in peace. Ordinarily I would have taken a cat nap, but I didn't want a repeat of the last time I napped – the middle of the night at Genkai's temple is a little creepy.

I settled into the chair and opened my book – Lucifer's Hammer – and began on a familiar page. I love that book so much; a giant asteroid slams into the earth and it nearly kills every person on earth. Such a cheerful book. Ha ha.

I like books where people have to pick up the remaining pieces of their lives and forge it into something new. I found the idea particularly attractive now, as I had too many pieces and not enough me to fit it all into.

I stopped reading for a moment, shifting in my chair uncomfortably. I fought to ignore the sensation that someone was watching me; Hiei wasn't here, and 99.9% of the time I thought I was being watched it was his fault. And besides that – the laundry room here was in a basement with no windows, and I was sitting next to the door.

But I just couldn't shake the feeling.

I shifted in my chair two more times before I gave up on reading entirely. I left my laundry churning happily in the machine, hoping that it wouldn't be stolen before I remembered to go back, and retreated to the comfort of my apartment.

I sat on my sofa, wrapping myself in my favorite blanket, and tried to ignore the world. I couldn't work, I didn't want to talk to anyone, and John was at work. I wanted to be one with the sofa. Maybe I was behaving like a five-year-old, but I really didn't care.

I went back a little later to move my nearly-forgotten laundry to the dryer, and almost tore the laundry room apart trying to find the damn stuff. Some good Samaritan had moved my things to a dryer already, but had failed to mark it in any way. As I pulled the laundry from the dryer I wondered absently who else in the building did their laundry so early in the morning.

I had almost forgotten about my laundry entirely. I pulled my laundry out of the dryer and heaped it on top of the machine, folding each item carefully, and pairing my socks to make sure the machine hadn't eaten any. I kind of preferred the little laundry room in Genkai's temple to the laundry dungeon in America.

If I get a chance, I need a laundry basket, I thought to myself. Of all the things to miss…

I had a nice, neat pile, and shuffled doors open expertly with my foot as I carried it to my room. The stack wasn't high enough to obscure my vision, but I paused before walking through doors, just in case the tiny, surly old woman happened to be going by. Luckily, she did not appear. Apparently laundry day does not merit insults.

Is that you? I thought, trying to direct my thoughts.

Hiei appeared in my doorway without replying. I smiled in greeting, then remembered that I had been mad at him the previous day.

"What are you smiling at?" Hiei picked up on the curious action.

I laughed just a little, and shook my head. "It sounds strange to say, but I'm just happy you answered me." He gave me quite the peculiar look, which only made me smile more. "You know, I bet you're the only person in the world who knows where I am all the time." I shrugged. "It seems that way, at least."

"I could care less what you do or where you are." There was Hiei with his condescending tone again. But I was getting used to it, and refused to let his tone bother me.

"Perhaps, but you still know. I think you even care, if just a little bit." I was stretching with that last bit, hoping to get just a little comfort from the stoic and surly fire demon.

"Nonsense." He muttered, and vanished.

I was a little surprised. Of all the strange and sideways comments Hiei had made about my worth or lack of intelligence, that was probably his weakest comeback. It gave me hope.

I was pleasantly surprised that evening when the temple came alive with activity. I could hear Yusuke and Kuwabara fighting long before I could see them, so it was no great surprise when they came into view at the top of the temple steps. I was surprised, however, to see that Kurama was also accompanying them, but keeping a safe distance in case fists started flying.

Yukina and I greeted them from the temple porch. Kurama breezed past me with a quiet "Good evening, Aria.", but Yusuke and Kuwabara stopped for a proper greeting. Yusuke and I both shared a grin as Kuwabara turned into a ball of mumbling mush in front of the tiny Yukina, and a delicate blush crossed her pale cheeks. It was really quite cute.

"So Genkai beat you up, huh?" I raised an eyebrow.

"How can you tell?" Yukina had healed me at the end of every session, and I had yet to find a phone anywhere in the temple.

"Your spirit energy is still pretty low." Yusuke stretched, putting his hands behind his head. "When the old bat was done with me, my energy had grown a lot." He grinned, and clapped me on the back. "But I guess you're harmless!"

I know he was trying to be nice or comforting or whatever, but I responded with a sour "gee, thanks."

"Look on the bright side – since we don't have to worry about you, I can give Botan and Keiko the go-ahead to take you out on the town." Now that was good news.

Lost for words, I jumped down from the porch and leapt on Yusuke with the biggest and tightest hug I could manage. Generally, my superhugs make people's ribs creak, but Yusuke seemed generally immune to my muscular power. He did laugh, and patted me on the back awkwardly.

"Hey now, I didn't know women went this crazy without shopping!"

"You're a jerk, Yusuke." I muttered around my superhug.

"You're wasting everyone's time, detective." Hiei interrupted our special bonding moment. He looked especially surly. I could see Kurama and Koenma in the room behind him, already seated at the table. When did Koenma get here? I wondered to myself. And what is he doing here?

Yusuke patted he on the head, and I released him with a "thanks, Yusuke,"

"Don't mention it." He stepped up onto the porch, grabbing Kuwabara by the ear and dragging him into the common room.

"Come on, idiot." Hiei ignored Kuwabara's yelps and complaints completely, just stepping lightly to one side. He glanced at me, and I smiled, holding my arms open.

"You want a hug, too?" I asked jokingly. He made a disgusted face, and closed the shoji door roughly. I don't think he got the joke.

I have a curiosity level that would put cats to shame. After Hiei slammed the shoji door nearly in my face, I could still hear just a little bit of their conversation through the walls, and I heard the little TV hum to life.

"Okay…" I muttered, "now I'm curious." I walked around the corner, and saw that they may have closed the doors, but had left the window open. I crawled under the windowsill, and listened in to their secret meeting.

"-need to take this more seriously, Yusuke!" That was Koenma, chastising him for a comment I didn't hear.

"This is overkill! Who cares if some nobody demon is wandering around the human world?" Definitely Yusuke. "You just told us he doesn't really have any powers, so why are you worried?"

"Does he look harmless to you!?"

Now truly dying of curiosity, I slowly peeked over the windowsill, enjoying my super-sleuth moment. Koenma, Yusuke, and Kuwabara were seated at the table, and Hiei was leaning against a wall in his typical fashion. Koenma was gesturing to the TV, and the face on the screen-

My mouth dropped, and I clapped my hands over my mouth to keep from screaming.

What the hell ?

What the hell?!

I dropped from my peeking position, and lay flat on the wood. My heart felt like it was about to crawl out of my throat, and my legs had turned to Jell-o.

What the hell is going on?

They stayed in that common room for a long time afterwards, until night had settled well and comfortable around the temple. I had retreated to my room once or twice, the second time retrieving a large and warm cardigan sweater to ward off the night's chill.

I avoided the common areas as I heard everyone leaving, as indicated by the loud sounds of arguing that seem to follow Kuwabara and Yusuke wherever they go together. Long after everyone had gone, I went back outside, hoping to find some answers in the night sky. I could have just gone to sleep, but that seemed more disturbing than staying awake as long as possible.

I sat outside the temple on the porch, swinging my feet in the air. I stared up at the moon and stars as clouds obscured and revealed them. Without a sound to alert me, the familiar sensation of being watched made me aware of Hiei's presence.

"Won't you join me?" I didn't avert my gaze from the heavens above, just patted the wood beside me. There was no response, and I thought maybe he was just passing through; that I was alone again.

"Why are you awake, human?" I glanced at him, having suddenly appeared standing on the porch beside me. I didn't think that he would join me, and I was almost surprised to see him.

"Maybe I'm lonely. Maybe I'm crazy. I haven't decided yet." I laughed bitterly, and drew my sweater tighter around me.

I was starting to hate this place. I wanted to love it, but it was really challenging everything I thought I knew about my life, both past and present. I had been happy, really happy, and now I was stuck wandering around the same sections of a little Japanese temple over and over and over and over again. That alone was enough to make anyone insane, and on top of that I kept going back to my real life, which for whatever reason wasn't quite right.

I had almost forgotten Hiei was with me on the porch until he spoke.

"Tell me." Even though his words themselves were rough, he sounded almost…concerned? I let out a tiny laugh.

"Who are you and what did you do with Hiei?" He glowered, and I put my hands up in apology. "I'm sorry, I'm just tired." Emotionally, physically, psychologically exhausted, to be exact, I thought to myself.

I wrestled with myself – in rare form, Hiei was offering to listen to my crazy situation, but that meant revealing possible insanity. But at the same time, I was just too tired of keeping everything to myself.

Here goes nothing…

"After you and I met, and you hit me over the head, I woke up back in America. Everything was fine; I wasn't dead, and I thought I had dreamt this whole thing. Everything was fine for just a few minutes. Then I went back to sleep, and woke up in Genkai's temple."

All of the sharing was making my adrenaline rush, and I was getting fidgety. I stood as I talked, swinging my arms a little and playing with my hair. It was all I could really do to release my mounting distress.

"Every night I go to sleep here, and wake up in America. Every night I go to sleep in America and wake up here. I wake up in America, and I can see my friends, my family… I even see a therapist who's 'helping me through my trauma' from the fire." I rolled my eyes at the thought. "Who sees a therapist in their own dreams?" Hiei tilted his head a little and I explained briefly; "A therapist… talks to you about issues in your life, and helps you come to terms with them."

"That's stupid." He grunted.

"Hey, you asked..." I flushed a little with embarrassment.

"Continue." He urged me on (with as much enthusiasm as he could, I suppose).

"Uh right. I feel like I'm going insane, but my home seems right, and everything here seems right. But I just can't tell. Am I just having really realistic dreams? And how can I tell which one is real?"

I looked to Hiei, who was watching me intently "So… what do you think?" I thought he might say I was crazy. I thought he might say that I was dangerous. I thought he might call me a 'stupid human', or any of the other typical Hiei actions. But he said nothing.

I was suddenly aware of how close I was to Hiei, as he was standing in front of me. When did he stand?, I thought. I had been too wrapped up in my confession to notice. There was maybe two feet of space between us, and I could feel his body heat radiating in waves, warming me in the freezing night. He didn't move closer, but he didn't pull away. He stood there, hands in the pockets of his coat, bathing me in his radiant warmth. It was nice.

"This is real." He said quietly. His tone wasn't gruff or angry; just simple and honest.

"How can I know?" I struggled to find my voice. He thought for a moment, and replied.

"Here, things aren't what you expect." I thought about that. It was a solid statement, but not one that I fully understood.

"Can you… explain that a little better?" I fiddled with another lock of my hair. He was making me a little nervous, being so close.

"Hn. You say you're not stupid, you figure it out." And then, in perfect Hiei style, he vanished.

Alone on the lawn, with Hiei's body heat gone, the cold rushed in with terrible vengeance. I scampered back into the temple, slamming the shoji door behind me. I padded to the kitchen, looking for something warm to chase the chills away.

"Can't sleep?" Genkai was already standing in the kitchen, nursing what must have been her 10,000th cup of tea. I swear the woman was probably composed of surliness and tea. But that was no reason to not attempt civility.

"Yep. Any more of that tea around?" She nodded to the pot.

"It's got tequila in it." She warned.

"Sounds like my kind of tea." I poured an extra-large mug. Genkai raised an eyebrow.

"Rough night?" It was my night for sympathetic ears. I shrugged, sipping my tea. Scratch that – it was tequila with a tea chaser.

"I think it's safe to say I've had a rough time of it in general since I died." She grunted in affirmation, and we drank our tequila tea in silence together. It was nice.

The tequila soon did its job, and I stumbled back to my comfy bed. I burrowed under the blankets, and let myself drift away. Tonight, I thought, I get answers.

A/N: What did Aria see on the TV? Why is the world topsy-turvy? The time has come! In the next chapter, you get (some) answers!