We got into the train without incident. Hagrid had gone to the front, while the boys took out a small sack. The sack contained the owner of the pet shop, whom we'd abducted just a few minutes ago. The guys had had to hit him a few times to keep him quiet during the journey from Diagon Alley to the train station, but there was no major incidents. I didn't even had to ask Kirua to 'invite' the poor guy along. Peter, Yokoshima and Shuura were way ahead of me. With any luck, the little guy would be on his way back as soon as he answered our questions. Hopefully it would not take long. I didn't want the poor guy to have to walk to Hogwarts, although I doubted it was that far.

Gon, Kirua and Yokoshima were sent out to find the Candy Lady. Only Botan and Peter had purchased pets. The two of them were both happily cooing in the next carriage over their new cat and owl respectively. I say 'cooing' because that was exactly what they were doing. Sukina had gone to the washroom, to change into the new sorceress' robe we had remembered to buy at the last minute. Hiei was, as usual, sitting top of the carriage. Kurama, Shuura and me were sitting in the carriage, Kurama patiently explaining something to Shuura who was reading the textbook on Japanese Demons. His look of confusion was clearly written on his face. The sack laid unmoving at our feet.

I moved the sack so that the flap would open and I could see the guy inside. His head peeked out and his breathing seemed stable enough, so I left him like that and took out a small book. It was the small book of Death I always carried around. I looked in it to see whether I could identify the man in the sack. I couldn't. He did not appear in the book, which meant either he had been pressed into Celeste's (Goddess of Death, Daughter of Hades and Perspehone) service upon death, or that he was a serving member of one of the other Gods/Goddesses. That would be a nice pickle indeed, if I managed to offend one of them by picking up this guy.

"So, how does this look, Nee-chan?" Sukina called out before she came in.

The man's eyes snapped open at the sound of her voice and jumped up as the door opened. Sukina's look of surprise was clear. She just stood there and I cursed. I threw the book and managed to pull the guy before he could touch my sister. He fell to the floor and my sister backed away down the corridor before he could get up. Kurama and Shuura though, were sitting squarely on the man, who growled and snapped at them as though he was a dog.

"What the hell happened?" everyone except my sister came rushing into the carriage. Hiei, of course, popped in from the top.

"Thou will not succeed in thy quest, Princess of the Heart. We will seek thee and destroy thee!" he said. I did not realize that he spoke in an ancient language.

"Return to thy master (Okay, I'm taking a cue from the Eddingses, FORGIVE ME!) , dog, and tell him that the day will come when the Element Princesses and the Hope Queen will strike him down. Perhaps if he starts running now, his Mistress might not catch him," I said.

The cretin gasped. His breath was ragged and he did not seem to be able to live much longer. "The Dark Lord will have your soul!" he said, before he shimmered into nothingess and disappeared. Botan was immediately upon the spot where he had laid, touching her hand to it.

"He's not truly dead yet, minna-san," she told us, "His soul is still in stasis. Someone's using him," she continued.

"A member of the Undead?" Peter asked.

"Exactly. What did he say to you, Naoko-san?" Gon asked me.

I raised an eyebrow at him. As far as I knew, they had heard us talking in language as plain as English. Kurama shook his head. "You were talking in another language, Naoko-san. None of us understood it," he said politely, but it was clear from his words that he did not like it.

"He said that he would pay us back for kidnapping him and that we would hear from the Council soon," I sighed. It was a blatant lie but the way I said it made it sound like the truth. They all nodded. Each of us had received threats like that before, enough to make us weary of them. Only Sukina understood the whole exchange. She would have; the moment the guy begant to speak I had linked my mind to hers. Her presence felt familiar, warm and loving.

Part Two

I went to where my sister was at the back of the train. She had changed from her Ceremony Robe to her normal attire. The blue jeans she wore brought out the colour of her eyes and the red checked shirt complemented her hair.

"I didn't expect him to be truly alive," she said.

"Neither did I. There was something about him that didn't ring true from the beginning. I don't like it, little sister. Too many people know who we are," I replied, leaning against the railing as she did.

"The Dark Lord... I don't think he means Voldie, does he?" she asked, giggling. In the language we were using, it had the connotations of being the said person being a rather poor parody of the original.

I laughed with her. For all that we were just teenagers, our burden was no less. The Element Princesses, including me, were all born before my sister. We were sworn to protect her, but it was not easy. How could it be, when we were born in different backgrounds and in different countries?

Among all of us, only I was the one who was able to be with her constantly. In the old legends, it was said that the Hope Queen, also known as the Angel of Life, grew up with the Daugther of Death, her sister and protector. I don't know how true it was, but I knew how important it meant to Sukina that I maintain the role of the Daughter of Death. Contrary to people's expectations, my sister was not the weakest in our group. In fact, she could be said to be the strongest. However, her strength did not lie in the physical realm like most of us, but in the emotional and spiritual realm. She was the foundation of our lives.

"The Dark Lord... I didn't think he knew we were alive," I said.

"His people thought we were dead, but apparently he thought different. Danae says that she followed him to the Fiery Place and that he gave his report to his Master. It caused quite an uproar in their Council," she said.

"Well, they know we're alive. They won't attack us without confirmation," she said.

"That doesn't make me secure at all. What I'm worried is that some of them will take the bounty after all. Forty million dollars on our heads is not a minor thing," I said.

"True. Well, let's cross that bridge when we come to it. No use thinking about it now," she said.

"Yeah. We still have those textbooks and herbs to distribute," I said.

"You hungry?" she asked me as I opened the door to enter the train.

"Imouto, you know what such a mindlink does to our stomachs," I reminded her.

"Wonder if the food here is filling or not?" she said as I slammed the door shut behind us.