Nakoruru: Hello, hello, hello. Chapter nine and things are going strong! Isn't it quite the thing my co-writer has placed this story in?

Rinka (grinning evilly): Oh, and the things that are planned for this chapter. Let's get this ball rolling.

Nakoruru (sweats): Um. . .right. Okay. Let's get to the reviews then. ^ ^

Nicole, we're evil. . .thanks! (beams at her) We try our best to please and leave you hanging. And this chapter is going to be just as good.

Hell Kitten, yeah, it was all so very cute. Children seem to be gravitating towards him, who would have thought! And it was cool they accepted him. He would have told my parents that and I don't think he would ever see me again!

Lethal Purple Crayon, wow, that would be angst, but. . .killing Serena. . .just one thing wrong with that. How in heck will she come back and fight. That would sort of be the end of the story. For one, no one, not even Botan cause she is grim reaper in another dimension, would be able to bring her back. And she is definitely too important to lose current. But thanks for the idea anyway.

Mitsukai, bye for now then. Gonna miss ya. When ever you can come back check your email. Left a message about things for you.

Eo, hah! Yeah, stuff like that is never good. But it will only get worst. Hee, hee, hee!

Kayla, thanks for liking it! We aim to please. And now you get to find out what happens next. Isn't that great!

Anime Princess, you're just learning a whole boatload of stuff from this story, eh! Hee, hee, well, we won't make things really bad so don't worry.

Nakoruru: Now that that's done, let's get to writing this one. Rinka, let's see you work your magic and have this story unfold.

Rinka: Hope you all like this chapter. Here it is.

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Hiei's eyes fluttered open. At first, all he could see was out of focused shapes. After a minute, he was able to make out shapes. When Hiei tried to move, he found that his arms and legs had been shackled. Looking around, the koorime found a dark room lit by only a single light source that hung over him. Hiei struggled to break free from his restraints but found that he could not.

"It's no use trying to escape. Lady Kurata made sure that when you were to awaken, you would not be able to leave her so soon. You might as well stop struggling, it will do you no good," came a voice from the darkness. Hiei narrowed his eyes, making out the figure of the young woman he had fought before. She walked into the light, staring at him with dark violet eyes.

"What do you want with me?" Hiei growled. The young woman walked up to the koorime until she was directly eye to eye with him.

"I don't want anything to do with you. You are a strong opponent, I give you that, but I have nothing to do with this. Lady Kurata formed an interest in you," the young woman told. "She said there was something dark and powerful about you." The young woman studied him for a long time. "I don't sense what she finds to be so dark about you. You don't seem to be any different from any other I've come across."

Hiei found a smirk rise to his lips. "Whoever you work for is right about me. I'm very different from the others. And that will be your downfall once I'm free." The young woman shrugged at his words, unaffected by his threats. If he had been so strong, why had it been so easy to capture him? Lady Kurata had said she had entrusted the Helios Bow to Athrun, and that had been what had made capture simple.

Selsus knew all about the Helios Bow. It had been one of the weapons her tribe had created to combat evil. The bow was made to center the darkness and evil within one's heart, no matter how small it was. The arrows were made from the person's darkness, and immobilize the enemy. If the wielder wanted, they could instantly kill their enemy with the bow. But that took a lot of skill to learn how to control the Helios Bow.

Selsus remembered when she had first became a servant of Lady Kurata's. She had only been ten at the time, learning how to handle the Helios Bow. She had been the tribe's heir to many of the skills that she had been made to leave behind, when dark menacing shadow creatures had slaughtered her entire tribe.

She had only been able to watch in horror as a massacre unfolded. Then a shadow emerged from the bloodshed and reached out and took her. Too fear stricken to do anything, she had easily succumbed to the darkness. Her mark from that day was the tiara embedded in her head. She could not disobey Lady Kurata or Athrun until the day that tiara was removed by purity. That purity was Neo Queen Serenity. Once she was able to have it removed, she would wage war against the evil that continued to try to creep into her soul.

If what Lady Kurata had said about this male was true, then the darkness would try to make another, more powerful servant for its war against Neo Queen Serenity. Selsus turned away from the male and begin to walk out of the light. She turned her head slightly to study the male again.

She could now sense it. Yes, if she concentrated enough, she could sense the darkness in him that her real enemy wanted to us. It was indeed powerful. "You shouldn't be making such empty promises. You should worry about what's going to happen to you. Lady Kurata didn't bring you here for tea and cake you know. If you are as different as you say you are, then you have every right to worry about what's going to happen to you once Lady Kurata comes."

Without another word, she disappeared from the room. Hiei didn't say anything. He had a bad feeling that what the girl said was more of a warning than just light talk. She knew something that she was not telling.

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Serena swung around to look at Hotaru once she had heard everything the girl had said. Hotaru's dark eyes held sympathy for the older woman. She knew what it was like to lose someone you loved dearly. After all, she had lost her father to this war when she had first became Sailor Saturn. Hotaru lowered her eyes from Serena, seeing how visibly shaken the woman was. "I should have gone with him. I'm sorry, Serena."

"It's not your fault, Hotaru," Serena smiled weakly. "I don't think you would have made much of a difference. Your duty is to protect me, after all. I knew he was strong, I believed in him. I didn't think this would happen." Serena slumped into a chair, feeling weak hearted and minded. Why would the enemy capture Hiei? What did they have in mind? Were they going to try and turn him against her?

Serena closed her eyes, not knowing what to do or where to look. She didn't know what to do right now. "Serena." There was a knock on her door as Kurama, Botan, and Kuwabara came into the room. They had worried expressions on their faces for her. She really did appreciate them being there also. She could count on them for support. She turned her eyes on Kurama as he stared down at her. "We're going to head out and search for Hiei. Botan will stay behind and see what she can do."

"I want to go with you." Serena had made up her mind. She would not sit around crying and worrying herself to death. "I want to go help you search for Hiei."

"But Serena," Kuwabara started.

"I know I have responsibilities here. But. . .I. . ." Serena felt tears roll down her cheeks as she looked up at them. She could not risk the chance of not helping. She couldn't risk the chance of them coming back with Hiei's body, telling her that they had gotten there too late. She couldn't risk losing him, not after the promise he had made to both Rini and her. "But I have to go. I have to! I don't want to sit around being useless. He might need me."

"But it's dangerous. This may be a trap to get you to come out," Botan stated.

"I don't care," Serena said. "I don't care if it is a trap. I can't be all right sitting around here not knowing if he's alive or dead. Or whether I was able to make a difference by coming along. Please, Kurama let me go with you guys. You know I can pull my own weight. Please let me go." Serena pleaded with the kitsune with tearful eyes.

Kurama sighed, but smiled. He knew that it was useless to argue with her. She had a will that could overcome just about anything. "All right, Serena, you can come. But the others will have a fit that we're letting you do this."

"Don't worry about them," Hotaru said with a shy smile. "I will handle things here. Go Serena, find him." The Sailor of Saturn walked up to the woman and placed a hand over Serena's. "I will continue to believe in the decision that you have made, because I believe in you. And. . ." Hotaru turned her eyes to the Hakusho group. "I believe in them too. Protect the queen of this time in order for us to live in peace once more."

"We shall," Kuwabara said. "You don't have to worry about a thing, with Kazuma Kuwabara on the case. We'll find the shrimp and bring Serena back."

"I'll come too then. Just in case you're in need of someone with a bit of healing powers," Botan said in another one of her chipper tones.

Serena looked at Kuwabara, Kurama, Hotaru, and Botan. Tears continued to fall, but these were not of sorrow. These were tears of joy. "Thank you, everyone. For everything."

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Hiei lifted his head up to look at the individual whose footfalls caught his attention. A woman in a long midnight blue dress with pearls embroidered on the dress. On her head she wore a silver crown that was embroidered with pearls and sapphire. Her long reddish silver hair was in many tiny spirals that cascaded down her back. Her gold green eyes flickered with interest at the male shackled to the wall. "My, you are quite a catch. Neo Queen Serenity certainly has good taste in her men."

"What do you want?" Hiei barked at her. The woman feigned a look of hurt as she sashayed up to him. Hiei turned his head away from her when she tried to touch him.

"You don't have to be like that," whispered the woman in his ear. "I have big plans for you, my beautiful warrior. You see I find that the darkness that is inside of you to be very attractive. I want to explore that darkness and find your limit."

"Get the hell away from me," Hiei said, making eye contact with the woman. He noticed the intense look in her gold green eyes. He definitely did not like that stare she was giving him.

"Don't be like that," she cooed. "I won't hurt you. I just want to find the source of that darkness that is inside of you." Raising her hand to his face, she slowly touched his entire face, until she stopped at where his covered Jagan was. A wide malicious smile rose to her lips. "I think I've found that source I was looking for. You have a little secret here, don't you?"

"If you take it off, I can't guarantee that you may get more than what you bargained for," Hiei said. "Go ahead and take it off. See what you find."

"I think I will." The woman took off his bandanna, uncovering his Jagan. "Ah, so this is your little secret. The source of your darkness, perfect." Hiei was taken off guard as a dark shadow swept over them both, creeping to his Jagan. The koorime felt an overwhelming surge of violence, rage, grief, anguish, hatred, and hopelessness overcome him. The emotions were almost enough to send him into a state of unconsciousness. It took him a lot for him to keep his focus.

"Stop-it!" The shadows that surrounded them fled back only kept at bay for a moment or two. Hiei panted deeply from the assault. "What the hell-"

"I told you that I wanted to know the limit of the darkness inside of you. That's exactly what I'm going to do. Find it and plant a seed inside of you for later. You will come in handy once everything is in place."

"Why are you doing this?" Hiei muttered, feeling the shadows again trying to crawl into his soul and plant their seed of darkness. He could not let himself fall into this web. He had made a promise not only to Serena, but to Rini also. He could not let them down, he had to fight this. He had to find out what the enemy's purpose was.

"You want to know why? I'll tell you." The last thing Hiei expected was for the woman to kiss him fully on the lips. As she kissed him, images flashed through his head, telling him about her past, what she wanted and what she planned to do. Hiei's eyes widened, seeing the truth behind everything that surrounded him, the others, Serena, and their two worlds. It was about this time that the darkness attacked him again. Hiei continued to fight the power that was slowly seeping in, but it seemed that his Jagan eye was absorbing the power rather than repelling it.

If this kept up, Hiei wasn't sure that he would be able to do anything to stop what might happen next. As the woman pulled back from their kiss, Hiei saw a shadow appear behind the woman. The shadow glared down at him with gold eyes full of smug satisfaction. Hiei could sense the presence. Strong and overpowering as it was. This thing was ancient; so old that he doubt anyone would know about it unless it told of itself.

"You are now ours," the shadow said to Hiei. "You will help us to enter Crystal Tokyo and defile Neo Queen Serenity's Silver Crystal."

"What makes you think that I will allow anything to happen to her," Hiei growled.

The shadow gave Hiei a short inconsiderate look. Hiei could make out the thing's features a little bit more as it continued to manifest itself to him. This was the real enemy, not this woman that had been caught in its web also. This thing looked quite young, despite the fact that it had to be millenniums old. Short hair was featured that sometimes moved in the thing's blazing gold eyes.

"I would not have brought you here and showed you what I look like if I knew you were going to be disobedient. You are no different than the others. You will also bend to my will. Once I plant my seed of darkness inside of your soul, you won't remember a thing that happened to you. You will willingly go back and let me inside," the shadow said in a bored tone.

"Don't underestimate me!" shouted Hiei.

"Underestimate you? Hmm. . .that would be interesting to see if I did underestimate you. We will soon find out, won't we?" The shadow faded from sight as the darkness assaulted Hiei ruthlessly. No matter how much Hiei fought, it continued to seep into him. Into his soul and into his Jagan eye, until finally Hiei blacked out. When he comes to, he would not remember a thing of what he knew and had said to the shadow. He would be another puppet in this war. He would turn the tides of battle for both sides.

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Rinka: There we go. Chapter nine is complete.

Nakoruru: Why do I feel like this story is only inching piece by piece to its goal? It's not like One Strange Day.

Rinka (shrugs): Well, this one is coming off the top of our heads as we write it, you know.

Nakoruru: But chapters nine through thirteen of One Strange Day were written the same way, but I pulled it off. (sighs) This one just feels funny, what do you say, Blazer?

Blazer: Why don't we ask our reviewers about it? (to reviewers) So what do you think of the story so far? Good, bad, could be better, needs more work, more romance, more action, solid basing? R & R to let us know.

Nakoruru: Yeah. Well, until. . .(thinks) oh yeah, until Saturday, we'll be seeing you.