Okay, chapter 8 was very depressing. Sorry about that. Hopefully chapter 9 won't be that way.

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"Okay, first tell me how I got to be invisible." Sona said sounding irritated. They had arrived at Koenma's ten minutes ago but the lack of Sona being visible made him scared so they spent a while trying to get Koenma out of the closet.

The now calm Koenma tried to elaborate. "It was the sword. It sought you out by using the map and now your this way. I guess the trials that it spoke of are just testing your ability to control your power and the blade."

"Thank you for your lovely wrap up of my problem, but what I need is an explanation on how to not be this way." Sona said sarcastic and serious at the same time.

"How should I know?!" Koenma whined.

"Oh great all knowing prince, please tell me all you know…" she muttered, and added in a voice similar to his "It was the sword."

"What crawled up your but?" Koenma mumbled.

"Nothing can crawl up anything of mine! I'm invisible!" she yelled.

"Quit it you two." Hiei chided in. "This is serious, try to act like adults."

"I am." Koenma pouted.

"At least I look like an adult." Sona whispered.

"I heard that!" Koenma growled.

"I said quit it!" Hiei boomed.

"Sorry." they said in unison.

"Alright, now first thing first, where is the sword?" Hiei asked.

"You mean the giant dart sticking out of the wall behind you, genius?" Sona snickered.

"Shut up." he grunted.

Hiei turned and attempted to pull out the sword, it looked as if he didn't think it would be that hard to pull out. She guessed he underestimated the power of the wall. Now, not knowing how it would affect himself or Sona if he screwed around too much with the sword, he pulled a little too hard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Unknown place~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sona stood in front of a river dressed in an all white dress. "What the f…" she started as she noticed Hiei standing a few feet away. He was dressed in a black jacket and pants. "What did you do?!"

"Holy…Oh you're here too. How should I know?" he replied.

"What is with you men and not knowing anything?!" she cried.

"I don't…" he started.

"If you say 'I don't know', I will strangle you." she threatened while looking around. "Weird." she muttered a moment later.

"What's weird?" he asked.

"De ja vu. I've seen this before."

"Where?" he questioned looking stupefied.

She looked horribly startled and turned to him. "My dreams."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Thought Flash Mode (sorry to confuse)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Six years back, Sona's reoccurring dream~

This dream always came on nights that she would lose hope in herself and life, and when she was young it always went the same way.

The young Sona would run through the enchanted forest that haunted her mind, until she reached a clearing. As usual the moon would shine brightly upon the cool river water in the distance. It was always calm, and beautiful. She'd lie down and stare into the dark sky twinkling with stars, as the warm night air soothed her skin. The scent of roses wafted over her so she felt blanketed with soft, crimson petals. And crickets sounded their violin like music around her. Heaven. Pure, sweet, heaven.

After a while she'd sit up and walk around picking flowers and singing along to the melody of the leaves brushing against each other, the blades of grass whispering to the poppies, and the owls cooing in a far off tree. Her nightshirt never caught on thistles, for nothing caused pain or frustration in this realm of the human mind.

Finally, everything would come to a halt, and something would move behind her. She'd turn around and he would be standing there. The man she drew, as perfect and life like as ever. Her father. She knew it by instinct. She sensed it just by the stare he put to her.

Then, the dream turned to a nightmare. She'd cry out "Daddy!" and start to run. The ground would break beneath her leaving her stranded. So close, yet so very far away. From love, happiness, and warmth. Usually she'd wake up after seeing him turn and walk away, without saving her from her island of despair, but even she saw the end. The end where he never said good bye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Unknown place~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hiei poked her.

"Owe!" she cried "What did you do that for?"

"You were zoning. So," he asked, "what's this about your dreams?"

Sona explained some of it, so he'd get the gist. He nodded understandingly, but she saw his confusion.

"You think this is your dream?"

"I don't know but it looks awful familiar. It even smells the same…" her voice trailed off.

"Everything looks real." he said grabbing a flower.

"Poppies, crickets, everything seems to be here…" she looked into the forest longingly.

"What's wrong?" he asked noticing the despair in her gaze.

"It always ended the same way…but if this is real…I'm grown now…maybe he'll be here…" her words jumbled together. She stepped forward.

"Wait where are you going?"

"I just have to see it all, again." she replied as though possessed by her inner thoughts.

"Uhh…" Hiei couldn't find anything to say. So he watched on as she walked off staring into the sky. Now he noticed her hair was black and her eyes were blue. It seemed strange to notice these things at a time like this but he ignored the timing and continued with observing her. The white linen dress fell to her knees loosely. He'd never forget her silhouette in the light of the moon, like a ghost, without a soul moving with the current.

Sona's eyes locked on every detail. The waterfall, the green, lush forest, and everything that was lit by the moon. It was like a dream come true. Her heart ached thinking about having to leave this place. How could this be a test? There was no difficultly in remembering all the beauty of this place, but never had it been so vivid. Then it struck her. This dream always ended the same way, maybe I have to change it, all of it.

"Sona!" Hiei called. "I found something."

She ran to his side. Carved onto a huge tree was the first direction to passing the first test:

One Drop Changes, A Second Brings Answers

"Wow, that's cryptic." Hiei mumbled.

"Shhh…listen…can you hear the droplets?" in another part of the forest droplets splashed into a small puddle shaped like a crescent moon.

"What are you suppose to do?!" he was lost, not even his mind reading abilities could help him on this one.

"Don't ask questions, just give me your pocket knife." she demanded and without refusal he handed it over.

Sona stood directly above the puddle and pushed the end off the blade into her finger. "One drop changes…" she mumbled while squeezing her index finger making a drop appear, then fall into the water.

Like thunder booming, everything shifted strangely. Hiei was so caught up in watching everything he didn't notice her. The once lively forest was wilted with orange leaves and dying branches. Ivy covered all rocks, and the waterfall had turned blood red. Ravens crowded the trees, and the blazing red moon stared down upon all with its evil glow. The final thing to change was the girl who caused it. Sona now stood almost four foot, and looked to be nine or ten.

"What the…" Hiei mumbled.

She clenched her finger again until another drop appeared. "A second brings answers…" she said in a voice that she'd forgotten.

It became suddenly bright, like everything was…white. She looked around. Hiei stood beside her looking strangely at their surroundings. It looked like she was back to normal.

"Now where are we?" Hiei sighs.

Sona ignored him, while noticing the man standing in front of them. "Father." she muttered.

He moves closer to her and touches her cheek. "You look like your mother." he paused chuckling at her disapproving look "But you have my attitude."

Her heart began to mend standing there in front of the man she always wondered about. "Why must I do all these tests?" she asked as she turned away to stop tears.

"To make sure your pure. I can't be there to protect you from your strength, you have to be a certain type of person to be trusted with all of this energy." he backed away slightly winded.

"What's wrong?" she asked noticing his staggering walk.

"Nothing, my dear child." he looked at Hiei with sudden interest. "And who is this?"

"Hiei, he's my trainer." she answered quickly.

"Hmm…," he looks Hiei up and down, "don't worry, you'll be taller in three years."

"Right…" Hiei shook his head not understanding one damn thing once again.

"Umm…is there something else you wanted to tell me?"

"Oh, of course." he turned back and his face turned grim "Its about your mother."

"Great." Sona scoffed sarcastically.

"It seems she's been keeping her little secret away from you."

"Huh?" Sona was now beginning to become about as confused as Hiei.

"Have you ever wondered why your hair is green and mine is silver?" he questioned.

"I figured it was from one of your parents."

"My parents are ice apparitions, I am the only son to be able to control the ice dragon powers. You have immense mind powers, that's a characteristic, along with your green hair, you got from your mother." he explained.

"You mean She's a demon!" Sona cried angrily.

"You will be a full demon with my strengths added to you." he explained.

"This doesn't tell me a damn thing! Why did she always treat me that way? Why did she always steal all my light from me?! Don't you have any answers I need?" Sona broke down.

"I truly can't say, Amara. Please believe me when I tell you once this is all over you will find true happiness and freedom. You will never have to fear your mother again."

"How long?"

"I can tell you the third and final tests comes on your birthday. But until then everything else is a blur to me."

"Alright, I await your tests. But I still have one question for you." she looked him in the eyes.

"Yes?"

"Why didn't you come for me?" her voice cracked slightly as she held in all the anger.

"I couldn't."

"Why couldn't you?!" she broke into tears.

"Because, I died after you were born."