A/N -Whee! I've calculated how many chapters this'll probably have - anywhere between 22 and 25. Hope that doesn't scare you off. XD

And I'm so totally excited - Howl's Moving Castle is out on DVD,March 7! Eeee. 333 I'll have no choice but to write some fanfics when that happens. Can't WAIT.

Phantom 1 - Tharaide and Misaya are both OCs. Misaya is named after a character in Tokyo Mew Mew, but he's still very much his own person. My OCs do tend to have a lot of backstory to them... at least the important ones. I just hope I remember to put it all in the story itself. XD

Kuroi shook her head with disgust as she entered the lab. A week. It had taken her little more than a week to recover, but predictably the place was ruined. Curse that stupid dog! Fortunately, he was probably dead by now. She smiled slightly at her own ingenuity. Take the curse that already bound Kyo, give it a few tweaks of her own, and there you go. Instant fighting machine.

And now she had completed the final stage of her plan. The loss of Yuki and Kyo was of no consequence. Now she would be unstoppable.

It had been an accomplice of hers, years back, who gave her the idea. It was a man who she later discovered to be an actual phoenix of legend. He had told her of his master whom he had once served, a powerful phoenix of the dark fire. He had been killed by another, a bird called Seita, and his ashes scattered on the wind; but with magic they could be collected and the fallen phoenix resurrected. But it would take power. Quite a bit of power; and Kuroi had lost her partner when he tried something too daring to gather the needed energy. She'd thrown his body into the sea. He had proven useful, but she would rather not have a phoenix rise from the ashes to challenge her newfound power.

She hung her torch in a bracket inside the back cave, and stared at the pyre she had built. The scent of exotic wood and spices filled her nostrils; the last piece to the spell was held in her hands. With a deep breath of anticipation, she poured the jarful of ashes onto the pile of wood and dramatically thrust her torch onto the wood, setting it alight.

Strong scents and bright lights flared as the pyre burned, but soon it turned. The fires reached an incredible height, scorching the roof, and then a pair of black wings spread out, reaching from the fire. They were followed by a feathered head, a long hooked beak, and then in a burst of frenzied flame, the Phoenix Fallen. In the flesh.

The large bird lit down before his dying pyre, and surged upward to become, instead, a tall black-haired man with feathered wings flaring from his back. He stepped forward, shaking the ashes from his long and tattered cloak, smiling rather unpleasantly.

"Phoenix!" Kuroi's own smile widened, and she spread her arms wide. Clearly the power she had collected from Yuki had been enough. "My dark creature of fire. Go now, unleash your wrath on that accursed family." She nearly chuckled at her own words. Accursed? They already were. No need for her to blight them.

To her surprise, though, the phoenix did not fly off immediately in a rush of black fire and feathers. Instead, he laughed. That laugh sent chills up her spine, ruthless as she was.

"Your creature?" The phoenix took several strong strides toward her, taking her chin in his hand. She gulped. He was quite a bit taller than she was, and the look in his eyes was cold and calculating. He laughed again. "Fool! Shiro Nightwing belongs to no one. I suppose you think that resurrecting me gave you control over me. You were wrong. You merely gave me what I needed to live again. Your own powers had nothing to do with it."

Kuroi gulped, stepping back. "I meant no harm…"

Shiro gave a twisted smile. "No, I daresay you didn't. Not to yourself, that is." He advanced on her, and she shrank back again, sure that she was about to be slain. At the last moment, he checked himself. "But you still could prove useful for my revenge. Tell me, how exactly did you manage to do all this?" He nodded at the dying flames of the pyre.

As Kuroi spoke, her voice trembling, Shiro's cruel smile widened. This was even better than he could have hoped.

When Shigure first woke up, he couldn't believe his eyes.

He had been sleeping in a magnificent room with white marble walls, a vaulted ceiling, and light streaming in through arched windows. A room he had never seen in his life. He slid out of bed, stretching, and then started, remembering. He was completely unharmed, and yet his last memory before he blacked out was the excruciating pain of his snapped spine. Wondering if this was a dream – or if he was dead – he stood and walked over to the high window, reaching almost to the ceiling.

It looked out over a city, one like none he had ever seen before. Magnificent buildings with ornate rooftops, built of stone, lined smoothly paved streets and curving paths. Though it was quite a large city, he didn't see a single skyscraper or even a car. Walking on the paths and the silvery streets were, on foot, thousands of people… or were they people? Many of them appeared to have wings. Shigure looked closer, but he was not mistaken.

He jumped backward as a great scarlet-and-gold bird with long trailing tailfeathers soared past his window. This could not be real.

Shigure turned as the door opened to admit a tall girl with waist-length red hair. Up close, she removed all doubt from his mind; these people could not be human. It was not just her strange golden eyes or bright golden wings: some quality about her face could not be accounted for in a human being.

The girl nodded at him gravely. "You're awake, I see. That's good."

Questions filled his mind at once, but he said only, "Where am I?"

"Nystas Elden," she replied. "The city of the phoenixes. You have nothing to fear, Sohma-sama."

He started. "How… how do you know my name? Who are you?"

"I am Tharaide Flamewing." She gave him a piercing look. "Yes, Shigure, we know your family… but… you wouldn't know us. We corrected that long ago."

"Wait…" Shigure started. The girl was reminding him of someone now, and he thought he knew who. Hatori. "Are you saying that… my… memory was erased?"

"Not yours personally. Your family's, years ago." Seeming to lose interest in the dog, she walked over to the window and leaned on the sill. After a long pause she spoke again. "You seem to be recovering quickly. Rest now. All your questions will be answered tomorrow. I'll take you around the city if you like."

Shigure hesitated, then nodded, returning to sit on the edge of his bed. He could not resist one last question. "But Tharaide… how can I be alive? I thought I was going to die. I broke my neck. How did you…" He trailed off, staring at her searchingly. "You're an angel," he whispered.

Though her face was as solemn as ever, an amused note crept into the girl's voice. "No. You are very much alive, and I am certainly no angel. Though we try to deny it, the truth is that phoenixes are physical beings and very much mortal." Her eyes darkened and the playful tone dropped from her voice as she spoke, her brow furrowed. Abruptly she turned and paced to the door, pausing to say, "Rest well." With a courteous nod, she was gone.

What a strange person, Shigure thought as he lay down again. Still wondering about the mysterious city he had found himself in, he fell asleep.