Disclaimer: ... You should know this by now... Plus, an additional reminder about the song in this chapter, it belongs to its respective writer/singer; just in case you forgot and thought I really owned it or something.

Chapter 10

(A.N.) I am so sorry about this update taking so long. I've just been incrdibly busy. School started and my teachers are being evil and giving me mountains of homework, plus I am currently working on three separate stories besides this one. I'll try and update faster, but I'm afriad I am going to have to ask you to be patient with me.

Kira's P.O.V...

I can't believe I'm doing this.

Looking down at the acoustic guitar in my lap, I wondered how Keiko had managed to convince me to do this. We still had a lot of work to do after all. Granted, we had to wait for the go-ahead from Koenma, but still... How had she done it?

FLASHBACK

"Do you still play guitar, Kira?" Keiko asked.

I didn't really know what exactly to tell her. "Um...I-

"Would you play for us while we wait?" She asked, cutting me off.

Now I knew what to tell her. "Actually, I don-

"Please?" the brunette begged, her eyes as round as saucers.

Damn, she was good. "I...guess..."

"Really? That's great! Thank you!"

END FLASHBACK

Oh yeah...that's how...

I looked up at my expectant audience. On the couch, Keiko and Yusuke sat together with Botan leaning her arms on the back of it. Kuwabara, Yukina (who were also sitting close together) and Kurama were seated on floor mats. Hiei had taken up residence on the window seat in the far side of the room.

He was looking out the window.

Jerk...

"What do want to hear?" I asked Keiko sullenly, adjusting the knobs at the top of the guitar's neck

The girl thought for a bit, then, "Do you know any Kelly Clarkson?" All the guys groaned or got pained looks on their faces.

That made the decision for me.

"Yes," I told Keiko with an evil smile, "Which one?"

"Whatever you know how to play."

"Hmm... Alright, but it will sound strange without a piano, or any other instruments for that matter." I made a final chord adjustment, then strummed the strings lightly. Playing the opening notes earned a smile from the brunette in front of me.

"I don't suppose you could sing it?" she half-joked. More male groans were heard. Keiko glared at them all, especially Yusuke.

And Hiei was still gazing out that fucking window.

I don't care if he's no interested, but it's just plain fucking rude to no at least to pretend you're watching. A little niceness would do wonders for him. Therefore, I was determined to either earn some attention by singing the damn song, or at least annoy him into paying attention. Which ever came first.

Closing my eyes, I re-played the beginning chords, this time adding the lyrics. "He drowns in his dreams, an exquisite extreme, I know, he's as damned as he seems... With more heaven than a heart could hold..."

I sang on softly, unerringly, reveling in the forgotten peace that playing an instrument brought. As chorus rolled out, my eyes opened, taking in the rapt expressions of my audience. "Oh, and I don't know, I don't know what he's after, but he's so beautiful, he's such a beautiful disaster..."

My eyes flickered over each person, finally resting on the demon at the window. Hiei had stopped watching the outside world, but instead had focused on me. A small nod in his direction brought forth what might have been a smile, but I was probably imagining it.

As the last notes faded into an applause led by Keiko, a grin wormed its way onto my face. I stood, mock bowing.

"Encore!" exclaimed Botan.

"Please sing again, Kira," Yukina added sweetly.

My previous annoyance has slipped away, so this time I agreed with more enthusiasm. "What do you want to heat this time?"

Shouts for songs assailed me. I ended up playing "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Greenday, some assorted folk songs, a rendition of "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John, and more.

The last note of the last song, "I'm With You" by Avril Lavinge, faded away to more clapping. I stood up again, stretching, then wincing as the tight, newly healed skin, which was there thanks to Yukina's powers, was pulled uncomfortably. Looking over at the wall clock, I discovered that I had been playing for close to two hours. I yawned. Now that I had stopped playing, I found that I was incredibly tired.

"I vote for sleeping now," I announced. A few sleepy nods showed agreement, from the humans at least. The demons in the room just sort of shrugged. Oh well, I guess they can just wait for us poor mortals, and grim reaper, to recharge.

"I wonder," Botan yawed, "what's taking Lord Koenma so long..."

"He better talk to us soon or I'll..." Yusuke started, but whatever he was going to say was lost as he, too, yawned.

I sat down a few feet from Yukina. "Someone wake me up when we get a damn answer," I said to whoever was listening. Saying what I need to, I curled up on the mats and pillows, making myself comfortable.

I was dreaming not seconds later.

In Demon World...

A young woman was positioned in the middle of a great circle. Different dark symbols bordered the circumference, symbols and glyphs of binding and release, of power and of darkness.

The girl, who could be no older than eighteen, laid still, her eyes dull, her body broken and torn. She had fought; fought with everything she had, but in the end had chosen the easiest way out. She had chosen to give up her soul and power, her essence. Anything to stop the pain.

A demon stood at the edge of the circle, speaking the words of power, the incantations. With an obsidian dagger drawn from a belt sheath, he sliced his pale skin, just above the veins in his wrist. Warm blood dripped onto the drawn circle, followed by a crack of lightning.

Above the girl inside the circle, a great, dark void had opened. A shadow swooped down, covering her. Despite her numb condition, something primal in her yelled for her to run, to struggle, to get away from the evil that had come. She screamed, and tried to fight, but it was already too late. As the darkness drew back, the empty shell that had once been a woman of fire fell to the soil with a hollow thud.

The demon on the outside spoke to the shadow, "I already have chosen another, Master. We will have her in our...tender care...shortly."

A cold, empty voice answered the silver-haired demon. "Good, Mizuru, you have pleased me. Do not fail."

Mizuru bowed, "I will not, my Master."

"Go..." the shadow breathed.

The water demon turned obediently on heel and strode away from the ceremonial circle, leaving the human priestess' body for the scavengers.

He did not know that she had sent one last message before her death, using the last of the will to live inside her. She sent it to the only one who was listening for her.

Kira's P.O.V...

'He has a weakness, Sister... It is in the seed, and in the blood... Use it...to stop him... Stop Anexis, Sister, I beg you. By the flame we share, destroy him...'

My eyes flew open, looking for the owner of the woman's voice, knowing that she wouldn't be there. I had felt her life slip from me, her soul sucked away. Another had been lost to the void.

I hadn't known her name before, but with that brief, desperate contact I now knew. Her name was Kiriyama Satomi. Her face was burned into my consciousness. Pretty, with large green eyes and short brown hair, she was delicately built but with a warrior's spirit, a broken one once Mizuru was finished with her. Grief washed over me.

Along with deep, boiling rage.

Small fire-seeds danced along my skin, clothes, and hair. I stood swiftly, ready to charge out and hunt down the one's who had killed this Sister of Fire, anyone who had laid a harm-causing hand upon her was mine for death.

I hadn't taken so much as three steps when a hand clamped down solidly on my wrist. Spinning, I raised my opposite hand to strike out, but that hand was seized as well. I found myself tethered by Hiei's hands.

"Where do you think your going?" he hissed.

His words barely registered through the red rage that coursed through my body. "To kill them, I'll kill them all. Burn them until they scream like she did," I hissed back at him.

"Who?" His ruby eyes had widened the littlest bit, but I still didn't understand why he didn't know. For a brief moment, my mind clouded over with confusion, unsure.

It was gone as quickly as it had come.

I began to fight his hands, trying to break his grip. The small flames on my body just rolled off his skin.

"Who?" he asked again, no budging.

"S-Satomi..." I whispered angrily, "They killed her... Mizuru and his master fucking killed her..."

Hiei's eyes flashed. "How do you know?" He shook me. "How do you know that!" He half-yelled.

"She called!" I yelled back.

He froze, then changed his grip so that he had my upper arms, not my wrists. He shook me again, gentler this time. "Calm down, you don't even know where exactly you're going. Calm down..." He repeated the last a few times, until I began to stop fighting him, until the rage had gone from boiling over to simmering just below the surface.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. "I'm O.K. now, Hiei. You can let go."

He stared at me for a few more seconds, as if debating if it was a good idea, but released me anyway. "I will go find Kurama," he told me, taking a step back. I blinked, and he was gone.

I went to wake the other dreamers in the house.

(A.N.) Another note from me: I pulled the songs out of my ass; I have no idea if the Japanese even know who Kelly Clarkson and Greenday are... Oh well, I just asked some friends for some ideas and then improvised off that... Please Reveiw!