Author Note: As an apology for disappearing for two weeks, I have done two chapters and should have another out in a few days. We shall see though, duckies. So, enjoy!


Sometime in the middle of the night, she gave up on getting any sleep. Rising from the new bed, Maribella moved towards the wall that overlooked the lake and forest. Hiei sat exactly where he'd been when she'd first lain down. Either he didn't mind staying in one particular area the entire time, or he was asleep. Whatever it was, she moved out onto the porch and past him, dropping to the ground and walking slowly out towards the lake.

Hiei's red eyes flashed open in the darkness and trained themselves on the woman. He'd gotten a couple hours of sleep at least even if they were restless since he'd had to keep checking to make sure she was safe. What was she doing now though?

The grass beneath her bare feet felt cool and damp to Maribella as she came to a stop about five feet from the edge of the lake. Turning so that she was looking left, she began a very controlled, very graceful movement, much like Tai Chi. Her hands moved out, pushing the air around her before pulling them back. The trees near her rustled but then grew still.

Her teeth gritted and she kept moving. Her body ached just from the simple movements of controlling every muscle and keeping things graceful. Soon she had moved several meters in one direction before turning and starting back the other way. It was hardly noticeable but the water seemed to lap in the same direction that the woman moved or pushed with her hands.

Hiei shifted a bit and watched her straight on. Her movements grew stronger as her body slipped into movements she'd memorized as a child. Soon it became more focused and tighter controlled. Hiei's eyes narrowed as the lightest aquamarine aura began to form around her. He pushed himself up to go stop her, to order her to bed. This was doing nothing but exhausting her. And she was out in a simple tank top, the moonlight bathing her scarred skin in a pale milky color.

She didn't notice the nearing fire demon as she reached down into herself. There. Just beyond the realm of her mind she could feel the power that had been hers. It hibernated, daring her to try and get to it, just out of reach. She was not strong enough, it mocked. She would never be strong enough, no matter how many attempts to reach it she did.

She ground her teeth and focused harder. The aura around her grew thicker, a brighter shade. The waves in the lake grew to splashes on the shore, just enough to add their sound to the still air around them. The grass under her feet shifted back and forth now.

You'll never reach your powers again…

You'll be useless…

The taunts of her own self-doubts echoed loudly around her. She didn't stop moving. She didn't stop trying. It was so close now. If she could just reach the kernel of power…

"Are you looking to get attacked?"

Her eyes shot open, glowing the same aquamarine as her spirit as they turned to the fire demon to her right. He was close enough to reach out and touch. At first a flicker of pain filled her mind, a flash of what had happened slamming up into her mind—a man, tall, with a female next to him, a female who was on fire and laughing—before dying away just as quick as it was there.

She cringed back, lost her footing and fell back onto the bank of the lake, finger tips just barely touching the water. The glow around her and in her eyes dimmed as her concentration evaporated. Maribella panted as she looked up at Hiei. He was frowning down at her, his red eyes glowing in the moonlight. Their eyes locked for the longest moment—shocked and emotionless meeting in a loss for words. And what was there to say anyway?

Maribella looked away first, pushing herself up from the ground. She brushed herself off and looked for a way to explain what she was doing up this late. It was Hiei who spoke first though.

"Do you often train in the middle of the night?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

Maribella finally looked back up at him and offered a shrug. "When I can't sleep, yeah, I do," she admitted. Oddly enough she didn't feel the itch to be annoyed with him, or short, no pun intended. She'd felt the magic just outside her grasps, and now, now she knew she would get it back. If Hiei hadn't interrupted her she might have managed that tonight. But she would manage it again, and again, and again until she stepped from the hell she was in stronger.

Her answer seemed to surprise Hiei a little bit and he cocked his head to the side, watching her for a very long moment before looking past her and up at the trees as if trying to see if there was anyone there planning to attack. The truth was that her eyes were just… odd. When they'd stared at one another, it had felt like he'd been falling into a lake of smokey blue water, and that had… been one of the strangest experiences he'd had in a while. "You need to get sleep if you are going to stop being a pain in my ass any time soon. Sleep can help just as much as training," Hiei finally said, showing that he didn't necessarily have to be an ass at all times.

"Except I can't sleep," Maribella pointed out.

"Then you aren't trying hard enough," he answered back. "Kuwabara wasn't lying. I won't let you die. You can sleep without worrying about that." It was Maribella's turn to stare at him. Was he actually being civil?

"… You are just saying that because you want to sleep. You were sleeping when I cam out here," she suggested.

"I can keep you safe and sleep at the same time. It's what my Jagan eye is for. Now go sleep, will you?"

Maribella hesitated a moment before nodding. She had tired herself enough that she'd probably be able to sleep now anyway. She took a step forward and then hesitated since Hiei was in her way back up to her room. She took a deep breathe and then stepped around him. Hiei didn't move, eyes still on the forest and landscape before him. Only once she was safely encased in her room again with the glass door closed behind her did Hiei return to his post just outside.

The female air and water demon paused at her bedside. Looking back the way she'd come, she let her gaze rest on Hiei's form. He seemed to have gone back to sleep almost instantly. At least until his red eyes opened and he looked in at her, red gaze glowing as it met hers. She swallowed and tore her gaze away again, returning to her bed and burying herself deep in the covers and tried to sleep.

Hiei continued to watch her until he felt her mind drift off into sleep before he looked back out at the lake which had once again returned to it's calm self and the trees that had stopped swaying on the breeze-less night. If this was what she could do unable to fully access her powers, what could the woman he was guarding do when she was fully powered up? And if she was as powerful as he was beginning to suspect… what the hell had defeated her?