Four months later...

Hiei sighed in frustration as he resheathed his sword. That was the fifth member of Sundrak's men that went suicidal on him, this one slashing his own throat with a dagger. I really need to disarm them before questioning.

He applied pressure to the bridge of his nose, feeling the beginnings of a migraine coming on. Hiei knew he was getting close to Sundrak, but pin-pointing him was starting becoming a huge problem. With a growl, he turned and left the alley he had cornered Sundrak's clown in and headed toward the inn he had been staying in.

Is that The Hiei? Mukuro's second in command?

Hiei frowned at the female voice in his head. Turning he found a girl staring at him with wide eyes.

I thought he would be taller.

With a glare, Hiei took a step toward her, but she dashed away.

Creep. Who does he think he is scaring people away like that.

His glare intensified at another voice, this one male, entering his thoughts. Last time he checked, his mental barriers were in tact. The thoughts of others shouldn't be invading his thoughts.

What an ass.

Another voice made him feel like he was losing his mind. As looked around, the thoughts of the people on the street started overwhelming his mind. With a growl he picked up his pace to the inn, focused on getting away from everyone as the thoughts of everyone around him intensified.

His migraine was getting worse by the second, but as he neared the inn, a soft humming started dim in his mind. He focused on the gentle female voice as it slowly grew louder, the closer he got. As he entered the inn, all the voices slowly faded from his mind. Nearing his room, he could physically hear the soothing sound.

Opening the door, Hiei found Leta twirling around the room with her eyes closed, her little voice changing from a hum to words.

"Someone holds me safe and warm.

Horses prance through a silver storm.

Figures dancing gracefully across my memory.

Far away, Long ago.

Glowing dim as an ember.

Things my heart used to know.

Things it yearns to-"

Leta crashed into his legs as she spun around the room. She jumped back with a yelp before she shouted at him. "Don't scare me like, Dessi!"

Hiei arched a brow. "What were you doing?"

Leta frowned at him. "Singing and dancing?" Hiei tilted his head in confusion and Leta's eyes widened. "Don't tell me you have never sung or danced," she said, incredulously.

Hiei's confused looked turned to an arched stare. "Little onna, I was a bandit."

Leta huffed, putting her hands on her hips. "So?! That doesn't mean anything!"

Hiei's brow remained arched as he shook his head and walked further into the room, pulling his sword and cloak off as he sat down on the bed. Leta floated over and sat down next him. "I take it you still didn't find out where Sundrak is hiding, huh," she said quietly as she looked at her feet dangling off the side of the bed.

"Hn."

Leta sighed before she hopped up and stood on his knee so she was eye-level with him. "It's okay, Dessi. We will find him, and then we will go back home," she said with a smile. "But for now, you should learn about singing and dancing!"

Hiei scoffed but said nothing. Leta could talk him into a lot of things, but making a fool out of himself by prancing about and making strange noises? No; Just no. He'd sooner endure the torture of the seven Hells for the rest of eternity.

Leta grabbed his hand and started to float towards the center of the room, but was stopped by Hiei refusing to stand. She turned on him with a confused look that turned to a glare. "Come on, Dessi. It will be fun!"

Hiei arched a brow. "I don't do 'fun' little onna," he said, his tone showing he was carefully keeping his temper in check. He still had a massive headache and his frustration from not finding any useful leads on Sundrak had been building exponentially.

Leta huffed as she tugged on his hand again. "Oh, don't be such a debbie downer. You don't have to play the whole tough guy act when no one is around."

Hiei frowned. Debbie downer? What in the Hells is that? "Hn."

Leta was suddenly in his face, causing slight surprise to see her so close, her hands now on her hips as she glared at him. Hiei's finger was still in one hand as she started waving her hands around as she spoke. "What is with you and saying 'hn' all the time!? It isn't even a word! It's just a short grunt that isn't even a full grunt. You know, you could actually try to form complete sentences once in a while."

"Litte onna," he warned, his control on his temper nearing its breaking point.

"Don't 'little onna' me," she growled, her voice a perfect mimic of his own when she said 'little onna.' Hiei's eyes widened. "I'm a person, you know. A living, breathing, person," she paused for a second, her anger fleeting from her face as she looked up in thought. "Well, sort of, but you know what I mean," she finished, her anger returning as she cut a glare to him.

Hiei sighed. "What is your point, little onna."

Her eyes widened for a second before they cut back to a glare. "My point is that people deserve a little more than stupid little grunts as a response to everything!"

As she flailed her arm out, Hiei pulled his hand out of her grasp and returned her glare. "This is who I am, little onna," he growled.

Leta crossed her arms with a huff. "Don't give that line of phony mumbo-jumbo, Dessi. You are who you decide to be. If you aren't happy with something, you change it. It's simple."

Hiei growled as he stood and walked away from her to the other side of the room. His anger directed at himself for a moment, as he realized he didn't particularly have anywhere to go, so he settled for glaring at the wall as he crossed his arms. "Perhaps I do not want to change it," he said with a growl, trying to burn a hole into the wall with his glare.

"Why would you want to be a stupid, grunting, angry, anti-social, childish-"

Hiei growled in anger as he turned on her, dropping his arms to his sides as his fists clenched and unclenched. "Enough," he snarled.

Leta huffed at him again, not phased by his anger. "What? That is how you are acting! You ruin the fun in things by being stupid and childish."

"Stupid and childish is prancing around a room ridiculously, making weird noises from your throat that barely resemble words," he shouted.

Leta's jaw dropped, an indignant sound coming from her mouth as her eyes returned to snapping fire. "No, that's called living your life and enjoying it! That's having fun! Just because you can't give up your stupid 'I'm so bad' act long enough to actually try living doesn't mean you get to call it stupid and childish!'

Hiei growled at her. "Coming from a dead child, I can hardly agree with that twisted sense of logic." His voice was low and icy.

Hurt danced in Leta's eyes for a moment before her anger burned once again. "What does that say about you, if a dead girl is more alive than you are?"

Her voice was calmed, but anger still tinted her words. Hiei opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He realized he had no response. He sighed out of frustration, but said nothing as he turned his gaze to glare out the window. "It is who I am, little onna," he said finally.

Leta scoffed. "You used to talk a lot more before you left Aerisia," she said pouting. "You even used to seem happy then too. I know you miss them, Dessi, but we'll be home again soon. Keep your head up."

Hiei glanced at Leta out of the corner of his eye. "I don't miss them."

Leta sighed and shook her head. "Whatever you say, Dessi."

He had a feeling she didn't believe him, but he let it go, tired of the arguing. He realized how ridiculous he must have looked, arguing with a little ghost girl. With a sigh he moved back to the bed, lying down silently with his back to Leta.

She seemed to let the whole singing and dancing thing go as she laid down behind him on the pillow. Thinking back to before he came into the room, Hiei frowned. "Why aren't my barriers working right," he asked suddenly.

Leta 'hmm'd quietly before she sat up. He turned on his back to look over to her rubbing her eyes. "What do you mean barriers?"

"I keep mental barriers up at all times so I don't have to hear everyone's thoughts all the time."

Leta tilted her head to the side with her finger on her chin as she contemplated quietly. "Maybe it's 'cause you have been so far apart from Jen-Jen."

Hiei frowned. "I never had this problem before."

Leta nodded. "Of course you didn't, because your soul didn't know what it meant to be whole."

Hiei's frown intensified in confusion. Leta tilted her head as she looked at him. "Don't you know anything about souls, Dessi?"

Hiei just raised an eyebrow in response. "Hm, right. Bandits don't really care about that kinda stuff, huh?" She laughed quietly before shifting to cross her legs under her. "Basically when someone is born, they are given two halves of two souls. The other two are given to someone else who is deemed worthy of the other person. Sometimes it takes a hundred years to find the right person to carry the other halves.

"Once both souls are born, they are drawn to each other. Like most things, you don't really realize you are incomplete until you know what it means to be complete. If you two spent long enough apart, your energy would eventually go back to how they used to be, unless you two physically bonded. If that was the case, your soul would slowly die."

Hiei nodded slightly. He wasn't particularly happy that he was effected this way. It could cause problems with going after Sundrak. "We need to wait until my energy is back to normal before I kill him."

Leta looked up at him sadly, but seemed to understand. "We'll get back home, Dessi," she said with a smile.

Hiei nodded as Leta laid back down, curling into his side as he remained on his back. He sighed as he stared at the ceiling, deep in thought. Did he really want to have such a liability? Not being able to manage something as simple as holding his mental barrier meant his most basic energy attacks would be unreliable at best. Hiei wasn't entirely sure he wanted to return to Aerisia anymore, knowing if he stayed away from Jen long enough, he would eventually be back to normal.

A strange heavy feeling pressed against his chest. It felt as if someone was sitting on him. He supposed that meant that he didn't like the idea of not returning to Aerisia, but it didn't matter. He wouldn't have his strength reliant on whether or not he remained near Jen. With a sigh, he pushed all thoughts out of his and forced himself into sleep.

Jen growled in frustration as her energy snapped back on her yet again, throwing her back into the ground before Kurama even had to land a hit on her. Her energy had been on the fritz the past couple days. The only thing she could think of was that winter was coming, but she had never been affected to this extent. Maybe it is because this is the first winter that I've really mastered my energy.

With a sigh, she pulled herself up, Kurama looking at her with worry in his eyes even though he chose to say nothing. This was training; They could talk about what was happening when they finished. Real fights didn't stop to try to figure out what was wrong, and training was no different. That's what Genkai drilled into her head at least.

Jen frowned as a tickling feeling went over her neck. She recognized the feeling as Amber contacting her, using the machine that sent out mental waves to who Amber wanted to contact, as she pulled out a small ear piece the human tech had given her. The ear piece had a small microphone that extended over her cheek bone so she could respond. "What's wrong," she asked as she placed the contraption in her ear and pressed the button.

"Why do you always assume it's something wrong when I call," Amber said with a huff.

"Because it usually is."

Jen could hear Amber's smile in her voice as she spoke. "Well, nothin' is really wrong. Just your basic demon spotted along the kingdom walls. Thought you would want to go check him out. He looks like he's looking for someone."

Jen frowned. "Alright, thanks, Amber. I'll go check it out."

"No problem! Techie out," she said as she broke off the connection.

Jen pulled the ear piece of and glanced at Kurama. "Care to accompany?"

She knew she didn't need to explain it to him. Kurama's hearing was far better than hers. No doubt he could pick up conversations in the palace if he concentrated on it. He nodded slightly, still wearing his worried look as they started towards the wall surrounding Aerisia. "Don't worry about it," she said as they walked. "My energy always gets hinky around winter."

Kurama frowned. "It wasn't this severe last year."

Jen shrugged. "I think it might have to do with how much I've been working with my energy and getting stronger. I never really used it before so it must be that."

Kurama shrugged. "If I may present an alternate possibilty. It could be because you have been apart from Hiei for so long."

Jen's face fell into a glare. "I don't see how that would change anything."

"After soulmates meet each other-"

"I know about soul mates, Fox-brother," she snapped, surprising Kurama.

Jen sighed quietly. "I'm sorry. It is a touchy subject. I figured he would be back by now. Even Leta won't talk to me."

Kurama hm'd quietly but chose to say nothing on the subject as they neared where the demon was. Kurama fell into the shadows as Jen approached the stranger. She figured it was in case he tried to run. Kurama was always preparing for all scenarios.

As the demon caught sight of Jen, he started to run the other direction, nearly crashing into Kurama. Jen jumped to cut him off as he tried to dart the other way. "Cool your jets, intruder. We just want to know why you are here."

The male glared at Jen. "I'm looking for a fire demon. Last we heard, he was here."

Jen frowned, but held her calm. They are looking for Hiei? Does he know people are looking for him? Focus. Jen arched a brow as she crossed her arms. "We?"

He shrugged. "My boss. He has a bone to pick with this fire demon. Guess he stole something from boss-man a long time ago. Know where I can find him for a little talk?"

Jen could tell this was just a messenger. No one in their right mind would send someone so talkative, much less weak after Hiei. "He left here several months ago. The prick could be dead for all I know," she said, a little venom entering her voice.

The male's eyes widened. "You're that girl my boss was talking about! The one the fire demon likes so much. Yeah, Boss-man would be pleased if I brought you to him."

Jen's brow arched. "I don't know what out-dated source of information you have, but he doesn't give a damn about me. He told me himself before he left."

The demon looked sad for a second. "Damn. Oh well," he looked back up at her with menace. "Still, worth a shot."

He launched at her and Jen easily dodged him, spinning to kick him hard in the side. As he fell to the ground, Jen caught him by the back of his shirt and hoisted him up to pin him against a tree with his back to her. "Alright, buddy. Now you have involved me, and that makes me interested. Who is your boss."

He seemed like he wasn't going to talk and Jen moved to hit him between the shoulder blades when Kurama's voice stopped her. "If I may?"

She looked back to see mischief glimmering in his eyes. That was a look she knew all too well. She released the demon, holding her hands up as she walked the few steps to Kurama. "All yours."

Kurama approached the male slowly, who looked up at him mockingly. "What are you going to do, Pretty Boy?"

Kurama's eyes flashed gold for a second. He wordlessly pulled a seed from his hair. With a small fair of energy, the seed bloomed into a small baby-blue flower. The male demon shivered slightly, trying to mask his fear. "L-look buddy. It's pretty flower and all, but you aren't really my type."

Kurama looked up at him cooly. "This flower does something very interesting. It morphs into your greatest fear and toys with you."

As he spoke, the flower didn't change at all, but the male's eyes widened in fear at it, as if it actually was. "No, no! Please! Anything but that!"

The flower grew more, Kurama setting the flower on the ground beside the demon. He tried to crawl away but vines came up from the ground, creating a cage around him. The male demon squeaked. "Alright, alright, alright! What do you want?"

Kurama's eyes narrowed in victory. "Who sent you?"

"Hi-His name is Sundrak. Some big, bad Delphyr. He's becoming something of a leader in the Northwest."

"Where do we find him?"

The demon shrugged. "I don't know. He's always moving around and doesn't ever tell us anything. We only know about his base in the Northwest."

Kurama nodded slightly, seeming deep in thought. "Thank you for your cooperation," he said quietly as he turned to walk past Jen.

The demon shrieked as he flattened against the side of the vine-cage, staring at the small blue flower in fear as the flower pulsed softly. "Wait! You can't leave me here!"

Without even turning back to him, Kurama waved his hand. The blue flower grew as the vines fell away. The demon sceamed as the flower came down on him, swallowing him whole.

Jen followed him as they neared the palace, barely phased. She was accustomed to Kurama's deadly plants. "We need to tell Hiei."

Kurama turned to her with a questioning look. "I don't think that is a good idea, Jenna," he said, using his personal nickname for her. "Hiei can take care of himself."

Jen shook her head. "He can only take care of himself if he knows about the threat. Please, Kurama. This is important to me," she said looking up at him pleadingly.

Kurama sighed, indecision in his eyes. "You know no one else is going to be okay with you going."

Jen sighed. "I know. That's why we can't tell them. Just you and I. You know your way around the bandit cities and how to interact with them."

Kurama sighed looking out at the sun. "We need to leave in the night if you don't want anyone to try to intervene."

Jen nodded. "I know. Meet you tonight at the old meeting place," she said with a smirk.

Kurama's eyes danced with memories of their mischief that always started with meeting at the western corner of the Aerisian territory. He nodded silently before they walked into the palace. Just like old times.

Hiei awoke with a start to a high pitched scream. Pressure increased against his side as he shot up. He noticed Leta shaking and wailing beside him. He tried to touch her to calm her, but it caused her to scream louder. "Little onna," he said quietly.

Leta didn't even hear him as she continued sobbing with her eyes shut tight. What is going on with her? He suddenly remembered a time when Leta had rushed to Jen in the middle of the night in the same state. She was having a nightmare. What was it that Jen did? He cursed silently. The lullaby.

That had been where he recognized the soft melody Leta had been humming. Jen had hummed it to her softly to calm her down. Leta was completely unreachable at this point, wailing as she flailed her arms every time he tried to touch her.

With a sigh, he focused on remembering the melody. He started very quietly, still trying to convince himself that she would eventually just calm down on her own. She started to calm ever-so-slightly and he decided it was working. Hiei hummed a little louder, though it was barely audible to begin with between the low-register of his voice and how quiet he was humming.

Leta finally didn't scream when he touched her, though she was still sobbing. He carefully pulled her against his chest, his hand stroking her hair. Hiei had no idea what he was doing, he relied on the memory he had of Jen comforting her little sister like this.

After several minutes of sitting like this, with Leta curled against his chest, his arms cradling her gentley as he hummed the soothing melody, Leta finally relaxed as she cuddled into his chest. WIth a sigh, he laid back, keeping Leta against his chest as her hand came up to bury itself in his hair. He had noticed of the last few months that hair seemed to calm Leta, so he didn't complain. She didn't pull his hair or anything; Just kept her hand there.

Leta sighed quietly. "You have a beautiful voice, Dessi," she mumbled, a peaceful sleep taking her immediately after.

Hiei hn'd softly before he drifted back to sleep himself. Maybe that wasn't so bad. He scoffed at himself. Still would take the torture of the Seven Hells...

A/N~ I think I rewrote this chapter at least twelve times. Seriously, every time I wrote it, I wasn't happy with it. I think it might have been because I originally had Hiei give in to Leta in the first scene after the argument, and I just can't envision Hiei doing that, even with all the changes that are happening for him. So I decided to change it up, and I'm pretty pleased with it now. :D The next three chapters should come pretty quickly, considering I pretty much have them written out in my head. They are, without a doubt, my favorite chapters that I intend to write :)

Read, review, favorite, PM, follow, stalk; Enjoy.

Thank you! :3

Much love ~Jessa