Last update of the year! Plus, now I've updated all four of my stories in one month. It's amazing. Here's chapter five where you get find out who Marian is, or was. Or is. You have to read to know, hehehehe. Oh yeah, Merry Late Christmas and Happy New Year's Eve!

Zel: Ho ho ho and don't get burned by any firecrackers!

Rose: As Zel's Christmas present, I'm going to say my own disclaimer. So I don't own anyone if you have seen them on Tv, internet, or any other media product. Therefore, Aria, her Mom, Marian, and the bad guys are mine.

Zel: I don't know why she wants those last ones, but she does.

Chapter Five: Marian

"You're dead!" Lexa screamed as her new pokemon appeared in front of Vixie. This time there was no question as to who had the advantage. Vixie was overshadowed by a blue serpentine creature that could have easily wrapped itself around the small red fox-like being and squeezed her to death. However Kurama and Botan were both learning that most pokemon didn't use physical attacks in battle, which both thought was strange.

But obviously the creatures' other attacks were more then enough to fight and win Kurama realized as the slim blue serpent let loose a powerful blast that sent Vixie crashing into one of the high arena walls.

Aria bit back her cry of despair. She would not show Lexa any kind of weakness. Instead she soundlessly called Vixie back to her pokeball and quickly decided on her next move.

Kurama watched, thoroughly interested now, as Aria summoned Chu and sent him towards the more powerful pokemon. He watched as the other girl, Lexa, gave a short laugh when she saw that Aria had sent another miniature pokemon against her stronger, smarter, Dragonair.

"Don't you ever learn?" She laughed scornfully. "You can't use itsy bitsy things like that to beat me." She said as she nodded to her pokemon and then waited for her victory to unfold.

But Aria was to smart for that. She gave Chu a command that neither Kurama nor Botan could hear above the noise of the crowd. But they watched as the yellow mouse dodged the attack that had finished off Vixie and then swiftly disappeared into the dust cloud that the explosion from the other creature caused.

Kurama was slightly amused when the audience drew in a collective breath and then let it out in a huge cheer when they saw that Aria's small creature had once again beaten Lexa's larger, supposedly stronger, pokemon. The yellow and black mouse had used the cloud to climb on top of the large blue serpent and then had delivered an electric attack that had knocked the creature senseless. But the poor little creature fell over as well from the affects of its own blast.

"That makes it a tie." Kurama said more to himself then anyone, although Botan still answered him.

"Yes," She said. "And they both only have one pokemon left. I hope that Aria's has an advantage over the other like Chu did."

Kurama smiled. "Even if it doesn't, Aria has a way of making things work for her."

"Yes," Botan said, feeling better. "Yes, I suppose she does. Although it would be awful if she lost, especially since that other girl seems to be a very nasty person." Lexa threw out her last pokemon, making Botan stop in order to watch the end of the fight. Although she did give a squeal when Sweetheart jumped off of Aria's shoulders and landed firmly in front of the strange big eared pokemon that Lexa was using.

"Loudred, crush the kitty cat!" Lexa was close to screaming with rage after losing. The Loudred didn't give its trainer any answer. Instead it started to stomp noisily on the ground, shaking the stadium. Then it started to scream, causing the crowd, including Botan and Kurama although they didn't say anything about it, to cover their ears.

Aria was no exception and before the noise got to terrible she shouted at Sweetheart to do the same.

None to soon, the Loudred ceased its stomping and yelling and then suddenly launched itself at the small white cat that was still curled up in a ball that protected her ears. It leaped into the air and aimed to land on Sweetheart, crushing her, but all it did was add another crater to the arena floor. Sweetheart was sitting prettily behind it washing her paw of dust and waiting for the deafened creature to turn around and notice her.

Eventually it did, and by then the white Skitty had moved on to her other foot. Seeing its opponent standing there so calmly drove the creature in to a rage and it ran towards Sweetheart, the ground quaking underneath it.

Sweetheart casually looked up from her wash and just before the thing would have run into her, she took a large step to the side. It took the creature a moment to realize that it had missed its target. But when it did, it ran back around and once again ran towards Sweetheart head on. But halfway to her it started to scream again, causing everybody to flinch and throw their hands over their ears again. Sweetheart however, only flattened her ears against her skull and leaped over the advancing menace. She landed safely behind him and then quickly lashed out with her claws, leaving deep scratches in the Loudred's skin. Then before it could do more then screech again, she kicked it solidly in the middle of its back, sending it skidding across the dirt floor. Lexa started her own screaming as the Loudred didn't move.

The referee was just about to call Aria's victory when Sweetheart crumpled to the ground and yowled in pain. Aria looked wildly around for the source of her Skitty's pain, but the Loudred was still and there was nothing else around. She felt a pressure in her head as she tried to figure out what was wrong with Sweetheart, but she wasn't sure what was going on.

Kurama pressed on the bridge of his nose to try and lessen the pressure the Loudred's high pitched scream was causing. He knew from Aria's confused look that she didn't know that the creature was emitting a sound that humans couldn't hear, but Sweetheart could. He wished that he could at least tell Aria that the Loudred was the cause of her pokemon's discomfort, but he had a good feeling that that would get her disqualified, which would defeat the purpose of her two previous wins over Lexa. She looked over at him silently asking for help, however Kurama didn't get the chance to give her a hint or not because Sweetheart suddenly lurched to her feet and raced towards the Loudred that still lay face down on the ground. She slammed into it, making the creature fly a few more feet away from her. The pressure between Kurama's eyes immediately lessened, and Sweetheart, feeling the difference, slammed into the stubborn being until it finally fell silent.

It was very quiet for a moment before the crowd erupted into ecstatic cheers. Aria ran to pick up Sweetheart as the referee named her winner. The white cat like creature purred softly as her girl began to scratch her head, easing her headache even more.

Lexa was raging in her corner of the arena. She flung her empty pokeballs at the stone wall, earsplitting screams erupting from her mouth. Eventually she stalked over to Aria, ranting at her all across the arena.

"You think you're so great with all your stupid baby pokemon? You can't even beat a decent pokemon head on. All you do is sneak around, just like your idiot friend did." Even from his seat, Kurama could see Aria freeze with apprehension. Lexa saw it too and sensing her foe's weakness, she latched on to Aria's terror like a bulldog.

"What," Lexa was smiling viscously as she approached Aria at an easier pace. "You think I never noticed you two run rampant around town, skipping school before she croaked? The whole town saw it! The only reason no one ever punished you was because they felt sorry for that simpleton who was your friend. If she hadn't been si-"

"SHUT UP!" Aria finally screamed at the spiteful girl and raised her hand to smack her across her pretty face.

Her hand jerked to a stop above her head. She saw through water filled eyes that Kurama had grabbed her wrist at the last second, stopping her from doing something stupid and rash.

She was going to start crying and she knew it. She walked as quickly as she could towards the exit, not taking her eyes off the ground. Kurama wasn't even a step behind her and Botan only took the time to tell the referee a cockamamie story about a sudden family emergency.

Of course she was only half lying.

Aria walked straight home. Her friends stayed close until they reached the forest that led to her house. Then subtly they dropped back a few steps, although she wouldn't have noticed even if they had told her through a bull horn.

"Should we do anything?" Botan asked quietly as she anxiously watched her new friend tramp oblivious through the tall trees.

The fox spirit shook his head. "No, let's leave her be until we find out who Marian is."

Botan nodded and they spent the rest of the walk in silence.

When they reached the house, Aria went directly to her room, ignoring her mother's questions about the convention, and locked the door behind her, not even letting Sweetheart inside with her.

"What happened?" Mrs. Cullen asked once the door closed.

"We're not sure." Botan said and then quickly explained about Lexa and Aria's battle and the exchange that had followed.

"Oh dear," Was all Mrs. Culler said as she sank into a chair. For a long while she only sat there and seemed to think about what to do.

Then slowly she nodded. "Marian," She said softly, sitting back in her chair. "Was Aria's best friend for as long as I can remember." She paused, remembering the sweet girl with bright hair and even brighter eyes who loved to run around town, even though it left her so tired and frail. "Unfortunately," Mrs. Cullen continued. "She was very sick. I'm still not sure what it was that she had, but I know it wasn't curable and she would most likely die before she reached her twenties."

"I'm sorry." Botan finally whispered when Mrs. Cullen didn't speak again.

The elder woman squeezed her hand in thanks and then wiped away the tears that were starting to gather in her eyes.

"Aria was heartbroken when she died."

Youko waited until Aria had dropped into a fitful sleep before silently entering her room. After noiselessly closing the door, which is much harder without thumbs and fingers then one might think, he jumped up onto the bed next to the teary girl. Carefully, he lie down next to her and let his consciousness slip from his body to join wherever it was that Aria had let her dreams take her.

The spirit fox found it very easy to find the teenage girl's dream self. She was drifting sadly above her dream about her younger self and another girl that Youko assumed was Marian. They were dancing excitedly throughout the forest that Kurama and Botan had first fallen into, although Marian looked unusually pale in the half light of the trees. He realized that Aria didn't look much younger then she did now, so this couldn't have happened very long ago.

After watching Aria's dream for a few moments, Youko trotted up her dream form, which was still watching her dream with weepy eyes.

"What are you doing?" He asked in a low voice so as not to startle her.

"I'm crying!" She said, her voice jerking with her sobs. "So go away!"

Naturally, it would take more then that to dissuade a thousand year old fox thief from learning what he wanted to know.

"She died soon after this, didn't she?" He asked in an even softer voice then the first. Aria burst into more sobs, but nodded her head for an answer.

Youko didn't say anything and instead let the distraught girl bury her fingers in his fur and cling to him as if he were a lifeline. As she cried, he watched her dream that continued to play in front of him like a movie that couldn't pause. He realized that the two girls had been close, more like adopted sisters then anything else. It was strange to watch them. In Makai, even in the human world where he lived now, people rarely connected to others in such a fashion. Usually they would live their daily lives never reaching more then the superficial level of familiarity and demons would rather die then be caught dead because of a misplaced trust, so they rarely worked together except for personal benefit.

Eventually, Aria's sobs slowed and Youko backed up a few steps. He let her watch with red eyes as he shifted to his more human form. Then slowly, because in her already troubled state he was afraid she would scare herself awake before he could talk to her, he sat down cross legged next to her.

Aria had the distinct feeling she should be more frightened by the semi human man that was sitting comfortably next to her, but she was too upset to care much about anything. So when the strange silver eared man pulled her into a firm hug, she didn't really struggle. Her whole body felt...deadened and heavy, like she had huge sacks of rocks tied to her wrists and ankles. She couldn't cry anymore, although her eyes stayed red as they tried to force out more tears.

"My poor blue rose." The amber eyed man said softly as he soothingly rubbed her back. "One hard life only led to another and this time you weren't the one who was forced to flee through death." Aria didn't understand what the strange man was saying, but his voice was low and soothing and Aria found she was being lulled into a deeper, dreamless sleep.

She shook herself. She didn't want to stop dreaming, to stop remembering her friend. The man must have notice her shiver because she felt him look down at the top of her head. Hazily she looked up to meet his gaze. Vaguely, she saw he had striking eyes that reminded her of molten gold.

"You don't remember me do you." It wasn't a question so Aria didn't answer. "Oh well, you will, although I hope you won't take to long to do so. Now," He gently brushed her hair away from her closing eyes. "Get some real sleep."

It was dark by the time Aria woke up again. After her very strange dream with the tall silver colored man, Aria had fallen into a deeper sleep so she didn't have to suffer the other dreams about her and Marian.

Slowly, she ambled out of bed and shuffled into the kitchen where everybody else happened to be.

"Hi Aria," Botan said with forced cheer. "Did you sleep well?"

Aria only gave a muffled, "ugh," then roughly grabbed the juice carton from the fridge.

"I'll be outside." She mumbled sounding somewhere between fatigue and grief as she let the door slam shut behind her.

"Oh dear." Botan said under her breath as she watched through the window as Aria sat down on the front steps. Her mother didn't bother to stay and watch her seventeen (?) year old daughter torture herself with her heartache. She stood up slower then usual and left the room. After the small clap from Mrs. Cullen's door drifted softly to the kitchen, Botan turned away from the window.

"What do we do?" She started to ask her friend, but she stopped when she saw that the screen door was already banging shut behind him.

For once Botan decided not to stick her nose in other peoples' business and instead went into her makeshift bedroom to try and contact Koenma again.

Kurama sat down quietly next to Aria on the top most step of the Cullen's back porch. He gazed out across their watery backyard as the sun sank lower, sending reds and oranges across the teal-blue waters in a marvelous painting.

"What was she like?" He finally asked quietly.

"What do you care?" Aria's voice was thick from crying and she sniffed noisily to stop her nose from running any more.

"Because sometimes it's best to talk about what happened, if only so you remember the better times that you had together."

"And what would you know!" Aria snapped. She was tired of people always trying to tell her that they understood. That they knew what she was feeling. That they felt Marian's death as profoundly as she did.

Kurama's silence seemed to tell Aria everything. She was right; he didn't really know what she felt, he didn't really care.

"A good friend of mine was killed a few years ago."

Aria stopped her thoughts in their tracks.

"I'm sorry." She muttered, sounding like she was going to start crying again. "I guess I'm just so used to people telling me how they understand what I'm going through that I don't believe them anymore."

"I can understand that." Kurama's voice was soft enough that Aria didn't think she had heard him at first.

It was silent again as both Kurama and Aria stared out at the sea, swimming in their thoughts.

"What was she like?" Kurama asked again.

Aria sighed heavily. "She was…vibrant. No matter how sick she was she always loved to be outside and run around for as long as she could." Aria said, throwing up her arms. "People would always be telling her that she couldn't go out, that she couldn't play with the other kids because she would only make herself sick. Not that that ever stopped her," The red eyed Aria clarified quickly as she sniffed her nose again. "She would sneak out of her room as soon as her mom left the room just to swing on their tire swing in the back yard."

"I bet her parents were happy about that." Kurama said, prompting her to talk more about her lost friend.

Aria actually laughed, a short bark of sound that encouraged the heavy mood surrounding them to lift a little. "Yes, so happy," Aria sarcasm was weak as she wiped a few more tears from the corners of her eyes. "They were always upset when they found out she was missing, although after she and I became friends, they always looked for her first at our house."

"When did you meet her?" Kurama asked as he scooted a little closer to Aria.

Aria's eyes were more watery then before. "We met at school. It was one of the few days she was able to come to school before her illness made it too difficult for her to go to public school. Mom and I had just moved here and I was 'the new kid'" Aria put air quotes around the last phrase to emphasize her disdain for the cliques and standards of elementary schools. "But we both fit into that category of misfits; me because I was new and her because she was fatally ill." She paused to blow her nose on one of the tissues that Kurama had thought to bring out with him.

"Thanks," She said with a final dab at her nose and eyes. "She was also the one that really loved the baby pokemon, you know." Aria said in a little clearer voice. "When I was little I could care less about Skitties and Evees and all them. No, I was more interested in the big beautiful pokemon that could wipe out buildings in a single blow."

"But Marian was the one that liked the little guy, right?" Kurama asked honestly interested in what Aria remembered about her dearest friend.

"Yes," Aria said wistfully as she gazed out at the darkening horizon. "She thought that the underdog needed as much support and help as the crowd favorite. I guess she liked the little guys because she could sympathize with them more. She was like them, she could understand them, she could see that they had as much potential as any other pokemon."

Kurama saw that Aria was beginning to lose to her grief again. "That and they were cute." The fox spirit was awarded with a heartbreaking smile, but a smile none the less.

"So," She said after taking a shaky breath. "What about your friend? What was he like?"

Kurama leaned forward and stared at the now dark blue-black sea, deep in thought. Aria was about to change the subject and suggest that they go inside when Kurama sat up straighter.

"Kuronue was, oh, I suppose most people would call him playful. He didn't like to follow the rules," Aria slid back to lean against one of the poles of wood that supported the porch overhang. She never took her eyes off Kurama's face as she listened to him tell about his rambunctious, rule breaking friend.

Aria managed to laugh at Kurama's stories of his friend's childish antics. He had just finished telling her a story of when Kuronue had gotten into a fight with a stubborn rooster (the rooster won) when Aria finally asked, "How can you stand it?"

Kurama stopped laughing and looked seriously at the slender seventeen year old sitting across from him. "Stand what?"

"Laughing. Being happy. Smiling." She said, her distressed tone returning.

Kurama let out a thoughtful breath of air. "I'm not sure you want to hear that answer right now." He told her truthfully.

Aria drew her knees to her chest and clasped her hands tight around them, all the time never meeting Kurama's vivid green gaze.

"I think you're right." She finally said very quietly, like she was talking to herself more then to Kurama. "I don't think I want to smile yet."

After a moment of gloomy silence, Kurama stood up and offered Aria his hand. "Come on," He told her, motioning with his hand for her to get up. "Let's go inside. It's dark and you're still tired from earlier." She took his hand and he pulled her up.

"Thank you Kurama." She told him quietly after the screen door had shut with a clack behind them. "For listening, not many people do that anymore."

Kurama stopped in the doorway of his current bedroom. He looked at the young lady standing across the room and was hit with a strange moment of déjà vu. He had the feeling that she and he had done this before, although he also thought that it had ended in a very different way. The vague and insubstantial feeling annoyed the organized demon human.

He shook his head to clear it but only said, "You're welcome," and then left the room.

Kurama waited until he heard Aria pad silently to her room and the door close behind her before he settled himself onto the fold out bed fully dressed and awake to chide him self.

He was being irrational. He had never seen Aria before in his life, human or otherwise, so all he was remembering was a vague sense of déjà vu. A false sense of déjà vu. And yes, while she was not an unattractive girl, it would be stupid to consider her as more than a friend. He, Botan, and Youko both needed to return to Spirit World as soon as they were able to break through the barrier that was now surrounding them. At most it would take a day or two more for Koenma to open a hole large enough for them to get through. They could not afford distractions.

He could not afford distractions.

"…ama…" Words drifted through Kurama's dreamscape. His dream self ignored them and returned his attention to his friends.

The three of them were relaxing in their more permanent home in one of the darker forests of Makai where no one except the either incredibly strong or the incredibly stupid.

Kuronue was still trying to convince the blue haired woman who was sitting on one of the seat cushions that Youko was part of the latter. Youko was pretty sure that he was joking, but with a demon like Kuronue it was hard to sure some times.

"Kurama!"

Kurama shot up in bed with a start, startling Botan and nearly flinging his other half off the bed as well. He looked out the window to see that the sky was now tinged grey with early morning. Kurama realized that he had fallen asleep sometime during the night as he lay in bed thinking.

"What is it Botan?" Kurama asked looking at the small alarm clock that sat on the bedside table next to him as Youko cautiously came back to listen. "What is so important that you had to wake me up at five in the morning?"

"And why did you have to do it in such a way as to make him throw me off the bed?" Youko added under his breath in a sulky tone.

"Lord Koenma has opened a hole in the barrier, but it won't last long. A few hours at the most, so we need to go now." She spoke urgently, in a business like tone that was strange coming from the bubbly woman.

"Okay Botan, I'll be right out." Kurama told her, still half asleep.

"Fine, but hurry."

Five minutes later, both Botan and Kurama sped through the forest towards the clearing where they had first tried to return home. All manners of pokemon scattered at the two almost humans rushed past the burrows and nests, shocking most of the inhabitants from sleep.

They made it to the clearing in just less than seven minutes, a record time considering that on average the journey was roughly fifteen to twenty minutes.

They didn't speak as Botan summoned her oar and they both climbed on. Kurama hung on tight as the ground fell away beneath them to be replaced only with a rush of air.

No! Arashi would not let the three of them get away, especially the fox thief. His master would not be pleased to hear that he, Arashi, his most loyal servant, had let a couple of lower class demons and two powerless girls slip through his fingers. Arashi might not be able to withstand the punishment he would surely receive for such a foolish mistake.

Quickly, the black hearted demon squeezed the breach shut, cutting off the Raikaians only way of escape.

CRACK!!!

The sound of two bodies crashing to earth, through the thick branches and dense foliage echoed throughout the forest, frightening the creatures that lived there.

Then there was silence.

Stubbornly, Youko forced his injured body to stand. Amazingly enough both he and his human form had lived through the fall after Botan and her oar had disappeared through the break in the barrier that led back to Reikai. But before he and Shuichi could follow, the gap closed abruptly, leaving the two of them high in the air without any kind of safety net. It was probably only due to their demonic strengths that they had lived at all.

Of course, surviving the fall would become pointless if they died from their injuries instead. Keeping this in mind, Youko set off through the trees and underbrush towards Aria's house, hoping that someone would be awake enough to help.

Zel: Poor poor Aria...u.u
Rose: Yes, its sad, and now Kurama and Youko are hurt as well as stuck in PokeLand. Poor them too.
Zel: I suppose we'll all just have to wait until chapter six before you tell us if they'll be okay, huh?
Rose: Yes, but as an award for everyone's paitence-
Zel: Which I'm sure will come in handy.
Rose: Would you please be nice? Any way, you all will get to learn more about Aria and why Youko called her 'the blue rose'
Zel: What I want to know is when he and Kurama are getting back together.
Rose: o.O Excuse me?
Zel: No! I meant when their going to be, what do they call it, merged together, like they were at the begining.
Rose: Oh...yeah that...
Zel: Did you honestly forgot?
Rose: Yes. No. Maybe so.
Zel: Fine be that way, I'm going outside to watch the fireworks, so see ya next year everybody!
Rose: Wait for me! Oh, and don't forget to send feedback please everybody. See you in 2008!