I'm FREE! I have finished all my finals and I am free! Yipee! In celebration I'm posting the next chapter and trying to work on my new Yu Yu Hakusho story. It's tentatively titled Never Stop Running and I'm going to try and finish writing it before I post so there won't be any periods of horrendous waiting. But until it is up you can enjoy The Blue Rose!

Chapter Ten: Gardevoir

There was a green menace clinging to his arm.

Kurama stared at the creature, wondering if a slight sting from his rose whip would make it go away, but then decided that as much as he wanted to, the creature hadn't actually done anything except partially cut off his circulation. So far.

The Gardevoir meeped incoherently at him, then smiled up at him girlishly as it hung off his arm. Apparently the creature thought that Kurama (who had only carried the semi-conscious Gardevoir to the house at Mrs. Cullen's request) had single handedly saved it. Now the creature was determined to show its undying gratitude.

With hugs.

The greater problem, Kurama had found, was that it refused to let go. It was deceptively strong and often he couldn't get it to let go unless it fell asleep (he could then carefully pry it off his arm) or was distracted (which was less likely).

Currently the stubborn creature was clinging to his left arm. Kurama tried to reign in his temper as the silly creature meeped and cooed its name at him while the two of them watched Aria and Frost try to reawaken Aria's power. It wasn't going well and everyone there was loosing patience with one thing or another.

Aria broke first and she and Frost went through another of their arguments before Aria stomped off one way while Frost floated in another.

Kurama stood, intending to follow Aria, but the Gardevoir clung, pulling him down again. With an angry huff, Kurama tried to hold on to his patience. Instead it skipped away from his control and dashed away like a disobedient child.

"Let. Go." He told the Gardevoir in a frightening voice.

The creature stared at him with wide reddish eyes and its lips trembled slightly, like it hadn't thought Kurama capable of using such a voice. Stunned, the creature let go and with a sorrowful sound and floated off in the direction of the forest.

With a shake of his head Kurama went off towards the house.

Aria wasn't there or anywhere within hearing distance. He called her name only twice before giving up. Maybe it was just best to leave her alone till she cooled down.

Instead Kurama went and wound his way through the trees of the forest. Under the evergreen's needles the air was shady and cool. The sounds of forest life were everywhere are creature went on with their small lives, unaware of the potential doom hanging over there heads, just three days away.

The cool of the forest and the scurrying life helped Kurama to cool his temper. He walked a little ways through the trees and undergrowth until he found a clump of dry boulders that he could sit on. They sat within the edge of the tree line, close enough to the edge to see the earth turn into sand into ocean, but far enough in that the trees caught most of the ocean's spray that was blown inland by the wind.

He began to think. And while that actually wasn't all that strange for him, now some rather interesting problems filled his mind.

First, they only had three days left before Xryna demolished this world. No one was quite sure how he was going to accomplish this feat. He could rely on an army or horrendous natural disasters (that would require more time) or he could just snap his fingers (so to speak) and this world would be gone from one instant to the next.

Although regardless of how, there was also the problem of stopping him. Frost had said that Aria was the only one who could stop Xryna. However if she was going to accomplish anything she was going to have to remember her gift with water. She couldn't though. For some reason, she was stuck. Kurama supposed it could be because that had literally been another lifetime, when she had been Adia. Kurama had been through a similar situation when he had become Shuichi and it had taken him ten years to regain his full power. However, something was keeping Aria's power from her; that was why she hadn't stumbled upon it when she was younger. The question now then was it Xryna who was causing this block or if someone, possibly something, else was keeping her from her power. The first option was understandable, but Xryna didn't have that kind of subtlety even if he did have the forethought and power. The second option, while less likely, was very possible and also far more frightening.

As he thought, Kurama flipped a small silver button up and down in spinning circles. When his thoughts became too circular, going round and round like the button with no decent end, he stopped and looked at the silver circle. Koenma had sent it too him as a way to return home. All he had to do was squeeze the button and he would return. He didn't know if it would work on more then one person though.

A flash of green, brighter then the green of the trees caught Kurama's attention and startled him, which was an unusual action for him. When he realized that the brighter green was only a bird he didn't know, he slumped and heaved a sigh that might have been described as relief. Even when it wasn't around the threat Gardevoir still hung over Kurama closer then the threat of the upcoming doomsday.

Kurama rubbed at his temples and then stood. It was getting late in the afternoon, and the unanswered dilemmas were weighing heavily on his mind. He should go see how Aria was doing. He just wished he had found the answers to his numerous questions.

********

He found Aria in the place he least expected. She was standing knee deep in the ocean's moving waters her hands out in front of her, palms facing the ocean surface. The constant ebb and flow of the salty water made her sway slightly and her legs were itchy where the spray and splashed against them.

Kurama guessed what she was trying to do and called out softly so as not to startle her, "Try and match the rhythm of the waves."

She looked up once to see him standing there on the beach. Then she shut her eyes and tried to feel that same constant movement inside her as well as outside. She swayed more, unintentionally, for a brief moment feeling the sway of the water inside her as it ebbed and flowed, pushed and pulled under her skin. A huge smile started to form on her face. She had done it! She felt the sensation of heavy water rising with her fingertips as she drew it out of the ocean.

But then it was gone, pushed out of her and pulled back into the water surrounding her.

"Conflabit!" She yelled loudly as the water that had been rising out of the ocean in a long spindly rope plopped back into the water, soaking the hem of her shorts. She wasn't sure if that was a word or not, but it expressed the proper amount of frustration she felt at the moment.

With several other most-likely-not-words, Aria angrily splashed her way to the beach and grabbed her green towel which she had left on a rock near the edge of the forest. She had learned at least one thing that first unsuccessful day she started training with Frost; always bring a towel to dry yourself off with after you failed miserably.

Fortunately for Aria, Frost hadn't reappeared yet. Otherwise she might have thrown the cold creature into the ocean after she gave her yet another not very helpful piece of advice. Most likely the very blue creature was off meditating somewhere as Aria had often seen her do after she tried to train Aria.

"That was better Aria. You almost had the ribbon free of the water." Kurama said and as he laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. He said nothing about her earlier argument with Frost, which Aria was glad for.

"Almost isn't good enough." She told him tartly. "We've only got three more days and I can't even get a drop of water to listen to me much less enough to stop a force of sheer evil." She was almost yelling by the end, with her hands spread out to her sides for emphasis. These past few days she had hardly felt anything but frustrated.

Kurama got that thoughtful look on his face that meant he was trying very hard to work something out. Aria stopped and waited, hoping that he would remember something, anything, which might help her.

Instead he said, "I don't understand," Aria very nearly threw up her hands and gave up then and there. She knew that if Kurama couldn't understand something, then she (who was not nearly as good as fitting things together as he was) would never easily understand it.

However he kept speaking. "There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to reach your energy at all. You've had plenty of time for it to return on its own, but it's like your cut off from it, as if someone was deliberately keeping you from reaching it." He said, thinking out loud. He'd thought this many times before but now, after watching Aria's energy as she reached for the water, he had little doubt that it was true.

Aria, blinked. "Xryna's cut me off from my energy?" She asked tentatively. She hadn't even considered the possibility that anyone would keep her energy from her. She had just thought she was slow to learn water as she was with almost everything else. She had never liked school.

Kurama shook his head, still thinking. "No," He muttered. He was fairly positive of that too. "Xryna's energy has a certain feel too it, like when there's ash or dirt in the air. I haven't felt anything like that since I came here."

"Well what can we do?" Aria asked.

Kurama thought a moment more. "It might be possible," he stared slowly, "that whoever is doing this simply put a block in your mind that prevents you from reaching your power with water."

"Oh!" Aria said as a memory returned to her. "That first time I used the water when Arashi appeared, it felt like a door had burst open and the water just came rushing in. I don't feel that way now though."

Kurama nodded. "They may have replaced the mental barrier or repaired it after you broke through it."

Aria's face brightened. "Then we can just remove it completely and things will work out?" She asked hopefully.

Kurama doubted it was that simple at all, but it was worth a try. He gave a sharp nod. "Hopefully."

Aria grinned and grabbed Kurama's hand, pulling him after her towards her house. "Well come on, let's give it a try." She cried excitedly. Strangely enough, Kurama found he didn't mind Aria dragging him nearly as much as the green menace.

********

Several minutes later, both Aria and Kurama were seated on the floor of Aria's bedroom. Her mother had left earlier to check on a friend's pokemon and they had locked the door incase the Gardevoir returned while they were still trying to break the mysterious barrier. Frost was nowhere to be found.

"Ready?" Kurama asked.

Aria shifted on the carpet, put her hands on her knees and took a deep breath for courage. "Ready." She said as firmly as she could. It wasn't that she didn't trust Kurama; it was just that the idea of anyone rooting around in her mind made her a mite uneasy.

Kurama nodded and closed his eyes in concentration, Aria mimicking him. For a moment, she didn't notice any big difference, and almost starting humming to herself to fill the silence.

Then a strange sensation appeared. It felt like something was pricking at the inside of her forehead. It tickled the inside of her skull like a mouse or some other furry creature was crawling in her brain. It was downright queer.

Then it began to hurt as much as if a rodent was in her head. Something was crawling around through her thoughts, shifting through memories, nibbling at half created ideas. She took a deep breath. This could be the answer to why she couldn't use her water. She couldn't just give up because it was beginning to hurt.

But then the creature bit something that sent a rocket of pain through her like a fire flashing through her nerves.

She let out a sharp, high pitched cry and threw her hands in front of her face as if that would stop the flash of light from flaring behind her eyelids. She fell back waiting for the pain to spread through the rest of her body.

But as soon as she was able to register anything beyond the brilliant light, she heard Kurama's worried voice.

"Aria? Aria!" He called. She opened her eyes but all she saw was glaring sun spots. If she tried hard she could make out the edge of the ceiling fan in between the light.

She waved her hand, trying to shoo away the hand that kept shaking her. "Stop." She whined. Her head was aching fiercely now and she kept her eyes shut tight trying to will away the light by force.

"Aria what happened? What's wrong?" Kurama asked, pulling her into a sitting position.

"There was a mouse and then boom, the rocket went off and my head hurts." She babbled.

Kurama briefly wondered if you dialed 911 in this world for emergency services like they did at home.

Then he shook his head. "Aria, what happened?" He asked again.

Aria groaned and held her head, now wishing she couldn't see. Her head felt like the mouse had turned into an elephant and was rampaging around in her head. After a minute the elephant turned into a cat and simply sat there kneading her gray matter.

"I don't know." She finally answered. "There was a mouse chewing on my memories-"

Kurama gave her a little shake. "Aria, you're not making sense. What mouse?"

Aria wondered how this did not make sense. "There was a mouse in my head. It crawled over my thoughts and when it bit something exploded and now my head hurts."

Kurama finally guessed enough of what Aria was saying to understand the general point. "Aria that wasn't a mouse." He couldn't believe he had to tell her that. "That was me. I was looking for the mental barrier."

She looked up at him still slightly dazed. "Did you find it?" She asked.

Kurama laughed sharply. "Yes. That was the rocket."

"Oh." Aria said. "I take it the explosion wasn't the barrier being blown to oblivion?" She asked feeling a little more like herself.

Kurama smiled and shook his head. "No, that was something throwing me out of your mind."

"Something?"

"Most likely whoever put it there." He told her.

They were quiet for a moment, Kurama thoughtful and Aria still feeling a little dazed and happy enough that she could just sit there with her head on Kurama's shoulder.

Then a thought occurred to her. "Wait, does that mean that there really is a barrier keeping me apart from the water energy?"

Kurama spoke thoughtfully. "Yes, and from what I was able to tell it's a very strong one as well. That makes it difficult to break through and if what just happened is any indication, it may hurt." He looked at her worriedly.

But Aria just nodded her head. "I guess we should just get this over with then." She said stubbornly.

"Aria you don't have to do this." Kurama tried.

Aria nodded. "Yes I do. There's only three days left before Xryna shows up bringing doomsday and who knows what else in his wake. I refuse to just sit here and let him trample us with whatever force of evil he brings with him." She took a deep, steadying breath, and sat cross legged in front of Kurama once more. "So let's break this weirdo's barrier, get my powers back, and go save the world." She smiled bravely, but Kurama saw the corner of her mouth waver just a bit.

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "It will be alright." He reassured her.

Aria nodded and for a second it looked as if her brave front would crumple. Tears appeared in the corners of her eyes and her lips trembled dangerously. He thought for a moment she would cry, but she closed her eyes and took steadying breath. Her brown eyes were still wet when she opened them again, but no new tears formed.

She nodded stubbornly. "I know," and now she smiled weakly, "but that doesn't mean I don't want to get this over this as fast as we can."

Kurama nodded and positioned himself in front of her again. He bent his head and closed his eyes and reached out again with his energy, but not before he reached out and took her hand in his.

The mouse feeling appeared again and Aria braced herself. This time it didn't scurry through her mind searching, but went straight the barrier. It prodded at it gently and Aria relaxed just a little. That hadn't hurt at all.

Then there was a sharp pang as something lashed out. She thought at first that Kurama had struck the wall in an attempt to break it, but that wasn't quite right. Next she thought that the wall had a self defense system all its own to prevent someone from trying to break it like they were. But then the pain came again, even sharper then before. Aria held tight to Kurama's hand and held her breath. She looked inward, not questioning how she did it or how it worked afraid that questioning it would make it stop working.

She watched closely as Kurama reached out again and tentatively touched the barrier again in an attempt to find a way to break it. Pain, stronger then before shot through her brain and she almost missed the new energy that appeared out of the barrier. It was great and golden and it hurt like a flaming nail through her ear. She thought she might have seen or felt or sensed it before, but she wasn't quite sure.

She was sure that the golden light was absolutely blinding. If she had been looking through her physical eyes, she would have had to squint if she wanted to see anything at all.

Kurama's energy recoiled from the burst of light. Maybe it hurt him as much as it hurt her Aria thought distantly. Whether it hurt him or not Kurama redoubled his efforts. He attacked the golden light trying to defeat its power. But the light only grew more powerful and brighter the harder he fought. When a straightforward attack didn't work, Kurama tried to slip past the light's defenses, dodging this way and that between glowing tendrils and golden shine to get at the wall behind it.

But the light was everywhere now. It filled her mind with a fierce, blinding, light, and painful in its brilliance and beauty. She thought she might have whimpered pitifully (she certainly felt like she could) but she wasn't sure. It seemed like the longer she watched the battle inside her mind, the less she saw or heard of the outside world.

"Get out. Get Out! GET OUT!" Aria finally screamed. She had had enough of this.

The light increased and though Aria didn't know it, she opened her mouth and screamed a high pitched, frightened sound that startled every creature that heard it.

At first Kurama thought she was yelling at him. He retreated immediately, but just as quickly stopped. While the gold light was still there hovering protectively in front of the barrier, cracks were beginning to form in the wall. For a moment Kurama didn't understand. He had stopped attacking the light and the barrier when he had drawn back. Also the foreign energy was motionless, apparently taking no notice of the crumbling wall behind it.

Then Kurama saw a new energy peering through the now large cracks in the barrier. It was a familiar energy with a bluish tint to it. Familiar because it was Aria's, and blue for its connection to water.

Aria's energy surged again, sending more cracks shooting through the wall. Chunks began to fall, disintegrating as soon as they were severed from the whole. Piece by piece the wall crumbled down around the head of the golden energy.

Slightly panicked, the mysterious wall raiser tried to rebuild the wall in Aria's mind before her energy could escape, but it was useless. The barrier couldn't stand up to Aria's imprisoned energy and dissolved in a sea of rushing blue. Briefly Kurama thought he saw other energies beyond the blue of Aria's, but he couldn't be sure before Aria unceremoniously and unknowingly kicked him out of her mind.

The force was so strong that in the outside world Kurama fell backwards onto the carpet before he realized he was once more in the physical world.

He sat up and saw that Aria was sprawled out on the floor as well, her arms drawn up around her pale face and sweat beading upon her forehead. She was panting for breath as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Aria?" Kurama asked as he laid a hand on her shoulder. "Aria are you alright?"

Aria nodded but otherwise didn't move.

Kurama gave her a light shake. "Aria you look like a fried light bulb. What happened?"

It was true Aria saw when she opened her eyes. The tips of her hair looked singed and they smelled even worse. Her tresses were everywhere and full of static electricity that made it stand up straight and stick to her face and neck. And every time she tried to brush it away it shocked her hands painfully.

"Aria?" Kurama asked again.

Aria cleared her suddenly dry throat. "I'm fine." She croaked. "Help me up so I can get something to drink." She said holding out her hands pleadingly.

He pulled her up and then followed her out the door and into the kitchen where he waited patiently as she got a cup of water and drank it thirstily.

"Well?" Kurama finally asked when Aria filled her cup again. "Do you know what happened? Is the barrier fully gone?"

Aria looked thoughtfully into her cup. "I think so. That door I felt when Arashi attacked feels like its wide open now."

"Can you reach your energy now?" Kurama asked. If she couldn't then he was out of ideas.

Aria stared even harder into her cup. Her eyebrows drew together in concentration and she didn't look up even when Kurama asked his question again.

Then a small ribbon of blue rose up out of the cup. The water flowed upward, defying gravity, Aria's eyes never leaving its twisty progress.

Then suddenly it collapsed back into the cup and Aria looked up with a huge smile blossoming on her face.

"I'll take that as a yes." Kurama said.

She nodded, her smile taking over her face. When she spoke her voice was soft, but that did not hide any of her excitement. "We still have a chance."

There's still hope out there, but will it be enough? Find out next time in Chapter Eleven: Kurama.

P.S. - Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty I am free at last!