Chapter 18

"Sarah…or the Phoenix?"

All eyes were on the pile of ashes that had once been one of Kurama's strongest vines, enhanced with his own spirit energy. Millions of questions were racing through each mind as Hiei looked down at the unconscious figure in his hold. He hadn't noticed before (he was just so relieved to see her up), but now he noticed that something was…different. She seemed to glow a little…

Less…

That was it. She didn't seem as radiant as usual, even in the state she was in right now. Her skin was pale, her face stoic and breathing mellow. Yes, she was unconscious, but even then, she should have a look of fear, relief, pain…something at least. Now, there was nothing. He may not have known exactly what happened, but it was pretty damn clear that something happened.

And he wanted to know what.

Kurama looked at the vines in shock. Not even Sensui could have destroyed the fortui vine…easily. And yet the half-dead girl had completely obliterated them. Natalie was shocked as well, but didn't seem as worried about that as she was about Sarah's current state.

It was four days before she woke up, and everyone had noticed a change in her. She had a very stoic and emotionless feel about her. She never spoke and refused to go to her training sessions. She stayed outdoors at all times, not even coming in at night to sleep. She ignored Natalie and Hiei and every remark sent her way. She never looked at anyone, and…one more thing…

Her eyes had changed from the color of the ocean to the shade of a stormy sky. If one looked close enough, they could probably see lightening streaking through the gray-blue irises.

They were unable to get in contact with either Genkai or Koenma, and they weren't quite sure what had happened. Everyone hoped that neither had gotten into trouble, but that was the only reason that Genkai wouldn't answer her calls.

Kurama assumed that it was the Phoenix making the changes in the girl. It must be getting stronger, even taking over like Youko did with him. Natalie thought that it might just be the impact of so many visions coming at once. Yusuke and Kuwabara were actually being serious for once, and were just as worried and confused as everyone else. Hiei…Hiei was just lost. She didn't speak to him, look at him, or hang around him like she used to. He could see none of the Sarah he had come to understand in this confident, silent, stoic creature before him now.

And he hated that.

Many times in the past week he had yelled at her, trying to force an answer from that padlocked mouth. He tried doing so physically, but even if he had her pinned to the ground with his katana against her neck, she remained silent and still until he let her go, just staring at him. This was the only way that she would even look at him, and he despised that even more than when she ignored him.

If all of this wasn't enough, they were starting to get visitors. Thankfully, they were just low-class demons instead of Koenma's men. However, there was a catch.

They were messengers.

Messengers sent by the powerful demoness who claimed to be Sarah's birth mother. They all carried the same notice: 'Be here by December 18th or the ice demoness is killed alongside her brother.' Each one of these messengers sent the short fire demon a small sneer. They would not tell the Reikai Tantei where "here" was, but they didn't seem to need to. Every morning, the guys would wake up and go outside to see that Sarah was staring off into the distance, but all anyone else could see or feel was the surrounding forest filled with D-class demons and the like.

This particular morning, they woke up to see no Sarah at all. Instead, they felt her ki disappearing into the forest, and after about two milliseconds of panic, the team (Natalie riding piggyback again) took off in her direction. Soon, they felt the speck of white energy halt, and once they caught up, they saw why. She was completely surrounded by men and women in uniform.

The Spirit Squad.

"We have come for one named Natalie Slater a.k.a. the Black Angel."

Everyone started and Kurama automatically dropped the girl onto the ground and took a protective fighting stance. The others followed suit and formed a circle…except for Yusuke.

"Been a while guys! Remember me?" He grinned maliciously at them; enjoying the looks of panic on the faces of the Squad as they recognized the man they had tried to kill in order to prevent the birth of a powerful demon. Unfortunately the plan had backfired, and Yusuke had emerged a full-fledged demon only to prove that he wasn't evil. They must still be embarrassed, as several of them actually stepped back and muttered something like "How could we not?" and averting their eyes.

However, the captain held his ground and repeated "Where is Ms. Natalie Slater?" He clearly knew where she was, though, as he had noticed the small figure hiding behind a crouching redhead and begun to advance.

"Ms. Slater. You are hereby under arrest-"

"On what charges?"

Everyone spun around to face the speaker, one who had not spoken in days and now had a firm grip on the captain's shoulder. Sarah's voice was as calm as if she was telling the time, although…her eyes betrayed her. They were wide in anger, pupils shrunken in impatience. The captain gasped under the sudden pressure on his shoulder, and looked to see the girl's hand clamped onto it. He looked at his team, wondering why they hadn't stopped her, but his gaze was met with a reflection of his own astonishment from every member of the squad.

No one had seen her move a muscle, not even the ex-Spirit Detective.

Only Hiei and Kurama had seen it coming, but only by watching her eyes as her gaze intensified.

"Let me guess," continued that cold, threatening voice so unlike the lively upbeat chirp the team had become so accustomed to, "King Yama doesn't much like sharing hid power over the transformation and transportation of souls, and he believes the Black Angel poses a threat to that control."

The air was steadily getting thicker and heavier with Natalie's livid protector. However, it was completely unlike Sarah's life energy: They didn't know of any real spirit energy she might possess, because all of her powers supposedly came from the Phoenix. This was unexpected. Then, a feeling they had all felt several times before came about. The feeling of overwhelming power emanating from a single being.

"Well, I have a message for him. Natalie is no more a threat to the worlds than he is. Allow him to think on that for a while." She released him with a glaring threat. The stunned leader backed away from the increasingly dangerous creature. "If you come back…" she stared at them so hatefully that it did not even look like Sarah anymore. They were now looking at a pale-faced, angry, hauntingly powerful being.

"…I will not…be merciful." And Sarah was gone.