From the cell he was stuck in, he could feel him. It was becoming stronger now. He was coming.

He still could remember him. Had he lived? Was that really him? But how? How could that be?

For the past fourteen years, he had practically ceased to exist. He could vivdly still remember that day. The day of the arrest...

[flashback]

It was a bright day even though they were in the Northern Territory. It was cold but for the two fire demons, it was nothing. They could handle the cold.

The two bestfriends glanced at the land of ice from the high cliff they stood. Everything was white as snow covered all parts of the landscape. It almost looked like they were on top of floating clouds.

Above the lands was the floating glacier of the koorimes. It looked like a diamond in the sky.

"It's beautiful."

"Magnificent."

They both smiled. This was a great day. It had been about six years since that tragedy...the tragedy that had brought them to their knees; to their worst.

"Hikaru." one of them said, pointing at a beautiful woman below the glacier. "Look over there!"

"What?" Hikaru asked as he glanced at the bishoujo and smiled. The woman was pretty, tall with long aqua green hair and gleaming eyes. Even from a distance, he could feel her beauty...so beautiful...

"She's an ice demoness. A koorime." the other said.

"I..." Hikaru muttered, unable to tear away his gaze away from the koorime woman.

His companion looked at him with curioustiy. Then suddenly, realization came in. "You look at her like you used to look at - "

Hikaru suddenly shot a dark and dangerous look at his companion. "Don't say anything."

"Hikaru, it's been six years. It's okay."

Hikaru looked back at the woman and sighed. "Do you think - ?"

His companion smiled. "It's alright. It's okay."
 

He waited inside a cave waiting for Hikaru to return while sitting in front of the orange bonfire he made, thinking about the past. About Hikaru's family who had treated him like family as well - Makoto, Hikaru's wife, and Kajiko, Hikaru's dear son.

"Yurei." a voice called out to him and he quickly turned his head to look at his friend.

Hikaru had brought the woman with him and both were all smiles.

"Yurei, this is Hina." Hikaru told his bestfriend. "And Hina, this is Yurei."

"It's nice to meet you, Yurei-san." Hina said with a warm smile.

Hikaru stood up and smiled as he shook her hand. "The pleasure is all mine." He then looked meaningfully at his friend then looked back at Hina.

Hikaru almost blushed. Yurei knew. He had always known him so well.
 

The three of them sat, telling their own stories about their elements, their life, their passions. It was night now but Hina refused to go back to the glacier. She had told them about how unliberated the koorimes were; how they looked at things.

Hikaru and Yurei just listened in wonder. For all the oddness of Makai, they had never imagined that there were actually beings who hated men with a passion. Yes, they've heard about the koorimes yet hearing it from a real koorime was different.

"So why-?" Yurei asked but was suddenly interrupted as they felt a surge of unknown youki from outside the cave.

Suddenly, an explosion was heard. Dust and small rocks then fell from the ceiling of the cave.

Hikaru, Hina and Yurei immediately stood up and got ready for an attack.

From the settling dust, they saw a figure, followed by more figures, coming inside the cave.

Slowly, the figure's face was shown. He looked just like a regular human, with black onyx eyes and long, flowing black hair. He was tall and he carried nothing but a dagger.

"What do you want?" Yurei asked boldly. It felt as if this was going to be lots of trouble. He could already feel it as he was also an empath with really strong mental powers.

"Hikaru and Yurei of the flame lands." the youkai told them. "This is your arrest."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about but you said you wanted to arrest us? Hn. Not without a fight." Hikaru announced as he unsheathed his katana.

Within a split second, wards came flying towards them, binding them, making them unable to move.

"What's going on?" Hina demanded.

The black-haired figure smiled at her and suddenly, Hina was knocked down to unconsciousness. That was the last time Hina and Hikaru met. The first and last.

"HINA!!!" Hikaru cried out before he too, as well as Yurei, was forced into nothingness.

[End of Flashback]

He breathed in deeply as the memory struck him. That had been the last time he's ever seen his bestfriend happy; the last time he's ever seen his bestfriend. It had also been the last moment of his freedom; the end of everything good. Now it was this - a living hell. No one to talk to, alone, sad and only memories to remember. Nothing to do. No life to live.

He tried to pull at the wards on his body without success. He really could feel him now. He could feel him and even his bestfriend. He had to try harder. He had to get out of here and see them again. He needed to feel alive again.
 

"I've already ordered one of the guards to get them." Honshu told his master.

"Good. At least we can still use his body."
 

Mikagami looked down at the ground, not minding the heat anymore. Now, how was he ever going to get out of this? Hiei was dead.

He shook his head, not wanting to believe. Someone had died because of him; because he had failed to help them. It was deja vu. It was his fault why another life had been lost once again.

He looked up at the sky. Why? Why him?

He turned his face to glance at the boy once again. Face so innocent. Age so young. Life too short.

He couldn't accept this. Defeat once again. He felt mad.

Without another thought, he punched Hiei hard in the chest and cursed. "Shimatta! I told you to live!"

He turned away but a surprise suddenly came as he heard a gasp and deep, heavy breathing.

"Hiei?" he asked as his gaze immediately shifted to the small boy. Hiei wasn't dead? This was a miracle! He hoped that this wasn't just his imagination.

Hiei's eyes looked weak as he looked at Mikagami. "I'm tired."

Mikagami sighed in relief as he scooped up the little fire demon and headed to rest under one of the trees. He didn't fail this time. He wasn't defeated on this particular occassion.
 

Mikagami sat and watched his weakened companion who was resting along with him. Hiei's eyes looked fierce now and a cold and merciless light burned within them.

"You okay now?"

"I figured it out now." Hiei said, ignoring the question. "I had been trapped in my own mind by a powerful being. All this is an illusion. The castle isn't real. Except..."

"The sea?" Mikagami guessed. The sea had provided his ensui with its added strength so it had to be real.

"I'm not sure but something should be real around here."

Mikagami didn't answer as his mind tried to evaluate everything and put them into order. He should start thinking now before it's too late.

"Did you dream about something last night?" Hiei suddenly asked. He then took out the teargem that Honshu had given him, trying to study it.

Mikagami thought for a while and tried to recall. "Yes. About someone called Kajiko and his parents. They were, uh, fire demons? Why did you ask?"

"I dreamt the same thing." Hiei told the ningen. "Maybe someone had fed us with those dreams."

Hiei then stood up. He glared at the the teargem. "The same one who had almost killed me. The same one who had dragged us to this stupid place."

Without another thought, he set the teargem in fierce black flames and watched it as it turned into ashes. That didn't help. It all came back to his thoughts about his family. The teargem symbolized his only link to his mother; to his sister...and to his father? It didn't matter.

But still, it was like breaking the bond existing between him and his twin - though it really wasn't.

Mikagami watched Hiei's actions in wonder. Why did he do that? It was like it symbolized something greater than what was obvious. "What are you doing?"

"Destroying the link. That thing had probably been the thing that got us in this place." Hiei answered, his face expressionless.

"Yes, Honshu was right. You are a clever little thing."

Both turned to the new voice, their weapons ready as they stood up and made their stances.

The stranger was a tall, human-like man with long black hair and blue-gray eyes. He did not emit any aura but then it seemed like no one from this land showed off their auras or strengths.

"What do you want?" Mikagami demanded.

The stranger smiled. "They request your presence. Both of you."

"Who requests our presence?" Hiei asked with a dark glare.

"The master of this land. Follow me to them nicely or do we have to do it the hard way?"

"Hn." Mikagami and Hiei both uttered in unision.