Hiei dropped off a random video to Yusuke. Koenma had blackmailed him into being his errand boy for the day. Yusuke had taken the video with some misgivings, but said nothing. He promptly went to Haruka's house to borrow her tape player.

He wasn't surprised to see Kurama there. Or that he had Haruka curled up next to him.

"What's up?"

"New mission. Hiei dropped it off."

"Ah. Hang on a sec."

Haruka waved her hand, and a platoon of white creatures appeared. She looked at them with disinterest.

"Set up the tape player in here, please."

They saluted her, and went to work. Within minutes it was set up. Yusuke stared.

"I don't feel like getting up, and I needed to practice with my shikigami, according to Ceres."

Yusuke plopped down in the recliner, and passed the tape to the shikigami. One put the tape in, and another brought some refreshments.

Haruka snorted.

"No wonder the brat is always swamped. He wastes more time on nonsense like this when it's obvious the tape is from him."

Yusuke and Kurama snickered.

But soon their eyes were riveted to the screen. On it was a demon, but not of the usual variety.

It was a Koorime, an ice maiden. And when Haruka got a look at her eyes, she swore.

"So that's what Hiei's twin looks like!"

The two looked at her in shock.

"Hiei has a twin?" said Yusuke.

Haruka nodded. Upon closer inspection, Yusuke and Kurama saw the resemblance. Both siblings had spiked hair and red eyes.

Yusuke grinned.

"So does this mean if we rescue her, Hiei would owe us?"

"Probably, if he doesn't toast your ass first," said Haruka.

"Should we bring Kuwabara along this time?"

Haruka stared at her boyfriend, incredulous.

"Do you want him to come with us and listen to his whining again?"

Kurama winced. Kuwabara had been a pain during the whole Saint Beasts episode.

"No Kuwabara."

Hiei watched the tape from afar. He wasn't that surprised about the small white creatures, since he had been there when Ceres told her to practice with them.

So they weren't bringing Kuwabara with them? That was a relief.

As he passed the house, he noted that Sirius was leaving with flowers and a small box.

He deigned to talk to the man. After all, Sirius was his surrogate uncle who could care less that he was a demon. Plus he had a rather interesting imagination for pranking the fox.

"Finally making a move?" asked Hiei.

Sirius didn't even jump.

"How did you know?"

Hiei nodded to the box.

"That was a dead giveaway."

"Think Koenma will be recording it?"

"Probably. Especially since I will be informing the Lion."

Sirius grinned.

"Wish me luck."

"Why bother? The woman likes you enough, you treat her son like your own, and the two of you are perfect for each other."

Sirius gave him a sheepish grin.

"Fair enough. Off into the dragon's den."

"They live in very comfortable caves, not dens."

"Whatever. You know what I mean."

Hiei alerted Raion about the proposal, and he had grinned. There was no way he was going to miss that! Which is why, four hours on a bus later, there was a tapping on the window. A very tired looking Hedwig had a small mirror in her claws.

Haruka took the mirror and ordered her owl back to bed. She had been looking ill of late, and it worried her.

When she opened it, Raion was grinning at her.

"Thought you kids would like to see how Sirius faired in proposing to Atsuko."

Yusuke looked incredulous.

"That old hound finally proposed? It's about damn time!"

Raion had Koenma play back the tape...which upon viewing had them crowing in laughter.

Apparently Atsuko had the same sentiments that Yusuke did. Her only comment about it was "What took you so long?"

Which had Sirius gaping, then he laughed. Yuri, once she heard the news that Atsuko had accepted the proposal, immediately conspired with Shiori to make the preparations. (This would be a trial run for Kurama and Haruka.)

"Oh you know we're going to be drafted when we get back," said Haruka with a grin.

"Totally, but that means you guys would have to invite me to yours later!" said Yusuke.

"So does that make you brother and sister now?"

"If you want to get technical I suppose. I mean, Sirius is only my godfather, but Raion is my birth father. Either way, I suppose this means we're going to be one big messed up family."

Yusuke laughed louder.

"What better kind is there?"

"Point."

She was stuck in the tower. While the fat human had yet to figure out her real weakness, it would only be a matter of time.

She looked up when she heard a hoot. Which is how she meet the rather gorgeous snow owl outside her window.

It was rather out of place, and it looked like it was hurt or ill. Somehow it managed to get inside the barrier.

It sat on her hand, happy enough to let her pet her. It seemed to be well cared for, but something it had eaten within the last month or so was bothering it. It almost looked like two powers were colliding within it's body, making it sick.

Yukina was nothing if not kind. So in an attempt to heal the frail looking owl, she used her powers as a koorime. The result was instantaneous. Since her power closely matched the owl's natural power, the boost she gave it seemed to help get rid of whatever was making it sick.

Or so she thought. She was very startled when it burst into ice blue flames.

A tiny chick chirped from the feathers. Yukina picked it up and held it. It was so tiny and cute!

Suddenly she heard footsteps.

The tiny chick clearly had all of the intelligence of it's adult form, because it remained quiet until the fat human left. It wasn't bothered in the least by the frigid temperatures.

Yukina smiled at the tiny bird.

"What's your name?"

Hedwig the chick seemed to think, then remembered that this was Hiei's twin. She sent the koorime the vision of a female warrior. The girl understood the message well enough, though her telepathy was spotty at best.

"So your name is Senshi?"

The bird chirped.

For the next day Senshi stayed with Yukina. It seemed to grow larger with every passing hour. By the time it stabilized, the humans had come back. She worried that they would kill her only friend in this hell, but Senshi vanished before they entered the room. She turned the place into an arctic nightmare.

The pseudo-demon killed the tiny birds which normally cheered her up, and unbidden several tears fell.

The greedy human left after collecting them. The fake demon held a hint of pity for her, but did nothing.

She felt like she would cry again when she felt Senshi's claws on her shoulder. The bird had known something was coming and had done the only obvious thing. It had hidden itself.

She petted the beautiful bird, which nuzzled her like a nestling.

By nightfall it was giving her something to think about. Someone was coming for her, and they weren't happy about the fact that she was being held captive at all.

Haruka had been very surprised by the ice phoenix which had shown up. And her shock grew when she realized who it was.

"Hedwig?"

The majestic bird chirped, and landed on her shoulder exactly the way Hedwig did. Kurama sniffed the air, and looked in disbelief.

"That phoenix is a demon."

Realization hit Haruka. Now she knew why her beloved owl had been feeling under the weather.

"You poor thing! You were feeling sick because of the conversion, weren't you?"

The newly transformed Hedwig chirped, and Haruka petted her beloved companion. At least now she wouldn't have to worry about Hedwig dying of old age. Or from a spell. Phoenixes were notoriously hard to kill because of their ability to be reborn.

Hedwig's eyes lit up, and Haruka had the sneaking suspicion that she knew where Yukina was.

"Hedwig, can you tell her we're coming to rescue her?"

A bob of the head, and Hedwig vanished.

"So what just happened?" asked Yusuke.

"I think eating all those makai bugs last month and being exposed to my magic has turned Hedwig into a phoenix demon," said Haruka.

"Something must have interfered to make it happen so quickly though."

"Do Ice Maidens have the ability to heal?" asked Haruka.

"I think so, but they never use it on outsiders."

"Yukina must have sped up the process."

"Hedwig can at least keep her company until we get there," said Haruka.

She said that with Hiei in mind. (Was currently hiding in a tree above them).

"By the way, where the hell is Hiei?" asked Yusuke.

Haruka smirked and pointed upwards.

"Ne, Kurama, have you ever noticed how rarely people look up?"

Yusuke didn't blink at the change in the way Haruka addressed Kurama.*

Yukina felt some peace as Senshi appeared again. She carried a message from her true master.

'Yukina-chan, we're coming...'

Yukina didn't know whether to warn them or hope that they made it there safely.

Instead, she just decided to pray to any Kami who would listen that they saved her. That it wasn't just false hope.

Haruka had the boys laughing with her random quotes as they killed the lesser yokai. It was a rather effective training exercise for Yusuke.

"Alright, next one is my turn!" announced Yusuke.

"Fine. Earth is the Insane Asylum for the universe!"

Kurama quirked a smile at that. He wouldn't doubt that comment for a second, because frankly the human race was by far more interesting than any yokai or spiritual entity.

Yusuke killed another, and said "I'm not an idiot...some parts are just missing!"

Haruka snorted.

Kurama grinned as he said "Enma must love stupid people. He made so many."

Haruka chortled.

"Here's one for Genkai. Wrinkled was NOT what I wanted to be when I grow up!"

"Here's a good one I heard once. Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."

Yusuke and Haruka snorted with laughter. It was hard to believe that they were there to save an Ice maiden and Hiei's twin.

"Here's one that suits Kuwabara. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me!"

Hiei watched their word play with amusement. Haruka had gotten bored with just walking/killing, which was why she suggested they outdo each other in a game of random quotes they had all heard at one time or another. So far she was winning.

"I know the perfect one for Hiei. Some people are only alive because it's illegal to kill them!" said Kurama.

The hi-koorime quirked his lips at that. It did sound like something he would say.

"Here's another good one. My husband and I divorced over religious reasons. He thought he was God and I didn't."

Yusuke and Kurama laughed. Even Botan, who had appeared the night before, snickered.

They made camp for the last time. Haruka offered to fly them all back to the apartments.

By tomorrow they would storm Tarugane's mansion, and free Yukina.

But Haruka felt a sense of unease. Like there was a predator there that was waiting. Something strong. Something not entirely human.

Haruka decided to let the bored Yusuke deal with the first real challenge they had.

She had to bite back her laughter when she realize what he just did to the demon. Kurama, however, blinked.

"Did he just..."

"The idiot copped a feel to see whether or not it was female," said Haruka, who dissolved into laughter.

"What if it had been female?" Botan nearly shrieked.

"Then I would have kicked his ass later," said Haruka, snickering.

"So that demon is...?" said Kurama, not sure he wanted to ask.

"A trannie. Rather convincing one though."

Kurama wisely dropped the subject entirely.

Once Yusuke knocked the demon out, Haruka waltzed over with a grin.

"You know if you really want to become a female, I would be more than happy to help."

The demon didn't argue that fact.

"Please?"

Haruka grinned, and gently touched the demon. It glowed for a few moments, and when the light died down, it carefully checked.

It was now female.

"Thank you!"

"No problem!" said Haruka, who ran to catch up.

"Haruka, what did you do?" said Kurama amused.

"Granted a wish. It is one of my powers you know," she smirked.

"But why?"

"Because I am a special kind of dragon. I only grant what will not harm in the long run. Ceres said I should come up with something to do, so why not grant wishes?"

"Didn't you mention that doing so often does more damage than good?" asked Yusuke, tilting his head.

"Only if I grant ones that are more out of greed. Simple ones like a gender change don't actually affect the world that much. Besides...I'm bored."

Yusuke snickered, as they progressed deeper into the mansion.

After beating two more low level demons (and Haruka growing more bored by the minute) they came across a grotesque series of cages.

While Haruka wasn't a big fan of demons (aside from her friends/boyfriend) she also hated putting animals in small cages.

This Tarugane bastard was going to have to deal with the righteous fury of an animal lover.

Even if she fully planned to punt all the demons back to the Makai instead of simply letting them loose.

Haruka felt a shiver go up her spine. For the first time since she became a fully fledged dragon, she had finally met a real challenge.

Pity she didn't feel like killing either of them just yet.

The two Toguro brothers were rather infamous. The younger one used to travel with Genkai, before wishing to become a demon after winning the rather fascinating Dark Tournament. The older one was well known for being a total sadist, and having the ability to manipulate his body perfectly.

Killing him would be difficult...unless she simply roasted him.

Yusuke decided to challenge the younger one, while the older sneered at Haruka.

"So this Urameshi brat is so weak he brings a woman to fight for him?" sneered Toguro.

Haruka's hackles were raised now. How dare he look down on her because of her current gender. She hissed at him "Don't judge a book by it's cover, bakayaro!"

That pissed him off good. It wasn't long before Haruka teamed up with Yusuke, while Kurama went to keep Hiei from killing the man who caused this whole mess.

Suddenly, Yusuke found himself between a rock and hard place. Toguro was stronger than any opponent he had ever met before. Haruka shifted into her dragon form, and roared.

Surprised by the sudden appearance of a true dragon, Yusuke used Haruka's distraction to land a heavy blow to the younger brother.

Toguro went down for the count. Or at least appeared to.

Hiei took more than a little pleasure in beating the fat creep bloody. It was only Yukina's pleas that stopped him from killing the wretch.

Yukina was quick to heal Yusuke, and was fascinated by Haruka. She was definitely shocked to learn that the bird she called Senshi was really Haruka's familiar.

"Well I suppose Senshi is close enough to her name, though I think Otome would have been closer," said Haruka, musing.

"Otome?" asked Yukina.

"Her name is Hedwig, which is Germanic for 'female warrior'. Also happens to be the patron of marriage, come to think of it."

Yukina returned to the Makai for a while, once Yuri managed to get the girl back to her normal state. (Yuri also healed over a few anger issues towards humans.)