Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, and Yumiko and Reion belong to Bladedream.

Quote of the week: "Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Just leave me the hell alone."

KKC: Wow... I got more than one review for chapter 19! *does happy dance*

Rinku: Cool! Hey, when am I gonna be in the story? *pouts*

KKC: This chapter, actually, Rinku-chan. Just be patient. Anyways, a few of you people were confused about the windmills, but don't worry. Rogerik will explain the significance of them as soon as he gets the chance. *mutters* Y'see, he kinda misbehaved yesterday while I was planning this chapter, and now he's a little tied up, Courtesy of Lyra, Lark, and Holly. *points to Rogerik, who is chained to a tree (the chains are welded into one big knot) and gagged.*

Rogerik: Mmph! Helmph! (translation- Help! Please!)

Rinku: ...that's scary...

KKC: Yes it is! Well, lets get rolling, shall we?

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Narrator dude: As we last left our heroes-

Hiei: *interrupts* who said I was a hero?

Lark: *shoves Hiei out of the way* Yeah! And what about us girls?!

Narrator dude: *sweatdrops* A-hem. As our heroes, obnoxious midget fire youkai, and wonderful ladies *winks suggestively, which earns him a thwap from Lark's frying pan* Itai... I'm not getting paid enough for this job... @_____@

Lark: Whatever... to make a long story short, we're flat broke and decided to hitchhike... er... on a whale... yeah, that fits the bill. Anyways, we've seemed to run across these windmills and I have no idea what they mean.

Hiei: But that's nothing new, is it?

Lark: Shouldn't you be sulking in some dank, dark cellar somewhere? *turns back to readers* So, what could possibly be going on? I'm sure you guys don't know, and I didn't read the script beforehand so I'm friggin' clueless. Well, lets have fun and get this chapter over with, ne?

Hiei: Hn.

Lark: And the midget pyromaniac agrees too. So, get reading! Chop chop!

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"Alright, and you woke me up this early because?" Yusuke glared at the blonde teen over a bowl of instant Ramen. Rogerik sheepishly grinned and pointed an accusing finger at his way-too-cheerful-for-this-hour-of-the- morning companion. "Her fault. I'm just playing along until we find a sedative that actually works." Lark glared, her usually blue eyes gaining a stormy sheen, and whapped Rogerik on the head with a small frying pan. "OW! Where'd you pull that from, Goddammit?!"

Lark hastily hid the cooking utensil behind her back and pointed to one of the many bags strewn about the whale, along with instant Ramen containers, sleeping bags, and crushed cans of Vanilla Diet Coke. "Backpack. Now, lets get back on track. Rogerik..."

"What?"

"Tell you Yusuke about what we found this morning." Rogerik just gave the younger sister a blank stare and Lark almost felt the need to whap him in the head yet again. "Ooh, let me guess... Hiei finally killed Kuwabara and you found his charred remains?" Yusuke perked up and gleefully slurped the last of his noodles. Lark hung her head, wishing desperately for some intelligent company at this time of morning, and replied, "Nah, but don't I wish..."

"Okay, then it's not important enough to wake me up this early. I'm going back to sleep." Yusuke tossed his disposable bowl over his shoulder and leaned back, rolling his jacket into a makeshift pillow. He unceremoniously plopped back, and with a lazy wave to his two roommates, stretched out in blissful unconsciousness. "You BAKA! Wake the hell up!" Lark sharply kicked Yusuke in the head, her eyes clouded with anger. The Japanese teen grabbed her ankle and twisted, causing the black-haired girl to fall, landing on his gut. "Thanks for breaking my fall... are you okay?" Lark stood up, looking at Yusuke with something between concern and amusement. Yusuke just lay there, gasping for air and groaning over his squashed diaphragm.

Rogerik sighed and quietly tried to get their attention, as hopeless as it may have seemed. "Alright you two. Would you stop fighting?" The two black- haired brats continued their bickering, ignoring Rogerik completely. Again, the psychic sighed, then drew in a big breath and screamed, "WOULD YOU TWO HALF-WIT ASSES SHUT THE HELL UP AND LISTEN FOR ONCE?!" Both Lark and Yusuke just turned and stared as Rogerik quietly coughed, regaining his normally calm disposition. "Well, now about these windmills... The wind turns the rotors, which is hooked to a generator that converts it all to electricity-"

"Yeah, I know how a windmill works, Rogerik. Who's the half-wit ass now?"

"Shut the hell up! Ah-hem... now, if there is electricity being generated, why would they do it way out here, at an uninhabited island?" Met with the blank faces of his companions, Rogerik sweatdropped but continued onwards anyway. "Okaaaaaaaaay... anyone think that maybe someone's living there?" Lark leapt up, eager to voice her opinion. "Who in their right mind would come out here? It's just goddamn stupid to live in the middle of nowhere."

"Good point... then again, who here is in their right mind? Whoever is, kindly raise your hand." Yusuke called out over his sleeping companions, and when no reply answered him, he shrugged and once again leaned back, ready to relax. "Well, that puts *that* theory to rest..."

Lark, however, was more serious than Yusuke and seriously began to contemplate Rogerik's hypothesis. "Alright, so if someone is living out here, then why? And why on an island reputed to be home to a dragon?"

"Not just someone, Lark. Judging by the number of windmills out here," Rogerik jabbed a thumb at the numerous towers in the distance, their steel rotors spinning in lazy circles from the generous sea breeze, bright morning sunlight reflected off of the highly polished surfaces. "Then there has to be quite a few residences. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there was an entire town or city on that island."

"Wow... that is so Scooby-Doo."

"Huh?"

"I mean, there's probably a city or underground mining operation and they're using the legend of that dragon to scare away other people." Lark sat down next to Rogerik, crossing her long legs, and leaned back, enjoying the feel of the wind playing across her face and long black hair. "That is even more ridiculous than what Yusuke said about people around here being sane..."

"Yeah, I suppose so..." Lark leaned back, slightly leaning on Rogerik's shoulder. Suddenly, she straightened up and shuddered. "Please tell me that isn't your hand there..." Lark growled.

"Well, er... uh..."

"HENTAI!" The last thing Rogerik saw was Lark's palm connecting with his face before he blacked out.

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"Y'know Chuu, I can forgive you for losing the money, and for getting us lost in the first place; I can even forgive you for losing our supplies... But losing the directions Risho gave us is completely UNACCEPTABLE!" Chuu grimaced as our favorite little ice-master furiously jabbed an accusing finger in his face, and shielded most of Touya's freezing blast of cold air with the laundry bin he was pushing. "Er... now don't lose your cool, Touya. It was an honest mistake, really!"

"And then you got us stuck in this dead-end job until we could repay the owner for all the property damage you caused when you got carried away at the bar..!"

"Now, now... it isn't *that* bad." Chuu once again hid behind the laundry bin, but this time shoved it in Touya's gut. The shinobi was knocked down on the ground and just lay there, panting for breath and trying to calm down. "Uh, you alright, mate?" Chuu leaned down and helped Touya up, helping support the ice demon as well as he could, despite the obvious height difference. "Are you guys done yet?" A timid voice asked from around the corner, and Chuu grunted a 'yes' before Rinku snuck out from behind his hiding place.

The young youkai, dressed in a hotel uniform, staggered over to the laundry cart, burdened with a load of towels that completely hid him from view. "Touya's right, Chuu. This is a bit degrading."

"Hey, at least I didn't just throw a temper tantrum in the middle of the hall."

"No, but you did totally trash the lounge." Rinku pointed out, remembering Chuu's drunken fight a week ago in the hotel bar. Chuu grunted and turned around, only to be faced with an angry young woman, around the age of sixteen or seventeen, her long black hair tied in a ponytail over her right shoulder and a pair of room keys in her hand, which she shoved in the Aussie demon's face. "Hey! I went in my room and it was completely trashed! What are you guys doing? Having free-for-alls on the hallways?" Touya stumbled away from Chuu and tried to patiently reason with the angry hotel patron. "I apologize for my co-workers incompetence. We haven't been able to clean that wing of the hotel yet, but we'll start on your room right away, miss..."

"Yumiko. And if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to." She turned on her heel and stalked down the plush carpet hall, muttering something under her breath. Rinku gave a long, low whistle and pulled one of his yo-yos out, sending the little toy spinning up and down in time to her muffled footsteps. "Now that is one pissed teenager." Touya just blinked, and shook his head. "I hate this job." He stated.

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Holly just stared at the giant behemoth in front of them. It was a stark white, it's gently curving form towering above the waves. Jin, levitating next to her, just stared, gaping at the sheer size of the monstrous structure. "It couldn't... there's no frickin' way in hell that thing is the dragon's den..." the wind master said, blue ayes straining to take it all in. Before the travelers stood a giant building, early morning sunlight reflecting off it's white and curved walls. Giant cruise liners surrounded the skyscraper, almost dwarfed in size by their destination, each humongous ship stuffed with humans and demons alike. Down below, Yusuke shaded his eyes from the blinding sun and sarcastically remarked, "Oh, yeah... nice research job. It's a friggin' skyscraper!"

"Well, we can't all be perfect." Rogerik muttered, still nursing the stinging handprint-shaped mark on his cheek. Lark glared at both boys for a minute before turning back to her detailed story maps. "Yeah, Rogerik's proof enough of that."

"Alright, enough fighting you guys. We can at least stop here and restock our supplies. We're all out of food." Lyra turned the duffel bag out to prove her point, which only earned a sniggered remark from Shishiwakamaru. "We can always catch fish, you are a water manipulator, after all."

"Fine. I'll catch 'em, you can gut and scale them. I'd say that works out rather nicely." Lyra muttered, her patience finally starting to wear thin on this journey from Hell. Kuwabara sighed, and stopped playing catch with Bones. "Look, let's not start getting all pissy now. If this isn't the right place, we still have to survive a few more days together trying to get home. And besides, it would be easier to figure out what to do if we weren't all at each others' throats." He said, hoping that if his friends stopped arguing he would finally be able to get rid of the killer headache he had.

Hiei stalked over, his red eyes glinting dangerously from underneath the black hair that shaded the upper portion of his face. Unwrapping the bandanna that covered his Jagan, the third eye glowed a sickly greenish color and the much shorter demon staggered back in surprise. Kurama trotted over to his friend and nudged Hiei's hand with his tiny muzzle. "What's wrong?" Lyra asked, some of her patience returning. Hiei shuddered and choked out, "It's in there."

"What is?" Lark inquired, kneeling down next to the demon. "Is it the dragon?" Without a word, the fire demon nodded and suddenly stood up, knocking Lark off balance. "Yes, it is. And it's waiting for us." Yusuke turned to the top floor, where Hiei's three eyes were focused. "Then I guess we shouldn't disappoint him, should we?"

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Cecilia gazed out of the giant, floor-to-ceiling, tinted windows that made up one of the walls of her large office, silently musing the strange travelers. They came to her premises on the back of a sealord, a giant whale even larger than a dragon. Pouring herself a glass of wine, she lifted the crystal glass to her thin lips and took a sip, savoring the taste. The large, brass doors creaked open and a small shadow slipped in, cringing as the mammoth door slammed shut behind him. The small figure nervously snuck up behind Cecilia and stood there for a few seconds, shivering as its mistress sent her overwhelming spirit energy across the expansive room, searching where her eyes could not.

"What is it, Skolla?" The lean woman asked, sending the skittish goblin into another fit of shivers. "M-madame, they've come." Cecilia turned, her milky white eyes sightlessly roaming about the room. "I know, Skolla. Searching for a way to help the thief Kurama... a strange mission indeed." She took another sip from her wine glass and stepped away from the tinted windows, which blocked out most of the sunlight, and strode over to the large tank over by her large, mahogany desk. Placing her hand on the glass, she probed the inside with her spirit energy, the corner of her lips curving into a small smile. Inside the large glass tank, a large mermaid's purse floated in the brightly lit water, a strange white light pulsing from within the thin egg casing. "Er... Madame?" Skolla looked up at his mistress and stepped closer, into her shadow; the shadow's outstretched wings and large, serpentine neck dominated the room, betraying the proud woman's true form. "Let them come... they shall not succeed. My child will not be taken from me."

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KKC: Okay, I apologize for taking so long. And to make it worse, I even left it at a cliff hanger. Am I cruel or what?

Rogerik: Very. *dusts off his jacket*

KKC: Wha? When did you get out?

Rogerik: Doesn't matter. But, to all you readers, and my adoring fans...

Rinku: Don't flatter yourself.

Rogerik: *vein throb* ...please review.

KKC: And use proper grammar. Do you know how annoying it is to try and read flames with run-on sentences and poor spelling? It's almost impossible. With that in mind, stay tuned for the next chapter.