A little more fluff, I hope it don't suck too badly. Did you know if you add another 'U' to 'Youko' and make it 'youkou', it means 'sunshine' in Japanese?

Also, in response to a question, Gabi is in fact Kurama's past lover, Gabe; if you read the prequel to this story. Hiei will get his gift, but it will be later than expected. I'm having a bit of trouble with the plot, so I can't update much now. Sorry.

Ch7 Vacation Elation

It came to pass that in the following weeks, Gabi attended school and made good friends of the Tantei. She competed with Kurama in their classes, and spent a lot of time with the Tantei; when ever Hiei could bear it. Gabi had never met with them at her own home, preferring to be with her friends at their houses. The strange thing was, not even Yusuke or Keiko had any idea where she lived. Her foster father was ignorant of her double life as a Spirit Detective and shaman.

It was a Thursday; and the following day was a student holiday, giving all the students a three-day weekend so that the teachers could evaluate their report cards. The four friends who attended school were walking home together. The last bell had only just rung when a call from Koenma on the communication mirror yanked Yusuke out of his good mood. "Don't tell me you have a case for us, Koenma!" he groaned.

"No one is ever happy to see me! No one!" the little deity whined pitifully. "The results from analyzing the mirror you found have finally been revealed. I don't know why it took so long; the spirit print must not have been on our immediate crime files. Anyway, the user of the mirror is a water-based yokai who is named Oneiros Morpheus. The only information we have on him is his birth record, it seems he keeps a very low profile. He has no family as far as we know, so we can't got to them for any information."

"Is that it?" Yusuke said.

"No," Koenma replied tersely, "I'm sending you all to the Pacific coast as a long deserved vacation in the mean time."

"Vacation? Are you serious!"

"I'm quite serious, Yusuke; and do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Take a look at my desk; notice anything?"

"…Its uh…clean?"

"We finished all the paper work. All of it! I am no longer a slave to my desk! Ah ha ha ha ha!" the toddler spun around in his swiveling chair, laughing maniacally. "See you Monday!" he clicked out. Botan appeared out of nowhere on her oar. "Hello! By your expression, I'm guessing you all got the good news!"

"Gah!" Yusuke nearly jumped out of his skin. "Don't do that!"

"Vacation? Is he serious?" Kuwabara said in disbelief. Botan nodded feverishly. She landed herself and vanished her oar, making herself visible to normal human eyes. Her clothes were normal; she decided not to wear her pink kimono in public. "Lets go, guys, the bus is waiting." at her words, a city bus pulled up beside her.

"Go? Now? Botan, we haven't packed or asked our parents or anything!" Gabi said, knitting her brow.

"Don't worry," Botan said, stepping onto the bus. The others followed in suit, "your parents have been contacted, and we told them you're all going on a field trip. As for packing, all necessary items have been provided at the house you're staying at; even clothes and food." as the four friend got on the bus, they noticed it was almost empty. The only people on board were Shizuru, Keiko, Genkai and Yukina. George the ogre sat in the driver's seat with a bus driver's uniform on and a hat covering is horn. "Hey guys, 'bout time you showed up." Shizuru waved to them. Gabi ran down the aisle between the seats and sat on the seats across from her and the others. Yusuke yawned and chose a bench to sleep on. Botan and Kurama joined their friends as George drove away in the bus that humans didn't even know was there.

"Hey Yukina, long time no see!" Kuwabara laughed goofily. Unknown to him, Hiei sat above them all in the luggage shelf, growling and polishing his katana. The bus ride was only an hour or so long, and no one else seemed to be on the highway. Gabi had suspected this was a road built by spirit world just for this occasion. It would disappear when its purpose was served and it no longer had a use. When the bus finally stopped, all nine of the passengers were anxious and hungry. They piled out of the bus, waving goodbye to George as it disappeared. They looked at their surroundings, smelling the salty sea not too far away. Botan led the way across the tickly grass, towards a two-story red brick house. The house was about two hundred yards away from the water in high tide.

"Cool, check out that sea! We can go surfing!" Kuwabara said.

"Do you even know how to surf?" Yusuke raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"That isn't the point. The point is that it's cool." this argument carried on for some time. When they finally reached the house, they could hardly wait to eat something. The smell of food alerted them of an early and needed dinner. A dinner had been made for them and waited on the dining room table. Attacking the food first, they explored the rest of the house after words. It was magically built to be bigger on the inside than the outside so every one could have their own rooms. The sun was an hour or so from getting ready to set, so most of them went to explore the beach until the sun set. Botan, Shizuru, Gabi, Yukina, Keiko, Kuwabara, and Kurama trudged across the soft sand, leaving footprints that disappeared with each coming in wave. They had put on shorts and t-shirts they found in their closets, and walked barefoot. Keiko and Botan, examining shells and listening to the sounds inside, accompanied Yukina. Gabi was playing in the ocean; Shizuru and Kuwabara had been talked into doing this as well. Kurama just enjoyed the air and wet sand between his toes.

Gabi had been swept off her feet more than once by the on coming waves; she was soaked, but blissful. Suddenly, she stood up very straight and listened. "Shizuru, do you hear that?" she said, craning her head to listen. A faint wailing sound drifted over the sound of surf. "What is that?" Shizuru brushed her wet hair out of her face. Gabi ran onto the sand, trying to hear a little better. "Kurama, do you hear that?" she pulled him out of his trance. He tilted his head to listen, "I do. What is that sound? It's inhuman." Gabi listened to the crying a while longer. "Guys!" she waved to Keiko, Botan, Kuwabara, and Shizuru a little ways away from them. She motioned for them to follow her and ran across the beach around a small rocky wall jutting out of the ground, shielding another part of the beach. This was where the wailing cry was coming from. They came up behind Gabi, puffing, "What's the matter?" Gabi signaled for them to be quiet and motioned again for them to follow. She made her way around the rocky jut and climbed over the sea-worn stones. The water gently lapped at the rocks and beach, sloshing against the sides of a beached whale. They hid behind a rock and observed the beautiful Orca, its black and white pattern standing out in the browns and greens of the stony beach.

"What's wrong with it?" Yukina asked; Kuwabara was lifting her on top of the big rock for a better view. Botan floated up on her oar to see better too. "She's trapped," Gabi said, crawling around the rock. "Gabi! What are you doing? It could be dangerous!" Shizuru called. Gabi shook her head, "She needs us." she crawled forth on her hands and knees in the sand. The whale lay parallel to the waterline with its back toward the water, crying for help in its mystical whale tongue. Gabi came near the whale's face, looking into its eyes, softly singing no words in particular to soothe the oceanic giant. It stopped crying and became silent. Gabi motioned for her friends to come, "Its okay!" she called, "she trusts us." the others wandered over to her skeptically. Gabi laid her hand on the rubbery whale hide, "She can't get back in the water. She was here at high tide yesterday night and when the tide went out, she got trapped."

"How can you tell that?" Kuwabara said.

"I can tell." She said simply. The Orca was silent while they shyly touched her skin and walked around her. Botan looked at the whale's belly, where a huge bulge was, "Is something wrong with her stomach? It's huge!" Gabi pressed her ear to the whale's tummy for a while. Her head jerked away when something inside thrashed against her. "I think she's expecting. Is it true? Are you gonna be a mommy?" Gabi rubbed the gargantuan tummy, talking in a high-voice like she would speak to a baby. "Yes! I can feel it kicking! She's gonna get a baby!"

"We should get her back into the water then." Kurama said, "She'll eventually die if she stays here, as well as her unborn calf." he lowered his eyes sympathetically. Gabi looked around, searching for anything that could help. She saw a small rowboat, about ten feet in length, equipped with paddles. "I think I have an idea," she said.

Using the paddles, they propped up the boat on its sidebehind the Orca to keep the water away while they dug a hole. They dug feverishly with their hands, trying to make a hole big enough to fit a whale before the tide came in. The sand came up easily and they made a giant hole in no time at all. "We need to stretch it farther out, towards the water." Gabi said. They continued to dig as fast as they could; the boat began to wobble from its place, being forced away from the tide. "Alright, now we have to get her into the hole."

"How can we lift a freakin' whale?" Kuwabara cried.

"Not lift, roll." they all got on one side of the whale and pushed for all they were worth. "1, 2, 3, push!" The sand gave a little bit. "C'mon, guys, we can do it!" Botan urged them on. "1, 2, 3, push!" The whale pushed her flipper against the sand, trying to help. "The tide is coming in, Gabi! We're not going to make it!" the boat paddles began to break, and water leaked into the hole, melting the edges down. "Yes we will! One more time, 1, 2, 3, Push!" they all dug their feet into the sand and pushed the whale's side, careful as not to harm the calf inside, and she gently rolled into the hole on her stomach. They quickly moved the boat away and let the water wash in. The hole filled with water and lifted the whale enough to let her turn around and face the ocean. A second, bigger wave lifted her up; with a beat of her powerful tail she moved down the beach, into the water. The teens cheered and danced on the sand. 'This girl, she's so full of strength and love for all things,' Kurama thought.

Several hundred meters away, they spotted the creature spouting and flipping her tail in the air. she turned on her side and mimicked the humans, waving with her flippers. They waved back with both arms, bidding her fare well and visit again. "She'll be back," Gabe smiled, walking back up the beach. "How can you tell?" Botan walked up beside her, "Did she tell you?" Yukina asked and joined her other side.

"No, she is the sort of whale that stays in one area; I can tell by the size of her dorsal fin, and besides that, the calf moved lower inside her. She should be due at any day now. She'll most likely feed, then find a straight length of beach and give birth there."

"How do you know all these things?" Kuwabara asked, leading the others behind her.

"When you've traveled as much as I have, you know all sorts of useless and useful information."

Settling to the new house was no trouble at all, whenever something was needed like towels or clothes, it would suddenly appear right behind someone. The fridge was able to restock itself, and the TV in the living room was equipped with satellite. "We should come here more often." Yusuke said, lounging on the couch. "You'll be pulling double time when we get back, slacker." Genkai said.

"What!"

"Now, now, we were sent here for a break, lets not talk about something like that." Botan said cheerfully. The sun set behind the house, to the west. The sky was clear and filled with stars. A door popped out of nowhere on the top floor, and behind it was a room with a giant sunroof. All nine companions laid themselves on the ground with cushions supplied by the house, staring at the stars. They pointed out the stars, finding the constellations.

Kurama leaned against a corner with a cushion in his lap, thinking about Gabi. This girl came out of nowhere and already she had made an impression on everyone around her. In the back of is mind; he felt his heart tugged toward her. 'There must be more to her than meets the eye.'

(A/N: i don't know a whole ot about whales, but i looked up a few things. i really love whales. Happy Easter, ya'll!)