A/N: Oh despair, oh horror. Oh pitiless pain. You have no idea what I went through with this chapter. I was about halfway finished editing it (and I was so proud of it, it was turning out wonderfully) and I lost it. Yeah. It was really my fault I guess but I was so devastated. It took me a lot to come back and do this all over again. And it definitely isn't as good as it was…I can't believe…I just can't believe that I lost it… -sob-

Edit: That Author's Note is from when I first started editing these chapters, so like 3 years ago? I remember this day though: for some reason when I exited out of Word, it didn't ask me to save, it just exited. So I lost what I thought was the best conversation I could have written for Hiei and Misaki and I loved their interaction within it. What you'll read here is, within my mind, still just an echo of what I had originally written and originally intended. Ah, well.

O/C23: A golden dragon chases the gang down as they fly across the sea, though a battle erupts between it and another black dragon. The pair plunges into the ocean, leaving everyone safe. Or so they thought. A shadow has just blotted out the sun…

Kurama apprehensively turned the gaze of the falcon upwards, afraid to find that they had been finally overtaken by the golden dragon. He was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not the gold dragon who overshadowed them, but the black one. He smiled.

The others did not know what to expect of this black dragon and so they cautiously continued their flight towards the horizon, struggling against the lack of updrafts. Their wings beat desperately in the air to keep them in the sky.

The overhead shadow backed off and then the scaly body of the dragon appeared beneath them. They were caught in the rising heat radiating off of the dragon's super hot body, soaring without effort.

Yusuke spotted Hiei asleep between two evil looking spikes jutting out of the back of the dragon's spine and the eagle screeched his surprise.

The dragon turned its head to consider him amusingly with one bright, green eye.

"Misaki!" Kuwabara called out through the hawk.

"So any dragon with a green eye is automatically Misaki?" Yusuke told him suspiciously.

"Maybe he can just tell that it's me." A wry voice spoke into all of their minds at once.

"Misaki?"

"No, it's the postman. Here to deliver your small package. …of course it's me, you numbskull." The dragon snorted, black tendrils of smoke rising up from her nostrils.

"How did you manage to change into a dragon?" Kurama asked.

"Very painfully." The lips of the dragon curled back in an unnerving grimace that revealed rows of sharp teeth.

Kurama had known almost from the start that Misaki was not with them and while he had wondered how she would follow, he had not expected her to come in this way. Considering the end-result, he approved of the way she handled the situation: she knew she would turn into a dragon, or knew how to turn into a dragon, so she had the birds take Yusuke, Kuwabara, Yukina and himself. She carried Hiei on her back since the fire youkai was immune to the searing effect contact with her skin would have on the others.

"I got lucky."

Somehow Kurama knew that Misaki wasn't letting anyone else hear their conversation.

"What do you mean?"

"I had no idea I was going to change like this. I just gestured to you all so that the birds would take you. I kind of…"

"Forgot about Hiei?"

"…um, yeah. I had to go back and get him. Thankfully, he was still unconscious. I don't think he would have been too happy with me."

"I don't think he'll be happy with you either way."

"True."

"…Could we not mention this tidbit of information to him when he wakes up?"

Kurama's chuckle resonated quite merrily, "I suppose that would set back you all's progress. As you wish."

"Wait...what?"

Kurama didn't answer, but Misaki could feel his thoughts smiling.

The traveling was much quicker now, what with Misaki's warm body underneath them. Her wings beat steadily through the air and she pulled them along in her wake much faster than they could have gone on their own.

Something flickered at the edge of the horizon.

"Land." She told the others, her eyesight as a dragon keener, "We'll be there soon."

The hawk's sad cry expressed the emotion all of the ones flying felt.

Misaki felt her heart lurch, suddenly struggling to pump blood through her body. She faltered in the air, a wing skimming the ocean before she righted herself, shaking her head.

"Misaki?" Kuwabara said through the hawk.

She almost answered when she wavered midair again, a flash of searing pain spindling through her body. She took a wobbly breath.

"Misaki…you're fading." Kurama noted.

Winking back and forth minimally between human and dragon form, Misaki felt as though her ribcage was going to explode.

Her wings straining, Misaki shot forward, outdistancing the others within seconds as she desperately flew for shore. If she changed back now, Hiei would be dropped into the ocean below, at the mercy of the currents.

All her concentration was on reaching that shoreline looming closer from the distance. A strange, burning and freezing sensation started at her wingtips, moving inward towards her heart.

The shift between forms came faster, and she knew the landing wouldn't be pretty.

"Hiei!"

"What?" He asked from somewhere deep inside his consciousness, aggravated at being disturbed.

"I need you to jump off, get clear!"

The Jagan forced Hiei awake and his eyes shot open, quickly calculating the situation at hand.

As soon as he could, he leapt into the air, landing on the island and rolling to absorb the impact. He turned, still crouched over and skating backwards on the solid stone shore a good distance before stopping, just in time to see a black dragon careen into the island headfirst.

A grunt of pain from the dragon's mouth turned into one from Misaki's as a wing caught on the stone and flipped her. She bounced painfully, unable to regain her balance as her dragon form finally, truly gave way to the human one which rolled twice more and then rested facedown on the stone beach.

Trembling, Misaki was thankful that no bones were broken as she slowly shifted around to get her hands in position to push her up. There was at least one knot on her head and her body was covered with scrapes. However, neither the hakama pants nor hitatare top Coahtu gave her had holes.

Two black-booted feet appeared by her head and her eyes traveled up to see Hiei standing over her, unreadable expression on his face. A hand was offered.

She took it and he pulled her to her feet without much effort.

"Sorry." She noticed the blood on his palm when she let go and she glanced her wrists and fingers. She was bleeding, though it was minimal since they were only scrapes. Her shoulder was throbbing again, the whole arm having hit the ground hard several times.

Hiei didn't answer, turning to survey the island around them. They stood a few meters from shore, a huge impenetrable forest ominously leering in the center. There was a clear path of the shoreline extending in either direction around it, probably to the other side of the island Hiei assumed, but there appeared to be no path through the trees.

Four birds wheeled in from the distance, still riding the heat the body of the dragon left behind.

When they reached the shore, each one elegantly made a landing onto the beach, claws scraping against the stone as they clipped forward a bit before halting.

"My thanks, winged ones." Misaki bowed gratefully to them.

The eagle took a step forward, "We must do our duty as you must do yours."

There was a flash of light and Kuwabara, Kurama, Yusuke, and Yukina stepped out of their respective birds into human form.

Magnificently, the eagle arched its wings upward before sweeping them down, inclining its head, moving one leg back and dipping downward in an elaborate bow. The other three birds followed suit, following the eagle into the sky when they finished.

"So, where are we now?" Kuwabara took a look around, still feeling as though he flew in the air.

"The Island of The Oracle." Misaki gestured to encompass the whole of the land around them. "The cave is on the other side."

"Through that?" Kuwabara looked disbelievingly at the forest. "Looks worse than the one we fought through on the way here!"

"I'm fairly sure you can't even get into that forest, much less traverse it." Misaki admitted.

Kurama nodded, agreeing with her. The denseness of the plants did not seem promising.

"Then around we go!" Yusuke decided.

"Which way?" Kuwabara wanted to know.

"Take your pick." Misaki shrugged, grimacing as her shoulder protested the movement. "It's about the same distance either way and pretty straightforward at that."

"Fun." Yusuke snorted, taking the lead.

…

Nothing of consequence happened as they walked, only the spray of the sea to their left, along with the roaring of the waves, keeping them company.

It slowly grew darker as the sun set and they were forced to stop and make camp for the night.

They carefully gathered wood on the ground from the very edge of the forest, getting enough for a decent fire that Kurama had the ingenuity to start.

The four who rode with the birds realized just how tired they were when they lay down, despite the uncomfortableness of the hard ground. They had used up much energy during the flight and fell asleep rather quickly.

Misaki had just enough of her former state returned that she no longer needed sleep, neither was she able to fall asleep, and so she sat back from the fire a little ways, gazing up at the stars.

She absently fiddled with the dagger with Drake's blood on it in her lap, glad for the company of the others on what would have been a long, trying journey, though she would never confess it out loud.

Suddenly a thought hit Misaki. He knew. Drake knew that she would change. He knew that she would need his blood in order to cross the sea, there had always only been four birds. Even though he had said he didn't know what her body's reaction to the gift would be, he had lied.

She wasn't sure what to make of this new development.

"So, what else are you lying to them about?"

The harsh words pulled her from her reverie and she blinked, confused for a moment, as they hold so close a relationship to the chain of thought she had just gotten through.

Hiei's blazing eyes glared at her across the fire.

"Pardon?"

"What else are you lying to them about?" He repeated. He was obviously not pleased about something though what exactly it was, Misaki had no clue or guess.

"Well, I certainly would have to know who and what you're talking about in the first place in order to determine whether I'm lying to them about it or not." Suspicious little monkey.

He wasn't stupid, but he hated it when people talked like that. Why couldn't they just out and say what they meant instead of flowering everything like Kurama had a habit of doing.

"You said you don't sleep."

She nodded. "You speak truth."

"And yet you slept back in the forest."

Misaki cursed to herself. She had. She had forgotten. "Again. You speak truth."

"So, what else are you lying to them about? What are you really dragging them into?"

"Seeing as how I didn't actually lie to you in the first place, I don't see how it matters."

He ignored that comment. He had caught her in that lie and there was nothing she could do about it. "I think they would all like to know if there is a possibility that they could lose their lives."

"As would you I'm sure."

He didn't say anything.

"And as suspicious and battle-hardened as you are, can't you tell if your life is at stake or not?" He was clearly not pleased about something, his eyes flaring at her dangerously and yet she could not stop her mouth from yammering. "Do you not naturally assume that every step you take could be your last?"

"They have a right to know if they are putting their lives on the line for the likes of you."

Misaki wasn't sure what he meant by that, so she disregarded it.

"I think I see now." She grinned devilishly, thankful that no others were awake to be privy to this conversation as she was beginning to feel slightly foolish, "You don't trust me. Because you think I lied to you about sleep and now you don't believe you can trust anything I say."

Hiei stiffened, though he wasn't sure why. It was common knowledge, or should have been, that he trusted no one.

"And I for one don't see you as the type to care what I drag them into, Hiei. You're fast, you can always run away if need be."

Misaki blinked and then Hiei was at her throat, having lunged at her through the fire between them. His katana had a bite to it and currently its teeth were poised at the skin of her throat.

"Let me tell you something, Hiei," Apparently the part of her brain that would have been screaming for her to shut up had shut down. If she hadn't had his sword biting into her neck she would have leaned closer to him to whisper into his ear. As it was, she merely lowered her voice so that he had to pay very close attention to hear her, "Were I in your position, I would not trust me either."

Misaki was sure that if it had been possible, fire would have leapt from his eyes to consume her.

"I see you as being the type of youkai who does not like being in the dark. And yet you have lived in darkness your whole life. And when a sliver of light forces some of that darkness to flee, you simply don't know what to do with yourself. That's why you haven't left your self-imposed post at these boys' sides. But you're afraid, not of the darkness around you or of the darkness in you because you know both, but of the light and the fact that it may reveal to have this whole time been inside of y-"

Here the katana pressed harder at her throat, stopping her words. She grabbed at his wrist, though it did her no good. She took a moment to recover before going on, urged by something inside of her, perhaps something that was daring him to end her life. She would be rid of her bruises at least. The death at her throat, if anything, spurred her rash words onward.

"What will on more ounce of darkness matter? One more ounce of not knowing? Or can you in truth not stand the darkness?" She choked the words out over the sword.

He should kill her. He knew he should kill her. She could be leading them to their deaths anyway. They could find their own way off this cursed island, find the Oracle on their own and ask it how to leave. They didn't need her. They wouldn't miss her. She would betray them, could they not see it? But…perhaps that would be interesting. He would see it coming. It would be amusing to see the look on the tall idiot's face, even on Kurama's face, the smart-alecky fox-boy. He saw it coming and they did not. Yes. Interesting. He would not be caught off guard. He would kill her as soon as she did it, as soon as there was even an indication of her doing it. Simple as that. Hn.

The Jagan remained strangely quiet.

Hiei let her go, easily jerking out of her grasp and standing over her a moment longer before he allowed himself a smirk as he turned away to go sit alone out of sight somewhere.

Reality crashed around Misaki, her eyes going wide and her heart beginning to beat unnaturally fast. She had been extremely close to losing her life and she did not know what made Hiei change his mind. If he had killed he,r it would have been over, in more ways than one. In more ways than he could have guessed.

She forced herself to take a deep breath, settling down in front of the fire once more, watching the flame try and remember the steps to an ancient dance it had never known.

…

As soon as everyone woke up, they started off again, though certainly not without some complaining. They hadn't eaten since the bread before the forest attacked and quite frankly, Kuwabara and Yusuke were starving.

"Can't you like grow us some food or something?"

Kurama just smiled and shook his head at Kuwabara when the boy asked, following after Yusuke who once again took the lead around the island.

The journey was unnervingly uneventful after all of their pains to get there. But it was pleasant enough at least. They moved along at a good pace and rounded the island to the next beach in decent time.

Something in Misaki's stomach sank as they rounded the corner. They had made it. It wasn't as if she felt excited to be here. She had spent enough time here as it was and hadn't enjoyed it at all. She didn't think she would even have the heart to tease Eldred about it.

The forest to their right was open and a cave sat in the opening where the trees were clear.

Misaki stepped in front of it, recognizing what should have been considered more of a rather large hole than a cave. It did not go very far back. The others came up behind her.

In the back of a cave, sitting on a rock, was a man with white hair, clothed in white robes. No one said a word. No one had to. They all knew this was the Oracle they sought, whether because of the fact that his eyes were covered by a white blindfold or just something they knew within themselves as soon as they saw him.

He stood up to greet them and Misaki walked forward, the group following. He and Misaki stopped when they stood about five meters apart.

"Hail Arienai Ansatsusha."

"Hail Oracle. You who have lost yourself." Misaki responded, closing the final distance and saluting him with a fist across her chest.

He knelt down before her and bowed his head.

"I know you. Oracle or no. I name you, Eldred. My child." She had missed him. Misaki placed her hands on the top of his head briefly, giving her blessing and then placing a kiss between her hands.

Everyone else gawked. This man was obviously older than she, the lines on his face not making him any less handsome. It should have been her who knelt and him who gave a blessing, logically.

"This guy is…is your kid?" Yusuke finally spurted.

Misaki and Eldred laughed as Eldred stood.

Grinning, Misaki shook her head, "No, no, definitely not."

"I do find it a trifle insulting how quickly you would dismiss the thought, Ansatsusha." He looked down at her.

"Eldred, were I ever somehow to bear a child, I can assure you he would not be like you." She couldn't help the fond look she gave him.

"So, he's not your kid." Yusuke decided, feeling a little better.

Eldred frowned, "I suppose I forget that the years will be as kind as you deem them, Ansatsusha. This youngling must not realize that you are…well enough my senior."

"And I don't think they ever needed to realize it, Eldred. I've never understood why you enjoy looking like that." She gestured towards his hair.

He smiled impishly, "I always thought it made me look distinguished."

"I think the word you're looking for is, 'old', my friend."

"Wait, how old are you?" Yusuke didn't even want to try and count it on his fingers.

"It isn't polite to ask, Yusuke." Misaki said primly. She turned to Eldred, "How old were you on your last birthday?"

"You just asked him how old he was!" Kuwabara protested.

Misaki ignored him.

Eldred laughed, "You know, I think my birthday came and went without me realizing it. What year is this? Time passes differently here on the island."

"No clue." Misaki admitted. She was bad at keeping dates.

Before anyone could provide one, Eldred spoke again, "I believe I may have seen quite a few millennia in my time. I was one of the first at the time of earth's creation but there were greater conflicts before me."

It had been such a long time since Misaki had seen Eldred and she felt at peace around him as she always did. The other Elements all had their fine points, even Coahtu, but Eldred was the one who was forever calm and collected in the midst of strife.

They both knew perfectly well that they could change their appearance as they liked, though they basically stayed the same way since they came into being. Eldred preferred to look older because he liked to think it held some sort of elegance. He teased Misaki about not looking old and she always countered that old crones didn't have any elegance whatsoever. Take Genkai for example.

"Man, and I called Genkai 'grandma'. I would have to call you great-grandma." Yusuke's grin was wide and taunting.

Misaki sniffed prudishly, "A few centuries younger and I may have taken offense to that."

"I don't think you ever would have taken offense to that." Eldred frowned again.

Misaki elbowed his ribs.

"Oh, sorry."

Kurama watched the going-ons with quiet amusement, as he always did. He knew Misaki's age and hadn't thought a thing about it. Youko Kurama had seen many years and he knew there were many others who were even older than that. Several questions ran through Kurama's head at this time though, questions he had catalogued away that he eventually planned on getting answers to. He knew about the beginning of the world, how Eldred and the other Elements came into existence, so he did not take surprise at that.

"I would not suggest referred to Misaki as 'grandma'," Eldred was advising.

Kuwabara and Yusuke couldn't help the laughter which echoed around everyone in the cave.

"Especially considering that I do not resemble Genkai. But if you really are that insecure about your own looks, I would stand it. Just for you."

That got the both of them to come up short on the laughing.

"What are you talking about? I've got a pretty enough face for Urameshi and myself!"

"That's funny, Kuwabara. I was just about to say the same thing about you."

Kuwabara opened his mouth for a smart retort but he was distracted momentarily when his eyes passed over Eldred.

"So, you're an oracle, huh?"

"The Oracle, yes."

"What exactly does an oracle do?" Yusuke wanted to know.

"Yusuke!" Kurama sounded a little exasperated.

"What! If I'm going to be here, I might as well know why we risked our lives for it."

Misaki raised an eyebrow, "Do you want a history lesson?"

"It involves history?" Yusuke made a face. "Then, I take back my question."

"Why do you wear a blindfold?" Kuwabara asked.

"More history," Misaki interjected.

"He takes back his question too." Yusuke provided.

"Ansatsusha, it has nothing to do with history." Eldred protested.

"You just think it doesn't because you were a part of it. It doesn't seem like history to you."

Yusuke rolled his eyes, "This is gross. I didn't come here to learn."

"Some of us might appreciate the knowledge, Yusuke." Kurama spoke up.

"How did I know you were going to say that?"

"An inquiring mind." Eldred seemed impressed at the prospect, "Just who do you keep company with nowadays, Ansatsusha?"

"That one would be the vessel of Youko Kurama." She said dryly. She had somehow known like Yusuke that Kurama was going to speak up.

"Ah." Eldred searched for him with covered eyes, "Then, it would be Suiichi Minamino. Now, I realize who is here. The Spirit Detective and his associates.

Hiei wasn't sure if he liked being referred to as an 'associate'.

"It's what you are."

Hiei knew that Eldred was speaking to him, even without looking up and seeing that Eldred was looking right at him.

Eldred tapped his blindfold at the temple, "I can see right through you."

"So, that's what you do!" Yusuke seemed to be having a revelation.

"Spirit Detectives?" Eldred turned to Misaki next to him, "Again?"

Misaki shook her head, indicating he should hold his tongue.

Eldred closed his mouth, frowning at her. The others had already heard him and their gazes shifted back and forth between the two.

"Eldred, I need to speak with you."

"Naturally. I did not believe this was simply a courtesy call." He knew how dangerous the journey was, as well as how much Misaki would have avoided returning if possible. There was a reason for it.

Misaki took his arm, leading him back to the rock he sat upon earlier. Neither of them indicated that the others should follow, and they appeared to want to speak privately.

-lotsm