Kurama's Spring Flower

Chapter Thirty Five

Yusuke's communicator then starts ringing, making everyone watch the male Urameshi pull it out and answer it. To see an angry Botan and a rather alert Goro. "Yusuke, this is Botan. Do you copy?" Botan speaks through the communicator, to which Yusuke replies with no emotion, "Sure." Kuwabara then starts to get excited when hearing the girl's voice and starts saying, "Hey, tell her I say hi!" Akina shakes her head at this but moves to look over the communicator and seems to notice that Goro is looking through the corner of his eye. Clearly the both of them are eager to know if the other is alright.

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Botan was making the call from an alleyway. "How are things in Maze Castle? Please tell me you've defeated three out of four of the Saint Beasts by now!" Botan speaks with desperation and exhaustion in her tone. "I hate to be a pessimist, but I doubt it." Goro says and turns to look directly into the communicator and was proven correct when he sees Yusuke look bothered and says, "What?! Are you crazy, Botan!? We've barely beaten two! These guys aren't easy." And Goro sees Akina move her head to be more in the communicator's line of vision and say, "You are not being pessimistic, Goro. You just seem to have more realistic expectations." This makes Goro smile and say, "Good to see you alive." Botan angles the communicator away from him as Yusuke moves his sister away as the two continue to speak, "I understand, Yusuke, but that's not enough!" Botan speaks in a serious tone. "The city's losing it's grip. They've declared a riot alert just because they believe these people to be insane. So far the police have detained those affected by the Makkai, so it won't be long before the police are affected also." She says to them, unaware of the threat the Goro seems to smell coming closer and closer to the pair. 

Kuwabara was now the one looking over Yusuke's shoulder, but with a creepy smile as he stares at Botan's image. "Okay, I get it!" He says to Botan in response. Goro begins to move around Botan as she says, "I hope you do, Yusuke. I really do." Goro sees the infected man step in front of him and lunge at him, finally catching Botan's attention that she releases a shocked gasp. Goro grabs botan and flash steps them to the side of the infected, before pulling out a bag that contained some glowing powder and blew it in the infected's face, making it cry out in pain as it started to make it disorientated. Taking advantage of this, Goru swings his leg up and lands a blow on the infected's head so hard it renders them unconscious. Goru then looks to Botan, who had angled the communicator so that the team could see what he had done. "Sorry about that. As you can see, we have been busy also." Botan then reangles it so only she can be seen as she nods in agreement.

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"See ya later, Botan." Kuwabara says with a strange smile on his face as he clutches onto the communicator, but he then frowns when seeing a blank screen instead of Botan's face. "She hung up, stupid." Yusuke bluntly says as he pulls the communicator away from the now annoyed Kuwabara. "You can't be too injured if you're flirting." To which Akina adds with a disappointed tone, "Priorities, Kuwabara." Kurama smiles as he hears Kuwabara grunt out, "Shut up." and he decides to draw the attention to what is more important as he asks, "Well, shall we go?" But before anyone could give an answer, a roar echoes through the air and the platform they all stand on begins to shake violently. "Don't tell me..." Yusuke desperately says as the others look around for the Demon that they were aware was the source of the noise. "He's still alive!" Akina exclaims as the platform begins to start breaking, making Kurama look at the others and order, "Come on, it's collapsing!" He grabs Akina's hand as they all begin to run off of the platform as it crumbles to the ground. When making it off and to the entrance of the main castle building, they turn to see the platform completely destroyed and fallen down to the ground.

They then turn to the entrance again when hearing the roar turn to laughter as Byakko is clearly aware of what has occurred. "So, Human. You have proven to be quite a worthy prey." They hear Byakko say referring to Kuwabara. "Hey aren't you...dead yet?" Kuwabara weakly replies with feigned confidence in his reply. "Ha! Very much alive! And to reward your streak, I'm inviting you into my lair. My room of Hell." Byakko's voice echoes through the entrance hallway. "What an interesting invitation." Akina says with a raised eyebrow. Kurama stands in front of her and asks in a fierce tone, "What if we say no?" Byakko laughs and replies, "You don't want to say no." Kuwabara then smiles with eagerness and says, "Lead the way, Byakko. I'll go wherever you want."

It is then that they enter the entrance way and see a large metal door that begins to open, revealing a cave like tunnel that has a fiery glow at the end. "Oh that's great. Now we're walking into a preheated oven." Yusuke sighs. "Who cares? As long as it leads to Byakko." Kuwabara says Yusuke turn to him and snap, "Ok, you go first!" Akina releases a groan and says, "Let's go before I drag you both by your ears." And with that they all walk down the hot hallway. They find themselves on a small platform disconnected from the rest of the even smaller platforms dotted around the room above lava, making the twins gasp and cry, "Give me a break!" Akina shakes her head and glares at the beast on a platform similar to theirs across the room, whilst Yusuke jokes, "I guess Room of Hell wasn't just a clever name." Kuwabara stares at the lava with wide eyes and gasps out, "That's...lava!" To test his statement, he rips a small part of his shirt and drops it into the pit and watches as it disintegrates at the simple touch of the deadly pool of yellow, red and orange. "We better not fall into that guys." Kuwabara says.

"A fine view isn't it?" Byakko speaks, making all the male members of the group finally look over to see the white tiger and acknowledge how his platform is larger than theirs. "This is my private chamber. I come here to...play." Byakko informs them as he wears a wide grin. Kuwabara gasps, "No way! He's back to normal!" Yusuke then growls and snaps, "Monster, you piss me off!" Byakko ignores their words and continues to speak, "As you've already discovered, this room is filled with lava that will melt anything it touches. So does anyone have the courage to come and challenge me?" Yusuke decided it should be him as he shouts, "You bet I do, circus freak! You think you've got so much power?!" However, he doesn't step forward or continue to shout as Kuwabara placed his hand on his shoulder and said, "Leave him to me, Urameshi." But he is not the focus for long as Akina stands in front of the pair and says, "I Akina Urameshi accept your challenge." This makes the two male Humans and her red haired friend shout, "WHAT?!"

Hello Fellow Stars, surprise I am giving you guys this chapter early because it is Christmas eve and tomorrow will be Christmas Day!!!! Hooray!!! So Merry Christmas and have a happy new year, I hope you and your family enjoy Christmas day together.