A Forest on Fire (KuramaxOc)

Ch 33: Fire and Ice

Yusuke and his friends ran through the passageway at top speed! Yumiko had hopped down from Kurama's shoulder again the moment they were out of that awful cavern, desperate to stretch her legs. She had placed a paw on Kuwabara's chest, using what little spirit energy she had regained to heal some of his more serious injuries, and somehow the boy seemed to have more energy than before!

As they reached the top of the stairway, she growled.

"What? You're kidding me!" Yusuke exclaimed as they took in the room before them. It was a circular chamber, with doors every three feet along the wall.

"Hn, it appears we've found a maze, in  Maze Castle." Hiei snarked.

"Well I guess that makes sense!" Yusuke admitted, and Yumi sat down with an audible huff, just as annoyed as the human boy.

"We must beware. It's something of a legend..." Kurama began, going over what Yoko could remember of the castle with his friends. "In the beginning, before the barrier wall was erected around the city, hundreds of bounty hunters came in search of the beasts. None succeeded, but the beasts never left their tower. Letting anyone who made it into the castle forfeit their lives to this maze." He paused, glancing around the room.

"There are fifteen doors, all but one leading to a dead end. There are no second attempts. Unavoidable traps line the incorrect passageways. So you see, a poor choice seals our fate..." He glanced down as he felt the fox press against his leg, and gave the most comforting smile he could manage in light of the impossible decision before them.

Yusuke nearly took a step back at the weight of that choice, then turned to face Kuwabara.

"Okay, Mr. Sensative. This one's all yours!" He said, and Yumiko couldn't help but nodin agreement. She had watched as they took on Genkai's challenge, and Kuwabara had gotten the highest marks for spirit awareness by far! She still had trouble believing he had made it through the entire dark forest without a scratch!! If anyone could get them out of this mess, it was Kazuma Kuwabara!

Kuwabara made a small noise of concentration as he studied each door, his eyes quickly narrowing on one in particular.

"The second door on the left..."

Yumiko glanced to that door, and cocked her head to the side, trying to sense whatever he had. A certain familiar scent came from behind it, and she hoped it wasn't from a beast...

"You heard the man, let's go!" Yusuke said without hesitation, but Hiei scoffed.

"How do we know he's not making a mistake?"

Kuwabara pushed past the fire demon and made his way over to the door.

"I'm sorry shorty. Maybe it's not your thing, but you're just gonna have to trust me on this one. I know! There's something big behind that door."

Yumiko jumped to her paws as the impatient ginger wasted no more time allowing the others to argue, and pushed the door open. 'I guess we're going that way!!' She thought in irritation, and both demons beside her nodded in response.

That smell grew stronger as the door creaked open, and the snarl was already leaving her lips. She wasn't exactly sure what she expected, some bipedal beast like Byakko perhaps, or a giant rat, or something... Certainly not the tiny mouse that peered back at them through the doorway.

She blinked.
The mouse blinked.
Kazuma blinked.

"GWAAH-AHHH-AHHH!! I HATE MICE!!! AAAAGH!!"

She watched in stunned silence as the big oaf fell backwards, still shrieking.

'He's dumber than an ogre!!' She thought in irritation, heavily considering biting the idiot boy and giving him something to actually be afraid of, but the thought of human blood on her teeth made her stomach turn. Hiei and Kurama both simply nodded again to her thought, though Kurama did send back, 'That is truly unkind, Yumiko...' He wasn't too upset though, considering the thought came through as a chuckle.