Author note: many thanks to buzzk97 for leaving me a review and for the suggestion! ^ᴥ^
oxoxoxoxoxo
(Sayuri)
After leaving the cave, we took a long, loooong winding staircase that ended in a room with nine closed doors. Yusuke gaped, "Wha…Why?".
"Be careful, it's one of the many puzzles of the Maze Castle", Hiei warned us, his ruby eyes glaring at the doors as if he could set them on fire with his gaze alone.
"Some sort of trap?", the detective asked, tensing.
"Yes, exactly", Rara answered, "And I think I know what it's about. It's simple: only one of these doors leads to the top floor of the castle…But which one? Up until now, many have tried to find out, but none came out alive. Unfortunately, if we choose the wrong door, we're dead".
I grinned, "Well, that's like one of the treasure hunts we used to go on, then, isn't it?", I told him, my tail twitching with excitement, "Traps, puzzles and riddles! It's just like old times!".
He chuckled and stroked my hair, rubbing my ears gently, "It really is, Yuyu, but this time there's no treasure waiting for us at the end".
"The safety of the kits of Human World is reward enough for me", I shrugged, I was really worried about those poor kits: humans or not, they were innocent and had to be protected at all costs.
"You're right, fox girl", Yusuke nodded, then turned to Kazuma, "Kuwabara, what do you think is the right door?".
Kazuma studied all of the doors, a focused look on his face, then his eyes widened suddenly, "Gotcha! The third door on the left", he announced.
"Good, let's go then!".
"Wait a minute", Hiei intervened, "How can you be so sure?".
Our ginger haired friend walked up to the chosen door, "Maybe it will seem odd to you, but I am quite skilled with labyrinths and puzzles. At our local carnival, I'm considered as a champion, I never fail! Follow me with no fear!", he boasted, opening the door…
And then he saw a minuscule white mouse standing on its hind legs in the middle of the floor and stumbled back until he fell on his butt, face twisted with fear, "A MOUSE! Make it leave, make it leave!", he screeched. We all deadpanned, he was so brave in front of a fearsome monster like Byakko and now nearly pissed himself because of a cute little mousey? Honestly…
Anyway, the little creature scurried away and we proceeded without further trouble, until we reached a double door: it was royal blue with golden trimmings and two big stone dragon statues stood on each side of it, as if guarding it from any intruder.
Hiei narrowed his beautiful eyes, "Do these statues tell you anything?".
"Yes, of course", Rara nodded, "It's the quarters of Seiryū, the blue dragon. Also, I sense a strong spiritual power coming from behind the door".
"Yeah, I feel it too", Kazuma agreed.
Slowly, the doors began opening and I could see wisps of what looked like fog coming from it, but it was cold, so very cold. Yusuke was the first one to get in, all of us following him closely and I noticed that the same fog filled the room, a pitiful trick to disguise Seiryū's presence. The doors closed behind us a lot faster than they had opened, cutting our retreat, not that we would have ever run from the fight in the first place, obviously. Our eyes darted around, trying to get a glimpse of him, while we focused on our spiritual awareness to sense him.
"He's near, I feel him", Rara warned.
"And what a high concentration of power! He must be a formidable foe", Hiei agreed.
Before any of us could say a word, a voice came from the fog, "Master Suzaku is very annoyed", the blue dragon said, "You defeated two of his loyal companions, but your luck ends here".
Kazuma scowled, "Where the hell is he? I can't see him!".
"So, Seiryū, are you playing hide and seek or what?", Yusuke snarled, pissed off at this pathetic game, "I'm tired of waiting, come out!".
And indeed, power seemed to focus in a single point in the room, the energy crackling like lightning before the fog dispelled and we saw a male in front of us: he was tall and when I say tall, I mean really tall. I mean, Rara and I were six feet, Kazuma was slightly taller than us, but this dragon guy was a friggin' frozen beanpole, he was probably around twelve feet tall!
His skin was the sickly pale blue of a man who froze to death, his black hair was styled in two odd points at the sides of his head, his face was narrow and he had thin mustache and a goatee that only highlighted how skinny he was.
The outfit he wore was a darker blue than the doors, with a thin, icy blue fake dragon wrapped around him, the body going from his left shoulder to his right hip and its head leaning on his right shoulder. Seriously, I got that he was the blue dragon, but wasn't he going a bit too far with broadcasting it? I mean, Rara and I are both foxes, but you don't see us walking around with a fox plushie perched on our shoulder. Just sayin'.
Kazuma was surprised, "Uh? He looks human!".
The blue cocky jerk smirked, "You can still leave, but if you stay, you will die a slow and painful death", he boasted, chuckling.
"If you ask me, he looks more like an ass than a human", Yusuke commented.
I laughed and high-fived him, "Nice one, kit".
Seiryū narrowed his already narrow yellow eyes, "You are so eager to be shattered in pieces, uh?", he snorted, then tensed a bit and frowned in pure annoyance, "Oh, no. Looks like an unwelcome guest is coming".
We all shared puzzled glances, what was he talking about? But then we heard heavy steps coming from the corridor behind us.
"They're right outside", Kazuma said, "But who the hell could it be?".
The doors opened and we all gaped in shock: on the threshold, bruised, heavily wounded and with large patches of burnt fur, stood none other than Byakko himself! "Wha- Is he a tiger or a cockroach?", I exclaimed, exasperated. Seriously, what would it take to kill this guy for good?!
He leaned on the doors, panting, "Help me Seiryū!", he begged, walking on uncertain legs to his comrade, "I need your help, give me some of your power. I will return it tenfold once I get rid of these pests, you can trust me, you know this!".
The blue dragon sneered, "Idiot! You covered us with ridicule with your defeat!", he shouted at the tiger.
"Seiryū, listen…", Byakko tried to say, his tone pleading, but his comrade was not in the mood for further talk.
"You're not useful to us anymore. So, let the curtain drop!", Seiryū gathered his power in his right fist and then punched Byakko several times in rapid succession, freezing his body bit by bit, ignoring the desperate pleas of mercy of his companion, who rightfully pointed out that he was defenseless. At last, Byakko was completely frozen, yet still alive and the blue dragon kicked him so hard that the body shattered in a thousand pieces, the head rolling on the floor not far from us. And to add insult to injury, his former comrade even spat on the head for good measure.
Yusuke was seething, "Aren't you ashamed of having killed one of your own and when he was defenseless too?", he growled, his soft brown eyes burning with rage.
"Seiryū, why…?", Byakko managed to ask before he died, a small tear glistening in the corner of his left eye at the unexpected betrayal.
"Even if he was my opponent, I feel pity for him now", Kazuma muttered, his tone mournful: he truly was an honorable young man, who respected even his enemies and I appreciated that in him.
"They don't know what loyalty is", Rara commented, "Their only common ground is the thirst for power and conquest".
Yusuke wanted to teach the blue dragon a very hard lesson, but Hiei stopped him. "Save your rage for Suzaku, you will need it. Let me deal with him", he said and the human detective relented, albeit reluctantly.
Hiei stepped forward, but then his gaze moved to Byakko's head and after a moment, as if he had come to a decision, he took off his cloak, tossing it to the side to cover the head as a sign of respect for the fallen enemy and oooooooh boy! My ears and tail twitched and I felt my cheeks heat up: he was SHIRTLESS under that cloak!
My eyes roamed hungrily over the delicious sight offered to them: he was slender, well muscled but not overly bulky, his muscles were firm and toned and his peach skin looked so smooth and soft that I felt the sudden desire to touch it, kiss it and run my tongue over it, to hear that velvety voice of his break in moans and sighs of pleasure and to…A nudge broke me out of my reverie and I started, turning my head only to be met with Rara's foxish grin.
"I know what you're thinking", he murmured, amusement clear in his voice and I bit my lower lip.
"I'm positive I have no idea what you mean", I whispered, using the language we spoke when in our animal form to prevent the others from understanding.
"Don't try to play dumb, Yuyu", he answered in the same language, leaning so close to me that I felt his warm breath on my face, "I know you too well to buy it".
"Don't tell him", I pleaded, "It would be so embarrassing if he knew!".
"My lips are sealed", he promised and I smiled at him, relieved and grateful.
"Thank you, big brother", I looked back at Hiei and Seiryū and heard the latter offer his opponent to surrender. I snorted, didn't he know whom he was talking to? Hiei was quite infamous in Demon World as a ruthless killer, even more ruthless than Seiryū himself actually. Not as much as Rara and myself, of course, but still not the type you'd want to cross.
"Tsk. Is that all you have to say?", Hiei sneered, his lips curving in a sadistic, dangerous smile that made a shiver of delight and desire run down my spine, "You will be the one to fall".
"Hey, don't you use that tone with me! Those who dared to do it regretted it dearly!", the blue dragon roared, releasing a strong wave of demonic power, but Hiei created a protective sphere around himself and the wave split in the middle only to crash into the walls behind us. We were not harmed either, also thanks to my own barrier surrounding us, but a portion of the wall still collapsed.
Kazuma looked at the hole with wide eyes and jumped back in fear, "W-what did he use, a bazooka?!", he exclaimed, trembling.
"And now the final blow!", Seiryū shouted, gathering his power into his fist like he had done against Byakko.
"That's the same technique from before, watch out!", Yusuke yelled at Hiei, but there was no need to worry: as soon as the blue dragon struck, our companion jumped high into the air and landed right behind him safely.
Seiryū turned to face him and laughed, "How foolish of me, I forgot you're incredibly fast. Now let's see how long you can keep up. DIE!", he threw punch after punch, fast as lightning, but Hiei was faster and evaded every single blow flawlessly.
"He's practically covered the room in ice!", Yusuke said.
"N-not j-just t-the r-room", Kazuma stuttered and when I shot him a look, I saw that the top of his odd pompadour was frozen too, "I don't know about you, but I'm freezing".
I used my power to create a big leaf and wrapped it around him like a blanket, "Here, this should help keep you warm", I said, stroking his head and he blushed deeply, a goofy smile lighting up his face.
"Thank you, you're truly as kind as you're beautiful", he swooned.
Ah kit, how wrong you are, I thought, amused by his naivety: if he knew me at all, he'd know that I was anything but kind, far from it actually. "Look!", Rara exclaimed and we turned as one to see that Hiei's left calf was covered in a thick film of ice.
"Oh, shit", I groaned, then perked up as I remembered something, "Well, it's okay, that won't stop him anyway".
My brother shot me a quick look, "With a frozen leg he won't be able to do much", he said, frowning, but I smirked and leaned closer to whisper in his ear.
"He's a fire demon, remember? Fire melts ice. He'll be fine".
Seiryū's mocking laugh broke the quiet, "So, what now? Are you ready to surrender?", he sneered, "Well, no matter, it's too late now: you wasted your only chance!".
"Oh, please, you are the one who's gonna end up getting his ass kicked, icicle", I spat, rolling my eyes and I saw Hiei look at me with a mixture of surprise and amusement.
"Tsk. She's right, you know", he addressed Seiryū, a confident smirk on his lips.
The ice demon seemed to lose his cool (pun absolutely intended) and let out a growl as he clenched his fists, ready for his last attack, "Enough! You're a dead man!", he shouted and sprinted forward, Hiei doing the same with his sword poised to strike. They met halfway and the fire demon landed a couple of feet behind him, his left arm and his other leg were covered in ice too now.
Seiryū noticed this and smirked with satisfaction, "Well done, you survived it, but this time will be the last", he said…Only to stare in shock as Hiei laughed. "Why are you laughing?!".
"Do you really think you could defeat me with that technique? It takes much more than that", our companion stated, clenching his left fist and the ice covering his arm and legs shattered in a thousand shards.
"What? That can't be!", Seiryū muttered, then gritted his teeth, "No matter, I will increase the energy…", he trailed off as purple blood trickled down his forehead.
"Goodbye!", Hiei mocked him a moment before the blue dragon's body collapsed in pieces and vanished in a whirlwind of frozen air.
"Oh, wow, sixteen slashes in one go! That was awesome!", I gushed, running to Hiei as he sheathed his sword and placing my hand on his shoulder, "I knew that Seiryū didn't stand a chance against you!".
He didn't say anything, but right before he turned his head the other way, I thought I saw his cheeks turn slightly pink and I felt…Something in my chest, a warm feeling I thought I would never experience with anyone in my life. I shook myself off, I couldn't, I shouldn't think of it now.
"Wait, sixteenslashes?", Yusuke echoed, surprised, "I only counted eight or nine and they already seemed a lot to me!".
Kazuma blinked, "Wait, when did he do that?".
"When they clashed mid-air, though I admit that only saw the trail of light left by the first slash", Rara answered with a sheepish smile. I was shocked to the Core by that admission: in the old days, he would have been able not only to see every single slash, but also to anticipate them and now…He really had lost a lot of power by merging his soul with that of a human. He wasn't joking when he said he was down to middle B-class at best.
"Damn, Hiei, you're really tough! If you were to face me, I'm sure you would kick my ass!", Yusuke exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head.
"Hn. Maybe", the fire demon shrugged, turning to retrieve his cloak and put it back on, much to my dismay. I wouldn't have minded looking at those abs a little longer…
"Uh? What's up with him? I would have expected at least one smartass remark", Kazuma noted, a bit puzzled by Hiei's sudden quietness.
My brother chuckled softly, "Maybe you're starting to grow on him".
I smiled at that, if I were to be honest the two humans were growing on me too and that was saying a lot: I had never really cared for anyone other than Rara and (but only a little bit) Kuronue before, but these kits were something else. And of course Hiei was growing on me as well, but it was different with him, I mean he was so handsome…I started as I realized the direction of my thoughts and cleared my throat, "Well, why are we lingering here? There's still Suzaku to take down".
"You're right, let's go", Yusuke nodded and we resumed our search for the leader of the Four Saint Beasts, the phoenix Suzaku.