Kurama had seen a lot of things in his life as Youko and his life as Shuuichi Minamino, but he still caught himself gaping at every inch of the building. It was so huge, and there were spirits roaming around freely everywhere. 'Looks like Botan hasn't been around here in a while,' he thought to himself humorously. The fact that there was another form of evergy (magic) other than demon, life, and spirit also intreged him. Both he and his Youko side itched to uncover every little secret about this place, but he knew only too well that he couldn't. He couldn't blow the mission before it even began.
'Are we still pretending we don't know eachother?' Hiei asked him mentally. Kurama glanced at him and nodded. 'Fine then. I'll tell the other two.' The kitsune nodded again. Koenma had already rigged the sorting, and even though he couldn't decide what house they all when in, they would be apart. He wanted each of them to be in charge of protecting the group they'd be put in to.
"Welp, we've 'rrived," Hagrid announced to all of the first years. "All 'a ya' firs' years go on into that there castle, and we'll sort ya'all into yer proper houses." He herded the bunch into the Great Hall, and Kurama found himself staring into the eyes of hundreds of students already seated in their rightful houses. Hagrid led the first years down to the front of the room and faced the Sorting Hat.
The Sorting Hat said his poem to the room, and then announced the beginning of the sorting.
"Yasha, Tahari," the hat said, as a young girl stepped up. She placed the hat on her head and Kurama could tell she was shaking from nervousness. "Griffindor!" Her face gave a show of relief, and she hurried to join her table.
"Kuwabara, Kazuma," the hat called. Kuwabara walked up and put the old thing on his head. "Hufflepuff!" He grinned from ear to ear and showed himself to his group.
"Jaganshi, Hiei!" the hat called afterwards. Kurama used telepathy to hear the demon converse mentally with the Sorting Hat.
'Hmm... this is very interesting, very interesting indeed," the hat inquired. "Slytherin would do you some good, and I see that it suits you, but you are also that of a trickster, and you know much more than the average wizard would. You would make an excellant student at Ravenclaw. A very interesting perdicament indeed...'
'Hn, I couldn't care less,' Hiei told the hat. 'Go ahead and put me where you like. It won't matter to me.'
'Ah, then I will decide on my own then,' the hat gladly stated. "Ravenclaw!" Kurama smiled. He had thought that the fire demon would be more at home in Slytherin, but Ravenclaw could be a chance for the demon to change. Now it was just Yusuke and himself that remained to be sorted.
"Arvin, Allison! Hufflepuff"
"Tomwell, Haley! Slytherin!"
"Westmon, Kaitlyn! Ravenclaw!"
"Minamino, Shuuichi!" Kurama walked up and picked up the hat. He looked at it for a moment, studying it. It gave off spirit energy, he realized, which must've been the reason it could read minds. It came to life with the power of magic sewn into the cloth it was made of, and-
"Mr. Minamino," Dumbledore said, jerking Kurama out of his observation. He flushed, embarrassed, and placed the hat on his head.
''Bout time,' the hat scolded.
'Excuse me, but I was just seeing how you were created,' Kurama apoligized. 'It's truly remarkable that you've lasted so long, and I just wanted to see the color and contents of your body.'
'Quite the observant one, aren't you young lad?' the hat asked, impressed with this boy's skills. 'But I see that you do not wish to be placed in to Ravenclaw.'
'No sir, I don't,' Kurama replied.
'You also seem to have a very brave and noble side of you, a side that makes your self whole,' the hat calculated, 'but you still hold onto traits of your past. You've commited crimes, murders, all sorts of dark things that would make you the perfect Slytherin candidate.' Kurama nodded slightly, and the hat continued. 'If I may ask, which of the two would you like to be put in the most?'
Kurama was surprised. He didn't expect that the hat would ask him. 'I... I'm not quite sure,' he admitted. He looked out at the tables, and the three students he sat with on the train stood out. They saw him looking at them, and they waved.
'I see,' the hat said thoughtfully. "Griffindor!" Kurama took off the hat, and headed down to sit with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"Congratulations Kurama!" Harry greeted as he sat down next to Hermione. Hermione blushed madly, but Kurama decided to pretend he didn't notice. "You'll make a great Griffindor student!"
"And you'll be tryin' out for the Quidditch team too, I reckon?" Ron asked.
"I'll definetely be cheering for you if you make the team!" Hermione added. Ron mouthed the word "love" to Kurama and Harry behind Hermione's head.
"I think I'll try out for the position as a chaser," he told his new friends, "and I'm glad to hear that I'll have support." That made Hermione blush even more, and she had too turn around to hide her face.
"Urameshi, Yusuke! Slytherin!" Kurama heard, and watched the spirit detective head over to a boy with blonde hair. They slapped eachother a high five before he sat down.
Harry noticed Kurama looking at this, and explained, "That's Draco Malfoy. He's... well..."
"He's evil," Ron offered.
Harry shot Ron a look. "That's not what I was going to say. It's more on the lines of he's... competitive."
"And that's putting it nicely," Fred said, overhearing the conversation. "That kid hates most everyone, especially Harry, Hermione, and our family." He pointed to Ron, confirming that they were related. "That kid that's with him must be his twin, 'cause Malfoy's acting like he's his brother."
'Yusuke IS very competitive,' Kurama admitted to himself, but not out loud.
"Uh, Kurama, there's a dance this year for fifth years and up, and I was wondering if, maybe..." Hermione fumbled with her sentence.
"You may all eat!" Dumbledore's voice boomed, and everyone began to dig in. Hermioned dismissed the topic for the moment, but she looked at Kurama, telling him that she'd finish later.
'I think I like this school,' Kurama told himself. 'It's surely a thing worthy of protection.'