"Hello, Yusuke. I see your doing very well if you made it this far." said the tape.
Yusuke looked at the tape recorder with an annoyed expression.
"beneath you, you shall find a demon." it said cutting to the chase.
Yusuke raised an eyebrow and looked down at the innocent looking boy.
"a what?" he asked in disbelief.
"particularly, you have saved this demons life before and now you will have to do it again."
"a demon?" asked Kuwabara also looking down. Kurama looked up offended.
"beats me." responded Yusuke.
"Your demon friend has ninety seconds to get to you or the device attached to his neck will discharge and strangle your friend. You will find that the journey across this room is filled with danger."
Yusuke looked towards Kurama's path and saw that there were many steam pipes blocking particular parts of the maze that led all the way to a tall cage that reached the second floor.
" In order for him to make it, you will need to be there for him, and it is you who ultimately holds the key to his survival." it said continuously.
Yusuke looked at the digital clock and then looked down at the red head. he didn't look like he trusted them much. Shooting Yusuke a death glare the raven haired boy shivered.
"When faced with death, will he have the skills to live? Let the game begin. " and with that the tape ended.
The clocked began the count down by 90 seconds.
"Yusuke, you know her?" asked Keiko kind of jealous.
"no, I don't know Him." Yusuke clarified clutching his teeth together. "hey red head!" he yelled.
Kurama looked back at him with an uneasy look.
"It's Shuuichi." he responded agitatedly.
"what?" asked Yusuke not understanding the demon.
"My name is Shuuichi!" he said even louder yet keeping himself away from the steam.
Yusuke stared for a brief moment, his name didn't ring any bells yet his appearance seemed a little familiar.
"Shuuichi, you gotta get up here." he demanded.
"Are you insane, there is no way I can get past the steam." Kurama reasoned "unless somehow you can find a way to turn it off."
Yusuke looked at him for a while then remembered the level that said "relief". Running back towards the level, he pulled it. The steam that blocked Kurama's path suddenly turned upwards out of Kurama's way and into Yusuke. Yusuke screamed in pain and dropped it.
"Yusuke." screamed Keiko.
"I'm okay." he said rubbing his arm.
He looked at the clock, it read 75 seconds left. "damn it." he thought then looked back down. Kurama immediately understood what Yusuke needed to do and he felt hopeless. There was no way a complete stranger would actually risk there life to save his. Yusuke looked down at Kurama for a moment before speaking.
"okay Shuuichi, we gotta work together." he said nervously.
Kurama looked at him a bit shocked.
"wha-what was that?" he asked.
"You have to be fast, I honestly don't know how many levels there are nor how many I can take so we gotta work together." Yusuke explained.
"and why would you want to do that for me?" he asked.
Yusuke thought for a second before he responded.
"I don't know, but your just going to have to trust me." he said quickly as the time hit 60 seconds left"now go!" he said while pulling the first level.
Kurama quickly dashed as the steam lifted. Yusuke screamed as his arm was burned. Moving quickly past the first steam the red head came to the second steam pipe. Yusuke released the level and went to reach the next level. Steam shot through his leg as he pulled it letting the fox get across. Keiko covered her eyes as Yusuke's screams became more violent.
"Urameshi!" screamed out Kuwabara.
Yusuke released the level and moved to the next one, pulling it down hard. The steam redirected upwards and startled the boy by getting him in the face. Yusuke screamed and accidentally released the level getting Kurama hit in the leg by the steam. Kurama winced yet continued, he knew Yusuke couldn't continue on like this much longer. He instinctively climbed the gate and was able to go over a few of the steams till he finally got to the one where he had to crawl under. Yusuke was in pain, yet he still went and pulled the level. Steam hit the boys body and he released it by accident. Kurama cried out as his back was burned. The red head was stuck in that one place and was about to get hurt even worse till the steam was redirected. Kuwabara stood there taking the steam this time.
"Kuwabara?" whispered Kurama as he tiredly gazed up.
Kuwabara clutched his teeth as he held it long enough for Kurama to get the strength to move out of the way.
"what are you doing?" asked Yusuke as he trembled back on his feet.
"You think I'd actually let you take all the credit?" he asked with a determined smile.
Yusuke returned the smile and the boys worked together to get the red head to the next pipe. There was 32 seconds left and the three boys were covered in blood. Kurama was very exhausted as he came to the final cage. He needed to climb up the gate like cage and reach the raven haired boy. His bloody hands gripped the gate as he tried to climb up, he kind of slipped a bit yet he still had his balance. Climbing up the gate Kuwabara pulled the final level and Yusuke grabbed Kurama's hand and pulled him up. Kurama held on to Yusuke tightly, he felt relieved.
"Your buying lunch." said Yusuke with a tired smile.
Kurama smiled back and paused for the timer was still counting back by twenty one seconds.
"it's not over yet." he said.
"what!" asked Yusuke and Kuwabara.
Kurama thought for a second then looked down at the collar.
"of course." he said pointing at it.
There was fifteen seconds left and Yusuke raced behind the fox demon and began to undo the collar. It needed a key.
"ah shit!" he said panicking.
The boy looked around the place to find some sort of clue. Ten seconds left and Yusuke was freaking out. Kurama just watched him completely calm.
"did something happen?" the kitsune asked calmly.
"dude if I can't find the keys, your a dead man." Yusuke responded looking at the time.
There was six seconds left.
"well, then that would really be a tragedy if it wasn't that you seem to have a few keys around your neck." Kurama reasoned.
Yusuke looked down and was amazed to see a few key around his neck.
"you should have said that before!" he screamed and immediately took of the keys.
There was three seconds left and many keys to choose from. Yusuke didn't know which one to choose from so he picked a random key.
"please be the right one." he said putting it in and trying to unlock the collar.
It wouldn't fit and the timer hit zero. Kurama immediately felt the collar tightening, gasping for air he held on tightened his grip on Yusuke.
"it wont fit!" he screamed.
"move over." said Kuwabara "it's that one, duffus!"
Yusuke quickly changed keys as blood dripped down the foxes mouth. Yusuke turned the key and the fox took in a deep breath.
"...oh my goodness..." he said in between coughs.
"your alright?" asked Yusuke
The fox coughed a little more before answering.
"o-of course, I'll be fine." he said gripping his bruised throat "where are we?"
Yusuke looked at him for a while.
"... I don't know..."
the rain poured and the thunder cried out in New York. Drinking down a nice warm hot chocolate, the young detective walked out of the office.
"ah, finally a day off." she said stretching. She walked past a few people not realizing the strange couple that observed her. Silver hair blew in the rain as a particular fox demon watched the detective cross the street.
"you positive it's her?" she asked her buddy in crime.
Kirin watched the young human then smirked as he nodded.
Angel walked past a few houses till she herd a voice from behind her.
"detective." called the voice.
Angel stopped then turned to face the bat demon. She opened her mouth to say something and everything went dark...