A/N: I was evil for the cliffie wasn't I?

Reviewers: Yes...:whine:

A/N: Sorry, kiddos! I'm just enthusiastic about a lot of things lately, despite a lot of sadness around me. So I take out my frustration in my writing, catch what I mean? He he :dodges broken bottles and forks: Ok, I'm sorry! Yeesh! Anyway, here's the latest chapter which ties up the loose end from that daggone cliffie, answers a few other questions, and brings in three more characters! Enjoy!

To the Reviewers: BlueWater26, littletiffychan, DemonSlayer205, nobody (heh, original name), Hieiko, and Picture - God bless you for your patience and enthusiasm for the ficcie! Your reviews are cherished and valued. Thanks so much!

Dedication: I usually don't do this with chapter stories, but this one's going out to a very dear lady who just had an extensive four hour surgery to remove her cancer. I am so pleased to tell you that she is now cancer free and is resting well! So Angie Dennis - this is for you! God bless you!

Chapter 7 : Threatened

Fluttering open, ruby eyes took in their new surroundings; a simple room with typical furniture and trappings, and was similar to that of Thea's. When she recalled everything that had happened, she bolted upright to meet with the firm hands of the one who had most likely struck her in the head, and had caught her as well. His features were similar to Mari's, she noted; short raven hair, light brown eyes, and pale skin. His age was a mystery though, his countenace giving off an aura of innocence, whereas his build signified that he was much older. If Yukina had to guess, she would suppose he was around sixteen or seventeen. "Where am I? Who are you?" she asked in a hurry, wishing she could remember everything that happened in order.

He gently pushed her back down onto the mattress and stood up to allow her space. "You're in the servants quarters again, my lady. You have nothing to be afraid of here." Yukina seemed to be reassured by that, but wanted more answers than that which she was given. "I'm Makoto, and that girl you saw earlier is my little sister, Mari. You've already met our grandmother, Thea, yes?"

Yukina nodded in confirmation, swinging her legs over the side of the bed so that she could stand up, only to be welcomed by the slight throb in the back of her head. Grimacing, she touched the place where she was struck, a small bump hiding underneath her hair, but was just enough to hurt. "Why did you hit me? I wasn't going to interfere - "

"Please understand that it wasn't out of malice." Makoto interrupted, turning on his heel so that his back faced her, in an effort to conceal his frustrated expression. "I only hit you to protect you from Reina, who no doubt would have discovered you had I not acted in time." Yukina froze, curious by what he meant. "I know that if you had gotten any closer to that door, she would have spotted you and had you executed in a heartbeat. She's much more ruthless than Kaihiko, trust me."

She rubbed the back of her head, an almost pouty look on her face. 'But you didn't have to hit me...'

Makoto smirked and looked at her again, catching her in the act of whining subconciously. "I do apologize for using such force though, my lady, but it was the only way I could maintain silence. You would have surely screamed had I approached you differently."

Yukina giggled, nodding in approval that her instincts to scream would have kicked in as he suspected, but his timing was so inconvenient, since she was about to discover who the prisoner was that Reina had volunteered for torture. However, there was more information to gather at the moment, so that matter could wait until a little bit later. "So why did Reina take your sister away? Don't you both serve under Kaihiki?"

"Yes, we do, and we are treated fairly, since Kaihiki doesn't know much of his elder sliblings' ways. But Reina's been preying on us both ever since Kaihiko started the onslaught of Reikai, as if she's grown more malicious and bloodthirsty. Believe it or not, she used to be very gentle and caring..." Makoto replied, a sad expression over his features. "I had left Mari alone for just a few minutes to get something, and Reina used that opportunity to take Mari away. I had no choice but to follow, and rest assured, if you weren't there at the time, I would've killed Reina with my bare hands for hurting my sister."

Observing his hurt and angered countenance, Yukina felt sympathy for him and stood up, almost stumbling to him before regaining her balance, but managed to reach his side and put her hand on his shoulder in comfort. "Like me, you hate to see others tortured because of your mistakes. I can understand your hatred, but you can't let it control you. Worse things will happen if hatred consumes you from the inside out."

Makoto looked at Yukina thoughtfully, remnants of a broken smile beginning to piece themselves together as he spoke. "Then you know how I feel...what it's like to be forced to stand by and watch as others suffer because of you." Yukina could only nod, recalling the cruel events of her days at Tarukane's compound. Countless demons, people, and even animals were killed because she refused to cry, and it almost killed her in the process. Suicidal thoughts plagued her, haunted her... Thoughts of dying just like her mother years before were all she could think of the last days she was there, until Yusuke and the others came to her aid at last.

"I've endured my fair share of torture over time, so I can't bear to let others get hurt anymore if I can help it." Makoto's smile finally came together out of pure admiration for Yukina's fighting spirit, surprised that such a small and innocent looking girl could take on so much responsibility. "That's why I'm here - to free you all before more innocent people die."

A sparkle glimmered in his eye for her declaration, everything clear to him in an instant. "Koenma sent you, didn't he?"

She froze instantly, her eyes darting to the door to make sure it was closed, then looked around the room for any other secret passages that would possibly allow unwelcome ears to hear her reply. Playing it safe, she merely nodded humbly and smiled. "But it wasn't my original objective. Something else needs to be taken care of first before I can carry out my own plans."

"Stopping Kaihiko from advancing on Koenma, I know. But you're just the girl to do it, I'm certain." he winked and made Yukina blush, but laughed quietly at how much confidence he had in her already, and they just met a few hours ago, or so it seemed like hours...

Then her thoughts drifted back to the events in the passage; the screams of the prisoner echoing in her mind to haunt her again and again. If only Makoto had waited a second longer before hitting her so that she could have determined who it was. "Makoto, I have a question." He nodded in approval for her to inquire as much as she wished. "Do you know who it was that Reina was torturing?"

His smile was replaced with a frown, and a dismal sigh escaped him, disheartened to know that Yukina would inquire on such a thing. "I don't know his name, but he's been here for about three months, and both Kaihiko and Reina torture him at will. I'm surprised he's still alive. Rumor has it that he's actually a demon, but we can't be certain, since his energy signature isn't detectable at all." He looked back at her with curiosity, seeing the frustrated peril etch itself into her face, and spill out through frantic fidgeting with her hands. "Why? Someone important to you, do you think?"

"I...I don't know." she replied, several different candidates running through her mind, which were ultimately too many for her to rule out. "It all happened so fast that I couldn't tell who it was."

Makoto now touched her shoulder sympathetically, calming her nervousness as she looked at him out of gratitude. "Well, if my opinion matters at all, I recommend you don't back there for a while. The east wing is a personal nightmare for a lot of us, and I would hate to see you end up in there permanently." he told her gently, another sparkle flashing over his brown eyes. "Just don't worry about it for now. Concentrate on your primary mission first, and in the meantime, I'll learn what I can about him, then I'll tell you everything I know."

Bringing her left hand upwards, she touched his gently and grinned solemnly, the fresh tears she wanted to cry so badly just begging to spill out of her eyes. "Thank you, Makoto. That means a lot to me."

M-e-a-n-w-h-i-l-e

"Umm, Koenma, sir. There's someone here to see you, and she's not very happy..." the Reikai lord's ogre for a secretary said, peeking into the room, only to be pulled away by force, whining in pain as he was drug away.

Koenma's eyebrow twitched upwards, and a bead of sweat slipped down his childish face, knowing and fearing who it was who had come by so suddenly. To his displeasure, the doors opened wide to reveal a furious demon lord whom he feared the most, her single blue eye glaring at him from across the room. Poised and collected, she walked towards him, a malicious smile on her features as she spoke. "Three months, Koenma..."

"Y-yes, about that..."

"Three months, Koenma...!"

"Let me explain -"

"Three months, Koenma!"

Now the toddler of a ruler was barely peeking above his desk at Mukuro's ablaze countenance, anger and frustration seeping out in her energy like she was an overflowing sink. Slamming her hands onto the desk, she leaned over and glared further at him, wishing she had the right to strangle him, but law and death held her back from doing so. "You said you'd only need him for a month at the most, but it's been THREE months, Koenma!"

"Yes, I'm well aware of that, Mukuro, but he ran into a few unexpected complications." Koenma replied, cowering beneath the dangerous aura her lone eye created.

"What sort of complications..." Mukuro snarled, while still maintaining her poise, despite her raging frustration.

Koenma, though scared out of his wits, collected himself and rose back into his seat, masking his fear with his poker face, which Mukuro could tell was already slipping. "Well, he umm...we underestimated Kaihiko's cleverness early on, and so he kind of...got captured."

Mukuro withdrew from her threatning advance and stood up straight, her expression calm and stoic. "So he was taken prisoner, you mean." Koenma nodded nervously, allowing her to analyze the situation for herself, which didn't take much time. "Fine, I'll retrieve him myself."

"No! You mustn't interfere!" Koenma blurted suddenly, halting Mukuro's retreat for the door. "This is a Reikai affair, not one of yours. We cannot risk involving Makai too, especially when enough lives have been taken."

She turned on her heel and glared at him again. "And is he to be another tally mark on your list?"

"Of course not!" he spat in return, folding his arms over his chest in his defense. "Besides, if anyone else interferes besides the agent I've already deployed, then things that are set in motion will hasten too quickly for us to resolve them. We're playing a complex game of chess here, Mukuro. One wrong move could spell the doom of all three dimensions, so I suggest you leave it to us to take care of it."

"Very well, but if Reikai falls, I will come after you first and hold you personally responsible." Mukuro said with hinted confidence, simply striding out of the room and past the blue ogre who scrambled to get away from her by crawling back into Koenma's office.

With a deep sigh of relief, Koenma let his head fall onto his desk as he whimpered. "Why does everyone keep threatning me? It's not like I'm the one throwing the three worlds into chaos!"

L-a-t-e-r

One foot in front of the other - that was her motivation as she trudged through the snow, each step an agonizing continuation of endless torture by the cold. Further she pushed herself onto nowhere, the blustering wind stinging her cheeks, whipping her hair that provided little shelter from the subzero temperatures. She was so cold...so bitterly cold and tired. All she wanted to do was sleep and wake up warm, but that was a fleeting hope long lost on the winter breeze. Should she stop, death would welcome her, along with tears and sadness. Death wasn't an option, but pain came in its place.

"Run!" a voice called out in the distance, her weak eyes catching his tall silhouette waving to her. A relieved smile crept onto her face as she continued to push herself onward, only to fall forwards and collapse into the snow.

So weak and tired...

"Get up! You can't stop now, they're coming!"

She just had to sleep.

"Please get up!" he came running to her, lifting her up for her sad red orbs to look at him miserably. Shivering with cold, she held out her hands in front of her, her rescuer's eyes gaping open in shock and fear. Fresh blood covered her hands from the tips of her fingers to the fragile flesh of her wrist, and was dripping down onto the once white snow.

Absorbing the crimson life source, the snow welcomed it like a delicious wine, drinking it hungrily so that she could never have it back. "Please forgive me...I failed..." she sobbed, crying into her bloody hands, only to have them held by her rescuer, his own eyes sympathetic and mournful. Not only had the blood stained her hands, but it was now smeared over her angelic face, trails of wet tears drawing in the blood and slipping down her face. "So many...have died."

"No more will die, especially not you!" he told her, trying to pull her up to her feet, but she refused against her own will. The snow began to deepen, slowly dragging her farther, but she wouldn't struggle against it, allowing it to swallow her whole without a fight. "Wait!"

S-o-o-n A-f-t-e-r

"Yukina!" Kazuma woke with a start, heart pounding and sweat streaming down the sides of his face. Looking around frantically, he spotted the time and sighed in relief. "It was just a nightmare...?" Sitting up, he flipped on his light and ran over what just occurred in his head, hoping that none of it was true, or that it had implications for a later event. Most nightmares don't come true, scene for scene, of course, but his awareness and sensitivity told him otherwise. Something seemed frightning about how real it felt, as if it were a sign, warning him that danger concerning his beloved Ice Princess was on the rise.

Then the door opened, his older sister walking in and rubbing her eyes, saying clearly that she had been woken from her sleep too. "Kazuma, what's the matter? It's two in the morning..."

"N-nothing, just had a nightmare, that's all." he replied, trying to keep it from her, but he knew she would drive it out of him somehow.

Shizuru raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "You didn't have the turkey sandwich nightmare again, did you? Because that would be the fourth time, and that would probably mean something."

Kazuma glared at her from across the room and growled quietly. "No! Yukina was involved..."

"Was she eating the turkey sandwich?" He only glared again. Shizuru snickered and waved it off, deciding to end the teasing earlier than normal. "Just kidding, Kazuma. You know I can't resist the temptation to tease you." Kazuma sighed heavily and looked away to the window, gazing out at the stars that were so far, yet seemed close enough that he could reach out and snatch one for his beloved. Shizuru noted his behavior and her smirk collapsed into a sympathetic frown, worry flooding her for her brother's well-being. Though he could be hard to deal with at times, she wouldn't just leave him alone to deal with his internal struggles. "Tell me what happened, Kazuma. You might feel better."

Collecting his thoughts, he bit his lip and began to tell her the events of the dream turned nightmare. "I saw Yukina in a blizzard...she was really tired and weak, barely able to stand, you know?" Shizuru nodded and urged him to continue. "Not long after I spotted her, she collapsed and then showed me the blood on her hands, saying she was sorry for failing to save those that died...Then the snow sort of...swallowed her, and that's when I woke up."

Shizuru was rather disturbed by this, getting the mental images in her mind that would now never leave her alone they were so vivid and grotesque. Just the sheer thought of Yukina in such a situation sickened her, as she held onto a secret hope that she could grow closer to the Ice Child she hoped would one day be her sister-in-law. "Did you feel anything, Kazuma?"

He nodded and continued. "Yeah. It felt so real and...to be honest, painful. That scares me a little, Shizuru."

"It scares me too..." she said sadly, her gaze falling down to her hands as they shook out of struggling fear. She didn't want to admit it openly, especially to her brother, but she felt something too, and the dream wasn't even her own to remember. It was like the images she had were enshrouded in a cold, discomforting shadow of ominous origin, swirling slowly and squeezing the very life out of the Koorime, choking her from the inside out. Shizuru shook her head, fighting away the imagery as she spoke. "Tell Koenma in the morning, and maybe he'll do something to pull Yukina out of there."

"But, if we do that, that could trigger everything."

"But if we wait and do nothing, Kazuma, then it could happen later too."

The two siblings paused, appearing optionless and without a choice but to submit to the other. Shizuru sighed and gave in first. "Fine, we'll wait it out and hope that Yukina can get through her assignment...and we can be praying in the meantime that it doesn't snow." She smirked slightly, Kazuma following suit with a light chuckle of his own.

"Thanks, Shizuru. I needed to tell someone about that." he told her with a familiar smile.

"Happy to help, bro. Now go back to sleep." Shizuru replied, ruffling his hair with a giggle before returning to the doorway. Grumbling, he snuggled back underneath his covers and flipped off his light, turning over on his side so that his back faced her still worried expression.

'Be safe, Yukina...'

A/N: Good Lord, I'm sadistic and sappy. lol So what questions arise now? Are any questions answered? Do you just not care and want so much senseless fluff that you'll faint? Well, whatever the case may be, you'll have to wait 'til the next chapter! Aha, fear me! I'm going to be evil again! He he, leave a nice review for me, beloved reader - you rock my little world!

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