A/N There is a reason why this chapter is considerably shorter than the rest of my chapters. It ended up leading into something unexpected - please read notice below.

NOTICE: The next "chapter" is a smut scene that will more than likely receive an M rating and will be published separately. You are not required to read the chapter if smut is not your thing, and this chapter is not necessarily needed to understand events that will unfold sometime in the future of the fic. Feel free to proceed to the chapter published as Chapter 11: Burying Regrets (or wait for it to be published in the case that I haven't gotten around to publishing it yet.))

Winter reigned in Hong Kong China. A thick layer of snow blanketed the terrain, silhouetting it in a veil of white. Two young boys walked through the area, one with stark black hair that contrasted against the whiteness coating the ground, and the other with gray-white hair that matched seamlessly with the frozen environment. Both were dressed for the weather and laughing about some long since forgotten joke.

Neither were aware of the misfortune that would plague them in a few minutes' time. A tragedy that would claim the life of one of them, leaving the other to mourn the loss of his closest friend alone.

At 8:30 p.m, the boys separated. Both had curfew that they had to meet. The black haired boy was halfway home when he heard a scream ring out in the night. It was the white haired boy- there was absolutely no doubt in his mind.

He took off running towards the source of the sound, adrenaline powering his movements. He ran for what seemed like hours, but in reality must have been only a few minutes.

His friends house could be seen in the distance. Screams could no longer be heard. Rather, everything had become eerily silent, as if the world had suddenly went to sleep..

Closing the final distance between the himself and the house, the dark haired boy ran full speed to the small hut. He ended up on the far side of the, away from the front porch. Straining his ears, he listened intently for any noise aside from his own heart, which was pounding insistently in his ears.

His surroundings remained quiet. Beginning to think that he was imaging it, the wary and cold boy turned around slowly and began walking towards the direction of his own home. He was now incredibly late for curfew, and knew that his mother would have his head if he couldn't come up with a viable excuse for his prolonged absence.

He got no more than a foot away before he heard a pained sounding voice.

"Dad! Wha- what are you doing?" it was the white haired boy again. He sounded frantic. A raspy current of Chinese followed after, but Lin could not hear what was being said.

The black haired boy turned around slowly, and steadily began making his way to the front porch. He was within a few inches of it when two figures came into view. A taller, bulkier figure, and an figure of average height and thin stature stood a slight distance apart.

It was the other boy and his father. Taking a few steps forward, the onlooking boy stared at his friend worriedly. He didn't see the gun clutched in the father's hand until it was raised up.

Eyes wide and hands shaking, the older boy ran forward, uttering only one word.

"No!"

A loud bang ricocheted off the walls of the house. A body collapsed onto the snowy white ground with a heavy thud. Blood seeped in a steady flow from a wound in the white haired boys stomach, staining the pale white ground a sickening red. His father dropped the gun just as the dark haired boy bolted towards his fallen friend, tears already streaming from his gray eyes.

"Shun!" he screamed, dropping down onto his knees in the blood streaked snow. He leaned over his best friend, then steadily began applying pressure to the gun shot wound. It was obvious that his efforts would be in vain- with his hands having been pressed to the injury for only a mere minute, they were already coated with fresh blood.

Even knowing that it was fruitless to keep trying, he continued pressing his hands further into the wound, desperately trying to staunch the flow of his friend's life essence.

The white haired boy- Shun, flinched in pain as his friend attempted to prevent him from bleeding out.

"Koujo.. stop it. You're..making it hurt..more than it already does." he took a deep breath, clenching his teeth together to stifle the cry of pain that rose up in his throat. "You can't save me- you've got to let go. It'll only make it harder to accept if you don't stop hoping that I'll live." he grabbed Koujo's blood stained wrist, pulling the hand attached to it away from his stomach.

He clasped his friend's hand tightly as Koujo lowered his head, refusing to look him in the eyes. A sympathetic look crossed Shun's face as his eyes began closing against his will. His body felt heavy, but he wasn't ready to sleep yet. There were still things he needed to say.

"Koujo.. its been an amazing experience being your friend... you've become more like a brother to me than I ever anticipated. I don't know where I'd be if we hadn't met. I'm glad that-"

"Stop it!" Koujo interjected, cutting Shun off mid sentence. "Don't.. don't tell me that you're glad that we met. You're dying because you were my friend. This is my fault." he added, furiously wiping away the tears that would not stop forming in his eyes with his free hand.

Shun weakly raised an eyebrow at his comment.

"How.. exactly was this your fault? You were heading home like you were supposed to be- you had no idea that this was going to happen."

"I made you late for your curfew.. that's why your dad was angry, wasn't it? I should have walked you home- it was my fault that you got a late starting on the walk home. You told me that we needed to start heading home, but I told you we'd have time to make it before we were late. I was wrong and now you're paying the price for it." Koujo answered, his words sounding strangled- like invisible hands were closing around his throat and constricting his airway.

That wasn't it at all though- it was the tears that he was trying to fight back, the urge to cry that he was trying to suppress was impairing his ability to speak clearly. Shun smiled weakly at his close friend.

"Koujo... don't cry- its going to be alright." the words came out slurred- he was falling asleep again and was finding himself less able to fight the urge to just close his eyes.

Koujo tensed in anger. "How are you so calm right now?" he demanded.

The white haired boy shook his weakly. "I'm not afraid of dying- I don't know anyone who wants to die, but its something that's going to happen to all of us. So why should I be scared because its my turn?" he gripped his friends hand little bit tighter. "you shouldn't be afraid either, Kou. We'll see each other again someday, right?"

Koujo didn't answer. Instead he turned his head around and stared at Shun's father, who had not moved from the spot. He seemed to be frozen in a state of supreme shock.

"What are you still standing there for?! Go call for HELP!" the black haired boy screamed as loudly as loudly as he possibly could. The stunned man blanched and ran up the porch steps and into the house.

Koujo turned back towards his dying friend, whose breathing had become labored. Shun met his gaze. It pained Koujo to see that all traces of mirth and joy were gone from his eyes. He was completely and for lack of a better term, deadly serious.

"I want you to promise me one thing." he stated, staring at Koujo with his piercing blue gaze. Koujo stared back and nodded.

"Anything I can do." he muttered.

Shun relaxed a little bit. "I want you to promise not to forget me for starters. No matter how much it hurts you, don't pretend that I didn't exist. Think about the good times, but don't look back on them and regret the time we didn't get to spend together. Be happy with the memories we made, and remember them fondly. It simply wouldn't do our friendship justice if you remained eternally sad when you rarely felt that way when we were together, would it? I ... I guess what I'm asking is just promise me that you'll be alright without me."

Koujo thought about it for a moment. Would he be okay without his best friend? The person outside of his real family that he considered family. Though the true answer he realized was most likely no, he had to do everything he could to give Shun peace of mind before he.. died.

"I promise that I'll be okay." he said, though the words sounded weak and noncommittal. Shun didn't answer. Koujo slowly raised his gaze to his friend's face. He noticed that his eyes were closed and.. his chest had stopped rising and falling. He laid completely still.

Koujo felt like he was falling. "Shun! Wake UP!" he screamed and began shaking his friend, desperately trying to wake him up. It was no use. His friend had taken his last breath.

"NO!"

Koujo Lin bolted upright suddenly, the force of the motion causing the bed he had been lying on to shake. Sweat leaked down from his forehead into his eyes, though he made no effort to wipe it away.

He'd had that dream again. It was a dream caused by a memory that still pained him, even after so many years. He typically tried to avoid thinking about the white haired boy - Shun, more often than his melancholy moods forced him to.

Shun and Lin had known each other almost since birth - their mothers had been close friends for many years and had raised their sons around each other. The two boys had been nearly inseparable since they had started school.

They had offset each other perfectly in both appearance and personality. Shun had been the bright daylight to Lin's dark night with his white-gray hair and positive and outgoing way of conducting himself.

They had been a pair - two boys as close to being brothers as they could be without sharing blood. Shun had been Lin's closest friend and confidant.

Then that fateful day, the boys who were aged about thirteen and fourteen at the time, were walking through the snow coating their district of Hong Kong.

Lin, enjoying his friend's company as they talked about whatever it was that teenage boys talked about, had asked Shun to wait a little bit longer before heading on his way home.

Shun had to walk down a small trail from the snowy hill they stood on to reach his house. It was already nearing his curfew and he had a bit of a walk to get home. Even so, he had relented and stayed with Lin for awhile longer.

When they had finally parted, he had arrived home about ten minutes later than he was supposed to have.

His dad had been waiting on the porch, a bottle of some sort of alcohol in his hand. His face was already colored the ruddy red hue of drunkenness.

There was a small pistol clutched in the hand not holding the bottle. He had been loading and unloading it since he had realized that his ungrateful bastard of a son was late. He'd warned the boy that he was stepping through shallow waters with breaking curfew so often.

Even with the warning, Shun had been late.. yet again. He had wanted to scare Shun by aiming the gun at him and pulling the trigger. The damn thing was supposed to have been unloaded. But it hadn't been - in his drunken state, he'd forgotten about the last step he'd taken in his cycle of loading and unloading the gun. He'd shot his son.

Lin only knew all the details because when Shun's dad had been arrested, he had told the cops everything in hopes that being completely honest would earn him a lesser sentence. It hadn't. The cop who had taken him in had promised to keep Lin in the loop. He'd informed him that the murderer of his friend would be serving the maximum sentence.

That hadn't comforted Lin - he hadn't been in the market for revenge, he'd just wanted his friend back.

He still did. The absence of Shun had become a wound in his heart that though scarred over, would never truly heal.

He hadn't thought about the actual event I ages, although a ghostly image of Shun's face still haunted him when he allowed his mind to wander unchecked.

He couldn't control what he saw in dreams. He'd literally been forced to relive the muder of his best friend. His heart was still beating at an accelerated rate, though his breathing had started to regulate. It was just in time too as he could hear footstep outside the room.

A moment later the door opened and light streamed into the room, illuminating what Lin realized in confusion, was his bedroom at SPR.

A woman with long red hair stood in the doorway. She smiled kindly when she realized that Lin was awake.

"Hello, my name is Diara Matsuzaki. I believe you're acquainted with my daughter Ayako. She asked me to stop by to watch over you after Mr. Shibuya and another man dragged you in unconscious."

Lin's eyebrow quirked in confusion.

"Why was I unconscious?" he asked, straining to remember the events prior to him waking up. The only thing that came to mind was Shun.

Diara frowned.

"I have no clue what happened, dear. I came after they brought you in and simply checked your vitals and cleaned your existing wounds. If anything, you should get Mr. Shibuya to tell you what he knows." She approached Lin then, stopping beside his bed. "While I'm here, is there anything in particular you need me to get you?"

"No thank you, I'm quite alright." Lin replied.

Diara smiled at her temporary patient.

"I'll send Mr. Shibuya in to see you ." Diara left the room a moment later, leaving Lin alone with his thoughts. What exactly had happened?

He had the distinct feeling that he wasn't going to like the answer.

Luckily it wasn't long before Naru walked in. The researcher stared at Lin carefully before taking a deep breath.

"What do you remember, Lin?" He questioned, as always not wasting any time.

Lin shook his head. "I don't remember anything. Will just go ahead and tell me what happened?"

Naru said nothing, he simply poked his head out into the hallway and muttered a simple declaration to someone Lin could not see. "You can come in now."

A few seconds later, a beautiful and familiar face appeared in Lin's field of vision. "Lifen?" he asked uncertainly as the nineteen year old ran to him, climbed onto the bed and threw her arms around her brother.

Lin held her tightly as his memories began to return - his dad dad's death, and his heartfelt reply for Lin to make sure that his organs were used to save Nazuke.

Questions came to mind, and Lin needed honest answers to them.

"I assume the police were called to the scene of.. the accident. How did they respond to the circumstances of dad's death? Better yet, how did they respond to seeing you there? You've been filed as an official missing person, Life."

Lifen closed her eyes sadly and rested her head on Lin's shoulder. "Mhm. They don't know what to make of how dad died, but they didn't see any possible way that we could have caused his death either. They labeled it as a freak accident. As for me being there, they took my statement- I was kidnapped while at my home in China and taken to Japan by a man who then left me in the cave I was found in and fled." She paused then glanced over at Naru who was standing leaned up against the wall, listening intently to the conversation. "Kazuya made them stop questioning me about how you and Madoka ended up there- I didn't know. They believed that I was just covering for Kanon."

Lin met his charge's gaze and exchanged a silent 'thank you' with him through his expression. They had known each long enough where words were rarely, ever truly necessary.

Naru simply nodded in response. "I'll leave you two alone to talk, though I believe that you'll want to go to the hospital and see your family, Lifen. The last I heard Draidyan and Lukida have awoken, though Nazuke is still in a medically induced coma- the pain that his wounds would cause is far too great for him to be conscious until after the surgery. If he's feeling up to it, Lin can take you. If not, I'll think of something."

Naru walked out of the room, leaving the siblings alone for the first time since the death of their father. Lifen lifted her head from Lin's shoulder and looked him in the eyes, her expression scrutinizing.

"Are you alright?" she asked gently.

Lin nodded, though he was lying, he didn't want to worry Lifen. He could see it in her eyes that she was fighting tears still- he assumed that she'd been crying before coming to see him, and was simply wearing a facade of calm for his sake. He could't bear to add to her sadness. Losing their father before she'd really gotten a chance to make amends with him had done enough of that for a lifetime.

Lifen, not easily fooled, swatted Lin across the head with her hand for attempting to lie to her. The Onmyouji winced and rubbed his head.

"What the hell was that for?" he asked, pushing Lifen out of his lap and into the floor beside the bed. She landed with a low thump on the ground.

Lifen made no effort to get up. She sat in the floor, staring at Lin intently. Her gaze made Lin uncomfortable. She was his sister- she could see the hidden side of him clearly, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

"Can we talk about this later?" he asked warily. He wanted to get up out of bed and walk around to get his mind off of things. He couldn't deal with being emotionally interrogated right now.

Lifen sighed deeply, but nodded as she got up off of the floor. "I'll leave it alone for now, but promise me one thing - we'll talk about this later, okay?"

Lin held out his pink towards his sister, who grasped it firmly with her own. It had been the way that they had made promises since Lifen was a child.

Having Lin's unspoken word, Lifen left the room to go and get dressed, leaving Lin alone to his own devices. Lin couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten to take a proper shower- being in the hospital hadn't allowed much freedom for such luxuries.

Yes.. Lin felt that the steaming water would do him some good.