Disclaimer:I do not own Yami no Matsuei or it's character's in any way, shape, or form (but I wish I did!) I do however, own my own characters, so no stealing!

Hisoka: Why would anyone want to steal your story?
theCatandtheCow: Aw... 'Soka that's mean...
Tsuzuki: Yeah, why do you have to be so mean Hisoka? Be nice to Cat-chan! Apologize.
Hisoka: Gomen...

theCatandtheCow: Apology accepted! -hugs Hisoka and Tsuzuki- Now onward!

Chapter 6: A petal falls

Heart pounding fiercely in her chest, she found it difficult to breath. Her lungs were burning, constricted. Her throat was sore and tearing. Every bone and muscle in her body screamed out in protest, but she had to keep going. Had to keep running. She wasn't going to let it catch her.

Everywhere she went looked the same. She could no longer distinguish where she was and if she was running from the danger or to it. The raspy breathing from behind her clued her in. Her sprint was slowing to a trot, her endurance was low due to lack of food and sleep, plus the cold did nothing to assist her. All she could hear were the crunching of snow beneath her boots, the beast's ferocious growl as it hunted it's prey, and her own blood pumping in her ears. Tear-rimmed optics searched desperately for another being to help her, but she saw only white.

"Help!" she screamed, stumbling suddenly as she tripped over a branch in her path.

She had somehow wandered into the woods, apparently not giving it much thought at the time. Trees loomed over her with dark, foreboding shadows. Darkened snow was piled around her, no where to hide. There was a feral growl from behind her. Gasping, she whirled around to face the terror that had been stalking her for quite some time. It was pure white, glistening, but the red glaze in it's eyes pierced her soul. She cried out in alarm, but there was no one there to help her. This demon, a dragon of some kind went straight for her.(1)

She leapt to the side, managing to avoid being ensnared within that mouth full of sharp daggers posing as teeth. Her skirt had torn, one of her boots now missing, but at the moment she just wanted to escape this nightmare. Wake up and have this all be a horrid dream! Let my parents love me!

"Somebody! Help!" she found her voice again, though it was falling hoarse, "Please."

The demon was coming for her again, glowing red eyes that frightened her entire being. It's rank breath was hot on her frozen skin, but in a stomach-churning sense. The rumbles that came from it's throat were threatening, it's figure showed no mercy. Swiftly it darted towards her, it took all of her strength to just crawl out of it's reach. She barely made it that time.

On hands and knees now, exhaustion overcame her fear and she found it almost impossible to move at all. Her limbs stiff and frozen. She panted desperately for breath, tasting the demon's foul stench making her cough in disgust. Something caught her eye, it was fleeting, but she could've sworn she saw black amidst the frozen hell she'd found herself in since the previous day. The roar from the beast behind her brought her attention back. Spinning around to face it, she screamed once more, shielding her body with her arms. She braced herself for the impact.

It never came. Opening one eye, she could faintly make out the outline of a barrier of some kind. Tilting her head in confusion, she could see that the demon was having trouble with it and getting angered by this. It lashed out at someone or something that wasn't her. Her gaze following the white dragon, she saw it prepare to attack a man holding a slip of paper. Her mocha optics widened when he didn't move at the beast's approach.

"Look out!" she called, but it wasn't needed. The dragon bashed into another barrier, the slip of paper in the man's grasp seemingly the culprit.

She was then aware of someone else beside her, "Come on. We have to get out of here."

Craning her neck so she could see the owner of the voice, she found herself gazing into intense emerald optics. This person also had a slip of paper, another barrier creator, in one hand while the other yanked her up from her kneeling position on the ground. They dragged her off over to a tree, where they took little shelter. She found herself caught between observing the beast and man or examining the person who saved her.

She came to the conclusion that he was a boy, due to his masculine-like frame. He was still very frail and possessed a feminine quality. Wisps of wheat tinged hair slightly obscured emerald eyes. His skin was very pale, much too pale to be healthy. He was holding onto her arm in a supporting grip, she realized this when her legs gave way yet she didn't plummet to the ground. Her vision blurred, exhaustion washing over her in warm, relaxing waves.

"I bow to thee and beseech thee, the twelve gods that protect me, appear before me. Come out Suzaku!"

With much effort, she managed to turn her heavy head so that she could see the man and the demon. But neither met her gaze. All she saw before succumbing to darkness, was the fiery tail of a phoenix.

Tsuzuki watched despondingly as the blazing embers of Suzaku faded, leaving a patch of melted snow and singed trees in it's wake. But the fearsome beast was no where to be seen. He let out a suppressed sigh of relief, the dragon had not been difficult to take down, but it had been strangely familiar. He recognized it from somewhere, but his memory was a little foggy so he couldn't be sure. He'd faced so many demons in his days as a shinigami, but this one immediately made him think of Muraki.

Once he finished surveying the area for any 'spiritual trace residue'(2), Tsuzuki quickly turned his attention towards his partner and the young girl they had barely managed to rescue. Hisoka had lowered the now unconscious girl to the ground, taking off his jacket to wrap around her as a blanket. Despite their earlier conversation, or dispute or whatever you wanted to call it, Tsuzuki couldn't help but place a hand on Hisoka's shoulder, stopping his motions.

"What?" he asked irritably, already in a foul mood because Tsuzuki had made him stay back.

The violet-eyed man offered a small smile, "Let me handle that Hisoka, I don't want you to catch cold." He proceeded to remove his black trench coat, "Besides, I think this will keep her warmer, don't you?"

"Whatever…" the boy mumbled, rising from the crouched position he had taken. He put his own jacket back on and watched as his partner wrapped the huge trench coat around the small girl's shivering body. "What are we going to do with her?"

Tsuzuki made sure she was snug before scooping her up in his arms, cradling her easily because of her tiny size, "Well, I guess we should take her back to Meifu since we don't know who she is. Or find her family, they might be looking for her-"

"They're not." Hisoka stated simply, no emotion on his face whatsoever.

Tsuzuki blinked in a stupor for a moment, then asked, "How do you know?"

"I read her emotions, a little of her thoughts came in with it. They were incoherent for the most part… but I could still feel similar betrayal and hurt." he didn't need to clarify any further, Tsuzuki immediately understood.

"Oh…" violet eyes containing pity for the figure in his arms, "Poor thing…"

Just like Hisoka, parents disowning their own children. Who could do that? He stared at the troubled, yet angelic face of the girl in his arms. She was so cold. How long has she been out here? Tsuzuki looked up at his partner, but the boy's gaze was somewhere off in the distance. Is he remembering his parents? How they treated him? Was this innocent girl treated the same way?

"Let's take her back to Meifu, Watari-san and Tatsumi-san can help her, then maybe she can tell us what she knows once she's well-rested." Hisoka looked to Tsuzuki, as if asking permission to do so.

The man nodded his consent and both were about to teleport when a slow, spine-tingling clap sounded through the clearing they had made thanks to Suzaku. The clapping continued from behind them, so they whirled around to face the culprit.

"Well, well, well." A silver eye gleamed bemusedly, "I'm so glad you've found my doll, Tsuzuki-san. Isn't she just precious? I told you you'd been meeting her soon."

"Muraki. So you're behind all this!" Tsuzuki was quick to accuse, stepping forward and tightening his grip on the child in his arms.

The doctor smiled maliciously, "Why yes, I do believe I am. It's a good thing you came around when you did, she was to be the ninth victim when I found that she didn't cooperate. That was the demon responsible for killing the victims, I simply reanimated them and carved the death symbols into their skin. Thanks to preserving their souls, I could hear every anguished scream as I dragged the knife along their skin. So delicious."

"You sick bastard." Tsuzuki glanced sideways at Hisoka, both had said that at the same time, he wasn't distracted for long though.

"Yes well, I'll hand the souls over to you now. You've done your job, now if you could be so kind as to hand over otome?" a flicker of amusement, "I'll be needing her."

The amethyst-eyed shinigami held the child close, attempting to shield her body from the crazed doctor. I'll protect her, I won't let her down. I won't lose her to Muraki, not another innocent will fall into his hands on my watch. His eyes narrowed, glaring daggers at the white clothed man before him. The said man merely chuckled sardonically. Beside him, he felt Hisoka cringe and scoot closer to him. This did not go unnoticed by Muraki.

"Trying to hide behind dear Tsuzuki-san, bouya? How pathetic." he pushed his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose, "So childish."

"Shut up." the boy hissed, clenching and unclenching his fists.

Muraki smirked at his defiance, "Well, he won't be there for very long."

The sound of something hard crunching into the snow startled Tsuzuki. He turned his head in Hisoka's direction, only to find him kneeling on the ground. His legs had given way at the shock of what Muraki had said, his body trembling slightly. Tsuzuki watched wide-eyed as Hisoka regained his composure and stood back up. He shot the man a glance that could be interpreted as 'I'm fine.' which seemed logical.

A snarl formed on Muraki's lips at the sight of his broken doll fixing itself, Hisoka however picked up on this thought and was on his knees again shortly. Tsuzuki was now glaring at Muraki, not sure what he had done, but very aware that he had placed some kind of thought into his partner's mind.

"I wish you wouldn't look so angry, dear Tsuzuki-san." Muraki cooed, the snarl fading once he saw the boy crumble yet again. "Now, otome, if you please?"

Tsuzuki growled at the doctor, "No, never. I'll never hand her over to you." He was aware that he didn't even know the child, but he wouldn't be the cause of another life lost. Not again. "Get out of here Muraki!"

The doctor sighed and shook his head, "Very well then, my dear Tsuzuki, you may keep otome for now. But do not think this will be our last encounter. Because you are strongly mistaken if you do."

With that said, the silver-haired man vanished, leaving a seething chocolate tressed shinigami, a bitter empath, and an unconscious, frostbitten girl in his wake.

Notes:
1. Remember the dragon in the first episode of the anime? It's the same one. Yeah... I'm not very creative when it comes to things like that -sweatdrops- but also it clues you in to the idea that it'sMuraki!

2. I'm sorry, that line cracked me up in the anime, I couldn't resist putting it somewhere in this fic.

I love you all my wonderful and faithful reviewers! Thank you for being supportive of my story!

1. LunaP TSB: Thank you, I'm not sure if I'd call it beautiful but I appreciate your compliment anyways!

2. lunarkitty14: Yeah, I'm trying to make it seem livelier with the off-story banter so it can even out the drama in the story. Thank you for reviewing again! You're so dedicated! lol.

3. Nana-Riko: Muraki is quite evil, always sneaking up on people like that. And I get really into fanfics and animes and stuff too Well thank you! I wasn't sure which to stay true to, the anime or the manga, so I kind of put a little of both in. Don't worry! More is on the way!