Disclaimer: If you really haven't gotten it by now, perhaps you should see a doctor about a cat scan

Notes: Whooo-hooo, I'm on a role! A Mexican vacation was just what I needed to get the juices flowing! Weee!

I am sorry that I have not gotten to my other stories in a while, but I haven't been able to leave this one alone.

Look for more updates over Christmas; there should be plenty!

Okay, Flashback/Memory chapter.

This might help explain some things. This is the final chapter before the killer's identity is reviewed.

Yes yes, I know I said that this chapter might reveal the killer, but I didn't expect the memory chapter to be so impossibly long.

Dang. Along with that, the other thing that happened to Kurama isn't revealed either...

Double Dang.

Well...oh, shit. Sorry guys.

Oh, and by the way, this is a DREAM chapter. Enjoy.

-o-o-o-o-

Embrace the Winter Snow

Chapter 8

-o-o-o-o-

Kurama was swimming in a gray haze, the colors around him were swirling whites and blacks, fading from one to the other as he rose and sunk in his restless state.

Pain still penetrated much of his body and he found that even simply thinking about moving his tired muscles sent riveting shots of pain down his body. His limbs felt heavy in the superficial fog and his head swam with a light and airy weight.

He could feel his injuries with every small wave of color that washed and lapped gently against his body. His eyes stung behind his drooping lids, half hidden from the shifting world he was aware of.

A dry throat plagued him with the curse of a never-ending sore as every swallow brought a thick stab of pain from the front of his throat and a less suppressed wave of agony from the rest of his neck. He couldn't tell if the injury he had sustained remained outside his body, or if the pain radiated from within his throat.

His fingers fell heavy on the softness of the cool floor, its appearance covered in swirling colors of marble fog. The lightness of their misty depths brushed gently over his fingertips, and lapped as a puppy at his skin.

The pale flesh stung something awful with every twitch or jostle, and simply laying still brought about a numbness unlike any other. A quiet whispering in his ear increased as his body would turn to pins-and-needles, a silent voice etched in sinister malice.

A voice that whispered nothingness into the air.

Though longing not to move his aching muscles and heavy limbs, the quiet voice of a hidden hatred was soon moving his thoughts to one of waking. Raising enough strength to rally his motivation, Kurama slowly attempted to open his eyes.

At first he was greeted with nothing, just an eerie blackness that continued to surround him beyond that of his unconsciousness. But as he focused his forest green eyes, a world slowly began to form around him.

It was a world of white snow.

A pine was dipped low with the weight of its bending branches, several feet of glistening powder newly laid upon its bark. The sky was clearing, a pale blue of clear expanse except for the small white puffs of cloud that promised snow for a later time.

Attempting to see more of his surroundings, he bit his tongue as he gently moved his eyes to the side. Pain lanced through his head from his clogged mind and more of the foggy after-haze of sleep was brought to a burning end.

The world of white snow did indeed end, and not a foot from where it had begun. The edge of the window frame cut off any more to see of the crystalline white and Kurama slowly blinked his eyes.

He was in Genkai's temple, a spare room in Genkai's temple, to be more precise. But it wasn't the room he normally took for his own…and it wasn't the one he had fallen asleep in last night.

A small frown caressed Kurama's face, bringing awareness to three long cuts that ran perpendicular to his right eye and ended at his collarbone. Unsure of how they got there, or how he got there, the fox deduced that he must have been in a recent battle; most likely one of the missions Koenma occasionally sent the tentai on.

But if that were the case…who was their opponent and…what had happened, exactly?

Kurama blinked once more, eyes drawing up to the ceiling of intricately carved wooden beams and slanted planks. He couldn't quite recall much of what had happened, nor what day it was, nor how long he had been asleep.

He tried to sit up, to see what injuries he had possibly sustained. Although his body had been numb, and therefore he hadn't thought much of how seriously he could be injured, his body froze up in rigid pain as he attempted to rise.

First was his strength, sapped so low that he struggled to raise his upper torso off the futon he lay on. His stomach muscles alone ached as if he had gone through a day's workout without rest. And that was only his muscles.

The rest of his stomach was a separate manner.

His forest green eyes widened exponentially and his jaw clamped down tightly on his tongue, forcing himself not to scream in agony as pain shot from his midsection.

One wound, which he had failed to notice due to the tingling nothingness of his numb body, was located in his abdomen, just above his lower regions. Though he couldn't quite ascertain what sort of wound it was, he knew it was serious.

Pain shot from his skin and muscles, a feeling of torn muscle and ligament, organs protesting in aching soreness. His skin rippled in agony and protest to his movement and he could feel a seeping liquid bubbling over shredded flesh kept together only by the gauze wrapped tightly around it, already beginning to tint red.

The second wound of his midsection came from his chest, where a much deeper burn had sent his body into spasms and his lungs gaping wide for oxygen. It, too, seemed similar to the burning of his first wound and he knew that they had been made by the same weapon.

His ribs were aching as if under the pressure of crushing rocks and pain stabbed from the muscles that held them strong. Once more was the feeling of torn ligament and flesh, shredded edges seeped in blood. Shoots of stinging lightning radiated up his nerves to wrap around his chest and squeeze his tormented upper torso even more.

With a small gasp he couldn't contain, or might have simply bitten through his tongue had he tried, he raised a sore and tired arm to press his palm flat over the wound, gently applying pressure.

Why were his wounds open? Had he not been healed? If he were at Genkai's temple, and proof of that was both in his surroundings as well as the manner of his wrapped wounds, would they not have healed any wounds he had sustained.

Surely Genkai or Yukina would have-

Kurama froze, his eyes going wide. A scream.

He remembered a scream. The hand gently applying pressure to his wound began grasping at his wrapped skin as his breathing increased. He slowly moved his hand up to his heart as pain arced across his entire chest.

No. It couldn't be real. No. Just…no!

He remembered falling asleep at the temple, no thought nor concern given to their safety. Genkai would remain awake for some time longer, drinking her tea and muttering to herself about her disrespectful delinquent of a student.

And he would always wake to the smallest signal of ki, even hidden beneath the layers of well-trained auras that so many higher demons possessed. If it were not friend, Kurama would immediately know of its nearing presence.

And so would Yukina, sleeping soundly across the temple.

So he laid his head to sleep and never thought more of any danger that might be approaching.

And next he knew, he'd awoken to a distant scream.

Kurama closed his eyes against tears that threatened to fall from his thick eyelashes as the memories continued to slide-show across his mind. Frame after frame, fear cut deep in his mind and pain flashed through his body.

His grip over his chest tightened until it faltered and he found himself heaving breaths as panic slowly overwhelmed his mind.

It couldn't be real; it hadn't happened.

There was no way! There was an explanation, there had to be! Something…anything!

Kurama's stroll down memory lane was cut short by movement outside his door. His head snapped to the right, an action he later regretted as he became aware of his third and final injury.

A wound to the neck, sustained by the edge of a blade as he unwillingly recalled with a horror filled mind, now kept his head somewhat immobile. The skin pulled tight with his sudden movement and a whimper tried to escape his mouth as he felt the flesh tear apart, piece by piece, as strands of cloth might. Fresh blood seeped through the fresh wound to dot white bandages and pain coursed its way through his nervous system.

However, he had failed to notice the second half of any of these things, as his attention was ripped away cruelly.

There had been absolutely no noise. The room remained perfectly silent and devoid of sound but for the soft movement of fabric caused by his weight on the futon.

And yet, he knew that he had not been able to stop the whimper that fought its way through at the opening of his wound.

Kurama's eyes widened as his throat began pounding anew, fresh pain scouring his neck until his insides and outsides felt raw and bleeding. With a fearful notion and an understanding he wished not to have, the fox opened his mouth and screamed.

And the silence that followed only brought on more screaming until the noise suddenly opened in full, resounding around the room in echoes and waves, crashing upon his already burning skull and pounding brain.

And he continued screaming, clenching at his slender, bandaged neck in open agony as he doubled over on himself, forehead pressing against the cool wooden floor.

The door to his room was open in seconds, slammed aside on its sliding track as Yusuke burst into the room, followed shortly after by Genkai. Kurama backed away from them out of mere shock and fright. He struggled as Yusuke grabbed a hold on his shoulders, attempting to force him back onto the comfort of the futon.

Genkai was trying to aide him in rendering the fox harmless to both newcomers as well as himself. She grabbed a hold of Kurama's feet as he tried to kick Yusuke away from him.

And all the while his mouth was open in a silent scream.

The raven-haired detective's head was about to split in two from the resounding screaming that continued within his mind, the after-wave of emotion that accompanied it sending him all but flying across the room with each scream.

Yet he managed to get a grip on Kurama and shake him from his fear, forcing him to calm down even as his mental voice cracked and broke, disappearing in a bubbling of despair and a wail of agony.

Breathing heavily, Yusuke slowly pushed Kurama back down to the bed, forcing him beneath the covers as the fox went limp in his arms.

"Kurama?" the teen asked fearfully. He knew what had happened, as Genkai had earlier prepared him for the most likely result of his injuries. She had warned him of the likelihood of a reaction from the fox, as well.

And yet he had not been prepared for the terror and distress in Kurama's forest green eyes.

The fox looked up with wide, frightened eyes as Yusuke held his arms away from his body, keeping his fisted hands tightly clenched for both of their safeties.

Kurama opened his mouth to speak but nothing came. He quickly shut his eyes against the world, swallowing hard despite the pain it caused him. Yusuke gently released his arms and bent down, scooping him silently into a form of a hug.

The fox kept his eyes closed quietly against the detective's chest even as Yusuke quietly whispered words to soothe his nerves. Genkai silently moved around him, bringing a cup to his lips as Yusuke pulled away some. The fox refused the drink, ending in Genkai all but forcing it down the kitsune's raw throat.

It stung greatly on the way down, the greatest source of pain located at the front of his throat, where he knew the sharp blade had pierced straight through. His breathing came in gasps as it passed and he quickly shut his eyes, squeezing his eyelids closed so that no light would come through.

He once more felt arms wrap around him, lending quiet strength.

A strength he feared he might never again feel.

"Kurama?" Yusuke was once more calling gently to him and he silently braced himself for an impact of emotional pain as he slowly opened his emerald eyes.

Yusuke was surprised to see them devoid of most emotion, and clear of any tears. Quickly overcoming his surprise, he gently held Kurama at arms length, a hand on either shoulder.

"What do you remember?" Yusuke asked very softly as he watched for a negative reaction from the fox. Kurama frowned slightly as he opened his mouth to answer...

...and closed it once more as he realized that nothing would come out.

Panic once more rose in his pounding mind and he fought it back down as bile rose in his throat. He would not let this best him. Shoving his fear back down, he closed his eyes once more, breathing deep.

There was a long pause of him watching Yusuke through half-lidded eyes, thinking of how to answer without his voice, before Genkai suddenly tapped Yusuke on the shoulder with something. He turned around, surprised, to see a notepad in her hand.

Taking it, and the pencil she held in the other, he gave it to Kurama. The fox, frowning greatly in distress and rising panic, gently took it in his hands. He gave a brief, unsure look at Yusuke, before placing the tip of the pencil against the paper.

Yukina. Is she…?

Yusuke looked up from the message he had received and Kurama immediately knew his answer. The force it took to hold back tears was evident in the detective's watery eyes and Kurama could only turn his head gently away, looking off into the distance as he kept his own tears at bay.

It was his fault.

Amid his physical pain and his mental panic, a new emotional hurt arose. He had not been able to protect one so close to himself. He blinked back tears, unwilling to let them fall.

The fox turned slightly as Yusuke gently eased his chin back in the direction of him and Genkai. Kurama allowed the motion but could not lock eyes with the detective as the pad was handed back to him.

"What do you remember?"

Kurama paused for a long time in his answer. Slowly, he drew his hand up and down to form the symbols that he was so unsure of.

I remember everything.

But before he could hand the paper back to Yusuke, unsure of how much he could bring himself to admit and how much he could even tell the detective out of his own pain, a scream echoed through the temple.

It was the scream of one who has lost everything close to him in a single swift motion of agony.

Yusuke suddenly reeled at the onslaught of emotion that slammed into his unsuspecting mind. His eyes drew shut in clenched eyelids and his face screwed up in a pained wince.

An overwhelming wave of terror and anguish slashed at his mind like a fiery whip. So thick was the foggy haze of dread and horror that Yusuke found himself drudging through his own subconscious just to surface once more and open his eyes.

He glanced at Genkai to see the same reaction. The old master was staring at Kurama in a mixture of sympathy and shock.

Turning to glance out the window towards the center of the echoing scream, Yusuke began to rise when a hand suddenly grasped at his arm. The grip was so tight that fingernails dug past his skin and neared blood.

The raven-haired detective looked down at Kurama, eyes so wide and so thick with fear that Yusuke was afraid the fox might have another panic attack and go off in a tirade of screaming once more.

Still having the immense headache from the last one, he knelt down and gently pulled Kurama up with him. The fox gave a silent moan, which only furthered his agony in his own remembrance of his lost voice, even as pain lanced up and down his body.

Yusuke glanced over at Genkai who gave him a steady look of approval and moved on Kurama's other side to support him should he need it. Though he shook off her hand, still remaining polite as always in his hurt, she remained next to him as Yusuke slowly started towards the door.

It was a slow trip to the outside of the temple, one taken step by step and always concealed in hidden pain in Kurama's case. But slowly, the three made it outside, stepping out onto the porch that was lightly dusted with snow.

There was no longer an ice maiden to sweep the night's fallen powder from the wooden porch or temple walkways.

Then, suddenly, Kurama would go no further. He resisted the gentle pull Yusuke had been administering the entire time and he braced his feet. Like a child no longer cooperating and about to throw a tantrum, he pulled against Yusuke's own steady tug and the detective turned around, surprised.

But the fox's eyes were not focused on him. Jade eyes were locked on a solid black form at the edge of the temple's garden.

Hiei sat, kneeling in the light powder that covered the two feet of hardened snow. Before him, freshly dug and placed, was a small marker for a gravestone, a temporary one made of tree branches and rings of flowers. Erected by Kuwabara, the grave would be properly marked come early spring, when the ground thawed enough to plant a gravestone that would stay.

The fire demon's arms were limp at his sides, hanging in the cold snow and his hands were gripped in fists. His head was bowed and almost touched the white scarf that wrapped tightly around his neck and chest.

Kurama was shaking visibly by now and Yusuke was suddenly fearful of the kitsune's terrified expression, though he knew why the kitsune feared.

Hiei would most likely hold him responsible for his sister's protection. Protection that failed to save her life. And if her protector remained living while she lay dead, the fire demon would hold her unprotected.

But Yusuke knew the youkai. If the entire story were explained, if everything was laid out, Hiei wouldn't hold Kurama accountable. After all, Kurama could not have protected Yukina after being pinned to the floor by two swords.

Hiei's body went rigid, however, before Yusuke could even so much as jump from the porch. Standing in stiff posture and unbending legs, he turned sharply towards them and began walking slowly through the new snowdrift.

Yusuke paused with a frown at the edge of the porch, Kurama having long ago let go of his hand when he made it clear he was going to approach the fire demon. The fox was now pressed back against the temple wall, his body almost shaking.

"Hiei, wai-" Yusuke was suddenly cut off as Hiei jumped onto the platform in the blink of an eye and slammed a hand into the teen's chest. The detective's eyes widened as he went flying back, quickly catching himself and balancing on his feet to come to a skidding to a halt.

The fire demon paid no attention as he approached Kurama, who was now quaking under the glare the fire demon was emitting. Though his eyes had not yet made contact with any, staying instead on the ground, heat radiated off him in screaming anger and the fury of his glare on the wood made it all but steam in the heat of is anger.

Kurama whimpered, though none heard, as he watched his lover approach him. As the burning demon drew within a foot, the fox suddenly found an arm extended in front of him, protecting him from his lover's wrath.

"Perhaps you should hear the rest of the events that unfolded last night, Hiei." Genkai was standing next to Kurama, her hand extended between the two, a cigarette held in the other. "I'm sure Kuwabara told you of Yukina, but there is more to know than tha-"

"Get out of my way, Genkai." Both master and fox froze at the sound of Hiei's words. Not only had he addressed her by her name, as was never his style, it was unemotional and masked as steel, yet seething in its anger and loss. Genkai quickly blinked back her surprise at the level of Hiei's sudden coldness and took a small drag of smoke from her cigarette.

"Are you going to kill me if I don't?" Genkai asked with a small smirk. The fire demon slowly turned his gaze to her, a look enough to burn through skin and bone, and set his glare determined on her tiny frame.

"Get. Out. Of my. Way." Hiei raised his arm and suddenly clenched his small fingers around her thin wrist. Surprised but not in any form of panic, she watched as her skin began to boil underneath his burning grip, blisters forming and skin beginning to turn raw. Her face did not change as he met his eyes calmly, keeping back her pain.

'Stop it!' Both Genkai and Hiei reeled at the sudden noise (and accompanying pain that lanced through their brains) and the grip between them broke. The fire demon spun at the sound of Kurama's voice, though Yusuke, who had been about to tackle him but was thrown off my the mental onslaught, knew he had not yet noticed the mental aspect to the sound.

"Hiei, don't!" The detective stumbled back to his feet, clutching gently at his head, which was pounding with twice the fury as before.

But it was too late. Kurama backed against the temple wall once more as Hiei appeared directly in front of him, having taken the last step in the blink of an eye. The fox's eyes widen as a hand latched out and grabbed his already injured neck.

He gasped as pain suddenly shot down his spine and through his chest. His jaw ached from the spasm his own body was trying to put it through and he found swallowing more difficult, though the clenching hand around his windpipe did not lend aid to the cause.

His long, slender fingers wrapped around Hiei's hand as the white gauze about his throat wound was burned to ashes. He opened his mouth in a silent scream as his wound began to cauterize and his skin bubbled and burned, blistering in the extreme heat.

"You gave her life to protect your own!" Hiei's scream ricocheted off the walls of the temple, speeding through the forest to scare the birds into flight. Yusuke grabbed for Hiei's arm but the fire demon spun, throwing Kurama off the porch and disappearing before the detective's drawn punch could hit him.

The fox landed hard on the snowy ground, rolling several feet as his newly burned wound split open once more, his raw, bleeding skin adding to the red liquid that was flung over sparkling white snow.

The pattern was one of pain, a continuous splatter of blood drawn several feet and ending in a small puddle forming beneath the constant drip off his skin. Kurama curled in on his stomach, the landing have jarred his other wounds close to the breaking point.

A grunt brought his clenched eyes wide open as he found himself staring at Hiei's boots. His mouth opened in a short, silent scream, one he kept mentally silent as well, as Hiei's hand enclosed around his wrist and he pulled the fox to his feet.

Kurama felt the skin of his wounds tear once more apart as his skin was stretched with the pulled movement and rivets of pain washed through his body, which was beginning to numb as his vision darkened.

"I trusted you to protect her! You're the reason she's dead!" Hiei screamed, blind fury driving his thoughts and agonizing loss clouding his eyes. He threw Kurama to the side as Yusuke grabbed the fire demon's arm and spun him around.

Hiei stumbled back as a fist was suddenly introduced to his face. He remained standing, balancing himself as he skidded backwards. Wiping a trickle of blood from his lips and chin, he regarded Yusuke with glowing crimson eyes.

But before he could even open his mouth to warn the detective to stay out of it, his eyes widened. Yusuke had dropped his defensive stance and slowly, agonizingly, raised his arms until his hands formed the shape of a gun. Hiei, suddenly awoken from his stupor, stared at the detective in shock.

"Get out of here, Hiei." Yusuke's voice was cold and icy but his emotion was thick and the lump in his throat was evident in his tone. He was on the verge of hesitation.

He did not want to harm the youkai…but he was going to end up killing Kurama.

Hiei had lost his mind within his own grief.

The fire demon's jaw clenched and his hands fisted. He opened his mouth to retort, to once more try to tell Yusuke to stay out of the affairs of demon mates.

But Yusuke would not have it. He steadied his arm as a small glowing ball of light formed at his fingertip. "I told you to get out of here, Hiei.'"

The fire demon stared in shock at Yusuke. Unbidden, a feeling of betrayal shortly washed over him before anger filled the empty feeling that was brought with it.

His agonized loss and new anger blinded his eyes to the truth of the matter and his fisted hands brought blood from his palms and he regarded Yusuke through betrayed eyes.

Turning without a glance to the kitsune slightly to his left and laying in the icy snow, blood gathering around his neck, Hiei disappeared in a displace of air, leaving a single whisper behind.

A whisper that did not escape the ears of the suffering fox.

"Her death is by your hand, Kurama."

Yusuke slowly lowered his hands with an audible sigh. Then, without a second thought to the fire demon, he turned and ran towards the collapsed kitsune.

He all but dove to his knees beside the kitsune, sending a splay of snow and powder around the two of them, but he paid it no heed. Gently bending down, he scooped Kurama's upper body out of the snow, pulling it towards his chest in an attempt to warm the injured body.

The fox's body was convulsing under his hands and it took several long moments of panicky confusion before Yusuke realized what was causing them.

Kurama was heaving dry sobs into the snow, the once-white substance clenched in his hands, turning his pale flesh red with his own blood. His chest was struggling to keep up with the gasps of air his injured body was demanding.

"It's okay Kurama..." Yusuke whispered as he tried to stop the bleeding at his neck. Genkai was beside him within seconds, attempting to do the same for the other two wounds.

A shout from the left side of the temple warned the two that Kuwabara was coming, running at full speed towards the three of them.

The raven-haired detective, with Kurama against his chest, saw a single tear roll down his tightly clenched eyes. The crystal liquid, iridescent in the morning light, rolled down a blood-smeared cheek, tainting the pure liquid red with malice and hate.

As it fell from his face, it splashed onto the snow beside them, creating a moment of clear white amid the red liquid against the snow. Yusuke watched in silence as the crimson liquid swallowed up the tear, closing away the last bit of pure color amid the morning snow.

That tear held all the loss there was in the world, and so much more. It held the pain, sorrow, and despair that were beginning to overwhelm the kitsune's soul. It held everything the fox could no longer hold within him.

It held everything he no longer wished to hold. And within it, buried deep within the hurt and misery, was portrayed a single sentence, written in crimson liquid upon white snow.

"Her death is by your hand, Kurama."

-o-o-o-o-

And, it's done! Well, the memory chapter at least. Well, I hope you enjoyed it. It was a blast to write. Though, I am having issues with consistencies. I hope I didn't leave anything out. See, I don't have the fifth chapter on this computer.

The chapter with all the explanation (of course, Murphy willing 8D) was on my other computer. So I really don't know all that I said in that chapter. But I'll try to double check before I post this.

There aren't any author's notes (again) but I feel I need to explain one thing.

Hiei has all but lost it. He's insane with his grief and acting on complete impulse. Were he to hear the whole story or even just stop and think it through for five minutes, he'd realize that it wasn't fully Kurama's fault. And if he'd heard the story, he'd know it wasn't at all his fault.

But then, where would we be?

Without a story, that's where.

So it might seem out of character, but it is because he is so lost in anger and grief that he just want's a reason for the sudden death of his sister.

And the closest thing happened to be Kurama.

Anyways...

Have a great one and please review!

OH! And yes, the Killer is Revealed NEXT CHAPTER! It's already planned out.