Disclaimer: yawn Go look at Chapter one if you still seriously expecting me to gush my possessions out to you people.

Notes: Okay, so….yeah….I don't have any at the moment (and if you're still reading this, I obviously didn't find any I needed to tell you)

We're almost there!

-o-o-o-o-

Embrace the Winter Snow

Chapter 12

-o-o-o-o-

Kurama opened his eyes to white and nothing but white. Silence was all around him, but it was a peaceful silence, a fulfilling stillness. Tranquility and calm brushed against his very mind and he sat up, rubbing his head gently.

The fox blinked in the light around him and slowly climbed to his feet. He glanced around, wondering where he was among the world, and if he was even still in it.

"Am I dead, then?" he whispered. Though his voice didn't seem regretful, his eyes definitely showed their own sorrows.

"No, you certainly are not."

Kurama turned. Standing behind him was none other than Tekara, smiling widely at him, the same childish look on her face but with a new difference in it. It seemed all the wiser, a look of a child that was not for a child.

"T-Tekara?" he asked, blinking at her in surprise. She smiled wider, squinting her eyes and giving a small bow of her head. "What are you doing here? If I am not dead then…"

"I have called you here."

"What?" Kurama whispered, staring at her in surprise. Her childish smile was quietly fading into a look of serene peace but infinite knowledge. Could this really be the same healer he had known? The same childish woman he had spent five years with?

"I summoned you…I wished to speak with you, Youko Kurama." Tekara stared at him with unending eyes and he suddenly couldn't look away from her.

"Who are you?" he whispered without fully knowing why he whispered it. Tekara gave a small smile back to him, blinking her eyes slowly and deliberately.

"I…am one you both cursed and praised for five years now."

Green eyes widened as Tekara's form began shifting and grow taller. Her black kimono lengthened into a golden tunic much like Youko Kurama's, but with a finer cloth that swayed among milky white skin.

Long golden hair sprouted down to her thighs and she grew into her original body, opening pure golden eyes. Her voice deepened to a male's as her disguise lost its feminine quality.

A tail of pure gold sprouted from the end of a now male body and spinal cord, ending in nine shimmering tails. The same colored ears sprouted from his golden haired, long with shining fur.

"I-Impossible," Kurama whispered, falling to his knees before his lord, eyes wide and body numb with shock. Slowly, he bowed his head down to the white ground, folding his hands before him. "Inari-sama…"

"Rise, Youko Kurama," Inari granted, his voice a soft octave deeper than Youko Kurama's, but gentle and sweet, though firm as a god's should be. "I have summoned you, there is no need to bow."

"…It was you…as Tekara…the whole time, My Lord?" Kurama asked in a whispered voice, the situation feeling too fragile to break with louder voices.

Lord Inari smiled kindly at his young fox and bowed his head in an affirmative as Kurama made it to his feet. "Your situation captured my interest, Kurama, and my sympathy."

A hand brushed against his cheek, and he tilted his head against it. The greatest honor of his lord; the lord of foxes, looking after him personally.

"I thank you, Inari-sama," Kurama whispered, bowing once more.

Inari's smile turned tender, and he removed his clawed hand, the milky skin flashing in the whitest lights. "No creature, especially one who has learned so much from the world and has become so pure, should ever have to suffer as you have."

Kurama suddenly found himself unable to match his lord's great eyes and he glanced away to the side, hoping Inari would not take it to offense. "I…must apologize, My Lord. There were times that…I no longer believed you were there for me.…Were you…protecting me?"

Inari shook his head. "I can not and could not interfere long in the struggles of humans, Kurama," the great fox lord replied. "I healed you as often as I could and I tried to show you what you couldn't understand with closed eyes, but I could not protect you from the suffering of your life."

"Closed…eyes?" Kurama repeated, his legs feeling somewhat less weak. He stared in surprise at the fox before him, lost to what he spoke of.

"Yes…Closed by pain. Hiei is not your enemy, Kurama." The fox's eyes widened slightly as Inari nodded gently. Could a fox god be wrong? Would he lie? "Your own eyes have been closed so I saw for you."

"My lord…if Hiei is not my enemy…then who is?" His voice was defeated and pained with the mortal wounds inflicted over the past five years.

"One who would assume the guise of your lover to imprison you in guilt and pain," Inari replied, gesturing around them. Golden eyes stared softly at the man before him, the amazing creation of pain, life, and love.

"Then…why did Hiei hurt me that day…" Kurama fell to his knees, fists clenched against his pants. His confidence was gone, his ability to withstand the anger and hurt brought by his own thoughts gone.

"I was not present that day, but I know that Hiei, too, has been blinded by the pain and anger of his loss." Inari soothingly laid a hand on his fox's shoulder, smiling gently once more. "Both of you have been blind to one another."

"How can you ask me to forgive him…when the pain still feels so fresh? How can you bring reason to his betrayal?" Kurama whimpered, trying to hold his voice steady but failing as tears filled his eyes. He blinked them away, furiously refusing to give in to them.

"I do not give reason to forgive, Kurama…but I do give reason to understand."

-o-o-o-o-

A mangled gasp broke through the heavy sounds amid the chaos in the room. Yusuke had glanced up from his bleeding friend at the thud that preceded the gargled cry and his chocolate brown eyes glared in absolute and total malice.

The demon before him, previously Hiei, had reverted back to his true form after the…punishment the fire demon inflicted. Once spiky, black hair had fallen down to his shoulders in long, straight brown strands, split around his pointy ears. Pained, fear-filled yellow eyes glared at those around him. His hands were pressed to his bleeding crotch, his pants having managed to find a place back around his hips.

That glare turned more fearful than dangerous as a sword's tip found itself comfortable against his neck. He lifted his chin, trying to avoid that blade as much as possible as he clenched his teeth and stared into Hiei's fiery eyes.

Yusuke held Kurama to his chest, the fox unconscious against him. He was applying pressure to both shoulder wounds, Kurama's bloodied shirt torn to pieces and pressed against the bloody gashes. His hands had been wrapped with strips of Yusuke's shirt, and were already stained almost completely red with the blood seeping out of the knife wounds.

The two, Kurama and the shape shifter, were mere feet from each other, the former protected by Yusuke and the later guarded by Hiei.

"Take it off." Hiei's voice was the cruelest and coldest that Yusuke had heard in many a years and caused him to stare at the fire demon in surprise. Not even on some of their more gruesome missions did Hiei ever appear so ferocious or so very heartless.

"Wh-what?" the demon asked, his voice strained in both pain and fear. He whimpered slightly as the sword tilted into his skin ever so slightly. "Take what off?"

"The ward, low-life," Hiei answered, both hands on the hilt of the sword, arms held straight and his energy reserved towards not shaking in anger. "Remove it. Now."

"I-I don't know how," the man spoke, his words stuttering. Hiei watched as sweat rolled down his skin and his eyes shifted to the left before focusing back on the fire demon.

Blood rolled down the sword to the hilt as a thick red line appeared on the demon's neck and he gasped, clenching his eyes against the scorching pain. Hiei's eyes were half closed in unforeseen rage. "You are lying."

The sword moved away from his neck and yellow eyes shot open as the tip once more found its way between the man's throbbing legs. "I only impaled it, low-life. Do you wish me to remove it?"

The demon's breath quickened and he tried to shift away but to no prevail as the sword followed him. "N-no! I'll remove the ward!"

He moved over to Kurama as Yusuke held him close. Within a foot, he stretched out his hand, starting towards Kurama's neck. However, green eyes flashed open in pain and surprised awakening before fingertips touched his skin. They focused on the hand inches away from his face and then the demon beyond and he gasped, trying to get away.

"Stop, Kurama, stop!" Yusuke spoke rapidly, trying to hold him down, wrapping both arms around his chest. The fox cried out in silent pain and collapsed back against his protector, chest heaving with exhaustion. "It's alright, fox-boy, I've got you!"

Kurama's eyes widened and he tried to move against Yusuke, not understanding what was happening as the demon fearfully reached out and pressed two closed fingers against his neck. A sharp pain rippled down his spine and out through his nervous system to every point on his body.

The fox's mouth opened in a silent scream, his body tensing against Yusuke as his back arched up. Yusuke held him as well as he could as the demon drew slowly away, ink letters pulling out of Kurama's skin as he did so.

Turning to Hiei, the shape-shifter held up the floating black kanji and stared at the demon. The youkai pulled off his white scarf and pulled it tightly between his hands, holding it out to the demon. Moving his hand, the shape shifter laid the blank ink out on the scarf.

It sunk in to remain permanent until he pulled it off once more with his ki. Hiei pulled it back as the man sunk back down to his knees, his hand holding his crotch once more as he tried to control his labored breathing.

Wihtout a word, Hiei bent forward and wrapped the scarf around the demon's neck. Yellow eyes widened as he screamed, arms twitching and moving to the scarf as energy crackles around him. He clawed at the kanji, but couldn't pull it off without his energy, and the kanji closed his youki.

"Now apologize," Hiei demanded and those yellow eyes flew to the fire demon, wide in surprise and subsiding pain.

"What?" he shouted out in indignation. Any further resentment was cut off by the sword placed swiftly at his neck within a blurred space of a second.

"Now."

"Y-yes," he answered as he bit his lip and turned to the slowly calming fox. Yusuke held him close once more, still too protective of his friend to let him any closer to the conniving demon.

"Kurama, please listen to me," Hiei spoke, his voice immediately loosing its cold touch, but his red eyes would not meet the fox's. Green eyes now swirled with gold looked to him with little emotion but physical pain manifested within his crystal orbs. "This is the demon that killed my sister, murdered Kuwabara…and caused those wounds in your shoulder."

"Th-then Inari spoke the truth…"

Chocolate brown and crimson red eyes turned to Kurama in surprise. Yusuke opened his mouth in surprise. "Kurama, you talked!" he began, but stopped when the fox shook his head.

"No, without that ward my energy has increased to even more than what it had once been. Speaking with my mind is no longer a hardship." Yusuke noticed that, indeed, Kurama's mouth did not move, though the voice was loud in his mind and sounded much as if his ears were the ones to hear it.

Cold green eyes were locked on the demon before him, who was fidgeting nervously and keeping his angry, pained eyes away from those golden green ones. Yusuke slowly released Kurama as green ki began to flow from the wounds in his shoulders, physically manifesting itself in the sudden surge of power released from the ward.

"I…I'm sorry, alright?" the demon growled, turning his head away and locking his jaw. Kurama's eyes narrowed and he moved towards the demon, wincing slightly.

Yellow eyes looked up in surprise to see Kurama not a foot away and they opened in surprise as a fist came flying at them, slamming into his jaw. He cried out as he flew through the air with the force of the punch, slamming into the temple wall.

The wood cracked beneath him before he slid to the ground, blood dripping down his chin.

"Apology not accepted," Kurama snapped out, climbing to his feet and pressing his hand against the wound to his right shoulder, angered by his movements. "And now that my energy is back, I'll be using it to wipe you off of this wo-"

Yusuke stopped him, putting a hand once more to his chest. Chocolate eyes tried to see past the coldness on Kurama's face. They tried to find the friend they once knew. "We should take him before Koenma. He can be judged there."

"No," Kurama replied immediately, refusing to look at Yusuke. He gently put Yusuke's hand back at his side. "I need to do this. Please let me. I'm not giving you the choice, Yusuke…I need this to feel whole again."

Yusuke looked deeply into his jade eyes before he backed off, nodding. He had found what he was looking for. Kurama was there, deep inside, needing freedom from his pain and suffering. He needed this.

The demon before them, not even able to climb to his feet, whimpered, trying to back away as Kurama resumed his movements toward him. Crouching down, the fox glared in fiery rage at him.

"I should summon a plant to rape you and let you relish in the pain you inflict," he hissed out and the demon before him shivered, his gasps coming in pained whines. "But…even I am not so cruel as to subject my plants to such a deed as raping the likes of you. I suppose that the pain and suffering of my death tree devouring you will have to suffice."

Yellow eyes opened wide and a scream pierced the night air as Kurama stood back, pulling a seed from his crimson strands. The cry resumed as it bloomed and burst into the bending, twisting branches of the death tree, each branch ending in gnashing mouths lined with teeth and dripping acidic saliva.

"No, please, no! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, please, have mercy!" the demon screamed out, having no where to run. Yusuke turned his head away as a shriek echoed through the room, acid dripping onto now burning flesh.

"I do have mercy," Kurama replied, bending close to the shape-shifter's face and green eyes flashed gold. His voice dropped several octaves to Youko's icy tones, "I'm not leaving you to Hiei's methods."

Yellow eyes opened wide and a pained scream scorched the room around them, stinging their ears and shooting through their souls. Hiei watched in emotionless content, satisfaction on his face. Kurama watched with a mischievous smirk upon his lips and eyes holding a pure ice that not even a koorime could manifest.

Yusuke shivered as minutes passed like hours and the screams never relented, never ceased until there was nothing left but the piercing shrieks of burning pain. He stepped outside the room as sizzling flesh finally drove him beyond his ability to endure.

He sat outside that room, the cries lasting longer and stretching further than he would have thought possible. Eventually, they died out in horrified terror and slowly, silence engulfed the temple. The door he sat beside slid open and Yusuke picked his head off the wall, turning to Kurama as he stepped from the room.

His wounds were once more bleeding, the youki level slowly fading from its immense surge. The incisions had been healed greatly, but they still bled with an angry tone. Yusuke climbed to his feet as Kurama continued past him. He glanced into the room to see Hiei, bent before the demon's remains, staring almost lifelessly.

Yusuke turned and followed after Kurama, catching up to him after running. He walked in silence for some time beside the fox demon, glancing ever five seconds or so.

"Staring will not get you the answers you seek." The voice was soft within his head. Though stern it no longer held the anger and the coldness as it had when speaking to the shape shifter.

"I…was just wondering…what are you going to do now?" Yusuke asked as he stopped and raised his arms in a questioning shrug. Kurama stopped his pace as well, staring at the detective.

"About what?" Kurama asked, resuming his walk. Yusuke, frowning, hurried after him as they started outside the temple, along the Japanese porch. Genkai had collapsed on the other side of the temple grounds, in the direction Kurama was now heading.

"About Hiei, what else?" he spoke indignantly. Kurama didn't seem to acknowledge him at first, before he slowly shook his head, finally showing some response.

"There is nothing to do," he replied as they paused along the temple porch. Kurama's eyes darted to the side as he spoke, and Yusuke followed his gaze. Green eyes were standing across the temple grounds to the snow-covered grounds.

Sitting atop Yukina's gravestone with one leg dangling was Hiei, eyes closed and head tucked into his black cloak against the cold air.

"But Kurama!" Yusuke grabbed the fox's arm, turning him hastily to look one another in the eye. "The guy loves you!"

"No," Kurama whispered, his voice quiet as he laid his hand atop the detective's. "I think…if he had loved me, he wouldn't have betrayed me…wouldn't have made me cry, Yusuke."

"But-" Yusuke's eyes turned down to the hand atop his and he tilted his head, eyes narrowing in his own grief. "He was consumed by Yukina's death…he wasn't thinking!"

"No pain, Yusuke, is worth that of another." Gently, Kurama took the detective's hand off his shoulder and turned, walking around the corner of the porch and disappearing from sight.

"Wh-what does that mean?" Yusuke wondered aloud, staring at the corner of the temple.

"It means, Detective, that no matter the pain caused, it doesn't warrant the action of passing to on to someone else." Yusuke turned to see Hiei, now leaning against the temple wall five feet from him. "Just as I did to Kurama."

"You can't just let him go!" Yusuke screamed out at Hiei, not believing what he was hearing. He couldn't understand how the two of them could possibly come to the conclusions that they had.

"Oh, I can't?" Hiei questioned, pushing off the wall and walking over to Yusuke. "Kurama has made his decision. Nothing now can change it, so let it be."

"That's not what he wants, Hiei!" Yusuke shouted out. "He wants you to go to him, Hiei! He wants you to love him."

"You don't know what he wants," Hiei replied as if he didn't care. Yusuke's angered glare battled between frustration and pity. "And even if you are right…I can no longer go against his wishes. Please, for his friendship, let it go."

Frustration quickly won with Hiei's last words. Chocolate eyes opened wide and he screamed out his rage, grabbing the surprised fire demon and slamming him into the temple wall. "I will not! By god, this is all a fucking misunderstanding and I will be damned if it is not fixed!"

Hiei's eyes remained calm and cool and he stared at the spirit detective holding him against the wall. "What are you going to do?"

Yusuke stared at him in frustration for a moment before he backed off, releasing Hiei. "I'm going to get you too fucking back together…pun intended." The fire demon rolled his eyes at the detective, but he continued, "And I'm going to do it with your cooperation."

Hiei frowned, staring at his friend as he dusted himself off briefly. "How?"

Yusuke's annoyance turned to a smirk. "With a little white lie and a few locked doors."

-o-o-o-o-

Yay! It's over!

ONE CHAPTER LEFT! And I'm not sure if there will be an epilogue or not. It depends on how long my plans for the chapter end up being.

I know this chapter was a tad short, and I'm sorry about that, but I had to end it where I had to end it.

Hope you guys enjoyed.

ONE CHAPTER LEFT!