Disclaimer: Holy shit...I just finished a story.

Holy...Holy not nice word...

AHHHHHHHH! I managed to finish a story! THE WORLD IS ENDING I TELL YOU!

Notes: FIND SHELTER! THE END IS HERE!

Review Responses: THE END IS HERE!

HERE!

HERE!

HER-okay, enough of that.

Thank you all so much for sticking with me through this story. I know that there have been a lot of ups and downs, long delays and parts you guys surely didn't all agree with.

But thank you for sticking with me this far.

The ending of this story is a light comedy act to end a tragic story. However, I would like to express a few things about the ending.

First off, it is written mostly in short excerpts of dialogue with little description. This both increases the ease of reading as well as the ease of understanding the comedy.

Secondly, I apologize to all Kuwabara lovers. I had intended to have him play a much larger role than he ended up playing. I even had a lot of it written out, but by the end of these last two chapters, it no longer fit.

I greatly apologize for breaking my earlier promise.

Third: View the ending as you wish. Tell me what you think of it in all and perfect honesty please.

Fourth: No epilogue. I like this ending too much.

And lastly,

WARNING: This chapter is meant to frustrate you. DO NO BREAK YOUR COMPUTERS it will all come to an end eventually. Hang tight, be brave!

And I hope you enjoy the final chapter of the first fic I have ever finished on ff . net

-o-o-o-o-

Embrace the Winter Snow

Chapter 13

-o-o-o-o-

Kurama gave Yusuke a rather quizzical look as they walked through the hallways of the Reikai Palace. He wasn't quite sure he understood what this was about, but his friend had insisted that it was important.

"Yusuke, where are we going?" Kurama asked, his voice just beginning to tint with suspicion.

The detective shook his head. "We're almost there. Here," he said as he rounded the corner and came to an ordinary looking pair of double doors. He grabbed the handle of one and pulled it open, motioning for Kurama to go first.

The kitsune paused, staring at Yusuke with narrowed eyes. "What is this about, Yusuke?"

"I told you, Kurama," Yusuke answered not ready to answer at all and not preparing to, either. "Something important came up. Come on, they're waiting on us."

Slowly, Kurama followed his gesture to enter the room beyond once more and the fox slid into the room. It was completely dark, not a bit of light penetrating it but for the shimmering distance of the hallway's flickering torches.

"Yusuke, is this some sort of jo-" His mental words were cut off as the door slammed shut and the lights slowly flickered on.

Kurama's eyes widened to reveal the closed door, no Yusuke. He spun around to see a small, comfortable room. The walls were painted a slightly off white, the borders a dark teal to give the room a little more color. A room broke off from the small one he stood in to show the delicacies of a kitchen just beyond the open doorway. Another door, slightly smaller and to his left hinted at a bathroom.

A sofa was pushed against the wall, big enough for two. A low eating table sat in the center of the room, randomly organized pillows spread out around it for kneeling on. The carpet was lush and peach, fuzzy under his feet, despite his shoes.

However, all of was taken in rapidly and without hesitation or question. The main focus of both the room and the attention of piercing green eyes sat quietly on the sofa, childish red eyes looking straight back.

"Hello, Kurama." Hiei's voice was soft and he stared up, chin tilted back slightly in order to look up at the fox from his seated position. His legs were dangling off the edge of the couch, hands folding mindlessly within his lap.

"...Hello, Hiei," Kurama replied stiffly, crossing over to the table and setting his bag down beside it. It was nothing more than his book bag, but Yusuke had told him to back for a few days just in case, and so he had brought it along, filled with neatly folded clothing.

A long, awkward silence followed their greeting, as the two found interesting things around the room, far more entertaining than daring to look at the other's presence. After nearly ten minutes of this interminable silence, the fox gave a long and tired mental sigh, rubbing his temple.

"Hiei, things break and fall apart every day. Things that are...not repairable," Kurama's words brought those deep eyes of that childish face up to look unreadable into the fox's eyes. He tried to avoid the gaze without looking away, an impossible feat. "This is one of those things. Just let it go."

The fire demon let a small smile grace his face, but it was mostly emotionless and more for the motion than for the feeling behind it. "Don't tell me, Kurama; I wasn't the one who planned this."

The fox gave a sigh, already knowing that it was Yusuke who had done this, not Hiei. The fire demon had given him his space for the last week and a half. Though he had often felt his presence in the city, Kurama had not sensed Hiei watching him or drawing near.

Another interminable silence began to stretch between them, lasting almost as long as the first one and full of Kurama's shifting from one foot to the other, Hiei remaining mostly still on the couch.

"God, this is ridiculous!" Kurama growled, turning to look around him once more. "How long are we going to be in this place?"

"Looks like he's not going to let us out of here until he thinks the problem has been solved to his satisfaction," Hiei replied softly, already knowing all this from Yusuke's discussion and forced cooperation.

Kurama sighed and gave in, sitting down on one of the soft cushions, leaning against the table. "Then we are going to be here a very long time."

Hiei nodded wordlessly as another shorter silence passed yet again. "...I suppose that's why there is a bathroom...and a kitchen no less."

-o-o-o-o-

Three hours later found the two of them laying, bored beyond belief and having exchanged fewer words than hours that had passed. Hiei was sprawled out on the couch, arm tucked under his head to prop himself up on the armrest. Kurama lay next to the table, several feet away with his arm over his eyes, shielding from the light above.

"Kurama?" Hiei spoke, his voice soft as if afraid to break a glass being he held within the confines of his fingers. Kurama shifted restlessly, looking over to him. "I am sorry. I know I told you already, but I am truly sorry."

A relatively dead glare matched his gaze and Kurama looked away, sitting up and propping his chin on his arm, resting on the table. "This isn't some ningen fairy tale, Hiei. Sorry doesn't fix everything."

"I never expected it to," Hiei whispered in reply. "I just wanted you to know."

"Just drop it."

-o-o-o-o-

Seven hours total had passed and towards not better situation. Hiei yawned but his eyes remained open, despite the sleepy blinking he was fighting off. Kurama sat up slightly to prop up on his elbows, now on his stomach and looked to him and the small, cat like image and sound that followed.

"Are you tired?" he asked curiously with a tilt of his head. The fire demon didn't get tired often, not when he could go days without sleep.

"Yes," the reply came truthfully.

There was a brief pause filled with content silence on one end and curious quietness on the other. It didn't last long.

"Why?"

"No reason." Kurama looked skeptical at the vague, unbelievable response and Hiei didn't miss it. He rolled over on his side, facing the fox as he added, "Just not enough sleep."

Another brief pause passed under consideration.

"Nightmares?"

"No, just a lack of sleep in general."

"Oh..." The answer finally seemed to satiate the fox and Hiei closed his eyes once more, never having believed to begin with that this was going to work out like Yusuke wanted it to.

The silence did not last long.

"Forced?"

Hiei sighed but looked up, opening his eyes to meet forest green ones. "Yes, forced."

"Why?"

"No reason."

"Why?"

"Kuram-"

"Why!" The last question was much more of a demand, and the tone was fierce, giving no room to weasel out of it. Hiei refrained from wincing, meeting Kurama's eyes the entire time.

When he spoke his voice was stubborn, "Guilt is no easier to forget when you're asleep."

There was another of those damned pauses for momentarily silence that taunted Hiei with their temporary limits. "So...in other words: nightmares."

The fire demon turned away, closing his eyes once more as he forced down the lump in his throat. When he spoke, his voice came out as nothing more than a weak whisper for which he cursed himself for.

"Yeah, nightmares."

Hiei closed his eyes again, thinking the fox had given up once more and returned to his careless mind wandering as both of them stared at the ceiling above their heads.

He was wrong.

"...What of?"

Hiei cried out his annoyance as he sat up. "Argh, Kurama! I thought you said I should drop it!"

"Sorry," Kurama replied in a frosty tone, his voice bitter. "I've been in silence for five years, forgive me for my need to talk."

Hiei gave a sigh. "It is not your voice that bothers me, Kurama. It is your choice of topic. And...after five years of silence, I figured that an eternity of such would not be far off in my sights."

Kurama's eyes narrowed at the fire demon. "You wouldn't subject yourself to that," he sneered out, turning away from the laying demon.

"Yes, I would," Hiei replied softly, but without hesitation or sign of faltering. Kurama turned right back over to look at him, almost seething.

"I'll believe that when I see it."

"Then perhaps you should start looking."

The blow shut Kurama up momentarily and Hiei closed his eyes, saying nothing more. The fox stared at him first in surprise and then in anger, but Hiei didn't move and his breathing grew more even and quiet, so much so that Kurama stared at him, no longer able to hear his intake of oxygen.

"Hiei?" he called softly, a sudden emotion gripping his chest when he got no response. "...Hiei?" he called a little louder, shifting to his knees. Still he got no response and a bit of fear grabbed him. "Hiei!"

"What, Kurama?" Hiei growled out, sitting up in a flurry of emotion, turning a glare that lacked anger to the fox sitting on his knees, staring from behind red bangs, green eyes wide.

"...Nothing."

-o-o-o-o-

Two hours passed in subsequent silence, slightly awkward but more content than it had been to begin with. Neither demon could find rest in sleep, both afraid of what he might reveal to the other in his dreams.

"Wish he'd put a bed in here, at least," Kurama mumbled, rolling over on the pillows. Hiei had offered the couch three times already, but each time the fox turned it down indignantly.

"You should sleep outdoors more often, Kurama. Break your habit of dependency on ningen luxuries."

Kurama frowned, propping up on an arm to glare shortly at the fire demon. "I am not dependent on them. It would simply be nice if there was one."

"Hn." Hiei blinked his eyes at the unmoving ceiling. "I'm sure you can ask him for one when we get out of here."

A long, uncomfortable silence passed over the room, breaking their ongoing record of an hour and forty-two minutes since the silence had turned more tolerable.

"...When do you think that will be?"

Hiei rolled over once more to look at Kurama with blank eyes. "Judging on our progress so far...?" He trailed off and then silently rolled back over without finishing his sentence.

Kurama frowned again. "Judging on the progress made so far -- what? What were you going to say, Hiei?"

"...Never, Kurama. I was going to say never."

"Well...for the sake of having work tomorrow, can we just call it a truce?" It was a weak attempt at humor, but it became even weaker when Hiei didn't take it as such.

"You honestly think he'll go for that?"

Kurama's expression fell to a look of actual sorrow, his frown turning more into a remorseful grimace. "Do you simply refuse to try?"

"Try what?"

"Will you not even try to convince me that you are sorry?"

"I already told you I was. And besides...what point would there be in trying to repair what can not be repaired?"

"...Then you really believe what he had can not be fixed?"

"No, I believe it can. But I also believe it was you who said it couldn't be."

"And...if it could be repaired?"

A long pause followed Kurama's new statement as Hiei rolled the words through his head and his answer over his tongue. He turned away, drawing eyes away from green orbs and unresponsive ceilings.

"Then I guess I would be trying a lot harder."

-o-o-o-o-

Another three hours had ticked by on the clock sitting on the wall, and Hiei stared at it with almost delirious eyes that followed the tick tick tick of the second hand.

Kurama was first to break the silence once more, and his voice seemed hesitant. Hiei could tell he had been thinking over his words and the discussion he was about to initiate carefully.

"Hiei...I can not simply accept your apology," he spoke in softer terms than he had since entering the room and the fire demon tilted his head, though his eyes did not leave the clock. "You...hurt me."

"Yes," he whispered in reply. "I know."

"A single word can't fix what has been done."

"No. It can't."

"Then why aren't you trying harder?" Kurama's voice had become choked with an anger he was holding back but his fists shook and his eyes were locked on the poor, unsuspecting wall that received his fiery gaze.

"Because," Hiei answered, his voice soft to counter the harshness in the fox's, "you already told me not to. You have already told me it is not what you want."

"What about what you want? Is this what you want?"

Hiei did not answer the almost desperate question.

"Is this what you want, Hiei?" Kurama repeated, seething between clenched teeth.

Several more minutes ticked by on the clock before Hiei finally brought himself to answer, "No. It is not what I want, Kurama."

"Then why are you doing it?" the fox screamed, climbing to his feet. "Why are you not doing what you want?"

"Because I have been selfish long enough," Hiei answered in a dull, almost monotone voice. "I have caused you enough pain."

"So you are just giving up because you think it's what I want?"

Hiei turned over to look him dead in the eye, a blank stare meeting an angry glare. "Isn't it?"

"Well..." Kurama seemed at a momentary loss, blinking in the sudden uncertainty brought on by that simple question. "Well, no...but I don't exactly want to be locked in a room for the rest of my life, either."

Hiei's gaze traced away, eyes once more finding the clock. "Yes, well, I said I was going to stop being selfish. I said nothing about Yusuke."

-o-o-o-o-

A total of twelve hours had passed without word from their "captor" and without sign of any improvement of their locked up situation. Hiei had gotten down on the ground, telling Kurama that whether he took the couch or not, the fire demon was going to be on the floor.

Kurama had moved to the couch.

Now, two hours later, the fox was idly playing with the hem of his shirt, staring at nothing and dreaming of things he couldn't quite grasp and never could recall.

"Hiei, are you still awake?"

"Yes, Kurama."

"Why?"

"No reason."

"Nightmares?"

"No. Just a desire not to, this time."

Kurama rolled onto his side, tucking a hand beneath his chin to stare at the fire demon's curled position on his side. "A desire not to sleep?"

"Yes, Kurama."

"Why-"

"We've already been over this."

"-have you stopped calling me 'Fox'?"

There was a surprised silence that followed, as there always was, and it slowly turned into one of uncertainty that Hiei tried to hide behind.

"No reason."

"You're lying."

"Yes, I am."

"Hiei, Why have you stopped calling me 'Fox'?"

"So I could start lying, I guess."

"Hiei..." The growl was one of warning and the fire demon gave a soft sigh.

"I was very close to the person I called 'Fox.' A simple nickname that helped me accept him in the form he had adopted. The name reminded me of his demonic origins and made accepting him easier...made falling in love with him less painful..."

"So...what?" Kurama asked, his voice almost like a teenager not understanding his parent's new rule. "You no longer love his ningen body?"

"...A true nickname," Hiei continued, ignoring Kurama's third-person reference, "one meant for a lifetime, must be earned by both the one called and the one calling. I have fallen out of that privilege."

"Oh..." Kurama replied, at a loss for a more intelligent response. "...Just the caller?"

Hiei did not reply for some time, and instead chose to stand and idly make his way to the kitchen. As he did, he finally gave a response, "He chose his own worth. It is up to the called to decide his own."

-o-o-o-o-

Four hours had passed, giving a total of sixteen to the two demons as they sat in the kitchen, Kurama idly playing with a spoon, trying to balance it on the counter between numb, inattentive fingers. His mind wasn't really focused on the distraction, contradicting the point of it.

Hiei was leaning against the counters, just staring at the spoon, lost in its silver depths and having nothing better to do than loose himself to his own thoughts.

"Hiei?" Kurama finally spoke and the fire demon looked up to meet his eyes. The silences were growing less uncomfortable and the two found it becoming slowly easier to look into the other's eyes.

"Why...why did you blame be for Yukina's death?"

Hiei did not try to avoid the question this time, having suspected it would come up that day. He held his eyes as he gave his steady response, "My logic told me it was you. When...you were at the temple, my logic stated that you would feel any demon approach. Logic said you would guard Yukina, even with your life.

"It didn't calculate things like shape-shifters, or possible inability to protect her...Didn't think about if you had your hands filled trying to fight off your own attackers. So...when I returned that morning to find a demon had attacked and Yukina was dead with you still alive...My own irrational logic led to illogical actions."

Kurama nodded in a form of understanding, though not forgiveness. "And now?"

"I have abandoned my logic and left it for complete and total irrationalism."

"And what will you do now?"

"Be irrational. Did we not just cover this?"

"Hiei." That warning growl caused Hiei to pause again, reverting back to the seriousness of the conversation at hand.

"Return to life. I am a day overdue to Mukuro."

"And what will you do there?"

"Train for endless days...perform worthless border errands," Hiei recited, already not looking foreword to it, but not giving it much thought or care. "Stare out at snow covered mountains in regret."

In all honesty, he had not realized he spoke his last reference aloud, but Kurama heard it easily and his green eyes tilted to the side, glancing away briefly.

"...But not hate?"

"No," Hiei responded, not letting many minutes of silence lapse between the question and his reply, just enough to acknowledge the fact that he had spoke aloud. "There is no hate worth remembering."

Kurama returned to his silent ministrations to the spoon, choosing not to answer but rather to dwell on what his ex-lover had spoken.

-o-o-o-o-

As the twenty-one hour mark passed, Kurama finally acknowledged his stomach's plea for sustenance and he walked over to the fridge, yanking it open to scan through junk food, fried food, grilled food, fruits, and vegetables. The side door was lined with various drinks.

"Man, he was prepared to hold us for a while."

Hiei noted the past tense used with slight interest but made no comment on it as Kurama grabbed himself an apple.

"You want something, Hiei?" he asked even as he grabbed a second apple. Hiei shook his head.

"No."

"Hiei," Kurama muttered much like the motherly friend he used to pose as even as he closed the refrigerator door. "We've been in here nearly an entire day. You have to be hungry by now."

The fire demon shrugged. "Not really."

Kurama frowned. "Hiei?"

"I ate before I got here."

"You're lying."

"Hn. No, I-"

"You're lying to me. Why?"

"I'm not lyi-"

"How long as it been since you ate?"

"Kurama, I ate this mor-" His words were cut off by a sharp slap of skin on skin. Wide red eyes focused on the wall where his head had been pushed after the hard hit Kurama had delivered to the side of his face.

"Stop lying to me." The demand was total, even causing Hiei to want to back away in surprise, not wanting to be on the receiving end of that voice. "How long?"

Hiei managed to look away from those fiery green eyes that shot through him as if he were nothing but a speck to be examined. "Since the night at the temple."

Kurama shoved the apple into his hand before pushing past him to sit back down at the counter. "Eat it."

"I'm not hun-"

"Eat it!" Kurama's cold, harsh command caused Hiei to send a glare his way, biting into the smooth, green fruit.

Kurama let their conversation lapse into silence for some time before he shifted, annoyed, in his seat. "I suppose I should ask how long it's been sense you slept, or would that answer just be the same as the food?"

Hiei couldn't meet his harsh glare, though he had one of his own that was, once more, received by the innocent bystander of a wall. "The same."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because you're going to kill yourself."

Hiei snorted, setting the half eaten apple down. "Everyone dies, why not speed up the process?"

Kurama's eyes widened briefly in a horrified expression. He had lived for five years in hell and not once thought of ending his life. Life was precious, not something replaceable or recoverable once you ruined it.

He growled low in the back of his throat, sounding much like the fox he was. "You're not that dumb."

"I've done a lot of dumb things over the last five years."

"You're still not that dumb."

"Then I guess the last week proves you wrong."

-o-o-o-o-

As the twenty-four hour mark slowly passed and Kurama's eyes were drawn to the sudden ringing of a twelve mark that should not be ringing, but must be programmed to their days spent in the room, he glanced at Hiei.

He could no longer run away from the fate that had brought them back in this room, even if Fate was but the meddling of a friend.

"Why do you succumb so willingly to this life you have created, Hiei?" he suddenly growled out and the curled up form blinked in surprise from his spot beside the table, leaning against the wooden frame.

"...There is nothing else out there for me, Kurama."

"Are you so certain that you are worthy of that fate?" The fox's resolve was beginning to fade as his voice slowly cracked under the strain of hiding his own pain.

"Kurama...what are you doing?" Hiei whispered, staring at the pained expression on his companions face. Within seconds of asking, a mask had slid into place, revealing a calm serenity, but unable to hide the sorrow completely.

"I...Just asking questions," Kurama whispered in reply, fiddling with his hands in his lap.

"Well, how many questions can you possibly have?" Hiei asked somewhat dubiously, a joking ring among it that made a small smile come to Kurama's face.

Maybe this was getting a little easier.

"I don't know," he replied, "as many as there are until I run out?"

Another lapse of silence fell over them as Kurama leaned against the back of the couch, idly fingering the hem of his shirt once more as Hiei wrapped his arms around his knees, staring again at nothing.

"...Are you out of questions, Kurama?"

"No," the fox whispered after a moment's hesitation. "I have one more...and I want your answer to be a worthy one, whatever it may be. No more lies."

Hiei stared at him in surprise for a moment before he slowly nodded his head. "What question, Kurama?"

"...Do you still love me?"

A silence followed that nearly broke Kurama's heart, and he grabbed slowly at his chest, massaging that area but refusing to break down before he received his answer.

"...There is...no worthy answer to that question."

A sob racked Kurama's body and he bowed his head, his eyes misting with tears he had not let fall in so very long. Not in so very, very long.

"Wh-Why not?"

Hiei refused to look away, despite that the fox was no longer looking at him. "Because to give a worthy answer...I myself would have to be."

Kurama looked up in surprised anger, eyes watery. "And you are not?" he asked, furiously blinking back the tears and the stinging in his throat.

Hiei looked him right in the eyes and held his gaze so penetratingly that Kurama could not look away. "I am worthy only of a dismal fate laid by the stepping stones of these past five years; not of loving you."

"But...but you said you were no longer going to be selfish!"

"Yes, Kurama, that is what I said."

"Then stop being selfish and let me decide your worth!"

Hiei looked away from the scream, wincing slightly as he soon found their roles reversed, and he unable to meet his fox's eyes. "And you think yourself capable of judging me?"

Red eyes opened wide as slender hands grabbed his shoulder in a white-knuckled grip, forcing him to look into those piercing emerald eyes. Hiei had not sensed Kurama move, and was unprepared for their sudden proximity.

"Do you love me, Hiei, or not?"

Hiei's shoulders were shuddering with the exertion of containing his own emotions, but he could not look away from those eyes as crystal tears ran down Kurama's soft cheeks.

Tears that he cried not for the snow, but for the fire before him.

"...Yes, Kurama...I love you."

"Then stop calling me Kurama!" he screamed, his fingers digging into Hiei's arms in desperation.

The fox pressed his lips against Hiei's desperately and the fire demon wrapped his arms around the fox, clinging to his shirt just as urgently.

Unheard, the doors behind them unlocked.

Unknown, the snow feel quietly outside the Reikai Palace, a silent tribute.

Unheeded, their tears mingled against one another's before falling together to splash upon the floor.

-o-o-o-o-

The End

-o-o-o-o-