Thank you Counting Sinful Stars for your review, and a special thanks to Prongsie18 for your long, meaningful review, I truly enjoyed reading it. Your Reviews keep this story alive some times, so who ever has the chance please do so!

Recommendation: This chapter at one point, did exist in the original outline, but one day i was listening to Music and a song inspired this entire thing. Its the song for Izumi's play list at the bottom, and i would go down and get the name and listen to the song before reading this, it really kepts set the mood - though I hope i did so with my writing as well.

Enjoy and please Review!


Chapter Seven: Ashes and Snow

When I got there, it was snowing up on the mountains where the ranch was. Barely a dusting had fallen, but the white flaked still coated my hair and clothes, their icy touch making me shudder and pull my wings in once I had landed. I had allows loved the snow; loved the quiet world it made around me, loved the way it made barren trees look pretty again – all decorated with white powder and hanging icicles.

That feeling didn't come this time though. As my feet touched the ground in hesitant steps, a sinking feeling formed between my ribs and growing larger with each breath.

I had landed a few yards out, in a small break in the tress to the east of the main building just incase there was danger left behind. I was doubtful of that, seeing as the SDF had been here only days ago and had searched the place with a fine toothed comb for any demons in the area.

Part of me hated myself for only now coming back here, and not as soon as it had been permitted, but things had just kept coming up… No, that was just an excuse; I corrected myself as I ducked under a pine branch, being careful to not knock the collecting snow off onto myself. I hadn't wanted to come back here, not because I didn't want to know why things had happened the way they had, but because the last time I had been here, I had abandoned it. Abandoned my home. This place had been one of the only places I had felt safe, felt as if I could be myself, and yet, I had fled.

"You can't blame yourself for doing as you were told, for running when you had no chance." Kuronue reasoned with me. I merely frowned, wiping away snow that drifted onto my face.

"Did I really not have a chance Kuronue? I had barely tried, too confused and stupid to think on my own."

"Is it so wrong to follow the orders of someone who cared about you? Who only wanted to make sure you would be safe?"

"…When Kurama yelled for you to come back, why didn't you?" I asked, thinking back, way back to the bat demon's own demise. Kuronue was flustered by the sudden jab, and came up with no words.

Even if he had, I doubt he would have said anything as I broke through the last of the trees, entering the side courtyard of the ranch grounds.

I had known the tall, amazing building for years – with its stone foundation and high, dark wood accents that cover the roof, porch, and windows. I had known the stone chimney that had always coughed out blooms of smoke from the giant fireplace down below. I had known these things because they had been my home, but now as I stared upon it, I knew, it wasn't my home anymore.

A hole had been ripped from its side; rock and insolation lay in an inclined slope like that of blood from a body. The hole itself was singed, as was the rock around it, and the wood above it that had once held a large window was now scorched black, only tiny teeth shards remanding. The chimney was gone; its remains scattered across the roof and ground below.

As I walked forward, swallowing around an egg-sized lump in my throat, I surveyed the leftovers of a vicious fight, heading towards the back where most of it had taken place when I had been there. I avoided the shambles of a once fenced area that held a blackened pile that had been a chicken coop and a barely standing water trough where sheep had gathered. All that remand of it now was scattered feathers and blood that painted the splotched earth.

I didn't want to think about all the animals that had lived here and either died or run off, more then likely miles and miles away now.

I passed the dojo – that looked mostly whole if you ignored the rubble that cluttered the area and the bolder that blocked the door – heading to the back side of it where a clearing was and spotted the blackened wall that had faced the battle.

The site was unholy and smelled almost as bad as Demon World. The grassy area was dead, black and curing in on them selves, patches of a dark rust brown marking where blood had been spilled. The signs of a struggle were everywhere, from the broken limbs of the trees that hung over it, to the upturned earth that was riddled with slices and impact zones.

These were all critical sign, a story that could possible tell me the ending.

I knew I had to work fast though, for as I stood there looking, snow continued to fall in a lazy manner, covering up not only the sight of it, but the smell as well. Perhaps the sky was trying to cleanse this defiled ground, but it wasn't good enough, not nearly.

I walked on, stepping into the site and looking around, quickly using the spell that empowered my sight to see energy of all kinds, even that of hidden illusions. I found stray sprinkles of left over energy, demonic and spiritual, dusting the area in a wild array of colors like a kid's decoration on a cake. They were old and faded though, simple traces, footprints of what had happened here. They didn't tell me anything new.

Sighing, I blinked, letting the power fade as I looked upon the earth again with normal eyes. I spotted piece of cloth and some stay fur that the wind had not managed to carry off yet. I knelt, brushing the ground with my hand searching for any clues unseen my eyes. I found nothing though, not a single fragment or clue that would help tell me why this had happened, why the rebel faction in Demon World had gone after us.

Or of Kyousuke's status.

Frustrated, I stood, cursing, and turned around in a circle slowly. The demons who had died had already been disposed of; the SDF couldn't leave any evidence of them for a normal human to stumble upon. They had found no sign of my master though. The last person that had seen him was Saitō, and he had not been very positive about Kyousuke's survival.

But how could I give up when there was no sign of his death?

"Maybe if you had an extra set of eyes other then your own?" Kuronue offered, and I, merely nodded my head, suddenly very tired again. The red glow of the pendant around my neck was warm against the cold air and I let my hold on Kuronue's power fade to that of 10 percent, giving me back my jeans and long sleeved shirt. The bat demon appeared beside me, translucent, his feet barely touching the ground. He gave me a fleeting glance, one that I tried to take comfort in as he turned and looked around as I had, walking the edge of the ruined area.

I went the other way, staring down at the ground only half seeing what was there as my mind spiraled in a slowly more painful thought patterns. I wasn't sure what I was looking for anymore, what had I thought I would find when the SDF found nothing. I was trained in tracking and yet, those skills failed me now.

"Izumi."

Slowly, I looked up, pausing in my musings as I saw Kuronue across the way, kneeling near a patch of dead grass. He was waving at me, beckoning me to come over, and my heart leapt into my mouth in hope. My feet moved quickly, crossing the small distance with new energy as I stopped next to my partner, kneeling as well to see what he did.

At first, I wished I could smack him upside the head, for all I saw was grass dyed a muddy red from blood, how dare he get my hopes up? Then though, as I looked closer, following his ghostly hand, grass poking through it along the way as he pointed at something deep within the knots of plant life. It was small, and almost unseen, but with sharp eyes and the light of the sinking sun, it sparkled ever so slightly.

I bit my lip and reached in, fingers gliding through my partner's form and grasping the small trinket in my forefinger and thumb. Pulling back, I dropped it into the palm of my other hand and stood looking at it. It as cold and filthy, yet something about the round little object tugged at my memory and I quickly spit into my hand, wetting the little ball and rubbing it onto my shirt, cleaning off the blood and dirt.

When it was clean I recognized it in moments, and felt the sting in my chest at the same moment. It was a sandy tan, and there was a tiny clasp on one side that opened it up into perfect halves with a small hole all the way through it. What I held in my had was a bead, and not just any bead, but one made from antler, and made to be clasped into your hair.

It was one of the three beads Kyousuke had kept in the front part of his hair, which he made as a nod to his heritage as a Sami from Russia. They were something I had never seen him with out, something that reminded him of his life before; like my violin for me. He would have never have left it behind if he had the choice.

That didn't bode well for him at all.

"Izumi…" Kuronue muttered, but I didn't look up, not for a long moment as I stared at the little thing. "This hardly means anything…"

Yet, he knew as well as I did, that I couldn't go off looking for my master on mere hope. I had been hoping for something that would mean he was alive, and this was not it. Shaking my head slightly, I shoved the bead into my pocket.

"I can hope for the best," I muttered, trying to ignore the pain that laced through me, hotter then any wound ever could be. "I should get what I can from here before I do what he would have wanted me to."

Move on, keep going forward. Those unspoken words had been his mantra for as long as I had known him.

I walked with hurried steps back to the main house, and stepped through the whole in the side that dropped me right into the hallway that connected the main room and the bedrooms.

Kuronue followed, not because he wanted to, but because he could only be about a yard away from me before he would get pulled back into the pendent. I got to the door that led to my room first. Originally one of four guest rooms, it had become mine when it became clear I'd be spending a lot of time there.

Confused about why the door was shut – since I never kept it shut except when I slept – I grabbed the handle, pushing it open and meeting resistance. Scowling, I shoved, and the door gave way, the sound of something heavy scuffing against the ground as the door moved it back. With one final push I reached in, finding the light switch on the right side. I found my bookshelf in the way, face down and broken against the door.

Squeezing through the opening, I stepped carefully over the bookcase and stood in the center of my room. While there were no holes or burn marks in the room, it was a disaster. The paintings and trinkets I had placed on the walls and shelves were on the ground, and the bookcase, along with my bed, and desk were misplaced. Not to mention all of the books, papers and other stuff were now on the ground, as if a strong wind had thrown them about.

Frowning I turned in a small circle, absently seeing Kuronue ghost though the wall to join me and look around as well.

"What happened in here?" I muttered, crouching down and picking up one of the books. It was a book on myths, something I liked smiling at and marking what was true and what was not.

"Hmm." Kuronue eyed the area from under his ripped witch's hat and nodding slightly. "I bet if we went outside and looked on the outer wall we would see a dent. This looks like an earth quake, but I'm guessing a large demon was thrown against the building."

"Large demon?" I questioned. "But none of them were bigger then you. They were all humanoid."

He shrugged his shoulders. "That's what we saw, yeah, but one of them could have easily had a different form. It's also possible that when we arrived Kyousuke had already taken some demons out. "

I sighed, my shoulders dropping at I closed the book and set it on my desk. Things just got better and better it would seem.

"Shit." I muttered.

"There's nothing we can do Izumi, not now. Just get some of your stuff, and let's get this over with."

I shook my head slightly before silently walking over to the bookcase and using the demonic strength I had, pulling it back upright. Books fell to the floor as it was righted and I winced as one hit my shoulder, more out of being startled then it hurting.

Underneath it was the one thing I was most looking for and I winced again at the condition of it. My violin hadn't been in its case, but rather on a stand – a stand that was now broken. Picking up my old instrument, I saw that there were several cracks on the neck, and a careful test showed that it was a miracle it was not snapped in half. The wood finish was scuffed and scrapped, and a few of the thinner wires had snapped.

All in all though, it was still useable if I got it to a repair shop.

Relieved at least a little, I walked over to the case where it laid half buried in papers and books and put the violin back into it. After my most important item was safe, I sat it on my bed and started gathering other stuff. I pulled out the small suitcase from the closet and pulled clothes out, packing them, along with some books, and few small gifts I'd gotten from Kyo; a hand carved dragon bust made out of wood the size of my hand and a simple necklace with a lime green stone – peridot – in a simple circle with a band of sardonyx around it.

I held the necklace for another long moment, smiling at it softly. I'd gotten it only this year; Kyousuke was one of the few who had known my birthday, and he'd given me the necklace because he believed everyone needed their birthstone. He himself had always worn a ring banded with opal in it.

Tucking it away in a small pouch, I finished up, zipping the case shut and then rolling up the small throw rug that was a snow leopard pelt. He'd found the animal already dead during one of his trips back home, and had decided to put the fur to use.

Finally, I found the keys to my apartment; glad I wouldn't have to leave the place unlocked, or break in again just to get inside, and pocked them. Grabbing my things, I walked from the room, turning off the light and setting them in the hallway. I glanced at Kuronue for a moment as he followed me out, and then turned, walking further down the hall to Kyousuke's room.

If Kyo was truly gone, and even if he wasn't, there was something I had to do. Something that he had told me, he would do himself if the time came that an enemy ever discovered the ranch. There had been a spell of sorts around the land here, one that shielded it from normal human eyes. Over the decades that he had lived, my master had found this place to be in tune with the energy of those who were Soul Bound. Something in the air, in the earth, made it easier for the partnership to form; it was why I had spent my first year as Soul Detective here, rather then elsewhere.

Now though, with all the death and evil that had been set upon this place, the tingly, safe feeling I'd always gotten here, was gone. With that, the spell was gone, and soon, human eyes would wonder why a large staircase had formed at the foot of the mountain. When they did, and when they ventured up it, they couldn't find what they would now.

It would have to be erased, destroyed to the point of where it looked as if it had been left untouched for decades. I wasn't a time master though; I couldn't will the structure to decay and collapse on its own, so I would have to do what Kyo had told me once. It occurred to me now, that he might have thought something like this would happen, and it would be up to me to take care of the pieces left behind.

His room was wondrous, with an entire back wall of glass – some of which was now broken and cracked. His bed was huge, covered in furs and pillows, and there was a walk in closet towards the back of the room. The closet was my destination, but I stopped half way, distracted by a desk near a small fireplace on the north wall. Walking over to it, I saw a few books and some pens scattered about, as well as a framed picture. Biting my lip, I picked it up, finding a picture of him and myself. I was younger there, in my second year of this life, so my hair was a bit shorter and my face less angled, a girl of 18. I was sitting on the fence I had passed earlier, though in the picture it was whole and one of the sheep was nibbling at my jeans causing me to laugh. Kyo was next to me, leaning on the fence, his newly gifted cowboy hat perched on his head. His smile was a bit clumsy, as he had run over to get to his spot before the timer on the camera had gone off.

Thinking back on it now, he could have easily used his time magic, but he hadn't. He must have wanted it to be like we were normal people, something he tried to do for me as much as he could. Give me a small piece of the life I had before coming to Japan.

My thoughts drifting back to my present destination, I moved to bring the photo with me, but stopped suddenly, when the floorboard under my left foot wiggled under my shifting weight.

I blinked, staring down at my foot and tested the floor carefully. Sure enough I saw a small line appear in the board, a cut line about a foot inward from the natural end of the wood.

"Izumi?"

I glanced at my ghostly partner who had been watching from the room's entrance, almost leaning on the doorframe. I shrugged my shoulders, stepping to the side and kneeling down next to the board in question. Silently, Kuronue glided over, stopping in front of me as I carefully tapped the cut section.

I couldn't recall ever seeing this before, but then again, I hadn't been looking for hidden compartments the few times I had wandered in here. Setting the photo down, I used both hands and wiggled the wood carefully. It let go easily, the motion something that must have been common judging from the worn sides I saw once it was out.

Setting it aside, I peered into the shallow compartment and found what looked like a leather bound book. I fished it out, turning it over in my hands. The outside was smooth brown leather that looked aged, and as I opened it I found handwriting inside.

It wasn't a book at all, but a journal. Kyousuke's journal.

"Do you think, maybe we could find answers in it?" Kuronue asked me.

I pondered that, fighting with the guilt of reading through my master's personal thoughts. Such a thing was a violation of trust, but what if it could help? What if I could learn something from his later words, the ones closer to the last few days? Even more so, what if I could learn about things he had always been reluctant to tell me? If he was truly gone – I winced at the thought – then this journal was the last bit of him I had.

Deciding to at least take it with me for now, I stood up with it and the picture in hand, not bothering to replace the wood, for it wouldn't matter soon enough. Shifting both to one hand, I walked to the closet, and went inside. Decades of clothing hung within, pressed and squeezed together to fit. I had teased him for it, saying he was more of a girl then me. I let my free hand glide over the fabrics as I walked to the back. There was so much here, so much that made my chest tighten at the thought of loosing it.

It wasn't mine to keep though.

Even if he were alive, Kyousuke would have done just as I was doing. He'd once said he had a secret storehouse somewhere in a different country that held priceless things from his years. I just hoped that was true.

Stopping at the back, I brushed aside clothes and reached back, grasping a cool plastic handle and pulled it out. It was red, and the liquid inside sloshed at the movement. I crinkled my nose at the smell of gasoline, and checked to make sure the small packet of matches on the side where still there. Nodding, I pivoted and left the closet.

Kuronue watched as I shifted the picture and journal under my arm and unplugged the large container's spout. Slowly I tilted it, flinching as the first drops hit the floor. Holding true to my resolve though, I slowly walked backwards, leaving a trail of gasoline behind me. I only stopped once, to tuck my new objects into the small suitcase and then to pick up my violin and the rug and tie them to the pull out handle of the trunk. Shifting it to the wheeled side, I pushed it forward though the ranch house, splashing gasoline as I went.

I walked slowly though the halls, Kuronue floating behind me and my trail of liquid. I passed the great room, with the leather couch and the large fireplace, I passed through the kitchen and the dinning room and then I stopped at the door that lead to the outside. It took me a moment, to find the strength to open it, to walk through the threshold of a place that held so many memories.

The air felt much colder as I stepped outside and emptied the last of the gasoline before tearing off the matches and dropping the jug. I pulled my things off the porch and rolled them to the tree line, letting them lean on the large tree I had often sat under to read.

Kuronue gave me a weighted look, one that told me he was sorry but knew it did little to ease what I had to do. I sighed, walking past the apparition and to the edge of the porch. My hands shook as I swiped the match on the sandpaper and failed to light it once, twice, three times, before the stick snapped in half.

Frustrated by my nerves, I shook my hand out and took a new match. This is what he would have wanted, I told myself. This place meant nothing if everything I had cared for was gone. The animals, the energy, the man I had called a second father in many ways.

It was time to move forward.

This time, the match strike was clean and fire sparked on its end quickly. I stared at the tiny flame for a moment, watching it struggle in the air as it ate away at the stick, getting closer and closer to my grasping fingers. I let it eat away till it was moments from burning me, and stared at the entrance of the place that I had once called home, one last time.

Then I dropped the match and stepped back, watching in numb wonder as the flame grew exponentially, devouring the gasoline and following the trail I had made inside.

I continued to step back till I was under the tree line, my eyes never leaving the house. I knew the forest was safe, for the trees were yards from the house and in between them was only stone and sand. I flinched when I heard the first window shatter under the heat of the growing fire and saw the smoke begin to rise as it turned the wood to ash.

Slowly, I let myself slide to the ground, my back against the tree and watched as the flames engulfed the ranch, the fluttering snow doing nothing to calm it. Kuronue joined me, sitting next to me, and on reflex he tried to touch my shoulder. His hand ghosted through me though, and I gave him a watery smile as he let his shoulders sag. He couldn't comfort me like he wanted to, just like I had said so many times before. Still, I was glad he tried, because I didn't want to watch this alone.

Sometime during the show of flames and smoke and snow I drifted into an uneasy rest, the last two days finally weighting me down too hard. I didn't dream and for that I was glad. When I woke, Kuronue was no longer next to me, but within his pendant once more. As the sleep cleared from my eyes I heard a screech from a bird and blink, setting my eyes forwards.

All that was left of the ranch is blackened wood that had caved and piled up on top of scorched rocks and melted metal. Some of the support beams had settled pointing up, like blacken fingers reaching towards the sky. The flames were gone, having eaten their fill, and everything was covered in a small blanket of snow powder, as if the earth wished to hide such sadness. Standing slowly, I brushed snow from my shoulders and hair and once again heard the call of a bird.

Glancing around I found it, my eyes widening at the sight. Perched upon one of the shorter blackened fingers was an owl, its feathers turning white, like the ones Kyo had worn tied around his neck so often – he has once said he felt that owls were his spirit guide, though we had never owned one. The owl tilted its head at me; cocking it in a way only an owl could with out breaking its neck. I wondered what it was doing there, why it had been perched there. Was it watching over me because it felt the pull that all animals did for Soul Detectives? I wasn't sure, but I liked the comfort the thought gave me. Behind it, I saw that the sun was all but gone now, and I reminded myself I still needed to report to Koenma, no matter how tired I still was

"Another long night…" I muttered and the owl cried again, flapping its wings against a gentle wind. I watched it, still slightly dazed as it pushed off from the marred wood and toke off into the air. Soon, it has gone, flying into the tress, only its soft cry echoing back to me.


Izumi's Playlist: Your Bones by Of Monsters and Men.