Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters used in this story with the exceptions of Cian and Zane. This story is rated M for bad language, violence, and yaoi.

CHAPTER EIGHT: BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN

Kurama curled in to a small ball among the snow and the bare trees. The soft flakes fell gently, frozen teardrops from heaven. His red hair provided a stark contrast to the white of the snow as it blew across the snow with the wind. The flakes came down at a faster rate now, coating the dead branches. Kurama shivered, curled up tighter as his breaths came in short gasps. The cold hair burned his lungs as he took in the oxygen his body so desperately needed. He had been running from Hiei for the last two hours, frequently changing directions with the wind to keep the fire demon from tracking him accurately.

Kurama predicted that he had an hour before Hiei found him. He couldn't summon the will to move. He shivered again but ignored the cold. He took off the tiny ring that he loved and examined it with a small smile. "How I wish I could have gotten married," he murmured to himself. "Its strange now, that Yoko fought so hard to preserve his life and I'll be the one to end it. Be death of him and me." A half crazed laugh broke from his lips as another shiver ripped through his body.

Kurama sung a little song to himself, a Makai lullaby Hiei had sung him once when he was still just a child and nightmares had woken him. He remembered those days fondly, the days when he was still just a boy, before he knew of love or mating, only the comfort of Hiei's arm, of Hiei's voice. He sighed and let the ring slip from his fingers in to the growing snow. Hiei didn't want him anymore.

The thought of his fire demon brought the tears again. As the temperature dropped in a sudden gust of wind, the tears began to freeze to his cheek. He smiled softly to himself as he felt Hiei approach. He still had a thread of control over the powers he claimed as a demon. The plants would protect their master, even as he died.

A large vine riddled with thorns struck Hiei from his perch in nearby tree. Hiei caught himself in a crouching position before growling softly. This was his fox's doing. And the damn fox was only ten feet in front of him. He dodged the tree branched that whipped at him. A rather large one ripped open the back of his cloak, soaking the material with his own blood.

"Kurama!" Hiei called.

The last vestiges of the fox gazed back at him with a certain sorrow. "I'm sorry Hiei. I never meant to betray you."

"Fox!" Hiei cried out in exasperation.

Kurama shook his head and tossed the ring to Hiei. "Give that to your next mate. I told you Hiei, I told you that I was no good for you." He flopped back down in the snow. "I had hoped… that I was wrong. Kuronue's reappearance was only the first complication. If I let you try to save me now, I'll forever live my life in regret. Wishing I had the strength to end it… for your sake."

Hiei jumped out of the way of tree roots as they grew around his feet, attempting to trap him. "Don't be stupid! There's always an alternative. My fox would have thought of one rather than simply giving up."

"The fox demon isn't yours," Kurama sang to the sky. "The fox belongs to Kuronue and the human belongs to you. That's the problem. There's no fixing it besides killing him. And then I would have to follow him because of Yoko. It's so much easier this way. No pain involved for you or Kuronue."

Hiei stood in place. "Don't make me do this."

"Burn them then," came Kurama's answer.

Hiei flared his energy, concentrated it on the plants that tried to attack as he rushed towards his mate. He saw Kurama's body arch with the pain of having his precious plants burned. He saw the fingers grip at nothing but air. He saw the fox cough up blood a deep red before curling up in the snow once again. He picked up the broken form and carried it back to the house.

The roses burned as he approached them. He carried the fox in to the basement and took out the cell phone that belonged to the fox. He'd long since learned to master the pesky device. He gazed at his unconscious mate and sighed. He had an hour, maybe less, to carry out his plan.

"Fox-boy, isn't it like two in the morning over there?" Yusuke's voice nagged.

"Shut up you idiot," came Hiei's response. "I know that you care about Kurama a great deal, and he's in trouble, very big trouble, right now. I need you to jump portals and come to the house. Bring Yukina and the oaf."

"They're still on their honeymoon shrimp," Yusuke replied. "You'll have to call and interrupt them yourself. I don't want to see that! It's bad enough when I had to hear about all the details of Kurama in bed when you were drunk out of your mind."

"Fine," Hiei snapped. "Get over here. And be prepared to witness hell."

He hung up the phone, never once taking his eyes off his fox as he dialed the number of the hotel the newlywed couple was staying at for a week. It'd been given out to all the members of the group in case of an emergency. Yukina picked up the phone but before she had a chance to utter anything but hello, Hiei began talking. "The fox needs the two of you. Use the portals to get here as fast as possible."

He hung up on his sister as he walked towards the fox, running his fingers lightly through the red hair. "What am I going to do with you?" He shook his head and moved away.

Less than ten minutes later, Yusuke's voice could be heard from upstairs. He followed the sound of Hiei yelling up at him that he was an idiot and found his way to the basement. When he saw Kurama, he just frowned. "He looks fine."

"Wait until he wakes up," Hiei answered. "I need to gather a few things before I try to explain what's happening. Just keep Kurama here at all costs. He shouldn't wake up, but in case he does, know that it won't be pretty." Hiei flitted up the stairs and out the door.

Ten more minutes passed with Yusuke watching over the sleeping fox. The fire demon came downstairs again with a large duffel bag over one shoulder and his two other guests following behind him.

"What's going on?" Yukina questioned as she glanced from the passed out fox to her brother.

"Wait a few minutes," Hiei ordered before going about his work. After three minutes were up, he stood back to look at his work. Shackles were chained the wall with ten screws each. Hiei had also put ward charms on them, so that they'd burn a demon's skin if left on too long. It also prevented the fox from getting away. He chained the fox easily before turning to the others.

Yusuke just stared. "What the fuck are you doing to Kurama?"

Hiei sighed. "Kuronue has miraculously returned from the dead it seems. For an unknown reason, he split apart the two sides of Kurama." He sat down on the floor with his legs crossed. "You all didn't meet him until after he had full control, until after the two parts of him were merged. Naturally, for three years, Yoko and him were two very different people. Yoko had no to little humanity, only ever really caring for the human mother who looked after him. The redhead was Shuichi Minamono. There was only Yoko and Shuichi, no Kurama. There was no middle territory. Then, with a large amount of training and self control, Kurama forced a bind of the two souls so they merged together."

"Which created Kurama," Yusuke finished. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Kuronue called on the soul of his old mate when he found the fox. The human part of Kurama resisted, but Yoko… That was his mate. The conflict sent them back to the way things were, to the divided soul again. When Yoko has control of the body, Shuichi has no clue what happened to him." He gazed over at the fox and watched the hair begin to streak silver. "I'm going to force a merge again."

Yukina moved to the fireplace and began to start a fire. "Tell us what to do."

"Yusuke," Hiei stated. "I would like you to take Kuwabara. The two of you go capture Kuronue. He's sly and slips through many traps, but he's not nearly as powerful as Kurama is. He always depended on the fox's wit to get him out of the messiest situations."

Yusuke nodded. "Alright, let's go buddy."

Kuwabara kissed his wife fiercely before brushing a strand of hair from her face. "Be careful baby, and don't worry about me. I'll be fine, especially with Yusuke there to watch my back."

Yukina nodded and watched the two of them head upstairs before she turned to her brother. "I'm going to make a few medicines that will help. I'm sure you're going to use the Jagon in order to create a merger. You'll need a boost of energy once its over. And Kurama will need something to stabilize his."

Hiei nodded. "Stay upstairs until I call you." He watched her scurry upstairs to the kitchen to brew what she needed before turning his eyes back on the fox.

The tail began to twitch as Yoko Kurama started to open his golden eyes. His tail sashayed back and forth and one ear twitched in mild annoyance. He growled low in his throat as Hiei neared him.

"Yoko," Hiei said in his usual stoic nature. "Calm yourself."

Yoko stopped growling but his eyes stayed fixed on the man who'd captured him. "Hiei… let me go."

"No." Hiei twisted his fingers in a strand of silver hair as he gazed in to the hardened gold eyes fearlessly. "You see Yoko, we have a problem. My mate, my Kurama, is a perfect mix between you and Shuichi. Kuronue eliminated the truce, so to speak, between you and the human part of yourself."

Yoko just smirked. "He wouldn't have had such power if I didn't allow it."

"Of course not," Hiei agreed. "However, you must remember that I have more power than you and I've felt your mind before." He smirked when Yoko growled low in this throat.

"I do believe I'm the master at trickery and deception here, not you," came the growl. "You wouldn't dare do something that would hurt the human."

"You're right. However, I do have certain abilities that will harm you and not the other form." Hiei gazed at him with a small smile. "I spoke to Koenma about your revived mate. It seems that Kuronue is far from alive, love. He simply borrowed a recently deceased body and used his energy to change its form in to the one you recognized. He won't survive long, even without my help sending him back to hell."

The silver fox began to thrash against the shackles, letting out a small whimper of pain when they burned at his wrists. He stopped struggling. "You wouldn't dare. There's too much of a risk of dragging me in to death with him."

Hiei shook his head. "Tsk tsk Yoko. It seems you aren't as bright as you think. You won't die because neither will Kuronue. He'll go back to his place of punishment and the body will be purified and buried. We're just forcing him to vacate a form that was never his to begin with." He ran his fingertips down the bare neck and relished the shudder of pleasure the fox gave in response. "You let everything you worked for go because of him, and he's not even capable of being with you. The form he took would have lasted another week, at most, and then he would have asked for your help in obtaining a more permanent form."

"He would have wanted me to kill for him?"

Hiei moved away, examined that tiny bit of humanity that was left in Yoko's golden eyes. "He would have asked you to kill me for him."

The fox lowered his gaze away from the fire demon to the floor. "I've been tricked by him then. He deceived me."

"Yes."

The hardened eyes trailed back to Hiei. "How do I know you aren't lying?"

"Yoko, you've always known when I'm lying or not. You can almost smell it on me when I try. It was rather annoying when I first found that you were inside Shuichi. I couldn't lie and tell the boy that you wouldn't harm anyone when you were inside his head, telling him that my scent betrayed me. However, it taught me a lesson. I haven't tried to deceive you in a long time. The one time I did, I was surprised you didn't catch on."

Yoko's lips twisted in to a soft smile. "You tried to use the other fox to win my confessions of love. You claimed to be in love with him instead to test my feelings through jealousy. It really was bad acting. I smelled the plot a mile away but I wanted to be with you so much that I allowed myself to be deceived."

Yusuke came down to the basement out of breath. "Kuronue is with Koenma. It turns out that he was our next mission anyways, so I guess I killed two birds with one stone." He gave a wary gaze at the silver fox. "He wants to know if you're going to send his soul back yourself or if he should do it."

Hiei gazed at the fox. "Your answer Yoko?"

"End it." He raised his head in an arrogant fashion, showing he was superior to the bat. "I do not forgive those who betray and deceive me under any circumstances."

When Yusuke left, Hiei released the fox. "You want things the way they were?"

"Yes."

"Then give up control to Shuichi. You may think of him as weak, but his strength is simply less pronounced than yours. It is easier to slip in to his mind than yours."

Yoko closed his eyes and the hair changed from silver to red. Green eyes regarded him with fear and disbelief. "You were supposed to let me die."

Hiei shook his head and opened his arms. "Come here my little fox."

AUTHOR'S CORNER:

Okay, so things are at least getting to the point of normality. I wouldn't say that problems have been fully resolved. You'll have to wait for the make-up after the brief break-up. Anyways, the next chapter should be up tomorrow. Thanks for reading and remember to review. You'll get a cookie! Okay, you won't get a cookie but I will!