A'N: Sorry for the late post guys. This week took a heavy toll on me and it was too full for me to finish writing this chapter in a timely manner. I hope it is worth the wait. My brain is still a little bit made of pudding so, forgive any mistakes. I'll have to come back and comb through again later.

Also! I forgot a scene in Chapter 1, like a careless fool, so I went back and updated the chapter if anyone wants to read it. It's not super long.

Thanks for reading!

Shinpi and Hiei hiked up the mountain, Shinpi in tall snow boots and two pairs of socks on to protect her feet from the harsh cold of the heavy snow. Hiei carried her bag for her, having no issue trudging his way toward their destination. He glanced at Shinpi and didn't bother hiding his grin at her expense. She wore a bomber hat that fastened under her chin, her balaclava to protect her face, and his white scarf as a hood and wrap. Her jacket was merely the waterproof outer shell to protect her thick wool sweater, and her two undershirts, from the bite of the air. She wore snow pants that made the most amusing sound over her jeans and long johns. He would be dying of a heat stroke if it were him in all that clothing, but she still managed to shiver. Not even to the first time he thought that her response to the cold was proof of some maladaptive abnormality in her bloodline. What sort of wolf couldn't stand a little snow?

Hiei took the mountain on with merely his usual boots and his cloak over his shirt, a second scarf wound around his head and neck, only because the bitter wind cut like knives and even he could feel it. Other than that the cold didn't bother him. Maybe that's because the snow turned to slush under his feet. If he had to complain about anything it was that his boots were growing wet and he didn't like the way that felt on his toes.

"Why did you plan a trip in winter if you hate the cold so much?" He asked his partner, who responded at first with a glare, her eyelashes carrying small bits of ice.

"Because it's our anniversary and I wanted to celebrate with something we could both enjoy." She told him after several moments, the words clouding the air with her breath.

"Your teeth are chattering."

They finally crested the hill they'd been climbing and were rewarded with the presence of a small wooden cabin, it's windows shuttered closed and no sign of disruption anywhere around it. Their footprints were the first to cut through the snow for the season and that made being there all the sweeter. She was right, as usual, they were well and truly alone.

This was the best gift anyone had ever given him.

"I can't feel my toes." Shinpi admitted once they were inside, immediately moving to start the wood stove to warm the space. "But that's not the point of being here. I just wanted to be with you, actually with you, not just close to each other but really together out here. No one to hide from. No concern that someone will see us and try to use one of us against the other. When else will we just exist this way?"

Still amused by the fact her words came through her shivering form and chattering teeth, Hiei walked over and wrapped his arms around Shinpi. His hands slid under her jacket and sweater to rest on her stomach over her undershirts. His breath was warm against the shell of her red ear, his lips lifted in a grin she couldn't see. This gift of hers warmed him. Shinpi hated winter and everything that came with it, but for him she braved the elements just so they cold have this moment.

Just so they could be together.

He couldn't even begin to express how much that meant to him.

He'd find her a gift too, eventually, that would offer some hint of how much he cared about this and her. He didn't know what he'd do, but it would be something and when it happened Shinpi would be amazed.

"We should do this again in the summer. We don't need excuses like anniversaries to be alone." Hiei told her, greedy when she rocked back against him to steal more of his body heat. While she used him as a heating pad, he allowed himself a moment of consideration. "What did you tell the others about this trip?"

"Simple. I told Koenma I needed a break or I was going to snap and he'd have to file the paperwork because of the fallout. I told the others I just needed to get away. Kurama said he'd handle the rest if anyone asked where you went. No more worrying about it. We're here to be free of all that. Let's enjoy it." She closed her eyes, her shivering forgotten.

"You forgot to light the stove." Hiei teased her, nipping at her ear. "Allow me."

"Oh come on." Hiei stood on the branch of a pine likely older than himself. He wasn't high off the ground, at least not in his opinion. His feet stood even with the roof of their borrowed cabin.

Shinpi looked up at him, her feet resolutely planted on the ground.

"Absolutely not, Hiei." She told him without any indication she could be swayed. "I am not joining you up there."

"You'd deny me your company?" He asked her with his best version of a pout. "And here I thought the whole point of this was for us to spend time together."

"There is plenty of room down here with me, if you'd care to join."

"So stubborn." He sighed. "Join me, Shinpi. You'll appreciate the view."

She glared up at him then, rolling her eyes. Shaking her head she went to walk back toward the cabin when Hiei stopped her by launching himself from the branch to land in her way. Dusting snow off his pants he met her gaze.

"Please." He lowered his voice, the word as emphatic as he could make it. "For me, Shinpi."

That made her purse her lips before pitifully looking at him. "Why is this so important to you? You know how much I don't like height, Hiei. Why are you asking me to do this?"

"You don't dislike them, you're afraid of them." He explained. "Because of Hiro. It's just one more way he continues to influence your life. I want to see you more like yourself before he ruined your life."

"This fear is rational. It has a purpose. I fell to my death and now my body remembers that and has decided it won't fall again." She argued quietly. "I can't do it, Hiei. I can't. I can't breathe that high off the ground so I'll slip and hit and the ground and if I land the wrong way I could die. I don't think there will be a third life for me."

Hiei cupped her cheek and kissed her to rise her from the spiral of her thoughts. It worked, her lips moving against his before he pulled away.

"I'll protect you." He promised. "If you fall, I'll jump and I'll catch you. If you slip I'll help you keep going. That's what we do for each other, Shinpi, we push each other to rise higher."

She inhaled, looking into his eyes with disdain. He pinpointed the moment her resolve cracked under his affection. Still, he waited for her to say it.

"I'll try." Shinpi swallowed and looked over her shoulder toward the tree as though it were a looming threat. "Just know, this is a lot to ask of me Hiei and if you let me fall I'll never do this for you again. Never."

He tugged on her hand and kissed her again before dragging her toward the trunk of the tree. His preferred method was just leaping into the branches but he suspected it wouldn't be that easy for Shinpi, not with the way her hand trembled in his hold. She swallowed thickly, eyes stuck on the narrow top of the tree. Brushing his fingertips over her skin as he tucked some loose hair behind her ear, Hiei earned her attention.

"One step at a time. You don't have to reach the top, you just have to climb."

"Don't drop me." She turned back to the tree with concern in her voice.

"I'm right behind you. Nothing will happen with me here." Hiei promised.

When she moved toward the tree he followed closely and he remained as near her as he could stay while she assessed her target. Shinpi walked around the tree and he was nearly amused at how seriously she took her work of discerning the best possible path. Just as with everything she did, she obviously meant to do her best with this task he'd thrust onto her. That meant it was his job to make her succeed. She reached up to grab the lowest branch and then let her hand fall to her side. He waited.

"Did it bite you?" Hiei asked after a few seconds. "I'll burn it down if you want."

Despite his hilarious joke, Shinpi didn't laugh. She just stared.

"I don't know how I let him gain this much control over me."

Hiei frowned, walking around to lean against the trunk so he could study Shinpi's expression. Her eyes were still on the tree but fear was the least of the emotions clouding her eyes.

"When I was little it was a trial to keep my out of trees. I used to sleep in them too. I ran through them. I could hear them. But ever since… I didn't know the taste of real fear when I was young but now it coats my tongue."

"You're being overly poetic again." Hiei sighed. "Let's just say it, Shinpi. Your husband allowed you to fall to your death and it didn't come quickly. Heights remind you of pain. That's a natural response. It's called conditioning."

"I know what it's called. I studied psychology." Shinpi raised an eyebrow at him. "I know why this is happening, Hiei. I just, I can't believe I'm letting Hiro continue to effect me. He's dead and yet he still has this chokehold on me that I can't loosen."

"So climb the tree. Show that dead asshole he doesn't own you." Hiei shrugged. "Show him I own you."

"You what now?" Shinpi lowered her voice dangerously. When Hiei smirked at her she rolled her eyes. "You're trying to antagonize me."

"Is it working?"

"No." She sighed. "I want this to be easier than it is. It just feels unnatural to me and I can't fight that."

"Pretend I'm in danger." Hiei suggested, checking his nails.

Shinpi blinked at him. "What? Why would I do that?"

"You threw yourself off a cliff after me before you even liked me. Surpassing yourself because someone else is in distress is what you do."

Nose wrinkled, Shinpi once again looked upward. She couldn't just conjure the mindless adrenaline of watching someone she cared about being flung to their death. Lifting to her toes she thought about launching herself upward. Slowly, her heels lowered back to the ground. What she even doing? This should be easy. Hiei was right there, he wouldn't let her fall. She could count on him. Still, there was something in the way.

Why did this simple task feel insurmountable?

"If you won't do it for me, or to piss off Hiro's spirit then do it for yourself." Hiei remained firm by the tree, feet planted slightly apart, arms crossed over his chest. When she looked at him with curiosity he waved a hand loosely, arms still crossed. "We both know sooner or later this will be used against you. I know you can do this, Shinpi. You allowed that oafish idiot to electrocute you repeatedly, literally torturing you for months-"

"Losing sight of the point here darling."

"-all because you were too stubborn to allow yourself to be trapped by your fear of Hiro's greatest power." Hiei finished, continuing despite her interruption. "So I want you to muster that bullheadedness and come over here, put your powerful fucking foot on my thigh so I can give you a boost and then pull yourself up into this goddamn tree."

"No one has ever bossed me around as much as you do." She smiled and tiptoed over. "I sort of like it."

"Then listen to me." He lowered himself, bracing against the trunk like he was sitting in a chair.

With a nod, Shinpi put one hand on his shoulder and a foot on his thigh before hoisting herself up to wrap her gloved fingers around the lowest snow covered branch she could reach. Hiei shifted, clasped hands coming under her other foot to lift her higher. He straightened himself out, standing at his full height while keeping her balanced in his hold.

"This would've been better for me to suggest in the spring when you wear skirts." Hiei commented with humor, looking up her body at her. Shinpi made a sound of shock, looking down at him with wide eyes. "Not that the view isn't still worth the effort. I do like those pants on you now that they aren't layered over three pairs of long johns."

Shinpi growled at him, pulling herself out of his hands an onto the branch she then clung to for dear life, trembling like a leaf. Hiei grinned at her, delighted she'd managed to pull through her fear.

"You look lovely up there." He told her.

"I'm going to fall." She whispered. "I'm slipping I can feel it. I'm going to fall."

"You're not going to fall. I told you." Hiei hopped up to grab the branch above him, flipping himself up and over to land on it with this feet in an effortless display of acrobatics. He casually stepped over to her branch and crouched down, placing a hand on her back. "I'm here, Shinpi."

She nodded but her death-grip on the tree didn't relent. Hiei cautiously reached over her to place his hand on hers and after a breath, he slipped his fingers under hers. With extremely slow and careful coaxing he assumed was reminiscent of the way she'd slid him into this relationship in the first place, he was able to Shinpi to stand on the branch. Her fingers dug into his hand and his shoulder as she held onto him.

"Not so bad." He wrapped his free hand around her waist.

"Don't hold me, hold the tree." She pleaded.

"The tree isn't going anywhere." Hiei chuckled. "You're standing three meters off the ground. How does it feel?"

"Not as victorious as you're hoping."

"Do you want to go higher?" He breathed against her ear.

"No. Not really." Shinpi pulled away from him slightly, placing one hand on the trunk and then looked up. "But I should, right? I don't have to reach the top."

"You just have to climb." Hiei promised with one hand on her back and the other on her stomach as she shakily reached above her.

He waited until she was halfway up to scurry to the branch in case she needed his help. Once Shinpi found her feet again, this time insistently on her own despite her wobbly balance, Hiei smiled at her. She looked up at the next branch with severe obvious reservation.

"I like the view from here." Hiei told her, pulling her attention away. From their position they could see a little into the distance into the forest coated in white, the smoke rising from the cabin's chimney. "Let's stay for a minute."

Shinpi tried to hide her relief as her fingers dug into the bark of the tree's trunk but it flooded through her. This was enough and she was glad Hiei realized that. She was honestly surprised she'd made it this far. Of all the things in her life she had chosen to overcome through sheer stubborn will, her intense fear of heights had never been one of them. It was fairly easy to avoid finding herself on the lip of a canyon. Still, she was sure that at some point she'd thank her partner for this dose of exposure therapy because he was right sooner or later this would be raised as issue. Until then though, she would remain fixed in place with terror bubbling up in the back of her throat. When Hiei shifted his weight to move closer to her the color drained from her face as the branch moved under her ever so slightly. Her feet went cold as her entire body reacted to the sudden dose of dread. Entire body melded against the side of the tree, Shinpi's eyes flashed wide and her attention immediately diverted to the ground which was a mistake as it made her realize how high off the ground she'd actually become and how precariously stationed she was. Freezing up she let out an involuntary small sound that perfectly depicted her current mentality.

Hiei stopped his movement and watched her, which part of her hated. He was paying too much attention to her fear she decided and it made her frustrated that she had enough of it that he could see it. Generally speaking, Hiei could pick up on her moods easily anyway but she knew this wasn't him using his acute senses of observation. No. She was just being too obvious and what was worse was that she couldn't help it.

"I'm coming to you." He told her gently, allowing her to prepare herself before he sidled up to her. Once he was near her she felt his palm slide over her back and that was enough of a cue that she reached out and clutched his waist. "I've got you, Shinpi. Stop looking down."

With his free hand he gently lifted her chin and directed her to look in the distance where a few deer picked their way through the snow, looking for the scraps of greenery still lingering despite the depth of the season. Shinpi watched the small herd for several minutes before she finally felt comfortable enough to speak without the irrational fear that her words would somehow knock her off balance and send her plummeting to another broken death.

"Beautiful." She told him quietly. Then with the barest hint of a smile she went on. "Too bad I didn't bring my bow. We could have venison for dinner."

Hiei's startled laugh alerted the animals, putting them on high alert. "If you were a real hunter a knife would do."

"Why bother? I have hands don't I?"

He chuckled and shook his head, tossing her a look side-long to show the light in his eye. "Did you want to climb down?"

Shinpi looked down again, swallowed and then frowned. She weighed her options. In her youth, she'd have just jumped and moved on with her day. Now she felt dizzy and wondered about the logistics of sliding from her current position down to the branch below. Inhaling deeply to exhale very slowly she closed her eyes for a moment and grounded herself in the breeze that circled them. Gradually she lowered herself into a crouch before grabbing the branch and allowing her legs to come out from under her. It took an insane amount of time but she was able to dangle herself down to the foothold below but that turned out to be a harrowing mistake as just her toes grazed the curved top of the branch she realized she was going to have to let go and land without slipping.

"It's okay." Hiei assured her.

Shinpi let go and her feet found purchase, allowing her held breath to rush out of her lungs. She looked up at Hiei with a proud grin that shifted quickly into a gape of horror as a powerful gust of wind shook the tree in it's entirety and her balance wasn't prepared for the change. Her foot slipped off the branch and the rest of her followed. Body frozen in terror Shinpi closed her eyes, expecting the pain to erupt through her form when she made contact with the harsh, frozen winter ground. The shock never came.

"I told you." Hiei told her, arms cradling her to his chest like she was something small and frail. His crimson eyes glowed with protectiveness. "I'll catch you."

He released her legs so she could stand on her own but kept his arm around her back, pulling her to him. His mouth brushed over hers then pressed firmly as he kissed her, pulling back to press his forehead to hers.

"I'm proud of you." He breathed.

Shinpi thought that the ground under her feet should thaw for the warmth she felt at his words, at his expression. This was her Hiei, the one few others ever got to witness. Her adoring, caring Hiei that hid under the gruffly defensive exterior he displayed to the world.

Firelight bounced off the snow and sent plumes of smoke upward toward the blanket of glittering black sky above Hiei and Shinpi. There were no other lights to challenge the darkness aside from their fire, no electricity lighting the cabin from within. The crackling of the wood as it succumbed to the heat battled against the quiet of their mountainside. It was peaceful and comfortable despite the cold. There was no wind to chew at their bones, no new snow to coat them.

"Dance with me." Shinpi got to her feet out of the wooden chair pulled reasonably close to the fire they'd made in the pit carved into the yard. She held her hand out to him with expectation glittering in her eyes.

Hiei remained in his chair regarding her. "I don't dance. You know that."

"Name one thing you that's fun darling." She teased him.

"Sleep. Preferably in trees." He kept his urge to smile off his face. He'd relent to her, he usually did when it came to these whims. She didn't ask him for things like this too often. "There's no music."

"We are the music darling. What more could we need?"

He was glad no one else was around to hear her spouting such romantic nonsense. He was particularly thankful that they weren't there to see his arm reaction as he fought back a blush.

"You're really going to leave me in the cold?" She asked, her hand lowering as her smile wavered. A twinge of surprised realization touched her eyes.

"You're an idiot if you think that." He climbed to his feet and yanked her close unable to pretend that expression didn't bother him, rolling his eyes mostly for show. "You ask for the most inane things sometimes. I don't understand it but if this makes you happy then fine."

"I won't tell anyone." She assured him, giggling as he grumbled. "Your image is safe in my hands, Hiei."

Of course she wouldn't, he thought. She didn't do things that might shut him down. He never commented on it, but it was obvious she held back on him often. There was no pushing him for information on his work if he didn't seem willing to talk, no demands for explanations of his past. Shinpi did her best to operate within his comfort zones even when it was clear that she wanted to ask a million questions and delve into all his answers. Sometimes he wished he was better at opening up to her. He knew it wasn't fair to keep her in the dark on so much. The idea of telling her what he was, who he was, the things he'd done, it kept him up at night. He'd nearly convinced himself several times to just do it. Just sit her down and tell her everything. But there was a wall that always formed in his throat and nothing ever got through it.

His little wolf had grown up full of honor and love and all the things he'd never known. Even now, with her in his arms he wasn't sure if he was capable of truly loving. What would she think when he told her of his blood-soaked youth? A child so angry and disastrous that the bandits he'd considered family had abandoned him just like this mother's loveless people? What would she say to him when she found out he'd used Keiko against Yusuke in an attempt to make an army? Would she see him as the indiscriminate killer he'd always been?

He didn't want to know the answer and so he refused her the chance to consider the question.

Maybe he couldn't love, he didn't really know, but if this was as close as he got then fine. He'd hold onto this feeling with all his strength.

"You're a miracle worker for managing to pull this off." Hiei told her, one hand cupping hers as the other rested on her heavily clothed waist as they moved in small, lazy circles.

"I try my best." Shinpi looked at his face with so much warmth he wondered why they even needed a fire. This woman could thaw all the ice and snow with that damn smile of hers.

And it was all his.

"I'm serious, Shinpi. Thank you for doing this for us." His eyes bore into her in that way they sometimes did when he truly wanted to impress upon her a sentiment. Most of the time when he looked at her like that it was because she had something to scare and him and he was trying to make her promise never to do it again.

But this time his sincerity spoke of a different, equally deep emotion. The look in his eye coupled with him saying us made her heart flutter unexpectedly. Hiei very rarely referred to them as a unit so casually. Two years and the idea that they really were us still made her chest swell and her blood grow warm.

After her moment of butterflies she offered him a gentle smile. "Even if the rest of this trip is a washout, this moment makes it worth all the effort."

In the soft morning light that filtered through drawn curtains, Hiei and Shinpi lay cuddled together on flannel sheets under a thick blanket as snow fell outside the cabin walls. Shinpi's fingers traced meaningless over his bare chest, her eyes closed while lazy smile played on her lips. The bed was small enough they had no choice but to wind together. The wood stove filled the cabin with the scent of burning wood which had burrowed into the pillow and sheets and their hair. It was a moment in paradise, warm and undisturbed and perfect.

Hiei stared up at the ceiling in his thoughts as he'd been off and on for a few hours as he dozed. They were four days into their vacation and it had been more than he could have ever expected. This was something he hadn't even known he could ask for, much less want. Now that he'd tasted this tranquility he already craved more and the week wasn't even up yet. Shinpi had outdone herself. He wasn't sure he'd ever felt this relaxed before, if he was being honest with himself. Which made his mind act up, probably to cope with the lack of external threats. All he could think about was how hard Shinpi had worked to plan this moment. How little she'd asked of him.

And how little he'd offered.

The nagging sense of imbalance eroded his pleasant mood once again. He wasn't sure what he could give her to reciprocate this vacation still, but he knew he could give her something she wouldn't outright ask for right now. Something to bridge the gap between them just a little bit.

"It snowed the day I was born."

Shinpi's fingers stilled against his chest, he felt her hold her breath as he offered the information. Despite his anxiety he soldiered on.

"I don't really notice the cold most of the time and I didn't then either, but I know it snowed because I remember seeing it. My mother's face, the faces of her people and snow." He went on. "I was abandoned not long after. I remember my mother crying for me but no one else did. When I was cast aside it was because they'd meant to kill me."

Shinpi's palm flattened against his chest, her head nestling against his shoulder as she listened. He wasn't sure how much to tell her.

"I grew up with bandits because they found me and I had a fire in me they recognized. They tried to steal something of mine and I bit them-"

"You had teeth when you were born?" Shinpi interrupted, surprised.

"Don't all infants?" Hiei blinked, looking down at her. The truth was he wasn't super familiar with children and he definitely didn't go around sticking his finger into their mouths.

"No." Shinpi giggled. "No, most babies are born without teeth."

"How do they defend themselves then?"

"They don't Hiei that's what their family is for." Shinpi patted his chest. "Also, what sort of jackass steals from a child? Bandits or not that just seems in bad taste."

Hiei wasn't sure how to answer her on that front. In fact she'd latched onto entirely benign details, not delving into why his mother's people had tossed him aside. Of all the questions she could have asked him she had chosen to talk about his teeth.

"Does the snow bother you?" She asked him. "You seem to remember it clearly."

"It's just snow. It holds no power over me." He shrugged. "It's just what is was."

"It must have been scary as such a small thing, to have such a large being trying to steal from you. Is that why you bit him?"

"No. I wasn't afraid. I was angry. That was my necklace and even then I wasn't going to let it go for no other reason than the fact it was mine." Hiei snorted. "Fear was a foreign concept to me for a long time. So was mercy."

"Sounds like that was out of necessity." Shinpi's breath ghosted over his skin as she spoke. "In a life where you are fighting for survival from day one I imagine there is no time for fear."

Hiei squinted up at the ceiling, confused. This was easier than he'd expected it to be. Shinpi was far more understanding than he'd anticipated. Not a hint of disgust tinged her voice. He wondered how much more he could offer before her acceptance turned into veiled revulsion.

"Mukuro found it strange I didn't cry, not even when I was born." Hiei frowned.

"You didn't?"

"No."

"Interesting." She sat up on her elbow to look at his face. "Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen you close to tears."

"I don't cry." He stated firmly. "I've never cried and I don't intend to start anytime soon."

She nodded and kissed his cheek, pulling back with a smile. "Thank you, Hiei."

He put a hand on the back of her head and held her still so he could kiss her. Her touch was still as gentle as ever, as warm, her kiss accepting of his, her body melding against his. She hadn't withdrawn from him in light of his story. She hadn't shown him pity. Just that calm acceptance and thirst for understanding. Now he craved her being closer just to be sure. Just to know that she wasn't going to distance herself.

He had to be sure.

So he held her close and pulled at her hips and made himself at home in her embrace.