Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Winter Murders ❯ Snow War ( Chapter 2 )

Winter Murders

The scream cut through the silence of the woods. Blood flew into the air. Death pulled the scythe up. The man collapsed as the scythe retched through his ribs and out through his neck. Blood dripped from his soaked jacket. Another scream resonated through the frozen air. The man's body collapsed. Death turned its head to the woman tied to a nearby tree. A hidden smile graced its lips. This was the kind of murder it enjoyed. Death gently pushed the man's body out of its way, and then crossed to the terrified woman. The woman tried to free herself, it was to no avail. Death put away its scythe, and took out a paper-thin blue katana. The woman screamed repetitively. Death shook its left index finger at her. Her eyes bulged out of her eyes. Death brought the sword up.

In the middle of a wooded area a married couple was found. The man's chest had been sliced open. His eyes were missing. His body was pushed out of a puddle of his own blood. The woman was tied to a tall tree with steel wire. The wire was buried in her flesh, and a large hole was made through her heart. Her tongue was missing.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ ~^~^~^~^~^~

"Um… I guess there's nothing we can do until it kills again," Yusuke told the group. "Keep your eyes and ears open. If you hear of any more murders, check them out."

The collective group nodded their heads. Yusuke looked at each person of his team. He hoped they would be able to deal with this, I mean; this was their first mission of tracking down a homicidal maniac.

"Don't worry Yusuke," Kurama spoke up. He placed a supportive hand on Yusuke's shoulder. Hiei looked rather angry, Yusuke noted. "We'll keep our eyes and ears open. Hiei will stay at my apartment until this case is done."

Yusuke looked gratefully at the youko. "Well, let me know if anybody has any ideas, or info. I'll be at Keiko's, hopefully."

Kuwa and Kurama chuckled. Kurama took his hand from Yusuke's shoulder as Yusuke left. Kuwa turned to Hiei and Kurama.

"I'll most likely be at Genkai's," he said. "We're planning on giving Yusuke another dose of whoop-ass!"

"Hn, you beat Yusuke," Hiei replied. Kuwa glared at the koorime. He puffed out his chest.

"Yukina, Genkai and I did," he said triumphantly.

"It took the three of you to beat one Yusuke?" Hiei asked.

Kuwa glared at Hiei. "No, we beat Keiko and him."

"You all must be pretty bad if it took three of you to beat Yusuke and his woman!"

"They're good!"

"Hn."

"Let's see you beat them!"

"I will!"

"Then be at Genkai's at three! It will be Yukina, Genkai and I vs. Yusuke and Keiko vs. you!"

"I'll beat all of you!"

Kurama had long ago sweat dropped, and was currently backing slowly away from the arguing Tantei. A black caped figure spotted them from a distance.

"Kurama!" Hiei span around. Kurama jumped. He look innocently at Hiei.

"What?" he asked.

"You will participate in this `snowball fight' also," Hiei stated. Kurama looked at him rather sourly.

"You're not the boss of me. I will do whatever I please," Kurama replied. Kuwa expected him to stick out his tongue, and was disappointed when he didn't.

"Yeah Kurama," Kuwa spoke up. The pair turned to him. "Yusuke says you're really good. Show us how it's done."

Kurama stared at Kuwa, dumfounded. Yusuke didn't praise anyone. Hiei's face displayed that he was equally stunned.

"Ok…" Kurama said. He looked at the ground. They asked for it…

"Hn," Hiei said. He started walking towards the park exit. Kurama made a startled noise and followed him; he turned around long enough to smile and wave at Kuwa before calling out `hey Hiei wait up!'

Kuwa shook his head. Those two were so cute sometimes.

^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ ^~^~^~^~^~^~^

"The fox?"

"Yes sir."

"Where?"

"In the park, sir."

"Hmm…"

"What should I do sir?"

"Follow the plan. If he interferes, deal with him. Don't kill him just yet."

"Yes sir."

"And Death?"

"Sir?"

"Stop taking your time, we have a tight schedule."

"Yes sir."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ ~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Yusuke grumbled to himself. Somehow that idiot Kuwabara had gotten Hiei and Kurama involved in this snow war. Kurama had just called him, had said that Hiei was out, wanted to make an alliance. Yusuke had eagerly agreed. Kurama would set up a secret fort for himself and cover Yusuke and Keiko's backs. He couldn't wait to see Kuwa, and Hiei's faces. He he, this was going to be great!

^~^~^^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^

Kurama picked up the phone once again. Yusuke was so trusting. He wouldn't know what had hit him until it was to late. He dialed Genkai's house. They would all learn just how stupid it was to involve him in such a thing as a snowball war. The phone began to ring.

"Hello?" Genkai's voice sounded.

"Genkai? It's Kurama," He said. He looked out the window; he hoped Hiei wouldn't come back too soon.

"Yes, what do you want Kurama?" she asked.

"I want to get them all," he answered.

"Really."

"Yes, I have a plan…"

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Genkai surveyed the area. It was a large clearing by her dojo. Pretty soon it would be a raging battlefield. Genkai smiled. Her strategically placed wall was prefect for this. She had long past stocked up her entire arsenal. She would beat them all, with the help of a backstabbing kitsune. She half expected for him to stab her in the back in the end. But at the moment she'd have no other worries. His plan was fool-proof.

"Yusuke doesn't suspect a thing," he had said. "He doesn't think that innocent, nice Kurama would ever plan such a thing. He thinks I'll be behind him 100%. Kuwabara has the same kind of trust in you. Hiei doesn't stand a chance; he won't even be a threat, unless he finds out our plan."

Genkai grinned to herself. Yusuke was going to get his up-and-comings, Hiei was going to get a lesson in humility, and Kuwa was going to learn not to be so trusting. The cunning fox had thought of everything, she was glad she was on his side.

"I will take out Kuwabara, you focus on Yusuke. They will try to take out each other. Hiei will aim for the two of them also. They will quickly fall. Keiko and Yukina will probably take on each other. We will both quickly knock out Hiei. Yukina and Keiko will be defenseless against us. It will be over and we will have won."

Yukina and Kuwa were already in their snow fort. Kurama had come over long ago to finalize the plans, and had taken residency in a strategic tree. How he kept snowballs in it was beyond her. Yusuke and Keiko's previously constructed fort was still standing, and Hiei had just shown up. He quickly buried himself under the snow.

Well, thought Genkai. That's certainly one way of doing it.

Yusuke and Keiko approached and quickly dove into their fort. Genkai smiled. They were in for a special treat today.

"Begin!" she shouted from behind her wall. Yusuke jumped up and released a snowball and quickly dove back. The snowball flew through the air and into Kuwa's fort.

~In a hidden field a group of powerful humans and demons were gathered. They stared at Death. Death brought out it's scythe and a double sided axe. An energy ball flew through the air. ~

"Damn!" Kuwa shouted from inside. On his head was a white snowball. He let loose a ball of his own. Kurama threw one straight in the air, a signal.

~Death casually stepped to the side of the energy ball. It sent a current through the snow; large icicles grew out of the ground. Stabbing through the feet and bodies of it's enemies. Death let loose a cruel and frightening laugh. Someone charged. ~

Genkai began hurtling snowballs at Yusuke, who was having a hard time dodging both hers and Kuwa's. Kurama began pelting Kuwa. Hiei appeared out of nowhere in Yusuke's fort. He snowballed Yusuke into unconsciousness. He disappeared once again into the snow. Genkai knew something was up; maybe the kitsune had teamed up with the diminutive half koorime.

~Death blocked the blow aimed for its head with its scythe. It calmly chopped it's attacker in half with it's axe. Screams filled the air as the body fell. They were from the poor unfortunate souls that were slowly realizing that once an icicle had punctured you it would slowly freeze your entire body. And that if you tied to move a frozen body part it would break off and shatter into a million pieces and still the ice would spread. Death laughed. ~

Kurama had just knocked out Kuwa, and yet Hiei continued to pelt him with snowballs. Genkai focused her energy at Hiei, as did Keiko and Yukina. Kurama stayed strangely neutral.

~Death charged the remaining twenty of its pursuers. It disappeared and reappeared unnoticed on the other side of the group. The first scream alerted them to where it was. The body fell to the ground, blood spilling forth and dying the trampled ground. Death vanished again. Another body fell to the ground, it's arms were missing and it's ribs were crushed. The group formed a circle and turned so that someone was facing in every direction. The middle was a large open abyss. ~

Eventually, Hiei was taken out by the girls, but not before he had taken out Yukina and Keiko. Genkai patted herself on the back. Considering, it had gone strangely according to plan, but no one had seen or heard from the kitsune for quite some time. A crunch of snow behind her was the only warning she got before she was snowballed into a state of unconsciousness like the others.

~Death appeared in the middle of the circle, marveling at how stupid these fighters were. It looked at it's weapons, they would do. Death walked up to it's first victim. It brought down it's axe on his head and decapitated three others on the right of him with it's scythe. Not a word was heard. The only warning was that the bodies of those four and others began falling, and then it was too late. But one remained. She span around and faced the figure in black. She stifled her screams and awaited death. Her eyes were closed and she never saw Death walk away. ~

^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ ^~^~^~^~^~^~^

"In other news, the killer known as Death struck again today," the reporter calmly said. Kurama looked up at the screen. He had painstakingly carried all of his friends into the dojo. All of them were wrapped in blankets, in dry clothes, and snuggled in either a bed, or on the couch. He looked over at the unconscious fire demon lounging in his arms.

"We cannot show any footage from the site, it is too gruesome," continued the man. Kurama cringed. "Forty-nine people were found dead in a small clearing. Each was killed in a different way. One woman was found traumatized at the scene of the crime. She is currently in the Mizuha Mental Hospital. She wouldn't speak to anyone."

Kurama looked once again at Hiei. His eyes lifted from his friend's face and wandered around the living room. He knew he should go and look at the site, or something, but he wasn't sure if he should.

One demon destroyed 49 people, in a single fight. 50-1 odds and still it won, Kurama thought. I shouldn't go alone, but I must if we are to find anything of use.

Kurama sighed and carefully stood, removing the koorime's head from his lap. He smiled slightly and then headed for the door. He grabbed his coat, and after looking back for a fleeting moment, disappeared into the snow covered world outside.

Kurama walked down the street, he was close to the Mizuha Mental Hospital, and decided to talk to the woman who had seen Death. He went into the hospital. The nurse at the front desk looked up from her work and smiled at him. He smiled back.

"Hello," he said. "I'm here to visit my sister; I heard about her traumatic episode on the news and rushed over to make sure she was alright. May I see her?"

Kurama put on his best sad/worried face. The nurse nearly broke into tears when she saw it. Kurama smiled inwardly, works every time. The nurse nodded and handed him a visitor pass. She pointed him in the right direction and then dove for a box of Kleenex. Kurama followed her directions and headed down the corridor. Screams and rants filled the air. He looked at the room number on his pass, 238. Wasn't that a padded cell? He headed towards the padded rooms. A guard on duty asked him what room he was going to and then led him there. The door swung open.

Huddled in a corner was the woman, girl really. She was pale, sickeningly pale. Her black hair was tangled and stuck out in all directions, even though it was well past her hip. She was wearing a white straight jacket; it was the same color as her skin. Her yellow eyes struck an odd chord. She was shivering, and chanting slowly to herself. She rocked back and forth on the heels of her feet. Kurama shivered, no one should end up looking like this after a confrontation, even if it was with Death.

"You'll have one hour, call when you need out. The doctor could only stand her for fifteen minutes before having to go see a shrink himself," the guard said. He turned and walked out of the room, closing and locking the door behind him.

"Hello," Kurama said. The girl's eyes went straight to him. The camera exploded in the corner of the room. No one would know what happened in here except her, and him. Kurama looked at her a bit more nervously.

"What do you want?" she replied. White horns, two of them, appeared on the top of her head. Kurama sighed, she was a demon.

"Tell me what you know about Death," Kurama replied. He sat on the padded floor. She laughed a cold and heartless thing.

"How do you know its name, human?" she replied. Kurama smiled.

"I'm not what you think I am," he replied. "Tell me about Death."

"Let me see, from what we, the fifty of us, were told it was only an S-class demon. How wrong was that?" she replied. Her head leaned back and hit the wall lightly. "Most of them had a grudge against some other demon, and were doing it to work off stress; I did it because I needed the money."

"How many of them did it for stress?"

"All of them but me."

"Who was this demon they were angered by?"

"Haven't got the slightest. All I know is it isn't as powerful as Death. Or at least that's what one of them said before they died in my arms."

"You sure?"

"Definitely."

"What class are you?"

"I will be an S-class as soon as I pass my final test. I'm an A right now."

"Hn."

"Who are you? I mean, obviously you're going to try and take Death on, but who are you? I should at least be able to learn that."

"I am Youko Kurama."

"Ha, you cannot take Death on alone. It will crush you. Even with your other Reikai Tantei you will be beaten."

"I hope that we can get rid of the person behind Death. They are the key, I believe."

"No duh. But you have to go through Death to get to them. Therein lies the problem. Death cannot be beaten. It cannot be cheated. It is inescapable. It is inevitable. Death took out 49 S-class demons in the space of two hours. Can your Reikai Tantei do that? Can you? I don't think so. Death is all powerful. It has to be a god. Death killed them all with a scythe and axe. It didn't even use its unimaginable powers."

"Unimaginable powers?"

"Someone that powerful must have some kick ass power. You'd think that right? I mean not one of us got a single hit off on it. Not a single one of us could even react. The best we could do was make a circle, with the center open. Technically we faced in all directions, but the middle. It's smarter then that. It took the remaining fifteen of them out by chopping us up from the inside."

"But the powers…"

"It's powers… Something to do with ice. Took out thirty-four of us that way."

"I thought you said it took all of them out with its scythe and axe."

"I lied."

"What did it do with ice?"

"Made icicle things grow out of the ground. If you got touched by one you would slowly begin to freeze. If you moved a frozen part it would shatter into a million pieces."

"…"

"That's how powerful Death is."

"…"

"That is what happens to those who get in its master's way."

An icicle burst forth from the startled demon's chest. Kurama yelped. The wall had become frozen in the space of time she'd been talking, and he'd been too distracted to notice. He jumped to his feet and pulled out a rose. The wall shattered. It looked like snow was falling. Kurama rushed over to the demon girl.

"Beware… Death…"

She died. Her blood pooled on the floor, and was absorbed into the padding. Kurama looked to the door and saw the startled guard's face. The guard opened the door.

"How…?" he tried to ask. Kurama looked at him.

"You know I didn't do it, right?" he nodded. "Tell them."

Kurama ran out into the snow, casually forgetting that he had let his coat in the hospital. He shivered, but followed the footsteps in the snow. His clothes were definitely impractical. Why couldn't he have listened to Hiei?

"Kisama!" Kurama cursed as he bounded through the rising snow. It was even snowing. Snow everywhere and snow falling everywhere. Snow, snow, snow. I now hate snow.

Following the footprints became increasingly harder since they were disappearing right in front of his eyes. Kurama started to slow down. He was exhausted and was slowly freezing. He looked around him. The snow was falling so thickly he couldn't even see where the hospital had been, or where he was, or where he was going. Kurama shook his head. He was beginning to see things. The black blur passed before his eyes again. Kurama shook his head again. His knees gave out. He fell face forward into the snow.

"Uhn…" was all he got out before passing into unconsciousness.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ ~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Hiei cracked open a red eye slightly. He groaned. His head hurt. What had they done to him? Snowball him into unconsciousness? He laughed softly. That's exactly what they had done. He rolled his eye around the room. Where was everybody? Where was his fox? He looked at the television, which was still on.

Probably because of that stupid fox, Hiei thought to himself. He slowly dragged his body into the sitting position. His head really hurt. He looked at the screen.

"This just in," the reporter droned excitedly. "The only surviving woman from the slaughter earlier today was killed in the Mizuha mental hospital minutes ago. She seems to have died from an icicle through the chest. The wall behind her has totally disappeared. Authorities think that this man may have killed her…"

Hiei gasped as they held up a sketch of Kurama.

"This young man was the last to see her, claiming to be her brother. The guard that watched the confrontation between the woman and him emphatically denies that the young man did not do it, that in fact someone from outside stabbed the icicle through her heart. An autopsy proves it. Unfortunately this young man disappeared into the snow after the murder. It is now believed that this is yet another casualty by Death. In other news…"

Hiei jumped out of his blanket, only to find himself buck naked. Damn fox must have enjoyed that. But right now he was more concerned about finding his clothes and rescuing his beloved fox.

^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ ^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^

Kurama woke up with a major headache. He immediately remembered what had happened and jumped to his feet. He looked around him. He was in a field covered in red blood. He shook his head. He couldn't…

"I see you're awake," a voice boomed in the silence. Kurama's head shot straight up. The voice laughed a hideous thing. Kurama shivered. "I wondered if I should have left you there, but he said not to kill you yet. So I picked you up, warmed your frail body and shoved you in my mass graveyard. Beautiful work, no?

Kurama looked about the clearing, his vision was blurred. He couldn't see anything but red and white. A black smudge appeared in front of his face. Kurama flinched. Death laughed. Kurama couldn't figure out what it was about that voice, it was just there. It didn't have pitch, or timbre, it just was there. Like the sound of steel being smashed on an anvil.

"So you can spot me in your blurry world eh?" Death menaced. Kurama growled.

"What did you do to my eyes?" Kurama demanded. Death laughed, which sounded like something straight out of a horror movie.

"Nothing that's permanent. I know how important eyes are. But I couldn't let you see me when I wasn't all Deathed-up," Death continued. Kurama lunged at the figure. Death laughed as he tripped and fell on something oddly soft. Kurama jumped off the body and backed up, right into another one.

"I guess I should have warned you," Death said. "They haven't cleaned up my mess yet."

Kurama whimpered. He tried to stand, but found something now bound him to the ground.

"*tisk *tisk *tisk" Death muttered. "Who told you you could stand? I certainly didn't."

Kurama struggled, but only succeeded in getting himself even further stuck. Death let out a maniacal laugh.

"Let him go," a familiar bass voice boomed.

"Hiei!" Kurama shouted. He felt the koorime next to him, trying to untie his binds.

"A party crasher eh?" Death said. It raised an arm and Hiei hurtled into the air and crashed into a tree several yards away. "I'm not done with him. You can have him when I'm done."

Kurama felt Death come to his side. He shuddered as he felt a gloved hand touch his arm. The hand was lifted, but was returned seconds later with a dagger.

"He wants to take care of you personally, but I want to mark you, just in case you know. I might want to kill you myself," Death said. The dagger ran up Kurama's arm, slicing his shirt. He tried to get away, but his bonds held him tight. The dagger buried itself in his left side. Kurama screamed in pain.

"Kurama!"