"Killer Snow" ("Minor Arcana" Remix)

by "Matrix Refugee"

Author's Note: Takes place during the winter vacation arc in volume 4 of the manga; written originally for LiveJournal's "fandom_stocking". I remixed this slightly from the original version, adding in a few slightly more unsettling details.

Pairings: astral projection!Muraki/Hisoka, Tsuzuki/Hisoka (could be either friendship or pre-slash)

Disclaimer: I do not own Yami no Matsuei, aka Descendants of Darkness, it's characters, concepts and other indicia, which are the intellectual property of Yoko Matsushita, Hiroko Tokita, Manga Entertainment, Viz Media, Hakusensha, Central Park Media, et al.

The trees stood bare against the night sky and the drifting sakura petals had paled from pink to pure white. Or were they mere petals? One brushed Hisoka's cheek and its touch chilled his skin.

The darkened clearing slowly grew brighter as the snow clouds parted. Overhead, through a rend in the clouds, the moon shone red, painting the falling snowflakes the color of drifting rose petals.

He started across the clearing, trying to get away from the residual feelings that filled it, when his foot brushed something cold, colder even than the snow. Turning and looking down, he found something large, wrapped in a blanket covered in red rose petals laying before him. He stooped and reached down to pull back a corner of the blanket. The body of Tsubaki-hime lay beneath it, sprawled out, the front of her nightgown spattered with blood, the skirts yanked above her knees. A Tarot card lay between her breasts, the Three of Swords, inverted. Hisoka reared back, biting back a scream.

A figure slowly took shape from the whirling snowflakes, an all-too-familiar pale figure in a billowing white coat, his steel-colored eyes blood red in the moonlight.

"Still putting that doll-like face of yours where it doesn't belong?" Muraki's sardonic voice asked. "Well then, I'll just have to teach you another lesson on why you shouldn't meddle in the affairs of others."

Hisoka tried to turn and run, but his feet seemed frozen to the icy ground. Muraki grabbed him by the shoulders and forced his back to the snowy ground. Hisoka tried to wrestle away from the taller male, but the snow seemed to hold him like cement. Muraki pinned him down, but paused, looking over his shoulder as if he sensed an intruder.

Hisoka realized the hands that gripped him were not Muraki's long graceful hands, but the hands of another, gently shaking his shoulder, trying to wake him from this nightmare.

"Hey, Hi-Hisoka. Hey, easy there, lil' fella," Tsuzuki's tipsy voice slurred, cutting through the mist that still filled Hisoka's mind. Hisoka forced his eyes open and looked up into Tsuzuki's violet eyes, a little bleared from a gaudy night, but still managing to focus on him. "Having a nightmare?"

"Get off me, you drunken fool," Hisoka muttered, trying to shove Tsuzuki away, but the older shinigami only leaned over him.

"Can't," Tsuzuki hiccuped. "I heard you screaming. You havin' a bad dream?" Through the fog of tipsiness that Hisoka sensed in his partner, he could still feel a deep concern and even worry.

"Yeah, I was having a nightmare," Hisoka said, looking away to hide his embarrassment and annoyance. The last thing he wanted to do was scream like a scared kid in front of his partner. "He was here, on top of me. It was... that night all over again."

Tsuzuki's eyes cleared and his smooth brow furrowed. He knew exactly who and what Hisoka referred to, no names or explanations needed. "Do you want me to stay here with you, till you fall back to sleep?" he asked, his voice less slurred.

"I'm not a kid, I don't need a security blanket or a stuffed animal or anything like that to keep me company," Hisoka grumbled.

Tsuzuki looked him in the eye. "I know that, but you've got something better: you got me, your partner, and I'm supposed to look out for you."

"We're not exactly working a case here," Hisoka said.

"No, but looking out for each other doesn't end when we're off the clock," Tsuzuki said. "I know you'd do the same for me."

"Yeah, right, you're drunk and maudlin over me," Hisoka said, turning over onto his side and closing his eyes. But he let himself nestle closer to his friend and partner.

Tsuzuki lay beside Hisoka, atop the younger male's comforter, waiting till he felt Hisoka relax and his breathing settle into a deep regular rhythm. Even then, he lingered a while, listening to the night sounds, the walls of the old inn creaking and settling and the wind outside hurling snow against the windows.

He sensed a presence, a pale darkness hovering on the edges of his awareness, as if testing how close he could draw without detection.

"I know you're out there, Muraki, and I'm not letting you near Hisoka," Tsuzuki murmured. "You can do what you want to me, but you won't do a thing to him, not on my watch."

He sensed a ripple that might have been a mocking chuckle and the presence withdrew into the night and the snow.