Her feet darted frantically and unevenly over the ground, decaying sticks and leaves proclaiming the near end of fall. It had been years since she had been able to run like this.

And at the same time, she was struck cold with fear.

If it weren't for subconscious thoughts, she'd probably be dead by now. Small portions of her face were scratched from running through the many pine trees that grew along the outskirts of the forest, black cat ears pinned fretfully against the back of her head. Somewhere in her mind full of jumbled thoughts, it occurred to her that just the sound of her ragged breathing, let alone the twigs snapping under her feet could have given her away at any moment now. Her body ached, but she was well aware that she had to keep running. They were close. She could tell through that tiny part of her consciousness that they all had.

Pale, hazel eyes were constantly searching for any threat of danger around her, dark, chocolate brown hair whipped around her face. Her body screamed in protest, but she kept running.

Faster.

Faster!

The girl stumbled suddenly, her foot catching on a fallen branch. She grunted as she pulled herself back up. She didn't care, though. The only thing that kept the tired neko going was the single fact that all forests have to have at least one clearing.

Ritsuka snapped a picture happily. The purpose of the photography, Soubi stood a short distance away, letting a bright blue butterfly sit on his hand. Gently waving said hand, the butterfly flew off, dancing in the autumn breeze. It stayed like that for a minute or so, floating around them before flying off to someplace, Ritsuka hoped, was warmer. Because his eyes were still on the butterfly, the small boy didn't notice as Soubi came up behind him, resting his chin between two black fluffy ears and resting his arms around said sacrifice's shoulders. Both sacrifice and fighter kept their eyes toward the now setting sun, Soubi sighing contently. His breath ghosted over Ritsuka's face, sending slight chills down his spine. The fighter chuckled inwardly; he could feel the boy's slight discomfort.

"Ready to go, Ritsuka?" He breathed.

As said sacrifice opened his mouth to answer, something unexpected came out.

"RITSUKAAAHHHH!!!!!"

Youji and Natsuo suddenly came crashing through the trees, laughing and giggling loudly; the last rays of the setting sun dancing across their grinning faces. Youji was piggybacking Natsuo, whose red locks of hair seemed to be hopelessly tangled with leaves. The scene in front of Ritsuka made him chuckle softly. He felt Soubi chuckle faintly as Youji tripped over a tree root, sending both zero sprawling into a massive pile of autumn leaves. Finally finding his balance, Natsuo stood up happily, and gestured towards the path they had just run from. "There's a river down that way!" Youji then poked his head out of the leaves, and with a sharp squeal of laughter from his fighter tackled Natsuo to the ground again, leaves erupting like a small volcano where they had fallen.

"Can we stay longer, Soubi?" Ritsuka laughed, turning his attention from the wrestling zero to him. He heard Youji respond with a vivid "I agree!!" before being tackled into the leaves again. Soubi smiled softly, before responding. "We shall stay as long as you like."

Ritsuka was now fourteen, and zero had decided that they were fifteen; they had never discovered the day they had been born,( or more appropriately, created.) so they counted it as a day in the summer. By the way Ritsuka had watched them resolve it; they didn't seem to care much. He had never really asked Soubi how old he was, because it had never really mattered to the neko boy. Lately, though, Soubi was tense. Ritsuka knew that he was smart to stay on his guard, but it was starting to become,-in his mind,- a little foolish. No spell battles, signals, or anything about spell battles had happened for a long time now.

And that usually wasn't a good thing.

"We're gonna go see where the river ends!" He heard Youji yell as him and Natsuo ran back into the forest, swinging hands and laughing again. Jeez, those guys never run out of energy...

"Look, Ritsuka."

Said boy glanced as his fighter, who was looking overhead of them into the sky. As Ritsuka looked to the sky, the sight surprised him as it also warmed his heart.

Huge, multicolored butterflies were flying above them. There couldn't be more then twelve, Ritsuka noted, as he and Soubi watched them fly south. At least they'd be warm soon.

Soubi and Ritsuka sat down at their old picnic table, glad to have beheld the sight. They relaxed together, and Soubi was secretly glad about this. The older fighter had a feeling that it was one of the last times they would be able to do so.

He felt something coming.

----

Zero ran alongside of the river, pulling each other along by their hands. Both were laughing happily, pointing out interesting parts of the river when they felt like it. So far, they had found rock-filled rapids and tiny fish. Both had a sense of freedom about today, and they wanted to make it last.

"Oi, Natsuo." Youji called a smile still on his face as he looked up through the dense trees. The sky was beginning to darken quickly, quicker then he had realized. "We should start heading back soon, we might get lost as it gets darker."

Natsuo turned to him then, grinning. "Since when were you the careful one?" he snickered. "Besides, I don't think a beating will get the message through to us." Both zero laughed, and then continued to walk alongside the river, the rapids long behind them.

"Like Soubi would even try it."

About an hour earlier;

A high pitched, ringing sound snapped her out of her own, jumbled thoughts. Knowing exactly what it was, the neko pushed herself harder. She knew that she couldn't stop and hide, There was nowhere to even attempt it. Looking to the sky in front of her, she cursed herself mentally. The sun was setting.

She knew that the high pitched sound could only have come from one of them. At this thought her footing evened out considerably, the adrenaline pumping mercilessly through her veins gradually reminding her that it was most likely the only thing that had kept her concentrated. Her heartbeat thumped unsteadily against her chest, and she knew that if she didn't think of something fast- well, she decided at that point not to think about the future of that problem. Nor did she have time to think about it for long, as a giant, unnatural burst of wind shot back her left ear, leaving her ears ringing loudly.

NO!

The girl felt herself panic slightly as she looked around. She could see nothing of where it had come from. Violently remembering a flash of green eyes, she shook her head. Her fear now kept her senses on high.

She veered off her path. Having no way of knowing where they were or no way of sensing them, the best thing she could think of was to change course. It might distract them for a couple seconds at most, but she could always use more time.

The gust of wind had been from them. She knew that. Only they could cast a spell using wind and have it come out so strong. She understood that from the last time. Breaking through a small clearing in the forest, the smell of water hit her square in the face, lifting her spirits. Water meant a clearing. Which also meant that she might make it out of here okay.

Crunching footsteps behind her broke her out of her happy thoughts. Running frantically through the now-less-dense clump of trees, her joy suddenly left her, making her feel horribly hollow.

Skidding to a halt, she stood at the end of a cliff.

Why me?..

They were coming for her now, she knew that. They wanted to take her back to that dreadful place. No, she thought strongly, turning to face the clearing where she was sure they were to come any minute now. I will never let them take me back there.

Scanning the end of the cliff, she noticed there was a river there. That's where the scent of water had come from. The height seemed to be not too far, and the water would break her fall- as long as it didn't break her first. She shivered. The drop suddenly seemed a lot more menacing.

A yell echoed from the trees, and a tunnel of air erupted toward her. Barely managing to jump out of the way, it hit the opposite side of the cliff, leaving a massive dent in the rocks. Not that anyone could see it. The sky had now turned an odd shade of black.

The very last thing she saw before the neko girl jumped, were a pair of violent green eyes.

The girl sneered as she heard the splash, a muscled fist clenched, and her black bangs in her eyes.

"He'll kill us now. First, he'll take our names, and then he'll kill us."

The light haired brunette boy behind her looked calm as he spoke to his fighter, his name shown visibly on the side of his hand as he placed it on her shoulder.

"You forget that the mission isn't finished."

As she heard his words, the girl's fist loosened slightly.

"It's starting to get late."

Ritsuka looked up to the sky, to find it a dark shade of blue. Both fighter and sacrifice knew that Zero could handle themselves if anything happened, but that thought didn't seem to keep Ritsuka from worrying about them.

Then again, he didn't have to worry for long.

"RITSUKA! SOUBI!"

Natsuo came running through the trees, alone, his blue jeans soaked up to a little over his knees. Soubi tensed. Ritsuka tried to ask what was wrong, but the look Natsuo had in his eye told him to stay silent. The zero fighter ran back into the trees, and this time Ritsuka and Soubi followed him.

Ritsuka gripped his fighter's hand as they ran, Green blurs of the trees at the sides of his vision. He was partly trusting Soubi on where they were going, because he couldn't see that well. Natsuo ran so quickly that they would catch glimpses of his back before he disappeared through another tree. Whatever he wanted them to see, Soubi thought, it wasn't going to be a good thing.

He had ruled out Youji as injured as soon as he had seen Natsuo run through the trees alone. The fighter would most likely drag Youji into the clearing by himself then come and get them first.

As the ground became slightly steeper, Ritsuka heard the sound of running water. Seemingly invigorated by the sound, Natsuo ran even faster. Thank Kami the river runs straight, Thought Ritsuka.

After running for what felt like another 45 minutes, they came to the end of the river. What they found there surprised them.

Youji was almost waist high in the water, wading out to something white and seemingly draped over a rock. As he reached the object, Ritsuka realized with a jolt that it was a person. A seemingly small girl. She still had her ears.

As they got closer, (Natsuo obviously arriving first) Youji managed to pull the girl's arm over his shoulder and wade back to the edge of the now-still river. Natsuo took hold of the girl as Youji pulled himself out of the water, Natsuo placing the girl on her back carefully.

As Ritsuka and Soubi arrived, Youji spoke.

"She's dead." said Youji. He stood next to Natsuo, his arms folded over his chest. As Ritsuka looked around the area that they were in now, he realized that this girl could have been in the water for days, and no one would have known. Not many people were up to wandering this deep into the forest. As he looked up at Soubi, He saw his fighter was most likely thinking along the same lines. The blonde leaned down, supporting the girl's neck with the fingers on his right hand. Youji sighed, before speaking. "I already checked for a pulse when you were coming. None at all. She's dead."

"I'm not checking her pulse." Soubi said quietly, and closed his eyes. His index and middle fingers hovered over the spot on her neck, where one would usually check for a pulse. The neko's face was very pale, and Ritsuka wondered briefly what Soubi was doing. Walking up to him and sitting down, he leaned against his fighter's shoulder. Soubi, in response, wrapped his other arm around the boy's slender waist.

They stayed like that for a long time.

As a couple of minutes passed, Ritsuka realized what he was doing. The way the blonde's hair flowed delicately, even though there was no breeze, gave it away. He was casting a spell.

But what spell? The neko boy couldn't hear anything from his fighter, and they had never gone into battle mode.

It was almost pitch black outside, but still they waited.

Ten minutes.

Fifteen minutes.

Twenty min-

Thud.

Ritsuka jolted in surprise.

Over the neko girl, floated a very abused-looking and torn silver thread. It seemed to be very short, and was startlingly thin.

Thud.

"Soubi."

The girl's mouth parted very slightly, and oxygen escaped through her lips.

Her torn and battered connection thread disappeared from Ritsuka's sight, as he looked at Soubi. The fighter suddenly looked very tired in the dim light that the moon now gave off, but the tiny smile on his face made Ritsuka smile along with him.

Behind them, Natsuo smiled softly as Youji smirked.

"Oy, Soubi. I'm not carrying her."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

This is my first fanfic ever. Juuust like to stress that.

this has been through about three to four rewrites, so if it seems short, I'm sorry. xD;

If I owned Loveless, There'd be another anime series and about 20 new manga books out. So I don't. _;

Thanks for reading. ;D new chapter hopefully coming soon.~