Something squished under Rin's shoe, something squishy and hard. He looked down.

Shiemi..

"Shiemi"! He yelled as he dropped to his knees and tossed the wood out of his hands.

There she was, lying on the ground on her stomach, her face covered with her golden hair, and her body covered in cuts and bruises. Rin gasped, stunned and unable to get himself to touch her.

His hand hovered over her wounded body, her clothes were bloody and nearly ruined. "Shiemi.." He said again, in a lower voice. Is she dead..? She cannot be! She can't be dead. Rin gently pressed his hand to Shiemi's back, and turned her over, her eyes were closed, and her face was thankfully un-bruised.

Rin blushed when he saw the torn section of Shiemi's shirt, showing her yellowish bra. He cleared his throat and tried to focus. "Shiemi" He said again more sternly, and gave her a shake. She did not budge. Therefore, he tried again, and again, harder, and harder. "Shiemi"! He repeated, shaking her by the shoulder. "Shiemi"!

"Ri..Rin"? Shiemi spoke dryly as her eyelids began to rise.

"Shiemi, what happened to you"? Rin asked.

"I…don't…" Shiemi swallowed. And opened her eyes completely. "Rin…"

"It's okay, im here" He said

Shiemi touched Rin's face, to make sure he was real. "Your…re..really..h..ere" She felt pain in her lower thigh and down her legs. "Will you help me stand, please"?

Rin stood, scooping Shiemi right up in his arms. He did not dare want her to try to walk under her condensation.

"Pl…please, put me down" Shiemi croaked.

"Your hurt Shiemi. I'm not putting you down"

Shiemi was far too weak to fight back, she laid her head against his chest. "Okay"

Rin nodded his head. "Where are the others? Do you know"?

"I don't….remember"

"What do you remember, Shimei"?
Rin started walking back the way he came. "You have to tell me"

"I remember…" Shiemi cleared her throat. "I remember the demons…all the demons"

"And the others"? He asked.

"Ryuji, I heard his voice but…I couldn't see him…I remember running through the school and feeling a powerful blow against my back, and when I turned around I saw demons….all kinds of demons coming towards me…." Shiemi breathed. "Ryuji came out from the shadows, running at me, calling my name over and over, and just as he started to reach me….i blocked out. i….i don't remember anything afterwards. Just, you waking me"

"Did they hurt you"?

Shiemi shook her head. "I don't remember but….i feel awful"

"They must have tried to kill you" Rin told her. "But what I don't get is, why we're all here, in the middle of nowhere"

"What about you, Rin"? Shiemi asked, as she presses her palm to his chest. "Are you alright"?

"Ye..yeah. im okay" He blushed. "But, don't worry about me"

"I have to worry about you, Rin"

"No…really, you don't have to"

"I want to"

"Why"? Rin asked.

Shiemi smiled. "Because if I don't…then no one will. I have to look after you, you know? So you can be well enough to look after me…"

Rin fell silent, and gave her a nod. Okay, Shiemi. And carried her back to his and Izumo's spot. When he got back, the fire was nearly dead. He set Shiemi down and rushed off to get the wood he had collected. He tossed every piece in, before scooting close to Shiemi, and resting her injured leg over his lap. He pulled Izumo's bandage from her bag and rolled it around her ankle up to her smooth inner thigh, tying a tight knot. "Does that feel better"? Rin asked, He told himself not to be worked up over the touch of her soft skin.

"Yes. Thank…thank you, Rin" Shiemi answered.

Rin knew she couldn't spend the night here on the ground out in the cold with open cuts, but there wasn't anything he could do about it tonight, he decided in the morning, they was going to set off looking for shelter and the others. Shiemi needed proper care, the proper care to which he could not provide for her, she needed the hospital.

"You're going to be okay" Rin promised her.

"I know" Shiemi tilted her head. "I trust you"

"I looked for you, Shiemi. I hope you know that…I looked everywhere for you. I thought that…I thought that they killed you"

"You looked for me, Rin"?

"Yeah" Rin sighed. "You, and Yukio. I checked every corpse I came across but I could not find you. I thought the worse, and I felt…." Their eyes locked. "Ha..I don't know. I..i felt horrible knowing that I lost you"

"You didn't lose me" Shiemi's eyelids lowered.

"Yeah" Rin said, his eyes fell to Shiemi's lips. "And im not going to.."

The Morning.

Rin stretched, yawning and scratching the back of his head and he rose from his sleep.

"Goodmorning, Rin" Shiemi said joyfully. She was bending over, smiling at him.

"Shiemi. You're standing"! He hopped up. "How"?

"I don't know, I guess I wasn't hurt as bad as I thought. I can stand but moving is the hard part but I feel okay thanks to you and, Izumo" Shiemi Smiled radiantly. "Did you sleep well"?

"I think so"

Izumo stepped from behind Shiemi. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get up. We can't just stay here camped out forever, you know" Izumo crossed her arms. "We can either continue the path you were on when you found, Shiemi or we can head in the opposite direction. My guess is, if Shiemi was North than the demons are coming from South, So. We head North" Izumo pointed. "She was running away from them I assume. Am I correct"? Izumo looked at Shiemi.

"I don't know…I can't remember"

"Then what good are you"? Izumo snapped.

"Hey, watch it, Izumo" Rin growled back. "She's hurt"

Izumo killed the fire, and started heading north.

"She doesn't like me" Shiemi said quietly.

Rin patted her back. "Don't pay attention to eyebrows, Shiemi" He said before squatting, heaving Shiemi up into his arms. She gasped at the suddenness. "Ri…Rin"?

"You can't walk so don't worry about it"

Shiemi nodded, and giggled. Rin always has to play the part of the big strong man She thought.

Izumo walked a few feet ahead of them. She felt a twinge of jealousy, would Rin of searched for her the way he had with Shiemi? Would he be carrying her and tending to her wounds? What is it about Shiemi that she does not have, she wondered. Izumo did not want to be jealous. Being jealous of Shiemi, that was despicable, it was below her so why was she feeling this way, now. Why did she have that dream about Rin and why was she wishing to be the one in his arms?

Izumo shook her thoughts away, and looked to the sky. The wind blowing through her dark locks. What was it that she was doing wrong? She wondered. Am I ever going to be good enough?

The woods seem to go on and on, trees after trees, no streets, no buildings, and no sounds of traffic or kids playing. Just cold mud and big trees. They walked for hours with no break. At first Rin felt unbelievably strong, as though he could carry Shiemi in his arms for days and not break a sweat but the longer they walked the harder it became, the hungrier he got.

"Arughhh. Im starving"! Rin screamed. Baked fish, cornbread, chicken maybe even a Giraffe. Rin's stomach roared. He was just about ready to eat anything. Including a squirrel.

His stomach growled loud enough for Shiemi to hear. "Umm, Rin. Maybe you should put me down"? She suggested.

"What? why"?

"Because you look just about ready to die"

Rin dragged his legs. "I'm hungry" He told her.

"How about we rest"? She asked.

"Good idea" Rin let his arms loose and Shiemi hit her butt on the ground.

"oouuchh"!

"Sorry, Shiemi" He bent down to help her. His stomach growling louder.

Izumo spent around. "We can't take a stop now, we have no idea where we are"!

"As if we did before, Izumo" Rin said.

Izumo's hands flew to her hips. "If we keep stopping every time you get hungry we'll never make it anywhere"

"But I haven't eaten in almost a day! I'm fucking starving"!

"And you think we have"?

Rin narrowed his eyes at her. "Fine. Whatever you want, eyebrows"

Izumo's jaw dropped, and just about when she was ready to say something back, she closed her mouth shut. "im sorry, but we have to keep looking"

"We also need energy. Especially, Rin" Shiemi commented.

Izumo looked at her. "You think I don't know that but.." Rin cut her off by shaking his head and saying " Shiemi's, right"

Ofcourse she is Izumo thought. She let out a breath, then nodded. "Okay, okay fine. We'll find food, and as in food I mean the innocent deer running around" Izumo stomped off.

Mmm Deer meat. "She was joking, wasn't she? You're not going to actually hurt any deer are you"? Shiemi asked, with her big puppy dog eyes.

Rin's stomach growled. "No, course not. As soon as I find one, we'll just bring him on back to help us look for some other fresh meat" He grinned.