AN: I'm alive! With a really really short and probably poorly written chapter. My most sincere apologies. Wow. School was insane. The AP Exams were insane. But I survived. Still not sure how though. Only a few more weeks left.

Alright, this chapter. I'm going to be disappointing some people. The next chapter (would love to be up sometime this week, maybe not) is where the plot will actually get going. Hopefully. I need to re-plan everything.

There's a smutty one-shot I promised…there's still time to vote on the couple since it hasn't really been written yet. That will be up by the end of the month. Maybe.

Also, my friend and I are currently doing a horror roleplay with USUK and Spamano. We've got over 66,000 words so far. If we touched it up a bit, would anyone be interested in reading it? Just wondering. XD

Anyways. I now present to you the fourth chapter. And I apologize now for what I have done and what I will do to Yao.

Sighing tiredly, Yao quietly opened the door to let himself inside, instantly slumping against the cool wall in an attempt to soothe his throbbing back. He hadn't been expected, of course, he understood that. But they should have expected him. After all, he did have more information than anyone else.

"They must not trust me anymore…aiyaa," the young man sighed, examining the crooked fingers on his left hand. But he didn't blame them. He wasn't so sure that he could even be trusted.

Stretching against the wall, Yao sighed again before moving into the next room. In the far corner, Kiku was still sleeping. The young man crossed his arms and cautiously approached the soldier. He certainly looked better now than he had a few hours ago. Some color had returned to his shockingly pale face and he slept more or less peacefully. The Chinese reached out a hand to gently brush the young man's raven-colored bangs back, marveling at how beautiful the enemy soldier was.

Silently scolding himself, he sunk to the ground and leaned against the wall, wincing as he straightened up.

"You're certainly a strange one-aru," Yao muttered to the sleeping soldier as he let his eyes close. "I haven't had anyone here in a while, not since…" the young man sighed and let his voice trail off, deciding not to finish the sentence. "Maybe I'll like having you around. If you don't try to kill me, that is-aru. But I don't think you would. For now."

Sighing, he stole another cautious glance at Kiku's sleeping form before allowing his own golden eyes to close.

He was in a windowless room so dark he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. He could hear the breathing of the two people in the room with him. Were there two? Yes, of course there were. He could hear their voices now. They spoke quietly to one another, in barely audible whispers as if they feared being heard. He could hear one shifting and the voices immediately fell quiet.

"This is your fault," one of the voices whispered to Yao. Before the young man could say something back, the sounds of heavy boots reached his ears. He felt the atmosphere turn to one of cold fear and could hear a desperate struggle before everything fell quiet. A bright light flashed on, illuminating the room.

He was still in the windowless room, trying to comfort the man beside him. Blood, there was so much blood. It stained the dirt and his hands and their clothes.

"Y-you'll be al-alright," he kept whispering in a shaky voice. No, no, no. This was all so wrong. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. The other man's pale, dirt streaked face turned into Kiku's face. As his eyes opened, Yao was met with sinister black eyes that seemed to smirk at Yao's trembling hands and shaking voice.

There was the sound of a gun going off and two pairs of strong arms grabbed hold of him, one large hand moving to squeeze his throat while above he could just barely make out a dark figure holding a wickedly sharp sword over him.

Yao felt himself hit the ground and his eyes snapped open. Where was…he was home, yes, he was home. There was nothing.

"I just fell asleep," he muttered to himself, trying to shake off the terror that threatened to suffocate him. Slowly, he climbed to his feet and wave of nausea hit him, almost sending the Chinese back to the ground. Trembling, he headed out of the dark room as fast as his legs would carry him, turning instantly to leave the house.

He barely made it out before he collapsed.

Yao curled into a ball on the ground, ignoring the searing pain in his back from this position. That…that had definitely happened, he could remember it all so vividly. He squinted open his eyes and looked up and down his hands. No blood. Good. Just the same nine fingers. Nine…

Shuddering from the pain, he sat up and hunched over to bury his face in his hands. Nine fingers. He should have ten.

And there should be five more men than there were.

He shuddered again, gritting his teeth as a sob ripped through his throat. Maybe he had been wrong about not shooting the Japanese soldier, Yao thought as he tried to blink away hot tears that threatened to spill. Maybe they should all suffer and die. He could see himself in his mind's eye heading to the young man's side, pressing the gun against his head, and pulling the trigger. It's not like this would be his first time shooting someone, after all.

A wave of nausea washed over Yao at the thought. He shut his eyes tightly and tried to think of anything else. The cold air, the dark sky, dirt, pandas, cooking. Anything.

After a few minutes, the nausea subsided and Yao was able to climb to his feet and head back to his house, silently cursing himself. How many more times was this going to happen? He felt his back crack as he let himself inside, almost as if in response. It probably wasn't going to just go away, and he was a fool for hoping that maybe it would.

AN: Hope everyone enjoyed it. Sorry again for the length and lack of action. Nevertheless, please review, let me know what you think, what you like and dislike? Reviews keep me going. 3 Thanks!