As the two made their way down the down the dark halls, Janis told Renji of how by some miracle she had managed to escape shortly before she had found him, and how she had come to know about what had happened. It turned out the cell Kaito was being kept in was on the same hall as her own, and she had seen him taken there.

She recounted how she had desperately wished she could do something to help him, leaving out the part about all of the gut wrenching screams she had heard from him during those days.

She knew however, that even after escaping her cell there would be little chance of her having the strength to rescue him on her own. So when she had overheard news of an angel breaking into Hell from two devils passing by her cell, she had been elated, and had wasted no time in finding him.

Hearing her story, Renji couldn't help but wonder what the odds were of things lining up so perfectly, and the all too real possibility of it being too good to be true nagged at the back of his mind. The fact that they had strangely not run into anyone the whole way, only added to that. He tried to dismiss those misgivings, however simply by telling himself that he'd just have to be ready for whatever happened. And besides, given recent events, he figured he was way past due for a little good luck.

He couldn't help but worry though. A feeling which even after all this time still felt new and strange to the angel who had once cared about nothing but fighting. He had come a long way since he had been banished to Earth he supposed. In part due to the relationships he had forged with the people there, but it was also largely due to his friendship with Kaito. That feeling of camaraderie, of having someone he could trust would always be by his side through whatever hardship and the mutual give and take that sort of close relationship entailed. In fact, at this point, Renji wasn't sure what he would do without him. He remembered that time when he and Kaito had had that fight- he couldn't even remember what it was about now- and had split up, resulting in Renji having to fight Vinny and Toi on his own. He had felt so lost and powerless without the dark haired angel beside him. He didn't ever want to feel like that again. He had to rescue his friend no matter what.

It was just as Renji thought this, that his companion stopped. Janis turned to look at him, before silently gesturing to the large cell door before them, a solemn expression darkening her kind features. She didn't need to say anything for the angel to understand. This was the place. This was what it all came down to. He wasn't sure if he would find Vinny or Toi or even both of them there, or if he would find Kaito dead or alive now that he had obviously forfeited the deal.

Unlike the previous cells, that's doors had resembled those of any prison cell, made up of crisscrossed bars, this door was solid metal, allowing the angel no view of the room's interior.

Renji's hand shook as it reached towards the door, and he found himself having to swallow down the dread rising in the back of his throat. Just as his hand reached to search for a lock, however, the heavy metal door swung open, seemingly of it's own accord. It felt as though some unknown sinister force had been waiting for his arrival and was beckoning him into the pitch dark room. An unbidden chill went through him, despite the resolve he was trying to maintain.

Renji clenched his hand into a fist as he lowered it back to his side, his expression hardening. He had already come this far, and it would take a lot more then some cliché horror movie crap to scare him away now.

"You wait here", he said, turning to Janis, who for a moment looked as if she was ready to argue, before nodding resignedly. As useless as waiting outside made her feel, there was likely little she could do to help if it indeed came down to a fight.

"We'll be back", the angel tried his hardest to put more confidence then he felt into those words, as he forced a smile, before turning back and stepping into the looming darkness.

Renji had taken no more then two or three steps into the room when the door slammed shut behind him with a resounding clang that seemed to vibrate through his very bones. It was just as the door shut that a dim light sparked to life, illuminating the interior of the large cell in all its horrid detail.

Renji's eyes widened, as he was momentarily frozen in place at the gruesome scene that lay before him. There was blood everywhere, splattered on the walls, the floor, the chains hanging from the ceiling, and on the barbaric looking metal instruments adorning the far wall.

"Ren…ji…"

Renji gasped, eyes darting to the floor where the weak voice had called his name.

"Kaito!" the light haired angel cried, falling to his knees beside the broken figure, wide eyes frantically taking in wide array of injuries covering his small body. "Oh, my god, Kaito, I…"

Renji could feel the sting of tears against his eyes, at the sight of his friend in such a state, as he reached with shaking hands to gather the limp form into his arms.

"I'm so… sorry", the angel's voice broke when he noticed the worst of the damage, his friend's missing wings. Tears rolled unchecked down his cheeks, dripping down onto the broken body he held in his lap, making little trails through half dried blood.

"No."

Renji was startled and confused at the pure venom held behind that one word, especially when he hadn't thought the other angel even had the strength to speak. He opened his mouth questioningly, but had no time to form words as he was forcefully shoved into the far wall, with a strength that momentarily knocked the breath out of him.

"W…Wha…?" Was all he managed to speak as he took in the sight before him.

In the very spot he had lay seconds before, seemingly near death, Kaito stood, if a bit unsteadily, glowering at Renji.

"You aren't sorry at all. You never cared about me." Though he was managing to stay standing, his words came out extremely strained, and he swayed a bit on his feet, breathing heavily, body threatening to collapse once more. The blast of energy he had used to throw his former companion had taken a lot out of him. He wouldn't last much longer if he didn't get this over with quickly, he thought, fingering the cold metal resting in his hand.

Renji was stunned into silence. His mouth hung open stupidly, eyes wide. What was he talking about? He'd come here to save him, why would he think he didn't care?

The light haired angel's eyes then fell to the knife, his friend was gripping very purposefully in his right hand, the tip pointed towards Renji in an unmistakable challenging gesture.

Renji's eyes traveled up from the knife to Kaito's face his expression incredulous, gaping at his friend's vacant looking yet, seemingly dead-set dark eyes. He gasped, eyes widening even further as he took note of the dark, evil energy crackling statically around his friend's figure. "Kaito… You can't be… you aren't…"

"I'm not an angel anymore", he said quietly in a near whisper confirming the suspicions his once friend could not voice. "The god I devoted everything to has forsaken me, just like you did. I don't need him anymore."

"You can't be serious…" The angel managed to choke out. The words seemed to hit him like a physical blow. It felt as though his knees were about to give out on him, and a cold empty feeling twisted in his gut, making him want to throw up.

"And now I'm going to make you suffer just like I did…"

By the way Kaito looked, Renji really wasn't expecting him to be able to move as fast as he did. The angel was just able to avoid the brunt of the attack, as the ex-angel leapt at him. Too slow to completely get out of the way, the knife left a shallow cut on his cheek which wept thin crimson streaks down the side of his face.

"Damnit, Kaito! I'm trying to help you!" Renji shouted, jumping back to avoid a vicious slash aimed at his stomach, almost immediately having to leap to the side as dark bolt of energy was shot at him.

The ex-angel either wasn't listening or didn't care. Not so much as batting an eye at the angel's words, he shot another blast of energy in quick succession to the first, just barely missing it's target, as Renji had to roll to avoid it.

Where the hell did he get all this energy? Renji thought desperately, as he continued to dodge his attacks. He can't possibly keep this up, can he?

Just as he thought this, the onslaught came to a halt. Kaito let out a weak cry of surprise as the world seemed to spin around him and he collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily as the wave of dizziness refused to go away. He was suddenly feeling extremely cold, and it was all he could do just to stop his teeth from chattering as his body shivered violently. He was working with borrowed time here, and he knew it. The ex-angel had been circling the drain before the fight even began, and anger alone could not fuel him for long. The knife he had held fell with a clang to the stone floor as his shaking fingers lost the strength to hold onto it. He whimpered weakly as the affects of his adrenaline began to ebb, feeling the sting of tears threatening to escape as the pain from his numerous injuries came to life once more, sending waves of agony through his battered body.

"Kaito…" Renji looked so sad as he approached him, hand halfway extended as if wanting to comfort him, but unsure of whether or not he should.

And for a second the ex-angel wanted to let him. The desire to be cradled in the angel's strong warm embrace was enough to momentarily erase all thoughts he had of extracting his revenge. He didn't want to kill Renji. He just wanted him to love him.

How ungrateful of him, not to return your love…

Vinny's words came back to him, sending a stab of pain through his chest that had nothing to do with his injuries. That's right. Renji was just using him. He didn't mean anything to the angel. He was just an annoyance, a bother. The angel had only wanted to do those things to him because it was fun and easy, He'd probably just been relieved to be getting something good out of their forced relationship. It had nothing at all to do with love, and Kaito felt like a fool for actually having thought that it could.

He never loved you

He never…

"No…!" The ex-angel, whimpered clutching his head and screwing his eyes shut tightly in a vain attempt to block out the horrible voice.

"Kaito…?" Renji took a hesitant step back, unaware of what was going on in his friend's head, and thus confused by the action. But even not understanding exactly what it was, he could obviously tell that Kaito was suffering, and more then just physically. The angel braced himself taking a step forward resolved in his desire to be there for the one he loved- and yes, he could fully admit now that was how he felt- even if it could be dangerous for him.

Kaito was still lost in his own thoughts, eyes closed, when Renji suddenly pulled him into his arms. Shocked, the ex-angel's eyes shot open immediately, as he weakly tried to struggle against the angel's grip. It was no use however, as the Kaito had little strength left and Renji seemed determined to hold on tight, and he eventually allowed his body to go limp in his embrace.

"Kaito, I'm sorry…"

Then to his surprise, Kaito started to feel something dripping onto his shoulder. It took a moment for his weakened mind to work out what it was, and when it finally did, the answer left him even more confused and oddly angered. Tears. Renji was crying.

"…Why…?" Kaito's voice was barely a whisper, only able to speak that one broken word to express the seemingly endless questions swirling through his mind.

Why did he seem so sad? Why did he keep apologizing? Why didn't he fight back when Kaito had attacked him? And why was he holding him now and crying for him? This wasn't supposed to happen. Renji wasn't supposed to care about him. So why…?

Renji laughed a little, wiping his eyes, "because I love you, you moron."

Just that simple- if rather crudely stated- answer. The one thing the ex-angel had most wanted to hear, and thought that he never would. And somehow without a doubt, he knew now that it was the truth. Had always been the truth.

Kaito's body shook harder with repressed sobs as he felt hot tears of his own begin to pour down his cheeks.

"It's okay", Renji said, closing is eyes and breathing a sigh of relief as he pulled the shaking ex-angel into a tighter embrace, "everything's going to be okay."

That was right. Everything was going to be fine. He would get Kaito out of this place. He would do whatever he needed to help him recover from his injuries and whatever other trauma he had faced, and things would go back to exactly how they were. Well, not exactly how they were, the angel reminded himself, feeling as though a heavy weight had been lifted off his chest now that he had finally confessed his true feelings to his friend. And God Himself had said their relationship was special- whatever that meant- so there was no way He was going to try to pull anything to stop them from loving each other. They could be together now. Renji felt his heart soar at the thought. After all this mess they could finally be happy.

It was just as he thought this, that the angel felt Kaito's body suddenly tense in his arms with a small choked cry. Renji's eyes shot open, mouth opening in the beginning of a question when the ex-angel went completely limp, falling lifelessly into him.

"K-Kaito…!"

"Sorry, for ruining the moment, but things were starting to go a bit off from my original plans and I had to step in."

Renji's gaze shot up to the owner of the voice. Renji's eyes widened, at the same time processing Vinny standing over them, wiping fresh blood from the sword in his hand, and the feeling of warm liquid beginning to trickle down his hand that rested on Kaito's back.

Renji gasped as he looked back down to his friend's still body and seeing the heavily bleeding stab wound going all the way through his back to his stomach. The injury looked agonizing, but his friend didn't cry out, didn't writhe in pain, didn't make any sort of sound or movement at all. He was… Kaito was… dead…

"No…" Renji's voice came out as a strained whisper, his throat feeling like it was closing in making it nearly impossible to get words out. His eyes were still wide with shock, taking in every detail of his friend's motionless, bleeding body, as his mind raced to try to comprehend what had happened, unable to accept the harsh reality of it. Refusing to believe that fate could really be this cruel. He hadn't even known the devil was there until he…

And then his eyes went back up to said devil in front of him. Vinny stood before him, arms crossed, as he silently watched the angel, a slight glimmer of smugness in his expression.

How… How could he…?

"You bastard…" Renji's voice shook with rage, eyes filled with hatred and anger a thousand times more intense then anything he had ever felt before as the locked with the devil's.

Vinny cocked his head to the side, seemingly unfazed by the angel's anger, as he looked down at Renji in a scrutinizing sort of way, "you know, it had been my plan to have your friend turn against you and kill you. But now I see the error in that. This is much more amusing."

"What… did you say…?" Renji's voice was tight with his barely contained emotion threatening to explode at any second. 'Amusing'? How could that bastard talk like that? How could he speak so casually about destroying the most important thing in this entire world?

"So angry… Really, what kind of angel would let one person affect them this much? I thought you weren't supposed to hold the value of one life over another. I'll say this again, you are no angel, Renji."

Renji didn't respond. Arms moving in a mechanical fashion, he lifted Kaito's body off his lap, carefully laying it on the floor before standing slowly, head lowered and expression unreadable.

"It doesn't matter what you think I am…" the angel whispered, not raising his head to meet his enemy's gaze, "because I'm going to kill you."

Okay, well, it turned out, this wasn't the last chapter after all. It was starting to get kind of long, and there's still a ways to go, so I decided to split it up. But for sure only one more… I think… Hold your breath for the exciting conclusion! (if anyone's actually reading this lol)

I'm realizing now/I realized quite a while ago that this fanfic is nothing like the original manga. I think I went way too over the top with the drama and crap. Er… Oh well. *nervous laugh*

~Angel-san