X. TOO LATE.

He coughed, finally able to breathe. Rolling over on the damp grass, he ignored the near decapitated head. He sat upright to see his savior, only to find her holding his very recent ex in her arms. The sight didn't anger him as much as it probably should have; instead, he was sad.

How did she even know when to come save them? How to find them? Had Megumi told her?

Guess he should thank her, he figured, coughing some more as his airway adjusted to being open again. His eyelids were heavy. He tried pushing himself upright but couldn't find the strength. He fell to the ground again, face first into the wet, muddy grass. His vision blurred as he watched the girl he still had feelings for cry into someone else's arms.

THE CAMPING NIGHT

His grunts filled the damp air of the dark cave. His palms and fingers burned as he grabbed onto rocks; his nails bled warm as they dug into the wall for leverage. His breathing staggered as he tried to find another ledge to pause on. It felt like the last sturdy place he'd found to take a breather at was hours ago. It very well could have been, he thought.

Sucking his teeth, he gritted through the pain and continued climbing. His breathing was almost timed; it helped to focus on something other than the pain in his biceps and quads, and especially in his damn fingertips.

Another scrape; another timed, nasal exhale.

It was then he realized he wasn't the only one breathing hard.

"Yamato?" he called, only to receive no response. He tried again. "Yamato!"

Again, nothing, but the breathing seemed to be growing closer. It was haggard, mimicking his. He looked to his left, finding nothing close by-no cliff, no ledge. Then his right, the same. He quickened his pace as he climbed. Maybe he was close to where he fell from.

But nothing seemed to come. No ledge to grab onto. Just him, climbing, forever... He was glad he'd spent time doing sports and working out regularly, otherwise he wouldn't have made it even halfway to where he was.

He came to a slow as he found a hefty, sturdy rock to grab onto.

If the breathing wasn't coming from above or the sides, then...

This time, there was no sound, just the heat of someone else's breath on the back of his neck.

A scream left his mouth before he could hold it in, and he began frantically climbing. His body burned all over; he didn't bother looking back. Whatever it was breathing on him was laughing now, moving farther away from his ear at least.

If he could make it to the top…

He felt the heat of what felt like leather on his ankle just as he felt a ledge under his palm. He lifted himself up, but the monster's grip on him tried pulling him back down. He almost lost his grip on the ledge—who knew where he'd fall this time. Likely into the depths of hell itself, he thought.

Heart racing, blood rushing in his ears, he dug his bloody fingers into the dirt and started kicking at the monster behind him. Its grip tightened, and claws dug into taut flesh. He yelped and began flailing.

A sharp kick to what must have been its face made the grip loosen, and he scrambled far away from the ledge. Heavy breathing, heart racing, he stared off into the darkness as he reached to hold his bleeding ankle.

Megumi awoke warm. Her hands skated across the fabric as she kept her eyes closed. Ah, she was in bed. It was all a bad dream. She smiled, realizing that. Well, it wasn't all bad, she figured as she rolled over and curled more into the blanket that covered her. Shizuru showed up in her dream, after all.

The sound of a drawer opening caused her to jump in fright. It may have been a dream but that didn't mean the nightmare was over. She shot up in bed and looked around, only to find she didn't recognize the room she was in.

It wasn't a dream.

"Sorry, did I wake up?" Shizuru's voice came from the other end of the room, soothing Megumi's worries.

She sighed in relief. She was in Shizuru's room. She looked to the brunette, who seemed to have gotten out of the shower and changed into a pair of comfortable clothes.

"No, I was awake," she replied with a small smile. "I didn't realize I…"

"That you weren't in your room?" Shizuru gave a knowing smile.

Megumi nodded. There was a brief moment of heavy silence before Megumi opened her mouth again.

"Was last night…?"

Shizuru nodded. "Yeah."

"So everything really…?"

She nodded again. "Yup."

Megumi rested her head in her hands. "Shit." Then, it shot up. "His body!"

She threw her hands over her mouth as she realized how bad it sounded—how bad it was, considering she'd dug up a corpse last night.

"It's fine. Kazuma and I took care of it."

She sighed in relief and then paused. Something still was missing. It hit her hard in the gut. "Yamato?"

"He's fine," she replied simply as she began rummaging through her dresser drawer. She pulled out a few garments and began neatly folding them before placing them back in the drawer. "Kazu carried him home last night. He was coherent enough. Lay back down and get some rest. We'll talk about what steps to take next when you're feeling better."

Megumi hesitated, because as much as she wanted to find out what plan Shizuru had, she was still so mentally exhausted. She wasn't sure if she could sleep anymore, but she knew she could barely think as it was. Every thought was a challenge, as if she was digging it out the cold mud she was running in the night before.

Slowly, she found herself lying back down and curling into the blankets. Her eyes closed, and suddenly she didn't need to think anymore. Shizuru looked over her shoulder after she finished organizing her drawer, finding the girl with the loose curls sound asleep.

Quietly, she closed the room to her door behind her. Kazuma stood next to her in silence with a troubled expression. Her hands found their way into her denim jean pockets and she glanced over to him.

"Have something you want to say, little bro?"

"It wasn't that bad last time…" He shivered, his voice shaking a tad when he spoke. "It's like she's… I don't know, sis. She feels like death."

"Like Botan?"

He shook his head, his eyes thoughtfully on the ground. "…No. More like what Botan ferries around." Shizuru opened her mouth to respond, but Kazuma continued. "It's like she's cursed or something."

Shizuru's mouth closed and she too looked thoughtfully to the ground. They stood in silence. The only sounds around them were the soft creaking of the wood floors from their weight and the birds muffled, soft chirping from outside.

THE CEMETARY NIGHT

Shizuru lay Megumi down gently as she passed out, and picked up her shovel. With one final swing of the shovel and grunt from the back of her throat, Kenji's head separated from his body. The brunette watched the head roll a couple inches before coming to a stop.

She heard the groaning near Megumi, and looked to see if any youkai hadn't learned their lesson yet. It was only Yamato, rolling over and struggling to sit upright. Giving Kenji's decapitated body one last look, she shoved the shovel's head into the moist dirt and headed over to check on Yamato.

She knelt next to him and checked his pulse and respiration, and found him using his free hand to hold his head. He let out a soft groan and sat upright without much help, and Shizuru dropped his wrist that she was checking.

"You alright?" she asked.

He grunted in response. Good, she thought, reaching to his collar to pull his face close to hers.

"Then I'd like to know what the hell you thought you were doing out here, digging up a body?" she snapped. "You knew damn well this was a lure and you fell right into it, and even dragged Megumi in it."

Yamato, disoriented, tried straightening his blurry vision on Shizuru. "I had to—"

"You apparently had to," she said. "Not Megumi."

She shoved him away from her, and he fell flat on his back with another grunt. His head was spinning, and his eyes rolled around in his head.

"If you weren't so useless right now I'd have you clean up your own mess," she grumbled, standing up and looking over her shoulder. "Kazu!"

"Sorry, sis…" Kazuma appeared from the wet woodwork, confused. "I had to take care of a couple youkai… I was going to let them go but they really wanted to pick a fight."

"It's fine…" she replied, heading back to the shovel. "Take that idiot home. He's coherent enough to tell you where he lives."

"You're going to clean all this up on your own?" he asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I'll bring Megumi back home with me when I'm done. Just take care of that one over there."

Kazuma looked to Megumi's still body, laid peacefully on her back in a deep rest. He didn't like the idea of her being in his house but it wasn't like he had much choice. And to be fair, it was probably better if she was in his house. At least then she'd be easier to save.

He bent down and lifted Yamato's arm over his shoulder to hoist him up.

"You awake, man?" Kazuma asked.

Yamato grunted again, the only noise he could make.

"Well, grunt if I'm going in the right direction, I guess…" He lifted him up, and Yamato staggered onto his feet. Wet grass squeaked against Kazuma's sneakers as he slowly lead the way.

Megumi heaved a heavy breath, her chest rising and falling dramatically. She looked to Shizuru, eyes glossy and lips parted, with a longing look. Shizuru breathed softly, raking a hand through her hair to pull it back and letting her fringe fall back in place. She looked down to the girl, holding her hands gently.

"I… don't know if I can do this," Megumi whispered, breath hot as she looked away from the brunette.

Shizuru leaned closer, hands moving to caress her face. "You can. You need to." Her hands held Megumi's face before moving to grip her shoulders. "Michiru needs to know, remember?"

Shizuru stepped away from Megumi as a medical assistant passed by. She looked over her shoulder to see if anyone else was coming down the hospital hallway. Megumi, back against the wall, was looking at the ground with worry in her eyes. The young assistant adjusted her hair clip to pull her long black hair back before entering Michiru's observation room.

On one hand, Michiru may not even be coherent enough to understand what Megumi was going to tell her. On the other, it may send Michiru into another spiral. She needed to know what happened, didn't she? Or would it be better to let her think Kenji was alive?

If she got better, and found out what Megumi did, it may end up worse than whatever could happen here. At least here, Michiru was already in hysterics…

She also needed to know there was hope. That she and Shizuru were headed to someone who may know what to do; that they were headed over as soon as they left the hospital.

Megumi took another deep breath and looked up from the ground, determined to head in and tell Michiru. Her eyes fell upon Mrs. Maruyama walking by, and their brown eyes met. Mrs. Maruyama gave a small, sad smile to the younger girl, and bowed slightly to Shizuru when she noticed her. Shizuru returned the greeting.

"I'm glad you decided to visit," the older woman said as she adjusted her cardigan's sleeve so it didn't hang off her shoulder. Her sad smile still plastered on made Megumi's worry skyrocket. Had something happened last night? Had the woman gotten hold of her while Megumi was out dealing with a zombie? "They're transferring her to a special facility in Tokyo to better accommodate her…"

Megumi breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, it would be hard to visit Michiru now, but it wasn't anything she thought, at least…

"I'm sorry," Megumi quickly covered her expression. "I know it gets harder every day with no results…"

Shizuru glanced over her shoulder at the sound of shuffling feet, finding a group of medical personnel running towards them. A seed of worry was planted in her stomach, and Megumi and Mrs. Maruyama noticed next. They watched as they hurried into Michiru's observation room.

Three pairs of feet hurried to follow them, and Megumi watched over Mrs. Maruyama's shoulder as she stopped at the door's threshold. She could see Michiru through the observation window. Her body was limp and convulsing on the hospital bed, with a plastic fork shoved into her exposed jugular.

Blood spurt out in streams every few seconds, and Megumi couldn't manage to take her eyes off the peeled apart girl. Her skin was shredded to her torso, bandages unraveling and bloody stopped at her shoulders. Had she been clawing at herself before she finally snapped?

The doctor's had no qualms reaching their latex hands into Michiru's muscles. Megumi could see the heat from the gloves and muscles wafting onto the gloves. The blood spilled quickly, pouring off hands and onto white coats before falling into puddles on the floor. Her muscles convulsed, pulsing hard as hands gripped onto them tightly to keep them steady.

Megumi's eyes darted around the room. From Mrs. Maruyama crumpling to the ground in sobs, to the medical personnel working to save Michiru, to the Shizuru's face, to the corner of the room where the woman stood.

She stood expressionless. No guilt, no pride. She glanced over to Michiru as if she was a bystander, but Megumi knew better. She and Shizuru knew better. The woman disappeared, dissipating away in the darkness, leaving only sobs and shouts to fill Megumi's senses.