* Well, I'm not really happy with this chapter. But anyway. Movin' the story along.

Chapter 10

Akihito woke, to a sound he was unfortunately all too familiar with, the loading and cocking of a gun, which sounded loud and echoed off the walls of wherever he was now. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure where that was, as his situational awareness that should come with consciousness had not awakened as of yet. Either that or he was just clueless to begin with.

So in his rather dreamlike state, he heard the sharp click click of the gun's parts sliding against each other, and hoped he was dreaming. Dreaming about guns? Dr. Freud would have had a field-day analyzing Akihito's trauma induced nightmares, that's for sure.

So, in the light leaking into his tightly closed eyes, because he had yet to open them which was what you usually did in the morning, reality hit him. With a fist of fury. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. And if only he just kept his eyes closed, he wouldn't have to face this feeling of wrongness, wouldn't have to greet the darkness that was to come, a darkness that pricked at his skin and made his nerves wind up tight.

It was always darkest, right before things went pitch black.

"Keir," he mumbled, aware of the thickness of his salvia, the cotton that seemed to fill his mouth like he'd just been to the dentist. Rising up quickly, in his weird and rather hung over state, he promptly bashed his head on the ceiling of the Range Rover. "Shit!" Akihito swore, suddenly realizing he was not in his tent, although he was realizing it about thirty seconds too late.

"Shhhh." Keir warned. "We have company." Unfortunately, it wasn't the type of company you would have over for tea and a round of Mahjong and most certainly, not the dropping by for a cup of sugar kind of company either.

"Is….." He started to say something, while rubbing the bump on his head that he imagined was there, and fell silent as his state of confusion had obviously affected his power of speech as well.

"Keep down." Keir warned. "They might not be friendly." And that was the understatement of the year. He looked over quickly to Akihito, his eyes glowing with a fierceness that Akihito didn't know he could make. Scary.

"Get dressed, put on your flak jacket, but be quiet about it." He commanded, with the authority of a superior officer that when you crossed him he would instruct you to drop and give him twenty. And Akihito obeyed, without question, for once, perhaps realizing that going into a gunfight naked wouldn't be sensible.

"Where's Topkay?" He asked.

"I don't know, hopefully safe. He's pretty sharp."

"You and me, last night….uh.…." He started to ask, but the moment wasn't really the best time to ask, but then again, Akihito always had poor timing.

"I wanted to kiss you awake, my sleeping beauty, but my plans got derailed." He said, and it should have sounded romantic, but strangely, it only sounded…

"Sappy." He stated.

"Yeah." Keir replied, the word coming out of his mouth in four syllables.

"I think I like sappy." Akihito said bluntly.

"I'll remember that."

But the witty and slightly romantic banter, well, in Akihito's book of twisted romance it was romantic, was cut short by men yelling incoherently and loud gunshots. Of course, gunshots were always loud, but these were particularly loud, making the Range Rover buckle slightly from the reverberation, as if a shock wave had hit it.

Obviously, things had turned ugly. Old crone with the haggard face ugly.

"They found Topkay." He commented, without emotion. "Shit, where are those whirly-birds when we need them?"

"Is help coming?" Akihito asked, as he risked a peek, just at the wrong time. Topkay was on his knees, a gun at the back of his head, and a second later, or even less, there was one shot, and Topkay was on the ground, blood pooling around a wound in his head. Akihito sucked in his breath and his eyes started watering. What he had seen, will forever be burned into his eyes. "Topkay's…."

"We gotta go, now!" yelled Keir in a commanding voice that even the animals would obey.

"But….Topkay, we should….." He started to argue, but thought better of it and closed his mouth before he could finish his sentence. Sometimes, it would do not to argue, and this was one of those times.

"He's dead and we're next." He sprang into the front seat with the agility of a panther and quickly gunned the engine as Akihito flopped; butt in the air, into the front seat, his gun now at his side, cocked and ready. Keir's Boy Scout skills had rubbed off on him.

He had seen men shot before; he'd seen men die before. He'd been beside them when they breathed their last. But those men had been his enemies, those men he didn't care anything about, didn't even know their names. This one….this man, he had called his friend. He tried to hold back the sob that was bubbling at the back of his throat. Tried and failed.

"Hold it together Akihito." Keir chastised as he sped over the well-worn road. It was difficult so see, as if they were driving into a fog made of dust. "Dammit, they caught up to us."

In the side mirror, he could see the bad guys, as he chose to call them, because they hadn't introduced themselves, closing the space between them. They had guns, lots of guns, and not just guns, heavy weapons as well, as if they were compensating for something. They started firing wildly at them, but the shots bounced off the bullet-proof glass, making sharp pinging sounds, sounding like laser fire in a sci-fi movie. Still Akihito ducked instinctively.

"Help is coming, I just hope…" Keir started to say, but stopped when Akihito took of the safety off his gun and rolled down the window.

"What are you doing? You'll just piss them off if you shoot!"

"Huh?" Akihito turned to Keir with wide eyes. "I can shoot; you know I can, Keir. I have to do something!"

"The something you need to do is not panic. Think, Akihito, we can't out shoot them, but we can outrun them."

"Fine." He said, sounding like scolded child.

Keir actually chuckled. "I wish we had some getaway music." He mused.

"Don't try to distract me."

"You're sharp."

They continued to run, the bad guys continued to chase. And shoot. It was so loud. Akihito's ears were ringing, as if his cell phone was going off in his ears with one of those annoying ringtones.

"Stop shooting at us assholes!" Like he could be heard over the noise. He put his hands over his ears, but it didn't help much, and that's when it hit. Or rather, they hit something.

A powerful blast rocked the car, setting off the airbag which felt like a thousand punches to the face, all at once. His head hurt so bad, he thought it would explode. The rover rocked violently as Keir tried to take control of the steering wheel, but it wasn't responding. He was so scared, he could feel his heartbeat in his ears, but couldn't hear anything. The rover tumbled several times, as the dust flew around them, making Akihito unable to see. He was blind and deaf, unsure of what to do. He couldn't even see Keir in all the dust and smoke.

"Keir!" He yelled, but couldn't seem to hear any sound coming from his lips. He felt the vibration of the car as it skidded, sending rocks into the cabin from the broken windshield, hitting him in the face and arms. The smell of blood invaded his nostrils as he felt it run down his face. "KEIR!" He said louder, as if he kept saying it, he would get an answer. He tried to reach out, tried to feel Keir next to him, but could only feel empty space. Where was Keir?

The car came to a stop; actually it didn't have anywhere to go, as it careened into a tree. Crushing the side and trapping Akihito's leg. Something wet dripped around him, gasoline, from the smell. He coughed, trying to get rid of the dust. It was so quiet, as if the world had come to an end and someone forgot to tell him, or he was dead, and this was what hell was like. A quiet empty lifeless void.

"KEIR!" He yelled again. "Keir, help..I'm in…" He stopped when he started coughing again.

Pain. And all Akihito could feel was pain, making all other senses duller as if fading in the background. He resisted the urge to throw up. Something was wrong with his head. Pain, every time he breathed, every time he tried to move just a little bit. He thought he knew what pain was. He was wrong. There was no way to describe this, except maybe the word agony.

He turned his head, hoping to see Keir's face, but it wasn't there. Where he should have been was broken glass. Blinded by blood in his eyes, his brain tried to think coherently, but failed as the pain multiplied anytime he moved. He tried to get his foot out, but when he did, more pain tormented his body, making him shiver and cry out. He was trapped. He clutched feebly at the gun at his side, in a half-hearted attempt to protect himself, but the gun dropped out of his weak hand and he shivered again, knowing he was going into shock.

"Keir." He groaned, but couldn't hear himself speak. Akihito raised a hand to his ear, tapping it slightly. The ringing in his ears wouldn't go away. "Keir." He said again, and he knew from the vibration in his throat he was saying something, but he couldn't hear it.

And then he was thinking of Asami. He would come. He would pull him out of the car and make him well again. Hold him until he stopped shivering. He would…he would save him, again. Just like that time. "Asami." He said, trying to hold onto consciousness. Akihito could feel his body slowly lose itself to the pain. He was cold, his breathing erratic, but Asami was coming. Asami would make everything all right. He was sure of it.

You know I would come to get you, right?

He closed his eyes, willing the pain to go away, but it was of no use. Akihito began to lose whatever was left of his confused reality as the darkness took him.