A young girl sat in front of a tombstone, sobbing at the name reflected back at her. Her long hair fell over her shoulders as she weeped into her palms, shrouding her face in darkness. She felt like her heart had cracked in two. It couldn't be true, it couldn't. Yes, she had known that that person had been dead for a while but yet the reality of it had suddenly crashed down onto her head. That person was entirely gone, and it was all their fault. They had hurt her and now she would never get to live again.

"It's a shame, isn't it?" The girl looked up to see a dark figure standing over her, his face obscured by a dark cloak that covered his body.

"What's a shame? That… that she is dead?" the girl asked uncertainly, tears dripping down her face to splatter in the dirt. The figure nodded.

"You know, she had so much life ahead of her. It is simply horrible that she were murdered so brutally by the ones she loved the most."

"Isn't it?" The girl said, a small smile twitching at the corner of her lips. Finally someone understood how cruel it was, how wrong. How that person wasn't the one to blame!

"I think she would very much like to be given the chance to live again, no?"

"Please! I'll do anything!

The girl stared up at the cloaked figure, hope glittering through tear-filled eyes. Although she couldn't see it, a smirk became etched on the cloaked-one's face.

"Then your wish will be fulfilled."

Nagihiko had awoken that morning feeling as though he had had a fairly vivid dream, but couldn't remember it as hard as he tried. Supposing it maybe didn't matter he had stopped trying after a minute or two and the whole thing was forgotten in less than half an hour.

Staring out the window of the classroom, gazing at the dark sky, he felt kind of sick. Not like he was going to throw up, but rather like something was off. Nobody had been kidnapped yesterday or the day before, which left Nagihiko feeling as though it was simply the calm before the storm.

The more he thought about what had happened the more it hurt. He had let Rima get kidnapped from right under his nose, and who knew what was happening to her right now, or if she was even alive. And if she was… Rima had already been kidnapped when she was younger, and the ordeal had left her scarred. Whenever she was stuck in a small space she had a complete breakdown, crying and screaming to no end. And if she was tied up somewhere with a psychotic murderer…. Nagihiko couldn't even think of it, it hurt him so bad. He had failed her.

Nagihiko couldn't take how normal the rest of his classmates were being. They acted as though nothing had happened. Sure, at the news of each death a veil of darkness had fallen over them and they would be gloomy for the rest of the day but the next they would be cheery as usual. It was so obnoxious that it took all of Nagihiko's willpower not to just start screaming at them. And that goddamn tapping just wouldn't stop!

Wait, what?

Nagihiko jerked his head towards the slightly ajar window, dreading what he would see. He hoped and hoped it was simply his immagination but no. There was a pale hand reaching up to pull the window all the way open. Nagihiko screamed, jumping backwards frantically, his chair falling to the floor and his back hitting the desk that used to be Rima's.

"What? What is it?" Ikuto jumped to his feet, rushing forward frantically, the baseball bat he had stolen from the gym days earlier grasped in his hands tightly. Nagihiko pointed towards the window as he rushed backwards, trying to get away before he was taken like Rima. Ikuto spun towards the glass, his eyes widening as he saw the hand.

"Get back!" he yelled at the rest of the class, who hurriedly obliged, either leaving the room entirely or crowding around the door in a massive crowd.

"Ikuto! Be careful!" Amu pleaded, her eyes wide and fearful as she clung to Utau desperately. Ikuto nodded at her, before slowly advancing towards the window as the hand succeeded to pull it open. Ikuto readied the baseball bat and stood cautiously as another hand slowly reached up and joined the other one on grasping onto the window pane. The muscles on the arms were visibly strained as they pushed the intruder's body up. A head of blonde hair was suddenly visible and Ikuto swung the bat hard before he was stopped.

"No! Ikuto stop!" Utau screamed loudly, causing her brother to stop mid-swing, drop his bat to the floor, and dart his eyes between the intruder and his sister.

"Why did you-" Ikuto cut himself off, no longer needing to finish his question, much less receive an answer to it. In front of him was someone he never expected to see again… Tadase.

Tadase was alive! For a second relief flooded Ikuto's face before it was suddenly replaced with anger. This just another "zombie," coming back to finish someone else off; to kill another one of Ikuto's loved ones. Well, in Tadase's body or not, Ikuto would not let that happen.

"Ikuto-" Tadase started to speak as he began to heave his body in through the window, but was cut off as Ikuto grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and forcefully pulled him up. He spun him around before slamming him down to the table, holding him there with an unnecessary amount of force.

"I'm going to kill you for what you did," Ikuto hissed at Tadase, rage livid on his face. At this moment he was positively horrifying; never before had Amu ever witnessed such raw anger. He honestly looked like it was give him the utmost pleasure to stab a knife through Tadase's heart. But wait, it wasn't Tadase. It was a murderer. Yes, a murderer. Tadase was dead, and the thing controlling him was the one who did so. Ikuto's rage was completely justified… or so Amu thought.

"Ikuto!" Tadase exclaimed, his eyes wide and filled with fear. He desperately grasped at the collar of Ikuto's shirt with fumbling hands, tears filling his bright pink eyes. "Stop! Stop!"

Ikuto gripped Tadase's ripped shirt harder, though uncertainty began to course through his veins. This was Tadase… was he really pinning Tadase to the table, poised to kill him? Was he really? But it wasn't Tadase! It was a killer! Was it though?

"Please, Ikuto-nii-san," Tadase whispered, shutting his eyes together tightly as his body shook uncontrollably. Ikuto hesitated, a voice in his head telling him to let Tadase go, but another telling him to kill him right now.

Ikuto let go of Tadase and stumbled backwards, his heart racing and his head spinning. "Is it really you?"

"Yes, who else would I be?" Tadase whispered uncertainly, his eyes wide and filled with fear, as he struggled to his feet. Ikuto examined him better and realized he looked like complete shit. He was battered and bruised, his clothes were filthy and he smelled rather rancid, dirt streaked with the trails of tears coating his face.

"Is it really, really you?" Ikuto asked, a sudden hotness igniting in his eyes. Tears began to drip down his face, his body shaking slightly. Tadase tilted his head slightly, confused.

"Ikuto-nii-"

Ikuto rushed forward and pulled Tadase into a tight hug, tears falling down into the shorter boy's blonde hair. "I thought you were dead!"

"No, no ones dead yet except for those girls but Ik-"

"Wait!" Nagihiko leaped forward, his face frantic. He rushed towards the two and shoved Ikuto aside hurriedly, "Rima-chan's alive?"

"Yeah, and so are all the others but that's not really-"

"And Kukai?" Utau didn't seem to notice the vaguely angry look Tadase was wearing.

"Yeah, and so is Yuiki-san but I really need to tell you guys-"

"Tadase-kun!" Amu threw her arms around her former boyfriend as tears poured from her eyes. Apparently Tadase had had enough.

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" he yelled angrily, causing everyone to jump in shock and Amu to release him immediately. "Listen, she's coming right now and if we don't get Fujisaki-san out of here we're all going to die!"

Amu, slightly taken aback, nervously spoke up. "Wait, what? Who's coming right now, the killer? And what does Nagi have to do with this?"

"I can't explain yet but she's coming to get Fujisaki-kun and he needs to get out of here now!"

"But how did you get here anyway?" Ikuto asked, a look of confusion evident on his face. Tadase was kidnapped by a psychotic murderer, how could he simply escape from someone like that, and much less make it all the way to the school?

"I escaped when she was taking us into the school but-"

"Wait, taking you into the school?" Tadase's eyes widened at Nagihiko's words. Oh, he definitely didn't mean to say that. Now getting Nagihiko out of here would be impossible. "So Rima-chan's somewhere in the school?"

"But Fujisaki-kun it's really not in your best interest to go running around looking for her! It's exactly what she wants you to do!"

"Who is she, Hotori-san? Who is the killer?" Kairi stared intensely into Tadase's eyes. The blonde blushed and fidgeted uncomfortably.

"I… can't say," Tadase muttered quietly, a sad look filling his face, "but it doesn't really matter right now. Fujisaki-kun needs to get out of here as soon as possible!"

"No," Nagihiko said stubbornly, his arms crossed over his chest as though his will was unbendable, "I'm not leaving without Rima-chan."

"Stupid," Tadase muttered, running his hands through his hair as he sank down into a chair, exhausted from the strain of the earlier escape and the whole kidnapping incident, "You're being so stupid."

"What?" Nagihiko asked, sure he misheard his friend, knowing such harsh words wouldn't ever come from his mouth.

"I said you're being fucking stupid!" Tadase screamed, looking up at Nagihiko with wild, rage-filled eyes. Everyone was quite taken aback, startled by the profanity leaving the usually gentle boy. Tadase struggled to his feet, his chest heaving as he breathed in deeply. "You don't think that I don't want to save them all? But we can't! All we can do now is make sure you're safe!"

"You don't understand! You don't have someone you love that's about to be killed!" Nagihiko shot back, his face livid with rage. Tadase's face fell.

"You think… that I don't… I, I do love… no, that's not the point! You have to leave! Leave the city, maybe even the country! Get out!" Tadase was frantic, his face filled with sadness and fear.

"I will not give her up." Nagihiko took a few steps backwards, his eyes meeting Tadase's. He glanced at his friend's uncertainly, their nervous glances urging him to listen to Tadase, to try and get out.

With one final look at his friends he turned and ran, shoving aside his confused classmates as he shot through the open door. Tadase lunged forward, trying to stop him, but stopped as he fell into a fit of intense coughing. When he finally got ahold of himself, he straightened up and glared at the door.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck!" Tadase moaned to himself, kicking one of the chairs across the classroom, which caused him to let out yet another weak cough. He grabbed his hair in his hands, straining to figure out a way to get out of this situation.

"Okay you four," Tadase turned to face his remaining friends, who were staring at him with quite shocked looks on their faces, after a minute or so of thinking "need to get out of the school. Go home, and don't come back. She doesn't really want you, so you'll only get hurt unnecessarily by being here."

"I can't just leave someone I love to die!" Utau insisted, her face frantic with tears leaking down her cheeks, "Do you understand what position we're in?"

"Yes, of course I do! But this is unnecessary! I'll take care of this! You all need to leave, and I'll find Fujisaki-kun and send him away and then I'll go back and get the others."

"So we're supposed to let you take care of this problem while we can't do anything at all to help?" Ikuto asked Tadase with a dark look on his face, he approached the younger boy and stared down at his head. "I love you, albeit not like what Nagi feels for Rima or Utau for Kukai, but I still love you. I'm not going to let you run off and get yourself killed while I just sit around and do nothing."

"I… fine," Tadase gave in, his head pounding from the stress and his weakness. This wasn't going to work. They couldn't just listen to him. They were signing their own death sentence. As desperately as Tadase wanted to stop them, he knew he was just wasting valuable time as he tried to do so. "Just don't try to do anything stupid."

Tadase looked straight into Ikuto's eyes. "Don't try to be a hero."

(Break.)

Nagihiko ran down the school's hallway, his mind desperately reeling as he tried to figure out where exactly he would find Rima, and possibly the others. He had caused her to get kidnapped, and now he was going to make up for it. He was going to save her if it killed him, because without her he was nothing.

The other day, when he confessed, he shouldn't have said "I think I kind of love you."

No, he should have said, "I really, truly love you more than life itself."

If only. Nagihiko had so many regrets, so many frustrations. At some point, he had even wished that he had been kidnapped as well, so that he could protect Rima, but of course that hadn't happened. Rima was all alone, and Nagihiko was her last hope.

Nagihiko stopped running as something caught his wrist. He spun around, stumbling around a bit as he saw a tan hand reaching through the partially open doorway of a janitor's closet. What the hell…?

"Let go!" Nagihiko yelled, frantically jerking away from his attacker, desperately trying to pry off the fingers gripping his wrist tightly. Was someone trying to kill him now?

"What, you're not happy to see me, Fujisaki?"

Wha- Would wonders never cease?

Nagihiko knew that Kukai would exit the closet before he actually did. Nagihiko's eyes were wide, gazing up at his taller friend, who he had presumed was dead just minutes earlier. And if he hadn't have known better, he might have still thought he was dead. His body was badly beaten, and blood-soaked bandages were wrapped around his head, where his baseball bat wound surely was. His bright green eyes were no longer happy and full of life, but were rather dark and cruel. His lips, instead of forming his usual energetic smile, were pressed into a thin smirk.

"Souma-kun?" Nagihiko's eyes darted to the right just in time to see Yaya trudge out from the same closet, a smirk on her face as well. She no longer was childlike at all, but rather had depressed eyes, bruised skin, and a defeated aura. "Yuiki-chan?"

"Why hello, Nagi-tan," Yaya said, in a surprisingly cold and serious voice. She grinned cruelly at him, her teeth protruding from beneath her lips. "You've been quite a bad boy."

Although he had supposed it before, he now realized what was going on; Yaya and Kukai were being possessed just as the girls and Mashiro-san had been. They were going to kill him. And Tadase… was he possessed as well? Was he going to kill the others now that he was gone? Was he going to lead them straight into a trap?

Yaya grabbed Nagihiko's other hand and twisted it painfully behind him, pulling his body towards her. Her lips, now inches below his ear, whispered harshly, "You've forgotten."

Kukai's face dropped down so it was right in front of Nagihiko's, close enough that if someone walked in on them they would have thought that they were kissing, and whispered, "And now you're going to pay for your crime."

And then the world went black.

A/N: Ahaha. I couldn't help but slip in those slight Takuto moments. Oh god, I love that couple. xD
As always I appreciate your reviews! :3