Okay, I'm aware that I've been gone a while…in fact, some of you may have thought I was mauled by a bear on my vacation or something. Any way, I wrote this chapter kinda fast so, bear with me. It's not my favorite.

Ch. 21

The three teenagers continued to run, unnerved by the sudden silence behind them.

"What's that up ahead?" Daisuke asked, jerking his head in front of them. Evee squinted in the darkness before her eyes widened in surprise.

"I think it's sunlight! It may be a way out!" She pushed her legs to go faster, half dragging Kaien along with her. Seconds later, they burst out of a small cave, nearly tripping on the sand. Daisuke shifted Masaki in his arms to shield his eyes from the sudden sunlight.

"I never thought I'd be so happy to be in an endless desert," said Kaien, letting out a sigh. Evee giggled at him, but suddenly froze. A cold shiver went down her spine and she let out a tiny gasp of surprise.

"What's wrong?" Daisuke asked. Evee shook her head.

"I don't really know…something just feels…off…"

"Well done!"

The three of them turned to see Aizen standing in the opening of the cave, clapping slowly and sarcastically.

"Well?" he continued. He just stayed where he was.

"Well what?" Kaien finally asked. Aizen smiled at him.

"My dear boy, isn't it obvious? I've won already. There's no point in any of you running…especially since half of you really can't run," his eyes drifted to Masaki curled up in Daisuke's arm. Daisuke met his gaze with a glare and turned away slightly as if to shield her from any more harm. Kaien's eyebrows angled down over his eyes and he growled at Aizen.

"You bastard! Why can't you just leave us alone? We haven't done anything to you!" he shouted.

"Oh, but I'm having so much fun." His gaze flicked to Masaki again and he grinned. It wasn't his normal, calm grin. He had an evil, twisted smile plastered over the lower half of his face.

"What are you doing?" Daisuke asked frantically, pulling Masaki closer to him. He froze as his arms tightened around her shoulders. Something was very wrong.

"Daisuke?" he heard Kaien's voice from somewhere on his left.

"Sh-she…Kaien…she's not breathing…"

Kaien's eye's widened for the briefest second before he rounded on Aizen, pulling away from Evee. Aizen continued to grin at them.

"What did you do?" Kaien shouted. "Dammit, what'd you do to her?"

"I told you, she'd be the first of the two of you to die. It just took a little longer than I thought."

Aizen looked like he was about to continue but Kaien lunged at him, ignoring the sword suddenly pushed in his direction.

"KAIEN!"

Evee's voice echoed in his ears as Kaien slumped forward, further onto the sword. He'd caught it in time that it just missed his heart and tried to move out of the way. Instead in had gone through his chest, right between his collarbone and just above his heart.

"Your turn," someone whispered in his ear. The sword was jerked roughly out of his chest and he fell forward. Evee called out to him again, but she started to back away as Aizen started toward her.

"…no…"

Kaien dragged himself around, cringing as sand got into the open wound, and started toward Evee. Daisuke and Masaki had disappeared. Aizen was only a few strides from Evee now…why wasn't she running? No, wait, she was running. Straight towards Kaien and almost directly in Aizen's path. She managed to duck under Aizen's sword and felt her sleeve rip a little when Aizen nearly held on to her arm. As soon as she was close enough, she rolled Kaien onto his back and laid his head in her lap. She bent forward, pressing her forehead against his and frantically whispering, "Don't die, don't die, please don't die, Kaien, please don't die!"

"…Evee…"

Aizen had turned back and was now raising his sword behind Evee. She was still whispering, rocking back and forth on her knees slightly.

"Evee!"

"…I love you…"

"Evee! NO!"

Kaien used his good foot to push himself into her with enough force to knock them both out of harm's way when Aizen's sword came bearing down on them. If anything, the man looked mildly annoyed.

"Please hold still."

BREAK

Moru and Koroshi walked side-by-side down the long cave corridor. Moru was almost humming something while Koroshi stared at his feet, hands in his pockets.

"I wonder where those people went," Moru wondered out loud. His brother's eyes snapped to him before returning to the rocky floor.

"We were supposed to bring them to Aizen. We did that, so, I don't know…"

Moru looked up at his brother. "Hey, Koro…if that was all Aizen wanted…what's gonna happen to that girl I was playing with?"

Again, Koroshi gave his brother an odd look, but this time, looked straight ahead. "We both know that's not what you wanted to ask."

"Still though…"

Koroshi sighed. "She's probably dead by now anyway. That's all Aizen wanted them for, so he could kill them in front of some guy. Now what did you really wanna know?"

Moru was quiet for a second (strange for him) before answering. "Koro, what's gonna happen to us? Aizen won't need us anymore, will he?"

The older boy's eyes hardened. "No, he won't. But I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, you hear me?" he said sternly to his brother. Moru smiled and nodded.

"Uh-huh!"

The two of them continued on their way.

BREAK

Daisuke had to stop. He'd flash-stepped away with Masaki and was now somewhere back in the caves. He hoped Kaien and Evee were okay…He shook his head and gently laid Masaki on the stone floor.

"Please wake up," he mumbled. He held a hand hovering over her mouth and nose. Nothing. He put two fingers against her throat, just under the jaw line. Noth—wait! There was a pulse! It was faint, very faint, and fading, but it was still there nonetheless. Daisuke just had to get her breathing again.

"Okay, before you kill me for this later, let me say, it saved your life."

He gently tilted her head back, opened her mouth slightly and pinched her nose.

"Here goes."

He pushed his mouth to her and started to blow air into her lungs. Daisuke went through this a few times and was about to come up again when a fist suddenly connected with the side of his face.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?" Masaki shouted before cringing and holding her injured shoulder.

"You weren't breathing," Daisuke almost laughed before he nearly tackled her in a hug. "You're alive!"

"Yes, and you're crushing me, are we done pointing out the obvious?" she said, trying to push him off. His kissed the top of her head and held her closer to his chest, swaying back and forth slowly. "Yeah, I'm done."

A/N: Like I said, not my favorite. I wrote it pretty fast. It was kinda cute at the end, but y'know. I'll try and update more regularly (as in, whenever I have a computer) so, worry not.