A/N: It's been entirely too long! I cut this chapter a little short in order to post it sooner, although it's still been far too long since my last update. My inspiration seems to have all but dried up. But enough about me, on with the story for those who are still awaiting.

--Late morning at a construction site--

Kaorin sighed as she tinkered under the hood of a bulldozer. Thankfully there were two bulldozers at this site and both were the same model. Even more fortunately they both still ran, however that was where Kaorin's fortune ended. These big bulky machines were far different from what she was used to and it was proving to be a headache to swap out parts to make one of the machines run at top capacity. Despite the uncooperative machinery, her work wasn't what was bothering Kaorin. "How come every time I try to help out, everything blows up in my face?" she wondered as she let out another sigh.

"Eight," Osaka observed out loud as she stood nearby filming Kaorin's work.

"What?" Kaorin asked as she pulled herself out to reveal her entire upper half covered in dirt and grease.

Osaka couldn't help but laugh. "Ya look like a cartoon after they get blown up," she observed as she continued to laugh.

"What does that have to do with the number eight?" Kaorin irately demanded as she started to let her frustrations get the best of her.

The spacey woman was taken aback a bit by Kaorin's harsh tone, but quickly recovered. "It just that you've been sighin' a lot an' I was worried about ya," Osaka innocently responded.

"I'm just feeling a little guilty," Kaorin admitted as she dove back into the greasy engine in a feeble attempt to flee the uncomfortable situation.

"Ah, about hittin' Chihiro?" Osaka inquired. "She was feelin' bad about that too."

"I doubt that," Kaorin scoffed, "and I don't feel the least bit guilty about hitting her."

"Then what's gotcha so down?" the woman behind the camcorder continued to prod. Kaorin didn't immediately respond as she tried to ignore Osaka. "Did ya hear me?"

Kaorin groaned as it became apparent that the Osakan wasn't simply going to let this go. After thinking for a moment Kaorin decided that maybe it was best to get it off her chest. "Osaka," she asked seriously as she kept herself hidden in the engine, "do you think I'm bad luck?"

"Aren't you an' me tha only ones with good luck?" Osaka observed, "After all, everyone else has been hurt pretty badly."

"But they all got hurt when they were around me, and a lot of the time it was my fault too," Kaorin pessimistically observed. "Even when I try to help out things go badly," she guiltily admitted, "This time too, I was just trying to help and I really screwed up."

"Ah!" Osaka interjected, "If you're havin' bad luck then maybe ya should have Chiyo make ya a charm."

"A charm?" Kaorin asked, her voice echoing confusion and skepticism.

"She's really good at makin' 'em," Osaka informed the irritated woman, "You should ask her ta make one for ya."

"I'd try anything at this point," Kaorin mused.

While Kaorin worked and Osaka observed, Chiyo and Chihiro sat nearby in the shade of the bulldozer that Kaorin had been salvaging parts from. At first Chihiro had wanted to offer to assist Kaorin, but decided that leaving her alone would be the best course of action to prevent another violent confrontation. "We've lost a lot of time, haven't we?" Chiyo sadly observed as she pulled her knees to her chest.

"It can't be helped," Chihiro assured, "We should just be thankful no one is dead yet." Upon seeing Chiyo's disheartened expression, Chihiro decided to steer the subject in a more optimistic direction. "At least it looks like our goal is in sight now, right?" Chihiro offered, "I mean, we have the bus and now we'll have a way to make it through all the rubble. Toudai can't be more than a week away."

"A month ago we thought that Toudai wasn't even a day away," Chiyo observed with a sigh.

"I wish I could tell you with absolute certainty that we're going to get there soon without any problems," Chihiro lamented, "but I can tell you that we've stacked the deck as far in our favor as possible. Something really drastic would have to happen for anyone to be in any real danger at this point."

"What will we do if Toudai is destroyed or infested with those bugs?" Chiyo asked as she fidgeted.

"Why don't you tell me?" Chihiro prodded, "I know you. You're a genius. I'm sure that you have a dozen other places in the back of your mind for where we can go." She then offered Chiyo a reassuring smile. "Just show us where to go and we'll follow," the short haired girl assured.

"If I-Would you follow me to America?" Chiyo reluctantly asked.

"To America?" Chihiro inquired.

"I'm sick to death of these bugs," Chiyo admitted, "If they're not deadlier than the virus then they are defiantly a lot scarier!" The little genius shook her head as she tried to dispel the bad memories associated with the carnivorous insects. "If we run away to America we can just forget about them and focus on a vaccine and on Tomo," she explained.

"If we run away then we are forfeiting the lives of all the people who are still here in Japan," Chihiro observed, "Even more than that if it's true they can cross over to the mainland then we'd also be abandoning all the people left alive in Asia, Europe, and even Africa. I can't do that."

"We can leave it to someone else!" Chiyo argued, "We don't have to be the heroes!"

"Isn't that what everyone is saying?" Chihiro asked rhetorically. "I'm sure everyone that's left alive is thinking surely someone will come along and save us," the insightful woman explained, "I'm not waiting for someone to come and save me, none of us are. I'm sure that most of the rest of our little group feels the same too. We're making it on our own and we're working to save everyone else." Chihiro then put a hand on Chiyo's shoulder. "Isn't that what you're doing to?" she sincerely asked, "You came here to find a cure so you could save everyone, right?"

"I-That's why I came here," Chiyo admitted, "but now that I'm here…It's so scary! And everyone has gotten hurt so badly!" The teenager then latched onto Chihiro and started crying.

Unsure of what to do in this situation, Chihiro actually took Chiyo by the arms and tried to pull the small woman away from her.

Within seconds of Chiyo starting to cry Kaorin somehow caught on. "What the hell did you do to her?!" Kaorin screamed as she stormed towards the duo. "I swear if you hurt her…!"

"What?!" Chihiro asked incredulously as she did her best to convince Kaorin of her innocence, "This isn't what it looks like!"

Kaorin wasn't convinced. Lost in her rage, Kaorin withdrew her pistol and pointed it at Chiyo and Chihiro. "Let her go right now!" Kaorin demanded.

Chihiro had hoped Chiyo would jump in and defend her, but at this point it was too late. Sensing an immediate danger, Chihiro literally threw Chiyo off of herself and jumped up and over the bulldozer she and Chiyo had been resting against. No sooner did she clear the vehicle did two bullets ricochet right where she had been. "Please believe me!" Chihiro shouted from the safety of the opposite side of the bulldozer, "I was only comforting her! Tell her Chiyo!"

"Y-Yes," Chiyo tried to defend Chihiro, "P-Please calm down!"

"Shut up!" Kaorin ordered as she slowly approached the bulldozer with her pistol pointing in the last spot where she saw Chihiro. "I'm going to put an end to this now!"

"Shit," Chihiro silently cursed as she quickly weighed her options. "I can't just shoot her," she reasoned as she rested her hand on her revolver. Having few other options she instead grabbed a different object. "Chiyo! Osaka! Get in the bus now!" Chihiro warned. After dishing out the warning Chihiro tried to take a peek to ascertain where exactly Kaorin had moved to. As soon as she leaned out a bullet ricocheted off of the bulldozer right next to her head. "She's really willing to go through with it," Chihiro mumbled to herself as soon as she had withdrawn to safety. She didn't have much of a chance to get a handle on the whole situation, but she had determined that Osaka at least was moving to the bus. "I'll have to try it now," she realized as her glimpse also showed Kaorin getting dangerously close.

"Come out Chihiro!" Kaorin demanded and emphasized her words by uselessly firing a few shots at the dozer before quickly changing the clip. As soon as she looked up after changing the clip she noticed an object in the air and only realized what it was a second too late. With a blinding light and a thunderous boom, Chihiro's flash-bang had performed its duty perfectly. Before Kaorin realized what had hit her, she felt herself being tackled to the ground. She tried to fire her gun at her assailant, only to realize she didn't have it any more. As she struggled she suddenly noticed a sharp pain in her neck.

"Stop struggling damn it!" Chihiro berated as she tried to hold Kaorin still, "Don't you realize the position you're in!"

Finding some spark of reason, Kaorin managed to calm down and try to figure out where her gun went. It took her all of half a second to realize that Chihiro was on top of her and that she had a blade placed against her neck. In her struggling, Kaorin already managed to cut a gash in her neck. "Get…Get offa me!" she demanded as she tried to find her gun.

"I am going to let you up and we are going to go to the bus," Chihiro ordered in a clear, concise voice. "If you don't, then we are both going to die."

Kaorin didn't pay her much mind as she recalled all of the weapons Chihiro kept on her. "What did you do to Chiyo?!" Kaorin demanded as she slowly moved a hand towards one of Chihiro's fully automatic pistols.

"I told you I didn't do anything!" Chihiro asserted, "She was just venting!" She quickly picked up on a hint of movement and in one swift move jumped away from Kaorin, picked up Kaorin's discarded gun, and pointed it at her old friend. "Get on the bus, now!" Chihiro ordered as she took her eye off of Kaorin to scan the immediate area, "There's no time left!"

Following Chihiro's subtle movements, Kaorin also took a glance around. What she saw sent chills down her spine. Thanks to the gunshots and the flash-bang it would appear as though every giant insect within two kilometers had begun to descend on their location. "It's my fault," Kaorin realized as she entirely forgot about Chihiro and focused entirely on all of the approaching insects.

"Go now!" Chihiro barked as she sheathed her knife while keeping the pistol trained on Kaorin. The stupefied woman didn't budge even a centimeter. "Kaorin get on the damned bus!" Chihiro screamed. When Kaorin still didn't move Chihiro took careful aim and fired a few shots dangerously close to Kaorin's head. "Go!"

A few bullets whizzing by her head was just what Kaorin needed to snap her out of her daze. Kaorin nearly tripped over herself as she suddenly scrambled to get to the safety of the bus. As soon as Kaorin set off Chihiro followed after with all of the insects swarming towards them. When Kaorin reached the bus door she was roughly pulled onto the bus by Chiyo and Osaka. Before she realized what was going on, Kaorin was on the bus and pushed back away from the door as Chiyo and Osaka prepared to help Chihiro on as well. "Hurry up!" Chiyo urged as she started to realize that Chihiro wasn't going to have enough time.

Chihiro also realized the futility of her efforts. The quick-witted woman stopped dead in her tracks and carelessly discarded Kaorin's pistol. "Flash-bang!" she warned as she withdrew her last one and primed it. Chihiro then tossed the device a few meters away before covering her ears and tightly closing her eyes. With a burst of light and a deafening boom the device once again managed to ward away all of the nearby insects and stagger those further away. Thanks to the reprieve given by the invaluable device, Chihiro now had a clear and open path to the bus.

By the time she could orient herself after the blast, Chiyo found Chihiro already stumbling up onto the bus. "Close the door!" Chiyo yelled, due in part to the temporary hearing loss.

"Got it!" Chihiro acknowledged as she quickly worked the door, sealing out the approaching insects.

For several seconds everyone made no effort to move, even as the sounds of carapace on steel roared into existence. It took a few seconds for everyone to recognize a distraught yelling. "Yomi! Yomi! Wake up Yomi!" Tomo desperately shouted as she shook a completely unresponsive Yomi.

Everyone rushed to the scene, minus Kaorin who simply sat in a stupor and made no effort whatsoever to stem the bleeding. Chihiro was the first to arrive to see Tomo kneeling on the floor as she vigorously shook a motionless Yomi who was sprawled out on the bus's seat. "What's going on?!" Chihiro demanded, "What happened?!"

"I don't know!" Tomo asserted as she shook her head, "I don't know!"

Chihiro leaned in and instead of simply shaking the woman she placed a hand on her chest. "She's breathing," she noted aloud. "Well what happened?" Chihiro coaxed as she tried to keep a level head, "When did this happen?"

"I-I don't know!" Tomo repeated as she continued to shake Yomi.

"How can you not know!?" Chihiro demanded as she started to pry Tomo off of Yomi.

As soon as Chihiro pulled her away from Yomi, Tomo latched onto Chihiro and immediately started to cry as her worries started to overflow. "I-I cried myself to sleep, but-but I…When I woke up she-she was like this!"

Chihiro did her best to stay calm and take charge of the delicate situation. "Chiyo, stay here with Yomi and see what you can do," she ordered before turning to Osaka. "You get on the radio and see if Sakaki can help out at all," Chihiro calmly instructed the spacey woman. Chihiro then looked to the mess of a woman in her arms. "What am I supposed to do with this?" she awkwardly thought as she had no clue how she should deal with the sobbing woman.

Chiyo followed orders and did her best to assess Yomi's condition while Osaka started making her way to the front of the bus to the radio. As the Osakan made her way to the radio she bumped past Kaorin, stirring the woman from her stupor. The first thing that registered for Kaorin was the pain from the fresh wound in her neck. She brought her hand up to the wound and pressed gently up against it as she recounted the events that just happened. Her mind struggled to keep up as her thoughts raced about in a panic. Kaorin instinctively reached for her pistol with her free hand only to discover it missing. "Where did it go?" she mumbled before she remembered that she had lost it in her fight with Chihiro. Conceding to the loss of her firearm she immediately looked about the bus for a new piece. Kaorin woozily got to her feet and started making her way to the back of the bus, bumping past a preoccupied Chihiro on her way to the stockpile of arms. Once she had gotten to the small pile of weapons and ammunition she eagerly retrieved a new pistol, a new rifle, and ammo for both.

While Kaorin obtained her new weapons from the bus's limited supply, Osaka got on the radio to ask for Sakaki's expertise. "Hey, can you guys hear me?" Osaka spoke into the receiver, "I need ta talk ta Sakaki."

--Back at the police station--

Osaka's plea reached the ears of Sakaki and Kagura, but they could barely be heard over the loud sounds in the background caused by the bugs scraping and banging against the bus's armor. Sakaki climbed to her feet with a little help from Kagura and quickly made it to the radio. "Is everything okay?" Sakaki quickly asked, "It's hard to hear you."

"That's just tha bugs," Osaka replied without any concern for the beasts. "But that's not tha problem," the spacey girl went on to explain, "There's somethin' wrong with Yomi so we need ya ta look at her."

Kagura and Sakaki shared a glance before Sakaki responded to Osaka's strange request. "I obviously can't take a look," Sakaki pointed out, "You'd have to bring her here."

"Ah, I guess-" Osaka started, but the transmission cut off after the sounds of gunshots and a yelp.

Sakaki and Kagura anxiously waited for another reply, but after several agonizing seconds it appeared as though one wasn't coming. "Osaka! What was that?" Kagura demanded after snatching the receiver from Sakaki, "Please respond!" After several more seconds of static, Kagura desperately sent another transmission. "Can you hear me?!" she demanded, "Please respond!" Once again, only the sounds of static greeted her back. "What-What happened?" Kagura dumbly asked Sakaki as she set down the receiver.

Sakaki sedately abandoned the radio and slowly limped back to the cot and sat down on it. "We'll have to wait for them to tell us, I suppose," Sakaki informed Kagura in a somewhat desperate voice.

"What are you talking about?!" Kagura demanded, "If they were going to tell us they'd respond!" She then turned her gaze back to the radio that still echoed only static. "Something happened!" Kagura forcefully announced, "We have to do something!"

"What do you plan on doing with just one arm?" Sakaki asked rhetorically and just a little cruelly. "Besides that," she continued before Kagura could retort, "If it's just a problem with the radio then they will get in touch soon or arrive later in the bus."

Kagura shook her head as she continued to protest. "But what if they got attacked by bugs or something and are in big trouble?!" she argued, "We have to do something!"

"If that's the case," Sakaki reasoned as she retrieved a familiar bottle of pills, "then they'd be dead long before we could get there and so there's really nothing we can do." She then popped a couple of the pills into her mouth and swallowed before lying down. "We just need to have faith in them and hope everything turns out okay," Sakaki mumbled as she wrapped her arms around herself. "I moved too fast and now it really hurts," the tall girl explained as she seemed to change the subject, "I'm going to take a nap. Please don't do anything too reckless."

"How can she be so calm about this!?" Kagura fretted as she gnawed on her thumbnail. For a moment she glanced at the dwindling stockpile of weaponry and considered going out and trying to save their friends from whatever peril prevented them from getting in touch, but dismissed the idea almost instantly. At best she could hold a pistol and just the simple task of changing the clip was nearly impossible for the injured woman. "Damn it all," she mentally cursed as her hand hovered over her most recent gunshot wound, "I feel so useless."

--A short time earlier on the bus--

"I obviously can't take a look," Sakaki's voice crackled from the radio, "You'd have to bring her here."

It took the spacey girl a moment to process the facts before responding. "Ah, I guess…" she started, but before she could finish the receiver in her hand exploded causing the woman to let out a yelp. "How did that happen?" she wondered aloud as she stared at her inexplicably uninjured hand that held the receiver only moments ago. Preoccupied with the seemingly bizarre situation she failed to hear Kagura's pleas coming from the radio and the gunfire from the back of the bus.

However, Osaka was the only one that failed to notice the gunshots. Chihiro pushed the distraught Tomo against the side of the bus as she herself also did her best to get out of the line of fire. Pressed into the small space of the seat alongside the other three girls, Chihiro quickly drew her revolver and aimed it at the immediate threat. "She's totally lost it," she decided as she aimed for a fatal shot on Kaorin who was purposefully firing in Osaka's general direction. "Sorry, Kaori" Chihiro mumbled aloud as she squeezed the trigger.

"Don't!" a tiny voice protested as Chihiro's aim was interrupted, causing the bullet to miss Kaorin entirely.

"What are you doing!?" Chihiro demanded as she pushed Chiyo away, "She's going to kill Osaka!" With that Chihiro quickly aimed for Kaorin once again, but this time she was interrupted by a loud bang akin to an explosion. Unable to resist her own reflexes, Chihiro's head snapped towards the new, alarming sound. What she saw sent a chill down her spine. A giant insect had the protective lattice that had been guarding the windshield in its jaws. With a few more pops and bangs, the insect managed to tear out a large section of the lattice. "How!?" her mind raced as she quickly abandoned her irrational attack on Kaorin in favor of focusing on the insect as it tried to crawl through the brand new gaping hole in the bus's armor. She holstered her pistol as she tried to locate Osaka who, in the chaos, seemed to have vanished completely. "Osaka!" Chihiro cried out as she attempted to both find the missing woman and locate a more effective weapon, "Where are you?"

"I'm right here!" the clumsy woman shouted over the chaos, although she made no efforts to reveal her location.

Although Chihiro couldn't find Osaka's exact location, the sound of her voice indicated that she was indeed still up near the front of the bus. "Just keep your head down until that bug's dead!" she ordered. After warning Osaka, she kept her eye on the bug as it tried to force its head through the lattice and waited for a lull in Kaorin's firing. As soon as Kaorin stopped to change her clip, Chihiro dashed to the girl's side and grabbed the first gun she saw. She brought the gun to bear only to find the bug missing. "Where did it go?" Chihiro mumbled aloud as she cautiously scanned the interior of the bus.

"It-It ran away," Kaorin informed Chihiro as she still was trying to put the clip into her gun, but was clearly struggling. Her hands were shaking so badly that it took her several seconds to line up the clip properly and reload the gun. "I'm sorry." Kaorin apologized as she sunk to her knees, whole body trembling now. "Even after all of that," she said in a shaky voice, "you still protected me."

"She didn't notice," Chihiro mentally noted. She quickly shook her head to clear her thoughts. This wasn't the time or the place for such things. "Osaka!" She cried out. "Get back here where it's safer!"

"Okay!" Came Osaka's simplistic reply as she crawled out of her hiding place: the bus's stairs.

"We're scrapping this mission for now!" Chihiro announced with authority. "Chiyo, keep an eye on Yomi's condition." After receiving an understanding nod from the young woman she turned to a still distraught Tomo. "Tomo, you and Osaka are to take the rear gun ports, keep the bugs off of us, understood?" she ordered loud enough for the spacey girl to hear her too. Although Tomo didn't respond, Osaka gave an affirmative. Chihiro had to let out an exasperated sigh. "Looks like Tomo's not of much use right now," she mentally observed. "Kaorin, do whatever you can to help out," she ordered the still shaking woman. "I'm counting on you." She added as an afterthought in hopes that the reassurance would steady the girl's aim. Having given everyone instructions, Chihiro quickly went to the front of the bus and pulled onto the cord attached to the receiver, but when she arrived at the end she found only a small piece of plastic still attached. She dropped the useless item and cursed the luck. Abandoning any hope of calling ahead to the station, she instead climbed into the driver's seat and started the bus. "We're getting the hell out of here!" Chihiro shouted as the bus lurched and took off.

--A little later at the police station--

Sakaki had already slipped into a shallow slumber leaving a fuming Kagura to fret over the fate of their friends. The poor girl was already on the verge of tears as she sat hugging her knees. "Am I really going to have to continue with only Sakaki by my side?" she sadly wondered to herself as she remembered the relatively lonely days she had spent with only Osaka for company. She did her best to dispel the depressing thoughts as she cast a glance at the radio for what seemed like the millionth time. "They can't be dead," she whispered as she tried to reassure herself, "After all, we've beaten the odds every time before." She wasn't convinced by her own boasts. Kagura sighed and stood up, taking the time to pat the dirt off of her rear despite the futility of the effort. She was driving herself insane and she knew it. "I have to get mind off of this somehow," she thought as she looked at Sakaki peacefully slumbering. All of her worries quickly evaporated into anger as she saw how carefree Sakaki was. "What the hell is wrong with you!?" she inadvertently blurted out loud as she allowed her emotions to get the better of her.

The yelling easily woke the tall woman from her silent slumber. Although she was quite surprised, Sakaki barely moved at all in response to Kagura's yelling, a conditioned response learned from the pain any sudden movement caused her in the past few weeks. And because of her sleepy daze Sakaki didn't really catch any of what Kagura said, even though she realized that the woman had been yelling about something. "You're being too noisy," Sakaki mumbled as she carefully shifted into a more comfortable position on her cot.

"Don't go back to sleep!" Kagura demanded.

"I'm tired," Sakaki complained. "Leave me be."

"No way!" Kagura outright refused as she approached the prone woman. "I'm not gonna quit bugging you until you tell me what the hell has gotten into you!"

"You're talking nonsense," Sakaki deflected as she covered her eyes with her arm in a feeble attempt to block out Kagura.

"Look at me!" Kagura demanded as she irately flung Sakaki's arm away from her face, forgetting for a moment the fragile state the woman was in. Although Sakaki yelped at the pain the movement caused, Kagura didn't seem to empathize with the taller woman at all. "You've been acting weird for a while now and it's starting to drive me nuts!" Kagura barked.

Ignoring Kagura's demands, Sakaki refused to look Kagura in the eye. Instead she cast her gaze at a blank wall. "It's not…" Sakaki meekly defended herself, "I haven't changed." Even Sakaki knew that the feeble lie would do little to quell her friend's irritation. "Just leave me alone."

Kagura had half a mind to slap her. Had Sakaki not been injured she probably would have. "I'm not going to leave you alone!" Kagura angrily announced, "And you have changed!" She motioned her one good arm towards the radio. "The Sakaki I know would have been very upset by that! The Sakaki I know cared enough about her friends to be at least a little worried! The Sakaki I know would have tried to fix my shoulder when I got shot! You haven't done anything other than lie around and sleep! Where is the Sakaki I know?!"

Not surprisingly, Sakaki seemed much more unfazed by Kagura's rant than she should have been. She continued to stare at the wall and away from Kagura's burning gaze. "It's…not your problem," Sakaki deflected. "Just let it go," she mumbled more than spoke, "please."

Much of Kagura's anger melted away as she realized that she had gotten Sakaki to open up, even if just a little. It quickly dawned on her, however, that she now had a much more treacherous path ahead. One misstep and Sakaki would likely seize up again and refuse to speak to her, but she still had to find the words that could coax Sakaki into revealing what it was that was haunting her. "S-Sorry I snapped at you," Kagura awkwardly apologized as she tried to find the right words.

After a moment, a ghost of a smile formed on Sakaki's lips as she breathed a sigh of relief. "It looks like they made it—I'm glad." The tall woman breathed as she closed her eyes and managed to relax.

Kagura was clearly baffled by Sakaki's strange statement. "What on earth are you talking about?" The athletic woman asked, not entirely sure what was going on.

"Listen," Sakaki instructed.

"To what?" Kagura asked as she glanced around the cell they had come to call home. After a moment of silence Kagura shook her head. "I don't hear anything."

Sakaki put a finger to her lips in the universal sign for silence to put a stop to Kagura's talking. "Listen." She repeated.

Kagura, once again, humored Sakaki and tried to listen to what it was the taller woman was hearing. Kagura closed her eyes and tried to focus all of her consciousness on detecting some illusive sound. This time she heard it. That unmistakable sound, though faint and distant, brought hope to Kagura's heart as her eyes snapped open and a smile formed on her lips. "Gunfire!" Kagura happily exclaimed. "The others must be coming back!" Kagura immediately moved to the cell's door, but hesitated. Surely the gunshots would bring in a bunch of bugs, and neither Kagura nor Sakaki could wield a gun effectively. "I guess we just have to wait for them." Kagura realized with a bit of disappointment in her voice.

"We have to prepare for them." Sakaki countered as she struggled to her feet. However, as soon as she was on her feet, the tall woman staggered and collapsed painfully back down onto the cot.

"Sakaki!" Kagura cried out worriedly as she shot to the woman's side, "are you all right?!"

The woman in question moaned as her eyes fluttered open. "That hurt," she whined as she winced in pain.

"You can't afford to do anything reckless in your condition." Kagura rebuked. "Just stay here and rest."

Sakaki shook her head as she tried to get up again. "They need me," she feebly argued, "Yomi's in trouble."

"There's nothing you can do until they get in here." Kagura pointed out as she gently kept Sakaki from getting up.

Sakaki didn't have the energy to argue. She simply laid back and closed her eyes. "I hope she's okay."

"Me too." Kagura agreed as the duo anxiously awaited the arrival of the others.

It took several minutes for the gunfire to sound from just outside the station, signaling the arrival of the bus. Then it took many more agonizing minutes for the gunfire to die down as the insects were slaughtered. After that it was only a few moments before Tomo burst in. "Sakaki!" she screeched as she moved to the cell door and quickly opened it. "You have to take a look at Yomi! Something is really wrong with her!"

Kagura helped Sakaki up again as the tall woman struggled to her feet. "What happened?" Sakaki asked as she struggled to stay standing.

"We don't know!" Tomo wailed as she anxiously watched the door, awaiting the arrival of her friend. "She's breathing," she anxiously explained as she kept looking between Sakaki and the open door, "but she won't wake up at all."

"Did she hit her head again?" Kagura asked as she too looked to the door.

"Impossible," Tomo refuted as finally Chihiro came through the door backwards. She was carrying the unmoving Yomi while Kaorin held up the unconscious woman's feet.

The four women all quickly made it into the small cell followed by Chiyo and Osaka who were acting as rearguard. They set Yomi down on Sakaki's cot as the group's de facto doctor immediately tried to find a diagnosis. "You are certain she didn't hit her head?" Sakaki asked as she looked for, and found, Yomi's vitals.

"I know she didn't!" Tomo asserted.

Kaorin shook her head. "She might have." She contradicted Tomo's statement. "A bug hit her in the chest and knocked her flat on her back," Kaorin explained, "but that was a while before she…umm…she fell asleep."

At hearing that Yomi had been hit in the chest Sakaki quickly finished the task of checking Yomi's pupils and pulled her shirt up revealing some very painful looking bruises on her chest. Sakaki checked and tried to make certain that none of the ribs were broken as she quickly tried to come up with a logical excuse for Yomi's condition. "She had these wounds before she fell unconscious?" the would-be doctor asked as she replaced Yomi's shirt, thankful that none of the ribs appeared to be broken.

"Yeah, it was just before we sent out the radio call for help." Kaorin informed Sakaki. "It hit her square in the chest, but she got right back up." She explained as she did her best to help Sakaki in any way she could. After all, with Chihiro and her at odds the title of Kaorin's best friend surely fell squarely on Yomi's shoulders. In fact, it would seem that Yomi was on a very, very short list of people that weren't dead or hated her. "You can fix her, right?" Kaorin pleaded.

Sakaki didn't answer the question. "How long?" she cryptically asked as she took Yomi's vitals again, unsure of what else she could do.

"Before she passed out?" Kaorin asked. Receiving a nod from Sakaki she continued, "It was a good while, an hour—maybe longer." Kaorin then looked to Tomo. "How long did it take her to fall asleep?"

Tomo shook her head. "She fell asleep after me," she choked out as her gaze never left her friend, "so I don't know."

"She must've taken some medicine to alleviate the pain." Sakaki observed, "If she took too much, it could lead to this."

"I-I gave her three pills," Kaorin quickly answered. "She was in a lot of pain and we usually take two, so I thought one more couldn't hurt too much."

Sakaki shook her head. "That's a lot," she explained, "but not enough for this." "Don't take more than two at once though." She added as an afterthought. "You're really only supposed to take one."

Kaorin breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't inadvertently caused her friend's distress, though they still didn't have any answers. She once again thought back to the day's earlier events to try and find some clue or answer. It didn't take long for her eureka moment, although she kind of wished she hadn't. "What-What about five?" she sheepishly asked, "Is five too many?"

"I thought you said you gave her three!" Tomo snapped as she tore her gaze away from Yomi to glare at Kaorin.

"Five might do this," Sakaki informed them, seemingly oblivious to the explosive air the room had taken.

"I gave her three," Kaorin guiltily admitted, "but I forgot that she already took two just after we got you to safety."

"You did this to her?!" Tomo screamed as Chihiro put a hand on the policewoman's shoulder. It wasn't to comfort or reassure the distraught woman, but rather to hold her back from anything she might regret.

"I think she'll be okay then," Sakaki told the others as she slumped down to her knees and actually rested her head on the unconscious girl. "I need to lie down," she sedately complained.

"You can't just give up!" Tomo demanded. "And how do you know she'll be okay?!"

"If she took it hours ago then there isn't a problem," Sakaki explained as Kagura, unsuccessfully, tried to pull her up. "The medicine's effects starts to decline slowly after the first hour or so. If that's the case then she's already started to recover."

Tomo shook her head. "But she won't wake up!"

"Give it time," Sakaki assured as she finally relented and let Kagura pull her back to her feet. "She will probably wake up soon."

"Probably?!" Tomo taunted. "Probably doesn't mean anything!"

"Probably or not, I can't do any more here," Sakaki coolly brushed Tomo off. "I need to lie down."

Tomo easily shrugged Chihiro's hand off and quickly closed the distance between her and Sakaki and smacked the tall woman with all the strength she could muster, nearly knocking Sakaki out of Kagura's grasp. "Your rest can wait! Yomi needs to wake up! So wake her up! Make her better!"

"No," Sakaki boldly refused.

Tomo could barely believe her ears. Didn't Sakaki care at all about Yomi? Enraged, Tomo drew her gun and put it in Sakaki's face. "Fix her, now!" She demanded as tears finally broke free and rolled down her cheeks.

"When I say I can't help any more then I mean it." Sakaki scolded as her own anger began to show. "Do you think I'm a god, that I can magically just make her all better?"

"N-No," Tomo waivered as the gun in her hand started to shake like a leaf, "but you know what's wrong, so you have to know how to fix it, right?"

Unlike Tomo, Sakaki didn't falter at all. Having a gun in her face didn't seem to faze her in the least. "Time fixes it."

"There has to be something else!" Tomo challenged. "I know there are treatments for overdose other than just waiting!"

"It's too late for charcoal, and giving her anything to counteract the drug would only generate additional risks," Sakaki elaborated. "Waiting is the best—the safest option."

Tomo reluctantly dropped her pistol to her side and stepped back from Sakaki. "S-Sorry."

"I'll take that," Chihiro mumbled as she deftly snatched the pistol from Tomo's feeble grasp.

"Yomi's gonna be okay," Kagura announced, doing her best to sound upbeat, "so there really isn't anything to be angry or worried about, right?"

"Right!" Chiyo stepped in, trying to help keep the peace. Despite the reassurances everyone still worried for Yomi's wellbeing, especially Tomo. And although it looked like Yomi would be okay, Kaorin still felt guilty about inadvertently causing this incident and putting Yomi in this condition. Seeing that everyone wasn't about to just suddenly be happy and full of joy Chiyo spoke up again. "I know it's a little late, but let's have lunch!"

"Sounds great," Kagura said, once again putting on a brave face. "And let's get you into the other cell so you can lie down." She said to the woman right next to her.

The duo barely made it into the adjacent cell when Sakaki stopped and erupted into a coughing fit, a very unpleasant thing given Sakaki's condition. When she removed her hand from her mouth a significant amount of blood was visible on her palm. Kagura let out an audible gasp at the sight, but was cut off before she could speak her mind. "Don't say anything," Sakaki quickly pleaded as she did her best to covertly wipe the blood away, "please."

A/N: It may take longer and longer for me to turn out chapters, but I stand by my vow to see this story through to the end! It just seems that I've been losing interest more and more and I cannot seem to find an ounce of inspiration, even though my favorite parts are soon to arrive. If anyone has any advice to pull me from my slump I'd love the encouragement. Otherwise I can only ask that you, my cherished readers, are patient enough to wait for the next chapter. In my boredom I have come up with another story or three, but I refuse to take on any more projects until I finish those at hand, be it this story or Wish. Whichever is finished first.