He awoke to blood on the floor.

The screams reached him slowly, as if he were underwater. He struggled to surface and stood groggily, leaning against the wall. He felt like metal sheets were being scraped together inside his head. Something hit the ground with a sodden thump.

"Mai?" His voice was hoarse. How long had they been down there?

His eyes opened.

The shiki was gone. The room was now lit by the flashlight, its face shining towards the ceiling. Mai knelt in the halo of light with her back to him, leaning over something. As he glanced around, he noticed the floor was gleaming, like a polished surface or—

Blood.

The floor was slick with it, and as he stumbled closer, he saw that Mai was shaking.

"Mai?"

She turned to him; he took a step back.

Her eyes...

"What happened?"

"We—we were attacked. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen to me—"

He peered over her and blanched. Kasai was curled on the ground, bleeding from two large cuts that sliced across his chest. His crisp shirt was now soaked in blood, sweat matting his curly hair to his head.

"What do we do?" She turned to him, tears streaking down her face.

"Are you alright?"

"Me?" Her mouth opened and closed in surprise. "I—I'm fine, Naru! Now isn't the time, and to be honest, I'm a little more concerned with Kasai-san right now! He's bleeding out before our eyes and all he did was try to protect me—" She sniffed, mopping up some of Kasai's blood off his chest then sighed in frustration before hooking a hand underneath his collar and tugging, snapping the buttons off. Kasai gave an unconscious groan.

"You're going to be okay, Kasai-san. You hear me? You'll be absolutely fine." She said softly, before she leaned back on her knees, shedded Kasai's coat and lifted her shirt over her head.

"Mai, what the hell are you—?"

She pressed her balled up shirt to Kasai's chest then looked up at him. They sat there in silence, her hands on Kasai's chest, before she knotted the shirt behind his back and sat down, wiping her blood stained hands on her plain undershirt and shrugging Kasai's coat on again.

"I think he should be…better now."

Naru said nothing, and sat down quietly against the wall.

"Where did you learn that?"

"Ayako taught me a few things…pressure to the wounds, keeping it elevated, things like that." Mai sniffled, sitting next to him. "Just in case, you know?"

"Yes." Naru laid his head against the wall. "Just in case."

"You saved his life, Mai."

"My dad always said I was bound to do something great one day…" She smiled and he stared at her for a few more moments. How did she not know? Did she not feel anything? Surely she had noticed—

"Do you feel alright?"

She sighed irately.

"I already told you, I'm fine, it wasn't me that thing attacked…"

"Nothing feels wrong?"

She turned her gaze to him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

"No…why? What's wrong? You're acting really odd."

"Your eyes, Mai."

"My…what?"

"They're completely white."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Takigawa asked, his eyes lined with purple fatigue.

"Not until the shiki returns." Lin answered monotonously. "When it does, we'll know where they are."

"I hate this!" Takigawa slammed his hand on the wall.

"Hosho, calm down—" Ayako moved to lay a hand on his shoulder, but he jerked away.

"Calm down?" He turned to her, his face twisted in anger. "They could be dead, Ayako! Dead! And we don't know where in the seven hells they are—!"

"Takigawa—" John began.

"We've all been up for nearly 36 hours straight, and with nothing to show for it!"

"You're exhausted. You just need some sleep is all—"

"Don't tell me what I need—"

He suddenly fell to the floor, unconscious. Lin stood above him as he shrugged his sleeve back down, a grim expression on his face.

"Hey Lin?" Ayako asked and he turned to her. "What just happened?"

"He needed sleep." Lin answered, a glint of a smile appearing on his face.

"You did this?"

"You could say that, yes."

"Should we….move him, or something?"

They all looked down at Takigawa, snoring softly on the carpet.

"I think it'd be best for the carpeting." Lin muttered.

"Do you think we could fit him into one of the chairs nearby? Maybe curl him into a ball—?"

A gasp stole the group's focus to the corner of the room, where Masako sat, white faced, with a terrified expression.

"Something terrible has happened."

"What?" Mai scoffed. "Don't be stupid—"

"I'm stating the obvious, Mai. It's a little unsettling to be honest—"

"Okay, well it's not bothering me, so we'll deal with it later…right now, I've got more pressing concerns, like keeping him alive…Do we have any food at all?"

"Well suffice to say I think we're all hungry, but—"

"Not for me, for him." She nodded to Kasai. "He needs to recover after all that blood loss."

"But, if you had let me finish," He muttered. "Unfortunately, we have nothing. So we'll have to make do."

"How long are we going to be here?"

"Until he recovers, most likely. Or at least until we can move him." He said, staring at the floor. He couldn't bring himself to look in her eyes. It was unsettling enough on its own, but looking into blank, paper white, pupil-less eyes instead of hers...it just wasn't right.

"I'm sorry." He barely heard her, even in their silence.

"What?"

She looked up at him, and past her disconcerting stare, he saw tears pricking at her eyes.

"I'm scaring you. I'm sorry, I don't know what this," She waved her hand over her eyes. "Is, but I didn't mean for it to happen."

"Mai, it's not your fault. None of this was anything you could've prevented. Whatever this thing is, it's trying to break us. It's not going to work."

"This isn't some TV show, Naru. We don't know how this will end. We could be stuck down here—"

"Don't talk like that." He said sternly. "You start thinking thoughts like those, and we will be."

"Naru? There's something I've wanted to tell you." He looked at her and she took it as permission to continue. "A few days ago, right before the ball I think, I woke up and I couldn't see."

"You couldn't see? As in you were—"

"Blind, yes. But it passed after a few minutes. I didn't think much of it. Then we had the ball and I forgot all about it, because, you know, kissing a god like you—"

"How flattering—"

"—kind of put that out of my mind, but that night it happened again. I was getting ready for bed, and suddenly I couldn't see. It was like someone had tied something over my eyes…I managed to find my bed, and the next morning, I was fine again."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought it wasn't a big deal…I thought maybe if I told you, I'd be…wasting your time."

"Wasting my—Mai, you could never waste my time. Just…mishandle it." She smiled for a moment and his face turned solemn. "You can tell me anything you want, Mai. I wouldn't see you any different; I wouldn't love you any less."

"You've never said it, you know."

"Never said what? That you can talk to me? I didn't think there was any need, you do it all the time—"

"No, stupid. That you, you know...love me."

"I thought it was obvious."

"Yes, I've heard that years of demanding tea and baring insults are one's most passionate ways of declaring themselves."

"Well, I do, Mai. I never felt the need to declare it to everyone."

"I didn't ask you to."

"I know that, but it's—"

The flashlight winked out as a cool draft swept through the room.

"This is what happened last time." Mai said as she grabbed Naru's jacket.

"Stay behind me—"

A high pitched screech pierced through the tunnels, echoing through the silence. The only light was the pure, unnatural glowing of Mai's eyes. As the screeching grew closer, Mai's eyes grew brighter.

Suddenly Naru understood what had happened to her.

"Mai, whatever you do, don't—"

Something flew into the room with a great rushing of wings and gusts of air. A snarl cut right through his chest, into the pit of his heart as a rancid smell, like old meat, wet fur and sulfur, filled his nose. The air was cold, a deep, heavy breathing surrounding them. Naru felt it fan with a damp warmness against the back of his neck.

A bright droplet splashed to the ground, shimmering in the darkness, then blossomed into a large dome, barely covering the three of them.

"Mai, are you doing this?"

"I think so." She answered quietly.

The darkness itself seemed to lash out at them, splashing against the dome like spilled ink. Mai twitched, as if in a reflex.

"I can feel the darkness in your heart…" A deep, hoarse voice sounded through the room. "I can smell your fears, Taniyama Mai. Never wanted by anyone, least of all by the mother who left you at birth, and the father who gave you up—" A shadow leapt across the darkness, onto the other side of the room. "Never good enough to deserve a home or even someone to love you—"

Something burst from the dome, a bright orb, and hurled through the darkness before smashing into the wall, illuminating the room for a brief second. A pair of flickering grey eyes, like television static, flashed for a moment.

"I smell the blood in your veins, the sweat on your face, the tissue of your heart, the fat on your bones…I smell life. And it shall be mine."

Naru reached out to the flashlight and it hovered in the air. He stared at it, focusing, and pushed outward. The flashlight clicked on and a beam blinded them for a moment. He sent it towards the creature, and it emitted a scream that sent the two to the ground in pain.

A talon whistled through the air, and sliced through the dome, which flickered feebly, then receded.

"You're growing weak." The voice spoke. "Too weak to fight anymore…or to play the protectorate."

A force shoved into Naru, throwing him against the wall. He shouted in pain as his shoulder hit the rock harshly, and an intense pain swept over him. He felt as if his shoulder had splintered from his body and fought back the wave of nausea.

"Don't touch him!" Mai yelled, lashing out with a whip of white energy. Naru felt the heat sting his face.

"You want me so bad? Then take me! Take me instead!"

"No—Mai, don't—"

It was too late.

The white light fled from Mai's eyes and she fell to the ground. Summoning all the anger he had, all the rage that this creature dared to hurt her, while he was here no less, he pushed.

The wall of energy slammed into the demon and it was hurled against the walls with a shriek. Needles began to stab straight through his skull, and he felt heat sear behind his eyes. He collapsed to the ground, numbly trying to grasp at consciousness.

The last thing he heard was the sound of a body being dragged away, brushing against a damp floor.