6. Revelation and Confusion

**Earlier.**

Torako opened her eyes and groaned. How long had she been out? She remembered standing in the dark, a flash of metal in her eyes . . . then nothing. Ugghhh, her head hurt. She felt torn skin under crusted blood. She looked around; she was lying in grass, the sun shining through leaves above her. She sat up and fought a wave of nausea. What had happened?

A hammer. She remembered now. Someone had hit her with a hammer. Last night? She'd been . . . she'd been on watch? _Oh god, the others._ Torako got unsteadily to her feet. How fast could she move? It didn't matter, she had to hurry.

She got moving, but it took a minute to figure out which direction to go in. She closed her eyes and pressed her hands to her forehead, trying to will the world to stop spinning. _Okay Torako . . . take it easy. You've been hit on the head before. You'll be fine, just don't get stupid._ When the spinning finally stopped she opened her eyes. There was the house. She started toward it.

She got ten steps before her foot hit a leg. She turned, saw Oikawa, bent double and vomited. Torako backed away from the body until she hit a tree, where she sank to her knees. She hadn't known Kurosawa or that Kaorin girl, so while she knew their deaths were terrible she couldn't feel the full weight of their loss. She'd known Oikawa though. She'd known her since her first year in high school, they'd filled a shoe locker with mud together. Of their group Oikawa had been the most normal one, neither a childish prankster like Asagi nor a perpetually frowning pushover like she was.

Torako forced herself to stand. Okay, her friend was dead. Who else had been killed while she was out? Yomi? Tomo? _Oh please god, not Tomo._ The sadness that filled her was replaced then by dread as she got moving again. What would she find when she got there?

As she neared the house Torako heard screaming. Was it Tomo, or was it her imagination? She leaned against Kurosawa's car and waited for the dizziness to pass.

"YOMIIIIII!"

That was definitely Tomo. The dizziness and nausea were pushed aside, replaced by determination and anger. She took a step forward.

A crash from inside. Kagura's voice this time, shouting "_Run, _you idiot!" A pained scream as Torako reached the porch. She stepped inside. No hesitation; she was too angry to worry. She surveyed the carnage as she stalked through the room. Kagura was slumped over by the wall, with blood flowing from her back. Her legs moved feebly; she was still alive. Yomi was in front of the couch. She wasn't moving. Torako didn't have time to grieve. _Where's Tomo?_ There, the kitchen. Her sister was backing up against the counter, her attention focused on the person in front of her. They were holding a knife.

"Get away from her, you _bitch!_"

The killer whirled, and Torako was looking down into a horned face with a silly grin. "Wha-" was all they managed before her right hook landed, knocking them to the floor. Torako didn't wait for them to get up. She was straddling them, grabbing the collar of their bathrobe and slamming her fist into the cracked plastic face until she wasn't sure if the blood was from their face or her knuckles. When she was satisfied that they wouldn't be getting up right away she picked up the dropped knife and went to her stunned sister.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she cut the rope tying her wrists.

"YOU'RE ALIVE!" Tomo cried and threw her arms around her. "I told them . . ."

Torako nodded and gently pushed her away. "Yeah, and we need to get out of here. Now."

Tomo nodded as Torako pushed the knife into her hands. "Free the others and get them out of here," she said. While Tomo helped Sakaki out the door Torako went back to their assailant where she lay on the floor whimpering. With her foot she rolled her onto her back before kicking the mask off. " . . . _You?_" Staring up at her with wild, terrified eyes was Kaorin. Torako took a step back. "What . . . your friends . . . why?"

Across the room Kagura struggled to her feet, whimpering in pain.

Kaorin's bloody lips moved. "She . . . she told me she'd killed you . . ."

Torako's scowl deepened. "What?"

"TORAKO BEHIND YOU!"

Torako's eyes went wide and she turned just in time to see a second masked attacker diving at her with a knife. She put her hand up instinctively and screamed as the blade punched straight through her palm. Weakened by pain, she fell to the the floor with the second attacker on top of her, pushing down on the knife with their full weight. Out of the corner of her eye Torako saw Kaorin scramble to her feet and make a run at a shocked Kagura. As the distance closed the surprise on her face was replaced by rage.

"You little bitch!" Kagura roared at her, grabbing up a shard of glass and meeting her charge. She swung the glass, burying it in Kaorin's side. As the smaller girl grabbed for it Kagura's fist swung under her arms and drove into her midsection, feeling a satisfying crack as the glass shattered inside her body. "How's that feel?!" she asked angrily as she slammed her fist into Kaorin's face as she wailed in pain.

Torako looked away from the scene back at her own opponent. Her arms couldn't hold out much longer; whatever adrenaline she'd been running on was starting to run out, and her scrawny arms couldn't do the job themselves. Trying and failing to ignore the pain in her hand she began forcing the blade sideways away from her throat. She didn't quite make it as far as she'd hoped, and she felt the tip stab into her shoulder.

Then the weight on her chest was abruptly lifted, and the knife was yanked painfully from her shoulder and hand. Torako opened her eyes to see her sister wrestling with the second attacker, dragging them back with her arm around their throat. "Tomo be careful!"

"Run, Torako!"

Torako was just getting to her feet as the attacker raised the knife above their head and plunged it down and back into Tomo's side.

**-Author Notes-**

Well, looks like there's only one chapter to go before this godawful confusing make-up-as-I-go catastrophe is finally over.

It _about time._