Disclaimer: I don't- please refer to previous chapters.

Authoress Note: So? Have you figured out who the man was one wanted to find Kitani? What will Shido do now? What will Hex and Sakashima do to Shido if they can't find Cain? All are questions with answers coming soon!

A mile downstream, Cain burst from the swift water. Kitani's limp body held tightly in his arms. He'd lost his heavy wool cloak a while back. It had nearly drug him to the bottom. His startched white shirt was soaked and clinging to him like a second skin. The sun was dangerously close. He heaved Kitani in her drenched nightgown up onto the bank. Lying her down, he looked to the horizon then about him frantically. He had to find shelter. Within moments the both of them would be well on their ways to being piles of dust. He spotted a small cave carved into the raised bank. And small meant just barely enough room for the both of them. It wouldn't protect them from the sun, but he could change that. Lifting her and slinging her over his shoulder, he approached the cave. Kneeling, he leaned her in his shadow and began to dig.

He took handful after handful of dirt and flung it out into the water. He shoveled and scraped then made a sharp turn and began carving out a chamber where the sun couldn't get to. A sharp scent filled his scenses. It was the smell of dawn. He turned to see the sliver of the sun at the horizon then frantically scrambled out into the twilight to pull Kitani inside. She was slightly blackened and bright red where she wasn't, even the nightgown hadn't protected her slender shoulders from the fiery rays. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his back into the chamber until they sat in utter darkness. The short tunnel leading to the chamber was barely big enough to get them both in at the same time, but once int the hollow, there was a little more room. It was cool and damp and dark. Cain sighed. Safe.

He stared off into the blackness until there was a stinging in his eyes. His throat tightened as Kitani's scent filled the small chamber. It was all his fault. He was the reason that she was in this condition. If only he hadn't of left her, she wouldn't have been alone with Shido like that. Shido. Why had he tried to chase her off? Was he jealous? But the thought of the human-loving fool being jealous over him seemed absurd. There was no way. But, if that wasn't the reason, what was? He held her close. Sure a dead body wasn't a great source of body heat, but he had to at least try to warm her up. He couldn't just let her fade. But at this point, there was nothing left that he could do. The sun had risen and his mind was beginning to cloud. Kitani lay his arms, fast asleep. Their kind sleep like the dead, literally. It even got to the point that their breathing and heartbeat stopped. By day, they were nothing but corpses.

Cain sighed to himself. There was nothing left to do but sleep and hope that her preternatural anatomy would save her. BUt was that even hoping for too much? Had she already passed on? He couldn't tell. The fog of sleep came in another, thicker, wave and sent his mind reeling. He drew in a deep breath, the only breath he would be taking for the day, and let himself fall into the darkness of the daytime slumber he'd lived with for the last four hundred years.

Another authoress note: I love cutesy moments!