Hey guys, I'm back! Finally, our exams are over and Christmas vacation is here…

I'd also like to thank you all once again for your wonderful reviews!

I was feeling a bit lazy but then since it's Christmas, consider this as my Christmas present to you guys, alright? I'm sorry if it came a bit late though… Oh and a warning for just one piece of offensive language somewhere near the end.

And now, on with the story!

From last chapter:

"We'll find you Natsumi, I promise."

(Ban's group)

"It's been an hour since we've separated and we still haven't found anything! God, how long is this gonna take? If this keeps up, I'm going to run out of cigarettes pretty soon… dammit." Ban thought as he, Himiko, Shido and Akabane wandered through the deserted halls of Mugenjou.

Suddenly, Himiko stopped and sighed exasperatedly, "Alright, that's it. We are officially lost."

"How can we be lost!? You have your tracking scent out don't you?" yelled Ban.

"Of course I do!" snapped Himiko. "I'm just not familiar with the pathways here in Mugenjou. Sheesh, if you think you're so smart, why don't you lead us straight to Natsumi?"

"Looks like we'll just have to retrace our steps." said Akabane, trying to defuse a brewing argument.

"Jackal's right guys. We won't get anywhere by arguing." added Shido. This surprised Ban a little since he knew that Shido was always looking for a chance to leap at his throat.

He cocked an eyebrow at this, which caused the Beastmaster to reply, "I just want to get this job over with."

"Probably because you want to be back in your darling Madoka's arms again." Ban snickered. Shido growled and would have done something rather destructive to Ban had Himiko not stopped him. "You said you wanted to finish the job right? Well, arguing isn't going to help you in anyway way whatsoever." Himiko told him. She didn't like it when they argued. It was so annoying since they seemed like little kids arguing over a lollipop.

Ban sighed. "Hang on," he said as he fished out his cigarette pack and lighter from his pocket. He then took out the last one inside the pack before throwing it carelessly on the hard floor.

"And what do you think you're doing?" snapped Himiko. "We don't have time for this you know!"

"I'm just going to light a cigarette, that's all. This won't take long anyway." He replied as he leaned against the cold metal wall.

All of a sudden, he released a startled grunt as he suddenly fell backwards as the wall behind him gave way.

"Ban! Are you alright?" asked Himiko worriedly. Which led her to think, "Why am I so worried about him all of a sudden?"

"I'm fine." He replied. Turning, he took a look at the room he had fallen into. It was dark and there were a few swords on the wall. He couldn't make out much since his eyes were still adjusting to the darkness.

"Well what have we here?" commented Akabane.

Shido stepped into the room just as Ban picked himself up from the floor.

"Looks like no one's here. Come on, we have to get going." He told Shido as he turned towards the hallway. "Well don't just stand there!" he said impatiently, "We have to go!"

Shido shot him a glare that silenced Ban. "Somebody's here."

Ban raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? I don't see anyone here."

The Beastmaster smirked. "You just have bad eyesight, that's all. I didn't really expect much from you anyway."

Ban growled at this and was about to say something just as insulting when suddenly a voice cut in.

"Ban-kun? Himiko-san? Shido-kun? And Akabane–san? What are you guys doing here?"

(Ginji's group)

"Which way do we go now?" asked Hevn.

They were confronted with a fork and so they had to make a choice: to take the right path or the left path.

"How 'bout we flip a coin?" suggested Ginji, causing Hevn to raise her eyebrows. "At least it's an idea!" he protested.

"I think we ought to go this way," said Jubei, pointing to the right fork.

"What makes you say that?" asked Kazuki.

"I can hear voices and sounds of movement. It's very faint, but I'm sure it's there." He replied.

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" said Ginji, grinning. He seemed to cheerful if you ask me, but maybe it was because he was happy that they were getting closer to Natsumi.

It was silent, save for the sound of Kazuki's bells tinkling.

A few minutes later, (which actually seemed like a few hours) Jubei, began tapping the walls with his left hand.

"Uh, Jubei, why are you doing that?" asked Ginji curiously.

Jubei looked up at him in surprise. "You mean you don't hear it?"

"What are we supposed to hear anyway?" asked Hevn rather rudely. Honestly, who could blame her? She wasn't used to being Mugenjou, wasn't used to the seemingly never-ending darkness.

"Well, I can hear voices and sounds of movement in the distance but it isn't coming from further down the hallway." He replied.

"So where is it coming from?" asked Hevn.

This caused Ginji to turn into his chibi form, climb onto Kazuki's back and say in a frightened tone, "There aren't any ghosts around here right?"

"Of course not." replied Kazuki. "You don't have to be afraid since there aren't any ghosts in Mugenjou, unless you count the virtual images."

Ginji turned back into his normal form and said thankfully, "Thank goodness. I really don't like ghosts."

"Like I said, where is it coming from?" asked Hevn impatiently.

"It's coming from the walls, meaning there must be a secret room here." the Kakei doctor replied

He continued to tap the wall until he stopped, causing everyone behind him to halt as well.

"What is it?" asked Kazuki, holding the strings in his hand carefully. Jubei simply said, "Here. See this?" he rapped the wall with his knuckles, "It sounds hollow when I tap it, so it means that there must be a room behind it."

"So we have to break it?" asked Hevn.

"No." he said. As he did so, he ran his hands against the cold surface of the wall until he pushed a button they hadn't realized was there.

The wall slid open, revealing a large training chamber.

"You're brilliant Jubei." whispered Hevn in awe.

"Arigato, Hevn-san." answered Jubei appreciatively. "Sometimes being blind isn't so bad since you get to enhance your other senses." He added.

The group stepped in the room quietly and carefully. However, as soon as they did this, a knife was suddenly pressed to Kazuki's throat.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" the voice whispered softly.

Another voice yelled into the darkness, apparently to the attacker. "Stop Ryuki, don't hurt them! They're my friends."

"Natsumi?" shouted Ginji, "Is that you?"

"Why on earth are we standing in the dark?" asked a voice which sounded like Ban's

Seconds later, a bright light shone in their eyes. From the looks of it, somebody had switched on a fluorescent light.

"Now why didn't we think of that sooner?" said Ban sarcastically, aiming the insult to Shido, who had turn on lights.

"Oh shut up you snake-bastard."

"Same to you, monkey-trainer."

"Natsumi-chan!" cried Ginji in delight, breaking the tense moment between Ban and Shido. "It is you!"

Natsumi grinned as Ginji turned into his chibi-form and hugged her. As he did so, Ryuki carefully put the knife down. "Sorry 'bout that." He apologized to Kazuki, who nodded and replied, "That's alright."

Ryuki turned to Natsumi. "You might wanna introduce your friends to me."

Ginji stopped hugging Natsumi and pushed her protectively behind his back. "Why should we trust you?" he growled, for an eerie moment sounding like Shido.

"Relax Ginji, he's a friend." whispered Natsumi. "He wants to help me."

Ban cocked an eyebrow. "You sure about this?"

Natsumi turned around to face Ban. "I trust him with my life."

There was a moment of silence that was cut by Natsumi said in exasperation, "Oh for goodness' sakes, you guys don't have to be so tense! Nobody's going to attack you or anything."

"Yet." chimed in Akabane eerily.

"So how did you guys get here?" asked Hevn, directing the question to Himiko.

"Well, I never thought I'd say this but it was thanks to Ban that we got here." She replied

Hevn raised her eyebrow at this. "Oh really?" she said so sarcastically that Ban had to be stopped by Ginji from attacking Hevn.

"Un. If he hadn't leaned on the wall to light a cigarette, we might still have been wondering about this godforsaken place in circles."

"I see." murmured Hevn.

"So how did you get here?" asked Himiko in turn

"Well see, Jubei started tapping the walls then all of a sudden, he pushed this button which caused the wall to slide which let us get in here." summarized Ginji quickly.

"Arigato, Ginj-san." replied Jubei pleasantly..

Ban turned to Natsumi and Ryuki. "Now it's your turn to start explaining." He said.

"Basically, Ryuki's been helping me train for a fight." Began Natsumi.

"What fight?" asked Hevn.

"My boss said that they would have a battle. If she won, she would be free to go but if he won, she would have to stay and do whatever he wished for her to do." replied Ryuki.

"When will this be?" asked Jubei.

"Two days from now." answered Natsumi.

"Two days from now! I am most certainly not waiting that long for a fight!" shouted Ban in disbelief.

"And why is that?" demanded Himiko sharply.

"I don't have anymore cigarettes! How am I supposed to survive?!" he whined desperately.

Kazuki sighed. "And this is the reason why you should never smoke, nor get addicted to nicotine." He muttered, hoping that Ban wouldn't hear him. Unfortunately for him, he did.

"What did you say Itomaki?! Are you trying to pick a fight?" roared Ban, as he attempted to attack the Fuuchion heir. He had to be restrained by his partner, Jubei and Natsumi.

"Ban-kun, I didn't say that you have to wait for two days! You can go if you want." Said Natsumi, trying desperately to stop Ban.

"Please Ban-chan! You don't really need those do you? They're bad for your health and besides which is more important, Natsumi or the cigarettes?" asked Ginji, trying to stop his partner and best friend from doing anything to serious while Jubei, being Kazuki's bodyguard, said, "Don't you even think of harming Kazuki because if you do, you're gonna regret it!"

Suddenly, a pack of cigarettes flew out of nowhere. Ban caught in his right hand deftly.

"If it makes you so upset, you can have my pack. I don't need it as much as you do. I suppose you have a lighter?" said Ryuki smoothly.

Ban nodded and proceeded to light a cigarette with his lighter, the one with Yamato Kudo's initials on it.

Himiko saw this and asked, "Is that…" to which Ban replied gruffly,

"Yeah. He gave it to me before… before he died."

"Why did you kill him anyway, Ban? I-I need to know." She asked softly.

"I can't tell you, at least not know. Maybe some other time, when you're ready." He replied quietly, taking a drag out of his cigarette afterwards.

"But, I am ready!" she protested.

"Himiko, I promise, I'll tell you. Someday, but not today." He replied gruffly.

"Then you did kill him in cold blood, I knew it all along. The only thing stopping me from killing you is the fact that we have a job to finish." She hissed.

"Believe what you will Himiko" Ban said simply as he pocketed the lighter.

Meanwhile Natsumi was scolding Ryuki for the cigarette pack. "Mou! I thought you stopped smoking already! That's really bad for the health you know!" she said.

Dr. Jackal and the others simply watched the bickering amusedly.

Just as Ryuki was about to reply to what Natsumi had said, the lights flickered and went out. Everyone in the room instantly stopped bickering as they tensed, ready for an attack.

"Hmm… I just might decide to have this battled of ours a bit earlier. Would that make you any happier, ne Midou-san?" A sinister voice said from the shadows, which was followed by an evil laugh.

"Who's there?!" yelled Shido into the darkness.

They heard footsteps approaching them and they all turned to see who it was.

It was the head of the Forbidden Section, Natsumi and Ryuki's boss.

"This is supposed to be your boss? The man who controls The Forbidden Section? The one you're supposed to fight? Tch, he doesn't look much like a fighter at all." laughed Ban.

"Don't underestimate me. I'm stronger than I look, Ban Midou." He replied. Turning to Natsumi he said, I see that you're friends have found you. Interesting. Maybe it's time to show them what you can do. How about having the battle right here, right now? How does that sound?"

The former gentle waitress that they knew grabbed two katanas from the wall and went into a battle stance. "Bring it on, you son of a bitch." She growled.

And with that said, the most exciting battle ever to take place in The Forbidden Section began, for this would decide the fate of Natsumi, one of the most deadly assassins in Mugenjou.

Done! I'm sorry if I was lazy… but anyway, I have reviews to answer now! XD

Rabid Lola – Yes, I'm an Assumptionista. And proud of it! XD Astig yung story mo, yung "The Karaoke and The Beastmaster"… update mo ha! What school do you go to? Tell meeee! Please? Sige na!

angel-skie – Yup, I totally agree. Natsumi should have better weapons than ping-pong balls.

water melon wolfie – Hoped you liked this one. You are one of my most faithful reviewers, and I thank you for that! :)

Yuizaki Hiyono – You're an Assumptionista too?! Cool! Where, in Sanlo or in Antipolo? And what grade?

Bahaghari – Thanks for wishing me good luck in the T.E's! Oh and for reviewing too! :)

bc – We'll see…

Thanks again for those who reviewed! Oh and don't hesitate to tell me your suggestions since these will all help me become a better writer in the future… thank you! :)

Belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! Hope you guys enjoyed the holidays! I know I did! XD