Disclaimer: I still do not own any of these characters.

Author's Note: I got 3 reviews in one day! COOL!

Chapter 2

Dust choked the remains of the Dungeon hallway that Hiruma was running through, arms raised protectively over his head, chunks of the first floor ceiling raining down onto him. Flames burned hot on the walls, turning the already trecherous basement hallway into a seeming death trap. Leaping over the debris on the floor, he felt more than heard the third explosion. A dull, bass THWUMP that made his ears pop painfully, then a wall of pressure that hit him like a train, picking him up off his feet and driving him with crushing force into the wall dividing the corridor and the stairs. Air screamed past his ears blocking out the sounds of the building exploding. His vision started to go black as the intense pressure continued, the fabric of his shirt ripping down the middle of his back and compressing his chest so hard that he could feel some of his ribs shatter. The wall under his chest gave suddenly, and he was thrown to the floor under the stairs.

From his vantage point under the stairs, protected from debris by the stairs, he could barely see the fate of the building through the dust, smoke and his own failing vision. The building wavered in his vision. Was it...? Good God. The building was falling - in his direction. The remaining support columns that he could see were definately leaning in his direction. In his shocky condition, his body refused to move no matter how much his mind screamed at it. A whip-crack of sound made him flinch, the pain of his shifting ribs exploding through him and blacking out his vision. Through it he could feel a tickle down the side of his face. From the way the sounds were muted now, he guessed that his eardrums had burst.

He watched in shock as the building buckled, from the sound of it, the second floor had given way. Relief flooded him as the majority of the building tipped to the right, still on an angle, but less likely to fall onto the main part of the school. And him.

CRASH

A mass of steel beams and cinderblocks smashed through the stairs over his head. He screamed as a small chunk bounced off his back, the breath driven out of him by the pain. He choked. Struggling vainly to get air into his lungs, he inhaled short burst of dust and smoke, making his eyes stream and his throat burn. A flat piece of the first floor's ceiling, landed a few feet to his left, the air whooshing out from under it temporarily clearing the air enough for him to get a breath as his vision started to darken again. He had just gotten his breath back when the metal support beams and ceiling girders came down.

The first one came down onto his sprawled legs, one end balanced on the flat piece of ceiling, pinching his legs and keeping him pinned but not doing much damage. The second one landed at an angle across his back, smashing the ribs on his right, collapsing a small part of his chest, before coming to rest on the same piece of ceiling as the first. The feel of his ribs shattering under the impact would have made him scream as his body seized from the shock, but the third impact blanked his mind completely. A section concrete from one of the upper floors landed on top of the two beams resting on top of him. The beams bent, driving into his spine, relieving some of the weight on his collapsed chest, and stopped just short of crushing him. The beams managed to stop the concrete, but they couldn't stop the long, jagged pieces of rebar, used to strengthen the concrete, that were sticking out of it.

One of the pieces of rebar pierced his body just above the hips, slashing a bloody gouge out of his right side but missing anything important. The second piece pierced him clean through the lower back, puncturing his right lung, and driving deep into the concrete below him. The pain was so intense he missed the entry and exit of the third bar, a thin one, that entered his upper left shoulder gently grazing his heart. He gagged. Pain streaked his vision white, blood filling his throat as he started coughing, his body protesting the intrusion. The sounds of the collapsing building faded out to an unsteady pulsing. He was unsure, as his over taxed body finally gave, whether the disappearance of the light was his vision's fault or not.

10:15 am

Mamori stared at the collapsed building. The dust was just beginning to settle and reveal the damage. The world seemed silent to the shocked students as they climbed slowly to their feet among the debris on the field, their wide eyes focused on the smoke and flames that rose over the school from the remains of the West wing. The smoke was an oily black, darkening the sky like evening, flames leaping upwards over 20 feet, driven by the escaping air from below as the remains settled. The scream of metal, and the roar of the fire was deafening in the silence of the surrounding area. The sound of sirens, and honking could be heard in the distance.

A small whimper made Mamori look down. Sena and Monta were standing in front of her staring at the remains of the building. Sena was trembling, eyes wide in shock, small whimpers falling from his lips.

"D-di-did H- Hiruma do that?" Kurita stared hard for a moment at the fire, then shook his head.

"No," he said decisively. "This is our last chance to get to the Christmas Bowl. It's been his dream since Junior High. He wouldn't jeopardize that no matter how mad he got."

The field and the surrounding streets were chaotic as the emergency vehicles got as close to the school as they could, people from the surrounding area impeding their progress as they all tried to get a look.

The shocked students were evacuated from the building and gathered on the far side of the football field, questioned while they were checked over by the paramedics, and counted, their names checked off teacher's lists before being released into their parent's custody. Despite varying degrees of injuries, no one was seriously hurt or trapped in the building, leaving Firefighters free to control the still burning fire. It only became apparent well into the evening that there were two students unaccounted for. Questioning the students brought to light the suspicion that had been brewing in the Officer's minds since they had recieved notice of the explosion. One of the missing students was Hiruma Youichi.

8:35 pm

Mamori shivered, her trembling breath blowing the ash that was still falling like snow away from her face. It was getting dark out and they had just finished a preliminary search of the building to see if it was safe, and to make sure that there was no one inside. Except for Hiruma and another student, everyone was accounted for, and they didn't expect either of them to be anywhere near the area. The other student's friends had said that he'd skipped earlier in the day.

Yellow caution tape sealed off the area, but despite the wreckage, there was only going to be one day off of school. The West wing had been separated from the East for the duration of the renovations to keep students from falling damaging or stealing the equipment. Despite the seemingly serious damage to the outside of the building, it could be fixed enough in one day that students would not suffer from an extended stay from their education. Once the sporatic fires that kept popping up were put out.

Mamori looked at the pile of twisted steel and concrete from her place across the street. There was a small shape moving around on the pile, digging into the wreckage close to the East wing wall. She squinted.

"Hey," she tapped Kurita on the shoulder. "Is that Cerberus?" Kurita turned and shaded his eyes against the bright flood lights that had been set up.

"Yes, it is. I wonder what he's looking for?" Mamori looked at him confused.

"Doesn't Cerberus always leave with Hiruma?"

Kurita nodded. "Usually he does, but sometimes Cerberus likes to wander around. He always comes back though. Him and Hiruma have an understanding."

"Oh."

Mamori nodded to herself and turned away, a sinking feeling that something was wrong getting stronger the farther from the school that she got.

Cerberus sniffed around the largest part of the pile. Most of the concrete from the upper floors had fallen here leaned against the outside wall of the East Wing. Water sprayed from one of many broken pipes, covering the area in a fine mist as it bounced off the wet concrete, and diluting the burnt smells of the wreckage. The water to the West wing had been shut off prior to starting the renovations, but some of the pipes in the East wing had been broken when the West had slid down it's side and turning off the water meant leaving an entire subdivision without running water. Cerberus knew none of this however, nor did he care about it except for the basic knowledge that the water was washing away the smell he was looking for, and he wanted it to stop. The damp, acrid smell of the mess almost buried the smell that he was looking for but it stuck in his nose. The one that he had come to associate with the one who cared for him. The other alpha with the sharp teeth, and a strange habit of walking on two legs.

The smell that he could catch told him that something was wrong. It was too strong and left a strange taste in his mouth. It smelled like something dead... or dying. That smell didn't belong on the other alpha. His great head lifted. The wind had shifted a few degrees bringing a fresh wave of the scent to his nose. There! A way in!

A few of the pieces of concrete had landed and fallen together to create a tunnel with a pointed overhang that hid it from sight farther than a few feet. Cerberus wriggled his way through the mess and slid down a wet slab of concrete. Water from one of the busted pipes spraying in a mist over the slab temporarily masking the scent he followed. He yelped as he landed in a pool of dank, and rancid water at the bottom. What was that? That small sound that even he could barely hear?. The dog lifted his body from the water and followed his ears deeper into the wreckage until the only thing guiding him were his ears and nose. Both were focused in on the only thing that mattered to him at the time.

Coming toa stop, he crouched down and sniffed at his find. Gently he reached out a large paw and touched the golden head of his partner. He let out a whine and pawed at him again. Why wasn't he making any noise?

Tbc...