Author's Note: I'd like to let you know that the fic is nearing its end...I plan on finishing with 20 chapters. Thank you for bearing with my horribly mundane and repetitive (and not to mention really unrealistic) plot so far. Also, I apologize if this chapter is a tad short.

Thanks.

They moved quickly, walking across the site back towards the cafeteria. Yoh had such an insane look of both grief and explosive anger in his eyes that Horohoro had to break a quick reminder.

"Yoh...you should contain yourself. I know that you're a shaman and everything, but using your powers in the middle of public isn't exactly the smartest thing to do."

"Who do you think I am, Harry Potter lost in the Muggle world or something!?" snapped Yoh. Horohoro blinked. Yoh had never been so aggresive in his life.

Yoh must have realized this too, as the flare in his expression softened. "Sorry, Horo. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. It's just that...he killed Anna. I can't forgive him for that."

"No worries, Yoh," the Ainu replied briskly. "I understand completely."

A breeze ruffled his blue hair, bringing with it a single leaf that had been whisked away from the branches of its mother tree. The leaf drifted to the ground, disintegrating into dust as it landed on the ground.

Horohoro narrowed his eyes. It gave him a really bad feeling.

"Uh..." Ren said, tugging on Horohoro's sleeve.

"Yeah?"

Ren gestured with his shoulder at the presence in front of them. It was Hao alright, looking very pleased with himself indeed. Yoh instantly tensed, and Horohoro moved himself ever-so-slightly in front of Ren.

The fire shaman was smiling in a sickening manner. "So...how did you like the surprise, hmm?"

Yoh lost control of himself at that moment.

"WHY!?" he screamed, launching himself at his brother before anyone could stop him. "Why, Hao!? Why!? Why did you kill them? They did nothing to you to deserve it!"

"Yoh, no!" Horohoro yelled, panicking. Who knows what Hao could do in his current state. Yoh was no match for him, and he himself certainly was not, either. He looked around frantically. Lyzerg and Choclove...where were they?

Hao had obviously been reading his thoughts again. "Ah, worrying about your other buddies, are you? Let me assure you that you have nothing to fear. You won't be seeing them again until their funerals...that is, if you can find their rotting corpses."

Enraged, crazy with fury, Yoh struck blindly at Hao, screaming incoherently and cursing in a manner that would have made his parents ashamed of him.

With a single movement, Hao sent Yoh crumpling to the floor. His knees buckled, and Horohoro and Ren watched with wide eyes as he seemed to collapse to the floor in slow motion. Painfully similar to the leaf Horohoro had just seen.

Yoh's eyes were wide as his hands flew to his stomach, trying to hold the gaping wound that had now appeared. Blood trickled from between his thin intertwined fingers, slowly turning into a river.

"YOH!" Horohoro screamed. He started towards him, but Yoh held out his hand in a stopping gesture.

"No, Horo..." he panted through gritted teeth. "Don't try to save me. You've got to take Ren...and get out of here...hurry..."

"No!" the Ainu insisted. "I'm not going to leave you here!"

"He's right...Yoh-kun," Ren agreed. "We can't just...just leave..."

"Yes, you can. Just go."

Hao smirked. In his hand he held a large, smooth, bloodstained blade. Heavens knows where he got that. "You're so useless, Usui. He has no hope. I've damaged several vital organs."

Horohoro watched in horror as Yoh's eyes closed, never to open again. He hated to believe it, but he knew that Hao spoke the truth. Yet another murder.

Hao stepped forward. "You're next, Tao. Usui, you can watch while I do away with him slowly and painfully yet again. You can listen to his screams, and you'll be knowing all the while that there's nothing you can do to save him."

"No..." Horohoro whispered. "I won't let you..."

He grabbed Ren's hand tightly.

"Come on," he muttered, starting at a run, leading the Chinese boy with him. "We've gotta run. Fast."

Author's Note: In case you haven't noticed, my reference to leaves was sort of like a metaphor to Yoh's death. After all, the word yoh in Japanese does mean "leaf."