Hi! really sorry I haven't been updating, anyways here's chapter 17!

Chapter 17- Captured

"So now what?" Scheris asked. "And Mimori, why are you still in Ryuhou's arms?" Scheris asked this in an annoyed tone. "I'm sure you've bothered him enough."

"She can't walk," Ryuhou replied. "And I really don't mind." Mimori smiled at him. He gave her a small smile, but this one held sadness in it. She gave him a confused look, and soon he smiled the way he usually did.

"Ryu…" She whispered.

"What is it?" He whispered.

"I have to pee…" He looked at her and wasn't sure if he should laugh or fall.

"You can't be serious…" She nodded in reply. He sighed. "We'll be right back." He carried her away from everyone else and sat her on the ground. "Just go and tell me when you're done…" When he heard her rise to her feet, he turned around and saw her standing right in front of him.

"What's wrong?" Mimori asked. "You've been different since we fought the Commander. Did you… not want… to fight him?" She felt herself get weak, and she began to fall. Ryuhou hugged her close to him so she wouldn't fall and she held onto his shoulders.

"That's not it at all…" he said softly. He felt a lump in his throat and he wasn't sure why. It hurt him, and he was afraid that if he dared to say anything more that he wouldn't have a voice to say it with. All he could do was hold her tighter.

"Ryu," Mimori said. "What's going on?"

"It's nothing…" Ryuhou said. 'I just want to kill the Commander… How dare he say that…' His thoughts were interrupted by Mimori's whimpering. "Miri?"

"Ryuhou… It hurts…"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're choking me…." Sure enough, he had his arms wrapped so tightly around her that she couldn't breathe. He thought about this for a moment, then smiled and laughed softly. His laugh got louder, and soon enough he was laughing so hard that his sides were hurting. Mimori, upon seeing this, laughed as well. Neither was quite sure why they were laughing, especially in their given situation, but they felt as though everything that they had been through was fading, just so long as they could keep laughing. But they both stopped soon, and everything flooded back.

"So," Mimori said, sitting on the ground, wrapping her arms around her bent knees, and staring and her shoes, "what do we do now?"

"I'm not sure," Ryuhou said, following suit. "I've never really had to make a decision like that; I always followed orders issued from HOLY. Strange, isn't it? I wonder why I even stayed…"

"Either way, that doesn't matter anymore. What's in the past stays in the past." Mimori smiled.

"You're wrong," Ryuhou said, cracking a grin and turning to face her. "Leaving something in the past isn't always a good thing."

"Hu?!" Mimori gasped, hitting her forehead as the realization dawned on her. "My tapes! They're still at HOLY!"

"Crap…mine too… and the pictures…"

"Pictures?" Mimori repeated. "The two you showed me that one time?"

"Yah, the pictures from that one time," Ryuhou laughed a bit, trying to figure out which unspecified 'one time' she was talking about.

"I don't care about the clothes or anything I have there, but there's no way they're getting my tapes!" Mimori stood on her feet and began walking in HOLY's direction.

"Wait!" Ryuhou rose to his feet and grabbed her arm. "You're in no condition to go!" Mimori looked away.

"As long as you're with me, I'll be fine."

"I won't!" Ryuhou said. "If you stay here, you'll be safe. I can fight without worry. Please, please Mimori, stay here."

"But you can't go alone!"

"Who says he'll be alone?" Mimori and Ryuhou turned around, immediately recognizing that voice. They turned around to find Kazuma, along with a purple-haired companion.

"Tachibana!" Ryuhou said in shock. "I heard that HOLY had removed you from the program; I didn't know you were out here! Why are you with Kazuma?"

"Did you leave too?" Tachibana Asuka asked. "I'm with him cause he said he was looking for a friend of his; I had nothing better to do. I didn't expect to find you guys here. Are you heading to HOLY?"

"Yeah. Kazuma, have you seen Kanami yet?"

"Yeah," Kazuma replied. "So we're trashing HOLY? Sounds like fun. I'm in. Just don't get in my way, you HOLY subordinate." He grinned.

"EX-HOLY subordinate." Ryuhou grinned as well. "And the same goes for you, you Native Alter User."

"Proud of it! And don't talk like you're so high and mighty, you're one too!" They both laughed. "You in, Tachibana?"

"Might as well, I do owe them, after all."

Ryuhou turned to Mimori. "We'll be back, I promise. The tapes too." The three of them walked off, leaving Mimori with a worried yet faithful look on her face. Mimori clutched her necklace.

It was only a little after they had lost sight of Mimori that a jeep pulled up beside them, smoke rising from the tires. "You know, Kazuma, you're one of the hardest people to find!" A man complained. "Hey! What're you doing with him?!" He demanded, looking at Ryuhou.

"He's with us, Kimishima. Give us a ride," Kazuma ordered.

"I'm not a dog, you know. Get in," he said despite himself. "So where're we heading?" he asked.

"To HOLY," Kazuma said simply. He was then hurled out of his seat from the force of the jeep stopping. "What kinda crap're you tryin' to pull?!" Kazuma demanded.

"Don't say 'to HOLY' so easily!" Kimishima yelled. "This is a serious thing! Why do you want to go there? Do you want to get captured?!"

"I don't plan on getting captured. I just wanna kick the crap out of some HOLY snobs." Kazuma grinned. "That's why Tachibana and Ryuhou are coming too."

"You guys can call me Asuka," Tachibana said. Kimishima sighed and stepped on the clutch and gas. Some while later, they arrived in front of the headquarters.

"Just save me some," Ryuhou said. "There's something I have to do before that." Kazuma gave him a strange and questioning look, but he decided to shrug it off. So, while Kazuma and Asuka ran to kick some HOLY butt, he ran through the halls of HOLY, seemingly knowing where he was going. Finally arriving in front of a door, he opened it and turned on the light to his and Mimori's apartment. Nothing had been tampered with; everything was just as they had left it. 'Something's wrong… this isn't like HOLY… this isn't like the Commander… Something is wrong!' He ran to his room and flipped his mattress. All of the boxes had been opened, and one was missing. Running into Mimori's room, he looked around, but couldn't find her tapes either. Becoming frantic, Ryuhou threw pillows, sheets, and blankets onto the floor. "Where are they?!"

"Looking for these?" Ryuhou, recognizing the voice, turned around to face the Commander. In his hands, he held a box of the combined tapes of Ryuhou and Mimori and Ryuhou's precious pictures. Ryuhou also noticed that the Commander's left hand was bandaged.

"Give them to me," Ryuhou ordered. "Now."

"These are actually pretty interesting," the Commander said. "Now I see how she was able to use you to her advantage."

"No one's using anyone except you!" Ryuhou shouted. "Give me the tapes!"

"Come now Ryuhou, can't you see that she wants something from you? On another note, I'm not actually 'using' people; they're simply assisting me in my noble goal. With access to the Other Side, I can make a world without war and death. I'm giving you one last chance to come back to me. Agree, and I'll forget any of this ever happened."

Ryuhou put on a thoughtful expression and his eyes widened. "You're right, Commander," He looked down and walked slowly to the Commander. "I'm so ashamed, how could I ever betray you?" The Commander noticed a few drips of liquid fall to the ground and realized that Ryuhou was silently crying. "You're right, Sir." Ryuhou stood in front of the Commander with his eyes glistening and a look of sorrow on his face. "She does want something from me…"

"Don't worry, Ryuhou, I already said that I'd overlook your lapse in judgment. I'll even make you my par-!" His sentence was stopped by the blood that flowed from his mouth. Without warning, Ryuhou had quickly and silently summoned Zetsuei. One extension had gone through the Commander's stomach; the other had gone through his bandaged hand. He fell to his knees and dropped the tapes.

"Like I said," Ryuhou continued, wiping the fake tears from his eyes and bending down to pick up the tapes and pictures, "Mimori does want something from me. I'm just sorry I betrayed her and couldn't give it to her sooner. Oh wait… did you think I was directing my apology to you? Baka…. No one would ever apologize to you. Oh and by the way, when Mr. Kiryu finds out about you're real intentions, you can kiss HOLY goodbye."

"I'm not…" The Commander said softly, gasping for air, "the only one you can't trust…" The Commander grinned. "I wasn't lying when I told you-!"

Again, the Commander had been pierced through the stomach. Ryuhou looked down at him as if he were a disgusting bug. "You talk too much, shut up." Zetsuei made a clean sweep across the commander's neck. Ryuhou looked at the beheaded corpse and walked slowly out of the room to look for Asuka and Kazuma. Arriving in the HOLY kitchen, he came across his two comrades, both of which had a pile of unconscious HOLY members circling around them. Ryuhou looked around, and saw no one else. He gave Asuka and Kazuma a dull look.

"I thought I had said," he began, trying to sound as little irritated as possible, "to save me some…"

"Eh," Kazuma shrugged. "You took too long."

'Must… restrain myself…..' Ryuhou thought, losing his composure from annoyance. 'Self-control is the key… Deep breaths…' "…What does taking too long have to do with you being greedy!?" he demanded, unable to contain himself.

"Greedy?!" Kazuma repeated. "Well, when they're all fighting back it's hard to ask a few to hang on until you get here, now isn't it!?"

'….Are these two really on the same side?' Asuka asked himself mentally as he watched the two argue.

The quarrel was soon ended, however, for they heard footsteps coming towards them. It sounded like someone was running, then stopping briefly, then running again. "Here you go, crybaby," Kazuma whispered. Ryuhou hit him in the back of the head. Kazuma was going to return the favor when Asuka pulled both of them behind a table. Holding their breaths, they prepared to pounce whoever it was that was coming towards them. Just before the figure appeared, they all summoned their Alters and surrounded the enemy. All of them immediately recognized the person to be Kimishima and relaxed.

"Geez… you go to check on the people you think are your friends and they greet you with deadly Alters!" Kimishima said.

"Well, either way we got what we came for, so let's go." They began walking out of the kitchen when, from another entrance of the kitchen, they heard a metal clank. Without looking back, they all knew someone had cocked a gun. Many more clanks ensued, and Kazuma glared at Kimishima.

"Kimishima," he said with a deadly voice. "Were you followed?" Kimishima shook his head.

"Surrender!" One of the gun holders said. "By order of HOLD, you Native Alter Users!"

"Why is HOLD interfering in HOLY's affairs?" Ryuhou asked calmly, not looking back at them.

"It was requested by Commander Martin Zigmar earlier today! Now hands up!"

"He knew we were coming," Ryuhou said softly. 'A liar to the end…' A disgusted look crept its way across Ryuhou's face. "Kazuma," he looked at Kazuma and then looked at Kimishima. Kazuma nodded, and then nudged Asuka and followed suit.

"Kimishima," Kazuma whispered, "where's the jeep?"

"Around the block to the right," he replied.

"Did you get that?" Asuka nodded. Particles disappeared, and eight green balls floated to Kimishima.

"Whatever you do, don't let go!" Asuka said. "They'll take you right to it!"

"What are you doing?!" The HOLD officers demanded. "FIRE!" They shot their guns, and Zetsuei and Kazuma blocked them.

"Kimishima!" Ryuhou ran to him and handed him the tapes. "Take these to Mimori!" Kimishima nodded, and the floating balls carried Kimishima out of the window and around the block.

"So when are we leaving?!" Kazuma asked. "These bullets aren't easy to fend off, you know?!"

"We're not," Ryuhou said, walking to Kazuma's side. Zetsuei disappeared, and Ryuhou put his hands in the air. Kazuma's eyes widened.

"What are you thinking?! We can take them out easily! They're not even Alter Users!"

"Exactly, we have nothing against HOLD. It's HOLY we're after. If we fought them, we'd be no better than HOLY."

"When you put it that way….." Kazuma sighed. His arm returned to normal, and he put his hands up. Although he didn't know what was going on, Asuka did the same.

"You better have a plan after this," Kazuma muttered. He looked at Ryuhou's eyes, but his expression was unreadable.

There's the end of chapter 17!!. Again, really sorry!! I know it wasn't very good and I know that I haven't updated in a while… Gomen!!