Rinku woke to a steady drizzle of rain hitting him in the face. Where was he? Why couldn't he feel his right side? Using his left hand Rinku pushed himself upright, and immediately collapsed again.

Head spinning and leg throbbing Rinku began to recall what had happened… While he had been sitting in his favorite tree it had started to rain, and as he had climbed down lighting had hit a nearby tree.

He had the nagging sensation that he had forgotten something, or someone important but he mentally shrugged it off and concentrated on attempting to sit up again Rinku realized in horror what was wrong with his leg, it had broken in several places and pieces of wood were embedded in it.

Whimpering slightly when he jarred his leg Rinku felt tears begin to run down his face again. Looking around he noticed a thick piece of wood that was about the right size for a make-shift crutch Rinku leaned as far over as he could, gritting his teeth. His right side felt like it was on fire, fumbling to grasp the piece of wood.

Finally making it Rinku pulled the piece towards him. Propping the 'crutch' under one arm Rinku pulled himself to his feet. Gritting his teeth Rinku began the long, painful, walk in the dark back to the temple…

"It's midnight and he ain't back yet!" Chu was pacing nervously thinking about his little friend who was somewhere out in the dark, wet, night. What if Rinku was hurt? What if he had actually run away? What if he had been attacked by a stronger demon? Not knowing where his best friend was, was torturing Chu.

"Chu, your going to wear the carpet out at this rate. Stop pacing, we'll find Rinku in the morning." Suzuki watched the anxious, and very sober, Aussie pace back and forth. Shishiwakamura, Touya, and Jin sat watching as well from across the room. Genkai and Yukina had left earlier to see Shizuru and Kekio.

Touya finally spoke up, "Chu we don't know where he went and since its dark and pouring rain out trying to search for him now would be to dangerous for even us."

"Ya know, he could be playing a prank." Chu stopped pacing to give Jin a death glare, "Or…..not." Jin gulped, wilting under Chu's gaze.

"He's not playing a prank Jin, we had an argument earlier and he was pretty upset. Besides Rinku's my best buddy. If something happened to 'em I don't know what I'd do." Collapsing into a chair Chu covered his face with his hands.

Suzuki patted him gingerly on the shoulder, "It'll be alright Chu, we'll find him. How 'bout when the rain lets up we start searching, ok?" Chu nodded feeling miserable.

It had been nearly two and a half hours since Rinku had started back to the temple and he was almost there. The lights of the temple gates loomed in the distance, Rinku limped up the stairs falling once and all but dragging himself upright again.

He could hear voices coming from the area that he lived in, stumbling towards them Rinku could feel the pain in his leg getting worse. Climbing onto the porch Rinku struggled to reach the door before his leg gave out. Collapsing Rinku saw the door open and someone step out, almost running him over before he let the blackness overtake him.

I decided to leave it with a bit of a cliffhanger, hope that those of you who read this enjoyed this one... Can't really promise when the next chapter will be.

KB