Kaito stared in a combination of shock and awe before he realized that Erasers were probably not far behind their pet Destroyer. Blinking a few times, he looked down at Droite, who currently lay on her back on the hard ground. She was covered head to toe in green slime, her katana still sending out surges of electricity. With slight disgust, the blonde went over to the woman and slowly lifted her up into his arms.

A tall girl came out from the grocery store, long white/silver hair flowing behind her. She looked to be thirteen, fourteen. As she walked towards Kaito, she raised an eyebrow.

"So, who took down the Destroyer?" she asked, sucking on a lollipop. Kaito rolled his eyes as he brushed passed her.

"Never mind that, help me get Droite inside," he said. The white haired girl gained a tick mark, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Fine! But you owe me twenty candy bars!" she yelled.

"For the love of God, Chaos, we don't know where the candy bars are at!" Kaito went inside the grocery store, Chaos following behind.

The grocery store was like any small food mart, the metal shelves empty of their food contents, the windows painted black to not let light in. Twelve aisles, each probably seven and a half feet tall, had sheets spread across both sides, splitting them into rooms. Eleven of the twelve rooms housed the current residents, while the twelfth was used as a medical examination room, a steel table and everything.

Kaito and Chaos went to the farthest on to the right, with Chaos yelling into the one next to the M.E. (what they had dubbed it on accident) about 'Yuma and Kotori going at it again'.

The blonde lowered Droite onto the metal table set in the middle of the aisle. As he slipped his arms from under her, he noticed blood covering his arms. Chaos also noticed this, tilting her head in confusion.

"What the hell?" she asked.

"I think she got injured when she fought the Destroyer," Kaito mumbled, reaching for his medical kit on one of the empty shelves. Being the medic of the group (Chaos and Rio, who had joined the group a year ago with her twin, being his assistants), he had access to all the medical supplies he could get a hold of, and knew how to remove a few more things than just bullets.

"No shit Sherlock," muttered Chaos. She handed Kaito a sort of apron (adorned with barbecue attachments and all), and he put it on.

"Help me get this slime off her," Kaito said, grabbing a few towels and handing them to his white-haired assistant. Chaos sighed, not happy she had to clean Droite up, but took the towels and took one of the violet-haired woman's arms. She hurriedly wiped the arm off and went onto the other one.

"You get her chest, 'cuz I am so not touching that," Chaos said, making Kaito blush slightly. She just loved making him uncomfortable.

"Fine..." the blonde medic answered after a moment after he cleaned Droite's face. Breathing in deeply, he gently slid his towel over the woman's clothed chest, trying really hard not to think bad thoughts as he felt how she was built.

Chaos started giggling. "Wow, never thought you'd be such a perv," she laughed after Kaito had finished what he was doing. He sent her a nasty glare, which she just snickered at, then proceeded to wipe Droite's legs.

It was a few more moments before they had wiped the slime off of Droite's limp body, Chaos still laughing softly about Kaito's problem earlier . The blonde medic sighed as he tossed the towels into a basket off to the side, staring at the cause of the blood on his arms.

Droite had two large gashes going across her abdomen, the cuts slashing her shirt and white tank top underneath. Even Chaos seemed a bit disturbed at the severity of the wound.

"Damn, that looks painful," the white-haired teen muttered, tilting her head. Kaito nodded in agreement, looking at his medical kit. He was going to have to fix whatever organs had been pierced, and then sew it up.

All without anesthesia.

Chaos, apparently knowing what was going on, said, "It's going to painful, but those wounds'll be fatal if we don't help her."

With a sigh, Kaito nodded in agreement and took the need supplies out of his kit: scalpel, rubbing alcohol, thread, sewing needle, and some cleaning wipes. He opened the bottle of rubbing alcohol and poured some over the blade of the scalpel after he set the other stuff down on a separate table.

"You know what you're doing, right?" Chaos asked as Kaito positioned himself next to Droite's side. "I mean, we've only had to do this twice before..."

"I read a lot of medical books and textbooks, so I know what I'm doing," Kaito muttered, concentrating as he lifted Droite's shirt and tank top enough to reveal her stomach. He looked at Chaos, then lowered the scalpel's blade down to Droite's abdomen.


The surgery was slightly long, an hour at least (with Gauche coming in and complaining about being left outside), but successful. Droite had been moved to the sixth aisle, where Kaito slept, and was in stable condition.

Chaos and Kaito were sitting beside a checkout register, drinking water while sitting in lawn chairs. Kaito looked tired as hell, and Chaos was content while she ate a chocolate candy bar she had found.

"My feet hurt," the girl complained, getting an eyeroll from her friend. "What?"

"You complain too much," the Photon Duelist said with a smirk.

"Hey, I survived for four and a half years without you peeps," said Chaos, pointing at Kaito. "That is, until my idiot brother decided to have a bit of 'fun' with those flesh-eating morons out there!"

"I know. Just wanted to hit a nerve."

"Why, you-!"

"Sorry to interrupt," a violet-haired teen said as he came to a stop in front of the two, "but I heard we have a guest."

"Yeah, we do," Kaito answered. "Guess who."

"Who?"

"Droite."

"Really? I thought she died or something..." the teen trailed off.

"Shouldn't you be with your sis or something, Ryoga?" asked Chaos. "I thought you said she had bad nightmares or something."

"She told me I could leave tonight," he answered, sighing. "She says they're getting better, and less frequent, but..."

"My brother was the same way," Kaito said, looking towards the seventh aisle. "He couldn't get rid of those things for a few years. I can't believe my own father released that virus out..."

"It's not all bad," Chaos said. Typical for her; always trying to cheer up her fellow friends, despite being the youngest. "I mean, look who you've become because of this! You're a damn surgeon!"

"I know," Kaito said, looking down. His stomach let out an angry growl; he hadn't eaten in the past two days. "But, if you think about, it really is my fault. I didn't know what my father was doing, so I wasn't able to stop him in time."

"It's not your fault," Ryoga said, patting the blonde on the shoulder. "The past is the past. We can't fix that. But now we have to deal with this problem, so think ahead to the future!"

They remained in silence for a little while, listening to the sickly moans radiating through the city. Rain soon started, acid-filled and black with soot. It held no nutrients in it anymore; there was too much death for the water cycle to function properly.

The silence was soon interrupted, and it wasn't pleasant.

"WHY THE HELL IS DROITE HERE?!"


KR: Yes, I used Chaos in my story. Hope ya like it, my friend. :D

Droite: Okay, this is seriously starting to get weird...

KR: You bet! So, how 'bout you peeps review and I'll give you PIZZA!