"Kano! …KANO!"

Seto's voice was completely hoarse from screaming his name over and over, but we were all becoming desperate. We had been searching eight hours for Kano and covered miles of area surrounding the base, but there was no trace of him.

I gently placed my hand on Seto's shoulder and forced a smile as he turned around to face me. "Don't push yourself too hard. We've been out for a while, and we're probably all tired."

"But Kido, we can't leave without Kano."

"Don't worry about that idiot," I huffed. "He's probably perfectly fine right now, sitting somewhere with Konoha without a care in the world, and when we show up looking all disheveled, he's not going to be able to control his laughter."

"Um, Danchou?" Kisaragi cut in. "I know that Kano jokes around and stuff, but I don't think he's the kind of person to leave the Dan for eight hours without contact. He has some sort of conscience."

"Well then what do you propose? Where do you think he is?" I retorted, folding my arms over my chest.

"At this point," Seto quietly began, "We need to at least consider that he could be in-"

Kisaragi jumped, startled by her cell phone suddenly buzzing. She fished it out of her pocket to reveal Ene on the screen.

"Oh, there you are, Ene. Did he…?"

"Again, he didn't pick up. I've called him at least ten times, and each one has gone to his voicemail. His phone's either turned off, or he doesn't have it with him, but either way, I don't think Kano's going to answer."

"That moron!" I guess I spoke a little louder than intended, because everyone in the group immediately turned to look at me. The feeling of being the center of attention was way too uncomfortable for me to handle (I had no idea how Kisaragi got through every day.) and I was tempted to just vanish.

"Let's backtrack," Kisaragi offered, holding the phone out so Ene could participate in the conversation. "This morning, Kano talked with Hibiya about that white-haired boy that was always after him, and Kano suspected that he had eye powers like us.

"He said he was going to go recruit him and left the house. Then a few hours passed and Kano hadn't returned, so we called him on his cell phone. When he didn't pick up after a few calls, that's when we started to get worried. About an hour later we all got up and started looking for him, and we've been out here ever since."

I wanted to slam my head into a wall. Why didn't we send anyone out with him?

I glanced down at the phone. The flashing time read 2:34. It was hard for me to keep my thoughts in order when my body was begging me to drop to the ground and fall asleep. All of us were completely and utterly exhausted, but more than anything we were becoming more and more frantic with each passing minute.

"Danchou?" Mary yawned, stretching her arms from where she was slumped against a tree. She had been so quiet all this time, I'd almost forgotten she was there in the first place. "I'm tired."

Hibiya sat next to her with a dazed expression, as if he could pass out any second. I didn't want to push the other Dan members beyond their limits; that wasn't what a good leader did.

Besides, I didn't care how late I had to stay up or how tired I got. I would find Kano.

"You two should go home," I said. Both nodded and slowly got up.

"Make sure you're always together, and try to stay alert. I can't lose any more of you guys."

With Hibiya's clairvoyance ability and Mary's eye-locking ability, Hibiya should be able to spot anyone approaching them, should they be attacked for whatever reason, and Mary would be able to freeze them and escape. It's not that I expected the two to get attacked, but considering the circumstances, I wanted them to be prepared.

"Seto, you're not coming?" Mary sounded extremely distressed.

"Don't worry, Mary. I'll be back soon," Seto replied, pulling the white-haired girl into a hug. "But right now I have to find my brother."

Mary was a bit reluctant to withdraw from the hug, but after Hibiya loudly cleared his throat, she gave one last look at Seto and disappeared into the distance with the younger boy.

"We better keep looking," I said. "There's still a lot more area we have to cover."

The remaining group members nodded in response, and Kisaragi knelt down to shake her sleeping brother, who had apparently dozed off while we were stopped to talk.

"Onii-chan!" she whined, but Shintaro was out. The idol turned around to see our reactions, clearly a bit embarrassed by her NEET older brother.

"I'll handle it," Ene said. "Just plug his earbuds into his phone, and then put them in his ears."

Kisaragi nodded in compliance and did what she was told. Moments later, Ene screamed "MASTER!" so loud we could hear her outside of his earbuds.

Shintaro jolted awake with a screech, chucking his phone to the side and breathing heavily. His gray eyes circled around and fell on each of us before landing on his phone and narrowing. Ene was laughing hysterically, doubled over clutching her stomach, and pounding her fist against the ground.

"You know, Master, I thought all that soda was supposed to keep you awake!" She was barely able to finish sentence before she started laughing even harder.

Underneath my red jacket, I found myself lightly snickering. So was everyone else - especially Momo. I'm glad Ene can bring us a little laughter when we really need it.

Shintaro let out an exasperated yell. "Agh, Ene! Did you have to be so loud! You scared the ever living crap out of me!"

A dangerous grin flickered on Ene's lips. "Don't tell me Master got so scared he wet himself!"

"ENE YOU KNOW THAT'S-"

Shintaro was cut off by his cell phone suddenly ringing, and everyone immediately held their breaths. He slowly picked his phone up off the ground and read the caller I.D.

I couldn't even choke out a full sentence. "...Who?"

"Kano."

Immediately, I yelled "Pick it up!" Of course, Shintaro had already pressed the talk button and put the phone on speaker.

"Hello?"

"Guys?" This voice was unmistakably Kano's, but it was very different from his snarky, sarcastic, sing-song tone. He sounded distressed.

"Kano? Where are you?" I cut in.

"Guys, you gotta help me." I could hear his choppy breaths from the other end of the phone. His voice was wavering with each word, like he was about to cry. "He's got me and he's going to kill me."

"Who's got you?" Seto asked. I could see the fear and panic in everyone's eyes.

"I'm under the school. I don't have much time. Oh god, please help me." From the other end, Kano's bursted into tears. I felt like my heart had just been ripped out and torn in half. No, not my brother. Not Kano.

"Kano, we're coming for you!" I yelled into the receiver. ...Moments later I realized that the phone had been hung up before he could even hear me.

At once, I took off running. Seto caught up with me pulled ahead. After all the time he spent in here as a kid, he knew these woods like the back of his hand, and he knew exactly how to lead us to the school.

All I could think of was saving my brother. I was angry we hadn't looked at the school; it being summer I hadn't even considered the possibility. I was angry that I hadn't gone with him. But most of all I was angry at the bastard that wanted to hurt him. Kano could drive me crazy, but he'd never do anything that'd be deserving of death.

We were out of the woods now, and despite my aching muscles, I could feel myself moving even faster and faster. Oh god, Kano, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry.

I almost wanted to break down crying, but I couldn't let emotions get the best of me right now. I could cry after he was safe and the sicko threatening him was nine feet underground.

"There's the school!" Kisaragi yelled. I shoved through the front door and was suddenly flying down the stairs. I had never really explored below the school (I mean, I had no reason to), but it seemed that the path down there only lead one way, so we had to be going in the right direction.

We went through room after room after room, my heart racing faster and faster the further we went. My hands shook in anticipation; it was so bad I couldn't even open the doors myself anymore.

After what had seemed like an eternity of empty rooms, I saw him.

Kano was sobbing hysterically, kneeling in front of a boy clad in black.

A gun was pressed to the side of his head.

I was determined to finish this chapter by today because I always abandon fanfictions, and I refuse to abandon this one.

Time to go watch Free!, Tokyo Ghoul, and Magi haha~