FCL64: Here's the chapter!

Kiyoshi: Ayaka is own in part by us and in part by animegrlsteph.

FCL64: Of course it's necessary!

Kiyoshi: Because I feel like it. There's more language in this chapter than in previous ones, but under the circumstances, I think it's warranted. Is typing our conversation backwards really necessary?

FCL64: Why are you so boring?

Kiyoshi: Hurrah.

FCL64: CHAPTER EIGHT!

Ayaka pov

Where are they? They should have been back already. It wasn't supposed to take this long. They knew exactly what to do. I should have made them let me come. Someone could have waited outside. I understand that this job was dangerous with more than one person but nearly impossible without at least two. And they do have that ability to communicate without speaking. But I should've gone. Where are they?

I spin around. Sticks are breaking behind me. "Who's there?" I call. Kurama and Kuronue are never this loud until they're actually back at camp. There's a reason they've never been caught.

No one answers. I douse the fire quickly and step away, our practice if anyone is coming. The footsteps keep coming and the fire soon restarts itself. Or rather, Kurama restarts it. He has nothing with him. Kuronue must have it. But where is he?

"Where's Kuronue?" I ask.

Kurama looks as if he is going to say something. But he doesn't. He…can't. Instead he holds out his hand. It is clasped tightly around something. I hold out my hand, and he lets something fall into it. It's heavy for its size. I look closer. Oh, god. Kuronue's pendant. The chain is broken.

"Kurama! Where's Kuronue? What happened?" I am nearly screaming at him but he doesn't respond. He doesn't even look at me. What is wrong with him. I lower my voice, "Please, Kurama… what happened?"

"He…he… he wouldn't let me help him. Said it was better if I escaped. I told him it wasn't worth it. He went anyway. He knew. He knew about the pendant. He broke it. And he's coming for me eventually." Kurama seems broken. I never could have imagined him like this. I've seen him angry. I've seen him upset. I've seen nearly every emotion anyone could throw at you. But never could I have imagined that an emotion could gain so complete a control over him. At least not a negative emotion. And his positive ones very rarely. But never did he lose his cool like this.

"What are you saying Kurama?" I ask.

"He…he's dead, Ayaka. The goddamn bounty hunter got him." He looks up at me and I step back. Those eyes are haunted. So many emotions, all so intense, packed into those small golden orbs. So much emotion should never be confined to such a small space. It shouldn't even be possible. I want to look away. I need to look away. I want to look away! I can't. I can't.

His eyes are haunted. Guilt. Hurt. Rage. Self-loathing. Hate. Mostly hate. But I can't tell if it's hate directed at someone else, or if it's hate directed at himself.

"Bounty hunter?" I'm not screaming any more. In fact, I can hardly hear myself.

"Pink hair, almost red. Purple eyes, almost black," he mutters. I don't think he's really talking to me. I think he is merely trying to commit every detail to his own memory. "Black leather. So much black leather. Knives? Knives. And…why can't I remember, damn it!"

I fall backward and sit next to him. Kuronue is dead. How? Kuronue. Our Kuronue. Our laughing, flying, overgrown bat Kuronue. So many raids, and it's not the actual raid that kills him? It's a damn bounty hunter? No. No. I'm falling. I try to catch myself but I can't. Black encircles me. Swirling black.

I open my eyes. What happened? Oh why, why, did I need to ask that? Kuronue. It's daylight out now. Kurama is laying on his back staring at the sky. I somehow think he hasn't slept. I look to the sky. It's well past four in the afternoon. Which means it's been nearly thirty six hours since he last slept.

He doesn't glance at me. I look away. I feel like I should say something to him, comfort him in some way. But there isn't anything. There are no words. Kuronue was one of my best friends. It's hard to comfort someone when you're grieving for the same reason. Why did it have to be Kuronue? Why not me? It would have been easier for everyone involved if it had been me.

I'm not foolish enough to think that, even though I was an equal partner, I was an equal friend. They had something that even after one and a half centuries I cannot begin to fathom. I know I hurt because I lost Kuronue. I feel as if I cannot breathe. But… but I also know that Kurama feels just as bad. No, Kurama feels worse. There was nothing that could have torn Kuronue and Kurama apart. Nothing. If Kurama had needed to decide to save me or Kuronue, we all knew who he would have picked. It went unsaid.

I don't hold that against them. But I can't find a way to try to comfort him either.

I don't know if I fell asleep or if my brain just stopped. It's close to midnight now. We haven't eaten for more than twenty four hours. But I am not hungry at all. I highly doubt Kurama is. Last time I looked, he looked as if he wished he could join Kuronue.

I glance at him. He's asleep. Suddenly, although his eyes remain closed, he screams into the darkness, "Kuronue! No! It's not worth it!" He calms slightly then mutters. "It's not worth it. I shouldn't have left. I could have saved you. I could have save you."

I close my eyes. Sleep will not come.

Reviews:

animegrlsteph: Hiei w/o Kaien... next chapter. Hope this chapter was... enlightening.

Foxgirl Ray: I am thrilled that you have no problem with the past and present colliding. Lots of that, especially starting next chapter. As for your idea, if you write it out and post it, let me know so I can read it, okay?