A/N: I promised, and here I am, delivering. Here's Chapter 10. I feel so bad ugh. Anyway, do enjoy!

The smoke billowed around Mitsuki, getting into her lungs and face and orange red sparks flew upwards into the sky like a fountain of fire. Covering her mouth and nose, she flung her head left and right, desperately hoping for a glimpse that would tell her the fate of her brother.

Hiroomi was caught under a pile of rubble and his left arm was cut by the raining shrapnel, bleeding freely. He lay there for a while, although he was sure it was no longer than a few seconds, breathing shallowly under the sheets of metal and dust. His eyes were only slightly opened, unfocused and his vision blurred. Every breath felt like pain; some of the metal must have gotten into his lungs because every time he breathed, he felt like his innards were being shredded.

Everything felt like it was going in slow motion. The blood that trickled down his arm was so, so slow. It moved unhurriedly down his skin, moving fractions of a centimetre in what seemed like hours. His head was pounding away at the back of his mind, no doubt the aftershock of the explosion, like the slow rhythmic beating of a drum, echoing and reverberating. His eyes were heavy and hard to open, and something felt sticky on his forehead. Somewhere far, far away, muffled and almost inaudible was the sound of someone calling, crying, calling, crying, calling, crying; their tears and words blurred into a single noise. A person, a girl's voice.

Mitsuki….?

And suddenly everything snapped back into real time. This was no time to be sitting around. Ignoring the pain, Hiroomi gathered his abandoning strength and he braced his right arm against the metal that covered his body and pushed. At first it was like pushing at a stone wall, unmoving and stubborn, but slowly it eased, the screech of the metal filling his ears and mind. Then as the twilight came into view, he sat up, unbalanced.

Mitsuki heard the metal before she saw her brother. Flinging her head, she saw a pile of rubble shift and the top of a raven head emerge. Panic and relief flooded her body and she ran over, hurling debris left and right to move the weight off of Hiroomi.

"Nii-chan! Nii-chan, are you okay?" As her eyes landed on his arm, they widened and she panicked. Hiroomi offered no reply and only looked left and right, his effort to stay focused visible. "Y-Yakiimo! Go tell Ayaka-san!" She ordered, her frail voice breaking. "Quickly!"

With a squeak, Yakiimo took off running, disappearing around the bend in a flash. Mitsuki turned back to her brother, pushing the remaining debris off his legs and carefully helped him up, avoiding moving his arm too much. His laboured breathing filled her hearing and Mitsuki felt a little part of her heart break.

"Where..." Hiroomi rasped and coughed. Mitsuki snapped to attention.

"Shh, don't talk, it's…" Her voice cracked. "…Just don't talk."

Hiroomi felt his sister's voice waver and squeezed her hand. "Where...is Miroku?"

Mitsuki gritted her teeth, anger flashing across her burgundy eyes. "He ran. While you were…" She swallowed. "Under."

"Did you see where he...went?" Hiroomi felt his chest constrict and he doubled over, coughing harshly. Something must've crushed my chest…

Mitsuki leant over, patting his bath and cooing soothing noises. As his cough eased, he straightened and she shook her head, furrowing her brow. "No. I…sorry."

Hiroomi offered no response. The edge of his vision was blurring and darkening, and he struggled to stay upright, even with Mitsuki's help. A sharp stab sliced through his lungs and he gasped, toppling forward.

"Onii-chan!" Alarmed, Mitsuki leapt forward to catch her falling brother. An arm hooked under his armpits, she managed to stop his head from hitting the ground but she could feel his dead weight taking a toll on her body. Clicking her tongue worriedly, she carefully and laboriously laid him on the ground on his side. Hiroomi had trouble speaking and kept coughing so obviously, something was wrong with his airways. Struggling to remember what little she had learnt from swimming and CPR, she moved him into recovery position.

She wondered briefly what she should do. Should she chase after Yakiimo? Perhaps she should do something for her brother. But what?

But she didn't wonder long, because a distant whoosh of wind greeted her ears and she looked up at the looming figure of Ayaka in her youmu-form. Nearly crying in relief, she waved frantically at the woman, hoping to catch her attention. Ayaka spotted her and swooped down gracefully, landing near the injured male.

Hugging the youmu tightly, Mitsuki thanked her quietly and ran back to her brother, cautiously lifting him onto the back of the Ayaka, with some help from said youmu. Clambering on after she was sure her brother was safe, Yakiimo hopped back into her shirt. Nuzzling the small bundle of fur, she whispered, "Thank you Yakiimo."

Ayaka pushed off the ground and elegantly wove her way through the air towards her shop. Had anyone been looking up at that particular time, perhaps they might have seen a fox, stark white against the night sky flying through the air. And had they looked again, they would have seen nothing.

"Lay him down. Quick!" Ayaka's normally mirth-filled voice was urgent and low, urging Mitsuki and Ai into the back. Between the latter two, they were carrying Hiroomi, completely unconscious and breathing heavily.

The woman bustled around the house, picking up odds and ends but Mitsuki paid no attention. A room was already ready, a futon laid out and a basin of water next to it. A soft naphtha lamp sat in the corner, illuminating in the room in an eerie soft glow. Carefully, they lay down the raven-haired male and his breathing eased slightly.

Ai quietly left, her soft footsteps padding across the tatami mats, murmuring something about helping her sister. Mitsuki barely heard her. All she could see was her brother, injured because of her. His arm was bleeding badly and the blood was starting to seep through his blazer. His head had various patches of blood and although most of the debris had fallen off him during travel, some still clung on, glinting deadly in the light. His school shirt was looking terrible, ripped and littered with blood and even his scarf looked like it had seen better days. Her breath hitched and Mitsuki started tearing up, angry that her own decision had brought pain to her brother.

If only I was more careful…It should've been me…!

Swiping heatedly at her eyes, she took a deep breath and evened her breathing. There was no use crying and this wasn't the time to be blaming anybody. Heaving herself up, she left the room and bumped into Ai holding basin of water.

"There's already one in onii-chan's room, you don't need another one." Mitsuki said, smiling tiredly, bemused.

"Oh! No, this is for Kanbara-kun." Ai sighed. "We're turning into a hospital!"

"Akihito?" Mitsuki furrowed her brows. Turning on her heel, she walked quickly towards the kitchen, where she could hear various bangs and crashes. "Ayaka-san?" She said, poking her head into the room.

The woman was standing near a shelf full of different jars, all filled to the brim with a different kind of plant. Or what she hoped was a plant.

"Mm?" Ayaka said, distractedly.

"What's Akihito doing here? Also, is there anything I can do to help?" She asked, fully entering.

Ayaka paused briefly before uttering a soft groan, softly muttering something like, "That's why I went out." Turning around, the green-eyed woman pulled a piece of paper out of the sleeve of her kimono, handing it to Mitsuki. "Could you do this for me? I was going out to buy this for Akihito when Yakiimo ran into me. Sorry, I really need to get to Hiroomi and I need Ai." She said, apologetically.

Mitsuki took the paper and opened it. On it was a name; Latin, if Mitsuki guessed correctly. Nodding, the dark-haired girl put the paper in her pocket. "Where do I get it?"

Ayaka had gone back to plucking an assortment of herbs from different jars and she said, "On the main street, there's a blue sign with a human deflection barrier on it. Go down the alley and turn right. There should be an apothecary there. Just hand the paper to the clerk and put it on my tab."

"…Okay." Frowning, Mitsuki committed the directions to memory and turned to leave. She walked out before pausing briefly. She went back into the kitchen.

"Thank you Ayaka-san."

And left after that.

Akihito stood, agape. "Who are you?"

The faux-Akihito smirked. "You."

It was the same voice he heard earlier and the low rumble sounded strange coming from himself. "B-But…" Akihito spluttered. "You can't be."

The stranger shrugged. "Why not?"

"B-Because…" Akihito furrowed his brow. This was beyond strange.

"How long are you going to stand there?" Sighing dramatically, the other Akihito grabbed his hand and dragged him into the house, making him half trip over the genkan. The innards of the building were much like the outside; generic and faded and old. The furniture was far from display room standard, but it had a homely feeling and Akihito felt strangely nostalgic.

He was standing in the living room and the other person had disappeared. Suddenly, something caught his interest.

"Mm….what's that smell?" Sniffing lightly, the blond walked through the house, straight into the kitchen. It was so easy to navigate that Akihito felt uneasy.

Have I been here before…?

But he was distracted because there, on the table, was a piping hot plate of omelette rice. Delighted, he sat down, and was about to eat before the other Akihito barged into the room, slamming the door open and close in the process.

"OI!"

Startled, Akihito looked up and put the spoon down. "Sorry." He said sheepishly. "Was this yours?"

The other offered no response, simply walking over and sprinkled some basil on top. "There." He said, satisfied. "Now you can eat."

"It wasn'tfor you?" Akihito asked. carefully spooning some into his mouth.

The fake blond shook his head, pulling a chair out and sitting down. "I don't eat. But help yourself."

So the blond started spooning some carefully into his mouth. A brief pause followed as he ate. Swallowing, Akihito licked his lips. "That's really nice, thank you. Why don't you eat?"

The other person shrugged.

A comfortable silence settled over them and Akihito thought about how strange this situation was. Here he was, sitting in a house in the middle of nowhere, at a table with another him, eating omelette rice.

"It is strange isn't it?" The faux Akihito piped up.

Startled, the blond looked up from his almost-empty plate, narrowing his eyes. "Can you read my mind or something?"

"…Mm. Kind of."

"Well, stop it. It's creepy."

The other let out a hoot of laughter, much lighter than the voice he had heard earlier. "I would if I could." Waggling his eyebrows, he said, "I can hear everything you think you know. Including thoughts about a certain megane-chan."

Akihito reddened. "O-Oi! I don't…" He spluttered, aghast.

Chuckling softly, the other waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. Your secrets are safe with me. Besides, who would I tell?"

Composing himself, Akihito set down his spoon and looked seriously at the person in front of him. He was, in every way, exactly like himself. His hair was the same, his hands were the same, his mouth was the same; everything was the same, except for his forest green eyes, so strikingly different from his bland brown ones.

"So what are you doing here?" Akihito rested his chin against his hand, cocking his head.

"What do you mean?"

"You're alone in a house in the middle of nowhere. You have to be doing something."

"Honestly?"

"Honestly."

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Akihito's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "How can you do nothing for…how long have you been here?"

The other sat back against his chair. "17 years."

The blond contemplated this information. "…Okay." He said, after a while. "When did you get here?"

"17 years ago."

"You don't remember?"

"No."

"How did you get here?"

"Forcibly."

Akihito crinkled his eyebrows and he felt winded, as if someone had punched him in the gut. "Someone forced you to?"

"Yes."

Throughout the entire interchange, the faux-Akihito had not flinched nor shied away from a question. He took the interrogation as if it were normal and answered straightforwardly. His gaze was steady and Akihito sensed no deceit, only an intense sadness. Akihito felt something rise at the back of his throat, and he was getting slightly dizzy. Closing his eyes, he let out a soft sigh and swallowed nervously.

"…And where are we now?"

The other person smiled strangely, cocking his head but said nothing.

"Answer the question." Akihito's voiced suddenly hitched, and he felt himself shout. Swallowing again, he tried to recompose himself. "…Sorry."

The green-eyed Akihito sighed. "We're in your head."

A/N: I have nothing to say I'm sorry. As per usual, R&R and I hope you have a great day!