It's been quite a while, I know. Like 2 years I believe? Dang.

Well, before, after I had written out the 20th chapter for Inner Battles, I had wrote the beginning of this as well and some long time after I wrote out the rest. And all I had to do was edit it. And I finally did. Yay.

Hopefully the next chapter won't be far off. Other than that though, enjoy~

"Alright. Here's what we're gonna do."

I gasped with Yamamoto as a stifling, scorching heat encompassed us after an aggressive, roaring thunder.

I felt something rigid and blunt smack my wounded shoulder, sucking the breath from me as pain gripped.

I blindly grabbed for Yamamoto and pulled him down to the ground with me. I had no idea what was going on but I wasn't going to chance our safety.

After the heat of the air cooled a bit, I opened my eyes and looked up, shock taking me.

The building, almost the entire building was now ablaze, fiercely burning while dark smoke bellowed into the air.

"What now, Gokudera?" I heard Yamamoto beside me. I look to him, his attention on the flaming warehouse.

I pushed myself up with some difficulty, the pain hitting my shoulder. Yamamoto followed suit.

I sighed. 'What now indeed...' I looked down and spotted some debris.

Screams turned our attention to the front and sides of the building where numerous people were rushing out.

Whether or not their minds were focused on escaping, we still couldn't risk being seen.

"Come on." I grabbed Yamamoto's arm and pulled him behind a thick, oversized bush surrounded by others, stooping down and ducking ourselves from sight.

"Why are we hiding?" Yamamoto asked. "They won't even-"

"We still can't chance it."

"Wait, what about the girl?!" We blindly heard a female voice.

"Who cares!"

"Girl?" Yamamoto gasped, grasped my shoulders and turned me to him. I gritted my teeth and resisted wincing. " What if it's Yuko?" He started at me, eyes held with hope and worry. But his eyes also held determination which made be a bit apprehensive.

That look, said he was going in either way.

"What if it's not?" Before he could reply. I interrupted. "Yamamoto," I reached up and plucked both his hands off my shoulders, able to ignore the bit of pain that brought. "You should know yourself; it's too risky diving head first into an open building on fire."

"Gokudera," He spoke firmly, resolved. "that doesn't matter. It could still be Yuko and even if it isn't. we can't leave a girl to burn in a fire!" I closed my eyes and sighed.

I opened them to look headlong at him. "Yamamoto-" And with that, and just like that, he turned and ran down from the mound we were on to the front of the building. 'That idiot!'

I held my head trying to comfort the pain throbbing from this moron's idiocy!

I groaned and ran to catch up to him, grabbing his hand and pulling him in the opposite direction to the back. The fire seemed as it erupted form the centre of the building but the fire was spreading more to the back than the front, leading everyone to escape through there and leaving the back empty.

A blast of heat pushed at us in greeting as we ran in. There weren't any flames in sight but it was inevitable in the atmosphere.

Ignoring the scorching fever on our bodies, we continued in.

I could feel moisture already, no—instantly, forming on my body.

It was like passing through hell's doors.

"Gokudera?" He loudly called over the pounding of our feet, wind and heat around our ears. "Where do we go to find the girl?"

I ignored the fact that he just ran in without thinking this through to save myself the headache and pondered.

Where would they keep a little girl who witnessed something she shouldn't have...

I stopped.

It actually sounds more their style to kill the girl when they got her. In actuality, we could be running into a burning building for nothing.

I looked to Yamamoto again and saw the determined and expectant look directed to me.

I mentally sighed.

It would make sense to keep her from common eyes or keep her away from anything revealing.

Isolated.

The only place I knew them to normally keep people like that was a steel room that would be built at the far end of the building.

But this isn't their usual style for their buildings and wasn't even a big warehouse.

It looked stretched out to three large areas separated.

Either way, that girl would still be privy to some information.

Wait..

I bit my lip trying to work out the possibility.

"If they had a basement..." I whispered, thinking out loud.

"A basement?" Yamamoto asked surprised.

"But I wouldn't even know where to look for—wait—Yamamoto!" I yelled as he had gripped my hand and ran, pulling me along with him.

"It shouldn't matter right?" He yelled back. "We just look until we find it. It can't be hard to find."

"I hope not.." I whispered to myself. I'm pretty sure they'd have some security measures to ensure no one notices anything. Not to mention it's a building on fire. It'll be hard to look the more concentrated the smoke becomes. Hell, who's to say the basement isn't already on fire?

Seeing the smoke up ahead, I pulled on his hand to stop him. "What's wrong?"

We breathe in that and within minutes, I'm pretty sure we'd be unconscious—or at the very less, woozy.

I reached to the inside of my thigh and pulled out the knife fitted snuggly there.

Raising my top, I sank the knife into it and cut a line from under my breasts down and made a chip from the higher cut. I sheathed the knife and grabbed my slit top again. "Goku-"

I pulled at the top, ripping it across my front torso and off, leaving a top that ends jaggedly at the bottom of my breasts in front and long in the back.

I moved to the middle of the ripped piece of cloth and tore another slit with my teeth, the ripped it down in half again.

I handed one of them to Yamamoto.

"Cover you nose and mouth with this." He looked to me in shock. "It'll protect you from the smoke somewhat." He still looked shocked.

I shook the cloth. "Well? Do you want it or do you want to die from smoke inhalation in the next 5 minutes?" He finally shook himself off and took the cloth. "Fold it in half and put it to your face."

He did what I said and I followed suit. From there, we moved on into the smoke ahead.

"Try not to breathe too quickly." I said from behind the cloth.

He nodded.

We moved further into the smoke, looking around but I had my doubts. With what they were doing and being willing to chase and kill to get it done, there's no way we're gonna be able to find that girl or even a potential baseme—"

I looked to my right and froze.

"—BASEMENT" It said on a poster pointing to a door.

Are you kidding me?! That can't be real...

I heard a muffled "oh" to my left before I saw Yamamoto bolt to the sign.

He can't be that stupid to actually believe that, can he?

"Hey!" I tried to shout to him to stop him from opening the door but was too late as he swung it open with a bang and ran in, going down.

That can't be real...

I walked forward and followed, reaching the door and trying to peer inside. There was a light, I think, but the ceiling of the basement and the smoke from up here made it hard to tell.

I heard a scream and crying and I made my way quickly down, made a sharp turn at the bottom of the stairs and froze.

This is...

This is messed up...

I watched as Yamamoto stooped, hugging a sobbing Yuko in his arms.

I closed my eyes and ran my hand through my hair. I don't even know how to react to this.

I walked to them.

"Alright, we can celebrate later, but first we need to get outta here." I said tiredly. The ridiculousness of the situation just drained a lot of energy from me.

Yuko looked up to me and smiled through a red face and swimming eyes. She nodded and stood up with Yamamoto.

I went back to the bottom of the stairs to check the density of the smoke from here. I'm guessing because of the sealing, the smoke couldn't really penetrate in.

You can see through the smoke up there but barely. Though it was coming down here fast.

Yuko and Yamamoto appeared by my side, Yuko now wearing the cloth I had given Yamamoto.

I took mine and handed it to him.

He looked like he was about to protest so I shoved it on his chest where he caught it.

"I can hold my breath longer than you." I said, looking through smoke up there.

He took it hesitantly and covered his nose and mouth with it.

"Stay close and don't lose sight of me." I said and made my way up the steps, holding my breath. I heard their footsteps behind me as well, assuring me they were following.

We made our way out of the basement and back onto the path we came from.

All we needed to do is go straight until we came at the back door.

I glanced back to see Yuko on Yamamoto's back and Yamamoto following right behind me.

I sped up my pace a bit, knowing he would as well.

Just a couple hundred feet.

We continued on.

A hundred left.

...

Eighty.

...

Seventy.

...

Sixty.

...

Fifty—

Flames and large molds of concrete striked down on the floor a couple feet ahead of us from above, smaller pieces shooting everywhere along with the reverberation the sound of the impact made.

I had almost gasped out the breath I was holding in shock.

The ceiling further up collapsed and flames were lapping at the end of the concrete.

I calmed myself but lost a bit of air.

The fire must've traveled on the roof.

Another piece of the ceiling fell closer to us.

Flames began accumalting from the back now. The fire probably licked at something and grew.

Debris flew everywhere and a small ball of concrete whipped the front of my thigh.

I bit my lip and kept straight, my lungs tightening.

I looked to the ceiling in wonder.

But surely the roof would be on fire...

"Gokudera?" Yamamoto asked, muffled by the cloth Yuko held for him—his both arms occupied with holding her up.

I held up my hand.

I looked around, trying to keep my mind sane. I can hold out for a good bit but this pushing it.

I scanned the roof again seeing a section of the wall that had broken off probably when the ceiling fell.

We could—

The headache that pounded my head decided for me and I bit my lip harder to quell it.

I motioned him to follow me and we made our way onto the pile of concrete and ceramic that had decorated the roof. I pointed to broken off part of the wall at the top and had them step on the concrete, stepping over the little flames on the edges to make sure we don't get hit by any other parts of the falling roof.

I motioned Yamamoto to me and had him put Yuko down.

I cupped my hands as a way to signal for him to launch off me and to the wall. The concrete we were standing on giving a bit more height.

He looked unsure and I knew he was about to suggest having me launch off him but I give him an angry look but judging by my lack of air that's now pulling at my chest, it probably looked desperate.

He gave me his cloth and I threw it over my shoulder, cupping my hands once more, pushing my back flush against the wall and steadying my feet. He put one foot in my hands and his hands on my shoulders.

He pushed his himself higher a bit to get his other foot on my shoulder—the one without the wound—and on a silent count to three, he pushed off and I threw him higher with some effort, still causing some strain on my injury.

I moved out from under him and saw him barely grab the edge of the concrete with one hand but managed to bring himself to grab on with both, pulling himself up and balancing himself—sitting on the thick edge, one leg in and one on the other side out.

I felt my chest tighten and my throat pull, morphing into a harsh scratch.

My lungs fiercely constricted and burned and I couldn't take it.

I took the cloth from my shoulder but barely managed to bring it to my mouth in time to inhale air back into my lungs but all I got was smoke.

The smoke now caught in the cloth.

My head got a bit fuzzy from the lack of air and dull breath of smoke. I managed not to cough but blew the air out of me slowly and back in even slower despite the clawing at the back of my throat for more air.

I moved back to the wall and signaled Yuko to me. I kept the cloth to my mouth as I leaned in and whispered to her with a strained voice, "Hold your breath. You can't hold the cloth and climb up."

Nodding, she took a big gulp and handed me her cloth.

I retook my stance and got her up faster and higher than Yamamoto considering she was much lighter.

Yamamoto caught her hands and pulled her up to him to sit the same as him, straddling the concrete wall.

He looked back to me.

I motioned for him to get down and I backed up, creating a good amount of space to get a head start. I watched him jump down and a couple seconds later, so did Yuko.

On instinct, I sucked in a large breath of smoke, the breathing technique I had been working on, broken.

This time, I couldn't help the coughing fit that took me over and the pounding heachache erupting. The wave of nausea was a surprise but should've been expected. I kept it in and backed up a little more.

I glanced down to the ring on my finger only to find it a dull silver. I tried to pull some flames from it but nothing.

Empty.

I looked to the wall and the distance. About a twelve feet climb with the concrete included, adding some height.

I positioned my self, right knee bent, left straightened out and hands in level with my shoulders on the ground.

After a self count to three, I pushed off, running as fast as I could to the wall.

Reaching the wall, I climbed it up in steps from the momentum of the race I started off.

I was able to run a couple steps up and when I felt my left foot slip, I used my right and pushed up, reaching and capturing the edge of the concrete, feeling the rough and coarse stones dig into my flesh.

I pulled myself up and grabbed on with my second hand.

I coughed and breathed out for a sec then sucked it back in.

Barely any smoke now.

Pulling myself up with some effort, I felt my stomach churn.

I breathed slowly as I sat on the sill of the concrete.

I looked down to see Yamamoto waiting there, Yuko further behind him.

He looked like he was ready to catch me.

I could easily jump down but with the state of my head, I'd probably end up injuring myself.

I turned to him and with another breath, I threw myself out.

The little fall felt like it pulled the contents of my stomach up to my throat.

But he caught me somewhere. I only focused on keeping the bile down my throat and I trusted him with my landing.

Everything spun for a second and then I realized I was in his arms and breathing deeply.

He put me back down onto the ground.

"Gokudera, are you okay?" He asked, concern in his eyes.

I looked to him, my vision blurry. But I could still feel my surroundings. The heat coming from above and behind, the hard hand on my waist and the lashing of little debris.

"Yeah.." I said and felt his hand on my face, wiping my eye.

"Your eyes are teary." I opened the eye he wiped to see him clearer.

I grabbed his hand off my face. "I'm fine. Let's just get out of here." I pulled his hand along to get moving.

We were halfway back to the other warehouse.

I was breathing in fresh air but I still felt like puking.

I needed to get this smoke out of me.

I just kept taking deeper and fuller breaths though subtly. Breathing in through my nose, and out through my mouth.

I felt a hand on the small of my back and I turned to see Yamamoto, concern still etched in his face.

"Gokudera, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." I breathed.

I felt so tired. And I just wanted to close my eyes and fall back.

I wasn't losing consciousness, this I know.

Well, at least I hoped so.

I felt his hand guide up to the middle of my back as if to support me from falling back. And I could've leaned back into it and let go of my weight.

"Gokudera?"

I looked back into his brown eyes shinning with worry through my lidded eyes. They felt heavy.

"I'm good." I whispered to him and moved my attention back to the path before me. I can go on for at least another hour. I really hoped.

Throughout the walk, his hand never left that spot. And he continually checked on my state. But I was quite out of it. Everything seemed distant.

My mind seemingly far from my body.

I felt like I was looking at my body move from outside of it.

I couldn't judge the time it took. Everything felt sluggish but we made it back to—I'm guessing his house.

He pulled me inside to a closed restaurant, took one of the chairs packed on the table and sat me on it.

He had taken out a chair as well for Yuko to sit and went to behind the counter, grabbing a phone and dialing some numbers before putting it to his ear.

Yuko watched me with worried eyes.

I turned my attention to the ceiling, watching the brown wood. Sturdy and quiet.

My eyelids weighed down on me, heavy and I rolled my head back, feeling my mind slowly blank out.

I saw a man walk through the curtain from the entrance with a luggage from the corner of a bleary eye.

He looked familiar.

But I couldn't...place...it..

My mind threw forth the revelation and I realized I was starting at my hit.

The guy I was supposed to kill.

But everything was darkening around me.

"Pops!" I heard Yamamoto's voice..

Pops? What is that?

...

Pops...

Alright, and the 21st chapter and part dos (2) of 'Revelations' completed. Awesome~

Now—even though it's been so long—the thanks!

THANKS to all those who faved, followed, read, and enjoyed~

And SPECIAL THANKS to:

ERN ESTINE 13624 - Yup! and there was the more—though late xD

KIRIMI SCARLETT HELLGREA - Lol, thanks, though you waited longer for this one.

For reviewing!

Thanks guys and until next chapter,

Mata ne, minna!