Disclaimer: I do not own Tsubasa, neither do i own the starting of this story.

Warning: THIS ENTIRE STORY IS YAOI/ BxB. DO NOT PROCEED IF THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR.

LOTS OF ANGST AND RAPE/ NON CON. BE-WARNED.

Chapter 22: Journey to the Falls II

"Fai!" Toya yelled as he hurried forward into the woods. A rustling sound on his left took his attention as he eyes snapped to the side just in time to spot a flicker of black disappearing into the greens of the bush.

"Fai-san!" He yelled again, calling as he chased the tails of the shadow of a certain blonde he was finding. But the shadow left as fast as it came. Nevertheless he scuttled forward towards the spot he last saw the standard black of the Yasha uniform.

Toya frowned slightly at the emptiness and quietness of the area. He was pretty sure he saw something move there. Did he see wrongly?

That was when a rustling on his right took his attention. Thinking that Fai could have ran off in that direction, Toya sprinted off heading towards his right.

For the next few minutes, Toya wandered around the area in attempt to find the tracks of the disheveled and seemingly mentally unstable blonde. But there was simply no sign of him.

He continued searching for some time to yield no result. By then, the sky was getting dark. It seemed like there was no way they could make it to the falls by nightfall. A gentle fluff of white floating down from the sky and Toya watched as snow begun to fall once again. With that, the temperature had dropped to the negatives.

In dismay, he gave up and begun heading back to the cave. A part of him hoped that at least Rikkudo would have found him and brought him back to safely. If the blonde were to spend the night out in the cold.. He didn't want to think about it.

That was when he heard a constant thudding sound with intervals of small hiccups coming from just around the corner. With brows shooting up in alert, Toya dashed towards the source.

The sight before him made his blood churned in horror.

xXx

"I understand, my master." Rikkudo nodded solemnly as Shozu finished give his order in a soft hush voice. Even though Rikkudo's face had remained relatively emotionless throughout the whole conversation, the slight confusion that flashed across the man's face at the beginning was nevertheless noticeable.

The man who had been carrying Fai frowned slightly, eyes darting between the pair as he stood by the side watching his master whisper into Rikkudo's ear. Soon, understanding and acceptance dawn upon the man as he nodded once again.

Upon Shozu's last words, Rikkudo bowed deeply, turning to leave to be stopped once again.

"Just talk to him as much as you can. He'll be able to understand you."

The glint in his eyes was unmistakable. The bystander of a man stood observing as he watched his master smiled a scheming smile, those black eyes remained focused on Rikkudo.

When Rikkudo gave another bow and hopped back on his horse, riding away into the far distance, Shozu turned to walk away from the camp site. Noticing his departure, the underling of a man scuttled forward, following him at half a pace behind him.

Questions jostled in his mind as the scene before him unfolded once again in his mind.

His initial order to carry the blonde to Shozu-sama's private living quarters.. to suddenly getting stopped by Kurogane-san.. to him taking him away.. sending Kakaname to deliver the ring.. then there was the thing he need Rikkudo to do..

What's so secretive that Shozu-sama had to whisper into Rikkudo-san's ear?

"Shozu-sama what did you order Rikkudo-san to do?" He blurted out in pure curiosity before stopping himself when he realised how inappropriate he was and he immediately slapped his hand to his mouth, half scolding himself for being so untactful..

He held his breath, waiting for a scolding or a good knock into his head. But seconds passed but nothing happened. There was no reply or reaction. Deciding to take the risk of peeking, the underling of a man stole a glance at his master.

The fat man was smirking, staring into the far distance as the evil smile drawn wider on his face by the second. Almost immediately, he could feel a chill ran down his spin as goose bumps started surfacing on his arms.

That smile.. He had seen it a couple of times now.. And that definitely wouldn't mean anything good. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to know what his master has in mind..

But before he could decide to tell Shozu not to tell answer his question, the answer to his question came.

"I just sent him to do what I had intended to do all along."

Shozu replied staring into the far distance as though relishing on the future that he had just seen. "He's just replacing me to do what I would have done if i had successfully trapped the pretty face with me here."

A surprised look flashed across the underling's face before he plunged his brows down in confusion.

"And what may that be?" He grunted in a small voice, as though he was scared that his question would be deemed as a joke and would be looked down upon. As though his fears came through, the fat man laughed almost too heartedly. But when he stopped, a serious look etched on his scarred face.

"Don't judge that pretty face too fast. He is worth more than he looks." Shozu replied in a slightly amused tone.

"His blood contains what I need to fuel the stone." A wicked smile spread across his scarred face at those words. "A precious ingredient in fact."

"Can't you just get it from him?" The underlying asked deciding that his master was in a suitable mood to enquire more without getting the short end of the sword.

At his underling's absurd question, Shozu laughed once again, crackling slightly, his face twisted even more, making his feature almost unbearable to look at.

"No no no.." The fat man clicked his tongue in disapproval as he proceeded to reply his question.

"Offering is not enough. If i wanted, I can always find people who are willing to die and offer their life to me. But that's not enough."

"Almost nothing comes out of it if the person does that willingly. You'll need an additional ingredient to harvest greater power. Strong emotions is the key. The stronger you feel for something, the more feelings and emotion you put in, the power harvest would increase. It's like a multiply effect."

"Feelings like loyalty and faith does the job, but the multiplication effect is little."

"So guess what brings out the greatest potential?"

The smile lingered upon the face as Shozu turned to face his subordinate, throwing him a question. But his question was returned with a blank look and a nervous shaking of the head.

"Fear."

Shozu chuckled silently as he watched his subordinate swallowed the lump in his throat upon hearing the answer and nodded almost too eagerly.

"Fear is such an interesting emotion."

"Once you succumb to it, you'll be unable to think, unable to do anything properly. It engulfs you and consumes everything within you making you susceptible and vulnerable." The fat man continued. "That's when you launch your attack."

"It was the most powerful emotion out of all the emotions I had experimented during harvesting thus far."

"Do you know what's the best way to incite fear in a person?"

xXx

"NO! GET OFF ME!" Fai screamed hysterically, clawing forward, half dragging his body in the thick layer of snow on the ground.

The moment he landed on the ground, he had immediately pushed himself off attempting to shrug off his attacker and escape. But the entire weight of the man was already pressing on top of him that he simply could not get away.

"You can't run away." A deep guff familiar voice exhaled on near his ear, his breath tickling, raising goosebumps on his shoulders and the side of his face. He could feel every single cell in his body scream in a mixture of disgust and alert. It was as though his blood had frozen that instant before the flood of panic shot through his guts.

That voice.. He could recognize it from miles away.

"No I must get away!" The red button of danger rang and clanged within him as he scuttled with even more force and effort to get away.

He struggled to get out of the man's grips.. But no matter how he twisted, turned and thrashed he just could not escape from the heavy weight of the tall giant. His position had placed him at a disadvantage, making his attempts futile.

In the course of his struggle the man had positioned his entire forearm slightly above Fai's shoulder blades, allowing him to effectively pin him on to the ground.

In desperation, Fai kicked backward, and elbowed the man his ribs. That seemed to have taken the man by surprise and he managed to wiggle into the space he had created and in a matter of seconds, he was on his feet ready to flee.

But atlas, he was a tad too slow.

The man lunged forward, jumping on to him and both of them fell, crashing onto the ground. This time, there was no escape for Fai.

As though punishing him for his attempt to escape, the man swung his fists at him and he received a hard blow on his head. Following that, his head crashed onto the ground with a deafening thud. He could feel his vision spin out of control as a loud ringing sound echoed in his ears.

Before he could shake off the effect of the slam, a forceful arm had shoved his face into the snow, pressing him violently onto the hard cold ground before the man landed another punch into the side of his stomach making his double up in pain.

A second blow landed on the other side of his torso, causing another series of sharp pain to shoot up his body. The wound upon his torso which he could not remember receiving had reopened. Very slowly, blood begun to ooze out, damping the snow white bandages winding around his body to protect his wounds from infection.

For that few minutes, Fai clutched his body tightly, protecting himself from the abuse of the man who had pinned him down.

"Remember how you got this?" The hoarse gruff voice which was yet so familiar sounded right next to his ears as he felt the hand slide down the side of his torso to rest on the wound which had just reopened beyond the bandage.

"I was the one who gave it to you." The hand which was rest on the wound now applied a greater pressure making him instinctively shunt away from the touch. He tried to escape once again but before he could do anything, those blue eyes widen in terror as a sharp cry of pain escaped from his lips.

It was as though the man was trying to inflict the maximum amount of pain he could. Very slowly, the man stuck one finger into the sword slash, prying it open. Blood gushed out from the wound, gradually soaking both the bandage and his clothes wet.

"It should have been big and bloody."

Almost immediately, the ringing in his ears and the throb in his head ceased, replaced by unspeakable pain from the wound which had been pried open as the man stuck in another finger, digging deeper inside. Fai yelled out in pain but his voice was muffled by a huge hand which had covered over his mouth, preventing him from making any sounds.

Tears begun to flow from Fai's eyes as the man inserted yet another finger into the sword wound. A gaping hole now replaced the cut which was on its way to recovery.

"That's more like it." The man grunted, a satisfactory tone rang in his rough voice. By then the blonde's body was already trembling violently, though still pinned on the cold hard ground.

But he was not done.

Blue eyes shot open as the fingers, bloodied from his blood, continued into its next destination.. moving lower and lower, loosening his army robes in a rough matter.

No this is not happening..

In a matter of seconds, the man's hand had wander down to his lower body, grabbing onto his manhood. Fai jolt up in surprise as cold freezing hands met the most sensitive member of his body. At the touch of raw skin against raw skin, the pang of anxiety and panic within the blonde exacerbated, replacing the pain from the ordeal he had just experienced.

But he was simply too weak and too buckled up in pain to do anything.

As the man pumped the lower half organ, despite his unwillingness, Fai could feel a rising heat shooting up from below. In matter of time he was panting and his body aroused against his will.

Tears streaked down his cheeks at his helplessness of the situation as he let the man do as he wished.

With a final stroke, Fai came, releasing his seeds into the calloused hand that attacked him from behind. The weight upon his body lifted and he didn't have to look back to know the man was smiling displaying the cum he just obtained on his hand.

Then he feel a huge force lift him up, forcing him to face his attacker up front.

"Lick." The man ordered, baring his own member in the cold winter air.

His body immediately tensed as he cuddled into himself shaking badly as tears which had been flowing ceased in the middle of the attack begun to flow again. When he did not respond to his order, a choking force took him by the neck, squeezing his windpipe. His hand shot up to his neck in attempt to pry those calloused hand open.

Tears welled and streamed down those pale face as he struggled to breathe. When the man finally released his grip, Fai fell back to the ground gasping for air. Grabbing a handful of his blonde hair, the man yanked him up into a sitting position.

Very slowly, Fai opened his mouth, trembling.

"Now.. that's a good boy."

Tears continued to pour down from his blue eyes.

xXx

A look of triumph and pride spread across Shozu's face. But he gave no answer, letting the underling of a man's brain to wander.

"Break him."

The order from days ago came back to him as a chill ran down his spine upon recalling a particular conversation between his master and the cell guard.

For a brief second, the man watched his master relished in the thoughts of inciting fear into the blonde. But his prideful and gleeful look was soon to be replaced by an almost irritated look as though he had recalled something he had not want to.. Sometime unpleasant.

"He was almost ready." Shozu spat spitefully. "Just left the slightly nudge and he would have tumbled down into oblivion. But no." He frowned. "That son of a bitch had to interfere. Damn that asshole."

At Shozu's sudden change in mood, his underling cowered slightly in shock to watch his master exhaled and calm himself down.

"But it's alright.."

"Cos you've sent Rikkudo to do what you couldn't." The man completed Shozu's sentence, smiling slightly at his own sudden realisation of the situation. But new question popped up and without thinking he simply shot his mouth off.

"But why him?"His underling grunted in confusion yet again. "What's so special about the foreigner?"

"That, my dear Matsuda, you don't know." At his question, Shozu shook his head once again, smiling slightly.

"He is special."

"There's something in his blood that no other has and that forms the most important catalyst to create the energy to feed the stone."

Shozu smiled once again, looking into the far distance

"What is it?" The man cocked his head in curiosity.

"Magic."

"There's magic in his blood and that's what makes him special."

Black eyes widened in surprise at the new knowledge before thick brows plunged down into a frown.

"Is that why you gave the ring to Kurogane too?" At the underling of a man's question, Shozu bursted out laughing once again.

"No no no.. That and the ring is two completely different thing altogether."

"You see.. The more I feed the stone, the stronger the power of the stone becomes."

"Initially, the stone only had little power to do thing. As it grows stronger, it'll obtain more abilities.. Just before the incident at the bath tent, it had obtained the power to translate my words for him."

"I was just about to get the second dosage from him but the son of the bitch.." Memories from four days ago came flooded back into his brain making his temper flared at his failed attempt. But he calmed himself down once again by trying to even his breathing.

"Well.. It doesn't matter.. I got it in the end anyway.." Shozu exhaled as the evil grin spread across his face, recalling a certain scene at the dungeons. "With the additional dosage, the stone should be able to do more."

"For all I know, he may be able to understand everyone now.."

"So that's why you gave the ring to Kurogane.." Matsuda breathed, unable to conceal his marvel at his master's brilliance to receive another hearty laugh from Shozu. But it too brought back issues he had not wanted to think about as he begun to cuss at the stunt Kurogane drew at him just moments ago.

"You know... I had so much plans for him for the upcoming weeks when he's stuck here in this camp." He scoffed in contempt.

"The amount of fun everyone's gonna have.. You can't even imagine it."

"But it doesn't matter now."

The evil smile return back on to his face and widened significantly as his black eyes gleaned under the moonlight. Once again, his face twisted in malice and desire.

"Everything's all well."

"Now, let's get ready to move out."

"Huh? Where are we going?" The underling blurted out once again, surprised at the sudden change in topic. "Didn't Mizuro-sama instruct us to stay here to take care of the camp?"

"Who cares about the camp? If all goes well.." The scar faced of a man stared into the far distance away, the grin etched upon his face.

"There'll be no need to listen to what he says. That butt-licker.."

"Come on and go about the preparation."

"We're going to where he is now."

The underling nodded frantically, gulping the lump in throat as he scuttled away. As the man scuttled away, nobody noticed the small shadow which had loitered around for a while now, watching their every movement.

The smile remained upon the scarred face as those black eyes remained fixated on the faraway dream he was holding onto.

"If all goes well.."

Those black eyes glint with ambition and malice.

xXx

"My gosh." Toya gasped as he registered the sight before him.

Fai lay slumped on a tree sitting in pool of blood which the snow had begun to bury it all bloodied and torn. His hair was messy, covering his half his face.

Shocked, Toya stood rooted to the ground for a brief second before rushing forth to the broken man.

The first thing he noticed was the vast amount of blood that seemed to stain everywhere. His clothes hung loosely on his body, revealing the splatter of blood on his bandages which was woven around his torso.

"Who did this to you?" He gasped upon seeing the damage on the blonde's body as he grabbed onto Fai. That was when he noticed the blonde's hand scratching on his neck, his finger stuck onto a spot to which blood poured from it.

"Did you do this to yourself?" He exhaled, unable to believe what he had concluded from seconds ago. Unconsciously, Toya took a step backwards, eyeing the blonde in disbelief.

The blonde's hand remained on his neck, scratching it in slow motion as though trying to pry the spot open. Blood seemed to be continuously flowing from those wounds beyond those bandages, staining onto his clothes. The continuously motion of his hand and his head took his attention and all of a sudden he realised what drew his attention to come here.

Leaning against the tree, Fai knocked his against it creating a loud thud sound. That had been the thudding sound he heard on his way back to the cave.

"Stop it!" Toya growled, his voice cracked in anxiety and urgency as he reached forward, putting his hand between the tree and his head to buffer the impact. A heavy knock crashed into his hand, making him wince just so slightly. Had he been hitting himself with such force?

But it was like a motion Fai had accustomed himself to. Despite his attempt to stop him, Fai simply continued lifting his head away from the tree and crashing it back onto his hand. Toya had no idea how long he had been at it but a dark bruise had already form on his forehead, a trickle of partially dried blood with freshly flowing ones stained the part of his skin in contact with the tree.

"Fai-san! Stop!" Toya called once again, this time he gathered the male by the shoulders and shook him gently in attempt to wake him to his senses. But the blonde remained slumped as though all energy had left him.

His motion nevertheless sent the mob of blonde bobbing up and down as his head swung loosely. That effectively got his long bangs away, revealing his face which had been hidden from sight.

Those blue eyes stared emotionlessly into the far distance, unseeing. His iris were entirely dilated as though still in shock. A look of terror, mingled with an strange indescribable sense of peace etched upon his pale face.

His mouth mumbled silently, mouthing a constant phrase in an unknown language. Toya wondered just so briefly what could have happened in the course of possibly half an hour since he ran away.

He's hysterical.

Itsuki's words came back to him, making his brows plunge down in worry. Did all those abuse broke him? But he seemed so normal when he woke up! No. Most importantly he had to get him back to the cave.

His body felt as cold as ice.

Swiftly, he helped the male dress up, draping his cafe around the blonde and gathered him in his arms. Despite his body temperature dropping low, the blonde wasn't shivering or exhibiting any signs of cold. That's definitely not a good sign.

"Toya? Did you find..?"

The familiar grunt of Kurogane's voice sounded just as he was lifting the blonde up from the ground.

"Yes. I found him." He replied quietly, standing back facing Kurogane before slowly turn to face him. When his eyes met Kurogane's, Toya could see the facial expression of the red-eye male change almost immediately as those red eyes darted from his face down to the blonde he was carrying in his arms.

The look of panic and worry evolved swiftly into horror and anger as Kurogane exploded.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HIM?"

Kurogane stormed towards him, half drawing his sword ready to attack Toya.

To everyone's surprise, the limp body which had been lying restlessly against Toya's chest suddenly moved as though something had triggered a reaction within the blonde. Those blue eyes widened before blinking and his face turned to face Kurognae, as though his conscious had suddenly returned back to him.

In that spilt second, he struggled and half leapt out of Toya's arms as he dashed towards Kurogane. But the body stopped short in his steps, staring at his companion wides eyes who also froze with Souhi unsheathed and raised for an attack.

Kurogane watched as horror filled the eyes of the blonde, replacing the momentary relief that flashed within it when he first leapt off from Toya's arms. Fai simply stood rooted to the spot, his eyes focusing on the anger upon his face before raising his sights to the kanata in his hand.

Wide eyed, the blonde simply shook his head in ultimate terror as he took a step backwards. His mouth mouthed a few words before screaming hysterically, covering his ears as he cowered backwards.

Before Kurogane could react, the blonde simply turned and ran.

xXx

I need to get away.

This is a dream.

This is a dream.

This is a dream.

That's not Kuro-puu. It's definitely not him.

This is a dream.

Life had been bad and gotten worse over the days since he somehow landed himself in the cell. He had been able to endured it so so long, drift in and out of reality so often that he had could no longer distinguish between nightmare and realistic. Just when he was about to give up and succumb to the devils within him, Kurogane voice reached him, pulling him back to reality.

When he heard the familiar voice, he simply could not believe it. Didn't everyone told him he had left?

But he didn't!

A sense of joy and relief flooded his insides woke him.

He didn't abandon me!

He blinked once, registering a soft white environment before his head snapped to the source where he heard the voice originate from. The first thing that he saw was the man he had so desperately wanted to see for the longest time. Instinctively, he lunged towards him.

No.

That was when he realised.

Something was wrong.

Hence he stop short in his steps. His eyes focused straight on the man before him, registering every single muscles.. every detail on the man.

The anger upon the face.. The raised sword.. Was he about to attack him?

Why?

That was when his eyes drawn to a certain bright object which glistened almost too brightly.

A bright red stone bore into his mind, sending huge waves of fear and terror up his body. His mind froze for the second as his body begun shivering uncontrollably.

What is the ring doing with Kuro? Why did he had it?

"You're not him!" He screamed covering his ears squinting his eyes shut.

He had enough.

This is a dream.

His nightmare had come back to haunt him.

This is a dream.

This is not real.

Wake up.

No.

I need to get away.

That thought flooded every cell in his body, consuming him.

Without him even realizing himself, his legs had moved on its own and he started running. He didn't care where he's going. He just need to get as far away from the malice object as possible.

"FAI!"

He didn't even hear Kurogane calling him or did he even realised the man had chase after him. With his wounds, his movement had slowed down significantly enabling the taller raven to catch up to him.

He simply ran with all his might, hobbling along.

Only when a rough hand grabbed onto his arm that he realised he was getting caught. Immediately, he struggled, wiggling out of the hand's grip. But the grip didn't loosen, instead it tightened, swirling him hundred eighty degrees around right into the man's embrace.

At the sudden large surface area of contact, panic gushed through the blonde's brain causing him to freak out. Fai thrashed violently, hitting, slapping with all his might to get out of the situation.

"IT'S ME!" Kurogane yelled as he held on desperately on to the thrashing blonde, unwilling to let him get out of his reach.

"IDIOT MAGE!"

"IT'S ME!"

"LOOK AT ME!" He growled, grabbing his face and forcing the pale face into his. Blue eyes met red ones and Kurogane did all he could to throw his feelings into his eyes, to reassure him, to calm him down.

"It's me, idiot." He grunted softly in a gently tone as he continued to stare intently at the blonde.

As though Kurogane's call finally reached him, Fai froze for a moment before the resistance from him slowly eased. At first the blue eyes darted wildly, unseeing. But they soon registered the suave face of the tall raven and the slender body begun to calm down. Nevertheless, Kurogane held on to him, hugging him tightly.

"Kuro-tan?" Fai whispered as though he could not believe his eyes.

"$/)):6" Then he uttered something nonsensical as usual. Kurogane simply nodded, brushing his fingers though the blonde's hair.

"I'm here.." The tall raven hushed as he slowly release pressure to return freedom to the blonde. But the blonde continued to stay buried in his chest. Slightly concerned, Kurogane bend down to look at the blonde in concern to find him sniffing as dampness spread onto his shirt.

Maybe it was due to the excruciating pain in his abdomen that just suddenly hit him in the gut.. or the horrid sensation from the accumulative abuse he received from the past two days.. he wasn't sure. Maybe it was just due to the shame he felt from feeling pleasure just moments ago. Maybe it was the shame he had from being so helpless.. Maybe it was the relief he felt from reuniting with Kurogane.. He did not know.

When reasoning returned to him, he simply broke down into tears, howling hysterically as he wept his eyes out.

"Everything's gonna be ok now." He heard his red-eyed warrior cooed, stroking his back gently. But that simply made him cry harder.

There were so many questions. What happened to him that caused him such distressed.. Why hadn't he tried to tell him? How did things get to this state? Why didn't he come in time to prevent all these from happening...

Even though a million questions was gushing through his head right at the instant, even though he wanted so badly to find a target to let out his pent-up frustration, Kurogane knew it was more important to stand by the blonde's side until he recover from whatever he had just experienced.

The questions.. The blame.. it all didn't matter now.

Watching the male weep his entire sorrow and possibly injustice into his chest, an pang of feeling unknown to him flooded his insides. It felt warm yet bitter at the same time. As though he was happy and sad at the same time. What was this feeling?He didn't know what to think of it but it felt right to just be here and as he was.

Closing his eyes briefly, Kurogane gathered the mage and held him into a tighter embrace. Patiently, he waited silently for the sobbing blonde to calm down.

Only when his tears stopped and the Mage fell peacefully asleep in his arms that Kurogane picked him up and headed back to the cave.

Despite all, he could feel how tightly the blonde had clutched onto his shirt, refusing to let go even after he fell asleep. He looked down at the blonde once again, a calm gentle feeling brushed against his insides.

Had his hair always been such a nice yellow color? He couldn't help but notice things he hadn't notice before.. Was the idiot ever so pale and fair?

But above all, the strange fluttering feeling he could not fathom came back to him almost immediately at those thoughts. A warm fuzzy feeling then replaced the fluttering.

Very briefly he wondered what that was all about.

A/N:

Happy early valentine's! And so, I decided to let the cat outta the bag and by now you know the reason y some things happen.. Hopefully it's not too boring with the explanation.. I tried to cut the Shozu scene into parts but it just seemed like a tension spoiler..

BUT THE STORY IS STILL GOING NOWHERE :( sigh I write and write but it never gets to the next point in the plot. :( it's so demoralizing to realised that chapter after chapter I'm still not a step nearer to my goal (ending). I just feel like giving up on this story and just let the story live in my mind.

Can I just tell the plot to someone and let the person help me finish it? Sigh

Anw lots of thanks to Reader, chiisalma, Aroisu T and SnowyOwl765 for the encouragement! It helped me a lot through this chapter. :) I had lots of problem with making the chapter flow.. with my high inertia to write and my busy schedule, it took a long time to get this done. Sorry for the angst in this chapter again.. but there's a little fluff with Kuro so it's not too bad i guess? :D