*peeks out nervously from behind protective shield* Umm...hi. EEEEP! *ducks behind shield as various rotten fruits and vegetables are thrown at her* Ok, ok, I get it! I'm sorry! I know I'm super, super late! See, I had a major case of writer's block for this fic, and then my muse, as bipolar as she is, gave me an idea for an 07 Ghost fic (which took me over a week to write!) and then, well...I got lazy. So yeah...sorry about my lateness. Blame my muse. It's all her fault.

Now, on to other matters. Because of the business (and laziness) of the past few weeks, I STILL have not re-captured Feather-chan. After years of being my best friend/captive, she's gotten really good at hiding from me, so finding her may take me a little while. Sorry.

Also, I'm SERIOUSLY considering changing the rating of this fic from T to M. However, I am not going to do it yet, unless someone complains and/or tells me I should. Just a little forewarning.

And now, on with the fic! XD

Warning: BISHIE ABUSE! MAJOR FREAKIN' BISHIES ABUSE! I assume you all remember where I left off last time? Yeah, it gets worse. So if you are easily freaked out, or just don't like this type of fic, I suggest hitting that little arrow at the top of the screen marked 'Back' right now.

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own the bishies. Unfortunately, I do own Stheno, but after the events of this chapter, I'm seriously thinking of selling him off to the highest bidder...

Rei lost himself in his thoughts as he wandered through the Forest of Purgatory (1). Normally, this forest was forbidden to angels, and in truth only a few, high rank angels even knew of its existence. For their kind, it was something out of horror stories, a place caught between Heaven and Hell, created for lost souls who, in life, had allegiance to neither good nor evil. A place without rest, where the dead wandered for all eternity. A place that most angels would only see in their nightmares.

But, as Rei had been learning more and more of late, nightmares had this unfortunate habit of coming true.

But it was not thoughts of his nightmarish surroundings that distracted him, nor was it thoughts of the horrors he would soon face. No, his thoughts were clouded with terror, shock, anger, and above all...

Guilt.

Rei should have descended to Earth with his friends. He should have been with them. He should have protected them. Oh, why had he let Ruka have his way? Why hadn't he insisted on coming along? Maybe if he had...

You'd be locked up in the deepest circle of Hell right along with them. A voice in his head, that sounded annoyingly like Kira, supplied.

Kira. Rei gently held a hand to his cheek as he thought about the half-angel, wincing at the tenderness that still lingered from the blonde's slap. His face was probably already starting to bruise, but the pain of it was nothing compared to the guilt he was feeling.

How could he have accused Kira of not caring for Maya? Rei could not think of anyone who could lay claim to a fiercer, more devoted love than that of Kira for his younger brother. And the look on Kira's face when Rei had said that to him...

True, Kira had been wrong to hit him, but after what Rei had said to him, the violet-haired angel had practically been asking for it.

Rei was seriously considering turning around and going back up to Heaven to apologize to Kira, when he suddenly felt a large, warm hand grip his upper arm tightly from behind, halting Rei's forward progress.

Acting on instinct, Rei kicked his leg out behind him, feeling it connect with his assailant's shin with a satisfying grunt of pain. As the hand on his arm loosened, Rei jumped away and spun around to face his attacker. Yet, to his infinite surprise, it was not a demon or an evil spirit that met his sights, but...

"Kira?" Rei gasped, shock evident on his face. Of all the beings he had expected to meet in the Forest, Kira was certainly the one Rei had not anticipated, especially not after their last altercation. "What are you doing here?"

"Apparently getting assaulted by an angelic nutcase," Kira muttered, rubbing his sore leg. "Dammit, did you have to kick me hard?"

Rei's expression of open-mouthed shock morphed into a somewhat self-satisfied smirk. He had wanted to give the half-angel a good kick in the shin for a while now, but somehow this was never how he had envisioned it happening.

"Well, had you made your presence known to me before you decided to grab my arm, I would not have kicked you," Rei replied defensively.

Kira just continued messaging his sore shin and grumbling about stupid, jumpy angels overreacting for the next few minutes until Rei, getting more than a little annoyed, asked, "So what are you doing here, Kira? I thought you said it was 'stupid, reckless, and suicidal' to try and rescue the others from Judecca."

"You forgot insane," Kira added, earning himself a glare from Rei, "And it still is. However, we have a better chance of getting out of through this 'plan' of yours alive if we go together. If I let you go to Judecca alone, not only would you lose your own life, you'd probably get the others killed as well."

Rei's cheeks flushed in anger as he glared heatedly at the half-angel. He opened his mouth to retort, but Kira cut him off. "And also...I wanted to..." he stopped seeming to have trouble finding the correct words, before mumbled, "I wanted to apologize. You know, for hitting you."

Whatever angry comment Rei had been planning to say died on his tongue and he stared at the blonde in shock. Did Kira really just...apologize? To him? Had Rei heard him right? After all, the violet-haired angel had never known Kira to show regret for any of his actions, and especially none that involved Rei.

After a few moments, Rei had gotten over the worst of his shock and bowed his head in shame, replying, "It's all right, Kira. I should not have said what I did to you. I lost my temper, and ended up saying something inexcusable. If anything, I deserved the blow you dealt me."

"Yes, you did," Kira said coolly. Rei's head snapped up and he looked at the half-angel in shock, only to find Kira smiling jokingly. "But I still should not have done it."

Rei smiled timidly, then flinched in surprise as Kira reached out a hand toward his face. Pulling back at the smaller angel's reaction, Kira observed quietly, "Damn, I must have really hit you hard. Your cheek is already turning purple."

Rei was once again shocked by the remorse in Kira's voice, and for some strange reason, he felt compelled relieve the blonde's guilt. Smiling widely and resisting the urge to wince at the pain such an action cause his bruised face, Rei said cheerfully, "Don't worry about it, Kira! I'm fine! And besides, we're even now, as I can guarantee you that, in a couple of hours, your leg will look much worse than my face."

Kira smirked, "I very much doubt that. I hate to break it to you, Rei, but you kick like a human woman."

Rei scowled and turned around, continuing in the direction he had been going before his meeting with Kira and wondering why he even bothered with the annoying half-angel. Kira just followed behind him silently, and with a slight limp.

"Get your. Filthy. Hands. Off. Him," Yuda growled, his normally kind blue eyes becoming cold, empty shards of ice. He was beyond rage. There were no words to describe the emotions that welled up inside him at the sight of Stheno running his filthy hand all over Shin's body, touching places that only Yuda had the privilege touch. A small, logical part of his mind registered that this must have been what Ruka had been feeling all those months ago in the library, but at the moment, Yuda was too far gone to care.

Stheno merely smirked, not even looking back at the crimson-haired angel. "Now why would I do that, Yuda-sama?" Stheno purred, leaning up so he was speaking right next to Shin's ear. "After all, he seems to be enjoying this as well, aren't you, Shin-sama?"

Shin shuddered at the feeling of Stheno's hot breath on his face, and he had to call upon all his self-control not to gag when Stheno began caressing the the shell of Shin's ear with his tongue. Enjoying it? How could he possibly enjoy something like this? Never had he felt anything so repulsive, so revolting. Stheno's touches were harsh and callous, nothing like Yuda's tender, loving caresses.

Though Shin had been doing his best to keep quiet throughout the ordeal so as not to give Stheno any additional satisfaction in what he was doing, the aqua-haired angel could not suppress a whimper of disgust as Stheno lips latched onto his neck and his hand roughly shoved itself between the captive angel's legs. The hand began slowly, tortuously, messaging its way up Shin's inner thigh, growing closer and closer to the area that only Yuda had ever been permitted to touch.

"S-Stop...stop please!" Shin begged, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to block out what was happening. Honestly, he didn't know whether he wanted to cry or vomit. The very thought that someone other than Yuda was touching him like this made the amber-eyed angel's skin crawl in disgust, and the knowledge that he could do nothing to stop it made his entire body burn with shame.

"Stop it! Leave him alone, you bastard!" Gou shouted, tugging futilely at the chains that bound him to the wall. While the relationship he had with Shin was nothing like that between Yuda and Shin, Gou had always been close to the aqua-haired angel. Shin was like a younger brother to him, and seeing him be forced to go through such a violating, disgusting ordeal was enough to make the brunette angel's blood boil.

Similar screams of anger and protest were made by the other captive angels in the room, but Stheno merely continued his ministrations, ignoring them all. Shin let out a strangled cry as he felt one of Stheno's hands slide further and further down his back, while his other hand slowly slid up the side of Shin's slim thigh and up to his waist, slowly, tauntingly, beginning to undo the clasps of the smaller angel's robe.

"S-Stop," Yuda whispered, completely horror struck at the turn of events. "Stop, you bastard. Don't you dare touch him. Do you hear me, Stheno? DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH SHIN!" Yuda shouted frantically, tugging at his bonds hard enough to send streams of blood flowing down his arms.

Now Shin was fighting and kicking with everything ounce of strength he had, desperately trying to get Stheno away from him. But his efforts were useless, and Stheno merely laughed and continued his task of undressing the Saint Beast. Eventually, Shin just gave up, letting his body go limp as he turned his head to the side, so at least he would not have to watch. Tears flowed down his cheeks as one clasp was undone...then a second...

"Stheno, enough," ordered a cold, deep voice from the far entrance of the cave. Everyone in the cave immediately looked toward the source of the sound, all but Stheno looking very surprised to see Gabriel, not Lucifer, emerging from the shadows.

Stheno merely smirked, "Oh come now, Gabriel-sama. I'm just having a bit of fun. Why don't you join me? I don't mind sharing, you know..." Stheno crooned, his hand beginning to work on the third clasp of Shin's robe.

"No, Stheno," Gabriel said, his voice never changing from its icy monotone. "Our bargain was that you could have the Suzaku in exchange for your assistance. Nowhere in that agreement are you permitted to have your 'fun' with the Genbu. Now, let him go."

Stheno sighed in disappointment, then, smirking, leaned up and whispered in Shin's ear, "I apologize for having to leave you like this, Shin-sama, but it appears we'll have to continue our fun at a later date."

Stheno then released the trembling angel and walked over to the white-haired figure, stating morosely, "Gabriel-sama, you really can be a kill joy sometimes."

Gabriel did not respond, and without a word to any of the captive angels present, turned and walked out of the cave, Stheno following closely behind him.

A moment of complete silence descended upon the six angels, all of them unable to process what had just happened. Eventually though, the silence was broken by Shin who, unable to hold himself together any longer, let out a gasping sob and began shaking uncontrollably, tears pouring unhindered down his face.

...I'm just going to go crawl in a hole now...T_T

Anyway, I'm sorry I left you guys hanging for so long after the last chapter, and hope this one satisfies y'all at least a little bit. I will do my best to update sooner than last time, so please, help me with my motivation and REVIEW! PLEASE! I NEED MY REVIEWS!

Now, an explanation for something you might not have understood in the story:

(1) Purgatory- traditionally, this was the place where souls awaiting judgement went after they died. I tweeked it a little bit to use it for my own purposes, so please, for all of you who believe in purgatory, don't flame me!

Oh, and some completely random and totally amazing news, one of my AWESOME reviewers, Sky'sShadow, actually drew a picture of Stheno! Seriously, it's totally incredible! I encourage you all to go take a look at it. It's on her deviant art account, and the link is available on my profile! XD

Well, that's all for now! Until next time, my friends!

~Neko-chan~