I just really wanted to get another chapter up since the last one was sooooo short!

Chapter Eighteen: I'm sorry…

The thick cloud of dust and smoke cleared away to reveal an empty stretch of land. Ryuga was nowhere to be seen; he'd left without allowing the three escapees to see where he'd gone. He'd just…disappeared as if he were a ghost. There was no sign of him. It was as if he'd never even been there.

And then there was Kyoya. The once-proud blader now laid face first in the dust, a battered Leone resting at his side. His clothes had been torn to shreds and were left smeared with blood and dirt. His dark teal hair was a tangled mess.

Hikaru didn't need to wait for an invitation to go running to the one she loved and cared about so much. Even though Alice and Shuske reached out and clutched at her clothes and called back to her, she ripped free and bounded over to the boy who lay injured. Tears poured from her eyes and streamed out behind her, and she hiccupped from her pathetic sobs as she continued to worry about him. What if he had died? What if she would never be able to talk to him again? She knew very well that she shouldn't be thinking of things like that, not after what they'd gone through, but she seriously couldn't get it off her mind.

The ice-blue haired blader collapsed onto her knees at Kyoya's side, flipping him over onto his back. And that's when her crying became louder and more distressed. His face was relaxed and peaceful, his mouth slightly open with a thin stream of blood trickling down his chin. His skin was stained with the rusty color of drying blood mixed with dirt, his cheeks flushed red while sweat dripped from his brow and left his bangs to stick to his face.

Though, she was relieved to notice that his chest rose and fell faintly with each breath he took.

Hikaru bent over him, wrapping her arms around his scrawny frame and burying her face into his shirt. He still had that same tempting smell that she'd always noticed about him, and merely thinking of the memories caused her heart to ache even more than before. She completely ignored the whispering of her two new friends while she cried against Kyoya's chest, blubbering, "I-I'm s-s-sorry…I'm so, so s-sorry…"

"He'll be okay," Alice reassured her softly, kneeling down at Hikaru's side and placing a hand on the girl's shoulder in a reassuring action. "He's strong, yes?"

"Y-yea…" Hikaru managed to choke out, clutching onto his clothes even tighter until she could feel her nails digging into his skin.

"We'll just have to wait until he wakes up," the dark-haired girl suggested.

"But how l-long will that be?" Hikaru sat up to meet her friend's gaze, squinting through her tear-filled eyes to see properly. She knew that her skin was red and blotchy from her crying, but she didn't care anymore. All she cared about was seeing Kyoya wake up. Seeing his crystal blue eyes looking back into her smoky violet ones. "It won't be safe for us to sit here and wait until then. They could come back for us."

"Then we'll have to get moving," Shuske pointed out, waving his hands in a gesture for them to stand up. "Alrighty. Let's go. Come on. We don't have all day."

Hikaru tightened her grip around Kyoya, lifting him up so that his head was in her lap. She let her fingers comb through his hair. "We can't carry him. None of us are strong enough."

Shuske pushed his bottom lip out in a pout. "I am."

"We wouldn't get very far." Alice glanced from Shuske to Hikaru and back again. "He's dead weight right now; he's heavier than usual."

"Well, if we wait here, we might as well be waiting for our deaths!" the boy snapped back, flailing his arms in frustration. He yanked at his hair and growled, "Ugh! Girls are so difficult."

Alice snorted. "Well, excuse you."

Ignoring the argument, Hikaru bent down to press her lips to Kyoya's forehead after she brushed away his hair. I missed you so much…

"Hikaru!? Is that you!?"

That voice…

The ice-blue haired blader carefully shifted Kyoya so that he wasn't resting in her lap anymore and stood up, turning around to see where the voice had come from. Alice and Shuske had heard it, too. The boy was the first to lift his hand to point towards the fence and whisper out a breathless, "There they are…"

Hikaru's heart leaped into her chest. Without a second thought, she found herself flying over towards the red-haired boy, feeling lighter than a feather. Despite her exhaustion, adrenaline pumped through her veins to give her extra strength. Three others that she recognized as Benkei, Kenta, and Madoka stood around him, their eyes wide and clouded with worry.

When she reached the chain-link fence, she clasped her hands over Ginga's, desperate to be close to him again. Not in a romantic way, though. She only wanted to hug him and assure him that she had made a mistake. More tears threatened to fall, and she knew he felt the same as well.

"Ginga…" she whispered, dropping her gaze to stare down at her feet. After all she'd done to betray him, it would be strange talking to him again.

"Hikaru, you don't need –" Hearing his voice was soothing, but she cut him off by speaking up and shaking her head vigorously.

"No, no, no…I'm so sorry. I should've never…never gotten you caught up in this…" She squeezed her eyes shut and let the tears pour down, trailing down her cheeks and dripping off her chin.

"You don't have to apologize." His smile told her she was already forgiven.

Hikaru couldn't thank him enough for that.

"We're going to get you out of here…"

Credits.
Shuske Masamori belongs to Arttailfox021.
Alice Hara belongs to destined-star-girl.

DONE! :D There's a pretty huge timeskip between the end of this chapter and the next chapter because (SPOILER ALERT) they'll be back at the B-Pit to plot out revenge. Muahahahaha! Reviews mean quicker updates!

(:Mizune