Man have I got a treat for your guys! A longer chapter than usual! Consider it an early Christmas present of sorts ;)

Review replies:

AsterDragElf: Mmmhmm! Lotsa action in this chapter~

Eclairia: I felt a little bad doing that to him. But that's nothing compared to what happens in this one.

cardfight dreammer: Hopefully that's a good thing, haha. Enjoy the chapter~

XX: Haha, I quite like cliffhangers~ Sorry!

WARNINGS: BLOOD AND DARK THEMES. BEWARE.

Disclaimer: I don't own CFV or it's characters. Only my OC.

Read and Review!

Last time...

"Kai, stop being stubborn! You know we want to help you! Why don't you just let us in?!" the vice captain of the Miyaji cardfight club scolded. Kai frowned. Could he let them in? Could he share this huge burden? At that moment, the others arrived as well. Of course Aichi had thought to contact everyone else about his whereabouts. Gentle words came from everyone, pleading- some even begging- for him to tell them what was going on. From the looks of things, they all knew what had happened to Gaillard. The overwhelming guilt was crushing. He couldn't do this alone anymore. He needed help. Kai looked up, sorrow blatant in his teal eyes.

"I'll tell you… but after that you'll wish you'd never met me."

Kai brought them all back to his apartment. It was a bit of a snug fit but they managed. And once everyone sat down and was mildly comfortable, Kai began his story. From the first phone call at Card Capital about his uncle's death to finding Gaillard's body around the corner of his apartment, Kai's voice did not waver as much as everyone expected it to. Once the brunet was done, no one dared move for a minute. It was a lot to take in. After all, it wasn't everyday that someone wanted one of their friends dead.

Kai took their silence the wrong way. He thought that they were shutting him out now. With a shaky sigh, he pushed himself off of his bed and made his way towards the door. He could leave in peace this time. Just as he was about to reach the doorknob, he felt someone's hand clamp down on his wrist. He slowly turned and found him face to face with Ren. An angered look danced in his red eyes.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked. Kai did all he could to remain stoic and calm.

"I'm continuing what I was doing earlier; I'm leaving here." Ren scowled and hit the brunet upside the head. Clutching his now injured head, Kai all but gawked at his childhood friend. Ren had never hit him! Never!

"You listen here, Kai Toshiki," Ren began and Kai found himself unable to look away from Ren's penetrating gaze. "There is absolutely no way we are letting you leave after you told us that. You're just going to get targeted and die with no one there to save you. You think we want that? Of course not! Who do you take us for? So you're staying. End of discussion. It's not your choice to make." Kai allowed his surprise to show. His friends didn't hate him? They didn't not want anything to do with him? He scanned the room. Every single occupant looked at him with concerned looks as well as pleading ones. Kai looked down at the ground and mumbled,

"Thanks…"

A couple of days passed by uneventfully. Kai was still very uncomfortable in public, but this time everyone knew why. The killer was still out there and he was probably going after Kai next. For this reason, Kai was always with one of his friends, even if they had to sleep over at his apartment to make sure that happened. Today, Kamui was with Kai. Everyone felt unsure with leaving Kai only with Kamui; heck even Kamui himself was against it. But everyone else had something going on and it left no other choice. The two were walking down the street when Kai stopped and stiffened perceptibly. He felt a pair of eyes watching him. The black haired boy with him looked at him with concern. What was wrong? Kai glanced around. There was no one in sight. He sighed and gave a small smile to Kamui, reassuring the younger that he was ok. Shrugging it off, Kamui continued on with Kai beside him. But the two didn't notice a man peek out from behind an alley and watch them.

Soon, they reached Kai's apartment complex. Kamui had to go home so he waved to the brunet and began to head home. Kai returned the gesture and turned around only to find himself staring into deranged red eyes. For a minute, Kai just stood there. He couldn't process what was happening in front of him. The man in front of him grinned. And just like that, Kai ran, only to find the man in hot pursuit of him.

The man grinned. The raw fear those beautiful teal eyes had contained made him swoon. He was happy that he was the cause of that utter terror. He grinned. He had longed to see that horrified expression for 8 years. And oh was he ever going to savour it. Let the game of cat and mouse begin, he thought.

Kai's lungs burned. He wouldn't think of screaming for help now. He needed as much oxygen as he could get. He didn't know how long he had been running now but that didn't change the fact that he was going to continue running. He took a short break for a minute and leaned against the wall of an alley. A resounding crack broke through the night silence and a searing pain travelled up Kai's left leg. Whipping his head down so fast it almost gave him whiplash, Kai was shocked to find blood staining his pant leg. He growled. Now escape was just that much harder.

Miwa made his way over to Kai's apartment. It was his turn to "guard" the brunet. When he came up to the door, he knocked and awaited an answer. When he didn't get one, his concern grew. He knocked again.

"Kai…?" he asked uncertainly. There was no response. Panic rising, he grabbed the key under the mat and let himself in.

Needless to say, the place didn't look lived in yesterday. It was exactly how Miwa remembered it from the day before yesterday. He frowned. Had something happened? Heart pounding, he raced down the stairs and made it to the main desk. The man at the desk looked at him in confusion. The blond was obviously very bothered by something.

"Did… Kai come… home yesterday?" he asked in between pants. The man seemed to think. Miwa clenched his fists. Faster damn it! He needed to know if his friend was ok!

"No… I don't believe so," was all that Miwa needed to hear before running out of the complex and towards Card Capital.

Kai leaned against a wall and tried to catch his breath. He winced as pain shot up both of his legs as well as his shoulder. Damn that man and his accuracy with a gun. He would never forget how he had run away like this too, back when he was a kid, the night his parents were murdered.

Wait a minute…

Kai turned back to the man as he advanced towards him. Kai grit his teeth and tried to stand as best as he could. Furious teal met giddy red. Kai eased himself of the wall, shaking with rage.

"It was you… Eight years ago. You were the one who killed my parents." He watched as red eyes lit up in childish joy. If the man wasn't holding a gun trained on him, he might've thought that he was harmless.

"It's about time you remembered. I thought you never would," the killer grinned. Kai felt enraged. Why did he want to make Kai's life a living hell again? Hadn't he done that 8 years ago? The man seemed to read his thoughts and smiled widely.

"You're wondering why I'm going after you after I killed your parents." Kai scowled but said nothing. The smile widened. "True, it was heavenly when I stabbed your parents; oh the looks on their faces while they bled out were delicious. But that was nothing compared to your expression. Yours was incomparable to anyone's that I've ever seen! For the past 8 years I've dreamed of nothing but seeing that look in your eyes again as I slowly kill you! And now I'm finally living that dream out! So amuse me! Run and hide like the prey you are!" Kai didn't need to be told twice. He turned and bolted out of his most recent hideaway alley. The man grinned after him and he cocked his gun.

"But know this. Wherever you run or hide, I will always find you. And when I get bored, I'll kill you."

Miwa burst into the shop, a crazy look in his eyes. Everyone turned to him. Anyone who didn't know him went back to their own business but the rest of them made their way to him.

"Miwa, what's wrong? Where's Kai?" Misaki asked. Miwa heaved in sweet, sweet oxygen as he tried to get his own question out.

"H-Has… Kai been… here today?" Confused looks were exchanged. Aichi turned to him.

"We thought you were with him, Miwa-kun. Has something happened?" Uncharacteristically, Miwa ignored the bluenet's question and turned to the one who was with him yesterday.

"Did Kai go home yesterday?" he demanded. The middle schooler shrunk away and nodded vigorously. Miwa clicked his tongue. Then what the heck had happened?! He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to stare into the aqua eyes of Misaki.

"Calm down and tell us what happened, Miwa."

By the end of Miwa's story, the entire group was downcast. As things were, Miwa was currently calling Kai on his cell phone while the rest watched on silently. Just when Miwa was about to hang up, the dialing tone stopped and was replaced with laboured breathing. Miwa straightened as if he had been shocked.

"Kai!" Just like that, the entire group was on their feet. Miwa was firing so many questions at the poor brunet that he didn't have any time to answer them.

"Where are you?!" he demanded for the umpteenth time in his frenzy of questions. He didn't get much of an answer since a crack was heard on Kai's end and a hiss of pain followed.

"Kai? Are you ok? Say something!" Miwa pleaded. Pants came through on Kai's end but he managed to mumble something akin to a 'yes'. Just as Miwa was about to inquire his location again, another crack was heard and the line was cut. Miwa stared blankly at his phone. What had just happened? Panicking, he called the police. Everyone else tried to get him to calm down but he would have none of it. After hysterically explaining the situation to the operator, he was assured that the force would be sent out to look for the missing brunet immediately. Miwa frowned and set out to look for his best friend himself, followed by the rest of the group.

Kai panted. How much longer did he have to run? He was so close to just collapsing, especially since he was nursing all those bullet wounds. He slid down the wall he was leaning against only to gasp out as he already wounded shoulder was shot again. He grunted and leaned forward, clutching the wound. His killer advanced. Kai looked up and glared. Now that he knew what this man wanted, he wasn't about to give it to him. The man pouted childishly. Again, it amazed Kai how someone so evil could look so… innocent, for lack of a better word. The man bent down to his eye level.

"Come on… why won't you get that look again? You know I want to see it…" Kai turned away, refusing to look at the person in front of him, if he could even be called that. A harsh slap was what he got for his defiance. He coughed a little, only to find that his throat felt strangely raw. He licked his lips and found a metallic scent registering on his taste buds. Great. Now he was coughing blood. He looked at the hand that he had been slapped with. In its grasp, the gun was there. Of course the damned man had hit him with his gun.

The crazy man leaned forward, uncomfortably so, staring into Kai's teal eyes. He gave a twisted smile.

"You know… your eyes are beautiful… it makes me want to take them from you…" he started as Kai watched in fear as a knife was pulled from behind him and moved towards his left eye. Kai sat there, frozen in fear. It was only when the blade gently glided along the outline of his eye that he finally snapped out of it and using his good hand, twisted the man's wrist as much as he could. He felt sickened when he heard a distinct snap, but didn't think much of it since the knife was off his face, despite the long gash right above his eye. He started running. Kai winced as the blood dripped down and into his eye. He wiped the blood away, only to have it continue bleeding. He should've known. Now he was running half blind. As if things couldn't get any worse.

Misaki ran blindly. Where was he?! They had to have searched the entire city by now, with the police as well as their group from the store. It had been hours since Miwa called Kai! How could none of the groups have come across him?! The lavender haired girl frowned. She had found herself in a sketchy part of town. She was so busy looking for Kai that she hadn't noticed where she had been running. She shivered. This place was giving her the creeps. As she turned to head back, she stopped when she heard something echo. That was strange. She was the only one here right? Going against her instincts which screamed at her to run away, Misaki ran towards the origin of the sound, texting Miwa that she had heard something funny.

Miwa frowned at the new text. "Something peculiar"? As in what? The blond sent a text back to his friend, asking for clarification. Minutes passed in tense silence as the gray eyed boy stared at his phone. It wasn't until Miwa thought about putting his phone away when it chirped. When he read it, Miwa could only stare at the message before frantically beckoning the policeman he had been with over to him.

I found him, Miwa.

Well that was kind of a jerk move of me? This is a bigger cliffhanger than last chapter! Please don't kill me! If you do, how can I write the next one? Until then!