It is finally here… Enjoy :)

A rough shaking sensation jolted you from sleep, causing your eyes to pop open. You would have jumped if it weren't for Kizami's arms around you. You wrapped your arms around him in response and squeezed your eyes shut. You realized that you must have turned around sometime in your sleep because you were now in an embrace with Kizami instead of him spooning you, but that thought was quickly turned away when a new sensation hit you…

Your eyes opened of their own volition as a blush crept its way into your cheeks, making them burn. Your legs had become tangled with Yuuya's so that he had one leg in between your legs, and vice versa. That wouldn't have been a problem if it weren't for the rip in your skirt, which was considerably big, and the shaking that was happening, causing his leg to bump against your pelvic region.

You felt as if your temperature had risen by a few degrees, making you uncomfortable. As the ground finally stopped shaking, you tried to suppress a moan, but knew you couldn't keep silent. So, instead, you decided to gasp.

Yuuya pulled away from you and gazed into your face. "Are you hurting?"

Surprisingly, no, but you didn't have a chance to respond. His gaze quickly went down to your injured knee, inspecting it. You were watching his face, so you knew the exact moment he'd realized how ripped up your skirt was and how close he was to touching you…intimately.

His face drained of color, turning completely white. This was not the reaction you had expected and you felt an inexplicable pain throb through your chest. You pulled away from him before he had a chance to reject you, under the guise of looking at your knee. You could feel his gaze on you as you carefully moved the bandages to inspect your wound, but you didn't look up at him.

"Huh." You didn't mean to make a sound, but it escaped your lips at your surprise. The wound on your knee looked as if it was weeks instead of hours old. It was completely healed over and the skin around it was slightly pink. "Would you look at that?"

You turned to look at Kizami without even thinking about it, knowing it was a mistake the second you locked eyes with him. There was a question in his expression, but you also read a bit of confusion and – if you weren't mistaken – hunger there. When he realized you were waiting for a response from him, he glanced down at your knee for a moment and replied, "I always knew you were strong. This is just more proof."

You didn't answer him. You didn't feel very strong right now. You wanted to give in to your impulses and take him back into your arms, whether he wanted it or not. But you reined that feeling in, jumping up from the cot and stretching. You turned around to look back at him and noticed him staring at the rip in your skirt. When you'd pulled the scalpel out to attack the zombie-looking man earlier, it had ripped the skirt clean up to the waist. Your underwear was clearly visible.

Another impulse to grab him and make him yours went through you, but you decided to play it cool. You wiggled your hips back and forth, causing the rip in the skirt to fold back even more, and playfully asked, "See something you like?"

Kizami's reaction was not what you expected after his earlier reaction. He didn't turn another shade, neither white nor red, and kept his expression deadly serious. "I see many things I like." Before you could even think about what you would respond with, Yuuya was on his feet and moving toward you. As he came to stand right in front of you, he sighed. "I don't know what to do with you."

This time, his reaction was exactly what you wanted. Nothing but hunger was read in his expression. However, a nagging thought in the back of your mind wondered exactly what he was hungry for.

Luckily for you, you never got the chance to respond. A girl's voice rang out from the hallway, "Heeeeellllllooooo?! Is anyone there?!"

The both of you tore your gazes from each other. You didn't know about Yuuya, but you had a hard time turning your attention from him.

Time to get back to business… a voice whispered inside your head. You agreed.

You looked around the room for a moment before turning your attention back to Yuuya. "We must have shifted into another part of this school. I don't remember those being here…"

You nodded toward a corpse in the opposite corner of the room, but it was what was next to the corpse that caught your attention. A sheath was strapped on the corpse's back and the katana must have fallen out. Without even thinking about it, you pranced across the room and held it in your hands. It was still sharp. Although there were blood stains on it, the light still caught the parts that weren't covered in blood, gleaming.

"This might come in handy," you whispered before turning to give Yuuya a sly grin. He was already standing and now made his way to the door.

"Shall we?" he asked, motioning toward the door.

You smiled again. "We shall."

Somewhere in the school, a groan echoed down the hallway. It wasn't even a half-hearted attempt; the boy simply couldn't manage to make any sound as the shock of losing his arms sank in. Yes, his eyes had that faraway look about them that was so common to Sachiko now. They weren't quite glassed over yet, meaning he wasn't dead, but they weren't focused either, which meant his time was close.

Pinning this boy down and making him watch as she slowly amputated his right arm hadn't made Sachiko feel better, really. So she cut off the left as well, but that hadn't entertained her either. She felt slightly satisfied as the boy let out his last breath, but not enough to make a difference in her mood.

Sachiko was extremely frustrated.

She liked to collect souls in her school. No, she loved it. But she had come to be bored. After all, there are only so many ways to kill people, so many ways to trick them. She'd collected so many lives, she couldn't keep track of them anymore.

So Sachiko experimented with her powers, created her very own spells. Eventually, she'd collected enough beings with high spiritual levels that she found she could manipulate more than she'd ever imagined. She could reach out to souls who would eventually come to her while they were still in their original dimension. She could send them dreams and images; manipulate their surroundings in their minds.

And when she combined that with her ability to rewind time, she could do terribly wonderful things. Sachiko had never come across a soul that could withstand her…until now.

"[Name]," she grumbled under her breath. "I underestimated you."

[Name] had been killed by Kizami while they explored the school together. The poor girl thought he was protecting her! A smile played across Sachiko's face as she thought back on it. [Name] had been completely surprised and heartbroken at the moment of her death. One moment, Kizami was standing behind her, his arms wrapped around her in an embrace. The next moment, he took hold of her head and snapped it hard to the right. He'd whispered something to her, but Sachiko hadn't paid much attention to the words, too focused on the death itself.

It was beautiful! This Kizami Yuuya was an artist, a master manipulator, a genius. If Sachiko hadn't known any better, she would have said the two of them were acting, it was so perfect.

Her elation at seeing such a marvelous treat didn't last very long. She continued to watch Kizami until he eventually died, like everyone does here, and though he killed another handful of people, none of them had the grace of Kizami and [Name].

Sachiko had turned back the clock three times now, just to watch the two of them again. The first two times, she manipulated small things here and there, giving one of them a weapon. The third time, Sachiko decided to manipulate [Name]'s very being. A little bit of darkening goes a long way, especially when the mind you're attacking is weak.

But instead of the two of them clashing like Sachiko thought they would, their roles were reversed. Kizami was now enamored with [Name], treating her like a small kitten, trying to protect her. And the one thing Sachiko hadn't changed about [Name] were her feelings for Kizami. So now they were working together!

Sachiko let out a yell and thrust her hand in the air, blowing another hole in the wall. She wondered what she could do to fix this, her mind running at a rapid pace. As she pulled her hand back for another blow to the wall, it finally came to her. She stood stock still as she thought it through.

"Yes," she whispered to herself, letting out a giggle. "Yes, that could work…"

You straightened up from your crouched position, turning your attention from the fresh corpse to Kizami. You were still panting from the exertion of chasing this young girl down and from the adrenaline still coursing through your system. "Well…that was fun."

You'd taken down the girl outside the infirmary fairly easily. That was a disappointment, but at least you got the satisfaction of seeing the reaction of one of her friends. He'd stumbled upon her body as you and Kizami hid around a corner, crying and begging for God to help him. He'd been a little harder to catch, which was exactly what you'd wanted. When the katana finally sliced his head from his shoulders, you felt content. That is, until you'd stumbled across another "survivor".

She now lay at your feet, sliced in two. She'd tried to throw herself from the staircase before you could get her, but you'd managed to jump forward just enough to catch her. She was split vertically down to her waist. You could see her brain and her internal organs spilled out on the ground.

You and Kizami walked in silence for a long time, not really paying attention to where you were going. You didn't think it was possible, but you were bored of trying to find survivors, trying to snuff out their lives. The people here were just too easy. They were so freaked out by what they were experiencing, what they'd seen, that they didn't think about what they were doing logically. They were a lot like deer in the headlights: paralyzed with fear and with nowhere to go.

As you exited the building to go to the pool, you could hear two male voices grunting and yelling. Neither you nor Kizami hesitated for even a second, taking off toward the direction of the sounds. There was some sort of scuffle happening.

Two guys who seemed to be the same age were fighting, both wearing uniforms of a light blue color. One was taller by about two inches and had shaggy blonde hair. The shorter one was round with a shaved head and wore glasses. You could see a faint shadow hovering around the shorter one, like it was adhered to him.

"Fumio! Stop!" the taller one yelled. You could now see that the shorter one – Fumio, it seemed – was attacking his friend, while the taller one was simply defending himself, not even trying to hit Fumio. "Why are you doing this?!"

Suddenly, Fumio stopped trying to attack his friend and took a step back. "You…left…me…" His voice was a monotone with absolutely no emotion behind it. In a flash of movement, Fumio darted to the side to pick something up off the ground. You just made out the shape of the hammer before Fumio swung it at his friend's head.

As if he knew this was going to happen, Kizami quickly took the katana out of your grasp and thrust it forward, slicing cleanly through Fumio's back. Fumio's outstretched arms fell limp at his side before Kizami pulled the sword back out, letting the boy fall to the ground.

As interested as you were in the body, your attention was torn to the living friend when he let out a gasp. His eyes were wide and he was panting rapidly.

Great, here comes the breakdown, you thought.

"You bastard!" he yelled before kicking Fumio as hard as he could. The body rolled into the pool with a splash. He turned back to face you and Kizami. "Did you see that? He tried to kill me!"

Kizami wasn't in as much shock as you were, apparently, as he spoke immediately and calmly. "And you would be…?"

The boy looked down at the bloody sword in Kizami's hand for a moment before answering, "I'm Dai."

"Well, Dai," you spoke, gaining his attention. "You wouldn't happen to have any water, would you? I'm really thirsty." You gave him the most innocent look you could muster.

"Uh," he mumbled, his gaze lowering. "I…think s – AH!"

Dai let out a shriek as Kizami slapped him in the back of the head. "Eyes up top," he hissed before looking Dai over. "Actually…give her your jacket."

You looked down, remembering again that your skirt was severely ripped. You knew you should have felt embarrassed, but for some reason you didn't. No blush appeared on your face as you met Dai's eyes, him handing his jacket to you. You tied it backwards around your waist and gave Kizami a nod. To Dai, you said, "Thank you."

"Uh, no problem. So…what's your name?"

"This is [Name]," Kizami answered, wrapping an arm around you and pulling you closer to him. "And you can call me Kizami."

Dai looked between the two of you, taking particular interest in Kizami's arm. You knew he was sizing Kizami up and decided you didn't want to deal with that right now. You let your gaze wander around the pool and caught sight of something gleaming on the other side.

Without a word, you slipped out of Yuuya's grasp and started walking briskly to the other side of the pool. There was a pause behind you before your parties' footsteps signaled they were following, so you knew you'd caught them off guard. You didn't turn to look at them, instead keeping your eyes on the spot where you'd seen something.

There were two skeletons on the ground, wrapped in an embrace. From the looks of what little clothing was left, they'd come from the same school, this couple. The gleaming item you had seen was either the silver necklace adorned with a ruby on the girl or the gold ring with an emerald engraved in it on the boy. The necklace caught your eye and before you knew what you were doing, you were bending over the corpse, taking the jewelry in your hand.

The sound of a grunt had you turning to look at your companions. From the looks of it, Kizami had been reaching out for the ring, but Dai had knocked him out of the way to get it first. As Dai's fingers slipped around the ring, you felt a chill run through you. You felt sleepy, but you knew something bad would happen if you closed your eyes. You fought like hell to keep your eyelids open, but they weren't listening.

You wavered from the pain of fighting against…whatever this was. Just before you finally lost the fight, you felt yourself start to fall backward, but there was nothing you do about it.

You'd definitely lost consciousness for a moment, but the icy cold water that felt more like sludge encompassing you jolted you back to awareness. You opened your eyes but it was no use. Every direction you looked, there was nothing but darkness. You couldn't tell which way was up. Finally, when you knew you couldn't just stay where you were, you began to kick, forcing yourself to go anywhere but here.

It looked like the water was getting lighter, which was good because you were almost out of air. You kicked harder, swimming as fast as you could. Your heart beat hard in your chest as you realized that you were, in fact, going up to the surface. Soon, you would take a big gulp of fresh air. The thought alone had you wanting to open your mouth and breathe. It felt like your lungs might explode any second.

Black dots were just beginning to appear in the corners of your vision when you finally broke the surface. Oxygen had never tasted as good as it did right then and you prepared yourself for another huge breath…that would never come.

Suddenly, something had a hold of your ankle and pulled you back under the water. You flailed in surprise, trying to kick it off, but it had you in a vice-grip. You reached down to try to feel what it was and let some of your precious oxygen go when you felt how slimy it was.

Bubbles appeared all around you as you felt movement by your back. You tried to spin, but it was hard to tell which direction you were facing in the water. The slimy thing on your leg started to tug on you instead of pulling. You were now bobbing up and down, which wasn't helping since you were on the verge of breathing.

The black dots appeared again and you felt dizzy. They began to get larger and larger, until they were totally taking up your vision. You took a breath, inhaling the sludge-like water. You'd thought it would hurt to drown, but it didn't. It was actually quite peaceful, like the feeling you get just as you start to fall asleep.

And so you gave in to it and decided to go to sleep.

The next thing you knew, you were outside of the pool, no longer in the water. Instead, you were coughing the water you'd breathed in back out.

"That's it," someone murmured beside you. "Get it all out."

You turned on your side, feeling helpless as your body convulsed, pushing the water out of your lungs. When it finally stopped, you felt like it was an hour later, but it was probably only a few minutes. You rolled back over onto your back, closed your eyes, and breathed for a minute. A shadow fell over your eyes and they opened in automatic response.

Dai bent over you, staring into your face with an expression that was half-worry and half-relief. "I didn't think you were going to come back… I almost gave up, but I'm glad I didn't."

Wow, you thought, he sure is nice to look at… Why didn't I really notice that before?

Without meaning to, you reached up and cupped the side of his face. "Thank you," you whispered and then winced because even that hurt your coarse throat.

"Are you hurting?" Dai whispered back, holding your face as well. He was very, very close now.

Before you could answer, someone else in the room cleared their throat. You turned to see Kizami staring at you, his gaze hot and angry. It was like you were suddenly doused with a bucket of ice water. You pulled away from Dai, sitting up and moving a few feet away.

"We need to get moving," Kizami said, his voice hard. He crossed the room in three quick strides to scoop you up in his arms before turning to Dai. "Touch her again and you're dead."

Then Kizami turned and strode out of the room, never looking back.

Got that done sooner than I was expecting :) Let me know what you think. I'll try to have the next chapter up within the next few days.