I left you all hanging for the longest time again. I apologize, as I always do. I've been telling myself for a month I should update this story. I'm a little surprised I finally sat down to write it. At one point, I get a new review and suddenly I have to give all of you the next installment as fast as is humanly possible, so here it is. Once again, so sorry for making you wait.

Waking up and not knowing where I am is never pleasant, no matter how accustomed to it I've grown in the last several months. I was lying flat on my back in the middle of the forest, and when I sat up and looked around all I could see was trees in every direction. I had gone very, very far this time. I gasped when what little that was left of my shirt fell into my lap, leaving my upper body entirely exposed. I clutched at the shreds of fabric, trying to regain my modesty. I was blushing and I couldn't even see anyone.

I shifted my weight and felt something sticky beneath me. Oh, god.

Looking down, I nearly vomited. I was sitting in a pool of blood. And the first thought that came to me was, Oh dear god, not Ginko.

Ginko. I'd almost forgotten.

I'd attacked him. Last night. My eyes had gone silver and I'd lost control of my body and I'd attacked him and I prayed to God and any other powers that may be that this wasn't his blood I was lying in.

I jolted when something heavy was draped over my shoulders and craned my head to see what it was. A large green coat. And standing above me—

"That was the scariest damned thing I've ever seen," Ginko informed me, dropping his cigarette into the bloody pool and crushing it with his foot. His sleeve was torn and bloody, and I winced when I realized it was probably me who'd cut into his shoulder. Most likely I'd done it with my bare hands.

"What happened?" I whispered, clutching the edges of that coat and drawing it tightly around my body as Ginko helped me to my feet. My head was throbbing, though the pain was much, much tamer than it had been in the last few days. "Where are we?"

"Middle of nowhere. You slaughtered a deer with nothing but your bare hands and your teeth, drank your fill of its blood, and dragged the carcass away from you—" he nodded his head towards a clump of trees some twenty feet to our right. "Before you came back here, started rolling around in the blood like you were having the time of your life, and passed out."

I let out a long, shuddery breath. That explained so much, to be honest. Why I've been waking up drenched in blood but never seen a dead creature where I wake up. Why I'm always waking up in the middle of nowhere. When I lose myself, I hunt, I kill, and I feed. Or at least… the thing inside of me does. "You followed me all the way out here?"

"Climbed a tree and observed from a safe distance. I got lucky last night. After you attacked me – dug those nails of yours pretty deep into my shoulder, I might add – the deer ran straight past the house. It was wounded and you bolted out the door and chased it down, all the way out here. Fastest I've ever seen a human run. I barely managed to keep up."

"So… do you know what this thing inside of me is yet?"

Ginko sighed and shook his head. "Not a clue. How's your head?"

"Way better. It still hurts, though," I informed him, rubbing my right temple. To be honest, compared to the way it's been hurting continuously and especially the supernova that exploded inside my brain last night, this pain was practically pleasant.

"Mind if I check you over when we get back to the house?"

I cringed, like I usually do when he mentions his medical-type instruments, but nodded my assent.

He sighed again. "Do I ever get to know why you're terrified of doctors? I'm not a doctor, I'll remind you."

I shuddered, not from cold (though it was rather chilly). "It's… not something I like to even think about, let alone discuss," I mumbled. "But… if you really want to know…"

As Ginko and I walked back – I followed his lead – I relayed my tale to him. The reason I ran away from home all those years ago.

My mom was always looking for another squeeze after Dad died when I was nine. She tended to go for guys that looked like him. Which is how she ended up with a man named Kuro Sasori when I was eleven. He was a doctor. One of the only three doctors in the village in fact, though the least accomplished.

I never liked him, though he showed a rather intense interest in me. When he and my mom started shacking up, he revealed what a sadist he was – but only to me. My mom wouldn't believe it when I tried to tell her. He'd burn me when he was bored, so that he could treat my wounds, just for something to do. He'd throw me down stairs, out the window, across the room. And when my mom would come home to find him treating my injuries, she'd reward him. Really reward him. You know what I mean.

But I put my foot down when he began to torture me with the needles. Try as I may to inform my mother, she wouldn't listen. And so, instead of living in that hell with a man who tortured me and a mother who didn't care about anything but getting laid by her boyfriend, I left.

That was five years ago.

Ginko, once I'd finished my story, stared at me with muffled horror.

"What?" I asked him. "It was a long time ago. But now you know. That's the reason I ran away and that's how I got all those scars that I didn't get falling out of trees and that's why I hate all your medical stuff and get really nervous when you look me over."

He shook his head. "It amazes me that you're so strong. Most people would have gotten depressed, even killed themselves, rather than do what you did. And you suffered through this while being afraid of the mushi your whole life. I'm… shocked by your toughness."

I stared at him, surprised by his praise. "Um… thank you."

He nodded. "Well, we're back," he announced as we approached my cottage. He looked towards me. "Go get yourself put together. I'm going to bandage up my arm and then we can go out and check your traps."

"What happened to looking me over?"

He shrugged. "It's not like we've found all that much with the previous exams. Though I've officially confirmed your mushi is somewhere in your head. Most likely the area of the brain that controls your consciousness.

I shuddered. "I hate to think there's something slithering around inside my brain," I whispered.

"I'll get it out. I promise," he reassured me. "Now, really. Go get some clothes on."

I ran into the house, careful not to let him see the grin on my face.

I liked Ginko a lot. More than I think I should.

When he leaves, I don't know what I'm going to do. Curl up in a ball and cry, probably. I thought about that as I got dressed and washed the blood I'd gotten on Ginko's coat off. Maybe… he'd let me come with him.

It was the only possible outsome I could see. Because if I had to return to isolation, I would surely go mad. And I'd miss his company for the rest of my life if he left me here alone.

Dinner was excellent. The blood from the rabbits and squirrels we'd found in my taps only made my head pound a little bit. From the way Ginko made it sound, the mushi got more than its fill of blood last night and would probably sleep for a couple of days. I decided to stop worrying for a little while.

Three more days and my head slowly began to pound more violently, more painfully, until that morning when everything changed.

Until the third morning when I woke up.

I became aware of being awake, under my covers, and sighed with relief. Even though I hadn't gotten the excruciating headache last night, I was always relieved when I woke up in my house. I opened my eyes and paused. It was still pitch black. Not morning.

Then what the hell were the birds outside my window singing for?

I groaned and rolled over, stuffing my face under my pillow. Surely those birds were just stupid and I could still sleep for a few hours.

"Sayuri? You awake?" I heard Ginko call through the door. Great. He was up in the dead of night too?

"Yes, I'm awake. It is the middle of the night and I am awake. What do you want?"

I heard the door open and felt Ginko's presence by my side. His voice was very close to my ear. He must have been kneeling. "Sayuri, look at me," he said urgently.

I got the feeling there was something wrong. Very wrong.

I pulled my head out from beneath my pillow and looked towards his voice. Because I couldn't see him. It was too dark.

"Oh, god," he whispered.

I began to panic. "What?! What is it, what happened?!"

"It's your eyes again," he breathed. "They've gone almost gray… like you've gone…"

I let out a few short, ragged breaths. "Ginko?" I whispered in terror. "What time is it?"

His answer came after a few tense moments. "It's almost eight in the morning."

I let his words really take root in my head before I said anything else. And when I did, it came out as a wail of despair and horror. Reaching for my eyes and flinching when i felt my fingers brush against my retinas, knowing my eyes were open even though it was morning and I should be seeing so much because my eyes were open, I started hypervantilating and cried out despairingly, "I'm blind, aren't I?! Oh, god, Ginko, I'm blind!"

Another cliffhanger. You all probably want to kill me again.

I really don't know when I'll put the next chapter out, guys. I'm applying for collages and keeping up with 4 other fanfictions (I should actually be keeping up with five others, but I kind of dropped Pet Shop of Horrors for a little while, though I intend to pick it back up someday). I hope you enjoyed this little chapter, though, however late it may have come out, and offer me your reviews, even though I am aware I do not deserve them, as my updates are so infrequent.

I love you all, thank you for reading, and I apologize once more.

Phantom, out!