Yukigami: Hello there! This is my first stab at fanfiction so any con-crit is VERY appreciated. This came about as a part challenge to myself and a part lesson to the classic Mary Sue writers. It's possible to keep characters IN character and write a story without your female character madly in love with Legolas/Aragorn/Haldir/Boromir/Frodo/Treebeard/etc. I give very much praise to Glorfindel the Younger for beta-ing this for me and helping me with the tiny details of Middle-earth.

PS, this is something of a crossover between LotR and stories I've written. If you don't mind being slightly confused at the beginning, you'll get the whole story, promise.

So obviously, I don't own LotR. Anything that doesn't fit there belongs to me (with the exception of the original ideas of the different gods; they belong to their religions).

Onto the fic!

Chapter One: Time Goes By

"Mou..."

Yuu looked over Rin's shoulder as she sat on the steps of Onmyouza High School. In her hands was their last test from their English class, the one that Yuu had passed with a 97. Marked on Rin's paper, in bright red marker, was a 38.

Yuu winced. "Sugoi, Rin-chan...I didn't think that kind of grade was possible..."

Rin sighed and shoved the offensive paper into her bag. "If it wasn't for all these things Kannon-sama is having me do, I wouldn't be getting such poor grades..." She closed her bag and stood up. Yuu followed the suit, brushing off the little bit of dirt from the back of her skirt and the two walked down the sidewalk, still talking.

"Kannon-sama has been working you a lot, hasn't she?" Yuu asked quietly, glancing over at the shorter girl from the corner of her eye.

Rin shrugged and was silent for a moment. It was times like this that Yuu wished they were as close as they had been so she would just know what the other girl was thinking. Rin stopped Yuu's train of thought by finally speaking. "Things...they've been getting worse."

Yuu turned her head to look at Rin. "What do you mean they're 'getting worse'?" She asked.

Rin sighed again and looked down at her hands, which were clenched around her book bag. "For some reason, there's been more demons invading our world..." Rin could hear Yuu gasp but ignored her and continued, "And they're not the nice kind. In one month, attacks, possession, just crimes against the Reikai have doubled to more than what we normally see in a year." Rin paused for a moment, glanced at Yuu before deciding to continue, "There was one demon that did talk, in exchange for a lesser sentence. He said that the KR Company was the ones behind this."

"Why am I not surprised?" Yuu asked no one in particular before she said, "What are they up to now?"

"The usual?" Rin commented. "Trying to hurry along the apocalypse in order to set up their own rule in our world?" She shook her head, long black strands of hair waving with the movement before her expression darkened somewhat, "Ruki-kun was there. He told me about the other things that the demon said."

"Like what, Rin-chan?" Yuu prodded after Rin fell silent.

Rin pressed her lips together for a moment before she said, "The demon wouldn't say what exactly, but he said the KR Company had a special interest in a 'power in another dimension.'"

The two of them reached the train station and Yuu stopped to look at Rin, causing the other girl to stop as well, "A power in another dimension?"

"I don't know what else to tell you, Yuu-chan. I'm at a loss too." Rin was quiet for a moment before she said, "I have to go home. I'll talk to you later."

"Matte, Rin-chan," Rin walked down the stairs to the train platforms, either not hearing or ignoring Yuu. Yuu watched her go until she was out of sight before she sighed and continued walking, heading to her own home.

Rin stood on the platform that would take her to Shibuya, waiting for the train, deep in thought. Gomen ne, Yuu-chan. I can't trust you like I did before. Having you stab me in the back once was more than enough. Still... She noticed a group of three girls from another high school chatting to each other, teasing one girl about her crush on someone else at their school and she sighed, it would be nice to have a friend like that again...

Her head snapped up when she heard the announcement for the train over the intercom. "The train from Shibuya to Ebisu will be arriving at platform ten. Please stand behind the yellow line for your safety."

Rin felt the rest of the people to get on the train crowd behind her as the train approached. The three school girls grabbed each other's hands and proceeded to play the jump game, swinging their hands back and forth while saying, "And one and two and one and two..."

Soon enough, the train had arrived and the doors opened, letting passengers get off and letting others on. Rin stepped on and went to stand by the door on the opposite wall, watching other people fill the train. Once the doors closed, she closed her eyes as the train began moving, trying to get her mind off of the depressing thoughts of school, of her friendship with Yuu and most of all, her current status as an envoy for the Reikai.

It had been an unintended consequence for her actions. It was nearly four years ago when her entire life had been flipped upside down. Before then, she had a normal life. She had a doting mother and father who were in love with life as much as anyone else and Yuu had been her best friend since they met in the park when they were both three. Rin was doing well in school, sixth in her class, to her parent's pleasure, and was happy to be ready to take the entrance exam to get into Meiou High, the same high school her mother graduated from. It was when she was thirteen, just two months shy of her fourteenth birthday that the accident happened. Her mother and father had been on their way back from Kobe as part of a business trip for their small store that they hoped to expand. Rin's mother loved to drive on the open highways which is why they opted to drive out there. Rin came home from school that day to find the police waiting for her at her home to tell her the news.

Rin remembered the two months following that. She and Yuu gradually began fighting more and more until Yuu told her that she refused to be her friend anymore and the two stopped talking. Rin found herself unable to find a way to pay for the house she lived in, and flat out refused to quit school because she knew her parents, if alive, would be disappointed. Not knowing what else to do, on her fourteenth birthday, she slit her right wrist in her bathroom. By the time a neighbor noticed something was wrong and called authorities, it was too late.

Rin never really believed in a life after death, but she didn't know how else to explain what happened when she found herself waking up and meeting a guardian spirit who called herself Misaki. Misaki, the spirit that appeared as young as twelve years old but told her she was well over seven hundred, had introduced her to the Reikai, the world in which gods and spirits existed and judged the souls that came to them, deciding if they were fit to go onto Nirvana and wait for the second paradise to be created and begin.

Rin was introduced to Kannon, a bodhisattva that was revered as a god by many (including other gods). Most people in Japan knew about Kannon; Yuu had been very interested in the first bodhisattva of Buddha who vowed to help everyone in the world reach Nirvana. What Rin hadn't expected was the bodhisattva was a hermaphrodite. It had shocked her the first time when she had talked to him/her. Kannon told Rin that she had violated not one but two laws of the Reikai which were she had taken a life before it's time and she had died before her time. Both offenses, Kannon said, were punishable by being sent to Hell.

However, Kannon told her, she still had an uncorrupted soul and so, she was giving Rin an alternative; one he/she had given many other people who had committed similar offenses. He/she would give Rin her life back in exchange that she would be in debt and would have to pay it back by becoming an envoy of the Reikai, or a person who does the gods bidding on the human plane. Kannon didn't give Rin the option of what she would like her fate to be and appointed her as his/her newest envoy.

Rin was surprised to wake up in a barely-furnished apartment moments after the event with a note detailing what she was to be doing now. She was to go to school, do things as normal, and not stick out in a crowd because of her new occupation. All things would be paid for and she was to make people believe that it was money she was receiving because her parents left an inheritance to her.

For the first six months, Rin could barely find any kind of happiness in her world. She didn't have friends, and the people she met on the missions Kannon sent her on were people Rin didn't really want anything to do with. It was at that time that Kannon decided to place Rin in a group with four others in hopes that it would break Rin of her developing anti-social problems and depression. The group was called Tanuki, appropriately named as they were some of the most clever people Rin ever met. Slowly but surely, Rin started to become happier and even developed her first crush on her fellow teammate, Toshi.

Things didn't go well for her after she confessed her feelings to him. He had gently turned her down because he had a girlfriend currently studying in Germany. Shortly after, the confrontation with the psychic terrorist group, NIMA, ended with her mind rape and leading her to be taken off active duty while she recovered with the help of the empath, Kaoru Haruda.

She remembered getting better, only to hear three months later that Yuu had been kidnapped by a cult that was employed by the KR Company. Their goal was to sacrifice her to their false god and start the apocalypse. Rin managed to help save Yuu and the two tried to reconcile as friends afterwards. Even though they were talking again, Rin could feel that their friendship wasn't the same anymore.

Kannon talked to her after that. She had saved an innocent life, which freed her from her debt with him/her. Rin, like several other envoys, instead opted to continue to work for Kannon. Kannon had laughed and told her that she would be rewarded. That reward came in the form of Miya Kawakaze.

Rin could feel her lips tugging up in a smile at the thought of him. Miya was a very up and coming musician and had been the guitarist in the band Shimmer. He had gone solo once the band broke up, but was still on good terms with everyone else. He, however, was one of the seven Nijitama shard carriers, thus making him a target for the KR Company.

Rin and many of the other envoys she had met before in separate missions were put on this high profile case. Rin's job was to watch over and protect Miya, while Miya, when he knew what was going on, wanted to know Rin better.

"Did you know when you walk, you waddle like a penguin?"

Rin tried not to laugh as she remembered that first, awkward conversation with him. Miya was one of the things that made her smile, no matter what problems she was having. Of course, the two had their problems and their fights, like any couple did, but Rin wouldn't give up Miya for anything in the world, much like she wouldn't give up any of her friends she had for anything in the world.

Those were her reasons to still be involved with the Reikai. Noriko had told her that once you were involved in the Reikai, you were going to find it hard to walk away, especially when you could see just how it will affect those you cared about. The recent spike in the illegal demon presence in the Ningenkai had everyone worried. It felt like they were in the middle of a war. However, it was this power in another dimension that had the gods worried.

The concept of other dimensions wasn't strange. Fate didn't have just one tapestry for the world. Rather, she left parts of it out, leaving everyone with some free will. When it came to those crossroads, in which one event or another could have happened, the one not chosen creates a different reality and if it becomes powerful enough, another dimension in which another tapestry is woven for. For every choice you've had to make, there was another reality, or so Rin had been told.

If there was a power developing in one of those dimensions, and the KR Company was trying to figure out a way to reach it...Rin shuddered. It didn't bode well for their dimension at all.

Rin felt the train stop and she opened her eyes. It only took her a moment to realize that nothing was moving, not the people, not the train, nothing. Rin pushed herself from the door and looked around the train before she noticed the boy who couldn't have been older than twelve standing a few feet away. He had short black hair that fell into his violet eyes. He was dressed in a black yukata with some red leaves stitched along the hem of it. Rin bowed slightly and said, "Konnichiwa, Naoki-san."

The boy smiled and nodded. "Rin-san, konnichiwa." He glanced around at the compartment as he moved closer to Rin and said, "I hope you don't mind that I stopped everything. I wanted to talk to you without anyone overhearing."

"It's fine," Rin said as Naoki stopped in front of her. "What did you need?" She questioned.

Naoki fell silent for a moment. Rin wasn't as familiar with him as she was his twin, Misaki, but knew he was just gathering his thoughts before he spoke out loud. "Kannon-sama needs to talk to you. It's important."

Rin sighed. So much for seeing Miya right after school... "Right then." Naoki held out his hand and Rin took it in hers. In front of them, a doorway appeared, spilling bright light at the two and Naoki led Rin through it.

When the bright light died down, Rin found herself in a very familiar corridor, Naoki nowhere in sight. It was dark, lit only with a few ever-burning torches lighting the way. Two of the torches lit up the door, which was made of highly polished cherry wood and gold handles, being the only thing different in the corridor for as far as one could see. Rin had to wait for her vision to adjust before she realized there were others waiting in the corridor. She smiled and said, "Elijah!"

One of the people waiting there, a tall thin boy with wavy brown hair turned around to face her. Rin was surprised to see the bruises on the American's face and neck, along with the split lip. Still, he had a smile on his face and said, "Hi Rin!"

Rin took a moment to remind herself to speak English and not Japanese before she replied. "How are you? You look bad..."

Elijah laughed and said, "We had some problems with some demons. Just my luck, I ended up being the one on street patrol when it happened."

"Are you hurt bad?" Rin asked.

Elijah shook his head and said, "No, I got lucky."

Rin nodded. "That is good then..." She looked at the door and asked, "Why did Kannon get us here?"

Elijah shrugged. "Not sure. I'm guessing it had something to do with the whole second dimension problem we're having."

Rin tried to reply but was tackled from behind in a hug by another girl. It only took the stench of cigarette smoke for her to realize who it was. "Hello, Maria."

The girl released Rin and she turned around, facing the girl, only a couple inches taller than herself, known as the Lightning Empress of Yorkshin. Maria grinned and said, "How's things goin' on your side of the world, Rin?"

Rin smiled. "They are well...too many fighting."

"Too much fighting," Elijah corrected almost absentmindedly.

Rin smiled a little bit in embarrassment before she gave her attention back to Maria. It was then that she noticed that the taller girl had a couple of thin cuts on her cheek and she frowned. "So...you are having problems too in Yorkshin with fights?"

"Yeah," Maria said, fishing in her pants pocket for what turned out to be a crumpled pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She pulled a single, slightly bent stick from the pack, placing it between her lips and flicking her lighter to light the end of it. She inhaled deeply, stashing the cigarettes and lighter back in her pocket and closing her eyes as she held her breath for a moment. Her breath came out in whoosh and a cloud of white smoke. She opened her eyes, flicked the end of the cigarette and said, "The fights are getting' more an' more violent an' more an' more people are gettin' hurt because of it. There's only nine of us, we can't be everywhere at once an' get out of it unharmed."

Rin blinked, "Are things that bad?" she asked.

"Yeah...an' I put the blame of all this on Kannon." Maria scrunched her nose slightly and shoved her cigarette in her mouth. "The fuckin' bitch."

"Maria, that's no way to talk about Kannon." Elijah said. Maria rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest, intending to ignore Elijah, who continued. "If it wasn't for Kannon, we wouldn't know what exactly those things attacking Yorkshin are and we certainly wouldn't have help from the envoys."

Maria turned to face Elijah and said, "Yeah, an' if we didn't have her help, Forest wouldn't be so fucked in the head now if she tried to keep Jui away from him. Che," she took another drag, "bodhisattva of mercy my ass."

Elijah frowned just as Rin spoke up, "Ano...Kannon is not...allowed to change a person fate..."

Maria snorted, "I don't give a flyin' rat's ass. Anyone who says that they want to help end sufferin' in our world should stick by it an' not set somethin' up that would cause heartache in the end."

Rin sighed. It wasn't worth trying to argue with Maria right now. She was worse than herself when it came to a belief that was held. Instead, Rin took a moment to see who exactly Kannon had summoned to speak with her. She wasn't surprised to see several envoys there, almost all of them envoys that served Kannon. She recognized all of them as team leaders, but other than Kousei Terachi, the boy a year younger than herself with part of his hair bleached out, she didn't know who they were exactly. The only envoy there that didn't work for Kannon happened to be Ruki Shinohara, one of the few envoys that worked for Enma. Rin found it strange that he would be there.

Other than the envoys, there were also several others who worked as allies to the Reikai and had no standing debt to repay with them. Maria and Elijah were two members of the Volts, the semi-government body that the large city had now. Karen Blomgren, a teacher of the Rosenkruz Institute for the Mind Gifted, was talking to one of the envoys Rin didn't know. Sitting on the floor and studying some kind of paper between them, were Isshi Arisagawa, an onmyouji and Ruka Nestada-Weywers, one of the last sorcerers in Europe. Standing somewhat away from the group, silently observing them, was Victoria Alucard, a member of the Kairen Organization.

Rin began walking over to where Ruki was standing, mind buzzing in thought. This seemed to be bigger than Rin originally thought. Kannon would only normally call the envoys that served him/her. For Kannon to call for one of Enma's envoys as well as others who were not affiliated with the Reikai...it was setting alarms off in Rin's head.

"You look like you just swallowed something sour, Rin-chan."

Rin blinked when she heard Japanese spoken instead of English and realized that Ruki was talking to her. Ruki Shinohara was one of the more well known envoys in the Reikai, three years Rin's senior. He was sharp-tongued, blunt, observant but sometimes a bit too trusting and certainly one who cared for those in his close circle. Ruki's fame amongst the Reikai though came from that he was one who never died, never had a debt to repay, but instead offered his services voluntarily, and was one of the first to come in contact with the leader of the KR Company, The Director.

Ruki was the type of person that didn't mind getting in your face about something, which is why Rin wasn't surprised that Ruki had made a comment as he had. Rin sighed, "Just thinking..."

"About why everyone and their dog's here?" Ruki finished for her. He chuckled a little, "I saw you looking around at everyone else."

"Ah, so...do you know why we're all here?" Rin asked.

"Iie," Ruki said before the playful expression fell into a more serious one, "I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with that interesting little second world that the interrogated youkai was rambling about."

"Wakatta..." Rin sighed and leaned against the wall next to Ruki. She was quiet for a moment before she asked, "How's Uru-chan?"

Ruki smiled. "Knocked up and enjoying every minute of it. Not taking any missions right now, which I don't blame her for. Creates a little problem with the team though when there's only three of us instead of four, but we'll manage." He closed his eyes and his smile got a little bit wider, "That kid is more important."

Rin smiled as well, "Do you already have a soft spot for him or her?"

"It's going to be a girl. Aoi-kun's pretty happy."

"I can imagine..." Rin sighed again as her thoughts darkened a bit. "I wonder though...why is it that everyone seems to look down on this like it's a horrible thing. I know that human and demon relationships are normally unheard of demo..."

Ruki paused for a long moment before he answered, "Aoi-kun and Uru-chan's relationship is... special. They both already knew the consequences of being together, in all three realms, as well as the consequences of bringing half-breed children into this world." He paused again before he concluded, "That's really the only way I can explain it."

Rin nodded just as the heavy doors to Kannon's dorm opened by themselves. From inside the lit room came an androgynous voice that everyone seemed to understand, regardless of language. "Everyone, enter."

After a moment's pause, everyone began walking into the room. Rin gave a look to Ruki who shrugged and walked in, Rin following closely behind. The room was large and circular, constructed from what seemed to be nothing but grey bricks, like that of a medieval castle. There were no windows, but instead, the only light came from the fireplace that never seemed to die down. Silhouetted against the light from there was none other than Kannon.

Rin had seen Kannon enough times not to be disturbed by the bodhisattva's appearance. Kannon had both male and female aspects to his/her body, male in the sense of the shape of the hips, the slightly larger hands and the stronger jaw, but female in the rounded cheekbones, the fuller lips and the obvious breasts on his/her chest. Kannon turned around, facing the group just as the door swung shut behind them and smiled. "Welcome. I'm glad all of you could make it."

"Cut the crap Kannon, what do you want?" Maria was elbowed sharply in the side by Elijah, whom she directed her glare at instead.

Kannon paid no attention to Maria and allowed his/her expression to darken. "I call you here now as a matter of great importance. I know all of you have had problems dealing with the recent increase of demonic activities in the Ningenkai. I also know that you have heard of a second dimension." Rin cast a look at Ruki, who seemed to have some kind of pleased expression on his face. She turned her attention back to Kannon when the bodhisattva began speaking again.

"I'm hear to assure all of you that it is indeed true." Several people in the room gave startled exclamations but Kannon continued, "Ever since we learned of this, we've tried to learn what exactly this world is. What we've learned is that this isn't just a random world...this one is another reality, created off of the possibility of the promise of magic to the world was never made. Thus, in this other world, the destruction of Ragnarök destroyed the world and it began anew. Several things came of this. There are no demons in this world, at least how we know demons here, and the race of Elves is still in existence. The races of Vampires and Werewolves are exclusively evil in nature, unlike here where each has their own free will. Time moves quickly there; the equivalent to this world for every year is about thirty-three days." Kannon paused. "The world is also similar to the Middle Ages of this world. We've learned that many of the inhabitants called their world Middle-earth."

"Good to know," said Maria, who crossed her arms over her chest. "But that doesn't give us any damn answers of why we're here." Maria was elbowed sharply in the side by Elijah.

Again, Kannon ignored the comments made by Maria and continued. "As I know all of you are aware," a subtle glance was shot to Ruki, "we interrogated a demon who gave us valuable information if we reduced his initial sentence that Enma gave him. As you may have guessed, the KR Company is involved, but their connection to Middle-earth comes from an object in which we've been able to identify as dangerous, as it has the ability to bring the ruin of Middle-earth, along with the apocalypse of our world."

"And this object?" Ruki asked, and from the tone of his voice, his curiosity was piqued.

Kannon smiled. "The object in question...is a ring."

A moment of silence, and then, "You're shitting me."

"Maria! My God, don't you get that you're talking to a god?!" Elijah had spun around and yelled at Maria directly. The girl had crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Elijah, who glared right back. Rin's eyes widened in surprise. The two had to be under an unusual amount of stress for them to snap and glare at each other.

Kannon's voice broke through the tension that had built in the room. "Elijah, Maria, enough. And no, Maria, I am not." The two Volts stopped glaring and turned their attention back to the bodhisattva. Kannon continued, "This ring seems normal; a gold band from what we've seen but...it holds a great deal of power, as it is somehow...tied to a spirit."

"Tied?" Ruka cut in, his brow furrowing. "How is that possible? Even with magic and the creation of bloodstones, you can't be tied to them..."

"That, even we don't know. We were only able to learn basic facts about this. The spirit is known as Sauron. He is something like lord corrupted by evil in that world."

"A lot of this information is very basic and vague, Kannon." The quiet, slightly ethereal voice belonged to no other than Victoria, which managed to cause a few people to jump.

Kannon nodded. "I know, Victoria. Even gods can't be all knowing. The information we were able to get was obscure at best; this Middle-earth...most of it is a mystery to us as well."

"So, what the hell is the point bringin' us here then?" Maria asked after a moment of silence in the room.

"Because the KR Company has tipped the scale in their favor, we decided to send one of our own to Middle-earth in hopes they will at least balance it out, if not give us an advantage."

There was a long moment of silence in the room. Then, there was a bitter laugh that came from Maria, causing everyone to look at her. "Fuckin' figures. When things become too complicated and you can't fix it, you come runnin' to your envoys or even us who want nothin' to do with you. Why am I not surprised?"

"Maria..." Elijah growled out in warning.

She ignored him, "This is why I don't fuckin' trust any of you."

"Maria, enough!" Elijah yelled. Maria sent him a dirty look but fell silent, her arms still crossed over her chest.

Kannon's expression changed to a saddened one and she said, "Maria...I am sorry. I honestly wished we didn't have to ask you all to do this but...we cannot directly interfere. We cannot have another event like Ragnarök happen." The bodhisattva sighed.

"So, Kannon-sama...what is going to happen?" Kousei spoke up for the first time, his voice somewhat hesitant. "Who are you going to send to this...other world?"

Kannon hesitated for a moment before she said, "We decided on one of my envoys, one that seemed to have the most to gain from this experience, the person who would grow the most. The reason we called the rest of you here is to let you know that there is going an increase of the demonic attacks, and possibly other things we aren't expecting as the KR Company will more than likely become more agitated and more willing to sacrifice anything to have their plans go accordingly. All of you need to begin keeping in contact with each other, regardless of rank and which god you serve, if any."

"Kannon..." Maria's tone was low, controlled and cold, the voice of the ruthless leader of the Volts of Yorkshin. "Who the Hell are you sending to Middle-fuckin'-earth?!"

Kannon was silent for a long time until he/she sighed and leveled his/her gaze onto Rin. Rin felt the bottom of her stomach drop and it was suddenly very hard breath. "Rin...all of us decided that you were the best choice."

Rin's voice was lost somewhere, but she didn't have to say much, as many others jumped in, voicing their own complaints.

"What the hell?! Kannon, you can't be fuckin' serious! You're gonna get Rin killed over there!" Maria's voice rang out.

"Kannon, Rin's not the best choice for this!" Ruka exclaimed, "Rin can't defend herself in this world if magic is used there!"

"Have you lost your mind, Kannon?!" Was the demand from Ruki.

Kannon held up his/her hand and everyone fell silent. "We chose Rin because she has the most to gain in this experience. I've stated this."

Rin found her voice at this time. "I'm...I'm not in debt to you anymore, Kannon-sama, and you told me that I have the option of turning down missions. I'm choosing to use that option now." Her voice rose with conviction. "I absolutely refuse to do this!"

Kannon shook his/her head. "I'm sorry, Rin, but you don't have a choice in this matter. Not when things are about to become dire here." Kannon's gaze went to focus on the rest of the group, in particular, the area where Maria and Ruka were standing. "And those with abnormal talents are going to be needed here. Yorkshin, in particular, will become a target because of the location of one of the kakuheki there. I also worry for Rosenkruz and the headquarters of the Kairen organization in Europe, which is why many more envoys will be sent to those places to help protect them. Japan, however, has enough envoys to handle any of the attacks and protect the Kakuheki. Rin, I will agree that there are more that are better suited to this but...we need them here."

Rin felt her blood run cold, only to boil with barely contained rage. "You're saying I'm expendable." The statement came out as a hiss. Ruki placed a hand on her shoulder and Rin was unsure if it was meant to calm her or restrain her.

The look on Kannon's face clearly stated sadness. "Rin, it's not like that at all--"

"Wakatta." The statement was flat and a frown marred Rin's face. "I'll do it since it's obvious you're trying to get rid of those who don't meet your standards anymore." Rin threw off Ruki's hand and stalked out of the room.

Once she was back out in the hall, she leaned against the wall and slid down, curling her arms around her knees and bowing her head. Things were silent for a long moment, save for her breathing, until she heard the heavy door scrape against the ground and someone else join her in the hall. "Rin-chan,"

The voice belonged to Ruki. She looked up just as Ruki sat down next to her. He was silent, waiting for Rin to say something, which she did. "It's not fair."

"Not everything in life is fair." Ruki replied. "But if it helps, I don't think Kannon did this to set you up to fail. I think you overreacted." Rin shot Ruki a dirty look and he said, "It's true. Rin-chan, you're lucky Kannon is forgiving because you couldn't have gotten away with saying most of the things you did to any other god. Why do you think I keep my temper in check when I talk to Enma?"

Rin released her arms from around her knees and sighed, resting them across her stomach. "You're right." She admitted, "But I still don't want to go. I want to stay here."

Ruki smiled a little bit. "It sounds a little selfish of you, Rin-chan, but I don't blame you. I wouldn't want to go; I think the only person would even consider going is Ruka-san," He said

Rin pushed her lips together. "This sounds like a death sentence," She stated.

Ruki didn't disagree with her, but instead said, "Kannon-sama told us some interesting little bits just to make this a little bit harder."

Rin's eyes narrowed, "Like what?"

"Well, first, they don't speak any kind of language found here. The one that was identified as a 'common speech' is called Westron. This place is pre-industrial, so no running water, no electricity, nothing. They don't have weapons like guns and don't use Ki so most of it is limited to swords, bow and arrow and hand to hand combat."

Rin just stared at him for a long moment before she said, "And Kannon-sama expects me to survive how?!"

"Kannon-sama isn't planning to send you right away. You've got a month...maybe you can learn some of that?" Ruki sounded doubtful but he tried smiling. "We always figure ways out of these situations, don't we? We'll think of something..."

Rin sighed, pushing herself up and bowing to Ruki. "Tell everyone bye for me. I'm going home..." Before Ruki could reply, Rin had walked off.

To walk from the gates of the Reikai to the train station was about twelve minutes (depending on where a gatekeeper dropped you off at). The train ride from Ebisu to Azabu included three stops along the way and a switch from the Yamanote line to the Namboku line at the Meguro junction. It was strange how these things were just registered in Rin's mind instead of including many other details like it would have. It took twenty minutes to reach the destination she didn't know she was heading to.

Before she knew it, she was on the third floor of an apartment complex, standing in front of a wooden door, the numbers 304 sticking out boldly in gold numbers. She paused, wondering if she really should be going in. She shook her head, knowing that it didn't matter and pulled out her keys from the pocket on her skirt. She took the only gold key on the ring and inserted it into the lock, unlocking it and slipping inside. She noticed that it was dark, save for the bedroom, in which there was light coming from the doorway and the faint sounds of an acoustic guitar being plucked. Rin pressed her lips together before she shut the door behind her, twisting the deadbolt before removing her shoes. She stepped onto the floor of his living room, walking quietly towards his bedroom, knowing exactly what she would see when she got there.

Sitting on the bed in the center of the room was none other than Miya Kawakaze. He was in the center of the bed, his long legs folded under him and in his lap, his favorite acoustic guitar, his fingers plucking at different strings, creating a new melody. His eyes were close peacefully, his lips slightly turned up in a relaxed smile. All former color that Miya may have dyed his hair was gone and replaced by the silky black that fell in tails in front of his ears and crept down his neck. He was in nothing more than a white tank top and a pair of grey sweatpants, the shirt dipping down enough to see the small yin-yang tattoo over his heart.

"That way, I remember that I need my other half to be complete."

Miya's brown eyes opened and focused on Rin in the doorway, his fingers stopped moving and the melody hung unfinished in the air. Rin bowed her head but Miya smiled. "Kobanwa, Rin."

Rin didn't answer. The smile faded off of Miya's face, falling into a small frown. He placed his guitar gently on the bed and slid off, walking over to Rin and touching her face with his fingers. He binked when he felt something wet drip onto it and asked, "Rin?"

Rin's shoulders began to shake and she choked out, "Suimasen...Miya, I'm so sorry...I-I..."

"What?" Miya asked, trying to resist the urge to hug her.

"I'm leaving...Miya." Miya blinked and Rin added, "I'm leaving, Miya...and I don't know if I'm coming back."

-san - formal, like saying Mr. or Ms. and used for people you don't know well
-kun - more friendly, used between friends
-chan - used like -kun, used more for girls or for young children, or sometimes between lovers
-sama - high form of respect, used for a lord or a god.
-(none) - indicating a very intimate level of closeness between people

Sugoi - Wow; that's amazing
Reikai - literally 'spirit world'; referring to the place between heaven and the mortal world in which judgment is passed on souls.
Matte - Wait
Tanuki - Raccoon
Nijitama - Rainbow Gem
Ningenkai - literally 'human world'; referring to the place between the Reikai and Makai where many races that are not 'cast out' exist, the main one being humans.
Yukata - a light summer kimono
Koniichiwa - Hello; good afternoon
Onmyouji - A practicer of Yin-Yang magic
Iie - No
Youkai - Demon; in this world, it's an offensive slang word
Wakatta - I understand; I got it
Demo - But
Kakuheki - 'barrier wall'; in this world, it describes the seven points in the Ningenkai where the Makai and Reikai can both be accessed.
Suimasen - I'm sorry