A/N: HIIII GUYS. =D I forgot about this… TT_TT sorry for the mega delay… again. I'm on summer break now, but I'm doing a few things, but hopefully, I'll be able to post more soon. ;) Enjoy. ;)

Light in the Dark

Chapter 8

Masame spent the whole night under the tree with the lifeless body of her once lover resting on the ground. Since the tree was hidden quite for from the main entrance of the school, no one even found out that someone had died on the night of their dance.

She cried herself to sleep on his bloody suit, knowing she'd never be able to survive without him. First her family, now this… Oh how badly she wanted to pull the string, but she had promised Ren she wouldn't.

In the Eternal Twilight, Hone-Onna was pacing back and forth, troubled about how neither of them communicated with them. Usually they would go every night, or if they were tired, they would come the following morning. Finally, because of how lost in thought she was, she bumped into Ai, who was standing by her pond, a more than lifeless expression on her face.

"Ojou, I'm getting worried. Ren and Masame haven't come here yet. I know they went to the dance last night, but… You know, I thought they would come here. Especially because Ren said he was going to confess!" She blurted out. To her surprise, Ai looked up at the woman with her large, crimson eyes and tears started to fall from them.

"O—Ojou?!" Hone said, alarmed by the sudden show of emotion.

"…Come with me…" She finally said, extending her small, pale hand. The woman took it and they went to the human world. Specifically… To the special sakura tree in the school.

"Ojou, what are we doing here?" She asked.

"…Turn around." Hone followed instructions, as she always did, and gasped as she saw Masame, sitting on the ground, dress all creased up, hair in a mess, makeup running all over her face, with Ren's blood-stained, lifeless body by her.

"Oh my God…" Hone said as she clasped her mouth and tears formed in her eyes. "Ren!" She ran over to the couple and knelt down by them. Ai slowly followed and sat on her heels.

"… Ai-chan… Isn't there… Anything… you can do?" Masame looked up at her friend with bloodshot, puffy eyes.

"…This… is not in my power… The only one who can maybe help us…" She cut herself off as she crawled closer to the lifeless body.

"Hone-Onna." She looked at the woman who wearing her teacher outfit.

"Hai, Ojou." She nodded, clutching onto the hand of Ren that wasn't being clutched onto by his lover.

Ai held onto Masame's shoulder and with that, they were teleported to the Eternal Twilight. Wanyuudou turned back into his human-like form and stood by the body, his hat in his hands. Kikuri hid behind them to watch. Sure, she loved to mess with Ren, but if he were dead, who would she bother? They all gathered on the porch of Ai's house, where that one creepy spider would always stay.

Ai looked up at the spider and called to it. "Lord of Hell. Listen to the cries of we who stand before you now. Let it be that he will live once again." She said respectfully.

"And why exactly would we do that?" It asked with an ominous voice.

"He does not deserve death. Not at the peak of his new life. I wish not for his newfound lover to suffer, neither that he be separated from her. Also, I do not wish for the loss of one of my best assistants… and friends." She said.

"Do you truly wish so?"

"Yes my lord." She said with a slight tone of seriousness in her voice.

"So be it then. Let life be restored to this body. Let the spirit of the katana return to him and may he live again." And with that, a strange light enveloped the body of Ren. It spiraled around him, cleaning off all of the blood, repairing the hole pierced right through him, and making it so that it was as if nothing had even happened. With that, the light, and the spider, disappeared.

"Did… did it… work?" Masame asked anxiously.

Finally, his hand twitched, and his eye slowly opened. He turned up to look at Masame, who had tears in her eyes again.

"…Ma…sa…me?" He smiled weakly.

"Oh Ren! You're alive!" She cried out and embraced him tightly.

He embraced her back and smiled.

"I don't know how I would've been able to go on if you were really gone…" She cried.

"…Masame… Please stop crying… I don't want to see you cry, okay?" He smiled and sat up to make it easier for him to embrace his lover.

"…Alright… But please… Never, EVER, leave me again…" She sniffed and hugged him.

"Alright, I won't… I promise." He smiled sweetly and faced the others who were gathered around him.

"…Hey guys." He smiled.

"…You idiot." Hone scoffed, wiping her tears with the sleeve of her blue kimono.

"I'm… glad you're back…" Ai said softly.

"I'm glad to be back Ojou." He bowed his head.

"Alright, I think you two should head back home. A lot has happened and you guys need some rest. Especially you Masame." Hone crossed her arms and looked at the couple.

"Yeah, I guess so…" Ren said as he stood up. He extended his hand to Masame and smiled.

"Shall we?" He chuckled as he reenacted the events that took place in their house the night before.

She took his hand and smiled. She was a mess, and Hone-Onna was right. She needed rest.

"See you guys later." Ren smiled.

Wanyuudou quickly changed back into his doll form and fell into Masame's purse again.

"See you. Take care!" Hone smiled as they disappeared.

Back at their home, Masame had changed into her pajamas and removed the mess of makeup on her face.

"Ren… How are we going to go back to school? Hiiraga thinks that you're dead…" She bit her thumb as she thought.

"Let her believe that the hospital saved me or something. I just can't wait to see the disbelief on her face when she sees me." He laughed.

"Well, you know, now I really don't care anymore. All I care about is that you're back." She said softly, embracing him tightly.

"Me too." He said as he hugged her back, resting his face in her soft hair.

~The next day, at school~

"Well then, I'll see you later." Ren smiled. "Ja, ne."

"Sayonara!" Masame smiled and walked to her classroom. She went to her place, sat down and started fixing her things, like how she usually would.

This of course, did not go unnoticed by the 4 heartless creatures on the other side of the room.

"How… Is she happy…?" Tsunee asked with disbelief.

Kyo sighed and whispered what seemed to be something only Tsunee did not notice. "Ichimoku is alive. You didn't see him drop her off here a few seconds ago?"

"I-Impossible!" Tsunee said, in what sounded like an attempted scream in whisper form.

"It's the truth…" Ryuu shrugged.

"So… What do we do now?" Sumi asked cluelessly.

"Tsk, I'm not so sure myself… Damnit, how in the world…" Tsunee started muttering.

"Doesn't she have a best friend who's like her sister?" Kyo said.

"Yeah she does! Hmm… That gives me an idea…" Tsunee said mischievously.

~Later that day, at the Eternal Twilight~

"Ai-chan… Aren't you getting tired of me?" Masame asked suddenly as the two of them sat on the porch.

"No, of course not… Why would you think that…?" Ai asked.

"Well… I've been your customer for… Who knows how long now… What about your other customers?" She asked.

"Well, Hone-Onna is still here, so she is the one who usually becomes the doll for other customers… Also… Business has been… quite slow, these days… So it really is no trouble…" She said softly.

"Are you sure?" Masame looked at Ai with worry.

"Hai." Ai responded with a very slight smile.

"Yokata…" She sighed with relief.

"And…" Ai spoke again.

"Hai?"

"…I'm glad… to finally… have a friend…" Ai's smile grew.

"So am I." Masame smiled back.

At that, they both looked out at the eternal crimson sky and let out sighs of relief… of happiness… Something neither had experienced in a while.

~To be continued~

A/N: Sorry, I lost ideas again. TT_TT But I'll try to update as soon as possible! And, as much as I hate to say this, I might be ending this story soon… But who knows. :) Again, thank you for reading this chapter. Reviews are very much appreciated! [Except for flames.]