Chapter 14

"Bye, Rin Rin, I'll see you later," Miku waved goodbye, before proceeding to exit out of their bedroom's door.

"...Yeah," nodded Rin, observing the teal twin-tails fly out of the room.

Unconciously widening her mouth in a yawn, the blonde shifted her gaze back to the glass mirror she sat before and frowned at the heavy, dark circles that had formed under her eyes.

Miku hadn't suffered the same disfigurement that had afflicited Rin. Actually, it seemed that nothing odd had occurred between the two roommates, the night before, due to Miku only exhibiting her typical behaviour. Neither one of them mentioned the incident, so Rin considered the possibility of it just being some elaborate dream.

The sleep deprived eyes proved otherwise and she ruled out hallucinations because the warmth from Miku's soft lips remained embedded on her own lips.

Lightly placing the tips of her fingers on her lips, her cheeks turned rosy as she vividly recalled the tender kiss she had shared with Miku. Rin didn't understand why her body failed to grow nauseus from their taboo activity. It was wrong to have these emotions for someone of the same sex but even so, her lips sought more of the forbidden fruit that she had immensly enjoyed the taste of.

"Has Miku already left?" Rin jolted up in her seat at the sudden noise, painfully banging her knees against the desk. Twisting her neck, she noticed that Luka had barged into the room.

"Are you feeling okay?" Luka inquired, observing Rin's flushed face.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just fine," Rin feebly assured Luka.

Arching her perfectly shaped brow upwards, Luka remarked, "Then, I'll be going."

"Wait," the blonde called out before Luka could take a step out of the room. "Do you know about Miku's past?"

"Yeah, I know. What did you have to do to drag the truth out of her?" the pink head questioned, locking her serious, azure eyes on Rin.

"I didn't do anything, really. Miku just suddenly started spilling everything to me. I swear, I didn't do anything to provoke her other than wish her a happy birthday."

While answering the older woman, Rin was perplexed by the swiftly changing expressions of Luka's visage. For some unknown reason, Luka had, for a split second, shown vulnerability. It shocked Rin because now that she thought about it, she had never once witnessed her senior showing any signs of sadness.

"So how did you react to her story?" Luka continued her questioning, making Rin feel like she was being interrogated.

"Well it's kind of embarrassing but...I told her that I would always be there for her."

"...I see," Luka quietly muttered. Making a smile that seemed forced in Rin's opinion, Luka uttered a few final words before disappearing from sight, "Rin, please take care of Miku for me."

Left alone, Rin felt that there was a deeper meaning that she couldn't grasp buried under Luka's parting words. Her instincts believed that it sounded like Luka was planning on going somewhere far, far away but that couldn't be it, could it?

Rin wasn't at all surprised to find Gakupo waiting for her in the lobby. She figured he would appear because of Kiyoteru. What did startle her was the blame he was placing on himself.

"It's all my fault. I should have been a better friend. I shouldn't have left Kiyoteru all alone," he dejectedly groused.

"Gakupo, stop it! You're not to blame for his death," Rin attempted to shake Gakupo out of inflicting even more scars on his heart.

"No, it is my fault! It's my fault Kiyoteru died. I should have been by his side while he dealt with losing Lily. When he hurt you and Miku, I should have followed after him and helped him return to the usual Kiyoteru. Dell was exactly the same. When he had stormed out of here, I should have done something. I could have saved them but I failed as a friend to both of them. I failed Neru as well. If I hadn't begged her to run my errand that day, she definitely would still remain in this world today," Gakupo trembled, while he held his head in his hands and watched his teardrops sink into the fabric of his clothes.

"Shoulda, coulda, woulda, it doesn't matter now. There's nothing you can do to fix the past, so there's no reason or benefit to remain thinking like this," Rin gently tried to calm him down.

Raising his tear streaked face to stare at Rin, Gakupo shouted at her, "I know that!...Sorry, I didn't mean to growl at you but you are right. I can't alter my mistakes but I can prevent myself from repeating them. Rin, the reason I came here is because I have a proposition for you."

"Proposition?"

Wiping away his tears, Gakupo resumed informing Rin about his request, "I want you to come and live with me."

"W-why?" Rin exclaimed, blinking her sapphire eyes in amazement.

"Because I failed to assist the people whom I had refered to as friends and you know where they ended up. I can't keep ignoring the fact that you aren't entirely happy with this lifestyle. You're in pain and I don't wish to see you become like Dell and Kiyoteru. If money is the issue, well, I have plenty to spare. Rin, you are very important to me, I want to be able to finally rescue one of my precious comrades before I permanently lose one of them again," as the samurai finished saying his sincere speech, he closed the distance between him and the blonde and tenderly kissed her.

After briefly being devoured by Gakupo's lips, Rin forcibly pushed him away and sprinted out of the building, becoming another nameless figure out on the crowded streets. Her legs raced away until she could no longer breathe. Standing in the middle of some random shopping district, Rin's heart rapidly pounded and she was unsure if it was due to the extreme burst of exercise she had just performed or because of Gakupo's loving touch.

Rin's heart now screamed out in agony. Guilt clouded her chest and her conflicting emotions all melted together. Miku and Gakupo were both important to her and she now understood that both of them carried much stronger feelings for her than just friendship.

Miku and Gakupo both lit a unique flame in her heart but Rin was unable to decide which flame carried more heat. She promised that she would always be there for Miku but at the same time she didn't desire to abandon the anguished Gakupo. The only thing she knew for certain was that she didn't seek to hurt either of them but she now understood that wish was now just a naive dream.

A/N: Happy December everybody. December is kind of my favourite month of the year because of the obvious stuff like a taking a break from school and Christmas but also because my birthday is in December. But my month started off pretty depressing because my aunt kind of received some bad news about the breast cancer she's spent the last couple of years fighting against. Anyway, thanks for reading and sorry about the chapter being kind of short.