A/N: I wonder why I keep on updating this fic so much…I must love you all too much. Damn. 'I'm getting emotionally attached…wait! ARE YOU ALL READING THIS???' Crap. Even my readers can read my thoughts. Double crap.

Well, good for you since I'm sorta updating on a regular basis. Must be because all the stress from a Quarterly Exams has diminished. Poo. Third Quarter just started last Monday (Nov. 13) and there's not much schoolwork popping up, aside from Biology and Algebra that is. We're studying about Animals (that includes slugs, tapeworms and snails)…add Quadratic Equations too the bunch and boom. Tension.

Not a very enticing combo, isn't it?

Compared to the middle of the quarters, that's easy. At least now, we can all enjoy stress-free chappies.

Yayness! Read on!

xxx

Setsuko glared at the table and snapped, "Why do you even care, anyway?"

"Because we care for you Setsuko! You shouldn't be doing—" Tohru started.

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do. You're not even part of this family"

Yuki narrowed his eyes at her, "She's is. Now even more than you are"

Setsuko snorted, "Yeah. She lost her parents and you feel sorry for her. I have to admit she does seem pretty pathetic. But her mom and dad dying are of no compare to what I've been through, to what we've all been through"

Hatori shot her a warning look that Uo and Hana were still there.

Uo spoke up, "I know how hard it is to be different, Setsuko. But you shouldn't resort to measures like this"

Setsuko turned her eyes towards the blonde, "And how exactly would you know?"

"I spent the worse half of my teens with the Yankees. Of course I would know"

Setsuko snorted, "Oh please. The Yankees were just a bunch of girls kicking trashcans and beating up weak little kids. You call that bad? Don't make me laugh"

Hana turned to look at Setsuko right in the eye, "…we really shouldn't be here. Let's go Uo"

She stood up and took Uo's hand, "We must leave"

Uo snatched her hand back sharply, "No. We're her friends and we have right to be here"

Hana grabbed her hand again, "No we don't. This is something bigger than just a razor blade and tracks on her skin. It runs much deeper than that. Let's go"

Uo sighed and realized that there was no way that Hana would even let her stay, "Fine"

The two walked out the room silently with Setsuko burning a hole into the table.

"Why the hell did you even do this?" Kyo asked, angrily.

Setsuko looked at him sharply, "Why wouldn't I?"

"What is the problem, Setsuko? What are you hiding from us?" Yuki added.

Setsuko climbed to her feet and said, "Something that you wouldn't want to know"

Then next thing heard was the door slamming…and then silence.

xxx

"I told you so"

"Oh put a sock in it" Setsuko out loud, taking a drag from her cigarette.

She was sitting on a porch somewhere in the building.

"Talking to someone?"

Setsuko coughed out smoke and looked behind her, "You scared the shit out of me"

Haru threw her cigarette to the floor and stepped on it, "You shouldn't be smoking…"

He grasped her arm and, "…or being doing this. There are other ways to express your pain"

Setsuko snatched her arm back, "Like what you do to Shigure?"

"Precisely"

"Not everyone derives pleasure in others' pain. Certainly not me"

Haru looked out at the sun shining brightly in the sky and back down, "The weather is not agreeing with today's…events"

"It never does…well except when it's raining"

"Why do you do it, Setsuko?" Haru asked.

"Because it's the only thing I can do without hurting anyone else"

"But why do you do it?"

Setsuko shook her head and sighed, "Why must you all talk so fucking cryptically?"

"I know about your curse, Setsuko…" Haru said quietly, "It must be…indescribable"

Setsuko turned towards him, "How do you know?"

"Rin…Akito told her during one of his beating sessions"

"Are you angry? Pissed? Scared?"

"No"

"Why not?"

"Someone has to do it"

Setsuko laughed sourly, "Yeah…that's what I thought too. Better me than anyone else, right?"

"No one should have this kind of burden on their shoulders. No one" Haru replied.

"But yet, if I don't do it…who will?"

"There is no answer to that question…but rather, why must you do this…job?"

Setsuko pulled another cigarette from her pocket, "If I don't, all their souls will remain on an empty endless plane alone. Its worse than dying"

"…Spending an eternity with out the ones you love. Harsh"

Setsuko lit up, "You have no idea how…"

Haru looked at her eyes closely and at her dark circles, "You've been having nightmares"

Setsuko paused for a moment before putting the stick to her lips. She inhaled and let out a cloud of smoke.

"Do you think I had a choice, Haru?" Setsuko asked suddenly.

"Everyone always has one"

"Then why do I feel so helpless?"

Haru considered his words for a moment and decided on the blunt truth, "Because you make yourself hopeless"

He walked away.

"Why does everybody know what I should be doing except me?"

An hour passed and Setsuko just sat there…thinking about how fucked up her situation was. When things were getting semi-normal, something within her snapped that made her go back to her old self, the bad one.

"How can I fix this? I don't think there's a remedy for this kind of addiction"

"There's a remedy for everything"

"There isn't a remedy for my problem because the cause of it is something beyond anyone's capabilities to control"

"The cause isn't even supposed to be problem. You were given this fate for a reason. But instead of going with what was destined for you, you stray from the path. You walk away from what you were meant to do or be"

"I stray, as you put it, because I do not know where to go. There is no one to help me"

"See? You want someone to help you but when others get close to you, you do not let them in"

"It's a reflex action"

"No it's not. There's another reason. A real reason that you won't even admit to yourself"

Setsuko stood up and turned back inside. Everybody else in the room was smiling and happy, nothing bothering their festive mood. It sickened her that these people can laugh and play when others are dying and suffering out in the world. Yet it made her jealous that even if they experience pain and suffering, they still had it themselves to forget their burdens even for a little while and be…happy.

Setsuko turned her eyes away from the scene and wandered around the large inn slash hot springs until she realized that it was nearly sunset. The sky was turning a bright orange with dark indigo trailing behind it. A lot like what was happening right now. You could be having the time of your life but then…blink…it's all gone…only to be replaced by darkness.

Setsuko climbed up the roof where this all started and looked at the sun dying.

"The world is so unfair. I keep on saying but it's meaning never changes"

For the first time since she got here, she looked around the broad expanse of the whole hot springs. Man was it big. Setsuko started walking around the slanted roofs, jumping from one to another whilst imagining what life could've been without this burden. She stopped short.

"But then I would never have met Yuki, Haru, Hana, Uo…Kyo…"

Ah, yes, Kyo…practically the cause of her dilemma. True, Setsuko had accepted that Kyo would never really like her…there was this nagging feeling in the back of her heart saying that he could. And that led to the realization that Kyo might eventually like her but…what if he finds out. What if he finds out what she is?

"He'd hate me. Like everyone in the families of the people I killed. He'd hate me"

That's when she started crawling back into her shell. Back into the darkness and the cold.

…the darkness and cold that Akito had shown her.

Flashback

Cruel and mocking laughter…it rang throughout the empty hall accompanied by the sobs of a girl in the middle of the room.

"Awww…why are you crying, Setsuko?" Akito mocked, "Did the mother of that lovely boy you killed hurt you?"

Setsuko just kept on crying…she killed someone…she actually killed someone…

"You see what you do to other people…you see how much you kill them and yet they're still alive?"

"I didn't…I never…"

"But you did. You brought that poor boy into the other side when his mother desperately trying to wake him up"

"He wanted to go…he said…"

"No Setsuko. Look at his mother. Is that what she wanted? Her son dead? Is that what she wanted?"

Setsuko shook her head and let more tears fall.

"You are a despicable thing. You take the most important things from everyone around you. You taint their lives with your darkness. You destroy lives"

Clang. Slam.

Setsuko looked at the object on the floor. It was a thin strip of metal. She looked at it and swiped her thumb lightly over the edge.

"Ow…" Setsuko muttered, putting the cut finger in her mouth.

Her eyes held a look on insanity…a pleading for the pain to stop.

Blade on flesh…blood from wounds…pain…release.

…Found by a nine-year-old girl in an empty room.

End of Flashback

Setsuko was so lost in her thoughts that she momentarily forgot that she was on a roof and put her foot on the wrong place.

"Shit…"

She was about to fall when she was grabbed from behind. The edge had been coming a bit too close for her liking.

"Be more careful would you?"

Setsuko pulled away from the person and crossed her arms, "What do you want?"

Kyo rolled his eyes and sat down, "If I weren't you would've probably fallen off the edge"

"Whatever"

Setsuko began walking away.

"Why do you keep on running away?"

She stopped, her foot hovering on her next step.

She pulled it back.

"I'm not"

"Yeah, you are. Every time anyone wants to get near you, you run away…what are you so afraid of?"

"You rejecting me" "I repeat to you what I said to Yuki, you wouldn't want to know"

"Why are you like this?" Kyo demanded, "Let us help you"

"I don't need any help," Setsuko snapped.

"You do! You're killing yourself!"

"How did he know that--?"

"If you're not blind then you will see that I am perfectly alive and well, thank you"

"At first I thought the smoking was bad but…cutting? You could slip and then…" Kyo stopped.

"What?" Setsuko mocked, "I'd die? I'm not afraid of that anymore. Come to think of it, death seems like a pretty could option right now"

Kyo stood up angrily, "If you think that you won't get hurt when you die, why don't you think of everyone around you who will get affected? You're so selfish"

"How come he keeps saying things that are…?" Setsuko couldn't continue that thought.

"…True?" but the voice decided to finish it anyway.

"This is what I was also afraid of…they're starting to care"

"They're supposed to"

"You know…I shouldn't have even bothered" Kyo muttered, "Damn psychic and damn doctor"

"Hatori and Hana put you up to this?" Setsuko asked.

"And the cow. They said something about me that only one being able to help" Kyo muttered, preparing to jump down.

"I never wanted to be this way," Setsuko said quietly, sitting down and staring up at the starry sky.

Kyo sat down beside her, "When has anything happened exactly the way we want we them to be?"

"This is different. I just can't bring myself to change"

Setsuko heard Kyo sigh.

"We're not asking you to change, Setsuko. We're asking you to let us help you deal with whatever you're dealing with"

"You can't help"

"How can you be so sure? No matter how big your part is in this curse, you have to realize that everyone else has their's too. You don't have to carry it alone…everyone else is willing to help"

"Except Akito"

"He's different. He's our core…I guess, I sort of understand him too…just a little"

Setsuko made a mocking face of shock, "The world is coming to an end. Kyo just understood the person he hates most"

"Shut up" Kyo said quietly, turning red.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. I told you, Akito may appear to be a monster but he's just like all of us. He's human…no matter how much he believes that he is God, he is still human"

"Cutting isn't just your problem. You should stop this too" Kyo held up her pack of Lights.

She made a motion to grab it from him "Where'd you get that?"

He pulled it away, "Haru"

"Damn that cow…"

"We'll get through this, Setsuko" Kyo assured her.

No reply.

"Cause I'll be here…helping you along the way even if no one else will"

A smile.

The sun was starting to rise. Another day. Setsuko let out a breath.

"No matter how long the night lasts…may it take years or more…morning will always come… I guess that's something to look forward to"

xxx

PS: Does this count for fluff? Maybe a little…actually I got around to completing this chap in a few hours since I was so hooked on listening to animè songs (Hunter X Hunter's Ohayou and Kaze no Ita plus Rurouni Kenshi's Heart of Sword and Gundam Seed Destiny's Bokutachi no Yukue) damn…that's Japanese overload…(I can't even understand what the hell they're saying)

Kyo is such a sweetheart in this chapter…is that bad?

Tell me if some of the characters get OOC 'cause I hate it when I make them like that.

Ta!

-SaMiE-