Chapter Twenty-Five

Although I Don't Know Now, With This Moment, I'll Leave my Heart to You

Rin saw only darkness around her, but, now, finally, she had some knowledge of what was going on around her. Or, at the least, she was conscious. But her eyes wouldn't open, her limbs wouldn't move. Her body wouldn't obey her.

"That's stupid," Gumi's voice echoed in Rin's head. "That doesn't even make sense."

A younger Rin frowned at her as the older Rin watched the scene. "Don't be mean."

"Well it's stupid," younger Gumi, sitting cross-legged and unladylike on a carpet, in a circle with Rin and a few other students Rin recognized from their elementary school, repeated. "Obviously Rin should play the role of the princess, not me." Both Rins smiled at Gumi's comment, feeling their hearts warm.

"It was just a suggestion," grumbled Yuuma. Older Rin stared at him. She'd only ever been in Yuuma's class once, in the fourth grade. Oh, I remember this, Rin realized. Yuuma had decided to take charge of the group's play for their grade four recital. That must be what this was. "Most girls would want to be put in the role of the princess."

"Nuh uh, not me!" proclaimed Gumi, staring at younger Rin passionately. "I wanna be the knight who protects her beloved Princess Rin!"

"Gumi, you're so weird," the little Rin giggled as older Rin stared at the green-haired girl affectionately. It had always been so obvious. How had she never noticed?

Gumi smiled at her. "Yep, but I'm only weird for you, 'kay?"

The little Rin smiled back at her. "'Kay."

Rin's eyelids fluttered a little. It was an accomplishment, but she still couldn't manage to open her eyes before words echoed through her mind, a conversation between a younger Gumi and Rin.

"Rin! We just learned about where babies come from in class!"

"Oh, really?"

"Rin, I want you to be the mother of my children!"

"Why do I get the feeling you dozed off during the lesson?"

"I did, why?"

Rin wanted to smile, but she couldn't make her lips move other than the barest twitch. Her eyes still refused to open, and she couldn't move any of her body yet.

"No no no, Rin, you're doing it all wrong!" a preteen Gumi yelled.

A Rin of the same age, holding a hot chocolate in her hand, stared at Gumi curiously. The other girl stormed over to her and pulled the mug from her hand.

"It's gotta have peppermint or it's no good," Gumi scolded.

Rin laughed. "You're so serious about this."

"I am."

"Okay then, if it means that much to you, I'll only drink peppermint hot chocolate from now on, okay?"

"Yep, very good. And taiyaki must always be chocolate-filled, okay?"

"Whatever you say," Rin laughed.

"Swear?"

"Swear."

"Good. I'll hold you to that."

"Will do."

Rin had kept that promise all her life, as childish as it seemed. The thought made her happy, even though she was starting to feel a pain on the tips of her fingers as they began to feel like they were being frozen. Rin squeezed her eyes shut and tried to push away the pain as more memories of Gumi surfaced.

"Rin, I got you a present!" Gumi announced after school at Rin's locker. Rin stopped putting her books inside her bag and looked at Gumi cautiously. Gumi frowned at her. "What's with that look?"

"The thing you surprised me with ended up getting us kicked out of the mall for a week," Rin replied.

Gumi pouted. "Don't be a party pooper. It's completely safe."

"I don't know, Gumi," Rin replied, returning to her books. "With you, nothing is ever safe."

"It's just something cute, okay?" Gumi said. "C'mon, Rin, it's awesome! I saw it and I just knew I had to get it for you!"

"Right, okay," Rin said, shaking her head with an affectionate smile. "Wait until we get home, okay?"

"Aw, but I'm so excited!" Gumi whined.

"You will wait," ordered Rin, tapping Gumi on the forehead with her pencil.

"I will wait," Gumi repeated. "But I do not accept this abuse."

In response, Rin smiled and tapped Gumi's forehead again with the pencil.

The cold pain was spreading up Rin's arms and through her legs. For the moment, she was glad she couldn't control her body. If she could, she probably would have screamed or cried, even though she knew there was no point to that. After all, if she was dying, screaming would make no difference, right?

"So what is it?" Rin asked when they were inside her bedroom.

"Tadah!" Gumi proclaimed, holding out a gift-wrapped shoe box. "It's not shoes, by the way, this was just the only things I could find to wrap."

Rin took the box and examined the wrapping better. It didn't look incredibly professional, but the heart put into making it was evident. "Did you make the gift wrap, Gumi?"

"Uh huh," said Gumi, nodding. "It had to be perfect. That, and my brother sold all our wrapping paper. Don't know how far that'll get him but . . . ." Gumi shrugged. "Anyway, open it up! Now!"

Rin took her time unwrapping it, fighting to preserve Gumi's hard work, no matter how much Gumi told her to hurry up and just to rip the paper. Rin finally reached inside the box and pulled out a white bow. She gazed at it curiously.

Gumi beamed and ran over to her, taking the bow from Rin's hands and tying it into her hair. Then, she cried out, "Yes! I knew it! You look so adorable!"

Rin looked at herself in the vanity mirror. Her cheeks turned red. Sure, she looked adorable, but it made her look like a little kid. Still, Gumi liked it, so Rin did, too. Rin turned to Gumi and smiled.

"I'll wear it every day," she promised.

The pain was getting worse and worse. Rin's instinct told her to fight against it, but she couldn't. Now, even her eyes wouldn't obey her. Her mind was even starting to grow foggy and started pushing away thoughts of Gumi. Thinking of Gumi was too hard. It was so much easier to think about Len, the one she'd betrayed, the one who had been there for her when Gumi was gone.

Rin was alone in her room. Her cat lay curled up on the corner of the bed she'd never bothered to make. Her door was locked, her windows were firmly shut. The bow weighed heavy on her head, reminding her of Gumi and reminding her of how completely alone she was.

Then, she wasn't alone.

When she looked up, he was standing there. She didn't even feel shocked to see him there. Having him there felt necessary, natural. She stared at him and he smiled kindly at her.

"I'm Len," he said.

"Rin," she replied.

"Why are you alone?" he wondered.

"Because Gumi is gone," she replied, not even knowing why she did.

"Is that why you're crying?" he questioned.

"Yes."

"Would you like me to stay here with you for now so you don't have to cry alone?"

"Yes."

"Will Gumi be coming back?"

"No."

"Would you like me to come back so that you won't be alone?"

"Yes."

"Would you like me to replace Gumi?"

"No."

Len had looked a little disappointed at that, but he'd smiled all the same and sat beside her. "Well, maybe, some day, you will."

Rin had nodded, leading him on, giving him false hope, when she knew, no matter how deeply she fell for him, Gumi would always own her heart.

Rin forced herself to think of Gumi, no matter how hard it was. That was the day she'd broken the promise to Gumi. That was the day she'd started letting Len in. That was the day she'd brought her fate to this.

"Hey, Rin?"

Rin felt herself falling into another memory of Gumi as the pain grew unbearable. Her mind was growing so foggy that the memory was covered in a sort of haze, the voices muffled, but Rin knew it was Gumi in her memories, her and Gumi, years ago.

"Yeah, Gumi?"

"Can you promise me something?"

"Sure, what?"

"Promise me you'll never go falling for some guy. I'm never gonna get a boyfriend, so you can't either. Boys are trouble, so we gotta stay far away from them. Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

Rin finally felt herself smile at that last memory of Gumi. Before the pain made everything blur and vanish, taking Gumi far from her thoughts as slowly, slowly, the pain took over her entire body, Rin managed to form the words, "I'm so sorry, Gumi." Then, in a blessed moment of relief, it stopped, and Rin stopped feeling anything at all.

Author's Note: Did anybody remember the peppermint hot chocolate and the chocolate-filled taiyaki? That played a part in the time when Gumi finally spoke to Rin again at the beginning. Anyway, sorry this is short-ish. Too much schoolwork. Honestly, I have a four-day Thanksgiving weekend coming up (yes, I'm Canadian, but I also have many American friends, so don't harass me about whether or not it's the real Thanksgiving. I'm not saying it is or it isn't) and I have three unit tests and a project the day we get back. And I have to read an entire novel by that day. I also have a test Wednesday so if I don't update tomorrow, I'm sorry but it's because I'll be studying. Um, also, this story is reaching an end. Five chapters after this. I'm sad . . . . I will be posting side-stories and stuff after the story is through, though. Mm, alright, see you soon. Oh, and I'm still working on those requests. I have the plot all set up for all of them, I just gotta write it. Let me know if there's any more requested pairings because I'm havin' fun with these. Yeah I posted one of the requests, RinxLuka (btw a lot of requests were for Rin and someone). It's a totally silly story called Magical Girls Fall in Love! Read it if you're interested :) And I've started writing the RinxNeru one. I'm about halfway through.