Mari sat across from Yumichika at a cafe in downtown in a booth. She kicked her feet happily, careful not to kick him. They weren't speaking much but the random eye contact and giggles was enough to make Mari question why she had even wanted to end her own life. After she had finished her burger, she lifted her gaze to him and smiled.

"You know, this is great but I can't help but worry about Emiko. I wonder if she went to school or not today. I feel like I was the one who brought her down; she was a distinguished honor roll student with a 5.0 GPA and perfect attendance and the class president and ever since I showed up, everything has just gone downhill for her. She skips classes and she does drugs and I haven't seen her do her homework in days and what happened to her yesterday wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me."

Yumichika furrowed his brow. "What happened to her yesterday?"

Mari sighed, looking away. "Well... she was raped by these two thugs."

Yumichika eyed her as he took a sip from his drink, leaning back against the cushion of the booth. "How does that have anything to do with you?"

Mari sighed, scratching her arm, not wanting to bring Sakiko into the conversation out of fear of fighting with him again. "They... they went after me first and I got away and knowing they were still out there, I gave Emiko permission to skip school and come over." Her gaze dropped to her lap. "I'm a bad friend, aren't I? I should have walked her. That way I could have protected her."

Yumichika shook his head. "That's not your fault, Mari. None of it is. Please... don't blame yourself for what has happened or what... happens to Emiko. Okay?" He seemed nervous.

Mari swallowed, recalling what she had noticed on the rooftop of the apartment; the way he was trying to hide something. "Yumichika... did... did something happen?"

Yumichika gazed at her for a moment, with wide, frightened eyes when suddenly, a voice that frightened Mari even more than the way Yumichika looked sounded. "Oh, Yumichika, I didn't expect to see you here."

Sakiko approached, looking as beautiful as ever with the front of her hair pinned back into an expensive looking clip and she was dressed in a pretty sun dress that brought out her face more, which it was usually hidden behind her black hair. She was gorgeous, especially in comparison to Mari, who hadn't bathed in two days and hadn't slept the night before and was still wearing the school uniform that she'd put on the day before. "Oh... Misaki," Yumichika's gaze went from Mari to Misaki and back again and he seemed confused about how to feel. His voice sounded neutral.

Misaki gave him a bright smile, completely ignoring Mari. "I thought we had a date today but you suddenly ditched school earlier. What happened?" Her gaze slowly moved to Mari. "Oh, is that you, Mari? I didn't recognize you underneath all that grease and that mop you call hair. Did you score a date with Yumichika? Well, you shouldn't have. I'm sure you've heard he's currently dating the most popular girl out of us third year students."

She gave Mari a passive aggressive smile that said 'me' and Mari sighed, pushing her plate towards the middle of the table, getting to her feet. Yumichika seemed uneasy with Misaki's words but he wouldn't speak and he wouldn't meet Mari's gaze. "Then you can have your boyfriend. I was just leaving anyway."

As she passed, Yumichika grasped her arm, a panicked look on his face. "Uh, Mari, wait." Mari turned and Misaki had a puzzled look on her face, gazing at Yumichika as if he had just pulled a rabbit out of his hat. "Um... are you full? Let's go for a walk, okay? I don't think you should go home just yet."

Mari sighed. "Is this because of what happened? I'm over that, Yumichika. This was nice of you and all but Misaki seems to think you're her property or something."

Yumichika shook his head, speaking before Misaki could. "It's not that... let's just go for a walk, okay? I just want to talk for a bit."

Mari sighed, nodding. "Okay, I guess."

He looked relieved, getting to his feet. "Sorry, Misaki. I need to take care of something. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

He paid for the food hurriedly, as if Mari would leave if he didn't rush when Misaki spoke. "Is that money Mari's too? I mean I know you're broke and all."

Yumichika gazed at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Misaki shrugged, twirling a lock of her perfectly straight, jet black hair around her finger. "Didn't you use Mari's money to pay for the wedding ring you gave her? Seeing how she's wealthy and everything."

Yumichika furrowed his brow. "Why would I do that? That wouldn't make sense. I paid for it. I mean... I had some help from Akio but it was mostly my money, not hers. This is my money too."

Misaki's brow rose. "Oh. I see. Well, don't forget to call me later."

Yumichika put his hands on Mari's shoulders, walking her ahead of him out of the cafe, glancing back. "What was that? How does she know about your family?"

Mari met Sakiko's gaze through the window as she walked at Yumichika's side. "She's... a good detective, apparently." She didn't want to bring up the fight she'd had with her in the locker room the day she'd taken the rings; it seemed so long ago.

Yumichika slid his hands into his pockets. "So, is there any place you want to go?"

Mari shrugged. "I don't really care."

"Then is just walking okay with you?"

Mari nodded. "If that's all there is to do, then yeah." She fiddled with her thumbs, dropping her gaze to the floor. "Um... I don't know what you and Akio are hiding from me, but if it's something bad, I'm going to try to enjoy our time together as much as possible."

Yumichika gave her a forced, nervous smile. "Uh... yeah."

Mari's gaze glued to the floor. "So... how have things been?"

Yumichika shrugged. "I don't know. It sort of feels like I'm not really in control of things anymore. What about you?"

Mari nodded. "Me too. I've just been trying to cope, you know? I wish we never had to come here. Aside from the situation with Haruki, everything back home was perfect." Mari's hands clenched into fists. "I miss spending nights at your house and I miss waking up to you in your bed and eating breakfast with you and I miss Ikkaku just walking in all the time and telling you when you had a mission and I miss training with you by the river and I miss when you could cry in front of me and I miss when we would always run away to get away from the only thing in between us which was my family. It seems like years ago. I was just falling in love with you, the first time I'd ever truly loved and been loved and it felt really good and I never wanted to let go of that feeling. Now I still love you but most of the time I just feel numb because if I think about it, I'll get depressed because I had you and she stole you away from me. I know you used to love me but maybe because I questioned it before, karma took it away from me."

Yumichika was silent for a long time and she lifted her gaze to him slowly, to see the pained, longing expression on his face and he sighed, lifting his gaze to her. "I miss it all too... so much. But please know that I never stopped loving you. I still love you even know. I just feel so confused and...sometimes my mouth says things that I don't mean and my body does things that I don't want. It's strange... this has never happened to me before. I feel like I'm not in control of myself. But I do love you, okay? I didn't rush up to the rooftop because I felt obliged to; I did it because I felt so panicked at what Akio told me you were going to do that I could feel my blood pumping and I could hear my own heartbeat and I couldn't control my breathing and my hands wouldn't stop shaking. I was so afraid I wouldn't make it in time that I was sitting in class and I just got up and left the room to go find you. I was so afraid, Mari."

Mari fiddled with her thumbs, gazing at her feet. "I didn't think you cared. I saw that picture of you and Misaki kissing and I thought you had lost interest in me."

Yumichika grasped her hand tightly. "I don't think I could ever lose interest in you."

Mari continued gazing at her feet before very slowly lifting it towards him, feeling her heart race. "Can you kiss me then?"

He looked away from her, a nervous expression on his face. "I'm sorry... I don't think I can."

Mari returned her gaze to the floor, withdrawing her hand from his and crossing her arms instead. "I can't believe you can't see what she's doing to you. It's disgusting."

Yumichika sighed. "Can we... not talk about this? I want to avoid arguing for once. Please?"

Mari rolled her eyes. "Well what do you want to talk about? The weather?"

"Anything," he breathed, "we could talk about anything you want to talk about and I'll be happy."

Mari gave him a small smile. "I appreciate it but no matter how well things go today, I know that whenever what's going on blows over, you're going to go back to Misaki and she's going to take you away from me again. Maybe it's best that I don't get my hopes up, okay?"

Yumichika sighed, looking away, his eyes sad. He slid his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a number before pressing it to his ear and it wasn't long before he was returning it to his pocket. "Akio said that you can go back home. You look like you haven't had much sleep; you should get some rest."

Mari eyed him. "You're not going to tell me what all this was about?"

He shook his head. "Uh, I think it's best you don't hear it from me, seeing how you don't really seem like you want to talk to me."

Mari's brow went up. "Thanks for understanding."

The walk home was silent and Mari was beginning to feel afraid at what the news was, seeing the incredibly nervous expression shadowing his face throughout the walk and it worsened when they arrived. He gave her a nervous wave, which she returned before going up to the apartment and gazing around; it was quiet so Akio must have gone home. Mari explored slowly, looking for any sign of anything different but finding nothing and not even the furniture was the slightest bit crooked. She reached the kitchen and gazed around slowly; it had a certain darker aura in it yet she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She knelt to the floor and gazed at it carefully to see that it was spotless, aside from the slightly red tint between the tiles and she got to her feet with a sigh, entering her bedroom and closing the door. She changed into her pajamas before climbing into bed beside Emiko, facing away from her as Emiko was facing away as well.

"Emiko," she murmured, "my heart is broken."

"Mine is too," Emiko softly responded, "Mari, I didn't think it'd be like this. I went to go see my parents but they couldn't see me and they were crying together on the couch, looking at a family photo. I always thought they didn't care about me much but seeing the way their faces looked broke my heart so much. And I thought I'd go immediately but I've been walking around outside and people can't see me like I'm a ghost. At first, I thought I was stuck but I saw other people like me too. They all seemed so sad." Emiko sat up in bed and Mari heard the rattling of a chain, breaking her heart even more until she was in tears, forcing herself to turn to look at her, seeing the chain coming from her chest. "You have to help me, Mari. I can't do this anymore."

Mari gazed at Emiko for a long moment, wondering if this was just a dream or if she was really gazing at her best friend with a chain coming from her chest. She leaned forward and squeezed Emiko in a hug as tightly as she could hold her. "I'm sorry, Emiko, but I don't know if you'll ever see your parents again. But I promise you that when I get back home, I will find you. I will search that place top to bottom to find you and I will because I have a big name back home and I get what I want. But you're going to have to be patient until then."

Emiko nodded. "Anything, just please… take me out of this place. I wanna leave because I don't feel at peace here."

Mari slowly nodded as she manifested her zanpakuto and the end glowed as she lifted it. "I'll see you soon, Emiko."

Emiko pouted. "Please don't take long."

Mari smiled through her tears. "Of course not, Emiko. I promise." Mari gazed at Emiko for a long moment, taking the image of her in because she wanted to memorize her face and the way her hair fell and the way her eye brows arched and the way her voice sounded so she would have something to get her by. She smiled, wiping the tears from her eyes but they were instantly replaced. "You chose a very bad time to do this, Emiko. Usually you always get things done just in time but not this time."

Emiko chuckled, shaking her head as tears dripped from her chin. "I'm sorry, Mari. I should have waited, shouldn't I? Now I can't help you through anything, can I?"

Mari shook her head. "The thought of you will help me because I know you care about me." Emiko watched as Mari lifted the end of her sword towards her. "Goodbye, Emiko, but not forever."

Emiko smiled. "Goodbye."

Mari pressed the glowing end of her zanpakuto to Emiko's forehead and Emiko glowed with it before it transferred her to the soul society and Mari gazed at the spot where Emiko had been before crumbling into her bed, hugging her blanket. She wished for improvement before she would take the same path as Emiko; next time, she might not be so lucky to have Yumichika stop her and the thought truly scared her. She knew the way the feeling overcame her last time that she truly would have done it had he not showed up and she knew that, because nobody had forcefully stopped her, Emiko had to live with that regret for the rest of her existence. And Mari had to live knowing that the only reason Emiko had tried was because of her.

Mari sat up again, picking up her cell phone and dialing Akio's number and once he answered, she spoke. "Akio, please come pick me up. I can't stay in this apartment any longer. Please."

"What's wrong?" Akio's voice was sincere but she could hear it that he knew exactly what she was upset about. "Where do you want me to take you?"

"Anywhere," she sniffled, "Just not here. Take me to your place or something, I don't care. I'll even sleep at the bus station at this rate."

There was a pause before Akio answered, "Okay. I'll be there as quick as I can."

"Hurry." Mari hung up the phone, setting it down before getting to her feet, letting the tears slide down her cheeks as she entered the bathroom. She undressed, her clothes falling to her feet as she filled the bathtub with hot water and sitting in it, cleaning herself before tilting her head back and gazing at the ceiling, the tears still spilling from her eyes. It felt good to bathe, despite her heart aching over Emiko and Emiko's parents and Yumichika and Sakiko. Her whole body ached as she tried to imagine how Emiko's parents felt; she didn't even want to think about it but she knew she had to. It was her fault that it happened and she needed to face it. After deciding what she had to do, she climbed out of the tub, her body feeling heavy and weak and she forced herself to put on clothes before stepping out of the bathroom to find Akio sitting at the table, gazing at the wall across from him.

He turned upon hearing the bathroom door open and gave Mari a weak smile before looking away. "I'm so sorry, Mari," he sighed, "It's my fault this happened."

Mari cocked her head to one side, approaching and sitting down beside him. "How is it your fault?"

He buried his face into his hands. "I came in here looking for you, and I found her in the kitchen with a knife. I tried to talk her out of it but... I couldn't. You know I'm not good at that kind of thing, which is part of the reason why I called Yumichika. If I hadn't called him, I probably would have lost her and you."

Mari shook her head, sighing. "It's not at all your fault. It's my fault, actually. She did it because of me. I know she did."

Akio rubbed his eyes before dropping his hands to his lap and gazing at the table. "She wanted me to tell you that she loves you."

"I spoke to her," Mari answered, "Just before I called you, actually. She was a konpaku so I performed a konso on her and she went to the soul society. Of course I made it clear to her that I'd never stop searching until I found her."

Akio nodded. "Of course. And I'll help."

Mari returned his nod before getting to her feet. "Can we leave now? This place is cursed. Emiko died in here and my heart broke in here. I'll get Suki, if you don't mind."

Akio got to his feet as well and Mari rushed to the bedroom, putting Suki in a travel cage from her bed and she gathered her necessities and rushed out to meet Akio at the door, following him out and downstairs and outside. She climbed into the passenger's seat of his car, buckling her seatbelt and sitting back as they drove silently to a different apartment building a few blocks away, probably a fifteen minute walk. Once they arrived, she silently followed him inside and upstairs to his apartment, where he led her in. It was about the same size as hers and Yumichika's, but the set up was a bit different with the kitchen along the right wall instead of just around the right corner and the bathroom and bedroom on the left wall; the back wall was nearly completely windows. It was a pretty apartment. Mari took a deep breath as Akio stepped forward.

"You can sleep in the room," he told her, "I have a mat I can sleep on out here. Make yourself at home."

Mari nodded slowly before stepping inside and going into the bedroom, shutting the door. She organized Suki's things before climbing into the bed, gazing at the ceiling, feeling exhausted but she knew sleeping would be difficult. If only Yumichika were around to give her comfort, then she knew she would sleep easily. She lifted up the blanket and gazed down at herself before moving her own hand into her shorts and her panties and she tilted her head back, imagining Yumichika being with her. She bit her lip and forced herself to control her breathing when she heard Akio knocking on the door.

"Mari, are you awake? I need to get the mat and some sleeping clothes." Mari didn't respond and she couldn't bring herself to stop either, not until the door opened and she slowly removed her hand, turning to face him and sitting up. "Oh," he blushed, "I'm sorry... I'm really sorry, I thought you were asleep. I'll just go... wait out there. Um... let me know when I can come in."

He turned away and Mari jumped to her feet. "Wait, Akio," she quickly called and he froze without turning his head. "Akio," she murmured, "stay here. Give me comfort." When he didn't respond, she undressed and held on to her own waist against the sudden chill against her skin. "Akio... please. I need you right now. I don't have Yumichika anymore and... I'm not happy. Please." He was still silent and she took a step towards him, beginning to feel desperate. "Akio, look at me. Look at me, please." He slowly turned his head and his eyes were a mix of longing and pain, as if he wanted to but he knew it was wrong. Mari approached him and hugged his waist from behind. "Akio... I just want you to stay with me just for tonight, okay? I need you."

She tucked her hand into his pants and he quickly grasped her wrist, withdrawing her hand and turning to face her. "Fine," he answered quickly before eyeing her. "You know you really are a lot like your sister. She needed comfort a lot when she was hurting too."

Mari gave him a fake smile before taking his wrist and pulling him back with her. "Let's not talk about my sister, okay?"