Chapter Thirty-Five

Stay Away from Her, or I'll . . .

"Alright, yes that's fine," Rin was saying into the phone as Iroha arrived home after work. She dropped her briefcase beside the front door and kicked off her boots and coat. It was probably Lily calling. Iroha had gone to pick up Piko and Yuki and had been told by the teacher who had replaced Miki that they'd gone home with Lily, Haku, and Neru. "Sure, yeah, okay." It was the weekend, so they must have decided on an impromptu sleepover. Rin bade farewell to the phone and hung up, looking to Iroha. "Welcome back."

"Good to be back," responded Iroha, gazing around the apartment. "Where's Aria?"

Rin smiled timidly, guiltily, and confessed, "I did something a little stupid today, so she insisted on going out and fixing it."

Iroha froze and looked to Rin's chest, where her hand had fluttered to when she'd spoken, and then back at her friend. "What did you do?" she asked cautiously, taking gentle steps toward Rin as though the woman might dart away at any moment. That how she used to be, so Iroha was accustomed to it, though Rin didn't seem to have any intentions of running away this time.

Rin grinned and rolled her eyes, seeing Iroha's momentary shift of gaze. "Relax, Iroha. I did that once, okay? I'm not gonna do it again. That was a lot stupid, not a little."

"Well excuse me for being concerned," Iroha said sarcastically. "When you walk in on your best friend trying to cut off a scar, which doesn't even make sense by the way, you tend to get a little paranoid for the future."

"It was so that it could be my own scar after," Rin argued with a bit or a pout, then she shook her head and said, "Nevermind, that doesn't matter. Anyway, Gumi stopped by my work today and asked about the scar."

"How does she know where you work?" Iroha questioned, cutting off Rin's story. "How did she get in there, anyway."

Rin waved off the questions and hushed, "Shh, let me finish answering your first question. Basically, I wound up getting pissed and knocked her onto the ground and asked if she wanted to match." Rin broke out laughing then, which Iroha found more than a little odd, and said, "Oh my god, Iroha, you should have seen her face! It was hilarious! She was so annoyed 'cause I just didn't give a damn! It was priceless!"

Iroha paused and then gazed at Rin, studying her for a bit. Then, she completely closed the distance between them and ordered Rin, "Breathe out." Rin giggled and complied. Iroha wrinkled her nose in distaste at the sharp scent of alcohol. "You're absolutely wasted, aren't you?"

"Since you left for work," Rin responded, grinning like an idiot upon producing a bottle of what appeared to be water but with likely straight vodka, given Rin's taste. "Liquid strength, I tell you."

Iroha stared at Rin irritably and told her, "You're an idiot, Rin. This isn't going to help."

Rin just laughed more and twirled 480 degrees, walking across the carpet so that the heel of her forward foot was placed touching the toes of her preceding foot. "Nothing's gonna help though, Iroha, because Miku called me this morning at work." She looked back to Iroha with a grin and told her, "Lily called her, you see, because Yuki's got a cut on her cheek and a burn on her arm and they think I did it. Yuki's not ever coming back home again, and we're not allowed to take care of Piko-kins anymore so his aunt's probably gonna get him." She laughed again and flopped onto the couch. "It's just me and you now, Iroha, because Len's dead and Yuki's not allowed here anymore. Gumi was right. She won. She got Yuki back."

Iroha was staring at Rin in disbelief. Was she serious? What was Iroha supposed to say? Then again, she didn't have the chance to say anything. Rin was rambling on, after all. From the couch, Rin kept that giant smile on her face and informed her roommate, "You know, that's the real reason Gumi came to see me. She said she'd drop the custody case if I promised to be with her again and stay with her forever, but I was smug and stupid and didn't think she would win so I said no. It's like with Len. It's my fault her slept with her. It's my fault Yuki got hurt. It's my fault Gumi gets to keep her. Know what's the worst? Maybe if I'd just decided to be brave myself, I wouldn't have gotten drunk this morning and I wouldn't've been brave enough to face Gumi and she wouldn't've done that and then we'd still have a chance of keeping Yuki, but, nope, I'm nothing but a screw-up!

"Hey, maybe I was never meant to be a parent? Maybe that's why this is happening. Maybe Len died so that I could fail at parenting Yuki and she'd get to try with someone else. Len'd've been a great dad so it never would have worked if he was alive, so he had to die. And y'know what? Gumi's probably a good mother. Ryuto loves her, and it looked like she loved him, too. Len should've never adopted Yuki, 'cause then he had to die. It's like a price he paid for trying to make me parent a child or something."

Iroha couldn't handle listening to Rin anymore as anger lit her soul. She was starting to hate Rin, no matter how precious Rin was to her, so she snapped, "Don't you dare speak about Len like that, Rin! He shouldn't have died, no matter what! I loved him, and he was my best friend, so no way in hell am I going to let you disrespect him this way! If you really think Len would've been a great parent and that you're a terrible parent, maybe you should have been the one to die that day!"

Iroha froze, alarmed by the words that had just come out of her, but it was difficult to feel too remorseful when Rin was still just sitting there with a grin. The blonde responded, "You know what? I really should have. I wish I was dead right now. There's nothing worthwhile in my life anymore anyway."

Those words stung Iroha more than anything else, and she couldn't stop the hot tears from escaping as she shouted, "Screw you, Rin! I really wish you had died that day! In fact, I wish Len, Aria, Yuki, and I had never met you! You and Gumi really do deserve each other!"

Rin just stared back at Iroha, her expression failing to change, and wondered, "Do you hate me now, Iroha?"

She didn't really, but in her rage Iroha murmured, "Yes."

Rin kept smiling that smile, but now her eyes were welling up. She replied quietly, "Good. That means there's no one left, so can I please just die now? Can I go find her and let her finish the job she started?"

Iroha stared at her, unable to believe anything that had happened in those few short minutes. She stared at her roommate on the couch as Rin, too, started to cry, her smile beginning to fail. As she could do now was whisper, "Rin."

"Gumi's taken everything I ever thought was important," Rin told Iroha. "Yuki, the first time I thought Len and I had shared, your promise to always love me, so it's only reasonable that I let her take my life, too, right? If I don't even have you anymore, then I have no reason to bother anymore, and if you hate me, then I don't need to worry about you being sad once I'm gone."

"Rin, I—" Iroha started, but Rin was shaking her head.

"I know I made you say it, but just remember that feeling, okay? Remember that you hate me, and then things won't be so bad once she kills me."

"Rin, I love you!" Iroha shouted, unable to control herself anymore. She'd held it back for so long, but she had to say it. "I love you more than anyone! You and Len and Yuki are the only ones I've ever truly loved, but I'd give up both Len and Yuki for you! If you ever died, I don't know what I'd do! When Len died, it hurt so much that I almost felt like I'd died too! If you died, Rin, I'd be dead, no doubt about it, so please, please don't leave me!"

"Iroha, it's hopeless!" Rin shouted back, standing up to gaze at her friend in equal standing. "Gumi is never going to leave me alone! Either she's gonna go crazy again like she did on that night and will try to finish the job, or she'll do something to hurt you! The only thing I can do to protect you and Yuki is to just let her have me, and I know it's selfish, but I'd rather have her kill me than pretend that I don't hate her! I know I'm always being selfish, so I have no right to ask this of you, but please, please let me be selfish this one last time." She'd gone quieter by the end and was gazing at Iroha so desperately, but Iroha's gaze only hardened.

"No way in hell, Rin," Iroha snapped. "I've let you be selfish up until now, but no way am I putting up with that. We're going to get Yuki back. You're not the one who hurt her, and I'm sure Aria will prove it. Then they'll have to give her back to us. Gumi can't just suddenly decide she wants her daughter back after putting her up for adoption when Yuki already has a new home, so as long as we can prove that this is a safe home, they have no right to take her from us, okay?"

They stared at each other for a while until, slowly, Rin smiled once more and nodded. Iroha nodded in return with a confident smile. They'd get Yuki back for sure. There was no way Iroha would give her daughter away to that vile woman.

Author's Note: Sorry this update is late. I've been working six-hour shifts daily this entire week and going to university and doing homework and ugh university is harder than I expected. Then I broke up with my boyfriend of almost a year a week ago so I kind of have just been moping around lately. Anyway, here's the latest chapter, thanks again to Nekofan123 for reminding me of my writing responsibility :P