Chapter 13

Meilin laid in her bed talking to Yukito. "What do you think about Nanashi?" She asked. "I really do not trust her at all."

"Me either," Yukito responded. "She set us up. Either one of us could seriously have been hurt-not to mention all those innocent bystanders. Remember what she said to us? I bet she is only using Mother and Father to take control of the Moon Kingdom."

"Me too," Meilin agreed. "I could just see her stabbing Mother in the back. This is a really horrible time for Mother. She could easily be manipulated. She is going through trying times, and with everything coming at her at once, it is too much to handle. Really, I am surprised she held up this long. Do you ever look at her when she is alone? She wears the saddest expressions."

"I agree. Before we say anything about Nanashi, we have to find out what her true angle in all this is. I just hope Mother will believe us. Right now she sees Nanashi as her one, true friend besides us, Freya, and Father. It will be hard to convince her of anything."

"She seems a lot more tired then she is going to admit. Mother is trying to keep everyone happy, Yukito, even though she knows she cannot. I just wish Mother would figure out what she wants and not worry about everything else. She is tiring herself out all the time. We need to figure out what Nanashi's plans are."

"And then there is the question of Rini-what are we going to do with her? She is quite determined to blame everything wrong with her life on us. She will try to stop any help coming from our side. The only way we will be able to reach her is through Father, and that may be the only way to reach Serena, too. For a sister, Rini does not seem to like us very much."

"I can say the same here. She is mean and talks far too much. Rini is always blaming mainly me for everything. That girl has serious problems. She may be a half-sister, but she is very annoying. You cannot even go to the bathroom without her getting suspicious.

"And that Melanie-she is like a love sick puppy. She only has one purpose and that is to get Rini to go along with whatever we want. You would be lying if you told me neither of them gets on your nerves."

"You should try to calm down," Yukito warned. "Anyway, you might just be jealous."

"Jealous of what?" Meilin asked indignantly. "There is nothing to be jealous of. Of course, I am jealous of some girl who wishes to become a lady, and Mel who can only drool over and think about boys. Honestly, I thought you knew me better."

"Of course I do," Yukito laughed. "Why do you think I said it? I knew it would get under your skin."

"Thanks a lot," Meilin said sarcastically. "You just wait, one day I will get you. You actually like Melanie don't you?"

Yukito looked at his sister and turned a shade darker than red. "What are you thinking?" Yukito nearly yelled. "Of course not. She is not at all my type. I just think she is a good friend. You are right about her, though. She has too much boy on the brain."

"Now who is getting all hot and bothered?" Meilin laughed. "Although, it would not hurt having a little sister. She has weird goals and all, but I guess it is okay. She is not half bad when she tries to be nice."

"Could it be-the shrew actually thinks she could make friends."

"Funny."

"It would be nice to have a little person around," Yukito joked. "What, the twin thing growing too old for you?"

"Never. It is just I need a girl to talk too sometimes, but Rini can be so annoying sometimes. When I did try to be nice, I could not even say anything before she bit my head off. Rini likes you better for some reason. She thinks I am mean because of the little battle we had, she just does not understand that missions sometimes interfere with life."

"Actually, I do not think she liked you from the beginning. She probably thinks you act too high and mighty, like a snob."

"I most certainly am not!" Meilin exclaimed. Meilin sat straight up in her bed and turned towards Yukito. "That, I cannot believe you even just said. No one understands that, but you. No one in that school really knows who I am. They all think I am some kind of snob. I just am misunderstood, as Mother is here."

"It is just that you put up a defense around yourself, scared that people will reject you. That makes people feel uncomfortable around you sometimes. If you could be as honest with other people about your feelings as you are with me, I do not that many people would feel threaten. You are just one of those people who builds a tough skin around themselves so you can only let people whom you want to know you in to your true feelings."

"It is not my fault at all. It is just something that happened. It happened when-when. . ." Meilin stopped short. Tears came to her eyes.

Yukito went and sat next to his twin. He wiped the tears from her face. "I understand. It happened when you finally understood why Father could not be with us. We all carry our emotional scars from that time, but we must move on. Hiding your feelings won't help anything. I kind of suspected that hurt you more than you were willing to admit when it all happened. You started to train a lot more, and you isolated yourself for a while. Maybe Mother and Father sent us here to understand why things are the way they are. We have to go on for Mother and Father or they will not-neither will we."

"But what if I am not strong enough to go on?" Meilin asked with tears cascading over her eyelids.

"You are strong enough to go on," Yukito reassured her. "That is what me, Phoebe, Freya, all of us are here for. We have to support each other or we will lose to Nanashi. I am here to protect you and make sure you get out okay. I would die before I let something bad happen to you."

"Just promise me one thing. Please, make sure you make it through all right. After today, I am going to make it my top priority to protect you. I almost lost you out there." Meilin leaned over and gave Yukito a hug, scared to let him go and lose him to the blackness that was Nanashi.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Rini looked at the door a little while longer. Finally, she walked up to the door and rung the bell.

"Who is it?" Asked a voice from the other side of the door.

"It's Rini," Rini answered. "May I see Darien?"

The door opened and there stood someone Rini had never seen. She looked a lot like India. "Why don't you come in?" The woman asked smiling. She seemed much nicer than India from what Rini had seen so far.

Rini entered the house slowly. "Where is Darien?"

"Follow me," the woman said. Rini followed her down a corridor and up the stairs. "I am Freya, India's guardian. I hope you don't feel too uncomfortable here. You should really be careful going around at dark."

"I don't really do it a lot." Rini explained. "I just have to see Darien." Rini paused at a door upstairs to see Yukito and Meilin sitting on a bed talking. Suddenly, she did not think it was such a good idea to be here. What if one of them saw her?

"Rini," Freya called trying to get her attention. "Here is Darien's room." Freya opened the door and let Rini in. "I will just leave you here. He is resting so try to be quick."

"Okay," Rini replied.

Freya left Rini alone in the room with Darien. Rini walked up to the bed. Darien lay in the bed under the covers. His chest was bandaged and you could see a little blood starting to show-soon it would have to be changed. He looked quite peaceful sleeping. Rini could not decide if she wanted to wake him up or not. She stood there for a moment, then, started to turn when Darien opened his eyes.

"Rini?" Darien asked as his eyes started to focus.

Rini kept her back turned, scared that if she turned around she would have to face what Serena had told her. If she didn't turn around this could all just be a dream. Finally, Rini turned around and faced Darien. "Hi, Darien."

"What are you doing here?" Darien asked.

"I came to see you," Rini responded. "Serena told me what happened. How could you do that?"

"I don't really know how to explain this," Darien began, "but it's just something that happened. I guess Serena has already told you about the Moon Kingdom. Before Serena and me, there was India and me. India has always been with me, and when she came into our lives this was bound to happen. Don't for one minute think just because I'm not with Serena that means I don't love you anymore."

"Are you sure?" Rini asked. "Now you have Yukito and Meilin."

"Of course I'm sure," Darien said. "When India came something opened up in me, something that I hadn't felt since the last time I was with her. I don't think you'll understand this now, but maybe later you will. No one intended for you to find out about this in this way. You were supposed to have learned about this when you were older."

Tears came to Rini's eyes as she tried to understand. "What do you mean I was supposed to find out later?" Rini asked. "Do you mean Mama knew about this in the future and you both decided not to tell me? Why would they do that?"

"They would do it to protect you, Rini," Darien said. "They wanted to tell you when you would truly understand and this is not the time. From what the Twins have told us, you have met them before."

"Actually, I kinda guessed I knew them," Rini said. "They seemed familiar, but I don't care about them. Will you and Serena get back together?"

"I don't know. I can't answer that question, Rini."

"What about me? If you and Serena don't love each other and be together I won't exist. You say you love me, but you're willing to let me die." Rini ran to Darien and threw her arms around him. She started to cry wildly. "Why can't you give India up and go back to Serena?"

Darien held his breath and tried not to cry out from the pain in his side. Finally, Rini loosened her grip. "I can't leave India because I love her, because I'm in love with her."

"I thought you were in love with Mama. Why don't you love her anymore?"

"I do love your Mother. It's just things are more complicated now. I promise, after a while you will understand."

"I hope I will. I also hope you get back together with Serena. This is hurting her a lot more than it's hurting me. I don't want to disappear and miss seeing my parents again-together."

"Rini you won't disappear. I know this is hurting Serena, it's hurting all of us, but these things take time. You just have to let stuff like this run its course. If you try to fight it you will drown in it."

"I'm just scared. I don't want to go. I want to stay and see you and Serena together. For the time being, I just hope you'll make time for me."

"Rini, just because I have the Twins and India now doesn't mean there isn't time for you. I will be there for you, Rini, even now. I need you to go back and help Serena. I'm sure she needs you more than I do at this time."

Rini wiped the tears from her face and gave Darien a huge hug. "I'll be back to visit you soon."

"That's okay. Tomorrow I hope to be able to get back to my apartment, so I'll see you there."

Rini smiled and walked out of the room. She walked down the stairs and started for the front door. She stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Rini, please wait," India said.

"Why should I talk to you?" Rini asked coldly.

"I just want us to be friends," India explained. "I don't want you to think that I'm some evil person who is trying to ruin your family."

"Sorry, but it's too late for either of those," Rini replied. "You have already ruined my family. I just hope you can still live with yourself." Rini turned around and started for the door.

"Rini," India called, tears streaming from her eyes. "I don't want you to hate me. Please, don't hate me."

Rini looked at India and felt bad. She really sounded like she was sorry. Then, she remembered whom she was talking to and became mean again. "I can't promise you anything. You already have everything you need." With that, Rini turned and walked out of the house.