I woke up the next day, not having any idea of what time it was. I could hear no presence in the room, so I assumed that I was alone. To tell the truth, I felt sick. Worse than I even had felt in my life, and I was not sure if it was because of all of my crying during the night, my fear of death, or both. I knew that death was not that big of a deal, I had been close to it many times, so it was not as though I was afraid because it was the unknown. But I had to admit it to myself, as I lay there for what seemed like weeks but was only a few minutes, that I was afraid, not of where I was going, but for what I was leaving behind. I had just found a place in which I belonged, with friends, people who acually cared whether I died or not, and I was reluctant to leave. I had regrets, things left to do, to live for, and to leave all of that behind as though it did not matter, was not the sort of thing I would like to do. But I had no choice, so I wanted to at least get one last thing in before I was gone forever; I knew I had to see her, meet her, my sister.

Kurama had said that he would find her and bring her to visit me today, but I was still uneasy about it all. I did not feel ready to meet her so soon, on such short notice, and especially in the condition I was in. I did not want to be ill and in a hospital when at last I got to meet her, and now that I had no sight, I could not see her either. And to make matters worse, just less than an hour after I had awoke, I heard Kurama's voice from just outside of my door, and I also heard a soft female voice answer... it was her, Yukina.

I heard two sets of footsteps entering my room, and I quickly strained my ears to hear what they were saying. I knew that Yukina was surprised to see that this was her brother, because we had met before, although she did not know who I was, it was not the best of first meetings. I blinked a bit, hoping against all odds that I would get to see, just this one time, so that I may see her smiling face, before I could see no more. But nothing, my wish was not to be granted. I wanted to reach out to her, but I had not stood up in so long, and I did not even know if I could stand anymore. I might not be able to use my legs anymore either, but it did not matter, I would be dead not long from now anyway.

I listened intently, wanting to hear her say something, as I did not want to have to speak first and say the wrong thing; my people skills were not exactly the best, and I had no idea of what she liked, so I did not know what to say to her. I stayed silent, and for a moment, so did she. But then she burst out in tears, which I could hear because of the clattering of crystal jewels falling to the ground. I was about to ask her what was wrong, and tell her to stop crying, but she spoke first, in a firm yet shaky voice.

"Why did you not come looking for me? I tried to find you, but you did not even make the effort! You knew where I was, so why didn't you tell me who you were... Who are you... really?" I could hear her stop crying slightly, and I could tell that she was not angry, just dissapointed with me. And I also knew what she wanted me to tell her, that the word of my being a criminal was all a lie, but that I could not tell her... it would not have been the truth.

I sat up and started to tell her the truth, but almost immediatly I felt a sharp pain worse than a thousand knives stab through me, as though I was on fire. I tried as best I could to fight it off, but the pain caused me to fall back and clutch my stomach, feeling as though I was going to be terribly ill.

I fell out of consiousness soon after, and the last thing I heard before drifting off into a sleep that I was sure was going to last an eternity, was my sister's sweet voice, calling out to me, saying my name.