This wouldn't post yesterday! But now it is! I'm keeping the author's note the same, even though school got out YESTERDAY, and not TODAY, as I say later.

Does anyone know how to fail while trying to sneak into the movie theater? I need it for a story! I've been asking in like all of my stories!

Crap! I almost have 60 reviews for this thing! Big, ultra special, huge arigato to Psych3, x Fade x To x Black, midnight shadow 333, melting snowflake, The Cucumber Lady, Teh Future Mrs. Kyo Sohma, Edakumi, Yellowierd0, Dancing Bear of Love and Care, and Music.Will.Tie! That's only one less review than the reviews for Entry Three! We almost beat the record (for this story)!

Since this is kind of a short chapter, and it bothers me when these chapters aren't EXACTLY 1,000 words long, this is a long author's note!

School got out today. I only had to go for one hour! We sat in the cafeteria and took pictures with everyone's cameras.

Since it's hard for me to type with my parents home (shh!) and my mom is going to be home a lot this summer, I might not be able to update very often! Oh no! But I might be able to, so don't cry!

On to the story!

Kaze no Namidawa: The Diary of Isuzu Sohma

Entry Eight

"So… what? Rin's staying with us?"

Although they thought I was sleeping, I was listening to their every word.

"Yes, Kyo," Gure-nii replied. "She's been going through a tough time, so I expect you'll give her your unconditional support?"

I almost smiled.

"What happened? She looks like she's dead," Kyo pointed out. Thanks an assload, neko.

"She ran away from Kagura's house, and when Hatsuharu wouldn't take her in, she lived outdoors, in the park. That's really all the detail Hatori told me," Gure-nii explained.

"I don't mean to pry," Tohru said, sounding a lot like Bitchtoko as she pressed a warm towel to my forehead. "But why did Rin live with Kagura?"

You know, when people say they don't mean to pry, they normally ARE.

Shut up, whore! It's none of your business! I wanted to scream. I wanted to scream it so bad it hurt not to.

"Her parents abused her," Yuki said quietly from the other side of the room. "She needed a way out, and she and Kagura were friends at the time, so Kagura took her in."

A tear slid down my face.

Damn parents.

Damn crying.

"D'ya think… when Haru wouldn't take her… do you think she tried to die?" Kyo wondered aloud.

I didn't try! It just sort of HAPPENED!

"What I assume, and I could be wrong," Gure-nii sighed, "is that she knew that Haru loved her, so she automatically thought he would take her, but when the only one she truly loved denied her, it destroyed her inside. You see, Rin isn't the type of person who allows people to see her emotions, or to even give a person the hint that she's on the verge of tears. All of this trauma of having her freedom taken away must have really got to her, otherwise she wouldn't be crying so much. Rin-chan has never cried, not even as a child, when her parents beat her. I can understand why this would hurt her more than physical abuse."

"But what's the big deal? It's just a school," Kyo shrugged. I wanted to sock him in the mouth so bad. "You forced me to go to that lame ass school and I got over it."

"That's not the point. The point is that she hates having things chosen for her, and that's just what Akito did. And we know her history with Akito isn't so great either. Living with the curse is hard, and Rin tries to embrace the little freedom she has. She'll rebel as much as she can to do so."

Good job, Gure-nii. You're the only one who can understand me.

"I think it will be better for her to stay with us for a while, instead of going to Haru or returning to Kagura," Yuki said softly. "I think I understand now. Will all the pressure she had on her with Kagura's mom threatening to kick her out and Hatori constantly breathing down her neck, she barely had any freedom. Maybe she wasn't rebelling; it was just her only option. Or she could've been trying her hardest to succeed, but still failing."

"No," I said out loud, opening my watering eyes slowly. "I wasn't trying at all. The only thing I was trying to do was to find a way out, from that school, but really from obeying Akito's orders. I know now why we always listen to him. It's because he's robbed us of any other options. He won. He always does."

"You must be tired, Rin, and we woke you," Gure-nii said, standing up. I was on a mattress on the floor of his office. "Come on, guys. We'll give Rin-chan some time to relax."

They all left and thought I would sleep, but I didn't. I wrote down everything they had said in case I ever needed it, and to remember it, and because this entry would be pretty empty otherwise.

So what do I do now?

For some strange reason, I have this sudden desire to go to school! Creepy. I'm thinking, maybe if I catch up on everything I missed, I can still pass and graduate? Then I could prove that I'm not a hobo! Then I could get a job and I wouldn't have to be sent all over the place because nobody can take care of me. Then I could fend for myself!

Whoa. Scary thoughts.

I really did get fucked up out there.

Maybe, thankfully, possibly, I can make this life NORMAL again.

Or, at least as normal as it gets for the Sohmas.

-RIN