Chapter 1. Isolation and Salvation
"How long have I been in here?" Rin quietly asked herself knowing she wouldn't get a response. She had in fact been in the cat's room for almost two weeks, but it felt like an eternity to Rin. She was no longer able to tell time, the days just seemed to flow together. Sunlight turning to nightfall and back again. She had completely lost track of time, of her life and who controlled it. She was scarcely aware of her surroundings. All she noticed in the tiny room meant for the cursed cat was the single futon, which she was lying on, a small broken-down table and chair, but other than that, the room was bare. She felt her mind slowly drift in and out of consciousness, but she couldn't control it.
Worst of All, Akito had cut her hair. It had been several days since he'd done it, bursting into the room with a large pair of scissors.He grabbed her hair and pulled her up by it, chopping of long, uneven chunks of her black tresses. She missed it, she knew it was stupid….to miss her hair, but it was something she had always had, like a security blanket from the rest of the world. She also noticed the voices of various people outside the room. Mostly it was the maids that brought her food, her untouched food.
One sounded nice and compassionate, the other must have been very close to Akito because she always sounded harsh when calling out to Rin, dropping her plate of food through a slot in the single door in the room. She wasn't quite sure but she could have sworn that she heard Kureno's voice, talking to the nice maid. It had been several days since the last time she had heard his voice. She began to wonder if anyone but those maids, Akito, and Kureno knew where she even was.
No doubt Akito had definitely told everyone that she was at a hospital somewhere. She wondered about Hiro for a moment, he had been watching out for her since her "accident" and was now very close to her, like a little brother. He must be wondering where she was and why he couldn't visit her if she was at a hospital. Then her thoughts turned, reluctantly, to Haru. She felt the tears well up in her eyes, she tried to remember a time when Haru hadn't been an important person in her life, someone she truly loved and cared for, she couldn't think of one.
She wondered if he ever thought about her anymore, or if he wondered where she was now. She was lost in her memories when she heard the clatter of her food plate as it was hastily set on the floor. She was jarred out of her thoughts by the noise and turned her head in response. It was then that she heard the maid talking to someone outside the room. She couldn't quite place the voice so she listened harder, trying to slow her breathing to limit the noise.
"Has she been eating anything?" It was a man's voice…
"No, I'm getting worried, she needs to go to the hospital, but Akito
isn't going to let her out anytime soon. She heard the nicer of the
maids speak.
"I think I may be able to get her out, but it will take a few more
days." She knew who was speaking, it was Kureno again. He was going to
try to get her out? Akito's boy-toy, and probably the most loyal of the
juunishi. She couldn't believe he would risk his loyalty to Akito, for
her.
"But won't Akito-san be mad at you?" Rin heard the maid speak up
again."Perhaps, But I'm on better terms with Akito than Isuzu is…….."
The voices were beginning to fade. Her head felt heavy as the words
they spoke continued to slur together and she fell from consciousness.
Images began to swirl through her mind. She was dreaming again,
Dreaming of Haru. She was immersed in old memories. Memories of the
only time she had ever been happy. She could have sworn that she heard
his voice calling out to her from a distance as if her was miles away.
But she was so sure she had heard him."Rin, sweetheart,
"Wake up, please……….just wake up." How long had she been passed out? She could almost feel his arms around her, and his hot breath against her icy cold face, she even thought she might have felt a tear fall onto her face . But he couldn't be here, next to her, he didn't even know where she was. It was painful for her to even think it was possible for him to be there, Rescuing her from Akito's prison, from her own isolation.
She didn't want to wake up, she wanted to continue to dream, at least in her dreams she had Haru. He was all she needed to heal the emotional wounds she had collected in her isolation. Now she could see him in her head, he was standing right in front of her. She reached out for him, flexing her fingers trying to grasp him, but he was drifting away, his voice growing softer until it was inaudible. "I don't want to stop dreaming, I never want to wake up!" She screamed in vain as no one could hear her plea, and she was reluctantly pulled from her dream…"H-haru…..it can't be you……..you can't be here……
