Chapter 4. My Life Time Love for You

Part I

Rin and Haru waited on the steps to the main house for Hatori to come and pick them up. They waited without a word said to each other. But their body language spoke for them. Rin was seated almost entirely on Haru's lap, their arms wrapped around each other to keep from moving. Her head was dug into his shoulder and he could feel her warm tears on his skin. He cradled her gently as he tried to contemplate the horrors she must have faced while locked in the cat's room. He was jarred out of thought by the sound of Hatori's car pulling into the driveway. He gathered Rin's light body into his arms and walked towards the car. The trip to Kazuma's Dojo was equally as quite and when they arrived, Hatori only briefly examined Rin to assure that no permanent damage had been done. After consuming a very large dinner both Rin and Haru were exhausted. Kazuma took them upstairs to the room they would be sharing, and left them for the night.

For the second time since their meeting, Haru spoke to Rin.

"You sure you don't mind me staying with you?" He looked at her hoping for the answer he wanted to hear.

"No, its fine…I've been alone for so long….and I missed you." He smiled at her response, took her hand, and led her to the single bed in the room. Rin almost collapsed on the bed followed by Haru. He turned her body and pulled her closer to him. Her face twisted with apprehensive emotions as he leaned in to kiss her.

"Haru…..we can't……Akito….." She chocked out the words, trying to hide the longing hidden in her voice and pulled away slightly. Haru looked hurt but understood.

"I'm sorry Rin….you've already been hurt enough for my thoughtless actions." His words brought back memories of their past relationship to Rin and she continued to borer into her thoughts as Haru fell quietly to sleep beside her.

She thought about all the times she had spent with Haru before they were even a couple. The memory that urged itself into her mind was of the time she collapsed outside of Kazuma's Dojo, right after one of her parent's beatings. It was Haru who found her. She could still remember his face peering down at hers.

"Good, your still conscious." He had said. She watched as he ran to get Kazuma….

"Sensei……Sensei!" Then she remembered waking up in a hospital bed, with Kazuma sitting next to her explaining who he was and Haru hunched in a corner.

"Why am I here! I have to go home, my parents…..will be mad!" She said with all the strength she had in her weak body. Then her parents came in, her mother was the one to speak.

"It's ok, if you don't come home. We don't know how we can possibly love you anymore." The words she spoke sent daggers through Rin heart.

"No……mama, papa…..please!"

"What's she suppose to do now? How can you just say that like it means nothing? What's a child suppose to do when their parents tell them something like that!" It was Haru who was speaking now anger rising in his voice.

"Apologize! Apologize to Rin!" Her parents ignored Haru's shouts and turned to leave.

"Thank you Haru……" Rin said as she began to cry.

After that day their relationship turned into something more, a dependency on one another, to support each other. The still young Haru would come to visit her on the regular basis, knocking on her window and asking her to come out. She always did. Usually it was just to play a silly childish game, or to eat but whatever it was, it was always more fun with Haru. And it remained that way for several years, they grew up together, in each others eyes and hearts. But one night their relationship changed, forever. It all started with a simple question from Haru.

Rin do you want to kiss?"

"W-what! We can't Akito…….would be mad……"

"why not….don't you love me?"

"Yes, but….Haru…" Her reasoning failed. She gave into him like she almost always did. He pulled her into a deep kiss that they never wanted to end. Their transition from friends to lovers was steady but fast. It wasn't much different from their friendship before except now on several occasions Haru would sneak over to Kagura's house at night, knock on Rin's window and ask to sleep with her, she always gave in. Most of the time they did just that, sleep, but once and awhile they did something more. Gentle kisses and caresses, turning hungry and filled with lust. Before either of them could control the situation it was over and they laid curled on the bed together. Back in reality Rin smiled to herself, but the smile faded as she remembered the reason she wasn't even with Haru anymore.

Akito had discovered their relationship, just as she had feared would happen all along.

"Which one of you was it Isuzu? Did you seduce him….you little whore….or maybe it was Hatsuharu, I would hate for it to be him, I would have to punish him. And you know Isuzu, I can't really control myself when I'm angry, remember that little incident with Hatori's eye?" Rin's eye's widened and she pleaded.

"It's not his fault! It was me…..It was me!" Akito's face contorted with anger.

"If you even go near Hatsuharu again, I'll blind him. Now get out, I never want to see your face again."

But before she could move, Akito saw his chance for revenge and took it. She could vaguely remember the fall from the window, the smile plastered on Akito's lips, and Hiro….his face covered with terror. She hit the ground and blacked out. It was all over now, she couldn't go back. To protect him, she'd have to break his heart. She rehearsed the words she'd say to him, trying to drain the emotion that filled her eyes with tears every time. And then he came, she prepared herself.

"Rin, are you ok? No one would tell me what happened…." He spoke as he walked towards her hospital bed.

"Haru, I'm tired of you…….I don't need you anymore." He stopped short of her bed and stood trying to process the words she was saying.

"Rin, no….why?" His voice was soft and brittle and his eyes, she would never forget his the look of pain they had in them. She didn't answer his question, and after a minute of silence he turned to leave.

"I still love you Rin, I always will." When he left, she broke down. Tears flowed down her face and she cried out apologies to Haru, even though he wasn't there. She would never forget that day, as long as she lived, it was most painful thing she had ever gone through. After her release from the hospital she became fixated on breaking the curse that bound Haru, she thought that if she couldn't have him, at least he should be able to be happy with someone else. She began to search through the Sohma family records, any she could get a hold of, she was even so desperate as to ask Shigure for help, offering herself as collateral. All her attempts failed and she began to lose hope that there even was a way to break the curse, but then, she saw Ren. Akito's mother had always been a mysterious women that Rin didn't often talk to but she remembered that as a child she had always been nice to her.

"She may know", Rin thought, "after all she is Akito's mother."

Ren greeted her with a smile. Rin bowed in respect and spoke.

"Ren-san….I was wondering……..do you know how to break the juunishi curse?" She thought she knew what the answer was going to be but Ren surprised her.

"As a matter of fact, I do Rin-san….but first, I need you to do me a favor. Rin couldn't believe it, all she had to do was one little task and she would have the answer she was looking for.

"I'll do anything, just tell me." Ren smiled a little more malevolent than made Rin feel comfortable, but it didn't matter now.

"I want you to get something for me, a treasure, from Akito's room. It's a box, find it and bring it to me, then I'll tell you the secret to breaking the curse." And with that Ren left and Rin had a new mission.

She entered Akito's chambers without complication, but finding the "treasure" was a bit more of a challenge. She searched the whole room without any luck, then she saw a closet door that she hadn't opened yet. When she did she found it, a little box like the one Ren had described. She lifted it up, but gasped when she felt hands clench over hers and the box. It was Akito. Her face drained of color, she was speechless and unable to defend herself as Akito gave her a severe beating. She blacked out and awoke to find herself in the Cat's room. That was over two weeks ago, and now she was finding it hard to believe that she was where she was now. In a safe, comfortable bed with Haru in arm's reach. To refute her disbelief she reached out her arms and touched him. She slid her fingers along the line of his jaw and under his chin. Then she softly kissed his forehead as he continued to sleep. After all the reflection she had gone through she was exhausted, even more than before and suddenly sleeping felt like a very good idea. She drifted off to a relaxed and deep sleep.

Haru awoke to find Rin's hands on him, one strung through his hair, the other draped over his lower torso.
"When did she do that?" He thought to himself. He carefully slid out from her grasp, trying not to wake her. But he failed, and she began to stir. Her hand reached out for his and her caught it. She was jarred into full consciousness by his touch.

"Good morning, lovely-girl. He smiled looking down on her tiny frame of a body. She had lost a considerable amount of weight while in her isolation but it seemed to be more than Haru had thought at first.
"Morning Haru." She smile back and propped herself up on her elbows.

endearment "lovely-girl" borrowed from Ysabet, sorry! go visit her site and read her Rin and Haru fanfics….if you haven't already http/ysabet.
freak out my dear devoted fans! This is only part one of this chapter…..It was longer than I expected it to be sooo I had to break it up for the sake of easy reading and less pressure on me to put up another chapter, yeah well anyway, I hope you all enjoyed part one of My Life Time Love for You, part two may take another week or two to get up, but I will complete it eventually! Don't you just hate the suspense?