Imrenna led me down the usual passageway, and I was there, in that dark room. "Have you figured out what to do to bring me back yet?" he questioned gently.

"No," I replied, confused. "I don't understand how I can help you."

"Find that part of you that will draw me back," he instructed, "that part in both yourself and your mother." I caught a faint scent, sweet and beautiful, but I couldn't quite place it.

"Who are you anyway?" I asked.

"If I tell, I won't be allowed to return." I sighed. This was how it always seemed to be when I visited this man. He would say something, and his words would be forced to remain shrouded in mystery.

"I want to know you," I confided sadly, leaning against the strong chest I knew so well. "You make me feel like I'm at home, and I don't think I've felt that way for a very long time." He choked for a moment, and then I felt something warm and wet fall into my lap. "Are you...crying?" I asked, trying to look into his eyes for the first time. But everything faded into darkness as my mind and body both awakened...

That was the last I saw of him for a while, and after a year, he had been pushed to the back of my mind. I started high school, kept my old friends, and made some new ones. The Kuwabara family moved out of their old house and into one that was within walking distance of mine. Because of this new change, I ended up spending a lot of time talking with Hiro after school. Usually, Mikari was upstairs in her room, too focused on homework to pay attention to any conversation that I tried to start.

Kazuma rarely came over except when Mother thought I had gone to bed. Then they talked about their lost loved ones, and I would think about what my father would have been like. Dressed in a white t-shirt and blue sweatpants, I once walked downstairs to eavesdrop, later telling Mother that I had been coming down to get a glass of water. She just sighed heavily and sent me off to bed.

In June of my sophomore year, Jakiri and Terry got married, much to our excitement. There were so many white roses at the wedding that Mother cried, and although I didn't know why, I assumed it was because of happiness. Jakiri smiled at me and let me hug her in her beautiful wedding dress. Her beautiful, long, blonde hair was combed straight down, and dark makeup made her blue eyes look like they belonged on a precious, lifelike doll. The dress was a halter dress that was made entirely of white satin. It shimmered like the sun, and though simple, it was one of the most beautiful dresses I had ever seen.

One year later, Mikari left school and home behind, and no one heard from her for a while afterward. Hiro spent most of his time with me in my junior year, and that was when we started dating officially. The girls who were supposed to be my friends laughed at me because I was a full three inches taller, but we enjoyed each other's company nonetheless. He confided everything in me, since Mikari was gone and his father spent most of his time at work. His spirit fed off of being with me, and I was glad to keep the Kuwabara laughter alive.

My senior year was when everything started to get more turbulent once more. Mother was in the kitchen, preparing dinner. I heard the steady sound of the vegetables being chopped, and then a deafening scream. I dashed into the kitchen, and saw my beautiful, healthy mother clutching her arm desperately. Blood poured from a wound on her wrist, and the towel she pressed over it quickly turned black with blood.

"Mother!" I screamed, running forward to look at the wound.

It would have been superficial if not for the place where it had been inflicted. This was an incision on a main artery in her wrist. I took a fresh dishrag and tied it around Mother's wrist. "What did you do?" I asked, choking back tears as I hoped that she would be alright.

"I'm sorry, Keiryi," she said. "I just couldn't stop thinking about him. His memory lingers in my head every moment. For seventeen years, I have worn the ring he gave me, this beautiful craft." When she showed it to me, I gasped. It was gold, with inlaid roses weaving ever-so-intricately around that lovely band.

"I thought you two were never married," I said, stunned that she had waited this long to tell me the whole truth.

"We weren't," Mother replied. "He gave this to me a short while before he died." She broke into tears, and I tried so hard to comfort her. It just wasn't possible to heal such old wounds that were still open, though. She wanted him so deeply, and I wished with all my heart that he could be there to make her happy again, to give me the father I had never had.

"So what did you do?" I asked. "Did your hand slip?"

"No," she said. "I want to end it all...the pain, the suffering. What if I didn't have to deal with it anymore? I thought I could just end my own life instead of making you watch me." My eyes went wide with shock as my mother's bright eyes dissolved in tears once more. I didn't know what to do, but she wanted to be alone for a while. Within a few minutes, I heard her talking on the phone with Yusuke.

There was only one place I could think of to go in such a time of crisis. I hadn't been there since childhood, and it was the very place that had whispered strange things in my ear. Now it was time to go and see what those whisperings said to do about my mother.

My feet carried me as quickly as I could, and by the time I got to the lake, I was panting heavily. Night was quickly falling, and thin mists gathered about the surface of the water. "I want him to return," I pleaded. "I want Mother to be happy, and I want to be able to live again. I know you have whispered in my ear before, so open up and tell me how to bring him back!" My eyes filled with tears, I put my hands together and pleaded to no one in all my loneliness.

I was desperate, and as the winds picked up, my eyes glistened with hope. I could feel something happening, but when I turned around, no one was there to greet me. Upon surveying the entire boundary of the lake, I couldn't even glimpse any signs of life beside myself and the trees. If I couldn't have him back, then no one could have me. I stepped up to the edge of the cliff overlooking the water and slowly began to tip myself over the edge...

A/N--And that would be the end of chappie 12! Hope you like it.

Peace Out,

Miari