(A/N: GGAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!! I know that I promised to have this chapter out a lot sooner than this, but AARRRGGHH!! I FORGOT ABOUT THE HOLDAYS!! I was soo super busy with all of that, and not only that but I was having writer's block with this chapter!!! Well, not so much the beginning, but the end. Sorry that the ending sucks. And it didn't help that my brain was waaaayyyy ahead of where the actual story is. I realize that I said five to ten chapters . . . nuh-uh. NOT gonna happen!! Seriously, my brain ran away with this story with a camper full of supplies for the trip, and I don't think it's coming back anytime soon.

IMPORTANT NOTE!!!!!!! I have changed the woman running the playroom. She is now Kaito and not Tsuiyomii. I did this because Tsuiyomii is too close to Tsukiyomi, a woman from the actual series, you know, with Hoshiyomi and the Naginata of Kenkon? I'm not sure if it's a filler or not, though it did have another appearance of Akitoki Houjou in it.

DEDICATION!!!! This goes to Locainlove for giving me the idea to use Tsukiyomi!!! It totally flipped this story . . . but don't worry, in a good way :]

REVIEW REPLIES AT THE BOTTOM!! I SWEAR I DIDN'T FORGET THAT PART OF THE DEAL!! And we can only hope that the next chapter will be easier . . . 6_6;

The Light in the Darkness

Reunion

Rin's mind was blank.

The Loneliness was here, why?! Why was she in the hospital?! Her hair whipped around her, but she didn't even notice. She stared with her jaw slacked at the woman whose face she knew better than even her own. She was thrashing around, flinging her arms and legs so that the doctors couldn't treat her. Rin's eyes finally moved from the woman's face down her body, and she saw that her whole torso was covered in her blood, and the sight of the thick, dark-red liquid turned the child's brain back on and sent it into overdrive. Why is she bleeding?! What happened to her?! Why won't she let the doctors treat her?! What's going on?!

She pulled her eyes up to her face again. The woman never once looked over her way, but Rin could still see what was underneath those eyelids. The reason the Loneliness was always so cold, so uncaring, was because she was lonely herself. Rin realized that that was why she didn't want the doctors near her, because she wanted to be free of this torture the she went through every day of her life. She was a demon; her power was to control the wind. The girl knew that her sadness wasn't because she was locked away from the world; more as she was like a wild horse just captured. She was well fed and had everything that she needed, and she could buck and run as much as she wanted, but couldn't go past the stall walls. No longer could she gallop through the wide open feels, she was stuck in an enclosed space with no hope of ever returning to the wild.

The Loneliness, Rin decided, would be called that not because she was cold to Rin, but because she herself was in pain. She could feel her sorrow through every gust of air that hit her, the wind howling at someone to save her. Through her peripheral vision, Rin could see that everyone around was either cowering in fear or trying to stop her. The girl knew that this would not cease until someone reached out and gave her hope, just like what Sesshomaru-sama did for her. Knowing that no one else would do that besides her, the girl shakily stood up, almost being blown away from the first gust that was sent her way. Slowly but steadily she made her way across the tile floor, each new burst of air nearly sending her off her feet. Eventually, nearly half-way there, she noticed that the tornadoes were getting weaker.

Does that mean that she is becoming closer to Death?! Rin went faster. She was going to save this woman; she did not want her soul to be tortured, even in the Afterlife. She was nearly five feet away from her now, and the wind was slowly starting to die. She moved even faster, and almost got whacked in the head by a man's elbow, but thankfully it narrowly missed. Rin was finally at the bed; the hand that was closest to her was fisted in one the sheet, the veins popping out from the tension. With her right hand, – her other had too many splints on it – she gently laid it atop of hers.

The woman instantly looked up at the one holding her hand and gasped. Her expression was one of horror and utter confusion. The air then stopped moving; the hair on Rin's head finally calming to settle down on her head. The Loneliness sputtered, trying to believe that the face that she saw in front of her was real.

"I-it's . . . you?!" she finally choked out. Rin merely gave a small nod. "B-but . . . how?! You . . . you're supposed to be . . ."

Rin squeezed her hand slightly. The Loneliness finally seemed to get over her initial shock and calmed down. She relaxed her body and laid her head back down on the pillow. She looked away, and closed her eyes gently.

". . . Your eyes," she spoke again, her voice almost too soft for the child to hear. She turned her head slightly to the side, trying to figure out what the woman meant. The Loneliness looked at Rin once again.

"Why do you have such hope? You are never to be free of him . . . so why do you still insist on hoping?"

The girl knew exactly who she was talking about. Rin had Sesshomaru-sama. That is why she hoped; though she would never see him again. It makes Rin sad, but Rin is not going to dwell on the sad things in life. Otherwise Sesshomaru-sama would not be proud of Rin. Since the woman before her was still waiting for an answer that the girl could not give, she did the only thing that she could do: smile. The Loneliness' eyes widened, and then relaxed once more.

"I see. You were saved . . . and that hope is the one thing that keeps you going. Tell me this, do you have a name?"

Rin nodded, and the Loneliness looked around at the doctors just standing there, watching in bewilderment at the scene going on in front of them. She gestured at one of them.

"You! Tell me this child's name!"

The forcefulness in her voice and the heat of her red-eyed gaze had the poor man stuttering. He nervously pushed the glasses farther up on the bridge of his nose. "I-I believe her name is, uh, Rin, miss."

She turned her attention back to the girl. Her stare was just as forceful; even though she was coming closer to her death. "Rin, you have to promise me something."

The girl nodded eagerly, desperately wanting to do something for the woman.

"Do not, whatever you do, loose that hope that keeps your eyes alive. Promise me this, Rin!"

Rin gripped the Loneliness' hand with all her might, and nodded again. The woman blew a sigh of relief. She closed her eyes again, and gave a sad smile.

"I . . . guess I should be apologizing to you, Rin, for you see, I . . . well, it seems silly now, but know that I . . . I've always wanted to save you," she said quietly. Her smile fell and she looked back at Rin. "But then again, it was impossible. How could I have saved someone, when I couldn't even save myself?"

It sounded like she was talking to herself more than she was to the child beside her. Her eyes were now ahead of her body; the fiery red of them turned dull. She is just like Rin, she thought sadly. Only, Rin is willing to keep going. Rin . . . does not want her to die! She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, and found that tears were leaking out. These were different, however, than the ones she was used to. Usually they were cold as they tracked down her cheek. These were hot, so hot they nearly burned her skin. She opened her eyes again, her vision blurry, to plead for the woman to keep her life, to give her hope.

"It's . . . nice to know that someone will remember me . . . and not just from what I've done."

Rin tried to clear her vision again. The Loneliness raised a shaky hand and took one of the feathers from her hair. She held it out to the girl.

"I . . . want you to . . . have this."

She closed her fingers around the feather, and then placed the two other hands so that Rin's were on top of hers. The woman took one last shuddering breath before a soft light seemed to surround her, then her body turned to dust. The kimono she was wearing fluttered a moment before settling back down onto the bed.

Rin blinked.

The Loneliness was dead.

She opened her hand with wide eyes to find that the feather she was holding was glowing with the same light that the Loneliness was. She realized that everything around her was too quite; the atmosphere solemn and morbid. She didn't even realize that someone was behind her until she was picked up bridal style. It was barely registered, however, the shock of what had just accord was almost too much for her handle – sure, she had been beaten within an inch of her life countless times, but she was still here. The Loneliness was gone. And it was all her fault. She hadn't been able to save her. She had failed.

Rin's tears turned cold.

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She was used to being numb.

But not like this.

It was two days after the Loneliness's death, and Rin still hadn't recovered from the shock. The numbness used to have been an escape from the hurt of her injuries. Now it was as if the blank feeling was the hurt. The fault of failure had overtaken her mind, so she made herself void of thoughts so it wouldn't hurt as much. Death was so much worse than a few broken bones, she realized now. She had so often wished for the blackness to take her away when she was back at the house, but her views since then had changed drastically. And she realized that it was because of Sesshomaru-sama, because of the hope that he had given her, that this happened. This just reminded her that it was her to blame for not giving what the Loneliness had desperately needed.

She was in her bed, which she hadn't left since the nurse put her there. She hadn't eaten, either, but she barely even felt the slight hunger pains. Her Helpers were worried about her, she could tell that much, at least. But, anyone would, when a patient suddenly stopped eating. Still she stared listlessly at the ceiling, not even bothering to get up to go to the playroom. She briefly pondered if Kaito-sensei would wonder where she was, but that answer was a given. Of course she would at least wonder, for Rin had been in that room every day without fail until today.

As if on cue, she heard her teacher's footsteps coming towards her room. She mused what the woman would do when she found her like this. What would she say? Would she simply give words of encouragement, or see that she's okay and go back to the playroom? Well, she was about to find out.

"Rin-chan? What are you still doing in bed? It's already four in the afternoon!" She could not, for all she was worth, figure out why the girl was still in bed. Knowing that she wasn't going to get an answer, at least verbally, she walked over to her bedside and laid a pad of paper and a pencil next to the girl's hand.

At least honoring her with a response since she knew that keeping silent would be very rude, Rin wrote on the paper. She didn't know how to write a lot of words, nor the correct grammar except for a few simple phrases, but she had already memorized the all of the kanji characters, so all she needed to do was to sound them out and she could write it down. Slowly, with careful strokes of practiced lines, she put down what she could:

"A woman. She died. Rin not save her."

Kaito-sensei studied the characters for a moment before she politely excused herself. She stood up to go talk with one of the nurses outside her bedroom. The girl knew that her teacher was asking about what just had happened to make Rin even quieter than before. After she was done getting the information, she came back to sit with the child. She was silent for a moment before speaking.

"I will probably never know exactly what you two talked about, but . . . what you said about not being able to save her, I don't think that's entirely true."

Rin looked up at her in interest. What was she saying? That . . . the Loneliness was actually saved? But that couldn't be true, could it? She didn't want to live anymore, and the girl hadn't changed that. So what could Kaito-sensei mean?

Seeing the child's confusion clearly on her face, she continued. "What I'm trying to say, is that you might not of have saved her body, but you saved her soul. Now, I don't know what you two talked about, but I have a small understanding. You see, there is something that only a youkai can do, they can put their soul into an object. From nurse-san's description, a light surrounded her, right?"

Rin nodded eagerly, beginning to find some kind of hope in this after all.

"Do you still have the object?"

The girl opened her palm and showed her the feather. It was odd, she found, but even though that she hasn't let go of it since she was given it, it hadn't gotten warm and the bristles hadn't clumped together like it should've. Yet again, it wasn't an ordinary feather, now was it?

"And you've been holding onto this since then,"—Rin nodded to confirm it—"so you see, if the youkai's soul was evil, a human couldn't even touch this and it would have to be exorcised by someone with spiritual power. But if the youkai's soul was evil, yet it was saved at the end . . . Rin-chan, the woman's name was Sougami Kagura. I want you to know that she . . . wasn't the nicest of people. This feather," she held it up for emphasis, "should be giving off an evil youkai aura that would be burning me. But, as you can see, nothing's happening."

So that means that the Loneli—Kagura-san was saved! Rin gently took back the feather and stared at it in wonder. She really did help her. She pulled the feather to her heart and smiled back up at Kaito-sensei. She returned it.

"Come on, let's get you back to the playroom."

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(A/N: WOOOOOOTT!! FINALLY DONE!! And I warned you that the ending sucked!! XP

Responses:

Obradyroxmysox: I'm sowwy . . .it'll get better, I promise! Though I can't promise you Sessi will come back . . .

Neomeneomine: Thank you so much!! And yes more chapters . . . I'm finding that writing them down isn't as easy as it seems . . . *Sigh*

New Fan: Thank you thank you thank you thank you!! Such kind words for an authoress who is slacking on updating!! So sorry!! Oh, and your guess is right . . . there is so much to write about that! I'm not even sure I'll be able to it all, but I'm sure as hell gonna try!!

Pio: Love your name by the way . . . it's so fun to say! Anyway, sowwy!! I didn't mean to make you cry!! D:

Anhimals: Angst just fits her, I guess. *Shrug* Thank you!! Frankly, neither can I!! XD and it's a little too late for that . . . but hopefully now it will stay away! Grr . . . stupid writer's block.

Just me: Wow, such high praise!! Thank you soooo much!! And don't worry, I won't abandon it, and no matter how long it takes me to update, I WILL NOT abandon this story!!

Locainlove: Gah. Long review. Though, before I say anything, just know that I WILL review YOUR story, and explain why it took so long. I swear I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth!! I know what you mean. I hate it when people make them suddenly recover from life threatening wounds/trauma miraculously within a week. Blech. Trust me, I won't do that here. THANK YOU FOR THEE IDEA-ER!! Seriously. I can't help it if she was mean! And a head's up, the Magic Fluff Man won't be appearing for a while . . . if at all. :]

InuYasha, you ain't gonna come in for a LOOOOOONNNNNG time!

Inu: But I'm the title character!!

PAP: Not in this story you ain't!

Sess: and me? when am I going to reappear?

PAP: Uhh . . . that is classified information!

Inu: Meaning she doesn't know.

PAP: Shut up!

LIL: You two should be grateful. SHE was the one who ordered the bathroom for you two.

Inu: I will not thank this wench!

Naraku: I'll be making a regular appearance *smirks*

PAP: THAT'S CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!! That's it, you are banned from the closet!! *Shoves him out*

Inu/Sess/LIL: O_o;

PAP: Hey . . . I've always wondered . . . does he even HAVE a mother??

Inu/Sess: *Look at each other*

LIL: uh . . . demons?

PAP: Hm. *Holds head* never mind. I don't wanna think about it. Stupid images . . .

Inu: I bet he takes after her because he's so girly. *Snickers*

PAP: Whatever. Grah, if this goes on, I'll never be done! *Plays Candy Shop*

Inu/Sess/Mir and Kou who just suddenly popped in (the music calls to them): *Dance*

PAP: Well, if you're too sexy for my story, then I am too pwn-er-ific for yours! XP

Cant break the habit: Thank yew!! Well, not parents, technically, since Rin is human. No, keep guessing! One of three things can happen: you're right, wrong, or wrong and give me a new idea so technically you'd be right.

Moonlightshadow1: I will!! I promise!!)