Author's notes - Alright, I finally finished re-writing the second chapter, personally, I think it's much better then my first.

Disclaimer - I do not own Inuyasha

Why can't time go any faster?

I paced along my bedroom, anxious for it to be two. My dad would be home for the first time in six months. He was called away to the war, and we were unable to mail things to him. Mom had to ask one of her friends who has a spouse in the war to send a message to my dad if they saw him. Two weeks ago we were received a call from where the war was taking place at. They told mom that dad had been in a bombing, but thankfully survived. We were devastated that he was in the bombing, yet thankful at the same time he survived. They then informed us that once he was well enough, he would return home to us. We've been counting down the days since that phone call came.

"What do you think, Rin?."

Mom came out from my closet wearing a pair of skinny jeans with a regular plum top. She always tried to keep up with the latest fashion.

"Nothing to fancy, but still nice enough to wear at a homecoming. Right?." She placed her hands on her hips like the models and began walking around my room. "I'll then wear a pair of dress sandals and do my hair up really nice." She said, modeling her way out into the hallway. "You should get ready to. We have to leave in an hour."

Laughing, I closed my bedroom door and began rummaging through my clothing. I had never been to a homecoming before. What would I wear? Is it just like every other day or would that show little respect? I debated over several clothes. Everything was inappropriate, to short, to baggy, etc. It wasn't until I had pulled out every last piece of clothing before I found the perfect outfit.

It seemed to be perfect. A pair of my best jeans and a white tee with the old Japanese flag on it. I'd then place chopsticks in my hair. The perfect outfit to an occasion like this.

I quickly applied some make-up, slipped on my shoes, grabbed my purse and raced out of my bedroom.

"Don't you look all grown up." Mom said, laughing a little as soon as she saw my appearance.

I smiled. "Thanks mom. You look a lot younger in those clothes."

We laughed together and drove down the busy roads of the city. Since dad left it became a habit for mom and I to act more girly then usual. I suppose that was one of the very few things I liked about having my dad gone. I was able to act more like my gender.

It was eleven forty-five when we reached the place of the homecoming and I was anxious. Most of the people there where in large numbers. There was the spouse, the children, and the brother and sisters of the people. Some even had the grandparents and parents come. Our group would've been bigger if my uncle Inuyasha and aunt Kikyou came. But ever since my uncle was born, him and my dad have been rivals. Mainly over stupid things. I can't see why they just don't make up.

A large bus then pulled into the area. The windows were tinted, which made it hard to see where dad was. One by one the men and women came out of the bus, hugging and kissing their loved ones. It was nearly empty and I was beginning to wonder if they gave us the wrong date.

"Rin! There he is!." Mom grabbed me and hugged me tightly.

The very last person to come out was my dad. Unlike the other men and woman who came out of the bus, he showed no emotion of happiness to see us again.

"Dad!." Ran up to him and hugged him tightly around his waist. Mom came up to the side and wrapped her arms around his neck and began kissing him all over the face. Dad returned the motion and wrapped his own arms around my mom and kissed her back. I had pulled away by then and began to giggle. When mom was finished, dad bent onto his knees and gave me a hug.

"You've grown so much, Rin." He said in my ear, hugging me tighter.

The drive home was interesting. Full of stories of the war he was in. He told about his night raids, missions and training that he had to do. No one said anything about the bomb. I'm glad they didn't, it would've been highly uncomfortable to discuss it.

When we got home, my mom began to make dad his favorite dish. I could never remember how to pronounce it, all I knew was that it was a dish from China. Dad and I decided to start up a conversation while we waited.

"Rin, how have things been here with you?."

I thought for a minute on where to start. There was so much to tell him. "Well the start of the year - when you left - was a little boring. School was always flooding me with homework, so I didn't have a lot of time to do go outside and do my usual activities. I passed the grade with straight A's though! Of course mom was thrilled with that, so she took me and Souten, Kanna and Shiori out to a really expensive restaurant. They also got straight A's!" I paused for a minute, trying to gather some more breath to talk. "And then in the beginning of summer Souten went to camp, Kanna went away to the America's for vacation and Shiori went camping on another one of the islands. Of course I got really bored so I decided to get a job."

This raised my dad's eyebrows. "A job?"

I nodded. "Yeah, you see, since for the past three years I've received nothing but perfect grades. Since I'm a few months shy of being sixteen it was really iffy, but somehow mom was able to get the paperwork I needed to work in a situation like this."

"What situation would that be?."

"I'm a consular. At the hospital for troubled teens. About two hours out of town. A lot of the patient are really nice, some aren't really willing to tell me their problems and everything like that but the ones who do will make a faster improvement, and will be able to go home faster. That's what I've been doing for the past two and a half months. Two weeks before school starts again they're going to have to let me go though. I really don't want to leave. I really like counseling these people."

Dad didn't say anything. He just stood up and walked to the dinning room where mom had just set everything up for supper.

Kohaku's POV

I laid on my bed, staring at the white ceiling above me. It was the only thing to do in here.

I swear I'm going to kill myself of boredom if they don't let me out soon!. I'll just fake good behavior and pretend to stop what I am doing and once I get out and then once everything is back to the usual, I'll go back to the cutting!. Why do I cut myself?...It seems to bring me relief...and it calms me dow-

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on my door.

"It's Rin!."

As she opened the door, I turned my body around so my back would be towards her.

"So...it's been a week, and I'm seeing much improvement. Do you feel safe here, Kohaku?."

I didn't answer her.

"Kohaku?."

"I guess. There isn't anything to do here except think so it gives me a lot of time to go over what I've done."

A smile grew on her face. "That's good. I talked to the doctors this morning. They said if you kept up this behavior and progress they'll let you out next Saturday."

Just one more week?

I didn't want to spend another week in the hospital, but if it was going to get me out early, I was willing.

"Why don't we do something different...let's go outside to talk."

Immediately, I stood up. "Anything to get out of this room."

The thought of going outside seemed nice. I hadn't been out once since I arrived here and it was starting to annoy me. The scent of medicine and blood was now common in my sense and it didn't bother me as much as it usually did. I still longed for fresh-air though.

When we walked outside the scent of pine filled the air. Not my favorite but better then what was in the hospital. It was also nice to see some color, even if it was now all green and grey. We didn't get to far away from the hospital when Rin sat down on a bench.

"We'll talk here today."

I shrugged at sat a fair distance away from her.

"So, Kohaku, what was life like before your dad passed away?."

I thought for a minute. "Not much different really...things were done faster when he was around and there was a lot less fighting going on..."

"You fight with your sister?." She tilted her head with a confused look upon it.

"Yes...well...I mean not fight in that way but verbally. There will be times when we'll have a big argument. You know, just the regular sibling fighting."

She blinked a few times.

"I see...well your sister is getting married soon you said. Does that make you happy that you'll have a family growing once more in your house?."

"Not really. Her fiancee' is a pervert and if he wasn't so committed, would be constantly cheating on her. I told her that he's an un-trusting person at times but Sango just says that he's changed from when they first started dating. I can't say if it's true or not."

Rin then pursed her lips together tightly as though she was lost for words.

"You don't seem like a very social person...did something happen when you were younger that made you this way or do you have a controlling girlfriend that won't let you be social?."

She must've dealt with people with controlling girlfriends before, why else would she ask?

"I was teased a lot, but that's not enough to all of a sudden make me cut myself, and no, I don't have or controlling girlfriend, nor did I have one previous to me being here."

Her eyes then traveled to my scared wrists, I noticed them study my scars as if she was trying to figure out something.

"It's going to be time for lunch soon, do you want to head back now?."

I shrugged. "Why not, it's not going to get me out of here any faster."

We ate lunch together, in the Hospital cafeteria, but it didn't last long. One of the other patients began to have an episode, and they needed her help to calm the patient right away. I finished my lunch alone like I normally did when she wasn't asking to eat with me. Once I finished, I had a nurse named Mrs. Shima come and guide me back to my room. She wasn't as relaxed as some of the other women who worked there, she was more tense and highly strict about everything in sight.

Once in my room, I laid back down on the bed and stared up at the white ceiling to think once more.

Author's notes - It's still a bit shorter...

Thanks for reading.