So, I decided to write an epilogue. And with this, it's finally done. (This time I'm not lying XD )

This is the two year anniversary of my posting this story, so I figured, "why not?" So... I wrote an epilogue. I hope it's good enough.

Thanks for stickin' it out!

Love you all!

Bye for now!

I ran my fingers over the small circle of blue plastic. Maybe it wasn't worth much money, but it was worth a lot to me.

I sighed and leaned against the seat on the bus. It had been a while since I'd been to the school... a long while. My friends couldn't come to my "graduation" because of exams, but my brother had made the time. I glanced next to me. I grinned.

"You're skulking again." I said, gently punching my friend's shoulder. He'd gained some weight, thankfully, and he wasn't a stick anymore. At least he was healthy now.

Rouga looked at me out of the corner of his eye, frowning jokingly. "I am not skulking, I'm just tired." He protested, scoffing.

I snickered. "Yeah, we've both heard that excuse before."

Rouga smirked, before laughing a little, and I joined in after a second. The sudden outburst caused a couple people to stare, but I brushed it off.

I grinned and tucked the small chip back into my wallet, which was attached to a chain on my hip so I wouldn't lose it. "You excited?" I asked.

Rouga rolled his eyes. "They're your friends, not mine!"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "They're warming up to you though." I said.

Rouga shrugged and ran his fingers through his pitch black hair. It had grown out, and when he'd cut it off, all the dirty blonde was gone. "Whatever, man." He began to fidget with the strings on his pullover, and his leg began to bounce. "When are we gonna be there?" He asked.

I looked up at the small, back-lit sign inside the cabin of the bus. "Next stop. Then I can take you to a park and walk you." I said sarcastically. This earned me a slap upside the head.

"I ain't a dog, you dip-shit."

"What's that, boy?" I grinned.

Rouga huffed and dropped the subject.

We rode in silence, until a female voice rang out from the speaker.

"We are now stopping at the True Cross Academy Bus Station. Please collect your luggage, and prepare to unload. If you are going to the next stop..."

Rouga and I wordlessly gathered our things and stood up, slinging our bags over our shoulders and holding onto the top railing until the bus stopped.

The car slowed to a stop, and the doors opened with a ding. People flooded out of the car, mostly students. Rouga and I fought our way to the edge of the crowd, both of us disliking crowded spaces, and set off down the road.

Rouga looked around, pain flashing in his eyes. I pretended not to notice as he rubbed his arm, where all his burn scars were. I caught sight of the bridge where I'd spent many nights standing, caught up in my own thoughts. I mentally shook my head and kept walking.

"So..." Rouga broke the tense silence. "Where are we going again?"

I grinned and shoved him. "God, your memory is worse than mine, and that's really saying something!" I teased. I pointed down the road, where a little sign hung out in front of a store front. "They're meeting us at that café up there." I replied before he could retort.

Rouga nodded absentmindedly, and his hand went to his pocket. I watched and saw a flash of yellow, the six month sobriety chip.

I had a blue one, one that marked one year of sobriety. Rouga had been going strong, but halfway through his mother visited with her new husband, along with who I could only assume was Rouga's father. After that, he'd slipped out of the house and somehow gotten a hold of something that had put him in the hospital for two weeks. I didn't know all the details, and I wasn't going to press.

But he'd started recovery again as soon as he'd gotten out of the hospital.

I'd almost slipped up as well, but that was just due to my messed up thoughts.

I sighed a little. No use in thinking about it now. What happened happened, there was nothing we could do to change what had already been.

"Oi, airhead. We're here." I felt a hand on my shoulder, keeping me from going any further.

I looked up. Oh. So we were. I felt a little nervous. I hadn't seen them in months. I didn't know how they'd changed, or how I'd changed to them.

"You're hesitating again." Rouga pointed out.

I rolled my eyes. "I am not. C'mon." I grabbed his shoulder and pushed him forward, not hard enough to hurt him, but enough to make him laugh at me. He opened the door and I followed him into the café.

It was warmer inside than the cool September air on the street, so I immediately took off my scarf, winding it into a ball and stuffing it into my bag. I turned to Rouga to tell him to look in the back of the room, when a voice called out, making me jump.

"RIN!"

The entirety of the coffee shop looked at me as a small figure crashed into me, arms wrapping around my waist and bringing me to the ground. I yelped as I hit the floor, but my bag cushioned my fall, thankfully.

I blinked dazedly and looked up. Bright, green eyes stared down at me, blonde hair tickling my cheeks.

"Shiemi? What are you-"

"You're back!" She said gleefully, hugging me again. I laughed nervously and patted her back awkwardly. I wasn't used to this much touching, it would take me a while to get used to it, I guessed. She noticed that I was trying to get up, and she scrambled backwards. "Oh! Sorry!" She apologized, getting up and holding out her hand to me. I took it gratefully and pulled myself to my feet.

Rouga raised an eyebrow. "Where's my dramatic greeting?" He asked. He was joking, I knew, but Shiemi took it seriously. She was about to answer, looking awkward and flailing her hands around, but Rouga waved it off. "I was joking, miss, joking..." he murmured, trying to get her to calm down.

As they exchanged a couple words, I looked past Shiemi's shoulders. I saw the rest of the group sitting at a table at the back of the room. I watched them carefully, wondering how to react, when Shiemi grabbed my hand and began leading me towards them. "Come on, Rin, we're waiting for you." She said, smiling widely.

I returned the smile, and followed her to the large table. She was talking excitedly, about something that had happened on the way there, but I couldn't listen. My eyes were trained on the group, who was watching me curiously.

After a brief moment of silence (after Shiemi trailed off, of course,) I raised my hand in greeting. "Hey, guys. We're here." I said quietly.

Silence again.

Then, a chair scraped on the floor as someone stood up.

I watched, my head tilted a little to the side as Izumo stood. Her long, dark hair had been cut a little shorter, and it now reached her mid back, no longer held in pigtails. She raised her eyebrows a little, her equivalent of a small smile, I supposed.

"Welcome back, Okumura." She replied.

This seemed to set off a chain reaction, and the rest of the students stood up. When Bon and Shima greeted me, I was a little surprised to see that they no longer towered above me, but we were at more of an equal height. Well, I had shot up a year ago, but so had Bon and Shima, so they'd always been taller than I was, by a lot. When I mentioned this, it got me a quick slap about the head. Rouga laughed at this, and told me that I just kept asking for it.

Well, I didn't mind it.

I looked around, after it had all settled down a little bit, knowing that the room was missing someone very important.

"Where's Yukio?" I asked, turning to Shima.

"Right here."

I cried out in shock as a hand laid itself on my shoulder, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I whipped around. "Yukio, you son of a bitch, don't-" I didn't have time to finish my sentence as I was pulled into a hug. I raised an eyebrow as he pulled back. "A little more brotherly now, aren't we?" I joked, laughing softly.

Yukio smiled at me. "I'm allowed to be glad that you're back, right?" He asked.

I punched his shoulder. "I only saw you a month ago, idiot four-eyes." I teased.

He shrugged a little. "So..." he started. "You almost ready to get back to being an exorcist?" He asked.

"He's gonna be rusty, Okumura-sensei, he hasn't fought anything in over a year." Bon joked, lightly kicking the back of my leg.

I felt Rouga tense beside me, but I knew that Bon hadn't meant it in an offensive way.

I glanced over my shoulder with my old grin, narrowing my eyes challengingly. "That's the one thing I haven't stopped doing, Bon. Fighting demons will always be my specialty." I kicked him back. I placed a hand behind my head and grinned. "Besides cooking, I guess." I chuckled.

"So when are you gonna start again?" Konekomaru asked. He'd grown a little. I'd mention that to him later, I was sure he'd appreciate it.

"I'm gonna keep off it for a little while longer, then start remedial classes. I've gotta catch up on Cram School and regular school." I huffed. I shrugged, and smiled. "But after that, yeah. I'll start again. I don't know how long until then though." I said.

Yukio gripped my shoulder. "Take your time." He said.

I sighed. "I've waited long enough, though, huh...?" I gestured to the door. "Are you guys ready to get going? I wanna see Kuro." I said, changing the subject abruptly. I missed my cat sidhe familiar, and I was eager to get out and moving again... and from the way that Rouga was rocking back and forth on his feet, I knew he wanted to move as well.

Soon after this, we were headed towards the door. I trailed along behind at a steady pace, comfortable with where I stood. I watched them as they walked ahead, talking cheerfully and asking me questions about how the year had gone. I answered absently, a content smile on my face.

Rouga and I exchanged a glance, and he allowed himself a smile. We were both thinking the same thing;

After all of the shit we'd been through, it was good to be happy again.

It was good to be clear.

And I was ready to start again.