Many thanks to DesinyHeart13 for being the first reviewer! You receive a long-distance hug through the Internet!

It's Saturday and all I have to do is wait for stuff to download on my computer and hope it doesn't crash. So I'll write chapter 3 for you. Savvy?

x-LiveFantasy-x

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Mariko had never been inside the Kishinuma household before. When she walked in the door she found herself in a cozy space that wasn't too big or too small. There were no lights on because it was the middle of the day, and the numerous floor-to-ceiling windows surrounded by thick mahogany frames let in liberal amounts of light. A lot of the furniture looked old, like antiques, and there were lots of paintings adorning the walls.

Her room was even nicer. The light touched it just right at every angle. The walls were ivory as well as the dresser and mirror, and the bed was covered in lilac flowery bedspread with a purple canopy that had been drawn up to the wall on a hook. The shelves were lined with books and a few strange, very old articles. Mariko remembered her doing a lot of projects on antiques, so she must have had a thing for old stuff. The two bookshelves were on opposite sides of a huge window, and between them was little bench, maybe for reading, maybe for just looking out the window on a sunny day.

"It's not a castle, but its home," Tsukiko said, tossing her bag into a corner. "My parents are at work and my brother is tutoring at school."

"Your brother tutors?" Mariko asked, a bit shocked.

"You look surprised," Tsukiko gave a meek smile. "A lot of people are. My brother doesn't look it, but he's got a 4.0 GPA."

Hiroshi was always that guy who kind of hung back, examining people but not speaking unless he had a reason to. His temper was short but his attitude was very calm, cool, and collected. He seemed to have a solution to every problem, every fix, and every tight spot anyone he knew ever got into. He never seemed like the scholarly type to Mariko, though.

"I never talked to him much," Mariko said, recalling in her mind the few times she had worked with Hiroshi on projects and going on class trips with him, but not much else.

"No one ever does," Tsukiko shrugged. "Except for me. I'm hoping that I'll get him to come out of his shell a little emotions-wise. Especially now that I'll be back in school and he won't have to worry anymore…"

It was silent for a moment after Tsukiko trailed off. Then Mariko finally came out and asked, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why all of a sudden do you come back to school? Why do you suddenly talk to me even though we were never really great friends before?"

Tsukiko sat on her bed and picked the nail on her thumb nervously. "It's… complicated."

"I know complicated."

"Which is exactly the reason why I wanted to talk to you," Tsukiko said.

"I don't…"

"How did you take the news?"

A jolt ran through Mariko's body. "The news?"

"Of your sickness. How did you take the news?" Tsukiko prompted.

"I…" Mariko said, tense for a moment, before following up with, "I passed out. Woke up in the middle of the night and cried until morning. It was the worst day of my life, like nothing mattered anymore. I was scared, I was confused, and most of all, I was angry.

"I wanted to know why this happened," Mariko confessed. "I thought, 'Why me? I'm a good person. I'm not a sinner or a criminal.' I've never stepped a toe out of line, though God saw it fit to punish me with an early death. Suddenly my whole life was ripped out from under me. I could never get married, have kids, or have a job that I love that helps others gain happiness in turn. You have no idea how long I prayed, how many times I leaded with some higher being – if there's even anyone up there – to give me back my future, but eventually I realized that no one could give me a second chance."

Mariko stopped when she realized Tsukiko was crying. She was quickly going about wiping the tears as they fell, trying to hide them, but Mariko knew a sad soul when she saw one.

"That's exactly what you have been feeling all this time, hasn't it?"

Tsukiko nodded, pressing her face into her hands. Mariko almost didn't hear it, but she could have sworn Tsukiko said, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Understanding," she was smiling now. "You understand."

Mariko got up from her chair and sat on the bed with Tsukiko, and she sobbed into her shoulder. This was what Mariko was born to do: comfort people. It's what she did best; there was always just something about her that made people want to let it all out. Her very aura made people feel better and she knew that all too well. Poor Tsukiko… she thought as the little girl next to her wracked with sobs.

Tsukiko sniffed and said, "He used to call me Moony."

"Who?"

"Katsuro," she said. "Because I'm so pale. He always loved my skin even though I hated it; my hair and eyes too."

Mariko had recalled hearing him call her that, too. It was like when Raiden called her a ray of sun; Tsukiko was a moonbeam. Her skin was so pale it almost looked white. Her hair was near white at the roots, fading to ivory, then into slightly darkening silvery tones at her tips. Her eyes were pale silver, like huge discs of platinum. She was beautiful, but she always seemed to be so self conscious about her unique looks.

"I'm glad you're talking about it," Mariko said. "I'm so glad you're coming back to school. It's a hard thing to come back from, losing someone like that, but you're being strong and I admire that."

"It hurts so much, though," Tsukiko hugged herself, the tears already dry from her eyes. Lots of practice quelling tears would do that to a person.

"I know," Mariko assured her. Believe me, I do.

"I really connected to what you said about having your whole future ripped out from under you," Tsukiko said glumly. "It was like that when it happened. I could never see myself moving on after him. How could I get married and have children knowing the love of my life will always be him? And he's gone?"

Katsuro was Tsukiko's boyfriend. They were the loveliest couple Mariko had ever had the pleasure to know. They may as well have been married already, they were that inseparable. They were the classic story of the classic double-friendzone: where they both liked each other, but they both thought the other only thought of them as a friend and nothing more. It pops up everywhere, and in their case it lasted years. Finally, in the eighth grade, Katsuro finally – finally – worked up the nerve to ask her out, and the rest is history. Though they were young, they loved each other unconditionally. Not only were they going out, they were best friends. Happiness just oozed out of them and brightened the room when they were together.

And then August 9th happened.

It was right before the bell rang at school that Katsuro told them about how he was going skiing in the mountains with his brother about two hours drive from town. He was going to bring Tsukiko, but she had to watch her little cousin and couldn't come. He left school that day alive, and never came back. Mariko got the news through Hiroshi when he came back from school: Katsuro and his brother were driving in the dark during a snowstorm when his brother lost control of the car. His brother was paralyzed from the waist down from then on and Katsuro was killed on impact. Tsukiko didn't come to school after that day, and no one had seen her for four months. Everyone thought she had killed herself and her brother was lying about her still being alive, but Mariko knew better. She was stronger than that.

"You're trying to move on," Mariko said. "That's what counts."

"No, I'm not moving on. That's the thing," she said exasperatedly. "I'm coping. Not accepting, just coping. I'm past the point where I want to kill myself to be with him, but I… I just don't think I'll ever be able to love again. Do you think that's what will happen to your loved ones when you… leave?"

"That's what I'm trying to prevent," Mariko muttered. "I don't want my mom to be like this, or any of my friends, or Raiden… no offense."

"None taken. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy," Tsukiko shuddered. "And you know he may end up like this anyway."

"Who?"

"Raiden," Tsukiko said. "You're his whole world. Heck, I'm pretty sure you're the only thing left that really makes him happy. What makes you think he wouldn't take your death worst of all?"

"I love him so much," Mariko whimpered. "I don't think I could ever think about that."

"If you really do love him, you should start."

"It's such a reality even if it doesn't feel like one," Mariko pulled her knees up to her chest. "I feel like I'm just in a nightmare and any second I'm going to wake up and it'll all be okay. But I'm not, and it's not going to be okay. I'm going to die, and while I'm passing through the pearly gates all I'm going to think about are my mother and Raiden and all of the people who have to mourn my passing."

"You care so much about other people," Tsukiko sighed. "I was so selfish for so long, only thinking about how I felt inside. I never realized how much I was hurting other people by being so sad. My parents were worried sick about my mental health, and at first I thought that when they sent me to all those doctors and psychiatrists, they were just trying to make me more miserable, but now I see that they went to those measures to help me.

"And my brother too. He did so much for me. All the times he went to school and sucked it up when he'd rather be here making sure I didn't swallow a bottle of pills… I never cared about what he thought about my being so despondent. He's my fraternal twin, for god's sake. Then… everything kind of fell into perspective."

"How?"

"Well…" she began, but she was cut off by her bedroom door swinging open.

"Kiko?" Hiroshi, her brother, was in the doorway. His school uniform jacket was slung over his shoulder like he had just walked in the door. His inky eyes scanned the room and fell on Mariko, and his face twisted into a scowl. "Oh. You're here."

"Roshi, you should go call mom and see when she'll be back from work," Tsukiko prompted.

Hiroshi gave Mariko another long, hard stare, then ran his hands through his indigo hair, turned on his heel, and was out of sight. Tsukiko pressed her hands to her temples and said, "I'm sorry about that."

"I don't think I've gotten a greeting like that since…"

"Kairi?"

"Precisely."

"He's been different ever since I started to lose it," Tsukiko explained. "It's like he thinks everyone is out to get me or take advantage of my delicate state. Like everyone thinks I'm a freak and he's the only thing between them and me. It's appreciated but unnecessary."

"He's going through as much of a change as you are," Mariko said. "Let him guard you; it'll help him fulfill himself."

"Believe me, I am," Tsukiko said. "In a way, I kind of rely on it."

"I know what you mean," Mariko agreed. She looked over to Tsukiko and saw that she was fiddling with something around her neck. Thinking back, Mariko had seen her doing it a number of times during school and even a few times just as they were talking. "What's that?"

"This?" Tsukiko pulled out a long chain and at the end of it was a small heart-shaped metal pendant. It was engraved at the bottom AS among little lacy flourishes. "It was my mom's. The letters at the bottoms are her initials. Her maiden name, of course because my dad gave it to her before they were married."

"It's a locket?"

"Yeah, but I could never open it," Tsukiko pouted. "It must be jammed."

"May I see it for a moment?" Mariko asked.

"If you want to try and open it, go ahead. It won't work; hasn't for anyone. No way, no how–"

Tsukiko never finished her thought. With one tug, Mariko opened the locket.

Inside, there were two sides, like any old locket. On one side, there was a picture. It looked like it was taken in a photo booth and taken off a strip of images. It was of a boy and a girl, around eighteen or nineteen. The girl had a young look to her, being so small. She looked happy and was in the middle of laughing when the picture was taken. Next to her with his arm slung around her playfully was a taller guy who was very handsome and was looking at her like she was the last ray of sun in the universe.

"These… are my parents," Tsukiko sputtered. "I've never seen a photo of them before college."

Mariko saw it now; how much Hiroshi and Tsukiko resembled these people. Hiroshi had the height and good looks of his father with the hair color and eye color of his mother, while Tsukiko has her mother's small physique and even though her hair was lighter, Mariko could see she got it from her father.

Something fell out of the opposite side of the locket. No, two things. They twirled through the air and settled on the floor before either of them thought to move. The girls glanced at each other before Tsukiko reached down and picked them up. They were awfully strange things to put in a locket.

"Paper?" Mariko asked.