(A/N) With this chapter we've officially passed the half-way point! This is the chapter that I may have been hinting at for a while. Rin shows up in this chapter, and does her thing and makes me sad as always.
For those of you who like Haru and Kanae together, this chapter has some bad news for you.

She was the last person that I ever expected to see. She had become so infuriatingly ethereal and distant. The long black hair that flowed with the breeze, and her empty black gaze. Even those who could not see the colour of her aura found themselves at a distance, in reverence and…sadness.

There was a brief time when I had foolishly called her my rival, that time when I had felt the most in need of Haru's attention. But I learned all too quickly that there would never be any competition with her. Haru was devoted, he would never sway. And to that end, his devotion seemed to have curdled into obsession.

"Isuzu-san." I said bleakly. She turned to me with a glare, a glare that oddly enough…softened when she saw who I was.

"It's you." She took a few steps towards me, I had to stand my ground though I had the overwhelming urge to run.

"Yes, it's me." I said a bit coyly. From what I've heard, I hardly expected her to bother with me.

"Still chasing after Haru I see." She hardly emoted at all. Despite the fact that we were both close to Haru, we still never interacted much.
I shook my head. "I'm not going to play these jealousy games with you. You know how kind Haru is, he will always help others in need, that's what he is to me; kind, and nothing more." I turned to the side. "You shouldn't play him like this, his heart is volatile, and without you his splits get even worse." As much as I hated it in my heart, as much as I felt I deserved him… "Isuzu…are you listening?" I looked back at her, my expression hardening, but there was nothing I could possibly do to phase her.

She began to walk past me slowly, dark ribbons passing over her pale skin, lighting gracefully in the air.

Her eyes opened, staring directly at me, twin pure onyx orbs, silencing my every thought in their frightening beauty. "I have one request for you." She looked at me, the black of her eyes not betraying anything. "Stay with Haru. He needs someone to stay by his side." I knew what she was asking me, and I could feel how much it hurt to ask this of me.

"Rin…as much as I wish I could-" she cut be off, a small flare of anger igniting.

"You can't leave him, he can't lose someone else." She said angrily.

"I can't because I can't replace you in his heart, nothing can."

Her eyes closed and she walked away. "I'm entrusting him to you."

"He's not yours to give away, Rin, despite what you may feel, he's never going to give up on you."

"…he's a fool."

She turned away, without another word. I didn't bother to stop her. There was nothing that I could do. It was strange, part of me felt like I should be happy that she was offering me the love of my life on a silver platter, but I wasn't. It was hopeless from the very beginning. Haru would never love anyone else like he loved Rin. I wished he wouldn't. It's not like I wanted him to love me or anything, not specifically. A strong part of me wished that he could forget her. Then maybe he could move forward and leave some of his darkness behind him.

I found Haru after school, and I wanted to surprise him. It was almost silly, but I hoped that it would at least help. We took a detour on the way home through a small district of shops that had my favourite Monja place. We opted for getting some shaved ice as we walked through a park. We probably looked like a couple, something I shouldn't mind, but I did, just a little.

"I got a lecture today about cram school." I said over my almost empty cone. Haru looked at me. "'The same crap about "disgracing the family name" and whatever."

Haru looked up, "I remember when Yuki said the same thing. They grow up so fast."

"What?" I asked. "Seriously Haru."

He just gave me that blank stare. His way of urging me on. "I told them no. I'm getting grades good enough to get into just about any university, even though I won't be permitted to apply." I looked up at the grey skies. It was probably going to rain later. "But I will anyway. I'll get accepted to Tokyo U just to show them." I said without any conviction.

Haru was distressingly subdued, it made me concerned. After my run-in with Rin, I knew she was up and about, but obviously hadn't come running back to him like he had hoped. I wanted to bring it up, but was afraid at what would happen if I did.

But, I suppose I just had a death wish.
"So, have you heard from Rin recently?" I said as casually as was humanly possible.

"No, have you?"
"No, only what Kagura's told me, which isn't much." I lied carefully. If he were completely white, he would have caught me, he always could. But not now, not when we was teetering on the edge.

"You go to her house often right? You haven't seen her there?" No, as Rin just had a habit over randomly appearing everywhere else besides her own damn house.

"No." This kind of forced conversation was what I hated most. But I could sense the distinct darkening of his Aura when he spoke of her. His feelings for her were just so intense, it still baffled me. "When you talk about her, you turn grey, Haru." I glanced at him.

"Isn't that good? Shouldn't I be balanced?"
"No. You just keep getting darker, no matter what." I'm not sure if I even made any sense. I hated seeing him like this. He was so unstable at just the mention of her. His thoughts and feelings flew out of control, so fast that it made me nauseous. "She's basically like black dye," my metaphor was going weird places. I shook my head. "What I mean is, I don't think...If all she does is turn you into the Black Haru you hate, it would be best to give up on her." I was desperate. Rin was good in some ways, she helped him even out, but if something went wrong, even the smallest thing, there was nothing there to keep him from becoming the full on Black Haru that made me fear for my life.

He didn't burst, not yet. He just seemingly ignored me, tossing his empty cone in the trash. "C'mon, let's go home."

I nodded. "Sorry Haru, I just-"

"You just nothing." He said suddenly. "You shouldn't get involved in what doesn't concern you."

I crumpled my eyebrows at him. "Okay, now you're sounding just like Rin. It is my business, you're my friend!"

"You keep saying that, but you said yourself that you didn't know what that meant."

"Yeah, I did, but that was years ago, and I've grown up since then."

"And so that means you know everything now?"

"No, but I know more." I said defiantly.

He just looked away, shoving his hands in his pockets. "You don't know anything about how I feel about Rin."

I gawked at him. "Are you fucking serious!?" What the hell is wrong with him? "Everything you feel, I feel. I know how much you love her and it makes me sick! It's consuming you, it's all I ever feel from you! You're not the Haru I know anymore!"

He looked at me, fully black now. "You think you know? You think you fucking know?" He began to walk towards me menacingly, the darkness growing in malevolence. "You don't know. You don't have to deal with it every waking moment. This black, gnawing empty feeling!" He began tearing at the cloth of his shirt, over his heart. "It burns Kanae, it fucking burns." I couldn't look at him, I was starting to shut down in fear. "You don't know what it feels like to love someone so much that nothing is normal when they're gone!" He had backed me up against the wall of an old shrine. I opened my eyes, staring deep in to the black pits that his eyes had become.

"No Haru, I do." My throat began to close up, I probably was going to cry. "I do, because when you're like this, I feel like I can't breathe! When you're like this, you're dead to me." I said as tears fought to slide down my cheeks.

Suddenly his hands went to my neck.
"How about I make you not breathe for real."

I tried desperately to shake him off, thrashing and fighting to speak.

He released me for a moment and I gasped for air. Panting raggedly.

"Rin…deserves better than…you." Is what I managed, and what seemed to be the exact wrong thing to say.

"Why don't you just SHUT! UP!" He shrieked, his anger transforming him into something inhuman. This wasn't Haru anymore. This was the jealous rage of the Cow spirit, the one who has always ridiculed and shamed. The slow stupid cow.

But its new vessel was anything but. For all my speed and skill, I was overpowered by his raw strength.

I honestly don't remember much. I feel like I voluntarily blacked out because it was everything that I hated and wished would just go away. Although, I think I may have blacked out from lack of oxygen, because I think he had started strangling me again. When I woke up, my voice was ragged, as my windpipe had been crushed. But, he was kind enough to leave me in a dry patch near an old shrine

I sobbed dryly. I didn't even get to give him my gift. It was silly now, but it was important to me then. I took the pendant out of my pocket, and buried it in the ground near the crossroad. Maybe it would curse him or something, that might at least turn this experience into a slight net positive.

It's not like I was overly surprised, me and Haru never really fit. I could never go on only loving half of him. I didn't even know if we could even be friends anymore. I needed to be able to trust him completely.

It hurt. It would always hurt. I was leaving him when he needed me the most.

(A/N) Thanks again, and I look forward to hearing from you! Expect chapter 13 up soon!