Author's Note: Thank you, once again, for all the reviews! I really enjoy reading them and hearing about how much you enjoy my story and Rin. Seriously, there's no greater compliment. Onward! P.S. I ALWAYS forget to put the line in the text so if you read my little notes to myself my sincerest apologies. I leave myself a little sticky note on my computer reminding me to put it in and I STILL forget. Epic fail.

Chapter 17: Wrath

Rin's eyes fluttered open, and she had about five seconds to process that she was once again back in her own bed at HOMRA before her nausea hit her like a wrecking ball. Twisting around to the edge of her bed, she tried to swallow down the waves of pain in order for her stumble to the bathroom in time but noticed a bucket had been kindly placed near the head of her bed. Hanging partially off the edge of her cot, Rin snatched the pail and pulled it right under her chin as her stomach rolled. She choked and gagged but nothing but dry heaves wracked her body, leaving Rin aching and exhausted.

After a few minutes her heaving subsided, allowing Rin a small moment to catch her breath. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, and saliva dripped from her lips and chin into the bucket. Her stomach felt bruised and tender, as if she had already hurled up whatever had been churning in her stomach hours before, and her throat felt raw from the abuse.

Wiping her chin, Rin curled around her bucket and closed her eyes, finding it easy to do so in the darkness of her room. It was not yet dawn, but she could just make out the faint line on the horizon signaling that sunrise was not far off. Resting her forehead on the rim of the pail, Rin listened to her breathing steady out as snippets of the night began wash over her, flickering into focus like a grainy film clip.

Of course she had gone to the underpass - the one place she could selfishly revert back to her old habits. Most times it wasn't until after she crawled out from that ghastly place that the shame would come rushing back like water being released from a dam. This time had been no different. Rin remembered the grief and guilt, so raw and intense that she had curled into a little ball on a patch of cement. Even worse had been her inner turmoil of mourning another person who was not her sister so wholeheartedly. Was it wrong to do so? A betrayal of some kind? Was she a horrible person for even thinking such a question? Confusion, sorrow, heartbreak, guilt…they had eaten away at her until finally the burn of the bourbon began to kick in, numbing her insides and coating the inner workings of her brain until they grew sluggish and dull.

She faintly recalled a group of teenagers that had approached her– wannabe punks who had to be at least three or four years her junior intent on harassing the weakest target they laid their eyes on. Rin couldn't remember exactly what they had said, but she could hear their vicious jeers echoing in her ears. She had only wanted to ignite her hand, scare them off with the trademark HOMRA flames, but her composure had been fragile enough as it was and her control weak. Instead, pink flames quickly licked up her ribs and shoulders, consuming her body in seconds and charring the circle of cement that surrounded her. Loose sparks had landed on a close patch of weeds, and Rin remembered the look of terror on one particular boy's face as he watched the leaves shrivel almost instantly into ash.

Rin had simply rested her head against her knees and listened to their fading footsteps as the teens tore off into the opposite direction.

She must have blacked out some time after that because all she could recall next was five seconds of vomiting into a patch of gravel near her head. It certainly explained the soreness in her stomach and throat.

How much had she ended up drinking? She certainly couldn't recall finishing the bottle, but at the same time she couldn't remember when exactly she had put it down. It was as if an entire chunk of her night had been erased, and the last thing she could remember was the sound of a familiar voice near her ear. She had cracked her eye open for a second, not long enough to focus on anything, but had relaxed again at the recognizable sound. Her thoughts had become so clouded from drink that Rin would have sworn it was Tatara's soft hands that had gently lifted her limp body off the ground.

But that was a face she would never see again. There would be no more guitar, no more attempts at cooking in the kitchen, no more bonsai and shogi.

No more smiles or bright laughter.

Rin didn't even bother wiping the salty tears that streamed down her face, landing with a loud thud in the pail alongside her saliva. She no longer cared that her nose ran and her hair was sticking to her cheeks. All she knew was that the pain she had worked so hard to push away or ignore was suddenly clawing its way up her chest, and she no longer had the energy to contain it. It tore from her throat in a sob, and, despite her nauseated state, she desperately wished for something – anything - to numb the pain again. Her cries echoed into her bucket as she clung pitifully to its rim, half cursing half begging for some relief from this pain that was eating away at her heart.

A light flicked on in the hallway outside her bedroom door, and Rin covered her mouth with her hand, attempting to suppress her sobs as best as she could. She knew most of HOMRA would be asleep by now, or at least trying to ignore their own sorrow for a few moments to get some rest. Part of her was ashamed at her dramatic behavior, but wails continued to leak out of her despite her attempts to muffle them.

At the sound of her door cracking open, Rin raised her head. Her vision was blurred for a moment by her wet lashes sticking together, but suddenly she could make out Chitose - barefoot and shirtless – standing hesitantly near her door. Rin wanted to apologize for waking him, knowing full well that his room was directly beside hers and she no doubt roused him from his sleep, but all she could manage was a shaky breath and a hiccup.

Without a word, Chitose strode forward and sat down on the edge of her bed, pulling her into his lap and holding her tightly against his chest. He tucked her head beneath his chin and waited for her sobs to subside as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his collarbone. Hidden behind her bangs, Rin peeked up at his face and could the redness that ringed his own eyes. She appreciated his silence and stability, like a rock to cling to in her emotional storm. For once, there were no sexual innuendos or flirtatious gestures from HOMRA's womanizer.

This was solace.

And as her eyes slid shut, Rin knew that she would not wake alone in the morning.

When her eyelids flickered open once more, Rin could see a distinctly male arm sliding out from underneath her head. Already knowing who it was, she turned to catch sight of Chitose's apologetic face.

"I didn't mean to wake you."

She shook her head, glancing at the sunlight streaming through her window. "I needed to get up anyway. Can't sleep all day..."

At his silence, Rin looked back up at him and was surprised to see a mixture of sadness and disappointment cross his face.

"You're in for one hell of a fight this morning," He said softly.

After taking inventory of her scratchy throat and pounding headache, this knowledge didn't thrill Rin in any way. "Why?"

"Last night…when you didn't come home," Chitose murmured, unable to look at her. "We got worried that something…happened to you." His voice broke for a moment, but he finally lifted his gaze to meet hers. "Including King."

Rin gulped. She couldn't tell from his tone of voice if he was personally angry with her or not, and he shoved his hands in his sweatpants pockets and left before she could work up the courage to ask.

Shame began to overwhelm her. Once again she had selfishly only thought of herself and her own pain, not even thinking of what it must have looked like when she never returned home.

Quickly padding to the bathroom, Rin rinsed her face and attempted to smooth back her messy hair. The tear tracks were still visible and her eyes remained red, but she no longer looked like an absolute mess.

When she opened the door to leave the bathroom, she could already feel Mikoto's aura from two floors above the bar. It hit her like a searing heat wave, and grew hotter with each flight of stairs, as if she were descending into hell itself. Either the members of HOMRA were still asleep or they too could feel their King's wrath and purposefully shut their doors to the impending argument. The thought made Rin's heart sink with each step she took.

Mikoto stood by the bar next to Izumo, neither of whom were speaking. Mikoto just watched the smoke rise from the cigarette in his mouth while Izumo busied himself behind the bar. However, at her arrival the bartender's eyes flashed immediately to her hunched frame and he threw his rag down into the sink in anger.

"Tachibana-san," Izumo's voice shook from his effort to control himself, and Rin realized she had never seen the man look so furious. "What in God's name were you thinking?"

Rin opened her mouth to make some reply, but he cut her off almost instantly. This wasn't her time to speak.

She humbly accepted his harsh words about how irresponsible and reckless she was; that her age was no longer an excuse for stupidity and poor judgment. She let them wash over her because she knew this treatment was nothing in comparison to the fear they had probably suffered this past night.

Izumo undoubtedly could have continued for hours, but was cut off when Mikoto rose to his feet. It took him all of three seconds to cross the distance between them, and, without warning, Rin was suddenly shoved ruthlessly against the wall. Her back collided so harshly with the wood that she bounced off and her knees threatened to give out. Her head had smacked sharply upon impact, causing her nausea to return in full force.

Mikoto's palms splayed against the wall on either side of her head, forcing her to answer.

"Why the fuck," His voice thundered low as he glared unflinchingly down at her. "Am I surrounded by reckless fools?"

Rin's mouth went dry. "Mikoto-san, I-"

"I have no use for such idiots in HOMRA."

Licking her lips, Rin tried to apologize - to explain how she had never meant to scare them. "I-I'm sorry! I hadn't been thinking, and-"

Her pleas were halted when all the air in her windpipe was suddenly cut off. Mikoto's forearm pinned her to the wall. She had never seen the King's eyes glow so dangerously.

"Do you have any idea what we were thinking when you never came home?" He hissed, and Rin wanted to shield herself from the heat he was emitting. Her body's natural instinct was to claw at his arm until she could gasp for air, but Rin kept her arms pinned to her side. There was no question she deserved punishment. "Do you have any idea what you put this clan through only hours after his death?"

Mikoto's eyes flashed as the pressure on her throat increased, and she knew it was still too painful to say their fallen clansman's name.

"Mikoto…"

Izumo took a step forward, his eyes flicking between the two of them and Rin's steadily reddening face, but Mikoto's eyes remained on the petite blonde pinned to the wall in front of him.

"Are you so damn stupid that you'd risk you life out there? Passed out in some forgotten shithole?" He growled low near her ear.

"I'm…sorry," Rin managed to choke out. Realizing his chokehold, Mikoto's grip loosened a fraction and Rin gasped for enough air to make a coherent sentence. "I couldn't stay here… s'just too much…. partly my fault…."

Izumo's frown deepened at this, and suddenly the pressure on her windpipe disappeared entirely. Rin began to cough immediately as she sank to the ground, trying to suck in as much air as she could. Rubbing her throat with tears in her eyes, Rin looked up to meet the Red King's gaze only to find him staring at her with the strangest expression. While his face remained impassive, his eyes looked as if he no longer recognized the girl he saw. Turning on the heel of his boot, he strode across the bar and pushed through the front doors without another word.

After a moment's pause, Izumo knelt down beside her and wrapped a gentle arm around her waist to hoist her to her feet. As she leaned against him, Rin felt his lips lower to her ear as he murmured softly, "Tatara's death was not your fault, Tachibana-san."

Izumo helped her to the couch before ducking behind the bar to fill a glass of water. He placed it down beside her as she massaged her throat, and she ducked her head in thanks. "Maybe not entirely," She murmured. "But he would be alive today if I had made him go, would he not?"

Alarmed by her confession, Izumo grabbed her hands and enveloped them with his own. "That is not a guilt you should carry."

Finally, Rin asked the question that she had been too terrified to ask before. "Was it Niaka? Or Yakuza?"

"Someone new," Izumo said with a shake of his head, and despite seeing the bartender's jaw clench Rin could feel the tension in her chest lessen just a fraction. Then, he sighed, "I thought yesterday was unbearable, but today seems to be even harder without him here."

Neither could speak for a moment, the memory of their dead friend still fresh.

"Who brought me home?" She asked quietly, and was surprised when his eyebrows rose.

"I did."

As the words sank in, Izumo pushed himself to his feet and pulled off his glasses, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand. When he turned back to the bar, he paused and said, "You should talk to Yata-san when he wakes up. When he heard you hadn't returned, he was...rather shook up. Especially after finding Totsuka…"

Rin nodded, but at her silence the bartender turned and noticed her gaze was still trained on the bar's front doors. With a sigh, the older man bent down to her level once more.

"Try to forgive him. While Mikoto isn't afraid of much, he doesn't handle fear or loss well," Izumo murmured, glancing up at the door as well. "His protective streak runs deeper than you can imagine."

Placing a gentle hand on her cheek, he forced her to meet his gaze one last time.

"We just couldn't lose you too, Rin."