Chapter 21: Emiko

"Make sure you clock out before you leave, Aiko-chan!"

Rin nodded in response as she pushed through the door to the dancers' changing room. A week had passed since she first accepted Takumi's job offer to become a cocktail server, and so far she had managed to keep up her alternate persona without raising suspicion. Only twice had she not responded to her fake name, but even then her lack of reaction had simply been chalked up to the music blaring too loud or the customers distracting her at the time.

Slipping into the first open chair she could find, Rin began the long process of cleaning her face of the layers of makeup and rouge the dancers had applied before her shift. Other than concealing her HOMRA tattoo under layers of foundation – and even then she relied mainly on her long hair to hide the insignia – Rin had no real experience with applying the liners and gels that coated her eyelashes, lips, and face. Blotting a cotton pad, she watched, fascinated, as her natural face began to reappear from underneath the shadowy contours that her coworkers had painstakingly applied. The only hint of makeup she allowed to remain was the shimmery gold eye shadow one of the girls had applied, gushing how she had to wear it since it matched Rin's eyes and golden bikini top perfectly.

Speaking of the bikini top, Rin still struggled with how her uniform left little to the imagination. Takumi had allowed her to forgo the sky-high heels due to her injured ankle, instead supplying her with a set of glimmering gladiator sandals that laced up her delicate ankles and calves, but the golden bikini top had been shoved into her hands without room for discussion. Rin still found herself wrapping her arms around her waist, unconsciously covering up her exposed stomach. Goosebumps would rise when cigarette smoke would blow across her back, and she would flinch at the slightest brush from one of the customers slipping her tip into her apron. She still squirmed under the lingering gazes and struggled to keep her temper from flaring up when one of the men decided they wanted to try to slide their hands a little closer to the waistband of her spandex shorts. Constantly she had to remind herself that she needed this cover job in order to get closer to Niaka.

Tonight, however, was the first night since she started that they didn't show up, which made the rest of her shift seem to drag on for eternity. While Takumi wouldn't let her serve the VIP room yet, Rin made sure she was always the first to welcome them the moment they entered the club. Sashaying her hips and batting her long lashes, Rin felt as if she flipped an internal switch and suddenly was taken over by her "Aiko" persona. It was the only way she kept her cover and her focus. While her confident facade gained her approval from Takumi, it was not doing her any favors with the head server, who tended to work with the higher paying customers. Miyuri was a petite brunette with a fierce competitive streak, and Rin's determination to win favor with the Niaka members only fueled her fire. On more than one occasion Rin would see the brunette throw her dirty looks from across the room. In fact, before Rin ducked into the changing room to leave she had seen Miyuri flash her a smug smile as she slipped through the door to the VIP room with a tray of drinks, knowing full well it would cause Rin's jaw to tense and her teeth to grind together.

It was now three in the morning and, wanting nothing more than to get home, Rin quickly stripped out of her bikini and shorts, pulled on a pair of jeans, and zipped a hoodie up over her bra. After burying the golden swimsuit top at the bottom of her bag, Rin proceeded to quickly count her tips from the night. She didn't even want to imagine what would happen if any member of HOMRA discovered her rather risqué uniform.

As she quickly began to flip through her dollar bills, another one of the other servers who finished her shift for the night entered the changing room as well. She was a tall, leggy blonde with chin length hair and a chest so large she was almost busting out of her bikini top. She flashed Rin a grin who returned it with a half smile, her attention still focused on the money she had made for the night. Perhaps she could start a small fund for Anna or even put the money away to go back and get her GED someday.

"So how'd your night go?"

Lost in her thoughts, Rin glanced up with a blank look on her face at the other server. She looked to be about the same age, though Rin didn't know for certain despite having worked a shift together that past Tuesday. The blonde nodded her head in the direction of Rin's stack of money.

"Not bad," Rin shrugged. "One seventy-five. Better than the weekdays."

The other girl whistled in response as she unzipped and peeled back her thigh high boots. "With tips like that you'll be working upstairs in no time." Rin had to look away when the busy girl brazenly discarded her bikini top to change into sweats. It wasn't until she folded her money carefully into her bag and stood to leave that the girl turned to look back at her.

"You got someone pickin' you up?"

A small frown creased Rin's forehead and she cocked her eyebrow. "No, why would I?"

The tall blonde looked appalled. "You walk home all by yourself at this time of night? Tell me you at least live close by!"

Rin couldn't point out that there really wasn't much out there at this time of night that could possibly scare her. In fact, if any attempted mugger or rapist caught sight of her insignia they would be the ones running for their lives. But instead she shrugged again and reached for her bag.

"Not too far."

"Well," The girl straightened her shoulders authoritatively. "I'm walking you partway. At least until my bus stop. My boyfriend usually doesn't let me walk home alone at night, but he got called in to cook the third shift tonight and won't be done until 8 a.m." She frowned unhappily for a moment before turning a bright smile to Rin and holding out her hand. "I'm Emiko, by the way."

Rin paused a moment before grasping it in return. The girl had a firm shake, much to Rin's surprise, and upon releasing her grip gave her a small smile in return. "Aiko."

Emiko cracked a grin at Rin's hesitancy, and Rin caught a hint of some sort of accent. "Sorry if I'm creepin' you out. It's just nice to have a friendly face around her. At least one that's not tryin' ta' get into your pants." She tossed her head in the direction of the men still lingering in the club. "You looked like one of the few normal ones here."

Rin nodded in understanding, holding the door open for Emiko to pass through and letting it swing shut behind the two of them as they made their way to the main street. Despite knowing she had the ability to take care of herself if trouble arose, Rin had to admit she appreciated having the other girl's company. Emiko conversed easily, transitioning from topic to topic smoothly without seeming as if she was trying too hard. Rin had forgotten that this was the way girls chatted naturally, and what she probably would have experienced more if she had had the chance to complete high school or go on to college.

Popping in a stick of gum, after offering one first to Rin, Emiko turned the conversation back on Rin. "So, where you from, Aiko-chan?"

Rin shoved her hands deep in the pockets of her jeans. "Erm, well, as a child I grew up in a suburb north of here, but I've lived on the west side of Shizume as well as just south of the historic district. Now I'm only a few blocks away."

Emiko shook her head. "You better be careful, girl. This is gang territory around here. Been a lot of talk of Yakuza getting' pretty active again, and those HOMRA punks have been on manhunt lately." Rin squirmed slightly beside her but stayed silent. "But anyway, how long did you live out in the suburbs? I had a cousin who went to high school about twenty minutes north of Shizume."

"'Til I was thirteen," Rin said quietly.

"Eh?" Emiko gave her a look. "Strange age to leave. What made your parents decide to pack up then?"

Blowing out a breath from her cheeks, Rin glanced away at their reflections in the dark storefront windows as they passed by. "They died."

"Oh man," Emiko's eyes filled with pity and she, too, shoved her hands in her pockets. "Harsh."

Rin shrugged. "It was a freak plane crash. Long time ago now."

She hadn't shared that bit of information with any of her clansmen. In part it was due to the fact that the memories of her parents had grown fainter over the years. Rin could still recall her father's booming laugh and the sweet melodies her mother would hum as she braided her hair or cooked near the stove. They had had a sprawling backyard, and Rin remembered many occasions when she was a child where both of her parents would patiently sit down with her for a picnic, despite Rin's firm insistence upon using her plastic tea set.

"So where did you go next?" Emiko asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"My grandmother's," Rin responded automatically. She was surprised at how quickly the answers tumbled from her mouth, but was finding she actually enjoyed sharing these details with a complete stranger. It was a strange feeling she couldn't quite put into words. "It was actually nice to start over at a new school; make some new friends, find some new distractions-"

"Yeah, I bet you found some new 'distractions'." Emiko nudged Rin's arm, giving her a naughty wink in the process, and Rin suddenly found herself chuckling at the innuendo.

"Yeah, yeah, there might have been an awkward boyfriend situation or two, although, can you really call it dating when we were that young…" And suddenly Rin found herself opening up about her memories of middle school and early high school. She had been an average student, passing enough of her classes to rank higher than most but ultimately was too distracted by her new friends to give much more effort than that. Rin had been the student that had managed to make a friend or two in almost every social circle. She had been friendly enough to get along with almost everyone and assertive enough to suppress any bullies who tried badmouth her for disrupting the status quo. While she had never taken part in any clubs or band, Rin looked back fondly upon her life in school. Truthfully, it was probably why she was still a little jealous of Kousuke for attending college. Rin had excelled in school, but she had had to make the choice to give it up for Ayami's sake.

Rin spoke so fast that she didn't realized she slipped up about her sister until it was too late.

"Oh, you have a sister?" Emiko's eyes lit up at the thought and she clapped her hands together. "How cute! How old is she?"

At the sight of Rin's downcast eyes and averted gaze, Emiko's hands flew to her mouth. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean to pry. I had no idea-"

Rin waved her off. "I'm better now. It's getting easier to talk about." And, truthfully, it was. "Yes, I had a little sister, Ayami. We were ten years apart, so she was only a little tyke when we moved in with my grandmother."

"That had to be hard on your grandmother," The taller blonde mused, and Rin nodded in agreement.

"We had a great first year with her, but my grandmother's health began to deteriorate shortly after that." When Emiko gave her a questioning glance, Rin elaborated. "Dementia."

It was true Rin had many fond memories of living with a grandmother. She had been a tiny thing, but had doted on both Rin and Ayami whenever she had the chance. Rin had always been amazed by her grandmother's garden. Flowers, vegetables, fruits, herbs… Her only assigned chore was to help in the garden, but Rin had never minded the laborious work. Every time they would toil away in the hot sun, with Ayami usually seated on a soft blanket within arm's reach, her grandmother would patiently explain the use of each and every item in her patch or recipes they planned to attempt in the future.

It wasn't until she entered high school that Rin realized her grandmother's health was rapidly deteriorating. At times she would come home to find her grandmother disorientated and confused as to why Rin was there, asking if she was "over for a visit". Other times she would struggle to finish simple tasks, such as cooking dinner or her basic hygiene. Her grandmother's brother would stop in once a month to check on them, since almost all of the rest of their extended family members that could care for them had moved away or out of the country, but the final straw had been when her grandmother had completely forgotten Ayami's existence for a few hours. Rin had arrived home from school only to find her grandmother had had no recollection of her five-year-old sister, and had nearly fainted with relief when she discovered the chubby, blonde toddler covered in dirt in the backyard garden.

At the start of her sophomore year of high school, Rin had decided it was time for her to get a part-time job to bring home some money. It had been getting harder and harder for her grandmother to remember simple tasks such as grocery shopping and bills, and Rin knew she needed to start stepping up for the sake of her grandmother and sister. She did the best that she could, but it had not been easy balancing school, a job, and caring for her family. With the addition of her job, Rin's social life suddenly became nonexistent. The easy-going personality she had adopted her freshman year was suddenly replaced by a detached and disinterested disposition her following year, having no time for the frivolous activities that her classmates were involved in.

By the time she was sixteen, Rin knew her grandmother was too unwell to care for them, and Rin had papers drawn up for her to become an emancipated minor. It had been heartbreaking to see her grandmother put into an elderly nursing home, paid for by her brother, but Rin's sole focus was now on her growing little sister. It was then she had made the decision to drop out and get a full time job in order to care for Ayami, now that the toddler was enrolled in school.

"So, then we moved to this little apartment in the historic district," Rin finished. "It was near the restaurant I worked at, and was close enough that I could walk Ayami to school before my shift."

Emiko had remained silent throughout Rin's entire story, and a feeling of embarrassment began to creep up Rin's cheeks, thinking that she had spoken too much. Looking back, she supposed it wasn't exactly the happiest story, but the strange part was that Rin remembered so many good times it always seemed to outweigh the bad. She wanted to explain that and to share those fun memories, but as the silence thickened she bit her cheek to keep herself from speaking any more.

Suddenly, the tall blonde paused on the sidewalk and glanced at Rin. "Want a cup? My treat." She nodded her head to her left, and Rin peered up at the faded sign to see they were standing outside a 24-hour coffee shop. "I need something to keep me awake on the bus ride home or else I'll miss my stop."

Still a little embarrassed, Rin shrugged and motioned for her to lead on. Frankly, she was not a fan of coffee, but she saw that they offered her favorite brand of hot tea and figured it wouldn't be a complete waste.

After they both had ordered, Emiko hesitantly spoke, "Look, I don't want to make you uncomfortable-"

"Pretty sure that was my line," Rin interrupted, accepting her cup of tea with a nod of gratitude at the cashier.

"-but can I ask what she was like?"

"Who?" Rin asked, distracted as she took a sip.

Emiko fidgeted a second, pouring a dash of cream into her coffee and stirring it a few times before tentatively replying, "Your sister? You just talk about her like you two were very close."

The two girls pushed through the door of the coffee shop and began walking, once more, towards Emiko's bus stop. Rin peeled back the lid of her Styrofoam cup, letting the steam escape so it could cool a bit more. At Rin's silence, Emiko began to apologize profusely and grasp for a different topic, clearly feeling as if she overstepped her bounds.

"No, no, it's okay," Rin assured her. "I just have never really talked about her much since then, so I'm not sure where to start. Plus, for a second there, I thought I had depressed the hell out of you and you were looking for a reason to bail."

The corners of her lips quirked up at the sound of Emiko's snort, and Rin tapped her finger against her lip wondering where to begin.

"Ayami was…bright," She began. "Sounds kind of cheesy and strange, but that's the best way I can describe her. She had that easy laughter and bubbly personality, but it wasn't upfront or in-your-face like some children. It was softer, gentler. You could never stay mad at her…"

Rin recalled the nights after they had first moved into their own apartment. It was a grimy flat - very small, with only one bedroom – but on the nights Rin didn't have to work early the next day the two of them would stay up late watching cartoons and eating popcorn until they were so full they had to roll themselves to bed. She remembered the joy she felt helping Ayami with her kindergarten homework, and the artwork her little sister would bring home from class to cover the bare walls of their apartment. Her sister loved to run barefoot, and on more than one occasion Rin would have to wrestle her to the ground to try to squeeze her feet into a pair of sandals or shoes. Her sister always giggled at these times, loving their game of cat and mouse until Rin would manage to corner and catch her. She also recalled how Ayami would squirm whenever Rin attempted to brush the tangles from her waist-length hair, complaining endlessly how Rin was keeping her from her coloring or her television time.

While the neighborhood they had lived in wasn't the worst, Rin still hadn't liked the idea of letting Ayami walk those couple of blocks to school on her own. She always made sure to schedule her shifts so that she could drop her little sister off first an be finished around the time school let out. Rin remembered her surprise when she had finished a shift one day only to see her manager squatting down next to her alabaster-haired sister, positively delighted by the little girl in front of him and telling her what a hard worker her big sister was.

"Onee-chan is the best onee-chan in the whole world!" Ayami had piped up, her hand automatically fisting the material of Rin's uniform in her hand.

As Rin spoke, the tightness in her chest she hadn't realized she had been carrying since her sister's death seemed to ease. It felt good to remember Ayami, to talk about her and to share all the wonderful things Rin loved about her.

Yet, the more Rin thought about it, the more she realized just how completely unalike Ayami and Anna were. For so long Rin had looked at Anna as if she were simply the ghost of her sister. But, other than sharing similar facial features and hair, they were two entirely different people.

The sound of Emiko sniffling cut Rin short, and she glanced over in surprise to see the taller blonde's eyes were watering. "She sounds wonderful," She hiccupped, embarrassed at her tears.

Rin smiled gently and stared ahead. "Yeah, she was."

"It's very admirable what you did," Emiko continued. "Taking care of your sister and your grandmother."

Rin shrugged. It was an automatic response for when she didn't know what to say in return. Her mother had always scolded her if she didn't accept a compliment, so Rin had compromised with non-verbal responses.

"Seems unfair there was no one to take care of you, though."

For some reason this stung, but Rin immediately pushed that feeling aside. Instead, she lit up a cigarette, pulling a deep drag and reveling in the nicotine. Her companion let out an unamused chuckle.

"That shit will kill ya, Aiko-chan."

Emiko proceeded to tell her about her own two brothers, smirking when she explained how she, too, was ridiculously overprotective of the youngest. Rin listened to her, partly processing what she was saying and partly reveling in how nice it was to be speaking with someone outside of her life at HOMRA. No talk of Niaka or Yakuza or of Kings. No yelling and no arguments being solved with violence. Emiko spoke to her in a way she had forgotten over the years, since back when she had been in school with girl friends of her own. The giggling, gossiping, and smiles came so naturally now. It amazed Rin how quickly Emiko was melting the walls she had built up around the boys at HOMRA. They just didn't do any of these sorts of things, and Rin had been convinced that this version of herself had been lost a long time ago.

And yet here she was, smiling and pouring out memories that she hadn't even shared with Tatara or Mikoto.

As they walked, the topic soon switched from families and work to hobbies. Emiko shared her love of oil painting while Rin told her of her love for cooking. One of her earliest memories was standing on a stool next to her mother, hugging her leg and listening to her read through the list of ingredients as she cooked. Her father had entered the room behind them, kissing the top of Rin's head and telling her what a big help she was. It was a short memory, but one that she cherished the most.

After that they moved onto men, and Rin listened with interest as Emiko described her loving, if slightly shy, boyfriend. The two had been dating since their third year of high school and had just decided to move in together this past year. When Rin asked how he felt about his girlfriend working at Seventh Heaven, Emiko simply rolled her eyes.

"He's clearly not happy about it but it pays the bills for now, or at least until I can find something better. Besides, Jun isn't really the jealous type."

"Must be nice."

The words slipped from Rin's mouth before she could take them back, and suddenly Emiko had that naughty gleam in her eye once more.

"Aiko-chan has a boyfriend too?"

"Sort of…" Rin's face flooded with color, and she had had to look away when Emiko started wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

The taller blonde let out a squeal, and Rin had to brush the back of her hand against her mouth to cover the smirk creeping up her face. Emiko began to beg for details, but this was one area Rin was NEVER good at, even when she had dated in high school. She mumbled a little at how he had been 'busy' the past couple days so she hadn't seen him much, but Emiko waved her hand at this as if this was a minor, unimportant detail. Rin was pretty sure she would have grilled her more if it weren't for the sound of an engine roaring to life at the bus stop ahead.

Emiko let out a shriek at the sight of her bus about to pull away, and their conversation was quickly cut short as they dashed for the bus. In between strides, Emiko huffed, "When's your next shift?"

"Tuesday," Rin gasped, trying to keep pace with her new companion but realizing her legs were not nearly as long.

Banging their hands along the side of the bus to keep it from pulling away, the two women skidded to a halt as the bus doors squeaked open to expose a clearly annoyed bus driver.

"I think I'm working too! I'll see you then, Aiko-chan!"

Emiko darted onto the bus before the driver could change his mind, waving excitedly out the front window of the bus. Rin waved back, watching as Emiko carefully made her way to a seat as the bus pulled away before continuing her walk back home towards bar HOMRA.

The walk to the bus stop had been a little bit out of her way, but Rin hadn't minded the slightest. A thought flashed through her head that for the first time in a while she had had conversation with someone who wanted to talk to her purely because they were interested and wanted to be her friend.

This drew Rin up short.

That wasn't true at all. Wasn't HOMRA the same? Hadn't she been the one who had viewed them as nothing more than a means to an end, a tool to help her track down Niaka and have the strength to take out Yamaken? Hadn't they been the ones who were nothing but kind to her, wanting nothing more than to make her feel at home? Rin thought about what Tatara had said to her in the bathroom that night he bandaged her up.

"Tachibana-san, you're a part of HOMRA now, and whether you like it or not you're part of our family. It doesn't matter if you've been part of it since the beginning or if you stumbled in last night. Being part of HOMRA is a bond that runs deep the moment you are branded. It's no rush, but you should learn to be comfortable with the rest of us."

Maybe it was time for her to start rethinking her views of the red clan. Here she was, thinking she had finally moved on and turned over a new leaf, and yet she still was holding herself back. Constantly viewing Anna as her dead sister, hiding her past from clansmen - ashamed that they would judge her, keeping that last wall up between her and Mikoto, and her resistance to letting herself be cared for like a family is supposed to do.

Rin thought back to what Emiko had said. It was true, Rin had a habit of caring deeply for others. But couldn't the same be said about her clansmen? Wasn't it true their bond ran deeper than blood? She remembered the sound of Izumo's voice near her head, picking her up and carrying her home when she had been too drunk and disorientated to know her right hand from her left. She recalled the warmth that Chitose wrapped around her when she could no longer contain her sobs. She could see the concern in Misaki's eyes at the sight of her bandaged arms, could hear the sound of Tatara's easy laughter, could feel the softness of Mikoto's lips on her temple. Perhaps the most significant was the utmost trust that shone in Anna's crimson eyes.

It was then Rin realized that the sense of contentment she felt in HOMRA came from not only her desire to protect them and keep them safe, but also her relief at their willingness to care for her in return.

When she pushed through the side door of bar HOMRA and climbed the stairs to her room, she saw that the door to her bedroom was already ajar. Peeking in, Rin was startled to see long white hair spilling over the edge of her cot – Anna, already asleep in her bed.

Shutting the door as quietly as she could, Rin pulled on a pair of sleeping shorts and crept to the edge of the bed. Anna's doll-like mouth was parted slightly as she slept and she had one arm tucked underneath her pillow. Climbing over the little girl's tiny frame as best as she could, Rin pulled back her covers and snuggled into the warmth of her comforter. Without hesitating, she pulled the little girl closer, tucking Anna's head beneath her chin before closing her eyes. It felt familiar – it was the same position she slept with Ayami - but for the first time in a while, Rin's heart didn't ache at the memory.

Author's Note: WOW. So it's been a while. I apologize to all my readers for this chapter taking so long. It has been a very stressful month for me, especially with finals, and I just haven't had the time to sit down and write this. First off, I want to thank all of you who review, favorite, and follow me. I'm not joking when I say that those emails notifying me of an update from you all really motivates me! I am so blessed to have over 300 reviews for this story. It truly is amazing, and I appreciate every single one.

I hope you all enjoyed getting a little more back-story on Rin and what she was like before Ayami passed away and her life at HOMRA began. I didn't want to throw a biography of her life at you, so I tried to make it where you'd get little snippets and see what type of person she had been. I was actually surprised to hear a lot of you were very interested to hear about that, so I really do take your reviews to heart! If any of you have family members suffering from dementia, my heart goes out to you. My grandmother is in the early stages, and it is heartbreaking to watch so I feel for all of you. I know the canon characters weren't a focus here, but they will be next chapter! I also hope you guys welcomed Emiko into the mix. I was actually excited to bring another female character in. Rin really doesn't have many to talk to, and I think, deep down, she yearns for that sort of bond with someone closer to her in age. I actually based her off a girl I worked with when I worked the third shift as a waitress at a 24-hour truck stop diner. (Gotta love those jobs that pay the tuition bills. If anyone works/worked the service industry, you feel my pain.) Anyway, she was so easy to talk to that we started opening up about personal stories without even really knowing much about each other. It really helped pass the time during those long stretches with no customers and we got to be good friends. While I don't know how much of a key player Emiko will be in the story over all yet, she will definitely be a fixed figure at the club. And lastly, I hope you guys were able to get the feeling that Rin is starting to finally let go of her past and move on. It's really taken her some time to accept it, but I think she's going to bond even more with Anna and the rest now that she is starting to feel it is okay to let go of her little sister's ghost. Let me know your thoughts!

Miecha-ish: I am sorry it has taken so long, dear! But I'm really happy you liked the last chapter! The more I rewatch the anime and read the manga, the more I really do see Yata acting like a little Chihuahua!

guest: He is such a teenager sometimes, I swear. I'm sorry he wasn't a key player this chapter, but he will be next chapter again!

Leigha: *throws up hands in defense* Hang on! I have no idea how I'm going to end it yet! Hahaha it's a long way off, but I have an idea of how I want it to go. Depending on what my readers think, I might set this up for a sequel. We'll see how much time I have once this is finished and if anyone is interested.

Guest: Tatara is my baby. I just love him, so I know what you mean when you say Shiro irks you a little. Thankfully for you, he and HOMRA don't really interact much 'til the end, and Rin has her hands full as it is with Niaka.