That was a stupid mistake, you want to snarl at her, scream at her, shake her until she gets so angry at you that she tries to take your head off with the Enraiha. You want to lash out at her, make those amber eyes flinch with hurt because you know just how much your approval means to her.

You think its cute, that little crush on you that's rapidly blossoming into something you don't even want to consider. Because she's sixteen and of course the dashing and handsome and powerful bodyguard in her life is going to be the one she starts blushing and stuttering around and even awkwardly try to romance.

Some days you just feel like teasing but never more than that. Some days you think, give it a few years, we'll see where it goes.

Not now though. Right now Rin is still at the back of your thoughts, right now your heart is still empty, right now she's sixteen and still too young for the jaded, angry heart that you keep inside.

There'll be time later. Later, you can heal and smile from the bottom of your heart without any weight attached and maybe later you can even find out if you can learn to open up again.

Only, there is no later right now, maybe ever.

Right now, Ayano is bleeding and unconscious from that stupid mistake and you've cut that bastard who did this into a thousand pieces and she's still bleeding.

Right now, there are no memories as an outcast, as a failure, as a weakling. Right now Tsuo Rin's dead eyes don't accuse you of anything anymore. Right now, your heart isn't empty because you can't feel even that cold emptiness anymore.

There's only Ayano.

And that might just be enough.