Dying is easy. It's living that's hurts.

The petite figure walked along the desolate street. Further down, her bus approached its stop. Her figure slowed, her breaths coming in labored, hitched gasps. Eyes fluttered shut, trying to shut out the scenes in her head, the looks, the interrogations, everything. Acid rose to her throat, but she feared the consequences to her wounds if she let it rise. She stopped in her steps; tears brimming at the corners of her squeezed eyes. The lite figure lilted, as if the slightest gust might blow her over. She leaned against the cold bricks as gently as she could. Everything, everything ached. She fought the tears, fought the pain, fought the overwhelming desire to just give up; to collapse and fade into nothingness here and now… Her body raked violently under its own weight, trying to breathe, fighting to live.

I have to go. I have to move on.
She tried; forcing herself to fight the pain. In a bout of heated courage, she pushed off the wall with all the strength she could muster.
A small gasp and a wince escaped the figure as she sank to the ground, clutching her sides. Cold. Cold, hard regret. She shouldn't have done that.

Kami, it hurt. Can't… I can't do it…
She sat on her knees, holding her ribs. Bent over, shielding herself.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Bus.
The bus was here. Time to go.
She picked her frail body off the ground, gingerly dragged herself onto the arriving steps.

A silent onlooker stood only feet away, back pressed against the brick wall, witnessing. At the first sound of her friend, she had almost ran to her, but something had stopped her. She had given into her instincts and ducked back behind the corner. As the door closed and the bus drove away, the miko walked onto the corner. She watched on as the bus she was supposed to catch rushed off without her.
"Ami...?"

A/N: Thanks to TheKueken for being my dedicated beta for this entire undertaking. She's been there through the entire process - reading through the painful original, tearing it down, and helping me rebuild it all over again. If it weren't for her, this remaster would not exist. If you haven't read any of her stuff, you should! (I may have beta'd some of them, so I would know.) NO ONE can capture Mina like she does.

If you are here after reading "Original Warmth of the Human Touch" and are disappointed with the similarities, sorry. Skip ahead to chapter 4 for the new content. I was so unhappy with the original that I trashed the original chapters - I have no record of them anymore (not my best decision).