Everything has a purpose. The thought echoed into Rin's head as she viciously stomped on a rather large spider with her sneaker. Rin's father, were he still alive, would have moaned over the death of the spider just then. Everything has a purpose, he would have said to her. The spider consumes the fly, etc. That was all well and fine, honestly. Tragically for the spider, she'd rather have dealt with hordes of flies as opposed to tons of spiders. Flies were annoying; spiders were disgusting mutants, and therefore irrelevant and in need of eradication.

Grossed out at the prospect of spider guts all over the bottom of her shoe, Rin toed off her sneakers and in their place wore a pair of black leather moccasin boots that reached her calves. Adjusting her black pleated skirt and white button up shirt, Rin grabbed her bag and headed for the front door. At the rate she was going, she was going to be late. Not that it mattered much to her, honestly. She hated where she was going. Rin hated that place with a passion of a thousand burning suns, but she needed to be there. She was the last of her family left. How else was she going to pay for the house left in her name, or the car she was wanting? Not many jobs would employ a twenty-year old college dropout at the salary she needed. Sure, this job was humiliating, but it paid the bills.

Rin hadn't really known the members of her family. When she'd been born, her mother had passed away due to complications of child birth, and Rin's father was all she had left. When she was seventeen years old, her father died in a car crash just outside of Vegas. She'd been on her own ever since.

Walking quickly, Rin reached the bus stop just as the double-decker bus pulled up, which was lucky for her, since the wind was blowing fiercely, knocking her skirt and long brown/black hair all around her. Shuffling through her iPod, she settled on the new P!nk album. It was more sappy than she was used to, but P!nk was her idol, and if Rin knew one thing, it was about staying loyal to those you cared about.

Twenty minutes later Rin was entering through the blacked out doors to her place of work. Nodding solemnly to the bouncer, Rin went through a side door located inside the lobby and towards the dressing room. The walls and floor were black, and only battery operated candles splayed along the walls helped her find her destination. About a minute later, Rin moved aside a deep blood red curtain, momentarily exposing the strippers located on the other side.

"Shut that shit, dumbass!" a British voice called out. Leila, clad only in a sequin studded thong raced up to Rin, grinning broadly and threw her arms around her. "I am in love with those moccasins, Snow! Can I borrow them sometime?" Walking over to her station, Rin set her bag down on the counter, careful not to knock any of the makeup off and slowly began unzipping her bag, careful not to stare at herself in the mirror.

"Come on, Leila, you know I'd let you borrow them if your feet weren't two sizes larger than mine," Rin laughed softly.

"Yeah, yeah, alright. Well you're on right after Kagome finishes up, so I'd hurry if I were you. You've got about 4 minutes left." With that, Leila departed.

Shit, Rin thought. Kagome was here? It was one thing to be humiliated by your job; it was another thing to be humiliated by your job WHILE your best friend worked there with you. Heck, Kagome was the one who helped her 'acquire' this gig.

Being a stripper.

Rin sighed, pulling out her 'barely there' clothing and quickly changed into her stage gear. She had to admit, she might hate what she did, but she'd make roughly $100,000 a year if she stuck with this job. That's about what Kagome made yearly. Rin couldn't have hoped for an outcome like that working her dream job as a writer. Maybe one day, as an editor she'd make that kind of money, and when she had the house paid off, seeking a job opportunity like that would be possible. A girl could dream, right?

Applying a faint amount of blush, lip gloss and adding glitter to her arms, face and hair, Rin adjusted the outfit one last time before quickly bypassing at least four of the other girls, some who were wearing nothing at all while others wore black silken robes. She made her way to another blood red curtain, waiting for Kagome to pass through. When she did, Kagome flashed her a brilliant while smile, showing off a perfect set of teeth. It shouldn't have surprised Rin, considering Kagome was paying her way through dental school.

"It's rough out there tonight, girl. You ready?"

When Rin had first started working here, seeing her best friend of 10 years nude throughout most of the evening had been extremely awkward. Now, Rin barely seemed to notice the bare milky white skin. She also made sure to never check anything out, either. Her eyes always remained slightly away from any of the girls, and she really hoped they behaved the same with her. They probably didn't, but Rin was a bit of prude and preferred to believe they were all just as modest as she was once back in the dressing rooms.

"Define 'rough', will you?" Rin brushed back her bangs nervously.

Kagome gave her a gentle shove towards the stage, "I mean there are plenty of men there tonight and it must be a full moon because they are all being extremely handsy. It was very easy money though. Go on, Rin."

Alright, Rin thought. She could do this. After all, she'd been doing it for a few months. It didn't matter that she felt herself being shunned by her dead family, or the fact that she knew a relationship would never work while she chose this profession. She'd have felt dirty coming home to a man after a night like this. Not that there were many men pining after her… Well, not OUTSIDE the strip joint, anyways.

Plastering on a 'seductive smile', Rin sauntered out as the music changed to fit her dance routine. Before she'd been on stage a full minute, two men had already thrown fistfuls of tens towards her before attempting to rush the stage. The bouncers were already on alert, pulling the men away from Rin before she continued.

What the hell was going on? Nearly stumbling over her Sapphire colored stilettos, Rin gazed around frantically as more men seemed to storm the stage. The music abruptly stopped and instead of ambient lighting, all of the lights went out, almost as if there was a power surge. Or someone had cut the circuit breaker. Shrieking from the panic of the sudden black out, Rin twisted around, her body colliding with another. Frantic, Rin stepped back, the complete darkness freaking her out. She hated the dark. If there was anything in the entire world she hated, it was the dark.

Back peddling, Rin tripped over something behind her, landing roughly on her rump as she practically trampled the body below her.

"Ah hell," she heard squeaked out.

"Kagome?" Rin tossed her legs around before standing and reaching down towards her friend. Well, where she assumed her friend was. They clasped hands awkwardly before Rin helped her up.

"We've got to get out of here, Rin. The men have gone crazy!" Rin heard Kagome scuffling back toward the exit.

"Wait for me," Rin called, rushing forward.

Both women locked hands as they slowly made their way back towards the stage exit. The room had gone eerily quiet around them, and Rin was somewhat frightened that she'd lost her hearing somehow.

"Kagome?" she whispered. "Why does it sound like we're the only ones in here?"

"Sh, Rin. Something's really wrong," Kagome shot back just as quietly. Still, the women moved forward so slowly, their shoes didn't even make any noise along on the tiled floor.

Rin's mind was working frantically as they continued their slow pace towards what they thought was the proper direction toward the dressing rooms.

She just didn't understand it. Why was it so eerily quiet in here? And no light at all? Wouldn't people have been using their cell phones as flashlights to see? Hell, they'd been moving around for about two minutes, shouldn't they have come across anything at all? It almost seemed like they were in a void of some sort. However strange that might have seemed.

"Kagome," Rin's voice cracked. "Something is really wrong. I don't think we're exactly where we think we are."

"What do you mean, Rin?"

"I don't know how to explain it, exactly. I just know that we should have made it to the exit by now, but we haven't. I can't hear anyone, can you? And don't you think someone would have brought some sort of light out already? Not to mention Leila is afraid of the dark too... Wouldn't she have screamed when the lights flashed off?"

Rin felt Kagome stop moving.

"I have my cell phone on me."

Rin's eyes bulged.

"This whole damn time you've had your phone and you haven't used it yet? What the hell, Kagome?!"

"I'm sorry," Kagome practically shouted as a tiny light appeared in her hand. Her words seemed to bounce off the darkness "I was in the process of freaking out, Rin. My phone wasn't exactly on my list of priorities!"

"You're right. I'm sorry."

Slowly, the little rectangle of light began to circle around them. Kagome brought it in front of them, hoping to see an exit, what direction they were in, ANYTHING. But there was literally nothing but a vast emptiness.

"What… I don't understand. What's going on?" Kagome's voice edged on borderline hysteria. "We should have seen something. Why haven't we seen anything? Rin, what's happening to us? Where are we? Oh God, I just want to go home. I promise, I'll never strip again, I swear!"

Rin wanted to laugh. Loudly, obnoxiously, she just wanted to get something out. What was wrong with them? Kagome never thought of her job the way Rin did, and Rin wasn't the type to start bouncing off the walls when danger was looming ahead.

"Kagome, can you try calling someone? See if you get reception?"

"Sure." The screen lit up once more as Kagome clicked on something.

"I didn't say to check Facebook! How about we dial 911 or something, eh?"

"Nothings working, Rin. Maybe we should just keep walking." Kagome hesitantly lifted the phone again, hoping in vain to find something amidst the darkness.

Something large and seemingly malevolent started to encircle the two women. Both shrieked, even as Kagome yelled, "Something isn't right. I can feel it. It seems so out of place in this world." Invisible tentacles wrapped around both women, trying to push them apart. When Rin reached down to grab the tentacles, her hand came in contact with her stomach. What was happening?

"What are you talking about, Kagome? What world are you talking about?"

"Oh, Rin. I'm so sorry to have involved you in this. I didn't know it was real, I swear. I had no idea."

Rin's thoughts became even more panicked at the rising hysteria sounding from Kagome's voice. A whistling sound, almost like the wind, picked up and came from all around them, making it hard to hear each other without shouting. Strangely, although it seemed like wind, nothing moved or rustled at all. They were truly trapped in some sort of void. Time loop. SOMETHING.

"He calls to me when I'm dreaming. I said I wanted to be with him, but I had no idea he was real. I swear, I didn't know he was real!"

A solid force came between them, threatening to break apart their vise like grip as they clung to one another. Soon the pull was so strong, Rin could barely hold on to Kagome's hands. The cell phone seemed all but forgotten.

"Kagome, what's happening to us? You know, don't you? Please, just answer me!" Rin shouted, but heard no reply. "Kagome? Kagome!" The invisible force plummeted Rin further and further from the spot she was sure Kagome waited. It was effectively separating them, and Rin felt such sorrow at knowing she was probably going to die, and poor Kagome would be lost in this void forever. Surely if Kagome knew what this was, that meant Rin wasn't supposed to be here and therefore, she didn't matter.

Everything has a purpose.

What a joke, Rin thought cruelly. Cringing at a sudden burst of bright purple light, Rin jerked an arm in front of her, shielding her eyes. A few seconds passed, though it seemed like hours before Rin could focus her eyes enough to glance around her. A surreal image of flowers upon flowers crowded her vision. The field was beautiful, incandescent, she even felt safe. The purple sun cast a light violet hue among the meadow, yet it all seemed foggy, almost as if Rin was dreaming of being there.

Although she heard no noise or sensed any movement, something inside her demanded she turn around. Her attention needed to be focused on something behind her. Slowly, ever so slowly, Rin turned, ignoring the awkward movement of stiletto and ground as her heels began to sink into the lush earth. Before her stood someone, and as he approached her breath hitched inward.

"I know you." And with that, Rin collapsed to the floor.