A/N: Last Chapter. I was thinking of adding in more pointless background on Rayne, but my writing has been a little off seeing as I've experienced near hell for the past week. Part of that (I'd say 30 percent) is my fault for thinking about things too deeply and too much. But that isn't to say that bad things have been happening to me consistently. I saw the midnight showing of Harry Potter. Best HP movie so far I think... Anyways, enough about my life. Please try to overlook the parts that are poorly written... I'll fix those later when I feel like I can.

Rated: Mature for mature themes/situations, homosexuality, possible crude humor, and language.
Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or any other copyrighted materials. Just the plot, Reiki, and Rayne.

Chapter 16: Pulse

Sango watched in awe as Rayne bypassed her usual seat next to her on the private jet to sit elsewhere. Kagome thanked the blonde girl before sitting down next to Sango and Rayne shrugged it off before opening up a copy of the plane shopping magazine. She often found ridiculous things inside and laughed at them until she was allowed to put on her head phones.

The blonde girl was visibly disappointed when she saw that Kikyo offered Reiki a spot next to her.

Green eyes bet hers briefly before an apologetic smile was sent her way.

Rayne sighed and wondered how the hell Kikyo was so much more captivating than she was. Kikyo was cold and weird, and she was also somewhat annoying, if not bossy.

Hakudoshi sat next to her and the two young boys sat in the row across the aisle.

"Kagome, Reiki is sitting with Kikyo… why do you think that is?" Sango questioned in a whisper.

"Kikyo overhead me comforting Reiki before we got on the plane," Kagome explained to her. "Reiki is terrified of flying and I guess Kikyo offered to sit next to her to help."

"I wonder why Kikyo is being so nice to Reiki," the green eyed musician mused softly.

"It's hard not to be nice to her," Kagome mumble with a blush.

"I suppose so. She's very cute," Sango admitted and the two laughed softly to themselves.

As the plane took off, Rayne's eyes were glued to Reiki's huddled form and Kikyo's hand rubbing the younger girl's back soothingly. Envy raged within her and she wanted nothing more than to be the one comforting Reiki. With a pout she looked out of the window.

They still had yet to reach cruising altitude and Rayne was considering flipping through the magazines again until Souta spoke up.

"Hey, Rayne, I read in a magazine once that you beat box," the boy said expectantly.

Rayne glanced over, fully prepared to offer the boy some less than nice words until she saw Reiki peak at her briefly. The blonde blushed and decided to entertain the boys a little with her vocal percussion. Perhaps Reiki would find that interesting as well…

They were fully amazed by the sounds she could make but she refused to continue to entertain them once they got to cruising altitude and put on her headphones.

Once the plane stopped ascending, Reiki sighed a sigh of relief. Take off was always the worst part of the plane ride for her.

"How are you feeling?" Kikyo inquired with a kind smile.

"I'm alright. Thanks for asking. It wasn't as bad as I thought; I suppose you helped a great deal."

"Ah, well I'm glad to be of help… Planes, however spectacular, aren't completely flawless."

"Ah, but you have to admit, planes really are a wonder," Reiki said.

That was all it took to get them into a very vivid discussion about how planes fly and a fellow named Bernoulli.

Hakudoshi looked absolutely annoyed. What was with these girls who seemed to know every fucking thing on the planet?! He'd heard Kagome and Kikyo discussing wave frequency and strings on instruments and it nearly blew his mind.

Now, he wasn't a sexist and he wasn't an elitist of any kind, but it really bothered him, for some reason, that he kept meetings all of these women who seemed to have the upper hand on him. He used to take his unexpected intelligence and use that to convince women to date him. Now, while he was surrounded by super smart lesbians, he wondered if he'd even have a chance with them around.

Though, he hoped that the fact that he was a guy would still appeal to most girls.

And with that thought, he laughed at himself. His thoughts were pretty pointless in comparison to what was going on around him. Maybe he'd request to listen to music with Rayne; he'd left his MP3 player in the bag he checked in.

Rayne surprisingly offered her whole MP3 player to him when he asked, and he took it without questioning her.

With a soft sigh, the blue eyed drummer looked out of the window and into the darkness around the plane. Would she regret letting Hakudoshi borrow her music player?

Probably not. She'd probably be asleep in a few short moments. She shut her eyes and let the natural beat of her heart lull her to sleep.

She awoke to being jostled about and was startled to find that the plane was landing. She groaned, annoyed about being woken up, but what was there to do? Her mouth was pasty and her head hurt. She wasn't really in the mood for much of anything, which included how fond Reiki seemed to be of Kikyo (and vice versa).

She was frighteningly silent on her way off the plane. Hakudoshi stayed close, sensing the bad vibes and feeling as if he were in charge of keeping them at bay.

"Whoa, look at this!" Souta exclaimed as they were passing one of the shops that sounds snacks, candy, and magazines on the way to the baggage claim.

The young boy picked up a magazine and held it out to Kagome. On the front was a photo of Sango and her on stage. Kagome blushed at seeing herself and snatched that from her brother. She sifted through the pages quickly to find the article on the headline of "Sango's favorite girl—the one who had the fans in an uproar". The article was surrounded by photos of her and Sango, some from before the band had even formed. There was even one from their days in high school with InuYasha, and Kagome felt slightly embarrassed because she looked extra geeky and young.

"Kagome," Sango spoke gently, concerned that maybe the article wouldn't be one of approval, "just put it down. We need to get our bags."

"I…" Kagome's eyes poured over the text swiftly and her eyes began to fill with tears.

"Come on," Sango sighed, pulled the magazine from her lax fingers. She laced her fingers with Kagome's, squeezing her hand gently. She'd have to find time to read the article later. She'd have a copy of the magazine delivered to the hotel they were staying at.

Reiki watched the two walk off with worry in her deep green eyes before stealing a glance at Rayne only to find the blonde watching her expectantly. She blushed and continued on, flustered.

Rayne hadn't even realized she had been doing it until Hakudoshi requested she stopped. She had been beating a rhythm with her fingers and hands in the van. Anything her finger tips could reach was fair game to become a makeshift drum. Hakudoshi became annoyed, as he always did, and finally asked her to stop. She stopped immediately, knowing how much it annoyed her band mates.

Of course, the two younger boys had been enthralled by what seemed to them to be a fantastic talent.

"Rayne, how'd you learn how to do that?" Kohaku wondered.

"Well, one day, when I was little, I really had nothing to do. Actually, that was pretty much every day for me. Life at the orphanage wasn't all that great. So I was just sitting in my room gazing out the window and I just got the impulse to rest my hand on my chest. My heartbeat had always been somewhat of a comfort to me…"

Rayne stopped talking, seemingly lost in her own thoughts until she shook her head and continued.

"To make a long story short, I started tapping on the window sill. I tapped different rhythms that all corresponded with what my heart was doing. I eventually set things on the window sill to tap to get different sounds and stuff. I'd spend hours doing it… I had nothing else to do."

"Wait, when did you first play the drums then?" Souta asked, having read that the girl had learned to play drums at a very young age.

"I first played drums in 6th grade. I snuck into the band room one afternoon and played on the drum set in there. I got in trouble of course—I always got in trouble."

Rayne shrugged and turned to look out of the window, unceremoniously ending the conversation. Reiki was enthralled, wanting to learn more about the girl's past. She wondered how she got by without parents… Reiki glanced to her left to see the boys talking about something. To her right, Kikyo seemed to be gazing at nothing in particular. In the seats ahead of her were Sango and Kagome sitting next to Reiki. Sango was looking introspective and Kagome had her face buried in Sango's neck, no doubt letting the words of the tabloid bother her. Hakudoshi sat in the front passenger seat gazing out of the window absently.

Reiki looked back towards Rayne to see her braiding another tiny, random braid into her hair. Would they ever get a chance to talk about their feelings again? Reiki knew that Rayne had taken offense to her sitting with Kikyo instead of her. She wished she could explain everything. She wished Rayne would kiss her again.

In the hotel room, Reiki found herself alone once again. They had a beachfront view, but the green eyed scholar found that having a view was kind of pointless at night. The only thing she could see was a large cargo ship sitting a little ways out in the water. It was lit up, and very pretty, but Reiki was bothering herself with trying to read the words on the side of the ship.

She sighed and stepped out onto the balcony. The air was hot and damp, but there was a continuous breeze—not that the breeze mattered much because it was hot as well.

Reiki felt that the beach was a lovely place, but at night it was one of the most frightening places known to man. The ocean was large and vast, and at night, it was not only large and vast, but dark as well. Just there mere thought that there were almost endless miles of darkness before her sent a chill through her body and the idea of how violent the waves got frightened her as well.

The sound of thunder rolled and she wondered why she wasn't paying close enough attention to see the lightening in the sky, because she hadn't even noticed it was storming in the far off distance.

"Are you cold?"

The question sent her feet into the air in surprise and fright because Kagome had left the room a long while ago and she wasn't expecting anyone. She turned just in time to see Rayne advancing towards her in a tank top and very short denim shorts.

Rayne stepped forward and let her hands come to rest on both sides of Reiki's body, trapping her between the balcony and herself. At any other moment, Reiki would've been terrified to have her back facing what seemed like a 200ft drop, but now… now, she wasn't frightened at all. She felt safe even.

"You don't look cold," Rayne mused with her eyes pinned to the blush that was warming the younger girl's cheeks.

"How'd you get in here?" Reiki asked with an unsteady voice.

Rayne's eyes gazed into her own and the blonde's eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Magic," Rayne smirked with a look on her face that conveyed her mischief.

"How the hell did you manage to break into a hotel room?" Reiki asked with a soft laugh, and hidden worry.

Rayne gave her a strange look and then pulled away, giving her some room. Reiki jumped a little.

"Do… do I scare you?" Rayne asked with a wry smile.

"What?! No... No, of course not," Reiki stuttered, confused about where that idea was coming from.

"Are you sure, because you look scared. And I can see your pulse, in your neck, and it's kind of not very steady."

Reiki made a bewildered face.

"You can see my pulse?"

"Look, don't get any crazy ideas about me being a vampire or some shit," Rayne laughed, taking a seat on the bed.

Thunder rolled again, and Rayne's eyes shot to the balcony where Reiki was stepping into the room from.

"That was pretty," the blonde murmured before her eyes fell on Reiki again.

"What?" the younger girl asked.

"The lightning," Rayne replied, watching carefully as Reiki seated herself near her.

Silence filled the air with them and Reiki watched as Rayne's fingertips went to her blonde hair and began to braid. At this observation, she noticed that the other braids were absent amongst the colored streaks.

"I'm glad you're here," Reiki said with a blush.

"Really?" Rayne murmured with her own blush, "Because I was getting the feeling that you didn't want me around."

"That's not true…"

"Well then," Rayne said as she got to her feet.

Once again, thunder roared in the distance.

"Where are you going?" the green eyed scholar mumbled, afraid to be left alone again.

"To the beach, and Reiki's coming with me," Rayne said, grabbing hold of the younger girl's hand and pulling her along.

Reiki said nothing and allowed Rayne to pull her along to the elevator. The two were silent and Rayne wondered if she was being too forceful with the younger girl…

The beach was dark and not to Reiki's surprise, it frightened her even more being on it than looking at it. She held Rayne's hand tightly, staying close and the blue eyed girl had no objections. The two walked for a long while in the darkness, the waves crashing in a syncopated rhythm to their right and the palm trees on their left rustling in the less than docile wind of the night.

"So, let's see if I get this right," Rayne said, startling Reiki.

The blonde continued, "You're afraid of flying, you don't like the beach at night, and being alone makes you uneasy."

The thunder rolled again and Reiki smiled, "You're forgetting one thing Ray."

"Oh, and storms scare you as well," she added with a wide smile. "How could I forget that one?!"

"Hmm, you're very observant," Reiki muttered, embarrassed by how easy it was to scare her.

"Eh, I wouldn't say observant. I just notice little things when I really want to; I usually don't notice much. I want to know a lot about you, though."

Reiki blushed and Rayne continued, not waiting for her to say anything.

"The beach isn't so bad at night, especially if there's a storm off the coast. See look," Rayne said pointing at the ship a far ways out.

"It is kind of pretty, lit up like that," Reiki admitted.

"Oh, that? Yeah, but I wasn't talking about that," Rayne said, pointing again. Reiki strained her eyes to see what the drummer was talking about. Perhaps it was something that only someone with great vision could see—she remembered reading somewhere that people with blue eyes usually had good eye sight.

Suddenly, at what seemed like feet away from the ship, jagged lines of lightning fell into the water creating a flourishing image of light that got caught in the dark backdrop of clouds.

Reiki looked on in awe. It wasn't scary. No, it was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

A few moments later the threatening sound of thunder crashed. The air was damp and warm—humid.

Rayne somehow managed to slip her hand from Reiki's tight grip and sat in the sand. The blue eyed drummer didn't exactly enjoy sand in any way, but she'd handle it for tonight. Just for the sake of her possible relationship with Reiki.

The younger girl followed suite, blushing.

"Do you think it's safe for us to be out here so late?"

"We'll be alright," Rayne said without any worry.

A blush settled on Reiki's cheeks as her eyes met Rayne's.

"You're so cute," Rayne said with a smile.

Reiki's blush only strengthened and Rayne sighed.

"I wanted to talk to you about 'us'."

Sango flipped through the pages of the magazine to find that article that had disturbed Kagome so. She found the familiar headline and began to read:

"The break-up of the century definitely had fans worried that their favorite band would suddenly fade from the circuit as rapidly as it had appeared. The band, not even a year old has topped the charts and taken the world by storm. The separation of Sango Taijiya and Rayne Roberts, two members of Kilala, certainly had the music scene in a tizzy. However, Taijiya took no time in finding herself a new lesbian lover to warm her bed.

It is known to fans that this girl, Kagome Higurashi, and Taijiya have a history together. They had shared a relationship before—one that left Taijiya depressed and heartbroken. Fans took no time in voicing their dislike of the girl; blogs and videos, all having opinions that did not show any support of Taijiya's decision or good feelings towards this girl, who had been unknown at the time. Those who knew Taijiya and Higurashi before the band formed used words such as "selfish" and "slut" to describe Higurashi."

Sango set down the magazine, offended by the trash that was being written (written poorly, she would add). She only knew that it would get worse from there. Did she even want to read it? Well, she had to read it, only because she knew she'd be questioned about the credibility of what was written—she was sure she'd simply deny that anything written there was true. Whatever the case, she didn't want to be taken by surprise. Begrudgingly, she read on:

"Higurashi doesn't really seem the type. Sango pleaded with fans to not look at the girl as someone who broke her heart and someone who broke up their favorite couple, but as someone she loves dearly Saturday night at the concert in Charlotte. And despite the fact that there were people booing Higurashi on stage, they can't deny that they looked good together. Even Rayne (continued on page 54.) looked on approvingly with her signature smirk.

More information is sure to be uncovered on Higurashi, and until then, fans will have to face the facts. Taijiya is once again with her high school (and college) sweetheart. But hey, Rayne's still available. Who doesn't like a hot blonde?"

The rest of the article was nothing but captioned photos of the concert and photos of Sango and Kagome. A photo of them with InuYasha, back in their high school days, was featured, and at this Sango laughed. Kagome looked so geeky.

"What are you laughing at?"

Sango was startled. She looked up, surprised to see Kagome step into the room. How had she gotten in? She watched as blue eyes fell upon the magazine and a somber look crept onto the girl's face.

"I think you'd feel better if you finished the article," Sango suggested hesitantly.

"Did you read it?" Kagome mumbled taking a seat next to Sango.

"Yes," the green eyed musician said, kissing Kagome gently on the cheek. "They're wrong about you, and I'm kind of glad about that. That way, when they realize how wrong they are, they'll feel somewhat shitty. You're not selfish and you're certainly not a slut."

"Did you ever think I was? I mean, that whole fiasco with InuYasha and then at school… did you ever think I was a slut?"

Sango watched as Kagome refused to meet her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to gaze into beautiful blue eyes dancing with love and appreciation.

"I won't lie Kagome… when I was mad at you for cheating on me, that was all I could think of you. But I didn't stay mad forever, and eventually all of the wonderful things I knew you were overpowered that terrible thought. And do their misconceptions matter anyways? I love you, and the people who love you know that's not true. Isn't that enough?"

Tears were in Kagome's eyes and Sango felt as if she had had enough of seeing Kagome cry for today. She gathered the girl up in her arms and hugged her tightly.

They stayed like that, soaking up one another's warmth for a long time. Kagome's sniffles eventually slowed down and Sango still held fast, green eyes displaying the deep thought she had submerged herself in. She soaked in the feel of Kagome's skin against her neck, the warmth of her damp breath, and the soft smell of the shampoo Kagome always used. She tilted her neck and kissed Kagome soundly on the top of her head.

"How'd you get in here?" she asked.

"Rayne gave me her key in exchange for mine… I think she wanted to surprise Reiki. I tried to warn her that Reiki didn't like surprises, but she refused to listen. I suppose that she's confident in what she's doing. I can only hope that she actually does know what she's doing."

"It may not seem like it," Sango started as she pulled away from Kagome only to lie down and pull the blue eyed girl along, "but Ray is a really thoughtful person. I think she knows exactly what she's doing."

"Well, if you believe in her, I suppose I do as well. Reiki's not making things easy for her though…"

"$10 says they hook up tonight," Sango said slyly.

"Really Sango?! Only $10," Kagome joked with a laugh. "And something tells me they already hooked up in Charlotte."

"Yikes, is Reiki that easy?"

Kagome playfully hit Sango on the arm.

"I don't mean 'hooked up' like that!" she cried, still laughing.

"Well, we've hooked up 'like that' plenty of times," Sango mumbled, kissing her gently. "Right babe?"

She kissed Kagome again and girl never responded—she, instead, put her concentration into kissing Sango's perfect lips gently. The green eyed musician hummed in content, dreading the day Kagome had to return home to finish her semester.

"Wait… I don't get it," Reiki mumbled, looking towards the foam that was chasing the water down the beach and back into the ocean.

"What's there not to get?" Rayne asked, looking a bit annoyed. For a girl who was supposed to be uber smart, Reiki sure was a bit dense. "You still like Kagome a lot, and I can tell. I mean, it didn't hit me until you were sitting with Kikyo in the plane. Anyone who looked at Kikyo and Kagome would say there was some sort of resemblance. And there you were, just taking in the feel of her hand on your back. And I understand why you like Kagome so much. She's so thoughtful and she cares a lot about you. She only wants you to be happy… and I wonder about that, because she obviously wants us to hook up.

"She doesn't know me though… She doesn't really know who I am, or how I am… how I act. I have to wonder what kind of person she thinks I am. I know what kind of person I am, and I doubt what kind of person I can become… I'd hurt you. I don't want that Rei."

"What I felt for Kagome was strong," Reiki mumbled, her voice getting drowned out by the crash of the surf. Rayne looked up to see that the water had been advancing steadily up the bank. Another hour or so and it'd be able to touch their feet.

"But Kagome and Sango are in love and what I feel doesn't really matter," the green eyed girl mumbled with a distant look in her eye. "I know that Kagome and Sango only want us to be happy but, like you, I don't really see our compatibility."

Rayne sighed, realizing that if they did start a relationship, it'd probably end terribly. She would probably do something to offend Reiki, like make out with a fan, or get drunk and do so much worse.

"With all this said, it doesn't make me like you any less."

Rayne looked up, surprised. Exactly how much did Reiki like her anyways?

"Me neither," the blonde laughed. "And I'm kind of eager to see how we'd figure shit out. I mean, Sango was pretty strict with me and kept an eye on me. You don't seem the type to do that… so it'd be nothing but my own will to not get drunk and fuck other girls."

The blonde continued to laugh and Reiki blanched, not finding this funny in the least.

"Plus, I mean, Sango and I slept together a lot… I'm trying to see how long I can last without sex," the blonde seemed pensive, not knowing that Reiki was feeling uneasy. "I've been doing well so far."

Rayne looked over to see Reiki's uneasy look and sighed.

"Sorry… I've been trying to not bother you or anything, but I figure it's about time I quit being fake and polite and let you know what you're getting yourself into. I haven't really lied to you about anything. I haven't really refrained from speaking how I usually do…"

"It's ok," the younger girl said, lifting her hands and brushing the bits of sand that had embedded themselves into her palms off. "I'm glad you're being honest with me."

"That's the only way to do it," the drummer said, tapping her fingers in the sand.

Reiki hummed and exhaled a deep breath.

"I think we'll be alright," she smiled cutely and Rayne felt her heart soar. Was this love? It didn't make any sense…

Brushing the sand off of her hands she leant towards Reiki with the intent to kiss her.

"You sure?" she mumbled with her lips gently brushing against the younger girl's.

"Absolutely positive, Ray," the green eyed girl whispered, letting her eyes fall closed.

"That's good to hear, Rei," the drummer said with playfulness in her voice between soft, loving kisses. Her hand rested on the younger girl's jaw and her pinky finger felt the reverberation of the younger girl's pulse in her neck—an erratic rhythm that she was beginning to enjoy.

Thunder rolled in the background, but the scholar was too immersed in the drummer to even notice how the air shook with its might. Her fingers became lost in golden locks as the ocean breeze carried fresh damp air from the storm out in the water.

The chapter was a bit choppy. I apologize. Anyways, thanks for staying with me this whole time and all. I appreciate that completely!

-Enigmatic Ethereality