Soft. Like the moon glow. The sound was silken, it poured out from her fingers into the sky. She could feel the caress of the notes like she could feel the caress of the moon light. Soft, and sweet. She could stay like this forever. Enwrapped in the feeling of silver, the sound of the music, she had no worries, no fears. There was nothing wro-

"No, that's wrong Kirsi."

The voice cut across the sound, like a knife. It interrupted the flow of the music. Anger flared in her belly like a serpent. "Here, play it like this," Mr. Kastenin spoke softly.

Her sightless eyes stared forward at nothing even as Mr. Kastinen leaned over, she could feel his warmth on her back. His arm reached out on her right, and she heard a piano note clear and precious. "Hold down the sustain."

Her anger boiled over, and she snapped, "I AM!"

She had been playing just fine, enjoying the feel of the music and the light. At least until Mr. Kastenin had to go and stick his big nose into it. But he was always so patient and kind, "Don't yell at me. Use your feelings on the keys."

She didn't understand what he wanted from her, "My feelings?"

How did she put her feelings into music? She knew that she could absorb the feeling of light and sound. But they were feelings, like the feeling of water on her skin. Not emotion. Like her sadness or loneliness. Music didn't have emotions...

"Feel the piece. I want you to go beyond simply knowing the notes."

Frustration bubbled in her. This didn't tell her how to put her feelings into the sound at all! How did he expect her to know how? "What would that do? The music won't sound different if I'm angry! Notes don't have feel-!"

Flesh rested upon her lip, silencing her. Mr. Kastenin's finger tip rested across her bottom lip. Being blind, her other senses were more alert. A simple touch would silence her far easier than any amount of words. "You may be right, Kirsi," Mr. Kastenin allowed, "but if you push aside the notes and the form then the true music in your soul will flow to the keys. Think of... when you're sad and you force yourself to smile. The goodness in your heart comes out, and you feel better."

Kirsi frowned; attempting to understand what it was he was trying to teach her. He always seemed to speak in riddles that made no sense. If she was sad, why smile? If she had goodness in her heart, wouldn't she just be happy? And anyway, what does any of this have to do with the Piano? "I don't get it Mr. Kastenin," she griped, knowing her features formed into a pout, "At all."

She felt Mr. Kastenin's hand slide away from her back as he stood up. She knew without seeing that he was addressing her mother, "I think I've gotten too complex for her."

"Hm," her mother spoke with a smile in her voice, "She's still young. Just give her some time."

Kirsi's annoyance flashed and boiled over. She whipped her head in her mother's general direction, her faze staring vacantly elsewhere, "Please stop treating me like a kid, mother!"

Kirsi could sense her mother flinching in response to her words. Guilt colored her almost immediately after she said the words. She turned her sightless gaze back to the piano... Kirsi sighed to herself softly, and focused instead, on other things to cover her guilt.

Like the feel of the light that fell upon her skin. The bright silver of moonlight. Soft like silk as it fell in through the window. She didn't need to see to know it was beautiful. Her feelings alone were enough to paint a picture more beautiful than any true sight...

"Kirsi, what's wrong?" her piano instructor asked, sensing the change in her demeanor.

"Mr. Kastenin?" She asked in a small voice, "Is it a full moon?"

She felt, more than heard, Mr. Kastenin turn. She assumed to look out the window, "It might be," and then, with a slight amount of surprise he added, "You're right."

Pleasure bubbled in her chest. A sort of pride, she held her hands out, palm up, as if she could catch the moonlight she bathed in, in her palms, "I knew it. I can always tell. I can feel it. It's beautiful," The peace of the moment stretched like a sustained note in a beautiful melody, "I can tell without seeing it. It's silver..."

The past was the past. It is as lost as a forgotten dream. Details and specifics faded into the dull blur of her existence. But the past still haunted. The past still reached out to her mind with it's reaching fingers...

The stone was cold against her back. Cold and gritty. Yin didn't need her surveillance specter to tell her that the alleyway she stood in was dark. The faint light that bled in felt green. Sickly green. The air was cool and damp. Yin stood in a puddle, her black shoes resting in hardly an inch of water. She heard the faint 'plip' of a drop of water, and with it came a torrent of memories, all as strong as a sudden downpour.

The plane crashed. It crashed and her daddy-

So many people died. So many people who wouldn't come home-

Mommy? Mommy why are you crying? Is it because of daddy?

And then they were gone. Lost like shadows. Yin didn't understand the thoughts, she didn't try to pursue them. Let the past stay the past. A doll didn't need memories. She didn't need those memories. What she needed to do, was her job. Her mission. Trying to find the other contractor team.

Yin sent her other self, her eyes, out through the city. She flew through the streets and water ways, searching... searching. She moved like water, she flew like moonlight. Images flashed past her, registering them only passingly. Like an advanced reader skimming a book. She only stayed long enough to glimpse, and then moved on. Always looking. Always searching for-

Them.

Yin hid out in the waters, watching the scruffy man and large woman. She found them. The other contractors. Now she needed to report bac-

Empty. Empty. She was hollow. Lost. Yearning. She needed to be complete again.

She had no concept of time. No sense of awareness. She only knew she needed it. She needed to find it. She needed... People. The light. The sound of cars. The smell of exhaust fumes. It all barely registered. It was all nothing. She was nothing.

Suddenly the world cleared, her senses began to make sense as someone bumped into her. She stared sightlessly, her mind not registering the words spoken to her. She could only wonder to herself, "What is... this place?"

She had no idea where she was. Or what was going on. Only that her specter was gone, and that she felt hollow. Empty. And she needed to fill this ache. Sightlessly she stepped toward the pull. The pull on her soul, trusting in her instincts to guide her through the unknown streets. She trusted in herself to stop for cars, and to not walk into trees and buildings. Her body knew the way even better than herself. Yin just needed to find that other part of herself, she needed-

That sound.

She paused, the pull that called to her getting confused. She could now feel herself being pulled in two directions. Both sirens calling her name. Yearning for her to reach them. Slowly Yin turned towards the other pull. The pull of the sound... the melody. A melody that reminded her of moonlight...

She stood there, unseeing, hand reaching blindly. Reaching for a memory. Reaching towards the past. The feeling of cool ivory dancing beneath her fingers. Singing the notes out into the air. A way to understand this world she couldn't see. To add beauty in what she could hear, to make up for the beauty she couldn't see.

Clapping, she heard clapping. Kirsi turned and smiled in the direction of the sound. Pride bubbling in her chest. She was so happy. The moment made even more perfect by Mr. Kastenin, "That was perfect, Kirsi." It was rare for Mr. Kastenin to give such high praise. Her cheeks became painted with the warmth of a blush.

"Now for the next piece," she heard Mr. Kastenin say, but his voice cut out. She heard the sound of something small and plastic falling, his little light? Yes, his pen-light. The little thing that she felt shining some times. Bright as the stars. He must have dropped it... The sound of shuffling soon followed.

"Is something wrong?" that was her mother speaking.

"No, I just can't find my pen-light," he responded simply.

"Oh, I'll turn on the lights."

"No!" Kirsi's voice echoed in the air before she even knew she had spoken. It was by sheer impulse that she shouted. But now that she said it, she knew that it was true. She didn't want her mother to turn on the light. It would drown out the silver. The feeling of silk on her skin. It would be driven back by the harsh glare of the lamp.

"No... I like it like this..." She lifted her head up to the sky, towards the moon she couldn't see, but she could feel, "The light of the moon..."

"Kirsi," her mother said gently...

She closed her eyes, even though there was no difference between them being opened or closed... Kirsi bowed her head gently, waiting for her mother's words, but Mr. Kastenin spoke up before her mother could continue.

"It's no problem," Mr. Kastenin said as she heard him move off to the side. His clothes rustling softly, "I see it right over there."

Their hands touched.

It was like a sharp piano note in the air. Kirsi's eyes opening, staring ahead, seeing nothing... and yet knowing so much...

Kirsi didn't need to see to know. She didn't need her eyes to work, to see the way they looked at each other. She knew. She could feel it, just as she could feel the light of the moon on her skin. The light of the moon was silky. The feeling between her mother and Mr. Kastenin... that was a bad feeling. It put knots in her stomach. She didn't like it. She didn't like it at all... Daddy...

"Did you find it? Your lost Pen-light?" she asked quietly... anything to replace the note of lingering awkwardness in the air. The feeling pierced the air, and lingered, like a sustained piano note.

"Yes."

"... good..." she whispered. Even though she felt anything but good... She felt... She felt...

Kirsi lifted her hands and-

-the woman at the piano attacked the keys passionately. The sound of the piano's cries filled the air, and she was Yin. Blind Yin, her hand reaching out to a piano she remembered... and yet didn't... Her hand reaching to the past, and yet nothing at all at the same time...

What was happening? What-

"Uhm, hey! Excuse me?"

How did it end up like this?

"Drink as much as you like. This place always give free refills, even on fruit smoothies!" the first girl said. Bright. Cheerful. Shining. She was the color of strawberries... no, she was brighter than that. She was the color pink. Definitely... Yin could feel it.

"You seem really gloomy. Are you in character?" The other girl was speaking now. Blunter. Sharper than the first one. And yet, not unkind, not different from the pink girl... She felt... orange?

Normally Yin didn't associate with people outside of Huang, Mao, and... Hei. So, how did she end up here? In a strange restaurant with these strange girls. Ever since that... Emptiness... hollowness... She was lost and didn't know how to proceed. She didn't know what to do... so she let them take her away, to this strange place. These strange people... But they weren't unkind...

"You don't have to be so sad that we found you, we're SUPER cool to hang out with!" the first girl said cheerily. Then, suddenly, Yin felt two hands come forth. Two fingers touched her cheeks, and she felt them lift up in a strange way she didn't understand. What was she doing? "Here. Smile."

"What do you think?" the pink girl asked. Yin had no idea what she was doing...

"I think she's a cutie," the second girl responded.

They were so strange. Yin didn't understand. She tilted her head, there was nothing like this in her doll's programming, she needed clarification, "She's a cutie?"

"Yeah good," the first girl said. The hands left her face, and Yin's cheeks fell down to their usual position. That was better... "A smile will chase away the gloomies. Your appearance is very important, it tells people what you like and who you are. That's as true in real life as it is in cosplay."

This was another thing that Yin didn't understand. She needed clarification again, "What's cosplay?"

Before she could get answers to her questions, a phone's shrill ring split the air. "Sorry, gotta get this," the pink girl said.

"Would you get me a coffee?"

"I'm not a waitress! Get your own coffee!"

"I'm sorry I asked..."

"I'll be right back, ok?" It was the first girl. She was talking to Yin now... Yin sat silent throughout their exchange, as she did with all exchanges that had nothing to do with her. She didn't respond. The doll was too busy mulling over something else.

Her cheeks. Why wouldn't they move like that? The girl had pushed them up, and yet... Yin couldn't seem to be able to repeat the action. A smile. A smile was important. But Yin couldn't do it. At least, not with out a little help. She lifted her hands and pushed her cheeks up with her forefingers. Perhaps with practice-

She felt it.

There.

It was calling her. The emptiness inside of her tugged painfully. She needed to go. She needed to be where that other side of her was. She needed it. Yin couldn't stay here, she now knew where she needed to go. To where it was. She stood, even though she was blind, Yin was able to pick her way through the restaurant to the outside. Towards the piece of her that called for her. She didn't need to see. It would guide her. She had no fear.

Earlier where she was lost, she now knew where she needed to be. Where she bumped into things she could not see, she could now move confidently. Yin followed the siren's song that guided her, down this street, around this corner. She knew when to stop, when to move. It was all so clear now...

There... There it was. She needed to be with it. To reclaim herself. Her spe-

"I can see you're draw to the specter I stole from you," an unfamiliar voice. It was dirty. Grimy. Yin tilted her head vaguely in his direction, "You're just what we need..."

This wasn't good...

"I have the ability to connect with dolls, to uncover their repressed thoughts," he continued confidently. This man... "Let's try..."

This man was dangerous, she needed to get away. But... her other self... No, this man was an enemy. Her programming, the only thing she had left to guide her, told her that she needed to escape from enemies. So she made her decision, and ran. She needed to get away, but he was too quick, and grabbed her fiercely, "Don't bother running!"

Suddenly she was freed, and Yin was able to keep running, a familiar voice cried out to her, "Yin! Go now!"

Mao... It was Mao. Something familiar. A guide. Orders... She needed to get away, but when the man grabbed her, he had wrenched her arm. Yin stepped forward, holding her arm pained, wanting to follow her orders... But she was injured, and was forced to lean against the piece of wood...

"Come back here!" The man snarled from behind her, but his voice was cut off by a choked sound... "Wh-WHO ARE YOU?"

She needed to get away, Yin stumbled forward a few more steps... Suddenly a voice began to rise, low, but quickly rising in pitch. She gripped the wood, using it to stabilize herself as everything began to shudder. To vibrate. Her ears... it hurt. Being unable to see wasn't a hindrance, but the sound piercing her ears... the ground shaking under her feet. She couldn't move... Yin couldn't do anything...

What was happening? Metal. Metal was snapping and crunching. The ground was shaking. Something smashed into the ground behind her, she flinched away, unable to know where to go. How could she escape? She was trapped... Help...

Something hard smacked into her, threw her to the ground. But it wasn't the devastating crush of falling debris. As painful as it was with her head cracking against the ground, it could have been far worse...

Hei... Hei protected her with his body. She could feel his darkness. The comforting black that personified him, so like the world she resided in. She opened her eyes, turning towards him... He was above her, and speaking briskly, "Run as far away as you can."

And then he was gone, moving swiftly. Hei... Yin needed to obey his orders. Slowly, stiffly, Yin sat up. She had to follow Hei's instructions-

"Kirsi!" A familiar voice... Who?

Yin looked towards where the voice had cried from, unseeing. But she didn't need eyes to know that voice. Even though he was gasping out of breath, "Kirsi..."

She mumbled weakly, "I know that..."

"Kirsi, it's me. Eelis," he spoke again. Yin was with him in a car. The pink girl was there too, along with a man who smelled heavily of body odor... She had gone along with him because of him... Because of

"Eelis," she repeated softly, testing the name out on her tongue. It was strange. Unfamiliar. Foreign.

"That's it," He said encouragingly, his hand resting atop of both of hers. Warm. Nostalgic. Unfamiliar... and yet... "Remember..."

Mr. Katenin whispering over her shoulder as he guided her through her piano lessons.

Mr. Kastenin's patient tone, and puzzling riddles...

She remembered... She knew this man. Yin nodded her head gently... It all was starting to flow back to her. The memories that were hers... Yin's... Kirsi's... She felt Mr. Kastenin sag in relief, knowing a smile was on his face without needing to see it...

Yes... she knew him...

Mr. Kastenin had taken her, to a place that smelled the familiar scent of cigarettes. A television played off to the side. The pink girl had place something upon her head, and was playing with it somehow. Yin didn't know what she was doing. It wasn't uncomfortable though... She held the bowl of candy in her hands, untouched, her appetite for sweets not strong at the moment.

Mr. Kastenin and the smelly man were speaking in heated and concerned tones. She listened, but more out of habit than any real interest on her part. Just as she held the bowl of candy that the pink girl, Kiko, had given her. Yin had no real reason to hold it, other than Kiko told her to. And she was programmed to take orders. So, that is what she did.

Mr. Kastenin and the other man, the smelly one, were talking about leaving. This was good, she could go with them and follow Hei's orders for her to run. Yes, this seemed to be the best course of action. Kiko suddenly burst forth with an idea of her own. Something about... hot springs. Yin didn't understand. It didn't matter, though, so long as they kept moving...

The gray train rumbled along. Yin felt each bump along the way as the train click-clacked along the way. It was gray because Yin felt gray light all around her. Murky gray. She liked this light. It meant rain was to fall, and rain meant she could see everything...

If she hadn't been hollow and empty. She still wanted to go to her other self. The other side of her that called to her very being. She felt an ache in the core of her that begged her to go to it. But... But Hei had given her orders to run. He told her to go. So she went. Even if it hurt to do so. She had to follow Hei's orders. She had to listen to Hei.

"Kirsi," Mr. Kastenin's voice cut through her thoughts, and she turned her head, more out of habit than any need to look at him. "We'll be going back home soon, Kirsi."

Yin turned to Mr. Kastenin a little more, and more than a little confused she asked, "Go home?"

"Yes," she sensed Mr. Kastenin nodding, "Just like it used to be..."

Going home... What was home? Living with Mr. Kastenin? She didn't like that. She didn't. Yin turned away from Mr. Kastenin, looking down slightly and murmuring, "I don't want to..."

The atmosphere in the train changed. She could feel everyone's eyes on her... But that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was... What mattered was what she felt. She felt... Even though she was a doll... Dolls didn't have wants, or feelings. And yet...

"I don't want to..."

I hope Izanami 9 is worth the wait. Originally chapter 9 was supposed to encompass all of the Yin centric arc, Heart Unswaying on the Water's Surface. However, as time went on, and Chapter 9 was taking longer and longer to finish... I thought it'd be better if I just posted this chapter by it's self as a sign that Izanami isn't dead. It just took a nap is all.

Thanks to everyone who ever reviewed. Every review I get kinda wakes me up and helps me jot down a little more to the chapters each time. It makes me feel like this story isn't pointless, and motivates me to finish it. So thanks, all of you.

Izanami isn't dead, and I have no intention of letting it do so, so long as people are still reading it.

~WashuRight