I'm not her mother, but I feel as though I am. She's my younger cousin, like Rikku, like Penelo. But with her bouncing back and forth between the world she lives in and the world in which she wishes she could live in...It's hard. And with that damn Sora pulling her away from me, it makes everything even harder...

Ever since I can remember, I've been protecting her from harm. I've been helping her get through all the rough bumps that life in her world has given her as well as the few rough bumps that this world gives her. But when she met Sora...It felt as though she left us behind. And when she rarely came to visit us during those rough months, I was begging her on my knees to leave him behind. But she wouldn't. She didn't know how. I kept reminding her to remember me, her sisters, her friends here, but it wasn't enough. Sora was taking over her life and she was forgetting about her own family...

I kept waiting for Namine to come home. Everyday I paced that empty house hoping to hear sounds of her footsteps...But the sounds of her footsteps were long faded echoes off the walls. I hardly ever slept in my bed anymore. I began to sleep on the couch in the living room near the front door instead. However, I would usually wake up, early in the morning, in Namine's bed in her room....It pained me that I could sleepwalk to there every night...Thinking she will come back if I sleep in that bed. But...would she come home?

I heard from Yami, who was spending time in Namine's world with her [as her 'imaginary friend of course...No one but Namine could hear his voice.], that she had given Sora up, that she was ready to go back to being herself again. I did the same that Yami did and became an 'imaginary friend' so that I could tell her that I would go back in time with her, to the beginning. Just because back then everything was happier, easier...She at least knew how to smile then. And if we went to the beginning, we might remember to not take any moment with each other for granted.

I went back home after relaying the message. And in a couple days, I was shocked to see my darling cousin in that empty house again. The familiar sound of her footsteps echoed off the walls again, with a much more richer sound than the faded memory. I looked at her with relief in my eyes as I choked back my tears.

"Is that..." I began, unable to steady my voice. "...Really you?"

Namine, smiling rather apprehensively, responded, "Is it me you wanted to see?"

I gave her my 'motherly' comfort smile. I knew what to say this time. I knew what to say to make her realize how much I missed her.

"Stay with me....until the end."