Author's Note: Here we have it. The last chapter of the story. Hopefully someone out there enjoyed reading it. That would be enough to make it worth it that I rewrote so much of the ending. I'm finally happy with the piece. So here we go, the beginning of the end. Thanks for joining me.

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Chapter 9

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Yoh didn't hear her approach. The first he knew of her presence was when the door shut behind them. He noticed she was more thoughtful than usual.

There was a frown on her face as she stared out the window.

"What's wrong Anna?" Yoh asked with a little smile. He always thought Anna looked so adorable like this.

"I need your help," she whispered.

"What's wrong," he asked more seriously. For Anna to ask for help this had to be important.

"We need to go to Hao."

"We can't Anna. I told Hao we would leave him alone for now if he left in peace. We can't afford to get in a full battle with him right now. I don't know how many followers he still has so I can't be sure we will win."

"He has Mem," Anna said when Yoh stopped talking. This caused the man to become quiet. "He must. Ren and Horohoro are both sure he would never have abandoned Pirika, and I have to agree. Maybe you can't feel him when he is hidden, but I can. He was always with her. I can count on one hand the number of times I have felt him missing and that was always at school."

"We would need someone to watch Hana," Yoh told his wife.

"Tamao would do it happily if we asked."

Yoh was still studying her carefully. "You just want the two of us to go. Why? It would be easier with more people."

Now Anna looked away. "I need to confront him," she explained. "Hao can both send a spirit to the after world and also seal them away in this world. I need to look him in the eye when I ask what he did so I know if he's lying. If we bring Ren or Horohoro, Hao might just say that he got rid of Mem to anger them."

"Wouldn't it have made more sense for him to banish Mem?" Yoh asked gently.

"Perhaps, but I think he wants to avoid angering you. Had he wanted a real fight he could have come in force when he stopped by the other day, but he didn't."

Yoh sighed. "Okay Anna. We can at least go see him. When do you want to leave?"

"Right now. Grab what you need and I will speak with Tamao."

#

"This is where Pirika was all this time?" Yoh asked in shock. Anna didn't respond, but she knew what he meant. It was nothing more than a dirt camp with yurts for tents. A bonfire pit in the center with a massive pot detonated a kitchen. There was no permanent buildings, no bath besides the little lake nearby, no real toilets with actual plumbing. "Ren must have cleaned her up before he brought her back."

"Oh I'm guessing the Tao did plenty of things to my pet before returning her," an amused voice said from the shadows.
Yoh's head snapped in that direction quickly, but Anna's actions were lazy. Hao didn't scare her right now.

"So, what did I do to deserve a visit from my beautiful sister in law?" the same voice asked, his tone sickeningly sweet as he stepped out into the light, showing just who they expected.

"Quit the shit Hao," Yoh snapped. Anna smiled a little. His normally endless patience ran out quite quickly when it came to either herself or their son.

"Mem," Anna said simply, moving between the twins.

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you are talking about." The tone of voice showed his honesty.

"Pirika's spirit. A kappa she named Mem. You must know of him."

"Ah," Hao said, a smile lighting his face. "I was wondering if it might come to this. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you have made this trip in vein I am afraid. The worthless creature is long gone."

Yoh sighed sadly and placed a hand on Anna's arm, making a move to pull her away. She just shook him off. "He's lying," she said coldly.

Hao just raised a brow, his smile growing. "I had no use for the thing."

"I think you did. I think you kept him in hopes of turning him to help you. The spirit you captured for Pirika wasn't working well, and her original spirit would have a connection you couldn't replicate."

"It would take someone with miraculous skill to trick a spirit."

"I think you might just be stupid enough to think yourself capable," Anna told him lightly.

Hao laughed. "You don't miss a trick do you Anna dearest?" he asked.

"We aren't here to play Hao," Yoh said firmly. "Give us Mem and we can leave."

"Mem is the last thing I have little brother," Hao said simply. "It would be foolish. Maybe if you give me something that I want-. Perhaps Pirika could come back herself and bargain for her spirits freedom. I'm sure the girl could offer something worth my while."

Now it was Anna who lost her temper, moving forward she slapped him hard across the face. "You leave that poor girl alone!" she shouted. "You have put her through more than enough already."

Yoh put a hand on her arm and pulled her back. "This ends here and now Hao," he insisted. His hands slipped to his weapons, the threat clear as

Amidamaru appeared behind him. "Unless you would prefer I go get everyone and bring them out. Horohoro and Ren would both love a chance to get their hands on you with my blessing." Yoh glanced around at the people gathering. "Based on the crowd I'm guessing we could do some damage even without the Spirits of Lightning and Water those two would bring."

Hao smirked. Then smiled. Then laughed coldly. "You've learned little brother."

"From the best," Yoh growled under his breath.

Raising a hand Hao snapped his fingers and a bubble appeared. As the tint faded they were able see the Kappa they were searching for within. Another snap and the bubble popped, dropping the creature to the ground roughly.

Yoh kneeled down and opened his arms. "Come over here Mem," he called gently. "We will go back to Pirika together."

Clearly cautious, the green monster hesitated. It looked forward and back a few times before his gaze locked on Hao and he trembled. The fire shaman jerked out at Mem, causing him to squeal and rush towards Yoh. Hao was roaring with laughter as a webbed, clawed green hand reached out and took Yoh's.

Yoh stood up as soon as he had a good grip and began backing away. Having what they wanted, Anna turned and left, but Yoh refused to turn his back on his brother until he felt they were safe.

Once they finally got far enough he smiled down at the Kappa. This was the best look he had ever gotten of the spirit. Normally all you could catch was a glance before he was gone.

"You've never seen him up close before, have you?" Anna asked.

Yoh looked over a little guilty. He had been trying to glance over discreetly but it must not have worked as well as he thought. "Nope," he admitted.

Suddenly he noticed that she was paying no attention to Mem at all. "Have you?"

Anna smirked. "Mem is a Kappa," she told him. "Kappas like pretty girls." Anna sighed a little, her smile fading. "I think he is afraid of men actually, though

I'm not sure why. It must have been before he met Pirika, because she doesn't know either."

"Huh," Yoh said under his breath. He wasn't aware Anna knew so much about the thing. She had asked Horohoro and Ren about him over the past few days, but she must have at least suspected his fate with what she knew. Yoh glanced back down but there was only air beside him.

"He's still there," Anna promised. "He is just scared. He will come out for Pirika."

#

Pirika was sitting in the kitchen with her brother, Tamao, and Ren. The three were worried about the bluenette. She hadn't been eating much since she finished with her memories a few days ago. Even now, with a couple of foods she normally loved she was just pushing them around her plate.

"Isn't there anything you want to eat Pirika?" Tamao asked, pleading softly.

Ren glanced over when Tamao spoke, but for the most part the men were ignoring the girls. Putting more pressure on Pirika wouldn't help them get what they wanted.

All three were suddenly drawn in when she gasped. "Mem," she whispered in a panic.

"Pirika, please don't do-" Horohoro begged. He had been avoiding this discussion at every turn and he could tell Pirika was starting to understand. He didn't think Mem would ever be found.

"He's here!" she screamed, jumping up and heading for the door.

Ren was on his feet and grabbed her before she was got more than a few feet from him. As soon as he had her restrained she started to scream and thrash.

Ren cursed softly when she landed a hit on his shin. Horohoro tried to move in and help but before he got there Ren cried out angrily as Pirika fell to the floor.

She didn't even try to get to her feet, instead she began to crawl to the door.

"She bit me!" Ren spat angrily, looking at his now bloody arm.

Horohoro felt his mouth drop open. His sister hadn't bit anyone in years, and never anyone she cared for. The last time he could think of her life had been threatened. Now he was a little nervous. As much as he wanted to lift her off the floor he saw the blood leaking from Ren and he was weary. His sister was a lot stronger than most people thought. It would be hard for him to restrain her without one of them getting hurt.

A door slammed and now the other two people leaving the kitchen had their mouths hit the floor as well. Appearing right in front of his sobbing sister was the scaly green creature she'd had for years.

Letting out a desperate cry Pirika threw her arms around the kappa and pulled him close to her. It was as if nothing else in the world existed right now.

"What is going on?" Ren snapped as the rest of the onsen filtered into the entry way. He had shared Horohoros opinion that they were never seeing the spirit again. It was never pleasent for him to be caught off guard.

"Dude what happened to your arm?" Yoh asked I shook at seeing the blood.

Ren just growled. He wanted to know how it was possible Mem had been found. It wasn't as if they could fool Pirika with a replacement kappa. "Not important. Tell me what is going on."

"Hao had Mem," Anna explained coldly. Some of them would have expected Pirika to respond to that fact but it seemed as if she hadn't even noticed. At that point everyone realized they weren't getting her focus back for some time.

Yoh looked back at Ren's arm. "Let's have Faust look at that," he advised. He could tell the Tao didn't want to listen, but Yoh didn't give him much of a choice as he pulled him into the living room and shoved him into a chair where Faust could look at his arm without blocking his view of Pirika. Without a word Faust got to work and the crowd moved on, all smiling at the happiness Pirika showed.

#

Ren had been thinking about his options all day and he knew what he wanted to do. The difficult part would be admitting it to Horohoro. Not only was there a chance the other man would take offense at what he wanted, but also Ren didn't want to admit how helpless he was right now.

If Horohoro hadn't given his offer, Ren probably would have followed her up North, but it would have been awkward for him. He had never been to Hokkaido before and was unfamiliar the area. There was also the fact that the siblings wanted to do farming for food and flood the land remaining for the Koropokkur. Ren knew nothing about any of it.

He accepted that his life was going to be a bundle of new experiences now, but that didn't mean he was fond of it. The thought of having something to help ease him into his new life was comforting and as much as he hated to rely on others, he liked the idea of staying with them. Being with Pirika would be just what he wanted and no matter how much he fought with Horohoro, he would always be Ren's closest friend.

So, he decided to suck up his pride at least for a moment. After Pirika had fallen asleep, worn out from an evening of clinging to Mem, he went across the hall to his friend's room. Horohoro looked a little surprised when Ren walked in. "What's up dude?" he asked, seeing how tense Ren seemed to be.

Ignoring him for a moment Ren moved across the room and started looking at things on the dresser. Knowing he couldn't be forced Horohoro just waited.

"When are we leaving?" he asked softly.

Grinning Horohoro nodded. "I was thinking early next week, maybe Monday? It all depends on how she's doing though and what she wants. I haven't asked if she wants to come up with me or wait until I can at least get an apartment to stay at for a few months until we can get some land."

Setting the trinket in his hand down Ren turned towards him. "You should look for a house right away. Money won't be a problem."

His calm words took a second to register but finally his eyes widened. "Ren I can't ask you for anything like that!"

"You aren't asking. I'm insisting. Not only do I have more than enough saved up but I'll be able to have the business I've been working on up within a year."

Knowing he wasn't convinced yet so Ren looked him right in the eye. "I might as well put the damn money to good use. Giving her security and structure after this disaster is more than worth it."

Biting his lip, Horohoro gave in and nodded. "Fine, when we go up we'll talk about it. But I won't let it go that easy. I'll pay you back somehow."

Walking out Ren smirked. "You can try."

#

It hadn't taken long before they found they perfect place and within a month the group of them had moved everything from both Ren's and onsen up to the farmhouse they had bought. The house was surrounded by acres of fields perfect for their needs, including one set aside for Hakuoh's needs. Inside there was a large kitchen to Horohoro's delight, and two bedrooms.

Pirika had expected her brother to throw a fit at the idea of Ren sleeping in the same room as her but he hadn't said a word. His motives became clear before long when Tamao came up to stay with them for a week or two.

Despite the differences of the lives they had before this, all of them settled easily. Ren worked on his computer frequently trying to tie up loose ends on his business idea and Horohoro and his sister spent the days out in the fields. By the time snow fell most of the land was flooded and the Koropokkur started trickling in.

It didn't turn out how any of them had expected it to, but they wouldn't change it. Everything was worth it in

The End.