Disclaimer is the same.

Author's Note: Wow. I don't even know what to say. Last chapter. I'm pretty proud of myself, even if it took a sh*tload of time. XD I hope there are still people who actually remember this story - or if not, go and re-read it! :D

Nagareboshi - The Last Wish

Part Ten - Yasumaru

"Yoh." Anna's voice was so cold that Yoh shivered unintentionally. He was completely unable to tell whether his fiancée was angry, or on the contrary, close to laughing. Even despite that he had gotten so well in guessing her moods lately. "Come here."

He started walking obediently, leaving Hao behind. He blinked back over his shoulder carefully, but his twin brother's face was empty again, taking on that well-known sarcastic smile that Yoh now knew enough to tell it was only to hide his true feelings.

He stopped in front of Anna and looked over the company. Nobody said a word, the faces were serious. Yoh was only anxious for a moment, then just let it fade, grabbing the one feeling that he was always a master of: airiness.

After all, he promised himself he wouldn't do things he isn't capable of. And things just got right in the end anyways.

Didn't they?

Anna lifted her hand; in it was the scabbard of Harusame, empty without its owner, and once again, Yoh felt a pang of his samurai friend's absence.

"Do you still need this?" the girl asked simply. Yoh pressed his lips together for a second, then answered.

"Yes, Anna, I need it."

All the others sighed as one. Yoh slowly started to understand as he looked around, then he turned back, and waved for his brother.

"Naa, Hao... kocchi ni oide."

The feared shaman couldn't hide his astonished expression as his little brother held out his hand. He took a step, then stopped and folded his arms.

"If you want us to understand, don't play," this was Anna, and Hao's face turned even more dumbfounded. Yoh was okay, after what happened in the past few days, but Anna? How could Anna see into him like this?

He took another step, but he didn't take his eyes off his twin. He loathed this insecureness; he felt he was dependent on the kindliness of the others, and he hated it with a passion. The worst was knowing he couldn't just look down on them as he used to do with those who feared his power before. They were afraid of him too, that was certain, but they trusted Yoh as nobody has ever trusted Hao before, and he had no idea what to do with that.

"I want them to see what you are, too," Yoh said silently. They were only a few steps away from each other now, but upon hearing this, he stopped again, and looked at him, this time incredulously.

"No," he answered. "Don't ask me that, Yoh. Ask something I can give."

"Should I tell them instead?"

"No! No, of course not!" Hao was now actually afraid. Anna flinched involuntarily as the shaman reached forward, but she finally didn't do anything, and let Hao grab Yoh's hand and pull him closer to himself.

"I don't understand you," Yoh stared up at him directly. "Aniki..." He wasn't sure he wanted to say it out loud, but he had to ask. "What are you afraid of?"

But Hao didn't deny it.

"I don't know either. But this... don't do this to me, otouto. If you meant everything you said to me at the cemetery, don't torture me with this."

"Then what should I do?" Yoh scratched the back of his head, and his well-known smile started to appear. "If this is the only way..."

"Way to what?" Hao didn't care anymore about their audience.

"You wanted a second chance; here, you've got it."

"That wasn't about..."

"Yes it was." Yoh turned around, freeing his wrist from his brother's grasp, and looked at everyone's faces. And yes, the earlier defiance was switched with uncertainty, someplaces even more.

Finally, for everyone's surprise, it was Lyserg who spoke.

"I want to hear it."

"What?" Ryu gaped. "Lyserg! But..."

"I want to hear it," repeated Lyserg with that stubbornness of his that everyone knew.

"I thought you hated Hao," came the dispassionate statement from Ren, which earned him an elbow in his ribs from Horo Horo.

"Yes, that is true," the green-haired shaman nodded, which caused both the Northern and the Chinese to stare at him. "That is exactly why..."

"Am I the only one who doesn't get it?" asked Chocolove. Everyone shook their heads. "Oh, good then..."

"Maybe I would understand... If Yoh-kun told me, maybe I'd understand... Maybe I'd be able to not... or, less hate him. If I knew why..." Lyserg's voice faded, he wasn't able to continue. He looked up when Ryu squeezed his shoulder supportively, but he was unable to smile.

"I still... can't do this." Hao was adamant. "You just cannot ask that of me."

"What do you think I'm asking?" his brother looked at him.

"You ask me to make myself vulnerable, completely. More than I did with the Chou Senji Ryakketsu.

"Not more than how much you made them vulnerable," commented Anna dryly. "Not to mention the Asakura family."

"Anna..." Yoh hesitated, but his fiancée's strict look made him close his mouth.

"The others voted their confidence in you," the girl said, which caused Yoh to blink surprisedly. The others nodded, Hao pulled his mouth. "I let them."

"Anna... what does that mean?"

"It means I don't agree." Anna threw the empty scabbard down; it reached the ground with a painfully sharp crash. Yoh stared disbelievingly, as if the girl he knew suddenly turned into someone else.

"You don't trust me?" he asked seriously.

Their gazes locked, and for a dreadfully long moment, nobody dared to breathe. They knew this question only had one valid answer, and that would decide everything. In the end, everything depended on Anna.

"Yes, I do. I don't trust Hao though."

"You're not alone with that," the brown-haired shaman motioned around lightly. Anna stayed silent for another second, then she closed her eyes.

And Yoh turned around to face everyone, and started talking.

Hao wasn't paying attention while Yoh was speaking. He knew what the other was saying anyways. He didn't want to hear it. He would have rather had some things left unsaid. And the story wasn't for him; it was about him, so he could afford not paying attention.

But he needed to see the answer; that's why he was here. While Yoh was talking, he looked at their faces, one after the another, trying to guess what they are thinking. It wasn't an easy task: he couldn't read their minds, and reading the faces wasn't as easy as one would think.

Ren was staring in front of himself, into thin air, his expression rigid. Hao didn't quite know the Chinese shaman apart from what sort of powers he had. Except half-heartedly trying to make him his ally a few times, he had no connection to him.

That went for the tall lizard shaman as well. Ryu's eyes were on Yoh, his hands clenched into a fist. Sometimes he glanced at the green-haired Englishman, his lips twitching. It wasn't hard to tell the reason of his resentment.

Hao's gaze lingered on Lyserg for a longer time. The boy fixed his stubborn eyes on Yoh, gnawing on his lower lip meanwhile. His look slowly changed to pondering... and then suddenly, his gaze flew over, and before Hao could look elsewhere, he found himself staring into the English shaman's eyes.

Yoh went silent and looked around, stopping at the pair currently having a staring contest. He opened his mouth, but finally didn't say anything. And in the end, who knows why, maybe to comply, Hao was the one first looking away.

"Well..." Yoh scratched the back of his head, and as he spoke, the moment evaporated somehow. Anna moved first, doing something entirely unexpected: she walked in front of Hao and looked up at him. Hao looked back at her, but still said nothing. Anna raised her hand, and Hao suddenly remembered their last meeting on top of the canyon. This time, he didn't resist; the girl only needed one hand.

The snap surprised her too; she expected him to resist. She stepped back, looking at the shaman uncomprehendingly, her mouth hung open to say something; but in the end, she just gave a curt, little nod, and walked away.

The next time Hao looked around, there were only three of them; him, Yoh laughing silently by his side, and Lyserg standing at the doorway, but he turned around shortly, and followed Anna.

"I think it was easier than I would have anticipated," Yoh remarked. Hao looked at him, and chuckled.

"Yes, I think so too."

"Well, otouto... I think it's time for me to go."

It was evening again, only a few minutes after sundown. They were right where everything started, in the garden of the Funbari ryokan. Yoh was sitting cross-legged in the grass slightly wet from evening dew, and Hao was standing by his side, staring at the sky.

Yoh followed his gaze, just in time to see that only bright shooting star that was crossing through the sky. His mouth widened into a smile, he took a deep breath, and with just one breath, said his wish out loud.

" (a huge intake of breath), ."

Hao laughed out loud. It was his old laugh, and yet the tone of it was so different from before. Yoh had never heard his twin brother laugh in such a way. From this laugh the hurtful, sardonic edge disappeared, while it was full of bright happiness, exactly the kind Yoh wished for him.

"I don't need a next life for that... I am happy already."

For that, he got Yoh's most thankful smile. The younger twin leaned back in the grass, putting his palms behind his head, and stared at the lowly darkening sky.

"Say, Yoh..." The boy turned his head sideways. "Don't you want to be reborn with me? You could do it."

Yoh propped his head hesitantly for a while, then he finally beckoned no.

"Why?"

"Because, for me, only the unrepeatable happiness is the true one," he said matter-of-factly. "Otherwise it's meaningless to be happy for anything. It would wear off... and I don't want that, aniki."

Hao nodded, but he was obviously disappointed.

"But I will be there," his little brother added, his mouth twitching into a smile again. "I'll be with the Great Spirits, and I'll be watching you from there."

They stayed silent for a while, and meanwhile the last rays of light escaped, and it turned night for real.

"How should I do it?" Hao asked hesitantly, some time later. Yoh shrugged, as much as he could from that laying position.

"Well, I think... the other way around."

"What?" his brother blinked at him stunnedly.

"The other way around.. compared to how you did it when you came."

"Okay," Hao was still unsure, but it was worth a try.

For the last time, he looked at his sibling once more, then he turned his eyes at the sky, and raised his hands.

The chains slackened, then they snapped apart. He stretched. He now knew where to go, where to be, he was only waiting for the opportunity. And here, the opportunity was given to him. He curled his hands into a fist, then he jumped.

It was as if he was flying in some direction, but he couldn't tell where; everything was blurred around him. Then a flash of light; he would have sworn he saw a long brown-haired figure in a floating cloak glide past him, with an unexplainable expression on their face... then complete darkness.

A gust of wind swept through the garden, bending the plants, then went silent. But it took something with it, and that something left emptiness, emptiness waiting to be filled.

Yoh only stood in place, watching as Hao's figure slowly dissolved into the darkness, curling his palms into fists unknowingly. He had to force himself to breathe consistently, he concentrated on this instead of the enormous hole that was now gaping in his soul.

But this only lasted for mere seconds, however long it seemed. Maybe it was only a minute.

Then suddenly, a familiar voice reached his ears.

"Yoh-dono..."

And when he opened his eyes and turned that way, there stood the samurai, in all his glory, panting, and staring at his master with wide eyes.

"Amidamaru!" Yoh cried out. He broke into a run in the direction in the other, and the other did the same.

An observer could have thought they were going to envelope each other in a tight, friendly hug, but what they did was much more than that. Even the usual words were needless, only a thought, and spirit and shaman became one in a perfect fusion, as they haven't for a very long time. And suddenly everything was in place with a jolt. The Hyoui Gattai mended the hole that was created by disappearance of the other spirit.

After all, Yoh thought sometime later, after saying good night to a surprised Anna with a hug, then sliding in between his bedsheets, this is how it should be.

And nothing more is needed.

FIN.

Dictionary: ryokan = Japanese traditional inn ; yasumaru = to be at ease, to be in peace ; "Naa, Hao, kocchi ni oide." = "Hey, Hao, come here." (said in an informal way that implies close relationship)

Author's Note: Whoa, and that's it. I finished a fanfiction! *dances around* Jeez, I'm horrible. XD Write me what you think? I'll love you forever.