Hi guys!

It has been a batshit crazy week for me. Exams have been kicking my ass and it's been a bad mental health week overall. I'm sorry for not uploading this last week, but school had to come first. I know any of you going through exams or who have gone through them know what I mean here.

On the brighter side, this has been an awesome week in terms of support from you guys. Every time I got a notification telling me that someone had followed, favourited or reviewed it made me so happy. You guys are amazing. We also cracked 1000 views and this chapter has cracked 50,000 words (in my unedited word document) which is easily the longest story I've ever written.

Thank you to SpirittigerRei, zirahart, Mariana Lestrange, bluebelle94, mageian, TheBucklingBridge, Ikara-O-Kage and bai2468 for following and favouriting; and thank you to Mariana Lestrange, TheBucklingBridge, Ikara-O-Kage, Aelthya, and KiraKelsay for reviewing. Seriously, you guys rock.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. I own Finley, Damon, any characters you don't recognize and the plot.

If this was heaven, I wanted a refund. If it was hell, I expected more from Hades. Either way, the afterlife was a let down.

I heard a screaming child, hushed whispers and rustling. Then the clink of glasses. My eyes were shut tight. I felt something warm and damp on my forehead. Something warm and soft was over top of me, tucked tight at my sides. I tried to open my eyes, and immediately shut them at the bright light beaming down on me.

There were some rushed mutters, some rustling and footsteps. I could feel someone come in and sit next to me. "Fin?" It was a comforting voice, a familiar one. "Fin, come on, man, wake up. You're so close, just please." I frowned, trying to open my eyes again. The stinging light made me shut them again instantly. "Guys, turn off the lights, just open a window. Ok, Fin, try again."

I tried again, blinking a few times. Blue eyes were directly in front of my face. I jerked back, going into the pillows. The blue eyes sat back, a relieved grin spreading over the face of my best friend. I turned my head, trying to get a better view of the room. There were two girls in there with us, both blue haired and smiling at us. My arms wouldn't move to lift myself up, but my mouth opened. "Wh-" My voice cracked, harsh and dry. Damon lifted me into a sitting position, one arm behind my back. A glass of water was lifted to my mouth. I drank gratefully.

"Where are we?" I asked, voice still harsh and dry, but a little better.

"Genkai's temple. You've been out for about a week," Damon explained, brushing hair away from my face. "Thank god you're alright."

"I'm sorry," I muttered, the memories of what I'd done coming flooding into my mind. The spell, Hiei, the finals of the tournament. A hand collided with the back of my head. I jolted forward and glared at my idiotic best friend. "You don't slap an injured person, jackass." I was pulled into a tight hug.

"Never, ever do that again," Damon muttered into my chest. I buried my face in the top of his hair. My arms wrapped around him, heavy and slow. I was sure that if I wasn't so tired and exhausted, I would be sobbing. Instead a few silent tears fell into brown hair and the room was quiet. I felt the fabric of my shirt start to get damp, and Damon shook in my arms. The guilt hit me like a brick. I had put him through so much.

Damon pulled back, turning to wipe away the tears. I smiled at him, not bothering to try and hide mine. Fuck knows I'd cried enough for the both of us over the past few months. "Don't try to be manly, I know you were worried."

"I wasn't worried," Damon teased. "These tears are because you woke up, I was hoping I'd get your house." I swatted at him, the small smile growing a little stronger.

"Shut up," I said. "You'd kill all my plants and you'd starve if I wasn't cooking for you. You wouldn't stand a chance."

Damon rolled his eyes. "I really wouldn't."

One of the girls cleared her throat, breaking our moment. "Sorry, Finley, but how are you doing? We've been trying to restore as much of your energy as we could, but you still took so long to wake up…" she asked, a slight English accent coming over the Japanese.

"I'm…" I paused. I wasn't sure how I felt. Everything felt slow, heavy and dull. My vision was still blurry. But I was alive, and that was better than how the spell should've left me. I had no idea why it hadn't killed me. "Good, all things considered. I'd appreciate my glasses, if Dae didn't throw them out."

There was a small huff and silver, rounded frames were pressed into my hands. Slightly flat across the top, large lenses and rounded bottoms made up the thick wire frames that I'd had for years. I slid them on and the world jolted into sharp focus and clear colours. It felt like I'd been holding my breath since I took them off and I'd finally let it go.

"I fucking hate those things," Damon muttered. "Seriously, you can see without them."

"Damon, the entire tournament was blurry. Hell, anything more than a foot away from my face was blurry. I haven't seen you clearly since you confiscated these." The girls laughed, and Damon glared at me.

I looked at the two of them, able to see them clearly. One girl had her hair in a high pony tail, with pink eyes and a bright smile. She had a bouncy, vibrant air to her. The other wore a kimono and had dark, crimson eyes. Those eyes looked familiar, though the eyes I was comparing them to I had only seen clearly once. I wasn't even sure that the image I had of them was correct.

What I said next made me seem weirder than I was sure everyone thought I was. "Wow, you guys are pretty." They laughed.

"Well, thank you!" The one with the ponytail said. "I'm Botan, and this is Yukina. We never really had the pleasure of meeting you."

"Finley," I introduced myself, though I knew they knew me. "It's nice to meet you guys."

There was knock on the door. I looked and there was Takuma. He was nearly healed, nose still a little crooked, as if it hadn't been set in time. He smirked at me, coming in to the room.

"It's nice to see you awake," he greeted. His eyes turned to Damon. "Have you told her yet?"

"No," Damon said. "I was waiting for her to be awake for more than 5 minutes."

I looked between the two. "Tell me what?" Damon sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. Takuma looked down, refusing to meet my eyes. "Guys? What?"

"It's Kimiko and Sayuri." My eyes shot wide. Were they dead? Did they get hurt? Damon raised his hands, trying to calm me as my heart rate shot up."They're fine. But we haven't told them yet. Takuma and I wanted to wait to see what you wanted to do. Koenma told us that they are back in the country, though. That's all we know." I fell back into the pillows. I knew that I wanted to be the one to tell them what had happened. We had Shoku's remains, the story of what had happened and because we had lost they were likely to be killed. If we got to them fast enough, maybe I could ward them, protect them from the people who had organized the tournament. I didn't want them to get hurt.

Takuma looked at me. "They're going to be fine, Finley. No one is going to hurt them."

"You can't say that," I whispered. "We lost. They're fucked." And it's all my fault. I didn't say it, but everyone heard it.

Damon shook his head. "No, they're not. They're going to be fine. We may have lost but you still got your wish."

"How?" I demanded. Everyone in the room went silent. The girls slipped out, and my teammates wouldn't look at me. Then I felt the warm energy of the fire demon I was so familiar with.

Hiei was leaning on the doorway, staring at me. I looked at him, then back to Takuma and Damon. Takuma wasn't looking at me, and Damon shot me the biggest shit eating grin I'd seen on him a long time. I frowned, looking back to the fire demon.

"You tried to kill me," Hiei stated. My jaw dropped, and denial immediately started up. I wasn't even sure what the spell was going to do. I didn't think it would kill him. That wasn't the intent of the spell. Though I supposed it didn't matter, considering I didn't write what the spell was supposed to do. The only idea I had was that it was supposed to strip someone of their power. "You were prepared to die." That wasn't wrong.

Then it hit me. "You…" I stared at him. "You saved them." Gratitude for the fire demon flooded me. So much for being all bad.

"Congratulations. You committed." With that, he turned and left. My heart pounded in my chest. My face was hot and surely red. Fuck. He was hotter with my glasses on and I wasn't prepared for it. I don't think anyone was prepared for it. The sharp jawline, the striking eyes and muscular body were more on place on a magazine cover, not reality.

Damon looked at me with his stupid grin. "Lady boner," He coughed into his fist. I glared at him. He wasn't wrong, but I wasn't about to admit that. We had more important things to be worried about than an extremely attractive fire demon.

"Fuck off." I sat up, arms shaking. "I have to call Kimiko." Damon and Takuma both put hands on my shoulders and pushed me down.

"Not yet. You just woke up," Damon chided. "Let's keep you that way for a few hours, ok?" I sighed. He was right, unfortunately. I wanted to deal with the issue immediately even though I wasn't sure I would handle it well. It just needed to be handled. The second they were gone I was going to call them.

The phone was staring me down. It was a call I didn't want to make. I'd been on the receiving end of the call before and it was one of the worst calls you could get. It was one that made everything else stop and while the world didn't end, it felt like it did. That one phone call made you realize that you had to change your life to fit the hole that the person had left in your life.

All I could think of was that with this call I would be taking away any hope that Shoku was still alive. This would be the final acknowledgment that he really was dead, that a little girl was fatherless and that there was a family alone in the world.

I held the number on a crumpled piece of paper, Shoku's handwriting messy but legible. I had the number memorized, but that didn't change anything. There was still the hesitation.

I grabbed the phone, my fingers pressing the buttons with a mind of their own.

It rang twice before there was a click. "Hello, this is the Akiyama residence." The woman had an older voice, clearly someone in their late-twenties, early thirties.

"Um, hello," I greeted, stammering a little. "My name is Finley Conneigan, would this be Kimiko?"

There was a brief silence on the other end of the line. "Oh my… Is he…"

"I'm calling about Shoku," I said softly. "I'm sorry to say-"

"He… he didn't make it," she finished for me. "I was afraid… He hasn't contacted us in so long. I should've known." I could hear the tears, the cracking voice. My heart shattered with it.

"H-he didn't," I said, tears starting to fall from my eyes. There was silence as we both cried on our respective sides. "If possible, we would like to come and offer our condolences."

"Of course, of course." Her flustered voice kept shaking and breaking. I tried to keep mine from doing wavering, though I wasn't doing a good job. "Um. Would Thursday work?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," I said. She gave me the address and we said our goodbyes. I hung up and allowed myself to burst into tears. Apologizing was a waste of time. It didn't make anything better. If anything, it made it worse. I had hated everyone that apologized to me when my parents had died, and I didn't want to be that guy.

There was a knock on the door. I look up, wiping away the tears. Ame poked her head in, smiling at me, almost a sad look in her eyes. I tried to smile back, but broke down into ugly tears. She rushed to me, sitting on the bed and pulling me into a tight hug. She kept muttering comforts that didn't quiet make it past my ears. I just kept thinking about how I'd ruined their lives.

How Sayuri was going to come home and hear that her dad was never coming back. How Kimiko was going to raise her little girl alone. How it was all my fault. It didn't matter that I wasn't the one who pulled the trigger, I still felt responsible. In my mind, I was.

I eventually got myself together enough to go and deal with Damon and Takuma. Ame guided me through the temple.

"It's going to be fine, you know," she said. "They will be. All you need to know is that they're safe." I shook my head.

"No… it's not enough," I whispered. "I need to make them safe." I already knew that I was going to ward them. Or at least offer to. I didn't want them to get hurt and I didn't trust those fuckers who had started the tournament to leave them alone. I had a sinking feeling that they weren't done with me yet, but they weren't going after Kimiko and Sayuri if I had anything to say about it.

Damon and Takuma were sitting in the main living room of the temple, chatting with Yusuke and Kuwabara. They looked at me, and Damon immediately stood. Takuma watched carefully.

"We're going to meet them on Thursday," I said, struggling to keep my voice level with all the pitying gazes directed at me. "Takuma, are you going to the Makai?" He nodded. "When?"

"Saturday. We just made the plans," he answered. "I'm assuming you're asking because you want me to come with you."

"Damon doesn't have a choice and if you're not leaving yet, neither do you," I said with a smile. "I'm sure they'd appreciate it."

He just rolled his eyes. "I was planning on coming anyways, but it's nice to know it wasn't a choice."

Damon looked at me cautiously. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, Dae, I'm fine." Fine meant totally not fine, and he knew that. Damon knew that even if something was bothering me, I wasn't going to talk about it until I had to. I was a pro at bottling shit up and not dealing with it. It was probably my greatest talent. Luckily, Yukina interrupted the moment with supper.

Everyone gathered to eat, except for Hiei. He was still AWHOL. No one questioned it, so I guessed that it was normal for him to skip eating with the family. I knew that soon enough I was going to go home but I still wanted to thank him. It was the least I could do, considering everything that he had done for me, though perhaps without intent.

Everyone finished eating and I helped Yukina and Ame clean up.

"Um, is Hiei going to eat?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's just training. I'll run something out to him," Ame said. "I think he had been waiting to see if you'd wake up before he went."

I paused. "I'll run it out, if that's ok." I knew that Damon would want to go home as soon as we could, and it was important that I talk to Hiei. Or try to.

Ame and Yukina shared at look as Yukina plated a bunch of food. "Alright. Just follow his energy, he never bothers to hide it at the temple," Ame said.

Yukina handed the plate to me. "And make sure you announce yourself. It's like he's entirely in his mind when he trains, he may attack you by accident." I nodded, and plate of food in hand I left the temple. Hiei's energy wasn't hard to follow.

It was clear, though, who's eyes Yukina's reminded me of. They were the same eyes that Hiei had. I wasn't sure if they were siblings, cousins, whatever. There was no way in hell they weren't related. Mostly because from what I could tell Yukina was an ice demon. Red eyes seemed out of place on an ice demon.

Hiei was in a clearing, shirtless and swinging around a katana. With my glasses finally returned to me, I could see him clearly. It sucked that he was just as attractive as I thought he was. Probably more so, if I was being honest. He was stunning. In a manly, I-could-kill-you-in-a flash kind of way.

"Hi," I said. He didn't stop swinging. I sighed, sitting down by a tree. He'd stop when he was ready.

Hiei slowed, walking up to me. I held the plate to him. Without a word, he took it and flitted into the tree above me. His energy was like a warm sweater and I wasn't sure I ever wanted to leave it.

"Your obsession with my energy is disturbing," he stated.

I jumped slightly. "I was just..." Then it clicked. "You're a telepath? Damn, way to warn a girl, man. So not cool. Or polite."

"It's mostly pictures with you. Your thoughts are annoying." I shot an annoyed look into the tree. If that was a shot at my intelligence, it wasn't appreciated. "You think in another language, idiot." My mouth formed an o, head nodding slightly. That made sense. My thoughts were in English most of the time. Unless I was actually speaking another language, my mind went to my first one. Living with Damon didn't help, as we both tended to slip into English when we were talking to each other. It was something I could see pissing off a telepath that didn't speak English. Especially since my inner monologue never stopped and Damon didn't know how to shut up.

"Right. Sorry about that, I speak three languages. Everything gets a little jumbled…" I chuckled, face heating up. "Anyways, I wanted to thank you." There was silence after that, so I just continued. "I know that you probably don't care, but without you kind of being a dick, I wouldn't have been able to get through the tournament." Not that I really had. "And you saved Kimiko and Sayuri. I know you guys save humans, but you didn't have to do that. And it means a lot to me. So, thank you."

There was a long pause. I hoped he was just accepting it. I needed to thank him, at least for myself. In part for Kimiko and Sayuri, since I was almost certain he'd never meet them. As long as he knew I was grateful, I was happy.

"Hey, by the way, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but are you and Yukina related?" I asked. In the blink of an eye, there was a katana pressed to my throat. "I'm gonna take that as either a hard yes or a disgusted no."

"Say anything," he hissed. "And you die."

I raised my hands in surrender. "Crystal clear. It's your business, not mine. However, from now on can we just say 'I don't want to talk about it' instead of pulling out the big guns?" He leaned back, sheathing his sword. "And just so you know, I wasn't sure. It was mostly the eyes. You have the same eyes." With a scoff, he jumped back into the tree. We sat in silence for a few minutes.

Eventually, I got up, dusting off my ass. "Well, I'm gonna head out. I'm sure Damon wants to go home. You're always welcome, by the way. If you ever need a break you can come eat our food or something. Consider it an open offer." I didn't know how far away I lived from the temple, but I doubted it was a big deal for someone as fast as Hiei.

I left after that, heart pounding in my chest. There was something about that guy that both terrified me and made me feel safe. There wasn't much hope for him becoming a friend to me, honestly, but that was fine. Knowing Damon, I'd have to be at the temple a lot. He was the social butterfly that I would never be. That meant I was going to get pushed intot he family whether I wanted to our not.

Damon was waiting on the porch, a bunch of bags next to him. Takuma was leaning against a pillar, eyes closed. I smiled at them. That was my little family and I was so happy to not be alone.

I was happy to see my grandfather's old ass truck parked in front of the temple. Damon was the only other person who was allowed to drive it, so I hoped it was him that brought it there. Though I didn't know how far away from our house we were. For all I know we were in a different part of the country.

The Urameshi team, sans Hiei, came out to say goodbye. I couldn't help but remember how nice they had all been to us. Yusuke and I hadn't engaged much, but I liked him. He seemed nice and he and Damon got on well. Kuwabara had been nice guy, though he'd beaten the crap out of Takuma. He was a human fighting who he perceived to be an evil demon though, so I couldn't be too mad. Kurama was another that I hadn't talked much to, though he seemed terrifying and kind at the same time. Ame was lovely and I had a lot of respect for her. She had been a calming motherly force and Akira had been a small bundle of joy that everyone wanted to snuggle. Botan and Yukina had been nice, though I hadn't spoken to them much. I wasn't sure if they were going to be friends in the long term, but I appreciated what they had done for us so far.

Ame pulled me into a tight hug. "I'm so happy you're ok. If it's ok, we'll drop by on Friday. Give you some time to adjust to being back home."

"Yeah, that sounds great!" I said, returning the hug. "And if you ever need a babysitter, I have a lock on my greenhouse door and I work from home." At least now I did. I loved Akira and if there was anything I was good at, it was babysitting. I had been planning on specializing in developmental psychology, kids were easy to predict for me. There was little to no guesswork.

She grinned at me. "I will absolutely take you up on that. You have no idea how often date night gets cancelled because of one thing or another. Be prepared to be my go-to sitter."

Kurama kissed her on the forehead. "That'll give us more alone time."

Akira hugged my legs, smiling up at me. "Miss Finley, you're not going away forever, right?"

"Of course not, buddy," I soothed. "We'll still hang out."

"Good. 'Cause I like you." He looked from me to his mom, then urged me to come down to his level. I bent down and he made a little cup with his hands. "Can I call you Aunt Finley?" he whispered. Tears came to my eyes. This little stinker wanted to call me his aunt. And he'd known me for less than two months.

"Aw, Akira," I said. "Yeah, of course." He grinned, hugging me tight one more time. Damon and Yusuke were chatting, Takuma was being emo in the corner and Kuwabara smiled at me and came over. The tall ginger grinned at me.

"You holding up ok?" he asked. I nodded, smiling back. "Ok. Good. I know you weren't having the best time on the island. If you need anything, call. We all gave Damon our numbers so you can contact us if anything ever goes wrong. And we'll be visiting. Expect me during exams."

I chuckled. "Bring it on. Just remember that I can't help with math. I'm useless at math, I'm good at psychology. Brains I can do, numbers I cannot." He just laughed. I wasn't offended, he didn't know how bad my math skills truly were.

A small woman with pink hair cleared her throat. "May I have a word?" I nodded, following her off to the side. I didn't know who she was, but she looked like she was about 80 years old, a little younger than my grandparents would have been. "I know this has been hard on you. You're a lot like your grandfather." I gave her a confused look. "He may have fought in the tournament, but he had all the compassion you have. Thomas had a hard time with everything he did while we fought together."

I nodded, pulling my arms tight around my chest. "I had no idea..." The woman who I assumed was Genkai nodded.

"He never would have let you. As hurt as he was, he was proud. Same as you are now. My advice," she said. "You have a group of people that care about you. Use them. Thomas never recovered fully, though he'd tell you he did. He kept everything in and all the magic that Irene had couldn't cure regret. Use the people you have and don't be too hard on yourself."

"Alright... thank you." I gave her a small smile. "You're not acting much like the Genkai they told me stories about. Gramps always said you were a hardass."

She smirked. "Just wait. I'm only being nice as a favor to them. Any other time I'll kick your ass."

"I don't doubt it." She nodded at me.

"It's time for you guys to go home, I can see your idiot friend getting antsy." She shook her head. "I don't need another dimwit, but visit. If you're anything like your grandmother, you won't piss me off too bad."

"Will do, ma'am." She rolled her eyes.

As I walked away, the old woman said something I never expected to hear. "They'd be proud of you, you know."

I turned, smiling through the pain growing in my chest. "Thank you."

Damon, Takuma and I all piled into the old truck. We made Takuma sit in the backseat. It was easier to hide a bat demon in the back of truck than sitting in the passenger seat. Hell, it would've been easier to hide him in the bed, but my grandpa's truck didn't have a cover.

That truck was comfortable for me. I had learned to drive in it when I was 15 and it still smelled like my grandfather's cologne and the protective air fresheners my grandmother had made. It was a truck that was almost as old as I was, and no matter how good the condition was I probably should have retired it. Too bad I was too stubborn to let it go.

I may not have known where we were, but the directions that Damon gave me made it easier. It turned out that my grandparent's home was only an hour and a half away from Genkai's temple. The drive was filled with familiar radio hosts talking about the world's events, pop songs playing from the top 100 list and Damon attempting to play car games that he poorly explained to a reluctant Takuma.

As I drove, I realized that it was over. I was going home. Things were looking up for us. The last of the tournament would be behind me in the next two days and while I was dreading the conversation, I wanted this to be over. I wanted all of us to get on with our lives. Damon would be able to flirt with out holding back, Takuma could go join one of the Makai lords. I could keep on living and hopefully not be bothered by any of this again, free to do magic and breathe in peace.

Driving up the road to my home was surreal. I hadn't expected to come back, let alone in one piece. The trees that lined the road blew softly in the wind, green-yellow light filtering down between the leaves. When the grey stone walls came into view my heart sped up. The iron bars of my front gate were dull in the sunlight, the twisted metal casting shadows on the dirt in front of me. I parked the truck in the trees. We all unpacked our belongings from the back of the truck and walked to the gate. It creaked in welcome as we approached. I smiled and unlocked the gate.

The dark stone bricks that made up the house were covered in vines that I'd have to trim, as they'd grown even wilder in my absence. The garden was still thriving and green, the stone statues that my grandmother had left still stood as guardians of the house. Everything was as I left it.

Damon looked over at me with a small smile. "Good to be home, eh?" I nodded, breathing in the warm, herb-scented air.

"Great to be home."

We all put our things in the living room. Damon went to go make sure his room was as he left it, Takuma went to raid the fridge and I went straight to the greenhouse. I could only hope that the sprinkler system was still functional and that the plants were still alive. A bunch of dead poisonous plants were not good and while I could've gotten someone to look after then, I felt like it was better to not let anyone normal know that I was growing an entire greenhouse full of things that could kill then. It would invite way more questions than I needed. And way more police than anyone wanted.

The greenhouse was warm and the air damp, green leaves and bright flowers still proudly standing. I sighed, dusting off the metal chair that was tucked in with all the plants. The room was where I kept the plants for spells, rituals, teas. The usual things. There were vegetables in the garden outside, along with herbs for food. Everything in the greenhouse was magical. The energy, as volatile as some of the plants were, was calm and comforting. I tucked my knees into my chest, taking deep breaths. My eyes slid shut.

I was home.

There was a knock on the glass. Takuma looked in at me, a frown on his face. "I don't know how to work your human devices." I laughed softly.

"Does that mean 'Finley, please make me food?'" I asked, standing and stretching my arms. He glared at me. "Fine, fine. Remind me to go shopping, we can't have a lot right now." Thank god for summer and the magic of harvest time. Hopefully I could throw something together.

Damon and I settled into the house easily. I wasn't sure if he planned on living with me permanently, but it was sure looking that way. It's serious when they start leaving magazines and books in your bathrooms. Especially the kind they'd normally hide from a girlfriend. That's true friendship.

He was probably just happy that I made him food and didn't make him pay rent.

The full day we had at home was mostly spent cleaning for me. The boys trained because I kicked them out of the house. I hadn't been home for a few weeks and I wanted to cleanse the entire goddamn house. That meant anyone who didn't do magic needed to get the hell out of my way or risk getting smoked. I'd blow sage and dragon's blood all over everyone without a second thought. They probably needed to be cleansed anyways.

Hell knows Damon did. I hit his bedroom twice.

The next day was what I was dreading. We woke up early in the morning to go, packing all of Shoku's belongings into the back of the truck. Damon held the urn on his lap as I drove, and Takuma was reclined in the backseat. He refused to wear a seatbelt no matter how much I yelled at him. I supposed it was a miracle we even got him into the backseat in the first place with his stupid wings.

The drive was silent. No one moved to turn on the radio, no one spoke. You could cut the air with a knife. We all knew what was coming. It wasn't something that was particularly scary, or deadly. It was just hard and painful.

No one wanted to deliver the ashes of a dead man to their spouse and child.

It was a long drive to their house. It took about three hours, give or take. I wasn't too sure where we were going, as I wasn't great with directions, but I had Damon and a GPS. Damon could read a map and was easy to ignore in favor of the GPS.

Kimiko had a nice apartment in Iwaki. The building was tall, fairly modern and a beautiful, if worn, white. They lived on the second floor, and had a cute little balcony. Damon smiled at the building.

"Reminds me of my place," he said, looking up at the building. I glared at him. "What? Do you want me to bring hookups to your house?" I rolled my eyes. It was a fair point, I really didn't need average people coming into a house full of bones, poisonous plants and the smell of incense.

I looked for the buzzer. Akiyama… Akiyama… Apartment 209. I pressed the button, heart pounding in my chest. "Hello?" Kimiko's voice came over the intercom.

"Hi, it's Finley," I said.

"Of course, come in." The door buzzed and unlocked. We all went in, and straight to the elevator. Forcing Takuma into a trench coat in the middle of summer wasn't the best, but a guy in a trench got less stares than a giant bat demon. Go figure. The few humans that we saw on up our way there gave him a weird look and moved on.

Kimiko was already at the door when we got upstairs, a little girl poking her head around her legs. Kimiko was a conservatively dressed woman, in a knee-length white skirt and pale pink tee-shirt. She had long black hair that hit her about mid waist. I had to wonder how she and Shoku had ever gotten together. Shoku had told me she was a teacher. I figured she had gone back when Shoku had to leave, but how did a giant rock demon meet a friendly conservative elementary school teacher?

The little girl poking out from behind her legs was adorable. Kimiko had light brown eyes, but Sayuri had her father's. It looked like she had been playing dress-up, as she was wearing a pale pink tutu and what looked to be a Batman cape. She had shorter hair, as dark as her mother's, that was tied into little pigtails. Her skin wasn't rock-like, but it did have the slightest grey tinge to it. Most people would just assume that she didn't get enough sun.

"Hello," I greeted, voice low.

Kimiko nodded. "Hello…" She looked over all the things that we had. Her eyes shone with tears. "Thank you for bringing everything…" I nodded. She invited us in. We stepped in to the clean apartment.

The place was mostly light wood and pristine white. The walls were decorated with family photos and crayon, marker and pencil crayon drawings that I assumed Sayuri made. They seemed pretty consistent with the one that Shoku had kept on his nightstand. He was featured in many of them as a grey man wearing a red cape, holding hands with a little girl in a crown and a blue cape. That was now explained by Sayuri's blue cape with the yellow Bat symbol.

When Takuma took off his coat, Kimiko jumped and Sayuri stared at him in horror and awe. Sayuri seemed to think he was awesome and followed him into the living room like a puppy, staring at his wings. It was so cute.

Kimiko went through all of the things we'd brought her, mostly his clothes and a couple papers. Sayuri tugged on Takuma and pulled him off, and tugged on Damon's shirt until he followed along. I laughed, watching them go. Sayuri came back to look at me.

"Do you want to play?" she asked, voice quiet. She was very take charge with the boys, which didn't surprise me. Her father would have done anything she asked, she was probably used to having people wrapped around her little finger.

"Sure, but is it ok if I talk to your mom for a bit first?" I asked. I wasn't going to turn her down, but I had to answer any questions that Kimiko had. She had to have a couple.

Sayuri nodded, a serious stare on her little face. "Ok. When you're done, you have to come and join the tea party." With that, she left, cape flowing behind her. She was making Damon and Takuma sit down to a tea party. That was something I never though I'd see.

"How did you and Shoku meet?" I asked. It was a less painful way to start the conversation about her husband. At least I hoped it was.

"Oh, we met through a child at school, actually. His old boss had a child in my class," she explained. "The poor child was sick and I brought him homework so he wouldn't fall behind. Shoku was the one who opened the door. It was quite a shock." I laughed softly. I could imagine that a giant rock demon would terrify anyone, especially with no knowledge of their existence. "I fainted, and he was so sweet and apologetic. The man he worked for was a monster, but Shoku was so kind and gentle. It seemed so out of place but we fell in love.

I smiled. Shoku had never told me how they met, though I could understand why a man like Shoku had fallen for her. She was everything that he would want in someone; kind, considerate and intelligent. They were a real life Beauty and the Beast, if the Beast were a rock demon.

Kimiko and I sat in silence for a few moments. "Was it… painful?" Her voice was so soft I almost didn't hear her.

"I don't… I don't think so." Truth be told, I wasn't sure. It looked fast. He was dead when I got to him. The image of his body laying on the ground, blooding pooling from the massive hole in his chest shook me to the core. I felt the tears welling up but refused to let them fall. Kimiko didn't need anyone bursting into tears on her. She was the one who deserved to cry.

"How… how did it happen?" Her voiced cracked.

"An energy blast to the back." I shouldn't have kept going, but I did. "One of the members of our team had dragged me into the way of the blast and I ducked. It was a three on three and Shoku had gotten behind me."

She gasped, and swallowed hard. "Is the man that…"

"Killed him dead?" I asked, hoping that it was where she was going. She nodded. "Yeah. The guy that shot the attack and the one who sabotaged the team." I wasn't going to tell her how. She asked about her husband, but I wasn't going to tell her about the rest. I didn't like to think about it. The nightmares hadn't gone away yet.

She nodded, shaking as the tears fell down her face. "Are we going to be safe?"

"Yes." I pulled out a small box from my purse. "We didn't win, but those who did made sure you're safe. And I brought protection charms for you and Sayuri. I want to make sure you're both as safe as possible." I took out a small leather sachet, and two plain silver link bracelets. I always had jewelry like that around my house to enchant, and I'd turned them into protective charms for the girls.

She took them, a confused frown on her face. "I don't understand…"

"I'm a witch." Brown eyes shot wide. "I know. I'm the good kind, I promise. These will help keep you guys safe from anything that could hurt you. The sachet it for the house and the bracelets are for when you're not here." She smiled at me, though it was still confused.

"Thank you. I don't know much about these things, but Shoku said you were strong when he called." Hadn't mentioned the witchcraft, apparently. "I trust you. Thank you for bringing us everything." I smiled, nodding at her.

"It was the least I could do. The guys would never say it, but he was a good friend to all of us. We all relied on him to keep us together." I swallowed hard, a tear burning down my cheek. "He was a great man." She nodded. Both of us were crying now, as much as we were both trying to hide it.

A small voice came out into the room. "Mommy, what's wrong?" We both looked up to see Sayuri looking into the room.

"Nothing, honey, Finley and I were just talking about daddy."

Sayuri nodded, coming to hug her mother. "It's ok mommy. Daddy's a superhero. Sometimes superheroes have to go away, like Superman. He's probably saving people right now." Big, familiar eyes looked at me. "Will you come play now?"

"Yeah, I just have to use your restroom if that's ok?" Kimiko nodded and pointed me in the direction of the washroom. I locked the door behind me, pressing my back to the hard wood. Tears poured from my eyes as I slid to the floor. My body shook with gasps and sobs. I bit my hand to keep myself quiet. I couldn't imagine how hard this must have been for Kimiko. Her daughter didn't full understand that her father was dead, and she was along to raise her baby girl alone. She was only five years old. Sayuri probably wouldn't have any memories of her father after she grew up.

My chest burned and the dull pounding filled my head. Crying always brought on intense headaches. It was nothing compared to the guilt I felt for bringing this pain to their family. That poor woman had lost the love of her life and that poor child would never get to see her Superman again.

I cleaned myself up after a few minutes. Red veins still shot through my eyes, but I had a feeling Sayuri wouldn't notice. Damon and Takuma would, but I knew they wouldn't comment on it.

When I arrived to the tea party, I had to bite down on my fist to stop myself from laughing.

Damon wore a blue tutu, and had a golden tiara on his head. On his lap was a giant Captain America shield. He delicately sipped fake tea from a pink plastic cup. He was being very polite to Sayuri and the other teddy bear guests of her tea party.

Takuma, on the other hand, was pouting. And it looked hilarious paired with the purple tutu and the flower crown that Sayuri had no doubt forced on him. There was a black and red cape tied around his neck. The bat demon wasn't indulging in the tea party, but simply sat there, looking as thoroughly displeased as he could possibly accomplish.

I pulled out my cellphone, taking pictures of the two of them. This was something I was going to forever treasure. "Wow, don't you guys look pretty?" I asked, grinning.

Damon puffed out his chest. "I'm Princess America, thank you very much. Show me some respect." He flexed, waving the shield around.

"Princess America, you're going to spill your tea," Sayuri chided. She looked at me very seriously. "I'm Princess Batman, and that's Princess Hulk. I don't have a green cape." That explained Takuma's costume a little more. "You get to be…." She dug through her costumes and pulled out a blue crown and red tutu. "Princess Spiderman." She handed me the pieces and added a pair of red gloves. I took them, getting into costume.

I joined the tea party. "I must say, I like being Princess Spiderman."

"I like it too," the little girl said. "Daddy is a superhero and he always calls Mommy his queen. So I'm a superhero princess. You can be one too."

I grinned. "Why, thank you. The best kind of princess to be is the superhero kind. Like Sailor Moon."

"I like her. I don't like Tuxedo Mask though," she stated, pouring me the tea. "That's fairy tea. It makes your superpowers stronger."

"That's good, my Spidey Sense isn't doing so hot," I stated. "What about you, Princess America, do you feel stronger?"

Damon grinned at me. "The strongest I've ever felt. And this tutu brings out my eyes." Sayuri nodded, grinning. Then she turned to Takuma.

"Princess Hulk, you have to drink your fairy tea or you won't be able to be strong!" she said, frowning at the bat demon. "We gotta stop Loki from destroying the city!"

"I'm not a princess." I swatted Takuma's arm. Damon just burst into laughter.

"Come on, Princess Hulk, you're the prettiest princess besides Princess Batman!" he cheered. "Drink your tea."

After a few hours, it was time for us to leave. We stood at the door, saying out goodbyes to the family of our departed friend.

"If you guys ever need anything, just call us," I said, handing Kimiko my number on a piece of paper. "For anything."

She nodded, smiling and holding Sayuri close. "OF course. Thank you." Sayuri looked up at me wither big eyes.

"Princess Spiderman, you'll come back to play, right?" she asked, tugging on the hem of her tutu.

"Sure, Princess Batman. You just gotta ask your mom, ok? She can call me whenever you have time to play." Kimiko and I shared a smile. I loved that little girl. She was so different from her father, but I understood how he'd loved her. She was stubborn and sweet; she had us all wrapped around her finger in a heartbeat.

She hugged me tight around the legs. I returned the hug. After a final goodbye, we were back in the car and on our way home.

This car ride was easier on all of us. I played music from my iPod and while none of us were happy, we sang along to the familiar songs like we were. A weight had been lifted off us at the end of the day and it felt… better. Things were going to get better for us.

Takuma was going to the Makai, to join one of the Makai Lords. Damon was going to keep on hitting on anything that moved on two legs and was conventionally attractive. He'd continue stealing my food and leaving porn magazines in my bathroom. I would keep on trucking. I'd do magic, I'd cook, I'd read. I'd deal with the nightmares. Everything would be ok.

Nothing could get worse.

That's it for this chapter! This one was particularly long to make up for the lack of an update last week.

Finley got her last bit of closure with Shoku's family. I'll be honest, that was a fun section for me to write. As heartbreaking as it was, I actually know kids who react to losing a parent like Sayuri did.

Also, I've gotten mixed feelings on the idea of multiple POVs. Only FInley would be in first person, as this is truly her story, but sometimes I feel it's helpful to see what's going on with other characters from a 3rd person POV. Since it's fairly split, I've decided that I'm going to test it out a bit in the next chapters and see how you guys like it.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Feel free to leave any reviews or comments. Have a great day! :)