Early chapter release to apologize for the cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter ^^

A drop of blood ran down the curved edge of the blade, hit the handle, and fell to the ground. Chihiro let go of the dagger as if it had burned her hand. She backed away, stumbling and falling over the uneven ground, eyes wide and gasping. She stared in shock at the inch of black glass knife protruding from the front of Haku chest. Haku closed his eyes, trying to control his breathing and slow his heart rate.

The eagle flew down from the sky and turned into the dark-skinned man. He landed lightly on his feet and took the knife from the boy. Then he whirled around and pointed it at the trembling Chihiro. "Are you the real one?" he demanded. "Tell me why I should not kill you."

"Stop that, Yauxal, you're frightening her," Haku said wearily. He walked over to Chihiro slowly, wincing a little and trying not to jiggle the knife. He knew that the only reason he hadn't bled out yet was that the knife was blocking the flow. Obsidian, which was formed from the blood of the earth, was one of the few non-magical things able to kill a spirit.

"I'm frightening her!" the eagle spirit exclaimed, but stepped aside to let Haku approach.

"Chihiro," Haku said, "stand up now, it's okay."

"B-but, what-" Chihiro stammered, confusion and fear in her eyes.

"It's okay," Haku said gently. He slowly pulled Chihiro into a cautious one-armed embrace, carefully avoiding the knife, and softly kissed the top of her head. Chihiro rested her cheek on Haku's shoulder. He was warm. She could feel Haku shaking and his heart pounding. Knowing that he was scared as well calmed her.

"Let's get your memories back," Haku murmured soothingly into her hair. "I'll need your help. We need a little bit of your blood, okay?" Chihiro stiffened a little. "Don't worry," Haku said, and held her until she relaxed and nodded.

Lin, he thought, is everything ready?

Yes, go ahead, Lin said.

Fujisan hurried toward them across the rocks, looking worried, but Haku shook his head at him.

With one arm still around Chihiro, Haku led her up to the stone altar. The boy that Yauxal had dropped from his talons stood across from them. Yauxal handed the knife back to him, and without hesitation, the boy made a shallow slash across each of his palms, letting the blood fall onto the altar, and then passed the knife to Haku. He squeezed Chihiro lightly, and then took her right hand and cut across the palm of it with the knife. He quickly did the same to his left and held their hands above the stone. The red droplets hissed as they hit the surface.

"It is done," Haku said.

It is done, Lin agreed. At the various Gates around the world, spirits, humans, and their offspring repeated the phrase and let their blood fall onto holy ground. Generations of children of both spirits and humans had guarded their mixed-blood heritage for centuries, awaiting this moment.

At the Gate which had started it all, in the tunnel of the red plaster building that marked the border between the worlds, Zeniiba placed the two powerful seals together end to end, one golden and one silver. One by one, Risuni's family let their blood fall onto the join of the seals. The seals glowed as they melted together and fused into a small metal sphere. With a soft pop, Zeniiba disappeared. Shika picked up the sphere and pocketed it. He would deliver it, in the morning, to Yubaba. The bathhouse workers would be surprised by the new attitude in their boss lady, but only Lin and Kamaji would really know what had happened. The twins would no longer be two, but one, as they originally had been.

Chihiro was hallucinating. Flecks of light swirled in front of her eyes, each one a story, a voice, a memory. She swayed on her feet, and was caught by the boy, now a man, who left a bloody handprint on her white kimono. She didn't notice; she was too busy remembering.

She remembered all that had happened that day they had moved. She remembered forgetting when she passed through the Gate, an odd feeling. She remembered all of the dreams in which her memories had been kept safe. She remembered all that had happened with Shika on the way to Tokyo, and in Akuma's palace, and in the magical sleep Akuma had put her under. She remembered remembering in that sleep, and she remembered forgetting again upon waking up. She remembered having no control over her body and stabbing Haku.

She opened her eyes just in time to see Haku collapse. Falling dislodged the knife, and blood gushed out, quickly pooling on the ground around the wound. Chihiro found herself kneeling next to Fujisan on one side, and the king on the other. They showed her where to put her hands to block the bleeding as they used magic to slowly knit together heart muscle and lungs, which had both been cleanly pierced by the sharp obsidian. Their hands were steady and able, but it still seemed to Chihiro that they couldn't work fast enough. How much blood could one person lose? Chihiro thought. How many times a day could a person almost die and still live?

The sun had nearly gone down by the time Chihiro finally stood up. Haku had not woken, but his wounds were closed and he was breathing now, slowly and steadily. Chihiro was bloody and tired, and her knees hurt from kneeling on the rocky ground. She didn't care. Haku was alive. She turned around slowly without seeing anything, and almost fell over when Risuni hugged her, hard. "Thank goodness you're okay!" Risuni exclaimed. "We were so worried!"

Risuni had barely let go when Shika grabbed her to squeeze her and lift her off her feet. "Tenryu was completely right about you," Shika said, when he had set her down again. "Haku wouldn't be alive if not for you."

"He almost died because of me," Chihiro said grimly. All of the events of the day suddenly caught up with her.

"Well you killed him once, and saved him twice," Shika said. "I'd say that you're still doing pretty well."

"Shika!" Risuni scolded, but Shika's lighthearted banter had already brought a small smile back to Chihiro's face. Risuni smiled, too. "You can't control what other people think, but your friends know that it was out of your hands. Lin had her eye on you this whole time, and she says you were unconscious that whole time and didn't wake up until after."

"It was a little more complicated than that," Chihiro murmured, "but I'll explain later."

"Don't worry," Shika said. "Everything will work out, and what doesn't will blow over."

Someone tapped Chihiro on the shoulder. She turned around. It was Fujisan. Behind him, Haku was floating in the air next to the king as if on an invisible stretcher.

Fujisan bowed deeply to Chihiro. "Thank you for everything you've done for the Spirit World and for my brother Kohaku," Fujisan said. "And for me. We're going to take him back to the palace now. He needs to rest."

"Should I come?" Chihiro asked.

"No," Fujisan said. "You should go home. You have a duty to your parents. Don't worry about Kohaku. We'll take good care of him."

Chihiro tried to protest, but Risuni placed a hand on her arm.

"As much as I think you should be there when he wakes up," Risuni said apologetically, "we're running out of excuses to tell your parents. The worlds are joined again, and the spell on the border is broken, so it's not like you can't see each other again. I'm sure you'll hear about it as soon Haku is feeling better."

Chihiro took a long look at the unconscious Haku, who was almost as pale now as when Yubaba had had him under her control, then took a deep breath and nodded.

"One last thing," Fujisan said. He carefully picked up the obsidian dagger from the ground where it had lain ignored. It was still now clean. With the sharp tip, he drew thin line down his thumb and across his palm. Chihiro could feel immense heat emanating from the hairline cut. Fujisan traced the shape of the dagger with the hand he'd cut, and a sheath appeared around the knife, red with heat. When it cooled, Chihiro saw that it was made of the same material as the dagger itself, but smooth rather than jagged, and with beautiful white snowflakes were scattered across the face of the black volcanic glass.

Fujisan handed it to her. "Keep this," he said. "Learn to use it, and it can protect you against anything in the Spirit or human worlds." He bowed again, and then embraced her briefly, before walking back to where his father and brother were waiting. They walked together onto the rippling water, and slowly sank down beneath the waves. Chihiro turned away as well, gripping the still warm stone of the dagger sheath, and with both Risuni and Shika's arms around her, walked into the mist.

Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me ever since the first draft of this story (which was a completely different story)! This is already draft 4. There needs to be at least one more draft, though, to fix some character issues now that I know how the story is going to end. There will (probably!) be an epilogue, but I just want to say here, THANK YOU FOR READING!