And thus, Ryo's Arc concludes. We've been waiting a looong time for this :p ATTENTION EVERYONE! IT IS HIGHLY SUGGESTED YOU GO BACK TO CHAPTER THIRTY AND SKIM OVER IT TO REFRESH YOUR MEMORY! Just sayin' yo :p

I don't own yyh. If I did, Ryo would be real.


Honestly? I knew he was traditional (Rema loved that), but to this extent? Sure, it was only proper, but everyone knew I didn't really care what went on in whose bedroom, as long as it didn't affect what went on in mine. And considering Mukuro and I were more than decent, I didn't really give half a shit about who fucked whom around here.

"Done. Go make babies." I patted his shoulder, talking to him seriously. His eyes twitched as his jaw dropped, face redder than red.

"J-just like that?" He stuttered, staring at me with shocked eyes.

"What?" I shrugged, beginning to clean me ear of earwax with my pinky. "Am I supposed to be all 'Yes, Matsukune, I believe you will be a fine match for her'? 'Cause if that's what ya wanted to hear, then ya already damn well know it. Besides, Rema needs ya now more than ever. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out."

His expression softened as he started to stand back up, thinking over my words. When he finally put everything together, a grin made it's way onto his face. He stepped forward, closing the distance between us and enveloping me in a hug. I shifted awkwardly, not used to him giving me such random displays of affection.

"Thank ya, Ryo." He tightened his hug in the slightest before pulling away, tears actually beginning to brim in his eyes. "I mean it, thank ya."

A soft smile made it's way onto my face as I nodded to him. He morphed into the shadows, no doubt going to tell his new lover of such progress. Sighing, I flicked my earwax on the ground before searching for Mukuro's youki. Finding her in the same spot as when I left, I slipped through the shadows back to her, coming out to sit beside her under the tree.

"What was that all about?" She asked, flipping the page in her nearly finished book.

"Nothing." I stated simply, smile still on my face. Hand pressed against my cheek with the elbow attached supported by a bent knee, I stared out at the garden's small creek. It's soft trickling of water could put anyone at ease. Mukuro took notice of my good mood, but said nothing as she shook her head with her own, small smile coming into place.


Life was boring.

Not just unexciting or old, but boring. Raizen and I still sparred every year, but it was more of a hassle nowadays than actually fun. His health was depleting, rapidly. Those damn monks around him knew it, too. Out of suspicion, they wouldn't let anyone but me over their border when visiting. That meant time away from Mukuro, which was more than irritating. Minuka settled down in the castle, locked away in his room most of the time, save for meals. He was still mourning, and would probably mourn forever, the loss of Garudu. Matsukune took my advice and got Rema pregnant, and Lashane and Parat already had little feet running amuck in the narrowest corridors. Tuko and his mate were already past that stage, and spent more and more time bickering like the old couple they were than actually making love. Fera vacationed often, spending time with her human lover, who was a small man by the name of Urutae. What she saw in him none of us knew. There were no riots to take care of, and our borders stretched from Raizen on our east to the sea on the west. Southwards, we breached the mountains and were slowly and successfully bringing more and more ground under my control. Times were more than peaceful; they were harmonious and tranquil. It was not the kind of mindset a demon like me should have.

As long as I have been alive, I have always acted upon whim. Save for my childhood in the compound, I had almost completely stopped planning things, preferring to live in the risks, the emotions, the now. But with everything so boring, there was nothing to be whimsical about. And that realization had gotten me thinking.

Thinking so hard was my first mistake.

I thought about a lot of things: what to do when we actually do conquer all of the world, if Enma was ever going to get the stick shoved up his ass surgically removed, when that damn human of Fera's would actually keel over, but mostly, I thought about Mukuro. Her eyes weren't like what they used to be; they were peaceful, tranquil, quiet. I was still just as attracted to her, I found. It wasn't because of looks, either. In fact, I didn't quite know why I liked her so much. Her touch, her scent, her voice… Her personality was just as fiery as usual, always with the playful sarcasm and easy to anger vengeful streak. Those chains, though, were still shadowed around her hands. They cuffed her to me, and only me. Yet, even though they stayed on her, she hadn't tried to kill me in a long time. Once or twice, when she was thoroughly pissed enough at something I said or did; but that was reasonable. And, in time, I began to think of taking them off. It was symbolic; she would no longer be just mine. She would be her own person, be able to do as she pleases when she pleases without having to worry about the repercussions.

Acting on these peaceful thoughts was my second and final mistake.

She found me where I usually was when I thought so hard, sitting by the stream in the garden, one foot dangling in the cool water and the other tucked up to my chest. Her voice seemed to blend in with the woods at first, but became clear and pronounced as I recognized it and allowed it to pull me from my thoughts.

"Rema is looking for you; there is news of what her child will be." Her foot falls upon the grass and occasional leaves that decorated the garden grounds were so quiet, it was hard for even my hearing to catch. "You should go. Sitting on your ass out here isn't making you thinner."

I grinned, noting the difference to the words Minuka had spoken to me centuries before, but not telling her of the similarities. She'd be offended, to say the least. "'Sit a boy or a girl?"

"Get off your ass and go find out. She wants to tell you herself." My grin dropped to a smile, as I didn't reply, preferring to lean back on my palms and set my other foot in the water, bringing my right foot out and onto the soft grass. Perhaps later I would go. For now, I was still debating how to go about getting those chains off of her. There were plenty of ways, each one as good as the next. I could get her pissed; them take them off so we could spar for the first time. Or I could sex her and take them off in the middle. Then again, there was always the simplistic approach: tell her what it means and wave them off. She seemed to notice my hesitation on the matter, and came up to lean against a tree that stood tall with blossoming pink flowers, which stood a good two meters behind me. "The hells buggin' you?"

"Indecision." I answered with a small sigh, watching the water flow over the pebbles of the stream. She was such a frank person; perhaps I should go with the last choice.

"Over what?"

Her question prompted me to bring my feet under me, standing up slowly as I cracked my back with a groan. "Ah… I'm getting old."

"That's nothing new. Answer my damn question." Her blunt answer incited me to shoot a grin over my shoulder at her, only to find the slightly annoyed expression on her face twitch into growth. Turning around, I closed the space between us in two solid steps, the grass roughening as I stepped closer to the tree. Her back arched against the bark, straightening so that should could glare at me properly as I took her left hand in my right, weaving my left handed fingers through the back of her bright hair.

"You…" Her eyes narrowed at my contradictory actions. She was getting angry, quickly. "I'm completely obsessed with ya, and I don't know why. You're my second in command, my lover, my mate-"

"You're getting repetitive." Her deadpan made my smile grow, as I looked straight into her eyes. Eyes that had captured my thoughts too many times to count.

"One thing, though, is keeping you from being my equal." She fell silent as I continued, dropping my left hand to her right and picking it up, bringing all of our palms together in between us. Without much effort, the power between the shadow wrapped wrists surged, and the thick bonds came into place upon her form. "These, Mukuro, have held you back for awhile now. They keep you from being my equal, being free. You're like a slave with them on, and I'm letting that go. You choose what you want to do from here on out. You make your decisions." Her eyes widened as I dismissed the chains, allowing them to melt back into my shadow once and for all. Emotions I didn't notice flashed beneath her face's surface, twisting and piling up: I didn't know she had stopped breathing until it was too late. "You're free, Mukuro."

I started to turn away, dropping her hands when the moment was over. With that said and done, I now had to go find Rema to see just who would be my godchild. "Now, where is tha-"

Words stopped flowing as I felt the knife enter my stomach, curving behind my ribcage and piercing my heart. Pain flowed into me as much the energy flowed out, and with a struggled cough, blood pooled through my mouth, spilling onto the sleeve of my attacker. I followed that arm, seeing what I did not see before. Mukuro, with a pained expression, stood there, knife I had once given her shoved so deeply into my body, I knew I wouldn't survive. The look on her face was clear now, tortured emotions playing their way out. As if it hurt her more than it hurt me to kill me. As if… as if I had betrayed her.

And, in that moment that I realized what had happened, I noticed my mistake. By removing those bonds, I knew what they now meant to her. They linked her to me, inseparably. By destroying them, I destroyed us. A fool mistake, breaking the heart of the only demon I felt open enough with to kill me. A fool mistake I hadn't meant to make. I coughed again, and I knew I was running out of time. I saw now not only what my mistake was, but the reason for making my mistake.

I loved her.

A demon like me falling in love was incomprehensible. So totally insane, I hadn't even considered the idea. And that was saying a lot, coming from a crazy bitch like myself. But now, I saw it clear as day. I had to tell her. I had to tell her my mistake, which I didn't see before. That I, who could never read her, was unable to understand just what we had.

My mouth opened as it worked, attempting to get the sound out. Nothing but blood spilled from my lips as I tried to tell her. Her eyes widened, though, and I realized she knew what I was meaning. I loved her. But yet, I still couldn't tell her. Life was slipping away from me; I could feel my limbs start to go cold. I had to tell her. Before I could never tell her again, I had to tell her. Her lips parted, and with a pain outside the piercing feeling, I realized that tears started to swell in her eyes. Tears. For me.

I had never thought I'd see her cry.

Just as I could feel my conscious start to slip away, I knew what I had to do. I had to come back, to tell her. To let my voice say the words, not just plead for her to understand past the blood and sorrow that spilled from my mouth. With one last look in her saddened, beautiful eyes, I pushed my soul out of my body, escaping from death's absolute embrace.


Present Day

Minuka stopped his swinging fist halfway over the table when he saw that the object of his anger had passed out not from him, but from reasons of their own. After a few seconds of nobody moving, the transvestite dropped his fist, and sank back into his seat calmly. Reki's worried frown deepened as she noticed her friend wasn't breathing. Quickly, she leaned over her, and gently pushed on the girls shoulder to wake her. Zizzy, whose previous expression of shock had faded, leaned far over the table to see the genius. With hazel and yellow eyes staring at her, the body didn't move.

Bored, Minuka propped his face in his hand, and with his other, he fiddled the edge of his kimono. It briefly brought to mind how expensive it was, though to him, it was definitely worth it. He knew for a fact that pink complimented his skin tone.

"To-chan? To-chan?" Reki began to prod, shaking Toshiko's body harder and harder now. Her voice started to raise a couple octaves in panic. Zizzy, seeing this was going nowhere, decided she was far more worried for someone else's safety.

"Ryo-nee-chan?" She asked, leaning over the body some more. A finger twitched, going unnoticed by all but Minuka, who stopped his fiddling and went back to the scene on hand.

"We're home!" A sweet voice sounded as the tone of the front door sliding open eased through the house. A loud crack, however, cut through that call like a lion's roar would a mouse's squeak. The table folded downwards, split down the middle as Ryo's fist landed on it. Minuka's eyes widened as he stood suddenly, getting away from the table. Ryo, with the darkened brown eyes that her current body held, glared at Minuka with all of her might, and then some.

She stayed in her seat for only a millisecond after she split the table, preferring to jump up and over the still breaking wood and forward to Minuka, who vainly tried to dodge the right hook aimed for his stomach. Minuka bent over from the force of the blow, eyes wide as he sputtered out his saliva. Not waiting for that attack to end, Ryo withdrew her fist and kicked up her knee, hitting him in the collarbone and causing him to fly back into the wall separating the kitchen and the main room. She was there within a second, holding him against the wall by his neck.


Mwuahahahaha :D She died! *le gasp!* And... she's pissed. Woot! I love this chick. Anyway, next week: Toshiko. This chapter seems so short now that we've had all the double chapters... :p Perhaps i'll start doubling the length. It feels like I'm ripping you off with only 2500-3500 word chapters; so, if I feel like it... I'll try. It doesn't feel right just switching back to such a short length, does it?

LadyxAbsinthe, NA, and pyrosnightmare: Have I told you guys I love you lately? Cuz ya know, I lurve ya! XD Thanks for the support you amazing people! You rock my socks :D

Review please! See you next week! (Where Toshiko shall return!)