LAST CHAPTER. No, don't argue. I need a break desperately. I said I would have a break before, and it ended up being Redemption. This time I'm serious. The only thing I'm planning is a depressing angsty Spirited Away one-shot. Which is a bit exciting, seeing as how it'll be my first non-DBZ fic. Anyway, I need a break to sort out things and what-not. I'm not saying this is the end, but it's the last chapter for this fic. The rest I suspect will be completely pointless entertaining drivel with no artistic value at all. (Which also means I'll get twice as many reviews, if my plan works out…) But it will be funny. So I feel better about it.

There are a lot of things in this chapter that I wish I could show you. I wish I could draw, so that I could show you exactly what I meant when I typed this, show you the exact feeling, the exact expression. But I can't. Thus, the imagery in this is somewhat lacking. And the end is a bit abrupt, but I got impatient. Deal with it. I'm snappish today.

I want to thank all of the people who reviewed, every single one. You guys give me the ambition to keep writing. :) I love you guys.

Angel

Ranu lay in a bed next to Kris's, staring at the ceiling and thinking. She had been cleaned off, and her clothes had been changed. The bloodied clothes had swiftly been destroyed. But no matter how much they wanted to pretend that they had never existed in the first place, they couldn't. They were taking it very well, considering. Bra and Trunks had been the most shaken, understandably. Bulma had cried, but insisted that Kris was still good, still welcome and loved, no matter what she had done. She insisted that Kris was still that sweet little girl that had been brought to her years ago, underfed and starved for attention, that she was simply "misguided", as she had called it. Vegeta and Goku simply looked sadly at her and Ranu. Though Goku had been the one who talked with Ranu, asking him simple questions to keep his mind from trying to kill itself with it's constant self-questioning.

But Goku wasn't there right then, to keep Ranu's mind off the still unconscious Kris.

His body was still a bit sore, but he could breathe normally and could now move and walk by himself. But he had nowhere to go at the moment, so it didn't matter. He shifted so he was laying on his side, facing Kris, and stared at her sleeping form.

'… what am I going to do now?' he thought despairingly to himself, sighing. It had been shocking, to see Kris like that. It had been horrifying to see all the dead corpses, ripped open and full of huge gaping wounds that had stopped bleeding. He had had to be carried out, but he could still hear the muffled thump of their bodies hitting the wall when Vegeta had kicked one aside so that they could walk. He remembered that Trunks had weakly protested at that, and that Goku had flinched. He himself had felt like throwing up, but could never quite accomplish that.

And the way Kris's limbs hung lifelessly as Vegeta carried her out… she had been absolutely covered in gore, as if she had slipped and slid around in it, made little snow angels in it, only instead of snow she had used the blood spilt all over the floor. The image made his throat constrict painfully. Had she really done this? It couldn't have been her, he told himself. Why would she do something like that? He knew that she cared deeply for him, her actions had spoken volumes when it came to that!

Why else would she let him get so close to her when everyone else had been pushed away? Why did she put up with his endless antics, his constant barrage of questions that she somehow always knew the answers to, why would she always help him study for tests she herself had already passed when she had other things to do, if she didn't care for him?

No, it wasn't a question of her affection. He already knew that she liked him, even if it was as a deep friend and nothing more. No, the question was… why had she killed for him? Had it even been solely for him in the first place?

He would not think about it being solely for him. To think that she had torn apart living thinking beings only to save him, when she could've simply overpowered them and rescued him… to think that she had been so enraged by his imprisonment that she had killed so many people to satisfy her need to protect him… that was far too much. It was almost scary in its intensity. It made him recoil in fear, to think that there was someone who loved him enough to outright kill anyone who had any connection whatsoever to his pain. That was simply too much to deal with.

So, what had it been then? If it wasn't only for him, what was it for? Revenge? That didn't seem like Kris. She was dark and unforgiving in her revenge, but never outright cruel. Never with killing intent. He had seen her deal out what she liked to call "justice" to their peers at school (despite his many and frequent protests). And it had always been a taunting, playful sort of vengeance. It had never been done with a clear intent to seriously harm. It had backfired once or twice, and sometimes people did get hurt, but he had always seen that moment that she realized she had gone too far. He had seen it in her eyes, the immediate guilt that softened them, and then the automatic shield she slammed in place while she considered how to make it better, how to apologize properly without making it seem as if she was actually sorry. He knew that Kris, the one he had confessed his love to, the one that hit him on the head and called him an idiot, the one who he remembered very near broke his arm when said arm had been used in snapping the back of her bra playfully. He knew her.

But this one continued to scare him. And the fact that he was scared of her only made his throat tighten even more and made his stomach twist around like it was in pain and writhing. He hated that.

So, he lay there in bed and thought. What about this one scared him so much? Why was it that whenever he thought about those dull eyes, he felt like he was helpless and weak? He knew he wasn't. He knew very well that he was steadily catching up to the others in terms of power, and that he was stronger than Kris. He hardly ever hesitated to show that off before. So, why was it that he felt so helpless when he thought of Kris?

He thought for awhile. It could be that he felt that way because he couldn't do anything to prevent her condition. He couldn't stop this from happening. It made sense…

He frowned. That was why he felt so powerless? Just because he couldn't have stopped Kris from… what? Finding out that her past demons had never quite died all the way? Stopped her from snapping when the pressure became too much? Stopped her from ripping her own half-healed emotional wounds open again? No, he realized, he was powerless to stop her from doing these things to herself, and there was no way anyone could have protected her from that.

"… Ranu, no matter how hard everyone tries at healing the wounds in her heart, they'll always be there. But the fact is, she rejects everyone else when they even attempt to get close to her. She's closed herself up into her own protected little bubble, and no one can get in… except you."

He sighed again and nodded to himself. That was true. The words his uncle had said that day still held true, he supposed. No one could ever touch Kris unless she wanted them to, and her uncle and himself were the only ones allowed. Everyone else she considered a threat to herself, so she never let them get close enough to hurt. Or… was that wrong?

If she was afraid of getting hurt by them, why hadn't she closed herself off completely? She knew that he would've stayed by her, even if she had decided randomly one day to live on the other side of the planet, in the middle of the desert, all by herself. So if she was so afraid for herself that she would cut herself off from other people, why hadn't she done that? He knew it wasn't past her to go to extremes when she became scared or excited. So why? What other reason could she possibly have for cutting herself off?

She jerked back, eyes wide.

"N-no!" Ranu exclaimed, noticing the panic that had started to form in previously dull empty eyes. He coughed a couple times before continuing. "N-no, it's… it's okay… really…"

She had been scared then! Scared of… him? His reaction? He had told her it was alright, that he wasn't angry at her, wasn't disgusted, so what had she been so scared of? Granted, it could've been that he was so weak then, but he had been clean and well, so there was no need for her to be scared about his condition… in fact, he had been downright squeaky clean when compared to the gore that she had been covered in…

Snap!

Oh. Oh, that couldn't be it…

"Let's get you out of this shirt, Ranu… look, it's stained now…" And sure enough, there was a couple of dark handprints on his white shirt where Kris had helped him sit up.

What… had Kris been frightened because she hadn't realized she was covered in blood? No, she had been well aware of what she was doing and her state… was that it then? She didn't want to get him dirty? Why?

He thought about it for a long time, before finally realizing it. Piecing it together bit by bit, searching his memory for clues, and he managed to finally realize it.

She was afraid for him.

She was afraid for everyone, wasn't she? His mind raced around in circles, working frantically. She was afraid that she would somehow get them all dirty, like she was! She had done that before, she had killed people before, that had been how she had escaped in the first place, and she must've been so much more bloody and dirty then, because she was so much smaller, so less controlled than she was now, and god, what had happened to her once she woke up then? What had the girl felt when she woke up from her post-slaughter exhaustion, covered in gore and dirt and laying in the rotting remains of actual people and rubble scattered everywhere from her own fury? She was still so afraid of getting them dirty somehow, she still saw herself covered in their flesh, and she was so afraid of getting that taint on other people that she purposely cut herself off, refused to let other people touch her because she believed the only people immune to her disease-taint were Vegeta and himself!

He reeled mentally for a few minutes at the revelation. She thought that badly of herself. She was that concerned with other's safety and happiness that she kept herself away from what she considered their purity, and at the same time didn't want to hurt them by going away completely. That…

He stared in shock at the sleeping form of his best friend. That was so entirely different from the selfish, arrogant, self-assured girl he knew. He thought he knew. He lay there in shock, slowly processing the information. Minutes passed. And he was slowly forced into the realization that he didn't know this girl as well as he thought he did. And that she obviously didn't believe he was strong enough at the moment to ward off her re-strengthened taint. And that made some feral, angry part of his mind stir uncomfortably and push the shock out of the way. It didn't matter. Kris thought she would stain him somehow if he got too close? Well, that was too bad. What was so horrible about being stained anyway?

He stretched out and carefully got out of the bed, mindful of his still-sore limbs. He shuffled over to Kris's bed and leaned over it, both hands on either side of Kris's body, holding him up as he inspected her face. She slept peacefully enough. Her breath made his bangs quiver against his forehead, and he felt something in his stomach quiver as well. He ignored it. Looking at her like this, she didn't seem as if she was capable of killing people at all. She didn't look like she was scared or sad or angry… she was just sleeping peacefully. He smiled a little at that. That was nice, to see her being peaceful. Even if it was just sleeping. He wanted to hold her against him for awhile, but he didn't move. Moving would probably wake her up, and he didn't want to deal with whatever would happen when she woke up. There was enough of that.

He frowned again. What was the point in worrying about this kind of stuff, really? It didn't much matter, other than that he got a good look at what motivated Kris. It let him see something that she hadn't let him see. He had found that out about her all on his own. He felt a flicker of self-satisfaction and pride at that. But really, why was he worrying so much about Kris being scared to hurt other people? He knew she couldn't hurt him. Only he could hurt himself, he had control over that much. And if she was so afraid of hurting people, then he would just have to tell her how silly she was being and hold onto her and keep her still until she understood that and stopped being afraid.

'Mm…' he thought idly, eyes half-lidded. 'That sounds nice…' He purred absent-mindedly, a low rumbling sound that vibrated all the way down his arms. He hadn't really noticed that he now had half his face buried in Kris's hair and was gently nuzzling it, too lost in the pleasurable smell of her hair and the vibration of his own purring to pay much attention to the outside world. The stresses of the past few days melted in relief. There was only so much one could take before he decided that none of it mattered much anyway. They were all safe and at home, and any threats to their safety had been destroyed. There was food, security, warmth… what more could they want? There was nothing to be concerned about here… everything was okay here, nothing bad was going to happen, so he could just relax and let himself go. That sounded real nice after having dealt with all the stress and guilt and threats. Nope, nobody was going to mess with his Kris-chan for quite a while, so he could rest easy for a bit. And he didn't really find it odd or alarming in the least that he thought of her as his. She was, wasn't she? Granted, she wasn't his mate… yet. But that didn't really matter.

In fact… the more he thought about it… nothing really mattered much right now. His purr intensified.

And the first thing Kris realized was that somebody's collar and neck was in front of her face, and there was a really nice rumbling vibration that she could feel in her chest as it vibrated the air. An overwhelming feeling of safe came over her, and she closed her eyes again and sighed.

The sudden breath on his lower neck alerted Ranu and snapped him partially out of his daze. He removed his face from her hair and paused his purring, moving to look at Kris's face. Damn. He had moved and woken her up. He frowned a little at himself. He should've been more careful in not waking her up.

The stop in purring caused Kris to open her eyes again slightly.

"Nnn?" Kris grunted, still groggy and not quite comprehending what was going on. Which was a rather good thing for Ranu, considering he had chosen that moment to decide that since she was already awake, there was no consequence in grabbing her and hauling her over to his own bed, where he sat and held her still on his lap. She was already awake after all. There was no harm in waking her further now, in his mind.

Kris yawned and rubbed at her eyes. Blinking sleep away, she looked curiously up at Ranu's face and blinked again. He looked odd. She wasn't sure she knew what it was… he wasn't quite frowning, but he wasn't smiling in that happy-go-lucky way he had. He looked… stern? That didn't seem right. He had never had that look before… well, no, she remembered. He had had it before sometimes. Whenever she was doing something wrong that he didn't agree with. Whenever she was particularly cruel to some poor sap who dared bother her, or some such nonsense. He didn't like it when she got out of control and violent. He was always afraid that she would hurt someone or herself when she got like that…

Either way, it was somehow wrong that he had that look now, even as he was holding her very gently, like she would break. She blinked again, becoming more awake. Had she done something wrong? She must've hurt someone for him to look so seriously at her…

And when it finally crashed back into her mind she stiffened, eyes wide and tail-fur bristled. No no no! Why was he holding her?! It was bad! She had-!

"No." he growled, holding her tighter. Damn it, he knew this would happen!

"L-let go!" she stuttered, struggling weakly, but picking up more strength steadily.

"N-no!" she said, louder. "Let go!" and she kicked and thrashed.

"No." he replied flatly, only moving so that he could restrain her from flailing around. He didn't want to hurt her, not at all. But he knew, somehow, that she couldn't be allowed to escape again. He couldn't let her run away or retreat inside herself again, or else he might never get the real Kris back. He couldn't let that happen.

Kris screeched at him and snapped angrily at his arms, which had pinned her arms against her body, but was unable to inflict any damage. She slapped at him with her tail, but it was obviously no painful enough for him to let go. His legs had her hips and upper legs pinned to the bed, while his own tail had wrapped around her ankles and was effectively holding her legs completely still.

She snarled and bristled at him, still squirming, though the wiggling slowly died down and she couldn't continue snarling when she had to pant for air. It had taken 3 minutes to subdue her.

"Hm," Ranu said, not tired in the least from her struggles. "Nice to see you've still got your normal amount of spunk at least." He smirked slightly, though he half-expected her to slump against him in defeat.

She growled irritably at him instead and jerked against his arms once. He listened to her pant for a minute or so before speaking again.

"… Feel better now?"

She huffed. He smiled at this, but decided to continue to hold onto her until she would snap at him again. Then, he would be satisfied that she was normal again. Then, he could let go of her (for awhile at least) and everything could go back to normal. She would hit him for being stupid like she always did and he could pout cutely at her until she melted and tried to pretend like she didn't care if he pouted or not, and the he could lunge at her and hug her again and she would beat on his head half-heartedly until she finally gave in with an exasperated sigh and rested her hands on his back while he nuzzled her stomach. Everything would be alright again and they could forget that it had ever happened. Maybe one day they'd talk about it again and be sad about it, but not today. Today should've been like all the days before, where she had been alright.

She huffed again, which caused him to look at the back of her head curiously, like it would reveal some secret to him. It didn't. A sudden tightening in Kris's body made him suddenly hold tighter again, afraid she would resume her struggling. But she didn't. The tightness remained, and she twitched forcefully, head bowed. He was becoming more and more confused. If she wasn't trying to escape again, what was she doing? Her body seemed to want to fold in on itself, and he finally decided to let her legs go free. Half expecting a sudden struggle again, he was rather surprised to see that all she did was bring her knees to rest her forehead against.

It was only when he smelled the salt and the strange smell that changing emotions made that he realized what she was doing. It made it completely clear when a large hiccupped sob tore from her and she shuddered.

He shifted his grip on her, worried now. …She wasn't supposed to start crying again. She was supposed to be alright. What was she doing, crying over it? But he couldn't be mad at her. She was still scared and upset, that much he could smell at least. He snorted to himself. He was being stupid too. He had expected her to just recover that quickly when he had already known that she never bounced back as quickly as he did. It often took weeks for her to give up being mad at someone for something so seemingly trivial as a single piece of toast from breakfast. Granted, he wouldn't have been happy either… but it took Kris double the amount of time needed to forgive and forget. And this was something far more serious than toast.

He arranged himself so that his tail was wrapped around her waist, and his chin rested on top of her head. He purred again, hoping to distract her, or at the very least calm her down until she could be distracted. She sobbed again, and made tiny gasping breathes for air. He could feel the tears drip onto his arms, but made no move to brush them off. He exhaled slowly, moving his arms to rest more around her waist and moving his tail to pat softly at her own, which lay lifelessly on the mattress. He nuzzled at her hair, then the back of her neck, purring all the while, until finally, tentatively, brushing his lips against her ear.

She hiccupped and whined and mewled like an infant, but he waited until there was a pause to speak.

"Why're ya crying?"

He heard her choke on another sob before she shivered again and answered.

"How can you?..." she started, her voice cracked from tears and prior snarling. She repressed another hiccup, jerking violently, before continuing.

"How can you still touch me? How can you… knowing… you saw…" and was unable to continue out of shame and sorrow, simply trembling and hiding her face in between her knees.

He frowned slightly. She thought that he would abandon her, would hate her or be disgusted, would stop loving her because of what she had done. And while he had been and was still shaken by her actions, to think that she would consider his affections so shallow as to be broken that easily… No. No, that was wrong. She couldn't think that, he wouldn't let her. That was wrong. He was tired of the constant doubting she did, of every mistake he made in regard to her. That was it. That would end, right now. Her sanity couldn't take anymore of it, and his patience refused to.

And the next thing Kris knew she had been pinned against the bed by a large warm body and was practically suffocating in his shirt as he nuzzled the top of her head. She tensed in surprise, contemplated a struggle, and let it die.

Purr. Nuzzle. "I can…" Fingers tentatively resting between her neck and shoulder, flickering back and forth between them, unsure. "…because…" A long, drawn-out masculine purr. Nuzzle. "…I love ya…" Shifting. His face came into view, done with her hair and looking straight at her, a fierce look in his eyes that seemed to be slightly desperate. "… no matter what ya do."

Wide eyes regarded his smile, his adoring eyes that were warm and so inviting. She didn't remember to breathe until, when his smile softened, and lips brushed against her forehead, her cheekbones, the corners of her mouth, and pressed lightly against her own; only then did she remember to breathe and gasped.

The fingers that had been playing along her neck trailed down to her shoulders and gripped them tightly, and a flash of panic shot through their owner. No, no, don't let her be afraid of me, please, let her respond, oh god, please, don't let her cry again…

By the time he pulled back to gauge her reaction, they were both shaking uncontrollably and both close to tears again.

And, as usual, she was the first to break.

"Oh, god," she sobbed out, and flung her arms around his shoulders and buried her face in his neck. And it was all she repeated, over and over, mantra-like until the tears running down her throat made it raw and she could no longer say it comfortably. And both of them were quiet for the longest time.

But when the angry voice in the back of his head told him again that it wouldn't do to have a broken mate, not at all, he agreed and crooned comfortingly at Kris. And it shut up after that.

"Hey, Kris-chan," he whispered, pulling back a little to look at her. She blinked up at his face, her own streaked with tears still, though their flow had slowed down.

"Ya don't have to say it back if ya don't want to," he continued. "But… ya can't hide it from me. I already knew your answer anyways." And he grinned at her like everything was alright with the world.

She blinked disbelievingly up at him for a moment, then started laughing. Relief tingled all the way down to their feet and pooled there. There was only so much stress one could take, and they had reached and maintained their limits long ago. It was like some kind of strange blessing to be able to let it go. The only thing she could think was 'Oh god. He loves me. He…' and could never finish the thought. He had told her that once before, that was true. But, to think that it was so deep that he would still love her after seeing her covered in gore and after all that… what sane person would love a Sinner? A Fallen Angel? A blood-spattered Saiyan girl who had never been mentally stable, who could never interact normally, with normal people? What kind of moron was stupid enough to love her?

Her moron, apparently.

And she let go of him to wipe the tears off of her face. Giving her a kiss on the forehead, Ranu rolled off of her and sat up. The loss of contact made them both shiver.

"S-so…" Ranu started. She sat up as well and looked at him. He smiled at the helpless look on her face. It made her look cuter. Kris glanced away and fidgeted.

"You hungry?"

She blinked and looked back at him. That was all he was going to say? Ask her if she was hungry?

She nodded and he grinned. He started to move off of the bed gingerly, remembering his previous soreness. It didn't go unnoticed by Kris.

She scowled and lunged forward, catching him by the waist and pulling him back, growling.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

She growled louder and clung to him from behind. He was injured and trying to move? No, that wouldn't do. If he hurt, he shouldn't be moving around. She frowned and loosened her grip on him enough so that he turned to look at her questioningly.

"What is it?" he asked. She frowned more deeply.

"… You're hurt." She said accusingly. He looked concerned for a moment.

"I'm just a little sore, that's all. I was laying in that bed for too long and my muscles need to remember how to work. I gotta get up Kris-chan."

She scowled again and clung to him tighter.

"No."

"Kris-chan…"

"I don't wanna!"

He sighed. Thinking for a moment, he rubbed the arms wrapped around his waist gently and purred. Feeling the arms loosen again while their owner snuggled against his back, he smirked a little. Perfect.

"Please, Kris? Just for a little while. I'm hungry. I promise I won't hurt myself, okay? Please?" If there was one thing he had learned, it was to not push her when she's being stubborn. It only made her resist more and ended up draining him. Simply buttering her up and acting pathetic usually worked well enough.

She frowned deeply and held tighter for a moment, before releasing him. He smiled at her, and she thought it nearly blinded her, then shifted so that he slid off the bed and stood up, stretching happily. He glanced at Kris and saw her sitting on the bed, looking rather lost. And while it did look a bit cute in some way, it didn't quite fit her. That look didn't belong to Kris.

He held out his hand to her to help her out of bed and smiled charmingly.

"Come on!" he chirped.

Kris's eyes widened slightly.

Ranu was holding his hand out, smiling and happy, and light seemed to pour over him and love him like he was the sun's own beloved child.

"Come on!"

She shivered and stared at his hand. Could she? Could she really stand it if she made this jump? If by doing this, by moving forward instead of being stuck where she had been forever, would somehow cause even more trouble? She swallowed and lifted her hand up slightly, trembling. And what if, by doing this, she was trying to shove her past under a mental carpet, until someone unburied it again? What if she were still being punished for her sin, and by taking the hand of someone so pure she was only inviting more torment?

Her hand stretched out a bit more, unsteadily, and still shaking. And what if, by some ungodly twist, she managed to taint Ranu too? She had come dangerously close, she knew. This entire thing had pushed him to the limits of his saintliness, almost pushed his mind to break and become little better than what she had become while slaughtering. What if by managing to move forward, she would damage Ranu worse than she already had?

Her hand paused, directly above his own. He didn't move at all, save when she glanced up at his face. Then, he smiled gently and looked back at her with a gaze that could only be described as loving. Something snapped forcefully in Kris's mind and she smiled back as she gripped his hand tightly.

He grinned, relieved, and swung her off the bed with one arm and continued to hold onto her hand as they walked out the door and toward the kitchen.

Angel floated above a broken Sinner, hand outstretched, light spreading from every pore of its body. Sinner looked up from the decaying mass of Hell and slowly took Angel's hand. Angel smiled and beat its wings, pulling Sinner out of its broken Hell and bathing it in Light. Sinner smiled and touched Angel's wings, surprised when they didn't blacken at its touch. Angel simply smiled and kissed Sinner full on the lips.