Hey there. I'm feeling a lot better now. I don't think I'm sick anymore at all. Anyway, this chapter will basically be the 'calm after the storm', in which everyone deals with the recent events of the past few chapters and try to get back to normal life. But some relationships will never be the same…

---Kouji Tamino

-----

Love Hina Next: Second Phase

Chapter 26: Epilogue: Reflections and Recovery

From the video journal of Shinichi Suichi:

November 15th, 2031

Well, it's been 3 months since several down on their luck girls moved in with me. It turns out that my parents were once again called on business… Figures… Ms. Naoko has been using the money from her part-time job to pay for her tuition and she's gone back to school. Ms. Sakura, who was injured about a month ago, is fine now. Her father has gone to jail, and she's been trying to re-open the soda company. She hasn't been very successful lately. She no longer lives here, and she managed to find a job at a restaurant to continue paying for the apartment that she had been staying at.

As for the others, they've been fine. Actually, to tell the truth, all of the girls have been acting very strange about me… Can't say I blame them. When I get angry, I'm scary! That reminds me… We still can't figure out if my sudden change in personality was either a result of the sword I was carrying around, or an outburst resulting from all of the emotions that I had been holding in. Me, I think it was a combination of both. All of the anger inside me was amplified by the power of the SuichiSword. Well, we won't have to worry about that anymore. The powers of the items were lifted by Ms. Kairi. Her family did create them you know…

All I can say is that I'm relieved. It's kind of hard to believe that that my ancestors asked for those things in the first place. Ironically, they were beaten by a very powerful ancestor of Ami, and he separated them all over Japan. The first in her family to develop such powers, in fact. Apparently, it skips a few generations. At least, that's what Kairi said. Wow, it's amazing how much we're all connected. Amusingly enough, Ms. Junko and Ms. Naoko's past relative once stole the items. He was quickly caught and executed. Fortunately, he wasn't a direct descendents. Sort of like a great-great-great-great uncle or something to that extent.

Speaking of relatives, I still can't get over the fact that Ms. Sakura is actually my cousin. She's actually my direct cousin! Shin Mishima is my uncle! Her and my father were always striving to be better than the other, it seems. One day my uncle got so fed up that he changed his last name, after the distant relatives that changed their last names, and started his own company. Kind of weird that Sakura knew this whole time and still wanted me to be her sex slave… Hey, what's with the names in my family? Shin, Shinji, Shinichi. Now that I think about it, we don't have that good of a family name, either. Suichi is a surname, not a family name! No wonder my ancestors and uncle Shin changed it when they got the chance! Well, I'm just rambling now… This is me, signing off!

-----

Shinichi sighed and saved his journal entry for the day. He put the gadget known as the 'Video Journal' in a desk and locked it up. He yawned, and walked over to his bed. He yawned again and lay down. "Gee, things have really been quite dull lately…" He chuckled, putting his hands behind his head. "To think that it's really been two months…"

----- 2 Months Earlier -----

Shinichi's eyes slowly turned back to normal as the casino slowly descended back to the ground. He fell to his knees and began to pant heavily. He put the powerful sword, no longer heavy to him anymore, down on the ground and looked down at it. "Oh my god, what just happened? Did I just do what I think I did?"

The girls, the Urashima's, and all of his conscious relatives nodded slowly, wide-eyed. Junko slowly sat up, wincing. "Shit, you went psycho on Mishima!" She grinned, walking over to pat him on the back. "I don't think I'm going to mess with you anymore…"

Shinichi frowned. "But… Ms. Junko, you're injured… Do you really think that you should be moving about like that?"

Junko smiled. Not grinned, or smirked, but smiled. "Thanks for your concern… But I'm a tough girl. I'll be fine, honest."

Shinichi nodded slowly. "All right, if you say so…" He looked over to Ami. "Ms. Ami, are you all right?"

Ami stared at him in shock, the words of Rei and Shi Yon echoing in her head.

---Flash Back---

Junko pushed Shinichi towards Rei. "Here, you have experience in beating up girls…" She said, glaring at him. "You take care of this one…"

Shinichi frowned. "Hey, that was different! I was only defending myself, and you're not a little girl!" He screamed as he dodged another swing of the sword. "Are you insane?!"

"Maybe!" Rei yelled. "The sword can do things like that if you're not careful…"

---End Flash Back---

---Flash Back---

Shi Yon, still with a crazed look on his face, created 7 copies of himself. All eight of them tossed their daggers at Ami, and she blocked them with a shield. Some people screamed, others watched in excitement. Ami changed the direction of the daggers and sent them back at Shi Yon. She watched in shock as he caught them with his teeth. "My god, what are you?!"

Shi Yon burst out laughing in a maniacal manner. "I'm just a normal human like you! Although I wouldn't exactly call you normal, freak!! You see, while he normal Suichi Items are relatively harmless, the weapons cause the user to grow more insane the more he or she masters it! We elite have almost completely mastered our weapons, so that makes us a little… crazy!"

---End Flash Back---

Ami began to shudder. 'Was what happened to Shinichi-kun… A result of the SuichiSword?…'

Shinichi frowned sadly, turning away from her. "I see… Don't worry, I understand… I wouldn't want to be near me after something like that, either…"

Ami snapped out of it and shook her head. "No! Shinichi-kun, it's nothing like that… I was just worried about you…"

Shinichi blushed. "Worried about me?…"

"Yeah! You're my best friend outside of Hinata House! When I was younger, kids would make fun of me… And as I got older, guys began to want me only for my body… You're the first guy besides Yamato-sama, Mr. Keitaro, Mr. Jin, and Mr. Static who hasn't tried to get in my pants!"

Shinichi sweat dropped. "Thanks, I think… Although that doesn't say much for my manly-ness… I mean, I'm assuming that those other guys have known you since you were younger, thus have a greater respect of you and--"

Junko rolled her eyes. "Real men don't try to get into the pants of women they barely know… A real man would take the time to get to know them…" She smirked. "I think that's another reason I like you, Shinichi… Although, your lack of peeking on us or worse probably has to do with your lack of backbone… But you've gotten better lately…"

Shinichi chuckled nervously. "Um… Once again, thanks…"

Megumi raised an eyebrow, poking Sakura's now unconscious body. "Um… I hate to break this little bonding moment up, but crazy girl here doesn't look so hot…"

Shinichi's eyes widened. "Oh my god!! Ms. Sakura!! Hold on, we're gonna get you help!!"

-----

A few hours later, Shinichi emerged from the hospital room. He smiled. "Well, the doctor said that she can leave within a few days… I guess we'll have to stay here for a few days… Um, you don't mind, do you?"

Everyone nervously looked at Junko, who was sitting with her arms crossed. She sighed. "Well, I don't mind… She deserves all the rest she can get…" She rolled her eyes as everyone gasped. "Hey, don't get me wrong… I'm still pissed off about what she did, but I'm not cold hearted!" Junko huffed, pouting. "What do you all take me for, anyway?"

Sarah yawned, standing up. "Well I hope you all don't mind us leaving so suddenly… But since your friend is okay, me and Nina have to get back to Japan! She pulled in quite a haul before the casino got trashed!"

Nina grinned, quickly standing up and waving a fist on the air. "I got $100 million last night!" As she stood up, the bra-less Nina's breasts jiggled.

Everyone else's eyes widened. The guys for more reason than one. Megumi growled. "Hey, can I borrow some? I'll pay you back once I buy mummy and daddy a new house, all right!"

Just as Nina was about to consider, Sarah quickly grabbed her arm and dragged her out. "Well sorry, but we have a plane to catch!" She quickly screamed, running out of the room with Nina is tow.

Keitaro cleared his throat. "Sarah, I can always quickly drop you o--"

"Shut the hell up, dork!" Sarah screamed, then quickly blushed. "Um, I mean… Bye!" She quickly yanked Nina out of the room as she left, almost pulling the poor girl's arm out of it's socket.

Keitaro blinked a bit, then sighed. "Sarah may mature, but she'll always be the same in a way…"

-----

A few days later, the girls and Shinichi were handing their Suichi items to the remaining keepers. Shinichi smiled at them. "Wow… It was really nice to meet my long lost cousins… But I guess this is where we part ways…"

Rei giggled, shaking her head. "No, you can't get rid of us that easily! Hee hee!"

Shi Yon nodded, brushing a stray hair out of his face. "Yeah, once we wrap things up here, we will return to Japan… That is where Shin Mishima gathered us all up…"

Naoko raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What kind of wrapping up?"

Go-Roku jumps up on top of Shi Yon's back. "Our first job is to destroy the Suichi Items so that no one can use them again!"

Shinichi nodded. "Oh, that's good…" He suddenly did a double take. "Wha-waaaah?! Wait, my mother's favorite earrings are the SuichiEarrings!! You can't!"

"Aren't those things indestructible, anyway?" Junko asked. "The mask has split and reformed twice already…"

Sakura nodded. "Yes, but not if they are all melted together… Getting melted at the same time like that sort of cancels out that power." She looked to her distant cousins. "That's what you all plan to do, right?"

Shinichi sighed. "Isn't there something else you can do? Like maybe melt the others but let me keep the earrings?"

Nana shook her head. "Sorry, cousin… They all need to be melted together, or they'll just come back… We could try and bury them, but that's too risky… Some nosy archaeologist might dig them up…" She muttered, staring at a nervously smiling and sweating Keitaro.

Shi Yon nodded. "Yes, and the only other option is to get a living Hikibi to lift the powers from the items… But unfortunately, the last living Hikibi died 100 years ago…"

"Well," a bubbly voice began, the owner of the voice putting her hand on Shinichi's shoulder. "Have no fear, Shinichi-kun! Incidentally, I'm in the middle of one of my living moments!"

Shinichi smiled. "So you'll be able to power down the items?"

Kairi nodded. "Of course! I'm a Hikibi, so the power to lift the powers was passed down! Thankfully, the power to make powerful items wasn't, so that knowledge is lost and will never ever be leaked out!" She cleared her throat and waved her hands around. "And so, without further or do… Items, Power Down!" She smiled. "Okay, I'm done!"

Everyone face faulted. "That's it?!" Rei screamed. "But the tales that I've heard! Blood and sweat went into the creation of those items, and one member of the Hikibi family even died during the process of giving a ninth item powers!"

Kairi shrugged. "Yeah, but you know what they say… That which is hard to create, is easy to destroy…"

Yamato sweat dropped. "Well, I guess you're right…"

"But that was terribly anti-climactic…" Sakura muttered.

"So what? Now let's get out of here!" Junko screamed. "Americans weird me out with their weird customs… I mean, not taking your shoes off when you enter a building?!"

-----

Shinichi laughed as he hopped from his bed. "I miss those crazy days… Everyone seems to have really mellowed out… And I haven't been as clumsy lately, so I can't even entertain myself…" Suddenly, he heard screaming from downstairs. His glared, then ran as fast as he could down the long stairway. "Hey! Is everyone all right?!"

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Junko screamed, sitting on the ground from shock and pointing at Sakura, who was standing in front of the doorway and holding tons of luggage.

Sakura gave Junko a blank look. "I'm moving back in… What does it look like?"

Naoko giggled. "Yay, Sakura's back!"

Junko growled. "Hey! Who said you could come back, traitor?!"

Sakura scoffed. "You're still angry over that? It was months ago… The damage has been done but we've all recovered, so get over it!"

Junko stood up and got in Sakura's face. "I'll get over when you stay the hell out of my life!"

Sakura leaned in closer. "Hey, Shinichi is my cousin…" She looked over to him and smiled. "You don't mind if I move back in, do you?"

Shinichi bit his lip, looking around awkwardly. "Well um, of course not…"

Junko began to pull on her hair. "Argh!! I can't believe you! What is it going to take until you realize that she is no good?! Her stealing everything in the house?"

Megumi giggled, a hand to her mouth. "My my, things are beginning to get interesting again…"

Ami frowned, trying to step in between the two. "Sakura, Junko! Please stop fighting!!"

Shinichi sighed in relief, sitting down on the couch. He closed his eyes, head towards the ceiling. "Now this is more like it… This is the way that things should be…"

End of Chapter 26

-----

And there you have it! The end of this little storyline! Now we can get back to the good stuff! I was tiring of this thing a bit… I don't think I'll do something like this for this type of fanfic ever again. Just doesn't work out well in the end. But I did start some very interesting connections between a few characters. Well, until next time!

---Kouji Tamino