A/N: OMG, the end is near! Ph34r the end, mwaha.
aeaeae
"I love you, nii-chan," whispered the little boy, who couldn't be more than nine or ten years old, as he stared back at a mirror image of himself. His twin held him closer, "I love you, too."
He leaned in to capture his lips like they'd done so many times before, when their peaceful moment was interrupted by an ear-piercing scream.
Yoh snapped his head around to see who'd caught them, eyes widening and mouth open to speak, but Hao just stared straight at his brother, not wanting to avert his gaze anywhere but that beautiful face that he wanted to memorize. He heard footsteps running away, and Yoh wanted to go after whoever it was but Hao held him back, "Stay with me...for as long as you can."
His brother might have been a naive fool, but he was not. He knew that now their happy days were not to last.
Hao clenched his fists as he reflected on that day, but he calmed himself soon after. He'd get his revenge soon. And it would be sweet.
He'd heard from Paninya that one of Yoh's friends had decided to talk after all, and he had promised that he'd give her Anna's body once he was through with that witch. /Actually/ he smirked at the thought/I might just rip her limbs off myself./
aeaeae
It was well past midnight, he was sure, but it's not like anyone cared, or he had a place to go. Ren wandered the streets, carrying in his arms the still unconscious form of Horohoro. /At least the girl wasn't lying about giving him back/ he thought bitterly.
He sighed. In his mind, it was his fault...if only he hadn't let his pride get in the way. Sure, he told himself it was the promise to Yoh that kept him quiet, but really he didn't want to give in to the kidnappers. Anna was going to die either way, but because he hesitated, Horo was badly hurt. Not to mention if he'd acted sooner, Manta might still be with them too.
He eventually found himself at the graveyard, and decided it would be a nice place to rest. He set Horo down under a big oak tree and sat beside him.
Ren watched his sleeping face, thankfully peaceful rather than distorted in pain. At least there were no signs of a nightmare. As he kept his gaze on him, he felt a pang in his chest. How could he have let such a terrible thing happen? There was a tear in his eye that he refused to shed, as Ren leaned down and kissed Horo softly. /No more./
No matter how Horo felt about him, he'd protect him from now on.
aeaeae
Yoh had been running continuously for who knows how long, and he was almost there. "God, I hope I'm not too late!" A swift turn and down the walk, up the steps and he threw open the door. Panting, he cried out, "Anna! An-"
"Welcome back. I've been waiting for you," came a low, ominous voice. Yoh froze as he realized what was happening. Anna was sitting with her back against the wall, Hao standing in front of her. His attention shifted to Yoh for the moment, but that evilly smug smirk still adorned his face.
"Wha..." the younger twin paused to find his voice, "What are you doing! I told you before it's not worth it!"
His brother went to retort but there was a violent coughing from the third body, "They'll come after you now...do you realize that?" she whispered icily, "I tried to save you from him Yoh, but you couldn't just do as you were told."
"Shut up!" Hao shouted, kicking her weak form and slamming it against the wall before it collapsed entirely onto the floor, "You are in no position to speak, bitch!"
"Hao, no! Leave her alone!" Yoh grabbed his brother's arm and tried to tug him away from Anna, but Hao threw him off and pulled out a knife he had previously kept concealed.
"We'll never have peace until she is rid of!" he proclaimed, raising her body up off of the ground, "This is for you, Yoh. For us," and he drove the knife down into her chest, her trademark black dress soaking up all of the blood pouring from her as he struck Anna again and again with the knife, filling the Inn with her screams with each hit.
And Yoh could only watch in horrified fascination. How many times had he seen this play out in his mind? Murdering her in cold blood with all of his hatred, tearing her to pieces until she begged for mercy with her very last breath. Watching it now, as if in slow motion, actually happening before him- it just seemed so wrong...but on the other hand, so right. He knew he shouldn't, but he was really enjoying this. Finally that disgusting bitch got what was coming to her. What she deserved, for ever trying to take him away from his Onii-chan...
/Onii-chan...I'm sorry.../
aeaeae
They'd been there at the graveyard for a hour or so, it was nearing dawn and Ren was starting to doze off. He had his eyes set on Horo as they started to close, vision blurring- when a shifting and a rustling noise came from the prone body. Ren blinked himself awake, rubbing at his eyes and mumbling a concerned, "Horo?"
There was groan, as the Ainu shaman tried to ease himself up but couldn't. "...Ren? Why can't I..." he stopped and his face drained of color as he remembered just exactly why he couldn't get up.
"It's okay, I'm here..." Ren said, trying to be comforting. He helped Horo up and leaned him against the tree.
"...Ren?"
"Yes?"
"You're freaking me out, dude. Are you actually being nice?"
Ren's face flushed red, a little from anger but mostly embarrassment, "What do you mean, I'm 'freaking you out'! You'd be dead if it weren't for m-" He stopped himself there, throwing a hand over his mouth. Horo's eyes were downcast, "...yeah...thanks, I guess..."
Ren sighed, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that..."
"No," the other shook his head slowly, "It's okay..."
"No, it's not! Everything is all my f-"
"Hey...?" Horo interrupted him, "Where's Manta...?"
The Chinese shaman turned away, "He's...gone..."
He paled again, "G-gone...? W-what do you mean, gone...!"
"I mean he's GONE, Horo! They...killed him..." Ren made sure to keep his face from the other's view. If Horo saw him, he might suspect there was something more to his answer.
"Oh...man..." his voice trembled, "Those- those monsters! How could they! And Yoh's own brother..." he punched the ground with his left fist- his only fist- as a tear slowly slid down the side of his face. Ren watched his reaction out the corner of his eye, and moved closer to him. As he wiped away the tear he said, "...it's okay now, though. We're still here, and we can keep his memory alive..."
Horo nodded at him, "Yeah...and..." he paused, "Wait does that mean Hao's on his way to get Anna? W-we could stop him! That psycho needs to be stopped!"
Ren shook his head sadly, "I got you out of there hours ago. Most likely he's already gotten her."
"What...happened, after..." he made a vague gesture to his missing arm, "...I mean, I don't want to hear about what they must've done to Manta but, how did they find out about Anna?"
Those cat-like eyes widened a margin, but it was enough for the ice shaman to inquire on, "What was it? C'mon, tell me!"
/I'm going to have to tell anyways.../ "I-It was me..."
"What! Why!"
"The girl promised to give you back in exchange for Anna and Manta!" Ren blurted, instantly realizing he SHOULD NOT have said that!
Horo stared, "W...wha..." he swallowed and took a breath, "W-why would you do that...? Why would you-!"
He was silenced when Ren suddenly closed the space between them.
aeaeae
Yoh sat on the back porch of the Inn, gazing thoughtfully at the brightening sky.
/Onii-chan.../
"Yoh?"
Wordlessly, the younger twin slowly turned his head at the sound of his name, to meet matching brown eyes.
"I took care of the body..."
Yoh nodded, his eyes trailing upward again.
Hao sighed, and took a seat next to his brother, "Are you mad at me?"
He was quiet for a long moment. Then, "...no. I'm not mad. Actually, I'm..." he smiled slightly, looking Hao in the eyes, "...happy."
A questioning glance, "Happy? How so?"
"Well...I'm free," his attention fleeted to the stars again, and this time so did Hao's. "I never really liked Anna. I was always looking for a way out."
"Then why did you try to stop me?"
"I don't know...I guess I was just worried about you. We'll probably have to hide from now on..."
A small silence passed over them as they each contemplated their current situation. "No."
Yoh looked at him, startled, "What?"
"We won't run away anymore. I'm not afraid. I say we...we get rid of them all." He watched his brother for a reaction, and it came as a small surprise when Yoh smiled- dare he say- evilly. Or as evil as possible for carefree Yoh. "...I'd like that."
Hao smiled back and, for no reason at all, just started laughing.
"What? What so funny?" demanded Yoh, afraid that his big brother was laughing at him.
"Nothing, Yoh," he said as his chuckles subsided, "I'm happy too."
And this made Yoh UBERLY happy and thus pounced on Hao and glomped him tightly. And of course this caught Hao off-guard and he fell backwards with Yoh lying on top of him (a/n: mm, yummy). All caught up in the moment Hao just kissed Yoh then and...I'm making too light of this aren't I?
"A perfect ending," Yoh mumbled, snuggling closer to the other as they lay still on the back porch in each other's arms.
"No," Hao said softly and Yoh lifted his head up to look at him, "It's a perfect beginning."
Yoh let his head fall again, finally ready to let sleep claim him after such a stressful all-nighter. Hao was about to join him too, when he noticed the sky was a shade brighter. He could see the first few rays of dawn.
"Oh hey," Hao said as if a thought had just occurred to him, which it had.
"Hm?"
"Happy birthday, Yoh."
"Happy birthday, Onii-chan."
-OWARI-
A/N: STAY TUNED FOR A SHORT EPILOGE. Omg, I actually laughed evilly when I wrote the Anna-murder scene. So what did people think? I want NO Anna-related flames! I WARNED YOU! All other types of flames are welcome. Oh, and comments too!
WHAT THINK YOU? REVIEW IT!
-OTHER RANDOMNESS (you don't have to read this if you don't want to)-
OMFG my SECOND story for me to EVER finish I'm so excited! And If you haven't, be a dear and go read my FIRST to EVER finish a story EVER (a.k.a. "Fortune"). Oh dude, BTW, I stole the whole "perfect ending/begining" from Anastasia...uh, yeah;;
Hey it's my birthday today! So everyone go sing the German birthday song! So that everyone who doesn't know it can join in, it goes:
Happy birthday to you
Marmalada im shoe (marmalade in your shoe)
Aprikosa im der hosa (apricots in your pants)
Happy birthday to you
...What? I took German for a year and the teacher always made us sing it.
(that's not how the words are spelled, but I wrote it that way so you'd know how to say it)