A/N: Here's the next chapter of this one! Thanks so much for the reviews, guys! Please let me know how you like this one as well!

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The Final Piece
Chapter Eight

"I'll do it," Kei announced, stepping forward with a determined grin on his face. "But you have to promise me something first."

Himeno blinked. "What is it?"

"Nothing too hard. Just let Hayate rest a little bit, okay? You will still have our combined powers, but let me do some of the fighting for a while. I am sure Hayate is a bit tired after everything that has happened tonight."

"Okay..." Himeno nodded slowly.

Kei reached forward, clasping Himeno's hand in his own. When Himeno opened her eyes, she was in another outfit...the one she usually wore when she would pret with Kei alone. She took a deep breath. She had felt a small surge of power when the pret had initially happened, but now she felt nothing. It was almost as if there was no difference at all.

She sighed. "Are you two all right in there?" she whispered.

"Well, Hayate's bony elbow is in my face, but other than that, yeah..." It was Kei's voice. "Oh, and Himeno, I know how to defeat her. I know the reason she said you could not defeat her on your own. You remember our last battle with Takako before she turned back to normal?"

"What are you getting at, Kei? I don't think I am going to like where this is headed, am I?" This time Hayate spoke, and he sounded slightly alarmed by Kei's statement.

Kei frowned. "No, you probably won't. We are going to give her leafe...so much of it that she can't even stand it any longer."

"But Kei!" Hayate gasped.

"Yes, my friend, I know...which is why you will be leaving now, so that I can do my job and protect Himeno..."

"What is going on with you two? What's wrong? What is Kei talking about?" Himeno demanded, her voice dripping with worry.

Hayate yelled. "No, Kei! Have you lost your mind! Using up that much energy would cause you to fade! Don't you realize it? You would cease to exist!"

"I understand that..." he agreed. "This is my job. It is my job to protect Himeno, and that is what I am going to do." He stated, a tone of finality in his voice.

"It's my job too, damn it! Stop trying to force me out!" Hayate growled.

Kei laughed. "It may be your job too, but you have other matters that you are going to need to deal with when this battle is over, and you and Himeno can not very well have that talk I know you need to have if you fade away during the fight. Am I right?" Kei waited, but there was only silence. Hayate was completely speechless. "Go on...out!" Kei demanded forcefully.

"No!" Himeno screamed. "Stop doing that! I don't want either of you to fade away! Stop! There has to be another way!" Himeno began to cry as Hayate appeared in front of her. He looked just about as frustrated with the situation as she was.

"Kei, I know you can hear me, damn it! Stop this right now! It isn't funny!" Hayate ordered. "It is all of our jobs to protect Himeno! There is no reason for you to die like this!" Hayate said angrily. "You are just being stubborn is all! I'm going to come in there after you if you don't stop this foolishness right now!"

Himeno punched Hayate. He flew backwards, and she gasped. "I'm sorry, Hayate! I didn't do that! Kei!" she hollered. "What the hell was that for? Why did you punch him?"

"He needs to stay away, or he might get hurt too...besides, there is no way in hell I am letting him back in here anyway, so he needs to calm down..."

"Kei, you idiot!" Himeno screamed. "You've already used up some of your energy tonight, too! Neither of you should be arguing over this! I don't want either of you to get hurt!" She began to cry. Somehow, Kei had figured out how to control her, and he was going to make sure that he was the one who took the blow for getting rid of Yayoi.

"I understand what you are saying, Himeno, but I also understand what your heart is saying. You and Hayate have unfinished business, and I want to make sure that gets taken care of. Hayate is like a brother to me. I'm not about to let him be a stubborn idiot and get himself killed when I know that the two of you have some things to work out when the battle is over. I am just making sure that everything ends just as it should...happily ever after."

"Damn it!" Himeno screamed. "Get out, Kei! Please undo it!"

"Please, just allow me to do this, Himeno. There is no way to force me out. I am staying here, and I am going to make sure this is ended right now."

Himeno gasped. She watched as Yayoi stared at them. She looked confused, yet interested at the same time at what Himeno could possibly be arguing with Kei about. She smiled at Himeno, although she did not fully understand what exactly was going on.

Himeno felt her body being moved along, although she was not the one doing it. Kei was controlling her from the inside. He really was going to make sure that she did as he asked. She watched as her hands moved. She tried to control them, but nothing seemed to work.

"Goodbye, Himeno..." Kei's voice whispered inside her head.

Suddenly, Himeno dropped to her knees, and she was surrounded by a bright yellow light that was almost blinding. Leafe began to flow from her body, and towards Yayoi's. Kei's leafe. His life force...it was spilling out of her at alarming rates.

"Stop, Kei...please..." Himeno pleaded, several tears falling down her cheeks. Nothing happened. He was not going to stop. He would not listen to her.

Yayoi looked very surprised at this new development, but made no moves to protect herself from what was happening. "I told you, Himeno...I did not want your leafe...I wanted my revenge..."

Suddenly, something clicked inside Himeno's head. It was as if she understood fully what would happen to Yayoi if she accepted too much leafe. The leafe continued to pour out. Himeno spoke, but when she did, it was not her voice, but the voice of Kei that everyone heard. "You are getting leafe whether you want it or not...and very soon, it is going to destroy you..." she said.

Yayoi blinked. "Excuse me? What did you just say to me?"

Hayate gasped. Himeno could not control her own body. Kei had found some way to make sure that whatever he wanted to happen was going to happen. He rushed forward to help Himeno and to stop his friend from his sudden suicide campaign, but some sort of barrier pushed him back hard, and he landed on his back, five feet away from where he had once been.

"I told you Hayate..." Kei said through Himeno. "I want you to stay away. This is my task...it is no one else's."

Himeno could feel herself growing weaker and weaker. The outpouring of leafe was finally beginning to slow, and Yayoi was beginning to look very ill and alarmed. Himeno could feel herself falling towards the ground, but her hands stopped her from hitting the pavement. She could not get off of her knees. She felt as if her entire body was going to give out soon...that she was going to pass out...

But then, it stopped. She heard Yayoi scream, and suddenly she had regained control of her own body again. She fell to the ground in exhaustion, and began to cry. Worst of all, the outpouring of leafe had stopped completely.

"Kei..." she whispered pleadingly. There was no answer. She looked at herself. She was no longer in her yellow pretear outfit, but rather back into the clothes that she wore on a daily basis. Kei was gone. He had sacrificed himself in order to get rid of Yayoi and save everyone.

Himeno did not even have the strength to stand on her own. She looked up, and watched as Yayoi dissolved in much the same fashion as she had seen Sasame do when they were fighting Takako. Hayate rushed forward to help her, and Goh ran into her house to find the others.

"Himeno!" Hayate gasped. "Are you all right? Can you move?"

Himeno only shook her head. "Hayate...Kei is gone..." she whispered, and buried her head in his shoulder.

Hayate gulped. He knew his friend was gone. He could tell almost right when it happened...but he had known long before that. When Kei had pushed him out, he knew something bad was about to happen. He just had to wait for it...and it had happened. Kei had faded away. But there was a good side, despite everything that had happened.

"Himeno..." Hayate whispered. "Yayoi is gone. Kei did that to save you and your family...he may have gone down...but he took her with him." he smiled at his friend's brazenness. "He made sure everything was going to be all right."

Himeno nodded slightly and looked around her. Things seemed to have somehow turned back to the way that she remembered them. Everything looked normal as it once had. But the biggest surprise came when she looked at the entrance to her home. Running out to her was not only Goh and Sasame, but her family as well. They were all all right...and she had Kei to thank for that.

"Hayate..." she whispered. "Let's go home..."

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A/N: There is another chapter after this one. I have to resolve everything and I don't want to leave anything to the imagination. I know this was a short fiction, and I apologize for that, but it was my first Pretear fic, and I am pretty proud of the response it has gotten thus far. Please review and let me know what you think, and I hope you guys like the upcoming conclusion!