Chapter 27: The Final Battle

Princess Sango

The day came too soon for the family, as they woke up in another plain of existence. There stood all the family members, who were there to support Hope and to watch the fight. Hope and Despair looked at one another, tears in there eyes. Hope hugged Despair, and then looked up at him, "Don't go easy on me."

"Don't go easy on me either," Despair answered and then lightly whispered, "Kyoko."

She gasped, "Kyo-kun…"

He hugged her close again, "No tears, no tears. Back away now, so we can start. I love you Kyoko, Hope."

"I love you too, Kyo, Despair," she answered, blinking the tears away and backing herself away too.

Hope looked at her mother desperately, she was Destiny, and couldn't she do something about it? Destiny shook her head, yet tried to remain calm herself, "Are you ready?"

The twins looked at each other, and nodded, "Yes we're ready."

"With no other interjections, please start the fight," Destiny answered, her voice shaking slightly. Destiny took her place at the table, where Kyo-san sat down and looked at him, "I don't want to watch."

Kyo-san held out his arms and she collapsed into them, hiding her face in his chest, where he whispered it was okay to cry, it was okay. The other Sohmas in the crowd sat there and watched, with interest, as their fate was decided, by two ten year olds.

Hope pulled out her sword out but looked sad doing so, while Despair did too. They weren't regular swords, they carried magical powers, but only one could unlock the deathly blow when they reach the peak of their power. Hope stood, waiting to see who would make the first move, and Despair did, knowing Hope would not move. Hope blocked every blow, and got in a few good shots too. Yet Despair couldn't get any in, and he immediately knew who was the winner of this fight, but knew a fight could change drastically in someone else's favor. All they had to do was have their emotion the highest, and the death blow is favored on the sword.

Despair wanted Hope to win, then everyone would be happier, so he was making mistakes on purpose, allowing her to get her emotion higher. Despair dodged once in awhile, and actually got a good hit once, but actually he was losing by himself too. Hope's sword started to glow, it started to glow all white and pure, and Despair bit his lip, knowing this was the end of him. Yet Despair had no thoughts as the white light engulfed his body, and swallowed him up, taking him away from this realm, off the planet. Despair went peacefully, and all he had to think about was, Everyone is happy, and mom and Kyoko will be able to live happily with dad.

As for Hope, she collapsed as soon as the blow was delivered and she felt arms hold her, and saw Fate, the person who was supposed to help her unlock everything. "You're still not done Hope. Let us lock the curse up, come on now, Destiny and I am waiting for you."

Destiny came up behind her, "Hold out your sword Hope."

Hope stood up and held out the sword, pointing it at the Sohma crowd, and began her prayer, "Once there was a family, who was bestowed the curse of the zodiac, and when the members are randomly born they shall be assigned a zodiac curse. Then after a hundred years twins shall be born to battle out the curse. Hope has now won and shall release the curse with Fate and Destiny on her side, Despair shall leave their hearts and the curse shall not be brought up until the next hundred years then. When the curse is brought up then, the gods shall give the Sohma family the curse all over again. This is the Elite's way. Now with Fate and Destiny at my side, we shall lock away the curse."

Destiny and Fate's hands were both on Hope's hands, as they sent energy into the sword and a beam of multi-colored light hit them and everyone vanished, as Hope, Destiny, and Fate stayed put. There stood the god himself, the god who had invited everyone to the banquet. "My dear Elites, a job well done, and you Elite Hope, you have finally won."

Hope bowed down and answered, "It was my duty sir."

The god laughed and then looked at Fate, "You are the cat of the zodiac, the one who had given Elite Destiny two children, the one's to battle out this fight."

Fate looked up; his attire which had been black and white was now a pure white, since Hope had won. The shoes, jeans, cloak, shirt, hair, eyes, were all white. "Yes, that is me sir."

"Yes, and I have something to tell you, but it is not for Elite Hope's ears. Elite Hope, please return to your realm and rejoice with your family," the god answered.

Hope nodded, "Yes sir."

The god waved her off and then turned to the two other Elites, "Elite Destiny, Elite Fate, I have something to tell you about Elite Despair."

Both Elites stiffened and then Elite Destiny spoke, "What do you mean sir?"

"Elite Despair shall be reincarnated, out of the Sohma family, but as a young boy who is dieing as we speak. Elite Hope will not recognize him, and either will Elite Despair, you see the boys souls were in a mix-up."

Fate looked up, "I don't understand sir."

"The dieing boy was supposed to be your son and Elite Despair but the other boy's soul, the soul you know as Kyo, was supposed to be your daughter's soul mate. The mix up was terrible but, now everything will be put back the way it was supposed to be," the god answered.

Destiny looked up, "Demo sir, you said the boy is dieing, how is that supposed to help?"

"Ah my dear sweet Elite Destiny, my child, with your "son's" soul, he shall be okay. He shall heal and meet your daughter on her fourteenth birthday. His name is Keiichiro Tani, and you'll meet him in four years. Don't let the disappearance of Kyo be in vain, you'll meet his soul again. Until then, live your lives out. Go now, join your family," the god answered, looking at the two pair of Elites.

They bowed and then disappeared, where they woke up in their own bed. Looking at each other in their normal forms, they hugged one another, "It's good to know our children will cross paths again."

Tohru nodded at Kyo's answer and smiled, "It does feel good to know, but we can't tell Kyoko that. It would disturb the balance. Let's go to her now."

They both stood up out of bed and ran into Kyoko's room, but she was not there. They found there way into their son's room and found her over his body crying, "Why Kyo? Why?"

Kyo came up behind her and hugged his daughter, his only daughter who didn't even need to mourn, "Shh…no tears Kyoko-chan, no tears…"

"H-he…he told me t-that too…." Kyoko cried out, burying her head in her father's chest, "It's unfair!"

Tohru came up and hugged them both, "Kyoko, it's okay, really, everything will work out, you'll see."

"How can that be? My other half-the half that I was born with, is gone," Kyoko answered. Kyo and Tohru knew the answer; they knew what would happen when their daughter turned fourteen.

Day after…

Kyoko woke up and looked in the closet and found her black dress, but couldn't put it on, "He wouldn't want me to do this."

So she settled for her school uniform, and walked out to the breakfast table. Her parents had been sitting there since who knew when, but all she wanted to do was eat and go to school. Since Kyo's dead, even the outside world knew, and the Sohma cover-up was that he died of a heart failure. Kyoko was waiting for someone to find out the truth, but with the curse gone, nothing could be proved.

Sitting down at the table she sat down to one of her mom's wonderful meals and ate almost mechanically. When someone's voice cut into her thought of mind, "Kyoko-chan, you don't have to go to school today."

Kyoko looked over at her parents; they seemed to be hiding something from her but shrugged it off, "I don't see why."

"We know you're having trouble coping, we thought maybe it would be best to stay home, with the family," Tohru answered her question.

"Okay, I'll stay, but they'll be rejoicing, and it'll feel dreary with me there," Kyoko answered.

"Trust me, everyone wants you there, they want to thank-you, and tell you sorry," Kyo answered.

Kyoko covered her face and burst into tears, "What am I to do the rest of my life?"

Tohru and Kyo looked at each other, "You have a special someone out there for you and you'll just have to be patient. Your mom and I was patient, and now we're together. You just tell us if we could help."

Kyoko didn't say a word as she ran out of the room and went into Kyo-kun's room, "Nothing's the same without you, nothing brother, nothing…"

TBC…