A/N: I do not own To-Love Ru

Well, how dangerous a game you are playing, Yuuki Rito. Perhaps it is time I step in at last.

Orange hair reflected behind glass walls, Yuuki Rito stared at himself in third person. He had never seen himself in more than a mirror, his memories were fragmented and focused on those around him, and only the occasional nightmare brought a distorted self image to life in his waking lucid moments. The frozen snapshots of a life forgotten, filed away between cardboard and glass, hung on nearly empty walls, or sitting under lamps, or left alone on forgotten, dusty shelves. Seeing the pictures of his life out in front of him, Rito almost couldn't believe he was the kid playing soccer, or the one building a snowman when he was seven, and his sister even younger. Mikan had broke out the school yearbooks from the closet, showing him dusty bound volumes of the various clubs, activities plays, and classes Rio had been in from early years up until his first year of high school. They tugged at his inner self, toyed with his memories, like he could feel them just under the surface being weighted down by something that forbid him from remembering.

Whether it was really amnesia, or some mental block that was all in his head, Rito was happy just to be home inside familiar, yet equally new surroundings. "Have you had dinner yet?" Mikan had asked, when he was digging through his middle school yearbook, looking at the pictures of the classes one by one, "Celine and I were preparing dinner, so it wouldn't be a problem making one more extra portion up, really!" Nodding eagerly, though desperately wanting to devour as many of the memories held within these pages, Mikan laughed as she watched Rito return to flip through the pages.

You know the answers are not here, Rito.
You know what it is you came here for, so get it over with.

Rito ignores the voice in his head, angrily tearing through pages now, glancing for even a hint of a familiar face he could place. Something that he could remember, anything he could remember, as long as he couldn't focus on the haunting words his splintering mind were hallucinating.

Books won't break the seal on your memories.

Rito ignored that too, as he came to his class in the second year middle school yearbook. He had been looking for any clues as to what he did, and he found little mention of himself beyond the odd photograph where he was seen in the background, either watering plants, or helping the teachers outside of class and activities. Looking, scanning the rows of ramrod straight students on the steps of the school entry, Rito fond only the barest hints of recognition towards Kotegawa, Saruyama, Risa, and even Mio, besides himself. He found some hints of himself staring at a girl in some of the more candid shots, though in every picture he had seen of himself staring at her, her face was turned away and it was like he could picture her, yet the stupid amnesia pulled away at the faint threads he tried to piece together.

So do something about it.
Find me.
I can help you, despite what you think of me.
This isn't a game, and I am not a hallucination Rito.
I'm that missing piece of you, Rito; that gaping, yawning hole that you can't fill despite your vain efforts.
You know who I am, you know how to find me.
This isn't a game anymore...
We're both running out of time!

Rito wants to ignore the words, yet somewhere deep in the pit of his being, he knew they were somehow true. He didn't know how, of course, yet the words seemed to sit heavily on his thoughts as he began to believe he could no longer deny it. The male Yuuki heir was either going insane, or he was equally crazy for believing that every word the imagined voice was stating were true. How he could hang on to every word and believe it without any proof was concerning, yet his options were slowly dwindling as he continued on. Though he had no clue why the voice insisted that he knew why he was there. He had merely wanted to come home, hadn't he?" There wasn't anything hidden here, not anywhere in the Yuuki household that Mikan or Celine couldn't have certainly had access to at any time or place of their choosing.

Rito had disappeared out of their lives, after all, how could he have expected them to do anything but wonder who this mysterious person in ever picture around the house was, when every memory of him had been wiped cleanly from their minds. Had they gone into his room, the one place Rito had ignored since coming back into his home? Despite the warm, welcoming manner his sister and Celine had welcomed him back with, Rito felt like a stranger here and unsure of where he could go without crossing boundaries. Closing the book, and rubbing his tired eyes, Rito finally admitted that despite his attempts to discover anything at all he needed to give up on searching for his lost memories for now. Not while the last two years of his life were equally forgotten, never once recorded or photographed as detailed as these tomes were, yet equally as empty and worthless to him, now that he was being truthful with himself.

Getting up and stretching his back, departing from the comfortable couch and the stacks of photo books on the living room table, Rito sniffs the air as a heavenly scent begins to waft in his direction from the kitchen. Organizing the books on the table before leaving them alone, Rito hastily made his way to find the source of the smell tantalizing his nose and making him drool. Making his way to the kitchen, as he remembered where it was, Rito began to have a slight feeling of deja vu, upon looking in at the kitchen before him. "Ah, Rito!" Mikan states, breaking him out of his daze, "I'm glad you are here, I'm finishing up some miso soup, can you grab some stock from the..." Rito was already at the cupboard, before she even pointed it out to him, pulling the requested stock from the same shelf he would have kept it on, and handing it to her. "...Thanks," she states,a little perplexed at how he knew what she was going to ask for, before turning to the pot at hand and adding a little more stock to the base, "I'd assume from the fact I didn't need to tell you where the stock was, or what kind I needed, that things are starting to come back to you?" Mikan waits for Rito's reply, but watches puzzled instead, as he opens doors, drawers, and even the refrigerator just to look inside.

"Everything's the same..." he states, looking around at the cupboards, swung open still as he had left them there, "This house... the food... the placing of everything, it's all the same." Mikan raised an eyebrow at that, when a dazed Rito turned to stare Mikan down. "She took it all from here, she made a mockery of my life, and all she did was change a few of the colors," he states, as he ignores the cooing Celine, who is staring up at Rito and laughing in her own childish sounding language, "Everything, the house, the food, the chairs... how did I not see it sooner, how could I be so blind!" He slams doors closed, one after the other, scaring both Celine and Mikan, the latter of which worried for her brother as he suddenly went from happy to frustrated so quickly.

"Talk to me Rito!" Mikan quickly commands, letting her ladle sit out of the simmering soup, resting on her hips along with her hands, "What's going on, what's 'all the same', I can't understand your reasoning..." Rito looks back at her, as if realizing for the first time Mikan and Celine are both actually there, and his perplexed look dies down to a confused, dazed glance, until he focuses back on Mikan fully.

"...Sorry," he finally admits, lowering his head a bit, "Uhm... where I was while I was gone... it wasn't what I thought it was; I was told I was being kept for my safety, when I was being kept for the other persons personal amusement, now that I realize it..." He puts a hand to his head, closing his eyes as he gathers the courage to say what he is about to to Mikan. "There was a... girl, I had been interested in, someone I'm trying to learn more about, and she had this sister..." He opens his eyes and stares down Mikan with a face that shows how hard it is for him to talk about this, "She was jealous, the sister I mean, and she thought it was a good idea to... cause an accident that gave me my amnesia, and worse, the loss of life for her eldest sister..." Mikan gasps in shock at that, covering her mouth, before staring out of the corner of her eyes at Celine. The child was still happily babbling about, completely content with the Book Rito had given her from Kotegawa upon his arrival to their house, and Mikan was satisfied enough to return to the conversation. "She made a place for me to stay, someplace she said was safe, and I never even realized until a few weeks ago, just how familiar, at home I really felt there... and now I know why," he states, as he walks over to the back door, where the sliding glass opens up into the backyard, Mikan can see his look of concern reflected in the glass, "She made it look like home, and I bet you everything else here is exactly where I expect it to be, give or take."

He turns to Mikan once more, and sighs as he tries to smile. "Is- is my room up the stairs, to the left?" he asks, and Mikan nods in response, confused as to why the question is important. Rito just clenches his fists at her reply, and gritting his teeth he turns around to gently smack the wall with a balled up fist. "Dammit! That girl took me out of my life just to put me into her own facsimile of it," he shouts angrily, "She 'didn't want to replace Lala'- I bet you she was secretly glad her sister was-" Rito falters, stopping from saying too much, and scaring Celine and Mikan more than he already was. "Sorry, sorry," he states, turning and apologetically trying to explain it, "There's just some things she made too personal, it seems, and now that I know I had a family here, I have a life I don't remember- it just sucks to know I was so close to discovering the truth all this time..." Mikan frowns at that, but ignores it and returns to making them all dinner.

"I wouldn't know what's in your room, if that helps," she casually states, staring into the soup as she gently watches the ripples she makes, "I haven't gone in there ever since you disappeared; I'd had been to afraid of discovering what was in there, to ever effectively try and really figure out who you were, Rito." Rito lifts his eyes up in surprise at that, then lowers his eyes and frowns.

"T-thank you, really, for doing all of this, I know how sudden it is to suddenly be thrown into a situation you weren't really expecting to come into," he states, scuffing his foot across the wooden floor, "You must have been so confused with Celine suddenly appearing in your life, that figuring out who that strange boy with orange hair wasn't as important as trying to balance school and a rambunctious little girl." Mikan looks back at Rito over her shoulder, eyeing him silently, but turning her head back and not saying anything in regret. "I think I better try and figure things out up there, then, if you haven't been in the room," he states, "At least if the bed is half as comfortable as the one I had been using- well, let's just say I think I know where I'll be sleeping tonight!" Chuckling, Rito goes to pull down some dinner plates, before Mikan stopped him.

"Don't worry about that right now, Rito," she states, as she comfortingly smiles at him, "Why don't you go open up the window to your room, since I bet a two year layer of dust needs to be exorcised from your room among a horde of monstrous dust bunnies!" Causing him to smile at the imagery, Rito looks into the sincere eyes of his sister, and realizes that food can wait for now, as she had given him the permission he so desperately had been craving.

"Thank you," he states softly, and Mikan's bright eyes never dim or waver as he turns to go towards the stairs, "I don't think I'll be too long, so keep the soup warm for me." Mikan nods, while Celine stares after him, laughing as he ruffles her hair flower and reaches out to try and grasp him in her tiny arms. "Sorry Celine, maybe after dinner I can play with you," he states, "I'll make that a promise." The little girl nods in agreement, before turning to Mikan and watching her, giggling as she turns through the pages of her books. Rito smiles as he turns away from the kitchen to head back to the stairs, before taking the long journey up the stairs and head for a room that could hold the answers inside it. He doesn't know why it seems so difficult to go up the stairs, his feet feeling like lead as he ascends every step slower than the last. Maybe it was the hesitation that he might find the answers he is seeking inside, maybe it's the fact he still feels like a stranger in his own home, despite the fact Mikan had practically given him permission to look into his own room. 'His Room', it didn't really feel like it, despite knowing this was his home, that was his sister and his adoptive child preparing for dinner down below, and that despite the gap in his memory, he had loving family that cared for him and tried to help him in his quest to remember the truth.

Stopping in front of the door, an old, weathered looking sign with faded writing on it informing him that it was, in fact, his own room. Taking a deep breath before entering, Rito gathers his courage and puts a hand on the doorknob, fully intent on opening it. Turning, then pushing the door in, Rito opens the door to the room that has been locked in time for two years, untouched by Mikan or any of the other family members that lived here. Surprised as he was when he opened it, the inside of his room truly shocked Rito, as he stepped into his room the reality of the situation became much weirder. "Are you sure no one has been up here?" He mutters to himself, looking around the room at every crack and corner, "It sure seems... clean." In truth, Rito expected layers of dust upon ever drawer or desk in the room, maybe some dusty sheets on his bed, clothes on the floor, maybe even books or other hobby items scattered around the room. On the contrary, the room was quite organized, bed neatly folded up and fluffed as if made for him, books set on shelves and free of dust or any sign of age acting upon any of the contents of the room. Rito approached his bed and touched the sheets, not feeling or seeing any dust as he pulls his hand away. He goes to check the window and finds it locked, as the door to his balcony is shown to be likewise after a quick check.

Taking a deep breath, just to check, he confirms to himself hat even upon opening the door, at which point dust should have been disturbed and cast into the air, there was in fact no dust beyond what could be considered normal. Sitting down on his bed once more, he decides to check his drawers, underneath his bed, his shelves, for any clues he might have left behind for himself, anything that could help him remember. Not finding anything more helpful than what is down stairs, Rito is surprised that despite having been untouched since his disappearance two years prior. Sitting in silence, Rito mulls over the possibilities that what he is seeking just won't be found, whether it is his memories or just whoever the mysterious voice is in his head. Lying back on his soft bed Rito closes his eyes and listens to the sounds around him, heart and hope both falling as he resigns himself to this cruel fate of amnesia. Creasing his forehead as he tries to ignore that constant humming in his ears, hoping whatever it is will go away. Finally it gets on his nerves so much, he goes to check and see if his balcony door is open, or whether it was his window that was slightly ajar and letting in the constant hum of electricity from the poles outside his house, or the sound of traffic through the city. Finding that neither door, nor window are the cause of the irritating sound, Rito looks to the light fixture above his head yet sees that despite not being used, the light is fine and not the source of the buzzing, and neither is his alarm clock, nor the wall clock.

Facing all three of the walls it could be, Rito is stumped at where the sound is coming from. As the sound doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon, Rito turns around and closes his eyes to focus on that annoying sound alone. 'It sounds like breathing,' Rito notices, listening as the indistinct humming becomes clearer, 'It's not exactly all one constant sound, in fact it seems like it is vacuuming, then spitting air back out like its exhaling...' Rito opens his eyes, as he realizes that the sound has stopped coming from all around him. He steps forward towards his closet door, now realizing that the sound was coming from directly in front of him. 'Here?' he thinks to himself silently, as he gently rests a hand on the door, not feeling anything, 'How could my closet be making this sound?' Puckering his mouth in frustration, he puts a hand to the seals on the outside of the door, not expecting anything. Instead of nothing, he feels the slightest sensation of air being sucked in, then blowing back out from the gap between the edges. "What?" he says out loud, as he puts his hands on the top and opposite sides of the closet doors, assuring himself that he is in fact feeling his closet breathe, "How the heck can a closet be alive..." Deciding he would find the answers inside, he grabs the closet door and quickly opens it, expecting either clothing or the answer to his inquiry. When he feels a cool blast of air escape the broken seal, what he finds beyond the doorway both shocks and surprises him, causing him to fall backwards onto the ground in mute awe. Stepping up and putting a hand forward, feeling nothing but open air and shattered expectations, the paradoxical uncertainty he feels finds itself solidifying.

Taking a step into the room that shouldn't be there, the darkened space alights at his presence. Closing the doors behind him, in case Celine or Mikan were to wander in and discover him staring into an impossible closet, Rito turns back around to face the room once more out of newfound curiosity. "How did you get here?" he asks the room, not expecting any answer from its echoing walls, "What are you?" Finding a console next to a pile of scraped parts, pieces of what look like half finished robots, and other inventive things, Rito touches the console's dimmed keys, which light up under his touch. As if exiting some kind of alien sleep mode, the screen bursts to life in a bunch of colors, while indistinguishable at first, the colors come together to form the symbol of Deviluke he had come to know very well on his journey to Earth. "This room... was it hers?" he asks himself, looking around at the pile of junk, the large device in the middle of the room, and finally at a small, floating pedestal that looks like it was some kind of triangular pill, "And what are you?" Walking toward the single shelf set against the farthest wall, nearby a bed, Rito finds a little sign written and hung on what looks to be a woven picnic basket. 'Precious Things', read the sign tacked onto basket. In it sat a purplish-pink rabbit that looked like it had better days.

'No,' thought Rito, as he picked the limp doll up in his hands and studied it closer, 'It was designed to look this way.' He notices every stitch and bandage was identifiable against the outward seam, comically enlarged to make one think the bunny was some kind of stitched together monster. The mismatched eyes were supposed to add to this, as were the bandaged ears, arm, and legs opposite the 'sewn' on ones, with a little black bow under its right ear, with a dress that had a red circle with a strike through it, as if saying 'No Angel Here'. Rito smiled as he held the doll, remembering that day fondly despite the stress it brought him overall.

OoOoO

The day ended with flying penguins in the aquarium, and it started with having to help an alien girl get appropriate clothing to 'blend in' on earth with. Mikan, thankfully, had been there to help him when Lala was in need of clothes, picking out perfectly fitting, stylish garments for her to wear, a skill probably picked up from their eagle-eyed mother Ringo, who had a knack for judging size and fitting models. Before the true chaos of the day began, Rito had found himself having fun hanging out with the strange girl that had intruded on their lives, but he had also remembered this day for another reason. It was the first time in a while that he and Mikan had gone out together as brother and sister on a day that their father didn't beg or blackmail them to help him, and neither of them had pressing schoolwork that close to the beginning of the school year. Playing the arcade games, winning prizes for Mikan, dancing, singing, having fun with shooting games, until he found out that Lala had really wanted the large rabbit doll from the crane game. "Thanks, Rito," the Devilukean girl had said when he had handed her the doll, all smiles and full of pride that his skills were appreciated. That was when Mikan had butted in with her unwanted comment.

"He's just good at these silly, little things," she had said, bursting his bubble and causing his face to fall upon realizing he had been enjoying himself too much. It had been when his feelings for Haruna had still been undecided, and he had yet felt the attraction, no, love towards Lala he now could feel.

"Thanks, Rito," she had reaffirmed, "I'll make this my treasure."

OoOoO

At the time he had recognized that he had made her happy from the simple gesture, but it wasn't until know that he understood it. He remembered having seen it once before, remembering how he had acted out of anger towards Lala, when he had been having a stressful week at that time, how walking into this room and not finding her here, had devastated him when he found out that she had kept that silly toy from their first outing on Sainan. Now, as tears fell from his face while he was reminiscing, he could truly feel how empty his life was without her here besides him, without that gentle-

Thump, Thump, Ba-Bump

Opening his eyes, brushing away the tears as he felt himself falter a half step, Rito looked all around him. Clutching his chest once more, he felt his heart still beating strong in his chest, the unusual feeling having passed as quickly as it came. Hands still gripped tightly around the rabbit doll, Rito swallowed to wet his dry throat, trying to not wring his hands in anxiousness from the passing, confusing feeling. "Rito!" he suddenly heard Mikan call out from the active console, which showed video of the kitchen and Mikan setting the pot of food on the table, "Dinner is ready... Rito?" Blinking upon recognition that his sister had been calling him down, he replaced the rabbit in its spot, then turned to leave the room for now. He felt hunger gnawing at his stomach, as he hadn't realized just how hungry he was despite his body protesting otherwise. Were he to notice the ring in his hand, the diamonds on his hands were aglow with more visible color. While they had been once clear, the orange diamond had begun to grow faster and deeper in color, while the pink had burned hot and lustrous in the presence of the memento, flashing like a beating heart, it stilled and began to cool once more. For now it would begin to dim, though Rito would never notice, as it returned to its lackluster clarity before he ever made it downstairs to the kitchen table.

OoOoOoOoO

Sighing in relief, as he patted his now full stomach, Rito smiled as he looked over to see Mikan doting on a messy Celine. The little girl was spilling soup out of her spoon once every five dips into the bowl, and Mikan was careful not to let the broth or spilled ingredients not stick to the girl, trying to save her from having to take yet another bath with the little, rambunctious child. "Stop squirming, Celine!" she commands, and the child stops eating, as Mikan wipes up the spilled contents with a wet washcloth and dabs at Celine's mouth and arms, "You little monkey, are not forcing me to take another bath with you tonight, so if you want dessert, I suggest you stop playing with the remainder of your food!" Giggling as she nods in understanding, Celine takes more care of herself, leaving Mikan free to finish her own half eaten plate of dinner, while Rito got up to wash his own empty plates.

"Thank you again for the food," Rito says, turning back to Mikan as he looks fondly over the table, "I know its hard to believe, but I think I'm beginning to remember everything a little bit more now..." He doesn't want to get her hopes up for getting her brother back all of the way to one hundred percent, but Mikan just seems happier to know that at least something is improving. Rito looks out at the moon to see the waxing gibbous moon nearly at its peak.

"I'm glad to hear that, Rito," Mikan states, as she focuses mainly on finishing her bowl of soup, "It's nice to have someone else in this big, lonely house again." Rito smiles, knowing that their Dad rarely came home from his own writing studio, mostly due to deadlines, and that their Mother, the famous Ringo Yuuki, dressmaker and modeling agent to the hottest stars, was equally away from home due to her work overseas. "I've been meaning to ask," Mikan begins, as she looks up from her bowl and focuses on the ring on Rito's left hand, "What is it with the ring on your hand?" Rito looks down, as if remembering that the strange ring was still there. "Not that I mean to pry," she states,slurping some broth, gently setting the bowl down and focusing on Rito, "Usually a ring on the left hand means you're either engaged to be married, or already done the deed; not that I've ever seen someone where a black ring as their wedding band, or engagement ring, I guess." Rito puts his fingers to the band, and thumbs the gems, looking down at them and trying to figure out an explanation that didn't sound crazy.

You're not crazy.

Rito looks up, and sighs as he decides his story. "The ring, well, that might be quite a story to tell..." he walks back to the table and pulls a chair out and sits down, crossing his leg and putting his right hand to his chin, "I'll be honest and say I... got it today, this morning in fact, in the downtown area, I think." Mikan raises an eyebrow at that, but Rito brushes it off with a nervous chuckle. "Well, you see, I don't think I was ever married with this ring, but..." he stares off for a second,a s if searching his fractured mind for any hint of where the ring came from, "I think... I think, I was engaged to someone, someone important, but my memories of it are all sporadic and out of order with what is there..."

I can help you Rito.
You can remember it all.

Ignoring the voice, with a sudden grimace on his face, Rito opens his eyes to see a concerned Mikan. "Rito?" she asks, getting up and moving closer to him, "You just kind of spaced out there..." He waved her off, which caused her to look hurt in return Huffing and going over to Celine, who was finished with her food, she let the child get out of her chair and onto the floor. "Fine, if you're so sure you can deal with it, without my help," she states, "And since you've got two years of chores to make up on, then why don't you be a good brother and get the dishes washed?" She leaves with a scoff, followed by an unsure Celine, who looks between Rito and her mother figure, before trailing after Mikan happily. Rito just puts a hand to his forehead, as a sudden wave of dizziness overcomes him.

Look, its a Full Moon

Rito blinks then looks outside to see that, indeed the moon is full, and that the stellar body was not in fact like that a few seconds ago, when Rito had last looked outside. Stepping outside to see if he was just imagining it, he saw that the moon was in fact full, in all of its bright, reflective glory. Going back inside, he hears a sudden scream from Mikan, which causes him to react and run up the stairs to find the cause of the disturbance. "Just stay there" he hears Mikan yell from her room, beyond the closed door, "Just wait and let me get you some clothes, before Rito finds you out!" Busting through the door, he finds a half naked Mikan in between dressing herself in her night clothes, and another figure he quickly turned away from. "Rito!" Mikan cries out, covering herself quickly, "Don't just come barging in here!" He feels a soft slipper hit him in the head, but he doesn't feel it through the blush at having just seen a nearly grown, pale teen with long, green hair, naked and barely covering herself with a nearby sheet she had grabbed off of the bed.

"Mau?" the girl states, "You've never reacted like this before, what makes Rito different, Mau?" The tone of the mature sounding voice is familiar to Rito, but he leaves the room and feels the door slam shut behind him.

"We'll be out in a minute, Rito," Mikan states, her body against the door as she locks it behind him, "I just have to find, uhm, Celine some clothes..." As she leaves it like that, Rito pieces together that the other teen in the room was, in fact, Celine. He blushes, having seen her petite breasts through the thin sheets, and her poorly concealed lower half sculpted to the sheet from sweat. Trying to rid his mind of those dirty thoughts that crossed his mind, recognizing that Celine was practically his daughter, he manages to calm himself down long enough to collect his thoughts. Just in time, too, as Celine and Mikan both come out from behind the locked door, Mikan twiddling her thumbs and looking to the ground, while Celine seemed genuinely happy.

"Ahh, Rito!" she states, grabbing onto his arm and hugging him excitedly, much to his embarrassment, "It's so good to see you again, now you can help Mikan take care of me too!" She winks and smiles at Rito, causing him to blush and become incoherent, losing all of his composure he had regained, as Celine laughed at his reaction. Suddenly Celine has grabbed Rito's hand, pulling it up to look at the ring on its finger, and it begins to warm in her hands. "What's this?" she asks curiously, looking at the brightly colored orange diamond, and the nearly clear-pink diamond, staring into the latter wistfully, "Lala-mama..." Mikan looks at Celine in surprise, as does Rito, before meeting Celine's gaze that now has a growing look of sadness on the plant-girl's face.

"Celine, whatever it is, it's ok!" Mikan states, getting up and close into her space wrapping a hand around her shoulders, "Tell me what's wrong, Celine, you know I can't help you if you don't tell me..." Celine let's go of Rito's hand momentarily, before breaking out of Mikan's grasp and throwing herself onto Rito in a massive, tearful, crying, snotty mess of a hug.

"Rito-papa, Mikan-aunty, L-l-Lala-Mama!" she cries, and the words seem to freeze Rito's heart, "I- I'm so sorry papa, you forgot, you promised-" Rito wraps his arms around Celine comfortingly, as Mikan joins the hug. "You- you promised, Rito-papa," Celine cries, "You don't remember what you're looking for, do you papa?" She pulls away, tear stained eyes looking up at him, before grasping his left hand and putting it between both of her hands. "It's okay, papa, really," she begins to say, as her hands begin to glow, "You forgot but it will all be over soon, you just need to remember, and I can help you do that!" Rito tries to pull his hand out of her grasp, as does Mikan, as the glow only increases. "You're keeping yourself here, Papa," she says, smiling despite what she is now doing, "You can't measure yourself by your regrets Papa, you'd never leave myself or Mikan alone, ever, so I won't allow you to keep yourself hung up on us." Rito feels nauseous as he tries to break her hold.

"Celine, Celine, stop that!" Mikan states, trying to break the grip she has over Rito's hand, "Celine, whatever you're doing, stop it!" Rito feels his hand begin to burn, the ring causing searing waves of pain to travel up his fingers, to his arm, to his heart. He feels his heart falter in his chest, and falls to his knees as Celine just stares down at him in pity.

"S-stop," Rito tries to weakly whisper out, "C-Celine, p-please..." Tears are falling down her face as she begins to glow herself, and Rito feels the most excruciating pain around his heart as it stops and causes him to lose his breath. The ringing in his ears, the pounding of his blood stops, and he gasps for breath as he feels his life begin to ebb away. Then the white flash of light engulfs him, and Rito feels his heart restart, though he is blinded by the light. When he can see again, as Mikan regains her sight from the disorienting flash, he finds all that is left of Mikan is withered petals that float to the ground and crumble upon contact. "Wh-what!" Rito cries out, reaching down to see if this was real or not, "Celine- Celine, NO!" Suddenly he feels the burning ring on his hand begin to bubble, his skin feeling as if it is hissing, popping, and he finds that a white aura is surrounding his hand now.

DO IT!

Mikan is crying now, having fallen to her knees as she weeps over the ashen remains of her beloved daughter. "CELINE!" she cries out in disbelief, before turning to Rito in raging, bitter anger at her brother, "WHAT DID YOU DO?" Rito feels his voice fail him, as he views her properly for the first time since he could see again. The red string is back, this time he could see it tangled, knotted in her heart, weaving in and out in multiple places, and Rito realizes that his hand is moving of its own accord, before he can stop it.

"I'm sorry," he states, finally finding his words, "Please, forgive me."

Plunging his gleaming, white hand into his own flesh and blood sister's chest, he feels her gasp as his hand plunges through her rib cage. He can feel the ghostly impression of her lungs between his fingers, as she struggles to breath, gasping as he wriggles further, deeper into her chest. Rito knows something is wrong with him, he knows it so, but he finally feels his hands brush something inside her chest. 'Her heart?', no, it was something else, something hard, 'Bone?' Grasping it, tears streaming down his eyes as he watches his sister close her eyes for what could be the final time, he watches her skin turn pale before him. Grasping the item, tangled in something, the thread, whatever it is inside of Mikan's body, he knows it is unnatural. "Hold on," he tells Mikan, as he begins to pull, "It'll all be over soon, I promise!" With one final pull, he feels the cylindrical object dislodge from within her body, and he pulls as fast and as fiercely as he can to tear it out of her body, along with the string, he hoped. "ARRAAHHHH!" he yells, as he stands and pulls the item free of her chest, just before his hand can lose its pearly luster. Falling backwards, as he hears his sister suddenly gasp for breath unseen by him, he looks and finds the impossibly long item in his hand is a sword and scabbard. "Oh," he states, a she stares into the blood red crystal embedded within it, "That's what I forgot..." Expecting to hit his head, or fall down the stairs behind him, Rito is surprised when instead of accepting his poorly timed epiphany followed by possibly dying, he finds strong arms suddenly coming up from behind him and keeping him aloft in the span of seconds.

"I know you're a klutz, Rito, but you really can't help but make every girl lose their breath over you," a voice chuckles, "Not even your own sister is immune, ehh?" Rito stands, lifted up by whatever unseen person has suddenly appeared, but before he can think of finding out who that is, he focuses all of his attention on Mikan.

"MIKAN!" he yells out, as he finds her lying on the ground, looking unconscious, but breathing by checking her pulse, "Mikan, Celine, no..." He looks down at this sister and finds the once tangled red string, still knotted but in tact and no longer emerging from her chest, on the ground in front of him. Deciding he couldn't stand looking at the mysterious lump of blood-red thread, he pulls the sword free from its scabbard and stabs down into the knot. The black blade slices cleanly into the knot, embedding itself into the floor in fact, but the effect of the action is immediate. The red string seemingly unknots itself, before dissipating before Rito's eyes and confirming that it was gone. Replacing the blade, Rito hears chuckling coming from behind him. Realizing he was no longer alone, Rito turns towards the stranger, ready to cut him with his newly acquired blade if it came to it.

Rito freezes upon seeing the mysterious stranger, who isn't as odd, or strange, as he begins to remember listen to the familiar sounding voice. "Welcome back, Rito Yuuki," Adam Yuuki states, the blonde copy of Rito states, "Glad to see you finally wake up."

OoOoOoOoO

Sairenji Residence

A purple haired girl took a deep breath as she exited the shower. The heat from the scorching hot water had caused it to react with the cool floor tiles, creating a suffocating, humid steam that filled the entirety of the bathroom and obscured most everything within it. Tucking her towel around her wet body, the girl went to grab for her clothes, hoping the steam had not caused them to begin to dampen. Feeling satisfied after the young woman finished drying the majority of her body, she decided to leave her towel on the floor and put her underwear on, followed by her thin, lace nightgown that she knew her boyfriend would appreciate her wearing, having bought them specifically for their 'sexy sleep-over' nights. Happy that her sister was away for the night, spending her own evening with her boyfriend, the young woman decided to doll herself up before deciding whether or not she should call him over or not to spend the night. Wiping the steam from the mirror, as she goes to do her hair, the girl doesn't even notice the extra reflection in the mirror until it is too late. A smiling face covered by pink bangs, a scream of fright cut off by a choking gasp, and a body sliding to the floor, the purple haired woman had lost the luster in her eyes. Removing the black thorn from the woman's neck, having broken off when it was stabbed into her, she sees that the deed is done.

Dragging the body out of the bathroom and into a nearby bedroom, she takes sheets off of the bed and hefts the limp body of her victim into the bed, tucking her in to insure she was secure. Smiling as she looked down at her handiwork, wiping a bit of blood from the cut on her forehead as well, she leans over the bed to kiss her forehead as if wishing her pleasant dreams. "Good night Sairenji, when you wake the whole world will be different," she states dispassionately, frowning as she turns away to leave the bedroom, "Nothing can stop the darkness now..." Leaving the girl to restless dreams, black blood beginning to seep from her forehead wound now, poisonous darkness seeping into her as she sleeps, unaware of the changes within her.

A/N: Fridge horror anyone? Yeesh, maybe I should add Horror to the tags...

I-I honestly didn't even expect this, and I wrote it.

Am I sure this story has a happy ending?

(O_O)

Edit to Add: New Name has been decided, tell me what you think!