Heys! Haha things have been really hectic for many of us, I know. Haha I'm gonna be joining NaNoWriMo, but no worries! I will still be updating! Thanks to all my reviewers. To all the Nano-ers out there, let's work hard together! Gambate yo! On with chapter 14! (Sigh I still like fight scenes the best… . ) Oh and any grammatical errors made in Lyn's flashbacks are intentional.

Chapter 14- Renewed Resolution

Lyn lay on her bed, staring at the necklace dangling from her hand. She remembered her parents' exact words when they had given Shinn and herself the necklace.

'As siblings, the two of you must be united. One day, the two of us must leave this world. Then, the two of you will have to look after each other, and support one another.'

'The two stones have a special quality. When they are a certain distance apart from each other, and the distance is not too great, then the stones will pull towards each other, give the string a tug. That way, the two of you will always know if the other is close.'

'Also, the stone will pull more urgently if the other is in danger. Thus, that way, you will always know the status of the other, as long as you aren't too far apart.'

'However, the stones signify much more than just unity between siblings. Shinn's stone is dark blue, whereas Lyn's is light blue. It signifies how different the two of you are in personality, and yet how alike you can be at the same time.'

'These stones, your mother and I made together for the two of you and for no one else. These stones will protect you from life-threatening danger, and they will glow, Shinn's with a dark glow, and Lyn's with a light glow. However, both will glow with a warm and gentle light. That is how our love for the two of you is. Warm and gentle.'

Lyn snorted at the irony of the situation. The glow surrounding the stones was supposed to be a gentle and soothing glow. But Shinn's stone had been glowing with a harsh light.

She had worn the stone even after Shinn had left. She had never given up on the hope that Shinn would stop doing all the wrong things for the wrong reason.

But that hope had been destroyed the day Shinn killed one of her uncles. After that incident, their extended family had begun shunning them for fear of their own lives. After that incident, her father had begun fighting Shinn.

As Lyn had only been eleven then, she did not fully comprehend what had just happened or what it meant. But as the years passed, she slowly understood. When she was thirteen, she asked her father if she could be the one to stop Shinn. She did not want to give up on him.

But no matter how Lyn pleaded with him not to continue his mistakes, Shinn still continued killing innocent lives. Just after Lyn's fourteenth birthday, she heard of the shaman fight and she decided to join to grow stronger.

Lyn had left the necklace behind. She did not want to hang on to it anymore. Moreover, she had thought that her brother would probably have discarded the necklace, so she no longer saw the point in wearing it.

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Lyn snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a knock on the door. "Come in!" She called, sitting up. She blinked in surprise when Ren walked in.

Ren sat down next to her on the edge of her bed, and then looked at the necklace she was holding curiously. "What's that?"

"It's a necklace from my parents for both my brother and me that's supposed to signify our bond as siblings…" Lyn told Ren slowly, unsure of how much she should tell him.

"So why'd you suddenly decide to take it out?" Ren asked, his concern showed in his voice. "I saw that my brother was wearing his when you were fighting with him earlier today…" Ren nodded in understanding at her reply. "So you think that there might be a chance to end this without having to fight him?" He asked, and Lyn nodded slowly.

Lyn sat further back into the bed so she was leaning against the wall, and she slowly sorted out her thoughts. Her brother had changed so much. But she knew that deep inside her heart, she wanted to believe that the old him still existed, and it was just buried deep within the confines of his soul.

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Flashback:

"Come on kiddo! It's not like you to give up so easily…keep fighting till the end…that's your motto, remember?" Kenshin called down at Lyn, who was struggling to keep up with him on the steep mountain path.

"Honey…give her a break…she's only four!" Tsukiko reprimanded her husband from where she was standing next to him. "No mummy! Daddy's right! Lyn have to do this. For herself! Lyn won't give up!" Lyn called, and continued her hike determinedly.

Just when Lyn had covered roughly half the distance to her parents, she slipped on a stone and fell backwards. Lyn panicked and began waving her arms, trying to regain her balance, and then she felt a pair of strong hands catch her from behind. Her brother, Shinn, had caught her just in time.

Shinn pushed her back onto the path, laughing. "Silly girl…be careful next time yea?" Lyn looked at him seriously, her eyes wide. "Yea! Thanks Shinn. If you never catch me, Lyn go rolling down…and down is a long way…"

Shinn looked at Lyn in surprise, then began laughing amusedly at her innocence and her honesty. Lyn stared at him, mystified by his behaviour.

End flashback.

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Flashback:

"Give Lyn's teddy back to Lyn!" Lyn cried as she chased the bullies who had snatched her teddy bear from her down the street. She took a banana peel from the rubbish pile as she ran past a bin and threw it towards the bullies.

The biggest of the three bullies slipped on the banana peel and fell on his bottom painfully, and the other two stopped running to help him up. Lyn caught up with them, laughing. "Hah! See? You can't run away from Lyn. Now give Lyn's teddy back!" She demanded, one hand on her hip as she held the other out for the teddy bear.

The next thing she knew, she felt a harsh slap on her face and she put a hand to her stinging cheek, her eyes wide open in shock. She looked up slowly and saw an intimidating woman staring down at her, eyes bulging with rage.

"How could you do that to my son?! I will inform your mother about this incident." Lyn stared up at the woman indignantly and stood on tip-toe so that she was closer to the woman.

"He took Lyn's teddy bear!" She cried, staring the woman in her eye. The woman's face contorted further with rage, making her look like a toad. "You disrespectful child!" The woman spat, saliva flying onto Lyn's face. Lyn wiped the liquid off disgustedly, making a face. "Ladee! Don't spit on Lyn's face!"

The woman stared at Lyn, her head steaming with rage. She raised her hand, preparing to deliver another slap to Lyn's cheek. Her hand whizzed down towards Lyn's cheek, but a strong grip caught her hand by the wrist before she could hit Lyn.

"What kind of example are you setting for your son, hitting a young girl like that?" Shinn demanded coldly. The woman sputtered with rage, at a loss for words. "You…didn't your mother teach you any manners? Didn't she teach you to respect your elders? Your mother must be extremely flighty for her to raise such rude children."

Shinn clenched his fists in irritation. "Don't insult my mother…" The woman smirked at him, a look of superiority on her face. "Well, it is true, isn't it?"

"At least she taught us to be kind to others and never to take things which belong to other people without any permission. That has to be much better than what I see your son doing. You must steal often, for your son to think it is alright to steal." He retorted calmly.

The woman glared at him, enraged. "We…well, my son did nothing wrong!" Shinn raised his eyebrows in amusement at the woman's lame reply.

"He stole Lyn's teddy bear. If that isn't wrong, I don't know what is." Shinn said, smiling casually.

"My son just took it to have a look at it. He was planning to give it back! So it wasn't stealing!" The woman argued indignantly.

"Once you take something without asking the rightful owner, it is considered stealing, whether or not you had the intention to give it back. Moreover, your son snatched it from my sister. That is definitely stealing." Shinn replied.

"You…you rude child! Show respect to me! I'm your elder!" The woman sputtered lamely. "I only show respect to those whom I think deserve it. Now, could you just get your son to return the teddy bear like he INTENDED to so we can go home?" Shinn demanded, taking Lyn's tiny palm in his bigger one.

End flashback.

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"What are you thinking about?" Lyn was startled and blinked in surprise to see Ren's worried face close to hers. She flushed and looked away quickly. "Yea…I was just thinking about the past…about how different my brother was…"

Ren nodded slowly. "I think I can understand, but I can never truly know what you are going through unless you share your problems with me…" Lyn looked at him and bit her lip uncertainly.

"I want to share my life with you, and I hope to be included in your life. Not just the happy moments, but the sad times too…" Ren said seriously, his eyes filled with honesty. Lyn stared into his eyes for a while, and felt the urge to share her life with him.

"I was just wondering…where the brother who would protect me…catch me when I fall…stand up for me…and comfort me…I was just wondering where he had gone and why he left…" Lyn said somberly, raising her eyes to the ceiling.

"You will be able to bring him back. I believe in you." Ren replied simply. Lyn looked at him, her eyes filled with doubt and he smiled encouragingly at her.

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Ren stared into Lyn's eyes, all her emotions showing clearly in them and he found himself thinking that he was looking into the most beautiful eyes in the world. In fact, just looking at her, knowing how strong yet fragile she was, he felt like he had the most precious thing in the world in front of him.

Maybe other people would find her hair too short, or her behaviour too violent. But Ren found himself taking more and more notice of her everyday. To others, she might be as flawed as anyone could be, but to him, she was the most perfect person.

Ren had never believed that he would feel this way about anyone. If you had told him a few months ago that he would love someone so deeply, he would have snorted in disbelief. But now, he found it hard to imagine how life without Lyn would be.

He wanted to know her better, even if it took him a million lifetimes. And in each and every lifetime, he wanted to fall in love with her again. He could not imagine it any other way.

He leant towards her hesitantly, and she blinked in surprise before realising his intention. She flushed but showed no sign of stopping him.

He leant further towards her and captured her lips with his, his lips gently caressing hers, his eyes closed. It felt so right loving her, and Ren realised at that moment that he would never be able to escape that feeling. But he liked it that way.

They finally pulled away from each other after what seemed like an eternity, and they stared at each other in silence, each flushing lightly.

"I…I will not give up on what I have decided! And I have decided to end this without any more deaths!" Lyn said determinedly, her eyes shining with a new light of determination.

Ren nodded in approval and smiled encouragingly at Lyn. Lyn saw a silent strength in his eyes, along with the pulsing of love, and she understood why she always felt safe in his arms.

She loved him too…

They leaned towards each other again, and there was lesser hesitation this time before their lips met again.

It feels so right, to be in your arms.
My lips against yours, gently caressing.
This feeling, I will never be able to escape from.
But that is the way I want it, and that's how I like it.

SWEET! I can't believe I just wrote that…what do you think? Fluffy enough? Haha I think I don't mind fluff so much anymore…hee.