Crimso's Notes

This is the second chapter I've started after taking a Spanish Test. …Gee, I have a similar feeling. I think I did well, but knowing my luck with Spanish, I probably failed… again. I mean, I didn't fail the last test. I got like a B or something, but still. I've never ever, ever gotten an A or an A- on a Spanish Test. Why? …I just suck at Spanish. There are just some subjects you can never do well in. It's Spanish for me, of course. I would rather not take it, but a language class is required at my school and... well... I can't switch. I would probably chose Spanish if I had another chance to change, though.

Note one: Once again, I don't think that updates on weekdays will be common. I think the weekend is the time for me to write. Well, Friday also. So Friday + Weekends are my update days… for the most part. Sometimes Sundays, like when this was updated.

Note two: So, I believe things will move slowly from here in terms of pacing of the story. I need to figure out when the action comes into play, as my plans for chapters one through nineteen got a little messed up with some additional details added after I wrote the plans. Plus a lot of the chapters were just… unnecessary.

Note Three: FYI, Yasuo is Mion's Father's brother, not Akane's.

Note Four: FILLER CHAPTER! Yeah, sorry I took a week to post a filler chapter .-. . You guys were probably expecting more from me.

~~~~X~~~~

Chapter 14: Theories

Darkness was spreading across all of Onigafuchi, and it would soon be time for all of the villagers to turn out their lights and fall asleep in their soft futons. However, things were a little different at the Sonozaki Manor. Servants were doing their end of the day chores, and the actual members of the family were busy doing any tasks they needed to do involving the actual status of the family.

That's why Oryou wasn't all that surprised when Yasuo walked into her room moments before she planned to go to sleep. He was probably there to give her a quick status report on the two remaining demons that the Sonozaki family kept, or try to convince her to buy yet another demon. Every time he brought up the suggestion, however, she quickly shot it down. There was no reason for any more demons.

"Oryou-sama," spoke Yasuo, stepping into the room. "I have some news to share with you."

"What is it, Yasuo?" she asked him in her usual harsh tone, not even bothering to look at him. She wasn't expecting anything of his report. If anything, it probably was some unnecessary information.

She noticed that Yasuo was fidgeting a little, something that was unlike him. Usually, he stood proud and confident and did not show any signs of being nervous, not even around the great Sonozaki Oryou. His behavior caused her to grow rather curious, though she said nothing. He was having a hard time trying to spit the words out of his mouth, which caused her to grow a little irritated. "Just spit it out all ready, Yasuo! What's wrong? Did a demon scratch you again? You want to buy another one? Just tell me!" she yelled at him.

Yasuo jumped. "Er… about Number Twenty-Seven and Number Twenty-Eight. They've… well… um…"

"Yes?" grumbled Oryou.

"…Ahaha… they're gone…" Yasuo told her, his voice a little shaky and rather quiet for a man like him.

Silence followed, but only for a few seconds. Oryou balled her fists up and stared at the man in front of her with eyes filled with enough fury to make a lion run away in fear. "What was that? !" she yelled at him, slamming her fist down on the floor.

Yasuo looked down. "I said that the twins have-."

"I know what you said!" she hissed. "I'm asking you how it happened, Yasuo!"

Yasuo was practically frozen to the ground. He found that he couldn't muster up enough strength to reply to her. Oryou was someone that you didn't want to make mad, ever. "I don't know, Oryou-sama. I couldn't find my keys this afternoon, and I managed to find them a few minutes before in front of the doors. And when I went down to check on the demons… they were gone…"

Oryou was not pleased, to say the very, very, very least. She looked as if someone had threatened to kill her rather than someone informing her that her demons had disappeared. And let's just say that Oryou was never very happy when someone threatened to kill her, nor was she the least bit scared. "Yasuo, what did I tell you about those two?" she growled at him.

"That they were special, since they were your granddaughters and that I should keep a close eye on them," he recalled.

"Exactly!" she replied, staring at him with eyes full of hatred. "And what did you do?"

"I… I… I let them escape…" he answered, though he knew that it wasn't really his fault they had escaped. Sure, he was responsible for them, but how would he know that someone would bother sneaking into the Sonozaki basement? Usually, people wanted the Kimiyoshi demons, as they were usually stronger than Sonozaki demons.

Oryou covered her face with her hands, murmuring to herself about what she was going to do about the situation.

"…May I ask you a question?" Yasuo spoke up.

"…Go ahead," she grumbled.

Yasuo looked down at his feet. "…Why… why did you kill all those demons?"

Oryou let out a large sigh as she removed her hand from her face to give the man in front of her a good look. "I do not know why people are so curious about this, as it the reason is exactly the same as I said it was. The demons are cursed, and we cannot go on living the way we do, Yasuo. When he was alive, Kenji told me that he thought that things would get violent in a few years or so. With dangerous creatures like demons being ruled over in this village, a war is not far ahead. I believe we must exterminate these demons before it comes to such a thing."

"…But you didn't kill them, Oryou-sama. You kept them alive, despite what the legends of Onigafuchi say," he told her.

"Indeed I did, Yasuo," sighed Oryou. "It's just proof that I have grown weak over these years, Yasuo. While such didn't prevent me from murdering the other demons, it has stopped me from killing those two twice." She looked off into the distance, recalling memories. "You know, Yasuo, when I came down there with the katana in my hand and the intent to kill in my mind, the idea of sparing any was completely ridiculous. I had made up my mind. When I ordered all the demons not to bother defending themselves, I still had the intent in mind. When I killed Kenji, I still did not change my mind. I didn't even change it when I slaughtered all the other demons." She paused. "But then, I got to the back cell."

Yasuo nodded, listening to what the old woman was telling him. He didn't know what to say, so he decided that he'd just keep his mouth shut.

"…Those two, they were hugging each other tightly and crying. There was fear in their eyes, and that fear only escalated when they looked at my katana that was raised above their heads. They did not try to resist, as I had ordered them not to. …And when I was about to bring it down, I looked into their eyes some more." She let out a large sigh. "I was weak, Yasuo. Those two… they were just so precious. They were my precious little granddaughters. …I couldn't do it, Yasuo… I couldn't do it. I wanted to bring that katana down upon their heads, but I could not muster up the strength to do so. My emotions had beaten me again. They had defeated this old woman for a second time."

He still didn't know what to say. "…I guess things were like that for you when you were going to kill them for the first time."

Oryou nodded. "The scene with me and the katana was reminiscent of me holding my hands above their necks after they were born. Before Akane could even get a glance at them, I ordered the servants to take them to the chamber. Akane kept begging me not to take her children away, but I refused to comply. I ignored her cries and walked down to the chamber with them, where they were placed on a small table. I really was going to kill them. …But something stopped me in my tracks. I wasn't sure what it was, but when I looked down upon them, something inside me stopped me. …They were my still my granddaughters, twins or not. I tried to ignore it, to strangle them anyways, but I still could not do so." She looked back down at the futon she was laying in. "The next thing I did was foolish. I didn't want people to know that I had broken a tradition of the Great Families, so I turned them into demons and had them locked up. …Such a poor decision. If the legend of the Hero of Onigafuchi is true, then I just lured Death himself into the village. Turning supposed evil into demons is just increasing their danger level. Perhaps I should have just given them back to Akane. She would have been so happy to see her little daughters…"

Yasuo wasn't sure what to say to her, really. He had been treating her granddaughters like pieces of crap for the last few years, even though Oryou had asked him to treat them well. He really did hate those twins with all his heart, but he couldn't say such a thing in front of Oryou. He just had to pretend to feel bad for her and the twins. "Weren't you considering doing so shortly after you murdered Kenji and the rest?"

"Indeed I was. I opened up their cages and I was ready to carry them out for Akane to see, but Takeru insisted that I didn't show them to her. He said he was concerned about what his mother would think, knowing what we had been doing to them all their lives. Thinking about it now, I fear to know what kind of wrath she would induce upon me when she found out. And perhaps she really would be scared of them," she answered.

Yasuo fidgeted slightly. "Maybe it was for the best, Oryou. Takeru was right when he said it would probably be better to keep them locked up. I'm also rather scared of Akane's reaction."

"Now that they've been stolen, though, someone is bound to find out about their true identities and their relation to Akane, and it won't be long until she finds out what I have done to her children." She clenched her fist again, frustrated. "Yasuo, please find the two of them at all costs. It is important that we don't allow them to be found out. And when we find who stole them…"

"Kill them?" he finished.

Oryou nodded. "Yes, murder them in the most brutal way possible. Do not show them mercy."

All Yasuo could do was nod his head and bow to her. "Yes, of course, Oryou-sama."

~~~~X~~~~

Bright sunlight came through Keiichi's window, hitting him directly in the face and causing his blue eyes to slowly open up. He blinked once, twice, and then pulled himself up. He rubbed his eyes as he recalled events from the previous day, remembering the rush he felt when he ran across the open land to his house, all the while wondering if someone had seen him. They would instantly know that he had stolen the demons from their collars, as only Sonozaki demons wore collars with spikes on them.

He stretched as he stood up from his futon as he wondered what had happened to his parents. They were supposed to come home yesterday, and they never did come home. The brown-haired boy gave a glance to the futon that was next to him, taking a good look at the two green-haired girls cuddled together. They were sleeping peacefully, probably for the first time in their whole lives. The cold, hard floor of the Sonozaki basement probably wasn't any comforting for them to sleep on. Really, if anything, it had to hurt.

Grumbling, the boy stepped down the stairs and walked into the kitchen, only to find that both of his parents still hadn't returned. He was curious as to where they could be, naturally. Had there been some kind of delay as they were traveling back? Though if that's true, that's probably a little more convenient for me. Having his parents gone meant that he could allow the two twins to wander the house and go wherever they want instead of them being trapped in his room all day. Doing such a thing would be like what the Sonozaki family had been doing to them before, locking them up and not allowing them to go anywhere. Though he supposed there was a slight difference, as they had nothing to do in the basement, while his room was full of things that they would probably be interested in.

He opened up a cup of instant ramen and began to start heating up some water. Ramen wasn't something that he would like to eat in the morning, but with his parents missing, there was nothing he could eat aside from that. He was a terrible cook. After the water was heated, he poured it into the cup and waited for the ramen to cook a little.

When it was done, he began to eat it very slowly. His mind wasn't working right, just like how things usually were in the morning. He brought his chopsticks up to his mouth absentmindedly and chewed on some of the ramen. I don't want to go to school. Such was the only thought on his mind right now. School was only fun when he was talking to his friends. He chuckled a little when he compared this to his previous self, who only liked school for the work. Onigafuchi had really changed him in a short amount of time.

"Kei-chan?" a voice spoke.

Keiichi nearly spilled his ramen as he jumped in surprise. He whipped his head around and caught sight of two, bright green eyes staring at him curiously. "Mi… Shi...!" he cried out before glancing down at her collar. He sighed. "Sorry Mion, you scared me there," he commented, reading the name he had taped to her collar.

Mion had an apologetic look in her eye. "Sorry, we woke up and you weren't there."

"Where's Shion?" he asked her as he continued to eat his ramen, this time with his mind more awake.

"Oh, she's just looking around your place. I came to find you since you weren't there," she explained. Then, she looked down to the cup of ramen he was eating, her eyes wide. "What's that?" she asked, pointing her finger at the food as she stared at it curiously.

Keiichi looked down into his cup of ramen. "Ramen. It's a kind of food made out of dough, and it tastes pretty good," he informed her before he slurped up some more. After chewing and swallowing, he added on, "I don't know if you'd like it though, you demons seem to prefer meat to anything else." He paused. "I don't have any meat for you at the moment, but I'll pick up some after school today. My parents aren't here, so I guess it'll be okay for you two to wander about the house."

"Your parents?" Mion asked.

Keiichi nodded. "My mother and father. Everyone has a mother and a father, as I explained. They're the ones that make you. Your mother is the one that gives birth to you, however," he explained to the girl. Saying such a thing to a girl his age made his heart hurt. She should know these things. "You have them, too. As I said, I was speaking to your mother before. I haven't spoke to your father as much, but he seems to be a really nice guy."

Mion looked down at her feet. "What is my mother like?" she asked him.

When Keiichi glanced at her, he could see sorrow and pain in her eyes, though it was a little hard to see as she was currently looking down at the floor. She even looked a little bit lonely. "Your mother is a great person. She's very kind, and she misses you a lot." He looked down into his cup. "She never got to see you two, even after you were born. Heck, she doesn't even know what gender you guys were. But she told me she really wanted to have twin girls… how lucky she is, getting what she wants. I feel bad for her, though. She doesn't know you are still alive."

She said nothing in response for a few seconds, and Keiichi was about to change the subject, when she suddenly spoke out. "I'd like to meet her sometime," she replied.

"I hope you can meet her some time, too," Keiichi replied as he stirred his ramen absentmindedly. "She'd love you two so much… and yes, I know you don't know what that means, but keep that in your mind."

Mion nodded. "Got it."

Shion came down from the stairs moments later, staring at the two of them. It took a little bit before she walked up to the both of them. "What's that?" she asked as she approached the two of them, pointing to the cup of ramen.

Keiichi couldn't help but chuckle a little bit. Her sister had asked the same exact question just moments before. "Ah, your sister just asked me that! It's called ramen, they are noodles, which is a food made from dough. They come in different flavors, too," he explained to her. He pulled a noodle out with his chopsticks to show both of them, and they stared at it curiously. "As I said to Mion, I don't know if you would like it. I'm going to get some meat for you two after school."

Shion licked her lips.

"Until then, I have to ask for you two to remain in the house," he told them both. His heart sank a little when he had to break the news to them. He hated the idea of having to confine them, but he couldn't have people knowing about what he had done and their existence in general. "I know you two want to go outside, but for now you have to stay inside. When I come home from school, we'll go and play outside in a safe place. All right?"

Of course, the two of them looked quite disappointed by what they were being told. They had been looking forward to going outside soon, and it looked as if they had to wait a little bit. "I think I understand why," replied Shion. "It's because people can't know about us, right?"

"That's exactly it. I'm pretty sure most of the villagers are aware that your mother had you two and believe that you are dead," he told them. "Although you guys don't know this, you look quite a bit like your mother. They'll instantly know who you are the moment they see you and if Yasuo or the other Sonozaki find out that people know who you are… well, it's not going to be pretty." He winced as he envisioned himself restrained to the restraining board in front of the Furude Shrine, with many people watching as a demon raised a giant sword over his head… Keiichi gulped. "They're trying to prevent your mother from finding out that you're still alive."

They both looked at each other, a little bit sorrowful. Keiichi knew that Mion desperately wanted to meet her mother, and he was now assuming the same about Shion. Keiichi couldn't imagine what his life would be like if he never met his mother. There was so much she had done for him that there would be a giant hole in his life created if she hadn't been there for him. He opened his mouth to continue the conversation, but upon checking the time, he realized that he could be late for school if he didn't leave.

He pushed his ramen aside. "I have to go to school now, but I'll see you afterwards. Please remember what I said to you two," he told them both before grabbing his backpack, which had been placed in front of the door. "I promise that we'll go outside to play a little bit when I'm done, but for now, you can look out the window in my bedroom. …That's the clear thing in the wall in the room with the futon, by the way. Try not to be seen, though."

Keiichi slung his backpack over his shoulders, and the twins nodded at him. "Well then, see you two!"

He walked out of the door and into the open sunlight, breathing the fresh air. Today's school day was going to be interesting, he could already tell that. As he walked along the paths of Onigafuchi, he wondered what kind of commotion was going on at he Sonozaki Manor. They would surely be surprised to see that their only two demons had gone, leaving them without any demons at all. It's all right, though. They won't know that it was me…

Keiichi walked into school and sat down at his desk with a sigh. He was a little surprised to see that Satoko hadn't launched a trap for him, but upon further inspection, he noticed that what was supposed to be a trap for him ended up being launched on poor Rena. Her uniform was covered in ink, and there was a sorrowful expression on her face as she stared at it.

"Don't worry!" cried Takeru as he wrapped an arm around Rena's shoulders. "You're still beautiful, with or without a huge ink blot on your uniform!" He shot her a wink, just for an added bonus, though Rena didn't react all that much.

Keiichi got up from his seat and walked over to the two of them. "Satoko got you, eh, Rena?" he joked. "I guess her trap finally failed in the sense that it was meant for someone else."

Satoko crossed her arms and stomped a foot on the ground. "I did not fail, Keiichi-san! The point is that I made a good trap and it ended up working on someone! Even if you weren't the victim of this trap, it still worked." She looked a little angry, but just a little bit. "Never call one of my traps a failure, because you know what? All of my traps are just perfect!" she cried out before letting out one of her signature, shrill laughs.

Keiichi let a large, white grin spread out across his face. "Well, if you say so then, Trap Master Satoko!" he cried out.

Satoshi sighed. "Maybe you should tone it down a little bit sometimes, Satoko. Rena's going to have to have a stain on her shirt all day…" he told her gently.

Satoko rolled her eyes. "Who cares about a silly stain? It's just a stain!"

Satoshi shook his head. "Satoko…"

Rena interjected. "It's okay, I can live with a little ink on me for the rest of the day. It's only going to be until I get home anyways," she replied with a smile on her face. Really, it seemed as if it was impossible for Rena to get mad at anyone, or so Keiichi thought. "Your trap was excellent, Satoko!"

Satoko stuck out her chest with pride. "Thank you, Rena-san! As to be expected of me."

They all burst out into laughter after that remark.

"Ah, nothing like a good laugh to get rid of your troubles, if only just for a few seconds!" commented Takeru as he brushed a tear out of his eye, having formed from laughing too hard. "Seriously, Satoko, you're too funny at times!"

Satoko grinned, showing off her vampire fang. "Of course I am!"

However, Rena was a little troubled by what Takeru had said. "Is there something wrong, Takeru?" she asked him, a worried expression on her face. "You said something about forgetting your troubles by laughing for a while. Is there something bothering you or…?"

"Ahaha… yeah," replied Takeru. His expression suddenly grew serious, and as did the atmosphere after he did. The laughing stopped as they stared at him, wondering what in the world could be bothering him. It was unlike happy Takeru to be bothered by anything. "The truth is, two of our demons were stolen yesterday. I'm not sure at what time they were, but when Yasuo went to check up on them… the two demons were both gone."

"…That's a little strange," replied Rena instantly. "People always try to steal from the Kimiyoshi Manor, and not from you guys. Aren't the Kimiyoshi demons supposed to be extra-specially powerful or something like that?"

Takeru nodded, clenching his fists. "And that, Rena, is why I'm sure that Kimiyoshi himself was the one who stole our demons!"

Satoshi's eyes went wide. "But you can't be serious when you say that, Takeru! Kimiyoshi has fifty-one demons, and that is enough! Why in the world would he want demons that are supposed to be less powerful than his own?" he pointed out to him, disbelief in his eyes. "It just doesn't seem to make any sense to me, aside from the whole fact that he stole from you instead! Maybe someone just decided to target you instead, since most people don't?" he suggested.

Takeru shook his head, a dark look in his eyes. "No. I know that it's him because he keeps begging me to sell those same two demons to him. He's been trying to get his grubby hands on the two of them for years. First, he was offering a hundred thousand yen, and then he added an extra hundred thousand, then he doubled that and added four demons for free as a bonus…" he sighed. "You get the point here. He was offering quite a bit, but I kept refusing him. So now he's gone off and stolen them!"

Rika suddenly piped up. "That does sound suspicious. Satoshi, Satoko and I were suspecting him of the children kidnappings before, but I don't think that's the case anymore. He had ordered a few of his demons to look out for the killers," she told them, recalling the time she, Satoshi, Satoko, and Keiichi had gone for a stroll.

Satoshi crossed his arms. "Perhaps the two subjects are related to each other," he suggested.

Keiichi tried not to make his nervousness show. He knew that he was the one that stole the demons, and that the subject of the children kidnappings and the stolen demons were not related. He didn't really like how they were calling his action "stealing" the demons. He preferred to call it saving them. "But if they were related to each other, why would they be related to each other?" he added in, trying not to look suspicious. "Are they trying to get all the demons in the village to kill all the children in the village for some reason?" He realized that his idea made absolutely no sense at all after speaking it.

"That's a little confusing, Keiichi-kun," murmured Rena.

"Whatever the case is with the children kidnappings, I'm sure that the stealing of our demons has to do with Kimiyoshi. Maybe he has to do with the kidnappings, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case despite what you said, Rika," he replied, glancing to the blue-haired girl by his side. "Maybe that whole order to look out for the kidnappers is a lie, and he just ordered the demons to not speak their true orders out loud."

Rika looked troubled. "But then why would the other demons stop Number Fifty-One from killing Satoko?"'

Satoshi stiffened at Rika's words. The idea of Satoko being killed or kidnapped by the kidnappers certainly wasn't something he was fond of, and it troubled him quite a bit. "…Maybe it was because Keiichi was with them at the time."

Takeru looked puzzled. "Wait, wait, please explain what happened to me," he requested.

Satoshi sighed. "Keiichi, Satoko, Rika-chan, Kaede, and I decided to take a little stroll through the woods. Along the way, Satoko bumped into Kimiyoshi Demon Number Fifty-One, who threatened to kill her. I threatened him for doing such a thing, but before I could take any actions, Kimiyoshi Demon Number Forty and Kimiyoshi Demon Number Thirty-Nine came and stopped him, saying that he had got the orders wrong and that they were supposed to be looking out for kidnappers and not killing anyone," he explained to the confused green-haired boy, who now looked as if he had some idea of what they were talking about.

"Well then, I can see why they'd lie. You were there with them, weren't you? They're not after people our age, they're after people who are as old as Satoko," Takeru commented as he stuffed his hands in his pants.

"That's just what I was thinking, Takeru," responded Satoshi. "Keiichi was with Satoko first, though. I came running while the two of them were there, but it really doesn't make a difference in the end, since we can apply that to Keiichi. He didn't want to kill Satoko because Keiichi was there."

"But hold on!" cried Satoko. "He threatened to kill Keiichi, too!"

Satoshi rubbed the back of his head. "Maybe because he saw what he was about to do to Satoko. You know, just to destroy the evidence. Number Forty and Number Thirty-Nine probably didn't want that, which is why they stopped him." He paused. "That could be a valid reason why Kimiyoshi is guilty of both crimes…"

Takeru nodded. "I think I'm going to have to have a long chat with this guy later," he growled. "I'll show him a piece of my mind... and that guy will have to give those demons back!" He clenched his fists, anger visible in his green eyes. Keiichi felt himself shudder. He couldn't imagine what would happen to him if Takeru found out that he was the one that stole the demons, and not Kimiyoshi. However, he tried the best not to let his fears show on his face. He decided that he would go along with the theory that Kimiyoshi did it to hide some suspicion.

"You show them, Takeru! Fight!" cried Rika, throwing a fist up in the air to encourage him. "You can get those demons back! You can do it!"

Takeru shot her a grin. "I will, thanks Rika!"

Chie walked in the classroom at that moment, and they all ran back to their seats, Satoko picking up whatever had caused the trap in the process. Chie noticed this, as well as Rena's stain, and let out a large sigh. She shook her head as she walked up to the front of the classroom, deciding to disregard it. Satoko had always pulled those kinds of stunts, after all.

Chie began to speak about various things; but Keiichi's mind was wandering off. What would happen if someone found out that he was the one that had taken Mion and Shion? It wouldn't be good, that was for sure. He remembered Number Fifty-One's last moments as a human, as well as his friends last moments in the world. He would end up having one of these punishments if he were to be found out, and Mion and Shion would be stripped of their names once again and thrown back into the basement.

He clenched his teeth at such a thought. Mion and Shion had just escaped such tragedy, and the idea of them going back to where they came from made Keiichi want to punch someone right in the face. He couldn't allow himself to be caught, and that was final.

~~~~X~~~~

Crimso's Corner

Filler Chapters FTW! …Just kidding, you all hate these chapters. I know that, but really, I wanted to post this. There was originally going to be a scene at the end, but I added the scene at the beginning instead and I decided to save the next scene for the next chapter, as I cut the original Chapter Fourteen as it just wasn't necessary. I know I've taken a while on this chapter, but I actually started on Friday, where I wrote like… one thousand words. I was going to write on Saturday, but I didn't for some reason. I believe I was watching the new episode of Fate/Zero and got caught up in that. So this was all written like… today.

Understand that I can't be updating all the time, and I'm sorry that every chapter has to include these notices.

Please review in any case. If you didn't like the fillerness of this chapter, I'll have you know that there's going to be Mion/Keiichi in the next chapter. Not really fluffy, but there's hints of it, so look forward to that! Reviewers of this chapter can get… eh… eh… eh… another ticket to Crimso Land. I haven't given those out in a while, now have I? They've expired since GED, for all of those who got one. People who point out typos and paragraph scrunches shall receive a bonus ticket to Crimso's Super Ice Cream Parlor, which has WONDERFUL ice cream.

Until next time, whenever that will be!

~Crimso.

P.S: Nipah.