"Well, little one, you've had quite the life haven't you?" Yuki opened his eyes at the nice voice speaking to him, grass blades tickling his nose. He sneezed and sat up, looking around him in confusion. He wasn't in any pain anymore, the ache in his joints completely vanished.

A very tall man was silhouetted in the bright sunshine. Though he was sure he'd never seen him before, Yuki knew exactly who it was. He sat up a little straighter and bowed his head in respect.

The man chuckled, his voice sounding like a summer breeze, "no need for formalities. You have led a good and virtuous life, more than many of your kind, but now your life has come to an end. I am here to grant you a gift."

Yuki raised his head and squinted at the silhouette. "Please, sir," (somehow it wasn't strange at all he could talk to Him,) "I don't know what you mean."

The man elaborated with a wave of his hand, "You learned many things in your life. You comforted those who needed comforting, you mended those who needed mending, and you protected those who needed protecting. So I am here to offer you a gift. Is there something you desire, before resting forever?"

Yuki looked down at his paws, deep in thought. "Well, sir, I... miss Zane. I miss my family. I would very much like to be with them again."

Though he was still partly blinded by the sunshine, he could tell the man was smiling. "Would you like to continue on, comforting, mending, protecting, though you would no longer be able to interact with them?"

Yuki nodded his head vigorously, "I would like that very much, sir," and then he added for good measure, "They still need me."

The man laughed again and stretched out his hand. "Then let it be so."

And so it was.

Well, this is it! You have officially made it to the final chapter of Those Who Cannot Protect Themselves. This is the part where I make a shameless plug for a small series of one-shots based off of ghost Yuki helping each of the ninja with some sort of conflict/issue in the series, unbeknownst to them of course. I am more than open to suggestions/ideas/prompts!

This part doesn't really have anything to do with the actual story, so feel free to click off if you want to. I just want to say thank you to all the people who read this, especially those who wrote nothing but incredibly kind comments and reviews. You guys have really been so amazing.

These past six months have been... difficult; My grandfather passed away after twelve years of a debilitating stroke, leaving him completely paralyzed on his right side. Me and my family were there taking care of him when he died. My mom and dad have been having problems in their marriage, so long story short, writing has been a more positive way to cope and stuff. You can probably tell I put some of my life into the story, like Dr. Julian's death, Zane's conflict and grief, and stuff like that. I can't really talk about this stuff with anybody so writing has helped a lot.

So again, I want to say thank you, and I wish you all the best this summer. I have several ideas for some fics, both long and short, that I'd like to start before I head off to college, so stay tuned, and have an amazing day!