A/N: Hey everybody! This fic keeps getting shorter and shorter and still is so much fun. I can't wait to reach the end, but I will be very sorry when I do.

Thanks Xros-Hero! Don't worry, everything will become clear soon.

Blue, thanks for pointing out the repetition. I honestly missed that. And also... SHIPPING. Slight shipping hints, maybe. What Taiki can actually do will come up soon, don't worry. Thanks for the review! Now then, onto number fifteen.

XV. Motive

"I don't need to justify myself."

Why are you here? Yuu had mouthed this the best he could and Taiki had only smiled. For a few moments, the boy had been oddly, pulsing quiet. His black eyes were gentle and unfocused. Yuu had almost considered attacking him. But then he had noticed the grey wisps curling around the other's form were turning black like thunder. He had seen the red light in the eyes growing like pupils in the dark. And for a moment, someone else had looked out through those eyes. It wasn't Taiki-san, but it wasn't the parody of him either. It was something that did not seem to care for him, or for anyone. It didn't even seem to care for himself.

Then it cleared and Yuu thought he had never been so relieved about anything in his life. Even fear was nothing compared to emptiness.

Taiki let out a soft, pitying sigh. "Poor thing is still so confused. You left quite a number on him, didn't you?"

"What do you mean, 'we' did?" Yuu felt his sister's arm tighten around his shoulders as Taiki looked down at her violet eyes. For a moment, the pair of them stared at each other, neither furious as they ought to have been. In fact they were smiling at one another. Taiki looked at ease, while Nene's was a look completely unfamiliar to him. It was anticipatory, excitedly so. She wanted to fight him. She wanted to face Taiki, not that there wasn't a Yuu standing in front of her to deny her or a Kiriha to show off and thrust pride in her way.

It was unbelievable, particularly for his sweet, earnest big sister.

However, she was also the biggest mother bear he had ever met, barring only Akari at this very moment.

Taiki licked his lips with a small flourish. "You left him alone. He has never left you." He didn't sound accusing. He didn't even sound upset. Nene shuddered mentally, keeping her gaze firm on his own. She knew in that instant, that her thoughts were right.

"What happened when Shoutmon died?"

The words were undeniably quiet, but at last, at long last, Taiki reacted. It was not what Yuu imagined; it wasn't even cracking. It was just a very loud and very simple snap. It was a rubber band, a firecracker, and the sound was not so much imaginary as it was a physical presence knocking into their bodies.

When the noise reverberated through their skulls, forcing each and every one of them awake, they were all paralyzed by the sound of laughter. "The truth," Taiki said with so much delight in his voice, once black eyes glowing with a spiral of red. "I discovered the truth and that person and finally, I was finally set free."

"What truth... would that be?" Akari was struggling to sit up, Cutemon wriggling frantically in her arms.

The eyes rested on her and the abyssal, red pupils abruptly turned a vivid purple. Red light swam to run around her shadow. "You know best Akari-kun," he whispered, looking at her, truly looking as he hadn't at Yuu. Pride was welling into those eyes, pride and excitement.

Akari did not tremble, or shiver, or even hesitate as she replied. "You were abandoned by everyone, weren't you?"