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Chapter 4

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When she woke up she was still snuggled into Ren's chest and she had no idea of the time. The one thing she did know was that she was starving. Hao had always made sure she had food, but it had been limited and never really tasted great.

"I'm hungry," she whispered softly making him smirk.

"It's nearly three so I'm not all that surprised. You haven't eaten in well over twelve hours. If you get dressed we can go out."

She sat up slowly and stretched as he slipped into his new jeans. Thoughts and new memories danced through her head as she pulled on her dress and clipped the belt.

"Where are we going?" she asked nervously.

"I don't care," he answered honestly. "I just think you need to be out around people again. With how we were searching you couldn't have spent much, if any, time in public. Am I right?"

Looking down unhappily she nodded. "We only left the encampment when he took me to attac-… that night."

He gave her a soft kiss on the head before he pulled out a pair of boots from the things he had yet to unpack and set them in front of her. "Pirika, we don't care about anything that happened as long you are back with us and safe. Nothing else matters."

"I don't believe you. I've been terrible. I broke onii-chans board, I attacked you, I made you all worry about me. None of you should ever forgive me."

"No. That was Hao," Ren corrected her coldly. "It was the perfect opportunity for him. You lost your memory and he could replace it with whatever he so desired. He knew your brother and I could never knowingly hurt you. We would both die first. The others might be able to fight, but they would hold back, afraid to hurt someone so close to them."

She wanted nothing more than to believe him, to think that she could just go back and have everyone still love her, but it wasn't possible. Frankly she didn't even know how Ren could look at her anymore, after the things she said to him that night, how she attacked him, threatened him.

Why he was here was a puzzle she couldn't solve. She didn't actually want to solve it. For now he was acting like he cared, forgiving her, treating her well, even if it didn't last, she wanted to feel this way. Maybe it was all just a ploy to get her safely back to her brother. He had been reluctant to stop, what if he wanted to make sure she was away from Hao?

"Pirika!" he called sharply, trying to get her attention. "Put your boots on so we can go."

She looked up at him startled at the way she had been pulled from her thoughts. "Sorry I was just thinking," she muttered, slipping the boots on and following him out the door.

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Things were fine until they got to a busy street, then she started to get uncomfortable. Since the accident she had only been around Hao and his followers and they numbered less than a dozen. Now, here she was, on the outskirts of Tokyo, surrounded by more people than she could count and every noise was making her jump.

Out of desperation she grabbed Ren's upper arm, more than a little surprised when he didn't shake her off. Instead he acted as if he didn't notice as they weaved through the streets. "Where do you want to go?" he asked once they got to a row of all types of restaurants.

Looking up and down while biting her lip she shrugged. "I don't care just as long as it's real food. I'm so tired of camp junk I could puke." Giving a pained smile he pulled her to one of the closest places, knowing she would be drawn in by the smell of the fish.

He was right. After the pair walked in she gave him a nervous smile. Pirika loved fish of any type but Ren was at most mildly fond of it so he only brought her out for sushi very occasionally. If he was taking her here now it was simply to make her happy, show her that he remembered the little things, and most of all do something that would in some way prove he cared.

He knew what had been going through her mind back at the room, the fears she had. The problem was there was no way he could make her believe he didn't blame her and was just happy he had her back. No matter what he said, after all the lies she had been fed, he couldn't make her trust him. As much as it hurt, she had to learn that on her own.

All he could do now was be patient and do the little things he could for her. Her other memories were coming back and so he hoped it would return soon as well since patience was not something he had a large supply of. She had to see it eventually; he didn't know what he would do if she didn't.

Afraid he would run, she grabbed his hand tightly under the table once they were seated. Over the past two years they had both had to make compromises about affection.

One thing he had eventually given in to was letting her hold his hand either under the table or in a dark movie theater. The last thing he could do now was pull away, no matter how awkward it was for him.

After she had gotten some food in her stomach he touched her shoulder gently, knowing he was about to upset her. "Pirika, you need to go back. Your brother has been stuck in a living nightmare for weeks. He needs to know you're safe."

Slowly she set her chopsticks down and looked away. "You do just want to get rid of me," she managed through the tears that started quickly.

"I'm not leaving you Piri. I will stay with you for as long as you want, but the longer you put this off the harder it's going to get."

"I can't," she sobbed. "He'll hate me. If I lose him I'll have lost everything."

Ren was losing his temper. He was taking her back one way or another but he really wanted her to come willingly. Horohoro needed to know she was alright and Pirika just needed him in general. If upsetting her and possibly losing her was what it took so he could know both of them would be able to recover he would do it.

"Look at me," he commanded. When he used that tone she always listened, knowing how serious he was. "All he wants is to see you. Nothing else matters to him, but if by some kind of divine intervention he blames you I promise I will stay with you. The only thing that will make me leave you at this point is you telling me to go."

He looked her right in the eye as he spoke, voice confident and never wavering. She wanted to believe him but mostly she wanted to see her brother. Trying to fight back the tears she nodded, "If you really promise," she said softly lifting her hand in front of him and sticking out her pinkie.

"You can't be serious," he said simply, not believing she was actually doing this. Her eyes were filed with innocence as she nodded, keeping her finger in place. Ren rolled his eyes but she couldn't miss the tiniest pull of a smile on his lips. This was his Pirika, childish, silly, stubborn, and it was nice to see it again, even if only for a moment.

Giving her an exaggerated sigh he reached forward and locked his finger in hers. "Now finish eating so we can find Hakuoh, grab what we need from the hotel and get back before dark." Pirika couldn't help but give him a shy smile as she picked up her chopsticks again.

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He could feel her trembling beside her as they got closer. When they were a few blocks away she had insisted they walk, most likely because it would give her more time to dawdle. Deciding to humor her for now he lifted her off the horse and took her hand, knowing Hakuoh would follow in time.

When the onsen was finally in sight she started to cry. "R-Ren-kun I just can't. I'd rather be alone than have them hate me."

"Pirika they aren't going to hate you," he told her, quickly losing patience.

"No. Please. I don't want to do this. I wanna go back." It was obvious she had lost all her courage by the way she was pulling away from him, trying to run. Making sure she was distracted with her fears, he turned to Bason.

"Get him," he ordered in a barely audible whisper.

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"Horohoro, the master wishes to see you outside."

Horohoro just scoffed angrily. "I don't care what kind of trouble that bastard has gotten into this time I want nothing to do with it. He gets himself into these kinds of messes he can get himself out again. I have better things to deal with."

The Ainu turned to walk away but Bason just moved in front of him again. "It is of the utmost importance that you come immediately."

"Tell me what this is about Bason and I will think about it."

"Please," the Chinese spirit begged desperately. "I am unable to tell you but you will understand soon."

Surprised at how pushy the normally agreeable ghost was being and the frantic tone of his voice, he decided to follow. Walking out to the street he could see Ren struggling with someone. He was trying to pull them forward but whoever was with him was fighting as hard as they could to get away.

"What are you doing Ren?" he called. The Chinese shaman may be cocky, arrogant, self-centered, rude, cruel even at times, but kidnapping wasn't in his normal list of offenses. When the girl he was fighting with looked up in terror at his voice he met her eyes and screamed her name. "Pirika! Oh spirits is it actually you?"

He couldn't have cared less why she was crying, or why Ren was trying to force her to do something she didn't want to. All that mattered was that she was here. Catching his eye she debated running away, but she hadn't had a proper look at her brother since before the accident and seeing him now was too much for her to handle.

Shaking off Ren's much loosened grip she ran, but instead of away she ran straight at him sobbing. She jumped at him, knocking him to the ground but he couldn't have cared less. His arms held her as tightly as he could and he could do nothing but cry as he rested his head on her shoulder.

The commotion had sent everyone running outside and after seeing the smile on Ren's face and the blue haired girl wrapped in her brothers arms they understood. By the time the two pulled apart they had surrounded the pair of them. Seeing that she was trapped, she started to panic and pushed lightly away from her brother, rolling quickly to her feet.

Finally seeing a way to run she had been about to take it when Ren grabbed her arm tightly. "Pirika you're fine. You're safe and no one here is going to blame you for anything," he told her confidently. Her brother was now standing and they were all looking at her strangely.

Realizing she wasn't going to get away she instead decided to hide by Ren, the one person who's memories had mostly come back to her.

"What's wrong with her?" Yoh asked confused.

Sighing, Ren looked down at the girl in front of him who was trembling again. "Let's go inside," he suggested hoping being back in the onsen with everyone sitting instead of towering over her, she would calm some. Looking between the two Yoh nodded and led the group in.

By the time Ren and Pirika walked into the room there was only a single chair left open and Ren walked to it. Still not wanting to be alone she refused to let go of him and sat down in his lap. She heard him growl at her softly, but she didn't really care.

Ren wanted very little to do with public affection and normally she was happy to oblige, but this time it was his turn to bend. Still scared and confused, she wasn't going to leave his side for any reason.

"So what happened? How did you find her? How did you get her to come with you?" Yoh asked, each question immediately after the previous one with no chance to answer.

"Damn it Asakura slow down. I don't have all the answers and she still hasn't filled in the blanks that she can." Taking a deep breath he tried to straighten his thoughts into some logical order. "Something must have happened after the accident. She lost her memory. But Hao was there to help. He told her that she had been hurt because we had attacked her. That's all I really know." Poking her in the side he motioned her forward. "Your turn."

Biting her lip she looked around the full room. Nearly everyone was here. Yoh and Anna of course, but also Tamao, Lyserg, Manta, Chocolove, Ryu, Faust and all of the associated spirits. No one looked angry or upset, just curious and happy.

"W-when I first woke up I couldn't remember anything. Ha-he was there. He said that you had all abandoned me. When he told me things, I would be able to see the pictures in my head afterward. They were real, I could watch them happening. B-but then I started having dreams that didn't fit. In my dreams things were different. You were all nice to me. I was confused."

She had been watching her brother as she spoke and finally she decided to go over to him. Crawling over to where he was sitting on the floor she sat in front of him as he hugged her. "I didn't know what to believe, it all felt real. I could see it all. After a few weeks I talked to Oyuki, the spirit Hao had given me, about it and she said that my dreams were probably just my way of handling the pain. That it was all a world I had made up for when I needed to escape everything. But then when I came here last week and I fo-fought with Ren everything just got more jumbled. Eventually I decided that he must have been lying to me, just trying to buy time. I couldn't believe that he would go to his father for help no matter what was at risk. I still don't."

Ren gave an angry snort but when Horohoro opened his mouth to speak Ren just shook his head. He knew he would have to tell her what had happened eventually but now really wasn't the time. She was mostly correct. He would rather die than ask his father for anything. She was the one exception. Nothing else was worth enough to him. No matter what she thought, there was nothing he wouldn't do for her, including push away his pride.

If only he wasn't too proud to admit it to her, then maybe she could understand what she meant to him.

Pirika looked over at Ren. She had forgotten all about that part of it, although everything else was coming back now that she was here around everyone. From the very beginning that had been the one thing she couldn't believe, no matter how hard she tried. If it had been a lie, then why?

She was remembering everything else fine. He had told her he loved her, not in a language she could understand, but still, he had said it. All the memories he had listed had come back with little prodding and she had even decided that he hadn't been trying to stall her while talking.

If he had just wanted to get rid of her he wouldn't have stopped the others from running in. Seeing him threatened and knowing Hao was there they probably would have attacked without thinking, not knowing who she was, but he kept them away, despite the risk to himself.

Actually he hadn't been in any real danger. Now that her mind was clear it was obvious that she never could have beaten them. The only reason she had the upper hand was because they weren't expecting it and they would avoid hurting her at all costs. Any one of them could defeat her easily if they had been so inclined. The only reason she had gotten away at all was because Hao had moved in.

What could that one lie have done for him? Why would he risk losing any trust he had gained by the memories he had brought back? But it just couldn't be true. It wasn't possible. Even after her brother and all of their friends knew what was between them, he refused to tell his parents or even Jun in fear that she would let it slip.

She had actually been astounded when he told her they were going to China. Part of her had expected that their relationship would never go farther than it was then because it was the only way to keep his family out of it. No matter what type of power Ren had, they would find out if he had married.

How reluctant he had been to introduce her had made the idea of meeting them terrifying. That and everything she had learned about them from the others. Since the pair had started dating her brother had skimmed over everything she had asked about them, most likely because of how bad it all was, but she managed to sneak a few things out of the others when they hadn't been paying attention and she could remember some of the things she had learned before they had gotten together.

Ren had more pride than any other person she had ever met and she knew how he loathed his father. He never spent a second with the man that wasn't required, and he would never have asked for help, least of all from Tao Yuan.

She also had a strong suspicion that his parents would have specific problems with her. A few of which might include her low shamanic abilities, the fact that she is an orphan from a tribal people instead of an old rich family, and if all that wasn't enough, she was Japanese. No matter how many years had passed there was still a deep mistrust between the two countries.

They would never see her as a worthy wife for a Tao. Ren didn't know that she had worked it out, or at least she didn't think he did. Either way, it meant that in order to ask for his father's help, he would not only need to suck up his pride but he would also have to explain that they were together and that wouldn't go over well.

She had been trying to learn some customs in the week or so before they had been planning to leave in hopes that she could impress them in some way, without that she didn't stand a chance. Actually even with it her chances were slim.

His father would mostly likely have seen her disappearance as a blessing and would have no desire for her to be found. All of that added up to mean he wouldn't have gone back to them. Suddenly she realized she had been staring at him for a number of minutes while it all played through her head.

"What I don't understand is how he did it." Yoh commented, mostly just thinking aloud. "He had to have seen the accident, come up with the plan, then moved in and grabbed her all in a matter of seconds."

"He didn't," Ren snapped. "It was all too perfect, too planned. She was the ideal one to take. Anna never would have worked for about half a dozen reasons. Tamao isn't bold enough and wouldn't have the desire for revenge. She would just shy away from any of it. I don't think it was an accident at all. Somehow he arranged for the crash and was waiting to take her. The only thing I don't know is how he would be able to ensure she would lose her memories."

"That actually has a very easy answer," a voice called from the window. Ren jumped to his feet as they turned to see Hao sitting in the window sill right behind the Ainu siblings. Pirika screamed and allowed Horohoro to push her towards the center of the room so he could ready himself as well. Once she was up she ran towards Ren, allowing him to roughly grab her arm and move her behind him.

Hao seemed to find the entire situation extremely amusing, watching the girl he had wrapped around his finger only days earlier fleeing from him. Yoh was sitting at the edge of his seat, debating whether or not to move forward. At the moment Hao wasn't making any moves to fight, he was just sitting there calmly.

"Hello my pet," Hao called gently, looking at the girl hiding behind Ren crying. Both Horohoro and Ren looked ready to kill but Yoh kept them back with a gesture. Hao wanted them to come at him, they were angry and if they made the first move it would be emotional, easy to predict, and as such, easy to defeat.

"A few simple observations and I knew the two of you were leaving, so I came up with a little plan. It's amazing how much damage you can cause when you cut a simple break line. And after all my careful planning I wouldn't leave anything as important as her memory up to chance. She couldn't forget everything or she would have no reason to be angry. For that I needed her to remember all of you but only vaguely so that I would be able to manipulate the rest."

"You used a drug of some sort," Faust guessed, things suddenly making more sense to him. "If she was given a large dose at the beginning she would lose almost everything for a period of time. It would work more as a suppression really. Everything would be intact but it would be hard to grasp. With a few pointed remarks you would be able to choose what she could recall."

Hao nodded, a smirk firmly in place as the German doctor continued.

"After that you could use something else so she would be easy to influence. That's why things have been coming back to her now, she isn't being drugged and you aren't around to suppress the bits you wanted to avoid."

"I made only one mistake," Hao informed them. "I hadn't expected you to still have that much leverage on her. She had kept the ring and I thought it would give her more of a reason to fight, but that didn't work. As soon as that Tao started talking to her, she started to doubt and having the ring on her at the time only helped. If he hadn't made her pause she would have killed him right there. She had been so close. At that point you would have been 1 down, 1 unarmed, and still unsure of what you were fighting thanks to the fog. I never expected her to be able to take you all out, and I didn't need her to. Picking off a few of you would have made my job easier. Then I would have left her to regain her memories and realize what she did. She would be shattered and the rest of you would be in mourning. You would have been so weak nothing would have stopped me from gaining my rightful position."

"Well you failed," Yoh told his brother calmly. "We know you're here and we have Pirika safe and free from whatever brainwashing you used. All of us are still here and more than capable of fighting. You may be back, but the followers you still have left are limited. Leave now and I will just watch you, making sure you stay out of trouble. The other option is a fight and I think we all know how that will end."

"For now we shall part ways my brother," Hao said agreeably jumping outside and walking into the night.

Once everyone released the breath they were holding they turned to see that Pirika had fallen to her knees and was sobbing. Looking between Ren and her brother Yoh nodded. She had just learned what had happened to her and it was overwhelming. "Tamao why don't you help get Pirika changed into pajamas. She needs to rest."

The pink haired woman nodded and took her friends hand to lead her upstairs. "Don't leave her alone. I don't care how calm Hao seemed, she ruined all his plans when she left with me and he might want revenge," Ren called coldly as they left the room.

"I won't Ren." Still tense Ren dropped back into the chair.

"I'll stay with her tomorrow, she probably wants you tonight," Horohoro said softly as he stood up and left the room.

No others words were spoken as one by one the others filtered out. Ren was surprised by his friend's words. He had always been far more supportive of the relationship between Ren and his sister than anyone had expected, and it seemed this had helped even more.

Pirika may not know what he had done in China for her, but the others had figured it out quickly. Maybe not all the details, but they knew he had gone, and they knew it hadn't gone well. After waiting for fifteen or twenty minutes he headed up to her room.

Tamao called him in after he knocked and headed out before he closed the door. Instead of moving towards her he watched as she walked around the room and ran her hands over different things, letting the memories come slowly. Starting at the desk she touched the first picture.

This one was taken when she was only three. It was a picture of her brother giving her a piggy back ride with both of them laughing. There was also an odd green creature standing beside them on the left looking at the Ainu girl with a creepy smile. On the right was a snowman they had built together.

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Putting her hands on her hips she looked over proudly at the snowman she had just built. She had been so completely absorbed in her task that she had been unaware of her brother sneaking up behind her.

"BOO!" he shouted jumping forward. Caught by surprise Pirika shrieked and fell down, toppling her newly finished creation.

Looking between the remains of her snowman and her laughing brother she could feel her temper boiling over. Clenching her fists she got to her feet and ran at him. "I'm gonna kill you onii-chan!" she screamed.

Horohoro knew she would be angry at his trick, but he had just expected her to cry, not attack him. Giving a small noise of surprise, he jumped and took off towards the forest, hoping to lose her. Although her legs were shorter she kept pace well until he ran out onto an open lake.

About halfway across she slipped and fell down. "Onii-chan," she called desperately as she heard it cracking beneath her. What was happening had come to him too late and he was only halfway back to her when she fell through the ice and disappeared from view.

At this point he was panicking, not only was the water cold, but Pirika didn't know how to swim and the temperature would only constrict her muscles. He wanted to help her, but if he got too close to the hole it would get bigger and he could fall in as well. Being from the north he had been taught how to react when someone went into the water, but his sister still hadn't come up and his knowledge was quickly slipping away.

Taking a few steps back he searched the ice for a dark spot, any hint of where she was stuck. Finally he saw her come up from the depths and ran over, thanking the spirits he had remembered to bring his knife with him. Being out in the wilderness like this could be dangerous, and having a weapon of some sort was always recommended, but often he forgot, being more than a little scatterbrained.

Pulling off his jacket, he moved about a foot away from where she was trying to get back up and repeatedly stabbed into the ice. Once he had made a small hole he used his elbow to make it bigger. As soon as he knew she would fit he reached his arm in and grabbed her. Knowing how dangerous it was to stay out on the already shattered ice he picked up his jacket and drug her to the safe snow.

Letting her go he watched helplessly as she sputtered and tried to get all the water out of her lungs. As soon as she stopped coughing up lake water, he wrapped his jacket around her, ignoring the bite of the wind on his own bare skin.

Looking up at him, it was obvious she was still frightened even though she was safe on land. "Are you okay Piri?" he asked nervously. Her throat was burning and she was unable to speak, so instead she just gave a nod. "How did you hold your breath that long? How did you get back to the surface?"

Looking over his shoulder, she raised a small shaking hand and pointed. Turning he saw a green creature about his size standing there. "Kappa?" he whispered, looking at the shell on its back, its webbed toes, and tooth filled beak. Giving a creepy smile it nodded. Getting to his feet Horohoro put his hands together and bowed. "Thank you for saving my sister," he told it gratefully. When the beast went to bow back he hit it. "Baka I need to help her, not try and fill your head with water again!" Nodding again it gave a silky, disturbing laugh. Turning back, Horohoro pulled Pirika to her feet, making sure the jacket stayed on her. "Can you walk?" he asked. He wasn't surprised when her legs wobbled and she shook her head. "Alright, get on my back."

"Wait," she whispered her voice scratchy.

"Piri, we need to get you inside," he pleaded.

Before he knew what had happened she punched him right in the face. "That's for scaring me." Seeing the determined look in her eyes he just laughed and pulled her onto his back.

It was a short trip, and only about halfway back, he felt like he was being followed. Looking over his shoulder he saw the kappa still following them. "You don't have to follow us. I'm gonna take care of her. Go back home."

The creature kept surprising him as it shook its head and pointed to the girl he carried. Deciding not to worry about it, he shrugged and resumed his trek back to the house.

Since that day, the girl and Kappa had parted very rarely, although he was shy and rarely showed himself.

#

The thought of him pulled her back to reality "Mem!" she cried out, thinking of him for the first time. "Where is he?""

Looking at the ground Ren debated how to answer. "No one has seen him since the accident. Truthfully I hadn't even thought about it until I ended up back here weeks later.

It occurred to the others some time before that, but I doubt they were concerned with anything but finding you."

"But I want him. He needs me. We have to find him!"

"If you promise to calm down, we can go downstairs and ask the others to start looking for him, but then you are coming back up here and resting again." Ignoring him completely, she pushed past and ran to the kitchen where she heard voices. Only a few people were downstairs but it would be better than nothing.

"Where is Mem?" she asked desperately.

They all shared a cautious look before her brother spoke. "He has been gone since you first went missing. Even just after the crash we could only find Bason and the Spirit of Thunder." Seeing how she was starting to panic he sighed. "Pirika, I promise we will find him, but you have only been back a few hours and we spent over a month looking. Everyone is exhausted. You need rest; we need rest. There is a chance that he was scared away after the accident and with you here, he will come back. If not, I will go out and look with you, but give it two days."

Tears filled her eyes, but she turned and started to go back upstairs but stopped suddenly. "Why are we staying here? I want to sleep in my own bed," she whined.

Glancing between the frustrated look on Horohoro's face and the stubborn look on Pirika's, Ren answered for him. "Because Hao might want revenge and you will be easier to protect here with all of us."

Grabbing her hand, Ren started to pull her from the room as he got a grateful smile from Horohoro. In a matter of twelve hours he had gone from thinking Hao had taken her from the accident and still had her, to knowing it wasn't an accident and she had been manipulated, to having her safe with him again and the Ainu man was overwhelmed. It was a lot to take in and with how much had changed in the 5 weeks she had been gone, he just wasn't up to explaining it all tonight, not to mention she probably wasn't up to hearing it.

"Now you are going upstairs to rest if I have to carry you." Accepting defeat, she went back to her room but once inside something else occurred to her. All the pictures and knick-knacks scattered around the room were taken from her bedroom. Looking around it seemed that the only thing from her room that wasn't here was the furniture.

Following her eyes around the room he knew what she was thinking. "He lost the apartment over two weeks ago," he told her gently.

The tears poured from her eyes as she looked back, hoping it was a joke. "But why?" she asked, voice breaking.

Avoiding her gaze he decided to tell her only a tiny bit, in hopes that she would accept it for now and sleep. "It was easier for him to stay here while we were looking because he would be close by if anything happened."

She didn't fall for it. "He could have just stayed here. Why would he give up the apartment that took us so long to get? What aren't you telling me Ren-kun?"

"If you get into bed and promise to try and sleep I will answer you."

"Do you have to bribe me to do everything?" she asked, stomping her foot.

"Well it is the only way a stubborn brat like you will listen," he snapped back, not able to hide his smirk.

Glaring, she walked over to the mattress and sat down slowly. At this point she paused, waiting to see if he would talk yet. Knowing what she was trying he shook his head. "I will get my way before I tell you anything," he told her simply, ignoring her angry sigh. She waited for another moment to see if he really meant it. Obviously he did so she lay down and pulled the blankets over herself.

Satisfied with himself he sat beside her. "It would be better if you let this wait until morning little snow bunny," he suggested, knowing she would deny. Receiving a glare he gave up. "He was only allowed two weeks off work before they said he had to choose, and after that he did, picking the only option he could."

"I ruined everything by being stupid," she cried, covering her face.

"You heard Hao. He drugged you. There was nothing you could have done. With how carefully he planned it, I'm impressed you were able to break through it at all. Now stop crying."

"But he lost everything! We don't have anywhere to live; we aren't going to have any money for food. What are we going to do?"

Ren just rolled his eyes. After what they had all been through, this wasn't of any concern to him. "You know you can stay here and it's not like you're going to go hungry while you're engaged to a Tao. Horohoro was just waiting for you to graduate so the pair of you could move up north. Now there is nothing keeping you here." When her tears still wouldn't stop, he shut off the light. "Go to sleep," he ordered.

She cried for a bit longer before she rolled over and closed her eyes. "I still don't understand why you would lie about going back to China. Even as confused as I was I would never believe it."

Despite the dark she knew he was angry. "We can talk about that later," he told her coldly, his tone closing the discussion. As unhappy as she was, he would give her nothing else until morning so she shut her eyes and tried to sleep.

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The next thing she knew, she opened her eyes to see the morning sun peeking through the window. She must have fallen asleep quickly which surprised her. When she had been with Hao sleep had been hard to get, lying awake tossing and turning for hours and then the little sleep she had was disturbed with confusing dreams.

Since Ren had taken her though, she slept well in his arms, going under quickly and sleeping deeply. Rolling over she looked at the sleeping man beside her with a smile. He looked completely at peace and it made her happy. After spending a few more minutes in his arms she crawled out and went to look at the window.

It was only a few minutes before she decided she might as well look over the rest of the pictures while Ren slept. Most of what she had remembered so far was more feelings.

Looking at people's faces reminded her of feeling safe, happy, excited and with them she got blurry images, but the real memories needed cues.

When she was given a few words or the start of a memory she could finish it. All she needed was a little prompting. The pictures documented some of her favorite moments and so wonderful memories. Deciding it would be best to start with the oldest pictures and work her way forward, she moved to the other side of the desk and lifted another frame.

The next picture was from two or three years after the first one had been taken. Pirika and Horohoro were climbing a snow covered tree with Kororo sitting in the water filled crevice on Mem's head and the pair of them were a few branches up avoiding the children. If you looked off in the distance you could see three bright shapes buried in the snow.

#

"Onii-chan what if they hurt you?" she asked fearfully.

"Piri that doesn't matter. The only thing that's important right now is that we stop them. We both know they are getting too close to the Koropokkur's swamps. If we don't turn them back now it'll be too late. It is going to be dangerous so I want you to stay here, alright?"

The small girls face scrunched up in anger. "No," she whined. "I'm gonna help and you can't stop me."

Horohoro glared at his sister. "I want you safe. That means I want you here."

Crossing her arms over her chest she took a stubborn pose. "If you're going to save the Koropokkur you need to go now and you don't have enough time to stop me."

It was clear he was angry but she was right. "Fine but stay out of the way. I can't help them and keep an eye on you at the same time." He had little faith that she would listen but he couldn't deal with that right now. If she disobeyed he would punish her later, but now was not the time.

Turning back to the field he saw a row of Koropokkur waiting for him. "Are you the volunteers?" he asked them, smiling when they nodded. "Okay. I'm going to need one of you to help me and the rest are going to be doing backup and distractions." One of the girl Koropokkurs came forward and gave a number of excited squeaks. "If you want to help that much I'll be glad to have you watching my back."

He turned to the rest of the group but Pirika pushed him away. "I'll handle the rest of the troops," she told him.

It required all of his self-control not to laugh at the seriousness in her voice and on her face. "All right, just make sure you keep the focus on me unless I need help." Pirika gave a nod, a different plan already forming in her mind.

The group of them walked to the clearing where a trio of machinery was dealing with freshly cut trees. Horohoro pointed to his sister and then a spot well hidden off to the left. Giving a sharp nod she ran for the location he indicated while he got ready to walk out.

Once there she directed the remaining Koropokkur. "I need you to break into two groups of three and I want you on opposite sides of the clearing. Both groups will have two of you making as many snowballs as possible and the last one of you will start throwing them as a distraction on my signal. I'm going farther into the clearing and I need all of you to make sure onii-chan doesn't see me."

Giving nods the tiny people grouped up and flew to their assigned locations. "Put on your cap Mem, you and I are going in." Giving his oily smile he pulled out a lid like cap that fit snuggly over the water filled crater on his head and ensured that none of his water spilled from it. Seeing her brother move out among the stumps and get the attention of the working men she moved towards the first machine.

"Listen kid you gotta move out of the way. It's dangerous out here."

"The only people in danger here are you if you refuse to turn back now." She listened as he spoke. Normally he was clueless with words but when it started to involve protecting the environment things came to him easily. "These woods are protected and they are vital to our ecosystem. There are creatures that need the trees for food and protection."

Coming to the first vehicle, a large lifting crane of some sort she looked around at the dashboard. First she grabbed the keys and dropped them into her boot for safe keeping. Next she got on her stomach and grabbed a handful of wires from underneath the console. Giving a sharp yank they pulled out easily, leaving only about half of them connected.

"Okay Mem, keep your hat on because I'm using your water." Reaching into her bag she pulled out a water bottle she always kept with her in case Mem spilled his water and became frozen in place. Twisting off the cap she poured some of the liquid onto the console, hopefully shorting out all of the electronics. Looking back and forth quickly she headed for the next machine.

"When you dig up the trees the soil starts to erode and lose vital nutrients while the water drains away, leaving nothing for the animals to drink and nowhere for the water spirits to live."

Once inside the tractor she repeated the same routine she had done in the other cab, keys, wires, water.

"The survival of the entire planet depends on our ability to keep places like this alive."

The last vehicle they had was a flatbed truck already half loaded with freshly cut logs. This one was slightly harder than the first with the wires because she had to crawl under the steering wheel and down by the petals to get to the wires.

"I will give you only one chance. Leave here and never come back or accept the consequences."

"We have a successful business going on here and no half grown tribal brat is going to stop us." The man looked like he was going to continue but a shout from another guy behind him drew his attention.

Horohoro groaned as a tall man dragged his kicking and screaming sister from the cab of the truck. Once he had brought her to the man in charge he smiled. Grabbing her free wrist he pulled her up by it until her feet left the ground. After crying out in pain she looked right at her brother and nodded. She planned to get herself out of this she just needed a little help.

"Let her go!" he snarled angrily, taking all eyes off her.

"If the pair of you get out of here and promise never to tell anyone what you saw, you can have her back."

"We will never forget what you're doing and we will never allow it! Illegal logging is one thing but that's a long way off from killing an innocent little girl." At this point he was just buying time and the Koropokkur would soon start whatever distraction his sister had planned for them. Pirika had managed to rearrange so she would be able to unbalance the man holding her.

"With how much money we get off each of these trees there is very little we wouldn't do. Getting rid of two bothersome children won't even keep me from sleeping tonight."

Horohoro used the Koropokkur he had brought with him and oversouled quickly as Pirika yanked her arm down so she could reach the man's hand. Before he even knew what happened she bit him as hard as she could, causing him to release his grip on her and curse loudly.

The moment her feet hit the ground she ran towards her brother and was safely behind him before the others could respond. Keeping one of her hands tightly in his own he glared at the men, a powdery assault starting from the tree line.

"Leave now," he ordered. They clearly weren't going to give up.

The leader had blood dripping down his hand but instead of wanting to run he looked ready to kill, his intent only confirmed when he pulled out a small hand gun.
Pirika looked up at the sky as it started to snow heavily. Turning back to her brother he didn't seem to notice. He was focusing intently on the four men in front of them. Just as they started to move towards the siblings a huge avalanche of snow appeared and buried the men and the bottom of the machines.

Looking down at his sister he gave a sad sigh. Hurting people wasn't something he enjoyed but he would give anything to protect the Koropokkur. Still it was hard.

He was slightly surprised when Pirika got a look of disgust on her face. Suddenly she spit some red liquid from her mouth. "Onii-chan he tasted yucky," she told him with a pout.

"It's your own fault for biting him. If you had listened to me it wouldn't have been necessary."

"But I had to stop the trucks! I wanted to break them!"

"And did you?" he asked rolling his eyes. If there were more of the men at another location and they came back to finish what the others started they will have saved nothing.

It was a good idea but he hated when she put herself in danger like that.

The huge smile that lit her face confirmed that at least she had been successful. Reaching down into her boot she pulled out three sets of keys and handed them over.

"I got these, pulled out as many wires as I could and poured water on the buttons and switches." She was extremely proud of herself and Horohoro couldn't bring himself to be angry with her.

"Let's dig them out so we can go home Piri," he told her with a smile after slipping the keys in his own pocket.

#

That memory had contained one of the happiest moments of her brother's life. The Koropokkur that had helped him had followed them back just as Mem had years earlier.

She had never left him, choosing to be his guardian ghost from that moment on. Only years later did they discover why she had been so eager to stay.

Most of the memories she had filled in during the last few days had been about Ren, or at the very least he had been in all of them. Being able to push the bad memories about her brother that Hao had given her with happy ones of her own made her all but cry in joy. It filled her with a warmth that she didn't want to lose so she moved to the next picture.

It was taken only a few months after they had met Kororo. Her brother was waiting for her at the bottom of a hill and she was boarding down nervously. It was her first time boarding alone and she was terrified. She had fallen more than a few times. You could tell because her jacket, boots, skirt, even her hair was covered with snow.

#

He was waiting for her at the foot of a hill smiling. Kororo was bringing her over. It had taken months but he had finally finished the board he was making for her birthday. When she got closer and saw the Pink piece of wood in his arms her eyes got huge. Her eyes were locked on it as she walked over and ran her hand down it. It was finished in mostly hot pick with some white and black trim. He had done a beautiful job carving it with intricate designs all over.

Pirika had always loved her brothers true name, even with how he hated it and when he had carved his own board she had told him he should put it on it somewhere. She had been little when he had done it and hadn't fully understood why it hurt him and in order to please her he made a compromise and put a tiny wolf near one end and once Kororo had joined him he carved a picture of her on the other.

In the same places on hers he had carved her name as it translated to a word and not an object and opposite of that was a small kappa. Blinking back tears she looked up at her brother who was giving her his normal goofy smile. "It'll be a little big for a while, but it will last you a long time."

"Thank you onii-chan. It's pretty."

"Well you can't just have it to look at. We are going to the top of this hill and you're coming down on your own." He heard her gulp and laughed. Not giving her a chance to run he grabbed her hand and started pulling her up the hill.

Before she knew what was happening she was standing at the top of the hill shaking with her boots strapped onto her new board. "Onii-chan I don't think this is a good idea."

"Come on sis, you'll be great." Looking down at the endless layout of snow before her she bit her lip. Horohoro jumped on his own board quickly and before she could stop him he gave her a push.

Her loud scream filled the cold air as she slid down faster than she could control. Although she had ridden with her brother before all she had to do was hang on while he worried about balance and steering. Now her arms were out and she was trying desperately to keep herself from falling.

She had only gone twenty feet or so when she tumbled over and started rolling down the hill. Luckily Horohoro had been expecting this so he quickly boarded over and stopped her from falling further. Sitting up slowly Pirika tried to look around but when the world kept spinning she squinted her eyes shut.

Once he decided he had been patient enough he pulled her up to her feet. "I'm going down now Piri and if you want to stay with me you should come as well. It's nearly time for lunch so I'm gonna head back to the house, you know how I hate to miss a meal." Looking up desperately she started crying as he turned and headed smoothly down the mountain.

Pirika was still standing there crying when he drifted casually out of view. Once she had gotten herself under control her fear turned to fury and she was determined to find a way down and make him pay. The snow drift she was on right now was at least three feet deep so getting off the board and walking wouldn't work.

As much as she hated it, she would have to board down. Rolling end over end had made her more than a little sick so she had no desire to fall again. Steeling herself she put her arms out to practice balance for a minute before she turned her board and started down. At first it was terrifying, but by the time she came to the bottom there were only a few butterflies in her stomach instead of a dozen birds.

Leaning forward she started tugging at the straps that secured her boots to the board but she while struggling she unbalanced herself and landed face first in the snow. Fighting the urge to cry again she rolled over and wiped some of the cold powder from her face.

Just as she reached to her feet she heard an overjoyed shout from above her.

"Yee-haw!" Looking up she saw her brother come flying off a peak, grab the bottom of his board, and start doing tricks until he hit the ground about halfway down and finished the hill laughing the whole way down. "You didn't actually think I would leave you did you Piri?" he asked as he kneeled down beside her and freed her feet.

Pirika was so cold, wet, and happy to see him she wasn't angry anymore. Once he moved her board to the side he pulled her to her feet and smiled.

He looked slightly nervous as he started brushing the snow from her face and hair. "Please don't be mad sis, I just wanted you to see you could do it."

Pirika stuck her lip out in a pout. "That was mean onii-chan," she whined.

Knowing she wasn't really upset he gave her his goofy smile, grabbed both of the boards under one arm and linked the other around hers.

"Onii-chan I wanna try again," she told him making his smile grow.

"After lunch we can come back but right now I'm hungry." Smiling back up at him she skipped back to their camp at his side.

#

In the next picture she was standing in a river with no socks or boots on and trying to hold a struggling fish. Her brother was standing beside her tying a rope around its tail so when she did drop it, it wouldn't get away.

#

Pirika was standing on the shore looking skeptically at the sharpened stick her brother passed her. She watched quietly as he pulled off his own boots and set them beside hers. "Are you sure we're out of food?" she asked nervously as he walked into the river beside her.

"You know as well as I do that we ran out two days ago. If you want to eat tonight you are gonna have to catch something."

Now she stuck out her lower lip in a pout. "Why can't you just do it?" she whined, still hoping to get her way. "Or we could let Mem catch one."

"Piri I want you to be able to take care of yourself. I won't always be here to help you and I need to know you'll be alright without me."

The idea of losing him upset her and so she poked the spear he had given her into his stomach. "Why are you leaving me?" she asked angrily making him give his stupid grin again.

"I'm not planning on leaving silly, but the shaman tournament is in a few years and there is always a chance that we could get separated at some point. Now the sooner you stop complaining the sooner we can eat."

Pirika jabbed him with the spear. "Don't threaten to make me go hungry when I have a pointy stick!" She looked so angry with her face all scrunched up and her eyes narrowed he couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright fine, if the sun sets and you still haven't caught anything I'll let Mem do it, but you'll just have to try again tomorrow." Deciding this was the best deal she was going to get she turned towards the water and readied her spear.

An hour had passed and she was bored. Her eyes had wandered from the stream a long time ago and she was bouncing around to busy herself. "Pirika you have scared away three fish in the last five minutes! You need to stand still or even Mem won't be able to catch anything," he snapped in frustration.

His sister had never been good at staying still for any real length of time, but as hard as it was, it was a skill she needed to learn. She had been struggling with numerous things, including school, because of it and this would be as good a time as any, the sooner the better really.

Biting her lip she forced her feet to stop moving. Keeping still took all of her concentration but she was really hungry and knew her brother was only more so. If he was still willing to wait for her to succeed it obviously met a decent bit to him and she didn't want to let him down. As stubborn as she was for him, she absolutely adored him, and wanted to impress him in any way she could.

By the time thirty minutes had passed she felt like she was going to explode but her chance finally came. A large salmon came swimming slowly over, unaware of the two children's presence. Once she thought it was close enough she threw the spear, but her aim wasn't great and it hit near the fishes top fin. The wood hook was yanked out when it started to struggle and the water around it filled with a pale murky red. It wasn't swimming well but was still too fast for them to catch.

Pirika was horrified by what had happened. They needed the food to eat and she knew what that involved, but she had never killed anything before. She had thought it would be quick but because she missed it would be slow and painful until it finally died somewhere downstream.

"Mem go!" Horohoro ordered quickly, wanting to end its pain as soon as possible, but also knowing he couldn't catch it alone.

Looking from the fast moving Kappa to his sister he saw she was crying and had dropped the spear in the river. The first thing he did was grab the spear and throw it to shore so they wouldn't accidentally step on it.

Taking her hand he pulled her out of the water and had her sit on a rock nearby. Rubbing her back gently he gave her a sad smile. "Relax Piri. Mem will catch it and bring it back. It won't take long."

"I-I didn't mean to hurt him," she sobbed.

Horohoro had a feeling this might happen, but it would have gone over far better if it hadn't gotten away or if she had missed entirely. Still, survival would require her to learn how to kill animals. He had considered teaching her how to hunt and fish earlier, but she was so caring and good hearted he knew she would struggle with it, so he waited.

One thing he feared more than her wavering emotions was that something would happen to him or they would get separated. They could never go home and between the way they stayed out of the town and were feared for being shamans they didn't have even a single friend. Horohoro was all she had and no one else would ever take care of her. That meant she had to be able to care for herself. It might hurt her for a bit now, but he had to be sure that she would be safe despite whatever the future had in store for them.

Knowing words would be little comfort he just continued to rub her back until a green head popped out of the water. "Mem's back," he told her as he walked over to the reptile. The large fish was still struggling despite the fact that it was well restrained by Mems powerful jaws. Wanting to end this he grabbed the spear, pulled the fish down to the ground, and stabbed it quickly in the head. As soon as the wood broke through the layer of scales it went still, but regardless Pirika gave a fearful whimper.

"Pirika," he called, pulling her from her own miserable thoughts. "It's done but you need to say the prayers." The idea of thanking it for its service helped her cope slightly and so she walked over and knelt beside the animal. Horohoro was happy when she calmed and was able to hold herself together as she did what was required of her.

Once she was finished and got to her feet Horohoro pulled the knife from his boot and carried the fish to the shallow water again. "You need to help me clean it then we can smoke and salt it." Looking down sadly she let her lip tremble as she pulled her own knife out and followed him.

Cleaning the fish was gross, but easy enough and they had the fish smoking over the fire before long. They kept enough out for tonight, but no longer than that. Horohoro was still insisting she catch a fish by herself so after school he told her she would have to try again. As long as they dried and salted the fish it would last a while and they wouldn't have to worry about running out again soon.

True to his words he grabbed the spear once they got back to camp the next afternoon. Walking over to the shore Pirika sighed sadly. Looking around she saw a rock some distance upstream from where they were currently standing.

"Can I stand on the rock over there? That way I don't have to be so still," she asked pointing towards it. Horohoro couldn't help but smile. You would have more luck asking her to jump off a cliff then ask her to stay still for more than a few minutes. He pretended to be upset but after a bit he nodded and headed in that direction.

Being out of the water the fish came quicker than the day before since her movements weren't causing any ripples. Glancing over at her brother when a good looking salmon swam close she saw him nod. Taking a deep breath she tried to hold back her tears as she aimed carefully. After what happened the day before she was determined not to miss this time. Refusing to shut her eyes at the last moment as she had done yesterday, she threw it. The fish hadn't died, but the spear was well secured and wasn't going to get away.

"You did it Piri!" her brother called happily as he moved towards the floundering fish. The pain she felt from killing an animal was overshadowed by how proud her brother was of her. After looking at the fish he pulled her over and had her hold it as he removed the tool and grabbed for a rope. Pirika held the fish as tightly as she could while he secured it.

#

"Morning snow bunny," a voice called from across the room as she faded from the last memory. Turning around she saw Ren sitting in bed with a smirk. "Sleep well?"

Giving a small smile she nodded. Getting up and stretching he opened the door and started out. "Come on," he said as she moved forward to follow him. "You should eat some breakfast and your brother really wants to see you." Thinking back to the memories she had gotten from the pictures this morning she smiled more.

Walking into the kitchen, most of the others were already awake and eating, even her late rising brother. "Good morning," Yoh said happily as they walked in.

"Morning," she said shyly, still unsure about her feelings towards all of them. None of them seemed to mind her reluctance, or at least they didn't say anything as Pirika got some food and sat down.

Looking around, things felt right as they hadn't in a long time. Everyone was talking casually and laughing as they ate. Her piggish brother was working on his second plate of food and it made her giggle. As she ate, she decided this was how it should be.

Ren had motioned to Horohoro partway through the meal and told him a few of the things he had noticed that might help the sibling's smooth things out. When she was finished she cleared her plate and walked out into the hall to see her brother waiting. Smiling up at him he gave her a quick hug. "Let's go talk Piri." Reaching down she laced her hand around his before he started upstairs.

#

Author's Note: Would love a review. I want to know love for Shaman King isn't dead.