How It All Ends

Kamiko

The tournament continued. Machiko withdrew from my head when Hiei lost. Apparently, that had been all she wanted to see. I stayed by Kurama as we continued watching. Yusuke went up against Yomi.

Actually, readers, I didn't watch this fight. I didn't want Yusuke to win, but I didn't want him to die. I was by Kurama while Kurama was watching because I wanted to be in friendly company, even if the TV was more interesting at the moment. The most interesting part early on was when Yusuke punched Yomi in the face, and then when Yomi got up he'd said he'd suddenly gotten a strong urge to take that hit to the face. What a weirdo.

Kurama

Kamiko tipped into my lap around the time Yusuke started channeling the power of the Mazoku. I couldn't believe it – the most intense part of the battle, and Kamiko had fallen asleep!

Still…

I rested my hand on her head and continued watching. It wouldn't have surprised me if Kamiko could pick up on what I was watching and dream about it.

Kamiko

I dreamed…nothing concrete, but there was a great deal of shouting, from both Yusuke and Yomi. And then I saw them. They were swinging punches at each other, connecting a great deal, seemingly mostly with each other's faces, but both were grinning like a couple of lunatics.

The two of them were also dealing out a ton of energy punches at each other. And the crowds were cheering for both of them, where before everyone was calling for Yusuke's blood.

It was an energy surge that woke me up. A serious energy surge, from Yusuke! I rubbed my eyes and stared.

Yomi also charged up some serious energy, and the two prepared for one final blast at each other. I missed what Yomi said, but Yusuke's answer was along the lines of "It's not a good party without somebody on the floor." Men.

Energy-laden fists laid into each other, and I couldn't tear my eyes away! I sensed Machiko come back to see the final run of Yusuke's match.

All of us, including myself, wound up on our feet!

And after a final, all-or-nothing punch that each gave to the other's face…

Yusuke lost!

Kurama

It was a week before Yusuke woke up from his defeat. We went to visit him in the hospital. I told him that the tournament was over, and then I helped him out to the auditorium so he could see the finale where the announcer was declaring the winner and new king of Demon World. Enki would make a good ruler for as long as he held the position.

I told Yusuke how the remainder of the tournament had gone, as well as what had happened regarding Yomi. I gave him Yomi's message, and also thought over what he'd said to me.

We gathered outside the auditorium later. Touya asked, "So it's back to the human world for you, isn't it Kurama?"

"Yes, it's time I chose a home."

All of our Dark Tournament friends set off, giving us their farewells, and Yusuke, Kamiko and I stood together for a moment longer. Then Yusuke went off to finish some things. I started walking, and Kamiko fell into step beside me.

We met Hiei on our way; he told me he was staying in Demon World and gave me his mother's stone. I couldn't resist making a joke, and I was rewarded – besides Hiei coming close to losing his temper – by Kamiko snickering. I knew what he wanted: he wanted me to give it to Yukina for him.

"I want you to tell her that her dear twin brother has been dead for years."

I gave the stone back to him, though, so that he could give it to her himself. I wasn't about to close this door for him. "Besides," I cocked my head, "didn't you promise to go back for Machiko?"

"You're the same as when we first met: a pain that speaks the truth." Then he glanced at Kamiko, who was apparently giving him a look.

No, I didn't turn around; I didn't want to know what she was saying to him with that look.

Whatever she said, he sighed. "You can tell your sister I'm not ready to bring her here. But when I am, she'll know."

"Thank you, Hiei."

We parted ways, and I glanced over my shoulder at her. "What did you say to him?"

"I told him that Machy would kill me if I didn't have any message for her from him, and that then she'd come after him to kill him herself."

I laughed. "What with how she's going back to her demon heritage, she probably would, at that!"

"Um, Kurama…"

"Hm?"

"Did…did you ever read the note?"

I stopped cold. "No! I forgot all about it!" Swinging my bag off my shoulder, I started digging around in it. "Let's see…where did that…here it is!" Pulling it out, I looked at it, and then glanced at her. "Are you sure you're fine with my reading it in front of you?"

Her colors told a story. First she turned bright red. Then she turned white. She's embarrassed – at the contents of her note, no doubt – and she's scared of something…what my reaction to her words could be, perhaps? "If you don't want me to…"

"No, it's…it's fine. Just…pretend I'm not here." And she faded out, blending into what was behind her with only her shadow betraying her location…and closing her eyes.

I looked at the note again. Then I opened it, pulled out the single sheet of paper, and started reading.

"Kurama, you asked me some time back what lavender meant. I didn't actually answer then, because at the time, I didn't know. None of my, ah…imagining emotional circumstances had ever pulled it (that's how I know which color means what to the extent that I do, lol)."

I laughed softly. So that's what she did.

"It took me a good week before I figured out what it meant. Lavender…means love."

My eyes got big as I kept reading.

"It took me as long as it did to figure that out because I'd never been in love before. I told Mother who you…are? Were? Well, anyway, I told her about Youko and she basically told me that if you chose to live as a human, I could…I had her blessing."

I think I see where she was going when she mentioned I had to make a decision…

"I don't want your decision to be because of anything that I said. Wherever you stay, however you live, I want it to be because you made that choice. If you decide to live as a demon, then this note is my farewell, because I can't live in Demon World." A water spot was next to the final word, and I didn't have to guess what it was.

"But…if you decide to spend the rest of your life as Suichi…would you even consider having me be a part of that life? Your friend…Kamiko."

I stared at the words for a long moment. I could hear Kamiko's fast heartbeat behind me. And I didn't know what to say to her.

I looked over my shoulder at her, or at least where I'd last seen her. Then I realized two things.

One, while I was hearing her heartbeat plainly, I wasn't hearing her breathing.

And two, I was starting to be able to see her. Everything was taking on a faint tint of blue.

Tinted blue means a lack of air – was she holding her breath the whole time I was reading?

Then she started tilting.

I spun around and caught her as she fell. She faded out again, but she'd started breathing again.

She's unconscious. And yet she's camouflaging. I smiled. "Instinct ensures that you can't be seen when you're vulnerable, no matter what!" I hefted her up into my arms, resting her head against my chest and setting my bag in her lap. "You're amazing, Kamiko." As I walked, carrying her, I thought carefully about what I would tell her when she woke up, because without proper buffering, an "I'll think about it" could completely destroy her.

Actually, I returned Kamiko to her sister and met up with Kuwabara to tell him how everything had gone.

Kamiko

I woke up bright red. I couldn't believe I'd fainted! I didn't even know what Kurama's decision was!

And then for three years, we never really managed to cross paths long enough for him to tell me what he thought. Machiko left for Demon World and joined Hiei as soon as she realized that the barrier was down, though she stayed in contact with me mentally. She told me that Hiei was part of a patrol in Demon World to rescue any humans who strayed in. She also had a good laugh and told me that Hiei had confirmed for her that she was black with white stripes. I still didn't know if that was TMI or not.

Finally I got a summons from Genkai, and I got ready for a long trip – one that involved flight.

After flying for a while – with my landing and going human in a nearby town to buy some food to go – I finally flew above the stairs that led to Genkai's. I'd been camouflaging for the flight, but at this point I didn't see any reason to; nobody was here to see me besides the few people in the know.

I knew exactly when someone had spotted my shadow. It was Keiko.

Kurama

Keiko paused briefly in her stair climbing. "Hey…"

I looked back. "Is something up, Keiko?" Keiko, Kuwabara, Shizuru and I were all heading to Master Genkai's.

"Look," she pointed just ahead of me.

When I turned, I noticed a shadow passing back and forth across our path: a slender shadow with large bat-like wings.

I smiled. "Nothing to worry about, Keiko, it's just Kamiko."

"Was she invited, too?" Kuwabara asked.

"Most likely. I'm not sure she'll come down just yet." I looked up and waved at her, then looked quickly back down at her shadow.

The shadow revealed an arm and hand, waving back at us.

"Well," Shizuru sounded amused, "looks like someone got confident enough in flight to move her arms while flying. The few times I've seen Kamiko fly, she doesn't wave her arms around at all."

We arrived and opened the gates, looking about at Master Genkai's home. Kamiko flew over the wall and circled down for an elegant landing, taking on her halfway appearance and waiting for us to approach. I understood why she was in her standard form. All of us had seen her this way, so she had nothing to hide from any of us.

Yukina opened the door for us, and Kuwabara ran to greet her. None of us were above teasing Kuwabara a little for his not-overly-subtle visiting Yukina. Even Kamiko turned a soft pink, which I'm positive was meant to mock him. I brought the conversation back to Genkai, and she came out to see us.

Kamiko

Her opening was that we were late. I rolled my eyes.

Kurama told Master Genkai about how Yusuke hadn't come back yet. Then Botan came by, and Koenma, too! They sat down, and Genkai cut right to the chase.

She'd called us here to tell us all what she wanted us to do after she died!

Total silence reigned in the room.

Then everyone tried to make it sound like Genkai wasn't going to die, at least until she told them to shut up so she could continue.

After the funeral, she was leaving the entire estate to all of us! A mountain range to one side, a shore to the other! And we were to leave the nature just as it was. This was a nice safe place for apparitions, any demons who wanted to come here to human world.

We all went out together, and Yukina came with us.

"Amazing," Kurama said. "All this land, as far as the eye can see, belongs to her."

"Yeah," Kuwabara added. "Definitely something we won't be chopping down. We'll do a lot of good stuff here."

Shizuru looked at her watch. "We have time; we can go down to the shore!"

Kuwabara instantly agreed, and invited Yukina to come. And hey, she accepted!

We all headed down the stairs. Well, I was walking in the grass beside the path, because I did have difficulty maneuvering stairs with my demonic feet. Kuwabara, as I heard behind me, ended up going down memory lane about Genkai, and his time hanging out with Mister Spirit Detective when Yusuke was still Mister Spirit Detective.

We got to the beach, and I knew Kuwabara was going to make an idiot of himself the minute Yukina called the sunset romantic. Keiko, Yukina, Botan and Kuwabara all ditched their shoes, and we walked along the beach letting the water come up and hit our feet.

After a minute, Botan, Kuwabara and Yukina all ran off to do…whatever, leaving me and Keiko standing there by ourselves.

I looked at Keiko. She was staring out into the sunset, and somehow I just knew she was thinking about Yusuke.

Then Keiko started shouting at the sunset, yelling at Yusuke about how she was done waiting. And finally, Yusuke showed up!

Keiko's first steps towards him were hesitant, like she couldn't believe he was here. Then she ran for him happily.

I got a good, though quiet, laugh when Keiko outright knocked Yusuke over.

I heard a quiet remark from Kurama further up on the shore. "Well, that's reminiscent of what almost happened back during the tournament."

Then Keiko kissed Yusuke! And they completely didn't notice when a big wave came and soaked them!

Botan said something, but I hadn't caught it. Kuwabara and Yukina apparently were in shock, and Kurama and Shizuru both laughed. I never quite got to laughing, but…it was pretty funny that they got soaked.

After that kiss, they both ran further into the water and started splashing each other. One of Yusuke's random threats was that he could dump the whole ocean on her if he wanted.

I sighed. "He hasn't changed much."

Then Kuwabara, Botan and Yukina ran into the water to join them. I walked back up the beach to hang out with Kurama and Shizuru. Both were kind of smiling at the crazy party below.

Then Kurama switched his attention to me. "Did Kuwabara ever figure out the secret to your wardrobe?"

"No. I'm not going to bother telling him, it's not important. In fact, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he forgot that he'd asked."

He laughed softly. "Well, that's always a possibility." He was still looking out at the splashers. Then his arm slid around my waist.

I froze, though my tail swung about and twined loosely around his near leg. Did this mean what I thought it meant?

"I've thought a great deal about your note. And I came to a decision, based on something I realized a while ago. When I'd realized Yomi was going to use my family as blackmail, I knew there was nothing he wouldn't use to keep a hold on me. And the thought that he might try to use you…it frightened me. It frightened me more than anything else…even more than his hold over my parents."

I was quiet. I didn't know how I was supposed to respond to this.

Then he fussed with his hair and pulled his rose out of it. "Kamiko…I believe I loved you from the moment you proved yourself game to take flight and drag me to the top of the hospital when you'd never flown before. I just didn't realize it until there was a chance you'd be in danger." He looked at me, and then offered me the rose. "If you still want to give us a chance, after I waited so long to tell you my decision…"

I took the rose from him, looked at it for a second, and then set it into my hair, winding a few locks around the stem and letting the thorns hold them in place. Then I smiled up at him…wondering if he was going to kiss me. I could see in the reflection of his eyes that my cheeks had just turned a faint swirl of shy-pink and lavender, and I didn't bother trying to erase it.

Kurama's expression just screamed that he was the happiest man alive. He set his free hand gently against my cheek, and I allowed one thought to reach him before I closed my eyes: "If you're going to kiss me, do so now before Yusuke or Kuwabara ruin the moment."

Kurama laughed softly, pulled me a bit closer, and set his lips to mine.

It wasn't the same as what Machiko got from Hiei, or what dream-Youko gave me. It was gentle, respectful, and in my opinion, better.

Especially when it deepened.

A/N: The twins do appear in a fanfiction written by 4fireking, "Spirit Detective Trainwreck Adventure," which takes place ten years after the events of this one - give or take - but so far Kamiko barely shows up in it. The first that's mentioned for her is that she and Kurama are on their honeymoon, but there's nothing leading up to that. Sequel ideas can run along those lines, as I have no idea why Kurama took so long to propose.