The events after I had been found were a bit blurry. Naru and Masako quickly rushed to my aid, Naru picking me up and bringing me outside. I was sure that the bone dust had gotten to me just a little at that point, the fresh air was immediately helpful.

I heard lots of sirens. It didn't take very long for Fujino to be arrested, and I found myself in an ambulance, again. Naru and Ayako decided to ride in the ambulance with me, while the others stayed behind. I was given anaesthesia as soon as they could give it to me.

When I woke up, I was in the hospital, another familiar sight. I bet the nurses and doctors knew me pretty well by now. I was in a different room, although it was almost identical to the last time I was here, the room was basically flipped. It was quiet, the only other person was Naru, who was sleeping on a spare bed. I guess the whole ordeal was pretty draining on him too, it was probably for everyone.

I felt a tight bandage on my head and another around my chest. I didn't have a cast or anything so I guessed my ribs weren't broken, at the most fractured. At least that was a positive. My arm was bruised pretty badly from what I could see with my little movement.

Honestly, I had been through worse. At least I was alive, although I couldn't imagine how much I was going to get chewed out. It would be a very long time before I was trusted to go out on cases again, and even longer to get Naru to approve ones I bring up myself. I smile a bit to myself, closing my eyes again. The image of Kaneda was still fresh in my mind, but it was gradually replaced with my mom.

The next day was loud. Everyone had covered the entire room in things like balloons, flowers, trinkets, and wrapped gifts. When I woke up everyone was chatting away, and even Naru was engaging, though he did look rather annoyed. I heard Masako too, which was pretty surprising at first. I giggled at the sight, grabbing the attention of the others. Ayako was the first up, managing to beat even Naru.

"How are you feeling?" Ayako grinned, she seemed to be in a rather good mood, although she usually was.

I couldn't help but return the smile, "Sore but pretty good." I paused for a second and glanced around the room, "But, isn't this a lot, even for you guys?"

Ayako let out a huff, crossing her arms, "You know, most of the time people don't forget their own birthdays."

I felt my eyes widen a bit, I had completely forgotten! Yesterday was my birthday, everything that had happened had distracted me just a bit, I guess. "Right… How did you remember?"

Monk let out a bit of a snort from where he was sitting, "The teacher you used to stay with called to say Happy Birthday this morning while you were sleeping."

I smiled a bit sheepishly, "Oh… Well thank you, seriously."

Ayako grinned, making her signature pose and laugh, "Your more than welcome, once you get out of here you'll get the best birthday party ever!"

Ayako wasn't joking. Naru helped me adjust my bed so I could sit up. Masako and Yasu teamed up to bake an amazingly delicious cake, while Ayako, Monk, and Lin teamed up to make a huge meal. It was so good, I didn't realize I had been crying until everyone around me started panicking telling me it was ok and asking if I was alright. Most of my gifts were jewellery, make up, and tons stuffed animals like cats, dogs, and teddy bears.

They really went all-out. Naru gave me back the necklace he had used to find me, and I started crying, again. It was painful but I hugged and kissed him anyway, he wanted to protest but my charm killed those protests pretty fast.

He said he would have something else for me when I got out of the hospital. The others let out loud gasps and wouldn't leave him alone about what it could be, Lin remained quiet with a small smirk, I was pretty sure he knew what it was. I could only guess what it was, but knowing Naru it was pretty doubtful it was what I was hoping for.

Later that day I was told that I had a fracture in my skull, along with a couple fractured ribs. They were very nearly completely broken, luckily they weren't.

The next week in the hospital was the usual. Naru would sit in a chair beside me as the others would pop in as much as they could with their loud antics, I think they really annoyed some of the nurses. Naru didn't leave my side very much.

On the night before I was released, I found myself waking up to complete blackness. After a moment, blue fox fires started lighting up a small path that ended with some stairs.

A dream.

I made my way over to the stairs and sat down, waiting. I felt a presence sit down beside me and I smiled softly, glancing over to Gene, who smiled warmly back at me, "Are you doing alright?"

I nodded, turning my attention back to the star-like fox fires, "Yeah, I'm alright, better than alright, really."

He chuckled, "I see, I'm glad."

I remained quiet for a moment before lowering my eyes slightly, "Hey, why didn't you come to help during that last case?"

Gene paused for a second, "It wasn't my place. I'm very sorry you had to go through that, you aren't used to being without me, but I thought I would leave it to the children. They needed your attention more."

I nodded slowly, "Do you know if they're alright now?"

He shrugged a bit, "I'm not sure, but you could find out if you went back for one last good bye."

I grinned and nodded again, "Yeah, I'll somehow have to convince Naru that I have to go back. I need to know."

Gene tilted his head to the side a bit, "I do know the others have been trying to purify the area. There was a powerful curse there, a curse that was there long before the building had even been a thought. It will take a long time before the land recovers. If Kaneda and her children are given peace, I'm sure it will help."

"Are they… worried about me?" I let out a small sigh, "I mean, they didn't seem bad, they just wanted to help."

Gene shrugged again, "I'm not quite sure, you'll have to find out."

I chuckled a bit, "I guess there's things even the great Gene doesn't know. Say… Do you know what Naru has been thinking about? He's been pretty quiet, even for Naru."

A twinkle in Gene's eye shone, "Maybe, maybe not. I would focus on one thing at a time for now."

I rolled my eyes, "Very helpful. But, uh, thank you. You helped find me in the end, right? Really, thank you."

He smiled softly and gave me a light hug as the fox fires faded away.

The next morning, as soon as Naru and I had exited the hospital main doors, I turned to him, "I need to go back to the ryokan."

Naru narrowed his eyes, and opened his mouth to protest, but I was standing firm. He let out a small grumble and nodded, "Fine, but only for a minute."

I grinned, it was enough. We called John and he drove us there. I could immediately sense a better atmosphere when I got out of the car. Everything just felt… lighter. Like my chest was being crushed before and I didn't realize it until now. I ignored Naru's protests and made my way past the police tape, towards the main door.

I opened it and then just stared at the family painting. I really hadn't seen it before, but the woman, Kaneda, looked so much like my mother, and to anyone who hadn't met my mother, they would think she looked a whole lot like me.

A child's laugh drew my attention to a hallway a few feet away. I slowly walked over, and grinned at the sight of the ghostly forms of Tamaki and Kuroki. They squeaked out a couple "thank you's" and faded away as they waved, I waved back. Behind them, a faint Kaneda stood, slowly waving as well as she smiled softly.

No words needed to be spoken, we understood each other. I bowed slightly to her and she bowed back. I felt a cold hand on my hand before she was gone. Before I had thought she had been gone for good, and I wouldn't ever see her again, but she had to wait for her children. Any remnants were now definitely gone, and I could no longer sense anything. Satisfied that they had finally peacefully passed on, I made my way back out of the building, glancing at the painting one more time before closing the doors behind me.

Later that day we were sitting in the SPR office, Naru being very concentrative on something. I silently delivered him his tea and then read my books. Every time I passed Lin's desk as I got tea and snacks, he seemed to have a slight, almost mischievous smile. Very odd for Lin, who was even more stoic than Naru.

It was too quiet so I decided to use earphones to listen to some podcasts as I read. Shortly after I put on my earphones, Naru got up and went towards Lin's area. I cocked an eyebrow as I watched him but shook my head, probably just business as usual.

A few minutes later Naru came back and stopped in front of me, holding a stack of what looked like magazines. He motioned towards my earphones so I took them off, he didn't hesitate to talk, "Look through these, pick one the one you like the most, but it has to be big enough for the both of us."

I felt my jaw hang open as I watched him slip back behind his desk. He worked for another minute before giving me a look like 'Seriously? Close your mouth and get to work.' I did. I slammed my jaw shut and turned to start going through the papers, which were indeed apartments up for sale and a couple furniture catalogues.

I giggled to myself and rolled my eyes slightly, which earned me a glare from Naru.

I could never get tired of his surprises.

The end! Hope you at least somewhat enjoyed, despite the actual writing being so horrible. I am not a writer and even further from an author, but I figured I might as well finish what I started.

Next on the list is editing the Spirited Away ending.

I have a couple ideas that I started for a third entry in this series, but absolutely no promises. If I ever do it, I won't be uploading it until I have it all done, so it'll be a good while. Anyway, thank you for reading again, good bye for now.