"Shion." The boy opened his eyes to see Nezumi. The rat looked exasperated. "You fainted," he explained before Shion could ask. Shion blinked. "You know," he said quietly, "my time is almost up."

Nezumi wasn't looking at him, so Shion continued, "I will... leave this body. It's breaking down... wasn't meant to handle a foreign presence like me. So I just wanted to say... Good-bye, Nezumi..."

He looked up to see... Nothing. Nothing? No, it was black... Not black, just nothing. "Nezumi?" He couldn't hear, either. Or feel. Or...

Shion had the feeling this was how it should have been. This was how his death should have been. No drawn-out agony of a life that shouldn't have existed. He had the sensation that he was whole again.

Briefly he wondered whether he had actually finished saying good-bye to Nezumi. No emotions accompanied the thought.

This observation sparked the last emotion he would ever feel - relief.

Ah ~ I hadn't really wanted to kill Shion but the story wasn't quite right. I felt like he deserved a break, you know? Anyways, I had lots of fun putting them through tragedies, but I tend to be repetitive with the kind of pain I use. *shrugs* This was a pretty cheesy ending, and I know it's not realistic, but really - ghosts aren't exactly the epitome of reality. I plan to start another storyline with Nezumi and Shion, with basically the same idea, but I'll try to... How to put this... Be a bit more diverse in their everyday life. They'll be totally OOC though, I haven't read No. 6 in a while by now.