Suppose that the set $\{1,2,\cdots, 1998\}$ has been partitioned into disjoint pairs $\{a_i,b_i\}$ ($1\leq i\leq 999$) so that for all $i$, $|a_i-b_i|$ equals $1$ or $6$. Prove that the sum \[ |a_1-b_1|+|a_2-b_2|+\cdots +|a_{999}-b_{999}| \] ends in the digit $9$.