Okay, guys! Here it is. I've finally released the final chapter! I hope you all enjoy!

finale.

I dropped Rukia like she burned. I reached out for him, landing only fingertips on his shoulder before he slapped my hand away. I took his wrist and he slapped me across the face. Alright. I deserved that one.

Wordlessly, he turned away from me. I saw hands move in his hair, obscured by the low light. My heart clenched with excruciating pain as I felt the kenseikan placed delicately in my hands.

Fuck. Good job, Renji.

I was unable to respond, running my fingers over the edges of the hairpiece. I looked up as I saw him begin to move away. I tucked the expensive decorations into my kimono to protect them.

I couldn't let him go. Not with such a heavy misunderstanding in his head.

My feet moved of their own volition, following after the figure retreating into the growing darkness.

"Byakuya!" I called, reaching out for him. Damn those okobo! There was no way I would be able to catch up with him with bricks tied to my feet. I looked at the ground. The cobblestones weren't terribly filthy. I kicked my shoes off and gathered the bottom portion of my kimono to keep it from becoming dirty. Aha. Knees freed, I ran after him, and caught up easily.

He regarded me with disgust. "What the hell are you doing?" he demanded, pushing me behind a sakura tree so that the partygoers wouldn't see me with my hem drawn up to my knees and my shoes long forgotten. He might have forgotten my roots, that I could run.

"You ran off," I said, breath ragged. I hadn't done that in a while.

He didn't answer. He turned toward the lake, trying his best to ignore me. I knew what he was thinking- that if he didn't look at me, didn't give me any attention, that I'd give up and leave.

Tough shit. Not this time, buddy. I knew how to get a reaction out of him.

"Come on, baby," I said gently, running the tips of my fingers up his spine. He shuddered.

"I'm sure that you've found that your sweet-talk is more effective on others," he accused, eyes cold as he looked at me. I shrunk a little- those eyes would turn a politician to stone.

"I didn't-" I blurted, taking his hand. "That.. it was a family kiss. Rukia's my sister."

"Family?" he scoffed. I pulled him so that he was looking at me.

"Don't be gross," I scolded, rubbing my hand up his arm. I looked him over.

Oh.

"...You're jealous," I realized. He didn't react. I held his chin, forcing him to look at me. "You're totally jealous."

"Jealousy has nothing to do with it." He was going to keep on, I knew it. I sighed, dropping my hand.

"Then what is it?"

"Rukia is my sister."

Wow, he hadn't missed a beat. I hadn't been expecting that. Call me vain, but I figured that he'd give me some heartfelt declaration of love. I expected him to be upset that I kissed Rukia because he loved me, not because he loved her.

But not in that way.

I stepped back. That explained everything and nothing at the same time. We stood together in silence for a few moments while I processed. At least he hadn't run off in that time. Taking in a deep breath, my eyes met his.

"Well? Is that it?" I asked, flopping my arms against my sides. "Is this gonna be another cryptic revelation that I won't understand for another, what, five years? You're damn good at that."

He smirked. Of course he did.

"I will not defer if you ask me to explain myself." Were my ears deceiving me? Was the beautiful Senbonzakura actually going to tell me straight? Without stringing me along? I would keep that in my memory forever.

I watched as he turned and walked away.

Hey. Hey! No, not fair!

"Where are you going?" I asked, unable to keep the shock from my voice. He looked back at me with that damn smirk of his.

"Not here. Not now. Your job isn't complete. It would be unprofessional of us to engage in private conversation while you are entertaining a party."

I groaned. He was going to make me suffer through the rest of the party, knowing that heavy conversation would occur soon after. No. No, fuck that. He didn't get to play me. Not that time. Not after all we'd been through. I placed my hand on his waist and approached him from behind. I placed my head on his shoulder.

"Some things are more important than money," I told him plainly. "We should go. The sun is setting, and Kyoraku has more than enough entertainment," I stated, rolling my eyes.

The party would last well into the night, knowing our client. So instead, I led him to where the sakura trees shielded the lake. Feet bare, I sat by the lake and submerged them, the cool water bringing immediate relief to my tired ankles. He sat beside me, close enough for our shoulders to touch. I laid my hand over his. He needed the support.

"I was born the only son of Sojun Kuchiki. We were a wealthy family. My parents were killed in an accident, and the family money was lost to an uncle. The family split in two. Hisana took Rukia and ran to Rukongai, and I was sold to Yoruichi Shihouin as an attempt to keep me from claiming my place as head of the clan when I matured," he explained. "Hisana kept in contact. She wrote letters, kept me informed on Rukia's growth. Likewise, I told her everything about my new life. Then, one day.." He turned toward me, fingers twitching under my hand.

"She told me about this insolent, disrespectful, fiery little boy that had tried to steal from her, and how she had fallen in love with him." He smiled, and I couldn't help but smile back. "When she fell ill, I knew that my duty was not only to care for Rukia, but you, as well."

It was all beginning to make sense. She hadn't been selling us to get rid of the responsibility, or to gain money for treatment. She was sending us to the best life she knew of. She had heard of her brother's success, and wanted a similar fate for us. If she hadn't sent us to Byakuya.. we would have ended up starving to death, sick, or in prison. Both Rukia and I had her to thank for our lives.

"I knew that Urahara would care for you. That was why I did not intervene sooner," he said, shifting toward me. "I asked Yumichika to check on your progress in your classes. When he told me that you'd been out of enrollment for years, I began my investigation. You know how the rest of the story unfolds."

I gave him a raised eyebrow. "Most of it. Why did you keep me away from Rukia?" I was done with his deflection techniques. If he was going to be straight with me, even for ten minutes, I was going to take advantage of it.

"It's simple. If I had given you what you wanted, you would have lacked motivation."

I rubbed my eye. I understood. And I understood why he'd kept it from me as long as he had. Despite evidence to the contrary, he was still young, and had endured massive tragedy. Behind every Geisha laid a human, vulnerable and naked under the kimono on his or her body. Byakuya was making do with what he had, protecting his emotions behind a wall of silk and makeup. Only I had seen him in the cover of night, silk pooled at his feet, skin bare and bathed in moonlight. He was granting me the same honor with his heart, parting the curtain of sakura branches covering his past.

I stood, and urged him to follow suit. For once, the youth and pain on his face were exposed and raw. He was as unstable as the rainstorm in his eyes, and I realized that I'd reined Byakuya in just as much as Byakuya had done for me. Rain controlled forest fires, and allowed new growth.

Without hesitation, I brushed the hair out of his face, and kissed him gently. He kissed back eagerly, and I knew that the struggle. He was every bit mine, as I was his.

epilogue.

Our story has a happy ending, thank fuck. I moved into his apartment with him, and not a night passed where I didn't sleep by his side. We felt no need to go through any ceremony. He never became my danna, nor did I become his husband. We were part of one another, and if the world wanted proof, they could go fuck themselves.

I'd like to say that every story has a happy ending, but that's not true. We got lucky.

Momo had her baby. She named him Shinta, and Urahara had decided that he wanted to raise him to take over the Okiya when he retired.

Rumors spread about Kyouka Suigetsu's involvement, and his reputation never recovered. He disappeared one night, and nobody had heard from him since. Byakuya told me that he'd heard that he'd joined the army, or worked in the red-light district as a prostitute. No rumors were ever confirmed, nor did I truly care.

I hadn't expected Shinsou to join him.

Izuru was devastated, as was to be expected. I hate to say it, but I knew that, one way or another, Shinsou was going to break him. Izuru had become addicted to that snide smile and those bony hands. For months, he wandered about like an opium addict without his fix, empty and purposeless. He and Momo commiserated, and threw themselves into their work.

I'd first heard the coughing one night while drinking with Yumichika. I'd frozen in my seat. It sounded like a pack of wolves barking in the next room.

"Ukitake-Taichou's been ill," Yumichika explained, concern in his slur. My gaze turned to Rukia, and I knew that she was thinking exactly what I had been.

Ukitake-Taichou's battle had been short-lived, and I thank every deity I can name for that. Yoruichi declared that he wasn't to be left alone at all, and we took shifts sitting with him, giving him sips of water, braiding his hair, or telling him stories. When we could tell that the end was closing in, we summoned Kyoraku, who dropped everything to tend to him.

Then, one night, in the arms of the man he loved, Juushiro Ukitake passed into the next life. That night, the lights in Seireitei dimmed, and the music yielded to the pained cries of Shunsui Kyoraku.

His death had affected me more than I had expected. I sobbed into Byakuya's yukata, and he stroked my hair while tears streamed silently down his face. I could see Yumichika bite his knuckle to fight back tears, and Hitsugaya-Taichou rubbed his eyes vigorously and blinked his tears away into the light.

Kyoraku never recovered. I watched him waste for months, until his heart collapsed under the tremendous grief. His wife found him in their bed, with a handful of konpeito.

We had experienced more tragedy than is fit for any one lifetime, but we figured that fate was trying to remind Byakuya and I just how lucky we were to have one another.

The country fell into a short-lived war one spring, and we watched as many of our patrons and fellow Geisha signed up for the war effort. Shinji Hirako. Kenpachi Zaraki. Ikkaku Madarame. Kaien Shiba. Kazeshini. Hell, I'd even tried, much to Byakuya's disapproval. However, a previously undiscovered, minor heart defect kept me in my kimono, and out of a military uniform.

I don't know what urged me to turn on the radio that evening. We were winning the war. The country was optimistic. That didn't mean, however, that our soldiers didn't die. The music I'd been listening to while reading some stupid book had been interrupted by the government's daily update of deceased soldiers. I hadn't been paying attention, really. I was too busy with the book in my hands, as well as the insanely attractive man taking a catnap on my chest.

I damn near dropped my book on his head.

"Goken Chie. Kaien Shiba. Tetsuya Saito."

Without wasting a moment of time, we dressed, and ran to the Okiya. We found Rukia, clueless as ever, playing a card game with Hitsugaya-Taichou.

We had to tell her, but neither of us had it in us. She'd lost her parents, her sister, her Taichou… we couldn't tell her that her danna had been lost, too.

Thank god for Yoruichi Shihouin, who lifted that burden from our shoulders.

I caught her as she collapsed to her knees, unable to process the information immediately. It broke my heart, gathering her into my arms while her brother shooed curious on-lookers.

We learned that, though the universe was cruel, unbalanced, and spiteful, that good could always be taken away from a situation.

Ukitake-Taichou and Kyoraku finally got the chance to be together, even in the afterlife. Their hearts were full of fond memories, and they had each been surrounded by the love and presence of the other in their final moments. Though I'm not spiritual, or even particularly romantic, I know that when Kyoraku's heart gave in, Ukitake-Taichou was there to take his hand and lead him to their own paradise.

Following the departure of Kyouka Suigetsu, Hyorinmaru officially adopted Tobiume for himself. I'd never seen Momo so happy, nor had I seen her master her talents so effortlessly. He was the Taichou she had always deserved. She would grow under him, where Aizen-Taichou absorbed all of the sunlight for himself.

At first, I thought that the strange, blonde-haired Geisha entering and exiting Urahara's Okiya at strange times had been a trick of the eye. Surely it was just Izuru, right? Then I noticed the change in how Izuru presented himself. He seemed excited to go to work again. He smiled. I decided to investigate, despite Byakuya telling me that it wasn't polite to snoop.

"Izuru?" I called, stepping into the Okiya. I'd seen the blonde mystery man enter almost an hour prior. "Izuru!"

I made my way up to what used to be Shinsou's room. I opened the door quickly and stepped in, having seen a flash of blonde hair. I paused, however, as I spotted two flashes of blonde hair.

I recognized the Geisha in Izuru's bed to be Kinshara. He was a kind-hearted man, in love with music, poetry, and judging by their current position, dick. Izuru screamed, throwing the blankets over Kinshara's head.

"Hey, 'Zuru," I greeted awkwardly. "Uhh.. do you have any more charcoal? We, uh, ran out." I was lying through my ass.

"Hi, Renji," he squeaked.

"Good afternoon, Zabimaru," came the voice from under the blankets. Kinshara wiped his mouth as he emerged. "I'll get it." Sweetly, he covered Izuru's modesty before standing, buck-ass naked, and rooting through Izuru's makeup kit. I made eye contact with Izuru, who just shrugged innocently. I bowed lightly as Izuru's new partner handed me the makeup, and I made a mental note to never use that charcoal, ever.

"Thanks, man," I said lamely.

"Any time, brother," Kinshara said with a smile.

"Renji, can you..?" Izuru asked, pointing at the door.

"Don't gotta tell me twice," I said, turning and exiting swiftly.

How I managed to make it through the Okiya, I'll never know. I hadn't laughed so hard in months, and it took effort to keep me from doubling over.

I wish I could say that Rukia's story has a silver lining. The wound hasn't healed. She takes each day for what it is, and I know that time will tell.

Though Rukia's soldier never made it back, I watched as, overwhelmed with relief, Yumichika tackled his danna to the ground. Ikkaku had been promoted to the rank of Colonel, and had come back with only one or two new scars, if he counted the claw marks left on his back by Yumichika that night.

And me? I get to wake up next to the most desirable Geisha in the Hanamachi, and feel that, finally, I've found where I belong.