Hello! I appreciate the favorites and follows and the constant support I receive via review. The Ink Peacock, Fairyprncss5678, and Coraz (who gave WOA its 100th review~ WOW). Thank you, thank you. This chapter marks the end of an era for our companions, and I hope it affects you. In fact, if you don't get a little moisture in your eye, I will be disappointed.

I will continue updating this story until it reaches completion, I will not abandon it and I hope you will follow until the end.

Part XXV: The Butterfly Counts

The butterfly counts not months but moments,
and has time enough.

Time is a wealth of change,
but the clock in its parody makes it mere change and no wealth.

Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time
like dew on the tip of a leaf.

- Rabindranath Tagore

She had fallen the night before. She had always been a bit clumsy after all. It wasn't a serious fall but it had taken a toll on her body. Her hip jutted out at a peculiar angle, rather pathetically matching the bowing of her knees. The fall was only partly to blame, the true fault lying with time itself. Her shoulders curved dramatically forward, hunching her, as if she had shrunk. Her skin was incredibly soft, but thin, blue veins lining her body like worn tattoos. Her beautiful, full hair had gone pure white, so thin in spots that her scalp was visible.

A pillow was propped behind her, supporting her into a sitting position. She smiled every so often, staring out the window of the small shack. "Is he coming?"

"Yes, he's on his way," Jushiro lied quickly, brushing his hand over Orihime's cheek.

"Who is dear?" Orihime asked suddenly, turning to face Jushiro in confusion. Jushiro cleared his throat, nodding his head sadly. He had to bite down on his lip before he could manage an answer.

"No one. Don't worry about it."

"Sweetheart…" Orihime began slowly, her head shaking softly with a tremor. "Have I ever told you about when I was girl? Oh, I had so many adventures!"

"Did you?" Jushiro asked softly, climbing into the bed next to the frail old woman. She lifted the covers, blanketing him with a smile.

"Would you like to hear about when I fell in love?" Orihime asked, her brown eyes twinkling with the last flicker of her life. She absently began to stroke her necklace, her finger tracing the broken tooth that embellished it.

"I would love to."

"When I was just a small girl," Orihime began. "I learned about real magic."

"Magic?" Jushiro asked skeptically, he already knew the part he was intended to play in this performance.

"Yes. Now shush! I don't want to hear you say you don't believe in magic." Orihime scolded, flashing an indulgent smile to let Jushiro know he wasn't in too much trouble. "My brother Sora, he was my very first love. He had this power, this divine gift. He could see otherworldly things. He wasn't scared of anything. He loved the world. And I believe that's why he died. He was needed elsewhere. He was too wonderful. Too amazing…"

"After his death I was at a loss. Humans aren't so suited to tragedy. I was hurt down to my bones. It wasn't just Sora I had lost, but the entire world! I knew that magic existed but I was unable to see it, to touch it, to taste it. I lost a lot when Sora died."

"And then…" Orihime smiled widely, her pale cheeks flushing with color. "I met Coyote Starrk." She paused, lost in her own little world, a warm smile on her face. "He was lazy and grumpy." Jushiro laughed softly. "He wasn't the hero type. He wasn't the kind of man to end up in Olympus." Jushiro nodded to show he was paying attention. "And I fell in love the instant I saw him…"

"Girlish love, of course…" Orihime amended with a nod of her head. "I loved him in such a pure way. I wanted him, all of him and I wanted him to accept me. But Coyote, he was never one to trust. Well to be fair, he would trust a stranger to protect his life but he would never let anyone hold his heart."

"He sounds like a sad man." Jushiro said, rather off script, his green eyes staring blankly out the window.

"Oh, he was." Orihime nodded. "It consumed him."

"Let's not talk about him." Jushiro suggested. "Tell me about your adventures."

"Oh, but we couldn't have any adventures without love." Orihime insisted. "I joined Coyote's little troupe. Shunsui Kyoraku was the leader, a broad back and intuitive mind, Jushiro Ukitake was the watchman. Like a coin, he had two different sides, he was free and easy going, loving… and on the other hand he was stern, like a sentinel, his swords could cut through anything or anyone who blocked his path."

"Did I ever tell you about the time we met the vampires?" Orihime asked, suddenly distracted. "They're very territorial, surprisingly, and I really thought I was a goner then!"

The door swung open and Shunsui came into the cabin, a heavy sack of vegetables on his back. "Mornin', loves!"

"Ah, you're home." Orihime opened her arms widely, gesturing Shunsui closer with her fingers. "Give me a hug." Shunsui embraced the old woman softly, smiling as her lips left a wet kiss mark. "Ooh! Your stubble's poking me!"

"Yabbe, yabbe…" Shunsui groaned, placing another kiss on her creased forehead. "You know I look sixteen when I shave…"

"Don't resent youth in front of an old lady, if you don't mind…" Orihime teased, pulling Shunsui's ear playfully. "Pull up a chair, you're just in time for this old woman's story."

"Oh?" Shunsui arched a dark brow, exchanging a glance with Jushiro.

"She's retelling her adventures." Jushiro explained with a patient smile.

"Wonderful!" Shunsui exclaimed, settling down at the foot of the bed, and leaning his back against the window. "Tell me again about the time you were captured by pirates."

"Another time, perhaps," Orihime suggested. "I have a story that I've been saving for a special occasion…"

"Is today special?" Shunsui asked.

"I'm 100 years old," Orihime said with a hearty laugh. "I may not have a tomorrow."

"You're 100 and a half," Shunsui said pointedly and Jushiro and Orihime laughed softly.

"I suppose that's right, one tends to lose count after so long…" Orihime said, her head shaking with a tremor. She coughed, the spit accumulating in the corner of her thin mouth. Jushiro reached up, brushing his thumb across her lip. She smiled warmly, a silent thank you, and Jushiro forced himself to return the kind gesture.

"I've fallen in love with many people over my lifetime," Orihime said, returning to her storytelling. "Many times, the same person all over again," Orihime swallowed uneasily. "But I never married… I never found the one… I suppose I was too busy for that kind of love. But don't pity me. I was a happy girl. I spent my youth running the world."

"And I did." Orihime licked her dry lips. "I was a Princess, beautiful and untamed. I had my two shining knights and my handsome dark horse. We made many friends, we made even more enemies… we were a foolish bunch… Times were different then, you see. We actually believed the world was opening her blouse for us. And for a while it did…"

"I wanna hear about the pirates again," Shunsui insisted, resting his head against the window, the sunlight casting a beautiful yellow halo around him.

"Or even the vampires." Jushiro suggested with a nod.

"Oh, boys, you act like you don't know them by heart." Orihime said with a laugh and, for a gorgeous moment, she knew exactly who they were sitting on her bed. "There are things I need to say. Things I can't tell a ghost. Things I need you to remember… to pass on for me…"

"I was in my twentieth summer," Orihime began once Shunsui and Jushiro had settled back into the bed comfortably. "We had journeyed to Spain, Shunsui and Coyote built a cabin, not unlike this one. We lived in the Pico de Almanzor Mountains. It was a beautiful place, but also one of the more isolated. Coyote called it a granite coffin, but he was like that… Always thinking of death…"

"For a time, he was brilliant, like a sun I could absorb his warmth. Coyote was the one thing we each had in common. And to us, at that time, life actually revolved around him. Shunsui was the leader, unquestionably, but Coyote Starrk was the heart. You never really appreciate your heart until it no longer beats…" Shunsui made a peculiar nose and Jushiro admonished him silently, shaking his head sternly. "Where Coyote wished to go, we followed. Shunsui made our decisions, but Coyote told us what we wanted."

"But, Pico de Almanzor, Spain, yes, I was speaking of our summer there." Orihime nodded as she continued speaking. "We had a cabin, next to a river, where the melted snow of the mountain provided us with cool, fresh water…"

Orihime waved her hand back and forth excitedly, her toes squishing further into the sandy bank of the icy river. She smiled, laughing happily as the three men stalked down the hill unsurely. "Isn't it a beautiful morning?!"

"The sun…" Shunsui murmured in distaste. "It's drying me up."

"Don't be such an old raisin!" Orihime called out, her hands resting on her hips exaggeratedly. "You wouldn't be thirsty all the time if you laid off the drink…"

"It's true." Jushiro agreed with a sigh, lazily tying the sash around his kimono. He smiled at Orihime, lifting his hand to block the sun from his eyes. "What are you up to?"

"What time is it?" Coyote asked, stifling a yawn with his gloved hand. "The fucking birds are still singing." He tugged at the heavy chain tethered to his pocket, examining the watch without comprehension. "What's before XIII?"

"XII." Jushiro answered, a mischievous smirk crossing his face.

"Seven." Shunsui replied after a long stretch of silence.

"It's 7:35." Coyote said, his dark blue eyes meeting Orihime's glance. "Why on Earth are you happy?"

"Don't be silly!" Orihime chastised halfheartedly. "It's today!"

"It is today, thank you." Coyote nodded his head slowly. "And I am off to bed." Orihime swiped a stone from the water, tossing it into the air before launching it at Coyote, it struck him in the back of the head and he spun around, a sour expression on his handsome face. "What?"

"It's our anniversary." Orihime said matter-of-factly, twisting back and forth and watching her skirt twirl. "Thirteen years."

"Ah." Coyote murmured, nodding slowly. "Is it now?"

"I can't believe how much our little girl has grown…" Jushiro crossed his arms over his chest and smiled, his eyes twinkling nostalgically.

"Yeah…" Shunsui looked Orihime up and down thoughtfully. "Not so little now…"

"You've become a beautiful young woman," Jushiro said.

"Let's see…" Shunsui clicked his tongue as he began to fondly recollect their adventures. "In only thirteen short years, you've learned Japanese, English and French, you can tie a knot better than a sailor and you've eaten dinner at a three thousand year old vampire's castle…"

"We saw the King's Men perform, that was fun…" Jushiro continued on. "We snuck into Japan, causing such a ruckus that we were banished…"

"It's not my fault… I will say it again… I had no idea that they were so afraid of mountain trolls. I thought it was a 'thing'. I thought they saved sickly children…" Coyote interrupted adamantly.

"I have told you a thousand times… mountain spirits! Not trolls!" Jushiro sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. "And it doesn't matter. We got to say goodbye, that's all we wanted…"

"We spent that summer in China, we caught crickets and ate Zeen Doy." Orihime chattered excitedly, her round cheeks spread into a grin. "And in that winter we travelled all the way to Morocco. The bastillas were so good… mmmm…" Orihime's words drifted off as she thought about the flaky crusted meat pies, warm and cinnamony.

"French cuisine is supreme." Coyote muttered, but the others ignored it. They all knew at this point that a Frenchman could never recognize another country's fare as superior. "That was a good year… but how about when we went to Florence. Many of the greatest artists of the world hailed from Florence, Botticelli, Da Vinci, Michelangelo…"

"I can hardly remember Florence. Orihime fell in the channel and caught that nasty cold. Lasted nearly a month…" Jushiro recalled with a frown. "I thought many times, while you were growing up, that you'd be the death of me."

"I know." Orihime smiled sheepishly. "That's why I want to make it up to you."

"Children can't make it up to their parents." Shunsui clucked with a wry smile. "And we won't ask you to."

"I figured you'd say that, but I don't intend to take your word for it." Orihime replied. "Do you remember what you told me? What you said when I turned 18?"

"We asked if you wanted to stay…" Jushiro said, panic creeping into his voice. "Why?"

"Has something changed?" Shunsui questioned, his body tensing with worry.

"No, nothing like that…" Orihime answered quickly. "I just wanted to tell you, to make a promise…" Orihime stepped out of the river, reaching for Jushiro and Shunsui's hands. She gripped their hands in one hand, pulling Coyote closer with the other. "I promise I will take care of you."

"Huh?" Shunsui asked in confusion. Jushiro elbowed Coyote as he burst into laughter.

"Don't laugh, I'm serious…" Orihime admonished sadly. "I promise, until the day I die, I will protect the three of you."

"We…" Shunsui began unsurely.

"Thank you, Orihime, that's sweet." Jushiro whispered, brushing his lips against her warm forehead.

"You don't believe me." Orihime realized with a frown. "You don't think I'm useful."

"That's not true." Jushiro said firmly. "No one thinks that."

"Think what you will. But I'll live one hundred years if I have to. I'll be old and wrinkly and ugly and you'll still need me!" Orihime snapped.

"Actually, I'm glad we're having this discussion." Coyote spoke softly. "I've been trying to find a way to bring it up."

"What?" Orihime demanded, rather childishly.

"I have a solution." Coyote grinned from ear to ear, a rather rare sight. "You don't have to grow old. You don't have to shrink and wrinkle and gray…" Coyote reached into his pocket, pulling out a broken tooth. Actually, it was his broken tooth that had once been lodged in Shunsui's hind leg after a little friendly sparring. "This is all it takes."

"Oh." Orihime's face fell and suddenly it was like the sun had fallen out of the sky, hidden on the other side of the mountains. "Coyote…"

"What?" Coyote asked, unsure about the sudden change in her demeanor.

"That's not an option for me." Orihime replied quickly. "Thank you,but I can't do it."

"No, don't worry." Coyote laughed at the misunderstanding. "You don't have to have a contract… Jushiro doesn't, after all…"

"No, Coyote. I still can't use it." Orihime cut Coyote off uneasily.

"Why?" Coyote asked, his dark brows furrowing in confusion. "You don't understand. You're going to get old. You could get sick. You could get really hurt. You should've done this ages ago, in all honesty…"

"Coyote, let's not worry about this now." Jushiro interjected with a forced smile. Being the most intuitive of the group, he could feel the trouble brewing.

"Now is the time to talk about it. You're lovely, young, physically fit. Wouldn't you like to be a maiden forever?" Coyote questioned onward.

"Do you like being a child forever? Stuck as a teenage boy?" Orihime asked, her brown eyes wide with desperation. "You are frozen."

"It's not so bad," Coyote admitted. "I have two other people who understand."

"And you'll always be the third wheel because of it." Orihime spoke softly, but her volume had little effect on the effect on Coyote. He stepped backward, as if he had been struck, his blue eyes narrowing sharply.

"Orihime." Jushiro growled in warning as he narrowed his green eyes irritably.

"You know, I think my favorite place was two winters back. Greece had the most beautiful sea…" Shunsui said, rather more loudly than necessary. He smiled warmly, struggling to steer the conversation back in the right direction. "The sky was the bluest blue and the sea bright turquoise. Remember on the beach, all those white rocks and white houses, as far as the eyes could see? The food was beyond good. The wine was even better…"

"Yeah, Greece was nice." Coyote spoke at last, and Jushiro actually sighed in relief.

"I wouldn't mind going back." Shunsui continued with a lazy smile. "Maybe in my golden years I can settle down and become a sea hermit."

"Ah-ha! Then that is that! That's how I'll make it up to you…" Orihime cried out happily. "I promise, we will all go back to Greece!"

"Eh…" Shunsui shook his head with a dry laugh.

"Yeah, honey, that's not really much of a gift, considering you go where we tell you to go…" Jushiro said with a serious look, his dark brows furrowed.

"Oh, take it easy on her," Coyote said with a laugh, hooking his arm around her neck playfully. He mouthed the next words, "She's not so bright."

"Coyote's right." Shunsui said after some thought. "It's a nice promise."

"Ah," Orihime snapped to attention as Shunsui's hand brushed against her shoulder gently. "Was I asleep long?"

"No, not at all." Jushiro answered, handing her a steaming cup of green tea.

"Falling asleep during my own story, how embarrassing…" Orihime took the tea in one hand, covering her face with the other. "You boys must be bored to tears…"

"Of course not." Shunsui assured her. "We both love your stories."

"I was wondering, though," Jushiro asked between sips. "What does your story have to do with love? It seems rather sad, actually."

"You are so impatient." Orihime chastised, knocking her finger against the tip of her nose. "Love isn't neat. It isn't pretty, either. And most importantly, it isn't always happy…" Orihime took a sip of tea and sighed in satisfaction. "Now, that wasn't the last time Coyote suggested that I place the wolf strap tooth into my body. He mentioned it many times over the summer, and to be honest, I was running out of polite refusals…"

"Coyote?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think there's a Heaven?"

"Hmm…"

"Well, do you?"

"No."

"No? Really? You seem romantic to me, that answer surprises me."

"Do you believe in Heaven, Orihime?"

"No."

"Now, you seem like the foolish type of girl who would."

"I think that we are just reborn again and again. This time I am a roaming maiden, bolstering my salty crew and next time, who knows… perhaps I'll be a butterfly, one of the pretty ones with black and orange."

"I'd like to think that's not true." Coyote said with a heavy sigh. "All the dumb mistakes I make aren't so bad when I've only had so long to learn."

"Maybe this is your first life." Orihime reasoned.

"This conversation is way too existential for me." Coyote admitted with a soft laugh. "Orihime the Philosopher."

"I think mortality has a sweet taste when you're young." Orihime explained, sitting up in the grass and looking down at Coyote.

"It doesn't have to taste bitter." Coyote suggested, patting his pocket in gesture. "Life can be sweet forever."

"Too much sweetness will rot the teeth." Orihime joked.

"Shut up." Coyote barked, suddenly his body growing rigid with aggression. "Just stop talking. How much of an idiot are you? You want to die? You really want to? You may not be old. You may die tomorrow. You may die horribly. Is that okay?"

"It's okay." Orihime insisted, gently placing her hands on Coyote's arm. "I am okay with that. I think it's you that's not…"

"Why would I be okay with it? Why would I want to watch you die? I am helpless! I am powerless all over again! You came in and made me love you and now you… you… kill yourself. Selfish bitch! If you were going to leave, you should have never stayed."

"Coyote, I have so many years left. You don't need to worry about it…"

"Shut up!" Coyote shouted. "My sister, my flesh and blood sister, she died at thirteen years old. She didn't want to die! She didn't have a choice! You have a choice and you are throwing it away! You are ungrateful!"

"I'm sorry about Lilinette." Orihime replied, in shock at how angry Coyote was getting. "But this is not a choice. I cannot do it."

"Why?" Coyote demanded. "Something your gifted fucking brother said no doubt."

"This isn't about Sora." Orihime insisted. "I won't do it. I can't do it."

"What's going on?" Jushiro asked as he walked toward them, his face swollen from having been waked from his nap.

"I'm waiting for a valid reason." Coyote said.

"Because I don't want to be cursed! I don't want to be cursed like all of you!" Orihime screamed, dropping to her knees and wailing in misery. "I can't take it… the Devil's body inside me… I can't have it… I don't want it…" Orihime covered her face wretchedly. "I can feel him watching me… I can feel his fingers crawling over my skin… He comes to me in my sleep… I don't want it…"

Coyote looked up at Jushiro, his eyes softening for just a moment. Jushiro swallowed painfully and nodded, his heart breaking into two as he realized what must be done. Coyote cleared his throat before narrowing his eyes. He spat onto the ground, digging the broken tooth from his pocket. "I can't stay here and watch this silly little girl kill herself… if you two," Coyote paused as he looked over at Shunsui, the sweat rolling down the larger man's back. "If you two are too cowardly to leave her to her own demise, so be it… I'm leaving…"

"What? Wait! No! No you can't!" Orihime began to cry harder, wringing her hands in her lap. "That's not what I want… it's not what anyone wants…"

"Listen up, little girl," Coyote whispered gently, brushing his thumb along Orihime's chin. "In this life, nobody gives a damn what you want." He took her hand into his, placing a kiss on her wet hand. "Goodbye, Orihime Inoue."

"Coyote…" Shunsui began, reaching out his hand to grab ahold of Coyote's shirt, or arm, or anything he could reach… but Jushiro shook his head and Shunsui lowered his hand.

"No…" Orihime cried, staring down at jagged tooth in her palm. "I'm sorry…"

"Come inside." Jushiro spoke softly, his voice nearly faltering. "Come on, come inside…"

"Is he really leaving? He isn't is he?" Orihime asked, a flicker of hope burning in her chest.

"I never saw him again." Orihime said quietly, her finger absently stroking the tooth on her necklace.

"I don't think you quite understand romance…" Shunsui sighed.

"Says who?" Orihime cackled. "I'm not done yet!"

"I think the story might be beyond saving." Shunsui whispered, receiving an elbow in the ribs from Jushiro.

"Now listen, Shunsui Kyoraku, I never saw Coyote Starrk again, but you know what? I never saw the Devil again either. The day Coyote left he took that cursed urn with him and Sosuke Aizen never darkened our door step again…" As Orihime spoke, Shunsui's body stiffened and Jushiro nearly dropped his mug of tea in surprise. "Coyote Starrk didn't leave to scorn me. He did it because he loved me… and I have a feeling you know it…"

The room was silent for a long time before Orihime spoke. "I made you a promise and I think I can finally make right…" Orihime rest her head against the pillow and smiled, tears running from the corner of her eyes. "After ninety three years together, we have fought pirates, we have escaped a vampire den, we even made friends with a panther, a chameleon and a snake monkey, we were thrown out of Japan, worshipped in India, and Coyote Starrk sacrificed himself, getting a second chance at saving the little sister he never could. Your contracts are now at an end… Coyote will be free… and everyone… everyone can be together again… in Greece…"

"You've always been a good storyteller," Jushiro said softly, once he had managed to find his voice.

"I just wish he was here to listen." Orihime sighed.

"He's on his way." Shunsui whispered, brushing a strand of white hair from her face.

"You're a terrible liar." Orihime laughed. "At least, as far as I'm concerned…"

"I can't lie to the people I love, not well at least." Shunsui said, his voice catching at the end.

"I am sorry," Orihime rasped. "I am sorry that I can't see you to the end… I'm sorry I wasn't able to remove your wolf straps… but you'll manage…"

"He's coming…" Shunsui gasped, his breath catching painfully in his throat. "He's coming as fast as he can…"

"Who is dear?" Orihime asked, a pleasnt but vacant smile on her face.

"Nobody." Jushiro answered when it was obvious that Shunsui could not speak. "Get some sleep, Orihime."

And for two quiet, lazy days Orihime Inoue slept. And on the third day, long after her heart had stopped beating, she slept on.

Do not stand at my grave and weep

I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

Do Not Stand By My Grave And Weep, Mary Elizabeth Frye