Chapter 38: Epilogue:The Finale

Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

A/N: For those of you who think it's odd that it's not 'Spirit Queen' I'll just tell you outright. 'King' is just a title in this story. I decided to take a leaf out of Patricia C. Wrede's book, 'Dealing with Dragons.' ;]

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Epilogue

The Finale

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The shinigami had taken an unconscious Toushirou back to Soul Society. Rukia had assured Karin that she would keep her updated.

Renji had said goodbye to Tatsuki, who had said in return, "Good riddance." But they had shaken hands and Tatsuki had grinned at him nonetheless.

Rukia had briefly embraced Ichigo before going entering into the gate.

As the Senkaimon closed behind the shinigami, Karin felt her heart break. She would probably never see Toushirou again. If he had lost his shinigami powers, he would never be allowed to come to the human world again.

Belatedly, Karin realized that she had missed the soccer match. She found that she didn't mind too much. There were things much more important things than soccer. Like saving the Spirit, and therefore the Human, World.

Karin had initially thought that she would have a lot of explaining to do, but nobody asked her anything. It almost unnerved her, but she was grateful for it, as she had time to mourn, uninterrupted by any questions, demands, or explanations.

They had brought Kyo's body back.

There was no paperwork to file, as he had technically never existed. But Isshin began the funeral preparations anyway.

"We'll bury him in the family grave." He assured Karin.

Though the family grave consisted only of her mother, Karin nodded.

The next day, they held a small service for him. There was no wake, no vigil, no ceremonial process, except the cremation and burial, and the carving of his name on the stone.

They had hesitated over Kyo's name, not knowing the kanji for it. They didn't want to write it in katakana. They wavered over the kanji 杏 for apricot, the normal kanji used for boys' names, but in the end decided to use the kanji 強 for strong.

And so life returned to normal in Karakura town; no more 'serial murders,' no more 'mysterious maulings.'

The Kurosaki family also returned to normal. Karin and Yuzu returned to their normal school lives, part-time nursing jobs, and their respective club activities; soccer for Karin, home-economics for Yuzu. Ichigo went to University again, with a rather grim look on his face whenever he came back; he had missed many classes following Karin's hollowfication, after all.

On the following Monday, Karin went to soccer practice, bracing herself for a scalding tirade. She wasn't disappointed; sure enough, the coach gave her a piece of his mind.

"Kurosaki! Your absence on Saturday almost cost us the game!"

"But we won… right?" She already knew the answer to that, as Seta had discreetly told her.

"No thanks to you!" The coach roared, his spittle spraying over Karin.

Though wincing and silently thinking 'say it, don't spray it,' Karin answered robotically word for word, "Due to extraneous circumstances, I could not attend the match." as if she had memorized a paper. Which she essentially had. All during her classes, she had repeatedly rehearsed what she was going to say in excuse.

Thankfully, the coach thought that she had merely overslept, and let her off with a strict warning.

"I'll set Hiko on you for the semi-finals, Kurosaki! You won't be late if the captain himself comes to pick you up."

Karin smiled sheepishly, and got ready for the scrimmage.

A week passed, but Karin never heard from Rukia. She suspected her brother still kept in touch, but was withholding information from her for some reason.

Though Karin ached for news of Toushirou, she figured that no news was good news and didn't press Ichigo with questions. If anything important had happened, Ichigo would surely have told her.

Come the second week, Karakura High's soccer team breezed through the district semi finals.

The third week, Karin found herself tying the laces of her cleats in the locker room of the stadium, prepping for the pre-game warm up.

As she exited the locker room, she saw Seta waiting for her.

"Senpai!" She called out.

He turned and smiled at her. "You ready? We've gotten to the finals."

She grinned and imitated the coach, "District finals? This is just the start. We're aiming for the nationals this year!"

They burst into laughter as they strode out onto the field.

All traces of mirth disappeared once they started the game. This game was definitely more difficult than the semi-finals. Their opponent was the team that had gone onto the nationals last year.

At the half-time break, when they were losing 2 to 1, the coach decided to change formation.

"This opponent is tough. We're switching to the 4-3-3 triangle. Hiko, you be the center forward. And Kurosaki," he pointed at Karin, "you be the left-wing supporter."

With the change of formation, there was drastic improvement in their team's performance. She and Hiko worked well with each other, and she had equally good teamwork with her side of the midfield – Seta and Eiji – as well.

The game ended 2 to 3, and there was a loud cheering from their side of the stadium.

The boys an around the field ecstatically, stripping off their shirts and swinging them around, or imitating the teams from the World Cup by pulling their shirts over their faces and fist pumping in the air. The coach too was jumping for joy.

It occurred to Karin this would have been a big step towards her dream if she had never been hollowfied.

Now, she didn't know what she wanted. Should she pursue a career in soccer? A career in medics? Or kendo?

Or, she thought jokingly, should she just die and become a shinigami? That would earn her some cash, according to Toushirou. Or would that only be for captains?

Perhaps it was because she was thinking of Toushirou that Karin thought she caught a glimpse of silver among the crowd before being pulled into the pile of boys gathering in a big group hug.

When she emerged from the group hug looking considerably worse for the wear, she looked at the direction she had seen the flash of silver.

She saw it again, and her heart fell as she realized what it really was. It was the silver glinting off of a watch.

What had she been expecting? Of course it wasn't Toushirou.

When Karin saw her family approaching, she brightened. She opened her arms to hug Yuzu, only to be pushed away, because of Karin 'stank.' So she latched onto the men of her family instead, jumping onto their backs to put them both in headlocks.

Karin knew that this display of excitement was unusual for her. But hey, she was excited. Her soccer team was headed towards the nationals. She should be happy, shouldn't she?

But as her soccer team attempted to drag her along to the after-party, she made a lame excuse of 'being tired,' and slipped away.

Karin waved her family off to the car, preferring to meander home by herself. If that didn't work out, she could always just flash-step back.

As she trudged back home, she pondered if it was high time to tell her family what had taken place between her and the two Spirit Kings. What should she say to the others? She recalled the Spirit King saying, 'If you're like me, you will tend to speak the truth.'

Rolling her eyes to the heavens, Karin wondered, would they believe her if she said she was part of the Spirit King, sent down to the human world to be reborn… to defeat the Spirit King's – her – own zanpakutou?

Jamming her hands into her pockets, Karin snorted.

"Sounds ridiculous even to me." She muttered. Not to mention that it made her head spin just to think about it.

'But they're my family. They know I'm bad at lying, so they'll either believe me, or think I'm deluded. What's the worst they can do, take me to a psychiatrist? Send me to an asylum?' She had to admit the latter was a pretty terrible fate, but hey, their family had shinigami and whatchamacallits- spiritual suppressors? – like Yuzu. They might as well include the human manifestation of part of the Spirit King herself.

Deciding it best to tell them the truth, Karin heaved a sigh, and her mind wandered off to other things.

Before she knew it, her thoughts had turned back to Toushirou.

That flash of silver earlier… why had she thought it was Toushirou? His hair wasn't bright enough for her to mistake a reflection of the sun off a wristwatch for it.

If she ever wanted to go see him again, she would probably have to beg her older brother to contact Rukia to ask her if she could be let into Soul Society for a day… or even half a day… or even a minute, if she could only see Toushirou. Just a glimpse.

Karin berated herself for mooning over a boy. That was unimaginable for the former Kurosaki Karin.

Karin resolved that she would get over Toushirou and fast, to concentrate on her studies and soccer. No sooner than when she had barely managed to steer her thoughts away from Toushirou, the wandered back to him, like magnets.

Alright. She would just admit it; she was wallowing. All her cheerfulness until now, had been a front. She may not be good at lying, but she was good at hiding her feelings. After all, that was what she had done ever since her mother died. Put up a strong façade, and she had grown into it. She had grown up to be strong and cynical.

"I should forget about him." Karin murmured to herself.

"I hope that 'him' is referring to that soccer captain."

Karin froze. That voice…

"What, you're not going to greet me?" The voice sounded put out. "Well, if you're going to be like that, then I'll just have to go over to you."

She felt arms wrap around her shoulders, and a chin rest on her shoulder. A familiar scent of mint and grass washed over her.

"Toushirou…"

Karin tried to turn around to look at him, but he kept her firmly in place, murmuring, "Just a bit longer. I like staying like this."

So Karin leaned back into him, as he leaned onto her.

"How long will you be staying?" Karin whispered.

"How long do you want me to stay?" His voice tickled her ear.

"…You know the answer to that, dummy."

"Hm… Let's see. A week?"

Karin shook her head.

"A month, then?"

Karin paused then shook her head.

"A day?"

Frowning, Karin she shook her head harder.

"A few hours?" He teased.

Karin shook her head still more vehemently.

"Just one hour, then?"

Unable to stand his teasing any more, Karin pushed off his arms and turned around. "Longer, not shorter, stupid!"

Though Toushirou's face was as calm as usual, his eyes were devious. "How long, then?" He seemed determined to make her say it.

She buried her face into his chest, muffling her words.

"f…ver."

His mouth quirked up into a smile. "I didn't quite catch that. Can you say it again?"

"F…ever." Karin mumbled

"Hmm? What was that?"

Karin leaned back in his arms and said indignantly, "How many times are you going to make me say it?"

Gazing at her through half-lidded eyes, Toushirou said slyly, "Until I hear it properly."

Her cheeks reddening, Karin shouted, "Forever! And ever! And ever!"

Grinning broadly, Toushirou leaned his forehead against hers and said, "Then that's how long I'll stay."

And he kissed her.

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A/N: It's been a long ride, and thanks for sticking with me.
I really enjoyed reading the reviews, and… dare I say it? …It was actually fun writing this. Stressful, but fun.

And now, it's time to take a bow.

- Haeyin

PS. Next chapter will be deleted scenes from this story, as well as an alternate ending.