Epilogue

A/N: I'm quite sad now; I have no other projects going at the moment –cries- and now this is the end. Here we go. I'm not too sure if this worked. Maybe it's because I'm just sentimental, but I sort of wanted to leave them still happy. So this is just future-talk. If that makes sense. I also... borrowed the "everything that happens stays happened" from Paulo Coelho and the karma thing from Shogun. Great book, that (possibilty for next fic?). And on with the end.

On through the houses of the dead, past those fallen in their tracks.
Always movin' ahead, and never lookin' back.

But they were only dancing in the dark, as the song goes, and they both knew it. Just fumbling around in this hell for something to hold on to, and they found each other. Who knew if it would have happened under normal circumstances? It didn't matter, because reality is reality. "The only certainty in life is that no one can predict the future and what's happened stays happened," Shinji's uncle told him once.

There was some reason why it had happened like this, why it could only have happened now. Something neither of them really saw, though Hiroki had a better idea of it than Shinji. Something deeper than desperation and sharper than need. That woman at Shinji's uncle's funeral had told him that his uncle had worried about him. What were her words? That he'd never know love from the heart, only lust from the loins. But what did that matter now? He knew Hiroki, and that was enough for him.

Shinji's plan would never be carried out. Kiriyama would find them first, and in a last, superhuman effort, Shinji's bomb would be used to blow up their hideout, and stop Kiriyama. Figures, he'd think. Some quirk of chance ruins my whole plan. After so much trouble, the class psycho comes along and puts an end to everything like it didn't matter. He would see the ironically funny side, bleeding from countless gunshot wounds, ears numbed from the blast. It would have worked. Hear that Yutaka? It would have worked! That had to count for something, right? As he bled out his life on the floor, he would remember, and think that maybe he wasn't such a bad failure after all, and he'd die with a small, knowing smile on his face. What was the 'love' thing compared with Hiroki?

Hiroki too would face Kiriyama, in the island's lighthouse, and he'd escape somehow with his life. He would continue searching, every false alarm and encounter taking more and more away from him. Weary and wounded, he'd finally find Kotohiki, only for her to panic and fatally shoot him. He wouldn't be angry, or even disappointed.

Karma is karma. That was essential martial arts training. But as he comforted her with the last he had, he'd be thinking of Shinji, and how although he'd let down the two he'd sought the most, at least he'd found someone. He'd remember finding Shinji's body, but he'd also remember that small smile that was purely for him. He'd know that he made a difference. That they'd both made a difference. To the Program.

To each other.

And he wouldn't mind dying so much.

And now the stars are burning bright, like some mystery uncovered.
I'll keep movin' through the dark, with you in my heart, my blood brother.

-END-

Thank you everyone who got this far, and especially Silver Salamander, without whom I probably would have just forgotten this fic.