EPILOGUE

2 days later…

It was the first day of summer. Warmer days are up ahead but thankfully, Kanagawa is situated near the sea.

And how majestic the sea was!

Sendoh stared far ahead into the vast stretch of blue waters before him. A soft breeze blew against his sun-kissed face. He thought it carried with it the faint songs of distant lands. He watched with such amusement the way big and tiny waves get smacked on the shore and then disappear again.

He sighed. He knew he could watch the sea forever like this but not today. The sun beamed brightly above his head. It was almost noon, but not quite. Tightening his grip on his fishing rod, he hoped that a fish would finally bite his bait so he could go home and prepare lunch for himself and Rukawa.

Minutes later, he heard footsteps from behind him.

Without turning around, he knew it had to be Rukawa Kaede. It was just too unworkable to miss this lad's biting presence. But he wasn't supposed to be awake until…ah, never mind.

"Akira, you never told me you'd go fishing today. I've been looking for you."

Sendoh was somehow delighted to hear that. But still, he remained motionless in his spot. "Oh, do I still have to tell you? I'm here because I'd like to prepare lunch for my boyfriend but he wasn't supposed to get up until 1 pm. Sleep was his utopia, you know?"

"But your boyfriend just spent the last 3 years of his life in America. He must have outgrown his slothful ways. People change for some reasons and your boyfriend was no exception. You should've considered that." Rukawa said, annoyed that Sendoh wasn't even turning around to face him.

Sendoh abruptly stood up. A fish finally caught in his bait. He pulled his rod and started reeling his catch. "I'm the host and my boyfriend is just my guest. I can do whatever I want without telling him." Sendoh decided to try Rukawa's patience a bit.

Rukawa knew what Sendoh was up to and honestly, he was getting tired of this conversation and all these third person references they had been patronizing.

"Alright. But still you should've left a note or something. Guests don't expect their hosts to disappear all of a sudden."

"Well, you already found me." Sendoh replied, while putting his last catch in the fishing bucket. Rukawa never said anything more, he just stared at his companion severely.

Neither spoke a word for several moments. But when a war waged in silence is fought, the older guy surrenders rather easily.

"So, what can I do for you?" Sendoh inquired good naturedly, countering Rukawa's sharp stare.

Rukawa inched closer to Sendoh, his sever gaze still intact.

"Here," he handed him a white envelope.

"What's this?"

"See for yourself, a'hou."

Sendoh opened the envelope. His eyes widened at what he saw. Two plane tickets to Hawaii! Tonight!

"Kaede, wow. You are so generous…"

"Hey, those weren't yours," Rukawa glared at him some more. It's payback time. He secretly enjoyed Sendoh's dejected expression. "I'm just showing them to you."

"Showing them to me?"

Rukawa nodded. "These are for me and for my MVP boyfriend. I'm taking him to Hawaii for a vacation. Perhaps you could tell him that I'd pick him up at six?"

Sendoh's confused look slowly melted away. "Six? But the schedule here says the flight's at 10. Aren't we—I mean, the two of you—a little early?"

The raven snatched the tickets from Sendoh's hands. "I simply do not want us to be late." He put much emphasis to the last word to make sure the other guy wouldn't miss his point. Without waiting for Sendoh's reply, Rukawa had turned his back on the former and quickly started walking away.

Sendoh was just too amazed to move a muscle. A vacation in Hawaii? Rukawa is just so romantic in his own special way! He was snapped away from his trance. He picked up his fishing gears and ran after Rukawa.

"Hey, Kaede, wait up!" Sendoh called. He slid an arm around Rukawa's and the two of them marched happily down the path that leads to Sendoh's abode.

It was a relief to know that time had finally brought back what it fiercely took away. They knew their love was made stronger, and the joy that flourished in their hearts had affirmed that. All fear of an end was entirely replaced by a spectacular view of new beginnings.

And some faraway place like Hawaii must be the best place to start.

--END—

Acknowledgement:

The poem scribbled on the back of Ru's picture frame is owned by Kevin99 of FictionPress. Many thanks, buddy.

And of course,

Thank you, thank you, thank you all for embarking in this journey with me. This fic is finally completed after those three long years, phew! And this would never be made possible without your constant support. School work has deterred most of the task and I deeply apologize to you all.

Also, I want to apologize for such an ending. A lot of things had deviated from the original plan for this fic primarily because I've taken very long breaks in-between uploads. Honestly, I almost forgot the feeling!

It really took time to write the whole thing because I'm not used to writing fics with angsty and dramatic themes. I normally write happy stories and that's why I had to write this epilogue so everyone would have a happy memory of this piece. This is some kind of experimental and I hope you'd still read my future senru fics though this turned out as something dire. Reviews of any kind are welcome as always. Feel free to scream back and amaze yourself!

My next project would be something lighter, with more participation of other characters. And no uploads for me until I finished writing everything so you wouldn't suffer as well!

Thank you again and bless you all! Let's keep the SenRu love alive!

Love,

Lady in Blue.
Written, one hot summer day of May.