Okay, I decided to write an epilogue cause it was bugging me and one person wanted it, so here it is, the portion of Sohma life long after Ashi's death...

Akito's Sister

Still no copyright infringement intended.

Note: This story take place after episode 26 of the TV series.

Epilogue

Ten years later...

It was winter again, the snow fell as lightly as it always did at the home of the Sohma family. Cries of joy and laughter could be heard from outside it's walls, children playing again carefree in the house.

Akito sat in his usual spot on the patio and watched the flakes of snow fall as though they were glass shards. The gravestones across the yard had not changed at all in the last ten years.

"Dad! Akira hit me!" Cried a young girl as she ran to him.

He smiled and opened his arms to her. "Why did he hit you this time?"

"Cause I said he'd been named after a dead guy." The girl replied.

"Well, for your information, that dead guy you're speaking of happened to be my father and your grandfather. But you shouldn't be making fun of him over that, little Ashirin, you were named after my sister. She died ten years ago."

The little girl hung her head.

A young boy, a little younger than the girl walked up. "Why did you name us after some people who are dead, dad?" He asked.

"Well," Akito began. "Those people were important to me, they meant a lot to me. But not only that, they meant a lot to other people, too. You see Akira, you are named after my father, who was the head of the family before I was, he was a very caring person. You, Ashirin, were named after my sister, who devoted her life to making me a better person, and died saving my own life." Akito looked once to the graves and then smiled. "You two go play, it'll be dinner soon and then you won't be able to play in the snow."

The two children smiled playfully at each other and then they both ran off.

"You know, someday you'll have to tell them both the truth behind that story." Hatori said as he sat beside Akito and lit a cigarette.

"Yes I do. But I prefer to let them be children while they can." Akito told him.

"Well, that's all a father really wants for his children." Hatori puffed out smoke. "Tohru is pregnant again."

"Really, that's what, their third child?" Akito asked.

"Fourth, actually. Her and Kyo are handling that brood of theirs quite well." He puffed out smoke again. "She wants to know if she can name the baby after you."

"If she wants to, and she doesn't have to ask." Akito told him.

Hatori put out his cigarette in the snow and turned to Akito. "You know, life has gotten so much easier now that the curse doesn't seem to be affecting us. When do you think it broke?"

All Akito did was smile.

* * *

"Tohru, could you help me in the kitchen for a moment?" Kyo called.

Tohru got up from the playpen where their youngest child was playing. "What is it Kyo?" She asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Today is the day we're supposed to go to the main house for the anniversary, remember? I just need help getting the dishes done and get the kids in the car and then we'll be off." Kyo said with a handful of soapy dishes.

Tohru smiled. "It's been ten years already, hasn't it?" She realized.

Kyo paused. "Yeah I guess it has." He said.

"Kyo? When do you think the curse broke?" Tohru asked quietly.

Kyo shook his head. "I don't know. If I had to guess I'd say around the time Ashi died."

Tohru looked thoughtfully in the direction of the main house.

* * *

"Welcome everybody." Akito said as everyone gathered for dinner. "Today we celebrate the anniversary of my sisters death. But this event is not one to be sad over, it is actually to celebrate the life that Ashi lived. A life that ended too soon. So, please, enjoy yourselves for her."

Akito moved to sit down when Tohru stood up. "Forgive me, Akito, but there is something I must ask of you."

"Ask anything Tohru, I will try to answer as best I can."

Tohru took a deep breath. "I know that I speak for everyone when I say that I want to know how and why the curse has seemed to be broken."

Akito smiled. "Hatori asked the same thing earlier today." He walked over to the outer door and cracked it. "You all have noticed it, that the curse has definitely been broken, but you want to know why. Well the reason why lies out there in the courtyard, buried after only twenty-one years of life. As to when, well it was the very day that that life ended, this day, ten years ago. I was told then to let it go, in reference to the anger that I had for the world, but in telling me to let it go the person did not realize that they also referred to the curse. I was the one holding on to it; not wanting to let it go for fear of losing all of you. But look now, I have done the opposite of that which I thought would keep you here and yet you are still here." He took a deep breath. "Because of one person, who had the courage and strength to stand up for all of us, I changed into someone who wanted your happiness, and yet you have given me mine instead. I didn't break the curse ten years ago, Ashi did, with her life gone so was the curse. I find no other way to explain it. But she shouldn't have had to die for it to be done."

Tohru suddenly appeared and took Akito's hand. "The life of one person depends on themselves. Though you may not have wanted her to die, she knew that that was what it would take, and she was happy to do it. Ashi lived how she wanted to Akito, with full knowledge of how it would end. So you shouldn't cry for the life she missed. Like you said we should be happy over the life she lived."

The inner door creaking silenced everyone.

"Dad." Came a whisper from the hall. Akito's eyes grew twice their size.

"Come on in Ashirin, it's alright." Akito called. "But you know you shouldn't be snooping."

The door opened to reveal the crying face of his six year-old daughter. "Dad, what happened to Aunt Ashi?"

Akito smiled and sighed as he went and picked her up.

"Well, little Ashi, it began ten years ago when I first met your aunt..." Tohru said, beginning the very story I have told you.