Song: Safe and Sound, Taylor Swift feat. The Civil Wars
Hey. This is the final chapter. Thank you to everyone who read my story. I do not own Bleach, characters or locations.
~ten years later~
"Rini-san!? You ready to go?" A tall man with a striped hat stood in the doorway of the Ukitake residence.
"Yep. Just have to get Ame off to Nanao-san's place." A tall woman with curly red hair walked out of the house with a child close behind her.
"How long are you going to be gone?" Ame had gotten used to the routine on this day. Today was the day her mother went to a friends grave.
"Not long. We're going to have dinner with the Kyorakus when I get back. I'll race you there." Rini headed off with her daughter close behind.
They both stopped in front of the Kyoraku residence. Ame getting there a second before her mother. "I win!" Ame had been practicing and getting faster by the day.
"But I beat you." Urahara leaned against the house. He had taken a short cut. Ame glared at him and stuck her tongue out.
"Morning Rini-san. Morning Ame-chan. Kyoya and Kairi are in the courtyard practicing if you want to join them?" Nanao had opened the door and wanted to let Rini head off to Ayame's grave. Ame flash stepped into the house, making sure to take off her shoes before heading to the courtyard. "Where's Takashi-kun?"
"He went with Jushiro today. He wanted to see what a Taichou did in the Gotei 13, since I can't really take a five year old to work with me." Rini had the title of Keiri. She was in charge of executing Taichous and Fukutaichous that did crimes worthy of death, since she was in possession of the Soukyoku.
"To think your little boy is already five. What does he think of his pink hair now?" Urahara had babysat Rinis children often. They quite liked the shopkeeper, but they still found him strange.
"He still likes it. I'm sure his mind will change in a few years." Both of Rini's kids had bright pink hair. Rini thanked Nanao for looking after Ame then headed off to Ayame's grave with Urahara.
~Ayame's Grave~
When Urahara and Rini got to Ayame's grave that saw that someone had already cleaned it and set new flowers in the vase that was in front of it. "Hisagi-Taichou has been here." Rini knew that Ayame's death had hurt the newly made Taichou, but she knew he had chosen to honour her memory by continuing on and helping others. The same way she had helped him.
"Hey Ayame-chan." Rini spoke to Ayame's grave like it was her friend. Just like she did every year she sang the song she sang at Ayame's funeral.
I remember tears streaming down your face
When I said, "I'll never let you go"
When all those shadows almost killed your light
I remember you said, "Don't leave me here alone"
But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight
Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound
Don't you dare look out your window, darling,
Everything's on fire
The war outside our door keeps raging on
Hold on to this lullaby
Even when music's gone
Gone
Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh
La La (La La)
La La (La La)
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh
La La (La La)
Just close your eyes
You'll be alright
Come morning light,
You and I'll be safe and sound...
Oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh oh oh.
Rini and Urahara had tears running down their faces. Rini stood up and walked away from her friends grave. "Let's head back. We have a party to go to after all." She flash stepped back to the Kyoraku residence. Urahara followed silently.
~Kyoraku house~
"Ame-chan! Stop moving so fast." Kairi couldn't flash stepped as fast as her friend or her brother.
"Then train more so you can move faster." Kyoya taped his sister on the shoulder then flash stepped out of her reach. "If you focused more on increasing than control you could go as fast as us."
"True but she can change directions mid step." Nanao had been watching the three play tag using their flash step. Ame was the fastest, but Kairi had the best control.
"It's okay Kai-chan." An orange haired boy leaned on the black haired girl's shoulder.
"We're not that fast either." Another boy with the same hair as the first leaned on her other shoulder.
"We just stay close to each other-" the boy moved to his twin's shoulder.
"And confuse our opponents." His twin finished his sentence.
"Hikaru! Kaoru! Play nice!" Orihime stood beside Nanao. "They grow up so fast. Kyoya-kun and Kairi-chan are almost twelve right?"
"Yes. Their birthday is in a month. Your boys are almost twelve as well right?" Nanao and Orihime had been pregnant for about the same amount of time. "Karin-san and Hiyori-san are also bringing their kids, and Rangiku-san is bringing her baby!" Nanao really wanted to have another baby. She missed holding a little infant in her arms.
"He's really cute. Looks like his dad, but his hair is wavy like his mother. The cute little Ichimaru Mitsukuni." Orihime was glad Gin and Matsumoto had finally decided to get together.
"Some ones gossiping? And they didn't tell me?" Rangiku walked up to the two women. Both instantly huddled a around her to look at her baby. Mitsukuni loved the attention.
"This the newest little Ichimaru-kun?" Karin and Hiyori walked down the hall. Their kids running ahead of them.
"Hello there Yukina-chan! Hello Akiza-chan!" Two girls ran out into the courtyard. One had snow white hair that stuck out at odd angles while the other had straight blond hair. Nanao couldn't believe how much they grew.
"They play nice together." Karin leaned on the porch railing and watched the children play.
"Congratulations on the promotion, Karin-Fukutaichou." Orihime hugged her raven haired niece fiercely.
"Sorry you couldn't be in 10th squad, but I'm not giving up my position." Ragiku jested with her Taichou's wife.
"When do the men turn up?" Hiyori was sitting down watching the kids play tag.
"They should be here later tonight. Do you ladies want to help me with dinner? Yuzu should be here soon to help out too." Nanao had gotten up and was walking towards the kitchen. She found out how much she liked cooking when she was pregnant. Now she liked doing it for fun, but it seemed that she was almost craving it now.
Nanao turn around and ran into something. It wrapped it's arms around her as she smiled. "Are we late or early?" Shunsui smiled at his guests.
The other husbands did almost the same to their wives, except Gin and Jushiro. Gin kissed Rangiku then took the baby from her arms and held him. Jushiro let his son down from his arms and watched him run towards his sister.
"They grow so fast." Jushiro could still remember the day he first held Ame. He couldn't describe how happy he was that day, but experienced it again when Takashi was born.
"That they do." Toshiro looked at his daughter. She had just turned ten, but it felt like she was an infant only yesterday. "Where's Rini-san?"
"She'll be here soon." Jushiro knew what day it was. Today he would let Rini mourn and remember her friend.
"Dinner's ready!" Yuzu walked out of the kitchen. No one had known the girl had already started cooking.
"Yuzu! When did you get here?" Karin hugged her twin. Karin had decided to become a full shinigami, so she hadn't seen her sister in a little while.
"I've been here since before you got here. I just forgot to let my Reiatsu out a bit to let people know I was here." Yuzu laughed at herself.
"Let's call the children in then." Nanao turned to the kids. "Children! Time for dinner! Go wash up!" The kids instantly raced to the porch, then to the washroom. She turned back towards the others. "Let's go sit down. I'm sure the kids will find their way." Nanao lead everyone to the largest room they had.
They all lounged in different spots. When the kids came in they all tackled their fathers loudly.
"Daddy!" Kairi jumped onto her father's back hugging his neck.
"Hello father." Kyoya still smiled, but he still had his usual monotone speech style. He didn't attack his father. He just sat down beside him.
"Hahaha. Losen up a bit more son." Shunsui laughed, pulled Kairi over his shoulder and hugged both his children.
"Hey dad!" Hikaru and Kaoru spoke at the same time as they both jumped on Ichigo.
Ichigo caught them both and flipped them over his shoulder. They both still landed on their feet. Then they tackled him and they all fell backwards.
"You boys have gotten better!" Ichigo hugged his sons and laughed with them.
"Hi daddy!" Yuki wrapped her arms around her father.
Toshiro ruffled his daughter's wild hair. "Hello princess. How's my little Yukina?" Toshiro had started calling Yukina 'princess' when she asked why her hair was white. He said it was because he was the Ice King and her mother was the Fire Queen, so she was the Snow Princess.
"I can flash step!" Yukina smiled at her father.
"That's wonderful! Good job!" Toshiro hugged his precious daughter.
"Hey monkey!" Akiza wrapped her arms around Shinji's neck and wrapped her legs around his chest.
"Who're you calling a monkey, monkey?" Shinji tickled his daughter. She laughed until she loosened her grip enough for Shinji to pull her over his shoulder. "Your mother is a bad influence on you."
"Oh please. You're just as bad, idiot." Hiyori smiled at her husband.
Akiza really didn't understand why her parents acted like children, but she knew they loved each other. "Snaggletooth and Monkey sitting in a tree, K. I. S-" Shinji clapped his hand over his daughter's mouth. Akiza laughed at her father's reaction.
"Definitely our doing." Hiyori wrapped her arms around Shinji's neck. The three laughed at their family moment.
Jushiro watched everyone else with their kids. He felt two pairs of arms wrap around his own neck. Then he felt a kiss on each cheek.
"Hey daddy!" Ame and Takashi both spoke softly.
"Hello there sweet hearts." Jushiro loved his children.
"Hey dad. Where's mom?" Takashi had been with his father all day. He only saw his mother this morning when she got him ready to go with his father.
"Right here sweetie." Rini slid open one of the doors the room had. Both Ame and Takashi ran up and hugged their mother. Jushiro had also gotten up and hugged his wife and kids. "I'm home." She whispered as she hugged her family back.
"Are we late?" Nemu peaked into the room. Uryu stood behind his wife holding their son. Neru looked like a copy of his father, but without glasses.
"Not at all. Come on in." Shinsui had a saucer of sake in his hand. His wife and son glared at her. They couldn't believe he was already drinking. Kairi just sat in her father' slap laughing at her twin's expression.
"Seems the party started with out us." Renji and Rukia followed in after the Ishidas. "We still invited?" Renji grinned while Rukia held a small child with bright red hair.
"Is that little Hisana! She's grown up to be such a big girl." Orihime waved to Rukia with a big smile on her face.
Rukia, Renji and Hisana sat with the Kurosaki family. Isshin included, but he was being ignored by his son and grandsons. So he was sitting beside Shunsui, drinking.
"Your dinner, is served!" Yuzu walked into the room followed by other people bringing in trays of food. Yuzu sat down beside Karin and her family.
"Thank you for the food." Everyone was sitting with their family. The night was spent laughing and talking. And mothers keeping their husbands from sharing saki with their children. It wasn't a quiet night, but it was a happy night.
Story End.
Thank you for reading my first story. Please leave a comment on what you think. I will be editing the previous chapters, just so they look nice. There might be sequels in the future, but for now I'm starting up on a different story. Stay posted. The weddings that follow this story are Blue Jazz, Fire and Ice, and Winter Cherry Blossom. The sequel has begun. Fall Through Time follows after this story.