Disclaimer: Not mine.

Author's Notes: Sorry this took a while to come out but I hope you enjoy the little epilogue. I changed the POV to first person, I hope it's not too jarring but I sort of treated it like a separate piece from the whole story. So yeah, again, I hope you like it. I WANT TO THANK ALL MY REVIEWERS! EiRist (Yay first reviewer! Thanks so much for your support from the start. I hope you like the epilogue I'm serving. Ack, the lemon, in the future? Heh) Autrevalse (Thank you, I don't think I could say much more. Sometimes really good feedback bothers me because I'm afraid to disappoint with the next chapter so here's to hoping you like the epilogue. And what you said about Mikagami, just AMEN, I think that's why I've always been fascinated with the character and why I always subconsciously choose to write about him more than any other character because I think, despite the maturity he has exhibited, he hadn't quite grown out of that little boy who lost his sister and even if I found his earlier actions in the manga rather weird, my heart always went out to him. Yes, my next fic, definitely, hee.) abubi-chan (Thank you, I thought the rings were too cheesy to be honest and I felt the need to insert a little humor because I couldn't stand it myself...haha) cygnet411 (Thank you, I think there was a misunderstanding, I said I would write an epilogue. Hope you are happy with this :D) kyusetsuki satsuki (Thank you! And thank you for reading to the end!) mikaro (Thanks, I'm glad you liked that wedding) securt (Aw, thanks, and yes, I made sure to write an epilogue ) asianpearl (Thank you! Thanks for sticking to the end and hope to see you on the next fic!) Mrs. Hatake Itachi (Thanks) Nils (That's what love can doooo...hehe. Well, I wanted them both to give up something, in a way. Glad you liked it, thanks!) shalei (Aw, don't we all want our own Mi-chan? Thanks so much for reading!) malo (I missed you! Hee! No worries, I'm glad you liked the last few chapters, see you on the next fic) Lyris (OMG, that never occurred to me but it would be so perfect! I wanted to write it in but just couldn't find the opportunity to since this part was very ToFuu centric.) cLe (Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the read! Hope you'll stick around for the next story) SnowCharms (The epilogue is coming out now! Heh. Well, it was too late to introduce another character and I thought it was amusing) aki reinhart (Hon, sorry about not replying earlier. You know, I'm really interested but I've never read Twilight so I'm not that familiar with the subject. I'm borrowing a friend's book this weekend, who knows it might inspire me, hee.)

Epilogue

It wasn't easy being married.

Our relationship leading up to our marriage all developed under the contained environment of our childhood hometown with just our very close friends and family to witness it. It never occurred to us how much our dynamics would change once we got back to our normal day to day lives. I don't think she ever realized that I could act like such a possessive prick (her words, I thought it was within my rights as her husband to forbid her to talk to anyone without a Y chromosome that wasn't her relative or named Domon and Recca.) And I never thought that she could be so demanding and just damn bossy.

We fought about her work, my work. She hated that I did a lot of overtime and I hated that she still went to parties, it doesn't matter to me that they were work related. There was a time when she refused to talk to me for a whole week when she found out that Mitsuki was moved to my department and had to work directly under me. She yelled about not telling her sooner, I personally thought it was a non-issue. She had no reason to be insecure of the woman, I married her for Kami's sake. She yelled at me more after I said that. It took a lot of groveling and begging and reminding her just how much I loved her and it was worth it in the end. Make-up sex was the best.

We fought about which room we'd take up. My room had the bigger floor space and hers had the bigger closet. In the end I realized the only thing that mattered to me was having a nice big bed so I gave in. And then we fought about what to do with the spare room that we now had. She wanted a guest room for when family and friends visited and I wanted a library. I argued that she needed a home office as well and since we're already moving into her room she decided to give way.

But our biggest hurdle was the unspoken dilemma of children. I had told her that I would do anything to make her happy but I had to admit I was still apprehensive about starting a family so I decided I'd just wait for her to bring it up but she was too afraid to upset our careful balance that she would not dare broach the subject. It created an awkward tension between us, especially whenever someone asked us about when Fuuko would start churning out little Mikagamis. It made me squirm when she looked up at me hopefully and that despondent look she'd take on when I would just shrug and laugh awkwardly.

On Christmas that year we went to visit her family again. Recca and Yanagi had just given birth to their first child, a baby boy they named Kurei, after Recca's half brother, who would have his name but not his life. It was, I suppose, Recca's own way of correcting the past. The first time Fuuko held the tiny thing in her arms, it was just, beautiful. It was a different kind of happiness that I saw in her, it was calm and innocent much like an undisturbed deep sleep.

When we went back to Tokyo I told her that maybe, she shouldn't get her DPV shot on the tenth. She smiled and said okay.

Unfortunately things had not gone smoothly from there. The first six months, we chalked it up to her contraceptive not wearing off immediately but when a year had passed and we remained childless she started to panic. The next year was grueling as she slipped into bouts of depression with every time that her monthly cycle would come. I've never felt so helpless as I did when all I could do was hold her and tell her that we'll keep trying. Our doctors told us that there was nothing wrong with either of us, it could possibly be just stress. We did everything they told us, she quit smoking and alcohol altogether and we both cut back on our work hours. She even kept a calendar and used an ovulation kit, although I thought it was unnecessary since we had sex all the time and it kind of put a damper on things when she scheduled our bedroom time and insisted that we lay off the more experimental positions and stick to missionary. Two years we tried and the fights got so bad sometimes that I would stay out all night or she would drive for four hours back to her mother. It created chasm between us. We had to constantly remind each other and ourselves the love that we had between us just to keep our marriage afloat, though I never doubted in my mind that we'd ever part, I would never allow it. But in the end all our hard work paid off. It was two days after Christmas and we were in the same exact spot we had been just three years before, in her mother's living room a pregnancy test between us. Except this time, we were both praying for the same thing.

She quietly asked me to look, and though she didn't say it, I knew she wouldn't have been able to handle it if it came up negative yet again. I calmly look at the stick and stupidly asked, "So what does two lines mean?"

She squealed and tackled me until onto the floor, arms and legs wrapped tightly around my body. I knew immediately, I was going to be a father, and I was just too happy to see that smile on her face again that it never occurred to me to be nervous about it.

We decided then and there to move back to Nashikiri. We wanted to raise our little family in our hometown near our friends and loved ones. In all our years spent in Tokyo, we had remained strangers to the city, and I wanted my child to grow up where there was warmth. I wanted him to have a home.

Fujikawa-sama was supportive though a bit disappointed, he said his sons were useless and was hoping to groom me as his successor. He offered recommendations to several of his colleagues but I turned it down. I had been a frugal man and smart about my money and decided to invest in Recca's fireworks company. My once rival had been efficient but he lacked enough business acumen to expand his investment and that was where I came in.

Fuuko resigned from her work and I had encouraged her to cease working for the duration of her pregnancy. And though she protested because she never liked to depend on other people for money (even if I was her husband and traditionally was expected to be the provider, not that she believed any of that bullshit) I knew she wanted the same thing. She wanted to be careful, I did too. We were both afraid that our little blessing might be taken away from us.

We bought a house in one of the newer subdivisions in Nashikiri, fifteen minutes away from her old home. It was a nice neighborhood with trees, fresh air and little traffic. We had finally settled in our new home on her fifth month of pregnancy. Our last night in our old apartment was bittersweet. We had met each other when she was sixteen and I was seventeen but this place was where we began to know the other. She had been so careful that she refused to let me touch her ever since we found out that we were pregnant for fear of hurting the baby (even though her doctor told her it was perfectly fine, silly woman) but that night we made love on a futon in my old bedroom, it was intense yet slow and tender, partly because we were both mindful of her already large belly and partly because we wanted our last night together in our apartment to be different from our first time together which was rushed and chaotic and we were both just confused and looking for release, taking what we could get from the other. That night I also discovered that making love to your pregnant wife was an immense turn on. She had the hardest time fending me off for the next four months, but I knew she didn't mind it as much as she said she did. After all, she could've easily punched me unconscious but she let me seduce her instead.

After twelve hours of labor, our son was born on September 23rd fourteen minutes past noon. He had my hair and my eyes, an exact replica of me and my father before me. She would teasingly berate me about the strength of my genes, too selfish to even let one of her physical traits prevail, but I knew she was glad her son would grow up to be as handsome as his father. Don't look at me like that now, you think so too.

The doctors advised us against more children, there was a gash in her uterus and it was simply too dangerous for her. I had expected it, after all our difficulty to conceive, I knew that there had to be a reason for it.

It broke our hearts a little. She had always wanted a large family and I now realized that I wanted a girl with her eyes. But in the end, we were too thankful for our little boy and it would be selfish to ask for more. We named him Toshiharu after my father. He had his father's looks and his mother's courage. I couldn't have been a prouder father.

Hanabishi Fireworks expanded to Tokyo and three years after that we opened a branch in Hong Kong. Fuuko eventually took over Maina's post as director for Little Angels. It was the perfect work for someone with as big a heart as her. And Toshiharu grew up happy, if not a little spoiled. Fuuko chastises me for giving into his caprice too easy, but I can't help it. I suppose I overcompensate at times but I just wanted to make sure that my son would never know what it was like to be deprived and lonely like I did. Unlike me or Fuuko, he had a lot of friends at school and rarely got into trouble. I tried to get him into kendo but he preferred his Uncle Recca's ninja tricks. Ah, when he grows up he'll realize his father's sport was much cooler.

As for Fuuko and me, I didn't think I could fall any more in love with her than I did when we got married. I was proven wrong each and every day I spent with her.

Today I am coming home after two months away from my beloved. Our Hong Kong branch was going under due to mismanagement and I was needed to make sure that didn't happen. Recca would've flown over but Yanagi was pregnant (again) and into her last trimester and he didn't want to leave her. This was the first time Fuuko and I had been separated in our nine years of marriage and needless to say, it was very trying.

I dragged my trolley behind me while looking for my wife in the crowd. It didn't take me long to spot her, in dark blue jeans, a sexy black satin tank top and deadly looking heels, tiptoeing and trying to see over the mass of heads between us. God she was gorgeous, pushing forty but she still had the ability to make men of all ages turn their heads. I hadn't remembered her being so tiny, but it was for the best because I love the feeling of hovering over her petite form. She had finally seen me after the melee of bodies had cleared. I let go of my trolley and with a smirk made a come hither signal with my hand. She didn't hesitate to run to me at break neck speed before jumping up and wrapping her legs around my waist and arms around my neck. I stumbled back a bit in surprise but immediately put a hand on her bum to support her weight while my other hand tangled in her hair before we met for a kiss that we've been denied for much too long. I decided then and there never to be gone for as long as I have been.

"I missed you so much," she whispered as I continued to kiss her neck before going back to her lips and bringing my tongue out to explore her mouth.

"Me too, baby, me too," I moaned against her ear as I held her thighs tightly around my hips, unmindful of the whispers and looks of the other people at the airport. I've never been one for propriety anyway.

"Next time, you're taking me with you, we'll dump Haru-chan at Mama's," she decided before kissing me again.

"There won't be a next time baby, never again," I promised her as my hands traveled down to her ass and squeezed. I think the old man behind me just had a heart attack.

She gasped but didn't mind my rather salacious actions, it's not like we'll ever see any of these people again. "Let's go, we have to pick up Haru-chan from Mama's," she said as I started kissing down her throat.

"Call Mama, tell her Haru's spending the night," I instructed, "Daddy needs to be home tonight," I whispered huskily. She nodded with a matching smirk on her face. I didn't let her down, instead swinging her so she hung on my side like a baby, legs still dangling from around my hips as we walked out to where she had the car parked.

That night I had the best welcome home of my life. Nine months later I finally had a little girl with her eyes.

Owari

(for real now)

I just wanted to thank everyone again for the support. Y'all are the best. For my next story, I started a survey on my Y!Groups on what story I should run next and this one won:

Untitled AU fic - Not set in a specific era or place in Japan. The Hokage family of ninjas are considered royalty of the highest orders. The one next in line to the title of Leader and lone flamecaster Recca has forever been in love with the shy healer Yanagi but she was promised to someone else even before she was born. His best friend/army leader Fuuko thinks he's crazy but finds ways to get them together. Yanagi's fiancée Tokiya thinks the world of the girl, but somehow he finds himself searching for the company of a violent purple haired soldier all the time. Domon just wants someone to notice him. And in the midst of this love square plus one the bastard child of the current leader, Kurei, is hellbent on taking what he thinks is rightfully his.

If you have any suggestions for a title, drop me a line. See you on the next fic! Cheers!

THANKS FOR READING AND PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!