DFA: So, the last chapter has arrived!

LB: Yes... I feel so sad. -sniffle- excuse me, everyone... -rushes out the room-

(Author Dawn shakes head)

DFA: she's been like that since... well, never. Oh well... on with the show!Epilogue

Two months later...

Takuma sat with Kaname, Aido and Kain on the couch, waiting for the others to finish dressing up appropriately (Aido had pointed out to Ruka that she was wearing pink when she should be wearing black, and she'd stormed upstairs with the others to change again).

The blond-haired green-eyed teen was content – the gift from the Kuran Ancestor was enough to make everyone around him happy. He'd even stopped Aido and Ruka fighting over who got to feed Yuuki's scent-blind horse (A miracle if he'd ever seen one). Also, he had managed to make Kaname laugh (something that he'd insisted the reporters would love to know, but Kaname had waved him off, still chuckling).

Today, they were going to celebrate the life and mourn the deaths of Shiki Senri, Toya Rima, and countless others who had given their lives to protect the Pureblood Kurans. They had bravely fought to their deaths, and were going to always be remembered by all.

It'd been eight hard weeks for everyone, but they'd managed to get through it, and knew that they'd always have each other even if they missed the ones who were gone. Aido, of course, was his usual cheery, grumpy self despite the loss of his sister (he claimed that it was an improvement, earning himself a cuff on the head from both Kain and his father).

Takuma cast a glance at his friends as the girls came down, Ruka now appropriately dressed in a black gown that contrasted with her skin. She threw herself in Kain's arms, and Takuma looked away, embarrassed.

"What's wrong?" a teasing voice asked him. "Can't handle watching them?"

Takuma turned, smiling, to look at his fiancée, Nakano Ayumi.

Although badly injured, she had been brought back to the mansion and been saved by the combined power of Yuuki and Kaname. Then, she'd taken a drink out of a human (who'd been suffering, so they just shortened his torture – but Takuma still felt disgusted about that), and was left to recover. It'd taken her four whole, nerve-wracking weeks for her to come back to full health, but she was alive. (He'd proposed to her when she was wide awake for the first time, at the end of the second week)

She winked mischievously, and he laughed. "Nope, I was just looking for you," he teased back.

She grinned. "I'm flattered." She held out her arms. "Now, don't I get a kiss?" He chuckled, and swept her in his arms.

"Get a room," Aido told them.

They broke apart and found everyone staring at them. Takuma grinned in his usual easygoing way while she blushed and rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

Yuuki smiled. "Shall we go outside and greet the guests?" she asked Kaname, who nodded and they swept off elegantly.

Ayumi gazed after her enviously. "I'd never get that sort of elegance," she sighed. "The pride and all..."

"You want to be Pureblood Princess?" Takuma raised his eyebrows at her. "I hear that it's hard work." She shoved him.

"No! Of course not. I just mean, she's got the right idea of how a vampire's supposed to be, and she was human for more than half her life!"

"You're human for exactly half your life," he pointed out. She scowled at him playfully.

"Oh, you know what I mean," she replied, rolling her eyes at him. He grinned, and kissed her again.

"Now, now, Ichijo-sama, I know we're all grieving, but don't you think that it's improper to, as you say, make out on a mourning day?"

The cheery voice of Kain-sama, Akatsuki's father, caught their attention, and they sprang apart, red in face. Everyone laughed at their antics, and considered the half-breed before them. The truth had been revealed to them, but none held anything against her. She had, after all, saved their lives in a way.

Accepting drinks from a common vampire waitress, the whole ground went outside, where the bodies lay in oak coffins, surrounded by thousands of wildflowers. Everyone gasped, and Takuma grinned at Ayumi, who shrugged nonchalantly. "It wasn't a big deal," she whispered.

"It's beautiful," he whispered back. "Like you."

She smiled, and slipped a hand through his muscled arm. "Thank you," she sighed, and rested her head on his shoulder.

Kaname stepped forward, Yuuki on his arm, and gazed at the coffins, like fallen trees on wildflowers. "I thank all of you," he spoke, "For what you've done for me, and for Yuuki. You have bravely fought against those who threatened our existence. You have protected your families, your honour, and the pride of our race. For this, you will never be forgotten."

One by one, all the vampires stepped forwards and paid their last respects to those who lay there, nothing more than ashes, revered ashes they may be.

At last, Ayumi had spoken her thoughts on them, and their bravery, and she stepped back, tears in her eyes. Takuma touched her arm in concern. "I barely knew them, but I feel for them and their grieving families," she whispered.

He smiled. "Intimate strangers," he answered. "That's what you are with them. Your relationship. It's a beautiful thing, because you will miss them when they're gone."

She looked at him, and smiled through her tears, her hand passing over her stomach. He took it anxiously.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, eyes wide with concern.

She grinned. "You'll love this."

They were inside now, and everyone was watching them silently, eyes wide.

She cast a glance around, saw everyone staring, and leaned in to whisper in Takuma's ear. The audience looked disgruntled, but then Takuma let out a gasp of shock and pleasure, and fell to his knees. "What?" Aido demanded, half-standing, but Kaname pulled him back down, a smile on his face.

Takuma ignored him. "I'm... I'm going to be a father?" he choked out. She grinned.

"That's usually how it works," she answered playfully. "I was going to tell you later, but – oh!" He laughed, and threw his arms around her. Everyone else cheered happily as her arms slipped around his neck in a loving embrace.

Outside the house, watching through the window, the spirit of Kuran Manami watched, a smile on her beautiful face, before morphing into a swallow and flying high into the sky, twittering with joy and celebration for the making of a new life.

-fin-

BA: Just because it's the last chapter that doesn't mean you reviewers can slack off! Review! =)

We're going to miss you guys...