Well, this is definitely a bittersweet moment for me. It's a mixture of a heavy heart and relief that I finally change the status of this story from on-going to complete.

It's been an awesome time so, I present to you the final chapter of Time and Again.

I ran a finger under the bowtie that was tied a little too tightly around my neck and sighed. Who had invented bowties anyway? It was like some little girl had decided to tie a red ribbon around my neck. I felt ridiculous; everything was wrong with this type of dress. I hadn't known what a pocket square was before today. I was even wearing a waistcoat, for crying out loud. My shoes were too big and my jacket was way too heavy for this summer weather. I sighed again and decided that the jacket could wait until I got to the church. I unbuttoned it and threw it over my shoulder. It was going to be a long day and having to wear this monkey suit wasn't going to make it any better.

'Stop sighing; it's a wedding not a funeral,' Toushiro admonished in amusement.

'You're not the one wearing the suit,' I grumbled.

'I think you look rather handsome,' Hyourinmaru rumbled.

I rolled my eyes and tried to make the starchy fabric of the waistcoat sit more comfortably. 'Somehow I don't believe that. You saw how Mikami and Kamiko were treating me like a doll when we went to pick this out.'

Hyourinmaru laughed loudly, causing my inner-world to shake. Even Toushiro started to smile.

'Well... you're tiny and therefore cute.' Hyourinmaru said taking a break from laughing.

I folded my arms across my chest. 'I'm not cute.'

'Dressed like that you are.'

I scowled at the dragon.

'Don't listen to him,' Toushiro said, shaking his head in amusement, 'Anyway, you only have to wear it for one day; it's not that bad.'

'I have a freaking red bow around my neck; it is that bad.'

'Like I said; cute.' Hyourinmaru said again.

I tuned him out after that and tugged one last time at the bowtie before giving up and going to find Teito and Mikami. We should be heading to the church soon. I found Teito standing in the middle of the living room in a sort of daze. I regarded him for a while before shaking my head and heading over to him.

"Nervous?" I asked.

He jumped slightly and hesitated before answering me. "Yeah, a little." He puffed out his cheeks then let the air go in a loud swoop. "I'm kinda changing my whole life here."

"Oh, it'll be fine; you've basically been playing house with Mikami and me for the past eight years. The only difference is you'll be living with the 'woman of your dreams' and have kids of your own soon enough."

He smiled a little.

"Nothing you can't handle; you raised me, after all, and I didn't turn out half bad."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're an obnoxious brat."

I rolled my eyes. "I was trying to comfort you; don't look at the details."

He laughed this time then flopped down on the couch looking slightly more relaxed. Miakmi joined us shortly after, wearing a flouncy, maroon dress and holding a pair of impossibly high shoes in her hand. She sat down on the couch next to Teito and began to pull them on.

"My feet are going to kill me by the end of the night," she groaned.

"Then don't wear them," I stated dryly.

She looked at me like I was speaking a different language. I shook my head; women were hard to understand sometimes. I glanced at Teito and he just shook his head in response.

"Kamiko's own were even higher," he whispered.

"I don't get it." I shook my head.

"And you never will."

Mikami straightened, got up and took a few experimental steps. "They're pretty." She offered in explanation.

I shook my head again.

...

The church was a fifteen-minute drive from our apartment, but we had to get there half an hour early to make final preparations. It was supposed to be a relatively small wedding considering that the Takemitsu family was pretty small – both of our parents were only children so Teito had only invited a few relatives and friends from Tokyo as well as his friends from Karakura, which included the Kurosakis, surprisingly, Kisuke and his bunch, and even Renji, Rukia, and Rangiku. Kamiko's side was considerably larger, but not enough to completely take over the wedding. I had even been allowed to invite Chou, Kazu, Adachi and their families – Adachi's dad was a no show, but I can't say that anyone minded. Chou laughed at my suit when she saw me and snapped a few pictures on her phone. When I grumbled and asked her why, she winked and replied with the single word: leverage. Kazu shrugged in apology while Adachi laughed alongside with Chou.

The wedding ceremony went by rather quickly, thankfully. As the best man, I had to walk up the aisle with one of Kamiko's sisters; I think her name was Kaoru – I really had to get their names straight, but it didn't help that they all started with the letter K. Kamiko, herself, was admittedly flawless and beaming like the sun. When Teito saw her coming down the aisle he actually froze for a second then smiled so widely that even I ended up feeling inexplicably happy even hours afterwards.

The reception was held in a small hotel located on the outskirts of the town. It was a picturesque little place that sat right along the river that ran through the centre of Karakura. I was caught off guard by the bubble machine they had at the entrance and managed to get a mouthful of soap.

Once everyone was seated at their respective tables Kaoru – I had been right after all – clinked her knife against her champagne glass to get every one's attention and started the toasts. Embarrassing stories from Kamiko's childhood were shared. The bride ended up blushing so hard that she had to hide her face; Teito soothed her with a peck on the cheek, but then there was a slideshow showcasing pictures of her and her family and, surprisingly, Teito and us, so he ended up blushing as well. I sat speechless staring as pictures of a baby Teito with our parents flashed across the wall. I hadn't seen some of these before and found myself laughing at his expense. It was his turn to bow his head in slight embarrassment; he turned to Mikami demanding to know where she had found the photographs. Mikami only grinned and took a sip of her champagne. After the slideshow, Kamiko's father gave a speech with a few delightful anecdotes, and then the microphone was passed to me.

I had actually forgotten that I had to prepare a speech until this morning when Teito had mentioned it in an off-hand comment. I wasn't about to promise anything the standard of Martin Luther King Junior or even of the speakers that had spoken before me; to be quite honest, this was first time I was going to hear it myself.

I stood up but quickly found out that a rather tall flower arrangement was in front of me. I grumbled under my breath and ended up standing on my chair. There were a few snickers but I played off of them.

"I guess we should have measured the height of the flowers, huh?" I cleared my throat while a few more people started to chuckle. "Well, Teito, I have to say it was about time. I thought that I was going to be stuck with you and Mikami for the rest of my life. I'm sure that the majority of you here know that Teito has played the role of my father for as long as I can remember. And, even though I was a perfect child, that wasn't an easy thing to do-"

"Perfect child?" Teito interrupted and caused another round of laughter.

"This isn't about me, Teito," I continued, "anyway, I don't want to go with the flow of tonight's speeches and say what a wonderful and flawless person my brother is because anyone who's lived with him knows he's not. He's annoying and overbearing, he makes jokes when he shouldn't, he snores loud enough to shake the walls, he doesn't get angry often, but when he does it's best to get as far away as possible. He's actually quite messy, and works odd hours so he comes home in the middle of the night, and, of course, someone as large as him is about as graceful as a three-legged elephant."

By now Teito was holding his head in his hands and everyone was beginning to look confused.

"But, he's also the person who stuck with me and Mikami when my mom died. He had his whole life planned out already, a good job, and a nice apartment. Honestly, he could have chosen to stick me with some other relatives, or even in an orphanage, and had a much more peaceful life. But he didn't, 'cause that's not what he's like. He took on two jobs, paid for Mikami to finish her degree, and took care of a five year old. And that's pretty remarkable for someone who was only twenty-four. He devoted everything to us, handled everything with a smile, and not once did he ask for anything in return or even made us feel guilty about any of it. So, Teito," I turned to him. He was staring at me with his mouth slightly agape and raised eyebrows. "No, you're not perfect, but you're damn well amazing and, if I haven't said this before, thanks for everything. And Kamiko you should know, if you don't already, what kind of man you're getting. I'm not gonna bother to wish you good luck or anything because I know you two are going to have a long and happy marriage. So, welcome to the family, Kamiko."

I guess everyone liked my speech because the applause that followed it was deafening. Teito leaned over and hugged me. His eyes looked a little misty and Kamiko was tightly clutching his hand.

'Impressive,' Toushiro grinned, 'Who knew that you were so good with words?'

I mentally rolled my eyes, 'Well, they don't call me a genius for nothing.'

The food was surprisingly good, even if I still had to be careful of what I ate and couldn't have any of the heavily seasoned dishes. The band they had hired wasn't terrible either. Sometime later on in the evening I located Kazu, Cho and Adachi and we watched as the adults got progressively tipsier on champagne and wine and dance moves got weirder by the minute. Cho's father hadn't noticed that she had snuck a couple drinks for herself and Kazu. I refused to touch the stuff, but no one was around to stop Adachi form having a few glasses himself. Kazu would have refrained from drinking as well, but Chou pouted and he instantly threw away the feeble defence he had. Then, after a while, she had convinced Kazu to dance with her and they disappeared somewhere on the dance floor.

Adachi and I chatted for a while – mostly about the war – but I had lost count of how many drinks he had and he was beginning to dose off. I shook my head and let him fall asleep slumped against the table, it was pretty late and he had said that his father had woken him up at an ungodly hour this morning. Coupled with how much had had drank, sleeping wasn't that farfetched of an idea. He wasn't going to be too pleased with himself tomorrow morning, however. I guessed that falling asleep was better than making a fool of himself like everyone else here. They had already been dancing for hours and showed no signs of stopping.

I ended up watching everyone dance for a while, spying Mikami and Uryu together while Teito and Kamiko looked like they were having a blast in the centre of it all. I was happy they were happy; they deserved to be happy after all of this; they definitely deserved a happy ending. I smiled and propped my head up on the table as I watched them. Even Toushiro and Hyourinmaru seemed content with watching everyone else move about.

'Two parties in less than three months. Aren't you on a roll?' Hyourinmaru joked.

I rolled my eyes. 'Don't get used to it.'

'Aww, I thought that you weren't going to be a recluse like Toushiro.'

'I'm not a recluse,' Toushiro snapped, 'I simply appreciate quiet and I don't approve of large, inebriated crowds.'

'Stick in the mud.'

Toushiro sighed.

'Don't worry; I agree with you on that one.' I muttered.

'That's going to change when you reach dirking age.'

'I doubt it.'

'Is that a challenge?'

'Hyourinmaru," Toushiro groaned, rolling his eyes. 'That isn't something you should encourage.'

'You both need to loosen up. We couldn't enjoy the other party because we were worried about Ichigo and now I think you two deserve a break from all this worrying.'

'I just said I was happy,' I muttered.

"Who's worrying?' Toushiro asked dryly, 'I think the only one worrying is you.'

'Yeah, you old dragon; you're the real worry-wart.'

Hyourinamru snorted, causing thick puffs of condensation to escape from his nostrils. 'You'd worry too if you had to take care to two hatchlings.'

'How many times do I have to say it-"

'You're not a kid?' I cut Toushiro off and smiled in amusement as he turned on me with a raised eyebrow.

'Brat,' he muttered.

Hyourinmaru snorted again; this time in amusement. I chuckled and Toushiro gave a small smile.

'Can you believe that we're stuck with this one for the rest of our lives, Hyourinmaru?' he asked.

The dragon winked a ruby eye at me, 'I think he's a good addition.'

Toushiro nodded. 'Agreed.'

I smiled widely but turned my attention back to the outer- world before things started to get too mushy.

"Hey," I jumped slightly and turned my head to see Ichigo standing next to me; his cheeks were slightly flushed and he smelt faintly of champagne. How long had he been standing there? He held out his hand, "may I have this dance?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, Kurosaki? I'm not gonna dance with you. And where's your cane?"

He huffed, "I don't need it all the time, geez; I'm not some old man, you know."

"No, but you were in a coma..."

He shook his head, "That was over a month ago. Anyway, come on, you look bored all by yourself."

"No. They have photographers; people might think we're some messed up couple."

He snorted. "And when have you ever cared about what people think? Besides, what's wrong with dancing with a friend?"

"I don't want to dance."

"Well, what else do people do at weddings?"

He had a point, though. He continued to hold out his hand and wiggled his fingers impatiently. I groaned, knowing that he wasn't going to give up.

"God, you shinigami are so weird," I grumbled as I stood up and took his hand.

"And you're one of us now." He grinned and pulled me onto the dance floor. I looked around hoping that everyone was too drunk to notice. As soon as we reached the floor, though, the song switched to a slow dance. I scowled and instantly pulled away from him. Ichigo just laughed and grabbed me before I could run away.

"No way," I exclaimed and continued trying to pull my arm from his grasp.

"No take backs," he chuckled and tightened his grip.

"Seriously?"

He replied by taking my hand in one of his and placing the other on my waist. He started moving his feet and I had no choice but to follow unless I wanted to be dragged across the floor. God, I hated drunken people. Toushiro was quietly chuckling at my misfortune. Hyourinmaru was more vocal and I could feel the ground of my inner world shaking with his roaring laughter. I didn't bother telling them to shut up, knowing that it would make no difference.

"We've come a long way, Hyōka," Ichigo mumbled, "You were such a brat when I first met you."

"Morron," I snapped rolling my eyes.

" You still are actually. But somehow a brat like you managed to defeat Aizen."

"What are you talking about? You're the one who killed him."

"But I couldn't have done it without you."

"Yeah... I'm gonna stop you there, Ichigo. Things are becoming uncomfortably mushy." I understood it was a wedding, but I wasn't the one getting married, so I would have liked to keep the mush to a minimum.

"I'm just trying to say thanks. I can't imagine how weird all of this must have been for you, and you did a good job dealing with it all. Teito isn't the only strong person in your family."

"Well, we Takemitsus are special."

"I'll say."

We lapsed into silence and I spared another glace around to see if anyone was staring. Thankfully everyone else was too busy being drunk and happy to pay us any mind. I suppose I should just go along with it. No one else was minding so why should I? I should be just as happy – not as drunk, though – as everyone else around me. There was every reason to be happy: I was at my brother's wedding, the war was over, Aizen was dead, Ichigo alive and moving about.

"So, this is it, huh? The end... our happy ending," I sighed.

"Now who's being mushy?"

"Shut up. I meant..."

"I know what you meant. But why does it have to end? Why not go on to new adventures and continue being happy? There's no finality, we're still alive and kicking, right?"

"You are so drunk right now, Ichigo," I sighed shaking my head.

He frowned slightly. "... 'M not that drunk."

Then he promptly tried to spin me – not drunk, my butt. I tripped and stomped on his foot. He grimaced and let me go to rub at the scuffmark on his shoe.

"You did that on purpose,' he grumbled.

"You're the one that wanted to dance."

He straightened and narrowed his eyes. "Just for that I'm gonna request another slow song."

He grabbed my hand and dragged me off towards the band. I started to laugh despite the situation. He was right; this wasn't the end, and I couldn't wait for the rest.

Wow... I'm actually done, took me three years, but I'm done :)

I would like to thank all the readers: those who followed, favourited, reviewed, or even just lurked. To those who stuck with Hyoka from the beginning, joined us halfway, or even just for the last few chapters you have my greatest gratitude. I had never expected this story to be so popular so all the responses I got were very encouraging, and I never would have gotten such a great change to improve my skills as a writer.

You guys were awesome and I can only hope that my future stories will be just as successful.

Again, Thank you all so very much!

-Mymomomo