Epilogue

It was hard to believe that such a desert wasteland could hold such beauty, but beauty it did hold in the form of a city, one decorated with bright colours and alit with the bustle of active, healthy life. The walls were still white, for the most part, but each shop had brightly covered signs and most homes had banners and plants growing in the gardens set before them. The once pure dessert city of eternal day was now a booming oasis of life. The ceiling had been reprogrammed to have the 'sun' rise at seven and set at six. At that point the ceiling reflected the true sky above it. It had taken Szayel a week to set it up, and everyone enjoyed it. Honestly, Ichigo had no clue what Aizen had been thinking keeping the city in eternal light. It drove him bonkers, let alone the Arrancar that had spent their entire existence under an eternal moon filled night.

'Probably why it was built that way, to keep his soldiers off balance,' he mused.

The sound of excited laughter rang out below him, and a smile crossed his face as the ruler of Las Noches looked down at the large playground below him. It was damn near covered in cubs of various ages, shapes, genders, and breeding. A good number of them belonged to him, including his current youngest, a little girl only four years old. Watching over the cubs as they played was Karin, who never had returned to the living realm. In fact, his sister had never finished school. It was unfortunate, but she seemed content to lead a life here, and the cubs loved her while their Sires and Mapas felt relaxed enough around her to trust her with their offspring. She was the sister of the pack Alpha and the unofficial mate of one of the highest ranking members of the pack. Yylfordt held the spot behind Harribel and her current mate after all.

Thinking of his siblings, his eyes roved over the playing cubs to find his two year old niece. Tesra had been ever so nervous when the Arrancar had approached him to ask for his permission to finally initiated full on mating with Yuzu. He had agreed to it, for he knew the two would do well together and really, he couldn't say no when he, himself, had mated an Arrancar.

Yuzu was never a warrior, and the duel for dominance seemed like something she would never agree upon. From his understanding, after he had giving his permission, the two had decided to initiate a different kind of duel, some sort of cook off if he heard right. He had tuned half of it out because there was some things he DIDN'T need to know about his sister's life, and how what they had made had been use in the act of procreating….

It had been interesting since Yuzu was human, and thus had a womb full of eggs, and Tesra had been in a gigai when they mated. The result was that she hadn't had a normal hollow pregnancy at all. In fact, her pregnancy had been very human, and heavily monitored by both himself and Szayel. He swore the Natural Beta had filled ten journals on the pregnancy; one for each month of development and one for the actual birth and offspring. His niece was born looking completely human, in fact, she almost looked like a carbon copy of her mother at that age, complete with silky blond hair. The little girl was just visiting while Tesra gathered up some more rations for himself. He was living contently in the living realm with Yuzu, helping Isshin out at the clinic.

His eyes shifted to the little boy playing with his niece. That one had an impressive journal set as well, for while Szayel was the Mapa, the 'Sire' was Harribel. Szayel's theory, about how all it took was the DNA release and outwards gender was completely objective when it came to beings that were made up from thousands of souls had been proven correct. From what he understood, Szayel had basically crafted a sort of waffle bat style strap on so that when Harribel reached her release, the resulting fluid was captured by the funnel and dispensed into his body, where it was mixed with his own reiatsu and formed the cub. For once, there had been no complications, the cub was born completely fine and healthy, and Ichigo had never seen the normally stoic Harribel show such a glow as she had when she held her newly hatched son. The woman had easily adopted Szayel two other cubs as well.

As for Szayel, well, the Natural Beta FINALLY had an attentive Alpha that cared for him properly and the poor man finally got to understand just why sex was so damn great. It probably helped momentously that Harribel was as damn far away form H'tsu as you could get. Male/Female, white/bronze, chest/breast, loud/quiet, the list went on. There was absolutely nothing about Harribel that would remind anyone of H'tsu. She had also easily adjusted to and adopted Szayel's two previous cubs while making it very clear to Ichigo's hollow half that Szayel was now hers. H'tsu had pouted about it, but hadn't protested too much. In fact, Ichigo swore his hollow was actually terrified of the woman.

Shaking his head, Ichigo continued to peruse the damn near herd of cubs below him, his eyes falling on the older ones, now humanoid. At the tender age of ten they had started to seal their more animalistic forms. There was now a weapons rack by the entrance of the play ground housing the ten Zanpakuto that belonged to the ten cubs that had sealed their power. It was best not to bring something sharp and dangerous into such a rambunctious setting after all.

Unconsciously, his eyes drifted over to the two oldest cubs on the play ground. Granted, they were less cubs now and more teenagesr. Hijastro and Cachorro, both of them sixteen now, were helping their aunt keep the herd of cubs under control, with a bit of help today from a visiting Ternero.

Cachorro, a damn near spiting image of his Mapa but with a hair colour to match his soft grey fur. Hijastro, braided pink hair like her Mapa's ran down to her hips and pale skin that had most of the other Arrancar already eyeing her up for mate material, much to Szayel's cringe. Fortunately, Ichigo law was firm and only two idiots had dared to test it in the first year. He had let H'tsu deal with them and no one had ever dared to try initiating a mating again without his permission.

Speaking of the Devil, H'tsu decided to speak up, breaking him out of his reflections.

"Looks like that bull headed idiot is finally mustering up enough balls to approach you," H'tsu snorted into his mind.

"It is merely time,"Zangetsu countered.

"Zangetsu is right,"Ichigo agreed with his Zanpakuto.

Ichigo kept most of his attention on the playing cubs, six of which were his, but did let his eyes flicker to the nervous Arrancar slowly approaching him respectively. He was looking much better these days. Most of his muscle mass had returned and he was once more preened to as much perfection as the Grantz line seemed to demand. There was still the traces of a haunted look in his eyes, all of those held prisoner and experimented on by Kurotsuchi had such a look and Ichigo doubted it would ever fully go away.

"Kurosaki-sama," Yylfordt greeted him officially, using a title the Arrancar had never bothered with before. If Ichigo had any doubt that Yylfordt was here on official business, they were quelled now.

"Yylfordt," Ichigo returned. "What brings you up here?" he asked. He knew the answer of course, but there were appearances that required being kept, posturing that needed to be done rituals that needed to be observed. One got the point.

Yylfordt approached him and kneeled on the floor before him, bearing his throat in a sign of submission as he spoke.

"I humbly request your permission to officially mate your sister, Kurosaki Karin."

Ichigo offered the Arrancar a small smile, and gestured for him to get up.

"Since I value my comfortably existence, and can feel the burning glare of Karin from here," he glanced down to where his sister was sending him a threatening glare from down below, "you have my permission to court and mate my sister," he concluded.

"Thank you," Yylfordt rose and bowed. "So, can I call you Niisama now?" he asked with a quip, dropping the seriousness of the situation now that the protocol had been observed.

Ichigo chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"Technically, wouldn't I need to be the one to call you that?" he pointed out amused.

"Maybe," Yylfordt agreed. "Let's just settle on Bro."

"You call almost everyone that," Ichigo pointed out.

Yylfordt just shrugged and tossed down a winning smile towards Karin, who smirked back before turning her attention to rounding the cubs up. It was getting late and in ones and twos, the cubs were slowly being picked up by their respective parents as they got off shift from whatever job it was they had here.

Karin wasn't the only non Arrancar living in Las Nachos. Chad had remained here, as had Ishida. The first still owned a restaurant and the second had a very successful fashion line. Both offered lessons to those willing to learn.

As for Shinigami, well, Hanataro never was able to go home. The poor boy was working in the clinic alongside himself while still acting as a psychiatrist for those that required his services, and there were those that definitely needed it. Kurotsuchi had been a right royal bastard to some of those he had experimented on.

A representative from Soul Society was on hand at all times as well, mostly to make sure that Ichigo was doing as promised and not raising another army to attack them with like Aizen had done. Not that most of the higher ups believed he would, but not everyone knew him. Thus, Jushiro damn near lived here as well, the white haired Taichou finding it oddly easier to live her comfortably where the air was more heavily saturated with reishi.

Rukia and Renji were a constant here as well. The cubs adored them, especially Renji. The red haired Fukutaichou had no problems letting the cubs climb all over him and Rukia was more than willing to spend hours brushing out fur and braiding hair. All three were free to come and go as they pleased. It helped to smooth things over with the aristocrats on the other side of the dimensional wall, and if that wasn't enough, Byakuya visited infrequently as well.

"Looks like she's done with the cubs," Ichigo noted as he watched his own mate arrive from training those that did the boarder patrols.

"Yeah," Yylfordt agreed, a smile of anticipation touching his lips.

"You hurt her or any of the cubs she blesses you with, and I'll give you to H'tsu to play with for the rest of your life," he warned darkly, letting a bit of his hollow half through to put weight behind the threat.

"And I would play with him too,"H'tsu purred. "I wonder if his whimpers are as good as his brother's,"his hollow half mused.

Ichigo ignored him, and watched satisfied as Yylfordt gulped nervously and assured him he would never harm Karin or any cubs she graced him with. With that, Ichigo waved him away, and the Arrancar disappeared in a burst of Sonido that landed him beside Karin. Despite the dire warning he had just received, the blond Arrancar was damn near vibrating in anticipation as he kneeled before Karin and presented her with the long box he'd been carrying.

Ichigo watched as Karin stared at the box breathlessly, before opening it to the take out the finely crafted katana it contained. She held the sword reverently, before tossing him a thankful gaze.

"Better than some pussy ass, human, wedding ring," Grimmjow grunted, as his mate arrived to stand beside him, their impressive collection of cubs in tow.

"To her at least," Ichigo agreed, absently bending down to let his youngest son climb into his arms. As the boy had grown, he started to look less like H'tsu and more like, well, Toshiro if Ichigo was to make a comparison. "How did training go?" he asked.

"Well enough," Grimmjow shrugged. "Shall we get the brats fed and into bed?" he questioned.

His cubs let out loud protests, at least the younger ones did. Cachorro had a much later bed time than the rest, and was pretty much self depended at this stage, but he pretended to go to bed the same time they did to avoid dramatics. His eldest had his own room in the nursery wing and would be moving out soon to start his own pack and life. He'd been helping out with the livestock they had managed to bring in from Soul Society and raise. So far chickens and pigs made up the majority of it. Both were relatively easy to care for. Ichigo was hesitant to bring in cattle, they took too much feed to raise. Chickens were easy, took little space, and provided both meat and eggs. Pigs bred quickly, were content with smallish enclosures, and were content to feed off of table scraps. Pork was a common item on their menu. The last bit were goats, bred mostly for milk as they ate damn near anything and also took up little space.

Harribel and Szayel were in the process of stocking a large lake they had made with fish. Last he had heard, the plant life was almost well established enough to start putting the fish in. The ten barrels of shrimp larva they had put in two weeks ago were well established and ready. Six barrels of Namazu fry were suppose to be arriving sometime next week. If all went well, by this time next year fish would become a staple of their diet.

Grimmjow herded their cubs to the large bathing chamber to get them cleaned up while he set about making dinner for his family. A part of him couldn't help but to leave feelers out towards the breeding chamber. It was a room specifically designed to let the Arrancar go full out without fear of damaging anything around them when the first, and often subsequence, battle for dominance occurred. The room also sealed from the inside so that the newly mated couple could rest and recover from the mating without the fear of anyone interfering. Ichigo made it a tradition to meet the couple the next morning and escort them to the nursery wing, where the Beta would be kept safe while the Alpha continued to attend to his or, in Harribel and Szayel's case, her duties.

Like him Karin had given up her human body in addition to her human life. He didn't know what she had done with it and had never asked. She had been training with Yylfordt, and Grimmjow when he wasn't looking, for the last decade. While nowhere near himself in power, she had, at least, raised her abilities to be on par with the weaker Arrancar. She couldn't use Kido, no one was around to teach her anyhow, but she had mastered the use of a Katana, enough so that she could out duel pretty much anyone. It was her lack of strength and slower speed that prevented her from rising any higher, but since there was really no reason to need to go to war, that was enough. She could defend herself and that was what mattered.

He felt his sister and Yylfordt's reiatsu raise, and he knew the duel for domination had began. So intently was he following it, that he almost burned dinner, and would have had Cachorro not arrived to snap him out of his day dreaming. After that, it was another typical evening in the Kurosaki household.

Dinner was eaten, play and roughhousing ensued, whining occurred when it was bed time, and Mapa and Sire wished their cubs a good night's sleep before retreating to their own chambers. Ichigo did a quick patrol of the nursery wing, stopping to check in on Szayel and his cubs before finishing his patrol and returning to his own den.

He arrived at his room and leaned against the wall as he watched Grimmjow shed his clothing, preparing himself for bed. His eyes roved over his mate's body, noting the finely toned muscles. He licked his lips in hunger as his eyes drank in the sight of his lover. It was a sight he swore he would never get tired of.

"See something you like, Shinigami?" Grimmjow questioned with a smirk.

Ichigo couldn't help but to remember the first time Grimmjow had asked him that, years ago in his bedroom. It was a question that had started all of this. This time though, his answer wasn't a hesitant 'maybe' but to rush forward with a burst of Shunpo that had his startled mate pinned to their bed, his 'erk' of surprise silenced by the dominating kiss of the powerful Alpha.

Grimmjow's hands came up to help him rid himself of his own clothing, tearing the material in several places when it refused to co-operate. The tatters were tossed aside and skin rubbed against skin as the two of them desperately tried to get as much contact with each other as was possible. Grimmjow's claws ran down Ichigo's back, leaving raised welts in their wake. Ichigo pulled away from the kiss and nipped at Grimmjow's throat, moaning as his teeth drew blood and he lapped at the life force of his Beta. Said Beta let out gasps of his own and bared his neck in submission, silently begging for more attention. Ichigo moved to lay beside his lover and transferred his lips from this mate's neck to a nipple while his hand sought out the quickly growing arouse that was nestled amungst powder blue curls between Grimmjow's thighs. The semi hard length did not remain that way for long, and he smirked against the nipple he was teasing with his teeth as Grimmjow's hips rose up off of their nest in a bid to get more stimulation on his weeping cock.

"Kurosaki!" Grimmjow growled, his voice rough with the haze of lust.

"Hmm?" Ichigo questioned, giving the shaft he was stroking a firm squeeze.

"Fuck," Grimmjow gasped, writhing beneath his attentions.

Chuckling, Ichigo moved once more to pin his mate down, settling between his legs and rubbing their weeping erections together. He moved his chest against Grimmjow's, causing their nipples to twist and turn around each other. Grimmjow shuddered beneath him again, claws digging into this shoulders and drawing small streams of blood as he tried to hold on. Ichigo let him, returning his lips and tongue to the hollow at Grimmjow's throat, where the skin had scared after thousands of nights of being nipped at tormented.

He felt Grimmjow begin to trust against him more desperately as the Arrancar began to reach his release. Ichigo pulled away, earning a brief whine of displeasure and longing from his mate.

"Ready to go so soon?" Ichigo questioned, his own voice rough with testosterone.

"Just fuck me already," Grimmjow snarled, or tried to. His voice came out a bit hoarse with need.

Reaching over to the dresser, Ichigo pulled out a bottle of lube. He poured a generous amount onto his fingers before sitting back and smirking down at the sight of his undone mate. Grimmjow's sweat soaked body shivered as he traced the entrance with his slicked fingers, before thrusting them into his lover's compliant body. Grimmjow's hips moved to meet his fingers, seeking the heat and friction they offered. Ichigo didn't need to search for his target, his fingers knew where it was, and with two soft brushes from his index finger, Grimmjow's back arched from the bed and his madly twitching cock gave off two spurts of semen as pleasure wracked the Arrancar's body.

Satisfied, Ichigo removed his fingers and settled more comfortably between Grimmjow's thighs. With one hand he held himself over his mate, with the other he lined up his cock with Grimmjow's prepared ass and dove in. Once more Grimmjow's body arched off of the bed, and the hollow let out a cry of pleasure as the Alpha started to ride him with quick, fast thrusts into his lover's willing body. Ichigo kept the pace up for a while, almost sitting up as he trust into Grimmjow's body and enjoying the sight of his lover squirming in pleasure against the sheets of their nest.

"Does that feel good?" he questioned, feral golden eyes gazing down at his beta, his voice tainted with the reverb of hollow instinct.

Grimmjow was unable to answer save to thrust his hips up in a bid for more friction. Ichigo smirked, and leaned over his mate once more to maul his neck, this time on the less abused side. Grimmjow shivered and cried out, cum coated their stomachs as the hollow reached completion. Ichigo paused and let Grimmjow lay panting beneath him for a minute before sitting back once more and, leaving himself still buried within his lover, flipped Grimmjow around to lay on his stomach before pulling his ass into the air. Once situated, Ichigo continued, thrusting into the limp and sated body of his Beta.

Grimmjow damn near purred, his hands kneading at the blankets as Ichigo set an easy pace. After about ten minutes of languid thrusts, he snaked his hands around their joined bodies to seek out Grimmjow's semi hard length. With a few stroked of his hands against the shaft, and his own cock against Grimmjow;s prostate, the turgid flesh became solid once more. Ichigo picked up his pace, thrusting into his mate and nailing his prostate so hard that the only sounds in the room were that of the wet, slapping sound of their bodies joining and Grimmjow loud gasps and pants of pleasure. With stimulation to cock and prostate, it wasn't long before his Beta came again, spurting semen over his hands and coating their sheets, back arched and face lifted to the moon as he howled his pleasure. The shuddering body beneath him, locked in orgasmic bliss, pulled him over as well. His own back arched as his cock pulsed.

Ichigo did not pull out though, nor had he bothered with a condom. With a smirk, he let his essence flood into his Beta's willing body, filling his mate with semen. It was just about time for another cub, and seeing as how his sister was being mated right now, he might as well mate his own Beta. Pregnancy loved company after all, and seeing as how Karin had a Shinigami body, where as Yuzu and Tesra had used human and gigai, he strongly suspected his dark haired sister would have a hollow pregnancy.

Grimmjow let out a gasp and looked over his shoulder at him. No words were spoken, as they needed none. With eyes that were quickly drooping into exhausting, Grimmjow fell more comfortably onto their bed and damn near purred in pleasure as his body began to render their joint reiatsu. Ichigo pulled out and spooned up beside his beta, gently rubbing his back while kissing and nipping at his throat in a display of dominance. He remained that way until Grimmjow drifted off to sleep. Only now did Ichigo rise from their nest, took a quick shower to rinse their joining from his body, pull on his uniform, and slip from their chambers.

He had a tradition to uphold, and seeing as how this tradition involved his sister, it was one he was definitely not going to miss out on. He released the seal on the mating chamber and stepped inside. Yylfordt must have sensed him coming, for the newly minted Alpha had his Beta wrapped warmly in a blanket and held bridle style as he made for the door. Karin was asleep, a soft smile of contentment on her lips as she slumbered with her new katana, thankfully in it's sheath, cradled against her chest. What was left of the new couples clothing was in shreds scattered across the room and Yylfordt's own Zanpakuto was held at his waist with what was left of his belt.

"How did it go?" Ichigo asked his new brother-in-law.

"Well," Yylfordt answered with a wide smirk.

Ichigo led them from the chamber to the room already prepared for them. Karin didn't stir once and he could sense the vortex of reiatsu within her stomach as her body rendered it into what would be his new niece or nephew. Yylfrodt's body had several lines of what looked like slash marks on it, indicating Karin had gotten some hits in on her Alpha during the test of dominance.

"Beside your's huh. I almost feel like you don't trust me bro," Yylfordt chuckled as Ichigo opened to door to the den next to his own.

He offered Yylfordt a smile that was half amusement and half threat. This was his sister they were talking about after all.

Yylfordt looked at the wall separating their rooms from eachother even as he settled Karin into the nest. He raised one golden eyebrow as his seeking reiatsu found Grimmjow's obviously mated body.

"Good night, and remember, Yylfordt," Ichigo let a bit of H'tsu come forth, "if you hurt her or her cubs, you will live to regret it."

The new Alpha nodded his head wearily, before settling into the nest behind his new mate and spooning up against her. Ichigo left, but not before looking back once more to see his sister murmur pleasantly in her sleep and shift back to soak in her mate's heat.

Ichigo returned to his own room where he slipped back into his own nest and pulled his own Beta tight to his chest.

"All go good? Grimmjow questioned sleepily.

"Yes, all is good."

Oh god it's over. Should I throw a party or hide in my bunker? Huge loves and hugs for everyone that reviewed.

Story Stats:

Pages: 656

Words: 274,994

Well, here it is, another completed fanfict. I may go back at some point and edit a few chapters that are a little painful to read due to spelling and grammar errors, but otherwise, it is done. I hope you enjoyed it Blackstorm, and anyone else who is into Ichi/Grimm. Will I do another? Not any time soon. I have to finish POV 2 before I think of any other stories. If you would like to use this universe, and any of the terms or pregnancy idea's I used here, you are welcome to do so provided credit and a link are returned to this story.

In parting, one thing I do ask is that if you read this story, you drop a review and say so. No need to log in or anything.