A/N: (This is the last chapter! Thank you so much for reading Wherever you are! More author notes at the bottom.

~meowmeow814)

The fresh scent of the soil enveloped him. Gentle drizzling enshrouded him, its constant droplets bouncing off the tin roofs dully. A pale porcelain hand slowly unfurled and felt the rain. The ever familiar rain…

The mist cleared. He was back again. To that time. To that rain. To that girl from ten years ago. She was crouching by the side of the street, entranced by the gingko leaf that he had dropped to watch her reaction. It fell into the drain and the magic disappeared.

She clenched her umbrella, the exact same one as Kana's years later. She stared into the drain a bit more before gritting her teeth.

"I am going to make that bastard who hurt Soyo pay, that bastard who couldn't even protect her, who…who destroyed her heart..." she muttered, almost subconsciously.

Back then, ten years ago, he had thought that she had meant him. For not protecting… that someone. For not protecting Soyo-hime's heart. But now he knew that he was wrong, all wrong.

"Oi, China."

She turned around, her eyes already bloodshot from tears of guilt and shame over Kamui. "O-oh look, it's the stupid pol-"

Her eyes widened in shock as he embraced her, fiercely. She let go of her umbrella, letting it roll down the street. Their hearts raced, they could feel each others' heart beats through their wet clothes. She blushed, a bright scarlet that matched her hair.

"Wha, w-what are y-you doing, get off me-"

"No, I won't. I love you, and I won't stop until you say that you love me back."

"What?! H-how can you be so sure?!"

"Because I can be. Just say yes, you know it's true."

Her head felt dizzy with the rush of adrenaline. She felt lightheaded because of the surprise- no. No, she knew that she was lying to herself. She was dizzy and lightheaded because it was all too good to be true.

"I… I… I am in love with you..."

He let go and brushed her dripping hair, touched her burning cheek, stared into her shining eyes that mirrored his own.

The landscape suddenly started to wash away and Okita felt himself whisked along, helpless to his fate, his outstretched arms grasping at nothing. He shut his eyes.

It stopped. He opened them.

He was back to his own age again, but this time there was no rain. He looked down in surprise to see that he was standing on the water. The sky was wide, with clouds foaming above and plodding along like sheep. Hmm, guess I shouldn't be surprised; this is that typical anime scene like in April is your lie, Tokyo Ghoul…

"Oi, just because this is a fanfic doesn't mean that you can plagiarize it like the stupid Gorilla author, Sadist."

He turned and his breath was stolen away. She was beautiful. She had an amused grin, her hair now longer than he had ever seen it, but the scarlet was still the same. Her umbrella was still the same. But of course, of all the things he could've said, he asked stupidly, "Wait, you can read my thoughts?"

"... Out of all the things, that's what you ask?"

As he stuttered for words, she laughed. Not the delicate kind but a warm chuckle from the bottom of her heart. "To answer your question, no. I just assumed that since you are a Gintama character, even in a place like here."

"O-oh, I see… But where is here?" He looked up at the clear skies casually. "Seems nice."

Her smile became a bit more bitter, maybe a bit more sweeter. "The place you go where you die, maybe?"

Okita's throat dried. His heart skidded to a halt. "But, but I, the past, right now-"

"No one can change the past. You must know that, Sadist. Do not delude yourself." She also looked up at the sky this time. "That was a what if. Apparently, in this world, we can all grant one wish to the person whom we love the most." She laughed in embarrassment. "Yours was that, it seems."

"But… does that mean that I'm dead too?"

"Oh no. You're alive and well back in the living world. But it seems that someone who really cherished me granted my wish when he came into this world." She looked back at Okita with a sad smile.

Guilt crashed down on him as he remembered. "I-I… I can't… I'm sorry for… both… and…" He closed his eyes, but he could only see the redhead fall more vividly in his mind than when he saw the sister. Of the girl- no, Kana, breathing her last in his arms.

A light touch flitted on his lips, the brush of an angel's breath. Okita opened his eyes in shock. Kagura stepped back and rubbed her eyes, forcing laugh. "It's not your fault, you don't need to apologize for their actions, they're both in better places now, the other one's wandering a bit but she'll reach here, I'm sure of it, I-I'm sorry, I should be the one comforting you but I-"

And then this time, he gently pulled away her hands and kissed her. And she returned it. Their longing twined like two vines, two honeysuckles, two star-crossed lovers. Their passion, their desire, their lust, their love, their loneliness, their incompleteness; everything melted into one as it deepened. She fit so perfectly; She was the rest of his moon when it was a crescent, she was everything that solved what couldn't be solved while being everything that couldn't ever be solved. She was Kagura, she was China. She was his love. Her lips and her heart were his, as his lips and his heart were hers.

When it ended, he knew that it was the end. 'Why do humans love denial so much?' She smiled one last smile, brighter than anything that he had ever seen or would ever see. But this longing, this aching, it won't stop. Tears streamed down as fingers touched for the last time, and the world faded away…

He woke up with a start. He was in a hospital, under clean sheets with multiple bandages and stitches. Tears were dripping down his face. He attempted to brush them away.

"Ow!" He flinched and saw that his arm was connected to an IV.

"O-Okita-san?"

He sucked in a breath at the familiar call, but out came only Shinpachi and Gintoki from the door. He inwardly berated himself for assuming that it was Kana. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

"Uh, you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

"But, tears."

"... Then could you give me something to wipe them off."

Shinpachi hurriedly yanked out a handkerchief, and Okita somehow managed to wipe his eyes with his other hand. He gruffly gave it back.

"So… is there a reason why you're here?"

"Ah no, we're only here because we were worr- Ugf!"

Gintoki elbowed Shinpachi in the stomach and smoothly ended it with, "Because that Mayo bastard paid us to since he's the one worried."

"Oi, that's practically the same- Agggh, my glasses!"

"Shut up Patsan or do you want me to destroy your Otsu pillow when we get home?!"

As they bantered back and forth, Okita sighed and shook his head sadly at the future of humanity. As more random characters began to flood in from the ceiling, the other hospital beds, the walls, the floors, and basically anywhere but the door, he glanced outside. It had clouded over and had begun to drizzle.

The sky, just a vast horizon of gray, reflected his mood well. Perhaps grim would be the right word for it, but what would he know? Since when did rain have any emotions anyway? Oh look, isn't that a gingko leaf floating in the rainwater?

...I hope my "what if" is doing well.

A/N: And that's it! Thank you to all the readers who read Wherever you are! It's been really fun to write, not to mention the full complete story I've ever written. ^^ I hope that it's been as fun to read as it had been as fun to write. Sorry for any ultra-angsty ness, I think I'm obsessed with tragedies. Also for any Ooc-ness, excess violence, cursing, and for the one oc. Thanks again for reading!

~meowmeow814

P.S. If anyone was wondering, I titled each chapter as parts of a published book (well, except for this chapter I guess) because I titled the first and second chapters before thinking of continuing the fanfiction. Or maybe you could think of the fanfiction as one long story like in a book. Whichever pleases you. :) It is again raining today, befitting for the end of this story.