Epilogue

SIX MONTHS LATER

A soft rain began misting down on the black clad gathering as an elegant coffin was lowered into the grave on the grounds of the Kinoshita Mansion. Sakura Yamaguchi stood with all the other mourners at Lady Clara Kinoshita's final good-bye, her black lace clad hands clasped around the straps of the elegant purse that was one of Clara's final gifts to her before she went into the hospital for the last time. Inside the purse, Sakura found a letter that detailed Clara's part in everything that happened to her over the past year. It was begun and ended by a very elegantly written apology and no matter how much Sakura wanted to hate the other girl for everything that happened she couldn't.

There was a pop and a large black umbrella appeared over her head held by the tall form of Reiji Kinoshita dressed in his usual perfectly pressed dark suit. He gave her a tender smile. "Are you ready to go, Lady Sakura?"

"CUT!"

Click.

"And that's a wrap! Perfect take! Thank you so much Tsuruga-san, Miwa-san!"

Makoto Miyano clapped delightedly as she watched the footage and rewound it again to check it one more time. The crowd of extras dressed in mourning garb dispersed and Ren Tsuruga and Miyako Miwa moved away from the set and towards the side of the cameras where Kyoko watched the final scenes of her first starring drama filmed. Even though Kyoko wasn't in the final scenes herself she wasn't quite ready to say good-bye to the cast and crew on the last day she filmed and so she talked Mia into making room in the schedule so she could be here.

Mia was speaking quietly with Yashiro about something several feet away, but Kyoko only had eyes for her…boyfriend…the thought still brought a rush of color to her cheeks, but they'd more or less finally crossed that final bridge to put a name on what they were.

Miyako reached Kyoko first and flung her arms around the chestnut-haired girl and Kyoko returned the hug. "You did wonderfully, Miyako-chan," she smiled. "You'll definitely get noticed now. I think you'll be so busy we won't have time for our tea dates at Darumaya anymore."

"Don't say that!" Miyako wailed and buried her face in Kyoko's shoulder. "I don't ever want to not have time for tea with you!"

Kyoko smiled gently.

"Oh!"

Miyako drew back and smiled at Kyoko. "Congratulations on your nomination!"

"It's not like it's official or anything yet…" Kyoko's cheeks started burning for a completely different reason.

The first episodes of Windows were released a little while ago to critical acclaim and there were rumors that Kyoko may find herself nominated for the award of "Best Break-Out Talent in a Drama", her first nod and the first step in the long climb to the top.

"Miyako-chan, we've got to go, you have an interview before we go to the wrap party tonight!" Rei called.

"I'm coming!" Miyako said and beamed at Kyoko and turned a smile on Ren. "Thank you for helping me so much Tsuruga-san, it was truly an honor to work with you. I hope we can do it again someday!"

"I'll look forward to it," Ren said with a smile, an actual genuine smile that lit up his face with warmth.

There might have been a time where Kyoko would find herself a little jealous to see Ren Tsuruga's real smile unleashed on anyone but her, but this was not that time anymore. Miyako ran off and Ren turned his attention to Kyoko. "Would Mogami-san object if I were to suggest that I provide a ride to the wrap party this evening?" he asked.

Of necessity, until Kyoko turned twenty and was an adult in the eyes of the law, their relationship was kept under wraps with only a few people knowing of it.

"I would not object at all," Kyoko smiled.

"She'll be ready at 6:30 PM sharp," Mia announced strolling up to them with Yashiro at her back. "Yukihito and I made appropriate arrangements to make sure that everything goes smoothly. Uncle Zach is going to be on security detail since Alex is off the grid so to speak somewhere with far too much sun for this time of year."

"Thank you," Kyoko smiled. "Tell him not to get too sunburned. I'd hate for the drama to have a late start because he couldn't take care of himself."

Mia chuckled. "I'm pretty sure he has a personal assistant on hand to keep him from making that particular mistake."

Kyoko realized something belatedly and her gaze flew between Mia and Yashiro in shock. "Did you just—" she began.

Mia put a finger to her lips and shook her head. "Sometimes things need to be kept secret and, in our business, that's okay. As long as those close to you know what's important."

FINAL NOTE: Thank you all once again for taking this wonderful ride with me and I hope that you enjoyed the final chapters of Transparent Wings. At one point or another, I was going to revisit this particular world and take another wild ride, but I think this is going to be the final shot. As mentioned before, the world of Skip Beat! belongs to Yoshiki Nakamura and while I'm still following the manga the world's shifted a little too much for me to continue on.

The original characters contained herein are mine (Mia & Alex Akizaki, their family members, "Uncle Zach", and Sioghnal Finnegan specifically are all members of the cast of "Here there be Dragons" an urban fantasy where Alex & Mia really are Fairies (Well 1/4 Fae, 1/2 Dragon, & 1/4 Human) and Sioghnal is the Earth Dragon ^_^)

If you're looking to possibly catch more of my writing, I'll be posting and Archive of Our Own as Yuki Seki (for anime) & Jaidan Mosra (for Star Wars which is my current obsession), but you can follow "Myriai" I think to catch anything I post. I have a rewrite of my Katekyo Hitman Reborn! fic in progress and with the new Fruits Basket I may end up revisiting that world at some point-I love the 2019 version as much or more than I loved the original Fruits Basket. However, honestly until the end of the year with the hype around Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker-I'm probably going to do most of my fan fic flitting in a galaxy far, far away.

Feel free to check in with me at my Facebook Page: yukisekifanfic/

If for some reason, you're interested in my original writing, I will be launching a comic written by me (illustrated by a friend) in January 2020. I also have the light novel version of "Here there be Dragons" in progress as well as an adult science fiction novel I plan to release by the end of 2019 via Amazon's KDP.

If none of that interests you, we're cool ^_^

Thank you again for reading my story and please let me know what you thought!

Until next time!

Thank you so much—you guys are amazing!

Deepest Regards,

~ Yuki