Epilogue - The Finale

"Neee Rin sensei, are you sure that we aren't going to Ichiraku Ramen?" Naruto moaned. His head was still jerked backwards, staring longingly at his favorite food stall in the entire village. Even though they had already passed the shop, Naruto still clung onto that tiny tendril of hope until they rounded the corner. Letting out a defeated sigh, Naruto resigned himself to allowing himself to be dragged forward by Rin to who knows where.

How was he supposed to know what she wanted when she randomly showed up in the middle of his training session and commanded him to go with her?

"Where are we going anyways?" The question had been burning at the tip of his tongue ever since she showed up, but the air of authority that she exhibited had kept his mouth shut. But he couldn't stand it anymore.

"You'll see," was her ever cryptic response.

Of all of the places that Naruto thought she would bring him to, the graveyard wasn't even on his list. He followed her to the fifth row, walking about halfway down the row until she stopped. A box laid on the grass in front of the graves.

His eyes swung to the headstones, reading the names on the epitaph.

Minato Namikaze. Kushina Uzumaki.

"My parents," Naruto stated flatly, reading in the details written underneath their names. Since his father was the Yondaime and that reverence had been extended to his wife, it hadn't been unexpected to see multiple bouquets of flowers already lying in front of their headstones. The only thing that Naruto couldn't comprehend was why one of the bundles of flowers wasn't from him.

He should have been here a long time ago.

"I'm guessing Izumi told you about them?"

"A bit," Naruto confessed. "But she only showed me a picture and told me their names. She told me that she didn't know much about them because she didn't know them personally, but that you and Kakashi did."

Rin's gaze softened. "I'm sorry that Kakashi and I never told you about your parents. We were just too caught up in our own problems and I know that's not an excuse at all. Kami, your mother is going to murder me in the next life. I didn't keep my promise to her."

"That's okay. You were there for me when no one else was."

Hearing those words come out of Rin's mouth only reminded her of how much Naruto had matured. No longer was the legacy that her sensei left behind, but rather he had carved out his own reputation with his own merit.

Naruto plopped down on the grass, sitting cross legged. He patted the empty spot next to her, inviting her to sit down. She did.

"Can you tell me about my parents?"

"It's a long story."

Naruto shrugged. "I have time."

And so Rin did, not leaving a single detail out. She was sure that Minato sensei wouldn't appreciate her telling his son of all the times that she caught him interacting awkwardly with Kushina or how he'd always lingered by the ramen stand even though he wasn't particularly fond of ramen just to catch a glimpse of the red head or how the famed Yellow Flash was uncharacteristically moody after a minor argument with Kushina or how he sought out Jiraiya of all people to ask for relationship advice that ended with Minato sporting a bleeding nose and a swollen eye. Despite all of the embarrassing times, Rin made up for it by listing all of her Sensei's badass moments on the battlefield.

"You know in the bingo book, he had a flee on sight order," Rin told him enthusiastically. "You should have seen him. Sensei would brush the strap of his backpack off of shoulder and by the time it landed on the ground, he was already gone. When I was genin, I never felt unsafe on our missions because I always knew that he was there."

"The same teleportation jutsu that you and Kakashi sensei use?"

"Yes." Reminded of something, Rin dug around in the box until she found what she was looking for. A three pronged kunai, Minato sensei's trademark weapon. She handed it over to Naruto, who hesitantly took it.

"Isn't this Kakashi sensei's weapon? He gave us one during the chunin exams."

"It's different," Rin insisted. "This one is the original copy belonging to your father. We modified the sealing formula to cater to Kakashi and mine's chakra, but we never altered this one. Minato sensei gave this kunai to Kakashi as his gift for being promoted to jonin. After your father died, Kakashi stowed it away because he wanted to pass it along to you one day."

Naruto tossed the kunai up and down in his hands, testing out the weight.

"Tou san was so cool! Can you teach me the jutsu too?"

"Sure," Rin agreed, laughing lightly. "You'll have to refine your chakra control though. Since it's a space time ninjutsu, if you use too much chakra, you'll be blown into pieces. Even Kakashi had to refine his chakra control a bit further to use the technique."

Naruto gulped upon the revelation. "Ahhhh, maybe not then. It sucks that I won't be able to inherit any of my parent's techniques."

"That's not true," Rin said while she dug around in the box again. "The Rasengan was your father's technique. He was working on the Rasenshuriken before he died and so he passed the technique along to Kakashi. Even after a decade, Kakashi could only form the incomplete version of your Rasenshuriken. So in a way, you completed one of your father's jutsus."

Rin's hand emerged from the box with a red scroll.

"Your mother was a specialist in fuinjutsu. She was the one who taught your father and then she taught me under the condition that I would teach it to you someday. When you were younger, I tried to get you to learn the strokes, but you were always more interested in throwing shurikens with Sasuke instead."

She pressed the scroll into Naruto's open palm. "I know that you are leaving to train in a few days, but I want you to have the scroll while you are on the road. If you are interested in learning more beyond the basics, I can teach you when you get back."

His fingers curled around the scroll.

"Will you be here when I get back?"

Rin nodded. "I don't think I'm going anywhere anytime soon. Or rather, I don't think Kakashi will let me go anywhere." Rin gestured vaguely in the general direction of her stomach. Naruto was slow to understand, but when understanding dawned on him, a smile split across his face.

"Congratulations! I can't wait to see a mini sensei running around when I get back!"

"Yeah right, if this kid is anything like Kakashi, all he'll do is train."

Naruto laughed heartily. "Still a mini Kakashi. Maybe I'll finally be able to see what's underneath his mask through his kid. Say, can you tell me more about you and Kakashi sensei? Don't tell Kakashi sensei, but whenever we're bored on missions, all we do is speculate on how the two of you got together. And what's under his mask, of course."

Rin shrugged. "It's just a normal face."

Naruto's mouth fell open in shock. "No way! No buck teeth?"

Rin shook her head.

"No big lips?"

"They're normal size."

"His face is completely normal? I can't believe it!" Naruto exclaimed. "Why does he wear a mask then?"

"Hmm, I don't know actually. I never asked and he never told me."

"Did he wear it as a kid?"

"Yes. When I first met him at the Academy, he was already wearing the mask."

"Urgh, that's so frustrating. Can you still tell about when you were younger?"

"Ah well, let's see, where to begin…"

The day that Team Minato formed seemed like an appropriate starting point. She told him of their team dynamic, the banters that occurred between Kakashi and Obito. Naruto was completely in awe that kid Kakashi had been a completely different person.

Then it came time for the Kannabi Bridge mission. Rin quickly glossed over the details, still unwilling to recall the details of the mission in clarity, especially knowing that it had been her fault that Obito was in the caves in the first place. If she hadn't been so weak, she wouldn't have been taken hostage, Obito wouldn't go after her, Kakashi wouldn't lose his eye, Obito would still be alive, and then there wouldn't be a chance for Madara Uchiha to brainwash him and turn him against Konoha.

Obito would still be alive today and perhaps, even Hokage.

The Kyuubi attack likely wouldn't have happened.

There was no use spiraling down that rabbit hole again, so Rin tried to push those thoughts out of her head.

Then came the story of how she became a jinchuuriki.

The story of how it all began.

It was eerily silent. Even the birds, who decided the branches of the trees in the Uchiha compound was the best place to make their nests, were long gone. All that remained was the faint memories of the sound of birds chirping every morning, eight o'clock on the dot.

For the first time in Itachi's memories, the main house was empty. Every morning, Itachi would always find his father sitting at the kitchen table with a newspaper spread across the table. The steam escaping from the mug that was placed within his father's reach was always the first thing that caught Itachi's attention. Like clockwork, Itachi would casually stroll past the table, craning his head to get a look at the contents of the mug or a whiff of the scent.

It was one of their ongoing challenges: to see if Itachi could identify the type of tea that Fugaku was drinking since he switched it up every single day. At the beginning of the challenge, Itachi was losing terribly, but as time passed, Itachi started to pick up on a pattern. Combined with soaking up knowledge from Rin about the different types of herbs, Itachi started to catch up.

Their current store was a tie and it remained stagnant for the last ten years. No victor would ever be declared.

Itachi moved to the kitchen. Dust coated everything from the countertops to the floor to the sink. His mother had an uncanny obsession with maintaining cleanliness in the household, always the one to meet him at the front door after a mission and shove him straight into the bathroom to shower, and if she was the one standing here today, Mikoto would most certainly throw a fit.

The wooden door to the pantry creaked loudly. Peering inside, Itachi noted that it contained the porcelain set that his mother had been gifted for her wedding, one that Mikoto only used for special occasions. The dishes were stacked neatly on top of each other, from the largest to the smallest, followed by the bowls on top of the smallest dish. The teacups were placed upside down on the sides of the largest plate.

Itachi shut the door with more force than necessary, causing dust to float in the air. Instinctively, Itachi slid his arm over his face so that the crook of his elbow covered his nose. He was quick to leave the kitchen albeit more carefully this time in order to not stir up too much dust.

In his haste, Itachi hadn't given much thought to where he was going. By the time his eyes landed on the massive brown stain in the middle of the room, it was too late. It seemed like fate had a way of messing with him, of all the places that he wanted to avoid, it was the living room of his own home.

The other stains throughout the Uchiha compound didn't bother him, simply because it was just blood to him. Itachi didn't know whose blood it belonged to, perhaps it belonged to multiple people. But this particular stain in front of him…

No matter how he tried, Itachi would never forget.

And he wasn't sure he wanted to forget, the pain associated with being haunted by this particular memory was what kept him grounded to reality. He was alive, but he was suffering for it.

Briefly his thoughts flickered to Shisui, who was currently on the other side of the compound, presumably exploring his own home. He wondered if his cousin felt the same way that he did.

Itachi forced himself to tear his eyes away from the stains; he didn't need a reminder when the memory still remained so fresh in his head. He whirled around, promising to come back another day when he was more prepared, only to stop short when he saw his childhood friend standing in front of him.

"Izumi."

"I figured you would be here," Izumi stated softly. "Your habits haven't changed at all, has it?"

Itachi didn't have a response for her. In fact, he was at an utter loss of what to say to her. The last time they met, Itachi was too preoccupied with battling Kisame to speak to her, then the time prior to that, Itachi had harshly turned her down knowing that he was going to slaughter their entire clan a few hours later.

He wondered if it had been a good idea to have allowed himself to grow attached to her; after all, she hadn't been part of the plan. Sasuke was supposed to be the sole survivor of that night, but something caused him to change his plans barely twenty four hours before the massacre was set to take place.

Meeting her again hadn't been part of his plans either. Itachi always thought he would die before he had the opportunity to return to Konoha as an ally. But now that Izumi was standing in front of him once more, he was at a loss for words.

Sorry for killing the entire clan? That sounded too insensitive.

His mind flickered back to the message that he wanted Rin to pass along to Izumi and Sasuke if he died.

Tell the two of them that I will love them, always. That didn't seem appropriate either; they probably hated him after everything he had done.

And Itachi deserved it.

So he settled for saying nothing. He didn't ask for forgiveness because he didn't deserve it. He didn't ask how Izumi had been because the moment that he walked out of her life, he lost all rights to know. He didn't ask about Sasuke because he wasn't fit to be his older brother. Older brothers were supposed to be a role model for the younger, yet with his record full of crimes that would get him sentenced to death by Konoha's council, Itachi hadn't been exactly that.

"The truth behind the Uchiha massacre has been publicized," Izumi said. It seemed like nothing had changed between them; Izumi was still the one to fill the silence in their conversations. Yet Itachi couldn't delude himself into believing that.

Everything had changed.

"I understand why you had to do it, but did it really have to come to that?" Izumi questioned softly.

"You were there," Itachi answered. "Everything was fine until Danzo started to fuel the flames between us and the village. Even if Shisui and I were against the coup, they were going to revolt anyways. The last thing that Konoha needed was a civil war."

"So you took matters into your own hands."

"When it came down to it, Shisui and I would have chosen to stand with the village. We would have been pitted against our own clansmen, our family, our friends. I didn't want to see that happen."

"Then why didn't you kill me too? I can understand Sasuke, but why me?"

Those three words were right at the tip of his tongue, but Itachi forced himself to swallow them. He couldn't do that to Izumi; he didn't have any right to barge back into her life after he forcibly removed himself from it.

So he settled for a half truth instead. "Sasuke needed someone to look out for him."

"No," Izumi countered. "You are the one that needs someone to look out for. Underneath that tough exterior, I can tell that you're breaking, Itachi. It's okay, you can let it all out."

Itachi didn't. Even if he wanted to, it had been so long that he kept his feelings enclosed that he didn't know how to let it out. It was better if he didn't have to deal with them at all, but for all that he was, Itachi was still human.

A human with all sorts of complex emotions that he didn't know how to deal with.

"Do you hate me?"

There, Itachi had finally done it. Even though it was almost certain that she did, he just wanted to hear for himself to get closure. Closure was good. Closure would help him move on and stop clinging onto the past.

Only Izumi failed to meet his expectations. "No. At one point I did, but at some point I realized that none of it really mattered. The Uchihas never liked me anyways. I think I was more torn up that the Uchihas that I did care about betrayed the village. But now that I know the truth behind the massacre, I only wished that you didn't choose to shoulder the burden by yourself. You should have let me in on the plan."

Itachi shook his head. "You would never have gathered the resolve to kill them."

"You still could have told me."

"You would have tried to stop us," Itachi countered. "Besides, it was better if you lived unaware so that you won't have to bear the burden of the knowledge."

"What about Rin and Kakashi?"

"Rin wouldn't have let me leave the village if I didn't tell her. I knew that she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret from Kakashi, so I told her that she should tell him and no one else. It's not her fault that she didn't tell you; I was the one who made her promise. It turned out to be alright because they became our correspondences to Konoha."

"So she found out afterwards?"

Itachi nodded. "They do not belong to the Uchiha clan; the burden wasn't theirs to bear."

Sensing that Izumi was going to argue against him, Itachi shot her a pointed look. "It wasn't your burden to bear either. As the clan heir…"

Nothing more had to be said. A mutual understanding passed through them.

"What are you going to do now?"

Itachi shrugged.

"What about Sasuke?"

Itachi's dark eyes bore into hers. "Send him my regards."

"You're not going to go see him?"

"I'm not staying."

Izumi's eyes widened. "Why? Everyone knows the truth now. You're not a traitor or a missing nin anymore."

"I don't belong here. Never have, never will."

Someone was calling her name, but Rin simply groaned and rolled over to her other side. Pulling the blanket over her head, she tried to block out the noise. But whoever it was, was relentless.

When she felt something touch her nose, Rin finally forced her eyes to slide open. Blinking a couple of times to get rid of the blurriness, her eyes finally landed on the culprit.

"Pakkun? What are you doing here?"

"You were supposed to show up to the council meeting and when you weren't there, Kakashi sent me to check up on you."

Oh, Rin had completely forgotten about that. Was it noon already?

She had slept longer than she had thought.

"How long has the meeting been going on?" Rin asked wearily. A part of her hoped that the meeting was already done because she really didn't feel like she could successfully stand up without throwing up, but the other part of her knew that if the meeting was still going, she would go.

No matter how late she would be.

"Kakashi said to not worry about it," Pakkun informed her. "Besides, if he knew, he wouldn't want you to overexert yourself anyways."

Rin blinked in surprise. Pakkun must have already noticed her change in scent. "Don't tell him just yet. I want to be the one to do it."

Pakkun nodded, taking a few steps towards her to curl up by her side.

"Go back to sleep."

Rin fell asleep again.

The next time that she woke was when she felt a noticeable dip in the mattress, followed by a pair of arms circling her waist. Pakkun was no longer in sight, probably dismissed since the summoner was back. She shifted her body slightly so that she could see Kakashi's face.

"What time is it?" Rin murmured, still feeling a little bit groggy. The good news was that she didn't feel the sensation of bile threatening to make its way up her throat.

"Around two."

"Two? Aren't you supposed to be at the Hokage's office?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Pakkun told me that you weren't feeling well so I wanted to check up on you. Don't worry, I already caught up on my paperwork so I can afford to slip away for a bit."

Prying Kakashi's hold from her waist, Rin moved to position herself in an upright position. Kakashi aided her by grabbing the pillow and rearranging it so her back could rest against it.

"Kakashi, I have something to tell you." It was now or never. Kakashi would find out eventually, whether through her stomach showing or through his sense of smell. While his nose wasn't as sharp as Pakkun's, he would start noticing eventually.

For Rin, she harbored mixed feelings on the subject, but the scariest part was stepping into the unknown. The topic had never come up in between them; even marriage had been a quiet, and quick affair, just a simple registration. The two of them had been too busy trying to protect the village to even think about it.

By this point, Kakashi was practically an open book for her. Yet, even Rin didn't know what his reaction would be to this news.

Kakashi nodded for her to go on.

"I'm pregnant."

Rin was glad that Kakashi didn't try to put on a fake reaction for her sake. Judging from the way his eyebrows furrowed upon receiving the news, Kakashi was processing. Unlike her, he didn't have an extra month to process the news. She wouldn't have found out as soon as she did if it wasn't for her sensory skills.

Kakashi finally spoke. "How far along?"

"About six weeks."

Rin could practically see the gears turning in his head as he mentally calculated the number of weeks left until delivery. The number of weeks that they had to prepare. The number of weeks left until their life irrevocably changed.

"What are you thinking?" Rin prodded.

"I don't know if I would be a good father." That was expected, considering neither of them grew up in a stable childhood environment and Kakashi spent a great part of his life resenting his father.

"Me either," Rin confessed. "But I suppose that Minato and Kushina are the closest that we had to parents."

"I-" Rin choked up. "I'm also scared that there will be a repeat of the Kyuubi attack. Ever since I found out, I have nightmares that Isobu will be extracted from me just like Kurama was extracted from Kushina and I-"

"Shh."

Rin fell silent, breathing in and out to calm herself down.

"I'll make sure that doesn't happen this time around," Kakashi tried to console her. "I know it's scary to think about, but the mask man is gone."

Getting a front row view of the Kyuubi extraction that night had scarred her for life to the point where Rin decided that she never wanted to have any kids. But now that it happened, her emotions were conflicted. The fear was still there, but seeing Kurenai and Asuma with little Mirai made her want that for her herself too.

"Are you sure? We don't even have to-"

"I want to," Kakashi firmly stated. "Even though I'm going to run straight to Asuma for advice once this conversation is over because I'm freaking out on the inside, I want this kid as much as you do. I know you do. Ever since you were young, you always talked about starting a family."

"I know, but I think that changed on the night of Kushina's death. I'm so scared."

His fingers looped through hers. He squeezed her hand tightly. "I'll be there with you every step of the way. I'll dig up Kushina's old scrolls and start brushing up on my fuinjutsu. I can even transport you to the Kamui dimension; no one will be able to attack us there."

And once again, she was reminded how fortunate she was to have him by her side.

"Thank you."

It had been such a long time since the four of them were seated together at the same table that Rin wished this meetup would never end. Unfortunately, each of them had their own duties to return to eventually.

They met at a tea shop located outside of the village, about half an hour travel in the westward direction from the main gates. It was a quaint shop, serving a variety of freshly brewed teas and some sweets. Itachi had naturally ordered a few sticks of dango. Kakashi and Shisui settled for some kind of herbal tea, while Rin opted for nothing.

She didn't want to consume anything that would upset her stomach and consequently cut this reunion short. It would be awhile before she saw either of them again.

For the first time, Itachi and Shisui had forgone wearing clothing with the Uchiha symbol stitched on the back. Instead, they wore plain black and gray shirts, complementing their hair colors. Their foreheads were devoid of the Konoha headband. Rather, they were tucked away in the pockets of their pants.

Kakashi and Rin had forgone the Konoha headband as well, simply not wanting to draw attention to themselves. Rather than wearing the full set of shinobi gear, Kakashi opted to wear just the navy undershirt and pants. So far, no one has recognized him as the Hokage yet, so that was good.

"Maa, are you sure that you don't want to stay? Shikaku san and Wolf want to retire and I think that the two of you would be perfect to fill the Jonin Commander and Anbu Commander roles."

"Thanks for the offer, but yes, we already made up our minds," Shisui answered. He stole a piece of dango from Itachi, earning himself a glare in the process. "Even with the truth out, there are still quite a lot of people who still aren't open to the idea of seeing us around the village."

"Konoha is your home too," Kakashi argued. "The home that you sacrificed everything to save."

Shisui smiled. "I know. It's not like we don't plan on coming back, we just figured that the villagers need a bit of time before they come around. Besides, Itachi and I never got around to exploring the world during our time at the Akatsuki and this is the perfect opportunity for us to do that."

"That is, if we have your permission, Hokage sama," Shisui cheekily tacked on.

Kakashi rolled his eye, lazily waving a hand to wave them off. "Permission granted. Wouldn't want you to actually go rogue this time if I denied your request."

"You know it."

"Time limit is seven months though," Rin added. "You better be back in time to see the baby."

Shisui nodded excitedly. "Of course. We wouldn't miss it for the world, right Itachi?" Shisui not so subtly elbowed his cousin in the side to jerk him out of his self induced daze.

Itachi cleared his throat. "Shisui is right."

"What's bothering you?"

"Ah, not much. It's just…"

"Your conversation with Izumi?" Rin finished for him. Itachi nodded. "Don't worry about her. She doesn't blame you for what you did. Well I'm sure you know since you talked to her."

"Yeah, but I don't think we could ever go back to the way we were."

Ah, so that was what Itachi was concerned about.

"Don't worry about it. Maybe by the time that you come back, she'll have come around." Or rather, Rin was certain that they could start back up where they had left off since her friend confided in her more than once that even with all these years, the feelings never waned. But she didn't want to tell Itachi; that was for Izumi to say.

Itachi nodded, quietly accepting her words of comfort.

Shisui finished the last of his tea. Nudging Itachi in the shoulder, the two of them stood up.

"It's time for us to go."

"Be careful. Don't forget to answer my correspondences once in a while."

"Will do."

Kakashi and Rin watched as the two of them left the tea shop. Through the window, they spotted Itachi and Shisui throwing on their cloaks before heading down the road. Their backs grew smaller and smaller in the distance until they disappeared from their line of sight altogether.

Seven months was manageable.

After all, they already waited eleven years.

The End.

A/N: Can I just say FINALLY? Hello, for the last time. Sorry in advance for the super long note ahead, but there's a lot of things that I wanted to share!

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favorited, followed, or read the story to make it to this point! Knowing that there were other people reading the story besides myself is what spurred me to finish this story, even after a five month slump in writing.

Lots of things happened in this story that aren't necessarily my proudest writing or idea, but I'm glad I pulled through with converting this story from a 500 word excerpt that I wrote back in 2015 to a full length story.

So what's up with the ending? I never decided whether Jiraiya died or not, that's bad writing on my part but to be honest, it could go either way. I'll leave that up to you guys to decide. I chose to write about Izumi and Itachi instead of Sasuke and Itachi because I felt that we already got a version of what Sasuke and Itachi would have looked like from anime. Besides, this version of Sasuke isn't that fleshed out so I have no idea how their conversation will go. And well, I really wanted to throw in a bit of Izumi/Itachi pairing because there weren't enough of them in filler.

What will happen to Itachi and Shisui? In the perfect AU, Itachi or Shisui would be Hokage (the other would be jonin commander) and Rin would serve as head of the council and Kakashi would be the Anbu commander and I kind of alluded to that with Kakashi's comment, but in this world, as much I would like it to happen, Konoha would not accept them as Hokage :( The truth about them has been cleared, but they did spend 11 years with the Akatsuki so Konoha's perception towards them won't change that quickly. In a way, leaving the village for a while will serve as a reprieve for them, as well give Konoha some time to come around. Hope that answers your question!

So what's in the future for this story? No sequel. In a way, this story is actually two stories combined (part 1&2), so I think that's more than enough. However, Team Ro is one of my favorite things that came out of the story and I love them so much that I started writing some bonus arcs featuring them in an AU setting. Nothing has come out of it because I wrote it for fun and there's no plot, but if I ever get something out of it, I'll post it.

So what's next? I have two stories that are currently ongoing: In the Name of War and A Flicker in Time (click on my profile to find them!) I would love for you all to join me there, but if these stories don't interest you, that's okay. Thank you for giving this story a chance!

In the Name of War: AU setting where the Senjus and Uchihas never made peace with each other and founded Konoha. It's a Kakashi centric story with a good amount of Rin, Obito, and Itachi (sorry I left out Shisui as a main character in this one).

A Flicker in Time: Team Minato (minus Rin, you'll see why) time travel story to the future! It'll be a short story, wrote it just for fun and thought I would share!

As you always know, pm's are open. I read every single review and I will respond via pm (if you aren't reviewing as a guest) if you have any lingering questions/thoughts. Also I'm open to requests (pertaining to Team Minato or Team Ro) but I can't promise that it will be done. It'll depend on a mixture of if I like the idea enough/inspiration/time.

Ahh, this is getting long. For the last time, THANK YOU! Hope all of you are safe and perhaps I'll see you around in the future, whether it's through your stories or mine!

-MM