Thanks so much for your lovely, deep reviews for the last chapter of this story! I love you guys so much--you came back and reviewed even though the server wasn't working for days. You don't know how much that made my life: I was getting so fustrated because it was the last chapter and I didn't think anyone was going to review. But you guys are so awesome you proved me wrong. And I don't usually like it to be wrong.

Oh...I don't own Gravitation. I never said that, throughout the whole thing. Oops! It might be too late now. Oh well, I really doubt anyone will sue me. I think disclaimers are kinda like...duh...but that's alright.

Epilogue

"Tohma!" Mika yelled impatiently from the kitchen, "Tohma, come give me a hand here!"

"I-I'm coming," Tohma called back, struggling vainly to disentangle himself from a feisty eight-year-old menace. "I…have to help mother," he explained uselessly, "Sakura, please, go play with…uh…I don't know…"

Frowning, his alien daughter gave him a look of intense study. "I'm going to go play baseball with everyone, dad. Everyone's out playing baseball."

Everyone was playing baseball? "Oh…Ok," Tohma agreed in a bit of confusion, still glad to be freed from childcare duties. "Go outside then. And don't forget your mitten—glove—uh…"

"I'm not stupid, dad!" Sakura shouted, sounding insulted, "I wouldn't forget!"

"N-no—" her father conceded gently, "No…"

"Tohma!" Mika had been on edge lately, and today's family get-together had pushed her to the limits of her self control. Finally, she was lashing out at Tohma in a desperate effort to retain order and sanity. "Tohma!"

"I'm sorry!" Bumping into his daughter's eternally unfamiliar green bike, Tohma hurried to his wife's side. "Sorry."

"Hold this," Mika growled, dumping a large bowl of chips into his unsuspecting arms, "And please try to be civil to Shuichi today." Banging various mettle bowls into the dishwasher as loudly as possible, she kicked the door shut with a naked foot.

Tohma backed up carefully as Mika stalked towards the other end of the kitchen. "Why wouldn't I be civil?"

Mika shot him a vicious, knowing glare. "And don't touch Eiri. Plainly, it's embarrassing. Also, wear something normal." She pulled off his beloved black hat and flung it at his chest. "You're getting old Tohma. Famous people get old too. Fur coats and bright green shirts might have been acceptable for a 25 year old superstar, but they aren't suitable for a forty year old father."

"I like my clothes," Tohma told her defiantly, sleek bowl slipping in his grasp as he attempted to rescue his clothing from the chips, "And you, try to be pleasant. Try not to snap at people like you're doing to me."

"I don't snap at my guests!" Mika retorted, stomping frazzled and fuming around the kitchen. "And your clothes have got to go. I'm taking you shopping tomorrow. I'm going to buy you some nice shirts and ties."

"I have shirts and ties."

"Fine, but it won't be my fault when Tatsuha calls you an old queen behind your back!"

"He said that?"

"Yes."

"I'm only forty," Tohma told her miserably, "he shouldn't say that."

"No, but he's Tatsuha. What did you expect? Go! Take that to the family room. Everyone should be arriving soon."

"Eiri!" Tohma exclaimed breathlessly, resisting his near constant urge to throw himself on his brother-in-law. "Come in, Eiri! It's so fabulous to see you! And, uh, Shuichi. So pleasant." Turning his lips upwards in a winning smile, he eagerly pulled off Eiri's coat and then took Shuichi's from him with fake overtones of cheerfulness. "I heard from Eiri you two are having a wedding ceremony soon. That's wonderful." Liar! "I would be happy to attend." Liar!

"It was Shuichi's idea," Eiri told him with a sigh, "I don't quite see the point. It's not even legal or anything like that."

"But Yuki," Shuichi whined, clutching Eiri's arm tightly, "It shows how wonderfully in love we are!"

It makes him yours. No argument, nobody else can have him. "Yes, Eiri. If it means so much to him, you should."

"See," Shuichi purred as Eiri lips thinned with frustration, "Other people understand, Yuki. Don't be bashful!"

He's not bashful. He's annoyed. But… that might be because Shuichi and I are stuck in a house together. Not trusting himself enough to respond, Tohma led them silently into the family room, a feigned smile plastered to his face.

Nobody else had arrived yet. Tohma motioned jerkily towards the scarcely used loveseat: a feeble gift. Trying to relax by choosing his ancient brown recliner, he attempted and succeeded in sending a sweet smile in Shuichi's direction. Shuichi stared at him suspiciously and leaned lovingly against Eiri's stoic side.

Wincing as Shuichi's hand clutched Eiri's shirt absently, Tohma finally started a stunted conversation. "I heard your new book was popular over in America, Eiri."

Sliding his arm around Shuichi protectively, Eiri shrugged off Tohma's remark. "Yes, I guess it was. These books…are starting to get repetitive. Maybe I should branch out."

Tohma found himself watching Eiri's fingers stroke Shuichi's shirt with a lustful fascination. "Oh Eiri, you're really doing well. The both of you." Half of him was bursting with happiness for Eiri, but the other half, his vagrant, sneaky side, was hurting enough to die.

"Thank you." Eiri fiddled with the tiny glass statue beside his seat with his other hand. "How much did this cost?"

Tohma gazed at his art accusation with a mild pride. "Fifty thousand yen. Nothing big, but Mika had a fit. Said it was ugly."

"Not that bad; it's pretty nice…Can I smoke?"

A doting, adoring tone snuck into Tohma's voice uninvited. "Of course, dear Eiri." Mouth closing guiltily, he prayed nobody noticed.

Eiri smoked in the awkward silence that followed; the vapors rose towards the ceiling in a massive plume of gray. Tossing his cigarette butt into the nearby ashtray set out for him, he lit up again. More smoke. "…Isn't everyone supposed to be here by now?"

"Yes."

"This is lame. Where's Mika?"

"Scolding Sakura and trying to get her cleaned up. She beat up one of the neighborhood boys."

"She takes after her mother." Eiri smirked slightly. "I'm sure Mika is happy."

"Yes, she is. I'm glad she is. She needs someone else."

"It's good. She won't come over and bother me all the time. Are you taking your pills? Are you this? Are you that? …You should follow her example, Tohma. I have Shuichi to remind me." Eiri fingered Shuichi's newly dyed pink hair with playful affection.

Shuichi made a humming sound of pleasure and announced proudly, "Yuki is so sweet!"

"Well, you know how I worry!" Tohma faked a laugh, but it sounded dead and hollow. "Because I'm not—there—a lot—anymore." Tohma fixated his eyes on an unfamiliar pattern in his newly installed carpet, not daring to look either of them in the eyes. He knew Eiri didn't need him anymore. At all…anymore. Why did Eiri stick around, then? Out of pity? Out of duty? Tohma secretly knew he was pathetic—everyone else had moved on. Everyone else was caught up in the throws of the present…but not Tohma. Other people got over things…and people. Why couldn't he?

Tohma followed Eiri cautiously to the outside balcony, away from the noisy din that had arisen out of Tatsuha's declaration that he was going to sell the temple. Eiri was staring below at the nighttime streets, hands shoved impatiently into too-small pockets. His blonde hair blew wantonly in the wind, and he tugged one of his hands free to shove the hair back for a single useless moment.

"Are you alright?" Tohma asked carefully, "The temple—"

"I don't give shit about the temple." Sighing, Eiri leaned against the wooden rail and gazed up at the pale red sky. "The temple can burn down to the ground for all I care."

Tohma insisted. "Then, what's wrong? There is something wrong."

"You always know there is something wrong. Why? How can you tell? Because for the life of me I just don't see how."

"The way you isolate yourself. The way your lips get tight and the way your eyes seem to frown. The way you push your hand through your hair—"

Eiri gave Tohma a glare. "—Alright, alright, I get the point. It's obvious."

"No-not really—" Just to me. "What's wrong, Eiri?" Shuichi wasn't there. There was nobody there. Tohma's hand reached up for Eiri's shirt, but then it dropped back to his side. "Plainly, it's embarrassing." I guess…it is…rather sad, Mika.

"It's nothing," Eiri muttered, shaking his head firmly, "Nothing."

"It isn't nothing!" Tohma insisted with vehemence.

"…You," his brother-in-law said finally, sounding rather frustrated.

"What?"

"You: you're what's bothering me."

Tohma's eyes widened in dismay. "Oh! Oh…" he exclaimed, heart pounding with agony, "Oh, Eiri. If…if I bother you so much…I can…disappear…you know…"

"That's not what I meant." Eiri's hand found its way up into his forest of hair. "What I meant was…I've been thinking…you're unhappy. You always want to help me, and…I don't want…well…yeah. You're not supposed to be unhappy."

"E-Eiri?" Tohma whispered, shaking hands tracing the groves in Eiri's palms against his better judgment. "Eiri!"

With a twist of his mouth, Eiri shook his hand away. "Stop, Seguchi…please. …In our relationship it's always been about me. But your human too, Seguchi, even if that can be hard to see sometimes. Lately, I've been so happy—"

"—Then I'm happy!" Tohma lied with agonizing force. Eiri was happy—so he was supposed to be happy. That's what true loyalists felt, right? That's what true loyalists did, right?

Eiri's head shook reproachfully. "But you're not. I can't give myself to you. Can you really be happy anyway? Because…damnit! This..is…hard for me. I'm sorry…if you can't be…"

Trying to smile gallantly even while his lips struggled against him, Tohma gazed up at the sky in absorbed reflection. It wasn't out of pity. It wasn't out of duty. "Because you care about me, Eiri, I can try."

It's the end, for real! I'm not sure if I should cry or laugh. A side note: my kitten's name is Sakura, and she is one tough kitty, running around and getting dirty...she never seems to get tired. You guys were my cheerleaders and I love you! This is Acerbitas...out!