Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or its characters as they belong to Tite Kubo, but I do own my Original Character in this story, Kohana Hisakane. I don't own the lyrics in this Epilogue either. They're the translation of the song "We" off of Kenpachi's Beat Collection. Check it out.

Epilogue

We give our all in whatever we challenge.
We roar when we recognize defeat.
On that day, we are certain in our grasp.
Even when our blades break into shapeless forms,
In our hearts we will not regret
The way we hold onto our goals and dreams.
Those words from that day are carved
within us, especially those words of yours.

Zaraki Kenpachi will always remember that last moment he shared with Hisakane Kohana, fourth seat of division eleven. He'll always remember the next morning when he found out she had died. He cursed himself that whole day. Ikkaku and Yumichika went to Kenpachi after Kohana had not shown up to training the next morning. Kohana had never missed training before and had never been late until recently. They didn't know, though, that their fourth seat had been brutally murdered. Yumichika had been the first to discover her body located underneath her favorite tree. He screamed in terror when he saw it. Ikkaku was not far behind him and he began to yell at her for being stupid enough to get herself killed when he saw it. When Kenpachi arrived, well, that's when things began to crumble. Kenpachi was absolutely furious towards himself, Kohana and the reasoning behind Kohana's death.

It falls on us like sunlight,
The glory in battles.

Word spread through Seireitei like wildfire. Kenpachi spent that entire day near that tree. He didn't speak. In a way, he thought all of this happened because he opened his big mouth and said what was on his mind. He regretted telling Kohana to leave. He wondered what her final words were, what she thought about him before she died, and who killed her and why. It was a murder all right. Her body had multiple sword wounds all over. The question was, though, who killed her? You see, Kohana didn't get along with A LOT of people.

I had nothing, no present, no future,
Not even a name.
I expected my world to end.
Isn't it sweet and interesting now
I can smell the flowers?
When you gave me a name
My world is complete, yes, complete.

Yachiru had found out quickly. She spent the entire day locked inside her room, crying. Multiple division eleven members tried to coax her out of her room, but no one succeeded. Ikkaku and Yumichika had to beg Kenpachi to go and talk to her and Kenpachi finally did. The two mourned her together. Yachiru cried the tears Kenpachi couldn't. The whole division eleven was silent that day. Occasionally members from other divisions would come and wish them their condolences.

The sunny days of spring go by
With the wind blowing like this.
We fight in the middle of a bamboo forest.
I am counting how many white clouds
Are dancing in the sky.
We think about now and we smile.

Among those who wished them condolences were Hinamori Momo and Aizen Sosuke. Hinamori cried her eyes out and Aizen was there comforting her. Hinamori didn't know it was Aizen who had killed her. Ise Nanao and Kyoraku Shunsui also came by. Nanao looked like she wanted to cry and Shunsui smiled. He smiled so Nanao wouldn't cry. He hoped he could be there for her and Kohana's death helped the couple grow closer.

We give our all until we break,
It gives us pleasure and fun.
No tea is not bitter, so pour out what you've got,
but even then your life won't get better.
We always, always, seek pleasure in fighting.
We always, always enjoy fighting as a hobby.

The weeks after that seemed to be the same as before her death, just minus Kohana. Ikkaku and Yumichika didn't spend any time mourning as they wanted to keep their division stable and in line. In a way Kenpachi's wish that he made at Tanabata only around a year ago came true. Yachiru had grown out of wanting a family. She continued buzzing about and being happy, but occasionally when no one was around her face would grow sad and she would think of Kohana. Kenpachi grew rather distant from the others. He probably was the one who took it the worst out of them all.

It falls on us like sunlight,
The feeling only fighting can give.
The sunny days of spring go by
With the wind blowing like this.
We rejoice when we fight.
I am counting how many white clouds
Are dancing in the sky
When our thoughts and ourselves are out there.
What makes us come back are these good times.

A new female recruit came to division eleven around two months after Kohana's death. Kenpachi didn't give her any attention. He was grateful that she was more interested in Ikkaku and that she was Kohana's polar opposite. He made up his mind after seeing the recruit that he wouldn't love a woman or anybody else for a long time. His only love would be battle. When he met Kurosaki Ichigo a year after Kohana's death, he was surprised that he lost, but he wanted Kohana to be there. He wanted Kohana to be there and laugh at him or worry over him or just be there and smile at him and tell him "everything will be fine." When Aizen left, when he betrayed Seireitei, that's when all hell broke loose. Kenpachi's fourth seat disliked that man. She hated Ichimaru. She despised Tousen. That's when it set in. They had killed her.

We will live on, we'd love to live on like this.

Division eleven wasn't going to have another fourth seat for a long time.
Kenpachi was going to make sure of that.

Division eleven did eventually move on with their lives, though.
After all, wouldn't she have wanted it that way?

-end Flowers-

A/N: THE SEQUEL WILL BE CALLED Petals AND WILL BE OUT VERY SOON. Ok? Ok. Sad, I know? Don't hate me for it. Ch. 9 was supposed to balance out Ch. 10. I like poignant romance. The sequel will focus on Kohana still. Just to make it clear, the new female recruit I mentioned in the end is my best friend's OC, Shizuka (she'll probably be in Ch. 1 or 2, depending on where I place a certain scene, but nothing else really besides that). My friend has a thing for Ikkaku and I love Kenpachi and my other friend (who has a Gin OC) loves Yumichika. The sequel will not center on Kenpachi, but some other characters. Who? Well, 5 plus 6 equals 11, of course! What? You didn't understand that? It's cryptic for a reason. What? What's going to happen? I can't tell you, but be on the look out for Petals coming near you soon. Review, please! I would really really really really appreciate it.

UPDATE: Petals is out. Go check it out if you haven't already, will ya? You know you want to... :)