Epilogue

"Hana...hana."

"Yes, that's a flower."

"Akai hana!"

"Uh huh. A red flower. You wanna take some for daddy?"

Shizuke nodded vigorously and crouched down to carefully grab the flowers from the ground. Izuru crouched too next to his child, patiently watching him get his hands and clothes dirty. That was okay, those could always be washed.

A gently breeze ruffled the hair of the two blonds and Izuru looked up to see the person that had come with it.

"Gin."

"Hello, Izuru."

The shinigami stood, brushing his simple kimono at the knees to look a bit presentable. Gin looked at him up and down. Izuru's hair had been cut in a style that recalled his Academy days, making him look several decades younger, and the clear blue kimono only accentuated his smooth and still youthful skin.

"You look good, Izuru."

"So do you." He was only being polite, Gin knew.

The smaller blond stood and hid behind his mother's legs, shyly peeking at the stranger like he clutched Izuru's kimono. Izuru's eyes changed as he looked down at his son, a gentle hand coming to rest on top of the little one's head.

"Shizuka, this is a friend of mama. Say 'hello'."

Shizuka blinked his big blue eyes at Gin before daring to speak. "Hello..."

"Hi" Gin waved, but the two-year old still hid behind his parent.

Izuru chuckled at the little boy's shyness, he was like that. "Shizuka, why don't you pick blue flowers for papa? Mama is gonna talk with his friend for a bit."

The boy still kept close by while he did what his mother told him to, he was still too small to be apart from either of his parents for too long.

"He's beautiful, Izuru." Gin commented as he came a little closer, eyes resting on Shizuka. "He looks so much like you."

"I know..." Shizuka had inherited almost all his looks from Izuru, even though Izuru predicted that his hair would turn a little darker and his eyes had turned a lighter blue than Izuru's blue-green orbs.

"But, I was really wondering..." Gin trailed off. Izuru probably hadn't mentioned Shizuka's whole story to him, and he didn't think he was eager to tell him any time soon.

Izuru understood and gently shook his head at the silent question. "He's Shuuhei's. He's all Shuuhei's." He wasn't lying, he'd never been a good liar and even less to Gin Ichimaru.

"I see."

"Disappointed?"

"Not really. But if it had been min--"

"Don't." Izuru sharply interrupted Gin. Ichimaru was a bit startled but grinned anyway.

"I'm happy for you."

"Thank you..." Izuru answered meekly, a shadow of his former self when the silver-haired man was still his captain.

Gentle lips pressed a sweet kiss to Izuru's cheek. "Goodbye, Izuru."

"Goodbye..."

A gentle breeze made Shizuka look up at his mama, noticing that the other man was gone.

"Mama, where's the other ossan?"

Izuru smiled at his child. "He had to leave, honey."

"Oh."

"Did you pick flowers?"

"Hai! Look! I picked lots of red and blues and some yellow ones too!" Shizuka eagerly showed Izuru his picks. Izuru smiled and acted surprised and delighted at everything his son showed him.

Shizuka was Shuuhei's son, most definetly. Izuru knew so and nothing was gonna change it. This was the flesh and blood of both and what they would pass down to the future generations. The most perfect manifestation of their love.

THE END