~What tomorrow brings~

A day and an hour later...

Stark undressed mechanically, depositing his clothes carelessly onto the gleaming floor. He stepped forward into the wide marble bath and the clang of metal rings sliding on the oval bar above grated on his ears. The hot water streamed in rivulets through his thick wavy hair and ran down the panes of his face. Caked blood disintegrated and dyed the water a reddish ocher falling to the greedy drain below.

It was done.

He breathed in, the steam tickling his nostrils.

The boy had been good. Not trash like Ulquiorra maintained.

His hand rose absently and laid on the tap, the door creaked open, Lilynette peered in. "Stark, are you almost done?" she was quieter today. Maybe it was because of what had transpired. It wasn't everyday that betrayal and the fall of a would-be God happened. Stark for his part was glad of the Shinigami boy's assistance in the whole affair. Without him, he was sure he would've been hard-pressed to deal with Kyokasuigetsu.

Rukia would be proud...once she knew.

~*~

"It's time to go," he called to Lilynette. He could sense several different Captain-level spirit pressures entering Hueco Mundo's atmosphere. News traveled fast. Clearly the boy had wasted no time on contacting his allies. Stark felt a brief flicker of annoyance in sensing the boy's unusually high reiatsu approaching her room. For a moment, he wished he had chosen differently then shook that thought away.

What was done was done. There would be no going back.

Lilynette had crept up silent as a shadow beside him. "Stark," she reached for his hand and clung tightly just as a child seeking comfort would. Some things would never change.

"Hmm?" he tore open a Garganta.

The sky and world were inviting now.

"What're we going to do once we get there?" she asked, tugging on his hand.

Stark yawned, "I think I'm going to take a nap."

"Tch! Figures, lazy ass--"

"Or maybe," he said with a smile, "we'll just wait and see when tomorrow comes..."

They stepped through and were gone from sight.

~Epilogue: The moon, no longer lonely.

A month...

The moon was full.

She set off. Leave had finally been given and she'd stayed with Orihime during the day. As friends they were, as captives they had once been. But, she knew, their circumstances couldn't have been more different.

'That guy...' Ichigo spoke hesitantly, 'the Primera helped me defeat Aizen. I don't know why he did it...' the Shinigami sub trailed off.

Stark. She bit her lip, steeling herself for the worst, 'where is he?'

He wasn't among those detained nor had she seen...

'He sacrificed himself to let me get in the final blow.'

She hadn't cried. Not once. Tears were a human weakness that Shinigami didn't indulge in.

The play of light on the white-washed streets drew her gaze upward.

She turned away.

She didn't like looking at the moon anymore.

For some reason it made her feel...lonely.

In the Park.

Her steps were muffled, almost soundless.

She was glad. She came upon him at unawares.

~*~

Rukia blinked. Willing her sight to stop being swayed by the moon lunacy.

He was still there.

She forced herself to close her eyes and count silently to ten.

"Nice night for moon-watching, isn't it?" queried the familiar voice in lazy accents.

Her eyes flew open.

Arrancar and Shinigami stared at one another.

Her throat closed up and liquid burned beneath her lids.

A thousand things wanted to flow forth and only one fell from her numb lips.

"I love you."

"I know," Stark said, smiling softly.

In the treetop above, Lilynette snored away.

Rukia sniffled and flew forward into his arms.

"You fool!" she beat him as only she knew how.

Stark said nothing.

Because really, words were meaningless.

There.

Together.

In silence and in shadow...

The moon's loneliness had finally ended.

~Fin~

AN: damn. I wanted to get a wee bit choked up on the epilogue! ;.- Well there it is. The end. I wonder if you guys are happy now? ;) Starkie did was what right in the end instead of allowing blind emotion to dictate his actions. So...sniff. I like how it came out. :)

Thanks for reading this fic, I hope you enjoyed it.

No flames, stupid comments (you know what I mean!)

Reviews are always appreciated! :)