-7 years later-

After the announcement of Kyouya and Haruhi's marriage was made public, the Northern and Southern Kingdoms were united as one and from then on it came to be known as the Central Kingdom. The people of both regions were worried of the said union at first, but with Haruhi and Kyouya's efforts they eased those worries rather easily. The people of the south were surprisingly quick to adapt to the change and brighten up to the warm welcomes of the north as well as the joint ruling of their new King and Queen.

A few days from when the marriage announcement was made, Haruhi had returned to the North for her Coronation ceremony where she was finally able to take her place as Queen and the reigning monarch. She ruled with brillience and such benevolence just as the late Queen Kotoko had been.

The people of the northern region showered her with praise and they were obviously very happy to see that their beloved Queen was happily married. Even more so when two years passed and the news that the Queen was pregnant had spread like wildfire.

As for the Southern region, former King Yoshio had crowned Prince Kyouya as heir to the throne. It took several months before his coronation ceremony could be carried out due to some civil issues that the people needed help with. Kyouya had worked with his father and brothers to resolve them quickly.

Kyouya and Yoshio had finally appeared to be on good terms with each other, although now and then, they would have their little spats. Kyouya had learned from Haruhi to stand his ground against Yoshio and in turn, Yoshio allowed himself to be less controlling and strict. Not that he ever admitted it, but it showed.

Everything somehow managed to turn out alright and I could not be any more relieved.

"Ah! I found you Grandpa!"

Upon hearing that cheerful call, I turned in the direction the sweet voice was coming from. I felt the corners of my mouth lift as a big grin formed. The cutest granddaughter in the world had spotted me as she took a peek from around the tall hedges. She dashed towards me, her dark brown shoulder-length hair flowing behind her as she ran. I knelt to be at about eye level with her, my arms open wide, and caught her in a tight hug as she leaped into my arms. "Oh man! And here I thought I found a nice place to hide," I laughed.

"Ayane, dear. It is not a very good idea to run into your grandfather like that. You could hurt him."

Ayane's mother was not far behind. By the time she had finished her sentence, she was only a couple of feet away from me.

"Aw, Haruhi. You make me sound like I am getting old." I bent down a little to let Ayane jump out of my arms and run to Haruhi.

"Well, you are not getting any younger." Haruhi said bluntly.

I gripped my clothes at my chest, pretending to be in pain, "Oh how your words sting me so!" I cried.

"Father. . ."

Ayane laughed, "Grandpa is so funny!"

Haruhi turned to look at me again. "Anyway, I came to get you. Yoshio and Kyouya have arrived for dinner and afterwards, Kyouya and I have some matters to discuss with Tamaki. "

"Oh. I hear he was holding a party soon for his son's birthday. " I walked over to Haruhi and patted Ayane's head.

"Uncle Tamaki said he would have something to give to me the next time I saw him!"

"Is that so?" Haruhi smiled.

Ayane nodded. Her smile reminded me of when Haruhi was a child. It made me so happy. . . but also sad. Sometimes I wondered that if I waited until Haruhi was older to set her up with Kyouya, would she have been able to keep that sweet innocent smile longer?

". . .ther. . . Father?" Haruhi's voice was suddenly becoming clearer. "Did you hear me?"

"Hm?"

Haruhi sighed quietly, but with a small smile on her face. "I said that before we leave tonight, Ayane wanted to set lanterns on the pond."

I smiled. "Nothing would make me happier."

"Yay, lanterns! They're so pretty." Ayane grabbed my hand as well as her mother's and we walked towards the palace from the garden. A few seconds passed when I felt a tug on my arm. "Grandpa? What was Grandma like?"

I glanced over at Haruhi as she looked down at her daughter with a smile. Haruhi looked just like Kotoko now and almost everyday, it felt as though she was always with us. "She was just like your mother."

Haruhi suddenly looked over to me in surprise, but Ayane smiled her usual smile, saying how much she loved her mother as we walked back inside the palace. We were greeted by Celia as she had led Yohio and Kyouya to meet us. Ayane bounced over to her Father and he picked her up with ease. It was heartwarming to see how happy Kyouya was now. Yoshio even smiled to Ayane as he patted her head, much in the same way I did. Then he made his way over to me.

"Hello Yoshio." I smiled to him, "How are you doing?"

He nodded back to me. "I have been well."

I paused for a moment, watching him as he stared at Kyouya interact with his family. I could see that he was different now. "I know I have said this before, but I will say it again—I am proud of how you let yourself change."

"What?" Yoshio shot me an icy glare. "Do not start this again."

"Oh come on Yoshio. I think if you finally admit it yourself, your soul can be free! Like me!" I joked.

"I would rather wish to have been born a peasent than act like a man with no dignity."

I laughed. "Now, now." The things Yoshio said to me now still sounded harsh, but they no longer had the intent to hurt. "How has Kyouya fared?"

Yoshio looked back to his son and then there it was. That look in his eyes that showed all the feelings that his mouth would not say. It was the look of proud-ness and joy. He was no longer blind to his past grudge and I was glad. Kyouya longed for his support and it took so long for him to get it. I couldn't help but smile.

"Kyouya is doing magnificently as King. I am. . . very proud of him."

THE END

a/n: DONE! Woohoo! As always, hopefully I didn't make a lot of spelling errors though, I looked over it... and if so, I'm sorry about that.

Thank you all for lasting this long with me haha. I am quite happy with this story and I hope you all enjoyed this ending. And I am super happy that this story has been something you guys have enjoyed. Thank you so much for all the reviews, favorites and alerts. It means a lot to me.

I hope to have a new story up for you guys but I am not sure when. I have about a month left before my fall semester officially starts. I'll do my best to update you guys (maybe I'll make a twitter account for story updates. If I do I will update my profile to let you guys know!). Anyway thanks so much you guys! I am happy to be done and I will work on my stories some more! REVIEWS, COMMENTS, OR WHATEVER ARE ALL WELCOME! See ya soon in my next fic!

~Bliss