Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. I am making no money from this. Tite Kubo owns all, I'm just playing with them for a while. I also do not own any of the quotes I use at the start of each chapter.

Author's Notes: To those who are disappointed in the sudden time jump and lack of more IchiHime goodness: I said from the beginning that this story was going to have lots with other characters as well, because I dislike isolating characters in their own little worlds. This was more about showing what it would take to get Ichigo specifically to open up about parts of himself. I know there was lots with other characters, but those circumstances were necessary to develop Ichigo's personality and way of thinking. I still feel this is an IchiHime story at heart, but I understand why some people had problems with it. Sorry. But for the most part I really like how it turned out.

The epilogue is a slightly odd style for me, but this part kinda just started writing itself. Please enjoy, and tell me what you think. At this point I'm still not sure which story in the series I'm going to start next, although if you haven't already done so you can vote at the poll on my page for which one you want. Huge, turbo thanks for everyone who stuck with me on this one, especially through the three month delay between parts 5 & 6. And here, finally, is the end…

Until the Last Breath

By Lady Callista

Epilogue : I Do Not Sleep

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"Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there, I do not sleep."

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They came by the hundreds to pay their respects.

Students that Orihime had taught were there, some with their parents, others old enough now that they had children of their own. Teachers from Karakura High. Patients of the Kurosaki clinic. Doctors and nurses that had known Ichigo from the times he had helped out at the local hospital. Friends from both high school and college. Friends from the various committees and charities the two Kurosaki's had been part of. And many more.

It seemed half of the small town was there that day, if not to stay for the service then at least to pay their respects.

They spoke first to the orange-haired twins, surprised at how well the two seemed to be dealing with things. But of course they were probably still in shock. That would explain why their attention kept drifting from those they were speaking to and shifting to the open air around where all the chairs were set up.

Then they spoke to the father, and the sister and brother-in-law, all of whom were just as composed as the twins. Although their attention seemed to drift as well.

Those who knew them, which was most, also exchanged brief words with the other three in the front row, no one being able to dispute that they belonged with the rest of the family.

No one was surprised that the gentle giant and the stoic fashion designer were dry-eyed, but there was some surprise that the karate master was silent and calm looking as well. Although those who knew her well would have been more surprised to see her crying than they would have been had she been up at the casket angrily screaming at Ichigo for dying on her, none had expected her to be sitting quietly beside her husband, both of their eyes for some reason occasionally flicking off to the left of the gathering, which was empty except for old tombstones.

The procession of people went on for well over an hour, until finally everyone had spoken with the family, and bowed before the caskets, many speaking a few words there as well.

Finally, as those who were staying found their seats, and those who were not staying had left, a priest stepped forward to stand before the matched caskets, lighting more incense and laying a light hand on both closed lids before turning to face those assembled.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to mourn the passing of Kurosaki Ichigo and Orihime."

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"Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn's rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush

of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there, I did not die."

Tears shone in many eyes, and ran down many faces, as Yuzu finished reading the poem she had selected, and quietly stepped down from the podium.

Yet the young women's eyes were completely dry as she took her seat next to her father, and her voice had not wavered once while she was reciting.

The masses were confused, for no one could understand how she had gotten through it without breaking down.

Just as none of the hundreds gathered could understand how the normally overly emotional Kurosaki Isshin had not let out so much as a single wail.

Also conspicuously dry-eyed and composed were Chad, Tatsuki, and Uryu, who had been best friends with the two deceased since they were all young.

But the most amazing and incomprehensible thing to all of the assembled mourners was that Ichigo and Orihime's twins, barely 18 and miraculous survivors of the disaster that had killed their parents, had also not shed a single tear.

They sat side by side next to Isshin, holding hands, and at times people noticed that their attention to the service faltered. For most of the time their heads were tilted to the right, or to the left, their eyes seeming to scan the emptiness beyond the seats as if they could see things there no one else could.

And had anyone been able to see the faces of the eight in the front row, they would have been ever more confused, and possibly outraged. For there were times during the service, particularly during Yuzu's poem, that eyes twinkled and smiles flashed as eyes darted back and forth between the eight of them, and between the seemingly empty air all around the chairs.

The hundreds were confused, because they couldn't see Ichigo and Orihime standing to the left of and a few paces forward of the row of seats that contained their family, and the friends who had also become family.

Nor could any of them see the twenty-five taicho and fukutaicho of Seireitei, ordered by division, standing along the sides of each row of seats. They didn't know that the man they were gathered to mourn had already been offered and accepted the one empty space in that formation. A space that had once been filled by a man he had killed to save the worlds.

They were equally blind to the sea of black and white garbed figures that spread out around their leaders, hundreds of Shinigami standing at attention in respectful silence to two of the greatest heroes of Soul Society.

They didn't see the line of Vizards that stood at the back of the gathering, silently acknowledging the end of the human lives of two people who had saved two worlds.

They did not hear Ichigo's soft chuckle at the opening lines that stated he was not in his grave.

They did not think of the breeze felt by someone shunpoing by them when they heard about winds blowing. Nor did they see Hisagi Shuuhei's small smile as he thought of his own Kazeshini.

The phrase about diamond glints on snow did not make them think of Hyorinmaru, or Sode no Shirayuki, casting ice and snow around a battlefield.

None of them remembered what it felt like when the sun rose the day after the Winter War ended, and it finally sunk into everyone's tired minds that they had just saved two worlds from complete annihilation.

None of them had been conscious when a strange kido that had just been invented was used to call rain down on the town just as it reverted to the real world, the rain conveniently also leaving them unconcerned about why they were sleeping on the streets, or in a store, or in their cars. The tornados that had resulted from that storm were remembered for the damage they had done to a corner of the town, but none of the normal humans gathered connected this event to that one.

They did not hear Isshin chuckle as he thought of birds randomly taking flight as Shinigami passed beneath their perches, startled by gusts of wind they could not account for.

And it never occurred to them that the shooting stars they sometimes saw at night were far closer than they imagined, and were in fact sparks cast off of clashing weapons, or kido blasts cast at Hollows.

Although most believed in an afterlife of some kind, most would have fainted if they knew just how many 'dead' people were in their midst that day.

But none of them knew, and none of them could see, so it was okay.

It wasn't until the service was over, and all the normal humans had gone back to their normal lives, that tears sparkled in the eyes of the Kurosaki twins.

The Vizards had departed soon after the humans, speaking to both Ichigo and Orihime before leaving. The rank-less Shinigami filled quietly through a Senkaimon, along with some of their leaders, while those closer to Ichigo and Orihime moved up to circle by the family.

Orihime and Ichigo knelt side by side in front of their two children, all eight of their hands joined. And now the twin's tears began to fall.

"You know it's not goodbye." Ichigo said gruffly, although his own eyes were suspiciously bright.

"We know." They spoke as one, something they had done when they were little, but hadn't done in many years.

"Yamamoto-soutaicho has given you both the same special privilege we had." Ichigo's voice was still gruff, but his love showed clearly in his eyes. "The same as the rest of the family still have. You can come to Seireitei whenever you want. And you know we'll be back to check up on you."

"Hitomu." Orihime's eyes turned to their son first. "When we found out we were having twins, and that they were a boy and a girl, we both knew you would be born first. Because we both knew that every girl needed an older brother to protect her. And that's even more true for us than most people. Yet we hoped you would never have to do that. You know your name means "one dream," but we never told you what our dream for you was. Our dream was that you could have a normal childhood, and never know war and pain like we did, and grow up knowing that you were loved, and…."

"Well, as normal as possible with all these eccentric aunts and uncles around." Ichigo broke in as his gaze caught on several of the fukutaicho in particular.

"And we've always been proud of you." Orihime ignored him with the grace of long practice. "We love you both so much."

"I love you too, mom, dad." Hitomu said softly. "I'll always take care of Chiharu, and she of me. You know that."

"We know." Orihime said softly as she turned towards their daughter. "Chiharu. Neither you nor your brother has ever experienced anything like the Winter War. You've heard stories, and you've helped us fight Hollows, but you don't know what war is like on that scale. I pray you never do. You don't know what it's like to not know if you'll be alive when winter ends. Your name means 'a thousand springs,' and it's common enough you never questioned it. Because you really can't imagine what it felt like to us that first spring after the war, when the snows started to melt and the world we had saved started to look more and more alive. We named you in memory of that. To remind us that no matter how dark and bad things could get, spring would always come. Life would always continue."

"Just as you will now continue your lives without us." Ichigo said softly as Orihime trailed off. "But with us just the same."

Chiharu slid off of her seat to hug her mother in a calm and loving embrace. She hugged her father the same way a moment later, even as Hitomu also hugged each in turn.

Then the twins pulled back, and cast mischievous glances at each other before speaking, one finishing the other's sentence.

"So, since we can go to Seireitei whenever we want…."

"That means we get to come with you now and go to your official welcome party, right?"

Had any of the normal humans who had been at the funeral still been there, they would have been mortified at the laughter that filled the cemetery. They would also have been confused about hearing twice as many people laughing as they could see. But there was no one left that didn't understand.

Flanked by their children, with their friends following behind, Ichigo and Orihime led the remaining Shinigami though the Senkaimon, and to the party that would start their new lives.

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"Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there, I did not die."

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THE END!

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"I will love you always. When this red hair is white, I will still love you. When the smooth softness of youth is replaced with the delicate softness of age, I will still want to touch your skin. When your face is full of the lines of every smile you have smiled, of every surprise I have seen flash through your eyes, when every tear you have cried has left its mark upon your face, I will treasure you all the more, because I was there to see it all. I will share your life with you, Meredith, and I will love you until the last breath leaves your body or mine."

-Frost in "A Lick of Frost" by Laurell K. Hamilton

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AN: Too cheesy? OOC? Can't decide if I like it or not, but it's done.

Obviously there will be more stories that take place before the last two parts of this one, as I still have more stories to tell in this world. At first I considered making these last two parts a separate story, but I liked the idea of putting them in this story, especially as the idea behind this story was loving someone until your last breath, which kinda means you have to die. And yes, the reason that the position of Gobantai taicho was never filled was I knew I wanted the series to end with Ichigo dying and stepping into that spot. The other available spots were all filled (with some rearrangement) by series main characters, the details of which are already known or will be seen in later stories. Reviews are really, really, appreciated.