Thank you to everyone, from long ago and from right now who is reading this. I appreciate it more than you know. I hope you enjoy.

And a special thank-you to everyone who's followed/faved/reviewed/shown their support throughout this fic. This one's for all you guys.

I own nothing.

Chapter 5: After the End

"Hey, have you guys seen Erica?" Fujishima asked them, a concerned frown on his face.

Masaomi looked up from her book (the first book she'd picked up in ages) and scowled at him, wasn't it obvious to everyone by now that she went out of her way to not see Erica?

"Sorry, no," Bandou answered for both of them and she went back to dozing with her head on Masaomi's leg while the brunette read her book under the shade of a tree.

Across the park where he was waiting for his turn to bat Chitose looked vaguely concerned and slightly amused. Vaguely concerned because he didn't know where Erica was either, the girl had totally gone AWOL, she'd been here one minute and was gone the next. And slightly amused because didn't Kosuke know by now that Masaomi was the last person to ask if the question was about Erica?

He glanced back at her (Masaomi, not Erica, that would just make things too easy) and his smile widened.

She was so soft-hearted, no matter how well she hid it.

She still had her face turned towards her book but to Chitose who knew her so well it was obvious that it no longer held her attention; instead her eyes would scan the page then flick up and flick around the park, as though she was looking for someone. Then Masaomi would give her head the tiniest of shakes and go back and read that same page before her eyes flicked up to repeat the process.

Chitose knew Masaomi well enough to accurately guess her train of thought: for the first few minutes she wouldn't be worried, she didn't particularly like Erica but she did know the younger woman well enough to know that she was a grown woman perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Erica was as good in a fight as any of them and she knew the streets better than any of them.

However Kosuke was worried, and that was enough to make Masaomi worry, Kosuke cared about Erica but he wasn't mindlessly overprotective. So Masaomi was unable to concentrate on her book with that fact troubling her mind. Then her eyes would flick up to scan the park for the blonde, then she would give her head a small shake (reminding herself that she was being ridiculous) then go back to reading the same page and start the whole process all over again.

It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute!

As he watched her Chitose couldn't help but think back to the day they had met. It was a bittersweet memory because it was also the day he had first met Miwa, but as he had told Masaomi, if it had been her he'd loved back then none of this ever would've happened. But back then had you told him that the woman he eventually would love was Masaomi Dewa, he would've laughed himself sick.

Wait, love?

Chitose hesitated for a second, and then he shook himself. Yes, love. He loved her. Masaomi was his best friend, had been for years. Of course he loved her; it would be weird if he didn't love her.

But this felt different.

Different? He frowned, different how?

Well... they were much closer than they were in previous years, if that was even possible, but they'd been steadily getting closer since they'd run away together (man that did sound cheesy).

"Okay, see ya soon," Kouske took his phone away from his ear. "Found her, I'm going back to the bar." He was practically glowing with anticipation; it made Chitose smile, Kouske was so in love with Erica it was almost funny that he didn't realize it (almost). He loved being around her, he cared more about her than anything else in the world, and even though they weren't officially a couple he'd give up a million dates with gorgeous girls for one afternoon just hanging with her. He understood her, every glance, every touch every word, what it meant, if every "I want to be alone," meant "I want to be alone," or "I really need a hug," if every "I hate you!" meant "get out of my face," or "I need you," if every shove meant "leave me alone!" or "please don't leave me." And it wasn't one-sided, Erica understood him just as well, it was what made their relationship so special...

Chitose stopped dead as he realized just whose relationship he was also describing.

He glanced over at Masaomi and, as though she could feel his gaze she looked up. Their eyes connected and Masaomi raised an eyebrow as if to say 'well?' Then she dropped the eyebrow and held his wide-eyed gaze with her steady one.

Masaomi wasn't the kind of girl to ask, even with a glance, "are you okay?" or "do you want to talk about it?" or anything that might sound even vaguely sympathetic or caring, instead her unfazed eyes said "if you want to sit there staring like an idiot you're free to make your own choice with that. However, if you want to talk, you know where I'll be."

Then, once she saw he'd gotten her message Masaomi went back to her book.

Not sweet and gentle by any stretch of the imagination but Chitose preferred her that way, needed her that way. And her wholehearted, constant support made Chitose happier than any amount of TLC or temporary relief from a one-night fling ever could.

She made him feel special, cared for, loved. And they knew each other so damn well. Chitose couldn't imagine being so close with anyone else. He couldn't imagine wanting to be so close to anyone else.

Chitose's heart beat faster, oh my God, he loved Masaomi, he'd known that, he loved her with a fierceness he'd never felt before but still... he'd never even considered...

Am I... IN love with Masaomi?

Chitose scrambled to his feet and bolted after Fujishima, he caught up to the other man, gasping slightly,

"I'm coming back to the bar with you," he panted, "I need to do some serious thinking." Or serious drinking.

But preferably both. At the same time.

Chitose had meant to get drunk, really he had, but it was hard to get drunk when you spent the majority of your time in a bar staring sightlessly into a glass rather than drinking the liquid in it. As such he was only ever so slightly tipsy. But that was tipsy enough to make him fumble with and drop his keys as he attempted to get back into his apartment. With a sigh he bent down to pick them up but a pale, slender hand beat him to it and handed them back to him.

"Thanks," said Chitose automatically, and then his eyes widened when he saw who his visitor was.

"No problem," replied the Blue King.

Cursing softly Masaomi shifted the grocery bag to her elbow in order to free her hand as she reached for the door handle. The bag on her elbow tipped and Masaomi cursed louder. A hand caught the bag and pulled it to safety.

"Thanks," said Masaomi, raising an eyebrow at her surprise visitor.

"Don't mention it," said pinkie-promise Maria.

"I can't believe I'm actually talking to you like this," Chitose admitted, resting his elbows on his knees, shaking his head with a slight laugh as he stared into his bottle of beer.

"It would raise some eyebrows," Reisi Munakata agreed swirling hers around gently in its bottle. "But I was simply in the neighbourhood; I saw you and felt compelled to formerly introduce myself."

"There was no need," said Chitose, his voice wasn't unkind, "I already knew who you are."

"But I didn't know who you were," the Blue King countered, "and maybe that was my mistake, my shortcoming."

"Been thinking a lot about your shortcomings lately?" He asked, surprising himself with both his daring and his rudeness.

Munakata didn't seemed surprised or offended, her mouth quirked in a way that was almost sardonic, "you haven't?"

She had him there, "I try not to," he admitted, "it doesn't do me any good."

"Hmm," said Munakata and try as he might Chitose couldn't tell what that 'hmm' meant, she sure wasn't Masaomi.

"When we mentioned our shortcomings, our mistakes we were both speaking of... the Red King," said Munakata delicately as though Chitose might explode upon hearing that name, if he was pretty much any other Clansman he might have.

"Yes?" He prompted.

"That isn't who you spent the last twenty-five minutes talking to me about."

Chitose sighed, "yeah, not all of my mistakes are about..." he couldn't even say Mr. Mikoto's name, "him," he finished. "And not all of them are about things I wish I'd done differently; some are just about things I wish I'd done."

The Blue King drained the bottle and set it down beside her, she rose, "I have regrets like that also. Mainly that I waited too long, if I hadn't... maybe things could have been different," she said peacefully. "Do not make my mistake Red Clansman, if you have the opportunity to change something for the better, take it."

"And what if it blows up in my face?" Chitose asked frankly, in the back of his mind he realized the irony of the fact that the first King he ever spoke to in an honest heart-to-heart wasn't his.

Reisi Munakata actually smiled, a genuine smile, "you're a Clansman, isn't that a given by now?"

Masaomi bit her lip, she couldn't get Maria's words out of her head, "you've finally found someone who accepts you no matter what. And you accept him no matter what, are you content to just leave things the way they are?"

And later: "do you hate yourself?"

Did she hate herself? She often wondered if this wasn't the worst form of self torture and if she didn't hold herself partly responsible for what had happened between Chitose and Miwa.

Masaomi sighed as she put away the last of her groceries, she scolded Chitose for doing so but she was the one who needed to stop carrying Miwa with her everywhere.

Another sigh, then she blinked in surprise as a thought she had never really considered before occurred to her; while she'd tried her best to take care of Chitose, she'd never really wanted to consider how she, Masaomi, felt.

Chitose had lost the both the boy who'd been like a brother and the girl he'd cared about more than anyone else in the world. But so had she. Masaomi had long since realized that one of her reasons for taking care of Chitose was so that she didn't have to face her own feelings.

And she'd never really considered everyone else's.

Masaomi had never regretted leaving home when she did, if given the opportunity to change things, she probably wouldn't, she didn't really regret Miwa's loss, not after finding out what kind of person she was, but she and Chitose had still lost someone and that in itself hurt. That line of thinking extended to Hiroshi, he wasn't who they'd thought he was either and neither of them liked the person he'd turned out to be. But he was still her brother. He had still been Chitose's best friend, practically his brother too. And she was still his sister, Chitose had been his best friend, he'd lost them as surely as they'd lost him.

Masaomi hadn't liked her parents simply accepting Miwa after the whole fiasco but, as her mother had once asked her, what were they supposed to do? Was that any reason to disappear from their lives forever? What kind of daughter was she? Masaomi had called them once, a week after they would've realized she was missing.

Once.

In almost seven years.

She accused Chitose of still holding on to Miwa but Masaomi wasn't ready to move past her either.

Was she? If there was one thing the last few months had taught her it was that you should never leave room for regret. Masaomi glanced at the clock,

11:30pm.

It wasn't too late... right?

Masaomi dialled a number and prayed her parents hadn't changed it. She put the phone to her ear and waited as it rang a few times before a groggy female voice she still recognized said "hello?"

"Mum?" A form of address Masaomi had thought she might never use again, "it's me."

It was 2:30 in the morning but Masaomi wasn't altogether surprised when she heard the knock on the door, "it's open Chitose!" She called.

He stepped inside, his eyes wide, Masaomi frowned as she saw him, he was looking at her as if he was truly seeing her for the first time in his life even though they'd known each other for over half of it.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," he replied, just as tonelessly.

Masaomi held up her phone, "I just got off the phone with my mother." She said.

Chitose's eyebrows shot up, of all the things he hadn't been expecting, this might just top the list.

"Oh? How was she? How's your dad?"

"Fine, both of them," said Masaomi, placing her phone on the table beside her. "Glad to hear from me. Happy that you're alright too. Your mother still calls and asks them if they've heard from us."

Chitose's eyes misted.

Masaomi took a deep breath, "Miwa and Hiroshi are still together." She began, keeping her tone mild, "I guess they really were destined for each other after all."

"I guess so," Chitose agreed, tone equally as light, he was surprised by how happy he was for them.

"They named their son Shigeru," said Masaomi.

"Miwa's father's name," Chitose murmured.

"They had a daughter after that," Masaomi continued, "Aiko."

"'Child of love', fitting," said Chitose.

"Then they had two more sons, twins actually, Masaomi and You."

Chitose gasped, "seriously?"

She nodded.

Chitose thought for a moment, then huffed a laugh, "well that was unexpectedly nice of them. But I don't want to talk about Miwa and Hiroshi, as grateful as I am to them, I'd rather talk about you."

"Grateful?" Masaomi demanded. Me? She thought.

Chitose was smiling at her in such an odd way, "yeah, grateful. If they hadn't done what they did none of this would've ever happened. And I never would've become close to the woman of my dreams."

Masaomi's heart stopped. She stood so quickly that she almost fell, Chitose caught and steadied her, when she looked up, they were inches apart. Could he mean...?

"Actually, you're better than the girl of my dreams," Chitose admitted, "you're real."

"I only ever dream about you in my nightmares," said Masaomi.

"Thanks for that," Chitose drawled. But when Masaomi cupped his face to stroke the bags under his eyes with her thumbs he covered his hands with hers. "But I-"

"I love you," said Masaomi, telling the secret that she'd lived with for so many years. Because it wasn't anything she needed to keep a secret, it wasn't anything to be afraid of. She smiled, actually smiled, "I just wanted to say it first. I'm sick of coming in second."

Chitose hugged her, "you're not second in my heart. I love you."

Masaomi hugged him back, "did you write that yourself or did you hear it somewhere?"

"Shut up." He rested his head on top of hers, "you deserve so much better than me, I don't want to hurt you and I'm sure I will... but I truly love you, so please, please don't leave me."

"You idiot," Masaomi replied, "I said I'd never leave."

"You're the idiot!"

"I know."

Ten years later Masaomi smiled and waved at a almost fully-grown Shigeru as he left his house he shared with his parents and siblings for the day. After he waved back she rested her hand on her pregnant stomach and turned away, she didn't feel the need to go inside. She was rebuilding relationships with the rest of her family but things would never be as they were before and she didn't want them to be. Instead she went back to her own home.

"Mommy!" Flashes of dark hair and darker eyes was all Masaomi saw before she was swarmed by four girls aged almost nine to barely two. She groaned and accepted her family's hugs. "Hello, hello, hello, no, get down, I can't carry you all."

She set her (current) second youngest Sayuri, down and called out to her husband, he came into view slowly, their (current) youngest daughter Rina in his arms.

"Hey."

"Hey."

They got their kids settled and, at last, sat down. Masaomi sighed in relief, "remind me why I let you have such as stupid idea as having six kids?"

Chitose raised an eyebrow, "my stupid idea?! Me have six kids? You know, call me crazy, but I think you were involved somehow."

Masaomi smacked the back of his head, "idiot."

"You're the idiot!"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Thank you everyone who read this through to the end. Hope you enjoyed, goodbye!