Well this is the end of this one! I hope you like it. ^^

Enjoy...

Epilogue: One year later...

They say that time heals and this was the case within the Seireitei.

Kisuke had reluctantly returned to the Soul Society to officially take over the Twelfth Division and had promoted Akon to be his lieutenant.

Rukia gave birth to a healthy son that she and Hanataro named Kenta.

Shuhei and Rangiku had finally tied the knot about six months after the Maggot's Nest incident.

And Hisoka had eventually convinced Isane to marry him while the Kuchiki clan set about reconstructing the children's home back at the old site in the 78th District.

The 78th District Children's Home was rebuilt and they were having their grand opening one week in late July. Everyone who'd had a hand in it's reopening was there, except for a few notable exceptions. The children were running all over the place as if they were on a permanent sugar high when Rukia received a message from the Seireitei.

"Ichigo, Renji! It's time, we gotta go!" she yelled as she handed Kenta over to her husband and quickly kissed them both goodbye.

As the two men rushed up, Ichigo asked Hanataro, "Can you bring the all of our kids back when the party's over?" The shorter man nodded.

"Of course Ichigo. Tell them I said good luck!" he answered with a grin as he watched the three friends shunpo off.

They skidded through the doors of the Fourth and followed the trail of pointing fingers to the wing that had been jokingly dubbed the 'maternity ward,' until they reached one door. Shunsui, Jushiro, Kisuke and Yoruichi were waiting for them, with the purple haired woman pacing restlessly, waiting for word from Unohana, who was inside.

"We didn't miss anything did we?" Rukia asked excitedly. Shunsui shook his head with a grin.

"No, Bya-kun has been ranting non-stop for about thirty minutes demanding to know when he can push and then when he can kill Zaraki."

"That sounds about right," Ichigo grinned as he looked at his mate. "Has anyone figured out yet how he managed to get pregnant without being a Visored?" Yoruichi stopped pacing and shook her head.

"That just might be the biggest unsolved mystery the Seireitei has ever witnessed," she said with a grin overtaking her worried look. "From what I heard, they aren't even going to have to have a Cesarean, he actually has a birth canal just like you did."

"Weird," was Renji's only comment when they heard a shout from inside and a round of cursing coming from the noble.

"Once more should do the trick," Unohana murmured encouragingly to the raven haired noble.

Byakuya was exhausted, his hair sweat-slicked and sticking to his forehead as he began to push for what he hoped was the last time. In the back of his mind he marveled that Ichigo had ever allowed Renji to touch him again after their twins were born and, not for the first time, he was thankful that he was only having one baby. Although how that was even possible still remained an enigma.

Kenpachi securely held Byakuya, allowing the noble to squeeze his hand, their matching gold bands glinting in the light, until he felt like it was going to disintegrate from the pressure. Once the pregnancy had been confirmed, the two men had married; the only thing marring their day being the one missing member of their family.

Byakuya gasped one last time as the baby entered the world and Unohana gasped softly and quickly turned her back to them as she and her assistant rapidly and quietly tended to the newest addition. The baby set up a healthy wail as the brunette healer stared down, seemingly enthralled before quickly wrapping the infant in a blanket and turning to the two men with a huge smile on her face.

"You have a beautiful daughter," she said softly as she watched the two men who were now reclining on the bed. Both of their expressions grew serious as they looked at each other, wishing their first daughter could have been here with them.

"Now don't be that way!" Unohana merrily chastised them. They looked at her and smiled. She was right, now wasn't the time.

As she placed the squirming little girl into Byakuya's arms, the blanket that had been covering her head fell back revealing a full head of soft bubblegum pink hair, and as both of the stupefied men watched, she opened bright magenta eyes to look at them and smiled.

"H-how is this possible?" Byakuya asked. Kenpachi just shook his head as he watched the all-too-familiar little girl.

"Whatever will you name her?" the healer asked, happiness dancing in her own eyes as she took in the bemused expressions on the men's faces.

Before anything more could be said, both men heard Nozarashi's joyful voice ringing in their ears, "Sur~pri~ise!" They smiled at each other and turned to the waiting healers.

"Yachiru."

Later that afternoon, Hisoka wandered over to the front gates of the home to get a little peace and quiet away from the noisy party taking place behind it when he saw a sight that took his breath away. A little boy of about eight was peering through the gates in curiosity with a scowl on his face. When he caught sight of the man, he looked like he wanted to run, but Hisoka only smiled at him gently and squatted down to his level.

"Hello, would you like to join the others?" he asked as the child slowly walked up to him. The little boy looked like he wanted to but was nervous.

"I was told ya take in kids like me," he said as gruffly as he could manage, puffing his cheeks and chest out to look more intimidating. It didn't work; he was sooo cute!

"I do," Hisoka nodded; taking in the disheveled blue hair, the clear blue eyes and the glare. About then both Yuki and Ryuu ran up to see what was going on and spied the child.

"Hi!" Yuki exclaimed, wide eyed. "Want to play?" he asked, shyly. Blue eyes lit up as the child took in the boy's appearance. Suddenly the gruff exterior melted and all that stood there was a little boy.

"Yeah!" he grinned and started to run after his new friends.

"So what's your name?" Ryuu asked as they took off.

Hisoka was left standing there as the blue haired boy's proud answer rang in his ears. "It's Roku-hyō-ō!"

A/N: Whew! Took me long enough, but I'm kinda sorry it's done. I set things up the way I did because of the sequel I'm planning. I needed Grimmjow in the Soul Society and had always planned on him dying in this one. However, Yachiru just kind of happened. With the pairings I'm planning, I had one extreme age gap and didn't want to make a habit of it. ^^

Roku-hyō-ō is, of course Grimmjow and the name is a combination (at least as far as Google translate goes) of Sixth son/panther king.

Until next time!