Welcome to the Epilogue of My Past Haunts Me. I'm so excited to be finishing up this book and move on to my next book.

Two Years Later

Karin was dressed in a light blue dress with the bottom of it decorated with flower petals with a lightweight white jacket over it. She was sitting on the couch putting on her white dress shoes that had an inch heel to them as Toshiro came out of their room wearing a blue dress shirt with a red tie, black slacks, and black shoes. Karin stood up as Toshiro walked over to her giving her a short kiss before pulling away.

"You ready Karin?" he asked.

"Of course I am, we are just waiting for Haru to be done getting dressed," Karin replied rolling her eyes at the question. "Besides you came out of the bedroom after me," she added before they heard a door open and turned to see Haru dressed nicely in similar clothes as Toshiro. The little boy had a light blue dress shirt and black slacks with black shoes. He carried his tie over to them handing it over to Toshiro as he kneeled down to come to eye level with him. Haru smiled as he stood in front of Toshiro allowing the older male to put the tie around his shoulder and tie it for him. When Toshiro was done he ruffled Haru's hair up as he stood straight up again with a smirk. Haru fought off his hand,

"Dad, stop," Haru yelled out while laughing. Toshiro withdrew his hand back to his side with a smirk plastered on his face. Haru pouted as he fixed his hair,

"Alright you two we have to go before we are late," Karin said as she opened the door to leave. Toshiro and Haru exchanged looks before Haru smirked running after Karin.

"Yes mom," Haru said simply. Toshiro walked after them petting Hyourinmaru as he left the apartment and closed the door locking it. Toshiro met up with Karin and Haru at the car as the two were already taken their place. Toshiro got in the driver's seat driving them to their destination. Karin was excited for this day.

It had been two years since Toshiro's dad had been killed, during that time Karin fought to get custody of Haru since he was hers, but the court took some convincing. They nearly took Haru away, but when Toshiro stepped in saying that Karin had turned her life around and became a police officer, they became intrigued. Karin laughed as she remembered the day they were given the conditions they had to do to get custody of Haru.

Flashback to eight-month prior

Karin stood in front of the judge nervously waiting for the news of what the judge had decided.

"Karin Kurosaki out of consideration of the child's safety and after looking over your past, regardless of you being a wonderful member of today's community we can't give you custody over the child. As married couples are given priority over single people. If you were married things would be different, I am truly sorry" the judge said. Toshiro had to force himself not to yell out but stood up nonetheless.

"Excuses me judge, but she is his biological mother, shouldn't she have priority over parents that might want to adopt Haru," he argued.

"Unfortunately again she is single and the state worries she might not be able to provide everything," the judge replied.

"What if I were to say that Karin wouldn't be a single parent for much longer? We have recently decided to get married," Toshiro spoke again shocking the judge and Karin. Karin hid her shock as the judge thought for a moment.

"That would make a difference, I will allow you to keep Haru in your custody, but I will not sign off on you permanently taking custody of him until we have the marriage paperwork," The judge answered before she stood up and left the room. As soon as it was only the two of them, Karin looked at Toshiro,

"You lied," she spoke softly, not in anger but in sadness.

"I know, but we could make it the truth, how about it Karin? Marry me?" Toshiro asked. Karin couldn't help but laugh at him.

"That is so unromantic!" she squeaked before she settled herself down. "Sure, if it means I get to marry you and get to have Haru under our custody. I guess I wouldn't mind getting married," she told him. Toshiro rolled his eyes before the two left together planning a wedding that would be only between them and lawfully binding. The two of them decided that the wedding would be secret between the two so that after Haru was officially apart of their family they could have a wedding for their families.

Karin, Toshiro, and Haru all walked up the steps to the courtroom where a judge was waiting for them. The three of them stood before the judge excitedly waiting for her to say what they had wanted to hear several months prior.

"I'm pleased to see that you have completed everything that would have stopped us from giving you permanent custody of Haru, so I am here today to grant you full custody of Haru, Hitsugaya's, so if you would repeat the oath"

~We are prepared to accept this gift of a child to raise. We will share our lives with him, help to mold his mind, nurture his body, and enrich his spirit.

We will never betray his trust, dampen his hopes, or discourage his dreams. We will be patient and kind. We make this commitment willingly.

We will cherish Haru all the days of our lives. ~

Karin and Toshiro both repeated the promises together. The judge smiled as she signed the paper that was on her desk,

"With great pleasure, I'm happy to announce that Haru is now officially adopted, congratulations Haru Hitsugaya. I know there were a lot of steps that you had to do to get this to come to a reality, but I am glad that we were able to reunite a family instead of tearing one apart," the judge said before standing up and leaving the room. The three of them couldn't stop grinning, as they left the courtroom to meet Rangiku and Daichi who was now two and a half.

"Congratulations!" she told them cheerfully.

"Thanks, Rangiku," Karina and Toshiro said together while Haru went to hug her,

"Thanks, grandma," he said as he wrapped his arms around her. Rangiku hugged him back before they broke apart and Rangiku focused her attention on Karin and Toshiro who were holding hands,

"Now that this is done, how about we start planning a wedding! You might be legally married, but I want to see my Shiro stand at the altar, and I'm sure Karin's family want to see her walk down the aisle," Rangiku said excitedly. Toshiro and Karin only exchanged looks before shrugging.

"Sure, we can start planning, but I think me and Toshiro can both agree that our wedding is going to be small," Karin said.

"Oh, I get it! You want it small so you can have a nice honeymoon, don't worry I'll watch Haru for you. You two can go and have FUN." Rangiku squealed emphasizing the word fun. Karin and Toshiro turned bright red as Rangiku laughed with Haru seeing them red in the face. After subsiding their blushes they all left to celebrate as Rangiku continued to go on and on about the wedding, but the wedding is for another story.

Alright, that's the end of this book! Sorry the Epilogue kind of sucks, maybe I'll redo it in a few months when I have my motivation back. Give me some advice on where I should take the Epilogue instead. I will probably do a short on Karin and Toshiro wedding just for the fun of it.

As always comment, vote, favorite, and whatever else you can do.

Until Next Time!

~white_spirit ~