Disclaimer: Bleach and related characters, titles and settings are property of Tite Kubo and VIZ Media. I receive no monetary benefit from this work.

Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who followed this story religiously- and those who took the time to read it through to the end. A huge thanks to Tite Kubo for created Bleach and the wonderful Aizen-sama, and to the ladies who inspired this (who know who you are)!

It ended as insanely fast as it began.

Aizen and the Arrancar surrendered once Aizen realized Sakura was dead. He approached Yamamoto-soutaichou with her body in his arms, saying that they gave up. Hinamori discovered a few hours later that Aizen was in custody of Soul Society, and requested to see him. Yamamoto-soutaichou denied her request; however, she was present at both the trial of Aizen, Ichimaru and Tousen, and Aizen's execution.

Tanaka Akemi and Nakamura Mizuki returned to the Living World with Sakura's body shortly after their trial. Both were banished from Soul Society and were robbed of their powers before their return.

Sakura's family did not believe their story, even after seeing Sakura's body. Mizuki discovered that her family had relocated to the Kantou region, and took a flight out there to meet them. Akemi passed her entrance exams, and was accepted to Tokyo University. She cried when her letter of acceptance came; Sakura had always told her that she would make it in.

Akemi did as she had been told and informed Izumi-sensei of Sakura's death a week before the funeral. The older woman burst into tears, and understood Akemi's request for an investigation against Takahashi-sensei. However, with no physical evidence against him, all the charges were dropped. To this day, none of them but him know the truth.

On the anniversary of Sakura's, Akemi and Mizuki came together at Sakura's grave. They each laid a white rose in front of the headstone, and Akemi brought one red one in the place of Aizen. They told Sakura about their year, and how they've been doing without her. Sakura's parents came after the sun sets to tell her how much they love her and miss her.

However, in a world somewhat far away, the wheels were turning to bring things back into place...

To be Continued in For a Lover...