Herakles definitely came across as Genre Savvy, especially when he stopped short of breaking his promise to Kiku. I agree with you that leaving the ending at that point makes it better and fits the spirit/tone of the story more; nonetheless, getting confirmation that they do have a happy ending of sorts makes the shipper in me do a dance of joy.

Do eeeet. 8D There is not enough Giripan in the world and I'm sure that the folks over at giripan will be delighted to have a whole bunch of fanfics to read through! Besides, I seriously doubt you'll have to worry about a lot of readers not finding them good enough or anything like that.