Hiromi:
I know I should have left for the Gotei 13, as soon as we finished with tending the habitants of the Red Zone. However, too much happened these last few weeks. I broke up with my boyfriend, I found out my little brother is the infamous substitute shinigami, The Zodiacs came back, my identity as the Men Killer was revealed, my secret was found out and we became ambassadors between The Zodiacs and Gotei 13. All I wanted was to run away from it all, I wanted to go back home...
As I knew I was not allowed to visit my family's house, especially since they are capable of seeing spirits, I went to where it all ended; the cemetery where I was buried.
I still recall my burial as if it had been yesterday. My whole family crying their heart out. I never stopped feeling guilty for leaving them behind, Ichigo especially who depended on me so much and needed me to overcome his guilt over mother's death. Luckily, Renji had been present and had allowed Ichigo to cry on his chest as he held him tight.
Rose, my best friend, could not stop crying. She like I suffered a lot of teasing and bullying young for our hair color, her red and I orange. Contrary to me, she was a shy little thing that could not stand for herself so I did it for her. I was her heroine and protector, but also teacher. I taught her to love herself and how to stand up for her cause she was worth it. I did not worry about her as she now is strong enough to stand on her own... but I will miss her immensely.
Her parents were also there, crying too. I've known Rose ever since I was five, they've always treated me like another daughter and thanked me for taking care of Rose. So, I was not surprised to find them there as well.
Tatsuya was also there, feeling so guilty for having broken up with me for a stupid reason. He had always been jealous of Renji and I's close relationship and the previous night of my death we had a huge fight about it, one that ended up with us breaking up. I knew he blamed himself for my death, if he had not broken up with me I would have not gone out that night and gotten myself dead. But I never held it against him, not our break up or my death. I simply wish I could tell him so.
As I looked upon my tomb I did not notice two humans getting closer and closer until I heard their gasps: "Hiromi?!"
My eyes widened, rapidly recognizing the familiar voice of my first boyfriend, the boy who took all my firsts and I took his. But surprised as well that I could see him. Then again, when a spirit in the human realm and a human share strong feelings to see each other they can. From where else do the ghost stories come from?
"Tatsuya" I sighed, turning around. He was much older but still looked the same, he was holding a bouquet of red roses. By his side was my best friend from when I was alive, she had turned into quite a beauty. Both of them looking me as if they had seen a ghost... well, they kind of did "I'm surprised you still remember my favorite flowers, even after all these years" I commented with a gentle smile.
"How could I ever forget?" Tatsuya asked, voice breaking and filled with emotion "H-how? I thought you were..."
"Dead?" I felt a bit guilty for my straight forwardness when they flinched "I am and I moved on a long time ago, soon after my death. But I suddenly felt nostalgic and wanted to come... I am so glad that your desire to see me again was as strong as me, letting us have this moment"
"Hiromi!" Rose broke down into tears.
She rushed to hug me... only to pass me through. She looked at me stunned before crying even harder. I looked at Tatsuya and found tears rolling down their cheeks too.
"Oh, Rose, Tatsuya, do not cry. This should be a happy moment!" I said softly, trying to keep my own tears at bay "We finally get to say goodbye, as we did not get the change beforehand"
"Hiromi... I am so sorry, this is all my fault" Tatsuya apologized, hugging the bouquet tightly.
"There's nothing to apologize, you did not kill me Tatsuya. Or would you fault a kid who asked their parents to pick him up early from a birthday, which lead to a car accident? Or a mother who sent their son to do the groceries in a supermarket which ended up being a place for a shooting?" I tried to reason with him.
"You haven't changed at all, still the same smart ass" he chuckled, the mood lightening up slightly "I am sorry for how things ended up... I still loved you then"
"And so did I" I replied "But it seems that we both moved on in our own ways" I continued pointing at Rose's wedding ring, the one Tatsuya once promised to give me when we grew up- a family heirloom.
"A-are you angry?" Rose stuttered, like she used to when we were young.
"Angry? Why would I be angry that my best friend and ex-boyfriend moved on and found happiness in each other's arms?/ If anything I am relieved, I could not think of a better partner to take care of you guys" I assured them, happy to have finally lessened their guilt "How are your parents Rose?"
"They are good. They visit you every year and have a picture of yours hang in our house" she confessed, smiling sadly that there was a picture for mourning at all. But rapidly cheered up "What about you how is the afterlife?"
"You know I can't answer that... but I can tell you that I finally opened that cafe I always wanted to and it's all a success" I announced, receiving happy proud congratulations from them "Why don't you tell me about yourselves? Tatsuya did you finally became a lawyer like you've dreamed of? And you Rose, did you became an amazing teacher like I've always knew you've became?"
"We did! You still remember that?" Rose asked, blushing happily.
"Of course I do! They are the dreams of my precious Tatsuya and Rose!" I exclaimed, slightly hurt that she would think otherwise.
They both laughed, Tatsuya looked at me fondly and said: "Even dead you can make us happy... will you go away again?"
The mood getting gloomy once again.
"Way to drop the mood" I commented sarcastically, trying to mask my own pain "I have to. I no longer belong to this world... but I wanted to at least say goodbye properly this time and assure you that there's nothing you guys should be feeling guilty about. I am happy and want you to be happy too"
"We will be" Tatsuya assured me "It took us a lot of time but we were finally able to move on but never forget, we helped each other and ended up falling in love. But I need to assure you that you are and will always be one of our most important persons in our life. We have your picture in our apartment too and our daughter will be named Hiromi after you!"
"Daughter?" I gasped, tears finally falling down. I looked at Rose's stomach and finally noticed the small bump "Oh, guys! I am so happy for you! And honored!" more tears fell.
"Why are you crying Hiromi-chan?" Rose asked worriedly.
"I just feel so happy for you and very touched that you would name her after me... but also sad, we always did promise that we would be each other's children's godmothers" I confessed "Now I cannot fulfill my promise"
"Nonsense, you will always be her godmother" Rose replied firmly.
"She is right, we know that you will always look out for her wherever you are. Even if we can't see you" Tatsuya said, smile on his face.
"Guys... I will be there! I will make sure the baby comes to this world safe and sound and will be there when she is born... even if you no longer can see me" I assured them.
"Hiromi..." Rose cried happily but sad at the same time.
"Then we have nothing to worry about, our daughter is in the most capable hands" Tatsuya wrapped his arms around his fiance's shoulders and hugged her close to him.
I smiled at the pretty picture they made. But once I looked behind them and saw Toushirou-kun I knew my time was up. Smiling, but this time sadly, I faced them.
"Guys, it's seems that my time is up" I said.
"What? No! You just came back to us!" Rose cried, panicking.
"Rose calm down, it is not good for the baby" Tatsuya tried to calm her down, but he was panicking as well.
"I didn't even have to be here, we were lucky to have had all this time" I told them "Please let me leave with the memory of your smiles not your tears"
"Oh... Hiromi" Rose sobbed but still smiled for me, a smile that I returned my own tears falling down- this was much harder than I had thought.
"This is a see you later not a goodbye, remember your promise" Tatsuya stated, as serious as ever.
"As if I would!" I scoffed, smiling at my ex, before vanishing away from their sights "What are you doing here Toushirou-kun?" I asked, appearing by my other ex's side.
Toushirou:
"What are you doing here Toushirou-kun?" my ex-girlfriend asked, suddenly appearing by my side.
What was I suppose to say? That I rushed towards the human world as soon as I saw that you did not come back with the rest of the team? That I begged the Commander Taichou to allow me to come and pay a visit to his son and granddaughters? That I have been jumping from building to building looking all around the city for you when you were not there? That I was hiding like a coward jealous little boy when I saw you talking with your ex? That I came to apologize for being a complete asshole and am very very very sorry for what I've done and that I will never ever hurt you like that again?
Yes! Hyorinmaru growled through our bond.
Following my zanpaktou's advice I did just that. I swallowed my pride and let it all out. How Momo was indeed my first crush but that was way before I even joined the shinigamis and that ever since she has only been my best friend and sister. That when I saw a little boy the only one I had was my nana and Momo, the only ones who did not fear me or curse me. That since then I felt like I owed her, that I had to take care of her. That since her taichou betrayed her she has been in a delicate situation and I was only trying not to make her go off trails again... that I had been so stressed lately that half the time I did not even know where I was standing or what I was doing, but none of that gave me any right to take it out on her. And that I am very very very sorry.
"Wow..." gasped Hiromi surprised when I finished talking "That was a mouthful... and a very appreciated apology"
"That's it?" I asked shocked "That's all it takes? No anger or crying or punching? You will simply accept my apology and everything is back to normal?"
"Of course, nothing is back to normal Toushirou-kun!" she exclaimed looking at me incredulously, making my heart break and sink again "You screwed up and I screwed up" What now? "I kept many secrets from you, I might have gotten the right reasons but I did lie, by omission at least. Knowing that you never loved her romantically and that you did not cheat on me is all I need. We can go back like if nothing happened or start all over again. Too much had happened for that... but we can try again. Talk this time, about our worries or work or anything really. We did not work because we did not communicate, let's correct that mistake"
"You are right, let's try once again" I smiled "For now though, let's get going to your house"
"My house? But I thought... the rules..." she stuttered, looking completely adorable when she is so confused.
"I know but while your guys fought The Zodiacs a lot of things happened" I replied "I'll explain on our way to the Kurosaki household"
"Ok" she finally relented, grabbing my hand and walking side by side.
"The Zodiacs did not only test you but us as well, they needed to gauge our reactions to all of the secrets and drama unfolding in your mission. They had as all locked up in our offices or dormitories and gave us some kind of floating bubble showing us what happened during the mission, the memories of the past or sometimes even thoughts. Kind of those T.V shows in the human world. I still do not know how they did it but it is being investigated" I informed her, nodding when she looked at me in shock "I know! We were in disbelief too"
"So, the whole Gotei 13 knows I am the Men Killer?" she asked, voice shaking. Groaning when I nodded my head "Great just great! I am a dead woman when I go back to the Spirit World!"
"No, you are not" I assured her "You are a hero. You caught all those wannabes shinigami and now passed the test of The Zodiacs. Not to mention you are captain level when it comes to strength, a true genius of kids. They won't kill you, they want you to take the place as the captain of the ninth division"
"They want to make me a taichou... I am not surprised by that but why are they allowing me to see my living family? Ichigo is an exception as he is always coming in and out of the Gotei 13" she inquired.
"Well, during the flashback of your... death" I began, making a fists with my free hand. The topic of her death is always something delicate to me. Even though she died way before I met her it still pains me that she had to suffer such fate and I could not do anything for her "The Captain Commander recognized your father who ended up being his son, who was classified dead after fighting against The Zodiacs" I ignored the dropped jaw and wide open eyes of Hiromi to continue my explanation "Let's just say that he is very happy to be a grandfather and is drilling his son right now for never telling him about you and your siblings"
"Well, that was shocking..." she mumbled "But it does come with many advantages. If they want me to be their new captain I will demand that they finally ley off my brother's back, full allowance to come between the Human, Hueco and Spiritual World so I can maintain contact with my family, and an alliance with The Zodiacs wherever they are"
"As devious as always" I thought out loud with a smirk "I love it! So kind yet venomous at the same time, no better match for me"
"I know darling, I know" she replied slyly, licking her lips seductevely before rushing ahead and leaving me on the dust "Come on darling we better hurry!" she giggled at my frozen figure.
"That woman will be the death of me" I shook my head, chuckling to myself, before rushing towards her.