Epilogue

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Senkai mon – Door leading from soul society to the living world

Ohaiyou – Good morning

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Bleach, manga or anime.


A few months later…

"It's valentines day in a week, taichou" Matsumoto informed her captain, "what do you plan to do?"

"I don't know yet." He answered as he signed the last report and put his pen down. "Any suggestions?"

Matsumoto shrugged and then smiled slyly at him before saying "not any innocent ones", earning her a look from her captain. She ignored him and continued, "besides, I think it would mean more to her if it was a hundred percent from you."

"Urgh." He shuffled the papers and straightened them against the desk then held it out for Matsumoto. "Take this to the first division. Then you can do whatever." She took the papers then proceeded to greet Hinamori on her way out. Hitsugaya's head perked up.

Hinamori smiled at him as she walked over and sat on his desk.

"What are you doing Shiro-chan?" She asked. Hitsugaya crossed his arms.

"I just finished, and stop calling me Shiro-chan." Hinamori giggled.

"I could call you bunny bear like Rukia calls Ichigo at times." She teased but then thought for a minute, "nah, that's their thing. I could call you snow bunny." She laughed as Hitsugaya shuddered.

"On second thought, I think I'd rather be called Shiro-chan than snow bunny."

"That's right."


The next morning, Hinamori woke up in her room and sat up. She yawned and stretched then looked sleepily at the clock. Her eyes widened.

"Wha! It's so late!" She quickly got up and got changed. Damn Hitsugaya, he adjusted my clock again. Mental note: scold Hitsugaya later. She tied her zanpakuto to her hip then raced out of her room.

"I hope I make it to the meeting in time."

"Oi Hinamori, where are you running so fast to?" a voice interrupted her. She spun around and stomped angrily towards the caller.

"Hitsugaya! You changed my alarm again. If I don't make it to the meeting then it's all your fault!"

"Shouldn't you be going to the meeting then instead of standing here and telling me about it?" Hitsugaya smirked.

"Ah!" Seeing as nobody was around Hinamori gave Hitsugaya a quick kiss then continued running to the meeting.

Hitsugaya stared after her adoringly and chuckled to himself.


Valentines Day finally dawned and all the shinigamis cheered at the one day off. This, however, did not mean that things in Seireitai were not hectic. In fact, some may even say that it was busier then normal days. There were loud and large displays of confessions followed by escaping victims and the usual practice of giving loved ones gifts.

Hitsugaya walked through the main halls of Seireitai to get to his division and observed many strange, and not so strange, occurrences on his short trip.

As usual, Nanao would storm through the halls quickly in an attempt to escape her captain as the said captain in his pink attire would chase after her screaming without a hint of shame "Nanao-chan, my lovely, lovely Nanao-chan! Will you be my valentine?" At which Nanao would clench her fist, stop abruptly and throw a fan at her captain and successfully hit him on the head with it before resuming her escape.

What was not as usual was seeing Hisagi Shuuhei blushing furiously after having given Kurotsuchi Nemu a rather large heart shaped container filled with heart shaped chocolates. "It came like that, really." He explained, a pink shade tinting his cheeks as he scratched his head and laughed.

Hitsugaya folded his arms as he walked past them. Hisagi and Nemu hey, gotta tell Hinamori about that. He thought as he threw them another glance.

But what he saw next would be the strangest of the strangest event he had seen by far.

"Kenpachi-taichou. Since you fight so much, I was concerned about your health so I made some dishes for you. Make sure you eat enough to sustain that stamina of yours." Said Unohana sweetly to Kenpachi after passing him a bundle of obento boxes. Kenpachi laughed nervously and scratched his head.

"Maa, thank you, Unohana-san. How thoughtful of you." He replied, a tint of pink showing on his, Zaraki Kenpachi's, face.

Hitsugaya decided to stop staring before Zaraki sees him doing so and quickly moved past them. Zaraki and Unohana huh, wait til I tell Hinamori about this one.


Hinamori slowly drifted awake to the smell of nature and sweets. She opened her eyes slowly at first and was startled awake by what she saw. There were roses and flowers everywhere in her room.

She sat up and gasped as looked around, letting out a squeal when she spotted her display shelf. There, sitting in the main middle sill was two frosted glass sculptures. One of them was a chibi Hitsugaya about to give Hinamori a large love heart, a sheepish expression played on his face as he looked away from her. The other sculpture was of a chibi Hinamori giving him a kiss on the cheek as a thank you. Together the two sculptures made a typical valentine scene.

She fell back onto the pillow and took in her surroundings. On her right was a bouquet of roses in a vase. A small card was placed just next to it. She leaned over and read it out loud.

"Ohaiyou, my snow bunny. :Picture of a smirking chibi Hitsugaya:

Happy Valentines Day!

Shiro-chan"

Hinamori giggled happily and promptly got out of bed.


Hitsugaya finally arrived back at his office to find his desk piled up with presents. He took a moment to mourn his usually painstakingly neat desk then moved to see who the presents from. It was mostly from his subordinates, some vice-captains, Rukia, Ichigo and one from Ayumi-chan. Hm, none from Hinamori yet. He thought as he picked up a random one and started unwrapping it.

"Ooo, presents!" Matsumoto exclaimed as she eyed the pile of presents on his desk. She took one out of her sleeve and placed it on the desk. "Happy V'day, taichou." She greeted offhandedly while slumping onto the couch and sighing.

"What are you doing today, Matsumoto?" He asked as he tackled the wrapping on another present.

"Nothing much, might just drown myself in sake and indulge in chocolate."

Hitsugaya snorted. "Che, what kind of plan is that. Come here, I have your present."

Matsumoto sat up and looked at her captain dubiously, "a present, for me?" She asked.

"Do you want it or not?" He asked gruffly. Matsumoto clapped and hopped up, walking over towards to him.

Hitsugaya opened his drawer and took out a piece of paper. Matsumoto stared at it incredulously.

"You gotta be kidding, you're gonna give me work?" She asked in disbelief.

"Shut up." He retorted as he gave it to her. Matsumoto snatched it and looked at it, her eyes widened.

"Tai…Taichou." She responded, touched. It was a permission slip to see Gin, signed by him and Yamamoto.

"Use this time well Matsumoto, this may be the last time that you may get to see him before the…" Hitsugaya trailed off.

"Before the execution, I know." Matsumoto continued for him sadly, "Thank you, taichou." Hitsugaya nodded in response.

"Go." Matsumoto looked at him gratefully then obeyed.

He watched her leave the room. It was all he could do really, to help her. Her and Gin's situation was already sentenced to a tragic end – she didn't deserve that kind of pain. Yet another thing Hitsugaya held against Ichimaru Gin. He sighed then resumed opening his presents.

"Shirou-chan!" exclaimed Hinamori as she skipped into the room right to him and threw her arms around him. "You are so sweet!"

Hitsugaya turned around and hugged her properly.

"Did you just wake up you sleepy head?"

"No." She kissed him on the cheek and grabbed his arm, dragging him out the door. "I've been up for a while now."

"Huh, where are we going?" He asked.

"It's a surprise."

A few moments later they reached their destination.

Hitsugaya stared in awe.

"Is this?"

"Yep! Happy Valentines Day!" she clamoured, pointing to six different dishes on the table. Hitsugaya drooled, each dish was a favourite of his.

"There's desert after!" She announced proudly.


.

Night fell. Four people stood outside the front door of the Kuchiki mansion.

"Don't return even a minute late Rukia." Ordered Byakuya, eyeing Ichigo as he spoke.

"I won't, nii-sama."

"You may go now." Rukia, Ichigo, Hitsugaya and Hinamori started to walk away.

"Ichigo." Byakuya called smoothly.

"I'll meet you guys outside" he told the rest as he walked back to Byakuya.

"If something happens to Rukia, I will hold you responsible." Byakuya warned him. Ichigo nodded.

"Don't worry Byakuya, she'll be fine."

"Be back by tomorrow afternoon." He reminded. Ichigo complied and caught up with his group. The four headed for the senkai mon.

On the way there, they saw Hisagi and Nemu running towards them.

"Hisagi-kun, Nemu-san, what are you two doing?" Ichigo asked.

"If Kurotsuchi-taichou asks can you tell him that you haven't seen either of us?" Shuuhei pleaded.

"Yeah sure." Ichigo replied.

"Thanks. Hitsugaya-taichou, Hinamori-kun, Rukia-san." He greeted, then the two took off again. The four watched the disappearing couple weirdly then resumed their journey.


"III-CHIIII-GO!" yelled Isshin.

"Oh?" He was about to do his usual routine of kicking him when he saw the other three. "Hitsugaya-taichou…" He looked at Hinamori and Rukia and let out a sound of delight. He stalked right up to them and pulled them both in a bear hug, tears streaming down his face.

"Ah! Hinamori-chan, how delightful!"

"Ano, Kurosaki-san." Hinamori coughed out as he was hugging them too hard.

"Oi! Let go of Hinamori!" demanded Hitsugaya forcefully. Isshin let go of the girls and scratched his head sheepishly.

"Sorry, sorry." He put his hands on Rukia's shoulders, "how is my beautiful daughter-in-law?"

WHACK! "Don't say things like that!" barked Ichigo, going a bit red.

"Rukia-neesan!" squealed Yuzu as she ran up to her. Karin followed slowly behind her. A blurry yellow thing sped past her and flung itself onto Rukia.

"Ne-san!" yelled Kon, tears flying out dramatically.


.

That night, after watching some movies, Hitsugaya and Hinamori retreated to the roof for some moon watching.

"It's amazing." Hinamori commented as she positioned herself to sit slightly in front of Hitsugaya, leaning comfortably into him. His arms moved autonomously around her.

"What is?" He asked, looking at her.

"That we're in a completely different world but the moon still looks the same, as with the sky."

A shimmer of white soared through the sky then disappeared as quickly as it came.

"A shooting star!" she exclaimed.

"Quick, wish for something." He told her. She smiled sweetly and closed her eyes.

"I wish we could stay like this forever." She opened her eyes and leaned on him a bit further, tilting her head up to see him. She gave him a sweet smile. Hitsugaya impulsively leaned down and captured her lips with his, marvelling at the softness and the sweet taste.

At this moment, it truly sank into him. That she was really his. In the long winding road that was their relationship, Hitsugaya had yearned, loved, lost and reunited. Now there was a clear path in front of them and he wanted to make damn sure that she was there by his side through the rest of it.

He tightened his grip around her and held her closer to him. They looked at each other for a moment.

"What's wrong?" She asked him, her features creased a little in worry.

"I love you." He admitted, his voice was so soft that it was barely audible. But she heard him.

"I love you too" She replied softly as she brought up one hand to bring his face down towards hers, their lips met again.

A few minutes later they broke apart, slightly panting for air. Hinamori returned her gaze to in front of her while Hitsugaya skimmed his lips down along her neck. The action tickled her, causing her to giggle. Hitsugaya smiled into her as he basked in her laughter. She turned her head slight towards him.

"Shiro-chan." She called gently.

"Yeah?"

"Happy Valentines day."


THE END


I wasn't too sure how to end it but I hope you liked it anyway.

I love reviews so please do so.

The next page is just a response to reviewers. Thank you so much for following me through in this series, whether you reviewed or not. A general note to the reviewers: thanks for encouraging me through this. :touched: You people rock.