Alright so I finished watching the filler Hotaru, and Utakata arc and man that was sad, and so dumb how they just left it on a cliff hanger, so anyways here's my take on what happened afterwards.
_
Hotaru walked to the field of flowers, as she had done several times before, her blonde hair now covered with mounds of grey hair, as her once pretty face had now turned old and wrinkly. She had grown like the rest of the world, but still she was stuck in the past, at least her heart still was.
She laid down in the field of flowers as she once did many years ago her mind invertedly traveled back to that day as she closed her eyes and reminisced.
It had been hours since Utakata had told her to wait here, she was getting bored and restless, her fingers twirling the flowers she had picked off the ground. "Hmm when he is getting here its been so long, maybe I should find him myself" she thought.
Hotaru started walking towards the way she came from, but then she stopped herself, and said "no I need to stay put, Utakata will just be more angry at me if he comes back and I'm not here, plus the bubbles he sent are definitely a sign he's thinking about me." Hotaru's cheeks involuntary turned red a little when she said that last part.
And so Hotaru walked back to the field of flowers and stayed put, at sunset she decided just to take a little nap thinking Utakata probably got lost on his way here. Her eyes opened the next day as the rays of the sun hit her face, she hoped as she turned around Utakata would be there grumbling about something or making breakfast.
But as she turned her face, her eyes saw no sign of Utakata, in fact she looked all over the field and there was nothing but just flowers and her. That's when she knew something was wrong, Hotaru immediately got up, and went looking for Utakata.
The first thought that crossed into her mind was that Utakata had abandoned her, he had lied to her, but no she didn't believe it not one bit, "my Utakata could never do that to me" she told herself, as she frantically jumped from branch to branch.
Hotaru was re-tracing her steps going to the place where she had last seen Utakata, and then travelling the same way she had seen him travelling. During all this time though a myriad of thoughts entered Hotaru "maybe he got lost, no maybe he's sleeping, maybe he got attacked, what if he's fighting someone."
As these thoughts continued to swirl around her, she didn't notice the tears forming around her eyes as her thoughts gradually got worse, and worse. Her thoughts were only broken when she stumbled upon a battlefield, "huh, what could've happened here" she thought.
She decided to look around the battlefield, hoping that this would give a clue to where Utakata went. She started walking around the battlefield, she didn't know what she was hoping to find among the ruins of the forest, she just wanted something.
After a few minutes of aimlessly roaming around the battered trees, something caught the corner of her eyes, it was a metallic looking long shaft object, she turned around to get a better look at it, and it looked exactly like a bubble pipe.
More precisely like Utakata's bubble pipe, tears had started forming at the corners of Hotaru's eyes as she walked hesitantly towards the bubble pipe. As she got closer she could see tiny cracks, and dust forming on the bubble pipe, she knew what this meant but dared not think about it.
As she finally got to the bubble pipe, she fell down on her knees and picked it up, holding it close to her face. She inhaled the scent of the bubble pipe, it smelled exactly like Utakata and she let herself feel what she knew all along.
She yelled a painful screech, before breaking down into incoherent violent sobs she knew Utakata was gone, gone from this world not kidnapped or taken away just dead. The word "dead" echoed in her mind as it was the only the thing that she could concentrate on, as the tears came flowing down without an end near sight.
Eventually though she had cried herself to sleep, falling asleep with the bubble pipe, hugging it like a teddy bear. Hotaru awoke the next morning, and for a second everything seemed peaceful but then her thoughts came rushing back to her as she felt the bubble pipe in her hand.
She was alone again, and this time she realized for good she quickly picked herself up with the bubble pipe in tow, and walked as the tears continued to pour out of her.
The years quickly passed by Hotaru, and while the pain never ceased to lessen she did learn how to manage it, she got a job at a local café which allowed her to pass time more quickly. She always loved looking at the new faces, and the regulars which came into her café especially the couples.
She always could tell which ones were deeply in love, it gave her a warm feeling which was always overshadowed by an intense despair of what could've been.
Eventually however, using her savings from working at the café Hotaru was able to build a house near the field of flowers Utakata had told her to meet; It was a small house nothing fancy but it was big enough for her, with a garden out back. By that time, she had turned 47 her wrinkles were more apparent now, and her grey hair had started to overtake her dull blonde ones.
The years had not been kind to her, and more often then not she would go out to the field of flowers with Utakata bubble's pipe and just wait there. Suppressing her rational mind she hoped that maybe one day she would see Utakata with his piercing golden eyes waving to her, as he would come towards her cracking a joke, but that day never came.
And so the years did pass with each day looking almost the same with little variation.
Hotaru opened her eyes as a tear drop fell from it, she had gotten lost in her memories again, her eyes darted around she was still laying in the field of flowers as the rays of sun hit her body, the warmth felt nice she thought.
Hotaru knew she had to get up now, but for some reason she couldn't, her body refused too and she didn't fight it to much, it was honestly peaceful that way. She felt like she could lay here forever under the warm bask of the sun surrounded by her flowers.
As she looked up she saw something peculiar a transparent sphere, as it got closer and closer to her she recognized it was a bubble, she smiled it was a genuine smile one she hadn't done in a long time.
"Utakata" she thought, as a barrage of bubbles descended upon her as she closed her eyes, Hotaru was at peace.
Hotaru awoke again her eyes stirring, she felt younger and much more stronger than she had in a long time. She could feel the flowers beside her, as some of them were felt by the palm of her hands.
She finally opened her eyes, at the first the sun was blinding so she couldn't make out anything but as her pupils adjusted, she could make out a figure in front her. As the figure got clearer and clearer, she noticed his dirt brown hair, and his sharp golden eyes, she let out a small audible gasp it was Utakata.
Utakata smiled down on her, with his hand caressing her cheek he said "Well it took you long enough."
Alright well that was it, I'm thinking of adding a second chapter to this just so I can explore their reunion a bit more, but yeah just felt like adding this extension to the Utakata, and Hotaru story since we never got any conclusive ending to them.
Also, I do consider this to be canon, and no one can tell me otherwise since this was a filler arc :)
