Ukitake Family Manor

Yumiko reached across the table and took her friend’s hand. “Don’t worry. Doesn’t it take a long time for any member of the Gotei to ask about that? And it’s been a very involved last few years, and then you were prisoners…” She fell silent at that and the smiled again. “Didn’t you tell me that you were the one to get your relationship going? Maybe you need to do the same here. He seems to be very serious about his duties. Maybe he needs a nudge.”

Yumiko’s heart clenched at her friend’s words and glanced down into her cup. “If you don’t tell him…” she paused, mind on the past, “he won’t know what you want and won’t have a chance to tell you what he wants..." 

Sighing, she looked up again. “You’re both a part of this war, but you’re not central pieces.  Still, he’s focused enough that he might not say anything unless he either sees someone else get married or someone gives him a hint.” She ran her hand over her cup. “You know him much better than me. It’s up to you. Just don’t… stay silent if you feel something needs to be said.”

Yumiko shared her expression and let her continue with her planning, eye returning to her cup. She really shouldn’t be the one helping her with everything that had happened. But then again, Naomi had come to her, and she had to have done some things right. Her hand shook around her cup before she took a breath and stroked her stomach. She took another bite of banana bread.

“You okay?” Naomi asked. Yumiko opened her eyes to see her friend leaning over the table towards her, eyes wide. 

Yumiko managed another smile and sipped at her juice. “I’m okay. I’m just happy for you.”

“Lunch would be good,” Yumiko agreed. After the embrace, she wrapped the banana bread in cloth and handed it to her friend. “We’ll see about shopping. It’s getting to be tiring to walk around too much with the child inside me.”

Naomi giggled. “Don’t worry. You can lean on me.” She hugged Yumiko again, thanked her for the bread, and ran off.

Yumiko returned to the table and canceled the shield around her house. Returning to the table, she continued to eat her piece of the bread, one hand on her stomach, soothing the little bundle of warmth as it kicked. “I will make new memories, but there are some that won’t go away, that are still painful. And yet,” she smiled and wiped at a stray tear, “they’re becoming more bearable.”

"Broken Promise":

Juushiro sat on his veranda with a late cup of tea. He’d returned to his family estate today. His siblings managed the estate with their large families, and somehow, they they had been spared from the worst of the assault on Soul Society. They had weathered the resets with more quiet acceptance than most, too, perhaps due to the first blessing on their household, that of his long life despite the constant presence of his illness. Most of his family were pacifists and had low enough reiatsu to remain out of the Gotei as well. It was always a pleasure to spend a few days or weeks with them, from playing in the gardens with his younger nieces and nephews to letting the evenings linger at the table with his siblings and those of the family approaching adult age, a couple of which had expressed wishes in trying to join the Gotei tonight. Time was moving on.

His ward and surrogate daughter had moved onto the estate as well after the reset. He’d wondered if she would stay at the shop again, but she had chosen not to. Even if that would be where she could see Vale. Instead, she continued to volunteer at the Fourth Division and set some distance from herself with the others in Karakura. She seemed to be trying to find a balance between putting walls up and reaching out. At least, she wasn’t completely isolating herself this time.

He lifted his cup and took a sip, sighing. Today, he had set at least one more on the road to healing, he hoped, but he had not shown them an easy path. By revealing the complicated truth to Fuu, he’d given Kita the choice to forgive herself for her part in the slaughter that had followed but when the truth were printed, he had also set up many in the Gotei 13 to remembering their calling in the Soul Society when so many were weakened from their loss. By bringing to light the sacrifices that had been the crux of their hope for defeating their greatest nemesis. By confessing that even some of the greatest among them needed to reach out, admit their weakness, and work with others to be strong enough for some of the challenges the soul realm forced on them. Juushiro closed his eyes, praying that the right messages would come through when the interview resumed, when the final story was released to all.

This was the only way to reach all of them in some way, but only time would tell if it would it be enough. 

Hearing floors creaking but sensing the person wandering before she reached that point, Juushiro set those worries aside. "It's rather late to be up now. Shall I make more tea?" 

Juushiro could have left that statement alone. It was late and the night had a way of making people acknowledge the details they would otherwise not speak about. But she had suffered enough.

“Perhaps that is true. No one is as safe as we wish now that Aizen has returned to his former strength, but it does not stop us from looking for times or places where we find solace and protection. That choice to believe is important and I hope that you have found that here.”

Yumiko closed her eyes and nodded. “Somehow, yes, I have. I don’t regret coming here.”

Juushiro looked to her. “Yumiko, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I wish to ask. Do you regret not spending more time at Karakura?”

Juushiro kept his hand in hers, his eyes closing as he sent a wave of warming kido towards her. Trying to keep her trembling from getting worse in her distress. “You don’t have to tell me anymore now unless you want to, but I know you’ve had a revelation that’s eating you alive. I don’t know how long it’s been there — and maybe you didn’t acknowledge it for a while — but you haven’t been able to ignore it anymore.”

He turned her hand over and covered hers with his own. “Nothing you say will turn me away from you. I promise you.”

He hesitated and then spoke again when she didn't retreat. “If you can continue, I will listen. I don’t need to do anything more.”