Utakata felt as if he were floating. It felt as if he was lying safely in his bubble again, lost in his dreams. Somehow the young Rokubi jinchuukiri couldn't open his eyes and wake. Murmurs echoed in his ears. Utakata had no idea where he was. Suddenly, Tonbei's words returned to haunt him. "Please…protect Hotaru-sama." He only did what the man had asked simply because he had someone to protect. Utakata had to protect her. He remembered her vividly, with golden-brown hair that had curled at the very end. She always looked up to him, somehow. To her, he was not a jinchuukiri or a monster to be feared. He was not a missing-nin. He was not a tool who didn't speak. Somehow Hotaru saw him as what he had always wanted to be…a human being. Utakata remembered how Hotaru would always escape her prison and sheltered life at night to blow bubbles. Since his arrival, she had become fascinated with them, her eyes wide. One time, he had asked, "Have you ever seen a bubble before?" as the bubbles drifted away into the night sky. Suddenly shy, Hotaru shook her head. She had continued to watch him as he continued to stay, and blew bubbles for herself that night when Tombei had told them to run.

Hotaru had wanted to be his student, and him, her master. Now he never would. Utakata recalled the tall shinobi in the black cloak with the red clouds. Even now, the words that he had said to him remained vague and distant. The mouth had moved, but Utakata still could not understand. He had heard of the Akatsuki. He had heard how the Ichibi had been extracted and that the jinchuukiri had miraculously been brought back to life. Utakata thought that never would happen to him. He thought that he would spend the rest of his life fleeing another enemy, the Kirigakure hunter-nin from his home village. Instead, he was captured by the Akatsuki and sentenced to die. Hotaru would never know what happened to him. Perhaps there was a sense of comfort in that. Hotaru did not know of the Akatsuki, or of their goals. She would not know how her master had been taken from her or that he would die. Utakata would not see the pain and agony that she would face either. It was better this way. He remembered his last words to her as his last bubbles flew away. "Hota..ru…you…must live…" Utakata wondered if she heard. Maybe she had. He hoped that his bubbles had reached her, masquerading her eventual agony and fear. He remembered her voice, sweet and soothing…

"Utakata-sama!" She had admired him so much, even when she barley knew him. He had only saved her life once, and that was enough – to her – to admire him. "There is no one stronger than you in the village!" Hotaru had thought of him highly. Too highly, perhaps. She had wailed as he had left her in the hands of the Konohagakure shinobi. And now, he would never see her again. He would never hear her voice again. She would be lost again, without her beloved master. How would she be able to live? She had to. She must…for his sake. He would never understand what she saw in him, he who had killed his own parents and master.

Then he felt pain exploding through his entire body. The rokubi inside him screamed. He was blinded. Pain seared through his limbs, and he let out an inhuman scream. He seemed to scream forever and the pain seemed endless. Then felt himself floating again. Utakata saw himself fall to the cold ground, separated from his body. He was already dead before he hit the ground. He watched with a strange sereneness as the body of his former self continued to lie on the ground, motionless. His face was strangely peaceful, as if the pain from his twenty-one years of living had disappeared. Utakata heard his voice again. "Hota..ru…you…must live…"

Hotaru… Utakata thought as he stared at his motionless body. His heart had stopped Gomen nasai.

Hotaru felt her master's presence. She didn't know how she had stopped crying. It had been a feeling she had. Something was wrong. When Hotaru had seen the battleground, her face was frozen with shock. A bloodied mask had fallen to the ground. Trees were uprooted, and water freely flowed from the debris below. Hotaru had climbed down toward them, seeing something shining in her eyes. It was her master's bubble blower. She turned in her hands, caressing it with her fingers. Somehow she knew that Utakata-sama was dead, and had followed her way to the meadow where they first met. The bubbles had been there the moment he died, she thought. I couldn't… Suddenly a sob chocked in her throat. Thick and wet tears spread down her face. I couldn't protect him as he did with me! She remembered of how the bubbles had surrounded her. They were there, all around, as she danced. Hotaru didn't know that that was the last message her master had given her. "Hota…ru…you…must live…" The bubble lying in her hand had spoken his last words. It had sounded as if he had been in great pain as he died, and that it had been hard for him to speak. I will live, Utakata-sama. Her sobs had ceased, and now she felt the wind caress her hair. The tears were drying. She clenched her master's beloved object and weapon in her hands. She remembered how he had gracefully fought with this, killed shinobi with this, and had protect her. Suddenly her sadness was too much too bare. Hotaru's cries slowed as the night sky darkened. She stood, remembering the happy memories of Utakata-sama. She cradled the bubble blower in her hand. I will…learn to fight with this. This is my weapon now. I will…travel to Kirigakure, Utakata-sama's home…I will become a Kirigakure shinobi…become a strong shinobi, like Utakata-sama.

Faintly she felt a gentle kiss on her brow. "Hotaru…" A faint voice called. She gave her master 's transparent spirit a watery smile.

And if she had an heir, his name would be Utakata.

Utakata-sama…gomen nasai.