At that moment, the cero espada fell, and the arrancar were dead. Except of course, for Numbers 3 and 6.
Aizen was still alive, as well as Tousen and Gin.
And the massive Dragon Shinigami was standing before the victims.
"Ta—" a small light-brown, almost orange-colored hair girl stuttered.
The Dragon noticed, and lifted her head.
"Tatsuki-chan!" the girl ran towards her, embracing her in a caring hug.
No matter what her appearance, it still seemed that Orihime didn't care.
Tatsuki was, after all, her best friend.
"I c-can't believe…" she stuttered through sobs, "that you came here to rescue me."
She turned to face the rest of the group. "All of you."
She started to cry even more, "Thank you… so much…"
Ishida went over to dry her tears, as did Rukia.
Tatsuki stared at the tiny group. Her eyes fixed on the kidnapped girl and the people surrounding her.
"But still…" She turned her head towards the source of the voice.
"…It's incredible." Tatsuki's eyes focused on the orange-haired Shinigami.
"I can't believe you did something like this to yourself," he said, while studying her physique, moving his head up and down.
For she had become more than just a regular Shinigami.
She was on the border of an Arrancar and Vizard.
"Of course I would." She replied in a steely voice as she turned her head to continue looking at the scene before her. "After all, she is my NAKAMA."
The last words were said with such malice that Ichigo twitched, and felt the cold atmosphere surrounding his childhood friend.
That's right, he thought. Of course she would be angry.
"I'm sorry, Tatsuki, really. I just didn't want to endanger you, Keigo, and Mizuiro any longer than I already did." Ichigo said, trying to make amends for his actions of not telling them anything, but for her to find out anyways.
"I guess you think that I'm going to accept that answer and forgive you."
She turned her head back towards the Vizard.
"RIGHT?"
Ichigo felt the atmosphere get even colder, but he stared into her eyes.
"I guess not," he said in an apologetic voice. "But what I said is true."
"I don't care… You still should have told us. You should have told ME, at least." She stared at the sand before her.
"Like I said before, isn't that something that you tell your Nakama? No matter what happens?"
"I'm sorry." A short silence was let go. "But I guess I'm just too stupid to know something like that."
Another silence. Except it was longer. "You are an idiot."
Ichigo cracked a small smile. "Sure."
As the cold atmosphere became steadily warmer, Ichigo remembered something.
"Hey, Tatsuki."
"What?"
"Where are Keigo and Mizuiro?"
Before Tatsuki could answer, Orihime suddenly shot up from her crouched position with a look of accomplishment and happiness on her face. In other words, her usual expression.
"Okay!" She shouted gleefully.
"Everybody's safe!" (Which was probably a humongous understatement.) "Now we can all go home!"
"I can't wait to go back to school and see everybody again! Chizuru, Michiru, Ochi-sensei…"
"I'm not going."
Everyone stared at the voice's owner.
"Huh?" the ex-kidnapped girl spoke.
"I'm not going." Tatsuki replied again.
"What!? Why?! Is it because of what I did before with not telling you? You can't just stay here because you're spiteful of that!" Ichigo burst out.
"It's not like I'm saying that I want to stay here."
Everyone stared at her questioningly.
"Maybe, It's not so much that I'm not going back…" she said while scratching her head.
"…But it's more like, I can't go back."
"You… can't?" Ichigo thought aloud.
"What are you talking about? Everything will go back to normal and we'll all be back in Karakura!"
"We can all live what we wanted, I'll even tell Keigo and Mizuir—"
At that moment, a loud SNAP rang out throughout the whole of Hueco Mundo.
A large wing, had fallen onto the sand. Tatsuki's wing.
"Ah, damn. I was hoping I could hold out longer." The Black-Haired girl spoke.
"What…" this time, Renji spoke.
"Like I was saying," Another snap reverberated through the white world of Hueco Mundo. "I CAN'T go back."
"What's happening to you?" Orihime spoke in a wispy voice.
"You didn't really think that I could get so strong within such a short amount of time, did you?" Tatsuki answered back with a sad smile on her face.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING!?" Ichigo shouted hysterically as her second wing hit the ground.
"To answer your question, Ichigo," Tatsuki said calmly. "Keigo and Mizuiro are currently training with Urahara."
The group was silent.
"I just got here quicker due to my decision."
"What's that supposed to—" Ishida started.
The wings started to fade. Their spirit particles floating into the air.
Meanwhile, Tatsuki's expression was very and absolutely morbid.
"I don't have any time to explain anything. When you get back, you can get the information out of Keigo, Mizuiro, and Urahara about what happened."
"What's happening to you Tatsuki?" Ichigo asked. Not wanting to believe what he already knew.
"I don't have to say it, Ichigo." Tatsuki shot back her response.
"I'M DYING. I AM SECONDS AWAY FROM DEATH."
Orihime's eyes filled with tears as she let a small gasp escape.
Everybody's stance changed to one's of complete stiffness, to one's with upset atmospheres around them.
"WHY WOULD URAHARA DO THAT!?!!" Ichigo exclaimed. "WHY WOULD HE GO, AND TRAIN YOU TO—"
"DON'T BE STUPID, ICHIGO!" Tatsuki yelled her response. "I JUST DID THE SAME THING YOU DID! I ACCEPTED WHAT HE WAS GOING TO DO TO ME, WHILE KNOWING THE CONSEQUENCES!"
"…What he was going to do?" Ichigo questioned.
"NO! TATSUKI-CHAN! DON'T DIE!" Orihime ran up to her friend again. Pleading for her to change something that was already set in stone. "PLEASE DON'T DIE!" Her eyes were letting tears fall everywhere.
"Hey, Orihime," Tatsuki put her hand on Orihime's head, her voice lowered. "It's okay, right? I mean, you're safe. And everything will go back to the way it was. Me dying will have saved your life at least."
Orihime was crying excessively now.
Tatsuki's hand was disappearing, as well as everything beneath her torso.
"It won't be the same! You won't be there!"
"It's fine," she said in a sad voice.
"After all…"
Ichigo's face contorted into pain with Tatsuki's completed statement.
"…I'm just a minor character."
And with that, the dragon disappeared.
Leaving behind the prints on the sand that she had walked on, and the memories that those six had had of her.
Very sad.
The part where Tatsuki says that she is a minor character is herself referring to her role in their lives at the moment. It wasn't supposed to be comical or letting the character's think/know that they were in a manga. (For those of you who didn't quite get that statement.)
I guess in ways that this is a sequel to SOULs.
I might write the aftermath later.
But I'm tired, and it's 3:33 AM.
Good Night.
A/N - 8/9/09: Changed some things around so there will be more of a mystery in the next part.
Actually, I rewrote this one a lot. Original title was: The Tearful Ending.
Changed it because, I didn't like the original title.