A/N: Hello there! This is JayceeJade here! My sister (HichiShirosaki) and I decided to make a profile for the stories that we work on together. :D I honestly hope that you all enjoy the prologue of what is to come.

Disclaimer: We don't own Bleach. 'Nuff said.

Now onto the story! ^_^


A warm hand caressed the small sleeping child's cheek as the owner of the hand smiled sadly. He sighed as he took back his hand. The man's feet slowly led him out of the room and he grabbed his lovely lady's hand as he shut the door. The both of them slowly made their way to the door and they lingered.

"Do you have to leave?" She whispered with dread and urgency.

"I will be exiled if I don't." He murmured softly.

"What's Amaya going to say when she realizes that her daddy left her all alone with her mother?" She expressed with strain laced in her voice.

"I-I don't know. I'm sure that when she grows older, she will come to hate me. Just...tell her that I am sorry...don't reveal anything else to her." The man replied with emotional pain. "I truly am sorry..."

"I know. I understand." She was crestfallen. "But please...don't forget about us."

The man was surely crushed and devastated. The thought of leaving the woman that he loved and his child was unbearable, but the cost of staying wasn't what he wished to fall upon himself. Susume knew that he had come from the Soul Society. The Soul Society was his home, and would always be his home no matter what, and she certainly didn't want to be the cause of his banishment. He crushed her in a hug filled with longing and the desire to stay. After a few minutes, he let go and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips before he opened the front door. He didn't look back and Susume was left staring after him in the night with silent tears trailing down her cheeks and onto the floor as he disappeared into the darkness.

Then it started to rain. Lightning flashed across the sky with a mighty roar and soon it was pouring even more. There was a clap of thunder and the whistling of the wind as it passed by in a flurry. It was as if the sky was crying for her and her daughter. It was as if the sky understood her pain and wanted to help her heal the wound that was left in her heart. Her daughter would be without a father and it left a numbing feeling in her heart. She forgave him, yes, but it didn't mean that their daughter would.

~xXx~

Amaya held fast onto her mothers hand as she was led into the classroom. Fear and nerves crept up on her and she held onto her mothers hand even more tightly. Her body unwillingly hid itself behind her mom's leg as she stopped to talk to the teacher. Her gaze scanned the classroom with all the children her age running around with toys scattered across the carpet. She tilted her head to the side and frowned. Her gaze landed on a boy who was playing by himself. 'Why? Why was he all alone?' She simply wondered. Surely he didn't want to be playing all by himself. She looked up and tugged on her mother's pant leg. Her mother looked down.

"Yes?"

"Can I go play?" Amaya asked in her small childlike voice.

"Well, I don't see why not." Susume nodded to her daughter.

With no question, Amaya raced to the boy that was sitting by his lonesome. She planted her butt right next to him and started helping him put together the simple puzzle that he was playing with. She grabbed a piece that he was looking for and handed it to him with a smile. She noted that he had short black hair and brown eyes and was wearing a simple t-shirt with blue jeans and white sneakers.

"What's your name?" Amaya questioned with a smile.

"Ah...Hiroshi..."

"Well, I'm Amaya, can I play with you?"

He answered her with a nod and she gave him a wide smile in which caused him to blush. They continued to put together the puzzle until her mother called her name. Amaya turned her head towards her mother. Susume waved good bye and Amaya waved enthusiastically to her as she left. Amaya turned to Hiroshi and jutted out her lower lip in a contemplative manner for a five year old.

"We'll be friends." She declared with a determined nod as she held out her hand to Hiroshi.

He blushed as he slowly held out his hand. Amaya grabbed it and shook it with such enthusiasm that it caused the boy to widen his eyes with confusion as he was shaken along with his hand. He swayed with dizziness as she let go of his hand. Hiroshi fell to the ground and she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly as she laughed in a nervous manner.

"Ehehe...sorry." She smiled with a grimace.

~xXx~

Amaya rubbed her shoulders at the harsh basketball game that she had played with Hiroshi.

"Damn! Did you have to go that hard on me?" An older eleven year old Amaya complained.

"I thought you were perfectly fine." He responded in his semi-deep, crackly voice as he shrugged.

"But still. I'm gonna be sore for a while." She grimaced.

"I'm sure you'll be fine. It's not like it's the end of the world." He joked as he playfully nudged her shoulder.

She shoved him in response and stuck her tongue out at him. "Nyah!"

They made their way down the street towards Amaya's house as they playfully shoved and chased after each other. As they stopped at the crosswalk, Amaya saw a little girl run across the street. Amaya immediately ran after the girl, not realizing that she was a simple ghost. The girl suddenly disappeared and Amaya turned around in a circle, hoping to find the girl. Amaya never knew what hit her when she turned her head. The sound of a horn boomed from behind her and she whipped around to see that a huge truck was going straight for her. She froze, not knowing what to do when Hiroshi shoved her out of the way. Amaya fell to the ground with a thud and heard the screeching of tires and the sound of a body hitting metal. Her body immediately reacted and she got up, despite the pain in her hands, arms, and legs. She ran towards the front of the truck and shuddered in horror in despair at the sight before her. There, right before her eyes, was Hiroshi. Without a second thought, she raced towards him and kneeled right next to him. She could feel her eyes water and her body shake at the amount of sheer sorrow that she was feeling. Her friend had just saved her from the truck, but had gotten hurt instead. He was littered with cuts and bruises and his legs certainly didn't look right which made her cringe in distress. He didn't look like he was breathing either, which caused Amaya to panic People crowed around the truck at the tragedy that had unfolded before their eyes like a horror movie gone wrong.

"Call 911!" She yelled in agony and looked down at him. "Hiroshi!"

His eyes suddenly opened and he smiled through his pain clouded eyes. He lifted his left arm. "You're okay...I'm glad..." His eyes closed and his arm fell with a light thud.

"No! You can't do this!" She wailed. "No! Hiroshi...Hiroshi...! HIROSHI!"

~xXx~

The smell of hospital antiseptic wafted through Amaya's nose as she sat hunched on a chair in the waiting room. She couldn't comprehend what was going on around her. All that was going through her head was the fact that her friend saved her. Her best friend had risked his life for her, and for what? To die? Why would he do that for her? Amaya just couldn't wrap her head around that concept, she couldn't think of any reason as to why he would save her life. Did he value her life over hers? All these thoughts that were swirling in her head did not help her in the least and her face crunched up in despair. Oh how she hoped he survived. Amaya couldn't bear the thought of her friend dying because of her idiocy. These thoughts kept swirling around in her head and boy how she wanted to cry. But she couldn't bring up any tears. She felt numb, lifeless, dead. And even if he got better, she still felt detached from the world because she was the cause of near his encounter with death. And all that blood. She had never seen someone loose as much blood as Hiroshi did.

Time passed by without notice as people entered and exited the ER. Time was incomprehensible, it was unwanted, it was feared. The more time passed, the less aware the eleven year old became. It was as though she was a doll, suspended, absent in mind and soul, unable to move as those around her did. Then Amaya's mom lightly shook her arm and she gained some awareness; some, but not all.

"Honey, dear? Shake your head if you can hear and understand what I'm saying." Susume softly asked her daughter and Amaya lightly shook her head in response. "Okay, good. Now, I just heard from the doctor that he's going to live. But...they had to amputate both of his legs..."

That was it. That was all it took for Amaya to break. And break she did. She felt as though everything was just tumbling. 'He's never going to be able to walk again because of me...' was repeated over, and over, and over again in her mind. It seemed as though her mind, body, and soul had had just about enough of all the stress and tragedy that she was dealing with, and as a result, she passed out.

~xXx~

She gained consciousness to the feeling of something soft on her fingertips. She groaned and opened her eyes. Her eyes closed of their own volition due to the harsh light that was shone on her face. Her hands went to cover her face as she rose to sit up. Once she was situated and shielded from the light, she moved her hands and opened her eyes. She noted that she was in her room, but how she got there was unknown to her. In her sleepy state of mind, she tried to think back to what had recently occurred and it wasn't something that she had wanted to remember. There was wave after wave of despair and dread. What she felt when she remembered wasn't as bad as what she had felt when it had happened, but it was still something that she never wanted to feel in her whole entire life.

The night before, she wasn't able to comprehend anything, in which left her unable to cry. Now that she was in a different state of mind, Amaya was able to wail her sorrows out to the world. Tear after tear fell down her cheek, sob after sob escaped her mouth, and feeling after horrible feeling passed through her like a hurricane. Susume burst through her daughters door, ran to the bed, and quickly hugged her tightly.

"He can't walk because of me!" She sobbed. "Because of me he's hurt! Why? Why did I have to be so stupid?"

"Shhh. It's okay. Everything's going to be okay." Susume soothed her bawling daughter.

"No it's not! How...how can I even look at him without blaming myself for his pain? How can I face him again?" Amaya held onto her mother for dear life as the sobs, not the tears, lessened.

"How about this...we'll move away for a while." Susume suggested.

Amaya pulled away from her mom and stared at her in confusion through her tear stained face. "What?"

"I think you need to get away for a while so you can stop blaming yourself."

"But...people will think I'm being a coward, and selfish..." Amaya trailed off.

"But you're not. You're going away for a while until you have the ability to face him without being able to blame yourself for what happened." Susume smile softly and wiped the tears away from her daughters cheek. "When you feel ready to see him again, we can visit and you can pour out all that you were feeling to him. Alright?"

"...alright..."

And to her mothers word, they did indeed move. The town was simply called Karakura Town. Hiroshi was saddened when he had found out Amaya had left without a word but when his parents explained why, he immediately understood and hoped that she would be able to emotionally heal so that they would be able to see each other again. Amaya as well hoped for the day that she would be able to see her best friend again with a renewed confidence and personality that didn't convey a weak little girl, but a strong and independent teenager.

In a couple years, they would see each other again, but they would never know what hit them. And so it begins...


A/N: And such concludes the prologue. I hope you all enjoyed it and didn't find it boring in the least. :P We each decided to take turns writing the chapters, so since it's her turn to write, whenever chapter one comes out is up to her. If you want it to be posted soon though, then I would suggest you review! The more reviews that we receive, the more motivated she is to write it so please review! :D

Thanks. ^_^

~JJ~