Okay, finally the long wait is over! Sorry it took so long! Thank you for your patience! (bows) Sequel to The White Rose.

This is my 50th story! (If you count the ones I wrote that are on my sister's account). Yay!

Disclamier: I do not own Bleach. Songfic song by Evanescence.

The Blue Rose

The moon was not visible in the sky tonight; it was just a vast expanse, like a black sea floating above the world, ready to swallow up the entire universe in an oblivion of darkness.

The streets of Soul Society were quiet, guards posted to keep watch during the night.

But within seconds, the whole city was turned to chaos.

Shouting and shrieking was cut short as metal blades slashed through flesh and blood welled up in thick, red rivers. Warnings called and backup was sent for, but in the night, it was all so confusing. So much all happening at once all over the Seireitei, and no one could see their enemies.

A boy with white hair was racing through the streets, for he had been one of the first to wake from the noise. These enemies, whoever they were, they made him sick, attacking a place like this at night, sneaking into homes and buildings and murdering innocent souls. There was blood on the ground and he saw several limp bodies as the screaming went on.

Finally, he reached his destination anxiety flaring up inside him. Was he…too late? He leaped up the stairs and flung open the door.

The brown haired girl looked startled, as if she expected him to be an enemy. Her sword was halfway out of its sheath, as if she had been about to jump off of her balcony and join the fight in the streets below. The boy grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her out the door with him. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

And she instantly knew that he meant it, and that they were never coming back.

But before she left her room, the girl reached for a white flower and grasped it tightly in her hand.

And the two ran, and the screaming died down behind them.

Dear my love, haven't you wanted to be with me

And, dear my love, haven't you longed to be free?

I can't keep pretending that I don't even know you

And, at sweet night, you are my own

Hitsugaya and Hinamori trudged through the dead grass, wilted from the cold.

Dawn was breaking in the distance, a milky, pale light dripping into the gray sky. Neither had spoken a word since they had gone, leaving the only world they had ever known behind.

The world where they had grown up, and met each other and made many friends.

The world where those friends had changed and become greedy for wealth and power, and where they had all fought and killed amongst themselves and even murdered their closest friends and used them as pawns.

Now, they were leaving it all behind forever.

Take my hand, we're leaving here tonight

There's no need to tell anyone, they'd only hold us down

So by the morning's light, we'll be halfway to anywhere

Where love is more than just your name

Their hands were still tightly grasping each other's; the only person left in this world that they truly cared about.

The winds were cold and slammed against their faces as the continued on their way. They were both exhausted, but neither slowed the pace, afraid the some malicious, unseen terror would pounce on them from behind if they halted.

Finally, the girl dared to speak. "What happened?" Her voice was no more than a hoarse whisper, dull and full with dread.

The boy flashed her a sidelong glance. "I don't know." His voice was hard and serious. "Somebody with disgusting intentions finally decided to show his true colors." He guessed. Then he added. "Someone like Aizen."

Hinamori's blood felt like it was on fire as the treacherous man was named. She said nothing more until the yellow sun was high in the cloudy sky. "Where are we going to go, Hitsugaya-kun?" Her voice was trembling and cracked as if she had not used it for ages. He slowed his pace to a walk.

"I don't know." He answered. "Anywhere, as long as it's far away from here."

They were silent as they picked their ways through dead grass and the brown and broken stems of bracken and heather. The landscape was beginning to look familiar, and Hinamori knew exactly where they were. They passed a small, crystal-clear stream that was now coated over in a thin layer of dazzling, blue ice. Within a few heartbeats, she recognized the valley she and Hitsugaya had discovered in the late Summer that year.

Then, it had been a lush green meadow, covered in a blanket of crimson roses. She remembered the white rose the boy had given her, which was now sticking out from her hair's bun.

Now, the valley she had known was a desolate and barren wasteland. It was not longer a field of flowers, but blank moorland with dead and dying plants that stretched out over the horizon that seemed to never end. The place she had felt so at peace with, the quiet, joyful, serene place, her sanctuary, was gone.

And despite their urgency to keep running, Hinamori stopped dead when she saw what had become of it.

The stems of the roses were cracked and breaking, and the grass was nothing more than sharp splinters of hay. The once beautiful roses were now covered in a layer of white, sparkling frost that reflected the sunlight. Snow was scattered about the entire place, and it was all so eerily silent. The wind blew through the empty field and the stems made the smallest sounds, brushing against one another and they sounded like small stones clanking together.

The place she loved so much, where the only scarlet was that of the rose petals, was now a silent expanse of cold lifelessness.

She felt as though she were inside a gravestone; it was gray, miserable and unchanging.

Hitsugaya stopped beside her. "It'll come back in the Spring." He murmured.

"I know." She choked out. "It's just so…wrong to see it like this…" She longed to see the meadow in all its red, sweet-smelling glory again, but both Shinigami knew all too well that they would never be coming back here; it was far to close to the horrible place they had fled from.

Even if it was almost a full day's journey away, it was still too close. They wanted to be as far away as possible from Soul Society, both mentally and physically.

Hinamori seemed to remember what they were doing then and she gave herself a shake. "Let's go." She mumbled.

They set off again, trying to avoid crushing the delicate flowers below them. The girl sighed and fought back a rush of tears. That valley had been the only place in the worlds that she had truly been at peace when she was there. It was the place of her dreams, and of every other person's dreams; she had just been lucky enough to find it along with the person she loved.

Now all that hope and peace she had felt when she was there was gone.

She had dreamt of a place like that for so long and she had received it. But it seemed that she had been wishing for that paradise for too long and now it had disappeared because she did not cherish it enough.

The sun was sinking downwards when they had left the field of dead roses far behind them. A flurry of snow swirled down from the white clouds now, and the wind was a freezing blast of air. Hitsugaya had hoped to find some form of shelter to spend the night, but so far the endless valley was the only thing that stretched out before them. Although the field was gone, the land seemed perpetual and it was as if it would lead them to the edge of the world.

As the stars began to flicker into the dark violet sky, Hitsugaya and Hinamori began to feel the weariness of their journey to escape their destinies. Finally without speaking, they decided to rest for the night.

The open sky was like a predator that night, leaving them defenseless and in plain view for everyone and everything to see.

The two runaways curled up together and huddled for warmth. Hitsugaya pulled as much cold out of the atmosphere around them as he could, trying to protect Hinamori from becoming sick.

And although they were far away from all the murders and killings and betrayal now, neither one of them had ever spent a colder or lonelier night.

I have dreamt of a place for you and I

No one knows who we are there

All I want, is to give my life from me to you

I've dreamt so long, I cannot dream anymore

Let's run away, I'll take you there

The next morning was cold and harsh with winds that were sharper than knives that slashed at their faces and burned their eyes.

Hitsugaya must have cursed himself a thousand times now that they had left in the Winter. We should have left right then and there, at the end of Summer when we had found the valley. Now that it was Winter, there would be a higher risk of getting sick and dying. Hitsugaya shook the thought away.

The snow that had fallen that night had had buried the two up to their ankles, which made it that much more difficult to walk. Hitsugaya silently took the lead, letting Hinamori step in his footprints to make it easier on her. Hitsugaya had grown up with her and he knew how sensitive she was to catching colds and illnesses; the less she exerted herself, the better.

The huge snowflakes swiveled around them and made it almost impossible to see anything but white. Hinamori grabbed his sleeve and asked him with her eyes if they could stop. He did not reply for a moment.

"Okay, but first let's find someplace safer than this." He agreed. The vast stretch of land they had been traveling on still had not ended, however there was a small cluster of trees up ahead, so they set their feet towards it.

Once the two had reached the shelter of the trees, the snowfall was less intense and they could blink without worry. Above them, thousands of icicles dangled from the treetops and dead branches.

Neither of them had ever seen anything more beautiful. The entire forest was white and covered in frost or snow, not even the dark brown tree trunks shown through the shining white. The ground was covered in snow but less than in the valleys beyond.

Hitsugaya motioned for Hinamori to stand back as he closed his eyes to concentrate. It was easy for the boy to take the snow and ice from around and form a barrier around them. The giant blue shield blocked out all of the snow and cold from around them. Hinamori slid down onto her knees, realizing for the first time just how tired she was. Her limbs ached and the weight of her sword had slowed her down a great deal. She slid off the sheath from around her waist and placed Tobiume on the frozen ground. Hitsugaya sat down beside her, and almost immediately heard the growling of her stomach, as well as his own.

I'm such an idiot! He cursed himself again. I shouldn't have been so rash! I shouldn't have taken her away like that on the spur of the moment. I didn't even think of the consequences! No food, hardly any shelter, and freezing cold…We'll die before Spring for sure if we don't do something!

He glanced up at her to see if she were glaring at him for being so stupid. But what he saw in her eyes was not panic or annoyance.

Her eyes were a calm, sparkling brown, and she sat up straight and stared at him, waiting, as if expecting him to lead on.

Hitsugaya was shocked at the intensity of her hope as she gazed at him, and he was almost overwhelmed with the responsibility she was having him take on. Hitsugaya realized then that he was not ready for this. He could not lead her into the unknown that lay beyond, where he had no clue who or what lurked out there, what dangers and threats lay ahead. They were both taking a huge risk; whatever lay beyond could be some spectacular utopia, or a horrible wasteland of peril and destruction. Hitsugaya was not sure if he wanted to take her somewhere like that, that could be nice one moment, and then turn on you in another.

Was he leading the both of them to their deaths?

The sky outside grew brighter with the oncoming noontime and the sunshine reflecting blindingly on the sparkling white snow. Hitsugaya then stood up, and Hinamori began to do so as well when he stopped her. "No, we're not leaving yet." He told her. "I'm going to go see if I can find something for us to eat. Stay here." The hard stare he gave her told her that he meant it. She nodded once and then sat back down. Hitsugaya lowered the ice barrier to let himself out.

"Hitsugaya-kun," Hinamori called out after him. He stopped and turned back to her. "…Be careful…" Was all she could bring herself to say. He nodded and then was gone. The ice barrier closed behind him to keep the little warmth there was inside.

Hinamori leaned back against the ice, and gazed up through the frosty blue shield as best she could and past the trees to just barely make out the white sky. She squinted at the brilliance of all the shining white combined all around her. Then, she reached down and gripped the sheath of her Zanpakutou and slid the sharp, silver blade from its case. "Tobiume…" Hinamori wished that her sword could answer her, and tell her that everything was going to be all right, but she doubted that herself.

Then, she reached her free hand behind her head as she remembered something. She felt her bun and sighed in relief as she felt the soft, cool petals of the white rose she had placed there what seemed to be so long ago.

The sword and the rose, the only things she had left of the places she had loved and had to leave behind. Rukongai was where she had been given a chance to re-live the life she had lost when she died in The World Of The Living. It was the place she had met Hitsugaya and grown up with him. Seireitei was where she joined the Academy and made many more friends, and learned to train and fight. Her blade was the only solid item she had left to remember all of those things by.

And the white rose was the only thing that would let her recall the field of scarlet that she and Hitsugaya had gone to, to escape the chaos of the place where she had received her sword.

Besides the rose and the sword, the only other things Hinamori had were memories, and the love of her life.

He was there for her for everything; the games they had played and the places they had gone when they were little, the days at the Shinigami Academy, the betrayal of her former captain, battle after battle, and finally, he had been there to get her out of the madness. He was the one who had gotten her away from it all, and he had kept his promise to her. He was the one who would die for her, who was trying his very best to keep them alive now that they were runaways.

But most of all, he had given her someone to love who loved her back, a rare relationship that she had never had the chance to obtain before.

She closed her eyes and recalled their flee from Soul Society, how he had grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the fray.

That night was one of the worst, yet best nights of her entire life so far.

For a moment, she re-lived it, the night they had fled and set off for a better place in secrecy, believing that by the dawn they would be lost, gone, and forgotten to the ones they had left behind.

We're leaving here tonight

There's no need to tell anyone, they'd only hold us down

So by the morning's light, we'll be halfway to anywhere

Where no one needs a reason

When Hitsugaya returned to where the ice barrier stood, immune to the cold winds, all he had was a pitiful collection of small scarlet berries that hardly filled his palm.

He entered the dome of ice and saw Hinamori leaning against the wall, with her knees hugged to her chest loosely, her eyes closed and her breathing slow. Her sword was unsheathed and lay bare on the ground beside her. Hitsugaya sat beside her and shook her shoulder with his free hand. Once her eyes were blinking awake, he rolled some of the berries into her hand and ate the others for himself. They finished the measly morsel within seconds.

"I don't think we'll get much more traveling done today even if we wanted to." Hitsugaya commented. "The snowstorm's even worse out there."

"Alright." She nodded.

Hitsugaya gave her a long stare. Something was different about her, her cheeks had a rosy tint to them…

He was distracted from his thoughts as harsh wind buffeted the trees and a deadly shower of icicles rained down on the barrier. The ice shattered and clinked down over the shield and fell onto the ground outside it. Then, almost as fast as it had come, the shower was over and the only noises were of the winds. Darkness was already coming on by this point.

"Let's get a good night's sleep tonight." He suggested.

Hinamori agreed eagerly. She could not fall asleep for a while though, and she kept finding herself gazing back the way they had come. Hitsugaya knew that she too was beginning to regret leaving, but they had come so far now, it would be a waste of time and effort to go back, and it would also be a mistake.

Hitsugaya's eyes met hers as she turned her head back to him and there was a moment of silence.

Finally Hitsugaya guessed. "You want to go back." It was not a question; it was a knowing statement.

Regret and shame passed through her eyes before she replied. "Hai." She admitted. "But… we'll just be right back where we started. After all this… we can't just go back. Then this would've all been for nothing. Everyone who's still alive after…after the massacre probably thinks we're dead. No, Hitsugaya-kun, this is the path we chose, this is where we wanted to go and this is what we wanted to do. This choice has nothing to do with out destinies; we did it ourselves. This is what we wanted, and so this is what we got, what we're giving ourselves. This isn't what out destinies chose, its what we chose and we have to stick with our decisions. We can't keep looking back over our shoulders at what we decided to do in the past. There's no turning back from here now." She lowered her eyes, as if every word that escaped her mouth was said with an effort.

Hitsugaya could see through her words, she did want to go back, but her pride would not let her.

"We have to stick with it? Even if it's wrong? What if we're making a huge mistake?" He asked.

Hinamori gave him a long, hard stare before replying.

"Whatever lies ahead for us, Hitsugaya-kun, its our own faults because of our decisions, whether they be wise or not. So…I don't know about you but for me, its come what may." His doubts washed away and he was filled with the thought that they should keep going.

They shared another glance and then, although they kept looking back, decided that they would keep moving forwards.

Forget this life, come with me

Don't look back you're safe now

Unlock your heart, drop your guard

No one's left to stop you

The next morning was cold and cruel, just like the one before, even inside the barrier of ice.

Hitsugaya awoke to the sound of coughing.

Dismay flooded over him as he got a good look at Hinamori. Her cheeks were blushed with fever and her eyes were glazed with tiredness. The air around her was thick with sickness and when she coughed again it was a hoarse, throaty sound that choked its way out of her mouth.

"Hinamori…" Hitsugaya cursed himself for what must have been the millionth time now. He should have anticipated something like this happening; when he had decided to take her and flee he never weighed the consequences of not being prepared for their journey. Not weighing the consequences of something is a mistake people often make, and it never leads to good things, only misery and regret.

She looked up at him at the sound of her name and smiled weakly. "I'll be okay, Hitsugaya-kun, let's keep going."

"No. We've…we've got to go back." He gritted his teeth, going against everything that had been said the night before. "We shouldn't have left just like that. I didn't think about food or what we'd do if something like this happened. We can't just go to Unohana and get you some medicine now. We have to go back." He repeated.

"No, Hitsugaya-kun, we've come this far, we should keep going. What if the peaceful place we're looking for is just over the next hill?"

"And what if its not?" He retorted. Hinamori avoided his penetrating aqua eyes. "Come on." He murmured, standing up. Hinamori did the same with all the reluctance in the world, sheathing her sword and sliding it back through the obi on her hip.

The barrier of ice melted away and Hitsugaya took the lead, stepping back on top on the footprints he had made coming here the night before. This time they walked back through the forest where there was less snow to slow them down. But the wind was still strong and cold and the trees swayed and groaned around them.

They had not been traveling for 10 minutes before Hitsugaya halted. He looked Hinamori over only to find that she looked even worse than before and sighed in exasperation. "Looks like we've got to stop." He decided. "Until the storm stops at least." He created a new barrier around them and enclosed a wider area this time.

Hinamori knelt down, already out of breath and tired. She coughed painfully a few more times and Hitsugaya had to look away.

He wanted someone to yell at him and tell him how stupid he was, but all he could do was scold himself. "I'll go see if I can find us something to eat." Although a Shinigami's endurance was much better than a human's, a sick, weakened girl was still a sick, weakened girl.

Hinamori watched him go and once the ice barrier had closed up she looked around the enclosed area for the first time. There was a small bush next to her with something very odd about it. Even now, in the middle of the Winter, there was a green clump of grass growing from underneath it. Hinamori knew she spotted something inside the leaves and she reached her hand inside. She felt around until her fingers made contact with a familiar, soft, cool material and Hinamori instantly knew what it was, even though she doubted that it was still alive.

She gripped the stem delicately and pulled the rose out of the frozen ground. She brought it out of the bush and into her sight.

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the little flower, alive and well even at this time of the year. She was reminded of the thousands of dead roses she and Hitsugaya had passed on their way here and felt envious towards this single rose for them. But the fact that it was alive was not even the biggest shock.

The petals were stuck together and actually a lot rougher than what she had thought they would be. And every millimeter of each petal was encrusted with an icy tint of frost. The billions of tiny, microscopic crystals clustered together and gave the rose a blue coloring.

Just then, Hitsugaya came back through the barrier. His eyes caught sight of the flower immediately. "What's that?"

"A…A blue rose." Hinamori replied breathlessly. She reached behind her head and tugged out the white rose, holding them next to each other and comparing them. She noticed that the white rose was missing a petal. It must have fallen of back in the field, back home- She cut off, wondering if it was acceptable to call that…place her home.

She glanced up at Hitsugaya and then back at the white rose, the only thing left of that valley near their old home, missing the one petal…

Forget this life come with me

Don't look back you're safe now

Unlock your hear, drop your guard

No one's left to stop you now

Hinamori looked from one flower to the other; something in her mid was trying to make itself known, but she could not figure out what it was.

She finally glanced up at Hitsugaya with confused, pleading eyes. "I…I don't know what to do. I don't know what it means…Shiro-chan…" There was something…so obvious right in front of her that she was just missing and she could not place it.

Hitsugaya stared at her, flashbacks of long ago replaying in his mind. She was kneeling down in front of him just like she was now, her eyes confused, pleading and tearing, just like they were now, the exact way she rasped his pet name and how her voice would hiccup in the middle of it and end it with a whimper; "Shiro-chan…" The only thing that differed this scene from that one was that instead of clutching her sword, she was now clutching two fragile little roses.

Hinamori could just hardly make out what her mind wanted to tell her. The white rose, it had been taken away from where it had first sprouted, and Hitsugaya and she, they had left the place they were born in. But the rose had left behind a petal, a single part of itself that kept it bound to that place no matter where it was. And they, they had left their memories and parts of their souls in Soul Society, binding them there forever, no matter what they did.

But, now that they had severed those ties, even though they still remained, what were they to do? The blue rose was still in one piece with all of its petals. Did that mean that the two Shinigami were on the right path? That they should keep going?

Maybe she was thinking through things too deeply. But still, something inside of Hinamori told her that what she thought was true. The white rose had urged them to leave, to be individuals and stand against their destinies, but what about the blue rose?

"Hinamori." He did not fully understand what was going on inside of her right now, but he dropped down to his knees, letting the scarlet berries roll away. He embraced her, not knowing why, but he did. Perhaps it was because she was crying and he wanted to comfort her, or perhaps it was because he was crying and he sought comfort from her.

"Hitsugaya-kun…" She whimpered. She grasped the roses tighter and he held her tighter. Her words echoed in his mind "I don't know what to do…"

And neither do I. He agreed silently.

The moon crept into the sky early that night, illuminating the frozen world in an eerie light along with the gleam of the snow.

The two Shinigami gazed up at the sky that night, not knowing what it was that they should do, praying that an answer would come to them somehow.

But no matter how much they asked or how hard they cried, the moon shined on silently, and gave them no answers.

We're leaving here tonight

There's no need to tell anyone, they'd only hold us down

So by the morning's light, we'll be halfway to anywhere

Where love is more than just your name.

A/N: I already have an ending in mind for the final story, so please no flamers. It should be called The Black Rose.

When I was writing this, at some parts, like when Hinamori was giving her speech about not going back, my hands were not my own. They just moved on their own and typed all that deep stuff that really makes you think. My mind just kept on coming up with stuff and my hands just kept typing away uncontrolably! XD

Please be patient and please reivew!!