"No!" Grimmjow had Rin's body in his arms. They were both on the ground. Zizmu was unconscious next to them, his blood covered the ground. Grimmjow's shaking hand gently stroked her face. His other was pressed against the wound in her stomach. "Hold on." He begged. His own body was on the verge of giving up but his whole focus was on her.

"I'm sorry." she whispered through pale lips.

"Heal, please heal yourself."

"Its too late."

"No, it can't be. Come on." His hand fell over her heart and he gasped. The fire dragon was gone.

"She went on ahead." Rin smiled peacefully, sadly.

His breath left him, his already weakened heart shuddered in his chest.

"Zizimu, help me!"

But the tiger was not moving. His head spun but he clung to consciousness desperately.

"Please don't go!"

"Grimmjow..." and she took that commanding tone that irked him so much in the time they'd spent together but it was also something he loved deeply about her. "You come find me. You better come find me in the afterlife."

"I will. I promise you." He leaned into her. She kissed him, her hand on his bone jaw, his hand on her cheek.

"I love you..."

"I love you too." But she was gone. Her hand fell from his face and one last tear escaped her eye. He gasped in air, the world was spinning and inside him he felt pain he didn't know was possible. He could do nothing but let out one long, primitive cry of all the rage and sorrow inside him.

In the soul society everyone felt their zampakuto shiver. They were responding to some collective feeling, reverberating through dimensions. Toshiro was in the office, working on papers when his heart lurched. He spasmed and his head fell on his papers. Matsumoto looked up when she heard the tea cup shatter. Haineko reeled from some unseen pain and she froze. The ice dragon exploded into the room, roaring and reeling in terror and pain.

Kenpachi held Yachiru in his arms. He was running as fast as he could straight to the squad four barracks. All around him soul reapers were frozen in shock, some even trembled on the ground. In his arms, Yachiru clung to him and whimpered,

"Oh Kenny...its so awful..."

"Hang on."

In the world of the living every immortal or ex-immortal felt the pain with stabbing clarity. Here, a desk clerk collapsed in the middle of filing a report. There, a biker suddenly went limp and crashed to the side walk. And sitting at home in the Kurosaki clinic, Karin wept uncontrollably.

"Ichigo, please do something."

He too felt Zangetsu's unease but his attention was focussed on his sister.

"Its okay, I'll find him." But then it was gone, no trace of spiritual pressure, nothing. The world fell silent.

Urahara walked passed the discarded gigai, blood soaked and useless. Tessai picked it up and tossed it over his shoulder. The monster who'd attacked was dead on the ground. A strange beast, originating from Heuco Mundo but not just a hollow or arrancar, something more. But there was no time. He'd have to come back later. Benehime urged him forward.

There, broken and bloody, lay the pair. His leg was bent at a terrible angle, his back torn open in several places and not far from him lay his zampakuto, the white fur stained with blood on one side, its chest barely rising and falling.

And in Grimmjow's arms was the pale stiff body of Rin Anhouil. Her blues eyes stared lifeless at her lover, crimson stained her lips giving them the false appearance of life. But her cheeks were bloodless. A gaping hole was in her stomach, and Grimmjow's hand was still covering it. The man's body trembled, somehow, he was still conscious. Desperate sobs escaped him and he repeated her name over and over.

Urahara squatted next to him. "Grimmjow."

"Go away." his voice was hoarse.

"We're here to help."

"Nothing can help her now!" He cried, the old anger creeping into his voice.

"Zizimu is barely holding on, we must go."

"Leave us alone!" New tears came, he leaned into her shoulder and muffled his sobs. "I'm sorry." he said clutching her tighter. "I'm so sorry." Tessai approached, he'd dropped the gigai and was now behind Grimmjow.

At the last second the broken man looked up. His eyes met Kisuke's but then Tessai's Kido hit him from behind and he went limp.

"We don't have much time." Tessai said. He drug Grimmjow over to Zizimu and Urahara joined, the girl's body in his arms. Tessai said the spell and they were back in the shop. The two helpers were waiting, there was much to be done if they were going to save the King and his master.


Hi there! This story falls into another series I've been writing but I also feel it can stand alone so chapter 2 will actually be a summary of anything you might need/want to know from the other series if you don't want to bother reading them. You may be fine without the summary, so skip it if you like and jump back into the story at chapter 3. Enjoy!