A/N: Yayy! There were bunches of follows added to this story! I can't name you all 'cause I'm too lazy but oh well... Danke! I wuvv you guys!

Thank you to everyone who has followed/favorited!

Mew!

So now we're back to the present!

Shall we continue?

So this is life.

Trying to live when I'm dying.

Clinging to hope.

Sharp intakes of breath.

Sweaty bodies mingled together.

Pain.

What is hope?

It's something I knew long ago.

We are all slowly dying.

Fuck it. I'm gonna go jump off a cliff or something if I'm just gonna end up dying anyway.

"Nani?" I whispered, eyes wide with disbelief and something akin to fear.

Hayate looked at me before slamming his hands down on my head.

"What are you doing?! Put those away!"

I obeyed without a word.

Rukia.

My friend.

My Rukia.

No... She couldn't have...

I couldn't process it.

My brother's expression softened.

"Hey...? You okay?"

"Yeah," I mumbled numbly. "I'm fine."

Even so, I leaned against the wall for support.

My voice was strangled.

"How?" I choked out.

A sigh.

"How did she become a shinigami or how did she...?"

"Both."

Another sigh.

"Kuchiki found her at the Academy. Looked a lot like his wife so apparently he took her in, much to the chagrin of his elders. He adopted her as his sister; boom, instant shinigami. She was good too. Especially when her fuku-taicho died...she saved a lot of people that day... But she got...invovled with humans. A human boy to be specific. She gave him her powers. Because of that...she... she has to die."

I breathed out shakily.

"Ah... so Kuchiki-san had a wife... She died."

"Yes."

Silence.

Neon met emerald.

It was fear.

Plain and simple.

Fear sparked deep inside him.

Who was this person standing before him?

Hayato wasn't... She wasn't like this!

Where was his sister?

"I don't remember you calling him 'Kuchiki-san'. Last I remembered you were always saying 'Byakuya-kun' this 'Bya-kun' that."

He dared to ask the question that had been lingering on his mind for a while now.

"Hayato... what happened to you?"

A wry smile was cast his way.

"I dunno. It just kind of gets like this after a while. You can't really live the way you did before when you do what I do. It's like you can't cherish life as much when you've seen how easily it can all be taken away. Hayate... Why? Why did she do it?"

"There was a boy." Shit, his voice was raw. "She was trying to save him and his family."

"So she gave him her powers," she finished bitterly. "God damn! What kind of world is this?! Where we're arrested for doing our jobs? Where we're killed for saving al life?! Bullshit! She saved someone, dammit! She did what she could to protect them, to do her job, full well knowing what would happen, and how do you repay her?! You kill her. You fucking kill her. What kind of world is that?"

She grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against the wall.

"What kind of fucking world is that?! I want to know!" she shouted.

He stared at her, in shock as he watched all sanity leave her eyes for a moment. And then she was back, letting go of him and sinking against the wall.

"What kind of world of world is this?" she whispered.

He hugged her gently. If she was broken, well, at least they could be broken together.

And slowly he whispered, "Our world."

"Renji's the Sixth Division fukutaicho."

I jumped up. "Nani?!"

"Yeah. I thought you might wanna go visit him."

I snorted. Way to change the subject, Hayate.

"Sure, I'll go visit the little knucklehead."

"Good it'll give ya an excuse to get out, you old broad."

My eye twitched.

"What did you call me?"

"N-nothing ma'am!"

"Good."

Which was how I was at the Sixth Division fukutaicho's office in five minutes time.

"Abari-fukutaicho, there's someone here to see you, sir."

"Tell 'em to go away. I'm busy."

"It's urgent, sir. They said something about a, er, wild Sleestak invasion?"

"... A what?!"

I listened to the conversation, amused. That stupid pineapple was so easy to confuse. Which made me think, if Renji was a pineapple, what was Byakuya?

...

A banana. Definitely a banana.

Hurried footsteps broke me out of my thoughts; speak of the devil, the cherry-haired man rounded the corner with an annoyed look on his face.

Which turned into surprise when he saw me.

"Yo."

"Hayato-chan? Is it really you?"

"Hayato-chan? Wow Renji, I see that we've gone back to kindergarten. I mean seriously. You only called me that the first few days we knew each other. It's Hayato, you stupid bastard."

A grin split his face.

"It is you! It's so good to see you! Wow you look older!"

I laughed. "As do you, fukutaicho."

"Heh heh...yeah."

"Tch...fucking over-achiever."

"Yeah well, my taicho doesn't seem to think that."

"You mean Kuchiki-san?"

"You know him?"

"Yes she knows me. It is...pleasant to see you again, Niigata-san."

I blinked.

"What the fuck?!"

Both looked at me.

"Since when did you have such a big stick growing up your ass, Byakuya?! It's a fucking tree by now!"

"You are to address me as Kuchiki-san."

"You know what...that's just what I mean... just for you Bya-kun."

I smirked when his eye twitched.

"And...I'm sorry about this."

"This?"

"Yes. All of this. I know that these past few years haven't been easy for you. Though I do hate bananas..."

Both of them gave me a what-the-hell-are-you-babbling-about-woman look.

"Now then, I should be leaving right about...now. Well see ya!"

With that, I was gone.

Renji looked at the noble taicho.

"Captain...?"

"Do not ask Abarai. I do not know what's wrong with her. No one does really."

There was a quiet humming on the rooftop.

"...feels so much like falling, dying while I wait to die..."

Cobalt eyes turned towards the girl.

"...the fear of something or nothing, lonely empty lie... I don't want to be a..."

Be a? Be a what?

"Liar..."

"I don't want to be selfish anymore..."

Finally, he couldn't take it any longer.

"Inoue-san."

The humming continued.

"Hey, Inoue-san!"

The caramel-haired girl jumped.

"Yes, Ishida-kun?"

"That song? What were you singing just now?"

The bubbly girl blushed a bit and rubbed her head.

"Just a silly little song... Did you like it?"

Uryu turned so she couldn't see the red tinting his cheeks.

"It...it wasn't silly."

"Oh..." He could've sworn she sounded sad for a second. "Okay then! Thank you Ishida-kun!"

And they walked to the edge of the roof, preparing to climb down.

Uryu took a second to look at the ginger-haired girl.

No. Thank you Orihime.

I loved it.

Loud cries and shouts were heard from where heard from where I was lying on the roof.

"Ngh? Must be the ryoka...screw it...I'm gonna take a freaking nap..."

And then I processed the words. Ryoka.

I half jumped half fell off the roof and landed, stumbling a bit.

Coming face to face with a bright blue arrow.

Big grey-brown eyes stared at me. I took in the girl.

She looked so young...so innocent. It was like watching a baby deer.

She instantly fascinated me.

Then my focus was on the arrow trained at my heart.

A...Quincy?

I almost smiled.

Almost.

There were survivors.

A survivor.

The last Quincy.

The survivor from the big mess we made.

Cobalt blue eyes bore into me, showing no mercy. Midnight blue hair framed his face.

"Inoue-san," he said to the girl, "I'm going to have to defeat this shinigami so we can get past okay?"

"H-hai," the girl replied, eyes uncertain.

I had two choices: kill them. Or let them pass and save Rukia.

I had made up my mind long ago.

It was decided the second Hayate told me about Rukia.

I stepped out of the way.

"Go."

Two pairs of eyes looked at me incredulously.

"Nani?!"

"I'm here to kill you, and here I go letting you pass... No, I believe the exact words Yama-jii used were 'take care of the ryoka problem', right? Well this is taking care of it. The sooner you guys save Rukia, the sooner you leave. The sooner the 'problem' is fixed."

"But why-"

"Rukia is my friend. Save her. My mind is made up. Now go. Be careful. Avoid a man with white and black makeup at all costs. The one with the eyepatch, too. Rukia will be in that building over there. I would run, though. These troops aren't going to stay out for long. I wish you Godspeed."

The Quincy boy nodded.

"And Quincy..."

Blue eyes widened a bit.

"Make sure to protect her," I said, motioning towards the girl. "She's a keeper."

I winked and began walking away.

"W-wait!" the Quincy shouted, still blushing a bit from my previous comment. "Who are you?"

I looked at him.

"Who me? I'm no one. No one important at least. Trust me, I'm just the background music. I'm no one important. I would recommend that you forget you ever met me. It'll do you a world of good."

A/N: Sooooo! She met Inoue and Ishida. Yes I ship it. Sooooo hard.

Anyway, short fast paced chapter. I'm sorry for any suckiness and/or typos; I typed this quick cause I wanna get another chapter out before I'm loaded with homework.

Thank you for all the follows/favorites!

~ KAi