Author's Notes: Part of this chapter was from the former chapter 3 of the old version of the story.

Forbidden Love
Chapter 4

For a couple of hours, Jushiro and Sasha were out running errands which included getting some food. First they had to stop off at the dry cleaners so she could get her gown cleaned and then made their way to the police station to give them their statement of the evening. The two had to rehearse what they would say to be sure it matched with what the other eyewitness statements had said. At first Sasha didn't think she was going to be able to do it, but she did manage and they never suspected a thing.

Relieved when their statements were completed, Sasha was happy to get out of there and get as far away as possible from the station. It brought back too many unwanted memories of the time when she had finally turned her ex-husband in. Jushiro took note of her fearfulness, but remained quiet. She would tell him when she was ready. He already had an idea of what was bothering her.

It didn't take long for her mood to change when they arrived at the market and Jushiro was able to witness something he never really had to worry about before. Shopping for food. It was already strange enough as it was taking his first vehicle ride into town by a taxi cab but now being in a store that sold food. In the Soul Society, food was sold in markets throughout the Seireitei and even in some sections of the Rukongai. Never before had he been in a shop larger than even his own private mansion on the Ukitake estate.

Sasha was still getting used to Jushiro in the fake body but seeing his reaction was a little priceless and had her giggling, which caught his attention.

He looked at her as she tried stifling the noise. Raising a brow, he replied. "You find something amusing?"

"I'm sorry," she answered. "But seeing you look around is just a little funny. You've never been in a grocery store before?"

"Is that what this place is called?" He took another look, seeing he was in front of the produce. "The Seireitei only has markets and shops."

"Seireitei?" she asked.

He looked to her once more. "It's the name of the city all the Soul Reapers live in."

"Oh." Well that made sense. Getting a cart, Sasha made her way up and down the aisles, getting what she needed. Jushiro just followed along, doing his best to not draw attention to himself for being in a strange and interesting place.

When the two completed their shopping, Sasha made her way to the nearest cash line up to pay for the merchandise. With Jushiro carrying two bags and she carried two bags, the two hailed another cab and made their way back to her apartment.

"That was a very unusual outing," Jushiro commented as he helped her take the groceries to the kitchen.

"You're telling me," she replied. "It's not everyday I go out shopping with someone who isn't even a human."

Jushiro nodded as he took his bags and set them on the table and began removing the contents. Without so much as a word, each item he took from the bag was immediately put in their proper location, which surprised Sasha greatly. He didn't even bother asking where they went. It's like he knew.

"Ummm... what are you doing?" she asked after a few moments.

He stopped and looked at her. "Helping you put these away. It's the least I can do since I will need to stay with you until the situation is resolved."

Sasha sighed. "I suppose. Would you mind putting the rest away then. I need a moment or two alone." It was beginning to get too much for her again and she needed a moment to relax.

Jushiro gave a nod. "Of course. I don't expect for you to accept everything I've told you right away. If you were that type of person, I would probably become suspicious."

She gave another sigh and made her way into the living room, taking a seat on the couch while Jushiro put the rest of the groceries away. Other than when they were at the grocery store, nearly the entire time the two were out, she was quite tense and worried someone would realize she was keeping something from basically the entire world. But she knew the urgency in keeping what she knew a secret. Many would think she was crazy and place her in a mental hospital. She was not insane. Not with everything she had seen in her life.

As she leaned her head back, she could hear Jushiro shuffling around in the kitchen, putting everything away. How was she going to explain this to Beck? Beck, when she'd find out, would be all over Sasha like a wet blanket, asking many questions and probably some inappropriate ones too.

"Something on your mind?"

Slightly startled, Sasha lifted her head, realizing several minutes had gone by since she sat down and now Jushiro was sitting beside her with two mugs in his hands. Both were steaming hot.

"I must have zoned out," she replied, taking the mug out of his closet hand. "Didn't even realize you were done and then put some tea on."

"I hope you don't mind," he answered.

"No, I think tea would be good right about now," she sighed, taking a sip. "I was just thinking about my friend. The one you saw me with last night at the start."

"The one who called earlier?" he asked.

"Yeah, her," she nodded. "She's going to go ballistic when she learns you're here. And before you say anything, I know. I can't tell her the truth. But what will I tell her? I can't very well say you're here to protect me. That will raise a shit load of questions."

"It would indeed." He ignored her colorful word as he heard it many times throughout his men and even from Ichigo himself. A long time ago, words like that were rarely heard in the Soul Society but now, it has become part of many of the Soul Reapers vocabulary. Giving her a look, he took a sip of his tea and then set it down on the table in front of them. "I wouldn't worry about it too much until if and when it happens. Perhaps by then, you'll have something to tell her."

Getting up and taking her mug with her, she made her way to the kitchen to start on lunch. There was lot for her to think about.

/

For nearly a week, Jushiro stayed with Sasha, sleeping in the spare room. He was always up early, before her and she often woke to the aroma of breakfast, which was a nice change for her. The last time she had a man staying with her, he was her husband and he always demanded for her to cook. It was a nice welcome change.

As Sasha left her room to make her way to the kitchen where the nice scent smell was coming from, there was a knock at her door. Jushiro stopped what he was doing and looked to the door. He watched her make one step towards the door before a voice rang out from the other side.

"Sasha, I know you're in there," the voice echoed. "I'm not leaving until you open this door."

Sasha immediately sighed in frustration as she knew exactly who was there at her door. "Beck..." she breathed.

"You might as well answer it," he replied. "I doubt she will leave."

She snorted. "No, she won't. She can be very persistent when she wants to be." She lowered her head a moment, before looking up again. "Can't you give a girl a moment?" she called towards the door.

"Not when I've heard a rumor that you're housing a man in you apartment."

Sasha groaned. No doubt someone from the building saw the two leave and return together and gossip began. There was another tenant in the building who actually worked with Sasha and knew Beck very well. Knowing her friend could be impatient, she easily made her way towards the door and opened it. "Beck, what..."

"I need to see him," the friend rushed out, as she pushed past Sasha, making her way into the apartment, looking around. Her eyes scanned around when suddenly stopped. There in the kitchen was exactly what she was looking for. "Oh... my... god..." she breathed, eyes bugging out of her head.

Sasha groaned again. "Beck it's not what you think."

Beck swiftly turned to her friend. "Not what I think?! You have the hot sexy guy in your apartment and you never told me!"

Jushiro quirked a brow at the description the woman gave about him. She was the second woman to refer to him that way.

Sasha blushed a little. "Beck, must you be so loud!?"

"You like him or something?" she teased.

"Beck!" blurted the auburn haired woman. "If you must know, he saved me when the attack happened on the library. He's been staying here because..." What was she to say?

Jushiro then cleared his throat. He could see Sasha was placed into the corner she feared since the day after the attack."If I may interrupt," he began. "I work for the government and have been placed as a body guard for Sasha."

Beck blinked as she turned her attention back to the hot looking man. She missed the jaw drop from Sasha as she looked to her roommate. "You're what?! Why would Sasha need protecting?"

"Simple really," he continued, doing his best in playing his part as a regular human. "As you know the authorities are working on solving the suicide bomber. We have reason to believe the attacker is after Sasha for putting her husband in jail."

"You mean ex-husband," Beck corrected. "Why would that bastard do a thing like that!?"

Sasha felt her knees go weak at the bull faced lie. How could he do that with a straight face. Who was this guy? How could he think up something so calmly and just act like that is the truth?

Jushiro shook his head. That was a question he was wondering himself. Why would a Hollow be after Sasha? "I do not have an answer for you. All you need to know is Sasha is under protective custody and the local authorities are not involved in this procedure. They will have no answers for you on that part."

Beck turned back to her friend, seeing her shocked look on her face. "So I take it you didn't know about this little operation?"

For a few quick moments, Sasha gawked before realizing what she was doing and recomposed herself. Shaking her head, she looked to her friend. "No... I had no idea."

Beck turned back to Jushiro. "Wait a minute, aren't you the same one I caught Sasha dancing with earlier that night before all hell broke loose?"

Jushiro gently smiled. "Yes."

Walking straight into the kitchen, Beck stood right in front of the man. "You better keep my friend safe. She's been through hell and back again."

"Beck!" Sasha slightly whined as she face palmed.

With a light chuckle, Jushiro reached over, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I assure you. I will look after her. She and I were just about to have breakfast. Would you like to join us?"

Beck watched him a few moments and then stepped away. "No, unfortunately I can't. I'm meeting up with my boyfriend this morning for breakfast." Turning away, she made her way back towards her friend. "Oh and Sash, don't forget tomorrow there's a meeting on what we're to do about the damages at the library."

"I won't forget."

The two gave each other a quick hug before Sasha escorted her friend to the door.. When Beck left, Sasha was once more left alone with the man from another world. Shutting the door, she turned and made her way to the kitchen. "Why did you tell her that?"

"Well you weren't sure what to tell her and all week I've been wondering what would be best. I apologize for speaking up, but telling her partially the truth was more likely the best course," he explained. "Come, lets have breakfast."

She sighed in defeat. That was the second time, he stood up for her, at least in her mind's eye.

/

As night approached, both Jushiro and Sasha were sitting on the couch, watching the evening news. The report was about the library bombing, announcing forensics believed they were able to finally piece together how the explosion happened. They were able to determine the suicide bomber was very skilled and quite sophisticated to create such a bomb of that magnitude. The details that went into the report were quite accurate except for one thing. It wasn't a suicide bomber. It was a monster from another world.

"I still don't get how your people were able to come up with such a lie so easily that night. I'm sure you don't have every crime angled out on a whim."

Jushiro, no longer in his gigai, shook his head. Beside him, leaning against the couch was his sword. "No. But the portal between worlds can actually take us back in time before events happened, allowing us time to plant what is needed."

"Whoa! Wait a minute!" she blurted, swiftly turning to face him. "You can time travel!?"

"Not exactly," he answered. "The portal that takes between this world and mine has a time delay. We are forbidden to interfere in human affairs but when it involves Hollows we can. And the time delay is often usually just enough time for before the authorities begin their investigation." He didn't want to confuse her again, so he refrained on naming what the name of that portal was. She also didn't need to know the time delay was only up to a seven day window, which would take them back in time. However, it was all worked out from Squad 12 in how it fully worked.

With a huff, she turned back to the TV and leaned against the back of the couch. "So if your people are so great, you must be immortal then."

"No," he answered seriously. "We can die, but we're not as fragile as a human. We require the same things in life as humans, food, sleep and you know we can reproduce as well. We also can bleed, have illnesses and age, though not at a rate like humans and we can be killed."

"Wait… did you just say you don't age at a normal rate?"

Oh boy, here was another can of worms Jushiro was about to open. He took a deep breath. "Yes, I did just say that. I am older than you can possibly imagine."

"You don't look any older than I would say perhaps 35ish though your hair is white."

"Yes well that's because I suffer from an illness and a short time ago a remarkable young woman helped heal me some of that when she healed my wounds from a recent battle."

"Well then just how old are you then?" she asked. "I mean you can't be any older than what… 40 maybe?"

"As I said. I'm older than you could ever imagine," he answered, eyes closing. He was not looking forward to this conversation and now he was kicking himself for bringing it up.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? You look young to me."

He leaned forward, taking her hand. He stared into her eyes. "I'm over 2000 human years."

Her eyes widened as her heart went into her throat. "T-t-tw- tw- two- th- th- tho- thou- thousand… years old…"

He could see this was going to take some time to get used to. "I'm sorry to have sprung that on you. I wasn't planning on telling you that."

She snapped her hand out of his and jumped to her feet. "Two thousand?! Are you nuts?! That is just insane!" she rushed out as she began to pace the floor. "Never in my life had I thought this could ever be possible."

Jushiro stood, watching her every move. He grasped his sword, sliding it back into his sash. "Sasha, please. I never meant to over load you again. But you did ask." It had been a whole week since the two were forced together and in that time they were slowly getting to know one another. Perhaps he thought she could handle more of the truth since she seemed to be more comfortable around him. Guess he was wrong.

Her pacing stopped abruptly, unsure what to feel anymore. Should she feel angry or just upset? As she stared at him, something in the distance was drawing closer to her apartment balcony. She could see it, but for the second didn't think anything of it. Her mind was too distracted to really pay attention. But as it drew nearer, she was beginning to see it take shape. Her eyes widened, as it got closer, giving her time to make out it was a Hollow heading towards her, fast.

Jushiro noticed her frozen look and he slightly turned only to snap back to her. "Sasha! Get down!"

He dove towards her, hand grabbing her arm, pulling her down with him just as her balcony window shattered. The force of the crash, caused the wall on either side of the window to implode.

A dignify scream came from her mouth just as the wall exploded in a loud crash. She felt her back land hard on the floor while Jushiro covered her body with his own, protecting her. He tucked his entire body around her. Her scream was muffled into his shoulder as he kept her well hidden by his body, face included as the shattering continued. The force of the blast pushed the two across the floor, which added more to her scream.

He managed to wrap his arms around her back as the two were blown from the force of the explosion, which was a good thing as large pieces of exterior wall went flying into walls. They managed to find themselves near the hall to the bedrooms. From debris of the exterior walls, caused dust to swirl around the room.

"Where are you bitch!" growled the same Hollow.

Jushiro managed to look up slightly in time to see, through the flying debris dust, the same Hollow as before. He had to get Sasha out of there. He never anticipated the beast to return let alone to find her apartment. He looked to her frightened form and could see she was about to release a scream again. If she did so, that would lose his only opportunity for the advantaged to get out of there. It was a good thing when she began to freak over his age, she was pacing close to her hallway to the bedrooms. Now the two were actually in that very hallway.

In a blink of an eye, one arm pulled away from her back to clamp over her mouth. He then lowered his mouth to her ear. "Don't scream," he whispered. "I know this quite frightening for you, but we have to get out of here. I will protect you, that is a promise." He could feel her entire body tremble as her heart beat wildly. His own heart was hammering faster than normal.

Tears ran down her face, onto his warm fingers. He didn't have to know she was scared, he could see it in her eyes and feel it as her body shook.

"You need to trust me," he added.

Pulling himself slightly away from her body, he carefully got to his knees, wincing in pain. When the two crashed into the hallway, he used his body as a shield to protect her from the blow when they hit the wall.

"Where are you bitch!?" the Hollow called out again. "I can smell your fear."

Jushiro swiftly glanced around to see they were closest to the spare room. Ignoring the pain in his back, he jumped to his feet. Grabbing her hands, he lifted her to her feet and pulled her towards the door to the spare room. She didn't even have time to blink or squeak before he yanked her into the room just as the dust settled enough for the Hollow to see perfectly.

He was scanning the room and just spot Sasha's body disappeared into the spare room. "You can't hide from me!"

Jushiro went straight to the window, pulling out his sword, to shatter the window, which he knew could be heard from the other room. He only had mere seconds before the Hollow would be on his tail. He looked at Sasha before pulling her tight against his body and suddenly flash stepped out of the room through the window.

She gave a sudden squeal as she watched, as the city became a blur, as he kept moving faster than humanly possible. "Wha….what's going on?" she asked, frightened. By his speed was he actually faster than any fictional super hero?

"It's a speed we can do called Flash step and I'm getting you as far a way from there as possible."

"You're not getting away from me!"

Suddenly Jushiro was halted, as something wrapped around is leg, forcing him back. From the abrupt jolt, he lost his hold on Sasha and she began to fall towards the ground.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" she screamed.

"Sasha!" he shouted just as he felt his leg be pulled back more.

Wrapped around his leg was a tentacle, preventing him from being able to dive forward and catch the woman. He watched in horror as she fell towards the ground while he was to remain stationary, hovering in the air. However, something was quick to catch his attention as her shrill rang out.

Her screams were cut short suddenly when someone came from out of nowhere, catching her before she could crash in to the roof of a building, taking her life.

"I got you!" a male voice said with a small smirk. Worry was etched into his eyes as his brows were furrowed indicating he knew the situation was serious.

Sasha looked up just in time to see a man wearing a hat and had facial hair. His eyes regarded her a moment before he looked up to Jushiro. "Looks like you could use some help, my friend," he replied.

"Shunsui!" Jushiro blinked. He then lost his balance as the tentacle around his ankle tightened. He collapsed to his knees as if he was on the ground, with a grunt.

"Jushiro!" Shunsui called out.

"Roar! Zabimaru!"

Sasha was in too much shock for the moment to speak but at the sound of hearing another male voice yell out, she was quick to turn her head just as an extending bladed weapon came down, slicing the tentacle right in two, freeing Jushiro. A shrill roar echoed throughout the night. Jushiro got to his feet and flash step to stand beside his friend.

"Lieutenant! That thing knows Sasha!" Jushiro yelled as the Hollow turned his attention on the other Soul Reapers.

Sasha looked up in time to see another man with red hair, wearing the same outfit as Jushiro but this time no haori face off the Hollow. The Hollow gave a haunting cry.

"I will have you back Sasha!" It then disappeared once again like before at the library.

"It's a good thing Ichigo sensed the Hollow in this area," Renji replied bringing his Zanpakuto to lean against the back of his shoulder.

"This…this is unreal…" Sasha breathed.

Jushiro looked to her. "Sasha, you're not…"

He never got to finish his sentence as her head tipped back and both arms went limp. Like the first Hollow attack, she lost consciousness.

"She fainted!" Renji pointed out the obvious.

"Can you blame her?" asked Shunsui as he looked at her with concern and noted how beautiful she looked. "She just nearly fell to her death. It's a good thing I came along to see how you were fairing. Kisuke Urahara said you were staying with the woman."

"Yes," Jushiro nodded. He looked back towards her apartment building. In the distance, he could see the destruction. Tehre was no way she could return back to her home. "Right now lets get back to the Soul Society. With happened just now, she will be better protected there."

"You sure that's wise? She's a human," inquired Shunsui.

"She's the very target we were searching for. That Hollow was formally her ex-husband and he has some sort of evil plan for her. He was the attacker at the library a week ago and of course just now."

"Ex-husband?!" Shunsui blinked, looking down in the face of the woman in his arms.

"Twice in one week, not a good sign," Renji replied. "Rukia and I were with Ichigo in the vicinity of the library when the incident happened. Didn't realize it was you until Rukia told me you were at that human function."

Jushiro sighed. "Which is why I want to bring her back with us. You both know since Ichigo first arrived in the Soul Society with his friends, Head Captain Yamamoto made it possible for the humans to make it through safely. Renji open the doorway."

Sighing, Renji did as asked and opened the doorway to the Soul Society. Three hell butterflies appeared. Seeing as Jushiro was in charge of the mission, Shunsui carefully handed the girl over to his friend and was the first to step through. Renji was next to step through, leaving Jushiro the last to go through.

Jushiro cradled the woman close to his chest as he carefully nudged her head to lean against his shoulder. Once she was secured in his arms, he carried her through the door, having it seal up behind him and disappear from view of being seen by anyone of high spirit energy.