Ugh, almost done. One more chapter before I can start writing new ones! Yay! I'm so happy!
Thanks to all those who have been waiting very patiently for this to come. I promise I won't let you down!

Feel any better?
"I just feel more dirty. This mud is gross."

At least your calm, that's all that matters to me.
"Okay whatever."

Be cool, let's break free and find Takashi.
"Easier said than done."

The rain blinded me as I tried to roll back onto my stomach, with little progress. After all that screaming I did, it took out the last bit of energy I had from trying to break the spell earlier. Miraculously, my body flipped to the side so I quickly got my knees under me so I could push back up from the ground. It took all the power I had, but I managed to break free from the spell once and for all.

"Finally!" I gasped happily into the air as my body hit the ground, allowing the rain hitting against my face kept me awake.

My heart was thumping loudly against my chest, and not in the good kind of way. I couldn't just get up and leave, it would have put even more strain against my body. Everything seemed to be moving slowly as I rested against the ground, not caring if I got caught anymore. But then I heard my brother, he was cursing out loud to himself from somewhere in the bushes. That got me up, despite the pain in my chest from over-exertion.

"Takashi!" I shouted into the air as I made my way to the other side, not even caring if someone saw me.

He cursed to himself again as I carefully mad my way through the bushes, scratching my skin against every little branch. As I tripped through the last bit of the bushes, his reiatsu became clear as day, so I looked up. He was resting against a tree, blood dripping down his lip as his chest wound was exposed out to the rain. I had to bite down on my lip and ball my hands into fists so I wouldn't scream out again, that's how upset I was over my brother.

"Takashi..."

He finally looked up towards me and cursed one last time as he tried to force himself to stand. But I came over and held my hand over him so he couldn't, and he grew angry. He gave me all the dirty looks in the world and tried to kick me. But I knelt down and just stared at him for a minute, mentally telling him to stay still. After a minute of useless struggling, he caved in and rested his head against the tree, and angrily stabbed his katana into the ground.

"Dammit, you broke free."

"Took me a while."

"Did you scream my name?"

"And if I did?"

"I was just wondering, only you would overreact at a time like this." He sighed impatiently to himself, which stirred me the wrong way, especially at that moment.

"And so what if I am? There's nothing I can do, what would you like me to do?" I rebuked him, but he curtly looked away and tried to stare back at the fight.

"Answer me Takashi! What do you want me to-"

"I want you to shut up and let me think!" He spat out at last, his eyes fierce from frustration and pain from his deep wound.

I flinched away and brought my arms up to my chest, which made him automatically regret his choice of words. He tried to apologize, but I turned around and looked out to my friends fighting on the other side. They seemed oblivious to us, which made it a little easier to think to myself. Takashi's voice echoed behind me as I came to my own little world in my head, where the voice could easily talk to me.

"What should I do? Oh God, if they die out there, what the hell is he going to do? Why the hell is Shinose doing here anyway?"
You know what to do Hikari, it's right there.

"Hell no! I can't do that to Takashi, not like this."
It's the only way to save your friends, to save Takashi. With your power, you would be able to stop everything and save everyone!

"B-But what about-"
Don't worry about me, it'll be fine... I think. Let's worry about the consequences later alright?

It was too much to comprehend, why did I have to ruin everything that I built up from the floor so suddenly? If I did do it, then it would make me public enemy number one at the Soul Society. Takashi would probably get into major trouble for allowing me to take his power, even if I did it for my friends. Everything would change for the worse, lives would be at stake, and there would be no way I could talk to my family if I-

Hikari! For heaven's sake, forget about your family this one time and do what you know is right! Since when were they there for you anyway?!

That left a sore spot, but a true one that got my mind thinking. When did it matter what my family would think of me if I did this? Wouldn't it actually be a good thing to do this? Then we would see if I had the ability to be a soul reaper after all these years. Plus, it would only last for a while, which was what I needed to save my friends... only a little while...

"Takashi, I need you to do something."

"Whatever it is, I'm not doing it."

"Just transfer some power into me!"

"What in hell are you thinking?! Dad and everyone would kill you if I allowed you to take my power!" He said to me, but that only made me cry even harder as I turned around and fell to my knees.

"Please Takashi! Just a little is all I need! I can't let them die out there!"

"No Hikari, we don't even know what will happen if you take my power. What if something bad happens and you-

"Takashi! Would you rather have me feel guilty for not trying? Or have me stand up against everyone and show them they're wrong?"

He stopped and held his hand a little tighter around his chest as he mentally screamed to himself. I stared at him and tried to read his face, but he hid it well from me for the longest time. Whatever he was debating to himself, he seemed like he was losing it all. Finally, he screamed out loud into the rain as thunder boomed around us, which sent me flying onto my back. I waited in fear on the ground as he scratched the back of his neck with a sour expression.

"Fuck it! Get over here Hikari." He practically shouted at me as he waved his hand towards me.

"Huh?"

"Don't make me say it twice, let me stab you."

I was a little dumbfounded as I rose from the ground and made my way over to my brother. He pulled his katana out from the ground and quickly swished it through the air so there wasn't any mud on it. He glared up at me as he held out the sharp end towards me with one hand, and waited until I firmly grasped the blade. It felt cool in my hand as he pressed a little harder against my stomach. We stopped momentarily so we could glance at one another before we actually did it.

"If anything goes wrong, I blame you." He sighed out apathetically, but grinned at me which made me laugh a little.

"Totally worth it." I laughed shakily out loud as we both rigidly held onto his sword.

"I love you brother... you know that right?"

"Yeah yeah I know... I love you too. No matter what."

I took in one last breath, closed my eyes, and let the blade plunge deeply into my stomach. There was a slight pain as the power came through all at once. I couldn't help but gasp out loud as everything surrounding me turned white and wind whipped around like a tornado. Takashi, the scenery and even the sword itself (although I could still feel it) disappeared into the white light.

Then... it just went black.

For a moment, it felt like I was suspended in thin air with nothing solid to grab on to. I could feel there was someone nearby, with their arms gracefully wrapped around my neck but the rest of them wouldn't touch me. It was calm and serene, but just as I got used to it, everything felt like the normal world again. All the sounds suddenly came all at once, which ruined my eardrums and made me scream in pain as my knees touched solid ground.

"Ow! That was a little more painful than what I anticipated..."

"Hikari! Are you alright? Answer me!"

"T-Takashi?" I moaned a little as I rose my head up towards the direction I faced, but he wasn't there.

"What the heck? Where are you brother? Did I kill us all or something?"

"You're fine, just turn around." He answered me back with a snort, but he was quiet as I got up from the floor.

"Honestly brother, you could be a little more nicer right-"

I had to stop midway and just take in the moment of sudden realization. My clothes were not the same mud-stained ones I wore, it was a smooth black hakama with a bright blue wrap across my chest. My sword hung against my back within a sleek sheath with the top wrapped with the blue fabric. I was in awe at the light gray hilt, but only for a second because Takashi couldn't hold back his laughter.

"Your face looks like a little kid in a candy store!"

"S-Shut up! I'm just... it worked brother! It freaking worked!"

"Well hip-hip-hooray for you." My brother tried to sound happy, but he was in so much pain it just sounded a bit more snarky.

"Takashi... are you alright?" I asked him, but judging by the amount of blood on his pure white hakama, it was clear that he wasn't alright.

My body reflexively took a step forward, but then the bushes started to rustle behind me. Both of us stopped, turned around and stared at the bush. Slowly, the arrancar Takashi was fighting came through, the only one who noticed that something was amiss. He held his hand over the wound on his torso, but all in all he looked totally fine. His bright yellow eyes glanced between me and Takashi, and slowly settled on to me.

"Oh... what do we have here?" He said out loud as he came through the bushes and examined me a little better with his eyebrows up.

"Hikari..."

"I know what I'm doing brother, just relax now."

"Well aren't you the cutest soul reaper I'd ever seen." The arrancar laughed at me, but it only made me angry and a bit anxious about my appearance.

"How many have you seen?"

"More than enough to know you're the cutest."

"So like... one?"

That made him furious because he saw that I wasn't falling for any of his lame attempts of being cool. He decided to quickly end me so he pulled out his sword and came right at me. With my new found power rushing through my veins, I easily jumped over him and sliced his arm clean off with one stroke. I some what expected him to scream but he only huffed out the pain and tried again. He managed to swipe my cheek, but I swooped up from under him and ended his life once and for all. The adrenaline I felt was too much for me, and the only way I could get rid of it without exploding was to jump around like a little girl. Hearing Taka laugh made me calm down a little faster so I could glare at him.

"Sorry sister, but that was kind of cute. I hate to admit it, but your work was a little sloppy."

"I know, but I've never really held an actual sword in my hands. It's strange... I thought I would be a little more happy about this but now..."

We both stopped and stared at each other, and awkwardly laughed at the same time. When he didn't want to continue, I just pushed my hair back and tried to focus. My necklace was swishing his tail against my chest, which showed that he was upset. I wanted to be happy, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to be.

"Hey, where's my body?"

"We'll get you a new one, don't worry about it."

"I like how we can just get a new body... if someone normal heard that they would freak."

"Don't you have to worry about something else?" He said as he nudged his head towards the other side of the bushes, where the fighting continued without skipping a beat.

"Right... I'm gonna see if I can help. Don't... don't die alright? I'll try and hurry as fast as I can."

"Okay... I'll try but I'm not promising anything." He smirked as he struggled to get comfortable in the rain again, but pretty much collapsed against the tree trunk.

I couldn't reply, I'd be happy with myself if the last thing I asked my brother was try not to die. My legs took me right to the bushes were they stopped and wouldn't move. Everything in me was shaking and I thought I would throw up out of fear. My brain had to think of all the bad things at that moment, that split moment of exposing myself to my friends for the first time ever. I didn't know if I could handle it, but that abruptly came to an end when brother sighed in an annoyed voice.

"Come on Hikari! Don't over-think just go! I'll die here if you don't!"

"R-Right!" I said as I gulped out loud to his amusement, but to my discomfort. "I-I'm going."

"Take your time, don't worry about me."

"Shut up brother."

His laughter faded away as the sounds of swords clashing and people shouting at each other filled my ears. I took in it all for a moment, mostly because no one noticed me and I didn't want to intervene. But as they kept fighting, jealously slowly rose through me like a wildfire, why weren't they noticing me. After a while, I just felt like doing something radical, so when the second arrancar came close I just stuck my sword through him and cut clean through his abdomen. Kouhei and Miyu were shocked and surprised, they didn't recognize me right on the spot. Miyu even tried to attack me, but somehow Senpai noticed and nearly tackled his sister.

"Stop Miyu! That's Hikari!" He shouted loud enough for the sword fighters to hear and stop midway into their fight.

"Hikari!?" Miyu's voice sounded incredulous, but I only laughed and nodded my head at her.

"Sorry about taking your kill, he was getting on my nerves." I laughed strangely at them, which made me stop and recollect myself.

"Keep it together Hikari, don't do anything stupid. This is only temporary, remember Takashi. You have to make sure he's safe and well. For Takashi... for them."

"Hikari.. but how? What about... the accident...?" Kouhei asked me, his eyes wide with shock even though it was hard to make an expression.

I ignored him and turned my attention to the two boys in front of me, who were staring back in return. Ciel's eyes were bright with excitement at the turn of events, although he knew it was temporary. On the other hand, Shinose was speechless as he stared intensely towards me with a pained expression. Shino completely stopped moving as Ciel ran up to me and held onto my hand for no apparent reason. His gray eyes were sparkling from the rain as he glanced up and around my body. He was in awe about everything, especially my sword from the look of his eyes.

"It is you Hikari! I finally get to see you like this!" He excitedly said to me, a bright smile on his face even though we were in the middle of something.

"Yeah, I know C.J."

"How you feeling?"

"Alright, it's just all the adrenaline rushing through my veins right now that's making me feel a bit queasy."

"I bet, not used to it huh?"

"Not one bit."

He chuckled a little as Miyu rolled her eyes and laughed out loud as well. Kouhei tried his best to hid his laughter, but he couldn't hold it in for long. I smiled for a second until bright green eyes caught my attention again. They were just full of heart-aching pain and such deep regret that it twisted my insides from staring. C.J turned around, but went over to Miyu as she crumbled to her knees all of a sudden.

"Miyu?!" He shouted into the air as Miyu began to hyperventilate into her hands, her little sprites worried about their friend.

I turned my attention back to Shinose, to make sure he hadn't done anything. But then a flash of lightning came out of nowhere and struck where he stood just a moment ago. Everyone screamed and fell to the floor, and stayed still for a moment. We all slowly stood up and made sure we were all alive. I, on the other hand, looked back to the strike and was dumbfounded when I couldn't find a trace of Shinose in the air. It wasn't until Miyu screamed bloody-murder that I was able to sense where he was.

"Miyuki! What is-ah!" I screamed as my feet gave out and I was hoisted into the air princess-style.

My hands grasped onto his shirt on reflex, which only made him laugh even more at me. I blushed profusely but refused to make contact until we were up in the air. My voice got caught in my throat as we headed straight into the rain. I could barely hear my friends screaming my name over his laughter and the roaring sounds of rain and wind together. He held onto me tighter as I wrapped my arms around his neck so I had a little support.

"Let me go!" I tried to tell him, but he laughed even harder and pressed his arms tighter against me.

"No can do Hika-Chan, first I gotta get us out of the rain." His deep voice tickled my sore eardrums, sending chills down my spine.

"S-Shinose..."

"That's Shino-Tan to you, Hika-Chan." He said as he finally caught my attention, his bright green eyes the only thing I could make out of him.

I flinched unintentionally at his strange kindness, because I expected a harsher emotion coming from the older boy. But it seemed like he wanted to be like before, a seemingly kind and gently big brother figure to me. Even though times had changed and we could no longer just be older brother and younger sister figures to one another.

"Almost there Light, but I don't think we'll be alone for long." He said kindly as he nuzzled his scruffy face against my cheek.

"Not with your boyfriend behind us."

"B-Boyfriend?" I shivered as my eyes looked over his shoulder to see not Kouhei... but Ciel chasing after us.

"N-No! Y-You got it all w-w-wrong! Ciel's not my b-b-boyfriend!" I bluntly said out loud to Shinose, who stopped midway into his run, allowing C.J to pass us.

"What?"

"Y-You heard me! D-Don't make me repeat myself!"

"Then... is that Quincy...?"

"Y-Yeah! He is!" I buried my face into his shoulder so he couldn't see my face, it was too embarrassing even if he was the bad guy at the moment.

Shinose's aura turned from confused to furious in a split second as he gazed back to Ciel. I looked over my shoulder and tried to read his face. But as he slowly registered the information, he suddenly smiled. And soon, he was laughing into my shoulder which irritated C.J. I could feel his reiatsu surge out of anger as Shinose looked back up.

"Oh this is too good to be true! You let Hikari get smitten by someone else? A Quincy no less!"

"Shut up Shinose!"

"Why should I? I mean, after all these years of being together, I figured you'd have her in your arms without a fight. I'm a little disappointed Cicel..."

"What's it to you?! Why does that matter?!"

"Oh it matters to me, little brother... now I have the ability to tease you no matter the situation. You gave me the perfect opportunity Cicel."

I cringed as he continued to laugh at Ciel, who was getting angrier by the minute. My arms were slowly getting drenched by Shinose's blood, the pain in his eyes too much to ignore. We stayed in the rain for a few more minutes, the awkward tension in the air so strong yet familiar. Finally he stopped and wiped a tear from his face, or a rain drop, it was hard to tell the difference. He looked down at me and gave me the sweetest smile a boy had ever given me, which stopped me from breathing all together.

"Looks like I lost for now, we can't be by ourselves Light." He tsked to himself as he leaned his head against mine to my surprise.

He carefully shifted his arms around my waist, so I was pretty much hanging onto him from his shoulders. Ciel didn't dare to take a step closer, but he was more aware and ready to intervene at any time. But it honestly felt like he was just trying to hug me before he gave me back to Ciel, so I let my guard down. With one hand, he snapped his fingers and opened up a black abyss behind him. I was in awe at the darkness when suddenly he brushed his finger lightly against my chin until I looked back up to him. It was like the kind you would use on a loved one and were trying to draw their attentions to you.

"Can you at least say goodbye to me, unless you hate my guts?" He asked me softly as he continued to brush his finger against my face.

"Only if you promise me something, Shino-Tan." I snapped his name with a bit of acid in my voice, making him flinch and lose his bitter-sweet smile.

"What would you like me to do, my Princess Light?"

"Promise me you will fight me when you have the guts to."

His playful eyes suddenly turned corrupt and fierce, a crooked smile replaced his gentle grin. I cringed as his arms slide down my back in a teasing way, my hands pulled against his hair out of reflex. This made him laugh, and squeezed me in the wrong places, causing me to yelp a little in his face.

"Of course Light, I just didn't want you to worry about anything since you've never actually held a sword in your life. What kind of friend takes advantage of that? Certainly not a good one."

"So that's a deal then?"

"Yes," He said as a malicious smile drew my attention away from his hand that rose above me. "Anything you say, Hikari."

It came out of no where, a searing pain at the halfway point of my chest and stomach that made everything grow hazy. I didn't want to, but I forced myself to glance down and nearly gagged on my own blood. His snow-white arm contrasted against my bright red blood, making it harder for me to keep down the blood in my throat. My hands that pulled against his hair loosened up until the hung limply to my sides, my only support was his arms around my waist. I could hear Ciel screaming my name and cursing at Shinose, but I was distracted by his green eyes.

"It's a done deal. Say Hikari, I want to say one more thing." Shinose said smoothly as he kissed me without warning, despite the blood on my lips.

His kiss was warm and comforting, as he pulled away I couldn't help but taste something sweet on my tongue. I stared blankly at his eyes, which of course didn't move him at all. Everything seemed to be moving at a turtle's pace, but when I tried to move, nothing happened.

"I just want you to know, that I've always loved you."

And with those last words, he pulled his arms to the side and allowed me to fall back towards earth. Everything rushed past me as I could watch the rain fall down towards the ground like I was a part of it. His green eyes were the last thing I saw normally, but that only made me angry. My hands reached out towards him in a weak attempt to grab his attention, but I was too far away for him to see.

"D-D-Dammit..."

"Hikari!" Ciel's voice rang in my ears, but I got so tired that I didn't want to reply to him.

"Can I finally say what an asshole life is?"
Man, you're so depressing and melodramatic.

"Y-You again..."
Yup, it's me. And I'm not going anywhere. Ever.

"G-Great..."