With a sigh, Maaka re-entered through the same window she had climbed out of, shaking the slightest bits of sand out of her long hair. Her issue had been solved, but now it was Amaji's turn. Of course, she knew her friend was going to be stubborn over it. Well, if it wasn't Amaji, it was most definitely Kira who would put up a fight. Damn shy bastards! And the worst part was that she couldn't help them either. Slowly, she made her way back to Shuhei's room as orders buzzed into her little earpiece. Like always, she ignored Gin, mostly because he was ordering her to bring him food, and shut the transmitter off. As she pulled open Shuhei's door, she saw him fully clothed now and standing by the window, looking out on the dark world.

"You know, it's actually kinda peaceful out there," He said without turning around. "I guess I could live here." He leaned against the windowsill.

"Well don't get too used to it, you'll be headed home soon enough." She wanted to get closer, but instead she leaned against the door, crossing her arms. "Although I don't know when you're being forced home." Now he turned to face her.

"Forced huh? What if I was thinking about staying?" He put his arms behind his head and grinned at her as she sighed.

"I'm betting you'd be forced into that gate one way or another," She shrugged softly, hating the tension that was beginning to build in the room. "Staying is not an option." In truth, she didn't know about that. But she did know that he only wanted to stay because of her. Five days ago, he would have jumped at the chance to be free, but now he wanted to stay. She didn't want him to stay here when he had a home elsewhere. Of course, she knew he'd try to get her to come with, oblivious to the realization that she could never go back to the Soul Society.

"Leaving isn't exactly an option either." He mumbled, his obsidian colored eyes growing dark as he thought. She sighed and finally crossed the room, leaning against him as she stared out at the vast landscape that was Hueco Mundo.

"You're going to have to leave you know," She said as he wrapped his arms around her thin shoulders. "This isn't worth me." She gestured to the cold world just outside the barred windows. She wasn't worth a life stuck in servitude. He pulled her closer to him slightly, not offering any words. She knew he was thinking differently, but she knew the truth.

"I don't think I can take a dual-world separation. Just come with me."

"You know I can't. I can't leave and you can't stay. What are we going to do?" She wished she knew the answer to that question.

OOO

Amaji sighed, waiting patiently for him to ask these 'questions' he wanted answers to. "I can't promise you there are going to be answers."

"As long as I get a few I'll be satisfied." He wouldn't move, and Amaji was starting to feel slightly confined stuck between him and a hard place – literally. She shifted so that her chest was pressed further into the wall, farther from Kira's hovering form and comforting body warmth. She waited again; growing aggravated and her patience wearing thin.

"I suggest you start interrogating before I just up and leave." Turning, she started at the pale hands placed firmly against the wall, bored with the white surface she was facing.

"Your hair is silver, why do you dye it red?" Of course he'd start with her hair, but it was the simplest to answer thankfully. She let out a quiet breath, not a sigh, but just something to do that would calm her frayed nerves.

"I'm a scientist, and you may have noticed I'm obsessed with the world of the living," Kira nodded, for she felt the brush of his bangs against the nape of her neck where a sliver of skin was showing through her layers of thick hair. "Humans dye their hair, I did the same, and I enjoyed having red hair, simple as that."

"You say you're brother doesn't talk about you much, Gin taicho, why not?" This question was slightly more complicated to answer. She took a moment to gather her thoughts, trying to form a sentence that would sound remotely understandable. He was patient as she put things together, time had no place here and he could wait as long as he needed, he wasn't going anywhere for a while.

"It's complicated. Gin, my brother, he really does love me. At least I keep telling myself that. Aizen warped his already fucked up thought process when he was young, which left little room for me to dissuade from the path he's chosen. But he's protected me, in a sense, for as long as I can remember. Without associating himself with anyone really, it gave no to for Aizen-sama to grow an interest in his relatives, namely me." It hurt to talk about it, she really didn't know how much her brother loved, liked, or hated her. "Without anyone knowing we were siblings I was my own person, and in all reality I think it worked out to my benefit that way."

"He hasn't betrayed your trust, so he must care for you." She caught the hurt in his voice, and it pained her. Gin had betrayed many, many people, and she hadn't given a damn about those she'd left behind. But Kira had truly devoted himself to his captain, she knew this, and the fact that it had created such an emotional distress towards the fukutaicho pained her in a way.

"As I said, I keep telling myself that. I don't know what to believe anymore, but I still love him. After all, he's still my brother." Her body went rigid as Kira's head gently rested against her back, and she watched his hands strain against the wall as if he were trying to ball them into fists.

"Does it hurt you to think that he might betray you at any point, without hesitation? Shatter every bit of love you might have for him?" His voice was low, not a whisper but a sorrowful, dejected question. Amaji chuckled to herself, a laugh without humor, and lifted her arm to place her hand on top of Kira's.

"You're too depressed, and you really do have a sad way of looking at things. I suppose that comes from being in the third squad," It was easy to work out the complicated structures of his mind, and she hated how easily it was to pick out his reactions and questions before he actually reacted or said something. "But yes, it does. It hurts to know that m brother, the only blood I have, might never have truly looked at me the way I did him. We share a single thing, and that is our IQ levels. But his brilliance surpasses mine in ways I can't fathom, thus I don't know what he thinks or what he feels towards me."

A heavy sigh came from behind her, and she felt his chest press against her back for a moment. "Then why did you come here?"

Amaji didn't have to think about that one.

"Because Gin was the only thing I had in the society. Without him, there would no longer be me. I, unlike Maaka, left willingly."

"Would you come back?" She was slowly becoming depressed, and he just kept getting lower and lower as he talked, sorrow dripping from his words. Amaji shook her head and leaned back, forcing Kira to release her from his hold and she stepped towards the door, her hand still on his.

"For what? My brother his here."

"For me?" His hand dropped to his side as she let it go, and there was no time for her to think of an answer. If she did that, she'd regret whatever answer she gave. Her mind worked too quickly and she often spoke before she could register what she had said or thought.

"I think I've answered enough, I'll bring you dinner later. Finish whatever you have left, if there is anything left." She exited the room, refusing to look at him, and stood just outside the open door for a moment. "I'll see you later, Izuru-san."

And she closed the automatically locking door, leaving to find her room.