I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY LINE AND THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU DON'T KNOW FROM THE ANIME/MANGA!

Finals are over on Tuesday so this story will be finished soon. Only a few more chapters, I promise!

Chapter Twenty-Six

Torn Apart

Kisuke was being banished to the human world. He was being torn away from her. The man she loved…he was being taken away. That was not something that anyone would want to hear on their birthday.

Chisa continued to explain to her captain what had happened to the Squad members that the others had been sent after. Shinji and the others, even Miyuki and Ayami…they were being turned into hollows and were sentenced to be killed. What had happened out there? Why did everything just take a turn for the worst?

"Where are the others?" Hiromi demanded; she turned back to her room and pulled her Zanpakto through her belt and pulled her Haori back on. "They're still scattered around the city, trying to find Kisuke and the others before-"

Chisa was cut off by a banging on her front door. Raising her brow, the Captain moved down the hall and pilled the door opened. Chojiro stood before her, a few other men behind him.

"Forgive the early call," Chojiro gave the Captain a bow. "But I have orders from Captain Genrysai to search all Barracks and other places."

"Search them?" Hiromi's brows rose higher. "For what? What's happened? Does it have something to do with Kisuke?"

Her Grandfather's lieutenant nodded as he stood. "Kisuke Urahara and the others have all disappeared from their sentencing," Chojiro told her. "We were ordered to search everywhere."

Hiromi pulled back and let them in. "Search all you want. You won't find them here."

Hiromi and Chisa stood in the main hall, watching as Chojiro and the four men he brought with him searched through her home.

"Hiromi," Yamura's voice quickly traveled through her mind. "You must not allow them to search the house!"

~What? By why?~

"You're sister!"

Hiromi felt her skin freeze. Hitomi.

It seemed to pop up into Chisa's head too because they both took off the same way. Where was Ukari? Was she still even here? Hiromi came to a halt when she saw Chojiro trying to open up her sister's bedroom. It wouldn't move. Had Hitomi locked her door?

"This door is locked, Captain." The Lieutenant told her.

"I know it is." Hiromi replied as she moved toward, placing herself between the man and the door. She closed her eyes.

"Open it."

"I'm afraid not." She answered him. She knew that this was a bad idea, going against the orders, but at the moment she didn't care about anything else than keeping her sister safe. If it resulted in her being thrown into the Maggot's Nest…

"What?" Chojiro sounded surprised with wide eyes as he stared at his Captain's granddaughter. That was the one thing that he had not been expecting Hiromi to say. "Come again?"

"I'm afraid that you cannot come into this room of the house, Lieutenant Chojiro. That is a private room." Chisa stayed silent, nibbling on her bottom lip as she watched the events unfold. If a fight was to break out she knew that she was going to help her Captain; she just feared the results.

The Lieutenant frowned as her eyes stayed closed. "You know this makes you think that you're hiding something. I have to get into this room, Captain."

"I told you," She eyes stayed closed. "You're not getting in here."

Chojiro grabbed his Zanpakto. "You leave me no other choice, Hiromi." The older man looked like he was about to move forward but froze at the sight of the door opening. Glancing over her shoulder, Hiromi gave a sigh of relief.

Ukari pulled a frown over her face as she looked at the group outside the doors. "You do know that there are like six other bathrooms in this house, right?"

Chojiro looked at her for a moment before sheathing his sword again. "I apologize, Captain." He glanced over his shoulder at the men that joined him again, and gave a silent sigh of relief. "It seems that everything is in order here." He turned back to the Captain. "I trust that if you hear anything from Captain Urahara…" Chojiro didn't finish his words before he and his men turned and left the Barracks.

Ukari gave a sigh of relief and leaned against the door. "That was close."

"What happened?" Chisa demanded, moving closer to the two women. "Where's Hitomi?"

"Lieutenant Aizen was here," Ukari commented. "He came and took her nearly an hour ago, giving me a warning about Squad 1's Lieutenant to be here, looking for Captain Kisuke and the others. I had been waiting before I heard the voices."

Hiromi raised an eyebrow with a frown. How had Sosuke known about Kisuke and the others? And about the search for them. Something wasn't right here.

"Chisa, come with me." Hiromi turned to leave before glancing back at Ukari. "Thank you. We'll be back with my sister soon."

"Hey, take your time," The Quincy grinned, moving down the hall a few doors to get to her own room. "The others will be back soon too, I'm sure, so I'll be taking a nap."

"Where are we going?" Chisa asked as she and her captain moved through the streets. More of Squad 1 could be seen searching through the rest of the city but neither of them paid attention to them.

"The Barracks of Squad 5. Aizen would have taken Hitomi there. With all the panic happening then no one will notice Aizen hiding in his room with my sister. I want you to grab her and take her back home."

"What are you going to do?" Chisa asked as they reached the Barracks of Squad 5.

Hiromi paused for a moment. "I'm not sure."

Squad 5 was in a panic. Everyone was running around, not even seeming to notice Chisa or Hiromi as they moved through them, heading straight to what they knew would be the main office. The Captain slammed the door open. Aizen and Hitomi were there, just like Hiromi had been expecting. Hitomi was lying on the couch as Aizen sat there at his desk, going through some files and books.

"Hiromi," Hitomi sat up with a look of relief as the frail woman clung to the blanket across her. "Have…have the searchers left home?"

"Yes," Hitomi knelt beside the couch as Aizen and Chisa stayed silent, watching, waiting. "You don't have to worry. They found nothing."

Hitomi smiled. "I am glad. I should always know that you would…keep me safe."

Hiromi gave her sister a soft smile. "Of course; you should never think otherwise, Hitomi." She stood again and helped her stand. "Go with Chisa back home. I shall be there soon. Get some rest."

Hitomi opened her mouth to speak before giving a smile and a nod. "Goodbye, Sosuke. I'll see you soon."

"Of course." The Lieutenant smiled at the other woman.

Chisa moved forward quickly, placing a soft arm around Hitomi's shoulders before they both disappeared. The room was silent again for a moment before Hiromi finally turned to face the man that was sitting at the desk still.

"I thank you for grabbing my sister." Aizen smiled at her but it fell as she continued to speak. "I know you're up to something, Aizen," Hiromi's voice was cold. "And I really don't care." He now had a look of surprise spread across his face. "I refuse to be involved with what you're doing or whatever it is that you plan on doing and I won't be, until one of my Squad is hurt. You harm them and I will put myself in the middle of it and you will regret it."

The man set his glasses down and turned to face the woman. He was silent for a moment. "You could kill me right now. I know you could. You're stronger than me. Why don't you?"

She gave a grin. "I don't know what you're up to, so I won't. Coming into these events, here and now, it would hold no point. You take care of my sister and something tells me that you will do all that you can to continue doing so. You won't do anything to me or those I'm close to."

(OH God, wait until she finds everything out, right guys? XDXD Can't Wait!)

Hiromi straightened up and took a step forward. "Just don't kill anyone that I care about, all right? No Captains, no Lieutenants, and none of my Squad, understand?"

"Of course." Aizen nodded.

She turned to leave the room and then glanced back at the man, a small smile on her face. "That means don't hurt yourself either, Sosuke." At another surprised look on the man's face Hiromi's smile grew larger as she turned and left the room. "You mean too much to my sister."

The news of what Kisuke had been accused of doing was spread around the entire Seireitei by the next night, giving the feel of dread all through the Squad 14 Barracks. Hiromi had been suspected of hiding Kisuke and her Grandfather had apparently sent Chojiro to her house again to 'spend time with her' before she shooed him off. It was ridiculous for them to think that Kisuke would approach her while he was being searched for…though she wanted him too. Her Squad tried to cheer her up, pulling her attention from what was happening but it just didn't work so she excused herself to her bedroom for the night to worry on her own.

She wasn't the only one worried though. The others were all worried about Ayami and Miyuki. Ayane was gone; no one knew where she had been but Faile, seeming as how he was gone as well. The others were all together at the Barracks, talking or sleeping through the night.

Hiromi tried to sleep but she only found herself staring at the ceiling above her, thinking of everything, thinking about what she could do. The silence was broken though, by a small tap on her window. Heart thumping, hoping it was a certain someone, her smile fell when her eyes landed on the woman that stood there instead of Kisuke.

"Yoruichi," Hiromi sounded surprised. "What are you doing here? And why not enter like you normally do? Has Faile done something."

"No," The woman shook her head. "I'm here about…about Kisuke and the others." Hiromi instantly leaned further out of her window. The other Captain was holding a hard look, eyes hard. "They…we're leaving." Yoruichi told the Captain. "I'm going with them since I helped them escape. Kisuke wanted to come to you but I…I didn't think that it was a good idea. They're looking for Kisuke, not for me. For now. Any second now I'm sure that they'll find what I left in my Barracks for them to find." She glanced over her shoulder before back to her friend. "Everything…he had a lot that he wanted to tell you but there's no time so I'm just going to tell you one thing. In his room, there's something waiting for you. We're taking Miyuki and Ayami and the others all with us to the human world. We'll take care of them and keep them from turning into Hollows, somehow. You have…" She froze again before narrowing her eyes. "They're on their way. I have to go and catch up to the others."

"Here, let me hel-"

"No," Yoruichi shook her head. "We don't need to drag you into this too. I would tell you everything but I don't have the time. Just…just be careful. Don't trust anyone outside of your Squad, understand? No one!" Yoruichi backed away. "I'm sorry about all of this but I doubt…I doubt that you and Kisuke will ever…" She shook her head. "Goodbye, Hiromi."

Yoruichi was gone in a flash, leaving the woman in the middle of her room alone again. She stared at where Yoruichi had been standing as everything hit her. Kisuke and the others were leaving. They were going to Earth. Going to Earth and he was leaving her there. She didn't care that it was well after midnight. All she cared about at the moment was going to Kisuke's room before he was…he was replaced.

She ignored everything around her while moving through the Seireitei. The streets were empty so she didn't fear anything of being seen or interrupted as she finally reached Kisuke's room. She could draw a map from her room to this one by the back of her hand and with her eyes closed. As she pushed the door to Kisuke's room open, Hiromi felt her eyes water up.

His smell was all over the place in this empty room. The last time that she had been to Kisuke's room there it had been messy as hell with clothes and food and garbage and God-knows-what-else all over the floor and tables but this time…this time it seemed that Kisuke had been planning something a little different for tonight when he and Hiromi were supposed to meet here for her birthday. Everything had been cleaned and washes. Candles and a bucket of now-melted ice were sitting on his bedside table, a bottle of wine unopened and two glasses beside it. Red petals were scattered across the wooden floor and the bed that he had set up for the two of them. She had a good idea of what he planned on happening again but her sight was caught by the box sitting in the middle of the bed. As pain struck her heart again, Hiromi moved closer to the bed she lifted the note from the top of it. It was small, holding only two words.

I'm Sorry

Fearing what she would find, Hiromi took a deep breath before opening the small box. Her heart froze and her eyes began to water again. It was a ring. With a white gold band, there was a large, emerald stone staring up at her. As she stared at it, one thought entered her mind.

~Kisuke…you bastard!~ She didn't have to think very hard onto what this ring meant. He had been planning to…to ask her to marry him. Oh dear lord, why? Why hadn't he come to her before he ran off to save Miyuki and the others? She could have…she could have…

She would have said yes. She would have followed him to the end of everything that he was going to plan on doing but now…now he was gone. The man she loved was now gone, leaving her to think, only think, of what could have happened...

As the tears spilled over her cheeks, Hiromi slipped the ring onto her hand, clenching her eyes closed and both fists shut.

Hiromi and Kisuke had been Torn Apart.

Not the end! I have something special planned for you guys! Just wait!

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