OCs (c) Me

Sakura Kinoshita, zanpakuto (c) TheTroublesomeZorua AKA C-chanLovesGamingX3

Bleach (c) Kubo Tite

The Bleached Chronicles

Chapter 37

"What's taking so long? They should have defeated him by now." Chihiro thought in worry as she paced around inside Grimmjow's room, stepping over pieces of debris as she held her hands tightly over her chest in a prayer. She was growing more and more worried as the minutes ticked by, but after a while she felt the energies in the air change.

"Huh?" She gasped as she felt Yammy's large reiastu dissipate, making it a lot easier to breathe and the earthquakes stop. At this she smiled, immediately grabbing her zanpakuto as she headed for the door.

"Hoshi, they did it! They won!" she cried happily, feeling both relief and joy that everyone was all right. She could hear her zanpakuto's spirit laugh softly as she pulled the sword out of its sheath, prepared to release her shikai so she could get to them and Grimmjow as fast as possible.

"Milady, calm yourself. We must find them, it has been an hour, as Grimmjow said. We need to find Orihime and the others." the sword chuckled delicately. She nodded happily as she held the blade in front of her.

"Okay, we will! Enter the twilight… Hoshiookami!" Immediately, the sword changed and her wolf was at her side once more, towering over her smaller stature and almost reaching halfway to the ceiling. The she-wolf knelt down and nuzzled her mistress's shoulder as the girl hugged her massive head. After a few minutes, the wolf sat on her stomach to let Chihiro climb onto her back.

"Are you ready, Milady?" she asked as she got to her feet, looking at her mistress from over her shoulder. Chihiro nodded as she held onto the collar, making sure she was seated and couldn't fall off.

"Yup. So let's go and find Grimmjow and Orihime-chan!" she laughed. The wolf nodded before taking off and out the door, running down the long white hallways in long strides. They passed piles of rubble that had fallen during the quakes caused by Yammy, making it somewhat difficult to get through if a normal person had been wandering these hallways.

But the wolf easily jumped over the rubble as she continued on, before spotting a massive hole in one of the walls. Leaping through, they quickly found themselves outside, basking in the fake sunlight that Aizen created. Chihiro looked up at the pale, blue sky before shielding her eyes from the sun.

"Aizen is truly a master of illusions. That resembles the sun so well, but it can never be as bright as it is truly. Ah… I miss the sun." the wolf spoke as they gazed at the sky, noticing that this sun held no warmth and it was just there for decoration. Chihiro nodded in agreement, Aizen's fake sun could never match the real one. No matter what he did.

"And I miss the moon. Hueco Mundo's everlasting night can never waver my heart to believe that we're at home here, in this deserted wasteland. Ah, I yearn to howl at the silent moon, singing solace to it." the wolf continued, closing her eyes as she remembered the times she would howl in her spirit form, singing to the moon as all wolves do. Chihiro nodded again, she missed that too. Even in the sword's sealed state, she could hear her howl every night at the moon, regardless of what phase it was in.

"I miss home too, Hoshi. But we'll be able to go home soon. All of us, Sae, the triplets, Grimmjow-"

"Grimmjow can never call earth home. He is a hollow, regardless of what form he takes. He is a hollow mind and body, the shinigami know this. Are you willing to go against them, for his sake?" Hoshiookami warned, cutting her off. Chihiro was silent before nodding.

"Of course, Hoshi. I would never leave him. He… he means everything to me. If he was gone… I don't know what I would do." she whispered softly, just the thought of him not being there beside her… hurt. The wolf was silent before turning its head towards her.

"Surely you don't think of killing yourself if he were ever to die, are you?" she asked, her voice harsh at the thought of her mistress ever being stupid enough to take her own life. Chihiro shook her head at this, she could never do that. She had too many people to think about, and… he wouldn't want her to do that either. Before she could speak, she felt a familiar reiastu disappear, and it almost made her heart stop.

Grimmjow's reiastu disappeared.

Why did his reiastu disappear?

"Hn. So the bastards don't have a shred of honor, do they? Grr… if they harmed him, I'll crush their skulls and tear their throats open…" Hoshiookami growled as she bared her teeth, practically snarling. Chihiro clutched her collar in her hands, her knuckles turning white at the force.

"Please Hoshiookami, hurry!" she screamed, her heart beating erratically as she did so. The wolf nodded before taking off again, making sure not to waste any time. Chihiro buried her face into the wolf's soft fur, trying to hide her tears. She was scared. She had no idea why his reiastu disappeared, and prayed to God that the shinigami hadn't killed him.

"Please… don't let him be dead. Please…"

-Hoshiookami's P.O.V-

I could feel her tears staining my white fur as I ran, my paws kicking up the white stone-like sand behind us as I did so. She was scared for her lover, and I couldn't blame her for that. Milady truly loved the espada, and I wanted nothing more than to see her live her life happily, despite this fate she was forced into. If he was something that made her happy, then I wasn't about to argue against it.

I felt my anger rise as my thoughts filled with the many ways I could rip through the flesh of his murderers, staining my white teeth with their crimson blood as the hot liquid splattered on my fur and jaws. I felt elation run through me at the thought, it had been many years since my teeth had ripped through traitorous shinigami flesh, and I don't regret it one bit of the taste or the act itself.

They deserved to die, and I was their proud executioner along with any of my previous masters.

They had committed inhumane acts against one another, and the last person to wield me eagerly slashed down all those who committed crimes since it was so common back then.

I felt her start to tremble on my back, snapping those thoughts away as I looked at her. Her long, brown hair was flowing in the wind and it obscured her face, but I could tell she was crying.

"Shh- Milady it will be all right. I'm sure of it." I soothed, feeling a bit helpless because I wasn't sure how true my own words rang. Out of all of my previous masters, this girl was like a child to me. And out of all of them… I liked her the best. Suddenly, a smell drifted into my nostrils and I grimaced at the familiarity of it. It was blood. Arrancar blood.

And not just any arrancar's, it was Grimmjow's.

It was his blood.

I raced on, preparing myself to whatever we might discover beyond the next sand dune.

-3rd Person P.O.V-

Chihiro and Hoshiookami arrived to see Yammy's massive body stretched out across the sand, the sand under him stained crimson with his blood as the scent of death lingered in the air. Both grimaced.

"They showed him no mercy." the wolf whispered as she stepped forward and tentatively sniffed him, noticing a small hollow dog nearby as it whined and nudged its fallen master. Chihiro shuddered at the thought as she quickly buried her face into her fur, her body trembling hard. The wolf gave her a small nudge as they kept going, getting about half-way around the body before they heard a voice speak out.

"Hado 54, Haien." Without warning, there was a loud explosion, causing the two to jump in surprise. Without hesitation, the two raced to where it came from to see Orihime and the others as they surrounded something. The group stared at the two in confusion, jumping a little in surprise as Mayuri, Nemu, and Kenpachi stood off to the side, as far away as possible.

"Chihiro…chan?" Orihime gasped in surprise, not expecting her to be there as quickly as she was. Chihiro stared at them in confusion, that is before she spotted the Tres Ae and Sae in the back as they rested on the ground. She brightened at this, they were safe.

"Sae, Mae, Rae, Tae! You're safe!" she cried as she jumped off the wolf's back and ran to them. The four looked up at her at this, tears running down their cheeks as they surrounded something. Chihiro got closer and realized that it was a piece of torn clothing, stained with blood. She stopped a few feet away, a blank and confused expression on her face.

"What's… why're you all crying?" she asked softly. Sae wiped her eyes with her paw before looking at her. How was she going to break it to her? The young woman waited patiently for the dragon's response, a dark feeling developing in her gut.

"Chihiro… we're sorry." she spoke softly. Chihiro blinked at her in confusion, before bending down and picking up the white cloth. It had black lining, and some of it was stained in blood. She gasped, she could feel slight traces of Grimmjow's reiastu lingering on the piece of cloth. Her heart dropped at this.

"Sae… no… he's okay, right? He just went to probably look for more arrancars, right…?" she said softly, her hand shaking as it clutched the cloth. Everyone was silent as they stared at her, before Byakuya Kuchiki spoke.

"The blue-haired Espada is dead, his body completely destroyed by my Hado. There is no saving him." the man said coldly, staring at the girl as if he wasn't at all guilty for what he had done. Chihiro looked behind her to see a burnt up area, and she knew it had to have been burned by kido. The wolf growled angrily as she stepped towards them, fangs bared as she snarled.

"Monsters! You gave him no mercy, no right to defend himself? He allied himself with you arrogant fools, on his own accord. And you kill him? You're all just as bad as Sousuke Aizen!" the wolf roared, her snarls of hatred mixing in with her words and causing the group to look down in response. Chihiro fell to her knees at the revelation, her heart aching in agony. Grimmjow was gone, and it was the shinigami that killed him. The people she thought she could trust… they had taken him from her forever.

"No… no! He's not dead! He's not dead!" her thoughts screamed, causing her to bite her lip as her shoulders began to shake. Rukia and Orihime, taking note of this, took a step forward to comfort the girl. But she abruptly stood up and shook her head, she couldn't believe it. She couldn't.

"No… I don't believe you! You're lying, he promised me he wouldn't die! He promised!" she screamed, glaring at them before turning around and away from them. She ran from them, calling out his name frantically. There was no way that he would have let them kill him so easily. There was no way.

"Grimmjow! Grimmjow, where are you?" she called as she ran, tears starting to cascade down her cheeks as she searched helplessly for someone who she knew wasn't going to be found. She could hear the others calling out to her from behind her, but she ignored them.

"Chihiro-chan! Wait!"

"Chihiro, stop! It's no use, he's dead!"

"Stop, Chihiro!"

Soon Hoshiookami was at her side, running alongside her at a human's pace. The wolf looked at her panicking mistress, her eyes soft and sad. The young woman was on the verge of hysteria, and she had no idea what to do to get her to calm down.

"Milady, he's gone! Please, stop this foolishness!" she cried. Chihiro shook her head furiously, there was no way he could have died. No way.

"Grimmjow! Grimmjow, please answer me! Please!" she screamed, hysterical now. He had promised her he would come back, he had promised that he wouldn't die. He had promised!

Overcome by grief, she fell to the ground, completely out of breath as she panted heavily. The wolf stopped beside her and curled her body completely around her, allowing the young woman a place of solace amongst the white fur that surrounded her. Strangled sobs ripped from her throat as she buried her face into the soft, white fur.

"Shh- Milady, don't cry. Shh-" the wolf soothed as she rested her chin on Chihiro's head, attempting to console her. But the girl was inconsolable. Her heart ached in agony, overcome with the grief of losing Grimmjow, the person she cared about the most.

"Grimmjow… Grimmjow… Grimmjow!" she sobbed loudly. The wolf shushed her before the others approached, before she raised her head and bared her fangs at them, warning them not to came any closer.

"You disgusting lot stay there, you've done enough. Whether is was justifiable or not, there was no practical reason to end Grimmjow Jeagerjaques's life. What you all did was despicable, and I can't wait until the day I sink my teeth into your putrid flesh and rip you apart. Piece by piece." the wolf snarled, her fangs bared as she crouched slightly, ready to attack if just one of them even dared to take another step closer. The group obeyed the wolf's words and stayed a good distance away, staring at the two in silence as the girl sat there sobbing. They had no idea that he had meant so much to her.

"I'm so sorry Chihiro, we should have-" Rukia started but stopped the second the wolf snarled at her. No amount of apologizing was going to fix this. They had taken someone dear to her, and she would probably never trust another shinigami ever again because of this. Sae and her sisters flew to her, carefully landing on the sandy ground next to her. Mae could feel the waves of sorrow rolling off of her master, adoptive mother, and very dear friend and she carefully crawled into her lap. She sat on the girl's lap quietly for a few moments, before placing her tiny paws on the girl's knee.

"Chihiro, we're so… so sorry. We-" she was quickly cut off when Chihiro scooped the tiny dragon into her arms and buried her head against hers.

"I-I-it's o-okay Mae…y-you d-d-did your best…" she sobbed softly. Mae felt the tears fall down her cheeks as well before burying her snout into Chihiro's neck. Rae, Tae, and Sae joined in as the four grieved, the shinigami watching them for a few moments before walking away until only her closest friends among them was left.

They would never see him again.

Grimmjow was gone, and Chihiro's world crumbled around her by that simple fact.

Everyone was silent as they watched the four grieve, no one daring to interrupt. That was how the war ended for the group, a girl grieving for the lost of her lover, who had changed her whole world.

*runs from the fans* I'm sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry!