Chapter 37

Hinamori stood there in shock, unable to speak.

"Please, forgive me, your Highness!" Jun said once more.

Her heart beating fast in her chest, her hands shaking, Momo moved forward and grabbed Jun.

"To forgive you? TO FORGIVE YOU? You killed my child!" She caught her neck with her hands. "Why did you do it? For money? Was I not generous enough with you?"

"No! I did it for my family. But I never knew…Your Highness…" Jun started having trouble breathing.

The guards went inside, having heard Momo's cries.

"Your Highness, what is wrong?"

"I will take care of it." Momo let Jun go only to slap her hard and push her to the ground. The guards stepped forward and caught her. "Let go of me! I will finish her!" She protested but the men took both of them to Byakuya.

There was silent rage in Byakuya's look when he heard what had happened.

"Where is Ginpei now?"

"I don't know, your Majesty."

Byakuya made a sign to the guards to take her to the dungeons.

"You will speak. I will make sure you do."

"Your Majesty! I swear! We only communicate with letters. When I leave the palace, I take his message from a man at the market. We arrange the meeting, but every time it is in a different place."

Momo sighed.

"I am so stupid. I trusted you, I defended you…How long have you been meeting with him?"

"Ever since he got thrown out by her highness Rukia. But I only informed him of the situation in the palace. He is the father of my mother. He brought me up when she died. I had to help him." She cried out once more. "I never wanted to harm anyone."

"Don't even try. You gave that substance to the children to drink, knowing fully well it would harm them." Byakuya said. "You are a murderer."

Jun fell to her knees.

"Please, your Majesty! I will do everything to atone for my sins."

"You will never atone for your sins!" Momo shouted and moved closer to her. "But you will take me to your grandfather and then to Aizen."

"Hinamori…" Byakuya put a hand on her shoulder. "Enough."

She turned her head to him.

"No! It is not enough! I will make him pay for everything!" She cried out.

"This is my job. Not yours." Byakuya made a sign to the men who took Jun out of the room.

"I am Makoto's mother. Only I and Toushiro can do this."

"It is my entire fault that I let Aizen escape. Now I will do what has to be done. But you have to stay out of it."

For the first time in his life he was talking to her with such understanding and yet, she felt angrier than ever.

"Never! Let me help! Aizen wants me! He wants me since the day I stabbed him. I can be bait…"

"No. And this is final. Go to your room and rest. Doctor Unohana will come visit you."

"I don't want to."

"You don't get to choose."

Despite her objections, the guards took her back to her room and Unohana made her drink something that put her to sleep almost immediately.

Meanwhile, Hitsugaya and Harribel were coming back from his trip around the capital of Hueco Mundo. He jumped from his horse and she did the same.

"Hyorinmaru is acting really strange these days. I think that the heat does not stand well with him." He said, when the horse refused to follow him to the stables.

"The same can be said for you." Harribel smiled. Toushiro had put on some of the traditional white baggy clothes to fight off the heat, but he still looked really uncomfortable. He raised an eyebrow.

When they went inside the maids poured cold wine in their glasses. Harribel raised her glass.

"Let's drink for your successful mission here. You not only checked how everything is going. You also captured the hearts of my people. Especially the women."

"Let's drink for your successful ruling! From now on you won't be supervised anymore." He smiled and picked up his glass too.

Surprisingly her smile disappeared from her face.

"What?"

"As promised, my father will remove all his soldiers from Hueco Mundo. You are a free kingdom once more."

"And you won't come to visit every six months."

"I won't."

He drank from his glass and she turned her face in another direction, so he wouldn't see the sadness in her eyes.

Rukia was having tea in the big hall, when Hanataro came in suddenly without knocking.

"Your Highness!" He said loudly and she jumped from her seat.

"What is it, Hanataro? Why do you storm in like this?"

"Good news. Great news! A letter from Kurosaki."

Rukia's face lit up. She stood up and took the envelope from his hand. She did not wait for privacy to open the letter and read it. With every line, her smile grew bigger.

"Orihime had given birth to a boy. They named him Kazui. Both are well." She looked at Hanataro.

He also smiled.

"And they are inviting me and Renji to be his godparents."

"Oh, Princess! This is wonderful! I have to go and prepare your luggage immediately. I have to choose the best dress for this occasion."

Rukia laughed.

"Hanataro, Kiyone will take care of that. Please, if Renji sees you in our bedroom going through my clothes, I don't know if I will be able to keep you around."

She remembered when in the beginning of their marriage, Hanataro once prepared the bathtub for her. When Renji had come back from work, he had met Hanataro on the staircase, bringing towels for the Princess after her bath. Renji had stormed inside with the towels instead and she spent a few hours explaining to him that Hanataro was like a girlfriend and a loyal dog to her. And no, he had not seen her naked. He just brought the towels to her maids inside. After some more frowning he had allowed him to stay.

Despite the boy's slight disappointment, he jumped up in celebration, when Rukia promised to take him to Karakura instead. Both Ichigo and Inoue were always thankful to Hanataro for helping them during Rukia's upcoming execution.

Soifon was drinking tea in the living room, feeling happy to be free from taking care of her children, when Hinamori came in.

"Your Highness" She bowed. Soifon looked at her with surprise.

"Momo. I am surprised to see you here."

"I know. And I wouldn't have come if it was not urgent."

"Ok. Tell me what is so urgent." Soifon said, trying to sound a little bit kinder than usual, because she felt sympathetic to her pain.

"I need your help to get to Aizen."

"Aizen?" Soifon stood up. "Is he alive?"

"He is. And he will pay for killing my child." Momo said through her teeth. Soifon could feel the pain in her voice, even though her expression was angry and not sad.

"Killing your child? What is going on?"

Soifon moved closer to Momo and listened carefully to her words.

"Son of a bitch!" The princess exclaimed when Momo's story was finished.

"Will you help me?"

"Of course. I have two conditions though."

"What are they?"

"First is that you won't become soft-hearted in front of Aizen's manipulations."

"I will personally witness his execution." Hinamori's determination left no doubt. Soifon smiled. "And the second?"

"The second is that you will leave that little wench Jun to me. I have the perfect medicine for her."

Momo gave out her hand. Soifon took it with a smile.

The next morning the guards discovered that Jun was no longer in her cell. No one knew how she had escaped. But when Byakuya learned that Momo had also left earlier that morning to visit Soifon, everything became clear to him. He ordered the soldiers to look everywhere for them. Surprisingly they found Momo in Soifon's palace while Jun was nowhere to be found. Soifon played oblivious to the truth, while Momo payed attention only to little Sachiko, playing the role of the mad really well.

"Father, I think it is better to leave her here with me for a few days. She lost her child recently and only the baby is able to calm her down. And what is this story with Jun?" Soifon asked. "Is there something you are not telling me?"

"If there is something you are not telling me, it can have really grave consequences, Soifon." He said coldly.

"What can I tell you? What have I done again?"

He shook his head and went out, but ordered his men to secretly follow every step of his daughter and daughter-in-law. Still no one saw when Soifon left her Palace at noon and did not return before dinner time.

"What happened?" Momo asked worried, when she came back.

"What is supposed to have happened?" Omaeda asked, confused.

"Quiet, you two. Nothing happened. Ginpei did not show up."

"He didn't?" Momo's face darkened.

"Yes. But my trusted man is following every step of the merchant. If they meet up, he will definitely tell me."

"We can't trust another person to do this job." Momo raised her voice.

"What job?" Omaeda cut in.

"We have no other option." Soifon answered. "I am hungry. I need to have dinner."

"What job?" Omaeda raised his voice and moved in front of her.

"Omaeda…" She started, annoyed and tried to move past him, but he caught her arm.

"I asked you something."

"I am trying to find Aizen."

"Aizen?" Omaeda widened his eyes. "Is he alive?"

"Yes. He is. And this bastard is the one who infected Makoto with smallpox."

Momo closed her eyes. Omaeda was speechless.

"How?"

"I don't have time to explain the whole story, but Jun is a traitor and so is Ginpei, who is working for Aizen."

"You are completely crazy, Soifon. This is dangerous." He shouted.

"Oh, shut up! Aizen is the biggest danger ever. Once he is 2 meters deep in the ground, I will drink tea and knit all day long, but not now."

Omaeda raised an eyebrow at her remark.

'You don't have to follow this merchant."

"I told you already…"

"I know where he is."

Both Momo and Soifon jumped closer to him.

"What?"

"When Rukia drove Ginpei away he sold the mansion Byakuya had gifted him and moved into another small house."

"And how do you know it?" Soifon asked.

"A member of my family bought the mansion. Ginpei then changed several places, but he still keeps in touch with him."

The two girls looked at each other, feeling like complete fools.

"Does my father know? He must have asked you."

"He did ask me, but I…" Omaeda kept quiet, trying not to meet Momo's gaze.

"Take me to this house immediately!" Soifon commanded and took her black coat.

"You are crazy. It is almost night."

"Exactly. He will receive the message and visit Aizen in the middle of the night."

"I am coming too!" Momo spoke.

"No!" Soifon shook her head.

"You promised to take me to Aizen."

"Once he is captured." She took Momo's hands. "Momo, you are no member of the special forces. And you are too personally affected. You will endanger this mission. Please, stay here and wait for us."

Momo opened her mouth to protest, but then realized that Soifon had right and nodded her head. The princess squeezed her hands.

Before they took their horses, Soifon caught Omaeda's hand.

"Do you work with Aizen too?"

"No!" He shook his head.

"Then why did you lie to my father? Who are you protecting?" Her gaze was piercing.

"I did not know that he works for Aizen. I swear. But I did know that he is a spy." He looked down ashamed. "My mother…"

"God!" Soifon sighed. "You are my husband! You have to be loyal to me! Yet you still hide behind your mother. Listen to me! If you don't stop her from engaging in conspiracy, I will kill her. She tried to kill my brother and when she did not succeed she killed my nephew instead."

"No. She used him as a spy, but she never knew about Aizen. I swear. And she never tried to hurt the children."

"Maybe you did not know about Aizen. But she…"

He kept quiet for a moment.

"She couldn't have done this."

"Help me find and kill Aizen. Only if I teach them all a lesson once again, will I be able to save your mother."

She jumped on her horse and he followed her.

That night both Toushiro and Haribel went to bed early. But none of them fell asleep. Harribel was shaken by the news that Toushiro was not coming to visit her anymore and he was still in pain because of the loss of his son. A knock on his door startled him. It was Harribel.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" She asked, while closing the door.

He nodded his head and moved into a sitting position. She moved closer to him.

"You know, you are always welcome here. So even if I am the solitary ruler now, as my ally you still have to…you can still visit from time to time."

He was quiet for a moment.

"I thought you would be happy to get rid of us."

"Are you happy to be getting rid of me?"

He did not answer. She sat by his side.

"I value you. I…have some feelings that I shouldn't have, but I am not ashamed of them."

He was surprised by her frank speech.

"And I am going to miss you, when you leave. So please, come again. I just want to see you from time to time, nothing else."

With that said, she took a deep breath and stood up. He took her hand and pulled her back. She looked at him once again.

"I value you too, Harribel. But I won't come anymore. Not after everything I heard. It is better for both of us."

She put her hands on his cheeks.

"It is a farewell then." She closed the gap between them and kissed him on the lips. Then moved backwards, about to walk out of his room and bury her feelings deep down, like always. But surprisingly he put an arm behind her neck and pulled in for another kiss.

"Goodbye."

She was looking into his eyes, trying to read his actions. Trying to go away. Knowing fully well that she was never going to become his woman. But still, she wanted him even for a single night. She wanted this man, his touch, his kisses, something to remember him by during the long days and nights to come. So she grabbed his shirt and kissed him passionately. He answered her kiss and moved his hands to disrobe her, feeling her nude breasts under his palms. Desperately trying to run away from everything that brought him pain, he needed her fire and devotion to feel alive again. Just for a single night.

So Aizen's story is finally coming to an end! But Toushiro and Momo's relationship will never be the same. Is Harribel a better half for a Prince?