/* Hi all! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. So sorry I couldn't get any one-shots done this year for the holidays, but I'll try to get one out for Valentine's day. For now, I leave you with Chapter 6. Thanks as always for reading and the reviews. I love hearing what you all think. Happy New Year to everyone! Here's hoping 2021 will be a vast improvement from 2020. Cheers! */

Chapter 6 -

It was late. He had waited until the moon was high above before he decided to venture out of his hiding spot. His entire body ached, his limbs feeling like they may just start to break apart at any moment. He had to make this quick. He didn't have much time left.

It was a painstaking process just to make it out of the woods, but then he had to navigate into Seireitei undetected and find the right building. At least with all the destruction, it made it easy to move around.

There were only a few Shinigami on his path and avoiding them was simple enough. There were enough displaced souls for him to fit in. He kept his hood low on his face and tended to stay in alleyways. It wasn't until he was in Squad 10 that he finally felt the familiar lull of her reishi.

He followed it, the pulse getting stronger. Then he heard her laugh filtering out from a cracked window. His eyes peered in and he saw her with her captain, laughing at his misfortune as she always used to do.

"Argh, get out Matsumoto!" The young icy captain scolded.

"Fine, fine. I thought it was cute." He heard her mention as she exited the office and made her way outside. Gin quickly hid behind the nearest wall. Matsumoto paused, sensing something familiar in the air.

Gin cursed silently to himself. Of course she would recognize his distorted, damaged reishi. She knew him better than anyone else.

"Is someone there?" She called out to the darkness.

He had to act quickly if he wanted to avoid this meeting. He wrongfully decided in that moment that he would be able to outrun her better than hide from her, and a second later was sprinting through the alleyways.

"Hey! Stop you lecherous pervert!" She shouted as she started chasing him. "Get back here, creep!"

Gin continued to run despite his limitations. He felt his body breaking down, his muscles too weak to carry him and his lungs too destroyed to sustain him. The giant barrel sitting in the middle of the street was just the icing on the cake.

He unceremoniously crashed into it, tumbling to the ground with a tremendous thud. "I've got you now!" She stated as she pointed her zanpakuto at him. He held up his decaying hand and pressed his palm to the tip.

"You sure do." His voice slithered.

Rangiku's breath instantly caught. "It can't be." She whispered.

"My, my this was not my intention." He sighed while slowly pulling the hood from his face. He cursed inside his own head. He was stupid to check up on her on his own. He should have just taken Yoruichi at her word.

"Gin…" Her voice quaked as tears immediately formed in the corner of her eyes. "How is this even possible? I watched you die! What happened to you?"

"This is only temporary, Rangiku, but I -." He mentioned as he sat up, her sword still pressed into his hand. "I wanted to see you before I'm finally gone."

"How dare you! How dare you come back here!" She yelled. "After everything you did…"

"I'm sorry, Rangiku. I should not have done this to you." He said calmly.

"You were stupid! You should have never attacked him! How could you be so stupid?" She cried as her zanpakuto dropped into the dirt. "If you didn't attack him, he wouldn't have killed you!"

"You know I had no other choice. I did it for you; for everything he took from you."

"Oh Gin…" Her hand pressed to her forehead as she tried to collect her thoughts. "I have to get you to Squad Four."

"No." He replied. "There is no saving me. My soul was not meant to come back here."

"What do you mean?" She urged as she approached him. He took several steps back.

"Someone brought me back, broken like this. I feel every moment that passes I'm closer to complete eradication. My soul will not last much longer."

"Well we need to try! We have to try something!" She urged.

"I'm glad, Rangiku; I'm glad I got to see you smile one last time."

"Gin…please…"

"Matsumoto! Is everything alright!?" A voice called from the distance. She turned to see who was approaching.

"Yes, everything is fine." She replied before turning to see an empty alleyway where Gin once stood. "No, Gin!" She whispered before stopping herself.

"What happened?" Her fellow Shinigami asked as they approached.

"Nothing. I thought I saw something, but it was nothing." She replied solemnly.

In the distance, Gin continued to make his way back into the woods to live out his final moments alone. He turned back one final time, "Goodbye, Rangiku…"

"It would be better if we split up. Grimmjow, you stay with Satomi-chan and search the huts along the river. I will see what information I can dig up in the large buildings without being seen."

"Why do I have to stay with him!?" Satomi hissed.

"Because I move better and quieter alone." She said simply before disappearing in a flash and not allowing either one of them to argue further.

"Stay behind me." Grimmjow commanded.

"I'm not listening to you." Satomi argued.

"Suit yourself, Princess, but don't come crying to me when I lop your head off by accident." He shrugged as she grimaced.

"How manly of you." She replied.

"I know." He agreed while taking the lead. "Now shut up. You stand out worse than in the World of the Living."

"Pfft, yea and you blend right in right?"

"Don't need to blend in when they don't see or sense you." He argued; his eyes still locked on her behind him as he exited the forest edge.

"Hi!" The new voice startled both of them enough that Grimmjow unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the source. It was a little girl with long blonde hair and a bright yellow dress. She smiled brightly at them, seemingly unphased by his sword pointed at her face.

Grimmjow's brow scrunched as he analyzed the girl. They remained in a silent standstill for several long minutes, the girl blinking innocently while smiling and Grimmjow just holding his sword towards her.

"It's just a girl!" Satomi shrieked, aghast at his response.

"No shit! Don't mean she ain't dangerous!" He yelled back.

"You are the worst Espada I have ever seen." Satomi exclaimed as she began making her way towards the houses by the river, effectively ignoring the girl.

"I'm pretty damn sure I'm the only Espada you've ever met. And I ain't even fucking Espada anymore!" He shouted back while side-eyeing the little girl one more time. She remained watching them, smiling. It creeped him out. "Hey! I said stay behind me!"

Grimmjow chased after Satomi towards the closest house that seemed abandoned. "So I can, what? Stand behind you while you point your sword at defenseless little girls?" She taunted.

"You ain't livin' in this forest by being defenseless." He countered.

"It seems pretty safe to me." Satomi entered the house after peering through the window to make sure it was empty.

"You don't know the meaning of safe." He spat as he entered behind her.

"Just help me look!" She seethed.

"And what, dear Princess, are we looking for?"

"We need to find evidence of what they are up to." She attempted.

"Yea, because they are definitely going to leave random research in a tiny little homestead by the river." He continued to taunt.

"Do you have a better idea?" Satomi whipped herself around and jabbed her finger into his chest.

He grabbed her wrist roughly. "Yea. Let's grab one of the villagers and bend his fingers a bit. I'm sure we'll get all the info we need."

"You are nothing but a monstrous brute. We don't even know if these people are guilty of anything yet."

"No, but you're forgetting what's at stake. And it's pretty damn hypocritical of you to want to murder Ruka for supposedly killing Kenji, but now when his life is at stake again, you're being careful."

Satomi stepped back, her brow creasing. "She was guilty. These people are not yet."

"She was only guilty by your fucked up sense of justice." They stood there for a few moments, staring at one another. Satomi's jaw was clenched, her mind looking for a proper response that wasn't out of pure hatred of this man.

"You aren't supposed to be in here." A tiny voice accused from the doorway.

Grimmjow and Satomi broke their stare to look at the little girl. "What are ya going to do about it, short stuff?" Grimmjow mocked.

The little girl frowned before taking a deep inhale. Satomi and Grimmjow glanced at each other briefly before the scream that followed knocked them back against the wall. "What the fuck!?" Grimmjow yelled as he attempted to move.

"I can't move!" Satomi yelled as her body was pinned against the wall by the sheer force of this little girl's scream.

"Damnit!" Grimmjow used every bit of strength he had to block the incoming furniture that was caught in the whirlwind. A large cabinet started scraping against the wooden floor before the wind lifted it in the air and started heading towards Satomi.

"Princess, move!" Grimmjow urged.

"I can't!" She shouted in a panic. He drew on his spirit energy, forcing it against the little girl's power to use sonido. Just as the large wooden cabinet came upon Satomi, he intervened, grabbing her and diving for a nearby window. They landed together on the grassy ground outside the home with a resounding thud.

"Come on!" Grimmjow grabbed her arm, dragging her towards the back side of the house on the river side.

"You're hurting me." She whined as his iron tight grip pulled her along. He ignored her, instead choosing to lift her over his shoulder. "Put me down, you brute!" She shrieked.

"For fuck's sake, Princess, shut the hell up!" He snarled. Just as he came to the river, he heard that unmistakable inhale. "Ah, shit."

He dug his heels in as the scream made an impact. He held onto Satomi with one strong arm while trying to unsheathe his sword. "You can't cut a little girl with your sword!" Satomi yelled over the howling wind.

"She ain't a normal little girl!" He argued back as his feet started sliding towards the river.

"Intruder! There's an intruder by the river!" A man's voice shouted from deeper in the village.

"Grimmjow…" Satomi slapped her hands into his back furiously to gain his attention.

"Yea I fucking see it!"

"Watch out!" Satomi yelled. His eyes had been locked on the villagers sprinting in their direction causing him to miss the giant wagon being hurled at him. It hit into both of them, the wood splintering apart as they went flying off the bank and crashing into the water.

The river swallowed them both, sweeping them deeper into the woods…

As silent as a cat, Yoruichi moved through the seemingly abandoned village. She peered into windows and gazed over farmland. There wasn't a soul in sight. Eventually she arrived at her goal, the large barn-like structure at the center of the village.

As she approached, she could hear the sounds of voices beyond the walls. She moved stealthily to a window on the side and listened.

"The time is near, brothers and sisters. Soon we will have them back with us once again. Soon we will be recognized by the Seireitei and their laws as a people once more!" An enthusiastic young male voice preached to the room. Clapping and cheering followed briefly before he continued. "When it is our time once again, he will summon us. We will reunite in Serenity."

"When will we see them again?" One woman yelled, her voice quaking with emotion.

"Soon, Lia, soon. Our great leader must ensure their safe return. He assures me that his research is progressing well. We will not let our sacrifices be in vain."

"Subtraction for gain." The woman dubbed Lia replied. The group echoed her statement.

"Now, we must prepare for-" The man began again, but was stopped mid-sentence upon hearing a deafening scream in the distance.

Yoruichi cursed, "Damnit, Grimmjow…"

"That sounds like Kiki." A villager commented. A commotion followed. As the villagers realized one of their own was screeching like a banshee, they began pouring out of the building and headed down the hill.

Yoruichi looked around carefully to ensure no one was left before climbing inside the building through the window. It was wide open, much like a barn would have been, but was set up more like a church with rows of benches and a podium at the very back. On the wall behind the podium were many intricate tapestries and paintings. They looked oddly familiar to her, but she couldn't place where she had seen the detailed symbols before. The largest and most prominent was a star shape with each point of the star ending with an animal; an owl, a dolphin, a wolf, a bear, and a catfish.

She moved quickly through the rows until she reached the podium. She quickly moved around parchments, looking for anything with more detail, until finally she came upon a name. Then it all hit her like a rushing train. "Oh my…" She gasped while staring at the paper. "I have to get this back to Seireitei."

"Intruder! There's an intruder by the river!" Yoruichi heard the shout coming from outside, causing her to jolt from her musings.

"Sorry, Grimmjow, you'll have to be on your own for a bit." She said to herself before sprinting towards her exit. She rushed out of the village and headed back into the woods and towards Soul Society.

It was nearly silent, the quiet beeping machines becoming fused with the silence; a regularity. Her hand rested above his, helplessly praying to whatever entity would listen. "You didn't deserve this, Koji-kun." She whispered painfully.

He looked especially peaceful. It was a stark contrast to his actual condition. It was a horrible sensation and it was so familiar. "There is nothing we can do for him?" She asked the revered Captain standing behind her.

"I'm sorry, Haruka-chan. It seems his hollowfication is nearly completed. We have done everything we can for him. You must let him go." He answered as sympathetically as he could, yet Haruka sensed an underlying coldness in his tone. He wasn't sorry at all.

"There must be something I can do." She insisted, but deep down she knew she had tried everything. Every ounce of power she held had been used in an attempt to heal the growing infection along his skin and inside his soul.

"I'll leave you be, but please use caution Haruka-chan. He won't be himself the next he awakens…" He stated simply as he left the room.

"Haruka-chan…" The dying man's voice was strained, filled with the unbearable pain his soul was enduring.

"Kenji…" She swallowed the sob sitting in her throat. "It will be ok, Kenji-kun."

"I know." He answered. "I love you, Haruka-chan."

"Please, Kenji-kun…" Her voice ached as tears began dripping down her cheeks. "It wasn't supposed to be this way…"

The sensation of a grip around her hand pulled her violently from her vision. "Haruka-chan?"

"Koji-kun?" She gasped.

He looked at her with confusion, his brow wrinkling. "W-what did you call me?" He asked and Haruka faltered. Nervousness constricted her throat. "Where am I?"

"You're at the hospital. You're very sick." She answered.

"Hospital? You mean Squad 4? Are we back in Seireitei?"

An overwhelming sick feeling fell over her suddenly. Her lips literally trembled as she had to forcefully push his name from her throat. "Kenji-kun?"

"What's wrong, Haruka-chan? Why do you look so pale?" He asked, almost frantic despite his condition.

Haruka stood up and immediately stepped back, pulling her hand free from his as panic started taking over.

"Haruka-chan, are you-?" He asked as he pointed to her stomach. "Why can't I remember anything? When did you- Am I going to be a father?"

Tears started streaming down her face as she ran as fast as she could to the door. "I'll be right back." She choked out before leaving the room. She continued to run to the nurse's station, holding her protruding abdomen as she went.

"Akiyama-san? What's wrong?" The nurse asked.

"Please call for Ishida-sensei. He's awake, but he's not thinking… he's not in his right mind." She stammered out. The nurse turned to another nurse who ordered her to the room to check on the patient while she called for Ishida.

"Why don't you go sit? Ishida-sensei said he'll be right down." The nurse said and Haruka nodded.

"Thank you." She replied while sitting off to the side. It was then she noticed the tightening in her abdomen. It squeezed in painful pulses and had her hunching over. "Oh please no. Not now." She begged.

"Haruka?" A strong, familiar hand slid over her shoulder before kneeling before her.

"Ishida-sensei… I need you to take me to the floor." Haruka said grimly.

Ishida nodded, his face more serious than usual. "It's too soon for this."

"Tell me about it." She tried to joke as he helped shift her to a wheelchair. "Ishida-sensei, he thinks he's Kenji…" Her pain was excruciating.

"He's not the only one." Ishida mentioned. "We are sedating them for now, playing this off as altered mental status."

"This is insane." Haruka breathed out during a contraction.

"Let's just focus on you. We have to get these contractions to stop." He said as he got her in the elevator and up to the OB floor. He brought her to the nurse's station and the nurses immediately got her into triage.

"You'll be ok Akiyama-san." One of the nurses soothed. "We'll make sure that baby doesn't make an early arrival."

"I appreciate that." She said as the nurse hooked up an IV line. "I hate being the patient."

The nurses chuckled while Ishida spoke with the Obstetrician. "I have to get back to the ICU to check on the patients. Make sure you call me if her condition worsens." He told the OB. "Akiyama-san, I'll come see you later."

"See you later, Boss." She teased, causing snickers to break out from the rest of the staff.

Ishida sighed. "You are so very lucky you're a patient right now." He murmured before walking away.

"Alright, Akiyama-san. We're going to do the usual, got you hooked up to some fluids and we'll get some tocolytics to stop those contractions. They appear to be irregular so I don't think you're in full on labor yet. Let's keep that baby cooking for a few more weeks if we can, alright?"

"I would appreciate that very much." Haruka answered.

"We may keep you overnight just to observe and make sure you don't progress." The doctor continued. "Is there someone we can call for you?"

"He's out of town," she sighed. "Nothing seems to be going as planned. I was planning a home birth with my midwife."

"Well let's hope we can keep those plans. I'll inform your midwife you're here and we'll coordinate your care from there."

"Thank you."

"I'll see you soon." He answered before leaving. The nurses finished their tasks and left Haruka alone to rest. It was then the gravity of the situation started to hit her once more. "Kenji thinks this is his baby. He thinks that we're still together and that he just forgot what happened. How the hell do I tell him?

Tears formed at the corners of her eyes and she desperately tried to wipe them away. She felt so completely helpless and alone once again. "Please hurry, Grimmjow…"