Disclaimer:Kubo Tite-sensei owns Bleach. And Bleach owns me. HOWEVER! Tanaka Akemi, Nakamura Mizuki and Suzuki Sakura are MINE! xD

Author's Note: ...Quicker than the one in the previous chapter, I swear! Just a random note: Although the end of this chapter has a sense of finality to it, it is not the final chapter. There is still more to come! Also, reviews would be greatly appreciated.

Akemi skipped down the halls of Las Noches, bored out of her mind and singing, "You Can't Stop the Beat" from the musical "Hairspray" under her breath.

Ichimaru Gin turned the corner, causing the girl to almost run into him.

"I-ichimaru-sama!" she stammered, stepping back. "I'm so sorry!"

"Eh, no need, Akemi-chan." he said politely. "Ne, can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure?"

He led the way to his room, flopping on the bed while she made herself comfortable on the couch.

"What's the matter, Ichimaru-sama?"

"...As much as I hate to ask this of you, Akemi-chan, Aizen-sama told me to, so I can't just ignore it, ya?"

Akemi smiled sympathetically. "Of course. Ask away." she said understandingly.

"See, Sakura-chan... she didn't exactly... turn out the way Aizen-sama thought she would."

Akemi's brown eyes narrowed. "So what, then?"

"He wants to know if you'd let us use Hougyoku... to see if another human would come out the same way."

Akemi rose. "Absolutely not! I only came here for Sakura, I don't intend on giving my life away!" she yelled.

"Well, Akemi-chan, you're kind of stuck." he said sadly. "Ya see, you already promised Aizen-sama that you'd do anything he asked if he'd let you see Sakura-sama... and he's let you practically live with her for almost a week..."

God, had it already been a week since they'd come here? Their families must be terrifyed by now.

"... I guess I will... since I made a promise, after all..."

Gin hopped off the bed and patted her shoulder.

"Okay." he said. "I'll tell Aizen-sama. He'll most likely want to do it first thing tomorrow morning. Are you okay with that?"

Akemi nodded. "I guess so..." She sighed. At least now I know that Sakura will never leave me...

Sakura cringed as she listened to her friend scream. Aizen tightened his hold on her.

"Do I really have to sit here and watch this...?" she whispered.

"Do you really want the first face your friend sees in her stronger state to be mine?" he asked. "Don't you want her to know that you were with her through the pain?"

Sakura nodded, leaning her head on his chest with tear-filled eyes watching her friend. Aizen chuckled.

"Would you look at that."

"What?"

"It looks exactlylike your transformation." He smirked down at her. "Thank you, Sakura. Without you, my dear, I never would have discovered the perfect weapon."

She stared angrily up at him. "Is that all I am to you?! A weapon?!"

He brushed the hair out of her eyes and kissed her forehead. "No, of course not, love. I was merely stating the facts."

Sakura sighed as a pink-red light enveloped her friend.

"Akemi...?"

Akemi stepped forward. The tips of her bangs hit the middle of her neck, her hair pulled back into two ponytails. A Hollow mask covered the left side of her face.

"Akemi?!"

The older girl tore the mask from her face and sighed.

"Man, that was weird."

"Akemi!" Sakura dashed forward to hug her friend.

"Hey there." Akemi said, patting her friend's hair.

Gin smiled, relieved. Akemi-chan was as she always had been.

"Eh, Ichimaru-sama? What's with all this?" Akemi gestured to the table on Gin's balcony, a white tablecloth over the small bistro table with a bud vase containing a single red rose placed in the center of the table.

"Dunno." Ichimaru shrugged. "Jus' felt like doin' somethin' nice for ya, Akemi-chan." he said, pulling the chair out for her.

"Well, then, thank you, Ichimaru-sama." Akemi said politely as she sat, her stomach full of butterflies. In all honesty- she loved how much fun Ichimaru was. He was funny. He was nice to her. He had more feelings than Sakura's favorite evil overlord.

In other words, Gin was a keeper. He was the polar opposite of the kind of guy Sakura usually liked.

"Please, Akemi-chan," Ichimaru jerked her out of her thoughts. "Call me Gin, would ya? I dun really like how formal everyone is 'round here."

Akemi laughed softly. "Okay, Gin." she said, smirking. "Thank you very much for the lovely dinner. Although, if I recall..." she leaned across the table, "... this is exactlyhow Aizen-sama came on to Sakura."

"Whaddya mean, Akemi-chan?"

She giggled again. "You thought I wouldn't notice? The flowers, dinner, alone. The sheer intimacy of it." Her eyes narrowed. "Gin. If all you want from me is sex, you can forget it."

Gin cocked his head. "Huh?"

Akemi shrugged. "Whatever. So, what're you giving me for dinner?"

A few hours later, Sakura sat curled up on the couch with a well-worn paperback New Testament in her lap, and her iPod blaring in her ears.

Akemi threw the door open, pulling Sakura from her thoughts. She marked her place, turned her beloved iPod off, and turned to her friend.

"Okay, I'll bite... What is it, Akemi?" the younger girl asked playfully.

"Eyaa!" Akemi squealed, closing the door.

"What's up?" Sakura asked, genuinely curious now.

"Eyaa!" Akemi cried again, laying down on the couch with her head in Sakura's lap.

"You had dinner with Ichimaru, right?" Sakura asked.

"How'd you know?!"

"Sousuke told me."

"..." Akemi sat up to stare at her friend, small white circles for eyes and her mouth hanging open.

"What?"

"...You call Aizen by his first name?! When did that happen?!"

Sakura stared back at her friend. "For someone... who is so much older and seemingly more experienced than me... you should know when that happened, shouldn't you?"

"...Oh. Yeah."

Sakura smiled. "Anyway. On with your story."

Akemi plopped her head back in Sakura's lap and began.

"So, I went out there, right, and he was just so polite, and funny, and he wasn't one of those people who's all like, 'I'm eating, don't bother me,' he was like, making fun of all the Espada and making me laugh and he was just so sweet..."

Akemi squealed again and grabbed Sakura's thigh. "I'm just so bubblyright now, Sakura!"

"You're grabbing my leg in a crazilyinappropriate way! Let me go!"

"Sorry!" she cried, latching on to her friend's waist instead while Sakura patted her head. "I'm just so happy!"

Sakura chuckled. "I'm real glad for ya, Akemi. So..."

"So what?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Did he kiss you?"

Akemi smiled sheepishly. "Maybe..." The memory made her squeal once again, and she almost knocked the wind out of Sakura.

"I'm so bubbly right now!"

"...I can tell..."

"Did you have a nice time with Akemi, Gin?" Aizen asked, resting his chin on his hand.

"Ya. It was nice, I guess."

Aizen smirked.

"Yer planning somethin', arencha?"

"You know me so well, Gin."

"Akemi. I am going to have to tell you this like I told it to Taiyou-chan, and I want you to listen to me. Just because you go to different schools does not mean that you can't be friends!" Sakura said firmly, trying to reassure her friend that she'd still have her friends after her community theatre show ended.

"Akemi."

The older girl looked up.

"It's the same principle as when you go to college in a year. Just because you'll be so far away... it doesn't mean that I won't still love you!" Sakura patted her friend's shoulder. "I'll always be your sister, Akemi. No matter what."

And then Akemi was sobbing into her friend's chest.

"I don't wanna go to college!"

"I don't want you to go either." Sakura said, wrapping her arms around her friend. "But you have to. Life goes on before and after high school. So you don't have much time left- big deal! If you sit around moping about how soon it's gonna be over, you're not gonna enjoy it the way you should be. And then where'll that get you?" Sakura's voice was beginning to break. "And knowing you, you won't succeed in getting out of Japan. You might not even get out of Karakura Town. And even if, by some miracle of God, you do, then you'll still be just a phone call away. We can still talk, even though you'll be far away." Sakura finally started to cry. "But... don't worry about that now. Do what I'm doing, and save the tears for your graduation." Sakura chuckled. "I don't want to be the only one who's bawling like a little baby."

Akemi's eyes snapped open. A dream, yes, but also a memory.

Sakura had given her that speech almost three weeks ago. Only now did Akemi realize the truth in her friend's words: Look at them. Now they were Arrancar... or something. But they were still sisters. And by the looks of the way things were going... they always would be.