Chapter 4

When it was all over, Azumi's eyes were wide in disbelief, yet at the same time they were hopeful. After Grimmjow and Ulquiorra died, they had become wandering souls, refusing to pass on. In which took them to Hueco Mundo, where they battled and became who they are now. Though through all the devoured souls, they forgot who they were as humans.

Azumi looked at Grimmjow and Ulquiorra, no longer human but alive. They looked like they were still digesting the information they had been shown. Ulquiorra's eyes were wide and Grimmjow had a look of surprise and horror written on his face. Ashyah was on the ground, passed out from the energy it took her to show them all the past. They were all speechless.

The first one to do anything was Ulquiorra, walking over to Ashyah and picking her up. He then walked away, Azumi would have objected but she knew Ulquiorra wouldn't hurt her, how could he when he had just learned that Ashyah was his wife? Even so, Azumi had a whole other issue to address. When she looked back at Grimmjow she almost flinched. He was glaring at her, not with hatred but certainly with disappointment. "You gave up Kasen?" He spoke in an angry-calm voice, his eyes piercing her own. "I…" Azumi trailed off, not knowing what to say.

Oh hell…

ULQUIORRA'S POV

I walked, looking down at the creature in my arms. There was something that moved in my chest, I didn't understand. There was a hole in my chest. How could I feel anything? I knew that there was something that I didn't hate about the creature. But a wife? What did that even mean? The sunlight from above cast shadows through the trees on her face, it was nice. The memory of my paints came back to me, and at that moment. For whatever strange reason. I had the need to paint the shadows and light that fell on her. But that wasn't me. That was a past me. A dead one. I looked at the hole in my chest, wasn't I already dead? If one feels with the heart, then how could I feel at all? And yet there was still a feeling. But what was it? Why did it appear when I looked at the creature? Ashyah. That was what he called her in the memory. I pondered my situation. What was the best course of action? A good distance away from the other two, I sat down, thinking. Perhaps if I kill the creature, then the strange thing in my chest will go away. Lifting my hand, I got ready to rip her heart out, forever making it silent. But to my dismay, I couldn't…

It was a simple task. Just a quick jab, straight through the skin and ribs until it hit it's mark. But the memory, of her face in the cherry blossoms, wearing a white kimono. I set my hand down. This situation was quite troublesome…

GRIMMJOW'S POV

There were too many damn emotions going through me. What the hell was I supposed to feel right now? It pissed me off, adding more emotions to the mix. I was confused with the memories. I had a kid...an almost wife...what the hell was all this? I need a drink… I ran my hand through my hair, frustrated at not knowing what to do or how to even react. I looked up back up at the women known as Azumi. Well that explains earlier… Everything was now both clear and unclear.

"This day was going a whole lot better before you showed up you know…" I threw out there, unable to really say anything else. Azumi looked at me, it looked like she was going to say something sarcastic but then let it drop. "So where's the brat anyway?" I asked, wondering if he was even still alive. Azumi looked down at the ground, "I don't know…" she mumbled. This irritated Grimmjow even more, "How could you not know? He's your son! He's our son! How could you even leave him in the first place!? He was just a kid!" This was Kasen, Azumi loved him, so how could she leave him? "I couldn't… How could I keep him?" she asked blood red meeting cyan. There was such pain in her eyes, it surprised me how much it hurt to see her like that. Why did it hurt? Was it because of the memories? Because I knew damn well that three hours ago seeing a girl in pain didn't bug me one bit. So what the hell?

AZUMI'S POV

I felt the lump in my throat grow at the mention of Kasen. But how could I possibly bare to raise our son? What kind of mother lets their child see them cry? What kind of mother would I have been to ignore him? Was running away not the best I could have done? Was it better to let him see the pain in my eyes every time I looked at him? I never knew my mother, she too ran away from my sister and I. I had always been upset with her, but was I any better? I tried to look Grimmjow in the eye and just tell him why. But how could I even do that? How could I possibly show him my weaknesses? It was against the very nature of an Arrancar, showing weakness meant death, but I wasn't a full Arrancar now was I? Perhaps it was simply my pride that prevented it, perhaps I didn't quite trust this new Grimmjow yet, who knew? It was certainly not me, everything was so confusing, there were way too many emotions going through me. And that was saying something. I wasn't sure whether to cry in frustration or total a nearby mountain. I just knew these emotions had to go somewhere…

But in the end, they came out in a defeated sigh, a shrug was the only answer I could give at the moment. What was there to say? Sorry I failed at being a mother? Sorry I couldn't handle your death? I let out another sigh, looking at the ground, it seemed interesting at the moment. I had gotten myself into quite the predicament.

There was silence for some time, and I wasn't even sure if Grimmjow was still there or if he had just walked away. But when I looked up cyan blue eyes were quizzically but surely still there. And that was just it...they were still there...My mouth seemed to have a mind of its own, and everything came out.

ASHYAH POV

I was warm. In two separate and whole ways. Or maybe even three ways if you counted it metaphorically…

something warm was holding me

that something was a someone that made me feel warm on the inside

my body was warm, too warm. I want to empty my stomach...

A cool hand touched my forehead, I felt like I couldn't breathe. I tried to open my eyes but the light was too bright. Heavy breaths escaped me, was I dying? Did death come for me? Those humans always talk about death as if it were a person. Why? Who met Death? Death sounds pretty interesting, I wonder if he/she/it liked cake. Cake was a true human accomplishment. But back to that warmth, it was uncomfortable...and yet I didn't want to leave it. After all, my whole body was shivering. How could I shiver and be too warm? I think my body's confusing itself. But I can't really scold it for messing up could I? The body does millions of functions in a single day, I would confuse myself up too if I had to do all that…

But back to that warmth, again. Does this mean I was successful in showing them the memories? But before I could continue that thought, a loud, foreign noise came up from my throat. It sounded like what I would imagine Death to sound like. Then something as warm as my body slipped past my lips, it tasted like metal. I think I prefer cake. My body jostled and then was lifted, I could hear footsteps. They sounded a little hurried and yet hesitant. I tried to move myself from Ulquiorra's arms, but my body wouldn't move. I guess it exhausted itself from all those functions. More of those loud noises came up from my throat (I think they called it coughing) along with some more warm metallic liquid. I decided that I didn't like these new functions of the body, they didn't listen to me. I then heard Azumi and Grimmjow. Ulquiorra was saying something about something being wrong...then I was set down and the extra warmth was gone. Was it possible to feel so cold when you were too warm?

REG POV

"W-what the hell?! What happened!?" Azumi shouted, having never seen her sister look so similar to a corpse before. Ulquiorra had set Ashyah down on the forest floor, looking as though he were trying to figure that out himself. Grimmjow was still digesting his emotions, what Azumi had told him and the current situation all at once. Ashyah laid on her back looking like the plague had come to give her a nice big hug. She was pale, breath coming out short, with blood spilling from her mouth every time she coughed, body raking in shivers despite the fact that she was burning to the touch. They all stood there dumbfounded, trying to figure out how this could even be happening. Ashyah and Azumi never got sick. So what the hell is this? Azumi thought, The freakin Twilight Zone?!

And that's when Azumi realized what was wrong. She felt stupid for not realizing it sooner and thought her sister a bigger idiot for not planning for such a thing ahead of time. Azumi looked around the area, searching under leaves and sticks. Where the hell did she put it? Azumi looked by the log Ashyah had been sitting by earlier, There it is… Azumi picked up the black metal collar Ashyah had dropped. Without the collar, she should have been fine, with the exception that any enemies nearby would see it like a neon sign. But in this case Ashyah had been pinpointing a certain target with all of her powers. So when it had all ended, she had passed out before she could relax the concentration of her power, and in doing so the power had still been pinpointed but not at anything in particular allowing said power to fester within Ashyah, eating her away. The collar would stop the power enough for Ashyah to wake up and smooth out the knotted reiatsu. Patting off the dirt and leaves from the collar, Azumi clipped the collar back around her sister's neck.

A couple minutes later, Ashyah's body stopped shivering and coughing. Once the color started to go back into her childish features, her blue eyes peered open. Then she sat up and acted like nothing happened. This only pissed Azumi off more than she already was. "What the hell Ashyah!? You could have died! How could you be so reckless?" Azumi scolded, blood red eyes bright with fire. Ashyah's clearwater ones put out said fire with one question, "Do you think Death likes cake?" She looked completely serious. Azumi's next words stopped short on her tongue, What? Grimmjow seemed to have the same thoughts, "The hell? Cake?" Poor Grimmjow looked like he needed Advil and a drink.

Azumi facepalmed, "Ashyah...why? What does that have to do with anything!?"

"You said I could have died."

"But that's not what I…"

"So do you know? If Death likes cake?" Ashyah really wanted to know.

"HOW THE HELL WOULD I KNOW THAT?!"

"Because you're the oldest."

"By ten seconds!" Azumi couldn't believe they were even having this conversation.

"Someone could tell you that Death likes cake in ten seconds."

"Yeah but...you know what forget it!"

Ashyah grinned innocently, Azumi looked at Grimmjow, "You wanna go grab a drink?"

"Yes." Flat out, no hesitation. Satan himself could have offered him a drink and he still wouldn't have denied it. Ashyah waved as they left, Ulquiorra acted like nothing had happened. Yet again he always acted like nothing bad ever happened, just stayed as he was and observed. It wasn't his problem, and if it was…God save us all…

A/N: Thank you for favoriting/following and reviewing!:) All is greatly appreciated, and if anyone has any advice to improve the story I'd be very grateful for it. Please review to let me know what you think so far!^-^ (And if there are any mistakes feel free to let me know) I accept any constructive criticism!