Chapter 19

Grimmjow's P.O.V

Aizen finally gave up on his game, and decided to bring Hara home. Grimmjow had hoped he would be chosen for the job, but Aizen refused, much to his displeasure. Instead, Ulquiorra was to be sent.

Grimmjow was pissed; before Ulquiorra left he threatened to kill him if Hara was in any way hurt by him. Ulquiorra replied that Grimmjow should be silent and mind his own business, unless he had feelings for the girl. That made him even angrier, and he stormed off into his room to wait. And he hated waiting, especially when he was so eager to see her. So he paced, and grumbled to himself.

Hara's P.O.V

Hara had almost reached the stairs when she was suddenly thrown backwards by a powerful spiritual pressure blast. Renji caught her as she flew towards him, and the two of them stared at the rip in the air. A figure stepped out of it, and at first Hara had thought it was Grimmjow, but it wasn't. It was Ulquiorra. Renji tried to push her out of the way to protect her or fight him, but Hara escaped his grasp and stepped forward. Renji got to his feet, his hand on his sword. Hara turned to him, her eyes sad,

"Don't do it Renji." she turned to Ulquiorra, "I'm guessing you're here only to take me back?" He nodded. Hara turned to Renji, "This is goodbye now. I'm sorry things had to go like this. You don't have to forgive me-" He suddenly lunged at her, crashing his lips down on hers. Hara put up her hand just in time to stop him. "I'm sorry." she said, "If I let you do this, it'd only make it all the more difficult."

Renji stared down at her in defeat. Hara dropped her hand to her side and slowly turned around to face Ulquiorra. He was staring at her expectantly, she sighed,

"Alright, let's go…" she walked towards him, and stepped into the rip. She turned around, her eyes sad, Renji stood there staring at her with the same expression. "Goodbye…" she said to him, as the rip sealed itself.

Ulquiorra led her towards Las Noches, his eyes cold and distant. Hara was glad he wasn't the vocal type, because she didn't want to answer any of his questions that he might have.

They left the rip and entered straight into Aizen's throne room. And there he was, sitting in his throne, looking down at her with a malicious and pleased grin.

"Welcome back, Hara." he said, "Did you enjoy your little reunion?" Hara stepped forward to stare up at him, surprisingly calm and unafraid.

"Eh, not so much." she replied. Aizen raised an eyebrow,

"Is that so?" he leaned forwards with a smile, "Whatever happened there?" Hara crossed her arms over her chest,

"They tried to turn me, of course." she replied, "But it didn't work."

"Well it did something, you're attitude is more like remember." Hara gave him a fake smile,

"I just snapped out of it, that's all." she eyed him, "So, Aizen-sama, am I to be punished?" He sat back in his throne,

"Punished, oh no. Unless you did something wrong…" his brown eyes glinted, "Did you do anything?" Hara shook her head,

"Nope, all I did was go to the material world, and I just happened to run into a few old friends." she shrugged, "And I didn't say a word about anything here…"

"Ah, just as I thought you might." he replied, "You're a very loyal person…just like your brother was." Hara flinched slightly when he said that, but she gained her composure immediately. Aizen looked behind her,

"Thank you, Ulquiorra, for bringing her back so swiftly and safely." Hara turned to see the nearly colorless arrancar bow,

"Thank you, Aizen-sama." Hara turned to look at Aizen, she was getting uncomfortable, and she didn't know how much longer she could pretend to be calm and fiery. His brown eyes fell on her,

"You may go now, if you like, Hara." She nodded,

"Yes. Thanks, Aizen." Hara deliberately didn't use the formality this time; it was what he would have expected, and what she was known to do. She turned on her heel and walked out, feeling Ulquiorra's shocked eyes on her back.

Once she was out of the room, and the door was shut, she let out a long sigh of relief. She had 

escaped Aizen's punishment, and also seemed to please him with her attitude. Hara had to act tough in front of Aizen; otherwise, he would think she was totally under his shadow. She really wasn't as tough as she let on; she only acted that way when she felt threatened, or in front of Aizen. When she was at ease, she was sweet, quiet, gentle. That's the Hara that the soul society had known, the one her nakama had known.

Now, she decided, she would go and surprise Grimmjow. She sensed he was in his room, and she was certain he hadn't sensed her yet. Quickly, she hid her spiritual pressure, and lightly ran towards him room, a smile already on her face.

Grimmjow's P.O.V

Grimmjow lay on his bed, having a glaring contest with the ceiling. Occasionally he would glance at the widow, or curse Aizen. The remainder of his arm would throb painfully ever other hour or so, reminding him of just how much he hated the lot of them.

He wondered when Hara would return, hopefully soon. Grimmjow hoped that Aizen's lapdog didn't have too much fun, but he doubted it, Ulquiorra was boring and didn't know how to have fun of any kind.

Grimmjow sighed and put his hand behind his head as he tried to burn a hole in the ceiling with his eyes.

Hara's P.O.V

Hara suddenly got a better idea of how to surprise Grimmjow, she was certain that he had left his window open…though it didn't matter if he didn't. Instead of surprising him at the door, wouldn't it be better to jump through his window and surprise him? Hara thought so, and thus, she jumped out the window and onto the sand.

She stared up at the building, trying to find which window was his. She realized it was still further up, so she ran there, but didn't use flash step, because that would make her reveal her presence. After a few minutes she saw the familiar looking window, and went straight towards it, jumping up the side of the building with ease.

Hara was excited; she couldn't wait to see him. She knew her entrance would be a surprise and a delight to him-though possibly an annoyance. Either way, it would be fun and he would be happy to see her…at least she hoped so.

Grimmjow's P.O.V

"Damn…" he muttered, "That bastard Ulquiorra better hurry up!" Grimmjow growled and closed his eyes, "I would' a already been there and back…"

"Since when do you talk to the ceiling?" asked a voice, "Are you that bored?" Grimmjow sat bolt upright, his eyes on the person who was crouched on his windowsill. She smiled at him, her soft dark hair flowing in the breeze. Grimmjow grinned, it was his Hara.

Hara's P.O.V

There he was, grinning at her like a maniac. Hara smiled back and swung her legs onto the floor, her eyes happy, warm.

Grimmjow got to his feet and came towards her, and it was then that she noticed he had a half healed cut across his chest, and his left arm was missing. Her eyes went wide with shock and concern; he stopped as he saw her reaction,

"Grimmjow!" she cried, "What happened to you?!" She came towards him, "Did Ichigo do all this to you?!"

"Only this." he said, pointing to the cut across his chest calmly.

"And what about your arm?!" she almost yelled, "How did that happen?!"

"Tosen." was his answer. Hara's eyes flashed bright silver,

"What!?" she roared, "Tosen!? I'm going to kill him-" Grimmjow suddenly pulled her to him and kissed her roughly. Hara shut up immediately, her eyes closing as she kissed him back. They parted, but 

Hara kept her arms around him, her head resting against his neck. Grimmjow sat down on the edge of the bed, Hara beside him.

"Miss me?" he asked with a laugh. Hara smiled and let go of him, she nodded,

"Yep," Her eyes darkened and she looked away. Grimmjow noticed and grabbed hold of her chin,

"Hey, what's with that look all of a sudden? What's the matter with you? Those shinigami didn't hurt you did they?!" Hara shook her head,

"No…they didn't."

"Then what's the problem?" Hara sighed,

"I hurt them…" His quizzical look made her continue, "Before my brother died, they were my nakama…When Zuro was killed, I ran away, and didn't come back…then, when they did see me…I was one of the enemy…They couldn't believe it…" Hara leaned against Grimmjow, "I wish I had stayed with you…then all of this wouldn't have happened." He didn't answer right away, his eyes resting on her face.

"Ah, don't worry about it. It's not like you can go and change it, so don't think too much on what could have happened." Hara stared up at him in surprise, he stared down at her, "What?!" She closed her eyes and smiled,

"I didn't expect you to say something like that…" she opened her warm almost black colored eyes to see his confused expression, "It's really sweet of you to say that." Grimmjow continued to stare at her, she laughed, "What? It was." he rolled his eyes and looked out the window.

Hara sat up straight and stretched with a sigh happily before laying down. He turned to look down at her before lying down as well. She sat up suddenly and turned around to face him. Slowly she put her hands around the remainder of his arm. Her fingers felt soft, warm on his skin. Grimmjow stared up at her,

"Does it still hurt?" she asked in a whisper. He looked away,

"No." Hara shook her head,

"Liar," He turned back to face her,

"How do you know I'm lying?" She smiled,

"Easy. You won't look me in the eyes when you lie. And it's just intuition." He sighed,

"Fine…you win. It twinges sometimes…" Hara smiled and gently wrapped her hands around his wounded arm, everywhere her fingers touched suddenly felt cool and he didn't feel any of the throbbing pain. Her eyes were determined, as she leaned over him and worked her hands over his arm and then his chest. Grimmjow's eyes widened,

"What are you doing?" he asked in a whisper.

"I can't heal you…" she replied, "But I can remove some of the pain…" He relaxed as her hands massaged his shoulders and let out a groan of pleasure. Hara smiled,

"How are you doing this?" he asked as she massaged his neck,

"Oh, it's something I learned a while back…What I do is massage the muscles and relax them by sending little jolts of my energy into them. That's why my touch feels somewhat cool against your skin." she replied. He closed his eyes as she worked her way up to his face. Slowly she put her fingers across his cheeks, and then his closed eyes, which left them tingling.

Suddenly Grimmjow felt her lips against his, he kissed her back in pleasure and surprise, before they slowly parted, and she lay beside him, her head resting on his chest and her arms around him. Grimmjow let out a long deep sigh of contentment, when she was with him, he felt at peace, and as if he could totally relax. He turned to look at her and found Hara to be sound asleep, her breathing slow and deep. He smiled and closed his eyes too, now able to sleep comfortably.

For the first time in a long time, Hara slept without dreaming about her brother or her past. This time she slept soundly, curled up against Grimmjow's side.