Ah, sorry bout the wait... I had a family emergency so i couldnt get around to updating earlier... My mom went to the emergency room last tuesday (she's home now tho). Anyway, a certain part in here partly happened to me-again i twisted it around again, but it did happen. I'll explain at the bottom. Okay now here's my comments/answers to what you guys have reviewed:

cheeky half-demon: Yeah, he sure did lol But who wouldn't want to pwn ichi? XD

Black-HunterXX: How are you confused? Now I am confused due to your confusion lol

CeriseGothicLime: Lol i was wondering what happened to you! Don't worry about it, you don't have to apologize And thankyou by the way lol

Chapter 26

Hara's POV

"YEOCH!" snarled Hara as she clung to Grimmjow while Shinji pulled her bandages away from her side. Hacchi came forwards,

"These wounds… they are not healing." Grimmjow held Hara protectively, his own body in bandages. Ichigo was lying on the floor a distance away, Rukia wrapping him in bandages and trying to use her own kidou to help heal him, but it wasn't working all that well.

"Can't you do something? You're a healer, aren't you?" said Grimmjow, looking at the blood oozing out of her wounds. Hacchi shook his head,

"Well, to be accurate…my technique is not healing, but is in fact a type of reversal for the air space. Ichigo and Hara's wounds are condensed with their own reitsu and the reitsu of the person who inflicted the wound. At this state, this is the limit of the reversal."

"So…" said Hara, "That means you can't do anything, right?" Hacchi nodded,

"Yes, I am sorry." He turned to look at Rukia, "But there is another who can help you…Orihime-chan."

Rukia nodded,

"Orihime, eh?" said Grimmjow; he turned to Rukia, "Woman, take us there." Rukia stared at him coldly,

"No." Grimmjow was about to say something, but Hara grabbed his arm,

"Grimmjow, that isn't polite." She turned to put her gaze on Rukia, "I understand why you say no. I wouldn't trust us either, and I'm not asking you to. But let me just say, you don't have to worry about us attacking you, we don't work for Aizen anymore."

Rukia stared at her and Grimmjow in surprise, while all the vizard glanced their way and listened.

"What?!" exclaimed Rukia. Hara shifted slightly in Grimmjow's lap, wincing but smiling all the while,

"Come on now Rukia, do you think we did this to ourselves?" she gestured at her wounds, "Plus the fact that we are hiding out here…" she coughed and let out a slight groan, "What the hell? I didn't hurt like this earlier!"

"You overexerted yourself," said Shinji, "And so, your wounds opened." Hara growled,

"This sucks." Her eyes moved to Rukia again, "So… what are you going to do?" Rukia sighed and stood up,

"I'm going to get Orihime. Stay here." And with that, she ran off.

Kensei got up,

"And I'm going to go make lunch." He then walked away, Mashiro following him, trying to get him to make her favorite food.

Slowly everyone but Shinji left for various things and reasons. Shinji sat on a rock near the unconscious Ichigo, his chin in his hand.

"How ya doin'?" asked Grimmjow softly as he looked down at Hara. She smiled up at him weakly,

"I've been better, but I'm not complaining." She brushed her hand across his chest gently, "What about you?"

"Tch. Don't worry about me." he growled, the rumble of his voice comforting. Hara's eyes fell on Ichigo,

"You sure did a number on him, though, didn't you?" Grimmjow chuckled,

"Tch. He was asking for it."

By the time Rukia and Orihime came, everyone was eating lunch, Grimmjow included. He held the chopsticks awkwardly as he tried to eat the rice, Hara trying to show him the right way then finally giving up as he threw them down and just tilted the bowl into his mouth. Hara sat beside him, leaning against his side and delicately picking at her noodles, her bandages now completely red. Ichigo was still unconscious, and it was a wonder that Hara had not yet joined him.

Rukia and Orihime walked up to the circle of lunch eaters, Orihime's eyes wide as she saw Grimmjow, Hara and the beaten up Ichigo. Hara looked up from her noodles,

"So…you are Orihime?" The said reddish orange haired girl nodded; her eyes still on Grimmjow. Hara smiled, "Don't worry; he won't hurt you, right?" she nudged Grimmjow who rolled his eyes in response. Hara smiled nonetheless, "If he does… then I'll deal with him myself," she laughed. Her laughter suddenly turned to coughing, causing her to lean forwards with her eyes shut in pain.

Grimmjow touched her arm worriedly, not knowing what to do. He wasn't good at healing wounds, only causing them. The state she was in scared him, and made him feel helpless, something he had never felt, and hated.

Hara sat up straight, wiping at her mouth, her eyes looking slightly glazed over and her breathing shallow. Orihime made towards her, but stopped, looking at Ichigo and then back at her. Hara closed her eyes, "Go and take care of strawberry first, I'll be alright…" She fell back against Grimmjow, her empty bowl rolling across the ground.

"Hey!" he cried, staring into her half closed eyes. Hara smiled weakly up at him,

"Grimmjow… don't worry… I'm just going to take a…cat nap." She said, her vision failing. It seemed as if she were far away, the sounds around her seeming to tune in and out like a bad radio station. She could hear Grimmjow saying something, and she strained against her exhaustion to hear,

"…Woman, do something-!" followed by cussing and the soft sound of feet running. The next thing Hara knew, she was out.

"Hello, little sister…" said a voice in the dark. Hara floated towards it without moving,

"Aniki?! Zuro-nii?" she reached out, her fingers feeling as if they were moving through water. Soft laughter followed, and suddenly Hara found herself wrapped in her brother's gentle arms. She gasped and spun around to see he was like how she remembered him; dark spiky hair, playful green eyes, and the safety of knowing he would protect her.

Hara knew there was no way it was real, though it seemed so. Zuro's breath tickled her ear as he spoke,

"It's real, onee-chan…" he turned her around to face her, "I'm real." He gave her a devilish grin in reassurance. Hara stared at him, not sure what to believe. "Family should stick together, ne? Come back to Las Noches… Aizen will forgive you… you and your cat friend."

Hara opened her mouth to speak, but before she could utter a word, she began to fall, Zuro slipping through her fingers and watching her fall with a bemused expression. "We will see each other soon," he called, his form bursting into flame and turning into his new arrancar shape, "I will be waiting for your answer, onee-chan!"

Hara screamed as she fell, only to awaken with a gasp. Just a dream… she thought, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. She was in Shinji's room again, but she had no memory of getting there.

"I must have passed out…" she said quietly. She looked around the bed, "Grimmjow?" But her favorite blue haired arrancar was nowhere to be seen. "Hmm…"

It was then that she looked down at her chest and stomach and flinched in surprise. Her wounds were completely gone. "Whoa…not a scratch or scar…" She realized that she was naked, which might explain why Grimmjow was absent. Hara looked around the room and saw a pair of clean clothes by the dresser which she went up to get, dragging the blanket with her.

Just as she reached down to pick up the shirt, something shot out from under it, something black, hairy and with eight spindly legs. "AAAIIIIEEEE!" she screamed, falling backwards as the spider scuttled away. At the same moment the door burst open and in ran Grimmjow,

"What?! What's wrong-?!"

"AAAGGGHHH!" screamed Hara, pulling the blanket over herself and blushing brightly. Grimmjow stared for a moment, his own face reddening before he quickly ran out again, shutting the door.

"Is everything okay in there?" he called, sounding out of breath. Out of breath herself, she stalked over to the door, holding the blanket around her.

"Y-yeah, there was just a spider…" she heard him cuss and say something under his breath in response, causing her to grin. "I'll be out in a min… Let me get on some clothes…" she added before going over to the clothes pile again. Before pulling anything on, she poked and shook everything, just in case. But the spider had gone, probably more scared of the screaming naked girl than she was of it.

The clothes were different this time, now Hara had a long flowery blue skirt and a light blue button down shirt that seemed to fit her almost perfectly, except for the shirt being a tiny bit big. Besides that, she had new undergarments that were her exact size and a pair of green sandals. Happy, she silently thanked who ever gave them to her and brushed out her hair, humming a tiny bit under her breath.

She fixed the blankets and sheet back onto the bed then sat down on the edge with a sigh. Though she was healed, she still felt tired.

"Grimmjow!" she called, "It's okay to come in now!"

"It's about time! Do you know how long you took?!" he replied as he opened the door and walked in. Hara smiled,

"Sorry-" she began, but stopped her eyes widening in surprise. Grimmjow grinned at her as she came towards him, "Your arm… How did you-?" He grabbed her around the waist and swung her around quickly, laughing at her surprised gasp. When he stopped, Hara wrapped her legs around his waist with a grin, their noses touching. "Well," she said, "Ya going to tell me or what?"

"Alright…" he replied, sitting down on the bed with her still on his lap, "Well, that woman…" he gestured with a hand, "She did it." Hara's eyes widened,

"All of it?" she asked, pulling back slightly to examine his chest. The scar from Ichigo and his first battle was still there, and she traced the smooth flesh with her finger, "Then why is this-" He wrapped his fingers around her hand,

"I wanted it to stay… as a reminder of my fight." He pulled her closer, "Everything else is healed…" Hara let him rest his forehead on her shoulder, his breathing slow and steady.

When he didn't move back, she spoke,

"Is everything okay?" she asked softly. He pulled back to stare into her eyes,

"It is now," he frowned slightly, "But don't you ever do something like that again."

"Huh?"

"Hara… you nearly died! When you passed out, if the woman didn't do something, you would have died right there and then!" Hara was slightly surprised; she hadn't gotten that close to death before… Her eyes flashed back to Grimmjow, "I thought I'd lost you," he admitted, "I was…afraid…"

"I'm sorry…" she whispered, pushing him onto the bed, "I promise I won't let it happen again…on one condition," He stared up at her,

"Condition?"

"You won't let it happen to you either." He smiled,

"I promise-" he said, only to be kissed roughly. As quickly as it had started it was done, and Hara leapt off of him and went towards the door, "Huh? Where are you going?" he asked, sitting up and feeling slightly disappointed that she stopped the kiss so quickly.

"I want to thank Orihime," replied Hara as she tossed her long hair over a shoulder, "You coming?" He nodded and got to his feet, pulling her back against him so he could kiss the top of her head. Hara giggled slightly before opening the door.

"She's not here," said Kensei as he sat on a rock, glaring at Grimmjow.

"Where'd she go?"

"Home I guess," was his reply. Hara frowned,

"Okay, well do you know where she lives?" Kensei shook his head,

"Nope." Hara turned around to face Grimmjow, who was glaring at Kensei with annoyance,

"Looks like we're going out then… I bet we could find her place ourselves, right?"

"Mmm…" was his only reply as he and Kensei continued their glare-off. Hara shook her head at them and grabbed Grimmjow's hand. Tugging it she said,

"Come on then, you and Kensei can finish glaring at each other when we get back." Both men looked away from each other sharply in a childish way, before Grimmjow was dragged away.

When they got outside, Hara asked why Grimmjow and Kensei didn't like each other,

"It's not me, it's him!" snapped Grimmjow, "He's the one who's got the problem!" Hara sighed,

"Guys…" she muttered, causing Grimmjow to stare at her. Hara ignored his stare and stopped at the end of the block, closing her eyes, she tried to sense out where Orihime was. "This way!" she said suddenly, running. Grimmjow easily loped beside her, frowning slightly. Hara came to a stop in front of an apartment building, "Hmm… she should be…" her fingers ran down the list of names, "Here," She pushed the buzzer and stood back, leaning against Grimmjow who looked a tad bit annoyed.

"Hello?" answered Orihime as she opened the door. Hara smiled,

"Hey Orihime,"

Alright now I must explain what i was talking about up top. Yeah, the part is with the spider... No one walked in on me or anything lol, but when i was picking up some laundry on the floor a big spider with a body about the size of a nickel came spindling out at me... v.v one of my fears happens to be those damned arachnids, so i screamed, fell on my butt and scrambled to the door where i screamed for my cat to come and save me... Lol he did... shudder and then ate it. But that's a kitty for you!

Okay, I'm done with my rambling story time ;;