Minawa: Please enjoy this chapter.

Ichigo: ...do I have to? *sigh* Minawa doesn't own Bleach, just her own characters and this storyline. Happy?

Minawa: Oh very.

I clutched my knees, staring out into the curtain of rain falling only inches away from me, as I sat on the terrace. There was nothing I could do now but to wait quietly.

The others from school had of course followed and several times the girls had tried inviting me to tea. I had refused them and now ignored the fact that they were discussing what to do with Shiro, lying in the room next door, and me.

Suddenly a door opened and the man called Urahara joined the others inside. I slowly stood up and walked over to the door, hesitating to gather my thoughts. I opened the door and walked into a now quiet room.

"How nice of you to join us, Shizuya-san." Urahara said, flipping a plain white fan in front of his face. I didn't answer as I sat down in a corner.

"So, what's wrong with him?" I said coldly. Urahara stayed quiet for a while.

"Your friend is very unique. Most people don't survive such a loss." He said. "90 % dies in the time span of a year and the rest within the matter of three years. If he did have his heart eaten five years ago he's damn lucky…" he finished his explanation.

"To put it bluntly, his body is suffering the lack of a heart. He is somewhat becoming something like a mixture of hollow and a zombie." He said, leaving the room perfectly quiet. I could hear Shiro breathing in the room next to us. I gave a small smile, staring at my feet.

"Not the kind that eats flesh, I presume?" I said. Urahara nodded.

"Not that kind. No, this kind will eventually leave him going through a very painful death." He said, leaving the room quiet once more. I thought for a moment; too bad his soul is already doomed to never find peace; now the body is suffering as well. But the at the same time I couldn't shake off the feeling that I couldn't think of him as anything other than a living person with his own kind of personality. That kind of delusion that I had created for myself only brought me more pain…

I got up and started to cross the room.

"Then there is no point in making him suffer. I'll take him away and do it quickly." I said, grabbing the door to Shiro's room. I could hear Ichigo get up.

"What are you…!" he started when Urahara closed his fan with a sharp sound, pausing both Ichigo and me. He glanced at over in my direction.

"What would you say, if I told you, I could give him a heart?" he asked. My body froze as it was, leaving me unable to think straight. I backed away from the door, facing Urahara.

"There's no way you can do that, his heart was eaten. As in gone!" I said, letting my voice reveal a little too much of what I was feeling.

"True, his original heart was eaten and can never be given back but that doesn't mean he can't get a new one." He said, looking up from under the brim of his hat. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Are you mad?" I spat at him. He smiled.

"A bit maybe but that's not important right now. Listen up." He said, putting up a finger. I nodded, unable to follow this mans trail of thought.

"A heart is like a container where we keep our memories and our emotions. These are connected to each other and so you know that without a heart we can't function in life."

I nodded as he continued.

"If a new container was to be put inside the body it would function as a heart and store up such things as memories and feelings. The only problem is that it would start from zero. The person will have to begin from scratch." He said and flipped a fan in front of his mouth as to mark that he was done. I looked at my feet and realized something which left me both relieved and in panic. Shiro wouldn't remember any of the times we spent together. He wouldn't remember me.

"Can you do it?" I asked without looking up. A few moments of silence passed.

"It'll be done before next week." He said and sipped his tea. Ichigo got up.

"For a prize. You will stop attacking or threatening me or anyone else in this town." He said, giving me a strong stare. I shrugged as I grinned.

"You were a bore anyway, so…I'll back off." I said but lost my attitude halfway. I suddenly felt too tired to play around anymore. I opened the door to Shiro just slightly so that I could see him sleep. I saw his chest rise and lower itself slowly and with that I closed the door again.

"Do it. I don't care about you anymore, Kurosaki. Just help him." I said and then walked out of the room. I walked quickly through the hallway and out into the pouring rain. It was dark out now and it was hard to see anything two feet ahead. It was cooling against my bare arms and legs as I hurried down the street back to the apartment. I had things to do…

I entered the apartment like I did every other day. I threw my bag on the table like I always did and entered the kitchen to start dinner like I always did. The only habit I did not obey to was looking for Shiro or attempt to talk to him. Since he wasn't around anymore.

I had no other choice but to leave him with that man; Urahara Kisuke. It was better for him to stay there and go back to what you would consider a normal life. A normal life, with things like friends and school, maybe even a girlfriend and in the future a family and a decent job. Not running around hunting hollows.

I rubbed my eyes and ran my fingers trough my hair, releasing tension from my face as I plopped down on the sofa there and then. I didn't even bother thinking about dinner as I was going to do it alone this time.

"It's been five days!" I said and yawned. Rukia grinned a bit.

"You're worried about your killer now? I knew you were nice but this is new." She said in a teasing tone. I sighed.

"Well, it's not like people are trying to kill me all the time," I said in a sarcastic tone "besides, she's different…" I said as Rukia glanced at me.

"What do you mean? I thought you liked Amu?" She said and turned to walk into Urahara's backyard.

"It's not like that! Shizuya is…actually weak. She act tough but in reality she's hurt." I said, making Rukia stop and look at me.

"She's more human than hollow, we know that. She just needs friends she can trust." I continued and looked up at the sky. Rukia sighed.

"Fine, I get it. Let's go see her after this." She said and entered the shop. I grabbed my phone and after a few moments Amu answered on the other line.

"Hi, can you come join us?" I asked as I stepped into the shop as well and shut the door behind me.

"How's the heart coming?" Rukia asked. Urahara grinned over the teacup. We joined him with our own teacups.

"Great as a matter of fact. I might be able to give it to him tonight." He said and took a sip.

"Rukia and I both almost spit out what we had in our mouths as we stared at him surprised.

"That soon?" I asked. Urahara nodded as Rukia and my eyes met.

"And Shizuya?" Rukia asked. He put down his cup with a serious face.

"I haven't heard anything from her and I'd suppose she hasn't been to school either?" He said rather than asked. We nodded.

"I think Shizuya-chan feels like Shiro will be better off without her in the picture." He said and took another sip. I almost jumped up.

"Wait, aren't they really close? She's been taking care of him all this time, right?" I said on the verge of becoming angry. Urahara gave me a stare, telling me to calm down.

"Don't forget that Shizuya, as far as we know, is probably the reason of Shiro losing his heart in the first place. Since we don't know the story completely I won't make any accusations but it doesn't matter. With his new heart Shiro won't remember Shizuya-chan or anyone else for that matter." He finished, leaving both Rukia and me in silence.

Amu walked in through the door and had a seat besides me. She obviously noticed the tense atmosphere so instead of saying anything she just placed her hand on top of mine as comfort. I smiled at her.

"So would you two love birds hurry up and see Shizuya-chan now?" Urahara's jolly voice interrupted all of a sudden. I gave him a stare before pulling Amu with me and out of the room.

We knocked and rang the doorbell but there was on sight of anyone being home. I sighed, annoyed since we were probably being ignored.

"Oi, open up! You can hear us, right?" I said and hit the door a few times. Silence followed. Rukia looked at me.

"She's not at home, I can't feel her reiatsu." She said and started walking towards the stairs. Amu and I followed quietly. Suddenly Amu's hand gripped mine. I looked back at her and saw her with a worried face.

"What if she has left town...for good?" she said, clearly worried about our classmate. I sighed but gave her a smile.

"I think we just have to find her. Don't worry." I said and gave her a peek on her forehead. She smiled as a hint of a blush spread on her cheeks. A coughing brought us back to reality as Rukia was clearly waiting for us further down the stairs. We hurried after her as she suddenly stopped at the end of the stairs. I was about to ask her when I felt it too; a huge amount of spiritual energy. It was a hollow and judging from how I could sense it, it must be pretty strong. Amu reacted too, as she was a Vizard as well.

"Let's hurry." Rukia simply said as we followed her towards the source of the outburst of energy.

I had left for some hunting that morning but I hadn't thought this would happen. After all, I just wanted to get something to eat. Then why in the world did I have such bad luck? I actually should have seen it coming.

Earlier I had searched for a weaker Hollow to feed on and had pretty quickly followed up on a scent. I had actually spotted the damn thing; a white and grey hollow no bigger than a big man. It had been surprisingly fast but nothing to worry about. I had despite my better knowing followed and been led into a trap. Worse, I dragged the whole damn thing out from its hiding spot.

After I had caught the bait; the white and gray thing, I realized it was pulled on a string of some kind, invisible to the eye. I had cut it in pieces, apparently angering the master of the puppet. So, really, it wasn't my fault. How could I know that the whole Hollow, which was the size of a 7 storage building, would come out and start chasing me?

As for the moment, I was stuck in one of its tentacles, struggling to reach my sword. I was already exhausted and had been caught, by luck and nothing else.

I finally got a hand on my sword and slice myself free. It screamed in pain and anger as I landed on the ground. I obviously wasn't making my situation any better...

We were close to the place where the Hollow was, running towards the city center when Yoruichi and Urahara joined us.

"Yo! Great weather today, no?" he said and laughed behind a fan, which had yet to be attacked by Amu's black pen.

"What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to help Shiro?" Rukia asked Urahara. He simply grinned.

"Change of plans..." he simply said. I didn't pay much thought on it as I spotted Chad, Inoue and Ichida waiting for us.

"About time." Ichida simply said. I felt my brow twitch.

"Shut up." I said as we continued.

I was high up in the air, sitting on a ledge on one of the nearby buildings. Fighting, slicing and avoiding about 20 tentacles was no easy task and I had already lost my breath. My legs were like jelly and the only thing keeping me up was the bones in them.

I watched the huge tentacle cast a shadow, moments before it came down over me. In a trivial try I threw up my arms to cover my face. I expected a blow but glancing a second time I found someone jumping in between the hollow and me. As I continued to fall down the hollows tentacle was split into three pieces. I spun around and landed hard on the rumbles below. What had gotten in between?

"Ayumi!" a voice called from behind and turning I found, not only the carrot-top but also his classmates, the creepy fan-guy and the black cat. I sweat dropped.

"You fuckers! Don't bother me!" I yelled at them. I braced myself instead and ran back towards the hollow. I jumped up on a piece of rumble and used it as a springboard. Flash stepping up, I tried attacking it's eyes, slashing the left one before it's arm sent me flying into the building next to us. I could feel myself bounce in the wall and fall down but in the last minute held myself up and gripped an iron bar sticking out. I looked at the beast and saw it preparing to attack again. I tensed up but then saw the shadow of a person again, moving towards me. A pair of arms grabbed a hold of me, and moments later I found myself sitting on the ground, nearby Ichigo and the others. I turned and looked at Shiro, holding onto me. My mouth fell open, literally, and I didn't know what to say.

He was staring at me, as in straight at me! His blue eyes showed concern. I suddenly noticed how he still held on to me and wiggled myself free. Suddenly his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. I looked up in shock.

"Are you alright?" he asked me. Seconds passed as I suddenly felt like crying. I had heard Shiro's voice before but never had he spoke to me. I felt a huge relief in my chest I couldn't understand.

"Wh-what?" I heard myself say. He smiled at me (freaking smiled!) before cupping my face in his palm. He suddenly stood.

"Look after her." He said to someone behind me before rushing away, towards the Hollow. A hand fell on my shoulder and surprised I looked up at Yoruichi. She grinned at me.

"Surprised, huh?" she said and sat next to me. I turned to Urahara.

"How is this possible? What did you do?" I almost yelled at him. He grinned and brought up a fan, free from Amu's terror.

"Well, I fixed him up you can say. Judging by your looks I'd say I have to explain myself." He said and had me look down in shame.

"Shiro's heart was never fully stolen by that hollow as you, by my guess, stopped it before it managed to get that far. Still, he was severely damaged and after all this time the little piece left was starting to die. All I had to do was add to what was missing. The result of this is that he remembers everything." He explained. I was staring as my knuckles, agitated. I had wanted Shiro to be free from his past...

A scream coming from the Hollow brought me back to the Hollow that was currently occupying the whole street.

Minawa: God, this is a long chapter!

Amu: Well, you covered a lot of it anyway. Btw, why can't Ichigo and I have a kiss scene? *stares with puppy eyes*

Minawa: *sigh* I am leaving now...

Amu: Mo, listen to me... *follows Minawa to the end of the world if she has to*