Me: We're back again!

Rukia: Thank CHAPPY you're uploading so fast.

Me: (Narrows eyes) Do not DARE utter that name.

Ichigo: (Rolls eyes) Hey, broads, hurry up, i wanna keep going!

Me: Whatever. BUT FIRST! (Claps hand like an emperor)

Kon: COMING, MASTER MANDY!

Me: I present to you, the latest cakes, courtesy of Mer, aka the shiniest pebble EVER!

Kon: Ta-DAAA! (Wheels in Cake 1. It's in the shape of a white shooting star with light blue tails. It has a dark blue outline made of frosting. On top is a figure of Peyton sitting and Ichigo running to her but they are seperated by a silver wall. There is a thin wire with a mini shooting star that looks exactly like the cake (minus the figures and the wall). In front of the wall, Peyton, and Ichigo is some writing that says: 'Thank You Stephanie'.

Me: Awesome, no? CAKE NUMBER TWO!

Kon: (Jumps in fear) Y-Yes, MASTER MANDY! (Wheels in a giant muffin that looks like any other muffin except for the statue of Ichigo on it that, by the way, is ALSO made of muffin. It has choclate chip eye balls! 'Hunk Muffin' is inscribed out of choclate chips near Ichigo's feet.)

Ichigo: (Attacks muffin) MUFFIN! OMNOMNOMNOMNOM.

Me: (Sweatdrops) ...Ehh, why not? (Attacks shooting star cake AND muffin)

Rukia: ...What...the fuck, you guys? (Shrugs) Gah, what the hell. (Attacks it as well)

All Together: OMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM! (Translation: Enjoy.)

One more day. She had one more full day to live, and then the following day was her execution date.

Peyton never thought she'd actually say that. She had always thought her death would be a surprise, like most people.

Which was quite stupid, since everyone knew she definitely didn't fall under the category of "most people".

They were moving her to the cell used for a prisoner's last night on the earth. Not Earth, since this WAS the Soul Society, but the earth.

Again, she wondered where she'd go after she died. The women insisted she'd go to some other hellish realm of harsh punishment for killing their Leader, so they were pretty much useless in answering her question since they were full of crap.

Then a thought occurred to her as they were escorting her down to her last room. That shooting star last night...her mom...was she here? In Soul Society?

Did she know her daughter needed her help?

Then an even more desperate thought crossed her mind. What if Ichigo had seen it? Would he think it was a clue, would he follow it? Would he find her in time?

Would he?

Lately, Peyton felt like she was on the brink of depression. Didn't feel like eating or sleeping, sad all the time.

But that thought about Ichigo seeing the star made her stand straighter, walk more proudly, not look so broken. That thought made her hopeful again.

And for that...for the looks she was able to put on passersby's faces as they stared at the proud and fearless prisoner who killed their corrupt former leader...she would always be grateful for.

MEANWHILE...

"76 miles...72 miles...69 mi-" Renji and Ichigo started laughing and stopped for a second. "We're exactly 69 miles away from your girlfriend. That's no coincidence, dude!"

"IDIOTS, WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO WASTE!" Orihime and Senna shouted from up ahead, still running.

They cleared their throat, and Ichigo easily gained the lead again. "Right, right, sorry."

Toshiro rolled his eyes and shook his head before continuing to count down the miles. When he got to 50, Senna said she could feel Iga Clan energy. A lot of it.

Unfortunately, most of it seemed to be their welcoming party. Before they were even out of the dense woods that seemed so popular around here, they were surrounded.

Ichigo sighed and whipped out Zangetsu. "You...REALLY don't wanna fuck with me right now," he growled as he approached the first one with a homicidal and slightly-psychotic look on his face, no Hichigo necessary to put it there.

Poor ninjas.

MEANWHILE...

The room wasn't so bad. It was warm, inviting. She got to take another bath, and even shave her legs with this really soft shaving cream.

About eight dudes came in while she was bathing, and she couldn't care less. At least three of them flat-out ogled her, but again, she couldn't care less.

For one thing, she was dying tomorrow and would never see those dudes again. For another, if she DIDN'T die tomorrow, not only would she never see those dudes again, but then she'd be with Ichigo, and his opinion was the only one that mattered in the nakedness department.

And he sure as hell never complained, to say the least.

The thought that maybe these ninjas wouldn't be the last to see her naked after all made her grin from ear to ear and giggle mid-shaving-stroke.

She laughed so hard she had to put down the razor before she cut a vital organ, making the two women watch her with interest and slight worry.

"...I suppose the reiatsu-sealing binds are starting to really affect her," the younger one whispered.

The younger one didn't seem too bothered with Peyton, even found her intriguing. The older one, however, seemed utterly convinced Peyton had ruined her life once she killed her former leader.

Not that Peyton cared what the hell these ninjas thought about her anyway. They wouldn't matter come tomorrow.

Later that night, she laid in her bed and stared through the window to her left. Her whole body felt soft and refreshed, she felt tired, her head injury was still occasionally throbbing, yet she couldn't sleep.

Knowing this might be her last night alive.

She was still wondering if maybe Ichigo would save her, but at the same time, death seemed a bit inevitable.

After pondering it some more for about two hours, she sighed tiredly and closed her eyes. "Goodnight, Ichigo. I love you. ...Dammit, do I love you."

MEANWHILE...

"Dammit!" Ichigo muttered as they finally killed the last one. It was the middle of the night now, the damn ninjas had kept coming and coming.

"On the bright side, there must not be a lot more left where Peyton is. She and Senna killed more than half of their population," Rukia pointed out.

Senna pointed to their right. "This way. Southwest. I'd say about fifty to sixty miles."

He nodded and they set off in that direction. "Good. They didn't push us too far back."

MEANWHILE...

She was almost asleep when there was pounding on her door. The two women jerked awake, and the eldest walked as quickly as her kimono would allow to answer the door.

A man was standing there. They started talking in fast Japanese, but Peyton could just barely make out "Orange-haired" and "long sword".

She shot even further into a sitting position, her eyes wide and her smile huge. With a final "Hai," the door was shut, and the older woman stared at her.

"Ichigo's here? Ichigo's coming? I heard him mentioned, don't dare lie to me!"

Her eyes got even colder. "Very well then. I was hoping I would not have to be the one to tell you. Yes, your lover came looking for you. He was killed about fifty miles west from here."

Her heart dropped to her toes, and she honestly felt like it had cracked into tiny pieces. "...Wh-What?"

She started trembling, looking down at her hands as if she could see his blood on them. "He...He's not dead. He's not. Ichigo Kurosaki does not DIE! He doesn't!"

Her stomach hurt. Her chest felt like it was ripping at the seams. Her head was swimming.

This can't be real. This can't be real. This CAN'T be real, it can't! Ichigo doesn't die. He always wins. He's the good guy. He's not supposed to die like this!

"Unfortunately, it's true. My condolences," she said simply before laying back down and falling asleep in no time.

Peyton sank back against her pillow, tears running down her face quicker than she could count them, trying to ignore the look of pure sympathy on the younger woman's face.

Ichigo...This is all my fault. I...I just wanted to go home. I never thought about the fighting you might have to do. I never thought you'd lose. No, you can't lose. You can't. You're alive. You must be. You...Ichigo...I..

That whole night, people passing by the brave and fearless prisoner's final room on this earth heard nothing but her heartwrenching sobs.

THE NEXT DAY. EXECUTION DAY...

After a long delay due to more ninjas, and healing, which led to them all being a bit tired (especially Orihime, who was healing Soul Reapers left and right), they ended up pretty much falling asleep right after battle.

Needless to say, when they woke up, they were instantly sprinting the rest of the thirty-seven miles between them and Peyton.

"How many days does she have left?"

"Ichigo, you act as if I know," Toshiro said dully.

"Well you knew everything ELSE concerning this whole damn crapfest."

The Captain's temple throbbed, and he simply looked straight ahead. "Thirty-four miles..."

MEANWHILE...

Shrrrrk. Clink.

She didn't even wince as the handcuffs were tightened against her wrist. She'd lost weight since they were first put on, which didn't surprise her. She hadn't eaten for almost four days.

Peyton especially didn't feel like eating today.

Her expression remained empty as her hair was brushed and swept all to one side, braided as tightly as possible to be kept out of the way during her execution. Her eyes were darker than usual, lackluster.

It took them about five tries due to her hair's stubbornness. Peyton was stubborn once. Now that Ichigo was dead, what did she have to be stubborn about?

Who was left to argue with?

Certainly not these people. They wouldn't smile at her like he did after every single argument, after every single debate.

He wouldn't smile at her like that anymore, either. He was dead, Peyton, remember?

Dead because of you.

The thought of what his family would be going through any day now was too much to bear, almost worse than the sheer fact that he was gone.

She felt...empty. Hollow. Like someone could hit her with a tiny pebble and she'd smash to a million pieces.

She'd felt constant grief for hours now, it almost felt like no emotion at all. Although, she ALMOST felt anger as they tied her braid with a white ribbon and got out some powder.

They must have wanted her to be a pretty prisoner when she was killed.

But then Peyton decided they could do whatever the hell they wanted, what did it matter?

Some of her usual personality came back once she saw the white kimono laid out for her and the younger one commented that it was to signify purity.

"But I'm one of the furthest things from pure there is. I'm not even a virgin, for fuck's sake," she replied dullly.

They exchanged a look before nodding and pulling out a black kimono. Peyton sighed and shook her head as she reached to grab it, but the older one slapped her hand.

"No, this is our job. Besides, those handcuffs would prevent you from doing it properly."

"And what makes you think YOU can do it with the cuffs on?"

They exchanged a smirk as the younger one undid the cuffs and unfolded the kimono, while the older one held a blade against Peyton's throat lightly.

"Like so. I dare you to move; I won't hesitate to kill you where you stand. There are other ways to gain power, you are quite expendable."

Peyton didn't even blink, her arms limp at her sides as the younger woman undressed and dressed her.

"You honestly think I would? ...What is there left for me to fight for? I'm so miserable that...death doesn't sound half bad. The guy I gave everything to is dead thanks to me, I'm starving to death, and a naked chick like me wouldn't get very far in the first place, now, would she?"

The blade was pressed to her throat a little harder, putting pressure against the skin. Ninja code for "shut the hell up, smartass".

So the smartass shut the hell up.

MEANWHILE...

"Twenty-two miles...Twenty miles...Nineteen-point-five..."

Ichigo wished he could run faster. Something was gnawing at his gut, as if he were running out of time.

In more than the usual paranoid way. This felt more like the day she was kidnapped. The day he should've listened.

And now, when Ichigo was willing to listen, he couldn't do much about it. A pure testament to how completely and totally SHITTY his luck was.

"Twelve miles...Eleven miles..."

Senna suddenly broke off from everyone else and went to their left. "This way! That way's a trap!"

"How do you know?"

"I sense her reiatsu over here!"

Ichigo slowed a little as he tried to focus on reiatsu while running. "...What?"

Sure enough, he could feel it too. It was tiny, increasing little by little, but it was there and it was hers.

What the hell?

MEANWHILE...

While the slim chance that she might end up in the same place as Ichigo was a bit comforting, Peyton was about to leave the room when she realized he would want her to live no matter what.

If she let herself die, he would've died for absolutely nothing.

She had to live. She had to, no matter how much she might want to die without him there.

Peyton looked down at her hands, handcuffed again, focusing on her reiatsu as both her arms were grabbed at the elbows, which were bent, and she was led down the halls.

Through the maze they went.

I have to live...no matter what...

Peyton felt herself getting tired with each burst of spirit energy she attempted to force out, but she kept going. She had to live.

She had to live.

"Ten miles...Nine miles...Eight...Seven...Six...Five miles...Four...Three...Two-point-six miles..."

Ichigo suddenly stopped, able to make out some sort of man-made hill in the distance. On it, there was a sort of scaffold set up, minus the hangman's rope.

Near which a figure in black was on their knees, it looked like they were shaking with sobs. They had bright red hair in a braid being whipped around by the wind.

Peyton was trying as hard as she could, and could feel her reiatsu leaking, but her spirit energy was refusing to come.

It was around the time she began to get frustrated to tears that the hill came into view. There was barely anyone there, save for a man and the two women by her sides.

A couple other men as well.

It was the scaffold with the strange and extremely-painful-looking device in front of it that terrified her, and her hands reflexively shot up to her neck to grab her necklace.

...But it wasn't there.

She felt panic rising, looking at the women. "Did one of you take it? Who took my necklace?"

The older one scoffed. "We do not take the cursed items of those condemned to die, such as yourself, Cullen." She spat on the ground after mentioning her name, and Peyton's mind started racing.

Did she...Oh no. Oh shit. When she escaped the first cell. She must've lost it then, when she lost some of her shirt as well.

Peyton sank to her knees, starting to sob uncontrollably. "I need my necklace...I can't lose that! I can't lose the only thing I have left of him! Why can't I keep one thing of his to myself? I can't...I can't die without wearing that necklace...!"

The older woman stared at the younger one, who was on the brink of tears at Peyton's distress. "Mizuho! We must get her up!"

"But...Yuma-Senpai...Can you not see? Her heart...Her heart is broken. Can we not let her have a moment?"

Yuma wrenched Peyton up by her elbow, and Mizuho reluctantly grabbed the other one as Peyton hung her head, sobbing and pulling her wrists in a rather odd fashion.

No matter how distressed she was, Peyton was still trying to summon spirit energy. She would not die here.

Ichigo won't die for nothing.

They watched from their two-point-six-mile distance as she was yanked upwards and dragged by two women in white towards the scaffold.

Before they could move to do anything about it, however, they felt Iga Aura all around them, and Ichigo's pulse skyrocketed.

He wasn't going to make it. He wasn't going to make it...

The ninjas appeared out of nowhere, and he suddenly ducked under Renji's arm and made a mad sprint for the hill. "The hell I won't make it!" He shouted.

"GO ITSYGO, GO!" Nel cheered.

Ichigo gripped Zangetsu tighter. "I won't let you die. Not for something like this. You won't die for nothing, Peyton, not here!"