Hey everyone! Just wanted to do a small update to let you know I'm alive. However, I did let you know I'd be busy with school from now on, and updated my profile saying I wouldn't be able to update until December, so here I am. So glad I'm finished with exams...but second semester is coming up right around the corner.

Thank you to everyone who are continuing to follow, and my new followers. I just realized I have 100 followers! XD

Chapter 22 is short in general, but I have the first half done, so I figured I'd post it, and publish the second half when I'm done.

After Grimmjow and Nicara's breakup they didn't talk to each other. They still lived in the same house, but they acted like strangers to one another. They no longer had breakfast, or dinner together, and neither or them sat in the living room to watch TV. Most of the time they just stayed in their own rooms so they wouldn't have to bump into each other. The two still had feelings for each other, but were going to shut them away for the time being.

They decided to focus on themselves, Nicara on school, Grimmjow on getting more powerful. It was their last year of high school after all, so there's lots to do. Nicara used her extra time to look into universities and get ahead on school work. She had more time to study, and surprisingly she and Uryu tied scores of the last few tests. She never realized how much time dating Grimmjow actually took up. Maybe the breakup was a good thing, at least she knew all she had to do was spend a little more time studying and she can beat Uryu next time.

Grimmjow didn't really want to live with his 'ex-girlfriend' anymore, but it's not like he had anywhere else to go. Yes, he could go back to Kurosaki's closet, but that would be stupid. At least staying meant he had a room to himself. It was just awkward when he bumped into Nicara in the hallway or kitchen, but it wasn't a big deal anymore since he was hardly home. Usually after school now, he'd head over to the Urahara shop and train in the underground training room. While there, he was allowed to change out of his giai into his arrancar form. He felt free, relaxing, and powerful in his true form. Every other day, some of the other shinigami's would come by as well. At first, he didn't like sharing the training area, but found out they made good sparing opponents. They couldn't kill each other of course, but they could beat the hell out of each other which satisfied them both. He didn't realize how much he missed fighting since he'd been spending the last half year with the woman. Maybe going back to being a free man wasn't so bad after all.

With different goals and schedules, Nicara and Grimmjow hardly saw each other around, not that they wanted to anyways. They were drifting apart from one another. Nicara could see this, Grimmjow, on the other hand, didn't really care. Even though Nicara was the one who broke up with Grimmjow, she still wanted to stay close friends. He made it hard for this, however, acting like he hated her at times. Maybe it was the harsh words she said to him when they broke up. She regretted saying them, but if she she was just so angry at the time, everything just poured out of her.

She wanted to connect with him again. Since they broke up, they haven't done anything together; hangout, watch TV, go to the mall, or even have dinner together. Every time she asked if he wanted to go grocery shopping, he'd simply give a flat out 'no.' She figured she'd have to find something Grimmjow liked to do, which was fighting. They haven't trained since Nicara's mom surprise visit. Training was probably the only activity Grimmjow might agree to since it involved him being the smart ass teacher and fighting.

Deciding to give it a try, she headed over to the Urahara shop where Grimmjow spared with Ichigo and the other's after school daily.

Making her way down the steps to the training room, she could already see Grimmjow and Ichigo beating the hell out of each other. They weren't holding back one bit, swords clashing at full speed.

Come to think of it, Nicara never actually seen Grimmjow fight at full strength. She watched him beat up Shou, but he didn't have to use his zanpakuto, just his raw power. In soul society he had that collar on, so he could only use hand to hand combat. Seeing him use sonido, cero, and his zanpakuto was really different. Now she could doubtlessly see he'd been holding back while training her. She truly was weak compared to him.

Ichigo noticed Nicara, so he stopped the sparing session between him and Grimmjow.

"What the fuck Kurosaki, giving up already?"

"No," he motioned towards the stairs, "Nicara's here."

The woman's name got his attention, he whipped his head around to see her standing at the stairway.

"What are you doing here?" he grunted. He didn't expect her to come here, she should be at home doing her school shit.

"I wanted to ask you something. Will you train me again? Just like we use to ... before we broke up." He didn't answer, which wasn't great, but at least it wasn't a complete no. "Please Grimmjow..."

"Why?" he wondered. Didn't she hate him? Why would she want to be around him?

Because I miss you, she thought. She didn't say that out loud of course, he wouldn't give a crap if that was her reason. "Because I want to get stronger and learn how to control my powers."

"Why don't you get Kurosaki to teach you, huh?"

"Cause my powers are closer to yours. Plus I think you're a better teacher." It was true she could ask Ichigo to train her, but he'd probably go soft on her. Afraid to hurt her because she was a girl. "Please?" she begged once more.

He took a minute to think it over. The thing was, he didn't mind training Nicara, in fact he use to enjoy it very much. But they broke up, she let him go. However, deep down he still had feelings for her, even though she called him a heartless monster. "Fine, but don't expect me to go easy on you like before,"

"I won't! Thank you Grimmjow!" On reflex she went over to hug him, but before their bodies made any contact, he roughly shoved her away. His actions were so cold, she didn't expect him to push her away like that. She thought the most he would do was pull away. Was he this hurt because of the breakup? She thought he would've just brushed the words away and move on.

"Grimmjow, I..."

He only shoved past her, not even looking at her when he said, "Training starts tomorrow after school, don't be late."

Training didn't go too well, at least not for Nicara. Two minutes into the lesson, Grimmjow charged at her at full speed, kicking her right int the stomach. It sent her flying and skidding across the ground. Before she could recover, he flashed over and grabbed a fistful of her hair to whisper, "You're pathetic. If I was a real opponent you'd be deal already."

She knew she was weak, but did he have to rub it in? Angrily she yelled, "That's why I want you to help me get stronger! How is beating me up going to help?"

Grimmjow raised a brow, surprised by her tone. "It helps me see how fucking weak you are and what kind of shit I need to teach you. Any more question?" Nicara was quiet after that. "Good, I didn't think so. Just cause you're a woman doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you, you should know that by now."

The week went by fairly quickly thanks to the after school training sessions. Even though Grimmjow was only treating her as a student, Nicara was glad she could be around him again. During their breaks she'd ask Grimmjow personal questions since she realized she hardly knew much about him.

"Grimmjow, how old are you?" she asked curiously, taking a drink from her water bottle.

He crossed his arms. "Tch, older than you."

"So like 40? or 100? or 200?" His age wasn't a big deal, but she was still curious to know the number.

"When I was an an adjuchas I didn't have a fuckin' calendar. I was too busy hunting and trying to survive to bother counting the days."

"Then do you know when your birthday is?"

That he knew. "July 31."

Her face lightened up. "That's great, our birthday's are in the same month. Mines July 16."

"Don't care. Why'd you tell me, I ain't going to remember."

"That's okay, but I'll remember yours." Grimmjow most likely never had a birthday party before; right when she get's home later, she was going to mark her calendar. He probably didn't like parties, but when July 31 rolls around she was going to try her best to throw him the most memorable birthday ever.

Nicara was at Orihime's house, talking with Rangiku. Orihime was in the kitchen trying out new recipes while they were in the living room chatting. Toshiro was constantly pacing in and out depending on the two girl's conversation topic; he was waiting for a video chat from soul society.

"Are you and Grimmjow going to get back together?"

Nicara shook her head. "No, I don't think so, it's better off if we just stay friends."

"Aww, you two made such a cute couple."

She rolled her eyes. "Really, Rangiku?"

"Yes! Don't you still have feelings for him? I know he technically cheated on you, but I'm sure he didn't mean to."

"Well yeah, I kinda want to, but what's the point?"

"What do you mean?"

"Grimmjow's not human. I should have realized this sooner, but he, like the rest of you, age really slowly. What's the point in falling for someone when you know it's not going to work out? It's setting myself for failure."

"Well... if you put it that way there isn't really much to say. Cause, well, you're kinda right, logically at least."

Nicara sighed, her voice a whisper. "I just don't want to waste my time on something that can never be."

Rangiku gently placed her hand on her friends' back. "Is it really about time, or are you afraid of getting your heart broken?"

Nicara still really liked Grimmjow, however, they were two completely different types of beings. He is an arrancar, while she is a human, something they could never change. They're realationship was almost like that popular vampire love story. Except the girl begs her beloved to change her into a vampire so they can live hapily together after. The situation was different though;she couldn't ask Grimmjow to turn her into an arrancar. No, that would be crazy talk. It was just time to face the truth, it will never work out with Grimmjow. "Both...," she admittedly whispered.

Suddenly, a young girl with a bonnet appeared on the tv screen used to communicate with soul society. Toshiro came running into the living room.

"Hitsugaya-kun! It's so good to see you." she exclaimed.

"Hinamori! How many times do I have to tell you? It's not "Hitsugaya-kun". It's "Captain Hitsugaya""

She laughed, scratching her head. "Sorry, old habit."

He sighed, knowing no matter how many times he corrected her, she'd still forget. "Anyways, It's good to see you too. Where's captain?"

"Oh, he'll be here in a minute. He's just running a little late. Well, how have you and the other's been, Hitsugaya-kun?" It looked like vein was about to pop out of Toshiro's forehead, but he didn't bother correcting Momo this time.

"Rangiku's right behind me sitting on the couch." He moved out of the way so Momo could see.

Momo squinted her eyes so she could see Rangiku and gibe her a friendly wave. However, her eyes widened as she caught sight of the girl beside her shinigami friend. The girl with the black hair looked so familiar. They made eye contact for a split second, and she couldn't help but mutter, "Ciara?"

Looking directly at Nicara, Momo questioned "Ciara?"

Rangiku, and Toshiro turned to look at Nicara who was clearly confused.

"Who, me?" she confirmed, pointing at herself. "My name's Nicara."

"Oh, sorry bout' that!" Momo apologized with a bow, slightly embarassed. "You just remind me of an old friend, that's all."

Nicara shrugged it off. "Yeah, no worries."

"Oh, I think captain is ready to speak with you Toshiro, bye, see you next time."

They waved Momo goodbye. Next the captain showed up on screen, he wanted to talk with Toshiro privately, so the two girls left the room.

"You know what?" Nicara said to Rangiku,"I might as well head home now, see you tomorrow."

"Bye."

While walking home, Nicara couldn't help but think about the shinigami girl, Momo. When they made eye contact with each other, it almost felt like she saw right through her. Like she knew her; she felt a connection.

Crossing the street, Nicara was still thinking about Momo, so she failed to notice a car speeding around the corner. One second she was fine, the next she felt something ramming into her side. Her head hit the cement road, causing her vision to blur and eyelids to close. The last thing she saw was the vehicle that hit her speeding away.

So Nicara's going to be back at the hospital again, any predictions?

Next update: hmmm, not too sure, but let's say sometime in January.