CHAPTER 14: THE EXILED

Kira dropped by the 10th Division's barracks to congratulate Hitsugaya's promotion to Captain of the 10th Division. Hitsugaya thanked him, without a smile. Just then, Hinamori and Renji came into his office as well, with the same intentions. Hitsugaya nodded at them and sighed. After years of hard work, he had finally achieved Bankai and the rank of Captain. He felt a little satisfied, but not a bit happy. The person he had wanted to see the most, the girl he wanted to show his Captain's haori to was not here. In fact, she had been gone for a total of forty years now and did not seem to be coming back. Inside, he strongly believed that she would come back and decided to await her return. Kira passed him a box, before leaving his office with Hinamori and Renji.

Hitsugaya stared at the box for a moment, before he decided to open it. According to Kira, it might cheer him up. Hitsugaya looked at the contents of the box, instantly realising who these items belonged to. Tayomi Sakuri. He sighed, before locking his door, placing the box on the floor and taking out every single item that was inside it. There were all sorts of things inside. He managed to dig out her old notebooks, including her old diary. Then, he found something that she held close to her heart. It was her pink bunny soft toy. The pink bunny that she could never go to sleep without. She had left it at Soul Society. Looking at the bunny's adorable eyes, he cuddled it, thinking of her endlessly. He quickly kept the contents of the box back under the desk in his new office, except for the bunny. Walking to his bed with the bunny in his hand, he slid under the covers, hugging the bunny as if it was Tayomi herself.

Tayomi and Kiseida walked down the street. Though Karakura Town was rather small, they had yet to explore all the shops in it, due to most of their days being occupied by work. Tayomi had finally paid off the guitar and the book, but they decided to keep working there, in order to sustain their 'bills' and pay for their expenses. Their days in Karakura Town were normal, peaceful, but definitely lacking in excitement. Although, they had to admit, they were relieved that not a single hollow had come after them. Kiseida and Tayomi were skilled in Kidou, thus they could hide their reiatsu well. More than half of their reiatsu had been restored, but they could not return to Soul Society immediately. Travelling in between worlds was exhausting and hard on a Shinigami's body. They could not risk exhausting their reiatsu and having to replenish it again. Both had decided to wait for their reiatsu to be fully restored before going back to Soul Society. In their hearts, they were sure that once they got back, they would have a lot of explaining to do.

They walked into a deserted park, usually sitting down there to watch the sun set. Tayomi sighed as the orange sun turned the sky into a palette of pastel hues, making it look like a work of art. She sighed, before lying down on the grass beside her best friend and closing her eyes. All of a sudden, she felt something drip down onto her face. Opening her eyes, she looked up to see a huge hollow in front of her. Kiseida, who lay beside her, was staring at the hollows as well. They both screamed in unison, quickly running as far away as they could. Running in their uncomfortable Gigai proved to be a difficult task as their legs did not move as fast as they usually did. Oh my gosh, someone get me out of here!

They stopped in their tracks and turned around, realising that no one was going to come to their aid and they should just fight it together. Since they were unable to transform out of their Gigai, they were left with no option but to use Hakuda and Kidou. Between the two, Tayomi decided to choose Kidou without hesitation. Hakuda would kill her much faster. She was aware that she had to use incantations and needed to fight at a distance. Dashing off to a corner far off, she raised her arm and chanted.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens. Hadou 63, Soren Sokatsui!"

The two blasts of blue fire hit the hollow square in its gut, causing it to roar loudly. Kiseida fired Hadou 58, Tenran, at the hollow, as it became angrier and angrier. Its eyes lighted up into a bloody red shade, before swinging out its heavy arms, crashing into Tayomi and Kiseida's chests, knocking them ten metres backwards. Panting and gasping for air, Tayomi struggled as she stood up, trying to steady herself. Kiseida did the same as well, before firing another Kidou spell at the hollow. The hollow growled and charged towards Kiseida. She had no time to avoid the spell. Tayomi quickly raised her hand and chanted.

"Carriage of thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six! Bakudou 61, Rikujokoro!"

The beams of light held the hollow in its place. Tayomi hoped and prayed that it would stay still for at least a while, so they could take it down together. For the next few minutes, they fired Kidou spells at it non-stop, until it finally disintegrated and disappeared. Tayomi and Kiseida both looked at each other and smiled, before passing out due to exhaustion.

Tayomi awoke in a strange place. The interior was made of wood and looked like a traditional house. She slowly sat up and looked around. Kiseida was up as well and they both inspected their surroundings. Surprisingly, their injuries did not hurt anymore. Someone, whoever owned this strange place had healed them. Just then, a small and raven-haired girl walked into the room. She asked after the both of them and Tayomi replied her, thanking her for healing them. The girl shook her head, claiming that she was not the one who healed them. At that moment, a black cat and a man walked into the shop. He had light blond hair and wore a hat, with green and white stripes. Tayomi stared at him blankly. That man had such a strange, mysterious appearance. She looked at the three of them, wondering who they were.

"The two of you are Shinigami, aren't you?" The blond man asked.

"Wait. Who are you?" Tayomi shot them a curious look.

"Oh! This is Tsumigiya Ururu and Shihoin Yoruichi." He smiled, pointing to the little girl and the black cat. "And I'm Urahara Kisuke, the handsome, wonderful owner of this little candy shop! Would you like some candy?"

Urahara thrust a whole mound of candy into Tayomi's arms. Tayomi stared at the candy, then Kiseida, then Urahara. How did that man know that they were Shinigami? Since either Urahara or Yoruichi were able to heal them, they were likely to be Shinigami as well. However, Urahara and Yoruichi's names seemed to ring a bell. After a moment of thinking, she realised that they were Shinigamis that had been exiled many years back. Her heart fell, knowing that she could not possibly ask an exiled Shinigami to open a Senkai Gate and trouble them.

"You people are Shinigami too…" Tayomi muttered. "I hope this isn't too much to ask, but do you know how to fix communicators?"

Urahara stared at her blankly, before passing her a manual on fixing communicators. Tayomi thanked him and Urahara questioned them. She ended up explaining the events that took place forty Soul Society years ago. The three of them listened intently, before nodding their heads. Urahara told them that he had managed to heal them both, but as he did not specialise in healing Kidou, he had only managed to heal their injuries and restore a small amount of their reiatsu. He stated that they had exhausted a lot of energy in fighting the hollow and further exhaustion would be disastrous, increasing the possibilities of doing further damages to their bodies and their reiatsu. Yoruichi asked Tayomi about her future plans, while she and Kiseida stayed in the Human World, waiting for their reiatsu to be fully replenished. Tayomi possessed so much spiritual energy that healing her was especially tiring. She sighed and told Yoruichi that it was likely that she would train. Urahara smiled and told them to follow him.

He brought them into a large room, resembling a deserted land without life. There were cracks in the ground and Tayomi nearly tripped over. Yoruichi introduced this strange room as an underground training area and revealed to them to true identity of the shop. Urahara's Shop was in truth, a shop that caters to a Shinigami's needs. It was like a base for Shinigamis who entered Karakura Town. Urahara suggested that if they intended to train, they could use this area. Yoruichi added that they should abstain from straining their bodies too much while training, fearing that the two youths would go overboard with their work.

"It will cost you though!" Urahara gave them a sly smile.

Tayomi sighed and looked at Kiseida. They both agreed and told Urahara that they would use his training ground. In exchange, they would pay him every single time they wanted to enter. She told him that they would not come often, as they had jobs in the daytime and other things to tend to. With that, they made an agreement and Kiseida and Tayomi departed from the store. They smiled in delight, knowing that in a few months time, in five Soul Society years, their reiatsu would be fully restored and their injuries would be fully healed. They would be able to return home, stronger than ever.

"Enter, new Captain of the 10th Division, Hitsugaya Toushirou!" Yamamoto's voice boomed.

Hitsugaya entered the meeting room, with the other Captains staring at him. They were certainly taller than him and appeared to be impressed, as he had risen to the ranks of Captain so quickly, despite his age. After a brief introduction, Hitsugaya took his place and stood beside Captain of the 12th Division, Kurotsuchi Mayuri. Yamamoto nodded and immediately began the meeting.

Author's note:
Urahara is awesome. I won't be happy if Bleach ends without showing his Bankai :D Alright, next chapter is chapter 15! Tayomi and Kiseida are finally going home... NOT. Because they have to go towards another place. Yes everyone, I am finally linking this story to the Fake Karakura Town Arc! XD I know most of you are thinking why Tayomi and Hitsugaya never met in the real world... It's because Tayomi is a busy girl. She has jobs in the day and she can't train often. Thus she doesn't visit and pay Urahara to use his training ground often. Besides, she'll be focusing on trying to figure out Urahara's unuser-friendly manual (He's smarter than her... T.T) And if they met in the real world, that's rather anti-climatic.
I hope you liked this chapter! :D Please review! Thanks! ^.^ Lets await Tayomi's return!