Hello everyone! I'm back finally! I was all ready to start updating in January, but then my computer broke. Luckily, my sister has graciously given me her old computer until I can get a new one.

erica. phoenix16: Sorry I disappeared again! I'm gonna be better about updating from now on, honest! I'm working on figuring out how the rest of the series is going to go so look forward to it!
Sakura02: Yeah…we a bit behind from the manga now…

Thank you: Saint River, Anime hotty lover. 18, Zory rock101, Sailor Pandabear, and IchirakuRamenInc for reviewing!

"Hitomi, slow down a little bit!" Alano did his absolute best to keep up with the girl, but he was beginning to fall behind. He'd never seen such a serious look on Hitomi's face before. "Hitomi!"

Hitomi didn't listen. She was focused on reaching Shuuhei, Komamura, and Tosen. She wanted to get their fast. She knew how close Shuuhei and Komamura had been to Tosen. She knew this was going to be a difficult battle for the two of them. Hitomi finally stopped right beside Shuuhei when she finally reached them.

Shuuhei wasn't in the greatest of shape. He wasn't fully healed from his previous battle, and he was clearly exhausted. He had Kazeshini wrapped around Tosen's zanpaktou. "Shuuhei, you need to rest."

"No," Shuuhei said. "I'm fine, Hitomi." Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Alano. His eyes narrowed when he realized the boy was an Arrancar. "Hitomi, who is that?"

"Alano," Tosen spoke before Hitomi could say anything. "You would betray us?"

Alano gulped as he stopped beside Hitomi. He looked from Tosen, to the suspicious Shuuhei and Komamura, and then finally to Hitomi. Hitomi was looking at him with her bright blue eyes. He drew his sword and managed to shoot Hitomi a weak smile. "Yes," he answered Tosen.

Hitomi gave Alano a beaming smile. There was a sudden surge of energy that went through the entire battlefield. Hitomi whipped around to see what the source of the energy was. She sucked in a breath when she realized it was Aizen. She couldn't quite make out who was fighting with him.

"Aizen-sama is even battling on the front lines," Tosen muttered. He didn't seem to be paying much attention to the three Shinigami and the Arrancar surrounding him. "I suppose if Aizen-sama is fighting, we must give this fight our all."

Komamura cocked his head to the side. "You wish for us to fight with our Bankai?" he asked. "I'm more than happy to oblige you…"

Hitomi tensed up. "That's not what he means, Komamura-taicho…" She had seen the experiments Aizen had conducted on Tosen. She hadn't seen what the final result was, though.

Tosen inclined his head towards Hitomi's voice. "That's correct, Hitomi-sama," Tosen said. A wicked smirk slowly began to spread across his face. "Aizen-sama has given me a power far greater than that of a mere Bankai."

Hitomi's heart clenched at those words. "Don't you dare say that!" Hitomi could almost hear Tosen's zanpaktou crying out. "Just because you let Aizen turn you into a Hollow…"

"Tosen, you did what?!" Komamura cried out.

Tosen didn't respond. He brought his hand up to his forehead and swiftly brought his hand down.

Hitomi shrieked and brought her arms up to shield her face from the violent wind that enveloped Tosen. She couldn't see her former captain anymore. The energy released from his transformation was starting to push Hitomi back. She felt arms wrap around her. She looked up to see Alano holding her close, keeping her from flying away. "Alano…"

"It's okay, Hitomi," Alano shouted. "I've got you!"

When the wind finally dissipated, Tosen stood before them. A Hollow mask covered his entire face. He moved before any of them could react. One moment he was just standing there, the next he was in front of Shuuhei with his sword drawn.

"Shuuhei!" Hitomi screamed as Tosen sliced Shuuhei from his shoulder to his hip. Shuuhei fell from the sky and to the ground. Before she could rush to him, Tosen was right before her. Hitomi didn't even have time to draw her zanpaktou.

Komamura managed to get his zanpaktou between Hitomi and Tosen's zanpaktou. He received a swift kick to the side from Tosen for his trouble. Tosen struck Hitomi in the stomach with the hilt of his sword.

"Hitomi!" Alano rushed forward and caught Hitomi. He stepped back before Tosen could grab Hitomi from him. He supported Hitomi up as she clutched at her stomach. "Are you okay, Hitomi?"

"I'm fine," Hitomi wheezed out. "Komamura-taicho, are you all right?" She called down to the ground where Komamura was.

"Fine," Komamura grit out. He glared up at Tosen, his fangs bared. "How could you fall so far, Tosen?"

Before Tosen could reply, a chain wrapped around his neck. He was yanked back onto the top of a nearby roof. Shuuhei stood over Tosen, his sword poised at Tosen's neck.

"Hitomi, maybe we should get away from here," Alano mumbled. He twisted his hands nervously as Hitomi straightened up. "I don't think we can do anything here."

Hitomi stubbornly shook her head. "There has to be something we can do…" Her eyes widened as Tosen suddenly stabbed Shuuhei and threw him off the building. "Shuuhei!" She dove after Shuuhei quick, Alano close behind her.

Shuuhei attempted to sit up as Hitomi and Alano rushed towards him. He coughed, blood dripping down his chin. He could feel the blood seeping through his uniform from his stab wound.

"Don't move, Shuuhei," Hitomi kneeled beside her fallen vice-captain. The sounds of Komamura and Tosen battling raged in the background. Hitomi held her hands above Shuuhei's wound, opening and closing her hands a few times. She had never been good at healing spells. She wasn't sure what to do to help Shuuhei.

Alano knelt down by Shuuhei's other side. He looked nervously at Shuuhei while the vice-captain glared suspiciously at him. "Um, I can heal you," Alano mumbled. "Not completely, but I can at least close up the hole in your stomach."

Shuuhei glared at Alano and then looked to Hitomi. "Why is there an Arrancar here?"

"Alano is my friend," Hitomi said. "He's a good boy. Let him heal you, Shuuhei." Hitomi looked back over her shoulder when she heard Komamura let out a shout of pain. She fidgeted on the ground, unsure of what to do.

"Go help Komamura-taicho," Shuuhei said. He placed a hand on Hitomi's head and ruffled her hair. "Be careful." He watched as Hitomi quickly flew off to help Komamura. Once she was out of sight, he turned his gaze back to Alano. He glared at the nervously sweating boy. "You going to heal me or not?" Shuuhei asked.

"Yes sir!" Alano quickly placed his hands over Shuuhei's wound. He kept his hands perfectly still as they began to glow green and heal Shuuhei's wound. He kept his head down as Shuuhei continued glaring at him. "You're Shuuhei-san, right?" He asked. When all he got was a grunt, he dared to glance at Shuuhei out of the corner of his eye. "Hitomi talked about you a lot. She really admires you."

Shuuhei finally looked at the small Arrancar full on for the first time. "Why are you helping us? Why aren't you fighting us?"

"Because of Hitomi," Alano answered. "She's my friend. She played with me all the time. We'd hide together from Aizen and the others sometimes. I…I really like her. She always talked about all of you, and how much she missed all of you. I just want to see her happy."

Shuuhei sighed as Alano continued to heal him. "Word of advice; don't ever let Hitsugaya-taicho hear you say that. He'll come after you."

Alano shuddered as he remembered the captain Hitomi had referred to as her father. "He's scarier than Hitomi made him sound."

Shuuhei couldn't help the small chuckle that slipped out. "He definitely is scary when it comes to Hitomi."

Hitomi reached Komamura just as Tosen began changing into his Resurrecciόn form. She drew her zanpaktou and stood beside Komamura. "Are you okay, Komamura-taicho?"

"For now," Komamura answered. "Hitomi, you should retreat away from here. This place is dangerous."

"I'm not a kid, Komamura-taicho," Hitomi huffed out. "I'm a Shinigami too. I can fight."

Before Komamura could answer, Tosen had completed his transformation. Hitomi shuddered at the sight of Tosen's insectoid form. She couldn't stand regular bugs very much. The sight of a giant Tosen moth hovering in the air was just plain terrifying, especially as his large eyes slowly opened.

"I can see!" Tosen screeched with glee. He cocked his head to the side as he took in Komamura's and Hitomi's appearance. "You're just as I imagined you'd be, Hitomi-sama." He turned his focus back to Komamura. "You, on the other, are even uglier than I imagined, Komamura."

"Komamura-taicho isn't ugly!" Hitomi shouted. "He's soft and fuzzy and…" she was cut off by Komamura putting his arm out in front of her. "Komamura-taicho…"

"Words will not reach him any longer, Hitomi," Komamura said. There wasn't even a hint of sadness in his words. "We can only use our zanpaktou."

Hitomi nodded. "Tobikau Oniyuri!" She and Komamura sent their attacks toward Tosen at the same time. They needed to hurry up and finish this. Shuuhei needed medical attention, more than what they could do. She waited for their attacks to hit, but was shocked when Tosen easily stopped them. "No way…"

"Hitomi!" Komamura leapt in front of Hitomi to shield her from the brunt of Tosen's return attack.

It took Hitomi a moment to regain her bearings. Her ears were ringing and blood was running into her eyes. She didn't feel any hard stone beneath her. Instead, she felt soft fur. She looked up and found Komamura curled around her. He was bleeding seriously and was having difficulty breathing. "Komamura-taicho…"

"What a fool," Tosen hovered above Komamura. He reached down with one of his spindly arms and scooped Hitomi up with his hand. "You shall return to Aizen-sama once I have finished this."

"No!" Hitomi yelled, wriggling desperately against Tosen's grasp. She was still dazed from the previous attack and could only watch helplessly as Tosen prepared to finish Komamura off with a cero blast. "Komamura-taicho!"

Tosen suddenly stiffened. His grip on Hitomi tightened and then he let her go. Hitomi was falling to the ground. She would've hit the rocks below if it weren't for Alano catching her at the last minute. When she looked up, she saw that Shuuhei had stabbed Tosen through the top of his head with his zanpaktou. Hitomi didn't look away as Tosen fell to the rubble below.

When the dust cleared, Tosen was back to his original form. Komamura, Shuuhei, Hitomi, and Alano cautiously walked over to where he was. Tosen looked up at the four of them and coughed. "Komamura…"

"Don't talk," Komamura said. "The hollowfication is allowing you to speak right now, but your throat is torn open. Losing you is going to leave a great hole in my heart, Tosen."

A tear slipped from Tosen's eyes. He looked at the two trembling children and Shuuhei. He gave a weak smile. "Hitomi, Hisagi, come closer. I can still see. I want to…"

Hitomi didn't even have time to open her mouth to scream. One moment Tosen was before them, the next there was nothing but blood. Blood splattered onto the four of them. Hitomi whipped around, knowing immediately who had caused this. She glowered up at the calm looking Aizen. "Aizen!"

Her eyes widened when there was a sudden opening behind Aizen. The person that slipped through the opening and Hitomi couldn't help the tears that began to fall from her eyes. She couldn't believe he was finally there. "Ichigo!"