Title: Dead and Gone
Pairings: This chapter contains references to: Hisagi/Kira, Hisagi x Hinamori, and Renji x Rukia
Rating: M
Warnings: There is also slight OOC, some language, a lot of blood, and war. There are also a few errors in here that I most likely didn't catch.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, Tite Kubo does.

Ukitake looked out the window as he heard the rain start to fall up against his window, his heart breaking as he took a deep breath. It had only been a few hours since he had sent the army away to Hueco Mundo, only a few hours since Ikkaku walked into his office and told him that they were gone. He closed his eyes tighter as he tried to take it all in. War was waging around them, war was going to destroy all of them.

He could still feel Yamamoto breathing down his neck; he could still feel his sensei's gaze upon him, trying to oversee everything that he was doing. If Yamamoto was still alive what would he say as he saw the way the Ukitake had destroyed the Soul Society? When Yamamoto would have killed Hisagi after the transplant, Ukitake promoted him like nothing had happened.

He then heard a knock on the door, his attention turning to the noise. "Come in," he expected it to be Ikkaku; he was surprised as he saw no such person. His heart stopped as he saw who it was, everything starting to sink in. "Hinamori-taichou? What brings you here?"

The 5th Division captain walked into the room, a hollow look within her eyes as she sat before the soutaichou. "Ukitake-soutaichou…" she breathed as she avoided his eyes. "The war… is there any word on how this war is going?"

Ukitake sighed, he could feel her pain. "Hinamori…"

"Any word whatsoever? A whisper? A thought? Anything on how this is all going? Please," she closed her eyes. "It hasn't been that long but I can feel flucuations in his reiatsu…"

"He's in another dimension…"

"I can feel them… I can feel fluctuations," Hinamori was on the verge of tears. "I came here to ask you what's going on. Do you have any communication with them?"

Ukitake shook his head. "I can't be sure what will happen to them until they return or they send a messenger…"

Hinamori bowed her head. "But…"

"It's going to be alright Hinamori-taichou," he looked deeply in her eyes. "There's nothing to fear. Hisagi-kun is strong that's why I sent him. Not to mention, the hollows may get confused, feel Aizen's presence within him and let him get deeper into there to find any information about what Aizen was doing…"

He looked at her again; none of this was comforting her. How could it? How could he tell her that everything was going to be alright when Hisagi had the seed of the devil within his chest? He closed his eyes as he thought about the conversation that he had with Renji before he left.

"If he shows any sign of transforming into Aizen, you'll have to destroy him…" Ukitake sighed as he looked away from Renji's eyes which had doubled in size. "You have to kill him while he's still Hisagi Shuuhei. We can't disrespect him by letting Aizen take him over for even a second."

Renji swallowed hard as he looked at Ukitake shaking his head. "Surely there's another…"

"No! You have to kill him while he's still Hisagi. You have to do it Abarai, those are your orders."

Renji closed his eyes as his heart was breaking. "I will…"

Ukitake had doubts, such doubts about how this was all going to turn out. Did he make the wrong choice sending Hisagi? Was he putting him in terrible danger by throwing him in Aizen's territory? All of it aside, he had to make the choice, but even so he still felt the fear rolling within him. He could still feel the guilt of sending him

"If I hear anything, I'll tell you," Ukitake smiled. "Until then… you're going to have to do whatever it takes to keep your spirits up…"

Hinamori shook her head. "I don't know… I just don't know…"

Ukitake closed his eyes as he knew that everything was happening for a reason. He was going to restore the order that Yamamoto had always wanted. All he needed to do was rid them of the threat that Aizen was posing. But the war did not have the response that he had wanted. Captain upon captain had come in asking him for news on the war and he told every one of them the same thing: he didn't know. He closed his eyes as he knew the uproar was only starting. This was just the tip of this iceberg.

0o0o0o0o0o0

The lieutenants sat around a table as they all were silent none of them looking at each other. The silence was deafening, none of them wanting to talk about the situation that they were in, no one wanted to mention the fact that they were at war. No matter what happened, they could still feel the pressure of Aizen on top of them, suffocating them. The subject of Aizen and the fact that he could be resurrected was something that no one had wanted to talk about. It was their place to hold their tongue. That was captain business.

That changed when Ikkaku opened his mouth.

"Is this what our meetings have been reduced to? A memorial service for the fallen captains?"

"They haven't fallen yet," Yumichika scoffed. "Have more faith in them!"

"How can we have faith in them if we aren't even sure if they're going to make it?" Ikkaku asked. "They're just kids. Those kids are going to get themselves killed and there's nothing that we can do about it."

"He has a point," Iba breathed. "Hisagi wasn't doing to well before we sent him. He's not in the right state of mind, not to mention, there's a chance that Hisagi could be overtaken by Aizen himself."

"And that's why we're all so grim?" Yumichika asked. "War isn't always the beginning of sorrow and death. Battle doesn't always mean bloodshed."

"And you used to be in the 11th Division?" Iba asked. "You know damn well, first hand that battle can only lead to more death. The two of them are going to get themselves killed. I don't know what Ukitake was thinking, but whatever it is, he knows that at least one of them will die."

Matsumoto slammed her fist up against the table. "Are you jinxing them, Iba? Are you saying that you want Hisagi to die? Are you saying that you think that Ukitake-soutaichou lead him to his death? You know how your captain would take to that."

"Taichou never wanted Hisagi to go in the first place. He made a promise that he was going to protect him no matter what. Tousen would never have let this happen if he were still here. Especially in Hisagi's condition… with that heart in his chest…" Iba explained, his heart sinking in his chest with every syllable.

"You're saying that he's going to die just because of that?" Matsumoto asked. "After everything that's happened…"

"What's happened? He's been completely safe from harm and now he's been thrown into the danger zone and for what? For all of us to be able to sleep better at night? Who has actually been sleeping better since they left? God knows Komamura-taichou hasn't…" Iba explained.

"No one has taken it as hard as Hinamori-taichou…" Kiyone breathed.

"You're wrong," Sentarou continued. "There is one who has taken it even worse than Hinamori-taichou. Even though she is Hisagi-taichou's lover, I feel as though Kira-taichou has long suffered, and he has suffered greatly. He has become nothing more than a zombie, a shell of his former self, something that I never thought I would see him like this. He can't work, he can't sleep, he spends most of his time in the 9th Division these days, hell, he's even offered to take over Hisagi-taichou's work while he's gone…"

"Understandable," Rukia said from the corner. "Or have you all not noticed?"

"Noticed what?" Kiyone asked.

Rukia sighed, a blank expression on her face. "The love triangle. Hisagi-taichou wanted Hinamori-taichou from Kira-taichou, yet at the gala he was caught attached by the lips to Kira. Kira is finding it hard leaving it like that. They didn't really leave on the best terms."

Nanao shook her head. "Kira should be proud…"

"Of what?" Yumichika asked. "That is friend his going to die like a dog? No! Even dogs have more dignity than that. He is going to be murdered like cattle for a pointless cause. Ichimaru and Tousen have no doubt destroyed any evidence that Aizen might have left behind, this is a futile cause."

"Besides, we all know how your captain feels about Hisagi…" Matsumoto scowled.

"I don't agree with him. He makes the decisions. I have nothing to do with anything that he says in court!" Nanao answered.

"Do you agree with him?" Rukia asked.

"This is a great chance for Hisagi-taichou to get his prestige back," Nanao continued. "This is his chance to become the captain that Yamamoto-soutaichou always wanted him to be."

"What does it matter to you as long as Renji comes back, Kuchiki?" Ikkaku asked looking at Rukia. "You don't even care about Hisagi. You come to these meetings to see if we have anything more on Abarai, you could care less if Hisagi got murdered!"

The arguments had broken out every week as they waited for a messenger, for some sort of sign that they were going to come back alright. But throughout everything, they had no one to blame but each other, they had no one to lash out at but all of the other lieutenants. They didn't have the same authority as the captains; they were not so high in the chain of command that they would be told by the soutaichou himself, they were going to have to wait for their own captains to tell them what had happened to their captains.

All of them had someone in the war that they cared about. All of them had to watch as their captains waited for the war to be over, for some hope that they were going to survive the night. They all were waiting for the day when everything would change, the day where there would be no more fear.

"This isn't doing any good!" Matsumoto announced. "Yelling at each other? We're a team. We're here to discuss how we can get out of this situation. Our captains are suffering. Our captains are falling apart. We have to be the ones who stay strong throughout all of this. We have to be the ones to get all of the work done. We have to be the ones that they can lean on."

Matsumoto closed her eyes as she ran her fingers along her neck. Her necklace was gone and the only reason why she would ever want to see it again was if both of them returned alive and well. She closed her eyes and waited for the day that they would return. Their hope would come back.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Hisagi walked through the halls of Las Noches, sword in his hand as several members of the 2nd Division were behind him. So far there was nothing there. There was nothing to advert them from their goal of getting deeper into the palace. Only a meager amount of hollows stopped them from the entrance, all of them being easily eliminated from their path. Now inside the walls, they moved quickly, waiting to find something that would stop them.

"Do you think that the Espada still exist, taichou?"

"No," Hisagi breathed as he rested his back against the wall before turning the corner. "I wouldn't doubt that Tousen and Ichimaru destroyed all of them when they came back. No, what we are to face is far worse than any Espada…"

"What is that?"

Hisagi gritted his teeth. "Angry hollows waiting for Ichimaru to come back so they can settle the score…"

He closed his eyes as he ran his fingers along the necklace that was around his neck. He had made a promise that day; the words that he had said were still rolling through his mind like it was yesterday. He remembered the look in Matsumoto's eyes as she handed him the necklace, the sorrow in her voice as she watched them walk away. He never wanted to see that again. He never wanted her to feel that again. That promise was the only thing that was keeping her alive, it was only thing that kept her believing in him, that one day he would come back and he would finally be the old Hisagi Shuuhei that they had all known and respected. After all of the agony, he would finally be back in his place of glory.

"What do we do?"

"Wait," Hisagi whispered as he put a hand out in front of his troops. "I'll go…"

He walked around the corner and moved into the darkness hearing footsteps from the distance. Acting on instinct, he placed his hand on Kazeshini, his heart racing as he swallowed hard, moving closer to the footsteps in the darkness. His pulse raced to the point where he thought his heart would stop, every step sending chills deeper through his body. Slowly he pulled his zanpakutou out of its sheath, hearing some of the 2nd Division shinigami following him.

"Taichou!"

"Stay back!" Hisagi yelled as he pulled out his sword. "And be on watch… there's something in the room…"

In the dark, Hisagi could feel the hollow's presence in front of him, only to feel his sword being forced out of his hands falling across the floor to the darkest corner. His eyes tried to find what was attacking him only hearing the screams of hollows drowning out the cries of his squad as their bodies hit the floor.

"Run away!" he yelled as he looked around the room. "I'll take care of them!"

"Taichou!"

He moved to grasp his other zanpakutou, feeling claws dig deeply in his shoulder as he was pushed into a wall, his ribcage collapsing at the pressure. "Damn it!" he closed his eyes tightly as he felt his arm start to fall limp up against Kyouka Suigetsu, blood rolling down his arm as his heart started to race, his body filling with pain as the claw dug deeper, the shrieking starting to fade as his consciousness did.

"Taichou!"

He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, his hand shaking as he raised it to the hollow's chest. Pushing it out of the way, he only had a few seconds to act. He only had a moment to tilt the scale back in his favor. Lifting his left hand as his broken ribs pushed uncomfortable against his lungs, blood rolling through his lips as he tried to block out the urge to cough. He swallowed harshly as the warm sensation of blood rolled down his throat, his body shuddering, his body wanted to vomit, It wanted to fall down and die, but as the hollow moved closer to him, he knew there was only one moment to do this. This was his last chance.

"Hado 90: Kurohitsugi!" he closed his eyes as the hollow screamed falling to the ground, his vision starting to cloud.

"Hisagi-san!" he heard a voice scream, Renji coming closer to him. "Hisagi-san!"

He could feel Renji by his side, but he couldn't see him in the dark along with his failing eye-sight. "A-Abarai…"

"What happened?" Renji asked.

"This is tougher than I thought…" Hisagi breathed. "I had to use kidou level 90 for it to die…"

Renji could hear the strain in his voice; he could feel his body shaking as it was difficult to even breathe. "We need to get you out of here…" he lifted the captain's body off the ground. "Those of you who are still alive come with me. For those of you who can't walk get assistance now!"

Hisagi swallowed hard as Renji carried him down the hallway, his hand up against his chest a single surge of pain went through his heart. He fought the feeling of vomit. He fought everything that he could, but it was no use as a glut of blood spewed past his lips, Renji holding onto him tighter as he felt the warmth on his face.

"Hisagi-san!"

Hisagi shuddered as he felt his heart stop again, pulsations of pain going through his body. "A-Abarai… A-Aizen…" the next words almost stopped Renji's heart dead in his chest. "Aizen's in the palace…" he swallowed hard against the rush of blood rising in his throat. "He's here…"

Renji almost dropped Hisagi as he heard those words. Aizen was dead; they all saw Ichimaru kill him. They all saw Ukitake have the body burned. Aizen no longer had a body to call his own; he would be nothing more than shell of his former self. But as Renji felt the fluctuations in Hisagi Shuuhei's pulse, he knew that this war was going to get bigger than they had ever imagined.

"It's going to be alright…" Renji breathed as he looked at the necklace that was around Hisagi's neck remembering his promise to Matsumoto. "You're going to be alright."

Hisagi coughed. "He's in Las Noches," he shuddered in Renji's arms as the 13th Division captain held onto him tighter. "We can find what we're looking for if you just keep moving forward!"

"I'm not going to risk you!" Renji argued his grip on Hisagi tightening. "I can feel your reiatsu failing right now. You're fading fast; we need to get you out of here as quickly as possible."

"But Aizen!"

"He'll have to wait," Renji breathed as he looked down at Hisagi once they were in the light, blood covering his whole body, as more scarlet liquid rolled past his lips, falling to the ground. "You're no good to us dead…"

He held onto him tighter as Rikichi walked along Renji's side holding Kazeshini. This war was starting to get interesting…

This is the next installment in the Falling Petals universe. This is what happens between Kaleidoscope and my next story Broken Wings. This is going to be of moderate legnth (like ten chapters) and then we will move on. This is just to fortify the themes that occur in Broken Wings as well as put more light on the Kira/Hisagi/Hinamori love triangle.

I recommend reading Falling Petals and Kaleidoscope first.

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Also feel free to review.