A/N: Two songs: Broken Hearts, Torn Up Letters and the Story of a Lonely Girl by Lostprophets and Seize the Day by Avenged Sevenfold seem (to me at least) to capture the whole them of Bleach especially with 423. They also were the inspirations of my two fanfics

Location: 2281

Shift: Black (12:00-6:00)

She reads her assignment to herself, thankful that she is given something to do, to break the monotony of the paperwork, the training and more paperwork. The Seireitei has been quiet lately with the war over and the casualty reports filled out and filed. Even with her promotion it's still quiet.

She arrives in the Living World at midnight local time and looks at her surroundings. Who would be so cruel as to place her at this location? She sees everything familiar to her, the streets, the shops and the clinic the Senkaimon has dropped her in front of.

On the ground she stares up at the sign and feels her chest tighten. She fights back the well of emotions springing up inside her and tries her damnedest to suppress them. She lets the tiniest gasp escape her lips and purses them together not letting anymore sound escape.

She turns away and leaps into the sky standing weightlessly on the air. Taking a moment to compose herself she breathes in deeply. There is no one within a fifty mile radius who can see her, so why she worry?

She stands atop a telephone pole, her vantage point of preference. She can see the whole city sprawling out underneath her, all the people she alone must protect by herself, without backup.

Without backup, the thought hits her like a train and she fights back yet another wave of emotion. She has half a mind to transfer locations and protect somewhere halfway across the world. She wants to be anywhere but here.

She looks at the house; all the lights are off but one. Curious she peers into the window, knowing she should know better but she still does it. Her heart does several back flips when she sees the boy with orange hair sitting at his desk scribbling away at a piece of paper.

She watches him, not caring that she's violating so many laws of both the Living World and the Soul Society. For now, seeing him is enough to console her aching heart.

He scratches his head looks down at the paper and tears it into a thousand tiny little pieces. He sinks back into his chair and picks his pen up.

She watches his every move and focuses keeping her breathing even. She can tell he is struggling with the whole situation and she wants nothing more to comfort him. It hurts even more knowing that he is suffering and she can't be there.

He gets up, taking her by surprise and she jumps back trying to hide. She realizes that he can no longer see her and ignoring the stab in her stomach resumes her perch. He comes toward the window and opens it sliding a piece of paper between the panes. He closes the window and shuts the lights off, thus ending her little show.

She stares at the paper, knowing that it is for her, at least that what she hopes. She goes over to the window and gently pulls the paper from its spot.

There are only for word scribbled on the paper, but she knows who they are directed to. She climbs through the window and sinks down on the floor of his room and curls into a ball letting tears fall freely from her eyes. Though she is crying no sound escapes her, probably from all the practice back at the Kuchiki household.

Once again she composes herself, and gets up off the floor. He is asleep on his bed, lying on his back, with his mouth slightly open. She walks over to the side of his bed and sits by his side, watching his chest rise and fall slowly. She brushes her fingers against his cheek and brushes his orange bangs off his forehead. Slowly she lowers her face toward his and brushes her lips against his, wondering if he can even feel it. When she pulls back she leans on his desk, picks up the pen she gave him and pulls a clean sheet of paper in front of her.

There are so many words in her head that she can't seem to put on the paper. It is as if the words are water pouring out of a faucet and the flow is suddenly stopped when she puts the pen to paper. She pulls his note out of her shihakusho and reads it again.

Finally she knows what to write.

She leaves it on his desk and slips out the window. Her shift is just starting.