After Rin and Taro got out of the city, the trek to wherever they were going was long and tiring. At least, it was for Taro. He had a hard time breathing and eventually lagged behind Rin, who was fine, despite the steep upwards hill. At some point Taro called back his zanpakuto and gave the sword back to Rin, who accepted it warily, afraid that it was going to turn into stars again. That helped a little, but not much.

The wind blew through the trees gently. Leaves that formerly clung to their branches for dear life let go and fell to the ground silently. The utter silence that clung to everything made Rin wary. It seemed like all of creation was holding its breath.

"This way," Taro huffed as he pushed open an old metal gate that Rin had not noticed, "it's in here, I think."

Rin stopped before entering into the gate. For the first time, he could sense something that should not have been there, something dead, and yet, still awake. His hand clutched the hilt of his sword a little tighter.

"Taro," his voice was barely a whisper, "there is something... off here."

Taro chuckled, "Come on, don't be a wimp."

Vigilantly, Rin entered the gate, the feeling in his stomach grew stronger with every step he took. It got worse, in fact, when he realized that he and Taro were in a graveyard. Old, broken, moss-covered tombstones rose out of the decaying leaves. Some of them were so covered in plants that it was hard to tell what they really were. The farther in they went, the darker it seemed to get, until Rin realized that heavy rain clouds had blocked out the sun. Rin listened and he heard nothing, there was no wind, there were no animals prowling outside of his sight, even the footsteps that he and Taro were taking seemed silent in that moment.

The calm before the storm, he thought.

Then several things happened at once.

Taro yelled, "Aha!" and began to run.

Something Rin had previously thought was a boulder moved, and pounced at Taro.

Finally, the heavens opened up and a flood of rain fell down so violently that Rin was forced to his knees by the sheer power of it. He raised his head in an attempt to see what had become of Taro and could barely see his outline. He could hear something growling,

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

Rin stood up and made his way to the last place that he saw Taro, something in his gut telling him that Taro was gone. Fear, that was what was in his stomach, making him afraid of what he would find.

But Taro was there, unharmed, and utterly confused.

"Rin I-" he didn't get to finish his sentence before the thing that was not a boulder pounced at him again. Its form was that of a man, a large, twisted man, but it wore a white mask whose features resembled that of a cat. In the middle of the thing's chest there was a hole, an empty, hollow place where there was once a heart.

"Who are you?" it demanded again, "I do not know you!"

Taro's face morphed into an expression of hate and anger, "I came here looking for my son!"

There was an audible intake of breath from the thing, before it turned and ran into the woods. Looking at Taro's face, Rin could see an expression of realization. Taro blinked and shook his head,

"Could that-," he faltered and closed his eyes tightly, "of course, how could I have forgotten. I was gone for so long."

He stood up and, with no regard for Rin, went after the thing. Rin stood, alone, afraid, and cold, in the rain. He looked for a moment, at the place that Taro had been headed for, the place that his chain lead. He saw two tombstones, each one leaning on the other. He bent down to read the names.

Daiki Jaegerjaquez

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez

He thought, for a moment, that one of them might be the true identity of Taro, but when he saw the dates he realized that he was wrong. Daiki died at the age of fifty two, and Grimmjow died at the age of five. There was no way that either one of them could be his twenty-so year old friend.

"Don't let ages fool you. It is rare for a spirit to appear in this world as the same age they were when they died."

Rin stood up and turned around to face the man who spoke to him. The only thing that was there was a white sheet, with places for the eyes like some sort of cheesy ghost costume. The only thing that made it seem like it wasn't a costume was the fact that it hovered, there were no feet coming from the bottom. A second thing was the state of the sheet, it was completely dry. Even in the downpouring rain, the sheet floated, like one would expect it to on a sunny summer afternoon. The voice coming from the sheet spoke right past the deafening sound of the rain. Rin had no problem hearing anything that he said.

"Your friend is dead, I presume?" the voice sounded so familiar, yet Rin could not place it. It reminded him of something he had heard a long time ago.

"Are you a ghost too?" Rin asked. The man chuckled.

"Yeah, I am."

"Why are you wearing a sheet?" there was no point in trying to find Taro, Rin realized. He had gone into the darkest part of the woods.

"You wouldn't be able to see me if I wasn't." the voice was chipper and happy.

"That makes no sense," Rin said, "I can see Taro just fine and he's dead."

The sheet began moving towards the woods, "Taro and I are very different. Speaking of him, you need to find him, he needs your help."

Rin looked at the trees and the sheet and the terrifying darkness that surrounded everything he saw. His heart lurched, he did not want to enter into the woods and greet the evil and sinister secrets it held. He had just met Taro, what was the point of helping him?

But the voice, it was so familiar, so warm, so trustable. The sheet waited at the edge of where the mountain became steep again. Despite the feeling of danger and illness that Rin felt as he walked toward the ghost, he did not stop. He noted that his chest was beginning to hurt again, and he wondered how long it would be until he was incapacitated because of the pain. Still, his feet carried him forward.

The rain was letting up a little. It was easier to stay standing and Rin was finding it easier to see.

"The sun is setting, isn't it?" he asked the ghost.

"Probably. I think it's about time for dinner, though I don't really care for those things anymore. When was the last time you ate, Rin?"

Rin shrugged, "I don't know, probably yesterday, I don't remember."

The ghost stayed silent. Neither of them spoke as they continued to walk. The temperature continued to drop and, despite the rain, Rin was totally unaffected. He just wanted to go home.

There was a yell from somewhere in front of them. Rin sneered and ran in the general direction of the noise. It wasn't stopping anymore. There was a person screaming, someone was crying, and neither of the voices was familiar to him. He slid to a stop, the view greeting him was one he could never have imagined.

Taro held his hand over the heart of the beast he was fighting. There were tears in his eyes and his mouth kept yelling the same words,

"I remember, now, I remember, please, please, come back to me! I didn't mean to be gone that long!"

The beast roared ferociously. There was something else there, though. The sound of pain, and the sound of regret. The roar gradually morphed into crying. Human crying. The beast got smaller and smaller until it was the size of a human. Most of the mask fell away and a man's face emerged from the white bone. The man was crying. He looked almost identical to Taro, except for the giant hole in his chest and a few of the facial features. This new man stood, wearing a white jacket and white shihakusho-like pants, staring at Taro and weeping. Sob after sob escaped his body as he tried to get words out of his mouth.

Taro fell forward and pulled the man into his arms.

"Papa," he finally managed to get out, "I thought you were never coming back."

Rin let go of the handle of his sword and observed the strange scene. Taro looked back at him and smiled.

"Rin," he said, "I'd like you to meet my son, Grimmjow."

Rin waved weakly.

"I guess, now that I remember," Taro, without letting Grimmjow go, walked to Rin, "I should properly introduce myself. I am Daiki Jaegerjaquez, and this is my son, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez."

"Hey mister!" a small voice said. Rin had to rub his eyes. No longer was there a grown man nestled into the arms of Taro, but a small child, no more than five years old. He wore the drab of a farmer's child. A lump began to well in Rin's throat for reasons he could not explain.

"Hi."

He looked back at Taro, who was suddenly much older than he used to be. Taro looked tired as he held his son.

"Papa," Grimmjow yawned, "I'm sleepy. Can we go home?"
"No, son, we have to stay here."

The ghost who spoke to Rin earlier floated to Taro's side, "I'll take you there now."

"But..." Taro gestured to his chain and it was then that Rin realized that Grimmjow had one as well. Both led back to the two tombstones, Rin assumed.

"I think," the ghost said, "that you'll notice them disappearing if you follow me."

Taro, nodding, began following the floating sheet. Rin looked into his hand,

"Wait, Tar-Daiki!" he ran and caught up with the group, "here," Rin held out his sword, "this isn't mine anyway."

A small smile crept across Taro's face, "Keep it. You'll need it more than I will."

Without another word the two separated. Rin watched them go into the woods, noting the fact that it had stopped raining. When he was alone he looked around. There was nothing else here, except a couple more tombstones. More than a couple, he realized. There was a whole group of them. They sat rather close, as if the people buried there were children, or their bodies had been destroyed. He stumbled to these strange stones, the pain in his chest was growing stronger. There was no way that he could make it back into the town before he became completely incapacitated.

Rin lied down in front of two of the stones. He had a feeling that they were honorary, there was nothing underneath them. The pain grew and he clutched at his chest. Small sounds of misery began to escape him as he twitched. He was alone again. His brother left him, Taro left him, his cat left him. Why was he so alone?

In his pain, he rolled over to look at the sky. I must be hallucinating, he though, I could swear that the stars are moving.

He failed to hear the beautiful, melodic, ringing noises that surrounded him. He did not notice that his sword was gone, and just after he passed out from weariness, the stars collided.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to comment and vote, and if you can think of any way to make this better, let me know!