Road to Redemption

Chapter 21: At Last

A/N: At long last, I am done! One more chapter after this and Part one is finally finished. I'll likely have it out before the month ends should no inconveniences arise ( Y'all know fight scenes take me forever and this one is really long.) As always I hope you all enjoy, and thanks for reading!

© Bleach and it's characters don't belong to me, they belong to Tite Kubo and Shounen Jump. Only Shizuka and Anna Maria belong to me.  

Chapter 21: At Last

The year had begun with rain as opposed to the snow he'd grown used to. Ulquiorra carefully placed the last tray of the day in the oven, now that the bakery was closed all that was left to do was clean.

Sometimes he could not believe the radical change his life had undergone. From a nihilistic warrior to a seemingly normal man with a lovely girlfriend and pet, nobody would believe him if he told them. Still, the shadow from the past crept up behind him, for lately more hollows had been flocking to Karakura. He knew Anna was going to come here soon.

"Hey Ulquiorra, have you seen Ms. Chiyo? I can't find her anywhere." Orihime was walking around the cafe area looking for their boss.

"If I'm not mistaken, she said she was going to get some flour and cream from the storage room."

"That was almost ten minutes ago..." They rushed to the storage only to find the old woman passed out in the middle of the room.

"Chiyo-San!" Orihime rushed to the woman's age and checked her pulse. "It's unstable! Call an ambulance!"

While he made the call to the Ishida hospital he noticed Orihime using her power to heal Chiyo. They left with her as she was taken to the hospital and waited for their boss to awake.

"It seems she had a minor stroke. Not the first time it has happened, according to her medical records she's been here three times before." Ishida explained the situation trying to look calm, but visibly upset. "I fear she won't withstand another one."

"Thanks for letting us know Ishida-Kun. We'll wait for a bit to see if she wakes up."

Ishida nodded and left the room. Just as the two finally sat down to wait they noticed that Chiyo was waking up.

"Wha- Where am I?"

"Chiyo-San! We were so worried. You had a small stroke back at the bakery, we had to bring you to the hospital."

"Oh. No wonder my head feels a little heavy...Anyway, I'm glad you two were there. Thanks for helping me."

"Forgive me if this feels invasive but shouldn't warn your family about this?"

The old woman chuckled. "Oh Ulquiorra-Kun, I'm afraid that's not possible. My husband passed away two years ago, we never had kids and we were both from the foster system. I guess you could say he was my only family."

"I'm sorry, perhaps I shouldn't have asked. Although that sounds like quite a romantic story."

The old woman smiled. "It was."

"Can you tell us about it?" Orihime asked.

"Of course. It's not often I get to talk about him. Let's see, we were friends since our toddler days at the orphanage, we were never adopted so when we turned eighteen we left together and started looking for jobs, anything we could find was ok, and soon we bought our own house. Eventually, we came across what would become ABCookie. That building was a dump during the 40's, took a lot of work to make it what it is today. In the end, that little bakery became our legacy, our employees were like our children, and we stayed that way all this year's until he left this world."