Disclaimer: Various concepts and characters have been retrieved from Dragonball Z and Bleach for this story; they belong to Akira Toriyama and Tite Kubo. Please note, however, that the plot, which is an original plot, is unrelated to the events that take place in DBZ and Bleach, meaning this is an AU fic. The OC's and plot belong to myself, and KRenee.

I

August, 2011

Kaisuki took her gaze off a particular water stain on the window and glanced over at the woman sitting beside her. Isolde sat beside her, looking a little less than comfortable with the foreign clothes she wore. Isolde had been wearing the same hooded, black, cotton dress-of-sorts for the past few centuries. The significantly thinner skirt and blouse seemed to be a little too revealing for her tastes. Which was odd, because she was the one who had picked them out. Kaisuki smiled at Isolde as she fiddled with the buttons on her blouse and she smiled back reassuringly when she looked up. Isolde had assisted her in getting her things into the taxi they'd taken, and had then decided to take the ride with Kaisuki – she hadn't been 'outside' in a while, after all.

It'd been a long time since Kaisuki had been willing to room with someone. These kinds of situations had an unfortunate tendency to result in eviction, murder, fleeing the country… sometimes, all of the above and more. Isolde could feel her anxiety. She reached over and touched her hand gently, offering silent encouragement; since they shared a mind and physical body, it was easy to know when one of them was ruminating about something. They could hide things from each other if they wanted to, but they knew each other so well that it didn't seem necessary anymore. It wasn't exactly like there wasn't anything to hide; it was more that they trusted each other enough to not feel the need

Except one of them; Saeka. None of them knew anything about Saeka, the darkest and most whimsically deviant out of all the spirits present in Kaisuki's body. The girl claimed she was the youngest, but Khrai – who was the oldest – seemed to disagree. Kaisuki had never bothered to debate the topic. All she knew was that Saeka had told her to click on the roommate-wanted advertisement posted by 'Son Juritsu,' and Saeka was the one who had told her that they should go for it. She trusted Saeka more than Khrai did, but less than Isolde. Then again, Isolde trusted pretty much everyone and Khrai didn't trust pretty much anyone.

"We're here," Isolde's words suddenly pulled her out of her thoughts. Kaisuki looked up from the water stain and followed her gaze out the window to the apartment complex. Surely enough, a sign in front of the buildings proved that it was the apartment-villa-thing that she had been directed to by Juritsu's emails. It was a nice place and she didn't sense anything dark or otherwise unwelcoming. Not even a stranded spirit was roaming the driving area.

"We haven't seen any spirits since we got here, though, have we?" Kaisuki thought, the relatively rhetorical question heard only by the spirits inside. There was a silent nodding of agreement in her head, and Isolde looked over at her as well, looking almost concerned.

"Don't worry about it," Saeka's voice was casual, but the hostess was sure she heard a hint of excitement buried deep in her imitation-boredom. Whatever Saeka was looking forward to, she honestly hoped that it didn't involve too much bloodshed. She was finally hoping to get her life together enough to do something that didn't involve mugging strangers in other countries to get by. That was no way to live, and she was sick of it. She was here to get a degree and try to find honest work; not slaughter a dozen people in a bar because someone had too much to drink.

"Hey, I had a justified reason."

"Punching him in the face is one thing; beating him to death is something completely different. We don't live in the dark ages, Khrai." Sure, Kaisuki was still a little mad about that whole fiasco, but the emotion attached to the memory was fading away.

"3982, right?" The driver suddenly asked as he started to slow down. Isolde caught the ball quickly.

"4982." She corrected with a slightly apologetic smile on her face. The driver nodded, pulling forward again. A few minutes later he came to a full stop and put the vehicle in park.

"Here we are, then," he stated, turning around in his seat, "Do you want help with your things?"

"No, thank you," Kaisuki said, pulling out her wallet, "How much did you say?"

As she was handing him the amount he'd asked for, Isolde got out of the car. He popped the trunk and she started pulling things out, borrowing physical strength from Khrai. Kaisuki quickly jumped out, slinging her purse over her shoulder and moving to the back of the taxi to help.

The taxi pulled away a moment after they slammed the trunk shut and waved him off. There was a large tote and a full suitcase set of Kaisuki's belongings – she always forgot how much she owned until she had to move somewhere. She wouldn't be able to carry the tote in by herself – that would probably require Isolde's help.

She glanced up at the apartment, scouting it with her yellow eyes. Juritsu was evidently inside. Well, someone was inside, at any rate. She grabbed a few bags and glanced over at Isolde, "Wait out here for a minute, I'm gonna go introduce myself and then I'll be right back out. Just don't let anybody jack my stuff, ne?"

The brunette smiled and nodded, "I'll be right here."

Kaisuki turned away, hurrying up the four stairs and testing the doorknob, which was unlocked. She hadn't gotten her key from Juritsu yet – she hadn't had an address before today, after all, so Juritsu hadn't been asked to mail the key. She probably should've stopped at management. Oh well.

After a moment of fighting with her bags and the doorknob, she managed to get the door open. A young, tanned brunette stepped out of one of the bedrooms, pulling the door shut behind her.

"Hi," the girl – Juritsu, obviously – greeted her with a casual grin, "You're Kaisuki, right? I'm Juritsu."

Kaisuki actually paused, for a moment unable to take any of her mental processors off the enormous well of radiant energy that she could feel. It was definitely coming from Juritsu. She heard Saeka sigh slightly – not an irritated sound, but a semi-relieved one. Perhaps even a bit of a dreamy tone.

"Say hello, Kaisuki." She heard the excited chuckle, and managed to force a smile around the anxious knot forming in her throat.

"Oh, hi! Yeah, I'm Kaisuki." She said, stepping a little further into their apartment and setting her things down on the floor by the couch – she could move them once she'd gotten everything else indoors, "I have a few more things outside, but I'll be right back."

Juritsu nodded, the brief look of confusion (or perhaps suspicion) that had crossed her gaze disappearing in a heartbeat. That two second pause hadn't gone unnoticed. But she seemed pretty happy about this arrangement regardless; perhaps she had never roomed with anyone before. How cute.

"Do you want me to help you with that?"

Considering her vast well of power, Kaisuki was willing to assume that she'd be able to pick up on Khrai's strength as it radiated off Isolde. She felt Khrai immediately withdraw the energy she'd left with Isolde, and she knew that the mother had heard Kaisuki's immediate concern. Isolde was human, even if she was a deceased spirit. The spell that Kaisuki had used to make Isolde both visible and solid to normal humans worked like an illusion more than anything, so she appeared as a living human. Juritsu wouldn't notice anything off about her. Or at least, she shouldn't notice.

"Uh," Kaisuki smiled sheepishly, pretending that she didn't know how physically strong Juritsu probably was, "I guess? I brought a friend to help me out, but the tote I brought is pretty heavy and she's not the strongest person you'll ever meet. You don't mind, right? I don't like asking favors right when I first meet someone…"

"It's not a problem," Juritsu replied cheerfully. Kaisuki smiled at her, leading the way outside. Isolde was standing more or less right where she'd been left, though she had turned around and was staring up towards the sky.

"Aisora?" Isolde turned around, knowing that Kaisuki was talking to her. She turned her attention to Juritsu immediately, looking expectant.

"This is Juritsu. Juritsu, this is my friend, Aisora."

"Hello," Isolde smiled, extending her hand. Juritsu took it politely.

"It's nice to meet you," she said, "Kaisuki said you guys needed help with a tote?"

Isolde chuckled, "It's quite heavy," she answered, gesturing towards the largest portion of her hostess' luggage, "I hope she asked you nicely."

Juritsu laughed lightly, following Isolde's indication towards that tote. She seemed to hesitate for the briefest of moments. Kaisuki wondered what she was thinking about.

"Where is her power coming from? She comes across as human, but at the same time…"

"I don't know," Isolde replied telepathically, "I felt it even more strongly when I shook her hand. I think she knows it's there and can probably use it, but I cannot say where she inherited it. It's completely foreign to me."

Kaisuki nodded absentmindedly, pulling herself back to real time, "I'll get one end, you get the other?" She offered. Juritsu looked over at her, and Kaisuki noticed that she had been watching Isolde. There was no confusion or concern in the gaze she'd glimpsed – just thoughtfulness. It was probably just a coincidence.

Juritsu blinked, and then there was confusion, though only a little. She almost laughed out loud, recalling the first time someone had offered to help Khrai – impossibly strong lesbian elf Khrai – if she wanted help carrying something, and the subsequent "what do I say!?" that had ensued. Being ridiculously strong evidently meant that people didn't usually ask if you wanted help carrying things. Juritsu had probably been wondering if her arms were long enough to reach both ends or if she ought to just lift the thing over her head.

Nevertheless, Kaisuki walked over to one of the long end and positioned herself accordingly. Juritsu seemed to have a moment of epiphany, and she looked inwardly amused, as if she was sharing an inside joke with herself while positioning herself on the other side. Isolde picked up the remaining parts of the suitcase set and followed after them. Kaisuki did her best to support her side as obviously as she could, but Juritsu was also effortlessly carrying all but about 5 pounds of the weight by herself. It was more like the yellow-eyed Yurei was supporting the tote rather than carrying it. And Juritsu still looked like she was trying to concentrate on not carrying all the weight.

Juritsu stepped aside after the tote and remaining things had been brought into the house and accounted for, only offering her help again when Kaisuki had to move the tote into the bedroom. The offer was declined this time, and the brunette then offered to cook them all lunch, which Kaisuki did accept.

Kaisuki and Isolde didn't take much time piecing the important parts of the room together. The place was pre-furnished, which she was more than thankful for. While Isolde was making her bed and putting her clothes away, Kaisuki was setting up the electronics – the little things that make noise and lights that Isolde still hadn't gotten the hang of.

Juritsu appeared in the doorway, "Lunch is ready!"

Kaisuki grinned, glancing over at Isolde, "Good, because I'm starving."

Evidently, Juritsu's version of 'hungry' and Kaisuki's version of 'starving to death' were not on the same level. Juritsu had made a large lunch – French toast, eggs, bacon, and orange juice to top it all off. There were dishes in the sink that hadn't been used in the preparation of lunch, and Kaisuki knew immediately what that meant; Juritsu had also eaten breakfast. How could she still be hungry enough to consume something like five loaves worth of French toast, a dozen and a half packages of bacon, and probably several dozen scrambled eggs?! Besides that, how could anyone be hungry enough to consume that much in the first place?!

Holy shit, is she getting another plate? Sure enough, Juritsu was standing over the stove again, turning up the heat and making more French toast to further satiate her ridiculous appetite. Where did it all go? She probably didn't even weigh half as much as the food she was consuming!

Kaisuki herself had never had much of an appetite, even when she was 'starving to death.' It wasn't even like her roommate was pausing to breathe every once in a while. She essentially just inhaled the food like a vacuum cleaner, eventually coming to a point of politely asking Kaisuki if she was going to be able to finish the rest of her plate, which was at least two servings more than she was capable of eating. The thought that Juritsu had probably given Kaisuki about as much as she expected 'normal humans' to eat made her wonder what kind of people she had grown up with.

Isolde had spent the time they were eating chuckling about Juritsu having the same kind of vortex-stomach that growing boys had. After the devouring had settled down and Kaisuki was returning the favor of lunch by cleaning up the insurmountable number of dishes that Juritsu had dirtied by making too much God damn food, Isolde started up idle conversation with the fricken' piranha sitting across from her.

"So, you're a college student, right, Juritsu?" At the brunette's nod, she continued, "Graduate or undergraduate?"

"Undergrad," she replied, and then continuing to sate Isolde's obvious curiosity, "Pre-med. I dunno where I'll go with that, though."

Isolde chuckled, "Let me guess…you weren't entirely up for the whole college thing, but your parents pushed you into it?"

"You could say that… What gave it away?"

"You have that look," Isolde said as Kaisuki turned off the sink and joined them at the table, "Just don't let your boredom get the better of you. There is such a thing as too much fun when you're still young."

Juritsu nodded, understanding the advice, and grinned sheepishly, "Are you staying the night here, or…?"

Kaisuki glanced over at the nearest timepiece, looking mock-surprised. She could see that Isolde, while she was enjoying herself, was starting to get a little worn, "Weren't you supposed to be out of here like, twenty minutes ago, Aisora?"

"Ah!" Isolde looked over at a clock as well, grinning sheepishly, "I lost track of the time. I need to go. It's been nice meeting you, Juritsu."

"It was nice meeting you too, Aisora-san." Juritsu replied. There was the hint in her tone of voice, that Juritsu would've preferred her to stay a while longer and continue chatting. Isolde was the type to go around mom-ing at pretty much everyone. She was easy to miss before she even left the room.

Kaisuki walked to the door with her, giving her a quick hug and accepting a light peck on the cheek. The woman smiled knowingly at Kaisuki, out of Juritsu's sight, and stepped outside. Kaisuki could feel her presence heading out, walking away from the apartment.

She'd walk for a few minutes, and then Kaisuki would pull her back into their shared host body. Hopefully, Juritsu wouldn't notice, however unlikely that may have been.

Kaisuki walked back into the living area, where Juritsu had relocated with her cup of orange juice and a volume of shoujo manga. She walked over to the couch, sitting down beside Juritsu, bringing her knees to her chest and getting comfortable. She hadn't been in a place – in a home – this welcoming and comfortable in a long, long time. She found herself sinking into the softness of the couch, surrounded by warmth and welcome and Juritsu's radiant light.

The black-haired Yurei closed her eyes, sighing softly. She almost didn't notice when Isolde came back to their host body, barely registered Juritsu shifting suddenly beside her. Everyone was getting settled in the new place, reading into Isolde and Kaisuki's memories so they knew where everything was. Saeka, who had been uncharacteristically quiet all day, chuckled softly in the back of the shared portion of their mind, humming a complicated tune. An unfamiliar presence echoed through the darkness of their slumber, a chilling hand reaching forward and a toothy smile appearing at the forefront of memory and dream.

"It's time."

…

September, 2011

Juritsu placed her backpack on the table, pulling out her binder and a pen with a lighthearted sigh. She greeted her fellow classmates with grins and jokes. Being a particularly small class, they had all gotten to know each other pretty well over the years. Well, know with limits. After all, she didn't really want them to know she was a half-Saiyan fighter.

She'd learned very early on in public education that exposing your extraordinary abilities never ended well. So, she'd learned to hide it, picking up on the mannerisms of her human friends, learning the trends as they came and went, and mastering the art of fitting in. Holding back her strength was always the most challenging aspect of her day-to-day life in college, and while most everyone that knew her had realized and eventually accepted her body-builder strength, that was about the extent of their knowledge of her power. And she intended to keep it that way.

And it wasn't like she even wanted to be in school in the first place. She understood her mother's desires for them to live normal lives, and especially become scholars. But that was more Gohan's thing; he seemed to prefer studying over fighting anyway. Juritsu, on the other hand, would sneak out as a child just to get some sparring in. She wasn't afraid to admit that she was, definitely, a daddy's girl.

She'd finish out the degree, as promised, but she had no intention of pursuing anything education-related after that. The only aspiration she had was to become a protector of the planet, galaxy, everywhere, just like her father.

The classroom door opened, interrupting her thoughts, and she glanced over, expecting the professor to come in. Instead, she found herself staring at a rather attractive, albeit unique-looking young man. His spiky, sky-blue hair popped in the neutral-toned room – it matched his bright blue eyes too. He had green markings around his eyes… tattoos, perhaps? They certainly stood out on his tanned skin. From what she could tell through his maroon hoodie and jeans, he was well-built. Likely, he was some kind of athlete.

He glanced over at her, raising an eyebrow for a contemplative moment before he made his way over to her, and sat next to her. She grinned at him.

"You're new here," she spoke first, "Transfer?"

He smirked in reply. "Yea. I'm Grimmjow. Nice to meet you… Is this everyone in the class?"

That was an interesting name. It was most certainly not Japanese. Actually, she wasn't entirely sure what kind of language that name derived from. She'd never heard one quite like it, that was for sure. His Japanese, however, was perfectly fluent, as if he'd lived nearby his entire life. It was intriguing, to say the least.

"Heh heh, yea, we're a small class. I'm Juritsu, by the way."

Just then, the door opened, and a second new student entered. Juritsu's eyebrows furrowed. "Huh… Where are all these transfers coming from?"

Grimmjow snickered. "So much for a small class."

This new student was another male. He was no where near as muscular as Grimmjow; rather, he appeared leaner, but not scrawny. His light brown hair was shaggy, in a neat kind of way, and his ice-blue eyes stood out. Overall, he was a good-looking guy. As he strode past her to sit at the table next from her, he gave her a smile in greeting, which she returned.

"You're a transfer too, huh?" she asked, "I'm Juritsu. Nice to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too," his voice was smooth, rich, "I'm Chris."

Once again, it was a non-Japanese name. But at least it was more obvious that he was English. His Japanese was fluent too; perhaps the two newbies just happened to really know their foreign languages? She didn't have much time to dwell on it; all the conversations taking place in class abruptly ceased when the professor strode in. There only seemed to be two new transfers, though getting that many in such a prestigious program was intriguing in and of itself. But it was unlikely that it would cause problems.

As she suppressed a sigh at the material they would be covering – this would be the third time someone was teaching them the healing process – she felt a nudge in her side. She glanced down at her side, and found Grimmjow poking her with a folded up piece of paper. Quietly, she took the note from him and snuck it onto her notebook, where she opened it when the instructor wasn't looking.

So you're definitely gonna be my study buddy right? :p

Juritsu smiled slightly at that, making sure to hold in her giggles. She shifted her notebook slightly. In its new position, Grimmjow and Juritsu would be able to write little notes to each other without looking too obvious. She scribbled a reply: I didn't think you needed one. You looked smarter than that, hahaha

Most of the lecture was spent passing notes back and forth. Juritsu enjoyed the sense of humor and wit Grimmjow had, as it helped to pass the time in lecture.

So, what goes on here on the weekends? Grimmjow asked.

We usually go out to the bars and clubs nearby. It's a good time. You're old enough to drink right?

Does it look like I'm too young to drink?

Juritsu snickered at that, muffling her chuckles by coughing. My bad, my bad. Yea, I'll show you where everyone goes to party.

Sounds like a plan to me ;)

Juritsu shook her head at that, not being able to help the smile that tugged at her lips. Grimmjow seemed like he'd be really fun to hang around. She looked forward to taking him out to the clubs.

"That's it for today," the professor spoke up, "Read the chapter on inflammation and the healing process for Wednesday. For lab tomorrow morning, we'll be finishing up this unit and getting started on cryotherapy."

Juritsu gathered her things, standing up and stretching, smiling as she felt several satisfactory pops in her back.

"So, where are you heading now?" Grimmjow asked aloud, catching up to her and walking next to her.

"Nowhere in particular," she replied with a grin, "I'm done for the day. If you're free, I can show you around."

His grin was almost as playful as hers. "I like the sound of that."

Watching the two students walk away was Chris, an unreadable expression in his ice-blue eyes. His eyes narrowed as he noticed Juritsu's bright smile, in response to some witty remark Grimmjow had said, probably. He cursed quietly under his breath before scoffing and heading off in another direction. As he walked up the hill, he passed an extremely pale young man. His shaggy black hair didn't hide his emerald green eyes, and his cold exterior turned off the nearby students. All except for Chris.

"You're new too, right?" he asked cheerfully as the two of them stood in front of each other, "I'm sure you'll look forward to meeting new people. Who knows? You might run into someone you already know."

The pale man's expression remained impassive, his head tilting forward in a minute bow, "We shall see."

…

Her head was pounding, and had been since she woke up. She had taken half a dozen migraine pills, but they weren't helping. No surprise; they usually didn't. It did, however, inform her that this headache wasn't caused by lack of sleep or overworking herself. The attack had come on slowly at first, but today it was like she was being beaten on the soul with a sledgehammer. They hadn't been able to identify the source yet, but it didn't seem to be someone she knew. It wasn't Juritsu, it wasn't any of her classmates, it wasn't her professors; it wasn't even the weird otaku in the apartment next door. All she knew was that they hadn't been able to break through her mental barriers yet. She was the only one taking damage at the moment, but whether that was the end goal or not was unknown to her.

Kaisuki glanced over the railing as she trudged up the stairs to her class, spotting a mop of black hair coming up behind her. He was thin and pale from what she could see at her current angle. Not exactly her type, but there was something about him…

"Keep walking," Saeka's voice suddenly snarled from the darker corners of their shared mind, startling Kaisuki a little. She pulled her gaze away from the stranger coming up behind her, continuing up the stairs.

"What's wrong? You seemed a little adamant just-…"

"Shut up and walk."

Something was definitely wrong with this guy. Kaisuki's mouth went dry; a demon? A demon that had a physical form like that would have to be well beyond her level. Khrai and Saeka might be able to handle him, but that was also assuming that he didn't have friends nearby, and besides that, they were in a well-populated building – there would be too many casualties if they fought here. Was it even a demon? Or a rogue Yurei? A regular serial killer?!

"Calm down," Saeka chided, sounding calmer, "You know better than any of us that anxiety makes you open for attack. Count the stairs."

Okay, okay, she internally berated herself for allowing such panic, even if it had been minute and only lasting a few seconds. Khrai had told her the danger of allowing emotions to overrun coherent thought, and she had experienced those consequences firsthand already. Even if some of them didn't really need her protection, she had to be vigilant to keep her ladies safe.

"Excuse me," that guy who had been walking behind her suddenly spoke up from a little bit too close. She turned, finding his chilling green eyes both intoxicating and nauseating. Her heart was racing and her head was starting to pound even worse. Was this panic from the knowledge that he was dangerous enough for Saeka to be warning her away, or was it the hollowness in his eyes that seemed large enough to devour her whole? It was like staring into a dark abyss, waiting to be pulled in.

"Calm down and answer him," Saeka's voice pulled her out of her panic, her tone oddly soothing. Saeka was the strongest against evil – probably because she was evil, at least in part. Kaisuki had never been so willing to trust the words of her least trustworthy spirit. Saeka was right, though; the key to staying out of his reach was keeping calm. Her emotions hindered her concentration, and that weakened her mental barriers.

She turned around, seeing that he was a couple of stairs below her, "Yes?" Her stomach was churning, and the headache was getting worse.

"I'm looking for the psychology department chair," he stated, "Hayashibara-sensei told me to come her before class today."

Kaisuki nodded, "I'm actually heading to that floor myself," she stated easily, despite the fact that her vision was spotty from the intensity of her migraine, "I can show you her office."

The guy smiled slightly in appreciation, though the expression didn't look anything close to natural next to his hollow gaze. Kaisuki forced a smile and turned back the way she had been facing originally, giving him a moment to falling into step beside her.

"So, you're a psych major, or are you just taking an elective?" His voice, while it would probably have sounded like melted chocolate and sex to some other girls, was sickeningly sweet and horribly dark. It reminded her of congealed blood and murder, even though his words themselves were as far from the topic as they could be.

"Tell the truth. Try to pretend that you don't know he's bad news." Saeka advised quickly, and Kaisuki didn't miss a beat, "I'm a psych major, yea. What about you?"

"I think I'm going into psychology as well," he replied, "That's why I'm seeing a professor, actually."

"You're a transfer, right? I haven't seen you here before."

He glanced over at her, but she didn't return his gaze, pretending she hadn't noticed. The question was innocent enough, and he seemed to be looking for a gap in her acting. There wasn't one to be found; she was a professional at this.

"Yea, last university and I didn't work out so well."

I'll bet, she thought darkly, "I hear you on that one."

Finally, they reached the floor of the psychology department. Kaisuki led him over to the department chair's office, "This is it." She stated with a smile, "Hope everything works out for you."

He nodded, the little horrible smile returning as he extended a hand in greeting, "Thanks, uh…"

"Kaisuki," she replied, taking his hand graciously, "And you are…?"

The smile on his face seemed to darken, his gaze shifting to something akin to the hungry stare a wolf gives it's prey before ripping out its throat, "Thad."

It was sudden, like a bomb going off inside her skull. Her eyes widened as she was dragged into her subconscious. The white-washed walled of the lobby area were suddenly dripping with a mixture of black ooze and crimson blood, reminders of all the lives she'd taken. The floor reached up and swallowed her whole, fire licking at her skin and burning her flesh. She gasped, knees buckling, but Thad didn't let go of her hand. His green eyes were all she could see past the black and the red and the pain. She could hear Khrai, she could hear Isolde… but above all the other voices, she heard Saeka, a piercing shriek of rage ringing through her ears as she pitched forward into complete darkness.

"It's time," Thad's voice was chilled to the vowels, his tone a warning one and she could hear it over the blackness she was surrounded by, "Are you coming?"

But he wasn't talking to Kaisuki and she knew it. She heard voices all around her, strangers, classmates, professors, and she knew she was collapsed on the floor but that didn't matter. Thad was still touching her, rolling her over and pulling her up slightly so he could pretend that he was checking her pulse when he was really strangling her with his presence. She couldn't breathe, couldn't breathe, couldn't breathe and Saeka was suddenly pushing forward, pushing forward, pushing, pushing, pushing, and Kaisuki didn't have the strength to tell her no.

She felt her hand shoot up, gripping a foreign, cold wrist tightly, and she heard a whisper of a threat bubble up from her tight throat, eyes wide and glaring, "I will tear you limb from limb, exile irrumabo."

His smile was toothy and full of hidden malice and she wasn't sure how she was seeing it – or anything else for that matter – past the darkness in her vision. The humans gathered around them didn't seem to see the murderous intent, the arousal at the prospect of a challenge. She heard his voice, speaking, telling the professors that he would take her to the health clinic on campus, and she heard a snarl of discontent. Everything seemed to be getting farther and farther away…

"Fuck off," Khrai had pushed Saeka aside and taken the lead. She shoved Thad away, glowered at him with more hostility than anyone in the lobby had been prepared for. A slew of gasps and mutters about rudeness, "I don't need your help."

She stood up, swaying for a moment, before stalking off, breaking into a run and tearing off the campus. Kaisuki could feel the acute aching and throbbing in every muscle on her body as Khrai ran home, and it wasn't long before the chronic pain became too much for her to handle in her current state. She allowed herself to be swallowed by unconsciousness and faded into the background of their mind.

…

"So this is the Commons," Juritsu explained as they strolled through the building, "There's a dining hall on the bottom floor, and little cafes and the book store on this floor. And then across the quad is the library."

"Ehhh," Grimmjow glanced around, taking in the food court and the bustling students. Briefly, he wondered if this was all really worth his time. Sure Juritsu was intriguing enough, but really, he could find any chick on the street and get what he wanted before the end of the day. Meanwhile, he was pretty sure getting Juritsu to hook up with him would take days, maybe even weeks. He wasn't exactly a man of patience.

He looked over at his companion. She was pointing out some other little café or something. When he'd scanned the students in the Modalities class earlier, Juritsu definitely stood out. He immediately considered her one of the more attractive females he'd seen. But there was something different about her. Maybe it was the ridiculous well of power he could sense within her. That set her apart from everyone else he'd seen thus far on campus, for sure. To say that he was simply curious about her was an understatement.

As they rounded a corner, an icy chill went up his spine. Suddenly, he heard the roar of a Hollow in his mind. His step faltered, just barely, and he glanced around, eyes narrowed in concentration. He knew that presence; he'd recognize it even if he hadn't felt it in years. Automatically, that wasn't a good sign. Why was he here? Hopefully, Juritsu hadn't noticed his miniscule misstep, though he considered it subtle enough to not be noticed by any human.

He quickly realized that she wasn't any normal human when she asked, "Something up?"

He blinked, slightly caught off guard by the question, before he quickly got a hold of himself, grinned, and replied. "Nah, nothing big. I just have to take a whiz. Where's the nearest bathroom?"

That was easy. Juritsu chuckled, said something like "Oh, if that's all," and led him to the restrooms. He gave her a slightly sheepish grin – Sorry, mind waiting for me? – before he disappeared into the men's room.

As the door closed, he strolled over to the sinks, glancing at himself in the mirror. He didn't need to adjust his gaze to see the pale, green-eyed young man standing at the other end of the mirror. "I wasn't expecting to see you here of all people, Schiffer."

"There's no need for formality, Grimmjow," came the cool reply, "I would much rather be delivering a message to the Heavens than to you."

Grimmjow turned to face the man, a malicious smirk set on his face. "Glad to know the feeling's mutual, Ulquiorra. What the hell do you want?"

"The day is approaching," Ulquiorra turned to face him fully, his gaze nothing short of condescending, "You are still… welcome as our Sexta Espada, if you're at all interested in coming home."

Grimmjow narrowed his eyes at Ulquiorra. 'Home,' huh. That was a joke if he ever heard one. He felt neither welcome nor at home at Las Noches; he never had, and he never would. In fact, he'd hated being under the rule of Aizen Sousuke. After that man had disappeared from existence, he didn't get out fast enough. And of all the Espada, Ulquiorra was the one he hated the most. Said Espada certainly had some nerve coming to him with the offer in the first place, but it was clear that he was working under someone else.

"Funny you say that, Cuarta. You see, I was just thinking about how much I don't miss any of you. You can go ahead and continue to be someone's bitch until the day you die, but I'd much rather be a free man," he shot back scornfully, not even bothering to hide the malice from his voice. It was a shame that he was trying to stay on the down low, else he'd already have released his Pantera and attacked the little bastard with everything he had.

Ulquiorra wasn't deterred by Grimmjow's hostility; it would've been rather apparent to an outsider that this was a normal conversation for the two of them. He let out a sigh, almost sounding resigned.

"If that is your choice, then you must be warned that any interference in our preparations will be your end." He took a step forward, all but gliding across the air to Grimmjow's side. "Don't forget about this offer. We'll welcome you back should you change your mind…" Ulquiorra sounded odd, like something had changed in Grimmjow's absence that was eating at the Cuarta Espada.

"It's just the two of us now, Grimmjow." With a soft breeze of energy, Ulquiorra was gone.

Grimmjow remained silent for a long period of time, the bustling of the crowd outside fading away. Slowly, his head bowed, fists tightening almost painfully. For the first time in many years, he felt his heart weighted down by the burden of loss. Just us left, huh…

His head buzzed, his ears ringing. He glanced up at his reflection in the mirror. The scowl he saw there pissed him off; the glass consequently shattered, falling in pieces across the counter and on the floor. It wasn't until the sound of a banging at the door reached his ear that he realized that his rage was emitting a powerful aura.

"Grimmjow?!" It was Juritsu. She seemed to have the decency to not barge into the bathroom. His gaze moved to the door, contemplating the situation. He let out a deep breath, relaxing his shoulders and closing his eyes to quell the anger within. He couldn't afford to lose his cool; not here, not now. There was too much at stake to screw up. Urahara had told him that, after helping him get to the mortal world. Those words he would never forget. Just like he would never forget Ulquiorra's.

Taking another deep breath, he let himself out of the bathroom, grinning at Juritsu. "Hey, sorry about that. What's up?"

Juritsu had an unreadable glint in her eyes as she regarded him for a moment. "Oh… it's nothing… I just felt something… strange. But you're okay, right?"

Not normal at all. He knew it. He rustled her hair, ignoring her protests. "I'm the toughest guy you know, promise," he replied, "Now, you gonna show me around or not?"

She looked only slightly reassured, wearier than at ease as she began to lead him towards the quad, probably to show him where the classrooms were. He had the feeling that she was suspicious about him, but he couldn't really bring himself to care. Deep down, however, the words "the day is approaching," resounded in his head, and for some strange reason, he just couldn't let that phrase go.

A/N: This is the re-write of me and my sister's collaboration. KRenee's OC was overhauled in the more recent chapters, so we re-wrote the older chapters to make sure everything works out. I will be posting up the rest of the re-written chapters over the next few days, so please bear with me!

[exile irrumabo is Latin for shrunken dick]