The hollow was the size of a house: a squat shaggy body from which protruded four legs, pink and leathery, like a birds; only its mask betrayed which end was the head and which the rear: a circle of bone with holes for eyes and bright blue ellipses where its cheeks would have been, like theatrical tears. Its mouth was drawn into a permanent grin of blunt, bone-crushing teeth. In one of its clawed hands, it held Ichigo's sister, Karin.

In the confusion, Rukia had had no time to consider the strength of the hollow they were about to face. Yet its reiatsu alone had rendered the two girls unconscious. While Ichigo roared anger and charged the hollow, Rukia ran through the gravestones to where Ichigo's other sister, Yuzu, was lying. In nearly the same moment, Kon sprang down from a path that ran along the hill above this part of the graveyeard: "Take her!" Rukia cried, lifting the girl and forcing her into his hands. She wheeled back to the fight in time to see Ichigo's sword slice through the arm that held Karin. The demon howled.

Rukia ran forward and caught Karin as she fell. The girl was groggy, but awake, as she was passed into Kon's arms: "Now, get them both away from here. Fast."

"What is that hollow?" asked Kon. Perhaps he too could sense its reiatsu.

"Grand Fisher," she said: "It's an ancient hollow. Kon, for their sake, get out of here!"

She didn't turn, but, rather sensed that he had left, because it was hard for her to pull her eyes away from the fight. It had been some time since Ichigo had faced a challenge. She tried hard to read the spiritual pressures, though she could only feel them faintly. The demon was strong, but Ichigo was its equal, she guessed. He should have the advantage of speed and tactics.

Although her powers were all but gone, some things did not fade so easily, like her intuitions in a fight. She saw, before Ichigo, that a matted piece of the hollow's fur had raised itself from its hide, moving with a snake-like purpose. It coalesced. Changed consistency. The hair itself hardened to a point. "Stay alert!" she cried, but it was already too late. His attention was on the hollow's claws and head. And, without thinking, she stepped between him and the newly formed blade.

It caught her in the shoulder, twisting her around and lifting her into the air. Though it found no purchase in her body, there was a bright flush of blood from her arm. She was falling. Her back struck a gravestone and her head snapped back collding with the grave. There was a roaring darkness all around, punctuated only by terrible laughter. Ichigo screamed her name. She was falling, falling, losing consciousness. It took a concerted effort to draw herself back and, even then, her head was throbbing brightly, and it felt like minutes passed before she could open her eyes.

When she did, it was to the sight of a hundred of those blades snaking towards her. She tried to move. Her eyes rolled up in her head and her body slumped back.

A shadow passed between her and the afternoon sun. The soft sound of the blades punching into it roused her. So too the shower of hot blood from his body. She struggled to regain her feet.

Ichigo still stood on the path above the graveyard, staring down at the scene that had unfolded around him. No more than seconds could have passed, she realised, but, in that time, the hollow had turned its attentions to her.

The shadow had been Eikichiro's.

Ichigo leapt down into the graveyard as the hollow gave a wicked laugh. His face was pale:

"Is he alright?"

Rukia stumbled over to Eikichiro's body. Ichigo had put himself between her and the hollow, this time adjusting his stance as the demon moved, buying her time to check the shinigami. At first glance, his body was mangled: wounds that no human could survive. Ichigo glanced back over his shoulder, frowning: "Is he unconscious?"

"Unconscious?" He caught something in the tone of his voice that gave a sudden insight into his thoughts: "Ichigo," she said: "We can die, you know."

"What?" He risked another glance back; a nervous half-smile: "Death gods can die?"

"Yes, we can." Eikichiro was still breathing, she noted with relief: "We heal quickly. Did you really think – Never mind." She broke off as Ichigo parried another two of the demon's snake-like blades. It forced itself a step closer, deftly manouevering him away from her.

She didn't want to leave Eikichiro, but she had an idea that this particular demon would be more interested in her than in the injured shinigami, so she moved with the fight, making sure that she was always just one step behind Ichigo's swift parries. If the monster could have worn an expression, it would have been one of disappointment.

It's not interested in him, she thought: it wants me.

A plant-like shoot sprang suddenly from the demon's back, at the end of which hung a man-sized bud, sealed with a strip of silky skin. As this was drawn back, it revealed a human girl or, at least, the perfect semblence of a human girl with shoulder-length black hair and a round, kind face. Mimicry, Rukia thought: she was seeing a puppet. A lure used to trap unwary humans with reiatsu strong enough for them to see hollows. The demon gently lowered its mimic to the ground in front of Ichigo. Rukia saw him tense. The colour had drained from his face.

"Rukia, what is this thing?"

"Grand Fisher," she said: "It uses that thing to attract humans, to make them trust it."

"That's impossible," Ichigo whispered. She frowned. Was he addressing her:

"No. It's bait. No more and no less. This is a very ancient hollow. It's consumed many shinigami and humans, but, I'm afraid to say, it has a very particular taste for" –

"- For women," he finished for her.

"How did you" - ? But she had no time to finish. The demon had sent a host of snake-like blades darting forth around its lure. Ichigo's sword-arm blurred as he parried them, but, even broken or blunted, they enclosed him until he was lost from sight: "Ichigo!" Instinctively, she covered her right wrist with her left hand: the stance she used for kido.

When the hollow spoke, the lips of its mimic moved:

"We have met before, haven't we, Boy?" it said. Rukia realised that, for now at least, its attention had moved wholly to Ichigo: "You are lucky to have seen me and survived."

She didn't dare try to measure the import of its words. All her energy was concentrated into her wrist and her palms. She drew it out of her body, not caring how it affected her, not caring that she grew cold as she stood there. The palm of her left hand burned:

"Hado no san jou san. Sokatsui!" This time, a shot of blue fire issued from her open palm and crashed into the writhing mass of blades that held Ichigo. Flames whipped across its surface and the air was filled with the stench of burning hair.

Ichigo cut through the last strands that surrounded him and dropped onto the path above the graveyard. He seemed none the worse for having been trapped. His expression, though, had a new intensity. The hollow gave a hissing laugh and turned its back on Rukia: "Hado no san" –

"Rukia." Ichigo interruped her. His voice was strangely soft: "Please stay out of this."

"What?"

"I don't want your help. This is my fight. I have to do this." He stepped sideways, off of the path, towards the woodlands. The hollow turned with him. Rapt. She knew he was testing it, checking that its renewed interest in him was not feigned, checking that he could safely leave her behind.

"Ichigo."

"Don't come after me, Rukia," he said.