Sequel to By Your Side.

Hollow vs. Saiyan

Squad 12's captain and chief of the Department of Research and Development Mayuri Kurotsuchi is nothing but a strange man. He loves research and experiments to the point where he just couldn't care less about anything outside of that. Those who follow him tread very carefully. Anyone or anything he takes to his lab to 'study' is never seen alive again. And he keeps hollows confined in the depths of his labs to study and experiment on. So when one escaped, the finger was instantly pointed at Kurotsuchi.

Kurotsuchi: "You people think I'm to blame for this?"

Soifon: "Who else keeps hollows caged up?!"

Kurotsuchi: "It's not my fault that it got loose! Someone in my squad must have slacked off."

The hollow bellowed out as squad members tried to take it down! But it had an impressive armor! Ordinary soldiers couldn't even scratch it! So what about seated officers?

Ikkaku: "Ha! Let's see how it likes this?!"

Ikkaku Madarame leaped up and joyfully slashed at the hollow.

Ikkaku: "Heh heh... W-What?!"

To Ikkaku's shock, he only managed to make a shallow cut in the armor! The 3rd seat of Squad 11 was strong, strong enough to become a captain easily! So if this was the extent of the damage he could inflicted, on a hollow that was only the size of a man, then they needed something stronger!

Ikkaku: "Damn... That was my strongest attack!"

Komamura: "He barely made a dent in it!"

Kurotsuchi: "Now you know why I've been studying it. That armor is most impressive!"

Toushiro: "You are a real freak, ya know that right?!"

The hollow suddenly charged at them with its mouth open and drooling! Then a split second later, it bit down on the right arm of the saiyan prince as he suddenly appeared in front of everyone and stopped the hollow dead in its tracks!

Iba: "Lieutenant Vegeta!"

Vegeta stood his ground against the hollow as it continued to bite down on his arm and struggled to push him forward! But the prince of the saiyans was no push-over. He just gritted his teeth and dug in! Finally the dead-lock ended! Vegeta pulled his arm out of its mouth and the hollow tried to slash Vegeta! But the saiyan was two steps ahead of it and had an energy blast fully charged just as he ducked! With a loud yell, Vegeta blasted the hollow! The blast engulfed the entire alleyway and lit up the area! All of the soul reapers behind the saiyan prince had to close their eyes and cover their faces. Toushiro was so used to the force and power of these attacks now that he was the only one who could actually watch. After what seemed like minutes, the attack finally ceased. When the dust cleared, Vegeta was the only one of the two still standing. The hollow had been blasted into tiny pieces in just mere seconds!

Vegeta: "Phew..."

Kurotsuchi: "ARE YOU INSANE?!"

Vegeta just started scratching the inside of his ear after Kurotsuchi screamed in it.

Kurotsuchi: "Do you realize what you've done?!"

Vegeta: "Uh, do I look like I care?"

Kurotsuchi: "You just destroyed a valuable research subject! I've been studying and researching for a year now!"

Vegeta: "Don't care."

Kurotsuchi: "All of that data is ruined now because of you!"

Vegeta: "Well then, next time, you take care of it instead of standing there with maniacal grin on your face! Or better yet, invest in some better locks! Now stop screaming in my ear or you'll be the next one I blast into bits!"

Kurotsuchi growled and then walked away with a huff. As Kurotsuchi walked away, Toushiro and the others went in the opposite direction.

Toushiro: "Are you ok, Vegeta?"

Vegeta: "Yeah, I'm fine."

Toushiro: "You sure? That doesn't look like a flesh wound."

The young captain was pointing to the bleeding bite wound on the saiyan's arm. Said prince looked at it and covered it with his hand.

Vegeta: "I'll be fine, Toushiro. I just gotta clean it and bandage it up."

Yamamoto: "Well done, Vegeta. Once again you've shown us all that the power of a saiyan is a welcoming ally."

Vegeta: "I still don't understand how Central 46 allows that freak-show to keep hollows within the Seireitei!"

Yamamoto: "They allow it because he says he is studying them."

Vegeta: "For what other than his own entertainment?"

Kyoraku: "He studies them so that we can be informed of any new way of dealing with them or if anything new pops up."

Vegeta: "Define 'studying'."

Kyoraku: "I don't get what you mean."

Toushiro: "I think what Vegeta means is that it's the same as when he says: define 'normal'."

Yumichika: "I agree. It's like the same thing. No two people have the same definition."

Vegeta: "Yes! Thank you! Again, define 'studying'! Cuz I have yet to see any documented results of said 'studying'. You?"

Kyoraku: "Good point."

Half an hour later and Vegeta returned to Toushiro's office alone. Toushiro stayed behind to help out with the clean up and had ordered Vegeta to return home to look after his wound. The saiyan prince had just finished cleaning the wound out and was trying to bandage it up when Rangiku came in.

Rangiku: "Caaaptaaaiiiin!"

Rangiku was a little surprised to see Vegeta on the sofa without Toushiro anywhere to be seen. Then she saw the bandages.

Rangiku: "Huh? Vegeta?! Are you ok- what happened to your arm?!"

Vegeta, with the gauze in his mouth, looked up for a moment before returning to bandaging his arm.

Vegeta: "One of Kurotsuchi's hollows escaped and it bit me. Toushiro's helping with the clean up. The thing wasn't any bigger than me and yet it still did a fair amount of damage."

Rangiku: "That's a pretty good wound there. Are you sure you don't need to see Unohana?"

Vegeta: "I'll be fine once I've bandaged it up. I've survived worse wounds than this without seeking medical attention."

Rangiku: "Ok then..."

Rangiku just watched as Vegeta struggled with the gauze and dressing. Only having one hand to use was not making it easy.

Rangiku: "Here! Let me help you with that! These things are difficult to do on our own."

He sighed. It was one of those things that was hard to do alone. A little reluctantly, Vegeta held out his arm and let Rangiku bandage it up for him. As she wrapped the gauze around his arm, there was one thing going through her head.

Rangiku: "Did you destroy the hollow?"

Vegeta: "Of course."

Rangiku: "So here's my real question. How pissed was Captain Kurotsuchi?"

The busty woman just smiled with a raised eyebrow. Vegeta just grinned back.

Vegeta: "Heheh... Very."

The busty blond just started laughing.

Rangiku: "Ha ha ha! Oh man... I wish I could see his face right now!"

A little while later and the clean up was finished. Kurotsuchi had been held back because he was responsible for the hollow escaping. Even if he didn't let it loose himself, it was in his lab where he is responsible for everything that goes on IN and OUT of it. He was already sour about Vegeta destroying the hollow. Now he's even angrier because of two things. One is that he didn't find anything left of the hollow. And the other thing was that Toushiro was having fun mocking him. Not only because Vegeta destroyed the hollow, but when Kurotsuchi started complaining about his ruined research to Yamamoto, the Head-Captain simply, and firmly, said that he just didn't care. Toushiro had laughed. For years the Squad 12 captain has been pestering Vegeta none stop about allowing him to study him. Payback was sweet. Huffing and boiling mad, Kurotsuchi returned to his lab where Nemu his 'daughter' waited for him.

Nemu: "Welcome home, master. Will the hollow be arriving soon?"

Kurotsuchi: "No it won't. That incompetent barbaric saiyan destroyed it without hesitation! Not a trace of it was left! And not only was I made to clean up the mess that saiyan made while destroying my precious test subject, but the Head-Captain doesn't care that I've lost valuable research now! And of course that ungrateful Squad 10 captain was laughing the entire time! Kept saying that 'that's what you get for all those years of constantly pestering him'!"

Nemu: "Do you want me to make him reconsider his words, sir?"

Kurotsuchi: "I would love to do that but no one else is on my side!"

The scientist just headed for his computer and pulled up all the data he had collected on the hollow. As he scrolled down the data, he continued to rant.

Kurotsuchi: "All those months. All that studying! All those experiments! Now just wasted time!"

Suddenly Kurotsuchi saw something in his notes that caught his attention.

Kurotsuchi: "What's this?"

As he read it, Kurotsuchi smiled more and more.

Kurotsuchi: "Interesting... I'd almost forgotten about that."