Hell yeah this time it's Wanderweiss I'm pairing up with her... Hana and Rikichi aren't enough XD Talking of Rikichi, does anyone 'round here have any idea how to add characters to thecharacter lists?

And before I forget it again: I'd really love reviews..

A voice yelled, breaking silence of the sanded plains of Hueco Mundo.

"Retreat!"

But there wasn't anyone left to react. She was alone. Not quite, though. One person was still standing... The arrancar that had killed her subordinates. People, she had been in charge of. People, she should have led to the safety of the shinigami main camp. Not many, only two medics, five wounded and four men that had been sent along to protect the others.

But now they were all death.

And she was alone. Alone under this dark sky, alone in the cold air, alone with only the corpses of the others around her. Standing right in front of the guy that had just murdered them.

In the desperate attempt to suppress her tears, her fingers clenched around Tobiumes hilt. "Don't you come near me!" She breathed hard, not allowing her eyes to let go of his figure to watch her comrades. "I'll kill you!" She knew far too well that she couldn't. Although having grown stronger since she had awaken from her coma, her strength still hadn't fully recovered. Not to mention that this arrancar seemed to be of an espadas level, which she wouldn't have been a match for even before her injure. If just Shiro-chan was here... She dismissed the thought the time it had appeared. He, being the captain he was, had other duties to do... He and his strength were needed elsewhere as well. This had been her responsibility... And she had failed.

Again.

But why was she still alive? The assailant could have killed her easily, but instead he was just standing there, watching her with a ... what was it? She wondered. A expression of curiosity? It was similar to the face Rukia had made when she had tried to explain Renjis feeling to her. Total lack of understanding. Interest. The desperate will to understand. But... Rukia hadn't looked that retarded...

What ever it was, she wouldn't let him kill her as easy as he had killed the others. He hadn't the advantage of surprise anymore; and she would make slaying her as hard as possible to him.

"Snap, Tobiu-"

She flinched, when slender fingers touched her bun from behind. How fast was this guys sonido? And what the hell was he just doing?

She didn't wait to find out, but swung her soul slayer, despite its still unreleased state, around. Maybe she could hit him now he was distracted-

The blade was stopped in an instant. White fabric fluttered to the ground where Tobiume had met white striped boots. Sudden pain burst into her neck, and then everything went black.

She awoke in total darkness. Panic arising within her, she sat up, her hands reaching out in the desperate attempt to touch anything, just to be sure she wasn't caught in the nothingness of death... and touched something soft and fluffy. She tried to figure out what it was and, after calming down a little bit, came to the conclusion that it had to be hair. Human (or shinigami or whatever) hair. She could feel it.

So she couldn't be dead, right?

But... if she wasn't... where was she? Now, that she was thinking more clearly, she realized that it wasn't an all over darkness but that of a room with only one small window high above at night. She couldn't see the moon, but his dim light entered the room from outside, and as soon as she got used to the low-lit room, she looked down at the person lying next to her. And froze.

The shining white of his clothes didn't contrast at all with the white of the floor, and, as she finally noticed, the walls and the ceiling. Everything seemed to be pure white, everything except herself. She was a black spot to all the cruel white. She was the single thing in this room that was different... even the boys (she was sure he was male, and he didn't look too old, as far as she could tell by watching his back) hair seemed white in the moonlight. How had she come here?

And how was she supposed to get out? There was, to what she could see from her point of view, no entrance or exit, and even if the arrancar seemed to sleep now, he probably would wake up as soon as she stood up. Where should she have gone to anyway? It wasn't that she knew Las Noches well.. To be exact, not at all. Not more then Rukia and Renji had told her about it. It was enough to know where she was, but far too less to leave.

Hinamori forced herself back to the first question. What had happened? What was she doing here, why was an arrancar-

The boy sat up, turning towards her. His eyes were slits, almost closed, but the girl could sense the interest that lay behind those eyelids.

And suddenly, she remembered. It all came back at once, and she cringed.

Red soaking the sand.

They had fallen too fast to follow; when she had seen them, most of them had already been dead.

The smell of blood.

And him.

The vision had burned itself into her mind. His blond hair fluttering lightly in the wind, the white mask shadowing his eyes, the bloodstained white robe with the opening at the chest, exposing the hollow hole. The bloodstained hands, holding the bloodstained purple soul slayer that had just slit the other shinigami. The still raised hand which had fired the cero that had killed the others. Also the freckles that made his features such innocent despite the blood. The prominent buckteeth that added to this impression.

Her fists clenched. "You!" She winced at the sound of her own voice. It was hoarse, as if she had been crying all day. But she hadn't...? Then she realized what it was. Thirst. Mere lack of water made her vocal cords feel all sore and excoriated. But she ignored it. "Why...?" It was impossible to her to talk more than that. She felt like crying but couldn't, felt like screaming at the blond, like throwing things at him or hitting him with her bare fists. She hated the fact that Tobiume wasn't at her hands. That it was nowhere in the room... Though she could sense that it wasn't destroyed yet, which gave her some relief.

The boy reached out for her, but stopped when she tried to slap it. A frustrated sound that demanded an explanation followed.

Had this stupid kid any idea what he had just done? She pressed her lips together, tucked up her legs and clasped her arms around them. Her eyes stared at him furiously, carrying a hatred that caused the boy to withdraw his hand and look at her in confusion. He really had no idea, had he?

They sat there, neither of them moving. She had no idea how long, having no way to measure time then counting her own heartbeat which wasn't really an option, but it seemed like eternity and didn't finish before she fell asleep again. She had tried to stay awake, not knowing what would happen if she slept, but sorrow, thirst, hunger and general exhaustion made her too body too weak to follow her brains commands.