Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of the fabulous dorks contained within said series.

A/N: Hm, another fanfic. I seem to write Kira a lot, even though he's not one of my top favorite characters. Oh well, at least I've broken the streak of pure undiluted crack.


It was an unfortunate turn of events, really.

Izuru had never known Rangiku Matsumoto that well- there were rumors of her, ah, I involvement with Captain Ichimaru, but Izuru never really paid attention to them- but he'd spoken to her once or twice, and he always felt (horrible) (despicable) bad when he was forced to treat someone he knew- even in passing- as an enemy. Which, unless there was some sort of intervention, meant that the person he was fighting died. Which he couldn't help.

An enemy could not be allowed to live. (This is what he knew, this is what his parents told him. The Kira family always killed their enemies unless ordered otherwise, and he could not go against this.)

He'd been ordered to fight whoever arrived, and Lord knew he couldn't go against his Captain. He hadn't questioned Captain Ichimaru's orders, apart from what would happen to Hinamori. He didn't dare to. (You can never go against the orders of your Captain, they said. Never question him, never abandon him, and die before you disobey him. They never questioned the possibility of him not making it into the Divisions. Unfortunately, they didn't live to see him enter them.

They were killed by a Hollow the year before he entered the Academy.)

So here he was, seventy-five flash steps away from Central 46 (he had to count them, always, or else it felt like he hadn't done things correctly and he worried about it for nights even though everyone told him it was nothing, nothing at all) and now he was drawing his sword on her (this meant, of course, that blood would be spilt) and now he was releasing Wabisuke (its design perfect for execution: the increase in weight would bring the adversary into a position where the blade could hook up and easily sever the head from the body)-

And then there was some conversation. (He shouldn't delay these things. They are necessary evils.) And then- their swords hit, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven- let's see, zero-point-eight times two to the seventh power- (he should stop, but he shouldn't, because his parents would never- he would-)

And then it occurs to him that he has no idea what Rangiku's zanpakuto did.