Author's Notes: Typing the disclaimer every chapter is going to be redundant. I hate redundancies. So much so it almost matches the boundless hate I have for the characters that are Orihime and Chad for simply existing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or anything pertaining to it.


Chapter Two.


With a dab of her pen, she finally completed her required mission report, minus any mention of a certain object or traumatizing event that took place nearly two days ago. Doing so made her disgusted with herself. Never before had she withheld such important information from her superiors, it was her duty to inform them of any potential threats to Soul Society.

And judging by the laughter in her head. That mad cackling she had heard on rare occasions since returning from her latest mission, she, for once, was failing that portion of her job in spades... she felt dirty just thinking of it.

She scrunched her brow and scowled, in her mind it was quite the conundrum, because she had always put loyalty and duty before anything else. But being forced to face the fact that her life was as good as wasted through execution or as one of Mayuri's lab rats put a new spin on things. Under normal circumstances she would have gladly given her life in service to the Court Guard Squads, but if Soul Society found out about all this then she wouldn't be dying in battle or for Lady Yoruichi, she wouldn't even be dying for honorable causes... she would just be exterminated because of an accident. To have her entire purpose for existing tossed out the window for something so... so stupid! It was a disgrace, and it did not sit well with her. Would she really just give up and resign herself to any of those outcomes without a fight? No, she had to do something...

But that was the trick, wasn't it? What could she honestly do with herself at this point?

Normally something of this caliber would need to be brought to up Mayuri, but she suspected her entire problem was his fault to begin with. Stasis fields that have remained active for well over a year don't just magically stop working like that; they had obviously been powered off. The fool probably didn't even know she was next to the damn pedestal inspecting the thing he would most likely form a great fascination with, when he deactivated the fields. The irony that she actually ruined it when he practically screeched at her not to even go near things was sickening.

If anyone in Soul Society could have helped her it would have been him. But there was the issue that she did not trust the man to go anywhere near her without an official order stating he wasn't allowed to mess with things he shouldn't. Seeing as how Central 46 probably would order the exact opposite of that meant she would have to visit him in secret. But doing so would almost guarantee her being strapped to a dissection table the moment they got to one of his labs. Even on the slight chance that he did help without doing anything unhealthy to her he'd use the whole situation as blackmail; she did *not* want him with that kind of power held over her head.

No, she couldn't trust the clown faced freak, she'd sooner beg Urahara for help, at least Lady Yoruichi could keep him in check. But that option... it was... it was just completely unacceptable! She'd never admit that she needed that irresponsible man's help.

She could try and keep a reign on things herself while hiding it from Soul Society. But that did not seem very feasible, she knew of Kurosaki's track record with losing control on the battlefield, that wouldn't last long before someone caught on and she'd end up right back where she started. The only reason he isn't dead right now is because he has so many emotional connections throughout the ranks of Soul Society that the result of offing him would be a civil war. How many would honestly care if the cold-hearted assassin with no friends got the axe? Those who did and would potentially aid her when Central 46 ordered her demise would have to face off against the Head-Captain, only this time there wouldn't be the news of false orders from Central 46 and Aizen's betrayal to stop him from reducing any of them to ash for disobedience.

What if she were to seek the Vizard out and ask them to spill their bag of tricks for even a hint of control? That didn't sound like a very plausible idea, actually. They resided in the human world and even if she did somehow manage to find their location, they would undoubtedly deny her any help because of what her job in Soul Society is. She could try to force the answers out of them, but she wouldn't be able to take on several hollow enhanced Captain and Lieutenant class ex-Soul Reapers by herself. So those options were as good as useless.

Shifting in her seat and with each passing moment it seemed that visiting Urahara was the only option left to her, short of turning herself in. But as she had decided earlier, she would not give up that easily. Even if it meant having to ask that despicable man for help.

She sighed to herself as she collected her report as well as a request for leave and inserted them within the pocket dimension of a nearby Hell Butterfly. Sending it off to the Head-Captain, she silently asked herself, so as to not be heard over the munching of her Lieutenant "What would Lady Yoruichi do..?"

Letting out yet another sigh, she knew exactly what her mentor would have done. As much as she hated herself for following through with what she was about to do, she knew it needed to be done. She just hoped that no one thought the resident workaholic suspicious for requesting a whole two weeks of leave time in the Human World. But first she needed to see Suzumebachi in a secure location, preferably somewhere private. She hadn't spoken with her Zanpakuto since coming back from Hueco Mundo and didn't know what would happen if she entered Jinzen with her recent changes. Better to be on the safe side after all.

Turning around to her grotesque Lieutenant, who just so happened to be stuffing his face with even more rice crackers instead of doing his work, as per usual. She decided she may as well get that small amount of secret and sadistic glee she gets from torturing him before leaving, she needed a motivational boost and this worked perfectly.

"OMAEDA!"

"YEAAAAiiGH!"

He practically jumped several feet in the air above his seat upon hearing his name being shouted, before promptly falling flat on his face.

Getting up and shakily holding his chair, he offered, in her honest opinion, a rather pathetic response. "Y...yes Captain?"

"I've recently sent off my latest report and a request for leave to the Head-Captain. When it is approved I'll be leaving for the next two weeks."

He seemed to be unable to process what she had just said, as if the idea of her taking time off was the sign of the apocalypse. His mouth gaping open and closed like a fish out of water, he responded with a simple. "Hungh?"

Closing her eyes and making her way to the doorway, she soon stopped several steps from leaving to send a glance over her shoulder.

"You will be in charge during my absence. If your duties are not done and your paperwork is not properly completed and turned in by the time that I get back, then there *will* be consequences..."

"B-but Captain, I..."

"Surely you're capable enough not to screw up for two measly weeks, Omaeda. The fate of your precious rice cracker supply will be depending on it..."

"Y-yes, of course Captain. I won't let you down!"

"Good."

She nodded to herself and walked out the doorway of the office.

Making her way through her squad's barracks she smirked and noted with satisfaction that the reaction he had on his ugly face was, once again, priceless.


She did not often come here, doing so would potentially lead more people than desired to know about her mentor's secret training ground under Sokyoku Hill. But for an occasion such as this, she felt it absolutely necessary to have complete privacy and there was no better place for that than here.

Deciding that she was far enough away from the entrance, she plopped down next to the nearest rock formation and crossed her legs whilst pulling out Suzumebachi. Starting up the process of Jinzen, she couldn't help but anticipate what the state of disarray her Inner World probably was in before her vision went black.

Opening her eyes and making a quick survey within her general vicinity, she decided that her Inner World had the same usual theme of a man-sized hornets' nest, no changes in that regard. That meant her current condition at the very least didn't alter that. Good.

A closer look at the nearly endless clusters of paper honeycombs forming the walls of her inner world, however, revealed that a good number of them were cracked, broken, or empty and based off of the unusually manic movements of the fist-sized hornets flying about, meant, sadly, that things weren't completely normal. Not so good.

Normally, everything would look nice and neat, the paper honeycombs would all be intact and full. in addition the hornets would not be behaving in such a frenzied manner. Put simply, it was a mess. Considering messy meant that she was in a state of mental disarray, she could tell this visit was going to be even less enjoyable than it normally was with her obnoxious Zanpakuto spirit, Suzumebachi always tried to *cheer* her up when her Inner World is like this.

Sighing, she got up from where she was sitting and made her way to the center of her inner world, where Suzumebachi would without a doubt be lounging on her little throne or bouncing off the walls. She wasn't sure which it would be this time; the spirit's behavior had always been a tad erratic when it came to that. However, whatever she had expected when she walked in the spirit's often frequented room, was not what she was currently witnessing. Suzumebachi and what appeared as a black and white version of herself were chatting it up and giggling...

For the love of the Soul King, please do not tell me that the new entity I've never seen before in my inner world is *not* the source of my predicament and currently having a casual conversation with my Zanpakuto.

Logic dictated that as being the case, what else could explain the sudden appearance of that *thing*. But there was a chance to hope that it wasn't... right..?

Scowling slightly as she made her way further in the room and closer to the doppelganger in question. She decided that she wanted a definite answer.

Pointing to the black and white clone she coldly asked "You, explain what you are and what your intentions are. Now."

The look-a-like spun around and let loose one of the creepiest and widest smiles she had ever seen. It looked like it would split her face in two; she didn't even think her face was capable of doing that!

"Oh, so the Queen has finally come to visit, well now this is a surprise. I didn't think you'd come any time soon based off of what I heard."

Her scowl deepened greatly.

"Answer the question. Now."

Her temper slowly began to rise further when Suzumebachi decided to come and dart in front of her face, making a visible effort of being obnoxious and energetic by performing multiple loop-DE-loops.

"Calm down Shaolin, you haven't even met her yet and you're already trying to bite her head off! You should ease up a bit and not scowl so much.

The tiny spirit actually started to nod to herself. "It might actually make the walls fix themselves faster!"

"She makes a good point you know? Besides, you seem to already have a basic idea of what I am and how I got here. As for my intentions... well, I guess you'll just have to wait and see, who knows what could happen hmm..? you could have some fun!"

Her hearing must have been off, she could have sworn that her Zanpakuto just defended what she was fairly sure was a hollow representation of herself, one whom just openly left what seemed to her as a veiled threat.

She shot a seething glare at her discolored clone. "And I take it that asking you to simply remove yourself from my being won't work, will it?"

"You're right. I'm afraid it doesn't quite work that way, I'm stuck with you, just as much as you're stuck with me! But don't worry; I'm sure that we can be good friends."

With a dejected sigh she simply stated. "I figured as much."

Looking over to Suzumebachi she asked. "Are you capable of helping me control her until I can work something out?"

Suzumebachi took a few spaces back, but continued on with her aerial acrobatics.

"Yeah. sure, whatever. But hey, you shouldn't worry too much over her, she really isn't that bad, in fact she keeps me company! It kind of gets lonely in here since you don't like talking with me. You should at least listen to my advice and get a boyfriend or something if you're going to ignore me so much!"

"I like that idea, you're isolationism really isn't healthy. Hell, even another woman to keep you company would work if you swing that way. I won't judge."

She was putting as much effort as possible in maintaining her scowl and preventing the inevitable blush of combined rage and embarrassment. Just what she needed, another Suzumebachi, only this one had her face.

She ultimately decided not to say anything that would rile the hollow too much though. It currently wasn't doing anything hostile or malicious besides discussing her current relationship status with Suzumebachi and if all she was doing at the moment was talking about ridiculous topics with her Zanpakuto, than she could most certainly work with that until she found a way to get rid of her. There was just one more issue to take care of before leaving, her... condition was induced a bit differently than the way both the Vizard and Kurosaki's reportedly were, she needed to know if Suzumebachi knew about any additional issues that may have formed.

"Suzumebachi, is there anything else that I should know about before I leave? Any changes out of the ordinary, besides the obvious?"

Darting off to her throne she replied with a simple "Nope! Nothing except for our new friend! Later party pooper!"

Oh how that little pest plays her nerves.

"Come back soon. Just make sure not to get caught and die, it would be a shame if it turns out the drone was more capable than the Queen. Hmhehe!"

Slowly swirling into blackness, her look-alike gave one final chuckle before completely dissipating into the rapidly closing void.

Deciding to file that last comment away for later and seeing that she obviously wasn't going to get anymore answers, she felt it to be a perfect time to leave. Closing her eyes and blacking out once more, she awakened out of her Inner World and made her way to the exit. She would stop by her quarters at her squad's barracks and prepare for the trip to the Human World that she would be making soon.


Ending Notes: Coming up with an Inner World for her was interesting. Not the most original idea on my part, but I felt that it fit to a degree. It was better than my twenty other ideas that were far more terrible, boring though it may be. Blame my narcolepsy for lack of inspiration.