Okay, so I haven't updated in forever, so to compensate I wrote a little more than usual. I can also promise that the next chapter is in progress, so the third one will be uploaded later this week. Here you go. Enjoy. ^_^

I was told once by Ulquiorra that assassins must never allow themselves to be caught. "To be caught is to ensure your immediate death," he would say. I never really understood what those words meant, but I wondered if any of that was true. Because if it was, I was surely deemed a dead woman now.

As I walked the halls of Los Noches alone, I pondered over everything I had been taught. All my techniques, my stealth, the ways of which to kill. All of it meant nothing now. There was no hope for me. But then, there never had been to start with. Not since the interference of Grimmjow.

"Oh? Who's this?"

I whipped round, the sudden interjection of someone's voice dragging me from my thoughts. The halls of Los Noches were usually so desolate; I hadn't expected anyone to pass by.

There was the shuffling of footsteps as I saw a cluster of people gather, all wearing swords strapped to their sides, which told me they were all Samurai.

One I noticed right away, an orange haired man, younger than the rest. He had soft hazel eyes, the kind that shouldn't belong to a Samurai, the sort that perked my interest. He stared at me cautiously, but didn't speak a word. Beside him were two others, a silver headed short guy, and a woman with waves of blonde hair.

"Rangiku, this is the one they call Eve," muttered the shorter Samurai.

The somewhat voluptuous woman sauntered up me, a cheeky smile adorning her lips. She placed her hands on her hips and leaned forward, as if inspecting me. "So you're the one they're talking about? You don't look like a murderous psychopath to me."

"Psychopath? I'm sorry?" I narrowed my eyes, confused and offended.

"That's what people are saying. After all, you did go to attack one of your own assassins, right? Protected our Grimmjow. You completely went psycho, from the sounds of it. Surprised that Ulquiorra is still-"

"Ssshhh," snapped the shorter one. "We're not supposed to talk about it."

Rangiku pouted. "But I was getting to the good part," she mumbled, almost in a playful manner. "Well you can always fill us in about it sometime, I guess."

"Anyway," cut in the redhead, finally speaking up. "It's Eve, right? How long are you here for?"

I didn't even know how to answer that. "I thought you people knew. I would guess it's till the injuries are healed. I've been left in the dark so far, since your Aizen guy didn't really do much to fill me in."

"Yeah, that's Aizen for you," the auburn sighed. "'Suppose we should really introduce ourselves then, since you're going to be seeing a lot more of us from now on."

"I'm Rangiku," the woman chipped in, before the redhead could name her.

Then the redhead patted the shorter guy beside him, "and that there is Toshiro. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki."

Toshiro frowned. "I'd prefer Hitsugaya."

I didn't like the way they acted towards me. It didn't feel right. Why were they so outgoing, so casual and welcoming, towards a captive? The Samurai from what I had heard were twisted, dark people, not at all the characters that these three were. But then, I'd only ever gone by what my superiors had told me. For all I knew, everything the Assassins had told me could be false, and that included everything Ulquiorra could have said.

I shrugged. "And I suppose my name is already known around here, isn't it?"

"You'll find word travels fast here," Ichigo replied, "and if you are here a while, then you should get used to it."

Hitsugaya slouched his hands into his pockets. He glanced around, and for a moment his attention was diverted. Once he turned back to them, there were muffled footsteps from further down the corridors. "You two, we should take leave. There is a meeting soon."

"Right." Ichigo swung in the other direction, "see you 'round Eve."

The three of them headed off, leaving me just stood there. I found it hard to tear away my attention from Ichigo, for some reason feeling very inquisitive about him. His mannerisms, those russet eyes, he was the complete opposite of the Samurai image I had in mind. Much warmer, kindlier, than the descriptions that Ulquiorra had fed me back in my time under his influence. Even Rangiku and Toshiro were very different than expected.

What happened next was probably down to my old instincts. Maybe it was the former assassin within me, or my sheer nature of curiosity, but I needed to see where this 'meeting' was. With any luck, if I could tail after those three Samurai, I could follow them to the meeting, and learn what the enemy was up to.

So that was exactly what I did.

Once I'd managed to find a shady spot at the side of the hallway, I traced the sound of their footfalls, which were growing more distant by the second, and trailed along after them. Perhaps it was due to old habit, but I stuck to the shadows, trying as best I could in my sorry state to make my presence unknown. I just hoped no one could see me, or else it would be quite the embarrassment, and I'd be discovered.

The Samurai hadn't lied. They were indeed attending some sort of meeting, but it was unfortunate that I couldn't track them any further, as the doorway that they passed through was occupied by two guards. I let out a frustrated breath. My chance had gone.

From the room they had entered, I heard lowered voices and mumblings stirring from within what appeared to be a crowd of people in there.

I was just about to wander back, when something hard jutted into my spine, and I was rammed into from behind.

I let out a yelp. Ouch! Without warning, I stumbled backwards, and landed in an awkward heap on top of a very disgruntled Espada.

"What the fuck," he huffed, that unmistakable loud tone grinding in my ears.

Well of course I would run into you of all people, I thought, struggling to bite back a whimper of pain as my wounds brushed against his torso.

The bluenette didn't seem too happy to see me either. He rolled his eyes, half-heartedly helping to shove me off, before fixating hard sapphires on me while getting to his feet. "You goin' blind now?"

"That depends. Is blindness a side effect of sword injury?" I retorted, though I wished I hadn't said it. It was by his sword that I'd suffered, and he damn well knew it. I quickly saw the guilt reappear in his face, despite his efforts to hide it.

Instead, Grimmjow did not answer. He changed subject. "What're you doing, Eve?"

"Does it matter? Whatever I was doing, I'm not any more."

He stood there with a bored expression plastered to his face, though I could detect a hint of annoyance. Had I annoyed him? Or was something bothering him before he'd bashed into me?

"I guess you're going to that meeting too," I murmured, rubbing my stinging wrists.

"Yeah. It's a load of shit, but if Aizen wants us there…"

"I get it. It's the whole Samurai duty thing," I spoke. "Well then, don't let me keep you. I'm sure you're simply dying to know what's going on in there."

Grimmjow muttered something under his breath, then threw back his head and took off. That was it. I didn't get the usual 'see ya later'. The bastard just strode away.

What the hell is up with him, seriously?

I watched as Jaegerjaques exchanged brief words with the guards at the door, before he continued on in. Deep down, I knew I would have given anything to follow him on in there, like I would have done before, back when I used to follow him anywhere. Back when we did everything together. Back before any of this.

Giving up on trying to figure out what the meeting was all about, I decided to weave my way back through the hallways towards my prison of a bedroom. The bedroom felt more like a cell than anything, but it was the only place I could ever find comfort in such a forsaken building.

When the meeting had ended and the Samurai dispersed, I observed as they all strolled down the corridors, peering out from my room. They acted so dutiful, carrying their swords like sentinels, disappearing elsewhere while whispering gossip.

Once they had all distributed completely, I leaned back against the wall, hunched down in bandages.

My thoughts were clouded with dread and uncertainty. What was I even doing here? Sosuke Aizen had permitted me to stay here, presumably as a captive. There was no use in trying to get back to the Assassins. Ulquiorra would have brandished me a traitor, and the others would be ready to wring my neck the moment I entered the World of the Living. The only purpose in being here was merely to delay my inevitable death.

That was, if they didn't send someone to kill me. How ironic, an assassin being assassinated. Though I'm not an assassin anymore, I reminded myself, biting my tongue. Either way, there was no doubt a bounty on my head. It was only a matter of time before another assassin showed.

I spread my attention over to the window, which was wide open. The latch on the frame appeared as though it had been hacked off, hanging there loosely.

Wait. Hacked off?

I couldn't recall opening the window myself. In fact, I was barely even sure I'd ever touched the damn window. No one here would have any reason to do that. So then, who did?

I hobbled to my feet, still feeling a little uneasy in my feeble condition. Slowly, I ambled over, crouching down to examine the frame. Stroking my fingers gently over the surface of the pane, I noticed there were fresh scuffmarks marked over the glass. Tiny splinters of wood had been hewed off at the frame, too. This had been done recently.

Someone has snuck in through here, I thought, coming to the conclusion that something was wrong. A nip of fear tugged at me. Could it be one of them? Are they here for me?

I withdrew from the window and began pacing the room frantically. If it really was one of the Assassins, I was in abrupt danger. So was Grimmjow. Well, so was anyone.

The next moment, I found myself stalking the corridors again. I'd hurried out of the bedroom and out into the haunting halls, aware that the assassin could be prowling around here too. Things were worsened by the fact that I was unarmed, and hardly in any bearable shape for a fight. If I was found now, I couldn't defend myself.

Several minutes passed by the time I reached the end of the corridor, having found no sign of anyone or anything sneaking around. But I knew they were here.

In fact, I picked up on something during the instant I turned round. From the corner of my eye, I spotted a white Espada uniform, dappled grey by the shadows, secreted behind one of the columns. Someone was standing there.

But it was too late to react, because the moment I considered fleeing, the white shape bolted.

For the first two seconds it was gone. I stood there anxiously, not knowing what to do. But then I felt a hand jerk back my shoulder, flinging me against the wall with a hard thump.

I shrieked with fury as the wall collided with my injuries, and my muscles pained in protest.

Thump.

Someone's fist jarred into my face, hitting the bottom of my jaw, evoking from me a guttural cry.

"Fucking hell," I coughed, tasting blood in my mouth. "That wasn't necessary."

Then a hand was pinned to my throat, ready to strangle me at any second. I was still reeling from the shock of that punch, and my body grew paralyzed, so all I could do was stand there helplessly.

"Miss me?" A creepy figure grinned, cocking his head to one side in a smug custom.

"Oh, it's you."

Things could not have possibly gotten any worse.