A/N: Hello again! Here's Chapter two! If you want to read more of any particular part out of either chapter, just let me know, and I'll post a separate fic with the full story. Oh, later in the story, I will be posting separate fics with outtakes, to further develop story lines or a situation that I particularly like, so you can look forward to that! Now, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. This I swear. Please don't sue.

Chapter 2: In which Renji goes housewarming-gift shopping, or Kenpachi gets lost

Toshiro Hitsugaya was as icy cold as his zanpakto, so people getting close to him, letting them worm their way into his frozen heart, was rare. These were the people her cared for, chose to protect, and he could count the number of these people on one hand. So when he noticed one of those people jumping straight at danger, his heart rate sped up, his eyes widened, but he restrained himself from yelling her name. Instead he curse Kurosaki hero-complexes (Are those even genetic?) and sheer lack of self-preservation instincts. Then he finished off his opponent in three exchanges in a fit of pique; because the child-prodigy was furious and didn't know why, which made him angrier still.

Somewhere, in his inner world, Hyorinmaru watched and wondered if Hineko and Tobiume were zanpakto willing to bet.

Riiip "Ugh, really you pervert! Did you have to rip my shihakusho?" Rangiku shrieked as the Arrancar tore her blouse open. She may flaunt her assets, but that didn't mean she was a floozy. In fact, she'd only been with one person, and – no, she wasn't going there, not in the middle of battle, where drinking sake until you were drunk off your rocker was particularly frowned upon. Matsumoto grabbed her scarf off her shoulders, and then tied it in such a way that she was no longer exposed.

The Arrancar growled impatiently. "Old lady, you done yet? I ain't got all day."

"Hey, who are you calling old? And you're a pervert!" Rangiku sent her zanpakto at the Menos Grande, but he dodged and hit her with a massive fist. She went flying into the house next door to the Kurosaki's, knocking out an outside wall and crashing into a second. On her way, she saw Karin and the zanpakto gripped in her hand. Then a portion of the upper floor came crashing down and Rangiku couldn't see anything else due to the rubble in the way.

"So what do you think on the matter concerning Karin Kurosaki?" Soutaicho asked his fukutaicho.

He took a minute to consider, while pouring the Oolong into cups, "Taicho, she could be a great asset. We already know she has a great spirit pressure, and if Kurosaki taicho could develop his shikai in ten days and bankai in three, then with proper training this child could graduate faster than Hitsugaya –taicho."

Soutaicho took a steaming cup, sipped appreciatively, "So, you suggest collecting her via Senkaimon?"

'Hai, taicho."

"Then send a hell butterfly for her."

"Hai taicho." 1st Division's fukutaicho bowed, then glided out to complete his orders.

The two figures gripped their zanpakto's hilts as a new Garganta opened, and then entered their ready stances.

"S%$*#. Why are all these Hollows coming to the World of the Living? This can't be random." Grimmjow grumbled, his open jacket flapping in the rush of wind ripping through Karakura.

Ulquiorra closed his eyes as it began to rain, "Agreed. Something is happening." Rain traced the two scars running down his face, where his Arrancar tear tracks had been. His outfit's long double breasted coat clung to his body, tails flapping in the storm. Two studies in charcoal grey waiting for the onslaught.

Shuuhei Hisagi picked out notes on his guitar. He had gotten it back in his days as simply a ranked officer, on a mission in the World of the Living. It had been lying there, on a park bench, and he'd waited for hours to see if anyone would claim it. When no one did, he'd taken it as his own. He practiced often, and he was extremely talented at it (It had yet to be determined by the SWA if Hisagi taicho was simply amazing at playing naturally or because he practiced so often. However, they all agreed that it made him sexier and romantic at the same time).

The twilight was so peaceful. The work day was over, and everyone was going out for sake or home to relax. Shuuhei strummed the beginnings of a lullaby, but after a moment he realized he was playing the song he had written to show his taicho – ex-taicho, he corrected himself bitterly. Kaname Tosen was dead, and Shuuhei, like Kenpachi Zaraki, won the position by being the one who killed him. Sure, rules had been bent, but a year ago he had achieved bankai, so it wasn't like he really didn't fit deserve the position.

He ended the song with a resounding crash, dampening the noise and stilling the strings with a hand. It ate at him constantly, when he was in the office, when he slept, where ever he went. It was like Kaname Tosen haunted him, haunted his fukutaicho who was playing dress-up in his captain's haori. Shuuhei just wanted to ball up the blasted piece of white cloth and burn it, but he didn't know if he could. Ise fukutaicho would know, but she'd tell Kotesu fukutaicho who would feel compelled to tell Unohana taicho, who would quickly deduce everything, and then swiftly send him on his way to Kurosuchi taicho for psychiatric help. So he played on, making a conscious effort to ensure that the song he played never went close to that tune, and that his thoughts stayed well away from his long dead taicho.

Isshin pushed harder against the wall that had collapsed on top of him. Of all the times for Hollows to swarm, today would be the day. With a final grunt, he finally pushed the rubble out his way, just in time to see his freshly-dead daughter attacking a Gillian.

Engetsu smiled at Isshin's blossoming pride. 'You are so proud of your children, Isshin, although why I cannot fathom.'

'Because they will be great Shinigami, Engetsu, with such bravery. Greater than we can imagine.' He drew Engetsu, and easily slew the Arrancar that was hassling Matsumoto.

'Hmph. Their stupidity and penchant for heroics will get them killed long before they achieve greatness.'

Isshin laughed out loud, three cuts on his face bleeding into his mouth, staining his teeth red. He imagined he looked like a bloody demon from hell. 'Enny, why don't you shut up so we can have some real exercise in this fight?'

'That is the first sensible thing you've said all day,'Engetsu rumbled. Then they launched themself at the new flood of Hollow.

Karin was thrown into the house across the street by a cero blast the Menos had fired at her. She crashed completely through the home, and the air was completely knocked out of her. One eye was swelling shut and she was losing feeling in her left arm. Her sword arm.

'S*$^%. If I don't end this soon, I won't have enough energy to fight this thing.'

The Gillian took a step toward Karin, as she watched Yuzu escape out of the ruined building. As her younger twin ran toward Urahara's Shoten, she exhaled slowly and staggered to her feet. The Gillian, in the meantime, had begun charging up another cero. Karin realized this just as the blast was fired at her.

Toshiro Hitsugaya was not prone to expressing feelings, at all. Like his zanpakto reflected, he was icy cold in appearance and temperament, but like all dragons, he was fiercely protective. So as he raged internally at Hyorinmaru about the sheer idiocity of his Karin Kurosaki, princess of baka ona everywhere (fact: he never raged as violently or … colorfully before, or as long. Hyorinmau took the time to contemplate if Zangetsu would be a good person to lay a bet with, or if he'd be as explosive as his master when he lost.), part of him wondered if he was getting sick and needed to cut back on the office hours. Because he himself recognized that he was acting oddly, case in point: when had he started thinking of Karin as "his"?

Hyorinmaru growled, 'Master, somewhere between her attacking a Gillian-class Menos Grande and now.' His tone rang with mirth.

'Hyroinmaru, if I didn't know better, I'd say you're laughing at me.'

'Then I must be doing it wrong. Forgive me, I'll do it better next time.' His voice faded

'Wait, I can't rage properly unless you're here listening.'

'Well, Master, be as that may, but unless you want "your" Karin to die for the second time today, I would act fast.'

Toshiro noticed that Menos preparing to fire a cero at point blank range at Karin. He mumbled a curse under his breath as he flash stepped into action, one that Granny would wash his mouth out with soap for using, shunpo'ing to her side and lifting her out of the way.

Her eyes were practically sewn shut. She had seen that red light aimed right at her, and was sure that in another moment or two she'd be dead.

Waiting, waiting…. It felt like ages since she'd closed her eyes. All she felt was air rushing past – and she was certain that wasn't what a cero was supposed to feel like, something more scream inducing was what she was expecting – and then she felt strong arms lifting her princess style, cradling her to a chest that smelt of winter pines and frost. A scent she recognized after having borrowed his coat once. 'S%*#.'Karin thought, and wished that the whole day was all a nightmare. Because of all today's events, this was the one she could never hope to forgive herself for.

His voice broke through the sounds of violence raging around them, hard and commanding, "Open your eyes, Karin." She opened her eyes.

His arms didn't unclench as she struggled to find her feet. "Toshiro, put me down!" She hated how she sounded like she was yelping in fear.

Toshiro slowly lowered her to the rooftop he stood on, bending at the waist to achieve it. 'When did he get that much taller than me?' Karin tilted her face up as she realized the height difference, 'When did that happen?' She turned to go, toward the edge of the rooftop.

"Wait," His eyes sparkled with rage, but instead of laying into her (fact: he wanted to yell at her and shake her and possibly toss her into Maggot's Nest until she learned common sense, but time would not permit such actions and Ichigo would probably kill him) he unwound his green scarf and then tied the sheath of her zanpakto across her back, diagonally. "How's movement? Comfortable? Too loose?"

"Fine, I guess."

He studied the makeshift sling. "It'll have to do. Go find Yuzu and then stay at Urahara's Shop until someone comes and tells you it's safe."

"You want me to get out of the way?" Karin's voice rang with outrage.

He rounded on her, snapping out his words like icy bullets, "Karin you're a complete novice. A greenhorn. Untrained. And you may be a Kurosaki with more reiatsu and lack of self-preservation instincts that you know what to do with but that doesn't mean you're ready to fight Hollows, let alone Menos Grande. What you're attempting to do is sheer suicide, and I'm hoping you don't want to die twice in one day."

If he had missed the signs of her rising temper, he couldn't miss them now. Her fists were clenched into tight fists, her knuckles white as rice paper, "Fine, but that isn't the final say taicho," Somehow, only she could manage to make his title an insult. She began to walk away again, then pivoted and slapped him hard across the face. "Don't ever presume to carry me like that again, baka. I don't do princess lifts." Karin left then, her reiatsu spiking wildly.

His face burned with her handprint. 'D&$%. She's going to attract more Hollows. Baka ona.' He fumed, then called, "Rangiku, go after Karin." Then he went bankai on the new wave of minor Hollow, chopping through them like a hot knife through butter.

Renji stared at the rows of stalls that compromised the Rukon district's largest market. 'Where the h#*% do I start looking for an "appropriate housewarming gift"?' He scratched his head as he watched the bustling stalls and vendors hawking their wares.

The Rukon girls watched him and giggled, eyeing the red-haired man covered in tribal tattoos. Renji didn't give them a second glance, instead searching for an elderly woman (preferably) in the market who might be able to give him some advice. He'd long ago decided to follow his ambitions, and thus given up on the childhood friend he'd long held feelings for. (A hard decision, but it was necessary. Given Rukia's Big-Brother Complex, if Renji beat Byakuya while trying to court her, things would go badly all around. It helped that she was obviously [well to everyone but herself and the object of her affections], obliviously in love with Ichigo. He couldn't wait to cash in all the bets he'd made in their favor – he was going to make a killing.)

As he meandered mindlessly (hopelessly), he ran into something – someone – who ricocheted off him and to the ground like a rubber ball. Renji looked down, apologizing automatically, "I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going."

The raven – haired woman graciously accepted the hand he offered to help her up. "It's quite alright Abarai fukutaicho, I wasn't paying quite as much attention as I should have been either." She blushed faintly as he helped her rise from her ungainly sprawl on the floor. She dusted off her miniskirt, and then smiled sweetly, "Thank you, Abarai fukutaicho."

As she left, a light turned on in Renji's head, and he called out after her, "Kurosuchi fukutaicho! Wait!" Nemu paused a few steps away, and he bowed at the waist before her, "Kurosuchi fukutaicho, could I beg a favor of you?"

Kurosuchi taicho glided down the heavily kido'd and guarded halls of the Soul Society's only prision, the Maggot's Nest. The special pass he'd ingested to get to this level parted the heavy spells around him, and then settled them back into place after he left as if undisturbed. He passed ever downwards, down into the very bowels of the pit that contained Aizen. Time to go check on the progress of his … experiment. Kurosuchi taicho giggled furiously, his mind rolling and running at the thought of having this lab rat – one he couldn't kill, and was thus able to experiment forever. Plus no one cared what he did to the traitor – his mind cut off as a long, white, chalky blade cut off his head.

"Tsk, Tsk, Mayuri. Pay more attention next time, you should have noticed how my reiatsu has been growing all this time even though you were actively suppressing it." Aizen murmured, his hand reforming. Then he strolled casually out into the darkness of the Maggot's Nest, disappearing out of the Soul Society.

It was only a few hours until the first guard patrol found the dead Mayuri Kurosuchi.

His body moved with all the grace of a lion, apex predator screaming in every movement of his heavily muscled body, the swing of a mane echoed in the river of motion in his hair. A fist heavily scarred, made contact with the lithe grace flashing around him, sending the black clad form crashing into a tree. Her white ribbon bound braids whipped around her, steel rings deadly with kinetic energy.

Kenpachi spoke conversationally, as if he wasn't bleeding profusely from a wound across his chest, "I think we need to change signals."

Soi Fon whipped out of the shadows, assassin's grace in every line of her body, the small blades she held in her hands pointing like claws between her fingers, scoring scratches down his back like lover's nails, "I agree. Explosions are getting harder to explain away." She darted away before his zanpakto could catch her.

Kenpachi barked a laugh, then smiled – all teeth. "D&$% straight." Then he returned his full attention to the petite figure darting about him like a yellow jacket, deadly grace and beauty with a hidden sting.

Not that either minded. It was why they sparred – melee'd if they were honest – in secret, ( a not-so-secret the Shinigami Rumor Mill had bastardized into a romantic forbidden love affair. The whole Soul Society might be smart enough to put one beat up killer and one destroyed assassin together and get two, but they might never understand the truth. It was easier that way) where they could let out the bloodlust boiling in their veins without repercussion.

They danced a fine line with insanity, with the addiction of killing and shedding weaknesses and pitting themselves against strength and coming out victorious – and when the need to paint themselves satin red roared too loudly, they called and beat it out of each other in equal measure, until their veins sang with satisfaction. Two killers, beating the lust that made them the best at what they do back from the edge of insanity they constantly flirted with. Nothing was held back, out of respect to each other's status as best. One does not go easy on the best, after all. One fights them until there's nothing left to give, then some more, until they have been driven to their knees in defeat. That was their agreement, unspoken yet understood.

She Sparta Kicked the giant back to the other side of the clearing, " the other day, Kusajishi fukutaicho asked me to be her kaa-san," and when his zanpakto swung forward, she lept up and ran along the edge toward his face. He easily swatted her aside, which she effortlessly turned into a flip over his head, finishing with a dismount worthy of an Olympic gymnast.

"She. D&$*% Unohana went an' put th' idea in 'er 'ead that she has a kaa-san out there."

"No, I think she's heard the rumors about us. And face it, she has a full family of oji-sans and oba-sans and she's made a tou-san out of you. She's missing a kaa-san to round out the picture."

"Che. Stupid f*#&!ing Shinigami rumor mill. Wha're they sayin' now?"

"According to a very drunk Nanao, that we're in a secret forbidden love affair. There's bets lined up on when the wedding announcements are coming out, or whether or not we'll do what Lady Yoruichi and Kiskue Urahara did."

He laughed, the sound rumbling through the demolished glade like thunder. They both stood still as that whole laugh rang like a gong throughthe forest. Soi Fon couldn't help but smirk at his mirth. "H*%^, jus' fer that, I say we make it all look real, screw wit' their heads and c=such." HE grinned wolfishly, blood running from a scratch above his eye down his face.

Soi Fon threw her head back, laughing herself. Her bob swung back to reveal the trickle of blood that emerged from her hairline and trickled down her neck and into her shihakusho. They both stood at ease, on some subconscious level understanding that their bloodlust had cooled to bearable levels. "Going to send me flowers and chocolate?"

"Dipped in blood and covered in poison."

Soi Fon sobered, "Do you think it's fair to lead Yachiru on in this game? She's your kid, and probably would be excited to finally have an okaa-san."

Kenpachi threw a roll of bandages at her, then motioned for her to him wrap his injuries. She ducked and weaved around his body in a bad pantomime of a kite in the wind. "Heh, 'chiru's strong. But, hey, can ya do me a favor?"

She looked up at him, his face miles away though he'd sat down on the remnants of a tree not long ago. " I know she's almost at th' age where little girls need their kaa-sans, for guidance and som' sh&% according to Unohana. Could ya stand in? As a role model or wha'ever?" He tried to play it off like he wasn't embarrassed about asking her, but he was.

She murmured quietly, knowing the cost of asking took on the proud Kenpachi, " I'm honored you'd ask me. I'll do the best I can." She finished tying the bandages with a quick hard tug.

"Thanks, It –it means a lot tha' ya agreed… I just want 'er to have someone like 'er to look up to is all…"

Soi Fon dropped the walls around her heart for a moment, meeting the demon-man's heartfelt gratitude with strong words of her own, "I think she'll always look up to you, her tou-san, and nothing will ever be able to replace you. " She shunpo'd to the edge of the clearing – "I'll be expecting those flowers!" – then took off back to the Sereitei.

Kenpachi mulled over her words for a moment, then shrugged into his haori. After a few moments, he too left the glade (in the wrong direction) and made his way back to the Sereitei.

Rangiku Matsumoto raced after the fleeing school girl. Strangely, the Hollows were not following Karin's reiatsu, instead staying near what remained of the Kurosaki clinic. The rubble she had been trapped in had been escaped with a little effort, but various minor scratches bled. The chain and ring around her neck had collected the blood, dripping it into her substantial cleavage. 'S&%^! Blood is going to stain my scarf, it's all I have left of G – ' Matsumoto cut herself off. She jumped to a new rooftop, Hineko drawn, focusing in on the task at hand, instead of letting her mind wander to the man who would always be the love of her life.

They had just reached Urahara's Shoten when the message came in over her ear piece, " KRK – Matsumoto fukutaicho, the limit release had been approved due to the large number of Hollows in Karakura Town."

"I didn't request a limit release! And what about the hell butterfly I asked for?"

"KRK – That has also been approved by the Soutaicho, but something's preventing a Senkaimon from opening. The 12th Division doesn't know when they'll be able to get it open again, so you will just have to wait it out."

She sighed heavily, "Affirmative. I'll check if Urahara can get a Senkaimon open."

Karin was crouching by Yuzu inside the shop; Yuzu was bleeding badly from a cut across her cheek, and another across her back. The private sitting room was bustling with activity as Tessai and Ururu cleaned the cuts, trying to get out all the dirt and grime. Jinta wasn't making the process any easier, getting in the way more often than not and generally being useless. Yuzu's eyes were clenched closed as the antiseptic stung her cheek, black spots dancing about her.

Matsumoto's eyes fluttered, as she tried to clear the spots from her vision. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Karin reach out and grasp her younger sister's hand. Rangiku felt the floor sway beneath her feet; she again shook off the sensation. She was no greenhorn on her first field mission, she wasn't going to faint from a little blood loss. Her eyes fluttered again – why weren't the black spots receding? – and opened to see Yuzu look straight at her twin and ask, " Karin? I – I – I can see you?"

If you ask Matsumoto what happened next, she wouldn't be able to tell you what happened after that. Because her eyes closed once more, and she collapsed to the floor unconscious.

Nanao Ise had no idea what time she stumbled into 8th Divison's headquarters, just that the sun was too bright, she had a migrane of epic proportions, and every single noise sounded like Soi Fon taicho practicing her bankai. She collapsed into her desk and groaned at the pile of paperwork in the inbox. Of all the days – Nanao swore profusely in her head, cursing everything from the sun to the lack of good coffee in the Sereitei. Then she thought of taking a sick day – which brightened her mood considerably – until she remembered she was trying to break the current record for working without taking a sick day. She was only four years away, Kami curse it, and no matter how bad she thought she had the flu, she was not going to let the last 106 years go to waste. Maybe a five minute nap would make her feel better…

More than an hour later, Nanao woke to the sound of training taking place in the courtyard outside her and Kyoraku taicho's office. And since it would not do for them to disturb her while she tried to work, she slid open the door and glared at the miscreants menacingly, no holds barred. Yes, that's right, she took off her glasses.

When Shunsui Kyoraku enterd the office several hours later, he found his beloved Nanao –chan curled into the fetal position on his couch – the pink monstrosity she had tried to get rid of humdreds of times over the years. He hadn't become taicho for nothing, so he immediately deduced something was wrong. As if his dead silent division hadn't tipped him off.

"Nanao-chan?" He spoke cautiously – he and Juushiro had long ago agreed that Shinigami women were highly dangerous when silent and /or calm. Best tread carefully around them always.

"Taicho, why are you screaming?" The response was muffled, but she raised her blood-shot eyes to glare at him.

"My humblest apologies, Nanao-chan." He dropped his voice to a whisper, " are you not feeling well?"

"No taicho. I have a migrane, and possibly the flu." She groaned, "At the Shinigami Women's Association meeting last night, I felt fine, this just came on so suddenly."

Shunsui was hit with a flash of enlightenment, "Nanao-chan, are you hungover?"

Ichigo Kurosaki knew he wasn't the sharpest zanpakto out there – not by a long shot – but even he knew that Hollows, much less Menos Grande, didn't invade an area over captain class reiatsu. Nor did they suddenly retreat. No, Hollows didn't do such things, not without someone else calling the shots – someone like Aizen.

A/N: Okay, Chapter 2! I'll try and put up Chapter 3 as soon as possible, but don't hold your breath! Review if you feel like it, flame me if you want. Feel free to as for explanations, or to give me constructive criticism. Until next chapter!

ModernArt2012