A/N: Okay so this chapter took me a bit longer than I had originally thought and had far more revisions to it than I have ever done before with any other story. So I'm still on and off about how it came out, not really too happy with the outcome but I think it's the best I can do for it. Hopefully the next chapter will be better though.

There was a solid crack that echoed between her palm and his face as his back collided with the wall behind him. He barely had a chance to collect himself and check on his newest injuries before watching as she gave herself a running start to close in the space between them. She leaped at the last minute and pressed her feet against his chest; sending them both through the wall in a rain of plaster from the sheer force of her body kick. Striking the floor, he felt the pressure leave his chest as she rolled in a separate direction before doing the same himself; getting up in time to catch her next move. He caught her fist in one hand and managed to strike her hard with the other; watching as blood escaped from her now busted lip. Taking advantage of the moment, he used his speed to quickly put some space between them.

She was a close-combat fighter; skilled in hand-to-hand fighting with the strength of ten men in one punch as well as with the endurance and stamina of a ruthless, never-tiring God. She was an offensive player but her defensive side took in part to her ability to take a large amount of damage at once or overall. And if there was one thing he hated, it was close-combat or really any kind of combat. He wasn't a fighter; he would be perfectly content with just sitting back and observing a fight rather than being in one. Sure it helped with personal observations but once more, with his low combat abilities, it wasn't something he was looking forward to doing constantly. But with her...it was almost necessary seeing as she did surprise him with the sudden ambush earlier.

"You keep running away," she called; ignoring the blood trickling down her chin from the large split in her lower lip. "Why? I figured as an Espada, much less the Eighth one, you would be showing off the skills that I haven't seen."

He clicked his tongue slightly at her remark. "I'll let you keep guessing. It makes it far more entertaining that way."

Her green eyes never moved from his as her body language gave away her next move. He quickly side-stepped the swing when it came time for it and turned only to greet her eyes once more. Her direction changed at the last minute as her fist sank into his chest; forcing him to listen to the sound of his ribs cracking and breaking apart. She followed the motion with a swift kick that struck him hard in the temple and dropped him easily. However, she watched as his image disappeared only to reappear across the room from her.

"I knew you lacked skills in combat but I didn't think it was like this," she spoke; watching as he picked himself up and simply brushed off his uniform.

"The last time you engaged me was in Resurrection, which is really the only time my combat skills are vaguely acceptable," he remarked; pushing his glasses back up. "But really, if you were half as observant as your so called 'Captain' was then you would've figured that out the first time you hit me." her green eyes seemed to flare slightly at his comment. "I didn't mean to rile you up but I would greatly appreciate it if you would stop-" his sentence was cut short as she launched yet another attack and broke the wall with his body once more. Coughing up several sparks of blood, he picked himself up and touched at the fresh wound on the back of his head. "-throwing me through walls."

She stood at the large break in the wall and watched as the Espada only pushed himself up onto his arms rather than get to his feet. The only visible injury so far was a small split along his jawline from when she hit him earlier; the rest of his injuries were either bruises or broken ribs that were hidden underneath his uniform. Unfortunately for the Espada though, she had already detected that he had low combat abilities when she did first strike him; it was just more fun to keep hitting him. While his combat skills were low, he had surprising defensive skills to back him up. So far, he had taken more damage from her without so much as a blink. It seemed the more she did hit him, the more it rather agitate him than anything else. He complained more on how she was destroying the walls, and staining his clothing with blood than about how she was constantly hitting him over and over again.

"I really wish you would stop staring like that, it's freaking me out."

"You're odd Octavo." she spoke calmly. "What you lack in fighting, you make up in defense but yet your skin is incredibly weak; I can split it in one hit. I fail to see how you even manage to survive a fight without your release."

He narrowed his eyes slightly before getting to his feet once more; dusting off his uniform. "It's true. While I don't have the strongest hierro or even the best combat abilities, what I lack in physical strength I make up in logic. You've hit me numerous times Kurotsuchi, but with every hit you land it's only striking at maybe a quarter of its original strength. I've greatly reduced the damage intake from every strike, which means even though you've managed to break a few ribs and cause a few bruises...it's not even half the damage of what you've given away. Do you comprehend what I'm saying?" he watched as those melancholic green eyes only stared at him.

"You've already analyzed all of my moves and can reduce the damage to almost nothing," she recited. "Despite the number of times I've hit you or the number of times I will hit you, the damage is minimum and you'll be completely fine."

"I wouldn't say 'completely' fine, after all you did manage to break a few ribs," he chuckled; readjusting his glasses. "But after a few more rounds, you'll figure out that it's all pointless and that you're just simply wasting energy."

"Then I will keep fighting till I'm exhausted."

"Very well then."

He slammed her down against the floor and used his hands to pin her arms to the cold tiles. Once white, the floor around them was stained with spatters and smeared droplets of blood from their recent altercation. Panting, he never let his eyes leave her own as she kept that every stoic face of hers. With blood slipping from her lips, she took in short, clipped breaths quietly and listened to the sound of his staggered gasps. With the amount of blood staining the room around them and both their slightly damaged uniforms, it was hard to tell who exactly was winning.

"You lasted longer than I expected." she remarked.

"Like I haven't heard that one before." he scoffed. "Now are you through with your little 'fight club' game?"

"No."

He rolled his eyes and started to get up. "Okay, if I let you go will you stop hitting me? And need I remind you that your little exchange deal is still up to me to decide, so I would suggest you consider that before you answer my question."

Assured by her silence and lack of movement when he let her go, he pushed himself up from their current position and stepped away; pausing slightly as his left leg threatened to give out from underneath him. He dropped down to one knee as the pain seemingly rendered the limb useless; blood pulsed freely from the massive wound that tore down along the tibia. How the wound exactly got there was a bit of a mystery that was lost in the last few hours of their battle but he was almost certain that it happened when she threw him through yet another wall.

"Heh...you know that was almost a better fight than from before..." he chuckled; wiping the blood from his lips with the back of his hand. "And I didn't even have to release for it."

She slowly lifted herself up onto her arms; sitting slightly on her hip as she turned to face him. "What's your decision?"

He glanced up at the question; allowing himself to meet those green orbs once more. "Well if I look past the fact that you seem to rather enjoy beating me up, breaking my furniture and destroying my walls then I still find some use in you...So my decision will favor your decision. I'll have them transported in the morning, which should give their injuries enough time to barely avoid the line of becoming fatal."

"You healed them?" she questioned.

"Yeah well...don't tell anyone." he muttered; brushing aside several of his loose bangs as he tucked them back into their place. "But it seems as though we're through here, so if there aren't any further remarks, questions, comments or punches, then I should really-"

"Szayel..."

"Yes?"

"...Thank you."

A/N: I want to thank everyone for the reviews I've recieved. They really help kick me into finally finishing this chapter and getting a jumpstart on the next.