For the most part, a cell made of bars that allowed for you to see your loved ones was a great thing.

For the first time in what felt like forever, they were all together and hearing each other in real time, not echoes rumbling around a large castle. From her space in between Hachi and Shinji she could almost relax and she didn't have to worry about someone's silence meaning that they were gone forever.

Rose would sing every once and awhile but as soon as they felt spiritual pressure nearby he quieted down, hands drifting up to his mouth as he tried to keep from falling into the memories of forced silence and the loneliness he had felt. It twisted her insides when the movement caused the heavy collar around his neck to shift, digging into skin.

Each of them were wearing a seki-seki imbued metal collar, meant to keep them under control now that they were no longer in pure seki-seki cells but that didn't mean that they were any better. For all Aizen went on about keeping them in perfect condition he seemed pretty content to leave them weak and exhausted from the drain of spiritual energy mixed in with the heavy metal digging into their necks. It was the perfect concentration to send their spiritual pressure down to that of the average Rukon dweller, causing them to lack any sort of hunger.

"You doing alright brat?" Shinji's hand slipped between the bars and drew her as close as he could get to her through the bars. Holding hands had become the new hug for them as that was all most of them could fit through the bars, Hachi's gentle hands were too large and he had to wait for people to reach out for him, but with the small walkway between them it still hurt to be just mere inches out of Lisa and Rose's reach, and the others outside of Hachi and Shinji were just too far away. That was one of the downsides of the bars. At least in the cell made of stone she knew that wasn't any chance for contact.

"Just thinking." She rolled one of her shoulders, trying to shift into a more comfortable position as he chuckled in response. She scrunched up her nose as he tried to rub her back, squirming away. Each of the Visored knew each other's secrets, and one they all knew was that a back rub was a surefire way to get Hiyori to relax when she was stressed. "Knock it off Shinji." She made to push his hand back into his own cell.

"Just accept the affection." He grunted as their one armed struggle began to grow into one of their little squabbles. She could faintly hear Lisa telling them to knock it off as she managed to finally get the upper hand, pushing his arm back to his own side. What was unexpected was that when he went to make her regret winning that he pulled on her hand, pulling her halfway into his cell.

All eight of them were silent as they realized that Hiyori had gotten skinnier over the time spent in captivity, that she was now small enough to fit in between the bars.

Pulling herself back into her own cell there was maybe a second of doubt or worry before she turned to the small walkway between their cells and slowly pushed her way through the bars. Part of her was worried that the collar was going to do something to her, but surprisingly there was no resistance.

For the first time in weeks she stood on her own two feet outside of her cell, no being plucked and carried or being strapped down to a gurney or a wheelchair, just standing outside her cell.

A smile, one of the rare ones that was unlikely to be seen during freedom/exile, spread across her cheeks as a soft laugh bubbled up.

"You got out!" Rose reached out and grabbed her hand, the old calluses warm against her small hands.

For all that she wanted to celebrate, she had a plan. Turning to the wall furthest from the door she ran over and grabbed the keys to the cells, each a pure silver key with a glittering gemstone set into the handle.

"We're doing a fucking jailbreak." She grinned as she pushed a key into the lock of Mashiro's door, the satisfying click followed by the creak of the door opening causing her friend to tackle her with a hug.

Within a few moments the entirety of the group was free and wearing the first smiles they had all worn in a long time. Sure they had no idea where they were, in both the building or the worlds, but anywhere had to be better than here.

Poking his nose through a crack in the door Kensei took a deep breath in, "Doesn't smell or sound like anyone's near here, let's move."

Years of emergency escapes and evading the Soul Society had left them with incredible teamwork skills and the ability to easily evade enemies without being seen, which for a group that included an eight foot tall giant and a girl with green hair was pretty good.

For a good 20 minutes they slunk from one quiet corridor to another, relying on their amplified hollow senses to help them get around, following the unfamiliar scent of sand. Part of Hiyori wanted to argue for them to got to the throne room, to grab their zanpakuto and run like hell, but she knew it would be futile. Not only would Aizen count on their love of their blades, but she could already see the boys going into defensive mode.

For the past century they had always placed keeping the girls safe above any other objective. She knew that they were doing it when Love gently pushed her behind him despite her hearing and nose being sharper than his own. When she tried to get around him to help he lifted her up into his arms, the tight grip being all the warning he knew she would need to stay put for now.

It just happened to be their luck that they came across one of the female arrancar's fracciones walking with one of the sixth's. For a brief moment both groups looked at one another, neither quite sure what to do. Before either arrancar could react, Hiyori decided to take action. Pushing herself around, Hiyori summoned her mask and fired a series of quick ceros at the ceiling above them, rubble raining down on their enemies as Lisa yelped for them to run as shouts rang out behind them.

No longer did they follow a scent, but instead they ran as fast as they could down the hallways, knocking lower ranked arrancars away in their bid for freedom. Hiyori was glad that Love was holding her, the lack of energy combined with the drain from those tiny ceros left her light headed and if she had been on her feet she surely wouldn't have been able to make it a single step.

Horrified, they were chased right into a familiar atrium, the space right outside Aizen's throne room. Too quickly they were surrounded by the Espada, forced to go back to back as a soft golf clap sounded out.

"What an interesting show." Aizen smiled as he walked towards them, "Here I thought that you all were good and trapped, but I seem," his eyes went straight to Hiyori, "to have made a slight miscalculation with my belongings." He crooked a finger towards her, "Come here, Ruby."

Love pulled her tighter against his chest before shoving her up and over his shoulder into the space between all of their backs, Mashiro and Lisa slipping in as the circle shrunk to better protect them.

"I don't believe that I was speaking to any of you," he snapped his fingers, "Nnoitra, grab the Ruby for me please, if the rest of you would be so kind as to restrain the others."

A brief scuffle happened around them as Mashiro and Lisa held her, her woozy head too muddled to have been any use in any fight.

Too quickly Nnoitra loomed over them and pulled her from the other Visored's grip, kicking Mashiro to the feet of the the 8th Espada. She hissed at him as he held her up in the air by her blond locks before he lightly threw her to be splayed out at Aizen's feet where he tsked at her disheveled state.

"And here I thought you were still the genius girl you were known to be nearly 150 years ago." His hand wrapped around the large collar about her neck before he pulled her to her feet. "It seems that you need to be taught a lesson."

She paled and faintly heard Shinji calling out for Aizen, roaring with he others for his blood as Aizen's hands gently gripped her shoulders.

"Take them back to their cells and keep the keys better hidden this time around." He lazily called out for his minions to do as he said, his attention fully on Hiyori, "I have matters to attend to."

Slipping a few fingers beneath her heavy metal collar he began to pull her from the atrium down another hallway. "Come along my dear, you were so keen to explore earlier."

She was doing her best to keep walking straight, the weakness from her cero blast mixed with her drain was seriously going to be her downfall, carefully placing one foot in front of the others. Too quickly he tried to make her take a turn and she spilled onto the ground, the world spinning.

"Seems like you're not feeling you best." She glared up at him as he chuckled above her. She bit her tongue, remembering the promise Shinji had made her swear after they were together again.

"I'm only gonna say this once brat." He had run a hand through his fine blonde hair as the others all began to settle into their new surroundings, "when it comes to Aizen you cannot try to talk to him. He gets to you way too easily and it only causes you trouble." He gestured at the scar on her waist before looking back up at her. "Promise me that you'll do your best to keep your cool around him."

She could still recall him grinning as she wrapped his pinkie around his in a silent promise. For the most part, Aizen had kept himself distanced from most of the Visored, stepping in when he felt needed or wanted to prove a point.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to gather her feet beneath her, knees shaking as she pushed against the wall for balance. She hadn't fired a cero in months(?) and she usually tried to hide how despite the Hogyoku saving her life a second time that she was still really weak when it came to the lower half of her body.

She had nearly made it all the way up when her knee gave a loud click and she started to fall again. Instead of the impact she had begun to brace for, hands went under her armpits.

"Seems that there's quite a bit about you I need to assess." Before she could protest he gathered her into his arms and begun to flashstep. With her collar she and the others lost that ability but he could do it just fine, easily flitting down the hallway before ending up in what looked like an infirmary, waving off other hollows as he deposited her on a cot in a private room, locking the door behind them.

Instantly her senses were on high alert, being in a room alone with the most evil figure of her past two centuries. Much like an animal, she began to bristle and try to puff up against his intimidating figure as he carefully watched her.

"I never noticed how animalistic the eight of you have become in the past century." Moving to the door at the other end of the room he pulled it open and sat down in the swivel chair near the entrance to the room. "Go in there and bathe."

Eyebrows raised as she looked at him, her head slightly tilting in confusion. "Why?" The question couldn't help but pop out as she studied him. "I lead a jailbreak and you decide to let me take a bath?"

She and the other Visored were usually taken to use a restroom in the area where they were kept while under the watch of an Espada. It was embarrassing but there was no shower or anything so it had been awhile since she had last been able to bathe.

"Think of it as a peace offering. I'll stay out here and you take all the time you need in there." He relaxed back into the chair, "I'll even do work and keep busy if it makes you happy."

"Tch." She grunted and turned her nose up at him. "Don't play innocent with me, Sousuke." There was a slight twitch near his left eye at her calling him by first name. "That's right, even back in the day you preferred for us to call ya by your last name."

"And back in the day you were better mannered under Hikifune." She stiffened at the causal mention of her mother-figure's name. It had been a long time since Hiyori had been able to think of her old captain without a bitter taste rising in her mouth. "Come to think of it, I saw her when I defeated the old Soul King." He tapped his chin, all of her attention directed at him.

She hissed at him, "What did you do to her?"

He gestured to the bathroom, "Go take a bath and I'll tell you more."

"NO." She could hear Banshee beginning to whisper sweet words of aggression in her ears as she leapt off the cot and swayed on weak legs. "You will tell me right now what you did to her and all the others."

She was seeing red as he fluidly arose from his chair and walked in a circle around her, "Then we shall compromise." Giving her a gentle shove he frogmarched her into the bathroom.

It was really fancy for an infirmary restroom, a large tub taking up most of the floor space and other amenities ringing the room. A part of her realized that this must be for the Espada and high ranked numeros as he pushed her towards the tub. "I will talk if you take the time to clean yourself and I assure you that no harm will come to you so long as you do as I say."

Seeing as he settled onto the raised edges of the tub and quietly awaited her, there were no other options. She knew she couldn't try to run, he'd have her in a second. Blush rising on her cheeks she turned away from him and slipped off the light kimono she had worn since waking up in her seki-seki cell.

"Still as modest as ever I see."

"Oh just shut up." She unceremoniously dropped the rest of her clothing and slipped into the large tub, hands concealing herself from wandering eyes looking through the clear waters.

Turning to look for soaps she noticed him rise up from the tub's edge and move towards a small cabinet filled with numerous bottles. After taking a few moments to consider his choices he grabbed a series of delicate looking bottles and lined them up on the edge of the tub.

"The first one is to be poured in the bath water, the entire bottle."

"Whatever you say…"she mumbled as she shifted and dumped the bottle into the water, coughing as she was instantly overwhelmed by the heavy perfume of jasmine and berries. Times like this were when she really hated being a Visored more than usual, when something that should have been enjoyable hit her in the face like a frying pan. Enhanced senses were nice for some things like hunting and cooking, not as much fun when it came to everyday occurrences that no ordinary mind should have to deal with. The warehouse had been chosen because of its cover and how isolated it was from the busy area of town Ichigo lived in. Too many bright lights, noises, and smells for their poor overworked senses to handle.

He smiled at her reaction and reached over to the faucet, fiddling with a series of knobs when pulsing water began to help bubbles form and heat up the water. Once she got used to the heat and decided the bubbles sufficiently hid her form beneath the water she removed her hands from herself and slightly sunk into the fragrant waters, one eye watching the new lord of the worlds while she relaxed the tiniest bit.

He gestured to another bottle, "Shampoo."

She quickly dunked her head into the water and reached for the bottle and as she began to roughly rub in the concoction of more jasmine into her hair he moved behind her and shooed her hands away. She made to complain but then he spoke.

"Your precious Hikifune and other Soul Reaper friends are all still alive." His fingers dug deep to the roots of her thick blond hair as he spoke to her. "She and the others have been stripped of their titles and I fully intend to make sure their arrogance doesn't plague the Society ever again.

"I'm sure you recall that arrogance. Every other member of squad zero brought their lieutenants and loved ones with them when they were promoted, yet Hikifune left you alone. Everyone knew that you were her right hand." Any anger she had began to sputter out as he hit all the topics she swore she would never speak about again. "While she was off working on her projects, you ran the division, taking her place in numerous captain's meeting and still doing your own workload, but that didn't stop you from also helping her make a better artificial soul." She screwed her eyes shut, refusing to let the tears fall. "Your name wasn't even on the files she submitted her work on, and she didn't even think to bring you along with her to the city of the Soul King, leaving you behind for the likes of Kisuke."

"What's your point? My life sucks and has for a longtime, what else is there to say?" She moved out of reach of his hands and to where the water poured from the faucet. "I thought Hueco Mundo didn't have water? How do you have indoor plumbing?"

"Secrets I might be willing to share one day." He gestured to another bottle and lightly tossed a red loofah in the water.

"Tch." She glared at him, "Do you really need to watch me do this?"

"You all give me plenty of reason to have to be careful." He stiffened in the slightest."After the scare Rojuro gave us, I decided that it would be better to keep a closer eye on all of you, and lo and behold." He gestured to her as she began to scrub her arms, "The Ruby partakes in a jailbreak."

"What does that even mean?" She huffed at the realization that she would have to rise above the water to properly scrub herself down. "Calling us your 'jewels' and acting like this?" Turning from him she rose to quickly scrub down her front before quickly raising each of her unsteady legs to quickly clean them. Catching his roaming eyes she returned to being nearly submerged in the bubbly water. "Perv."

"You all were never meant to survive that night and managed to survive all these years to become so...interesting." His ever present smile was beginning to annoy her, "You eight are true rarities. The first attempt at arrancars, a failed attempt I must admit, but something even more powerful. Something compelled me to make you all my own, to keep you locked away for my pleasure, like precious jewels in a case." He walked to the edge of the room and grabbed her towels, placing them and a fluffy robe on a dressing table. "Dry off and come into the next room. Do not put those filthy rags on again. We'll find you something more befitting, my gem."

In a flash he was gone and she was alone once more.

After she exited the bath he had a number of 'nurses' take her body weight and other measurements under his careful watch.

She hissed at the pink haired Espada Rose had told her about made his way into the room, a snide smile growing across his face. Rose was right, this guy was nearing Mayuri levels of creepy.

"So I finally get to collect data on a Visored? This is truly an honor Lord Aizen." He gave a small bow to Aizen before turning to where Hiyori had been inching towards the door.

"I apologize that your data collecting will have to be limited to her most basic medical information." It took all Hiyori had to not flinch at those calm brown eyes as he gestured to her. "Nothing that can damage her or put her out of commission for very long." He moved towards the door, "I'll take my leave for now, please alert me when you've completed your testing." The lock quietly clicked behind him, leaving her alone with the nurse hollows and the Octava.

"Truly a rarity, and so much diversity! Your species' reputation precedes all of you." Szayelaporro looked her up and down, taking in her small form. He snapped his fingers and a nurse took out a pad of paper and a notebook. "Start taking notes. The first subject is the youngest of the Visored. Female, roughly 4 feet and 4 inches tall, and…" he looked down at her measurements, "Tsk, very underweight for her size. No wonder you look like you're gonna blow away in the breeze, I'll have to plan out a proper nutrition plan if we want you to continue to grow."

Snorting she leaned back against her wall, "Unlikely." At his raised eyebrow she continued, "Kisuke and Mayuri couldn't figure out a way to get me to naturally grow, so a wannabe like you won't be able to do much."

"So you know that...soul reaper, Kurotsuchi?" His face was pulled into an ugly expression that almost made her laugh.

"I used to be his superior." She frowned, "still would be if Sousuke hadn't decided to make us all half monster." She paused for a moment, "Offense fully intended."

He chuckled as he motioned for the notes to continue, "You seem to be the fun one, now let's continue on. The subject has a blood type of…"

For all it was worth, the Octava wasn't as bad as Mayuri when it came to dealing with him. After he was satisfied he left her back in the care of Aizen, promising to visit soon. Aizen pulled her back into his arms and flash stepped away to a new part of the castle she had yet to see.

Compared to the rest of the palace's plain white walls and doors this one was different. Eight gemstones were perfectly placed into a wreath of white gold against a ebony door.

Entering the room she found a common living space with an attached kitchen. The room had four doors on either side of the room, each a different bright color, and another door on either side of the kitchen space that led to another area just out of sight.

"Lovely, isn't it?" She raised an eyebrow as Aizen gently pushed her further into the room.

"Suuure…" she did have to admit it was nice compared to some of the other blander areas they had passed by.

"Good." With a wave of his hand a soft click sounded to her right and the red door with the ruby doorknob swung open. "Until I call upon you, these will be your quarters."

"What?" She turned to him, "I'm not going to be dragged back into a cell with the others?" Panic was rising in her voice, was this the punishment?

"You've proven to me that your previous quarters weren't properly suited for someone of your mind and stature. You will remain here, away from the rest of the Visored, until either I believe the others are suited to join you or otherwise."

She was frozen as he calmly walked to the door, opening it the slightest bit. "This comes with duties my Ruby, and think of this as punishment for deciding to test me as you did."

With that he slipped through the small crack in the door and allowed himself a happy smile as he heard her pounding her fists against the door, begging to go back to the others.