It's Magic

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach, Kubo Tite does. Copyright hounds, rest in peace.

A/N: Doesn't really matter, but does anyone who uses Word notice that the word count between word and the word count is off?

"Hey, Saru," Yachiru said. "We're getting reports that hollows have been sighted down in the Real World. No contact with souls yet, but we'd better leave soon."

Saru sighed. "Small fries?"

"Yes," Yachiru said. "And it's our turn on duty, so we have to go."

Saru turned over his shoulder. "Hey, Takashi! Hollows! Get the squad ready to leave in a minute."

"OK!" Takashi shouted. He turned to the members of his squad. "Listen up, we've got a hollow reading in the real world. We leave ASAP."

The division members groaned. None of them were in the mood for a hollow hunt. Their captain was throwing a drinking party tonight, and any of them dying would definitely ruin the mood of Kyoraku-taichou's bing- er, party.

----

Yachiru knew exactly where she was when she woke up. The minute her eyes opened, she marched straight over to where Zaraki was lying on the riverbank and smothered him with a chloroform rag. Then she ran for it.

"I can't let anyone find Saru or Takashi before me," she thought. "I have to lose that guy."

She didn't make it ten feet before something landed in front of her. Frozen in shock, she only had a fraction of a second to register the sword pressed against her throat.

"If you didn't have information about Saru and Ryuuken," Zaraki said. "You would be dead right now. And for your information, chloroform doesn't work on me. Most conventional drugs don't. So don't even try."

Yachiru gulped. "What the hell is this guy," she thought. "A demon?"

"So," Zaraki said. "If you talk, then I get my answers, and if you don't, then I get to beat them out of you."

"Fine," Yachiru snarled. She sighed. "I came to Zaraki because I heard that Saru was here. However, people here tend to clam up around strangers. And since I don't really use your… unconventional questioning methods, I haven't gotten any answers. So, in a way, you're my biggest lead as well. Do you know where Saru or Ryuuken are?"

"Saru's dead," Zaraki bluntly said. "Ryuuken killed him. Most of Ryuuken's men were also killed, so he's in hiding."

"Ryuuken killed Saru?" Yachiru snapped. "That's impossible. He could never beat Saru in a fight. He didn't even know his Shikai."

"Well, now he does. And if Ryuuken couldn't kill Saru, could 500 milliliters of Firerock do the job?" Zaraki said.

Yachiru fell silent. "Let me guess: Ryuuken was wearing that suit of his when the Firerock blew."

"Got it in one," Zaraki said.

"So what do you what with Ryuuken?" Yachiru asked, feeling the answer.

"Saru was obviously on my side. He risked his life for me, and paid the price. When the Firerock exploded, I lost my memory, but I retained my killer intent," Zaraki said. "I want to meet him so I can rip him from limb to limb."

"Saru had to save you, didn't he?" Yachiru asked, surprised. "So, technically, you would have been the damsel-in-"

Zaraki glared. "There's a reason I'm called Demon, you know."

"Point taken. You want to kill Ryuuken, fine," she said. "But you're just ignoring the war around you? You're called 'Demon' and you're not getting involved in a war?"

"I have more important things to do," Zaraki impatiently said. "Work before play. Kill Ryuuken first before getting involved in the war, if it isn't over by the time Ryuuken's dead."

Yachiru stared. "What an uptight loser," she commented.

Zaraki drew his sword. "An uptight loser that could beat you into next year," Zaraki countered.

"Fair enough," she muttered.

"Now you give me my answers," Zaraki said. "Who were Ryuuken and Saru and why did they want to kill each other?"

"Fine," Yachiru said. "I'll tell you. Saru and I were once Shinigami. One day, we had a call for a hollow in the real world. It should have been bread and butter."

"The Tigers taking over the south-eastern neighborhood was also supposed to be bread and butter," Zaraki said. "What went horribly wrong?"

"The hollow was…strange. It had abnormal powers. Before we knew it, all the members of our squad were dead except for Saru and me."

"You son of a bitch!" Saru screamed. "I'm gonna kill you! Flow, Mercury!"

The hollow narrowed its eyes. "Shikai, eh?"it thought. This Shinigami had potential; he might even become a lieutenant one day, or, even worse, a captain. The hollow sighed. It had eaten its fill for the day, and didn't really want to expend any more energy, but it seemed that this Shinigami wasn't going to give him much of a choice.

The metallic liquid flew towards the hollow. It grinned, and didn't even move out of the way. Just as the deadly liquid was about to chop the hollow up into little bits, something dove into Mercury's way to protect it.

Saru's eyes widened. He dispersed the liquid away from the hollow. "W-what the hell," he stammered out. "Is that you, Nakamura?"

Nakamura looked up. His face contorted into an inhuman smile. Without warning, he drew his sword and attacked Saru. Saru quickly sealed his Shikai and raised his sword to block. He didn't even try attacking Nakamura. "B-but you're dead!" he exclaimed.

Suddenly, Nakamura's head flew off. Saru looked up in surprise. "Yachiru!" he shouted. "What the hell! That was Naka-"

"It isn't Nakamura," Yachiru snapped. "Nakamura would never do something like that. He's being possessed by the hollow." She cut off Saru's protests. "They're dead, Saru!" Yachiru shouted.

The hollow chuckled. "There are only two of my kind in existence, in Hueco Muendo and Soul Society combined. Of course, I use techniques slightly different than my brother, but it works down to the same thing in the end: we're the strongest hollows of our generation. Be honored that you will die by my hand."

Suddenly, Saru appeared behind the hollow, arm outstretched. "Die by your hand?" he snarled, enraged. "DON'T' GIVE ME THAT BULLSHIT!" He grabbed the hollow by its tentacles and ripped them off.

The hollow didn't even flinch. Instead, he smiled. "Why don't you take a look at your Zanpakuto," it sneered.

Mercury shattered in Saru's hands. Saru was unfazed. Using Shunpo to get behind the hollow, he chanted "Hado No. 63: Raikoho!"

The hollow was blasted off its feet. Several of its appendages either torn or completely destroyed, it slammed into the ground.

"I don't even need my Zanpakuto to polish of weaklings like you," Saru growled. He put his hand over the broken hilt of his sword. "And just to let you know… your shitty parlor tricks don't even work on me." Mercury reformed in his hands. He charged the hollow.

"What?" the hollow thought, amazed. "Did he just reform his Zanpakuto with his own Reiatsu alone?" The hollow knew that it was going to die. That Shinigami had lieutenant-level reiatsu. He was out of its league. "Of course, only my body will die," it thought. "I've still got energy for one more possession." Without either of the two Shinigami noticing, it reached its hand over to the nearest corpse and injected its Reiryoku, seconds before its body was annihilated.

----

"We didn't even know that the hollow had escaped until we couldn't find Takashi's corpse," Yachiru said. "Then we figured it out. The hollow, in Takashi's body, had retreated to Rukongai's Zaraki and became a money-obsessed thief. After that, Saru quit the Gotei 13 to hunt it down."

"Why did he quit?" I asked. "Couldn't he have just hunted the hollow down as a Shinigami?"

"The Central 46 would have never allowed it," Yachiru explained. "They would have just thrown more Shinigami at the hollow. They don't care about the casualties."

"And the hollow, Ryuuken, never even recognized Saru?" Zaraki asked.

"Saru probably used some Kido disguise to make his face appear different," Yachiru said. "The odds are that Ryuuken never recognized Saru as the Shinigami that had killed its body."

"So that son of a bitch was a hollow all along," Zaraki thought. "Then, he won't have any Soul Society friends to run to. The only friends he has are other hollows…"

"Hey, Yachiru," Zaraki said. "You used to be a Shinigami, right? Do you know any ways into Hueco Muendo?"

"I know what you're thinking, and it won't work. I already checked Hueco Muendo out when I was still a Shinigami," Yachiru said. "He's not there."

Zaraki smirked. "You went there when Ryuuken was still in Zaraki," he said. "Chances are he fled when his troops got scattered. And if he fled, the only place he could go would be Hueco Muendo."

"He might not have fled there. Remember, he could still be in one of the Rukongai districts, or maybe even the Real World. Even if Ryuuken is in Hueco Muendo, we can't do anything about it. The only portals to Hueco Muendo are the Garganta, and those can only be opened by hollows," she said. "So unless you have some magic way of teleporting us there, then we can't go."

Zaraki grinned. "Close enough. You still have some of those Shinigami hollow detectors?"

"Yes…" Yachiru said, apprehensive. "What exactly do you plan to do?"

"When the next hollow shows up, I'm going to perform a little magic trick. And the hollow will be my assistant," he said. (A/N: Dark Knight :D)

----

The hollow showed up near Rukongai's 15th district two weeks later. It was planning to go and eat some souls, and then return back to Hueco Muendo.

Of course, things rarely go exactly the way you want them to. The hollow's situation was a more extreme example.

It had barely walked two steps when it felt steel against its throat. It was experienced, however, and didn't freeze. It swung around, extending its hand to impale whoever had dared to attack him.

His hand was blocked in midair. Shocked, the hollow turned around and saw that the Shinigami had managed to catch his arm.

The hollow wasn't stupid. It knew that it was done for. Surprisingly, though, the Shinigami didn't go in for the kill.

"Well," the hollow growled. "What are you waiting for, Shinigami? Do it!"

"Well," Zaraki said, grinning. The hollow froze. The few times he had studied Shinigami's faces, they usually expressed either extreme fear or anger. The hollow had never seen glee during a battle. "Two things. One, I'm not a Shinigami. Two, I need to ask of you a favor."

"Favors?" the hollow asked, quickly becoming enraged. "I don't do favors for Shinigami scum!"

"What a poor choice of words," Zaraki said.

Yachiru was trying not to concentrate on the hollow's screams when they abruptly stopped. Zaraki came back with the hollow. "He'll open the Garganta," Zaraki said.

Yachiru looked at him dryly. "Did you give him a choice?" she asked.

"Unimportant," Zaraki quickly said. He turned to the hollow. "Okay, open it up."

----

Hueco Muendo is one of the most depressing places in the world. White sand stretches as far as the eye can see. An occasional quartz plant sprouts up every now and then, but is quickly lost in the sea of white.

Zaraki didn't give a damn that Hueco Muendo looked depressing. To him, it just was depressing: there wasn't a single hollow in sight. In fact, the only two things in sight were him and Yachiru, and he couldn't just fight Yachiru. Even if he did, it would be disappointing. She was a good fighter, excellent even by Zaraki district standards, but not good enough.

Disappointment practically oozed out of Zaraki. "Where are the hollows?" he asked bluntly.

Yachiru held up a bag, and tossed its contents onto the ground. "Coming," she said. "That's hollow bait. We'll have a fight on our hands either way, and that's good. If we're lucky, Ryuuken will be among the hollows, and if we're unlucky, he won't."

Zaraki looked at her disapprovingly. "If Ryuuken doesn't come, this whole thing will have been a waste," he commented.

"You're uptight," she countered.

"I'm practical," he said.

"You would also make a good bounty hunter," Yachiru teased. "I can see why Leader sent you."

"Shut up," Zaraki said.

A low growl interrupted their conversation. Zaraki drew his sword. "Looks like the uglies are here," he said.

Hollows began to swarm. Zaraki cut them down, one by one, with a bored expression on his face. He was here to find and kill Ryuuken, not to waste his time on pathetically weak small fries. The truth was that he liked fighting, but he avoided unnecessary battle. He had more important things to do than getting involved in petty skirmishes.

After fighting for over an hour, Zaraki began to become dangerously bored. He was barely putting any force behind his swings now, and he had a glazed expression over his eyes.

"Don't fall asleep now," Yachiru said. "Here come the Gilians."

The Gilians could be spotted from far away, towering over the normal hollows. They began to devour any unfortunate hollows that were in their paths.

Zaraki grinned. "That's more like it," he said, and leapt towards the Gilians.

One Gilian raised its arm in an attempt to knock him out of the sky. Not missing a beat, Zaraki landed on the arm, slicing it off and leaping out of the way a moment later. Surprised, the Gilian stumbled backwards, only to be impaled by Zaraki's sword. Enraged at the death of his comrade, another Gilian began to charge a Cero. It hit Zaraki point blank.

When the smoke cleared, the Gilian's head fell to the ground. "And what kind of weak-ass attack is that, huh?" Zaraki growled. "You people aren't even much better than normal hollows."

----

"Well," Zaraki said. "That sucked."

"Really?" Yachiru said. "I thought it was a good work-out."

"The entire trip was completely pointless," Zaraki said. "And I didn't even get a scar as a souvenir. Heck, they didn't even manage to land a hit on me."

"Hey," Yachiru mentioned. "At least we got a fight."

Zaraki stood up. "The fight was completely useless! It was completely unnecessary!"

Yachiru chuckled. "You sound like a pacifist," she commented. "At least you don't fight like one."

"What's the deal with you and you're obsession with fighting," Zaraki shouted. "I like it, but I don't crave it!"

Yachiru shrugged. "You do things your way, I do things my way." she said. "Time to go to sleep."

Zaraki didn't move. "If Ryuuken's not in Hueco Muendo , then where is he?" Zaraki asked. "We don't have any idea where he might be." Zaraki hit his fist against a tree.

"We'll think of something," Yachiru said. "Like you said, Ryuuken's laying low. We could always just wait for him to resurface."

"Fine," Zaraki said. "I'm going to go take a walk."

"That's not very fair," Yachiru commented. "You never let me take any walks."

"That's because I can actually survive with half the district's gangs after me," Zaraki countered. "Good night."

Review, please. If I have any grammar or spelling mistakes, please tell me.