Every inch of Rukia's body had frozen over, covered with a shock as thick as any ice that Sode no Shirayuki had ever danced with. She stared up at the man standing on the ledge above her. The man who had died all those years ago. The man she had...

"Kaien." His name slipped from her lips with the strain of disbelief. "Is it... is it really...?"

"Yeah, it's me." He smiled easily at her, raising a hand in greeting. "Yo, Kuchiki. Long time no see, eh?"

He had dressed in a bizarre fashion, with a ruffle-collared coat that flowed to his knees and a dress robe that fell to his ankles—all a meticulous white—and he wore a gentleman's glove on his left hand. The clothes were different. But that face—that voice!—was undeniably her former mentor, Shiba Kaien.

"H-how?" she managed to get out, taking a step towards him without thinking.

Kaien simply gave her a funny expression, face in a scowl that looked almost like he was about to stick his tongue out at her. "Heeey, what's that look for? Come on, aren't you glad to see me?"

Without waiting for her response, he jumped down to her level and began walking to a side wall of the room. Rukia's gaze followed him as he mumbled to himself, scrounging for something in a hidden cupboard.

It really was him. She had no idea how, but it was him. The playful warmth that emanated from him, even when he frowned at her... She couldn't deny it.

When Kaien finally turned back to her, he snorted in laughter at her obvious confusion, pulling from the compartment several big cushions he'd found. "Come on, Kuchiki. We've got a lot to talk about," he said, tossing her one of them.

For a long moment, she could only stare at him as he dropped the other pillow on the floor and let himself flop down onto it, grinning up at her. Then, a measure of hope beginning to spark in her chest, she eagerly followed suit with about a million questions bubbling through her mind.

Still snickering, Kaien started talking before she could even open her mouth, carefully explaining to her the events that had transpired that fateful night.

Most of what he said blurred in her mind as she tried to grasp that he had even survived at all, much less that he'd somehow managed to become the dominant personality of the hollow he'd become a part of. Or that he'd managed to get an Espada position in an attempt to foil Aizen's plans from the inside.

"I'm glad," she whispered, almost to herself, her fingers clenched tightly into the fabric of her pants as she knelt. She couldn't quite bring herself to tear her eyes from her hands as she spoke softly, voice choked with emotion. "So glad that you're alive."

"Still can't get over that, huh?" Kaien joked, shoving his hand on the top of her head, the way he'd always do before. The gesture sent a warmth of joy through her entire being as it confirmed for her even more that he was really here. "Yeah, I am, which isn't as easy as it seems. Hiding out here has been a big pain, not to mention being partly hollow."

Slowly, Rukia nodded, still not looking up at him. "I know," she said softly, her thoughts turning to Ichigo and his own hollow problems. "I can't even imagine. But being alive, and being in control of yourself..." Like Ichigo still is, she thought. "Well, it's better than not, and I'm glad. And you've done so much in the time you've been here, getting to be the ninth Espada and everything. I can't believe you're-"

He cut into her rambling with a snort and ruffled her hair roughly. "Geez, you have to be so serious about it! That look on your face! Honestly!"

Choking slightly in surprise, she finally glared at him, smoothing her hair with both hands. "What? It's a serious topic! Why shouldn't I be serious?!"

Kaien just grinned at her. "Come on. The situation is what it is, and so we work with what we've got, right? Speaking of which, wanna hear my plan for taking down Aizen? It involves you, too."

Rukia couldn't help the instinctive smile that came from seeing his enthusiastic expression. "Yes! How can I help?"

"Great!" Without further warning, Kaien got to his feet, tossing the cushion off to one side of the room. "First, let's relocate. We're still too close to that fake blue sky of Aizen's. He uses the light from that sky to spy on us, you know."

Rukia blinked in mild surprise at that new fact. "Really? Alright." She hurried to her feet, almost forgetting her Kuchiki grace as she followed closely behind him.

Suddenly, movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she instinctively flinched away, twisting to avoid a sword's sharp blade as it came down at her head. It nicked her cheek, but she managed to get away before it could do any further damage. She stood tensely, looking around in an attempt to locate her attacker.

Surprisingly, Kaien stood facing her, sword drawn, expression cold and uncaring.

Then the look evaporated and he grinned at her again, even as her blood dripped from the tip of his blade. "Oh? Very nice! You wouldn't have been able to avoid that thrust the last time I saw you! You've been improving, Kuchiki!"

The ice of shock had crept back into Rukia's veins, and now she had a hard time forcing it to thaw. Kaien had attacked her. Seriously attacked her. But... why?

His smile turned sheepishly lopsided as he gave her an over-exaggerated shrug. "Oi, oi, what's with that look? Sorry, but I had to make sure that you could handle the mission I'm about to give you. Besides, it's always a mentor's biggest joy to see their students make such improvements. I'm proud of you."

Eyes still full of worry, Rukia tried to make herself relax. "I... I see..." The words of praise were reassuring, but somehow, she couldn't quite make herself trust them, the image of that horrible expression locked into her mind. "How... much of what you just said was true?" she asked tightly.

He never stopped smiling at her. "True? All of it. What, do you doubt me? Do you think that my attacking you is out of the ordinary? That it's something I'd 'never do'?"

Rukia couldn't answer that aloud, her mouth suddenly dry. Yes, that was, in fact, exactly what she'd been thinking. Had merging with the hollow that night somehow... altered his personality? Made him more aggressive, perhaps? But Ichigo's personality hadn't changed at all. A thousand theories buzzed in her head, drowning one another out in her confusion.

"Think about it," Kaien said slowly. He pointed up at his own chest. "I am Shiba Kaien, former vice captain of 13th division. My spirit body was merged with a hollow and I was forced to Hueco Mundo."

His pointing finger moved to indicate her. "And you." His voice remained light and his grin remained in place. "You are the woman who killed me with her own hands."

Kaien might as well have run her through with his blade and twisted it. The cold accusation rang in the empty air as she stared at him in shock and dismay.

Then, she slumped, her head bowing down to acknowledge the sheer, utter truth of it. Guilt and shame pressed down on her like a physical force. "I... thought that..."

"That I was happy like this?" Kaien's tone finally turned serious. "That I liked living here? That I wanted you to do this to me?"

She swallowed hard. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. I should have been stronger, Kaien."

Kaien stepped closer to her, and the tip of his sword entered her vision down by her knees. "Then, are you willing to die by my hand, Kuchiki? To atone for what you've done?"

Her head bowed lower, her chin on her chest, and her eyes slowly closed. This was all her fault, all her own weakness. She had killed him. She had sent him to this horrible place, condemned him to this existence which he hated so much. Her death by his hand would only be justified. And both of them knew it.

But as she opened her mouth to say so, another image came to her mind: one of Ichigo holding out his hollow mask to her, explaining to all of them just what had been going on for the last month with his training.

She suspected Ichigo's problems with his hollow were different from Kaien's, since Ichigo's inner hollow was a part of himself while Kaien had been merged with an outside hollow, but they'd still come about because of Rukia. If he hadn't gone to Soul Society to rescue her, he wouldn't have undergone Urahara's training and so wouldn't have ended up with an inner hollow in the first place. But he'd chosen to deal with his hollow powers, albeit differently than any of them had anticipated, and he hadn't just given up.

More importantly, he'd never once blamed her for any of the terrible things that had happened to him—had never let her blame herself. Ichigo just wasn't that kind of person.

Neither was Kaien.

Conflicted, she forced herself to look up at him, eyes still full of grief. "Why?" She could only whisper her question, barely able to meet his cold gaze. "I know I was weak, but why does killing me have to be the answer?" She would gladly give her life for him if he seriously asked for it, but she still had so much more she could offer him; so much more she could do to atone for her sin.

For a long moment, he simply stared down at her, looking almost taken aback. Then, he lifted both hands up in the air in a gesture of surrender. "I was just joking! Geez, you have no sense of humor! Seriously! Why would I take your life for something as simple as that?"

Rukia's breath caught in her throat again. "Just... joking?"

"Of course!" Kaien shook his head with a large sigh, running his gloved hand through his hair and sheathing his sword. "Besides, I told you I had something important for you to do, remember?"

Slowly, Rukia forced herself to straighten again, trying to stay strong even as unshed tears continued to burn at the back of her eyes, threatening to fall and ruin her composure. Just joking... about something like that? Something was very wrong here.

"If you want," Kaien continued, his usual grin back in place as he reached out to ruffle her hair again, "you can think of it like atoning for killing me."

Ichigo had never blamed her. Kaien would never have wanted her to blame herself, hard as that was to admit for her. Why did he keep phrasing it that way?

"What do you need me to do?" she asked, forcing herself to be serious rather than let herself dwell on uncertainties.

He smiled at her, his hand still resting lightly on the top of her head. "I need you to bring me the heads of each of your friends."

That was more than enough to confirm her many doubts. "You aren't him anymore," she hissed out, starting to back away from him.

He tried to stop her. "Hey, what? What are you talking about, I'm not...? Of course I'm Shiba Kai-"

"Don't you dare say that name again!" Rukia knocked his hand away from her, going for her sword.

"Kuchiki, what are you-"

She leveled Sode no Shirayuki at him. "I'd thought at first that you'd become something similar to what Ichigo has become. That you had to deal with similar problems as he has, and that maybe you'd just dealt with them the way we'd all assumed Ichigo had: by defeating the hollow inside."

Once more, the not-Kaien tried to interrupt, his expression hurt. "Kuchi-"

Rukia shook her head. "But I understand now what truly happened that night. Kaien is different from Ichigo because Ichigo is still in there. He still has control. Kaien was also merged with a hollow, but it consumed him. You consumed him."

An angry fire had lit her eyes now, filling them with confidence and a sense of duty. "You may have his body and his memories, but you no longer have his mind... or his heart."

That conclusion made, Rukia leapt to attack. "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!"


Somewhere in the vast emptiness of Las Noches, a distinctive reiatsu flared high for a brief instant before dropping sharply down to near nothing. Ichigo tried not to react outwardly to the fall of his best friend, continuing to run forward down the endless hallway, but found himself unable to keep from gritting his teeth. "Chad..."

Beside him, Lisa nodded solemnly. "Feels like he ran into a powerful opponent. Probably an Espada."

"He had two fights," Ichigo clarified tightly, and Nell turned to give him a concerned look from her place on his shoulder. "He finished his first fight with someone of about Dordonii's level, and then he was ambushed by someone else."

A little surprised, Lisa frowned at him. "I didn't think you were paying attention to your friends' fights. Or that you had a good enough reiatsu sense to tell something like that."

Ichigo didn't answer, ignoring the bash against his skills and keeping his gaze forward as he focused back on his friend. He'd only been paying attention to Chad's reiatsu since he'd noticed the first battle in progress a short while back, but Lisa didn't need to know that. Knowing her, she'd find some way to turn either his attention span or his concern for his friends into some sort of insult.

And his hollow would turn it all into some sort of joke. Already, he could actually see Hichigo in his inner mind smirking at something. "Alright, what?"

"It's always Chad, isn't it?" the hollow grinned at him. "First while rescuing Rukia, and now this. It's like he's got a target printed on his back: Kill me first!"

"That's not funny," Ichigo said automatically, not really paying attention. Chad's reiatsu still flickered faintly, so he hadn't been killed, but he had definitely been gravely injured.

Hichigo laughed. "You act as though I want this stuff to happen to him. I hope he pulls through, too. I'm just not gunna sit around moping about it like you do."

Distracted, Ichigo made a vague noise of acknowledgment, still watching his friend's condition as he ran down the hallway.

"I suppose you want to stop everything to go help him," Lisa guessed dryly, giving him an irritated look.

Pushing away his desire to do just that, Ichigo scowled back. "No. We're here to rescue Inoue, and we knew the risks of splitting up. And besides, Chad can take care of himself. We have to keep moving forward, no matter how painful it is."

"Yeah!" Nell agreed with determination, pumping a fist in the air. "Keep moving forward! We'th can do it, Itsugo!" Ichigo gave her a brief half-smirk before watching for Lisa's reaction.

The black-haired woman stared at him in mild surprise for a moment, but then she shrugged. "Good. Let's take this path." She then proceeded to tune him out, facing forward as they ran, her usual unimpressed expression on her face.

Ichigo just rolled his eyes. "Can't ever please her, can I?"

To his vague amusement, Nell stuck her tongue out at the Vaizard for good measure. Lisa gave no indication that she noticed the gesture.

With a sigh, Ichigo returned his attention to Chad, trying to analyze the faint signature to determine his condition. Reiatsu sensing never had been his strong point even with his recent training with his hollow, and he struggled with making sense of it all.

Unable to tell much more than he'd already figured out, he did a quick sweep of the area, pulling his own reiatsu in tightly to keep it out of the way. On either side of him, barely in his range of sensing, Rukia and Renji each fought with powerful opponents, their reiatsu surging high. He couldn't tell where Ishida was anymore, which didn't bode well. The Quincy had gone the opposite direction from him, though, so he'd probably just gone out of range. Probably.

Ahead of him, a vaguely familiar signature seemed to be waiting for them, and Ichigo's scowl grew more pronounced. Their new opponent stood directly between him and where he could sense Inoue—probably a deliberate move. There'd be no avoiding this fight.

"Not that we're trying to avoid fights here," Hichigo put in with a sadistic grin.

Ichigo let out a small snort. "Of course not. Your turn, right?" He still couldn't quite believe he'd agreed to that, but it was only fair, since he'd gotten the entire last fight to himself. Hichigo's grin only widened in response.

The corridor in front of them opened up into a wide room with a huge staircase on the opposite side leading up to somewhere bright. At the top stood a thin figure, staring down at them impassively.

Lisa's steps slowed to a halt, and Ichigo stopped as well. The man above began to descend.

"Kurosaki Ichigo and Yadomaru Lisa," he greeted the two of them flatly, apparently ignoring Nell's existence. His stare tried to bore holes through Ichigo's, as though searching for something.

Slowly and deliberately, Ichigo reached up and pulled Nell off of his shoulder, setting her gently on the ground without releasing the enemy arrancar's gaze. "Ulquiorra," he returned.

"You remember my name," Ulquiorra stated without inflection, "though I do not remember giving it."

Ichigo decided not to answer that. "You're here to stop me from getting to Inoue, I assume?"

"Of course," the Espada returned. "Though I suspect that you will refuse to stop."

The orange-haired shinigami smirked. "Oh, I'll stop," he quipped. "I'll stop, kill you, and then keep going."

"I see." Ulquiorra paused as he reached the bottom of the stairs, both hands still in his pockets. He appeared to be waiting for Ichigo to make the first move.

Ichigo glanced over his shoulder at his Vaizard guard. "Nell, stay back with Lisa," he instructed her confidently, reaching up to grab Zangetsu's hilt. The girl didn't look pleased about that, but she backed out of harm's way. "Lisa, just to warn you, this one is Hichigo's fight."

Taking the cue, Hichigo stepped forward and finished for him, unsheathing the blade himself. "So don't interfere, got it?" he cackled, mask beginning to appear across his face. With that, he lunged at Ulquiorra, shooting off a small Getsuga mid-air.

The arrancar didn't even bat an eye as he lazily brought one hand up to flick the energy blast away, and then easily sidestepped the next few swings of the sword that came down at his head.

Hichigo kept up his sudden barrage for several minutes, but somehow never managed to get in a hit, his opponent matching every move he made with a speed that made the hollow's grin widen with anticipation. Twisting around to attack from yet another angle, he pushed reiatsu through Zangetsu to power up a stronger Getsuga, calling out the name as he swung.

Ulquiorra simply moved aside once again, his left hand still in his pocket as he watched Hichigo's moves with a bored, yet critical air.

The orange-haired hollow continued to laugh as he attacked, but Ichigo could feel the thrill of battle in him fading to frustration as his opponent refused to fight back, merely ducking around and occasionally batting aside another attack with the hand he had free.

Finally, Hichigo had enough, sending another Getsuga at Ulquiorra's face with a growl before sliding to a halt several meters back. "Oi, what's your problem?!" he complained with a swipe of his hand through the air. "Do you wanna fight, or not? Show me your strength!"

Ulquiorra simply stared impassively at him for a moment before speaking in a level, almost bored tone. "You have not as yet proven yourself powerful enough for me to even bother drawing my sword."

That statement was enough to tick off both Ichigo and his hollow at once. Hichigo gave the arrancar a tight grin, holding Zangetsu out level to the ground and letting the hilt wrap twist around his upper arm. "Che. Is that so?" Reiatsu swirled madly through the air. "Bankai. Tensa Zangetsu."

In an instant, he was in the air again, shoving spirit energy into his now-condensed blade for a stronger Getsuga. Red and black energy whipped down at Ulquiorra, only to be brushed off by a single hand. By the time it cleared away, five more were in the air from different directions, and Hichigo had yet another on the way.

The added speed still didn't seem to affect the arrancar much, and he continued to keep pace with each blow without once giving an offensive strike himself. Ulquiorra's other hand remained firmly in his pocket.

And then Rukia's spirit energy abruptly dropped to nothing.

Unfazed, Hichigo followed through with his attack and raised Zangetsu for another. "Wait!" Ichigo mentally shouted, a growing cold clenching his soul with horror. He could sense the hole where he had previously felt his friend's presence. He had to help! He had to-

His hollow gave only a vague acknowledgment to Ichigo's sudden cry while the latest energy beam split to either side of Ulquiorra's single, upraised hand, leaving the arrancar once more unscathed. Dust pooled from the shattered pillars behind, temporarily obscuring the enemy from view. Hichigo landed only long enough to propel himself once more into the air to launch his next attack.

"I'm busy!" he got out as he brought Zangetsu's blade down in a wild twist towards the center of the smoke where he knew Ulquiorra stood. "What exactly do you want me to do about it?"

Ichigo sputtered for a moment, mind flailing for ideas. "L-Lisa! Get her to-!"

Before Ichigo could even finish, the hollow grudgingly complied, rolling his eyes slightly as he glanced over at the battle's two spectators. "Yo, Lisa! You're not doing anything useful down there! Get your butt moving and go help Rukia, got it?" He fired off another few Getsugas as he shouted. "And take Drool-face with you!"

Lisa's eyes narrowed at him as she put a finger to the nose of her glasses, adjusting them as she considered his request, looking very close to denying it.

From her place at the Vaizard's side, Nell took an involuntary step forward, mouth opened in horror at the prospect of leaving. "But Nell wantth to thtay and help Hitsugo!" she cried back.

With an exasperated sigh, Hichigo finally turned from the battle, and in an instant, he stood in front of Nell, lifting her off the ground in one smooth motion by the front of her ragged shirt to bring her face to face with him. Her eyes widened in shock at his speed and at the suddenly serious look on his face.

"Look," he said darkly. "You sticking around here sitting on your thumbs while you watch me fight isn't doing anyone any good. If you really wanna help me, go help my friend. We'll catch up later, got it?"

Looking almost frightened, Nell nodded, and Hichigo's customary crazy grin slid back into place. "Good."

With that, he let Nell drop to the ground with a soft thump. Before she could properly recover, the hollow let out a wild laugh as he jumped back into the air, powering up yet another Getsuga Tenshou.

Ulquiorra hadn't moved since his opponent had stopped, but the sudden return of the barrage of attacks still didn't seem to faze him at all as he went right back to shoving energy blasts out of the way, looking, if anything, even more unimpressed than before.

Out of the corner of his eye, Hichigo noted Nell finally scrambling to her feet again, running over to where Lisa stood and tugging at her hand. "Come on! You heard Hitsugo! Nell hath to help him!"

Lisa, strangely enough, had been giving the hollow a disturbed, contemplative look, one that faded slowly to a resigned understanding as she glanced down at the small child by her feet. "His friend, huh?" she murmured to herself.

Then, without another word, she scooped Nell up into her arms and took off through a side hallway in the general direction of the place Rukia's reiatsu had last come from.

If Ichigo had still been in control of his body, he might have stared after Lisa in surprise for a moment. "Wow. I didn't actually expect her to go. I thought she was only here to 'guard' us."

Hichigo didn't bother to spare the time to shrug, instead focusing back on the battle again, a better strategy for attack forming in his mind. Obviously, increasing the volume of the barrage didn't have any effect on the arrancar's ability to bat them away, so he'd have to instead increase the power behind each one. Something he could do quite easily at this point. Ulquiorra wouldn't know what hit him.

Piling as much spirit energy into Zangetsu as he possibly could, he ran at the arrancar, red and black light flowing around his body to pool into the blade. Leaping into the air, he flicked the blade around, sending a giant crescent wave almost the size of the room straight towards Ulquiorra.

"Getsuga Tenshou!"

One hand lifted to stop it. The moment it hit, Ulquiorra flew backwards, feet sliding against the floor as the immense pressure began to collapse the entire structure of the room around him. Through the strain, Ulquiorra finally had to take his other hand out of his pocket, pushing against the blast for several seconds before the light consumed his form completely.

Dust and shreds of remaining spirit energy filtered through the air. Hichigo landed on the ground and held Zangetsu to the side. Not waiting for the smoke to settle, he jumped back up with a triumphant laugh. "Getsuga Tenshou!" He wasn't taking any chances with this guy.

The second wave sliced through the center of the cloud, leaving a clear space for the split second before it slammed into the ground, sending the dust exploding even further outward. Hichigo drew back his sword for a third attack.

Then, suddenly, another blade cut swiped through the debris from the other side, clearing the air between them in an instant. Ulquiorra stood with sword unsheathed, white uniform somewhat torn and ragged at the edges, but face still as impassive as ever. "Is that your strongest attack?" he asked, sounding almost disappointed. "Unfortunate."

Ichigo swore mentally as Hichigo surveyed the damage—or lack thereof. "I don't think we even scratched him! What is he made out of?!"

Hichigo's grin just widened even further. "We got him to draw his sword," he said hungrily. With that, he leapt back into action, releasing the Getsuga he'd already powered up and using his sonido to flash step across the room.

The arrancar easily followed him. In a moment, he had his free hand held up to the hollow's chest, charging a strangely green colored cero at the tip of his finger. Hichigo twisted aside barely in time, reflexively swinging Zangetsu at his opponent and shooting off a weak Getsuga as the cero went off right by his ear. A nearby wall crumbled away, revealing a surprisingly bright, sunny area.

Ulquiorra merely cut through the hastily-made energy attack with his sword, face still bland as ever as he jumped up over Hichigo's counterattack, flipping upside-down and pointing another cero at him.

Hichigo laughed insanely as he moved, suddenly pushed to his limits by Ulquiorra's unrelenting attacks. He barely had time to think before the next blow came and had no idea where it would come from when it did.

"He moves so fast!" Ichigo exclaimed, itching to be the one in control, feeling tense. "And yet every one of his moves is so deliberate, as though this is his slowest speed! Get out of there; he's too fast for us!"

With a snort, Hichigo slammed another Getsuga in Ulquiorra's general direction as he ducked around the sword edge that came way too close to his skin for comfort. "You're crazy if you think I'll run!" he yelled with exhilaration. "I've almost figured out his moves! Just one more-"

And then Ulquiorra was directly in front of him, seeming once again to be moving in slow motion even as his cero came too quickly to dodge. Hichigo's eyes widened as the green blast of energy filled his vision, and then the blow knocked him backwards fiercely.

Twisting around, Hichigo scrambled to regain his footing as pillars flew by him at high speeds, but the room's far wall loomed up before he could, and he slammed into it with a grunt. Cracks spread through the concrete in a spider web pattern, and then large chunks began to fall down onto him.

Hichigo pushed himself to his feet, using Zangetsu as a crutch as his gaze went back to the spot across the room where he'd last seen Ulquiorra. The arrancar hadn't waited for him; the room seemed empty for one long, ominous moment.

A pale white hand closed on his shoulder, jerking him around to face Ulquiorra again, and two fingers from the arrancar's other hand rested on his collar bone, just below the throat. Ulquiorra's deep green eyes still wouldn't reveal even the barest hint of emotion as he spoke quietly. "Cero."

Green light and burning pain overtook him. Slowly, he fell to his knees, swaying as he struggled to remain upright. One hand reached up in an attempt to rest on the gaping hole that was now his chest.

He couldn't breathe. Couldn't even try. Nothing would move as fire crawled through organs that had just been ripped free from his body.

And despite his struggles, he began to fall.

"No!" Ichigo pushed past and snatched up control, wincing as he also gained the direct, devastating pain. The mask on his face shattered. With great effort, he tried to push himself back up to his feet. "I won't die like this! I won't!"

His extremities had gone completely numb as his heart grew incapable of pumping blood to them. With a jolt that reverberated up his suddenly weak arms, his hands hit the ground, elbows shaking as they tried to support the rest of his weight. His body wouldn't respond to him anymore.

Letting out a growl, Hichigo took control back again. "This isn't over!" he yelled, shoving himself upward. "This... isn't...!"

His arms gave out, and he finally collapsed completely, sprawling onto the hard concrete with a pained groan.

Back and forth, the two traded off, each pushing until pain and exhaustion overcame them, but still nothing would move. Consciousness began to fade.

"I honestly expected more from you. How disappointing." Footsteps sounded as Ulquiorra turned and began to walk away with a faint hiss that marked his sword being sheathed. "If you still have the strength to stand, then I suggest that you leave Hueco Mundo. If not, then just lie there and die."

Both tried to look up at him; both tried to give a strangled retort. Both failed.

Darkness overcame them.