Uryuu took tentative steps out into the darkness of the main room. It was still empty, lit in white stripes by the bold moonlight that came in through the open blinds. Somehow he'd expected to find it transformed into a carbon copy of Mayuri's lab, with the scientist bustling about, but he was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps whatever he'd had to do had been done while he was sleeping... Still, he had both his arms and legs...what could Mayuri have possibly done?

Hadn't Szayel said that he had used his own brother so subtly that he did not know about it? Maybe Mayuri was doing the same thing, studying everything he did with tiny probes in his blood. How was he supposed to fight back against something like that when he didn't even know they were there? He could hardly destroy his own blood...

Damn it. He felt weak, and the energy that had been drained from him left him feeling lethargic and cold too. He had to recover some of it -- when he'd done that, maybe he'd be able to think straight.

He dressed and cleaned himself, pleased to discover that the water was still working, at least, and then stepped out onto his windowsill, oblivious to being watched.

"You caused quite a stir, didn't ya, stranger? Everyone's so busy talking about you that they've given up whining about me."

Ishida turned on the windowsill to face the speaker, slightly taller than himself with short, ice blue hair. He didn't recognise him, and even though the figure stood perfectly balanced on the line of barbed wire that topped the fence, he didn't let off even a whisper of reiatsu. Was it a gigai? Could it be, when this man was most certainly not a Shinigami?

"Seems to me that anyone who can hold their own against Ichigo's worth fighting," said the stranger. There was a certain cockiness in the wideness of his grin, and Uryuu wasn't entirely sure he liked it. Who was this man? He seemed to be trying to pick a fight with him.

"You don't even know me, do you?" Uryuu asked.

"Don't have to. You don't know anyone until you've spilled their blood, anyway."

Uryuu felt weary, he wasn't really up for a fight right now. He looked back to the stranger impatiently, opening his mouth to turn him down, but before he could speak the man was moving toward him with remarkable speed, throwing his body weight forward so that he came at him feet first. The feet missed his head by inches and grazed his shoulder, but it was enough to get his attention. As the stranger landed catlike on the windowsill, Uryuu landed on the vacated line of barbed wire and drew his bow.

"I'm not allowed to fight in town - stupid Shinigami rules - but if you can keep up I know somewhere nice and close where I can get out of this stupid meat-sack and fight you properly."

The stranger shook his arms out, as though erasing the tension from them -- he was fast, even in the gigai. Not as fast as Uryuu, but fast none the less. And still there was not even a hint of reiatsu.

"What makes you think I'm going to follow you?" Uryuu asked, keeping his bow by his side so that he could keep both of his eyes on the stranger.

"Cause if you don't I'll accidentally blow a cero through this building, and I reckon you wouldn't appreciate it that much."

Cero... A cero?! "You're...you're a Hollow?" That was disbelief...and in a battle situation, surprise was not to his advantage. Worse still...how had this Hollow got into a gigai? He hadn't even known it was possible. Did Kurosaki know about it?!

"Espada, if you believe it," said the stranger-hollow. "You just gonna stand there, or are we going to fight?"

The man took off, Uryuu watching in disbelief. An Espada? But Mayuri had said that Aizen had been defeated...and what were these Shinigami rules he'd mentioned? Were they just letting him live here? Idiots! Didn't they know that a Hollow was a Hollow?! They were supposed to be destroyed, not left to just wander around!

Well, if Kurosaki wasn't going to take care of the trash, then he'd just have to deal with it himself! Honestly! Hollows were dangerous. They put people in danger. Hell, they ate their souls. And if this one was an Espada...what kind of insanity was it that it was just being allowed to stay here? It wasn't even sane!

He followed, easily catching up with the Hollow. He'd have to wait until it left the gigai, and then he could kill it. "If you're an Espada, you must have a number," he said, abandoning his hirenkyaku to follow at the gigai's pace of huge jumps.

"Sexta Espada," was the response. Sixth? That was two above Szayel... Was he really up to fighting someone on that kind of level? He had to be...he couldn't let this thing just run free. "We're there!" the creature said, interrupting his train of thought as he landed for the last time in the centre of an empty field. Uryuu touched down at a safe distance, his bow still humming at his side.

Yes...yes, this was a suitable area for fighting in. Nothing he destroyed here could hurt people...but more importantly, nothing he absorbed. Could he even absorb things in the material world like he had in Seireitei? In Seireitei they had been made up only of spirit particles, but here, they were only a constituting part of everything. It didn't surprise him, then, that when he attempted to absorb them, the scenery did not change - he was drawing the spirit particles out of the scenery without absorbing the scenery itself. Of course, the power he generated was nowhere near the same as it had been in Seireitei; something he should have expected.

While he considered this problem, the stranger's gigai was making a beeline for the cover of the trees, and in the centre of the clearing, his reiatsu very noticeable now - a strong power that very much resembled that of a hollow - stood the Sexta Espada.

"My name is Grimmjow Jeagerjaques."

"I thought you could only know someone when you spilt their blood," Uryuu said, taking a step back. There was a Hollow mask - or part of one, at least; just a shard of jawbone attached to the right hand side of the man's face. The teeth were sharp, as though from some carnivorous creature.

"Yeah," said the Espada, his tone mocking, "Thing is, the only blood that's gonna get spilled is yours."

If Uryuu had considered the gigai to be fast, it was nothing to the speed of the Espada Sonido. Even at the new level he had achieved, it was difficult to keep away from the quick, fierce offensiveness of Grimmjow's attacks. Each movement would only bring them closer together, the pursuer having the advantage over his prey. He would never be able to keep it up, let alone pull away...

Smack. A single hesitation between footfalls and the Espada caught up with him, one hand closing on the back of Uryuu's neck, then pushing him down into the ground. The momentum flipped him over, sending him to a painful landing on the grass. Even though it took mere moments to find his feet, the pursuit had already begun again. He ran, the gazelle before the panther, the mere act of being forced to flee wearing at him. That was it, wasn't it...? He made himself an easy target when he ran, and his attacker came closer because he was always approaching, always with his eyes on the enemy, rather than looking away, as Uryuu was forced to. It was the same thing Mayuri was doing.

When Uryuu stopped, there was not enough range to fire properly, but a wall of arrows did what it was supposed to do, forcing Grimmjow to dodge away from his attack and put more room between them.

-------

It was a beautiful Spring day -- the world smelled like blossom and dew, and the stones on which they sat together were warm for the first time in months. The birds sang, knowing that the world was coming back to life at last and it was time to lay eggs. Everything was so very alive.

"Which animal do you think you are, Uryuu?"

"The hare, Sensei. I want to be like the hare."

Ishida Soken looked down at the March hares in the valley below. They jumped and pranced, then galloped at full speed, racing each other through the thick spring grass. Uryuu watched too, fascinated - the speed of the hares had always impressed him. He wanted to run that fast -- to watch the ground disappear underneath him, unbeaten by all others.

"Hares tire too, Uryuu. They may run like that for March, but they cannot do so forever."

This was a lesson, Uryuu realised, sitting forward to listen to his Sensei. His lessons were always important, even if father said that he was just a crazy old man.

"Do you see the hawk, circling in the sky above, Uryuu."

"Yes, Sensei."

"The hawk is waiting for April. When the hare cannot run any more, the hawk is waiting."

Was it true? Did the hares in the field really only have a month to delight in their existence? No...it was merely representational. His brow furrowed as he thought about it, watched the hawk circling and the hares leaping. The hares were prey...if they were too tired to run away, then the hawk would kill them.

"It...doesn't matter how fast you are, because you only have to make one mistake to be dinner," Uryuu said, a note of worry in his voice; he did not wish to disappoint his sensei.

"No, Uryuu." That single word made him bow his head. "No, Uryuu, but you are close. I merely mean that you must be the hawk. A Quincy cannot afford to be the hare, living only until he makes a mistake; he must be the hawk, taking advantage of the mistakes of others."

-------

"I don't care what kind of green card Kurosaki gave you," Uryuu said, out loud. "Hollows have no place in the material world."

Grimmjow laughed. "You're sure full of yourself, aren't you? Well, it doesn't matter. If you're shooting to kill, this is going to be much more fun!"

This Espada was most definitely nuts. Maybe they all were. Szayel hadn't exactly been sane either. Uryuu tightened his grip on his bow and lifted it, watching as Grimmjow turned and came at him again. The curtain of arrows he fired did not drive him off on this assault, and Uryuu was forced to dodge, barely avoiding a flailing spin that the monster threw in at the last second. His hirenkyaku separated them again as Grimmjow found his feet, and then he charged another arrow, letting go of it when the Espada was too close to completely avoid it.

Even so, the arrow did not slow the Espada down. It impacted, and then Grimmjow barrelled clean into him, clinging tightly to his chest as he fell at high speed, then just before impact kicking him into the ground. The force was almost unbearable. He was strong, and fast, and held on tightly to Uryuu's chest until he had almost stopped moving, planting one foot on the ground above his head and throwing him away over his shoulder.

Uryuu found his feet before he could crash again, rushing into another speedy retreat before Grimmjow could pursue him. They were moving back toward the edge of town now, and the gradient was rising toward the heights of the huge cemetery that towered above the buildings below. He turned to face the Espada once more, raising his bow to fire.

"That's enough!"

The sound of Urahara's voice startled him, an unwelcome interruption in a battle which he had been devoting all of his concentration to. He felt like a child sneaking out to see Sensei when he should be doing his homework, only to be caught out by his father.

Urahara was not alone; Ichigo stood beside him, a cloak wrapped around his shoulders, hood pulled over his head. He could not feel his spirit power at all -- and yet there he was. One of Urahara's Shinigami tricks. He narrowed his eyes.

"I was only having a little fun," Grimmjow yelled. "You guys are so dull!"

"You," Uryuu said, addressing Urahara. "You're in on this!"

"In on what, Ishida-san?"

"Mayuri! You led him straight to me!"

"That is true." Urahara said, lifting his hand to rub at the back of his head. "Sorry about that."

"Sorry?!" Uryuu had not disarmed, and now he turned his bow on Urahara. "Give me a good reason not to kill you for it, Shinigami."

At Urahara's side, Kurosaki moved. The shopkeeper stayed him with the end of his cane and raised his eyes once more to Uryuu. "I'm sorry, Ishida-san, but you have been lied to. I will explain everything, but first of all, you need to lower your weapon."