"The shinobi is rather good, ne?"

Shusui blocked a shuriken from hitting his lovely pink kimono. He sighed. He needed sake badly now. And his Nanao-chan would be nice too. In a bikini. Well, he could dream.

Ukitake stood back to back with his friend. "He is… but is he good enough?"

The Hollow Neji moved out of his cover to attack directly. He aimed at Kyaouraku first. The white eyes seemed to constrict as he came closer. The captain pointed one of his zanpakutou at Neji.

"Come."

Neji moved quickly to the captain's left, forcing Kyaouraku to shift himself slightly. At that point, the semi-Hollow's mouth seemed to twitch at a corner. Within a blink of an eye, Neji had moved to the right, leaving a somewhat surprised captain open. The shinobi's hand moved upward toward the arm.

"You've forgotten about me."

Jyuushiro moved his sword downwards at Neji. The shinobi easily dodged the attack, rolling over to his side. He landed a few feet away. In a deadly manner, the semi-Hollow stood up, taking a kunai out of his pouch.

"I never forget."

Shunsui chuckled. "Ah. It speaks." He rolled up his shihakusho's sleeve. As he said this, he observed his right arm. There were two points made, one on his wrist, the other closer to the elbow. Hm… He put his sleeve back to normal. He somehow doubted those were randomly jabbed at. Jyuushiro looked over at his friend. "Are you fine?" Shunsui just smiled his lazy smile. Jyuushiro turned his attention back to Neji.

"So… do I have the honor of knowing my opponent's name?" Ukitake moved into a defensive stance. He waited, sword pointed at the shinobi's throat. The shinobi's mouth seemed to twitch; the captains took this as a sign that he was amused. "Who am I?" Neji slowly went into an unfamiliar stance. "I was… Hyuuga Neji… But you can call me…" Ukitake blinked as the shinobi disappeared from his line of sight. "Your killer."

Ukitake immediately swung to his side, missing the semi-Hollow by an inch. The opponent in turn tried an attack on the captain. With his hand, he touched Ukitake's arm at a certain point. Alarmed, the captain moved back. He touched the part of the arm that Neji had touched. He couldn't feel any wetness, so no bleeding. It didn't seem to hurt that much either.

"361."

Both Ukitake and Kyaouraku looked up.

"361 points. I've hit two of them on your companion, and one on you. A total of 719 more openings for me to hit."

Neji moved into the jyuuken pose. "I don't plan on missing any."

------------

If there was one thing Matsumoto hated, it was bad breath. She couldn't stand it. You couldn't work with people with chip breath either. You wouldn't even try talking to them. They would, inevitably, be a loner in a group. Until they went to a proper hygienist who would fix them up in no time. Like the one at the Shinigami Health Center. She was really good. She had even given Matsumoto a tip to make her hair even MORE glossy. She could really use that hygienist right now. For the chip breath, and her currently dusty hair.

The heavy shinobi came at Matsumoto, rolling at an incredible speed. She touched Haneko's blade.

"Unare Haneko."

-----------

"Ken-chan is really bad at directions…"

'Ken-chan' growled. "I've been following your advice." Yachiru giggled. "Ken-chan should be making his own decisions!" Zaraki just started running the other way. He punched a few holes in the wall for good measure. Then he proceeded to ignore more of Yachiru's nonsense. He was pissed. He hadn't met ANYONE worth fighting. Sure, a few shinobi here and there, but they had all been stepped on by Yachiru or gone down in one slash. Hell… they are unbelievably weak… Yachiru scanned the hallways. Then, something that wasn't Ikkaku's bald head, a bunny, or food, caught her attention. "Hey! Ken-chan! What's that?"

"What?" Zaraki looked at where she was pointing. He was amazed that it wasn't another random dust cloud, though they were starting to recede. The maniac fight machine grinned and licked his lips. "Prey."

---------

"You've noticed, haven't you Jyuushiro?"

Shunsui said to his old friend. Ukitake nodded. They had both avoided being victims of poking for a while now, only getting a few more areas hit, but the unfamiliar setting was working against them. To top things off, they had just found at the effect of the jabbings. Ukitake shifted his grip on his zanpakutou. It was getting harder to summon his reiatsu now, as if, at some points, it was blocked. Kyaouraku frowned, not liking the fact that he would have to work a little harder to attack. He sighed. "Well… I guess we have to defeat him."

Neji did not move from his jyuuken stance. "You are going to try to kill me? That is futile." Suddenly, his eyes widened. He turned slightly to be met by flowing white hair. The 13th squad captain glanced at him. "Defeating does not always mean killing."

Neji immediately attacked, trying to get a hit in. The shinigami pushed himself off backwards on his feet to avoid it. The semi-Hollow threw shurikens at Ukitake, at the same time throwing kunais at Kyaouraku. Ukitake blocked them all with his zanpakutou, as Kyaouraku did the same. Ukitake landed a little ways away. He brought up his zanpakutou symbolically. "Ready when you are."

"Nami kotogotoku, wa ga tate to nare, inazuchi kotogotoku, wa ga yaiba to nare."

The semi-Hollow stared as the zanpakutou began to split. Before he knew it, Ukitake was holding two blades, connected by a sturdy red rope decorated with many silver medallions. The captain glared. "Sougyo no Kotowari." Neji frowned. The sword had changed shape, which wasn't what he had been expecting. But still… He silently moved into another stance in jyuuken, I can kill him.

Meanwhile, not to attract attention, Shunsui said his summons quietly. "Hanakaze midarete, kashin naki, tenpuu midarete, tenma warau." The peeking sun glinted off his changed zanpakutou. "Katen Kyoukotsu."

Ukitake was breathing hard. In addition to the fact that he had to use more reiatsu, he needed rest. He could almost feel the blood and headaches that were bound to happen soon. He blinked, trying to focus. All the more reason to end this quickly. He just hoped he wouldn't kill the shinobi in the process; he was sure the mask could be removed.

Neji grew tired of waiting. He could see his current opponent wavering, and looking tired. He focused his chakra. "Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou!" He came head on to Ukitake, hands ready to hit. Ukitake pointed one of his blades at Neji's fast coming figure, prepared. Neji's fingers almost made contact with Ukitake, but was stopped by cold metal. He looked up. Shunsui smiled at him. "Now that isn't very safe…" Neji scowled, and instead, changed his point of offense to the 8th squad captain.

Shunsui threw his head back as a shuriken flew above his nose. At the same time, never looking back up, he twisted to the right, allowing a kunai to bury itself into a wall. The captain looked sadly at the pink kimono, pinned to the wall by the kunai. He pouted. "I didn't even bring any extras…" Unfortunately, he didn't have time to mourn the loss. Neji had taken advantage of his disappointment to try to land his fingers onto Shunsui. Though, he wasn't succeeding much. At the last minute, the captain would always dodge it. It angered Neji. It was as if he was playing with him. And he wasn't even attacking him properly. A half hearted slash with his giant twin zanpakutous, but nothing more. Then, he felt a cold metal against his cheek, cutting him slowly. He pulled away, sliding a few feet back. Kyaouraku's zanpakutou dripped lightly with blood. Neji touched his cheek. It was only a shallow cut, but still a cut. He smirked.

"I have to admit… you are better than that other one."

Kyaouraku's eyes widened, concerned. "Other one?" Could it be…?

The semi-Hollow pointed to behind Kyaouraku. He turned around reluctantly. Sitting there, damaged, sat Ise Nanao. Her violet eyes were blank, her glasses on her nose in an obscure fashion that she would never be caught dead in. "Nanao…" From the distance, he could sense that she was still alive, but her reiatsu was miniscule. Shunsui looked at Neji coldly. Neji's smirk got bigger, showing pure white teeth. "I suppose… there is no choice." Shunsui pointed both of his zanpakutous at him. "I will have to defeat you… quickly."

Neji disappeared to appear behind Kyaouraku. "After." The shinobi then charged at Ukitake. Ukitake stood, about to summon his shikai's ability when…

He let one of his blades drop, burying its tip deeply into the wooden floor. He covered his mouth with his hand. Not now! But, his illness did not listen to him. He could feel the blood, swirling and quickly climbing his throat. Neji did not stop. Shunsui moved quickly; if he was going to save his friend, he had to move fast.

---------

Zaraki stared. From far away, it had looked like a real shinobi, waiting. But now that he could see it close up, he wondered how he could have been fooled by such a stupid joke. The wooden doll stood beside the railing, with the dumbest expression on its face. Stuck it its forehead was a note. It read: 'Fooled you sucker!' Zaraki decided to mutilate the thing right there, right now. He took out his zanpakutou. However, Yachiru stood in between him and his firewood. "No! Ken-chan! I want to take it back! I want to use it on Q-ball!" Zaraki growled, never letting the doll free from his menacing glare. "Move. You don't need this thing. You can just bite that Ikkaku on the head." Yachiru stopped her protest for a moment to think about the shiny head. This was when Zaraki lunged to attack his wooden offender. It easily fell off the railing, cut into half.

"AAAAAH! THE DOLL!"

Though this was something Zaraki imagined Yachiru would say, it wasn't her voice. It was a bit lower and more mature. So who the hell was it? The answer to his question landed in front of him, cursing and pouting in a very un-Hollow like way.

The woman in front of him (or at least he thought it was a woman), crossed her arms in front of her chest, obviously upset. With her Hollow mask, it made her pouting look comical since they were so contrasting. The spiky black hair stood this way and that, not as extreme as Zaraki's hairstyle, but certainly not very lady-like. Her cool black eyes glared at him.

"You killed my doll. Prepare to die."

This overall effect was destroyed when Yachiru stepped on the semi-Hollow's face, creating a groove an inch deep. "Whaaa! Ken-chan! This thing is funny! I want one!" The shinobi, losing her pride quickly, tried to scratch the lieutenant off. Before her sharp nails could reach the pink-haired girl, she leapt off, making the mark at least half an inch deeper. Zaraki stood blankly.

"What the hell is that thing?"

The semi-Hollow, furious, stomped around like a little kid with a tantrum.

"I'M NOT A THING! I'M A 'WHO'! I AM A REAL LIVE 'WHO'!"

There was a moment silence. The shinobi cleared her throat. "Anyways, I am Mitarashi Anko. You will be killed by me." Zaraki grinned. As if he would let such a weirdo beat him. He dragged his zanpakutou along the ground, letting the metal grate against the hard wood. "Bring it freak."

-----------

Gai and Kakashi stood together, further apart from Tsunade. "We must go in Kakashi," Gai said, not being his usual over-enthusiastic self, "Do you not wish to save the students? Possibly the shinigami?" Kakashi closed his orange book. He would have to leave the beautiful maiden and the handsome protagonist in a… well… perverted place.

"Let's go."

-------------

"Renji?"

"Yeah?"

"I take it back about your eyebrows being scary. His is scarier."

And he was right. The semi-Hollow stood in a common fighting stance. Ichigo had figured that it was probably not a Vaizard. However, it was one of the oddest looking mix between a shinobi and a Hollow. He had all the characteristics of a Hollow: the white mask, predatory eyes, and overly large teeth. But some features failed to strike fear into challengers. For example, the strangely shaped eyes. They were Hollow-like, but the way they were so round and… weird offset the whole thing for Ichigo. For Renji, it was the eyebrows. The white substance had fallen short of covering the caterpillar eyebrows. They now squirmed under the shinobi's command, filling Renji with dread and disgust. He shuddered. It looks like that other guy's… Ichigo meanwhile, had switched his observation to one thing. It was causing him to twitch badly. The green leotard. It was…

ABSOLUTELY FREAKIN' EYE-BURNING!

He couldn't BELIEVE that stores would sell that! They should outlaw those things! He wouldn't be caught DEAD in one of those. Renji patted Ichigo on the back, as if understanding. "I agree."

The shinobi didn't seem to be aware of the criticism he was going through in their mind. He just stood in the same way. "You are both lacking the fire of youth! I must fight you to restore it!" Renji and Ichigo stared. Renji shook his head. "Dude that is the worst fight scene line ever." But the semi-Hollow didn't flinch. He continued to bore a hole in them with his unblinking stare. Ichigo grinned, reaching for Zangetsu.

"Come on. The guy's serious. Let's see what he can do."

The shinobi smiled approvingly. Renji grinned. "Fine… Let's do this."

Yay! I'm sorry this chapter is short AGAIN. I can't seem to make long chapters any more! It's getting me even more HIGH! (starts twitching and giggling) SO PPL! HOW DID YOU LIKE THAT! (twitch) I TRIED MY BEST YOU KNOW! BUT IF YOU DON'T THINK SO, DIEEEE! (twitch)

-few minutes after-

Sorri, im calm now. Anyways, review review review! Tell me ur opinions and all that! Unfortunately, I'll be ending (or try to end) this shinigami vs shinobi arc! Sorri to all those who wanted more! But don't worry! There's plenty of more action to come up!

So review!