Chapter Seven- And It Just Keeps Rolling Downhill-Part 2

"So, things are going downhill, huh?" Lisa remarked, although it was only loud enough to where Ren could hear it.

"Yep, and I can't imagine that it'll get any better," Ren agreed. The recue team, which was composed of Ren, Lisa, Shinji, Rose, Love, and also a man named Hachigen from the Kido Corps, was now on its way to the scene of the incident, the incident being the most recent disappearances of Rukongai residents, and also the place where their friends were in danger. And the worst part was, they didn't have a clue what they were fighting.

"I'll watch your back if you watch mine," Lisa offered, trying to lighten the situation.

"I have quite a few backs to watch, but I will definitely add yours to my list of you want," Ren told Lisa, giving her a small smile that she was sure looked as unsure as she felt.

"I'll take all the extra help I can get tonight," Lisa accepted.

"Ren!" Shinji called. She and Lisa had been hanging towards the back, but Ren was quickly able to hasten her pace and catch up to Shinji.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Don't get mad at me, but you know what I want you to do if this gets too bad," Shinji told her.

"I won't get mad, but you know I can't do that, Shinji," Ren told him, sternly, but sadly.

"I was afraid you'd say that," Shinji replied with a sad smile.

"I know, but it's what I always tell you. Besides, if I left, who'd take care of you if you got your ass kicked?" Ren asked him.

"Yeah, yeah, I get the picture. Wouldn't want anyone else to do it anyways," Shinji scoffed, although it was only playfully,

"I don't know, Love might be happy to do it for me instead," Ren offered, looking back at the captain she was referring to.

"Gladly," he sang, wiggling his eyebrows above his sunglasses as he said so.

"Jeez, you're going to give me an ulcer before we get there, Ren," Shinji told her. "Go back to Lisa and heckle her."

"You know what? I will," Ren agreed, slowing down just enough so she be in the back with Lisa again.

"Been a long day, hasn't it?" Lisa asked her.

"And a great one, until now," Ren answered.

"We're almost there!" Shinji called back to them. Everyone nodded and they were silent after that. The atmosphere turned serious because they had no clue what was waiting for them, but they had to be prepared for their friends' sake.

"Hiyori is up ahead!" Ren called. Something was wrong-well, everything was wrong- but when she felt Hiyori's reiatsu, she knew that things were much worse than they had thought. Hiyori's reiatsu was sporadic; she was scared, and when Hiyori was scared, things were going to go to hell in a hand basket real fast.

"Hiyori!" Shinji yelled.

"What are you doing, Baldy?! Run!" Hiyori screamed. It was right then and there that Ren was stopped in her tracks. There was a monstrous reiatsu not too far from them, right behind Hiyori, and it had to have been what she was running from. It was strong and menacing and everything in between. Things were much worse than they thought.

"I need you two, so terribly bad right now," Ren thought.

"If I were out there right now, I would hold you Ren," Kiri assured her.

"I would piss myself and run, honestly. Whatever that is, it is a beast!" Hito admitted.

"It's not human, that's for sure," Ren thought.

"What is it that?" Lisa yelled.

"I-Is that Kensei?" Ren asked, as the supposed 'beast' came into view.

"There's no way," Rose muttered.

"What happened to him?" Love asked.

"There's no telling, but, we know what we have to do," Shinji told them, unsheathing his sword. Everyone nodded and did the same, and Ren had to admit, that even with her trusty tanto blades in her hands, she was still frightened out of her mind.

"What are you doing?! You can't attack him!" Hiyori yelled.

"We aren't going to kill him, Hiyori," Love told her.

"But we can't leave him like this, either," Lisa added.

"So, we'll fight him, not to kill him, but to capture him so we can help him," Rose explained.

"He's stronger than normal," Ren observed. "With that spiritual pressure, I wouldn't chance getting hit by him."

"Let's just hope he's not faster!" Love commented. He was the first to try to attack it- they couldn't call it Kensei, but they couldn't call it a monster, either, since it was their friend- and he was also the first to find out that it was in fact faster now.

Ren wasn't sure why, perhaps it was the shock of seeing Love get hit so hard by what was once their friend, or maybe it was the separate horrific spiritual that suddenly came over them, but suddenly, all of the air that was in her lungs just came out all at once. Once she was flying through the air and the pain started to radiate throughout her torso and darkness started to worm its way through her vision, she figured that it was probably the kick to the gut that she got. She thought that she heard Shinji call her name, but she really couldn't be sure because everything sounded so fuzzy to her.

"Get up!" Hito yelled.

"Something's wrong, Ren! It hurts!" Kiri cried.

"Damn straight it hurts," her mumbled, sitting up and holding her stomach. She had to have blacked out for a second, because at this point, quite a few of her friends were down and out. Kensei hadn't hit her; no, it was the other creature that had appeared, and if Ren had to guess, it was Mashiro. It was hard to tell, really, with the masks that covered their faces, but with Mashiro, the green hair was a dead giveaway.

"You two still with me?" Ren thought.

"Something is wrong, Ren," Hito warned her.

"Something is breaking in here," Kiri told her.

"I need you to fight it off for as long as you can," Ren told them, even though the desperation in their voices put her on a new level of fear.

"We know! We're trying!" Hito yelled.

"Look, if it gets too bad, I don't want you two to strain yourselves. I need you," Ren told him.

"We'll try, Ren, we'll try," Kiri assured her.

"That's all I need," Ren muttered. She picked up her tanto blades that had fallen beside her and slowly stood up from her landing spot.

"Oi, that had to have cracked a few ribs," she breathed. Her reiatsu was usually enough to help shield her from hard hits like that, but whatever happened to Mashiro made her so much stronger, and Ren was so not prepared for her that time. But now, she knew not to get hit again.

"We got this," Ren murmured, bouncing on the balls of her feet a little.

The thing that used to be Mashiro was about to hit Shinji, and if she hit him, it would be on the head, and that might very well kill him, and there was no way in hell that Ren was going to let that happen. She Shunpo'd as hard and fast as she could, and she full-on shoulder tackled the would-be Mashiro. It probably hurt her worse, but Ren was able to get that thing away from Shinji.

As soon as they were about to hit the ground, Ren jumped away from the creature, which was a good thing, because it was right back up as soon as it hit the ground. It let out an animalistic scream that would have scared most normal people, but not Ren. No, Ren was on a mission now, and she was battle ready.

"Hachigen! Shinji! You got him?" Ren called.

"Sort of!" Shinji replied. "We're working on it!"

"Well, I got this one. I'm just gonna warn you, you might need to back away a few feet," Ren cautioned them.

"Err, alright," Shinji acknowledged.

The creature charged at Ren, faster than she could see, and almost too fast for her to feel with her spiritual pressure, but not quite. It was obvious to Ren as she Shunpo'd away that she would have to go at her fastest speed to even try to keep up with this thing. She quickly Shunpo'd around the creature and kicked it in the back of its head, and as it flew forward a little bit, Ren followed right behind it. She used both of her tanto blades to try to cut at the creature, but it quickly span around and tried to kick her. Ren was barely able to move away in time, and the creature's leg nicked her just a little bit, but not enough to do damage.

"You wanna play like that, huh?" Ren muttered. She landed a few feet away from the creature, and Ren had to remind herself that she was not here to kill: she was her to detain so she could help.

Before the creature could move again, Ren quickly Shunpo'd around it. As the creature tried to charge forward a little bit, Ren jumped on it, wrapping her legs around its neck. She took her right blade, Kiri, and stabbed it under the creature's right shoulder blade. As the creature was about to retaliate, Ren quickly Shunpo'd off of it. She took a moment to look over at Shinji.

Hachigen had used some spell to seal Kensei against the ground, but when she looked for him, she saw that Hachigen was down, too. When she looked for Shinji, she saw that he was carrying an injured Hiyori, but what really surprised her was the mask that starting to cover Hiyori's face. Shinji must have been too distracted to notice, and as she looked to see what he was staring at, she understood why.

"I should have known it was that slimy bastard," Ren thought.

"I've suspected Aizen was up to something for some time now," Hito told her.

"But Gin and Tōsen?" Ren thought.

"It doesn't matter. They are your enemies now," Kiri stated.

Ren couldn't even think of a reply to her zanpakutōs. Hiyori had changed into one of the creatures, and she was about to attack Shinji and he didn't even know it. Ren was still in mid-air, so she wouldn't be able to get to him fast enough.

"Shinji! Hiyori's-" she tried to scream, but she couldn't get it out fast enough. Mashiro was on her in an instant, and she kicked Ren as hard as she could. Ren's body created a nice little crater in the ground, but at least the rock debris hit the creature in the face, making it jump away. At least Ren didn't black out this time, but as the blood flew out of her mouth and she could hardly breathe without pain spiking throughout her body, she would have preferred it if she had.

"Ren!" she heard Shinji scream, but his scream was followed by his own yell of pain, so Ren could only assume that Hiyori had attacked him. She felt a thud in the ground beside her, and judging by the spiritual pressure, it was Mashiro, so one of the three traitors had to have attacked her.

There was no telling what that last kick did to her body. No matter how deeply she tried to breathe, she could hardly get any air in at all. She was starting to get a little concerned about it.

"You done?" Hito asked. He wasn't being a smartass this time. He was worried, worried that she wouldn't fight on, worried that she would die.

"I don't think so," Ren told him. "Not quite."

She listened to Aizen and Shinji talk for a few moments, still trying to breathe and pretty well failing to do so, but she was still appalled by what she heard. Aizen's treachery had been going on for quite some time now, and when he started to mention her name, Ren about lost it, and she could tell that Shinji was about to, too.

"It's a shame she hasn't turned with the rest of you. I wonder why not," Aizen pondered.

"It's because we're stronger than you think, you imbecile," Kiri seethed.

"Probably not the best insult, considering he duped us all," Ren thought.

"Oh, well. I suppose it's time we finished this. Tōsen," Aizen called. Ren reached up and grabbed the edge of her crater, pulling herself up in time to see Tōsen getting ready to attack Shinji.

"This is going to hurt," Ren breathed to herself. With every ounce of energy that she had left, Ren Shunpo'd one last time, out of the crater, and right towards Tōsen. With the momentum of her Shunpo behind her, she pulled her leg back and kicked Tōsen in the face as hard as she could. He flew quite a bit, well away from Shinji, but that kick took a lot out of Ren. She didn't have the energy to catch herself, and she was about to hit the ground hard.

"Ren, w-we can't," Hito cried.

"It is too much," Kiri conceded.

"It's alright. I'm probably done for once I hit that ground," Ren thought. But almost as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she felt a pair of strong arms grab her. She looked up and saw that the hero of her life had caught her.

"Hey there, Captain Hirako," she muttered, trying to give him a smile. A mask was starting to form on his face, just like all of the others.

"Ren," Shinji muttered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she assured. A cough raked through her body, and it hurt so bad that it brought tears to her eyes. She felt something leak out of her mouth and wrap around one half of her lower jaw, and she knew what it was. Her zanpakutō had done well to fight it this long.

"They did good to fight it for so long," Ren told him.

"I'll say," Shinji agreed.

"He's coming back to try again, you know," Ren warned him. "Tōsen, that is."

Right when she said it, Tōsen Shunpo'd in front of them, but as soon as he raised his blade, he was gone. As Ren looked to the side, she saw that someone in a black cloak had attacked Tōsen, and it was Kisuke.

"Ren," Shinji muttered. She looked up at him, and she could tell by the look on his face that he was about to fade out.

"We have to make it through this, Shinji. Just hold on. This isn't the end," Ren assured him.

"I'll hold on if you do," Shinji offered, swaying as he made the statement.

"Deal," Ren agreed, and when she muttered the word, Shinji passed out, falling to the ground beside her. A giant, electric Kido blast flew by them, and then she couldn't feel the traitors' reiatsus anymore. The bastards ran, and she had no doubt in her mind that they had a plan to get away with this. Ren sat up slowly beside Shinji.

"Kisuke," she wheezed. Breathing was even more difficult for her now, but she couldn't just lie there and do nothing.

"Can you two fight just a little longer?" Ren thought.

"Just a little bit," Kiri told her.

"Thank you," Ren told her.

"Don't worry Ren, we'll get you all out of here," Kisuke assured her. "Tessai, is there anything you can do?"

"Yes, just give me one moment!" Tessai shouted.

"Kisuke, I'm sorry," Ren told him.

"What? Why?" Kisuke asked her.

"I couldn't bring her back to you safely," Ren answered.

"No, none of this is your fault Ren. You tried your best, but there was no way you could have been ready for this," Kisuke told her.

"Don't I know that," Ren agreed.


Tessai had used some Kido technique that Ren had never seen before to transport them away from that awful scene. He and Kisuke had left them some time ago, and she could only assume that they had been arrested, no doubt thanks to Aizen. None of the others had woken up, which was probably for the best at this point.

Ren knew what she had to do. She couldn't just sit there while Kisuke and Tessai took the blame for everything, but she knew that she needed help.

"You two alright in there?" Ren thought.

"Alright enough," Hit replied.

"Great. Here we go."

"Lose your form and become the shadow you were created to be, Hitokiri," Ren called. Her tanto turned to scorpion tail blades, with two tails adorning each of her hands. Hito and Kiri were never ones to be flashy, only deadly. The main part of Ren's Shikai wasn't the form her blades took, but the abilities that they gave her. They let her become a shadow, the perfect thief, the perfect assassin, the perfect unseen entity.

Ren walked over to one of the walls and reached out to touch its shadow. As soon as she touched it, her hand turned black, a black that wisped as if it were a fire, and then her arm turned, and then the rest of her body. She merged with the wall's shadow, and she quickly went through the wall, as light as air as she did so. As she went through the wall, she focused on suppressing her reiatsu, so no one could sense her and so she wouldn't leave a single trace of herself behind.

Once she was outside, Ren looked around and realized that she was in Twelfth Division, Kisuke's Division. Thank goodness Mayuri wasn't around, or she wouldn't have felt comfortable leaving her friends behind. She figured Aizen and the other two traitors wouldn't bother them; they were too busy trying get Kisuke and Tessai the guilty verdict.

Sticking to the shadows of the night around her, Ren quickly Shunpo'd away to the one place she knew she would be safe, to the one person that she knew would help her. Once she reached the Second Division, Ren couldn't help but breathe a labored breath of relief. Yoruichi was where she was supposed to be for once.

When she reached the door to Yoruichi's office, Ren quickly merged with the door's shadow and went through it. Yoruichi was at her desk, and as soon as Ren was in, Yoruichi was, in the least to say, startled by what she saw. A humanoid form made out of wisped black fire had just stepped through her office door. She didn't know what to do. Ren quickly let the shadows wash away from her body, but she kept a hold of her scorpion blades so she could remain in her Shikai. She didn't know if she would be able to enter it again if she dropped it.

"Ren?!" Yoruichi gasped. Ren had to lean against the wall for support.

"Yoruichi," she wheezed. "Aizen…Aizen betrayed us. He did something to us, to me and Shinji and the others. He-" Another cough raked through Ren's body, and she heard an ungodly screech in her head.

"Ah! Damn that hurt!" Ren cried, although she wasn't very loud due to her lack of air.

"Ren, are you…going to make it?" Yoruichi asked her.

"I don't know. It doesn't feel like it, but that's just me being a big baby," Ren grinned at her. "But, you've got to help us, Yoruichi. Kisuke and Tessai were arrested. I think Aizen is having this put off on them."

"I was going to help you the moment I knew that it was you that had stepped into my office, Ren, no need to even ask," Yoruichi told her, pulling something out of her desk. It was a cloak.

"You know that there is no coming back, right?" Ren reminded her.

"I know, but I won't abandon you guys," Yoruichi assured her, throwing the cloak around her shoulders.

"Then let's go," Ren said, allowing the shadows to engulf her once more.


"We have to move them," Yoruichi announced. They were back in the Twelfth Division, and Yoruichi had a plan.

"Where?" Ren asked her, taking a moment to try to breathe, although it was getting harder and harder to do that. Her head was feeling overly light at this point.

"The cave, that's where. And we need to do this in one trip," Yoruichi told her.

"I see," Ren choked.

"Ren, are you sure that you can do this?" Yoruichi asked her.

"I have to, Yoruichi, I promised him," Ren told, her looking over at the fallen Shinji. Yoruichi nodded her head in understanding.

"Can you carry any, Ren?" she asked.

"Watch this," Ren wheezed. She held up her left hand, and the two scorpion tails dissipated into the same black wisps that had engulfed Ren earlier. Ren flattened out her hand, and the shadows flattened into a sort of blanket. She covered her comrades with it, and if they were awake, they would have noticed an air-like, breathtaking feeling come over them. They took on forms similar to her own, made of black wisps and nearly weightless.

"You should be able to carry them all now," Ren told her. "But we need to move quickly. I don't know how long I can keep them like this," Ren told her, and it sounded like she had been kicked in the throat. If she could feel anything but pain, her chest probably would have felt real tight by now.

"You got it," Yoruichi agreed. "Just don't give up."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Ren wheezed, and a little bit of blood trickled out of her mouth along with the statement.


The trip was taking its toll on Ren. She could feel her spiritual energy draining fast from using her Shikai's technique on not only herself but also the rest of her comrades except for Yoruichi; that was only thing that was keeping her strong enough to do any sort of breathing at all, so when it was completely drained, she wasn't quite sure how performing that vital function would go for her.

"Almost there!" Yoruichi called to her. Ren acknowledged her with a nod.

"R-Ren…"

Ren looked over to Yoruichi and the multiple shadowy people that she was carrying in a precariously stacked heap. It had been Shinji that called her name, although his voice was distorted. The mask was covering more of his face now, but he was still passed out. Ren silently hoped that when she succumbed to her slumber, that she would be able to breathe and that she wouldn't feel any pain. She had had enough of that for one day. At least Shinji was still thinking about her, but hopefully he didn't think she was dead or anything.

"We're here!" Yoruichi called, jumping through the mouth of cave. Ren quickly followed, and as soon as she hit solid ground, she released her friends from her shadows, and as the shadows retracted to her, she finally reverted out of her Shikai. Her tanto blades fell to her side and she fell to her hands and knees, wheezing and coughing as she went.

"Ren!" Yoruichi yelled. She was beside Ren a split second, rubbing her between her shoulders as she coughed.

"Think Kisuke and Tessai are alright?" Ren wheezed.

"They're fine. I'm about to go get them," Yoruichi assured her. "What about you?"

"I'll be dandy," Ren choked. Tears started streaming down her face.

"Yoruichi," she cried. "Damn it, Yoruichi! Why?! Why today of all days?!"

"Shhh, calm down, honey, you need to breathe," Yoruichi soothed. She had known that when Ren was finally out of the heart of the action, that she would finally let the grief overwhelm her.

"On our anniversary, of all days," Ren cried, finally passing out and letting the darkness overcome her.

Once Yoruichi saw that she was still breathing, she quickly Shunpo'd out of the cave to go get Kisuke and Tessai. She had tears streaming down her face the whole time. Just a few decades ago, her best friend was experiencing one of the best days of her life with the man that she cherished most in this world, and Sōsuke Aizen had managed to tarnish the anniversary of that day, of that union, with something truly monstrous. Yoruichi would not rest until he paid.