Author's Notes: Howdy folks you better take care of any little chores before you start reading because this is the longest chapter yet.

Anyway please enjoy and leave a review when you're done.

I don't own Bleach or Devil May Cry

Ch. 8 Shadows of the Past

"Okay remind me again, where are you taking me exactly?" Toushirou asked as he followed Elaina through the roof tops of the Seireitei.

"I told you there's this special diner that a large number of officers frequent, it's got the best food from across both globes" Elaina explained as they arrived and went through the door.

Toushirou looked around to see a large number of shinigami sitting at the tables eating a variety of foods with a variety of utensils, most of them had a rather serious expression on their faces as they talked to the other members at the table, he noticed Oomaeda was stuffing his face in the cornor with abhorrent amounts of food "what an unbelievable glutton" Toushirou thought to himself. He noticed that the walls were covered with newspaper articles in a wide variety of human languages of major events going back to the seventeen hundreds, and to his left as he walked in he saw several stacks of newspapers focusing around world events.

"What's also nice about this place, is that it's a good source of information on what's going on in the World of the Living, and if your ears are sharp enough it's an excellent source of interesting rumors" Elaina stated as a hostess came towards them "it seems we're the first ones here" she thought to herself.

"Table for two?" the hostess asked.

"No four actually" Elaina replied causing Toushirou to raise an eyebrow.

"Who's the little cutie" the hostess asked "did you volunteer to baby sit for a friend Miss Dark-Heart?"

"Oh, damn; I bet his expression is just priceless right now" Elaina thought to herself as she cracked a smile and turned to see that he had his left eye closed half way and a vein threatening to pop on his right temple.

"Who the hell are you calling a little cutie?!" Toushirou hissed causing the hostess to back up a couple of steps and Elaina to laugh softly "and for the record I'm her superior officer."

"I'm sorry" the hostess said in fear for her life as the doors opened again.

"It would seem the rest of our group is here" Elaina said with a smirk.

Suddenly Toushirou felt a hand grab the back of his kimono just below the neck and hoist him into the air before he heard a familiar voice say "gee kid you sure are trouble."

Toushirou closed both eyes in annoyance before calmly saying "Rangiku put me down now."

"Toushirou, you can't just say that to a Lieutenant" Momo stated as she walked in after them.

"Shut up, you're not the boss of me" Toushirou stated as he freed himself from Rangiku's grip "by the way why are you two here?"

Suddenly Toushirou felt a pair of arms wrap around his upper torso just before he was pulled into a painful bear hug, and do to his height and Rangiku's assets he couldn't even breathe "why do you think we're here?" Rangiku asked in annoyance "you accepted a promotion and a transfer without telling us, do you know how that makes us feel?"

"Yeah Toushirou I was going to visit you yesterday only to find out you were with squad thirteen now, and when I got there I found out you had already left on a mission" Momo stated as he was still struggling to free himself from Rangiku's bear hug.

"Um would you like me to show you to your table?" the hostess asked.

"That would be nice" Elaina chuckled "sorry about that, it happens just about every time those two are within a hundred feet of each other."

"I still think it's inappropriate" Momo stated as they followed the hostess and Toushirou still hadn't broken free.

"And I still know that it's funny as hell" Elaina replied as they took their seats and Rangiku finally let Toushirou go.

Momo and Rangiku began to lecture Toushirou over accepting Ukitake's promotion without telling them for a few minutes as Elaina began to read a newspaper.

"Alright I understand, will you both get off my back?" Toushirou asked.

"So long as you understand" Rangiku said before rubbing her palm in his hair causing him to close both his eyes half-way.

"Seriously though Toushirou, you make me worry" Momo said "the way you behave I'm worried you'll get yourself killed during a mission or trying to obtain Bankai."

"Well the missions are a risk we all have to take, but you can stop worrying about the Bankai training already" Toushirou sighed in annoyance.

"Oh you've given up on it?" Momo asked in relief.

Toushirou shot her a very annoyed look before saying "don't insult me Momo I've already obtained the freaking release" Momo's eyes shot open in shock and Rangiku seemed impressed "all I have to do is master using it" he stated proudly "and deal with that little issue…" he thought in a hidden depression.

"And I thought I was doing well with the training" Elaina said lightly as she sipped some coffee and put down a newspaper "looks like nothing new is going on in Berlin so it should be a relatively safe assignment for my dad."

"Tell me something Elaina, did you have anything to do with Momo and Rangiku knowing my whereabouts earlier?" Toushirou asked.

"Come now third seat Hitsugaya be fair" Elaina stated with a facade of innocence that fooled no one "do you honestly believe that I would have told these two where you were going to be in some sort of conspiracy to have Rangiku punish you in some sort of humiliating fashion, all so I could get some laughs…do you really think I would do that?"

"I'm going to assume that was a rhetorical question" Toushirou stated in annoyance as Elaina smirked.

Momo looked at Elaina and said "you're very sadistic."

"Tell me something I don't know" Elaina said lightly as their meals arrived.

"Clearly being raised by Alex in his younger days was quite an experience" Toushirou thought dryly.

Toushirou was silent for most of the meal as the three women began to chat without end. Momo kept going on about how wonderful captain Aizen was, Rangiku kept talking about shopping spots she had seen in the world of the living, and Elaina kept telling incredibly demented but amusing stories about what was going on in squad thirteen or what she had seen in her squad four days.

"I'll tell you something though I was very grateful not to still be in squad four when third seat Hitsugaya came back from that little expedition a few days ago" Elaina stated.

"Why what happened?" Momo asked.

"We were sent out to exterminate a pack of hollows that had been killing shinigami and a number of souls in the woods of Southern Rukongai, we came across a large clearing with grass that was up to their waists…" Toushirou began.

"And your head" Elaina added earning her an angry look from Toushirou.

"as I was saying" Toushirou continued "moments later a number of hollows attacked us by using the grass as cover, however we didn't appear to be making progress despite the fact that we had killed dozens of the little bastards; at this point I realized we were actually fighting on the back of a large hollow that had roosted there and was using drones it created to wear down and overwhelm anyone who had stepped on top of him."

"So wait a minute that 'grass' was actually back hair?" Momo asked with a sick expression on her face and Toushirou nodded.

"That's disgusting" Rangiku stated.

"That's not the worst of it" Elaina stated and the other two women turned to her in frightened curiosity "I could smell them a mile away when they returned, the thing is some of them needed medical attention so they were taken to squad four; what really sucked for those poor souls was that they had to heal them before they could take a bath to get rid of the scent…it must have been horrible."

"Poor Isane" Rangiku said in genuine pity.

"Yeah I felt sorry for them…not enough to throw myself into the same position as they were in but I still felt sorry for them" Elaina replied.

"As charming as you three are, I think it's time for me to go; my duties aren't going to fulfill themselves" Toushirou said as he tried to back out his chair but felt it hit someone "sorry about that" he said as he turned to see the man he had hit.

"Well naw aint ya the lady's man" the man said jokingly.

"Gin" Rangiku whispered softly.

"Captain Ichimaru" Elaina and Toushirou said respectfully while Momo was silent.

"Naw naw, no need ta be alarmed I just wanted to see how ya all were doin" Gin said in his usual unreadable tone.

"Nothing all that special" Elaina replied "killing hollows, making sure stupid people don't blow up the Seireitei with some half backed scheme, and just about anything else you can think of."

"Same old, same old" Gin said with a hint of amusement as he looked in Rangiku's eyes and then turned to Toushirou "congrats on ya promotion, your name's becoming well known amongst the captains, keep up the good wirk we've got hopes for ya."

"I'll try my best sir" Toushirou answered but was thinking "this guy is a serious creep."

"I'm sure ya will, take care naw" Gin replied as he headed for the exit "take care naw Ran, and don't ya disappoint me Toushirou Hitsugaya."

"Well that was unexpected" Elaina said as she finished her meal and placed some money on the table.

"He's almost as creepy as that Alexander Dar…" Momo began but was cut off by a lethal glare from Elaina.

"Just so you know, I can think of at least ten different ways that I could kill you where you sit and make it look like natural causes" Elaina warned with an expression that read 'watch your damn mouth if you know what's good for you.'

"Momo sometimes I wonder about you…" Toushirou thought to himself as he lay down some money and got out of his seat.

"Gin…" Rangiku thought solemnly to herself as she stood up and parted ways with her friends at the exit "…what in the hell are you up to now, and what does Toushirou have to do with it?"

"Well that was a damn good meal as always" Elaina said happily as she and Toushirou returned to the squad thirteen courtyard.

"Was there some sort of point to all that?" Toushirou asked.

"Yeah to get your mind off of your talk with Rukia Kuchki" Elaina answered.

Flashback-four days ago

Toushirou walked into a small room in the squad thirteen administrative building to find Rukia Kuchki sitting in a futon with an incredibly blank expression on her face as if she was just a gigai without a soul to animate it. Next to her was sitting Elaina who actually had a serious expression on her face as she stood up, saluted him, and left.

"Who are you?" Rukia asked without even a hint of emotion.

"My name is Toushirou Hitsugaya, I'm the new third seat of squad Thirteen" Toushirou answered politely.

"The third seat, that was Mrs. Miyako's position" Rukia stated dully "until the…" she began to choke.

"Yes before the incident with the Hollow" Toushirou finished for her causing her to flinch.

"I don't know if you noticed me or not, but I was that guy with sixth seat Dark-Heart when you were in the middle of that little training incident a couple of days ago" Toushirou said calmly.

"I don't remember you, sorry" Rukia stated.

"Don't worry about that" Toushirou said calmly "the thing is me and the rest of the squad was worried about you, you really gave us a scare when you nearly trained yourself to death."

"Why would you care?" Rukia asked her voice was again lacking in emotion.

"Let's just say that you remind me of someone I knew" Toushirou answered causing Rukia to look at him with a small hint of curiosity "it was under different conditions but he killed his best friend to and his situation didn't even involve a hollow" Rukia's eyes were now wide open "and to this very day he still blames himself; at first he tried to commit suicide by throwing himself to a group of hollows, however his instincts wouldn't allow it."

"So what did he do?" Rukia asked.

"He took an oath to live so that he might help change the soul society for the better so that such a tragedy would never happen again" Toushirou stated as he stood up "I read the report, I know what happened, and I met Lieutenant Shiba on a number of occasions before I was brought into squad thirteen."

"You knew Kaien?" Rukia asked.

"Yeah, he had a habit of calling me by my first name despite how many times I had asked him to call me fourth seat Hitsugaya, whenever I reminded him of this he would often tell me 'lighten up Toushirou' and then rub his fist in my hair…to be completely honest the guy kind of pissed me off" Toushirou replied as he rubbed his forehead and Rukia frowned a bit "but I knew him well enough to say that he wouldn't want you to blame yourself for what happened, hell the Kaien Shiba I knew would probably say something along the lines of 'it wasn't your fault, it was all because of that damn hollow, so quit whining about it and help Captain Ukitake keep those idiots Kiyone and Sentarou in line'" Rukia looked at him darkly before he said "think about it, he was that kind of man wasn't he?"

Rukia looked down at her hands with a few tears in her eyes as she said "yeah he was wasn't he?"

"In either case it's entirely your decision as to what you do from here on out" Toushirou stated as he stood up and she looked at him in confusion "but like I said the Kaien Shiba I knew would want you to live, it was a tragedy, but it wasn't your fault" he then headed towards the door.

"So have you gotten over your own situation?" Hyourinmaru asked.

"Like I said, different circumstances; the ultimate difference between hers and mine is that there really is no reason to blame her for what happened" Toushirou replied.

End Flashback

"You're a nosey woman, you know that?" Toushirou asked as they made their way back to the squad thirteen offices.

"I'm curious, it's human nature" Elaina replied lightly.

"But you're a shinigami" Toushirou informed her.

"Yeah, I always thought that was a rather arrogant term on our part" Elaina said as she put her fingers to her chin.

"How so?" Toushirou asked before thinking "why do I get the feeling I don't want to know?"

"Well I'm sure you know that the term shinigami roughly translates to 'god of death'" Elaina answered "the reason I feel it's arrogant is because of the 'god' part, I mean think about it; gods are supposed to be 'truly' immortal, they're supposed to be all powerful, and they're supposed to be infallible…and we're none of those things."

Toushirou stopped for a moment before saying "that's actually a very good point."

"So you finally realize" Elaina responded with a demented smile "that beneath this young, talented, and damn pretty face lays the mind of true genius philosopher."

Toushirou was about to reply crudely to her comment when he heard Kiyone's voice call out "Elaina" Toushirou looked down the alley as they arrived at the office building to see Kiyone running towards them full speed with Sentarou following closely behind, moments later Sentarou tackled her causing them to screech as they came to a stop right in front of Elaina and Toushirou who were both looking at them with an eyebrow raised.

"We have a message for you" Sentarou said "it's important Cap…"

"What do you think you're doing jackass?!" Kiyone shouted back as she placed her palm in his face and shoved his head into the ground.

Elaina turned to Toushirou as they began to work up to a full fledge fist fight "sounds important, may I?"

"Please do" Toushirou answered as he thought "these two sure are infuriating."

Elaina lifted both Kiyone and Sentarou to their feet causing them to look at her in confusion before she placed a hand on each of their heads and slammed them together "anyway you had a message for me?"

Kiyone looked at Toushirou and realized he had authorized what had just happened and said "Captain Ukitake requests that you and third seat Hitsugaya report to him as soon as possible."

"What's going on?" Elaina asked.

"He wouldn't say" Sentarou replied "he just requested you two meet him in briefing room two."

"Sounds promising" Elaina sighed as she and Toushirou made their way to briefing room two and Kiyone and Sentarou resumed their brawl.

"Third seat Hitsugaya" a woman's voice called as he and Elaina were about to knock on the door, he looked to his right to see Rukia Kuchki walking towards them from the hall dressed her in full outfit and her Zanpakutou in its sheath.

"How are you doing?" Toushirou asked.

"Better" Rukia answered "I just wanted to thank you for that discussion and to thank you both for stopping me last week."

Elaina replied by asking "you do realize you're thanking me for kneeing you in the stomach right?"

"Well, yes, but…" Rukia didn't know how to react so she said "anyway I don't want to hold you up, thanks again" she then saluted and ran off.

"You did good, it would seem" Elaina teased.

"Shut up" Toushirou said in annoyance as he opened the door and saw their captain sitting at a small round table in the middle of medium sized room with a projection screen with a serious expression on his face "what's going on sir?"

"We've just received a report of an unusual hollow and we've been assigned to take it out" Ukitake replied "but before we go we need Elaina to look at some images and video footage some of our men stationed in the world of the living captured when they were attacked."

"Why me?" Elaina asked curiously.

"Tell me, how much do you know of your father's tribe?" Ukitake asked.

"Pretty much everything from their history, their abilities, their philosophies, and so on" Elaina answered "why?"

"Well with your father in Berlin we were hoping you could take a look at the hollow we're going after" Ukitake answered.

"You suspect it might have something to do with his clan?" Elaina asked.

"Yes it's just that we have no real records on his clan and he's been deployed…" Ukitake began.

"And since I was raised by him the captains' committee assumed I would know the most about what we're dealing with" Elaina finished.

"That's, correct; anyway let me show you the footage" Ukitake replied as he picked up a remote and the first image appeared on the wall.

"Impossible" Elaina stated weakly when she saw the hollow.

The hollow was about twenty feet tall with a golden body, the arms were about three feet in diameter and at the end of each arm were five dagger-like claws, the legs were slightly hunched hinting that it was capable of standing upright but it could position itself on all fours for extra running speed and power, coming out of it's shoulders were a pair of large golden bat-like wings each about fifteen feet when spread all the way, and the head was sporting a pair of curved horns which nearly covered the mask which had three dark red lines running parallel horizontally across the face. But what caught Elaina's attention more than anything else was the fact that its entire body was covered in black markings, it was holding a large golden battle axe with demonic eye emblems on both ends and the center of the blade, and its golden eyes had slit shaped irises.

"This hollow appeared a few hours ago on East Coast of the United States and engaged a unit of our men in the capital city of Washington" Ukitake began to explain "regrettably this was all we got from our team" moments later a video began to play.

The hollow let out a roar as it arrived in the world of the living and growled "where is he?!"

Moments later ten shinigami surrounded him with their Zanpakutou drawn and several of their free hands were glowing just before several fire balls and bolts of lightning struck his position.

"Got him" one of the shinigami said smugly.

"LOOK OUT" another shouted at him.

The first shinigami suddenly felt the pain as a black blast of energy struck him in the back just before the hollow's axe fell on top of him, as his body fell a strange energy seemed to leak out of his body and into the axe.

"BASTARD" yet another shinigami shouted as he swung his Zanpakutou only to have the blade cut in half as the axe blade came rushing towards him and his life was also ended and the same strange energy flowed from his corpse into the axe.

"Don't let your guard down" their leader shouted, moments later his right wrist was surrounded in a small sphere of black energy and he screamed in pain, causing him to drop his Zanpakutou. When the sphere disappeared his wrist looked as if it had been slammed between two wrecking balls, almost instantly the hollow appeared in front of him and he fell like his comrades before him.

"We need back up, its way too much for us everyone retreat" their second in command shouted and the remaining seven flew off in different directions.

"Foolish vermin" the hollow chuckled, moments later the sounds of teleportation and screams filled the air as seven shinigami fell to the hollow's axe and the same energy from their comrades left them and were absorbed into the blade "hardly even a snack."

"As you can see it's incredibly lethal, judging by the ease of how he dispatched those men it would seem that this hollow possesses power equivalent to that of the Menos Grande" Ukitake stated solemnly "and as you noticed there were no survivors."

"Where is it now?" Elaina asked with a clear expression of anger and hatred written across her face.

"It's currently flying over the Atlantic, judging by its direction we believe it's heading towards Europe" Ukitake answered "were those warlock abilities it possessed?"

"Yes, it was definitely of the Warlock clan at one point" Elaina answered "there's no way around it; a hollow with Warlock powers and not to mention it possessed that axe, it has to be him."

"But I don't get it" Toushirou stated "if it was of the Warlock clan, why didn't it just teleport to its next destination, I've seen Alexander do it all the time."

"There are two different types of teleportation that a Warlock can use" Elaina began "the first is the kind you've seen my dad use in combat where he could move from one place to another regardless of the direction he was facing, if there were any obstacles in the path, or if he was already in motion at speeds that fall just short of the shunpo however this method only works when they have exact knowledge of where they'll appear and in general they can't use this method for distances of more than two miles; the second method allows them to teleport to any spot that they've established as an appearing point by using Dark Soul Crystals where they can teleport to at anytime, provided it's in the same dimension and there isn't any sort of barrier to block them."

"I see" Toushirou replied "so he can't get their with the first because the distance is too great and he can't use the second because he hasn't established any of these appearing points in Europe."

"I wish we knew what it's after" Ukitake sighed.

"It's going after my dad in Berlin" Elaina stated causing Ukitake to look at her in confusion.

"We believe that hollow and Alexander had some conflicts when they were alive" Toushirou explained simply remembering what he had seen in Alexander's memories "he likely sensed that Alexander was somewhere to the East and that's why he's heading to Europe."

"I see" Ukitake breathed heavily "in any case we've been ordered to intercept it in Portugal before it kills any more of our men."

"Just two things captain" Elaina stated "first off about that axe, it's an example of the weapons that Warlocks often created for themselves called a Devil's arm; what makes this Devil's arm particularly dangerous is the fact every time it kills someone it absorbs their souls into the blade in order to increase the wielder's power…"

"So that was what happened with those men he killed" Ukitake stated and Elaina nodded "I'm sorry what else did you want to say."

"This hollow is a bitter enemy of my family, I wish to fight it alone" Elaina stated.

"Are you mad?!" Toushirou burst out "this hollow was the man who…"

"Killed my father and my grandmother, I know" Elaina cut him off "that's why it has to be me or my Dad who finishes him off, it's a matter of honor for us."

"I see, very well then you'll be the one to face it" Ukitake replied.

"Thank you captain" Elaina said with a bow.

"However..." Ukitake began.

*Two hours later-West Coast of Portugal*

Elaina exited the Senkaimon on an abandoned beach and looked out to the sea with apprehension and a strong sense of determination "okay time to get started" she thought.

Elaina held out her left arm and began to focus her spirit energy as she held out a round device which showed the hollow was still out to sea and it was heading for a section of beach to the far north near a populated area.

Elaina sat on the ground and thought "okay so I need to get it to change its course or it will be difficult to keep innocent by standards out of the way, this is where my spiritual affinity comes in…" suddenly the spirit energy in Elaina's left arm began to turn black and she felt as if her heart was becoming increasingly heavy "…it may not be as strong as my father's but hopefully my Darkness Affinity will be enough to draw him to me and away from any humans who might get hurt."

"Be careful Elaina, pour too much into your affinity and you could lose yourself to the Darkness" her Zanpakutou warned.

"Shut up, I know that already" Elaina hissed at it "I won't allow myself to be lost to my own power, after all once I've strengthened my affinity enough I'll be a Warlock just like my Dad."

"I recommend you focus on the task at hand for now" The Zanpakutou advised.

"I am, there's no need to worry" Elaina assured it she looked at the radar and smirked as she saw that the hollow was changing its direction "bingo."

Minutes later Elaina saw the golden hollow's shape flying towards her as she flew up to meet it.

"What, who the hell are you, and why does your soul reek of that man's presence?" the hollow asked angrily "I knew I should've stayed on course."

"Before I answer you tell me something, when you were alive did you go by the name Maximillion?" Elaina asked.

"Yes" it replied and Elaina's face contorted with rage "now answer my questions!!!"

"Squad Thirteen, sixth Seat, Elaina Dark-Heart" Elaina said with a combination of pride and rage "I'm the daughter of Alexander Dark-Heart and the woman who's going to kill you!!!"

"I see so that's why you reek of his presence" Maximillion chuckled before he swung his axe down.

Maximillion's eyes opened in shock as Elaina locked blades with his axe from below with her Zanpakutou, moments later she swung her self from below towards Maximillion using her Zanpakutou and planted both her feet in Maximillion's face sending him flying back twenty yards. Maximillion spread his wings fully and lunged towards her and swung his axe towards her left side, Elaina blocked the axe by holding her blade vertically, she looked to her right to see Maximillion's left claws rushing towards her. Thinking fast she performed a roundhouse kick with her right leg sending his axe arm away from her and then she swung down with her Zanpakutou cutting into the clawed hand between the middle and index fingers.

"YOU BITCH!!!" Maximillion shouted as he leapt back and Elaina did the same.

"Quit your whining" Elaina said coldly as she swung her sword to get the blood off the blade "because you're suffering has just begun, tonight you'll pay for your crimes."

"I'll pay for my crimes huh?" Maximillion asked as the wound on his hand regenerated "how odd to hear that coming from the child of Alexander Dark-Heart, but wait I guess you're not really his daughter he must have just picked you up in the Soul Society or something which is why you're not one of us."

"Shut up" Elaina commanded with a threatening tone.

"Did he tell you about how he betrayed the clan and about all the people he murdered in cold blood?" Maximillion asked clearly amused "after all our clan was ultimately destroyed because of him."

Elaina disappeared with a shunpo, Maximillion's eyes looked amused as he turned to his left after the horn on his left side was cut off to see Elaina floating calmly with the horn in her left hand and a blood stained sword in her right.

"Not only did he tell me about all those things he did in life, he showed me through his memories, I had a front row seat" Elaina replied darkly "I saw all those things that you manipulated him and the others into doing when they were just children; my father isn't to blame for what happened, because it was you who destroyed the tribe."

"How so?" Maximillion asked with amusement as his horn grew back.

"You were the leader of the tribe, it was your duty to lead them with benevolence and help them find a better future, but what did you do instead…" Elaina began "…you deceived them all, you used them, and you broke the tenants; and you did it all in order to sate your own lust for blood and domination…the facts are clear, it's all your fault, and no one else is to blame!!!"

"It would seem talking is pointless" Maximillion said in amusement.

"Of course it is" Elaina replied "I haven't looked into your eyes so far because I didn't want you to predict my moves, but I'll let you have a glance" Elaina looked into Maximillion's eyes, he sensed immense feelings of hatred and a strong desire to kill him coming from her mind "just to assure you that your Bull Shit isn't going to work on me."

"I'm going to enjoy this" Maximillion replied before he teleported behind Elaina and swung his axe down on top of her.

Elaina lifted her Zanpakutou and blocked the blade, moments later she saw a black sphere appear cover her stomach "Damn it" she swore before she used shunpo to leap back as far as possible.

"It would appear he's taught her a few things" Maximillion said in annoyance as the sphere disappeared revealing Elaina's stomach area to be exposed and covered in small bruises but completely in tact with no lacerations "you seem to know what you're doing."

"That was the Warlock Art known as 'crushing void' it creates a black sphere around a section of the target and increases the gravitational force towards the center exponentially, it's an effective skill but it has three weaknesses" Elaina stated "first off the father away the target is from the user the weaker the force becomes, secondly using it on larger areas will also decrease it's power, and lastly it takes several seconds after the sphere appears for it to take effect; when I saw it appear it was a simple matter of putting some distance between us and forcing my spirit energy out in the opposite direction of your technique to minimize the damage, the bottom half of my Kimono top is ruined and my lower torso is covered in bruises but I'm still fit to fight."

"It would seem I need to go all out on her" Maximillion thought snidely "you're soul will make a delicious addition."

"Screw you" Elaina said just before she raised her right arm and her spiritual pressure increased as she chanted "Snap his neck, Onitsume (Demon Claw)."

The Zanpakutou appeared to instantly melt just before it traveled down Elaina's right arm all the way down to her shoulder, the next second Elaina's right arm had been completely transformed. It was now considerably larger than a normal arm and it was covered in Dark Red Rock like scales and had claws on each finger with a dark blue glow coming from the elbow, knuckles, claws, palm, and the center of the back of the hand. On each side of the fore arm were spikes which stretched jus past the elbow.

Maximillion gave a mighty flap of his wings to lunge himself towards her at full speed and swung his axe down. "So he's taking this seriously now, about damn time" Elaina thought to herself as she griped her right fist and intercepted the axe with a solid hook forcing them both back. Maximillion teleported behind her once again and he tried to split her skull open with the axe, however he felt a solid grip on his right wrist he looked down to see Elaina holding onto it with her transformed arm. "You depend far too much on this axe" she said smugly.

"How did you know I'd?" Maximillion asked in shock.

"Simple, I've learned that cowards like you love to attack your enemies from behind" Elaina answered "the flaw to your fighting style is that you always put the lethal force into your axe so you can absorb your enemy's soul which makes you pathetically predictable, I don't know what's more of a disgrace your style or the fact that you're a coward."

Suddenly Elaina's hand began to glow dark blue as she ripped off Maximillion's right hand and took his axe away. Maximillion tried to bite her in tow with his fangs but was forced back by a left hook from Elaina. Moments later Elaina threw the axe towards the ground causing it to crash into the beach below.

"Damn you!!!" Maximillion swore as his right hand regenerated.

"You've talked enough Maximillion, it's time to die" Elaina said darkly.

"We'll see about that" Maximillion said smugly just before several dozen hollows appeared surrounding Elaina from almost every angle "kill her" he commanded as he attempted to fly away.

"BASTARD!!!" Elaina shouted as they began to close in on her.

The temperature in the air began to drop as a familiar voice chanted "reign over the frosted frozen heavens, Hyourinmaru!"

Several of the hollows were frozen and shattered by a dragon made of water and ice while the rest scattered alarmed by Toushirou's presence and his power. They were equally alarmed when they heard another voice chant "Every wave become my shield, every lightning become my blade, Sougyo No Kotowari" over a dozen hollows were destroyed revealing Jyuushiro Ukitake had arrived on the scene holding his hooked blades.

"Who the hell are they!?" Maximillion asked.

"Captain of the thirteenth squad, Jyuushiro Ukitake" Ukitake replied.

"Third seat of the same squad, Toushirou Hitsugaya" Toushirou replied coldly.

"So she had reinforcements all along" Maximillion hissed.

"No not really" Ukitake replied "we just came along in case you decided to pull some dirty trick."

"Like summoning a swarm of helpers" Toushirou added in annoyance as the survivors surrounded him and Ukitake.

"We'll handle them, focus on your target Elaina" Ukitake commanded "this won't take long."

"Thank you both" Elaina said in gratitude as she turned her eye to Maximillion "come on show me what you've got without the axe; that is if you have anything to show!!!"

Elaina flew towards Maximillion at full speed and punched her right arm forward, Maximillion punched forward with his left fist. When the two punches intercepted Maximillion's arm was destroyed down to the elbow, however his right hand grabbed her arm by the wrist and he used to opportunity to dig his horn into her left shoulder causing a large amount of blood to spew forth.

"As I thought your Zanpakutou is nothing more than brute force" Maximillion said smugly.

Toushirou watched as the hollow's horn dug into Elaina's shoulder just before he finished off the last of the lesser hollows "ELAINA" he shouted as he was about to fly off to her aid but Ukitake stopped him "Captain what the hell are you doing?!"

"You mustn't interfere, this is a battle of honor after all" Ukitake said calmly.

"Honor, what good is honor if she dies?!" Toushirou asked.

"Listen to me Toushirou" Ukitake said solemnly "right now Elaina is being driven by her desire to fight, and that's because right now she's fighting not just for her own honor but for the honor of her father; you must never forget what I'm about to tell you, there are two equally important types of battles for those of us who have chosen to become soldiers, the first is to protect the innocent, and the second is to protect one's honor...it's important that you always remember that."

Toushirou thought back to something that his previous captain had told him.

"Why are you so concerned about honor Captain Tousen?" Toushirou asked as they finished their training session "I thought Justice was your calling?!"

"It is" Kaname answered.

"So what's with the emphasis on personal honor then?" Toushirou asked.

"Simple" Kaname replied "without honor there can be no justice what so ever" Kaname sensed that Toushirou was confused and said "don't worry you'll learn when the time is right."

"But don't worry Toushirou" Ukitake said brining him back to the present "Elaina is very strong, I can assure you she won't lose."

"Any last words before you die?" Maximillion asked.

Elaina smirked before she chuckled "child's play is all you got, you continue to disappoint me Maximillion."

"Bold words" Maximillion chuckled and it began to rain heavily.

"Not really considering the fact that you've made a critical mistake" Elaina said smugly.

"Which would be?" Maximillion asked.

"My Zanpakutou isn't just a regular direct attack type, it has some potent kidou attributes as well" Elaina replied causing Maximillion's eyes to open widely as her right arm began to glow and he was suddenly forced back about forty yards by the force of her spiritual pressure.

"Impossible, I'm several times stronger now than when I was alive, so how can you?!" Maximillion asked.

"It's simple really" Elaina answered as her left arm fell limp and blood began to flow from her wound just before she began to slowly walk towards Maximillion with a smirk on her face "it's because it doesn't matter what you've been doing for the past sixty five years; you can get as big as you want and you can get as ugly as you want, but you still can't change one irrefutable fact" Elaina's right arm began to glow dark blue especially towards the fist

"DAMN YOU" Maximillion shouted as he flew towards her at full speed.

"This power was made to send guys like you back to Hell" Elaina said as she un-gripped her fist and punched forward. Maximillion's eyes shot open as a mass of dark blue energy came straight towards him in the shape of Elaina's transformed hand, he tried to block it with his arms but they were brushed aside as it grabbed his face. Maximillion tried to break free but it was pointless "good bye Maximillion" Elaina said as she clenched her fist and Maximillion was consumed in an explosion of energy. "It's over" Elaina breathed as she resealed Onitsume and sheathed it and began to focus on healing her shoulder wound.

"Not quite" Maximillion's voice called from the clearing smoke.

"Damn" Elaina swore as she turned to see a black mass of energy in the form of Maximillion flying towards her "I can't draw Onitsume and there's no way I can dodge this!!!"

"Damn it we can't get there in time!!!" Toushirou swore in his mind as he and Ukitake attempted to save Elaina.

"DIE!!!" Maximillion shouted from about twelve feet away.

"Protect, Nehan" a voice both Maximillion and Elaina recognized as a shinigami appeared between the two holding the white and blue long sword in his left hand and a barrier appeared stopping Maximillion in his tracks "I must admit I've forgotten just how revolting a creature you really are Maximillion, I guess after sixty five years you just don't remember such details."

"Dad" Elaina said "why are you here."

"Are you kidding me?" Alexander asked "I could sense both your spiritual pressures all the way from Berlin, there was no way in Hell I could just stay there."

"DAMN YOU ALEXANDER DARK-HEART" Maximillion shouted.

"Choice last words" Alexander said coldly.

"What is this?" Ukitake asked as and Toushirou got in front of Elaina.

"Warlock Art Wraith Strike" Alexander answered "this technique allows a dying Warlock to put all their remaining power into one last attack, he'll be crossing over in less than half a minute."

"You bastard, why am I not surprised that you became a shinigami?!" Maximillion asked as the gates to hell appeared behind him and several chains wrapped around him "I guess nothing's changed."

"Tell me do you still not understand what my mother's smile meant?" Alexander asked.

"Dorothy's, smile?!" Maximillion asked.

"Yes her smile" Alexander said "mother understood better than most how much darkness and evil was in peoples' hearts even though she didn't possess the demonic eyes that you and I have, and yet still tried to see the best in everyone especially us; her smile was her way of showing her hope for us and for humanity as a whole!!!"

"Such insignificant" Maximillion said as he felt the chains pulling him towards the gates.

"YOU WILL NOT CALL IT 'INSIGNIFICANT'!!!" Alexander shouted with tears coming out of his eyes which were still demonic and his marks started to glow with a soft black light "I won't let you, I may carry more than a good share of the responsibility for what happened all those years ago, but that doesn't change the fact that YOU DECEIVED ALL OF US!!!" Maximillion growled as he tried to get through once more "NOW BE GONE!!!"

"DAMN YOU ALL!!!" Maximillion swore as he was dragged into hell by the chains and the gate slammed closed before disappearing.

Elaina chuckled before saying "I really got him" she then blacked out from blood loss and Alexander caught her before she could fall.

Ukitake and Toushirou looked at Alexander who threw Nehan into the beach below and shouted "Nurture Nehan!!!" before he flew towards the ground and placed Elaina into the healing light which began to slow her bleeding and mend her stomach bruises.

"That power won't be enough to close her wound" Toushirou said in concern "we need someone from squad four."

"I've already sent out word to one of their medics near Lisbon" Alexander said with concern even though his marks and eyes were still active "I'm glad I brought this with me" he pulled a first aid bundle out of his kimono and grabbed a roll of gauss "her wound appears to be fairly shallow so Nehan's powers and this should be enough to stop the bleeding."

"He comes prepared" Ukitake thought to himself as Alexander ripped off Elaina's sleeve and began to wrap her shoulder up.

Elaina woke up a couple moments later to see her self surrounded in small pool of white energy on the ground next to a familiar sword and a soft green light surrounding her body from the air. She looked over her body to see her stomach was exposed, her left sleeve was gone, and her left shoulder was bandaged up.

"So you're up" a young woman said as Elaina turned to her "fourth seat Dark-Heart she's up."

"Thank you" Alexander stated as he came to her and he still had his marks and eyes active "are you alright Elaina?"

"Yes" Elaina answered.

"You did well" Ukitake assured her as he and Toushirou came into view.

"I'm sorry" Elaina said causing everyone to look at her in confusion "I imagined you wanted to be the one to finish him off dad."

"Elaina don't worry about that" Alexander sighed in relief as the squad four medic finished her treatment.

"Take it easy on that left arm for a good day or two and you should be fine" she said before bowing to the officers and the Captain "I'm must return to my post."

"Thank you for your work" Alexander said as she flew off and he turned to Elaina "my old grudge with Maximillion isn't half as important as your well being, when I saw him coming after you the only concern I had was for your life, in those moments my revenge meant nothing to me so long as you were safe."

Elaina chuckled lightly before saying "thanks to your powers I'm still here."

"It wasn't my powers that saved you, it was hers" Alexander stated as he pointed to Nehan.

Elaina rolled her eyes as Alexander helped her up so she wouldn't have to put any stress on her left arm before saying "get over yourself, you saved me and you know it."

"Will you be heading back to Berlin?" Toushirou asked Alexander sealed Nehan and sheathed it "those maternal instincts must be incredibly strong if they're over powering the influence of those marks on his behavior."

"There is just one last thing I need to take care of first" Alexander answered as he turned to Maximillion's axe and drew Kokuhyou "all the souls of the people Maximillion killed both as a human and as a hollow are still trapped inside his devil's arm and the only way to free them is to destroy it."

"Will they all pass over into the Soul Society?" Ukitake asked.

"No" Alexander replied "since he killed them before absorbing their souls this will be the equivalence of killing someone from the Soul Society, so they won't cross over, they'll be reincarnated into this world."

"Grandma Dorothy to?" Elaina asked.

"Yeah" Alexander said solemnly "she's been trapped in there for sixty five years stuck in a never ending hell, and right now I'm the only one with the power to set her and all the others free."

"Can I help you?" Ukitake offered.

"No, the only thing that can permanently destroy a Devil's arm of this level is a very strong dark force, in other words my power is probably the only one that can do it" Alexander replied.

"Come on let's put an end to this" Kokuhyou begged.

"Darkness spread across the universe and consume all evil, Kokuhyou" Alexander chanted as the blade turned from a katana to a long sword. Alexander disappeared with a shunpo and reappeared on the other side of the axe before he sealed his sword and sheathed it, moments later the axe blade split and Alexander used another shunpo to appear next to his Elaina.

Moments later countless light blue human shapes flew from the axe and covered the sky.

"There are so many" Toushirou stated.

"He was collecting souls for over a hundred years, so it's only natural there'd be so many" Elaina stated.

"Truly a tragedy" Ukitake stated as Alexander's marks and eyes returned to normal and the souls started fading with a smile across their "wait a minute I think one of them is coming here."

"What?" Alexander asked in surprise as he turned to see one of the fading souls was flying towards him and Elaina, the soul had the appearance of a woman in her early to mid forties, she was dressed in a dark sorcerer's robes, and her face had a warm smile covering it "mother" he said weakly.

"Grandma Dorothy" Elaina said in shock as the spirit embraced both her and Alexander, they were both left in shocked silence.

"Elaina, I saw everything you were incredible, your father raised you well" Dorothy said causing Elaina's eyes to open widely before she turned to her son "Alex, I'm very proud of you, I'm sorry I won't be around to meet anymore kids you have, but judging by how Elaina turned out they'll be fine."

"Mother, I'm so…" Alexander began but was cut off.

"You have nothing to apologize for; the blame doesn't belong with you but with us for allowing such a madness to consume our people and allowing it get to the point where a seventeen year old boy had to correct our mistakes" Dorothy said softly "if anything I should apologize to you" a tear came from her eyes "I'm sorry my son, please live well and don't blame yourself."

"I'll try" Alexander replied as Dorothy faded away with tears and a smile, Alexander turned to Elaina and said "I'm very proud of you."

*one year later-Seireitei*

"Gin I want answers and I want them now" Rangiku stated.

"Whatcha ya talkin bout Ran?" Gin asked.

"Don't play dumb with me, you've been following Toushirou around ever since that day in the diner" Rangiku replied.

"Like I said, I've gots no idea what yer talkin bout Ran" Gin said lightly "now I've gots to get back to ma squad."

"Wait a minute" Rangiku said as Gin disappeared with a shunpo "What the hell are you up to Gin and why don't you ever tell me what you're thinking?"

Suddenly a hell butterfly flew up to her face, she held up her hand and the butterfly landed, what she heard caused her eyes to shoot open.

"No way… he actually did it, I thought he was actually joking with me" Rangiku said in surprise as she rushed out of the squad three building.

Gin sensed Rangiku leaving the squad three grounds and smiled as he thought "so you did it, good work kiddo."

Rangiku made it to the office building where Toushirou claimed to be and sure enough she found him. He had gained a few of inches since he had joined the squads, his eyes were sterner and his hair had grown out a couple inches and was now incredibly wild as instead of just lying flat. But what caught Rangiku's eyes was the fact that both his face and what she could see of his arms were covered in bandages.

"Are you alright?" Rangiku asked in concern.

"Well the exam my captain used to test me was a little on the heavy side but I made it through" Toushirou replied lightly "at this point I guess I'm used to ridiculous and dangerous situations."

"So you passed?" Rangiku asked.

"Tell me, do you think my Captain would hand this out to just any random idiot?" Toushirou asked pointing to the badge on his left arm.

"I guess not so you'll be at the annual get together for Captains and their Lieutenant to discuss the state of the Soul Society and the World of the Living?" Rangiku replied.

"Of course" Toushirou answered "I am a Lieutenant now."

Author's notes: Okay this chapter took me longer than I thought it would. I'm afraid I have final exams next weeks so it'll be a while before I can update this unfortunately. Until then please leave a review, I'd love hear which squad you think Toushirou is now the Lieutenant of, and if you're ever on Deviant Art do a search for Bleach Frozen Savior and see the artwork I have up (hopefully by the time you're reading this I'll have two pieces up); unfortunately I'm probably a better writer than I am an artist. Until the next chapter take care of yourselves.

Zanpakutou Profile: Onitsume

Release command: "Snap his/her/their neck(s)"

Translation: Demon Claw

Description: After the release command Elaina's Zanpakutou appears to liquefy and cover her right arm transforming it making it considerably larger than normal, it's covered in thick dark red scales, each finger gains incredibly strong claws, and the joints possess a dark blue glow. When released Onitsume give Elaina an incredible boost in raw punching power but it also appears to have the ability repeal opponents with it's strong spiritual pressure and it can generate a larger phantom version of itself allowing Elaina to strike her enemies from a distance. If you've played Devil May Cry 4 you can probably guess that this Zanpakutou was inspired by Nero's Devil Bringer.