Sorry I took so long. Games and work called strongly.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Star Wars or Bleach.


Chapter 7: R&R Period


Dangai

"I thought you said that this thing is turned off!" Ichigo shouted towards the black cat ahead of them.

"Never mind that," the cat shouted back, "just run!"

With a yell, the whole group jumped the last meters and out the pathway. Ichigo then noticed that they didn't touch ground. Looking down, he found there was a 10 or so meters distance between them and the ground. Thus, they started to plummet. And thus, the group – save for Yoruichi – shouted at the top of their lungs.

Then, their shouts were muffled by a large sheet that covered them completely. Down on the ground, a good distance away, a small, black-haired girl was holding a large bazooka-like object over her shoulder. The ball of cloth itself was sent flying further into the sky due to the momentum. En route, further ahead, a redhead kid was in midair and in his hands was a large baseball bat.

"Alright," he shouted, "here it comes!" Prepping his strike, he then added, "Jinta Homeru-"

Then, he was interrupted by a hulking, mustache man behind him catching the ball instead, with the man saying, "Tessai Deathcatch!" As the whole entourage descended once more to the ground, the cloth was cast away and the group found themselves atop a flying carpet.

Ichigo looked forward and found Urahara. "Getaboushi," he said.

"Greetings, everyone," he cheerfully said, "Happy returns!" Then, he turned serious. "I assume you've heard, then?"

"Yeah," Ichiko joined in. "You hid a very dangerous artifact in Rukia!"

"I know." Urahara shocked them by turning from his facing forward and adopting kneeling position with one foot forward and the other behind and his right arm, holding his hat, raised across his chest. "I'm truly sorry."

The orange-haired male moved forward and elbowed him hard. "Don't apologize to me. Apologize to Rukia…" He trailed off. The atmosphere turned very dark at that.

Urahara narrowed his eyes. "Judging from the mood, I would venture a guess and say that things went severely downhill."

Hueco Mundo – Las Noches

"That concludes my report, my king," a random, nameless Hollow spoke from his kneeling position to the being seated at the top of the stairs.

Said being was a large skeleton Hollow robed in a purple robe with black fur lining. On his head was a golden crown with four prongs jutting out. "Hmm," he grunted, "dismissed." The Hollow subject gave a deep bow and stood to leave. "Tch, this Forja Estelar is a gigantic thorn in my side. Not only is it manned by a blasted Shinigami, that Shinigami has the gall to bring more of his kind into my territory!" He growled as his eyes travelled over a mere portion of his Hollow army currently within his throne room. "Well, I will not allow such foolishness to taint my desert. The fact that there are even more Shinigami entering Hueco Mundo is grounds for war. Kimera, come forth."

A lone Hollow emerged from the side. It was a four-legged beast and its mask reaches from the face past to the tailbone. The mask itself was a snarling lion. In the middle of the back, on the mask surface, was a goat's head. And at the tailbone was a snake.

Kneeling at the bottom of the stairs, Kimera spoke in a male voice, "What is your will, my king?"

"You are one of my stealthiest spies," the king replied. "You are to survey this new threat to my kingdom and inform me of everything that enters, leaves, and happens within this…Forja Estelar."

"As you command, King Barragan," he bowed and turned to leave.

As Barragan released a sigh of frustration and stood, he said, "I will retire to my chambers. None is to disturb me." Then, he vanished into a corner. As such, no one cared that his female Hollow servant disappeared into the other corner.

Forje Estelar

"What's our first course of action, Aizen-sama," Tousen asked his leader, who is currently looking out the big viewport of his floating fortress into the vast desert and night sky of Hueco Mundo.

"We wait for the heat to die down from Soul Society," Aizen replied, not once breaking his gaze outside. "The Gotei 13 would undoubtedly find candidates for their lost captain posts and request the aid of the ryoka against me. Until then," he twitched, interrupting his thoughts. He raised his hand, where a circular object was in his palm. He pushed the lone button on the side and a holographic form of Barragan's Hollow servant appeared atop it. "What is it?"

"The Hollow King has sent his stealthiest spy onto your territory to uncover Forja Estelar's secrets," she spoke in a soft tone. "He plans to declare war against you, since you brought Shinigami into Hueco Mundo some time ago."

"I see. You are dismissed. Keep me posted." She bowed and the transmission ended.

"Pardon my question, Aizen-sama," Tosen asked. "Why won't we head over to Barragan's territory and conquer him?"

Aizen then gave a smirk. "I already have. They just don't know it yet." Tosen looked surprised. "You see, Barragan has his uses alive and not in my direct employ. That being, there are two superpowers in Hueco Mundo: Barragan and me. Any spying Shinigami sent by Soul Society would eventually discover it and report it to his superiors. One assumption that they could make is that Hueco Mundo is in the middle of some sort of war between the superpowers. Another is that we are begrudging allies against any who would prevent any other invasions. Whatever their assumption is, it doesn't change the fact that they would not act on the situation and intrude upon Hueco Mundo, out of fear of being attacked by said superpowers. That said, I, ahem, invaded his empire and enslaved him and his subjects to my will. How do you think I managed to build Forja Estelar? I used Barragan's people. Then, afterwards, I put their subservience to sleep, ready to awake at my command, and rewrote their memories so that they would not remember my invasion."

"That's a rather interesting tactic, Aizen-sama," Tosen replied. "But I am still doubtful."

"It is nothing for you to worry about, Kaname. All you need to do is to have faith in me. You don't need to know the details because the details won't be clear if I just said it to you."

Straightening up, Tosen crossed his arms across his chest, bowed, and said, "As you command, Aizen-sama."

As he turned to leave, Aizen called out, "Oh, Kaname, can you activate the training grounds? We need to be ready for anything and everything." And then, since Tosen's back was turned, he didn't see Aizen raise his hand towards him and wave it. Tosen felt something in his mind but dismissed it as Suzumushi entertaining himself in his subconscious.

And through Aizen's action, he forgot about what Aizen did to Barragan's empire.

Later

The group of Shinigami stood at the base of the circular viewing port with Aizen standing at a higher platform. The brunet Shinigami held out his hands. "Welcome, everyone. I assume you all have rested? Good. Before we get to the main reason of my summons, I shall assemble a group of Shinigami that the rest will answer to; a hierarchy, if you will. This is a necessary step in order to maintain camaraderie between fellow Shinigami. The Arrancar have theirs and you Shinigami shall now have yours. I shall name this group the Toha, the Ten Blades. When I announce your names, step forward and be recognized." Aizen then crossed his arms and spoke, "Unohana Retsu, Komamura Sajin, Ichimaru Gin, Kaname Tosen, Kuchiki Koga and Byakuya, Hitsugaya Toshiro, Kusaka Sojiro, Shiba Kaien and Kukaku. Step forward."

Unohana went forward first, her hands placed in front of her and her eyes closed in quiet contemplation. Komamura followed after her, placing his arm across his chest as he lined up beside her at his leader.

Gin and Tosen soon came up, with Gin holding his wide grin and Tosen crossing arms as his large friend did.

The two Kuchikis went next. Byakuya's eyes, however, were on his fellow brethren. Koga was a man with green eyes, black hair (with a portion of red hair in a ponytail), and a shikakusho underneath a red scarf.

Toshiro and Kusaka nodded to each other and did the same as the previous Shinigami in perfect unison. Kusaka was another male Shinigami with long black hair tied into a bun and heterochromatic eyes featuring a violet left eye and a red right eye with a scar going down his right eye.

Then, Kaien and Kukaku finished the lineup.

Aizen raised his hands and said, "Fellow Shinigami, these are your leaders, your commanders. After this meeting, the Toha shall convene with me and discuss a few things which they will relay to you all. Am I clear?" All Shinigami showed signs of affirmation. "Good. The Toha will stay. The rest of you are dismissed."

He watched as the huge crowd left the viewing platform. Once the doors closed, he turned his gaze to the ten Shinigami below. "I trust you all found your living arrangements acceptable?" They all gave affirmations. "And I also trust you know what I plan to do with Soul Society?" They gave affirmations again. "I will tolerate failure because it is a method of learning. I will also tolerate you questioning my methods due to confusion because it will clear up that confusion. However, I will tell you all that I do not tolerate half-hearted attempts or disobedience. As you all just affirmed, you all knew what you were getting into. That means that you know that you will be facing your former subordinates and superiors. Should I expect any problems with that?" They were all silent. "I don't expect any of you to answer immediately since some of you still hold connections to your subordinates and fellow officers in the Gotei. Do not worry. I shall not have you all kill them. That would be counterproductive since that would affect your mental states. But at the very least, you should come to terms with the fact that you will indeed inevitably face them. Am I clear?" They once again affirmed. "Now, we move onto the next topic. Earlier, I had Kaname activate the training grounds. They are all scattered in this fortress so anyone living in one section would not need to waste time and effort going to a training ground that is ten levels above. Just as in the Gotei 13, you are all to hone your skills. Spread this to the others."

"Um…if I may interrupt," Kaien said, "what about the Arrancar, milord? I don't think that any of the Shinigami has accepted them as allies and that would create chaos if they were to use the same training grounds as us."

"Insight appreciated, Kaien-kun, but it has already been addressed. Before our defection from the Gotei, I addressed such concerns to them. Some of my Espada are indifferent to the prospect of working with Shinigami. The rest, along with the Arrancar, weren't so receiving. As such, I assigned separate training grounds for Shinigami and Arrancar. They are titled as such before the entrance so anyone can't miss it. Now, go and tell the others of what I have told you. You are dismissed." The ten gave a nod or a bow before they all left. Once alone, Aizen then returned his gaze to the window and remained in that state for some time.

Karakura Town

"So that's how it is," Urahara hummed in solemn thought. "I never would have imagined that Aizen could have done so much to reduce the Gotei's strength. To be able to turn around half of the captains and kill one of the remaining so easily as he left is no easy feat." He then frowned and kept silent for a few minutes.

"Urahara-san," Ichiko asked with a raised brow. "What's wrong?"

"Hmm," the shopkeeper looked up to the Ichi twins before he snapped his fan open to cover his face, "oh, it's nothing. I'm just coming to terms with the unpredictability of Aizen to do all this under everyone's noses." After another brief silence, he continued, "How do you feel about Kuchiki-san's defection?"

Ichigo scowled. "Whatever Aizen said or did to her must have some sort of powerful impact upon her to make her like that."

"I'm not surprised. Yoruichi-san told me that the woman who killed all the Kuchiki clan elders was revealed to be Kuchiki Hisana later on. I don't know whether that is really her. What I do know, however, is that she is Aizen's tool into manipulating the Kuchiki siblings."

"So is this Hisana friend or foe," Ichiko asked.

"I can't tell. For all I know, she is the real Hisana, only just as brainwashed as her husband and sister. For now, you need to go back home, Kurosaki-san, Kurosaki-san. You need your rest. Meanwhile, I'll see what I can do about the situation."

"If you're sure," Ichiko softly mumbled before she left the shop.

After that, Ichigo was about to follow suit when he was stopped by Urahara. "One more thing for you, Kurosaki Ichigo-san," he said.

Ichigo turned to him and asked, "Yeah? What is it?"

"I suggest you keep an eye on your twin, Kurosaki-san."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"I understand that she was taken by Mayuri-kun into his lab to be experimented on and was interrupted by Aizen. That said, no one knows exactly what happened after Aizen entered the scene."

"You can't possibly mean-"

"That is a possibility," Urahara seriously said. "Since Aizen disabled the cameras, incapacitated Mayuri-kun, and was revealed to have Mayuri-kun's daughter under his thrall, it would not be safe to assume that saving your sister wasn't his only intention."

Immediately, Ichigo's reiatsu hit the roof. "If that bastard did something to Ichiko," he growled.

"He didn't force himself on her, Kurosaki-san," Urahara replied, unperturbed by the pressure. "I sensed her physical and spiritual purity while we spoke. If he has indeed done so, her physical purity would be compromised. If he has done so and covered up the damage with Kido, her spiritual purity would be compromised. As it stands, neither are touched. But that does not mean that she is safe from Aizen's machinations. Just…keep an eye on your sister, Kurosaki-san. We do not know how deep Aizen's manipulation goes."


Again, guys, sorry for the long wait. In addition to games and work, I've also been thinking of the plot for The Best of Both Worlds side story that I planned.

Anyway, read and review, guys!