A/N: _ Over 50 reviews! Yay! *Happy Dance* Thank you all so much!

Aaaaaaaaaaand... We are in the double digits now! *Fireworks go off* Another happy dance? Why not! *Dances again*

So... 60 reviews is the next mark... Yeah, I know we'll break it. ^^ Go team! Also, I am now going to thank all reviewers from whatever previous chapter there was from now on. *Drum Roll:

Thank you so much: Valleygoat, jillian, Cosmic-lover, Sin of the Fallen, animeluv12, demongirl2003, and Kagome pairing.

*Points at Sin of the Fallen* Your reviews crack me up xD Keep 'em coming!

*Turns and points at Cosmic-lover* I love how your personality shines through your reviews! :P

Oh, and... I have not forgotten my other story ideas! It's just... I don't wanna have to update multiple stories at a given time. That would suck, in my opinion.

ALSO! Do not forget to vote on my poll! Your opinions matter greatly! Act as if the world is on the line...

...I will remind you again about voting at the end of the story. . (amaroq32: New fact on ShadeOfOrange, hates being alone when writing XD) Yeee... Surprising, ne? I bet nobody expected that fast ball!

Random A/N over, on with chapter diez!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the plot, and if possible, a few OC's I'll come up with along the way. I also don't own the part where Aizen meets with everyone to talk about Orihime... and Grimmjow fighting Luppi.

Disastrous Meeting

Chapter 10

Hitsugaya Toshiro: Ever the Opportunist

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"If I were rain

That joins sky and earth that otherwise never touch,

could I join two hearts as well?"

Toshiro was elated.

No, he was experiencing... schadenfreude (1). It was bad, in terms of public morale, but he was definitely feeling a bit of it. And why, you may ask? It's only because Inoue Orihime managed to get kidnapped by Aizen at the same time as Kagome did! Questions again? Ah, yes. It so happened to be that right afterwards the advance team sent by Yamamoto was pulled back to Soul Society, and were now planning to rescue Orihime. Spirit King be damned if he wasn't in on the rescue team! It would create the perfect opportunity to rescue Kagome as well.

The young Taicho sighed and buried his head in his pale hands. 'Why must my mind take on a sudden alter ego...?' Nevertheless, all of that seemingly nonsense was true. The advance team was pulled out, Orihime was captured at the same time as Kagome, and said team is now planning a way to rescue the 'princess.' He snorted at that nickname, 'Hmph. Kagome would be more of a princess anyways...'

Bam!

"Taicho~!"

Toshiro groaned in annoyance and turned to snap at the object of his newly formed frustration. "Rangi-"

Mush~

… And promptly gave up. Toshiro scowled deeply before shoving his fukutaicho off. "What do you want, Rangiku?" He all but growled out.

Rangiku being who she is, merely brushed it off and smiled winningly. "I have good news, Hitsugaya-kun!"

He twitched at the improper use of his name, "Hitsugaya-taicho da!"

She waved him off once more and jumped straight to the point. "Yamamoto-Sōtaichō is holding a secret meeting about the rescue!"

Toshiro's chair scraped loudly against the wooden flooring as he stood up abruptly. "What?" He swiftly breezed past his fukutaicho and was out the door, paperwork now forgotten.

Rangiku sighed, knowing that she would be left to finish it up for him. She sat down where he previously had been and promptly had a staring contest with the stacks of evil paper. Her face brightened in a new light, however, only 5 seconds later. "I know!" She too, exited the office as quickly as her Taicho did in search of a certain duo of the 11th Squad.

"Yumichika~! Ikkakuuuuuuuuuuu~!"

Toshiro swore as he flickered hastily from rooftop to rooftop, "Kuso! Why didn't she tell me sooner?"

As the 1st Squad Headquarters drew closer and closer, his ire at being left out greatly outweighed his annoyance at Rangiku more and more. 'Why wouldn't they tell me about this?'

The doors burst open as he stomped into the grand hall. Captains stared at him in shock while he walked to stand in his usual place. He glared icily at the other captains as he passed them by. Silence took over the hall when he stood in his place.

"What? Go on with the meeting."

Yamomoto cleared his throat to get the room's occupants' attention, "I knew you would find out one way or another, Hitsugaya-taicho."

Said captain turned his frosty glare upon him, "Of course I would. However, what I would like to know is why I wasn't told a thing about this meeting."

"You know why. Don't feign ignorance, Hitsugaya." Byakuya leveled a cool gaze at Toshiro in contempt.

"He is right. Now you'd best be on your way, Hitsugaya-taicho." The Captain-general turned his heavy, disappointed stare from him in dismissal. Toshiro scowled deeply in annoyance and swept out of the silent hall. As he reached the door, the Sōtaichō's old voice rang out once more.

"Don't even think of trying to sneak to Hueco Mundo. You know what the punishment will be." The 10th Squad Captain didn't pause in his stride despite the order and continued on his way. Kyoraku-taicho chuckled at his childishness.

"He's still a kid- even with that stuck-up attitude of his."

"It's because of that that he gets himself into these situations," Yamamoto said. The perverted taicho scratched at his bearded chin thoughtfully as he looked up at the ceiling.

"Hmm... I wonder how long he'll last before he goes to her."

"Not very long..." Captain Komamura muttered under his breath. Kyoraku still managed to hear, however, and he chuckled in agreement.

Toshiro stormed into his office; completely ignoring the shocked- and drunk- idiot trio.

"Tai-"

Slam!

"Cho...?"

The young Taicho paced anxiously around his room, trying to think of a new plan to rescue Kagome. Ideas rushed around in his brain, some logical, some... let's just say crazy. One, however, seemed to float around in his thoughts the most. One that he would not like one bit.

Kagome sighed as she glanced at the white sandstorm blazing magically around the palace through her window. Vaguely, she wondered how it kept flowing over the large edifice like a bubble was protecting it.

"Kagome-chan!"

She sighed once more. She'd been doing that quite a bit, lately. Perhaps it was because she'd been stuck in a confined room for one week with only incessant chatting from a snaky man. Finally, she turned her gaze away from the whipping sand and onto his thin figure.

"What?" Kagome snapped harshly.

Gin smirked, completely unfazed by her rude attitude. "Why so cold all of the sudden? Here I thought we were beginning to be close buddies."

"As if," She snorted. "Now, out with what you're going to tell me."

"Awwh, how'd ya know?" He pouted; disappointed that she ruined his secret.

Kagome laughed bitterly, "It's the consequence of being in your presence for a while now."

She never noticed his eyes narrow slightly at the strange animosity coming from her. 'Hmm... lil' miko seems t'be gettin' a little resentment built up from bein' so close ta Aizen-sama. A mere side-effect from a pure soul bein' near to a soul filled with hatred...'

"Okay fine, I'll tell ya. We need t'be at Aizen-sama's other throne room for somethin' special!"

"Special? Well, it's not like I can avoid this... He'll know."

The time-traveler resignedly followed after Gin down the glossy black halls to their destination. They stepped quickly into the populated room and shut the large doors behind their backs.

"Aizen-sama," Ichimaru acknowledged.

"Gin, good to see that you brought our faithful guest. We have a surprise coming very soon... do stand here, next to me." Aizen gestured to the empty spot to the right of him.

"Gladly. Come on, Kagome-chan." Gin beckoned for Kagome to follow as he walked to the bottom of the dais. She glanced up at him in confusion as he stood there smiling. Suddenly, she squeaked as he wrapped an arm tightly around her waist and jumped easily up to the chair. Huffing in annoyance, she plopped herself down on the edge of the raised platform and scooted as far away as she could from the snaky man.

"Ah, over here, sweet lil' miko." He hooked his arm around her and pulled her to rest in front of him. She grumbled and blushed as she was practically in between his legs. 'Why me...'

The doors abruptly were pushed open and the room's occupants were immediately gazing on the shadowed duo stepping through. Ulquiorra and Yammy were the first to appear. A small, orange haired teenage girl was next to step through timidly, looking like a rabbit cornered by a grizzly bear. Aizen's eyes seemed to glow with a sick satisfaction as he looked upon the scared teenager. Kagome watched silently from where she was seated.

"Welcome to our castle: Las Noches." His voice echoed eerily around the throne room. "You're called... Inoue Orihime, correct?"

"...Yes..." The teenager shakily replied.

"Sorry to ask this of you so soon Orihime, but I want you to demonstrate your ability now." Aizen boredly stared down at her with cold eyes, seeking complete obedience.

"Y-yes..." Orihime's legs were now visibly shaking under the pressure of an unknown force.

Aizen's eyes left her form and she seemed to relax (as much as she could). He gazed around the room for a minute, before staring at the new sexto espada.

"It seems like there are still some... who are not in agreement with our new guest. Isn't that so, Luppi?"

The feminine arrancar looked positively disgruntled and pissed. "Of course... To say that our whole battle was just for the purpose of bringing that woman over here... I can't accept that!"

"My fault. I didn't expect you to get that torn up, after all." Aizen said amusedly. Luppi scowled deeply at his comment. "Now, that's right. Orihime, in order to test your abilities, I'd like you to restore Grimmjow's left arm." Said 'guest' started at the command and her eyes widened.

"Yeah, right! There's no way, Aizen-sama! His arm was immolated by Tōsen! You can't heal anything that doesn't exist anymore! The hell is she, God?" Luppi screeched. He had a half-crazy look on his androgynous face.

Hesitantly, Inoue reached her arms out hover beside where Grimmjow's arm would be.

"Sōten Kisshun, I... reject." Two portions of her left hairpin zoomed out in arcs of blue light and formed a glowing orange barrier. The former sexto espada looked down at the empty spot expectantly, and with a bit of awe. Luppi started laughing hysterically and shouted irrationally at the duo.

"Hoi! If you're trying to put on a good performance, just quit while you're ahead! If you can't do it, we'll just kill ya! Since that power of yours is just some scam, there's no reason to keep such a..." Luppi's tirade faltered as he noticed Grimmjow's arm quickly forming back. "Per...son..." His whole arm had been reformed by now, minus a few patches of skin that were soon to be there. "Wha...?"

The teal-haired espada looked down at his new arm in shock, not quite believing that it was back.

"Wha... What the.. Regeneration...? No, it's something beyond that! What the hell did that woman just do?"

Aizen stared down at the confounded arrancar in contempt, "Still don't get it? Ulquiorra reported this is a 'time reversal', or 'spatial reversal'."

"That is correct," Ulquiorra confirmed.

"No way... A human having that powerful of an ability... There's no way!" The androgynous arrancar rejected.

"But it is. However you look at it, this is pure... rejection of all phenomena."

"Wha..."

"Her ability allows her to choose a target, and subsequently limit, reject, and deny that it ever happened. No matter what event happened, she can return the target to its previous state. And that," Aizen explained patiently. "Is the 'time reversal' or 'spatial reversal', as I referred to earlier. She can easily supersede any event God has designated to occur on the ground level. This power violates God's domain."

Luppi gasped in shock at the breakdown.

Grimmjow silently flexed his arm muscles and his fingers. "... Hey, chick. Heal this, too." Orihime glanced up in acknowledgment and summoned her powers again. This time, it was aimed at a huge scar covering a patch of his lower right back. Luppi recoiled in recognition of what he was asking. The scar receded rapidly until all that was left was a large, tattooed six.

"What are you trying to pull... Grimmjow?" Luppi asked in barely controlled anger.

Grimmjow slowly turned around, "...Eeeeh?" Abruptly, he was in front of the much smaller man, arm squelching through his chest cavity.

"...Guh..." Luppi coughed up blood onto his white sleeve and stared hatefully up at his assailant. "Grimmjow, You bastard..."

Said espada fired up a cero slowly in his available hand, pointed directly at Luppi's face. "This is what I'm doing. Later, 'ex' No. Six." A huge red laser shot through, too bright to see what was happening to the obviously dead arrancar. Smoke cleared away as he stopped firing the cero to reveal Luppi's legs still standing up with nothing left above the waist. Smoke rose from the singed flesh and a rank smell invaded the room.

"...Ku..." The sexta espada cracked a grin. "Hahahahahahaha! It's back! All of my strength has returned! I... am the sexta! The sexta espada, Grimmjow! Hahahahahahahaha!"

Yammy looked away in disgust while Ulquiorra merely closed his eyes with a small sigh. Wonderweiss stared on in awe and with an air of emptiness. Orihime looked horrified by Grimmjow's actions as she stared with wide eyes. Kagome watched this all take place with an observant and calm air. Eight months ago, she may have acted in naïveté and gone down to stop this from happening. But that was the past her. Now, she merely stared down in apathy and slight irritability. Gin looked down at her to gauge her reaction and his eyes opened in shock to see her aloof demeanor. 'Kagome-chan really has been changing under Aizen-sama's influence...'

"Kaname."

Said dark-skinned shinigami bowed on one knee in obedience, "Hai, Aizen-sama?"

"Clean up the mess. We don't want our new guest to be disgusted by uncleanliness, now don't we?"

"Hai," Kaname replied. He jumped down from the dais to stand in front of Luppi's remains. Gin in turn grabbed Kagome once more around the waist and leapt down as well.

"Kagome," Aizen intoned. She glanced up at where he was seated in acknowledgment. "I trust you will show Orihime around her new home?" Kagome looked at him for a second in silence before turning around and gesturing for the girl to follow. All occupants exited the hall as Aizen rested his head on his fist in silent contemplation.

'Still trying to resist, I see...'

A/N: Sorry about the wait! The whole Aizen vs. Luppi vs. Grimmjow was taken from the manga, as you may or may not have noticed. I just couldn't resist... T^T

(1): Schadenfreude: Taking joy in other's misfortune.

I'm going to go to the Distant Worlds Concert in Chicago tomorrow! *Squeee!* ^w^ Would be cool to see one of my readers there! (And creepy... on my part. .) I shall tell everyone about the experience on my profile... as I don't want to take up a whole freakin' page worth of stuff on the next chapter.

Anyways, I promise that Chapter 11 will be here shortly. And as always, 5 reviews is the minimum!

And don't forget to vote on my poll! Saa… Ja mata! (ºwº)/~~~

amaroq32: Ok, while helping ShadeOfOrange, apparently I act like a mother nagging to her about the Aizen, Grimmjow, and Luppi part about disclaimers. :P Shall have to come up with something to get revenge.