Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach

Quick note: Yukianesa is Kisaragi Jin's sword from BlazBlue.

Thank you Sabathiel, ZALXERO, and CrossroadsofLife for reviewing!

Everything was in ruins. Trees smashed, small homes destroyed, ice shattered, and blood spilled everywhere. There was just so much blood. It stained the slowly melting sheet of ice that seemed to encompass the whole battlefield, tainting the purity of it, mixing in and binding together, as they both soaked into the soil. Even worse was the blood that stained Hisana's hands and uniform as she sat there, overwhelmed with trauma. How much of it was Byakuya's? How much of it was Ren's? How much of it was her own?

A soft groan at her side drew her attention away from the bloodshed and ruin and back to reality and the weak man she was cradling in her lap. "Hang on just a little bit longer," she whispered softly, pushing back his hair as he started coughing up blood. There was just too much of it. "You're going to be okay; help is on the way," she said assuringly as she carefully turned his head so he wouldn't choke on his own blood.

The light in his eyes seemed to fade as he closed them with a smile. "I love you, Hisana," he professed as he fumbled with her hand before finally securing a tight grip on it, as if it was the only thing keeping him chained to the world of the living.

"I love you, too," she answered, knowing it was cruel to refuse a dying man. With her free hand, she reached down to wipe away the blood trickling at his lip, but grimaced when she ended up smearing it on his handsome features. He let out a soft sigh, relaxing in her arms as his grasp on her hand went slack. Disturbed, she shook him gently, trying to keep him awake. "Hey! Stay with me! Wake up."

When he made no response, she stifled a sob, hugging him to her protectively as she tried to wake him to no end. At this rate, he would die if help didn't reach them on time. "Please wake up. You can't die here. I'll never forgive you if you do," she pleaded, squeezing his hand tightly as she clung to him. "I need you. Please don't leave me."

12 Hours Earlier

"When were you going to tell me about my pending engagement to Ren-kun?" Hisana boldly asked her father during breakfast that morning before she went off to class. She knew she should have chosen a better time, but she had been far too nervous to address him the previous night.

Sojun looked at his daughter in surprise. "Who did you find that out from?"

"That doesn't matter!" she answered, her tone coming out a bit more tart than attended. "The point is, I should have found out from you. When were you going to tell me, father?"

"I don't need to explain anything to you," her father reminded her. "I've already let you attend this school to become a Shinigami! The least you can do is honor my wishes and find a suitable husband to carry on the Kuchiki line. You must remember that you hold a duty to our family."

"And to make up for your mistakes?" Hisana murmured quietly, hitting a soft spot. Hisana was not in any ways stupid and she knew the disappointment Kuchiki Sojun posed as towards his own father. He had failed the Sixth Division as a lieutenant and failed the Kuchiki family by producing only one worthless daughter for their sole heir. His dear wife, and her beloved mother, left the world much too young, and in his grief, Sojun had refused to remarry. Hisana knew that he was trying to redeem himself through her and if she'd just listen to him for once, then maybe he could be in good standing with Ginrei again. His generation of the Kuchiki line had actually been quite a failure, especially after the riot Kuchiki Koga had caused.

Hisana flinched when she felt the stinging slap of her father's hand against her cheek. She bit her lip, refusing to cry, and instead, bravely looked him in the eye. "I'm not marrying Andou Ren," she said flatly.

"Why do you oppose me so, Hisana?" Sojun asked softly. "If your grandfather had asked you of this, would you oblige to his requests?"

"I don't want to marry Ren-kun. Please don't make me do this," she pleaded.

"Go to class, Hisana. We'll talk about it some more when you return," Sojun said firmly.

After composing herself, she nodded to his request and left without saying another word. Hisana would have preferred to have Ginrei there when they discussed the issue of her engagement again. Ren was a really nice person, and admittedly, she did grow fond of him, but they were just friends. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to see him in the same light that she saw Byakuya in.

In their Zanjutsu class, Mikado-sensei had announced that it was a team-bonding day and Natsumi seemed to be the only one to groan at this. She adored, Noriyuki, she really did, but sometimes, it was just so hard to work with him. His stubborn personality clashed with her own, and to make things worse, he even had the balls to stand up to her and correct her. Chiaki, usually submissive and loyal to Natsumi, started siding with Noriyuki more often, seeing that the Rukongai Ochibi actually had some good ideas every now and then.

Mikado-sensei explained that the teams were to go on a scavenger hunt and their only clues would be found through Quick Response codes, deciphered only by their phones, hidden throughout the Seireitei and the First Districts of Rukongai. It would be their first major assignment of the year, and they would have to use all the skills they had learned. He explained that it was a safe assignment and he and his team and spent the entire past week scoping out the area to make sure there were no dangers to his students, but if something happened, they were to contact him immediately and request for backups. With that said, he presented the first QR code, different to each team, and instructed them to go forth and wished them luck, claiming that there would be a prize for the team who finished first.

Ren quickly scanned the code for the message, frowning as he read out, "Hakutōmon?"

"White Road?" Byakuya clarified, realizing they were being sent off to the Rukongai immediately. He tensed at this, wondering he would be able to squeeze in a minor search for his sister while they were there.

"Perhaps it's referring to the gatekeeper?" Hisana suggested. "I think Ikkanzaka Jidanbo guards that one. White Road is the west, yes?"

With a shrug, the teammates made their way to the West Gate where they were greeted heartily by Jidanbo. "Hello, students!" he said politely.

"Hello!" Hisana answered back. "We're part of Mikado-sensei's accelerated class and was wondering if you were part of his scavenger activity," she said with a friendly smile.

"Yes, I am!" he exclaimed cheerfully, pausing with a sheepish as he had forgotten what he had done with the code. "Er..."

Jidanbo laughed sheepishly as he began going through his set of tools, wondering just where on earth he had put the code Mikado-sensei had given to him. "Oh! There it is!" Hisana said, catching sight of it on one of his axes.

"Yes! Sensei put that there so I wouldn't lose it!" the gatekeeper exclaimed, holding out his axe to her so she could scan it with her phone. Her phone beeped red, claiming that there was an error with the message. She frowned, wondering what on earth was wrong with it. Ren pulled his phone out, scanning it and frowning when he received the same message.

"Let me," Byakuya said, trying his phone. It scanned it, deciphered a message and Byakuya frowned when the message he was given was suddenly overwritten with a new code. "Carp Slope? As in Mt. Koifushi...?"

"Is that really what it says?" Ren asked, peering over Byakuya's shoulder to read his phone. "I thought Mikado-sensei said that we weren't supposed to go past the First District. Try it again."

All three of them tried scanning the code again and both received Mt. Koifushi as a code. "I guess we go there then?" she asked hesitantly as they bid their farewells to the Gatekeeper and made their way through the First District. "At least it's the Third District," she added, pointing out that it wasn't that much farther from the First. "Perhaps Mikado-sensei made a mistake."

Ren frowned, feeling that something was really off, but held his tongue when Byakuya and Hisana started leading the way to the mountain. In order to do so, they had to pass a thick forest before they could actually start heading up the slope. It was after a while of seeing just trees and no slopes that Hisana finally mumbled, "I think we're lost," and held her phone up into the air to see if she could get a signal.

"Anything?" Ren asked, also holding his phone up.

"No," Byakuya answered, putting his phone away. "We're lost."

"We could follow the stars when it gets dark," Hisana suggested.

"Assuming we can see them past the trees," Byakuya commented coolly, checking his phone to see if he could get any coordinates. "Let's just head in this direction. We know the sun sets west, so we'll eventually find the West Gate again if we go this way."

Ren shook his head, "I don't know. Something doesn't feel right." He paused, looking around, suddenly feeling like they weren't alone. "Why haven't we seen any of the other teams? We're all on the same scavenger hunt, aren't we? We're just on different parts of it so it's inevitable that we'll meet up with another team."

"Sensei?" Hisana spoke into her phone, trying to see if her dispatch could go through. She scowled, only getting static and decided that it would probably be best to follow Byakuya's plan of heading West instead of wandering around in circles.

Ren suddenly tensed as his sixth sense screamed at him that something was so wrong. "Stop! We're not—Ugh!" He suddenly let out a choked gasp, causing Hisana and Byakuya to turn around in shock. Claws were protruding from his stomach and the hollow behind him was ready to land the killing blow.

"Chire, Senbonzakura!" Byakuya shouted instantly while Hisana stared in shock, wondering how on earth a hollow had managed to approach them without being detected.

Turning its attention onto Byakuya, the hollow tossed Ren's body aside with a quick flick of its claws and faced its new opponent. Hisana was at his side in an instant, trying to stop the bleeding from his stomach as he gasped ragged breaths. "Ren-kun, hang on," she said, starting to use a healing kidō on him.

"Hisana," Ren groaned as she put pressure on his wound. His head fell back against her shoulder as he cried out in agony. "Don't let it touch you," he choked out, feeling all his energy getting sapped away.

"Shhh," Hisana pleaded softly, trying to get him to conserve his energy. She started to panic, realizing that her kidō was doing absolutely nothing. She wasn't stupid and knew that if a wound was too deep, it would be beyond her powers and abilities to heal it completely, but she knew she had enough energy to close the wound at least. Trying to remain calm, she tore off one of her sleeves to turn into a makeshift bandage as she wondered just why her kidō was being repelled.

"Byakuya-san, it's not working," she said urgently as she put pressure on Ren's wound again. He writhed beneath her, and bit his lip to suppress another cry of pain.

Byakuya, who was still alright, turned his attention to his teammates, reading Hisana's need to escape. "Bakudo 21: Sekienton!" Byakuya hissed, slamming his spiritual energy into the ground and exploding it into a red smokescreen. He flash stepped to Hisana and Ren, immediately lifting his injured teammate onto his back, grimacing as he felt Ren's blood soak through his uniform. "We have to run, now!"

Hisana nodded, ready to follow Byakuya, but was suddenly cut off by the appearance of a second hollow. "Byakuya! Look out!" she shouted, pushing Byakuya out of the way before the hollow could land a blow on him. In doing so, its claws scraped across her back, opening up a large wound.

"Hisana?" Byakuya gasped, quickly (and carefully) setting Ren down before drawing out his zanpakutō.

"I'm okay," Hisana answered, knowing that the wound wasn't deep at all. Despite its shallowness, she could still feel a poison spreading throughout her body through her bloodstream, slowly paralyzing her body as she suddenly realized what Ren was trying to warn her about.

Ren, barely conscious, struggled to keep his eyes open as he drew out his zanpakutō. "We can't escape. They'll hunt us down by the scent of our blood. We'd never outrun them." He struggled to his feet, and then tipped over in a matter of seconds, feeling drained and exhausted."Call it in," he said urgently, reminding them of their phones.

She reached for her phone, stopping with a gasp when she realized her hands were completely soaked with Ren's blood. Shaking off the feeling, she reached for her phone again, urgently saying, "Sensei! This is an emergency request for immediate backup! This is second-year Kuchiki Hisana reporting! We have a man down." When the only response she got back was static, she stifled a sob and stuffed her phone away, and drew out her zanpakutō, knowing that Ren was right. There was no chance of escaping. They were going to die here if they didn't fight back.

"Byakuya-san, whatever happens, don't let the hollow scratch you. It has some kind of poison that saps away at your energy," she answered, trying to catch her breath. "

"Show yourself," Byakuya hissed, looking around for the hollow. A blur of dark colors shot at him, ready to claw his body open and eat him from the inside out. "Chire, Senbonzakura!"he shouted, releasing his sword once more and held up a defensive stance. Hisana copied his motions, moving to go back to back with him so they had a 360° vantage point.

"Byakuya-san, I'm afraid," Hisana confessed with a worried look. "These are no ordinary hollows. How can it be that none of us were able to sense it? How are they able to block off our kidō?"

"We're going to make it through this," Byakuya answered, keeping an eye on Ren. A flicker of movement caught his eye and he directed Senbonzakura at it, while shouting, "Hadō 33: Sōkatsui!" A burst of blue lightning exploded from the palm of his hands and from the hollow's ear-piercing shriek, he knew he landed a direct hit. The hollow emerged from the woods, covered in blood and burns. Hisana and Byakuya watched in horror as the screaming hollow threw itself not at them, but onto the other hollow and devoured it, taking in its powers and healing itself.

It let out a guttural, inhuman sound, and lunged for Byakuya. Senbonzakura automatically went to shield him, but to his horror, the hollow's claws swiped the shards away as it they really were flimsy flower petals. Byakuya let out a cry of agony as the hollow's claws caught his arm, ripping away at his skin as they dragged down, shattering his bones beneath its strength. Byakuya swapped Senbonzakura to his other hand, about to strike back, but gasped in horror as his blade broke against the hollow's claws.

"Byakuya!" Hisana shrieked, grabbing him by the shoulders to inspect his arm. It was broken, and she grimaced when she saw the white of his bones piercing out from his flesh. Hisana made the mistake of letting down her guard to assure her teammate's safety and the hollow chose that moment to strike again.

"Kirigakure Ryuu: Kōmaken Kurikara!" Ren shouted, forcing himself and his zanpakutō between his teammates and the hollow, wincing in pain as the bleeding had yet to stop. He was dizzy and lightheaded from the blood loss and was hardly able to stand on two feet, let alone release his zanpakutō. Upon realizing this, Hisana burst into tears, knowing that Byakuya and Ren were still trying to protect her despite the fact they had been badly injured. Forcing himself to concentrate whatever energy he had left, Ren cut through the air, firing off his energy as a projectile at the hollow. He smiled weakly, hearing the hollow shriek, confirming that he had nicked it successfully. Unable to keep standing, he planted his zanpakutō into the ground in front of it, and winced as he tried to hold himself up. "Don't cry, Hisana, we're going to make it through this," he said, smiling through his pain.

"I'm so useless! Why?" Hisana sobbed, taking up her katana and fended off the next attack from the hollow. With a nameless zanpakutō, she knew she was next to useless and the hollow snapped her blade in half with a mere swipe of its claws. "Ren-kun, stop!" she pleaded, when he made a move to try and protect her once more. Byakuya, whose own blade had been shattered and his good arm broken, tried to use an offensive kidō on the hollow, but the poison had sapped away much of his energy and the hollow deflected the spell as if it were nothing. It cackled maniacally as it threw Byakuya aside, focusing on Hisana and Ren.

Hisana screamed as it swung its claws, ready to kill Ren, and time suddenly slowed down in front of her eyes. The hollow stopped, its claws several feet away from her and Ren. Ren himself was frozen in place, in mid position as he prepared to swing Kurikara. Byakuya was also frozen in place, in the middle of a last-ditch effort at casting a kidō spell to try and save his teammates. Hisana stood there, the only one whose time still continued.

"Kuchiki Hisana, have you always amounted to so little?" a woman asked, stepping out from the broken trees and ruins. Hisana stared at her in surprise, awestruck by her beauty, and wondered what had just happened. She was dressed in a short white kimono with a blue obi that matched her icy blue hair and eyes. Hisana noted that the woman was unusually clean despite the ruins around her, and nothing seemed to mar the perfection she was. Upon Hisana's lack of response, she angrily snapped, "Well? Answer me!"

"No?" Hisana said, startled by the woman's angered accusation as she looked her in the eyes. She could see that the woman's long eyelashes seemed to have been encrusted with frost. "Who are you?" she asked curiously.

"My name is—"

Hisana frowned, missing it completely. Seeing the look on her face, the woman let out an agitated growl. "You are worthless. It is no surprise that you have amounted to so little."

"What are you saying?" Hisana asked, hurt by her words. "I am worth something."

"What does it matter if you don't even believe that?" the woman replied, and Hisana suddenly realized who she was.

"Lend me your power, please, I must save my friends," Hisana begged.

"You're not deserving of my powers," she said flatly, refusing her.

"Please! I cannot let them die on my behalf!"

"Of course not. You're worthless. It'd be such a waste on their part," the woman laughed as she inspected her nails and then twirled a lock of her wavy hair around a finger.

"I'm not worthless!" Hisana screamed at her, so sick of hearing those words. She had practically grown up hearing that phrase from her father so many times after her mother died. Ginrei said it just by looking at her. The other students at the Academy looked down at her for her lack of skills. "I'm not a waste and I will make a difference, now lend me your power, please!"

"Then prove it to me," her zanpakutō answered with a smile, now that she had elicited some emotion from her master.

"How?" Hisana asked, knowing that she still could not hear her name.

"Kill the monstrosity that dares to destroy everything you hold dear," her zanpakutō ordered.

"I can't," Hisana answered. "I'm scared."

Suddenly, the woman embraced Hisana tightly, stroking her hair comfortingly. "Kuchiki Hisana, it's alright to be afraid, but do not let your fear cloud your judgment. Put your faith in me, call my name and save your comrades before it's too late."

"But, I—" she protested and her zanpakutō shushed her by pressing a finger to her lips.

"Do not let your fear control you. Trust in me, believe in me, and listen with your heart. My name is—"

"Yukianesa," Hisana breathed, as time reverted back into motion and the hollow was lunging for her and Ren again. "Mucro Algesco, Yukianesa!" she shouted with confidence as she lunged at the hollow with the broken katana. Ice reformed the blade as her spiritual pressure flared and cleanly sliced away at the hollow's arm.

"Tell me what to do," Hisana whispered, putting all of her faith into her zanpakutō as she gripped Yukianesa's hilt tightly. The air around her grew colder and the soft voice of her other half brushed against her like a chilled breeze, commanding her in a whisper. "Touga Hyoujin!" she repeated, swinging the blade down to the ground as the hollow tried to slash at her once more. The moment Yukianesa slammed into the ground, an icy shockwave like an earthquake erupted, slamming into the hollow and throwing it into the air.

"Hiyoku Getsumei!" she shouted, following every one of Yukianesa's commands and fired an ice arrow from her blade to air combo the hollow, freezing it as she did so. Yukianesa's ice eroded away the hollow's life as her ice grew at an alarming rate, surrounding it until it was fully encased. With a flick of her wrist, she stabbed the ice blade into the ground, creating another icy shockwave that shattered everything encased in her ice.

Once the hollow disintegrated, Hisana fell to her knees, weakened from using her shikai as well as the hollow's poison in her system. Unable to provide the energy to fuel her any longer, Yukianesa's ice blade cracked and shattered, reverting back to the previously broken katana.

Seeing that the hollow was finally dead for good, Ren smiled, and fell over, no longer needing to stay conscious. His pillar, Kōmaken Kurikara, reverted back into her sealed form as Hisana dragged herself to him and cradled his head on her lap. "Hisana," Ren murmured, eyes opening as he took in the lovely sight before him. Her hair was messy and plastered to her face from the rain that just started falling and her eyes were red from sobbing. Her face was swollen from the cut she had received, and her entire uniform was soiled with dirt and blood. Hisana looked horrible, but to Ren, she was the most beautiful he had ever seen her because she was alive. "You were amazing," he said weakly, blood trickling from an open cut on his lip. "I can't feel my legs anymore..."

Panicked by this admission, Hisana quickly struggled to her feet to help him only to realize she was too weak to even stand. "I can't get up," she sobbed to Byakuya who was leaning against one of the trees to hold himself up. His arm, torn to shreds, fell limply at his side. "Please take Ren-kun back."

"I can't carry him," Byakuya answered, looking at the dying man with the most guilty look she had ever seen.

"Then leave us behind and go on ahead," she answered seriously. "You have to find help. Ren-kun won't make it if I try and help you carry him."

Byakuya nodded, disappearing with a shun-po, and Hisana went back to cradling Ren. As she aimlessly stroked her fingers through his hair, she surveyed the damage left behind, the damaged trees of the forest, the abandoned homes from the Rukongai, the lingering remnants of Yukianesa's ice, and all the blood from Ren, Byakuya and herself. Her breath caught in her throat at the realization of how much blood had been shed. She felt like she had sat there for ages, comforting Ren who suddenly broken into a cold sweat, and wondered if that was because of Yukianesa.

Byakuya returned, his arm still twisted and broken at his side. The white of his bone still poked out from his skin and Hisana turned away, unable to look at it any longer. "They're coming," he said quietly.

Hisana let out a sigh of relief, and gently nudged Ren. "Do you hear that? Help is on the way. Just hang on a little bit longer," she murmured softly, still stroking his hair.

Ren suddenly seized a hold of her hand in his bloody one, holding onto her tightly as if she was the only thing keeping him in the world of the living. The large gash in his waist started bleeding freely again and Hisana tried to stop it by applying pressure, but let up the second he writhed beneath her in pain and suppressed a cry. "I love you, Hisana," he murmured weakly, starting to slip back into unconsciousness.

Byakuya tensed upon hearing his confession and stared at Hisana, waiting for her to answer. Realizing this, she bit her lip and gave him the most apologetic look as she didn't have the heart to refuse a dying man. "I love you, too," she answered, clutching his hand tightly. "Hang on, Ren-kun. You're going to be okay." Ren's grip on her hand went slack and his head tipped back as he succumbed back into the darkness. "Ren!" Hisana cried out, shaking him gently. "Stay with me! You can't die just yet! Don't leave me! Natsumi needs you. I need you..."

Lieutenant Kotetsu and Mikado-sensei finally appeared with others of the Fourth Division to save the missing team. "Thank you," Hisana whispered, as Kotetsu pulled Ren's unconscious form away from her and brought him back to the Seireitei. Glancing back to Byakuya, she looked at his arm and weakly told him that he should fix his arm before finally throwing up at the sight of it and all the bloodshed that had been around her.

Mikado-sensei was at her side, helping her to her feet with a concerned look. "What on earth happened?" he asked, horrified by the bloodstained ice that covered the entire battlefield. "What were you even doing out here?"

"Your QR code sent us here," she answered, clinging to her Sensei in pain. "It said Carp Slope, Mt. Koifushi."

"I told you not to go past the First District! Why didn't you call for backup?"

She stared at him with wide eyes, almost at tears. "Sensei, I called for backup the moment we got lost. You never responded! Nobody responded to any of my pleas for help."

Mikado-sensei's eyes went wide at the realization that someone had tampered with his activity, and Hisana's team had to pay for his mistake. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, weighed down immensely with guilt. If Andou Ren died, he knew he would never forgive himself for being so careless.

At the hospital, all three members of the butterfly squad were prepped for surgery and taken into an O.R. Ren was the first to go under, having taken the most severe wounds of them all. Hisana went under next because of her minor scratches and that Byakuya had refused out right until Noriyuki had arrived to speak to him.

"If I don't make it, promise me you will find her," Byakuya said in low voice as he forced his shredded hand to seize the front of Noriyuki's uniform. He had to leave his heart somewhere, and he would give it Noriyuki. There was nobody else he would entrust Rukia to, besides him.

"You got it, I promise," Noriyuki answered, pulling Byakuya's fingers off of his shirt. "I'll find her and treat her as if she were my own sister," he promised as Byakuya finally allowed the doctors to administer the anesthesia and put him under to fix the lacerations he had sustained.

Natsumi, finally arriving, cried loudly and threw herself into Noriyuki's arms, no longer caring what anybody thought of her. He shushed her softly, stroking her hair as he embraced her tightly as he tried to make promises that everybody would be fine, even Ren, her only brother.

Hisana was the first to come out with stitches on her back and the poison extracted out of her system. She smiled weakly to Natsumi and Noriyuki when she awoke, reaching for her friend's hand and apologized for not taking better care of Ren. Natsumi forced a smile through her tears, grasped Hisana's hand and explained that it was only thanks to her that they all survived. Byakuya was the next out of the O.R. and remained asleep for the rest of the night, not even waking once. He was placed in the same room as Hisana and she forced herself to sit up as Noriyuki and Natsumi fussed over him, making sure he was alright. His arm had been fixed with skin grafts and was wrapped in a cast. While Byakuya slept, Hisana stayed up all night with Natsumi and Noriyuki, waiting on the news of Andou Ren's condition...

Outside the recovery rooms, Mikado-sensei stood with the very upset Kuchiki Ginrei and Sojun as well as a furious Andou Kazuhiro. "How could this have happened?" Kazuhiro demanded angrily.

"My apologies," Mikado answered, disturbed by what had happened to his precious students. "They weren't supposed to have gone that far in the first place."

"Did you not tell them to stay on the given path and not stray?" Ginrei asked.

"No, that was the problem. Kuchiki claimed that the scavenger hunt told them to go to Mt. Koifushi," Mikado explained with a bothered look.

"What are you saying? That somebody tampered with your codes?" Sojun clarified, asking the question that everybody wanted the answer to.

"I'm afraid so," Mikado answered. "They walked straight into a trap."

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Ichimaru Gin approached his captain's office with a hesitant knock. "Gin," Aizen said fondly, expecting a progress report.

"Mikado's elite class killed your latest," the silver-haired lieutenant answered, nearly flinching as Aizen angrily slammed his fist down onto his desk.

"That's alright; there are many others," he said, looking to his lieutenant. "Who killed it?"

"That Kuchiki girl," Gin answered. "I have the reports here, sir."

"Thank you, Gin," Aizen murmured, dismissing him as he looked over the reports, noting just which adjustments needed to be made on his future experiments.