A/N: Glad to see that the last chapter went over well, I was worried for a moment that it would be more of a stumbling stone really. This one pushes the character limit just a bit more but hopefully I stayed within the boundaries of proper reactions. Thanks for the reviews!

"Let's face it… this doesn't seem like it's going to work…"

"I think we can both agree on that and… we can both agree it's because of our inability to let people go."

She narrowed her eyes at the words and watched as he draped a towel over the back of his neck; allowing for the light-beige ends to fall over his shoulders. One hand moved to brush aside his hair as he seated himself on the corner of the only bed in the room. She found herself almost sickeningly distracted by the lack of an uniform top on his body, which only showcased his fairly built form. "Given no other reasons, I suppose that is the most likely one."

"And… I don't think either of us are really putting forth the effort for this." he continued slowly; trying to keep track of his words as the conversation only became more and more difficult. "I don't think we're ready to move on."

"It's been years."

"It has but do you really see either of us making a move to change that?"

Silence caught up to her once more as she tried to set her focus on something on the other side of the room; looking over the small lodging room that provided very little to look at. She was never one for speaking out loud about these things but… so much had changed between them, it was more like complete Armageddon on her nerves. It was a difficult time, difficult situation and the location did little to help, although she rather enjoyed the clear isolation from the other Captains. It was one of the reasons she asked him to accompany her. So they could sit in silence like this and try to pretend things weren't as bad as they really were. "… Is this it then?"

"It doesn't have to be…"

"So what? We're just supposed to be miserable together?"

A long sigh escaped him as he touched briefly at the empty space between his eyes. There was no denying that they were both just far too hard-headed and difficult to accept anything less; they were just making things even more complicated for themselves while still trying to assume that nothing was wrong. He held his hand out to her and waited for her reaction; she carried a sense of hesitation with her before slowly her fingertips moved to brush his skin. It was a smooth motion as he pulled her in and she seemed to give in.

For a moment, every heated argument from before, every slur of insults, every thought of doubt dissipated. All they had left… was who they were now.

What they were now.

"I thought I loved you…"

X

"That whole mission was a fucking waste of time, wasn't it?"

"I wouldn't say the whole thing was…"

She brushed her hands through her hair once more, this time holding her bangs away from her face for a moment. The training field felt more empty, more barren now. Their abrupt training session dissolved into this small talk of words and short memories. Resting her arms on her partly bent knees, she leaned forward slightly and listened to the satisfying pop of her back. "Do you think that's why we got our asses kicked so hard? Because we weren't focused on the main objective?"

"To be honest with you… I think it may be one of the reasons why we're still alive instead." he started; now seated beside her when their earlier… 'confrontation' dissipated. "I think we were both too stubborn to let the other one die."

"Sounds about right." she slowly nodded. "Also sounds ridiculous and stupid."

"I figured you would say something like that."

"… Alright, well it clears up one mystery." she remarked. "Now onto the next ones."

"Actually, I've been trying to go over some things myself and I just wanted to run this one idea by you." he replied. "You had burns on your arms right?"

"Yeah, they were minor but they weren't cause by a fire of any sort; it may have been from the same substance that burned my sword."

He nodded after her before he continued. "It's just… I had matching burns on my hands but they weren't as severe as yours; it just looked like it might've been a contact injury."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, it's just… you were probably covered in this stuff but your arms were hit with the highest concentration; maybe I… tried to help you but when I grabbed you by the arms, the substance passed on and created that kind of contact burn."

"… Yeah, I guess that would make sense, in which case it was probably your own fault for doing that."

"Please, I probably had to do it to save your sorry ass."

She scoffed lightly in response before she leaned back to rest her weight on her palms. "So now what?"

"I'm not entirely sure… I get this feeling though, that the more we're around each other, the more we're actually going to remember what happened." he started. "I know, it sounds stupid, but I think when our energy is around one another, it triggers something."

"Or maybe you're just looking for an excuse to be near me."

"Don't be disgusting."

"Captain Soifon, are you in?"

She glanced up at the call and watched as the heavy set of double doors on the other end of the field were pushed open. A small scowl appeared at the sight of her Lieutenant before she took note of the guest he brought with him; the first Lieutenant, Chojiro Sasakibe. While curiosity was available, she kept it limited as she pushed herself back to her feet. "Is there a reason for this sudden intrusion?"

"I apologize, Captain Soifon, I am only here to deliver a message from Captain Yamamoto." Lieutenant Chojiro started; stopping himself just a few feet from the doorway. "He wishes to speak with you when you have time to spare and are up to it."

"I see… Tell Captain Yamamoto I'll be there to meet with him in ten minutes."

"He says there is no rush-"

"Just rely the message."

"Yes, ma'am."

She watched as the two Lieutenants slowly stepped back before allowing for the door to close behind them. A few seconds passed by before a long sigh escaped her. "This should be… entertaining, right?"

"You're going to have so much fun with it." he replied.

"You should accompany me."

"No thanks."

She turned back to look at him; taking note that he hadn't even bothered to move from before. "And just why not? This is going to be about the mission and you were present, whether you remember so or not."

"He asked for your attendance; not mine." he reminded. "In fact, you're the one he initially ordered to go out on that expedition, I was just there to tag along. He's probably just going to talk about that, which really you were the only person who was supposed to go and know about the whole mess."

"… That's the worst excuse ever."

He only shook his head and moved to get back on his feet. "Believe me, I just think it would be better if you carried on that meeting by yourself. You know about as much as I do and that's still not a lot. To be frank, it's a little frustrating to have all these meetings to speak about it when neither of us remember what the hell happened completely. Bits and pieces are only going to take us so far in a conversation. Until then though, we're just going to have to wing it and get by somehow."

"That does little for my request."

"The last time I went with your 'request' I ended up unconscious for two weeks."

She watched as he moved past her and continued on across the field; stopping only to redress himself in his uniform. Mild bitterness tempted her to continue on with this argument but it was only a stubborn case. He could match her stubbornness in any kind of conversation- of course she suspected he only did so just to annoy her, that was a common trait for him. "What? Not even going to kiss me goodbye?"

There was a sense of sarcasm in her voice that was almost painful accented across her words. He chuckled to himself at the half-empty request. "You used to hate it when I did that."

"… When I get back from that meeting, I expect for you to be ready for me."

"We can continue this discussion another time, Soifon."

"That's Captain."

"Another time."

"You wished to speak with me?"

The white-bearded Captain looked up from the work he had settled in front of him before he set it aside and stood up at her appearance. "Captain Soifon, I'm glad you could meet with me on short notice; it seems as though you are about as eager as I am to get this solved out."

"Something like that, yes." she nodded; watching as the man moved from around his desk to better face her. "However, I wish for it to be noted that things have not entirely come together just yet, so I'm afraid I won't be entirely able to answer many questions you have regarding this situation."

"Rest assured, it is understood; I'm merely glad to have avoided the loss of two Captains." he nodded. "Now then, there's confirmation that this Hollow is dead… they say it's for now, however I did not send you out on a mission to only half finish; I expect that you killed it completely."

"As do I."

"Good, now then, I must ask… is there anything you remember about this beast? There is talk that… it wasn't entirely organic."

Organic? That was a strange word to use in reference to the heartless bastard. "From what I recall, it had a high level and speed of massive regeneration; we cut off countless number of its limbs and yet more kept showing up." she started; faintly recalling the bladed arms. "There was never less than a hundred of those arms coming at us. As well… Suzumebachi recently informed me that it's outer skin was immune to my poison; it's skin was able to distill and neutralize the poison even after multiple hits." that alone seemed to interest the First Captain as he nodded slowly with the words. "It was also fast- it was easily able to catch me and even evade Captain Tousen's sensing. Now… from what I can remember, there were a lot of odd things about it that didn't set right; it's possible this thing wasn't entirely 'organic' but that just leaves us with the question of who could push the limits of a Hollow? Who could make it that powerful at such a low level?"

"You drive a point, Captain Soifon."

"I just want what everyone else wants. I want answers to this mess."