I badly need to do concept art for this story. There are lots of sketches lying around but I haven't done anything with them! Maybe that'll be my project for the long weekend ahead.

Did I ever mention how much it helps me when people speculate in their reviews? Reading such reviews give me ideas for future chapters. I couldn't have gotten this far without them.

Notice how L and Raito's situations parallel each other a little, both in this chapter and some earlier ones. I've never done such a complicated story before. It's pretty fun :D

This chapter was heavily inspired by the song "Hey Italy" by Halifax.

I own neither Bleach nor Death Note.

Ch 11. Hairpins and Needles

Las Noches, 12:20 am

The inverted moon shone brightly in the black sky over Hueco Mundo. Should I be happy? Raito thought idly as he stared at it from out of one of Las Noche's narrow windows. Maybe he should be grateful that was here. It was better than Hell, he imagined. During the bleary, painful time L had been laying waste to his soul, Raito felt that was surely where he was going. Between that time and a few days ago, he remembered nothing. His memories from his time as Kira were blurry too. Like a puzzle, but some of the pieces were not fully carved and wouldn't fit until he completed them. But how?

The incompleteness was not only mental. There was something about his hybridization that felt slipshod, like it had been done without much care. An uncomfortable feeling of inferiority that Raito had never felt before. It was more than a little disconcerting.

In just a few hours Raito would be going back to the living world to capture a few mid-power Hollows. It was likely they would just be used for security around the fortress. Why were they giving him simple gruntwork like this? Hadn't Aizen wanted him for his reputation as the infamous Kira? Raito wasn't accustomed to following orders like this. As Kira he had been in control. This was all so different so suddenly. He had been unwillingly indentured into an army whose motive he wasn't sure of. Or had he just forgotten it? Was it really that important?

Raito considered himself adaptable, but this was going to take some getting used to. Perhaps he could rise through the ranks of this militaristic group and gain some of that control back.

Or maybe he could find a quicker way.

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Aoyama, 2:21 pm

The early afternoon sky was chocked with clouds and dark as the night. It was raining heavily, but the only evidence of it could be seen as the raindrops rushed past car headlights in bright airborne streaks, and in the monotonous roar it made as it pounded the ground. The rain was otherwise invisible.

"Damn! This sucks!" One of Raito's teammates, a fairly recently hybridized Arrancar with a fanged chunk of mask stuck to his nose and upper lip, cursed and kicked the air where he and his fellow Arrancar stood suspended. Rain fell on all four sides. "How the hell are we gonna find any Hollows in this rain?"

"Sense their reiatsu, moron." His teammate, an Arrancar with a hornlike spike of bone covering his ear, responded. "If they didn't have any spirit force, Aizen-sama wouldn't want them, duh."

This is an insult to my talents and intellect, Raito thought. I should be doing much more meaningful things than this. "I think I see something over there." He announced. "I'm going to go take a look."

"Whatever, man." The horned Arrancar said dismissively.

Raito dropped to the ground. There was a truck station at the side of the road. The large, covered areas used for washing the trailers were empty and lit with a flat yellow light. He positioned himself beneath the overhang of the rightmost one and massaged his forehead under the large section of mask that still remained attached to his head. There was still so much he hadn't been told. He still had so many questions about this so-called afterlife, and about the snatches of conversation he heard in the hallways of Las Noches. Hints of an invasion. Talk of Death Gods and swords, and portals and collecting souls. Fear of the Arrancar leader, Aizen. They all followed this man loyally, so Raito assumed he had some power to threaten them with. Not to mention a Death Note, though that couldn't be used for killing Hollows. Ryuk had told him this. His former… what was Ryuk? Not a friend, not really an ally. Just an observer and an occasional guide. At least some things hadn't changed. The Shinigami apparently found Hueco Mundo very boring, so the only thing he could do was observe it. Aizen had no use for him any longer.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, far enough that the lightning's flash was not visible in the clouds overhead. A car sped by, its wheels spewing water. Raito watched its red taillights recede. It seemed to be going awfully fast, despite the rain.

"Hey! It's getting away!" Raito recognized that voice. It belonged to his teammate, the petulant fanged Arrancar.

"Idiot!" That was the Arrancar with the horn. "We're not supposed to kill it; we're supposed to capture it!" The fanged Arrancar's answering protest was drowned out by the enraged scream of an injured Hollow. Raito stepped out from beneath the station's overhand and peered in the direction of the voices.

The two novice Arrancar were facing off against a large, dark shape that moved and shifted like a living thundercloud. The Hollow's outline was indistinct in the blur of rain and the dim light, but by the slow and bulky was it moved, it was clearly injured. With an angry howl it swung its tail at its opponents. It seemed to have missed until the fanged Arrancar swore loudly and fell to his knees in midair, clutching a long spine that had embedded itself in his arm.

"Hey! Get over here!" The horned Arrancar called to Raito. "Help us get this thing under control!"

With a disdainful sigh, Raito pulled his zanpaktou from its sheath and flash-stepped over to where his teammates stood, stopping right behind the Hollow's massive, shadowy bulk. Sensing the sudden presence of another reiatsu, the Hollow turned. Its profile was highlighted sparsely by the truck stop's neon sign. The light outlined a blanket of long, thin spines that ran from its neck to the end of its thick tail. Their tips glistened with some sort of oily liquid, most likely poison. Its eyes pulsed red in the dark sockets of its reptilian mask. They widened when they saw him.

"R…raito…" The Hollow murmured. From the high, light pitch of its voice, it was female.

"It's distracted!" Fang dove at the Hollow with his sword, but the monster turned more swiftly than seemed possible, and clubbed him with one of her heavy paws, knocking him to the ground. He started to struggle to his feet, but Raito pointed his zanpaktou at Fang's chest.

"I'll take care of this one." Raito told him. "You," he looked at Spike, the Arrancar with the horn. "Help him."

Both Arrancar stared at their teammate. "Go!" Raito commanded.

"Y-yes sir…" Spike stammered, pulling Fang to his feet and flash-stepping out of sight. Once they were gone, Raito faced the Hollow. She was crouched on the ground, one clawed paw held over a wound on her chest. "Raito… is it really you?" She asked. "They told me you died in an accident…"

"How do you know my name, Hollow?" Raito asked the creature.

"Oh… you don't remember me?" The Hollow sounded tearful. "It's Misa!"

"Misa?" Raito lowered his sword. The last time he had heard from her was that phone conversation on the day of the 'accident.' To tell the truth, he hadn't really thought about her much since his own death. "You're a Hollow. How did you…?"

"Suicide." The Hollow said quietly "I didn't think I could live without you. But once I was dead, I was still here! It was worse than being alive! These monsters came and attacked me, and turned me into one of them… But it's okay now, because I can see you again." She looked at Raito, her head between her paws. "I missed you."

"I know how you feel." Raito said, slipping his zanpaktou back into its sheath. "Something similar happened to me. He knelt in front of Misa and placed a hand on her bony snout. She growled softly, the spines on her back rattling as she breathed.

"My death was no accident, Misa." He told her. "I was murdered."

"By who?" She asked in a breathless whisper.

"By L." He answered.

"But L's dead!" Misa whimpered. "Rem killed him!"

"What does 'dead' even mean anymore, Misa?" Raito sighed. "I thought I knew, but I guess I was wrong."

"Ohhh! I'm so sorry!" Misa surprised Raito by throwing her paws around his shoulders in an awkward hug. Her weight threatened to crush him into the ground. "It's all my fault you're dead! I forgot to change the dates, and…" She sobbed. "I'm sorry!"

"Misa! Misa, you're hurting me!" Raito gasped, trying to lever Misa's giant claws off his shoulders.

"Ah! I'm sorry! It's just so hard to get used to this form…" Misa folded her paws underneath her body, her eyes shamefully watching the ground. "I'm so useless… everything's my fault…"

"No. It's not your fault." Raito told her. She looked up at him, her red eyes doleful. "You didn't kill me. L did. He came back as a Hollow, like you. And he killed me. If he hadn't interfered with Kira's work in the first place, none of this would have happened. So if you want to blame anybody, blame him."

Misa nodded sadly. "I guess… but I still feel bad." They stood in the rainy silence for a few moments before Misa spoke again. "If it's any different to you… I still have the eyes."

"You mean…" This was it. This was the way he could gain back all he had lost.

"Yes." Misa said. "I saw your name before I saw your face, and that's what surprised me before."

A plan was already beginning to form in Raito's mind. If he somehow managed to get the Death Note away from Aizen and his comrades, he could threaten to write their names in it. Misa would tell him what he needed to know, and Raito could dangle the knowledge of the Death Gods' true names over their heads like the blade of a guillotine. He could have power again. Just like before.

"I think you'll be able to redeem yourself, Misa." Raito told the Hollow. "Come back with me," he held his arms out to her. "And we can work together for a perfect world, just like before."

"Y-you really mean it? You're not mad at me at all?" Misa's glowing eyes shone with hope.

"Not at all. I still need you." Raito told her. He took her head in his arms and stroked her bony snout. The Hollow purred, her eyes half closed and content. "I promise." She said quietly. "I'll do anything you want. Anything…"

"Then please," Raito pulled a capture orb from his pocket. "Hold still for just a moment. This won't hurt if you don't struggle."

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Las Noches, 4:01 am

The hybridization chamber was already prepared, and as Misa was dragged in covered from head to tail in constricting bandages, Raito wondered where Ryuk was. The Shinigami was usually present at these little ceremonies, but the only other spectators were a few new Arrancar who'd never seen a hybridization, and Aizen himself with the Hogyoku. In the middle of the floor was a sunken pit, in which the bandaged shape of Misa's Hollow could be seen, lying still and silent.

As it began, the cavernous room was lit with a neon green glow. All was quiet for a few minutes. Then a grinding and shifting cacophony rose from the pit. It sounded like an earthquake, but what it really was was the sound of bones shifting and flesh stretching as the creature in the bandages changed from a monstrous shape to something more human. It was eerie, as no movement at all seemed to occur in the Hollow being transformed. A loud CRACK split the air, and the noises ended, leaving the room as silent as it had started.

With a soft rustling sound the grey bandage casing began to crack and break away as the cocoon collapsed inward. As the last of its fell away, it revealed a girl crouched, naked, her arms around her knees. She stood up slowly, her red eyes wide beneath her feathery dark blue bangs. She backed up, her bare feet crunching quietly in the discarded casing. The girl looked left and right, trying to make sense of where she was. Finally her eyes found Aizen, standing over the pit with the spent Hogyoku in hand.

"Welcome to Las Noches, my dear." He said to her.

The girl said nothing, only whimpered, her arms locked around her chest. Then she screamed.

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Down another featureless white corridor, in another featureless white room, Orihime Inoue's eyes fluttered open. A second pair, these ones horribly blank and staring, greeted her. She gasped and tried to back away, but only succeeded in falling off the oversized couch she had been sleeping on. The blank-eyed creature chuckled as she picked herself up off the floor.

"Were you watching me sleep?" She demanded. The creature only laughed. "What's so funny?"

"You fell off. It was funny." The creature answered. "And I was bored."

"You're that other Death God that works for Aizen-sama, aren't you?" Orihime asked as she hoisted herself back onto the couch. "Your name is… Ryuk?"

"Yeah. But it's more like I'm his slave." Ryuk said. "You don't seem to be in a much better position."

"I guess I'm not…" The girl sighed and hugged her legs to her chest.

"You know… this place is really dull." Ryuk said. "But I have the feeling things are going to change a little around here."

"Really?" Orihime grey eyes met Ryuk's red ones. "Why's that?"

Ryuk cackled. "You'll see. When something gets too boring, people who aren't content with boredom will do whatever they can to make it interesting."