Once my cold almost completely subsided, it was back to training at Urahara's. He'd let me slide until I was able to breathe a little bit better since I'm such a newbie. I still had a little bit of a cough, but nothing I couldn't handle. Toushirou and Rangiku made me miss school for another week—which definitely helped—and barely agreed to let me come to Urahara's for "work" today.

As I ran to dodge Yoruichi's barrage of attacks, I started wondering if maybe I should just tell Toushirou and Rangiku. Maybe with everything that's happened between us, they'd let me slide without telling the Soul Society. Then again, Toushirou is a Taichou, so no doubt he would have to report it. That Yamamoto guy was already scary enough, what would he do to me if he found out that I'm technically an enemy?

"Quit daydreaming and focus!" Yoruichi said as she appeared in front of me and tripped me.

I flew forward; my face slamming into the dirt.

She was right.

I just had to focus on training at the moment and try to sort everything out later. I got up, wiped off my face and jogged back to where Yoruichi stood. I put up my fists, waiting for her to attack me.

About another hour passed, and Urahara came down to interrupt.

"Azumi-chan, could you come with me for a moment? Yoruichi, for the time being, training is finished for the day but please come over with us." He turned around and started walking, expecting us to follow.

I thanked Yoruichi with a slight bow, and followed her and Urahara. We walked past a couple of boulders until we reached a really huge pit. I looked down it, trying insanely hard to not think of Silence of the Lambs. Urahara wasn't a creep and would never do something that horrific. I chuckled at the thought, and Urahara cleared his throat.

"Azumi-chan, I've brought you here because I would like to perform some tests." He began, I gulped.

"It's been a few weeks since your last feeding, and I want to see just how well you're holding up." He opened his fan, waiting for my response.

"Well, I haven't necessarily had a hankering for anything lately. One would think that maybe I'd start acting weird if I needed to feed." I thought aloud, kicking up a little dirt.

"I see," Urahara said, taking a few steps toward me.

It wasn't until he started walking toward me that I noticed just how loud my breathing was. Yoruichi really took it out of me today—especially since I was still a little sick. Urahara stopped a few inches in front of me and took out a small knife from his sleeve. I took a step back subconsciously.

Suddenly, he slashed his own arm.

I shrieked.

"What an earth are you doing?" I shouted, rushing to his aid.

It hit me.

Staring at the red liquid trickling from his wound was the most enticing thing I had ever experienced.

I felt like I had starved for centuries in a desert; parched, hazy, and hungry. The enchanting smell of that velvet liquid had my mouth watering; I couldn't take my eyes off the wound. My heart pounded loudly in my chest; I could slowly hear my rational thoughts fading in the background while survival instinct started taking over.

Before I could make any moves, I felt someone locking me in place, not letting me make any movements.

Urahara's face bent down to my level, carefully scanning my eyes. My vision started fading in my left eye, the familiar black from before slowing spreading to the center of my vision.

He stepped back, and stood upright again, taking out a roll of bandage and a towel. He wiped off his blood with the towel, and wrapped his self-inflicted wound quickly. With him doing that, I could hear the rational thoughts starting to drown out my instinct, only to be interrupted.

"Please don't be mad, Azumi-chan, this is all part of the test,"

Swiftly, Urahara stabbed the side of my abdomen.

It was strange; at first, it was like nothing happened—I didn't feel a thing. Then, upon looking at the small knife in my torso, the pain shot through me like an electric shock.

I screamed.

I could feel my own blood oozing out of me, and the foreign unmoving metal stuck inside of me. The black in my left eye fully took control of my entire eye and quickly crept into my right. Instinct completely took over, and the last thing I remember seeing was Urahara with his Zanpakuto.

-[×]-

My eyes fluttered open to an unfamiliar wooden ceiling. I blinked a few times and rubbed my eyes.

"Where am I?" I questioned in my head.

I laid my palms flat in an effort to prop myself up, and upon sitting up, winced in pain. I looked at the source of the shooting pain and suddenly remembered everything.

"Holy—Urahara!" I screeched, panicked.

Why the Hell did he stab me? What happened after that? Am I still at Urahara's place? What time is it? How did I survive that?

On cue, there was a light knock on the door and after another moment it opened, revealing Urahara himself.

"Ohayo, Azumi-chan!" He said, smiling that famous nonchalant smile of his.

I scooted back.

"Why the Hell did you stab me?" I shouted, now panting from the sudden adrenaline.

"Sorry, sorry! But you must calm down, Azumi-chan. I only stabbed you as a test. You would have survived either way." He walked toward me and sat next to me.

"So, let me tell you the outcome of my tests," He began, I gulped in response.

"Upon the sight or smell of blood, your Hollowfication begins. First, your eyes turn red, and your canine teeth protrude and sharpen. Second, the whites of your eyes begin to turn black, then proceed into your pupils although your irises retain their red color. Before I continue, do you remember anything after I stabbed you?"

I shook my head.

"The last thing I remember was you drawing your Zanpakuto,"

I knew that much about the takeover already, but it was still nice to hear it analyzed. I was scared about what he was about to tell me next.

"I see," He smirked and continued, "after I drew my Benihime, you attacked me."

Okay, wait a minute…I what? Me, attack Urahara? How could I—

"You started spitting out white liquid, and it turned in a mask that covered your face completely. Then the right-side of your body developed from the liquid as well. That liquid in it's hardened form is called 'Hierro,' and it's essentially the armor that encase Arrancar. Once that developed on your right side, I signaled Yoruichi to let you go and you immediately lunged for me."

I could imagine my face was pretty pale right now from his words. My jaw hung a little loosely just at the thought of myself turning into a Hollow like that.

"I'm sorry, Urahara; did I hurt you?" I suddenly felt terrible.

Even though he stabbed me, something in my gut told me that I probably did something worse. At the very least, I didn't kill him—that in itself made me feel ten times better about the situation.

"Of course not, Azumi-chan! Although you did have very impressive speed and almost caught me a few times," He smirked.

"Going on, I let you lunge for me for a little bit, just to see if you would regain control of yourself or continue to transform. Seeing how you didn't do either, I figured that I should just continue the test. I called Tessai for the Hollow we caught earlier in the day. We caught the Hollow to see if you could feed off it, which turned out successful. We released the Hollow in the pit, and pushed you in after it. After you fed off the Hollow, you fell to the ground and slowly started reverting back into your human form. At that point, Tessai got you out of the pit and used some healing kido on you for the stab wound. It hasn't completely healed, and I'm sure that it still hurts, but it is nowhere near life-threatening."

I looked down at myself and realized I was in a black kimono. I lifted the fabric and saw bandages wrapped around my torso. I'd have to see just how bad the stab wound is when I got home tonight.

Oh no.

Home.

Toushirou and Rangiku.

How am I supposed to explain this?

"So, what is your final take on what happened?" I asked the hatted blonde, pushing aside my thoughts for the moment.

"I'd like to do one more test tomorrow, but for now, I can definitely make this conclusion: you're triggered by bloodlust, exhaustion, and what you deem to be critical situations. When I stabbed you, you lost control almost immediately. The longer you haven't fed, the more likely you are to lose control. Once you lose control, the only way to stop you is to either kill you, or let you feed. And luckily, you can feed off Hollows rather than living human souls. I do want to test your control upon seeing blood tomorrow since you've just fed. And after that, I want to see just how long you can withstand not feeding. All and all, the tests did prove to be fruitful, although there were some minor injuries," He stared at my abdomen.

"Sorry again, I do hope you understand."

"No, no, it's definitely fine. I was just a little confused at first, but now it all makes sense. Thank you for putting up with me and helping me through all of this…as you know, keeping this a secret has been really hard—especially living with Rangiku and Toushirou. But now knowing this makes me even more worried. What if this happens in my sleep, or at random? I don't know what I would do if I actually hurt someone…" I trailed off.

I was honestly beyond shocked and didn't really know how to feel about the whole situation.

"Of course, Azumi-chan, not a problem at all. It's actually very intriguing to me to figure you out." He smiled, waving his fan.

"Once we go through a few more tests, we'll work on getting you to control yourself. One thing I would recommend, however, is to talk to Kurosaki Ichigo."

Well the last part certainly baffled me.

What would talking to him help?

"Kurosaki is a Shinigami-Daiko as you know, but he also is part Hollow—much like yourself."

"Say what?" I shouted.

"Yes, you heard correctly; he also has a Hollow-side to him. He's learned how to somewhat control it; maybe you should go to him for a few pointers." Urahara smiled.

He was right. I definitely should and I will starting tomorrow. Thinking about tomorrow and school, my previous worried thoughts came back at me full force. What time was it?

"I definitely am going to talk to him about it, thank you for the suggestion! But on another note, how long was I out and what time is it? Toushirou and Rangiku are probably worried sick, and where are my clothes?" I asked.

"Yoruichi changed you into the kimono because the blood from your wound stained your clothes. Tessai already washed them for you, they're out on the clothes line drying. It's about midnight. Hitsugaya-Taichou came at around 9 p.m. looking for you, and I told him that I needed your help early in the morning and that you weren't feeling well and went to sleep. He didn't seem too convinced, but I convinced him that you really wanted to lie down to recuperate from today's work. He said he'd come pick you up around noon tomorrow. He seemed a little angry, just a fair warning." He explained.

I exhaled loudly.

"That works for me; thanks for covering me." I did my best to flash a grin.

Urahara stood up and closed his fan.

"No problem at all! Tomorrow morning we'll do one last test along with some light training because of your wound, then you can go home with Hitsugaya-Taichou and recuperate a little bit. I'll have Tessai re-wrap your wound after your training tomorrow as well. Goodnight, Azumi-chan!" He smiled, and with that headed toward the door.

"Goodnight, and thanks again." I said, and with that he turned off the light and left the room.

I laid there, staring at the ceiling. Hopefully Ichigo could help shed a little more light on the situation. As hard as it was, I tried to not think about it.

Toushirou was probably livid at me. Lately it's just been one thing after the other that I've done.

-[×]-

By the time I blinked, it was already morning. Tessai made some breakfast and gave me my clothes back. He had mended the hole in my shirt with a couple of quick stitches and you almost couldn't tell there was a hole to begin with.

After breakfast I helped Jinta and Ururu organize the items in front of the shop, then proceeded down to the basement with Urahara and Yoruichi.

Urahara cut himself again.

I felt absolutely terrible, but it was for the best. I was afraid to even look when he did it. I cringed and shut my eyes tightly, afraid the same thing that happened yesterday would happen again. But, I could definitely smell that oh-so-savory liquid coming out of him though. It made me cringe and want to lick my lips. I looked up at the blood; watched as it trickled down to his elbow and dripped to the earth below. I felt myself getting angry—angry that it was going to waste. I internally smacked myself at how stupid and animalistic that sounded, and my anger about the waste of it turned into anger at myself.

Urahara stepped closer and studied my face; I looked directly at him, waiting for his judgement.

"Well, your eyes are now tinged with a bit of orange, but they aren't red like yesterday. Now, let's see pretty little Azumi-chan's smile."

I flashed my teeth not in a smile, but like one would do at the dentist. He chuckled in response.

"No fangs yet, that's a good sign." He smiled.

He took out a towel again and wiped the blood off as well as bandaging it.

"So after you've fed, you're able to control yourself. That's great news! Next we'll find out how long you can go without feeding. Be sure to let me know if you're feeling odd at any point within these next few weeks." He took out his fan and covered the lower half of his face.

"Yoruichi, she's all yours!" He bowed, and I thanked him again.

Without missing a beat, Yoruichi turned toward me.

"Today, since we're only doing light training, we're going to do some laps, and some muscle exercises. Let's start with 10 laps." She ordered.

Sighing, I obeyed and took off running.

Luckily, Urahara let me shower and clean up before noon came around. I felt gross from all the sweat, and really felt like I needed to change my bandage. At about 11:55, I went outside to wait for Toushirou. He showed up at noon on the dot.

"Hola!" I waved, flashing a grin.

He studied me for a moment and I cringed as response.

"Uh, something the matter?" I asked.

He put his hands in his pockets, turned on his heel, and began walking; I followed suit.

"What happened to you, Takashita?" He asked.

I tried so hard not to gulp.

"Wow, Toushirou, not even a hello? Talk about rude," I chuckled lightly, trying to ease the situation.

"Rude is when you agree to do something and then you don't do it." he retorted.

"Why didn't you call?" He asked.

I exhaled loudly.

"Sorry, last night I wasn't feeling well and laid down for just a second. Next thing I knew it was morning and I had to help set up the shop. There was a huuuuuge buy-one-get-one free sale going on and I had to bring out all the extra stock from the back. If I hadn't fallen asleep, I definitely would've come home. I'm sorry again for worrying you." I squeaked out.

Truth be told, I was kind of scared. I've been telling him again and again that I would listen to him and follow orders, yet I still haven't done that. He must be furious; I'm sure that with being a Taichou, he isn't used to someone deliberately disobeying his orders. On top of that, I'm sure that if someone did disobey, Toushirou would give some serious consequence.

After silence for a few moments, he finally responded.

"Just remember to call next time. Remember, it's my job to know where you are, and make sure you're safe."

He sounded like he was completely unconvinced. I could just tell that he wanted to say more, but if he wasn't going to argue about it, then I was good with that.

"Absolutely," I replied.

We walked a couple of blocks in complete silence and I eventually tried to act normal.

"So, how was last night without me? You guys throw a wild party?" I lightly chuckled.

"Of course not. We patrolled for a bit, reported to the Soul Society, and slept—the usual." He said.

He sounded like his mind was somewhere else. Like he was focused, but at the same time not focused. It was weird getting a vibe like that from Toushirou—he normally had everything together.

"Aw, that's no fun! You guys should take a night off once in a while! Go have some fun or something! You guys, or should I say you in particularly, are always so tense! We should all go get a bite to eat or something sometime! It would be good to—"

"We're here in the World of the Living because we have a job to do; we aren't here to have fun." He coldly interrupted.

Well then.

I resisted the urge to push him into the oncoming light pole.

"If you say so," I responded.

I wasn't in the mood to argue; I decided to just let it go. We walked a few more blocks, and were getting close to the house.

I should probably have waited until the dust settled more, but my ignorant 'do-before-thinking' mentality took over and I went ahead and prompted Toushirou.

"So listen, I was thinking about hanging out with Kurosaki when he gets out of school today. I haven't seen him in a while and wanted to see how everyone's doing." I waited for his response.

"I'd rather you stay home today. You're still feeling sick, remember?" He looked at me with those piercing teal eyes of his, sarcasm heavy in his tone.

I stopped walking, starting to get angry even though I had no right to be.

"What's wrong, Toushirou?"

As soon as I asked it, I regretted it. This completely opened the door for him to call me out on my bullshit. I tensed up, praying that I'd make it out of this one.

"What is it that you're hiding from me, Takashita?"

Yep.

There it was.

Now I was in for it.

"You aren't the best liar, and you're easily readable. Tell me what's going on."

I looked down at the sidewalk below, trying to think out the situation. Four excruciating seconds had passed and I knew I was out of time. I blurted out the first thing that came mind.

"All right, I'll tell you. I've been training with Urahara and Yoruichi. I do help them from time to time with the store, but for the most part, I've been there trying to better myself." I paused, looking into those judgmental eyes briefly before continuing.

"Last night, there was a little accident, and I…well,"

I lifted up the bottom of my shirt just a little to reveal the bandage underneath. I noticed his hands clenched into fists and he immediately interrupted.

"I—"

"What the Hell did he do to you?" He interrupted angrily, staring intensely at the wound.

"Well if you'd let me finish!" I interrupted back.

"It was completely an accident. I told him to come at me with his sword because I thought I was good at dodging, and I accidentally got stabbed and blacked out. All right?" I actually sounded pretty convincing. He huffed in response.

"I don't want—"

"Look, I'm fine. They completely took care of me, and healed me as much as possible. Getting stabbed was my own fault for being cocky; if you're going to be mad at anyone, be mad at me, not them." I cut him off again.

Toushirou grabbed the niche of his nose, eyes closed in what looked like frustration.

"Why didn't you tell me that you've been training until now?" He asked with an exhale.

"Because I thought that you'd be against it because I'm so clumsy and uncoordinated. But the way I see it, if Aizen is after me, I need to actually be able to do something about it myself rather than rely on others to protect and avenge me. You think I want you to kill Ulquiorra and Aizen? Hell no I don't, because I want to do it." I took a breath, looking up at him.

I realized my eyes were starting to water when Toushirou's form started blurring; I looked away, embarrassed.

"It's their fault my parents are dead. If anyone is going to get revenge, it's going to be me." I concluded.

He stepped directly in front of me, placing a hand on my shoulder. I took a deep breath to suck back the tears and looked up at him. His expression wasn't an angry one anymore, it was concerned.

"I understand your frustration, but your well-being comes before all else. I don't agree with Urahara's methods, but I'm not against you at least learning how to defend yourself."

He took his hand back and shoved it into his pocket.

"I'd prefer if you learned from Matsumoto and I, but it is your choice who you want to learn from."

"Another thing Toushirou; I feel absolutely terrible. I'm sorry that I keep messing up your orders. I sincerely don't try on purpose to disobey you; things just happen so quickly and my feeble mind forgets to do the right thing. I get so caught up in whatever situation and then I just act instinctively rather than using thought-process. I truly am sorry for my behavior. You can treat me like you would one of your subordinates if you'd like—I can take it." I cracked a small smile.

He didn't look at me, but his aura felt like if he did he'd roll his eyes at me.

"That won't be necessary. Thanks for the apology; I appreciate you telling me the truth at the very least. Rangiku and I have been worried about you lately." He replied.

I smiled and nodded in response.

"But I will make this clear," the tone of his voice turned serious.

"I don't want you anywhere near Aizen or Ulquiorra again." Before I could interject he continued.

"Even the Taichou-ranking members of the Gotei 13 are proceeding with extreme caution; Aizen and his Espada are powerful. For fear of your life, I don't want you in any battle. I do realize that there will be times where I can't shield you from danger; so learning to defend yourself until I get there is definitely a good idea." He explained.

"As far as following my orders goes, I realize that you aren't a Shinigami or a member of my squad. I can understand why you don't take my orders seriously. However, just because I can understand your side, doesn't mean my orders aren't important. You've seen what Aizen can do first hand; none of us want anything to happen to you. Please, try to keep that in mind." He said.

I decided to not argue with anything for now. I didn't want him to protect me, but as I was at the moment, there really was no choice. I nodded in agreement.

"However, I am interested in these training sessions Urahara is putting you through. I'll be checking in every now and then." He started walking again.

I sighed.

Great.

"Thank you for understanding," I said softly as I hurried to his side; he slightly nodded.

Well, technically I did tell the truth for the most part, I just left out the super important details. Even so, the parts I left out still left me feeling guilty. I looked away and sighed again. At least I was off the hook for now—he seemed convinced enough.

"I'll have Matsumoto perform some healing kido on you, and if that doesn't heal you completely, then we'll call Inoue Orihime." He stated.

"Sounds good to me! If anything I'll stop by her house on my way to Kurosaki's," I tried to sneak in permission to go later.

"I'll escort you there." He countered.

Well damn.

How was I supposed to talk to Kurosaki now with Mr. Overprotective coming along?

"Pish-posh, I'll be fine, Toushirou! You don't need to escort me, I'm a big kid now, and I've learned how to defend myself at least a little bit. I mean, look at these guns!" I grinned flexing the non-existent muscle in my right arm.

Toushirou looked and shook his head in disapproval, my joke clearly failed to make an impact.

"But," I continued. "If you feel better escorting me and you think it's the right thing to do—then okay. I'll bargain." I smiled and nudged him.

He nudged me back. "Thanks,"

"Yeah, yeah, you're welcome," I smiled, even though I was internally panicking.

We arrived at the house finally. Toushirou took out his key from his pocket, unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door for me. As soon as we got inside, Rangiku immediately came running down the stairs—worry written across her face.

"Azumi-chan! What in the world happened? Are you okay? Why—"

Toushirou immediately cut her off and filled her in on the situation while I grinned sheepishly. As soon as he got to the stab part, she interrupted.

"You've been what?" she shouted, full of concern.

"Yes, it's no big—"

Rangiku did the unthinkable.

Before I could even finish my sentence, she grabbed my shirt and pulled it off me.

Right. In front of. Toushirou.

"Rangiku! What the Hell are you doing?" I shouted.

I was definitely cherry red. She pushed me on the bed as I tried to cover myself, and started trying to rip off the bandages. I looked at Toushirou, whose face was also completely red and eyes almost bulging at the sight.

"Turn around right now, damn you!" I sneered at him.

He snapped back into reality and immediately turned around. Rangiku was laughing as she continued unraveling my bandages.

"Oh come now, Azumi-chan! It was about time you quenched Taichou's curiosity. Ne, Taichou?" she giggled.

"What curiosity?" we both yelled at her in unison.

"Damn it, Rangiku; it hurts to shout!" I whimpered.

She laughed loudly as she continued unwrapping me.

"At least you have a good bra on, Azumi-chan! So this is what a size-B looks like—lace and stripes suit you!" She giggled; she was loving every second of this.

"Damn you, Ran—"

"Cover her chest with something so I can go over and see her wound, Matsumoto. That's an order." Toushirou huffed.

"Aww! You're no fun at all, Taichou!" She pouted.

Well, check off one of the most embarrassing experiences ever off my list of things to do.