One by one the Bounts were being defeated. Koga could sense each time one of his fellows died. The girl. The kid. The old man. One by one they fell, til only he and Kariya were left. And now he was facing off against the boy captain, and he was losing.

His doll was on her last legs, struggling to keep reforming over and over again as the ice seperated the limbs from the body and froze them. It was painful to watch. He called Dalk back, but the moment he did the sword flashed in his direction, and ice shot towards him. Cursing, he brought her back out, much to her annoyance.

"I-I can't keep going like this." she muttered, shooting off bullet-like projectiles towards the captain. He nodded once, acknowledging her. And then the ice overtook her completely. She was frozen solid, and Koga dropped to his knees. "Dalk."

He turned his eyes to the boy, who was watching him. "I had heard the Bount died when the doll did. But you are not dead."

"My doll is not yet dead." the metal reformed into an axe, and he charged at the captain. He managed to swing a few good hits, but they were always blocked by the zanpakuto. Finally, just as he was starting to think he couldn't lift his arm anymore, he heard the war-cry.

It was cold. Colder than he'd imagined. Closing his eyes, the ice formed all around him.

He did not open them again.

xxx

The top of the hill was a lot higher up than it had seemed. He didn't know why Kariya had come all the way up here, and he didn't really care. All he had to do was defeat him.

Inoue had healed his wounds before he had raced off in the middle of the night to challenge Kariya. Finding him hadn't been easy. But when he got there, Kariya was standing over someone, and when he got closer he recognized the face. Yoshino?! But he knew that couldn't be possible. Kariya wasn't doing anything to the woman, just looking down at her, eyes filled with hate.

"Don't think I don't know you're there, Quincy." Ishida winced and stepped out from his hiding space, wary. The Bount narrowed his eyes and growled lowly, "She's not Yoshino." Ishida nodded, slowly. "This is the woman responsible for all my troubles. I was right in the middle of letting her have it, and she falls asleep on me." he snorted, and Ishida glared. "So I have decided to let her live, if only to see the demise of Soul Society."

Ishida had taken a step forward then, ready to argue, when Kariya held up a hand to stop him. "You wanted to fight me at my best, correct?" Ishida flushed. "Tomorrow. Wait and see. Meet me at the Sokyoku Hill." then he had disappeared, leaving Ishida with the sleeping woman. He felt bad about leaving her there, so he had scooped her up and taken her back to where he and his friends were hiding out, a place that Yoruichi had told them about before leaving them to their own devices. It was true that Shiba Kukaku was...interesting, to say the least.

As he neared the top of the hill, he paused. Was he really ready to face off against the Bount? Especially if he was at full strength? He couldn't be sure. But he had to try.

Ishida Uryu was prepared for anything.

xxx

As it turned out, Ishida wasn't prepared at all. Renji had followed the Quincy, and the others were not long after him, and he was glad that he had come.

Ishida was losing. Losing quickly. The boy was bleeding all over the place, and it didn't look like any damage had been done to the Bount. Heck, the reaitsu coming from him almost matched a captain's, and Ishida was certainly no match for them.

Renji frowned. He wasn't too comfortable with his bankai yet, never really having an opponent to practice on, and he didn't think this was a fight that Soul Society could afford to lose. Fortunately, the captains were already on their way, having sensed a battle.

He watched as the boy fell and didn't get up. He lurched forward, zanpakuto in hand, when a flicker of motion stopped him. There was his captain, standing in front of him, watching the Bount carefully. "T-Taicho."

Byakuya said nothing, simply drawing his zanpakuto and watching the flower petals surround the Bount. Then with one flick of his hand, it was over.

Over.

The last Bount, dead.

His eyes slid to Ishida, barely registering the fact that Orihime was kneeling over him already, healing him to the best of her abilities. Then he was looking at Byakuya with wonder, and a little resentment. He would never catch up at this rate.

"Are these the ryoka?" he nodded, at his captain's question, reluctant to turn over his friends to his superiors, but in no place to argue. "I will detain them, then." Byakuya kept his zanpakuto drawn, watching Chad, Orihime, and Ishida, who was struggling to sit up.

Renji had a bad feeling about this.

xxx

The head captain's gaze was unsettling, as focused as it was. "Humans. You entered Seireitei without permission." They kept their heads down, bowed respectfully. "One of you," his eyes landed on Ishida, "was responsible for the invasion of the Bounts." The Quincy boy flinched. "However, you have not caused any damage yourselves. For this reason, you will be permitted to return to the world of the living." he paused, watching the three visibly relax, if only slightly. "However." all three stiffened once more. "I will be assigning a few shinigami to keep an eye on you." It was a fair enough sentence, he thought. They would be monitored in the living world, but still have a relative amount of freedom. "Dismissed. Toshiro-taicho, escort them to the senkaimon."

The captains broke their lines, exiting and some watching the ryoka carefully. The Tenth Captain nodded to Ishida, before leading the way out. The walk to the gate was quiet, and Toshiro couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for the humans. "It will be alright," he said, hoping to ease their worries. "The head captain won't assign anyone unreasonable." Ishida nodded, Orihime bit her lip, and Chad crossed his arms.

The gate opened, and the humans made their way back home. Toshiro watched them for a moment before returning to his quarters. He had just settled at his desk when Rangiku appeared, a hell butterfly on her outstretched finger.

"Taicho. Emergency meeting." Again? So soon? Toshiro nodded, he and his lieutenant flash-stepping back to the meeting hall. Everyone else was already there, speaking in low tones and looking confused, and the head captain looked perplexed himself.

Then the doors opened and Toshiro knew why the meeting had been called.

Kuchiki Rukia was awake and ready to speak.

Now.

XXX

This one was more difficult to write. I'm not great at writing battle scenes and didn't really know how to wrap up the Bount arc. But anyway, tomorrow will see a sort of transition chapter, where I set up for the next mini-arc. Thank you guys so much for the favs/follows/reviews, and about yesterday: I just really hope something like that doesn't happen again. Be warned: if your review is not relevant, or is a personal attack, it will be removed. Just a heads-up. I know most of you are decent people who'd never pull that crap to begin with.