A/N: I know it's been a while, but rock band is reallllllly fun. I am getting pretty good at the drums, I got 100 on gimme shelter playing hard. But you guys deserve an update. Also, Either I'm reading Kubo's mind, or he's reading mine. A recently published chapter bears an event very similar to something coming up in my fic down the line. But it was original before Tite came up with the same idea, so I'm just gonna run with it.

Reviews: Yay for reviews!!

Red: Uryu will be showing up very soon, but not yet. In fact he'll be becoming more of a focus very quickly.

Hwon: If yur referring to my naruto fic, I swear I wasn't even thinking about it. But your right that is very similar. I make sure that no one in future fics loses a right arm only to get it back. And yeah, hes gonna get it back, obvious enough with Orihime running around.

Sweet: There will be much heavier Ichihime stuff soon, so keep reading.

RBach: thank you.

Raven: Yeah, these guys are pretty badassed. And Kon's "Thing" will be revealed in this chapter.

Demon: I still think this was a bit long of a wait. Suspense is one thing, but still, I should be a bit more consistent.

Chapter 14: Despair

"Shit!" Keigo raised the staff and put a barrier up between Ayame and his classmates. As soon as he had she threw her sword back towards him. He moved but it sliced through his shoulder. "Gahh!!!"

Keigo landed on his back and in doing so the barrier went down. Tatsuki put up her guard and punched at Ayame. The Shinigami's superior speed allowed her dodge and counterattack by punching Tatsuki in the gut. Her body heaved from the impact, but of the three of them, Tatsuki was the one most used to getting hit. She gritted through it and brought forward another fist to try and hit the enemy. She was easily evaded again, and this time her arm was caught by the Shinigami.

Tatsuki's arm was twisted around her back and her neck was grabbed before she could even respond. The twisting intensified until Tatsuki heard a sickening pop and her arm was dislocated. This too, she could handle. Her arm was released after she heard a shout from someone else. Mizuiro had dived onto Ayame's back and was trying to choke her. The surprising move caused Ayame to release her other captive. She reached up to her neck and grabbed hold of Mizuiro's arms. She ripped them away from her neck and used one to swing him around and throw him into a wall.

After the impact Mizuiro fell to the ground, but raised his left hand and gripped at the air. Ayame felt something still wrapped around her neck. "I need my other hand to control it at range, but I can always use it at close range."

Ayame looked up as she was being choked. Then her eyes glared at Mizuiro. "And?" She turned her head a bit and Mizuiro's ability faded. "That power is pointless against someone of my level. All of yours' are."

Tatsuki leapt up and began another pointless physical assault, while Keigo started to stand while cradling his bleeding shoulder. He lifted the staff and pointed it forward, placing a wall behind Ayame, blocking her next avenue of dodging. Given the opportunity, Tatsuki successfully managed to place a fist into Ayame's face.

The impact didn't face the Shinigami at all. In fact Ayame laughed. "Didn't I already tell you?" Ayame took a step forward, pushing Tatsuki's fist as she went. "None of your powers will work on me!" Ayame vanished and reappeared near her sword. "I'm tired of this." As her sword had landed behind, Keigo, that was who she was closest to. She began a deliberately slow approach to him. In a panic Keigo started to move away from her, but as he did he realized that some where along the way his legs had both been gashed. He used his staff to balance as he hobbled along, and a glimpse over his shoulder showed her still walking slowly and waving her sword about in slow arcs.

During one of these arcs he swore he could see her flicker, and at the same time a shallow cut appeared on his cheek. 'Oh man! She's gonna hack me apart bit by bit!! Why did we even come here!!!!' He tried to turn around and set up a shield, but as soon as he had she vanished and appeared on the other side of it, closer to him then ever. He also cried out in pain as his hand had been pierced by her sword. It hurt so much that he dropped his staff.

"Keigo!!!" Tatsuki ran forward, placing herself between her friend and her foe. Ayame simply swung her sword again and Tatsuki endured through having deep gash placed along her right arm. "I'm sorry that I got us into this. I don't know how, but I'll get us out of it!" Tatsuki started a forward charge, while Ayame raised her sword, ready to impale the charging girl.

"SUPER RESCUE GO!!!!!!!!!!!" Both Tatsuki and Ayame were cut off in their advances by the appearance of a young man. Tatsuki had stopped out of instinct, but Ayame's halt was a bit more abrupt. The young man was standing on her sword, having landed on the back of it and driving it down to the ground. Triumphant he looked up at her. "Part Two!!!!!!" He reared back and kicked her in the chest with incredible speed and force. The power of the blow ripped her hands away from her sword and sent her several meters back. Again, triumphant the young man stood with a wide smile. "Victory goes to…" Then he paused. "You know as long as I'm in this body I should definitely have a cooler name then Kon. Hmmmmmmm… I know I'll go with Kai like I originally planned."

Something in what he said finally made sense to the stupefied Tatsuki. "Kon?"

Kon spun and looked right at her. "NOOO!!!! From now on I'm Kai!"

"Well whoever the hell you are…Just wait a second who the hell are you?! Weren't you a stuffed animal?!!!"

Kai turned back towards the Shinigami. "Nope. I'm a modified soul. I can freely switch between bodies as long as there isn't a soul in them, or if I can punch the soul out. So normally I hang out in that plushy. But I've got this gigai now so I can fight!"

As Tatsuki kept on watching him, she realized that he did remind her of Kon. He was about as tall as Ichigo, with similar albeit a browner shade of hair. He was wearing brown pants and a yellow hoody with a blue cross on the hood. "You can fight?"

"Yeah! I'm here to be the hero! So get ready to grovel and reward me for my selflessness. I expect full frontal nudity as reward."

Disgusted beyond all reason Tatsuki punched him in the back of the head. "You asshole!! It's not selflessness if you expect a reward!!! And how dare you make such outrageous demands!!!!!!!"

"What do you mean I'm not supposed to expect a reward?!!! What's the point of saving people then?!!!"

"Well it's the right thing to do you…" Tatsuki didn't have time to finish her statement. Kon grabbed her by the waist and leapt up into the air, avoiding an attack from Ayame.

As he landed he dropped Tatsuki onto her gut. Despite her disappointment in how he treated her she was happy to not be dead. Ayame on the other hand bent down and picked up her sword. "Another little insect to fight with."

Kai stepped forward. "Stay back, I can totally handle this."

Ayame shook with rage. "Like someone with a reiatsu signature as pathetic as yours could ever hope to beat me." She put her hand forward. "I'll just beat all four of you at once! Hado 33, Sokatsui!"

The blue blast went hurtling right at Kai, who stood incredibly still. Just before contact he kicked upward, diverting the blast and sending it upward.

Ayame was a little shook up when she saw that. 'No way. No one with such pathetic reiatsu could deflect that. Is he like Kaku? Can he suppress his strength?'

Kai looked down and saw that his shoe was burnt. "Ahhhh I liked these shoes!! Look what you did to them!!! That's it. I was gonna go easy on you in the hopes that you might convert to the forces of good and become one of my women, but ruining my shoes…Actually would you still be open to that?"

Ayame gritted her teeth. "I am wife to Sozo Menboku-sama before anything else! I cannot let such an insult slide. I'll make sure to kill you now."

"Wife huh? Well there goes that dream…Anyway whatever. Just try and kill me! You won't even get close!" In response Ayame charged and started slicing away with her sword. Kai rapidly dodged each one. After one such attack he leapt up and away from her. He landed cleanly and smiled. "That the best you got?"

She cringed in rage. With her shunpo she tried to get behind him and slice him in half, but as soon as she did he had leapt up and spun in order to kick her into the wall. As he landed Kai started bouncing, using just his toes to lift himself off the ground repetitively.

Ayame moved forward. "There's just no way that you could be hitting me this hard without some kind of a reiatsu signature. How are you hiding your strength?!"

Kai stopped bouncing and put his hands in his pockets. "I'm not. I'm just a mod soul. I guess you don't know what that is? Well it's an artificial soul that was made to be put inside a corpse to fight against hollows. The project was scrapped but I managed to survive, and ended up being a valuable ally to Ichigo, saving his life several times when he needed me most. And now I've got my own body."

Ayame gripped her sword harder. "That doesn't explain anything! Nothing can be as strong as you are without some kind of a reiatsu burst at the moment of impact. Even if a human being could be that strong, using such strength would destroy their muscles and burst their heart from the strain, no matter how much physical training they underwent!"

Kai bobbed again. "Well I'm not human. When I used to use Ichigo's body, I was pretty limited. Nothing too extreme, or his living body would have died. But this gigai of mine. It's way stronger, I can do stuff like…" He brought his leg up to his chest. "This!" He kicked out at the air in front of him; producing enough force that Ayame was forced to stumble back. "So awesome! Man I should be called super Kai or something!"

Ayame rushed forward and began to attack again. Kai was dodging easily though. Eventually she performed a vertical slice that he sidestepped and countered by kicking her in the side. With a slide he repositioned him self and kicked her in the back, forcing her to hunch over. He slid again and began a series of kicks into her gut which lifted her off the ground. He Then performed a back flip, during which he kicked her once more in the gut and then again in the face. The force of these final blows was great enough that Ayame was thrown a ways into the air. Before she could retaliate though Kon had already leapt up, and he flew to just above her and landed gently on her back. "Bombs away!" He kicked her straight down.

The force of her impact produced a shockwave that even Tatsuki and the others could feel. Kai landed very plainly a little ways away from the impact crater. He smiled and started leaping around again. "Victory: Kai!!!"

"Not yet it's not." Kai stopped dancing as he saw Ayame crawling out of the crater. She stood up. "I didn't want to admit it, but it is all physical strength. Pretty amazing too, to do it without being a spirit. Still, I can't lose to pathetic beings like you! Swarm, Arizuka (Anthill)!" Her katana didn't change shape at all, but a number of black spots appeared along the blade. None of them stayed still, giving the impression that the sword was swarming with tiny insects. Ayame's face also changed, with two black marks appearing on her forehead and two more on her cheeks, the cheek marks being bolder.

Ayame ran forward at Kai once again and he ducked under her horizontal swing. In doing so he was able to see first hand as five of the black specs coating her weapon broke away and in the blink of an eye grew into fully formed clones of Ayame, complete with the same sword. They all brought their swords down towards Kai, who was only barely able to avoid by kicking off and flying between two of them. He slid along the ground but quickly righted himself and stood, now looking at six enemies. He could no longer tell which one was the real one. "Hey guys! Me senses sorta suck, can you tell me which one is the real one?"

Mizuiro shook his head. "I can't tell! They're all giving off the same reiatsu!"

"Well, geez, that's annoying. Guess I'll have to trounce all of you." Kai sprinted forward and kicked the closest Ayame in the head. The clone quickly vanished. But Kai noted that his leg was completely stopped. He had planned on kicking right through that one and into the next one, but his leg lost all momentum as soon as it hit the first one. This had the unfortunate side effect of leaving him completely off guard with five sword wielding Shinigami running right at him.

He overcame his initial surprise by leaping, placing him well above the enemy. They all leapt as well, but Kai was able to knock out two more by performing a split kick. The other three swung their swords, and despite his best efforts, he received several slashes.

As if the wounds weren't bad enough, by the end of the swings several more clones had appeared all around him, forming a sphere of Ayame around him. Each smiled, and all Kai could do was mutter one last "Shit…" before he was impaled from every angle.

The three on the ground were shocked, and Keigo began to mutter "not good, we should go." Before they could get anywhere though three Ayame clones shunpo'd close to them.

The clones grinned. "Thought I'd forgot about you? Don't go anywhere. I was a little harsh earlier I know but I'm really not supposed to kill you. In fact my senses tell me that Sozo-sama is about to win his fight, so he'll want to speak with the defeated enemies, and try to explain his situation. You're in for a real treat, Weak as you are, Sozo-sama is a very generous lord, and he allows all peoples into his circle."

Tatsuki tightened the grip on her wounded arm. "Why the hell would we join you after you've done all of this to us?!" She heard a thud and spun to see that Kai had finally landed. She couldn't see very much of him, but she did hear a cough and see his body twitch.

One of the Ayame's surrounding Kon bent down and picked up a small green pill that the defeated enemy had just coughed up. It was incredibly faint, but there was reiatsu in the pill. "So, this is a mod soul? How odd. Kaku will be interested in this. As for the rest of you, you're coming. Everyone must be there for Sozo-sama's moment of victory."

Before any of the three of them could protest, they were unconscious.

The pack of Ayames, now reduced to five, quickly made there way back to the courtyard, just shortly after Ichigo's plummet. Kaku turned to look at them. "Why is it no one will follow my direction? Mai! You were far too violent." Mai began to speak but Kaku cut her off. "None of your excuses. And you Ayame, leaving like that in the heat of battle, when you know that your duty was protecting Menboku-sama's cape."

"The cape is fine, I left a hair with it so that I would know if it started moving, you know how good my senses are!"

"No more of this. In the future I will enforce my self more harshly."

Mai's blade Juubatsu suddenly appeared millimeters from Kaku's neck. She cradled it there. "Remember that you're not our lord, and even to Sozo, we're not just little toys to be commanded along strings."

Kaku smiled. "You say that while you hold his very gift as your means of attack." Kaku twitched his fingers upward and Mai's hand was pulled away by several iridescent yellow strings. He spun and the strings expanded wrapping around her arm and forcing it to her own throat. "Don't toy with me Mai, and remember that everything I say is serious. Hmm?"

Kaku heard a shuffling noise behind him. Orihime was slowly rising to her feet. 'Sado-kun…Asano-kun…Kojima-kun…Tatsuki…Ichigo…' "I'm sorry every one. I'm not standing down any more."

Kaku turned to face her. "Orihime. If you raise a single hand to aid these people in any way I will have no choice but to stop you."

"FINE!!! I don't care anymore. I won't stand aside while everyone else fights." Filled with rage and ignoring a growing feeling to stop herself Orihime closed her eyes and screamed. "Soten Kisshun I Reject!"

Rather then just two of them, all six of her fairy's appeared. They looked at her with varying looks, fear being the most common, with rage showing in one instance. Shuno hovered in front of her master's face. "Orihime…I'm sorry. You shouldn't have called for us…But it's too late now."

Deep underground Kisuke was driven by injury and exhaustion to his knees, the upper part of his body supported by his sword, driven into the ground. The victor of their fight approached him and placed the wider sword, Sutegoueru at the side of his head. "I've told you my purpose, and I have revealed my power to you. I will give you one last chance. Stop this pointless conflict, our enemy is the same one!"

Kisuke smirked. "They do say that the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Sozo began to smile a bit. "I guess I should go ask Aizen for help first chance I get."

All sense of joy left Sozo's face. He lifted the blade above his head and roared in fury quickly bringing it back down. Just before impact he stopped, and his arm was wrenched almost verticall, with Sutegoueru pointing into the ground above their heads. He starred at his sword reverently. "Have you found your prey, Has it finally arrived?!"

A/N: Bankai time…That would be bad…