A/N: Sorry for not updating in such a long time! I've really thrown the 'one chap a week' rule out the window XP Even though I'm single, I was so excited about Valentine's Day that I wrote valentine specials~ Recently I kept wondering how and why I got the idea of writing romance-ish fanfic and I finally got an answer - I was reading way too many shoujo manga... ==" Have you guys read Kaichou wa Maid-sama? It's so totally awesome and the art is just *squeals*

*Clears throat*

Anyway, I hope this chapter makes up for it, even though it's a bit short...

Chapter 21 – The fights continue

"Wh…what are you talking about, TenTen?" Leila said, still trying to continue her façade.

TenTen shook her head, "Stop pretending, Leila. Everyone knows you're not Satsuki-sama."

"Byakuya, can you please tell that delusional girl I'm the really Satsu…" Leila had turned to Byakuya but found his sword positioned against her throat, "…ki?"

"Move and you die," Byakuya warned coldly.

Leila pouted and then shrugged. "All well," She said while starting to glow, when the glowing faded, Satsuki's appearance had faded and was replaced by Leila's real appearance. "Are you happy now? I suppose this is the time we start killing each other…"

"I guess so, but before we start, I want to ask you one question. How did you escape being killed by Satsuki-sama?"

"Easy, the person Satsuki killed wasn't me. It was a clone that I swapped with during the fight."

"What? When did you…"

"You said one question and I answered that already," Leila pointed out. Then her expression turned into one of impatience and her voice darkened, "Now shut up and let me kill you."

"Uh… Can the fight not take place inside this shop? I've only lived here for the past century or so..." Urahara interrupted.

"Fine by me, there's more space outside anyway," Leila shrugged and walked outside.

TenTen started to follow but Byakuya grabbed her arm, "How are you supposed to fight in this condition?"

"…'this condition'? I agree that I can't fight her by myself but what do you mean by that? I'm feeling perfectly fine."

"But your covered in blood," Rukia said.

TenTen looked down at her blood-stained kimono, "Oh, this. This isn't my blood."

"Then whose blood is it?" Ichigo asked curiously.

"It's Satsuki-sama's blood," TenTen replied.

"What?" Rukia and Ichigo exclaimed at the same time while Byakuya's eyes widened.

"What happened to Nee-chan? Is she alright?" Rukia bit her lip.

"Well…" TenTen started.

Flashback Start

"It appears we are in some kind of… cage," TenTen murmured.

"What did you mean by that?" Satsuki stared at her zanpakutou.

"It means we walked around for the last two hours for nothing," she replied.

"You've got to be kidding me," Satsuki said but after seeing the look on the other girl's face, "OK, fine. So is there any way we can get out of here?"

TenTen thought for a moment before speaking, "Have you forgotten?"

Satsuki frowned at hearing those words. She hardly ever forgets anything, TenTen should be very clear of that fact.

"'Hardly ever' doesn't mean 'never', Satsuki-sama," TenTen said when she heard her thoughts.

"Enlighten me, TenTen. I really don't understand what you want me to remember."

"Two words – fair exchange."

Satsuki's eyes widened and TenTen smiled happily, "I see you've remembered."

"No," Satsuki shook her head. "I'm not going to use Tenshi no Koukan (Angel's exchange according to Google Translate)."

"Why? Nothing really bad happened the last time you used that technique."

"'Nothing bad,' you say? You call being unconscious for a week nothing bad?"

"It was a very peaceful week," TenTen smiled at the memory.

"There has got to be another way out of here," Satsuki huffed.

"Sorry, Satsuki-sama, but this really is the only method."

Satsuki bit her lip and after a moment of deep thought she said, "What sort of cage are we in?"

"I would say a hollow version of Bakudou."

"Well, that's easy. All I need to do is perform a stronger restraining Kidou."

TenTen shook her head, "Leila used her own blood when creating this 'cage'."

The other girl paled, "How much blood?"

"The symbols that make up this restraint are all written in her blood, so I guess around… a litre."

'She's crazy," Satsuki muttered.

Her zanpakutou laughed but the turned serious, "So are we doing this technique or not?"

Satsuki sighed, "Do I even have a choice?"

"Nope," TenTen replied while grinning. She transformed into a sword and Satsuki picked it up.

Remember, half of your blood, TenTen's voice echoed in her head.

"I get it, I get it. Who calls this 'fair exchange'? I have to give double the amount…" Satsuki grumbled. Gritting her teeth, she brought the sword down to her left arm, making a deep cut down her whole arm. Her blood immediately flowed out of the cut and she made sure that every drop landed on her sword.

Just as her vision started to blur, the surroundings changed. They were no longer in darkness, instead they were in a large, empty room. There room had no windows and no furniture, only one door.

Satsuki sat against the wall and glared at her bleeding arm. TenTen appeared kneeling beside her and also stared at the arm. She quickly reached up and pulled the ribbon out of her hair. She started to wrap the ribbon around the arm, temporarily stopping the blood from flowing out.

"If you keep sitting there, you'll find it hard to stand up again," TenTen stood back up and helped Satsuki to her feet. She made a face at the blood dripping down her black kimono, "Having two litres of blood being dumped on me isn't very good for my clothes. On a slightly more important note, do you think you can fight Leila with only two litres of blood left in your body?"

Satsuki shrugged, "I'll find a way to manage."

"You do remember you can't heal your injury, right?"

"Of course I do. It's one of the after effects of the so called 'fair exchange'."

"I'm just checking. Should we get going?"

Satsuki nodded and headed to the door that was surprisingly…unlocked. After opening the door, Satsuki let out a groan, "I should've known this was going to happen."

TenTen looked past her master's shoulder and frowned. Surrounding the building were hundreds upon hundreds of hollows. "What do you suggest we do now?"

Satsuki rubbed her face. She was so tired after the fight with Leila in Las Noches, and losing half of her blood didn't help the situation at all. "Let's just get this over with," she muttered. "If I'm right, Leila is probably pretending to be me right now. We better get back to Urahara's before she starts causing chaos."

After taking a deep breath, Satsuki stepped outside. She studied the hollows around them and felt their reiatsu, "TenTen, I'm going to use Tenshi no Chiri."

"'Kay," the sword replied before scattering into dust. The dust flowed around Satsuki.

"Wipe out all of them in the least amount of time possible," Satsuki ordered.

The cloud of dust flew toward the hollows in a blink of an eye. Upon contact with the dust, the hollows started to fade away. Within seconds, every hollow in site were dead.

Satsuki smiled but then cursed as she felt herself losing her balance, "Stupid blood loss."

"C'mon, Satsuki-sama, we've got to go back to the Human World," TenTen returned to Satsuki's side to support her anaemic body and started to open a Garganta. After opening the Garganta, she turned to Satsuki, "Do you want to go first or me?"

"You go first. You have more energy than me."

TenTen nodded and stepped into the Garganta. Satsuki started to follow her but the sound of hollows shrieking made her stop. With a sigh she turned to her sword, "Go back to the Human World while I deal with these hollows. I'll catch up soon."

TenTen nodded and started running into the Garganta, she knew complaining wasn't an option when Satsuki had that determined expression on her face.

Flashback end

"…and that's how I came to be covered in blood. Satsuki-sama is most likely alright since there were only low-level hollows. If something bad had happened, I would've disappeared ages ago," TenTen finished explaining.

"Half of her blood," Rukia repeated. "Even shinigami will have trouble staying conscious after losing that much blood."

"There is nothing to worry about," Byakuya said. "She said she will come so she will. Nobles don't break promises."

"Well said, Byakuya-sama," TenTen nodded her head. "You guys got any more questions? Good. Leila's waited for us long enough."

"Took you guys long enough," Leila rolled her eyes when she saw them coming out of the shop.

"The point isn't to defeat her but to buy some time until Satsuki-sama comes," TenTen reminded them in a soft voice before pulling out her katana.

The others nodded their heads and all got ready to face the enemy.

…

"…there's more?" Satsuki stared at the oncoming horde of hollows in disbelief. After using Tenshi no Chiri for the sixth time, Satsuki was sure she'd killed at least half of the hollow population in Hueco Mundo but the hollows just kept coming. Satsuki cursed when she felt immense pain from her left arm. Looking down, she saw that her arm had started bleeding again.

Satsuki couldn't afford losing anymore blood. Losing more blood would lead to her lose consciousness and that would cause TenTen to disappear from the physical world. If that happened, then there would be no one to help Byakuya and the others fight Leila.

Don't be so negative, Satsuki-sama, Satsuki blinked in surprise when she heard TenTen's voice. She'd totally forgotten she and TenTen could communicate through telepathy.

Focus on the fight in front of you, TenTen.

I can say the same thing to you, my dear master.

How's the situation? Satsuki asked while sending another wave of attacks toward the oncoming hollows. The hollows stood no chance against her power but Satsuki's strength was slowly decreasing all the while.

Just concentrate on your side of the fight, Satsuki-sama. We can manage for a while longer.

Satsuki frowned at TenTen's unwillingness to tell her what was happening in the Human World. They never kept anything from each other. It was also quite a hard thing to do, considering the two were shinigami and zanpakutou. Before Satsuki had a chance to ask for more information, the hollows started to attack her.

Don't talk to me. If you do, you and I will both die, literally, Satsuki warned TenTen through telepathy.

A frog-like hollow leaped at Satsuki but with a swipe of Satsuki's sword, the hollow was cut in half. Just as the dust was dispersing, the hollows surrounded her. Satsuki glared at the enemies around her. "Die," she commanded simply. The sword in her hand dispersed and a second later all the hollows around her were reduced to dust.

Satsuki glanced down at her lifeless left arm and immediately wished she didn't. She hadn't lost this much blood since…well, ever and it freaked her out.

I'm fading, Satsuki-sama!

Well I can't exactly order my consciousness to stay with me, can I? Satsuki forced her eyes open with a groan but found it hard to make her eyes focus. I can't keep using my power like this. I'm just wasting my strength if I continue like this; there are way too many damned hollows here.

Then open the Garganta and get your backside over here. I don't get why you stayed in Hueco Mundo for so long. I thought you were just gonna kill those hollows and come back here.

I…can't open a Garganta.

What? Yes you can! I've seen you open one millions of times!

I can open one but just not now. I can't think of the method, but Leila did something that has made me unable to open one… Crap, more hollows are coming… Satsuki tuned out before TenTen replied. She took a step forward and cursed when she felt herself falling forward. While she was talking to her zanpakutou, more blood had left her body.

She found that she couldn't move a muscle and to make matters worse, darkness was closing around her. Before she fell into complete darkness, she saw a mixture of blue and white run toward her...