Lost and Found

It had been three days since the final battle in Hueco Mundo, three days since the party had returned home to the Soul Society. Three days, and they were all a haze to Anrak.

He felt lost and confused, and was only vaguely aware that the group had been debriefed in front of Head-Captain Yamamoto repeatedly, and that his friends had finally caught on to the fact that something was bothering him, but he couldn't hear their words; when he spoke at the debriefings, he had been flat and emotionless as he mechanically laid out his version of the events, and the words of his friends were all unintelligible gibberish to his ears.

He was functioning solely on auto-pilot, numb to the world around him. Only Neliel had the slightest inkling of what was troubling him, and he had refused to elaborate for her after their return to the Seireitei.

And still, he had yet to speak to Kage Shitsukoi again.

The spirit had tried to talk to him a couple of times, tried to re-open dialogue between them, but Anrak had quickly and harshly shut her up.

He was through with Kagi and her secrets and lies. He had even stopped carrying the zanpaktou with him around the Seireitei anymore, instead leaving the cursed object in his quarters.

Anrak could remember his days in the Rukon, the academy, and his early days in the Seireitei. He remembered feeling unsure about fighting and holding a sword, and despite his proficiency at swordplay, he'd always held reservations about wielding a blade.

Somehow over the years, the reservations had mostly faded away and he'd become more comfortable with the sword, perhaps as a result of Kagi's influence, and perhaps a side-effect of being stuck with Squad 11 for over a century.

And now all of those old reservations had returned in force; the zanpaktou that had become some comfortable in his hands, so familiar, had become a foreign object, heavy and unwieldy once again.

All because he wasn't meant to fight. All because he was, at heart, a farmer rather than a warrior. He was a fake shinigami, and it was all because of Kagi and her secrets and lies.

More than once over the past few days, Anrak had considered fleeing the Soul Society and disappearing back into the Rukon to start over, to find who he truly was, but the choice to throw away the past hundred-plus years wasn't an easy one, and worse still was the concept of leaving his friends behind.

Though, he had already decided that if he did leave, he'd leave that damned sword behind.

A knock at his door snapped him out of his thoughts, and he walked over and slid the wooden door open to reveal the diminutive Yachiru standing there, holding a note.

"Hi Annie!" she said cheerfully. "How are you today?"

"Fine, Lieutenant." he lied, forcing a smile.

"Great!" she said, handing him the carefully-folded piece of paper in her hands. "Kenny will be glad to hear you're feeling better, too. Oh, and he says not to be late, or else!"

Anrak blinked and looked down at the note as she walked away, calling out one last "Bye, Annie!"

He closed the door and sat down on the edge of his bed, unfolding the note even though he already knew what it was.

Wednesday, Sōkyoku Hill, 0800.

Anrak sighed and crumpled the note, flinging it into an empty wastebasket. He'd always known Captain Zaraki hadn't been bluffing about wanting to fight him, though he was a bit surprised at being given advance warning.

Then again, this was probably Zaraki's way of making sure Anrak had time to get his head on straight so the fight would be more "fun."

It was Monday morning, and Anrak had absolutely no intention of meeting the captain Wednesday.

In fact, leaving the Seireitei altogether was starting to sound better and better.

He frowned as a stray thought jolted through his head, realizing he had something he needed to do before he left, a debt he needed to repay.

He pulled out his coin-purse and emptied it's contents on the bed, counting his money quickly. Not quite as much as he'd have liked, but it was enough. He returned the money to it's container and stood to leave.

Out of habit, he reached for his zanpaktou, ready to slide it into his belt, but he stopped himself before his hand grasped the dark blue scabbard.

No.

Never again.

Anrak, can we just-

Shut up, he shot back curtly, silencing Kagi as he turned away from the sword propped against the wall.

He exited his quarters and walked away, never looking back.

"I'm left alone with all the monsters in my head…
They say to me you won't choose life over death.
Insane attraction causes stillness in my mind,
Only a fraction of the things I've left to find."

It hurt. There was no other way for Kagi to describe Anrak's actions. Why couldn't he understand that it had all been for the best? She'd thought that he finally trusted her, believed in her…

And now, all of this stupid drama over something that she felt shouldn't even matter at all!

"Oh without you, all alone,
I see right through;
Strong intentions left and gone."

"I can't control my so impulsive frame of mind;
I feel the reigns, the bridle, jerk my head in line.
I wanna scream, I wanna kill, I wanna shout,
I choke it back and take a punch right in the mouth."

Anrak's harsh refusal to speak with her had been like a punch in the mouth, a devastating blow that she could only admit to here and now, alone. He couldn't know about this, not ever…

"Oh without you, all alone,
I see right through:
Strong intentions left and gone!"

"I cannot take this on my own, there's no excitement…
You'd rather see me rot alone!
Instead I suffer here for this!"

This was foolish of her; why should she allow herself to feel hurt and betrayed? She'd done nothing wrong, nothing! If anything, the fool should be on his knees thanking her, praising her, worshipping her, even!

She pulled the mask from the shadows around her and stared at it for a long second, putting it on for just a moment.

"I take a breath from that toxic mask of mine,
And fight the urge to disappear into the night.
And by my side I see a monster on my wing,
He drives me on, he keeps me safe, he makes me see…"

Kagi pulled the mask away from her face and looked at it sadly, letting it dissolve back into the night.

It was a monster, her monster…and she hated it, now more than ever. If not for that stupid mask, they'd both be dead, she knew that, but now she found herself thinking that death might be preferable to the cold shoulder she was receiving now.

"Oh without you, all alone,
I see right through:
Strong intentions left and gone!"

"I cannot take this on my own, there's no excitement…
You'd rather see me rot alone!
Instead I suffer here for this…"

Hours later found Anrak knocking on a door and waiting for a response, shifting the gift he had to his other hand as he waited.

Slightly annoyed at the lack of a response, he knocked on the doorframe again, harder this time, and he was rewarded with the sound of movement on the other side.

The door slid open to reveal the face of Captain Shunsui Kyōraku, who looked more than a little down with his usual smile gone from his face. The older man seemed surprised to see Anrak, but quickly hid it behind a fake smile and a friendly hello.

"I'm sorry, Ushii, but today's not a good day for us to work on your swordplay…" he began apologetically, and Anrak cut him off by shoving the gift into his hands; a jug of the most expensive sake he could afford.

"I'm not here for me, Captain; I'm here for you."

Shunsui had been kind to Anrak, had gone out of his way and taken time out from his own duties to teach the younger shinigami the art of dual-wielding. Anrak may have been lost in his own problems a lot lately, but he wasn't so blind as to not see the pain Kyōraku was feeling over the death of his closest friend.

Anrak felt obligated to be there for the man, to try and help Shunsui as best he could before he left the Seireitei.

Shunsui looked at the jug for a long moment before looking back up at Anrak.

"This stuff is really expensive…"

"But you need it right now." stated Anrak evenly. "And, you shouldn't drink it alone."

Silence filled the air for a long moment as the captain considered his words before nodding and welcoming Anrak inside.

They were in the captain's quarters for Squad 13, and as the half-filled box in the center of the room indicated, Shunsui had been in the middle of packing up the late Captain Jūshirō Ukitake's personal belongings.

"Juu kept these cups just for sake when I came over, although he didn't drink as much these last few years as he used to when we were younger…" said Kyōraku, producing two small cups and filling them to the brim with sake.

Anrak gratefully accepted one of the cups and slowly sipped at the sake, savoring the taste while Kyōraku inhaled the entirety of his cups contents, swishing it about in his mouth for a moment before swallowing.

"That's the good stuff." sighed the captain finally finally. "Juu would have liked it."

"I'm sorry I never got a chance to really know him." said Anrak truthfully.

"You'd have liked him… And he'd have liked you, too; you're a good kid, Ushii."

Anrak twitched slightly at being called a kid, but considering the captain had at least three hundred years on him, he couldn't argue.

Shunsui refilled his cup and began to stare off into space, taking a slow sip.

"I remember when Juu and I first met shortly before we went to the academy… Back in those days, I don't think we were too different from you and Lieutenant Abarai." he said, smiling slightly. "We even went fishing ourselves once… Juu's idea, if you can believe it."

"I don't… It doesn't sound like the Jūshirō Ukitake I've always heard about."

"We were young back then, young and a little reckless. He matured quickly as his health began to deteriorate… But we went fishing, got into a couple of bar fights, did panty raids in the girl's dorms… I miss those days and the life Juu had in him back then."

"He was really ill these past few years, wasn't he?"

"The last two decades have been the worst by far… He was my best friend, my brother, and I miss him…but I'm glad his pain is over."

Anrak nodded in agreement, taking another sip from his own sake cup as Shunsui began to tell the story of exactly how he had met Jūshirō. Anrak listened attentively, but he was keenly aware that someone was lurking outside, waiting and watching.

He'd felt their reiatsu several minutes ago, and he was having trouble pinning down who it might be.

Whoever it was didn't have any talent for hiding their reiatsu or their presence in general, which ruled out members of the Stealth Force and Enjeru, and the fact that whoever it was wasn't knocking the door down meant it wasn't Captain Zaraki.

Well, he'd deal with whoever it was later; right now it was more important to talk with Kyōraku and help him grieve over his friend.

Anrak sat and talked with Shunsui for hours, well past sunset and beyond the contents of the sake jug; listening more than speaking, and speaking more than drinking.

Finally, Shunsui sighed and looked at the half-packed box of belongings before looking back at Anrak appreciatively.

"My squad, even my sweet little Nanao, has been giving me space to deal with this alone… You don't know how much I needed someone to talk to, Ushii…hell, I'm not even sure I knew how much I needed it…but I have to finish packing Juu's things away, and that's something I need to do alone."

Anrak nodded as he stood to leave.

"I understand, Captain. I'm glad I could be of at least some help."

"You've helped a great deal, Ushii." said Shunsui with a sad smile. "You know, when Juu first began to get truly sick, he was very depressed at first…he said that he felt lost and his life wasn't going the way he felt it was supposed to… A few days later I came to see him again, and he was much more calm and peaceful. When I asked what changed, he said it was simply his view. He told me that it's not until we are truly lost that we can really begin to understand ourselves, and that every man's life is a diary in which he means to write one story, yet writes another."

"That sounds pretty deep."

"Juu was a very intelligent man, wise beyond his years…" Shunsui agreed, fixing Anrak with a knowing stare. "I think his words can be applied to more than just his own declining health."

Anrak swallowed hard, wondering just how much Shunsui knew about what was going on and how he knew, but the captain didn't offer anything more, and went back to packing the box. Anrak bowed in respect before disappearing out the door and into the night.

He didn't head for his quarters and the damned sword that still lay inside there; instead, he headed for the training chamber underneath Sōkyoku Hill to think. Things always seemed so much clearer under a blue sky, even if it was an artificial sky.

Besides, he knew who was trailing him now, and Anrak realized he needed to talk to them nearly as much as he'd needed to talk to Shunsui.

He intentionally led his stalker to the secret entrance of the chamber and began the long descent down the ladder into the enormous room, being sure to quickly hide his reiatsu and duck behind one of the massive stones that littered the artificial landscape as soon as he was at the bottom.

His stalker descended shortly thereafter, slowing walking through the room and looking about, trying to figure out where Anrak had disappeared to, and now he followed her for a few moments before stepping out behind her.

"Hello, Neliel." he greeted her evenly.

The startled arrancar gave a surprised yelp and whirled around to face him, her cheeks flushing at being caught off-guard.

"An, we need to talk." she said slowly. "You can't keep dodging me or Renji or Enjeru or everyone else forever."

He opened his mouth to reply, but stopped himself when he noticed that she wore two swords on her hip: her own zanpaktou in it's pale green scabbard on her left hip, and Kage Shitsukoi on her right hip. He scowled upon seeing the sword, irritated to even see the damned thing, and irritated that Nel had taken it upon herself to enter his quarters and take it.

"What are you doing with that?" he growled angrily. Nel smiled softly and removed it from her belt, handing the zanpaktou back to it's rightful owner.

"I thought you should have it with you…it's a part of you."

Anrak grasped the scabbard tightly, his knuckles whitening.

"A shinigami's zanpaktou is the physical manifestation of a spirit as opposed to your zanpaktou storing your old hollow powers…" he began, and Neliel nodded.

"I know… Is your spirit somehow to blame for your confusion?"

"It's her fault, all of it! She lied to me, Neliel! She's manipulated me and used me for over a hundred years!" he roared, seething. He glanced down at the sword in his hand. "I hate her!" he spat finally, throwing the sword against one of the giant boulders in the room.

Nel remained unfazed by his outburst, and calmly walked over to retrieve the sword.

"So when you said you didn't know who you were anymore, you mean she tricked you into becoming a soul reaper?"

"Exactly! I'm not a fighter, Nel! I never was; it's all been a lie constructed by her!"

The arrancar nodded solemnly, walking around behind Anrak and wrapped her arms around him…sliding the zanpaktou into it's traditional place on his hip as she did so. Anrak hissed and went to snatch it away and throw it again, but Neliel held onto it tightly, preventing him from removing it.

"No, An… Don't throw it away; just draw it."

"What?"

"Draw your sword." she commanded, finally releasing him and stepping around in front.

"I will never draw-" he began, but was cut off as Nel suddenly drew her own zanpaktou and attacked him. Without thinking, Anrak instinctively drew Kage Shitsukoi and blocked the strike.

"Nel, what the hell are you doing?" he cried, not believing that Nel, gentle Nel, would attack him without provocation.

"For someone who's supposedly not a fighter, you sure drew your blade and managed to block that attack pretty fast." she commented before striking at him again.

Anrak deflected the blow quickly, not entirely sure where she was going with all of this.

"You seem to have the reflexes of a warrior." she calmly announced before launching into a fierce battery of attacks that began to force Anrak back. He managed to deflect or block most of them, but a few found their way past his defenses, and he felt the tip of her blade bite into his flesh.

Still, Nel always pulled back each time she broke through, being careful not to truly hurt him.

But Anrak could only accept being on the defensive for so long before he blocked and countered, launching into his own series of attacks that left them dead-even; he was landing as many blows as she was, and she was every bit as good at deflecting his strikes as he had been with hers.

"And you definitely have a warrior's instinct to fight back." Neliel observed calmy.

"Just because I'm not a fighter doesn't mean I shouldn't defend myself!" he countered angrily.

"You could have simply dodged to the side. You could have ran away. You could have avoided drawing your sword and fighting back, but you didn't."

"It's a conditioned response. Damn it, Nel, it turns out I was supposed to be a simple farmer, not some swordsman. That's who I am; it's who I was in my old life. This? All this is a lie!"

"Are you sure? Maybe your old life is the lie and this is the real you." she stated, finally stepping back and returning her zanpaktou to it's scabbard.

"I was a pacifist, damn it, and look at what I've become!"

"Is that who you truly want to be? A pacifistic farmer living a quiet life?"

"I…I don't know."

"You need to figure it out, then. If you're not sure of who you are, you should at least work on becoming who you want to be." Nel said softly.

There was wisdom in her words that he couldn't deny, and it made Anrak consider leaving the Seireitei once more.

"I've thought about that…" he admitted slowly. "I think it might be best if I just leave for a while, go back to the Rukon and try to figure out who I really am."

"You would leave all your friends behind?" asked Neliel, surprised to hear that he was considering going AWOL.

"I can't drag them down with me. This is my problem."

"Our problem." she corrected. "If you leave, I'm going with you. Just because it's a journey of self-discovery doesn't mean you have to go alone; who would you turn to when things get tough? Who would you lean on?"

"Neliel-"

"I mean it. I'm going with you. But I don't think we need to go anywhere. Maybe you didn't end up where you wanted to be, but I think you're exactly where you need to be. How many lives have you saved, An? How many souls have you helped cross-over? How many hollows have you purified and laid to rest?"

"I don't know…I haven't kept track."

"Do you regret it? Do you regret helping lost souls find peace? Do you regret saving people from death?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Could you turn your back on those in need?"

"How could you even ask-"

"I ask because it's exactly what you're thinking about doing! Shinigami serve an important purpose in the world, maintaining the balance of good and evil, and you're talking about turning your back on that. There are people and souls who need you, An. Your friends need you. I-" Nel cut herself off abruptly, her cheeks turning red, but Anrak had missed her partial statement.

"It sounds like you're siding with Kagi…" he sighed.

"Maybe I am. Whatever her reasons were for leading you to this path, I think it was the right decision. This is where you belong, An; this is what you were meant to do."

"Why should you side with her? Nel, she hates you. She always has. You have no idea how many times she's told me to kill you. If she had half a chance to do it herself, you'd be dead before you even knew what hit you."

Neliel blinked in shock, surprised by the revelation that Anrak's zanpaktou positively despised her. She couldn't imagine why the spirit hated her, but she had no reason to believe that her friend was lying to her, either.

"Let her hate me, then." she said slowly. "It doesn't change the fact that I agree with her decision to push you towards being a soul reaper. It seems like she's made you a stronger, more courageous person, and I think she pushed you here because she cares about you, about making you a better person."

"Ha!" Anrak snorted. "She's a selfish bitch! I think the real reason she wanted me to become a soul reaper was so she could fulfill her own bloody desires to fight and kill. She doesn't care about what's best for me!"

"Really?" Neliel murmured, reaching out and grasping his hands, hands that were still holding onto Kage Shitsukoi. She held his hands in an iron grip, preventing him from releasing the sword, and she directed the blade upwards, the tip pointing towards her chest.

"Let's test that theory." she said, jerking the blade towards her body with all her might.

"No!" Anrak cried in terror as a nightmarish vision of Nel impaled on his zanpaktou flashed through his mind, her blood coating his hands.

The tip pierced her white top and touched her skin…

…and the blade promptly broke apart into three pieces, falling to the ground harmlessly and leaving Neliel completely unscathed.

Anrak blinked, confused. He knew Neliel's hierro was strong, but there was no way it was that strong.

"If she's really as selfish as you say, if she hates me so much, then why didn't she kill me when given the chance?" Nel asked softly.

He had no answers for her. It made no sense; there was no way Kagi was weak enough to simply break like that, unless…

"She knows you would never hurt me." Nel finished for him. "She knows your heart. She knows it would destroy you to ever kill one of your friends, and she chose to break herself instead of allowing your heart to suffer. Maybe she's not as selfish as you want to believe."

Anrak could only stare numbly at the broken hilt in his hands.

"You should talk to her." Nel whispered softly, stepping around behind him again and hugging him gently. "I'll be right here if you need me."

Anrak nodded and forced his mind into the dark corner of Hell that Kagi called home.

He wandered through the darkened landscape, brushing away bare tree limbs under the pale moonlight as he slowly made his way towards the clearing Kagi could normally be found in. The inner world the zanpaktou spirits lived in was supposed to be a reflection of the shinigami's own soul, but Anrak couldn't imagine that this dark and lifeless nightmare was truly his.

It was much more likely, he thought, that all these trees and bushes were supposed to be in bloom with a bright sun hanging overhead, but Kagi had managed to manipulate the environment and turn it into a twisted perversion of it's true form.

What Anrak felt should be a warm summer day was instead a cool autumn night.

That was at least one manipulation he could let slide without an argument; after all, Kagi had to live in here, and he didn't.

Finally, he reached the clearing…and there was Kagi, laying in the middle of it, looking battered and hurt.

His anger momentarily forgotten, Anrak rushed to her side in concern. He'd never her look so down, so utterly defeated.

"Breaking hurts…" she rasped.

"Of course it does, baka…" he chided her, musing slightly at the reversal of roles.

"You must be enjoying this." Kagi wheezed. "Seeing me lying on the ground broken after what I've done to you."

"You know that's not true…" Anrak said softly. "I don't like being lied to. I don't like being used. But I don't like seeing you in pain, either."

"You hate me, remember?" Kagi spat at him weakly, looking away.

"I'm not happy with you right now, but I don't hate you. I'm sorry for saying I did."

"I'm still not going to apologize." Kagi said, struggling to sit up. Anrak helped her, gently raising her torso off the ground, and Kagi steadied herself by leaning backwards on her hands heavily. "Everything I've done was for you, to make you stronger, and I will never apologize for that."

"Did you have to lie to me? Did you have to keep so many secrets?"

"How better to force you to move forward than to deny you a past to look back at?"

"You can't try to erase the past just because it doesn't fit in with the present or with your vision of the future, Kagi."

"Yes, I can." she said defiantly, finally summoning enough strength to sit up without bracing herself. "I shouldn't have given in and told you about who you were. You were better off not knowing. We were both happier when you didn't know."

"That didn't give you the right to deceive me."

"Doesn't it? I wouldn't even exist if you weren't meant to be a soul reaper, you moron! You were squandering your afterlife away in the same way you squandered your life away. What, do you think your talent for swordsmanship came from me? It's all you; it's always been there, and it wouldn't exist either if you weren't meant to use it."

"Then why-" he began, but Kagi cut him off by placing a finger to his lips.

"In your old life, you decried violence because of how you were raised. Unfortunately, your upbringing ran counter to who you really are. And you never questioned it! You blindly followed the path your parents had laid out for you from childhood through moving out on your own and taking a wife. You never once considered that maybe, just maybe, their way of life wasn't meant for you. But I couldn't reach you when you were alive; all I could do was sit and watch."

"What was I supposed to be, then? A samurai?"

"Maybe. Maybe you were meant to be a bandit. There's no way to know for sure; all I can tell you is that you were meant to fight."

"You should have told me all of this earlier."

"And you should have trusted me when I said I did everything for you." Kagi snapped bitterly, her eyes flashing with anger. "I may have told you a few lies, but I have never lied about that, and I never will; every lie told and every secret hidden has all been for you."

Kagi paused momentarily, scowling.

"And to think, that ditzy arrancar actually believed in me when you didn't."

"Does this mean you'll stop hating her now?"

"Never! I still have plenty of reasons to hate her." Kagi hissed, forcing herself to stand up finally, wobbling slightly on unsteady legs.

"Like what?" asked Anrak, annoyed that Kagi was still deadset against Nel after everything.

"She's a hollow. I hate the color green. Her breasts are bigger than mine. Her cheerfulness irritates the piss out of me. But what I really hate is the fact that her personality is too much like your wife's. You don't need that around you anymore; it'll make you weak again."

"How so? She's the one who agreed with you, remember? She supports your decision to drive me to become what I am."

"It's not that; it's the fact she's a throwback to your old life. You don't need that anymore. You need something new and different, something that fits in with your 'new' self."

"Like who?" asked Anrak, almost afraid of the answer.

"Yoruichi would be almost perfect if you'd get over this nonsense of looking at her as a sister. She'll make you stronger and keep you on your toes. Or Soifon, if you'd just give it a try. There's only one choice that's better than either of them."

"Do tell…" Anrak prompted her dryly, already knowing where she was going with this.

Kagi grinned seductively and stepped closer to him, placing her hands on his chest.

"Honestly, lover," she said, licking her lips, "who else could be better than me? I've known you your entire life and your entire afterlife. I've always been with you, and I know everything about you."

"You're also a spirit trapped inside this little world."

"So? You're in here with me right now, aren't you? You can enter any time you please, and you can force me to materialize in the real world just like when we were training for bankai."

"And that materialization only lasts for a few hours."

"So? That's long enough, isn't it?"

"Kagi," Anrak sighed, "no. We're partners, we work together, we fight together, but we can't actually be together."

"God damn that green-haired wench." hissed Kagi, stepping away once more. "She's already got you wrapped around her little finger, doesn't she?"

"Knock it off; Neliel and I are just friends, and you know it."

"You don't have my knack for lying, so don't bother attempting it." Kagi sniffed disdainfully. "Anyway, do you forgive me for misleading you?"

"I thought you refused to apologize."

"I'm not apologizing, I'm just asking if you forgive me; there's a difference."

Anrak paused for a long moment, considering. He was still somewhat angry over the deception, but he could feel truth in Kagi's words; she had done it all for him, and he was meant to do something other than wasting his life away on a farm.

"Hai, I forgive you…" he said slowly, "but I still don't appreciate the lies and secrets."

"Get used to it, baka; there are other secrets you're not ready for yet, and you may never be ready for them. You're just going to have to trust me when I say that it's in your best interest that I keep them."

"I'll try and be more understanding in the future…to listen to your side of the story before I do anything rash."

"That's good enough, I suppose." she said, placing her hands on his chest again. "And don't worry; I'll be ready by Wednesday."

With that, she shoved him back out of her sanctum once more.

Anrak opened his eyes and found himself lying on his back, staring up at the artificial sky, with Neliel cradling his head in her lap as she looked skyward as well.

"It's so beautiful…" she murmured. "I don't care if it is fake, it's still pretty. I can't wait for spring when the sky really will be that shade of blue."

She glanced down at him, running her fingers through his hair softly.

"So, how did it go? Did you two make up?" she asked.

"Yeah, more or less. She's still harboring some secrets, and she still says it's for my own good."

"Trust her, then; there's nothing else you can do other than stress yourself out over it." Nel said as Anrak sat up.

"Hai, you're right. Listen, Neliel, thanks for everything. I… I mean we-"

She placed a finger to his lips to silence him, eerily reminiscent of how Kagi had done just a few minutes ago, and smiled softly.

"Don't mention it, An. I'm just glad everything's back to normal; you had me worried for a while." she said, leaning forward and touching her forehead to his.

"I'm sorry… I never meant to make you worry." he said reaching up and cupping her chin gently.

"I know, An…" she whispered, leaning closer-

"Hey guys, what are you doing down here?" asked Satsu loudly, suddenly appearing next to them.

The duo broke apart, blushing furiously and noticing Takk and Renji standing near the ladder, both of whom were face-palming.

"You really are an idiot." Takk admonished his younger brother. "We should have just turned around and left them alone."

"Why?" asked Satsu, completely clueless as to what he'd interrupted. Takk sighed again and slapped him in the back of the head.

"Look, Anrak, Nel, I'm sorry…" Renji began apologizing. "I didn't know you two were down here. I just thought I'd bring these two down here and help them master their shikai release. We didn't mean to interrupt-"

"You didn't interrupt anything." Anrak said hurriedly. "We were just talking, that's all."

"Exactly!" Nel chimed in, beaming brightly. "So there's nothing to worry about."

Renji didn't look at all convinced, but he nodded anyway and pulled Zabimaru from it's scabbard and calling it into it's shikai form. He looked over at the two junior shinigami who were still bickering, and he snapped the whip-like blade in their direction, slamming the tip into the ground a couple of inches from their feet.

"Lesson number one: pay attention!" he bellowed, forcing them to look over at him.

Neliel giggled as Takk and Satsu jumped in surprise, and she and Anrak sat down and leaned back against a rocky outcropping to watch their friends train. As he observed the three sparring among themselves, though, Anrak found his mind drifting away to think about Wednesday morning…

Kenpachi sat on a stone on at summit of Sōkyoku Hill, waiting…although, he wasn't really sure what he was even waiting on anymore. Ushii wasn't going to show, he was sure of that; the kid had lost his edge, and had probably already fled the Seireitei.

Zaraki had seen Ushii's behavior countless times before, usually in younger shinigami that were fresh out of the academy, scared kids who had realized that they were in over their heads. They generally lasted about two weeks before they would pack up their few belongings and vanish into the night, never to be seen or heard from again.

He'd noticed the shift in Ushii's behavior since the return to the Soul Society, and he'd hoped the kid would snap out of it, both for the sake of their fight and because it would be a crime to see someone like Anrak just throw away all their potential.

But judging by the position of the morning sun, it was nearly eight o'clock, and still there was no sign of Ushii.

Zaraki gave a gruff sigh of disappointment and stood to leave, and as he did so, he felt a drop of water fall on his head, and then another, and another…

He glanced upward at the icicles dangling from the naked tree branches, surprised to see that they were melting. Frowning, he noticed that all the snow around him seemed to be softening and slowly melting away.

The snow shouldn't be melting, not yet…

But then, it did suddenly feel warmer, unseasonably so.

And there was something else in the air, something other than the heat; a familiar reiatsu approaching.

He glanced towards the path just in time to see a figure crest over the hill and begin walking towards him slowly, and the look on Zaraki's face showed his surprise.

The younger shinigami's strides were slow and purposeful, and the snow around his feet quickly melted away as he walked, almost as if it were recoiling in intimidation.

Zaraki smirked and nodded in approval as the other man placed his left hand on his scabbard and popped the sword loose with a flick of his thumb, wispy shadows leaking out from within and sparking another slight increase in the ambient temperature.

So, he hadn't fled after all…

The captain chuckled to himself as he drew his own zanpaktou, his face twisting into a mad grin.

"Let the fun begin."