The Long Halloween

by pago

AU, OCs. All Hollow's Eve, better known as Halloween, is the one night of the year when the natural boundaries between the realms of life and death are at their weakest. For humans, it's a celebration built around myth. For the shinigami, it's the single busiest night of the year. For a group of violent prisoners in Hell, it's an opportunity that can't be ignored. **COMPLETE**

25. Recess

Recess

"That could have gone better..."

"It could have gone worse...a lot worse."

"Well, there's always tomorrow..." muttered Ichigo irritably, knowing that the other man had a point. The initial hearing for the Espada had not gotten off to a great start and as bad as it had been, the distinct possibility that it could get worse had not been lost on the teen; Central 46 and Yamamoto seemed pretty intent on executing the arrancar for their part in the War three years ago, but this viewpoint was adamantly opposed by many of the other Captains and Kurosaki himself. He didn't want to end up fighting against Yamamoto and his loyalists, but it wouldn't be the first time he had done so.

"The good news is that the Soul King has taken a personal interest in the case," his father reminded him. The elder Kurosaki looked up at the darkening sky as they continued their walk away from the damnedable trial and the flaring tempers it had contained. "The Soul King is notorious for not involving himself directly in the affairs of the Soul Society, but when he does, his word carries great weight. If he wanted to, he could pass sentence entirely by himself and Yamamoto and Central 46 would not hesitate to obey."

"So why doesn't he?" asked Ichigo. "If he's so powerful and well-respected, why doesn't he just say 'let them go' and be done with it?"

"He put the Soul Society and the job of keeping the realms in balance in the hands of Yamamoto and Central 46; he's trusting in them to make the best decision possible...but I do think he's a bit like a father who's trying to guide his children towards the right thing instead of directly making the choices for them."

"Dad, if you try and compare this to—"

"It's just like I've always tried to do with you and—"

*POW!*

"Idiot," said Ichigo as Isshin slowly picked himself up off the ground, shaking his head to clear the ringing in his ears. "Comparing what the Soul King is doing to your half-assed parenting? Jesus, dad..."

"My 'half-assed parenting' seems to have done pretty good," countered the elder Kurosaki. "You and your sisters all know the value of selflessness, you help those who need help regardless of who they are, and you don't let anything or anyone stand in the way of doing the right thing. Yeah, your grades positively suck and you're embarrassing the hell out of me on that front, but you've grown up in such a way that I'm proud of everything else about you."

"Dad..."

"And I did my best to guide you along the way, to teach you about right and wrong without actually making the choices for you because if I had, then you'd have never learned anything," continued Isshin. "That's what all good fathers try to do. It's the same as what the Soul King is doing now. You'll understand one day when you and Rukia make me some grandbabies."

"Way to ruin your credibility, dad," sighed Ichigo. "You almost had me thinking you were serious."

"I'm extremely serious; I want some grandkids before I'm dead," countered Isshin with a broad grin for a moment before taking on a more serious expression. "And I'm pretty serious about the rest of it, too... I don't expect you to understand it just yet, but one day you will."

"Okay, fine, that might be true, but you're complaining about my grades, seriously?" asked Ichigo in disbelief. "I brought home all B's last semester and an A!"

"And when I'm bragging about how selfless you are to Ryūken and he points out that Uryū has made straight A's ever since kindergarten, do you think I can shut him up by bragging about your B's?"

"The hell? Dad, maybe you've missed it, but I spend a lot of time saving the world! It's kind of hard to keep my grades that high and be a Soul Reaper! Besides, Kon is responsible for most of that; when he fills in for me, he half-asses the homework and sleeps through the tests!"

"Excuses, excuses..."

"You don't complain when Karin brings home all B's and the occasional C!"

"Son, you're the eldest child; it's your responsibility to set a good example for your sisters. Her C's are entirely your fault for failing as a role model."

"That's not... I...you..." stammered Ichigo, twitching as the urge to wallop his father came dangerously close to surfacing once again. "...I have a headache now."

"And that's another problem," said Isshin disapprovingly. "You're too tense! You get stressed out over everything! Smile more, laugh often, be irresponsible once in a while!"

"Be more irresponsible, but get my grades up?"

"Exactly!"

"And my headache just got worse," groaned Ichigo, massaging his orange-haired scalp gently. "And to hell with my grades right now; aren't you the least bit worried that even with the Soul King's guidance, Central 46 might still decide to kill the arrancar, including Nel?"

"Not really," shrugged Isshin. "What they decide and what actually happens aren't necessarily the same thing, unless you were bluffing about helping protect them, in which case I will be very disappointed in you."

"Of course I wasn't bluffing!" scowled the teen. "But I don't want it to come to that...I don't want to have to fight my friends."

"If you have to fight your friends, are they really your friends?" asked Isshin. "Make no mistake; the Gotei 13 is a military organization and while there's a good bit of cooperation and fellowship, there's few actual friendships. Yamamoto is a prime example of this; he is nobody's friend, period. That was true when I was an active Captain and it's still true today."

"How long did you serve?" asked Ichigo. "You've never told me anything about your past here."

"You never asked," said Isshin, prompting a twitch from the younger Kurosaki. "I was Captain of Squad 10 for about fifty years and a lesser officer in Squad 13 for the century prior to that. Shame Captain Ukitake didn't survive the war; he was always a good man and I enjoyed my time as one of his officers."

"If you served that long, why did nobody recognize the name Kurosaki when I first came to the Seireitei to save Rukia? That should have rung a few bells, but all I ever heard was that I look a lot like the late Kaien Shiba!"

"Maybe everyone just forgot about me..." shrugged Isshin, trying to look innocent and failing miserably. "I mean, I did kind of disappear without a trace just over twenty years ago when I met your mother. Twenty years is plenty of time for people to forget my name."

"Uh-huh..." said Ichigo dryly, unconvinced but equally unwilling to push the issue. "I just hope Yuzu and Karin are doing okay without us."

"My mod soul is very responsible," said Isshin reassuringly. "Kisuke actually says it's more responsible than I am."

"That doesn't really take much..."

"And besides, Karin is mature enough to handle things on her own if she has to," said Isshin with a hint of pride in his voice. "Tough enough, too. And Kon may be an idiot, but he'll keep them safe."

A cold wind blew through the streets, making the tattered remains of Isshin's haori flutter about wildly in the air as Ichigo barely suppressed a shiver. Tonight would be a cold one and with all the damage done to the city, many shinigami would be forced to camp outside and endure the chill. Divisions 11 and 12 had both been completely leveled, not a single building left standing between the two of them, and virtually every other division had sustained significant damage in the chaos, enough so that they couldn't realistically take in all of the suddenly-homeless Soul Reapers. With buildings across the city severely damaged by fire, flood, or flying bodies, many other shinigami would be forced to camp outside simply because their barracks were so unsafe that they had been condemned.

"I really feel for all the people without shelter tonight..." muttered Isshin. "I'm going to go crash with little Tōshirō and catch up with him. What about you? The quarters you use when you stay here survive last night? If they didn't, you can come with me; I'm sure Tōshirō won't mind."

"I'm considerably less sure about that," said Ichigo. "My quarters are fine, though. Most of the officer's quarters in Division 9 are fine, but the barracks are in rough shape; about a third of the unranked Soul Reapers will be camping out. On the upside, there's so much broken wood lying around from all the damaged buildings that it won't be hard for people to make campfires."

"Considering that broken wood used to be their homes, that's not really an upside."

Ichigo opened his mouth to argue with his father before deciding against it; the elder Kurosaki was, unfortunately, right. It would probably be weeks before everyone had a roof over their heads once again and there was no telling how the weather might shift between now and then; the last thing anyone needed at this point was snow or freezing rain to rear its ugly head.

It wasn't cold enough for snow just yet, but rain...

It wasn't much, but Ichigo had an old camping tent tucked away in the attic back in Karakura; once the Seireitei's lockdown was over and he could go home, he'd bring the tent back and donate it to the displaced shinigami.

Well, that was assuming he wasn't excommunicated by the Gotei 13 after the fate of the Espada had been decided...

The two Kurosakis continued their walk in relative silence as the chilly November winds bit at their faces. They watched as other shinigami ran back and forth ferrying trash to the garbage pits or carrying blankets and tarps to the homeless to get them through the night. It was a depressing sight, one that made Ichigo ponder how different things might have been if he had managed to defeat Kokutō earlier.

Of course, however bad things were, they could always get worse...

This point was mercilessly driven home when the father and son duo turned the corner and saw one of the most notorious and dreaded individuals in the entire Seireitei heading in their general direction, a beige sack of some sort slung over her shoulder.

While Ichigo knew he could take the former assassin in a fight, that didn't mean he wanted to deal with her any more than he absolutely had to; she was vicious, evil, obnoxious, insulting, sarcastic, rude... The woman literally had zero redeeming qualities and...

...and the mixed look of surprise and anger she was casting their way made him decidedly uncomfortable.

"Dad, let's take another road..." Ichigo suggested, attempting to steer his father into taking a left turn to avoid the silver-haired maniac in front of them, but Isshin just stood there completely slack-jawed, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Dad, we should—"

"Isshin..." hissed the woman bitterly, dropping her sack to the ground. "So, you really are back..."

A broad grin broke out across the elder Kurosaki's face as he rushed forward and grabbed the slender young woman, hugging her tightly and laughing as her eyes doubled in size at the sudden gesture. The look on her face darkened to one of anger, sending Ichigo into a panic.

"Don't!" he cried out to his father. "Let her go! You don't know what she—"

"My little Haname is all grown up!" gushed Isshin happily as he hugged her before grabbing her by the waist and tossing her up into the air like a small child. He held out his arms to catch the lithe assassin, but she twisted in the air, shoved an arm out, and placed her hand on Isshin's face before pushing off and somersaulting over him rather than allowing the ex-Captain to catch her.

"Okay, I may have deserved that..." said Isshin, frowning a bit as he lowered his arms and turned around to face Haname Shiba.

"Are you crazy?" asked Ichigo, a vein throbbing in his forehead as he addressed the elder Kurosaki. "Do you even know who this is? She's a certifiable—"

"Shut up and mind your own business, Kurosaki," growled Haname angrily. "This is between me and Captain Shiba."

"Captain Shiba?" asked Ichigo, confused. "You're insane! Dad, tell her—"

"Dad?" echoed Haname, sounding equally confused. "My uncle can't be your father!"

"My father can't be your uncle!" countered Ichigo, panicked by her use of the word 'uncle.' "He's a Kurosaki, just like me!"

"No..." said Haname slowly, pointing at Isshin. "He's a Shiba and you," she moved her finger over to point at Ichigo, "are a dumbass!"

"Dad, tell her she's wrong!"

"Isshin, tell this idiot he's wrong!"

Isshin just grinned guiltily as the two younger shinigami looked to him for answers.

"Actually, kids...you're both right," he said finally. "Ichigo, son, meet your cousin, Haname..."

The two shinigami turned to look at each other, expressions of shock and horror etched on their respective faces before they simultaneously declared their feelings to the world.

"Oh, God damn it!"

---

"So how'd the meeting go?"

Neliel looked down at the younger girl walking beside her, contemplating how best to answer the question; tell her the not-so-great truth or a comforting lie and hope she didn't see through it? Each options had its pros and cons, ranging from not wanting to lie to Lilynette to not wanting to worry the poor girl, either.

The Lieutenant was escorting the smaller arrancar over to Division 8 where she and Starrk would be spending the night with Captain Kyōraku. Lilynette had been tasked with staying in the hospital with Tyn and Grimmjow during the meeting and Nel had volunteered to make sure she got back to Starrk safely, but she hadn't quite counted on the girl being so curious about the meeting.

"I'm guessing it went pretty bad," said Lilynette as Nel continued to ponder what to say. "We're all in trouble, aren't we?"

"It didn't go that bad," Nel assured her hurriedly. "It could have gone better, but it's not that bad... There's actually a lot of support for your freedom among the Captains."

"But the old guy has final say, doesn't he? Yamamoto, I mean."

"Yes and no..." answered Nel hesitantly. "Central 46 has become directly involved and Yamamoto is bound by their decision."

"Who are they?" asked Lilynette, frowning. "Sounds like a bunch of old farts who've never been in a real fight trying to pass judgment on the people who do the fighting they're afraid to."

"That's not..." began Nel before pausing a moment to consider the other girl's words more carefully. "...actually, that's surprisingly accurate..."

"I'm guessing they don't like us."

"I'm not sure they like anyone, but half the Captains are rallying behind us," smiled Nel. "That's got to count for something, right?"

"I hope so," sighed the younger arrancar. "I don't want to fight the Soul Society."

"It'll be okay, Lilynette," Nel promised her, putting an arm around her shoulders and hugging her gently as they walked. "You'll see."

"And why do I gotta stay with Starrk and Shunsui tonight?" she asked, frowning. "I mean, I'm really glad the two idiots are both okay and all, but they're both lazy and they complain a lot and it drives me nuts! Can't I please stay with you instead?"

Neliel chuckled softly at Lilynette's apt description of the primera and the amicable Squad 8 Captain; she could see how their antics might get on one's nerves, especially someone as young and energetic as Lilynette.

"I'd love to have you stay with me," Nel told her softly, "but I don't have a home at the moment."

Lilynette's face fell. "Oh..."

"Yeah..." sighed Nel sadly. "Everything An and I had is gone... We're going to be sleeping outside tonight... Probably for the next couple of weeks, actually."

"You don't have any friends you could crash with?" asked the girl with concern. "I mean, it's kind of chilly out here..."

"We do," the Lieutenant nodded, "but we're not going to inconvenience them. Besides, we need to stay in Division 13 where our people can find us if they need us."

Lilynette's frown only deepened at the thought of her idol being out in the cold. "One night, maybe, but a couple of weeks? Nel, you can't be serious..."

"It's fine; An knows a few tricks for camping out in bad weather," she reminded the child. "We'll be safe."

They meandered through the twists and turns of Division 8's narrow streets, passing busy Soul Reapers left and right, most of whom paid no attention to the two arrancar. A small handful noticed Neliel and gave her a smile and a polite wave, both welcome, comforting gestures after some of the more-intense anti-arrancar sentiment she had seen expressed earlier in the evening.

She was so thankful Lilynette hadn't been there to hear some of the awful things the judges of Central 46 had said... So much hate and vitriol, and yet they were supposed to be some of the wisest and most enlightened people in the entire Soul Society? It was not a comforting thought.

Well, at least there were plenty of good people who didn't hate them for being hollows.

Shunsui's quarters were in sight now, a small house slightly bigger than the one Nel had shared with An in their own division...but then again, with as long as Shunsui had been a Captain, it wasn't a surprise that he may have had time to expand his home a little bit.

The injured Captain and the Espada sat on the small wooden porch, already well into a bottle of sake and the sun hadn't quite vanished over the horizon yet. They waved at the approaching girls, and Shunsui abruptly got up and disappeared into his house for a minute. Nel looked to Starrk for an answer, but the primera just shrugged cluelessly.

"Tyn wake up yet?" Starrk asked as Lilynette sat down on the porch beside him.

"Grimmjow farted and Tyn made a nasty face like this," said Lilynette, scrunching her nose up in disgust, "but he hasn't woken up."

"Well, at this point, any movement is probably a good sign," said Starrk with a relieved smile. "Would have been a better sign if he'd woken up and smacked Grimmjow, but it's a start."

Shunsui finally emerged from his house with a couple of thick blankets folded up.

"And don't even think about refusing," he told Nel as he handed her the blankets with a warm smile. "Keep 'em as long as you need them; just don't freeze out there tonight."

"Captain...thank you," said Nel, bowing deeply. "I appreciate this so much...and so will An."

He waved her thanks off, pausing mid-wave to go back into his house again. He re-emerged several seconds later with a small bottle of sake and gently laid it on top of the blankets.

"That'll help keep you both warm," he said with a grin. "Alcohol will fix all that ales you!"

"Oh, God..." groaned Lilynette, facepalming at the terrible pun. "Nel, are you sure I can't stay with you tonight? Camping out might be fun...comparatively."

"I think she's insulting us..." drawled Shunsui slowly.

"Definitely insulting us," agreed Starrk.

"If it were warmer weather," Nel told the younger girl, reaching a hand over to pat her on the head affectionately while balancing the blankets and sake with her other hand. "But I want you to stay indoors and keep warm and I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," sighed the younger girl dejectedly.

Lilynette waved goodbye as Nel slowly wandered off back to her own division while Shunsui sat back down and took a drink of his own sake. He gave her a smirk and an informal little salute which brought a brief smile to her face before she turned around to focus on the path ahead of her.

Even if Central 46 hated her for being an arrancar, it was nice to know that she really did have friends who saw beyond the mask on her head.

---

At some point, a secret would inevitably cease being a secret; a past that had been left behind wasn't necessarily forgotten and there was always, always a way for that past to catch up to a person. Of all the myriad ways Isshin had thought the truth might come out one day, running into the niece he hadn't seen in over twenty years had somehow not been one of them.

But there was no mistaking Haname's unique silver hair and her ice blue eyes; flashes of the girl's life sped through his mind, allowing him to recall happier times within the Shiba clan, of watching the rambunctious only child of his youngest brother run around happily...

Well, as happily as possible given that most of the clan had shunned her for the hurtful things her mother had said upon abandoning the newborn Haname.

Only three people within the clan had willingly accepted the child: Isshin, Kaien, and of course, her father, Kaemon. Kūkaku and Ganju had been but toddlers themselves at the time and had obediently followed the wishes of their father, Takeru, to shun the shinigami child. Only Kaien, the eldest of Takeru's children, had openly defied him and accepted the infant as family.

Haname's father had died when the girl was very young and while the rest of the clan had grudgingly raised her, they had not actually cared for her; that had been the sole job of Isshin and Kaien.

And then Isshin had disappeared twenty-five years ago, leaving Kaien as the only supportive figure in the girl's life.

And then Kaien had died only three years later, leaving Haname without anyone who actually gave a damn about her.

"I sense we have some talking to do..." said Isshin as the two younger shinigami eyed him, one with surprise and confusion and the other with a seething rage. "Ichigo, why don't we continue this conversation in your quarters? This doesn't need to be a public spectacle..."

Indeed, a crowd was already gathering around in anticipation of violence and while Isshin didn't want that to happen, he was well-aware that it was a very distinct possibility given the murderous look etched on Haname's face. Still, even if they managed to avoid any violence, there was no need to put their personal family issues on display for the general public.

"Yeah..." agreed Ichigo finally. "Follow me; we're pretty close."

The woman hesitated a moment, slipping a hand around to the small of her back and her waiting zanpaktou as she clenched and unclenched her teeth repeatedly, the muscles in her jaw visibly shifting every other second as she contemplated trying to gut both men. After a long, tense pause, she sighed heavily and stalked back over to her dropped bag, picking it up and slinging over her shoulder once again.

"Fine, whatever," she said finally. "I'll give you one chance to explain before I kill you. I owe you that much, Uncle."

Isshin flinched slightly at the way she had spat the word 'uncle' at him; had his disappearance really hurt her that badly?

The crowd began to thin out in disappointment as Ichigo led the other two through the bodies towards his quarters, Haname dragging up the rear and glaring daggers at anyone whose eyes lingered on the group for a second too long.

The onlookers vanished quickly, each suddenly remembering they had somewhere else to be, something else to do, something decidedly less-hazardous to their health.

The acting-Lieutenant led them to his quarters, tucked away at the end of a row of quarters for officers and guests in Division 9. In truth, his were guest quarters since Hisagi was the actual Lieutenant of the division, but there wasn't much difference in the size; it was large enough to be comfy for him and Rukia when she would visit and while it would do just fine for three people to sit and have a conversation, it would feel slightly cramped with that many individuals in there...

...especially since one of those people was a certifiable maniac with homicidal tendencies.

Ichigo twitched involuntarily at the thought as he slid the door open and ushered the other two shinigami inside. Haname immediately stalked over to a corner on the far side of the room and dropped her bag, but she refused to sit down. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Isshin, waiting for answers as Ichigo quietly slid the door shut and walked over to sit across from his father. He removed Zangetsu from his back and sat it in the floor beside him, making sure it was within easy reach in case the former assassin in the room snapped.

"My name," Isshin began slowly, "my real name, is Isshin Shiba. I am...or I was, the head of the Shiba clan. I have two brothers...your uncles, Ichigo...Takeru and Kaemon."

"You had two brothers," Haname interrupted him curtly, a slight tinge of sadness showing in her eyes for a moment. "Daddy died a long time ago."

"I remember; you were only four at the time..." sighed Isshin. "Kaemon, Haname's father, was my youngest brother. Takeru is the middle child and he would have become the new head of the family after I disappeared."

Haname scowled at the mention of Takeru.

"The Shiba clan's feud with Soul Reapers goes back a lot farther than you might think, Ichigo," the ex-Captain explained. "While a few of us think it's a stupid conflict, most of the clan mindlessly follows the notion that shinigami are nothing but trouble and should be avoided. Takeru has always been a very firm believer of this and I can only imagine how it's been since he took over as head of the family..."

The woman in the corner said nothing, but her scowl darkened.

"The clan wasn't happy with my decision to be a Soul Reaper, and they weren't happy when Kaien chose to follow my example, but they grudgingly accepted us. I thought we could help bring an end to the old hostilities...but then I disappeared and Kaien died..."

"And why did you disappear?" Haname asked bitterly. "My mother fucking abandoned me, Daddy died when I was little, but I always had you and Kaien...and then you just fucking vanished one day without a trace!"

"There were reports of strange activities and disappearances in the world of the living," began Isshin, scratching at his thin beard slowly, a far away look in his eyes as he began to recall the past. "The reports felt a little too much like the stories from about eighty years prior, of shinigami disappearing in the Rukon district, of Captains and Lieutenants being among the casualties. I decided to go investigate by myself so as not to endanger anyone else...

"I found a hollow...a strange hollow like nothing I'd ever seen; it was black, all black, but it was human-sized with a humanoid form and it fought just like a shinigami. It was strong, too...almost unbelievably so."

"Aizen," hissed Ichigo, already knowing who had to be responsible. "Sounds like one of his experiments."

"We know that now, yeah, but back then..." Isshin paused, looking up at the ceiling before continuing. "I nearly died that night. I felt my only option was going to be my bankai, but before I could release Engetsu, I felt a blade cutting into my back... A shinigami's zanpaktou feels unique when it cuts you; you know what it is the moment it touches you, even if you don't see it... You've been in enough battles to know this yourself by now..."

Ichigo nodded, grimacing as some of the scars on his body began to tingle at the memories.

"I didn't know who it was, but I knew it meant we had a traitor among us. My attacker withdrew to let the hollow finish me off, but Fate is a funny thing..." Isshin smiled softly at this. "For all the bad blood between our peoples, it was a Quincy who came to my aid."

"Ryūken," said Ichigo. "That's why you two are friends, isn't it?"

"Not Ryūken," corrected Isshin. "Masaki. Masaki Kurosaki."

Ichigo's jaw fell open. "M-mom was a Quincy?!"

"Pureblood," Isshin confirmed. "Strong and talented, but largely untrained. She had sensed the hollow in the city and had sensed a shinigami fighting it. She felt the battle shifting in the hollow's favor and she came to save me. She said regardless of the past between our two people, she'd never be able to live with herself if she stood by and allowed someone to die when there was a chance she could save them.

"Mom..." muttered Ichigo in disbelief. "I can't believe it..."

"Believe it, son; when that first reishi arrow came whistling by, it nearly took the hollow's head off. She made it look at her and then she taunted it to come and get her. It seemed like a suicidal thing to do, but it was too fast for her to accurately shoot; she'd already had one decent shot and missed, and she felt she wouldn't get another unless it was at close range...

"Her gambit worked; the hollow came charging at her murderously and she let it bite her, all so she could get in a guaranteed shot. It worked and the hollow died, but...Masaki was hurt."

"She shrugged it off and said she was fine as she treated my wounds and sent me on my way... I went back to the Soul Society and she went back to the Ishida Estate, where she was staying. Apparently, her parents had arranged for her to marry Ryūken years ago, when they were both children."

Ichigo's eyes widened. "Mom was going to marry Uryū's dad? No way!"

"I reported the strange hollow to Yamamoto, but I never mentioned Masaki; I didn't want him sending people after her just because she was a Quincy. Days passed and I couldn't stop thinking about the girl who saved me, so I went back to find her, to properly thank her, but when I arrived, I found that she had collapsed, succumbing to the injuries she had sustained in the battle.

"The hollow had tainted her somehow, had infected her soul... I ran into Ryūken, who was in a panic trying to find a way to save her and he was blaming everything on me...seems he had been watching the fight the other night, trying to make sure I didn't turn on Masaki after she saved me...distrustful bastard..."

"You're friends because you both loved the same woman..." Ichigo said, comprehension dawning.

Isshin just nodded as he continued, "I didn't know what to do for her other than maybe take her to the Soul Society and get help from Doc Unohana, but we both knew how risky that would be; two Quincies in the Seireitei? That would not end well for anyone...

"That's when Kisuke showed up. Said he had dealt with this sort of thing before, eighty years ago..."

"The Visoreds..." Ichigo said.

"Yeah," acknowledged the elder man. "Masaki was hollowfying and the only way to stop it was with something opposite of a hollow and opposite of a Quincy...

"I don't pretend to understand the specifics; you know Urahara and how vague he tends to be. He said that he could tether my soul to hers and it would stop the hollowfication process. My shinigami powers would be tied to her very life; I would lose them and would never regain them so long as she lived. I would be completely human.

"I agreed immediately. I had to; there was no way I could let her die if I could help. It wasn't just that she had saved me; it was because it was the right thing, period. Kisuke successfully linked our souls and it stopped the hollow from devouring her from the inside out...and true to his word, I became human; I could not see spirits, could not hear them, could not sense them, and I could not return to the Soul Society."

Isshin looked over at Haname. "I wasn't trying to abandon the clan or you... I knew that at least you'd always have Kaien around, even if I wasn't there. I never expected him to die and leave you alone..." He looked back over at Ichigo, offering his son a sad smile. "You pretty much know the rest; your mom finished her schooling and I opened the clinic, using the medical training I had learned back at the Academy to pass myself off as a doctor. Ryūken and I formed a kinda tense friendship and when I finally married Masaki a couple of years later, it became a lot less tense as he grudgingly accepted everything. Bastard's probably my best friend, really...

"I opted to take her family name when we married... I know it's unusual, but I'm a sucker for a pretty face; I couldn't tell her no and she knew it. It was less than two years later when you were born.

"I felt it when she died," Isshin said, his smile fading. "I felt that tether between our souls snap almost entirely. I knew the instant it happened and I began crying... Yuzu and Karin couldn't understand why I just started crying for no apparent reason, but they understood when the police called and said they'd found you and Masaki."

"Wait..." Ichigo began slowly, frowning. "You said the tether almost snapped entirely..."

"The hollow that was trying to devour your mother's soul from the inside?" Isshin asked. "You inherited it. A shred of the tether passed to you, keeping it at bay for years. Even when you first met Rukia and became a Soul Reaper, the tether remained in place. When those abilities were taken from you and you were forced to discover your own powers...the tether finally snapped. You didn't need my strength anymore; you had found your own. On that day, my powers began to slowly return."

Isshin turned to look at Haname.

"If it had been an option, I'd have brought you with me to the world of the living," he told her regretfully. "Masaki would have understood. She would have accepted you and loved you unconditionally, like her own child. Unfortunately, I didn't really have a choice and I'm sorry if you think I abandoned you like your mother did."

The slender woman slid to the floor, uncertainty showing in her blue eyes; the earlier rage was gone, replaced with emotions the assassin clearly wasn't used to dealing with. Isshin carefully slid across the floor to her side, putting his arms around her and hugging her gently.

"I'm so proud to see the woman you've grown into," he told her quietly. "Your father would be proud, too."

She tentatively returned the hug.

"I have my powers back now, and while I'm not eager to go see the rest of the family because I don't want to hear them judging my choices, I'm glad to see you," Isshin said, hugging her tighter. "And now you know that you have other family than just the Shiba clan; you have the Kurosaki family and you're welcome to come by our home any time. You have two more cousins there who would love to meet you."

"Yeah...especially Yuzu," agreed Ichigo numbly, speaking on auto-pilot as he tried to process all the new information. "Mom was a Quincy...I'm related to Haname...I'm related to Kūkaku...oh my God, that means I'm related to that idiot Ganju!"

"Depressing, isn't it?" asked Haname dryly as Isshin released her. The uncertainty had vanished from her eyes, but there was no familial warmth there... On the other hand, there was no visible anger, either. There was just...calmness. Acceptance.

Considering her past as an assassin for Squad 2, that was somewhat unnerving.

"I always figured you'd become a Soul Reaper like me and Kaien," Isshin told the girl with a grin. "What squad are you in?"

"Squad 11, Sixth-seat," she told him, shrugging. "Used to be in Squad 2, but Captain Mosquito Tits and I didn't get along very well."

"Sixth-seat? That's great!" beamed Isshin. "You'll be a Lieutenant in... Wait, Squad 11? That entire division got destroyed! Where are you staying tonight?"

"Doc Unohana said I could crash with her earlier today," said Haname, gesturing towards her beige sack in the corner. "Was on my way there when I ran into you."

"And we certainly don't want to keep you..." said Ichigo with a forced smile as he quickly stood up to go open the door for her. "Don't want Unohana to worry about you—"

"Bah, don't be silly!" declared Isshin, standing up. "There's no reason to bother Doc Unohana when you have family! Your cousin will be glad to put you up for the night!"

Ichigo paled. "Uh, Dad, can we talk—"

"No backtalk, son!" ordered Isshin. "I raised you better than that! How can you turn your back on your cousin?"

"Because for one thing, she wasn't my cousin until thirty minutes ago!" snapped Ichigo. "For another, she kills things for fun!"

"I don't judge you for your hobbies," scowled Haname.

"I don't want to wake up dead!"

"No problem," said Haname smoothly. "Dead things don't wake up."

"You're not helping your case!" exclaimed Ichigo.

"Kids!" bellowed Isshin, raising his voice sharply. "It'll be fine; Haname won't kill you and it'll be good for the two of you to bond. Haname, promise me you won't gut my son."

The assassin grumbled and looked away, folding her arms across her chest.

"I'll take that as a yes," nodded Isshin to Ichigo's horror. "Go ahead and make yourself at home, Ichigo doesn't mind! Get a good night's sleep and I'll see both of you first thing in the morning!"

"Dad!" protested Ichigo. "You can't be serious! She doesn't want to stay here any more than I—" he cut himself short as Haname opened her sack, revealing it to actually be a hammock that she began to string up from the ceiling.

"...and my headache is back," sighed Ichigo slowly as Isshin just grinned.

"It'll be great!" he told the younger man. "Think of it like a sleepover! Remember when you were little and you'd have sleepovers with Tatsuki? It's just like that!"

"There's a difference between her and Tatsuki, Dad!" Ichigo growled. "I only had to worry about Tatsuki hitting me—OW!"

He bent over, wincing in pain and rubbing his bruised kidney as Haname withdrew her fist and walked back over to her hammock.

"There," she said irritably. "Now quit your whining; I promised not to gut you, but I never said anything about not cutting your tongue out."

"Dad!" Ichigo exclaimed again, turning to his father for support, but Isshin was already standing outside.

"Goodnight, kids!" he said happily as he smiled and slid the door shut on Ichigo. "Don't let the bedbugs bite!"

The teen stood there dumbly for a long minute, just staring at the door in disbelief. The insanity of the past twenty-four hours suddenly paled in comparison to finding out he was related to Haname...and even worse, Ganju... He slowly turned back around to look at his bunkmate for the evening, hoping to see at least a sliver of the same disbelief on her face, but Haname was already in her hammock, blanket pulled up over her lithe form as the contraption idly swung back and forth slowly, rocking her to sleep.

Ichigo rubbed at his tired face as he headed to the other side of the room towards his own bedroll on the floor.

At least things couldn't get any worse from here...right?

---

"Captain, I'm not sure I understand why you want all of these rocks and sticks for..."

Anrak looked up at his two Third-Seats as they dutifully pushed a small wheelbarrow full of the objects in question over to the shallow, rectangular hole he'd dug in the ground beside the shattered remains of his house. He gave them a simple grin rather than a genuine answer and motioned for them to dump the contents into the trench. Kiyone and Sentaro shrugged at each other, but did as instructed and upended the wheelbarrow to empty it out.

The Captain took the shovel he'd used to dig the hole to spread out the materials evenly as the two officers just watched him curiously.

"Do you want us to get rid of the dirt?" asked Kiyone, making for the pile of earth that had been excavated.

"Nope," he answered calmly. "Going to need it here in a bit."

He pushed the contents of the pit around for a couple of minutes until he had everything fairly evenly distributed, then handed the shovel off to Sentaro as he drew his zanpaktou.

The Captain did not bother verbally commanding Kage Shitsukoi to assume her shikai form, instead simply willing it to happen. Anrak then willed his own reiatsu to flow into the obsidian blade before swinging the blade low, the tip striking the rocks in the center of the pit and sending a shower of sparks flying. The hot blade, fueled by his own reiatsu, ignited the wood and brush in the pit, creating a fire that quickly filled the entire trench.

"Weird way to make a campfire..." said Kiyone as Anrak shouldered his zanpaktou.

"Because it's not actually a campfire..." observed another voice. "Old survivalist trick... A bit much for tonight, though."

Anrak shrugged at Tatter as the Lieutenant moved to stand on the other side of the blazing inferno. "Maybe, but I'd rather play it safe... Sentaro, another small hole right over there, please... Just a single spade full should do."

Sentaro obediently dug out a tiny hole as Kiyone 'supervised' his work. Captain Ushii simply eyed the Lieutenant from Squad 2 suspiciously.

"You here to investigate for Sui-Feng?" he asked. "Thank you, Sentaro... And you, Kiyone."

"Not exactly..." said Tatter. "I was hoping Nel would be here with you...I have something for her."

"She should be back shortly; she went to go take Lilynette over to Shunsui's place while Unohana patched me up. I told her I'd get our 'campsite' for the night set up after I got out of the hospital," said Anrak, poking at the contents of the fire-pit with his blade. "You can leave whatever it is here if you want and I'll make sure she gets it."

"Appreciated, Captain, but I promised to deliver it personally," said Tatter, a sad smile on his face. "I can't break that promise."

"I see..." said Anrak as his two officers began to leave with the wheelbarrow and shovel. "Actually, leave the shovel here and bring some more brush if you would; this needs to get really hot."

Kiyone tossed the shovel across the pit to her Captain, Anrak catching it with his left hand as he shouldered his zanpaktou again. He drove the shovel into the earth, burying the spade in the dirt and leaving the handle standing vertical, waiting to be used. He ambled around the pit, poking at the hot rocks and moving them about with his blade.

"I'm guessing you're not here to bring good news," said Anrak finally, reaching out with his reiatsu and seizing control of the fire, forcing it to flare up and burn hotter as it turned an inky black.

"I wish..." sighed the Lieutenant as Nel finally appeared from around a street corner, headed their way with a pair of thick, heavy blankets in her arms and a bottle of sake on top of them.

"Good ol' Shunsui," said Anrak with a wry grin as he took in the sight. "Sake will make the bad news somewhat more bearable."

"What bad news?" asked Nel as she came up on the two men. She looked at them for a minute before gesturing to the pit. "Do we really need a campfire this big?"

"Heh..." chuckled Anrak as he prodded at the burning debris some more, stirring the contents of the trench as the sky continued to darken. "You'll see."

"You'll be pleasantly surprised with it," agreed Tatter with a nod. "Unfortunately, I do indeed have some bad news to go with that surprise."

Neliel sat the blankets down on the ground as Tatter reached inside his shihakushō for a moment, pulling out a bloodstained note and handing it to the woman gently. Nel looked over at Anrak who simply shrugged as a way to show he had no idea what was going on, either. Hesitantly, she accepted the offered letter and bean to unfold it carefully, reading as best she could in the dying light.

Anrak relaxed his flow of energy into the fire, letting the shadows exit as the flame became bright yellow and orange once again.

"This looks like some kind of recipe..." Nel said finally, brow furrowing in confusion.

"Jean wanted you to have that..." said Tatter softly. "Told me to make sure you got it."

"The recipe he promised me..." Nel said slowly. "Why do you have it? Why is it all bloody?"

Tatter didn't answer, knowing full well that he didn't need to as Nel shut her eyes tightly, a glint of moisture appearing in the corners.

"How did he die?" asked Anrak, his voice low and quiet.

"There was a togabito butchering women in Squad 4," Tatter explained. "We'd both been on our way to check on Captain Sui-Feng when we passed the horror scene, and he chose to stay behind and take care of things while I went on to my division. Sui-Feng wasn't there, but there was a togabito there that delayed me in going back to help Jean. When I finally got back to check on him, he had defeated his enemy, but he was beyond help."

"We lost forty-three people from this division in the siege last night..." sighed Anrak. "And as if that's not enough, we lost one of our best friends from another division."

"Jean wanted to make sure you got that recipe, Nel," Tatter said. "He promised to get it to you and he was more worried about that than his own life."

"I think that after everything gets sorted out, after the Mess Hall gets rebuilt, I'll make a pot of stew with this...just like he'd make it..." said Nel slowly as she sat down on the ground beside the stack of blankets. "Invite all of his friends over for it...all of our friends... I think that would be the best way to send him off; everyone sharing some of his gumbo and remembering him."

"Yeah..." agreed Tatter with a sad smile. "I think he'd like that."

"You told Sui-Feng yet?" asked Anrak. "There's only two people in this world that she doesn't hate; Yoruichi and Jean."

"I know, and no, I haven't..." grimaced the scarred Lieutenant. "She's my next stop."

"Want us to go with you?" asked Nel quietly as she tucked the note away inside of her own uniform. "I mean, maybe she'll handle it better if she knows his other friends share her pain..."

"I think I need to do this alone, thanks," said de Malion. "She's going to be pissed, and she might blame me for everything just by virtue of being there. No need to drag anyone else into that."

"I suggest telling her and getting the hell out of there, then," offered Anrak.

"I'll stay until she dismisses me..." said Tatter, turning to go seek out the petite Captain in question. "It's my job, both as her Lieutenant and as the messenger."

"Be careful," said Anrak as Tatter walked off.

"And thank you," Nel called out softly.

Anrak just sighed and started poking at the fire with his zanpaktou again as Nel reached over and grabbed the bottle of sake. She stared at it for a long minute before carefully opening it and taking a small sip. She offered the bottle to her Captain and Anrak took a long sip as he sat down beside her to watch the fire crackle and pop.

No words needed to be said as they simply sat and watched the fire burn, passing the bottle back and forth between each other until it was finally empty.

---

Night was falling and while most of the 'guests' in the Seireitei had found someplace warm to spend the night Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez was the odd man out; for some unfathomable reason, no one seemed willing to offer him a room for the night.

Bastards!

He wasn't averse to camping out in the cold, of course; that had been the norm in Hueco Mundo for decades before meeting Aizen and while it had been several years since he'd had to sleep outside, he was sure he could adapt. No, what really bothered him was the literally everyone else had been offered a place to stay; Ulquiorra over in Division 10, Tia and birdbrain were in the hospital despite the fact she also had a standing invite from Division 10, Starrk and Lilynette were bunking with the weird captain with the pink kimono...

Even Linn had a place to stay for the night and he was dead!

Or was supposed to be dead, anyway.

And yet the mighty Grimmjow had nothing...

"...the fuck?" mumbled the Panther Lord as he wandered through the darkening streets. Where was the justice in making him sleep outside? He'd saved someone, damn it! That short little bitch with the black hair and the shrill voice, Kurosaki's woman...damn, what was her name? It started with an R...

"Runt?" he asked aloud to no one in particular. "Runty?"

Close enough.

He supposed he could go track down Kurosaki and point out that "hey, I saved your bitch for you, so the least you can do is let me crash in your room for the night," but the thought of sharing a room with Kurosaki made him want to punch someone.

Namely Kurosaki himself.

And as appealing as the prospect of beating Kurosaki senseless was, Halibel had made it very clear that he had best stay out of trouble or else.

Not that he was intimidated by her or anything, but he simply didn't feel like finding out what 'or else' meant in this particular case.

Maybe he could sleep in a supply shed somewhere...surely no one could complain about that, right?

"Meow?"

Grimmjow stopped at the sound a feline meowing, a nasty twitch suddenly developing around his left eye. He knew that particular meow all too well; the unique pitch, the volume... But it couldn't be, could it? There was no way that godforsaken furball could have followed him to the Soul Society...

He turned around, the twitch gradually dying down as he assured himself that he had not heard what he thought he heard.

"Meow?"

It had to be a different cat, there was no way...

He finished his slow turn and there just a few meters down the road where he had just came was a very familiar black cat.

The twitch intensified again.

"Meow?"

It was the same goddamned demon cat that plagued him in the world of the living, the one who would sneak into his apartment at will and then vanish without a trace, the one who would wake him up by sitting on his face at five in the morning, the one who was slowly driving him insane...

"GOD DAMN YOU!" he roared suddenly, charging after the offending creature like a raging berserker. The cat wasted no time turning tail and running as fast as its little legs could carry it...and god damn, it was a fast little shit! "When I get my hands on you, I'm going to tear your little head off and give it to Lilynette as a fucking baseball!"

The cat led him on a merry chase through the streets, earning him stares from various soul reapers as they went about their tasks, all of whom looked at the arrancar as if he had lost his mind, but he'd show them, he'd show them all when he finally caught that little bastard...

His prey turned a sharp corner and Grimmjow slipped, not quite as nimble as the feline, and he went crashing into a wall roughly. He scampered back to his feet and resumed the chase, not pausing to address the onlookers or the fact he had just about destroyed the wall in question; all that mattered was catching and gutting the demon cat!

Down streets and alley ways, up stairs and across covered walkways, he would not let the bastard shake him this time.

"You're dead, furball!" he bellowed.

He followed the creature up to a large building with ornate doors and it slipped inside a tiny pet door at the last possible second, but Grimmjow would not be deterred; he flung the large red and gold doors open roughly, stepping inside a grand chamber and scanning the room with murderous intent.

"COME ON OUT, HELLSPAWN!" he demanded, balling up his fists in anger as he prepared to smash the little beast into a fine red paste. He barely noticed how ornate the room was, with intricate carvings, expensive-looking paintings and vases; nothing other than murdering the cat mattered.

"Hellspawn?" asked Yoruichi Shihōin with mild amusement as she came out of a room in the back, elegantly wrapped in an expensive-looking kimono. "I've never been called that before..."

"Not you, woman; the cat!" Grimmjow explained. "It's here! That little bastard must have followed us!"

"A cat followed you from the human world all the way here? Really?"

"Well, I..." Grimmjow faltered. "I saw it! I chased it here!"

"And where is it now?" pressed the ex-shinigami.

"I...well...fuck, I don't know, okay?" he snapped.

"Grimmy, don't you think it's odd that no one but you ever sees this cat?"

"What are you trying to say?" he asked bitterly. "That I'm going crazy or some shit?"

"Oh, I think you passed crazy a long time ago..." mused Yoruichi with a teasing smirk. "But as long as you're here...do you need a place to stay for the night?"

"What the fuck is this place?"

"This, my dear, dear Grimmjow, is my house," she answered him, holding her arms out and gesturing about the enormous building and its high ceilings. "This was where I stayed when I was Captain of Squad 2 rather than the actual official Captain's quarters. This little house was built centuries ago by my great-grandfather's grandfather and it has been the home of all Shihōin who choose to serve the Gotei 13 ever since."

"So...you're rich?" asked Grimmjow finally. "Then why the fuck are you always leeching off of me?"

"Wealthy in the Soul Society doesn't necessarily translate to wealthy in the human world," said Yoruichi with a shrug. "But since you're always so graciously allowing me to hang in your apartment and share your food, my house is your house. Make yourself at home, Grimmy."

Grimmjow looked around the mini-mansion, grinning broadly as he finally forgot all about that damned cat.

Fuck everyone else and where they were squatting like peasants tonight; he had a goddamned mansion.

---

Sui-Feng wasn't sure exactly what part of the past twenty-four hours had managed to piss her off more: the fact that her house had been destroyed, the revelation that several members of the infamous Espada were alive and well and despite her position as the commander of the Stealth Force and all intelligence operations, she had known nothing of them, the fact that her Lieutenant actually did know about them, the fact she had actually needed help from one of them to defeat her enemy, the fact she'd had to be shielded by said arrancar, his comment about her being flat, the impromptu and unwanted haircut she'd received, or the fact that her division had lost some seventy-one people over the course of a single goddamned evening.

All things considered, Sui-Feng was in an exceptionally foul mood.

At least the office was undamaged, which meant that her more-treasured items safely locked away in her desk were still in one piece. It also meant that even though her small home had been destroyed by that reckless moron she called a Lieutenant, she at least had someplace warm to sleep for the night.

She took her simple bedroll and spread it out on the floor beside her desk, letting a tired yawn escape her exhausted body; beyond the stress of all the bad things that had wore her down throughout the previous night, the physical exertion itself was finally catching up with her and even if the office floor wasn't nearly as comfortable as her bed would have been, she looked forward to being able to lay down and stretch out all the same.

Her duties for the day were largely done; the hearing to decide the fate of the arrancar had been adjourned until sometime tomorrow, clean-up and reconstruction efforts had begun across the Seireitei, the wounded all all been rounded up and treated or locked in the hospital as needed, the dead had all been recovered and were awaiting funeral services within the next couple of days, and the investigation into the lives of the Espada had been launched some fourteen-plus hours ago. Her investigative operatives should report in with detailed files on the arrancar within the next few hours, but until they returned, her job was done for the day.

She eased her aching body down to the floor and her sleeping mat, rolling her stiff neck and shoulders as another yawn worked its way free of her mouth. She'd be lucky to get three hours in before her agents returned and after that, she'd spend the rest of the night pouring over their findings, but at this point, a mere three hours sounded heavenly.

Sui-Feng laid back and closed her eyes, allowing her exhaustion to take over and lead her off to a restful, dreamless sleep...

*KNOCKKNOCK!*

Oh, God damn it!

With a growl, she pushed herself up off the floor and stalked over to the office door; it had to be her agents returning from the human world, she knew that much, but she had expected them to be another hour or two at least...

"de Malion..." she hissed upon seeing her unwanted visitor.

"Captain, we need to talk..." he began slowly. "May I come in for a minute?"

"No, de Malion, you may not," she told him icily. "And whatever you think we need to talk about can wait until tomorrow."

"No, Captain, it can't," he told her bluntly. "You really need to hear this and its better you hear it from me than to find out by accident."

The short woman narrowed her eyes angrily at his insubordination, glowering at him with such naked hostility that a lesser man would have run away screaming. "What," she began with a forced calmness, "have you done now?"

"It's not about me, Captain," Tatter tried to explain. "Please, just let me come in and speak."

Sui-Feng chewed it over in her mind for a long minute before turning away from the door and walking over to lean against her desk, allowing Tatter entry.

"Five minutes," she told him, crossing her arms over her chest. "If at the end of those five minutes I am somehow not convinced this was worth my time, there will be consequences. Is that clear, Lieutenant?"

"Perfectly," Tatter acknowledged, stepping inside and sliding the door shut behind him. He walked to the center of them room, opening and closing his mouth as if he were unsure of how to say whatever it was that was on his mind.

Sixty seconds passed without a single word being uttered and Sui-Feng's expression darkened even further.

"You're wasting my time, de Malion," she growled. "Spit it out or leave; you only have four minutes left."

Still he hesitated, searching for the right words.

"Three-minutes forty-five seconds," Sui-Feng reminded him.

Tatter looked at her, sighing in resignation as he reached inside his shihakushō for something. Still without uttering the first syllable, he produced a necklace of some sort and held it out by its leather cord, the pointed tooth pendant pointing towards the wooden floor.

"You've been in my personal drawer?" hissed Sui-Feng, snatching the necklace away and stalking over behind her desk to return the object to its home. She produced a key from inside her own uniform, unlocking the bottom drawer on the right-hand side of the desk where she kept her treasured items; her journal, the coffee mug Lady Yoruichi had given her, a few photos of a younger Sui-Feng with her mentor, and a couple of other small trinkets she had come to value over the years. She reached inside to replace the necklace, the necklace Jean had given her three years ago, the one that had belonged to his brother, a perfect twin to the one he always wore himself, and she paused as she realized that the necklace she'd been given long ago was still right where she had left it.

Her mouth went dry as she looked down at the matching necklace in her hand, noticing bloodstains for the first time. A tremor passed through her body as she began to understand.

"Why do you have this, Lieutenant?" she asked quietly, denying the truth in front of her eyes. "How did you come to get your hands on this?"

"Jean wanted you to have it..." Tatter said softly. "He handed that to me and his last words were for you; 'Tell Sha I'm sorry and goodbye.'"

Sui-Feng carefully pushed the drawer shut again and sat down in her chair, shoulders slumped as she examined the bloody necklace closer.

"How did it happen?" she whispered.

"When the invasion began, we were talking together... Our first thought was to check in on you, but we got separated; he went to go take care of a togabito that was butchering his way through Division 4 and I came here to find Äs Nödt waiting for me," explained the Lieutenant, pacing across the floor. "I told Jean I'd come back for him as soon as I could, but by the time I put Äs Nödt down and made my way back, it was too late..."

Sui-Feng's eyes were fixed on the necklace in her hands and while she heard Tatter's words, they seemed so very faint and far away at that moment, kilometers away.

Now she knew exactly what the worst part of the last twenty-four hours was.

"Jean won his fight..." Tatter continued. "Saved two women, including one that by all rights should have died from her wounds, and he's largely to thank for the relative lack of damage to the division in general... He was beyond help when I arrived, though...too much blood loss, too many internal injuries..."

Again she barely heard the Lieutenant's explanation, her mind going back to the notion that Jean's last words had been for her. He wanted her to know he was sorry? For what? For dying? For not being there to tell her everything would be okay?

"He told me that he finally heard his zanpaktou's name..." Tatter said, a sad smile on his face. "Kuruseidā... He said it was beautiful, called it amazing... He was so excited about that...you should have seen the joy on his face..."

"Joy?" asked Sui-Feng with a humorless laugh. "Joy as he lay there dying?"

"He was proud..." the scarred man clarified. "He wanted to be able to show you, me, and everyone else."

Sui-Feng shut her eyes tightly, working the pendant between her fingers slowly.

"I see..." she said finally, opening her eyes once again. "...thank you, Lieutenant. You are dismissed."

"Captain, I—"

"I said 'dismissed,' Lieutenant..." Sui-Feng growled dangerously. "I wish to be alone right now."

"I understand you're upset, but—" Tatter began, only to cut himself short as he was forced to duck from a tiny missile hurled his way in anger. He glanced behind him to see an ink pen embedded an inch into the wall, punching through the wood as well as any nail would.

"Dismissed," repeated Sui-Feng, seething.

"Yes, Ma'am," said Tatter reluctantly, bowing as he turned and headed for the door, sliding it open and exiting the room without another word. Sui-Feng waited several long moments after the door slid shut once again, wanting to make sure the Lieutenant was far from the office.

She looked at the necklace in her hands, feeling an unfamiliar moisture building up in her eyes.

She remembered the first time she had met the strange Jean the day after the battle over Fake Karakura; she had been leaving the infirmary after having had her severed arm restored by the human, Orihime, who had opted to aid Unohana in healing the wounded, and she had exited the building rubbing her restored-but-sore arm.

She hadn't had her haori on at the time, but everyone knew who she was and knew to keep their distance.

...well, everyone except for Jean, who saw her massaging her arm and immediately came over to ask if she was okay. It had been an irritation at first, but the more she saw him around the Seireitei, always with a friendly wave and a cheerful smile...it somehow ceased being irritating.

He never asked her for anything. He did not seek to impress her. He never made flirtatious advances. He was just...friendly.

He talked a lot. He listened even more, no matter how angry she was or what she was mad about, Jean was always willing to sit there and lend her an ear. He was the only person other than Yoruichi who thought of her around Christmas. He had found out when her birthday was and always made sure to bring her small gifts or cards and a cake, even though she never once returned the favor.

Carefully she put the necklace on, looking down at the tooth hanging against her chest before rubbing her face with her hands.

Jean had always accepted her for who she was rather than expecting or wanting her to be something different.

And now he would never be there to listen to her rant again... He would never be there to smile and tell her that things were going to be okay and that he trusted her, believed in her... He would never be able to tell her any more stories from his time as a human to take her mind off of her troubles... He would never be there to say "Happy Birthday" or "Merry Christmas" again...

What was Jean Rawlings, an unseated member of Squad 6 to her, the Captain of Squad 2 and commander of the Stealth Force?

Her hands began to tremble, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks as she fought to keep her emotions in check.

"He was..." she began slowly, chest heaving as her grief threatened to overwhelm her. "He was...my...friend..."

A small fist slammed down on the desk thunderously, then again and again. Three times she hit the desk before leaning her chair way back and looking up at the ceiling as her vision began to blur even worse.

She was too damn tired to fight anymore.

The grief won.

---

Anrak watched the delicate little Hell Butterfly lift off from his fingertip and flutter into the night, vanishing in the concealing shadows as it sought out Yoruichi Shihōin to deliver its message. He lowered his hand and picked up his zanpaktou where he had stabbed it into the earth, using it once again to stir the contents of the fire pit around as Neliel smiled at him softly.

"I think it's really sweet of you to worry," she told him. "You know Captain Sui-Feng hates your guts, but you're still concerned about her..."

"I blame you and Yoruichi both for that," said Anrak as he willed the fire to burn hotter, his reiatsu making the flames turn black once again as they devoured all the wood and brush in the pit. "You're making me soft."

"Compassion isn't being soft," Nel chided him. "Besides, Yoruichi looks at you like a younger brother and Sui-Feng like a little sister, which means..."

"Don't finish that thought, please," shuddered Anrak, prompting a giggle from his wife.

"Denying it doesn't make it any less true."

"Yeah, well, share that little theory with Sui-Feng and see how she reacts to it," said Anrak dryly. "Just make sure I have advanced warning so I can be a thousand miles away when you tell her."

"...actually, I'd rather not be the one to tell her, either," agreed the arrancar. "I can't see any possible way that would end well."

The fire began to die down as the last of the brush turned to ash, leaving a rectangular hole full of hot rocks glowing orange in the night.

"Aaand we're almost ready..." said Anrak, taking his zanpaktou and fishing out a glowing hot rock the size of his palm, balancing it on the blade. He turned and dropped it into a small hole off to the side of the main pit before sheathing his zanpaktou and covering the glowing rock with a healthy layer of dirt. He pointed towards something sitting beside Nel, gesturing for her to throw it to him, and the Lieutenant was surprised to see it was a simple cardboard box, missing a bottom and one side. She frowned, confused, but tossed the box to her Captain anyway and watched as he placed it upside down over the patch of earth.

"Come on out, Chompy," called Anrak. "Got you a little nest ready for the night."

The tiny lizard hollow came slinking out of the ruins of their house where he had been exploring, obediently crawling its way over to the shinigami.

"In you go," said Anrak, ushering the creature into the box with his foot.

Chompy hesitantly went inside but after a moment, he began spin in circles happily before settling down on the warm earth, curling up with his tail underneath his masked chin like a pillow.

"I get it..." said Nel finally, a smile lighting up her face as she understood. "You heat the rocks, cover them with dirt, then we camp on top of them and we have a warm bed for the night."

"Yep," nodded Anrak, retrieving the shovel and beginning to fill in the shallow pit. "They should stay pretty hot for most of the night, keeping us warm and cozy. I used to do this a lot when I was in Squad 11 and out on a sojourn mission, especially on the really cold nights."

"Clever," said Nel, standing up and grabbing a long, half-burnt board from the remains of their house to help rake dirt over the rocks and smooth it out.

"Believe it or not, this is something I didn't learn from Yoruichi," Anrak said as they worked to fill in the pit. "It was a little over a hundred and three years ago, only a couple of months after Yoruichi had vanished... It was my first sojourn mission away from the Seireitei and it was a hell of a lot colder than it is tonight..."

They finished filling in the pit and began to pat the earth down and smooth out the uneven mounds.

"Night was falling and I was shivering around a campfire that wasn't really doing much to keep me warm..." continued Anrak, smiling softly at the memory. "Anyway, I hear a voice behind me telling me that won't be enough and I turn around expecting a fight, but there's this guy from the Rukon standing there with a bundle of sticks he'd gathered to make his own fire... He threw his wood on my fire and explained the concept to me as we each dug a little trench for ourselves. Our pits were a lot narrower, only a few inches across, but it was enough; he kicked some hot rocks over into my trench and then his own, we covered them up, and bedded down for the night..."

Anrak stuck the shovel in the ground off to the side as Nel began to roll out their bedrolls over the warm patch of earth.

"Spent an hour or so talking before we went to sleep... Next morning, I thanked him for the tip and the company and we parted ways... Hell of a nice guy; wish I could thank him again, but I don't know where he is."

"You camped out with him and don't even know his name?" asked Nel, settling down on her bedroll and pulling her blanket up as Anrak sat down beside her.

"Just his first name," said Anrak with a shrug. "Kaemon. Guy had unusual hair, kinda silver-ish..."

"Silver hair is just unusual, huh?" asked Nel, raising an eyebrow. "And what about green?"

"Green has never been my favorite color, but it's really grown on me in recent years," answered Anrak with a grin.

"Good answer," chuckled Neliel as Anrak settled back and pulled his own blanket up.

"I picked up a few things out in the Rukon and the world of the living that I never learned in the academy or here in the Seireitei... I think we should probably roll some of those things into what we teach the new recruits to help make them more balanced and adaptable."

"I think tomorrow we should share this particular trick with everyone," agreed Nel, letting out a long, contented sigh. "This is surprisingly cozy..."

"I've missed this..." Anrak admitted softly, gazing up at the stars. "Camping out, I mean... I prefer it on warm summer nights, but there's something to be said about sleeping under the stars..."

Neliel just smiled in agreement as she looked up at the night sky, watching the countless pinpricks of light twinkle in the distance and recalling how the night sky had looked from Hueco Mundo... She used to love to go up on the roof of Los Noches and just lay there, watching the sky and hoping to see a falling star dashing across the night. She'd caught Tyn and Halibel up there stargazing a time or two as well, though she suspected their visits to the roof were more about getting away from other people and less about appreciating the scenery...

To be honest, many of her trips to the roof had started out the same way; she simply wanted to get away from the irritations found in the palace itself and she retreated to the solitude offered by the roof.

And the single biggest irritation, of course, had been one Nnoitra Gilga...

She turned her head to the side to glance at her husband and how absorbed he was in the simple joy of watching the stars. She hated what was about to come next, but it was a necessary evil.

"An?" she asked him quietly.

"Mm?"

"Did...did Nnoitra say anything during your fight?" she asked him hesitantly.

Anrak didn't answer immediately, but in the pale light of the moon she could see his jaw clench tightly.

"He did..." she sighed.

"He did," acknowledged the Captain finally.

"I'm sorry..." Nel apologized, closing her eyes and forcing her nerves to calm themselves. "I know you must be pretty angry with me right now..."

"I'm not angry at you for what happened," he corrected her slowly. "I'm angry that it happened. I'm angry at him for what he did. I'm angry at myself for not having been there to prevent it, even if we hadn't met yet. But...I'm not angry at you; I could never be angry at you for this. I'm just a little bothered that you never told me." He turned his head to look at her. "Do you have any idea how much it hurt to find that out from him instead of you? He was gloating about it, promised to do it again after he killed me...and when he saw that I didn't know what had happened, he took even more pleasure in mocking me."

"I know..." swallowed Nel. "Believe me, I know how he is... I never meant to hide something like that from you, I really didn't... I just...wasn't sure if it was real."

"How can you not be sure if rape was real or not?" asked Anrak softly, the question genuine instead of rhetorical.

"I was barely conscious at the time... I don't remember much after he cracked my skull; everything is a haze of blood, tears, and pain. I had a few nightmares about it later on when I was stuck in child form, but I didn't understand any of it...

"When I found the strength to be me once again and help Ichigo for a few minutes, I understood the images then...but I thought they were just pieces of a long-gone nightmare, nothing more. Some of the looks Nnoitra gave me during that fight made me wonder, but there was nothing concrete, so I pushed it all away as being nothing."

She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before exhaling slowly.

"But last night... The way he leered at me, the way he licked his lips, the things he said... That's when I knew it wasn't just a nightmare; it was a memory."

Anrak silently slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her close and holding her tight.

"I suppose I should be thankful that I only remember bits and pieces instead of everything," said Nel. "I think that would only make things worse."

"I'm sorry," Anrak told her, kissing her forehead softly. "I wish I could have been there all those years ago to stop it... All I can do is promise you I will never let something that horrible happen to you ever again. And all I ask of you is that you tell me if something is bothering you."

He reached a hand up to stroke her cheek.

"I don't give a damn if it's a memory, a vivid nightmare, or just a nameless night terror, nothing is too trivial to tell me if it upsets you... I'd rather hear it from you than from someone else," he assured Neliel gently. "I'm not going to be angry at you. I'm not going to blame you. I just want to know so I can be fully prepared for whatever might come our way and so I can support you."

"Okay..." Nel agreed finally, nodding her head. "No more secrets, no matter how little. I'll tell you everything...but that's the only thing I can think of at the moment that you don't already know...or didn't know..."

"Well, you don't have to share right now... Tell me when you remember. Tell me when you're ready. Just make sure that you do actually tell me."

"I want you to tell me something..." Nel said slowly, her voice hardening. "Tell me you made him pay. Tell me you made him beg."

"Not sure Nnoitra is the sort to beg..." Anrak countered. "And he didn't scream, either."

Even in the dim light, he could see the disappointment in her hazel eyes.

"He would have screamed," Anrak promised her, "if I hadn't torn out his tongue first."

That brought a small, dark smile to Nel's lips.

"I told him at the start that I was going to tear his head off and you know me..."

"You always keep your promises..." Nel said, her smile widening a bit and losing its sadistic edge as she nuzzled against her husband's neck.

They cuddled closer together and turned their attention back to the night sky, silently enjoying each other's company and the stellar light show so very far up above them. Anrak was the one to let out a relaxed sigh this time as Nel laid her head against his and watched the dancing lights in the heavens.

"An?"

"Mm?"

"Tell me about your first..." Nel said softly. "I mean, I know you don't remember anything about your wife when you were human, but surely there was someone else before me... I...I want to know about it."

He turned his head to look at her in disbelief.

"That's not anywhere close to the same kind of thing that you went through..." he reminded her.

"Humor me," she shrugged.

Anrak pursed his lips as he turned his head back to look up at the stars.

"There was this one girl at the academy in my third year... Mizore, from South 61... Like me, she was barely hanging on at the bottom of the class and we started studying together, trying to help each other, and over the next few weeks, we sorta got involved..."

"Was she a nice person?"

"You'd have loved her," Anrak nodded. "Kind and generous to a fault... I almost eloped with her."

Nel turned to look at her husband incredulously, mouth open. "No way!"

"It's true... We were going to washout of the academy and settle down in North 40."

"Why didn't you?" pressed Nel. "What happened?"

"Well..."

---

In some ways, Rukia Kuchiki was one of the lucky ones.

Oh, she had fought and fought hard, but even though her zanpaktou had been broken, her physical injuries hadn't been too severe and had been healed with relative ease. While others had lost friends in the chaos, she had not (though she did lament the loss of several of her comrades). While many people would be forced to camp outside tonight, her quarters had escaped the battle unscathed.

She had dutifully offered her room to her Captain and Lieutenant, but they had refused to put her out in the cold and they had refused to inconvenience her by sharing; they would camp out in the cold and be fine. Kiyone and Sentaro had both lost their respective quarters and she had kindly offered to let them stay with her...and that had been her single biggest mistake of the night.

The two had spent nearly an hour bickering with each other over who would sleep where in the small room, and on if they should go offer the room to the Captain one more time just in case. Once everyone had finally settled down for the night and Rukia had called out a simple "good night" to the duo, they began bickering again, each trying to top the other in a race to bid Rukia "good night."

After what seemed like another hour of nonsense, they had finally shut up and went to sleep.

And that was when Rukia discovered that they both snored.

Loudly.

Sentaro would start off, a deep rumbling sound that gave Rukia the impression he was trying to inhale his own face. His exhale sounded much like a horse braying for no apparent reason and as he was exhaling, Kiyone was inhaling and making a noise akin to a pig rooting around in a trough of food. Her exhale was a high-pitched thing that reminded Rukia of the dolphins she'd seen in the human world when Ichigo took her to the local aquarium.

She lay there for another hour (which felt more like an eternity), twitching as she listened to the two Third-Seats destroy her peace and quiet until she could take it no longer.

Quietly, she stood up from her bedroll and tiptoed across the room to the door, delicately walking around the two sleeping, snoring officers as she made her stealthy escape; they could snore as loud as they wanted so long as she didn't have to hear it any longer.

Ichigo's quarters had survived; she could sleep with him tonight.

Not like it would be the first time, after all.

Outside of her quarters, she began to jog towards Division 9, reflecting on the notion that tonight, it might be best to politely knock instead of simply inviting herself in as she usually did; after all, it was likely that Ichigo's father was staying there as well and it might look bad if she just barged into his son's room without warning.

It was a flawless idea; nothing could possibly go wrong...

---

Haname was in the middle of a wonderfully-beautiful dream of chaos and conquest where she single-handedly laid waste to Los Noches, Aizen, and all of the arrancar under his command in a bloody shower of violence that made onlookers tremble in fear. Even her Captain, the mighty Kenpachi Zaraki bowed before her battle prowess and willingly surrendered the infamous title of Kenpachi to the silver-haired assassin.

Kenpachi Haname Shiba...she could get used to that title...

The older man wasn't quite willing to relinquish his Captaincy to her, though; no, she was going to have to seize that by force.

"Fine with me," sneered Haname with a sadistic grin as she flexed her steel claws eagerly; oh, this was going to be absolutely glorious!

*KNOCKKNOCK!*

A growl escaped her lips as her blue eyes snapped open in the darkness.

Clearly, someone had a death wish.

She sat up in her hammock and took in her unfamiliar surroundings, momentarily forgetting that her quarters had been destroyed and she was bunking with the Kurosaki boy...no, that wasn't right...her cousin Ichigo, meaning whoever was at the door was looking for him. She cast a glance over to the far side of the room where Ichigo lay sprawled out across his bedroll messily, completely oblivious to the bothersome noise.

*KNOCKKNOCK!*

Oh God damn it...

She threw her blanket off and slid out of her hammock to the floor, stalking over to the door as Ichigo finally began to stir, but to hell with him; she'd soon send this godforsaken visitor packing and then get back to her sweet, sweet dreams of violence and triumph...

She snatched the sliding door open quickly.

"WHAT?!" she bellowed in the face of the visitor.

A very confused looking Rukia Kuchiki stood on the other side of the door, blinking slowly as her mouth hung open in surprise.

"H-H-Haname..." Rukia stammered slowly, "what are you doing in Ichigo's room?"

The assassin had taken off her uniform before bedtime, preferring to sleep in only the white under kimono that went with her shihakushō and as the left shoulder slipped down and revealed some of her surprisingly-soft and delicate skin, she realized exactly what Rukia had to be thinking.

Oh, this was just too good to pass up...

"You mean Ichigo hasn't told you yet?" asked Haname innocently, a mocking pout on her face as the orange haired teen finally made his way over to the door, yawning loudly as he neared.

"What are you talking about?" asked Rukia, swallowing hard. "Ichigo?"

The teen blinked sleepily, his still half-asleep brain not quite understanding what was going on yet.

"Ichigo, honey, I thought you said you were going to tell her about us last week..." Haname said, turning to Ichigo with her false pout and hugging him in an affectionate manner.

That certainly woke him up.

"Wait, what?" said Ichigo, brown eyes going wide in panic as he realized what was being implied as Haname clung to him tightly. "Haname, stop—"

"Well, better she find out now than later..." interrupted Haname, turning back to look at Rukia with a cruel grin as Ichigo finally pried himself loose from the devilish woman.

"No..." said Rukia, chest heaving. "Ichigo, I thought we had—"

"Sorry, but he's moved on to," Haname began, leaning forward a bit and squeezing her ample bosom together with her arms, "bigger and better things."

Tears began to fall down Rukia's cheeks as she turned and began to run away, a panicked Ichigo running out to stop her.

"Rukia, wait!" he begged. "It's not like that at all! Haname is—"

*CRUNCH!*

The sound of Rukia's knee connecting with Ichigo's crotch was deafening and disgusting...and to Haname, utterly hilarious.

Kurosaki fell to the ground, wheezing in pain as he doubled over and held his aching parts as Rukia continued to stalk away angrily. Haname slid to the ground herself, holding her stomach and laughing uproariously at the drama unfolding before her. Man, the only way this could possibly been more funny was if she could somehow pull this gag on Captain Mosquito Tits over in Squad 2!

Except for the fact Haname was convinced the petite Captain was a raging lesbian, emphasis on the raging.

"Haname..." Ichigo coughed as he rolled around on the ground in pain, "how...could...you?"

She stopped laughing just long enough to try and explain "because it's funny as hell," but as she looked over at Ichigo, she suddenly saw Kaien, the deceased cousin she had admired so much, one of the precious few relatives who had actually loved her as a child...

And then she suddenly felt guilt.

It was an unfamiliar feeling. Unfamiliar, unwelcome, and surprisingly unpleasant.

God damn it all again.

She took off after Rukia, hopping over the downed form of Ichigo as she followed the shorter woman deeper into the Seireitei. The raven-haired shinigami quickly realized she was being followed and attempted to get away using her shunpo, but she had no chance of outrunning a trained assassin. Haname was in front of her in an instant, cutting off Rukia's escape, but the slighted Soul Reaper responded by slapping at the silver-haired maniac. Shiba's familiar cocky grin crawled across her face as she batted away strike after strike effortlessly, laughing at the futility of Rukia's rage.

Then Rukia shoved an open palm in her face and opened her mouth. "Hadō #31—"

Haname didn't give her time to finish, ducking out of the way before seizing Rukia's wrist and forcefully twisting her arm around behind her. She grabbed a handful of dark hair with her free hand as she kept Rukia's right arm locked behind her and she forced the shinigami to turn around and march back to Ichigo's quarters.

"Let me go, you harpy bitch!" demanded Rukia. "When I get my hands on you—"

"Shut up and keep walking," Haname instructed her prisoner icily.

"I will not!"

Haname scowled and twisted Rukia's arm further, simultaneously pulling harder on her hair and making the smaller woman cry out in pain.

They stalked right past Ichigo, who was just now getting back to his feet, his face still an interesting shade of blue from having his testicles nearly crushed. Haname wanted to laugh at him again, but first things first...

She led Rukia over to the still-open door and forced her to look inside towards the far side of the room.

"Ichigo's bed..." she said before using her grip on Rukia's hair to make the shorter woman look to the other side of the room, nearest the door. "My hammock."

She turned Rukia's head back to the bed again. "Ichigo's bed..."

Back to the other side.

"My hammock."

She repeated this twice more, drilling it into Rukia's skull that they were actually sleeping on opposite sides of the room before making the shorter woman look at the neatly-folded uniform on the floor beside the hammock. "My clothes..."

She turned Rukia around to look at Ichigo.

"And his clothes," she said, gesturing to the teen. "Lazy bastard actually slept in his uniform. But you'll notice that he is still dressed and that my clothes were not ripped off in a lust-filled frenzy. Is any of this sinking in?"

"Why are you here, then?" asked Rukia bitterly as Haname finally released her, pushing the smaller woman away as she turned and stalked back inside, shutting the door without another word.

"Apparently she's my cousin..." Ichigo explained in a high-pitched, squeaky voice, coughing again. "Dad just told me earlier tonight that his real name is Isshin Shiba and that we're technically part of the Shiba clan. Haname is the daughter of his youngest brother."

Rukia just stared at him, completely dumbfounded.

"Explains why you and everyone else keep saying I look just like Kaien..." Ichigo continued, still rubbing his aching man-parts. "And since Division 11 was completely leveled, Dad told me I should let Haname stay with me tonight."

"But all the horrible things she said..." Rukia began.

"In case you haven't noticed, Haname has a mean streak a mile long..." said Ichigo irritably. "Your pain is funny to her. Hell, my pain is funny to her. The misery of others is utterly hilarious to her."

The door slid open again, revealing a now fully-dressed Haname with a beige sack slung over her right shoulder. The assassin stepped back outside, looking at the other two Soul Reapers.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it..." she said, rolling her eyes before either one could speak. "I crossed a line, blah, blah, I'm not welcome here anymore. Whatever."

"Look, what you did was horrible, but I can't just throw you out in the cold..." sighed Ichigo. "Much as it pains me, I can't do that to family...not even you."

"Yeah, well, I don't want to be here to listen to you two talk and apologize to each other, and I damn sure don't want to be here if you two are going to fuck," said Haname, making both Ichigo and Rukia blush furiously. "I'm going to go see if Doc Unohana's offer to crash there is still open."

"Haname..." Rukia began as the taller woman brushed past her and headed off towards Division 4.

"I'm sorry, alright?" snapped Haname without turning around. "I mean, it was still funny as shit, but I'm sorry. Kinda. Almost."

She disappeared into the night without another word, leaving Rukia standing there blinking in confusion.

"You're related to her, seriously?" asked Rukia finally, falling into step behind the wounded Ichigo as he went back inside to lay down.

"Don't remind me," he groaned. "Just...don't."

---

Grimmjow had been in the middle of taking a tour of the mini-mansion when the black butterfly had fluttered its way in through an open window, flapping right past his head and prompting the belligerent sexta to swat at the tiny insect angrily and prompting Yoruichi to smack his hand to keep him from squishing the annoying bug. He'd watched as she let the thing land on her hand, had remained silent as she appeared to be listening to the bug, even though he never heard a damn thing, and then he had stood confused as the woman had suddenly left, saying she had something to attend to and would return later.

The tiny butterfly flapped over to a nearby table and landed, apparently resting its wings and Grimmjow sank to the floor to be eye level with the little beast.

"Okay, you stupid thing, talk!" he growled. "What did you tell the woman?"

The insect cocked its head at him curiously, but it didn't make a sound. Three full minutes passed as Grimmjow sat and waited expectantly, but nothing happened.

"How the fuck does this work?" asked Grimmjow irritably. "Do you have an 'on' button or a volume control or some shit?"

The compound eyes of the insect just stared at him blankly.

The urge to smash it reared its head again and he raised a hand into the air threateningly, pausing for a moment before he slowly lowered his arm and spared the creature. He opted for shoving a finger in its tiny face, shaking it angrily.

"God damn you, tell me!" he demanded. "Is it about me? Is that it? SPEAK, DAMN YOU!"

The insect merely climbed onto his finger.

Grimmjow raised the finger to his face, taking a much closer look at the Hell Butterfly and straining his ears for whatever message it carried.

Nothing.

"Useless!" spat the Espada. "This is some kind of stupid shinigami prank, isn't it? Fucking bugs don't talk!"

The insect continued to stare at him in what appeared to be confusion.

"Fucking bullshit...I'm not playing this stupid game," he said finally. "You can tell that old fart with the beard to go fuck himself with his own goddamn sword, but I ain't falling for this crap!"

The curious little insect lifted off from Grimmjow's finger and flew out the window.

"If the woman wanted to ditch me, she could have just fucking said so without pretending that the goddamned bug told her something," the arrancar muttered to himself bitterly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

He sat there sulking for several long minutes until sound of a door opening in the front of the building caught his attention. He stood up and stalked back to the large entrance chamber, about to let Yoruichi have a piece of his mind for her bullshit prank with the bug, but he wisely bit his tongue as he saw the dark-skinned woman leading a shorter female in, urging her to make herself comfortable.

Grimmjow recognized her, of course; the flat-chested Captain that had been buried alive with Tyn. She'd cleaned herself up sometime between her rescue and now, but the way her cheeks glistened suggested tears and the salty smell in the air confirmed that she had recently been crying quite heavily. Yoruichi looked over to the Espada, silently asking for a little understanding and Grimmjow decided that for now, it would be best to stay silent and keep out of the way.

"I'm tired, Lady Yoruichi..." the upset woman murmured. "So very tired..."

"Of course you are..." soothed Yoruichi, leading her into the back rooms, past Grimmjow. "Come on, let's get you settled in for the night. A good, long nap will help more than you realize."

Grimmjow watched as they disappeared into a back bedroom and sighed as he went and sat down in the middle of the grand entrance chamber, staring at the door and wondering if he should go ahead and leave or just wait until Yoruichi inevitably told him to "get out, my no-breasted midget friend with the ugly haircut is more important than you."

Maybe there was an empty bed in the hospital...not like any of the scrawny medics could forcefully throw him out of there...

The sound of a door once again prompted Grimmjow to turn his head as Yoruichi emerged from the back and came over to sit down beside him.

"Sorry about that..." she apologized with a sigh. "Sui-Feng...she's had a bad day. I didn't realize just how bad until I got that message from my brother."

"What message?" asked Grimmjow, scowling. "Don't give me that talking bug bullshit, either; I didn't hear a goddamned peep from it!"

"It takes specialized training to be able to understand Hell Butterflies," explained Yoruichi. "If you haven't had the training, you won't hear anything. Makes them pretty effective messengers when you think about it; hard to intercept the information they carry if you don't know how to hear it."

"So they really do carry messages to people?" asked Grimmjow, paling a little bit as he remembered his last words to the tiny creature.

"Yes... Why?"

"Erm...no reason..." said the Espada evasively, looking away guiltily before changing the subject. "So, what's wrong with short stuff?"

"She lost a friend..." Yoruichi sighed, letting the subject of what Grimmjow did drop. "She really only has two friends, a guy named Jean and me...and Jean died in the battle today. Her house was destroyed, too, so I told her she could sleep here with us instead of sleeping on the floor of her office."

"With us?" questioned Grimmjow.

"What, did you think I was going to throw you out?" asked Yoruichi.

"...no, of course not. Don't be stupid, woman!"

"You and her have a fair bit in common..." explained the ex-Captain, leaning back on her palms. "Abrasive personalities, excessive amounts of pride, anger management issues, you both actively try and push people away instead of letting them in, and then you both get pissed when it actually works and people don't want to be around you, and you both have people around you who do care about you, but you are incapable of realizing it or of understanding why..."

"Hey!" snapped Grimmjow defensively. "I am not abrasive!"

"Asshole-ish?" suggested Yoruichi.

"...shut up."

"Anyway, you and I will be camping in here tonight, I guess," said Yoruichi, shrugging. "There's some bedrolls and blankets stashed in that closet over there if you want to go get us a couple."

Grimmjow made his way over to the indicated closet, pulling the door open only to quickly be buried by an avalanche of blankets, bedrolls, pillows, and heavy quilts.

"Oh, by the way, the closet is a little full, so be careful..." teased Yoruichi with a grin as Grimmjow's head popped up out of the small mountain of junk he found himself buried under.

"No shit," he said dryly as he pulled himself free, throwing a couple of bedrolls, pillows, and blankets at her angrily. The lithe woman easily snatched her share of the goods out of the air and nimbly dodged the others as Grimmjow began trying to shove everything back into the closet with a mighty heave, cursing under his breath the entire time. The pile of bedclothes stood taller than he did by more than a foot and it swayed back and forth violently as he forced it back into the closet, and he dug his heels in as he tried to cram every last item back into the too-small storage space.

Yoruichi took the opportunity to go ahead and prepare Grimmjow's bedroll for him, fluffing the pillow and straightening out the sleeping mat as the Espada finally conquered the mountain and got the closet door to latch shut. He turned to glare at Yoruichi, who simply smiled up at him sweetly from her own neatly-made bed. He opened his mouth and raised an angry finger in the air as she continued to smile at him and after a moment of shaking his finger and failing to find words for his rage, he clamped his jaw shut and stalked over to his sleeping mat, slumping down to the floor roughly.

"Like I said," said Yoruichi, "anger management issues. But you are getting better; you didn't threaten to kill me or curse at me."

"God damn you, woman."

"...well, that's still an improvement," she said with a casual shrug before laying down and pulling her blanket up over her body. "You're a work in progress, I guess. Turn the lights off, please."

Grumbling again, Grimmjow obediently got up and went over to the light switch and plunged the room into darkness. He then made his way back over to his own bedroll and laid down, pulling his blanket up as he continued to growl bitterly. He rolled over on his side, facing away from the irritating woman lying nearly a meter away from him.

There was the sound of movement, a shuffling sound of some sort, and then there was a warmth at his back and the feeling of someone being unusually close.

"Good night, Grimmjow," yawned Yoruichi from her place at his backside as the Espada's growling came to an end.

This was...odd. Unexpected.

Unexpected...but not unwelcome. Not unpleasant.

"Good night," he said gruffly, thankful the woman couldn't see his reddening cheeks. He took a deep, calming breath, exhaling slowly as an unfamiliar sense of peace began to wash over him...

"Meow?"

His peace shattered as he sat straight up in rage, looking around for the goddamned demon cat.

"Yoruichi!" he hissed to the woman beside him. "It's here! I know I heard that little bastard this time!"

The ex-Captain didn't move and in the darkness, he couldn't see the mischievous smile playing across her lips.

"You're imagining things again, Grimmjow..." she told him soothingly. "Lay back down and go to sleep, okay?"

"But—"

"Go to sleep, Grimmy."

The sexta grumbled angrily again as he laid back down, forcing himself to take several deep breaths to calm his shaking nerves as Yoruichi snuggled even closer against his backside. He never heard the accursed demon cat meow again, but damn it, he could swear he heard the little bastard purring...