A/n: Thanks for the reviews, follows and favourites my friends. Well... I'm not sure what's more awkward... the fact that I haven't posted this chapter in forever or the sudden lack of reviews from this story... Strange... Hopefully this is what gets you people excited

Warning: Swearing, violence and grammar errors

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach - that is all... But the following OC characters are all mine :D

Chapter 24: Sleeping Beast

Hitsugaya in his bankai form pushed back his opponent, glaring heatedly at Shawlong before his eyes widened in realisation. He turned back around to try to locate the unusual reiatsu that expanded. Even though it felt unfamiliar, he couldn't help but find the power source well-known.

Who has such reiatsu concealed? The captain asked himself silently, scowling once he sensed a majority of his team losing. Matsumoto... why is it taking so long? Once it happens, Hitsugaya is going to destroy all of the arrancar then save the ones that weren't surviving. Even though one of them is Rosa... His eyes glanced over to Matsumoto, seeing that she was already on the ground.

"You don't have time to think for others, captain!" Shawlong sneered, trying to attack Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya jumped back, feeling the energy sapping from his arms. Hopefully Matsumoto will get it soon-

"Captain!" Speaking of the devil. He looked towards her determined stare, understanding that the arrancar were no longer able to win.

-:-

A figure approached the unconscious Tahani, making her scowl in annoyance and stiffly open her eyes. Once the image was noticeable in Tahani's eyes the fourth seat showed of an infamous scowl. "What... the hell are ya doing out here?" She grumbled, looking around to see what was the situation going on around her.

Besu frowned in concern, "I saw you looking half dead... er... so I came to help you out, at least be thankful."

Tahani groaned at the pain holding in a quiet chuckle, "Being saved by a human, how pathetic."

The teen did not reply back, however she stared at the sky in confusion. "Your midget friend is up there, she feels different than she had a moment ago."

"What?" Tahani tried to look up, but she couldn't move well so instead she sensed the third seat's reiatsu and widened her eyes. This isn't normally Laria... Laria was never this powerful to begin with... Like a light switch, the answer dawned on her instantly. "When did ya learn bankai... Laria?"

Besu furrowed her brow in confusion, "Bankai? What on earth is a bankai?"

-:-

"Bankai!"

Laria felt the reiatsu stir around her body like blood pumping through her veins. The injuries that she had received felt like they were nothing, but she knew that she only had a limited time before she will lose consciousness. Her reiatsu caused the wind around her to twirl around her like an angry cyclone; it blew so roughly that the arrancar had to raise their arms to protect their eyes from the wind.

Once the wind died down, the arrancar was the first to witness the appearance of the third seat's bankai. It was not large like most, however it had changed drastically. A white cloak which started from her neck covered over her body completely, which was attached by a white stone. Her zanpakuto only changed slightly, with two small stones attached to the hilt with thin chains.

"You said bankai," Juan muttered with wide and confused eyes, "This is a bankai?"

"It seems that you cannot hear as well as you can fight, I did say bankai and here it is," Laria's eyes narrowed as she showed off her zanpakuto. "Nemuranai Tsuki okami is my bankai." She caught the hint of surprise in the arrancar's eyes before they both chuckled at the sight.

"This must be some pathetic joke," Elias sneered down at the brunette, laughing along with his brother. "This is a boring bankai, it looks like you just threw on a white cloak and raised your reiatsu, I bet it doesn't even have any extra abilities-"

Laria appear in front of them so fast that they couldn't even recognise her until it was already too late. "Hikari Forowa!" Her blade glowed slightly as she slashed the side of the arrancar, making them widen their eyes at the sight of their own blood. They let out an outraged yell, trying to strike Laria with their claws but she already vanished from their sight and appeared a few metres from them.

The arrancar checked their wound; however they widened their eyes once they spotted an identical cut from the other side. "How?!" Elias roared fiercely, "How are you able to cut us identically to your first strike?!"

"At least you're not in denial," Laria sneered darkly before she eyed the white blade covered in their blood. "If you had been separated then you could've at least defeated me, but since there is now only one of you – there's no chance for you to win." She pushed her feet down, rushing over to her opponent and a black aura coated from her sword arm to the edge of her blade. "Tsukisofu!"

The blast managed to send the arrancar flying into the air. Their eyes widened at the amount of power that increased in the attack. Instantly, they recovered from the attack and glared down at Laria, "You think you've won this?!" Juan snapped with rage, "There's no way that someone like you would have the ability of defeating someone as gifted as us!" A cero formed again, double the power before they shot out the attack.

"Cero!"

Laria's face remained neutral, but she didn't move her feet at all. Instead, she raised her zanpakuto with a glare, "You are stubborn, Gesshoku!" The attack collided with Laria, resulting in a large explosion to destroy the third seat.

"Ha! Not even someone who knows 'bankai' will be able to survive that!" Juan stated with a laugh as the smoke clouded his vision, "Now it's time that we should go help Grimmjow-"

"Hikari Forowa," Laria appeared in front of them with her back facing the enemy, her blade was coated with more blood. At first the arrancar said nothing, until blood squirted from their back.

Elias roared out from the agony, about to demand for more answers when something dark caught his eye. His eyes followed the black figure which appeared in front of him with a black sword to slash through his front side. He snarled, trying to strike at the unrecognisable figure but it had already vanished in thin air.

"Why?" Elias pointed a clawed finger towards Laria, who slightly turned at the arrancar with a blank expression. "Why are you still alive after dealing with our cero when you couldn't even take on one cero on its own?!" Laria saw that he was furious, making the brunette narrow her eyes into an infamous glare.

"I told you didn't I?" She retorted, keeping her glare intact, "Always fear the thing you don't know about the opponent." On cue, a shadow like figure roughly about Laria's side appeared beside her, "This is the true form of my bankai." Her eyes hardened at the sight of their fear, "Like the moon, Nemuranai Tsuki okami and I travel around like an eclipse, I represent the sun and my bankai represents the moon – all you need to do is know your general knowledge."

"How about this for general knowledge?!" The arrancar bellowed furiously, charging towards the black figure to impale it in the centre of its chest. It had no response; however the shadow simply faded away from their sight. They looked towards Laria with a determined sneer, seeing that she had barely looked like she was bothered by them. "Now you have nothing that will stop me from tearing off your pretty little head!"

With a war cry, the arrancar charged towards Laria to show off a vicious snarl. She barely flinched, only raising her blade to point it towards the arrancar, "I don't believe that Tahani had been injured by the likes of you." Her reiatsu shot up as she prepared her next move, "Gesshoku!"

Once again the shadowy figure appeared in front of Laria protectively, halting the arrancar's movements. Their eyes widened with rage, seeing that they had no chance of defeating the third seat.

"There's no way! I killed your bankai!" Juan snarled in fury, seeing that Laria's expression remained serious. Another roar of angry escaped his throat, seeing that he had enough of everything going on in that moment.

"It's impossible; no one can simply 'kill' a bankai. While it can have permanent effects to being broken - the bankai is a part of my soul" Laria's reiatsu slightly rose, making the arrancar widen their eyes in shock. "As the most mysterious zanpakuto, my bankai only has one weak spot that no one knows about. I don't even know my zanpakuto's weak spot, but it doesn't matter. To be honest it makes me feel safer, because if I had known then I would've protected that spot."

The arrancar look around in confusion, "What's happening with my team? No one is surviving except for Grimmjow!" Elias realised with horror before they noticed a powerful reiatsu closest to them. They looked back at Laria, seeing that they were clearly out matched from the start. "We need to retreat before she kills us!"

Laria's eyes narrowed as she pulled out a vicious snarl, "I warned you to leave earlier – now you don't have that choice!" She used shunpo to appear in front of the arrancar, "Hikari Forowa!" Her blade went through the arrancar's stomach, making them groan in pain. Once the second sword went through from the opposite side, they widened their eyes in fear of their death. They're always like this when they are near death, it pisses me off.

"I don't want to die..." The arrancar moaned with fear, just as Laria finally had enough with their talking.

Her blade and arm shrouded in a black aura from inside the body which only made them let out a startled yell of horror, "Tsukisofu!" Laria commanded fiercely, letting the aura exploded inside the arrancar. They let out a cry of defeat, vanishing as they perished into the next life and left Laria standing with the figure alone, panting in exhaustion. "I won..." The figure and the cloak disappeared, returning into Tsuki okami's sealed form before Laria lost her ability to stand and fell back towards the ground. I won... Tani-nee-sama... You don't need to protect me anymore... Laria had a faint smile as she finally fell unconscious.

-:-

Renji searched silently around the area, trying to locate Rosa and Laria. He felt Rosa barely conscious; however Laria was a completely different story. That was until he noticed her falling towards the ground at high speeds. Before she could crash, the lieutenant leaped from his spot and caught Laria in his arms. Compared to Rukia, Laria was tiny being able to easily cradle in his arms as she rested in her unconscious state.

It was quite unbelievable that this had once been the same girl that tried to steal from him. Once he landed on the ground, he noticed that he was with another presence.

"Renji..."

If Rosa hadn't looked exhausted before, she definitely did now. Her legs were struggling to keep her standing with one of her arms hanging loosely from her body while her other hand was trying to support it.

Renji's eyes narrowed, seeing that Tahani's condition was just terrible. "What is it?"

Her eyes wandered over to Laria, before she faintly smiled in relief. "Thank goodness, she's alive and well..." She took a step towards Renji before she too collapsed from the overuse of her body. "Bloody hell," She growled at herself in annoyance, "Why do I keep ending up like this?"

"Rosa!" Renji went to go help her, but then he realised that Laria was still in his arms, "Are you alright?"

"Nah, I'm bloody ecstatic Renji." Rosa spat from her position, giving him a heated glare. "We both nearly died again and if it hadn't been for Laria, I wouldn't have been able to do crap because I'm so damn weak for a freakin' fourth seat of the eleventh division-!" Renji ignored her angry rant as he placed Laria down and helped the fourth seat sit up. He winced when he felt her fist hit his chest, but it didn't have the strength that he was expecting. Her hand remained on his chest as she continued to rant, "Damn it! I can't even protect her like I had promised!"

"Rosa-!" Renji tried to growl, but he stopped when he saw her shoulders shake and her angered whimpers. Was she crying? He had never thought that he would see her cry, of all people. Most of the time, Rosa would prance around with a cocky smirk on her face just to annoy him. But now seeing her tears, it only made him feel uncomfortable. "Tahani..."

The lieutenant hated to see her cry.

Tears dripped down from Rosa's face, she tightened the hold on Renji's shihakusho as if it would keep her alive. He didn't even realise that his arms were still on her shoulders from helping her up, "Renji... I can't stand this... I keep getting my own ass beat... what's the point of trying to protect her?" Was this the same girl that managed to steal Zabimaru? "Why wasn't I strong enough?"

"Stop that," Renji growled this time which stopped her and made the fourth seat look up to him with teary eyes. "Look at you, it's annoying to see you like this," She could only blink as he continued on, "There's this idiot I know of, she doesn't like my captain or any other captains except for Captain Zaraki and the Head Captain. She is a cocky little brat that often tries to make my life miserable," Her tears slowly stopped falling from her face which made Renji feel better, "But she was there for me when I trained to defeat my captain, she did not leave my side when I tried rescuing Rukia, she didn't have to stay but she did it anyways. She's brave enough to face Aizen when she knew she was clearly outmatched..." He saw that her eyes widened in realisation, and he felt himself smile at the thought that he made her stop her tears.

"Renji..." Rosa whispered softly, her eyes lowering to avoid his stare.

"This idiot that I know of would normally shake this battle off like it was a scratch and work harder so that doesn't happen again." Renji admitting, seeing that she was probably feeling better. At first Rosa looked away as if she was considering his words, before she slowly let go of his shihakusho. His body relaxed when he felt her hand leave.

"Ya stupid pineapple, I don't know anyone like that." Rosa showed off the cocky smirk that he was so use to seeing. There was no evidence of tears on her face, which was a relief for him to see. "However, I know someone that happens to be way better than ya described."

Oh why did he hate this feeling? "Like who?" Someone who Rosa greatly admired that wasn't herself? That didn't make any sense.

"Me." She snickered, laughing louder when Renji showed off a dark scowl in annoyance. Of course it was that silly response. Sometimes he wondered why he even hung out with this girl.

"Come on idiot," Renji decided as he stood up and held out a hand. "We'll get you and Laria healed up." She looked hesitant into taking his hand, but when she did Renji felt like he was a little happier than he was before he caught Laria.

"Yeah!" Rosa chuckled lightly, hauling herself up stand up but as soon as she did, she lost her balance and fell towards his direction. His hands instinctively wrapped around both of her forearms as he sighed in relief. She would've fell again if Renji hadn't caught her, but her face instantly paled and she looked like she had suffered the worst pain on earth.

"Rosa?" He wondered in confusion, tightening the grip he had on her. Now tears of pain were welling up in her eyes, and he immediately shook her arms in alarm. "Rosa! What's wrong?"

"Ya stupid pineapple!" She finally screeched, freeing one of her hands to punch him in the face, quite hard actually. This attack surprised the lieutenant, and it was enough to knock him towards the ground. He yanked her down with him, which only made her cry out in more pain. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Tears streamed down her face as she landed on Renji and completely oblivious to the fact that he was turning red in embarrassment.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Renji snarled, looking at the raven haired woman who was still whimpering about the pain. "I was only trying to help you, jeez is this how you thank me-?!"

Her eyes shot a glare in his direction, "I broke my arm moron!" Rosa declared, nursing her sore arm as the tears faded. Seeing her whimper in pain made Renji widen his eyes in realisation, remembering that she was looking fairly wounded when she came up to him. "Of course I'm gonna punch ya for holding onto it like it's a stress ball!"

"Shit," He grunted as he placed a hand over his face. His blush faded away almost instantly, realising that he should've noticed something odd. "I didn't realise, come on... I need to get you to Inoue so she can heal you."

"But what about Laria?" The fourth seat looked over to Laria who hadn't stirred from her state of unconsciousness, "I won't just leave her."

"Don't worry Rosa; I'll get back to her as soon as I know that you're okay." He looked back at the position he was in, ignoring the light shade of pink flooding his cheeks. "Now Rosa, if you mind..."

She gave a blank expression, before she gave a look towards her position. "Right... sorry Renji..." Her uninjured arm managed to push her off him, flipping onto the ground so that he could get up. "But seriously, I won't go anywhere until ya get Laria there first."

"Tahani, why must you be so stubborn?" Renji stressed out, threatening to tear out his own hair. Her eyes widened in realisation, seeing that he had once again called her by her first name. Why was she so happy to hear Renji call her by her first name? However before she could comment on his name calling, Renji had already picked her up from under her legs and behind her back.

As the reaction, she let out a screech of surprise and used her uninjured arm to cling onto him as if she would die if she fell. "What the heck are ya doing ya stupid pineapple?!" Rosa snapped with a vein throbbing on her forehead, "What did I just say about taking care of Laria?!"

"Idiot, I'm not going to let you down now that I got ya." Renji admitted, smirking at the sight of her cheeks turning pink from embarrassment. HA! Payback was a bitch! ... Okay... Renji had no idea where that came from. "I'll come back for her when you're there."

Rosa scowled in fury; even though she went along willingly (Not like she could escape or anything since Renji had her in his arms) she still had her grip on him like her life depended on it. "I'm gonna kill ya when the girl heals me."

"Not doubting you for a second Rosa."

-:-

Besu ran silently through the streets, trying to sense her father's location. She shut her eyes immediately, detecting a familiar presence that was in the next block. It had been a while since the uncomfortable feeling vanished, she could now run around to search for her father.

When she was trapped at the house, Besu had to somehow trick the two weirdos that she was in her room and climbed out of her window. After that she depended on her tracking skills to find Tahani's still figure. She will admit that she was confused that Tahani was in the house before but then she saw the familiar shihakusho that the ghost warriors wore.

Soon after, Tahani had mentioned something about getting Laria before she ran off with a broken arm which left Besu alone to find her father.

"Dad..." Her feet ran automatically, keeping a stern glare towards the unconscious figure as she approached him cautiously. At first, she didn't realise it but when she had a closer inspection he wore the same clothing as the samurai people with a katana only lying a metre in front of him. Seeing the blade made her widen her eyes in confusion, giving a look towards the man as the truth dawned on her. "Dad...?" It made so much sense now that she thought about it.

Karisu raised his head, grinning sheepishly at the sight of his daughter. "Hey Besu, do you happen to know that it's Halloween this year?"

"It's mid September dad, I'm not stupid." The teenager grumbled, crouching down to have a closer look at this new form of appearance. "I want to know what the heck is going on," Her eyes narrowed towards Karisu before he pushed himself off the ground to sit up. "Please dad... You know that I should know for both of our sakes."

At first Karisu looked surprised before he sighed lazily, "I guess there's no helping it, you're too much like your mother." Besu's eyes widened in realisation, keeping her vision fixed on the older man. He looked towards the sky, his green eyes softening as he reflected on his story. "This started decades ago..."

-:-

I feel... strange...

An orange barrier covered the brunette third seat as the night went on, healing the wounds that she received. Laria's eyes blinked silently, before she quickly sat up and let out a strangled groan. Even though there was nothing there, the after effects were still bothering her wounds.

"Don't move Alfero," Hitsugaya warned sternly as he folded his arms from behind Orihime Inoue, the one responsible for healing Laria. "You'll injure yourself more."

"Captain..." Laria whispered in confusion, before she gazed around her scene. Her wounds were slowly stitching themselves together, as if she was going through the process of going back in time before her wounds were there. It was strange for the young third seat to see. However it appeared that her injuries had completely vanished. "What was that?"

"That was me..." Orihime mentioned, sitting on her legs with an uninjured hand out with a weak smile. "I'm just healing your wounds, Laria-chan."

"Inoue-san..." No, it couldn't be healing. She has been healed before and it didn't feel like that. However Laria did not complain and let the woman do her work, "Thank you for your time."

Orihime's eyes widened as she stared back at the brunette, "Eh? This is no biggie! I just want to help out!"

You can, by staying out of the way.

Whoa. The third seat instantly looked away with a scowl – even though she had noticed that the human was doing the best she could, Laria couldn't understand on how she made that silent comment. She decided to push away the comment and pretend that she never thought of such thing. It wasn't normal for Laria to think like that anyways.

"Okay, you're done Laria-chan!" Orihime let the orange barrier die down, which made the brunette frown in confusion. Did the ability just come out of her hair pins? She must be going crazy.

"Inoue!" The human looked up and widened her doe-like eyes in distraught. Ichigo rushed into the scene, holding onto a nearly dead Rukia with panic spreading in his expression. He didn't even have to ask, because the girl was already starting with her work. She had formed the orange barrier again, healing up Rukia's injuries as Ichigo stared mutely at his raven haired friend.

While Rukia was healing, Laria noticed a completely healed Tahani staring silently into the distance with a scowl on her face. It was that face, the face that was struggling to decide if life was good or bad. With a sigh, the third seat took a seat beside her friend and looked towards her with a normal expression.

"Are you alright... Tahani?" At first Tahani didn't respond, and Laria was slightly afraid that Tahani was mad for some reason.

"How long have ya known it?" She asked quietly, not once moving her eyes to acknowledge Laria's existence.

Of course it had to do with her bankai. Laria's eyes gazed away from Tahani, realising the intention on the question. It was normal for the fourth seat to ask something like that.

"Years before the ryoka invaded Soul Society, I decided to learn about it." Laria answered immediately giving a stare towards the sky. "After the betrayal of the three captains, I managed to use it but I could not hold it for very long. When I returned from the Hidden Base, I decided to work on it and I finally put it to good use."

It took Laria many years to learn how to materialise her zanpakuto, which was tough but she managed to pull through. Learning each attack was a struggle though, she was having difficulty with her paperwork and training at the same time but she kept working through the pain. In the end, Laria thought that every struggle was worth it. She and Tahani were alive because of those struggles that she had to face alone.

Tahani opened her mouth to speak, her eyes still not focused on the third seat. "I'm sorry, I should've worked harder so that ya didn't have to strain ya self."

Laria's eyes widened with confusion, "What are you talking about Tahani? It was not your fault, I did it out of impulse and it was reckless of me to do so." She clenched her fist tightly, glaring out into the distance. You shouldn't have been hurt because I did not think of it sooner.

"Keep telling yer self that Laria," The fourth seat finally looked back at Laria, widening her eyes when she saw the dark look over Tahani's eyes. "This is my consequence for being so damn stubborn. I'm going to catch up like I promised, and I'm gonna show the arrancar that they're messing with a Chitora!"

"Healed up already?"

The duo looked towards Renji and Rukia, where she was holding the spot where it once held a wound. Rukia looked like she hadn't been harmed in the first place, which astounded Laria of how astonishing the human's abilities were. Now that the third seat thought about it, her and Tahani's wounds aren't even showing due to her powers.

This girl... what the heck was she?

Rukia let out a sigh of relief, looking at her healed stomach with wonder, "I'm all better, that was amazingly quick."

"Hell yeah," Renji looked towards the spot with wide eyes and a cocky grin.

"Thank you Inoue," Rukia looked over towards the walnut haired girl who blinked innocently. "You are getting better with your healing abilities, they already surpass my own."

"That's not true!" Orihime exclaimed nervously, looking towards the petite shinigami with distraught, "I'm not really..." Her eyes caught notice on Ichigo approaching them, seeing that he was staring worriedly over Rukia. Laria's eyes narrowed at the sight. Even though she doesn't know the substitute shinigami well, he looked like he was going through a personal hell himself.

"Rukia..." He raised his brown eyes towards the Kuchiki, "Are you alright?" This did not sound like the normal carrot top that had invaded Soul Society. This boy sounded like he was lost and he had no idea on his intentions.

"Ichigo," Rukia's eyes softened for a brief moment until they narrowed suspiciously to glare at the substitute. "Why are you giving me that face?" She grumbled, just as the answer quickly dawned on her, "You better not think that my injuries are your responsibilities, I'm not a weak little damsel in distress so that I need you to come rescue me all the time!"

Ichigo gave her an annoyed scowl, before he glared at the distance, "Yeah... sorry."

Rukia's face relaxed, seeing that she had no chance of being able to calm his thoughts, "Did you ever ask Urahara about the inner hollow?" Her eyes softened when she noticed that Ichigo stiffened at her words of advice. Laria's and Tahani's eyes narrowed in Ichigo's direction before they understood. It made sense after all – he was stuck with Kisuke Urahara after all, "He's the one who trained you, maybe he knows something about it or-"

Ichigo cut her off with a croaky voice, "I don't have any intention of asking Urahara-san about it." He declared with an annoyed glare, "I'm sure he already knows about my situation without me telling him anything. If he knew a way to deal with it then he'd have told me before I went to Soul Society. The fact he never said anything means he doesn't know how to stop it either. He did enough by training me and I'm very grateful for that. That's why I don't want to bother him with pointless questions," His eyes hardened before he turned away coldly. "I see that you're okay, I'll be leaving now."

He vanished into thin air using his shunpo which left the group staring silently towards the spot where the carrot top once stood in.

"Kurosaki-kun..." Orihime whispered sadly, moving her eyes away as she released the barrier, "I'm sorry... Kurosaki-kun."

A/n: Now from this point onwards - the story starts being different from the original. The next chapter will have its similarities, but from now on it isn't as predictable. Yay

Nemuranai Tsuki okami – Moon wolf that sleeps (Note: You have to think like a kid again to figure this out, when many people were kids or toddlers they use to believe that the moon would sleep when the sun was out and the sun was asleep when the moon was out... yeah that's how I came up with the name.)

Hikari Forowa – Light Follower

Gesshoku – Lunar Eclipse

1/10/14

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