Eek! That was a long break. But I did get quite a bit done. Not just on this fic, but more on my original. There is a beautiful, detailed outline for this new story. I'd like to get to a point where I can publish.

Anyway, thank you, everyone who has been waiting patiently for me to get my act together and get this rolling.

Enjoy!

…

"You're going to make this easy for me," laughed the tall arrancar, he was at least head and shoulders taller then Kuchiki, but she wasn't worried, it was a usual occurrence, "little girls shouldn't play with knives," he mocked.

Kuchiki scoffed at him, he just wasn't grasping it. "Wait till you see what this little girl can do with a knife." Her voice was serious and she had a commanding tone, not common-place for small women.

The arrancar smiled wryly, waiting for Kuchiki to show him.

And she did, it was a swift movement, shunpo, getting inside his protected zone and cutting across his skin. She was surprised when her blade failed to cut through, though.

He recovered quickly from his own surprise at how fast she'd moved.

…

For such a small arrancar, Rynallo had easily taken Abarai off guard, he was extremely fast. Rushing past him as he took a swing, and moving quickly out of Abarai's range.

But there was one easy way to make sure that the little shit couldn't make it out of his range before Abarai could strike him.

"Bankai," Abarai said firmly. Zabimaru easily transformed, becoming the massive snake-like skeletal form, "Hihio Zabimaru."

Rynallo watched, keeping out of range. The arrancar had already used his resurrection. His height had not changed, but he now wore a mask that resembled a rodent, the snout protruded a little and lacked a jaw entirely. His body and legs had changed some as well, his tail was sharp and jagged, creating a harsh weapon.

Abarai whipped the bone in his hand, making Zabimaru rush in Rynallo's direction. The small arrancar dove out of the way, and took advantage of Abarai's zanpakuto being so far away. He dove in, using his tail to cut the shinigami's side.

Abarai held his side with his free arm, letting out a grunt in surprise and reassessing his approach to the shrimp.

…

Hana felt the rush of reiatsu as Renji used his bankai. She was slightly on edge, the idea of so many arrancar in one place seemed a little overwhelming. She kept track of everyone closely, she was afraid that someone would get seriously hurt in these fights. This wasn't practice, the arrancar wouldn't stop in time to prevent serious harm.

Her captain was on his communicator, requesting permission to release the limit placed upon several of the shinigami currently fighting. If the limit was taken off of them it would still only effect Hitsugaya, Abarai, Hisagi and Ukitake. She bit her lip nervously. Kuchiki and Kurosaki were fighting with everything they had, she hoped it would be enough.

Hana held her breath, she felt a rush of reiatsu and then she lost Kuchiki. For a moment she thought it was because Kuchiki had died, but as she searched harder for it, she found it had just dropped, to such a low level that she had to concentrate on just Kuchiki.

Ukitake was gone, Hana at his heels. When she stopped she saw blood, everywhere. It was pouring out from Kuchiki's stomach, pooling on the ground around her. Ukitake wasn't there, he was locked into quick battle with the tall arrancar.

Hana leaned down and looked at Kuchiki, there were quite a few lessor scratches on her here and there, but the worse of it was the gash across the front of her stomach. Hana held her hands over the wound and concentrated on releasing power into her hands.

She could hear what was happening above, the sounds of the fight, but she couldn't let he attention be drawn away. She wanted to see her captain fight, seriously fight, but she would have to miss out on that.

After some time it felt as though her arms were getting tired, she wanted to rest, but the wound hadn't closed. And she could still feel the reiatsu around her flying off the charts, she wondered how it would feel after they had their limits released.

…

Ukitake hadn't paused, he wasn't showing much restraint. It wasn't really necessary until his limit was released. He wouldn't need to hold himself back until then.

The tall arrancar seemed to be enjoying it too much. He was smiling at Ukitake, watching with a smug expression. It was only a second, but that was all Ukitake needed to study the arrancar. Tall, muscular, his arms had become his weapons. His resurrecion had given him long arms that were flat with jagged edges, they jointed where a normal elbow should be, but there was no wrist, fingers, just blades.

…

Hana could feel the movement of the arrancar watching her from the alley, she slowed the amount of reiatsu she was releasing into a healing form into Kuchiki. She listened carefully, waiting for the arrancar to make their move. Strike out at her while she was seemingly distracted.

But the strike never came and she could feel the arrancar move away. Kuchiki was still unconscious, but her wounds were no longer life threatening.

She slowly stood up and stepped over to the alleyway. She saw only the shadow of someone as they walked briskly around the corner of a building. Hana followed, swiftly making a fast pace to catch up. It seemed too odd that an arrancar would not take advantage of standing behind her. She rounded the corner with only enough time to catch a glimpse from behind.

The woman arrancar was moving quickly. Around another corner, but Hana heard her move up instead of away. Trying to beat the arrancar at this game of catch-me-if-you-can, she used shunpo, and reached the roof just as the arrancar did.

"Stop," she ordered. She examined the back of the arrancar woman, just shorter then Hana, black hair, traditional white kimono with heavy black trim and a tall and wide obi.

Slowly the arrancar turned and as her cold black eyes fell on Hana, the shinigami's breath caught in her throat. The woman didn't acknowledge Hana with any form of greeting, not even a smile as was normal with the arrancar at the start of battle. She regarded Hana with disinterest and irritation.

"M- Mom?" Hana's voice cracked as the painful word surfaced in the silence.

"Hello Hana," Namiko finally said, a small spark of recognition could be seen on her face for only a second, then vanished as if it had never been there.

"What are-?" Hana began but words failed her, she motioned to the white kimono, the colors of that arrancars, the partial mask on her forehead, "how did you-?" Her dark blue eyes searched her mother's face for some answer, something to clear away the confusion and the painful knot that had formed in her chest.

"You seem well," Namiko said stiffly.

"I- I am," she managed. She reached out, trying to touch the woman. Her fingers felt stiff and unyielding as she touched her mother's face, cupping her cheek.

For just a moment, Namiko leaned into the touch, her eyes closed, as if reveling in the feel. When her eyes opened again they seemed soft and warm.

Hana swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the lump that had formed in her throat, restricting her speech. "Wha-? What is this? Why?" she managed, the words coming out tightly and hushed. Her brow furrowed and sad, confused.

Namiko only smiled gently, the unnatural paleness of her skin giving her expression an eerie feeling.

"What is this?" Hana asked finally finding her voice, she let her hand fall from Namiko's cheek, "why are you dressed like this? And what-?" her eyes fell to the hole in Namiko's chest, pain showing in every word, "you're a hollow."

"I'm better than a hollow, Hana," Namiko told her, a small smile creeping up her face, "I'm an arrancar. This is preferable to even a shinigami. The heightened awareness, the increased speed, the strength."

Hana watched her mother, "It's been a long time," she said solemnly.

Namiko nodded, "Hana, come with me."

Hana gave her a wary look.

"Return with me to Huecko Mundo. We can start over there," Namiko said, "they'll leave you alone. You'll be safe there. You'll be with me."

For just a second the ten-year-old inside Hana screamed yes. Begging to reclaim those lost years. But there was something off about her mother, even after overlooking that her mother was the enemy.

Namiko reached her hand out to Hana, "all you have to do, is take my hand. I'll do the rest."

"I can't," Hana finally answered as if it physically pained her to say it, she could feel the hot tears roll down her cheek.

"Hana," her mother said more firmly, reaching closer, "take my hand."

"I-" her voice caught in her throat. Hana looked at her mother's welcoming face, the ten-year-old was pleading for her mommy, hesitation. "I can't," she said finally, "I've already made my choice."

Namiko's expression changed, she held her hand higher, this time it wasn't reaching for Hana.

For Hana, the realization of what her mother was doing hit her harder and hurt worse then the cero the arrancar was now charging. For a second she was sure she couldn't breathe, it felt surreal. The difficulty she had breathing and the fact that Namiko was about to kill her, she stared.

It burned, but she didn't move. She couldn't feel the tears anymore, the heat had evaporated them before they could trail down her face. She closed her eyes, breaking the eye contact she had with her mother.