Hi everyone~!

I'm back from my little holiday/vacation whatever you want to call it. It was really awesome. America = Pro. I got back last week but I obviously needed time to write this chapter.

On a little college related note, I've had a ton of homework recently and I get the feeling that I'm going to get more. -.- I'm not really a homework person as I always leave it until the last minute. I'm also going to have to do revision for things too so chapter updates will be irregular from now on.

On the topic of the current filler arc (the sword fiends), what does everyone think about it? Personally, I think that it's pretty bad. The first episode of it (the one with Rukia in it) was good but since then, it's gotten really bad (partially to do with the lack of Rukia). The story seems a bit all over the place at the minute. All they're doing is making random situations with a sword fiend involved and adding a random mix of characters into the episode.

Enough of my ranting, chapter time!

Oh yeah, I don't own the characters. Except for Sayumi :D.


Settling the score

'She is a rather interesting shinigami isn't she' Aizen commented. 'Her loyalty changes depending on which side benefits her the most. Joining me results in her gaining more power whereas she gains nothing from being with you.'

Why Rukia had done this to herself again was the question going around in all of their heads right now. Aizen said she did it for power but that was most likely untrue. They couldn't think of any other reasons why she would do it though. They couldn't help but notice that the mask around her eye was exactly the same as it was before but this time, the eye that it was around was a golden colour like a hollow's would be.

'Rukia' Ichigo finally said. 'Why?' Those were the only words that he could say right now. Was she really too far gone for them to save now? She had fallen into darkness the first time because of her feelings on the inside. She said that she had overcome them didn't she? Maybe all that happened was that they helped her the first time but she then decided that she wanted those powers again because she thought she could control them.

'You wouldn't understand' she replied. 'None of you have experienced the power received from doing this.'

'That doesn't mean anything!' he yelled to her. 'Rukia, you said you'd rather die than go through it again.'

Rukia simply looked around the room, not paying much attention. 'You do realise, don't you?' she asked them. 'I'm not the Rukia you all know. I'm just the hollow of her.'

'You're a different hollow from last time aren't you?' Renji asked. This hollow was different from what they had seen so far. This hollow referred to itself as a hollow. The other one insisted that it was Rukia.

'That's right' she said. 'The other hollow was killed and it won't be coming back as far as I know. It won't mysteriously appear from being dead.'

'It doesn't matter if you're a different hollow' Ichigo said. 'You're still using Rukia's body so let her out now!'

'I don't mean to alarm you but she has given me permission to be in control' Rukia said lazily. 'I'm allowed to do whatever I want to do.'

'Aizen!' Ichigo yelled at him. 'What did you do to her?!' Rukia wouldn't just become an arrancar and let the hollow use her body. Aizen must have done something.

'I believe I already told you that I did nothing' he stated calmly.

'I also remember telling you that this was none of his doing' Rukia said. 'It was all Rukia's doing.'

'Rukia-san, why did you ask me to bring your friends here?' Sayumi asked sadly. 'You didn't want to hurt them.' Rukia just appeared to ignore her. 'Please answer me.'

'I changed my mind' Rukia said bluntly. 'Now, let's get to what we should be doing.' She dismissed the previous topic as if it was nothing. 'I'm an arrancar and you're a shinigami. Where do you think this will end up?'

'I'm not fighting you again Rukia' Ichigo said.

'That leaves us with a problem, doesn't it' she said. 'Unfortunately, it appears that you don't have much of a choice. It's either me or Ichimaru and Aizen. I won't let you get to them so you're left with only one choice. So, should we start?' Ichigo just scowled and didn't respond. 'What's wrong?' she asked. 'Is it because I have two swords and you only have one?' She looked at both of her swords. 'Fighting with two swords is difficult to do unless it has truly been mastered. I believe that I'll get rid of one to even things out.'

Everyone knew what she was going to do next. She was going to get rid of Sode no Shirayuki and most likely destroy it. 'Rukia, don't do it!' Ichigo yelled. Rukia didn't listen and lightly threw one of the swords towards them. It landed in front of them on the floor. They were surprised to see that it was the arrancar zanpakutou.

'Do what you want with it' Rukia said. 'I don't need it. The full potential of that sword has been reached. It only contains my hollow powers. However, this sword still has some way to go. Several shikai abilities have been mastered and there is no bankai as of yet.' She looked over the sword. 'Besides, she would keep annoying me by trying to get back in control if I got rid of this one.'

'That can't be the only reason for it' Ichigo thought. 'The real Rukia must still have some control. That's why she kept that one. I don't have any other choice right now. Fighting her last time was what brought her back but that was only because I had her sword.' He scowled as he had no other choice. 'If it will bring Rukia back, then I have no choice but to fight you.'

Rukia smiled slightly. 'That wasn't so hard now, was it?' she asked. She vanished instantly and suddenly reappeared behind him, attempting an attack. Ichigo quickly turned around and blocked her incoming strike. He was lucky that he was already in bankai otherwise he wouldn't have been able to block it. Everyone else knew better than to stay near the two of them and gave them some room. Aizen and Ichimaru just looked on. Rukia jumped back and held her sword out.

'Mae...' she said. Ichigo was shocked. She was going to release her shikai?! Surely Sode no Shirayuki wouldn't let her. Rukia had said that Sode no Shirayuki wouldn't give her powers to a hollow. Before saying anything else, Rukia simply smiled. 'Just kidding' she smirked as she attacked instantly. Ichigo was caught completely off-guard as he fell right into her trap. She only pretended to do it to confuse him and it worked better than she expected. Ichigo was thrown back into a wall causing some of the rubble to fall around him.

'I walked right into that one' he thought as he stood up again. 'I thought that Rukia wouldn't do something like that but that's why I got hit. I have to remember that this isn't Rukia so I shouldn't just guess at what she would or wouldn't do.'

'I wasn't entirely sure if that was going to work' Rukia commented. 'Was it because you really were confused by it? Or are you not even trying to defeat me because I have the body of one of your friends?'

'Just because you have Rukia's body, it doesn't mean you are Rukia! You said so yourself a little while ago.' The answer was a bit of both of what she asked. What she did raised questions but he didn't want to grievously wound Rukia's body even if she wasn't the one using it.

'It doesn't bother me in the slightest.' Rukia shrugged her shoulders. 'It's obvious that you don't want to hurt your friend's body but if you don't do that, it means that I can kill you easily.'

'Oi, King' his inner hollow said. 'I ain't got any problems with fightin' her so let me out will ya?'

'I don't need you to come out' Ichigo said to the hollow. 'You wouldn't let me have any control ever again if I did let you out.'

'You need me here' it replied. 'You can't fight properly because of who it is that you're fighting. Because of that, you'll die which means that I'll be going down with you. It's kill or be killed now.'

'I'm not killing her' Ichigo said sternly. 'That might be what you want to do, but I'm not the same as you.'

'Heh, do what you want'it said. 'It's gonna carry on like this, you'll be pretty much dead and that's when I'll take over.' The hollow's voice disappeared back into his mind. Now he had something else to worry about. If he got too badly beaten up, the hollow would come out and would kill Rukia. He would need to end the fight without killing her but would that be possible with Aizen nearby? If Rukia failed him, he would most likely kill her anyway. He raised his sword again to re-enter his stance.

'You're continuing?' Rukia asked. 'That is surprising to say the least but I could also say that it is foolish.'

'I'm not going to just stand around and let you hit me' Ichigo said. 'I'm going to find way to put everything back to the way it should be.'

'You're going to do that?' Rukia asked. 'Sorry, but she's the only one who can do anything about me. Anything you try to do would end up killing me and her.'

'What she's saying makes sense' Ichigo thought. 'I'm going to need some sort of miracle. Even if that's the case, I'm not even going to attempt to kill you without knowing exactly what to do.'

'Go ahead' Rukia smirked a little. 'Just try it.' She appeared in front of him again at extreme speed but Ichigo was expecting something like this. Rukia attacked but Ichigo pulled on his hollow mask before she could make contact. Rukia was surprised to see the mask as there was no memory of it. Rukia herself had never actually seen it. She only knew about it from being told about it. Ichigo exerted a lot of the reiatsu that the mask gave him. The sheer force of the reiatsu knocked her back. Ichigo, still with his mask on, rushed towards her to attack. She blocked with her sword but as she was still moving backwards due to the momentum from the reiatsu from earlier, she lost balance and was knocked back further by the force of the blades connecting. She hit the floor several times as the momentum kept carrying her backwards. She eventually found her footing and skidded to a halt.

'That mask' Rukia thought. 'Its power boost is just like what this mask gives her. She hasn't seen it before so I didn't expect anything like that. Not bad' she smiled to herself. Ichigo stood there and let the mask crumble away, surprising Rukia a little. 'Why bother doing that?' she asked. 'It seems to be the only way you can fight me.'

'That was just to show you that I can fight you' Ichigo replied. 'I still don't intend to kill you.'

You don't have a choice!' she yelled as she rushed forward. The blades met each other yet again. The swords clashed several times as they both looked almost evenly matched with speed. 'You can't survive just by trying to convert your enemies to your side or ending the fight with some lucky event. Some fights have to be decided by a death and this is one of those times!' Rukia's next strike knocked Ichigo back a fair distance. He didn't have time to do anything else if she attacked again. He couldn't use his mask again for a little while and he knew that her speed would easily take him by surprise. He couldn't think of anything to do. He then heard the sound of swift footsteps towards him. Someone was running up to him. It wasn't Rukia so who was it?

'Rukia-san, please stop it!' the person shouted. Sayumi ran in between Rukia and Ichigo with her arms spread out in order to protect Ichigo. 'I don't want to see you fight your friends.' Both of them were surprised by her interference.

'Sayumi' Rukia said quietly.

'Don't you remember anything?!' she asked her. 'Everyone who's here are your friends. Please, don't fight them anymore!'

'Sayumi...' Rukia said again. She slowly walked closer to her.

'Yes, that's right. I'm Sayumi. Remember?' she said.

'I... can't fight her' Rukia thought. 'But Aizen's still here watching me. What should I do?' She suddenly grabbed her head with her free hand. She looked like she was fighting something on the inside. 'You fool!' she shouted. 'You can't have control while the mask is on!' It was obviously the hollow that had just spoken but what did it mean by those words?

'Rukia, keep fighting it!' Ichigo yelled. Rukia opened one of her eyes slightly to look around. She saw Aizen with a sly smile on his face.

'It seems that you have a problem with striking down this creation' Aizen said to her. 'Allow me to do so instead.' He began drawing his sword.

'It's no use. He knows!' she thought. 'NO!' she yelled at him. She grabbed Sayumi's arm and then disappeared along with her. All of them stood there for a little while not saying anything.

'Well, Gin, let's go' Aizen said. 'We have a certain town to visit.' Aizen and Gin turned around and began to walk away.

'What does Rukia have to do with any of your plans?!' Ichigo demanded to know.

'She has played a large role in advancing them and has made them entirely possible for me to complete' Aizen told him. 'Her role will soon come to an end though.'

'Since she's such a big part of your plans, why are you leaving her and that arrancar here?' Ichigo asked.

'Surely you must know what is happening with her right now' Aizen replied. 'It also appears that you do not know what that arrancar truly is. I have no need for either of them at this point.' Aizen and Gin disappeared from sight so they could put their master plan into motion.

'They know something about her' Uryu said.

'That arrancar's got some secrets too it seems' Renji said.

Ichigo just stood there and thought about what was said. Aizen appeared to know something about what was happening to Rukia now. What did the hollow mean by Rukia not being able to have control when the mask is on? Surely the mask would always be on and yet, last time, Rukia was able to regain control in the end. Also, what was Sayumi? Aizen said they have no idea of what she actually is. Two more mysteries had now been added to the metaphorical pile that now seemed to be becoming a mountain.

Meanwhile

'Rukia-san, a-are you alright?' Sayumi asked in concern. Rukia was on her knees and breathing heavily. She had taken Sayumi to a place quite far away from where they were before and she had been like this ever since they appeared here. She was fine when she was fighting a little while ago but now she seemed very tired and worn out. She brought her hand up to her face

'I... told you not to... call me by any honorifics... didn't I, Sayumi?' Rukia said in between breaths. 'I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me.' Rukia looked up from the floor to see her again. Sayumi was slightly surprised when she looked at her.

'W-What happened to your mask?' she asked nervously. Rukia's hollow mask was no longer on her face. Her eyes were normal coloured again too.

'I'll explain it when we meet up with everyone again' Rukia said. 'I'm sorry' she began. 'I should have told you what I was doing. Everyone was probably worried about me.' She stood up when she appeared to catch her breath again. 'Come on, let's find them again.'


Yay, Rukia isn't completely evil! But how come she doesnt appear to be an arrancar anymore? :S

Find out the answer next chapter!

'Til then.