"So, the two ladies will be staying in this room."

I stared into the two-futon room, while Szayel walked in and began to look around. The doctor, Kurosaki, was grinning like a moron as he held the door open. I took a step forward, forgetting my new gender, before he caught me by the back of my jacket and tugged me back out.

"You've got your own room, back here." He laughed, and I watched as he clapped Nnoitra on the back and knocked 'her' in.

"Dinner is in an hour, and even guests follow Yuzu's rules. After you eat, wash your hands within ten minutes or you don't get the next meal, and she's serious!" He shut the door, before waving me over in another direction.

"Since we only have one spare room, you're going to have to room with someone else." He explained, opening a door and leaning inside.

"That guest is here. You've got the extra futon out, right?"

Another voice answered him, one I was horribly familiar with.

"Yeah, he can sleep in the closet." The answerer leaned out of the door, staring at me with a disgruntled expression. Isshin clapped him on the shoulder, smiling.

"This is Akihiko Ishimura. Akihiko, this is my son, Ichigo. Thought I'd introduce you two, since you'll be staying in Ichigo's room for awhile." He clapped me on the back this time, making me jump, before laughing and heading off in another direction.

"You two make friends now!" I heard him call back, before looking over at Ichigo. He just stared after his father, before glancing towards me.

"He's always like that, but you'll get used to it. Come on, come in." He waved me in, and I shuffled in after him and shut the door behind me. Ichigo's room was nicely decorated, not clumped and girly like Orihime's was or completely spartan like any room in Las Noches was. I pulled off my coat and dropped it on the floor where Ichigo pointed, before heading over to the closet and opening it up. There were winter sheets on top of a futon in there, though it was a small room (and very dark). Ichigo, the bastard. Didn't even bother to get me a comfortable room. I crawled in and flopped on my new bed, noticing that there was a stuffed animal under me. A lion-looking little stuffed animal.

"You play with dolls?" I called out to Ichigo, and he walked over and snatched it away from me.

"No. It's my sister's. Don't know how it got in here." He snapped at me, and I shrugged and rolled over.

"Night you pussy."

Ichigo turned around, staring at me. "What?"

I didn't move. "Nothing."


The time spent at the Kurosaki clinic-slash-household was unbearable.

Nnoitra and Szayel had started telling me about having to eat souls, though it was only in private that we talked about it. Apparently, that empty feeling that never left no matter how much I ate was me needing to eat souls. And so, after a few weeks of spending time trying to remember to wash my hands so that I could eat, I decided to leave one night without Nnoitra or Szayel. Hey, I don't need those pricks, I told myself. I was planning to leave on my own, anyway, until I figured out I had no idea how to leave my gigai.

Until one night, when Ichigo was gone and I spotted a little badge hanging off his bedside. Curious, I touched it and immediately hit the floor, sitting up and finding myself in my female body with my fake one sprawled across the floor. Oh shit, I was fucked.

"Oh shit, I'm fucked." I told myself, grabbing my gigai and putting it in the closet. Now I was pacing, around and around and around, attempting to figure out what the hell to do now. And the clothing I was automatically wearing in my soul form seemed to be my Las Noches uniform, for some reason. I heard a noise, something like an 'eep', and whirled around suddenly. All I saw was that freaking doll, and no people. And so I relaxed, dropping onto the bed next to it and sighing.

"Aw...what the fuck do I do now?" I sighed, picking up the doll and staring at it. That stare turned into a harsh glare.

"And what the fuck are you looking at?" I snapped.

At a doll.

"...Great, now I'm talking to Ichigo's dollies." I sighed, tossing the doll across the room. When it hit the floor, I heard it make noise.

I heard a doll make noise.

Instantly I sonidoed over to the doll and scooped it up, shaking it. "Did you just make a noise?! Tell me I'm not insane for hearing it, come on, tell me!!" I shook it hard, before I heard...it...talk.

"Hey, knock it off!" The little lion snapped, and I dropped it and started stamping on it.

"Oh god it's some shinigami alert system and it's going to get Zaraki over here to kill me, oh GOD I do not need this right now, I've got to kill it-" I punctuated every word with a hard stamp on its face, before it started...yelling at me.

"You deaf?! I'm not a shinigami thing, so quit stamping on me, you idiot!" The doll wormed away from me and pointed at me now, yelling. I just dropped to my knees and stared at it.

"Are you...a monster thing?" I asked, poking it curiously. It looked pissed.

"No, I'm not!" I think it was a male...doll...so I sat back and listened. "Now, who the hell are you??" It jabbed a soft, fluffy hand at me, and I blinked.

"I'm...you can't tell Ichigo. I'm not a danger, I just want to go home, and I can't do that until we wait for Urahara." I plead with the little animal, staring at it plaintively. It seemed to think a moment, before stepping back.

"Oh no, I'm telling Ichigo as soon as he gets home that you're-"

He didn't get it out as I snapped him up, shaking him again and yelling through my teeth. "Listen you little fucker, if you tell Ichigo I swear to fucking god I'll rip off your limbs and shove you down the goddamn toilet! I'll put you in a woodchipper, and I'll put the soggy pieces in a fucking fire!! Do you hear me, I'll fucking do it because I'm way off the fucking deep end!!" I was near screaming, and the doll was trying to pacify me.

"Okay okay okay, we don't need to get that wild, do we??" I dropped him, giving up and heading for my body.

"Good, I just...don't tell him, so I don't get nixed by shinigami again. They tried to kill me last time, I don't want to have to escape again." I climbed into my body, and found out that I can get back in there easily. I, for some insane reason, trusted that doll. And I didn't really care if he betrayed me or not, because I wouldn't live much longer than that if he did.


"Alright, it's done!!"

Nnoitra, Szayel and I were staring at Urahara and his Gargantua. Apparently, hollows could pass through it easier than living things. It was a flash that we went through it and a flash when we landed in Hueco Mundo. And it was another flash that I went with Nnoitra and Szayel back to Las Noches. The time we'd spent in the living world had passed quickly, completely boring and harrowing at the same time.

Aizen was happy to have us back. I think. He might've been lying through his teeth.

"And so, Zetsumei, you're deciding to stay with us?" He asked me, and I sighed and nodded.

"Yes...Aizen-sama. I really don't have anywhere else to go, and the shinigami are pricks." I bowed at the waist, really in a hurry to find someone else. Aizen was silent for a moment, before speaking again.

"Well put, Numero Zetsumei. Dismissed."

I was gone in an instant, hunting for Grimmjow's reiatsu. I did find it, in a lone hallway, and when I saw him, I automatically rushed at him.

"Grimmjow!" I shouted, getting his attention, and stopped a few feet in front of him. I remember smiling, holding my arms out and walking forward. He was scarred up from his fight with Ichigo, it looked like, but he looked almost the same. I didn't recognize how he was staring at me until I was almost hugging him, and was shoved into a wall and pinned by my throat.

"So, you done being Jiruga's whore?"

My heart broke. What was left of it, anyway.

"Wh...huh?"

"Don't fuck with me!" He snapped, and I felt the heat of a cero building in his hand around my throat. "You fucking ran off with him, because you were done with small fry like me!"

I shook my head, hand on his wrist.

"No, I was kidnapped by the goddamn shinigami, and we couldn't get away! Don't be an idio-"

I'm not sure if it was a slap or a punch, but something sent me careening towards the ground. I tasted blood, and stared up at him bewilderedly.

"You little fucking liar!" Grimmjow snapped, and he dragged me to my feet by my shirt. "I saw you and him up on that rock! You fucking loved it when he was screwing you, didn't you?!"

Now I was pissed. I remember grabbing something, and shoving him hard so that he let go of me. Turns out, I grabbed him by the hair and shoved him into a wall.

"You fucking asshole!! You think I liked that?! I waited! I waited to see you again, because I wanted to! And this is how you greet me? Well fuck you too! I don't ever want to see your fucking face again! Go die in a ditch, for all I care!" And I turned away, and I was crying and I hated him for that. And after all that time, our reunion was a screaming match, before I stamped away into Las Noches' depths.