He was not the weakest of the Espada. Byakuya could hardly believe it when the arrancar shifted forms to become well, a monster. This was ridiculous. Not even his bankai could do much damage to the beast, he was shocked to discover. And Yammy was surprisingly fast for being such a huge thing.

He wasn't going to be able to defeat this one by himself.

But from the faint spiritual pressures he could sense, it seemed his comrades had their own battles they were dealing with. And then he was standing in front of him.

Byakuya would almost rather suffer alone than accept his help.

But there was no telling Kenpachi "no".

xxx

Suffering, he didn't witness most of the battle. He was trying his hardest not to move. Even breathing hurt. Did that pink haired bastard crush his lungs? He didn't remember exactly. All Ishida knew was pain. And then the pain stopped briefly. First, he thought he had died. Then he shifted slightly, and the pain reminded him of what life felt like.

So what had stopped the pain?

The quincy didn't really recognize the blurry shapes fighting above him. But the butterfly thing had to have been the arrancar... which meant that the other was on their side. He thought he recognized a captain's cloak.

And then...

...nothing.

He opened his eyes slightly and realized the ground was moving underneath him. A glance to the side gave him a glimpse of Abarai's red hair.

And then the pain took over once more.

xxx

The arrancar had coaxed her into a false sense of security. She sat across from Kaien, eyeing him with a mix of confusion and wonder.

Rukia sat still, leaning forward slightly as she listened to Kaien's tale of how he had become...this.

She almost believed it. She wanted to believe that it was really him sitting in front of her. But she couldn't.

That nagging feeling of unsettlement never left her, and so she couldn't help but do the one thing she had never thought of doing again, not even in her darkest nightmares.

She had to kill Kaien again.

Now it was just a matter of working up the courage to strike first when the other was least expecting it.

xxx

Orihime blinked, Kenpachi was gone. Just suddenly, gone. She lowered herself down to the sand slowly, hugging her knees close to her chest. The captain would have had a good reason for leaving them, right? They would be ok here...alone...right?

A flash of movement made her look up, and she scrambled backwards. Suddenly there were people surrounding them-a man and a woman she didn't know and-she gasped at Ishida and Renji's still forms, but before she could move, the woman shook her head.

"It's all right, girl. My name is Unohana, I'm the captain of squad 4. I'm a healer. They're safe with me." the woman smiled at her, gently, and Orihime felt herself relax a bit. The woman knelt next to her friends and began healing them both, while the other- a captain, she assumed- stood watch a few feet away from them.

"Thank you, Unohana-san," she murmured softly, watching as the color returned to her friends' faces.

The shinigami nodded and cast a glance towards the still form of the arrancar next to her. "Is he a threat?"

She opened her mouth to start to explain when Grimmjow slowly sat up to glare at them both. She flinched away from his gaze. He blamed her for Kenpachi's actions, she just knew it. "You better believe I am." he growled lowly, before he closed his eyes and leaned against Orihime's back. She held perfectly still, not wanting to disturb him. "I'm always a threat." he whispered. She smiled slightly to herself and shook her head 'no' as Unohana frowned.

xxx

He wasn't the same. It was painfully clear, from his appearance to his spiritual pressure, Ichigo wasn't the same.

It was unfair, Ulquiorra thought.

Nnoitra had been number five, and then his spat with Nelliel had gotten him demoted and some of his spiritual pressure had been stolen from him. Ulquiorra still wasn't sure how Aizen had done that. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. But he understood Nnoitra's reasoning for hating Ichigo. Grimmjow hated Ichigo because he had wanted the number 5 spot for himself. Ulquiorra understood that too. What he didn't understand was why he hated Ichigo himself. The Cuatro suspected it was because he had worked so hard to become powerful. He had trained and risen through the ranks, and then one day, Ichigo had just appeared, sporting a glaring number 5 on his left shoulder. A new arrancar, seated right underneath him with no effort to get there. Just a little favortism from the ex-shinigami. But even still, his position wasn't threatened by Ichigo, so why did he hate him?

He knew why, now.

Ichigo was so much more than he could ever be. He had transcended his hollow state.

It wasn't fair.

He couldn't help but be defensive when he saw that Ichigo was no longer hollow.

And so he did whatever any animal would do when they felt like they had been backed into a corner.

He attacked.

xxx

The beast was even more exhilarating than his last fight.

Kenpachi grinned, darting back and forth all over the huge arrancar, dealing small wounds here and there, wounds that he knew would just provoke the beast even more.

And then it happened. He was caught. The darkness closing in on him made him chuckle, and he tilted the zanpakuto slightly before lashing out.

The roar of pain and the sudden release from his prison caused him to throw back his head and laugh out loud, watching as the fingers fell to the sands with a 'thud'.

He cast a glance back towards the pretty boy, and smirked to find him staring wide-eyed.

Then the arrancar was yelling something at him and he focused once again on his opponent.

Maybe he should visit Hueco Mundo more often.

It was a lot more interesting here than in Seireitei.

XXX

Hello my lovely readers! I'm back for the month of October, just like last year- a chapter a day! Some may be shorter than others, I do have uni classes to keep up with, after all. If I don't wrap up the story at the end of the month, then the rule stands as such: I will update for every five reviews posted! If you want to read my other Bleach fic, it's Grimmichi. If you want to read about my life (kinda) check out Hollow-it's FMA AU. I'm working on a few other things at the moment, like my old Death Note LxLight fic, I Scream You Scream. Also working on a Kakavege fic that I can't wait to post! As always, thanks for faves/follows/and reviews!