I'm pretty much drowning in anxious teenagers at the moment thanks to the whole Coronavirus mess. My parents caught it, maybe, who even knows, tests pretty much don't exist here in Oklahoma—my parents are fine, but the tension in my house is unbelievable. This chapter was written in one day and not even edited a little bit. I apologize for that, but after 27 interruptions I've given up.

Maybe I should take a break until I could do a better job on this whole thing, but it's kind of my only escape at this point so sorry about all the mistakes—I really just hope it's readable

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Kira froze as he and his men were hit by a sudden wave of reiatsu, and for a an instant his mind returned to the war and the sick helplessness he had felt as that gigantic monster Halibel's fracciones had created had turned its attention to him and the fallen friends he shielded--

But, no, this was different. This was not a single reiatsu he felt approaching. It was multiple Arrancar, 'Otros' the Captain called them. Together they had the reiatsu of the monster the General had been needed to destroy, but separately--there were more than any hunting party they'd met before, a lot more, but they weren't unbeatable.

He looked back at the unranked shinigami with him. With a group this large they would have to fight one on one instead of the three on one that had been working so well. Someone was going to die. He needed a plan and he needed one quick.

"Koizumi," he said, to the youngest member of the team, but also the fastest of them, "Go tell Captain Hitsugaya we're under attack and we need him here as fast as he can manage."

The girl nodded and vanished.

"Ogawara and Suzuki, go around to the south, soon as you're in range, start hitting them with kido, but keep moving and keep under cover. They'll probably send ceros back at you so be ready to run--Chiba and Yotsuba with me."

Kira leapt up to the roof ridge of a house and started running. This human neighborhood was almost completely intact. It had been outside the range of most of the fighting. There was some damage from the rain of Captain Hitsugaya's ice, but the office buildings had taken the brunt of the attacks by both shinigami and Arrancar.

He leapt from rooftop to rooftop, leaving the others behind as he closed the distance between himself and the approaching Otros.

They were coming straight at him drawn to his reiatsu. Every time he had faced these Otros, they had ignored the men with him and gone straight for him, only fighting the others when they were attacked, and Kira had quickly realized why. These Otros were ruled by their hunger, and a lieutenant, so many times stronger than unranked shinigami, was irresistible.

When he reached a main thoroughfare coming in from the town's outer limit he saw them, twenty starving Arrancar. The most he'd faced before was four. His small squad couldn't stop this many. Captain Hitsugaya was their only hope.

Kira hopped down to the road and drew his zanpakuto. "Wabisuke, raise your head," he commanded, and at the same time released the full strength of his reiatsu.

The Otros went mad. They lost hold of the rational thought that seperated hollow from Arrancar in their absolutely overwhelming hunger. Any shred of a formation vanished as they ran full out at the lieutenant.

The fastest reached him first and he met them with a new technique he had developed with his team. Wabisuke parried the first Otros' sword, connecting three times before he dodged to the next, stopping swinging claws, again and again. Three hits per claw and he was on to the next.

His men reached the fight as he met his fourth opponent. They went after the crippled attackers. Even unranked shinigami could handle an Otro whose weapon was too heavy to lift.

Then Suzuki and Ogawara began peppering the Otros with kido, throwing the entire mass into confusion. It helped. Some were distracted, some even ran into each other. It slowed the rush at Kira and he was able to weigh down another sword or two, but it wasn't going to last. They were too outnumbered. Five on twenty and four of their five could not hope to match even a single one of their enemy's strength.

He heard his two men exchange blows with one of the Otros he hadn't managed to slow, and one of them cried out in pain. Then one of the Otros pulled itself together enough to fire a cero back at the two kido users and a house lost its roof. Kira could only hope the pair hadn't been there when it hit.

He was now surrounded by five Otros. Two had been forced to drop their swords, but their claws looked plenty sharp, and the other three were still armed. Out of the twenty only three had actually fallen.

Then he heard the voice he'd been waiting for. Hitsugaya shouted, "Hyorinmaru, reign over the frosted heavens!" And a wall of ice ran the length of the street, trapping three of his attackers and at least five others in a frozen prison.

Kira almost laughed in relief, but there was still a fight to be won.

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Rangiku still felt sick. She had watched Gin help Arabelleria choose twenty Otros to attack his own division, to hunt down his own lieutenant. She had thought he cared about Kira, but he had complained at more than one of the fraccion's choices: one was great for distance but didn't she realize he'd be slaughtered the moment Kira got close, another flew--flew, didn't she know how quickly Kira had taken down his opponent at the pillar?

God, he'd practically chosen the entire force, twenty Otros, handpicked to murder Kira.

This felt too real. They weren't playing a part for the Gotei. They were joining the remnant of Aizen's forces. They were traitors, hiding from the Gotei. Even she struggled to believe Gin was anything but the monster he still played.

Then they had brought out the gate--the gate they were here to destroy--and hundreds upon hundreds of hollows were cheering, not only Aizen's Otros but so many Adjucas who had joined them, so many hollows, all cheering as they watched the chosen few to go and hunt down a lieutenant and cripple a division.

And Gin did nothing. If she'd had the alarm she would have triggered it. It would have been dangerous for her and Gin, but she would have taken the chance. They could probably hold out long enough. They were strong and the others would come as quickly as they possibly could. She trusted the captains and her fellow lieutenants; they would make it in time.

But Gin had done nothing. He'd chosen the Otros to hunt Kira and then he'd turned, grinning as always, to ask Arabelleria if there was anything worth eating in the place because he was starving.

So they had been led into the warren of tunnels and chambers that made up the underground fortress known as Mesa Negra. Some passages were guarded, others weren't. There were places where hollows crowded and others where it was so still and silent even their breathing seemed loud.

They had ended their travel in a wide chamber with tall almost gothic arched ceilings. There were fires burning in sconces to light the long room, setting the room in flickering shadows and golden light. At the far end was a stone throne on a dias, but Rangiku barely noticed because the main feature of the room was a long stone table, large enough to hold a single person, and stained black with blood. There was no mistaking it, the blood splatter stains on the floor made it obvious.

"The old gods they worshipped here demanded blood sacrifice--shinigami blood, obviously," Gin said, cheerfully. He took Rangiku by the hand and led her past the table. "It's been centuries so nothing to worry about now, just another of the sights to see in Hueco Mundo."

Gin turned and frowned at the half dozen Arrancar that had accompanied them through the fortress. "Where is that food I was asking about? If you haven't got any, send somebody through that gate of yours to pick some up."

Arabelleria looked back at her people and they exchanged looks among them. Clearly, they had not taken his earlier question seriously.

"Oh, go away. You're all boring anyway--Ran-chan's much more fun."

He completely shocked Rangiku by grabbing her by the waist and pulling him to her for a very enthusiastic kiss.

"Gin!" she shrieked and tried to pull away but his arms wouldn't budge. His mouth went to her neck when she turned away from his kiss. "Gin, knock it off!"

His mouth went to her ear. "Hollows hate to see people happy."

She stopped squirming abruptly when she realized he was right. She could feel the reiatsu of the Arrancar retreating.

Rangiku leaned heavily against him. "How long do we have to be here."

"Don't worry about Kira," he whispered so softly she barely heard him even with his lips against her ear. "I chose him the best match-ups, no ranged or speed attacks. He'll be fine."

"Oh." Rangiku released a deep breath. He was right. Kira's shikai had been useless against her, but against anyone who had to exchange blows he would always have the advantage. She should have realized. "I'm sorry. I need to trust you."

"Everything's going to be ok, Ran. I promise."