Here's the next chapter for you guys. Enjoy.

Hollow speaking or thinking

Zanpakuto Spirit speaking or thinking

Normal speaking or thinking

If there really was someone up in the heavens watching over the world, then Bennett and Randy would have kicked their ass down to Hell and back just for allowing the two women in their lives to get hurt. They didn't really believe in the Shinto faith like many other Japanese natives did since their mother had European ancestry from being a Quincy and was of the Christian faith. The Kurosaki matriarch raised all of her children as Christian and few people actually knew that fact (Ryuken Ishida and his family were a major percentage of the number of individuals who were privy to this information, due in part to being Christian as well). And though the three brothers were members of one of the three Biblical religions, they never really believed there really was a God that guided them everyday and supposedly had a plan and destiny for everyone. They thought it was complete bullshit and always stressed the fact that nothing was set in stone and they made their own choices and decided their own fate.

But the fact remained that the current situation at hand had really happened, and inside their heads the two siblings cursed up a storm and cussed out every holy deity they could to release their anger. Shaking their heads, they stepped on the gas and continued to speed their way toward the Urahara Shop while carrying the two wounded Arrancars.

After making great time while using their enhanced Flash Step with Yoruichi and Ichigo following closely behind them, they all arrived at the shop and knocked on the door. It opened and Kisuke stood in the doorway with a grim look on his face. "Bring them in quickly, we have already set up the room." he said with an underlying tone of urgency in his voice.

The four Soul Reapers rushed in quickly and set down the five women on mats covered with sheets lying on the floor. Tessai immediately got to work, putting damp cloths on their foreheads and cleaning and bandaging their injuries. Once he had stopped the blood loss and finished dressing their wounds, he turned to his pupils and employer/conspirator. "They are now stable and out of the critical zone, Kisuke. You boys were correct in having Lady Shihoin call us, if we hadn't been prepared for you to bring them to the shop, this could have turned out much worse." praised the tall man to the brothers for their quick thinking.

Kisuke nodded and the boys sighed in relief. The shopkeeper asked the arrivals, "I want to know how this happened. Start from the beginning, don't leave out anything. Since all of you were in separate parts of the town, you need to tell me both of your sides so I can get a better understanding."

"Yoruichi and I were downtown and walking when both of us sensed five different spiritual pressures that we recognized to be of Arrancars after a second reading. We exited our bodies, Flash Stepped to the signatures, and saw my brothers each holding a blood covered Tia and Nel in their arms and their friends lying against a tree with blood on them as well. They explained the situation, told her to call you, and Flash Stepped to the shop. She did so and we then carried their companions and followed them here." Ichigo explained to Kisuke.

"I see. Randy, Bennett, what happened on your side?"

Randy started to speak. "Well, we were sitting in the park..." he stopped for a moment, he was starting to feel woozy. "Ugh... hey, I'm not doing too hot, I—" He never finished his sentence because he started swaying a little on his feet and proceeded to fall straight on his ass.

Yoruichi widened her eyes and dropped to her knees, catching the blond and preventing him from falling backward and smacking his cranium. "Woah there, Randy! You're not looking too good." And she was right, the teen was looking a bit pale and sweating a little. She held up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

He tried to answer, "Thr—" Unfortunately, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he lost consciousness and fell to the floor. The woman made an attempt to get him to respond, but she was interrupted by his taller sibling going down on one knee while groaning in pain and putting a hand to his head.

The sole redhead in the room kneeled down to his brother's side but was interrupted by the raven-haired teen crumpling in a heap and passing out as well. "Bennett? Benetto? What's going on?" he asked in a worried voice. "Urahara, what just happened?" Ichigo asked his mentor.

All of them then felt a signature coming from a secure area in the shop and Kisuke and Tessai recognized it and knew immediately what it was coming from. 'Why is it reacting now of all times? This is not a coincidence for two of them to get knocked out and that device to react a few seconds later.' wondered the blond man. He left the room and returned a few minutes later carrying a small box in his hands. He opened it and a light appeared from the box. Turning it around to show the rest of the occupants, his actions were met with narrowed eyes and curiosity.

"Hat-and-Clogs, what is this? What I'm feeling from this crystal, there's no spirit energy coming from it. It's only the presence that I am sensing and it is above anything I have ever felt. Just what exactly is that thing?" inquired Ichigo.

He sighed. "This is the Hogyoku. I created during my time as the Captain of Squad 12 and Head of the Department of Research and Development. At the time, I did not know or understand what I had invented at the time and even now I don't fully understand everything about it. It is powerful beyond belief and what Aizen has been after ever since our exile since I used it to stabilize the captains and lieutenants that he experimented on," the former captain explained. "I believe that it seems to be reacting to your brothers and their female friends. I'll show you what I mean." He walked over to the group of four lying on the ground and held out the box towards them.

The crystal glowed brightly in response to Kisuke doing this and the man set the box down next to them. "We need to wait for all of them to wake up. I think the Hogyoku responded to Bennett and Randy wanting to save Tia and Nel and caused them to become unconscious. All we can do is wait and make sure they are alright, but we should continue to look after and treat Miss Halibel's Fraccion." He had Tessai carry the two teens and lay them next to the two women so when they woke up, they would see they were in good hands and with their soulmates.

Ichigo reluctantly dropped the subject and agreed. "I will call my dad and our friends and explain to them what happened since they'll need to know about this too."

"Go right ahead."

The next day, the group of four still hadn't awakened from their slumber and Ichigo was starting to get worried. His friends had come to the shop after he called them the previous afternoon and, except for Uryu since they previously had a conversation on the subject of Randy and Bennett's loves and he accepted them (he had already known that his cousins were part Hollow, but it did not matter to him because they were family), were surprised at the five Arrancar women lying on the ground covered in blankets and bandages. Tatsuki had asked who they were and why they each had a Hollow hole somewhere on their bodies and a bone fragment on their head. He explained and they accepted the answer and supported the two boys, knowing that Bennett and Randy cared for and trusted the blonde and greenette immensely. Orihime was a little frightened at hearing they were Hollows evolved into a human form but never said anything because she had faith in the boys trusting the women, so she pushed the fears to the back of her mind. The four friends then decided to train with Yoruichi more to pass the time while Ichigo watched over his brothers.

He had also called Isshin after his friends and made him aware of what occurred. His father immediately wanted to rush over to the shop to watch over his sons, but the strawberry blond told him to tell Karin and Yuzu that they would not be coming home that night and take care of them. The former Shiba finally agreed after a lot of convincing, but he still wanted to be there for his eldest children. Ichigo silently gave the moron credit for finally being somewhat of a proper parent, though it wasn't much because he still was an idiot most of the time.

Fortunately, Sung-Sun, Apacci, and Mila Rose had woken up a few hours after Ichigo had contacted his family and immediately asked where they were when they remembered what happened earlier in the day. Ichigo told them and said they were with friends who wouldn't judge them just for being evolved Hollows. Apacci then noticed Tia and Nel on the floor knocked out and she flipped out, demanding to know what they had done to her master and trying to move the blonde away from her love but ending up causing the two to moan, "No..." in pain while they were asleep which shocked the deer Arrancar. Luckily, the lioness of the three stopped her and apologized to the teen before the brash female did anything else and potentially cause more damage.

Shrugging off the outburst, the Shihoin woman then told them that their master and her fellow ex-Espada were saved by their soulmates, but he and his blond brother had passed out from a reaction to a device they had in their possession. She didn't specifically say it was the Hogyoku because while they knew the two former Third Espadas were trustworthy and wanted out from under Aizen's control to be with their soulmates, they didn't know the tanned woman's Fracciones as well and refrained from giving away any crucial information until they knew them better and could fully trust the three females, which was understandable since they were dealing with deserters. However, Yoruichi did say that her best friend believed that what was occurring could be the result of them starting to become connected more than before since the device had knocked them out while they were trying to save the two women.

Sung-Sun, being the most intelligent and calmest of the group, knew that Tia had been with Benetto in his Inner World many times and there was a similar situation with the other two soulmates, and she made the assumption that this could have been happening again with all of them and shared her thoughts with her allies as well as their saviors. And it sort of made sense to them because they all had known of the communication between both pairs.

After they properly introduced themselves to the people currently in the Urahara Shop, Kisuke created Gigais for them that completely hid their spirit energy and spiritual pressure and gave them new clothes to wear while they were in their soul forms and faux bodies. The clothes were so they wouldn't be recognized as former soldiers of Aizen's army, something the three definitely appreciated. He suggested they continue to rest from being in bad condition after coming to Karakura and their high-speed regeneration not healing them all the way, and he asked for the group of women to tell them when the four lovers woke up what exactly happened to them and what forced them to flee to the World of the Living with the injuries they received. They agreed wholeheartedly, knowing it was important to explain the incident and what had taken place since it would help to get it off their chests.

By the time the deer, lioness, and snake-themed females finally recovered fully, it was already getting dark and the groups of friends needed to leave for their respective residences. Kisuke made the executive decision to have the Arrancars stay with them while their comrades rested, all parties consenting to the idea and not finding anything wrong with the plan. He arranged for Apacci and Sung-Sun to stay with Orihime and Mila Rose with Chad, with the dark-skinned female blushing slightly and having a grin on her face from having the opportunity to stay in the same house with, in her own private thoughts, 'a hunk like him'. Nobody noticed the grin or blush though since the situation was a little dire at the current time. They left the shop for the night and came back the next morning only to see no change in the heavy sleepers with Kisuke and Tessai using some healing kido, Yoruichi watching over them, and Ichigo pacing back and forth and not being able to stop panicking somewhat.

"Ichigo, calm down! You can't stress yourself over this, you'll cause yourself to get a headache or pop a blood vessel," scolded his oldest friend, but the Substitute just couldn't relax and kept wearing down the carpet with his moving back and forth. "ICHIGO, LISTEN TO ME AND STOP WALKING AROUND! CALM THE HELL DOWN AND RELAX FOR A GODDAMN MOMENT!" she yelled in irritation.

"I cannot help it, Tatsuki! They're not waking up, we don't know what exactly is causing this to happen, and there's nothing I can do about it! The only knowledge we have of what could be happening is what Sung-Sun said and even then it's only just a single possibility out of many. So no, I can't calm down! Not when my siblings and their happiness are potentially at risk!" he angrily shouted back.

Yoruichi sensed the growing tension between the two friends and intervened. "That's enough from both of you! It's obvious this situation is starting to get to us, but you two cannot be starting a pissing contest right now because this is not the time nor place for it. You both need to cool off and calm down," she shouted at the both of them. "Come on, Ichigo. Let's go for a walk and talk, it'll take your mind off the situation right now and give you something else to think about." She grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door of the shop into the street.

Mila Rose turned to Chad and Uryu to ask a question. "Wow, Ichigo's really worried about his brothers and Master Halibel and Nelliel. He really cares about them, doesn't he?"

Uryu nodded. "He does and it has a lot to do with their mother. She died six years ago protecting Ichigo from a Hollow named Grand Fisher that Aizen sent after him. There was a second person, the First Quincy, involved in her death, but he was turned into a Hollow and sent to Hell by Urahara after he tried to take Randy, Ichigo, and Bennett's Quincy abilities like he did with Masaki not knowing that the boys had Hollow blood flowing through their veins," he elaborated. "From what I understand and learned from Urahara, they got revenge on Grand Fisher some time ago and purified him."

The three females frowned in disgust. "Grand Fisher. We have heard of that asshole, we avoided him whenever we could since he was despicable and cruel, Master Halibel thought that when he was finally taken done for good he would be sent to Hell to rot. I guess he didn't sin during his human life," growled the horned woman. "We never knew Aizen sicked Fisher on them. Him sending that bastard after a young Ichigo and his mother who couldn't protect themselves? That's evil no matter how you spin it. I won't pretend I know what it feels like to lose someone close to me, but I can understand how it would make them feel. If I lost my master, I'd be crushed and wouldn't know what to do anymore." she said somberly.

"I think Ichigo would be glad to hear you say that." the Quincy said. Wanting to extend an olive branch to them, he asked, "So what's your story? How did you meet Tia and Nel?"

Sung-Sun answered, "We were each saved in separate incidents by our master from male Hollows that wanted to devour us and she asked all of us to travel with her as a group to protect ourselves since female Hollows are generally targeted by males for food more often because they are seen as weaker. We all agreed and became our own dysfunctional family of sorts. As for Master Nelliel, we didn't meet her directly since she was the predecessor to Master Halibel, but we heard rumors and stories about how she disappeared from Las Noches. Our master knows all the details about what really went down, but the gist of the real story was a long while before we had reluctantly joined Aizen, an Espada that hated her predecessor with a passion attacked her with aid from a lower ranked Arrancar and damaged her mask, somehow turning her into a young child. He tossed her and her subordinates Pesche and Dondochakka, who had their mask fragments ripped off by him, out of the fortress and all traces of them vanished. Aizen never punished the two Arrancars responsible for their actions and that greatly sickened Master Halibel."

Kisuke said, "From what I can sense from Nel, she is leaking a moderate amount of spirit energy and the leak is concentrated around the scar on her face and the crack on her fragment. Do you think this might be why she became a child?"

"It's quite possible, she might be able to provide a better explanation when she wakes up. Anyway, some time before we left Hueco Mundo, our master told us about your cousins and how she and Master Nelliel were their soulmates and we ventured into the desert looking for her and her Fracciones. We soon found her in her child form and Master Halibel helped her regain her memories which resulted in her regaining her adult form, after that we decided to all defect together when we had the opportunity, but that happened earlier than we had planned as you can see," continued Mila Rose. "We'll explain everything about how we were manipulated by Aizen and roped into his schemes and what forced us to come here early when they wake up, the first event is a little sensitive for us and coming here needs to be explained by all of us to get the entire picture." she finished.

"We could have Orihime heal the damage on Nel's mask to help her recovery and potentially keep her in her adult form since Miss Inoue's powers have a form of healing as part of her rejection abilities. Would that be okay with you three?" inquired the owner of the Urahara Shop.

"That's fine. It may just speed up her recovery and instant regeneration. Do what you need to do." Sung-sun replied.

While the group back at the Urahara shop conversed, the two lovers walked around the town to help the strawberry calm down. Slowly but surely, Ichigo began to clear his head and cool down. "Yoruichi, I don't know what to do. We are going to the Soul Society to rescue Rukia soon, we need to finish training so we can be prepared, Kisuke said something about getting help or something from friends of his who were similar to us and that still has not occurred, and now this just happened which throws a wrench into our preparations. ARGH! I'm frustrated and I can't do shit about anything!"

His girlfriend wrapped an arm around his waist. "It'll be okay, Ichigo. You three are tough customers, they'll bounce back quickly. Have some faith in your brothers and their soulmates." She guided him to a bench in the park and they sat down. "Tessai and Kisuke are doing what they can to help them out. They are masters of Kido and know what they are doing."

He sighed. "I know and I cannot help but worry though. I don't want Yuzu and Karin to lose their older siblings, it would crush them."

The chocolate-skinned Soul Reaper smiled. "And that's what makes you a good brother." She kissed his cheek to show she supported him. "Don't fret anymore, just relax."

He looked at her and smiled. "Okay, you win. I'll relax some." Wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling the petite woman to his side which allowed her rest her head on his own shoulder, they sat there in peace not wanting to disrupt the happy moment.

"So what was life in the Seireitei before you left? You had to know some people there other than Soifon and your fellow exiles. I mean, you do help Kisuke with updating his information on the place since you used to be the leader of the Stealth Force and have skills involving espionage, reconnaissance, infiltration, etc. in your arsenal." he asked in an attempt to start a conversation.

"Hmm, where should I start?" she wondered with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Well, I was born into the Shihoin Noble Clan and eventually became Head of my clan as well as, you know this already, Stealth Force Commander and Squad 2 Captain. I grew up with Tessai and Kisuke in the clan compound and we were always around each other a majority of the time. I hated many of the snooty, arrogant nobles in the Soul Society because they were conniving and always scheming to make power plays within the government and the Four Great Noble Clans of the Soul Society. Almost everyone had an ulterior motive behind their actions and it didn't matter how little the action was, there was a secret reason they did what they did every time. To me, life as a noble was stuffy and constrictive and I was never comfortable being someone who I wasn't. Damn clan elders and those sticks shoved up their wrinkly asses." she huffed when she remembered the elders and advisors of her clan who always tried to enforce their will and what they believed a proper noble should be like. Then she let out a cat-like grin when she recalled telling them to buzz off or, as she put it so eloquently on one occasion, "Get that surgery to remove the massive poles up their asses already."

Ichigo chuckled a little. "Thinking of something funny, kitten?" he teased slightly.

Yoruichi snickered. "Just something I said before to some people I didn't like. Anyway, I became good friends and drinking buddies with one of the Shibas, the clan Isshin came from. Kukaku Shiba is her name and boy is she ever feisty. In a way, Tatsuki is a bit like her, taking shit from no one and being hot headed. Those traits kind of run in the Shiba family and there are very few clan members who aren't like that. I would hang out with her whenever I had the time just to unwind from my posts and have some fun drinking. Kukaku's a heavy drinker and can outdrink nearly everyone else in the Seireitei and not be drunk off her ass. Even I cannot keep up with her much of the time and I have a high tolerance for booze. Though from what I can understand, ever since her clan's decline in significance and their removal from being one of the Great Noble Clans of the Soul Society some years ago, she moves around the Rukon District with her house and two servants a lot, never really staying in one place for too long. Her brother, Ganju, has a tendency to wander around the District along with his little group of 'tough guys', and they sometimes get involved in small bar fights or scuffles with other residents, but the fights aren't really that big and Ganju is a bit of pansy who likes to talk a big game but can't back it up sometimes and fights like a rookie fresh out of the Academy. Kukaku likes to beat him up or smash her fist upside his head whenever he says or does something stupid and that can at times escalate into him getting hit by her even more because of him yelling at or arguing with her, and he never really learns from the experiences because he does the same thing over and over." She laughed fondly at the memories of those particular incidents.

"He sounds like a wuss and an idiot as well as somewhat of a nutcase. How exactly is a guy that much of a dumbass related to my dad and our family? Wait... scratch that, you really don't need to answer since that last part is a pretty accurate description about Goat-chin. Is there anyone who you knew in the 13 Court Guard Squads or in the Seireitei and rest of the Soul Society other than Kisuke and the others?"

In fact, there were some people that she knew well during her time as Leader of Squad 2. "Actually, yes. There are a few that come to mind. There's Soifon, who I told you about as well as who replaced me as Captain of Squad 2 and Head of the Stealth Force, Byakuya Kuchiki, he actually used to be a pupil of mine and now heads Squad 6, and Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Kisuke's former 3rd Seat and current Captain of Squad 12. In addition, there's also Jushiro Ukitake, Captain of Squad 13, he has been one of the longest serving captains for some time and shares that title with three others: Retsu Unohana, Squad 4's Captain, Shunsui Kyoraku, Commanding Officer of Squad 8, and the Head Captain and Leader of Squad 1, Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto, though you know who he is already since Byakuya told you about him."

Ichigo remembered she never said what her close confidante and bodyguard/pupil was like, just who she was. "What's Soifon like in terms of attitude and personality? You didn't really say much about that aspect of her." he asked his lover.

"I told you that my Little Bee was my first student and bodyguard, but unfortunately her attitude was way too serious and rigid and I never really got her to loosen up or relax and have a bit of fun. She had a bit of an obsession with Kisuke and how 'he wasn't fit to be a Captain'. She actually observed and spied on/stalked him for a little bit to prove to me she was right, even going so far as to give me a list of his flaws." She remembered that little occurrence particularly well. Yoruichi let out a slight chuckle when she said, "It was so detailed and I actually thought Soifon was crushing on the pervert and listed what she liked about him. I think she still kind of focused her anger on and blamed him, as well as me, when we left, though that might just be her still unhealthily obsessing over him, and it didn't help her attitude which possibly got worse, since nowadays she's angry a lot and is a massive stickler for the laws created by the Central 46. Ukitake is a kind man and often looks out for and has a good relationship with his subordinates, Rukia's assigned to his squad actually. Not only that, he is probably one of the most humble nobles in the Seireitei and never lords his status or position over anyone. Unfortunately, he's often absent from his duties due to an chronic illness that has afflicted for almost all of his life, but he tries to do what he can to help lessen the load on his two 3rd Seats that do the paperwork and run the squad when he's bedridden."

The young man sitting next to her nodded. "He sounds like a guy I could get along with and admire. Being a humble man definitely makes me respect him more."

Yoruichi agreed, but gained a noticeable frown when she said, "Byakuya had a pole up his ass much like a lot of the other nobles from what I could see during the times I met with and instructed him, and I saw his attitude every time I would train him and it definitely could have used some improvement. I don't know who he inherited it from since his grandfather was not like that ever and I never met his parents." Her frown was replaced with her trademark smirk when she flashed back to her antics during his training. "You're gonna laugh at this: During the times I trained him in Flash Step, I would mess and tease him, stealing his hair tie and forcing him to chase after me to get it back."

Ichigo laughed at hearing about the mischief and headaches his soulmate caused for the jackass who cut him and his siblings up. "Holy shit, that is priceless! I can actually picture that in my head. And Zangetsu is just laughing and cackling at that image."

"Damn straight! And it serves the asshole right for that stunt of his!" the crazed spirit howled with glee.

"I know! He would get so angry at me when I did that. Ginrei Kuchiki, his grandfather, was the Head of the Kuchiki Clan during the time he was learning from me and Byakuya took over his clan in the years we were gone. I don't know what he's like now, but from what you three told us when we brought you to the shop after he attacked you, he probably has not changed much after all this time. I don't know Kurotsuchi as well as Kisuke does because I only met him a handful of times when I visited Kisuke at his squad's barracks, but the man's not exactly... stable in the mind. Kisuke recruited him straight out of prison and placed him in Squad 12 as an seated officer. He's sadistic and loves to experiment on things to understand them fully. From what I could dig up, not all of the experiments he did were ethical, actually many of them would scar an average man's mind and cause him to lose the contents of his stomach. The guy's done dissections on living subjects without any anesthesia and a lot of other things I won't mention because they're horrific. Kurotsuchi's even done his research, or at least what he calls those experiments of his, on Soul Reapers and even Hollows." She got a little misty-eyed when she began thinking of what the sick bastard would do if he found out about what exactly her students were. "When we go to the Soul Society, I want all of you to avoid him whenever you can. If he somehow finds out that you three are perfect, natural hybrids of all three species in human bodies, he will stop at nothing to dissect you just to find out how you guys tick. He may want even to do the same with your friends because of their abilities. I don't want that to happen to you, Ichigo." She buried her face into her boyfriend's muscular chest when she started thinking how she could live without him. She couldn't, that's how much he meant to her.

He lifted up her chin and looked into her golden eyes with determination while wiping away the tears threatening to spill from them. "It won't, Yoruichi. I'll make sure that doesn't happen ever." He kissed her on her lips and she melted into the kiss, knowing he would be alright.

They pulled apart and held each other's hands. She said to him that she would tell him about the rest of the people later when it was appropriate. "Let's start walking back to the shop. We've spent enough time away from everyone else."

"Okay. I need to check with Kisuke and Tessai about Randy, Bennett, Tia, and Nel's conditions anyway. I hope they've made some progress."

"And there. Nel's mask fragment no longer has a crack in it and her scar is gone. That should help her recovery." said Orihime who had finished the task of healing Randy's soulmate's remnants of her mask. It took a little longer than healing a normal scar simply because Nel was leaking spirit energy and they had to replace her energy with both Soul Reaper and Hollow energy to help her heal, causing Urahara to ask Apacci, Mila Rose, and Sung-Sun to put some of theirs into the green-haired ex-Espada. Fortunately, it was successful and helped out the healer immensely with her job.

"Thank you, Orihime. Right now, the best course of action is to continue letting them rest until they wake up and from what I can guess based on the feel of their spiritual pressures, that could very well happen at any moment." said Kisuke. He turned to the three Fracciones and asked, "Can you continue watching over them with Miss Inoue and her friends? I know you'd want to be your master's side as soon she wakes up."

Mila Rose nodded and replied, "We will. If they wake up, all of us will let you know immediately." The shopkeeper acknowledged her confirmation and left to check in with Tessai who had taken a break to rest.

The Karakura inhabitants and their new companions sat down against the wall to wait until the two absent soulmates came back from their walk. Chad produced a deck of playing cards from his pocket that he had borrowed earlier from the glasses-wearing exile and asked if any of them wanted to play some rounds of Bullshit. The rest of them agreed and they played for about thirty minutes and only stopped when they heard Yoruichi and Ichigo come in the door.

"Hey guys," Ichigo greeted the people inside the room. "Any change?"

Apacci sighed. "Mila Rose, Sung-Sun, and I helped Orihime and Mr. Urahara repair Master Nelliel's fragment since the crack on it and her scar was allowing spirit energy to constantly leak from herself, and it helped, though we are not sure how much faster it will help her heal. Other than that, nothing has changed, but Kisuke said they might wake up at any time."

"Well that's better than what I had expected. If they're possibly waking up soon, then we need to make sure that they are alright after giving us such a big scare," said Yoruichi. "The two of us need to check in with Kisuke and Tessai on any theories and observations they made while tending to them. We'll talk later." The two of them walked into another room of the shop and left the seven companions and their sleeping friends alone.

What happened in the fifteen minutes that passed would make waves in the spiritual world and change several lives forever...

The card game continued and they waited until two cracking noises came from the part of the room where the four sleepers were laying down. It caught the attention of everyone, but they couldn't figure out where the sound was originating from. Sung-Sun and Uryu finally determined the sounds were coming from the knocked out people and walked over to the four to check if there was a problem. They saw something that shocked them to the core. "Get over here now! Something's happening!" exclaimed the serpentine woman.

All of them rushed over to the mats and widened their eyes at the sight of cracks forming on Nel's mask fragment. "Ichigo, Yoruichi, Kisuke, Tessai! You need to get in her! We've got a situation!" shouted Tatsuki. The four in the other room rushed in and saw what was taking place.

The cracks on the busty Arrancar's fragment became more and more pronounced and eventually, the ram's skull on her head broke apart and fell to the ground in pieces. The pieces dissipated into nothing, which was eerily reminiscent of a Zanpakuto cutting into a Hollow's mask and purifying it to make it disappear.

"Someone tell me what just happened because I must not be seeing this right. Did all of you see what I saw?" whispered Mila Rose as her face paled in response to what she witnessed. She simply couldn't comprehend what was going on in front of her.

"We all did and I'm not sure I understand anything of this." said Yasutora. Apacci then realized something else and she went as white as a ghost. She removed the covers and her eyes bulged out of their sockets, her slightly tanned face losing any color that was left.

"No way... it's just... gone."

She was talking about Nel's Hollow hole. There was no longer a hole on her torso going straight through. Her creamy, toned stomach was completely smooth and unblemished. It was as if the opening just vanished.

With a shaky voice, the heterochromatic Arrancar gulped and said, "S-sung-sun, c-can you check M-master Halibel?"

Her fellow Fraccion slowly felt her leader's neck and chin under the woman's jacket. She felt no bone. "Nothing." She checked her womb, the spot where Tia's Hollow hole was located, and felt nothing but smooth skin. "Both are gone."

Urahara pulled out the box containing the Hogyoku and opened it. The crystal's previous glow was starting to dim. He quickly came to the conclusion that the powerful object had used its power and made whatever was happening take place. He closed the box and put it back in his robes. 'This is unprecedented. Two Arrancars' mask fragments and holes completely vanish without a trace. Something happened and it had to do with the connection each of them share. They may just wake up now.'

In two of the soulmates' connected Inner Worlds, Tia and Bennett were holding hands and sitting in the grass on the outskirts of a beach by an ocean that bordered the mountains. "How do you feel, Tia?" he asked his beautiful soulmate who was now dressed in a shihakusho that showed a moderate amount of cleavage. To him, she looked gorgeous in the uniform, but he thought she looked great in anything.

She smiled at him lovingly. "I feel like I'm complete, whole again. I feel like a new woman, it's simply amazing, Benetto." She snuggled into him and he put his arm around her.

"As much I would love to stay here, I think it's time we wake up. We're probably worrying your Fracciones and my friends."

"Shall we go together then?"

"Always." They both disappeared into nothingness, leaving no sign of their presence.

"It's about time. Both of them are happy and that's all we ever want for them."

"Tia and Bennett deserve each other, Shugetsu. Things are looking up for them."

"Agreed. This has been in the making for a long time and we shall see it through to the end."

In the other two soulmates' Inner Worlds, Randy and Nel were walking together around the ruins and hills, enjoying their time together. Like Tia, Nel was dressed in a Soul Reaper uniform as well that she pulled off spectacularly. The blond said, "I'm glad we finally met in person. I was worried there was a chance you would not pull through. But I need to know: Do you regret your new changes at all?"

She shook her head. "Not at all, I feel entirely comfortable with them. To be closer with you is all I want and they have done just that. I'm happy that they happened, you don't need to worry about me, Randi."

"That's all I wanted to know, Nel. What do you say we get back and stop making our friends panic so much?"

She giggled and said, "That sounds like a plan to me." And like their counterparts, they vanished.

"They really needed something like this to bring them together, Jugo, Gaigetsu."

"Yeah, they couldn't bear to be without each other. They will always be a part of one another."

"And they will change the entire world for the better, no matter what happens to them."

Slowly but surely, the two pairs of soulmates opened their eyes and were greeted with the sight of their friends frantically huddled over them. They all sat up and looked at the group around them.

"Hey everyone."

And done. As always, read and review. And no flaming please.

You guys didn't expect that to happen, did you? Yeah, I'm kind of an evil bastard. I just love to mess with you all, and I'm not sorry about it.

Just to let you know, the statement about there not being a God does not reflect my religious beliefs and I do not mean to offend anyone with that statement. It's just to give some insight on why Randy and Bennett are so angry and their response to what happened.

Some good news on my end, Darkflame Universe and a Youtuber covering the game, TheNinjaOfLU, recently streamed a Crash Test on Youtube for its fans yesterday on October 24th to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Lego Universe being released, which is tomorrow on October 26th, and gave some info about the content being put in the game. I watched a lot of the stream and even asked a couple of questions, to which the streamers responded to. And the same Youtuber is doing a live interview stream with the lead developer of the project who will answer questions about Closed Beta and other topics involving the game. I cannot wait!

Just a good part of the week I decided to share with you.

Crash, out.