First off, I want to thank darkmachines, gorguts5, and lastly "Ami" (who's posted close to 20 reviews in a short period of time) for the feedback they've left.

I'll be honest with you guys, there's two reasons for posting this. The first reason (which I'm happy to admit) is to show you some plot ideas/threads that didn't make it into the final version of the story- for various reasons- which I'll expand upon a bit as we continue.

The second reason (of which I'm a bit more ashamed of) is that while I'm managing to maintain the pace of my (self-imposed) minimum number of chapters that serve as a "Buffer", and this is meant to give me a just little bit more breathing room in order to stay ahead.

Interlude 10.
"Special Omake Grab Bag"

I'd like to give a bit of context... When I was first conceptualizing the story, a number of key elements were a bit different from the final product. One being the shift in Ichigo's 'loyalties'- from his estranged friends and family, over to the charismatic Darkwood. Originally, Ichigo's transition was far more blatant), with the idea of him becoming more aggressive and antisocial.

Additionally, Darkwood was far more manipulative (more of a Palpatine), serving almost as the metaphorical 'Devil' on his shoulder, which in turn translated to Ichigo's shift being far more overt- ie, more aggressive and angry... For various reasons, I abandoned this, in favor of Darkwood being more of an actual mentor and the actions and motives of the Brethren being much less openly sinister.

This is the only scene I actually wrote in advance (in any real form) depicting that original idea of the far more "Sith-like" portrayal of Ichigo, as I quickly dropped it in favor of the far more nuanced and introspective journey that he ultimately ended up going on.

. . . ...o.o.o... . . .

Tatsuki entered the library, looking around for Ichigo.

"Looking for someone?"

Tatsuki practically jumped out of her skin, before she whirled around, to find Ichigo behind her, silently closing the doors to the library and smile at her. "Ichigo! Dammit, you scared the shit outta me!"

Ichigo frowned. "Were you... following me?" He asked, taking a step forward. "But why? Why sneak around? That's not like you, Tatsuki. Unless..." He paused, advancing. "You are following me."

Tatsuki stepped back. "What's going on with you, Ichigo?"

Ichigo stopped his advance. "What's wrong, Tatsuki? You seem scared?" He asked, an unsettling twinkle in his eye as he moved forward. "But of what? Oh dear... Could be of me?"

"Ichigo, cut the crap!" Tatsuki fired back at him. "You've been acting weird lately, and I was worried about you, everyone is. What ever's going on... talk to me!"

Ichigo grinned at this. "It's not like you, Tatsuki, all of this sneaking around... No, I don't think you're telling me the whole truth here." He replied, taking steps toward her. "If you were really so in the dark about me, then you'd have confronted me, like always." He continued. "No... I think you have some very definite ideas about me, and I'd like nothing more than to hear them, hmm?"

"What are you talking about?" Tatsuki asked, just as she felt herself backed up against a table.

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about." He countered. "You and the others think that I don't know that you've all been talking about me?" Ichigo asked. "You're all so worried about me, and we've known each other since we were children, so I figure you thought that you'd go find out for yourself just how I'm getting on... So, how am I doing, am I on the right track so far?"

"It's not what you think!" The dark-haired girl insisted.

"Oh, but I think it is." He fired back, his brown eyes wide as he regarded her. "And I think you have some very definite ideas, don't you?" Ichigo asked her.

In the moment, Tatsuki processed just how much bigger and stronger the young man before her was, in a way that she'd never really considered. After all, she'd never thought of Ichigo as a threat, but now...? Well, now things were different, as he loomed in over her.

"You think I'm up to no good, don't you?" He asked coolly. "You think that I'm loosing my way, that I've allowed myself to lead astray, isn't that right?" Ichigo continued. "Oh course you'd think that, what with me being without the moral support of the Shinigami and dear friends... Why of course I'd loose my way. Or, at least that's what everyone assumes of me..."

The sporty young woman could feel her pulse racing as he continued his tirade...

"I'd expect this from Ishida or Inoue, maybe even from Chad," Ichigo continued. "But for it to be you the one creeping around, watching me behind my back... well, it's a bit upsetting." He added, frowning, before he paused to brush a bit of lint from the sleeve of his jacket.

Her hand slid across the lip of the table, touching against the back of a chair. And Tatsuki realized that she'd let herself be backed into a corner. "Ichigo, stop it... You're, you're-"

"Scaring you?" He finished for her. "But we're friends, Tatsuki, aren't we? What possible reason would you have to ever be afraid of me?" Ichigo asked her, moving in. "I mean, you know me, right? And you know I wouldn't ever hurt you, right?" His voice was becoming increasingly aggressive.

"Get the hell back!" Tatsuki exclaimed. "I mean it, dammit Ichigo, get the hell away from me!"

But he just smiled at this. "Now you're just being silly, Tatsuki." he paused. "I mean, you're my friend, and we've known each other for such a long time, and I'd never do anything to hurt you, you know that right, don't you." His tone softened, and he extended a hand toward her. "Now come on, it's me we're talking about here, you always know you can trust me..."

"As if!" She started, reaching for a chair. "Something's gotten in to you... The Ichigo I know wouldn't be acting like this, he's too caring and bashful to acting so threateningly!"

"Oh really?" Ichigo asked. "You say that, and yet, here we are... So, maybe you don't me as well as you think you do, or even what I'm capable of?! Well, what of it, what are you-"

CRACK!

In an instant, Tatsuki had brought the chair to bare and swung it at Ichigo. The orange-haired teen had instinctively held up his arm to protect himself... Only, for the chair to shatter against a glowing barrier of energy that had spontaneously form to shield him.

While Tatsuki busied herself hopping nearby a table and getting clear of him, Ichigo just stared in wonder at the sudden manifestation of this golden energy.

. . . ...o.o.o... . . .

Okay, while I had already written like 90% of that scene, I did go back and do a little touching up here and there, and added the last few lines to close out this scene (as based on the original outline). Also, Another thing you might find interesting was that Dario (and other Brethren) would have been waiting outside of the library, to prevent Tatsuki's escape. Since, back then- as originally concieved- Dario was basically just another one of the Brethren- except with more lines, and acting as their 'mouthpiece', so he was much more of a basic character (I don't think I'd even fully worked out his powers yet).

Oh, and one more thing you guys might find interesting/amusing is the fact that I wrote this part with the intent of echoing the scene in Stanley Kubrick's film version of "The Shining", where the Jack character finally starts to really ramp of just how nuts he's become in front of Wendy- you know the scene I'm talking about, which culminates on the staircase with the line "Wendy! Gimme the bat, Wendy!"

Okay, this one was something I toyed with briefly, but there was never really anywhere I could think to work it into the final version of the story. I mean, it's really just a riff on a scene from classic era 1969 Doctor Who story "Invasion", where a character overloads- what was then considered to be a 'computer' (basically a giant magnetic real-to-real machine with a voice interface).

. . . ...o.o.o... . . .

"These things... They think they have beaten." Szayel remarked, adjusting his glasses as he went on. "No, pure logic will never defeat the creative mind, let's see how the system reacts to Algon."

Renji looked confused. "What the hell is 'Algon'?!"

"It's the human linguistic equivalent of the processes of these stupid machines..." Szayel replied.

"Wait, you mean it's like 'Computer Language'?"

"Precisely." The Arrancar answered. "And like any language, it can be learned... Except, with a typical computer, it's all lines of text." Szayel went on. "But this thing, it has a voice interface, and that means that it's possible to talk directly with them on a computational level."

"But what's the use of that?" Renji commented.

"A truly actualized sentient being would have the capacity to just ignore me," the pink-haired Espada answered, adjusting his glasses. "However, by comparison, a computer is a slave to it's functions- one of these being the processing of information- or input, if you will- which is what I'll soon be giving it, and this machine is too stupid to simply just ignore that input!"

The red-haired Shinigami watched as he began. "Computer, receive. Run, input- direct command. Function, compute- Sum: X positive. Additional, compute- delete the square root of base computation from the X positive formula. Function, compute- Sum: Y positive."

"That's Algon, damn..." Renji mused aloud.

"Function, compute- Form: integer." He rattled on. "Additional, compute- Formula: cross-calculate Sum Y to negative X, calculate all variables."

Renji looked back and forth between the machine and Szayel. "Uh, I'm no expert, but I don't think it likes whatever is that you're doing..."

"That's point." Szayel offered the aside to him. "Function, compute- continuous." He resumed his address to the mechanism."Additional, compute- cross calculate, continuous. Function, compute- calculate outcome, run continuous."

It was at this point that the control hub had started to smoke...

"Crap, now you're really pissing it off!" Renji exclaimed.

"Of course, I've just input an unsolvable equation, there is no answer." Szayel replied. "That's the point, because it's a computer, it'll keep computing until- actually, we'd both better step back."

"Oh crap!" The tattooed man cried out as the smoking rapidly intensified.

The next thing they both knew, they were forced to duck down for cover as the entire machine vanished in a flash, having exploded in an outward burst of fire and smoke!

Dusting himself off, Szayel smirked. "So much for inscrutable machine logic!"

. . . ...o.o.o... . . .

I don't really know/remember why I had Renji as his counterpart for the scene... Other, then I guess, that he seemed like an ideal 'straight man' for Szayel in the situation. Anyway, this scene was fully scripted out, and only requiring me to do a little work to reform it into pros-style.

I had toyed with another scene- one that I ultimately never actually scripted out... The idea only came to a bare outline of a scene in which Nemu and some other Shinigami (no one specific) were restrained in a room, and someone explains that they're going to trigger the release of Chlorine Gas- fully knowing that it will have NO effect on Nemu, instead serving as a form of torture by forcing her to watch the other Soul Reaper die before her eyes (it turns the moisture in their lungs into Hydrochloric Acid)... Of course, none of the Brethren are that cartoonishly evil.

. . . ...o.o.o... . . .

Oh, and I think it time that I should give a little insight for the Brethren...

+"Dario" is named after Italian film Director Dario Argento.
+"Crowley" named after Aleister Crowley, the titular character from the Ozzy Osborne song "Mister Crowley".
+"Lenny" is named after/based on Lemmy Killmeiser (from the band Mรถterhead).
+"Slash" is named after Slash (of Guns N' Roses).
+"Ronnie" is named after/based on Ronnie James Dio.
+"Ozzy" is of course based on Ozzy Osborne.
+"Sid" & "Nancy" are named after Sid Vicious (of The Sex Pistols) & his girlfriend Nancy Spungen.
+"Lou" is named after/based on Lou Reed (of The Velvet Underground).
+"Jinx" is based on a female Wrestler I first created for Smack Down vs. Raw 2011.
+"Hawke", "Pierce", "Wolfe", "Legion", and "Psyche" are OCs I created.

Darkwood is unique, in that his physical appearance is based on the actor Ron Silver (who is perhaps best known for his roles in movies such as "The Entity" and "Time Cop"), while his personality is purely of my own creation. I intended for him to be an adversary with depth- a man with his own agenda, and yet also someone couldn't be written off as a villain in the larger context of the story.

(- End of Special Interlude -)