Author's Note: For those who dislike broken German, keep in mind that the Bount make extensive use of broken German. It is noted as such on their wiki page. The same applies to Quincy. Also! No, this story isn't dead!

Read, Review and Check out my other stories! Also take note of the update schedule on my profile! It isn't hard to figure out how it works, seriously!

Beta'd by BigCC

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach!

"Rukia" – Normal Speech

'Ichigo' – Thoughts

*Kaien-dono* - Zanpakutō speech/thoughts

"Bankai!" – Spiritual Technique

Chapter 26: Snakebite

With Ishida and Sōma Yoshino

The Last Quincy narrowed his eyes at the Bount standing so smugly just a few meters away from him. With a flex of his hand and his spiritual energy, his bow was formed and pointing directly at the enemy "It is most unwise to present yourself as an open target before a Quincy, Bount." he stated coldly as an arrow formed on the string of his Kojaku and he took ready aim.

"Careful." Sōma Yoshino whispered quietly from next to him as she silently prepared to summon her own Doll. "Utagawa might be a cruel and sadistic bastard, but he's damned cunning and plenty dangerous. He's Kariya's enforcer for a very good reason, and it's not just because he turns into a snivelling kiss up whenever Kariya is involved."

"How rude. I simply acknowledge Kariya-sama's strength and give him the respect that such deserves." Utagawa Ryō responded ever so smugly. "And as for you, Quincy, I would advise you to lay your weapon down now. On behalf of Kariya Jin-sama, I am here to extend an invitation to you. My lord wishes to speak with you on a matter of grave importance to both our people."

"Then perhaps he should have extended his invitation before he set those water Dolls on me." Uryū responded icily, his bow steady and not shifting a millimetre from where it was aimed to pierce the Bount's heart. "I'm afraid I'm going have to decline, I don't believe that accepting your 'lord's' invitation would benefit my long-term health."

"I'm afraid that you don't have the option to refuse, Quincy. You may either come along willingly or I will simply drag you in alongside the traitor standing next to you." the brunette Bount replied, a sadistic smile slowly spreading across his face. "But if you truly wish to make this interesting, do struggle a bit. I'm sure that Kariya-sama will overlook it if I have to be a bit…rough in order to bring you both in."

"Zeige Dich, Goethe!" Yoshino snarled, quickly summoning her fiery Doll. "Go to hell, Utagawa! I refuse to be dragged back to that bastard like some prize brought in by his pet hound."

"I do believe I am far more valued than a mere pet, woman." Utagawa responded, seemingly honestly affronted by the comparison, before he brought his golden snake Doll up and about, sending it skimming across the entirety of the rooftop in a single flowing movement before Ishida could fire off his arrow. "Schlangenmeer! (Sea of Serpents!)"

Every surface touched by the Doll known as Fried instantly shifted and transformed into a serpentine golem, turning the entire rooftop into a massive carpet of writhing, hissing serpents formed of concrete and steel. The sound of stone and steel grinding against each filled the previously quiet night air.

"Schlangenbindung! (Serpent Binding!)" the male Bount hissed out. With a chorus of hisses the sea of serpentine constructs surged forward towards Ishida and Sōma.

"Heilig Pfeil: Schnellfeuer! (Holy Arrow: Rapid Fire!)" the Quincy barked back, causing his single arrow to glow even brighter for a brief moment before he released the string. In an instant, the single arrow turned into a swarm of dozens that rained down upon the surging swarm of serpents. It was one of the lesser (though undoubtedly useful) techniques that he'd received from the Soul Society, part of the vast amount of Quincy materials that Kurotsuchi Mayuri had gathered and hoarded over the last hundred years or so of his 'research.'

He would have to rename it at some point though; he was Japanese after all and, while he could acknowledge and even respect his people's ancestral European roots, would need to rechristen his newer techniques with a proper moniker at some point. For now, though, needs must when demons drive.

Interesting enough, each and every one of the snakes reverted back to their base materials as they were damaged, albeit while still showing the damage done by the Quincy's attack.

"Oh-ho? I honestly wasn't expecting you to be able to deal with such a wide-scale attack." Utagawa sounded, sounding almost cheerful at seeing his technique countered. "Your growth has been even more impressive than what our intelligence indicated. I dare say this might actually turn out to be entertaining."

"Relying on second-hand information is always a fool's errand." Uryū responded imperiously, using his free hand to adjust his glasses. "I would think a species as long-lived as you Bount are supposed to be would have learned that lesson ages ago."

"My, my. Such harsh words." the Bount's cheerfully smug disposition didn't seem to waver in the least. "It seems that you are in need of a lesson. Shall we beat this foolish child without mercy, Fried?"

The golden snake, its tail still held in its partner's grip like a whip, rose up and stared down at the male Quincy with a malicious eye. "Yesssss!" it hissed out excitedly in a surprisingly feminine, sibilant voice. "I want to hear what his screams sound like!"

"Pft." Yoshino actually spat on the ground in front of her. "Smug, sadistic, merciless and utterly unrepentant; you two have always been cut from the same cloth. At least Gō tries to keep some control over Dalk; you two are so fucking well-matched it's sickening."

"I thank you for the honest compliment, my dear Sōma." Utagawa replied condescendingly, a superior crossing his face. "Now, shall we get to it?"

"Goethe! Burn them until not even ashes remain!" the female Bount ordered in way of reply.

With a roar like a crackling fire, the burning Doll unleashed a barrage of fireballs at Utagawa, whose response was to rapidly swing his own Doll about, twirling it around his form in a circular motion before the fireballs could reach him. The air shook for a moment as the orbs of flame and spiritual energy slammed into something, erupting into flame and smoke. When it dissipated a moment later, a larger circular golden yellow shield seemed to stand undaunted amidst the smouldering ruins of the rooftop. A moment later the shield seemed to shiver before it began to shrink and uncoil itself, returning to the form of a golden serpent Doll and revealing its Bount master once again.

"I'm afraid you'll have to do much better than that if you wish to get through Fried's Schlangen-Turmschild (Serpent Tower Shield)." Utagawa remarked casually as he wound his serpentine Doll back like a whip. "Schlangensturmschlag! (Snake Storm Strike!)"

His arm seemingly turning into a blur for a moment, the brunette Bount sent his Doll's serpentine form lashing forward in a series of whip strikes so fast that they seemed to occur simultaneously. The barrage of blows seemed to close in on the Quincy and Bount from all sides.

Uryū responded immediately, grabbing onto his temporary ally and quickly using the Quincy art of Hirenkyaku to launch them both out of the way, both seemingly vanishing and reappearing on a neighbouring rooftop. Goethe simply launched itself out of the way, using its flames to propel itself back to its mistress' side as soon she reappeared.

"You Quincy certainly do have a talent for running away, don't you?" Utagawa remarked casually as he turned to face them again.

"Quincy possess neither the enhanced durability nor the recovery ability of Soul Reapers and yet we still hunt Hollows of immense size and strength. In such circumstances, being able to open and maintain a distance from your foe is a necessary skill." Uryū replied coolly, yet again adjusting his glasses that had been slightly tilted off-centre by the sudden movement. "That way, one can simply turn their target into a pincushion at their leisure."

"Such a pragmatic view of combat, I must say I am impressed." the male Bount replied, offered a mocking golf clap around his familiar's tail. "Still, if a Quincy's greatest strength is their ability to run away, then I dare say this will get boring rather quickly."

One of Uryū's eyebrows twitched slightly at the continued insult to his fallen people, but he kept his control. This snide little man was hardly as annoying as the brute Kurosaki Ichigo could be, so there was no way he would be falling for such obvious taunts after having dealt with concentrated Kurosaki exposure for so long.

Beneath his grinning façade, Utagawa Ryō was frowning. This engagement was going neither as quickly nor as easily as he had initially expected it to. The Quincy was both more skilled and less prideful than he had been led to believe. Added to that, the damned boy had a high-speed manoeuvring technique similar to the damnable Soul Reaper's Shunpo technique. He hadn't believed Ban's initial reports about the Quincy's abilities, believing the immature little brat had just been blowing smoke to cover for his own failures, but it appeared that wasn't the case.

More annoyingly, he couldn't just cut his losses by just snagging Sōma Yoshino and retreating; she was both sticking to her new protector's side like a bloody limpet and had even managed to call forth Goethe already. While in terms of raw strength, Goethe's literal firepower was actually a bit on the lower end of impressive, the ever-silent Doll's absolute loyalty to his partner was both well-known and even a bit envied by her fellow Bount, many of whom had to worry about their Dolls possibly turning on them if they were to present a moment a weakness.

Ryō was well aware that Fried would happily crush the life out of him herself should she ever get the chance. That certainly did not make him envious of the female weakling, however!

It seems that he would have to make use of the precautionary measures he'd brought along. Regrettable, as he had hoped to be able to take all the credit for this victory and had only prepared for such out of thoroughness and long-standing paranoia rather than any anticipation of having to need it. Even then, Ichinose Maki would have been his first choice as emergency reinforcements, but alas, the renegade Soul Reaper was bound to protect the mansion by Kariya's orders, therefore he had sought someone else's aid. Utagawa pulsed his Reiryoku in a specific pattern to signal that his reinforcements needed to step up.

"Zeige Dich, Wainton!" Cain shouted, the large green mantis-like Doll appearing in front of him as he stepped out from behind the ventilation system of another rooftop.

"Cain! I can't believe you of all people would go along with this stupidity!" Yoshino shouted.

"I'm following the will of Master Koga, Sōma-san." the blond-haired Bount replied steadily. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to need you both to come with us."

"I take it your Doll has recovered from Kurosaki Kirika cutting it with her Zanpakutō?" Ishida asked, pointedly reminding the Bount that he was familiar with his fighting style.

"The one who my Master beat with Dalk?" Cain fired back himself.

"Gloating over an already-healed wound? My, my." Ishida smirked. "If you think a wound of that level is enough to keep the likes of Kurosaki Kirika down, then you have obviously no idea just what that particular family of lunatics is capable of."

'She's already healed?' Cain thought, doing his best to keep his shock off his face. 'Master said that Dalk's spike managed to pierce straight through that redheaded Soul Reaper's shoulder! Even with their enhanced bodies and recovery abilities, there's no way a Soul Reaper could have recovered from that kind injury so quickly. Wait…Master mentioned once that the Soul Reapers have access to some form of healing art, I think he called it Kaidō or something. They must have a particularly puissant user of it on their team. Maybe that weirdo in the suit from before? Tch…damn it, so far all the intel we got seems to be coming up either outdated or just completely rotten. I don't like this, not at all.'

Aloud, he ordered his own Doll onto the attack, "Get him, Wainton!"

The giant green mantis blurred and appeared in front of the Quincy and female Bount before either realized that they were in danger. Fortunately, Goethe reacted in time and fired off a quick, basketball-sized orb of fire at Wainton before it could strike, who blurred again and reappeared several feet back to avoid the fireball.

"That speed...that's far beyond anything Cain's Doll should be capable of at his age." Yoshino frowned, before her eyes widened imperceptibly. "Oh no... he's been feeding on living souls!"

"Just as you have." Ishida pointed out matter-of-factly as he sent another Schnellfeuer at Wainton, whose arms blurred through the air as the barrage approached, destroying every Reishi arrow that was a danger to himself or his Bount master.

"Cain is the youngest of our kind still alive! He shouldn't have to have been forced to break our taboo like this!" she hissed back. Unfortunately, both of them had forgotten their original opponent.

"Schlangenflutschlag!" Utagawa shouted, the golden snake lashing out and creating dozens of concrete snakes, which swooped over at the Quincy and Bount pair almost too fast to counter.

Almost.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens! Hadō #73: Sōren Sōkatsui!" a female voice shouted, before the incoming wave of snakes were annihilated by a wave of pale blue flames that quickly vanished into the air once their job done. Lightly landing next to Uryū and Sōma Yoshino was Kurosaki Kirika, arms crossed and an unimpressed look on her face.

"Ishida, if I have to bail you out a third time, I'm making Yoruichi-sensei give you a solid day of Hirenkyaku vs Shunpo Tag." she offered flatly before turning her attention to the mantis-like Doll. Her eyes glassed over ever so slightly as she started to chant another spell. "Hikari no kūkyo, kyū-kai kurikaese. Shibare, tojikome, jikan uchi ni ichiji teishi suru! Bakudō #79, Kuyō Shibari! (Emptiness of light, repeat ninefold. Bind, confine, interrupt in time! Way of Binding Number Seventy-Nine, Nine Sunlight Traps!)"

Almost instantly, eight purple-lined black holes appeared around Wainton, with a ninth appearing over his chest, making the green Doll freeze in place.

"Wainton! What's wrong?!" Cain yelled.

"I...I can't...move!" the Doll grunted out, its body visibly trembling as it fought to move even a millimetre.

"Huh...that's not one that Tessai-sensei taught me." Kirika remarked as she came back to her senses a second later, then blinked as black lines appeared tracing across her skin. They glowed briefly, several seemingly burning away as she watched, before fading away once more. "Another mental partition has fallen, eh? Only two more to go."

"Kurosaki, at times like these I wonder if you and your brother are not truly blood-related. You are both utterly baffling entities." Uryū deadpanned.

"Thanks."

"That was NOT meant as a compliment!"

"Uh-huh, whatever." the redheaded girl sighed. "I'll take care of the big bug, you two focus on the sleazy snake and his golden toy. Reinforcements should be here in a couple of minutes."

"'Sleazy'?" Utagawa parroted, raising an eyebrow in honest confusion at the insult.

"If you don't get what I mean dude, then you need to pay more attention to modern media." Kirika deadpanned before vanishing in a Shunpo towards Cain, who had leapt towards his trapped Doll.

"Wainton!" the Bount stood next to his Doll, aghast before wheeling around to glare at Kirika as she appeared. "You! What have you done to Wainton?!"

"That is Bakudō #79, Kuyō Shibari." she informed him. "It uses the nine masses of incredibly condensed Reiryoku to act as miniature gravity wells in order to bind and render its target immobile. Trying to physically escape from it is pointless; no Bakudō ranked at 63 or above can be broken through pure physical strength."

Not necessarily true, as one of the Visored had actually broken through Bakudō # 63, Sajō Sabaku (Way of Binding Number Sixty-Three, Locking Bondage Stripes) a hundred years ago, just by using his pure physical strength, but then again, he had been a physically powerful, freshly Hollowfied Captain-class Soul Reaper; by no means was Wainton anything close to that level of power, so the chances that he could copy that feat were slim to none.

"Release him!" Cain demanded.

"I refuse. What kind of idiot do you take me for, to release my opponent's only way of fighting back?" Kirika replied with a scoff.

"Then I'll release him! Wainton, I'm giving you all the Reiryoku I can muster!" Cain said, placing one hand on his Doll. "Break free with it!"

A thin corona of green energy surrounded both Bount and Doll as the Bount transferred all the Reiryoku he had to Wainton, and, despite herself, Kirika couldn't help but be impressed by the feat. Cain had analysed what she had said about the Binding Spell and seen the only weakness of the spell; that someone could break it by overpowering Kuyō Shibari with their Reiatsu. Alternatively, attacking one of the nine gravity wells with Reiryoku attacks could achieve much the same result, but aside from their Dolls, Bounts didn't really seem to have any way to attack or defend with Reiryoku, so he was using the only method he had access to in order to try and free his Doll.

She hitched an eyebrow when the middle black hole cracked, splintered and then shattered to pieces, prompting the other eight to swiftly follow suit.

Cain slumped down to his knees, utterly exhausted by his exertions. "A-Are you alright...Wainton?" he asked.

"I am now, but you look exhausted. We can't win here." the mantis-like Doll answered. "We should withdraw; Utagawa is on the ropes too."

Clinically, Kirika had to agree with the bug. Using a combination of Goethe's explosive firepower and Uryū's immense precision with his bow, the two had pretty much forced the snake wielding Bount back into a corner. Any snakes that he managed to create were quickly destroyed by Goethe while the Bount himself was too busy trying to avoid being pin cushioned by Reishi arrows to try and launch a more powerful counterattack with his Doll. If things kept up like this, he would likely be overwhelmed at his first misstep, or the moment Chad and Rukia arrived to provide backup.

"Go on, get out of here." she sighed. "I really don't care about you."

"You...what? You don't care?" Cain asked, looking up in disbelief.

"From what I've seen of your group so far, the only thing that is keeping the Bount together and driving them forward at this moment is this Kariya guy." Kirika said coldly. "As long as we manage to kill him, the rest of the Bount will no longer be an issue. I very much doubt your group will be able to pull off whatever plan you've cooked up without him, and without him holding you all together, I don't expect it will take long for your group to fall to internal squabbling and go your separate ways

Cold, clinical and aiming towards the weakness of the enemy; such was the assassin's persona of the third personal pupil of the Shunshin, Kurosaki Kirika. When she needed to act as she had been trained, as an assassin, such was her persona.

One of the mental exercises that Kirika had been taught recently was called Itsuwari no Kyūden (Palace of Falsehood), that essentially allowed her to 'don' another personality temporarily. It was mostly used to suppress the user's emotions when carrying out the typical work of an assassin.

It wasn't something anyone taught by Shihōin Yoruichi took pleasure or pride in; Kuchiki Byakuya, Soi-Fon and Kirika all used the ability to sink into an assassin's persona as nothing more than another tool. They never allowed their false persona to embody them like weaker people would have.

Of course, to Cain, who knew nothing of the falseness of her countenance, the sheer indifference to his life was very intimidating, and made him grit his teeth in anger. "…! You'll have to go through all of us if you want to get to Kariya-san!"

"If that is what it takes." Kirika replied with an indifferent shrug. "I honestly don't care much about you Bount and your desire for vengeance against Soul Society, but neither do I care about cleaning about another of the Soul Society's self-created messes. The only reason I'm involving myself now is because your actions threaten my home and I need the Seireitei as an ally to gain my own vengeance against a man that makes you and your 'master' look like children throwing a temper tantrum. So, I will end this distracting little sideshow as quickly and as expediently as I possibly can. If that means I will be forced to carve my way through the entirety of your people like a scythe through wheat, then so be it. Exactly how this will end is entirely up to you."

"...tch! Wainton, let's go!" Cain snapped, fists clenched in a mixture of anger and fear.

The Doll let his Bount clamber aboard it before vanishing in a blur. Utagawa, seeing he was being left behind, cursed in archaic German before unleashing one final Shlangenflutschlag at the Quincy/Bount pair before using his snake-whip as a method of travel to flee, the two too distracted destroying the oncoming tidal wave of snakes to try and pursue the man before he was out of sight.

"Well, that wound up being a nice bit of exercise." Kirika offered cheerfully as she turned to Uryū and Yoshino and dropped her false persona, mentally emerging from her Itsuwari no Kyūden. "So, why are you two on a late-night date?"

The female Bount flushed at that, while the Last Quincy spluttered indignantly.

"Wh-who's dating who?!" he managed to get out, glaring at the smirking pseudo-Soul Reaper heatedly. "I was escorting her to the Urahara Shōten so we could get to the bottom of what this Kariya Jin character is after."

"Then let's move. If there are any more Bount reinforcements nearby than those two might try to reconvene and then double back at us." Kirika said briskly. "As the Bount seem to lack any form of rapid-movement techniques, carry her so you can use Hirenkyaku while I use standard Shunpo."

After a moment of awkwardness between Sōma Yoshino and Uryū in the 'how to travel' department, the three figures blurred and vanished, leaving a scene of devastation behind that a resigned Tessai would have to come out to repair a few hours later.

Later

Meeting Room, Bount Mansion

Kariya Jin considered himself to be an excellent leader. He thought himself to be cool, calm and collected in the face of adversity and mentally flexible enough to both roll with the punches and adapt to any form of unexpected changes that might interfere with his plans.

For the most part, this was even true…to some extent at least.

Unfortunately, the story that both Cain and Utagawa had brought him was so unreasonably ridiculous that it had pushed him far past those normal limits. Not only had Utagawa confirmed Hō and Ban's tale of the Quincy possessing some form of rapid-movement technique similar to the Soul Reaper's Shunpo art (which he'd originally taken with a large helping of salt) but also brought news that the Quincy's combat abilities had advanced far beyond what they'd previously believed. Not only was his skill with his bow far beyond what they'd expected and his Reishi arrows far more destructive but, above all else, the Quincy possessed actual offensive techniques beyond merely wielding his ancestral bow technique!

As for Cain, he had once more fought against the 'red-haired assassin' known as Kurosaki Kirika and had brought news that she was capable of casting a Bakudō that was in the high seventies without any visible signs of strain. The fact that she had been forced to use the full incantation was slightly mollifying, but still!

Kariya had far more knowledge and experience with the various Soul Reaper arts than most of his Bount, Koga aside. As such, he was more capable of understanding just how impressive such a feat was, particularly for one so apparently young as the red-haired Kurosaki. The complexity of the various Kidō spells that Soul Reapers practised increased dramatically at every tenth interval as did both the Reiryoku cost and control requirements that were needed to cast them. Even taking into account the fact that she'd used a full incantation and had used a Bakudō, rather than the more exhaustive Hadō; that would still put her at least on the same level of one of the more capable Lieutenants that they knew of among the Soul Reaper's ranks.

Even without manifesting his Doll, Messer, Kariya was sure that he could easily contend with an opponent on that level. Unfortunately, among the rest of the Bount that followed him, he could only be reasonably sure that Koga Gō could say the same and, even then, the fight would be far riskier than he would like. The others might be able to hold off such an opponent for a time utilizing their trickier abilities, but that was it. Worse, the little chit had already identified Kariya himself as the sole keystone holding the Bount together, which spoke of both sharp instincts and a keen mind.

He had long recognized the same fact himself long ago; his fellow Bount had always been a factitious and quarrelsome lot, having them work together in anything more than a loose coalition was all but impossible without him there to hold their leashes and keep their constant sniping and bickering from devolving into true infighting.

'This girl is rapidly proving to be a most…troubling opponent.' the white-haired Bount mused coldly, absently swirling a lowball glass of whiskey from his private store. He had actually brewed the barrel this particular bottle had come from himself nearly a century ago and it wasn't half bad in his own opinion; a bit too much burn going down but still quite pleasantly drinkable as long as one didn't try to guzzle it down.

One tended to pick up a number of hobbies when you lived for centuries on end, as a distraction if nothing else. After all obsessing over revenge and plotting for all hours of the day was not a mentally healthy pursuit, it led to rushing and making mistakes. Hobbies and other distractions helped one relax and stay focused on their goals without devolving into mania. Brewing just happened to be one of his.

Back to the subject at hand, the girl was proving to be a particularly vexing irritant. At the moment there were several enemies in Karakura Town that only he had any real hope of overcoming; the Shihōin and the red-headed male Soul Reaper being the two most prominent, simply because he could readily recognize the two as having both immense spiritual power and sufficiently honed skill.

Skill trumped power nine time out of ten unless one vastly overshadowed the other. Skill and power together were what made one truly dangerous.

The orange-haired boy that had fired off that crescent-shaped blast of Reiryoku at Utagawa when Sōma Yoshino had first managed to escape him was a walking maelstrom of raw power but seemed to lack the skill to use it effectively. All power, no finesse and seemingly easily provoked; he was relatively certain that Ichinose would be able to handle the boy himself easily enough.

The rest of the opposition they'd faced so far had seemed to be nothing more than the high-end of average; though he would give them credit where it was due for reaching such heights when they were still so very young. Not many Spiritually Aware humans ever managed to claw their way beyond the lower levels of mediocrity, simply because their lifespans were too short for them to hone their spiritual abilities to any real degree. For them to grow so strong while still so young, he could applaud the kind of talent and ability that required. Still, he was sure that most of his Bount would be able to overwhelm any of them.

Kariya needed the Quincy for his plans. The Bount version of the Senkaimon, Andre Welt Tür (Other World Door), required an immense amount of Reiryoku to activate, requiring dozens of Bounts working in concert to activate successfully. Kariya had been trying for the better part of the past two centuries to find a workaround for it after his people were slaughtered to the point that gathering enough to perform it themselves would be impossible and he had eventually found it when he discovered information on the Quincy and their unique Reishi conversion abilities. Now, all he need was to get the boy to fire a Heilig Pfeil at the open doorway and the Bount would have a gateway to Soul Society without the cumbersome need to die first.

He had been working toward the completion of this plan for centuries; he was not about to allow himself to be stopped by a bushel of children that hadn't even seen a full two decades and a quintet of Soul Reapers. He was Kariya Jin, the King of the Bount, and he would not be denied the vengeance he and his people deserved.

The Next Day

Streets of Karakura Town

"I swear...!" Kirika, dressed in her school uniform, glared down at the group of insensate thugs who had tried to pick her up. "Learn your lesson, dammit!"

Huffing, the redheaded girl turned and stalked away from the scene. She'd tried to ignore them, but the stupid assholes hadn't been willing to take no for an answer. So, she had Put The Boot In. Both literally and liberally.

She was, admittedly, suffering from an information overload from last night. The information about the Bount's side of the war of extermination that the Central 46 had ordered, while disturbing and from a secondary source who hadn't been there, had also been illuminating. The information on a fair few of the few remaining Bount and their Dolls had also been food for thought.

What had been annoying was what Sōma Yoshino hadn't known. She didn't know what her ex-husband (and hadn't that little revelation been a shock) was planning aside from 'get to the Seireitei and get revenge', she didn't know why he was so intent on capturing herself and Uryū, and she didn't know a single thing about Kariya Jin's Doll aside from its name, Messer, and the fact that it seemed to be an elemental Doll aligned with the wind.

All she really knew was that Kariya was prepared to sacrifice every other living Bount, herself included, in order to see that goal completed.

In a way, Kariya was starting to remind Kirika a bit too much of herself, if only put to an extreme. He wanted to avenge himself on the Soul Society for the loss of so many of his people, perhaps even viewing it as vengeance for all the Bount for all the pain and suffering that the Bount race had suffered over the centuries and he was willing to go to any lengths to achieve that goal, with no depths too deep for him to sink to, no act he wasn't willing to commit to see it done.

Had Kirika not been able to focus her desire for revenge on the three bastards she held responsible for her own suffering and the murder of so many other young souls and had instead let her hatred wash over all of Soul Society, then she could have very easily seen herself walking a very similar path. That was a rather terrifying thought.

Abruptly, she found herself tensing up, as the sensation of DANGER washed over her. Looking around, the girl narrowed her eyes as she tried to sense where the feeling was coming from. Her eyes locked onto an alleyway to her right, and the figure standing there in the shadow of the building before it retreated down the alley, taking the sense of danger with it.

'The way that felt...I know that feeling...!' Kirika growled to herself before she charged after the figure, book-bag held tightly in one hand. She skidded to a halt at the corner and turned to face the figure, who had a creepy, snakelike smile on his face.

"And what are you doing here...Ichimaru Gin?" she asked, just barely holding herself back from snarling.

"Thought I'd drop in on ya, see how my little investment is doin'." the renegade former Captain answered. "We need ta talk, and outta sight. Follow me, kid."

Turning, Ichimaru sauntered off, leaving an oh-so tempting target in his open, unguarded back...but Kirika stayed her rage. Much as she loathed to admit it, she needed her secret partnership with the snake-like man in order to kill Aizen. Tōsen and Ichimaru were powerful warriors, yes, but no more so than any regular Captain-class Soul Reapers were. Achieving Bankai and fine-tuning her strategies would be enough to defeat them.

Aizen Sōsuke, however, was a monster of the highest order, far too powerful and intelligent to risk fighting with any ordinary strategy. Having a secret alliance with Ichimaru could be her only chance of drawing his blood ever again.

Reluctantly, Kirika followed the enemy she had sworn to kill with her pale jade eyes boring into his back like daggers.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Next Chapter: Danger in the Kurosaki Clinic: Ban and Hō Strike Back

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII