Intermission – Pause Between Breathes

University coursework, no matter what the realm, is universally despised. It is, as all but the professors agree, mere busywork- unimportant and far from beneficial, as it distracts one from the truly important things in life: namely alcohol, women and a good fight or two.

There are thus, understandably, very few graduate students in the Eleventh Division's history, with the most current active ones being Ayasegawa Yumichika- and surprisingly, Madarame Ikkaku.

However, the current crop of would-be graduates seem to be a fair sign that the Seireitai is easily well on its way of recovering from the continuous war with Aizen- a war that, for a while, it had been losing. All the Captaincy's been filled to the point that yet another additional division- the Fifteenth, under Abarai Renji, is especially popular, as those too violence-prone to join the Sixth, yet rather, ah, temperamentally unfitting for the Eleventh tend to gravitate either around the red-headed Shinigami, or Kurosaki-taichou- and with the war's casualties, reaving innocents of family members, there have been plenty of the sort coming out of the woodworks.

It's been jokingly said that it's impossible to turn a corner in the University without running into a tattooed face or shock of bleached hair… or a fight on the verge of exploding.

Oddly enough, however, the fight about to start now involves not a clash of fanboyism for either of the two captains… but over a muffin.

"Oy, I'm still waiting for that apology," snarled Gao into the face of a much, much taller shinigami apprentice. "As well as another muffin!"

The perpetrator of the muffin's untimely fall from grace- straight into the bushes outside of the school- took one glance at Gao's weapons, another at his own, the size of a European broadsword, and sneered. "Why, are you gonna make me? What is that- a kitchen knife? It's puny! I can't believe they let weaklings like you into Seireitai's most prestigious- erk!"

"And now I want you to apologize to Yuki-chan!" yelled Gao as he slammed a knee into the student's abdomen and lifted, driving him fifty feet into the air. "C'mon! Draw your overgrown slab of metal, ya ape!"

"Can't you go and calm down your brother?" asked a blue-haired girl nervously as she nudged Reiji. "H-he's scaring me…"

Reiji shrugged, and bit into his own muffin. "Iwate-sempai was asking for it. Kusajika-fukutaichou made these for us, after all."

"B-but he's going to kill him!"

"Naw. Gao's got more control than-"

A sudden dust cloud, and shrieks of fear and pain.

"…"

"…right. I'll go calm him down."

-----

"She came back last night, right? You two had sex, right? I'm gonna be a grandpa now, right? Ichi-kun! Iiiiccchhhiii-kkkuuu-"

A shinigami with slowly graying hair found his face on a collision course with a bowl of ramen.

"Dad, shaddup and eat your lunch," growled Ichigo as he chewed somewhat angrily on a piece of tendon. "You're attracting attention."

Actually, that was mostly a lie. The father/son duo've visited this restaurant often enough that the regulars weren't phased by the elder Kurosaki's more eccentric behavior.

They still had to pay for property damage, though.

"But I want grraaaandchiiiillldddrreeen!" whined Isshin, completely ignoring how cold his soup was getting around his scraggly beard. "And your sisters' boyfriends aren't even making moves on-"

"They better not be. I had Ishida-san promise to reduce them to eunuchs if they did."

"IIICCHHIII-KKKUUUN!"

"Oi, oi, sorry I'm late," said Rukia as she entered the noodle shop, a pile of folders in her arm. "The doctor was late for the appointment and-"

"Rukia-chan! You're pregnan-"

"Don't finish that word," said the couple as two elbows found their way under Isshin's chin with a sharp double-crack.

"Anyhow, it wasn't that kind of appointment," said Rukia. "It was, erm… none of your business. So what's on the menu this month?"

"Whoa, hold on there," said Ichigo, raising an eyebrow. "It sure as hell is my business. What's wrong?"

"Yay! You're pregnant! You're-" started Isshin- and promptly got his face buried in his ramen bowl. Again.

Rukia glared at the elder Kurosaki, and let him raise his head enough to draw breath. She turned the glare to Ichigo, and whispered into his ear.

"An yeast- ow! Ow! Alright, none of my business!" said Ichigo, frantically trying to free his ear from a vise grip. "Ow, dammit- what're those folders then?"

Rukia smiled suddenly.

"…oh crap." Ichigo's face paled, and he tried to back away- only to be tripped and pinned to the floor by his short, lithe, and astoundingly fast wife.

"They're your paperwork this month, husband."

-----

The thing about being an Arrancar is that, even amongst equals, you're dreadfully alone. The sword you carry holds but yourself in it. The people around you wouldn't even hesitate before killing you, if they could get away with it.

And that went double for Aizen and his two trusted assistants.

So it didn't really come as a surprise to Yon-Sen when a blade appeared, embedded in his torso. What was surprising was how he woke up, hours later, his power and mind slowly being consumed by a psychic monster.

A great, disembodied howl emanated from the dark cellar of a tower in the middle of literally Nowhere. It was the despair of a soul that've tasted its doom- that have seen the face of perpetual oblivion, and could not look away.

Even hermitage is better than being stripped of your Self.

Blood-stained fangs glittered in the dark. Kali was healing.

-----

Nighttime. Shadows. Rest. Slumber.

Not tonight. Not for Gao and Renji. Slumber can wait- rest… in a way, this was rest. A rest from the drudgery of schoolwork- of memorizing complicated spells and ho-humming over the swordplay test of the next day. They can beat their instructors bloody while half-asleep and without breaking a sweat- and their instructors know this all too well.

But all that stuff was done under the glaring light of the day's sun. When the moon was out, and all was shrouded in a veil of shadows and translucent moonlight…

"Psst. You ready?" said Gao, poking a girl of dark, cobalt-blue hair awake, completely ignoring the rules about guys trespassing upon the girls' dorms.

"zz-huh? Oh! Dammit, hold on. Lemme get my stuff," said Yukina Takahashi- Gao's current girlfriend, and as of yet, the longest lasting by two weeks. She poked her roommate, breathed a little easier when the other just grumbled and rolled over, and flipped over a floor panel, grabbing her sword.

"You sure you want to do this?" inquired Gao as he leaned precariously backwards, ready to leap off the dorm's window frame. "Things could get… dangerous, sometimes."

"Oh stuff it. Raienko's been pestering me all week."

Gao snickered. "I still think it's no coincidence that your sword's true form supposedly looks like-"

Even with all the experience he's got under his belt, Gao still gulped when the tip a zanpakuto's threatening to remove his adam's apple.

"Er… right. Shutting up."

Almost an hour later, Yukina fell to her knees, gasping for breath as Gao tapped on the head of a napping Reiji. They were far outside in the Rukongai- and Gao's quick pace had exhausted her.

"Huh? Oh, you two're finally here," said Reiji, rubbing an eye. "Was wondering if I shouldn't have brought along a blanket and pillow.

"Har har," said Gao. "Sorry, she's not quite used to the pace yet."

"Well, that's why we offered her extra training, isn't it?"

"Just… give me… a second," said Yukina as she leaned on her sword. "I'll… be okay soon."

She leapt up in fright as the shrill roar of an airborne Hollow, descending upon them, broke the night's silence.

Gao grinned, a feral appearance highlighted by teeth that seemed sharpened in the moonlight. "Training time, Yuki-chan. Training time…"

One shrill turned numerous. The nest had been disturbed.

"And there's plenty to go around," said Reiji, his expression- and, indeed, everything between the twins- mirroring Gao's perfectly.

When Yukina met their eyes, it was with both fear and awe. Perfect silver spheres, looking at nothing, but seeing everything.

Kali's touch. As was the raging reiatsu leaking out from their bodies.

The brothers hunt tonight.