Chapter 42:

Kira took another swing at Momo and she dodged. She was exhausting herself with all this evasion, but it was too risky to take on Kira directly. She had already had to block his sword strikes twice with her sword and could feel its weight increase. She couldn't let it get any heavier.

Kira raised his sword again and tried to swing at her from the side. The momentum pulled his body after it and Kira staggered to the left. As he raised his sword again, he stumbled looking dizzy.

Momo lowered her sword with concern. "Kira, did Byakuya take some blood from you already today?"

He had, and more than usual. Kira hadn't been feeling the effects since the feeding took place. The exertion from battle was bringing his condition to light. He wasn't doing very well at all.

The street kept tilting and when he raised his arms a certain way, they would go numb. The dizzy spells were getting more frequent and he was starting to pant which only made him feel more lightheaded.

"Kira, you're in no condition to fight like this. Please, let's just call it a draw."

With sweat on his brow, Kira raised his sword again to confront her. "I'm not going anywhere or stopping until it's done."

"You're killing yourself," Momo told him. "Please stop."

"For Byakuya, I'd do anything. As long as he's safe, I don't care what happens to me."

Momo gave him a sad look. "I know what you think we're doing is wrong, but you saying stuff like that proves that we're right. You have to care."

Proving that he was just a tool now, Kira came at Momo with his sword once more.

Hitsugaya and Byakuya both turned their gaze to the man standing on another building, giving him the perfect vantagepoint of the monsters and their battle. Mayuri looked excited about their confrontation, as if it were a movie performance, while Nemu just stood nearby displaying no emotion.

As much as it annoyed them both, Mayuri's behavior was perfectly normal for him. His outfit, however, was different from his usual Captain's uniform. He had made alterations to it, stitching silver along the hems and cuffs of his jacket and up his arms in a fashionable but practical design, just in case any werewolf tried to bite his arms. He wore a necklace of garlic much larger than Akon's and in plain sight. He even wore a crown of garlic and silver on his head and strapped down with a belt. When his jacket blew open with his movements, hidden weapons along the inner lining could be seen. His jacket looked heavy on him because of this and his pockets were bulging almost as much as his eyes.

"Marvelous! Perhaps I'll get to see which is stronger: werewolves or vampires. Countless have asked which would win in a fight against each other and I may just get the answer tonight. Not that it's important. I'm just curious."

Byakuya glared darkly at Mayuri.

"Oh, I wouldn't bother with that," said Mayuri, flipped down a visor to hide his eyes. "I'm positive you'd be unable to control me, but it never hurts to take precautions. I studied up on vampire abilities before arriving."

Byakuya continued to glare hatefully.

Mayuri ignored him to speak with Hitsugaya. "Finally taking action? I was wondering when you'd make a move. It was getting so boring waiting around for it. Doubtful you could beat Byakuya as you are or did you just not want to draw attention to yourselves? A lot of good that did you, hm?"

Hitsugaya opened his mouth to answer, then slowly closed it, realizing something. "Wait a minute…" Now it was Hitsugaya's turn to glare angrily up at Mayuri. "Did you know Byakuya was the vampire all along?"

"Not the whole time, no," Mayuri admitted. "And despite working under me, Akon kept his word about not telling me who it was. Not that it mattered. He didn't have to."

"Why?" Hitsugaya asked him. "Were you eavesdropping?"

Mayuri dramatically rolled his eyes with a groan. "Do you think I'm a simpleton? Honestly! I wouldn't have gotten as far as I have as a Captain if I couldn't figure things out. Give me a little credit."

It wasn't that he doubted Mayuri's capabilities. It was mainly that he had tried to keep it a secret to protect everyone. He wanted to know how Mayuri discovered the truth so he could uncover the flaws in his own plan and find out how many others could have learned the truth as well.

Mayuri raised his index finger, beginning his explanation. "First of all, I had to trace back Akon's whereabouts with that container. He visited every Division, but not every department. I also looked at the habits of the vampire as well as their victims. I sussed out the victims based on who visited the sickbay with blood-loss related illnesses or symptoms. I could tell that the vampire had to be of strong rank considering how easily the victims were overpowered. They could have been taken by surprise or the vampire was just really strong because it was a vampire. I took that into consideration as well."

Mayuri smirked at Byakuya who glared back. However, Byakuya did seem interested to know how he was discovered as well. He listened without making a move.

"However, now that I knew who the victims were, I paid close attention to where they congregated and any abnormalities in their behaviors or habits. The fact that they were avoiding their own Divisions and going places they had no business going told me something. As did Byakuya's sudden absence. Byakuya's normally so dutiful and always on time. He makes a point of doing his own work and makes sure responsibilities are met and kept. Even attending other people's meetings in case they're on assignment and can't make it. For him to suddenly stop showing up to his own meetings and dumping all his work on Renji told me something. As did his work being delivered by those who aren't even part of his Division. Byakuya's been scarce lately, even around his own home."

"That told you he was the vampire?" asked Hitsugaya from the ground.

"Eventually, yes. I suspected it was a Captain based on the strength of his victims. And the ease of attaining them. I figured a Captain would be able to get people to do his bidding without drawing too much attention, given their position. It'd be harder for a regular Soul Reaper to start bossing people around and have it not look out of place. People have to listen to a Captain, making it easier for him to find a victim and not make too much of a scene."

"How long did you suspect the vampire was a Captain?"

"Before our first meeting about the missing blood packs."

Hitsugaya showed his teeth. "Yet you deliberately mentioned it could have been a vampire's work in front of the other Captains knowing it could have been one of us?" That was too reckless for Hitsugaya to tolerate.

"I could have been mistaken," defended Mayuri. "Not that anyone would have taken me seriously. You were there and heard their remarks."

"That was a good way to get everyone in that room turned!"

"One against how many Captains and a werewolf or two?"

"We didn't know Byakuya's strength or speed limitations at the time. That was dangerous, Mayuri!"

"When did you narrow it down to me?" Byakuya asked pointedly.

Mayuri smiled. "Once I suspected a Captain, I just looked for those avoiding sunlight and having others perform their duties for them. Your office was the only one with the windows blocked out and your own Squad hadn't seen you in ages. Plus, Renji was doing a lot of your work for you and you never went outside without something to shade you from the sun. I pretty much narrowed it down from there. That and the fact that once the Stealth Force suspected you, they strangely changed their tune after confronting you. They said it was a false lead, but I took their behavior into consideration, of course."

"All this time you knew it was Byakuya and did nothing?" Hitsugaya asked. "Why?"

"You seemed to be doing your own thing and I was interested to see what you'd come up with. I knew you weren't confronting him for a reason and I respected that. After all, you were doing your own research, weren't you? I decided not to interfere but to compare notes after the fact."

"And you took action now because..?"

Mayuri spread his arms to draw attention to the area around them. "Look around. Now seemed like a good time with everything coming to a head and all. Plus, Akon had found a cure. What better time to make a move? I figured that's what you had been waiting for. Why go after an animal when you have nothing to catch it with? Priorities and common sense."

Hitsugaya continued to glare at Mayuri.

Mayuri lowered his arms. "What? I thought you'd be happy. I didn't say you were wrong and now you know why I didn't do anything. What's with the look?"

Without changing his expression, Hitsugaya said to Mayuri, "You knew he was a vampire for this length of time and did nothing, even though you've been doing research and knew our situation."

Mayuri blinked. "Hm?"

"Why did you wait this long to do anything?"

"I just explained that-"

"I mean if you knew who the vampire was and who his minions were, why didn't you do something about them? Why leave it all to us? You knew who had been bitten and did nothing. You knew it was Byakuya and knew what he was doing and did nothing. I'm not talking about a cure. I'm asking why you didn't bother to do more to help us? You didn't even try to cage him or his minions. Why?"

Mayuri gave him a toothy grin. "Well, this was a part of my research as well, you see."

Hitsugaya snarled through his teeth. "You mean you let Byakuya do what he wanted and allowed things to get to this point all for research?!"

"I wanted to see a vampire in its natural habitat. See how it fended for itself versus being in a cage. I could have caged him with what I knew, but I wanted the authentic experience. Seeing how he got food and what happened to those he fed upon and how he defended himself from a threat."

"Research?!" Hitsugaya shouted up at him. "Are you kidding me?!"

"Oh, would I have allowed this to happen if it weren't somewhat controlled? I wasn't going to let my fellow Soul Reapers and Captains get killed. I'm not heartless."

Hitsugaya folded his arms. "Really?" He had his doubts.

"Hey, it speaks volumes that I'm here taking action now, doesn't it? Clearly, I don't want any of you getting killed."

"You only came because Akon made a cure."

"Which I destroyed," said Byakuya, lifting himself into a standing position.

Mayuri turned his attention to Byakuya. "Did you? A shame. Well, I could always take a look at his notes. Make another batch."

"You won't get the chance," declared Byakuya and vanished from sight.

Hitsugaya looked around, knowing Byakuya was going to attack Mayuri but from which direction remained a mystery.

In a flash, Byakuya was right behind Mayuri but didn't attack, unable to get near him with the garlic headdress and necklace. He went for Nemu instead, kicking her into Mayuri rather than bite her. Byakuya seemed to believe Nemu would not become his servant if he bit her. Nemu slammed into Mayuri, hard, but the garlic ensemble remained where it was thanks to the straps.

Changing his tactic, Byakuya pulled Nemu away from Mayuri and tried to force his will onto her with his eyes. "Remove the garlic from Mayuri," he told her. "Remove the garlic from Mayuri."

"Unable to get to me so you go for her," Mayuri said with a chuckle. "You really think I didn't expect that?"

Byakuya dropped her and jumped away, fearing an attack. Nemu did nothing against him nor did she follow the order given to her. Byakuya didn't understand. No one should have been able to resist him.

Hissing, Byakuya took to the sky, keeping his distance from Mayuri and anyone else he considered a threat. "It doesn't matter," said Byakuya. "Even if I cannot reach you, I won't have to. I have many more to choose from."

Hitsugaya understood what he meant and shouted a warning to Mayuri. "We cannot let him escape. He'll hunt down new prey and turn them into his slaves. We can't allow an army to happen."

Mayuri didn't make a move, watching Byakuya from where he stood.

Byakuya turned in the air and started to fly away.

"Mayuri!" Hitsugaya shouted. He couldn't understand why Mayuri was allowing this.

Mayuri put on a set of headphones.

Hitsugaya gasped and quickly covered his ears.

A horrible screech rang out, knocking Byakuya off course. He spiraled in the air, groaning in pain. He caught himself before falling out of the sky and looked around for the enemy. Yumichika flew directly above him, screeching. He hissed at the newcomer and flew to the side to avoid being in the path of his screech. From there, he flew in an arch towards the harpy.

In Hitsugaya's dream, Byakuya and Yumichika fought at the Kuchiki manor garden and things didn't end so well for Yumichika. He had to prevent the same thing from happening. He had to protect his friends.

"Yumichika! He's coming!" Hitsugaya shouted as loud as he could, unable to tell how loud he was over the noise Yumichika was making. He hoped the harpy could hear it over his own attack.

Yumichika stopped screeching at the same time Byakuya tried to knock him out of the air. Yumichika flew to the side and Byakuya flew behind him, planting both feet into Yumichika's spine. Yumichika flapped his wings to avoid hitting the ground and soared along the ground before rising into the sky once more.

Hitsugaya roamed restlessly, keeping his eyes on the two in the air. There was little he could do from down here. Werewolves could not fly. He could have used his Soul Reaper powers but a part of Hitsugaya didn't want to. He didn't think it was right to interfere in their fight.

Mayuri watched from the roof, entertained by the acrobatic airshow between vampire and harpy.

Yumichika looped in the air and came for Byakuya from above. Byakuya gracefully moved aside in midair and made a grab for Yumichika's wing. Yumichika's taloned foot caught Byakuya by the wrist and hoisted him up. Byakuya's eyes widened in surprise. This harpy was strong.

But a vampire was stronger still.

Byakuya could not reach Yumichika's wings like this, but he still had one free hand to grab at anything he could. He grabbed Yumichika's leg and snapped it like a twig.

Yumichika's scream made Hitsugaya look back at Mayuri, frantic. "Don't let them do this! He's going to kill Yumichika!"

Mayuri did nothing, watching the fight.

"You horrible, twisted freak," Hitsugaya muttered and wondered what he could do from here and without his sword.

Rukia knew what to do and used her Zanpakuto to create a pillar of ice between the opposing creatures in flight, successfully separating them.

Byakuya, ripped from his pray, looked in Rukia's direction, taken aback that she would dare interfere with his fight.

He dug his nails into the ice and waited for Yumichika to come. He saw him circle the pillar, seeking revenge for his broken leg. Yumichika screeched at Byakuya who dove behind the pillar to use as a shield. The ice began to crumble and shake, but not all of it was a result of Yumichika's harpy power.

Digging in his nails again, Byakuya broke off a chunk of ice and hurled it at Yumichika, hitting him in the face. Yumichika cried out and stopped his screech. Flapping his wings to stay aloft, Yumichika recovered and looked around for Byakuya. He was gone. Yumichika flew in a circle around the pillar but could not find him.

"Yumichika!" Hitsugaya called in warning.

He looked in time to see a spear of ice coming his way. He twisted his body to avoid it striking his chest, taking it in the wing instead. He gave a pained cry and fell out of the sky, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

Hitsugaya ran to his side to inspect the damage. Yumichika was alive but his wing was badly damaged, as was his leg. He could not fly or run like this.

Yumichika squawked, looking behind Hitsugaya at the vampire coming to land smugly between them and Mayuri.

"No one is a match for me like this," boasted Byakuya, looking at Mayuri when he said this. "It does not matter what you do. I'll make more servants. I'll drink more blood and grow stronger. You don't stand a chance."

"You really believe that?" Mayuri gestured to his necklace of garlic. "I'm all decked out in anti-vampire material. You'll never bite me."

Byakuya smirked. "I don't need to bite you. None of that will harm my servants. They'll kill you if I don't get to you first."

Mayuri sighed, looking away. "I'm getting bored. Do you really have nothing else to offer?"

"Why don't you lower those glasses and find out? Test your will against mine?" taunted Byakuya.

"You think I'm that foolish? Of course, there's a huge difference between our strength of wills but I'm not going to test that here and now. Ever hear of a controlled environment?"

Byakuya grinned wickedly. "You've spent all this time protecting yourself that you've neglected those closest to you."

"That's rich coming from the one about to bite his sister."

"I don't mean that," said Byakuya. "I meant her."

As Mayuri turned to look at Nemu, she kicked his kneecaps, forcing him into a kneeling position. "Nemu? When did..?"

Byakuya started laughing, showing his true vampire self to everyone. The real Byakuya never laughed like this. This was a gloating, malicious laugh.

"When had I not?" Byakuya retorted. "You really think I was just gloating to hear myself talk? I had ample time to snare your Lieutenant because you neglected to give her any protection. Always looking out for number one, isn't that right, Mayuri?"

Nemu moved to remove the garlic around Mayuri's neck but he shoved her off the roof before she could. Nemu landed on her feet and stood near Byakuya who laughed again.

His gaze had not worked before, but it seemed he just hadn't given it enough time. His speech allowed him ample time to get it right on his second try.

"She's mine now, Mayuri. I don't need to get to you. I'll ensnare everyone around you and you'll be the only one left. What hope could you possibly have? Before I'm through, you'll be begging to join me. I mean, wouldn't you like to get a firsthand experience of what it's like to be a vampire's minion?"

Mayuri didn't answer. He sat on the roof looking for answers that weren't there. He couldn't think of a way out no matter how hard he tried. He was stuck.

Byakuya chuckled and waved Nemu closer. She stepped over to him.

Mayuri sighed, looking at his lap. "That's it, then. Isn't it?"

"Don't be so disappointed," Byakuya told him. "There's… Ah?!"

Byakuya looked at Nemu who had been coming towards him as instructed. Just like the others, she was obedient and acted as though she wanted him to erase the space between them. As she drew closer to his chest and put her arms around him in an embrace, he felt something sharp enter his shoulder.

"What?"

Nemu removed the syringe and stepped back.

Byakuya looked from her to Mayuri in shock. He couldn't speak.

Mayuri smiled and stood up, his turn to gloat. "Self-preservation. Is that it, Byakuya? What was that you said about always looking after number one? I agree to look after oneself, but let's look at the bigger picture here. No one can do things completely alone. Everyone needs assistance. Call it a failsafe, call it help, whatever you like. I am not foolish enough to go in without thinking of such things."

Byakuya staggered, bringing a hand to his shoulder. "How?"

Mayuri pointed at his own eyes. "I gave her contacts. Do you truly think so little of me?"

"Contacts?"

"That's why your eyes had no effect on her. I knew you'd only be looking at the surface and fail to take into account what you could not see. I had a feeling you'd take one look at this showoff of a garment and decide that I neglected to give my subordinates any protection, thinking only of myself."

Byakuya's body began to shake.

"I knew I could not come near you like this and that you'd be expecting me to launch something at you from a distance, which you would naturally see coming. If I could not get near you, you'd have to target someone without protection. Nemu was the obvious choice. I knew you'd use your little eye trick to convince her to join your side, so that was the only protection I believed she needed. And since you could not see the contacts, you'd naturally assume she was unprotected. Ah, vampire arrogance. Should have known it'd be your downfall."

Byakuya fell to his knees, his whole body began to convulse and toppled over screaming in pain.

Mayuri nodded knowingly. "Yes, I suppose it will hurt. Just relax and let the cure do its work."

Byakuya writhed on the ground in great pain. He screamed and moaned until he had nothing left and lay motionless on the ground.

Rukia came to his side immediately but couldn't get him to respond.

"He'll be fine," Mayuri told her. "Nemu, if you please."

She bent down and pulled up Byakuya's upper lip, showing off his teeth. His fangs were gone.

At the same time, Byakuya's servants all went through a change of their own.

As Kira raised his sword to bring down on Momo's head, he suddenly froze, mid-swing and dropped his weapon. Kira's arms fell to his side and he fell over, unconscious.

Momo stared at him, wondering what had happened. It looked like Kira merely fainted, but she knew something else must have been going on.

Kensei lost the will to fight and his body gave out where he stood, falling to the ground at the same time Ikkaku did. Renji dropped his Zanpakuto and fell on his face as if someone had flipped an off-switch on his body.

Shinji looked around at the men on the ground and sighed. "I'll take this as good news, I guess."