Lifted Up

by Tomas the Betrayer

Sequel to 'Hammered Down'. Under the shadow of a heaven ruled by monsters, Rukia Kuchiki continues to fulfill her duties with new lives and hearts added to the mix. And above all, there is a mother's love.

19. Rebirth: Make Peace With Yourself part 2

The trio soared with tremendous speed across a wasteland. Tatsuki had no idea how long they had been flying or even how far they might have gone. Everything in Hueco Mundo looked the same; sand, with the occasional rock formations here and there. Not knowing when they would arrive at their destination made the trip even worse. She and Orihime were held in either arm by Ulquiorra. He had assumed his true form after they arrived and just picked them up without bothering to ask. The demon lord's unleashed strength made her feel sick. Tatsuki resented everything about their current situation, right down to the fact that she had wrapped an arm around his neck for fear of falling. As a sort of compensation for this her free hand entwined tightly with Orihime's, who looked as though she were trying to let as little of Schiffer's white and black skin touch her.

"That way."

Inoue pointed, and the Espada adjusted his course. They had done this several times now. Arisawa was starting to wonder if maybe her friend was deliberately trying to mislead them. If so, Ulquiorra wouldn't be happy about it. In fact he'd probably kill them. Would that be worse than if they actually did find Ichigo's Hollow?

Something else occurred to her as they went. For the last few minutes she had been noticing other Hollows in the desert far below. Never that many, only a scattered individual or two. But one thing they all had in common was they seemed to be moving in the opposite direction as themselves. Almost like they were running away.

A line of mountains appeared on the horizon, or perhaps just a really big mesa. Tatsuki felt Orihime's grip tighten. Was there something different about the landscape? It looked… messed up.

From out of nowhere a gigantic black and red sword came shooting towards them. She sucked in a breath as Ulquiorra banked calmly to one side. The beam went shooting by, and Tatsuki looked behind them as it vanished into the distance.

"The hell was that?" she demanded.

Abruptly Schiffer descended lower to the ground while still speeding along, and she heard a sharp cry. At the same time her arm snapped down. Orihime now dangled from their joined hands. The muscles in Tatsuki's arm and shoulder tightened in order to keep her from falling. For a moment they just stared at one another in horror.

Then Ulquiorra reached up and casually bent her wrist until it snapped. Inoue dropped to the sands below with a mournful cry and went tumbling along before being lost to sight.

Tatsuki screamed in outraged betrayal. She began to beat against the vampire's face with both fists, heedless of the pain in her shattered limb. After a while they landed. Tatsuki tore away from him and staggered back a few steps, prepared to launch forward in what even she recognized was a suicide attempt.

Only then did the feeling register. Close by, a conflict was taking place. She sensed the collision of two enormous powers, which up until now had been overshadowed by the pall of the monster with whom she traveled. They finally came clear. Both of them.

Her eyes went wide. "Oh no," Tatsuki breathed.

A moment later she was dangling off the ground with Schiffer's hand around her throat. The fearless fighter beat and kicked at the impassive wraith before her. Ulquiorra paid this treatment no mind. Despair overrode the initial fury, and she went limp, holding onto his black-nailed claw in an effort not to choke out.

"You… knew," she gurgled accusingly. "You knew… Ichigo… was here!"

Ulquiorra just stared at her, and said…

"So did you."

He squeezed, and Arisawa's mouth opened on a gasp. That dread figure then brought her close, and kissed her. There was no trace of romance or even desire in this act. Rather it felt as though he sucked something out of her. At the same time, cold breath passed from him to settle in her heart like a curse.

The vasto lorde let her fall. He turned away to once more face the oppressive battle aura which dominated the entire region.

"You… promised!"

Ulquiorra's leathery wings spread with a snap that managed to sound disdainful. Without even a glance in her direction he took off over the waves of sand.

In moments Tatsuki was on her feet and running. She threw herself forward, powering through the desert in pursuit. Under the great brooding moon of Hueco Mundo the girl sprinted towards certain death. She focused on the spot up ahead where the conflict was strongest, all her concentration bent on reaching it before something horrible happened. This helped her not to think about what Ulquiorra had said.

---

There was no way not to feel him coming. It was like a tsunami, a tidal wave so huge it would have reached the stars if seen for real. Nothing else could have been counted on to bring their battle to a halt. Ichigo Kurosaki and his Hollow broke away to stand panting and gasping. Their clothes were stained with blood, and each could see the fear they themselves felt reflected in the other's face.

Perhaps they would have spoken about joining forces. Considering the level of threat approaching, not to mention the fact that they were already exhausted from having fought one another to a standstill, to do any less would have only made death certain. The merits of such a suggestion never came up, as between one breath and the next Ulquiorra Schiffer landed in a crouch between them.

Both halves of the teen's fractured soul felt his strident supremacy overpowering their senses as it always did. This was the fourth time confronting the Espada at full power. Until now they had always managed to beat the odds and survive. But as Ulquiorra folded his wings and rose to look between them, each felt certain that their luck had finally run out.

Without a word Ichigo's Hollow launched itself at their nemesis. It never saw what happened next, but Ichigo did. Ulquiorra spun at impossible speed and punched the negative soul in the stomach. The force of this blow was so great the creature rocketed away to hit the ground like a missile. At the same time he collapsed to his knees, doubled over in agony. It felt like his spine had shattered.

The Hollow was back up and stumbling raggedly towards them soon after, staggering and spitting blood that streamed down its chest to match the Espada's. Seeing their enemy's back turned, the human fighter raised Tensa Zangetsu on high, a command for Getsuga Tenshou on his lips. Next thing he knew Ulquiorra's impassive face slammed into his own in a headbutt that felt like a wrecking ball. Ichigo hit the ground and lay sprawled on his back, one hand pressed to his broken bleeding features in an attempt to force down the agony before he blacked out.

As he did, a firm grip took hold of the ebony katana he held and wrenched it loose. Schiffer looked behind him to where Ichigo's Hollow had fallen, feet digging blindly through the sand as it curled up into a pain-wracked ball with arms fastened around its head. The sight proved most illuminating.

"As I suspected," the vampire lord spoke coolly. "You are connected this time. What befalls one…" he turned from the whimpering antithesis and rounded on Ichigo to grasp Tensa Zangetsu in both hands, "… is felt by both."

So saying, Ulquiorra Schiffer snapped the blade in half and casually flung the broken pieces in two different directions. Where they landed was so far away even he couldn't see it. Not that it made any difference.

Considering everything he had been forced to endure as a result of this bullish mortal, one might have granted the Cuarta Espada a certain leniency when it came to abusing the defeated pair. He himself never cared to indulge in the petty mockeries and torments other Hollows were wont to pursue when prey was at their mercy. Such irrational behavior served no purpose as far as he was concerned. An enemy was meant to be killed. Anything else only invited carelessness and waste. He had no need or craving for the like.

Ordinarily, Ulquiorra thought as he reached down and ripped off Ichigo Kurosaki's leg.

While the schizophrenic was busy screaming, he ignored them to examine his new trophy. As a vasto lorde, Ulquiorra had no need for sustenance. He had evolved past such limitations and was self-sustaining. Therefore eating the appendage had no appeal. The thought that some aspect of his opponent might endure as a part of him actually stirred a feeling of revulsion. That being the case, he opted to form a Cero and simply eradicate the leg.

"You fucking clown…!"

The distaste he felt at hearing that voice made him reconsider and instead point behind him to fire at the white menace. Its own torn-off limb had grown back in record time, permitting it to hobble upright. Ichigo's Hollow looked down in disbelief as the greenish black Cero blew off its other leg and sent it pitching back into the dirt where it belonged.

"… black dog of Rondanini…"

So busy appreciating the sight of it groveling there was he that Ulquiorra actually let the boy finish his incantation. Red light outlined him in a stigma of kidō, scratching at his skin in minor irritation. When it was done he looked over to where Ichigo had levered up on one elbow to glare at him ferociously while finding it an effort just to breathe by the sound of it. Battered, beaten, humbled, and still the whelp saw some purpose in making these childish attempts at heroics. Nothing had changed since the first day they met. The gap between them should have been insurmountable. Anyone with even the slightest scrap of intelligence could see that. Yet here they were.

It served to remind Ulquiorra why he despised this outlandish freak so much.

As he pondered his own hate, the pet Hollow leapt atop his back and grasped both ivory horns in an effort to twist his head around, but black wings simply spread to hoist it upon them. Schiffer then reached behind and grasped those flailing white hands. Swinging the animal overhead he brought it smashing down repeatedly on its own primogenitor. When he dropped it they lay coughing and cursing atop one another. Pathetic.

The irritation he felt was swiftly growing to be a nuisance in and of itself. Torture had not proven any more valuable than he initially surmised. Which meant there was no further need to continue like this. A Lanza del Relampago formed between his outstretched hands. The silent executioner was just preparing to ascend to a high enough vantage where he need not risk injuring himself when a voice shouted, "STOP!"

Slitted green eyes drifted off to one side. There stood Tatsuki Arisawa breathing hard with her good fist clenched. She must have run all the way here. A nuisance. Almost more trouble than she was worth.

For her part Tatsuki was simply struggling to find some measure of sanity in the world. She spotted Ichigo; weaponless, leg torn off, covered in blood from head to toe. Atop him lay the brutalized pale husk that had fueled her nightmares for over a year. It appeared to be in no better shape than its counterpart. How much Ulquiorra was responsible for and how much they had done to each other proved unclear. Regardless it was clear he had taken them both apart. Which should tell everybody just how small her chances of survival were at this stage. Any sane person would run.

Instead Tatsuki assumed her martial artist's stance, fully aware of how stupid this must look. "Get away from him."

Maybe Ulquiorra had a hard time comprehending how anyone could be so brainless. That would certainly explain why he didn't kill her on the spot. He regarded her with those dopey sad clown features that made him look more dead than not. "Considering everything this boy is, and the bleak future that awaits you either way, you should be begging me to end his life." His horned head tilted slightly, eyes narrowing. "Aren't you afraid to die? Or are you afraid to live, knowing now what you would do to remain so?"

"Shut up," she whispered. "I kept you alive. You owe me. The deal was to kill the Hollow, not Ichigo! You promised you could do it!"

"Yes." Those soulless green eyes studied her. "If I wished, I could reach into his mind, find the source of his emptiness, and beguile him to eradicate it completely. That is within my power. I could do so." Ulquiorra turned away from her. He didn't even bother to smile when he spoke next. "But I never said I would."

It was such a petty, mean, human thing to say. The sort of juvenile technicality you would expect from a bratty middle-schooler, not an evil undead deity. And at this Tatsuki became so furious she threw herself at the Espada, pelting across the sand with tears pouring from wide blazing eyes. One white-knuckled fist pulled back and a scream tore from her throat.

"YOU GODDAMN HEARTLESS LIAR!"

For whatever reason he didn't just blow her away as she had been half-certain he would. Instead Ulquiorra simply waited until she got close and then backhanded her across the cheek. It didn't look like much, but that single leisurely blow took everything out of her. The girl crashed to the ground with all the grace of a rock. Stunned, she couldn't move at all.

Ulquiorra satisfied himself that there would be no further interference on that end. He returned his attention to the red-headed youth and his shadow. Things had gotten more complicated. Best consider the possibilities, and quickly before anything else unexpected could happen.

At his feet the crumpled female stirred. "You promised!" she spat from between clenched teeth, coughing up sand.

"You wanted this," the lord of the undead retorted distractedly.

He drew back, and in one smooth motion stabbed downward. A pair of near-identical screams followed. Ulquiorra then lifted his god-forged spear. Impaled along its length were Ichigo Kurosaki and his Hollow. He held them out before him, observing how they continued to struggle futilely with the javelin through their stomachs when any sensible soul would go limp and let death do its work.

"In your heart," the incarnation of finality intoned in a dull voice to no one in particular, "you wanted them both dead. It was the only way to ensure your own safety."

Having come to his decision, he turned towards the range of mountains off in the distance. That was sufficiently far away to avoid any risk of damage. Hefting the lance back Ulquiorra prepared to throw.

Arisawa felt herself turning to ice. Tears swelled in her eyes she struggled not to shed. Everything in her field of vision had gone scarlet. There was a roaring in her ears from when he had slapped her. Possibly due to anger, or just brain damage. This last part would explain what she was seeing now. Ulquiorra loomed above her, a mixture of pitch black and tinted crimson flesh. Yet in the center of him where his Hollow hole rested, something different gleamed. A bluish-green star, throbbing erratically. It brought back memories of the time she had visited Oushima Reiichi in that temple. There had been a similar sort of thing inside him from what she could see. And I reached it. Somehow.

Tatsuki stood. The world swam around her. All she could focus on clearly was that little cyan firefly beckoning her with its glow. Got to… catch it.

Without even understanding why, she thrust her hand into the Hollow hole and seized hold of the light.

Ulquiorra's mouth fell open, eyes flung wide. He looked down in shock. Twitching claws swept up to clutch at the cavity in his chest. There came a sound from his throat like a faint moan.

She ignored this. Instead Tatsuki Arisawa braced herself and pulled. The tiny light resisted her efforts. Her grip tightened accordingly. It felt like trying to tear a flower from a jackfruit, ensconced in all those tough fibrous tubes that ripped your fingernails and caused them to bleed beneath. Undeterred, she pressed on, straining, unrelenting, and finally felt it start to give. Come on. Come on!

All of a sudden Tatsuki went staggering back to fall down hard. Dazed but triumphant, she opened her palm. Enclosed therein was a small blob of blue-green light. It almost felt like it had a heartbeat.

In an instant the Lanza vanished. Ichigo and his Hollow dropped to earth in a tangle of limbs. The Cuarta Espada turned slowly about. His face held an expression of slack-jawed amazement the likes of which no one had ever seen on him. He gaped in utter disbelief at the coal-haired child panting on the sand.

On instinct Tatsuki pressed her hard-won prize gently to her breast. It sank in and disappeared completely.

Ulquiorra Schiffer's body turned to ash. He remained standing there until a slight breeze swept across the dunes. Its touch seemed to erase him. The tops of his wings were blown away, followed by his head. The wind continued down that crumbling form until it reached bottom. In just a few moments absolutely nothing remained of the mighty vasto lorde.

Tatsuki just sat there staring curiously at the spot where her self-made bane once stood. She had no idea what just happened.

There came a rustling from off to one side, and when she looked over it was to see Ichigo's Hollow lunging at her with a look of delight.

An orange wall of light appeared between them. The Hollow slammed into this barrier and howled, raking its black nails against the unyielding surface with no effect. Tatsuki watched with a weary surprise. It finally dawned on her what this meant. Swiveling around, she saw Orihime sliding down to join them in the depression of sand. She was out of breath and clutching her stomach, but none the worse for wear.

"Orihime…" Tatsuki began, and coughed, her voice becoming a hoarse whisper.

"Go join Kurosaki-kun," the other girl said in a weird sort of calm. "I'll heal your injuries." She did not take her eyes off the Hollow trapped in her spell dome.

There was no point arguing at this stage. Arisawa rose clumsily. She spied Ichigo's severed leg and went over to retrieve it, remembering a time when Kon's bravery had cost him an arm and she spent some time lugging it around Hueco Mundo. This was starting to become a thing for her. She then hobbled over to where Ichigo had sat up with a grimace. "Hey," Tatsuki managed while kneeling beside him.

"Hi," he said back. His face was white, and he was shaking uncontrollably. She'd never seen him look so bad. The weirdness of the situation was completed when Tatsuki laid his lost leg up against the ragged stump, trying her hardest not to look at all that exposed bone and bloody meat. Even Orihime's magic might not be enough to keep her from throwing up.

"Ayame, Shun'ō," the healer called behind them. "Soten Kishun. I reject."

Two bright flashes split off from her hairpins and zipped over to hover around both her friends. Another globe of light appeared, enveloping them in a warm healing balm. It felt like someone giving you a fantastic rubdown after an even better workout. Tatsuki nearly passed out, she felt so unexpectedly good. Ichigo's leg looked to be merging back together, which suited her fine. He still seemed exhausted, but his wounds were definitely disappearing. Maybe Orihime isn't restoring his spirit energy because that would mean the Hollow got a power save too? She spied it squatted on the sand with arms wrapped around its knees. It looked like a kid sulking after getting yelled at by his parents.

While the healing was taking place Orihime crossed over to stand in front of the prison dome. The Hollow lifted its chin and gave her a rude glare but said nothing.

Inoue's voice broke the uncomfortable silence of this realm. "You tried to kill Tatsuki." The lovely redhead's hair was blowing all around in the wind. Her skirt flapped against her ankles. A curious cool reproach had settled on her face in the last minute. As though she was preparing for something.

Ichigo's Hollow kicked the barrier, which didn't even shake as a result. It snorted and glanced away.

"Apologize."

Slowly the white doppelganger turned its head to look at her. Upon realizing she was serious, it began to laugh. Low at first, but then higher and louder.

"APOLOGIZE!" Orihime screamed. Something in her voice made Tatsuki shiver.

The Hollow slumped on its hands and threw back its ghastly head, laughing up at the sky with mad orange eyes, tongue lolling over rotten teeth and drool running down its chin. It was disgusting, horrifying, an absolute disgrace.

Orihime took several steps back. Her dainty hands clenched, the expression she wore one of undeniable fury. "TSUBAKI, SHUN'O, BAIGON, AYAME!"

The two spirits devoted to performing recuperation suddenly left off and went streaking over to join their fellows supporting the barrier. As they did two of the others broke away and resumed their place on Orihime's temples, while a fourth emerged and took its place above the dome. Tatsuki and Ichigo watched in confusion.

"SHITEN SAIGOSHUN!"

Ichigo's Hollow howled in merriment, and Orihime's voice trembled with fiercest loathing as she whispered…

"I reject."

The laughter died.

All around the Hollow, what was once a dome had now become a box, a guardian spirit at each corner. The creature trapped within appeared unable to move. Its facial features spasmed, teeth gritted and strangled grunts emerging from its throat. Orihime calmly observed it struggle. The orange glow became brighter.

As they watched, pieces of the Hollow's flesh began to disappear.

"ORIHIME!"

Tatsuki didn't know what was happening or how her friend had learned something like this. But it didn't matter. She was too terrified to care. Because as the Hollow disintegrated, Ichigo Kurosaki had fallen to the ground. His eyes rolled back in their sockets. Shudders racked his wasted frame. He gurgled as though swallowing his own tongue. Worse than all this combined, to Tatsuki's disbelief, his body was being… removed. Empty grooves appeared in bare arms and chest. Part of his jaw simply vanished. He looked like a jigsaw puzzle being dismantled piece by piece. It was as though Ichigo Kurosaki were no more than a drawing on paper, and someone was erasing him.

"DON'T! YOU'RE KILLING HIM! ORIHIME, YOU'RE KILLING THEM BOTH!"

Her best friend didn't even look at her. She just stared intently as the monster died before their eyes.

'You wanted this.'

The words Ulquiorra had spoken caressed Tatsuki Arisawa's ears as though he were right there beside her. Was it true?

Maybe.

But not anymore.

I wanted this. But I don't… want this.

Tatsuki stood up. She began to walk forward. Orihime saw her coming. She didn't move, or perhaps couldn't. As Tatsuki approached a faint hint of panic made those doe-like eyes widen, like some part of Inoue finally realized just what she herself was doing.

Before them the Hollow's head came up.

Orihime looked at it, then her friend. The momentary indecision passed, and the beautiful mystic found her resolve once more. She could not fight Tatsuki and destroy this thing all at once. And if she let it go for even a moment, they would surely die. There was only one thing left to do.

Before the other girl could reach her Inoue rushed quickly forward. Seeing what she was attempting, Arisawa made a grab for her. Fingers brushed over silky orange hair. Nothing more. She had already entered the perimeter of the dissolution chamber and passed inside.

Tatsuki pounded on the wall, but there was no way to get in. Not even her screams could penetrate the sorcerous shell. Orihime did not permit anyone else to enter. She proceeded over to where her enemy lay in the center of the cube. The absolute negation occurring within here did not harm its mistress. Now free from all possible restraint, the devoted young woman focused every ounce of willpower she contained into eradicating this evil forever.

"You…"

It was dissolving before her eyes.

"… can't."

"Yes, I can," she responded softly. There was not a tear to be seen on her cheeks.

"No."

The Hollow quivered.

"You… CAN'T!"

And it began to rise.

Most of its right leg was gone, leaving only a warped strip attached to a semi-solid foot. Half its skull on the left side was missing. The Hollow's stomach looked like someone had taken a huge bite out. Not a single thing was whole in that body. There should have been no way for it to live, much less stand.

But in only a few moments, it had.

"You can't kill me… Orihime," the Hollow spoke through a mouth lacking both teeth and lips in places. "And you wanna know… why?"

It started to stumble forward. Orihime drew back. Can't let this thing frighten me. It's only trying to save itself. I have to keep my will strong. Everything I have, everything I am! Give it all now! Let me have everything I'm capable of!

The chamber around them flared brilliantly, reflecting an application of willpower strong enough to challenge reality itself. This force converged on the monstrous captive, wrapping around it and squeezing. It felt like the heart of a star collapsing to form a black hole.

Ichigo's Hollow slowed, and finally came to a halt. It stood hunched over shaking. Then, head down, the beast spoke. "It's because he… won't let you!"

Despair. It hit hard, so that for only an instant the magic wavered. Orihime managed to reassert herself in time to keep everything going. But as she did, her gaze was drawn unwillingly outside, to Ichigo. He was slumped on his side, eyes shut tight and lips pressed together, his skin bathed in sweat. It reminded her of a little boy attempting to be brave and not cry. Or a man, holding tight to some horrible secret no one else must ever know.

"HE WON'T LET ME GO!"

It was coming again, a killer machine that would never stop. She felt her back hit the wall without even realizing she had been moving towards it. Her hands rose in an effort to increase the power of Shiten Saigoshun. Palms up, she held them out as if to ward off the beast. Its own grisly fingers reached for her, drawing ever closer like a nightmarish reflection.

Please let me reject it! I have to make this end! Please, Kurosaki-kun! Don't hold on! Let it go! For Rukia's sake, let the nightmare end!

"There's no way to get rid of me," his Hollow wheezed like it could read her mind. "Not without killing him too. Don't you care if Ichigo dies?"

She shook her head, sending fiery locks flying into her eyes. Don't listen. It's lying. Don't listen!

A loathsome smile split the madman's face, made all the more grotesque by it being partly removed. "Oh. I get it. If you can't have him… nobody can, right?"

Her heart lurched.

Lying.

Inoue's head drifted to the side, where Tatsuki continued to beat against the execution chamber, screaming silently.

Two tears slipped free.

Right then she felt her head seized in a strong grip. It wrenched her around until she stared into the triumphant eyes of the insane Hollow. For a few seconds the thing just looked at Inoue, gasping and gleeful as though unable to believe this moment had finally come.

Then it gave a savage twist, and Orihime's neck snapped.

The four fairy spirits shattered. Their remains pattered softly over the dusty plain. The box went with them. Ichigo's Hollow stood there holding her dead body, then let go to collapse in a heap. He closed his eyes and smiled in satisfaction.

Something plowed into the Hollow, bearing him to the ground. Raging fists slammed into his face over and over. They pummeled the beast, battering him bloody while emitting one long sustained roar.

In response, the Hollow only laughed, as Ichigo Kurosaki howled like a mad thing above him. He made no effort to resist.

Behind them Tatsuki crawled over to tentatively touch the limp body. She cradled Orihime's head in her hands, flinching at how it flopped around with no more resistance than a bag of rice. Whimpering, she settled that beautiful face in her lap and arranged it into a more natural semblance, combing the hair with her fingers and trying not to scream.

"Come back," she gasped. "You can fix this, right? You can do anything. Come back to me. Please."

No response. Across the way Ichigo's shrieks were getting louder as he bashed the murderer into pulp. He almost sounded like a Hollow himself. It made her press both hands to her ears to try and shut that terrible sound out.

"I'm sorry I didn't protect you. Just give me one more miracle, that's all I ask. You're not supposed to die here. It's all a mistake. Let's go home and never talk about this again. You're going to Tokyo University, right? That's so amazing, I know you'll get in. Your whole life is ahead of you. So let's get going, okay?"

Another hideous scream caused her to look up. Ichigo kept right on beating the Hollow for all he was worth. But now she noticed the thing wasn't even fighting back. And it was laughing. That same lunatic laugh from before. As she watched, Ichigo seemed to flicker. Then it happened again. Briefly his skin turned white before going back to normal. The next time this occurred, for only a moment there was something like a great horned devil mask atop his head. It breathed out in a rusty growl before recommencing that savage assault. Beneath it the Hollow faded in and out. They were both spattered with black blood. Now Ichigo's hair was growing longer. His fists were becoming claws, and his feet as well. The sounds he made no longer even remotely resembled a human.

"I've got you," the entity below him smirked through smashed bloodstained teeth. "I've finally got you, Ichigo! My name! My name... is...!"

He's turning into one of them. That's what it wanted all along. It needed to kill one of us because it knew Ichigo wouldn't be able to forgive himself if it did. The Hollow's won. Nothing can stop him. He'll never come back from this.

Holding her friend's lifeless body, Tatsuki looked up to the starry heavens in search of aid.

"Make it go away," she beseeched anyone listening.

'I…

… reject.'

Two different voices spoke those words. Upon coming back to the present Arisawa Tatsuki found two small winged sprites hovering overhead. One was bald and male with an eyepatch, while the other was a girl sporting some sort of 90's techno future apparel. They both gazed at her with equal measures of sadness.

Before she could even wonder what this meant, each of them transformed into a different-colored boomerang shape. Blue light encased the fairies. It formed a globe between the pair. All around her, the desert of Hueco Mundo vanished to leave Tatsuki floating in space. The two spirits began to twirl like ballerinas. Faster and faster they spun, until they were indiscernible from one another. The globe was swirling, colors shifting over its surface; blue, white and brown. Eventually they resolved into something stable, and after a little while, Tatsuki realized she was looking at a miniature version of the whole planet.

'Forget.'

She stirred, not daring to hope.

'You have to forget.'

"Orihime?" Arisawa sobbed. It didn't sound like her voice, not really. But just the way the words were spoken…

'These are Hinagiku and Lily. They're the only parts of the Shun Shun Rikka left. It's all I have to work with.'

Tatsuki glanced down. There was still a corpse there, no doubt. But was anything left in it? "Are you healing yourself?"

'No. Please listen. I don't have much time. This is all my fault. I need to fix it. And there's only one way.'

"Orihime, what's going on?"

'I'm rejecting myself.'

Tatsuki peered blindly into the void. That made no sense. "How… I mean, what does that…"

The floating representation of Earth changed. It was like they were zooming in, until finally what she recognized as the nation of Japan came clear, a string of islands nestled in the warm Pacific. Tatsuki remembered the old stories about how a god had formed the country by dipping a spear into the primordial sea, and the droplets that fell became Japan.

'Dimensions don't matter, Tatsuki. Every spiritual realm is born from and resides within the collective soul that belongs to Earth. Being in one means being in all. From here in Hueco Mundo, I can reach every level of Soul Society and the living world as well. Shun Shun Rikka will do the rest. But I need your help.'

"Anything," she insisted. "Ask it."

'You must reject me.'

"No. Never."

'It has to be done. Otherwise you'll lose your future as well.'

"Orihime, stop talking like this. Just come back to me."

'It's too late for that. Look.'

She did so. Off to one side there suddenly appeared the Hollow and Ichigo. Or maybe… it was just Hollow Ichigo now. The transformation wasn't complete. She could see that as it mercilessly tore into the grinning apparition which now looked more like Ichigo than he did himself. Those claws were passing through the Hollow more often than not as though it were becoming insubstantial. Or to be more precise, it was solidifying into him with every blow. Madness. Pain. Fear. Regret. Grief. The Hollow represented all those things about Kurosaki Ichigo, and they were fast establishing dominance within him.

'Don't let this happen, Tatsuki. You have to do it. If you don't, Ichigo will be lost. He'll turn into a Hollow and never be reborn. And it will be because of me. Then you'll die, and everyone we care about too. He'll kill all those who loved him in life and beyond before moving on to kill whatever he can find. They'll die.'

"That's…" Tatsuki clapped a hand to her mouth. She fought down a surge of intense nausea at the sight of what was taking place. "I still don't understand."

'It all has to go. Every memory, every last trace of Orihime Inoue's existence. Only if I am completely removed from the equation can we prevent the worst from happening. I'm speaking to everyone else now the same as you. Ichigo's family. Our friends from school. The shinigami. Rukia. Everyone and everything that's ever known me, alive or dead. I've explained what went wrong, and how we can stop it. I need them all to agree. It won't work otherwise. Most already have. They understand how important this is. But you above all must accept.'

Now it was possible to see human civilization within the sphere. From there the focus went to places and things of note. On the list of classrooms at Karakura High, the name 'Inoue Orihime' simply faded away from every single medium, whether print or digital. Homework assignments bearing her handwriting vanished altogether. Her picture in the school roster became a blank space, the order shuffling around to fill it. Projects she made in the Handicrafts Club ceased to exist. The same thing happened all over town and throughout the country, the world in some cases. Orihime's apartment was denuded of certain effects that might have hinted at her ever having been there. The picture of her deceased brother remained, but those containing her suffered the same editing effect, filling in with background scenery where appropriate. Down to the last strand of red hair or particle of skin, the total annihilation of one girl's existence was completed to an ungodly degree of accuracy. Even in Soul Society, Tatsuki saw evidence and records relating to the ryoka and their invasion being quietly swept away. She could hardly lend credence to this really happening. What kind of power could accomplish so much on such an immense scale?

What came next was somehow even worse. People appeared, some of whom Tatsuki recognized and others who were total strangers. As one they all looked up at the sky like they could hear a voice. Then they proceeded about their business as if nothing had happened. The observer to all this was sickened when she recognized Michiru Ohgawa, their teacher Misato Ochi, Sado Yasutora… every last one of them shook their heads slightly, and she knew they had lost any memory of this joyous selfless girl. She actually cried out upon seeing Chizuru Honsho. The normally unflappable redhead hesitated, appearing confused as she heard the voice belonging to her long-time target of friendly molestation and impassioned outbursts. Chizuru actually reached up a hand, and her face twisted with dismay. Tatsuki held her breath, somehow hoping this one at least would not make the terrible sacrifice. But then the heartbroken lesbian's shoulders slumped, and her head dipped low. A moment later she looked up and all around in confusion, touching a hand to her cheek as if wondering why there were tears there. Arisawa couldn't help but pity her.

"What… what are you…?"

Not only the living were affected. Shinigami, no matter what realm they might currently be in, all received the same tragic ultimatum. To the last they accepted, though clearly distraught. Hollows, too, were shown; not many, but enough to take note, and they accepted the offer so fast it revived a burning anger in Tatsuki's heart. Of course, none of those poor souls could claim to have a heart, so perhaps they did not truly deserve her wrath.

Soon enough only a few remained. Tatsuki knew she was among the last holdouts. The world-altering curse had almost run its course. She saw Hollow Ichigo as well. It hadn't stopped attacking its past iteration, but now the blows were slowing, as though it were growing confused. She could hear its ragged animal breaths subsiding. Of a sudden the little whirling fairy sprites whisked over to dance around that spiked helm, crooning a soothing music. The representation of Hollow Ichigo started shifting in and out of focus again, allowing the true Ichigo Kurosaki to shine through. It dawned on Tatsuki that her childhood friend was forgetting what exactly had driven him to such murderous levels of rage and loss. The reason behind his fall into darkness was no longer clear.

Observing this awesome performance, appreciating the full extent of her ability for the first time ever, Tatsuki started to realize why Orihime Inoue was so amazing. Because she was the opposite of virtually every other powerful being in existence. All this time she possessed ungodly power but chose not to use it. She could conceivably unmake anything that displeased her. In the hands of someone like Aizen or Unohana, they would have gone ahead without hesitation and refashioned the world, because both were entirely convinced that it was their divine right to do so. But Orihime was that rare thing they could never be: humble.

"NO!"

Still pinned beneath him, Ichigo's Hollow struggled in vain. It had been beaten nearly past the point of recognition. Most of the harm done by Inoue's Shiten Saigoshun was gone, but nonetheless it apparently lacked the strength to rise and contest what it sensed was happening. Not that there was really any way to fight this. You can't kill someone who isn't there.

'Now.'

Tatsuki shuddered.

'I'm almost gone, Tatsuki. You need to agree now, or it won't work. You remember Orihime most strongly. It will spark recollection in all the rest, which will become a fire that wipes out my work. She will still be dead, but her memory will endure and do terrible harm. Please. Don't let her die in vain.'

"I can't." The girl's head fell in despair. "I'm sorry, but I really can't. She's in my heart too deep. If that's gone, I'll be empty."

'Try.'

"I am."

'Tatsuki… do you remember how you used to save me from those kids who always used to pick on me because of my hair?'

Against all odds, this brought a smile to her face. "Yeah. I do."

'It hurt so bad when they did that, especially after I lost my brother Sora. He used to be the one to protect me, with our parents, and everything. I've been hurt a great deal. But no one has ever hurt me so much as you are now. Please, if you love me, I beg you… save me one last time, Tatsuki.'

She wanted to resist, to insist this was some evil trick concocted by Ulquiorra or Aizen or whoever. A last-ditch effort to save the memory, if not the life, of her cherished friend.

But there was only one way to save her soul. Like everyone we ever loved who died, we have to let them go. If this is the last thing she ever hears me say, let it be the best I can.

"You made me happy every day, Orihime. I'm proud to be your friend."

'Thank you, Tatsuki. So much.'

Tatsuki could swear she heard the ghost of a smile in those words, and without knowing why she grinned back. There was no explanation she could see as to why; from one moment to the next, a part of her heart which was formerly full had simply gone cold. Like nothing had ever been there to begin with.

The dwindling power of Shun Shun Rikka shone fiercely for a moment. Their last and mightiest enchantment had been performed, and they had earned their mistress' deepest thanks, for which each felt proud. Now secure in the face of impending annihilation, the souls of pixies and human delivered a final chapter to their universal geass.

'It is complete. The soul of Orihime Inoue will be no more. All shall forget. All…'

The familiars Lily and Hinagiku suddenly burned even brighter. Within the emptiness surrounding them, those two sprites seemed to transform into a pair of vast eyes. They opened, focusing with unforgiving menace upon Ichigo's Hollow. The creature shrank before that accusing gaze.

'But not you. You're going to remember me. You're going to remember, how close you came… and how I took it away from you.'

"No!" the Hollow gurgled beneath the deadweight of its master. "NO, WAIT!"

The eyes closed. An emptiness appeared in the universe, a vacuum normally filled by a human soul. This sense did not last long. Rejection took place, followed by reordering. And when it was all over, everything was back to normal.

Tatsuki glanced around uncertainly, wondering for a moment what might be missing. She found herself back in the desert and noticed Ichigo lying bloodied and torn, remembering how Ulquiorra had tricked her into setting him loose on both Kurosaki and his evil twin. She had put paid to him in turn, and Ichigo's Hollow vanished shortly after. Which meant the day was saved and everybody was okay, right?

"Right?" she said sadly, waiting for an answer with no idea why.

Eventually the weary teen stood upright. Her body felt pretty good in spite of the last few minutes. I must be tougher than I thought. Having assured herself of this, she tottered over to where Ichigo slumped unconscious. He also wasn't hurt nearly as bad as she had been led to believe. Some people were just born lucky, I guess.

She sat down beside him and pulled him into her lap, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu as she did. Tatsuki dismissed this sensation with a tired sigh. "I'm sorry, Ichigo. Don't die, okay?" That pretty much said it all.

---

Kon awoke to the sight of Ganju peering down at him. "You awake, bro?"

He seriously debated going back to sleep, only to remember everything that happened before. Kon sat up and looked around. He was in a teepee of some kind. There was a pallet rolled out for him which he had been napping on.

"What happened?"

Ganju offered his new sibling a strange look. The older Shiba squatted beside him. "Lord Arashi surrendered, remember? His people took him away after you both collapsed. While Lady Isane healed you a hell butterfly came for her and the other captain types, after which they all left in a hurry without saying much. I think they must have gone looking for Ichigo. He never popped up again."

"Oh." Kon considered all this. He scratched his head and looked around. "So… what happens now?"

"We're just waiting on you." The big bruiser got up and extended his hand, which Kon accepted to be hoisted into a standing position. They headed out of the tent together, where they found the rest of the delegation still waiting over by the pavilion. A small table had been set up where an unbound scroll rested along with pen and ink. "The match is over, but you still need to make your declaration concerning the result."

Kon knew. They had covered this prior to attending the competition. Under the terms of a yurei, if Ichigo lost and he won, technically Kon would be considered the victor in regards to the matter which underlay this whole event. Namely, Rukia's wedding to the Arashi. Ichigo had challenged Katsurou's right to marry her, but since Kon submitted a formal challenge of his own, the rules said it was necessary for him to abdicate afterwards. Otherwise…

All the richly caparisoned nobles made way at his approach. With the captains gone, the only person he recognized was Kukaku. She stood with hand on her hip wearing a pleased smile and nodded at him. Kon grinned weakly back as he came to a halt before the desk. The scroll and its contents were laid out before him. This was the wedding proposal between Rukia and Katsurou. It had been prepared beforehand by the Arashi lord in anticipation of his victory. Everything ready to go.

At this point all Kon had to do was publicly state his intention to decline. Doing so would make Ichigo the winner by default, him being the only combatant who hadn't officially conceded victory. But instead he took the time to look over the wedding proposal, admiring the jade bars which held each end and the gold-capped crimson tassels which dangled from them. A pretty little thing. Hard to believe it held such a sinister purpose. Had Katsurou signed this, Rukia would have been his forever regardless of her wishes. Of course, since I'm the legitimate winner, it would also work for me. Not that I ever had any intention of doing so. I only did it to save Rukia from being forced to marry against her will. Now she and Ichigo can be together, just as planned.

He kept reading the same paragraph over and over. Despite this Kon could no more recall its contents upon finishing than when he started. There was perspiration on his forehead which he wiped away. Around him people were starting to mutter, probably wondering why this was taking so long.

At this point Kon had a truly wicked idea. How about I give them all a little scare?

With that, he reached over and picked up the pen. A few gasps came in response. They actually think I'm going to do it. What a riot! He looked over at his family in the Shiba and grinned to let them know it was nothing more than a joke. Ganju picked up on it, chuckling a little nervously. Standing beside him, however, Kukaku looked none too pleased at his jest. No surprise. His volatile new sister took a dim view to people horsing around when things got serious, like they were now.

C'mon, Nee-sama, lighten up! I'm just having a little fun. Look, see? I'll even dip the brush in the ink, that'll really make 'em squirm! What a laugh, huh? What a joke! As if I, Kon the mod soul, could ever marry the princess. Okay, enough playing around, I'm just going to put an end to this. All I have to do is publicly state, 'I give up', and that'll be that. Once again, Ichigo wins by default.

So that's what I'll do. Right now.

Instead he stood there without moving a muscle. Droplets of ink slid off the pen's bristles to drip onto the lawn. A wind stirred the flaps of the tents and rustled clothing. Whispers rose all around him. Ganju wore an uneasy grimace, as though wondering what he might be up to. He began to take a step towards Kon, only to stop when his sister laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked over questioningly, and Kukaku just shook her head, narrowed green eyes fixed on the man she had gifted with her ancestral name. She did not fail to miss how Kon was trembling while still wearing that strange smile.

I'm just the backup. That was the plan we hashed out, me and the Shiba. Were Ichigo to fail for any reason, I would step up to fight in his stead. And should I actually win, I'd do the honorable thing and surrender afterwards, allowing him to claim the prize. He wins by default. It all turned out fine in the end. Virtue and decency triumphed.

So what's wrong?

Nothing. Nothing's wrong, okay? I'm just getting a good idea of what this contract says before giving in. I mean, not giving in… conceding. That's it. I'm about to concede my place. By no fault of mine. I lose. By default. Like always.

All right, this has gone on long enough. Aren't we overlooking the obvious here? You're just wasting time now, so go ahead and sign it.

I will. I… wait, what?

Come on. You know damn well nobody fights as hard as you did just to let somebody else take all the credit for it. Be honest; you never intended to step aside for Ichigo, did you? That was just a lie you told to get the Shiba to adopt you and give us the in we needed.

Huh? No! No, that's not true! I'm grateful to Ganju and his sister! They put a lot of trust in me, I'd never betray them!

Oh, please. Stop horsing around. Just sign the damn contract and let's go get hitched.

But… that's not part of the plan.

The plan? The plan? There's only one plan here, bucko. You kick the red-headed stepchild off his perch and marry into royalty. After that nobody'll be able to gainsay you. It's the perfect scheme! And you pulled it off beautifully. My hat's off to you. Really, you deserve a round of applause!

In Kon's mind, someone began to clap.

No. That's not true. I would never do that. They're my friends, I would… never… I…

Oh really?

And a voice laughed, followed by silence.

Kon trembled.

Who are you?

You really want to know?

All around him, the world went away. The bewildered mod soul examined his new surroundings uncertainly. He stood alone in an empty void.

Not quite empty, kiddo.

Kon turned to look behind him. There stood another version of himself, arms crossed and smiling smugly. It resembled him down to the very last detail. Or at least, the way he thought of himself now, a tall healthy young man with short-cropped hair and bright blue eyes on a somewhat catlike face. They were both naked. The doppelganger winked at him.

Surprised? Don't be. You know darn well that Dad always liked to put a little bit of himself into everything he created. That just so happens to be me. I'm a part of you, but also part of him too.

"How…" Kon coughed. His voice sounded echoing and distorted in here. Was this taking place inside his mind? Or his soul? "I never noticed…"

No reason you should. I wasn't even really what you might call active until a while ago. Only got called up for duty after you touched our father.

He shook his head in an effort to clear it. Nothing happened as a result. Maybe we're located somewhere else entirely. "What do you mean, touched him?"

Well, maybe kicked him is the more accurate term. Remember? Right around the time you got that new shell you're so proud of? The one that you've practically invested your whole self-perception in?

The memory came back. Forced to spend time in a Mayuri puppet while waiting for his new gigai to be created, Kon had wandered the R&D Bureau until he came across the man himself trapped in some crystal torture device. He had taken the opportunity to vent some well-deserved hostilities against the helpless maniac, and wound up with a pretty painful karmic retaliation for his troubles.

Realization dawned. He looked at the other Kon. "So wait… have you been talking to me all this time and I never realized it?"

Off and on. The connection started to build up over time. I guess Dad started to take a greater interest in you during that period. Lucky you, huh?

Kon felt ill at ease for some reason. "An interest in me?"

Yeah. Hold on, he can probably explain this better than me. Let's check and see if he's available. Hey, Obit!

/Yes, who's calling, please?\

Cute. Is Mayuri with you? Little Jimmy here wants to say hello.

/You're in luck. The Master is currently convalescing in Club Crazy and more than willing to talk. Let me connect you.\

Sweet. Okay, bye for now, junior!

Other Kon waved at him. He automatically reached up to do the same…

"Ah, there you are!"

… and froze.

The vision of himself was gone. Instead before Kon there now appeared his father, Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

Terror swept over him. Unlike everyone else here, Mayuri was fully clothed in the robes of a Japanese lord or shogun. There were none of the peculiar physical characteristics he was known for. His skin was a healthy shade, short hair curly and blue. He had a long-stemmed pipe in one hand which he puffed upon while exposing his upper teeth. Golden eyes watched Kon through the resultant smoke, almost seeming to glow from the inferno burning nonstop in his overstimulated brain.

After a while the embodied scientist threw away his pipe, which disappeared completely once it left his grip. "Well, stand up straight. Let me have a look at you, hmmm?"

He proceeded to walk around Kon in a circle. The mod soul did as commanded, standing stiffly at attention just as he had done in the time of his first creation. Back then he hadn't known enough to be afraid. Now the knowledge of what might befall him were he deemed unimpressive occupied all his thoughts. Please let me pass. Please let me pass!

Mayuri left off his inspection and drew up before the taller soul once again. He might be smiling. It was hard to tell what this deranged genius was thinking under normal circumstances. Now that he looked… well, normal, all previous telltale signs went right out the window. I'm not dead, so that's a plus.

"So… this is what it looks like."

Kon gave a start. "I-I'm sorry?" he stammered.

"I always wondered," Kurotsuchi continued to muse while he stroked his chin in thought. "Would there be any sort of obvious indication that would let me know I had reached this point? Could I simply look at the result and conclude, without having to wonder why, that my goal had finally been achieved?" He sucked his teeth idly. "Despite the illogicality of such sentiments, I confess to being somewhat disappointed that does not prove to be the case. You look rather unremarkable to the naked eye, as it were."

A very dangerous smile stole up his face then, causing him to resemble a type of hobgoblin. "Well, I guess that just goes to show you can never judge a book by its cover."

Noting the helpless look Kon wore, the scientist proceeded on without having been asked. "Oh, it's quite all right. I can forgive you a certain measure of ignorance regarding the proceedings. Under the circumstances, I'm more than willing to enlighten you, my boy. But first, answer me this. How did it feel?"

Kon's forehead furrowed in consternation. "How did what feel?"

"When you won the contest."

He thought back. "Uhhhh… fine, I guess. Well, no, that's not true. It felt like hell. The guy sucked up all my spiritual juices and fed them to his soul cutter. It was pure living agony. I almost died. Then I… went inside his soul, I guess, and we fought there. I think I won by… not letting him die, maybe?"

Mayuri nodded along giving a "Hmmm or an "A-ha!" here and there. When Kon finished he clapped his hands. "I see. That's all well and good. But after that tawdry little yarn, allow me to ask you again." With that he took a step forward and thrust his chin under the mod soul's jaw, who jerked his head up fearfully.

"How did it feel…" the madman hissed, "… to win?!"

When Kon only regarded him with utmost fright, Mayuri chuckled. "Oh, come now. Surely you must realize it? If I weren't in such a good mood by now, your woeful stupidity would make me quite cross. But all that's behind us now, my boy."

So saying, Mayuri reached up and laid a gentle hand on Kon's cheek.

"You are what I have been waiting for, Konpaku."

The skin beneath his fingers was slick with sweat. Metaphysical or otherwise, Mayuri paid this no mind. He patted that trembling head tenderly as though trying to soothe a puppy. "There, there. No need to be so anxious. You have nothing to be afraid of! Indeed, you have every reason to rejoice. Take pride in yourself, my boy! For after lo these many years, I have finally, utterly, and definitively proven my superiority over him! At long last, I have surpassed Kisuke Urahara!"

He wrapped his arms around himself and fell to giggling like a lovesick schoolgirl. Mayuri twirled around and flung both arms wide in a display of unbridled joy. He was grinning ear to ear, as though all of creation were one great big Peach of Immortality and Mayuri Kurotsuchi had just taken a huge juicy bite.

"Yes!" he declared triumphantly. "Don't you see? Kisuke's candidate failed! He FAILED! Ichigo Kurosaki, whom Urahara personally trained and enhanced, endowing him with some of his most cunning and ingenious creations! Drawing out his latent shinigami powers in the first place after having been bested by Byakuya Kuchiki! The Tenshintai, which allows one to accomplish bankai training in only three days! Using his Vaizard creations to bestow the powers of a Hollow upon the youth when all that proved insufficient! Kisuke must have thought he had created something truly phenomenal, a soul that could challenge the mightiest our world had to offer, whether it be Hollow or shinigami! And it was a very noteworthy effort, I will grant him that much."

Kurotsuchi jumped in one place and actually threw a punch into the air, giving a bark of glee at the same time. "HAH! What a buffoon! All flash and no substance, the both of them! He made a war-ender! A great blazing brutish ogre along the lines of Kenpachi Zaraki that he thought could defeat anyone, and must have been so pleased with himself! But when the time came for Kisuke's high school science project to vie for the hand of the woman he loved in the most important duel our world has ever witnessed, he failed! And my creation triumphed!"

Enraptured, the egomaniacal auteur held out his hands to Kon as though marveling at his own accomplishment. "A subtle work of art, unnoticed and underappreciated, stepped forward onto the field of battle, and seized the crown! With elegance! With ingenuity! With the tools and capabilities I alone granted to him! You, my dear Konpaku, have definitively established the undeniable superiority of my work to his! The struggle is over! And I have finally WON!"

Kon strove to follow the logic in this reasoning, only to come up short. He most certainly hadn't been fighting for Mayuri's sake. If anything, he always thought of himself as a living refutation of the ideals and practices touted by this lunatic who flouted all laws at his convenience, disregarding anything and everything which might hinder his pursuit of scientific understanding. Small wonder he had been locked away in prison where no one had to suffer him.

All this the mod soul thought. And not a word of it passed his lips. His mad-eyed creator continued uninterrupted.

"To think, all these centuries of hypothesis and experimentation, striving to grasp hold of something whose shape and meaning always seemed to elude me, and when I am at my very lowest, when any sort of concerted application is denied me and I have no recourse available whatsoever to even mount a proposal, the answer presents itself without my direct involvement! Can you even imagine what a pleasant surprise this turned out to be? And to think, I almost missed my chance. Were it not for merest whimsy, I would have not seen the forest for the trees, and never even known the solution had slipped through my grasp. Can you imagine? I very nearly won the battle and lost the war!"

"Oh, my sweet Konpaku," he sighed dreamily. "I was just a slip away from destroying you, you know."

The person in question felt his blood run cold.

"Yes, yes, what a waste that would have been," Mayuri sighed without any indication he had noticed the mod's distress. "The moment you touched me back in the lab, it formed a connection between us. Right then I saw an opportunity to escape my bothersome prison and transfer myself through that medium to join with you. In doing so, you would have been consumed down to the last drop, and I would have stepped forth into the world once more, undaunted and susceptible to no one's charges of infamy. It seemed too sweet an opportunity to pass up! But something stayed my hand. Perhaps it was Fate, stepping in to prevent me from spoiling the culmination of all my years of hard work. Or maybe on some unconscious level, I had already solved the riddle and thereby realized your true worth. In any case, I consented to let you go, even though it meant I must be forced to endure continuous unproductivity and a wearisome amount of unwanted intrusion."

"No matter." He waved a hand idly, beaming up at Kon like a pleased parent. "Here you stand, and I find I can hardly contain my pride. You have astounded me, young man. The work I did on artificial souls, which I thought had achieved its zenith in Nemu, grew past all expectations and asserted dominance. The result is you, Konpaku. Victory is ours! We share in the fruits of my success together! And you especially; for all the fine work you have done in my name, there is to be a reward. Double, in fact! The one shall be rendered up to you forthwith once we are done here, have no doubt on that score. I consider it meet and fitting, a heaven-sent response to the insult done me by that pompous nobleman! But the other prize is solely mine to give." He heaved a happy sigh. "Kneel."

The thought of refusing never even occurred to Kon. He was down on his knees before he could even think. Mayuri stood with hands behind his back, chuckling in admiration. Eventually he nodded as though satisfied.

"Having surpassed your own preconceived limitations and proven your worth beyond a shadow of a doubt, I do hereby grant you the ultimate honor a work of mine can hope to achieve! From this day forth, you are no longer Kaizou Konpaku, a mod soul. Instead, as you greet the dawning of our new age, do so bearing the title of Konpaku Kurotsuchi!" He looked down at Kon and gave a fond smile. "My son."

Son. The word enveloped his mind. This truly was the greatest mark of success that existed in the spectrum of Mayuri's work. Only the very peak of his creations could ever hold such a distinction. It meant Kon had become something more than a numbered experiment meant to be tested until it failed. Now he had worth. Meaning. Purpose. He was able to achieve something in their father's eyes. It was the dream of every mod soul since their first creation.

He stared up at his maker. What does one say to say to such a gift?

/Oops, that's all for now! Time and tide wait for no man. Break's over, gotta go, see you all again when Death takes a holiday!\

As Obit spoke Mayuri Kurotsuchi simply disappeared. Once more Kon was confronted by the aspect of himself that connected them to his parent.

Oh, stand up, you look ridiculous gaping like that.

He proceeded to do so, still a little overwhelmed by everything that just took place.

'Konpaku Kurotsuchi!' Got a nice ring to it, don't you think? Real alliterative.

"Yeah," he responded distractedly. I did it, Kon thought. I made it to the top of the heap.

The rubbish heap, maybe. Just kidding. Stop admiring yourself and let's go get that second prize you were promised.

"What?" This line of conversation served to make him uncertain once more. "Wait, I still don't know what he was talking about."

He meant the princess. Remember? Lady Rukia Kuchiki? She's yours now. Take her, with our father's blessing.

Kon's mouth fell open. His eyes grew round in disbelief.

C'mon, c'mon, I know you've been dying to get this far. Like Obit said, time's a wasting. Get the lead out and head on back to the paradise that awaits you both.

Other Kon made to walk past him.

"No."

Excuse me?

He turned around calmly. "I said no."

The duplicate regarded its double with head cocked to one side. He strolled forward leisurely, and began prowling around Kon with hands clasped behind his back just like Mayuri had done.

Sorry, I'm a bit confused here. What exactly do you think you're doing?

"I'm going back, but not for the reason you think. I'm going to do what I came here to do."

Meaning, I take it, that you don't intend to sign the document. Instead you're going to hand it all over to Ichigo. Am I right?

Kon stood resolute without even bothering to look at him. "You got it."

I don't believe this. Seriously, just… no. No, I refuse. I refuse to accept that you are this stupid.

"I can be anything I want to be, pal. I chose to be a man, and that's what I became. I wanted to be a hero, and I even got that. But it was only for a little while. Never for good. So it's back to being the sidekick. Nothing wrong with that. Because I made a promise, to Ganju, his sister, and to me. And I'm a man of my word, bucko."

A man? Please. Do you know what you are, Kon?

The double came to a halt right in front of him.

You're just a mod soul.

All of a sudden his reflection towered over him like a giant. Kon looked up, wondering how that had taken place. A second later the answer came to him. He looked down at his hands. But they were no longer hands. Not really. Instead they were fuzzy little yellow paws with felt claws. He dropped the useless appendages to his sides and lifted a leg, examining the cotton-stuffed lumps that served for feet.

He was back in his old lion plushie body. The realization made Kon hiccup, choking down a sob.

See? That's all it takes. Put you in a man and you're a man. Put you in a doll and hey, guess what? You're a doll. If you were dropped in a toilet, you'd be… well, you'd be shit, really. Right until somebody bothered to flush you. So don't give me that crap about 'being a man.' You really want to be a man, Kon? Then get out there and take that girl to be your bride, the way a real man would.

Slowly, without saying a word, Kon shook his maned head. Upon seeing this, Other Kon flung up his arms and stormed furiously around him.

Unbelievable. You're starting to piss me off for real, you know that? C'mon, Kon. Konpaku Kurotsuchi, even! You want that girl. Admit it. From the very first day you met, you've wanted to slide your hands up those smooth legs, flip her over on her stomach...

"STOP!"

A heavy foot slammed into the back of his body and bore him to the ground, where it kept him pinned.

… grab hold of that firm round ass of hers, and bust that shinigami cutie wide open. Slam it all the way deep inside her tight body while she's butt naked, screaming and begging for you to keep going as you lift her up by the hips, her back arching, that blue sundress of hers draped over the couch and fingers digging into it as you fuck her in front of a camera, with the sun spilling in through the living room window and the whole Kurosaki family watching, Ichigo included. She'd look so hot, Kon. So fucking hot. Can you see it? Her body all aglow with sweat and sunlight and the biggest smile you ever seen on her face? Yeah, I know you can. Because I didn't think that scene up. You've had exactly the same thought before, haven't you?

"Stop…" Kon whimpered, striking the formless nothingness he lay upon with his soft fists in mortal agony. "I'm not… it's my… soul… not yours. Control the soul. Control the soul!"

Oh, your little mantra. That's so cute. Now you listen here, mod soul. You are going to go back to Soul Society, and you are going to take what we've so rightfully earned. You're going to marry Rukia like our father wanted, and you're going to be a model parent to her kid just because we both know that would hurt Ichigo worst of all. The brat's gonna love you, and you'll love it. It'll grow up big and strong with two fine loving parents and absolutely no memory of the carrot-topped spank monkey that squirted out a bit of sperm inside momma's womb. You're not going to be a mod soul anymore, hear me? You're Konpaku Kurotsuchi. Better get used to it.

"Control the soul," Kon whispered as though he hadn't heard a word. "Control… the soul!"

YOU LITTLE SHIT, I AM DONE PLAYING AROUND! UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SAYING, KON? CAN YOU FEEL ME, HUH? PLAY TIME'S OVER, MOD SOUL! IT'S TIME TO MAN UP FOR REAL. YOU'RE KONPAKU KUROTSUCHI, AND DAMN ME IF YOU'RE NOT GONNA LIKE IT!

"My name… isn't Kurotsuchi."

Kon bunched his legs beneath him.

"It's Shiba."

The tiny stuffed toy sprang up, the power inherent in his cotton limbs overpowering that of Other Kon. He whirled in midair, one foot lashing out. Yellow energy blazed around that kick with the force of scientifically engineered sophistication.

"KONPAKU SHIBA!"

For the briefest moment Other Kon looked at his tiny attacker with amazement. Perhaps the faintest hint of a smile twitched across his face, before that fiery boot to the head connected.

"SAYONARA, SHITSTAIN!"

The creature's head exploded in scraps of paper. The rest of its body burst as well, scattering confetti all over the place. They caught fire in flashes of brilliant yellow flame and went up to leave nothing behind.

Waddaya know? You really are.

The voice faded away. When Kon landed, he was back in his human body.

"You got that right, pal."

Konpaku Shiba returned to reality and looked around at the worried faces of the aristocrats observing his deliberations. Sunlight streamed down from the blue sky of Soul Society.

With great care he replaced the brush back in its holder, being very careful not to get so much as a drop on the paper. Taking a long indrawn breath, he turned to them and said, "I, Shiba Konpaku, do hereby recuse myself from these proceedings."

And just like that, it was over.

"Excuse me," he said, and took off running before anyone could stop him.

Kon did not want them to see him cry.

---

His family looked up when Ichigo trod exhausted into the hospital waiting area.

"Hey," he said.

They were all over him in an instant, crying and hugging and pounding him on the back. Yuzu wanted to know where he had been, because their father's explanation for his absence wasn't believable. Something about street gangs and dullahan (whatever that might be). For his part Isshin settled for a quick firm embrace and then started shouting into his phone. Karin just glomped him around the waist and wouldn't let go. He got the feeling she understood best of all what he had gone through.

Damn you.

Nanao stood a few paces back wearing a faint but pleased smile. For some reason Chad and Ryō were in attendance as well. When his father drew the girls away to give him a chance to recuperate, the shinigami came forward and they exchanged stories.

After being rescued from Ulquiorra by Tatsuki, they were stumbled upon by a patrol from Tiger Company. With the two humans in tow, the party made it back to their headquarters where they had a gate waiting to send them home. A quick glimpse at ruined parts of the city from up in the clouds was all the confirmation he needed to prove his Hollow hadn't been lying about the Wild Hunt. Regardless, it was no longer in attendance, a fact which threw him into a panic.

With neither of them possessing a phone, Tatsuki practically ordered him to leave her and go on ahead. Ichigo couldn't find it in himself to object. He quickly returned to the Usagi Shoten to retrieve his body, where Jinta and Ururu confirmed the Hunt's appearance. Neither had been willing to leave the two human shells unprotected and could provide no further details. Isshin was already gone. A quick repossession later and an even faster phone call told him everything he needed, and soon enough Ichigo was racing to the hospital.

The battle with Cernunnos and its aftermath came as a shock. Ryūken Ishida had lost an arm and was currently in intensive care. Various news reports attributed the devastation to an unusual atmospheric anomaly which created localized tornados. No casualties had been reported so far, but that might change once they took stock. Most of the shinigami had returned to Soul Society to deliver their report on the night's activities. Captain-Commander Byakuya Kuchiki, Lady Yoruichi Shihoin and Captain Isane Kotetsu had come by earlier. They left after it became clear things were calm, probably to hunt for Ichigo.

Die.

The Hollow had been eerily silent up until now. He could see it out of the corner of his eye. It lurked on the edge of perception, haunting his every step as though demanding he pay attention to it. There could be nothing further from his mind at the moment.

At last he asked the question he had been dreading. "How's Rukia?"

Nanao beckoned. "Come."

He followed along. The twins were both asleep in their father's lap, the anxiety of the evening having caught up with them. Their bodies demanded rest. Isshin offered a wan smile and waved him on. As they moved through the corridors Ichigo noticed Uryu and Michiru down an adjoining hall. They were hugging each other, the tall Quincy bent over to wrap his girlfriend in a tight embrace. He might have been crying. There was no way anyone would call them on this public display of affection.

Nanao spoke to a nurse, apparently explaining who Ichigo was. The medical professional then took over and led him the rest of the way. After riding the elevator up they finally came to the right door. Ichigo would have known which it was by default. Two bodyguards from the Kuchiki clan stood at post unremarked by any humans walking the halls. They nodded curtly to acknowledge Ichigo. He seemed to recollect these two were close with Ishida somehow, but couldn't recall the particulars.

It was almost dawn.

Don't go in there!

"We're giving them a brief period together before returning to the neonatal intensive care unit," the nurse said as she approached the room. "Premature deliveries must be monitored closely, but the doctors determined it was safe enough for both, and this will be good for recognizing the mother's scent later on. You came at a good time."

There was a faint note of accusation in her words, as if demanding to know where he had been up 'til now, but he let it slide. After all, the Hollow's screaming drowned out pretty much everything she said.

DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU TO HELL! THIS ISN'T FAIR! I WON! I WON! I KILLED O_ I_! I KILLED H_, I KILLED H_ DEAD! S_ CHEATED ME! THIS ISN'T FAIR! THAT B_! THAT CHEATING B_!

Ichigo had no idea what the thing was yapping about. Its words made absolutely no sense. They provoked no reaction in him whatsoever.

The nurse opened the door to let him in. "I can only give you three minutes together."

"Thanks." Feeling unaccountably heavy, he lumbered past her, the Hollow trailing in his wake shrieking its incomprehensible curses.

It was a private room, for which he felt grateful to Ishida-sensei. He noticed very little else. A large window with the blinds drawn allowing him to see the approaching dawn. A table lamp burning softly. A bed.

From her place on it, Rukia looked up. "Oh."

She had on a white hospital gown, the very opposite of a death god's usual attire. Her face was pale, and she seemed tired.

But she was smiling. And in her arms, he saw the reason why.

No…

A tiny squashed face emerged from swaddling bundles wrapped tight around it like a cocoon. The eyes were closed impossibly tight like they never wanted to open. For a brief moment a toothless mouth yawned, its sigh just barely audible. The sound sent a shiver up Ichigo's spine. He both yearned and dreaded for it to awake.

They were not alone in the room. Noboru and Komamura of all people stood on either side of Rukia's bed. The canine-headed guardian loomed with his arms crossed as though seeking to intimidate any peril which might be stalking the halls, from Hollows right down to the common cold. But upon noticing Ichigo he actually smiled, a first in their experience. Noboru had on an olive and crimson coat which was much too big for him and reminded Ichigo uncomfortably of the apparel worn by Katsurou Arashi's retinue. He had his arms crossed over the sidebar and chin resting on them as he gazed happily at the newborn held in his aunt's embrace. Every now and then he wiggled his fingers over the baby's face as though daring it to wake up. A subdued cough from Saijin got his attention, and upon registering Ichigo's presence the brown-skinned rascal took Rukia's hand and kissed it gently, then planted one on the baby's head.

"Later, little burrito," Noboru whispered before following Komamura through the wall to give the couple some privacy.

"Come meet our son."

Ichigo felt the bottom drop out of his world at Rukia's words. "Son?" he whispered.

She nodded, beaming. Eventually he remembered how to walk and shuffled closer. As he did Rukia carefully held out their child, looking down at his sleeping face adoringly all the while.

Don't you dare. You don't have the right.

The teen had never felt so self-conscious and awkward as he tried to accept that small living form.

Stop it. Stop it, Ichigo. Don't do it…

He felt the baby's weight transfer into his arms. Panicking, Ichigo sucked in a breath and held it.

Wait, listen to me!

And then…

He held his own baby in his arms.

My son.

Ichigo began to sob. Like a child. He couldn't help it. There was a warmth growing in his chest that seemed to swell up like a balloon, and this was the only way to let it out. The glow washed away everything bad that had happened to him in the last few hours, years, maybe even his whole life. It was miraculous, the sense of peace that came over him at that moment as he gazed down at the slumbering newborn.

Ichigo, please!

Oh God. He's…

Ichigo!

… wonderful.

ICHIGO!

When he looked up the Hollow was standing on the other side of the bed across from him. But something was wrong. Why did it look so small?

Before he knew it, Ichigo had gone inside.

He looked around curiously. This was his inner world, the one where he usually met with Zangetsu or the Hollow. At the same time, though, it was changed. Instead of the rearranged cityscape he was used to, he now found himself on a street with a canal running alongside. There were trees on the embankment and dark gray clouds hovering menacingly overhead, but no rain. Ichigo stood by the border of the stream. To his surprise, the baby was tucked close to his breast, sound asleep. Stranger still, the Hollow remained facing him. Only now it was the size of a child. In fact, it was a child, a small pale-skinned boy with short spiky white hair and black teeth. It cried as it stood there, in children's clothes and a rain slicker. It looked so lost and helpless.

Between them lay a woman's body.

He knew it was his mother. Crumpled face-down in the dirt, she rested unmoving. Blood stained her clothes. She was dead. Ichigo knew this scene. It had been burned into his memory since he was a boy. Everything was exactly as he remembered it. Except now there was no one beneath her. And the rain refused to fall.

You did this.

The Hollow's small fists were clenched. It refused to look at him, only stared despairingly at the murdered corpse of their mother.

It's all your fault! Because of you, Karin and Yuzu lost their Mom. Dad lost his wife. You ruined everything! If it weren't for you, she would have lived! Why couldn't you have died?! You should have just died back then, and they would have all been happier. It's not fair. Why did you have to live? You're not special! I hate you! I HATE YOU!

It pressed its hands to its eyes as though to deny the sight before them. Ichigo stared at it there, mourning and raging all at once. As he did, the truth came clear at long last.

"It was here," he whispered soundlessly.

Shut up! I hate you! Just die!

Ichigo stared at it in astonishment. "It wasn't at Urahara's shop. This is where you were born. Right here. You've been with me ever since, living on my self-loathing and hatred. If I hadn't met Rukia, you would have kept right on growing 'til the day I died. Then I would have become you."

Shut up! The inner Hollow shook its head angrily from side to side. Just shut UP!

For a while they remained together without saying a word. He listened to the child monster sob, then looked up at the sky. It had been raining back then. But it wasn't anymore. Not anymore.

I think I know why.

"You're right. I'm not special."

The Hollow hiccupped softly, weeping by itself.

"I never was. Not really. Not until today. A lot of other people could have saved Rukia from execution. Anyone might have helped defeat Aizen. If I had died on this day, people would have grieved for sure. But the world would have gone on, and things still might have turned out exactly the same, with someone else filling in."

He looked down at the baby resting safely in his arms. "But not this."

In front of him, the Hollow gave a quick gasp. It held very still.

Ichigo continued. "If I had died that day, he would never have been born. This person right here… would not exist without me. He's my son. Mine and Rukia's. The blending of our spirit and flesh together, to form new life."

A whimper came from the sad creature before him.

"I lost my mother." Now Ichigo was crying, though he did not feel grief. Instead elation filled his heart. "And I did hate myself for that. I used to believe that if I had died instead, everything would have been better. But now I… I'm glad! Glad that I lived! For the first time ever, I'm so happy that I didn't die!"

He looked up, calmly and assuredly, and said with tears in his eyes, "I am so very… very glad I didn't die!"

The Hollow shuddered. Between them, Masaki Kurosaki's body faded away.

"Hey," he spoke soothingly. "It's okay. Don't be sad." Ichigo knelt down, taking great care not to rock the baby. "Come on over here. Take a look at him. See for yourself what we made together." He gave his son a fond glance. "He's so wonderful."

After a few seconds, the Hollow inched forward, head still down. When it came close it hesitated, then slowly looked up. Was it his imagination, or was there a bit of color to those cheeks, a slight glimpse of sheen in its hair? It stared at the baby. As it did, those inhuman eyes grew wide.

The child stirred ever so slightly, and one miniature hand came peeking out of its bundle, fingers tightly grasping the blanket. Hesitantly the Hollow reached its own black-nailed hand forward. It touched those stubby fingers ever so fearfully, as though afraid of getting burnt.

In response, the baby's fist opened automatically and took hold of its own, gripping with unbelievable strength.

"Whoa!" the Hollow breathed.

Giving a smile, Ichigo maneuvered around to lay his palm over theirs. They remained in this position for a very long time, or not long at all.

When the person before him looked up, Ichigo Kurosaki saw a little boy with orange hair and fair skin. The eyes remained the same as before, but there was nothing cruel or vicious in that smile. The kid blinked, and black and orange tears slid down his face like mascara. For the first time in years those eyes were happy and brown.

"I forgive you!" his inner child whispered to him.

He held up his hand, and Ichigo took it. A smile passed between them. Then the boy began to fade. Soon enough he was gone.

Only then did Ichigo realize he was holding something in his hand. Surprised, he looked down to find a glowing golden cord that seemed to stretch on forever.

Huh. Wonder what this does?

Suddenly the baby in his arms squirmed, and gave a low wail.

The next thing he knew the world shot by in a blur. They were being pulled along that golden line. Ichigo had only a moment to examine the rush of images and places before he found himself somewhere new.

A white desert swept out all around them under a black moonless sky. In front of him a creature wrapped in a black cloak was crouched down on hands and knees. It tore at the throat of a fat man in a green suit with a pink moustache. Slurping and munching noisily, this abomination sucked up the corpse's lipids and fluids with lurid intensity.

The baby moaned again, and at this the carrion crow whipped around.

"What are you doing?" Rōjurō Ōtorobashi demanded, shocked face smeared with blood.

He didn't answer.

Rose's head began to shake ever so slightly. "This isn't right. You weren't here. No one was here! It's all a trick, see? They're trying to trick me, with their eyewitnesses and all that nonsense!" He struggled to his feet, that normally smooth mellow voice gone shrill with panic. The Vaizard's head rose to shout wildly at the sky. "I'm not afraid, you hear? I know what you're doing! But this is all a dream! It's not real! It's not…"

His words died out as he finally noticed the shining thread Ichigo held in his hand. The other end was attached to Rose's chest.

"No…"

The flaxen-haired hybrid took a step back and tripped over Hachi's defiled corpse. He fell only to scuttle away a few paces, stammering in disbelief.

"No, th… that can't be. That just can't be! It was in your Hollow! I put it there when you were training with us, didn't even know why at the time, it only made sense after I got my memories back! Why do you have that? I put it in all of you! All of you! ALL!"

Somewhere, an unpleasant voice laughed. King…

Rōjurō whimpered. He shook, and the cord shook with him, sending up a musical vibration. Suddenly even more lines appeared from his body, stretching out 'til he looked like a puppet entangled in strings. They all began to vibrate in time with Ichigo's, and moments later, the other Vaizard stood in a circle around them, confusion and horror visible behind the eye holes of the masks they all wore.

At this, Rose screamed.

"NO!" he gabbled while flailing and crawling across the sand in an attempt to escape. But they had him surrounded. There was no way out. "STOP THIS! It's wrong! You weren't here! Nobody saw me! That was a lie, a stupid lie the shinigami told thinking I would break and try to kill their witness! But I didn't! They tried to outsmart me, but I wasn't fooled!"

"It was you," Lisa said in hushed tones.

Their traitorous colleague huddled into a ball and wiped desperately at the gory evidence all over his face while continuing to babble. "I was too smart! Love did it for me, yes, but I don't know why he did, and you can't prove anything now! I'm safe! Stop toying with me!" He looked over at Hachi's corpse and shouted accusingly, "Stop HAUNTING me! I'M FREE!"

"Oh, Rose," Love Aikawa choked out. There were tears in his eyes as he watched his maddened friend writhe. "I can't save you this time."

With that, they all drew their swords at once. Ichigo saw what was coming and turned away, stroking his child soothingly. The executioners raised their blades.

As they did, he let the golden string go. It drifted to fall limply across the sands.

Ichigo found himself back in the hospital room. He blinked uncertainly. Rukia was just settling her hands in her lap to watch them both. "Ichigo?" she asked in encouragement. "Are you tired?"

"No." Remembering the treasure he held, the shinigami substitute sat down at the foot of the bed. He rocked the baby back and forth gently, humming a nursery rhyme whose words he could no longer remember. "Just happy. You know?"

Her face held only a commiserative love. "Yes."

They stayed that way for a few minutes until there came a knock at the door. The nurse entered to return their son to the ICU. Grudgingly Ichigo gave him up, watching that little squashed strawberry face for as long as he could before they were both out the door. He then turned back to Rukia.

"I lost the duel." A measure of sadness stole upon him at the thought of what this meant. "Sorry."

She shook her head. "It's all right. Nii-sama told me what took place. After you disappeared, Kon came and challenged Katsurou. He won. The Arashi have given up all claim to me, and with their consent I have formally transferred rule of the Kuchiki back to Byakuya. We're free now."

"Really?" He considered this surprising news. "Nice." A few other things dawned on him, and he scooted closer to Rukia, who nudged her knees up and leaned over just to be nearer. "So listen, about those plans I made. I've decided I'm not going to college. I'm going to get a job and support our family. I spoke to my kendo instructor at school, he's got connections with a dojo here in town. They've agreed to take me on as an assistant instructor after I graduate. He says I might even be able to make a career out of kendo, I'm that good at it. So I'll be taking care of you and the baby." One more thought occurred. "Do you want to get married?"

She tilted her head in deliberation. After a while Rukia decided. "No."

"Cool."

The woman he loved gave him a funny look. "What's with you? I've never seen you so at peace before."

To her surprise, Ichigo gave her a big smile, the sort a little kid might wear.

"I guess you could say I finally made up with myself."

Rukia just nodded thoughtfully. At this her face brightened. "Oh! Wait, before anything else, let me check something." She then reached for a tube of what looked to be Pez on the side table capped with a bunny head. As Ichigo watched, she popped a pill into her mouth. There followed a burst of soul energy, at the end of which Lieutenant Rukia Kuchiki floated over the bed in full shinigami regalia.

"Oh, mercy, that feels good!" She sagged in abject relief. "Finally I can move! That was the longest nine months of my life!"

"Pyon!" the weird character on the bed wearing her gigai offered by way of support.

Ichigo felt the need to point out this might count as the only nine months of her 'life', not including the time spent after losing her powers and living in his closet. But he instead opted for discussing baby names, which both Rukia and Chappy happily got on board with.

---

The blades fell, Ichigo disappeared, and Rose woke up choking back a scream.

He sat up on his sleeping cot, panting and sweat-soaked. It had felt so real. So damnably real. His heart was still going a mile a minute. For a moment there he could have sworn they were about to kill him.

Too bad you woke up, King. I would've liked to see the end of that movie.

With an effort the Vaizard ignored his inner Hollow. There was nothing to worry about, he told himself reassuringly. Everything was all right. They were back at their base where Love was being held to await sentencing. It was decided two captains and all of the lieutenants would remain behind to guard him. Shinji had gone to talk things over with Captain-Commander Kuchiki and assert their claim to judge the accused themselves as Vaizards. He took Love's zanpakutō so it couldn't be used by him if any escape attempt were made. A rotating roster was decided on for guard duty which allowed one officer of each rank to grab some shut-eye while the others guarded the traitor. Hiyori volunteered to take the long watch, probably so she could keep trying to glare the poor fool to death.

Feeling hungry, Rose made his way down the passage and entered the main burrow of their dry little tunnel complex. A fire burned in the pit, and a kettle of stew hanging from a tripod bubbled over it. Probably something Kensei whipped up. The man just threw things into a pot, added salt and pepper, and called it a meal. Seriously no sense of culinary palate whatsoever.

Oh, well. Food is food. He dipped the ladle in and withdrew a bit of stew. The fair-haired soul bent down and sniffed it, then took a cautious sip.

Hmm. Not bad.

When he looked up, the other Vaizard stood around him.

At first this didn't strike him as odd, and he almost offered to get them some fare too. But then he saw how they were all looking at him. Each of them; Kensei, Hiyori, Mashiro, and Lisa. Their weapons were drawn.

The ladle dropped from nerveless fingers to clatter on the stone.

"You know…" he croaked.

They stared right back without saying a word.

"You KNOW!"

Frantically he clutched at his belt, only to realize he had left his zanpakutō back in his sleeping quarters. Haggard with fear, Rose crouched down, long curly hair whipping back and forth as he tried to take in all of them at once. Doing so allowed them all to see the Hollow's eye which he had successfully covered up until now. This served to confirm what they must already know about him.

Game over, King. They got your number.

"HOW?!" he squealed raggedly, dashing back and forth in that limited space like a rat surrounded by cats. "How did you do it? Who told you?! Was it YOU?!" He asked this of his Hollow, who simply chuckled though they couldn't hear. At this the memory of the dream returned, and Rose went still. "No," he whispered, eyes wide in amazement. "It wasn't you. It was him. That little brat Kurosaki. He was in my dream. He saw. He brought you all there. I don't know how he did it but I know he DID IT!"

"Surrender," Muguruma Kensei ordered the gibbering madman, his weapon released and ready for combat.

Rose jerked up, all bulging eyes topped by a twisted smile. "What did you say?! SURRENDER?! NO! NO, NO, NO! I haven't confessed! You can't make me! It was only a dream! Crazy things happen in dreams! That's not proof! What if… what if Aizen used his sword long ago to mess with our heads? What if he wants you to think it was me, when in fact…" The expressions they all wore caused his voice to die out. Feebly the traitor tried again. "It's… a trick. Unohana… she tricked me… I mean, us. She lied. All lies. I didn't do it. Not me. You think you know, but you don't. You don't know… why I… did it…"

A low growl came from his throat. And against their own will, the girls took a fearful step back. The energy around Rose had gone dark with malice and a seething fury that seemed to cause the temperature in the room to plummet. Silhouetted against the light of the fire, he had become a twisted black shadow made of teeth and claws.

"Do you want to know… why I did it?"

His voice was soft. It sent a chill up their spines.

That twitching head lifted, and he watched them all through the fall of stringy hair, both eyes now completely crazed. "Because he chewed with his mouth open!"

The Vaizard gaped at their former friend.

"YES!" Rose's face twisted in revulsion, and he spat on the floor. "Bloody hell, can you think of anything more DISGUSTING?! Every day, every damn day, for a hundred years, I had to sit and listen to him slobber and smack away! Even if I turned my back, I could still hear that fat pig chewing, chewing, CHEWING! And he wouldn't stop! I kept hoping he'd notice how nobody else did that and eventually learn to breathe through his nose, but he NEVER DID! Just sat there chewing, chewing, letting us all see that DISGUSTING mass of spit and mangled food go rolling around his big fat mouth like it was a show he put on!"

He looked around at each and every one of them as if searching for support. "You know what I mean, right? Surely I couldn't have been the only one who felt that way? Why didn't any of you SAY something?! Why didn't you tell him to STOP! It drove me CRAZY, day after day, year after year, just smacking his lips, sucking up his meals, crude, disgusting, obese!"

"So I cut his throat." Rose laughed crazily then. "I'd been dreaming about doing that for so long, but you see, it didn't come true in dreams. That's why this is all so ridiculous. I had to do it for real to be guilty. And so when Unohana lifted Cloud Over Moon for all of us, I did it. I went and did it! Walked right up to him and slit his chubby gullet so he could finally have another hole to breathe through! It felt so sweet, until I realized something was wrong. They were all running, the Hollows, and so I knew… I had made a mistake…"

"BAKUDO #61: RI–"

At the first syllable from Kensei's mouth, Rose threw his arms up with a desperate shriek. Instantly four golden lines appeared between him and the others. They froze in place, stunned and completely vulnerable. But already he could feel that he had gone too far. Using his zanpakutō's Fermata on four of them at once was too much, especially against foes as powerful as this. They were already beginning to twang unpleasantly. What do I do?! What do I DO?!

RUN.

Uttering a ghastly wail, the ruined soul went flying towards the tunnel leading outside. He was no longer in control of himself and half-mad with terror. The Hollow took the reins for a while, sending him speeding ahead in a getaway. There was no choice but to flee, and they both knew it.

In under thirty seconds the quadruple Fermata reached its crescendo and snapped all at once. The Vaizard were released. Three of them went tearing after Rose, but Hiyori Sarugaki hesitated. Rather than pursue, she sped down a different path and came upon the improvised cell they had constructed. As she entered, Love Aikawa lifted his head to regard her dully where he crouched bound hand and foot with powerful sealing charms on ropes driven into the floor.

She regarded him briefly, then her saber flashed. The bonds fell to the floor cut clean through.

"I don't know what the deal is," she told the shocked prisoner, "but it's us or them. Make a choice, Love. Whose side do you want to be on?"

At this the blond pixie turned and left him there.

After a time the big fighter stood. He stumbled through the caves until reaching the communal area. He had already made his decision in the brief time he spent incarcerated. Now the chance to act had been given to him.

About to leave, Love paused. A moment later he turned and went down the path which led to Hachi's memorial shrine, returning a few seconds later. He then left the caves and set off where he knew Rose would be.

After he had gone a sufficient distance, Hiyori Sarugaki emerged from cover and moved to follow that racing escapee as best she could.

---

"Alright!" Kisuke Urahara connected the last cable and stood up. He looked about the laboratory in satisfaction. Four large machines with giant globes atop them were stationed equidistant around the petrified body of Mayuri Kurotsuchi. All preparations were complete.

"Now then," the genius inventor announced laconically. "If my calculations are correct, this configuration will create an energy field that should reconstitute any soul energy caught in a state of permanent dissociative disorder back into their natural state of being." He paused, humming thoughtfully to himself while examining the setup. Kisuke then glanced over his shoulder. "How many times does this make, Nemu-chan?"

"We are currently at attempt #147." His lieutenant was busily scrolling through a report she had received just a few minutes past.

"Nice." Turning around, Kisuke donned his protective goggles. "Well then, let's get cracking. Throw the switch, Nemu-chan!"

Without bother to look up from her reading, she proceeded to do so.

A ring of blue light exploded from out of the Shinigami R&D Bureau. It swept through the entire Seireitei, rebounded off the deathstone walls, and came right back to where it started.

Deathly silence. Then gradually there arose a clamor. From every division, manor and private residence to be seen, angry voices built upon one another until it seemed like every single person in the Court of Pure Souls was demanding to know what the hell just happened.

Kisuke clambered gingerly upright and dusted off his clothes. The room was a mess. Papers had been blown everywhere, equipment was rearranged, and it felt like some of his teeth were loose. He tested one experimentally with his tongue. "Okay… might have put a l-i-i-ttle too much juice behind that one."

He then examined the results. Or lack thereof. Mayuri remained in exactly the same state as before. Not only that, he was beginning to detect a distinctly furious uproar so loud that it reached even down into the basement levels. This could prove dicey.

"Time for lunch," Urahara declared brightly, and strolled off. I wonder if anything important has happened while I've been down here?

Her hair sticking out at all ends but otherwise unharmed, Nemu continued to carefully peruse the report that had come from her Nee-san, Isane Kotetsu. It concerned the outcome of the yurei duel scheduled for last evening. The part specifically dealing with a mod soul had claimed all her attention.

Intriguing…

---

Rose ran until it felt like he could run no more. He had an idea of where to go; the petrified forest where his connection with Nirvana waited. Once there he must demand protection. They owed him that much. It's their fault I'm even like this! They owe me! The dead zone should be coming up soon. I can use it as a reference point like always until I locate the forest. I just need to evade them for that long. I can do it. I can stay safe!

Oh, King… you're such a fool.

Leave me alone, please!

He ran, and ran, and gradually a horrible feeling stole over him. Shouldn't I have reached the dead zone by now? It's not supposed to take this long! Did I take a wrong turn? Am I lost? Please, oh please, where are you?!

Still he bore on, ignoring exhaustion and the terror that sapped all strength from his limbs. He had forgotten to bring his zanpakutō. There was no point in going back for it now. They would catch him. Kill him!

Is that really the worst thing you can imagine?

After far too long a time he finally spotted the gigantic sandstorm off in the distance. Relief washed over him like warm soothing rain. Soon enough he reached it and began to run along the edge. No time to lose. I have to find the forest quickly.

He ran.

Where is it?

He ran.

Why can't I find it? Why isn't it here?! It's supposed to be along the perimeter! I can't have missed it, it's a tremendous fucking forest! WHY CAN'T I SEE WHERE IT IS?

Rose ran what seemed like forever. He must have gone around the whole thing at least once, but the featureless landscape of Hueco Mundo offered nothing to tell him one way or another. Eventually he stumbled to go sprawling in the sand. The fugitive lay there, waiting for his heartrate to subside and give him a chance to think.

What am I going to do?

If you stay here, they'll kill you for sure. But I know one other place where they'll never find you.

Where? Tell me.

You're looking right at it, King.

He found himself staring at the swirling border of the dead zone.

No… not in there! I can't survive! I'll die!

Not if you give yourself to me.

What do you mean?

Come on. It's over. Just admit it, your life is done. All your friends hate you. There's no point in trying anymore. So give it all to me.

No.

What exactly do you have to lose? I can keep you safe. You're practically mine already. This is how we both knew it was going to end. You've failed at everything. Time to let me drive for a while. I can't possibly do any worse than you have, right?

NO!

"Rose…"

He shot up and spun around, reaching for a sword that wasn't there. Despairing, the outcast looked to see who had joined him.

It was Love.

"Stay away from me," he rasped dully.

The bigger man held up his hands to show he was unarmed. "I'm not going to hurt you, Rose. I want to help."

"You can't." Here he giggled, feeling as though he might be sliding close to the edge of madness again. "You can't help! What's there to help? Can you turn back time? Can you raise the dead? I'm lost. Lost," he repeated in a sad, defeated voice. Glancing around the windswept desert, he raised his hands helplessly before letting them drop to his side. "They lied to me. Or she did. Unohana. I was brought to her for healing after you and I were both nearly killed while out on assignment, you remember that? We got to talking. While I convalesced, she took care of me personally, and over time, she… brought me around…" here he licked his lips, "… to her way of thinking. She turned me. I became one of her seeds, made to forget until the time was right. And while I was like that, Aizen… that bastard… he turned me… into a Vaizard! I was on their side! And they did THIS to ME?!" He touched the darkened eye which no longer belonged to him. "Even after I remembered, I was willing to fight for them. But they just used me. Used me up."

"I know," Love said.

"You know? You know?" he spit, furious once more as vicious poison burned through his brain, trying to turn and twist him into the foulest monstrosity imaginable. "Don't say that! Don't you dare say that to me, 'I know'! You don't know anything! How could you?!"

That sad bushy head lifted. "Because she turned me too."

Oh?

Rose stared.

"I was one of her seeds as well," Aikawa continued. "Before you, maybe, or after. Doesn't matter. The point is, I remembered everything at the same time you did. But I also realized how messed up it had all become. Like you said, we were used as Aizen's guinea pigs, and that went against everything she claimed to uphold. So I figured they must be wrong. And I wondered how many like me there might be. Hachi's death… I suspected one of us was responsible. And that meant there was another seed in the Vaizard. At first… I wanted to protect them from you. But after a while I realized… it was you. I knew about your Fermata. It was the only explanation for how one of us could contact her forces and not be caught. So I resolved to protect you as much as I could. Because I knew, in your position… you would have done the same for me."

The haggard-looking blonde backed away. "You're lying. It's a trick."

His old friend was obviously aggrieved at seeing the state he had been reduced to. "Remember when you were caught by the Arashi in Soul Society? I was watching. I called the Negacciόn to save you. When they told us about Rudobon, I didn't know whether or not to believe it. I couldn't take the risk you might expose yourself. So I resolved to put him down myself, even knowing I'd probably get caught. But at least then you'd be safe."

Within Rose's head, the Hollow growled. It was worried now. "That doesn't make any sense," he said.

"Yes it does." And here Love actually managed to smile, in the face of everything against them. "You're my friend, Rōjurō. I love you."

There was nothing to indicate he understood what was meant by that anymore. Rose simply watched him. After a while he glanced around wearily. "So what do we do, then? Are you going to help me escape again?"

"No. We're past all that."

At this Aikawa held out his hand. Rose cringed and watched him cautiously, as though fearful of an assault.

He'll kill you…

"Come back with me," Love insisted. "It's time we stopped running and made a sort of peace. The others… they won't kill us. I know it."

Lies. He wants you dead.

"Don't listen to your Hollow. Mine's probably telling me the same thing: that we're good as dead and there's no hope left." He continued to proffer his hand. "But we know better. It's not too late. Come with me and I'll prove it. We've always worked well together, from the day we met. That history… it's got to mean more to you than one mistake, no matter how horrible. It does to me. I'm on your side, Rose. Trust me."

Rōjurō Ōtorobashi remained still before him, staring at the ground with a faraway look on his face. He seemed to be replaying all the times they had fought together over the centuries. Laughing and joking, sharing one another's company. They were the moments that made his existence worthwhile. The memories of two death gods who faced the impossible and rose to the top side by side. The corner of his mouth twitched in a sad smile at the recollection.

At last with the slow careful steps of a child, he started to move forward. Love waited patiently. When they were only two feet apart he stopped. Rose looked up at his lifelong comrade, a friend like no other. After just a moment's hesitation, he reached up and clasped their hands together.

As he did, his Hollow mask formed, and Rose lunged forth to drive that cruel pointed beak into Love's chest, piercing his heart.

One huge hand clamped on the blood-stained point and wrenched it free. The other ducked behind his back, reemerging with a zanpakutō. While still holding the struggling carrion crow by the face Love lashed out, laying open the betrayer's throat so deeply his head was half severed.

Both Vaizard fell to the sand. Love lay flat on his back, while Rose flailed about gurgling on his own blood. He flopped over on his stomach and tried crawling towards the dead zone, but halfway there he simply collapsed to lie shuddering, clutching at his split throat.

Heal me! HEAL ME!

… No.

At this the Hollow mask shattered. Rōjurō could only stare, choking on blood and frightened disbelief. His eyes rolled up in his head and he sagged over onto his side. At last he lay still.

Not three minutes later Hiyori finally caught up to them. She had been left behind by the superior speed of Love but managed to keep on his trail. Approaching cautiously, the small lieutenant neared the pair of bodies with her helm on and soul cutter fully released. It soon became apparent neither of them was getting back up.

All the fury that had been bubbling inside up to this point fell flat, leaving her empty and shaking with unimaginable grief. She checked on Rose to confirm he posed no further threat, then moved over to Love. His eyes were open, lips half-parted like he was about to speak. A naked blade streaked with blood was clenched in one hand. When she bent down beside him for a closer examination, it took her only a second to recognize Hachigen's sword, which had been kept in remembrance. They had made a pledge to destroy his killer with it whomever that might prove to be.

"You did it," she told him in a small, weak voice.

Love could no longer respond. He was dead. Every last trace of spiritual power had left his body. She wondered idly why neither had used their Hollow powers to try and save themselves. Even wounds this fatal might have been survivable. Could it be they chose not to? Or did only one have the decency to accept death and took the other with him?

Crouched between the dead men, Hiyori looked up at the sky. She opened her fleshless white jaws and emitted an unearthly wail that carried far and wide, filled with loss and regret.

Something rustled behind her. When she looked back, Rose had risen to his hands and knees.

There was no time to think. Hiyori just attacked. Kubikiri Orochi swung down in a great two-handed arc to split the monster in half.

A powerful strike knocked her blow wide. Next thing she knew Hiyori was dangling in midair, struggling vainly as a powerful hand squeezed her neck. She swung again, aiming for his throat, but this time he caught the weapon and pulled it away as easily as if she were no more than a child. His grip on her tightened, causing her mask to shatter into pieces around their feet.

It was him. Rōjurō Otoribashi. Only not. The skin was white, as was the hair. His face seemed younger too, virile and gleeful. Those sick yellow eyes narrowed as they focused on her own.

"Hi." And he grinned at her. "I'm Rōjurō Ōtoribashi! NICE TO FINALLY MEET YOU!"

"Damn… you!" she hissed between her teeth.

Suddenly they were no longer alone. Lisa Yadomaru was there, as was Mashiro Kuna and Kensei Muguruma. Soon they were joined by Hirako Shinji. Crowned by Hollow power and wielding the weapons of shinigami, these four spirits of vengeance confronted the fallen apostate.

The Hollow that was once their friend looked between them. "Well, isn't this a pretty picture? All together again! But I'm afraid there's no time to reminisce." He began to retreat while still holding Hiyori before him like a shield. The Vaizard matched him step for step, until at last the creature was brought to bay against the screaming wall of the dead zone itself. The rear of his cloak was shredded to pieces by that hurricane-force gale, the grains of sand like bullets that ripped into him until his back was a flayed mess of black blood.

"Catch me if you can!" Rōjurō laughed. He then flung his prisoner at them, sliding into the maelstrom as he did. The Vaizard caught their ally and all five immediately gave chase. However in only a few seconds it was apparent that even with their Hollow powers, the force of the storm raging here was more than they could handle. In short order they had all regrouped outside to stare at the impassable boundary.

"He'll die in there," Kensei stated assuredly.

Beside him, Shinji lifted his mask and gazed critically forward. "I wish I shared your confidence," he said.

Together they retrieved the body of Love Aikawa and left that place behind, their hearts more desolate than at any time over the last hundred years.

---

Nemu Kurotsuchi stood from her work station. Between thumb and forefinger she held up a small grey pearl that shone in the light. Her face betrayed no sign of satisfaction. Nonetheless, the stoic lieutenant snagged a robe from a clothes rack and draped it over her arm before leaving the room.

'Who are you?'

"Nemu Kurotsuchi," she responded aloud while marching down the halls. "I am your creator. You may call me O-nee-san."

'Hello, O-nee-san. And who am I?'

"A mod soul. Your name is Kuoyu. You have been designed for a specific purpose."

'I see. I hope I can fulfill it.'

"You will." Nemu entered the fortified research area where her father was kept. She approached Mayuri's prison and drew to a halt before the only recognizable part of him, that being a frozen face with mouth open wide.

Without further ado, Nemu placed the Kuoyu pill between his jaws.

Immediately the frozen conglomeration unclenched like a tensed muscle. It swirled violently round and round with more force than a twister, forcing Nemu to withdraw or be torn apart. That raging mass of liquid green began to scream, three voices distinctly heard at once. She observed the proceedings intently. The idea had come to her after receiving evidence that a mod soul could potentially usurp the place of a natural soul. This meant it might be possible to introduce a third element to the raging battle of two agonized wills fighting fiercely to destroy one another. Hence her creation of Kuoyu, a mod designed with the ability to absorb tremendous amounts of pain for a short time. It was a very simple solution based on the concept of janken, specifically a three-way impasse. The 'snake' eats the 'frog'; the 'frog' eats the 'slug'; and the 'slug' kills the 'snake'. Place them together in a sealed environment and they are rendered quiescent, each recognizing that to attack their intended prey would leave them open to their own natural enemy, ensuring total annihilation. A clear case of mutually assured destruction. Once that state had been achieved…

The vortex of flesh turned pearlescent grey, and the scream became that of a woman. It shot straight up to touch the ceiling, then plunged down like a cataract.

… nature would take its course.

When it hit the floor, the blob gained form. In under a second a naked man was crouched in its place.

Nemu stepped forward and extended out the robe. "Welcome back, Mayuri-sama."

Mayuri Kurotsuchi rose smoothly to a standing position. His skin and hair were soaking wet, but other than that he seemed no worse for wear. Accepting the garment, he slid it on and knotted the sash about his waist.

Having done this to his satisfaction, he then threw a vicious backhanded slap at his daughter.

Nemu had been expecting this. What she had not anticipated was for Mayuri's hand to stop a fraction of an inch from her flesh. She looked at it, then at him, uncertain as to what this unprecedented experience might signify. For his part Mayuri appeared no less nonplussed. He withdrew his arm and wagged it from side to side, frowning. Then he shrugged.

"Ah, well. Time enough to fix any lingering glitches later. Come, Nemu!" And he strode off.

"Yes, Mayuri-sama." His dolorous assistant followed obediently behind. She spared only a glance for the tiny grey lump no bigger than a fingernail which remained back where he had stood. Before her cold green eyes, the ravaged gikongan split apart before disintegrating into ash, its sole reason for being fulfilled.

At their approach the door slid open, and Kisuke Urahara walked in holding a syringe and several bulbous green onions.

"Hello, Kisuke," Mayuri sniped as he brushed right past him. "Suffering from a case of diarrhea, are we?"

"Put some pants on, Mayuri," Urahara drawled back without even breaking stride. The two legendary geniuses went their separate ways, not another word passing between them.

---

Ryuko Ryuhime of Leopard Company was down on her knees picking up some papers that had been blown off the captain's desk by that weird energy wave when she heard a noise behind her. Finally, the reinforcements I asked for. "Come on in," the dutiful death god called out while trying to reorganize this mess. Flippin' R&D Bureau! "We need to get this place shipshape before Captain Hitsugaya returns."

She was expecting the door to slide open. Instead, much to her surprise there came only the sound of racing feet.

Ryuko turned around. What she had assumed was coming from the main door in fact came from a side door that led elsewhere. Who would be using that at this hour? Feeling uneasy, she got up and opened the portal. An empty hallway stretched before her. Ryu-Ryu was not easily intimidated and followed down the way, passing one nondescript door after another until she finally came to a certain pane in particular that caught her eye.

There were two reasons for this. One, she recognized this room as one that Captain Hitsugaya always kept locked and bound with a number of very powerful spells. And two… it was wide open.

Ryuko hesitated before going inside. The light was on, but she could see nothing at first. It appeared to be empty. How did anyone get in here, anyway? Without the captain present, you'd have to be already inside to get past those enchantments sealing it.

Something crunched underfoot. Ryu-Ryu looked down to find what seemed to be pieces of eggshell all over the floor. Some were larger than others. She reached down and selected a few to examine them, heading back into the hallway to get a better look. Turning the fragments one way and another, the death god frowned. Weird. It almost looks like a person's face and hands. Like maybe a stone statue of somebody, but hollow inside.

Ryuko resolved to tell her captain about this, but only after his office was neat and clean again. Whatever this might mean, some things took priority. Right?

---

When news of their guest was brought to her attention, Kukaku Shiba was momentarily taken aback, a condition she very rarely had cause to experience. Despite this she marshalled herself and her household with strict efficiency. Entering the reception chamber to which she commanded he be escorted, the lady of the house took her place on a raised dais, Ganju seated respectfully and somewhat suspiciously to her right.

"What brings you to my home, Lord Arashi?" she asked.

Before her Katsurou Arashi crouched with a narrow box clasped in his lap. He had brought no attendants into the house with him, instead choosing to leave them topside. This in and of itself was a distinct break of protocol for a person of his caliber. Despite her family's fall from grace, Kukaku knew this.

"I have come," the once proud lord spoke softly without raising his eyes from the floor, "to confess."

He held out the box. At an imperceptible sign from Kukaku, her servant Koganehiko moved forward to accept it. He brought the offering up to the dais and retook his spot by the wall, muscular arms folded over his chest.

The Lady of the Shiba examined the unremarkable wooden container. Once she had confirmed there was nothing malign about its contents that mystical senses could detect, she opened the lid. A gleam of gold came from within to shine across her face. Frowning, Kukaku reached inside and came up holding a golden dagger. She looked at the prince as though demanding an explanation. At last Katsurou lifted his head to face her directly.

"I murdered your father, Lady Shiba."

---

Yudai Shiba sat quietly in an empty room gazing out the open balcony at what he knew would be his last sunset.

All the preparations were in order. He was permitted to use this lakeside manor house for the occasion with the consent of its owner, Ukitake Jūshirō. Kaien, Ganju and Kukaku would take care of one another. He could do nothing more for them. Besides this, that is. The former head of his house had resolved to expiate his shame so that it would never taint the Shiba again.

On the floor before him rested a razor-sharp dagger whose handle was wrapped in bandages. There was no more reason or need to hesitate. The servants would take care of everything afterwards. All that remained was the deed itself. Yet every time he reached for that sinister tool, he found his hand would shake. And it was not simply a case of his affliction either.

Is this the final insult? Am I actually afraid to die?

"Need a hand there, Shiba-san?"

Startled, the aging invalid scrambled around. To his shock, a man slouched in a corner of the room wearing a straw hat and a bright pink kimono. Upon seeing that color, Yudai was reminded instantly of its significance: it symbolized death. This was made even more apparent by the man who wore it, none other than Kyoraku Shunsui, Captain of Squad Eight in the Gotei 13.

"What are you doing here?!" Yudai demanded, too outraged to attribute anything to his trembling. "Get out this instant! Guards!" He pitched his voice higher. "GUARDS!"

"They can't hear you." The captain stood up and crossed over to loom above the hapless man. "I've placed a spell about the room. No one will know I was here." His face was calm and cool as a statue in a cemetery. He looked down upon Yudai like an executioner judging his next assignment. The disgraced noble found he could not stand or even muster any sort of opposition despite the fact it was clear this person's reason for being here was undeniably malevolent.

Shiba quickly made to rise, only for Kyoraku to catch one hand in an unbreakable grip and twist it behind his back expertly, forcing him into submission. While still paralyzed by shock he heard the words for Bakudo #69, Silver Tongue Striking Asp, murmured in his ear. Next thing he knew Yudai was bound in an enchantment that prevented any use of kidō whatsoever. Helpless, weaponless, he could only struggle ineffectually while kneeling in pain upon the floor.

"Why…?" he gasped, unable to complete that sentence.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out soon."

As the ancient warrior spoke a concealing spell fell from another corner of the room. Yudai's whole body grew cold upon recognizing Katsurou Arashi. The Tiger Lord padded towards them silently, eyes blazing with hateful purpose. From over his shoulder Shunsui passed the knife to Katsurou. Holding it up with his remaining hand, that baleful figure examined the length of steel before returning all his attention to the bound captive. Shiba flailed in a panic with the one hand that was still free, beating blindly behind him, catching hold of the captain's clothes and pulling without result.

"I think this is rather poetic," Shunsui mused in an amiable manner while still applying the submission hold. "Now you each have one arm to oppose each other. I'm interested to see how this all concludes."

Katsurou said nothing. He merely crouched down, with the knife now pointed at Yudai's stomach. Horror seized him at the realization of what was about to take place. Before that once proud lord could even think about attacking, the blade flashed forth to gut him.

Desperation fired Yudai's impulses, and he caught Arashi by the wrist. They strained against each other in that chilling tableau. Any notions of weakness, shame and insecurity were now the farthest things from his mind. All he could think of was not dying here at the hands of these cold-blooded cutthroats. Old and infirm though he might be, Yudai Shiba was once a captain of the Gotei 13. And he had already proven once before this failure of an officer was no match for him in terms of strength.

It therefore came as a shock when he felt the implacable power behind that limb, honed and lethal, nothing like what he remembered. To his horror, the knife began to move bit by bit towards his belly, shaking slightly but otherwise undeterred. Panicked eyes grew wide with the realization of what was taking place. He almost screamed for help again, but was arrested by the sight of the madman's face before him. Deadly calm, Katsurou did not break eye contact for a moment. It was clear he knew exactly what he was doing. And the reason why hung unspoken between them, sharper and more dangerous than any mere knife.

When the pointed tip pierced his stomach Yudai couldn't suppress a moan.

It drove in deeper, and now the pain was blinding. It threw his whole world out of balance, so that he lost any trace of reason and started screaming like a lunatic. Katsurou ignored this. He began to draw the edge of the knife up, the continued resistance offered by Yudai making this a slow, agonizing evisceration. He then twisted it to slice down in a diagonal line, cutting apart the entrails and laying open his stomach. Blood sprayed from the old man's mouth right in his face, but Katsurou merely gave a shake of his head before proceeding on. After reaching a certain point, he gave one last wring of the dagger and drew it horizontally across the belly. By this point there was no longer any attempt made to resist. Yudai had gone limp, sagging forward with mouth hanging open and eyes half-closed. A gurgling sound came from his throat, ending in a bloody croak. With that, Yudai Shiba died after having been carved like a pig at market.

Katsurou took his victim's limp hand and curled the fingers around the knife. He wiped his hands and face clean with a cloth before standing up. Kyoraku rose with him. They looked at one another, then down at Yudai's corpse. Having done what they came here to do, the two men left through the open balcony and disappeared under the cover of Shunsui's undetectable magic, the remnants of which faded as soon as they were gone.

After a few minutes there was a respectful knock on the door. When no answer came, the servants entered to remove the body, followed by their master Captain Ukitake. He surveyed the room with an unpleasant frown and stood back to examine the proceedings. Jūshirō took note of everything here as the corpse was prepared for transportation.

Something caught his eye then. Giving no outward cause for concern, he strode closer to get a better look. On the floor in front of Yudai there was a fine spattering of blood. But this was strange. As someone who had vast experience in coughing up bloody spray, the chronically afflicted soldier recognized an unusual pattern evident. There appeared to be a bare space in between the droplets, almost as if a person had been standing in front of Yudai when he spewed out all that blood.

Ukitake took note of the attendants busying themselves a few paces away. Casually, without even looking at what he was doing, he dragged his foot slowly across the floor, erasing any indication that something untoward might have taken place.

It was not the first time he had helped cover up a murder, the white-haired sorcerer reflected. And he knew, to his regret, that it would also not be the last.

---

When he was done relating his story, Katsurou said, "My actions cost you your fortune and your father. I leave my fate in your hands. Expose me, or kill me. The choice is yours. I have wronged you and must be punished, but know I do not regret my actions. It is simply a matter of honor." He fell to staring at the floor without interest for anything which might take place next.

Ganju had felt his temper start to boil the more he heard. Having no memory of his father, he could not truly identify with the man. But this bastard had just confessed to murdering him, to say nothing of ruining their house to satisfy his own desire for vengeance. Even Kaien's death and that of their mother could potentially be laid at their door. He remained unsure what the proper course of action might be, but at the very least the headstrong reprobate strongly felt the need to beat the hell out of him.

As with all official family decisions, however, he looked to his sister first.

Kukaku regarded the person before them dispassionately. She had never let go of the knife the whole time. Abruptly that temperamental pugilist stood up. Walking across the room, she stood over Katsurou just as he must have done to their father.

Her arm rose, still clutching the golden dagger. Ganju sucked in a breath to cry out as it came plummeting down.

There was a thud. This was not the result of a body falling over, but from her driving that flashy weapon deep into the floorboards.

Katsurou obviously had no idea what to make of this. His confusion grew only greater when Kukaku bent the handle sharply and snapped it clean off, leaving the blade stuck in the wood. She got to her feet and flung the useless implement away.

"No more of this shit," the lady of Shiba stated with a disapproving frown. "All this business of killing one another over something that happened between our families in the past? It ends here. Enough is enough, and I'm calling it over."

As though finally understanding what he had heard, the nobleman said, "But I–"

"I SAID ENOUGH!"

And she punched him right in the top of the head.

Ganju winced in commiseration. Katsurou placed a hand to his smarting top while he sat there dumbfounded. "You hit me!" he managed to state finally.

Kukaku's face held not a trace of remorse. "Life goes on, Arashi. Learn to live with that or die on your own dime." She sighed heavily and hiked a thumb over one shoulder. "Look, we were about to have dinner when you showed up. You're free to stick around and share it with us if you like. But I don't want to hear a single complaint about the noodles looking funny. They're homemade is all. Got that?"

The one-armed man stared at her, and eventually the one-armed woman gave a dismissive sniff and went stomping from the room. Her two manservants moved to follow. Ganju, however, rose and made his way over to confront Lord Arashi, who looked at him strangely as though not knowing what to expect next, another pounding or capital punishment.

"You killed my father," the tough said thickly, "and hurt us in more ways than I can count." He took a deep breath in anticipation. "But my Nee-san runs the show around here, and if she says it's over between us then that's enough for me." He held out his hand. "C'mon. She'll be upset if we're late for dinner. You really don't want to see that, take my word for it."

Seeing no other possible recourse at the time (possibly due to head trauma), Katsurou Arashi accepted the offer with as much dignity as he could muster.

---

Karin Kurosaki had arrived at the hospital after the Dragon Lady gave the all clear. It had been a very frightening evening, and she was immensely relieved when that insane spiritual dread from before was finally lifted. They met her dad there not long after, and then Rukia's big brother showed up. The baby was born by this point, leaving the middle-schooler a little weirded out at the prospect of being 'Aunt Karin' from now on. But Yuzu was ecstatic, and Rukia was safe, and although she still didn't know where their brother was, a lot of heavy hitters were scouring the dimensions for him, so he was bound to turn up eventually safe and sound. Or so she hoped.

The whole story came from Byakuya. She was in the room when he explained to Rukia what happened at the fight between Ichigo and some other guy. Apparently her brother lost, but then Kon of all people showed up and saved the day. As bad as things sounded, she had to admit it was a little impressive what he went through for her sake.

Rukia seemed to agree as well. When they got to the part where Kon apparently body-snatched his enemy for a while to come out on top, she put her face in her hands like she might cry and stayed that way for a while. It was kind of weird. But things worked out in the end, and there was more important stuff to worry about.

Ichigo finally showed up, thank goodness. He nearly passed out after seeing his son for the first time. When he and Rukia were done talking, Dad had to order him to get some rest at the risk of simply tranquilizing him with whatever drugs the hospital had lying around. Karin woke up before he or Yuzu did. A nurse noticed and said Rukia wanted to speak with her. This was odd as well, but soon enough she found herself in the room of the woman who might very well be her sister-in-law at this point.

Rukia was back in her false body again. They didn't talk much. The shinigami just looked at her and said, "Please find Kon."

This unusual request carried a certain personal conviction for her as well. Karin wanted to know where their unlikely savior might be as well. So she accepted. The preteen had an idea of where to start looking, assuming he was here and not in Soul Society still. After telling her father where she was going, Karin got a ride with the big guy Sado and the creepy girl Ryō whome she strongly suspected might be his girlfriend. The drive was made even more awkward and uncomfortable when it turned out they were taking a limo driven by what looked to be Yakuza members, none of whom talked much.

When they got to the Usagi Shoten, she went straight into the building and right upstairs. Nobody was around to object. Karin had resolved to wait there for him if needed and make any excuse to the people in the car outside as to why this was taking so long.

Instead that proved unnecessary. When she opened the door to his room, Kon looked over in surprise. "Karin!"

"Good, you're here." She strolled in and shut the pane behind her. About to speak, her train of thought hit the brakes upon noticing the duffle bag at his feet stuffed with clothes and a few odds and ends. No porno that she could see, but maybe that was down at the bottom for safekeeping. It then dawned on her what this meant, and she looked up at him in surprise. "Are you leaving?"

"Well… uh…" He rubbed the back of his head self-consciously. "Yeah."

To say that Karin was surprised would be an understatement. What brought this on? "Why?"

Here Kon gave her a sad little smile that wrung the girl's heart for some reason. "It's about time, I guess. For me to start living. No sense waiting around for something that's never going to happen. I gotta try and seize the day while I still can." He hesitated, then blurted out, "You're not mad, right?"

The scowl on her face told him the answer. "So what, you were just going to leave without saying goodbye?!" she demanded angrily. "You jerk, I would've been worried about you!"

"I wrote you a note!" Kon protested lamely when it looked like she might be about to kick him in the shins, holding up a white envelope. "Well, I mean, it's for everyone, really, but I put in a whole paragraph for you! It took really long to write, that's why you managed to catch me here. I lost track of time and needed to get moving and… well… here we both are."

Real concern started to sink in then. "Where are you even going?! I mean, you don't know anybody outside of Karakura! Are you going to live in Soul Society? Will I ever see you again? Do you have a telephone? What's the number so I can call you? How are you going to get money to eat, and… what happens if I need you and…"

The questions all came out in a rush, and that last one was more personal than she might have initially intended. It really felt like she was going to start crying if she wasn't careful, or at least hyperventilating. This motivated Kon to wade through the detritus of his interrupted packing and crouch down to place his hands on Karin's shoulders. She automatically lunged forward and hugged him, wrapping her small hands around his neck.

"Please don't go, Kon," she said in a voice gone hoarse with repressed sobs. "I'll miss you! You're like a big brother to all of us, even Ichigo! I'm gonna be Aunt Karin now, did you know that? Everything's crazy! I need you to stay! Rukia told me to come find you, she'll probably tell you not to go too! So that means you'll stay, right? Right, Kon?"

"I can't. I'm sorry."

And she knew he meant it. So Karin pulled away. Initially planning to kick him and run, she stopped upon recognizing the hurt in his face, deeper than anything she could possibly do to him. Karin wanted to ask what had gone wrong and whether she might help. But something told her this wasn't the time. I'm gonna be a person's aunt. That means I need to do a little growing up.

"Well," she declared in a no-nonsense voice. "I guess I can't stop you. But you better promise to come back and visit us! Preferably before I graduate high school."

At this Kon nodded and gave her a halfway decent smile. "Okay. I promise. I'll be back before then."

"You better." Then, when it felt like there might not be anything left to say, she added, "I love you."

"Love you too, little sister." He held out the envelope from before. "Make sure this gets to the right people. A lot of heart went into it, and I looked in a thesaurus for some of the words. Don't let all that work go to waste." With that he went over and placed a few more items in his duffle bag. Hoisting it up on his shoulder, Kon turned back to her. "Guess this is goodbye for now. Take care of everybody until I get back, especially your carrot-headed ogre of a brother."

"Right." Karin nodded bravely. "I will."

He took off the baseball cap she was wearing and ruffled her hair. Then before she could stop him, he popped it onto his own head and shouted, "I'll give it back later!" before disappearing in a blur.

Karin raced after him into the hall and down the stairs, passing Ururu and Jinta along the way. She went tearing out into the early morning air looking desperately around for some sign of Kon. But he was already long gone.

Clutching the note he left securely, the girl went back to the limo and asked to be taken home.

---

Kon didn't stop running until he was well outside the limits of Karakura. He wasn't about to risk bumping into anyone else he knew, Rukia least of all. As much as he might want a last glimpse of her before he left, the pain was still too raw. Maybe it would be possible to talk about it in the future. But that would take years.

The young soul looked around the rural path he found himself on. Heaving a deep breath of clean country air, he adjusted his new baseball cap and set off down the road. Brand new life ahead of me. Wonder who I'll meet along the way?

"Mind if I join you?"

When he looked over, it was to find Rangiku Matsumoto walking gamely along beside him.

"Howdy, Kon."

A glimpse in the other direction saw a smiling black-haired man wearing blue-tinted glasses. He tilted them down and looked right at Kon without breaking stride. His eyes were almost completely closed.

"Waddaya say we have a chat, hmm?" Gin Ichimaru said with a smile.

---

"I like the baby's name," Mizuiro Kojima stated happily as they left the hospital. "It's very hopeful. The world could use some of that right now."

"I dunno." Beside him Keigo Asano stuffed his hands in his pockets and yawned. It was a school day, and he had to get up pretty early in the morning in order to get over here before then. But it wasn't every day you learned that your best friend had a kid with a goddess. "Sounds like the sort of name that might get you teased in elementary school."

"Let his parents worry about that." Ishida Uryu adjusted his glasses while holding onto Michiru Ohgawa's arm. The couple had eyes only for each other. She looked happier than Keigo could ever remember seeing her. Maybe girls just reacted to babies differently? "We're having a party to celebrate the second novel's publication," she told them excitedly. "We could made it a shower for them and the baby or something?"

"Sounds good to me," Asano confirmed, already imagining the otaku babes who might show up at such an event. "What do you think, Mizuiro?"

But the school lothario had already wandered off to chat with a beautiful older lady reading on a park bench. So much for teenage solidarity.

Ishida and Ohgawa bid him goodbye shortly after. Feeling rather abandoned by both good fortune and his own friends, the hyper-perceptive underachiever looked all around and heaved a defeatist's sigh. "Well, looks like it's just me now."

A hand clamped down on his arm, and when Asano turned around, he found himself confronted by Oushima Reiichi dressed as a monk and flanked by a couple of ghosts wearing demonic masks. The only thing which kept him from dying of fright was the realization that he had seen a lot weirder things in his life… but not by much.

"C'mon, Asano," the person most certainly not Reiichi told him. "Let's go get some breakfast. We've got a lot to talk about concerning the salvation of the soul." And so saying he firmly led the flabbergasted teen off with his new spirit guides along for the ride.

Back at the park bench, Mizuiro was pressing his advantage with the bewitchingly attractive lady who had caught his eye. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to offer an earnest young academic a lift?" he spoke in a voice both pleading and enticing. "I sure would hate to be tardy to homeroom today and ruin my perfect attendance. Sometimes it's the only thing that keeps me going."

His target merely smiled while flipping a page of the manga she was reading. "Young man, I do believe you're trying to pick me up."

"Can you blame me?" the smooth-talker countered without missing a beat. "Any man who didn't try his luck when faced with such a vision of loveliness must have left his self-respect on the way out the door."

"But won't your mother be worried if you go off with a complete stranger?" she asked teasingly.

At this Kojima heaved a put-upon sigh only partially for effect and laced his arms behind the top of the bench. "Not likely. She wouldn't notice if I dropped off the face of the earth. It's not a nice story." That was the closest thing to truth he had admitted to her this whole time.

In response the woman closed her book, head tilting down to be shaded by the brim of the hat she wore that nearly covered her whole face. "I'm sorry to hear you say that. In truth, I can't fault you for your pessimism. Sometimes it seems that things have changed for the worst in my absence. For example, here I was looking forward to catching up on my reading after so long…" she held up the colorful tome filled with stories of weaponized warriors and shinigami, "… only to find that they killed off my favorite character. And in such a horrific fashion too. Slaughtered by her own child. Can you imagine anything more ghastly?"

"Only the thought of not getting your phone number," he countered lightly.

"I'm being serious." She turned to look straight at him then, and Mizuiro found himself hypnotized by those arresting blue eyes. This gal was even hotter than he originally believed. "Too often children disregard everything their parents do for them. With no talk of gratitude, I might add. Their behavior can become so outrageous over time, why, it's a wonder some adults don't give up on their children altogether."

While absorbing her beauty, a thought occurred to Mizuiro. Maybe it's just my imagination, but is one of her eyes darker than the other?

"Have you ever made a meal for another person, only to watch them throw it on the floor?"

He shivered, unable for some reason to look away from that eye, which was growing darker by the second.

"All that toil and effort… the hard work required… wasted. You sacrifice your time, your dreams, all for their sake, and what do they do?" Her voice had taken on a strange vibrating quality, like two identical audio tracks lined up just a bit off from each other in a video. "They strike you. They hurt you. Intentionally, even. So distressing. It feels like you're being torn apart by their selfishness."

Her hands came up to grasp his face. Mizuiro Kojima recognized on some dim level that his life might be in danger. But he was far too entranced by the sight of that deep black void to care. It was drawing him in, pulling his soul down a tunnel of purest night to reach what awaited on the other end…

"And yet, after all the horrid things they do to you, you find that you still love them."

The dark pit went away, leaving him blinking uncertainly.

"After all, a mother's love can forgive anything. Sometimes that is our only saving grace in this world. When gods are not enough, you can always turn to the one who gave you life. And for that you should all be grateful."

She then pulled his face close to hers.

"NOW GO HOME TO YOUR MOTHER."

Dazed, Mizuiro stood up. He began to walk away, pulling a cellphone out of his pocket as he did. After a few seconds of rifling through contact lists, he found the right one and dialed. Placing the phone to his ear, he waited for it to be answered. And when it did he said, "B… I mean, O-kaa-san? Yeah, it's me, Mizuiro. Mind if I stop by?"

He had already forgotten about the woman on the park bench. When he was gone, she finished reading and dropped the manga in a nearby trashcan before looking up at a particular window in the hospital.

"Motherhood," Unohana Retsu sighed. "So much potential to hurt you."

The witch then rose upright to make her way through the world once more.

Arc 4: FIN.