Welcome back readers, hope all has been going well for ya. Just got done with spring break at school, and now I'm playing catch-up since I was sick with the flu that entire time. Heh, figures, get one week off out of the entire semester, and I'm sick for the whole thing. What are the odds?

Anyway, besides that, nothing else of importance to really say, so I'll keep it short and head right on into 'Spades's Banter' and then on to the chapter.

You and I already had a conversation about the side-story…ish, back in the Soul Society, but like I told you, thanks for pointing out that the story was starting to veer away from the primary goal. So, I fixed up the couple of spare chapters I wrote up and set the un-necessary bits aside for future use. Renji calling Rukia 'Ruks' is just a name he calls her as a friend, even calls her that in a few episodes too. And come on Spades, did you really think Tim was going to get along with Uryū perfectly with the teen acting like the know-it-all he sometimes does? Uh… no. Shoulda seen that one coming, friend. Lol. Questions…

1: They do, but it's more like 20-questions and riddles, games of the mind, so to say.

2: Judging by his personality, he'd likely freak out a bit at first before trying to figure out how and why he's there.

3: Not really sure to be honest, he seems like the kind of person that would enjoy rocky road, but that's just me.

4: First thing he'd do is think back on whether or not he had anything to drink lately, then he would start to suspect that Kisuke had something to do with it. (Come on, it's only a matter of time before he or Kurotsuchi end up doing something like that, and you know it)

5/6: Not at all, on both questions. I always look towards the reader's point of view on things. Honestly, I could have had Tim pair up with any on the choices and the story, minus an interaction or two, would have pretty much been the same.

7: No, a bear shits 'on' the woods.

Seriously Spades, I was not looking forward to answering these questions so soon after getting over the flu. You must have it out for me or something. Anyway, on to the next chapter.

(I DO NOT OWN BLEACH; ITS CHARACTORS, NAMES, LOCATIONS, OR STORY! THAT HONOR BELONGS SOLELY TO TITE KUBO AND HIS TEAM! ONLY THE OC, AND RANDOM NAMES NOT MENTIONED IN THE BOOKS OR ANIME ARE MY OWN!)


Chapter 44

(Shadows Revealed)

Squad 12 Southern Perimeter, Present

While the administrative and research buildings of the Squad 12 were under constant watch by Squad 2's Stealth Force, security of the nearby streets and warehouses were still under the responsibility of the squad members themselves. And after the multiple discoveries and arrests of Aizen's cohorts, the number of patrols within the squad's sector more than doubled.

No matter where one walked within Squad 12's area of influence, it was very unlikely that you would be able to stand somewhere without being within view of one of the patrols watching the streets, much less being pulled aside and briefly questioned as to why you were there in the first place.

Even so, despite the increase of security, it proved to be nothing more than a slight hinderance to a cloaked individual as he walked amongst the shadows created by the late-afternoon sun; slipping between buildings the moment a patrol turned its back to him.

The person may not have been trained like the Stealth Force to hide in the shadows, but the special, hooded cloak he 'borrowed' from the Research Department proved to be more than adequate enough to conceal him from the untrained eyes of the lower squad members.

Really, he didn't even need to be fully hidden in the shadows for the cloak to work. As long as a small amount of the fabric was kept out of the direct light, the rest would blend in to match the surroundings. But it still wasn't without its faults.

The cloak itself was of an old design, more of an 'improvement' off of Kisuke Urahara's concealing cloak that only concealed one's spiritual pressure and was hard to spot. The design worked well in the darkness but was not that effective during the day.

This design, however, utilized the natural shadows to blend in, even during daylight hours. It was effective, but nowhere near as effective as Mayuri's perfected design, that allowed the wearer to completely, and perfectly blend into his surroundings. The Captain's design was so effective, in fact, that he had modified his Captain's Haori with the same fabric and used it quite often to spy on others.

It wasn't Mayuri's design the man was wearing, but it was enough to do what he needed to do. The cloak proved its worth when the man safely made it to his destination without being spotted by a single patrol.

He looked around at the inside of the rarely used warehouse that the squad used to store excess materials, or failed, non-perishable, inventions. Basically, it was the squad's junkyard. Satisfied that nothing was out of place, or that no one was nearby, the man walked over to the corner and hid himself in the shadows to await his contact.

Thankfully for him, his contact didn't make him wait long as a tall, slim, almost lanky build person wearing a similar cloak as his slipped in through the unlatched window. Not a sound was heard as the man's feet hit the floor and he came to stand at full height.

"Ya here?" the being whispered, really only an exhale of breath.

The man took a step forward, just enough for the being to catch the very faint outline of his cloak. "Yes, and we need to make this quick. The Stealth Force is getting more restless each minute that passes, and it won't take long for them to realize I'm not around the department buildings." He warned.

The being nodded and crossed his arms. "Well…what have ya got for me?" it asked in his breathy tone.

The man opened his mouth to speak, but froze and they both snapped their heads to the sliding door when a random patrol walked nearby. Deathly silence filled the room as the pair listened closely to the closing, then slowly fading footsteps as the patrol passed by.

Waiting another minute to make sure the patrol was long gone, the man turned back to his comrade with sweat beading on his forehead. "I've been keeping close tabs on Karakura Town, and I found out that a garganta, most likely the complements of Kisuke Urahara, was opened a few days ago going to Hueco Mundo. Without a doubt, the man opened it to send a small team to try and rescue that Inoue girl." He informed.

The being rolled his eyes with a scoff. "Yes, we're aware of that and have already taken measures to deal with it. Got anything 'useful' to report?"

The man growled a bit in annoyance, but shrugged it off. "Are you aware that a 'second' garganta was opened from the same location only twelve hours later; going to Hueco Mundo as well?" he challenged.

The being rose an interested brow. "Is that so? Got any idea who they sent? We know a small team has infiltrated the underground tunnels below Las Noches, but we're unsure of who they are."

"No, that bastard, Urahara, managed to build in a spiritual pressure concealer into the garganta. I couldn't tell who he sent, but I can tell you how many. It seems he sent four individuals through the first garganta, and three through the second. Each group had at least one person with a substantial amount of spirit energy, so you might be able to venture a guess as to who a couple of the individuals are based on that."

The being tilted its head. "Define 'substantial'."

"Captain class, or better. Easily stronger than either of us. Now, I need to get back before they start getting suspicious. Anything from Aizen?" the man asked.

The being shook his head and turned to leave the way he came. "Nah, Lord Aizen hasn't really had us do much of anything the past couple of days. Just meeting after boring meeting with nothing more than blah blah blah, plans this, blah blah blah, plans that. The only interesting thing he's said lately was he didn't want us to do anything about those fools in the tunnels. Why, beats me. But whatever. Still got that device Granz sent to ya to open a garganta?"

The man nodded. "Yes, along with the other little gift he sent me."

The being raised his upper lip to expose his pointed canines. "Good. Be sure ya put it to good use before you decide to leave. That'll put the clown in his place." He said as he hopped up onto the sill, not making a single noise, and leapt out the window.

The cloaked man waited for minute or two before heading back himself. Taking a different route than he used to the meeting, to avoid habit, he eventually got back to the Research Department and shed his cloak before returning inside.

The man almost smiled to himself as he walked by numerous Stealth Force members in the hallways without so much as a questioning glance from them, telling him they didn't suspect a thing.

He finally arrived at his office and, after unlocking the door, spared a second to make sure no one was watching him. Satisfied, he quickly entered to large room and snapped the door shut, locking it back behind him.

Once the latch was securely in place, his shoulders danced as a small, sinister chuckle left his lips. Those same lips pulled back to expose his large, white teeth. But it was when he raised his hand and slid his thumb and index fingers across them to pull a thin, white film from them, exposing the, now, golden teeth.

Using his other hand, he reached over his large head to grab at his scalp and pull down, pulling the fake skin of his face, neck, and shoulders away as he leaned back. Multiple popping and cracking noises sounded out as the man's back straightened back out into its natural position, the man now several inches taller than he was before.

Arriving at his desk and shedding the lab coat to the floor, he swiftly donned his appropriate attire and retrieved his zanpakutō. Fixing his headpiece back to its set position, Mayuri Kurotsuchi turned around to the slim examination table in the center of the room.

He grinned madly at the short, pudgy, green-skinned man strapped and gagged to the table with gleeful eyes. "Well now…" he began as he pulled a small device from the pocket of his Captain's Haori, holding up for the man to see. "Thanks to your tall friend at the meeting, it seems I was able to determine the intended use for this interesting little invention of yours, Hiyosu."

Hiyosu, the squad's own, now former, 4th seat and Deputy-Head of the Communications Department, struggled violently against his bonds, unable to move so much as an inch. The Captain came to stand right next to the table and smiled maliciously at the man's face.

The man's telescopic eye had been removed, and the top of his skull opened up with several probes and clamps attached to specific points of the man's, now exposed, brain.

The Captain stared for a second longer before reaching back inside his Haori and withdrawing another small device, only a few centimeters larger than the first. Sparing a quick look at it, he held it up to Hiyosu and grinned wider.

"But now, I think we should discuss the qualities of this other little device of yours." He said, then pocketed both devices and picked up a small, and very sharp scalpel. "I can assure you, I will do everything within my power and abilities to ensure that the procedures you are about to face will not be detrimental to your life. However, the amount of pain that you will be exposed to during these procedures depends solely on how willing you are to cooperate."

Hiyosu's eyes widened into saucers as Mayuri held the sharp knife up to the light, a sinister smile on his face. "So, shall we begin?"

Las Noches Tunnels, 1 Hour Later

A small vibration in his kosode prompted Timothy to reach within it and pull out the small cellphone, that one Chad had loaned him, as the group continued walking at a measured pace. Looking down at the display, he saw that the timer he preset had elapsed.

Pocketing the device, he glanced over his shoulder to Nel and Ichigo and gave them a slight nod before turning into the passage on their right, right on time.

Flashback, 1 Hour 30 Minutes Earlier

"Looks like a solid plan, and the route looks good to me, now we just need to figure out the timing." Timothy said in a whisper to the teen next to him.

Uryū nodded and held his chin in his hand. "The best way to do that would be to plot the exact times it takes to get to each turn and adjust our walking speed accordingly. The question is, is how much time we should leave between the two teams entering the corridor. I would suggest we keep the window as short as possible."

Timothy nodded and scratched the stubble on his cheek. "Agreed, probably no more than a couple of minutes. Five at the most. It's probably best if my team leads him into the trap while your team springs it. Reason for that is, not only will you have to worry about the person being trapped, but his friend behind you as well."

The teen nodded back and gave the Lieutenant a serious look. "Even if we manage to succeed, we're gonna have a hard time fighting in such a narrow space. You, Rukia, and Renji's zanpakutō abilities are effective, but they are area weapons and not fit for such a small space. Chad's powers are just as bad, and Ichigo will just bring the roof down on us. My Heilig Bogen can work in narrow spaces, but with how everyone will be positioned, it will be difficult to get shots off without hitting allies." He warned.

The Lieutenant sighed. "That leaves Nel with her skills in hand-to-hand combat. And we have no idea what those two's abilities are. I'm willing to bet that their abilities are designed for close quarters like this, and if not, then they've likely adapted them to do so. One thing's for certain, if Aizen doesn't already know we're here, he will once the fight breaks out. So we'll need to finish this quickly and head straight into finding Orihime once we're done."

"I agree. So what are your opinions on the times for the routes?" Uryū questioned.

Flashback End

The soul reaper and Quincy spent nearly twenty minutes plotting and comparing the appropriate times for the routes their respective teams, and once they were satisfied with the results, the two teams split off to lead their stalkers into the trap.

After making the recent right turn, Timothy's group, with their stalker in tow and monitored by Nel, only had two more turns to make before arriving at the corridor that they would use to trap the being.

The Lieutenant was only hoping that, somehow, he and Uryū didn't miscalculate the timing and neither team arrived too soon, or too late.

The team continued their pace for a few minutes when Ichigo glanced over his shoulder to Nel. "The guy still back there, Nel?" he asked.

Nel closed her eyes and concentrated hard, reaching out with her pesquisa, and managed to pick up the trace amount of spiritual pressure from the being following not far behind.

Opening her eyes back to the teen, she nodded. "Yes, he's still there, keeping his distance like before. However, it's not the one that followed us before. I think it's the one that was following Renji and his group earlier."

Timothy rolled his eyes to the side. "Do you think it'll be a problem?" he asked.

The woman shrugged her shoulders. "I can't say. It's obvious that this one is not as careless as the other, seeing that he's keeping a farther distance than his friend did. I can't really tell if this one is stronger than the other or not, so I can't offer any advice on that matter either."

"How much more time until we do this thing, Tim?" Ichigo asked.

"We've got about sixteen minutes until our next turn, then another twenty-three minutes after that, then finally, nineteen minutes till we lead him into the trap." He answered.

The teen nodded as Nel tilted her head. "How much time do Renji and the others have to block him off?"

"Five minutes. Once they've closed off the exit, they'll yell out to us, and at that point we'll turn around and attack. If we don't hear them yell within that time, then it might be too late, cause there's a passage shortly after that he can use to get away."

Teen and Arrancar nodded in understanding. "Let's hope the guy ain't that hard to beat."

Timothy rolled his eyes at him. "Just remember, none of your Tensho things, or you just might kill 'all' of us. Standard skills only, so you can't use your Ceros, Nel. Hopefully, either Rukia or myself can bind him up with a Bakudō or two."

Ichigo gritted his teeth in agitation. "Hey, what do you think I am, an idiot?!"

The Lieutenant looked over his shoulder and gave the teen a deadpanned look. "After your little stunt with the energy-absorbing Adjuchas a few weeks ago, you coulda fooled me."

"Tim!" Nel called out in warning, making him flinch.

"Hey! I thought we already put…"

"Ichigo!" she warned further, making him shut his mouth. She sighed heavily and rubbed her temples. "Honestly, and to think I fell in love with a child." She mumbled.

"Hey!" Timothy defended, but a fierce glare from her shut him up again.

"I can still kill him if you want." Gamuza offered snidely.

Nel sighed again and shook her head. 'I give up.'

Ichigo rose a brow at the two. "You two really do care that much for each other, don't ya?" he inquired.

Nel turned away a bit with a slight blush, but Timothy nodded. "Yes, we do. Does it bother you?" Timothy asked.

The teen shrugged his shoulders. "No, not really. I'll admit I think it's a bit odd, but I don't really see anything wrong with it. Nel's the proof that not all hollows are bad, and Aizen's the proof that not all soul reapers are good. So…yeah, as long as you two have good intentions and all, I don't think it matters what you are."

Nel smiled warmly at him. "Thanks, Ichigo. That means a lot to me."

Ichigo blushed in return and rubbed the back of his neck shyly. "Uh…yeah, you're welcome, I guess."

The phone in Timothy's kosode vibrated again, once again on time as they came to a passage on the left. The Lieutenant turned back and nodded again to signal that they were still on time, getting nods back.

They continued for a moment before Timothy spoke up again. "So, Ichigo, if you don't mind me asking, just what kind of training have you been up to these past couple of weeks? Except for a meeting or two, and the fight back in Karakura Town, none of us have seen neither hide nor hair of ya."

Ichigo rubbed his neck again as he thought on how to best answer the question. "Well…uh…you do know that I…uh…have a hollow mask…right?"

Nel nodded. "Yeah, I remember Kisuke saying something about that, but he didn't go into it that much."

The substitute nodded back. "Yeah. Basically, I have an inner hollow, damn bastard, and I can use his powers by putting on the hollow mask. Problem is, is that before I had no control over the bastard inside my head, and he would sometimes take over my body and cause chaos. So, Kisuke sent me to some friends of his that have inner hollows themselves, and they've been training me on how to control my inner hollow. So now, any time I wanna give myself a little boost in power, I can put on the hollow mask. My attacks are easily three times as powerful, if not more, when I have the mask on."

Timothy nodded in understanding. "I got ya. So you've been working with those friends of Kisuke's this whole time. Well, I can definitely say that's a good thing. Easily saved you from having to witness one of Kit and Nel's many fights over ice cream."

Nel snarled back at him, while Kitsune did so inside his head; Ichigo just rose a brow in confusion. "They fought over ice cream?" he sweatdropped.

The Lieutenant glanced back at him. "Several times, and nearly destroyed Kisuke's shop in the process. Ever wonder why his shop looks rearranged in the front?"

The teen's eyes went wide. "They did that?! And what about the roof?!" he asked in shock.

He shook his head as Nel groaned. "No…that one was 'me' and Kit while I was trying to catch her. Damn vixen." He mumbled with Kitsune snickering in his head.

"Oh, be quiet, Tim. I was only teasing you back then, 'you' were the one who went berserk over it." She defended.

"Not a fucking word, fox! You make it so damn hard to 'not' regret putting you in my head. God only knows how 'Johnny' hasn't gone on a killing spree by now being stuck with you in there." He retorted.

"Hey! I'm not that…"

"Don't you fucking say it!" he interrupted, balling his fists.

Nel saw his fists and gave him a knowing look. "She being herself again?" she moaned.

Timothy rolled his eyes. "No, really? What gave it away this time?"

Ichigo was confused now. "So…how did Kisuke take it? I can only imagine he'd be pretty pissed off about you guys tearing his shop up."

Timothy sighed. "…Let's just say that…it doesn't end well sometimes. Especially for Nel."

Nel growled lowly. "Stupid fox, she's always getting off easy while 'I'm' the one always fixing everything." She mumbled.

"Forget I asked. But seriously, of all things, ice cream?" the teen asked again.

The Lieutenant sighed again. "Like you said, Ichigo, forget you asked." He said, Nel nodding in agreeance.

Ichigo shrugged his shoulders and let the matter drop. "Alright."

Timothy and Nel both gave him grateful looks. "We're getting close, so let's get back to focusing on our little stalkers. Remember, Nel, you're the one getting up in his face since you're the best one here in close quarters. Ichigo and I will support you the best we can, while Renji and the others focus on keeping him trapped and dealing with his friend."

The woman nodded firmly. "Yoruichi taught me a few new moves during our training back at Kisuke's, plus the training itself helped improve my speed and agility, so I don't think I'll have much of a problem. If we can, it might be wise to try and capture one of them and ask them if there are more of them, or if they are the only ones." She advised.

"Yeah, I'd have to agree with Nel on that one." Ichigo followed.

Timothy nodded back as the alarm on the phone went off again. "If we can, we'll try to capture one of em, but not at the risk of someone's safety." He returned as he made the turn down the passage. "He still back there, Nel?" he asked.

"Yes, and it doesn't seem like he's getting suspicious yet." She answered.

"Good, cause we're almost there now."

With Renji's Group, Present

"We need to pick it up, we're almost ten minutes behind!" Uryū hissed in a low voice.

Renji gritted his teeth as he glared over his shoulder. "You think I didn't know that? I was trying to keep a pace that wouldn't make this idiot behind us suspicious. It's really not as easy as you might think, Uryū."

Rukia thrusted her fist into the red-head's lower back, making him grunt in pain. "Knock it off, both of you! Focus on getting us there on time, not arguing about how fast we're walking!"

Uryū stared down at her from over Chad's shoulder. "Don't pit me in with him, Rukia. I managed to get all of the timing correct, all Renji had to do was just walk and make sure we got to where we needed to on time." He defended.

"How much time do we have left?" Chad asked calmly, trying to stop the argument.

Uryu growled as he looked at his watch. "If they are on time, Ichigo and the others should be turning into the passage in about seventeen minutes, and we have about a five-minute window to close it off."

"And how much further do we have to go?" Rukia questioned further.

The Quincy dropped his hand and sighed. "At this rate, it'll take us about thirty minutes to get there. Let's just hope the others are running a bit late."

The woman nodded. "Knowing Tim, even if they are on time, he'd likely try to figure out a way to buy us some time, at least a few minutes."

"Let's hope so. Hey, Uryu, you think were close enough that we can start running to catch up without the guy having a chance to run off and warn his friend?" Renji wondered.

The teen thought it over a moment. "Maybe, but I wouldn't want to risk it just yet. Let's give it another ten minutes and we'll make a run for it."

"Sounds good. So what's the plan when we trap the guy?" Renji asked.

"Simple, Rukia and I will focus on keeping our little friend busy while you and Chad help the others with their 'friend'. You and Chad are more adept at close range combat, while Rukia and I are more effective at range, and we won't have to worry about our attacks hitting the others." The Quincy answered.

Rukia nodded in agreeance. "Not to mention if the one we're trapping manages to get loose, I can use Sode no Shirayuki's first dance to block him off long enough for Ichigo and the others to catch up." She added.

"Just make sure you don't accidentally block 'us' off and him get away." Uryū taunted smugly.

The short woman glared at the teen. "If I do, I'll make sure you're in the way of the ice, Uryū." She shot back.

Uryū pressed his glasses up his nose with a sly grin. "Please, as if you were capable of catching me, a Quincy."

The two continued their bantering as Chad sweatdropped at the scene and Renji grumbled to himself. "Yeah, gets on my butt about us arguing, but it's ok if 'she' does it. Damn woman." He mumbled, then bellowed in pain when Rukia punched his back again.

"Shut up, Renji!" she demanded.

With Timothy's Group, 15 Minutes Later

The whole group was breathing somewhat rapidly in heavy anticipation, waiting for the moment to make their move. It was starting to become a habit of Timothy's to check the time every few seconds, duly noting every minute that passed.

'They're late…' the Lieutenant fretted internally.

"Don't worry, Tim, they'll be here." Kitsune tried to comfort, but failed.

"Our window is almost up, Kit, and we're about to come across that passage any second now. Once we pass it, it'll give this bastard a chance to get away." He returned.

The zanpakutō spirit sighed heavily. "I know, Tim, but what else can you do? It was worth a shot, and who knows, it's possible you might get another chance at this later."

He mentally shook his head. "No, we've already wasted enough time with these guys, and we can't afford to waste any more; we need to get back to rescuing Orihime."

They needed more time, and something inside was telling him that Renji and the others were not that far behind. Running possible ideas to buy time through his head, Timothy jumped at the only thing that came to mind.

Slowing up a bit, he let Ichigo walk closer to him and spoke in a quiet voice. "Ichigo…hit me." He said.

The teen rose a questioning brow. "Huh?"

Timothy rolled his eyes to him and spoke in a normal tone. "Look Ichigo, I'm getting tired of all your blabbing about Shakespeare this, and Shakespeare that. If you like the guy that damn much, just shut up and marry him already." He baited.

Ichigo was confused as hell. "What the hell are you talking about?" he questioned.

The Lieutenant gritted his teeth in annoyance. "Look, you idiot, we need to buy time, and we can't just stop unless we have a reason for it. So just shut up and hit me already!" he demanded.

Still confused, but not willing to argue over it the matter, Ichigo simply shrugged his shoulders pulled a fist back. "Fine, whatever. Just don't blame me, since you asked for it, literally."

The teen then threw his fist forward, catching Timothy in the lower jaw and sending him against the wall. Nel, who was focusing on the stalker, turned her eyes and widened them at the scene.

"I…Ichigo! What are you doing?!" she yelled in anger.

Ichigo turned to look at her and held his hands up. "I was just doing what…"

Before he could finish, Timothy launched himself at the substitute and tackled him down to the ground. "I'm gonna beat you senseless, asshole!" he yelled without any bite behind it.

Timothy was gripping the teen around the middle, his head on top of his chest, where Ichigo growled and pulled back on the man's hair, lifting his head up.

"What the hell's your problem?!" he hissed, still not quite understanding what was going on.

The Lieutenant growled back at him. "Just play along, you moron." He mumbled.

After a few seconds, it finally clicked in the teen's head and he nodded in understanding. "Get off of me, you bastard!" he 'fought back'.

The pair rolled around on the floor a couple times, with Ichigo now straddling Timothy's stomach. "Not until you quit your endless yapping about Shakespeare, stupid!"

Ichigo growled loudly and threw a halfhearted punch to the man's chin, with Timothy tossing his head to the side for effect. The man then thrust a knee into the substitute's back and threw him off. Before the teen could recover, Timothy was back on top of him and shaking him violently.

"I'm sick and tired of hearing you talk about the guy, and I can't stand it anymore!" he furthered.

Ichigo gave him two quick punches to the chest and shoulder, throwing him off again. "Shut up, asshole! I thought you liked Shakespeare!" he defended and dove at his 'opponent'.

Timothy turned over and pressed a foot to the teen's chest, stopping him and making him drop to the ground. "Just cause I like the guy, it doesn't mean I worship him like a God or something!"

The whole time the two 'fought', Nel was yelling and stomping her foot to make them stop, completely oblivious to what their intentions were.

A short distance away in the darkness, the lone figure watched the whole ordeal in shock. The being was aware of the two's tendency to argue with each other, but it never expected the two of them to outright go into a brawling match.

'…What in the hell is going on? It's like they're more into trying to kill each other than save their friend or whatever. And who the hell is this 'Shakespeare' person to make them fight like this? I'm so fucking confused about this…' it wondered.

The Lieutenant and substitute continued their fake brawl, tossing a few legitimate hits here and there for full effect, as the minutes ticked by; Nel still yelling over and over for the pair to stop as the being continued watching.

It was so focused on the scene in front of it, it never noticed the four individuals coming up behind it.

"Don't move." Renji instructed, drawing his zanpakutō.

The being gasped and instantly turned around to see the two soul reapers and two humans behind it. "Where the fuck did you come from?!" it yelled out, its voice sounding strangely feminine.

Hearing Renji call out, Timothy and Ichigo stopped their acting and quickly stood up, acting as if the fight had never happened. Timothy drew his zanpakutō while Ichigo pulled his from its spot on his back.

Nel was still confused as the pair came to stand next to her, but decided now wasn't the time to try and figure out what happened. Following their actions, she drew her own zanpakutō and held it up with the tip pointed at the being.

"There's nowhere for you to run to. Now tell us, who are you?" she demanded.

The being was still a good enough distance from the two groups to still remain somewhat hidden to where they couldn't discern any features. All they could tell was, whoever it was, that the being was roughly the same height as Nel was and seemed to be of a very slim build.

Scoffing, the being crossed its arms and looked at the two groups in a snide manner. "Why the hell would I tell you that? You're the ones who invaded my home, fucktards." It retorted in a voice that was now clearly female in nature.

Timothy threw a hand in the air. "We weren't trying to 'invade your home', stupid, we're just trying to get into Las Noches to save our friend." He defended.

Nel gave him a condescending look over her shoulder. "Tim, we're trying to avoid fighting if we can, not start one." She berated.

Timothy turned to argue, but before he could open his mouth the woman was suddenly launched back with force and slammed into the wall. Her body hit the surface with enough force that the stone behind her cracked.

Timothy's eyes followed her body in shock and watched as she slid off the wall and fell to the floor in a heap, out cold. He gasped with wide eyes at the scene.

"Nel!" he yelled out.

"Been waiting to do that for 'years'. Stupid bitch, talking as if she's all high and mighty, as always. As if I'd ever let you fools go without a fight. This is 'my' home, assholes, and if you think you can just come in here whenever you want to, think again." The being hissed.

Ichigo turned back to face the being as Timothy saw to Nel to make sure she was still breathing. The being strolled towards him, Renji and the others following, and without Nel's half-charged Cero for light, he could only just barely make out the outline of the being.

"You bastard. You stop, right now!" he demanded.

The being chuckled darkly, and Ichigo could faintly hear the sound of a blade being drawn. "Or what? You think a little infant like you could take me on? Please, I 'beg' you to try. I love it down here, but honestly, it gets so dull and boring at times when no one comes around. Sometimes, I have to purposely expose a few of the doors that lead down here just to coax a random Adjuchas, or, on a good day, a Vasto Lorde, just so I can re-live the thrill of the hunt. I'll give you guys 'some' credit, you were quite a challenge for a while. I'm shocked to death you were able to detect that I was watching you, more-so that you guys managed to trick me like this, leading me into this passage and trapping me."

The being stopped only a few yards away as Timothy came back to stand next to Ichigo. "You'll die here in this passage unless you work with us and tell us what you want." He growled out.

The being laughed outright at his words. Narrowing his eyes, Timothy mumbled a quick incantation and formed a small Shakkahō in his palm, lighting the hallway again and exposing the being at last.

The person who had stalked them since they first entered the tunnels was not what they expected.

Ichigo gasped out with wide eyes. "You're…You're a soul reaper?!"

Sure enough, the being, now clearly a female, was garbed in the tattered remains of a soul reaper's shihakusho. The woman's waraji and tabi were missing, standing there barefoot. The lower pantlegs of her hakama were in shreds below the knees, exposing the many small scars on her legs. The midsection of her kosode was gone, along with both sleeves; just about every inch of exposed skin was littered with pink lines of scar tissue. Strips from the sleeves were fastened around her chest to keep her top closed.

As Timothy took a closer look, he noticed that, unlike most soul reapers that used their right hand, the woman held her, very short, zanpakutō in her left in a reverse-grip. The blade of the weapon was chipped in several places, reminding him of Captain Zaraki's jagged zanpakutō.

The woman herself was quite lean, an inch or two shorter than Nel was, and was the definition of 'thin'. Her black hair was short on one side of her head, coming down to only her ear, and long on the other, going down to just below her shoulder and concealing her left eye.

She chuckled darkly with a toothy grin. "So what if I am? What, you think that just because I'm a soul reaper, or rather, 'used' to be, that I'm going to let you all live?" She chuckled again as she tapped the blade of her zanpakutō against her leg. "I left the Soul Society a long, 'long' time ago. I have no ties to that wretched place, nor do I want anything to do with soul reapers. I'd just as soon see you all die. That's one of the reasons why I left with Aizen in the first place."

Rukia's eyes widened further in shock. "You work for Aizen?!" she demanded.

The woman scoffed with a roll of the eyes. "Tsk, you mean I 'did' work the fucker, till he turned on me." She deflected.

Renji rose a skeptical brow. "If you hate the guy so much, why don't you help us fight him? I'm sure the Captains could work something out for your help." He offered.

The woman turned to him slowly. "You think I left with him because I wanted to fight 'for' him? Ha! Don't make me laugh, spiky. I left for my own reasons; Aizen was nothing more than a means to fulfill those reasons." She corrected.

Timothy narrowed his eyes, not liking where the conversation was going. "And what reasons would that be?" he questioned.

She turned back to him and held up her blade towards him. "Why, to kill, of course."

Uryū narrowed his eyes as well. "To kill?"

The woman chuckled again with a nod. "Oh yes, to kill." She confirmed. Raising her head and closing her eyes, she smiled evilly. "The blood, the screaming, to cut and slash…oh…it makes my blood 'burn'!" Her chuckle turned to a low giggle. "I remember when it all started…so long ago. My team and I were on a simple mission in the Rukongai, looking for a band of hollows. I always enjoyed the fighting, tried to take on every extermination mission I could. I always enjoyed them."

She returned her gaze back to Renji. "But that time, it didn't go as planned. I was attacking one of the hollows, and in an effort to defend itself, he threw one of my teammates in my way." She them smiled wickedly. "I can still remember the feeling of my blade, cutting right through him like butter. Oh, I still killed that stupid hollow, and I enjoyed doing it; but the feeling of cutting down one of my own, a human, oh, it felt…'so' much better than killing a hollow."

She closed her eyes again and had a dreamy look on her face. "Just once was enough…I became addicted to it…to killing." Reopening her eyes, she glanced down at her blade. "Ketsueki hantā couldn't have been happier either. He loved spilling blood just as much as I did, if not more." She raised her eyes back to Timothy. "After that, I took every single mission I could get my hands on, just for a chance to kill again, and I did. But after what happened, killing hollows just wasn't enough anymore; I 'needed' another human victim! But I couldn't exactly go around killing more soul reapers; I'd easily get caught and wouldn't be able to keep going."

Lowering her zanpakutō to her side, she continued. "So, I resorted to going to the Rukongai, out in the lower districts, looking for random people who were stupid enough to go out alone. It was so much fun, but I quickly discovered that if I stalked my victim first, just like a predatory animal would stalk its prey, it made the killing itself so much more satisfying. It made it even better still if my prey 'knew' I was there. I killed so many for the short time I was there, but people were starting to get concerned about all those 'disappearances'. It was only a matter of time before someone figured something out. I knew my time for killing was almost up. But that's when Aizen came to me. He found me just after I finished one of my little 'visits' and offered me a chance."

Grinning smugly, she tilted her head a bit. "He said that, if I joined him here in Las Noches, he could help me by letting me go to the world of the living all I wanted, kill all I wanted. All he wanted in return was for me to stir up trouble every now and then. Heh heh…I didn't have the need to ask questions, his offer was far too good to pass up. So, I joined him here, and for a while, it was the best life. I had a few issues with the Espada at the time, but they left me alone for the most part. A few of them even 'envied' me."

She sighed heavily with fallen shoulders. "But apparently, my habits became too much for Aizen. Supposedly, I was starting to draw too much attention, and Aizen didn't want that. So, he tried to kill me." The wicked smiled returned. "But he failed. I even managed to kill two of his Espada before finding my way down here. And so, here I am." She said with arms held out wide.

Rukia took a step forward in shock. "Wait a minute…all those sudden disappearances in the Rukongai over eighty years ago…that was you?!" she asked.

The woman rolled her head back to her. "Yup. That was me. Told you I was here for a long time. Too bad I had to leave; I sooo wanted to get some more killings in."

Ichigo gulped and leaned in towards Timothy's ear. "This bitch is psycho!" he commented lowly.

Timothy rolled his eyes to him. "You just now figured that out?"

Renji narrowed his eyes and pointed his blade at the woman. "Wait a second…I remember reading about those disappearances before, and going by what the reports said, some of them happened in multiple places at the same time. If that was you, how the hell did you manage to be in two places at once?" he challenged.

The woman gave her toothy smile. "Simple; I wasn't the only one with a love for blood."

The Lieutenant's eyes widened a bit before he heard a second voice. "Hadō # 31, Shakkahō!" a masculine voice yelled out from behind.

The whole group turned just in time to see a large ball of fire fly towards them. "Duck!" Uryu yelled, dropping to the floor.

The others obeyed and dropped down as well, letting the kidō sail over their heads and hit the wall near the woman. She shielded her eyes from the debris before glaring at the second being.

"Hey, you fucktard! Watch your aim!" she yelled.

Rukia lifted her head to see another being, a man this time, walking out from the shadows. Like the woman, he was wearing the remains of a soul reaper's shihakusho, or rather, the tattered hakama and what remained of the white shitagi. He, too, was barefoot, and besides being male and having slightly shorter hair on the long side, was a perfect copy of the trapped woman.

He was rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "Heh, sorry sis. That damn light of his was blinding me and I misjudged the distance." He offered.

The woman thrusted a hand out towards the downed group. "How the hell could you miss that?! They were less than ten feet from you! Geeze, and you call yourself my 'brother'?!" she fumed.

The man rose a brow at her and watched as Renji and the other got back off the floor. "Instead of going off on me, sis, why don't you make your temper useful for a change and direct it on them?" he offered, gesturing towards the group with his thumb.

She growled through her teeth, her face turning red. "Fine!" she returned, then stood straight and pointed at Renji. "Look, spiky, I'll admit I'm impressed you managed to catch me like this. Because of that, I guess I could give you a break and give you my name. My name's Kaori Morita, the former 5th seat of Squad 11. And that's my twin brother behind you, Hikaru Morita, same rank, same Squad." She introduced.

Everyone, besides Nel, who was still unconscious, sweatdropped. "…You were in Squad 11?" Renji asked, dumbfounded.

"…You know…that kinda makes perfect sense." Ichigo pointed out.

"With a Captain like Zaraki…it's no wonder the girl's lost her marbles." Timothy added.

The twins tilted their heads. "Who the fuck is Zaraki?" Kaori questioned.

Timothy and Ichigo glanced at each other, then back to her. "Uh…he's the Captain of your squad, stupid." The teen answered.

Hikaru rose a brow. "No, our Captain was Kenpachi Kiganjō, the 10th Kenpachi. Are you telling us someone challenged him and 'beat' him?" he asked in slight shock.

His sister scoffed and waved him off. "Stop crying, so what if he died. The guy was good, and one hell of a fighter, better than both of us put together and then some, but he was still just a lazy bum. Just goes to show you that no matter how good you are, there's always someone better. Speaking of…judging by the way you talk about him, it sounds like this 'Zaraki' guy is one mean brute." She hinted, now looking at Ichigo.

The teen sweatdropped. "If we hadn't have met like this, I coulda sworn the two of you were married, or at least related in some way. You two definitely share the same lust for blood."

Kaori grinned madly. "Too bad I'm not back in the Soul Society; this Zaraki guy sounds like my kinda man. But, no matter. Small talk is over." Bringing her zanpakutō up to her face, she ran her tongue along the flat surface of the blade from hilt to tip. "It's time for me to claim my kills." She said menacingly as she rested the tips of the index and middle fingers of her free hand on the blade. "Gouge, Ketsueki hanta."

Timothy and Ichigo watched as the blade began to glow with a reddish hue for a moment before melting in two. The two halves settled themselves atop of the woman's wrist and hands, swiftly elongating past the knuckles and solidifying.

Once the release transformation was over, the teen and Lieutenant widened their eyes a bit at seeing a pair of tekko-kagi on the woman's hands. Each weapon possessed four, one-foot-long claws that were a solid black darker than a moonless night.

Raising the weapon of her left hand up, she gave one of the claws another slow lick along the blade, giving the two men a sadistic and toothy smile.

"It's been a while since Ketsueki hanta got to make a kill in her released state. I hope you two can put up a good fight; she doesn't like it when her prey dies too quickly." She taunted.

Ichigo and Timothy got into their defensive stances, where the Lieutenant was about to release his own zanpakutō, but he stopped and gave a low growl in annoyance.

'Shit, it's too Goddamned tight in here to use Kit's abilities. I'll barely be able to even swing Kit's blade in its sealed form. Damn, that lunatic has the advantage down here.' He mentally concluded, then glanced at Ichigo's large, cleaver-like weapon. 'Ichigo's in no better shape with his mountain-sized sword. And if all that wasn't bad enough, we've still gotta worry about our friends just a few feet away. We're so fucked.'

He turned back to the woman to see her staring at them with a tilted head. "Well…you plan to attack sometime this week?" she taunted further. When they didn't answer, she only shrugged her shoulders with a sigh. "Fine then, I guess I'll go first." She relented.

The two men tensed as she dropped her right hand and raised her left, ready to swing out in a slash. The woman was still a few yards away, so the men were expecting the woman to make a charge straight for them.

But strangely, the woman only smiled more before swiping out and across. Instincts were the only thing that prevented the two men from receiving a lethal hit across their chests, as an invisible force cut through the air and into the stone wall behind them.

Timothy took a glance behind him from his spot on the floor and nearly gasped at the long, and fairly deep slash marks along the wall. Snapping his head back to the woman and jumping to his feet, he gave the woman a shocked look.

"What the fuck was that?!" he demanded as Ichigo made it back to his own feet.

"How the hell did she do that from over there?!" he added.

Kaori grinned madly with a deep cackle. "Not bad, you two. It's been quite a long time since someone was able to detect and avoid Ketsueki hanta's air slash. Very impressive." She commented.

Timothy took another look at the wall, then back to her. "What the hell did you just do?"

She raised her left claw again with another evil laugh. "I just told you, that was Ketsueki hanta's Air Slash. Her claws cut through the air so quick, and so cleanly using my spirit energy, that it pushes the air in the direction of the swing. The air is moving so fast and so narrow, that it pretty much becomes a set of claws itself. Meaning: I don't have to actually 'touch' you to attack you; even that far away, Ketsueki hanta's claws will 'still' reach you!" she yelled, taking another swing towards them.

The two men jumped to the side at the last second, watching in horror as the invisible slash cut into another section of the wall. They retook their stances and Timothy glanced back at Nel's unconscious form.

'She's liable to get hit laying there like that, but the second I move to get her, that bitch will just hit me while I have my back turned. And Ichigo might not be able to get a good attack in with that sword of his.'

Kaori moved to make another swipe at them, and Timothy quickly reacted by raising his left hand. "Bakudō #81, Dankū!" he chanted.

A transparent barrier, nearly as tall and wide as the passage, formed in front of the pair just as Kaori's Air Slash came at them. The attack struck the barrier, leaving four, smoking marks on the barrier surface with faint cracks in the barrier fanning out from the point of impact.

Kaori rose a brow in interest and surprise. "Oh, so you're good at the higher level kidō, huh? Not bad, not bad. I can hear Ketsueki hanta laughing her ass off right now cause she's so damn happy."

Timothy gritted his teeth tightly. "Let's not do this. We just want to get our friend and leave, that's all. Just let us be and we won't have to kill you." He pleaded.

The woman snickered darkly. "You think I'm worried about dying? Sorry to burst your bubble, guy, but I should have died several years ago by now. I know that I'm going to die sometime down here, there's no question about that; so all I really care about is getting as many kills as I can before that happens. If I end up dying by your hands today, meh, so be it. I had a good run while it lasted. Now, quit your whining and let's get on with this. I'm starting to get bored." She said with a dark face.

The Lieutenant growled back at her. "Fine!" he hissed, then raised his hands again. "Hadō #..."

Kaori took another swing before he could finish, and he had to abandon his chant to avoid getting hit. Ichigo chose this time to charge at the woman and swung his zanpakutō down on top of her.

But the blade never hit its target. The teen gave her a confused look while she chuckled darkly. Glancing up, the teen noticed that the tip of his large weapon was stuck in the ceiling. Panic struck him, and he quickly moved to try and yank the blade from the wall with no success.

Kaori took a close-range swipe at the substitute, but Timothy bashed into the teen's body, knocking Ichigo out of the way as he brought his own blade up in a block. Blade and claw were stuck in a lock, the owners pressing against each other harshly.

The woman smiled evilly, and Timothy's eyes shot wide open as she used her free hand to take another swing at him. Leaping up into the air, he grabbed the hilt of Ichigo's, still stuck, blade in the ceiling.

Flipping himself upside-down and planting his feet on the ceiling, he pressed himself off the wall, pulling and freeing Ichigo's zanpakutō, and rammed the butt-end of the hilt down on top of the woman's head.

Kaori quickly took a step back, allowing the attack to hit the ground. Ichigo was at the Lieutenant's side in an instant, helping him to his feet. Once he was back up, Timothy handed back the teen's zanpakutō and charged at the woman again.

The exile swung again, but with both claws, sending two slashes of air at the man. He held the blade up, catching the first attack, and moved to block the second, but was not fast enough. The second attack caught him in his right upper arm, four deep gashes appearing with a spray of blood.

The man fell back with a growl of pain as Ichigo passed by, now forced to holding his zanpakutō like a halberd with his free hand holding the back of the blade at the midway point. Using his whole body, rather than his arms, the teen took a swing at the woman, thankfully without catching the wall again.

Kaori held her right weapon up, stopping Ichigo's attack, and attempted a jab at the teen's exposed middle. Arching his back, Ichigo was able to just barely avoid getting run through, the tips of the claws only cutting four small slits in his shihakusho.

Ichigo quickly took a step back, holding a hand over the spot where he nearly got impaled with a hiss. "Damn, you bitch!" he cursed.

She merely chuckled. "Thanks for the complement." She returned, stepping forward and trying to jab him again.

Ichigo took another two steps back away from her just as Timothy bolted forward low to the ground swinging up. She caught the blade between two claws, twisting her hand and locking the man's blade in place.

"Nice try." She said, then twisted her body around with her back to him and ran her free claw down his back.

Timothy howled in pain and rolled away from her, losing his grip on his blade and forced to let go of it. He rolled back onto his knee staring back at the woman as she swung the claw with his zanpakutō, slinging it behind her and discarding it.

"What do you plan to do now without you weapon, idiot?" she taunted.

Ichigo ran up to him and, grabbing his uninjured upper arm, pulled the Lieutenant back to his feet. Timothy stood hunched over with his arm and back bleeding profusely while Ichigo gave him a quick look over.

"She's tearing our asses up, Ichigo." He mumbled.

The teen looked back at the woman and nodded with a growl. "Yeah, and I can't get a good hit on her with how narrow this stupid tunnel is."

"I've still got my kidō, but the problem is that I can't get the incantation out before she comes after me. And we gotta keep the fight close-range, or she might hit Nel or one of the others with that stupid air cutter thing of hers." Timothy pointed out.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes at her, then turned to his friend. "I can try to keep her busy while you use your kidō." He offered.

The Lieutenant rolled his eyes to him. "We could do that, but what if she simply moves out of the way? I could still hit Nel by mistake."

"What about that Bakudō crap?" Ichigo asked.

"That's what I'm thinking, but it'll have to be something on the high side, and I can only use a few of them before I get too tired." Timothy warned.

"Oh come on." The woman moaned, getting their attention. "I'm giving you guys the chance to come up with a plan to make this more interesting for me, but seriously, you two are taking for-fucking-ever! Hurry up and think of something already!" she complained.

Both men narrowed their eyes in anger. "I really hate this fucking woman." Timothy moaned.

Ichigo rolled his eyes to him. "You're not the only one. I'll keep the bitch busy, just make sure you hit her and not me."

"Don't tempt me, asshole." The Lieutenant growled.

The teen growled back through his teeth. "Bastard." He hissed back, then charged at the exile while Timothy prepared his kidō.

With Renji's Group

Hikaru and Renji's group had fallen back a bit to the intersection that the group had used to trap the man's sister. Renji and Chad were standing between him and his sister, Rukia to his right, and Uryū to his left, cutting off any means of escape.

Hikaru leaned over with a tilted head, peering over Renji's shoulder and watching his twin sister fight the orange and blonde-haired men ruthlessly with widened eyes of amazement.

"Oh ho ho ho…looks like sis is going bananas with her prey again. Boy, I really feel sorry for your two friends over there. Sis really becomes something else when she gets excited like this. I doubt they'll last another five…nah, I'd give them another three minutes tops before she has their insides on the outside." He commented.

Renji, Rukia, Chad, and Uryū watched intently as the man in front of them stood back straight and sighed depressingly. "It's too bad too; it was kind of entertaining watching those two go at each other over stupid stuff. It got even better when the woman would bash their brains in just to shut them up." He said with a gleeful smile.

Rukia narrowed her eyes at him. "How can you stand to have a sister like that? Isn't it the job of a brother to keep an eye out for their sisters, keep them 'out' of trouble?" she questioned.

Hikaru tilted his head again in confusion. "What do you mean? I 'am' looking out for her. Who do you think it was that suggested she take her killings out to the Rukongai? Surely not her. I mean, she's got skills, and she's one hell of a ruthless killer and all, and she'd likely kill me for saying this too, but Kaori's not exactly one of the brightest people out there, you know?" He paused to hold his palms up. "Hell, I'm the one who always had to hide the bodies after she was done with them, just to make sure no one saw the unique markings of her claws on the bodies. She never did like cleaning up after herself."

Uryū growled in disgust at the man. "You mean you were helping her that whole time? Killing dozens of innocent souls?"

The man raised his head in thought. "Well…I did kill a few of them, just to satisfy my 'own' urges, but Kaori was the one who did most of the bloodwork." He shrugged his shoulders. "But hey, that was perfectly alright with me. As long as my sister was happy, I couldn't care less. Regardless of what you and everyone else might think about me and Kaori, I 'do' love my sister more than anything, and I would do anything to make sure she was happy and all, even if that meant killing others."

"Don't you even feel the slightest bit of regret for what your sister is doing?" Renji challenged.

Hikaru only blinked at him. "Why should I? Like I just said, she's happy, so I'm happy. If people gotta die for that to happen, eh, so be it."

Rukia rose a brow. "And what if the Soul Society managed to catch her and sentenced her for execution, which you know they would? Are you telling me that you're happy to let her live always running?"

He only rolled his eyes. "She'd kill herself before she let that happen, and I do mean that literally. In fact, I'd probably be the one to kill her, just as she'd do for me. Neither of us have a problem being on the Soul Society's hitlist. But, I digress."

Hikaru reached to his side and drew his zanpakutō. Unlike his sister's short, dagger-like weapon, his seemed to be of standard size when sealed. Holding it out, he took a couple of half-hearted 'practice' swings in front of him before letting in rest at his side.

"As much as it was fun talking to you, I'm sorry to say that it's time for us to get down to business." He said solemnly.

Renji gave him a puzzled look. "You really plan to take on the four of us?" he questioned.

He shrugged again. "Why would I fight you, when I can just let you all fight yourselves?" he asked.

Uryū instantly materialized his bow and prepared to fire. "What do you mean?"

Hikaru turned and smiled 'sweetly' at the teen. "You'll see." He answered, then held his blade out towards Renji and Chad. "Repent, Yumemiru Rengoku." He called.

The group tensed as the blade glowed purple for a second, then faded away into nothing, leaving the man holding only the hilt. They watched for several seconds, waiting for the man to attack, but the man only stood there, unmoving.

Rukia was quickly growing suspicious and decided to act first by holding her own zanpakutō out. "Dance…" she began.

Hikaru snapped his head to her and swung his hilt up and across towards her, halting her actions when she suddenly felt…not pain…but more of a soft tearing…or cutting…inside her somewhere.

But that was all she felt. Nothing followed the attack. She narrowed her eyes at Hikaru in confusion and worry.

"What did you do?" she questioned.

Hikaru rubbed the back of his back with a sheepish laugh. "Oh, sorry, I'm sure you were expecting something right off the bat to happen, huh? Well, it's been a while since I've had to call on Yumemiru Rengoku, so he's a bit sluggish at the moment and a bit out of practice. But don't worry, he's almost done with his search." He assured.

Renji rose a brow. "What are you talking about? What search?"

The man blinked a few times. "Oh, Yumemiru Rengoku is searching through the woman's head at the moment, trying to find what he's looking for." He answered.

Rukia gripped her hilt tighter in worry. "And just what is it he's 'searching' for?" she inquired.

For the first time, Hikaru gave her a sinister grin. "For your worst nightmare." He said in an evil voice.

Her eyes widened in fear as her vision suddenly fogged over. Renji, Chad, and Uryū watched in worry as her eyes went dull, the woman now seeming to be in a sort of trance and her guard relaxed.

Rukia's Dreamscape

Rukia's fogged vision began to clear after a moment, and instead of the dark passage of the tunnels with her friends and the demented man in front of her, the area faded in and she was suddenly back in the Soul Society; more specifically, she was standing in the gardens of the Kuchiki manor.

Her eyes snapped left and right, confused as to why she was suddenly back home. Everything was exactly as she remembered; the few cherry trees in full bloom, the small koi pond with the small, wooden bridge spanning over the center of it, and the manor itself a short distance away.

"What…what in the world?" she mumbled lowly.

"I'm surprised." A low, familiar voice spoke out behind her.

Rukia quickly turned around and gasped when she saw the calm and emotionless face of her brother, Byakuya, standing a short distance away.

"B…Brother?" she choked out.

The man's face morphed into one of disgust. "I find it appalling you have the nerve to show your face here, after everything." He said in a tone of anger, almost fury.

Rukia flinched at her brother's cold voice. "Wha…What do you mean, brother? What's going on?" she asked in worry.

Byakuya rose a brow at her. "How can you stand there and ask such a pointless question, after what you've done?" he demanded.

She blinked a few times in confusion. "Brother…what are you talking about? What's going on?"

The Squad 6 Captain simply turned his gaze from her with a light scoff. "To think that you are related Hisana. With such foolish, and honorless actions, it is no wonder she had abandoned you all those years ago."

Rukia froze in horror at the man's words as tear came to her eyes. "Brother…what…what are saying? What…I…I didn't…"

"Such a foolish sister I have." Another voice spoke out.

Rukia gasped at the vaguely familiar voice and turned her head slowly towards it. Her eyes widened into saucers and the tears fell as she gazed upon the deceased form of her older sister, Hisana.

"Hi…sana?" she asked lowly.

The woman, nearly identical in bodily appearance as her own, looked at her with a look of disdain. "Yes, Rukia, it's me; your 'sister', as much as it pains me to be such. I see you've grown up to be the exact woman I feared you'd become." She said snidely.

The woman's words stabbed Rukia's heart, and her tears were falling freely now. "Sister…"

Hisana's face scrunched up in disgust. "Don't call me that; you are no sister of mine. A 'true' sister wouldn't have acted so selfishly and cowardly as you have. It's disgusting that I'm related to you." She sneered.

Rukia turned to face her 'sister' fully, her free hand held out in a pleading manner. "Sister… I don't understand! What is going on?! How am I here, and what are you talking about?!" she asked desperately.

"It seems your own, pathetic morals have blinded you, Rukia." Byakuya mocked, drawing the woman's attention again. "It infuriates me that I was foolish enough to believe that you could be as pure as Hisana. It angers me further that you were a member of the Kuchiki family, and have brought shame and dishonor to one of the four great noble clans. How deplorable."

Her grip on her zanpakutō loosened, allowing it to fall from her hand as she slowly approached the man. "Brother, I have no idea what you're talking about! What is it that you think I did?!"

Hisana rolled her eyes. "I think 'blinded' would be an understatement, love. It looks like her actions have made her stupid as well. Fine then, dear 'sister', let me elaborate the long list of failings in as simple an answer I can."

Rukia turned to her sister, horrified tears pouring down her face as the sister continued to belittle her. "Please, sister, what could I have done to make you and brother hate like this?!"

Hisana crossed her arms loosely, giving Rukia a look of contempt. "You broke our most sacred laws, dear sister, by giving that… 'boy'… your powers. As a Kuchiki, you should have upheld our laws with your life. But no, instead of letting that hollow finish you and dying with honor, you chose the coward's way, by giving the boy your powers so he could save you."

"And that only makes your situation worse, Rukia." Byakuya added, redrawing Rukia's gaze. "Because you feared of dying so much, you allowed a 'human', a being far below us, to save you. Not only that, you had to fall even further by allowing yourself to develop feelings for said human."

"Did you honestly think that he would ever return those feelings, Rukia?" Hisana scoffed. "Did you really think that the boy could ever care for you?"

Rukia snapped her body around, an angry expression on her face. "Of course he would! He came to save me from my execution, didn't he?!" she demanded.

"No, Rukia." Byakuya answered. "It was the boy's 'guilt' that saved you. That is the only decent thing I will say for the boy, is that his honor is true. You had saved him once, and so he thought it necessary to return the debt to you. There were no feelings involved in your rescue, Rukia."

The woman fell to her knees, distraught by her brother's words. "No… He… He came to save me… cause we're friends…"

"Friends? You seriously believed that you, a soul reaper, and a human could ever be friends? No, Rukia. Humans are nothing more than a part of life where souls learn more about themselves, to grow into stronger versions of themselves and learn things that they could not in the Soul Society. You 'friend', Ichigo Kurosaki, is nothing more than another soul in this part of 'living'. Even 'if' he had somehow considered you a friend, that would only last for a few short years, before his living body failed, his memories erased, and his soul returned to the Soul Society. To associate yourself with such beings is despicable. To think that you are my sister… makes me glad I am no longer living."

"And to make my wife feel in such a way only serves to make me despise you even further. It fills me with even more hatred for that boy for managing to 'rescue' you." Byakuya lowered his head and shook it slowly. "To think… that the one whom my wife cherished more than myself had allowed herself to fall so shamefully, all because of one weak, powerless, and infantile human. You are truly… unforgivable."

Rukia raised her head to him as her world fell apart. "… No… I'm… I'm sorry…"

Reality

Renji, Chad, and Uryu watched in horror as the entranced Rukia started crying freely, her body shaking slightly in what seemed to be fear. Every couple of seconds, they could faintly hear the woman mumbled a word or two, and when the name of her sister left her mouth, Renji flinched in horror and anger.

He gritted his teeth and snapped back to Hikaru. "What the hell did you do to her, you bastard?!" he demanded.

Hikaru moved before he could defend himself, if there 'was' a way to defend himself, as he swung the blade-less weapon at him. The Lieutenant felt the same, soft, tearing deep inside himself and he gasped as his own vision began to fog.

"The same as Yumemiru Rengoku is about to do to you." Hikaru answered with a 'smile'.

Renji growled as he fought against the zanpakutō's effects. "Bas…tard…" he hissed as his vision gave out and his eyes dulled over.

Renji's Dreamscape

Renji shook his head, clearing the fogginess inside, and opened his eyes. They widened as suddenly, too, found himself back in the Soul Society. But unlike Rukia being at the Kuchiki manor, Renji saw that he was standing at the peak of Sōkyoku Hill, overlooking the vast expanse of the Seireitei.

"What the hell?!" he spoke out. "How the hell did I get here?! What the hell did that bastard do to me?!"

"Renji."

He gasped at the voice and quickly turned around with a small grin, glad that he at least had someone familiar there to help him. But that grin instantly turned to an open mouth of shock at the sight before him.

There, standing tall and completely unharmed, was the Sōkyoku, with the Kikōō, the Sōkyoku's executioner, flying high right over top of him. At the base of the tall structure, stood the Head Captain, Yamamoto, along with each of the Captains, including Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tōsen, standing in line and facing each other with their gazes of disappointment turned towards him.

"Renji." The voice spoke again.

Renji gulped loudly and slowly turned his gaze up towards the top of the structure. When his eyes fell on the crossbeam of the structure his heart fell down to his feet. There, secured against the middle of the crossbeam with arms held out wide, was Rukia in the same white shitagi he had seen her wear the last time.

She had a look of pain and sorrow etched onto her face, and it only made his heart fall through his feet and into the ground underneath.

"R…Rukia?" he called out.

He saw tears fall down her cheeks as she looked at him with hurt eyes. "Renji…why didn't you save me? Was I not your friend?" she asked in sadness.

He gasped at her accusation, and the loud and powerful voice of Yamamoto drew his attention. "It seems you were negligent in ensuring your own teammate did her duty. Instead, you allowed her to commit such heinous crimes against the Soul Society. It is quite deplorable and unbecoming of a Lieutenant, Renji Abarai." The old man admonished.

"Such carelessness. It shames me that such an ignorant fool is my Lieutenant." Captain Kuchiki furthered.

Renji's jaw fell in shock. "C…Captain Kuchiki!"

"It saddens me to see one who had such promise to be punished in such a manner because of the failures of another." Captain Unohana said lowly.

A low, animalistic growl sounded out from Renji's right. "I agree. Such actions are despicable and have no place here within the 13 Court Guard Squads." Sajin added.

"Tsk, too bad we're stuck with him. I don't like to kill people without a fight, but I can make an exception for you. And you used to be a part of my squad. Thanks to you, Squad 11 has pretty much become the laughing stock of the place." Zaraki grumbled.

Renji listened involuntarily as one-by-one the Captains added their opinions on whatever it was that he had done wrong. His eyes fell back on Rukia, and she could only hold his gaze for a moment before turning her head away in shame.

"Why didn't you stop me, Renji? I thought you were my friend. I trusted you to look out for me." She said in a near sob.

"We all trusted you." Kyōraku lamented.

"So sad." Ukitake added.

Tears began to gather in Renji's own eyes as he clutched handfuls of his hair and growled out in sorrow. "I'm sorry! I…I didn't mean to…"

"I'm sure you didn't, but nevertheless, you still failed in ensuring Rukia Kuchiki did the right thing and stop her from acting foolishly. Because of your lack of action, you will watch as her sentence is carried out." Yamamoto commanded.

Renji's eyes darted back up to the phoenix-like, flaming bird, Kikōō, and watched in horror as it began to draw nearer to Rukia's immobilized form.

Reality

Uryū and Chad looked on as, now Renji as well, had the dull, lost look in his eyes. Chad grabbed the man by the shoulders and attempted to break the Lieutenant from his trance as the Quincy glared at the sadistic, former soul reaper.

"What did you do to them?!" he demanded.

Hikaru turned to him and shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing much, just made them experience their worst nightmares." He answered.

Uryū narrowed his eyes dangerously. "What do you mean?" he questioned as Chad continued to try and wake Renji.

Hikaru smiled and held up his bladeless weapon. "Yumemiru Rengoku is quite different from your regular zanpakutō. He doesn't have a normal blade in his released form and is unable to cut or harm anyone when released, at least physically." He informed, then lowered his weapon. "You see, Yumemiru Rengoku uses his incorporeal blade to 'cut' his way into his opponent's minds, allowing him to look through their worst fears and dreams. Taking that, he's able to put his opponents into a deep, dreamlike trance that is built on those fears and dreams."

He then gestured to Rukia behind him with his thumb. "Your friends here are pretty much stuck in a sleepless dream, filled with nothing but all of their worst fears, their worst nightmares, all combined together into the worst environment they could ever imagine." He moved his hand to the side of his head. "Their battles aren't fought out here, they're fought in here." He said as he tapped his temple before lowering his hand again.

"Your friends will never wake up unless Yumemiru Rengoku allows them to. They'll be forever trapped inside their worst nightmares until their minds shatter, turning them into nothing more than mindless shells of their former selves. While my sister likes to kill her prey by cutting up their bodies, I do so by cutting up their minds. While she enjoys the sounds of her victims' screams of pain, I enjoy the quiet whispers of their suffering." He said with a cackle.

Uryū quickly raised his bow and pulled back on the spiritual bowstring. "You monster! And I thought that bastard, Kurotsuchi, was the worst of them all! Let them go, now!" he demanded.

Hikaru raised his head and tapped his chin in thought. "Ummm…no. I think I'll let them suffer. In fact, I think you should join them." He said in glee.

"Sorry, but I can't let that happen." A low voice spoke out.

The man turned and swiftly jumped to the side as Chad brought his black, armored fist down on him. The energy behind the attack created a small depression at the point of impact. Uryū quickly released his arrow at the point where Hikaru landed, but the man twisted his body enough for the projectile to pass by safely.

"Whoa there, little touchy, aren't we? I think I'll let you have your turn next, big guy." He said with a grin.

Uryū's eyes widened in fear with his words. "Chad! Move it!" he shouted.

Charging the energy quickly, Chad turned his body and thrusted his fist out at Hikaru, just as the man took a swing at the gentle giant. A large burst of energy flew from the teen's fist straight towards Hikaru, but suddenly exploded in midair when it hit something unseen, raising a cloud of dust.

Chad swiftly charged another attack and went after the man through the dust cloud. Hikaru growled lowly in annoyance, not expecting hit attack to miss, as he continued leaping back. He bounded over to where Rukia was still entranced and tried to use her as a shield, trying to get away from the large teen.

The action caused Chad to slow his assault, not willing to risk hurting his friend, and used deliberate movements to try and make Hikaru move away from her. The smaller man chuckled as he moved side-to-side, keeping the short woman's body between Chad and himself.

"What's wrong, big guy? Afraid of hitting your tiny friend here? I wouldn't worry too much about her, seeing as how she can't see or feel anything at the moment." He said with a sneer.

The whole time, Uryū was standing a short distance away, an arrow ready to fire, as he waited for a clean shot on the sadistic man. Thoughts were running through his head as he watched the two maneuver around Rukia's body.

'He's avoiding fighting at close range as much as he can. I know he said his blade can't cut us like a normal blade can, but does that also mean he can't use his abilities at close range? Not only that…' The teen narrowed his eyes in deeper thought as Chad attempted another punch at Hikaru past Rukia's head. 'Earlier…Chad's attack exploded prematurely, as if it had hit something. At the same time, that man swung his zanpakutō in an attempt to trap Chad as well. Did Chad's energy somehow intercept the man's attack? If so, then that means that his attacks can be stopped with spirit energy.'

He took his shot at the man just as he was coming around to Rukia's right side. The man was fortunate enough to see the arrow in time to duck and let it fly overhead. That was the chance Chad needed, and it allowed him to get Hikaru away from Rukia and back towards the center of the intersection.

Chad took the spare few seconds to gently move Rukia's out of the way and lay her down against the wall while Uryū fired arrow after arrow at Hikaru to keep him busy. The Quincy had to admit, for the tight area there were in, the madman was moving around quite well, managing to avoid each of Uryū's arrows. If it wasn't for the said tight area, the teen knew a quick burst of fire with his Licht Regen would swiftly put an end to the man.

Taking another shot, the Quincy instantly used his Hirenkyaku to flash past, and across the area to land next to Chad and fire another shot, attacking Hikaru from two sides. The man managed to dodge the first one, but couldn't move away fast enough for the second. The arrow clipped him in the flank just under the ribcage in a graze.

Hikaru hissed in slight pain and glared at Uryū as Chad stood up and got into a defensive stance. "Nice shot, you're the first one to hit me in…damn, I can't even remember the last time I got hit. And just what is up with that weapon of yours? Looks familiar somehow." He questioned.

Uryū narrowed his eyes again. "I am a Quincy, and this is my spirit bow, Ginrei Kojaku." He answered.

The man nodded in understanding. "Ah, I thought that was familiar."

The teen rose a brow. "You've met a Quincy before?" he asked.

"Nah, but they were one of the learning subjects back when I went through the academy. They didn't really cover much, pretty much just the basics, but I know enough about their spirit bows and how they work. You collect spirit energy around you to make arrows, right?" Hikaru inquired.

"I'll admit that I'm slightly impressed, but I wouldn't count on that knowledge to save you. You're about to learn that there's more to a Quincy than just his bow." He warned.

Hikaru shrugged his shoulders dismissively. "Don't matter, regardless of what tricks or weapons you have, it's only a matter of time before you literally join your friends in sleep, and then hell."

I low, thumping sound came from the teens' left and they turned to see Renji was now on the floor twitching. Their eyes widened in fear as Hikaru let out a low chuckle of amusement.

"And judging by the way things look so far, hell's not too far away for your friend there."


Okay, so now we know who our stalkers are, plus we get a little bit of action as well. Reviews are appreciated in letting me know what you all think about my two new OCs as villains. In case some of you might be wondering, these two siblings were in fact the two OC requests from a couple months ago, but I never got any responses, so I had to go with them. Hope they turned out to you all's liking.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and can't wait to toss the next one out for ya. Laters.