"Let's go." The words were out of her mouth, harsh, demanding. She didn't want to take them back. Not now. Not ever. Rukia had masked her hurt behind a wall of silence, her lips composed into neither a smile nor a grimace, her eyes glassy reflecting nothing of their inner turmoil. Stark had opened the door for her, allowing her a glimpse behind his lanky body of a pillared room, green pillows and a small girl who studied her intently.

"Alright."

She half-thought he would introduce them, assuming the one-eyed girl a fraccion of his. She had vague memories of the Octava's pair. Arrancars who were less human-like with their round bodies and skinny legs - what were their names? Annoyed with herself, she realized she couldn't remember. Well, there was plenty of time to learn them.

His acceptance diffused some of her animosity.

The door closed behind him.

"This would be easier -" grey eyes looked almost apologetic before his hand descended to her shoulder. It occurred to her moments later when the world stretched into a blur of white, white walls, that along with an immense reiatsu, Stark's gift was speed. Then, another thought struck her.

He doesn't know how to say sorry.

It's fine.

The words lodged in her throat. Rukia closed her eyes, momentary dizziness taking a hold. It seemed a lifetime ago that she had left the Thirteenth Division members in their beds, since she had watched the moon from Soul Society.

Her feet touched solid ground.

She opened her eyes to glimpse sand, gloom, shadows. They were far. Far from Las Noches where the dome-like shape and rising towers were faint scars in a desert world. It occurred to her that she would never have left the shadow of the fortress for days with her shunpo alone. "Thanks," her voice small, strange too she had never been alone with Stark without someone else being close, near enough to call.

But, he's different, her mind whispered. Stark said nothing to her gratitude, glancing around, brow furrowed. She could see from the tension in the long line of his body that he was searching out likely targets.

The way you thought Ulquiorra was different? Another part of her mind taunted.

"What was it like as a Hollow?"

Surprised, he let her finish her sentence. She had stayed curiously silent from the moment they had left the shadow of Las Noches. He had been inclined to keep a hold on her utilizing his Sonido when her speed had shown as lacking.

As they neared a place of cliffs, where dunes tumbled away to the foot of cavernous rock he pondered her question.

Lonely, he might've said, but Rukia would demand a clearer answer.

"I ...I was part of a pack of wolf Hollows."

"You were?" Curiosity lit her eyes.

"I found that out through a failed recruitment. The Hollow claimed to recognize my energy signature. He said I used to run with them as pack leader

"You...believed him?"

"I didn't see any reason for the Hollow to lie. He had been placed in a pit with other Hollows assuming the victor would emerge."

Rukia shivered, her blood ran cold at the thought. "But, it's just you and...what happened to the rest of your pack?"

Distractedly, he ran his fingers through his hair. "That's something I'd like to know too. Did I...," but he couldn't speak it aloud. Flickering a glance to the pale cheeked Shinigami walking beside him, her face alight with curiosity, he wondered if she'd turn from him in disgust.

What if I killed my pack? What if I did it to evolve...and don't remember? Los Lobos...no.

"We're not far now." Stark said, clearing his throat meaningfully.

Rukia looked ahead to the edge of cliff descending to a sheer descent. "What is this place?"

Stark paused at the precipice; below a void of darkness surrounded by twisted branches of crystal. "One of the many entrances to Menos Forest. Stronger Hollows take refuge in the vast underground labyrinth beneath our feet." He prepared to phase down, glancing at the minute sound of sand grains crunching beneath her step. At the edge of his vision, Rukia appeared a blur of white, blue -black and violet. "How exactly do you go about this?" Trepidation she tried to hide as bravado colored her tone.

"Easy, seek out the strongest energy signature and convert them. Ichimaru and a group of Adjuchas loyal to the cause had taken over for a time."

"What happens after you...find some?"

The same thing that the Gillian army went through.

"You'll see." He said evasively feeling her eyes dart toward his face suspicious.

Menos Forest was beyond anything she had ever imagined before. Huge tree trunks rooted deep in sandy soil rose to form the canopy above them blocking out the light of the unnatural moon. In between the trees, darkness dwelled, she sensed eyes watching her.

A foreign energy signature pulsed from the west.

She tensed, automatically reaching for her sword.

"That'll be the Guardian of the Forest."

Immediately, she was directionless."How do you..." Rukia's voice was hushed somehow still echoing in the vast space around them. "Stop from getting lost?" When Stark didn't answer, she sent him a quick look.

He had stilled, grey eyes half-lidded, ear cocked as if he was listening for something.

"What is it?"

She tried listening.

"What? What do you hear?"

Unable to bear the suspense, Rukia punched him, then immediately let out a silent cry. It was like hitting a brick wall! Stupid idiot! Glaring at her throbbing fist, she lifted her eyes to find him gone.

"Stark!?"

She spun around, catching the tail end of his reiatsu cutting a swath through the forest. Muttering imprecations under her breath, she shunpo'd after him. The trees became a blur as Rukia raced past them, around them skirting splintered outgrowths, glimpsing the claw-footed tracks of beasts.

Beside a slag heap of fallen rock, she found him contemplating a broken edge of a Hollow mask. "Why did you do that?!" Rukia burst out, her chest tight, her side aching from the run.

"You were safe enough. The Hollows seem to have scattered before our entrance." He said dismissively, "I thought I sensed something here, but I wasn't sure what it was." Another glance, a flicker of suspicion to the scorch marks against the rock. Someone had blasted the creature - a horned lizard climbing the evolutionary chain, close. Almost point blank.

"Cero?" She guessed, noticing his preoccupation. But, even as she spoke, she knew she was wrong. The energy had long since dissipated, but the circumference of it, the ashen residue that came away on her fingertips. Byakko Rai or something like it. It was kido. A Shinigami had been there.

"I don't think so."

Rukia's heart tumbled in her chest. If I was seen...but, how or why would one of them be here? She couldn't think of any survey parties that were granted clearance to enter Hueco Mundo, at least not for a very long time.

"Stark...,"

"Be on your guard."

In the end it turned out his advice was for nothing.

"We've been here for a while." She commented, her feet sinking deep into the sand.

"They've moved farther away."

"I wonder why?"

Privately, she thought it might've been his presence that dissuaded them. His reiatsu no longer overflowed as it once might've, but even suppressed, she could feel it like fluttering warmth against her skin.

Then, something else occurred to her.

"Was it always like this?"

"Hit and miss?" Slight frustration. He looked sleepy. "I suppose so. Do you want to go back or...?"

"We go back."

Truth be told, she was footsore from walking.

"There is one other thing you should see before we're done for today."

... Living World ...

He blended in against the backdrop of the town. Unseen, unnoticed save by a few curious ripples on the scanners of Twelfth Division. Easily, he evaded detection by the Shinigami stationed in the town who patrolled passively.

No one expected him, why should they?

Soul Society was much too-wrapped up in the old ways, held by rigid belief systems. Anyone who posed a threat was consumed with the monotony of their incipient existences a world away. Ulquiorra kept watch over the boy, Kurosaki Ichigo, who with his untrained senses, went about his waking life much the same as he always had. Home. School. Home. Repeat. The humans Kurosaki identified as companions, were bland specks fading into the backdrop of the boy's overflowing reiatsu.

Once, Ulquiorra believed a member of Kurosaki's group had sensed him. A bespectacled human who had glanced, gaze sharp, almost suspicious. The almost possibility had reassured him that while somewhat perceptive, the human wasn't a threat. Likely, he had the ability to sense spirits, felt something off in the environment induced by Ulquiorra's presence. He hadn't planned on an extended mission to the living world, reluctant to the last to leave Rukia in the care of the Primera. Then, the pager Kurosaki carried beeped during a family outing. Ulquiorra watched him exit his body with a piece of soul candy, emerging in the black robes of a Shinigami.

He had seen the human fight before. A brash, unrestrained style of a fool swinging around a large sword. But, this was different. Kurosaki faced off against a Hollow vaguely familiar to him as one almost recruited into the army by Ichimaru; the Grand Fischer. In the falling rain, Kurosaki dueled with the specter from his past, unswayed by the figure of a human woman dangling from the end of the Fischer's lure. Though its escape was inevitable, Kurosaki had survived, trudging back to find his body.

Should I destroy him now?

His orders didn't include terminating the target.

No. He would continue observing. Running his fingertips across the atmosphere, the dimensional fabric split widening into a portal. Wait for a change. In the meantime, report what he had seen of Kurosaki's lone battle with the Grand Fischer, perhaps suggest the retrieval of the Adjuchas class Hollow for recruitment now that it was injured. Briefly, he thought the passage of time steadily bleeding into days in the living world, the difference of slowness measured by sands in the trapped hourglass of Hueco Mundo.

... Las Noches ...

He showed her the pits. Lined with sekki-seki stone, they were deep almost bottomless. Within them, horrible screams arose from the victims, lesser Hollows consumed. The air was thick with malaise, tinny with fear.

"What is this?" She felt the gorge rising in the back of her throat.

"Evolution."

"Did any of the Espada undergo this?" Rukia winced at the sound of teeth cracking through bone. In her fleeting horror, she imagined Ulquiorra cast into a pit...similar to the ones hidden in Soul Society...

"No. We're far up on the evolutionary chain. I'm certain none of the ten were ever here." Stark watched her for a moment longer. "Come on, we'll have to resume our search tomorrow."

"And the next day?"

"Yes."

"Shouldn't we return...," shouldn't I...she corrected her thought. "Go back to Soul Society?"

"No, unless Aizen-sama orders it. Our absences are taken care of." Stark replied unconcerned, moving away from the pits. Rukia remembered the shade of Ichimaru and was repulsed. Catching up to the Primera quickly, she was glad when the sound of the screams had faded into the distance.

"Is there a training facility here?"

"I can show you where it is."

"Maybe some other time." They had stepped into another corridor this time ending in a long flight of stairs. She figured eventually she'd know her way around the labyrinth fortress. "How long did it take for Aizen to build Las Noches?" Rukia sensed the awe in her voice and strove to quell it.

"Years." Came Stark's clipped response.

"How long have you been in his service?"

"Five." It could've been more, maybe less. Time was meaningless to a Hollow. Stark walked her as far as the entrance to the Cuatro's palace, sensing as he had surmised Ulquiorra hadn't returned. Likely, he'd be gone for a longer period than other missions. Another sensation accompanied his thought, relief.

"No harm must come to her."

"Goodnight." Rukia said first before he had a chance. Bowing slightly, she slipped inside the room. Stark looked after the panel a moment longer then walked away, shaking his head to clear it.

She was certainly something else. Her reaction to the pits revealed far more about her character than he had thought. Rukia was full of questions, compassionate to a point. He went in search of Aizen to make a full report.

In the control room with it sleek high-tech console, he found Tosen listening to a recorded conversation of Halibel's Fracciones.

"Director General," Stark said as a way of announcing his presence. "Where is Aizen-sama?"

The blind man paused playback, fingertips running over the surface like he sought the raised dots of braille. "Aizen-sama has returned to Soul Society. Have you come to deliver your report?"

"Yes. We were unsuccessful this day in seeking recruits. I intend to extend the search to the sekkiseki cliffs in case they've hidden away there."

Tosen nodded, "how is Kuchiki? Did she handle herself well?"

"Of course." Stark thought it went without saying she had behaved just like a traitor of Soul Society despite the Director General's doubt she would. "Have you had much contact with the Kuchiki clan, sir?"

"No, they don't associate much with commoners. A member of their family has always had the Sixth Division captaincy while briefly retaining the position of Fukutaichou."

Stark sensed a lecture coming, inching backward with the notion to slip away.

Tosen's voice cut through the air like a knife, stopping him in his tracks. "Their breed is aristocracy. Arrogance built on centuries of oppressing the weak. It caused quite a scandal when Kuchiki-Taichou married a commoner, then years later adopted Kuchiki Rukia-san as his sister."

"I wouldn't have guessed," Stark said easily, hiding his surprise. "I don't know how nobles are, but she is unlike any other." Admiration lifted the end of his sentence.

Tosen was aware of it, assuming the Primera's mission into Soul Society had been so far successful due in part to the Kuchiki girl. "Ichimaru was a snake. I wasn't dismayed to learn of his passing. That Kuchiki-san killed an officer of his caliber indicates her hidden potential. Watch over her, ensure she doesn't hinder the cause."

"I will, oh and there is one other thing."

"What?"

"In Menos Forest, we discovered the site of a battle that had been fought not long before. It seemed to Rukia and also to me that the residual traces were not from Hollows but from a Shinigami and Hollow."

"That's...unexpected. Are you certain?"

"Not at all."

Tosen fell silent, his reflection mirrored on glass, pensive, but unconcerned. "Investigate further and if you find anything else, report it immediately."

Recognizing dismissal, he turned toward the door.

"There hasn't been a survey team from Soul Society in years."

Once alone, Rukia absorbed the silence of the obsidian surfaces, white monochromatic bedding. Her first mission had been almost uneventful, if she looked past the peculiars long enough it almost felt normal. If normal was relative, she smiled thinly.

Still, Stark had been a welcome presence, comforting even with his steadiness of mind. With him, she had felt safe.

Rukia kneaded the heel of her palm into her forehead. While she doubted Stark would ever hurt her, it wasn't good to become too comfortable.

Sighing, she padded across the hallway into her own chamber.

Tossing a white shift onto the bed, she kicked her sandals into a discreet corner. Another door led to a bathroom of glistening stone. A sunken tub surrounded by fragrant candles occupied the center of the room. In one corner, a shower stall had been built into the wall. Soul Society had been positively primitive when it came to installing the newest commodities from the living world. Ironically, those thoughts made her think of outdated Feudal systems. What had Aizen promised the Hollows who followed him? Luxury goods? Rukia smirked, tossing her dress into a hamper against the wall. Bathrooms, hot water, tea? That was sad. Tosen had seemed to say the palace represented power.

Curious to the last, she made a mental note to ask Stark - anyone - who gave her five minutes of their time - 'cause goddammit, she was Ichimaru's replacement. She was traitor - Shinigami - woman - she was traitor for all the wrong reasons.

Finally fed up with her self-analyzing, Rukia jumped in the shower, trying to wash the words she felt graven upon her skin away.

She awakened to a squeaking sound coming from her immediate left. Rolling over onto her side, she hazily glimpsed a masked figure bow with the formality of a Kuchiki servant beside the metal cart, then retreat silently. Rukia tumbled out of bed in her haste to sit up, dazed and confused. Landing hard, she stumbled up to her feet, "wait! Wait! I -" What was I thinking? That I slept on a thin mattress on the floor behind rice paper walls, birds chirped in the garden, somewhere the many servants waited on my brother - she pinched herself, smiling mirthlessly at the pain. She was awake alright. Kuchiki Rukia had slept soundly in the traitor's palace. Right.

Glancing toward the covered dishes, scenting the fragrance of green tea, she shook her head. Hunger had fled with memories of the past day - night. Whichever it was. Donning a robe from the edge of the bed, she wandered through the rooms, ran her hand over table tops polished to an ebony shine. Rukia had half a thought of dressing, going to harass Stark into leaving early for their mission; maybe they'd have better luck today, distasteful though that was. The sooner it was over -

She opened the last door, expecting another empty, lifeless room, but this one contained a breath of reiatsu. Why didn't I sense it before? She could've slapped herself. Why would she? Las Noches was filled with the spirit pressures of the Hollows within. Rukia's eyes darted toward the bed, absorbing the sight of the figure lying there.

Ulquiorra.

He must've returned late.

Rukia felt the tension drain from her body. Even with the sting of his (logical) words, she was still drawn to him.

Ulquiorra's face was relaxed, arms at his sides. He had loosened the Gi jacket at the throat, exposing the slim white column the base of which resided his empty chain of fate. She had seen his skin before, marveling at the pure colorlessness of it. Against her better judgment, she drew near, sinking one knee onto the black bedspread. Inching forward, she folded her legs beneath her. He hadn't stirred, remaining so still a repose of death might've been thought had she not glimpsed his chest settle, slight motion that marked a dreamless sleep.

Extending her hand, Rukia touched his cheek, fingers folding against the cool skin into a soft caress.

He stirred, hard hand snaking around her wrist. Rukia jolted, unbalanced from leaning forward. Ulquiorra's eyes had slitted open, the lids heavy almost dazed.

For a moment, she doubted he knew her.

Then, he flipped her over onto the bed, her body bounced with the motion, a gasp escaped her lips. They were inches apart, his knees digging against her sides as he crouched over her. Rukia scarcely breathed. He had startled her into brief submission with his reaction. Little by little, she felt air return to her lungs, indignation surfacing. "Get off of me!" Shoving her free hand into his chest, Ulquiorra released her, sinking by her side.

"What were you doing?"

"I just -," wanted to touch you - punch you - make you feel something. Out of the thousands of Hollows that comprised his form, what had happened to the brief snatches of happiness, glass-like joy, anger, hatred, pain, sorrow, everything humans cherished, that were theirs? She had no answers. Tired of her mind running in useless circles, she relaxed into just being.

"How was your mission?" Like any other day. Like children playing a game of war, the stakes? The world's end.

"Kurosaki Ichigo's abilities are raw, his level is far beneath my own. I don't understand Aizen-sama's interest in him."

Ichigo was different...

"However, he bears further watching."

Rukia stared up the ceiling, her eyes closing.

"My own-"

"You entered Menos Forest and discovered an anomaly."

She was surprised he knew already. Keeping tabs on me? Rukia smirked, but it quickly faded. "Stark said something was wrong, the Hollows wouldn't get near us. Then, he showed me the pits." It wasn't that she didn't trust Stark, but she -

"Were you ever in there?" Deep down, she needed to know. She had to make sure.

"No. Aizen has...," Ulquiorra let the sentence hang, continuing in softer tones. "From his own experiments, an orb of distortion capable of transcending the boundaries of Hollow and Shinigami."

He had stolen the research of scientist Kisuke Urahara, creating his own fallible method of forming an army from monsters.

"I was reborn."

"You were sleeping, I'm sorry I woke you." She murmured after a brief interlude of pleasurable silence.

I was dreaming. Of a world where you and I didn't exist as we are. I laid in crystal after searching for meaning, something so simple it eluded me in the desolate sands. I was born in a pit surrounded by others whose black bodies amidst my white form singled me as an outcast.

"Where was I?" Rukia asked disturbed.

"In Soul Society."

We were enemies, on opposing sides of the war.

It was almost unbearable those images of Rukia - the other Rukia, smiling, punching, fighting alongside the trash Kurosaki. She had many secrets, kept her feelings inside. They had never seen one another, but were enemies just the same.

And that girl. Orihime Inoue. The girl with the power to reject fate. He held back from speaking of her, such a good and kind human even to him. Though she was only a diversion to Aizen, he had taken note of her unique ability, believing she'd be of use.

"What happened in the end?"

"I didn't see."

But, what was the eventual end to all of Aizen's plans?

Destruction, rebirth, fate was cyclic.

"Rukia." Their hands brushed.

She pulled a face, "was I so different?"

His tilted brow questioned her unease.

"Does it matter?"

Rukia pursed her lips like she thought it did. "No." Reluctantly letting go.

She ate daintily of the fruit left on white bowls. Warmed the tea with a modified Kido spell. He sipped from the tall porcelain cup with its curved handle, observing her sticky fingers, crossed legs and hiked up skirt. Yes, she was the same Rukia in some ways.

When she was done and they had said their goodbyes, he thought of Kurosaki in the living world bereft of the small raven-haired girl always at his side.

- TBC

AN: Sorry for the long wait! RL's been a pain lately with new bosses, counseling and general shenanigans around the house. Thanks for sticking with me (if you have) and kudos to my 'Guest' Reviewer, no the story isn't discontinued, I'm glad you liked it!

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