Title: Turnabout
Author: darkling59
Fandom: Bleach
Rating: T
Date: 9/12/2021
Disclaimer: Bleach and all associated characters, settings, concepts, etc. within this story do not belong to me. All of the original stuff does. Please DO NOT steal.

Warnings for this Chapter: Minor character death (no one unexpected), modded canon to fill plot holes, violence, everything even remotely concerning Koga and Muramasa

Please read and Review!

Rebellion - Day 3 (Evening)

'Leaving now' turned out to be a misnomer. While it was true that Ichigo sped right past the mobilizing squad of reinforcements on his way to the Living World, Starrk's companions were flagged down as soon as they came into sight. A cry went up from the crowd flitting over the rooftops and a single familiar figure detached from the mass to approach.

"Kyoraku-taicho!" Nanao flashed out of shunpo at her captain's side. "We thought-."

"Ah, Nanao-chan! Always a sight for sore eyes." The captain winked. Behind him, Katen sighed loudly.

Nanao choked down her initial rush of relief enough to give him an arch glare before continuing at a more sedate and controlled pace.

"That is, a wolf…zanpakuto creature informed us that you required our assistance."

"And he was right! But the situation has changed since then." Shunsui waved an arm at the reconstituted dome of fire under Sokyoku Hill and the forest burning to charcoal around it. Thankfully, the flames were still far from any buildings but they showed no sign of slowing down. "The head captain decided to face Ryujin Jakka alone and, thanks to the efforts of Hitsugaya-taicho and Starrk-san, we were freed to handle Muramasa in the meantime!"

"…Starrk-san?" Nanao eyed the raging inferno nervously but managed to keep her voice level as she sought more information.

"The creator of that wolf you encountered." Shunsui gestured at Starrk but continued before Nanao could do more than glance at him. "I see you've gathered quite a few comrades! That's good, we'll need them where we're going."

"…Sir?"

"It seems Muramasa's target lies in the Living World, on the outskirts of Karakura Town."

"I assume that is why we saw Ichigo Kurosaki go tearing past us ten minutes ago?"

"You would be correct! But we should not leave him to handle this alone, especially as Muramasa is our enemy, not his. Do all of your companions have their zanpakuto back?"

"Mostly. Kurotsuchi-taicho finally figured out how to end Muramasa's mind control and repair broken zanpakuto." Her expression darkened. "Or at least, he finally decided to tell us."

"Are you doubting our dear friends in the Research and Development Institute?" There was amused understanding in Shunsui's tone and Nanao grimaced, allowing herself a brief moment of unprofessionalism. No one trusted the captain of the twelfth division, not even his own subordinates. Especially his own subordinates.

"Kurotsuchi-taicho's research has proven indispensable and is much appreciated." She temporized, though her next statement was forced out through gritted teeth. "It simply would have been more appreciated if he'd informed us when he discovered that he could fix zanpakuto, rather than spouting alarmist nonsense questioning whether the sword spirits were destroyed for good."

"Why, Nanao-chan! It sounds like you were worried!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Sir." She scowled.

"Shunsui, stop teasing her." Jushiro chided as he stepped up next to his friend to smile at Nanao. "I am glad you're okay, Nanao."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Now, who exactly has their zanpakuto back and who is likely to have it back within the next half hour or so? We'll need a support squad to send after Ichigo Kurosaki as soon as possible, a set of guards to take care of the fire, and another set to guard this side of the senkaimon just in case Muramasa attempts to escape back to Soul Society."

Momentarily forgotten, Starrk stood in the background, Lilynette still hanging off his back. Sogyo, Koto, Katen, and Kyokotsu stood to either side but they felt less like guards and more like fellow spectators. He listened as Nanao rapidly spouted off a couple dozen names and status reports, recognizing maybe one in three of them, and eyed the nervously milling crowd on the ground below them.

"Why'd we stop?" Lilynette whispered. Or, well, tried to whisper. Not only was her mouth only a few inches from Starrk's ear but their group was clustered so closely together that there was no way the other zanpakuto spirits wouldn't hear her.

"Our shinigami are captains." Katen answered her, low and even. "They can't just leave."

Lilynette shrunk back at the intensity of the old zanpakuto's stare, but she couldn't quite hold her tongue. Starrk was just glad she didn't snap and snarl back, like she would have before joining the Academy. "But…aren't we in a hurry? Why don't all of them just come with us?"

Sogyo and Koto giggled in unison and Lilynette jumped, nearly slipping from her position when she discovered that they were hovering at her eye-level less than a foot behind her.

"That's silly!"

Her face flushed but before she could take offense, the boys continued, alternating at high speed.

"The others need their guidance!"

"And there's lots that needs to be done here too!"

"We don't know if Muramasa's coming back."

"If he does, Seireitei needs to be ready!"

"And there's still Ryujin Jakka!"

"He seems really, really angry."

"What if the city burns down while we're gone?"

"Our masters need to organize the city's defenses!"

"Most of the captains are busy-"

"-Cuz they were attacked by their zanpakuto."

"So they can't do it!"

"So it's gotta be our masters!"

"And Ichigo's good at fighting!"

"If anyone can take Muramasa, he can!"

"And it's not dark yet; the soutaicho said Muramasa can't let Koga out before the sun sets!"

"Probably!"

"Yeah! Probably!"

Poor Lilynette's head was spinning nearly as fast as the little boys capering around her and Starrk, using shunpo to dodge high, low, and in circles. She groaned and buried her face in Starrk's shoulder.

"You guys are gonna give me a headache." She muttered into the fur of his coat's collar.

Starrk took up where she left off, a faint frown turning down his mouth. "How many of them are going to Karakura, then?"

"Um, probably a lot?"

"At least half!"

"Muramasa's important!"

"Our master probably won't, though."

"Yeah, he needs to stay and make sure everyone's doing what they're supposed to!"

Starrk interrupted before they could really get going again. "Why don't the rest of us leave, then?"

"Are you so eager to face Muramasa?" Katen was smirking at him, a faint but mocking expression. It was a good thing Lilynette still had her face down and didn't see it.

A raised eyebrow informed her that he wasn't intimidated. "Hardly."

"Enough, Zanpakuto."

Both of them blinked and looked down at Captain Hitsugaya who was standing several meters behind them and staring at the inferno underneath Sogyoku Hill accompanied by a silent Hyorinmaru.

"I'm sorry?" Katen's voice dropped to a dangerous purr. The diminutive captain didn't seem to notice.

Starrk obediently fell silent, but his eyes lingered on Hyorinmaru. The dragon zanpakuto he'd conversed with only a couple days ago was wholly focused on his shinigami. There was rekindled life in those formerly-miserable eyes and the connection between soul reaper and sword was obviously mended, to both of their benefit.

"Who's he?" Lilynette's whisper wasn't quite soft enough and Toshiro twitched, tensing.

Starrk shrugged. He didn't even try to be quiet when he replied. "Captain…Hitsu-something?"

"Captain?! He looks my age!" She sounded downright offended.

"It's Captain Hitsugaya!" The white-haired boy snapped, jerking around to glare. "And I'm over fifty years old; physical appearance does not equate to age here!"

Lilynette, leaning forward, pulled back in surprise at the reaction and nearly fell off her perch again. "Well, Sor-ry. Geez."

Toshiro was literally steaming, white wisps of vapor rising from his hair.

"Still a captain, Lilynette." Starrk absently reminded her. He shifted his shoulders and frowned when she clutched him harder. "What's the matter? You can stand on your own if you want."

She growled. "Gimme a break, Starrk. I learned how to stand in the air this morning and got here all the way from the Academy on my own. I'm tired."

"…Oh. Right."

"Wait, what?" Anger fading, Toshiro finally took in the girl clinging to the 'dangerous wolf zanpakuto' and her lack of black shihakusho. "You're his wielder? But you're just a kid!"

"Hey!"

"Now, now!" Ukitake broke off his conversation to intervene (proving he'd been keeping track of his companions the entire time, despite appearing preoccupied). He held up his hands with a conciliatory smile. "I'm sure you're both very capable, despite your ages."

"I'm a captain!"

"I meant no offense, Hitsugaya-taicho!"

Toshiro left off, muttering darkly.

"…And I'm sure Lilynette-chan has quite a history in Rukongai to back up her strength."

At his expectant eyebrow, Lilynette shrugged uneasily. "Some stuff happened, sure. I was there for…four months?" She cocked her head at Starrk. "Right?"

"You'd know better than I would. I wasn't awake in the beginning."

She grimaced, remembering those dark days when she'd been all alone.

The captains pulled back, startled. Even Shunsui paused in giving Nanao her last instructions to listen.

"Four months?" Toshiro found his voice first. "That's not…wait, how long have you been at the Academy?"

"Uhm…also four months? Right, Starrk?"

"…I thought it was closer to two."

"Nah, you just slept most of the time. Maybe three. I think?"

"That's not possible." The small captain paled, looking up at Starrk and remembering everything he'd done since the start of the rebellion. The power he'd displayed and the fights he'd won. They'd been in Soul Society less than a year? Maybe less than six months?

Jushiro shook himself out of shock and offered a strained smile. "I'm sure your Academy records will give the exact date."

Starrk frowned deeply at the captain for the inadvertent implications. He'd known they'd be looking into Lilynette, but the suggestion still disturbed him.

Jushiro had no more reassurances to give. Instead, he turned to Toshiro.

"Hitsugaya-taicho, would you mind staying here for a little while and helping to put the fire out?"

"What?! What about Muramasa?! I could-!"

"I know, and I agree. Once the fire is out, your assistance will be needed in the battle. But, for now, you are the only shinigami with a reclaimed zanpakuto and appropriate powers to counter Ryujin Jakka."

"But…But…" He cast about desperately for other ice and water zanpakuto wielders. "Rukia Kuchiki! She has an ice zanpakuto and she might have regained its allegiance by now."

"Unfortunately, Rukia has already left for the World of the Living." Jushiro frowned. "Without her zanpakuto."

There was no one else with the necessary power level. Toshiro scowled, trying not to pout childishly. He wanted to fight Muramasa, not play the part of a glorified fire hose. But he was a captain and the fires were threatening Seireitei; it was his responsibility.

"I understand. I'll come join you when the fires are out." He grudgingly bit out.

"Oh, I won't be going. I'll be coordinating actions from this side of the senkaimon." Jushiro explained. "Kyoraku will be coordinating from the other side of the portal. Rukia is already in Karakura Town and so is Yoruichi. Apparently, she beat us to Nanao's reinforcements; she was delayed by the zanpakuto of Lieutenants Matsumoto and Hinamori. Both of them were captured and entrusted to the twelfth division; their owners are waiting for them to be returned. Captain Komamura is in a similar situation; apparently Captain Zaraki got in a scuffle with his zanpakuto and broke it, along with Lieutenant Sasakibe's. It will take time for Captain Kurotsuchi to repair them."

"Zaraki." Starrk spoke up quietly. "What happened to him?"

"Worried he'll challenge you to another fight?" Shunsui put in, stepping forward with a smirk as Nanao took off behind him to carry his orders to the men and women below. "Not to worry, Zanpakuto-san. He was injured in the battle and Captain Unohana is not going to release him until after this is dealt with."

"Hmph. Good idea." Toshiro put in. "He'd insist on going to the Living World and the last thing anyone needs, especially the humans in Karakura Town, is for Kenpachi's zanpakuto to get brainwashed by Muramasa, nameless or not."

"Indeed." Shunsui clapped his hands. "So! You're with me, Zanpakuto-san. Time to head out!"

Without waiting for a response, he blurred into shunpo. With Katen and Kyokotsu at his back and Lilynette on it, Starrk followed. He could feel half a dozen lieutenants darting through the city beneath and the cold blast of Toshiro's powers flaring up behind them. The rest of them stayed with Ukitake, receiving their marching orders for the Seireitei side of the Senkaimon.

Starrk kept his gaze fixed on Kyoraku's pink kimono and did his best not to think about what they might be heading into.

Going through a senkaimon was nothing like using a garganta but any lingering unease Starrk felt at the difference was overwhelmed as soon as he stepped out the other side. He'd been so focused on the shinigami, the threat they posed, and everything about Muramasa that he hadn't stopped to think about the implications of Karakura Town's location. The second he stepped out of the portal behind Kyoraku, the faint flickering reiatsu of hundreds of fragile living beings registered to his senses like heart beats, followed by tens of thousands more as the city a mere mile away filtered into range. All of them fragile, fleeting, and so, so easy to snuff out.

Starrk froze.

Vasto Lordes did not go to the World of the Living. Hell, adjuchas avoided it as much as possible and gillians only crossed the dimensional barrier when they were lured or forced. Even a weak menos grande could slaughter untold numbers of humans on accident just by standing in the middle of a city and relaxing control on their reiatsu. The resulting dead plus souls were useless to menos grandes; barely a taste of a meal compared to the hollows they could get in Hueco Mundo. Humans could not make a dent in the gaping emptiness; that snarling, all-consuming hunger that devoured their entire existence. Worse, just appearing in the Living World attracted shinigami like flies to honey and that was a battle best avoided.

Starrk might not be a hollow anymore but the Living World still unnerved him. Everything was so fragile that he felt like breathing on it wrong would break it. There were even a few humans right on the other side of the portal, each one a delicate balance of easily-damaged, constantly-aging flesh and bright sparks of fleeting life. Their presence made him instinctively drag his reiatsu as far beneath his skin as possible. Whatever energy signature he was projecting vanished in a trice as he forced his reiatsu back into the cracks and crannies of Lilynette's Inner World.

She squeaked in surprise at the rush of power and Shunsui missed a step as the energy signature at his back vanished without warning. But there was reiatsu surging in the distance, six shinigami crowding out of the senkaimon, a group of frightened humans looking at him with more wariness than relief, Soifon glaring down Ichigo's Quincy friend with clear murderous intent, and…

…and a gillian stepping through the trees.

"What the hell?" Renji's strident yell broke the tableau. Without waiting for directions, he leapt into the air. With a single stroke of Zabimaru, he slashed the hollow's mask in half and it disintegrated. The cheering of his zanpakuto spirits silenced seconds later when the noise attracted the attention of more gillians. Dozens of massive masks towered over the centuries-old trees, capping black forms that rose high into the sky and wailed like dying beasts.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Soifon's irritated yell snapped the newly arrived shinigami out of their appalled silence. She turned her back on the Quincy with a disgusted snort and glared at the lieutenants behind Shunsui. "Get up here and fight!"

"Yes, Sir!"

Without another glance at the humans, most of the lieutenants followed Renji, releasing their zanpakuto on the way. Reclaimed sword spirits materialized in their footsteps, doubling the size of their force as they engaged the gillians. One-on-one they were matches for the menos grandes, but there were so many that they were having trouble. And when one charged a cero, they were forced to skid desperately out of the way, attempting to avoid massive jaws and teeth snapping with every intent of eating them alive. They were making progress, but not enough. The number of gillians was growing faster than the shinigami could cut them down.

Starrk watched it happen but did not try to help. The sight of the hollows made something cold squirm in his stomach. He remembered them. Once, he'd been one of them. Ichigo's hollow reiatsu had made him uncomfortable and Muramasa's twisted illness had raised the hair on the back of his neck, but that did not compare to actually seeing menos grandes again.

"Starrk…" Lilynette hissed. He could feel her fear resonating across their bond. "Wh-What are those?"

The former arrancar hesitated, glanced at Shunsui (thoroughly distracted by the plight of his team), the other shinigami (occupied fighting), and Katen Kyokotsu (as distracted as their shinigami), and then used the barest touch of reiatsu to flash-step away from the battle.

He only used it for a couple of seconds before hiding his reiatsu signature again. Lilynette hopped off his back when he stopped and only then did he answer her.

"Those are gillians. The weakest of the menos grandes."

"Weakest?" She paled, then screwed up her face. "What's a menos grande?"

Her zanpakuto grimaced then sighed and set off in the general direction of Muramasa's reiatsu signature; likely the source of…the hollows? Somehow? The source of whatever was going on, anyway. And the only place to get answers.

"They're hollows, but not the kind that's found in the Living World. Menos Grandes are only found in Hueco Mundo."

"What's Hueco Mundo?"

It hurt to hear such questions and have it hammered home again and again how different she now was from what she used to be, while he sometimes felt like he had barely changed with their deaths. But he continued to explain.

"It's a pocket dimension that exists alongside Soul Society. The name means 'The Empty World'. It's the land of the hollows." He frowned. "Menos Grandes usually don't leave; they don't eat human souls so there's no point in their coming here."

Lilynette's head was reeling. She was mentally and physically tired from her long, long day, and was completely overwhelmed. Learning yet another part of her universe wasn't as simple as she'd been led to believe by her academy instructors drew a deep scowl. "If they don't eat humans, then what do they eat?"

"Other hollows."

Her face screwed up in disgust. "They eat each other? Eww…"

Starrk wasn't given a chance to decide on a counter-reaction because at that moment they reached the edge of a small lake and what they saw completely erased the conversation from both of their minds. Honestly, Starrk would have preferred the uncomfortable conversation.

In the center of the lake, a tiny island protruded from the water. It was just a little hill covered in patchy grass, nothing special on its own, but it was steeped in intense reiatsu and littered with broken high-level kido spells and warped chain fragments, all centered around what remained of a black coffin that seemed to suck in any light that touched it. The coffin was standing upright on the peak of the hill and surrounded by three ornate, ax-like golden halberds, their broad blades and elegant shafts inscribed with even more spells. Two of them were intact, one was shattered, and the last…

A flash of gold far up in the sky alerted Starrk to its location.

He looked up and immediately wished he hadn't.

On one side of the lake, high in the sky, Byakuya Kuchiki was standing in the center of his shikai's whirlwind of pink blade-petals, directing them with the movements of his body as another figure, too fast and far away to be seen in any detail, spun the fourth halberd skillfully between his hands and warded off Senbonzakura's attacks with flashy kido.

Normally, Starrk would be watching the new kido attacks with interest or at least keeping an eye on the newcomer to see if he was a threat, but he barely had a chance to glance at the battle before his attention was captured by what was happening in the sky on the other side of the lake.

It was Muramasa. And Ichigo, and Rukia, but mostly Muramasa.

And Muramasa was turning into a hollow.

Starrk stared at the black and red aura that surrounded the former zanpakuto like a malicious cloud, watching with horror as massive dark spots appeared in it, boiling like angry tar until they dripped out and resolved into gillians. Muramasa himself was thrashing and screaming in agony, long-taloned hands buried in his thick hair as the blood that had formerly dripped from his eyes and mouth fountained out in streams and splashes of red to paint the lake water below him murky crimson. A hollow mask was struggling to form over his face, white liquid seeping out of bloody skin, dripping and slowly hardening into overlapping points scaling down from his jawline. Ichigo and Rukia were clearly attempting to fight him but they just as clearly didn't want to get close to the transformation.

"Th-that's Muramasa, right?" Lilynette was clutching his arm so hard it hurt but Starrk didn't stop her. He just nodded mutely. "What's happening to him?!"

With the evidence of Muramasa's crimes staring him in the face, Starrk remembered the strange gargantas he'd sensed in Seireitei, the flashes of darkness that skated over Muramasa's half-faded body when he was upset, the twisted illness that stank like death and desperation and hollow, and the too-dark blood that occasionally forced its way out of his throat in uncontrollable choking gasps. In a flash, it all came together. And it was awful.

"He's been absorbing hollows." Starrk replied, dully horrified. "Yamamoto didn't know how he'd gained enough power to survive and develop on his own. I guess that's how. He's been maintaining himself and magnifying his power without Koga by absorbing hollows."

"That…That's really bad, isn't it?" Lilynette had only received the most basic of lessons on zanpakuto and hollows at the academy so far, plus what she'd learned from Starrk and practical experience during the rebellion, but it didn't take a genius to interpret Muramasa's agonized screaming.

"…Yeah."

The hollowfication was spreading faster and faster. Now the ridges of bone had solidified along Muramasa's jaw and spread up and out to widen his face and cover his cheeks in thick plates of armor. Two long, straight horns protruded from the sides of his head and his thick maroon hair was vanishing under a white helmet. Worse, he was bending over and clutching his chest, clawing at it desperately with long nails that were sharpening into talons as a black hole faded into existence over his heart. Even as Starrk and Lilynette watched, the horns finished forming and sharpened to knife-points and a surge of hollowfication fluid pumped out of the new hollow-hole, splattering over Muramasa's clothes and spreading like a living thing to form bone-armor wherever it touched.

Starrk grimaced at the sight and the scar on his chest throbbed in response, though it had never fully stopped hurting since Lilynette's brief time as a wolf. He remembered the pain of evolution, of having your body and soul broken down and put back together as something unfamiliar. As a hollow, it was a necessary part of survival and a dreaded one. It usually happened at least once a century or so; even if the hollow in question didn't advance to the next stage of power, they would reform as a slightly smaller gillian or a slightly more human-shaped adjuchas. A step forward or backwards, depending on how much reiatsu they'd consumed since their last evolution.

Although, that begged the question: why hadn't Muramasa already transformed? What was triggering it now?

The only change in his circumstances was…

Starrk's eyes flicked to the other fight just in time to see the distant stranger howl in rage and throw a blast of power at Byakuya that cut right through the barrier of blade-petals and lunge after it head first to lock his halberd with the hilt of Senbonzakura, hastily reconstituted from the pink maelstrom. The man who could only be Koga Kuchiki wasn't even looking at Muramasa. Not even when a particularly agonized scream from the tortured sword spirit devolved into a hollow's roar and a cero split the clouds, painting the darkening sky blood red.

The bad feeling knotted in Starrk's chest twisted painfully.

On his arm, Lilynette's hand tightened. "Starrk, look."

His eyes turned back to Muramasa and he grimaced. The hollowfication had completely consumed Muramasa's head; his features were now buried beneath a paneled mask cut by a simple horse-shoe shaped eye-slit over the top of his face and a lipless mouth of long white teeth obscuring the bottom half. A fur collar was the only remnant of the clothes he'd been wearing on his upper torso; the rest of it was covered in thick bands of white bone. His lower half was still clothed but the tips of white talons rather than feet could be seen beneath his robe. Protrusions on his shoulders widened his frame, but his arms had narrowed to the point of looking like bare bones, devoid of muscle and skin. His hands retained their long talons, but now they were sharp and deadly instead of elegant. Blades protruded from each elbow and ran parallel to his forearms, though the joints where they met his arms looked prehensile. Even as Starrk watched, Muramasa's hollow hole finished settling with a final rush of hollowfication fluid that ringed it with a row of sharp, claw-like bone shards.

Then Muramasa stopped screaming. He slumped forward and the heavy aura surrounding him dissipated, leaving a hollow the size and shape of a Vasto Lorde behind. The stream of gillians that had been dripping from his reiatsu and keeping the other shinigami busy finally stopped.

There was a pregnant pause. Even the sounds of Byakuya's battle and the lieutenants' gillian exterminations seemed to fade.

Ichigo broke it with a single tentative word.

"…Muramasa?"

Starrk could have told him that was a bad idea.

The blank eye-slits flared to life with hateful red points of light and Muramasa's body jackknifed as he roared; not in pain this time but in feral fury.

It was pity, not fear that Starrk felt when the former zanpakuto dove for Ichigo claws-first.

"Is he a hollow now?" Lilynette whispered, instinctively trying not to be noticed by the combatants.

Starrk shrugged. "He's not acting like a real hollow; he looks like a Vasto Lorde but he's acting like a basic menos. But what else could he be?"

"…I have no idea what you just said. Again." She growled, elbowing him roughly. "And why isn't that Koga guy doing anything? Muramasa's supposed to be his zanpakuto, right? That's the point of all of this!"

"…True."

Byakuya and Koga were still fighting, now closer to the ground and nearly directly overhead so their features were clearly visible and Starrk finally got a good look at the reason for Muramasa's twisted deceptions and manipulations. Shinigami might not age as humans or normal souls were wont to do, but Koga's imprisonment had done him no favors. In Yamamoto's story, Koga was a physically fit young man with a lifetime of promise in his future and it was hard to reconcile that description with the former shinigami of the same name.

The man hovering over the lake was wrinkled and wasted, his skin ashen and lax from lack of use and constant darkness, and his once well-groomed black hair was ragged and grey with a patch of once-magenta hair shorn close to the skin on one side now faded to a faint rose color. Skin clung loosely to bones and sinews, muscles wasted to nothing from his imprisonment – it was spiritual energy alone that kept him moving well enough to fight.

There'd been no mention of fashion sense or color preferences in Yamamoto's story, but as a Kuchiki it could be assumed that Koga always had the best of the best. Now, all he wore was a ragged red scarf barely holding itself together and a pair of decrepit black pants held in place by a dusty grey sash that might be the remnants of a shinigami shihakusho. A beaded necklace adorned with a golden pendant was the only reminder of his former wealth while a wide leather band covering the center of his face from the bridge of his nose to his upper lip and heavy gauntlets stretching from wrist to elbow on both arms recalled his time as a prisoner.

His eyes were cold and green, as grim as any hollow's glare. Looking at them, even from a distance and without being regarded in return, Starrk felt a cold shiver run down his spine and unconsciously stepped closer to Lilynette, curling his claws in readiness to protect. However, the eyes were fixed solely on Byakuya Kuchiki. Starrk didn't know what had happened to break Byakuya's allegiance to Muramasa but he was now fighting against Koga with everything he had.

Combat between the Kuchikis didn't even pause when Muramasa finished hollowfying; Koga's weathered face was twisted with rage and wholly focused on his opponent with no apparent care for his zanpakuto spirit while Byakuya had gone into bankai at some point and materialized Senbonzakura as a spirit to back him up. Senbonzakura was missing about half his oni-mask and both shinigami were injured, dripping blood from multiple serious wounds but refusing to back down. Koga was definitely worse off; dark bruises and cuts littered his wasted form, he was wheezing deep in his chest, and his too-thin limbs were starting to shake from the strain of reiatsu-enhanced fighting after hundreds of years of senescence. Though his body was lagging, his rage and reiatsu were stronger than ever and when a stray petal from Senbonzakura cut open his cheek, all he did was snarl and swipe the blood away. He didn't seem to notice that the spray of blood wasn't red.

Instead, white hollowfication fluid dripped sluggishly from the cut.

Starrk took in a startled breath. Of course. The reason Muramasa's powers had grown so much in the last three hundred years was because of the hollow reiatsu he absorbed and there was no way its dark nature could have left the other half of his soul untainted. Even forcibly kept away from Koga, a bond connected them and Muramasa's gathered power must have unwittingly trickled down the bond to feed Koga's reiatsu as well. Without it, Koga's powers would have atrophied along with his body and he would have died in his prison or been withered and powerless upon his release. All of the heavy reiatsu he was throwing at Byakuya was garnered from Muramasa's increasingly-hollowfied supply.

And using hollow reiatsu could not leave a shinigami unchanged anymore than it could a zanpakuto.

The next time Koga let out a howl of rage, it was a literal howl, a hollow's screech that echoed over and over itself and reverberated through the trees, making them tremble and shake down to their roots. What few gillians hadn't been killed by the shinigami yet paused and turned in sluggish unison, herding instinct drawing them towards the most powerful hollow present. Muramasa turned on a dime, twisting between Rukia and Ichigo as he let out a matching howl and fired a bright red cero in the general direction of his wielder's opponents.

All of the shinigami froze, staring in horrified confusion. Even Koga stopped moving, stunned by the unexpected sound that had escaped his throat. Byakuya and Senbonzakura recoiled as one, eyes wide as they stared at the old Kuchiki, finally noticing the white liquid trickling down his face. Muramasa's cero passed through the empty space between Byakuya and his opponent and, as everyone stood still in the cero's bloody light, an uneasy pause fell over the lake. All eyes were on the former prisoner; hollows, humans, and shinigami alike waiting to see what he'd do.

Koga's expression twisted as he looked down and finally noticed traces of viscous white fluid on his hand where he'd brushed his cheek and an increasingly heavy flow seeping from the edges of a shallow wound on his torso. Scrubbing it away with the back of his fist only adhered it to more of his hand and spread it around rather than getting rid of it. He turned on Byakuya with a furious snarl.

"Did you do this, Kuchiki?" He spit the last word like a curse.

"I assure you, I did not." Horror and disgust colored Byakuya's response.

As they glared at each other, Muramasa howled again, a scream that wavered, echoed, and…cried.

In a flash and a choking gasp, Starrk was drawn back to Hueco Mundo. To standing alone in a sea of sand surrounded by bodies that might have been friends, crushed to death by the weight of his reiatsu. To the aching, soul deep loneliness that never ended. To the agony of unwilling absolute solitude. To screaming his frustration and longing to the howling winds, hoping someone, anyone would answer. No one ever did. No one except Lilynette. And she didn't even remember.

"Starrk?" Lilynette's worried voice called him back to the present. "A-are you okay? Your breathing just went all weird."

He didn't answer, just let her presence reassure him that those days were over. He wasn't a hollow anymore. His loneliness was in the past.

Muramasa…

Starrk looked at Koga. The renegade zanpakuto's shinigami hadn't even turned his head.

"Hey, stop it!" Ichigo's voice rang through the battlefield, despite the efforts of Rukia and a red-headed human girl to pull him back. "Muramasa! Listen to me! This isn't you! Stop it!"

Another cero cut through the sky, one that the substitute shinigami barely avoided.

"Damn it." He snarled. "Getsuga Tensho!"

The fact that Muramasa dodged Ichigo's attack with the high-speed vibration of a sonido rather than the sliding flash-step of shunpo was just another sign of how far gone he was.

And Koga still wasn't looking.

Something dark and dangerous shifted inside of Starrk, the ocean of his power, unsettled since the release of Ryujin Jakka, began to churn.

It took several more minutes before Koga deigned to acknowledge his partner-soul. After a dozen attempts, he managed to drive Byakuya back and hobble his feet with kido but Senbonzakura materialized to block his following attacks, giving the sixth division captain the time he needed to break free. Something about watching them work together seamlessly made Koga even more absolutely furious. But not at them; their united front was too powerful for him to win against. Like a true bully robbed of his victim, he turned his aggression on someone who wouldn't fight back.

"Muramasa!" He shouted, an echoing roar that thundered over the lake.

Instantly, the battle between Muramasa, Ichigo, and Ichigo's friends ground to a halt. With a final cero, the hollowfied zanpakuto drove them back and then turned away, vibrating with tension but remaining still and silent. Waiting.

Starrk knew from first-hand experience just how hard it was to see beyond the screaming hunger, to hear anything beyond its roar and the rush of blood. He was the only one there who knew just how insanely difficult it was for Muramasa to stop what he was doing, curl his claws into his hands, and turn to face Koga. Every labored breath snarled through the teeth of his mask and his jaw twitched with the unavoidable instinct to bite…but he didn't. As his wielder approached, descending from the sky surrounded by an aura of heavy malice, Muramasa remained frozen in place.

"Is that…good?" Lilynette whispered as if anyone on the battlefield might hear them. It was a question echoed in the expressions of the shinigami; Ichigo and Rukia, on the island, watched Koga's approach with wide eyes while the support group circled the lake slowly, unsure of the situation but wary of attacking without orders, even with all of the gillians cleansed. They didn't know what was going on and Byakuya, allegiance uncertain, was between them and the hollowfied zanpakuto they thought was to be their opponent. The only one of their number who even knew Koga's name was Shunsui and he was guarding the senkaimon back in the trees, away from the battle.

Starrk looked at the shinigami as they wavered and slowly advanced, then at the twist of a furious sneer on Koga's face, and then at Muramasa who seemed not to comprehend his master's rage.

Slowly, Starrk shook his head.

"But no one's fighting?" Lilynette hissed.

"I told you before, Zanpakuto." Koga's voice, harsh and rough from disuse, echoed across the still water. The shinigami all paused to listen, exchanging confused and increasingly wary looks. Muramasa's reaction was hidden behind the blank face of his mask, but at Koga's next words his hands clenched so hard that blood streamed from where his talons punctured his flesh. "I don't need you. I can do perfectly fine on my own without a weapon that thinks itself deserving of my regard." His contempt rang in every word. "And now look at what you've done! You're not good enough as a sword, so you turn yourself into a hollow. Is this supposed to help me?" He held up his arm, dripping blood and white hollowfication fluid in equal measure. He didn't seem to notice or care that there were bone plates solidifying across his chest and stomach or that he was shaking and bleeding from deep injuries. All he had eyes for was his zanpakuto.

With a horrible grating sound, Muramasa wrenched his talons out of his new bone-skin. Both hands shot out to face his wielder and the nearest shinigami – Ichigo, Rukia, and Renji – flinched and darted away, expecting more ceros. But instead of attacking, the hollowfied zanpakuto turned his hands palm up in supplication.

"Koga…" the voice was rough and echoing, nothing like Muramasa's cultured tones. He couldn't have much memory or intelligent thought left after such a violent hollowfication but everything still there was focused on his wielder. He took halting steps forward, hidden eyes fixed on Koga with desperation, extended talons dripping with his own blood.

Koga didn't flinch. No fear or pity crossed his face. His brow drew down over cold, shadowed eyes that reflected anger, disgust, offense, and hate. So far, the physical hollowfication changes didn't seem to have made a difference to his mental state.

"I've had enough of this." He snapped when Muramasa was only an arm's length away. "You have failed me over and over again, Sword. You've never understood just how disappointing, how unnecessary, your existence is to me. And yet, you continue causing me trouble. Know this, if you can hear me through that mess…"

He cast a disgusted eye over Muramasa's hollowfied features, not noticing the bone shell solidifying across his shoulders and down his neck.

"This is All. Your. Fault."

A kido spell wound around the golden halberd in Koga's hand, turning its blade so deep blue it was almost black. Others realized what he was doing but none of them were close enough to stop him, not even Ichigo. Koga lifted the halberd over his head with both hands and brought it crashing down right between Muramasa's hollow horns, cleaving him in two in a shower of blood. The former zanpakuto didn't try to resist or flee, even though he must have seen the hit coming with plenty of time to evade it.

"KOGA!" Ichigo howled, furious and horrified. He attacked the old outlaw in a flurry of lightning-fast jabs. In dodging them and jumping into the air, Koga inadvertently put himself within range of Byakuya's blade.

"Disgraceful." The younger Kuchiki's tone was one of pure disgust as his sword slid easily through Koga's lower back, angling to avoid the bone plates scattered across his skin. "You were never worthy of the Kuchiki name. A shinigami who cannot even comprehend his own zanpakuto…No. You disgrace the shinigami name as well. You are worthy of nothing."

Koga's face twisted with fury and he lunged forward, ripping himself off of Byakuya's zanpakuto. Blood spurted from the wound, red and white liquid together, but he didn't let the pain faze him, instead using it to fuel his rage. He whirled, halberd raised to slash down at the despised Kuchiki and bisect him as he had his own zanpakuto…and faltered. His grip slipped, fingers spasming, and he tightened them with irritated confusion. Droplets of white liquid oozed out from under his fingernails, trickling down onto his hands.

"Wha-?" He tried to snarl but something shifted inside of him and instead, a deep gurgle sprayed a shower of hollowfication fluid from his mouth. Byakuya recoiled in disgust and Ichigo, still intent on avenging Muramasa, skidded to a halt.

Below them, unnoticed but close enough to see everything, Starrk grimaced. He knew more about hollowfication than anyone else present. He knew what was happening.

"Starrk?" Lilynette hissed.

"Muramasa was the only thing keeping him alive." He explained dully. "Koga would have starved to death or wasted away centuries ago if Muramasa hadn't shared power through their bond. Without him…"

Koga couldn't talk anymore; white fluid was streaming from his mouth and out of his open cuts. It flowed freely, no longer forming into bone or mask. He released his halberd to claw desperately at his throat. His fingernails were gone, dissolved into the viscous white torrent, and more was oozing from the empty nailbeds. It was his inability to breathe that kept him clawing and gasping but everyone else watched in horror as the fluid burst forth from his eyes, nose, and ears. Shortly, it even started oozing out of the pores of his skin and hair follicles. He was trying to shriek but nothing could escape except panicked gurgles.

"What the hell?" Ichigo's voice was strangled with revulsion and shock.

"Don't look, Lilynette." Starrk quietly commanded, even as his sword materialized in his hand with a thought, his long wolf-ears folded back against his head, and he anchored his feet to the ground with claws and reiatsu. Her hands tightened and she pretended to bury her face in his back but kept one eye open to watch over his shoulder.

Soon, Koga was indecipherable from the writhing white mass consuming him from head to foot. He slipped and fell from the air, landing hard on the small island next to Muramasa's slowly dissolving remains. A thick tendril extended from the blob that no longer looked remotely human, seeking blindly, leaving a slug-like trail in its wake.

A flash of muted green darted across the sky from Karakura Town, swerving and dodging expertly between shinigami and reclaimed zanpakuto spirits, all of them captivated by the spectacle at their center, long since having defeated all of the gillians.

The green blur resolved into Kisuke Urahara when he came out of shunpo between Ichigo and Byakuya. He was panting and disheveled, having dashed from Karakura Town in one long push. He only offered a cursory glance at any of them before looking down at Koga. He instantly blanched and shouted:

"Don't let him touch Muramasa!"

Ichigo instantly tried to obey but he was too slow. Even as Urahara was arriving, Koga's arm was coming down on Muramasa's claws. The second the two touched, there was an explosion of pure, raw power. A black cyclone erupted, consuming what was left of both Koga and Muramasa and descending with raging fury on the shinigami. The twilit sky was driven dead black and starless while screaming winds tried to drag the shinigami away. There were shouts and screams as everyone tried to escape at once rather than be swept into its grasp. Urahara was the only one who didn't move, standing steady in the eye of the storm.

"Hold firm!" He shouted, hoping enough people would hear him to make a difference. "They're coming!"

The only ones to hear were Ichigo, Byakuya, and Senbonzakura, all of them in the eye along with the scientist. Ichigo instantly raised his zanpakuto, only to have it forced down by the wind.

"Who's coming?! Where?!" he shouted back.

"According to Yoruichi, Muramasa survived and empowered himself by devouring hollows for hundreds of years, a power source that I believe also fueled Koga Kuchiki. Think, Mr. Kurosaki – where did those hollows go?" Urahara replied grimly.

The cyclone reached high into the sky before it slowed down. As its fury waned, the wind gradually lost momentum and the black mass of energy resolved into thousands of hollows raging and struggling to break free – every single victim of Muramasa's that he'd hunted down in the Menos Forest and used to give himself the power to free his wielder.

The first gillians landed on the shores of the lake with enough force to topple trees and smaller menos splashed down in the water by the dozens. A few of them turned on each other but most attacked the closest shinigami with mindless bloodthirsty enthusiasm. The lieutenants and their zanpakuto were still struggling to recover from their wild flights and they were hit unprepared by the flood of enemies.

"Senbonzakura!" Byakuya gestured and the two shot forward to get in between his comrades and the hollows. Ichigo went in the opposite direction to cut off the other side of the lake and protect his human friends fighting from the far shore, only to be stopped by Urahara before he'd gone more than a couple feet.

"Mr. Kurosaki, a moment please."

"But-!"

"This will help them, I promise." Urahara peered out from the shadow of his hat, intelligent eyes sharp and serious. "I have a plan. But I need your assistance to carry it out."

The two of them shared a rapid discussion then shunpo'd away in the direction of Karakura Town, the direction Urahara came from.

Neither of them noticed the two lonely figures huddled together on the shore below them as they passed, watching the whole bloody scene in silence.

Starrk stared at the sea of menos grandes, his past and future coming into sharp focus as rows upon rows of hollow faces solidified, each one shrieking with the multilayered scream of a hollow. They didn't seem to notice him or Lilynette but he saw to the soul of every one of them, the blood and bone and teeth defining their hunger and being. He saw himself.

Starrk didn't flinch from the intimidating sight, despite the fear of his wielder. Once, he'd lived in the Menos Forest. He'd been one of these, then he'd been the best of them.

(But he was a zanpakuto now, not a hollow. That wasn't him. Was it?)

Gillians and lesser menos swarmed towards the shinigami ringing the lake in a seemingly endless flood. Sharp teeth and claws filled the gaps between massive black cloak-like energy and long-nosed bone masks bigger than a person. Ceros flew through the air, drawing curses and shouts from shinigami and zanpakuto as they fought back.

Through the turmoil in his mind, Starrk barely noticed as wolves materialized around him, each one solid and angry, baring sharp teeth at the creatures that had once defined the lives of Starrk and Lilynette as hollows. He couldn't remember why it was important, why the wolves shouldn't be there. Two became six, then twelve. Twenty four. Forty eight.

More and more shinigami noticed the animals popping into existence in their midst and recoiled in shock, not sure if they were friends or foes. They were fighting in clusters; pairs of them with their zanpakuto going at the hollows with grim determination. They had no effort or attention to spare on the mass of wolves flowing around them like ghosts.

Staring at the menos grandes, Starrk did not hold his projections back. He didn't want to hold them back. Deep inside, he hurt and it was because of them. Muramasa. Koga. The shinigami. The hollows. The storm brewing in his mind and his power finally hit, consuming him in a massive wave of reiatsu that rose from the ocean of his power with the fury of a hurricane. He threw back his head and howled.

His wolves responded, their multilayered wailing sounding eerily like the screams of a hollow before they whirled and lunged straight for the nearest menos grandes, smashing into the waves of hollows, ripping a bloody swathe through the middle of the pack in minutes and exploding even more. Only one wolf was needed to kill each gillian and as the shinigami looked on in shock, his wolves smashed into the heads of the giant hollows, grabbing facial features in their bone-cracking teeth right before they exploded, blasting huge bone masks into sharp shards. Hollows died en masse as explosions rang through the field of battle, startling shouts and curses from the shinigami when they were hit by shockwaves and shrapnel.

Wolves attacked and were destroyed, then replaced by more wolves. Instead of continuing to attack alone, they started attacking together, mauling the smaller hollows in ever-growing packs even as others ripped gillians apart. Kamikaze attacks meant little when every reiatsu-wolf was quickly replaced by three more.

Eighty wolves. One hundred. One hundred and twenty.

In the back, Starrk stood silent and still, watching them with wide, glassy eyes. He was wreathed in blue energy heavy enough to crush the very grass beneath his feet to dust and giving rise to more and more wolves without consciously realizing he was doing it. They shook free from his coat and ran to join the fray without verbal orders. Pressure was building in his mind, behind his eyes, and in his chest, but it was distant and unimportant. His chest had been hurting for hours; what was a little more pain?

Hollows were dying. He was killing them. He wasn't even touching them.

What was he?

There was increasing pain inside of him, forcing its way out with bloody claws, but the sensation was distant and easily ignorable. He didn't care.

"Starrk?" Lilynette's voice barely registered despite the concern in her tone, and her proximity. "Starrk! You're bleeding!"

He didn't react. He couldn't.

Small hands pushed at his back, lightly at first but increasingly frantic and forceful, and he did nothing. His wolves kept killing, the hollows kept dying, and the shinigami kept fighting frantically for their lives. Somehow, he was both in the middle of everything and disconnected from it all at the same time.

Urahara and Ichigo returned in the midst of the slaughter, weighed down with two huge orbs connected by a wire to a big machine they carried between them. The teenager was vibrating with the impatient desire to jump into the battle and help his friends but the scientist focused instead on the plan he believed to be their best hope. Together, they touched down on the little island, just a pockmarked strip of blood and mud barely above the waterline now, and took up positions at each end with the machine in the middle.

"Are you ready, Ichigo?"

"Will this really work?"

"Of course!"

Chanting a kido spell slowly, Urahara held up the orb in his arms and Ichigo mirrored the gesture with less sure movements. As the spell solidified around them, the orbs slowly rose in the air, energy crackling between them along the wire until the whole thing glowed an eerie red. Finally, with a last shouted word, the spell reached completion, and the entire device disappeared in a blinding flash, clearing to reveal a gaping hole in the world in its place: a garganta nearly as big as a gillian.

"Whoa…" Ichigo muttered.

"Now we just need to get the hollows…oh dear."

Urahara looked back to find that, though the shinigami were reeling and cursing, blinded by the flash when they'd previously been fighting in near-darkness, the hollows were unaffected.

Ichigo scowled, then scanned the group and his gaze lit on Byakuya. Urahara noticed him taking a deep breath in just enough time to put his hands over his ears before he bellowed.

"Hey Byakuya! Can you get the hollows coming in this direction? We need to force them through the portal!"

"Hmph." The captain refused to succumb to the indignity of bellowing in kind, but he stepped forward regardless, putting his own body between the staggering shinigami rubbing their eyes and the hollows trying to get at them even as they were savaged by Starrk's wolves. Senbozakura moved in kind and together they called forward the blade-petals of their bankai, forming them into a massive wall and driving it into the front wave of hollows, forcing them towards the portal and away from their comrades.

Inch by inch, step by step, the depleted ranks of hollows gave ground.

"Renji." Byakuya called when he caught sight of his lieutenant. "Form the other lieutenants into ranks."

"Yes, sir!"

There was muttering behind him about obeying a traitor but he did not turn to address it. Instead, he threw everything he had into strengthening his wall, every last drop of power until his hands dripped with blood and his muscles trembled from the effort. His actions over the last few days were done for the honor of the Kuchiki name, to make amends for Koga's offenses from so long ago and sooth the injured pride of his family, but it was still inexcusable to raise his hands against his comrades and subordinates. He would pay for the crimes he'd committed over the past few days as was his due, once he fixed what Koga had wrought in his last moments.

Even those reluctant to follow him fell into line when they saw that his actions were working, if slowly. They fanned out to either side in staggered ranks, staying away from his bankai but fighting down any hollows that got through or snuck around it.

"Perfect, Kuchiki-taicho!" Urahara's voice came thinly through the chaos. "Keep going!"

He did. Despite the intense, painful effort, he and Senbonzakura pushed the hollows back while the wolves thinned them from within, taking no notice of the garganta or Byakuya's actions, and his shinigami comrades kept them packed together.

Their combined efforts forced the first gillian back into the portal and its confused moaning attracted more of its kind, drawing hollows through the aperture and into the void beyond. It became easier for the shinigami to advance as the less combative hollows retreated through the garganta, returning to Hueco Mundo. With a final massive push, Byakuya forced the last wave of hollows back, to leave or be shredded. A dozen wolves were too slow to avoid his blade petals and exploded on contact, creating a chain reaction that destroyed any stragglers.

Once the last clawed foot crossed the threshold, Urahara's machine went dark and the garganta faded away. Urahara and Ichigo, engaged the whole time in keeping the kido going and the garganta open, stepped back, rubbing their arms to dispel the strain and starting to exchange victorious smiles with the shinigami.

Those smiles froze when they turned to find a sea of wavering blue forms with glowing blue eyes and sharp teeth. Wolves who'd suddenly been robbed of their prey.

The hollows were gone, but Starrk's reiatsu projections were still there. Plenty had been destroyed in their attacks on the menos grandes, but plenty more were still intact and growling angrily at the shinigami near them, looking around with glowing eyes that seemingly saw no difference between them and the hollows.

Starrk didn't notice when the battle ended. It was all a violent, painful blur. There were other voices nearby, voices that were not Lilynette, but Starrk couldn't tell what they were saying. Why did it matter?

"Starrk!" Lilynette's voice was, if anything, even quieter than it had been before, though the pressure in Starrk's skull and the pounding pain in his chest was deeper and angrier. His ears were ringing…or was that his head? He didn't feel right.

The eyes of the biggest wolves flickered, flaring bright red instead of blue, and their growls deepened.

"Starrk! Listen to me!"

A weight slammed into Starrk's lower back and two thin arms wrapped around his chest, squeezing him tightly around the source of his pain. He gasped, but it was like a bucket of cold water had been thrown over his head. The pain brought him back to himself, cleared his mind just enough to realize something bad was happening.

"I'm not letting go until you listen to me!" Lilynette's anger could not disguise her fear. Not of him, but for him.

The hug was more aggressive than comforting but that was just so Lilynette that Starrk leaned back into it. He came back to himself completely with another gasp and blinked his eyes, hard. Instinctively, he pulled his reiatsu back as much as he could and his wolves turned towards him, slowly losing substance. The biggest ones with red eyes were the first to go and the others followed not long after.

He looked out at the field of battle, uncomprehending. There were no more hollows but over a dozen shinigami and zanpakuto spirits were staring at him with wide, frightened eyes, finally given the time and motivation to find the source of the wolves now that the hollows were gone. Most were on the other side of the lake but he could sense a few at his back, their reiatsu high and ready to attack.

"Starrk?" Lilynette should never sound so meek.

"…Yeah." He replied; voice hoarse. For the first time, he realized his front was covered in blood – his own, centered on the scar that used to be his hollow-hole. The information barely registered; it seemed like such a small thing considering everything else that was going on. Whatever was going on.

He didn't want to deal with it. With any of it.

So he didn't.

He turned in Lilynette's arms and returned the hug, pulling her to his chest and clutching her close as tightly as she was holding him.

For a moment, just a moment, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The shinigami began the process of standing down and the humans gravitated towards their allies. Starrk held onto Lilynette like he'd never let go and she clutched his fur with white-knuckled hands. Their scars throbbed in unison.

Starrk sensed the killing intent before the shunpo. That was the only thing that saved him from being skewered through the neck. In a fraction of a second, the same instant his senses triggered, he lunged forwards, forcibly shoving Lilynette ten feet away before spinning and releasing an unfocused burst of energy at the unexpected threat. He was beyond caring if his attacks looked like those of a hollow.

There was an angry buzz, like the biggest, angriest wasp in existence, and Starrk ducked on instinct, reaching up as something zipped over his head. His hand closed on thick cloth and skin-warmed metal. In a single motion, he swung and threw his unknown opponent towards the lake.

In a blur of black and white cloth, Soifon recovered in midair and came to a light halt on the balls of her feet on the lake's bank with the water lapping at her heels. Her released zanpakuto twitched and flashed where it covered most of her right hand, irritable at being thwarted. Her eyes were narrowed and focused on Starrk with something like pure, cold hate, though he had no idea why.

It happened so quickly that no one else had time to react; most of them were still stumbling to a halt when the brief encounter ended. That's when the yelling started.

"Captain?!"

"What's happening?!"

"Soifon-!"

"Enough!" the second division captain shouted, silencing the clamoring lieutenants and ignoring the few fellow captains present. She still only had eyes for Starrk. Hard, merciless eyes.

This was the first time Starrk had come face to face with the leader of the punishment squad so he didn't know what to expect and he had no idea what he could have done to draw her ire. Didn't he help end the battle?

(Maybe. From what little he could remember. Possibly not?)

However, one thing he did know was that he wasn't ready to fight again. His power was still surging wildly while his mind and emotions were overwrought. He wouldn't be able to regulate himself if he was attacked right now. People could easily die.

Soifon either didn't know or didn't care what he'd been through, possibly both. With her sneak attack thwarted, she threw her head back and snapped with supreme authority.

"Zanpakuto! You will surrender. Now!"

There were faint mutters and gasps among the surrounding lieutenants. They all saw what Starrk was capable of and Soifon's manner seemed unnecessarily antagonistic.

"Uh, captain? Did you see what that guy-?" the ever-loyal Omaeda mumbled from behind his captain, still gripping the giant spiked ball of his released zanpakuto but quivering and sweating far more at the thought of facing Starrk than he'd been while facing the hollows.

"Shut up!" Soifon barked and rammed her elbow backwards into Omaeda's generous gut without looking, sending him wheezing to his knees.

Throughout it all, the tension did not lift. Starrk stayed silent, keenly aware that Lilynette was close behind him. His bleeding scar throbbed painfully.

"So you refuse?" Soifon addressed him, a cold sneer turning the corners of her mouth. "Kurotsuchi will be glad to hear it. Once he's done, I will deal with your wielder's interrogation myself."

It was absolutely the wrong thing to say.

It was too much for Starrk to take. It was just too much.

In a flash, Soifon was on her back screaming with an energy wolf ripping at her neck, uncontrolled, explosive, and driven by killing intent.

Starrk and Lilynette vanished in the ensuing chaos.

Author's Notes:

Well, that took a while. Sorry, everyone. Real life is, was, and continues to be difficult. For what it's worth, the rest of Turnabout should be posted within a few weeks: two chapters and an epilogue, one posted each Saturday (9/18, 9/25, 10/2). They're all drafted now so the schedule is set unless something unexpected happens to me or my computer.

I tried to make sense of the end of the zanpakuto arc in this segment, mostly by completely editing out a lot of the confusion-inducing parts of the last battle and explaining away a bunch of the plot holes. I hope it felt a bit more cohesive. Also, Koga sucks. If you didn't watch the zanpakuto arc, know that I didn't alter his personality at all. That's his canon characterization, though I made his death a bit worse. Or more horrifying, anyway.

Thanks so much to everyone who's stuck with me so long! It's knowing you guys are out there that keeps me from giving up on Bleach fanfiction. Thanks for your support!

Off topic but possibly interesting:

I finally read the Quincy manga arc. Or thousand-year Quincy blood war or Ishida's arc or whatever it's called now. I know I swore to avoid it, but I was stuck at home due to the pandemic and my local library had the entire arc available through digital download so eventually I caved. It was both better and worse than I expected. Better because I wasn't as absolutely insulted the way I mostly expected from my reaction when it was first coming out. (Most of the time. Trying to emotionally blackmail me into feeling bad for Mayuri made me furious.)Worse because it contradicted itself so often that almost nothing made sense by the end. Nothing was satisfying and few of the teasers had any sort of payoff. At least it went fast and some of the new character designs were cool?)

Please Review & let me know what you think!

Reviews are a great source of encouragement and inspiration – I'm always happy to hear your input!