Chapter 14: Death is not fair

"You want us to do what now and why again?", Raiba asked in his lazy provocative tone. After all this time, Setsuzo couldn't believe that he was still getting through with that.

"Don't test my patience. I told you what you have to do, now do it."

Without any more protest, Raiba turned around and walked towards Setsuzo. They didn't need to prepare anything for this mission, they didn't even need their Gillians. In fact, anything that wasn't necessary could actually end up killing the two of them.

Their mission was simple enough. Go to the human world, wait for someone to commit an unforgivable crime (so basically murder), kill that person so he turns into a hollow and bring him to Bainne.

There was a problem though, namely that they had to go to the human world. A place even Bainne shat his pants the moment he stepped into it. Setsuzo had already had a rather unpleasantly surprising encounter with one of the stranger resident individuals.

What made everything worse was that when he told Bainne, the latter had told him with utter seriousness that compared to what was lurking in there, the man Setsuzo had encountered was but a mere small fry. Great. If the small fry's already outranked him, how hillariously inferior would he be to the real deal?

That however was also one of their advantages. Even if they were among the stronger side of lower hollows, they were nothing compared to any of the people living in that world that were capable of fighting hollows like themselves. So if they could suppress their Reiatsu sufficiently enough, they wouldn't even be noticed.

If. And that was a very big if right there.

But since they pretty much didn't have any other choice, well, they did, but that choice was to turn around blow up into Bainnes face and tell him to essentially go fuck himself and with that practically sign their death sentence themselves. They could try to run, but they'd only prolong the inevitable.

So all they could do was to go the safer route and do what he had commanded. "Safer" was also a little ironic here, since both ways could get them killed.

"How would we even do this? I mean seriously, does he expect that we see a potential candidate to walk around and present him or herself to us on a silver plate?", Raiba complained.

"Nobody knows what he expects. You've been here more than two months now and you should know that. And you do, since I know you're not as dumb as you let yourself appear to be, so if you just need someone to lash out on, go to Leòn to cry your eyes out."

"Oh wow, somebody's really feelin' the sunshine and rainbows today, huh", Raiba dryly remarked, to which he got a scoff from Setsuzo. "That marks the question though, why can't Leòn take care of this? He should be more qualified, what with his experience and all."

"Definitely, yeah. I'd certainly be happier if he went and not us."

"That's awefully mean-spirited of you, especially against him. Also, are you being sarcastic? You're moving in between that gray area again where I can never tell."

"No, I ain't sarcastic for a change and I thought you didn't like Leòn."

"Oh by all means, go for the throat. It's just that being mean is uncharacteristic for you. Also, it's not like I like him, but after about two months he kinda grows on you. His "all-high-and-noble" behavior is kinda fun to observe sometimes, you should see how he talks to other hollows. Not that I'd have to tell that to you, you two basically got along instantly. Which is why you saying that he should go instead of us is even stranger."

"He's only one person. Less chance of someone dying and less chance of someone finding out that he's actually there. Also I don't feel real jazzed about going back there."

"Well, you wouldn't be the first. Why is that exactly?"

"You've surely been there, you should know."

"No I wasn't."

Setsuzo stopped and looked at Raiba from the side. "Are you tryin' to tell me that you've never been to the human world?"

"Yes, except I'm not trying to tell you, I'm just telling you."

Setsuzo rolled his eyes but started to explain anyways. "Alright, look. The human world is a real freakshow. I've only been there once, but I don't remember the… experience fondly. Humans normally can't see, hear or interact with us in general. We can with them, but they not with us. The one time I actually went there, I started to fuck around a little bit with them to test the possibilitys."

"Doesn't sound so fear-inducing to me."

"And then a human with spiritual powers showed up."

Raiba stopped for a moment there. "Right, I knew I forgot something."

"He then proceeded to outrun me and manifested some kind of black armor on his arm? I don't know what it was, but his Spiritual pressure exceeded mine by far, even as I am now. I mean you know that already, but here it comes: The most seizureinducing part, in that it is both frustrating and terrifying, is that compared to the biggest fish lurking around there, he's what little worms are to Bainne."

"And that would be?", Raiba asked with tense anticipation.

"Worms", Setsuzo dryly answered, which got him a disappointed look from his partner.

"Ok, so, why don't we search fo a "sinner" in another city, or perhaps even another country?"

"Because I'm buried there."

"And the decomposing leftovers that are your corpse are important to you how exactly?"

"Not my body. The tombstone that's on top of it. When I woke up 5 months ago, I didn't even know my own name. Specific names for certain things and actions slowly come back to my mind, you know, the practical and everyday knowledge, but my actual memories? Nothing but fog. I don't even know how old I am and I'm sure as hell not gonna die again without knowing who I was before I died."

Raiba nodded slowly and then said: "Apart from the fact that I get where you're coming from, this is still nuts if we're assuming everything we know about the human world is true. How would that even work? You find that stonecross put in the dirt, read the name on it and just magically remember your whole life?"

"Worked kinda like that last time I was there."

"Wow, really?", Raiba asked surprised. "Ok, you know what, fuck it, I'm in. We're probably on death's row anyway, so might as well make it worth the risk."

"…you are way too casual about the possibility of us dying and way too easily persuaded into doing dumb shit, you know that?"

Raiba just snickered and winked at him. "It sounds weird but could possibly be fun and you know how I feel about that."

Setsuzo just rolled his eyes, took a few steps in front of Raiba and reached out with his hand. "I've only done this once, so I'll need some time to concentrate. Once the Garganta is open, you go through it immediately. When we're on the other side, we'll have to suppress our Reiatsu immediately, or we're fucked."

"I mean, I could open one too, but sure, got it." Setsuzo ignored that, as he had already closed his eyes to focus. He tried to remember the feeling he had when he had opened that portal, but this time he chose to concentrate more on the sensation itself instead of his panic-like emotional state.

It took him a while to get a grasp on it, but eventually, he had something. An image of two walls being torn open and connected by a short tunnel. What he actually intended to do was a lot more complicated than that, but he didn't want to delve into it too deep. He knew what he wanted to do and he understood it subconciously, but if he had to describe it, he would fail horribly. He activated his Reiatsu and started utilizing the technique. It happened faster than he had expected and as he felt his action taking form, he opened his eyes.

It felt really strange to look at the Garganta. It was like a speck of Color on a bland canvas, or at least that's how Setsuzo would describe it if he had to. A flat rooftop was to be seen on the other side of the Gateway, a perfect exit point

The humans currently had daytime, so seeing wasn't a problem, even from Hueco Mundo. They both looked at each other and nodded approvingly. Then, one after another, they went through.

ooo

"This is boring", Raiba commented.

About 4 hours had passed since they had gone through the Garganta and they hadn't moved ever since, waiting for it to get dark. They were still sitting on the rooftop of a skyscraper that gave them a pretty good view of the city. Not really much had happened since then. In fact, nothing had happened. The people were asleep, almost no windows were lit up and little to no humans were on the streets.

"Are you sure that the unholy crossing of death and destruction is living in this neighborhood?"

"First, I never called him that. Or her. Or it, don't know, don't care. Second, He's a human, so he's probably asleep right now, since, you know, it's night time and all."

"Or she or it", Raiba added jokingly.

"Not relevant", Setsuzo quipped back.

"Says you."

"If something, or someone was to kill you with absolute certainty, would you care about that fucker's gender?"

"It'd be nice if it were at least hot."

"Regardless of the gender? Didn't know you swung in both directions."

"Just because someone is hot, doesn't mean that I'm attracted to them. Also, I'm not bisexual. All I'm saying is that among all the unpleasant things we've seen, being killed by someone good-looking would be at least some kind of solace."

Setsuzo wanted to counter something, but couldn't really think of anything, so he nodded in agreement. "You're a weird person, you know that?", he asked.

"Oh really? How so?"

"You find positive aspects in certain occurences where nobody else would even go looking for them, much less know where to look in the first place."

"It's one of my gifts. When you lead a life like we do, you gotta do whatever it takes to distract yourself from the grimmer aspects of it. You know, enjoy the little things. If we don't, we're just mindless monsters driven by instinct."

"And there it is", Setsuzo exclaimed. "The smart side of yourself that you always keep hidden from Bainne. Actually displaying that in his presence would maybe make him like you a bit more, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but by doing that, I'd be giving him exactly what he wants, which is to take his whole schtick serious and I ain't doing that. I mean, come on. The hell does he even need an army for anyway?"

"I have no damned idea. Maybe he wants to take over Hueco Mundo, maybe he wants to kill all the Shinigami, I couldn't tell you."

"And you have no idea what the greater scheme of his goals are?"

"No I don't. As a matter of fact, I don't have any clue about what he wants, what he's fighting for, if he's actually intelligent and calm or insane and greedy. I know nothing about him except the fact that he's absolutely terrifying when he wants to be and he's stronger than all of us, which means he could kill us all if he just wanted to. To him, we are like tools, once we aren't of use to him anymore, he'll dispose of us."

"If that's so, why do you even follow him?"

"... is that a real question?"

"I mean apart from the fact that he pretty much forced us into doing it. I wanna know your actual reasons, there has to be somethinng else except "I'm only doing it because he'll kill me otherwise". Am I wrong?"

That was a valid question. One Setsuzo hadn't even thought about himself. Why did he follow Bainne? Nothing really came to mind, so he just shrugged his shoulders and said: "I couldn't tell you, honestly." Raiba gave him aa disbelieving glance.

"Alright let me phrase it differently. If the powergap between him and us were non-existent, if there was nothing he could hold over us, what would be your reasoning for following him?"

Setsuzo gave it another few seconds of thought until he could settle on an answer this time. "I guess it gives me purpose. If it wouldn't be for Bainne, the only thing on my mind would be the next meal. Now, I constantly have something to do, I'm not a mindless monster, I'm actually acomplishing something. Or at least that's how I feel about it and frankly, that's enough for me at the moment."

"Purpose, huh?", Raiba concluded thoughtful.

Setsuzo sighed and leaned back to gaze upon the sky. It was a cloudless night, just like it was last time he had been in the human world. Once again, the sky was bearing that soothing dark blue, sprinkled with stars and a full moon.

"That's a pretty interesting answer. On to other Topics though", Raiba said. "When exactly do you plan on checking on your grave? I mean now would be a good time."

"Now is also a good time for murderers and grave sinners to do their deed, so I'd say we stay put. Once we find our candidate and do what we have to do, we can go looking for the graveyard. Who knows how long I'll need to remember."

Now Raiba nodded in agreement and leaned back as well. "Alright, then let's do some detective work."

"As per usual, you're gonna have to explain that one a little more detailed."

"If we wanna find a murderer, then we can't do it from up here. We gotta narrow it down to some places, since we can't just aimlessly stroll around in the city and hope to just luck out and stumble on one. So, we gotta do some detective work to deduce where a murder would most likely happen."

"Does it have to be a murderer? Aren't there any other acts of violence or something that would categorize as an unforgivable sin?"

"Probably, but a murderer is our safest bet. Now, what would be the perfect place to commit murder?"

"Abandoned ones", Setsuzo answered. "Preferably ones that are away from police stations, like abandoned factories, or construction sites on the outer border of the city. The woods would be a good start as well."

"Hold up, didn't you say you have no memories of when you were a human?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Then how do you even know that these words exist, let alone know what they mean?"

"Last time I was here, I found the graveyard where I was buried, right? Back then, I couldn't even tell that trees normally have leafs on them, unlike those in Hueco Mundo. I didn't even know what a street was, or a house, the only things I recognized were the humans. When I got to the graveyard, bits and pieces of my memories started to come back to me. From there on out, my knowledge about the human world started to return, but my memories are still nowhere to be seen. So yeah, I know what a police station, or a construction site and a fire truck are, hell, I even know what a stripclub is, but I still don't even know my favorite color."

"You care about your favorite color?", Raiba snickered.

"It was just an example, besides, I told you that already, pay attention", Setsuzo retorted. "Anyways, if you don't have a specifically prepared basement, those would be the spots I'd pick."

"What about dark alleyways? Think about it, murder can happen in many instances, for example during a simple robbery. Or an attempted rape."

"True that, gross though."

"It's a dark part of human nature, as unfortunate as it is. A shootout could also happen, for example during a gang rivalry."

"You think there are gangs or drug cartels in Karakura town?"

"It's a relatively big town, it's not improbable. If we were to bet on gangs or cartels, we should check the factories and warehouses first."

Setsuzo got up and started looking around. The factories were fairly easy to find, on the outer part of the city, but it was unclear if those were actually empty. Only one way to find out.

"Alright, let's go", he said and jumped on a smaller building nearby. Raiba followed his example and both got down to the streets and ran straight towards their Destination. It didn't take them long to get there and even less time to inspect if it was a place used for shady activities.

They were in luck as it actually looked empty and worn down, with holes in the fences, leaned on doors and loose papers floating around everywhere. They went inside to check if anybody was in there, but with that, they were not in luck. They went outside again to decide where they'd go next.

"There's an old train station that's out of service not far from here, we could go check there next", Raiba said.

"What direction?"

Raiba pointed towards the east. Setsuzo was about to go into that direction before he stopped and turned towards his partner.

"Did you live here before you became a Hollow?"

"Yeah, but I didn't grow up here. We moved to this town about two years before I died."

"Then how do you know spots like an old trainstation? More specifically, how do you know it's out of Service?"

"I was a curious person back then. Also, those were the places were you could smoke weed and drink alcohol and throw parties without the police turning up on your ass the moment the word "illegal" leaves your mouth."

If Setsuzo could have lifted an eyebrow that was visible for his opposite, he would have definitively done it.

"Oh don't look at me like that", Raiba said, as if he had read Setsuzo's mind. "We both know that you know, or at least guessed, that I was already a… let's call it "no risk, no fun"-person."

"Trust me, I could have confirmed that without this bit."

"Well you got it anyway, hurray, now you know me a little better, change of topics. Trainstations that way."

I'm not so sure if knowing you a little better is worth a hurray, Setsuzo thought to himself sarcastically, but left the sentence unspoken. He knew he treasured that man as a companion, even if they only knew each other for about two and a half months. Setsuzo was pretty sure that he would likely never find someone else who was this much on the same wavelength as he was.

"Lead the way mr. cityguide", he opted for instead in only a slightly mocking tone. It was dark and he couldn't really see all of Raiba's features, but he just knew that his partner was rolling his eyes right now.

He took the lead anyway and guided Setsuzo towards the station. The latter however couldn't shake an uneasy feeling that he had felt from the moment he had taken a step into this city. And it was getting stronger the closer they got to that station.

When they reached their destination, Setsuzo immediately jumped on the building to look around and check if he saw any kind of suspicious person walking around, like that dark-skinned dude from last time, but he saw nothing. Then he slowly turned around in a circle to check the buildings, but the only noteable establishements he saw were a shopping district, a hospital and… a clinic.

And all his alarmbells started ringing like there was no tomorrow. This was the place. How did he not feel that before?

The uneasy feeling he had gotten since they stepped foot into this city was coming from that clinic. That much was crystal clear, now that he could see it. He squinted his eyes to read the sign above the entrance that was only lit by scarce street light.

Kurosaki clinic.

Raiba jumped on the roof and looked at the clinic as well. "You felt it since we got here too, didn't you?"

"You're damn right I felt it. Whatever gets Bainne to wet his pants lives in that clinic. And is sleeping right now, so let's get this over with as fast as we can and then get the hell away from this place. We might be suppressing our Spiritual pressure to the absolute max, but we don't know what these people are capable of."

He noticed Raibas head moving and took it as a silent nod. The tension had suddenly gone up a few notches, as the two Hollows changed their previous lax attitude to a serious one. Both got down and started to search the train station in a frantic hurry. They only looked inside the building, since they could not risk to make any noise, unless they wanted to wake the neighborhood.

Once again, they found nothing. No flashlights, no shots fired, no muffled screams, nothing at all. They didn't bother to check anymore than was neccassary and got the hell out of there. Only when they were on the opposite side of the town, they allowed themselves to catch their breath and calm down.

"Alright, so going back there is sure as hell not an option", Raiba said.

Setsuzo didn't comment on that, he was just glad that they actually made it without being made. "Alright", he said after a few moments, "you know any other places we could check? Preferrably on this side of the town?"

Raiba let out a small laugh. "Not much. There's a highschool and a park. Alternatively, in the direction we just came from is an abandoned hospital. It's way further away from that clinic though, so I think that shouldn't be a problem. Those are the only places I can think of where something could possibly happen."

"No, I don't think that a murder is gonna happen in a highschool, or a park. The highschool is closed in the night and too populated in the daytime, a dead body would immediately be noticed. A park is too much in the open and you're seen way too easy. Sadly, the only place that would bear the possibility is-"

"The abandoned hospital. I kinda knew you'd say that."

"We gotta check it. When were done there, we can search every dark alley on this side of the city."

"Tell me again why we are risking our lives for this."

"Because we don't do half-assed jobs and if we know that it is safe, we do what we can."

"Safe is pretty objective here, but hey, why not. You're taking a risk, so I guess my influence is finally robbing off on you."

"I don't really know if that's a good thing or not."

"Let's leave that as it is and continue when our live isn't in imminent danger", Raiba said with a smile.

He turned around and started to run back the way they just came from. Setsuzo followed him and when they got to their next destination, he estimated that the distance to that damned clinic was at last four times as much as the trainstation, so they sould be fine.

"Let's split up", Setsuzo suggested. "It'll be faster this way. You start at the top, I'll start from the bottom."

Without a retort, Raaiba started to climb up the outside of the building, while Setsuzo went in through the front entrance. It wasn't locked, so that could be a good sign for success this time.

Even though he was not that big compared to other hollows, he still had to duck a little to avoid bumping his head on the ceiling. He rushed through the basement, only focusing on what he heard and occasionaly opening a door to closed rooms.

The reception and waiting rooms had nothing to offer, not that they were in question to begin with. There was one emergency room and some normal dormrooms, but nothing was out of the ordinary. They were all empty, except for the trash maybe that surely had been left behind by teenagers or people who liked to spend time in an abandoned hospital. He even checked the restrooms, but no luck (hell of a smell though).

So, he went up to the second floor and did the same there. There was no receiving room this time, instead there were just more operating rooms. The smell was pretty bad, but it didn't smell like fresh blood. On the other hand, somebody could have been suffocated, so blood wasn't really a reliable intel to go on.

Once again, he checked every room, but came up short. Fuck. This was taking too long and he didn't like it at all.

He got to the third floor and started searching again.

Operating rooms.

Hospital rooms.

Rest rooms.

And still nothing. He was almost through, when he heard Raiba coming down through the stairs. In hopes he had had better luck with their search, he turned around and looked at him, only to get a disappointed headshake. He also shook his head and indicated to get the hell out of there.

They got on the roof and started to go back to the northern side of the city. Once they reached a high enough building, they sat down on top of it and loosened up a little.

As always, Raiba was the first to speak. "Well, that was a fruitful night."

"Tell me about it."

"Gotta be honest with you, I don't think that something is gonna go down tonight."

"Yeah, guess you're right."

"The hell does Bainne want a sinner for anyway? They aren't really more powerful or anything like that, at least according to what I know."

That got Setsuzo thinking. Why did Bainne want a sinner specifically? "Are you sure that there's nothing special about sinners who turnedd into Hollows? No noteable quality, unique appearance, aura or anything of the sort?"

"They go to hell when they're killed by a Shinigami."

"Shot in the dark, maybe it's got something to do with that", Setsuzo guessed.

"Let's ask him when we get back. Who knows, maybe we'll even get an answer."

"Either that or another death threat. Let's just call it a day and get some sleep. I'll take the first guarding shift."

"Alright", Raiba answered and let himself fall on his back.

ooo

Setsuzo opened his eyes and immediately closed them again and turned around. He had been lying in a position where the sun shone right into his face. He slowly opened his eyes again, this time in the shadow of his own body and let them adjust.

It must have been late in the morning, since the sun had already risen above the horizon. He got up and looked around to see that Raiba was sitting on the edge of the rooftop.

"Morning", Setsuzo said still a little sleepy.

Raiba snorted and gave him a nod, then looked back towards the town. "So, feeling like you're up for a visit to the cemetary?"

"It's daytime, so the probability of a murder happening is bar to none. Sure, let's go, but we gotta be very careful, even more so than in the night. These special individuals could be anywhere, so if we see something suspicious, we Garganta and out."

"You got it", Raiba retorted and got up. "So how should we get there, by roof or by street?"

"Both have their disadvantages. We're easier to see by roof, but we'd have a greater distance to them once they spot us, so technically, we should be able to take countermeassures. We'd be less obvious by foot, but if we happen to run across one of them, they're much closer, so reacting to that could prove to be pretty difficult."

"Well then, which one do we take?"

"Why're you asking me?"

"You came up with it, you can choose what we do. Besides, tactical planning and that sorta shit is more your kind of thing anyway."

Setsuzo thought about it a little and then said: "We go by foot. If they see us, we can scatter and both use individual Garganta do get away. They may be faster, but we're prepared so that maneuver should confuse them for long enough to get out."

"Street it is", Raiba concluded and started to get down via the lower roofs. Setsuzo followed his example and after both had landed they started walking at a relatively fast pace, while Setsuzo took the lead.

Now that it was daytime, the city was a lot more livelier and humans were walking around everywhere, stores were open and cars driving down the street. Several showcase windows also had televisions broadcasting news like:

"…the weather is going to be rather mild…"

"…regarding the fuel station that became victim of a robbery last week…"

"…and today, on the 17th of June, we have…"

It was almost a bit obnoxious. They kept walking straight towards the forest. Nothing major happened on the way there. Special individuals were nowhere to be seen and none of the normal humans seemed to be able to see them. When they walked past a park with a playground, a little kid tripped face first in the sandbox, which Raiba found to be absolutely hilarious.

They reached the forest and walked right through it instead of taking the normally cemented pathway up to the cemetary, that way they had some cover. They reached the graveyard and Setsuzo stepped out of the forest to once again ty and find his tombstone, this time intentionally.

He slowly walked between the crosses that were steepd into the ground and stopped in the middle of it, taking in the atmosphere of the area, as if it would help him remember, all while Raiba stayed behind him in the forest and observed.

Very slowly, the bits and pieces started coming back to him. He closed his eyes, but still saw himself walking around it. From a lower angle. When he was smaller. When he was human.

He opened his eyes and took a few deep, shivering breaths.

Yes, it was actually working. Now, he just had to keep at it.

He closed his eyes again and started to sink back in his trance-like state. He slipped back into his smaller body and saw things from that perspective again. He was walking towards a small assembly of people. They were all dressed in black. It wasn't raining, but it was about to, as they sky had a very dark grey tone to it. He got closer to the group and saw that they were crying.

He called out to them, asked them what was going on, but nobody heard him. Nobody turned around, or reacted to him, they just stood there.

He called out their names, but still nothing. He walked around and suddenly felt something brushing his leg and heard a faint cracking noise, as if he had stomped on a twig. He looked to the ground and saw nothing but dirt. He looked up again and dismissed the occurrence immediately, focusing on the people in front of him once more and got in front of them to-

Suddenly, something ripped him out of his trance and when he turned around he was greeted by the sight of a terrified Raiba. And now that he was snapped out of his Trance,k he also realized what brushed against his leg. A woman was lying on the ground, screaming in pain as on of her legs was horribly deformed.

"Dude, something is coming our way, we need to leave, like, now, like RIGHT THE FUCK NOW!"

"What why?", Setsuzo asked confused and tried to make sense of his Partners rambling.

"When she started screaming I noticed a terrifying Spiritual pressue, the one we felt coming from the clinic, which is why we need to-"

Setsuzo took a moment, but then he felt it too. He had been so concentrated on remembering that he had completely missed it. Now, that uneasy feeling had returned, but it was dialed up to eleven and turned into something else entirely. Before both of them could react, it hit them.

( Bleach OST Jigoku Hen: Incantation Parte C )

Fear.

Overwhelming sheer fucking terror froze the two hollows to their bone as they slowly turned around to the steep hill that was leading to the graveyard. It was almost as if time was slowed down to an agonizing degree.

A small group of people appeared running up the hill and towards them. A black haired young woman, followed by a slightly younger woman with light brown hair.

Then a middle aged man with a light beard and black hair came after them and while he displayed an overwhelming presence, it wasn't what froze Setsuzo and Raiba in their place. That person came running up the hill last, in form of a young man in his very late teens, with a tall build, short orange hair and a slightly distressed expression on his face.

ooo

"Yo Ichigo, you want to or should I?", his old man said, devoid of his usual annoying energetic manner.

"It's okay, I got it", Ichigo answered, slightly annoyed. Of course Hollows had to show up to his mothers memorial day, why the hell not. He sighed and focused. With the help of his Substitute Badge, he emerged out of his physical body in his Shinigami form.

A woman was lying on the ground next to the two Hollows, with a leg that looked like it was definitively broken and then some. One of the Hollows must have stepped on her, given the blood on his foot.

He drew Zangetsu from his back and jumped towards the two hollows with minimal motivation. He wanted to take them out in a single hit, since that would be easiest. He couldn't use a Getsuga Tenshou or god forbid a Getsuga Juujishou as the former would wreck the graveyard and the latter would probably blow up the whole area in the process.

So he opted for the sword strike.

ooo

( Bleach OST 4 Track 18: Mysterious )

Sestuzo was paralyzed. Completely overwhelmed. He couldn't move.

Not when the two men noticed them.

Not when the orange haired one emerged as a spirit out of his physical body, dressed in dark robes, with a large black sword on his back and a small one on the right side of his waist.

And not even when said individual rushed towards them.

It was Raiba who moved. He quickly conjured a Garganta, but the opponent was too fast. They wouldn't make it in time, not both of them.

Well, guess that's it then.

Raiba had constructed the Garganta. He would go through first. In the end it came down to that. Every man for himself. Or at least, that's what Setsuzo thought was going to happen.

When the orange haired man emerged as a spirit, he heard Raiba say next to him: "You better get those damn memories back and I hope they're worth it." Setsuzo looked at him in shock, but all he saw was Raiba's face with a somber glance in his eyes on it. Then he was pushed through the pathway to Hueco Mundo.

"Wait!", Setuzo screamed but it was already too late.

"See you later, partner", were the last words that were uttered by his friend before he was cut in half.

ooo

Setsuzo fell into the desolate wasteland that was Hueco Mundos second layer, completely shaken by what had just happened. His friend, who had fought many battles alongside him, was killed.

It was as if someone had snapped his fingers and he was gone, just like that. But it should have ben him.

He didn't react in time.

He was frozen in fear.

He just stood there and didn't even try to do something.

And very slowly agonizing hatred started to grow inside of him. Hatred for Bainne to even making them do something like that. Hatred for the world to allow such beings as that Shinigami to even exist. Hatred for that same man who killed his friend.

But above all else hatred or himself.

For having given up without a second thought.

And for being a coward.

And somehow he hoped. Hoped, that hatred would make him strong. Would bring him revenge. Would bring his friend back. But he knew that none of those things would happen.

So all he could do was scream.

Author's notes:

So, first things first: I'm back (obviously) and I've got good and bad News. The bad news is that I was only able to write two complete chapters in these 4 weeks of vacation. The good news is that those are really long chapters, like the longest I've ever written, so in a sense you're still rewarded.

Now onto this chapter: Yeah, Raiba's dead, no question. I kinda like this inverted or flipped perspective (whatever you wanna call it), but I'm not really gonna touch on it that much, as it's not the focus of the story, at least not yet. When going into this project, I just thought to myself: "One of your main characters is a Hollow, so there's like, no fucking way you can just ignore that." Like I said, I'm not gonna deeply explore this theme, but that doesn't mean I don't find it interesting. I mean think about it: Ichigo is our hero and as a Shinigami it's literally his mission to murder Hollows. So from the perspective of a Hollow this dude is fucking horrifying. Hence the reason why the intro music for him in that moment wasn't his actual theme song (which is awesome by the way), but literally music from hell. I don't know, it just felt like a smart way to put a new spin on the whole Shinigami-Hollow dynamic.

As for Bainne and why he sent them to the human world in the first place: well, I put a little hint in it, but no need to worry about that now. A few more chapters and he will be more focused on and fleshed out. Who knows, maybe I'll reveal some of his motivations, maybe not. You're just gonna have to keep reading and find out ;).

Alright, that's a little clickbaity and not really what I'm about. Don't take that too seriously, you can obviously stop whenever you want to or don't give a fuck anymore. I'm doing this for fun and I'm pretty grateful for you people actually reading it and sticking with me here, so another big thank you to guys and girls who love Bleach as much as I do, where- and whoever you are.

The second chapter I wrote on vacation is coming soon, don't worry.

With that all being said:

If you`ve got your own opinion or ideas, PM me, or, better yet, review the story. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.