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Part I

"Left!" Nel cried with one sharp tug at Renji's ponytail.

"Left?! What fu… Er, I mean, what left? We're in a straight hallway!"

"Left!" she insisted, drumming her bare feet on his collar with more force than she was probably aware. He tried to ignore it, eyes searching.

There are some doors to my left, he reasoned.

"Okay, which one, then?" he asked.

The tiny Hollow scrutinized them, eyes narrowed, hands still tangled in his hair. She drew back sharply, shaking her head. "Forward!"

Renji would not hit a child. He refused. He kept forward, gritting his teeth. "Do you even know where you're going?"

"Nope!" He resisted the urge to groan. "Just going with my gut. My gut's got a lot of neat things in it, you know."

That was a sentence he did not want to unpack.

Renji had been maybe a few minutes into his journey when he'd been barreled into from behind, Nel's mask digging into his spine in the most painful way possible. Then she drooled on him.

He wasn't sure how this all ended with her on his back, the two of them running like madmen down the halls of Las Noches, but…

Where was he going with this again?

"Up!" she cried, completely serious.

Oh, yeah. Nel was horrible at this. It was almost like it was a mistake letting the child decide where they would go.

Wait, up? "What the ever loving…" He turned a corner, saw a set of stairs and paused for a moment. "Okay. Up it is."

He walked into the stairwell, noting the shadowy steps that went in both directions, unable to tell just how high, or how low, either went. He considered for a moment going down, instead, if only to see. With a shake of his head he took the first step up.

As it turned out, the stairwell went up quite high. There were no other entrances that he could see, just smooth stone lit by the occasional artificial light. If it weren't for Nel's incessant humming, he may have been unsettled.

He made it to the top, wrenching open the door only to squint against the change in brightness. "Sunlight?" he thought aloud. "How'd they get that in here?"

"I dunno. Real question is, how did they get the sun in here?"

"I…" Either he was going crazy or that made some kind of sense. "Whatever. Keep quiet for a bit. I need to think." Really, he had to make a decision. He was staring out at a wide expanse of buildings of varying shapes and sizes. It was anyone's guess which one Rukia was in.

"Looking for something?" Her arms patted on his head in a peculiar rhythm. "I can help! Just tell me what it is."

"Not sure how much you could help," he said wryly. Still, he sighed. "It's my friend; Aizen took her. It's the whole reason we came out here, actually."

Her head tilted down, edge of her mask digging into his forehead like she was trying to contort herself until she could look him in the eye. "But why would Aizen steal your girlfriend? That's just weird."

"She's not–!" He cut himself off. He didn't want to have this argument… again. "I don't know," he said sternly. "He didn't exactly leave a note, but it doesn't really matter."

"Oh! I know!" she cried excitedly, and at that Renji perked up. "It's just like that one picture book I read." He deflated. "The villain wanted the damsel in distress all to himself, so he locked her up and did all sorts of nefarious things to her!"

"…What kinds of books have you been reading?"

"Not sure. Pesche brought it for me, I think… That's not important, though! What's important is that you're the prince!"

"The… prince?" He was lost here.

"The prince! And that means you have to marry your princess, after of course going through some death defying trials, but we'll get there when we get there."

He was speechless, stuck somewhere in between laughing his ass off and telling her off. He was interrupted before he could do either.

"Ichigo!" he heard someone cry. "Come on you asshole! Don't give up on me yet!"

With a sharp gasp he ran towards the voice, turning a corner and finding himself utterly horrified at what he saw.

It was Tatsuki, kneeled over Ichigo and shaking him, blood saturating both her hands and the sand beneath them, all coming from his hastily bound wounds. Her head turned to Renji, but only for a moment.

"You are not allowed to die on me!" she snarled, shaking him.

"I'm not dead!" he yelled back. His face screwed up in pain right after, his head slumping against the ground. "Just give me a moment…"

For a second it looked like Tatsuki was going to yell at him once more, fists clenched at her sides. Then she turned to Renji. "What are you doing just standing there? Help!"

He cursed under his breath, depositing Nel on the ground before rushing over.

"He looks bad…" the child whined. "This is a job for Nel's magic spit! She proceeded to stick her fingers down her throat.

"I… uh, think we can take care of it," Renji grimaced. He grimaced again when he knelt by Ichigo's side. He didn't look any better up close.

"What's… that look for?" the Shinigami panted out.

Renji didn't have it in him to answer. "Okay," he said, trying to calm himself. "What are we doing?"

"…Not sure," Tatsuki said, eyes downcast. "I was hoping I'd be able to find Orihime by now, but my tracking's completely fucked. I guess I should be thankful I ran into you instead of another one of Aizen's goons."

"Then what, we're just waiting here while Ichigo bleeds out?" he snapped.

"Hey! I'm working on it!" She sounded near-panic.

"Uh…" Nel said beside him, "Scary Shinigami lady, the Medical store's over there if you need it." She had a finger pointed to a stout building barely a block away.

Tatsuki and Renji looked once at each other, eyes wide. In a second, they were scrambling, Tatsuki heaving Ichigo's body onto Renji's back. They ran over in an instant.

Breaking in was a simple affair, Tatsuki busting open the door with her foot before storming the place, a cut-off yelp sounding right before she called, "All clear!"

Renji trudged in, spotting the dissolving body of a low level Arrancar in the corner. "I didn't think sneak attacks were your thing."

"Yeah, well we didn't have time for anything else," she said sarcastically. She was already rummaging through some cabinets, busting the locks on some of them with a harsh yank that practically tore some of the doors off their hinges. She came back with an armful of stuff plopping it down in the center of the room. She spread out a large towel, rolling up a smaller one as a pillow. "Put him down here."

The poor guy didn't even make a sound when Renji placed him, manhandling him into what he hoped was a comfortable position.

"Gonna be honest, here," he said, "I'm completely out of my depth."

Tatsuki was arranging each item hastily, taking her Zanpakuto in hand and activating her Shikai. "Field medicine's all I got," she admitted, "and it'll have to do. Just do exactly as I say, and we'll be fine." She tore open the top of his robe. "Now hold him down."

With a gulp he grabbed Ichigo by the shoulders, pressing down with as much weight as he dared. He tried not to pay much mind to her grisly work.

"…Who did this to him?" He asked. Then he pressed down harder as Ichigo jerked underneath him.

"He…" she trailed off, brows knit in concentration, "…he wouldn't say. I'm thinking Espada. He was muttering…" She frowned, lost in her work once more and didn't continue.

"Muttering what?"

"…Not important." Ichigo let out a low groan. She didn't even flinch. Renji wished he could say the same for himself.

"You're taking this very well," he said, feeling vaguely sick.

"That what it seems like? I feel… Well, that's not important either."

"Just tell me. Don't feel like you need to keep things from the human. We're supposed to be in this shitty situation together."

She let out a huff, taking the bottle of antiseptic in hand. "Shitty doesn't even begin to cover it."

That had him pausing. She sounded so… broken down.

"Ichigo was probably the strongest of us," she continued, "and look where he is now. I gotta say, I'm not liking our odds anymore."

"You saying we should give up?" Renji challenged.

"No! I'm just saying we need to rethink some things. I mean we aren't any closer to finding Rukia, and we have no idea when backup's coming, if at all, and… ugh!" She let out a grunt of frustration, hands going into her hair so she wouldn't take it out on her patient. "You've been in this situation before, right? What did you do then?"

"Don't ask me. I still don't know how we made it out of that one." Tatsuki let out another groan. He back peddled. "Maybe we should just calm down? Think it through, right. What's the next thing we can do?"

Tatsuki took a deep breath, tension releasing with the exhale. She continued her work. "First things first, we have to make sure this one doesn't die on us. He needs rest, so he's staying here, at least until he can stand.

"Then we should try and find the others, or at least Orihime. She can help with the getting him standing part. Then… We get to it when we get to it, I guess."

"Okay. Then one of us goes, one of us stays."

Once again, Tatsuki looked deep in concentration, her stitches not the only thing on her mind. "You go, I stay," she decided, and Renji was genuinely surprised. "My tracking's been shit. I wouldn't have even found this one if he hadn't blown the ceiling off a building."

He what now?

"Besides, that Hollow girl of yours seems to know this place well enough, and she actually likes you, so…"

Renji felt determination fill his chest. "Orihime and maybe the others. I won't let you down."

"Yeah, yeah," she said, and she handed him another clean towel. "Now push down here."

A few hours later, at least one spent just making sure that Ichigo wouldn't stop breathing on them, the two separated.

Part II

It was weird, Uryuu thought, being the talkative one in the dynamic for once.

"And when I woke up, it turned out I was eating my pillow the whole time!" Dondochaka said with a full-bellied laugh.

"Classic!" Pesche was near tears with how hard he was giggling. "I can't tell you how many times that's happened to me."

Well, he was second or third, anyway.

"We passed the Privaron a while ago," Uryuu said quietly. "You'd think things would have picked up by now."

"We haven't had to fight yet," Chad said with a shrug. "I don't mind that."

"Well, I, me neither, I guess," he stuttered, "but the closer we get to Orikasa, the more guards we should expect, right? So, if there are no guards, we can conclude we're nowhere close."

Chad looked down at him as he explained… And kept looking.

"What?" Chad's head snapped away.

"Nothing, you're right." Uryuu could have sworn he was blushing there for a minute.

"…Yeah," he settled. "Anyway, we need to be making more progress than we are. All we've seen so far is halls and stairs. There has to be somewhere else–"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off as his foot went straight through the next tile. Chad's arm was around his waist in an instant, dragging him back.

Uryuu's heart just about beat out of his chest. There was a huge trap door in front of them, as wide as the hall itself.

"Close," Chad grunted, setting Uryuu down, and huh Chad could carry Uryuu without any effort. He'd be filing that one away.

He needed to stay on task, here. "Careful what you wish for," he muttered.

"Who would do a thing like that?" Dondochaka wailed. "Walkways are supposed to be for walking, not for falling."

"Someone who doesn't want us to go any further," Uryuu said. That made their next move clear.

They crossed carefully, helping out the two Hollows that couldn't just walk on thin air with a thought. The second they reached solid ground again, Uryuu held them back.

"Wait," he said, "I have an idea."

He drew his bow, aimed at the ground in front of him, and fired thrice in quick succession, each arrow going further than the last. The first two did nothing but leave scorch marks. The third set off another trap door, just as large as the last.

Uryuu grinned in triumph, turning to Chad who was smiling right back, and for a moment he felt his heart go aflutter. He turned back quickly.

"F-follow me. I'll get us across."

Okay, Uryuu may have had a (very silly) crush. He had enough self-awareness to understand that much. Chad was handsome, kind, smart, and ticked all sorts of boxes in Uryuu's head that he wasn't even aware he had until now.

But now was not the time to get distracted, he reminded himself. They had a mission to complete, here, and it wasn't like it would work out in the end, anyway. He'd buried his crush for Inoue deep into the recesses of his mind for the same reason.

So, he took a deep breath, and fired the next arrow.

They made their way across the hallway going at a snail's pace. It took them much longer than it really should have to reach the stairwell at the end, but hey, it at least felt well earned.

The stairs went down far, Uryuu noted, and for the first time he really wondered who wanted them to fall down those trap doors. The end of the stairwell did not answer this.

They were faced with a large steel door, barely a meter of granite floor between the last step and the threshold. He tried the doorknob. Locked.

Uryuu looked up at Chad, the Shinigami nodding once. With a breath he summoned his Shikai, knocking the door off its hinges with one push.

Don't get distracted!

The room they entered was not what Uryuu was expecting. Filing cabinets lined the walls, papers scattered everywhere. A computer that spanned from floor to ceiling covered the entirety of the adjacent wall. There was another door opposite to them.

"It looks like Captain Urahara's lab," Chad said. He reached for one of the filing cabinets, wrenching it open when it wouldn't cooperate.

Uryuu decided to approach the computer, bow ready if only to provide some extra assurance. Something about this place felt… off to him.

He struck a few keys on the keyboard, tried to find anything that looked like an "on" button, but the screen remained dark, no matter what he did. Just his luck.

His eyes went down to the desk, finding one abandoned folder, and after some hesitation he flipped it open.

"…Subject shows intriguing potential as intersections of states allows for manifestation of…"

He frowned, squinting at the text, flipping through quickly. He saw even more walls of obtuse text, several diagrams that he couldn't make heads or tails of, and finally a single black and white picture. He nearly dropped the file.

Orikasa's face was not a welcome sight, in this case. She was restrained to a table, an expression on her face that he'd never seen before. Fear.

"That doesn't look good." Pesche shivered. "Is that the friend you're looking for?"

Chad approached, then, glancing over Uryuu's shoulder. His expression turned sour.

Without a word Uryuu rolled up the file as tight as he could, putting it into his pack. He looked up at the Shinigami, challenging. The man said nothing in return, he just nodded almost imperceptible.

Then Uryuu put an arrow right through the computer screen, the Shinigami's eyes widening in shock.

"That takes care of that," Uryuu said. He then reconsidered his action when scurrying was heard from behind the still closed door.

Chad was ready in a moment, arms drawn up. Uryuu's bow was trained on it immediately. It rattled once, twice, and then slowly it creaked open.

Through the opening popped two stubby heads, expressions pinned into a disgusting sort of glee, eyes beady. They slammed the door opened, both wordlessly shrieking, and it was loud.

Uryuu fired, silencing one with an arrow right between the eyes. The other retreated back through the door, but he didn't let it go. He tore through, seeing it as it ran down the hall, and he fired once more. He didn't miss.

"Someone heard that," Chad said warily.

"Just what we needed," Uryuu groaned.

"Those guys…" Dondochaka wondered aloud. "Did they look familiar somehow, in a visceral fear sort of way?

"Probably just your imagination," Pesche brushed off.

These were not good signs.

The hallways in front of them was short, sweet, and to the point, a large ornate door at the end of it, clear in view. It was the first thing Uryuu had seen with any defining features to speak of, swoops and swirls decorating its face. It seemed impossibly large. Cautiously, he laid a hand on it.

His eyes narrowed. "Something's on the other side of that door, that's for sure."

"Do we break in?" Chad asked.

"It's not like we can turn back."

That was all Chad needed, apparently, because with a roll of his shoulders he stepped forward. Uryuu took a step back.

For a second his foot touched stone. In the next it was going right through, and once again he was falling, Chad just a little too late to catch him this time around.

Chad's shocked expression grew distant as Uryuu fell.

Part III

Rukia was excited for a fight, in a way she hadn't been in a very long time (if ever, really).

"I'm going to be honest," Sode deadpanned, "I thought you would be at least a little concerned."

"I am," Rukia said. "I'm concerned with how I'm going to kick Grimmjow's butt soon."

"That is not what I meant."

"I'm all for it!" the Hollow cheered.

"Your opinion doesn't count!" Sode snapped. "We've just decided to trust an Espada. Am I the only one that can see how horribly this will go?"

"Don't worry. All we gotta do is establish dominance in the fight. That'll take care of everything."

"Yeah!" Rukia grinned, and then caught herself just a second too late. "I mean… The point isn't really to trust him. We have a common goal, and it's not like I have any other options."

"How comforting." Sode sighed. "Well, you've mastered summoning your sword. Hopefully that will be enough."

"Don't choke!"

And with a start Rukia's eyes snapped open.

"Ready?" She looked up to see Grimmjow at the door, grinning.

"They sent you to pick me up?"

He snorted. "Who else would they? I gotta do fuckin' everything around here."

She nearly smiled at that. Was it weird that she was getting used to the Arrancar's presence, and all his idiosyncrasies (even his need to curse every five seconds)? "That's probably for the best," she said simply. "We'll have time to go over the plan."

"What's there to go over? I win. We run. That's it."

She reared back, sputtering for a moment. "N-no it's not! I told you, we need to wait for the right opening once we're left alone in the infirmary."

"Same thing." He brushed her off, shoving open the door.

Maybe Sode had a point.

They made their way to the arena's hidden entrance, Rukia just barely keeping up with the Espada's long strides. The wall they were looking for wasn't far, and for once Rukia was glad to see it. This would be the last time she'd be seeing the inside of that arena, after all.

"May the best fighter win?" she offered with a half-smile.

He choked out a laugh, shaking his head.

Oh, he was going down.

The crowd was rather active, she noticed, and it seemed larger than usual. The chatter had reached an all new volume, even the Shinigami quietly speaking to each other on their pedestal. Aizen's silver haired lackey in particular was talking with a certain animation, Aizen listening with a nod and a cold look in his eye.

Rukia kept her eye on him, trying to see if she could figure what was going through his head, even as she moved to her respective side of the field. She got nothing, not even a word, as Aizen leaned back, waving his hand at the man.

Ichimaru stood up straight, a grin on his face. "Let the match begin!"

The first thing Rukia did was summon her sword. Extending her hand, she gathered frost in the air and solidified it, making something completely indistinguishable from Sode no Shirayuki's sealed form.

Grimmjow was the one to move first, however, swooping in barehanded, his fist smoking as he swiped at her once, and then twice, Rukia weaving back perfectly. She darted forward to his exposed side, only to be blocked by his drawn sword.

"Gonna have to try harder than that," he taunted, and she drew back, immediately berating herself for her hesitation. She had her sword now. She needed to just go for it. With a slash she ran in again, clashing once more.

For as little as he used it, Grimmjow was good with his sword. His methods were a bit unorthodox; he swung it like a club, putting every ounce of his strength into each blow. He fought with a wild sort of glee, and strangely enough, it was infectious. When they clashed once more, Rukia couldn't help but notice that she was smiling.

She didn't so much as decide to step things up, as it just sort of happened. Reiryoku at her feet she twisted into a maneuver, coming at him from above. It was flashier than it was strictly practical, but instead of blocking or just dodging away, Grimmjow parried, knocking her to the ground, and swinging his blade right at her neck.

She dodged back just in time eyes wide. "Hey!" she hissed. He wasn't supposed to kill her! She sent a nervous glance up to the Shinigami's box, noticing Tōsen whispering to Aizen.

"I said I'd win, right?" Grimmjow snapped back.

He was crazy, but she already knew that. So, she took a step back, and summoned her Shikai.

"That's what I'm talking about!" he cheered.

She sent an arc of cold his way, the Arrancar dodging with his grin still intact. With a slash she chased after, Grimmjow dodging around her with unexpected speed, striking her from the front so hard it nearly knocked her sword out of her hands, sending her stumbling back. She came forward once more, locking blades with him.

"Third Dance!" she cried through gritted teeth. "White Sword!"

This time he was the one to retreat, his breath turning frosty the moment her sword extended, its Reiatsu affecting everything around it. He came right back, though, coming down on her with enough force that her knees buckled. She barely had enough time to roll out of the way, slicing him across the back scoring her first real hit.

He let out a brief cry that was more anger than pain, rearing around, sword facing away from her, a cero at his fingertips. It came right for her. She had no time to dodge. The most she could do was gather all the Reiryoku she could in front of her and pray.

"Bakudō Number Eight, Seki!" It was weak. There was no time for an incantation, but when she was sent stumbling, head spinning and chest bruised, she couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. I'm not dead.

"Human," he panted out. "I'm getting pretty tired of us just poking around at each other. What do you say we go all out, just for fun?"

"Not really what I call fun," she wheezed. He grinned.

"Grind, Pantera!"

The transformation was captivating, and honestly it explained a lot. A bone visor rested on his forehead right atop a pair of fuzzy pointed ears. His hair went back and below his knees into a veritable mane. He had claws, a tail, and knees that didn't look quite human.

When he sprung forward terrifyingly fast, claws out, she realized that it was more than just an aesthetic choice.

"Bankai!" Just in time, a wave of cold spread. He avoided touching her at the last second, darting back warily, tail flicking as if he were sizing her up.

Rukia wasted no such time, sending slashes of cold after him, knowing that she couldn't chase after in this form. The beams coated swathes of the arena in ice, not one hitting their mark. She had trouble just keeping up with him visually, her stiffened limbs struggling. All her frustration boiled over in an instant, and with a sweeping wave she attacked.

The effect was dazzling. The entire arena was covered in a thick ice that crept slowly up the walls. Frost danced in the air.

"That's new," Grimmjow said from his safe perch atop the wall. Then he lunged.

Rukia stayed rooted, and not on purpose. Her feet were frozen solid and stuck to the ground. She brought up a wall of ice in defense, only for it to shatter around her, giant chunks raining down. His hand came through the chaos, covering her face and slamming her to the ground.

One of her feet ripped free. The other was not so lucky and holy hell did it hurt. She was pretty sure it was torn right out of socket, but it was too numb for her to be able to tell.

Grimmjow didn't care. He grabbed her by the throat, claws piercing skin. They locked eyes.

For a moment they were at a standstill. Her sword wasn't even a meter away. An ice rope would be all it took to establish a connection and make her counterattack, but could she do it before he popped her head like a grape? A flash of determination went through her, and hand on the ground she tried, a trail of ice barely visible creeping from her fingers.

Without a look Grimmjow sent a cero right through it, cutting off the connection. He pointed the second one at her.

"I win."

The audience went nuts, at least by their standards. Everyone was talking, some were yelling. Rukia heard all of it like she was underwater, her ears buzzing incessantly because he was right. She released her transformation. She was at his mercy.

Aizen let out a sigh. "It appears so. I suppose I've gotten all I could from the human. You have the right to kill her, Grimmjow, and take your place amongst the Espada."

Grimmjow looked up at the man, and then back down at her, his expression unreadable. He let the cero dissipate, hefted her up roughly by the collar, and stood. He turned to Aizen.

"You can take that number," he panted, "and shove it up your ass."

Aizen looked murderous, his serene smile still in place.

"Everything I lost, everything you took from me, I'm taking back by force, and I don't need my number, my Fracción, or even my fucking arm to do it. I will kill you!"

The arena was perfectly silent, shock going through the crowd. Rukia felt shock for a very different reason. This was in no way, the plan.

Aizen tilted his head, looked down at them coldly, and said, "Kill them."

Guards appeared on all sides, seeming to manifest from thin air. Hissing out a curse Grimmjow hefted Rukia over his shoulder and cut through them with a lunge and a swipe of his claws. He booked it to the secret entrance.

"Why would you do that?" she cried.

"Shut up and hold on." He tore through the second wave at the door, wrenching it open and running down the hall, bowling over low-level Hollows that seemed to be minding their own business. An alarm rang from the ceiling. Footsteps were coming from both directions.

"We're surrounded!"

"I know that! Shit! Aizen's taking this pretty serious, huh?"

"You said you'd kill him!"

"You did too!"

Masked guards were coming from both sides in huge groups, running at them, and not stopping. Grimmjow did the only thing he could in a narrow hall. He jumped, shooting up like a spring, running over the guards and landing on his feet on the other side. When another group came at them, he dodged past entirely, seemingly hopefully looking for a way out.

"We're going to die," Rukia said, gripping him tightly.

"We just gotta get out of their radar, confuse them a bit," he insisted. Then he skidded to a stop outside a stairwell. There were no guards in sight, but she could still hear them coming. With a curse, Grimmjow turned, pointed a hand at the opposite wall, and fired a cero.

She wasn't sure how bad the damage was. She could hear cries of confusion, see sunlight streaming through, but mostly all that she saw was dust and debris, and only for a second. Grimmjow darted into the stairwell. It was wide, going in a spiral so far down that it made Rukia dizzy, and without hesitation Grimmjow stepped onto the railing and jumped.

She was too shocked to even scream, breath leaving her as air rushed past, and then as quick as it started, it stopped. They landed at the bottom in a dark barely lit basement. It was quiet.

"…That bought us a bit of time at least," he said, standing up straight. She let out a wheeze. "If you throw up on me, I'm going to make you eat it."

She let out another wheeze.

"Baby," he snorted. He walked steps nearly silent. "Hardly anyone ever comes down here. Probably because Aizen will kill them if we do. There's an exit to this hellhole pretty close to here, though. Then all that's left is finding those loser friends of–"

He cut himself off, rearing back, too late to escape the orange shield that wrapped around them. Claws out he slashed at it from the inside, not that it did much good. Rukia knew who this was in an instant.

"Orihime!"

"Rukia!" the Shinigami gasped. Then her eyes narrowed. "Arrancar! what are you doing with my friend?"

Grimmjow did not look impressed. "Really?" he deadpanned. "Is your whole group a bunch of little girls?"

"I'd like to see you say that to Tatsuki. She'd probably set you on fire," Rukia said with a frown. "He's with me, Orihime."

"Oh…" She didn't sound convinced. Still, she lowered the shield right before letting out a cry. "You're hurt! Let me take a look. I made a safe spot not too far from here."

Grimmjow didn't look convinced, either. In fact, he looked like he was beginning to question all his life choices up until now. They were led into a cramped closet at the other end of the basement, wards set up at the door and vent. With little care he dropped Rukia to the ground, plopping onto a crate as he de-transformed.

Orihime was on her in a second. "Show me where you're hurt."

Her injuries were thankfully minor. The worst of it was her feet, though the ache in her chest was making breathing pretty difficult. Orihime's hands were glowing in an instant.

"I have so many questions," the healer said, "but honestly… I'm just glad you're safe."

Rukia smiled, inhaled, and winced as she felt one of her ribs re-set themselves. "Me too…" she said quietly, "but we're not out of the woods yet. Where are the others?"

"We split up sometime yesterday. We were hoping we would find you faster that way, and look, it worked! I guess we didn't think too far ahead though, did we?"

"Us? Never," Rukia said sarcastically. "…So, find them. That's next on the list."

"Yep! Then it's just a matter of sneaking back to the Soul Society, and this whole nightmare will be over."

"But Aizen," Rukia rested her head back, trying to lose herself in the soothing hum of Orihime's Shikai, "he'll still be here. We'll be back at square one."

Orihime smiled mischievously. "Don't be so sure about that."

"Huh?"

"I found something!" She was beside herself with excitement.

"Oh, do tell," Grimmjow snorted, lying down sideways onto the crate, or at least he tried to. About halfway down his back seized, and he more or less collapsed onto his side with a huff. Orihime's eyes snapped to him.

"I… I've never tried healing a Hollow before," she said sheepishly, "but if you stay patient with me and let me finish her first, I can try."

Grimmjow looked at her, eyebrow raised. With a scoff he closed his eyes. "Knock yourself out, sugar tits."

"Or you could die!" Orihime said cheerfully, and something about that smile sent a shiver down Rukia's spine. Grimmjow perked up real quick.

"Healing! Great! I'll be waiting!" he said with a forced smile.

"Thank you for your patience. Now, as I was saying… you won't believe what I found down here…"

Part IV

One day of walking and Orihime had encountered nothing of note.

Two days of walking and she came across a locked door. There were others like it, but for some reason this one caught her eye, or more specifically her senses.

It wasn't just any locked door, she quickly realized. This door was the most locked door she'd ever come across. There were locks upon wards upon spells upon pitfalls arming this thing, and for a Kidō practitioner like herself it was just begging to be broken into.

She sat at the door for a long while, sifting through each bit of security carefully. When it finally opened, she felt truly accomplished, confident that she'd found something here.

The door opened to a large shadowy room, a bookshelf that reached the ceiling filled with tomes and scrolls on the far end. She made a mental note to show the Captains this place when she got the chance.

It looked regularly used, the room perfectly clean save for a ring stain on the coffee table, the chair next to it looking comfy and well worn. The further in she went the less pedestrian it all seemed.

The first thing she noticed, shining in the limited light was a cylindrical tank going from floor to ceiling. There was a whole row of them in fact, many of them occupied with… something. They were in various states of form, some almost looking whole. None were recognizable as human, Hollow, or otherwise.

It was not her first clue that she'd stumbled upon something important, here, but it was the one that stuck most in her mind.

She proceeded through, wishing she'd thought to bring one of those cameras from the World of the Living. Something like that would have been so useful in a situation like this. As it was, she'd just have to hope that Captain Unohana would take her word for it when she described all this to her, and that Aizen wouldn't dispose of… whatever this all was before they got to it.

There were notes scattered about, some of the writing completely illegible, though on close inspection it may have been code. They trailed all the way to another door at the far end, inconspicuous and plain, a piece of paper stuck halfway underneath.

She placed a hand on the stone, only to quickly draw it back. This one was much worse than the last.

This door required all of her effort, mental and physical. She went through ration after ration working it open, eventually dragging over the chair just so she could rest her weary legs. She didn't know how long it took her to sort through it all, and she didn't care once the last lock finally fell.

Cautiously she opened the door.

What she saw was a single room, no larger than a closet, a tiny window letting in moonlight. In the center of the room was a pillar, about her height. It was holding something, that was for sure, and considering all she had to go through to get to it…

This one didn't take much prodding. Barely a touch and a pulse later and it was opening for her, the invisible plates that made up the structure rotating away to reveal a chamber in the center.

No. There was no way I got this lucky.

Orihime reached for the Hogyoku, her hands drawing back at the last second. This… thing, it was dangerous. She needed to do this carefully. Summoning two butterflies she put a small shield around it, hastily tucking it away in her pack and rushing out, closing the doors behind her.

The first chance she got, she shut herself into a small room, secured it, and proceeded to panic for fifteen minutes straight because she just couldn't believe she'd stolen this from right under Aizen's nose. She took a moment to collect herself, of course, breathing deeply and trying to think of what the heck she would do next. She ended up leaving, if only to make extra sure that she wasn't surrounded on all sides by guards who had somehow been alerted to what she'd done.

Not fifteen minutes later she ran into Rukia and her… companion, both of which she just finished patching up.

"Look!" she said, drawing it out of her pack.

Grimmjow let out a low whistle. "So, this is the thing Aizen won't shut the fuck up about, huh? Doesn't look like much."

"It seems different, somehow," Rukia commented. "I wonder if he did something to it."

"Either way we need to get this to Soul Society," Orihime said firmly. Rukia moved to stand up. "And I need to take some time to figure out how to contain this properly, and you need to stay off your feet until the swelling calms down. You dislocated your entire ankle. I'm still not sure how you managed to do that!"

Rukia let out a distressed noise, sitting back down. The Hollow let out a snort. "Great. Sitting on our asses, and after all that buildup. What a load of crap."

"You could always leave," Orihime said pleasantly.

"You wish." He yawned, teeth just a little too sharp to be normal. "Wake me up when the action starts." He rolled over, arm under his head, and didn't move after that.

"…That's a strange one you've managed to pick up," Orihime sighed.

"Tell me about it," Rukia groaned. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing."

Orihime let out a chortle. It didn't last, her smile dropping entirely. "Rukia…? Are you okay, I mean, really?"

She couldn't imagine all of what that girl had gone through. She'd been missing for days. For a while they thought she was dead.

"I'm…" Rukia started, and then stopped. "I'll…" She shook her head, arms wrapped around herself and for a moment she looked as small as she really was. "I just want to go home."

Orihime drew her into a gentle hug, one that Rukia seemed to just melt into. "We'll get you home."

Rukia nodded, head resting on her shoulder. They stayed like that for a long time.


Guess who's taking classes again after one year of being school free? This gal! Somehow all my classes ended up being on the weekend, though, Saturday to Monday. Because of this, I may not be able to keep up my Sunday update schedule and might have to move it out of necessity. That's not even mentioning the potential mini-hiatus coming up because I still don't have the last five chapters written.

I ask that you stay patient with me, and I'll update you as things come along. Classes start in October, so don't worry about it yet.