Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach, if I did Kenpachi would be around a lot more then he is.

Yo everybody! I would have had this chapter up sooner but I was reediting and rewriting parts of the first three chapters that I just wasn't satisfied with, especially chapter 2. I plan to post the redone chapters shortly after this one is posted.

Winged Knight: Wow. You think you hate them now wait till the next couple of chapters especially chapter six. In fact, anyone who likes Orihime will probably hate me for what I have planned for her. I'd tell you more but I don't wanna ruin anything.

Chapter Four

Kurosaki Residence

Karakura Town

7:30 pm Thursday

Ichigo Kurosaki sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. Homework could be a real pain, especially if you haven't been to school in month. Adding to his annoyance was Rukia, who was currently laying on his bed, reading one of her trashy novels rather loudly like she always does.

There was something else on his mind. This morning, Tatsuki had bruises on her neck, shaped like a hand had wrapped around her throat. She said she got the bruises the night before when a one-armed, blue haired man attacked her for a moment before suddenly leaving. It was clearly Grimmjow, but why would he attack Tatsuki? It troubled not only him, but Orihime and Chad as well. All three of them had the same thought, 'Is Aizen now targeting our friends and family?'

They were serious tempted to tell their immediate friends and in Ichigo's case family everything. So they would at least know something about what was going on. But in the end they couldn't. It would inevitably involve them in a fight that none of them, not even Tatsuki was strong enough to fight.

Brushing those thoughts away, he turned his head from his homework to Rukia and said, "Could you keep it down a little? I'm trying to do my homework here."

But to his growing annoyance, she was too enthralled by the book and didn't even react to him.

Ichigo had been about to get up and shake her to get her attention, when a red rubber ball flew through his open bedroom window and smashed into his closet door. Coating it in a crimson liquid and tearing Rukia's attention away from her book. "Ack! Is that blood?! Who the hell fills a ball with blood and throws it through a window?!"

Ichigo sighed again and felt a headache coming. "Urahara. And it isn't blood. It's one of his lame ways of sending messages."

As Ichigo said that, the blood-like liquid began to slide down the door, revealing a message.

Meet at the Urahara Shoten in half an hour.

"Huh. Thats strange."

Rukia raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Last time he did this, he had a p.s. note saying, "To those who saw this and thought it was some written-in-a-murder-victim's-blood movie cliché, you have no sense of humor. Big time.". But this time there isn't some stupid message attached to the end."

"Maybe he couldn't think of something."

Ichigo stared at her with look that said "Are you kidding?".

"Right, right. I forgot, this is Urahara we're taking about. So that means it must be urgent."

Ichigo nodded, "Right. Well, lets go."

Urahara Shoten

8:04 pm

Ichigo was getting annoyed. He, Rukia, Orihime, Chad, Renji and the other soul reapers had been waiting over ten minutes for Urahara and Yoruichi. It was strange that they weren't here when they had called the meeting in the first place. Stranger still, no one present had seen the two since before the arrancar attack last night, though when Renji returned to the shop, he found an empty sake bottle on the table they were sitting around.

The door to one of the back rooms open, revealing a solemn and tired looking Urahara and Yoruichi. The two silently sat down at the table. Urahara took off his hat and placed it on the table, he then stared at Ichigo, Orihime and Chad for a moment before saying, in a tone that was devoid of his normal lazy and goofy tone, "Sorry for keeping you waiting. Well now that we're all here-"

"But we aren't all here." Ichigo interrupted. "Uryu isn't here."

Urahara shook his head. "Uryu can't be here at the moment. For his own reasons. Now, as I was saying. Yoruichi and I have something to tell you, something you aren't gonna like but you have to listen to us."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow and said, "What's this all about?"

Yoruichi answered. "Last Sunday night, when all those hollows attacked, Urahara and myself detected a smaller opening forming away from where all the hollows were. Unfortunately, it was open long even for us to pinpoint it's location. So I had been patrolling the town every night since, searching for whatever came through that opening. Last night, when the arrancar attacked, I was a few blocks away from where they entered this world. But I wasn't alone. Your friend Tatsuki was there."

Orihime with a confused look on her face asked, "I don't understand. We already know that Grimmjow attacked her. So why are you bring this up?"

Sighing Yoruichi said, "I saw Grimmjow attack her and was about to intervene when Grimmjow said 'Arisawa. Enjoying your time back in the human world?'"

Everyone was shocked speechless. Somehow Orihime managed to say, "Wh-what?"

Yoruichi continued. "The two began to have a conversation. During which Grimmjow mentioned the names Kojima and Asano, the last names of your friends Mizuiro and Keigo, if I'm not mistaken. Which means that at least Tatsuki if not all three are working Aizen."

Ichigo couldn't believe it. There was no way that Tatsuki, Mizuiro and Keigo would betray them. He was angry at Urahara and Yoruichi for even considering such an idea. But this was Yoruichi and Urahara. They wouldn't lie or joke about something like this, so it had to be true. He began to wonder how and when this happened.

Then it donned on him. The three of them had gone for a month. They left on the same night, for the same reason and returned on the same day! Looking back at it, he couldn't believe he passed it off as a strange coincidence.

He glanced at the others. Chad's head was down, his face nearly unreadable, but Ichigo could tell he was deeply troubled by the news. Hitsugaya was expressionless, no doubt the prodigy was deep in thought while the rest of the male soul reapers seemed more confused and unsure then anything. Rukia and Rangiku had looks of concern on their faces, no doubt they were worried about Chad, Orihime and himself. As for Orihime, her face was a mixture of shock, disbelief and sorrow.

He slammed his fists into the table. "No way! Your wrong! Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizuiro would never join Aizen!"

Urahara sighed and said, "Yoruichi knows what she saw. Have you noticed anything off about the three of them, like forgetting things they should know or strange behavior quirks?"

Chad shook his head while Orihime and Ichigo both replied "No."

"I was afraid of that. Then that means that they likely haven't been replace with imposers or under the influence of some form of mind control. That leaves the only other option." Urahara paused, unsure of how to say the next part.

Orihime in a weak voice, asked, "What is that option, Mr. Urahara?"

Urahara closed his eyes and said, "Yoruichi and I believe that Aizen killed them and remade them as arrancar."

There was silence for a moment before Ichigo shot up and started yelling. "No way! No way in hell! That's the most insane idea I've ever heard of!"

Yoruichi stood up and put her hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "Calm down Ichigo."

"No! It's ridiculous! There's no way Aizen would that!"

Urahara replied, "Actually, if you think about it. It's something that Aizen would do. He excels at using people and their weakness and hitting a person's weak spot in a way that they would never expect. He probably planned to have them watch you and relay any thing of importance back to Aizen and then at the right moment, they would no doubt attack."

Ichigo shook his head in denial, unable to actually say anything.

Urahara sighed again. "Let me ask you this. If I'm right, something I pray I am not, could you fight them? Could you fight them unrestrained and to the death against them? If you can't, then you'll never be able to beat them."

"I won't have cause they aren't arrancar. We would have sensed a their reiatsu."

Renji snickered and said, "This coming from the guy who can barely sense reiatsu at all."

"What did you say, you tattooed idiot?!" Ichigo glared back at Renji.

Renji stood up, face to face with Ichigo."You heard-"

"Enough! Sit down you two." An irritated Yoruichi interrupted. After the two complied, she continued, "We have more important things then who can sense reiatsu and who can't. Like what to do about this."

Urahara nodded and continued, "Whether or not you can sense the increase in their reiatsu is a moot point as Aizen easily could have found a way to mask their reiatsu. In fact, I could name a dozen and a half different ways to do such a thing."

"Fine, I'll admit it's possible. But I still believe that Tatsuki and others wouldn't willingly serve Aizen nor are they arrancar." Ichigo grumbled.

Hitsugaya chose this moment to speak. "So basically, the best case scenario, these three are being manipulated by Aizen. Or worst case, they're arrancar now. Then shouldn't we confront them as soon as possible?"

Urahara shook his head. "Not tonight. There's something I'm working on that needs to be finished before you confront them."

"And that would be?"

"Something important. It should be done by tomorrow morning, I suggest you confront them after school tomorrow. Speaking of which, I should get back to work. I'll leaving the planning to you guys." Urahara said before putting his hat back on and walked out the room.

Hitsugaya nodded. "OK then. Tomorrow, we'll ask them to stay after class ends, then we confront them about this whole thing." He turned Ichigo and said, "You three don't have to be there tomorrow if you don't want to."

Ichigo would be there, no question about it. Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizuiro were being controlled by Aizen and he had to save them. And he wanted to rip the bastard apart for that. Rationally speaking, he knew it was possibly that Urahara was right. But he just couldn't believe it was possible. Thought of three of his oldest friends had been turned into arrancar was like dozens of knives plunging into his chest. Worst still, he began think of how Orihime would take it if it was true. Tatsuki was her oldest and best friend, as well as her protector. It would likely destroy Orihime if it was true.

'STOP IT! They aren't arrancar. They are being hypnotized Aizen. We'll save them like we did Rukia.'

His resolve set, Ichigo grimly said, "There's no way in hell I won't be there."

Chad nodded and said, "Same here."

Everyone turned to Orihime, who appeared to be deep in thought. A moment later, she answered, "Tatsuki has protected me from bullies more times then I can count. I have to do this."

Hitsugaya nodded and said, "OK. Now we to come up with a plan of attack. This is what I was thinking..."

They quickly hammered out the plan on how they were going to do this. Satisfied with the plan, Hitsugaya said to everyone present, "There is one final thing we need for this succeed. We have to act like nothing is out of the ordinary or else they'll get suspicious and flee before we can learn anything." He turned to Ikkaku and Yumichika. "You two have to be extra careful as your living in the same building as one of them."

He then turned to Ichigo, Orihime, and Chad and said, "But it will even harder for you three. You'll have to face them tomorrow, act like nothing is wrong and convince them to stay after school gets out. Are you sure you can do this?"

Their answer was the same, "Yes."

Friday 6:20 am

Urahara yawned as he stepped into the main room of his store, a package in his arms. Man was he tired but in the end, it was done.

"Finished Urahara?" asked Yoruichi, who was siting at the table sipping a cup of coffee.

"Yeah." Urahara yawned again. "Boy am I tired. Could you deliver the package to Hitsugaya?"

She nodded and Urahara handed her the package. Yoruichi statred at the package for a moment before asking, "So will it work?"

"For an hour and a half, maybe two."

Yoruichi flash stepped out of the shop, leaving Urahara alone. He yawned one final time before walking off to his bedroom.

Karakura High School

Friday 3:20 pm

Mizuiro suppressed a yawn. School could be so boring, especially considering it was pointless for them. Course it was also pointless for about everyone else as in a couple of months, Karakura and everyone living here would be gone.

For the most part, he didn't care about what would happen to Karakura and all people that were living here. They were humans, weak and stupid. He was an arrancar, he was stronger, faster, better, and superior to them. Yet, a small part of him felt guilty about being apart of Aizen and his plans. A small shred of his humanity that he couldn't seem to discard, no matter how hard he tried. It was infuriating. He was longer human and didn't need such things, especially considering such wretched memories.

He was trapped in a black void. Everything save his name and worst memories was stolen from him. He was alone, terrified and wanting desperately to be free of this black hell. He screamed for someone, anyone to save him. Until-

Mizuiro shook his head. He hated that memory above all others. It was the moment where was the weakest and the most helpless he had ever been. Never again would he be that weak. Never again would he be that afraid.

He heard the bell ring, signaling the end of class. He quickly packed up his stuff and hurried out the door with Ichigo, Keigo, and Chad. They were going out for pizza, then heading to the nearby movie theater which was showing a marathon of some of their favorite anime movies. Something he was personally looking forward to. Even after becoming an arrancar, he still liked many of the things he did when he was human and he would have gone to it regardless of whether or not Ichigo invited him. Same was true with Keigo and Tatsuki. In fact Tatsuki had been slightly annoyed that Yammy wiped out the majority of the high school Karate team when he and Ulquiorra first set foot in Kurakara which caused the cancellation of the team for the year.

There was something odd though. Mizuiro had noticed that Ichigo and Orihime had both been rather quiet today (he couldn't tell if Chad was being extra quiet today as Chad is always quiet). He couldn't help but wonder why they were being quiet. Could it be that they were suspicious of them? Not likely as they hadn't done anything to arouse suspicion. Even Grimmjow's confrontion with Tatsuki on Wednesday night wouldn't as no one had come from the same direction as Tatsuki.

Perhaps they were still concerned about the bruises had left Tatsuki's neck and were considering telling all their "secrets". It would certainly make their job easier. And maybe they could learn a few things that they hadn't found out about yet, maybe even get a look around Urahara's little shop.

They reach the stairways, but instead of going down, Ichigo started walking up stairs.

Keigo asked the question that Mizuiro was about to ask. "Hey Ichigo, why are you going up stairs?"

Without looking back, he simply responded, "We're meeting some others first on the roof, then we're leaving."

His tone and stance were odd. It was then that Mizuiro came to realization, ever since they left the classroom, Chad was walking behind the two of them and Ichigo was in front them. Like they were prisoners being lead somewhere.

'They suspects something!'

Mizuiro glanced at Keigoa and scratched the bridge of his nose, the signal for "they suspect us of something". To which Keigo responded by simply blinking once which meant "I agree".

Now the question was how much did they know and could they lie their way out of it? And also did they suspect Tatsuki?

'This is gonna be troublesome. Fortunately Aizen gave a bunch of Granz's toys for this kind of situation.'

If they couldn't lie their way out of this or they knew the full truth, then they could simply use Granz's toys to distract them long enough for them open up a Garganta and escape to Los Noches.

Ichigo reached the door to the roof, opened it and walked through. He and Keigo followed him, followed by Chad.

They weren't the only ones there. Tatsuki, Orihime, Hitsugaya and his entire team was there. Tatsuki glanced at him and scratched the bridge of her nose. He responded by blinking once.

He turned to Ichigo. "So everyone here is going to the movies with us?"

But it wasn't Ichigo that responded, in fact he didn't even look at him. It was Hitsugaya who stepped towards him and answered. "Not exactly. We have to ask the three of you some questions."

What none of the arrancar notice was that as Hitsugaya walked towards them, he had crushed the head of what looked like a pez dispenser.

"What?" he responded.

"We heard an interesting story last night." Hitsugaya turned to Tatsuki and said, "Yoruichi saw you, Tatsuki, get into a fight with Grimmjow. So tell me Tatsuki, how do you know Grimmjow?"

'Crap. That ruins just about anyway of lying our way out of this.'

Mizuiro glanced around the rooftop. The other soul reapers were spread out on the roof while Chad was blocking the only door. A grim expression was on Ichigo's face while Orihime was just plain sad.

Tatsuki raised an eyebrow, confusion on her face. "Who?"

"Grimmjow. The man who attacked you two nights ago."

"I don't know who that nutjob is. Will someone tell me what this is all about?"

"Fine then I'll rephrase that." Hitsugaya now turned back Keigo and himself. "How long have you three been working for Aizen?"

Mizuiro and Keigo put p their own faces of confusion. Keigo asked, "I don't understand. Who's Aizen? And what's going on here?"

"Cut the act Keigo, if you are Keigo. We want the truth." Ichigo bluntly said.

Keigo now added shock to the confusion on his face. "What?! Ichigo, you think we're impostors?! I'm Keigo Asano! Not some impostor!"

"You guys can't be serious." Tatsuki said. Her voice filled shock and disbelief and a little of pain.

She turned to Orihime. "Orihime. We've known each other for years. Look in my eyes and tell me that I'm not who I say I am."

Orihime unable to face her, turned away.

Tatsuki turned to Ichigo and pleaded, "Ichigo, we've known each other even longer. How can you say that I'm an impostor?"

Mizuiro added, "Why are you guys doing this? We haven't done anything."

"We know your lying. Yoruichi saw Grimmjow's conversation with Tatsuki. A conversation in which he named you two. So why don't you tells us the truth. Are you even the people who claim to be? And what is your mission here?" Hitsugaya said.

There was no salvaging the situation. Now it was time to end this game.

"It seems that no matter what we say, you won't believe us." he said.

He put one hand on his face and sighed while the other hand slid into his pocket. Grabbing a small device about the size and shade of a chap-stick container, he said, "Alright then, enough of the games. If you want the truth, then... YOUR GONNA HAVE TO CATCH US FIRST!"

In one fast motion, he pulled out the device and throw at the ground. It exploded in loud bang and a bright flash. The device would temporally blind and deafen all non-arrancar near it for a few minutes and would also rob them of their ability to sense reiatsu for at least half an hour.

They quickly pushed a blind and deaf Chad away from the door. They quickly made their why down the stairs and out the school. They made it two blocks away from the when they decided to open a Garganta. Mizuiro raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. Only to have nothing happen. He tried again, no luck. Keigo and Tatsuki tried to open one, again no luck.

Then he realized what was stopping them, Urahara.

He turned to his comrades and said, "Well it looks like Urahara came up with a means to block our ability to open up a Garganta. I guess it's time for plan B."

Feral grins spread across all of their faces as they started to run. Finally it was time for some fun.

"Dammit! Where are they?!" Ichigo cursed.

This whole situation had become aggravating. That thing that Mizuiro or the person masquerading as him threw, had stung his eyes and ears horribly. And stripped him of his ability to sense reiatsu, of course chances are he wouldn't have been able to sense anything unless it was close to him or it was a massive amount of reiatsu. Though he wouldn't admit it anyone.

His thoughts were raging like a storm in his head. If they were brainwashed, then how would they break Aizen's brainwashing? Would they even be able to? Or if they had be replaced, what happened to the real Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizuiro? Were they being held somewhere here or were they at Aizen's base of operations? Then came the two most horrifying thoughts of all. Had Aizen tortured them? And even worse, were they still alive?

Hitsugaya and Rangiku were in the air looking for some sigh of them. While the rest of them had ran outside the school and were waiting for directions. The two dropped from the sky and Hitsugaya pointed and, "We spotted them. They went this way."

Without saying anything, the group of soul reapers and humans sped off that direction.

'Please let them be alright.'

10 minutes later

They had chased them down to a residential district. Both Keigo and Mizuiro were leaning on a parked car, trying to catch their breath while Tatsuki stood next to them.

"Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro or whoever you three are, you can't escape. Just surrender." Ichigo said.

The three of them stared at Ichigo and the others for a moment before they responded. Tatsuki simply raised her arm and pointed behind them.

Everyone turned around, only to see a barrage of balas racing towards them. There wasn't enough time to dodge the barrage, but thankfully Orihime just barely summoned her shield.

The bala after bala exploded on the shield, but the shield held. Finally it stopped, the attackers were hidden by the smoke of the explosions. They heard Keigo's voice say, "Wow, that's an impressive shield you got there. Still standing after all those balas. Not many things can do that."

Instinctively, everyone looked behind to see Keigo, Tatsuki and Mizuiro still standing behind them. Then they heard Tatsuki's voice call out, "Behind you."

It wasn't coming from the Tatsuki standing in front of them but rather from behind them. Ichigo slowly turned around, fearing what he would see.

The smoke had cleared from the shield, revealing three arrancar. Three arrancar they knew. Three arrancar that had the faces of Tatsuki Arisawa, Mizuiro Kojima, and Keigo Asano.

And chapter 4 is done! Though I'm not completely satisfied with. Mainly the scene at Urahara's. I felt I just couldn't get it right and thats the main reason this chapter took so long. In fact I still don't completely like that scene and will probably rewrite that part at later date. I just to get this chapter posted so I could start work on the next one. I don't know maybe I'm just crazy. You tell me.

Cause this chapter was late. I decided to give the fans of this story a little bonus. The names and release commands of their zanpaku-tos. The weapons' appearances will obviously be in the next chapter.

Tatsuki: Impale Verdugo (Executioner)

Mizuiro: Consume Plaga (Plague)

Keigo: Soar Plumado Serpiente (Feathered Serpent)

Please review!