Thank you:

Reviewing: KaRiSa and AshFallenAngel--thanks a lot! although I was expecting critique

Favoriting: AshFallenAngel, BlueCrimson Devil, sorikarona, and xenocanaan--yes this is basically why I didn't want to trash this story

Alerts: my good ol' friend AshFallenAngel

BTW I know I'm doing 'serious' writing right now, but hey its the climax! There's gonna be a sequel involving the arrancar and here's a heads up. Yes the 3 musketeers make a trip to Hueco Mundo or to them its 'Hueco Land' think of all the good nicknames given to to the Espada!! (evil grin) already have them planned out well enjoy!

"Ichigo!" Rukia gasped as Ichigo stood before her. They paused for a moment…

"Oh don't mind us! We're in a middle of a fight but go ahead and have your sappy moment!" Rina said sarcastically. Ichigo furrowed his eyebrows and grumbled. "What? Were you expecting some strange dramatic wind to blow by to make you look superior?" She asked him which made him a lot angrier. He walked past Rukia and went over to the frightened Hanatarou and the mangled Ganju. After some seconds of talking he went over to Rukia and said that she shouldn't worry as he had come to save her. This led to a strange argument.

'They bicker like a married couple' Rina and Ukitake thought while Byakuya was tired of the idiotic meeting. He freed himself of Ukitake's grasp and stepped forward.

"Make way" He ordered Rina in a cold voice. She turned to him with her arms folded across her chest with a defiant look.

"Who died and made you king?" She asked slightly annoyed. Byakuya however had no patience with petty questions and shoved past her. "Geez, somebody's pissed…" She mumbled and she stepped to the side. She walked over to her captain's side and watched from there.

"Shouldn't you be in jail?" He asked instantly as she went over.

"Uh…" She answered in her own way.

"…Kurai, and Shinboku too!" He went on.

"Uh…" She said again.

"Can all you say is 'uh…'?" he asked impatiently.

"Uh…" She joked; he wanted to jump off the side but restrained himself. As Byakuya and Ichigo exchanged blows with either sword not hitting the target, it was stopped when Yoruichi came in.

"You're…Yoruichi!" Byakuya exclaimed releasing her hold on his Senbonzakura.

"Who's that?" Hanatarou wondered, as Rukia explained surprised at the scene. Ichigo thanked her but rambled on how he could've taken on Byakuya without her help. She stopped him abruptly by reopening the wound on his abdomen; thrusting her hand into it causing him to keel over. She caught his collapsed body on her shoulder, ready to leave.

"…Gaten or Houten, either way their both strong tranquilizers…you're trying to save him Yoruichi" Ukitake commented on her movements.

"Ukitake…" She said quietly giving him a look, he understood. She prepared to leave but Byakuya wouldn't let her, they started off on another round of shunpo, Yoruichi managed to escape with Ichigo safely with giving them a 3 days heads up.

Ukitake sighed at the sight bestowed upon him, a half-dead man, a very weak girl, a petrified boy and a stubborn noble.

"I'm leaving!" Rina said as she walked off, Ukitake pulled her back.

"And where do you think you're going?" He asked her as she looked up at him with a 'what did I do?' face.

"Uh…back to HQ?" She answered hoping that was the right answer.

"Since when did you become an idiot?" He asked.

"Since I accidentally took a bottle of sake when I thought it was a bottle of water" She answered.

"What?" He asked in disbelief, there was no way that she could've done something at that level of stupidity.

"Why do you think sake bottles are different now?" She asked him as she managed to wriggle out of his grasp. "Well bye-bye Shiro-chan Senior!" She waved as she shunpoed off.

"'Shiro-chan Senior'?!" He yelled after her, he turned around to see Byakuya walking off as well. "I don't know why you would've endangered her life, but I think you should apologize" He advised his past subordinate that had matured to his level.

"I'll leave this to you" He said back to him changing the subject back to the people left paralyzed with fear.

---

"Damn it where are they?!" Rina panicked as she had left her two friends alone in the middle of nowhere, for all she knew they could be playing the biggest game of dominoes. She hoped her guess was wrong, 13th Division had a high enough bill; they did not need anymore complaints. Well unfortunately for her she was somewhat correct. Instead of dominoes though, they had created the largest game of Jenga, with the buildings as the blocks. So far they were good save the very unstable structure they had created.

"Should I even ask?" she asked herself staring up at the sight before her. She decided not to and watched from the sidelines wondering how far they would go.

Meanwhile back at the whole mess, Sentarou and Kiyone were at it again—yelling at each other over the stupidest things. Rukia was placed back in the tower and 4th Division had come to tend Ganju's wounds. Hanatarou was brought back immediately to their division for some kind of punishment. Unohana was a kind woman though and wouldn't punish someone severely just to save a person. As Isane and Hanatarou walked down a corridor, it was silent between the two. Words couldn't describe how they thought of Rukia's execution—they didn't want it to happen either. At last she broke the silence by saying how fortunate he was to break rules. She said that she couldn't as she was the lieutenant of their division—a leader. Being a leader meant that there was no room for mistakes or foolish decisions. As soon as Ganju had regained consciousness, he realized he wasn't the only person in the room. Chad and Ishida were sharing the room with him; he noticed that they too had sustained wounds. He sat up in his bed wondering where they were and how they had gotten there. Chad explained that they were held prisoners since they were suspects in a death of a captain. The shackles that held their hands together were used to seal their spiritual power; there was basically no way out unless someone from outside freed them.

Yoruichi had immediately begun Ichigo's Bankai training. With the limited time they had, they couldn't waste a single second. As she watched Zangetsu and Ichigo exchange blows, the thought of him failing the 3-day method created by Urahara kept showing up.

[Back with the Jenga game…]

It was still going, miraculously! It was leaning a lot more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, swaying back and forth; it made you wonder how it could stay like that. Somehow though, people did NOT notice the huge structure swaying dangerously.

"Um…are you guys done yet?" Rina asked worriedly, after watching for about 5 minutes, she worried about her friends' safety and if anybody was in the buildings.

"Uh…no!" Tori answered deciding her next move. All of the discarded buildings lay in a heap about 20 feet tall. With only 15 buildings left in play, it was only a matter of time before the structure fell.

"Okay! This one!" Tori decided plucking the building out. The structure remained there as if nothing had changed—Mika's turn.

"You know what? This is getting really boring!" She said as she pulled out the base of the structure. All 3 of them closed their eyes waiting for the impact………it never came.

"What the?" They all yelled out as they saw the structure was just shorter and remained.

"First Twister then Jenga!! My god what other games are fixed?" Mika wondered.

"Well we better get going; taichou knows that we escaped…" Rina said walking away as her 2 friends ditched their game and trailed after her.

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto left their division to investigate something that didn't seem right at all. Hinamori was left in their own division to ensure her safety, she was deeply weakened with the death of her captain and her own division was probably in the worst condition with both of their leaders out of commission. Aizen's letter was changed somehow causing Hinamori to believe that Hitsugaya was the killer of him. That wasn't the only thing that was messed up; the constant changing of Rukia's execution date kept getting moved up. They decided that they would find out what was really going on by going to Central 46, the location where all shinigami got their orders from. The most recent date and final change of Rukia's execution was in less than 24 hours.

Hinamori and Kira were discovered but where was Renji? He went on his own to the training area where Ichigo and Yoruichi were to train his Bankai--his Bankai was near complete. A loud sound came from above where Ichigo was training. He looked up from his fight to see Renji approach him.

"Renji?!" He exclaimed. Renji had no intention of fighting Ichigo at such a time. He went over to another location so he wouldn't interfere with Ichigo's Bankai training.

"I'm not here to fight you, I'm here to train."

"Wha?"

"Well I might as well give you this piece of information since you guys don't know." Renji went on. "Rukia's execution date has been changed…to tomorrow"

"What?" Yoruichi gasped with worry. There was no way Ichigo could get to Bankai in less than 24 hours. Ichigo however assured her that he would make it in time and continued his fight with Zangetsu.

---

"WHAT?!!!!" Tori yelled out when she heard the news from Kiyone. Although she and her 2 other friends were supposed to be in jail, there weren't put back in.

(For one there's no lock, and 2—like a jail cell is gonna keep 3 HIGHLY IMMATURE girls in!)

"Geez don't have to yell I'm right here!" Kiyone scolded blocking her ears from any other loud interruptions.

"But that's so unfair! She doesn't deserve it!" Mika added on.

"Yeah, none of us want that, that's why all of us are gonna save her!" Kiyone went on and discussed their plan with them.

"Okay…they'll never suspect us! And we have 2 captains with us—that's a huge advantage for us!" Rina commented on the plan as Kiyone nodded.

"Okay you know what to do!" Kiyone said suddenly, the 3 nodded and went off in separate directions.

---

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto arrived at their destination—Central 46. There were multiple doors blocking their way that they had to get through. Hitsugaya noted that something was wrong as there were no guards of any sort. He asked permission to pass through the door but no one had answered. It raised suspicion; he put his palm on the door and pushed. The door swung open revealing another door with no guards as well. After opening multiple doors with ease they went up to the final door. This one was locked and like the other ones the guards had been removed. He attempted to open the door when nobody answered his call. The security system kicked in, multiple blades criss-crossed across the door blocking passage.

"Looks like I'll have no choice, Matsumoto stand back" He said to his vice-captain. He cut down the door with Hyourinmaru; both of them went on.

"What is this?" They gasped as they saw the sight before them in Central 46.

'The execution is tomorrow. The news shocked me, but I didn't feel any sadness. It's probably because of that dream I had last night…' Rukia lay on the cold surface of the floor closing her eyes recollecting the memory she could never erase from her heart. "…Kaien-dono…" she muttered.

After I was adopted into the Kuchiki family, I was placed in 13th Division.

"Here you are Kuchiki-sama!" A male shinigami said to her as she walked into the room where she would be welcomed by the lieutenant.

"Um…" she started.

"Yes what is it?" The shinigami asked prepared to follow any orders she gave him.

"I'm just a new recruit, please don't treat me differently than the others" She told him with a melancholic look on her face.

Ever since she had joined the Gotei 13, people had been treating her differently. Sure it was great, people respecting you and doing whatever you had told them—but it was discomforting. She was just as ordinary as anybody else, the only thing different was that she was in a noble family. The man bowed in approval and left immediately.

"Who's that?"

"She's in the noble Kuchiki family"

"I heard that she got excused from all of the exams!"

"What? Do you know how hard I worked just to get in?"

Rukia heard whispers from all corners of the room, complaints, comments and such. Footsteps approached the room with a male voice barking out orders. She turned her head to the doorway to see who it was. The door slid open there stood a man with black spiky hair.

"Hey there! I'm the lieutenant of this division, Shiba Kaien nice to meet you!" He introduced himself ordinarily.

"Yes…pleased" She answered.

"'Yes…pleased?' What kind of lame-o introduction is that?!" He asked her with an irritated look; Rukia was surprised at his reaction was being polite a bad thing? "I told you my name and said 'nice to meet you' you're supposed to introduce yourself now!" He barked at her.

"Kuchiki Rukia! Nice to meet you!" She quickly re-introduced herself with a bow. A smile broke out on his face.

"Okay then, Rukia!" Rukia looked up at him; he was the first person ever since she was placed in the Kuchiki household to treat her normally.

Kaien was a noble as well. The Shiba clan was part of the 5 noble clans including the Kuchiki's. He had two younger siblings that looked up to him dearly. The 3rd seater of 13th Division was Kaien's wife—Miyako, a kind woman that acted like an older sister of Rukia. Rukia admired Kaien and Miyako as they were the people that wouldn't treat Rukia differently because of her being in a noble family. Everyone respected the two and could never hate them.

"Hey Rukia!" Kaien said to her looking down at her. She jumped slightly surprised at Kaien's sudden appearance. "Why do you always do that whenever I talk to you?" He asked with a confused look. He handed her a drink down to her and went to her side. He sat down beside her as Rukia accepted the drink. Kaien started to say some words to her which had comforted her.

"So corny!!"

"So cute!!!" Two voices broke out from the bushes behind them.

"What the--?!" Kaien gasped looking back at two drunken idiots. "Kiyone! Sentarou! Were you two drinking again?!" He asked them while the two kept mocking/praising Kaien's words to Rukia. "Hey sober up!!" He yelled at them as he splashed them with water. A smile creeped up on Rukia's face, Kaien who was like an older brother was someone that she felt that had given her a place in life. "Hey Rukia, can you do me a favor?" He asked after the drunken duo had been 'taken care' of. She gratefully accepted it and went off.

---

It wasn't long before she met more people who in turn respected the fact that she didn't want to be treated differently from the rest of society.

"Hiya! I'm Tori and this is Mika and that person over there is Rina!" A girl with black shoulder-length hair said to her. "WE LOVE 13th Division!! And if anyone asks why just say that…we have…um…what do we have that's better than any other division?" Tori asked her two friends.

"We have…bunnies?" Mika said which got Rukia attention.

"Bunnies?" She asked interested.

"Yup they're somewhere down the hallway we'll show you them later after we give ya (and ourselves) the 'Grand Tour' of our division." Mika said to her as she led her around the office area. Mika started the unneeded tour as Rukia had already been in 13th Division a few years before these three had entered.

"…here we have a desk, and there's a chair…here's a paperclip…here's a dust bunny…oh look a spider! SPIDER!!" The two shrieked and ran out of the room, possibly slamming into a few walls but they managed to run away from the tiny spider.

"Don't mind them…their a litt—very squeamish around spiders." Rina said to her. "Oh and word of advice…never ever mention a moose, a duck or puppy around them…you'll be in a living hell." She advised her.

"Why a moose, duck or puppy?" She asked her.

"They complete fans of them and won't stop talking about them…" She said.

"Okay..."

After a few hours of reassuring the two the spider was gone, they went back to the tour which they decided to scrap.

"Okay, this is what we do in our spare time…barge into captains-with-their-lieutenants meetings!" Mika declared raising a fist to emphasize her point.

"Um…are you sure this is okay cuz I for one don't think so. Besides how are we going to get past the guards?" Rukia asked them not thinking that was such a good idea.

"Don't worry, with a lil' bit of magic everything will come true!" Tori said to her which ultimately freaked Rukia out.

"You do know how strange and terrifying that is right?" Rina asked her about the line she and Mika always said to newcomers and practically everyone she met.

"Yeah…" She answered not so confident about her answer though.

"Okay let's go!!" Mika yelled as she and Tori charged towards the door.

"Um…aren't you going to stop them?" Rukia asked worriedly to Rina. She shook her head and said that it was impossible. Moments later they heard a loud crash, they spun their heads to see a huge hole in the door. Captains and Lieutenants looked at the two who had barged right in.

"9TH TIME THIS WEEK!!" Yamamoto boomed angered at the fact that the door had to be replaced at least 1400 times a year (meaning that the door must've been broken down MORE THAN 3 times per day).

"TSUKIYOMI GET YOUR TWO FRIENDS OUT OF HERE NOW!" He ordered her.

"Well considering the fact that you pretty much banned me from stepping foot in your division after that 'incident'… looks like it's your problem now! Good luck with that!" And with that she waved a goodbye to them as she and Rukia walked away.

"You know she has a point there." Kyouraku commented.

"So whatcha doin?" Tori asked all 26 of them.

"Well we were having a meeting…say by any chance Kiyone and Sentarou didn't come with you two did they?" Kaien asked them irritated.

"NO…but we can get them if ya want!" Mika offered. An anger mark appeared on his head as a fist was readied. "Hey Kaien!!" Mika pointed at the anger mark. "Ya know that's bad for your health right? Well that's what Rina says...something about stress and high blood pressure..." Tori added on. Kaien nearly exploded but Ukitake held him back and told the two sternly but politely to leave.

---

"You have a mission?" Kaien asked Miyako as she and her group were about to leave.

"Don't worry, we can take care of it—its just one hollow" She assured him with a smile.

"Yeah but everybody that went up against it all died, you better be careful" He replied worried.

"This is the first time I've ever seen you with such an expression!" She said to him with a little laugh.

"This isn't the time for jokes you know" He said back to her sternly. Rukia was worried for her as well. Miyako saw her expression.

"Don't worry; I don't tolerate hollows disturbing the peace. We will defeat this hollow!" She assured her and Kaien as the group left. The following days were filled with worry. No word of Miyako's group had returned at all. Kaien was quite fidgety and worrisome about his wife's safety. He and Ukitake were discussing this as Rukia brought them tea.

"Is there any word about Miyako?" He asked her, Rukia shook her head. As she responded pounding footsteps approached the room hurriedly.

"Shiba-fukutaichou! Ukitake-taichou!" The man yelled out to them frantically. All 3 of them ran out of the room to the problem. Once they had reached the problem they saw Miyako lying down on the floor unconscious.

"Miyako!" Kaien yelled out as he ran towards to his wife.

"She's just unconscious, she wasn't harmed at all" one of them informed him.

"And the others?" He asked him.

"…They all died" Kaien's grip on Miyako's hand grew tighter, he was enraged and wasn't afraid to show it.

"I will avenge them" He said quietly.

Later that night Miyako had woken up although nobody knew of it. A group of men were discussing the event that had happened—a whole group save Miyako was killed. They caught sight of Miyako and were relieved.

"Miyako-dono! Good to see that—" His words were cut off as he was slashed across the chest with a sword.

"M-Miyako-dono! What are—gah!" one by one the men were cut down. Miyako's sword was tainted with the blood of those she slain. Immediately on scene, Kaien, Rukia and Ukitake arrived.

"Miyako…" Kaien gasped as he saw his beloved kill their comrades. Miyako caught sight of Rukia and began to charge towards her. Kaien blocked her way; she halted and turned back slaying others.

"Miyako…" Rukia gasped.

"That wasn't Miyako. The Miyako I knew would never do such an act—she cared about everybody in this division!" Kaien said as he followed his wife. Ukitake motioned Rukia to follow him.

Miyako was nowhere to be seen, all that was there were decapitated bodies with pools of blood surrounding them.

"Taichou…please let me follow after her" Kaien pleaded. Ukitake knew his intentions he nodded in approval.

"But…I'm going with you" He added on. Kaien nodded, Rukia was told to go along with them while Kiyone, Sentarou, Rina, Mika and Tori were told to watch over the rest of the division.

A large number of people were already wiped out; they couldn't risk any other lives. The 3 leaped from tree to tree in search of Miyako. They weren't able to find her though, all they found was a cave with a ghastly looking hollow. It cackled saying that he was the one that took over Miyako and killed all those people. Kaien was enraged even more and wanted to have his revenge.

"Taichou…" He started but Ukitake stopped him approving his wish.

Kaien leapt down to face the hollow. The hollow sprung towards Kaien, he was able to dodge and escape safely. However, it wouldn't give up that easily it kept coming forth lashing out its tentacles. Kaien could dodge every attack with ease. He decided that he had waited long enough. He jumped up and landed on top of the hollow holding a tentacle.

"Suiten Sakamake, Nejibana!" As soon as he said that, instead of Nejibana going into shikai, it exploded. "What?" He wondered what had just happened. The hollow swung Kaien off its back and explained what had just happened. Apparently the hollow's special ability was that any shinigami that touched its tentacles, their zanpakutou's would be destroyed. Kaien smirked and decided that he could win only using Hakuda (hand-to-hand combat).

---

It didn't look that way from where Rukia and Ukitake were standing.

"I'll go in" Rukia decided ready to help Kaien; Ukitake stopped her from doing so shaking his head in disapproval. "U-Ukitake-taichou!" She protested.

"Rukia, there are two types of fights that you must know: a fight to protect a life, and a fight to protect pride. Right now Kaien is fighting a battle for pride."

"What does pride matter right now? If we don't help he'll die!"

"It's true that if we go and help him now, he may survive but…what about his pride? We'll crush it. It's not just his pride he's fighting for; he's fighting for his wife, his clan, and his fallen comrades. You must understand the difference" Ukitake explained this to Rukia; she backed down and watched helplessly while Kaien was fighting mercifully. He had cuts and bruises on his body, but he kept fighting. Then the hollow did something unimaginable. It lunged towards Kaien while he was unprepared. Kaien blocked him with his arm; in an instant it was gone.

"Where did--?" Rukia started. Kaien had become motionless.

"Kaien-dono?" A smirk broke out on Kaien's face. "What's wrong?" He asked her in a warped voice. He turned around to face the two standing above him. "Kaien-dono!" She gasped at the sight of the man whom she admired. He had the form of a human however his face, it was just like the hollow. The hollow had merged with Kaien through the cut on his arm. He lunged forth at the paralyzed Rukia, luckily for her Ukitake fended it off. "Get away from here!" He ordered, she nodded and fled.

As Ukitake and the hollow/Kaien ran parallel from each other, the hollow taunted Ukitake. He never thought Ukitake would attack Kaien but he was wrong.

"Ugh…you…you would kill one of your own?" It asked pained from the wound Ukitake had landed on it.

"I won't let Kaien's body to be used for such a horrendous act." He said readying his zanpakutou for the next hit. The hollow sensed someone from behind; he turned around and grinned at the sight. He leapt forward for his target—Rukia.

"Fool! Why did you come back?" Ukitake asked her panicked.

'Why did I come back?' she asked herself, she couldn't think straight at all.

Emotions clouded her mind, it was as if she had no control over her body. She had come back to the battle scene with her sword drawn to defend herself. Ukitake had to protect Rukia; he wouldn't let anyone else die. As soon as he moved, he froze and started coughing up blood.

"Damn it…of all times it had to occur now…" he muttered he couldn't do anything at his state; Rukia was on her own.

The hollow leapt high into the sky ready to kill, Rukia didn't move at all she knew it was coming for her but she was paralyzed with fear. It came closer and closer, she looked away in fright; a sound of flesh and cloth being cut could be heard, she felt a warm liquid splatter on her cheek. Something was forced onto her, she looked up in shock.

"…Kai…en-dono…" she gasped at what had just happened. Kaien's weak body raised an arm which wrapped around Rukia's back.

"Kuchiki…I dragged you into this…I'm sorry…" He started to say weakly. "Taichou…thank you…for letting me fight…I know that…my soul can rest in peace…thank you…" he said before collapsing into Rukia's arms.

"…No…" she started; she held back tears that threatened to fall.

Rain started to pour down from the sky, as if the sky was crying itself. She couldn't hold it back any longer, her knees couldn't support the weight, and she fell onto her knees sobbing on Kaien's shoulder. The person that had lifted her up from the darkness of her heart had been killed by herself.

She managed to carry Kaien back to his home, there his little brother Ganju stood in shock. Kaien uttered his last words to Rukia thanking her before falling dead on the ground. She walked away silently unable to find words to describe her feelings.

From that day forth, a lieutenant hasn't been assigned to the 13th Division. Kiyone and Sentarou who both share the 3rd seat position, run daily happenings. Not long after Kaien's death, the Shiba clan had been removed from the nobles. Kuukaku and Ganju, Kaien's siblings, lost trust towards the shinigami and moved out of Seireitei to Rukongai. The clan itself diminished in size. Rukia could never bring herself to apologize for her actions; the guilt grew day by day.

'I probably deserve this…' Rukia thought in her mind, shutting her eyes tight.

Back at Central 46, it was a horrendous sight. Dried blood splattered on the walls and floors of the room. All 46 members were killed—all orders had been fake. Hitsugaya walked up warily to the dead, he noticed that they had been dead for quite a while as the blood was starting to blacken. He looked up sensing someone, in front of the doorway was Kira having a guilty look on his face.

"Kira? You didn't do this did you?" He asked him, Kira didn't give an answer he left immediately.

His actions were suspicious causing Matsumoto and Hitsugaya to follow. They didn't realize somebody else had been following them the whole time. Kira led them outside running as if he didn't care what would've happened to him. He then told them 'someone' was following them, and 'that someone' wasn't at 10th Division anymore. Hitsugaya turned around immediately and left Matsumoto to deal with Kira.

"Damn it, Hinamori what are you doing?" He wondered.

---

"What is this? Hitsugaya-kun was here, but he was surprised. He killed Aizen-taichou didn't he? But Kira-kun was here too…" She wondered what was true and what was false.

"Ah Hinamori-chan" A voice broke out from behind her. She turned around warily to meet Gin.

"Ichimaru-taichou?" She wondered.

"Follow me, there's someone I want you to meet" He said turning around leading her off to an unknown location.

Rina walked up to the front of the Kuchiki residence.

"Hope this works…" she said to herself. She peered through the gateway. "No guards?" She wondered.

"It's rude to snoop Rina" she heard a nostalgic voice say. She whipped around to her astonishment.

"A-Aizen-taichou?" She gasped. "It can't be!"

"I'm sorry I made you, Mika and Tori worry." He apologized.

"How?" she asked him.

"There was something I had to do; I had to fake my death in order for me to accomplish it." He replied. He approached her with an arm outstretched; he placed his hand on her head as if she were a little child once again.

'It's really him! I can forgive him for that…he had to do something that he couldn't do without— She snapped out of the trance and took a step back. "You had to fake your death in order to accomplish your task?" She asked him suspiciously. He looked at her confused.

"What's wrong?" he asked her with a mischievous smile.

"You're a captain; you should be able to do anything with ease. Yet you say you couldn't unless you masked your existence." She went on blowing his cover. He smiled at her words.

"Very good Rina…you figured it out…" he said. In a split second he was behind her, a searing pain coursed through her abdomen as she fell onto her knees. "However, you let your guard down…big mistake" He continued with his sword still cast.

"Damn it…" she groaned.

"I won't kill you just yet…only because I know you'll come to me along with your friends…" He said as he stuck his sword into her shoulder. She shrieked out in pain.

Members from the Kuchiki household ran out to see what the problem was. Aizen was gone by the time they left. All they saw was an unconscious shinigami lying in a pool of blood.

---

Mika was at the front of 6th Division's HQ.

"Man, I wonder what I was supposed to come here for…" she mumbled as she tried to recollect what she was supposed to do at the division.

"You never change do you?" A voice said. She turned around to see someone she didn't expect.

"Oh my god!!! ZOMBIE!!" she yelled out in fright and chucked a random object from who knows where at him.

He dodged the object as it shattered a window and landed outside. He smirked and without any explanation he stabbed her in the abdomen as well. She fell over in a heap gasping for air. She struggled to get up but Aizen pinned her hand down to the floor with his sword. She winced at the searing pain but continued to rise. Aizen thought that she would give up after that so he stepped on her back causing her to collapse.

"Sayonara…" he said before leaving. Her eyes closed as she saw shinigami run up to her.

---

Hinamori was led to a restricted location by Gin. She looked around wondering where she was.

"Turn around" Gin instructed, she did so and saw someone who she had missed dearly.

"Aizen…taichou--!" she exclaimed. She ran up to him as he pulled her into an embrace apologizing to her. His words soothed her pain but were merely words of poison as he impaled her. "…Aizen…"she gasped as she fell over unconscious. Tori had followed Hinamori and Gin and wondered where they were.

"Damn it…I can't believe I got distracted by that shiny quarter…" she cursed as she looked around.

"How nostalgic" A voice said

"Huh? Hello? Who are you? Where are you?" she asked looking around the room wondering who the voice belonged to.

"Try turning to the right…" a voice advised. She turned and saw Aizen

"Oh…hi Aizen!! …wait…HOLY CRAP IT'S AIZEN!!!" she yelled out in surprise.

"Took ya long enough…" Gin muttered.

"Gin" Aizen said sternly to him, he bowed as an apology.

"Okay…who are you? It's not Halloween ya know!" Tori said warily to him.

"Same as ever" he said approaching her with a smile.

"How do I know it's you?" she asked him cautiously.

"You have an issue with butterflies" he stated.

"I DO NOT!!! Okay maybe a little…"

"Hm…" he smiled at her reaction as he stabbed Tori too in the abdomen. She fell over from the sudden attack. Hitsugaya arrived shortly to see Tori lying in her own blood.

"Aizen!" he roared out in fury.

"There's another one ya know" Gin told him, Hitsugaya knew he was talking about Hinamori, he saw her at the doorway Gin was blocking.

"Oh sorry, should I have cut them up into small pieces so that you wouldn't find them?" Aizen asked him.

"AIZEN!!" he roared as he went into Bankai. He lunged forth at Aizen he managed to stab him—or so he thought. He gasped as his blood splattered out and his Bankai fell. Aizen had attacked him swiftly and silently.

"It's not the season, but it's nice to see ice isn't it?" Aizen remarked.