Well here it is the third chapter to Another Deadly Spiral. Kai meets Rukia, (and saves her). Sorry it took so long to come out but, I had some family trouble a little while back and had to move out, so bear with me.

Another Deadly Spiral

Chapter Three

Introduction to a Shinigami

Kai thought to himself for a long time as he rocketed back upwards towards the light that would lead him back out of the chasm of his soul. Why was all this happening, had he really been living on borrowed time, what the hell was a Shinigami, and the one thing he wanted to know most of all was how much of him had Otohime really seen. It was too much for him to bear and he found himself shaking, he sighed. It was then that another question rose to his thoughts, what was a Hollow?

Byakuya looked at the body of the young man and then at the hollow. "I believe you've already eaten his soul, correct?"

The hollow laughed. "He hasn't even come out of that damn body of his, but I do want a taste of that kids' soul." The hollow laughed. "It would simply be too good to pass up."

Byakuya cringed in disgust and looked again at the young mans lifeless body. It was true, the man had been able to crack the Hollows mask with but a single kick; and he hadn't been bitten in two when the Hollow had actually tried to force his soul out. Byakuya drew his Zanpaktou, and then mumbled something to himself.

"So the pretty little Shinigami want to fight me eh?" The hollow laughed and coiled his snakelike body. "I welcome it, it shall serve as my dinner tonight, but you're only the appetizers."

Renji sighed. The soul society had been tracking this Hollow for some time now, and many a Shinigami had fallen to it, the fact that a human had been able to crack it's mask with one blow was truly shameful on their part. Renji drew his Zanpaktou and cursed at his horrible day. "I guess we got no choice but to fight this arrogant snake of a hollow."

"You want to fight Hollow?" The voice was calm in nature but they could here the anger and venomous tone in that voice that made their blood run cold, then they felt it; devastating spiritual pressure. It was literally weighing them to the ground, pulsing through the air like a heart pumps blood, and in perfect rhythm to one such heartbeat.

"What is this?" Byakuya wondered. "This spiritual pressure… it's getting stronger with each passing moment."

Renji looked over at Kai's previous body in shock; it was surrounded by a deep red glow and that glow was pulsating like a heartbeat. A bright light emanated from the center of the corpses back and Kai flew out, his ascent slowed to a stop above his body and he placed his feet down on either side of it. He was dressed in a Hakama and Gi, like a standard shinigami, and he didn't look amused, almost furious. Like a mirror image of Byakuyas' favourite facial expression.

His hand moved to his Zanpaktou and a smile broke the mould of his dull visage. "So, you're what they call a hollow?" Kai chuckled and the spiritual pressure intensified, making it difficult for Renji to stay standing. "I don't understand fully what's going on, but a friend of mine has asked me to avenge her death. And to do that, you've gotta die."

Renji stared at the Shinigami in shock and shook his head. "Impossible, he only died about 10 minutes ago. The transformation into a Shinigami takes at least three months!"

"Hey you over there," Kai said calmly. "Another thing… I've also been told that I died three years ago, but I'll get into the details later."

Renji looked up. "Already dead, how's that possible, you were just in a living body! That's no gigai!" Renji stood back up as the quicksilver finally turned his attention back to Kai.

"So you've finally come out?" The hollow mused, "Time to disappear!" The hollow shot its tail towards him, but this time Kai merely hopped over it. It slammed into a tree trunk and carried Kai's body away as well.

"My turn." Still floating in the air Kai tilted himself so that he was nearly horizontal, he pushed off an invisible wall and flew straight at said hollow. "I made a promise and not only that… I want to have my fun with you." He drew his Zanpaktou, which was really quite shiny, the handle was wrapped in a deep red cloth, almost the color of blood, and the blade glinted blue if you held it in the sun the right way. The blade was long, a good four feet, and it was so light that Kai nearly forgot he was holding it. He drew it back and swung it at the crack in the hollows mask, but the hollow easily avoided it.

"You're too slow!" The hollow hissed. "If you wish to see speed… I'll show you speed!"

Renji and Byakuya watched the spectacle in the utmost bewilderment. Renji couldn't believe what he was seeing and Byakuya was just having a hard time maintaining his all time favourite expression. They were witnessing mayhem… and they soon found it rather amusing, because Kai wouldn't stop insulting the Hollow. He called it names like mouse breath and then something totally out of place… he called it an overgrown lizard. But what really made them laugh was the Hollows reaction to all this.

"Come on you overgrown lizard… you said you'd show me speed." Kai smirked and brought his Zanpaktou behind him and tipped it so it was running horizontally across his

Back. He then drew his sheath from its place at his waist and brought it out at arms length directly in front of him and also tipped it horizontally. "Soul Scream Combative Stance."

The hollow stopped in its tracks and muttered something in his annoyance. Renji swore that it sounded something like, "I'm not a lizard."

"What's wrong? Did you realize that you're out of your league?" Kai stated accusingly. "Or did you just plain give up?"

The hollow roared and lunged forward; Kai broke his stance and used his Zanpaktou to stop the hollows jaws from closing over his lean frame. The pair slid back along the grass and came to a stop when Kai's back collided with the washroom building. Byakuya and Renji could see the snakelike tail writhing and flailing about as he tried to get past Kai's sword that was driven into the top of its mouth.

"Are we actually seeing this?" Renji asked Byakuya in an obvious state of shock.

Byakuya only nodded, he had succeeded in succumbing his look of stupefied shock, and had returned to his original state. "This truly is an interesting battle."

Kai grimaced as he tried to keep the hollow at bay. It was strong, too strong… and Kai began to feel the pressure building in his shoulders and neck as he strained; remaining conscious after hitting the wall was also a difficult task. He somehow managed however to throw the hollow away from him and regain his footing and his stance. 'Damn, why didn't Otohime tell me they were so strong?' He found it very difficult to breathe, his head was pounding and his back seriously hurt.

The hollow got back up but Kai was already flying straight at it, giving the Quicksilver no time to react. "What!"

"It's finished!" Kai growled, but just as he went to swing his Zanpaktou for the final blow something hit him from the side and he slammed into the trunk of a tree. He felt several of his ribs snap and the shock made his head spin and his vision blur. He coughed up a mouthful of a frothy red liquid and Kai looked at it in shock as it mingled with the soil beneath the now crimson blades of grass. 'Hey, aint I supposed to be dead? How come I still bleed?' He clenched his teeth and used his Zanpaktou to bring him to his feet. 'Why can't I beat this guy?'

The hollow lunged at him and Kai grimaced before dodging, 'Gotta run, I have to run!' He urged his legs to move and he ran into the streets, the quicksilver bringing up the rear. 'Damn it! I'm too weak, I can barely keep running.' His feet were protesting to his movement and his ribcage throbbed; yet the pain from his shattered ribs had dulled; this he noticed with great distaste, for pain had always been his strongest supporter.

All he could do was run and keep running until his lungs caved, either way he was in serious trouble. The tip of his Zanpaktous' blade dragged on the concrete behind him, dragging behind it a tail of tiny sparks.

"Stop running from your fate shinigami!" He heard the hollow cry out from some ways behind him, but he knew it was gaining on him. "You can't escape me!"

Kai looked behind him at the trail of sparks he was creating with his Zanpaktou and got a sudden idea. 'This'll throw him off.'

Kai stopped and turned around bringing his Zanpaktou behind him once again and dragging the tip along the ground, but the added pressure was creating a larger amount of sparks then from when he was running. He finally swung his sword upwards and the sparks flew into the Hollows eyes and blinded him. Kai took his chance and made to strike again but his ribs protested in the most painful way. 'Crap, I can't swing my Zanpaktou!' His arms shook due to the conflict going on inside his pained mind. 'How come I could swing it just now, but I can't swing when I really need to?' His mind willed him to swing and end this but at the same time it also didn't want it to hurt. 'God damn it you're such a baby!' He screamed inwardly at himself. 'End it now!' But he had lost his chance; the hollow had regained its sight and swatted him with its tail as if he were a fly. He flew back and crashed straight through the wall of the E-Mart, slamming through eight shelves and a few dividers, this action broke even more of his now brittle ribs and he also felt his left shoulder snap, but before long he rolled into the far wall where he finally came to a stop in a heap of flesh and rubble.

Rukia looked at the now unconscious shinigami and then at the shelves he had nearly obliterated. It hadn't quite occurred to her or Ichigo at that moment that there was a hollow outside the E-Mart. "Wow…" Rukia muttered. "Is he still alive?"

Ichigo shrugged. "If he is then I feel sorry for him cause that's probably gonna hurt when he wakes up." He shook his head before he finally realized the oddity of this situation. "Wait…"

"What?"

"A shinigami just flew through a wall…"

"Uh huh."

"This shinigami looks like he was in a fight…"

"Got ya…"

"What would a shinigami be fighting that would beat him up so badly?"

"Ah I see."

"You see? That's it!" Ichigo cried. "There's a freaking tough assed hollow outside and all you can say is, I SEE!"

Rukia looked up at him and frowned. "Hollow? Who said anything about a Hollow?"

Ichigo refrained from strangling his now pregnant wife and decided to growl instead. 'Does pregnancy really make women this spacey?'

But the cry from the hollow that was all too familiar was all it took to snap Rukia back to reality. She looked up at Ichigo and cried out. "Ichigo, it's a hollow!"

Ichigo nearly jumped out of his skin following Rukia's outburst and sighed as soon as he regained his bearings. 'Jeez I don't know what scares me more, the hollow or Rukia?"

"Stop…right…there…"

Ichigo and Rukia turned in unison and looked at the shinigami who had just stood up, blood ran down the side of his face and covered his left eye, and his hand was covering a particular part of his ribcage. "Huh? Dude you shouldn't be moving!"

"Shut up." He snapped drawing up his Zanpaktou again before slowly advancing towards the hole in the wall. "This freak… is mine."

"Hey Ichigo, he's just like you used to be." Rukia stated bluntly while taking the arm of her carrot topped husband. "Isn't that right?"

"Don't remind me." Ichigo sighed. 'That idiots gonna die.'

Kai fell up against a wall and barely dodged an acid spit ball. "The hell!" He grimaced, he could barely walk, but he wasn't prepared to swallow his words… yet. He propped his Zanpaktou up on his shoulder and let out a pained sigh. "Jeez… ran away already…" He chuckled slightly before he collapsed against the wall and slid slowly to his knees. "I'm gonna kill that Otohime… when I wake up… if I wake up… no… I'll still kill her." He fell forward and closed his eyes. "Damn."

Ichigo sighed and shook his head. "Come on Rukia… lets take him home and fix him up."

"Sure."