A/N: I apologize beforehand that this chapter is extremely short T-T somehow nothing much happened in this chapter and nothing comes to mind T-T I guess this is because of the onslaught of plot bunnies for other different fics

Thanks again to all your reviews/favorites/alerts ^-^

Special thanks to xxFluffy for looking after this chapter :) This chapter's grammar would have been horrid without her proof-reading x_x

Chapter 4 – Meetings, Greetings

The large hollow stepped towards Isshin and Masaki heavily. Two curly horns protruded from the hollow's mask, similar to a ram's horn. The mask covered the hollow's eyes, revealing only a human mouth and jaw. It was tall and gigantic with fuzzy brown fur, its body greatly resembling a gorilla. A lizard-like tail swung behind its back. The most bizarre feature of this hollow, however, was the presence of a zanpakuto strapped next to the hollow's waist. Isshin's eyes widened at the sight of it. He had never encountered a hollow that held a zanpakuto.

This is no time to be shocked, thought Isshin. Isshin was going to shunpo behind the hollow when he realized he was in a gigai; he was physically limited as a human.

Switching tactics, he held his arm in front of him with his palm facing the hollow. "Hado 31, Shakkaho!"A red fire ball formed in front of his hands and was shot towards the hollow. The fireball hit the hollow's arm. Isshin saw that the hollow appeared to be undamaged.

Isshin tried using kido again; he adjusted his hand such that his forefinger and middle finger are pointing towards the hollow. "Hado 63, Raikaho!" yelled Isshin. A large bolt of yellow lightning erupted from the tips of Isshin's fingers and landed flat on the hollow's chest. A resounding thunder ensued. However, as the dust cleared, the hollow only had a small burn.

"Damn this gigai," cursed Isshin, "The kido isn't even half of what it's supposed to be."

Deciding that he would need his zanpakuto to defeat this hollow, Isshin detached himself from the gigai. He was about to run towards the hollow as he unsheathed his zanpakuto when he nearly tripped over. He looked down and realized his gigai was still attached to his lower body.

The hollow screeched, took out its zanpakuto and charged towards Isshin. Isshin desperately tried to kick off his gigai while the hollow's heavy footsteps approached him fast.

"Hado 4, Byakurai!"

A lightning bolt shot through the hollow's shoulders, leaving a light scorch mark. "It seems like my aim was quite off," Masaki commented. Isshin turned to see Masaki shooting two other lightning bolts to the hollow, but inflicted only light wounds. No matter how hard Isshin kicked, the stubborn gigai still would not let go of his legs.

Out of nowhere, a blinding light shot through the hollow's arm. The arm landed with a heavy thud. Isshin turned towards where the light came from and saw a middle-aged man. He was wearing a white suit, a blue shirt, and a white tie with blue crosses. In his hands he held onto what seemed to be a silver, long and pointy bow.

"My, my, the shinigami standards just seem to slip year after year."

The hollow screamed into the silent night.

"You are…?"

"Ishida Ryuken. Quincy." Ryuken landed next to Isshin, pushing his glasses up, "That's quite a predicament you're in."

"Kurosaki Isshin and Suzuki Masaki, nice to meet you too," muttered Isshin.

The hollow cried once again. A grey gooey substance emerged from the hollow's shoulders and took to form of an arm.

"High-speed regeneration?" Ryuken said, somewhat surprised. He held his bow up, poised to shoot another arrow, aiming at the hollow's head.

With a final forceful kick, Isshin was able to detach himself from the gigai. In one swift motion, he pulled out his zanpakuto and sliced the hollow in half. Isshin sheathed his zanpakuto before the hollow was even dissolved. Isshin turned around to face Ryuken as he set his bow down.

"Thank you for your help, Quincy," Isshin said slowly.

"Do not take this the wrong way. I merely came to investigate the strange nature of that hollow, not to your assistance," said Ryuken disinterestedly.

"Nevertheless, you have my gratitude," said Isshin, "I thought the race of Quincy was extinct…"

"And here you are staring at the last descendant of the race." Ryuken glared at Isshin. An awkward silence settled among them.

After a while, Isshin finally said, "Very well, I won't ask questions then. Speaking of the strange nature of the hollow, I assume you haven't seen any hollows similar to this one as well?"

"You answered your own question. As to why that hollow like that would appear here...The man that was here moments ago might have some answers."

"Which man?"

Ryuken raised his eyebrows, "You did not notice? There was a blonde man wearing a black cloak on top of the tree. He left just moments ago."

Isshin paled. He had a very good idea of who the spying man is…

Isshin slid the store's doors open harshly and glanced around the store quickly. Sure enough, a black cloak was lying on the ground. Urahara turned around, his hand on his hat.

"Welcome back~ What can I do- ooof!" Isshin's foot made contact with Urahara's face.

In a small and dark room, Aizen and Gin were watching a projection from the centre of the table.

"How interesting…" Aizen mused, "That woman is unmistakably royalty…"

Aizen gazed at the recording of the fight, all thanks to the arrancar that he sent. He replayed the scene where Masaki was shooting the arrancar with Byakurai countless times.

"It seems that they have more power than I gave them credit for."

Holding an arm to his chin, he thought of what he should do next. There was not enough time to use someone else. This is something he must do himself.

"Gin, I will be gone for a while."

Making sure that his illusion was intact, he opened a Senkaimon and stepped forth into the human world.

A/N: Yes, Masaki, albeit a royalty, is nevertheless a shinigami (I think)…There should be more stuff happening next chapter...