Schism
Chapter 4: Metamorphosis
"Why're you so nervous?"
"What makes you say that, Lisa-chan?"
She smiled, reaching over and moving Shunsui's errant lock of hair away from his face.
"You're tense," she said, looking down at the muscles of his shoulders and arms. "Hard not to see it."
"Hard for me not to be, when you're involved," the Captain teased, provoking a scowl from his Lieutenant. Shunsui's smirk disappeared, his brown eyes turning serious.
"You ready for this?"
"Of course."
"You can be honest with me, you know."
Lisa's eyes narrowed slightly.
"I'm not lying."
Shunsui sighed, turning over away from her and sitting up on the edge of the bed.
"Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean it like that."
White lines crossed Shunsui's back. Some thin, and some thick enough that they'd made Lisa shiver the first time she'd seen them. She moved towards her Captain, sitting up beside him and looking out the window. The moonlight was eerily beautiful, reminding the pair of the first time they'd met.
"I'm afraid, Lisa-chan," Shunsui admitted at last, his hands folded together in his lap as he gazed into the night sky. "I did the right thing, didn't I?"
"Do you trust Ichigo?" she asked. He nodded. "Then you did the right thing. Have some faith."
Shunsui looked over at her and smiled.
"Look at you, stealing my lines."
"Don't flatter yourself," Lisa said, but a smirk took the sting out of her words. "You're worried about that Hollow, aren't you?" she pressed. "The Vasto Lorde."
"And she's a psychic," Shunsui replied. "Amazing."
Lisa chuckled.
"You're just easy to read."
The Captain fell silent again, only speaking after the chirp of a lone cicada drew him out of his thoughts.
"As long as the Central 46 won't accept what Ichigo's become," he said, "there's going to be a war. It's inevitable."
"Only if Ichigo wants to fight it. And he's not a killer."
"No," Shunsui agreed, "he isn't. But if Yama-ji pushes him hard enough—and pushing is the thing the old man does best—Ichigo will fight. And we'll lose."
"You sure about that?"
"Yeah. Who's gonna fight him, Lisa? Isshin? No. Kaien and Kukaku? Of course not. Rukia? Byakuya? Urahara and Yoruichi? They're practically the kid's family at this point. Yoruichi's the closest thing to a mother Ichigo has, whatever her Onmitsukido lines about being pitiless might say. Everyone in the Gotei who likes the kid is going to have a hard time trying to kill him. Assuming, of course," Shunsui finished darkly, "that they could even pull it off. I don't even know if I could."
Lisa's eyes widened in genuine shock at the words.
"Are you serious?"
"Absolutely," Shunsui answered. "Even putting aside his power, which is incredible, he still has one major advantage."
"What?"
"I have no idea what his bankai is."
Lisa sputtered.
"His bankai?" she repeated, fighting not to laugh at the idea. "Are you serious? How do you know he even has one?"
"I've seen him meditate with his zanpakuto, Lisa-chan," Shunsui answered, still serious. "Most Shinigami struggle with their swords, trying to master them. The reason Captains are so calm is because they're completely at peace with their zanpakuto. Ichigo is as calm as any Captain during jinzen. There's no way he doesn't have a bankai, even if he tries to hide it."
Lisa was about to reply, but the flutter of a Messenger Butterfly cut her off.
"Looks like it's time," Shunsui said, as Lisa rose to her feet and began putting her uniform back on. He followed suit. "Sorry for being all gloomy."
"Don't worry about it, it's fine."
"I'm not worried about it, I'm just apologizing."
"What you're doing is being a pain in the ass, Shunsui."
They finished getting dressed in silence. The Captain and his Lieutenant stood face-to-face, unspoken doubts filling the space between them.
"With your permission, Sir," Lisa said at last, and Shunsui nodded.
"You may go."
When she reached the door, the Lieutenant was stopped by the sound of her Captain's voice.
"Whatever happens, Lisa-chan," he said, "you'll always have a place here."
Lisa smiled, but didn't trust herself to turn around.
The night air was cool and welcoming, helping Lisa keep her nerves steady as she made her way to the Second Division. Most of the crowd had already gathered, with only Byakuya and Shinji absent. Yoruichi was a commanding presence, the look in her eyes enough to remind the squad gathered here exactly what their mission was, and what was at stake. Kensei was grimly silent, and even Mashiro wasn't making small talk. Soi Fon stood at silent attention by her Captain's side, and Hiyori seemed annoyed by Shinji's absence.
But Kaien certainly seemed the most on-edge of all, his sea green eyes as conflicted and stormy as the waters his zanpakuto commanded. Lisa wondered why the Captain Commander had agreed with Yoruichi's suggestion to include Kaien on the mission, and why Yoruichi had even suggested it in the first place.
"Shiba."
He looked over at the sound of his name, blinking like he was surprised that other people were standing nearby.
"You okay?"
"Not even close."
Lisa frowned.
"Then you shouldn't be here."
"I'm right where I have to be," Kaien replied, calmly defiant. "In case this goes bad, I'll be able to talk Ichigo down."
Lisa relented, deciding it'd be wiser to give her fellow Lieutenant some space. Shinji finally arrived, apologizing for being late mere seconds before Hiyori jumped up and punched him in the face. Byakuya was last, looking even more stoic than usual. No one had to ask why.
"Okay," Yoruichi called out, breaking the tense silence. "Looks like we're all here. Kisuke!"
"No need to shout," the Twelfth Division Captain replied as he stepped out of the nearby shadows and into the light. "I'm right here."
"What's he doing here?" Hiyori asked, and Kisuke smiled.
"Paving the way," he explained. "Hang on, this will only take a minute."
He moved forward into the courtyard, reciting a long incantation. When he was done, a wide, black rift tore itself open in the air with a groan.
"Good luck," he said as the group moved into the void, sharing a pointed look with Yoruichi as she went through last.
Inside the void, Lisa fell into step beside Shinji.
"Man, what a pain," Shinji said. "If we don't pop out in the right place, it could take us weeks to track the kid down. And those're weeks that Aizen gets to be in charge of my Division."
"Why'd you even make him your Lieutenant, if you don't trust him?"
"Because someone's gotta keep an eye on that slippery bastard," Shinji answered, "and it might as well be me."
"Okay, I think I found Ichigo," Kensei called out from his place at the front of the line a few minutes later. "Let's drop in at a distance and approach him. Less chance of him freaking out that way."
"Agreed," Yoruichi said, moving through the ranks and making sure no one was having any doubts. She pulled a small remote from her robes and flipped the switch, sending a signal back to Kisuke. A few moments later, the garganta opened up in front of them.
"Let's go."
The landscape was as dismal and bleak as ever, spindly tree branches poking through the sand that was dotted with the occasional small, scurrying Hollow. The Shinigami were making their way towards Ichigo's slowly-moving reiatsu, which was blazing like a beacon in the distance to anyone who knew how to look for it, when it suddenly started moving much faster.
"Shit," Yoruichi bit out, realizing that subtlety wouldn't work if they wanted to catch Ichigo now. "How'd he sense us?"
"He didn't, I don't think," Kensei said. "We just have bad luck."
"Ain't that the truth," Yoruichi grumbled, before planting her feet and focusing. "Everyone, try to keep up."
She was gone in a burst of shunpo a moment later, and the rest of the Shinigami wasted no time in hurrying along in kind. Lisa felt her legs burning after a few solid minutes of sprinting, but she couldn't feel Ichigo's reiatsu getting any closer.
"How fast is this fucking kid?" she called out, forcing her pain from her mind.
"Not fast enough," Yoruichi replied. "We'll still catch him!"
A few moments later, Soi Fon stopped cold in her tracks.
"Wait!" she shouted causing Yoruichi to halt alongside her. "Something's not right!"
The rest of the Shinigami came to a halt as well, on full alert.
"I can't feel anythi—" Mashiro began, cut off when a massive burst of red energy tore up the ground beneath their feet. It swallowed up the Shinigami, sending them plunging down into the underground forest of Heuco Mundo.
Lisa's world was dark and weightless, shot through with spikes of pain.
She was falling, alone. She couldn't see anything, she couldn't hear her friends anywhere nearby.
Lisa hit the forest floor hard, blacking out instantly.
"Wake up, Shinigami! I'm getting bored over here!"
The voice was cold and sharp, and unmistakably belonged to a Hollow. Lisa tried to move her limbs, relieved to find that, while they were burning with pain, they weren't broken. She opened her eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the darkness. She could see the others now; they had all fallen down here, too.
Kensei was the first to his feet, rising with a groan and looking around cautiously.
"Finally," the Hollow's voice spoke up again, "we can get started."
Kensei immediately set to helping the rest of the Shinigami to their feet, until the whole group was standing up again. Some were more bruised than others, but Lisa noted with cautious optimism that everyone still looked like they could fight.
Kaien was looking around intently, his entire body ready to spring at a moment's notice.
"That voice," he said lowly, sounding as angry as Lisa had ever heard him. "I know that voice."
"You do?" came the reply, bouncing off of the trees in an unsettling distortion. "Hang on, I recognize your reiatsu. You were there in the forest the other night, huh?"
"Yeah," Kaien answered. "Now get out here, so I can kill you."
"Big words from the scary Shinigami who couldn't even save his own comrade," the Hollow shot back mockingly. "I'm shaking over here, really. Almost as badly as that kid was after he saw he'd murdered his own mother."
The words sent a wave of shock rippling through the Shinigami, and it was only a few moments before they all looked equally murderous.
"Strike a nerve, did I?" the Hollow said, spiteful mirth in his voice. "Good. That'll speed this up. I wonder which one of you's going first."
"Ignore him," Yoruichi ordered. "Stay focused and track him down."
"I'm trying, Yoruichi-sama," Soi Fon said, her voice strained. "There's just too much interference!"
"Instead of worrying about me," the Hollow called out, his voice now sounding a long way away, "you should worry about the gray-haired guy. He don't look so good."
All eyes turned to Kensei, who was bent over and clutching his chest.
"What the hell's happening?" he grunted out through the pain, before it spiked massively and he retched, vomiting up white sludge.
The same white sludge Kaien had seen Ichigo become enveloped by that night.
"He's turning into a Hollow!" Kaien shouted, even as Kensei was continuing to retch, his reiatsu fluctuating wildly.
The Captain's face was now almost completely covered in a mask, and white protrusions were beginning to harden on his arms and shoulders.
"We have to get out of here!"
"No!" Mashiro protested, holding her ground. "We can't leave Kensei!"
"I know what happens next, Mashiro! He's going to turn into a full Hollow and kill us!"
"I thought you said Ichigo got his under control fast!"
"He's not exactly a normal comparison to make, damn it!"
"Whatever you're gonna do, Shinigami," the Hollow's taunting voice returned, "you better do it quick! Oh, looks like you're too late already," it continued, perversely delighted. "Too bad!"
Hiyori was on all fours on the ground, white sludge pouring out of her mouth and left eye as she screamed in pain.
"Forgot to mention it earlier," the Hollow said as the remaining Shinigami felt cold dread cut right through them, "but I might have, just maybe, spread Hollowification spores around you while you were passed out. So have fun with that! I have somewhere else I need to be, which sucks, because I'd love to stick around and watch you all murder each other. Later!"
Kensei's mask was complete, his eyes red slits beneath his mask. He roared, sending a wave of reiatsu and pale green energy ripping through the cavernous forest.
"Shit!" Yoruichi cursed, realizing that the worst-case scenario was quickly becoming a horrible reality. "Byakuya, keep him busy! Soi Fon, Lisa, let's take him down!"
"No!" Mashiro screamed, one last protest that was quickly overtaken by a crippling wave of nausea and pain. "No… Kensei…" she breathed out, as white sludge obscured her vision and the world went dark.
Senbonzakura swarmed around Kensei, forcing him to split his attention several ways at once while Yoruichi, Soi Fon and Lisa closed in. Lisa struck first, forcing Kensei to block her and giving the two Onmitsukido members wide open shots.
Soi Fon had been quick to release her shikai, and jabbed Kensei with the tip of Suzumebachi. She expected the homonka to bloom as it normally did, but all the Lieutenant was met with were sparks of friction.
"What?" she gasped, surprised. "Did it not make contact?"
Kensei spun his free fist around, slamming it into Soi Fon's midsection and sending her tumbling off along the ground.
Yoruichi bit back her shout as she saw her second-in-command batted away like a fly, channeling her anger into her attack. Covering her fist in raw kido energy, she slammed it right into the back of Kensei's head. The force of the blow sent Yoruichi flying backwards, but she landed on her feet and brought a hand up to protect her eyes from the dust and dirt. When her vision cleared, Yoruichi saw that Kensei had been knocked unconscious.
"That should have cracked his head open," she said, awed by the strength the Hollowfication had given him, before running over to check on Soi Fon. She knelt down beside her, breathing a sigh of relief that Soi Fon was still conscious. Yoruichi gently rolled Soi Fon over onto her back, dismayed to see a mask rapidly spreading over her Lieutenant's face.
"Yoruichi… sama…" Soi Fon groaned, her voice warped by the Hollowfication. "It hurts."
"Fight it, Soi Fon," Yoruichi urged, noticing as she observed the reiatsu of her infected companions that some were succumbing to the Hollowification faster than others. "Keep fighting it!"
"Too much. Can't…" Soi Fon's eyes went wide, suddenly alive with panic and adrenaline. "Yoruichi-sama, get away from me! Go!"
Yoruichi sprang backwards, just seconds before Soi Fon convulsed and lashed out as even more sludge began to emerge, augmenting the white carapace that was making her look more and more like a full-on Hollow with each passing moment.
Soi Fon got to her feet, looked at Yoruichi, and roared. A beam of yellow light formed in front of her mask's open mouth, and a cero soon blasted forward. It slammed into a tree-trunk, causing the massive plant to sway slightly.
"Soi Fon," Yoruichi said, her voice pleading now, "I know you're strong enough. You can beat that thing!"
The Lieutenant's black and gold eyes were bright with pain and anguish. She roared again, before something to the left caught her eye. Yoruichi followed her gaze, and saw Mashiro barreling towards her, mask fully formed.
Yoruichi made to dodge, but a sudden wave of nausea cut her legs out from under her, and a burst of white sludge from one of her eye sockets made her vision swim.
"Damn it!" she hissed, knowing there was no way she could dodge both attacks in her current state. She braced for impact, hoping that Soi Fon at least had enough control left to go easy on her. Soi Fon broke into a run, and Yoruichi estimated that she only had about three seconds before some part of her face really started to hurt.
But Soi Fon served away from her at the last possible moment, slamming right into Mashiro with all of her force. The two of them tumbled away, leaving Yoruichi feeling confused and relieved. Relief that was quickly supplanted by another wave of blinding pain, as a new outburst of sludge made her blind.
Shinji Hirako had been afraid before, and more times than others might think when they'd gotten to know him. But he had never known fear as profound as the fear he felt now, looking over the faces of his fallen friends. All of them had either been consumed, or were in the process of losing themselves to their Hollow. Only he and Lisa still seemed to be fighting it off, but even they were still sporting half-masks and discolored eyes.
"Shinji," Lisa called over to him, "stay focused. If you're afraid, they'll tear you apart. That's how Hollow work, remember?"
"Who's the Captain here?" he shot back, before resettling his stance. "Thanks," he added. "I needed that."
"Give up, you little shit," a voice snarled in Shinji's head, an eerie echo of his own. "Stop fighting me!"
Once Shinji had recovered from the surprise of hearing a voice in his head that wasn't his zanpakuto's, he got an idea. As Hiyori charged at them, he spoke hurriedly to Lisa.
"Hold her off," he said, "an' try not to kill her. I got an idea."
Shinji sat down on the forest floor, quickly getting into a jinzen position.
"What the hell are you doing?" Lisa yelled at him.
"Less talkin', more fightin'!" Shinji shot back, before pulling himself down into his spirit world.
Just as he'd suspected, there was a doppelganger of himself standing there that looked just like a Hollow.
"We're done doin' this on your terms, asshole," Shinji snarled. "This is my body."
"Oh yeah?" the Hollow asked, smiling mockingly. "Prove it."
Shinji used shunpo to dash right up next to the Hollow, grabbed it by the hair, and slammed its face directly into the sharp, hard point of his knee. And again. And again. He didn't have time to screw around; he had to subdue this thing before it had a chance to draw a zanpakuto and get serious.
"Had enough yet?" Shinji asked, lifting the Hollow just high enough to punch it square in the face. "I can do this for a few more hours, or ya can give up. You're nowhere near my league, bastard."
Shinji let the Hollow drop down to the ground, drew Sakanade, and slammed the point of his zanpakuto right through the Hollow's heart. His spirit world went white in an explosion of energy, and Shinji smiled in triumph.
Shifting his awareness back to the real world, Shinji frowned as he saw Lisa going toe-to-toe with Hiyori and Byakuya. To her credit, she was holding her own well. Whatever else being turned half-Hollow did to her, it definitely made her a lot stronger in the process.
Unfortunately, the same went for Hiyori and Byakuya.
"Lisa," Shinji called over to her as he got to his feet, "Get inta your spirit world and beat your Hollow there, or it'll take over out here an' we'll be done for. Hurry up; I'll buy you time!"
Shinji stepped forward and engaged Byakuya, striking with a strong, two-handed overhead blow that sent him skidding backwards. Turning to Hiyori, Shinji was moving his zanpakuto to block an incoming strike when Hiyori's fist just stopped, trembling in mid-strike.
"Shinji," she said slowly, her voice trembling. "I'm trying to fight her. But she's strong. Too strong."
Byakuya was getting his second wind, and Shinji knew he had to make these next few words count.
"She ain't as strong as you, Hiyori," Shinji said forcefully, hoping to push his friend over the edge and to victory. "Focus, go into your spirit world, and kick her ass. Then come bail me out, before the rest of these whackjobs tear me apart." He turned away, moving to block a strong punch from Byakuya. "Now hurry up, you shrimp!"
There was no way Shinji could split his attention against Byakuya, so he had to hope for the best with Hiyori. Taking a deep breath, he reached inside of himself and tried to dredge the Hollow back up—this time, under his control. He smiled in satisfaction as he felt a mask forming over his face, and Shinji could feel his strength and endurance increase by an order of magnitude.
Striking out against Byakuya, he managed to force his way past the other Captain's defenses and carve a long gash down Byakuya's chest. As Byakuya staggered back and stared murderously at Shinji, waiting for the wound to heal itself, Shinji frowned at his colleague.
"What d'ya think you're doing in there, Kuchiki?" he said. "If you let that Hollow beat you, it's gonna go after Hisana and Rukia next. D'you really want that? Do ya?!"
Byakuya's whole body shook, seemingly at war with itself.
"Yeah," Shinji said as the Hollow in front of him reared its head back and roared, pulsing with bright energy, "I didn't think so."
Shinji flashed away before the shockwave could hit him, and when he flashed back he was inwardly ecstatic to see that Lisa, Hiyori and Byakuya had all managed to bring themselves back to sanity. It was that much closer to a fair fight.
"So," Hiyori said, leveling her shikai in front of her, "how you wanna do this, Shinji?"
"I'll take Kensei," he answered. "Lisa, Kaien's all yours. Hiyori, you can take Mashiro. Byakuya, I assume you want a piece of Yoruichi, yeah?"
Byakuya offered the faintest shadow of a smile in response.
"Okay then," Shinji said, smiling. "Let's go."
The four of them blitzed forward in a burst of shunpo, each Shinigami engaging with their chosen target. Soi Fon was left with no one to fight, immobilized by her own inner-struggle.
"You're weak," her Hollow mocked, its voice needling away at Soi Fon. "You'll never live anywhere but in her shadow. And she'll never respect you!"
"Shut up!" Soi Fon hissed, concentrating every ounce of willpower she had on fighting her Hollow. "Shut up! She does respect me. That's why she trusted me to be her Lieutenant!"
"Pity promotion," the Hollow scoffed, but the words actually brought an edged smile to Soi Fon's face instead of further demoralizing her.
"There's no such thing as pity in the Onmitsukido."
She reached as deep as she possibly could, drawing on the last reserves of her strength. If she lost this last push, it would all be over. But it was something she had to do, for the sake of her pride as a member of the Onmitsukido—and for the sake of the trust Yoruichi-sama had placed upon her shoulders.
Soi Fon let the surge of reiatsu loose, pushing against the power of the Hollow with everything she had. She grinned in satisfaction as she felt the Hollow's presence fading, her own will in complete control even as the mask remained on her face, strengthening her.
She rushed towards where Byakuya and Yoruichi were dueling, determined to free her Captain from misery.
Deeper into the forest, out of sight of the Shinigami combatants, a pair of Arrancar stood watching the fight. One of them, with piercing blue eyes and equally remarkably-colored hair, turned to his companion—a toweringly tall Arrancar wearing an eye-patch.
"You want in on this one, Nnoitra?"
Nnoitra scoffed.
"It ain't one-on-one," he said, "I want nothing to do with it. You want a piece of 'em, Grimmjow, knock yourself out for all I care."
Nnoitra walked off, but Grimmjow hung around to watch the end of the conflict. Depending on how it played out, he thought he might have finally found a solution to Hueco Mundo's oldest problem.
Back over on the battleground, Shinji was trading a vicious series of blows with Kensei. Each strike from his fists rattled Shinji's zanpakuto to the core, but Shinji didn't dare use his shikai or bankai. He couldn't afford to spend any attention on worrying about who was being caught in Sakanade's snare, not now.
As Kensei was rearing back for a double-fisted overhead slam, Shinji stood his ground. All he had to do was wait for Kensei to commit to the strike, and then he could dodge and—
Suddenly the fists were racing towards him, going much faster than Shinji had expected.
Well, shit.
"Only I get to do that to Shinji, you asshole!"
Hiyori landed a perfect flying dropkick right to the side of Kensei's head, interrupting his attack and sending the Hollow staggering. Hiyori didn't even hesitate for a second, forcing her mask back into existence over her face and charging at Kensei. She hammered him again and again with a flurry of kicks and zanpakuto strikes, forcing the Hollow to give ground. As Kensei staggered back one more time, Hiyori raised her saw-toothed sword and looked up at her friend apologetically.
"I hope this works."
Hiyori stabbed her shikai through Kensei's chest, leaving the blade lodged there.
"Hiyori!" Shinji shouted over, shocked. "The hell was that for?"
"Tryin' ta give Kensei a window," Hiyori explained, catching her breath. "Let's see if he takes it."
The sudden influx of pain sent the Hollow reeling, and a few moments later Kensei was clutching his head and screaming. Hiyori was quick to yank out her zanpakuto, giving the wound time to heal quickly before Kensei took control back from his Hollow. Sure enough, his mask shattered a few moments later, and another flash of energy signaled one less enemy to fight.
Yoruichi and Kaien were quickly subdued in turn, and a few minutes later the restored Shinigami all looked around at each other with a combination of sadness, confusion, exhaustion and remorse. After they'd all had a chance to catch their breath, Shinji broke the silence with laughter.
"What's so funny, Shinji?" Yoruichi asked, and the Captain flashed the squad leader a grin.
"I was just thinkin'," he said, "about how fucked we all are. You know we can't go back home, right? The old man would have us all killed." Shinji laughed again. "That is hilarious, you gotta admit."
"Not to me, it isn't," Kaien replied icily, before looking over at Yoruichi. "Orders, Captain?"
Yoruichi took a few moments to compose herself, still struggling to believe that she'd become the very thing she'd been hunting just an hour ago.
"The plan's the same," she said at last. "We find Ichigo."
"And take him back to Soul Society with us?" Kensei asked. "I don't think so."
"No," Yoruichi agreed, "we're not going to do that. We're going to pray Ichigo's willing to forgive, forget, and take us in. Because like it or not, until Kisuke or Shunsui can work something out with the Captain Commander, we're stuck here."
Silence settled over the group again, each Shinigami quietly resigning themselves to the reality of their situation and steeling themselves for what was to come.
"Well, this is awful and all," Hiyori said, "but right now, I just need to get some sleep an' recharge. Who wants to take watch?"
Yoruichi raised her hand.
"I will," she said, before Soi Fon shook her head.
"I can do it," she insisted. "You need your rest, Yoruichi-sama. Better a tired Lieutenant than a tired Captain, right?"
Yoruichi wanted to disagree, but Soi Fon's logic was sound.
"Thank you," she said, earning a rare smile from her Lieutenant.
"Just doing my duty, Captain."
As the rest of her companions stretched out, laid down or curled up on the ground, Soi Fon stood as the watchwoman. She was tired, sore all over and wanted nothing more than to sleep, but her duty was more important than her own personal discomfort.
Soi Fon could feel her Hollow lurking in the depths of her soul, and it was the oddest thing she'd ever felt. It wasn't trying to rebel or conquer anymore—it was just there—but it still felt indescribable to have something she'd been trained to so completely despise be a part of her now.
Reaching out in her soul and tapping into her Hollow, Soi Fon felt an instant response. It felt like a mask was resting on her forehead, just waiting to be put on. Reaching up, she pulled her hand down.
Strength suddenly filled her, the exhaustion gone. Power, pure power, beyond anything Soi Fon had ever felt as a Shinigami. It only lasted a handful of seconds before shattering away, but that would have been time enough in a battle for three separate killing blows.
She could get used to that feeling.
Suddenly, a nearby and foreign reiatsu drew Soi Fon's attention back to the present. A stranger stood in front of her, eyeing her with interest.
He had hungry blue eyes and hair that was an obnoxious shade of the same color, an odd piece of something like bone on his face, a hole in his abdomen, and everything about him set Soi Fon on edge.
"Cool trick," the newcomer said, smirking. "Where'd you pick that up, Shinigami?"
Soi Fon instinctively reached for her zanpakuto, but the strange person held his hands up, palms outward.
"Easy," he said. "I'm not gonna fight ya, not when you're beat half to death and exhausted. That's no fun."
Soi Fon drew her zanpakuto anyway, and the newcomer sighed.
"Have it your way, shortie."
He disappeared with a buzz, and Soi Fon gasped in surprise. It wasn't shunpo, it couldn't be, but—
He reappeared, suddenly inches away from her, and knocked Suzumepachi from her hands with an almost casual backhand swipe.
"Now," he said lowly, gripping one of her hands with just enough force to immobilize it, "can we talk, or are you gonna make this way harder than it has to be?"
"What are you?" Soi Fon asked, as her hand was released and the stranger took a few steps back. The Shinigami's eyes finally saw the sword at his hip, radiating power like a zanpakuto.
"Looks like we're both the same thing, more or less," he answered. "Just coming from different sides of the coin. I'm an Arrancar."
"And do you have a name?" Soi Fon pressed, wondering if she could flash to her zanpakuto and back before the Arrancar could draw his own blade.
As if he could read her mind, the Arrancar disappeared with another buzz and then reappeared, holding Suzumebachi.
"Don't touch that!" Soi Fon hissed, not wanting to disturb her sleeping friends. The Arrancar looked taken aback, smoothly shifting the blade in his grip and offering it back to the Shinigami, hilt first.
"Don't everybody thank me at once," he grumbled. "My name's Grimmjow," the Arrancar added. "Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez."
Soi Fon arched an eyebrow as she re-sheathed Suzumebachi, still able to feel traces of Grimmjow's reiatsu on its hilt. It was strong, way too strong for her to compete with one-on-one in her current shape.
"That's a ridiculous name," she said, drawing a smirk out of Grimmjow.
"Soi Fon is just as ridiculous, Shinigami," he said, surprising her.
"How'd you know my name?"
Grimmjow shrugged.
"Kinda hard to miss it, when your Captain's shouting it every five seconds."
"You… you saw our battle?"
"Yeah," Grimmjow said matter-of-factly, "of course I did. How the hell else would I know about it? Nnoitra and I were watching right over there," he said, pointing back towards the dark cover of the forest.
"Nnoitra? Who's he?"
"Someone you should hope you don't meet," Grimmjow answered, turning serious.
Soi Fon was about to ask why, before she stopped herself and considered her situation. Here she was, alone and in no shape to fight in the homeland of the Hollow, having a casual conversation with some weird creature whose like she'd never seen before.
Maybe this was all a dream, and she was about to wake up. That would be nice.
"Anyway," Grimmjow resumed bluntly, "I'm not here to talk about that asshole Nnoitra." He grinned, looking decidedly predatory. "I got a deal for you and your friends. Some help, in exchange for a favor from you when the time's right."
"What makes you think we need your help?"
"Oh, I don't know," Grimmjow said with a mocking shrug, "maybe the fact that I could murder half of you right now and get away without even trying. You're gonna need safe passage for a while, until you get back on your feet."
"We've been to Hueco Mundo before," Soi Fon replied, skeptical. "Even if I did trust you, I wouldn't want— or need—your help."
"Look who's confident," Grimmjow replied, smiling. "You ever been down to the bottom of the forest floor, huh? Dropping in is a hell of a lot easier than getting out… especially if you don't know where the Menos' nests are," he added, his eyes glinting.
"Buy hey," Grimmjow continued, turning around and walking away, "it's not my damn funeral. Good luck, Soi Fon."
"Wait, Grimmjow."
The Arrancar stopped at the new voice, turning back around. Yoruichi Shihoin was hauling herself to her feet, looking at Grimmjow intently.
"So, Isshin was telling the truth," she said, smiling faintly. "I'll be damned."
"You catch all that?" Grimmjow asked her. "I hate repeatin' myself."
Yoruichi nodded.
"I'm a light sleeper. Soi Fon, relax," she told her Lieutenant. "If he was going to attack us, you'd never have known he was here."
Soi Fon forced herself out of her attacking posture, but still stood ready to spring back into it at a moment's notice. Grimmjow chuckled.
"Now she does it."
"So," Yoruichi said, getting straight down to business, "if you get us through the forest safely, what will you want in return?"
"Something that'll benefit all of us," the Arrancar replied. "I want you to help me kill the King of Hueco Mundo."
Yoruichi arched an eyebrow, not expecting that at all.
"So you can take his place?"
Grimmjow shook his head.
"No. Because he's a massive asshole who thinks this whole world belongs to him. Every time one of us tries to kill him, he just won't die."
"And you think we could solve that problem, when everyone else who's tried has failed?"
Grimmjow nodded.
"Ten of us, and one of him? I'd say those're damn good odds."
Yoruichi was silent, carefully mulling over the Arrancar's words. She didn't trust him at all, but in their state even a suspicious ally was preferable to no ally at all. And it would only take a few hours for the Captains to recover, at which point Grimmjow's life would be in their hands instead.
"Okay," the Captain said at last, extending a hand. "Deal."
"Yoruichi-sama," Soi Fon protested, "you can't be serious!"
"We have no choice," her Captain told her frankly. "It's either this, or seriously risk dying. And I'm not a big fan of the second option."
Grimmjow shook Yoruichi's hand, smiling in satisfaction.
He would help them out, for now. And just to make sure he was holding a trump card in case one of the Shinigami got uppity, Grimmjow figured he'd steer their path towards the big, rotting tree that every Hollow steered well clear of.
The tree that housed one of the most powerful Arrancar in all of Hueco Mundo.
…
…
A/N: Oh boy, an update! My apologies for the very long delay on this one; life got busy, and then life got a little crazy, and then it got crazy busy. Hopefully the length of this chapter at least partly makes up for that, though.
Hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for reading. Let me know what you thought!
-Jazz