Hey guys, I am so sorry about the wait, lots going on! Here's the next chapter, it was originally a lot longer but I split it up so the next on will be soon as its already half done. Enjoy!

The rain hadn't stopped falling, the ground was sodden and slippery. The tiny droplets of water fell almost lazily from the sky, a blade whistled through the air colliding with another, making a loud clashing sound.

"Come on lieutenant, you're not fighting properly" Alex said while ducking underneath a half-hearted stroke aimed at his head, he returned the favour with a blindingly fast strike to the lieutenant's stomach. It would have impaled her if she hadn't danced out of the way quickly.

Alex and Tessarosa stood a couple meters apart. Alex was relaxed, his sword was resting on his shoulder, his right hand was on his hip and he looked thoroughly bored and disappointed. He shook his head slightly. Tess on the other hand was tense, her sword was out in front of her held in a death grip, her eyes burnt with anger and something else. Hurt.

"I suggest that you start taking this seriously Tess" her eyes narrowed at Alex's use of the shortened version of her name.

"You don't have the right to call me by that name" she told him in a low, hateful voice. Alex's eyebrows shot up and a small smirk creeped up on his face. Tess flew at him with her zanpakuto raised, she attacked with the ferocity of a lion, the blade almost invisible in the darkness of the night. Alex ducked and weaved making sure that the weapon never hit him. He brought his own blade up and met Tess's with a solid block, locking the blades in place he took a step forwards so he was just inches away from Tess, his smile was humourless.

"That's slightly better but you're still not fighting like normal" with that he use the heel of his hand and struck her in the stomach. She collapsed onto the ground and Alex kicked her away, sending her sliding along the gravel. "Come on, this isn't the Tess that I used to know, the one that could actually give me a fight. Where is that person?" he called out, she struggled to her feet and raised her sword just on time to stop Alex's lethal weapon from taking her head off. Her eyes were wide, her look wild.

"Fine, you want me to fight?!" she screamed at him "Then I will!" she lashed out with three slashes then followed up with a blistering combination of attacks, forcing Alex back. She kicked him in the chest and followed up with a lunge aimed directly at his heart, he parried the point away and leaped back.

"Now that's better" he told her. He wasn't as relaxed anymore, he held his sword out in a guard, the point inscribing small circles in the air. He knew what she could really do and even he needed to be on guard when she actually fought. They clashed in an array of sparks, their swords a deadly blur, their bodies dancing a dangerous dance, twisting and turning, constantly trying to find a weakness in one another's defence. They broke away, neither of them even breathing heavily.

"You want better? Fine, I'll give you better" The air started to grow heavier and swirl around her. Pressure increased and Alex's eyes widened as he realised what she was preparing to do.

"Shine brightly and prosper… Saishu Rei!" Light exploded from Tess, a gust of wind with the power of a tempest blew out making Alex's haori whip behind him.

"Shit…"

'You've really done it now you idiot'

'I know, get ready, we might need to end this quickly'

'I'm always ready'

'You're a woman, women are never ready unless they have a couple hours advanced notice'

'Are you going to make women jokes or focus on the pressing matter that's right in front of you?

Alex brought his attention back to his lieutenant, the light was gone now and he could see her shikai clearly now. It was as beautiful as ever. Tess's uniform was now all pure white and it seemed to exude light and brightness, there were two brilliantly white, glowing orbs hovering over her shoulders. In her left hand she held a six foot staff of the same colour as the orbs. It was a show of pure whiteness. The colour of mourning, very appropriate. She shone beautifully against the darkness of the night, literally glowing. She really fitted her old nickname, Beautiful Reaper.

"Lucky I put up some barriers beforehand otherwise a whole lot of my squad would be choking in their sleep right now" Alex muttered to himself, he raised his eyes just in time to see the staff flying for his face, he deftly avoided it and parried the follow up taking swift movements back, trying to gain some room. Tess didn't stop coming, the staff whirled and spun but her movements were reckless and lacking any of her normal effective brutality.

'This is strange, she's not fighting like normal, this isn't her'

'You really understand nothing do you master? Can't you feel it? She's not fighting like normal because she's fighting with her heart instead of her brain' Alex jumped away from Tess and contemplated his zanpakuto's words

'But she's always fought with her heart, she just used it with her brain. That's what makes her such a good… Ahhhhh…'

'There you go'

'Let's end this quickly now'

Alex slid back causing a spray of water to leap up from the ground, he put the blade of his sword between his first two fingers and slid them down his weapon as if they were the scabbard and he was drawing his zanpakuto. The effect was instantaneous, the blade turned into its shikai form, the grey blade becoming invisible against the night-time, the white of his haori was consumed and overwhelmed by the black of his Alex's shikai. He spun in a tight circle and met Tess's weapon with his own.

Tess hadn't noticed the release until it was too late, by then she had already committed herself to an attack that she now knew would be her last. She had been reckless and now she was going to pay for it. She resigned herself to feeling the bite of Alex's sword. Normally she would have put up a better fight, she used to be able to fight toe to toe with him, only just falling short of his power.

Tess's weapon flew out of her hand, the sheer power behind Alex's block shearing through the middle of the brilliant staff and dislodging her grip on it.

Tess closed her eyes, preparing herself. It was over.

Alex's zanpakuto came around on a return stroke. It was over.

What Tess felt wasn't what she had expected, Alex's arms went around her body and drew her in close. She allowed herself to be pulled into his embrace, her head going onto his chest. Rushifa was impaled into the ground beside them, Tess felt Alex's hand stroking the back of her head. It was a strangely comforting feeling. She stood there with her arms at her side in complete surprise, unable and maybe a bit unwilling to break away from her captain.

"I understand now, I'm sorry Tess, I truly am." Alex's voice was soft and quiet. Thick with emotion and regret.

Alex sat against the side of the barracks under the wooden roof of the walkway, there wouldn't be anyone wandering around so they wouldn't be in the way. Tess stood leaning against one of the wooden pillars that supported the slanted roof of the walkway looking directly at Alex, there were questions in her eyes but she didn't speak, she just kept her eyes on her captain. Alex sighed deeply, he was tapping the floor with his fingers, the only sign of his agitation.

"You know, that's quite annoying" Tess finally spoke, breaking the awkward silence that had consumed them. Alex looked up at her, an amused look and that half smile of his on his face,

"Yeah, I know" he replied without stopping the tapping. Tess turned away from Alex and looked out over the grounds that they'd just fought on. She replayed the short fight over in her head and sighed softly, she'd been ruled by her emotions and that had led to her quick and easy defeat. She didn't even think of those in the barracks, if Alex hadn't of put up the spiritual barriers then a whole lot of people would have been woken up and even worse than that, the weaker levels would have started chocking and maybe even died. She shook her head and chastised herself for her recklessness. She turned her mind back to Alex, thinking what she should do next, it was clear that he was waiting for her to make the first move.

"You know, I would have followed you anywhere, after the war and all the reform. After all the hunter killer missions and the clean-up. The war with the Quincy's, even when I knew you had doubts about the Gotei 13 I stood by you, I made enemies of many powerful people on both sides for you, I even fought some of the old captains for you, in your defence. I supported you no matter anything, no matter how crazy or idiotic what you were saying was. Sure I argued with you about a whole lot of stuff but of you said it to anyone or announced publically I was always there beside you." Once she started she didn't seem to be able to stop, everything she felt she allowed out. "And then the time started when you started questioning yourself and what you were, you always had that underlying current of regret but I accepted you for that, even after I found out what you'd done. Even then Alex!" her eyes misted over at the remembrance of old memories "I was there when you changed, I was there when you had to re-forge and re-make your zanpakuto otherwise it would have destroyed you. I've seen you at your worst and stood by you" she paused and stared long and hard at Alex whom looked at her, regret filled his eyes.

"So why? After everything, why couldn't you take me with you, or even tell me. I just want to know why? That's all. That's it. Why, it's a simple ask, a simple question. I deserve that don't I? At least that" she was almost begging for an explanation, for something from Alex to put aside all her doubts, all her confusion.

Alex sighed deeply, his eyes were sad and old. Those eyes that had seen so much now showed more pain than Tess had ever seen. Those eyes of which she had loved so much.

"You do deserve that, and so much more. But it is for many of those reasons that I had to leave without a word. You know more than anyone that I'm not a good person, you know everything that I have done, who I truly am. What I truly am." He looked sorrowfully at his lieutenant, the person who he had shared so much with. "I don't deserve happiness, I didn't then and I don't know. Being with you, in a safe place, it made me happy, happier than I had ever been and that was not fair."

"That's no excuse!" Tess interrupted, almost shouting "You always did hide behind those stupid excuses. Did it ever once occur to you that you were causing more pain and sorrow to those that cared about you" her voice dropped slightly "did it ever occur to you that there were people here that loved you?" her voice trembled, a single tear rolled down her cheek. It was this that really caught Alex's attention, she hardly ever cried, even one tear was significant. It tore at him to know how much he'd put her through.

"It did" he replied "I guess that was part of my self-punishment, knowing that I hurt the ones that I love…"

"Just be quiet, just quiet, why does your punishment have to cause pain to other people as well? Did you think that maybe, just maybe, making other people happy, making other people smile could be you repentance? No, because all you ever think of is yourself!" she looked back at the rain, seeing it fall. "Did you think of me? Even once" she whispered almost to herself.

"Everyday" came the reply "Every single day of all those years. You were never far from my mind. Never." His voice cracked slightly. What he really wanted to do was reach out to her but he knew that she needed to come to terms with what was happening and what did happen in her own way, in her own mind without any influence from him.

"Why did you come back, why did you appear again with Captain Kurosaki?" Tess turned back around having gotten her emotions under some sort of resemblance of control, she tried to master her face but she'd failed, all the emotion still showed clearly to Alex.

"Well…" he sighed "I saw Ichigo fighting, his will to protect everyone and it reminded me of someone" he smiled sadly "It was then that I knew that I couldn't just stand by and be a ghost, a shadow anymore so I decided to help him."

"That's why you sent out that signal isn't it? You knew that the Karitoriki would focus more on you seeing as Ryoka aren't particularly its jurisdiction" Alex nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I knew that you would intervene though if it got to the point that Ichigo was going to succeed and I knew that no matter how strong Ichigo or his friends got they probably wouldn't be able to defeat you or the entire squad without inside help, and wasn't certain that they'd get that. I suspected that Jushiro and Shunsui may lead a hand but nothing as drastic as they did. Presenting myself to you was the only way to make sure you were not going to prevent Ichigo reaching his goal." He looked out into the distance, past Tess "That was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, to see you after all that time and to have to fight you. Well, you gave me a run for my money in that fight, and the others that followed" he laughed lightly

"How do I know that you won't just leave again?" Tess asked, as if she didn't listen to a thing Alex just said.

"I won't promise that I won't leave ever again, I mean as soon as the way to the other worlds are open then I'm going through to scout so I will leave and you know full well that different missions will take place and…"

"You know what I mean" Tess interrupted him

"Yeah, you're just going to have to take my word for it. I'm here to stay now." He looked deeply into Tess's eyes and she returned the gaze. It spoke more than words ever could. She looked and saw everything she needed to know.

Tess nodded slowly and turned back around.

"You know, you really shouldn't leave your zanpakuto out there in the rain like that, she'll be a bit annoyed." Tess looked at Alex's weapon, still impaled in the ground where he put it, she shook her head.

"She'll be fine out there"

'She would appreciate not being talked about as if she isn't here.' Alex sighed and made a small gesture with his hand. His sword dissipated into shadows and appeared beside him in its sheath. He was glad to have gotten a comment like that from Tess, it was more like the Tess that he knew, maybe it was going to get better from here on in, maybe.

"This doesn't mean that I've forgiven you, not by a long shot. You're going to have to spend the rest of your life trying to make it up to me. You have a lot of work in front of you Alex, a whole lot of work" she warned him but there was a slight smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, it wasn't much, but it was something. Alex laughed.

"Yes ma'am"

Hope it was okay, next one out soon :)