Yes, I am alive. You have the right to kill me right now because it's been, what, four months of no updates for Icefire? I don't have really any excuses apart from school, getting sick, major writer's block on fighting scenes, exams, and in general life. I'm currently juggling my The Devil Prince story and another one I'm writing on the side on another site.

And yes, I know this Mountain Arc has been going on for about six chapters now and that I should really finish it up. Sadly, unless I want to keep expanding this chapter to possibly 20,000 words I need to stop it and get it posted. To everyone that submitted characters that have not been written since I believe Chapter 11 or so, I'm terribly sorry. This arc is making me expand it to another chapter or two before I can freaking end it. These fighting scenes are the hardest for me to write while humor scenes are much easier. If you can still bear with my stupid procrastination, I'll cram everything into the next chapter to try to finish it and finally move on. (Because I too just want it done and over with.)

I'd like to thank Kai Uzmaki, demonicdogangelisback, LovelyIAmNot, Kira michi, and Ominias for reading and reviewing!

Special thanks to Love is war-Mistress Kurohi- and Shiraihime Fuyuki for making sure that I finally finished this chapter up.

Enough chitchat, I'll let you move onto to finally reading. I have to warn you, though, that this chapter has horribly failed fighting scenes. Also, possible OCCness on all character (I gave up trying to fix all of them after staring at the screen for five hours straight.) Anyways, begin!

Before you begin...

Note: Please excuse any kind of grammar, spelling, and/or other errors. Spell check is not always perfect and I may not catch everything in it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters except my version of the plot and characters. Any other characters that will appear that do not belong to Bleach or me belongs to their respectful owners.

-o-o- Chapter 15 -o-o-

Bitter End

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Riki grinned down towards the fuming group of shinigamis and humans beneath him, hands behind his head. He was still dressed in the clothes he had been in earlier when he was with the group, save for the bag swung around his back. His face was relaxed and calm, not showing any signs of remorse or guilt. Despite deceiving the people who saved him in the storm a few days, he didn't seem too concern with the possibility of having to face the wrath of about ten shinigamis with human friends. Oh, and Quincy.

His companion below shook her head at him. "Put your communicator in. I hate having to speak two languages at once." Riki shot her a look.

"Like you're one to talk! You can't even speak Japanese!" the boy shouted while pulling out some sort of earpiece out of his pocket. The native shinigamis to the Soul Society widened their eyes at the sight of the device.

"Where did you get your hands on that?" Matsumoto demanded, making the boy jump. Riki blinked down at the tenth division fukutaichou, snapping the device into his ear. Turning some sort of dial first, Riki shrugged.

"Dunno. Maybe I stole it. Maybe I made it. Maybe it was given to me. Who knows?" the brown haired boy chuckled, clicking his tongue. He spoke in fluent Japanese, no signs that he couldn't speak the language just seconds ago.

Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes. "That communicator was created by the Soul Society. No scientist would give any shinigami one without permission from their taichou. And no communicators have been given for the past two months."

Riki's friend clapped her hands, giggling. "Ah~! I just knew that the smarty kid would make the connection! That's why I talked to you first~! Their reports definitely said you were the smartest out of all of these guys." Ichigo twitched at the double meaning the marooned hair girl was implying. But before Ichigo could say anything, Rukia spoke first.

"So you two are shinigamis then." Riki and his friend looked at each other with blank faces before bursting out in laughter. Eyebrows were raised in confusion on what the two deemed so funny.

"Man," Riki said after stuffing down his chuckles. "You guys are dumb! Seriously, didn't the communicator give it away? It you guys weren't part of our mission, I'd seriously keep laughing my ass off." Arashi's eyes flashed darkly, knuckles almost a pure white color.

"You think it's FUNNY you almost got idiot and I here killed?" Arashi bellowed, ticked off. Her companion gave her a look, hurt.

"Hey!" Izumi snapped. "I'm not an idiot!" The girl was left unheard, unanswered, and grumbling.

The girl leaning on the tree whistled slightly, disappearing before reappearing next to Riki. "I say that it's exaggerating it quite a bit, no?" she answered. "After all, you're still standing here, right?"

"That's not the point!" Ichigo shouted, gesturing angrily towards the two rogue girls. "Why the hell are you two here and blaming everything you done on them?" Riki smirked.

"'Cause it's kind of fun, huh Fang?" he answered nonchalantly. The girl, now known as Fang, nodded her head.

Everyone else was in clear disagreement. And to show off their anger, or more like Arashi's, the girl lunged towards the two, rage in her eyes. Yells of protest shouted after her, but failed to slow her attack. She collided with Riki and Fang with a tremendous force that smoke erupted from the area.

Before the smoke cleared, another collision occurred, this one nearer to the Karakura Gang. Strings of curses were fired and the sound of someone spitting out blood following soon after. Sounds of chuckling could be heard from up above but the owners remained a mystery. When it finally did clear, everyone wasn't surprised to see a badly battered midnight blue girl crouched on the ground.

Izumi landed next to Arashi and held a hand out to her. "Wasn't your greatest idea, eh Stormy?" The girl wiped the blood off of her mouth with the back of her hand and glared up at the blond.

"Shut it!"

Fang frowned down at the two. "You should have better manners. It's not nice to attack people when they're not paying attention."

"You mean like this?" a voice asked behind her. Pivoting around, Fang's eyes widened as she saw the approaching blade. Doing a split, the marooned haired girl dodged before getting her head sliced clean off. Pressing the palms of her hands into the snow, Fang forced her legs upwards to kick Ikkaku right in the chin. Using her momentum she shunoped backwards to avoid the second incoming blade from Yumichika.

That was the trigger for the rest of the group to start attacking. The group spilt off into two groups to attack the pair, planning on using their advantage in numbers to take down the unknown shinigamis. Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Uryu, and Chad were up against Riki while Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, Izumi, Arashi, and Orihime were pitted against Fang.

Riki clicked his tongue when he saw who he was up against, impressed with who he was going up against. "Oh~ I get the taichou, sweet!"

Hitsugaya furrowed his eyebrows, somewhat surprised that this boy knew of his status. Riki had to be no older than he was, if not younger. Though true that he was known as the prodigy in the Seireitei, very few people in any of the 79 districts actually kept track of the shinigami news. Ever since he entered the academy and graduated, he has kept an eye out on all the students that were about to graduate that year or showed great potential. None of the roosters ever showed of a boy name Riki attending the Academy. Even if Riki never attended the Academy, he would've been eventually found out in the Soul Society and discovered no matter how well he hid is resitu.

Ikkaku didn't bother with words, only letting out a feral cry as he leapt at the boy, zanpakutō over his head. "He isn't the one you should be looking out for, brat! Growl, Hoozukimaru!"

Riki frowned, irked that he was going up against the bald man. Seriously, why couldn't he get the strongest one? He hated having to fight the small fry. They were boring, weak, and uninteresting – an ant looked more appealing than this guy. What was he, some bald violent monk?

"Try again, loser," Riki laughed, easily dodging Ikkaku's wild swings. The mocked eleventh division shinigami growled, swinging even more rapidly at the boy. He dodged each one with ease, acting as if he was in some sort of dance. "What, that all you got?" Ikkaku's eyes flashed in anger but Riki continued to laugh.

Chad tried using his El Directo to knock Riki out of the air too but the boy proved to be sneakier than the group thought. While dodging Ikkaku's seemingly random attacks, the once friendly boy purposely lingered around the other shinigamis and lone Quincy targeting him, waiting until the last minute before shunpoing to the side. Doing so, the Spaniard's attack always ended up almost hitting one his friends, whether it to the berserk Ikkaku to the grounded Uryu. And each time his attack got closer and closer to hitting them, much to his dismay.

Yumichika, seeing as Ikkaku was already busy with Riki, stood on the sidelines, disinterested in the fight. As long as Riki was preoccupied with Ikkaku, there was no need for the resident Narcissus to join in. Matsumoto and Hitsugaya could for all he cared because he had no need to ruin his perfection. Why cover his body in disgusting sweat and have his smooth skin blotched with cuts and bruises? There were other lesser beauty figures that could take his place, like Matsumoto. And this time he could get away with it, the big busted woman too focused on trying on taking down Riki with her taichou, Chad, Ikkaku, and Uryu.

Yes, some help he was.

"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyourinmaru!" Hitsugaya's voice suddenly cried from behind Riki, scaring the boy and distracting him momentary. Hissing out in pain when he didn't manage to avoid Ikkaku's zanpakutō in time for once, the boy jumped back and stared over to where Hitsugaya stood. His black eyes widened in shock as saw the large ice dragon emerging from the tip of the tenth division's tachiou's zanpakutō.

Matsumoto, standing a bit further away, also called out her own zanpakutō as well. "Howl, Haineko!" Haineko obeyed, disintegrating everything but the hilt into a large cloud of scattered ash. Following the direction Matsumoto pointed the katana, the ashes slashed through the air towards Riki alongside Hyourinmaru. Both attacks made contact with a loud 'BANG' before the field was once again covered in smoke.

Meanwhile, Fang laughed hysterically as she jumped at the last minute into the air and caused Renji and Ichigo to nearly slice each other's heads off. Winking at a startled Rukia before kicking her in the stomach, she giggled, "Tehe~ You guys are funny! Where did you ever learn to fight so badly~?"

Arashi wanted to snap Fang's pretty little head off her neck right now. Who the hell could be that… that… perky when fighting? She hated people like her, so bright and happy. Seriously, who would like a person that acted like this? They were just downright annoying and should rot in the fires of hell.

However, before Arashi could do such a thing, she found herself hitting the ground again, breath knocked out of her by the heavy body on top of her. Shaking the stars out of her eyes, the midnight blue hair grunted when she realized Renji was the one that crashed into her. Pushing the dazed male mercilessly to the side, she spat out a small amount of blood before glaring darkly at the male.

"Mind telling me why the hell you just crashed into me, idiot?"

Renji never got the chance to reply, seeing as Ichigo soon after landed on his back, courtesy of Fang kicking his back when he missed hitting her with his Getsuga Tenshō. Just what was up with that girl and kicking them? Arashi could only twitch as she watch the two males in front of her then begin bickering among each other for colliding with each other. Orihime, who was forced to remain helplessly on the ground because of the height difference they were fighting at, rushed over in fear of any of them being injured. Rukia didn't have time to scoff at the two idiots because she was trying to counter each of Fang's counterattacks.

Izumi, skidding to a halt and stopping herself from landing face first in the snow after Fang kicked her in the head when she got bored of Rukia, unsheathed her zanpakutō before planting her right foot firmly in the snow. A sudden breeze began blowing around her, whipping her short blond hair in all directions. Her dark green eyes locked with Fang's ruby ones, telling the latter who she was about to attack. Using her foot to pivot her body around, the blond girl cried out, "Flurry, Mikomikaze!"

The wind that was circling around Izumi changed until it was circling only her zanpakutō and hands, so fast that you could actually see the wind swirling around by a thick white mist. It vanished a second later, revealing no longer a sword but two fans made out of silver swords, one in each of the girl's hands. Connecting the two was a thin, grass green ribbon, trailing behind Izumi like a physical representation of the wind. White swirls glittered off the ribbon, light reflecting off the cloth.

With a précis flick of her wrists, Izumi twirled both fans out in front of her, not flinching as hurricane speed winds flew past her. Fang could only widen her eyes for once in fear as the winds approached her. There was no way the girl could avoid it for the speed of the wind was almost naked to the visible eye.

"Did it work?" Orihime questioned, watching the smoke covered air. She along with everyone else couldn't see anything once again, forced to wait for area to clear. It was an agonizing thirty seconds of impatient suspense. However, when the smoke did finally decide to fade away the result wasn't something they were expecting.

Riki and Fang, or what was part of them, stood there grinning, acting like they didn't have large chunks of themselves missing.

Fang held the remaining parts of her right hand up, blowing on the nails carelessly. "Really? That was supposed to hurt?"

"What the hell?" Ichigo growled, disgusted by the sight. That defied all laws of nature! No one could still be alive after taking direct attacks like those! "How the hell are you still alive?"

"Oh," Riki called. But, not from where he stood next to the horribly blasted Fang was. Heads spinning around, everyone couldn't believe it when they saw a non-holed Riki leaning against one of the few trees not blown to smithereens, Fang sitting and waving next to him. "It's really simple. We're over here."

"That's impossible!" Matsumoto shouted, utterly confused on what was going on. "There can't be two of you two!" Fang giggled, amused.

"Oh, didn't we tell you~?" the maroon haired girl asked childishly, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. "We don't play fair~"

A large gurgling sound came right after Fang finished answering. Turning back around once again, eyes widened in stunned horror as the once thought to be Riki and Fang begin to expand. Stretched skin began to cover the numerous holes both of 'them' had, distorting the two further and further. Limbs were stretched easily as if they were easy made gelatin being played with by a three year old. The Karakura Gang, Izumi, and Arashi watched those two bodies continue to stretch wider and wider until when it could no longer and burst in what sounded like a loud firecracker exploding. Each of them yelled at the sound, their eardrums ringing as heavy droplets of water rained down from them, the only thing remaining of 'Riki' and 'Fang'.

Yumichika shriveled back in disgust as the rain (guts) poured over his beautiful hair. "Pft, such ugly deserved to be blown up."

Riki crossed his arms, pleased with the show. "Pretty cool, huh? My Andentilfaelde can shape anything or anyone from any kind of object or substance. Water, rocks, leaves, sticks. A perfect double made from nothing. And you can never guys can never tell the difference."

"We'll see about that!" Renji retorted, shaking off everything he just witnessed. Just because he could duplicate himself and Fang didn't mean he was invincible. In fact, it made him look more like a coward rather than taking the hits directly on his own flesh and bones. "Howl, Zabimaru!"

Fang sighed at him and the rest of the group following close behind. Getting up, she chuckled, "Round two? You guys sure like to have fun, huh~?"

Kiyo panted heavily as he leaned against a building, trying to catch his breath after running for who knows how long. He shivered slightly when he felt the harsh sting of icy wind beat against his back. Glancing upwards, the older twin furrowed his eyebrow as he watched dark clouds roll in over his head. There were no reports of another storm coming in.

Deciding to ignore the darkening clouds, Kiyo pulled out his cell phone and flipped it open. His eyes widened at the time, having been running for almost two hours. He cursed his twin for of course getting him in trouble with Kaida, but the one he really hated now was the older sister. She really needed to learn how not to hold a grudge for something done in the past. It was no longer Kira always tried to hurt him for doing something she didn't like! Whatever the older sibling does, the younger is sure to follow.

Hearing some voices somewhere behind him, Kiyo cursed under his breath and took off again, not bothering to determine who was speaking. If he had to take a guess, it had to be Kaida or Mitsuki. He didn't know where Mitsuki was at the moment, having split off from his twin when Kaida was chasing them and cursing angrily in Mandarin. Kiyo knew that Kaida had chased after Mitsuki when they split, both knowing very well the terror Mitsuki could cause on her own. But he should have thought about not running in some random direction soon after – running towards some random buildings students were restrictive was not the best way to getting back to their cottage.

"HEY YOU!" someone yelled about ten feet away from the boy, sharing him. "STOP!"

"Shit, shit, shit!" he continued, picking up his pace. The voice sounded a lot like one of the teachers also here on the trip. If they caught him, then they would give him to Yumiko who would then keep him until Kaida came back. And since Kaida never was content with revenge unless both twins were punished, he would be lucky enough to wake up tomorrow morning.

Pushing some snow covered branches out of his way, Kiyo glanced back to see how far the person was behind him. He sighed in relief when he saw he had managed to pull away from the person, now only about a small dot in the distance. All he had to do was run for a little bit longer and then he could head back. Maybe if he got back quick enough he could beg Kira to convince Kaida to get off his back. True it was a long shot, but Kira did help him out a few times in the past in exchange for something.

Too focused on looking back, Kiyo didn't notice the lone figure walking in front of him. Colliding with the person, the two tumbled into the ankle deep snow and began rolling down the steep hill. Images of trees, snow, bushes, and rocks swirled in Kiyo's vision, arms flying uncontrollably around him. Internally he cursed again at his bad luck for finding himself in trouble once again.

After what seemed like ages, the ground finally began to level out. Crashing into a bush, Kiyo groaned in pain as he rolled onto his back, hand on his head. If he thought running into a concrete wall two times in row was bad enough he was sadly mistaken; it felt like someone had kicked his body repeatedly over and over until they decided that they were satisfied. Or Kaida whacking his head with her always-somehow-with-her frying pan.

Waiting until the world stopped spinning before him Kiyo sat up and looked around for the person he had crashed into. Spotting some boots behind a tree, the boy squinted when he realized that they were familiar. Pushing himself up, Kiyo slowly stumbled over to where the person laid, curious and furious to see who had been stupid enough to walk out in front of him. Finally at the tree, Kiyo glanced down to see who it was.

And once he did, he took back the stupid statement.

Two different colored eyes glared up at Kiyo, eyebrow twitching furiously. Kiyo gulped and took a quick step back before an arm could grab him and strangle the boy right there and then. Oh how Kiyo wished he was back in America right now, away from all of this. Though they would still be living with each other, at least he could run away knowing that someone would know where to find her. Yeah, call him cold-blooded but he was not willing to be murder by Kira.

"You better give me a fucking good reason why you decided it would be ok to further sprain my ankle, you idiot!" Kira snapped, rubbing her ankle. It hurt like hell now, the once dull throb now flaring. She would be damn lucky if it wasn't broken by now. If she could stand right now, she wouldn't hesitate to rip Kiyo's pretty little head off his shoulders.

Kiyo held his hands up in defense, trying hard not to be intimated by the younger Yumi sister. He shouldn't be afraid of a girl three years younger than him, damn it! Kaida was reasonably because she was the same age as him and about a month older. Kira, however, was younger! "Look! I didn't mean too! Besides, why the heck are you even out here? I thought you were back in the lounge!"

"I snuck out," the girl retorted, rolling her eyes. "It wasn't that hard, idiot. The kitchen has a back door."

"There's a back door?" Kiyo asked dumbly, only to shrink back when Kira threw him an icy look. How was he supposed to know the kitchen had a back door? No one went it the kitchen except for the cooks! "Ok, ok! Forget I said anything!"

"Already have." Kiyo threw his hands up, fed up with Kira's attitude. Just how the hell did a thirteen year old girl get this kind of attitude? She was worse on a regular basic than Kaida was at her worst!

Kiyo took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down before he said or did something stupid that would get him into bigger trouble. "Look, can you stand or not?" Kira scowled at him before grasping the tree next to her with a hand.

"Of course, dummy. I'm not some sort of cripple."

"Never implied that you were," Kiyo grumbled, waiting impatiently as Kira pulled herself up. He bit his tongue hard to not chuckle as Kira almost dropped back into the snow when her sprained ankle gave out beneath her. Karma was a bitch.

Kira glowered at Kiyo's almost laughing face. If she didn't have to bend down to pick up a rock, she would've thrown one at him. "Quit laughing, asshole. I could actually walk before you came and ruined everything."

"So this is my fault?" Kiyo demanded, twitching. Yes, he now confirmed the fact that Kira was really a she-demon in disguise. Of course this would be his fault. It always was.

"No freaking duh," the younger Yumi sister mocked, trying again to at least set her foot on the ground. Kiyo pulsed a vein, hands itching to want to hit Kira right now. She really needed to figure out how to keep her words in her mouth.

"Look! If you don't stop blaming me I swear I'm gonna leave you here!" Kiyo yelled, crossing his arms. Maybe now Kira would actually just shut up and give him a minute of silence. If only he was that lucky.

"Then leave!" Kira barked, draggers practically shooting out of her eyes. "I don't need any more fucking pain, thank you very much!"

"Fine then!"

"Then LEAVE!"

"I WILL!"

Turning around, Kiyo stomped out of the area and began his trek back up the steep hill. If Kira wanted him to leave her there, then so be it. It was starting to get late and the wind was making the temperature lower. He wasn't responsible of her – Kaida was. If the girl was stubborn enough to be out in the cold for the night then she can stay; that's on Kira, not him.

Pulling his jacket closer, Kiyo rubbed his hands together to try and warm them up faster. Each breath he exhaled lingered for a few seconds in front of him. It was getting way to cold out here way to fast. What was it now? It had to at least freezing temperature or lower. Despite being January, Mother Nature really wanted to be merciless this week.

Another gust of wind blasted right into his face and Kiyo shivered. He really wanted to get out of this storm right now and have a nice hot cup of hot chocolate. The older twin couldn't remember the last time he's been so cold like this, and he's been in a lot of places. Someone most likely couldn't survive the night in this weather…

He was almost at the top of the hill now, not having noticed how far he made it as he was lost in his thoughts. Glancing down towards the bottom, he frowned when he didn't see any sign of Kira having gotten even to the base of the hill yet. The trek up took him almost ten minutes with two good legs. How long would it take a thirteen year old girl with a badly sprain ankle to walk up a steep hill?

'But she told you to leave,' a voice in back of Kiyo's head nagged, reminding the boy of what the younger sister ordered him to do. Why should he have to go back down and risk more time out in the cold to help a girl that practically gave no respect to anyone?

A loud crash suddenly echoed throughout the area, startling the boy. It soon followed with a lot of muttered cursing and swearing. From how muffled it sounded against the wind, it came from the somewhere near the bottom. Holding a hand to his eyes to stop the wind from blowing in his face, Kiyo squinted, trying to see what was going on.

To his mild surprise, it was Kira. The girl had somehow managed to hop on her one foot from where she was minutes ago near the tree, unable to walk. Apparently by using the trees as target points Kira hopped from one tree to another, slowly inching her way closer to the hill. However, she didn't manage to see a tree root buried underneath all that snow, causing the girl to fall with a 'thud' onto the ground again.

Seeing Kira spit snow out of her mouth made Kiyo snicker; it was quite amusing to see Kira like that. His snickering stopped when he saw the younger Yumi sister pull herself up to her knees and try to stand again. But, this time she didn't have a tree to lean against. It wasn't any surprise to see the girl then collapse once again into the snow again. Kiyo winced as he witness Kira fall right back down – her ankle had to be really hurt for the girl not even able to stand properly.

Hoping he wasn't going making the wrong choice, Kiyo began jogging back down the hill as quick as he could, sliding whenever he could and instead jumping over small rocks that were in his way. By the time he got near Kira, the wind was biting colder than ever and a light snowfall was beginning. However, his reappearance wasn't met with warm words but a cold glare.

"Why the hell are you back? I told you leave!" Kira growled, getting to her knees a third time. While Kiyo was making his journey back down towards her she had tried to stand again and only managed a few shaky steps before coming face-to-face with the snow again. She really hated snow now. But not as much as looking at Kiyo's face right now.

Kiyo pulled the beanie over his head a bit lower and took a deep breath. "Look, unless you really want to freeze to death here, just-"

"NO."

The boy frowned, pushing down with all his will the urge to just get up and leave again. Just what was it with the Yumi family to have such annoying stubborn prides? You offer them help and they all out refuse it. Even in near death situations they refuse! If he knew the very first person who had pride in this damn family he'll fricking kill them for deciding on passing that trait along.

"Ok, LOOK. I know you're not some sort of fairy princess," he threatened Kira for once with his own dark scowl when he noticed Kira's mouth open in rebuttal. "BUT kick your stupid pride aside for once! You are going to DIE out here if you keep it up!"

Kira was silent, the end of Kiyo's harsh words echoing around them. The boy panted slightly, watching as Kira refused to look him in the eye. Maybe now the girl would just let him freaking help and they could both get out of this storm. She had to be just as cold, if not colder, than him. Kiyo could see Kira try hard not to shiver when another gust of icy wind blasted the two of them. That had to be enough to convince her!

"Kiyo," the boy called perked up at his name. "If you have nothing else to say, then leave."

"What the-" Kiyo stuttered, stunned. STILL she refused?

Kira didn't look at him, instead pushing herself to try to stand again. She didn't want his help and didn't need it. She wasn't some damsel in distress and would rather kill herself before she became one. In the world you had only yourself and only yourself to rely on. Even if you have friends and family with you, they're not always going to be by your side. Therefore, she had no need from assistance. She could do everything by herself.

"You know what? Screw your pride right now!" Kiyo suddenly snapped, startling Kira and making the girl stumble back onto her butt. Before she even knew it Kiyo was in front of her, grabbing her arms. Not giving her any time to react, Kiyo hooked her arms around his neck and then grab Kira's legs. Grunting with the weight, he allowed a smirk to spread across his face as he lifted Kira up, the girl letting out an uncharacteristic squeak when she suddenly felt her feet in the air.

"KIYO!" Kira bellowed directly into the said boy's ears as he began trekking uphill. Kiyo cringed back at the volume, swearing he lost some of his hearing in his right ear. It soon changed to him yelling out in pain when he felt the arms he hooked around his neck yanking his hair and hitting his back. "PUT ME DOWN!"

"OW!" Kiyo yelped, his scalping throbbing where Kira all-too-nicely yanked heavily on. "Quit it, Ki-OW! I said stop it!"

"Not until you put me down!" Kira snarled back, grabbing another piece of his hair. "Put me down and I'll stop!"

"Forget it!" the boy retorted back, sick of all of this arguing. "As much as I want you to leave you here right now out in the cold, I can't! Even if you won't admit it, I'll give it to you simply – you are going to DIE from the cold soon if I don't help you! So for once in your life, just shut up and listen to me!"

Kira continued to claw at Kiyo for awhile, seeming that she wouldn't stop at all. However, her attempts to struggle slowly died the higher Kiyo continued to climb, refusing to just drop Kira right there and leave. Giving one last tug on Kiyo's hair, Kira stopped moving. When he didn't feel Kira do anything or say anything, Kiyo began to worry until he felt something, or someone, rest against his head. Startled, the older twin turned his head slightly to the side. His greenish-purple eyes caught Kira pushing her face lightly into his beanie, trying to get her cheeks to warm up. Her arms, which still refused to go around his neck, insisted on holding onto the parts of his hair sticking out from beneath his beanie.

Kiyo chuckled slightly to himself, feeling his heart warm slightly at the gesture; he had actually thought that Kira was going to fight him the whole way back to the resort. He had forgotten that Kira, no matter how she acted, was still just a kid. Well, she technically still was but he meant personality wise. The older twin couldn't recall the last time he actually saw Kira act her age like a regular thirteen year old girl was supposed to. Heck, he couldn't remember the last time hung out with his own friends and checked out some girls! If he had to take a guess, he wasn't even sure he could remember the last time when Kira actually had some personal time with her own friends, their lifestyle stealing most of that away.

But even so, he kind of wished that this would last a little longer. He missed this feeling, the feeling that they were just normal everyday teenagers trying to get through life.

"…Kiyo…"

"Hm?"

"Speak of this to anyone and Mitsuki's going to need to find herself a new twin."

"…Fair enough."

"Watch it!" Riki yelled at Fang, dragging the girl in his direction before she collided with an awaiting Rukia after messing around with Ichigo and Arashi. Skidding to a halt, he poked the girl in the head before taking off. "I don't want to tell them you got yourselves killed!"

Fang snorted, unsheathing her katana. "Shouldn't that be the other way around, baka?" Riki grinned.

"We'll see."

Ikkaku growled, annoyed at their pointless banter. "You gonna keep yabbering or what?" The American-speaking boy shrugged, kicking Rukia in the back with his heel and backhanding Yumichika.

"Depends, you wanna die?" Ikkaku narrowed his eyes and lunged at the boy, zanpakutō raised over his head. Something appeared in the corners of his eye, a black shadow somewhere below him. Not too interested in it except for the boy facing off against his friends, he ignored it. He would later regret that when he found himself once again freefalling at an alarmingly fast pace.

Orihime, who had happened to be paying attention to the eleventh division shinigami, quickly halted his fall before he met the ground headfirst. Lowering the body gently, the orange haired girl rushed over to him. He was sprouting a badly bleeding wound on his back, the blood pouring freely out. Placing her hands in the air above the wound, Orihime set to work healing it despite the bald man's furious protests and coughs of blood.

Fang frowned, arms crossed. "Well, that wasn't as fun as I thought it would be," she sighed. "I thought they said they would be more of a challenge." Whipping her katana back out, she quickly spun around and deflected Izumi's blow. Hooking her foot around the blond girl's ankle, Fang tripped the girl while elbowing her in the stomach. Grabbing the blonds' zanpakuto right out of her hand, she watched with a bored expression as Izumi crashed down right next to Ikkaku and Orihime.

Coughing against the smoke, Izumi wiped her lips, wincing when she lifted her arm. Glaring up at the girl standing above her mockingly, she shouted, "Don't play dirty, witch!" Fang's eyes brightened at the new name she was called.

"Hey, Riki! Guess what? I'm a witch now!" the marooned hair girl cried, creepily happy at it. The cried at boy rolled his eyes before grunting as he was simultaneously hit in the leg and arm at the same time.

"Yeah, yeah, good for you! Add that to the hundreds of other nicknames others gave ya!" the boy shouted, pissed that he was the one dealing with most of the wrath of the other shinigamis while his partner didn't do much. "Help me out!"

"What? Can't stand getting beaten?" Fang retorted, rolling her eyes. A vein throbbed against Riki's head as he barely shunpoed out of the way to avoid both Ichigo and Renji simultaneously lunging at him.

"Move your fricking butt already!" Fang rolled her eyes again. Gripping her katana, the girl held the blade to the side, stretched as far as she could. The blade pointed downwards, the girl closed her eyes.

"Bond, Suarajelas," she muttered in a clear voice. A bright light flowed outwards from the katana and into the surrounding area, blinding everyone. When it died down, everyone was still in the same positions they were in. All except for Riki, who had somehow appeared next to Fang despite the numerous injuries he had gained.

"That's all it does?" Ichigo questioned, eyebrow raised as he stood with Rukia and Renji by his side. "Light?"

Fang scowled darkly at him. A slight breeze began blowing in the background, leaves whistling against their branches. Only one sword was in her hands, and it wasn't her own. Holding up the one clenching Izumi's zanpakutō, she ordered cockily, "Take a look at what I did before you say something else."

Everyone leaned toward, trying to see what Izumi was so excited in getting them to see. However, all they saw was Izumi's zanpakutō. It still had the same size, hilt, and blade. Nothing was out of place. Crazy stares were thrown in Fang's direction, questioning Fang's sanity. Did she really believe something was different?

Izumi squinted closely, examining for the small change in details. She started from the tip of the blade and made her way down. There wasn't anything wrong, like everybody already expected. Her zanpakutō was still silver, the hilt with its integrated hearts and vines, the hilt guard a glittering white-

Wait. White?

"What the hell did you do to her?" Izumi roared, fire practically shooting out of her eyes. Everyone around her stepped back, startled by her sudden temperament. Arashi was the only one out of all of them who simply raised an eyebrow at her companion, the least affected out of all of them. She glanced back at Fang with narrowed eyes. Fang in return smiled, waving and twirling Izumi's zanpakutō around her.

"Oh? This?" Izumi questioned innocently, showing the now clearly glittering hilt to the group. "Didn't you know Suarajelas can take control of another person's zanpakutō? Pretty cool if you ask me. I always wanted to try your wind-based-"

"HANDS OFF, WITCH!" Izumi yelled, shunpoing right behind Fang. Her fist was pulled back as fall as she could, ready to smash that grin off the girl's face. NO ONE touched her zanpakutō!

However, before she could do just that Riki appeared in front of her. Catching her fist just inches from his face, Riki used her forward momentum to swing the girl around and send one again another person to the ground. Renji barely managed to catch her as Izumi crashed into him, both dropping onto the ground soon after.

Riki stretched his arm, yawning. "Behave, jeez. Man, I hate having to do this." Fang rolled her eyes, still twirling Izumi's zanpakutō around with a flick of her wrist.

"Then give me back my zanpakutō and get the hell out of here!" Izumi growled, kneeling as she tried to get feeling back into her legs. She didn't feel like herself at all – like something in her was off. Her connection to her zanpakutō felt strange, and not in the good way. It felt like she could still feel her, but at the same time like it wasn't really her.

Fang hummed, giggling lightly when she created some gusts of wind with Izumi's spirit. "Ah~ But I just love messing with you guys! After all, we're only here for-"

"FANG," Riki snapped, interrupting the rest of the girl's careless banter. His eyes were hard, no longer holding the aloofness he had moments before. "Shut the hell up!"

His partner blinked, confused. When it finally drawn on her what she was just about to blurt out, her mouth formed an 'o' and she grasped, "Oh shit! I did not just reveal that-"

"SHUT UP!"

"S-Shutting up!"

Rukia eyed then suspiciously, having paid extra attention to what Riki was so focused on not revealing. They weren't here for no reason what-so-ever; they had come for something. Something they weren't supposed to tell anyone, especially them. If that was so, then she and the others needed to find that out ASAP.

"Who sent you here in the first place?" Hitsugaya ordered, trying to bring some sort of control over the situation. Everything was turning into some sort of wild game; he had to even admit he didn't' understand the situation much at all despite not wanting to. From what he gathered, this Riki and Fang had been sent here about two or three weeks ago to Mt. Fuji for a still undetermined reason. Their purpose was possibly to cause trouble and blame everything on the two rogue shinigamis Izumi and Arashi. What didn't make sense was why they were doing it in the first place.

Riki slapped his head, groaning. This wasn't supposed to have happened! All they were supposed to do was distract them long enough so they would be able to retrieve all of it! Now that the group suspected that whatever reason they were there was for important they'll have to abort the plan. Thanks to his so called blabbermouth partner, they'll be lucky to even have a fourth of it done! And that was not good.

"Looks like we're going to have no choice but to use them," the boy hissed, digging into his pocket and pulling something out. With a flick of his hand, he threw it towards Fang, the girl catching it with ease. She frowned at the object resting in her palm but made no snarky comment; she knew she was in deep shit for almost, scratch that, actually blowing their mission.

Holding another one of the things he pulled out of his pocket for the group to see, he watched with a smirk as all of theirs but Orihime's and Chad's eyes widened. Though he had been only expecting the shinigamis to know the existence of the item in his hands, he was pleasantly pleased to see that the Quincy knew what it was as well. That meant he had been well educated, something that would prove useful later on. But for the moment…

"Are you insane? Do you know how many Hollows you could lure to the area with those?" Uryu shouted. Ichigo glowered darkly in agreement, knowing exactly how deadly those things were. He already experienced what happened with one, he wasn't planning on trying it out with two. Not with so many people he knew lives at stake.

Orihime was puzzled, lost at what everyone was so worked out. She knew that whatever it was had to be bad but… what could be bad about a black checker-size disk? "Guys? What is that?"

"A Hollow Bait," Matsumoto explained carefully, not taking her eyes off the two shinigamis above her. "They're used to attract Hollows to wherever the bait is crushed. Normally they're used in control situations or to lure Hollows out into the open. However, the one they have-"

"Is an experimental one the research and development division abandoned years ago," Renji added, taking over the rest of the solemn and dangerous explanation. "It has a higher potency of resitu than normal bait in hopes of drawing out stronger Hollows. However, the dose proved to be too concentrated and summons too many high leveled Hollows into one area at once. The project was shut down after three squads were obliterated during a test run of the new Bait."

"Wait, doesn't that mean there shouldn't be any more of the baits then?" Orihime questioned, not understanding how the bait could still be in existence now after it had been shut down for years. Renji nodded, holding his zanpakutō right in front of him.

"Exactly."

Fang rolled her eyes and huffed impatiently. "Look, I don't care about your stupid Soul Society history lesson crap, but if you thing these are pathetic knockoffs of those chips you're dead wrong. These are special ones designed just for you guys in case our mission went off track-"

"Which it did," Riki muttered under his breath. The ruby eyed girl ignored his rash and correct comment, continuing her mini speech.

"-that will, how can I put this lightly, entertain you guys for awhile." Fang continued, toying with them as she gently pressed her fingers into the hard bait. Everyone held their breaths uneasily as a small indent was carved into the surface of the bait, but the bait wasn't released yet. They still had time to get it and kick their butts.

Riki suddenly waved, bright smile on his face. "But, won't it be more fun if we release it closer to the resort, hm?"

"You wouldn't-" Ichigo snarled, wanting to all but tackle the boy out the air and beat the hell out of him. He had his sister at the resort! Friends! Classmates! And, no matter how much he wasn't really fond of the four American transfer students, he never wanted them dead from a Hollow attack. The boy only smirked cocky at him.

"Well, let's see. How long can it take you guys to stop us?" Fang added in her own laugh before vanishing alongside her partner.

"But you should probably hurry~ Takes us only two minutes to get from here to there~"

Probably the crappiest chapter in existence. Sigh, I tried finishing this up before Monday but I only get time to write this at night for about an hour or two before sleep threatens me. Just because it's summer doesn't really give me a whole lot of free time. I really just want to finish this arc and get into the next one.

I also realized that Izumi was mostly like OCC. LovelyIAmNot I'm sorry if Izumi turned out really out of character. If she is, tell me and I'll fix her right up.

No omake this chapter because I'm tried right now after spending the last few hours racking my brain to finish it. Just going to post and kill myself for it being so sucky. But, I do have a preview of the next chapter. And it's probably going to be much better.

*~Kira~*

Preview:

"Ok, who's bright idea was it to let the two escape with Izumi's zanpakutō?" Ichigo demanded, jumping to the right when Fang blasted another gust of wind at him.

"Don't look at me!" Renji retorted, ducking as a loose tree branch soared over his head. "I wasn't the one that wanted to remind the chick she had it!"

"Oh, so you're trying to blame me then!" Rukia snapped at both of them, glaring at her red head and orange haired friends. So she accidently reminded Fang she still had Izumi's zanpakutō in her procession when she tried stopping the two earlier and now had her firing random bursts of wind at them. Like they didn't do something on accident before!

Hitsugaya turned around to scowl at the three. "Enough! We don't have time for your petty arguments! Shut up and hurry! We have to stop them before they get close enough to use the Hollow Bait." Ichigo snorted and glared back at the much shorter shinigami in front of him.

"Like we aren't trying!"

"Then move your fucking butt faster, idiot!" Arashi growled, kicking Ichigo in the behind. The strawberry name meaning boy yelled out in surprise and almost crashed into the tree in front of him if it wasn't for his quick reflexes. "You're slower than my grandma!"

Izumi glanced at her in confusion. "I thought you didn't have a grandma?"

PULSE VEIN.

"SURE I DO, AFTER BEING DEAD FOR OVER A CENTURY! OF COURSE I DON'T, YOU SCATTERED-BRAIN IDIOT!"