Halibel knew that walking to the bathroom was a bad idea. Her body was still weak but she had a feeling that if she did not see, if she could not see, then the curiosity was going to kill her. So, quietly as not to wake Nel, she had staggered the great distance to the bathroom and closed the door, practically collapsing against it. She knew she had disconnected the monitor and that she only had a few moments before the small room was full of angry healers so she shoved herself up and squared her shoulders, unwilling to have her first look at herself be with her appearance so weak. She squared her shoulders and turned around to face the mirror, stopping in surprise.

Her mask had always disgusted her. It was not something that she had been very open about (what had she been open about, she wondered) but it did all the same. It curved down her cheeks, almost like she had fangs before outlining the lines that would be on her face if she had ever bothered to grin. There was nothing to smile about in Las Noches in her opinion so she had never really bothered. The remnants were gone, all that was left were dark purple scars. She reached up and touched one with the pad of her finger, feeling the deadened skin there. Her skin was naturally dark, not as dark as Yoruichi's but dark enough so that the purple of the scars was not frighteningly obvious. Her lips were parted in an almost comical expression of surprise. She always had a very expressive face, one of the reasons that silence and a high collar were a necessity to her survivial. That and her lack of clothing, so everyone would look anywhere but her face. Why would anyone bother when there was so much else to see?

She frowned and shook her head, the weight of her bond hair comforting in its familiarity. It was a bit longer now, probably due to the fact that her body was working much more quickly than it usually was. She heard footsteps and quickly finished her survey. Her skin was the same, same teal eyes, same everything. Reaching up she tugged off her bandages and saw her eyes widen. The skin underneath was an angry red of new skin and stung like it as well. But it was skin. She was whole. The bandages fell from her hand as she focused on the rest of her apperance. Not a lot of skin to be shown in the pale robe she wore but she had a feeling that there was nothing left to hide from the Shinigami. Swallowing past the lump that seemed to have appeared in her throat she opened the door and was immediately faced with the strangest assortment of characters she had seen since she met with the Espada. They all were immediately subdued by the apperance of none other than Captain Kuchiki. Once again she felt bare beneath the sweep of his eyes and ressisted the urge to clutch the neck of her robe more tightly.

"Is there a reason you were out of bed?" he asked, his voice betraying nothing.

"Is it not permitted to go to the bathroom without an escort?" she asked, wondering when her voice had gotten so rough. He seemed mildly suprised, as did the rest of the Shinigami and she wondered why they thought the two of them were so different.

"Vice Captain Kotetsu," he turned his head, "there needs to be some system in place to remedy this problem," he said, "also it would seem that she has--"

"Halibel," she broke in, her voice more sure. A brief flicker of suprise echoed in his eyes before they hardened once more, "my name is Halibel."

"It seems that Haliebl has removed her bandages," he said.

"7th Seat Yamada!" she turned to a black haired, somewhat feminine man, "see to the bandaging of its wounds."

The rest of them filed out, leaving the black haired man alone with them. Halibel ressisted the urge to cross her arms in frustration. Unless something had changed since she had looked in the bathroom she was a 'she', not an 'it'. The man swallowed and motioned to the bed before grabbing a roll of the thick white bandaging that she had been wearing moments earlier. She sat down on the bed and he approached her, clutching the bandages to his chest. He seemed a bit frustrated as he put them down and walked back over to the cabinet, pulling out a small tube of something and re-appearing next to her.

"This is silly, that we can't heal you," he said grabbing a cotton ball with more force than was probably necessary, "I mean you're as whole as anyone else," he put some of the clear ointment on it and looked at her, "undo your robe please, this will not make the montior hurt so much," he held it out, "its liquid bandage," he added as a sort of afterthought as she shrugged out of her robe, letting the fabric pool around her waist, "thank you," he added rubbing the cotton ball across the tender skin, "my name's Hanataro Yamada by the way."

"Bel-Bel?"

Halibel pressed her lips into a thin line, hearing Hanataro bite back a laugh at the frustration in her face at the accursed nickname. Of all the things that Nel had to forget, apparently calling her Bel-Bel was not one of them. She turned her head to see Nel push herself up and look around, blinking the remnants of sleep from her eyes. Nel may have continued to act like a child but the fact was that she no longer looked like a child. Inwardly Halibel was worried for her--she frowned. What was she to her? The Espada had never really been friends, she thought. One look at Aizen and the idea of having people any closer than an arm's length was suddenly very unappealing. But she did care for Nel, she was worried about what would happen if someone decided to show her kindness and expect something in return. Hanataro didn't seem the least bit perturbed by the fact he was alone in the room with the two of them. He seemed a little nervous but she had a feeling that had more to do with the fact that he was in a room with two women chosen because of their ability to fulfil most male fancy rather than the fact that they were Espada. Nel seemed far more afriad of him than he was of her since she hugged her knees as close to her chest as she could and surveyed the room with wide-eyed innocence.

"Bel-Bel what's going on?" she asked looking around.

"We're being turned into Shinigami," she responded before she realized her mistake.

Nel let out a shriek worthy of Grimmjow's release form and quite literally dove under her bed. Halibel smacked her forehead with her palm, cursing herself for forgetting that when she was child-like Nel had an insane fear of Shinigami. Hanataro jumped to his feet but it was too late as suddenly the room was swarming with Shinigami looking for the 'escaped' Espada. The sight that greeted them was clearly not one they were prepared for. Then again, she supposed that if she came into a room and saw a Shinigami rocking back and forth, torn between screaming and sobbing, she'd probably be stunned too. A man with bright red hair and many tattoo's visible underneath the bandages he wore shoved people aside and walked over to Nel, crouching down with a slight wince and put a hand on her shoulder. Her head flew up, catching him in the chin as she looked around wildly before her eyes landed on him. For a second there was nothing but panic and confusion on her face and then recognition flared in her eyes. Much to the suprise of both Halibel and the red haired man she flung herself into his chest, knocking them both to the ground. Halibel raised an eyebrow but said nothing as the red haired man managed to bring Nel to some sebelance of calm.

"Renji--" the black haired Shinigami she recognized vaguely stopped in the doorway, her violet eyes wide, "is that Nel?"

"Yeah," Renji grunted from his position underneath the very not-childlike Nel Tu, "or I hope so--"

"You don't remember me!" Nel wailed into his chest, "you're so mean!"

"I remember! I remember!" Renji protested loudly, "and you're on top of me so I'm clearly not that mean."

"You know this, Nel?" Byakuya asked, his voice as impassive as ever.

"Yes," Rukia replied, "though she didn't look like that when we met her."

"Really?"

"She was attacked," Halibel stated, "by two others. Their attempt to kill her obviously failed but she did revert to an Arrancar and a child," she looked down at Nel, "though she has regained her form and her powers, her mentality is still that of a child."

"Obviously not her body," Renji snapped from his position underneath her.

"It would appear we need a different montioring system," Unohana said lightly from the doorway, "we have many patients, I do not think these two are in any danger of leaving."

At her unspoken command the massive ammount of people in the room dissapaited with impressive speed. From the snippets of conversation she heard, apparently Nel had met Renji and Rukia when she was traveling with her Fraccion and playing some game called 'eternal tag'. Nel certainly looked as eccentric as any of the Shinigami did with her bright gree hair and markings. The scars she had gained from her mask removal were hidden, just as Ulquiorra's were, by her hair. Halibel frowned. She hadn't realized that the Fourth and Sixth former Espada were also there. She knew, of course, but she hadn't really thought about them. She imagined that they were alive and probably just as miserable and she and Nel, though at the moment Nel seemed more than happy to be sitting there. Halibel bit back the urge to yell at her, reminding herself sternly that while Nel maintained the mentality of a child she most certainly didn't have too. Hanataro finished.

"Thank you," she said.

"Your welcome," he smiled, "you don't think it'll be a problem bandaging her do you? I mean Yachiru always has to have someone hold her down."

"She should not require that," Halibel said, "how are the others?"

"I'm going to check up on them now," he said, "they should be doing as well as you."

Halibel nodded and looked out the window. It was bright in Soul Society, everything was so alive in stark contrast to Las Noches. She wondered how Gin had stood giving everything up, though given what had happened the answer was clearly 'not well'. Gin had always been a source of confusion for her. Tousen was obviously too stupid to realize that Aizen was planning to drown Soul Society in a wave of blood, not look for peace. But Gin, Gin had always sort of been there, a kind of foxy shadow next to Aizen. For all her desire not to smile, it seemed that Gin hardly knew anything else.

She knew that at one point she had not been a monster. She had been a soul, a single living entity that had too much attachement to the real world to move on to Soul Society. Even someone like Ulquiorra, someone who had been a Vasto Lord comprised of many hundreds of souls, in the end one had won out for dominance. They had become Hollows because of their foolishness, because of their arrogance and they had become Espada because of their strength. Just as she knew she had not been a monster, she knew that Gin always had been one. Some people were just naturally inclined towards evil and Gin was clearly one of them. She imagined that her soul was as well or she wouldn't have become an Espada. She wondered if the people in Soul Society knew that Gin considered Aizen the closest thing to a father that he ever had.

"Well?"

Hanataro and the others looked up to see a woman standing in the doorway. Her hair was short with a single braid that fell down her back wrapped in cloth. A bandage wound around her neck. Halibel could vaguely remember her stabbing Barranga with something. The Espada had managed to slice her neck rather badly before she rammed the black and yellow object into the same spot and within seconds he had fallen. At the moment she looked at them with cold eyes, no suspicion, no hatred, just cold, calculating eyes that seemed to analyze everything that they saw. Halibel had seen enough warriors to know that this one had just had something very dear ripped away. She hadn't seen her crying on the battlefield or confessing love to anyone so it must have been something else.

"Captain Soifon," Hanataro bowed to her, "they're recovering well."

"As are the other two," she said looking at them, "you two!" she barked over her shoulder at two black robed women, "you're in here."

"Hold it! Hold it!" Mayuri was back. Halibel saw Nel wince and felt like she wished to do the same, "guards?! Why?" he demanded.

"You've completed your research," Soifon snapped, her voice holding no patience for him, "you've said yourself that they're becoming Shinigami and there's nothing more you can do, any more acceleration would be dangerous. Therefore they and the other two are in my custody from now on, as the Vizards will be once they are cured and we figure out how best to deal with them."

"Bu—"

"Now is not the time to argue with me," she advanced, seeming much taller even though she had to raise her chin to look him in the eye, "we have lost enough people without someone like you running around loosing us more! Now I strongly suggest you go and prepare for the promotion ceremony before I have you arrested for abusing Shinigami."

Mayuri seemed to know better than to argue with the furious Captain. He turned and walked out. Soifon nodded at the guards and walked out, but not before Halibel was quick enough to catch sight of a tear glistening on her cheek before she angrily swiped it away.

Break

As far as Zanpakto spirits went, Benihime liked to think that she was one of the more understanding ones. After all, she had been very understanding when Kisuke Urahara, little more than a punk kid, had awoken her. She had been equally understanding when he had forced her to reveal her true form to him in three days instead of hundreds of years. And she had, in her opinion, been especially understanding when he had uprooted them and walked off to the real world. Of course by that time she had been far too understanding in her opinion and so she'd decided not to talk to him for a couple of decades, just to teach him a lesson. However now they were back in Soul Society and she was rather pleased to be back in the company of the other (if slightly weaker) Zanpakto spirits.

So she didn't get why the hell he was so upset.

It was clear that he was. Instead of her giving him the cold shoulder he had left her on his desk and gone off to God knows where with his little black cat woman. Needless to say Benihime was not in any way, shape or form amused. She had it in her mind to keep him from achieving Bankai for the next hundred or so years just to make sure he learned his lesson. When the door opened she was sitting on the desk, her arms crossed and her head held high in the air. Kisuke Urahara, on the other hand, felt all the fight drain out of him. He was tired enough without dealing with Benihime's decision to appear for the first time in a hundred or so years instead of just obeying his command for her first form.

"Benihime," he greeted, the weariness in his voice apparent.

Benihime turned the force of her red glare to him, pleased to see that the years she'd ignored him had returned the force to the gesture's effect. Then again, she doubted that there wasn't a person who wouldn't be affected by coming in to see her. Benihime was apptly named. She dressed like a Princess, her face painted a perfect white and decorated with red paint that matched the color of her eyes. She did not dress for battle like most but rather she wore a full red kimono, embroidered with black and gold in the scene of a massacer. The black and gold theme was repeated in the ornaments she wore in her ebony hair.

"Why are you sulking once again?" she asked, her voice cool and aloof.

"Oh I just created monsters," he said with an absent wave of his hand that belayed the bitterness and self-loathing in his voice.

"You've always created monsters," she replied dryly. He sighed and reached for the cane but she smacked his hand away, "what's really bothering you, Mr. Hat-and-Clogs?" she taunted.

"Nothing," he snapped as she once again eluded him.

"Come on Kisuke," she purred, "we both know its more than that," he glared, his head turning in time with the red that flowed around her, "I want to hear you say it," he looked away as though she had struck him, so she grabbed the fan from her obi and obliged, leaving a welt on his cheek, "say it," he pressed lips tightly together, "you never wanted to come back to Soul Society. You loved the fact that she chose you over all others, loved that fact that in her eyes you were worth more than the great Byakuya Kuchiki," she grinned, pleased at the effects her words were having, "and now its a hundred years later, she's still a Princess and you are still the little knock-kneed orphan that she brought home so many years ag—" his hand streaked out faster than she had thought, wrapping around the hilt of the cane he concealed her in, "you've gotten fast."

"Wake up, Benihime," he ordered, his voice cool. The cane vanished as the blade widened and gained its elaborate designs.

"Are you going to try for Bankai?" she asked as he turned and walked towards the door, Benihime over his shoulder easily.

"Nope," he said with a grin. She frowned and walked froward, keeping up with him easily.

"Why not?" she demanded crossly.

"Because you're not going to let me," he said with a shrug, she pouted and he chuckled, "although if you'd like me to I'd be happy to walk into the promotion ceremony in full Bankai glory."

"Well you'd hardly be able to look like more of an idiot," she sniffed dryly.

"Never underestimate my ability to look like an idiot,"he said.

"I would never," she said in mock seriousness, "must we go to the promition ceremony, its so boring," she added with a huff, crossing her arms angrily.

"I know, I know," he agreed, "but we need to go," he smiled over at her, "besides, you get to see Ashisogi Jizo again."

She was silent for a moment.

"I hate you."

He laughed but it was tinged with a bitterness that worried Benihime greatly. Even moreso when he stopped outside the doors and looked over at her.

"I hate me too."

The promotion ceremony was somber. So many had died, so many were still hurt. The mood of the ceremony suited Hinamori just fine. She was not happy and did not see why everyone thought she should be. Even if she had finally come to her senses, even if she had finally done what was necessary, the fact was that she had turned her back on her oldest friend for a man who had tried to kill her. Belted at her side, Tobiume shared her sadness. The blade had been screaming for revenge and blood when she had killed Aizen but the fact was that Tobiume was just as sad as she was. They had worked towards their goal, to be stronger for Aizen, for so long together that when the goal was gone it hurt worse than anything. Her eyes rose fractionally and she caught a glimpse of intent blue-green eyes staring at her and she hung her head. Maybe there was something that hurt more.

"Fifth Division Captain Momo Hinamori," the Commander General said, his voice soft and almost regretful.

"Thank you," Hinamori whispered.

"We will forgo speeches," he said, a note of kindness in his voice, "you are all free to go."

She was immediately swarmed with people offering congratualtions. She felt his familiar spritiual pressure fighting his way through the crowd. Quickly she hurried in the opposite direction, desperate to get away. It felt as though people were pulling at her, as though she was being forced to stay when she wanted to be anywhere else. Tobiume, sensing her distress, began to hum in preparation for being released but she ordered the blade back into submission. Fighting her way through the crowd of Captains she hurried out of the meeting room and raced down the hallway as fast as she could.

"Hinamori!"

Her feet stopped against her will. She turned her head almost painfully to see him standing framed in the doorway. One of his hands was grasping at the hilt of Hyourinmaru and she could feel through Tobiume that it was just as desperate to get to her as its master. He saw her tense a second before she ran and even though he raced forward she was gone before he could even touch the hem of her cloak. He gritted his teeth against the urge to scream, knowing that freezing the room of Captains behind him was probably going to get him in a lot of trouble. It was not as though he didn't have enough to deal with. Matsumoto, probably the only person who could understand, was out of comission in more ways than one at the moment. He wished that she hadn't tried to reason with Gin, he needed her advice desperately at the moment and the fact that she was still sacrificing herself for him just didn't make sense to him,

Then he saw the ice spreading from his feet and realized he was doing the exact same thing.

Well one of them was going to have to fix it, one of them was going to have to be strong and Matsumoto was clearly not going to be the one in this situation. Even if it was going to get him in heaps of trouble he gripped Hyourinmaru and immediatley made the command. The crack of thunder and lightening was almost frighteningly close but the Captains knew a lot better than to say anything to him when he was in such a state. He raced out into the street, his eye seaching. His eyes caught those of Ikkaku who jerked his head quite obviously in one direction and he was off again. He found her huddled under a tree, she had taken off her white cloak and suffed it into her cloths in a failed attempt not to ruin the garment. He was strongly reminded of that day when she had first recieved her Shinigami cloths and come home practically dancing with them. Unbidden a smile tugged at his lips and he stepped under the tree. Her head flew up, her eyes wide and frightened. He realized that he had gotten taller than her, not by much but by enough to make a difference between them.

"Hinamori," he said, his voice soft.

"Captain Hitsugaya," she greeted.

He felt the tree next to them go up in a blaze of lightening induced fire. After years and years of trying to get her to call him 'Captain Hitsugaya' she had to finally give in to it. He wondered if it was some kind of cruel twist of fate that at the moment he would have cut his arm off to have her call him 'Shiro'.

"Is there something you need?" she asked, knowing better than to point out the fact he had just blown up a tree next to her.

"You've been avoiding me," he said stepping forward. She stepped back until she was as far away from him as she could be without going into the rain, "why?"

"I haven't--" she began. He glared at her and she looked down, "what was I supposed to say to you?" she asked, her voice soft and almost scared, "that you were right? That everything I ever worked for was a total lie?!" her voice rose in near hysteria, "that it wasn't until I realized that Aizen had almost killed you that I knew he was so evil?!" he heard the sob that slipped from her and he felt his own heart ache, "tell me!"

"You could have said 'hi'."

She stared at him in shock. Was he making a joke? Then she saw the seriousness in his eyes and realized that however much she had been afraid, however much she had tried to put the distance between them to give him a chance to be happy with some else, the fact was that he had had missed her just as much as she had missed him. Her eyes hit the ground in shame as she fought the urge to run as far away, as fast away as she could. She opened her mouth to reply when someone skidded into their hiding space.

"Captain Hitsugaya, Captain Hinamori! Come quick, Gin Ichimaru has woken up!"