Summary: Ishida learns the truth about who persuaded Soul Society to rescue Nemu.

Eight Days Ago

Patecatl sat in the corner with his head in his hands. He'd been like that for some time now, lost in thought. Over and over in his mind, he kept trying to think of something, anything he hadn't already tried. Some treatment, some potion, some method to break the young woman out of the trance. It had been three solid days now of fever and delirium. It was a testament to her strength that she was still alive. Still, if she didn't come out of it fast, it would be soon be over. For what seemed like the thousandth time, he started from the top, going over every medicine and cure in his arsenal. Something had to work, something!
Someone swept aside the curtain and entered the sweat lodge.

"My husband? You didn't come home for dinner." Mayahuel, his wife, came in carrying a tray with food and drink on it.

"I'm not hungry." He said.

"I didn't ask if you were." She replied.

She tore off a piece of the flatbread and dipped in into the stew. She held it up to his mouth.

"Eat." She commanded. "It's not going to do your patient any good if you get sick too."

She must have said that to him a million times over their marriage. It didn't hurt that she was right. With a small smile he bit into the bread she held and took the tray out of her hands. Now that he was eating, he realized how hungry he was.

"Thanks" he grunted with his mouth full.

Mayahuel sniffed. After years of marriage, that grunt of thanks conveyed pages of meaning. Her husband was grateful and glad she was there. She went over to the girl on the cot. A healer herself, she could see the patient was in a bad way. The young woman seemed to be sleeping although her eyes moved rapidly behind her lids. She may have been asleep, but her mind was not resting. Her cheeks had sunken in a bit and she was red with fever.

"Poor thing." Mayahuel said as she put her hand on the woman's forehead. "She's burning up."

She took the wet cloth from the woman's forehead and re-wet it from a pan of water next to the bed.

"I've tried everything." Her husband said. "I've managed to help with the chills, and she can sleep more, but her fever will not go down."

Replacing the cloth, Mayahuel went over to sit down next to her husband.

"You're doing your best. I'm sure no one can blame you if things don't work out."

Patecatl spit out the food in his mouth before he choked. He put the tray down as carefully as he could. He coughed violently to dislodge the bits that had managed to get in his airway.

"Not blame me?" he coughed, "That's the Emperor's concubine! What am I going to say? 'Sorry your Emperorness, I fixed all her injuries, but whattya know, she up and died anyway!' What do you think they're going to do to me?"

She knew what would happen. Years of loyal service or no, his heart would feed the royal table as soon as the woman stopped breathing. Again, she dipped a piece of flatbread into the stew and held it up to his mouth.

"You're doing all you can my husband." She said. "If anyone can heal that girl, it's you and no one else. I have faith in you."

She really was too good for him, Patecatl thought. He ate the bread she offered him. In a rare display of affection, she put her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder. He returned her embrace, holding her close for a moment.

"Yeah, if anyone can do it, it'll be me." He said.

He let go of his wife and picked up the tray of food again.

"I'd better. They already sent out the invitations." He turned his attention to the stew.

Yesterday

An ocean of bodies filled the screen. Captain Soifon gestured at the scene with a pointer.

"Noblemen from affiliated clans and subject tribes have been arriving for days. More are on the way."

The slide changed to a diagram laying out the buildings they were to assault.

"They and their accompanying forces are camped here," She placed the pointer on an area to the left, "in this open area."

She moved the pointer to indicate the structures she describing.

"The temple itself is here, built into the mountain with some system of caves or tunnels behind it. This unique structure is an amphitheater surrounding the temple on three sides, also built into the mountain. As far as we can gather, during the ceremony all nobles and their bodyguards will be in this amphitheater. Their personal forces, each amounting to a small army, will remain on the parade grounds outside."

The slide changed again to show different colored arrows overlaid on the building diagram.

"As you can see, the plan calls for teamwork, stealth and timing. Team One will consist of eighth seat or higher members cloaking their reiatsu and working under a shield of invisibility. You will move past the guests up onto the altar platform at the top of the pyramid. I do not need to tell you what a disaster it would be if you were to slip up."

Her fierce gaze swept over the crowd. Ichigo leaned over and whispered to Ishida,

"Is she looking at me?"

Uryuu didn't bother to answer.

Soifon continued. "Team two will consist of my handpicked forces."

She turned and looked at Mayuri as if daring him to say something. He simply yawned.

"This team will destroy the devices disrupting our ability to generate gates. This will be tricky as we must locate any we may have missed during surveillance. Once complete, they will launch a red flare indicating their mission success and then they will pull out of the area. This leads us to Team Three."

From his place at the back of the stage, Captain Zaraki Kenpachi gave an evil sounding chuckle.

"Team Three will consist of the eleventh division cloaked by members of the Kido corps. They will be outside of the amphitheater behind where the armies are gathered. Once they see the signal, the Kido corps will drop the cloak and Team Three will provide a distraction"

Kenpachi began to laugh harder. Soifon glared at him to make him stop, but he didn't seem to care. He stopped on his own soon enough.

"With the distraction pulling everyone's attention away from the altar, Team One will uncloak, free the prisoners and open a gate out of there. The last member of the Team to leave will fire a green flare to show their mission accomplished. Once the flare is launched, the operation is over and all forces are to retreat immediately."

"Maybe not that immediately." Kenpachi said.

Soifon turned around to glare at him "IMMEDIATELY!"

Kenpachi just laughed. She turned back to the audience.

"Captain Unohana Retsu will now review the fourth division's role."

Uryuu was impressed with the sheer scale of the operation. As Captain Unohana went over the location of the aid stations, evacuation procedures and team assignments, he marveled over how much effort was being made to recover Nemu and her team. Had Mayuri really asked for all this? Did he really care about Nemu this much? He must have called in every favor he had, pulled lots of strings to set it all up. He was actually moved that Mayuri had a caring side to him and was so devoted to his daughter.

Unohana wrapped up her presentation and Kenpachi took the floor. His briefing was short and to the point.

"You know who we are. You know what I expect from you. You know what I'll do to you if I catch you slacking off. Let's do this!"

His men howled and pounded the armrests of their seats.

Captain Soifon wrapped things up. "If you have any questions or concerns about the operation, be sure to address them with your chain of command. You will have one hour for lunch, then we will meet at the training grounds. Dismissed!"

Everyone began to leave out of the side exits leaving the center aisle clear to allow the captains to exit. They left in single file, headed for the middle exit in the back. As Captain Mayuri passed by, Uryuu surprised even himself with what he did.

He stepped out into the aisle.

"Captain Kurotsuchi." He called out.

Mauyri stopped and turned to face him. "Oh, it's you. I don't have time to waste Quincy. What do you want?"

To his surprise, the young Quincy bowed before him.

"I wanted to thank you for requesting this rescue. I did not think you cared enough about Nemu to do something like this. I apologize for misjudging you."

"Then you misjudge me still Quincy." Mayuri said. "I didn't request this operation."

Uryuu's jaw dropped. He didn't request it?

Mayuri continued. "I don't care if you bring that little slut back or not. I've already made plans for Nemu 2.0. This time, I'll leave out the potential for free will and compassion. She will be far more suitable that that walking rough draft." He sniffed. "I should have started over years ago. It must have been sentimentality holding me back."

Uryuu couldn't believe his ears. "What is wrong with you?" he asked.

"Wrong with me?" Mayuri replied. "You are the one in the wrong boy. My daughter would still be, here happy to work with me, if it hadn't been for you. You lured her away from me. You turned her against me!"

"That's not what happened!" Uryuu said.

Mayuri ignored him. "I was dragged before the Captain-commander in chains and punished for the simple act of treating my daughter as I see fit. She actually turned me in to the authorities. Me! And it's all your fault for putting strange ideas into her head. You can be sure I won't make the mistake of allowing the potential for feelings next time. The new Nemu won't have the capacity to feel sorry for a wounded enemy. She won't be led astray by something as useless as compassion and will remain loyal to me! As for Version 1.0, I'd rather she die in a strange dimension than wind up a Quincy's whore!"

"You sick son of a …!" Uryuu didn't remember raising his hands.

Chad pinned his arms to his side before he could fire off a shot. Ichigo got in front of him and put his hands on his chest.

"Calm down Ishida, don't do this!"

Renji got between the captain and his friends, bowing low and apologizing. He had to spit out every word through his own anger and disgust, but a Captain was owed respect at all times. Even this one.

"My apologies Captain Mayuri. He is my responsibility. I will see to it he stays away from you for the rest of his stay."

"See to it he does." Mayuri said.

He stepped closer to the immobilized Uryuu and sneered as he lowered his voice to a taunting tone.

"Don't think things are over between us Quincy. Someday I'll have you on my slab. We'll see how brave you are then. If you manage to bring Nemu back, I expect she will see you in an entirely different light when you're scattered all over the lab in jars."

He turned and walked away, laughing at his own wit.

"Don't listen to that creep, Ishida." Ichigo said. "He's just trying to get under your skin."

Uryuu knew he had been acting rash. He tried to calm down.

"You're right." He said. He looked up at Chad. "It's OK Chad. You can let go of me now."

Chad grunted and released Uryuu's arms. Rubbing them to restore circulation, he wondered out loud.

"So if he didn't request this operation, who did?"

"Ken-chan did!" A small voice squeaked.

Looking down, the boys noticed the pink haired girl who had snuck up when they weren't looking.

"Hi Icchy, hi Gorilla, hi Pencil! Are you ready for some fun?"

So he was still Pencil, Uryuu thought.

"Yachiru-chan. It's good to see you. You say Captain Zaraki requested the rescue?"

"Oh yeah!" she replied. "When the ninja guys came back empty-handed, Kenny told me they were going to leave Nemu. They can't do that!"

She pulled a piece of paper out of her sleeve. "Look! She's already missed three play dates with me. I want her back! So I asked Ken-chan to ask for help and here we are!"

While Zaraki Kenpachi could never be described as a kind hearted humanitarian, it could not be denied that he would do anything for Yachiru's happiness.

"So how did he manage to persuade the Gotei 13 to do this?" Uryuu asked.

"Through the beauty of my rhetoric, how freakin' else?" a low voice growled behind him.

Everyone jumped and turned. Captain Zaraki was right behind him. They could have sworn he'd left the building. The man's ability to be sneaky when he wanted to was unnerving.

"Ichigo!" He said, "You're looking well." Ichigo began to visibly sweat. "When this is over, be sure to stop by."

Ichigo swallowed. "Uh, sure, I'll, uh, see you then."

"Good. I look forward to seeing you." Kenpachi said with a feral grin. He picked up Yachiru and set her on his shoulder. "Don't make me come looking for you." He strolled off to the exit.

"This is bad." Shuhei said as he watched Kenpachi leave. "You are definitely on his list."

"You mean he considers me an enemy? Ichigo said.

"Worse." Kira replied. "He considers you a friend."

"Well, time for lunch." Renji said. "My division put out a pretty good spread if I do say so myself."

"And then we can take off?" Ichigo asked.

"Of course not, Ichigo." Rukia replied. "Next we have rehearsal."

"Rehearsal?" Uruyuu said.

"Yes." Shuhei said. "My division has made a mock up of the buildings we will attack."

"And my division will act as the aggressors for the drill." Kira said.

Shuhei continued. "We will practice until sundown and deploy in the morning."

"That's for later." Renji said. "For now, we eat!"

Eight Days Ago

Her legs felt as though they weighed a thousand pounds apiece. Her lungs ached with the strain of pulling in air. She had to keep going. She couldn't let that thing behind her catch up. If she couldn't find a place to hide soon, it would be too late. Her path twisted and turned through the streets and alleys as she sought escape. All she needed was a moment to rest, some time to catch her breath, some time to think.

With her endurance ebbing fast, in desperation she ducked into a courtyard and hid in a corner. The thing ran past, its footsteps echoing in the distance. She was safe for now. As she allowed herself to relax, she turned around and barely suppressed a shriek of fright. The courtyard was not empty. It had a fountain emptying into a koi pond. Sitting on a bench next to the pond with his back turned to her was a man. He didn't seem to notice she was there. He was dressed all in white. She stepped closer. He seemed familiar. His clothes looked nothing like shinigami robes. They looked somewhat western. His hair was dark and cut in a style that reminded her of someone. A name sprang into her mind.

Uryuu. Ishida Uryuu!

She took several quick steps towards him, then froze.

What am I doing? She thought. I can't go to him.

She looked at her hands. She had hurt him so much already. No, she could not face Uryuu anymore. Not after everything she'd done. She turned to leave the courtyard.

"Nemu-san?" His voice called out "Is that you?" She couldn't turn to face him. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

"Ishida-san." She replied. "I was just leaving." She walked towards the exit.

"Just leaving?" he said. "Nonsense. Stay with me a while. Hey, stop. Nemu-san, at least look at me."

She felt him take her by the hand. She had to turn and look at him.

He was smiling at her. She wanted to cry. If he knew what she had done, he would never look at her like that again.

"You look exhausted." He said. "What have you been doing? Why don't you come over here?"

He led her over to the bench and motioned for her to sit down. That was so like him. Always thinking of others, kind and chivalrous.

The koi pond was well designed. Large koi swam in lazy circles, well sculpted topiary and small statues surrounding the pond, the sound of rushing water provided a pleasant background. Every now and then, one of the fish would jump out of the water and make a splash. It was a place of safety, a place of privacy.

"Rest with me a while Nemu-san. You've got me worried." He said.

She looked down at her feet. "Ishida-san, why are you here?"

"I was waiting for you. I had a feeling you needed me." He said. "We've only known each other a little while, I know. I'd like to think I'm a friend though. Everyone needs a friend sometime. Was I right?"

Oh yes, she needed a friend. Would he still be her friend if he knew?

"You are very kind Ishida-san. I don't think I can stay with you."

"Why not?" He asked. "Don't you want to stay?"

She didn't lift her eyes from the ground.

"I would like to stay here with you. I cannot. I…don't belong here."

"I don't understand." He said.

"Ishida-san..." she began.

She almost looked him in the eye. She looked down again.

"Ishida-san, we have to talk. There are things about me you don't know. More importantly, I have come to realize some things about myself. I've told you before that I've done bad things. You have to know that all of my life, whatever my father told me to do, I would do it. Do you understand what that means? Can you even imagine the kinds of things he told me to do. And I would just do it, without thinking, without hesitation. It was as easy for me as sewing clothes is for you. I realize now,… I am a monster. I've harmed so many, caused so much pain. I can't be with you because…I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed of who I am. I'm ashamed of the things I've done."

"Well, that's good." He said.

She looked up at his faced shocked. Why would he say that? Did he enjoy seeing her hurt?

"Don't you see?" he asked. "You're growing. You are waking up to the world around you. You see the world you father put you in and you reject it. You're not the tool he says you are. You're a person capable of making your own choices. You are in pain because you believed you had to do as you are told, like a small child. Now, you have grown beyond that stage. You know what you want and it's different from your father's wishes. Knowing that, you can move forward now and let go of your pain."

Nemu shook her head, "It's not that simple. That won't bring back people's lives. It won't undo the damage I've done."

"It will undo some. Not everything." Uryuu said. "You will have to make your peace with that. Changing is always difficult. The important thing is you will be able to look at yourself in the mirror and know you are a worthwhile person who is doing her best."

Nemu was unconvinced. How could changing her life now remove the stains from her soul?

"It can't be that simple. Look at myself?" She said. "After that way I've hurt your family, after I hurt you, I don't see how you can look at me."

Uryuu gave a low chuckle.

"Well, knowing my Grandfather, he'd probably tell you to cheer up. He always hated looking at sad faces. No, it won't be that simple. It will be hard. You will have to think about the consequences of every action you take, every day. You will have to decide what you will do and if it helps or harms someone. You will have to do what you decide is right, even if it goes against your father's wishes, even if it's very hard."

"You are always nice to me." She said. "Even when we were enemies."

"Enemies?" He said. "Do you want to see how I see you?"

He took her hand and led her to the edge of the pond.

"Take a look." He gestured at the water.

Looking down, she needed a moment to understand what she was seeing. Was that her? The pond showed her holding hands with Uryuu, but she looked different. The woman it reflected was dressed in long white robes. Her face was calm, but it was not the blank look she used to have. It was the serene look of someone at peace.

"Is that really me?" She asked.

"It can be." he replied. "You have the potential to be that person. It's all up to you to decide."

She almost giggled as a funny notion passed through her head..

I look like Unohana, she thought.

On the other side of the pond, someone else was reflected. It was her in her usual clothes. She looked up to see her double standing on the opposite side. She had found her! She started to flee.

"No!" Uryuu said as he gripped her hand tighter. "Don't run."

"What should I do?" she asked. She was afraid. She knew her double was her past. She was afraid of being swallowed up by her, losing her will and her freedom.

Uryuu replied, "Stop. Think. She is who you used to be. You can't escape her. You have to face her."

Face her? With her heart pounding in her chest, she tried to do as Uryuu said. Face her. Looking across the pond, she saw her double was still standing there. Waiting for her. Waiting to see what she would do. Nemu took a deep breath. She let go of Uryuu's hand. She decided what she had to do. She started to walk around the pond. On the other side, her double came to meet her. Nemu was terrified that she may have made the wrong choice. Wrong or not, it was her choice. Even if it hurt, she would not back down now. They faced each other. As before, her double held out her hand. Nemu did not take it. Instead, she moved forward and embraced her old self.

"It's alright." She said. "I understand. You didn't know. You just wanted to do a good job. You wanted Mayuri-sama to be proud of you. Don't worry anymore. I'm proud of you. I'll take care of both of us now."

As she held her old self in her arms, her double slowly returned the embrace. They began to merge and blur together. It hurt some, but not as much as she thought it would. She found she was not losing herself. She was gaining the foundation of her future. It was done. She accepted her past so she could become her future. She opened her eyes and saw the woman in the white robes was still reflected in the pond. Uryuu was standing behind her.

"How do you feel?" He asked.

"A little sad." she said. "A little scared. Mostly, I feel like there's a whole world open before me. Like I can do anything."

She turned away from her reflection and smiled at Uryuu. She could face him now.

"There so many things I want to do, I don't know where to start."

Uryuu smiled back and again, took her hand. "Well, if you're open to suggestions, I think you should wake up."

"What?" she asked.

"Wake up." he said.

She awoke to a dark room. A single lamp made from a dish with a wick in it burned fitfully in the corner providing what little light there was. Next to it, a middle aged man with a broad red stripe painted down the center of his face was asleep. She tried to raise her head, but felt very weak and tired She closed her eyes and fell asleep. She had no dreams.