Chapter V: CAUGHT
"Lord Aizen wants you to go to the Human World to report on Kurosaki Ichigo's progress," said Ulquiorra. "He told me to give you this." He handed her a black cloak. She recognised it as a reiatsu concealing cloak. His green, melancholy eyes looked upon her emotionlessly. She never knew what to feel when talking with him. Kina had always felt he thought of her condescendingly, or as trash as he likes to put it, but his superior at the same time because of her relationship with Aizen.
"Understood. Tell him I'll leave right away," she replied without looking towards him and took the cloak and slipped it on. She opened a Garganta and stepped through it. Millions of thoughts raced through her head as she walked upon the pristine road made of her own reiatsu. She wondered if she had really made the right choice of joining Aizen. It had cost her her relationship with Society along with Kisuke. She raised her head and saw that the path had ended. She broke through the dimensional fabric separating the Human World from Hueco Mundo and stepped towards the light. She found herself standing above the buildings of Karakura Town. She smiled and started walking towards the nearest reiatsu and saw herself standing 70 meters above the Urahara Shop.
Wrong reiatsu, she thought to herself, her upper lip curling in a snarl. Her stomach tightened, just thinking about him made her sick to her knees
Now...Where are the pseudo-Arrancar?
She closed her eyes and used Pesquisa, a technique shown to her by Ulquiorra, and allowed herself to search for the reiatsu the Visored were giving off. Having come up with nothing, she decided the most effective way to find Kurosaki Ichigo was simply by wandering in the warehouse district. What other place could the Visored have had hidden in? They couldn't possible have Human money to rent an actual apartment either. The only reasonable place to hide would be a warehouse

After walking a while, she came upon a plot of empty land amongst the rows of warehouses. She knew at once that this was the Visored's warehouse. She coated her hand with concealing bakudo and outstretched her hand to touch the barrier. As soon as her hand made contact with the barrier, the warehouse became visible. She applied more pressure on the muscles in her arms and forced herself forward while cloaking herself with concealing bakudo. She had successfully entered the rundown warehouse. The walls were coated with a grime and the grounds were covered with dirt tracked in from outside.
I can't believe they live in such conditions, Kina thought, crinkling her nose in disgust. She froze and stopped in her tracks. She could hear faint fighting noises in the distant. Wondering where it came from, she wandered around the large space until she stepped on a plate hidden in the concrete floors. The floor separated to reveal a staircase heading down to to the fighting noises. She stepped down onto the staircase while incorporating kido into her cloak to blend in with her surroundings. She walked into the underground training area to see Kurosaki Ichigo with a hollow mask on. She widened her eyes and walked close enough to observe the fight. From what she could see, Yadomaru Lisa was fighting Ichigo, goading him to keep his hollow mask on. Their blades clashed and attacks were blocked. It was about eleven seconds before Ichigo's mask started to crack. As Kina turned to leave, Shinji stood up, "Oi, Kensei, Hiyori. Come with me upstairs for a sec." And Kina could swear he shot a look at her. She brushed it off and followed them upstairs, curious as to what was going to take place.

Once the four of them reached upstairs, Shinji walked for a few meters before stopping and turning to face Kensei and Hiyori.
"You can come out now...Kina." Kensei and Hiyori's eyes widened. They turned around to see Kina taking off her cloak.
"I'm surprised you managed to sense me with this cloak on."
"Your kido wavered the second you saw Ichigo with his Hollow mask on," stated Shinji, drawing his zanpakuto.
"Even so, why did you call Captain Kensei and Lieutenant Hiyori up here?" she asked questioningly.
"I'm not stupid. I know what your powers are like. In order to ensure enough manpower, I had to bring these two. So tell me, why did you come here?"
"On Captain Aizen's orders of course. I was ordered to report on Kurosaki Ichigo's progress. Although I must admit, it seems that we have nothing to worry about," Kina smiled mysteriously and placed her hand on the hilt of her zanpakuto. "Now, it you'll excuse me, I must be going back to Hueco Mundo."
"Sorry, but we can't let you do that," Shinji smirked and materialised his mask just so that it was lying over his head. He charged towards her, his sword poised and ready to strike. Just as he got to her, her sword came up to meet his.
"Electrocute all, Denki no Sogi."
Her sword transformed into a souba and an arch of lightning shot out from the tips.
"Souba, eh? I see. A sword with a set of parallel blades on it instead of one single blade. It's meant to wrestle the opponent's blade of of their hands, but with it's wide range of attack, it can be used to the wielder's advantage."
Kina remained silent, her eyes focused on his hand, which was now poised over the mask, ready to pull it down and utilise it. Kensei and Hiyori had also drawn their zanpakuto and were now standing, waiting for a moment to strike.
Shinji attacked once more however, this time, his blade hit right in-between the two blades of Kina's sword. She smirked, "Bad move."
She angled her wrist and flicked it, wrenching the sword out of Shinji's hands. Kensei and Hiyori attacked. Kensei came at her right while Hiyori came at her left. Kina then grabbed her zanpakuto with both hands and applied pressure to the hilt. Her reiatsu skyrocketed and she pulled the sword apart, now wielding two regular sized zanpakuto. The Visored's eyes widened and blades clashed. Having heard the commotion upstairs, Ichigo came out in his bankai mode, and his eyes widened.
"Y-You're that lady...That went with Aizen," he said, dumbfounded. He materialised his mask and pulled it over his face.
"Stop, Ichigo! You're not well trained enough yet!"
"Getsuga...Tensho!" A tightly packed wave of reiatsu came rushing at her, the spiritual energy flickering. Kina's eyes widening just slightly, she flash stepped in front of Ichigo and kicked him away. Taking advantage of this window of opportunity to escape, she jumped out of the window and into the sky. Hurriedly, she opened a Garganta and escaped to Hueco Mundo to report on what just happened.
That's strange...He didn't have that ability the last time I saw him...Maybe that's what Captain Aizen warned me about…

Back at the warehouse, Ichigo and the others were breathing hard, trying to catch their breath.
"That woman...Who was she?" Ichigo asked.
"I thought you knew. You just said she was the one that went with Aizen," replied Shinji, picking up his zanpakuto.
"No...I mean...How is she so powerful? And how did she kick me away so easily?" asked Ichigo, eyebrows furrowed together in deep thought.
"I would've been surprised if she wasn't. She was the former Third Seat of the First Division. Not only did she not get a Captain's seat when we were banished, she also didn't apply, I heard. Which is surprising, considering she could have easily been one of the top candidates to make it," Shinji sheathed his zanpakuto and stood up, facing Ichigo. "Oi, are you gonna sit there all day?"

"I think I'm gonna go see Urahara for a sec," Ichigo finally replied.
Shinji was lost in thought, and only grunted in acknowledgement.

Ichigo reached the Urahara Shop, only to be greeted by a solemn Kisuke, his trademark fan hovering in front of his face.
"Come on in, Kurosaki," Kisuke said, walking into the shop.

Once inside, Urahara sat down in front of the table, a steaming cup of tea placed in front of him.
"I'm guessing you saw her at the warehouse?" he asked, hat pulled over his eyes.
"Yeah...How'd you know?"
"I figured she would come sooner or later. It was only a matter of time before she would've found out that you were honing your hollow skills."
"Who was she anyways?"
"Her name is Kina. She was the Third Seat of First Division until she betrayed Soul Society and left with Aizen. We used to be very close friends, that is, until the day I got banished from Soul Society and left."
"You left?" Ichigo asked.
Urahara nodded, his face stoic. "Yoruichi told me she seemed colder and more formal, compared to when we were still together in Seireitei."
Urahara reminisced all of this with bitter words. Memories of when they were together had always plagued his mind. He shook his head, wanting to get rid of the painful past. The atmosphere suddenly changed, and Ichigo became nervous. Sensing that Urahara wasn't going to answer any more questions, he made up an excuse and left the older man to his thoughts. As the door closed, Kisuke sighed.
"Why, Kina?"