Chapter VI: REMINISCING

Kina pulled her hair into a braid as she stepped into the meeting room where Aizen, Gin, and Tousen were waiting.

"Kina, how nice of you to join us. Please, have a seat," Aizen gestured to the tall chairs centered around the table. She bowed her head in respect but didn't sit down. Instead, she leaned against the far wall and listened intently. Aizen took her gesture as a sign to continue.

"Ulquiorra has been dispatched to the Human World to commence the capture of Inoue Orihime. I believe her powers may be essential to the upcoming. Simply put, she has the ability to reject and reverse matter. It treads on the boundaries between God and Humans," Aizen said, leaning against his hand.

What an interesting group of misfit shinigami, Kina thought.

"Kurosaki Ichigo has learned to control his hollow mask," she blurted out, walking a few steps closer to the table.

"I see."

"However, he can only maintain it for eleven seconds or so before it breaks. Based on

this information, we should be good for the Winter War," she said before turning around and taking her leave.

"Lord Aizen has not dismissed you," Tousen said, flash stepping in front of her.

"I have better things to do than be told about a group of wannabe Shinigami," she

pushed her way past the past Captain of the Ninth Division.

It had been an hour after Inoue Orihime had been brought to Las Noches and Grimmjow had reclaimed his position as the Sexta Espada. Kina was currently wandering the halls, waiting for the impending invasion. She still had an urge to kill the orange haired ryoka boy. She passed Inoue's room to hear her pathetic whimpers and sobs. Despite not caring for her, she couldn't help but enter the room to see her kneeling against the wall with her head in her knees.

"Stop crying, you're disturbing my free time," Kina told her heartlessly.

"My sincerest apologies," Inoue sniffled through her tears. She raised her arm to wipe at her eyes and Kina couldn't help but see the tiniest sliver of herself when she discovered that Kisuke had left her.

"Your friends are coming here to get you soon, you know."

"Yes, but I don't want them to!" Orihime wailed. "They'll get hurt!"

Kina rolled her eyes at this and retorted, "Your friends are coming to save you and you don't act grateful. Spoiled little brat you are!"

She grabbed Inoue's arms and pulled it away from her face.

"Stop crying right now, and be grateful for the fact that you have friends that are willing to risk their life for you."

Kina stalked away towards the doorway but stopped once she heard Inoue.

"Mr. Urahara…"

"What did you just say…?" Kina's voice wavered as she turned around slowly. Inoue made a sound that sounded like a squeak of terror.

"Don't you dare speak his name while I'm in the same room as you, bitch," Kina seethed, pointing a finger at Inoue's surprised face. Kina fumed and walked to the doorway of the room. As she was about to open the door, the door opened on its own, surprising Kina. Loly and Menoly stood at the door, eyes widening once they saw the female Shinigami in front of them. Their scowl transformed into a look of adoration at the sight of their role model.

"L-Lady Kina!" they shouted in unison, stepping aside to let her through and dropping down to their knees whilst lowering their heads. Kina simply brushed past them with a simple grunt of acknowledgement. As Kina disappeared down the hall, they stood up, brushing themselves off and turning to Orihime. Their look of adoration was wiped off their face and replaced with the same jealous scowl.

"Lord Aizen wants to see you," Loly seethed through her anger.

Kina didn't know what to do. She was wandering around the fortress aimlessly, her reiatsu spiking. She could feel the walls groan at the immense pressure of her reiatsu. As much as she tried to rein in her power, her thoughts kept straying back to Kisuke.

Kina watched Kisuke intently as he looked over his charts and diagrams. He reached for a pencil to make corrections to an equation, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. She smiled absently in happiness. Urahara looked up at her, smiling. It was just a normal day in Seireitei. The temperature outside was sweltering. Shinigami from the Eleventh Division were out in the sun, doing their normal drills and sparring. Members of the Fourth Division were out running around doing their daily chores. Kina had come to Twelfth Division to seek the coolness of Kisuke's lab. She leaned against the cool marble table as Kisuke continued his research. He was looking over a diagram of the Human body. Surprisingly, their body structure was no different than theirs.

"What'cha makin' there, Kisuke?" Kina asked, leaning on her hands, elbows on the table. She had a smile on her face, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"It's a body for Shinigami when they go on missions in the Human World. I call it a gigai. By entering one of these, you can interact with humans. Neat, huh?" Kisuke replied, his eyes lighting up as he looked into hers.

"Oh, that's cool! Can I try?" Kina walked over to him, her neck craning out to read the scribbled notes and diagrams Kisuke drew.

"W-What?! It's not finished yet! I haven't even finished the prototype yet!" Kisuke looked at her astoundedly. Kina pouted at him and shrugged. She pecked him on the cheek and skipped off, "Tell me when you do! I wanna be one of the first people to try it out! ...Or maybe twentieth in case it doesn't work out...Haha…"

She smiled sheepishly before flash stepping off to wander the streets of Seireitei.

Kisuke shook his head at her.

She really is something… Kisuke thought, turning back to his work.

"AUUGGHHHH!" Kina let out a roar of anger and punched the nearest wall. The wall started to crack before shattering, creating a huge crater. Kina widened her eyes before walking away quickly.

Captain Aizen won't be too happy about that…

Kina eventually made it to the surveillance rooms. She looked into the room to see Gin standing at the controls, fiddling with the buttons. She walked up to him and peeked over his shoulder, her reiatsu perfectly concealed.

"Are you messing with the hallways?" she asked, startling the silver haired man.

"Awww, Kina, you shouldn't surprise someone like tha'," Gin smiled mysteriously at her. "I'm simply checking on their progress."

He gestured to the screen depicting Kurosaki Ichigo running along the halls of Las Noches with a seemingly small child on his shoulders. Kina glanced at the screen with an unfeeling look in her eyes.

"I see. I'll go intercept him if things get too serious."

"Now, now, Kina. Captain Aizen wouldn't wan' tha'. If you went an' fought him, he'd die in a second," Gin said, frowning a bit.

"Are you saying this is another one of his plans?" Kina asked, not a hint of caring in her voice. Gin nodded and smirked. He turned and continue fiddling with the corridors. Kina reached over him and connected him to a hallway leading to the general location of Ulquiorra's reiatsu.

Gin looks at her smiling widely, "My, my, Kina, do you 'ave somethin' against him?"