Disclaimer: Everything in the story belongs to Tite Kubo except for the storyline.

So how long has it been? A month? I probably would've forgotten about this story had not two or three people made it a favourite or story alerted this. Haha, yep my bad. But at least I'm updating, ah, I feel bad that I nearly forgot about this story.

Chapter 8 – The New Espada

"This place doesn't look much different than last time, white boring walls and the feeling of hollow," Ichigo muttered. No one responded. The group entered a circular room which was completely empty, they would've left had it not been for the enormous killing reiatsu they felt in the room.

"Ah, finally, you guys sure took a lot of time!" A high pitched laugh was heard. It could've come from the Joker (Batman) himself!

"Who are you?" Ichigo yelled gripping his sword. He was about to charge straight into the middle of the room but Isshin held him back.

"We don't have time for this, who wants to fight this guy?" Isshin whispered gruffly, Kira whimpered and didn't respond, neither did Yoruichi.

"I will, I'll meet up with you guys later." Hitsugaya said with a irritated sigh as he glanced at Kira who was still in semi-shock and looked like he was about to wet himself.

"Aww, that's no fun, no fun at all! I fight against a weak little boy!" the voice echoed across the room, but only Hitsugaya heard for the rest had left. The young captain held his sword tightly to contain his anger but showed no actual emotion on his face.

"Come out coward, no true fighter fights in the shadow." Silence. A figure appeared in the center of the room. The arrancar was pale, in fact his skin was slightly blue and reptilian and he had three scratches on both cheeks. His teeth where sharp, and he had clawed hands. His eyes were golden and snake-like, his hair was a dull and dirty blonde. The arrancar wore the usual white garb, but it was open and reminded Hitsugaya dimly of Grimmjow. A small 9 was plastered on the guys neck. "An espada," Hitsugaya murmured, but he looked different. Not very human and the shinigami could see no whole and the no remains of a hollow mask. Or was it the scars on the espada's cheeks?

No time to think as the espada launched himself at the captain in a very animal like manner.

"Haha, don't doze out little boy!" The espada cackled in his abnormally high reptilian voice.

"My name is Hitsugaya Toshiro, captain of the 10th division! Don't think so highly of yourself!" Hitsugaya yelled back, he fought to keep the anger hidden. His hands gripped Hyorinmaru tightly as the sword spoke to him, Calm Toshiro… do not let him anger you. As always, Hyorinmaru was a great therapist.

"Aren't you going to unleash your sword? I heard shinigami are useless without them!" He seemed to go all over the room, the espada. He jumped from wall to wall like a lizard, and seemed to blend into the background. Do not doubt his strength, Hyorinmaru said.

"Soten ni saze, Hyorinmaru!" Hitsugaya whispered, taking his swords advice. He would finish this quickly and efficiently. The captain swung his sword around, unleashing the large ice dragon around the room, freezing the area completely.

"Missed me," a dangerous, sly voice spoke from behind Hitsugaya. Pain, something slammed into the captains back, a cero? It seemed much more powerful and it had melted half of the ice in the room. "Oops, done already?" the mocking voice of the espada. It enraged the young captain, he had no idea why but he felt a burning anger. Calm Toshiro, calm! Hyorinmaru whispered urgently, he was annoying. He wished Hyorinmaru would just shut up. The captain felt like throwing his sword away… why would I think that? Hitsugaya thought. What was going on? "Pay attention!" just in the nick of time, he dodged a large cero blast.

"Damn you," Hitsugaya murmured, wiping blood from his lips. He swung hyorinmaru at the espada, he disappeared, behind! Hyorinmaru turned, he missed again? Soon the whole room was covered in spikes of ice but the espada still managed to dodge every attack. Every single one, the espada looked like he was taking a stroll through the park whereas the shinigami was panting and bloodied and torn.

"d-daiguren… hyorinmaru," Hitsugaya muttered through bleeding lips. Was his tooth loose? He couldn't tell, he leaped into the air and searched for the espada, attacking whenever he thought he had found the sneaky little demon. He never hit the espada once, but he was always hit back. Sometimes what hit him would be a billowing fireball, at others a cero. Soon the captain was a bloodied mess lying in the middle of the room.

"N-No…" he muttered, his hair was stained red from his blood. His captains robe was stained red with blood. All this loss of blood made him dizzy, but he wouldn't lose. He had trained hard, even though people had made fun of him, called him a little kid and didn't think he could do it, Hitsugaya Toshiro had become the youngest captain alive. He couldn't lose to the second-weakest espada. Wait a minute, if this was the second weakest… how strong were the other espada?

"Done already shinigami captain?" the espada sneered.

Hitsugaya stood up shakily, he still had bankai thankfully.

"Still up to it eh?" the espada grinned, his row of sharp teeth flashed dangerously. "Well, I'm gettin' kinda bored, and you seem pretty strong you know? I think I'll give you a gift," the espada said sneering. "First gift, my name – Biji, second gift, my true form… aparezca el camaleón," his sword disappeared. Hitsugaya had a sharp intake of breath and waited. The reiatsu was huge.

The smoke cleared revealing Biji with a half mask on his jaw, his hair grew down along his back and his skin changed from green to pale blue to the color of the walls. His hands were larger, the claws sharper and his eyes were virtually the same. He had no hole.

"Wha-" he felt a pain on his side and glanced down. What happened?

"Haha, you're last gift… death," hot flaming air filled Hitsugaya's nostrils as he breathed in. It burned his throat and his inside, what was the burning feeling? Where was the hole, and why was there only half a mask? Random things filtered through the shinigami's mind as blood spilled from a wound on his side. A wound he didn't even know he had.

"Shit…" Hitsugaya would've laughed at his choice of words just then, but it was hard to even smile at the current moment. I won't give up… Hitsugaya thought, thinking how lame he sounded. It was like reading out of a adventure story, they were all so cliché. Biji said something, he couldn't hear… "Shut-up…" the captain responded. Biji said more things, lots of screeching… black out.

-x-x-X-x-x-

"And then I woke up. I'm guessing you guys came back and killed him or something," Hitsugaya finished his story darkly, his mood turned sour. He hated admitting defeat.

The way they avoided his eyes told him otherwise.

"We didn't have time, you were dying." Yoruichi said in a consoling way.

"One of us could-"

"Ichigo shut-up," Isshin grunted.

"But-"

"Do you see Hitsugaya, he was half dead, half his body was burned away! I'm surprised he didn't die!" Yoruichi said.

"Wait… what?" Had he just heard wrong? Half of his's body had been burned off?

"The espada are different, very different. I don't think it's half hollow, half shinigami anymore, I think there's a bit of demon in them now. Looks like Aizen managed to learn quite a bit when he was playing the idiot," Isshin muttered darkly.

"Where did Kira go?" Hitsugaya asked, as he glanced around. He was half relieved and half worried the the nervous wreck was gone. They were all silent.

"Shoot."

"F-,"

"Don't say it Ichigo,"

"Crap…"

-x-x-X-x-x-

"Oops, Biji, why'd you move there?" Gin whispered at the crumpled and bloodied form of Biji lying on the floor.

Rangiku stood behind him, he covered Biji's body and turned around expecting to see a crying girl, instead he saw a fierce glare that made his heart jump to his throat. He saw her legs move and then felt a sharp pain on his shins, thank god she didn't kick anywhere else. Next thing Gin knew, Rangiku was running out the door. Oh… my Gin though lamely as he held his shins, but secretly he smiled, it was hidden by a glare.

If you're wondering about the 'don't say it Ichigo' thing, don't ask. I wasn't trying to be funny it just came to my head. I'm a person who likes a good laugh here and there so I just randomly put stupid, random things in my stories that make me grin. I'm weird, live with it.

Next chappy, coming… I have no idea but probably in November, hey if you're lucky if might come before Halloween! (doubt it, but I'll try)

-Griƒƒen-

Oh and R&R if you please, it's weird, I get all these emails saying 'so and so has added your story to 'Story Alert' or to their 'Favourites' but I never get an email saying 'So and So added a review'. You don't have to review but it's just funny in my opinion. I mean, you'd think I'd get some reviews with my story being on so many peoples alerts/favourites.

Haha, do I sound desperate? I'm sorry, right well I'm not forcing you to review or whatever.

Biji's release means 'Appear Chamleon' - to spanish people, I dunno if it's right cause I got it from an online translator.