I know, I know, it's been a while ^^" But I hope that this chapter makes up for lost time :)

This chapter includes a glimpse of one of the main antagonists (for Megumi, anyway) :3 So I'd like to hear your thoughts on it~~

Megumi shunpoed into an alleyway that was nearly a block away from the high school and had to try to regain her footing as she almost tripped over some overturned trash cans. She tore out of the alley, cursing her rotten luck. Her playful argument with Kensei had blown out of proportion and had lasted a helluva long time. Now she was almost totally late for school. Of course, it wasn't all bad; during hers and Kensei's argument, Hacchi had taken the time to prepare a bento lunch for her to take with her.

She stepped onto the school grounds in time to hear the first bell go off and quickened her pace even further, realizing that she still had a slim chance of technically being 'on time'. The windows, doors, and walls were a blur as she raced to her homeroom. Faintly, she could hear Ochi calling, "Sado."

She tried to lengthen her stride even more, but tripped over her own feet in the process. Her arms wouldn't respond to her command of coming up to guard her face, so she ended up falling flat on it. The resounding smack startled everyone in the classrooms that lined the hall, the people in her classroom in particular.

'Very smooth, Megumi-sama,' Buraido Dokuja commented sarcastically from her backpack as Megumi muttered choice swear words under her breath.

'Don't want to hear it right now,' Megumi quipped, slowly rising to her knees as Ochi come out of the classroom.

The teacher's eyes widened at the sight of Megumi kneeling on the floor and clutching her head. Ochi knelt down in front of her and inquired, "Oh! Tsumugiya-chan! Are you alright?"

Megumi nodded gingerly, muttering, "Yeah. Just give me an ice pack and some pain killers and I'll be right as rain. No need to go to the nurse."

"All right, if you're sure," Ochi responded, standing up and sticking her head into the classroom. "O~okay…Arisawa, come and help Tsumugiya get to her seat. Inoue, please go to the nurse's office and get some pain killers and an ice pack for Tsumugiya."

"Hai, Ochi-sensei," two female voices responded. Ochi walked back into the classroom as her classmates came out of it, Orihime tearing a path to the nurse's office and Tatsuki walking up to her.

Tatsuki chuckled as she knelt down and draped Megumi's arm over her shoulders to help support her as she stood up. "You know, Megumi-chan, it's not a big deal to be marked as 'tardy' every once in a while."

Megumi chuckled as well, barely managing to keep up with Tatsuki as she helped her walk into the classroom. "I just thought the same thing."

'Do not lie, Megumi-sama,' her Zanpaktou spirit chided.

'Are you absolutely sure you didn't mind being left in the living room last night? You sure seem to be in a sour mood today…' Megumi snapped in response as she slid her arm from around Tatsuki's neck and sat down in her desk. To Tatsuki, she muttered, "Thanks, Tatsuki-chan."

"No prob, Megumi-chan," Tatsuki responded, offering a slight wave as she walked back to her own desk.

At the same time, Doka mentally stated, 'Last night was not the issue. It was that whole week I had to spend in Mashiro-dono's possession.'

'Well, I've told you before and I'll tell you again. In French. Je. Suis. Désolé,' Megumi sighed irritably, pinching the bridge of her nose to try and fight away her headache.

Any response Buraido Dokuja might have had was drowned out by an annoyingly-chipper and unfamiliar voice that came from behind her. "Son of a…are you sure you shouldn't go to the nurse?"

Megumi had to stop for a minute. Had that voice just said…"son of a"? Without finishing the phrase? She craned her head around and saw the person sitting at the desk behind her. The girl was pretty small, probably only a head taller than Ururu. She had silky black hair and piercing violet eyes. While by those standards she seemed normal, something about the way she talked and held herself set off alarm bells in Megumi's head.

Despite those bells, Megumi found herself answering the girl's question. "Yeah. I'm fine, really. I just wish Orihime-chan would…"And no sooner had she said Orihime's name that said teenager came bounding back into the room, ice pack in one hand and Megumi guessed that she had the pain killers clutched tightly in her other hand.

"Here you go, Megumi-chan!" Orihime blurted, thrusting the items into her hands while looking at her with concern. In fact, it was enough concern that Megumi was positive that Orihime thought she was going to die from the bump on her head.

Megumi did her best smile assuringly, despite the fresh wave of piercing pain in her head, replying, "Thank you, 'Hime-chan."

She swiftly downed the pills after Orihime had given her a tentative nod and returned to her seat. As Megumi placed the ice pack on her forehead, Ochi stood up and announced, "All right, class. As I'm sure you've noticed, we have a new student here today. I understand that it's an unusual time to be receiving new students, but please, for the love of God, don't bug her about the details. Now, Kuchiki-san, could you please come to the front and tell us about yourself."

The girl sitting behind Megumi rose and walked confidently to the front of where Ochi had indicated. She cleared her throat, and with that chipper voice, said, "I'm Rukia Kuchiki. It's a pleasure to meet you all. As for why I'm here…" She tapped her chin thoughtfully "…let's just say that my family had to move here on short notice because of my father's job."

Ochi, who was now leaning against her desk, nodded in acknowledgement. "That's interesting. Tell us a bit more about yourself."

As Rukia began to talk, Megumi's vision blurred for a second, but was back to normal just as quickly. Her alarm bells were now blaring and, going off a gut feeling, she focused her energies outward, trying to get a grasp on this Rukia Kuchiki's reiraku. When her own spiritual pressure brushed against Rukia's reiraku, she immediately withdrew out of fear of being discovered as well as trepidation at who, or rather what, the seemingly young girl was.

Suddenly, her heart was pounding in her ears, her breaths came out labored and shallow, and sweat began beading on her forehead. Her vision suddenly swam, everything and everyone blurring together into a nauseating myriad of colors. She hid her head in her hands to block it out, but when the blackness encompassed her sight, a voice, eerily seductive and laced with venom and ice, drifted forth from the dark recesses of her mind.

'Ah…such delectable reiatsu. What a fine time for her to arrive.'

In the pitch black of her eyesight, two luminous orbs suddenly opened and blinked once, revealing a set of double eyelids. Megumi loathed those eyes, those piercing emerald eyes, with a passion, for they belonged to the one person she absolutely abhorred.

Those loathsome orbs belonged to her other half, her Hollow, she thought disgustedly.

She could see the malicious mirth twinkling menacingly in those eyes, portraying the equally malicious grin that was undoubtedly on the Hollow's lush lips, with a threatening fang pointing down from each corner of her mouth. That deceivingly sweet voice was suddenly back again, filling every fiber of Megumi's being with cold dread at its next words.

'It's almost my time to feed, is it not?'

The sensation of falling hit her like a ton of bricks and her eyes snapped open in time to see the linoleum floor right before her head slammed into it.

Shinji's head snapped in the direction of the stairs that lead up to the warehouse. He had felt another wave of reiatsu, similar to the one from last night, but at the same time, this one felt…different. For one, it was entirely sinister and, Shinji realized with alarm that he was familiar with it. But almost as soon as he noticed this last fact, the reiatsu died away. He remained as he was, though, continually staring at the stairs as though he expected an enemy of some kind to come barreling down them.

"HEY, DUMBASS!" The warning came too late as both of Hiyori's sandaled feet slammed into the side of his head and used it as a springboard, sending him flying through the air, end over end. Eventually, he hit the ground and went tumbling in that same fashion over the rocky ground until he skidded to a stop some dozens of yards away.

Hiyori somersaulted a few times before landing in a crouch on one of the taller boulders in the immediate area. With just a thought, she dismissed her demonic mask, glaring at Shinji's prone form. "Hey, dumbass! I don't give a shit that you shagged Megumi last night, but I swear I'll kick your fucking ass if you don't pay attention!"

Shinji's first response was to present both of his middle fingers to her as he pulled himself up, the last bit of his Hollow mask vanishing as he did so. He sheathed Sakanade and waved his hand dismissively as he walked away from her. "I'm done here, snaggle-tooth. Fight Love or Lisa; I've got other things to take care of."

Hiyori sheathed Kubikiri Orochi before she shunpoed over to the kitchen area, yelling over her shoulder, "Whatever, ya damn geezer!"

Shinji merely rolled his eyes and made his way up to his room, where he tossed Sakanade onto his bed and began to shed his clothes as he made his way to the bathroom. His shower was unsurprisingly short, though he did keep enough presence of mind to not accidentally use any of Megumi's products. When he exited the shower, he absently wrapped a towel around his waist and made his way to his walk-in closet.

Around the time he had dressed in everything except for a tie, he faintly heard the opening of his bedroom door. He stuck his head out of his closet to see Rose standing just within the doorway, one hand on the doorknob to hold it open. With an absolutely straight face, Shinji inquired, "Ya ever heard of knocking, Rose? It just might save ya from having to see me stark-ass naked someday."

Rose cracked a strained smile as he completely entered the room and shut the door behind him. "It hasn't happened yet, but I'm sure that I'll take your advice eventually." His mood sombered slightly before continuing, "I, uh…just got a call."

"Oh?" Shinji remarked offhandedly, emerging from the closet as he was fastening a tie about the collar of his shirt.

Rose took a deep breath, bracing himself for what reaction this next part might bring. "From Megumi's high school."

Shinji froze on the spot, his hands slower in finishing the fastening of his tie. The dread and apprehension he had felt not even ten minutes earlier came back with a sickening vengeance. His brown eyes hardened as he fixed his collar to rest over his tie, demanding, "What happened?"

"According to what the school nurse told me," Rose explained solemnly, "Megumi tripped in her haste to get to class and landed head first on the floor."

Shinji winced visibly at that. While he knew Megumi could take a few hits, he still knew how vulnerable Megumi was around humans.

"And then, not even a few minutes after she had taken a seat at her desk…"

"Wait a minute. She landed head first, on a linoleum floor, and she still went to class?"

"Apparently."

Shinji groaned and scratched the top of his head. Sometimes, just sometimes, his lover could give him quite the headache with her single-minded determination.

At his fellow Vizard's silence, Rose continued, "Anyway, not even a few minutes later, she collapsed and fell out of her seat."

"Let me guess…"

"She lost conscious when she hit her head after falling out of her seat." Rose gave him a serious look. "Considering that the time frame would have her losing consciousness just after that wave of reiatsu hit here…"

Shinji slid his loafers on over the socks he had donned while Rose had been talking. "We should probably grab Hacchi and head over there. At best, we bring her here and give her the rest of today and tomorrow to relax."

Rose quirked an eyebrow. "And at worst?"

With a morose sigh, Shinji grabbed Sakanade off his bed and stated flatly, "We put her in quarantine until we're sure that damn Hollow of hers won't go on a feeding frenzy."

Rose despised the next word that came out of his mouth but knew that, when it came down to it, he'd have to agree with Shinji's plan regardless of how he felt. "Agreed."

Oooooo, the drama is mounting BWAHAHA!

That little box down there loves teh attention :D