"Ha, bitches! Who's king now!?" Gimmjow was smirking in victory, one hand braced on the table that he had been seated at, standing to sneer in the faces of his opponents.

"You are quick to assume victory," Halibel murmured from behind her uniform. "But that is not the case here. I believe I win."

"WHAT?!"

"It seems we're both the victors." Stark lazily intoned.

"Oh, sure you are! You're a bunch of fucking lairs!"

"You are all mistaken." Ulquiorra intoned, adding his say.

"WHAT?! Where the hell did you get those?!"

Ulquiorra ignored Grimmjow, turning to look at Orihime, who was seated beside him. "Woman."

She blushed a little, giggling softy. "Uh, sorry, but I think I win."

Everyone at the table stared, amazed, as she put down that hand that assured her victory.

"A perfect 21?!" Grimmjow roared. "Again?!"

Orihime giggled, shrugging. The cards didn't lie, and they were winking up at everyone seated around the table.

They were playing the American card game, black jack. To her amazement, Grimmjow had a deck of cards from one of the times he had been in the world of the living. No one asked him where he got the cards, because no one really wanted to know the answer.

The games so far had been intense. (Yammy had been playing with them, in the very beginning, but he couldn't really understand the game. He wasn't really that great at math. It frustrated him, so he left.) Stark and Halibel had a bad habbit of making the exact same stratigies up, and tieing for third. Grimmjow had always been close behind, pissed as hell, in last place. Then the surprise; Ulquiorra and Orihime being the two leaders. They were always very, very close, one getting ether first or second. To everyone's surprise, Orihime still pulled startling victories over Ulquiorra frequently. But, as before stated, the games had all been close.

The game they were currently playing was pretty close in number to all the other games. Orihime: 21. Ulquiorra: 20. Stark and Tia: 19. Grimmjow: 17.

It wasn't that Grimmjow was a bad player. He just got pissed off and ended up being completely reckless right at the end of the game, ruining his good hand.

Since Stark and Halibel strategized in the same way, their plans backfired, and they ended up staying at the same level the whole game.

Then there was Ulquiorra and Orihime.

Ulquiorra was a man of cool strategy. He was able to read other's moves, their expressions, were the game was heading. He was the most uncanny player that one could possibly hope to meet.

Orihime, though… She had surprised everyone. Yes, she knew the game before any of them had. But it was like she could see through the cards! She wasn't surprised by a single thing, always excitedly adding her own move to the game.

She was ruthless.

"How the hell did she get to be this good!?" Grimmjow roared for what might have been the fifth time.

"Like I said," Orihime happily answered for the sixth time, "My brother Sora and I used to play all the time! He was really good, and taught me all his tricks."

"Tricks! Ha! So you're cheating!"

"That's not exactly what I meant…"

Tia stood, calmly putting her cards down on the table. "I have had enough shame for the night. I am retiring to my quarters."

"Same!" Stark announced, throwing his cards down. "I'm beat." He stood, scratching the back of his head, yawning.

BAM!

The door to the meeting hall flew open, two arrancar running inside.

"Miss Halibel! Miss Halibel!"

The woman turned, green eyes flashing in the dim. "What is it?"

The two were beaten, bloody, obviously having been attacked. "On the outer boarders! There's-" The girl that had been talking suddenly choked, falling to the ground, dead.

"Arrancar attacks! They're invading-" He cut off, too, gripping his throat as he crumbled to the floor.

"Medical!" Halibel yelled. "Someone get medical down here, now!"

"I'll do it." Orihime said in determination, rushing over to where the bodies lay. She quickly called forth her healing powers, watching as the shield sprung up over both bodies at once, quickly healing both of them.

Both arrancar came back to life with startled gasps, drawing air into their lungs in quick pants.

"What happened?" Halibel coolly asked, standing

"W-we were attacked." The female replied. "By the arrancar that left."

Halibel's eyes narrowed. "What?"
"They were dressed differently." The male helped. "They all had the number five on their uniforms, with all of their bodies covered but their eyes. We couldn't cut them!"

"It seems," Ulquiorra said, suddenly coming up beside Orihime. "That we have discovered out missing espada."

"Nnotora?" Stark guessed, walking over to join the group, all circled around Orihime's shealing shield.

"No doubt." Halibel hissed.

"Figures." Stark drawled. He sighed, and then started for the door. "I'm going to go find Lillinet. It looks like we're facing another war in the future."

"Can't we ever have a moment of peace?" The woman arrancar hissed from where she lay. "Halibel-sama, you're such a good ruler. Why can't things just stay this way?"

Tia didn't answer.

"It's okay." Orihime suddenly staid, startling everyone. "Because we're strong. I… I know we'll win!"

The others nodded, oddly comforted by her words.

But the girl herself was unrestful beneath her calm demeanor. She kept repeating the words form her dream over in her mind, fear clawing at her gut.

"There's a war coming, you know. And he's going to be taken away from you. This time, though, you won't be able to bring him back. And oh, the pain that will be. It might just end up ripping you apart."

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Short, but I just had to. Thanks for reading! Hope to see a review. :)