"Well? How is she?" Torin said as he burst into the waiting room in the 4th division HQ. Rida was sitting there already his head in his hands. Torin was wearing a standard patient's shirt and his own pants, he had the remains of an IV still taped to his arm and his zanpakto slung over his back. And it sounded like there was a brigade of nurses down the hallway following him

"They patched you up fast" Rida commented, noticing the obvious lack of injury on Torin "after the beating you took back there I figured you'd be on bedrest for a week"

Torin looked back down the hallway and casually closed and locked the door, then moved a couch in front of it.

"I see" Rida said, he would have laughed, but he wasn't in a very jovial mood.

"SO?" Torin asked "how is she?"

Rida shook his head "they don't know, they've managed to neutralize the poison and heal her external injuries, but she hasn't regained consciousness, it might just be exhaustion, or it might be the mental shock of her coming so close to death, but they can't seem to wake her up"

Torin looked down at the floor "so she's in a coma"

Rida nodded "yeah, they say if we had gotten her here just a bit sooner there wouldn't have been a problem."

Torin looked up "You mean if I had gotten her to safety instead of fighting! You're blaming me now?" he said angrily

Rida stood up "I didn't say that!" he protested

"But that's how you feel right?" Torin said through gritted teeth

Rida clenched his fists "Well if you must know… Yes! If you had kept your cool and taken care of Aurora instead of fulfilling your stupid desire for revenge she would have been ok!" he said "but no, Torin had to be the big show off and go fight the big evil arrancar with his bare hands! If it weren't for me you'd both be dead!"

"What would you know about that? You don't have a clue what it feels like to go through what I did!" Torin yelled

"You're right, I don't, but I still think you acted like a stupid, selfish, arrogant bastard!" Rida yelled back as he got in Torin's face

"Go on, say that again!" Torin challenged

"You were a stupid, selfish, arrogant bastard! And it's your fault Aurora is in a coma! You don't deserve her, and now thanks to you you'll never get her!" Rida spat

Torin's face contorted in fury and he punched Rida in the face, knocking him back into his chair.

"So that's how you feel then?" Torin hissed "then if I'm such a bastard why don't you try and put me in my place!"

Rida stood and drew his zanpakto "Maybe I will! Erupt! Kazan no Ken!" he said, as his molten gauntlets spread up his arm he dashed forward, immediately engulfing his arm in flame and throwing a punch back at Torin

"Grow Kessho Satsujinsha!" Torin said, releasing his own shikai as he drew his sword and met Rida's punch with a slash of his own, the wave of flames surged around him, and then Rida's gauntlet glowed and unleashed an explosion that filled the entire room.

Torin leaped up through the now destroyed roof and landed on the top of the building at the edge of the hole, Rida landed on the other side of the hole.

Torin used shunpo to dash across the hole and slashed down at Rida, who brought his arms up and blocked by making an X above his head. Torin's blade slammed down on the guard and the ground beneath Rida cracked apart and broke, then the blow sent him crashing through and back into the ground inside.

"He's not holding back!" Rida thought with shock as he felt the blow "we've fought like this before, but we've always pulled our punches! Always! No matter how mad we made each other!"

Rida got to his feet and jumped backwards as Torin's blade slashed down at where he had been moments before, he formed a reiatsu platform and sprung back at Torin, his right arm engulfed in fire and glowing brightly as he punched. Torin brought up his sword and blocked with the flat side of the blade.

Rida became like a meteor falling through the sky as he slammed into Torin, the flames from his attack flying behind him and creating a tail of flame as he pushed Torin back through three walls, people screamed and took shelter as the two friends blazed through the rooms.

Rida's momentum slowed, but before Torin could push back he twisted and kicked over and around Torin's blade to plant his foot firmly in the side of Torin's face, kicking him through another wall into a courtyard.

Torin got back to his feet with an explosion of reiatsu and held his sword to the side. The sword began to shine with reiatsu as it charged its signature attack.

"Torin…don't do this!" Rida pleaded as fists burst into flame, he knew if Torin fired that beam at full strength he would get hurt badly, and if Torin did that things would never be the same between them again.

"Then stop me!" Torin roared "Kurisutaru…!"

"That's quite enough of that you two" a female voice said "Light em up, Lux tractus"

Suddenly Rida and Torin both found themselves with a blade at their throat, both of which seemed to just float in the air as if the air itself were holding it in place. Both let their attacks fade as they stared at the blades that had appeared from nowhere.

Torin stepped back "who…?" he asked

Rida was equally surprised as he recoiled from the blade "what the?"

"Now that I've got your attention…" the voice said, causing Torin and Rida both to look up on the roof, a woman stood there, she looked about 19, and wore a body conforming robe colored with fuchsia, pink, and purple. Her brunette hair was secured in an elegant bun by a golden hairpiece. Her blue eyes stared down at Torin and Rida with disdain "would you two explain to me why you are destroying the 4th division and very nearly killing my future Lieutenant?"

"your future Lieutenant?" Rida asked, confused "but all those positions are filled!"

Torin had a very different reaction to this question however "You're the captain of the Kido Corps…" he murmured "and that means we nearly killed…"

"You two idiots nearly killed Aurora Keisa, the girl that I intend to make my lieutenant, yes, her room is the one directly behind the one with the flame gauntlets" The woman said

Torin dropped his zanpakto as he stared past Rida, if he had attacked in his blind rage…

"that's right, you would've been responsible for the death of a future lieutenant, the punishment for that would be severe young man" the woman said as she appeared on the ground with a shunpo.

Torin stumbled back, looking between Rida, the woman, and Aurora's room with horror, then he turned and fled, using shunpo to go as fast as possible.

"Torin wait!" Rida said "do you have any idea what you've done!" he said, turning on her

The woman looked at Rida quizzically, not sure what Rida meant.

"That was Torin Inzanki, he and Aurora are, well… together! And you just let him know that he nearly killed her!" Rida said "who do you think you are?"

"I'm Hikari Mikon, Captain of the Kido Corps, and I know exactly who that boy was, but he needed to be taught a lesson, he lets his anger get the best of him, and then people get hurt, hopefully this will teach him to keep himself in check more, especially if he wants to parade around calling himself a captain." Hikari said

"Well… when you put it that way" Rida said

Hikari walked past and put one hand on Rida's shoulder "You knew right? That's why you asked him to stop. You're a pretty good friend, promise me you won't let your friendship get as messed up as mine have, you'll always regret it, and no matter how strong you get you'll never be able to fix it."

Rida blinked "uh, yeah, I promise" he said

Hikari looked back at Rida and gave him a smile "you're pretty handsome too, who knows, if you ever became a captain I might have to look at you in a… new light" she said with a wink.

Rida blushed furiously "I-I…"

Hikari laughed "Well I'm off to wake Aurora from her nap, that lazy girl has a lot of work to do to officially become my lieutenant, you go after Torin, I'll be done by the time you two get back" she said, then vanished, leaving Rida flustered and confused.

"Well… I guess I'd better go get Torin…" Rida said to himself, finally shaking himself out of his shock.