WARNING: This chapter contains violent themes and descriptions that may be disturbing for some readers. Please keep that in mind while continuing to read. Mainly present during the first half.

Disclaimer: Bleach does not belong to me.

"The object of life is not to be on the other side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

-Marcus Aurelius

Outside of the Research and Development department, screams of excruciating pain penetrated the air. A multitude of crashes soon followed before one of the thick off-white walls exploded outwards. Debris and dust flew about in every direction, clouding the area to the point where only shadows were discernable.

Slowly, the dust gradually began to settle to provide minimal visibility. What was revealed was complete destruction. Nearly half of the wall, almost twenty feet of thick brick, had been destroyed; reduced to rubble. A rather large section of the remains was piled a short distance away from this wreckage, finally coming into focus. Small glimpses of pale alabaster peaked through the stones, progressively becoming more distinguishable. Eventually, the nearly unrecognizable form was exposed entirely.

Kurotsuchi Mayuri.

His pasty, painted skin that was only a shade lighter than the broken bricks surrounding him instantly gave away his identity. The multiple gashes and cuts decorated his flesh were gushing blood, marring his form to the point that anyone glancing at the wreckage would only be able to distinguish a gory, mangled mess.

One of Kurotsuchi's arms stuck out of the rubble at an odd, painful angle to the left. However, the only thing remaining of the other appendage was a mutilated stump. From the shoulder down was gone, only spindly remnants of muscle, tendons and blood vessels lingered limply from the site.

Whether the deranged scientist was breathing or not – alive or dead – could not be perceived at the time.

Near the abolished wall, a figure emerged from the shadows within the building. The black robed frame held a posture was brimming with confidence, his sword held leisurely at his side. While his face was half concealed by a mask with a single red stripe running vertically down the side, he could be easily identified, if the radiant orange hair was anything to go by. A broad, maniacal smile split his face as he stared at the form of his opponent. In his left arm dangled the severed appendage of the fallen captain, a sluggish stream of blood dripping steadily from the end. The black nails on it were all severely fractured with the one in the middle, longer than the rest, broken cleanly down the center.

The possessed figure indolently swung the limp arm from side to side, watching as the blood splattered on the dirtied floor. Then, he roughly tossed it to his left where it landed with a dull thud against a broken lab table.

"It always amazes me when I see how weak an' frail ya Shinigami are," the hollow began, stalking towards the pile the captain currently resided in, "I play with ya fer only a couple a minutes an' then ya brake." He knelt down to where the pale man's head was, one hand on his knees while his cleaver-sized zanpakuto rested on his shoulders. Instantly, his character changed like the flip of a switch. His crazed smirk vanished, replaced by an angered scowl filled with mirth. He spoke in a low, threatening voice, "Now I gotta find myself a new toy or I'll get bored."

Suddenly, the loud, piercing sound of the alarm traveled to his ears, broadcasted throughout all of the Seireitei, "Warning! Substitute Shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, has escaped confinement in the twelfth division. All available officers in the vicinity are to detain him immediately. Proceed with caution! Warning! Substitute Shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, has escaped confinement in the twelfth division. All available officers in the vicinity are to detain him immediately. Proceed with caution!"

The message repeated a couple times more before the alarm quieted and ceased all together. The masked teen grinned at the announcement as a dark laughter bubbled up from his throat.

"This may make things a little more interestin,'" he said in glee.

Getting up from his crouched position, the hollow walked slowly out of the nearly settled dust and into the open. He was met with the sight of a multitude of Shinigami already rushing to his location after hearing the warning seconds before, swords drawn and ready for battle.

He gained a ravenous glint in his eyes as he surveyed those rushing to meet him. "Come on then! Let's dance." He sprang into action after than proclamation, running to meet his adversaries head on. The mask on the left side of his face was continuing to inch farther across his skin with every minute.

The closest Shinigami to his position, a girl with wavy red hair and freckles dotting her cheeks, was the first to engage in combat with the demonic teen. She gave out a worthy battle cry and brought her released zanpakuto – the appearance similar to a chainsaw with its serrated edge on all sides of the blade – forward in a swift overhead arch. It held the speed and power of an experienced officer, most likely a seated. The resounding clang of metal on metal was the result from her strike as the hollow met her attack with one of his own. However, instead of simply parrying as the woman had anticipated, the masked opponent took his assault a step farther. His swing held much more force than predicted and cut through the opposing sword with ease, splitting it in half.

The redhead's shock at this occurrence was plastered on her face. But that surprise did not stop there. After completing his swing, the hollow spun quickly on the balls of his feet and horizontally cut the girl straight across her abdomen.

She fell to her knees as she grasped the site of her wound with both hands, blood seeping from it and the corner of her mouth. Looking up at her enemy with dulled eyes, she let a single tear fall down her cheek before the upper half of her body slid to the side and fell to the ground as her lower half slumped forward completely.

With the broken zanpakuto lying beside her severed body, the unnamed officer died, cut cleanly in two by a single strike; one of the first victims of many more to come.

After defeating the first Shinigami, the hollow joyfully proceeded to the next. Flipping his sword around by tossing it in the air so that it was reversed from the normal grip, he thrust the steel blade backwards, impaling the man through the chest attempting to get him from behind.

He pulled Zangetsu out of the flesh and readied it for the three coming from the side. With a quick shunpo, he appeared mere feet in front of them. Before they had the chance to grasp what occurred, the perpetrator swung his sword up, effectively sending the one in the middle of the group off his feet and up into the air, a trail of crimson in his wake. During the few seconds that the Shinigami spent making his way back to earth, the masked individual used to dispatch the other two on either side of him.

Swiping diagonally across the torso, the hollow cut his opponent on the right from shoulder to pelvis. The brown-haired soldier immediately fell from the attack just as his killer turned to deliver a swift kick to the knee of the blonde to his left. An audible crack was heard on impact as the bones snapped on contact, only brittle twigs compared to the hollow's power. The blonde female let out an agonizing scream and crippled to the ground.

As she grasped her leg with shaking limbs, her assailant stepped up beside her and reached for one of her quivering arms. Once he got ahold of the appendage, he pushed the girl onto her back with his foot, keeping the limb in a tight hold. With a malicious grin, the possessed teen began to pull at the arm, eliciting more screams from the hapless victim.

Almost instantly, a wet, tearing sound traveled across the space currently being used as a battle field. A sickening rip came after as the arm was torn from the body, looking similar to how Kurotsuchi's did once his appendage was gone. The hollow flung the limb away in the same fashion as well before piercing the blonde's chest with his bare hand.

It was at this point that all signs of life vanished from her eyes.

He pulled his hand out of the stilled chest, along with a seizing heart. He brought it up to his mouth and ran his tongue slowly across the muscular surface, lapping up the blood before sinking his teeth in it. He savored the meaty bite before tossing the rest of the organ away into the dirt where it continued to feebly twitch.

The hollow swallowed, whipping his mouth with the back of his hand, and turned back towards the Shinigami still present. More continued to arrive in order to aid the situation. Most that had witnessed the act were stunned to the point of repulsion and horror, not being able to move while others were utterly terrified.

The hollowfied teen released a chilling bark of laughter that echoed ominously off the walls. Many backed up, but it seemed to jostle the Shinigami out of their stupors and back into action against the enemy they faced, despite their overwhelming fears. They had a job to do; to stop the man – or creature from hell – at all costs.

The battle began anew as the officers rushed at their target again. The hollow met them all with vigor, swinging his blade left and right as scarlet flew in all directions, staining the ground it fell upon.

Every attack, jump, dodge, kick or punch the battle-crazed teen made held unmatched power and grace in each movement. He was a beast of destruction bounding among the corpses of those fallen by his hand. The fluidity of his actions could not be matched or countered in any way. He was truly dancing among them it seemed; a demonic dance of death where he would be the only one left standing when the performance was done.

"More, more, more!" he yelled into the hordes of people, "Someone fight me who ain't a weak-" He stopped midsentence as his control on the body wavered, freezing him in place temporarily as he fought with the other occupant of his mind for dominance.

"Now's our chance! Get him!" a brave Shinigami ordered upon realizing that their formidable opponent was temporarily open to their attacks. In a desperate attempt to end the slaughter, they all charged at once, swords drawn back and ready to defeat the lone figure frozen before them.

They were nearly upon him now, only yards away. With one final push at his so-called King, the hollow managed to gain control completely once again, right as tens of blades were poised to skewer him where he stood. In the split instance that it took for him to grasp his situation, he decided on a quick course of action.

The instance before the numerous blades were to imbed themselves in his flesh, the hollow spun in a full circle with his blade's edge out, muttering two words barely above a whisper.

"Getsuga Tenshou."

A massive band of black slammed into those on all sides of him. The force of the attack, however, did not stop with the massacre of the Shinigami in his general vicinity. It continued outwards, spreading until the circle of black power collided with the nearby buildings. Any Shinigami that were unfortunate enough to be in the path of the attack were taken out. The structures that the attack hit crumbled instantly from the impact, entire buildings falling apart as if they were a house of Legos being kicked over.

The cause of this destruction idly assessed his work, a lopsided smirk adorning his visage and zanpakuto resting on his shoulder. With a pensive sigh, he willed the cloth wrappings of his sword to envelop it and placed it on his back.

"That was kinda fun, but," he said off handedly to anyone still alive or conscious to listen, "I'd best be getting' gone."

Reaching one hand above his head, the masquerading youth gathered black reiatsu at the tips of his fingers. Then, forming his hand into a claw, he swiped down. Instead of only going through air, his hand tore a rip in the space it passed through, one which he then proceeded to widen by pulling at both sides.

He had successfully opened a Garganta.

Not wasting time, the hollow stepped through the portal and it immediately snapped shut.

He had escaped, leaving countless dead and injured in his wake.

Rukia was running, running as fast as she possibly could. She had already shunpoed most of the way to her current location and was now forced to sprint the rest of the way in because of the maze-like arrangement.

After hearing the broadcasted message, the first thing she did was burst out of the eighth division corridors and rush to the twelfth. Her actions were so abrupt that she startled and knocked over some of the people nearest to her.

She sure did pick one hell of a day to go personally to ask her brother something, hence why she was in his division and not her own. It had been a trivial matter too, not holding much value. But of course, she had gone directly to his office because she had wanted to talk to him about how well her training was progressing since they had returned from Hueco Mundo. Her captain even mentioned the possibility of promoting her soon, so she wanted to personally tell him the good news.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid!'

If she had been at her own division, then she could have been at the site minutes ago instead of still rushing to it. Fate seemed oh too willing to mess with her lately though, giving her the middle finger at anything she did.

Rounding a corner, the petite noble could tell that she was finally about to reach the desired division. Only a few more turns and she could make it to find out exactly what was going on. In her mind, there was no way that the Ichigo she knew would harm other Shinigami for no reason. She had not even known that he was in the Soul Society in the first place until the grand announcement had been made making it sound like he was going berserk. He had to be doing whatever it was for some logical reason. Either that or someone had gotten the information wrong. That had to be it. She could not bring her mind to come to any other conclusions because that was all that could be possible. Nothing else made sense.

A ground-shaking explosion caused Rukia to lose her balance and pitch forward, scraping her arms and face against the rough stone she treaded. The trembling soon ceased after a matter of seconds and she was able to pick herself off the ground. With not a moment of hesitation, she took off towards her destination with renewed determination. The explosion most likely came from where Ichigo was at, and that could mean that he needed her help.

Turning the last corner, she stumbled over some debris that littered the ground near a half-destroyed building, but this time skillfully regained her balance before she ended up sprawled onto the ground again. Maneuvering around the rubble, she soon reached the edge of a clearing that held barely any resemblance to what the area previously looked like. Truly a field a death.

Stilled bodies of her fellow soldiers covered the ground, lifeless and mutilated nearly beyond recognition. Many had nearly unimaginable wounds ranging from missing all limbs to being cut in half from the middle of the head down, exposing all the fleshy organs inside that were spilling out. She even managed to glimpse an unfortunate corpse that had its entire chest torn apart. The sternum was split in two, leaving the inner workings visible. But, what was most disturbing was how the lungs and heart were torn out and laid beside the body with odd chunks missing from them.

A flash of orange diverted her attention away from the brutal scene. Rukia's eyes widened notably as she saw the familiar figure that had saved her life more times than she was willing to admit standing in the midst of all the carnage, virtually unscathed. But that was not all that made her body stiffen with surprise.

It was the porcelain mask that covered half of his face that took away her breath and caused her heart to skip more than a beat. Pure white hiding the tanned skin, only disturbed by the streak of red traveling down the side, was placed on the familiar face. It was the mask she had seen only on a few occasions, although with a slightly altered appearance than what she was used to. This partial and growing version of the mask told her that the person she was looking at was definitely not Ichigo, but the hollow that normally resided within his soul; that he had control over.

The monster that nearly broke the Substitute's will not long ago.

Rukia was torn from her thoughts when the imposter posing as the Ichigo she knew did something she was not expecting. He opened a Garganta with ease as if he had done this countless of times before. She was so stunned that she made no movement at all; nothing to stop him as he stepped though the portal and disappeared completely.

"No… no…" the short girl muttered. She took a few steps towards where she had last seen the person she held so dearly to her heart, hand outreached in a feeble gesture to grasp the now nonexistent man back by her side. Her shaking legs eventually gave out and she crumpled to the dirt on her hands and knees, her zanpakuto that she had not recalled unsheathing clanging to her side.

The blood from her fallen comrades was now soaking through the fabric on her legs, but she did not care or even notice at this point because she was numb in body and mind.

A lone whisper holding more emotion than most people are able to comprehend traveled from the quivering Shinigami.

"Ichigo…"

A black, cloudless night enveloped the landscape with a crescent moon being the only source of light. No stars could be seen anywhere in the vast extensive gloom. Nor were there any signs of life present on the bleached white sand below. In the far off distance, there were vague shapes resembling trees, but those only had the similarities to that point. If seen up close, they could easily be recognized as stone and not, in fact, actual wood. How such structures even formed was a mystery in itself.

Above this motionless, dead landscape, an opening ten feet above the ground came into existence. A tall figure clad in black with a contrasting head of orange emerged, stepping out of the opening in space and descending to the terrain below.

His sandaled feet touched down on the sand in a less than lithe manner. Staggering, the being took only a couple steps forward before the mask he wore cracked and splintered severely. Sections of the material chipped and fell off, disintegrating in the air before being able to reach the ground.

A menacing set of chuckles escaped from the masked creature that sounded somewhat broken, almost like the being did not have enough strength to do so full-heartedly. The cracks in the mask increased.

"Welcome to yer new hell, King." The mask split entirely and fell off its owner in chunks. The opaque darkness receded from the orange headed man's eyes as he caught a glimpse of the white landscape before him. Just as the last thread of black receded from his sclera, a deep and foreboding sense of despair filled his every thought, right before his body swayed forward and his eyes rolled back in his head.

The black robed boy hit the sand with a dull thump. The final strands of consciousness left the youth in that moment and his mind receded into a comatose state filled with his most dreaded nightmares.

Nightmares that were all too real.

One short Kuchiki noble was slowly walking solemnly through all of the carnage left on the twelfth division grounds, as were a handful of other officers that had arrived later on the scene. They were examining each corpse they came across – which was not all that difficult considering the vast amount of bodies present – checking to see if they could find any survivors amongst them.

Despite the abundant number she had already inspected, Rukia had found no signs of life. Not one person – or what remained of the Shinigami she found – had a beating heart. From what she gathered from the other officers searching nearby, they were having no luck in their searches either. All were dead, and that thought sickened her to her core.

A nearly mute whimper made her head snap over to the soft noise. She gingerly picked her way across the bodies towards the source and found a young looking girl with short-cropped black hair surrounded by her own blood. A gaping hole was found right above her hip the size of a large fist, covered partially by the woman's quivering hand. Small gasps of pain were the only noise she emitted.

Rukia knelt down beside the girl, checking to see how critical the wound was. It was more serious than she thought as she got a closer look at it. Many of her vital organs were pierced, causing irreversible damage that would not stop bleeding.

She was startled when she felt something grasp her arm. Looking down, she saw the hand of the injured girl desperately clinging to her.

"P-plea…se," the Shinigami wheezed painfully. Tears were weld up in her eyes as she gasped for breath. All Rukia could do was listen and hold the girl's hand in her own. "Ple-ease… Help… m-me. It h-hurts… it hurt-ts s-so bad."

"It's okay. We'll get you the help you need, don't worry." In truth, she knew there was no chance of the girl surviving. The wound was far too severe to be treated even if they got medics to her quickly. All she could do was provide comfort to the poor soul.

"Thank you…" she rasped, relief flooding through her eyes momentarily. "Th-thank…" Her eyes closed and her breathing stilled before she was able to continue.

Rukia sighed heavily. They had been out here for quite some time now, and they had still not found any survivors.

She got up and apathetically patted the dirt off her uniform. Although it made no difference. With the amount of blood staining her clothes, they were undoubtedly ruined.

"Rukia! Rukia!" The distant cry traveled to her ears, sounding distinctly like a certain tattooed redhead she knew.

The eighth division lieutenant barreled his way onto the site not seconds after. His expression was predictable as he saw the area completely and what it held. Once he spotted Rukia though, he snapped out of it and hastily made his way over to her.

"Finally!" he said breathlessly, hands on his knees, "It took me forever to find you! Do you know how hard you can be to find?" Renji asked looking at the girl in question.

She was just about to retort when Renji cut her off. "Never mind, I'm just glad you're alright. After I heard the alarm, I panicked because I knew you'd try to get here as soon as that idiot's name was mentioned.

"So, what exactly happened here?" the lieutenant surveyed the gruesome clearing again, concern lacing his words for not only his long-time friend's sake, but for the strawberry being discussed as well.

"I… I'm not really sure." The noble quietly shook her head as she clamped her eyes shut.

"Oi, Rukia." Now ever more worried, Abarai tried to lay a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know!" Rukia all but screamed, startling Renji away, "I mean, this is the first that I've heard that Ichigo was even here, but now we have to deal with him too?! I never even knew how he dealt with that-that demon in the first place since he never told me! Those kinds of details are important! Gah!" She flung her hands in the air, breathing heavy nearing on hyperventilation.

"How could he have done something like this?" Rukia muttered in a much more subdued manner.

"Um, Rukia?" the redhead started, hesitant to attempt to stop her from the confusing ramble, "I don't mean to interrupt, but I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Can you please try to explain it to me a bit slower?"

Taking a deep, calming breath, Rukia turned and looked Renji directly in the eyes, pure anguish causing them to swim. "Ichigo was here, attacking any Shinigami he saw without a second's thought. But it wasn't him!" At this part, Renji became even more confused, "It wasn't Ichigo because he had the hollow mask on, only it was different. From what I've heard from Nii-san, the way the mask seemed to be growing on his face should mean that Ichigo wasn't the one in control, but his hollow."

"Wait, so you're telling me that Ichigo's hollow is the one that did all this?" He made a sweeping gesture with his arm towards the horde of motionless bodies.

"Yeah, I think."

"How did this even happen? I thought Ichigo was in control on his hollow."

"So did I. As we can see, that obviously isn't the case anymore. Something is definitely wrong here and we need to find out what." The familiar Kuchiki glint was beginning to come back into her eyes, steeling her nerves. "First of all why was Ichigo here in Soul Society, specifically in the twelfth division?"

Renji pondered the matter briefly before a thought struck him, "Yesterday, I remember Kuchiki-taichou mentioning something about Kurotsuchi-taichou having a new prisoner or subject. Something along those lines. I only heard part of it so it's not much to go by, but it could have been Ichigo he was talking about. Even though that's a horrible thought," the tattooed man sheepishly said, rubbing the back of his neck, "Maybe we should ask Kurotsuchi-taichou about it"

"Asking Kurotsuchi anything won't do any good since he's dead," a new voice supplied.

That statement took a few moments to fully process. Both Shinigami turned to the speaker – a disheveled Akon – with incredulous looks.

"What? Dead?! What do you mean 'dead'?" Renji screamed at the man.

"I mean he's dead. I found him buried under the remains of a destroyed wall of our department. No signs of life, therefore, dead."

"How…"

"I don't know the specifics to how he was killed, but my best assumption is that he did something to trigger Ichigo-san's aggression and ultimately his hollow when he was brought in for experimentation," Akon stated nonchalantly.

Little did he know that what he had said was a trigger in itself for a certain short noble. "Ex-experimentation?!" She practically screeched, "What did that psychopathic clown do to Ichigo?"

If it were not for the dire situation they were facing, Renji would have mused at how much the orange-haired teen was rubbing off on Rukia. She normally would never refer to her captains – deceased or otherwise – in such a disrespectful manner. It would have been quite comical, but he had other things to worry about, such as the frantic aristocrat.

Renji sighed. This entire situation kept becoming more complicated by the second. That stupid idiot was always getting into trouble. Nothing could be normal with him around either, could it? It seemed that whenever the teen was present, things went from bad to worse. True, he did manage to help save the day – as clichéd as that sounds – every time, but that kind of work of tiring, damn it! Especially since he somehow was always recruited most of the time to help him out.

Now, to add to the mess currently stewing, he had a practically hysterical woman he had to deal with. Plus, he still had next to no understanding of what was going on with Ichigo and this ordeal that he created.

At this point, Rukia was practically nose to nose the tall scientist as she clutched the front of his hakama with pale fingers, face nearly touching his as she threw question after question at him, not sparing a second for him to answer. The poor researcher was beginning to look distressed at the crazed Shinigami.

"Give him some room to breathe, Rukia!" Renji said as he pried the petite girl off of Akon's front. Once he was able to get her to release her hold, he backed away slightly to give his fellow comrade some space.

The scientist shakily straightened out his uniform and cleared his throat tentatively. Slowly, he began to explain the predicament starting from the beginning to the two in a short summarization based on what they needed to know. All of the details that pertained to their questions were given, filling in the holes of their knowledge to a certain degree. On some instances of his speech, Rukia would look ready to strangle Akon, especially when he mentioned how Central forty-six sentenced Ichigo to free-range experiments by Mayuri. Her fury at those moments could not be matched as it radiated off of her in waves.

Finally coming to a swift conclusion, the third seat finished informing the two. With the excuse that he had other duties he needed to attend to, Akon scurried away, leaving them to dwell on what they had been told. To say that they were surprised would be an understatement. They were bewildered beyond belief, at a stand-still for what to do for their next course of action.

A Hell Butterfly fluttered into sight, daintily flapping its delicate wings as it landed on Renji's outstretched finger. Silently, it relayed its message to him. It took to the air a moment later, its task completed as it returned from where it came.

Rukia looked at her companion expectantly, giving off a slightly curious vibe that contrasted immensely with her current frenzied demeanor. Her eyes were almost pleading to a point, very unlike the normal glint of confidence that always shone in almost any situation she faced. It made her look somewhat… pitiful and frail.

Renji squared his shoulders and told her the contents of the message, "We're both being summoned to the Soutaichou's office immediately. The message didn't say specifically why, but we should hurry. It sounded urgent."

The Kuchiki noble nodded once and together, she and the red-haired lieutenant steadily rushed towards their new destination.

The large, spacious office of the first division contained only two main items: a thin, wooden desk and a matching tall chair. Both were simple in nature and design, holding no grand significance at all. The only objects placed on top of the desk was a neatly organized stack of files and paperwork, pushed to the corner for later use. One set of arms leaned onto the sturdy wood, crossed in a dignified manner. The owner was sitting hunched in the chair silently as he gazed upon the two officers standing stalk in front of his desk.

They had finished recounting their knowledge about the events of the day from their own perspectives. Now they were soundlessly awaiting for what their commander had to say.

The aged and grayed man pondered what he had heard, rolling the information over in his head. He recalled the recent meeting he had with the Central forty-six minutes before.

"He escaped. The abomination that we put into your seemingly capable hands has vanished practically without a trace from the Soul Society! The Omnitsukido report we received states that he was able to evade capture by creating a Garganta, which we were not informed he had the ability to perform. Is this true, Yamamoto-Soutaichou?" a head judge ground out, profoundly enraged.

"Indeed, it seems to be the case," the elderly commander replied in a neutral tone.

Ravenous yells of protests filled the dimly lit chamber. They were harshly quieted as the same judge continued, "This is unacceptable. The mutation cannot be allowed freedom. We have already determined that his immediate detainment be issued. You are to assign this mission without delay. Be sure that it is completed without complications."

"Understood." Yamamoto promptly bowed, leaving directly after with his task in mind.

The Soutaichou gazed down at his hands for only a second before turning back to the pair. "I have a mission for the two of you. It must be performed with diligence and without questions," Yamamoto's raspy voice instructed.

They both instantly perched up at this news as the commander continued.

"The Substitute Shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, is to be retrieved at all costs from Hueco Mundo. It has been deduced that it is there in which he fled. Prepare yourselves appropriately for this task and depart as soon as possible."

"Hai, Soutaichou!" they said in unison.

"Dismissed." They hastily retreated from the extensive and barren office, hope at last being in their grasps.

He sat back in his chair with a huff. Those two Shinigami knew Kurosaki the best out of all his officers. They would, given the proper motivation, be able to convince the 'convict' to return without unnecessary conflict occurring. At least, that was what he prayed to any deity listening would happen. Things never had gone the way he expected whenever that human was involved.

I know, I know. Go ahead and verbally abuse me for not getting this chapter done when I said it would be. I could give you all a whole slew of excuses, but you don't need to hear them. They'd bore you too much.

In other news, it's summer (if you didn't know yet) and that means more frequent updates! Hoorah! *confetti* Even though I do have to get a bunch of paperwork ready for college, most of which I'll procrastinate on until the last second before it's due, my time will mostly be dedicated to my stories now.

I recently acquired a Twitter account, so if you want updates on my progress you can follow me. The link is in my profile if you want to check that out. :)

And, lastly, after I finish up an edit for one of my other works, I'll be starting a YouTube channel based on writing. More information on that will come soon, but this is just a little heads up. Tell me if that sounds interesting to any of you

Please leave me your comments in a review to let me know how this chapter turned out and your opinions on it. In all honesty, if you don't review, than the next chapter will be much slower in its arrival since I will have practically next to nothing for motivation! Yes, I am guilt-tripping all of you. Ta ta!~

-Shiro