Disclaimer – I own nothing of Bleach

Chapter 14

Friends and Foes

Kensei clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes angrily as he watched Sayomi dance around Ichigo.

Sayomi fought Ichigo for several minutes, keeping track of time in her head as best she could. If she was right it was almost sixty eight minutes since Ichigo had begun the transformation. She had been in the barrier for almost four minutes. She had a few scratches on her arms and a pretty good gash in her neck. Blood was staining her white shirt and running down her arm as she faced Ichigo, who as far as she could tell, was now completely transformed.

'Dammit,' she thought as she gripped Fuyukaze with both hands.

She grunted as one of Ichigo's hands, that were now more like taloned claws, came at her chest. Stepping to her right and spinning she was able to avoid the claw, but not the taloned foot that came at her next. She bit back a cry of pain as three large rips spread across her right side.

"Sayomi," she heard Kensei yell.

Falling to her knees, she grasped her side with her left hand. Blood poured over her fingers, staining her clothes and the dirt beneath her.

Putting the tip of Fuyukaze in the dirt in front of her, she hefted herself up. Taking a deep breath she steeled herself for the next attack, her face went blank and her eyes became emotionless as she watched Ichigo. She could hear Kensei arguing with Shinji to make Hachi open a door, but Shinji wouldn't listen. He sat completely still and watched.

Sayomi's eyes widened as Ichigo held out a hand before him, she could feel the spirit energy he was collecting and she immediately raised a hand to her face. As she pulled down on the air, a white mask began to form over her face. The whites of her eyes darkened and her pupils narrowed into slits. As the mask came together it was revealed to be very feline like in appearance with black stripes on the cheeks that looked like whiskers. It had thin, sharp needle like teeth across the mouth and narrowed eyes. There were also three black dots spaced over the forehead and two cat like ears that stuck up from the mask as it curved over her forehead. The mask didn't cover her entire head, just her face and the crown of her head where the little ears were.

She put her left hand in front of her just as Ichigo fired off the cero he had been preparing.

There was shouting and yelling from outside the barrier trying to force Hachi to get Sayomi out. They were all drowned out though as a static like sound crackled loudly before there was a loud explosion. Dust and debris clouded the air in the barrier making it impossible to see what the outcome of the blast had been. The entire room fell silent, listening for any sound of life from the other side of the barrier.

Sayomi stood stock still in the midst of the dust and smoke listening and waiting. Her zanpakuto was held out before her as she lowered herself into a defensive crouch. Her eyes scanned the area as the smoke and dust began to clear, but still nothing happened.

She gasped in surprise when a white hand wrapped around her throat and lifted her from her crouch.

'Shit, shit, shit,' she thought frantically as her air supply was suddenly cut off. 'How did I not sense him? I'm the most sensitive here and I couldn't even feel a thing. It's good no one else was in here, I think they'd be dead by now.'

In her current position, cutting through his arm would be difficult so instead she settled for twirling her sword in her right hand to gain some momentum, as the hilt slid over the back of her hand and back into her palm she struck out at Ichigo. She sliced through the tough armor on his side, causing him to screech loudly and drop her.

She landed in a semi-crouch, her head tilted up to watch as Ichigo's side regenerated instantaneously.

'Dammit, he's a lot stronger then I thought he'd be,' she thought to herself as she side stepped and flashed away from a head on attack.

She spun and aimed her zanpakuto for Ichigo's throat, but it was easily blocked when he grabbed the blade with his hand and wrenched it away from her. He tossed it aside carelessly and tried to grab her. She disappeared from her spot in an attempt to reclaim her discarded zanpakuto. Ichigo was right behind her and she knew it. Growling, she turned abruptly and swung a fist at his head. It was grabbed and twisted painfully. She didn't scream or show any hint of pain as the muscles and tendons tore apart. Tearing her hand away from him and letting it hang limply at her right side, she spun again and flashed towards her zanpakuto.

"Get her out of there," Kensei shouted.

"Shinji, you gotta get her out. Now," Love yelled frantically.

The dust and smoke finally cleared and Sayomi was now visible to everyone. She wasn't much worse than she had been moments before the blast, but it was obvious she was being overpowered.

She picked up her zanpakuto and swung around in time to block the talons coming at her. She wasn't as skilled with her left hand, but she managed to slice through Ichigo's arm and quickly land another blow to his side. She jumped backwards as Ichigo tried to retaliate and shoved his talons toward her throat.

"I'm sorry, Ichigo," she said as he flew at her while howling loudly. Holding her sword steady and not moving as he charged at her Sayomi prepared to strike out at his mask, she would have landed the hit too, if he hadn't disappeared at the last second. Her eyes widened and she was jolted forward suddenly.

Looking down, she saw that one of Ichigo's taloned hands was protruding grotesquely from her stomach. She coughed up a stream of crimson as he withdrew his hand. She struggled for breath as everyone outside screamed and yelled at Hachi to let them in.

"No," she shouted. "This is my fight. He is my friend, I will deal with this!"

No one heeded her shouts and continued to badger Hachi to open a door into the barrier.

"I've had enough of this," Sayomi said as she pushed herself up from the ground.

The Hollow Ichigo cackled wildly as he prepared to fire another cero at Sayomi, the shouting behind her intensified, but she held her ground. Holding Fuyukaze in front of her, its blade parallel to the ground she pointed a finger towards Ichigo and gathered a stifling amount of energy into her own cero. Just as she prepared to fire the cero, Ichigo's armored body began to tremble.

Sayomi's eyes narrowed and she dropped her hand.

"Get her out," Lisa yelled.

"Sayomi," Kensei shouted as she turned towards them and crouched, tucking her head into her chest and hiding her face behind her arms, not a second later an explosion tore through the barrier.

"What the hell happened?"

"Where is he?"

"Sayomi!"

"Hachi," Shinji said calmly.

"Yes sir," he replied as he released the barrier.

Everyone was in an uproar as they ran towards where the fight had been taking place. Swords were drawn and not a single person was going to be holding back.

"Stay back," they heard Sayomi shout.

Surprised by the sudden order everyone halted in their steps. There was a sudden gust of ice cold wind and all the dust began to clear.

Standing before them was Sayomi, her back to them and blood staining her white hair from the large rip in her back where Ichigo had stabbed her. The mask that had been covering her face was gone and her pale skin was dirty and smeared with blood. Dirt clung to the crimson liquid pouring from her many cuts. Her breathing quickened and her shoulders were rising and falling rapidly. Her right hand hung uselessly at her side and her left grasped the hilt of her sword that looked as if it where about to fall from her grasp. In front of her, facing them, was Ichigo. There was a cracking noise as the white armor that had covered him fell and shattered loudly, most of the pieces disintegrating before they could hit the floor.

"Ichigo?" Sayomi asked.

"S-Sayomi?" he questioned back, blinking at her as his eyes cleared and returned to their normal amber color.

Sighing, Sayomi dropped her zanpakuto as Ichigo fell face first into the dirt. She followed suit, dropping to her knees, her head falling into her chest.

"So how do you feel?" she asked through her raspy breaths.

"Great," he replied, his voice was strained and tired.

She chuckled. "Good."

"Are you-"

"I'm fine," she cut in. "I'm stronger than I look."

Ichigo's eyes showed the guilt he felt at knowing he had been the one to hurt her, unintentionally, but that didn't matter to him. He was the one who had hurt her, it was his body, his hands, his sword. They might not have been the best of friends, but he still didn't wish to harm her.

Kensei glared at Ichigo as he walked over to Sayomi and knelt by her side. He carefully leaned her against him and lifted her into his arms as she passed out. "Stupid, stubborn woman," he grumbled under his breath as he made his way to Hachi.

"Will she be-"

"She'll be fine," Shinji said, answering Ichigo's question before he could fully ask it.

"Good," he sighed before drifting into unconsciousness himself.

Sayomi groggily blinked her eyes open and and winced when she tried to move her right hand to rub at her eyes. She moved a little, to see just how badly torn up she was. It wasn't as bad as she had expected. Her right arm was bandaged and splinted, her stomach was wrapped in thick bandages as well. Her whole midsection hurt, she wasn't that surprised since she had been clawed and then stabbed by Ichigo. Other than that there were a few minor cuts and some bruises.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"Not now, Kensei," Sayomi said as she raised her left hand to rub at the bridge of her nose.

"You almost got yourself killed. I think I deserve to at least now what you were thinking," he snapped.

"I was thinking that if he was going to die it should at least be by the hand of someone he knows and not a stranger. Satisfied? Now leave me the hell alone, I'm not in the mood for this," she said as she turned her head away from Kensei, who was glaring at her from his seat against the wall by her door. "Glare at me all you want, I'm going back to sleep." Laying back down, she turned away from Kensei and closed her eyes.

Sayomi leaned against a rock, her legs stretched out before her and her hands resting in her lap. She was watching Hiyori fight Ichigo in an attempt to get the fiery teen to be able to keep his hollow form for longer than the four seconds he currently could. It had been two weeks since he had come to them and had beaten the hollow in his soul, but he had yet to learn how to harness that power for a long enough period of time for it to be effective.

Glancing to her right, she sighed when Kensei looked over at her when he felt her icy blue eyes on him but promptly turned away, an angry scowl on his face.'I see he's still angry. I should have just kept them at a distance. It would have been easier that way, having him so suspicious is making it difficult to do anything or go anywhere without his guard automatically going up. I should never have mentioned my brother, I should have just kept my mouth shut and said I wasn't up to anything when he confronted me a couple weeks ago.'

She took a small breath and her eyes cornered to the stairs leading upwards. Not wanting anyone to notice what she had, she remained sitting for a little while and watched the fight with disinterest. After a few minutes of that and noticing that the reiatsu she had felt was going unnoticed, but was still there, she stood up and headed to the stairs.

"I'm going for a walk. I can't keep watching him get his ass kicked," she said blandly as she waved a hand towards Ichigo as he blocked a blow from Hiyori.

"Hey, I'm not getting my-"

"You were saying?" Sayomi stated blandly, waving a hand daintily in the air as Ichigo was struck in the jaw and sent flying into the already dented boulder behind him.

"Pay attention, dumb ass," Hiyori shouted at him.

"I'll go with you," Kensei spoke up suddenly just as she started up the steps.

She twitched slightly, but turned back to him and nodded silently.

He stood up from his spot on the dirt and walked over to her. She turned just as he was at her side and walked away without a word as he fell into step with her.

"Where are you going?" he asked, trying to sound casual despite his suspicions of her as they exited the warehouse.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully, she didn't know where she was going, she just wanted to track the reiatsu she still felt lingering in the area. "I just needed some fresh air,"

"What are you planning to do, Sayomi? To get to your brother?" Kensei asked, he sounded almost tired.

She sighed and shook her head, looking up at the sky she stopped. "And why should I tell you? To give you another reason to be angry at me?"

"You should tell me because I'm your friend."

She flinched slightly, the words actually stung a little. She was hurting him by keeping him in the dark, by not telling him what she was doing, by not trusting him with the truth. "What difference does it make, Kensei?" She sighed, looking down at her hands as she wiggled a few of her thin fingers slowly. "Whether I tell you or not you're going to end up hating me so rather than have you hate me now, can't we just pretend everything is normal?"

"It's not that simple, Sayomi."

"It never is," she murmured. "You already know, Kensei," she said, looking up to meet his eyes. "You know me better than almost anyone else so you should have some idea, right?"

Kensei's face darkened slightly and he turned to stare narrowed eyed into the distance, his hands fisting at his sides. "I have an idea," he grumbled. "And I know you're too damned stubborn to listen to anything I might have to say about it."

Nodding, Sayomi sighed tiredly. "I'm sorry, for whatever it's worth, but I want to do this in my own way."

He studied her for a few long seconds before shaking his head. "Fine. I'm not in the mood for a walk anymore. Don't be out long, there's still soul reapers around," he said before turning and stalking back to the warehouse.

She watched him go and started walking again. She took her time at first before she broke out into a run and sped down the streets of the city towards the reiatsu, she stopped suddenly when it disappeared. She looked around and saw that she was by the river, in a large field, the grass here was almost to her knees and it was swaying in the chill breeze that was blowing. Her white hair stirred around her shoulders and she turned so suddenly, materializing her zanpakuto and pressing it against the pale neck of the man behind her that the butterflies that were resting nearby all flew off the flowers they had been resting on.

"You again," she said blandly as she looked into the green eyes of the Arrancar Ulquiorra.

"Would you remove your sword from my throat?" he asked coldly.

"I suppose, but the next time you try to sneak up on me...Well just don't," she said as her sword disintegrated and reformed her bracelet. It tinkled softly as she lowered her hand to her side.

"I have a message for you, I was asked not to draw any unnecessary attention."

"What's the message?" Sayomi asked, calmly folding her arms over her chest and lifting a brow in mild interest.

"Aizen-sama wishes to have you come to Hueco Muendo, as his honored guest," Ulquiorra said.

"Do you ever show emotion?" Sayomi asked curiously, the man had yet to do anything other than look bored and speak as if he were cold as ice.

"No."

"Hmm, ok then. I can't just go running off to visit Aizen-sama, I need a little help," Sayomi replied, folding her arms over her chest and tilting her head to stare at the emotionless man.

"He knew you would say that," Ulquiorra said monotonously. "So there was some information I was to relay to you."

"Oh? And just what would that be?" Sayomi inquired, grinning innocently at the emotionless Arrancar before her as he began to speak in his boring tone. "I told you he would want her alive," she said after listening to the plan that had been devised to kidnap Orihime, and herself. She stifled a satisfied chuckle at the slight twitch her comment caused.

"Your answer?" He asked coldly.

"Tell Aizen-sama I look forward to seeing him very soon."

Ulquiorra nodded before turning and ripping through a small patch of air behind him. A large dark portal opened and he stepped through it, turning to gaze at her with his dark, calculating eyes as the portal swallowed him from view.

"Well, this should be interesting," she commented to herself before turning and heading back to the warehouse.

A week and a half past and Kensei and Sayomi hardly spoke to one another. Both would wake up every morning and go to the training room to see how Ichigo would fare during the day's training. He had made little progress and had everyone wondering if he was really as strong as they had believed. Each day someone would cook the meals, someone would clean and when the day ended everyone would gather upstairs to chit chat or read or watch television. Everything was almost mind numbingly boring and normal.

Sayomi made no attempt to get close to anyone or even to pull away, she was simply there. She went through the daily motions as if she were a dancer performing something mundane. Through it all Kensei kept an eye on her, waiting and watching. He knew it was only a matter of time before she would disappear, and while he wasn't certain that was part of her plan he had a feeling she wasn't going to be sticking around much longer. She wasn't one to wait, she liked to put her plans into action sooner rather than later, unless waiting was going to benefit her somehow.

He knew something was wrong the moment he woke up. He had slept in later than he meant to, he hadn't been able to sleep the night before. His thoughts had kept him from being able to fall asleep until sometime after three in the morning. Judging by the slant of the sun through his one small window it was well after ten.

Rising, he got dressed and made his way to Sayomi's room. He knocked on the door, but when he got no answer he opened it only to see that she wasn't there. Her bed was made and her room looked like it always did, but something wasn't sitting well with him. Sayomi had always been able to hide her presence well, but she had gotten lax over the years, at least when she was in the warehouse. She knew there was no need to hide beneath Hachi's shields, but even then she still kept her presence mostly concealed. Even then though, he had been able to sense her, at least somewhat, but he couldn't sense her now. Not even a little.

"Where the hell are you, Sayomi?" He shouted as he stalked down the hall. "Dammit, Sayomi, answer me!"

"Eh, geez, Kensei, waz with the yelling? Sayomi went to the store for stuff to make dinner," Shinji drawled as he sat up from his position on the couch and rubbed at his eyes.

"How long ago?" Kensei asked, barely managing to keep the anger he felt out of his voice.

"Ehh," he groaned as he looked at the clock above the television. "Hmmm, maybe ten minutes ago."

Kensei relaxed slightly, if she had gone to the store she would be gone for at least forty-five minutes to an hour. Even though that time hadn't elapsed something still didn't sit well with him, something still felt wrong.

"I'm going to go find her," he said as he made his way to the door.

He wasn't even halfway there when there was a sudden shift in spiritual pressures as four strong energies suddenly appeared above the city.

"Let me go dammit!"

Kensei and Shinji both turned their heads to see that Love and Rose were trying, unsuccessfully, to detain a very enthusiastic Ichigo. Kensei took hold of the arm that Love was forced to release as the orange haired boy jerked it away and attempted to make a break for the door.

"Ya ain't going anywhere, now calm down," Kensei ordered.

"Let me go!" Ichigo shouted as he struggled against the two holding him.

"Let your soul reaper friends handle it, it's what they're here for," Kensei grunted as Ichigo continued to struggle forcefully.

"It's what I'm training for! If I don't go now, then what the hell am I here for!"

Kensei opened his mouth to shout out an answer, but Shinji stepped forward and grabbed a hold of Kensei's shirt. "Let him go."

"What the hell are you thinking, Shinji," Kensei yelled as he released his grip on Ichigo, who immediately flashed out of the room.

"He needs to learn his limits," Shinji replied.

"He's going to get himself killed!" Kensei snapped.

"I would've thought you'd be more worried 'bout Sayomi," Shinji replied.

Kensei seemed a little surprised by the sudden statement and clenched his fists before muttering a long line of curses and heading to the door.

"Hey, hey, Kensei, wai-"

"Let him go, Love," Shinji called in his usual lazy drawl as he lowered himself down to the ground and leaned against a large rock.

Sayomi was leaning casually against a tree, looking up into the cloudy blue sky as a large rip appeared and four people dressed in white stepped out of the blackness behind it. Two were familiar to her, two were not. She stayed where she was as she watched the blue haired Grimmjow break away from the group and head in the direction that she could sense Ichigo's spiritual pressure. She could feel an angry Kensei headed her way too, but she didn't care, she sped off in the direction that Grimmjow had gone. It seemed the man really didn't care about orders, only his personal vendettas.

She halted near the fight that was already in progress and watched Ichigo and Grimmjow, who Sayomi noticed was missing his left arm. Not caring that she was in plain sight while staring at something no one else could see, she stood in the middle of the street with her head tilted towards the sky, watching as Ichigo drew out his inner hollow and his white and red mask formed over his face. Grimmjow seemed a little surprised by the sudden shift in Ichigo's reiatsu and barely managed to draw his sword in time to block Ichigo's zanpakuto that was in its ban-kai state as it nearly sliced his chest open.

The two broke apart and seconds later Ichigo sent a blade of condensed black energy at Grimmjow who was unable to avoid it. Once the sky cleared enough for Sayomi to get a good look at the man, she saw the damage that had been done. He was covered in blood from his head all the way down to his abdomen.

Frowning, Sayomi decided to get closer and ran into an alleyway to avoid being seen as she flashed her way to the highest rooftop she could get to. When she managed to look back up at the fight Ichigo was behind a stunned Grimmjow, his black blade held out before him. Another wave of black energy directly hit the blue haired Arrancar and sent him flying through the air. He recovered quickly and sent a cero flying at Ichigo, who managed to block it with his sword.

"You're running out of time, Ichigo," Sayomi mumbled impatiently as Grimmjow threw himself at Ichigo.

Sayomi growled when seconds later Ichigo's mask began to break apart just as his and Grimmjow's swords connected with a screech and shower of bright sparks. She saw Grimmjow smirk at the surprised look on Ichigo's face before pushing Ichigo's sword away and slicing his shoulder open causing the injured Ichigo to begin falling towards the earth.

"Dammit," she cursed as Ichigo collided with the asphalt below them and began trying to reform his mask. Grimmjow wasn't going to have any of it though and swiftly kicked him in the gut, sending flying into the wall of the building Sayomi now stood upon, a trail of dirt and smoke in his path.

'There's a soul reaper-'

'I know, Fuyu,' Sayomi snapped, things weren't going as planned and she wasn't pleased. She couldn't risk being seen by a soul reaper, especially Rukia Kuchiki, Byakuya's sister.

Growling in annoyance, she fled the rooftop and jumped back into the shadowy alleyway before running in the opposite direction in an attempt to put some more space between her and the approaching girl. She knew she was going to help Ichigo and there was likely nothing to worry about, but it was better safe than sorry.

She halted abruptly and spun around, running back towards the fight with a string of curses falling from her lips. The reiatsu of Byakuya's sister had dropped drastically and then Shinji's showed up a few seconds later.

"Stupid twit," she mumbled as she ran through the alley, jumping back on to the rooftops and back in to the bright sun in enough time to see Shinji in his Vizard form shooting a large red cero towards Grimmjow. She had to shield her eyes from the bright glow, but her eyes were rooted to the spot the Arrancar had been only moments before. He was still alive, she could sense it, she could also sense another reiatsu making its way into the world of the living as well. "What am I supposed to do now?" She grumbled as she furrowed her brows at the scene in front of her.

"Nothing," a cold voice said from behind her.

Her eyes widened, she had sensed him, she had felt him coming into the world of the living, but how he had gotten behind her without her noticing was something she didn't understand. She felt a cold hand at her throat and something warm sliding down her neck and in to her shirt. Raising a hand to her throat, she was stunned when she saw the red smear of fresh blood on her fingertips.

'This isn't how this was supposed to go,' she thought as she turned and tried to lift her hand to call out Fuyukaze. She ended up yelling out in surprise and pain when a pale hand was thrust through her right shoulder. Not even a second later she was flying through the air after a palm had connected with her stomach, she grunted but managed to skid to a stop not far in front of Grimmjow. Who upon seeing her growled, and looked over to Ulquiorra who was observing him with cold detachment.

"Sayomi," Ichigo yelled as she clutched at her shoulder that was pouring blood all over her and dripping to the ground below her.

"You're in the way again, woman," Grimmjow growled as he glared in Shinji's direction.

"Have you forgotten what you came here to do, Grimmjow?" Ulquiorra asked as Sayomi fell onto her knees in the sky and coughed up a stream of blood.

"I'm busy," the blue haired man growled as he raised his sword in preparation to release it.

Ulquiorra was behind him before he could even form the words to do so, his hand wrapped around the hilt of Grimmjow's sword. "Get the woman," he ordered.

Grimmjow hissed, but sheathed his zanpakuto and grabbed Sayomi's right arm, jerking her upwards harshly. She let out a pained cry and clenched her teeth together to drown out the pain.

"We're done here," Ulquiorra said coldly as he ripped a hole into the sky and walked into it, Grimmjow behind him tugging on Sayomi.

"Sayomi," she heard Shinji yell, she looked back to see him flying towards them. The portal closed before he could get within a few feet of it.

~A/N~

Ugh! I feel like I've lost the ability to write. And this is a rewrite, there's still not a whole lot that's different! It seems so hard to get ideas anymore and to actually be able to write them out without sounding like an idiot is even harder...

Anywho, thank you to everyone for the lovely reviews and the awesome favorites and all that fun stuff. Much appreciated!

Feed the monster!