Of Bonds and Hollows

by BeautifulLife-PainfulTruth

The greed of one Hollow change the entire course of the Bleach Verse. But things didn't change too much, right? I mean, growing up with an over protective wolf and a little active pup can't be that bad for Ichigo, right? Arrancar!Ichigo. Super slow-paced story!

25. Of Confessions, Lies and Betrayals

What's this? A chapter out so soon instead of the four months periods I would usually take? And I wrote a little bonus too?

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. All rights belong to the creator Tite Kubo. This is an AU story with some OOC.

Chapter 23: Of Confessions, Lies and Betrayals

-X-

Starrk looked at the Zanpakutō that got dropped on top of his desk by Lily with a slow and slothful expression. He scans the weapon from the tip of its blade to down at its guard before looking back at Lily. "Explain." She can't just toss a sword and have him be impressed by it.

Before speaking, Lily fixed her posture; she straightened her back with her arms down too. "Captain Kurosaki and I went down to Menos Park after Menoly and Loly informed us that sub-division leader Love requested our presence. So after a quick trip and an explanation, Love pointed us towards the location of an unknown structure—"

"Ya found a building?" Starrk asked, leaning back on his wooden chair. Kami, he needs to ask Urahara or Szayel to make him a comfy chair... or he should change it to one of his bean bag chairs that he has lying around in his apartment. He looked around the plain and... boring-looking room. The only decorations he has here in his office are the simple wooden desk, the very uncomfortable chair and two large file cabinets set right behind him... well, at least he used some colorful file folders.

Lily scratched her left cheek and dropped her pose. "Eh, well, no."

"Technically, it was a temple." Ichigo rolled his eyes and stepped forward with no state of carriage in his form. "It was about the same place where I found Mosqueda and his friends at. Only that it was probably at least four times the size of the last one." he stops to look at Lily. "Sheesh, there's no point in using that kind of attitude with Starrk, I mean, sheesh, it's still him; king or not."

Was that supposed to be an insult or something? Well, Starrk didn't know and seemed to not care as he shrugged. "Let's not change the conversation, you two. Because whenever both of you find something, there's always a story behind it."

Ichigo continued on from where Lily stopped. "I'll just get straight to what happens and not bore you. So, after a few hours of searching inside, Lily sensed someone's Reiatsu behind a wall and instead of looking around for an entrance, I punched a hole into it." His cheeks rose and contracted, causing vertical lines at the side of his face that his Hollow mask didn't cover; hinting Starrk that he was grinning behind it. "What we found inside was more than just a sword."

Starrk cocked an eyebrow and he was about to ask Ichigo to just spill it already when Yoruichi burst into the office with her eyes glued on several sheets of paper.

"I'm back! See how I told you that I would only take a couple of minutes to go around the other Divisions to pick up their monthly reports." Yoruichi's eyes haven't left the papers as she walks towards Starrk; she even bumps into both Captain and Lieutenant of the S&P Division without realizing it. "Would you look at this, Szayel is actually asking for permission into experimenting on some of Baraggan's soldiers." She looks up from the report and smirks at Starrk. "I wonder if you had anything to do with that."

He didn't feel one bit abashed at being caught. "Yes, well, Urahara told me how Szayel has been doing just that behind my back. So I gave him a little warning to not break the rules behind my back."

"I swear to Kami that almost reminds me of old man Yamamoto. He never spoke about threats but with how calmly he would explain a punishment to someone who would try to break the law behind his back, you wished he rather punished you." Until this point, Yoruichi finally acknowledges the presence of Ichigo and Lily. "And what are you two doing here so early at," she looks at the clock on the wall and then back to the pair. "seven in the morning."

'Forgot I had that clock, too.' The clock only held his attention for a brief second before he took the papers away from Yoruichi's hand so that he could read through them and until now, which he finally remembered, none of the reports were summaries down to only the most important details. "Great, now I need to actually read through all of this to figured out what's important and what's not." he glances over to Lily then raise the papers over his head and said out loud in a very obvious voice, "Oh how I wish my old dear Lieutenant could help me out, y'know, as a parting gift for sending her off into a better division."

The corners of Lily's fake smile twitched. "I guess I can do it one last time."

Hearing her, a slight smile stretched across Starrk's lips, "Why, thank you so much." He then looks back down to the reports. "By the way, Yoruichi, since I won't be posting you in Karakura Town for a while, I'm gonna need you around here for a bit, y'know, as a replacement for Lily."

Before the woman would reply, Lily butts in and continues on where Ichigo stopped, but instead of talking about the drawings in the wall, she drops their biggest discovery into the room. "Starrk, we can go higher!" Her words seemed to only leave Starrk and Yoruichi confused and before she could clear up what she was talking about, Ichigo spoke up.

"Starrk, we aren't the only Arrancar that ever existed in Hueco Mundo, there were others before us and greater Hollows than us."

Starrk's slight goofy attitude started clearing off as he looked back at Ichigo with a bored and uninterested attitude, but with everyone knowing of Starrk's habit, they all knew that Starrk wasn't trying to react to the news in the same way as others would. "Greater than us?" he only took a second to think about the possible subtle message behind Ichigo's words. "The way for a Hollow to be greater than us is by doing some very important achievement... which could only mean that they got to reach something higher than an Arrancar."

Again, Starrk saw the signs of a broad smile molding behind Ichigo's hollow mask. He took a slow breath through his mouth and looked at the clock on the wall. Urahara and Szayel wanted them to come over to the Plaza early today to check out their latest creation, but he figures the news that pop'd out of Ichigo's mouth was more important. 'Well, Urahara and Szayel wanted to only see Ichigo, so maybe I can send him over to them while Lily explains what they found?' Doesn't sound like an awful idea. "Yoruichi, go take Ichigo with the crazy duo. Lily, please come help me out with dealing with all these reports." He looks back down at the sheets and misses the brief look shared between Lily and Ichigo.

Yoruichi didn't miss the looks and teased both of them for it. She put herself between both teens and wrapped an arm around Ichigo's neck. "C'mon, I'm sure your girlfriend could use some time away from you, seeing how you're both glued to each other's hips."

"She's not m—!/I'm not hi—!"

Both teen's got to bite down on their words before it left their mouths and gave each other a quick glance before looking away with a healthy blush across their face.

Starrk seemed to have ignored their reaction but not the werecat; she looked at Ichigo and then at Lily. It was a little hard to read their expression but the pink on Lily's cheek, and what she must assume the same color on Ichigo's cheeks, was already telling her plenty enough already.

Lily was the brave soul to open her mouth. "I-I wouldn't mind being the idiot's girlfriend." She whispered her words, not loud enough for everyone to hear her but with how quiet the room was, she was sure everyone had, including Starrk. She took a second to look at her brother/father-figure but the man seemed to have ignored her confession.

Ichigo spoke up next, his voice no louder than Lily's. "I would love to have someone like Lily to be my girlfriend." He looked at Starrk at the end of his confession, and just like Lily's, he seemed to have ignored him too.

Nothing about Starrk's expression told them that he heard or even cared about what they both just said, and as Lily sensed his Reiatsu for some kind of disturbance, she found Starrk's Reiatsu to feel calm as it always had been. The news did not disturb him.

The odd atmosphere in the room vanishes once Yoruichi opens her mouth, "All right kid, c'mon let's see what Urahara and Szayel got for us." She gently drags Ichigo away with her arm around his neck. "We can take the long way too, cause I'm kind of interested in hearing everything you've got to say about that."

"You're talking about the zanpakutō, right?" Ichigo hopes that's what she's talking about, but sadly that wasn't the case since he saw her eyes land on Lily and then she turned around so that he could see her smirk.

"Yeah, sure, the zanpakutō." She waves at Starrk as she walks out of the room with Ichigo. "Don't take too long. They might not need you for the experiment, but Urahara and Szayel want you to be there." Only receiving a grunt of acknowledgment from the man, Yoruichi left the room after that and closed the door behind her. "So you wanna filled me in on the story, kid?"

Ichigo looked at Yoruichi's grinning face and sighed, "Please tell me you're not talking about what I think you're talking about." The fact that she grinned an inch higher made him groan softly. "Were things that obvious between us?"

"Oh, things were really that obvious. Everyone already knew something was gonna happen between you two. The only two things we didn't know was when it would happen and who would have been the one to confess first." She unwrapped her arm from the redhead's neck and shrugged, "Most of us bet that Lily would be the first one." She went back to grinning, "So make me a few thousand yen richer and just tell me that Lily was the one to confess first."

If Yoruichi was expecting Ichigo to sprout random words of embarrassment, it rather disappointed her when a clear sentence accompanied with an irritated tone in voice left his mouth.

"Bet? What bet? Wait a minute, are you telling me that there's a betting pool circle around Lily and me!? And it has to do with who confesses to who first!? What the hell!"

... maybe she should have waited after Ichigo's story to tell him about that.

---

The room was already pretty quiet, but with the absences of Ichigo and Yoruichi, things were dead silent. Lily stood stiff but occasionally shifted her weight between her feet as a means to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling that slowly swirled inside her stomach. It wasn't until she notices the lack of sheets moving around that she looks at Starrk to see him staring at her.

"You okay, Lily? You look a bit... rigid."

"Huh? No, no sorry. I was just umm, looking for a chair to sit on before I helped you out." She felt stupid as Starrk cock one of his eyebrows and look around the room.

"It took you awhile to figure out that I don't have any extra chairs here?" He asked before standing up and motioning for Lily to take a seat on his chair. "The least I can do for you is make you feel a bit comfortable as you do one last job for me." He set half of the reports on his desk for Lily to read through and the other half for him to summarize what he could on his own. As Lily looks at the set of sheets on his hand, he smiles towards her. "I got to learn how to do this by myself since I sent you off to be Ichigo's Lieutenant."

She only nodded once and sat down on the chair so that she could get to work. The sound of flipping sheets now appears to strangely go along with the awkward setting that she seems to be the only one to recognize. She peeks away from the reports and up to Starrk; the brunette walking back and forward as his eyes move along with every word he's reading—completely or utterly ignoring her distressed. She looks back down and starts a conversation by talking about what both her and Ichigo had found. "So about what we found—"

"So how are things between you and Ichigo?"

Starrk seemed to have a different thought to ask and as she looks toward him, she notices how he hasn't stopped reading or walking in circles. She didn't know about what Starrk was asking about—or hoped he wasn't asking about what she thought he meant—so she looked at him with a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?"

He looks away from his boring work and returns to look back at Lily. "I mean, something must have changed between the both of you because of the mixed feelings you seemed to radiate right now." His old companion seemed to have gotten caught, so she looked back to her work. He followed suit, but wasn't reading anything.

Lily was hoping she was doing an excellent job at hiding the pink flush across her cheeks. Damn it. Wasn't Ichigo supposed to be the one to tell Starrk about them? But now it seems like it'll end up being her work instead. 'Just great.' She flips to a recent report so her brain can think of how to either respond to his assumption or how to slowly reveal to him that she and Ichigo were a thing now.

"You know… I don't need our souls connected to know that what happened between you and Ichigo had made you happy."

She found her eye looking back at Starrk; standing still with a soft slight smile on his face.

"I also know that I'm making you feel very uncomfortable." He looks back down with a smile that's not leaving his lips. "I hope you understand that there's nothing to worry about. I won't be mad or disappointed."

"… I know you won't, but I don't know where to start." She knew where to start, she just didn't know how to. Should she just spill it? Admit to Starrk that they'd both had slowly grown feelings for each other through the last few years and until recently they had confessed to each other. If she tells him, will he strongly disapprove of their relationship? He said how he wouldn't be mad or disappointed, but he could also not allow their relationship or actually accept the idea. Her eye traveled to the current report she was reading and started crumbling the edges as a manner of controlling her steadily rising anxiety. "Starrk, I honestly don't know if I can tell you. I don't know what your reaction might be... I don't know if you would be angry with me..." Maybe that's what she's worried about. She mentally kicks the thought away and looks back to Starrk, the man's bored expression was back and with a yawn, he looked at her and she could see an idea pop into the man's head.

"What if I make things more comfortable for you?" And then he vanishes.

"Huh?"

For a moment before reappearing back into the room with two bean bags. She watches him set the cushion seats down with only a few spaces apart from one another. Starrk then took a seat on the bean bag that was the same color shade as his eyes while he left the orange one for her. She... honestly felt like crying and laughing at the same time. Did Starrk know already, and he wanted her to just declare her feelings? She didn't laugh... or cry but she took Starrk's invitation and walked over to sit down on the orange colored bean bag. She puts her hands on her knees and stares at them. What should she do?

As if stating the obvious, Starrk says, "You're wearing his shirt." He yawns into his left hand before putting them behind the back of head and closing his eyes. "I'm happy for both of you."

She looked back at him, but Starrk seemed to have gone to sleep right there and then. After a few minutes soft snoring reached her ears, and she didn't know how to feel about it. He possibly knew, no scratch that, HE KNOWS but he seemed to not even care about it and that hurt her feelings unbelievably hard. The fact that Starrk; her longest and closest companion—AND the man she looks up to as her brother/father-figure—didn't seem to show any more emotions for her happiness, made her feel so... Numbed? Cold? Hurt?

'Stopthinking like that.'

Her eye widened as the spirit inside her zanpakutō spoke, and she felt a slight shock in the sad tone she could feel and hear the spirit talk with. She wasn't going to respond but then her gloomy attitude slowly changed to a rising anger as she realized that her zanpakutō's spirit was trying to give her advice. 'Don't you say anything! I don't want to hear anything from you! Got it! Because the only thing that comes out of your mouth are insults towards Ichigo!'

After a few minutes and nothing coming from the voice in her head, Lily counted that as a victory before going back into thinking about her current problem; Starrk's approval. If Ichigo was with her, would she have an easier time doing this?

'Fucking stop that already!'

Lily was about to yell back before her Inner-Hollow continued.

'You're always fucking thinking or talking about Ichigo! Always! And you know fucking what else!? You're pissing me off right now!'

'ME!? You're pissing ME off!' Lily yelled back, anger rising to newer levels. She already knew how her Inner-Hollow was pissing her off; by making itself known… but she's curious enough to know about what the Hollow was talking about.

'... Will you let me talk then?'

'Fine.'

'Doesn't this scenario have a sense of familiarity? Alone with Starrk? With him sleeping off with no care of the world?' The Hollow-Lily had been using a hard stoned voice, but until now, at this very moment, she allowed herself to go into a state of vulnerability. 'We literally grew up like this... this was our life before Ichigo showed up. We didn't hate it, but we also didn't enjoy it. We accepted it as a way of life for us, but the feeling has always been a welcome one because we had each other.'

'What?..' Lily's eye widened. Why did that hit so close to home? She could agree with her spirit that she didn't hate or enjoy the feeling of futility since there was always a welcoming sense to it, but it was always instantly replaced with fear of feeling useless and insignificant. Of course those thoughts and feelings only emerge shortly after she realized how little her existence matters both emotionally and—literally—spiritually.

'You know,' The Hollow-Lily's usual hard voice came back, 'I can't believe I'm going to agree with Ichigo, but, Starrk's still the same idiot that he is now as he was over the last one thousand years. Don't you see it? Starrk's trying to make you feel comfortable but making sure it's just you two here. Like the old days...'

'Yeah... the good old days...'

'Who the hell are you!?' Lily yelled towards the 3rd voice that made itself known but then, nothing, no response. '... hello?'

---

-Lily's mindscape-

"You just had to say something! Huh?!" The white-skinned Lily dragged the malnourished child out of the cave by her hair before tossing her out to the scorching sun and sand. "You're not; I'm emphasizing this as clearly as I can, YOU'RE NOT supposed to talk to her! Got it!"

The smaller Lily rushed to her feet and spun around. "I'm sorry! Please! I won't do it again!" She tries rushing into the cave but the older girl kicks her. She grabs her stomach and bent down. "Why?... I promise I won't do it again... "

"Yeah, I know you won't now." She snarled before turning back around into the cave.

The smaller girl looks back to see the form of the Inner-Lily walk deeper into the cave. 'I'm sorry...' As she felt the blistering sun burning her back, she couldn't help but plea for that man to appear right now. 'Where are you, Zangetsu?'

---

With nothing more coming from her spirit, 'or spirits', Lily remembers what her Inner-Hollow said, and she quietly sighed before finally relaxing. After she adjusted, she laid her head back so that she could look at the ceiling. "Starrk... I fell in love with that idiot."

She waited; waited to hear the shift of his body as he stood up and looked at her with a disapproval look in his eyes but it never came. Instead, she could still hear his soft snoring. She took the risk and looked at him, but he was still asleep. As the sound of her throbbing heart rang louder in her ears, Lily calmed down before speaking up again.

"I mean... it's not like I fell in love with him the moment I saw him, it's just, after everything that had happened, everything we had been through... I slowly started developing a crush on him." She moves her head to look back at him, but Starrk is still asleep. "I mean, how couldn't I? He brought in so many changes for us, changes that we thought it would have been impossible for us." Her eye went back to the ceiling. "Do you remember our lives before Ichigo came around? Around two hundred years ago?"

"..."

Her voice took on a glum tone. "I do and I'm sure you do too. It wasn't a very cheerful life—but I mean, being a Hollow doesn't really give us a luxury lifestyle either. We used to travel a lot, remember? Because we wanted... friends." She glared derisively at Starrk. "Yes, I'm saying friends, not 'companions' because that's not what we wanted." 'That's enough about that.' "Okay, no more walking down on that stupid memory lane about our shitty two hundred year life and let's talk about the last six years." She smiles. "Our lives had changed when he first shown up, huh? Before, you wouldn't have dared to go to the Forest of Menos. I know it was painful for you since you would worry about killing the weak since you wanted to be around them, but on that day, you change for the better."

More snoring.

"We made friends." She smiled softly as she thought about everyone. "Sure Szayel only wanted to meet and thanked Ichigo for saving his life but he slowly opened up to us. Ulquiorra was—" She stopped and then laughed. She knew why she was talking about things such as 'friends', but the conversation should keep focusing on why she fell in love with Ichigo. When her laughter calmed down, she continued. "Sorry about that, it's just, I know what I'm supposed to be talking about, but I want you to see what I see in Ichigo and what makes him a grand guy."

"I know but don't keep me in here for the next four hours so just summaries everything into how you fell in love with him, okay?" Starrk yawned and shifted into a more comfortable position. Then he opens an eye to see Lily stunned. "Don't get the wrong idea, I wouldn't mind hearing every little detail but we do have a busy day today."

Her face reddened, but not because of embarrassment, more like self-anger for not realizing that Starrk was awake the whole time. Before she could explode, she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I should have known you were paying attention. Should've shoveled my hand down your throat."

"The—*yawn*—story, please?"

She heard the snoring again, and she was just about tempted to play her words before giving up. Strangely enough, knowing now that Starrk was awake and paying close attention to what she's saying made her feel better, and honestly is making her confession much easier to admit thanks to having her mind clearer. "Before I fell in love with him, before I grew a crush on him, he was my first friend ever. It was so easy to get along with him and it probably had to do with him being a kid like me that we grew really close. Then he became my best friend when he saved my life," She looks back at Starrk, "I mean, a best friend would do just that, right? Save you from near death?" She saw a slight motion of shrugging shoulders. Good, the jerk is still paying attention. "Then," She sighs, "my crush started growing on the day we both became 'real' Arrancar. After the entire ordeal, and we went to sleep for the night, I woke up some time later after a weird dream and then out of boredom I looked over at Ichigo's direction and realized what a handsome guy he was."

"This sounds alot like those shows you and Ichigo watched at Urahara's place." Starrk left a side comment.

"Not asking for your opinion right now." Lily rolls her eye and continues. "Honestly, our relationship took on an odd turn after that day. We were inseparable, even after a stupid argument we still stayed close to each other, we train together, ate and slept together too. Then came the day he found his family. After Isshin explained his story, and day changed to night, I found Ichigo still underground trying to train. But I knew there was something wrong with him." Her voice lowered down into a whisper. "He looked conflicted, and I knew why. I asked him if he was happy with being with his family again, but that's what he seemed confused about. He couldn't decide between us or them... So I made the choice easier for him; I asked him to stay with them."

"... You asked him to live with his family?" Starrk opens his eyes and looks at her with a doubtful expression on his face. "If you had a crush on him, then you wouldn't have told him to go."

Lily continued on with the same tone. "It wasn't a simple choice for me, but I wanted him to be happy, Starrk. He had already made us happy, and I wanted to return the debt." Her smile returned, "I didn't really have anything to worry about. He chose everyone... and that made my crush on him grow." Her eye beam with a slight shine and a sad smile on lips. "He introduced me to his mom..." Noticing the odd look from Starrk, she added, "Cemetery."

Starrk hummed before closing his eyes and adding his own two cents again. "Y'know, you just don't take anyone to your late mother's grave, you gotta be really close or hold that person in high regard. This is just a crazy assumption, but I think Ichigo may have grown a crush on you back then, too."

That thought had crossed her mind before, but hearing it from someone else made her smile. Deciding to end this entire conversation, she said. "There was a point in my life when I was having a hard time accepting myself. I... was going through an existential crisis and it all had to do with how I compared myself with you." Curiously, Lily wanted to see if Starrk was 'sleeping' off but to her surprise, he was fully awake and eyes slightly widened. "We were so different... you were everything I wish I could have been and it made me ask, what am I doing here? What was the whole point of me being... born? Created?" Her expression took on a worried look. "Did... I even existed at one point? Was I ever someone?... Those types of thoughts stayed with me for so long until," she smiled again. "Ichigo crashed into my life and started saving me."

She stood up and walked around Starrk, arms failing in the air. "He saved my life! Then he, without knowing, started saving me from myself. He then started making me feel like I had a purpose in life; I felt like I actually matter to someone and that started easing my mind. Then he literally, and I can't stress this enough, LITERALLY separated our souls and made me into a separate being; finally making me feel like I'm somebody and not an extension of someone else. I mean, who the hell can do something like that?!"

She sighed and flopped back into the comfy orange bean bag. "He saved my life. He made me understand the ability to love and be loved AND achieve a sense of fulfillment in my life by giving me the chance of making so many friends. I was able to challenge myself too because I was finally me; I was training, learning fresh things AND getting older—that last one's still my favorite. Also, thanks to his idea of helping the Hollows, I felt like I could make a difference for the Hollows too, so I started following his footsteps. Instead of protecting them, I want to help the Hollows feel alive and unique; sort of how he made me feel... Starrk, how couldn't I love him after everything he did for me?"

"... Honestly, I don't see how you couldn't." Starrk stretched his arms over his head and stood up. "The kid holds a special place in my life too but nothing of your level." he scratched the back of his head and looked at Lily. "In all honesty, I owe Ichigo my life for saving me against my own problems. He saved my life against Baraggan, saved me against my own issues when dealing with the solitary lifestyle by giving us friends. Besides, it's not like I didn't expect something between the both of you to happen."

Lily stood back up. "Wait. You expected for something between Ichigo and I to happen? Why didn't you try stopping it?"

"Would you have wanted me to stop it?"

"Huh? What? No! I'm happy that you didn't but," she frowns softly. "I know you fear feeling alone, so I don't know, watching me slowly leave your side... I thought, well, maybe you would have done anything to make sure that nothing between us would happen. I thought you would have been mad at me, or disapproved of our relationship, but worse of all... I thought you would have hated me for leaving you." She was positive that every typical scenario that she could have thought of or expected had crossed her mind. "Star—!"

He watched Lily slowly close her mouth and looked at his outstretched hand that he had lay on top of her before looking back at him. "Now why would I ever hate you over something like that. I…" `Wait, hold it Starrk, am I really going to say what I'm thinking about saying right now?' Was this the perfect time to tell Lily just how important she was to him? Had he never actually told her before? Dropped some hints for her?

...

Maybe right now is the perfect time. "Lily, you're my family."

"… Hu—Wha? Come again?..."

But maybe he should have done a better job at it. He groans and takes back his hand. "I mean, eh, well, Kami, how do I say this. You, um, make me happy?" Well, this is about the most complicated thing he has ever done... or ever will do and what's with the completely shook look on Lily's face, anyway? Hasn't he been obvious with how he cares and treats her? "Look, you had been a sort of responsibility for me; like taking care of someone else's pet." Wait, did that sound wrong? Oh Kami, that came out wrong. He took a lengthy breath. "Lily, you understand that I have trouble expressing myself. Always have and it'll be a hard habit to fix; so I'm sorry if the next words that come out of my mouth weren't—or aren't what you expected to hear from me."

He looked around the room for some sort of distraction that may make this easier for him. As he found his half of the reports neatly placed by his beanbag, he sat back down on it, picked-up the papers and started distracting his mind. "You and I, we go way back for almost two hundred years now and I guess this entire time that I had been taking care of you, I'd been feeling like a parent watching over his kid. You're an unpredictable, energetic child that just seems to always find ways of disrupting my peace and as annoying as you may be, I never really felt annoyed towards you since I knew the reason you acted like that." he looks up to meet her wide, lone eye. "You weren't so secretive about it." he looks back down. "We were one soul before. Our emotions, souls, and minds; we used to share all of that. So I knew the troubles you were going through."

"So... did you know about my hopes of dreaming?"

He nodded.

"Why didn't you try helping me?"

Starrk didn't need to look at Lily to see the hurt and sad look on her face; her tone was already giving it away. "I try to help you myself but how could I help you when I couldn't help myself? Also, it doesn't help that your problems were a lack of 'dreams' while mine was solitude." A smile creeps across his lips. "But you were right in how things changed when Ichigo came around. Ichigo was making you happy and your happiness was also my happiness. Well around some point, before y'know, went off to be your own person.—*yawn*—. Hmm, getting distracted. What I'm just trying to say to you, Lily, it's how different our relationship grew. We started off as companions but later down our lives, I realize you were a sort of responsibility for me; not that of a pet, more like... watching over a... daughter?" He shrugged and looked back at Lily, a shocked expression still glued to her face. "I'm not calling you my 'daughter' because you're a 'chore' that I got used to taking care of. I'm calling you my daughter because—"

"Starrk." Lily opened her mouth, voice barely above a whisper but it got Starrk to stop his words. "Do you understand what you're talking about? Or saying? You're calling me your daughter. Do you understand how serious that sounds? We're not even blood relatives."

"We don't need the same blood to run through our veins to be family."

"… We're Hollows the word family doesn't work for us, Starrk."

"Neither should love but, hey, here you are confessing your love towards Ichigo." Starrk hummed and relaxed on his cushion seat. "Huh, I guess I'm confessing my parental-love towards you right now." An awkward silence filled the room and Starrk continued his distraction by looking through the papers to find Ulquiorra's report, but ever so slightly he could hear Lily's mouth opening and closing in attempts to speak her mind but failing. "Hey, I don't see Ulquiorra's report in my stack, do you have it?"

That seemed to have finally snapped Lily's mind and with it the quick confusion. "Huh?" Then instantly replaced with anger. "Damn it, Starrk! Don't just change topics like that! WE'RE having a special moment, you jackass!" But she still looks through her sheets before stopping. "Ulquiorra doesn't write his reports, he does some weird eye trick." She heard him humming and she couldn't stop herself in the act of merely sighing at his response, however she found herself in a state of peace of mind. "So, are you actually okay with me and Ichigo?"

"You remember how Ichigo has sisters, right?"

How couldn't she; she made a promise to both of them. "How could I ever forget Yuzu and Karin?" Wait, the asshole was changing topics again!

Starrk murmured something under his breath and opened his mouth before Lily could. "Wanna know something Isshin once told me before?" He pauses, but only to take a second to recall what the Shinigami said. "Respect her uniqueness. I also got to make her know that I love her for who she is, her wishes, dreams and choices. I also have to treat her and those she loves with respect." He turned back to her. "Apparently those are Isshin's most important rules in how someone should treat their daughter."

Is he saying what she thinks he's saying? "So, are you telling me that it's okay?" She still needs to check with him though.

"… Sure?"

"Just like that?" Yep, still asking, Starrk sounded a bit unsure of himself.

Mind no longer needing a distraction, Starrk was now actually reading through the current report from Shinji. "I mean, why not? I don't have any problems with Ichigo, he's an excellent kid... Hey, why does Shinji's report look like he's just complaining the entire time?"

"Is he complaining about all the paperwork?" ... 'Wait! Grr! STOP DOING THAT YOU JACKASS!' She glared at him and puffed her cheeks. "We kissed last night."

"That's cute and yeah, he's just complaining about all the paperwork. Does he actually have something to report or is he just complaining?"

So that's it. This was how easy it was. He's not even mad or disapproving of her choice and if what he said was true, with the fact that he had known something would happen between them, then he could have prevented their relationship but he didn't. She blinks and her eye slowly moves to the papers in her hands. "Read Shinji's report more carefully. He's hinting you on the things that he's hoping you can fix."

"He needs to come out and say it. Would be easier for both of us."

Yeah... things would have been easier if both her and Ichigo said something about it the moment they burst into Starrk's office. She was about to open her mouth and help Starrk out when a loud groaning noise came from his throat.

"Alright, let's just go see what Szayel got for us." He stood up and stretched out his hand to Lily's paper. She looked both confused and dubious about her stack before handling them over to him. "Don't worry about it. I'll just ask Yoruichi to help me out." He pulls his door back and moves as Ichigo falls to the floor on his back. "I was wondering why I could still sense you." He leaned his head outside the door frame and looked to his left at Yoruichi who was sitting down. "I thought both of you went over to Szayel and Urahara?"

The werecat stood up to stretch her limbs and pop some of her joints. "We were, but then I asked Ichigo about his brief adventure and we sort of just sat down to chat about it." Yoruichi moved to the side as Starrk stepped over Ichigo's body. "You and Lily already finished all the work?"

Starrk looked back into the room to see Lily glaring down at Ichigo while the redhead looked back at her. 'That reminds me.' "Hey, Ichigo, I'm gonna need a report from you. So turn it in later today. Oh, also, your Division's done; It hasn't been open to your members yet, since I want you to check if you want any changes." He put his hands inside his pockets before leaving with a Sonido.

Lily looks up as Yoruichi gives her a two-finger salute before chasing after Starrk with her Shinigami's technique and then looks down at Ichigo. "So, heard anything interesting." She gave him a hand to help him stand back up.

"I... honestly wasn't. Yoruichi and I talk about... something."

There was something strange about Ichigo that Lily couldn't quite point a finger on it. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just had a very interesting conversation with Yoruichi." Ichigo shook his head. "C'mon, let's go."

---

Sora couldn't believe that this was what the afterlife looked like.

After Szayelaporro's explanation about where he was and what he had become, he left the Science Division in shock but found himself lost inside the building before asking for help, which someone had and guided him towards the 1st level where he belongs. Some time later he walked down the spiral staircase and stopped at the bottom of the stairs to look around him. Hollows move through the streets chatting to one another or moving around as any regular person would in their normal days. 'That's enough looking like an idiot.' Needs to remember that the strange pink-haired man gave him a... prescription that allows him to order a sizable amount of ArrancarFP? 'Whatever...'

He barely moves an inch as another Hollow—which is now what he's classified as—bumped into him. He stumbles to his left before catching himself. "I'm sorry about that!" He looked at the ground, expecting to see a Hollow on its back and possibly glaring daggers at him, and instead he saw a Hollow with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a scorpion. As he looks closer, he notices that the Hollow's upper body was that of a woman with strange features; one of her hands was that of a scorpion's pincer and she had a stinger between the back of her shoulders.

"It's fine, that was my fault. I was sort of distracted talking with my friend here." Menoly gestures towards Loly who just seems to scowl softly at the Hollow. She sighed and then turned around. "Sorry about—Huh?"

He couldn't see it, but Sora was sure that Menoly furrowed her eyebrows. Everyone did that once they realized how he's weaker than the average Hollow living in La Estrella and how half of his Hollow mask was missing. Something was telling him it was the latter that both of them seemed to focus on right now. He watched as her dull, green color eyes squinted before going back to normal.

"Well, aren't you somewhat special?" Loly said after her inspection of the new Hollow.

Her words without doubt meant to sound as a rude comment. Well, to Sora, that's what it sounded like. He couldn't ignore the comment since it seemed to be the only thing people say about him. "I tend to hear that alot..."

Menoly looked past the Hollows and up the staircases that she's confident that he came down from. "Did you apply to join a Division?" She looked at the paper in his hand, a bit crumpled up to see what it was about but once again, she was confident it was possibly an application. 'But we don't do any of that.'

"Um, not really." Sora noticed that both the Hollows seemed to have been heading up the stairs. "Are both of you perhaps members of a Division?"

Seeing a chance in boosting both her and Menoly's reputation. Loly moved forward and puffed her chest out. "Don't bump us with the other lesser soldiers of Escudos. We're the only two royal guards of Hueco Mundo's princess; Lilynette."

"Wait, you're talking about Lily? Right? A young, beautiful girl with green hair and a pink eye?" Sora slightly backs away as the rude girl leans her face closer to his; her strange double layered mask's mouth seemed like it was grinning.

"That's the one. Also, don't be so bold in calling her beautiful when you see her next time or else her boyfriend might get rid of you." Loly almost burst out laughing as the Hollow pale.

Menoly rolls her eyes and gently smacks Loly's arms. "Please don't scare him like that. Also, you're making it sound like Captain Kurosaki will kill him for over a little compliment like that." She clapped her hands together and slightly bowed down. "Sorry about Loly's attitude, she just likes messing with people." She outstretched her normal hand. "Sorry for not introducing ourselves yet. I'm Menoly and as you have heard already, my friend here is Loly."

"Sora."

Her green-eyed beam. "Now that introductions are out of the way, I'm curious to see what you have been holding."

"You mean this?" Sora lifted the paper up for Menoly to see, but she took it instead.

She only read a couple of sentences before her head rushed towards Sora's face. "20 pills!? You have to take 20 pills between two weeks?!"

"WHAT!" Loly rushed over and read over Menoly's shoulders before stopping. "Why the hell would Captain Szayelaporro have you eat this many!"

"Please! Can you not yell," He looked around to see how the girls' yelling had gained the curiosity of some nearby Hollows. "Is not much of an enormous deal, anyway, It's just food."

"But no one had taken this much amount before! They give every Hollow 5 pills that last for an entire month! The most I saw someone take has been 7 but not 20!" Menoly rushed to read through the entire letter. "Loly's right; you must be special—!" She stopped, re-read the last sentence before looking up at Sora and then back down again.

Sora felt nervous as both sisters got quiet and occasionally looked up from the paper before looking back down.

"You must be strong or have some sort of super-high tolerance level to be around us or else you would be dead." Loly said after some time, her tone changing between bored and puzzling.

Menoly nodded. "No doubt about it. I never thought I would ever see a Hollow like you here."

"What are you talking about? I'm a Hollow like you." As Menoly gives him back his paper, he frowns softly.

"Trust us, you're not like us. We're Adjuchas. A class of Hollow that has gone through its normal and Gillian stage. Our powers are nothing alike. You're weaker, far weaker than any Hollow here and should also be dead with all these powerful Reiatsu that are here." Menoly looked as more Hollow gathered and possibly heard their conversation. 'He's life is now in danger because of us.' Hollows will now try to take their chances and kill Sora to take his prescription. 'They're probably thinking how they might evolve again if they eat more of the ArrancarFP.' She looks back to her friend and notices how she just finished looking around too, possibly having the same thoughts as her. Loly then looked at her and nodded before she nodded back.

"All right, Sora, come with us, we'll take you towards a shop that's near us." Loly turned around and started walking. She turned her head slightly to see Sora behind her while Menoly took the back, but then Sora stopped and slightly started shaking.

"What-t is that?" He looked up towards the top of the stairs. "I can... sense something powerful coming down here."

Menoly and Loly couldn't sense what Sora was talking about, but they could guess who he was mentioning. A few seconds later and both of them could sense the king and the Shinigami woman.

"Seems like Starrk-sama and Yoruichi-san are heading towards Szayelaporro and Urahara." Menoly turned around to see Sora still shaking. "Guess even you can't handle Starrk-sama's Reiatsu."

"There's another one coming our way." Sora gulped audibly. "But this one feels different…"

"Well, that must be—" Loly turned around to see Lily materialize in front of them. "Yo."

"Hey. Where are you two heading?" No one could answer her as Ichigo appeared behind her.

"C'mon on, Lily, I don't wanna be late."

Loly looked at Sora, slightly shaking in his place, she grinned and moved over to his side before nudging him. "Green hair, pink eye, young and beautiful, just like you said."

"Huh?" Both Arrancar said and before any of them could say a thing, Starrk appeared behind them and put a hand on their shoulders.

"Come on you two, Today's gonna be a busy day so let's get this out of the way."

When all the Arrancar left, Sora lost strength in both of his forearms and fell to the floor.

Loly rolls her eyes, thinking how the man was overreacting. "You know I'm just messing with you, Ichigo wouldn't kill you for something like that. So stop acting so melodramatic."

"Don't be like that, Loly," Been the most caring one out of the two, Menoly kneels by Sora's side and starts patting the Hollow's back. She turned to her companion and scowled at her softly. "He's not an Adjuchas like us, Starrk-sama's and Kurosaki's Reiryoku are probably too much for him to handle right now." She moved as Sora slowly stood back up. "Feeling better now?"

The Naga-like Hollow nodded. "I am. I never expected for a Captain and the King to feel that powerful... Especially Captain Kurosaki."

Menoly noticed the frown on Sora and shrugged. "Well, that's Captain Kurosaki for you. He's rather powerful compared to most of the Captains."

"I guess the strange second form of power inside him is why he's more powerful." Also, did Loly call him Ichigo? 'Kurosaki Ichigo... why does that name seem familiar to me?' He shook his head and looked back at both bug-like Hollows. "What's wrong?" Both of them were quiet and looking at him sternly now.

"How did you sense them?" Menoly couldn't quite sense a Hollow's Reiryoku unless they release it in the form of Reiatsu. The only beings that know how to pick up someone's presence like that are the Arrancar with their Pesquisa.

Loly sighed and looked at her friend before saying, "This idiot may actually be special."

---

Even though he turned around to pick up Lily and Ichigo, Starrk narrowly got to beat Yoruichi to the barely built warehouse that Szayel and Urahara wanted them to meet at.

"Okay, one, I slow down for you to catch up and two, I don't know where they wanted us to meet them at so I had to let you take the lead and to do that, I had to slow down.'' Yoruichi said, arms crossed and pouting.

Starrk yawned first before walking inside the building. "Why is it so hard for you to admit that I'm finally faster than you? Honestly, I feel like I heard every excuse twice from you already."

She mumbled an insult under her breath before turning her head to Ichigo and Lily. "So what have you two been up to lately?"

"Nothing."

Both teens said in unison, making her snicker at them. "That was cute. Like something you would see couples do." She turned around to Starrk and jabbed his back. "Right Starrk?" Jab. "Right?" Jab. "Right?"

"Those are some nerves of steel." Lily whispered to Ichigo, both of them watching as Yoruichi kept annoying Starrk by poking him everywhere.

Ichigo smirks and whispers back, "Yeah, but how long until Starrk snaps?"

They followed them around a corner and came up to a wide area filled with machines that only both scientists could name and describe their purpose, however, there was one thing in the room that everyone recognized immediately.

Starrk slowly walks to the glass chamber and lays a hand on it. He looked to his left, where Urahara was rapidly typing something on the computer connected to the glass wall. "Urahara, does this mean what I think it means?" The blonde man shifted his hat slightly up to look at him. "I recognize this glass chamber anywhere. Since you use one to transform us into Arrancar. Does this mean that the Hōgyoku has awakened again and you're planning on transforming some Hollows into Arrancar?" He turns back to the machine and notices the recent addition of two metallic boxes; one on top of the chamber and the other one besides the computer that Urahara was working on.

Urahara looked back down. "Well, that would be nice, but no. The Hōgyoku's still hibernating, although it still has some usage. What we have now is something slightly less exciting for us." He looked up and through the glass walls at Szayel, who was on the opposite side. "Want to drop the news to them since this was your idea?"

The pink-haired Arrancar stops to smile and push his glasses up. "Well, since you insist. " He turned to Starrk and the others. "This entire facility will soon be Hueco Mundo's first of many power stations that will power-up La Estrella."

Starrk lost interest, but was still curious. A power station wasn't something or isn't what he expected them to build. The fact that they took months to build what he assumes must be an electrical power storage, could have been finished in weeks since there are quite a few electrical power stations juicing their entire base of operation; Escudos. His eyelids bored down, now feeling utterly bored. "I'm sure this little device of yours can do more since you guys could have literally gone to the Human World and steal a few more electrical power stations with some generators." Which they had done before.

"Oh Starrk-san, listen more carefully, I never mentioned that we built an electrical power station. What we're building is a Reiatsu power station." Now that Szayel had gained Starrk's attention, he grinned. "You see Starrk, any normal form of power stations to us is utterly useless to us, perhaps in the distant future we will need them but what we need now is something far more important; Balance."

Hearing a clap and turning to see a goofy happy Urahara, Starrk gave him his undivided attention.

"What we're doing right now may cause a problem with the balance of souls that Soul Society has been protecting since their existence." Urahara pulled out his fan and covered half his face. "Shinigami purify Hollows when they kill them with their Zanpakutō, they release all the souls that the Hollow had eaten and send them all to the Soul Cycle. However, now that Hollows are staying here in Hueco Mundo, that balance may soon break because souls are no longer joining the cycle, so more souls will leave the cycle and leave empty at the same time unless the Shinigami could start sending more souls there and to do that..."

Lily's eye slowly widened as she figured it out first. "They have to come here since most Hollows are now staying in Hueco Mundo, the Shinigami will have no choice but to figure out a way to invade Hueco Mundo to massacre Hollows."

"That's right." Szayel's smile dropped. "As much as I would love to see Soul Society crumble, the balance of the worlds is a little more important. That's why we're creating these Reiatsu Power Stations. We soon may need to stop using the Gillians to make our food—that's also a factor in the breaking of the Soul Cycle, BUT! Nothing to fear since I thought of a way for us to keep getting food and not disrupt the cycle." He leans closer to the group and spreads his arms to the glass chamber in a show-off fashion. "That's where my invention comes in and to show it off, I'm going to need a volunteer." He didn't wait on anyone, he already set his eyes on Ichigo. He opens the door to the glass chamber and gestures for Ichigo to come in.

Ichigo got the cue that Szayel wanted him to go into the chamber, but sometimes Szayel's inventions tend to... explode. He looks at Lily and gestures her out. "Well, lady's first."

Her response was more simple, she smacked him at the back of his head and started shoving him into the chamber. "Don't be such a scary cat, this thing not gonna blow up." She turns to the pink-haired man and whispers. "This thing isn't going to explode, right?"

"Meh, 50/50."

Well, that's good enough for her. "See? 50 plus 50 equals 100! So you're good!"

"That's not how that works!" Ichigo yelled back absurdly, but it didn't matter as Lily did one more shove and he was already inside the glass chamber. With a sigh of defeat, Ichigo turns to Szayel and glares at him. "This thing better not kill me."

"No promises~!" Szayel singsong back, before looking back at the group and Urahara set the machine up. "Now then. The two things that this machine will do for us is one; give us food with the same quality as our normal food source but in higher quantity! And last, it will return souls back into the cycle." He looks back at Ichigo to see the redhead get coated in a baby-blue layer of light. "Don't worry about it Ichigo-kun, you'll feel slightly nauseous but that's about as bad as the symptoms get. First the machine will gather Reiatsu and unlike the machines we use, it doesn't dematerialize the individual. Now, after that's done, the box that you see on top will absorb most of the discarded Reiatsu and leave some behind. Then after the first box closes, the second box will release the same faux-Reiatsu that we use on our current machines, mix and get sucked back again to the same box and then we're done."

Ichigo felt as if he was going through the stages that Szayel was talking about. He felt his Reiatsu getting pulled out of his body and into the box on the wall. Then he watches as the second box on top of the chamber releases a strange gas which starts melding with his left-over Reiatsu before getting absorbed back into it. He stood there waiting for a while before hearing Szayel opening the door for him to get out. He looked back at him and couldn't believe how fast and painless the process was. "That was it? There's nothing more?"

"Exactly!" Szayel responded enthusiastically.

"So where's the food and the souls?" Starrk asks and the pink-haired Arrancar answers him immediately.

"The second box is making the food, and as for the souls." Szayel gestured towards Urahara and the blonde pressed a button on the box right next to him. It slowly started glowing before fading in an instant.

"You see Starrk, us Shinigami have two jobs to do. We kill Hollows with our Zanpakutō to cleanse them of the sins they committed as a Hollow so that they could pass into the afterlife. Then our second job involves sending Pluses to the Soul Society with our Zanpakutō's ability; Konsō. But what we're doing right now isn't exactly like that. What we're going to do with these souls is sending them straight to the cycle and to do that I had to get Tessai's and Hacchi's help in creating a powerful Kidō Spell but that still isn't enough.'' Urahara opened the box and pulled out a familiar-looking orb. "Sending souls into the cycle isn't easy since we have to open a gate straight into it, and opening a gate to an entirely different dimension is rather difficult for a person but like I said before, the Hōgyoku's still active enough to temporarily open a gate for the souls." He puts the orb back inside, claps his hands and smiles at the group. "Well, that's about it, hopefully once the Hōgyoku wakes up, we can create more Arrancar and have them volunteer to help us out."

"Urahara-san."

Said man turned to look at Ichigo and noticed the swirls of emotions he could see in his eyes. "Something you want to say, Captain Kurosaki?"

Ichigo's eyes shook with so much emotion as he spoke. "Could this machine possibly remove only one soul inside of us?"

Yes, there were plenty of emotions dancing in Ichigo's eyes, but the most noticeable one was desperation. "Well," Urahara looked down and thought. "We could re-work the machine to do just that but that would be a waste since we can pull out more souls this way but I mean, if you had someone in mind that you want to get rid off, it's safe to assume they're out already."

"Can you use regular Hollows too, or does the machine work better with an Arrancar?" Lily asks and glances over at Ichigo. She knew what he was talking about and she rather switched the subject for his sake.

"Well, Arrancar won't feel any change in their strength if a few souls get removed, a normal Hollow will feel it though." Szayel answered her question and before more could be said, Ulquiorra appeared. "You're late to see the show, Ulquiorra-san."

Ulquiorra looks at the assembled group then at the machine before going back to the group. "I'm sure I missed nothing important—Well, I have you know!—" He ignored Szayel and looked at Starrk. "I have something very important to show you—Oh fine, just ignore me.—" He pulled out his left eye before crushing it in his hand. Insignificant specks of dust hover slightly over his head. "Absorb some of it." He didn't need to tell Lily twice since she was already familiar with his technique but the rest slightly looked puzzled before doing what he told them and seconds later their eyes widened and looked at him. "She's in a cell at the Police Division. Shall we?"

Szayel watched everyone leave before looking back at Urahara. "I honestly can't believe that it actually worked." He followed Urahara as the man walked back to the computer. "I guess your lies work again, eh, Urahara-san? You know, as a 'Thank You' gift for helping you out, do what Ichigo-kun asked for you." He taps his lips a couple of times before a wicked grin spread across them. "Or instead of a 'Thank You' gift, perhaps it should be a 'I'm Sorry That I Use You As A Tool For The Last Four Years' apologies."

Urahara could feel Szayel's wrongful smile sending a shiver down his spine. "I'll apologize once I'm finished."

Szayel leans his head besides Urahara's left shoulder to see the information gathered into the computer, he smiles and turns around with a hand on his right cheek. "Oh~ I'm sure Starrk will forgive you for lying to his face about everything; this machine, the Hōgyoku... Aizen." Dropping his taunting attitude, his smile twisted into a nasty snarl and he spoke through gritted teeth. "Remember our promises, Urahara-san. I could have told Starrk-san everything you had done behind our backs, but your silver tongue is the only reason you're not dead. As long as I keep my lips sealed—you'll take the fall alone and will help me with my ambition; immortality."

Stopping his work to look back at the pink-haired Arrancar, Urahara says, "Between my lies and your ambition, I can tell you, I'll regret yours more than mine."

---

"So, what can you do?" Mashiro asked their unsuspected guest. "Can you spit acid or somethin' like that? Oh~ how about changing colors?! Wait... no, snakes can't do that… or can they? Hmm, can you shed your skin?"

Sung-sun had coiled herself once the 'policemen' of La Estrella left her in the cell with this very talkative woman. The white-skinned man that she remembered about two years ago had come and asked her questions before leaving a few minutes ago, and it wasn't five minutes later before he appeared back again with the company of Starrk. She bows her head slightly out of respect. "I hope you're brief about my reason for being here, Starrk-sama."

"Oh, so now you're finally talking!" Mashiro puffed her cheeks and pouted.

"From what I saw through Ulquiorra's eyes," Starrk ignored Mashiro's comment and the look the Serpent-Hollow sent him, "I'm having a hard time believing that Harribel had asked to join us. She has been keeping her distance away from me and Baraggan, not bothering to choose sides."

"She has, but that's only because Harribel-sama wants to avoid your needless quarrel for the sake of the Hollows who chose to join her."

"So what change?" Lily asked with a frown. If Harribel had been avoiding joining any sides to this war for the purpose of keeping Hollows safe, then why break her oath after two years when their war had spread across most of Hueco Mundo. The Vasto Lorde should have made-up her mind a few years back.

The white serpent's eyes move to Lily, "Baraggan's scouts are getting closer to our hideout with each passing day. She's worry that once they find us, Baraggan will come to kill her and take the Hollows to work for him as either slaves, soldiers or perhaps both."

All those choices are grim news for him. More soldiers on Baraggan's side will just mean the attacks will start becoming more frequent and they won't possibly be able to keep their food supply coming if Baraggan chooses to re-do another Gillian Massacre like he had done two years ago. 'Guess I don't have any choice. We can't have Baraggan kill Harribel and gain more soldiers because then they'll destroy everything we work hard for.' Starrk yawned and looked over to Ulquiorra, "Pass a message to all the Captains and Lieutenants to keep the divisions running constantly from this point on." He looks back to Harribel's Hollow and opens the cell, "You're going to take me to meet Harribel."

Ichigo blinks a few times as he hears about Starrk's order. "Wait, you're going alone, Starrk?"

"If Baraggan's scouts find Harribel and tell him, then he'll head over to her." Ulquiorra moved his eyes towards Ichigo's. "Starrk is still the only one among us that can fight—!"

Yoruichi watches as all the Arrancar simultaneously turn their heads towards the same direction. Noticing the soft frown on Starrk's lips, she says, "I don't like that look on your face." Hearing the static-boom of a Sonido, she turns her head around to see Szayel.

"And you shouldn't." he pushes his glasses up with the palm of his hand, "Baraggan and his army are marching towards us but they seemed to have suddenly stopped. It's almost as if they're waiting for something."

"And it doesn't take a genius to know why." Ulquiorra said, "Starrk's still here and as long as he's here, then Baraggan won't take another step, but if he was to leave."

"Then they'll attack us." Lily scowled and turned her facial expression to Sung-sun. "Someone followed you here and then they went back to tell Baraggan."

"We have a problem," Ulquiorra kept adding to the bad news. "I only sense a fraction of Baraggan's army, the rest of them most likely are heading towards Harribel's location."

"Well, that doesn't sound good." Yoruichi put her right hand on her hip. "But that doesn't mean we don't have a solution for it. All we have to do is send at least a few of our Captains to help Harribel. While Starrk and a few more stay here to make sure Baraggan doesn't do anything stupid."

"Sounds like a plan to—" Starrk stopped to see Love appearing in front of them; bend over on his knees and out of breath.

"S..s-tark...k we have a problem. All our remaining farms are getting attacked simultaneously by Baraggan's soldiers, some of us are doing well but a few are struggling." the Afro-star man took a long breath and said, "Starrk, Baraggan sent that troublesome double headed-Gillian and a very, very, powerful Hollow, I hate to admit it but we're having problems down there. I already went over to Kensei and Shinji for help."

"And the unwelcome news is getting worse." Yoruichi looked at Starrk and then back to Sung-sun. "But Harribel should still do just fine if some of Baraggan's army headed towards her, she's still a Vasto Lorde and she won't be fighting alone since she has many followers. Besides, as a Vasto Lorde, the only thing that could challenge her is an Arrancar and as far as we know, Baraggan doesn't have one in his army."

"Or maybe he does." Lily frowned as she said, "Starrk, I still haven't told you about our adventure but we had a close encounter with an Arrancar and by how he greeted us, it is safe to assume he's with Baraggan."

"Was he strong?" Starrk asked and Ichigo answered him.

"Honestly? Not really. Either of us could have easily dealt with him but he used a Cero inside the temple and the place started collapsing so we had to escape."

"Change of plans." Starrk knows he doesn't have the time to think about it, so choices will get made rather hastily. "Baraggan's right outside our door and he's waiting for me to either go to Menos Park or help Tier, but that won't do. Ichigo, Ulquiorra go down with Love and help them out. I have no choice but to say hello to him." he glances over to Szayel and Yoruichi, "You two are coming with me; as an intimidation act, Baraggan's army still needs to understand that I'm not La Estrella's only capable fighter." He looks at Lily, then at Ichigo. "Is the Arrancar stronger than Lily?"

Lily instantly noticed the worried look in Ichigo's eyes and before he could say a thing, she cut in. "No, I'm stronger."

"You don't know that, Lily! He didn't even use his Resurrección!"

"I can take him out before he does! Trust me!"

Convincing Lily now would be impossible. So instead, Ichigo asked for a change. "Starrk, let me go with Lily." Feeling a slight squeeze on his left shoulder, he turns around to see Love with an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry Ichigo, but we really need you. Rose, Nel and I can't protect all the farms. At least with all of you there, we have a better chance."

"Then Lily should come with us then." Ichigo tried again, but Yoruichi of all people shot it down.

"Lily needs to go with the Hollow to help Harribel, besides, she can handle herself just fine, Ichigo. Trust me, I train her."

"Also, it is not like I'm sending her off alone," Starrk glances at Mashiro and then back at Ichigo. "I understand you have reasons to be more worried about her now, but this is part of her job. She used to get worried about you when you went off to Menos Park to fight off Baraggan's army, but she knew how that was always part of your job. She also knew you'd come back." Starrk put his hands inside his pockets and started walking past Ichigo before stopping behind him. "Trust in my judgment and in her strength that she'll come back. Szayel, give Lily and Mashiro your special Reiatsu-hiding cloaks, we can't have Baraggan chase after them. "

A Sonido use later, Starrk left and was soon followed by Szayel and Yoruichi. Love looked at Ichigo to apologize one more time and left. Now the only remaining people were Ulquiorra, Ichigo, Lily, Mashiro and Sung-sun.

The atmosphere left behind by Starrk was tense and awkward for both Ichigo and Lily.

Getting tired of it, Lily tried to get rid of the awkwardness. She lightly punched Ichigo's chest. "Umm, well, you better go off and show them what happens when they mess with the infamous Zangetsu." She tried smirking, but the action felt rather self-force so she dropped it and instead looked at him with a small, worried smile. "Please come back safe, Ichigo."

To this point and before, this scene had happen to them; Ichigo would get the occasional call to help Menos Park to deal with Baraggan's army usual attacks with most times Lily been around with him to hear duty calling to him and every time she dismissed him with a wave of her hands with a simple sentence or two such as: "Go kick their ass.", "Better do your job or else they'll demote you, Lieutenant Kurosaki." or—the one that until this point realized how important it really meant—"Please come back safe, Ichigo."

He didn't see a reason for her to always say that last one after a cheeky comment; it felt rather pointless on purpose, but now those words hit differently. Maybe because it used to be Lily's way of a subtle approach of revealing her feelings towards him. It was also perhaps their only form of trust that got used among them two that didn't involve taunting one another, but now it felt rather different. Trust was still there but with Lily's tone in voice, it almost—no, scratch that, he heard her words sounding off like a sort-of-pleading promise that didn't reveal too much emotion.

"I'll come back and you better come back too. That's an order from your Captain."

Ichigo tried to squeeze a joke into this slightly grim situation but with how he mixed in tones of trust, plea and promise into his voice too, and it was undoubtedly noticeable for her. He saw how her smile warmed. Emotions really feel different when relationships get involved. He stumbles a bit back as Lily leaps to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him close to his eyes; the only area where his Hollow mask wasn't covering.

"Aww~, now isn't this cute~!"

Both teens jump and turn around to see Szayel smirking at them.

"What the hell are you doing here!? Aren't you supposed to be off with Starrk and—" Lily stopped and caught the cloak that Szayel had thrown to her and then one at Mashiro.

"You're going to need those if you don't want Baraggan or his army to chase you. Now then, how about you two," He turns to Ulquiorra then at Ichigo, "go down to Menos Park and all of you," he looks at the girls now, "go save Harribel's life."

Watching him leave, Ichigo and Lily looked at each other, nodded once and walked towards their temporary partners.

"Okay, let's go save Harribel."

"C'mon, we better do our job."

Each party left to do their respective mission.

With a horrible mistake that none of them noticed.

---

Szayel appeared right behind Starrk and Yoruichi, a few miles away from La Estrella. He walked towards Starrk's left side; his hands were still inside his pockets with a look of boredom in his face, almost as if he had gone through this kind of situation every day.

"All right, let's get this over with." Starrk slowly started walking towards Baraggan who stood in front of his army with his Battle ax's blades facing towards the ground and his hands resting on the flat end of the weapon. A few more steps and they stop, leaving a few meters of space between them two. "So a Divide-and-Conquer strategy, Baraggan?" The only thing that Baraggan did which sent a shiver down his spine was a smirk.

"No, this is just a distraction."

The brunette mentally cursed. Baraggan has too much pride to let himself become the distraction to whatever plan he is plotting. 'Is he distracting us from making sure we don't go help the farms or helping Harribel?' It couldn't matter which of the two it could be. Everyone in Menos Park is strong enough to battle off Baraggan's army, and with Ichigo and Ulquiorra helping them out, they should win in about ten minutes. Lily and Mashiro had put on the cloaks—since he couldn't sense their Reiatsu anymore—so there's no way for Baraggan or his army to go after them.

"There's no point in weighing up your choices now, Coyote. Because you failed the first and only move that you needed to prevent this."

Starrk narrows his eyes. "What the hell are you talking about, Baraggan?" But the other king said nothing. Baraggan turned around and tapped the air, creating a giant Garganta. He hasn't done anything or given Yoruichi and Szayel a signal to stop him since it was better for Baraggan to leave now without a fight but that didn't mean he wasn't worried.

"Something is going on Starrk." Szayel whispered towards his ears and Yoruichi nodded as she spoke her troubled thoughts too.

"Things shouldn't be this easy."

Both of them were right, but Starrk didn't see a reason to stop Baraggan. A few minutes pass before all the remaining Hollows open a Garganta for them to take. 'This feels rather pointless... what is Baraggan plotting?' Just as the last of the Hollows enter their gate, Baraggan unleashes a burst of his Reiatsu. The act only lasted a second, but he heard the quiet shifting of feet beside him. He looks to his left to see Szayel had taken a step back and to his right, Yoruichi had changed her footing to charge towards the old king, he could see sweat going down her face. Looking back to Baraggan, he noticed how the old-aged Arrancar was now walking through his gate.

"Never trust a snake, Coyote."

With those final sayings, Baraggan left and Starrk's none-existing heart sank. "He wouldn't be talking about the Hollow, right?" he turns around to look at the werecat but she seems more confused and shocked that he was.

"Starrk, do we know where the Hollow would take us?" She could already hear what Starrk's response would be. "I'm not talking about taking you towards Harribel, I'm talking about directions, a location, something that could have given us a clue to where they're going." The fact that Starrk looked terrified, she cursed and turned to Szayel. "Please tell me you have some sort of chipping device in the cloaks." Another grave look. "Crap! This is bad, that Hollow was working for Baraggan!"

"But we have seen that Hollow before and it was one of Harribel's followers!" Szayel yelled back.

Starrk took his time to open a Garganta that led to Menos Park. "But what if Harribel had made an alliance with Baraggan?" What if they got fooled? "Szayel, how good is your Pesquisa?" He asked the man but didn't wait for an answer. "I wasn't able to sense Mashiro's and Lily's Reiatsu but I was able to sense the Hollow's, they were heading west. Go after them!" Szayel left instantly when he yelled at him and he turned around to run down through the portal with Yoruichi behind him. He couldn't believe how he let Baraggan stall them for ten minutes by having his Hollows go through a bunch of Gargantas. 'I made a horrible mistake!'

---

Gerald jumped back and pierced one of Baraggan's soldiers with his tail before jumping out of the way as another Hollow fired a Cero towards his direction. He took a second to look around the battlefield to assist any Hollow who was having trouble but seeing as they had destroyed the machine; their Hollows had left and gone to help another post or at least stayed behind and tried to cut down Baraggan's army. He moves out of the way as someone shoots him with another energy blast. Thankfully, it wasn't too hard to figure who's fighting for whom.

Baraggan's soldiers reeked of murderous intent so it was easy to tell friend from foe.

"We need to leave and help another group." Nel said, appearing right behind him. "The Gillians we gathered are dead already and we lost the machine."

He already knew that but still, "Nelliel-san, it would be better if we can cut down their numbers before helping someone else."

The Centaur-Hollow shook her head. "We can't waste our energy. Or else how are we going to help everyone else?"

"Then at least let's help the Hollows escape!" Gerald argued back. There weren't that many Hollows from their side still here, only a couple of handfuls since they're helping the rest move towards another spot or go to La Estrella but the thought of not helping these Hollows and leaving them behind has been something he doesn't want to do ever again and he has shamelessly done so. The first time happened during the Human World incident about five years ago. Then came the time when Baraggan marched down through the Forest of Menos and killed the Hollows that he promised as a Guardian to keep safe. Last, there's these current moments in which time and time again he was too slow to help any Hollows from getting killed. 'If only I was stronger! If only I was an Arrancar!' He was about to rush in to help a Hollow from getting killed from the back when he senses someone burst their Reiatsu to life, he looked up and found Ichigo levitating in the air.

Baraggan's Hollows noticed the redhead instantly. They didn't flee at the sight of him. Most wanted to kill him and take the fame by killing the 'infamous' Hollow. They all charge Ceros towards him, and Ichigo stands there calmly and reaches towards one of his hilts. They took his action as a sign to open fire.

Gerald almost screamed out but caught himself. Ichigo was far stronger than he was two years ago and everything about the redhead has changed. When the Ceros hit him, Gerald covered his eyes as the attack blinded everyone but that seemed to be the only thing it did, it didn't explode in the way the attack usually would. The light started losing shine, and he looked back up to see Captain Kurosaki cover in his signature white-layer armor with slow moving red flames-like motions dancing in any visible spot across his skin and in his hand was a daitō with a black blade; its cross guard had four prongs bent out to form the shape of the manji and a short length of chain with a broken link at the end dangles from the base of the hilt.

Ichigo raises his blade and scowl. "Alright, now it's my turn!" He saw a spot where Baraggan's soldiers were larger in numbers and swung his sword towards them. "Getsuga Tenshō!" The blast hit and blasted everything behind the group of Hollows, causing panic and chaos to break among Baraggan's ranks. He lowered down to the ground and landed in front of Gerald and Nel. "Sorry about getting here late, but I had to go through a few spots before coming here."

He and Ulquiorra had to take different routes as they arrived in Menos Park, Ulquiorra decided that he should help the group deal with the powerful Reiatsu they felt the moment they came while he went around the farms to help the Hollows out. If he had it his own way, then he would have tried to get rid of the double-headed Gillian, but the creature seemed to have absorbed a Hollow who could hide its Reiatsu. So the only way for him to get lucky and find the Gillian was for him to go around everywhere to find him.

Gerald or Nel couldn't say anything back to Ichigo as the redhead jumped in front of them to absorb a blue Cero.

Ichigo looked up with wide eyes to see an Arrancar standing on top of the destroyed machine. Looking at him a bit closer, he realizes it was the same Arrancar that attacked him and Lily back at the temple. 'I didn't sense him until he shot his Cero.' He looked at the cloak he was wearing and had a dreadful feeling that it worked the same as Szayel's version.

Grimmjow clicked his tongue and lowered his arm. Just like in the temple, Zangetsu easily reflected his attack. He senses Baraggan burst his Reiatsu and realize it was the cue that he talked about. He tapped the air to open a gate and put his hands inside his pockets. He looked back to Zangetsu as the Garganta closed. 'Before I go after Coyote and Baraggan, I'll be going after you, Zangetsu. You're going to be my stepping stone.'

The redhead felt the quick burst of Reiatsu coming from Baraggan. 'Is Starrk and Baraggan fighting?' He looked around and noticed how each of Baraggan's Hollow had taken a Garganta. 'Something's off.'

The battlefield was now quiet and empty with the few surviving Hollows trying to comprehend why Baraggan would split his army to attack every remaining factory and not have his entire army focus on attacking only one which would cause fewer losses for them and actually get the job done. Ichigo didn't think much about it, but he wonders if Ulquiorra had gotten fast enough to help the group that was dealing with the powerful Hollow.

Then his mind stopped. 'The Arrancar I was expecting Lily to fight came here. Then does that mean Lily won't have to fight him?' His mind eases a bit, knowing now that Lily couldn't possibly be in danger, but then his mind wonders why the Arrancar would be here and not possibly after Harribel. He couldn't think too much about it before Starrk and Yoruichi appeared.

Starrk scanned his surroundings, and soon as he saw Ichigo, he called out to him. "Ichigo! Please tell me you know where Lily and Mashiro went!"

Ichigo's stomach dropped. "What are you talking about, Starrk? They went to help Harribel."

"Ichigo! We're talking about directions! Anything that gives us a hint to where they went!" Yoruichi yelled at him but as Ichigo dropped his Zanpakutō, she cursed and looked at Starrk. "Our only hope now is Ulquiorra."

The redhead didn't ask questions back. He followed them as they rushed towards Ulquiorra's Reiatsu.

---

Ulquiorra arrived at the scene with a frown on his face as he witnessed the destruction a single Hollow had done; with everything destroyed and no single soul in sight. "This is rather troublesome." Already witnessing the destruction, his eyes searched for the Hollow responsible for it and it didn't take long to find him. The creature was standing on the wreckage of the factory and looking mighty proud of himself.

The Hollow was rather powerful and without doubt in Ulquiorra's mind; it was easily a Vasto Lorde. Like most Hollows of his level, he appeared humane but was rather abnormally tall for a Vasto Lorde, standing almost 7'6 1/2", with a powerful build and a thin ponytail reaching his upper back. Multiple horns sprout from its mask, with some covering his lower jaw, and crack-like markings frame his eyes. Arms position in a knuckle-walk position, and its legs seemed rather hairy, ending in short, stubby bone-like toes, giving the Hollow an ape-like appearance.

"Where the hell are you, Fantasma!"

Besides the fact that this Hollow was an obvious threat, something deep within his soul told Ulquiorra that this Hollow would become a problem for him, and the thing was, he felt threatened by this Hollow. He wasn't thinking about Starrk, Ichigo or the safety of La Estrella—it was him; he felt threatened by the Hollow. He decided instantly; he needed to get rid of this Hollow. He fires a powerful Cero, no warning, no making himself known. The Hollow covered its eyes as the light blinded him. With everything destroyed and everyone dead, he didn't hold back, and he had hoped it would have been enough, but he could still feel the Hollow's presence. 'Worrisome.' The smoke cleared and the Hollow looked unscratched. 'Very worrisome.'

"Come down here, ya little dumbass!" The Hollow rage and his Reiatsu burst.

Scowling, Ulquiorra couldn't help but feel as if he knew who this Hollow was. "Enclose, Murciélago." Seconds after Resurrección, Ulquiorra was already soaring towards the Vasto Lorde with a green energy javelin in his hands. He was going in for a quick kill by beheading him; he was expecting for the Hollow to not react in time but it proved him wrong when the Hollow was able to follow him even in his release form.

"Are you trying to piss me off, you little shit!"

Another burst and Ulquiorra felt as if it pushed him back.

"You're not even who I—!" The Hollow stopped and looked at him more closely before a feral grin spread across its mask. "Que Suerte! You're the little shit that was helping Fantasma!"

Ulquiorra seemed slightly confused for a second before remembering the one and only time he helped Starrk. "I see." He nodded and looked at the Hollow more closely now. "You used to be that towering Hollow that Starrk would have killed to feed Ichigo and Lily. Seems like you have grown into a Vasto Lorde." The response didn't sit well with the Hollow since its grin dropped and started growling at him before stopping and laughing maniacally.

"You're not the person I'm trying to kill but I sure as hell want to beat the shit out of you now!"

The green-eyed Arrancar scoffed and soared back to the Vasto Lorde. Seeing a low swing coming from his left, Ulquiorra moved right behind him with a Sonido and his Luz de la Luna closing in on the Hollow's neck. It was supposed to end in a second; he didn't slow down or hold back but the Hollow swung his body around and punched him across his cheek.

'Such strength!' Ulquiorra tries to resist the force behind the attack, but the Hollow proves to be in a different league to any Vasto Lorde. When the punch threw him back, he tried to regain his equilibrium back but couldn't in time as he crashed through an enormous boulder. He pushed himself up and held on to a stone to stand up. Sensing the Hollow creating a Cero, he looked up, created another one of his energy javelins and threw it before the Hollow could fire it. With both attacks mixing and exploding on impact so close to the Vasto Lorde, Ulquiorra was hoping to see the Hollow at least winded-up, but it seemed to have tank the explosion instead.

'Kill the Hollow, he's too dangerous, he will hurt us.'

Ulquiorra's eyes widened as a voice spoke through his head and lost focus in his fight for a second before he senses Baraggan's Reiatsu. He looked up and then back to the Vasto Lorde as he heard the loud clicking of his tongue.

"And here I was hoping I could kick your ass a little longer." Yammy turned around and opened a Garganta. He may be powerful now, but even he knows that Baraggan will put him in his place if he steps out of the line. He looked back at the Arrancar and scowled. "Next time you're not going to be so lucky."

Ulquiorra didn't think luck was on his side, he still had plenty of stamina and strength left to keep fighting the Hollow. All it would have come down to is who would put the first lethal blow on their opponents. He didn't respond to the Hollow's words and sealed back his Resurrección. His regeneration kicked in and he found all minor bruises and scratches heal instantly. The Vasto Lorde may have been strong with an impressive Reiatsu, but truthfully that wasn't what he was worried about. Forgetting his problems, Ulquiorra turned around as he sensed Starrk coming towards his direction with the werecat and the redhead behind him. 'Something isn't right.'

When Starrk show-up, his hands were slightly shaking and sweating. "Ulquiorra," He stopped to take in a sharp breath. "Please tell me you know where Mashiro and Lily were heading." When Ulquiorra shook his head, he sighs and drops his shoulders and head. "Ichigo, Ulquiorra... I sent Szayel towards the west, the direction the Hollow was taking Lily and Mashiro to help Harribel... This entire thing was a set-up." He looked up to see a slightly widened Ulquiorra and a shocked Ichigo.

They left without another word and Starrk didn't flinch as the wind caused by their Sonido picked up some sand that breezed across his face and deep inside him; he felt as Anna's heart broke.

---

Yo, so this isn't the part where I leave an A/N and such, nope. What we're gonna have here is a 'Omake'; meaning 'Bonus' or 'Extra' chapter that I had wanted to post about four chapters back but held back in doing so. About what you may think? Well, it's about a pairing that may get labeled as a 'crackship' but honestly, I wanted to give it a shot at it. Also, the reason I wouldn't have these scenes across the story is 'cause I didn't wanna focus on them.

'k, that's enough about that.

---

Omake

Set between Chapter 10&11

A Bat's Diary: I

He was standing on a boulder overlooking the area.

Not bored.

Not tired.

Not analyzing Starrk's training.

Not talking.

Not communicating with the sizeable man that had his eyes closed and focusing.

He's just there, standing and doing nothing. Like he always has been doing.

A week had passed since he joined the bizarre group of colorful individuals, and he wasn't just talking about the Hollows. He was referring to the Shinigami and the... Visoreds?

They were all a bunch of oddballs; specifically the boy—Ichigo, was it?—had made a ridiculous promise to help him be able to share his thoughts and feelings with others, but little did the boy know that he had lived his life filled with nothing; Emptiness. How can he share anything with anyone when there's nothing in him? Also, it doesn't help that no one seems to want to know anything about him. Everyone just seems to always be on high alert when he gets near any of them.

Always.

He looks down at the man who seems like he was meditating. He stepped down and moved a little closer towards him but then his eyes shot open and looked at him with a sharp, hard look in his eyes. Threatening him to not step any closer to his boundaries. He looks back into the man's eyes, not challenging him, but trying to understand why he is treating him this way.

Then, the biggest oddball interrupted their little Eye-standoff.

"Hacchi~! Don't look at him with such a scary face! He won't be your friend if you keep looking at him with that!" Mashiro, the loud and childishly energetic woman. Where did she even come from? "Look at him! He's trying to talk to you, but you're scaring him!"

He notices that at the moment Hacchi looked bashful at being the center of attention to the only two people around him. "Yes, well," The large man pointed at his mask. "I'm not sure how he will talk to me when he doesn't have a mouth."

"Are you discriminating against him?"

"Do you even know what that word means, Mashiro-san?"

The woman pout before releasing a long and whining sound.

He does nothing besides moving his eyes left to right as they talk back to one another before he stops and stays watching Mashiro. The woman was really odd, even by normal standards she was odder than any normal person could be and he only thinks that because she's the only adult that comes to find him. Not to see what he was doing, but to see if he wanted to talk.

...

So maybe she wasn't odd, just curious about him and he'll be lying too if he told himself he wasn't either. Out of all the adults, well, those who weren't Hollows, she seems to neither keep their distance away from him or as Hacchi had shown, always on guard if he gets too close to her. He moves closer to her side and already he could see the man's body tensing up while on the other hand Mashiro turned around to look at him before a smile broke across her face.

"See Hacchi! All he wants to do is talk to someone, right big guy?"

Ofcourse she would think that even though he only stood 6'inches taller than her. He tilts his head to the side, and she follows suit but with a goofy and confused expression on her face. He could nod back to her by guessing his thoughts, he at least knows that much but it'll be better if he shows her how right she was, right? He raises his hand to pat her head; a simple praising action for guessing his thoughts. Just as his hand hovered slightly above her head, a strange transparent, maroon-like cube encased it and then in a second his hand vanished.

Mashiro gasps and they both turn to look at Hacchi with his hand clapped together. At first the man had a hard glare and scowl on his face but as he notices his mistake, he quickly started apologizing to him but his words were going through deaf ears right now. He held up his severed arm up high and narrowed down his eyes. He feels... something, not pain though. There was a strange numbness at first before goosebumps ran down along his arm and then he felt the sensation of something growing. He watched as green energy sprouted from his severed arm before it took the form of a hand. Then it slowly changes into bones, then muscles before white skin covers everything again.

"Instant Regeneration." Hacchi sighed out loud and bowed his head down. "I'm terribly sorry for my intentions, Hollow-san, I thought you were trying to hurt Mashiro."

The green-haired woman had puffed her cheeks as she was throwing a tantrum at Hacchi and flailing her arms above her head. "HACCHI~ You can't just send people's hands into another dimension like that!"

"I-I already apologized to him, Mashiro-san."

At his words she stopped, pouted and turned around to look at him. "You're okay, right? Nothing hurts?"

He shook his head.

She looks at her friend and bit her lips. "Are you mad at him?"

To that answer, he hesitated. Was he mad? What reaction or emotion is there to be when you're mad at someone. Rage? Anger?

...

He felt nothing like that; he got caught off-guard, and he won't deny it. However, it wasn't like he didn't expect it to happen. Everyone was already on edge when he was around them. Honestly, it feels as though everyone is waiting for him to cross the safe-line so that they had a reason for killing him and dying was rather something he wasn't so eager to experience. He shook his head and the corners of Mashiro's mouth turned down.

Was his response not good enough for her? There was no anger, pain or any other emotion. Her frown soon turned to a thin, concentrated line and he could tell that the woman had a different question for him.

"Were you alone?"

She asked him softly and there was something about the way she said it that made him remember... As a Hollow, he felt alone in the world, being white while those around him were black. He felt like an outsider even though he was a Hollow, like them. He wandered Hueco Mundo alone, lamenting his existence. Alone all the time, always feeling... empty.

He's curious to know how she knew a feeling that he couldn't share with her. He nodded back slowly at her and a small, sad smile formed on her lips.

"Lily told me about a mental breakdown a Hollow gets after a certain time. For her and Starrk, it was feeling alone. Even though they had each other, they always wanted to have friends but couldn't 'cause everyone died around them." Her eyes seemed to read his soul as she said, "You were alone too, but not like them. You didn't have anyone to share the same feelings as you... that's why you don't know how to express yourself, right? Because you didn't have anyone to talk to?"

She hit something inside of him, he could just feel it. It was a fizzy feeling that he couldn't name, but she somehow was able to pull it out of him.

Which one? Which emotion did she make him feel?

He couldn't ask her as Shinji walked up to the group and called the Visoreds out, saying that they're done for the day so they get to go home now. Hacchi sighed again, no doubt happy that someone had come to save him.

"Yosh~! Time to go," Mashiro looked at him with her usual smile back on her face. "Bye-bye~!"

He watched her wave goodbye to him when Ichigo came up and started dragging him by his re-grown hand.

"Come on, Nii-san! I'm done with my training so now I can help you."

That's right. He picked up his pace and started dragging Ichigo instead, eager to learn.

Hopefully, next time he'll be able to talk with her.

Yes, his curiosity about her has peaked.

---

Okay~

That's the end of that little 'bonus' chapter.

If y'all haven't notices, the bonus chapters will center on Ulquiorra's perspective.

Also, although Mashiro acted OOC, is not something just out of her personality. While been goofy and childish, she has her serious moment, although those happen around battle, she can still have her serious moments outside of battle.

All right, enough about that.

Time to talk about this chapter.

ALOT of things got squish into this chapter since I wanted to get started on the Invading Soul Society arc; instead of breaking down this chapter into two (which is why it's over 18K words long, 2nd longest chapter) I just went for a super lengthy one instead.

1st thing I wanna talk about is the scene between Lily and Starrk. Although they have change and gone their separate ways and made their own little circle groups of friends, they still haven't grown apart from one another. Well, in Starrk's case since Lily was afraid she had grown distance and couldn't connect with him anymore because she was a 'someone' now. So I wrote a little hurt/comfort-sort of scene for them.

Gave Sora a scene and meet him up Lily and Menoly, y'all can bet he's gonna get drag into their problems.

Urahara and Szayel made a machine to 'help' balance souls but as Szayel said towards the end, the machine was a lie and what it truly does is something I won't reveal just yet.

Also, for the information, from the beginning of this chapter, this continues on from the previous one, so everything that happens between the last chapters ending and towards the end of this chapter, it all happen in 30 minutes. So yes, this mean Harribel had already joined Baraggan's sides and had Sung-sun lure Lily and Mashiro into a trap. How and why Harribel joined Baraggan will get explained later.

Also, remember how I said before that I had plans for Yammy? Welp ta-da. Yammy's back and he's a Vasto Lorde—this way it won't feel stupid with Yammy been powerful. I have something plan for Yammy and he's gonna do something... horrible to a certain green-eyed Arrancar.

Okay! I think that's about it...

Also, since my state reopened earlier than the rest, COVID-19 cases have gone up and that sadly means more work for me. Which isn't entirely bad since I wrote this chapter after I posted the last one, but I had to stop working on my other stories and focus on this one.

So I took about... a month to write a 18K chapter... and a few extra days to check grammar and such... so the next chapter should be out... somewhere next month and it'll probably be shorter than this one so it might come out sooner.

Meh, who knows?

Alright, Cya~!

-Ten Out