Author's Note: …I'm not even gonna look at when I last posted. It's been a hell of a fall, y'all. And winter. There's been good, there's been stressful…it's been a rollercoaster.

This chapter was originally going to be much longer, but I decided to split it up for the sake of focusing on particular events. You'll see what I mean, I think :P Plus, this portion has been ready for, like, months now, and I wanted to give y'all something for your patience.

Human World, Approx. 100 years ago

Kisuke passed a hand over his exhausted eyes. It had taken every bit of resourcefulness he possessed and Tessai's knowledge of forbidden Kido, but he'd managed to stabilize Hiyori and the other Hollowfication victims as much as he could. He didn't know what long-term effects of the Hollowfication would be, but they were alive. He'd figure out the rest as it came.

Thank goodness for the secret training ground he and Yoruichi had built so long ago. Carved into the side of a seki-sekki-rich mountain, it was the perfect hiding place from Soul Society's sensors. But they could only hope for a temporary reprieve there; as soon as the Hollowfication victims were stable enough for it, they packed up what they could and went straight to the Human World.

Kisuke was dead on his feet when they finally found suitable lodgings for the eleven of them - little more than an abandoned hunting shack a few kilometers from a growing city. As he and Yoruichi set up his makeshift laboratory so he could begin monitoring his patients again, Tessai warded off the surrounding area with several layers of the strongest Kido barriers he knew.

When Yoruichi had done all she could to help Kisuke and the eight survivors, she'd left to return to Soul Society and see what intelligence she could gather. With nothing else to distract him, he couldn't stop his mind from replaying the events from the last twenty-four hours.

He'd been framed - that much was obvious from the moment he'd been brought before Central 46. The accusations still rang in his head.

"The evidence is abundantly clear," a veiled judge had stated. "We have the notes on your heinous 'experiments' made in your handwriting and gathered by your own subordinate - a subordinate who was trying to stop you!" The judge had then held a piece of paper up in front of the partition concealing his face. "This is the letter she left to her husband, along with more than enough evidence to convict you. According to this, she intended to confront you directly and give you one final chance to stop hurting people - and instead, you killed her to keep her silent!"

Killed?

The word rang louder in Kisuke's mind than any of the others. No. No, that wasn't right. It couldn't be right. It was just another trick.

"Kaede isn't dead," he protested. "H-how could she be-"

He could practically hear the triumphant smile in the judge's voice. "How would you know it was Sorano Kaede, when we never named the subordinate?"

That was all it took. In the judges' minds, he may as well have confessed outright - not that they'd have needed a confession to convict him. They'd already decided that he was guilty; this hearing was just a formality.

The sentence was read out. Tessai, for his alleged involvement, would be imprisoned; Kisuke would be banished to the Human World, stripped of his Zanpakuto and spiritual powers, a mere defenseless spirit wandering among the living - assuming he even made it out of the Dangai.

But right up until Yoruichi came to break them out, all that he could think was, She can't be dead.

In the present, Kisuke's hand shook as he passed it over his eyes once more. He had to focus. Had to remain calm, logical, objective. This was no time to allow emotions - especially fear - to cloud his judgment. Not when so many lives depended on him.

"Kisuke."

He jolted upright at Yoruichi's quiet voice. She was back already…did that mean…? "Anything?"

"Well, we're officially fugitives," she announced, crossing her arms under the reiatsu-concealing cloak he'd given her. Her eyes shifted to the side. "They'll probably put bounties on us eventually, but they have to at least make a show of trying to find us themselves first-"

"Yoruichi," he cut her off. He didn't care what Soul Society's next moves were; he already knew how they'd act, and in turn, how he'd respond. That wasn't important right now. "Kaede."

His old friend sighed, lips pursing. "I looked. I did. If she's in Soul Society, then I can't find her." Her golden eyes lowered. "Kisuke…they have a body. I couldn't get into the 4th Division's barracks to see it for myself, but..."

Centuries of service in the Stealth Corps helped Kisuke keep his growing dread at bay, but only just. Don't get emotional, he reminded himself. Just deal with the facts.

Fact: It had been well over twenty-four hours since he last saw Kaede (alive).

Fact: Aizen had convinced Central 46 that he, Kisuke, had killed her, going so far as to produce "evidence" to support the notion. Apparently, there was even a body.

Fact: Yoruichi had found no trace of Kaede in Soul Society.

She isn't dead, he repeated to himself. She was probably just hiding. After all, she'd hidden the fact that her seals were entirely gone for who knew exactly how long. Maybe she'd already escaped into the Human World. Besides, from what she'd been able to tell him about Aizen's powers in the few minutes they'd had, it was obvious that any "evidence" the man had provided was fake. She wasn't necessarily dead. It was probably just a ruse, a part of the effort to frame Kisuke for everything that had happened last night.

A ruse orchestrated to perfection by her own husband…

There was a tiny part of his mind that wondered if she'd intended for him to be framed, if she'd been playing a role to help sell the story…but no. Every instinct he had told him that this wasn't the case, and their last interaction only served to support those instincts.

But as much faith as he had in Kaede, Kisuke couldn't deny one other fact: Aizen Sousuke was truly dangerous. He'd seen for himself that the man was perfectly fine with experimenting on and killing his own supposed comrades. What would a man like that do to someone who turned on him - even if that someone was his own wife? Would that even matter to someone so callous?

Kisuke gripped his head in his hands as he spiraled further toward despair. Damnit, he shouldn't have let her go after him alone! He should have…should have…

A spark.

It lit up for only a second, a brief flash that came with a tingle of familiarity. Kisuke stopped breathing, stopped moving, stopped thinking so he could focus on it. Had he imagined it?

Again - weaker this time, but still there.

In a heartbeat, Kisuke was on his feet, thrusting open the door of the shack and dashing out into the cold rain. Yoruichi called after him, but he barely heard her. He didn't even bother to put his shoes on; he just pounded across the muddy fields, laser-focused on where that spark had come from.

Please… Whom he was praying to, he couldn't say. He'd never had much belief in the divine. But in the tiniest of chances that someone was listening, be it the Soul King or some other "god," he begged now with his whole heart: Please!

Rain pelted him like frozen darts as he took to the sky for a better view. It was here, he was sure of it, he had felt it -

There!

In another flash-step he was at her side, shouting her name again and again over the pounding of the rain. She didn't respond, her half-closed eyes dull and staring at nothing, and if it weren't for the faint pulse Kisuke felt in her neck…

"Holy…" Yoruichi exclaimed from behind him. She must have followed him here. "Oh, Kaede…"

Kisuke ignored her, his eyes sweeping over Kaede's limp form, assessing, cataloging, piecing together a tale of horror. Trails of blood leaked from her eyes and mouth, signs of internal hemorrhaging…her Zanpakuto was sheathed at her side, and there were Kido burns visible on her arms - she'd been restrained, unable to fight back…other wounds peppered her body, shaped like teeth marks, but all in different sizes - Hollow bites? His stomach churned, remembering a time when Soul Society used to execute people by throwing into a pit of starved, crazed Hollows. He couldn't see any other obvious entry wounds, but the legs of her Shihakusho were damp with more than just rain.

His hands shook as he carefully undid her obi and peeled back the cloth over her abdomen. He wasn't usually bothered when seeing serious injuries, but this…this made him want to vomit. Her entire abdomen was mottled in black and purple. It wasn't just bruising from external impact; this was more like she'd been pummeled and shredded from the inside.

That was not the work of a Hollow.

"I'll get Tessai," Yoruichi said, vanishing before he could utter the request himself. They needed Tessai for wounds this serious, but even with Yoruichi's speed, he might not get here in time. Kaede was alive, but only just, and she was losing too much blood.

How she'd gotten these injuries, how she'd gotten here at all - it didn't matter right now. Kisuke didn't even have to think about what to do next.

"Bankai!"

The next few minutes were the longest of his life.

The damage was worse than he'd suspected. It wasn't just that her internal organs were injured; parts of them were simply gone. Kisuke had Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame rush to reconstruct as much as possible, even letting his Zanpakuto take bits of his own flesh to make up for what Kaede no longer had. It was a temporary measure - anything Benihime did right now would come apart once he released his Bankai - but it would give Tessai something to work his Kaido skills on. Her heart stopped twice in those few minutes; he used Kido to restart it, shouting at her to not give up, that he wouldn't let her give up like this.

Tessai arrived, and thanks to his forbidden Kido, they got her back to the shack. Kisuke kept his Bankai active even as his body begged for sleep, only releasing it once Tessai was able to stabilize her. Even then, he forced himself to stay awake. He was not letting Kaede out of his sight for even a second.

He stayed as Tessai continued to work on her over the next few days, slowly and methodically restoring her reiatsu system and mending her mangled insides as best he could. Yoruichi popped in and out of the shack, dropping off supplies and checking in on the Hollowfied Shinigami, but for the most part she kept herself busy elsewhere. The whole time, Kisuke kept Kaede's hand in his, willing it to grow warmer, silently monitoring the oh-so-slow pulse in her wrist.

"I've done what I can," Tessai announced at last, his voice cracking from dryness and fatigue. "It's up to her now."

"She'll come through," Kisuke said, his own voice hoarse. "She'll be just fine."

Tessai tensed, his mouth pressing into a fine line behind his mustache. Years of acquaintance told Kisuke that there was something the larger man didn't want to say. "What is it, Tessai?"

"Kisuke…there is something we need to speak about before she awakens."

"What is it?"

His old friend frowned. "I'd rather we speak of it outside. It's a low chance that she will hear or comprehend, but…"

"I'm not leaving her side, Tessai."

Tessai hesitated, but he recognized that Kisuke wouldn't be swayed. With a weary sigh, he proceeded.

By the time he finished, Kisuke almost wished he hadn't.

White noise rang inside his head, a static that made his eyes unfocus as his brain scrambled to comprehend Tessai's words. No, it couldn't be true, Tessai was wrong… he didn't have all the data, or had made an error in his assessment…but how else could this have happened?

Him.

Something snapped and his eyes regained their focus, pupils contracting as rage flooded him, licking like fire at every shred of sense. Everything around him - Tessai, the room, Kaede herself - faded, his vision going white. His mind, usually so sharp and analytical, melted until all it could produce was a single imperative.

"I will destroy him," he growled, and it sounded as inhuman as he felt, his reiatsu thrumming in time with the storm about to explode inside him.

"Kisuke!"

Tessai's voice snapped him back to reality. Alarmed, he realized that he'd been squeezing Kaede's hand in a vice grip; he quickly loosened his hand, soothing her skin with his thumb.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"There's nothing we can do about him right now," Tessai pointed out firmly. "She is the one that needs us - she and the others. You won't help any of them by giving in to vengeance."

The wisdom of his words sank deep into Kisuke's soul, bringing with them a crushing despair. He could have prevented this. None of this would have happened if it weren't for him. He'd let it get this far. If he'd paid closer attention, if he'd just been there for her sooner…

Tessai's big hand came down on his shoulder. "She needs you here, Kisuke. As do we all."

Kisuke gave him a hollow nod of acknowledgement, unable to bring himself to speak. Tessai left a few minutes later; once he did, Kisuke did something he hadn't done since he was a small child.

He cried.

He squeezed his eyes shut, but the tears came anyway. His shoulders and stomach shook with silent sobs, his whole upper body bending over from the weight of his despair.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, pressing her hand to his forehead. "I'm so sorry…"

Kisuke jolted awake. He must have nodded off, giving in at last to the temptation of sleep, even if only for a few…minutes? Hours? He glanced at the boarded-up window to try and gauge the time, one hand passing over his mouth and the thickening stubble along his jaw.

Something moved in his other hand.

Kisuke's head snapped back around. His other hand still held Kaede's - and her hand had just moved! Now perfectly alert, Kisuke watched her for more movement, his breath trapped in his lungs. When she finally, finally opened her eyes, he could have wept all over again - but he needed to be strong for her.

"Kaede," he called gently, drawing her drifting gaze to him.

"Ki…s'ke?" she croaked out in response, barely moving her lips.

"I'm here," he assured her, enveloping her hand in both of his. "You're safe. You're going to be okay."

Her eyes were still frighteningly dull, and with every slow blink he wondered if she would just fall unconscious again. Then, at last, she spoke again. "Where…"

"We're in the Human World," he told her. "All of us - Yoruichi, Tessai, and I were able to get the others here safely."

For a few seconds she processed his words in silence. Then her eyes went wide, flooding with a familiar light - a mix of doubt and barely-restrained hope that he'd seen more times than he could count. He used to dread that look, because he too often had to deliver news that made the light flicker out; now, he welcomed it, even with all that he knew he'd have to tell her. Anything was better than that dull, lifeless haze.

"Others?" she rasped, stirring like she was trying to rise. "Hiyori?"

"Hirako-taicho and the other Hollowfication victims," he clarified, gently pressing her back down. At least he could give her some good news to start - well, mixed news, but better than all bad. "Hiyori, too. They're all here, and I'm doing everything I can to help them."

Kaede gripped his wrist with surprising strength. "She's alive?"

"She's alive," Kisuke confirmed. "She and the others are all alive, and they're stable. Tessai has them in stasis while we figure out how to reverse the Hollowfication."

"Where?" She tried to rise from the mat, but her limbs wouldn't support her weight. "Where is she?"

He wanted to tell her to calm down, that she was in no state to move just yet, that Hiyori and the others were fine and she shouldn't worry - but he knew her too well.

"Let me get Tessai," he said. "We'll take you to them. Just stay put, you're still recovering from…" He trailed off. He had his suspicions about what put her in this state, but he didn't know for certain, and he was loath to bring it up so soon. "Just wait here a moment. I'll be right back."

When he returned with Tessai barely two minutes later, Kaede was staring listlessly at the ceiling, all signs of that earlier light drained away. But she was awake, and she was alive. Tessai scooped her carefully into his arms, cradling her against his broad chest as they went from the shack to what might have been a smokehouse for drying meat at some point. Now, protected by layers of wards, it housed the eight unconscious Shinigami - though it was difficult to tell that's what they were beneath the bone-like masks that covered their faces. Only their shihakusho gave it away, and soon those would be burned in Kido-fire, leaving only their Zanpakuto as testament to what they had been in Soul Society. Kisuke wasn't even sure whether they'd be able to use their Zanpakuto anymore. There were many things he was unsure about; it wasn't like there was a precedent for successful Hollowfication. But that was tomorrow's problem.

Kaede was scarily still and silent in Tessai's arms, but she stirred when she saw the eight. Tessai lowered her feet to the ground and she stood on shaky legs, her pale eyes roving over the slumped, masked figures before settling on the smallest.

Kisuke watched her apprehensively, catching Tessai's disapproving look over the top of her head. The Kido captain - ex-Kido captain, he corrected himself - had questioned his wisdom in allowing Kaede to see the eight so soon, voicing concerns over both her physical and mental condition.

"You know she'll blame herself," he'd protested to Kisuke. "You know how she is!"

"I do know," Kisuke had solemnly agreed. "But she needs to see them for herself, and she'd only harm herself if we tried to keep her away from them."

"It's too soon-"

"We can't protect her, Tessai," he'd argued back, and the truth of it burned like acid in his veins. They couldn't protect her from what had already happened, and as much as Kisuke wanted to believe otherwise, they couldn't protect her from what was to come.

So he watched as Kaede stared at Hiyori's masked form, taking in the reality of their situation for herself. He watched as tears pooled in her eyes, eventually spilling over down her cheeks - though no sobs escaped her throat or shook her shoulders. She said nothing, simply stood there half-supported by Tessai's bulky figure at her back, silent tears trickling down her face.

Eventually, Tessai declared it had been long enough and that she needed rest. She let herself be carried back to the shack and deposited back onto the mat that had been her bed for the past few days, let Tessai drape his cloak over her like a blanket - but her eyes were back to that dull, unseeing haze, and she said nothing as she slowly turned on her side, away from them.

And so it was for the next six days. Kaede slept sometimes, but most of the time Kisuke found her staring blankly at the wall or ceiling. She wouldn't talk, not to answer simple questions, not to respond when he and Tessai eventually broke the news to her about their situation and her injuries. She took it all in without expression or reaction, and when there was nothing else to tell her, she turned away from them and faced the wall.

The lack of emotion scared him more than anything else. Her body would heal, but he worried that she would never be truly whole again - if she ever had been in the first place. He'd have welcomed tears, anger, hell, even some sort of stubborn denial over what had happened - anything but this lifeless, catatonic husk.

"You need to eat," he insisted when he found yet another cold, untouched bowl of rice porridge by her mat. Kaede was laid on her back, her head leaning slightly to the side so that her listless gaze was fixed on the wall away from him. Kisuke pushed the bowl closer to her, the dull scrape of the dish against the floor harsh against the eerie silence of the shack. "I can warm this up, if that'll help."

He didn't expect an answer, and that was part of the problem. He didn't expect anything from her in this state, as though that should be the norm - but he couldn't allow this to become their reality, not after everything they'd both been through.

Frustration began to boil over. What had it all been for?! All those years, all his dedication and loyalty…all undone with a lie. Soul Society, the institution he'd given his entire existence to, had turned their backs on him, on the Hollowfication victims…but was he really surprised by that? After all, how often had they tried to turn their backs on her? He'd kept them at bay, insisting over and over again that she was far more useful alive. He'd fucking raised her, trained her, taught her as best he could to survive in their harsh reality. He'd made her strong so that she'd withstand whatever they threw at her.

But he hadn't prepared her for him.

"You're better than this," he whispered, barely aware that he was speaking aloud.

He spied a twitch around her eyes, a tensing in her jaw - the first real acknowledgment that she was even listening. He grabbed onto it.

"You are better than this," he repeated. "What he did to them wasn't your fault. I know you, Kaede. I know that none of that was you."

Her chest rose and fell faster; he could hear her breath become quick and shallow.

"Stop punishing yourself for what you had no control over," Kisuke demanded, and he knew the words were as much for himself as for her. "We can't do anything about the past; we can only move forward and work with what we have. And that begins with letting your body heal. So eat."

Kaede moved - but it was only to roll slowly on her side, away from him. A dismissal.

Kisuke's hands formed fists at his sides. "You don't have to talk to me. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. But I did not work so hard to keep you alive just so you could destroy yourself!"

His voice rose as he spoke, tight with all of the frustration and grief he'd been pushing back for days. Kaede's shoulders hunched against his harsh tone. For a moment, Kisuke felt like he was looking at the small, frail, lost little child again, and the pain of it pierced his heart.

"If you won't do it for yourself," he said in a softer tone still tense with emotion, "then do it for me. Live. Choose to live, if only so I know my efforts weren't wasted."

He stood to leave. Nothing else he could say would make a difference, and he had work to do. It was raining outside again, the freezing December air biting at the thin tunic and pants he'd replaced his shihakusho with. As he rounded the corner of the shack to head for the shed with Hirako Shinji and the others, a bit of movement through a window caught his eye.

Inside the shack, Kaede slowly sat up, gingerly took the bowl of porridge into her lap…and began to eat.

Kisuke's body trembled with the relief that flooded him, and he sent up a silent thank-you to any divine being that might be listening.

Kaede continued to eat in the days that followed. She even started getting up off her mat and walking around, slowly regaining strength in her limbs. She was still quiet, barely speaking a word to anyone, but she started helping Tessai in preparing food and making their makeshift shelter a bit more comfortable.

The one place she would not go was the shack with Hiyori and the others, and Kisuke didn't see a need to force her. She'd seen them. She knew they were alive and that he was doing what he could for them. For now, he was just glad she was occupying herself; it took a weight off his mind he hadn't realized he'd been carrying.

With that weight lifted, he was able to refocus his energy on the Hollowfication victims. They were stable in their Kido-induced stasis, but so far he couldn't figure out how to undo the changes. Without access to his lab equipment, he couldn't even quantify those changes; the few samples he'd taken were still at Division 12, and by now they had probably been confiscated by Central 46.

He fished out a small, cloth-wrapped container that he'd kept on him since that night. Unwrapping the seki-sekki crystal case, his hand was illuminated with an eerie, cold light. Inside the case, the energy he'd been cultivating since the Catastrophe had condensed and solidified into something resembling a swirling marble, its deceptive stillness belying the violently spinning vortex at its core. He still had no name for it - somehow, nothing he came up with quite fit, as though it wasn't his place to give it a title. He was its custodian, not its creator, and sometimes he got the feeling that the thing knew that.

He let the orb roll out onto his palm, the energy leaving a trail of tingling numbness wherever it touched. It was heavy for its size, yet also weightless, like it existed with both truths simultaneously.

Perhaps that was exactly the case.

The general belief in the Seireitei was that the Catastrophe had simply destroyed all matter and energy it came in contact with, but after studying this…thing…for so long, Kisuke had come up with other theories. This leftover energy, if that's what it was, wasn't quite spiritual in nature, nor physical; it was something else entirely, something even more basic and almost primordial, an echo of a time that predated the separation of the worlds themselves. It shouldn't be able to exist in their reality; its inherent instability should have pushed it to bond with more stable elements, and yet…it didn't. It lingered, as though waiting to be shaped and completed.

And now he could hold it in the palm of his hand, a bundle of infinite potential that he had no idea how to tap into.

He'd tried. Back in Soul Society, after rescuing Shinji and the others, he'd brought this thing out, hoping that he was right about the nature of the power that had created it. Deconstruction and reconstruction…breaking a thing down, then building it into something new. Shinji and the others had been broken down by the Hollowfication; perhaps the power in this orb would put them back together.

But it hadn't worked. The moment Kisuke tried to activate the orb with his own reiatsu, the violent recoil of energy had knocked him out. When he came to, nothing had changed; Shinji and the others were still Hollowfied, and only Tessai's Kido-induced stasis kept their souls from imploding.

A crash sounded to his right.

Kisuke's head whipped around - he'd been caught up in the hypnotic orb and forgot that the door remained open. Kaede stood in the entry, stiff as a rock, a tray with a shattered teapot at her feet. Her wide eyes were fixed on the orb in his hand, and she looked almost as pale as when he'd found her broken body in the rain.

"Kaede," he said softly, reaching up to beckon her in. "What's the matter?"

She slowly shook her head, eyes not moving from the orb. "What is that doing here?"

It was the first full sentence he'd heard her speak in days, but that wasn't what raised the hairs on the back of Kisuke's neck. It was the eerie familiarity in that simple question.

"You know what this is?" he prompted, raising the orb. He wouldn't be surprised if she'd felt some sort of connection with it, given its origins, but there seemed to be more to her reaction.

"How do you have it?" she countered.

Kisuke's brow twitched in confusion. "I've had this since the Catastrophe. I never showed it to anyone before…that night. I tried to use it to help Hiyori and the others." He sighed, the weight of his disappointment pressing on his shoulders again. "It didn't work."

Kaede briefly closed her eyes in…understanding? He wasn't sure. She bent down and started picking up the pieces of the broken teapot, gathering them on the tray. Kisuke didn't know what to say. He was curious about her apparent familiarity with the orb. How do YOU have it…she seemed more surprised to see it in Kisuke's hand than she was about its overall existence. Actually…would she be able to use it? She was, for all intents and purposes, its creator.

He set that thought aside. It was definitely worth exploring, but a little voice (which sounded eerily like Tessai) told him to be cautious in asking Kaede to do anything right now.

"It did work."

Kisuke looked up in surprise. Kaede continued to gather the broken ceramics, not looking up from her task as she spoke. "What you did with the Hogyoku…it did work. It saved their lives - they're stable for now, their souls won't implode. But it won't turn them back."

"Hogyoku?" he repeated, testing the work on his tongue. Break-down sphere…the name fit. "Kaede…how do you know all this?"

For a moment, neither of them moved; Kisuke held his breath, afraid that the slightest disturbance might make Kaede bolt.

Then she took the final piece of the broken teapot and slowly placed it in the tray. "I made another one."

It took Kisuke a few seconds to register what she said - she was so quiet that at first, he couldn't understand the words. In the time it took for him to comprehend what she said and for the shock of the revelation to set in, Kaede had vanished with the tea tray. Kisuke almost shot up to chase her down and make her explain - she made another Hogyoku? How? When? Was that how Aizen…

But he stopped himself, his hand forming a tight fist over his own orb - his "Hogyoku," he supposed. There would be time for explanations, and he didn't want Kaede to feel like she was being interrogated. Perhaps he should, and he was being blinded by his own sentiment and concern - but if she was right, and Hiyori and the others were truly stable now…

He stood and made his way to the shed. Tessai was there, adjusting the victims' bodies to try and make them comfortable on the mats they'd procured.

"Take them out of stasis," Kisuke instructed.

Tessai straightened, startled by the request. "But-"

"Just do it."

Tessai frowned behind his mustache. "I hope you know what you're doing."

He brought his hands together, crooking and folding his fingers into a variety of seals as he uttered the release incantation. Kisuke felt a subtle shift in the air as the Kido lifted, allowing time to flow naturally in the space once more. The whole time, he watched the eight Hollowfied Shinigami intently.

A second passed. Ten seconds. Twenty. No change.

"They're stable," Kisuke muttered, carding a hand through his messy blond hair.

"How?" Tessai breathed. He started a Kaido scan on Hirako Shinji, examining the ex-captain's reiatsu and konpaku. "I don't believe it…I thought only the stasis was keeping them from soul suicide, but…how…?"

"I'm not sure," Kisuke half-fibbed. "We'll take turns watching over them just in case, but it seems they're out of the woods - at least until they wake up. Better prepare some binding spells though; the masks haven't gone away, and while their bodies are stable, we don't know about their minds. Let's keep their Zanpakuto out of reach for now, too."

When he returned to the main shack, Kaede was already asleep on her mat. Kisuke decided to let her rest for now; in the morning, he would start asking her about the Hogyoku and what else she knew. But for now…he was exhausted, too.

The next morning, she was gone, along with her Zanpakuto, a reiatsu-concealing cloak, and one of the special gigai he'd made - gigai that would allow them to live in the Human World undetected by Soul Society. On her mat sat several pages which, for a brief, terrifying second, brought Kisuke right back to the Central 46 courtroom.

"This is the letter she left…"

His blood cold in his veins, he unfolded the sheets and began to read.

Please don't look for me. I will stay alive and do my best to be worthy of your efforts, but please don't try to find me. If he comes after me, I'd rather he only find me, and not all of you. I know I have a lot to explain, and I'll try to do so here.

It was all here - how she had gotten involved with Aizen in the first place, why she'd believed in him and the vision she thought they shared for Soul Society…how he'd broken her seals, how they'd tricked everyone, including Kisuke himself, into thinking she was still under their control…the anger and resentment she'd held for so long…the experiments on Hollows in Hueco Mundo…the creation of the Hogyoku, and the unexpected consequence that was the Quincy massacre…all delivered in blunt, matter-of-fact language, as though she was writing about someone else's actions.

The only part missing from the account was what Kisuke needed to know most: what happened between her and Aizen. He had his theories - theories that he could barely entertain for more than a second before they made his blood boil - but he didn't know.

And more tellingly…Kaede didn't say anything about it. Not in the week since he'd found her, not in the letter she left.

He read it again, then again, as though doing so would make the answers magically appear. Instead, he only found what else she didn't say: She never asked for understanding or forgiveness, never tried to excuse her actions or lay the responsibility for them elsewhere. And that, more than anything else, broke his heart. She might not want to make excuses for her actions, but he did. He wanted to believe that it was all Aizen's fault, that Aizen had tricked and manipulated her - and he did believe that to be the case, for the most part. It was clearly a complex situation, but it seemed to him that Kaede wanted to take all the blame, wanted to be censured and punished for what she believed to be her unforgivable crimes. She'd always been like this to some degree, always had a tenuous sense of self-worth.

Kisuke's hand squeezed around the letter when he finished reading it. He used to think that by withholding the affection he felt and keeping her at arms' length, he was strengthening her, bolstering her defenses so that she'd survive in a world that would take no pity on her. Instead, he'd practically gift-wrapped her for someone like Aizen Sousuke.

I will stay alive and do my best to be worthy of your efforts…

Dammit…He wanted to go after her, track her down and gather her in his arms, tell her that none of it mattered, that he knew her and accepted her no matter what she had done. Not because she was useful, or powerful, or a curiosity, but because he valued HER. He should have said it from the start, and now he wanted nothing more than to say it over and over until she finally believed it for herself.

…but please don't try to find me.

That one plea held him back. If he chased after Kaede now, she would run farther. Besides…for all his ingenuity and resourcefulness, he wasn't even sure he could find her. Not when she had the cloak and gigai, both of which he'd designed specifically to make the user impossible to find. Well, he probably could, but it would take more time than he could spare.

Take care of Hiyori and the others. And keep your Hogyoku hidden. He will want it.

That was how she'd ended the letter, and that was what he had to prioritize. For now, he would honor her wish to be left alone, as much it pained him to do so. He would help the Hollowfication victims get back on their feet and figure out a new life for himself. He would destroy his Hogyoku, or, if that wasn't possible, he'd find a way to hide it, neutralize it, do whatever was necessary to keep it out of Aizen's hands.

And he would prepare.

This would not be the last time they dealt with Aizen Sousuke - of that, Kisuke was certain. From what Kaede described, Aizen's ambitions far exceeded the goal of Hollowfication. He would eventually try to take over Soul Society or destroy it altogether; most likely, he'd do the latter regardless of his true, final goal. Soul Society may have rejected Kisuke and the others, but Kisuke had no intention of reciprocating that rejection. He wasn't going to allow someone like Aizen Sousuke destroy this delicate reality.

When the time came, he would be ready, and he would destroy Aizen Sousuke himself.

Ending Notes

We finally get a glimpse of what happened a hundred years ago…but many questions remain.

Next Time: In the present, Kaede faces her Zanpakuto for the first time in a century…and we finally get some insight into what the hell happened Back Then. Also, Hiyori makes a reappearance in all her sassy, four-foot-eight glory.

What do you think happened? Leave your theories in the comments, or just drop one to say "hi." I like it when people say "hi." And as always…

Stay Tuned!