Chapter 23: Chosen

Everything suddenly seemed to move in slow motion for the group as Shinji tipped backwards, crashing to the ground as Hiyori now stood. Like Kensei and Mashiro, a Hollow Mask covered her face, forming a demonic-like face with a horn curved up from the forehead. She let out a scream, which turned into a chilling warbled sound.

"Hiyori!" as everyone scrambled to try and stop her quickly, a darkness enveloped everyone around them. When the darkness completely surrounded Kirara, she found herself unable to see or hear anyone else around her. "What the hell?" she looked around quickly, reaching out with all of her senses in a desperate attempt to find out what was going.

The sharp, burning pain of a blade cutting through her body was becoming far too familiar for Kirara, who felt it climb up her back. With that pain, the rest of her senses came roaring back to her. Everything was too loud, too intense, and the burning pain across her back made Kirara struggle to breathe. She fell to her knees, her vision swimming, before she tipped forwards to barely catch herself with her hands.

"You're…Tosen" she heard Shinji's furious growl nearby, and managed to lift her head. Nearby stood a member of Squad 9: Kaname Tosen. His sword was drawn, and blood still dripped from the tip. Anger coursed through Kirara. He was the one responsible. "Why did you do that…to Kensei?" Shinji demanded. "You betrayed your own Captain?!" Shinji's voice had the tremor of rage behind it.

"He didn't betray anyone," Kirara forgot how to breathe at the gentle voice that came from nearby. She hadn't even sensed him until he spoke. Managing to lift her head, Kirara stared at Aizen as he approached with the silver-haired young boy that Kirara remembered to be the prodigy and Third Seat of Squad 5, Gin Ichimaru. "He's very loyal," Aizen's smile was chilling as he approached. "He just followed my orders, with perfect loyalty," Aizen's cold smile grew. "Please don't hold it against him, Captain Hirako," he requested.

"Aizen…I knew it. It was you…" Shinji growled, fighting the pain across his chest that made every breath hurt like hell.

"So you were onto me? I'm impressed…" Aizen looked almost happy that Shinji had known. Kirara barely managed to look over, unable to fully understand what was going on. Sosuke Aizen was responsible for not only whatever the hell had happened to Kensei, Mashiro and now Hiyori, but for cutting down her and the rest?

Looking around, Kirara could see that Rose, Love, Lisa and Hachi were downed, and she didn't know how much longer she could force herself to stay conscious. It was only thanks to the injuries that she'd suffered before that she could force herself to keep going, reminding herself that she'd survived far worse. The scar on her side throbbed as if to remind her of this.

"No shit," Shinji snapped, not appreciating the patronising words.

"Since when?" Aizen asked. His words were spoken in that same relaxed, gentle tone that Kirara was well used to now, but there was something cold and dark about them that almost…scared her.

"Since you were in your mama's womb," Shinji repeated words he'd once said to Aizen almost ten years ago.

"I see," Aizen was just more entertained by this.

"I always felt you were someone dangerous," Shinji admitted, seeing no reason to keep it to himself now that his suspicions were proving true. "Someone who couldn't be trusted. That's why I chose you as my Lieutenant. I did it to keep an eye on you, Aizen," his confession had Kirara's mind spinning.

'I always noticed he was colder to Aizen than any other Captain is with their Lieutenant. I just…never wondered why,' Kirara thought about it. Thinking back on it, she couldn't help but pick up on hints of Shinji's dislike for the man he'd chosen as his Lieutenant.

Even the look he'd had when Yoruichi had playfully offered to trade Lieutenants with him. Kirara had figured it was him just rising to her bait of being around Kirara when they fought constantly.

"Yes, I appreciate that, Captain Hirako," Aizen's response was unexpected. "Your deep distrust of me had blinded you," he smiled that cold smile.

"I just told you, I knew…" Shinji growled, not understanding what Aizen was getting at.

"No," Aizen denied simply. "You had no idea that for the past month, the person walking behind you…wasn't me," Shinji stared at him. "I am able to make someone misinterpret any phenomenon to my will," he angled his Zanpakuto so the blade seemed to glow in the moonlight. "That is the true ability of my Zanpakuto, Kyoka Suigetsu. I refer to its power as…'complete hypnosis'," he held the blade up in front of him.

"Complete hypnosis?!" Shinji snarled from the ground.

"You are very astute, Captain Hirako. If you had treated me the way the other Captains do, perhaps you might have been able to see through me," Aizen told him, his words only meant to mock the man on the ground. "However, you did not. Because you maintained a certain distance from me," Aizen continued to talk, but most of it felt like white noise to Kirara.

Her mind a swirling mess of unanswered questions, Kirara managed to push herself up from her hunched over position before the pain in her back stopped her from going any further. Seeing the movement, Aizen glanced over to her, amusement in his gaze. "Looks like there's a little fight left in her," he mused quietly. Hearing him, Kirara lifted her head.

"If you wanted to take the fight out of me, you should have cut me deeper," she snarled at him, but her words were shaky and only entertained her fellow Lieutenant.

"Of course, a trained killer like yourself would be used to taking a few strikes like this. I believe you were only just back from one such mission," his words made Kirara flinch harder than a real strike. Right now, she wished he'd just cut her.

"Leave her alone," she barely heard the growl in Shinji's low words.

"How sweet," Aizen couldn't help but chuckle. "But it's too late for that," he turned back to Shinji. "One other thing. You said you chose me as your Lieutenant to keep an eye on me," he said as Kirara managed to push herself back into a sitting position. "You are mistaken," Aizen told Shinji, who glared back.

"What?" he demanded.

"I believe Lieutenant Yamada knows this well," Aizen didn't even look at Kirara, but Shinji couldn't stop himself from looking over at her. Kirara looked just as confused. "Just as Captains have the right to select their Lieutenants, squad members have the right to refuse such assignment," Kirara's eyes widened in realisation. "While that right is very rarely exercised, I also had the choice to refuse becoming your Lieutenant," Aizen pointed out. He finally looked over at Kirara while that same smile. "How many times did you refuse Captain Shihoin, before finally accepting the position as her Lieutenant?" he asked her, as if he was making polite conversation and not mocking them.

"Bastard…" Kirara hissed, fury making her stomach churn. Everything started to sharpen, and the pain down her back was forgotten.

"You see? She knows I'm right," Aizen just turned back to Shinji. "Now, why didn't I do that? Because it was ideal. Your excessive suspicion and wariness of me was truly ideal for my plan," he continued to taunt him. "Do you understand? You did not choose me. I chose you, Captain Hirako," he spoke softly, each word acting as a dagger.

He didn't even blink when Kirara reappeared behind him, swinging her Zanpakuto at the back of his head.

Fury had filled Kirara's body with the energy she needed to not only get to her feet, but move. All she wanted to do was shut the man up. To stop him from doing whatever he was doing. His words were poison, and he loved to hear himself talk.

Kirara didn't see what hit her. All she felt was the force that carried her away from Aizen and slammed her to the ground hard enough to wind her. She choked, her vision dimming for just a moment as she coughed violently.

Aizen just chuckled. "A most impressive display of defiance, Kirara Yamada. But you could never hope to achieve much," Kirara just glared at him through watery eyes, still coughing as she couldn't catch her breath. "Come to think of it, Captain Hirako," Aizen only looked at the Captain from the corner of his eye. Rage was making his eyes blaze.

Kirara couldn't stop her coughs, a hand over her mouth to try and muffle it as she still couldn't catch her breath. Something was off, as her stomach continued to churn and her body chilled despite the warmth of the night. "Perhaps you owe your friends an apology. Because you were chosen by me, they are all on the ground there with you," Aizen's mocking was blatant. "Because of you, the person you seem to care for is going to die," his glasses flashed in the moonlight.

"Aizen!" Shinji roared as he rose, raising his sword to strike, but before he could even take one step, the same white substance from before burst from his mouth and started to leak from his eye. As if it had a life of its own, it began to cover his face, and half of his upper body. Aizen's smile grew colder.

"Thank you for going for my cheap taunt," he mocked as Kirara's body was racked with shudders. She couldn't speak, and she stared at the haunting sight.

"Dammit…me too?!" Shinji demanded as his vision blurred. His voice was already taking on that same warped tone that the others had, as something inside felt like it was ripping apart.

Kirara's heart was racing, and her coughs grew more wracking until finally she couldn't stop the sensation of something rising up from her stomach violently to burst from her mouth. Her entire body went rigid, and no matter how much she fought it, Kirara couldn't move. Everything felt wrong, it felt painful and cold and wrong.

"As I thought…an agitated state accelerates Hollowfication," Aizen's thoughtful musings were directed to Ichimaru and Tosen, who was moving to stand with him again, but Kirara managed to hear them over the pounding in her ears.

'Hollowfication? Am I going to change like the others?' Kirara whimpered as she heard the same thing happening to the rest of their fallen group. 'Wait…agitated state…I need to…calm down,' despite everything in her body raging at the idea, Kirara managed to take a deep breath, closing her eyes. To the others, it looked as if she'd passed out, but she was fully conscious and willing her panic to fade.

"Hollowfication? What is that supposed to mean?" Shinji demanded, barely managing to stay on his feet.

"You don't need to know," Aizen just smirked, enjoying watching the man fighting it.

"Shin…ji…" Hiyori's quiet murmur earned their attention. The entire time, she had just been standing there as if in a trance, Zanpakuto still in her hand.

"Kaname," Aizen gave the unspoken order.

"Stop!" Shinji cried out as he knew exactly what Aizen was thinking. His body wouldn't move, leaving Hiyori defenceless as Tosen launched at her. He should have been able to cut her down in a heartbeat, but Kirara was suddenly there and kicking him backwards. Tosen blocked her kick, but the power behind it still carried him away from her.

"My my, you truly are exceeding my expectations, Lieutenant Yamada," Aizen almost laughed as Kirara glared defiantly. She didn't care what had happened to Hiyori, but like hell she'd let her be cut down in front of her.

The white substance was continuing to wrap itself around Kirara, having covered half of her face and climbed over the top of her head, while draping down her back as well. It was an eerie sight.

"I live to prove people wrong," Kirara spat. She could still feel whatever was happening tearing her apart from the inside, but it was no longer preventing her from moving. She was still terrified, not knowing what was happening to her, but she buried it deep within, locking it up tight.

"I wonder, is it because of that other nature of yours? The one you are so adept at, yet try to deny?" Kirara couldn't stop herself from reacting to Aizen's comments. "It's in your blood, Lieutenant Yamada. You shouldn't fight it. It could make you truly incredible," he said softly.

"Don't listen to him!" Shinji shouted as he saw the corner of Aizen's mouth tug up. "He's trying to set you off," he warned her, but Kirara couldn't keep her emotions reigned in as he dug into her deepest insecurity.

"How could he ever understand, Kirara Yamada? The blood that stains your hands, all in the name of the Soul Society. It's all a part of your true self. The soul of a killer," Aizen's words were the catalyst that smashed through the careful walls that Kirara had put up inside.

"Shut up!" she screamed, putting her hands to her ears as if trying to block out his comments. Instantly the white continued to pour from her mouth, seeming to speed up as tears ran from Kirara's still-exposed eye. She fell to her knees as Tosen approached again, his Zanpakuto raised as with one strike, he cut Hiyori down and turned towards Kirara's exposed back.

"Enough!" Shinji's yell was followed by the ringing sound of steel on steel as his Zanpakuto clashed with Tosen's. The blind Shinigami leapt away quickly, keeping his distance from Shinji.

"I don't know what's going on," Shinji spoke as he moved around Kirara, who had completely lost her will to fight. She stayed on her knees, hands over her ears as whatever was happening to them continued unabated. "But if you think everything will go according to your plan, you're gravely mistaken," he warned coldly. He'd failed to protect Hiyori, but he wasn't about to let Tosen cut Kirara down.

"Hollowfication has progressed that far, and yet he's still…" Aizen mused. Shinji glanced at him, before taking a deep breath.

"What shall we do?" Tosen called over.

"Go ahead and continue. We'll just have one less sample," Aizen dismissed him easily.

As Shinji and Tosen fought, Kirara couldn't stop her tears. She couldn't stop Aizen's words from repeating over and over in her mind. The quiet part of her mind telling her that she was rising to his bait, that she needed to keep calm, was completely drowned out by what he said.

'The soul of a killer,' how often had she thought that to herself? The darkest thoughts that she had fought so hard not to think, all those times after a mission when she'd been forced to kill someone. All those times when she'd gone off alone, hiding until she couldn't cry any more.

'You're an idiot if you think you have to be alone,' Shinji's words to Kirara, that night on the rooftop, suddenly cut through Aizen's toxic words. Kirara's eye shot open, and for the first time she was able to take a proper breath.

The pain in her body had vanished, leaving her with the feeling that she wasn't even in control anymore. She couldn't bring herself to lift herself from the ground, her will shattered and any rage gone. Kirara was numb, her strength gone, and darkness started to creep in from the corners of her vision. As it grew, Kirara fell forwards, landing face first on the hard ground as the darkness swallowed her whole.

To Kirara, it felt like she had been floating through darkness forever. She couldn't remember anything that had happened. She just continued to float through that darkness, wondering where she was and what was going on.

The pain from before was still gone, but she felt as if she was completely separated from anything real. Numbness had taken over her whole body, and despite not knowing anything that was happening, Kirara didn't feel anything about it.

"Maybe I'm dead…" she murmured to herself quietly, her voice echoing in the darkness. "Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world," she admitted, letting that darkness surround her.

"Kirara!" Kirara inhaled sharply, her eyes flying open as she found herself standing upright. The ground beneath her was no longer the hard, broken ground of their battlefield. Instead, it was the soft grass that brushed her bare feet, and the trees that surrounded her were tall, casting a shadow over everything.

Her Inner World.

Looking up, Kirara could see the stars in the night sky. On most occasions, they shone so bright they illuminated the world in their light, but now they flickered erratically, with some vanishing entirely while others shone brighter than ever.

The memories that had vanished in that dark space came crashing back down on Kirara. Aizen, a traitor. Kensei, Mashiro and Hiyori turning into Hollows, and the rest of them following suit.

"Kokoro no Kage? Where are you? What's going on?" Kirara shouted, taking a step forwards. She heard a rustle nearby, and froze. Whatever this was, it wasn't her Zanpakuto Spirit. For a moment, she didn't dare turn around. But then she heard the quiet laugh, and her body moved before her mind could try to stop her. Kicking out instinctively, Kirara blocked the kick aimed for her head.

It wasn't until after her attacker jumped back, that Kirara actually looked at her. For a moment, she forgot how to breathe. How to do anything except stare at the lanky woman who stood opposite her, wearing the same uniform as Kirara only in primarily white with black edges. Kirara's complexion was rather pale to begin with, but this version of her had pure white skin, matching her white hair. What should have been the whites of her eyes were black, while the irises were an eerie golden colour.

"Sorry. The old fart isn't around at the moment. You get me instead," she spoke with Kirara's voice, only it reverberated and twisted, and Kirara could almost feel it through her chest.

"Who - no," Kirara shook her head. "What the hell are you?" she demanded, fear clutching at her heart.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked, still with that innocent look on her face that Kirara had used so often. "You remember what that creep Sosuke Aizen said, right?" her twin asked with that terrifying voice.

"Hollowfication," Kirara repeated the word she remembered him saying. Her twin's twisted smirk grew. "You're a Hollow," she realised. "But…how?"she asked, not able to understand anything past that.

"Urgh. You ask so many dumb questions," the Hollow complained, rolling her eyes. "I ain't just any Hollow, you know. All that stuff happening to you out there," she gestured in a random direction, and Kirara narrowed her eyes.

"I know. There's only one thing you could be," she said quietly. The Hollow smirked again.

"Oh?" she tilted her head.

"You're my Hollow," Kirara declared, moving into a fighting stance.

"That's right," her Hollow-self nodded, seeming pleased that she'd caught on. "And now I'm in control!"

Apologies, things happened rather abruptly so I wasn't able to update before the holidays. But now I'm back, so hopefully I can get back on track with updates!

And that's the end of what I've dubbed Arc 1. Hope you liked it!