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That Dreaded Word	By : Platinumsabr Category: Bleach > Het - Male/Female Views: 11539 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, or the characters from it. I don't make any money from the writing of this story, but I do enjoy writing it. Any Original Characters are mine however, as is the story itself, and if you see it posted elsewhere pleas

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Righteous
Goddess, Fallen Mother

For only the second time in
her life, she wanted to help someone. She wanted to be someone to him, wanted
to be close to him, and the most terrifying part of it all was she didn�t know
if it was because of a sibling-like, friend-motivated emotion,
or�something�else�.

�Thank you Nemu.
I�ll deal with this from here.�

A quiet nod from the other
woman was all she received before she started furiously typing again, and with
a dark sense of foreboding floating over her like a cloud she walked out of the
Twelfth Division.

She had to tell him.

~~~~~~~~~~

She had to tell him, she knew
that much, but how to tell him wasn�t something that was coming as
easily. Thanks to her looking into his past she now knew more about his life
than he did, and he had experienced it firsthand. Of course, the profile wasn�t
highly descriptive as to his particular likes and dislikes and all the other
�menial� things that somehow allow for bonds to be formed between people, but
she knew about his life in the military anyway.

From what he had told her, she
knew he had held his abilities and their secrets hidden for at least fifty
years before he was discovered, and from his profile she knew that he had been
in no other division before that. It was impressive enough to last for fifty
years in the Second Division, but even more impressive still was hiding something
from them while part of their very ranks. She didn�t know what had clued Aizen in to the need to hide his power lest he be sent on a
very unfortunate �leave of absence� leading most certainly to a very quick
�withdrawal.� However with Gwydion it was different, he knew explicitly that he
had to hide his powers even if he so much as thought they might possess a risk
factor that Soul Society didn�t happen to like.

And to think I overlooked
someone like that right under my nose�. Then again, the same thing could be
said of Aizen, but he was a whole different dimension
of secretive. He had had schizophrenia down to an art form,
Gwydion still had very visible cracks in his armor-like fa�ade if one looked
close enough. That, and Aizen had never been found
out until it was too late.

It was laughable really. The one
person that Soul Society should have incarcerated out of the countless numbers
that would be imprisoned unjustly, and he was somehow overlooked. The thought
that the practice was still going on left a sour taste on her tongue, but she
couldn�t deny that when dealing with beings with as much power as Shinigami can
potentially obtain, the Maggot�s Nest was a crude, but possibly effective
solution. Of course, they could be throwing the baby out with the bathwater as
the saying goes, but they were obviously willing to take that chance.

Why he hadn�t been locked up
after he had been so markedly disabled didn�t quite make sense to her though.
There was still information she was missing, she was sure of it. Where to find that information though, she had no idea.

As was the case yet again, no
orders of any great importance awaited her, so, calling it a day early for the
first time in her known life, she accepted her limiter and walked through the
gate to the Living World. She could do what she wanted for a little while, heaven�s knows it wasn�t like they couldn�t contact
her. That cell phone served more than one purpose.

The regular hustle and bustle of
any town could be seen as she stepped out into the air over Karakura Town, but it was quiet too; peaceful.
She had never really wondered why after so many years under Jyushiro
he would suddenly transfer to the Ichigo�s division, other than the fact that
it was still gaining acclaim among the other Soul Reapers simply because of the
renown of the captain, and the rumors about the strength of the lieutenant.
Peace, it was the peace that drew him. In Soul Society one was never sure about
being truly alone, but here it was simply�peaceful. Intermittent Hollow attacks
kept the blood flowing, but she could see this as what can only be equated to a
retirement package.

She knew he was saving limitless
souls by being here�as was anyone who volunteered for Ichigo�s specifically
made corps�but something in her couldn�t help but feel sad that the Second
Division, and the Thirteen Squads in general, had been deprived of such a
talented officer. What could have been would never be known, that was what made
it so sad. This was the Present, she could only do
what she could to make the future better. At the moment, she couldn�t even guess
the possible result of what she was going to do, but in worst case it was very,
very bad.

And she knew from personal
experience, with those of their personality type, very, very bad was very, very
likely.

She sighed heavily before she
flashed to the entrance of the Urahara Shop. Her life had become complicated
and uncomplicated at the same time. For once she didn�t need to worry about
work, and for once she actually had to worry about her personal life. It was a
change she definitely wasn�t used to, and she wasn�t quite sure how she was
supposed to approach the situation.

She opened the door to see
Yoruichi stocking the candy on the shelves for the outward appearance of the
regular store, and when the purple-haired ex-captain looked over to see who had
entered she dropped all the items she was carrying in shock.

�Y-Yoruichi-sama!? What�s wrong??�

She stood like that for a few
seconds, gaping like a fish, before she righted herself and started picking up
the stock she had dropped in a daze. �You�you�re here. At this time? I can�t remember the last time you
ditched duty early except when you were following me!�

Soi-Fong
harrumphed under her breath. Was she really such a prude?

It only took her a moment to
remember that yes, yes she was. Or at least she had been, until this new
development in her life.

Her eyes widened when she
remembered that though this person was her idol, she had also been the captain
at the time of Gwydion�s incident. �Yoruichi-sama, can I ask you a question?�

Yoruichi smiled as she put the
last of the candy away and stretched lazily. �Come on Little Bee, I�d think
you�d know to just ask by now,� she admonished in a joking taunt that had the
steeled captain blushing like only Yoruichi could make her.

�Do you know the man I bumped
into the other day?�

Yoruichi laughed cheerily.
�Remember? How could I forget! I have to buy the guy a drink if I ever see him again, I�d never thought any guy could get you to sit down
with them, let alone after literally running into each other!�

Something was off. She knew
Yoruichi well enough to know that. �Did you know he was a Soul Reaper too?�

She seemed to slightly sober at
that, and she wiped her eyes while fighting off the remnants of merriments
still making her ample bosom shake. �The reiatsu wasn�t unfamiliar if that�s
what you mean. I heard Tatsuki mention he had been the one who had recommended
the club, so I guess I do know of him. I think he might have introduced
himself to us just so we didn�t think it was some random Shinigami skulking
around town, but hey, G.T.�s never been too social in
the time he�s been here.�

Her eyes narrowed. None of this
added up to what she knew to be true. Wait a minute. �G.T.?�

�G.T. Takumi, he�s the officer
that�s been posted here for the past few years. Goes by
Gwydion though.�

Her mind was reeling. Why was he
under an alias, and why was Yoruichi of all people
cooperating with such a bald-faced lie? Unless�

�So you wouldn�t know of a
Gwydion Torisuna that was once the Fourth Seat of
your division?�

She saw Yoruichi stiffen before
she made it look like a muscle twitch and stretched out of it, but it had been
there, and she had seen it. She knew something all right, she just wasn�t
telling her. It hurt, but not for the reasons it might have before. There had
definitely been more information, and she had just found a source.

�Doesn�t ring a bell,� the older
woman said casually.

�You�re lying.�

Yoruichi nearly fell flat on her
face at that. Never in her life had the adoring little bee she knew ever
questioned her explanations. �I beg your pardon?�

She was clearly trying to keep up
her fake bravado, but she was holding her ground admirably against her former
superior and constant mentor. �I�I said you�re lying, Yoruichi-sama. The man I met in the club that night was a former
member of the Second Division, and there�s only one person by that name that�s
ever been in it. He was under your command.�

The bronzed woman sighed heavily.
�He told you that?�

Soi-Fong
wasn�t liking the abrupt turn this had taken. She
hadn�t dealt with something this confusing in a long time. �I answered the call
of the Hollow appearance that night and saw him fighting. No one but the Second
Division teaches the hand-signs for Kidou, so I would have known even if he
hadn�t answered me when I asked.�

She now looked truly pained, and
that surprised her. �So he really didn�t have a choice, did he? I made a
promise, Soi-Fong. If he told you that much, you
might get the rest out of him but I can�t tell you any more.�

The woman with dual braids tied
to golden rings nodded seriously. �I plan to do that. Thank you Yoruichi-sama.� In a flash she was in her body, and while the other
woman was still standing where she had been, she walked out the door in her gigai with its only outfit.

Yoruichi Shihouin sighed again as
the door slid shut and she slumped to the floor sadly. �So you finally decided
you�d had enough, huh? I told you to be careful.�

The bright day suddenly looked so
much darker for some reason.

�Then again, you were probably
doomed the moment you met her.�

~~~~~~~~~

The town was large, and with all
the people with growing spiritual awareness there was more than a few sources
of reiatsu, but she wouldn�t be the captain of the Second Division if she
couldn�t discern his location. Reiatsu there may be, but there was only a few red spirit ribbons in the whole of Karakura
Town. That she would find
his all the way across town on one of the nearby hills didn�t surprise her.

Everything involving him had to
be difficult, then again, it wouldn�t be any fun
otherwise.

A quick check to see if anyone
was around then in only a few seconds she was at the hillside, looking no more
out of place than any other perfectly regular human. Something like that
wouldn�t even make her breathe hard. It really was quiet here, with even the sounds
of vehicles and the like barely reaching the peaceful hillside overlooking the
town. The sun was at its peak in the slightly cloudy sky, and slowly falling.
It wasn�t hard to figure out that this was a great place to watch sunsets, but
she had never been one for something like that.

She stopped where his reiatsu
ended, but to her confusion no one was around. What the�? Then she
looked up, and sure enough there he was, lying on one of the branches of the
largest trees in the area. It was a perfect climbing tree, with long, wide
branches corded away from the trunk with enough space between them for easy
access. The smooth bark wasn�t abrasive at all, and the tree was large enough
to easily fit a man on one of its branches without any difficulty.

She could see him, just barely,
on one of the high branches in the canopy, lounging back like he was on a
recliner. His long sleeves and hair were blowing beneath the branch in the
gentle breeze, if not she wouldn�t have even been able to spot him. No human in
their right mind would be up that high having a nap, but it didn�t seem to
bother him.

There was no one around even
though it was lunch time, but the place was rather secluded and it would take
quite a hike to get to regularly. She had no problem then jumping up from
branch to branch like the otherworldly being she was instead of acting like the
human she was supposed to be. Reiatsu was such a wonderful thing.

She landed silently on one of the
branches opposite his and nearly fell when she saw that he wasn�t alone.
He was sleeping, that much was certain going on the wavelength of his reiatsu
and his face in general, which looked just as peaceful as his surroundings. His
arms were crossed over his chest yet his head was cradled in the lap of a woman
wearing one of the most elegant kimonos she had ever seen, and her black hair
was so long it swayed with his below the branch. Her thin black eyebrows
floated perfectly over her rich onyx eyes and her almost completely white skin
accentuated her dark red lips flawlessly. She was without a doubt the second
most beautiful woman she had ever laid eyes on. Yoruichi had been and always
would be the first.

Her body was nothing short of
immaculate, and it was clothed in a red and white kimono that reminded her
distinctly of a priestess despite its expensive appearance. Her pale hands were
softly gliding over his lustrous hair and she seemed none the wiser to the
other woman�s appearance. Her attention was focused solely on Gwydion, and her
eyes held the look not of a lover, but almost a�mother. For as young as she
looked, Soi-Fong could do nothing but compare her
face to that of a maternal protector, but her eyes didn�t look innocent. They
looked heavy, the dark ink-black eyes nearly sad in their countenance though
her lips were smiling as she looked down on him. Whoever that woman was, she
was wise beyond her appearance, and likely older too.

It was with that that she
realized something. She wasn�t human. She wasn�t human, but she couldn�t detect
any reiatsu either. The woman was neither Shinigami nor human, and she most
assuredly wasn�t a Hollow. What had she stumbled onto?

�Who are you??�

The second the words were out of
her mouth the woman vanished. She didn�t run away, she didn�t use Shunpo, Sonido, or any other
high-speed movement technique; she simply vanished. At that moment
Gwydion snapped awake and in less time than it would take to blink his left arm
had shot out and flung a kunai obviously hidden somewhere in his oversized
sleeves straight at her head. Her reflexes were second-to-none however, and her
body acted instinctively. She caught the throwing weapon between her index and
middle fingers like it had taken less effort than breathing just as the point
was a centimeter away from the flesh between her eyebrows.

Inwardly she was rather
impressed. Had it been anyone else they would have been dead, and it had gotten
closer to her than any weapon of its kind had before. For not being able to use
his left hand as well as his right, she wondered what the outcome would have been
had he been using his right hand�.

She shuddered unwittingly. What
kind of training had he been doing?

�Nice choice of greeting,� she
commented offhandedly as she flicked the kunai between her fingers expertly
before with a snap of her wrist it was embedded in the wood between his feet. �Hello to you too.�

Gwydion rubbed his eye in relief.
�I�I apologize.� He looked up into the sky and, seeing it wasn�t dark, or even
past noon for that matter, he quickly looked back at her and she could see his
body tightening in caution. �It would seem your inquisitive nature hasn�t
changed either. The hornet learned well from the cat.�

She was taken aback, but not
literally or else she would have fallen from the tree. Why did he sound so
resigned? �What?�

In a completely unexpected move,
he popped his gikongan pill and flew from his body to stand seriously in his
modified shihakushou. His violet eye was boring into her, and she didn�t like
the undertones she saw there. It wasn�t the eye of a fighter, like she knew him
to be. �You�ve been the commander of the Special Ops Second Division for many
years, Captain Soi-Fong, and in all that time you
have never once taken a day off early. If you�re here, it means you�re on
business. At the very least, allow me to thank you for approaching head-on,
instead of from the darkness.�

She didn�t understand what he was
going on about! It was like he thought she was there to kill him!

Oh� She realized suddenly.
Oh�oh God. He already knew she was going to look into his background! He
knew it after their second meeting! �Wait! This is a misunderstanding!�

His scowling mask broke, and he
gave her his strange half-grin as his eye looked at her with reconciled
curiosity. �Enlighten me then. Why are you here?�

She gulped deeply. �I�I have
something to tell you.�

He thumped down onto his branch
heavily and looked at her skeptically as he sat. �So, you seem to know what I
was referring to. The damage is done either way then. You know about me, don�t
you?�

She hadn�t imagined it to be the
easiest thing to tell him, but this hadn�t been the way she expected the
conversation to go at all. Just from his initial reaction, she could tell he
was already prepared for very, very bad. What she would tell him would only
make things very, very worse. �I know you were betrayed. The file didn�t go
into specifics on that though. Does your alias have something to do with how
you survived all this time?�

Gwydion gave his weird grin again
as he laughed bitterly. �Since you know that much already, I guess it won�t
hurt to tell you all of it. At least I�ll get to tell one person in the end.�

He sighed, and Soi-Fong didn�t like the dread that was twisting her
stomach. He sounded so�so different from his usual self that it was disturbing.
His hatred was nothing like hers, it was a deep and abiding wound that was just
below the surface of that porcelain mask he kept over it, and it had a physical
reminder that never let it go away.

�G.T. Takumi. Honestly, after I
dragged myself back to Soul Society and Retsu-dono
did all she could to save my life, I had no will to live. They didn�t know all
the details, but Princess Shihouin was surprisingly insightful from what I told
them. �Gwydion Torisuna survived the mission he was
sent on and came back a threat to Soul Society, and was henceforth jailed in
the Maggot�s Nest as he was recovering.� I can only imagine what my profile
looks like now, but G.T. Takumi, perfectly regular, unspectacular in every way,
just graduated from the academy and was appointed an unseated position in the Thirteenth
Division. I don�t know why they went that far to keep me alive, but I owe my
life to them nonetheless.

�I may not know why they did it,
but I was a part of the Second Division for half a century. I had been
betrayed, and I knew if word got out that Gwydion Torisuna
was still alive outside the Maggot�s Nest I knew I was dead. I was nearly
killed once, I knew the only reason it wasn�t tried again was because of the
excuse the princess, Retsu-dono and Captain Ukitake gave the higher-ups. I didn�t understand why they
did it though, I would have been much happier had they just allowed me to die.�

Before she knew what she was
doing, Soi-Fong found herself crouching in front of
him, and she had her hand on his cheek not in a slap, but in a caress. �What
happened to you, Gwydion?�

His solitary eye became hard and
unfeeling after the initial moment of surprise. �I was sent to Hueco Mundo to monitor the
movements of a group of Menos, one of the first of
its kind I was told. It wasn�t unusual for me to be sent without my team, so I
didn�t question it. I was barely there for a day before I was ambushed by
Shinigami and stabbed twice before I even knew what was going on. I was able to
avoid critical blows to the pressure points that seal my powers, but they obviously
thought I was dead enough.� He laughed bitterly again. �The
fools. The commotion drew the group that I had been following, and that
drew something else. It was the first time I ever came into contact with an
evolved Menos, and it tore into them, the other Menos, and I like we were playthings.

�The Menos
went first, it went for their reiatsu instinctively probably, but then it
turned on the others�and I found out they were members of my own team. I tried, I tried as hard as I could to save them. I didn�t understand
anything at the time, all I knew was my team was in danger. Two seconds and
every thought I had had about being stabbed was gone, I honestly don�t know how
I was able to do anything, but I got up and I fought. Well, you can see what happened after
that,� he whispered angrily as he touched his eye-patch gently.

She swallowed hard to try and
dislodge the lump in her throat. She knew more than what had happened after.
She knew what had happened before. �You were in a relationship before that, weren�t you?�

His unique smile appeared again,
as sadly as everything else about him right then. �They really don�t leave much
out of our files, do they?� His voice must have dropped two whole octaves,
because she could barely make out what he said next. �Yes, I had been seeing a
woman on my team for about a year before then, and I still couldn�t stop the Menos from getting to her. I dragged her back to Soul
Society with everything I had left, but in the end it was my life that was
saved, not hers.�

She had been wondering why, if he
wanted to die so badly, he had come back to Soul Society in the first place. It
made sense now, just like everything else she had come across that was without
explanation. He had been in love. She knew he had been attacked by someone
close to him without him knowing the provocation, but she had never expected it
to be something like that. The Second Division wasn�t known for having members
with actual lives.

�They were ordered, Gwydion,� she
confessed as gently as she could, and wasn�t surprised when his body went
rigid.

�Wh�what?�

�I know why you hid it even if I
don�t know what your zanpakutou is or what it�s capable of, but I do know that
you showed your powers to her when you saved her life the first time, the year
prior.�

He wasn�t dumb, he was brighter
than most anyone she had ever met, and it didn�t take long before he knew what
she was talking about. �No�no.�

�She told someone Gwydion. I
don�t think it was meant in malice, but she told someone. That person told
someone else, until eventually it got to the ears of someone who felt it could
be a threat and they submitted it to Center Forty-Six. You were marked as
dangerous, and it was proposed you be assassinated, as well as anyone who knew
about it.�

�My team��

She nodded. �Yeah, it had stayed
within your team. So, they sent you on a mission to Hueco
Mundo to stay close to the Menos,
and while you were doing that they sent your team on a mission�to hunt down the
traitor conspiring with Hueco Mundo.�

He looked dizzy, unfocused, and
she could tell even the scowling, emotionless block of ice was starting to
hyperventilate. She quickly grabbed onto his shoulder before he fell, and his
left hand clutched to her arm in a painfully strong grip as he struggled to
come to terms with what she had just told him.

�So everything�everything that
happened to me��

�Was set up,� she completed.
�They never intended to have any of the people sent to assassinate you come
back alive, least of all the person they had tried to assassinate. Whatever the
case was, that Nest story saved your life in more ways than one, but it hadn�t
been in your profile.� His grip tightened on her arm, and she winced.

�The princess.
Did the princess know about it?�

�Of course not,� she reassured
softly. She had seen the hard proof of that. �It wasn�t until after you came
back that she even knew what was going on, that was why she tried to help you.
Center Forty-Six went over everyone�s heads. There would be no witnesses, especially not
even a captain. They classified your file with the proof right in it.� She
looked down sadly as she revealed what else she knew. �You had been crippled.
Even if you got out, you wouldn�t be a threat hard to take out.�

He stilled. �So you know about
that too.�

�I�I followed you last time.
Something was wrong, I knew it, and when I saw your arm I don�t know what came
over me. I wanted to know what had happened to you, I thought for sure I could
do something about it, but I�had never guessed��

�That I lost my right eye and arm
trying to save the very people sent to kill me? Now that I know the whole
story, I don�t know if even I believe that any more.� His tone was
lifeless. �I knew you were struggling against looking information up on me
after the first time we met, but I never thought it would lead to this.�

She looked over at him
confusedly. �You knew?�

His enigmatic half-smile formed
reluctantly. �Even if I didn�t know how much you emulate the princess, I have
other methods. My team, my way of life, my body, was all destroyed, and
everyone knows Center Forty-Six was annihilated by Aizen
before he openly defected. I never thought I�d be thanking him for
anything! What�s left for me now? I�ve got nothing! I�m useless!�

�No you�re not!� she yelled
vehemently as she stood up angrily, and it wasn�t until after she said that
that she realized she didn�t know why she had said it.

He jumped up just as furiously as
his reiatsu flared around him. �YES! I AM!!� He roared, and just like that time
when she had seen him throw away his prosthetic arm, she saw again when his
mask had been shattered and all that was left was the hatred he held for
himself underneath. No one was left to punish, nothing was left to do, all he
had was the self-loathing that had had over a century to simmer and grow inside
him.

He ripped his eye-patch off his
face and his hair fell down against his back like a river of black ink and she
just barely succeeded in suppressing her gasp when she saw his right eye. The
violet was the same as the left, but there was no pupil in the cloudy eye, and
the white mist over it only went to prove his blindness further. The only
traces of what had happened were the few places where his eyebrow and eyelash
hadn�t grown back, otherwise Retsu
had done an amazing job removing the scars that most assuredly would have been
on his face, just like the continuations of those were on his shoulder before
it reached where his arm had been ripped off.

When she saw his face, when she
saw his hair fall down his back as his face was completely revealed to her that
thing in her chest that had told her to go back the second time, that thing
that wouldn�t let her leave that classified file where it belonged, that
unexplainable thing that had made her tell him what she knew even though she
also knew it might destroy him just like it was doing, that thing clenched
again in her chest.

�I. Am.
Useless!! I can�t see, I can barely use my zanpakutou the way I am now,
and I�ve gotten as far as I�m capable of everywhere else! I was lying to myself
by thinking I could live normally again like Captain Ukitake
said, I�m no good to anyone like this!!!� It had happened, just like she had
feared. He had snapped; his breaking point had been in the making for over a
hundred years, and this last push was exactly what he hadn�t needed. He had
probably been contemplating it for a while, now he had nothing left. He was
going to destroy himself.

That strange clench happened
again, and this time it hurt. What�s happening to me?? She wanted to
save him, help him, but she didn�t know how. She didn�t even know what was
happening to her own body!

His reiatsu was surprisingly
large, and getting stronger. This wasn�t the reiatsu of a Fourth Seat officer, this at the very least put her lieutenant to shame.
He was almost to the level of a weak captain, in sheer volume of reiatsu
anyway.

�You�re the only one who thinks
you�re useless!!� She yelled as she let out her own reiatsu to counter the
growing force his was putting on the air while her temper flared just like the
spiritual energy around her. All the confusion had been too much for her, and
her temper had just been waiting for an excuse to erupt.

�What would you know about it!?!�

That was it. She punched him
square in the face before popping her own gikongan pill and leaping after his
flying body.

�You bastard!!
How do you think I felt when I saw that I had been left behind by Yoruichi-sama!?!? Was I that useless a subordinate that I should be
left behind!?! Don�t you dare think I don�t know about feeling
useless!!!� She struck out at him again, and to her
surprise he was actually fast enough to swat away her first strike even while
soaring back from the force of her initial blow, but since he couldn�t get his
sole arm back into position in time her other hand caught him in the chest and
sent him on a one-way trip to the ground.

He flipped backwards and caught
himself on the reiatsu suddenly beneath his feet before he launched himself up
at her with his eyes narrowed in anger. Underneath the veil of her hatred, she
was actually unnerved at seeing his hair unbound and billowing in the wind
behind him. Maybe it was the fact that his face was totally uncovered as he
came at her, and she could see that undisputable proof of his partial blindness
that didn�t take away from his dangerous beauty at all, that her chest
tightened again.

She grabbed his sleeved fist as
it flew at her and threw him over her shoulder and down at the hillside, but
yet again he managed to flip himself in time and then he was back at her, as
tenacious as ever. The more they fought, the more she found herself becoming
impressed.� For just having one arm, he
could still fight at a remarkable level.

She should have known that being
as blind as he was in one eye, he would have found a way to compensate for
that. Even for a former member of the Second Division, his skill with kicks was
extraordinary. She guessed it was only natural, with his depth perception as
off as it was bound to be he would have to stay a safe distance away at all
times just because he couldn�t trust his own eyes anymore.

To someone of her level, he was
actually making her work harder than she expected, but she had gained one bad
habit from Yoruichi if nothing else: her tendency to play with her food. He was
nimble for his size too, and he could balance himself well on his one hand to
send his volleys of kicks at her before springing away. His punches were harder
for her to read though, because she couldn�t exactly be sure where his fist was
in all the material coming at her, consequently making it harder to deflect.

What�s he made of anyway!?
For his speed and size, he weighed a lot more than he looked. She knew he was
on the skinnier end of muscular, but then again when she had seen his naked
chest the other day, those muscles couldn�t be just for show. It felt like he
was made of lead. It wasn�t anything for her to worry about, but it was still
an observation on her part she had to notice.

He rarely landed a hit, but it
was quite a feat to even claim that he had landed one, which against all odds,
he did. It hurt like hell, but she had dealt with much worse. She hadn�t
initiated Shunkou, but that might have been because she didn�t plan on killing
him, just beating the tar out of him a little.

�Maybe so, but you still have all
your limbs!!!�

Well, he had her there, but that
didn�t mean she wasn�t still angry. �Will you look at yourself, you brain-dead
asshole!?!� She yelled as she caught his oncoming foot in her hands before
throwing it, and him, back once again. �You�ve landed a hit on a captain!
If that�s not the absolute opposite of useless I don�t know what is!!� And he
hadn�t even drawn his sword yet either, but come to think of it he was probably
worst off with his sword than unarmed because then he wouldn�t be able to brace
himself with his hand for his kicks. That, and his perception and upper body
imbalance made it impractical to use a sword repeatedly and not just for his
one-strike iaijutsu.

He flipped himself backwards to
land on his feet again and glare at her, and Soi-Fong
had to applaud how flexible he was. For a man, especially for a man, he
was the very definition of lithe, and his mastery of Shunpo
was clear to see. �I would appreciate it if you don�t insult me again,
Captain,� he gritted out darkly. �You�re far from serious! I don�t care if
you�re going to kill me, but at least let me die knowing I wasn�t being played
with!!�

Her constant scowl deepened
further, and a thousandth of a second later she was behind him with his left
arm grappled securely into a half-nelson as her other arm wound around his
throat and her small legs wrapped around his hips. If he tried to struggle all
she needed to do was increase the pressure on his arm, or worst yet, her legs. She
was a small person, but she knew how to use every inch of her body to its
fullest potential. �Let me tell you something,� she hissed threateningly into
his ear. �If I wanted to kill you, do you think I would have told you what I
found out first? Do you think I would have even talked to you period!?
If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead. Now you listen, �cause I�m only going to say this once. Just from what I�ve
seen you do, I can list a good couple hundred Shinigami off the top of my head
that are nowhere near your level, and they�ve got both eyes and both arms.
Hell, from this fight alone, I can add a few lieutenants to that list!� He
struggled slightly, and she tightened her hold on his arm while she tensed her
legs in warning. �I can easily remove your other arm too if you want, or maybe
I�ll just twist my legs and relieve you of your spine. Now calm the hell down, if you
really want me to hurt you, I�ll be more than obliged right now.�

She could hear his teeth grinding
together as he mulled over her grudgingly acceptable argument and against his
will he found himself coming back to his senses. He sighed and went limp in her
grasp, and cautiously Soi-Fong let go of him. �Why
can�t I just die?� He whispered. �I should have been with my team a long time
ago.�

She was stunned. The betrayal was
a large part of his hatred, the loss to his body even larger, but there was another
part there, one probably just as prominent as the other two. He should have
died�he had been marked to die, as had all the others as they now knew�but he
had lived. He was angry about being betrayed, angry at
losing a large part of his life, but�he was also angry at himself simply for
living when they didn�t.

�Don�t say that,� she said
quietly. �I�ve lived a long time, and if there�s one thing I�ve seen it�s that
everything�everything happens for a reason.� Her chest clenched again, and to
be perfectly honest she didn�t care what it was doing anymore. She didn�t
understand what it meant, but it wasn�t something she couldn�t live through. �I
don�t know what that reason is right now, but something good has to be coming
to you eventually.�

He chuckled unwillingly while he
turned around to look at her and brushed away the long bangs that had fallen
out of place. It was strange to know that even though she was seeing both of
his eyes, she was only being seen with one. The milky
film over his pupil-less right eye confirmed that much. He really made an
eye-patch look good, it was true, but she much preferred him without it now
that she had seen his face unobstructed. His left eye twinkled as he looked at
her with his lopsided smirk before his eyebrows reflexively went back into
their scowl. �Maybe you�re right��

Was she prepared when he suddenly
leaned forward and captured her lips with his?

That was a definite no.

She wanted to punch him, to raise
her knee and ensure that he never try something like this again, but what she found
her hands doing instead was grabbing the folds of his haori and pulling him
closer. Her mind was going fuzzy, whether that was from the lack of air or the
act in itself she didn�t know, not that she cared. She
hadn�t known what to expect when she first kissed a man, but if this was what
she could expect regularly it was certainly a nice place to start. It felt like
her body was being burned from the inside out, like even her muscles didn�t
want to comply with her orders anymore and all they wanted was for this
delicious feeling to continue. He guided her along with forceful skill and she
found herself following his lead without even knowing it.

The heat was getting stronger
now, the urge for something originating not from her chest this time, but from
lower, a place deep in her that had been making itself
known far more in the past few years than in all the years after Yoruichi had
left. God, he�s a great kisser�

Her mind snapped to awareness and
she shoved him away with her impressive strength. Her hands were trembling, as
was her entire body, but the thing that she couldn�t understand was it wasn�t
because of anger. She had pulled him closer. The clenching in her chest had
stopped too, it was working overtime to keep the
feelings sizzling inside her. What�s
happening to me!?

�I�I�m sorry, Captain, I don�t
know what came ov��

His words were cut off by the
roar coming from the hole that had just been blown in the dimensions, and he
quickly whirled around with his hand on the hilt of his sword. The thing that
came through the Garganta wasn�t a Hollow, a Menos,
an Arrancar, or even a Vizard. It didn�t look like any of those at first
glance, but it was. It was definitely a Hollow, but the mask was disfigured,
and the eyes lacked even the bestial intelligence most Hollows possess. Parts
of its body were larger than others, with an angular, jagged arm and one that
looked relatively normal, but it looked like the white material that formed
during an Arrancar Resurrecion. What was even
stranger was it was wearing clothes, or what was left of them. Instead of the
traditional black, or even white, uniform that could
be found on Shinigami and Arrancar respectively, this creature had on a grey
kimono. Honestly, it looked like a horrible fusion between the animalistic Adjucha and a Soul Reaper, or like a Soul Reaper had
somehow attempted an Arrancar release. It was impossible to tell from its
reiatsu either, it was twisted beyond even the unique form the Kurosaki
children had.

But, it still held a sword in its
more regular arm.

�What on earth is that?� Soi-Fong asked in bewilderment, and seconds later the thing
had lunged at Gwydion.

�You say that like you expect me
to know!� He yelled while he dodged the many erratic attacks being thrown his
way. The creature�s speed was unnatural, and its strength was definitely like
that of a Hollow. She didn�t know why it took her so long to move, but she
could tell that Gwydion was having a hard time keeping his safe distance from
the creature so he could attack like he normally would.

The thing was ballistic, it
attacked with animalistic ferocity yet it never went after the larger source of
reiatsu: her.� She quickly joined the
fray only to be swatted back like an unwanted nuisance by its large arm. It was
like it had been specifically after him from the beginning.

Gwydion had started spinning
again, relying on his kicks to keep the weird anomaly at bay, but just like had
happened when he fought her, the thing merely swatted his kicks away or took
them like they were nothing as it went on the attack. It had Ierro, she could tell that much from the sting of her fist
after she punched it, but she didn�t know what it was. It had no recognizable
beast shape, or even a recognizable shape at all on the parts transformed.
However, she did know that Gwydion was in trouble, and�the kiss of moments ago
temporarily forgotten�she rushed in.

For not having a discernable
fighting style, the thing was remarkable adept at weaving through their
combined blows, but since this was the first actual battle in what seemed like
forever, Soi-Fong was more than happy to let the
fight stretch out. This thing she could hurt without worrying about her
strength, unlike the division sparring matches. She needed the stress relief,
and how. Her lips were still tingling.

She barred her teeth, wondering
why that had come to mind now of all times, before she pulled back and let the
thing have one of her real punches. It flew to the ground so fast Gwydion�s oncoming kick didn�t even hit it first. �I don�t
know what you are, but if you think you stand a chance against me, you�re sadly
mistaken.�

She heard Gwydion stifle a
chuckle beside her.

She was just about to say
something to him when the amalgamation flew up again, its large arm pulled
back. Before he had time to react the uppercut caught him in the face and he
was sent flying limply as the thing quickly rushed after him and caught his
unconscious form in its oversized hand, tearing his haori and revealing the
black apparatus keeping his right arm in place.

Soi-Fong�s
heart nearly stopped when she saw the creature turn away as a portal to the
Garganta opened. It had completely ignored her, and not only that, it had
Gwydion!

�Sting All Enemies To Death! Suzumebachi!!�

She hadn�t so much as drawn her
sword in so long, and releasing it again after all the time that had passed did
feel good, even if she wasn�t focused on that very much at the moment. She was
a blur as she rushed at the man-thing, and the force of her first strike threw
it back and forced it to drop the man it was carrying. The only thing the body
could do was fall the long distance to the ground below. Normally she would have
instantly went for the second strike, uncaring of the comrade that may be in
peril, but this time she quickly caught him and voided the chance for her
instant kill. It wasn�t like her, it was nothing like her, but she had done it
before she had had time to think about it.

For what had to be the umpteenth
time, Soi-Fong couldn�t help but wonder: What�s happening to me!?! That was the
first thought, but it was quickly replaced by, Good Lord he�s heavy! She grabbed his left arm to hang around her
shoulders so it wouldn�t be quite as awkward, and his head hung limply beside
hers as his hair veiled his face from view. �Hey, wake up already! In case you
hadn�t noticed it seems to be after you!
Damn it!�

In an instant she had flashed
them both to the highest supportable branch of the giant tree nearby and
quickly leaned him against the trunk. His chest was bloody in places from where
the claws of the giant hand had dug deep into his flesh, and the sleek black
prosthetic of his right arm could be seen because of his nearly destroyed
haori. As his head lulled back against the bark and his hair fell away from his
face, she could see the crimson liquid dribbling from his nose and mouth, and
her blood boiled.

This felt different from her
regular anger, it felt right, justified.
The clenching in her chest had come back again, and this time it fully agreed
with her fury. She wasn�t done playing yet, she was
going to make that thing wish it was dead before she finished it off. It would
seem to be perfect timing as well, because it was then
that the grey man-thing could be seen rushing back at them.

With a shrug she discarded her
captain�s haori and sleeves and rushed it, opening with a kick to its throat
that had the thing gurgling blood. It was far from dead though, and as Hornet�s
Crests appeared all over its body from her continued assault it never stopped
attacking, though not once did it land a hit. It was tenacious though, and
didn�t let up for a second. Even injured and near dead, it still tried to get
past her. It wasn�t even trying to kill her so much as it was trying to get to
the man behind her.

It was making as much sense as
anything else these days.

It was rather annoying that the
thing rarely even voiced its pain, instead the only
noise was its angry roars coming from a mouth that looked like it should be
creating human speech. The disfigured, half-formed mask was sickening. �Time for you to go.� She readied Suzumebachi
and aimed through her evasive movements at one of the many targets she had to
go on.

�Know The Fruits Of Your Labor, Righteous
Goddess. Weep While You Destroy, Fallen Mother. Fulfill Your Promise: Izanami.�

The hairs on the back of her neck
stood up as she turned around to see Gwydion�s bloody
form standing in the air behind them, his zanpakutou drawn. He didn�t look
angry, just in pain, but the wounds on his chest were still bleeding heavily. He had regained his composure as a
result, and that was heard in the melancholy tone he had used to call out his zanpakutou�s release. It was like he was sad he had to use
it. She watched as the blade shined white, and instead of growing, it shrunk.
When the transformation was completed, what Gwydion was holding in his sleeved
hand was a jewel-encrusted pen shaped like a miniature halberd. From what she
could tell from where she was standing, the end of the spear-like pen was
indeed the zanpakutou�s blade.

You�ve gotta be kidding me! Center Forty-Six
went after him for that!?! The
only thing she had ever seen smaller than that was Hanatarou Yamada�s Hisagomaru! Though, it usually went with logic that the
smaller the zanpakutou was, the more compressed the spiritual energy was also,
which tended to result in explosive power regardless of size.

To her surprise, he started
drawing in the air, and she could actually see the lines the zanpakutou was
making. It wasn�t a very complicated design, but he was drawing faster than she
thought was possible. If this was how good he was with his left hand, she
wondered what he had been capable of with his right. When he stopped, rows of
simple outlines of kunai floated in the air in front of him, before with a
twirl of the jeweled pen it disappeared from his hand and the outlines gained physical form.

Her eyes widened when in
practiced precision, he agilely threw each and every one of them in quick
succession in a dance-like maneuver exactly like that of one trained in the
ninja arts of the Second Division. She could feel the wind blow by her head as
the blades whizzed by her body, and she could hear the dull thuds behind her as the ones it couldn�t
dodge pierced into the creature�s body. Not once did she turn away from him
though. With another gesture of his hand the pen suddenly reappeared, and when
she looked at the bloody creature behind her she could see the damage he had
inflicted, but none of the knives.

�That was for that punch,� he
explained as he spat out the remnants of blood in his mouth. She watched him
flicker and followed his movements as he sped over to the man-thing and stabbed
the pen into its Ierro with ease, jumping away just
before the counterattack came. Soi-Fong was left to
fend it off as he retreated, but she didn�t mind that at all. She wanted to see
what else he could do. �I�m sorry, whatever-you-are.�

The blood was dripping from the
bladed point of the halberd-esque pen, and in bright
red letters he wrote the word �DIE� on the air in front of him. He was visibly
less talented at writing with his left hand, because the movements of his hand
were awkward and clumsy, and it took longer than it should take anyone to write
the simple word.

However, when it was done, the
abomination went stiff before falling to the ground like a rock.

Soi-Fong
stood there, petrified. �What did you do?�

He didn�t answer her, instead he
started sheathed his zanpakutou and floating back down to the ground where the
thing had impacted, and not evaporated like Hollows usually do. She followed
him down and they both landed softly beside the crater it had made. Unable to
contain her curiosity, she slid down the minor hill to its body and checked its
pulse. �It�s�dead.�

�I told it to die in its own
blood, so it died. It�s one of Izanami�s more
heartless abilities.� He winced in pain as he fell to one knee, and she was
instantly running back up the slope to him. The wounds on his chest were
positively pouring blood.

�You moron!
You shouldn�t be moving right now! We need to get you to Ichigo!�

His eyes turned to her
desperately as he clutched his chest. �No! I can�t have any of them seeing me
like this!�

�Do you want to die!?� The second she yelled that her chest constricted
painfully. She knew the answer to that.

The answer that came then, was unexpected.

�No,� he replied softly as he
reached over to her face, gently running his fingers down her cheek. She didn�t
even care if they were soaked in his own blood, it was
the point of the gesture that counted. �I�don�t think I do��

That said,
he fell to the side, unconscious. She was almost to her feet when she heard the
most wonderful thing she had ever heard in her life.

�What�s goin� on here!?�

It was Ichigo! That saved her
time she didn�t know they had left, and right then she might have hugged him
had she been anyone else. Still, she quickly put her scowl back into place and
straightened up. �Captain! Your officer is wounded and
in need of your assistance!�

Needless to say, Ichigo�s eyes
widened before he set to work immediately. He stalled only a little upon seeing
his right arm, there were more important things to do before he lost time over
that. Seconds seemed to go by like hours to her after that, but she knew she
had to be patient. Patience was never her strong suite though. She didn�t even
know why she was so worried about him!

Finally, he leaned back with a
sigh of relief as he closed the Fourth Division medical kit usually strapped on
his back alongside Zangetsu. Gwydion was shirtless, but that had been necessary
for the bandages to be put in place. �You know, I�ve never seen him without his
eye-patch before,� he noted matter-of-factly.

Of all the responses, only Ichigo
Kurosaki would say something like that after seeing the other, more prominent
startling revelation about one of his subordinates.

�Did you know about his arm?� She
asked, her scowl deepening.

His head turned to look at her
strangely. �Did I know? Hell no! I might have suspected, but I never asked.
It�s his life, not mine.�

She smiled faintly at that as her
eyes softened. �You�re one strange captain, Kurosaki.� He merely grinned at her
in response.

�So what did this anyway?�

She turned to the crater directly
behind her. �That.�

Confused, Ichigo got up and
jumped down the slope to the body still at the epicenter of the impact. �What
the hell? It didn�t purify?�

�My thoughts
exactly. I don�t even know what it is,� she replied as she appeared
beside him. �It�s unlike anything I�ve ever fought before, and its reiatsu was
so�twisted. I couldn�t tell what it
was, or what it even might have been before.� The orange-haired captain leaned
down to look closer at the masked face, and she knew something was wrong when
his breath left him in a sharp gasp. �What it is?�

Zangetsu�s
sheath unfurled as he grabbed its handle, and she watched as he smashed the
blunt end of the hilt into the middle of the mask. What was revealed under it
was a regular face, and from what she could tell, one Ichigo recognized.

�This is�this is one of my
officers. He�s supposed to be posted on the other side of the world��

Soi-Fong�s
throat went dry. �Assumed to be killed in action, right?�

He nodded dazedly. �Months ago. What the hell happened to him? This is
just�grotesque.�

�I don�t know,� she murmured
seriously, �but he was after Gwydion. I can only guess he didn�t think I�d be
here, he�s usually up in that tree over there around this time obviously.�

�When he�d be
alone. No one would think twice about a battle happening over here, he�s
handled everything that�s come at him so far. Before I would know something was
wrong he�d already be gone��

�That would be my assumption too.
Whoever sent this thing here didn�t plan on it taking as long as it did. He
would have been here and gone before you even knew anything was up.�

He crossed his arms over his
chest and gave his usual scowl of thought. �But why him?
Even this guy, he was strong before, yeah, but nothing special. Why go for the
unseated officers and not others?�

The light bulb sparked to life in
her mind. �Because they wouldn�t be missed! What about
this one here, did he have any special attachments or anything like that?�

Ichigo�s eyebrow arched
confusedly. �Not that I know of. Most of the guys we
get coming to long-term stations here are bored of Soul Society and wanna try something knew. They know the dangers when they
come here.�

Soi-Fong
gulped. That means�had we had that party
a week later�I wouldn�t have met him. �I thought so. Whatever�s going on
here is targeting your officers, they would be impossible to get in Soul
Society unnoticed.�

He groaned lightly. �Wonderful. I
guess I�ll have to keep an eye out from now on. I can�t really recall the ones
already posted elsewhere; they�re needed. At least now we know something about
what�s happening, and that�s more than we knew before. Looks
like we�ve got something new on our hands this time.�

She cracked her knuckles. �I�m
more than happy to stay and help. My division�s been lacking work lately
anyways.�

He smiled gratefully. �It�d be
nice to have another captain here in case I�ve got to go to Hueco
Mundo. Jumping from place to place doesn�t always
give Tatsuki and I enough time to be everywhere,
especially with Senna at her age.�

�I�ll send the request
immediately,� she agreed as she walked back out of the crater and knelt down
beside Gwydion�s resting body. �We�ll find out who
did this to you.� She rubbed her cheek, where his blood had already hardened
and was chipping off.

�If you don�t want your life
anymore, give it to me. I may not know what�s going on inside me, but I�m sure
if I stay by you I�ll find out.�

All she knew was, she wanted to keep him safe.

~~~~~~~~~~

A lone figure in a grey kimono stood
by a cold stone table as the dark sky hung above the roof and moonlight poured
in through the skylight to illuminate the large room. A disfigured being
hobbled over to it and whispered something in its ear, and the figure smiled.

�So, someone actually managed to
fend off their pursuer? At last, a worthy candidate. I�ve been looking for
someone like you, G.T., and how nice, you already have all the necessary
modifications.� The silken voice echoed rhythmically through the white
building, and from down the many catacombs branching out from it, bestial moans
answered him.

He sat down on a carved stone
chair and put his feet up on the table in front of him as surgical tools
glimmered in the background.

�Finally, after all these long
years of taking what I can get from the Living World, I�ve found the general
for my army.� He lifted a glass brought to him by yet another strange, but not
quite as unshapely being to the moonlight and set the blood-red liquid aglow in
its radiance.

�You made me into who I am today,
and threw us away when you had what you needed. Oh the potential you dismissed
so easily, the beauty of the monsters you created. You couldn�t see what you
hadn�t experienced yourself, yet you were so close. Ironic, you had made what
you desired, and you didn�t even know it.

�May you burn in hell, Mayuri Kurotsuchi.�

And behind the chair, two swords
shone ominously.

~~~~~~~~~

Author�s Notes: Holy crap, a villain!? Did I just put an actual
villain in my story?! LOL! He�s no one anyone knows, so you don�t need to start
guessing on that point right away. As you can tell, I love tying into my other
stories and weaving the universe together to show the whole action/reaction law
that so many books and the like don�t have. I�m sure I confused a good number
of you with this chapter, but I hope it made it interesting! I know I for one
wouldn�t keep reading a story if I didn�t find it fascinating, so I hope I�ve
kept you all wanting to keep reading and reviewing.

More questions are raised I know,
but I�ve also given some answers, and it�s that balance that hopefully makes
for a good read. If not, well, tell me what you think I�ve done wrong
(constructively please), or if I�ve done a good job so far, please tell me
about that too! R&R�s are always appreciated, and
Watcher, thank you for your continued reviews! It�s really nice to know I�ve
got people that continually read my story and take the time to tell me about it
every time. Moonymuch, xSTALKERx,
and JHH, you guys have been amazing too for the longest time. Thank you so
much!

I�m really excited to keep
writing this story, so I hope everyone�s enjoyed it so far! Writing the romance
into the action when the action actually has something continually antagonizing
it is something I haven�t done much of so far (at least with a named villain)
so here you go JHH! Hopefully it�s something you can all enjoy too!

Thanks for reading and I hope you
enjoyed the chapter!
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That Dreaded Word