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A New Window	By : Platinumsabr Category: Bleach > Het - Male/Female Views: 13905 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story. Any Original Characters are mine however, as is the story itself, and if you see it or any part of it posted elsewhere please report it

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Where
Hollows Fear To Tread

Kin awoke groggily, and she soon
saw her mother kneeling beside her. She sighed sleepily and stretched her arms
above her head, just like it was the beginning of a new day. �Mom, you�re never
gonna believe the dream I just had��

She stopped short when her
mother�s eyes filled with sorrow and darted over to the side. Perplexed, Kin
followed her gaze and what should she spy but a pale quartz-like rose, nestled
carefully on her night table. Kin�s sleepy eyes shot open in shock and she
quickly found breath eluding her once again.

It had really happened. He had
really come back.

He had really come back, only to
find her on a date with someone else.

Kin�s hand clutched like a claw
to her chest, which was rapidly constricting again. �Oh god�oh god�oh god no��

Her mother nodded sadly, and
Kin�s heart exploded. Not literally, but to her, that was what it felt like.

�He�s in that place again right!?
Hueco Mundo??? How do I get there!?!� She asked desperately. She had to
make things right. She had to! She had thought she would have wanted to beat
the living tar out of him, but the urge she felt after finally realizing it was
him after he had protected her like he always did, had been the farthest thing
from that. The way he looked at her before he vanished was like his heart had
been torn from his chest and ground into dust underfoot right in front of his
eyes. All she wanted to do was run up to him, throw her arms around his neck
and kiss him until neither of them could see straight.

He had excited her. Even though
she hadn�t even known it was him and he hadn�t even tried to, his new masculine
voice sent fire through her veins and renewed the throbbing between her legs
she hadn�t felt in years. She wanted him, she wanted them.

Realization struck her like a bag
of hammers. She hadn�t been able to have a steady boyfriend all those years
before because she wanted him. She didn�t want a replacement, she didn�t
want someone that came close; she wanted him. Remembering the way he
looked at her before he disappeared however, made her want to cry at the irony
of it all. When he had left the first time he had torn her heart out, and when
he left the second time it was his turn to feel that pain.

Yoruichi was still pondering her
daughter�s question. �I�don�t think that�s the best idea right now��

Kin had never looked at her
parents in hatred before, but the look she gave her mother after that comment
could have killed her five times over if glares held physical effects. �Fine!! I�ll figure out a way there myself!!� She promptly
grabbed her gikongan pill and swallowed it, allowing
her body to fall to the ground with a void personality as her Soul Reaper form
was pulled from it.

In this form she didn�t have the
spandex pants of her real body, and instead she had the traditional hakama of the Soul Reaper, nearly identical to the outfit Soi-Fong wore except for the yellow jacket she still wore over
the backless shirt. Unlike her mother, Kin had a zanpakutou, and it was cradled
between the cloths of her obi behind her waist. Yoruichi instantly dashed up to
try and stop her, but that was when they felt one of the most malicious spiritual
pressures they had ever sensed in Kin�s lifetime push down on them with the
full force of what was easily discerned to be anger behind it.

Though it was much, much
stronger than either of them remembered it to be, they both knew who�s it was.

Paralyzed temporarily by the
pressure, Kin had no way of reacting when Asuka�s
released form suddenly appeared before her and slapped her through a wall
before tackling the teen of equal height down the chute that led to the
underground training area hidden beneath the shop.

As she knelt on her hands and
knees and spat out blood from the force of the previous blow, Kin tried to
focus her blurry eyes up on the form of her assailant as the sleek form stalked
towards her with death incarnated burning in her insanely blue eyes.

Asuka
had no Hollow hole anywhere on her body, a side-effect of being birthed by a
Shinigami, but her zanpakutou released the same way any Arrancar�s
did. It changed her body into something nearly identical to her father�s, using
the same white, lined skin-like clothing. Her midriff was fully visible, since
the upper part of her weird change started right under her bust line and flowed
upwards like a shirt, following the track of her arms down to where her hands
had changed into black paw-like appendages with sharp claws at the end of each
feminine fingertip. Her pants seemed to start at her hipbones and make their
way down her legs until they changed the shape of her feet into their feline
counterparts, exactly like her father�s. Unlike her father�s, whose tail
started all the way at his neck and went down, hers only started at her
tailbone and flicked behind her menacingly like it had a will of its own. Her
ears had pointed and elongated, as had her eye tattoos, and the bone-like
forehead protector was now visible too, along with very sharp, very deadly
looking teeth.

Before Kin could do so much as
utter a protest, Asuka had delivered a harsh kick to
her stomach that sent her flying into one of the nearest mountains, where she
fell to the ground coughing even more than before.

�DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU�VE DONE TO
HIM!?!?� Asuka screamed as she walked ever closer to
the already battered body of the person who had earned her ire, uncaring that
her reiatsu was filling the air around them and radiating for everyone to feel.
She picked Kin up by the collar of her shirt and held her right in front of her
face, where it would only take a little bite and her throat could be removed in
one fell swoop.

She settled on sending another
teeth-rattling backhand to the mocha-skinned teen�s face.

�He went through hell for five
years just for you!!! He forced his body to the absolute limits more times than
I can remember just because he couldn�t stand the thought of failing in front
of you again!!! And what does he see when he comes back huh!? WHAT!?!?� Another backhand emphasized the end of each
sentence, sending her foe�s head back and forth like the recoil of a gun.

Kin hurt, in fact, she couldn�t
remember hurting more than this, both from the physical blows and the words
being spewed at her hatefully even though they were no less than the truth.
Finally, she seemed to regain motor control after losing all her wind and most
of her lunch after the kick to the stomach, and she was able to grab the handle
of her zanpakutou and bring it up at her opponent.

Asuka was
forced to let go of her in order to smack the sword away from any vital points with
her forearm, and as she glared at her old friend, she received a glare just as
menacing back. Then she said the words that would sting the most.

�You don�t deserve him,� she
hissed lowly, and Kin�s eyes went wide. �He left his heart with you when he
left, you know, and when he came back he saw it trampled to the ground like a
piece of unwanted trash!!�

�SHUT UP!!� Kin screamed as tears
streamed down her face and she swung her sword at her friend-turned-attacker.
The tears weren�t from the pain she was feeling from the blows that had been
dealt to her, it was from the hurt honesty that radiated from each and every
one of Asuka�s words. She could tell that though she
was angry, in that anger every word she was saying was the complete and honest
truth. Those dealt more damage than any punch or kick ever could.

�What was I supposed to do!?! He
left me without so much as a goodbye!! We had barely
been apart since we were four and he doesn�t even tell me where he�s
going!! I had to find out from my parents!!!� Each sentence was punctuated by
another angry slash of her sword, and with full use of Shunpo
behind her actions, it was only thanks to Asuka�s
greatly increased speed and feline flexibility that she was able to fend of the
attacks undamaged. �At least Souken and Chad
came to visit every once in a while after they started training, but he didn�t
come to see me once!!!�

Asuka
caught the next slash in her hand and yanked the person it was held by towards
her until she was within punching distance, and when she was, that was exactly
what she did. She looked down angrily as Kin stumbled backwards from the force
of the blow and reentered her fighting stance. �You didn�t come to see him
either!!� she retorted in fury, and took sick satisfaction in the way Kin�s
eyes continued to widen.

�I�I��

�You what?!?�
Asuka sneered. �Most of our group was in Hueco Mundo training but you
didn�t come once to see any of us!! In powers, out of all of us,
he�s the most special. You can�t honestly tell me that you didn�t feel him with
you all this time!? He gave you his heart dammit;
we can all see that every time we look at him!! You couldn�t give him the
benefit of the doubt!? Hell, most of the ladies in Hueco
Mundo would give him their souls if that would
mean they could replace you in his heart!�

�Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!!� Kin
cried, blinded by tears as she swung her blade towards the source of the voice
ridiculing her for what she had thought she was justified in. It hit something
solid, and stayed. Thinking Asuka had blocked yet
another one of her strikes, she pulled back the blade and swung it back harder,
too far gone to stop when she heard Asuka�s suddenly
frightened voice cry out,

�Kaien, don�t do it!!!�

Her blade struck flesh, and
sliced through it in an easy downward slash; the sound of blood meeting her
blade only emphasized by the pained male grunt that came with it.
Alarmed, Kin quickly wiped her puffy red eyes and saw Kaien rapidly
degenerating into a quivering mass of flesh on the ground, and even though it
was his left arm that was bleeding, both of his hands were instead on his head
as he cried out and jerked about like a needle was being slowly and
meticulously forced into his brain.

�What�s
happening to him!?� Kin asked in alarm as she watched her best friend
and love-interest thrash around on the floor, and not even before her sentence was
done he had stopped, and only his heavy panting could be heard as he laid motionless on the ground. It was his spiritual form
though, she could tell that much, and when he rolled over to look at the sky
she nearly cried out again just out of shock. It wasn�t that his left arm was
covered in spiky tattoos like Renji�s, it was the hole that went clear through his chest right
dead center between his pectorals.

Asuka�s
words suddenly made startling sense.

He had given her his heart.

She looked over at Asuka and saw her eyes were moist and sad as she looked
down on their black-haired mutual friend. �He�s different from us,� she started
as calmly as she was able to while she crouched down and offered a hand to the
fallen man to help him get up. Kin watched as he took it gratefully and he
stumbled as steadily as he could to his feet. �Should I continue or do you want
to?� she asked Kaien concernedly.

Kaien shook his head as he put
his hands on his knees. �You�do it. It�ll just take me�a little longer�then
I�ll be fine�again.�

Kin wondered how he could be
�fine� after taking a slash to the arm, but was surprised when she saw the
bleeding already beginning to stem, and the wound was healing over into shallow
scar tissue. Something else caught her eyes as she watched the indented scar
continue its pace, and that was that now that she looked closer, everywhere
there was a tattoo there was also a mark similar to the one she had just created,
however much she didn�t mean to. That was when she realized that his entire
left arm was covered, completely covered, in scars. She could see the
tattoos trailing their way under his jacket�s rolled-up sleeve, and she didn�t
even want to think of how many more resided under there.

�If he heals
that fast, why does he have so many scars?� Kin asked worriedly.

Asuka
sighed. �Kin, Kaien doesn�t have a zanpakutou, he never has. It was only after
he cut himself with one of the zanpakutous left in Hueco Mundo did any of us know
why.�

Kin had never heard of a Soul
Reaper not having a zanpakutou before. She had heard of them leaving
them, as in the case with her mother, but not never
having one. �What do you mean?�

�Every mark on my arm is from the
first cut I�ve gotten from a zanpakutou I�ve never been cut with before,� Kaien
stated as strongly as he could, and waved off to Asuka
to continue.

�He doesn�t have a zanpakutou
because he is a zanpakutou, or more accurately, a zanpakutou spirit. The
hougyoku, I mean Ichigo, merged Kaien�s
Soul Reaper form with his zanpakutou and his inner Hollow when he was conceived,
or so he guesses, so he doesn�t even have an inner world. He is his
inner world. Every time a zanpakutou gets past his Ierro
he instantly gains all the memories and abilities of that zanpakutou,
essentially making a copy of it inside himself��

~~~~~~~~~

Upstairs, Ichigo and Tatsuki were
explaining the same thing to Urahara and Yoruichi. ��but as we know, when that
first happens it�s like being eaten from the inside out, or at least that�s
what he�s told us. He�s effectively helpless for at least a couple minutes
after that, so if he hasn�t prepared to take the strike by lowering his Ierro on his left arm and planning what to do in the
aftermath, he could easily be killed. If he hasn�t planned the first blow, the
scar could be fatal.�

~~~~~~~~~

�That�s why he�s trained so well
in hiding his reiatsu, because after that first strike he only has a nanosecond
to get as far away from his opponent as he can before he loses control, so if
he runs away and they can�t sense his reiatsu, then it gives him the time he
needs to recover before they start fighting again. But after that first cut
it�s no big deal,� Asuka finished as Kaien let loose
a sigh of relief and stretched, finally able to breath properly again.

�That�s quite a sword you�ve got
there,� he said sadly, still unable to look her in the eyes. The only reason he
had come was to stop his friends from killing each other. He wouldn�t be able
to handle that. He turned away from Kin and grabbed Asuka�s
arm. �Come on Asuka, we should get going. I never
asked you to do this.�

�But��

�That�s a request from the Prince
of Hueco Mundo,� he added
softly. With a sigh of resignation, Asuka resealed
her zanpakutou and turned and followed him.

�Wait!!!� Kin screamed. She
couldn�t watch him walk away. Not again.

As if his body wouldn�t listen to
what his mind was telling it to do, Kaien stopped immediately. He couldn�t face
her now, not now, not after what he saw. Even being around her for the short
time it took to get them to stop fighting was almost too much for him, and his
eyes were already moist just from hearing her voice.

�What?� he answered weakly,
though his deep bass voice barely sounded affected, more like a sad echo than
his usual speech. He couldn�t make himself turn around though. He couldn�t let
her see him like this.

�Kaien, please, stay with me!�
she cried desperately.

Kaien grit his teeth and with
every ounce of willpower he could muster, he forced himself to restart walking
away. His steps faltered when his hypersensitive ears heard his love�s sobs
start, and from the thump he heard he guessed she had fallen to her
knees.

�Please�stop��

He tried to keep going, but
eventually the pain of his chest constricting around the hole in his chest
became too much for him. His heart was breaking inside the one he loved as it
tried to preserve her own breaking heart, he could
feel it. And when she whimpered those three damning words it felt like the hole
in his chest was going to swallow him entirely.

�I love you��

He fell to his knees with a
pained cry as he clutched the hole in his chest, and despite her
own situation, Kin was right beside Asuka with
worry written all over her face when it happened. �Damn it,
please don�t do this to me Kin�� he whispered hoarsely. �You already have a
boyfriend, please stop, my heart can�t take much more��

Deciding she couldn�t let this go
on any longer, Kin threw herself into his arms and nuzzled her face into the
crook of his neck. She had watched him vanish from her life again just
hours�maybe a day by now�before and she wasn�t going to let him go again. �You
idiot, he wasn�t my boyfriend. He was just someone that I was hoping would make
me feel like I did when you were with me! Dammit,
you took my heart when you left and I had trouble doing anything without you!
Please, please believe me. I love you, I always have.�

Asuka
knew when she wasn�t needed anymore. With a smile of relief�and more than a bit
of sadness that her one chance to have him was gone forever�that the two
destined love�s had finally found each other, she silently slipped away. Maybe Souken wanted some company. The bluish-black haired archer had
been acting a bit strangely around her lately, and right now she needed a
shoulder to cry on.

Kaien drew his arms around her in
an almost painful hug. �Please let this be real. Please, tell me this is real,�
he asked as his tears finally broke free of his gorgeous eyes� constraints.

She didn�t answer him, instead she pulled her head away from his nape and
pressed her lips against his, their second kiss in five years. They both melted
into it instantly and without the pubescent awkwardness of their former years
to hinder them, they were able to make it more intense than they had before
without shame of what the other would think.

This was the first time he had
really tasted her, and this wasn�t anything like their awkward first real kiss
five years prior. He wanted more. Her lips tasted like the salt of her tears but
they held her own unique taste too, a special mixture of estrogen and pure
feminine essence that some carnal part of him recognized intuitively as her.
He quickly found himself losing the better part of his rationale to it. He
wanted more, he wanted more so badly it hurt. He tilted
his head to gain better access and she granted it willingly, allowing him to
plunder her mouth as greedily as he wanted to just as she did the same to him.
He moved a hand to the back of her neck to try and force her nearer to him but
he didn�t need to, she eagerly scooted her way up his lap until she was as
close as she could possibly be within the boundaries of clothes.

She tasted so good, and the
longer they continued the more he felt his heart repair within her. He couldn�t
take it back, it belonged to her. Their tongues tangled and wrestled with each
other sloppily because of their inexperience but that small detail was lost in
their passion. It was their second real kiss and now their first French
kiss. Every action was the desperate attempt to soothe the parts of their souls
that had been damaged so heavily from being away from the other for so long,
and the entwined hearts finally found their way back to each other after too
long. When they finally pulled away, bruise-lipped and breathless, they could
only sit on the dusty ground of the training area and lean their foreheads
together as they panted for breath.

�Kin�I love you too. I always
have and I always will.�

He didn�t get to say much more
after that.

~~~~~~~~~

Ichigo and Tatsuki had come to
the Urahara Shop after feeling Asuka�s tremendous
reiatsu in full released form. Ichigo was going to berate her for releasing in
the Living World, where Soul Society could easily detect her if they wanted,
but thankfully it only lasted for a short while before they felt it vanish,
likely back to Hueco Mundo.

When Yoruichi told them what she
knew of the situation, they had winced. There was definitely a reason for the
anger in the reiatsu, and certainly a very good reason for her to release her
zanpakutou. They knew her temper almost as well as her parents. Kaien too, had
come in response when he felt her reiatsu, but he had went down to deal with it
himself and left his parents to talk with hers.

Curious as to why they hadn�t
come back up after Asuka�s reiatsu disappeared�they
even had enough time to finish their conversation upstairs after that�the four
adults went down to the training area to see what was going on. They all
stopped dead when they finally found them. Kaien had been relegated to the
ground on his back, but that obviously wasn�t something he did against his will
because a smaller body was straddling his, keeping him against the ground while
her hands kept their place by his cheeks and his seemed content to stay put gently
on her hips, like he was afraid she might try to move, while their lips
enthusiastically fought each other for dominance.

Well, that explained why they
hadn�t come up.

Yoruichi leaned into her lover
and sighed happily. At last their little girl was allowed some peace from the
torment of the five years she had spent in self-deprival and anger. Her
relationship with Soi-Fong had taken some time to
repair fully, but it came out stronger than it had before she left that hundred
years earlier. Obviously this was what it took for the leap from friendship to
relationship to be made for their daughter. Urahara waved his fan in front of
his face just to hide his dumb-ass grin that looked a bit too much like Isshin�s at that moment. He hadn�t seen this coming
at all.

Not.

Tatsuki tried to hide the blush
rising on her face when Ichigo had murmured something in her ear with a smile
after looking over the scene, but she was still happy that her son had finally
followed through with the deepest desire of his heart.

And Ichigo?
Well, Ichigo just beamed with pride while he tried to devise ways to sneak his
wife away from everything so they could go have some �fun� of their own. Still,
he was watching his son make-out with what was obviously going to soon
be his girlfriend, so he coughed politely to try and gain their attention.

The two in question froze in
place instantly.

Kin removed herself from his
lips, but that didn�t mean she wanted to. Looking into his terrified glowing
yellow eyes, she knew he was thinking exactly the same thing. �Um, Kaien,� she
whispered, �is there a big neon sign over us that says
�busted�?�

Kaien gulped. �There might as
well be.� She groaned and let her head fall against his hard chest, alarmingly
near the void that resided there.

�So!� Urahara began cheerfully.
�Now that you two have kissed and made up, would you care to go a round,
Kurosaki-san?�

If he wasn�t looking directly at
him, Kaien might have assumed the blonde man was talking to his father. No such
luck in this case. Willing a certain part of his anatomy to lower, Kaien gently
prodded Kin in the side with his finger and she took the cue and got off him to
allow him to stand up. He brushed off his white Espada-like
clothing and looked over at the calm shopkeeper, who he could see was deadly
serious even though his voice suggested otherwise.

�Want to see how good my dad�s
trained me? He learned most of what he knows from you ya know,� Kaien said back
as he tried to edge into his fighting stance inconspicuously.

Urahara�s
eyes seemed to burn into him from under the hat�s covering. �I want to see how
well you can protect my daughter.�

All at once, Kaien threw any
aspect of humor that had previously been in his demeanor or words out the
window and his face settled into his fighting scowl. �Then you better be prepared to kill me, because the only way anyone�s
getting to her is over my dead body.�

Kisuke
grinned in his usual way as he pulled his sword from its disguised sheath. �Is
that so?�

Ichigo and Tatsuki had found the
perfect way out in this, and confident in their son, they quickly snuck out.
Yoruichi wanted to see what was so special about Kaien, so she decided to stay.
She backed away a fair distance though, only after grabbing Kin and bringing
her along.

�Mom!?
What�s Dad do�!?�

She was cut off by her mother�s �Shh!� and quick turn back to the two combatants as they
stared each other down.

�I heard all about you from your
parents. Here you don�t have the territorial advantage. I know this place like
the back of my palm, even if you try to hide yourself. What are you going to do
here, Kurosaki-san?�

Kaien grit his teeth about being
taunted about his obvious weakness. �I just won�t allow you to cut me.�

Again, that same patented Kisuke Urahara grin. �You think so? Benihime�s
not so nice a girl that she won�t. I have a feeling I won�t be able to take
this lightly, so I won�t coddle you like I did your mother.� Kaien gulped.
�Awaken, Benihime.�

On cue, the sword responded to
its name as was in every zanpakutou�s nature, and
soon the ornate sword had replaced the cane-like blade.

With no visible prompting,
Urahara shot forward with blade at the ready, but since Kaien was so close to
his fighting stance already he easily stopped the blade between his crossed
arms in a standard Karate block. Urahara whistled appreciatively. �Quite the
skin you have there. Tell me, what number have the Espada
given you?� he asked as he pushed harder on his blade and made the taller male
fly off the end of the sword and into one of the nearby mountains.

Kaien flew out of the smoke of
the rubble and sent a punch that was easily parried at the blonde man�s head,
but that was only the feint he had set up to hide the foot flying towards his
unprotected knee, which managed to catch the shopkeeper off-balance. Or at least,
it seemed to. Urahara seemed to sway like a tree until he jabbed Benihime into the ground and used her bent hilt as a base
to swing onto so a kick could be made to the yellow-eyed man�s head that looked
completely uncomfortable to any inflexible male. Kaien blocked it naturally,
but the force behind it jarred up his arm and he winced.

Damn, he uses more than just zanjutsu! This is gonna be harder than I thought!

�The Espada didn�t give me a number,� he
replied while trying to attack and dodge at the same time. Kisuke�s
grin seemed a bit too smug after that, so he continued his former
sentence. �They usually just call me the Prince.�

The grin quickly disappeared.

A quick strike,
an even quicker block. A fast evade, an even
faster counterattack. Urahara countered every one of his moves like he saw them
coming a mile away and even though Kaien was managing to fight evenly with him,
he knew any more of this and at some point he was going to get cut. So he
thought up a plan.

�Come now, Kurosaki-sa~~~n, you can do better than this can�t you? Surely you
have weapons at your disposal if they�ve named you the Prince of Hueco Mundo?� Urahara taunted
flamboyantly as he sent yet another freakishly powerful slash at the younger
man�s torso. He didn�t miss Kaien�s smirk, and so
hoping to catch the overconfident teen by surprise, he quickly redirected his
first swing into an acrobatic display of sword-assisted flips that put him
crouched right in front of the now wide-eyed Kaien Kurosaki. �Tsk tsk, Kurosaki-san.� And he
brought the blade up. This time his
eyes widened when Kaien�s smirk widened and the sword
bit into his flesh.

The flesh of
his left arm.

�I saw that coming,
Hat-and-Clogs,� he taunted, using his father�s old nickname for the �humble�
shopkeeper. Urahara knew what was coming though, and so he was unsurprised when
the body quickly fell to the ground in convulsions.

He sighed as he straightened
himself upright and tapped the flat of Benihime�s
blade against his shoulder as he looked down on the pained young man. �You saw
it, but you couldn�t do anything about it. You lose, Kurosaki-san.� He raised Benihime above his head and prepared to bring it down,
unmindful to the frightened shriek of his daughter for him to stop. His eyes
widened. He quickly jumped away.

The cero that fired not a second
later would have taken his head off had he stayed there.

He kept his wide eyes on the
Kurosaki child as he fumbled his way to his feet and smiled disconcertingly at
the not-so-calm shopkeeper. �How�? I thought your parents said you would be
incapacitated for at least a few minutes�� There was something wrong here, he
just couldn�t figure out what.

�You don�t know everything about
Kin do you? Parents can�t know everything about their children,� Kaien said as
he grinned down the alarmed ex-captain.

The battle began anew, and this
time Kaien wasn�t afraid of getting cut, so every now often he suffered a small
cut or so, but the battle seemed to be more in his favor now that that was out
of the way. Urahara couldn�t understand it; he had been able to read his moves
more fluently before, but now there was something off about the body before
him. The strikes didn�t seem as powerful, and his muscles didn�t seem to move
in quite the same way as they had before. Something was definitely wrong here.

So lost was he in thought, he
didn�t sense the kick that jarred his stomach and sent him to his knees. He
watched as Kaien walked towards him and stood confidently in front of him. �I
win, Urahara-san.�

He now had a theory, but now he
had to test it. He set his eyes on the figure before him. �Sing�Beni��

Before he even got to finish his
sentence, he felt the blade of a sword set itself against the side of his neck
from behind. Staying still as stone, but allowing his eyes to move, imagine his
shock when he saw Benihime set against his throat,
and it was Kaien holding it, even though he was also standing right in front of
him.

�She�s quite the sword,
Hat-and-Clogs. No wonder you don�t use her Bankai.
Her Bankai�s definitely not suited for training
people or lending people power, like you did with my mom and dad.� Urahara�s gaze saddened. He knew what was coming. �It can
only be used for killing. The Red Princess sure earns her name well.
She�s quite the handful too. She wasn�t very happy when she realized what
happens whenever a zanpakutou cuts me.�

Urahara�s
gaze snapped wide in realization. Oh no. When Kaien raised his other
hand towards the other �Kaien� that had been fighting him for a few minutes
before, Urahara�s fears were confirmed.

�Crumble, Kyouka
Suigetsu.�

The second �Kaien� blew apart in
a burst of glowing spirit particles and revealed the green-hilted sword
underneath as it returned to his hand before vanishing altogether. �You�re
right Urahaha-san, you have complete territorial
advantage here, but I�ve been playing here since I was four. I know everything
about it, just like you, but I couldn�t risk you finding me. The second I
released Kyouka Suigetsu
you were already trapped, so you can�t remember the moment of its release, can
you? I had to give you something to occupy your time while I recovered
otherwise I would have lost, exactly like you said.�

Urahara sighed exaggeratedly. �You
can use the zanpakutous you copy when they cut you,
even ones without owners. That�s a pretty impressive ability,� Urahara noted
cheerily as he smiled despite the situation.

Kaien smiled too and removed his
version of Benihime from Urahara�s
neck. �Yeah, but it comes at a hell of a price, which is why I tend to avoid
using them whenever possible. It�s bad enough I have to worry about the first cut,
but I have to worry about what happens after too.� Urahara quirked a brow at
him, so he elaborated further. �Is our fight over for now, Hat-and-Clogs?�

�I�ve seen enough for now. Next
time I�ll expect you to use more of your strength, including the technique your
mother told me about.�

Kaien�s
eyes widened, but he nodded. �All right.� He let his
zanpakutou vanish back into himself and he seemed fine for a few seconds as he
relaxed, but he surprised Urahara seconds later by falling face-first to the
ground. He rushed to his side and flipped him over, which he saw the fallen
man�s arms were trying to do, but it was as if they didn�t have enough energy,
and they were struggling to even move. Kin was beside him in an instant and
they looked down on the fallen teen, who was sweating
profusely and panting like he had just run two marathons in a row.

�What�s wrong?!� Kin asked him
frantically, and though they didn�t voice it, Urahara and Yoruichi were
wondering the same thing.

His eyes turned to regard them,
and it was like he conveyed he could barely speak in the look alone. Then, they
saw him move his mouth, and leant forward to hear the whispered words. �This is
what happens after my fights are over if I�ve used any of the zanpakutous I�ve copied. Dad compared it to the berserkergang ability of the berserkers in mythology. When
I�m fighting I�m fine, better than fine even, and if I�m using my zanpakutous I can use as many as I need, either at the same
time or in fusion.�

He stopped to catch his lost
breath as Kin wiped away the sweat from his forehead. �After I think the battle
is over though and I relax, my body shuts down so it can regain what it lost.
My body uses everything it has to give me the superhuman stamina I need for
battle and the reiatsu I need to form the sword out of thin air, but after, I
might as well be sleeping. Even now, I can barely move.� He proved his point by
looking over at his arm, and when they looked too, they could see the muscles
bulging and straining, like it was trying to move the appendage, but it just
couldn�t gather the strength it needed to lift it. He stopped struggled and
rolled his head back. �As long as I don�t use them I�m fine, that�s why I tend
to use that technique I developed, the one mom told you about,� he explained
further.

Kin�s worried eyes continued to
trace over his tall, muscled form as the muscles trembled like they had been
used too much. �How long does this last?�

He took another large gulp of
air. �Depends on how long I fight. There was a serious battle with the Adjucha�s once that went on for almost a day before dad
finally destroyed enough of them for their retreat. I was out for almost a day
and a half after that one. I should be okay in a little while.� He tried moving
his arm again, and this time he was able to make it move, but only slightly,
and it soon fell lifelessly against his stomach seconds after it was lifting.
�See? I�m already getting back movement.�

Yoruichi sighed sadly. Such a
great ability, but even greater side-effects, she thought. �Come on Kin, lets get him upstairs.�

Kin nodded, and hoisting him up
by putting one of his arms over their shoulders with one of them on either side
of him, they helped him upstairs with a burst of Shunpo
from the two chocolate-skinned women.

Kisuke
Urahara stayed down in the training area a moment longer as he readjusted his
hat. �So, Kaien is the fusion of all three spiritual entities, but he�s mainly
the zanpakutou. According to what Ichigo said, Tsukiyomi
seems to edge more on the side of the inner Hollow. Masaki was born as a normal
Soul Reaper, but became a Vizard soon after she found
out the name of her zanpakutou, without the use of the inner battle or any
blood-lustful side-effects of the first transformation. Oh boy,� he said as he
sighed. �Sheesh, Kurosaki-san, the Spiritual Realm will
never be the same again because of you, will it?�

He looked up at the fake sky,
almost like he expected it to answer him.

~~~~~~~~~

Souken
Ishida had always been proud of his abilities and his impeccable chivalry, as
he was taught by his father to take pride in, and yet something as seemingly
simple as getting a girl to notice him just wasn�t as easy as he first thought.
It didn�t help that the person he had set his crosshairs on also happened to be
in love with the Prince of Hueco Mundo.

What is it with Ishida men falling for women already in love with
Kurosaki�s? he wondered as he blew up the next
target he had set up for himself, one a good two-hundred yards away.

He kept reminding himself his
father eventually had won his mother
over, but unlike his father, he hadn�t been hiding his feelings since he was
eight and was now eighteen. With a
sigh of frustration, he let his bow vanish back into the medallion embedded in
his wrist and sank to the dusty ground of Hueco Mundo.

He didn�t need to be here, he had finished his training long ago and could
have went back to the Living World, but she wouldn�t have been there, and
without her being there, he couldn�t have the chance to charm her.

Yeah right, who are you kidding? He asked himself sarcastically. It
was in every Ishida�s nature to be charming to some degree, but when it came to
directing that charm, Souken Ishida was an abysmal failure. He slumped
his face into his hands as they leant on his knees. �Damn, you�re pathetic
Ishida,� he told himself angrily.

A light tap on his shoulder
startled him and he was up, around, and had his bow activated and pointed
before he could even allow his brain to process the reiatsu of the person now
in front of him. To his utter shock, there was the person he had just been
thinking of, and she looked more distraught than usual, but as usual, she tried
to hide it under a fake smile.

�Going to send me to Soul Society
already are you?� she joked half-heartedly.

Yes, the Quincy
had finally come to terms with the Soul Reapers, and thanks to his father and Kisuke Urahara�s ingenuity, they
had figured out a way to make the Quincy�s
spiritual bows able to purify the Hollows instead of killing them. It had taken
a good deal of humility for Uryuu to admit he didn�t
want the Hollow�s utterly destroyed, because after seeing the Arrancar�s, he couldn�t deny that somewhere under the base
instinct there were rational beings
that didn�t compulsively kill. Besides, if a Quincy died, there was the chance of them becoming a Hollow, no matter how hard he
might have tried to deny it. The thought of destroying a Quincy�s soul just because it had turned into
a Hollow was unforgivable.

Hence the reason for the
medallion embedded in Souken�s wrist. The reason why zanpakutou�s
are able to purify Hollows is because of the spirit dwelling inside them, but
since the Quincy�s
bow was just spirit particles from the atmosphere, it would only destroy them,
not purify them. They had come up with a solution to that, and that was for the
Quincy wielding
the bow to become the spirit it
needed. By being embedded inside the host, the Quincy was not only using the
spirit particles around them to fight, but also their own reiatsu, therefore acting
as the spirit medium to purify the soul it destroyed. It was an
ability Souken and his siblings put to good
use.

He gave a mirthless laugh in response
to Asuka�s joke. �That�s not funny.� He rarely saw
her like this. Maybe it has something to
do with the fact that Kaien�s reiatsu vanished
earlier today? It took a second for the enormity of his
own thought to sink in. Oh�

�They�re together, finally,� she
said bravely as she sat down and he quickly turned and followed suit.

�Was there any loss of life?� he
joked uneasily, and she laughed. He was thankful for that.

�I almost killed her, but she had
it coming. I hadn�t seen Kaien cry since we were kids.�

So that�s why I felt Kurosaki�s
reiatsu so out-of-control earlier. No wonder she went after her, he
pondered inwardly. When he looked back at her, he saw that she was looking at
him with an amused look on her face. �W-What?� he stuttered while he adjusted
his glasses.

�You know, I can�t read minds. If
you want me to hear something you�re going to have to speak it out loud and not
just think it all the time,� she told him matter-of-factly.

He gulped nervously and licked
his dry lips as he inwardly cursed the fact that he got most of his mother�s
emotional qualities and not enough of the �cool, calm, Quincy� his father had.
Before he could say anything however, he felt her head lean on his shoulder.
His insides decided to play Pong with themselves but outwardly he was able to
keep himself rather calm.

�He�s gone, and even though I
knew this was going to happen one day, I still couldn�t stop my heart from
loving him. Maybe it was just my Hollow side responding to his power or
something,� she explained weakly, but she wasn�t prepared for her body�s
reaction when he tenderly put his arm around her quivering shoulders and let
her stay against his shoulder. She craved Kaien�s
touch, but even she wouldn�t have guessed she could respond so vividly to
someone else�s, and it wasn�t even in any provocative way either. Her stomach
felt life it was falling over itself and for some reason it felt like the blood
in her veins had turned into fire.

�Falling for things we can�t have
is instinct in everything, not just Hollows. I know that all too well,� he
said, and only after her eyes quirking up at him curiously did he realize he
had said that out loud.

Asuka
was in no way stupid, and since Souken never had been able to shut his eyes out to
what his emotions were before, she was able to see each and every tender
thought running through his mind as he looked down on her with those
magnificent midnight-blue eyes. Feeling more than a bit confident in herself,
she carefully edged closer to his side and noted with interest the way his
breathing quickened and his back seemed to go rigid before he tried to hide
that by relaxing just as quickly.

�So�� she asked �innocently�, �who
is it the gallant Quincy
has fallen for that�s so out of his reach?�

When did Hueco Mundo
get so hot!? He thought as he fought the urge to pull at the collar of his
shirt. The object of his affections was cuddled right up into his side and he
could barely form a coherent thought! Let alone a sentence! �Y-You know, it�s
not p-proper to answer that.� He nearly rolled his eyes. Smooth, Quincy,
really smooth.

She saw the panic in his eyes and
let a dangerous smirk cross her features, which she saw he had definitely
noticed, and the panic had greatened. She let herself crawl like the panther
she was slowly over as she kept her eyes glued to his. �Would this person, pray
tell, be around my height?� she whispered seductively, and nearly grinned when
he gulped heavily again. �Maybe with light blue eyes? Some blue hair even?�

His mind was shutting down,
turning off, saying sayonara, adios amigo, see ya in
the next life. She wasn�t crawling closer
was she? No, she wouldn�t�. His eyes finally focused again, and they saw she
was right in front of his face, straddling his hips with her knees supported on
either side of his legs from where he was sitting. She was so close, so close
he could move his head forward two inches and taste the lips he had lusted over
for the better part of his adolescent years.

�Oh god�� he whimpered
breathlessly in his low tenor voice, and saw her grin widen.

�That�ll do,� she said mischievously
and pushed herself forward to claim her prize, pushing him to his back so she could
continue their kiss. She never knew how much pent-up emotion the Quincy had within him, but
that soon became vastly apparent when he responded and took her breath away.
His lips were forceful and soft, thin and hungry, and he rolled them over so he
could be on top and kissed her so hard she could only see stars behind her
eyelids. He had wanted this for so long, and now that she had initiated it, he
had no problems with showing her just how much he wanted her.

He felt her hands glide through
his hair in a silent entreaty to continue and he did so with vigor, supporting
himself with one hand while the other softly caressed the bone-fragment on her
jaw-line, an act he had learned over his time in Hueco
Mundo was one of the few ways Arrancar�s
expressed their softer emotions and love. She shivered beneath him at the touch
and he groaned into their kiss when her lithe hands went down to roam his hard
chest.

He trailed his hand away from the
bone and down her graceful neck and she purred, literally purred. Unable to suppress his baser instincts at the sound that
would have caused any other male to take her on the spot, he was slightly embarrassed
when he felt his pants tighten. He went back up to that small piece of
mask-fragment and to her surprise, he moved away from her lips and put a soft
kiss there, which made her entire body go rigid beneath him before it
seemingly melted and she started panting lustfully while staring in his eyes
with neon-blue orbs of pure molten affection.

�Do you think I aimed too high?�
he asked softly as he looked at her, not even the least bit unnerved that she
was looking at him like he was a twelve-course meal.

She smiled and licked her lips
sensually. �Oh no Quincy,
as usual, you were right on target.�

He dove back down for her lips
and she found herself easily submitting to the male above her, something she
found she didn�t mind at all. She could trust him, he held pride and honor
above everything else, so he would never compromise
her willingly.

Somewhere in her mind, something clicked.

She just realized she hadn�t
aimed high enough.

~~~~~~~~~

Author�s Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I have to
thank everyone that reviewed, you certainly kept up my
passion for this story. I like the way this chapter turned out, so if you did
too, please don�t hesitate to tell me about it! This might be my last update
for a little while because I need to go back to school pretty soon and I can�t
update while I�m there because of internet problems, but I�m by no means done
with this story and I do plan on continuing it, so don�t write it off just yet.

Thanks for reading and I hope you
enjoyed it!
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