Saga of the Princess of the Hollow World (Youjo Senki x Bleach)

[Jesse K the Bubba]

Saga of the Princess of the Hollow World

Chapter 9: A Rebellious Spark

---

This was going way better than Kaien had expected. Sure, they hadn't talked to Rukia yet, but the fact of the matter was that the crime Kaien feared she may have committed was actually not a crime at all. Giving Shinigami powers to a human was illegal, but there were no rules about giving them to other Shinigami. …Though, they would be stretching the definition in this case. Having Shinigami powers didn't necessarily make one a Shinigami. They were members of a specific organization. Of course, they couldn't really argue that his cousin, whom he had yet to meet, was a konpaku. Not in the general sense. So, it was better to instead argue from the point that he was Shiba Isshin's son, and let the conclusions draw from there.

After the girls had gone back to bed, Uncle Isshin had finally explained what exactly had gone down 20 years ago to lead to this. It could, if one was pessimistic, get him into trouble. But if they narrativized it right, the judges were likely to be very lenient. There'd have to be some give. Isshin might have to face being recalled to the Seireitei, but if it exonerated Rukia and prevented harm to his son, it was worth it to the old goat.

"But anyways, one morning I woke up, and my soul had just…left my gigai. I was freaking out, especially since this was just after the whole incident at the cemetery. But Kisuke looked, and nothing seemed to be wrong. Then we heard about how you…ate the Grand Fisher," he said while pointing at Princess Tanya. "I don't know how it all works, but something about you being an Arrancar…changes things with the seal."

"Indeed. This is all unprecedented," Urahara agreed. It was still strange to see the man out here after everything, but he seemed to be behaving. Kaien had to wonder if he had anything to do with Aizen's whole Arrancar situation. Then again, maybe his accusations from back then held some merit. "It opens up a whole line of questioning I never thought we'd get to explore. How close are Arrancar to Shinigami if it affects something like this so specifically?"

"A question others have had, I'm sure," Tanya responded. "Though I am interested in these gigai you have. I'm sure you would want to be careful about them. I imagine there are restrictions, especially if they can be so varied, but I would like to purchase a few, if possible. Not to mention, it could be a significant step in returning Kurosaki-san's wife."

Oh yeah. That was weird. Kaien hadn't felt any himself, but Hollows did eat souls, and those souls would be there inside of them somewhere. Tanya knew how to remove them, tossing out the core soul but keeping the reiryoku they had produced before and after consumption. It seemed strange, but he was reminded that Shinigami, with their single soul, could often match or eclipse any Hollow with their hundreds or thousands of souls. But when Tanya had found Kurosaki Masaki's soul, she held onto it in order to get informed consent about what to do with her. Ichigo wanted to have at least one last chance to say goodbye, she had said. Isshin, of course, wanted his wife back. Having once thought he'd lost his wife forever, Kaien understood completely. If things were different and he turned out to have Miyako's soul somewhere inside him, he would be working on getting her a body, too. The Quincy, who he supposed was an in-law now, technically (and that felt strange even before taking his Hollow form into account), seemed split on letting her pass on or bringing her back. It felt like the man had long accepted her passing and wasn't sure how to reconcile her possible return.

"There are some I obviously can't hand out like candy," Urahara explained, a little joke in there concerning his other goods. "But there are some older models that are taking up space you might find useful for basic tasks on Earth. You'd need reiatsu limiters in place for some people, otherwise, they might just tear them apart from the inside."

"Ah, then I'll have to take those alongside them. Reiatsu suppression is not a skill many Arrancar find…applicable. Aside from myself and some stealth-preferring examples, most just let theirs pour out all around them like a badge of pride. If anyone wants to go to a genuine taco stand, they'll need some way to control that."

"...A taco stand?" the Quincy asked.

"Someone started complaining about some foods not being authentic, and that he wanted to go to Texas where he knew a genuine taco stand would have real Mexican food. Of course, that idea died in its crib, but it's become a popular sentiment. There's even a club where they've been trying to recreate foods accurately, but due to limited resources, they can only get so close. Can't complain about the results, myself. Food quality has only increased since they've started."

"And you think they would use a gigai to go to...a taco stand in Texas?" Ryuken questioned further.

"They would certainly apply for the attempt. But that would be low-priority. Among the first uses for a gigai I would assign are to further the Soul Resonance research to see if we can't pull a soul from someone into it. Others for supply requisitions in the Living World. I have...some ideas there that should bear some fruit. ...There's a company called 'Apple' that makes music players, yes?"

"I've heard of them," Urahara admitted. "Why do you ask?"

"Just seems like a good investment opportunity, in my mind." Kaien wasn't sure why she was interested in investing in a music company, but she was smiling like she'd just found the secrets to unlimited power. However, her attention was suddenly taken.

"Ah, I'm getting some rapid updates from the field," she explained.

"Updates?" Isshin asked. "On what?"

"We actually found Rukia and Ichigo not too long ago. I was just going to wait for them to come home. No need to be rude and rush everyone, after all. I've had some people keeping an eye on things and the situation has been getting more and more... What?" She suddenly put a finger to her ear, activating that little communicator she was using to keep up with her agents. Kaien didn't take much time to learn about them before they sped off, but there were 5 of them, and 4 were apparently sisters. "Huh, wait, do not kill the Shinigami!"

"What?!" the men at the table asked in shock.

"I repeat, non-lethal takedowns only!" she said into her communicator before letting off on it. "Something's happened! Kuchiki Byakuya and Abarai Renji have shown up with intent to arrest Rukia. Uryu and Ichigo tried to intervene but were disabled. Now... We need to get over there. I don't think Veronica can take on a Captain without a surprise first hit."

Urahara was on his feet first. "I see. We better go help the kids, then."

"Byakuya?" Kaien asked as they all started leaving the house. "Rukia's brother?"

"I don't... Maybe it's being handled by the clan, but Veronica..." Tanya grimaced, her teeth clenched tightly. "You and I will stay hidden while Urahara and Isshin give her a chance to extract herself. Can you two at least distract him? With words, preferably?"

Isshin nodded with a confirming grunt. "Sure. Don't want to fight anyway. I'm not exactly fully recovered."

"Then let's go!"

With that, the two of them sped off with Sonido while the Shinigami followed along in Shunpo. Only a few steps in, though, Kaien noticed how much slower his uncle was than expected. Even the Quincy was way ahead of him with his...whatever. He didn't blame him, because whatever was going on, it would have ended even before Kaien could have made it going full speed. Tanya heard the reports and blanched about halfway there, and then she was telling them to immediately call for Francisca.

What they arrived to find was an injured young Quincy, a kid who looked an awful lot like a younger Kaien with orange hair, and a young Arrancar girl sliced into pieces. He had thought she was dead, but her sister quickly arrived via Garganta and started pulling her back together, accompanied by a creature he'd never seen before that carried spare organs in its body, accessible through zippers. Like some nightmare creation of the 12th​ Division that happened to serve a pretty useful function.

Tanya, for her part, looked shaken by the whole thing. She kept going back to her agents and questioning them, probably trying to figure out where the sudden order to engage came from, and then she was talking to Urahara. Kaien felt for the girl. This was probably her first real taste of the aftermath of a lost combat engagement, and she was trying to find out how everything had just gone so wrong. He had been there many times, but sometimes the only thing to do was accept one's failures or to realize that the whole thing was lost as soon as it began.

Still, that order came from somewhere, and it wasn't her. He was right there, as were the other men, when she heard the confirmation. Something fishy was going on.

"This whole thing stinks something fierce," he muttered as they sat in Urahara's shop. Ichigo was patched up and back in his body, but he was in rough shape with his Saketsu and Hakusui broken. "Rukia was being taken in, which was bad, but salvageable. Uncle Isshin could've still straightened everything up. But with Veronica's attack..."

"Now it's all been escalated," Shihoin Yoruichi said in her cat form. "Without further context, it will appear to anyone in the Seireitei that a Hollow was trying to rescue Rukia. Veronica-chan's specific appearance and abilities will lead to even more speculation, and none of it bodes well for Rukia's chances."

"To join forces with Hollows... No one would argue against it being treason and be taken seriously." Some good souls who know her might try to give her the benefit of the doubt, but without more evidence or testimony, the majority would all come to the same conclusion: Rukia was in league with Hollows in some way. On top of the supposed crime of giving her Shinigami powers to a human, she was facing at least the Nest of Maggots if not a place in the Central Great Underground Prison or execution.

"Your little princess seems very concerned about what happened to cause that."

"Someone got into our channels and...imitated her. There's more than a few people who could do the first, but the second... Either someone had to be prepared..."

"Or have the ability to make people hear what they want them to."

Kaien's frown deepened. Like most, he hadn't believed Urahara's claims when the situation with Hirako Shinji and the others had happened. But with Aizen now heading a small civilization of creatures from the opposite side of the spectrum and confirmation that his Shikai was way more than what he had been claiming this entire time, it was looking far more credible. Aaroniero knew well what the power of Aizen's Zanpakuto was, and even that thing had tried to find counters to it. Kaien had scattered bits of that knowledge, but it was useful in getting around, physically and politically.

"You think it was him?" he asked the woman disguised as a male cat.

"Given what we know, this would have indeed secured some of his plans going forward. Veronica's reveal tipped his hand slightly, but there's no direct line to him for anyone to draw. And we know Tanya has not revealed his connection to the Arrancar to Rukia, so even if they interrogate her thoroughly, they won't gain anything leading them there."

"Why does he want her arrested, though? Even if it causes division, now they're all wary of Arrancar."

"That...is something Urahara will have to explain. Suffice to say, Rukia has something he wants. And the only way to get it now is with the Sōkyoku."

Kaien's eyes went wide at that.

"Wait, you're kidding me?!" Isshin decried. "What the Hell did you guys do?"

"Like Yoruichi said, I'll explain it later," Urahara said as he exited his basement. "Tanya's taking a minute to sort things out down there. Shiba-san, I believe you had a question."

"More like...an observation." Kaien wracked his mind as he recalled what happened after he woke up in Hueco Mundo. "Aizen's been pulling the Arrancar around for over half a century now, but from what I heard, Tanya runs the systems. And her dad has her back with everything she does. Aizen just sort of...lords over everything. He gives marching orders, but it's the ones like her that tell everyone how to step. When she explained how everything worked...I thought she was just stating how it is, but I think she was covering herself. 'Whatever regal authority I might have held under the old system is basically ceremonial at this point,' she told me. And when I saw him holding his little...court to introduce some new guys, Aizen basically just watched them all go at it. Worse than any Captain's meeting I ever sat in on, and it seemed normal. Like he was watching a bunch of puppies tussle. He only interrupted it to ask about me."

Urahara nodded. "In other words, while Aizen holds the keys to the kingdom, she's the one who puts on all the locks. With a handful of spares. He's been content to let things run themselves, but now with everything so close, he may want a tighter grip."

"Yeah, and... What if he's noticed her influence? This time it was just using her voice, but next time? How far does he want this to go? Just get an excuse to demote her, or break whatever trust the people have with her?"

"Poor Tanya-chan seems shaken by the whole thing as well," Urahara admitted. "I could see the realizations coming to her. After all, the Arrancar are a means to an end for Aizen. To her, and you as well, it's your people and their lives."

Kaien wanted to refute it almost instinctively, then remembered the mask on his face. He wasn't a Shinigami anymore. Not even a konpaku in most minds. He was Hollow. Like it or not, the Arrancar were his people now.

"So, we have ourselves a conundrum. Aizen's grip on the Arrancar appears to be absolute, but is it? Sounds to me that Tanya-chan has more pull than even she realizes if he's trying to damage that reputation. And his plans right now include the death of an innocent girl I know more than one person cares far too much about to allow."

Kaien's teeth ground at that.

"What're you planning, Kisuke?" Isshin asked the man.

"It's simple, really. We need a rescue operation and a way to pull back the veil on Aizen, for both the Gotei and the Arrancar. Maybe even get a dialogue going between the two. Hey, Kaien, you have a good history with a captain or two, and you're an Arrancar now. Surely you could bridge the gap?"

"You want me to go to the Seireitei and... What? Talk to Ukitake-taicho and...convince him..."

"That even if Rukia-chan had gotten involved with Hollows, there was good reason," Urahara finished the thought. "Sure, she didn't know about you yet, but they don't know that either. And as responsible and law-abiding as Ukitake-taicho is, I'm sure your presence could help convince him to argue in your favor. Especially since, if I recall correctly, there's no express law forbidding the toleration of a Hollow existing. In fact, it's required for a lot of scientific study. Central may demand the destruction of a specific one, but they've never outlawed keeping some alive."

"...You want to use me to cause division between Central and the Gotei. If Ukitake pushed and got the Soutaicho on his side in the matter...the 46 would have to choose between setting a new precedent or making an enemy out of one of the oldest and most powerful captains in the Gotei, not to mention his whole Division and any of his friends. Kyōraku-taicho is almost certain to take his side if nothing's changed between them in the past 40 years. And both of them could convince the Soutaicho to give it a shot."

"Oh, you thought up a whole lot more than me! I just figured you could convince him to help save Rukia and help you escape."

Kaien scoffed. Urahara could downplay it all he wanted, but it was obvious where his devious plan was leading. And if they delayed or even prevented Rukia's execution by Sōkyoku, Aizen would have to do something to counteract them. Assuming these two weren't pulling his leg, what he wanted must have been hidden in Rukia's soul. If it was so important to push things to this point, then he wouldn't just sit back and let them stop it. And now, with the situation with the framing, Tanya was in a spot herself. She didn't want to go to war with the Seireitei, even if that was what Aizen aimed for.

Break off his connection to the Gotei and the Arrancar at the same time, and Aizen would have to stand alone with whatever elements he could salvage in the aftermath, which might not be much. That was Urahara's goal, and damn it all if Kaien wasn't playing right into his hand, but he didn't really have a choice. He owed Rukia after what she tried to do for him. He couldn't consign her to death out of convenience. Even if Tanya decided to play it safe and stay out of it, he was going to go and rescue her.

"You're full of it. You know exactly what this is going to do. All right, but we need to prepare. We can't exactly infiltrate the Soul Society with a depowered Shinigami, an Arrancar, and a single Shihoin."

"Ah, worry not, Shiba-san! We're getting a team together even as we speak and have a plan to help Ichigo with his particular issue. Not to mention, I don't believe you're going to be the only Arrancar on this little quest."

---

She had been so afraid that it was coming back. After speaking to her weapon's spirit, there was the tiniest fear that the echoes of the Type 95 might reach her, but they hadn't seemed to. When every one of her agents swore they heard her give the command to engage, she thought it was the first sign of it coming back to haunt her. But then neither Kurosaki Isshin nor Kaien agreed, claiming that they had witnessed her going from calm and explaining they had found Rukia and Ichigo to screaming for Veronica to go non-lethal. No commands to engage so much as muttered. Urahara was her third confirmation to that effect, even if he was biased.

The idea that they would all be independently lying about something two of them would have no reason to lie about was unlikely, but she knew how Aizen's power worked. She remembered how her father looked when he'd released him from his control. The shock and surprise at seeing all his guards dead. The idea that her agents had all, at some point, been put under its influence, was not impossible. And if this had been his plan, he would have made sure to set it all up beforehand. But she couldn't just ask her subordinates if he had revealed his Shikai to them. It would be too suspiciously specific. The only safe thing was to assume everyone was touched by it until proven otherwise.

It wasn't until she had practically given her life's story to Urahara that she realized a grave possibility: Aizen was looking to use her, and maybe many others close to her, as scapegoats. Potentially all of Las Noches. He was at the head of their hierarchy, running it like a military junta, but so uninvolved as to appear completely separated from it in totality. He wasn't even always the one passing down the orders. Sometimes it was through Ichimaru or Kaname. If and when they collided with the Gotei, Tanya was reasonably sure of their success. Even if it wasn't a resounding win, they could eke out enough victories to lay down a new norm. To be recognized as people, even if it required holding up a sword in a threatening posture to enforce.

But if Aizen's goal was the throne, then he needed the institutions of the Shinigami, not the fresh-faced city of Arrancar. If one needed to go, he would not choose to throw out the one with thousands of years of built-upon knowledge and power. If the Seireitei could not abide by the existence of a rival power of Hollows, even at peace, and resisted Aizen because of it until there was only so much rubble, then the obvious choice was to do away with them.

Just have the most powerful Espada see enemies where there were civilians. And when the fake bodies were replaced with real ones, have them see each other as Shinigami. Half at a time, until only one was left. Hell, have her father see the images of her broken corpse, and most of the work would take care of itself from there.

She stayed there long after Urahara had left. She might not have been his prisoner, but she did not want to test it. Besides, she didn't want anyone to witness her panicked pacing or hear her mumbled rantings.

Maybe the Shinigami agent didn't actually care about her plight and only wanted to use her, but Aizen was the same, at the end of the day. Really, believing he had their interest at heart was just her being optimistic. Perhaps he cared, perhaps he couldn't care less. The man was an actor, but a good one where she could never tell what was a genuine smile and what was him covering up his disgust. Few were the times he showed honest surprise. Urahara had also kept up an act, and she couldn't trust that his seeming empathy was real.

She was caught between two horrible possibilities. If she went with Aizen all the way, then he might someday throw them under the bus when he no longer needed them. If she followed along with Urahara's plans, she might doom her people's best chance at freedom to, at best, become a client state under the thumb of the Seireitei. And unlike the souls of the Rukongai, they needed carefully managed resources to survive.

However, if Aizen was true, he would lead them to conquer the very Heavens…a far-fetched, pie-in-the-sky claim that seemed silly even at this level of existence, now that she took time to reflect. But with Urahara…they weren't guaranteed their freedom, but they could still fight for it. Aizen had provided a lynchpin to their society, but did they need him anymore? If he disappeared today and never returned, what would change? The systems were set and infrastructure was being built where it wasn't already raised. Urahara's line of questioning led her to make it sound like she was the primary one responsible for it all, but she was just one branch on a large tree. Others had been there to contribute and help her along, and most of it was actually outside of her hands beyond the basic setups she initiated.

Risk and reward. She had to weigh everything and make a careful decision. But luckily, it looked like Urahara wasn't pushing for her to answer him immediately.

She needed time. She needed to get her trusted allies together on the same page about all of this. And she needed a way to get around Kyoka Suigetsu. Right now, avoiding ever looking at it would only help so much. Others could be under its power, and all Aizen needed was a clear view of the situation to make them see what he wanted. Once she knew more, she could start making some serious decisions. Until then, she could keep a loose tie with Urahara. Let him provide them with supplies to make him think she was considering it very seriously, which she was, if not fully on board, which she couldn't decide right now.

"Was this the new game plan the whole time?" she asked into the false sky. "I could understand I had my options after last time, but now they're not just limited, but completely obfuscated. I have to put my 'faith' in something?" She scoffed at the idea. "No. I'm only going to work with certainties and chances. Logical deductions. 'Faith' is a meaningless thing. 'Trust' is an earned return on investment. Someone will prove themselves, and they'll earn my trust. Somehow, Aizen managed to break his, and there was so little after all this time, that I'm positively shocked. Now an agent running a candy store as a front is even with him. What a joke!"

She took her Zanpakuto from her back and sat down, resting it on her legs as she focused. She needed someone to talk to about this, and what would be a more secure place than in her mind?

---

"Quite the pickle, huh, Princess?"

"Focus, Sangrante," Tanya admonished the weapon spirit. "We're going to have to act on this soon. At the very least, we need to set the foundation in the case that we have to sever ourselves from Aizen."

"Little late, don't you think?" the winged woman pointed out while lazily floating on her back. "He's dug in deep. Half the Arrancar practically worship him by now."

"Yes, I should have seen it earlier, but we can't worry about what could have been. I'm not saying we have to get everyone on board, but we do need something in place should he throw us to the wolves. At the very least, a plan about Kyoka Suigetsu."

"Every power has its limits," the spirit pointed out. "We don't know what his are, but they have to exist. Otherwise, he could have played out your whole paranoid episode but with the Shinigami and the Noble Houses."

"...You said you couldn't read my mind."

"Not in here. It's different when you think so loudly on the outside. You were basically ranting out loud from my point of view."

"So, you can see out there?"

"In a manner of speaking. I'm aware of what you're aware of, but there's a layer of separation. Imagine a video or audiobook is playing out loud on a computer. I can ignore it, listen in, or even stop what I'm doing to focus on it."

"I see. And you've never witnessed his Shikai release?"

"Nope." She smirked at that. "For several reasons. Of course, I know where you're going with this. It's worth exploring, but we can't assume we're so independent of each other that if it affects one of us then the other might still be fine. Hope for the best, plan for the worst."

"And what plan do you have for 'the worst'?"

"We gotta pick back up on our magic. Relearn how to cast illusions, then how to get past them." She grimaced at that as her clawed hand hovered over the jewel beneath her shirt. "You used the disciplines of magic to learn Arrancar abilities better, but this will be further than we've ever gone. It might require me to use that."

"...You don't have to do that to yourself."

"Don't worry. It doesn't extend to you when I'm sealed. At the very least, that part." She took a deep breath and exhaled, her silver eyes glowing gold as she opened them again.

"Lord, let us hear and see only your truth! Blind the eyes of the unbelievers, and deafen their sinful ears, until your Light and your Word reach them!"

Illusionary copies of the woman appeared, all with that manic look in their eyes as they spread out. Tanya felt her teeth grind at the sight. Her Zanpakuto spirit was going to dive into that contamination for her sake. As much as she was glad it wasn't her, she was all the more infuriated on behalf of that part of her that became her weapon. She took a deep breath, then focused on what she remembered of her time as a mage to get past illusions.

 

[Wild Transient]

The Devil of the Rhine is close to making a comeback bois!!

 

[Morphile]

Tanya, for her part, looked shaken by the whole thing. She kept going back to her agents and questioning them, probably trying to figure out where the sudden order to engage came from, and then she was talking to Urahara. Kaien felt for the girl. This was probably her first real taste of the aftermath of a lost combat engagement, and she was trying to find out how everything had just gone so wrong. He had been there many times, but sometimes the only thing to do was accept one's failures or to realize that the whole thing was lost as soon as it began.

Click to shrink...

it[/I] was coming back. After speaking to her weapon's spirit, there was the tiniest fear that the echoes of the Type 95 might reach her, but they hadn't seemed to. When every one of her agents swore they heard her give the command to engage, she thought it was the first sign of it coming back to haunt her. But then neither Kurosaki Isshin nor Kaien agreed, claiming that they had witnessed her going from calm and explaining they had found Rukia and Ichigo to screaming for Veronica to go non-lethal. No commands to engage so much as muttered. Urahara was her third confirmation to that effect, even if he was biased.

Click to shrink...

A guy over on the SB thread apparently failed to connect the first paragraph quoted with the second, catching Kaien's misunderstanding of why Tanya was freaking out despite the reason being all-but-bluntly stated as mindfuckery PTSD. Also pointing out a broken italic tag for the author.

 

[Gabriel021]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Jesse K the Bubba]

Saga of the Princess of the Hollow World

Chapter 10: Training and Tech

---

Things had been changing a lot lately for Arisawa Tatsuki, and not in the normal way that life brings changes. Just the other day, the school had been attacked by monsters, and she saw Orihime awaken some kind of power to protect her and the others. Unfortunately, the redhead had passed out right after. And then another monster showed up, ready to eat the dead one's corpse and Orihime right after.

So she ran over and punched it.

But something woke up inside her at the same time.

Like a roar, it rang through her heart and into her fists, coming out like white and blue fire, and she smashed its face in while burning it. She kicked it and got the same sort of result, but more devastating. Again and again, her hits met the monster and exploded into flame as she screamed her anger and rage, both at the creatures threatening them and her own earlier impotence.

After that, it felt like it had been a dream. People were back at school the next day, planning summer vacation and trying to fight the urge to put off the last bit of schoolwork, but she remembered, and she knew some others had as well.

Orihime was certainly hiding what she recalled, and then Kuchiki Rukia had suddenly disappeared with almost no one noticing except perhaps Ichigo and Orihime. It was as though she had been erased from existence, and none of her friends reacted to the name with anything more than confusion and wonder at its unfamiliarity, save those two.

She needed answers.

That's why she was heading to this place, Urahara Shōten. It had been mentioned here and there between Rukia and Ichigo when they thought no one could hear them. It took some searching through a phonebook before locating it, but find it she did. Only now, there appeared to be something of a roadblock.

"You sure you can't go get him?" a white brunette woman asked a little girl of maybe ten or so with pigtails, currently standing in the partially opened doorway of the store. To her left, there was a sign that read, "Closed for business for now. Sorry for the inconvenience," taped to the shuttered window.

"Sorry, but the owner's busy at the moment," the girl answered.

"Okay, I understand, but…maybe you could ask him when you'll be open again? My friends and I were really hoping to shop here."

The girl seemed to mull it over for a moment before nodding.

"I will ask. Wait here, please," she said before going back in and closing the door, audible locks clicking into place after she did.

"Well, is this a bust?" a tall, dark-haired man asked the woman in English. Luckily, Tatsuki had studied the language well in school. She was ahead of almost her entire class in that subject.

"No, we're definitely supposed to be here," the brunette answered him. "Assuming we can't get the owner's attention… Maybe it's not the shop, but something near it?"

"Do you think the Nail Bearers are going to come this way?"

Tatsuki suddenly felt as though something was behind her and turned to see a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman walking her way with a copy paper-printed map of the area held in her hands. The woman stopped and looked up before offering her a smile.

"Sorry. I was about to walk into you there. I'm meeting some friends here… Ah, there they are." She waved over to the other two while switching to English, "Mary, Matt, any luck?"

"Not really, Vicky," 'Mary' answered, hands on her hips and a sigh leaving her after she walked over. "Place is closed, and… Oh, excuse me," she said in Japanese after noticing Tatsuki, a slight nod to her head. Then back in English, "Right, I…don't think we've seen the Bearers anywhere. No one's given off the spark that we've seen. The little girl here feels different, but I'm suspecting magic."

"Did you just say magic?" Tatsuki asked, realizing too late that she just caught the full attention of the somewhat shady foreigners talking about things that were definitely supposed to be kept secret. Of course, their attention landed squarely on her, and she felt her flight or fight response beginning.

"Mary, you know English is a popular second language in Japan, right?" Vicky admonished her companion. "We're not exactly speaking in code."

Mary just chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of her neck.

"Hold on a moment," Matt suddenly spoke with a hand raised, then looked toward Tatsuki. "Have you noticed any…strange things happening lately? Seemingly transparent people with chains hanging from their chests? People flying through the air? Strange, monstrous howls?"

'Wait, do these people know about all of that? Could they…have some answers?'

These people were complete strangers, but then, so was whoever ran this place. The only connection she even had to the shop was some loose words from Ichigo and Rukia. Of course, she'd hoped one of them would be there to soften the landing, so to speak, but still.

"Let's just say…there were monsters attacking the other day. My friend managed to kill one, but fell unconscious. I beat the other one to death."

They seemed surprised by that.

"If you're talking about a Hollow…" Matt pondered, fingers cupping his chin. "How exactly did you do that?"

"I… I just kept hitting it. There was some fire, but I don't know how I was making it."

"Fire?" Mary asked. "Like this?"

The woman opened up her hand and a flame burst into being above her palm, hovering and flickering there for several seconds.

"Ye- yeah!" Tatsuki answered, a little dazed to see proof of everything that had happened so casually shown to her. "But…bigger. And it was white and blue, then."

"White and blue?" the brunette asked as her fire went out and let her arm drop.

"Huh, now that I've scanned you…" Matt said, something like a small light in his hands for a moment before it winked out. "Yes, that's a lot of energy, spiritual and magical. And you just now learned about this?"

"What do you mean 'just now'? Weirder and weirder things have been happening for the past few months. The monster attack was just the worst and most direct thing. And the weirdness hasn't stopped! That's why I came here. To get answers."

"Well, store's closed," Mary pointed out the obvious. "But…you can still get answers. You just gotta ask the right questions," she declared while pointing at Tatsuki and winking.

'Ah crud. Not that type!'

"Okay… What am I supposed to be asking?" Tatsuki tried. Mary crossed her arms and smiled smugly about something.

"First of all," she went on in English, "you're not a Nail Bearer, so there's that."

"What even is that?"

"Rather, it seems that you're just a wizard. A human with a natural talent for magic. Like Vicky here!"

The blonde nodded. "Sorry, she's having a moment."

"You see magic is a form of controlled phenomena using the energy of the physical world through one's spirit. To better form this, you could," and on Mary went.

Tatsuki was good at English, but the rate Mary was going was hard to keep up with, not to mention she was using a lot of advanced words. Some of them Tatsuki was sure some of those words weren't even real, like Malkuth, Tipheret, and Nefesh. And she was pretty sure Sephiroth was a video game antagonist.

Evidently, her companions noticed, as Matt reached over and tapped her on top of her head, causing her to pause mid-word.

"Huh?"

"Mary, you're overloading the kid. She probably didn't understand 90 percent of that," he pointed out while gesturing to the clearly confused Tatsuki.

"Yeah, that is not how you teach magic," Vicky seconded his objection. "It's a step at a time sort of thing. And you didn't even answer her question."

"Oh, uh, ah, I'm sorry!" Mary apologized, looking sheepish again. "I can sometimes blow ahead without realizing it."

"Let's start over," Vicky suggested, turning back to Tatsuki and reaching out a hand. "Hi, I'm Viktoriya Serebryakova, but you can call me Vicky."

"Arisawa Tatsuki," the teen answered, shaking her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Arisawa. So, you're a wizard. Would you like to learn how to use magic?"

Tatsuki allowed herself a smile.

"Yes. Very much so."

---

Yoruichi watched as the three strangers spoke to the Arisawa girl. She had been planning on approaching her, but it seemed they had beaten her to it. They were an odd bunch, coming out of nowhere and trying to meet with Kisuke out of the blue, but what they spoke about gave her some clues as to what they might have wanted from him. If it were any other time, it would have been something to follow up on immediately. Unfortunately, they were pressed for time.

Well, she still had the others to look into. Unless Arisawa led these strangers to them, they needed another guide on their path. She could allow a little to go down this one so that she could compare them and see if it was worth investing in.

Until then, she'd just update Kisuke and get back on her task. Ururu had already come up and asked that they check back after a week, and now they were leaving, planning aloud how they were going to teach Arisawa Tatsuki to use her 'magic'. She was sure they'd return after the one week. Plenty of time to see where the winds took things.

---

There was a lot to prepare and little time for it all, and then so much of it had its own requisite waiting time. Rukia didn't know enough to bring down everything, but if she admitted to what she knew, it was enough to get the Gotei on a war footing. Aizen, Kaname, and Ichimaru could try and level things out from that side, but they couldn't push back too hard without looking like total doves, defeatists, or suspicious.

If the powers-that-be decided Kuchiki Rukia was guilty of consorting with Hollows and declared it treason, then every Shinigami would find themselves having to prove their loyalty beyond a reasonable doubt, and, as the communists showed time and again, an easy way to prove one's loyalty was to bring another's into question. Accusations were going to fly and there may be a handful of purges before they settled.

They couldn't wait for that.

Urahara was hatching a plan to rescue the girl. Kaien was on board with it, obviously. Tanya wasn't sure about how close their relationship was, but it seemed like the Shiba couple had been like teachers and/or seniors to her and felt some sort of responsibility to her. She didn't know what the plan for harboring her was, but there had to be something.

The important thing was keeping a precedent from being set and letting Kaien reconnect with some old, powerful allies. Tanya didn't know if he was overstating the bond he had with his former superior, but at best, they'd gain a powerful ally, at worst, they'd know of one Arrancar's potential powerset. And the dynamics wouldn't change all that much if they did nothing.

It seemed strange to her that Aizen hadn't looked into leveraging Kaien to bring Ukitake over. She skipped a few files to look at the 13th Division closer, and he was both an old and powerful Shinigami Captain. Among the current top 20 oldest living Shinigami and one of the 5 oldest living captains, the adage to 'beware old warriors' had to apply here.

The only reason she could see for Aizen ignoring this possibility was his close ties to Yamamoto Genryusai, the Captain-General or Soutaicho. It'd be a hard pull, and he'd want to wait until the last second for it.

But he wasn't even making any plans or telling them about it.

Tanya wracked her brain while clawing at her head. The paranoia was doing her no favors. Just the idea that Aizen was willing to throw her to the wolves for expediency's sake haunted her. She thought she was too invaluable for such a thing, but that was a problem in itself, wasn't it?

She had been too effective back then, too, only there the problem had been becoming some shining beacon that blinded the upper crust to all the other losses in the war. Here, he might just view her as a weight holding him down when the time came. Useful as an anchor in the storm, but not so much on dry land with clear skies.

She shook her head. No point in lingering on far-off possibilities. She had some tentative deals with Urahara for supplies and even got a few of his gigai for Francisca to experiment with, as well as a couple for her personal use and some agents. Low-grade, by his words, but incredibly useful all the same.

Bulk foods could be shipped in later and traded for some spare resources, mostly raw. Animals that could make the transition would take longer to source. He might have to order things like that from the Soul Society, and that would take some doing. All of this to build the foundation of a potential rebellion against their overlords.

Wow, it sounded like she was a part of some RPG when it was put like that. Was she the 'Marth' then? The rightful ruler of an oppressed people looking to restore themselves by installing the rightful royal family after ousting the evil invader? No, things were hardly ever that simple in real life.

Strange things could happen, like Napoleon coming back to rule France a third time, or China falling to the Red Army all thanks to one balls-to-the-wall charge that broke them out of the National Army's encirclement. At their level, it could get even stranger, with the way so many powers worked. Maybe Aizen would take the Soul King's throne and then parade the royal family about like captured pets before doing something insane like having her marry…

"Oh, that's a scary thought I never considered. I would like to erase that from my mind, please."

"Erashe what?" Nel asked from her spot at a table with a coloring book.

"Just scary teenager thoughts… No, 'adolescent' would be the word. Chronologically, I'm a septuagenarian." Tanya then stood up and stretched. "I need to get my mind off of things. I'm going to find the Shibas, some Escudo, and train with them. Stay here, all right. No sudden adventures before mom gets home."

"Okay! Have fun!"

"I might," Tanya said before leaving her domicile. Finding a handful of Escudo was simply as could be. She just followed Flan's signature and grabbed her and the five there before moving towards the Shibas' signature, up above the dome, where they found them both with the Espadas Cinco to Diez and Kaname, either trying to meditate or failing to in anger and exasperation.

"I don't think this is working," Miyako said while looking in concern at Grimmjow, Nnoitra, and Yammy, who were now yelling obscenities and insults at each other about a football field's length away.

"We knew those three might be…an issue," Kaname admitted. "That is why the upper four are training elsewhere."

"I thought it was because we didn't want to risk them breaking the dome," Kaien pointed out.

"That was also a consideration."

"Segunda Etapa training, I assume," Tanya decided to broach the subject.

"Indeed," the blind man answered, turning slightly toward her. "Perhaps you could help them?"

Tanya shook her head. "They have to be the ones to reach their spirit. All we can do is point the way."

"At least Zommari, Luppi, and Szayel could focus enough," Kaien said while thumbing in the direction of the three meditating Espada in question. "Almost thought the small one was gonna join in on the arguing, but I guess he thought better of it."

"Have thine Vasto Lorde made any better headway?" Flan asked the Shinigami.

"They seem to be… doing better."

Suddenly, Szayel yelped and fell over, foaming from the mouth and twitching. Tanya could not help but let out a guffaw before composing herself. The three enraged idiots heard and came to investigate, their argument forgotten over laughing at the mad scientist's predicament. From nearby, Grimmjow's Fracciones also came out to see what was going on, with most of them having a laugh as well. Yylfordt, however, went to his brother's side and shook him.

"Hey, Szayel! Bro! Wake up! Are you okay?!"

The Espada gurgled out something before spitting to the side and coughing, foam and blood splattering out before he took a deep breath and smiled.

"She was amazing!"

"...She?" the blonde Granz asked.

"I managed… to find it… Her! Fornicarás! She was…perfect!"

"Oh, so… that's good, right?" Yylfordt seemed to ask everyone rather than just his brother.

"...It's a step in the right direction," Tanya answered, just before a cut opened up on Luppi's cheek, spattering blood near everyone.

"Wait, no one said we get to fight the Zanpakuto spirits!" Grimmjow decried. "If I had known that, I might have actually done this whole Jinzen thing!"

"...Usually fighting them comes later," Kaien pointed out. "With Bankai trai- Ah, right. Whole different thing. And you guys are going for that Segunda Etapa thing. Right."

"What do you mean, 'you guys'?" Di Roy asked, looking miffed.

"Cut me some slack. I haven't even figured out this Resurreccion stuff entirely."

"What's there to figure out? Ain't it like whatever your Shinigami thing was?" Grimmjow asked.

"No, it's… different. Nejibana's here," he pointed out while taking the trident from his back, "but it's like… she's stuck in a released state."

"I've noticed the same for Nakuarashi," Miyako admitted while drawing her saber. "Their sealed state seems out of reach for some reason."

"It probably has to do with the difference in how Shinigami and Arrancar Zanpakuto express their powers," Kaname admitted as he stroked his chin. "We had believed all the Arrancar were in a constant state of release equal to a Shikai, due to special abilities that present themselves on occasion. Segunda Etapa changed that dynamic. However, there is definitely power expression even in an Arrancar's "sealed" state."

"Like how Father can use Senescencia whenever he wants but has to use his Resurreccion for Respira," Tanya thought aloud before tapping her mask. "Ah, I see! That might explain a lot, actually. Related to that, I was hoping to use you two for training today, but it seems you may have a regime set."

"Yeah, sorry Princess, but we'd like to figure this one out. I can promise to practice with ya later though," he said with a wink. Or at least, she was sure it was a wink. Having only one eye visible made knowing that tricky.

"It will be fine. Señor Grimmjow, perhaps I could borrow Tío and your other Fracciones while you go fight your Interna Hueco?"

"Yeah, sure. Just don't kill any of them. Unless they piss you off too bad, I guess."

"Thank you. I'll return them with nothing worse than scrapes and bruises."

"Boss, what'd we ever do to you?!" Di Roy shouted in despair.

"You literally tried to eat me when we met."

"You been long got me for that one, though," the sharp-toothed man said while pointing to his bandages. "When we met."

Grimmjow just laughed. "I know. Go play with the Princesa, you whiny snake! You wanna be here when I start fighting my Inner Hollow?"

Zommari's neck suddenly and audibly snapped perfectly to the side at a 90-degree angle. Amazingly to all there to witness it, he seemed no worse for wear.

"Yeah, we might wanna clear the area," Yylfordt supposed while gently setting his madly grinning brother's head down. "Let's go see what kinda training you got in mind, sobrinita."

The Fracciones followed Tanya and her Escudo escort away from where the Espada were meditating.

"All right then, Capitana Karrotte here will lead the Escudo, and I'll direct the Ci- Sexta's Fracciones. No Resurreccion for now. You six may use your fusils at range."

"Yes ma'am," the soldiers answered with a salute before reaching back and grabbing the engineered weapons cradled there. Each appeared to be a rifle, white stock and grip with a gunmetal grey barrel and a guardless trigger. Every other one had a bit of customization to them at this point, often a name carved into the stock or something painted on like little decals.

"What are those?" Edrad Liones asked out of curiosity.

"Special weapon developed for the Escudo," Tanya explained. "Though I am hoping we produce enough to arm all Numeros at some point. We call these fusils. They store reiryoku over time given off by entities like Arrancar, though one can also learn how to fuel them directly. That reiryoku can then be fired out in different methods resembling Balas and Ceros.

"There's a switch for different settings: wide mid-range single-shots, piercing long-range but slow shots, three-fire bursts, and full automatic fire. They can't be used to do anything special, like unique or advanced Ceros, but their energy storage capability means they can be fired far more often than most Arrancar can do on their own, and their stability means that those who have problems controlling their output or aiming can use them to shore up those weak points."

"Sounds like a crutch," Di Roy complained.

"Perhaps. But every fighter that can blast the Shinigami before they ever close the gap is a welcome one," Tanya explained. "Besides, would you want to waste time fighting Shinigami that would die to a few low-powered Balas?" she asked, beseeching the bloodthirsty warmonger inside them. That earned some wicked grins.

"Capitana, I want you to perform a standard staggered fallback while the men and I try to close. You're out on first blood or singe. If one of you tries to keep going when you should be out, you'll be doing hanging leg raises with weights. That goes for you lot, too," she directed at the Fracciones.

"Now, let us begin."

---

Tatsuki wasn't sure what magic lessons were supposed to be like, but she didn't think it was going to include being picked up and carried off 100 feet into the air with only a harness and well-wishes between her and a sudden drop.

"Now, you must picture the air beneath you as still," Vicky calmly explained while holding her up by the handles on the back of the harness. "Think of what is beneath your feet as though it were solid ground. Take those aspects of Earth and apply them to the Air."

Tatsuki felt herself going down a bit, and Vicky sighed.

"Were you picturing ground beneath your feet?"

"Ye-yeah!" Tatsuki answered uneasily.

"Not like that. Picture the air as though it were ground. You can't hope to bring the ground up here, so make the air into a new one."

"So… what, make the air stand still?"

"That's another thing entirely. Just make… Here, repeat after me, 'Beneath my feet, the air will hold up my weight.'"

"Beneath my feet, the air will hold up my weight," Tatsuki repeated, trying to enforce her will onto the world as she'd been shown and thinking about how to make the air do that.

"Good. You're getting there. Again."

"Beneath my feet, the air will hold up my weight. Beneath my feet, the air will hold up my weight. Beneath my feet, the air will hold up my weight." As she did this, she felt as though she was getting a little lighter. Looking down, she thought she saw a shimmer in the air, and smiled.

"I… I think I'm doing it!"

"Yes, good job," she heard Vicky say to her side. Startled, she looked over to see the wizard, then up to realize she was no longer holding the harness Tatsuki was wearing.

"Wha- WHA!"

The teen tripped backward, falling for tens of feet, but then her descent slowed as she reminded herself that, only moments ago, she was flying under her own power.

"Phew! Thought I'd have to catch you for a second there," Vicky said as she floated over to where she'd dropped.

"Urk! Yeah, I got it. Mostly," Tatsuki responded as she tried to straighten herself up, flailing against the empty air for a moment. "Guh! How do I… get back up?"

"It takes some practice, but the general trend is to imagine the part you want to be pointed downward is where all your weight is while making the rest weightless."

Tatsuki did her best to follow along. While she didn't quite get back into a standing position, she was able to kneel in place where she hovered, feeling like she was on top of a pane of the world's clearest, most comfortable glass. Next to Vicky, who could saunter forward or stand straight up effortlessly like a superhero, she looked rather childish in her mind.

"Good. Good. This is actually a good base to work from with other spells. But first, let's land."

They dropped slowly back to solid ground, where Tatsuki carefully extended her legs and stopped enforcing magic onto the air so she could instead rely on the naturally solid ground. Nearby, Elly looked up from where she was focusing on the Lookaway shield she had been powering for them to go unspotted.

"Well done, kid. Gonna try to figure out her affinity?" she asked Vicky.

"Maybe. I think we need to look back a little here, though."

"You mean why she didn't explode?"

"Why I didn't what?!" Tatsuki asked in alarm.

"Don't wor- Well, okay. The thing is, the magic you say you used to fight that Hollow… Those were advanced techniques that even I would find difficult to use. You likely have an affinity for them, though. But even then, going from no magic to that should have overloaded your body and spirit. In other words…"

"I should have exploded?" The idea seemed absurd to her, but wasn't that some staple of a bunch of manga and anime? Someone getting too much power at once suffering the consquences of it? "Then… why didn't I?"

"No way to know without having seen it, but we can make some educated guesses," Vicky explained. "But first, I want to get a look at it. I want you to try and tap into that power and display some of it for us."

Tatsuki nodded and tried to focus on the feeling of fire wrapping around her. Flames started coming up from her right fist, and she punched forward, orange and yellow flaring out in front of her.

Vicky hummed at the sight. "That's not how you described it."

"Look, it was… different back there."

"Different how?" the wizard asked. "Is it because you were in peril? I know a lot of people say that being in danger bring things out of them, but it's not the danger itself. It's the feelings, emotions we have when we're in that moment. The difference between who runs and who fights is as much a part of the person as it is the situation. More, perhaps.

"So, in that moment, when the Hollow was coming after you and your friends, what did you feel?"

Tatsuki thought back, remembering not just the relief that had filled her when Orihime had split the first one in half, but also the frustration. She had been the one who took karate, who focused on self-defense, who prepared them in case some man out there got rough or handsy, yet when the chips were down, all she could do was get flung around while her friend, Orihime, the girl who couldn't swat a fly without feeling bad about it, stood tall and brought the beast down.

And then the second appeared, gobbling up the dead one gleefully like a giant toad eating a mouse. Shaped almost like one, too, with a mask-like face that mimicked the likes of a traditional Chinese lion costumes. Its laughter and taunts about how it was going to swallow them had grated her, not just because they were threats, but because even after what Orihime did to save her, she still couldn't do anything!

So she screamed in rage and punched.

White fire launched forward from her right fist, blazing hot. More came from her left, then right again, burning everything in front of her, leaving herself unscathed but warm. Despite its intense light, she went unblinded, her vision only affected by the black core of the fire once it started sticking to its target. She turned and then kicked, concentrated blue flames lurching out with the force of her leg. The fire spun and danced around her, half-defense, half-offense. The white fire poured from the base of her skull like a second layer of hair, and the blue sprung out from the base of her spine like an ephemeral tail. She screamed again, and it flowed over her limbs, like burning liquid armor.

"Whoa! Okay! Cool it down!" she heard Vicky and snapped over her gaze to see the woman had to put up a shield of hexagons to protect herself and Elly from the fires, parts going red where her colored flames licked against them.

Instantly, the white and blue fire was gone, simmered down to regular orange where their surroundings had caught flame. Water apparated from above at Vicky's handwaving then splashed over the worst parts.

"Uh, sorry!" Tatsuki apologized, not sure how apologetic someone was supposed to be after almost accidentally roasting someone else.

"Don't be. That was pretty amazing, but I think I saw what was going on. Emotional affinity."

"Is that good?"

"Actually, it can be very bad," Elly spoke up, wiping her forehead with a handkerchief as she stood up from her little self-made rock seat. "An emotional affinity means when you're embroiled in that emotion, your power and capacity grows with it, along with whatever other affinities you might have, which appears to include fire. And as we just saw, it means your control is loose, at best."

"But it also means you can go way beyond your normal limits," Vicky added. "Just… not in a dependable manner. Most magic requires a great deal of focus and intent, but if you're lost in your emotions…"

"That's basically the opposite," Tatsuki realized, growling in frustration. "Damn it! You're telling me that I actually have power, but I can't even make use of it!"

"Not at all!" Vicky quickly told her with raised hands. "In fact, you can make a lot of use out of it most wizards could only dream of. You might… just find yourself more specialized than most. But! You can still learn magic like any other. With discipline and focus, anything is possible!"

The teen breathed in deeply and sighed, her breath feeling far hotter than normal. "Discipline. I can do that." She rubbed her hair, feeling like the heat underneath had built up more than usual. She had a feeling this was going to be a pattern now. "Right. You think we can go find my friend now? She almost certainly has some kind of magic, too."

"I think I can help you there," a masculine voice said. Tatsuki turned and looked around, but didn't see anyone. "Down here." She looked down and saw a cat. "Greetings."

Tatsuki, at this point, was getting used to strangeness, but even this was a good bit beyond any expectations. "...What?"

"A talking cat?" Vicky asked. "Elly, have you ever seen a talking cat before?"

"A few talking dogs, but not a cat, no."

"Hold on," Tatsuki jumped in. "You said you know where Orihime is? Why do you know that?"

"Simple. I've been helping her to learn how to use her own powers, much like you were doing here."

The picture came together in Tatsuki's head and made her consider euphemistically jumping off a bridge.

"You're the little animal familiar guide thing, aren't you?" she asked before grabbing at her hair and looking up at the sky accusingly. "We've become mahou shoujo! Freaking magical girls!"

---

She was sure she was dreaming vaguely of coffee and chocolate potato cake when something screamed at her to move!

Tanya rolled out of the way as Lilynette flopped down belly-first onto her bed where she had been laying, up on her feet and hands, ready to spring forward before she saw the bright smile the girl gave her.

"Good dodge, Princess! You're way easier to wake up than Stark."

"Lily?" Tanya asked, looking at her clock to see it was about 2 minutes away from ringing her alarm. "What are you doing here? And why were you doing that?"

"Waking you up, and waking you up. I ain't used to this whole sleep schedule thing, so I fell asleep early after we came back from Segunda Etapa training, and now I'm awake." She rolled over, keeping her gaze pointed at Tanya even as she lay there. "But everyone else is asleep. Especially Stark. You gotta help me wake him up so I can get him to go do stuff."

"...Well, all right, I suppose." Tanya reached over and flicked off her alarm for today. "We'll eat breakfast, and then go see about Stark. Mother should be waking up soon, so we can let her know you're here before she gets started."

"Awesome! I like food. And your mom cooks good. Hey, can I get a mom?"

Tanya blinked. "I don't think it works like that… Maybe if you convinced Stark to start dating you could… get something like a stepmother?"

"Huh? Coyote Stark dating? That couldn't… Wait, could he?"

Tanya shrugged as she made her way over to her wardrobe. A quick check and… Yes, the shirt she got the day before yesterday had been altered. Maybe she should set up a security camera? Whoever kept doing this must have been getting a real kick out of it. That, or there was something about the material her clothes were made from she didn't understand.

Well, at least her 'disguise' was unaltered. It couldn't work if it was changed to expose her hole. It would beat the purpose.

"Go ahead to the kitchen. I'll be dressed in a moment."

"Huh, you wear different clothes for sleeping?" Lilynette asked, seeming to suddenly notice Tanya's nightgown for the first time. "Am I supposed to do that?"

"...It's comfortable."

"Neat. I'll have to get some sleep clothes, then."

Once Lilynette was clear, Tanya sighed and got dressed for the day. After her boots were on, she walked out of her room, down the hall past Nel's, through the recreation den, and into the kitchen, where her mother was being told by Lilynette what the latter wanted for breakfast.

"And then some eggs fried but a little runny. Stark said I should mix them with the corn grits and butter."

"I see. It should only take a few minutes. Good morning, Tanya," Roka then said to her daughter. "Do you want anything specific?"

"Just whatever Lily's getting will be fine, mom. No need to go overboard."

"Of course. And a portion for Nel and I." With that, the woman started setting out pans, placed a pot of water to boil, and gathered the ingredients from the icebox. Tanya quickly looked on their window sill and brought in the milk for the day, placing it just in reach but out of the way for Roka.

"Huh, why was that outside?"

"There's a system for those who sign up for it. Fresh milk in the morning, just leave the empty bottles outside overnight, and they'll be replaced at dawn."

"Where do they get the milk from? Cows?"

"Actually, I think it's mostly goats." It certainly didn't taste like cow milk, but the nutrition was there, and it worked as a replacement ingredient in most recipes. "I doubt they're milking the rabbits, and we haven't had much luck in getting cows. Therefore, it's probably the goats. Hopefully, we can change that soon."

Breakfast soon came, and Tanya saw that Lilynette had asked for pancakes, rabbit sausage, apple slices, yoghurt, corn grits, and eggs. Taking the suggestion Coyote had given the other girl, Tanya decided to try mixing the runny eggs into the starchy vegetable and found that the flavors and textures greatly complimented each other.

About halfway through, Nel had sleepily extracted herslef from her room, attracted by the smell of delicious food, just in time to crawl up into the seat where Roka placed her smaller serving and then sat down with her own helping of food.

The rest of the meal was mostly a quiet affair. After a few sips of coffee, Tanya was beginning to feel more awake and started thinking of where her day would take her. Coyote was first on the agenda, but there were a few more things to follow up on.

'Urahara's plans with Kurosaki Ichigo should have gone through by now. If not… Well, if he really wants his powers back, I suppose we could always see if he's fine with being fed to a Gillian before we use the Resonator to draw him up and Arrancarify him. Might be too much for him to consider though. Just an option on the table.'

Tanya thought she felt a stirring inside of her at that, but it was probably just the pancakes that needed a good swallow of juice to follow down. They were going to have to get more moon fruit syrup.

"Ah!" Lilynette sighed dramatically in satisfaction while patting her belly. "That was great! Now I really need to get a mom!"

Tanya swallowed and cleared her throat. "You realize what you want is a servant, right? Not every mother does this. Mine is special."

Roka looked surprised at that. Tanya figured she'd have to clarify, but Lilynette's sudden belch interrupted her.

"Hey! Yours is all I have to go off of! And she's great! Where did you get her from?"

Tanya blinked. "She… gave birth to me," she slowly pointed out. Lilynette's eye squinted at her, then slowly widened as that sank in.

"Arrancar can have kids?!"

"Hollows in general can reproduce, as far as I know." She didn't know about Gillians or lower forms, but she couldn't write them off completely. Adjuchas, Vasto Lorde, and Arrancar just had a lot more of the necessary initiative to perform the requisite actions on average.

"Since when?"

"...Always, I would suppose."

"...Can I have a kid?"

"You are a kid," Tanya pointed out. "Or at least, you have a prepubescent body, like me. We have to actually grow up first before we even consider such things."

"Aw! That'll take forever," Lilynette complained before instantly perking up. "Oh well, something to look forward to! Thanks for the food, Tanya's mom! We're going to go dropkick Stark until he wakes up, then make him exercise."

"You're welcome, and have fun," Roka told the girl.

"Let me just finish this," Tanya said before taking her last deep sip of coffee. "Ah, there we go! All right, I am ready, now."

They went to leave, stepping outside of the house to run across Nnoitra Gilga and one of his three Fracciones, Tesla Lindocruz.

"Ah, Cinco Espada Gilga," Tanya greeted the lanky Arrancar evenly. "Can I help you?"

"N- Nah, just walking. Saw the house. Wanted a closer look." His eye trailed over, seeming to try and peer into the front window. "You got that kid, right? Nel's brat?"

Tanya held back the retort she wanted to give him. It wouldn't do to stir negative emotions this early.

"Yes. Nelliel's child is staying with us. If you wanted to see her, I'd ask that you wait for a time when I'll be home to supervise."

"Just curious, Princess," the man practically bit out as he shifted his axe and turned his head back to look at her. "Ain't never seen a man ask questions before? I get you and your girlfriend are busy trading make-up, but you should learn how people talk to each other!"

'Not going to rise to the bait.'

"I'll keep it in mind. If that'll be all, I'm off to train with the Primera. Have a good day. Lily?"

"Right behind you."

They then sped off, dashing away with Sonido.

"What was that?" Lilynette asked at their first pause.

"I don't know, but I have… a suspicion," Tanya answered as she used her Pesquisa to keep an eye on Nnoitra and his favorite Fraccion. They left the vicinity of her home after a few seconds, but there was that moment where it seemed they were talking about something. "You know, Nel's mother died out in the desert."

"Ah, I didn't know that."

"She was an Espada, once. A Vasto Lorde. She taught me a lot. Probably one of my main teachers for much of her time here. Then she disappeared, and I found her Fracciones and child running around outside the dome a few years later. Imagine my shock. Of course, a child usually has two parents, a mother and a father."

"Oh yeah… Now I remember how that works. Wait, so that's why they say you're the King's daughter? He's your father! Now it's coming together!"

"Yes." Tanya nodded, having to remind herself that Lilynette was almost completely clueless. She was basically the stereotypical 'wild child' reintroduced to civilization. "We don't know who Nel's father is, however, Nelliel spent a lot of time… mentoring and watching over Nnoitra back then. She may have spent more time keeping an eye on him than she did any other single activity. I couldn't tell you why."

A sound like a humorous scoff escaped Lilynette's mouth.

"I would ask that you not tell anyone my theory here," Tanya requested of the girl. "I don't want a rumor circulating around, agitating him. I could be entirely wrong, and we'd need a DNA test to be absolutely certain. Before that, I want to speak with him about the possibility, but he's… abrasive at the best of times. I'm really hoping I'm wrong and that it's not him, though I'd still have no idea who it could be if not."

"Nah, I'll keep it a secret. It's just… Damn, with him?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong, when I first suspected something going on between them, all I could think is, 'Sensei, of all people, why him?'"

Lilynette snorted a laugh at that.

"Anyways, let's go wake up your… What do we call your relationship with Stark? Brother, perhaps?"

"Heh, but don't brothers and sisters have the same parents?" the light-green-haired girl asked.

"Well, you came from the same being, much like common siblings."

"Hmm, maybe. I'll call him Big Brother and see how he responds. If it's funny enough, maybe I'll keep doing it." And then she was off again.

"As good a reason as any," Tanya concluded before laughing and taking off in Sonido after her friend.

---

For a long moment, as Ichigo forced himself up to his knees once again, he wondered if it would be fine, even if he became a Hollow.

'They could get me and… fix me, right?' he wondered. 'It wouldn't all be lost. And after what those Shinigami bastards did…'

He grunted and keeled forward. Another link on his chain was eating itself away.

'No! I'm not going to… give up! I'll get up there! I'll get out of here! I have to!'

He pushed, trying to get to his feet, but started to slip, feeling the weakness in his limbs, bound and unbound.

'Damn it! I… I have to do this! I can't force them all to help me out of my problems.'

He wished he had taken the time to learn at least a little about Quincy abilities, if just so he could use them to make some kind of climbing gear or something, even if he was limited to his feet and mouth.

'I need to get up. Get up. Get up!'

As he screamed at himself from within, none noticed the pallor his hands temporarily faded to, or the black claws that grew and faded from his fingertips.

 

[Gabriel021]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[LastStandZiggy]

When Tanya meets the reincarnations of the 203rd it will be bittersweet, to see old comrades who do not remember you. If they treat her like an enemy, it would be even more bitter... To see them treating Mary as friend and commander will hurt her a lot, will it not?

I am anticipating their first meeting and all I am expecting is pain... *sigh*

 

[BalmundSM]

or the black claws that grew and faded from his fingertips.

Click to shrink...

It's his quincy powers, isn't it? I just googled quincy ichigo and that form has black claws. He's gonna make old man so happy and white so mad.

 

[Wild Transient]

The picture came together in Tatsuki's head and made her consider euphemistically jumping off a bridge.

"You're the little animal familiar guide thing, aren't you?" she asked before grabbing at her hair and looking up at the sky accusingly. "We've become mahou

Click to shrink...

This? This had me laughing a lot.

 

[Jesse K the Bubba]

It's his quincy powers, isn't it? I just googled quincy ichigo and that form has black claws. He's gonna make old man so happy and white so mad.

Click to shrink...

Hmm. Interesting paths we have ahead of us.

Very interesting indeed.

This? This had me laughing a lot.

Click to shrink...

I am hilarious. V:

 

[Finagle007]

When Tanya meets the reincarnations of the 203rd it will be bittersweet, to see old comrades who do not remember you. If they treat her like an enemy, it would be even more bitter... To see them treating Mary as friend and commander will hurt her a lot, will it not?

I am anticipating their first meeting and all I am expecting is pain... *sigh*

Click to shrink...

Don't worry. Being X wants them to make nice with Tanya, remember?

 

[DTM321]

It's his quincy powers, isn't it? I just googled quincy ichigo and that form has black claws. He's gonna make old man so happy and white so mad.

Click to shrink...

I'm pretty sure that is his Hollow side coming out since it mentioned his arm becoming pale.


I'm kind of curious how things will develop for Ichigo. Most of his power ups in the series came from accepting the different parts himself and this Ichigo seems like he would have a much easier time accepting his Hollow and Quincy sides. Although he probably will still have trouble accepting White Zangetsu since White did try to kill his parents.

 

[Sunny_cat]

Thanks for the chapter