//------------------------------//
// Rebellion: Stray Snake 
// Story: Bleach: Heart of a Hero 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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True to what Sombra said, he escorted the newest Arrancar back to Hueco Mundo, where he found that Szayelaporro told him that what he had in mind for the entirety of Las Noches, to transform it into a more livable area for the Arrancar that joined his empire, could happen. That was good news, as he was planning on transforming Las Noches into a mirror image of the Crystal Empire with buildings that were modeled after ones in either Soul Society or the World of the Living, while at the same time leaving the modifications he had already made in place. The Arrancar behind him was surprised that he had so many plans for the world that he ruled over, just like the others were surprised when he revealed his goals to them, but for now he was taken in by the other former Toju, who were happy to see that he was freeing as many of them as he could, before Sombra smiled as his followers went back to what they had been doing before his arrival. He was pleased to see that so many of them were happy with his first set of changes, adding objects around Las Noches to make it more lively, and he included water related items into that thought, especially since Nel and the others liked the pools that had been installed since he claimed this world.

That reminded him of the fact that the previous Dios Hueco transformed this world into the desert that Soul Society had labeled it as, to make the Hollows angry and turn them into what they currently were, something that would take a long time to get through, but his changes were making everyone happy and he was going to make sure to turn this place into a realm unlike what it had been earlier.

While he walked around Hueco Mundo, making notes of what needed to be changed in the future, which he would act upon when the aftermath of the rebellion was taken care of, he knew that Zangetsu and Haineko would enjoy their time in the World of the Living, a reward for their hard work so far. From what they had been told, and his own calculations, there were around two to three hundred dead Shinigami, meaning that there were potentially three hundred Toju that he and the others needed to find and make them see that there was another person they could serve. If they were like the ones that had already been saved, who were happy to have someone to call master at long last, it wouldn't take too long for his forces and the Shinigami to find the remaining Toju, allowing Muramasa to inform them of what was going on and awaken their true hearts. Many of the deaths could be blamed on Kazeshini, who didn't deny killing a good number of Shinigami when he was first freed from Hisagi's inner world and even claimed that he had a good time when he did so, but at the same time that only made everyone want to focus on finding the remaining Toju and saving them, so they could focus their full attention to rebuilding the Seireitei.

Sombra came to a stop on the walkway between two of the buildings of Las Noches, the one in front of him being the chambers of Harribel and her Fraccion while the one behind him was where Nel had built her new home, before he turned and looked at the world that stretched out around him. Hueco Mundo was changing, both by his constant modifications to the entire realm and the various buildings that are being built at the moment, though at the same time he found himself wondering if the reason he was changing this realm to look like the Crystal Empire in some places was because he might be homesick, for the real place he came from. At the same time he knew that returning to Equus might not even be possible at this point in time, since there weren't any crystal mirror portals like the one he had been thrown through when he was a soul, to which he sighed as he kept staring at the realm around him, where in the distance he found a few Hollows just hanging around and not attacking each other. It appeared that breaking the changes that the previous Dios Hueco made to this world, and reverting it back to how it had been a thousand years ago, was making the Hollows happy, which brought a smile to his face as he considered what he was going to do next.

Eventually he sighed and went back to what he was doing, to which he walked away from the spot that he had been standing in and continued checking on the realm that he was ruling over, where he noticed the newest additions to his empire already grasping the reality of their situation and adapting to their new lives.

Despite the fact that he should have stayed in Hueco Mundo, overseeing the work that needed to be done to the world around him, he eventually returned to the World of the Living and found that Zangetsu and Haineko were definitely enjoying themselves. Matsumoto and Captain Hitsugaya seemed to have disappeared, meaning they went back to Soul Society to tell their superiors that their mission had been completed, even if Matsumoto seemed to be of the mind to have come here to have fun and nothing else, where he tapped the air and opened the way to Soul Society. The Shinigami that were near the Senkaimon when he walked out of the passage weren't surprised to see that he had returned, since some of his followers were still helping them tidy up and reign in the remaining Toju, so they simply looked the other way and continued whatever they had been doing before he arrived, allowing him to head back to the building that his followers were living in for the duration of their stay in Soul Society. He found that Muramasa had returned to Soul Society as well, meaning that he must have come here with Matsumoto and Hitsugaya so he could continue his duties, to which he simply nodded his head and joined his followers as they prepared to turn in for the night.

The next three days were slightly normal, because while the Shinigami continued to rebuild the Seireitei both they and Sombra's followers sought out the Toju that were supposed to be running around, though unlike the last few encounters the newest ones didn't cause any damage to anything and weren't all that important to mention, as some of the Toju were smart and turned themselves in, while others needed Muramasa and the others to change their minds. Sombra was happy to rescue as many of the Toju as possible, since they would only disappear if something actually caused them to revert back to their sealed Zanpakuto state, and the other Arrancar were happy to have more of their kind on their side, so they could train them and help them adapt to their new lives. Rukia and some of the other Shinigami were happy to see that he was extending his hand towards as many of the Toju as possible, especially since the same thing could have happened to them if their partners had actually killed them, but that didn't stop some of the more experienced Shinigami to worry that he was expanding his empire so quickly... not that it mattered, since all the Hollows of Hueco Mundo were part of his empire and this was just adding to his soliders, but Sombra said nothing to that as he went about his business and helped the newly born Arrancar that were coming into the area they were residing in for the moment.

"Lord Sombra, how many more of them do you think there are?" Muramasa asked, though even as he said that he walked beside his new master, as they were walking down one of the streets of the Seireitei, but his words indicated that he was focused on the mission that he and the others were trying to fulfill.

"With three hundred dead Shinigami, that means three hundred Toju," Sombra replied, though at the same time he focused his mind on feeling the reiatsu in the air around them, searching for any that belonged to the other Toju that were currently missing, and so far it appeared that they were hiding until they could make their move, "so far we've only been able to find a dozen Toju, maybe twenty at the most, so it will be some time before we're able to find the rest of the Toju and convert them into Arrancar. At the very least the Shinigami are willing to assist us in finding and restraining the various Toju that have been reported so far, hence why you've been a little busy helping awaken their true hearts and save them from fading away, but at the same time we're moving too slow to save all of them. If only we can find someone who knows where the Toju are gathering, because then we'd be able to convert a great deal of them in an instant, but for now we'll have to settle for finding and saving the ones that come out of hiding, whether it's because they're looking for their dead partners or trying to cause chaos."

Muramasa knew that Sombra wanted to wrap up this situation quickly, since it was already dragging on longer than the actual rebellion did, but at the same time there wasn't much they could do at the moment, because while Sombra was searching for the reiatsu of the Toju, who just so happened to be hiding at the moment, his forces were making sure to find out where large numbers of soldiers could gather, and not in the cave system he used earlier, as that was entirely empty. There was also the fact that Sombra was right, they hadn't found a single Toju that knew where the others were located, meaning that they would have to do things the way that they and the Shinigami were currently doing things, even if that meant letting a good number of the Toju fade from existence in the process. Muramasa determined that the large number of remaining Toju had to be scared of Sombra, based on the sheer power he commanded when he was in his base state, and that they were only coming out whenever he wasn't present, despite the fact that they couldn't see him or feel his reiatsu on their own, so that just told him that they would have to wait for their enemies to come out of hiding before they saved them. At the very least there were a few brave Toju that were willing to continue to do damage to the Seireitei and the area around it, as that allowed someone to arrest them and hold them until he arrived, but something told him that soon such actions would come to an end... and hopefully they saved enough of the Toju before all of the remaining ones disappeared as suddenly as they had arrived.

As the two of them continued walking, however, Muramasa glanced in the direction of the large Senkaimon and had the feeling that the next Toju that would show itself would appear in the World of the Living, where Haineko and Zangetsu had found the last major one that had shown up, and hoped that it had the information they were looking for, otherwise this was going to take forever, before shaking his head and followed after his Lord once more, allowing his attention to be turned to what was happening in the Seireitei. That just meant that Sombra had a great deal of faith in those that were guarding the World of the Living and knew that, if something did happen while he was in Soul Society, Ichigo and the others would be able to handle whatever happened and would contact him if they found a Toju, to which Muramasa placed his trust in his Lord's choices and focused on the task at hand, leaving the World of the Living to Ichigo and whoever was helping him at that very moment.





Renji remained silent as he walked out of the Senkaimon that had been opened for him, Saru, and Hebi, which meant that they needed three Jigokucho to get to the World of the Living safely, since there were technically three of them instead of just two, like all of the other Shinigami that were paired with their Zanpakuto spirits. He had originally thought that the World of the Living was clear of Toju, since Captain Hitsugaya said that the only one to be in this realm had been saved and converted into an Arrancar, but at the same time it seemed that someone had determined that there were more in the area around Karakura Town and thought it best to send him and his partners to investigate. Truthfully he, like nearly every other Shinigami who had their Zanpakuto spirit manifest, wished that both halves of Zabimaru would return to their blade and stay there, since he gave them more than enough time outside their blade as it was, and he wanted to keep the destruction to a minimum, since both Saru and Hebi liked to destroy whatever was around them when they fought. He had actually considered asking them to return to their blade, so he could call them out when he got here, but both of them flat out refused to listen and had insisted they come here in their materialized form, though even as he thought about that Saru and Hebi joined him as the Senkaimon closed and the Jigokucho flew off into the distance.

Once they were all present Renji started searching for any unusual reiatsu signatures that didn't belong to Ichigo, Uryu, Chad, Orihime, Sora, or any of the other Arrancar that might be in Karakura Town at the moment, as he had been told that there had to be one more Toju in this world and he was going to capture it so Muramasa could bring it over to Sombra's side, just like the others.

"There's a froggie! A froggie!" Hebi stated, a happy look appearing on his face as he noticed a green frog jump along the path that was in front of them, while at the same time his statement ended up snapping Renji and Saru out of their attempts to scan the area around them for the Toju they had come to stop, though when he attempted to jump after the frog and play with it Saru gripped the chain and yanked him back, "That hurt! What's your problem?!"

"What's yours?" Saru asked in response, as right now they were on an important mission and she knew that they couldn't afford to be distracted by something as little as a frog, especially since there was no telling where their target was even hiding at the moment, "We don't have time to play around with frogs."

"I know, I just wanted to get close and look at it!" Hebi replied, even though he had been thinking of doing something entirely different, but even as he said that he knew his neck hurt a little, as Saru could be a little rough when she pulled on the chain and yanked him around.

"Remember, I let you two come with me because I determined that we could capture whatever Toju I was told about that much quicker," Renji spoke up, causing the two spirits to turn and look at him for a moment, as he had gotten used to being the one to try and separate them whenever they got like this, but at the same time this was the wrong moment for them to be doing this, "that, and both of you begged to come with me while I searched for our target, so I don't want to hear the two of you argue the entire time we're here."

"Yeah, I know." Saru remarked, though even as she said that she loosened her grip on the chain and let Hebi fall back to the ground, where he landed on his feet and glared at her for a moment, which she returned in full force as Renji sighed and turned to do something else, but when she tried to move Hebi stalled her by tugging on the chain, "Come on Hebi, no more goofing off. What do you want this time?"

"We're going to split up and search for the Toju, right?" Hebi asked, as that was what it sounded like to him, which was why he was currently holding up the section of the chain that was near his neck, the same part that he had tugged on to stop his other half from getting too far away from him, "But we can't do that, not unless you remove this."

"Fine, but I want you focused on finding our target and capturing him, okay?" Saru stated, her words indicating that they had done this once or twice since they were returned to their right minds, meaning that Hebi liked to mess around and have fun, instead of doing his job, so if she detected that he wouldn't be up to the task she was going to keep the chain on and drag him behind her as she did their job.

"I won't goof off this time around." Hebi replied, though even as he said that he found that Renji was watching them, silently hoping that Saru kept him chained up so they could get moving, but he was fine with that, since he was more worried about what his other half could do with the chain still attached, "I swear that I'll remain focused on our mission and that I won't play around."

Saru sighed and leaned close to Hebi's neck for a moment, where she carefully undid the chain that was connected to his collar and pulled herself back when the deed was done, though as soon as that happened both she and Renji sensed the presence of their target, which was close to where they were standing, and ran in the direction it came in, while at the same time Hebi stayed behind and grinned at the river as he spied a fish. It wasn't hard to find their target, as Renji found that it was hard to miss a well-toned man with a multicolored body standing along the riverbed, especially since the man's lower torso was white colored, his upper torso was black colored, and there was an arrow-shaped strip of orange dividing the two along the bottom of his pectorals. The Toju was wearing slightly baggy white pants that were held up by a thin black belt, which lengthened into a narrow apron with a white arrow shape in the center at the front, and he had knee-length black boots. He was also wearing a short black-and-white cape which ended in two long fins that was attached to the flat part of his shoulders, and he had shaggy hair that was primarily dark blue colored, but it also had a crescent-shaped streak of yellow hair arching out past the back of his head toward his back on either side of his head. The most interesting part about this Toju was his weapon, as it appeared to be a boomerang of some kind that was yellow colored, had two large openings that allowed him to hold onto it, and seemed to end in two lightning bolts, but while it seemed to be part of the design Renji knew that their foe could have powers they didn't know about and readied himself for whatever tricks their foe had up his sleeves.

As he stopped on the ground near their target, however, he also made sure to use his Release Call, transforming his Zanpakuto into it's Shikai form, as he had the feeling that their target was going to attack and not listen to anything they had to say, and he was right in his thinking since the Toju hurled his boomerang at him, forcing Renji to jump into the air to avoid the spinning attack before it could hit him, though as he landed he forgot something important as the boomerang struck him in the back and knocked him to the ground.

"You're too green!" the Toju stated, his tone revealing that he was the type that was arrogant when something went their way, be it a battle or a simple conversation, and he grinned as he held his hand out so he could grab his weapon when it returned to him, so he could finish his foe off before he had a chance to fight back.

"So are you!" Saru said, surprising the Toju for a moment, to which she swung her own Shikai blade at their enemy as he started to dodge the attack before he could be hit, to which she smirked for a moment when she cut a small gash into the Toju's left arm, near the wrist.

The Toju frowned for a second as he jumped into the air and started to head away from where the two of them were standing, causing both Renji and Saru to follow after him, intending to capture him before he did anything else or actually endangered someone, where they discovered something interesting about their opponent.

"He's much quicker when he's running away from us." Renji commented, as the Toju's power was greater than what he originally thought, and that was true of his speed, but at the same time he knew that if their target got away they would have to search the entirety of Karakura Town before finding him again.

"Hebi should be able to cut him off... he's finished." Saru replied, because she was hoping that Hebi was being true to his word and was seriously watching the fight that they were in, as that would allow them to take down the Toju that they were chasing and subdue him for whenever Sombra or Muramasa returned to this world, before they noticed that their target was concerned about seeing Hebi on the ground that he was heading towards, "Hebi, get him!"

Hebi smiled for a moment as he turned around, as he had easily caught the large fish that he had seen in the water just a few moments ago, though before he could do anything else the man that he assumed was the Toju swung his weapon at him and knocked him through the air, causing him to collide with Saru and stall her, thus allowing their target to put some distance between them, and caused Hebi to drop his fish in the process.

"Damn it! What in the world were you doing, Hebi?!" Saru asked, because a few moments after being hit she flipped around and landed on the ground, where she held her other half for a moment as she noticed that their target was gone, something that annoyed her to no end, especially since he had promised to be serious just a few minutes ago.

"It's okay, we managed to hurt him during our encounter." Renji stated, to which he held his Shiaki across his right shoulder, while he was looking at the small blood spots that were on the ground in front of them, indicating that Saru's attack had done more to him than they originally thought it did, "He couldn't have gotten too far, so we'll just focus on following him and restraining him once we find him."

"You might be fine with it, but I'm not." Saru said, to which she stood up after letting go of Hebi, who stood on the ground near her and Renji with an annoyed look on his face, something that annoyed her a little more, "Seriously, I cannot believe that you would do something like this the second I disconnected the chain. I am so going to let you have it when we get back to Soul Society."

Hebi glared at Saru for a moment as Renji told them to get moving, where the three of them flashed through the air and headed over to the park that was nearby, though this time around they separated and landed in three different parts of the area that their target had landed in, so when Hebi touched the ground he made sure to keep himself away from his partners as he thought about what happened a few moments ago.

"Geez, what's her problem?" Hebi commented, as he was talking to himself as he walked down the path that was in front of him, because he wasn't concerned about someone hearing him since the only ones that would be able to see him were Ichigo and the Arrancar that patrolled the town, "I never get to do stuff on my own, so cut me some slack when our target catches me off guard."

Hebi paused for a moment when he spotted a blood spot near a tree, to which he looked up at the area that was hidden by the branches and found the Toju that they were looking for positioned on the tree, trying to hide himself from the three of them, to which he smirked for a moment as he used his tail to lift himself up to where their target was sitting at the moment, before calling out to him.

"Hey, why don't you just surrender and come with me?" Hebi asked, because it would be better than chasing the guy around all day, especially while he was wounded and trying to hurt them in return, though at the same time he could tell that the Toju was taken aback by what he had said.

"I finally get to move on my own." the Toju replied, referring to the fact that he had been tied to a Shinigami and had killed his partner to get to the position that he was in right now, even though he wasn't too pleased that his latest enemies were trying to take this away from him and seal him back into his Zanpakuto state, to which he shifted his weapon as he prepared for battle once more, "I'm not about to give up this newfound freedom that I've discovered!"

"Is it really that great, being separated from your partner and being able to do whatever with your powers?" Hebi inquired, because while he was interested in something like that happening, not to the extent that the Toju were trying to do and to the extent that Haineko and the others had done, he felt that talking would give him some information and stall the Toju until the others arrived to subdue him.

"You bet! Being independent is great, kiddo." the Toju answered, where he smiled for a moment as a new plan formed in his mind, as he had noticed something by observing the young boy in front of him and the others that he had appeared with, something that might work to his advantage, especially since he lowered his weapon as well, "You can do whatever you want in a state like this. It's a miracle that we even get to experience something like this, instead of being trapped inside our blades for the rest of eternity."

"A miracle?" Hebi asked, though even as he said that he had the feeling that this was going to be a recurring theme between the two of them, where he'd be asking questions and the Toju would be answering them to the best of his ability, all while one of them looked for an opening to escape and the second kept his eye on him.

"You'd better believe it." the Toju said, where he directed his smile towards Hebi once more, to show that he wanted the boy to believe what he was saying and connect with him on some level, even though he was interested in seeing what happened next, "And, if you let me go, you can spend even more time on your own! The second you capture me, they'll chain you up and restrict your movements again."

Hebi thought about that for a moment, as he recalled that Saru was going to let him have it when they finally finished their mission, but before he could get too deep into his thoughts he heard something in the surrounding area and turned his head to see what was going on, though when he determined that it was nothing he turned around and found that the Toju had taken advantage of him being distracted and had left the area.

"Damn it! He got away again." Saru spoke up, to which she and Renji flashed into the area that Hebi was in, as both of them had finally zeroed in on where their target was located, but she was annoyed to find out that it was just Hebi using his tail to glance at what was in the trees, "What are you doing, just standing around and checking the trees?"

"I... thought the Toju was in the tree, but found nothing when I investigated it." Hebi replied, though as he lowered himself to the ground he pointed at the blood spot that he had seen earlier, showing that he had been trying to find the Toju, without admitting that he had talked with their target and accidentally let him go.

"Either way, I'm disappointed in the fact that you're still goofing off." Saru said, though as she said that she raised the end of the chain that connected to Hebi's collar, because at the rate things were going it was better for them to be linked together, instead of being separated from each other.

"Hold it right there!" Hebi stated, where he pointed at Saru for a moment, who paused when she noticed that he was standing up to her for once since they had materialized, while at the same time Renji stared at them as he thought about what they were going to do, "I don't want to spend my entire life attached to that damn chain! And don't you dare say that I'll only get in the way if you don't chain me back up! Are you really that eager to finish our mission and return to being an ordinary Zanpakuto? I can finally move on my own, and I don't want to be shackled to you so soon after being let go!"

Saru stared at him, like he had lost his mind or something, but before she could move Renji held a hand out and told her to stop, since they needed to be united instead of divided, as in working together instead of against each other, and Hebi took the opportunity to flash out of the area and leave the pair behind. A few moments later Hebi flashed down onto the street that a large number of Humans were walking up and down, where they didn't notice him at all, and he walked down the street as he raised his hands until they were behind his head, as he had some things to think about before he even considered looking for the Toju. As he walked he realized that he didn't want to hang around with Saru all the time, since she was a massive jerk to him all the time, nor did he want to hang with Renji as well, since he was content to stand there and let them work things out between them, so he found that it was best to remain separated from each other as he enjoyed his freedom. It was in that moment that he realized that he was a lone snake for the moment, meaning that he could technically do whatever he wanted before his partners bothered to come looking for him, and his eyes lit up when he realized that, to which he grinned as he looked at the market that was nearby and realized what he could do first.

Hebi grinned as he walked into the building and found his way to the delicious rice balls that he recalled Renji and the other Shinigami eating when they came to the World of the Living, where he picked up a good number of them and sat down on the ground, as his first desire, now that he was on his own, was to pig out without anyone scolding him on what he was doing to himself.

"Hold it right there." a voice said, to which Hebi stopped what he was doing and looked to his left, where he found a young girl standing nearby and happened to be glaring at him, almost like she could see him and that he was doing something wrong, which irritated him more than he was willing to admit.

"What is it?" Hebi asked, because he was getting hungry, since he hadn't had a time to eat breakfast before he, Saru, and Renji had been sent to this world to hunt for the Toju that had shown up on their radars, and he didn't want to be bothered by someone that could actually see him, since there weren't supposed to be many like her in the town.

"Don't give me that. You were going to eat all of those without paying for them first!" the girl replied, showing that not only could she see him, but she had sensed his intentions for the sandwiches that were laying in front of him, which was why she was bothering him at the moment.

"What's wrong with eating when you're hungry?" Hebi inquired, speaking the truth of his situation, though at the same time all he had to do was summon his blade, while hoping that Saru wasn't using it, and scare the girl off before she did anything that attracted attention to him, "Now buzz off before I send you flying."

"Excuse me! There's a kid over here that's trying to eat something without paying!" the young girl said, though she made sure that her voice was loud, as it would allow someone else to realize that someone was taking the food that was in front of him, even if the other Humans couldn't see him or would only see the food that fell on the floor.

Hebi considered what the girl was doing, just as he heard the sound of someone else approaching where he was sitting, and decided that doing anything else would eventually cause Renji and Saru to come running, to which he got up onto his feet and fled the building as the girl dealt with whoever came to see what she was talking about. Despite the fact that his meal had been interrupted, before he was able to eat anything, Hebi headed back to the park and found some pigeons that he could play around with, to which he grinned as he jumped towards them and made sure to scatter them, before finding a larger frog than the one he had seen earlier and chased it around the park. After some time he took a quick nap to get some of his energy back, since scaring the pigeons and catching the frog had taken some of his energy, but when he woke up, and found that the Toju's reiatsu was nowhere near him, he got up and headed to another market area, one that had a number of buildings that contained the stores. As he walked down the street he found his mouth watering as he stared at all the food related items that were available, to which he stopped when he heard a lady asking for some eggs and some chicken breast, which made him decide to chose that same shop so he could get something.

Unfortunately he discovered that the old man that was in charge of the shop couldn't hear him or see him, so despite his desire to get a drum stick and some eggs of his own no one wanted to give him anything, where he determined that he wouldn't be getting anything and moved on... eventually coming to an area where he could sit on a rail and stare at the people that were coming out of the shop area he had just exited.

There were a number of people that visited that area during the time he was there, buying all sorts of food items for them and their families, but slowly he found himself getting hungrier and hungrier, which he wouldn't have been feeling if he had been tied to Saru like always. It was annoying, that the one time he detached himself from Saru he couldn't do anything and he was slowly starving himself in the process, but for the most part he was hoping that there was someone out there that could see him and would give him something while he stared at the Humans. While he sat there he heard a number of them talking about the various food items that they were buying, be it any type of meat, eggs, pasta, and anything else that went over his head, though all that did was make his mouth water as he wondered if he should attempt what he had been doing earlier, before the brat stopped him. At the same time he didn't want to take his chances of finding the same girl that could see him again, because then she would likely take him down and restrain him before he had a chance to run away, which was why he was doing things this way and not risking himself.

"Hey, kid, what are you up to now?" a familiar voice asked, to which Hebi snapped out of his hunger focused mind and turned to the left for a moment, where he found the young girl from earlier standing near him, though she looked a tad bit annoyed that he was still in the area that she was in.

"You're that kid from earlier." Hebi commented, showing that he was able to recall her, despite their brief meeting, and then noticed that there was another young girl behind the first one that seemed to be confused, meaning that either her friend or sister couldn't see him at all, which was a little interesting to him.

"Hey, Karin, who are you talking to?" the younger girl asked, talking to the first one for a moment, allowing Hebi to know the girl's name, though at the same time Hebi was focused on the fact that he had been called a kid and that he was being bothered again.

"Oh, Yuzu, I'm talking to the weird kid in the strange outfit that's sitting on the rail." Karin replied, though she wasn't surprised to see that her sister had come over to see what she was doing, since she would have gone the same thing if her sister had started to talk to someone that everyone else couldn't see.

"Nice to meet you, kid in a strange outfit." Yuzu said, to which she smiled for a moment and bowed her head for a few seconds, as if she could see Hebi and was acting accordingly, but at the same time Hebi knew that she was only making her sister happy since she clearly couldn't see him at all.

"So, I have a question. Are you hungry?" Karin asked, though as she said that Yuzu seemed to be ignoring them and was doing something else, which was fine since she was the only one that could see Hebi at the moment, where she made an observation that she had seen moments ago, "Because you've been drooling for the last few minutes."

"Was not." Hebi replied, to which he raised his right arm and made sure to get rid of whatever drool had formed while he was staring at the Humans that were wandering around the shopping area in front of him, before deciding that the girl, Karin, didn't need to know the real answer, "Besides, it's none of your business."

"Fine then. Let's go, Yuzu." Karin stated, though since she had known that the boy would be incredibly stubborn, given their first meeting earlier, she had something in mind and placed a onigiri on the pole near the boy while both he and Yuzu were distracted, before she and her sister left the area that Hebi was in.

At first Hebi wondered what in the world was wrong with the girl, since they had encountered each other twice and she had interrupted what he was doing, meaning that he didn't like her very much, but even as that happened he glanced to his side and found an onigiri, the same ones that he had been trying to eat earlier, sitting near him. He growled for a moment, as he couldn't believe the nerve of Karin, to stop him from eating a few of these when he was hungry and then place one on a pole near him, but then his hunger got the better of him and he tore the package open, devouring the rice ball that had been placed near him. Once it was gone, however, he wondered what he should do, since he still had a number of desires he wanted to do before he was chained to Saru again, but then he changed his mind and charged off in the direction that Karin and her sister had gone in, deciding to do something about them first before he tackled the other items on his list. It didn't take him long to find the two girls walking down one of the streets, even if he didn't sense any reiatsu coming from them, but once he found them he landed on the ground and glared at Karin for a moment, from the back since she had no idea that he was even there at the moment.

He knew that it would be easy for him to run and never see these two again, since he didn't want to be bothered by them again, but at the same time he knew that he needed to get something off his chest and steeled himself as he started down the path that he couldn't back away from.

"Hey, kid!" Hebi said, to which he noticed that his voice stopped Karin in her tracks, while at the same time Yuzu kept on walking, which made sense considering that she couldn't see or hear him at all, before Karin turned back and noticed that he was standing near them.

"It's you again." Karin commented, though at the same time a light smile appeared on her face, as she could see the rice on the kid's face, showing that he must have eaten the package she had left for him to eat, but at the same time that could have been a bad move or a good one, though which she wasn't sure of yet, "Did you want another onigiri?"

"As if I would want another one," Hebi stated, as he couldn't believe that she would even suggest something like that, even if he sort of wanted a second one and would run away with it if she actually offered him another one, "especially since I didn't eat the one you left for me a few moments ago."

"Honestly, I'm amazed that you could lie about something like that, given the evidence on your face." Karin said, where she pointed at her own face for a moment, indicating the areas that she was referring to, though at the same time Hebi was shocked that she had noticed something he had overlooked.

"Do you think the kid in the strange outfit is still hungry?" Yuzu asked, showing that she was more observant than what Hebi thought she was, since she had noticed that her sister had stopped walking and immediately zeroed in on what she was doing, especially given what happened earlier.

"Huh... so ghosts can get hungry as well." Karin commented, as that wasn't something that she had heard of, since Ichigo was usually the one that could see and interact with ghosts, something that she had only gained recently and was still getting used to, especially since she wasn't as experienced as her brother was.

"I'm not a ghost, I'm a Zanpakuto." Hebi stated, though at the same time he had the feeling that if he revealed that piece of information to Karin, since it appeared that she might know someone that could see him and the other spirits that lingered around the town, he could make this go a lot faster and get her to understand what he was.

"How does this sound? Let's have the kid in the strange outfit come home with us." Yuzu spoke up, as she had been thinking about what their brother did and knew that if they brought the stranger to their house Ichigo would know what to do with him, since seeing into the other world was their brother's specialty, "We can ask our brother about him whenever he get's home and figure out what's wrong with him."

Hebi and Karin looked at each other for a moment, surprised by the fact that Yuzu would even suggest something like that, but at the same time he decided that it might be worth the effort, to which he followed the sisters to their place of residence, which turned out to be a very familiar clinic, one that he was having trouble remembering where he had seen it in the past. When they reached the clinic Yuzu declared that she was going to make some tea and proceeded to do so, which was served to Hebi just a few minutes later, even though he was sitting at the table and had made sure to move his chair into a position that indicated that someone was there, but she put it across from where he was sitting and smiled at the empty chair near it.

"Our dad and Ichi-nii are out right now, but would you mind hiding yourself when they arrive?" Karin asked, though as she asked that Hebi sipped from the hot tea and glanced at her, indicating that he was listening to her and what she was saying, even if he didn't really care about her desires, "Though I'm sure that Ichi-nii will be able to see you at some point after he get's back home."

"Ichi-nii?" Hebi asked, as the only person that he remembered, from the memories that he got from observing Renji's movements from inside his Zanpakuto, was Ichigo Kurosaki, but at the same time he decided to ask what he was thinking before they did something else, "Who's that?"

"Our big brother. He can see ghosts as well, and other things." Karin explained, but she left it at that, because she wasn't about to share more about her brother than what she had said, especially since Hebi was a stranger and hadn't given her his name in the time they had been near each other.

"So you're always with someone." Hebi commented, though as he said that he lowered his cup and turned towards Karin, who seemed surprised by what he was saying, even if she had no idea what he was actually going to say to her while her sister was gone, "That's lame. See, I'm on my own at the moment, which means I can do whatever I want."

"Lame?" Karin asked, as she failed to see the point of what Hebi had said, especially when she remembered what he had been doing earlier in the store that she had first seen him in, which made her frown for a moment as she focused on who she was talking to, "Besides, you couldn't even get your own food earlier... and being on your own all the time isn't that great. What about your parents?"

"Sorry, but I don't have any of those." Hebi replied, though given his size anyone would assume that he was the product of Renji and Saru's union, or at least the weird people would assume that, before he glared at Karin once more as he focused on something else, "Besides, I told you earlier that I'm a Zanpakuto."

As Karin revealed that she didn't understand what he was talking about, which made sense considering that she had no idea what a Shinigami was, Hebi found Yuzu serving him some pudding that would have gone towards their brother, which he immediately liked the moment he devoured it whole. Despite the fact that he was half of an actual Zanpakuto, since Saru wasn't present, Hebi introduced himself as 'Zabimaru', because it was only fair to tell them a name that they could call him by before he left their clinic, before Yuzu determined that it was time to play a game, even though she couldn't see Hebi at all. The first thing they tried was a game station, one that they tried to teach him how to play and found that he didn't get the controls of the game that they had chosen, before moving onto a board game that he didn't understand the reasoning behind and found that none of it was fun. After that Yuzu decided to turn on the television, the box shaped device near the couch that she and Karin sat at, and Hebi found his attention was grabbed by the show that came on a few moments later, as he had never seen anything like it, not even during his time observing from Renji's blade, and he stopped paying attention to anything around him as he focused on the screen. Karin and Yuzu seemed happy to see that he was happy with this selection, even if he didn't give the other two suggestions much of a chance, and before long both of the girls were fast asleep, though when he noticed it he smiled and nodded off on the floor as well, since it would give him energy to hunt down the Toju when he woke up.

It was some time before he heard anything that could have woken him from his slumber, though despite the fact that he was sleeping he heard a familiar voice speak at one point and might have heard a door open as well, meaning that someone had come home and would see him in no time.

"Again, I have to thank you for allowing me to come in, given recent circumstances." a voice said, to which Ichigo walked into the room with Muramasa standing behind him, though as that happened Ichigo noticed that the television was on and that it needed to be turned off since no one was watching it.

"Hey, you're turning over a new leaf and correcting your mistakes, though I'm surprised that you don't want to stay on the roof and meditate, since that's what Sombra did in the past." Ichigo replied, as while it was weird being friends with someone who tried to destroy Soul Society, or break it a little and then conquer it, he was okay with the situation since Muramasa was one of Sombra's followers, before he noticed that Hebi was sleeping on the floor and tapped him, "Hey, what are you doing in my house? Renji and Saru are worried about you."

"Who are you again?" Hebi asked, because right now he was tired and his brain was having trouble keeping up with his body as he rubbed his eyes, though he was shocked awake when he noticed Muramasa standing behind Ichigo, since he was the one that had forced him and Saru to do what they had did before Renji saved them.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, the Substitute Shinigami for Karakura Town." Ichigo answered, though at the same time he stood up and mentally sighed, because while he was happy to have found where Hebi had been hiding he wasn't too happy to find that he was in his house, since that meant that his sisters might have fed him while he was gone, "Though seriously, what are you even doing here?"

It didn't take Hebi long to realize that he was in the house that being to Ichigo Kurosaki, someone who knew Renji and was going to rat him out whenever he wanted, to which he growled and charged out of the room the moment he realized that he was screwed, though at the same time he heard the sound of Karin getting up as well... but as he headed out into the streets he eventually came to a stop as he cursed his luck, that he ended up in the worst possible spot of all.

"Yo!" a voice said, to which Hebi stopped what he was doing and glanced up at the top of the pole that was near where he was standing, where he found the Toju that he had been talking to earlier staring down at him, as if he had been following him the entire time he had been separated from Saru and Renji, "Looks like you're still on your own. Well? Were you able to enjoy your freedom? Regardless of whether you enjoyed yourself or not, I have to thank you, because I was able to buy enough time to heal my injuries with the time you gave me. Now that you are separated from the others I can take you out one by one, instead of three at the same time."

"So that's what you were planning." Hebi replied, though at the same time he frowned, as he couldn't believe that he had been tricked by their foe earlier, to which he raised his right hand for a moment and summoned his blade to him as he stared at his target, "Listen, I'm not going to kill you... rather I'm just going to capture you until Muramasa or Sombra arrive to show you that there's another place for you to live in, where you can do what you want while also serving a new master that will make sure of your abilities and won't hurt you at all."

The Toju seemed surprised for a moment as Hebi attacked him, waiting for a few seconds for his target to get on the ground and struck the floor, forcing his foe into the air, which allowed the Toju to hurl his boomerang at him and caused Hebi to defend himself with the edge of his own blade, before forcing the weapon backwards. When the Toju landed on the ground Hebi surprised him by swinging his weapon and missing his mark, but that was what he wanted as the tip of his weapon bounced off of several edges and trapped his foe in a web of his outstretched weapon, before collapsing it into a sphere that prevented his foe from moving and then swung it again, allowing him to retract his blade as the Toju hit the ground directly behind him. Of course a few moments later Karin entered the area and the Toju knocked her out with a smile on his face, indicating that he was planning something sinister for her, causing Hebi to growl as he waited for his foe to reveal what he wanted, even though there was a surprise waiting for him in the area near them.

"The girl's dead if you attack me again," the Toju stated, causing Hebi to frown as he stood there, especially since the Toju moved his weapon a little so it's edge would be near Karin's neck, but not a few seconds later the shadows wrapped around his arm and forced him away from her, allowing Hebi to run over to her.

"Sorry, but I'm not too keen on people attacking the siblings of my friends," a voice said, to which Sombra stepped out of the shadows and kept the Toju pinned to the ground, while at the same time Hebi seemed surprised to see him while both Ichigo and Muramasa rushed into the area, "Muramasa, if you would be so kind as to make this Toju see the light... and then we can focus on making him see that attacking Humans is a big no-no."

Muramasa nodded and approached the downed Toju, though as he entered the being's inner world and started his side of the mission both Renji and Saru flashed down into the area that they were in, but while they were annoyed by the sudden arrival of Sombra, since he was supposed to be in Soul Society, both of them were happy to see him. Sombra informed them that he had been in the process of heading back to Hueco Mundo, to personally check on the progress that his followers were making on the changes he wanted to make, and had noticed Hebi's fight, but seeing Karin get hurt had annoyed him and he decided to intervene, stopping the fight before anyone got seriously hurt. Hebi, seeing that he had some time, asked Ichigo not to say anything to Karin when she got up, since he'd be going back with Renji and Saru once this was over, though after that he apologized to his partners for being so foolish, but while he was sour when they revealed that they had gone with his desire to be free and used it as bait for the Toju, to pull him out of hiding, he was happy to be of assistance in some manner, especially since he wasn't chained the entire time. It just showed him that Renji had come up with a good idea without telling him anything, and he promised that he'd try to do better in the future, even though he had no idea how much longer he and Saru had until they returned to their lives as spirits inside Renji's blade, something that he wanted to ignore for as long as possible.

It didn't take long for Muramasa to convince the Toju to change his life, as a minute or two after Sombra's arrival he was more like an Arrancar than he had been moments ago, though once that was done, and the shadows had pulled away from his body, Sombra escorted him back to Hueco Mundo, so he could learn from the other Arrancar and then have an appropriate punishment for trying to kill a Human that happened to be the sibling of one of his friends. Hebi, on the other hand, was more than happy to have the chain reattached to his collar, because he was finally returning to where he really belonged, and while Sombra went back to his kingdom, and Ichigo took Karin home, he joined Renji and Saru as they opened a Senkaimon and headed back to Soul Society with Muramasa walking behind them... but this time he had a better view on life and was actually looking forward to working alongside his partners in the days to come.