//------------------------------//
// Rebellion: Surprising Development 
// Story: Bleach: Heart of a Hero 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Haineko yawned for a moment as she stretched her arms, as right now she was standing outside the building that she and the other Arrancar had been granted, the larger one that was closer to the Senkaimon so Lord Sombra or someone else could take the newly born Arrancar to Hueco Mundo, though she was relaxing a little before her next assignment. Two days had gone by since Ikkaku, Ise, Hanataro, Hozukimaru, and Muramasa went into the underground waterways and came back out with both Hisagomaru and a new Arrancar, stopping the thefts and saving another Toju in the process, even though Muramasa was forced to clean his clothing since he and the others had fallen into the water while they were down there, since he smelled a little when he got back. Fortunately it was easy for them to clean his clothes, since Hanataro had a method to get the smell out of them, and not even a few hours later Muramasa was able to walk around with clothing that smelled like roses, to which he thanked Hanataro for assisting him before returning to his duties. It had been interesting when he got back to the building, as some of the others had insisted on him getting his clothing cleaned, and Haineko smiled as she thought about it for a moment, before considering what had happened after that, since things got interesting when the following day arrived.

The reason she thought about that was because the day after the thefts had been taken care of, and the stolen goods returned to their respective owners, she heard that Ikkaku, Iba, Kira, and Hisagi had gone off to Rukongai to take care of some Toju that had been sighted in that area. Muramasa, of course, had gone with them to save the Toju that they managed to find when they arrived, but the interesting part about that mission was that Kazeshini had attacked the group on their way to Rukongai, all in an effort to hurt or even kill Hisagi, surprising Hisagi's companions by his rather sudden appearance. Truthfully, she wasn't surprised to find that Kazeshini was acting independently of his partner, since Hisagi hadn't been the one to best Kazeshini earlier, and he was acting like he was still following someone's orders, even though Muramasa stated that none of the Zanpakuto were under his control, since that would only make Sombra disappointed in him and lead to some punishment if he had done that. Everyone who knew Hisagi also understood that he disliked the way the Shikai form of his Zanpakuto looked, as it looked like a pair of weapons that were designed to reap lives, and that meant that he was stuck with a difficult Zanpakuto spirit, since Kazeshini was more than willing to kill his partner, and himself, while he hunted down his targets.

Haineko knew that Kazeshini had been formed some time before Hisagi's Captain had come in and shifted his view on the world around him, as Hisagi's current personality didn't match the personality and mindset of his partner, though despite all that their communication was actually better than some of the other bonds she had seen, even if they happened to be fighting each other while trying to capture the Toju.

Unfortunately the Shinigami had been late and the Toju had disappeared before their arrival, and she knew that Hisagi wasn't happy about the Toju getting away from them, even if he may or may not have blamed his Zanpakuto spirit for getting in the way. While they had been talking among themselves, and not paying attention to the area around them, Muramasa had confronted Kazeshini, where he was aided by both Hozukimaru and Wabisuke as he attempted to tell the spirit to calm down and stop being so crazy, since he was only making things harder for the other Zanpakuto and might even sour more of the bonds that his fellow spirits were trying to fix. Haineko had been there as well, as she had been trying to find the crazy spirit in an attempt to get him to calm down, because it was like Muramasa had been trying to tell him, that the Shinigami were frightened of the possibility of the other freed spirits becoming like Kazeshini, which would only cause more of the spirits to flock to Sombra's side, something she was trying to prevent. Despite her best efforts she and Muramasa couldn't convince Kazeshini to change his mind, so while Muramasa went back to help the Shinigami in their hunt for the Toju, wherever they were hiding, Haineko went back to where Zangetsu was stationed and had joined him, leaving Kazeshini to what he was doing.

What happened after that was the discovery of a Toju, one that Muramasa freed after Hisagi restrained it, and once that was done Kazeshini attacked Hisagi again, showing that he didn't care what his partner was doing and would attack him whenever he desired. Apparently things got interesting after that, as Hisagi fled from the area and continued to do his job, hunting for the other Toju as Muramasa took the new Arrancar to the building they were stationed at, but the truly interesting fact was that Kazeshini found a man that had been cut down by a second Toju and had been tasked with keeping a baby safe. She would have thought that Kazeshini, a spirit that existed to reap lives and leave corpses in his wake, would have ended the man's life and taken out the baby, but she, and those that had heard the story, had been happy when they heard that the spirit had actually taken the little baby and left the area. From what she could tell he wasn't too pleased to be taking care of the baby, especially since it cried every now and then, depending on the area that they were in and whatever Kazeshini happened to be doing at any given moment, especially since the baby apparently wet itself at one point and freaked the spirit out in the process.

It really got interesting as Kazeshini actually kept the baby safe, since it prevented him from actually trying to battle Hisagi when he got near him and the other Shinigami some time later, allowing the group to continue their search while he took care of the baby that was messing with him. When Kazeshini found an abandoned shack to put the baby in, while it was sleeping so it would be safe from harm, the group of Shinigami actually found more red-eyed Toju, as it appeared that a small group of similar shaped Toju had taken control on the area and were asserting themselves by killing everyone in the area around them. Fortunately three of the four Toju were easy to capture, allowing Muramasa to restrain them for now, while the trident wielding member of their group went after the building that Kazeshini was in, though instead of cutting him down, like he would have gone, he smacked the Toju to the ground and restrained him, surprising his partner in the process as he delivered the Toju to Muramasa. From there Muramasa freed all of the red-eyed Toju and helped them awake their true hearts, transforming them all into Arrancar and cutting down the number of targets they had to search for in the future, though before anything else happened Kazeshini returned to the shack and found that a lady was tending to the crying baby, who Kazeshini asked to take care of the baby as he returned to the battlefield.

From what Haineko understood Hisagi had told his Zanpakuto partner that he'd never finish their battle if Kazeshini kept sticking to sneak attacks, like he occasionally did when Hisagi was his target, and this time around the violent spirit walked out into the open and openly challenged his partner to a fight. Despite not seeing the battle for herself, since she had been elsewhere at the time, she heard from the other Shinigami that had been present that the battle between the two had been fierce, where their blades could have easily cut through parts of the buildings and the surrounding are if they were inclined to do so, but both Hisagi and Kazeshini focused on their foe and let nothing else distract them. Even the group of newly born Arrancar confirmed that statement, as both of the combatants attacked each other with the desire to finish the other off, almost like neither of them were concerned for the area around them, and in the end it was Hisagi that had cut Kazeshini down. With his defeat looming over him Kazeshini realized what it meant to be a Zanpakuto and realized that he was going to revert back to normal, or at least enter the same state as the other Zanpakuto spirits that had actually been defeated by their partners, and found that they'd be fighting to protect something, where it appeared that he agreed with his partner, instead of fighting him.

Hisagi, from what Haineko heard, called Kazeshini a hypocrite, since his Zanpakuto spirit never wanted to do anything like that before, and Kazeshini even agreed that he was one, but after that event the new Arrancar were escorted to the building that Sombra was using as their base of operations... and, if the rumors were to be believed, the five former Toju had been part of a much larger group, one that they and Muramasa were going to take care of, leaving Haineko and the others to watch for any other Toju activity.

While Muramasa was busy chasing the other Toju, and saving them wherever they were hiding, Haineko found her excitement in training with Zangetsu, even though they had to be very careful if they were training inside the Seireitei and really couldn't cut loose if they were anywhere near the various districts of Rukongai. Their only choices, if they wanted to cause a mess, were to either go back to the hole that Sombra had made when he battled Muramasa or head back to Hueco Mundo and battle off in the distance, so they'd be near Las Noches in cause either of them were called for a mission. They remained in Soul Society, just training in the forest around the Seireitei, though they did have to stop their sessions to help the influx of arrivals, as it appeared that there were around fifty Toju in the area that the five had been starting to claim as their own, and in addition to helping Muramasa save more of the dangerous Toju they would also be making things up to the Shinigami by cleaning up the area and helping them rebuild. Sombra told them that it was the best way for them to fix their relationships with Soul Society, while also proving that the Toju deserved to be given another chance, and many of them were happy for the chance to prove themselves, showing their true personalities while also showing that their anger was just a product of them being without a Shinigami master or partner.

Haineko and Zangetsu smiled as they watched the newest members of their empire join Lord Sombra and then head out to aid the Shinigami, or their fellow Arrancar, in whatever manner they thought was best, be it assisting the rebuilding process or finding the remaining Toju. What was really interesting was that both of them saw Kazeshini running around the Seireitei, offering presents to the various individuals that he had tormented when he was under Muramasa's control, as an apology for his actions, despite the fact that Muramasa told them that he never intended for the violent Zanpakuto to become as violent and destructive as he had been during the first stage of his rebellion. It was an unexpected side effect, just like he accidentally knocked Hisagomaru out of Hanataro's Zanpakuto when he called the others to his side, but at the same time they were happy that he had calmed down quite a lot, even if he had to ask Sombra to take one of the presents to the World of the Living, since it was for Ichigo. Sombra didn't seem to mind the change in Kazeshini's attitude and personality, as if he had been expecting something like this to happen when Hisagi beat him, and he told the spirit that he'd deliver the package to Ichigo while he was in the World of the Living, since he had to take the new Arrancar to Las Noches and would stop by once they had been safely delivered to their destination.

Which brought Haineko back to what she was doing at the moment, two days after Kazeshini had been beaten by Hisagi and had some sense knocked back into him, because Sombra had taken the new Arrancar to Hueco Mundo and she had the feeling that it would be a while before anything interesting happened in Soul Society again, meaning that the next Toju was likely to hit the World of the Living... she just needed to be patient and see if she was right in her thoughts, which would be when their Lord returned to them in the near future.





"We're making better progress than we were before," Sombra commented, to which he looked out at the number of newly formed Arrancar that were finding their place in his growing empire, especially since there were fifty new additions that needed to be added to the rosters and everything else that he told Szayelaporro to make note of, "especially since we were lead right to one of the large groups of Toju that we've been trying to locate."

"Indeed we are." Ulquiorra said, as he was looking out at the state of his Lord's growing empire, because while he had originally felt that such a plan wouldn't work, that the Toju would disappear before too many were captured, seeing this many had changed his mind, because now they had a sixth of the recorded number of dead Shinigami that had been given an Asauchi, meaning that a sixth of the created Toju had been captured and freed, "Soon we'll be able to pull our forces out of Soul Society and get to work on the next stage of your plan, even though none of us are really sure what you are planning for at the moment."

"Captain-Commander Yamamoto told me about the number of potential enemies that Soul Society might face in the future," Sombra explained, recalling the list that he had been given during their meeting, along with the one that he was the most interested in preparing for, before he turned his head slightly, so he could look at Ulquiorra, "and out of all of those enemies there was only one I deemed a true danger to Hueco Mundo, the World of the Living, Soul Society, and even Hell itself. That foe is Yhwach, the Father of the Quincy, and Yamamoto seems to think that he's dead, killed by his own hand almost a thousand years ago, but in my personal opinion I don't see it that way... I'm willing to bet that Yhwach is alive and is planning on making a move when Soul Society is vulnerable, so we just have to be patient and strike when he's least expecting it."

Ulquiorra remained silent for a few moments, as it sounded like this 'Yhwach' was one of the strongest beings in the entirety of the four realms that made up their world, someone that only his Lord could take on and defeat whenever he finally decided to reveal himself, and decided that the best course of action was to nod his head in agreement... because now he had the feeling that the empire was also being made to deal with whatever army the Father of the Quincy was putting together, which they would discover whenever their foe showed himself.

"You know, since the others have this covered, you should take a day or two off." Sombra said, causing Ulquiorra to turn his head towards his Lord, who had gone back to looking out at his new kingdom with a smile on his face, as this time it felt like he had truly earned his position, since he stole the last one from it's rightful owner, "I know that you've been keeping taps on the World of the Living, as I expected you to do since we have no idea where any of these enemies are, and that you've been keeping a close eye on a certain Human girl that happens to go to the same school that Ichigo goes to during the day. You must really miss Orihime, if you're going to one of Szayelaporro's spare consoles to make sure that she and Sora are doing okay, even though they should be fine since all Hollows know to stay away from my friends and Ichigo can stall anyone else that get's in the way."

Ulquiorra opened his mouth to say something, to deny what his Lord was suggesting, before he stopped himself and considered what had been said, especially since he had been growing interested in Orihime during her time in Las Noches, even if it had been because she was a Human that stuck to her stubborn ways. At the same time, however, there was the fact that his Lord was good at determining what someone was thinking and sometimes even what they felt, meaning that any feelings he did have towards Orihime might very well be seen and considered before he was even aware that he was feeling that way. It was a dangerous game to play, because no matter what choice he made Sombra would either tell him that he still needed to take some time off or nod his head and act as if he hadn't said anything, but he also knew that whichever option he took would eventually result in some time off. He also considered that something else had been proven recently, that Arrancar, regardless if they were originally Hollows or Zanpakuto, could find love, a concept that he was actually interested in pursuing since it was something that he had never studied before, so while he didn't share those feelings with a Human he was interested in seeing if he could find some Humans that were like that to study while he was in the World of the Living.

"Very well then, Lord Sombra, I shall take some time off." Ulquiorra said, because he knew that it would be wise not to argue with a being that was capable of defeating someone without taking any damage at all and had the power to force a Hollow or Arrancar to do what he wanted, a power he didn't like using, and that wasn't even considering his innate power over the shadows at all, "I shall return once I've had my fill of the World of the Living and the Humans that call it home... or if I find any Toju and return them to your growing empire."

Sombra nodded and left Ulquiorra to his business, causing the Arrancar to mentally sigh as he headed for the gateway between this world and the World of the Living, since he figured that the sooner he started taking some time off the sooner he'd be allowed to get back to his work, something that he was sure his Lord could handle in his stead. It wasn't long before he stepped out into the shrine that the gateway connected to, even though he was still a little surprised that the Shinigami allowed such a stable connection between two of the realms to exist in the first place, before determining that none of them wanted to go against Sombra, not with the power he commanded. When he walked outside the shrine he discovered that Sombra had not been wrong when he revealed that the 'sun' that hung in Hueco Mundo's sky mimicked the real one, as both of them were in the same position, showing that it was morning and that the Humans he was looking for would be heading to the school they attended. As such he moved into the sky and kept his reiatsu at a level that wouldn't influence anyone in this world, as Sombra would surely punish him if he accidentally killed someone while he was here, all while making his way to the building that Ichigo and his friends would be heading to, as he did have some small amount of interest in how Humans learned the subjects they needed to learn before they joined the working force of their world.

Sure enough he found the high school quite easily, he recognized it from the various times he searched the area from one of Szayelaporro's consoles, silently confirming that his Lord knew that he was interested in Humans still, before he came to a stop and looked down at one of the classrooms. It was rather easy to find the room that Orihime, dressed in her school attire, was in, since Sora was floating outside the room his sister was in and merely nodded towards him as he came to a stop near him, allowing him to see that Orihime was being approached by another girl from behind, even though he had the feeling that this happened a lot in the past, based on the fact that Sora wasn't doing anything.

"Orihime, I'm so happy you're okay!" the red haired girl, Chizuru Honsho if Ulquiorra was remembering her name correctly, exclaimed, though at the same time she wrapped her arms around the front of Orihime's body from where she was standing, even though she was more interested in Orihime's chest than anything else, despite the fact that Ulquiorra noticed some tears on her face at the moment, "I heard that a high school girl got attacked yesterday, and I was so worried that you were the one that was hurt, my darling Orihime!"

Ulquiorra remained silent for a moment as two more high school girls mentioned a 'phantom attacker', because based on what he had observed yesterday there had been no attack on anyone, but that might have been due to the fact that he stopped watching after an hour of observing what had happened since his last visit. As he stood there he noticed another one of Orihime's friends, Tatsuki, lightly strike Chizuru in the head, forcing her to release Orihime while at the same time confirming that this must have happened a number of times in the past, showing him why Sora hadn't tried to separate the first girl from his sister. Once that had been taken care of he observed the rest of the classroom, ignoring the fact that Tatsuki glanced at both him and Sora for a moment, since he had been told that she could actually see him and the other spirits, where he found that Ichigo was indeed in this class as well, and it appeared that Rukia had come to the World of the Living for some reason as well. However, as he looked at them for a few seconds, he noticed that Ichigo seemed to be taking a nap at the moment, like he hadn't gotten enough sleep or something, and a few seats away Rukia was drawing rabbit shaped heads in her notebook, instead of paying attention to the class she was in.

He knew what was going on, as both Ichigo and Rukia's reiatsus were coming from another part of town, meaning that they were dealing with the lost souls that still lingered in this world as they raced against the Hollows that still came to this area, which told him that the beings inside their bodies were Kon and Chappy, the Mod-Souls that existed inside those green pills they ate to separate their Shinigami forms from their bodies, or from her gigai in Rukia's case.

Ulquiorra changed his focus a few moments later when the teacher entered the room and informed the class that she would be introducing their newest classmate, where a high school girl, around the age of the others from what he could see, walked in and wrote her name on the board. As she did that Ulquiorra noticed that the girl had dark brown colored eyes and short black colored hair, which had bangs that curved inward, though she was currently wearing a uniform that must have been from the high school she was transferring from, a uniform that consisted of a short-sleeved white shirt, a light blue colored vest, and a dark blue skirt. Despite the fact that he, Sora, and the others could easily read the name that was written on the board, the teacher introduced the new girl as Kyoko Haida and asked the class to be nice to her, to which the girl bowed her head a little and said that it was nice to meet them. The only thing that Ulquiorra noticed, as Kyoko took her assigned seat, was that the class seemed to welcome her with open arms, even if she was mostly silent during the time they were talking to her and only spoke a few times, causing the others to try and make her feel as welcome as they possibly could.

As all of this happened, and the first lessons of the day started for the class, Ulquiorra couldn't help but wonder if there was something going on in Karakura Town at the moment, since it appeared that both Ichigo and Rukia were going to remain outside their bodies and let the Mod-Souls attend their class for them... and it was only when those first couple of lessons were over that anything actually happened.

"Hello." Kyoko said, as she had waited for the lunch break to walk over to Orihime's desk, since she was placed some distance away from where Ichigo's friend sat, though at the same time both Ulquiorra and Sora watched what happened with some interest, even if their reasons for being here were completely different.

"Oh, hello." Orihime replied, to which she smiled at Kyoko for a moment, even though the other girl had her right arm in front of her body and was gripping her left arm, showing that she had to be a little nervous about meeting someone new, despite her earlier performance in front of the entire class.

"Would you mind telling me your name?" Kyoko asked, though while Ulquiorra found it to be an odd request, just in the way the question was phrased, he didn't move at all and watched them, because if anything actually happened he knew that Sora would be the first one to react, especially if his sister was involved in some manner.

"Sure, I'm Orihime Inoue." Orihime said, showing that she didn't find anything wrong with the situation, since she had been asked that by many of the 'new' students that had come from Soul Society, who had no idea who she was before they came here, and she smiled at Kyoko as she said that, "It's nice to meet you."

Kyoko remained silent for a moment, as if she found something wrong or interesting about what she had just been told, but before she or Orihime could say anything else Tatsuki came in and called Orihime to join her for lunch, though as that happened both Ichigo and Rukia headed off to their own area, so they'd be away from the others in case the real Ichigo and Rukia returned from their mission. While she was distracted Kyoko left the classroom and went to have lunch on her own, where Ulquiorra stared at her for a few moments, to be sure that she wasn't up to something, before returning his attention to the classroom that rested in front of him and Sora.

"So, since we have some time, I have a question." Sora commented, as he had been surprised when Ulquiorra flashed into the area that he was in, since he was making sure his sister was safe from harm, and there was something he needed to know before the lessons started once more, "What brings you to the World of the Living? I could have sworn that you disliked this world and wanted nothing to do with it."

"Lord Sombra told me that I should take some time off," Ulquiorra replied, though despite the fact that he agreed to do what he had been told, even if he felt it was a waste of time since he had work that needed to be completed in Las Noches, he did find that there was some interest seeing how Humans interacted with each other, "I figured that I could use the time I've been given to learn more about Humans, especially since your sister showed me that there were more to her kind than I originally thought."

"I see," Sora said, to which he turned his attention to where his sister was standing, or rather where she was sitting since she was currently eating lunch with her friends at the moment, before turning his gaze a little and found something interesting, as Ulquiorra seemed to be staring at the same area that he was looking at, "Oh, now I get it. sure, you say that you're interested in Humans, but the reality of the situation is that you miss Orihime, since she was the one that got under all of your beliefs about Humans and their hearts."

Ulquiorra said nothing to that, because he honestly didn't know why both Sora and Lord Sombra thought that he missed Orihime, who clearly liked Ichigo more than anyone else in the world, but even as he thought about that fact he also considered something else. From what Lord Sombra had told him, based on what he had learned by being with his friends for some time, Rukia and Renji were best friends that had been as close as brother and sister before Rukia had been adopted into the Kuchiki Clan, though it was hard for a bond like that to be taken apart or dismissed. At the same time he realized that, despite the fact that Orihime loved Ichigo, to some small degree since he had been the one that Orihime had visited before he took her to Hueco Mundo, the Substitute Shinigami still considered her a friend and he knew that whatever feelings she had for Ichigo would fade with time, if he continued to ignore her feelings. Despite the fact that his Lord was in love with a Shinigami, the polar opposite of a Hollow, he knew that the possibility of an Arrancar falling in love with a Human was non existent, even if he didn't have any feelings towards Orihime at all, which was why he focused on the small group of Humans that he was interested in observing and remained silent.

Eventually the students returned to class and the duo watched them once more as the lessons resumed, where they found that Kyoko was smart and was able to breeze through some of the tougher math questions that stumped many of the students, save for Uryu, who happened to be the smartest student in the room. When some of the students went out for their gym class they also discovered that Kyoko was good at sports, showing that she must have been on a team or something back in her previous high school, leaving Ulquiorra to wonder why she had come here in the first place. The other students didn't seem to mind the fact that their newest classmate was close to Uryu's level of intellect and was good at sports, in fact they welcomed her even more when they found that out, and as the hours ticked by Ulquiorra watched the Humans go about their day, until it was time for them to leave. He and Sora watched the Humans, where Sora focused on his sister as Ulquiorra observed the interactions of the other Humans, as a number of them were chatting and making plans with each other, before the two of them moved out of the area and silently followed after Orihime's group, who just so happened to be chatting about Kyoko and what she had shown them throughout the day.

Interestingly enough none of them seemed to know why Kyoko had transferred to their school, while at the same time Kyoko herself apparently didn't know why she had come here either, telling Ulquiorra that something was definitely going on at the moment and that he'd have to keep watch over the town while Sora kept Orihime safe.

While Sora followed after his sister's group, and made sure that they got to their individual houses safely, Ulquiorra started to move all over the town, keeping his eyes open for anything that might show where this 'phantom attacker' was hiding while keeping his senses open in case someone came looking for him, so his defenses would be ready in case he was under attack. For a time he found that nothing interesting happened, save for seeing how Humans reacted when they were buying things for dinner, where some of them seemed to get their supplies later than when some of them should have gotten them, though there were a number of Humans that were just buying snacks and nothing else. It was strange to see how different Humans were, since one could do something and the one next to them would sometimes do the opposite, before the day gave way to the evening and the sun started to set, reminding him that he had pretty much wasted the day observing Humans, only to learn nearly nothing exciting about them. When he considered that, however, he came to a stop at the top of a building, as it appeared that the only way that he was actually going to learn a lot about Humans and how they acted was by following the one Human that had peaked his curiosity in the first place, while also denying that he had any feelings for her, despite the fact that it was possible for an Arrancar to experience love.

Before he could explore his thoughts further he felt the presence of a new reiatsu signature, one that disappeared not even a few seconds later, and heard the sounds of the police cars that the Humans used when something terrible, like a car crash or a murder, happened, to which he flashed through the air and headed towards the area in question... and when he arrived at the area he found that both Ichigo and Rukia, in their Shinigami attire, were already investigating the area, like a Toju had been there or something.

"Well I'll be, I never thought I'd see you outside Hueco Mundo." Ichigo commented, though as Rukia leapt down to get a closer look at the crime scene, where Ulquiorra noticed that another high school girl, one that he didn't know, had been attacked, Ichigo focused on the Arrancar that had killed him when they were trying to get Orihime back, "So, Ulquiorra, what's the occasion?"

"Lord Sombra told me to take some time off, so I did." Ulquiorra replied, to which he glanced at the area they were in and didn't see anything that would point them in the direction of the person or being that attacked the girl, who was still breathing and was only in shock at the moment, meaning that the attacker either didn't have time to finish the job or had done what they came to do, "I intended to study your fellow Humans, in an attempt to understand them better, but it seems like there's a Toju to hunt down and capture."

"Unfortunately, Rukia's phone can't find the being responsible for this attack and the previous one." Ichigo stated, to which he sighed for a moment as he looked up at the sky, as there was something interesting about this scenario that he had only just figured out, "You know, this is one of those times where I wish Sombra was actually here, so he could take one look at the scene that Rukia's looking at and not only figure out where our target is located, but also the reasons behind why they're targeting high school girls. He's got this unnatural ability where all he has to do is either get a single piece of information or a few bits, sometimes even none at all, and he could tell you anything you wanted to know about who you're looking for, what they're plans are, and if they're goals are even obtainable... especially since several of the enemies we've encountered tried to destroy Soul Society and failed thanks to him being there."

"Indeed. Lord Sombra's powers have no equal." Ulquiorra said, and that was the truth, as the first Dios Hueco had been strong, which made sense considering that they were supposed to be the strongest Hollow of them all, but Sombra was much stronger than his predecessor, as he was able to manipulate the entirety of Hueco Mundo and was changing it for the better, and that wasn't counting the other powers he had showed off so far, "If a Toju was attacking your fellow classmates, or at least your fellow students, I'm sure Lord Sombra would have found the target and would have subdued them long before this second attack even happened."

"Speaking of which, what did Kon do inside my body?" Ichigo asked, as he had the feeling that Ulquiorra had been observing a certain someone and knew the answer to his question, even though he could just ask Sora the next time he saw Orihime's brother, since he did come by every now and then, just to tell him if anything happened that he needed to be aware of.

"He napped while the other students were coming to class and got some mistakes on the questions that your teacher asked the class," Ulquiorra answered, though from what he had learned so far Ichigo was trying to be a good student, a task that had been easy when Sombra was still just a lone Arrancar and had turned hard when his friend claimed all of Hueco Mundo as his kingdom, "Don't worry, your teacher said that the questions he answered, and got wrong, were some of the harder ones, so your reputation in class is the same as before. Chappy, on the other hand, drew in Rukia's journal the entire time she was in class, so I'm going to say that whatever notes she had before today are terrible and will likely have to rewrite them at some point in time, depending on how much longer she's intending on staying in this world. If I didn't know any better I'd say that she was looking for any opportunity to come to this world, to be with the one person that means a lot to her, and I'm not talking about Renji, since she'd be back in Soul Society if that was the case."

"And if I didn't know you as well as I think I do, I'd say you were trying to suggest something." Ichigo stated, though as he started to take a step away from Ulquiorra, however, he noticed that Rukia was investigating something and would be out of earshot for a moment, to which he turned back towards the Arrancar that was standing near him, "Actually, I take what I just said back. You are suggesting something, aren't you?"

"It seems that finally accepting the fact that Zangetsu was your Zanpakuto spirit, despite his separation from you, has given way to a better understanding of your surroundings." Ulquiorra stated, as before the separation he was sure that Ichigo would have kept walking and never thought about this again, but now, after finally uncovering the truth, he had grown a little smarter and had caught onto what he was suggesting quite easily, before he glanced in the direction that Rukia was in, "But, to answer your question... yes, Ichigo Kurosaki, I am suggesting something."

"What are you... talking..." Ichigo started to say, though he stopped himself when he noticed that Ulquiorra had been looking in the same direction that he had glanced in a few moments ago, to see what Rukia was up to at the moment, and that caused him to frown for a moment, "Oh, I see what you're doing. You think that just because she keeps coming here, to the town that I'm protecting with my life, and keeps appearing in my school whenever she's on a mission from Soul Society, means that she has to be in love with me? Well, in case you haven't noticed, she's the one that's in charge of protecting this town, on orders from Soul Society, so it makes sense that she'd be in the same area that I'm in, to work with me and provide a unified front against those that would seek to do the town harm. Besides, what does someone like you know about love anyway?"

"Nothing." Ulquiorra admitted, catching Ichigo off guard for a moment, almost like he didn't expect him to answer the question at all, before he glanced out at the town that rested around them and focused on something else, which would force Ichigo to remain nearby while he talked, "I know nothing about love, Ichigo Kurosaki, and that is one of the reasons I have come here, to see what happens when Humans fall in love with each other, or at least try to understand their various emotions better. At the same time, however, I was able to see something that you seem to have missed..."

"Rukia isn't in love with me... if anything she'd be in love with Renji." Ichigo stated, as he couldn't that he was having this conversation with Ulquiorra, the one Arrancar that was terrible with emotions since they were an entirely new concept to him, before shaking his head as he turned away, though not quick enough for Ulquiorra to see the slightest instances of a blush appearing on the Substitute Shinigami's face, "Since it seems that you're not taking this seriously, I'm going to keep investigating the area and see if I can't find anything that will help us find the Toju that's responsible for these girls being attacked, and see if we can't stop that from happening again."

Ulquiorra stood there for a moment as Ichigo, who still seemed to be as stubborn as he usually was, jumped into the air and flashed out of the area that they were in, showing that he was going to think about what he had just said before he did anything else, though before he moved he heard a cough behind him and noticed that Rukia had come up to where they had been standing, oddly enough after Ichigo disappeared from the area.

"What do you think Sombra would say if he heard you say that?" Rukia asked, because while Ichigo and Ulquiorra seemed to have thought that she hadn't been able to hear them, since she had been busy studying the area for signs of their target, she had actually heard their conversation, hence the annoyed look on her face.

"Considering everything that my Lord has said, he'd likely say the same thing." Ulquiorra replied, as he knew that his Lord had likely seen this lingering in the background and had said nothing, since he wasn't in the mood to tell people that someone was in love with them, before he turned his attention to Rukia for a moment, "So, are you going to tell him how you feel at some point in the future?"

"Are you going to tell Orihime how you feel?" Rukia inquired in return, causing Ulquiorra to raise an eyebrow for a moment, as it appeared that he was doing something that was showing people that he was interested in keeping an eye on Orihime, even if they had a different idea of what he was actually trying to do, "Tell you what, Ulquiorra, if you confess your feelings to Orihime at some point in time, regardless of how she takes it, I'll do the same thing to Ichigo and see how he takes it... what do you say? Do we have a deal?"

Despite the fact that he didn't have any feelings for Orihime, something that some of the people he had talked to had said that he had since he was more focused on her than anyone else at the moment, Ulquiorra decided to agree to what Rukia was saying, where she smiled, as they both knew that nothing would happen, unless he suddenly changed his mind while he was in the World of the Living. Once that was done Rukia chased after Ichigo, to tell him whatever she had found at the crime scene, while Ulquiorra simply watched the town from a number of the rooftops that were around the area, keeping an eye open for anything that might disturb the peace. He found that no Toju appeared to hunt down more of the high school girls and none of the Hollows that he had felt earlier had stuck around, meaning that he and the Shinigami were the only ones left, save for Uryu and Ichigo's Human friends, making it easier for him to do his job. Despite what he had thought earlier he still spent some time thinking about Orihime, about how Kyoko seemed interested in her and the fact that he felt she was in immediate danger, but he knew that time would tell him what was going on and that he would discover the truth soon enough.

When morning arrived he found himself returning to the high school, where he found Orihime and her female friends watching Kyoko as she played basketball with the rest of their class, though while he was somewhat interested in their game he was more worried about any potential threats that might be in the area. After some time one of the other girls accidentally knocked Kyoko to the ground, to which Tatsuki had Orihime take her to the nurse's office, though as the two of them walked towards the building another girl knocked over a stone container with some flowers. Instead of waiting for Sora to catch them, since he was trying to protect her from danger and stupid stuff like that, Orihime used her Flowers to form a shield and broke the container before it could hurt either of them, to which she returned them to her hairpins and tended to Kyoko once more. In that moment some red flags were thrown, as Kyoko revealed that she had known that Orihime was special, because she had powers and only special people had abilities like Orihime did, before adding in the fact that she also had powers, despite the fact that she didn't show off what she meant, causing Ulquiorra to wonder what was happening at the moment.

Even Orihime didn't like where this was going, since she claimed that her powers were only unique, among all the various powers that she had seen since she first gained her Flowers, and she even denied being special, something that really got under Kyoko's skin... especially since she threatened to reveal what Orihime could do to her classmates, so they would think she was a freak of nature or something, something that pissed Sora off actually annoyed Ulquiorra more than he was willing to admit to anyone.

"Why?" Orihime asked, her voice stopping both Sora and Ulquiorra before they did anything, as it appeared that she was trying to understand why Kyoko would purposely ruin her life, all because of the fact that she had abilities that would make her different from everyone else, "Why would you do that?"

"Because I had a friend called Mai in the past," Kyoko replied, though as she spoke Ulquiorra held out a hand and stopped Sora from doing anything, because at times like this it was best to get all the information before they lashed out at whoever was attacking their friends, even if it was his sister who was being targeted, "she was the only one that I ever considered to be a true friend. I was able to talk to her about everything, it didn't matter what I wanted to talk about, and we really understood what the other was saying, so I thought that she would accept me, since I was a little different from those that were around us... but when she found out about my power, and I mean she figured out what I was able to do, she called me a freak and told me to stay the hell away from her."

"Well, do you think we could put our abilities aside and be normal friends?" Orihime inquired, because she knew that someone like Kyoko only desired a friend, even if they felt that they didn't deserve one, and after spending so much time in the company of incredibly strong people she felt that she could handle having another one like her, maybe to the point where they could integrate her into the group and further protect the town.

What happened next was that Kyoko cringed as if she was in pain for a moment, as if the notion of being friends with someone didn't interest her and actually upset her, before she fell to a knee and a surge of violet reiatsu poured our from where she was kneeling, causing Ulquiorra to recognize the signature now. In the middle of all the power that was being poured out he also saw something that confirmed his thoughts, as a Zanpakuto materialized in Kyoko's right hand for a second, long enough for him and Orihime to see it, before Kyoko regained control of herself and forced the blade to vanish as quickly as it had appeared, before containing her reiatsu as well. When Orihime tried to comfort her, however, Kyoko got up and ran away, leaving a stunned Orihime behind, though as that happened Ulquiorra had Sora stay near his sister as he followed after the new girl, where he remained in the sky as he stared down at Kyoko as she ran away from the high school and entered the town. It was an interesting development, that the newest student at Karakura High would have a Zanpakuto, but at the same time the reiatsu signature told him that the Toju that Rukia and Ichigo were currently searching for had bonded with a Human, meaning that saving the spirit might not be possible for some time.

Eventually Kyoko came to a stop in one of the alleys, about five minutes from the high school, where she seemed to freeze for a moment as a faint signature formed in the area around her, telling Ulquiorra that the spirit of the Zanpakuto she was parred with happened to be speaking to her in some manner. A few moments later the faint feeling increased as Kyoko's expression changed, showing that the spirit of the Zanpakuto she had found was now in control of her body, but right now it seemed like the spirit was trying to comfort Kyoko in some odd manner. What interested him next was the fact that the spirit seemed to realize that he was near them, as it flashed Kyoko out of the alley they were in and was heading off in a completely different direction, no doubt heading for the area that Mai, the girl that Kyoko had briefly mentioned, happened to be in. In that moment he understood what the spirit was going to do, she was going to kill Mai for treating Kyoko as she had, forcing Kyoko to give into despair and open herself fully to the spirit that was now possessing her body, but even if that was wrong he knew that letting the Toju get it's way wasn't the right course of action, which was why he flashed into the air and followed the reiatsu trail that his target was leaving behind.

It was late into the evening when he found Kyoko's possessed body, who was currently chasing another girl, Mai he soon realized, up several flights of stairs and forced her up onto the roof, only to throw her at the ground when she arrived, but as Ulquiorra moved to intervene he noticed that Kyoko stopped the Toju, to which he stood back and watched, all while keeping himself ready for combat. The following events happened in rapid succession, as it seemed like Kyoko seized control over her body and tried to calm Mai down, who ended up fainting right away when she saw a flicker of the Toju's face on Kyoko's own, leading an already defeated Kyoko to remain where she was sitting for a moment, just as the sun finally disappeared and gave way for the moon and the stars, which would come some time after sunset. Just as Kyoko accepted that she would be an outcast, that no one would accept her, a violent storm of violet reiatsu erupted from where she was sitting, to which Ulquiorra flashed down, grabbed Mai, and moved her away from the surge of power, as this was something that he hadn't been expecting to see happen, especially so soon after figuring out that Kyoko was carrying one of the lost Toju. He then watched as the Toju asserted itself, merging it's soul with Kyoko's own, which in turn caused her legs to merge into a single solid mass, which transformed into the lower body of a naga, like Sora and Sung Sun's released states, only this one was black colored... while her skin turned pale colored, her hair became dark green colored, her eyes turned pale yellow colored with red colored slits, and her uniform transformed into a pale kimono, all while she lost her mouth in the process.

During all of this Orihime opened the door that Mai had run out of and had to stop when the transformation took place, where her eyes widened when she realized that Kyoko was no longer standing in front of them and the Toju that Rukia and Ichigo had materialized in the World of the Living.

"It seems that I have company." the Toju said, to which she turned her head towards Orihime and Ulquiorra, even though Sora seemed to be held up somewhere else at the moment, showing that she was going to fight them and then continue with whatever plan she had in mind, "Very well, I shall silence you two first, then I can focus on getting my revenge on the one who abandoned me."

Ulquiorra glared at the Toju for a moment, issuing a silent challenge for the creature to come and attack either of them, and sure enough his foe raised her claws, which had been hidden in the sleeves of the kimono, and tried to strike Orihime down, where Ulquiorra flashed between them and grabbed the claws with his left hand. As he stalled the Toju in her tracks, surprising her in the process, Ulquiorra knew that there was no reason for him to use his Zanpakuto against such an opponent, because she was around Sora's level of power at the moment, which meant she was a Gillian at best since that was what Sora was. If she was an Adjuchas ranked Toju, on the other hand, he would have drawn his Zanpakuto and blocked the attack, but since that wasn't the case he settled for grabbing her claws and stopping her, which was when he raised his left foot and kicked her in the chest, hard enough to send her flying backwards while also being soft enough to avoid breaking her body, since this was still technically Kyoko's body, despite the Toju merging with her and molding her body to fit her true form. That was the problem, that hurting the Toju would hurt Kyoko, so if he were to cut down his foe he'd kill a Human girl, something that Lord Sombra wouldn't stand for, so he had to restrain himself until he came up with a plan that didn't involve severely hurting Kyoko... though there was also the option that the two lost souls were so bound together that the only way to save them was for Muramasa to arrive and have them unite into a single being that would become another Arrancar.

He was sure that Lord Sombra would have a problem with that as well, again since Kyoko was a Human, which was why he was trying to think of a way to save both of them without hurting Kyoko, only it seemed like he was better off stalling her until Muramasa arrived, and he didn't like the thought of that happening.

"Bind them, Serpiente." a voice called out, where Ulquiorra felt the release of Sora's Resurreccion from behind the Toju, as not a few moments later another body wrapped around the Toju and stunned her, where Ulquiorra recognized the brown lower body of a naga anywhere, as that was Sora's color, before Sora grabbed onto the Toju's arms and held both of them in a manner that prevented their foe from doing anything.

"Sorry we're late, I was busy dealing with another Toju in Soul Society when Rukia told me what was going on at your high school," another voice said, where Muramasa flashed down to where they were standing, though truthfully he was exhausted, as every day they were finding more of these guys and he was getting tired of going between the three realms that they had access to, "Don't worry, Sora told me what the situation was, so I'll get to work immediately."

Ulquiorra knew that Muramasa was working himself to the bone, to prove that he wasn't the villain that he had shown himself to be when he first attacked Soul Society, but right now he was the only one that could speak to a Zanpakuto's heart and convince them to change their ways, to which he nodded and let the Arrancar approach the two naga. It didn't take long for Muramasa to open himself to the Toju, though this time around he found himself in a mostly dark area that had only one light, which happened to be over the phantom form of the girl that was being consumed by the Toju that had taken over over body. The reason that he thought that way was because the phantom form of Kyoko was already starting to change into the form of the Toju, as the area below her knees had turned into the black snake tail of the Toju, her hands had been turned into claws and parts of her arms were covered by the kimono, a good portion of her hair was dark green colored, and one of her eyes was normal colored, since the other side of her face possessed the Toju's colors. The only major difference was that there was a faint dark blue heart in the middle of Kyoko's chest, the same symbol that was used when representing the heart, so he knew that Kyoko must have been carrying the Toju for a few days, especially since it had progressed so far in it's desire to have it's own body.

As he stepped forward, however, the phantom form of the Toju appeared in front of the phantom Kyoko, showing that she was protecting the heart of the girl that she was merging with, meaning that separating them might not even be possible anymore, not if this was something that Kyoko was letting happen and was okay with it... but, despite that fact, he was going to try and separate them into two separate beings and focused on what he was going to do next.

Ulquiorra and the others watched as nothing seemed to happen for a few moments, as he knew that it would take some time for Muramasa to do whatever he did when he was in the inner world of the Toju that he was trying to save from their current state, before something happened. A violet light erupted from the Toju, showing that Muramasa had done something to the being that was merging with Kyoko's body, but when the light faded a few moments later he and the others noticed that Kyoko, in her school uniform, was kneeling on the ground in front of them. The difference between how she looked earlier to how she looked now was obvious, as a Hollow hole had been punched into her collar area, there was a small mask fragment that resembled a head band of some kind under her hair, and the Zanpakuto she had been holding onto earlier was resting in front of her, where they found that it had two blades that were close to each other, instead of a single blade like most Zanpakuto. Even Sora, who had been wrapped around the Toju during Muramasa's venture into her inner world, had been surprised by the sudden turn of events, to which everyone turned and looked at Muramasa as Sora moved to the side and joined them in looking at their companion.

"Muramasa, what happened?" Ulquiorra asked, because as Sora moved away Kyoko opened her eyes and showed that her right eye was her normal color, while at the same time her left eye contained the colors of the Toju that had been possessing her body, like they had been merged into a single being or something.

"I... conversed with them for a few minutes." Muramasa replied, though at the same time Kyoko actually swayed for a moment, showing that everything she had been through had been tough on her body, before she closed her eyes and fell asleep, another change that they weren't expecting, "The Toju was hurt from losing her Shinigami, as it seems that she was one of the few spirits that didn't actually kill their Shinigami partners when they were accidentally materialized during the Zanpakuto's attack on the Seireitei, meaning that Kazeshini is likely the one that killed her partner. Kyoko was hurt from nearly everyone rejecting her when they found out about her ability to sometimes see bits of the future, deeming it as 'freaky' and her being a 'freak', so instead of listening to Orihime, who would have accepted her with open arms, she sunk further into the arms of the Toju. I tried to get them to separate into two beings again, because the Toju was killing Kyoko by what she was doing, but in the end I determined that doing that would be impossible, so I informed them of what would happen if they opened their true heart and became an Arrancar... so allow me to introduce Kyoko Haida, an Arrancar born from the union of a Human girl and a lone Toju."

"You did your best," Orihime said, to which the others nodded their heads, even though they would have to find Rukia and change the memories of everyone that knew Kyoko, but at the very least the pained girl she had met earlier would find a place where she belonged and would be accepted, "How do you think Sombra is going to take this?"

"It's sad that this happened, but it seems like it was unavoidable." a voice said, to which the group turned their heads and found that Sombra had arrived at some point in the last few moments, meaning that he had heard what happened to Kyoko, before he turned towards the group, "We'll take her someplace where she can rest, and I can get the whole story on what happened to her... and then, Muramasa, you're going to take a well deserved break and get your energy back, because you can't keep working yourself to the bone. In fact all of you should take a break and calm down, instead of worrying yourselves over every little thing and trying to fix whatever happens in Karakura Town, so you don't crash when something terrible happens."

"Well, there is that festival this weekend." Orihime commented, causing the group to turn towards her for a moment, as some of them were interested in what she had to say, while at the same time Ulquiorra noticed that she was looking at him for a moment, "Maybe we can take some time off and go to it? We can go in pairs, or by ourselves and meet up at some point... though personally, I wouldn't mind going with Ulquiorra."

Sombra smiled for a moment, as it appeared that giving his followers some time off had born some interesting fruit, as Orihime had been the one to offer doing something with the normally emotionless Arrancar that was standing near him, and instead of turning her down Ulquiorra recalled that Arrancar could use the gigai as well, where he agreed to experience more about how Humans operated in groups, even if he knew there was another reason behind why he was agreeing to go with her. At the same time Rukia and Ichigo, who were late arrivals, had heard what Orihime had said and nodded their heads, showing that the festival was a good idea for everyone at the moment, even if he noticed the glance that Rukia was shooting in Ichigo's direction and knew what was going to happen at some point in the future. At the moment he and Sora would take Kyoko someplace safe, so they could ease her into the world that she had been pulled into and then, when she was ready, determine which world she would be assigned to, even though he felt that she would want to remain here, in the World of the Living, to save those that had been her friends at one point in time.

He was sure that Orihime and Ulquiorra were going to have fun at the festival, just like Rukia and Ichigo would have fun in their own way, and he felt that they all deserved some time off, since he had the feeling that they were going to need their full attention in the days to come.