Hollow Eyes

Chapter 12: Nowhere To Run

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, Tite Kubo does. I own Sayomi, Arie'n, Airianah, Kalaki, Scamper etc. I do not own the songs mentioned either…just thought I'd clear that up in case you thought I could sing random Japanese, country, rock or the impossible vocals of Paramore or Evanescence.

A/N: Another hug and virtual cookie for all who have provided feedback, reviewed, favorite or alerted me! You don't understand how important that is for me to write a bajillion pages and get some sort of a pulse for all my efforts! This chapter is going to provide some more for those noticing inconsistencies, and lack of ICHIRUKI, ISHIHIME and tha fact that I have focused the story increasingly (and without knowing) more and more toward Sayomi and Chad's point of view. I feel that one of my original goals of including the more minor characters is being grossly neglected! Sorry all for my incompetence and rushed writing!

Song of the Mo: Going Under by Evanescence

Notice: This chapter is dedicated to my fweind DEE (Dream21Stalker) ~! I promised to write moar of this fanfic and she was super kind enough to feature me on DA so I had to get off my butt, stop being a lazy-pants and write because she really wanted an update already ahahah! She's a super fantastic artist and a fellow fanfic-er! I haven't read her story yet (im sorry!) but I know her to be spectacular in everything she does! Please check her out on DA! She's amazing and a real sweetie! And please support her in becoming for advocate for cancer. She has had very personal experiences with the terrible disease as have I, and it really needs a cure! :C

The chaos below kept all those with fighting passion, busy. Much too distracted to remember someone.

"Finally!" Sayomi gasped as the familiar voice echoed down the stairs and into oblivion. "Now I can have you all to myself!" With an excited, maniac grin of terrible feature, Captain Kurotsuchi grabbed her weakened wrist, and clasped her throat until her eyes fluttered and the world grew darker and darker…and…

"I will finally get to cut you apart! But you won't die yet I promise! I'll keep you alive so they can kill you~!"

No one can save me…but…MYSELF!

"GUIDE THE NIGHTBORN FROST!" Rings that had been slipped into her hand by Chad back in the cell slid into their respective positions on her fingers, her eyes glowed gold. "ARIEN!" With a blink of Kurotsuchi's for once surprised eyes, his prey's form became hazy. And then…

As a caged tiger, Sayomi Kurotora had been planning, scheming a way to escape her imprisonment to find a way to be rid of the shinigami that was inside her. Airianah had come like a tsunami, wiping clean every normal thing in the young girls life, forever shaping her peaceful existence to that of a violent spirit. Airianah, with her selfish and mysterious scheme, took over her life till even her dreams and soul became a torture ground for her sinister zanpakto in the black tiger's body, Kalaki. Sayomi knew that there was only one way out. And it wasn't to be the helpless damsel in distress that needed rescuing. It was to find her own way out and with every fighting fibre of her being she was going to do so. Or die trying. Because it wasn't just for her life alone. The entire world, no both worlds depended on it.

Since back in her temporary cell Sayomi had been plotting. She knew that the first thing they would do in her imprisonment would be to repress her spiritual pressure. So she concentrated on suppressing it herself, so that her confinement would put a lower amount of guard on her, thinking that she was weaker in strength. Once in the white tower, the walls started to weaken her, nearly sapping her of her entire strength. She knew that she needed to leave it as soon as possible. But she didn't think it was going to be within the minute.

"What is this!" Mayuri yelled in wonder.

But he was too late to observe because Sayomi had summoned nearly all of her spiritual energy in her possession just…to transform and hurl herself out of the only exit in the tower, the window. Nearly 400 feet above the ground.

Feathers flapped uselessly, her transforming was slow and painful without her full concentration. Gravity beckoned her to join it on the firm ground but she struggled to resist, refocusing on becoming something to fly. She wrapped her mind around the form of a small sparrow, but found it to be far more effort to shrink. So she focused on a large golden eagle, with dimensions not far from her own at least in arm/wingspan. Eyes steaming from the wind whistling by, she screamed out in frustration as her shape contorted and reverted. Oxygen rose through her throat, stomach rising, feathers rustling, mind screeching to fly. And then…

She managed to force her way into snowy owl right before she hit the ground, but the draft was too much for her scattered body struggling to remember she was a human. She ended up crashing into someone in a whirl of white feathers.

"OOOOOF!" Something hard and alive cried out, thrown to the ground. "W-WHA? AN ANGEL!"

Sayomi jumped to her feet, panting, half in and out of transformation, eyes still owl like, arms still half feathered. She shook her head and cleared it of her owls point of view, reverting completely as her glow zapped back to the ring on one hand, Arien.

The man before her cringed a bit, still thinking it odd that a white robed girl who had sorta wings like five seconds ago had just fallen from the sky and now stood before him. Then he rightened himself, trying to save face and act tough.

"Eh…I don't know who the hell you are." He growled. "But ya can't just go around fallin' on people."

Sayomi took a step back, flustered and looking around for a good place to dart to, but she first needed to catch her breath. Ganju Shiba slowly put two and two together of what a friend had been telling him in his Squad Four duties.

"Hey." He blinked, then pointed curiously. "You're that human girl that Hanataro keeps talkin' about aren't ya?"

Sayomi backed up even more, tasting the air and feeling the prickles of her good friend Kalaki bristling with transformation due to the mutant- hollow-thing not too far away in the broken buildings.

"Che." She snarled, wincing at the darkness stirring up for the umpteenth time within her.

"H-Hey!" Ganju noted the blood around her stomach area. Reopened injuries from way earlier from the fall. "Woah are you hurt? I mean you did fall from the sky huh?"

Feline instincts took over, Kalaki smirked. Sayomi snarled, clutching her eyes and tossing her head. Then she ran away.

"HEY! WAIT!" Ganju shouted, cupping his hand to yell. But her retreating, strangely pulsing form, retreated into the rubble. "…hey…I was gonna take ya to sis to help ya."

Her strength was waning, she had been running quite some time, every step a painful reminder of the resistance pacing away inside of her. "Grr…just tell me what to do Dad. I'm in this place now but what can I possibly do now that everyone is after me?"

Hunger panged in her already empty stomach. She needed to rest, even more importantly, she needed to eat. But she couldn't. All around her she had managed to avoid all the hollow-mutants somehow, people even. She figured that her spiritual pressure was too weak at this point to gain a blip in their sensories and that the people had long since fled to safer ground…wherever that was.

On the outskirts of a small district, the stench of fear grew stronger. Her hunger had somehow quadrupled though it wasn't surprising as she had been running for her life, unsure of what it was she was searching for. Black spots filled her vision as her limbs seemed way too heavy to lift. Right as she dashed into the middle of the district, a shadow consumed her own and her weak body collapsed. She now was a vulnerable target for all the creatures lurking in the darkness, wishing to devour her power in order to create more chaos.

"The little brat escaped!" Mayuri snarled in front of his captain colleagues. But he seemed more interested than completely angry. "I'm even more intrigued with her powers now! How can she still transform in sekki sekki!"

"And just why were you in the Repentance Tower Kurosutchi? Didn't you have orders not to be there?" Byakuya glanced at the man from the corners of his eyes.

"But this could be the last time I see a Nature Shinigami this closely!" Mayuri whined. "Oh no matter I'll just have to wait till she's killed to examine her body."

Everyone mentally sighed at his insanity. Ukitake stared at the empty spot in the group. "How fares Captain Hitsugaya? Is he recovering?"

Captain Unohana smiled kindly. "Yes thank you for asking Captain Ukitake. He is coming in and out of consciousness but he is healing well. It has been a terrible mental blow for him."

Shunsui bowed his head. "Those mutant bastards sure have taken out a lot of us. I don't remember the last time I was sent to Squad Four. And I can't imagine the damage in the Ryukon Districts…"

Captain Soi Fon crossed her arms. "My men and I have found the damage has covered every corner of the Soul Society. The number of lives lost has tipped the crucial balance of lives in both worlds. There are now too many lives in the human world."

"What do we do now?" Ukitake sighed. "How can we re-restore the balance?"

"First I say lets track down all the hollows reaping havoc and have a slaying spree!" Kenpachi grinned giddy at the thought.

Head Captain Yamamoto tapped his staff to the ground. "In order to restore balance. We are going to have to destroy the current Nature Shinigami so she can be reborn and the one she has within her can restore enough lives to regain the balance." He raised his hand. "I want all of you to continue defending our remaining numbers. But two of you are going to have to track down the human child. And kill her. We should have done so immediately I'm afraid."

Everyone paused in the utmost attention. "Who do you have in mind Yama?" Shunsui adjusted his hat.

"I hope it's me!" Mayuri leered. "It would be quite fun to cut her limb from limb!"

"No." Yamamoto spoke in authority. "I will send two captain-level and their adjacents to combat her. It won't be long till she loses control of her power. When that happens we don't want to take chances that she gets away or grows stronger." Everyone waited for his orders, some uncertain of the responsibility to kill an innocent-seeming young girl, others saw her as a threat to be destroyed, and of course one wished to understand her biology.

"Is she really going to be incredibly powerful?" Kenpachi asked eagerly.

"Yes."

"Then you can sure as hell count me in!"

Yamamoto closed his eyes for a moment. "I knew you would volunteer yourself. Now I need one more Captain." His gaze rested on a certain noble. "Byakuya Kuchiki. Your sense of justice has been trusted time and again. I will ask you and your Lieutenant to join this mission."

He merely nodded, secretly wondering how he could carry out the deed when his sister was friends with this human. He also wondered how he would function with little pink head's…constant annoyance. Soi Fon gave a start. "B-But sir! Why not my squads?"

"You and your Special Ops Squads are in valuable sources of information from all areas of this world and the next." He then cast a glance over all his Captains. "We haven't a moment left to lose. Go and with honor keep this world alive!" He tapped his cane.

Captains Kenpachi and Kuchiki flash stepped into the fray, Renji and Yachiru joining in. With a bribe of candy from 'Bya-Bya', they set off in a more probable direction, unable to scent her spiritual pressure due to her…well…

'Can you taste it? Do you remember what my master has told you in the very beginning? About your responsibility and about the importance of light? 'Guide the light and the shadows carefully. For if you go astray, the world shall perish, and one light, one star shall be extinguished from the sky…and one life lost shall impact the others. You…you are the balance, the twilight between day and night, the…shinigami of all.' ? The part about being extinguished was true Sayomi. Hehehe! Just you wait!

When you wake up…every second that ticks by…will be the countdown before I reach my full power. And I will kill you Sayomi. I'll enjoy every second till then. And every second after.'

A black tiger smirked, licking her lips. 'Are you ready to die wench?'

"Hey! Hey lady! Dude I think she's dead." Child's voices. "Nuh uh! Look she's breathing." Small patter of feet. "Is Thomas comin'?" "Yes." Large footsteps. "Hey watcha guys find-oh my. I thought you guys found another stray animal…" "Tommy can we keep it?" More kid's voices. "You dolt! Don't call a young lady an 'it'!" "Yeah dude that's pretty whack." Whispering and hard to hear comments..

Sayomi opened her eyes with a start. And four pairs of eyes stared back. "Agh!" Sayomi scooted back. Where was she? On a cot? People around her?

"Hello lady!" A cute little red-headed girl of about nine or ten smiled down at her. "Are you feeling better?"

"W-What-? Where-?" Sayomi gasped, looking about wildly at her surroundings, which was a sparse dingy lean-to. There were two other kids gawking at her and someone else. One that looked like the red-head girl only younger, a cute little black boy with glasses of the same age as the girl, and…a man with grey eyes and a kindly youthful face.

"Excuse us ma'am." This guy doesn't look much older than me. Nineteen maybe? "My friends here found you in the middle of the square." He scratched the back of his dirty blonde head. He looked like a real country boy, tanned and freckled, with a bit of a drawl. Is he from where I'm from? "Do you have a name ma'am? Mines Thomas Calehardt. This place here is Aoineko, The Blue Cat District 23. Born in Williamsburg, Texas. Joined the army last year. Served under-"

"Oh stop talking so much Tommy!" The red-headed girl commanded. "She's hungry! That's why she fainted I'm guessing." "Ah. You're right. Has Mariella returned yet?" "Nope not yet."

"That's Eliza." The boy with glasses whispered to her. "She's really bossy. But anyways name's Anthony! And don't worry we all fainted from hunger before. Tommy says it's cus we all have spiritual pressure."

"Um…" The girl was still confused. "What?"

"That kid hiding behind Eliza is her little brother Luke. He's really shy." Anthony pointed out. "Us three and Mariella died in a bus crash in Chicago. Somehow we all ended up in the same district right next to each other. All of us could remember our old life. No one else around here does from what we gather…well except for Tommy. Strangely enough we are the only English speakers in this area. There are other districts that have other languages and cultures too. So what's your story? How'd you die? Can you remember?" He was very curious. Woah. It's strange to not notice different languages being spoken after being fluent in three. Haven't spoke in English in awhile…

"Wait wait wait." Sayomi waved her hands in front of her face, overwhelmed. "This is all pretty over my head. I don't know how this place works. And I'm not dead."

Eliza suddenly appeared. "Oh that's what everyone insists when they first get here! Don't worry you'll come to understand. We've been here a long time so we know how things work. Tommy! Respect your elders!"

The man sighed, patting the girl on the head. "Cheeky old woman aren't ya."

Sayomi just blinked. "…" Eliza swatted Tommy in the leg, giggling liking the child she was. "Oh well you see, me, Luke, Anthony and Mariella all died in a terrible bus crash in 1994. People here don't grow much if at all after they come here. Me and Luke were on our way home from going to the library. Anthony was going to visit his older sister. And well…we don't know what Mariella was doing that day. She can understand most English but…she only speaks Spanish and we can't really understand it soo…"

Sayomi started to get up. "I'm very thankful for what you've done but I need to get out of here." Kalaki is waiting…and I don't want this nice bunch in the crossfire.

"No please you need to rest." Thomas placed a kind hand on her shoulder. "You had a lot of wounds. And you're still weak right now. You must have been in a lot of trouble huh miss?" Seeing her embarrassed look and just now noticing she was wearing a different kimono, he smiled understandingly. "I was in the army…I also had medic training. But I had Eliza, who's had quite a bit of medicinal training take care of you. So no worries ma'am." The girl sighed, and lay back. "My name is Sayomi. I'm human…I think. And I'm not dead. Somehow."
"She was wearing white robes." A new baby-ish voice pipped up. "Like a prisoner." It was the little one, Luke, still hiding bashfully behind his sister. Everyone stared at her. Lucky for her though, someone walked through the curtain that was the door and got everyone's attention. "Mariella! Sorry I ditched you but the kids found something…or someone actually." Thomas gestured to the unknowingly dangerous guest.

Mariella, a pretty Hispanic girl with lovely light brown eyes and seemingly the same age as Sayomi nodded shyly in greeting. She set down a bag of food on the ground and turned to Tommy with a completely turnabout personality. Sayomi sweat dropped as the girl proceeded to twack him with a leek and shout angry phrases in Spanish. The man took his beating with a calm smile. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I don't know what you are saying but I deserve it for not helping look for groceries again! I'm too scatterbrained I know!"

"She said that she got lost." Sayomi interpreted. They all stared in surprise. "She's mad because you not only left her…but you accidently took the map with you. And that she had to haggle with a mean old goat who wanted to cheat her out of money just for one small portion of meat plus it was hard cus they both spoke different languages. And…" Sayomi sweatdropped again. "She is really mad at you for running off with some other lady. That she will have to help feed because you suck at cooking and will probably kill her with inedible concoctions."

"WHAT!" Thomas gasped, flailing in anger and shock. "YOU SAID THAT!" Mariella sweated and nodded slowly. "MY COOKING IS GREAT RIGHT EVERYONE! RIIIGGHHHTT?" He despairingly fwipped to every member of his group, looking for someone to stand up for him…but…they all glanced away awkwardly.

"Sorry Tommy." Anthony smiled nervously. "It's true." "WHAAAHH!" Tommy ended up sitting mournfully in a corner, cultivating mushrooms because it was too gloomy and moist from his tears.

Sayomi sighed and gave Mariella a refreshing conversation in espanol to explain that 'no Tommy didn't run off with some woman. He 'helped the kids help me when I collapsed'. The girl was delighted to have someone who understood her, so much so that she forgot her anger and gave the newcomer an enormous hug. All the while the others gawked in awe.

(In translation)

"You don't understand how excited I am to have someone speak to me in my language! I've been wanting so badly to tell someone what happened to me! The others don't understand! Though…I can speak English…I'm just too shy to…You see, I was an immigrant, my father had permission to live in the US and to take his family with him; me, my sister, my mother, and my younger brother. We'd been there for only a few weeks when I was on my way to meet my father at his new work that day I died, I was going to tell him that he needed to come home right away because my mother had fallen ill. I remember every detail of the accident. Every moment and every wave of pain that pulsed through me that day. I want someone else to listen and understand that on that day…that day I met him. It's scared me to the core. I want someone to know that I saw him! Because it's been plaguing me since that day!"

Sayomi didn't really know how to react at first, some stranger desperately spouting her life because she someone wanted so direly to know it. She figured that the kind thing to do was to listen to it, because humans needed communication in order to function. But it was the end of the story that really struck a chord inside her, sending shivers down her spine and caused Kalaki to cackle with recognition. "Him? Who is 'him' Mariella?" Sayomi found herself gripping the girl by the shoulders.

"Well I wish I could say it was my guardian angel." Mariella sighed. "It would seem that this is only a purgatory. Or something. I don't understand it myself. I think this is just another dream. But right as I was dying, sliced by glass and knocked around by metal, I saw him. I saw the Devil."

Sayomi started. "What did he look like Mariella? Tell me every detail!" I just have this gut feeling…

Thomas walked over. "Hey is everything alright what is she saying?" But they ignored him.

"Do you really want to know Miss Sayomi?" Mariella had tears in her eyes. "Are you sure you want to hear of the Devil himself?" Sayomi nodded vigorously.

"He was terrible. It was he that caused the bus to spin off the bridge. It was him. He had horrible empty eyes, a gigantic monster body, a masklike face, a gruesome leering grin and strangest of all-"

"Did he have a hole where his heart should be Mariella?" The golden-eyed girl bored into her light brown orbs.

Mariella was taken aback. "H-How did you know?"

"That wasn't the Devil Mariella." Sayomi said gravely, touching her father's ring on her finger. "That was a Hollow. Did someone in your family die recently at that time?"

Confused, the other girl just nodded. "Yeah. My aunt, my mom's only sister. We were all very close. She had always been frail and sickly but…where are you going with this Sayomi?"

"You've never seen a Hollow before?" Sayomi was surprised what with all the havoc going on outside.

"No. I heard Tommy talking about how he sensed that things were going on around here. But this small portion of Rukongai has been rather uneventful so I do not know." Mariella's eyes darted towards the door as if expecting that nasty beast to come barreling through. "Tell me about them please!"

Sayomi's eyes saw dots again, head woozie from no food still. "Ah…well…" Mariella saw the other girl's mouth slur, snagged some strange looking fruit from her bag, handed it to Sayomi and all the while apologized profusely for her irresponsibility. Scarfing down the offering wolfishly, Sayomi thanked her between bites, finishing the food in three gulps. "Ahhh…that's better. I haven't eaten in a long while!" Mariella snagged the kids and instructed nonverbally to help her make an 'edible' dinner as Sayomi explained about Hollows. She omitted all the facts about her involvement with them, knowing full well that she needed to leave the moment all were distracted.

"So…you mean to say that my aunt…was that Hollow that day?" Spanish words grew sad. "Oh dear…and my mother showed symptoms of whatever illness claimed my aunt…I hope the rest of my family was okay…Sayomi." Mariella turned with a determined edge in her eyes. "If anyone of my family died…would I know it? Would they be sent here and I could find them? Tommy's friend often talked about it…"

Tommy had been watching the entire time with a curious expression. "Sayomi…it would seem that you know quite a lot of info what with the amount of words you are sayin'. What are you talking about anyways?"

Sayomi switched to English again. "Long story. Still don't know how this Rykongai works. But your friend here has been holding a horrible past within her for a long time. It's shameful the lot of you haven't tried to speak to each other in a common language…" She turned back to answer the girl. "I don't know. Like I said I'm not familiar with these workings. But there are some very powerful beings out there destroying the entire Soul Society right now." To Tommy she heard him stutter. "W-Well…we tried teach each other but…I guess we all were too uncomfortable and embarrassed to attempt it seriously. That and I got very distracted with Mr. Winters' plans I'm afraid to say." Hmm so it would seem that he doesn't even know she CAN speak his language but for whatever reason she is too embarrassed to…wusses…seriously.

Suddenly, Sayomi dropped the carton of water she had in her hands. "W-Wait! W-What? What did you say?"

Everyone jumped at her sudden shouts. "I said me and Mr. Winters' plans-"

"YOU KNEW MY FATHER!" Sayomi ignored her pain and fatigue and thoughts of sneaking away. "H-HOW? WHEN!"

"Oh!" Thomas stood up with a wide excited grin. "So you must be his daughter he was always talking about! Why didn't I see the similarities before! You got his eyes, ma'am!" But he soon crinkled his brow in thought. "But I always thought he said your name was Samantha?"

"Never mind that!" Sayomi snapped. "Tell me more! He died not too long ago!"

"Y-Yeah!" Tommy came over and helped her clean up the spilled water. "Like I was tryin' to say when Eliza cut me off. I was in the ranks not too long ago myself. In fact, I served under a very kind and courageous man. He took every man and woman under his wing like his own children, looked out for every one of us. His name was Alejandro M. Winters. Damn good leader, one helluva man. I really looked up to him, your father." His eyes softened when he saw Sayomi's eyes water a bit with raw wounds. "Next thing I know we all hit a road side bomb. Ended up here. Your father came here within a week. Strange he ended up the same place I did. He was restless though."

"What..do you mean?"

"He couldn't sit still, always murmuring your name and your mother's name. Said he did something terrible in that week that was beyond his control. I've never seen a man so distraught. He came up with plans to find your mother. That's all he would talk about. He hated how the families couldn't be together like they were promised. This place…it's rare to find your family or friends after you die. But he was deadest on searching this entire world for her. He wanted to apologize to her for something."

"Where is he now? Or is he…?" Sayomi gulped. I don't want to hear he's died again…

Thomas placed a hand on her shoulder. "He's still alive here in the dead world. In fact you just missed him. Two weeks ago he left this area to search for your mother."

"He's…alive…" Sayomi sat dumbstruck. "Maybe Mom's alive too…"

"It's possible." Eliza smiled hopefully. "Me and Luke's family should still be alive. Say, how is it in the modern world?"

"Oh you've missed a lot." Sayomi grinned, thoughts still a whirl. "Computers are portable, small and thin , VHS died off to be replaced by disks, MP3s are the new CDs and cassettes players, and animated movies are digitally made and 3D."

"Eh…" Anthony and Eliza gapped. "Say what now? Are you from the future? AHAHA there's no way a computer can be portable AND thin AND small!"

"I promise you. Computers technology has been put in cell phones and tiny handheld devices."

While they all argued with Thomas as he agreed with Sayomi, she felt strength from the small amounts of food and water they gave her. She knew her spiritual pressure would increase and become a beacon of danger to this group as she would attract those freaky mutant-Hollows. It was a miracle that this place hadn't yet been hit by them anyways. The people wouldn't leave so she would have to sneak away when they were asleep. Maybe that was a sign Dad sent me…but he's here…maybe I should find him…and Mom.

"So why did Miss Sayomi/Samantha have a white prisoners kimono?" Luke abruptly questioned. Sayomi winced. Crap he returned to that when everyone got distracted. Smart kid this one.

"Yeah why was that?" Eliza put her hands on her hips. "You're not an escaped criminal are you? Wait!" Her eyes widened. "Y-You're not a murderer are you?"

"Why would a human come all this way to kill people!" Anthony threw his hands up. "That's stupid Eliza."

"No…" Sayomi cast her gaze away. "…in a way I am a murderer. Though…it's not like I asked for these things to happen…"

A little hand grasped hers. Luke had grown bolder. "Have you had a bad day?" Blinking, Sayomi smiled for a moment and just as suddenly as he had asked her, she jumped up. "Seriously. I need to leave. You all have been very kind. But there are terrible monsters out there and I need to stop them."Not to mention that I'M a danger to them.

"Please stay and rest one night." Mariella spoke up. "Rest does you wonders. And it doesn't look like you've slept in awhile."

"I can't afford to." It was true though, she can't ever remember sleeping much these past few days. However it was the big puppy dog eyes from the children that won her over…she usually didn't fall for that.

"OOOHHH! Kenny Kenny! Have you picked up her scent huh?" Yachiru pipped from her spot on his back as he sliced straight through the Hollow.

"Um, I don't think Captain Kenpachi, can sense anyone's spiritual pressures…" Renji sweatdropped.

"Sure he can Pinapple-head!" Yachiru pouted. "Kenny can sense where a good fight is!"

"Yachiru." Kenpachi effortlessly sliced through another as they ran. "I'm not sensing anything exciting. Pah! How boring they said this would be a good fight…"

Byakuya dodged a wolfish then serpentine maw and flash-stepped right through. "There is barely a thread of her spiritual energy. She has grown dangerously weak."

Renji furrowed his brow. "I'm gonna feel bad killing a weakened girl."

"She'd better get strong soon." Kenpachi smirked. "I'm expecting a battle."

They were closing in. Though lucky for Sayomi…a certain pink-haired shinigami led them down a few wrong paths.

Mariella kept caring watch over her new friend. As the 'younger' ones drifted off to sleep, Sayomi watched in her own sleepy amusement as this kindred spirit kept her gaze fixated on one person that was keeping watch now for the Hollows Sayomi had mentioned and explained after she had conversed with Mariella. He in turn would shyly glance her way and rub the back of his head, turning back away.

"You need to learn each other's language so you can properly tell him how you feel." Sayomi whispered in Spanish, from her cot. "Well at least you can speak English. Just do it and tell him how you feel about him geez."

"W-What do you mean?" Mariella flushed.

"It's obvious." Sayomi raised an eyebrow.

"…is it?" Mariella finally admitted, growing ever redder. "…I've only known him for a short amount of time but…OH!" Suddenly she exasperatedly threw her hands up into the air. "I'm too embarrassed to speak! Because I know what I will say when I do… The others don't know I can either. I'd rather just speak in a language I'm more comfortable with anyways."

Sayomi groaned. "For godssake. Look at you!" The other girl was back to staring at Thomas. "You're making him fidget staring at him so intensely! Just friggan tell him already! What're you so worried about!"

"You make it sound like it's easy!" The girl pouted. "And besides…" She frowned. "We are from different worlds. Different times. It's not like he would like me. I'm older than him."

"Unless he just so happens to like older women?" Sayomi's mouth twitched with mischievousness. "And yes. It is quite easy to tell someone how you feel."

"Have you?" Mariella pouted suspiciously.

"Yes." She flushed a bit. That time seemed eons ago. "That guy was so oblivious I had to fill him in."

"Ohohohoooo~! Tell me about this."

"Why would you want to know! He was my childhood friend and-SAY WAIT A MINUTE! When did this conversation start revolving around me! Conversations switcher!" Sayomi snarled, and gave a shove to set her new bud in a certain direction. "Get over there or something!" Little did Mariella know that she was pushed away mostly because Sayomi could feel her transformation starting and she needed the remaining two awake to be distracted. She shouted to Thomas. "Hey she can speak English!" That got his attention too. Too easy.

"You can?" His soft grey eyes met embarrassed light brown. "Why don't you say anything huh?"

"I…" Her first English words, made his eyes widen. "I was…scared to." "I-I'm so sorry! From now on please teach me Spanish I really want to learn but you seemed so reluctant and I-"

"But-" She interrupted him by holding a hand up."Let me explain to you." Her eyes couldn't see what was happening to Sayomi nearby. "I was mad at you today. Because I found you ditched me and it had to do with a girl…a-and…I was jealous…and…" Sayomi clutched at her head, pain sharp. And slipped out into the night, running as fast as she could away. T-This can't be Kalaki…this feels almost like something else…

Meanwhile, Thomas' eyes softened, also oblivious to anyone else. "I'm sorry." "It was silly of me…but you see…I…oh god." She winced too nervous to say what she wanted. "Oh nevermind this is too hard…" "No." He snatched her hand before she turned away. "Tell me. I've been wondering too long what it is you've wanted to say…" Mariella, face illuminated by the moonlight outside the barely open door that Sayomi had disappeared through. The light in his eyes was so…something… "Thomas…I know we don't really know much about each other but I feel…b-but I feel…like I've known you for so long!" She blurted, red. "And I really…I really li-"

There you are little snack~! I've been searching for you Sayomi~ But your spiritual pressure was so faint and there was too many other faint pressures around you it was hard~ Perfect dream quality moments were dashed as a horrendous snake arm snatched a runaway girl, voice shrill and ravenous. I hope you don't mind me taking a nibble so I can gain ultimate power little human~

"SAYOMI!" Mariella screamed at the loudspeaker thundering voice from down the street, as three smaller heads popped up in horror because their dreams were now disturbed. "Where'd she go? What's happening!"

"Ahah!" Renji smirked halfheartedly. "I think we've finally picked up on her spiritual pressure."

"I'll flash step ahead." Byakuya placed a hand on his hilt. Yachiru followed.

"Don't take all the fun!" Kenpachi was right behind him. "This smells like a nice bloody battle!"

"Get away!" A half-weakened girl with golden brown hair slid into a weak grass snake form to escape its grip about her torso. Its devouring maw swarmed with malice and disturbing intelligence, reitsu staggering. Whereas Sayomi remained weakened and unable to stay in form. Frantically, she slid Arien together with Kalaki but no desperately needed blade appeared to help protect her. "Ahhhggg shit! Shit shit shit c'mon! I need you!" A paw sideswiped her and smashed her into a wall of a nearby building.

You're not very fun to eat little snack! The Hollow yawned catlike, as it used a crab claw to pin her down.The picture of boredom, of cat and mouse. How can something as insignificant as you be so deadly huh? Time to eat~!

Panic-struck, Sayomi managed to use up the last of her slowly regained reitsu by turning into a rat and skittering enough away from the Hollow. "How am I gonna beat this thing?" Transformed back she swung about just in time to see her life flash before her eyes. A black shadow engulfed hers as her heartbeat sped, it dove with large car-sized claws and bright red ravenous eyes. Her feet remained ensnared by fear, the Hollows momentum too fast for her to react in time. Is this…it?

CRUNCH! Warm, sticky blood splattered everywhere. But it was not her own. Something had shoved her away from the strike-zone. "T-Thomas?" Sayomi gasped, a thick claw was imbedded into his arm pinioning him to the ground, blood everywhere. The Hollow snarled bewilderment. Thomas gradually turned his head to stare painfully up at her. "I owe your father…Samantha…" The Hollow struggled to pull his claws out of the ground, his force too powerful, with each jerk more spurts of Thomas' blood. "As the bomb went off, your father …tried to protect me. He was …riding in the cockpit of the transport with me...there was no d-doors to keep us from falling out. As it went off he instantly …tried to shove me and another out of the transport in…h-hopes of saving us. We fell out…but it was too late and the bomb already got us." I kneeled down to his level, clutching this country boy's hands, tears pricking. "I owe him…and you…I got to talk with Mariella awhile…" His eyes started to fade. "Please t-tell her I'm awful sorry for ditching her again…" No…NO NO NONONOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Sayomi tossed her head as a splitting ache consumed her, the red stained into her soul and horrible guilt grew stronger than the Hollow inside for just long enough. "Maybe…someday…I-I can have her yell at me for this…" Feeling violently sick, the girl swayed to a stand, her eyes melting to cat-like feral ferocity. Innocent people are dying! ALL BECAUSE OF ME! Nothing has changed! I'm still incapable of protecting anyone! I'm still making things WORSE!

Like a swirl of dense sick fog, spiritual pressure mysteriously conjured itself and pressed itself into her lungs. With each roaring intake of breath, she could taste a power unlike any she'd wielded before. Her mind dissolved to animal impulse, like a twisted black shadow. One simmering step led her enraged, to stand before the struggling Hollow whom was shapeshifting but still claw-stuck.

Aw it's okay little snack~! I'll be out of this momentarily and put you out of your misery! I'm sorry I can't eat your little friend either. He's too weak to offer any good flavor! But it seems you've got a bit more flavor now! HEHEHEH! I can't wa-!

SHIRK! In a blink of an eye, both of its arms hovered in red rain…unattached to its body. Shadows covered a bowed face of a swordless girl. "You. Are. Done for." A sinister tone whispered. "You shall not. Be forgiven of sin. You will be obliterated. The Hollow wailed in pain. Y-You little bitch! What did you do to me! You don't even have a sword! SHINNGG! SHING SHING SHINGGG SHING SHINGG! Without another word the Hollow became a dozen lit up pieces, shattered glass that disappeared in a vibrant shrieking explosion. Then, almost emotionless, with Hollow's blood all over her body and under her nails, she cut away the claws and placed a gentle hand over a critical wound on a dying man. She narrowed her eyes, her terrible cat-like eyes and…plunged her hands deeper into his body as he screamed.

"What the hell was that!" Renji's pulse quickened as an explosion nearby rattled the rooftops his group was dashing upon. "Was that a Hollow?"

"No…" Byakuya blinked with private puzzlement. "That almost felt…like an Arrancar."

Kenny and Yachiru gleefully sprung further ahead. "Now that's more like it!"

Debris settled around the site of chaos, revealing a weeping young woman and three children around a fallen form in a pool of blood.

"Is that her?"Kenpachi pulled out his nameless blade. Byakuya shook his head. "Honestly. Captains should be able to tell the difference between a human and those living in the Soul Society."

"Grah! Then where did she run off to now! I hate chasing it's too boring!" The insane-looking man retorted.

"I can't feel her spiritual pressure anymore." Renji scratched the back of his head.

"What is going on!" Mariella swung her head at the new intruders. "Please! Please help us! Thomas! Oh Thomas!"

Renji looked at his captain. "What language is that? What is she saying? Is that…English?" Noting the shabby kimonos, Renji felt a pang in his heart. These people had the same upbringing he did. "Hang on I'm going to check this out." As he neared the group, he fell silent. The man they were clustered around…had weird green vines coming out of a hole in his arm and above his heart. "What the hell." The vines were alive, twisting themselves into tissue-esque knots in his wounds, slithering in his insides and blood like maggots or snakes. The groups wails grew louder. "THOMAS!"

"Ken-chan~!" Yachiru sang out from behind him. "I found a clue! Lookie look! It's her kimono~ Looks like she was here right Kenny? Bya-Bya?~"

Byakuya and Kenpachi were too hung up watching the vines writhing around. Kenny rested his sword on his shoulder. "This girl must be one helluva human." His canines revealed as he curled back his lips in delight. "I'm getting excited again."

"Renji." Byakuya beckoned his lieutenant over. "Summon the closest Squad Four member you can find to examine this man." Renji nodded, still feeling nauseated as his ears rang with the squirming sound of the vines inside the man's body.

"Damn that girl really is a monster." He sighed. "Oh Rukia what can I do…? You're going to dislike me either way? You always get too involved with humans…and you forget your duties with your heart, though you still claim to know them well."

Chad awoke with a start, causing Scamper to fall off the bed in surprise. Chad's heart was pounding like he'd ran a thousand miles and his necklace began to burn into his flesh, much like it had when she had touched it. Gasping in breath heavily, he shoved his sheets aside, tossed on some clothes and ran. Only when he reached the demolished house with the white picket fence down the street did he stop. "Something's wrong with me…" He gasped, touching the metal on his neck. "Something's seriously wrong with me…" Why did I come here? Without a though he had let his legs carry him to Sayomi's house. No one from Soul Society could come and fix the tragic state it was in. On an impulse Chad slipped behind the police caution tape, locals blamed the destruction on a small tornado. Lamest excuse ever.

He went to the one remaining wall, and touched the outlines of where a picture had been. "I'm so confused."

Suddenly a chill ran down his spine. "A Hollow…" He looked behind the wall and rubble as he could hear its shriek. It was a normal old Hollow, too close to innocent people. Right as he was about to dart out and give it a good punch to the head…something incredible happened.

"Get outta my town!" FWAMM! Chad's eyes widened in bewilderment. "Keigo, Mizuiro back me up!" FWAMM FWAM FFWAAMM! "But Tatsuki! You don't need any help!" "Yeah you weirdo monster!" They had been hiding powers all this time?

Somewhere on the run in the fray, Sayomi curled her lips into a dark smirk. Kalaki was back and slowly taking rein. Airianah grinned. That's more like it. To be a real Nature Shinigami you need to be able to take a life.

"It's not what I want. And you will not win." She managed to choke out in reply. Blood dripped from her hands, splattered in crimson upon her innocent visage. Things didn't match up. Things didn't settle well in her churning stomach. She needed to wash off her nauseating hands. "You think you've won here. But what I did is not what you're thinking. You've gotten too cocky Kalaki. Arianah."

UGH! Dang I took a major risk intro-ing a lot of new characters. But they were minor and necessary. So whatever. This chapter was too eh. I'll have to do better! Look ppl I'm trying to limit details cus ppl keep saying they grow tired of reading cus there…ARE TOO MANY WORDS. I can understand that. But seriously. If you are just gonna skim-read…it's a prideflick to me that you are gonna read meh at all! *sobs* My style is strange cus I enjoy writing to where you get a better feel of wassup rather than just dialogue. But yea I still understand where yall comin from so I'll try to sharpen my skills~! Eh oh well whatevers~ this is too fun to give up! And it's all a learning experience/experiment for my real story ahahah~ SO FUN FUN! Kenny is hard to write as! And yeasss I had to put ma name in there lawl~!

R&R~! I take your comments well, and believe me I enjoy any sort of pulse for my efforts~ Though it's way too fun to give up~ Respect word PEACE LALALLALALLALALAL~!

Me: Omg I jest ranted! I can't do thats!

Kon: WHY THE HELL AM I NOT SHOWING UP!

Me: Patience! Orale!

Chad: !

Kon: ! AW CRAP! *dashes away*

Me: Follow him Chad-chan! FOLLOW YOUR HEARTT! (insert Titanic song here)

Edward Elric: WHAT IS THE SECRET TO YOUR TALLNESS! HEY COME BACK HERE TALL GUY!

Me: Jest drink your milk twerp.

Edward: Speak for yourself. *compares height. Im still taller* DAMN YOU.

YEAS. Finished FMA…LOVED IT! AND PLEASE SUPPORT DEE!