Survivor: Hueco Mundo

(A/N: Please vote for your favorite character on my profile page... the most popular character ends up getting double their winnings at the end of the show.)

Kisuke Urahara is standing in his training grounds in front of 20 characters, all waiting for him to speak.

"Welcome to Survivor: Hueco Mundo," Urahara announces. "These 20 characters from the Soul Society and the world of the living are about to embark on a trip to the desolate land of Hueco Mundo. They will be forced to work together while battling the elements and each other. They must learn to adapt or they will be voted out. In the end, only one will remain to claim the ultimate prize. 39 days, 20 characters, 1 survivor!"

The Survivor theme song "Ancient Voices" plays, while showing the 20 characters of the series, who are:

Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto

Soi Fon

Retsu Unohana

Byakuya Kuchiki

Sajin Komamura

Kyoraku Shunsui

Toshiro Hitsugaya

Kenpachi Zaraki

Mayuri Kurotsuchi

Jushiro Ukitake

Ichigo Kurosaki

Orihime Inoue

Rukia Kuchiki

Renji Abarai

Uryu Ishida

Yasatora "Chad" Sado

Ganju Shiba

Tatsuki Arisawa

Hanataro Yamada

Yoruichi Shihoin

(Note: When a character's words appear in italics, it is a confessional; this is when a character speaks directly to the camera away from all other characters, and later in the day, not actually at the time they are shown. They are edited in to give background information on what the characters are thinking.)

Chapter 1

They're My Little Puppets

Day 1

The 20 players have followed Urahara into Hueco Mundo, where they now stand in the desert.

"Welcome to Survivor: Hueco Mundo – Captains vs. Ryoka," Urahara explains. "We have gathered the 10 captains loyal to the Soul Society, along with 10 people who in some way or another were involved in the rescue of Rukia Kuchiki from execution. The Captains tribe will be wearing the white buffs. Take your place over on my right side."

Yamamoto, Soi Fon, Unohana, Byakuya, Komamura, Shunsui, Toshiro, Kenpachi, Mayuri and Ukitake take their buffs and walk to their designated side.

"Now, for the Ryoka tribe. You will take the black buffs and come over here on my left."

Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia, Renji, Uryu, Chad, Ganju, Tatsuki, Hanataro and Yoruichi grab their buffs and go over to the other side of Urahara. As Yoruichi comes by, Urahara tries to tickle her chin, but Yoruichi will have none of it.

"Okay, now we have a bunch of boxes of stuff for each tribe, provided courtesy of the Urahara Shop! Everyone out there, come on by the Urahara Shop, in Karakura Town, for all your wants and needs! We have low low prices, and the best variety anywhere! We-"

Yoruichi slaps Urahara across the face. "Get on with it."

"You know, I ought to expel you from the game right now for hitting the host, but since I'm such a nice guy, I'm going to let you continue. Anyway, take the maps that I have given you and find your way to your designated spots in the desert where you will set up camp."

The tribes gather their boxes and head off in opposite directions.

Captains Tribe

(Yamamoto, Soi Fon, Unohana, Byakuya, Komamura, Shunsui, Toshiro, Kenpachi, Mayuri, Ukitake)

The captains arrive at their camp area and begin unloading their things. Inside the boxes are a ton of logs, along with tools. There are also boxes of rice and barrels of water.

"Get to work on building the shelter," Yamamoto commands.

Ukitake and Shunsui go to work on one side, while Komamura and Mayuri go to the other side. Kenpachi throws logs with ease while Byakuya works extremely quietly. They put together a basis for their shelter quickly. However, a heavy wind comes through, and the shelter falls flat on the ground, all the logs coming apart.

"Fools!" Soi Fon cries. "You have to build a good foundation first! Building on top of sand is pure folly!"

Soi Fon and Toshiro begin digging in the sand in order to make a hole big enough to reach solid ground and create a solid foundation.

"A foolish man builds his house on the sand, and it falls with a great crash," Soi Fon mutters. "These people don't know what they are doing."

After building a better foundation, the shelter that the captains put together is able to stand up against the winds.

"Good work," Yamamoto tells the captains. "Now put together a fire pit for us."

Ukitake and Shunsui dig a big pit in the sand, and Kenpachi tosses a bunch of logs into it. Then Yamamoto unleashes his shikai to create a large amount of fire. The other captains wince as Yamamoto lets off his extreme spiritual pressure. The flames from Yamamoto's shikai instantly lights up the logs and creates an enormous fire.

"Are there any blankets?" Toshiro asks.

"No," Unohana replies. "We'll have to sleep in the sand."

"Not the most comfortable setting, but I guess I'll live with it," Toshiro says.

As the captains gather around the fire, they begin to talk amongst themselves about various things going on in the Soul Society. Only Ukitake and Shunsui are concentrating on the game.

"You, me and Old Man Yama, final three," Shunsui tells Ukitake.

"Absolutely," Ukitake responds. "The old guard of the Soul Society will stay strong till the end."

"The most loyal captains will stick together," Shunsui states. "We can get Captains Komamura, Kuchiki and Soi Fon on our side easily."

"Then it will just be a matter of getting rid of the weakest members of our tribe, whoever they may be," Ukitake muses.

Ryoka Tribe

(Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia, Renji, Uryu, Chad, Ganju, Tatsuki, Hanataro, Yoruichi)

Ichigo, Renji, Chad and Ganju are busy at work putting together their shelter. As usual, Ichigo and Renji are arguing.

"Don't get in my way!" Ichigo shouts. "Let me put these logs over here!"

"Would you shut up?" Renji replies. "I know exactly what I'm doing!"

"You always think you know exactly what to do, but you don't!" Ichigo exclaims.

"I think you're the one who's mistaken!" Renji responds.

Rukia steps in to break up the fight.

"Come on, if we don't work together, we're going to have little chance," Rukia states. "We're going up against captains here. If we act like this in challenges, we'll lose for sure."

"Well, it's his fault!" Renji complains.

"Are you kidding? It's yours!" Ichigo fires back.

"Ichigo and Renji are killing me," Rukia complains. "They may be our strongest physical competitors, but the way they're arguing, it may be best just to vote them out first."

After a few hours, the Ryoka tribe has finally put together a shelter. Yoruichi goes into cat form in order to help dig a pit for her team's fire. As she does, she finds a piece of paper buried in the sand. She puts the paper in her mouth while continuing to dig, until she is finished digging. She then scurries away while Chad and Uryu begin tossing logs into the pit.

"Today while I was digging I found this note in the sand," Yoruichi explains. "It says that it is a clue to a hidden immunity plushie. Later I'm going to have to check this out to see if I can find it."

Yoruichi turns back into her human form while Ganju tosses one of his bombs into the fire pit to light it up.

"Okay, Hanataro, you go boil some water for everyone," Rukia orders.

"Yes, right away!" Hanataro replies.

However, as Hanataro goes over to pour the water into the bowl, he messes up and ends up spilling a whole bunch of the water right into the fire. This not only puts out the fire but also wastes some of the precious water that the tribe was given to start the game.

"Hanataro, what are you doing?" Rukia asks.

"I… um… had a spill…"

"What!" Ganju screams, seeing the fire put out. "You wasted one of my bombs!"

"I'm… I'm… sorry…"

"Hanataro, you idiot!" Rukia yells. "We can't have you wasting our water like this!"

"Hanataro sealed his fate on Day 1," Uryu states. "By wasting our water plus putting out our fire, he's made himself an easy target to get voted out first."

As most of the tribe goes over to fix the problems that Hanataro has caused, Tatsuki and Orihime talk to each other.

"No matter what, we've got to stick together the whole way," Tatsuki tells Orihime.

"Of course!" Orihime replies.

"Our first goal should be to affix ourselves to Ichigo so he has no choice but to keep us around as long as possible," Tatsuki remarks. "Our alliance needs to be anchored with Ichigo with Rukia, Chad and Uryu as firm allies."

"I want to be friends with everybody!"

"Right, but we're going to have to vote people out at some point."

"Awww…"

"Orihime's a great girl, but she doesn't understand the game of Survivor," Tatsuki says. "This game involves voting people out, not just being friends with everyone."

Day 2

Ryoka Tribe

(Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia, Renji, Uryu, Chad, Ganju, Tatsuki, Hanataro, Yoruichi)

Yoruichi gets up early in the morning, pulling out her map and going looking for the hidden immunity plushie.

"I made sure I was up before everyone else, I can take a catnap later," Yoruichi explains. "I followed the map to a small valley in the desert about fifty yards from our camp, and began to dig."

Cat-form Yoruichi digs through the sand, finally coming up on something.

"There I found one of Kisuke's modsouls, Ririn," Yoruichi continues. "There was a note attached explaining that it is an immunity plushie, and how to use it."

Yoruichi, still in cat form, carries Ririn in her mouth back to camp. As she gets near the camp, Hanataro wakes up and sees her.

"So as I was getting toward the camp, Hanataro sees me carrying the plushie," Yoruichi says. "I made sure to scurry away from him so he wouldn't see closely what I was carrying."

"Yoruichi was sure acting strange this morning," Hanataro states. "She was carrying something, but I couldn't see what it was. I guess it's no big deal."

Later in the day, Renji is cooking rice for the tribe, and Ichigo cannot help but start an argument.

"Who said you should be in charge of cooking rice?" Ichigo questions him.

"Rukia, actually," Renji replies with a smirk.

"Who made Rukia the leader around here? That's a pretty lousy choice."

"Excuse me?"

Rukia comes up from behind Ichigo, grabs him by the throat and stares him right in the face.

"So what are you doing around here to help the tribe?" she asks him.

"Uh, I was just, um, going to help pass out the rice," Ichigo replies.

"That's right, now get to it!"

As Ichigo and Renji are forced to work together with the rice, Tatsuki goes up to Rukia.

"Rukia, Orihime and I want you as part of our alliance."

"I'm down with that."

"We need the alliance to be stronger than just us, though."

"Don't worry, I've got Ichigo and Renji with us."

"Oh, that's great!"

"I'm controlling Ichigo and Renji," Rukia states. "They're my little puppets. They're both too scared to stand up to a girl, so they'll do whatever I say."

After Ichigo has passed out the rice to the other tribe members, Uryu finds fault in the rice.

"Ichigo, I don't think you cooked this rice correctly."

"Why are you blaming me? Renji was the one who cooked the rice!"

"I don't trust you, Ichigo. You must have tampered with it in some way."

"What are you talking about?"

Ichigo gets in Uryu's face, and the two continue arguing until Chad steps in and breaks up their argument.

"No reason to argue," he says simply and directly.

Ichigo and Uryu stop their arguing but make faces at each other as they sit down to eat their rice.

"Uryu's a real pain in the butt," Ichigo says. "I wouldn't mind seeing him leave this game early."

Captains Tribe

(Yamamoto, Soi Fon, Unohana, Byakuya, Komamura, Shunsui, Toshiro, Kenpachi, Mayuri, Ukitake)

The proceedings in the Captains Tribe take on a distinct look: Soi Fon, Byakuya, Komamura, Shunsui and Ukitake sitting around Yamamoto and listening to him tell stories, while the others do the work around camp.

"It's easy to tell that I'm on the outs in this tribe from the very beginning," Unohana says. "Just like the way things go in the Soul Society, everyone looks down on Squad 4."

Mayuri is cooking the rice for the tribe, but he decides to do some experimenting. He sprinkles some sand into the rice as he cooks it.

"What good is my time out here if I don't do some research?" Mayuri wonders. "Will rice and sand taste good mixed together?"

He takes some of the rice and samples it.

"Absolutely!"

A little while later, after Mayuri has passed out the rice to his fellow tribe members, they all complain about the way it tastes.

"Captain Kurotsuchi, this rice tastes… odd," Shunsui remarks.

"Yes, there seems to be something strange in it," Ukitake adds.

"Well, if you think you could do better, why don't you cook the rice yourselves?" Mayuri responds.

"This is disgusting! What did you put in this?" Soi Fon complains.

"You don't like it?" Mayuri says. "Then here!"

Mayuri takes the bowl of rice out of Soi Fon's hands and dumps it in her lap.

"Better?"

Soi Fon stands up and slaps Mayuri in the face.

"What are you trying to do, waste our food?"

"Hey, you don't like it anyway, so what's the difference?"

"This is just like you and that bizarre Squad 12 you're running!"

"Without our squad, the entire Soul Society would be hopeless!"

"Actually, it's your squad screwing up that causes all the problems around here!"

"Why, you-"

Shunsui steps in to separate the two arguing captains.

"All right, that's enough, you two," he says. "We'll just have someone else cook our rice."

Mayuri looks offended, but says nothing.

"So who's going to do it?" Shunsui asks.

"Why not you?" Mayuri responds.

"Cooking just isn't my forte."

"I think you're just lazy, that's all!"

After a little bit more arguing, Unohana walks over and makes a suggestion.

"Just let me do it," she comments.

"Fine," Mayuri replies. "But just remember – the Department of Research and Development is still the most important part of the Soul Society!"

"I think Captain Kurotsuchi just cooked his own goose," Soi Fon remarks. "He's put himself on the outs in no time at all. I won't mind being rid of him."

Later that night, while most of the other captains have gone to sleep, Toshiro talks to Kenpachi alone.

"We are in a bad position already," he tells him. "If we don't make a move, they're going to take us out early."

"No problem," Kenpachi replies. "I'll just make myself the leader of the tribe."

"I don't know how that will help-"

"I'm going to announce it right now!"

"Uh, Captain Zaraki, I'm not quite sure that's the right idea…"

"Attention, everyone!" Kenpachi yells. "I'm the new leader of this tribe!"

The other captains slowly wake up.

"Huh?" Shunsui asks.

"I'm your new leader! I'll make the orders around here!"

"I take orders only from Head Captain Yamamoto," Byakuya replies.

"Too bad! I'm the leader and that's that!"

"I have never understood Captain Zaraki, nor will I ever be able to do so," Byakuya states. "It is clear that his presence is a hindrance to this tribe, and that he must go immediately."

Day 3

Ryoka Tribe

(Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia, Renji, Uryu, Chad, Ganju, Tatsuki, Hanataro, Yoruichi)

Ganju wakes up to find a piece of paper placed in a basket outside his team's shelter.

"Hey, guys! Look at this!"

The sleeping Ryoka tribe members angrily roll over as they awaken.

"What is it? Is it worth waking us up like this?" Ichigo asks.

"It's a poem of some sort," Ganju replies. "Should I read it?"

"Go ahead," Renji mumbles.

"Okay!

First you all will dig like foxes

And pick up five gigantic boxes

Then you'll arrange them in a line

So you can say 'immunity is mine.'"

"Wow, is that a bad poem," Uryu comments.

"This morning I got a message about our first immunity challenge," Ganju remarks. "Apparently we're going to have to do something with boxes. I think anything with brute force involved is going to be a big advantage for us, considering we have big guys like myself, Renji and Ichigo."

Captains Tribe

(Yamamoto, Soi Fon, Unohana, Byakuya, Komamura, Shunsui, Toshiro, Kenpachi, Mayuri, Ukitake)

It is afternoon, and the captains are eating rice (cooked by Unohana) while talking about the upcoming challenge.

"The note says it will deal with digging up boxes," Toshiro states.

"I don't like how they stereotyped foxes," Komamura remarks.

"This challenge will be no problem for us! Just let me do all the physical work for the tribe, and we'll win easily!" Kenpachi comments.

"Now for this challenge, all captains must be in unison, otherwise there will be utter failure," Yamamoto states. "It is all a matter of working together as one team."

"This challenge should be little trouble to such a stacked tribe as ours," Shunsui says. "But to make sure, we all gathered around and built up our own morale a bit before heading off for the challenge."

Immunity Challenge

"Come on in, guys!"

Both tribes walk into the immunity challenge area, met by host Kisuke Urahara.

"Welcome to your first immunity challenge. Today you will be playing for this."

Urahara pulls Kon out of his coat and holds the modsoul over his head.

"For the first time, the immunity plushie is up for grabs. Here is how it works. Both tribes have five giant, heavy boxes partially buried in the sand. You will go out in pairs to dig up one box at a time. You will then carry them back here to the starting line. Once all five boxes are back to your start, you will arrange them in a line so that they show the Survivor: Hueco Mundo logo. Make sense?"

"Yes!" most players reply.

"Very well, take your spots, and wait for my go!"

The players set up at the starting line, waiting anxiously for Urahara.

"Going out first for the Captains, Komamura and Byakuya! Going out first for the Ryoka, Renji and Hanataro! Survivors ready? Go!"

The players race out to the first box and begin digging it out. Komamura does a brilliant job at digging and gets his team's box freed first.

"Komamura, making quick work of that first box!"

Renji and Hanataro are able to get their box freed, but when going to pick it up, Hanataro finds that he cannot handle the box.

"What's the matter, Hanataro?" Renji asks.

"I can't budge it!"

"Come on, use some strength!"

"I can't get it!"

While Komamura and Byakuya roll their box back to the starting line, Renji and Hanataro are stuck in place.

"Ukitake and Shunsui out on the course for the Captains! Renji and Hanataro not making any progress!"

"Come on, Renji, help him out some!" Rukia yells.

"This is your fault, Renji!" Ichigo shouts.

Ukitake and Shunsui dig their box out and begin rolling it back to the start, while Renji finally begins to get his box moving.

"Ukitake and Shunsui are back! Now it's Soi Fon and Mayuri out on the course for the Captains! Renji doing all the work himself for the Ryoka!"

By the time Renji finally gets the box back to the start, with no help from Hanataro, Soi Fon and Mayuri are on their way back with the Captains' third box.

"Both tribes back! Now it's Unohana and Kenpachi out there for the Captains, and Ichigo and Tatsuki out for the Ryoka!"

Ichigo and Tatsuki dig quickly, but any time they would have made up is negated by Kenpachi's incredible strength, which he uses to roll his box back very quickly.

"Yamamoto and Toshiro, the final group out for the Captains! Ichigo and Tatsuki are back, now it's Ganju and Yoruichi!"

At this point, the Ryoka finally have managed to match the Captains box-for-box, but it is too late; they are two boxes down.

"Yamamoto and Toshiro back with their final box! Get to work on lining them up correctly!"

Rukia and Uryu run out for the Ryoka, trying desperately to get their team's fourth box and make a dramatic comeback.

"Got to line those boxes up perfectly, or else you're not going to get the logo right!"

"Hurry up!" yells Orihime. "They're struggling! We have a chance!"

Rukia and Uryu roll back their fourth box to the start.

"Orihime and Chad, now out on the course for the Ryoka's fifth box! Can they come back?"

The Captains skillfully roll the boxes around until they figure out exactly what to do. Then they push them together, as Chad and Orihime are on their way back.

"We got it!" Toshiro yells.

"The Captains think they have it… and they do! Captains win immunity!"

The Captains all begin celebrating with each other over their victory. Chad slumps over, exhausted, and disappointed with his team's defeat.

"Congratulations, here is the immunity plushie."

Urahara tosses the immunity plushie to Soi Fon, who squeezes him across her chest.

Oh, Soi Fon! Kon thinks.

"Congratulations, Captains, you can head on back to camp. Ryoka, I have nothing for you but a date with me tonight at Tribal."

Both tribes head on back toward their camps.

"Hanataro was an epic failure today in the challenge," Renji comments. "There's no question he's the weak link in our tribe, and he has to go immediately."

Ryoka Tribe

The tribe arrives back at camp, but no one is talking about who to vote off, except Hanataro. He is going around to every player, asking them who they plan on voting for.

"Who are you voting for, Ganju?"

"I'm voting for you, you pipsqueak! You have done nothing but screw up around here!"

"But I'm useful in other ways…"

"What other ways?"

"I'm trying to think…"

"Just go away!"

Hanataro then begins bugging Uryu.

"So, Uryu, who was at fault most in that challenge?"

"I'd say it was you."

"But didn't Renji do a pretty poor job as well?"

"Renji has nothing to be proud of himself, if that's what you're asking."

"Maybe I do have a chance at surviving this vote, simply by getting people angry at Renji," Hanataro says. "It's my only chance."

Hanataro walks up to Ichigo, who is sitting near Renji.

"Ichigo, wasn't Renji's performance today pretty bad?"

"You're telling me! Renji screwed up bad today!"

"Hey, what are you talking about? I bet you couldn't have done any better, working all by yourself!"

"I guarantee I would have done better!"

"Oh, really?"

Ichigo and Renji get in each other's faces, while Hanataro slips away.

"I've made some noise, now will it be enough?" Hanataro wonders.

Tribal Council

(Ryoka)

The players enter the Tribal Council area, where Urahara awaits them.

"Each of you grab a torch and dip it in the fire. This is part of the ritual of Tribal Council. In this game, fire represents life. Once it is gone, so are you."

The players put their now-lit torches back where they found them.

"Let's talk about how things have gone in camp to start off. There's obviously no water here in the Hueco Mundo desert, so you've got to use that water you were given carefully."

"That's been a problem already," Uryu comments. "Hanataro spilled some of our water."

"It was an accident!" Hanataro protests.

"Hanataro, do you think that could affect your status in this tribe?"

"I'm afraid it may have, but I certainly hope not," Hanataro replies.

"Let's also talk about today's immunity challenge. Renji and Hanataro had a very tough time with that first box, and that got your tribe so far behind that you never came back. Does tonight's vote come down to that?"

"I'd say it does," Ichigo responds. "You have to vote out the dead weight, who's not helping you right now."

"I agree with Ichigo, for once," Renji adds. "And since it wasn't my fault, we know who the dead weight here is."

"Rukia, is tonight's vote going to be totally based on who is the weakest?"

"Absolutely, Kisuke. We aren't taking any risks of breaking apart our team this early on."

"Okay, with that, it is time to vote. Chad, you're up first."

Chad goes to vote.

Ganju goes to vote.

Hanataro goes to vote.

"My only hope is to vote you out," Hanataro says, holding up his vote for Renji.

Ichigo goes to vote.

Orihime goes to vote.

Renji goes to vote.

"You are useless," Renji states, showing his vote for Hanataro.

Rukia goes to vote.

Tatsuki goes to vote.

Uryu goes to vote.

Yoruichi goes to vote.

After Yoruichi comes back from voting, Urahara says, "I'll go tally the votes."

Urahara gathers the votes, then returns to the tribe.

"Once the votes are read, the decision is final, and the person voted off will be asked to return to the world of the living immediately."

He points to a gate on the other side of the Tribal Council area.

"I'll read the votes."

He pulls out the first vote.

"Hanataro."

He opens the second vote.

"Renji."

Renji looks annoyed to see his name.

"Hanataro. Two votes Hanataro, one vote Renji."

Hanataro looks nervous upon seeing his name again.

"Hanataro. That's three votes Hanataro, one vote Renji."

Hanataro starts to look very nervous.

"Hanataro. That's four votes Hanataro, one vote Renji."

The fourth-squad member begins to gather his things.

"Hanataro. Five votes Hanataro, one vote Renji."

Hanataro looks on sadly.

"First person voted out of Survivor: Hueco Mundo, Hanataro Yamada. That is six, and it is enough, no need to reveal the other votes. You need to bring me your torch."

Hanataro gets up from his seat, picks up his torch, and holds it out in front of Urahara.

"Hanataro, the tribe has spoken. It's time for you to go."

Hanataro walks away sadly through the gate to the world of the living.

"This first vote was all about keeping the tribe stronger. Grab your torches, head back to camp, good night."

The players take their torches and walk back towards their camp.

"This game just isn't for me," Hanataro says. "I was clearly overmatched by everyone else in the game. I just couldn't do it. It would have been fun to stay out here a little longer, but I apparently am not cut out for this type of game. I wish all my tribemates the best of luck."

Who voted for whom:

Chad – Hanataro

Ganju – Hanataro

Hanataro – Renji

Ichigo – Hanataro

Orihime – Hanataro

Renji – Hanataro

Rukia – Hanataro

Tatsuki – Hanataro

Uryu – Hanataro

Yoruichi – Hanataro

Scenes from our next episode:

Kenpachi makes a stand as his tribe's leader:

"We just need to show our superiority over the other tribe again," Kenpachi comments. "And as our tribe's leader, I'll easily lead us to victory!"

"Now just wait a minute, who made you our tribe's leader?" Mayuri asks.

"I did, myself!" Kenpachi replies. "Want to challenge me for the spot as tribe leader?"

An unlikely alliance is born:

Unohana looks thoughtful. "Can you keep a secret?" she asks him.

"Sure," Kenpachi replies.

Unohana pulls the modsoul Kurodo out of her captain's coat.

"What's that?"

"This is an immunity plushie. If one of us is in trouble at the vote, we can use it to save ourselves."

And the squabbling continues in the Ryoka tribe:

Ichigo scoops up some sand and tosses it in Ganju's face.

"How do you like it now?"

Ganju fires back with a toss of sand at Ichigo, forcing Rukia to step in to break it up.