A/N: Yup, I reedited it again. *dopey face* hehehe…Anyways:

'Zanpakuto/Onikoroshi speaking (in wielder's mind)'

'Person thinking.'

Signed,

-Oten

Edited 6/11/12

'Confusion of Theory' Arc

Shatter

An eerie silence overcame the huge village of the Kuchiki, an adopted noblewoman moved silently around at a time her brother and head of the Kuchiki Clan, Byakuya Kuchiki, would call and 'unholy hour'. It was not because the fact that the time she was out and about was very late, it was the because of the numerous amount of demons that struck around this time of night. Though, this was very true. In the Rungokai, werewolves, vampires, succubus, witches and an incalculable amount of other vile beasts terrorized the place (they were all considered demons, no matter their race. Their formal names are Akumas). Plenty were reported to even snatch innocent children in the broad of day's light. Honestly, it was like living a horror movie.

Rukia looked around watchfully; she was on a mission from the Akuma Sureiyā (Demon Slayer) Society. The Akuma Sureiyā Society was a large civilization of gifted souls and their job was to protect people from Akumas, slaying Akumas, and figure out a way to get rid of the entire Akumas race. A soft breeze whistled by making the ends of her hair (Back length in this story) tickle against her sides. Of course Rukia knew about the dangers of the night, therefore she kept her Onikoroshi no ken (Sword for Demon Slaying, commonly known as Onikoroshi) on the side of hip.

Rukia sighed. She was assigned to District 80 of the Rungokai, the vilest district of them all. It was the closest to Yami no Mori (Forest of Darkness). Yami no Mori is a vast forest where most of the Akumas resided. Most of the place was anarchy, but there were some areas that were beginning to civilize it. Anyways, the Soutaichou, Head Captain Yamamoto Genryusai, had instructed both herself and Ukitake-taichou to execute a group of surly, cocky Akumas that have been causing mass destruction. But unluckily, Ukitake-taichou had gotten sick, and it was up to his trustworthy lieutenant to finish the mission without his help. And that's why she found herself bored and waiting for that particular group of Akumas.

She looked up into the night sky and at the thousands—no-billions of stars that speckled across the sky. It was what she did sometimes. She wondered if there was truly a Heaven beyond this hellish place. This world that they lived in was the area between Heaven and Hell, yet not the World of the Living; everyone here had already died. Trying to find balance in such a place, sometimes it seemed nearly impossible.

A loud growling noise sounded from behind her.

'Shit.'

She glanced over her shoulder, unsheathing her Onikoroshi. There, she spotted three broad-shouldered Werewolf Akumas. Her breath hitched. Fuck, of course she always got stuck with the strongest race of Akumas! And there were three of them in their group. One of them had ragged, black fur, the other had dark brown fur and the last had short, spiky gray fur. The biggest one, the one with black fur, stepped forward, dipping his head and turning it slightly in a mocking manner. Rukia's hand clutched the hilt of her sword, ready to draw it if needed.

"Well, well, well—looks like we've found an Akuma Sureiyā girl. How interestin'." he sang. She felt bile rise in the back of her throat. A chorus of snickers ran through the air, causing Rukia to cringe. Their breath smelled of old blood.

"I suggest you return back to Yami no Mori for good, or else I will have no other choice than to kill all of you." She made her words clear by drawing out her katana, letting the blade rest at her side.

"Oh, what the hell do you plan on doing with that, Akuma Sureiyā girl?" this time, the gray one spoke. His voice was raspy and high-pitched; it reminded her of someone striking the wrong cords on a violin.

"My name is Kuchiki Rukia. I am lieutenant of the 13th Division. If you leave now, I won't slay you."

The laughter started up again, the smell of blood filling the air once more. Rukia's features twisted into an irritated frown, her teeth bared enough to reveal pearly white teeth. She was tired of giving out warnings; she ordered to slaughter them anyways. Without as much as a cautionary—not even a twitch of the eye—Rukia leapt and slashed her katana through the shoulder of the gray one, severing many important blood vessels, veins and muscles. He would die by sunrise. Black blood sprayed into the air as the raspy-voiced Akuma fell to the ground.

"Y...you bitch!" he screeched in outrage, his voice hoarse and fur quickly becoming soaked with blood from the wound. There was a bloodcurdling cry as the only female Werewolf—the brown one—rushed over to her fallen comrade. Rukia's heart suddenly felt constricted; they acted almost human-like, almost like they were just any other Akuma Sureiyā or human-soul grieving over a lost friend. She mentally shook her head. That wouldn't be right, they were Akumas, and Akumas were evil and needed to be killed.

The ebony one finally jumped into the battle, recklessly leaping at Rukia. The raven-head dodged with much ease, seeing that the Akuma had little to no battle skills. The female Akuma seemed shocked as she skidded and rolled across the ground from her recent slip up. She shakily stood to her paws, and her ambers eyes were glazed with rage.

"I'll kill you, you filthy Akuma Sureiyā bitch!"

Rukia couldn't help but feel the least bit of sorrow for that Akuma. But yet, it wasn't Rukia's fault that she was assigned to kill them. And a mission is a mission; it must be completed no matter what.

She slanted purple eyes.

"Try me."

The Akuma tried again to charge at Rukia, large black claws outstretched, but the pitiful attack came to no avail. Even though the looming, 6-foot (on hind legs) Akuma was large in size and probably had a lot of brute strength, but she had the slightest battle experience and didn't even know how to handle someone with Rukia's strength. The clumsy female fell to the ground with a thud. The lieutenant seized the chance and pressed her foot firmly on the head of the amber-eyed Akuma. She showed no mercy digging her sandals into the skull of the woman, her cries and pleas meant absolutely nothing as she prepared to end her miserable life.

In the next instant, she found vision facing skyward, directly towards the sky—she was laying on her back on the ground. Her vision was overall blurry from the impact and her mind was muddled. The wind was knocked out of her lungs, so she gasped desperately for air. The black furred Werewolf stood over her, his lips drawn back in a snarl presenting massive, sharp teeth that reminded Rukia of tiny swords aligned in two rows.

"What makes ya' think ya' can kill my friends, bitch?"

A rough paw wrapped itself firmly around Kuchiki's pale neck, which was not a good combination considering she was still recovering from the blow.

Rukia's hands scraped roughly against his paw, but he didn't budge.

"I can't wait to suck the soul right out'uh yer' fuckin' body! I'll make ya' pay, ya' stupid Sureiyā girl! I'll fuckin' kill ya'! I'll rip ya' to fuckin' shreds!"

She tried desperately to move her neck, the stench of blood made her want to hurl. Her face took on a bluish hue.

"When I'm done with ya', der' won' be nothin' left but fuckin' blo—"

The weight was suddenly lifted off of her. She sucked in as much air as her lungs could take in, panting heavily, her hair filled with dirt and grime. She rolled over onto her side upon hearing a sickening crack somewhere close.

At first, she saw white. With her mind completely blank, her thoughts running amok, she had a struggled figuring out everything that was occurring. Who saved her from such a bitter, slow death? Her hand immediately went to messaging the sore, bruising tissue underneath her chin. With the white being recognized, she thought it was her Captain Ukitake. But after a few more moments, she remembered that Ukitake was ill. Was it Yamamoto-soutaichou? Of course not, Yamamoto would ever waste his time coming over to the 80th district when he thought that Rukia could've handled the situation by herself. Than who was it?

Her vision refocused and Rukia came to the conclusion that whatever she was saved by was not a human-soul. It was a large, broad-shouldered Werewolf Akuma with smooth, short white fur. It had an unusually spiky tail though.

She believed her eyes must've deceived her. Never have she heard of a demon helping out a Demon Slayer! It was impossible. This demon must've had past-issues with the black-furred Werewolf.

The black one screeched as he swayed to his feet and spat blood out of his mouth.

"Da' fuck is wron' wit'cha'? Ya' a fuckin' disgrace to Akumas!"

The tail of the white Werewolf twitched slightly, most likely in annoyance.

"Shut up."

The deep, masculine voice let Rukia know that the Akuma before her was definitely male.

"Why da' hell are ya' helpin' her? She's an Akuma Sureiyā! She kills our people!"

"I said shut up."

"What da' hell are ya' gonna' do 'bout it, ya' fuckin' trait—"

The white Werewolf cut the Akuma short of his sentence by barreling him over, sending him flying again. He moved away from Rukia, walking calmly over to the bloodying Akuma.

"I thought I told you to shut up." his voice remained monotone. She saw him stand above the other Werewolf, his spiky tail still twitching. "You're unbelievably annoying and you talk too much. If you were to shut up, maybe then I wouldn't kill you."

He raked his claws along the stomach of the black furred Werewolf, an agonizing howl piercing her ears. In an instant, the wail ended.

Rukia's stomach bubbled unnaturally. Why the hell did this Akuma save her? She couldn't even begin to try and find an answer. Violet orbs widened as he neared her, black blood stained his claws and chest fur.

'W…what is he going to do?'

She swallowed hard. What would he do? Would he walk past her and ignore her presence? Or would kill her just as he did to that black Akuma? If he could kill his own kind with little care, she was pretty sure he wouldn't mind slaying her.

'Is this how an Akuma feels like?' she thought bitterly. She's always been the one doing the slaughtering, not the one getting slaughtered.

He stopped in front of her; strange apatite (the gemstone apatite) colored eyes staring her down until she felt like nothing more than a mere child underneath the looming shadow of a murderer. She swallowed her fear and shakily spoke, her voice wavering despite her effort.

"W-why did you save me?" Rukia sputtered. The raven-head's mouth felt suddenly dry as his eyes slanted.

"It's simple, Akuma Sureiyā." he spoke. She searched his voice for any type of hatred within it, but all she found was just annoyance as if her very presence was a nuisance. Huh, maybe it was. "I chose to spare your life because it'll be pointless killing someone as weak and blind as you are. There is no glory and pride in that."

He didn't wait for any response. He just walked away, leaving whatever resolve and logic about Akumas shattered.

The next morning the scene of last night was still vivid, as if Rukia were watching it at the very moment.

"I chose to spare your life because it'll be pointless killing someone as weak and blind as you are. There is no glory and pride in that."

All her life she's been taught that Akumas of all sort had no morals as to who they would kill. Either it be their kind, human-souls, Akuma Sureiyās—the possibilities were endless, they were known to kill anybody for their greed. But yet this one Akuma spoke of "pride and glory", two words she was sure they had no understanding of. She clutched soft raven hair, threatening to pull them out in frustration.

'I need to calm down.' she thought, still rubbing that sore spot on her throat.

Rukia sighed exhaustedly and began filling out the report for the previous day. Even though she was supposed to write down every single detail of her mission, she couldn't have the Akuma Sureiyā Society suspicious because she was helped out by an Akuma.

Ukitake-taichou was still ill, but he was getting better, she was told by Sentarou and Kiyone, the 6th and 5th division lieutenants (previously 3rd seats of the 13th Division), that he would be released from the healing ward in a matter of days. Until then, she would have to do twice the usual load of paperwork. Rukia was pretty much drained from so much that happened in one night, and killing her hands with all of that writing would do her no good, so she got up and walked outside of the 13th Division's office.

Rukia took in a deep breath of air, her nerves calming down. It was relatively quiet around her division, just the few small scuffles and shuffles from the passing subordinates was heard and soft howling of the wind brushing past her ears made Rukia momentarily fill with bliss. Only if life was always this peaceful—

"OI! OI! Rukia! Oi, Rukia!"

—but sadly, it's not and it's filled with idiotic barbarians with brains the size of a pea.

"OI! RUKIA! Rukiaaaa—"

His calls were responded with a kick in the face.

"Damn it, Ichigo! Don't you know when to shut up?" Rukia hissed, her eyes twitching with irritation. The strawberry, 5th Division taichou quickly got up from the ground, rubbing his nose and wiping blood from his nostrils.

"What the hell was that for?"

"I was enjoying the peace while I had it, idiot. Now what do you want?"

He picked himself off of the ground and dusted off his uniform.

"I came here to tell you that Renji's on a mission the Living World and he bought you—" he pulled something out of his sleeve. "—this."

In Ichigo's hand was a limited edition Christmas Chappy. They didn't even have those in Seireitei! She was looking for them all month, but there were none in stores.

Rukia's eyes went big in awe.

"That's a Chappy bunny!"

Ichigo brought the tiny, plush bunny to his face.

"Oh, so that's what it was! I thought it was a mix between some cat…dog…thing."

Rukia puffed her cheeks out in frustration.

"It's not a cat or dog! Do you see that?" she pointed to the blue cloth around its neck. "That's a scarf. Cats and dogs don't wear scarfs."

The strawberry taichou looked at her in disbelief.

"You idiot, bunny's don't wear scarves either!"

"Yes they do!"

"No, they don't, Rukia."

"Yes they do!"

"No they don't!"

She kicked him in the face for the second time. The moment he hit the floor, she seized the bunny and walked away from her division, making sure to step on Ichigo on the way out.

On the way to the way Kuchiki estate, she passed by Matsumoto, Captain of the 10th Division. She looked pretty busy, so Rukia didn't do anything to disturb her. After all, she wasn't Ichigo.

The moment Rukia made it to the Kuchiki Estate, she headed towards the libraries and documents. She flipped through the pages of a large book in the Kuchiki Estates Library on Akuma History. They seemed to tell everything else about Akumas besides the possibility of them ever saving the life of an Akuma Sureiyā. It was just murder, slaughter, and slaying. She pursed her lips together and scanned over the map of Yami no Mori. Yami no Mori was indeed very large. The border wen all the way around the dark forest for miles on end. At the very edge of Yami no Mori were a few islands that were close the main body, but still separated. There were semi-civilized areas, like a very big Village near the edge of Yami no Mori called Kurai Mura (Dark Village). In the center of Yami no Mori was a long mountain range called Shadou Kumoyama (Shadow Cloud Mountain), and off to the side by another few miles was a lengthy sized river that crossed straight through Yami no Mori called Kuro Fōku kawa (Black Fork River).

She was about to read on when she heard the shoji door slide open. She turned to see her Nii-sama standing at the door of the library looking at her with mild confusion.

"What are you doing here?"

Rukia closed the book.

"I was just catching up on some reading, Nii-sama." she wasn't exactly lying, though not fully telling the truth.

He gave acknowledgment.

"You may continue. I just was wondering where you were. I expect to see you during dinner tonight." she nodded her head and watched as he left and continued her studies.

'Damn it! Is there even such thing as a good Akuma?'

It was a week after the incident—still, no sign of the Werewolf. Actually, it had been awfully silent since she had seen the Werewolf. No type of Akuma had been reported anywhere. It was a good thing, it lowered paperwork and left more people safe, but it was beyond the word suspicious. Rukia opened her eyes once more and stared into the darkness of her room.

'Maybe that white-haired Werewolf had something to do with it?'

The thought didn't seem as irrational as she would've once believed. Maybe he was out there in Yami no Mori slaying his own kind? Or was he the mastermind behind this strange activity? Did he even have anything to do with what was going on? Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, Rukia would never know. She turned on her side. Sleep wasn't coming to her. She replayed the scene over and over in her head. An Akuma helping Akuma Sureiyās? Even the Akuma she was battling seemed pretty appalled, so the whole "saving you natural enemies" must've not been popular amongst the demons.

She flipped over to other side of her bed, fluffing her pillow. Ichigo had told her about a human trick where they counted imaginary sheep until they dozed off. It seemed pretty ridiculous and odd to try and count things that aren't real, but a lot of human customs were odd.

She started counting in her head. She imagined little black sheep with pure white wool. The relaxing imagery didn't last long. By the time she counted to five sheep, they quickly started melding into large, vicious Werewolves. Their pure color changed from a cloud-white to a raggedy black, brown and silver color. But the last sheep remained white. Even so, it still changed into a giant Werewolf.

Rukia shook her head. She found herself unconsciously replaying that scene again. She had to catch up on sleep—she had no time for things like this.

White fur ruffled softly in the night wind. Of course, tonight was quiet—there was always silence in the night. Especially in Yami no Mori. High in the mountains—Shadou Kumoyama (Black Cloud Mountain)—he, Toshiro Hitsugaya, sat. The mountains were always cooler than the ground level, but even with that being said, he didn't like climbing all the way up the rugged, steep mountain. It hurt his pads far too much. His mind wandered on that one Sureiyā girl for the umpteenth time that week.

The day he happened to save the Akuma Sureiyā girl it had been a Full Moon. On every Full Moon (Mangetsu), Werewolves took on their true form (formally known as Getsumen Roshutsu, Exposing Lunar) regardless if the Werewolf wanted it or not. The average Getsumen Roshutsu Werewolf would take on a larger body—the size varying on the Akuma—which resembled to a massive wolf with enhanced features that was fit for fighting and shredding. On New Moons (Shingetsu) the Werewolf would take on the form of a human-soul (a human-soul is regular soul with no special powers or abilities. This form is called Karada Nagashite, Shedding Body). But of course the form was only physical; the Akuma would keep whatever natural powers (besides abilities that had to be activated during the Mangetsu, e.g. metal claws) they had. Otherwise, on any other day, they were just Werewolves, the form mixed between the Shingetsu and the Mangetsu. They called this period of time between the Man'nakana Tentai (Middle Heavenly Body).

Though, in many folk tales the Werewolf cycle was all fucked up. Almost everything regarding the Werewolf was pretty much false in the Human World (called Living World by the Akuma Sureiyā). They often described the Werewolf as an ugly creature either forever trapped in the Getsumen Roshutsu stage or a Werewolf stuck in Karada Nagashite and turning into a full Werewolf on full moons. It was irritating.

The time in the month, Toshiro could be clearly seen as a Werewolf adolescent, even though he is 504 years of age. Short in height, childish like face features—the hints leading up his age could go on forever. Though there were some misleading aspects about him that often led his observers' mind disarrayed. One of those (besides his white hair), the main one, was his eyes. It wasn't the eyes itself, the big, aquarium eyes wouldn't usually be the way to describe someone very mature and frightening. It was the emotions that could be seen through his eyes. It showed melancholy, bitterness, uncaringness and if you were unlucky enough to catch his eyes in the right lighting, you would see a flicker of hatred, disgust and bloodlust. Those very sentiments made him fearless but feared by others. That was the reason why many strayed away from him and why he wasn't described as a child.

The short male leaned his back against the black bark of the tree, one leg hanging off of the sturdy branch while his tail hung, twitching and ruffling in the winter wind. He closed his eyes, though very aware of his surroundings, and enjoyed the relaxing silence and the soft hum of the crickets. His ears were straight up, moving slightly towards the direction of each sound that was nearby.

"Neh, Toshiro!"

A tick formed at the side of his head. Well, the silence was great while it lasted.

"I said, Toshiroooo!"

"Prince Hitsugaya! Prince Hitsugaya!"

"What the hell do you guys want?" he hissed, his tail lashing madly to and fro.

Before him were the two most annoying creatures that could possibly be created.

"What are you doing here, you hardly come and visit."

"I wasn't visiting you idiots. I have other things to do that doesn't regard the likes of you two."

These bothersome females went by the name of Hsariku and Ingu Shai. They were two, dark skinned, Werewolf fraternal twins. The both of them had two beauty marks—one above the right eye and one below the left cheek—and knee-length hair. They were both lanky and had round faces and long eyelashes, but that was beside the point. They only physical difference they had was there hair and eye color, Ingu's hair and fur was black and her eyes were green while Hsariku's eyes were a light purple and her fur and hair was white. As much things they had in common, they were both very different, well in personalities. Ingu was much quieter, thoughtful and clueless than her twin. Not to mention she was very smart—too smart for her own good—and naïve. Hsariku was very loud, brash and spunky. Also, she thought much like a pervert—that Toshiro had to learn from experience.

Hsariku raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? It's not like you do much Toshiro, being Prince of Yami no Mori and all."

Yes, what you hear is true. Toshiro Hitsugaya, the Prince of Yami no Mori. Father? King Sosuke Aizen. Mother? Ex-Queen Orihime Aizen. His mother is dead, and he hates the living shit out of his father. Why? Because his father murdered his "wife" for some reason he had yet to figure out. Toshiro's original name is Toshiro Aizen, but before his mother died she had given him the different surname of "Hitsugaya".

"Shut it, woman."

Her twin tapped her chin.

"Prince Hitsugaya," Ingu began. "Did anything interesting occur lately regarding you and the Akuma Sureiyā Society?"

He thought of that Akuma Sureiyā girl. Besides that, he's had almost nothing to do with that damned Akuma Sureiyā Society.

"No." Hitsugaya lied, looking out into the crescent moon.

Ingu puckered her lips.

"Are you sure? I can detect a trace of Akuma Sureiyā reiatsu on your fur."

Ah, let it be Ingu to be able to track little things from over a period of time. She was too observant sometimes. Hitsugaya folded his arms.

"I'm sure. Maybe your senses are acting up."

At the very instant the words left his mouth, the oh so painfully naïve Ingu began panicking in a way that may have been amusing to others. She grabbed her long raven hair and pulled it, her green eyes wide and filled with horror. She went into a fit of pantomiming and wheezing. She finally began to speak.

"No! No! This cannot be happening! I'm going to have to do another lobotomy on myself and run more tests! And then I'll have to postpone my observations on my autotroph and—araghh!"

Toshiro held a blank expression on his face. She was truly too smart for her own good and she was too damned naïve. The thought that he was possibly lying never seemed to cross her mind—not once—as she began hyperventilating.

"I'm too deviant from my scientific standards! My knowledge is deficit! I must fix this!" she paused for a moment. "I must calm down or else I'll give myself an epistaxis (nosebleed)! Or I can—" she stopped talking abruptly.

Hsariku stared at her twin in annoyance as if they went through this every day.

"What the hell...Ingu! You idiot!"

She immediately regained consciousness.

"No! I just had syncope (blackout)!" Ingu whined.

Hsariku slapped her hand over his sister's mouth.

"Sorr' 'bout that prince. This idiot is really annoying. I'm taking her home."

The white haired Akuma slung her twin over her shoulder, walking away with her sister babbling away. He should've known better than to come to the mountain, this was the place where those idiots lived.

Tiny feet landed gracefully on the same tree branch Toshiro was posted on.

"They're strange."

"Of course they are."

The only person who seemed somewhat normal out of the few people he knew.

"So for how long were you planning on hiding?"

"You detected me?"

"Yes." He responded in monotone. "It wasn't that hard to detect your reiatsu."

The figure beside him was nothing more than a silhouette in the moonlight, but he knew the face of this woman far too well for him to forget. Her name was Yamiru Shuinjei (Yah-meer-oo Shoo-een-jee). She was a Dwarf Akuma, a rare race of long-living dwarfs with no natural ability besides their life span. Otherwise they were just as weak as human-souls. Though, Yamiru managed to gain a Zanpakuto and learn its name and Shikai, because of this inability she didn't have Bankai yet. Yamiru took on the body of a young female, very young, many people estimated her around the age of five or six, with short, black, jaw-length hair and pale skin that often made her look sick when she was perfectly healthy. She had big, deep blue-eyes that held emotions similar to Toshiro's. The only difference was that hers were much more subtle than the aquarium-eyed Werewolf's, seeing that whatever grudge she had must've dimmed over the decades.

"I guess so. I didn't put much effort into it." A silence was her only response.

"You're troubled, aren't you?"

Toshiro rolled his eyes at her question.

"When am I not troubled, woman?"

She chuckled bitterly.

"Of course, Prince."

The tiny female tip-toed near the end of branch silently. Toshiro watched her as she leapt off of the branch, and onto the other until she made it out of his view.

His thoughts wandered back to that pitiful Akuma Sureiyā that was causing him some distress.

'Stupid, weakling, Akuma Sureiya girl.'

A/N: I used a lot of terms in here, so to clear the confusion…

(Note: You don't have to remember them all, just the concept)

Terms

Mangetsu (Full Moon); the end of Werewolf Transformation Cycle when the Werewolf takes on its full form

Getsumen Roshutsu (Exposing Lunar); the (full) form the Werewolf takes on during a full moon

Shingetsu (New Moon); the beginning of the Werewolf Transformation Cycle when the Werewolf takes on the form of a regular human

Human-soul; the soul of a human from the Living/Human World, they are powerless

Karada Nagashite (Shedding Body); the form a Werewolf takes on during new moons, it resembles the soul of a human

Man'nakana Tentai (Middle Heavenly Body); the form Werewolves are most seen in, it is this mix between a Werewolf during a full moon and a new moon

Akuma (Demon); a demon

Akuma Sureiyā (Demon Slayers); Demon slayers

Akuma Sureiyā Society; The demon slayer's society

Zanpakuto; the sword that demons use (works like regular Zanpakuto from original Bleach series)

Onikoroshi (Sword for Demon Slaying); the sword that demon slayers use (Works like regular Zanpakuto from leach series except it has some enhancements to kill demons faster)

Yami no Mori (Forest of Darkness); the place where most demons live

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