"Aww, man." Kon, once again in custody of Ichigo's body, rested his arms on the windowsill and stared gloomily out at the streets of Karakura town. Somewhere out there, Ichigo was with Rukia, fighting Hollows. They always left Kon behind when they did this, saying they needed him to protect Ichigo's family. Yeah right, the mod-soul thought sulkily. That Yuzu doesn't need anyone to protect her. She'd pull out a needle and a bolt of lace and any sensible Hollow would run screaming. He shuddered, remembering the hell he himself had gone through.

And then the shudder changed. A Hollow came into Kon's awareness, and it was heading straight toward Ichigo's house. Kon's first instinct was to wail in terror – WHERE IS THAT IDIOT ICHIGO WHEN YOU NEED HIM? – but he quickly recovered himself. He was a mod soul, designed for Hollow combat; why would he need that idiot Ichigo? Besides, that Hollow might just run by – no guarantee it would attack.

Although...Kon began to chuckle evilly. He didn't have to let the Hollow run by. What would Ichigo's face look like when he found out Kon defeated the Hollow threatening the Kurosaki family? Kon basked in the imagined expression. And Rukia! She would proclaim how strong and cool he was, and how he was so much more awesome than Ichigo, and she would take him into her arms and press his head against her small but perfect bosom and...

It was decided! He would defeat the awful Hollow threatening Ichigo's family! He opened the window and jumped lithely out, relishing the wind in his hair and the sensation of falling, knowing that the landing would not hurt him. There was a strange sort of joy in doing what he was designed to do. Kon refused to feel grateful to the shinigami who had created and then tried to destroy him, but he couldn't help thanking some sort of greater power as he ran down the streets, exercizing abilities that had gone too long without challenge. It felt good.

The Hollow was a scant few blocks away, much to Kon's disappointment. It was a pretty low-level Hollow – almost a baby, really – so Kon felt safe in doing a little posturing before making his attack.

"HALT, FOUL DEMON!" He had read that in one of Rukia's manga, and it sounded just as cool in real life as it did in the book! And it made the Hollow stop! Kon decided to speak like that more often. "REPENT YOUR EVIL WAYS, FOR THE GREAT KON-SAMA HAS–"

With a wordless scream, the Hollow dissolved in a burst of blue and white light. I didn't know Hollows vanished like that, Kon thought just before HOW THE HELL DID ICHIGO GET HERE THIS FAST?

But when the Hollow had completely disintegrated, it was not Ichigo who stood on the other side, but some boy with a bow and enormous spiritual power. Kon quailed for a moment before regaining his bravado.

"Who the hell are you?" he snapped, pointing an accusing finger at the boy, who frowned with confusion.

"Kurosaki?" he asked. SHIT! Kon panicked. HE KNOWS ICHIGO! Quickly the mod soul adopted his Ichigo persona.

"Hrmph." Okay, so he was still working on it.

Kon fought back nervous twitching as the boy advanced forward, frowning thoughtfully.

"No," he said, studying Kon. "You're not Kurosaki. Your reiatsu is completely different."

All right, the game was up. Kon abandoned pretense in favor of information.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked again.

The boy gave a haughty huff and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Ishida Uryuu," he said coldly. "A Quincy."

Quincy? Where had Kon heard that word before? Was it a new gang in town? You usually didn't see gang members fighting alone, though. What if he was part of the Yakuza? Maybe "Quincy" was code for ultra-super-secret assassin! What if they had sent this Ishida person to assassinate HIM? "That's what always happened in the movies!)

While Kon panicked, Ishida looked calmly into the distance.

"Another comes," he said, and readied his bow.

"ANOTHER ASSASSIN?" Kon was just about to flee for his life when he too sensed the approach of another Hollow. This Hollow was much stronger than the other monster, strong enough to worry Kon. The mod-soul knew he could take it, but it would be a challenge. The creature must have been drawn in by the scent of Ishida's power. Kon cursed their senses and thanked that nameless deity that he had been designed not to attract Hollow attention. He glanced over at Ishida, wondering how the boy could remain so cold and calm. What's a Quincy? He wondered again, his earlier fancies cast aside.

And as the Hollow came into view and Ishida drew his arrow, Kon remembered.

"So that's what a Quincy is," Rukia had said.

"Nee-chan?" Kon asked curiously.

"A human who can fight Hollows," she explained. "A human who destroys them."

Destroy. Kon knew what that word meant. No purification, no forgiveness, no second chance at life. Your existence simply vanished, like it never was.

"No," Kon whispered, watching Ishida pull back his arrow with horror. "NO!"

He was running, but there was no thrill, only panicked resolution. Ishida let loose the arrow, its motion through the air seeming slow to Kon. He had to catch it, had to stop it, had to save the soul. He was running, racing, leaping into the air, kicking with all his strength. He cried out in pain and fell to the ground with a heavy, awkward thud, clutching his injured foot.

But he had deflected the arrow.

"What are you doing?" he heard Ishida yell through a haze of pain. The Hollow was still coming, closer and closer. Kon had to get to his feet, had to defeat it before Ishida could destroy it.

"I...won't let...you des...destroy it," he said thickly, painfully pulling himself to his feet. He could barely stand on the one foot – Ichigo would kill him for that later – but he forced himself to cope.

"It's coming here to kill us both!" Ishida snapped.

"It's still a person!" Kon shot back. "There's still a soul inside!" He watched Ishida raise his bow, the boy obviously unimpressed with his argument. "It's a PERSON!" Kon shouted again, appalled by the Quincy's callousness.

"Stand aside," Ishida said, "Or you'll get destroyed too."

Eyes going wide with terror, Kon nonetheless stood his ground.

"Hollows are meant to be purified," he said stubbornly, "not destroyed."

"With your foot, the Hollow would kill you before you could even kick it," Ishida pointed out coldly. Kon knew that the Quincy was right, but he refused to back down. "Stand aside," Ishida repeated.

"No," Kon said. "I won't let you destroy a soul. Existence isn't yours to control!"

The Hollow drew closer.

"Stand aside," Ishida repeated once again.

"No."

"Stand aside!" A note of panic entered the boy's voice.

"No."

"STAND ASIDE!"

"NO!"

Cursing, Ishida pointed his bow into the air and let the arrow fly. Kon followed its path, wondering what the boy had done, and saw that its trajectory led straight down to the Hollow. "NO!" he shouted and tried to run, to intercept the weapon, but his injured foot sent him crashing to the ground. Ignoring pain and instinct, he tried to crawl forward, to somehow stop the arrow. But it hit, and all Kon could do was watch as the Hollow dissolved, ever to be seen again in this world or the next. He watched the dust settle and disappear, and felt like crying. He heard footsteps as Ishida approached, stopping by his side, but he couldn't look away from where the Hollow had been.

"As we give, so we receive," Ishida said softly.

Kon clenched his fists, filled with bitter anger.

"I sure as hell hope this is what you're gonna get," he snapped fiercely. He didn't look at Ishida, but he could feel the boy tense, and felt a brief moment of bitter satisfaction.

And then the Quincy was walking away without saying another word. Kon thanked the heavens for it, finally allowing a few tears to fall. His foot was pure agony, and he knew there was no way he was walking back home on it. He'd either have to crawl or somehow fashion himself a crutch...or pray that Ichigo and Rukia found him. None of those options sounded appealing. Oh well, he could figure something out later. For now he was content to lie on the ground like a puddle of agonized goo and contemplate all the different ways he could make Ishida pay.