Vietvn: I bet you all want to kill me right? LOL! I know, it's been a bajillion years since I last updated and I deeply, DEEPLY, apologize for that. I was stuck with a huge writer's block because I realized that I don't know where I want this to go so for now...I'm kinda following the anime/manga storyline...=\ Except..maybe speeding things up a bit to make things interesting... XD

Thank you to ALL the reviewers and readers so far for this story! Reading reviews from you guys makes me happy but feel bad at the same time cuz I'm stuck and are making you guys wait! DX But I do really appreciate it! ^^

As a small recap to those who might've forgotten what happened previously; Reimei goes back to the vizards to tell them that she does want to go through with the hollowification process (after talking about it with Ichigo) and they knock her out and she goes into battle against her inner hollow in what should be Tsumetai Kaze's realm in her subconscious BUT now that the hollow is there, it messes some things up. Amidst of the battle, Reimei struggles to get the upper hand since all she does is out bested by her hollow self. When all hope is lost on winning this one-sided battle, Reimei obtains her other zanpakuto Tsukuyomi.

Ja Ja! On with it now!

Chapter Twelve: Certified Vizard

A sudden wave of strength and energy overflowed me as I held steady against my hollow's blade. I was calm, but on the other hand, my hollow self was no where near the calm, mocking and overpowering force that now existed in my subconscious. Her eyes widened in surprise and in disbelief. I guess now she finally realizes that she's no longer in control of the outcome. I swiped her away rather easily with a dark burst of energy that resonated from Tsukuyomi's blade, pushing her back. She skidded to a stop, crouched low and glaring daggers at me while gripping her zanpakuto.

"You...!" She seethed, eyes narrowing.

"What of me?" I asked, cocking my head to one side. She straightened herself, still glaring icily at me and promptly demanded.

"That zanpakuto! It's not supposed to exist in this realm! How the hell did you get it?"

"I know just about as much as you do on this matter, not like it matters anyways." I said almost a little cocky. I felt like I could seriously kick ass now, despite the wounds I was also enduring at the moment. I smirked and poised Tsukuyomi's blade to her direction; she only continued to glare at me coldly but nonetheless, raised her blade too.

[cue Bleach OST 3 Nube Negra XD]

"Leer," I let the word flow from my mouth. "Tsukuyomi." Darkness engulfed the zanpakuto and changed it instantly to a katana with the imprinted kanji in the thick blade. The whole landscape that we were standing in also changed; instead of just darkness and snow, a red moon appeared overhead. I saw my hollow self grit her teeth before lunging at me with the intent of chopping my head off.

"This still doesn't change anything!" She shrieked, raising her zanpakuto to strike me.

"Hmph." I raised Tsumetai Kaze's fan which still had ice daggers lining the edges and with a flick of my wrist, sent them flying towards her. Of course she managed to swipe them away in her fury but she left herself wide open.

"Kokuangyo (Bringer of Darkness)."

The entire surrounding went dark, the sky blackened with no crimson moon in sight and the ground no longer held a snowy landscape; nothing but darkness. I waited and watched from afar as my hollow self stood petrified in her spot, not knowing what's going on.

"How cowardly! You set this illusion up to just hide in its shadows from me?" She sneered as she twisted and turned her gaze in every which way, as if trying to find me. How could she? She was foolishly blinded by her rage. I let out an inaudible sigh; I might as well finish this now.

"To think that you're superior to me is the most pathetic illusion of all. I see now that you're quite vulnerable. Indeed at times I really thought I wouldn't stand a chance against you; someone who seems to understand instincts more than I. But this way now, you've opened up a new sense for me. So in a way, I should thank you."

"STOP MOCKING ME!" She shouted; her voice echoing loudly in the dark void. I moved to strike her, poising Tsukuyomi's blade and quickly shunpo'ed to her while quickly summoning more ice shards at the end of my fan. I threw the fan off to one side and made it so the ribbon extended and it slowly made a curve to bend back to me like a boomerang but at the same time, it effectively encased a radius that was enough to strike my hollow half unknowingly. If I was to defeat her, I would have to be a bit craftier.

I made to strike down on her from behind but she quickly brought her sword up to stop it. I gazed into narrowed ice blue irises set against black one last time before they widened in shock; my fan had made contact with her chest and was now protruding through to the front. I remained passive in the face but inside was glad that my plan had worked. If it didn't, I would've been in trouble.

"Your own weakness is with your emotions; you become too easily blinded by it." As I said this; I began to wonder if that was also my downfall. An inner weakness...

The thought of it seems plausible though I haven't exhibited such a behavior as of yet; but this fact is definitely worth keeping in mind for the future. As my hollow half started to fall forward, the effects of my attack wearing off and the snow terrain revealed itself once more but no sooner had everything been reverted back to 'normal', a blizzard kicked up harshly. It obscured my own vision and I had to keep one arm up to block out the snow that kept whipping at me. The flurry of the storm had also confused me as my vision slowly started to become blurrier. I hadn't realized till the last minute that I was losing consciousness. Before I let my eyes shut, her chilling voice once again pierced through my head; seething with anger and contempt but giving off a hint of mutual respect.

"Fine...You win...This time.."

"How long has it been?"

"...68 minutes and 50 seconds."

"Does it usually take this long?"

"Yours was 'round the same time as hers but if it goes over...well ya know what'll happen."

Ichigo stared anxiously beyond the golden-yellow barrier and directly at the fight that was happening within. It has been a while since Lisa had switched with Kensai and now it was Love's turn to fight the now almost fully hollowfied 5th division captain. She now sported a reptilian like tail with one long, deep purple line that ran along the length of it, a full hollowed, frilled-neck lizard mask and she was sporting white talons along with a strange, white spinal piece that stood in large, wave like patterns. Down on all fours, she definitely didn't look human anymore; more like an angry Komodo dragon-frilled neck lizard hybrid.

Love jumped back from a white claw that tried to tear him to shreds, distancing himself from the now lizard-like captain. Ichigo's teeth involuntarily clenched; a little anxious and worried for Reimei now. If she doesn't pull through, they'd have no choice but to kill her. The orange haired teen sure did not hope it would have to come to that or else, his death would probably follow suit afterwards by the wrath of the short but rather scary-when-angered white haired captain.

'C'mon Reimei...Don't give up!'

The hollow let out a shrieking roar before opening its mouth to form an indigo coloured cero. Everyone present in the area immediately tensed.

"I'm gonna have to pull out the mask if I wanna get out of this alive!" shouted Love as he prepared to form his mask. But before the cero shot could be fired, the hollow lizard let out another shriek. The attention of everyone immediately was drawn to the source and on close inspection, the face of the lizard revealed a visible crack. The crack started to grow till it reached half way down the lizard's nose before the mask completely shattered along with the white shell of the body. A bright light seeped out from within the body as the monster howled out in agony almost before its entire body shattered into pieces. The light grew as the body broke, blinding everyone in the area.

Once the light cleared, lying on the ground was a raven-violet haired captain unmoving. Beside her, the lizard like mask laid almost innocently on the dirt ground. Hacchin released the barrier that he created and everyone started to make their way to Reimei cautiously. Ichigo came to be the closest to her, slightly worried that she's a little too unmoving then needed.

"Reimei..? Oi, are you okay?" Ichigo asked frantically. He came to be about 2 feet away from her when he finally caught a clear sight of her slowly rising and lowering back, indicating that she was still breathing. Ichigo let out a sigh of relief and a small chuckle, 'She must be exhausted to pass out right when she completed the hollowification.'

"Tch, sleeping like a baby. Now we gotta wait for her to wake up before training?" Hiyori scoffed, glancing down at the sleeping captain.

"It would seem so." Shinji spoke blandly, "I think we all need a little break."

On that note, Kensei had already gathered Reimei in his arms.

"Man I want some BBQ or something! I'm starving!" Hiyori cried.

"I think it's 'bout time we eat; it'll also pass a bit of time 'fore the little trooper wakes up." Shinji said as the group of vizards and Ichigo walked off to the side to, as it seems, prepare for a BBQ eating. Hacchin had prepared a thin futon for Kensei to place Reimei on. Ichigo took one last look at the soundly sleeping captain before smiling to himself and left to join the others.

'I'm glad you were able to pull through, though you did have me worried at one point.' His smile faltered briefly as another thought stumbled into his mind. 'I hope you won't leave Toushiro hanging for long. For all I know, I could still be number one on his hit list.'

"Reimei...? Can you hear me?"

"mmm..."

"Reimei, you need to wake up..."

"...Ten more minutes..."

"...You've already slept for nearly three days!"

"...I have..?"

"Yes! So get up!"

I only remembered sitting up straight, and then the whiplash I got afterwards. It wasn't such a smart idea to bolt upright from sleeping for nearly three days.

"Oh so sleeping beauty's finally awake..." droned a voice coming from my right. I warily turned my head, rubbing my neck while doing so. Blinking the sleep from my eyes, my sight settled on the blonde man not sitting too far away from where I was apparently sleeping.

"Oh it's only you Shinji..." I murmured into my hand, still tired for some reason.

"Only me? Tch, I feel loved." I heard him muttered in reply. Currently, the whole vizard group was spread out amongst themselves, doing whatever it is that they usually do. Scanning them over, I realized that a particular orange head was missing.

"Where's Ichigo?" I asked to no one particular, glancing around me just in case if the missing person was just standing out of my line of view.

"He left; something 'bout a girl named Orihime being kidnapped."

At the news, my eyes widened. Did I miss that much in just three days?

"Anyways, we've got work to do. You gotta start yer training on controlling yer hollow powers." Shinji said. I looked down at my hands that were on my lap; I seriously need to wake up, all that sleep and that whiplash just give me a headache. But...what about Toushiro?

"If yer wonderin' 'bout the shinigamis that were stationed here, they left not too long ago to prepare for a war against Aizen..." Shinji said blandly though I caught a slight hint of venom when he said Aizen's name. I eyed him suspiciously, wondering how he managed to read my thoughts but I guess that way, I wouldn't have to explain myself. I let out a heavy sigh though, thinking that I won't be able to see Toushiro to be able to explain myself and frankly, I won't know how long it'll be before I can. There's so many things going on right now...

"Oi, you done ponderin' yet?" Shinji cut in, bonking me once on the head which didn't help my headache. At all. I glared up at him, grabbing my head and cradling it in my hands.

"You didn't have to do that you know!"

"Well yer wastin' training time if you just sit there. Besides," He took this moment to let a grin slip on his face. "A war is about to happen and frankly, we wouldn't wanna miss out on it."

I eyed him; so the Vizards are planning to take part in the upcoming war against Aizen? Well, I guess it did make sense; he was the one that got them into this whole hollowification mess anyways. I stiffly got up on my feet, stretching my limbs to get out any cranks from sleeping for so long. My zanpakutos were laid neatly beside my futon and I picked both of them up, strapping them into their proper places.

"So then, let's get training."

Shinji could only grin that Cheshire cat like smile and turned over to the rest of the vizard group who were lounging around. "Oi! Hiyori! Little miss captain here's under your supervision now!"

"You don't need to tell me that!" the short blonde haired girl spat back, stomping over to us with an annoyed look directed to the taller male who only stared down indifferently at her. With a quick kick to Shinji's shins, Hiyori gestured for me to follow her off in an empty area; seeing as how we were in a rocky terrain. How we got here, I wasn't so sure. She directed me to stand at one end of the field while she stood opposite of me a couple of metres away.

"You're going to summon your mask; all you have to do is maintain it for as long as you can while fighting me." She explained with arms crossed. Simple enough I thought but I wasn't sure as to how to summon my mask. Oh well, I guess I just have to think about it and copy what she does. Without giving me so much as a warning, Hiyori hovered her hand over her face and in a quick pulling motion to the right, had her mask on and was charging at me like a rhino. The horn on her mask did not help with the effect. I gasped and dodged her swinging blade and quickly, I mimicked the same gesture Hiyori had done to get her mask in place. Suddenly, everything seemed slightly darkened and I instantly felt a rush of adrenaline course through me. Unsheathing Tsumetai Kaze's blade, I blocked Hiyori's blade just in time. The force of it nearly knocked me back. I pushed away but the blonde haired vizard wasted no time in coming at me again. I parried her blade and tried to land a hit on her but she was fast enough to dodge and strike back with twice the speed. I was sent back skidding; upon blocking her blade again, the adrenaline rush faded and everything appeared clearer. Almost immediately after, I was sent flying back and my back met with a boulder. I crashed through it painfully, leaving a deep indent.

I choked to catch my breath and pulled myself up. Already I felt droplets of sweat run down my forehead.

"Not bad for your first time; 30 seconds." Shinji called from the sidelines. I looked at him in disbelief; it had only been 30 seconds? I swear it felt longer than that; or maybe it was just that Hiyori kept ruthlessly attacking me that made it feel longer.

"Oi! Quit getting distracted and concentrate!" Hiyori yelled and I barely had enough time to jump out of the way from her oncoming attack. I pulled on my mask and once again, my body felt lighter with the adrenaline.

I didn't know how long we have been going at it but eventually I was knocked down and I didn't have the strength to pull myself back up. Sweat coated my skin and dirt also clung onto me from tumbling around on the ground too much. Scratches, bruises and the occasional gashes littered my body and some were dried with blood. My zanpakuto lay limply in my hand as I laid flat on my stomach, panting and huffing for breath. Hiyori, from time to time, had to remove her mask during our sparring but it was certain that she could keep it on longer than I could. My mask broke well over a hundred times as the more I focused on keeping it on, the more I wasn't keeping focused on the battle I was having with Hiyori but if I didn't focus on the mask and more on the battle, it was more easier to have the mask shatter. There had to be a perfect balance between the two and finding it, I found, was difficult.

"Guess you're worn out for the day huh?" Hiyori asked as she sheathed her zanpakuto back. She wasn't panting as hard as I was but she was still fatigued from the long sparring match. I could only muster half a nod from my position on the ground. At that, she scoffed and muttered something incoherently under her breath.

"Not bad, not bad. I'd say better than Ichigo the first time he tried this out though I'm sure it's 'cuz you got better control at your reiatsu than he does..." Shinji drawled as he walked closer to me, a digital stop watch in his hand as he knelt down to me. "One minute and twenty-five seconds. Not bad, but not even close to the three minute average we all manage."

My eyes widened at the time average; they're all able to keep their mask on for three minutes?

"How long...does this usually...take?" I huffed out. I gritted my teeth in annoyance as he just shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

"Depends on the person..."

"Then how long will I have until the war against Aizen starts?" I asked once again as I shakily hauled myself up to a crouching position. If I'm on a tight schedule, then at this rate I'll have no choice but to train from sunrise to sun down to be able to at least keep my mask on for three minutes. If that's the price I have to pay for this power then so be it. I glanced up at the blonde man, wondering why he was awfully quiet about my question. I soon found out why; his face held the familiar Cheshire cat grin as he stared down at me.

"You have until tomorrow."

Dun Dun Dun... Reimei only has till tomorrow to train until it's the big battle! What will she do? Even I don't know! XD! -Sigh- Well yeah so... I'll really try my best to update another chapter but like I said, I'm having trouble with this story cuz I don't know where it's going or how exactly I can end this XD.

Once again, thank you to all who reviewed this story! Every now and then I get new reviews for this story and it makes me happy to see people reading my story ^^ so thank you all! I apologize for such the long wait but I can't help it D:! DX

R&R! X)