The deal.

Chapter thirty four: The deal.

Seireitei, sixty four kilometers down south from the Sokyoku's Hill, eleven minutes ago.

''Would you look at that? It appears we are running out of time.'' The painful coughs and wails coming out of his defeated foe's mouth gave Mayuri Kurotsuchi a crooked smile, watching with his undivided attention the reactions his blade caused upon the quincy that laid on the ground as he slowly but surely removed his sword from his gut. ''You said this was the second time you got pierced by a blade, right? You are taking this surprisingly well then, given the circumstances.''

The situation had escalated quickly and it all had been going downhill for the quincy ever since he got slashed with the captain's sword. The moment his blood had been splattered, his limbs turned unresponsive which meant he was now completely helpless, unable to defend himself against his opponent.

''You managed to give that girl quite a head start, but it matters not. I'll be able to track her down no matter where she is, and you… Well, given the circumstances, I suppose I could talk you a little about my struggles with your species in particular.'' Kurotsuchi knew this battle was as good as over, but given his sadistic nature, he felt like sharing a little detail before finishing off his opponent.

''What do you mean?'' Fighting through the unimaginable pain that assaulted his senses, Ishida forced himself to look at the man who was now walking towards his fallen lieutenant.

The woman had not moved even an inch from her position on the ground ever since she had been slashed down by Kurotsuchi, which meant she was no doubt susceptible to the effects of the captain's sword too.

''… Didn't you hear me?'' Ishida raised his voice despite his poor condition, truth be told he had been preparing a technique ever since he had been unable to move his limbs, but the captain's words had managed to peak his interest, and not in a good way. ''I asked you what the hell do you mean by that!''

''… Such a loud specimen.'' Mayuri tilted his head as he stopped in his tracks, taking a look back towards the fallen quincy. ''A quincy of all things demanding things from me… Ludicrous. Some research subjects are better dead after all, that way we can avoid all of this senseless screaming.''

''Then again…'' Mayuri added, his devious smirk growing as he reminded himself of his own words. ''I did say I would talk you about my little past with your species, so I suppose I could afford wasting a few more minutes with the likes of you.''

''Like I told you at the start of our battle, I'm done researching your species… What does that mean then? Naturally, it means that I already researched on loads of quincys beforehand, two thousand six hundred sixty one specimens, to be more precise.''

''The quality of those specimens however left much to be desired. Most of them were old and frail by the time I got my hands of them… The vast majority of them couldn't handle more than a dozen or so experiments before dying anyway, so you can imagine how hard it was for me to get some useful information from them.''

''If I recall correctly, the last one was a frail old man who was barely even alive by the time he got to my lab, though I suppose It can't be helped since I did have to make some arrangements In order to delay the soul reapers who were ordered to assist him in fighting off some hollows. By the time they got there, he had suffered some fatal injuries and was barely even in one piece… What was his name again?''

Throughout his whole monologue, Kurotsuchi had not even a spared a single glance towards Ishida. If he had done that, he might have been able to notice the effect his speech had on him.

The moment Kurotsuchi had given details about that 'frail old man', Ishida found himself with a myriad of memories flooding his brain. Of the man who had taught him everything about being a quincy, of the man who had trained him despite what the rest of his family thought, memories of his childhood alongside his grandfather.

There was no need to guess if it was a coincidence between his grandfather's fate and this last 'test subject' Mayuri had been talking about. No, even then, his species was too low in numbers for it to be a coincidence, which meant one thing was clear to Ishida Uryu: Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Captain of the Twelfth Squad was going to die by his hand.

''That 'frail old man' you are talking about… The one whose name you cannot remember… He was Ishida, Soken Ishida.''

Ishida was surrounded by a bright blue aura as hundreds of small threads started enveloping themselves around his wounded limbs, forcing them to move despite the 'drug' that had been making them unresponsive to his commands. Much like a puppet that was directed by its strings, his arms were forced into action by these threads, much to Kurotsuchi's surprise.

This was the technique that Ishida had been preparing ever since his limbs had been rendered useless, and as he got up, it was already clear in his mind that this alone would not suffice to beat the devil his opponent was.

With that in mind, his left hand moved straight towards the glove that he wore on his right hand, and he prepared himself to remove what would appear to be nothing more than a simple glove to many.

There was no doubt in his mind, not a single soul reaper that he had met aside from Ichigo Kurosaki deserved his credit and respect, and if there was one soul reaper that deserved to die in his hands, it was the monster in front of him.

''… He was my teacher, as well as my grandfather!'' Ishida ended in a rage filled scream, removing the glove on the spot with no doubts in his mind. The moment he did, an even bigger pillar of white and blue spiritual pressure overwhelmed him, covering his whole frame and piercing the darkness of the night around them.

These events had transpired no more than three minutes from the present, yet the subsequent fight did not last even half of said time.

. . .

Back in the present, sixty eight kilometers down south from the Sokyoku's Hill.

''Yikes.'' He blinked, watching as the night sky turned a bright blue for an instant as a massive spiritual arrow pierced through what had to be several kilometers of nothing but buildings, no doubt ending the life of whoever was within the attack's range.

That sole attack had ended up breaking the silence that plagued the quiet night in the Seireitei, no doubt making everyone who was around turn towards the source of said attack.

''Well shit… That was Ishida, wasn't it?'' With his mouth hanging open Kuromiya couldn't help but mutter those words to himself. ''I do believe I am a little bit late…''

Watching the straight line of nothing but pure destruction and demolished buildings, he nodded at his own thoughts. ''Just a tad bit late… Just a tiny bit.''

{What a brilliant observation, user. If I may ask, what drives you to that conclusion? Is it perhaps the three or so kilometers of rubble in front of us? If so, then you truly must have some outstanding observation skills… Or perhaps is it the fact that we haven't had a new chapter for about four mon…}

'Shut the fuck up.' Kuromiya barked back at the system, unwilling to waste even a single second on his dumb and snarky comments. 'If you don't have something useful to say, then you better stay quiet or I'm telling Eien to mute your ass again.'

'Yeah, serves you right.' He smiled lightly as the system grew quiet, now directing his attention back onto more pressing matters, like for instance the fact that several hundreds of soul reapers were probably now very much aware that there was a captain level fight going on. '… Not like it matters though, considering the amount of spiritual energy behind that last arrow, it probably was the finishing blow.'

Vanishing in a burst of green light, his figure carried on as he closed the now short gap between him and the two fighters.

. . .

''What the hell was that?'' Toshiro Hitsugaya cursed, despite the fact that he had still a great distance to cover before catching up with Mayuri and the rest of the intruders, he was still able to see a massive arrow piercing through the seireitei. ''Such an attack… It seems like we have been underestimating the ryokas too much, there's several of them who seem to be captain level.''

The young white haired captain rushed through the buildings, stepping from roof onto roof while increasing his speed, the thought of capturing the intruders was now a priority more than ever.

'Could this really be it? At first I discarded the thought of them being the cause of Aizen's death, but…' He shook his head from side to side, clearing his mind from those thoughts for the time being. 'No, it won't do me any good to think about this right now.'

'I'll question them about it myself once I capture them all.'

. . .

''Huff…'' Releasing a deep and heavy breath Uryu Ishida watched as his opponents Bankai was perfectly split in half thanks to his one arrow, the two pieces of the disgusting sword release falling to opposite sides.

His fight with Mayuri Kurotsuchi had been brief and quick, and even then it still had been the single most important fight of his whole life.

His opponent hadn't been especially careful with his words, and during one of his many monologues throughout their fight he had revealed himself to be responsible of performing gruesome experiments on the Quincys, Ishida's very own people.

Despite the rage that fueled his drive to fight, Ishida in normal conditions would be no match against a captain, but using a sacrificial Quincy technique he had been able to beat the captain, the price for it? His very own powers.

'Not like it matters.' Ishida told himself, his gaze landing on a certain spot as the dust caused from his last attack started clearing itself, and it revealed the form of the captain that had fought him suffering from many fatal injuries.

His left arm was missing completely, and he had a gigantic hole through his chest and stomach, that alone would be more than enough to kill almost anyone else, but considering what had transpired during their battle Ishida didn't lower his guard.

With his bow still in his hand, he stared the captain down as the man kept rambling to himself in disbelief. From the corner of his eye he was also keeping an eye on the female lieutenant that remained unmoving on the ground, he wouldn't get caught off guard again from either of them.

''You… You lowly Quincy!'' Kurotsuchi struggled to mutter even those words, a pool of blood coming out of his mouth as speaking alone proved to be more than what his condition could handle. ''Something like this… Something like this… DON'T THINK IT WILL BE ABLE TO KILL SOMEONE LIKE ME!!!''

No matter how prepared Ishida could have been for Mayuri's next move, he could never in a million years predict what the eccentric captain was about to do. When Kurotsuchi had raised his blade, he almost expected some sort of last attempt for an attack, but that was certainly not what the man in front of him had in mind.

With a quick move from his hand, he shoved his broken sword straight through his neck, gagging sounds coming out of his mouth as a pool of blood emanated from the wound. Despite how confusing that move alone already was, it was only the start of the weird events that were about to happen.

The wounded form of the captain started to seemingly melt, turning into some sort of green slimy substance that started falling to the floor.

''An ace in the hole should only be revealed after careful consideration… And this is it. It was a most interesting fight, quincy, however the end result will not change.'' From the formless green substance that started spreading on the ground, the recognizable voice of the captain reached Ishida's ears, much to his surprise. ''You will die from the poison my bankai inflicted upon you, and I will…''

''Hate to interrupt your little speech there but… Yeah, that's not happening.'' The voice of a new arrival made the three people present shift their senses towards it, each one of them now finding themselves looking at a black haired boy dressed as a soul reaper standing on top of a roof, this person being no other than Kuromiya himself.

''You… Kuromiya!'' Ishida screamed, finding a little bit of relief in seeing his friend again after their group had found themselves spread all across the seireitei.

''Hey, Ishida!'' Kuromiya waved back to his friend. ''Missed me? It feels like it has been weeks since l last saw you!''

{More like four months.}

'Shut it.'

''It's not happening?'' Yet again the voice of Mayuri Kurotsuchi reached their ears, making the focus go straight back to the slimy green substance. To the captain this new arrival changed nothing, he could easily deduce that this young boy was also an intruder, but it would be to no avail. ''Do not speak of matters you don't understand you child. I wouldn't expect someone like a group of uncultured intruders to comprehend the scientific explanation behind it, but in this form although I cannot attack, I cannot be hurt either, which means…''

''Like I said, it's not happening.'' Using bringer light to reach the weird looking liquid in the blink of an eye, Kuromiya knelt next to it and gave a tentative touch with his index finger, a confident smile spread across his face. ''You see, I'm something of a scientist myself!''

Under the careful watch of Ishida and the fallen lieutenant, Nemu, Kuromiya proceeded to explain himself.

''I am a fullbringer, and we are a little bit skilled on handling souls of objects, substances and so on… I theorize that -given enough time- I will also be able to manipulate normal bodies, but alas, that's not within my abilities right now.'' The boy's smirk grew ever so slightly, turning almost devilish for a split second. ''However, since you have been so kind to liquefy yourself for me then that's not a problem anymore, now is it?''

With his fingertip now reaching the suddenly quiet captain, a pale green aura covered the liquid spread all over the rubble and started pulling it together closer to Kuromiya's hand, making Mayuri, Ishida and the still unable to move Nemu gasp in surprise.

''See? Works like a charm!'' Kuromiya said with a grin as he stood up, showing to his friend how now the whole liquid had been somehow guided to levitate slightly above his right palm, effectively making the liquefied captain unable to escape.

''You… How could such a thing…?'' It took the mad captain more than a few seconds to talk again, after all he himself was lost at what had just transpired.

''Huh, I could swear I just explained it.'' Akihiko muttered. ''Oh well, in short: We win, you suck… Sucks to be you, and it's great to be me! You have been captured so how about we have a small talk about that poison thingy you talked about? I think my friend Ishida right there would really appreciate a little bit of an antidote, which I'm sure a scientist such as yourself should have somewhere around here.''

Just as he finished talking Ishida started coughing up blood, no doubt due to the poison that ran through his body.

''Damn.'' Kuromiya said while looking at the wounded quincy, his companion had a hand grasping his chest as he kept coughing up unhealthy amounts of blood. ''You good?''

''If there's a single thing I didn't miss about you…'' Ishida started, a light smile adorning his face despite the amount of pain he was in. ''Then it has to be those stupid comments you always make at the worst moments possible.''

''That's part of my charm though, isn't it?'' Kuromiya replied back, though their conversation was cut short by a disturbing laughter coming from the liquid sphere that Kuromiya held in the palm of his hand.

''Oh, you want the antidote?'' Their conversation had apparently brought some confidence back to Mayuri, after all it was simple to deduce from the two intruders exchange that there was some care for each other's lives, which in turn meant he had some negotiation power in his hands. You better unhand me at once then, because if you don't then that friend of yours is as good as….''

''Shut it, weirdo.'' Making the small green ball rotate in his hand, he forced the captain to remain quiet. There was a slight annoyed look on Kuromiya's face when addressing Mayuri, as if he truly disliked the man. ''Don't flatter yourself, we don't have the need to negotiate with you. You seriously expect us to believe someone so 'prepared' like you wouldn't have some antidote hanging around?''

''Nice thinking, Kuromiya.'' Ishida for the first time in a while felt himself relieved at the fact that he had capable teammates surrounding him. After all he himself had to agree with Kuromiya's theory, the man he battled wouldn't dare to ruin a live research subject for lacking something so basic as an antidote.

''You think he has it on him somehow?'' Uryu questioned his friend, walking closer to him. ''If so, then it would prove difficult to force him out of that liquid state.''

''Nah.'' His teammate shook his head, shifting his gaze towards the fallen lieutenant woman next to them. ''I'm thinking that cutie on the ground has it. She's his lieutenant, isn't that right?''

'That little freak…' Mayuri cursed inside his head, finding the fact that this boy was somehow reading the situation perfectly more than a little unsettling.

''Her? There's no way.'' Ishida argued back. ''You weren't here when it happened, but this man was the one who injured his own lieutenant in the first place, I doubt he would… Wait.'' Ishida stopped himself mid-sentence, remembering that the woman had asked for permission to take some medicine after being attacked by her own captain. ''… I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I think you are right.''

''Glad you agree.'' Without the need to exchange even a single other word, both teammates walked next to the fallen woman and knelt next to her.

For the first time ever since his arrival, Kuromiya allowed his own blue orbs to meet the eyes of the unmoving woman. In his past life he had pitied her situation a little, after all she was bound to serve the biggest douche of the bleach universe, yet now he couldn't find it in himself to care much about her.

''You awake?'' Waving his hand in front of the girl's face, he waited for an answer. He could see that she was indeed awake, since her stoic face scanned them unsure on what to do with her current situation. ''What's your name, woman?''

''…'' There was no answer provided from her, so Ishida decided to answer the question himself.

''That man said he had created her himself, right now she can't move because her captain paralyzed her while attempting to take a slash at me.'' Ishida told him, the memories from the start of their fight still fresh on his mind. ''She's Nemu Kurotsuchi and I doubt she'll be of much help to us, I can't quite grasp the reason but she seems to be quite loyal to this monster.''

He added that last part while taking a quick glance to the slimy ball on Kuromiya's hand, Ishida himself was wondering why that monster was still alive, assuming of course that Kuromiya could deliver the finishing blow whenever he wanted.

Upon hearing that little bit of information –that he was already well aware of- Kuromiya decided to take a while to think about their next course of action. After all, whatever he did in the next few minutes could very well end up coming back to bite them in the not so distant future.

'Then, what do I do?' He stopped to ask himself for a moment, if he was honest with himself he had wished to change things from the start, but he had assumed his actions would end up resulting in too much variance in future events, which would render a huge chunk of his knowledge useless.

But this was not about future consequences for him, it was about something that had bothered him ever since watching Bleach for the first time. The fact that no one seemed to care a monster was living among them, a monster who was just as evil and despicable as Aizen or Yhwach themselves.

Kuromiya was no hero, and the fact of the matter was Mayuri Kurotsuchi was too useful to kill, no matter how many quincys he had killed in the past or how many other beings would suffer because of him, he was simply too useful for their cause.

He also had a rough idea on how to reach some sort of agreement with the man, but that was for sure going to end up compromising his friendship with Ishida,

'Killing him is out of the question then, but I still hate his guts…' With that established, he had to ask himself how else he could screw the degenerate scientist. There were a few options coming to mind, but one in particular seemed more appealing than the rest.

'… But what about her?' He had a plan for Mayuri now, and although Nemu wasn't quite needed for his plan, leaving her with her captain left a bad taste in his mouth.

His glance ended up travelling down to the woman that looked at them with an unsure look, clearly trying to deduce what both of the teenagers wanted from her.

'I used to feel bad about her, that much is true but…' A tired sigh escaped his lips, he knew all too well that Nemu would be more trouble than she was worth, but still, he wanted to screw Mayuri, if in the process he 'saved' the girl in front of him, then all the better. 'If I'm careful with how I do this, I might just be able to get away with what I want.'

''She won't be of much help to us?'' With a clear answer in his mind to Ishida's statement, Akihiko smirked, after all there was a simple yet very effective way to solve their current predicament in his mind. ''I think it's the other way around, actually.''

''Huh?''

''Nemu, was it? How about we make a little deal?'' He moved closed to the lieutenant, crounching down In front of her. His shadow covered her body, and for the first time since their conversation had started, she flinched. Finding herself more than a little intimidated at the sudden change in the boy's behavior. ''I'll take your silence as a yes, then. Here's the deal, I'll leave this disgusting little rodent alive, in exchange I want that antidote…''

''And I want you, too.''

End of chapter thirty four.