Author's Notes:

For anyone that's interested, I edited the previous chapter a little and added some new lines to it.

When Sombra returned to the Urahara Shop, after leaving a confident Rukia in charge of the situation that he had left behind, he found that Kisuke and Yoruichi, who was currently in her Human form, were in a side room discussing the number of Hollows that had come to Karakura Town recently. Sombra had counted at least ten Hollows since his arrival in the town, five of which he had killed by himself and some of the others he had assisted Ichigo in purifying, but he did have to wonder if the increased activity would make Soul Society send another Shinigami to assist Rukia, which would be bad news for Rukia and Ichigo at the very least. At the same time, when he entered the room, he found that the only thing that Yoruichi was wearing was the black part of her suit, meaning that she likely didn't have a lot of time between changing and running after something and this was all she had time to put on, but he paid it little mind as the conversation stopped and the duo turned towards him. Kisuke seemed to be more interested in what he had been up to, to which he told them about the fact that one of Ichigo's friends, or acquaintances since he couldn't actually determine where Orihime rested, had their long dead relative turned into a Hollow and proceeded to attack both Ichigo and Orihime... and yet, despite what he had told them, he couldn't tell them that he had seen a Hollow become an Arrancar, because he was still having trouble coming to terms with that fact.

While he talked Yoruichi, instead of sitting still and listening to the events that happened earlier, used a washcloth to tend to the few light markings that Sombra had received from the battle with Orihime's brother, even though they weren't bleeding at all since it appeared that, as an Arrancar, his skin was tougher than a Human's skin was... and yet, despite the fact that there was nothing between them, he was sure that there was a light blush on Yoruichi's face, one that he decided not to mention in case it was about something, or someone, else.

"Something else seems to be bothering you," Kisuke commented, as he had waited until Sombra was done telling them about what he, Ichigo, and Rukia had been through in the last hour or two before he spoke up, where the Arrancar glanced up at him for a moment, "What happened?"

"Oh, it's nothing much," Sombra said, thinking about to the thoughts he had entertained while he was busy earlier, something that he had thought about again when he learned about Orihime, her brother, and Tatsuki, the friend that she had made, "It's just, well, I was hoping that, by hearing a couple of individuals talk about friends and family earlier I might be able to remember something about myself, and yet I still can't remember anything. It's like I had no friends or family before I lost my memories, so hearing about them won't help me recover anything useful, and that, in turn, means it'll take me awhile to figure out how to bring my memories back... all I have is acquaintances and no friends to speak of."

Yoruichi wasn't surprised that Sombra thought of her and the others as his acquaintances, since he had that 'deal' with Kisuke, but at the same time she was sure that, with the right information, he could learn the difference between an acquaintance and a friend. When he said that he had no friends, meaning that he had seen or learned something during his ordeal tonight, he actually looked like he was at a loss and had no idea what to do to resolve the issue that he was in, since he had no idea what a friend was or how he made one. Since he had no friends, in his eyes anyway, Yoruichi knew that one thing they needed to do was figure out a way to make him see that he actually had a few friends, even if two of them were children and she was another one, because she felt that, after a month of spending time together, they were more than acquaintances. That thought was reinforced by her own personal feelings, ones that she hadn't told anyone about and had actually lied to Kisuke about, though at the same time she couldn't tell Sombra when he had no idea what sort of relationships he could have with the people that he knew... something that they were going to have to work on in the future, when he wasn't busy dealing with Hollows and whatever was happening to Ichigo.

She sat there, to Sombra's right, and listened as Kisuke reminded the Arrancar of how to deal with Hollows, even though he understood how to fight them based on what she had seen when he was fighting them before Rukia arrived in the town, before Sombra eventually called it a night and went up to the room that Kisuke let him use... though both she and Kisuke sat at the table for a few more moments.

"Since when did he care about friends?" Kisuke commented, as that was a change in the Arrancar that he wasn't expecting, as he was sure that spending time hanging around the Humans of Karakura Town was having sort of effect on Sombra and what he felt was important.

"Spending time with Ichigo, and those he calls friends, is what brought about this change." Yoruichi replied, as she already knew the reason, as she had determined that herself, but at the same time her mind was focused on doing something that might help the Arrancar out, "I think that, given enough time, he'll come to understand the concept of friends and the relationships that come with having people that close to him."

"And maybe understand love in the process?" Kisuke inquired, as while Yoruichi had said that she didn't have feelings for the Arrancar, something that he knew wasn't the truth, he couldn't help but poke fun at that fact, as he knew that Yoruichi wasn't about to do something when Sombra was nearby.

Yoruichi stared at Kisuke for a moment, knowing what he was trying to do, but at the same time she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction that he was right in guessing what else she had been thinking about, rather she got up, headed for the other room, and transformed back into her cat form. There were some other things she needed to check up on and sitting around with Kisuke wasn't one of them, though running through the night would give her some time to think about what she was going to do to teach Sombra about friends and the relationships that came with them. There was also the fact that he had discovered something earlier, something that was the real reason that Kisuke asked what was bothering him, and yet he couldn't find the strength to tell them what was bothering him. She felt that, as his friends, they deserved to know what was bothering him so they could help him in whatever way they could, which was why she needed some time alone... she only hoped that Sombra would come around and tell them what the problem was before it grew into a situation that he couldn't handle.

Sombra spent the night in the same dreamless sleep that he always had whenever he slept, though he didn't tell anyone about it because he had no idea what it meant, though when morning arrived he found that Yoruichi had already gone out, in her cat form considering that the clothing she had been wearing the night before had been left in another room and Kisuke had moved it before Jinta and Ururu had seen it. He guessed that the action of moving Yoruichi's clothing in such a manner was to make sure that the children didn't figure out that Kisuke had someone else living with him, besides Tessai and occasionally himself, though at the same time he was a little disappointed that he had missed Yoruichi before she left the shop. He had spent some time thinking about it last night, before he went to sleep, and he had decided to ask her what was up with the blush she had on her face, but since he had missed her, and there was no telling how long it was going to be before she got back, he settled back into his morning routine and drank his morning cup of tea... while at the same time noticing that Kisuke glanced at him a few times and said nothing, though since that was usual he ignored it and went back to enjoying the peace and quiet atmosphere around him.

Once the cup of tea had been drained, and deposited in the sink like usual, he left the shop and made his way over to Ichigo's place, though at the same time he still found it odd that he actually didn't need to eat anything and still decided that it was something that Arrancars didn't need to do, while at the same time making him wonder what else Arrancars didn't do that Humans did. He thought about that as he jumped on top of a nearby roof and used that to get him to the clinic, where he found that Ichigo was having breakfast and didn't leave until a little while later, though when he did leave Sombra followed after him and followed him through the town until they reached the school. Since they had arrived before the first bell Ichigo went to the roof of the building, where Orihime and Tatsuki were sitting with their female friends and Orihime told them how a sumo wrestler with a gun created the hole in her wall, which Tatsuki seemed to have the same memory of while at the same time saying that it was all in her head. Rukia, of course, was standing by and looked happy to see them both, though as Sombra leaned against the railing something interesting happened, Ichigo actually told Rukia that he'd help with her Shinigami duties, making Rukia happy in the process.

While that happened Sombra also spotted Orihime's brother, hidden in the spiritual world like he was, sitting on a different part of the roof that allowed him to keep an eye on his sister, though Ichigo was able to tell him that Orihime's brother was called Sora Inoue... though Sombra could tell that the new Arrcancar, having found some clothes that he could wear, was grateful for the second chance he had been given and was going to watch over his sister like he said he would last night.

From there the morning seemed to go about the same way, with the exception of Chad missing from his seat when the classes actually started, though Sombra simply stood in the corner, like usual, and kept his senses open for any Hollows that might be roaming the town. Oddly enough he could sense one creature that appeared to be minding it's own business, though from time to time it's energy shifted and appeared in a new spot, making it slightly harder to keep track of the creature, though Sombra knew that he'd eventually lock onto the Hollow's position before Rukia's phone, which connected to Soul Society, even ran with orders to take the creature down. Despite the fact that she was clearly waiting for her powers to return Rukia seemed to really take to the class, cause she answered the questions that she was asked, much to her teacher's approval, while Ichigo did the same and got a nod in return, meaning that the teacher was fine with familiar students answering questions and liked to pick unfamiliar students from time to time. Of course the other students were asked questions as well, but at the same time Sombra filtered out all the useless information that was being talked about and focused on what he was doing.

Eventually the bell for lunch rung and both Ichigo and Rukia headed to the roof, where Ichigo actually made a small comment about his head wound from the previous day already being healed, though Rukia smiled and proclaimed that she was the best in her Kido class... before getting into a short conversation with Ichigo about how she was supposed to drink the juice box that she was holding onto, as she was, once more, caught off guard by the wonders of their more modern world, making Sombra wonder what Soul Society looked like.

As Sombra tried to think about the strange place that Rukia came from, however, another student, who happened to be shorter than most of the people he had seen so far and had black colored hair that was parted down the middle, noted that Ichigo and Rukia were spending a lot of time together, especially since Rukia was new to the school. As Sombra found out this was Mizuiro Kojima, who apparently liked older women and Ichigo had already warned Rukia about him, though Sombra had no idea when he actually told her, which meant that he likely informed her of his classmates when they were tending to Orihime and Tatsuki last night. Of course that was before another of Ichigo's classmates, who was a slim young man with brown colored hair and went by the name Keigo Asano, arrived and started cheering about how Rukia came to the roof as well, or the 'garden of masculinity' as he called it, before Chad, who had some bandages around his right arm, arrived as well... though what caught Sombra's attention was the bird, the parakeet as he soon found out, that Chad had brought with him to school.

"Hey Chad, are you injured?" Ichigo asked, because he and Chad had some history with each other and they used to get into fights, mostly with other people, but it had been some time since he had seen Chad injured, even though it looked like the wound was properly bandaged up and everything.

"A steel beam fell on my head yesterday." Chad stated, making it sound like something that happened on a daily bases and simply didn't care, or at least that was what Sombra was thinking at the moment, before he raised his empty right hand and showed them what had happened, "As for my hand, I had a collision with a motorcycle. And the rider got hurt bad, so I carried him to the hospital."

"No wonder you were late today." Ichigo said, though at the same time he was glad that Chad was the way that he was, because other people would have left a badly hurt person in the road and then he'd be seeing another soul that he would need to purify, which meant that Chad had likely saved the person's life, "But for real, what the hell is your body made out of?"

"Anyway, what's with the bird?" Keigo inquired, choosing to ignore the question that Ichigo asked, as a lot of people asked that question about Chad when they heard what he was able to do and the amount of pain his body was able to take while he was in a fight.

"Hello," the parakeet said, surprising the majority of the group for a moment, though at the same time Sombra just stared at it for a few seconds, as he was used to spending time with Yoruchi, who was a talking cat part of the time they spent together, "my name is Yuichi Shibata. What's your name?"

It was in that moment that Mizuiro and Keigo started talking about the parakeet and the fact that it could talk, though at the same time Ichigo, Rukia, and Sombra stared at it, because they could all feel that there was a soul inside the bird's body, a soul that definitely didn't belong inside it. Sombra realized that it wasn't the same as Yoruichi, who could switch forms at will, rather it was some unfortunate soul that had been trapped inside the body of an animal and was forced to live like this, until a Shinigami discovered it and tried to free it, which only made him wonder if they found the key to discovering the Hollow that killed those two Shinigami that guarded the town before Rukia came here. Even Rukia came to the conclusion that the soul that was inside the bird wasn't evil, but Sombra noticed that she hesitated to say what she thought about the situation, to which Sombra just sighed as he looked at the parakeet and knew, without a doubt, that he had found the key to the Hollow that he actually wanted to kill the moment he heard about it... and, at the very least, Rukia would be able to tell her superiors that the Hollow responsible for the death of two Shinigami had been take care of.

While he thought about that Ichigo described his first encounter with Chad, back when he was in the 8th Grade, and that he had been in a fight because his hair color drew a lot of attention, though at the same time Chad had helped him during that time... and, as Sombra could gather, the two of them formed a bond of friendship that still stood strong today, causing him to sigh as he looked at the ground, where both Rukia and Ichigo glanced at him for a moment before returning their attention to the bird.

The rest of the day was boring once the meeting on the roof was over, though as they returned to Ichigo's classroom Sombra stared at the parakeet that was stuck in the cage that Chad had been carrying, where the bird seemed to glance at him every now and then, but for the most part it remained silent and said nothing thanks to the amount of people that were now around it. As the day went by Sombra found that the Hollow he had been feeling earlier had disappeared, no doubt heading back to Hueco Mundo to bid it's time or something, so he simply sat there with next to nothing to do, since if he moved anything he'd be found out by the other Humans, or at the very least they'd think their school was haunted by something. When the day was over Ichigo and Rukia went their separate ways and Sombra simply followed after Ichigo, since he had next to nothing to do, but oddly enough Ichigo didn't go straight home and simply walked around the town, maybe lost in his thoughts as Sombra thought about it as they walked through the town once more.

"Sombra, what's your problem?" Ichigo asked, as he stopped at one point and turned to look at the Arrancar that insisted on following him, as it appeared that, since Sombra had been Rukia's partner for some time, before he took her powers on accident, he was now his partner by some definition.

"What do you mean?" Sombra asked, though at the same time he noticed that they had stopped by the river once more, which seemed to be a favorite spot for Ichigo to walk by when he was heading home, though why he enjoyed it was unknown to him.

"When I mentioned my friendship with Chad earlier you seemed to get a little sad about it," Ichigo replied, as he had heard the sigh that had come from the Arrancar when he was telling his tale, something that was strange when he thought about it since Sombra had been calm and collected the entire time he knew him, "So what's wrong?"

"I just have a bunch of acquaintances and no actual friends." Sombra answered, though instead of sticking around, and listening to what Ichigo had to say about that, he continued moving and started walking towards the clinic that Ichigo was heading towards.

"Idiot." Ichigo mumbled, as he couldn't believe that the Arrancar was so dense, but he sighed and figured that he'd tell him that he was wrong in that regard in the future, once he figured out a good way to break the news to him, before he continued walking and headed home as well.

When the two of them actually arrived at the clinic, however, Ichigo insisted that Sombra come inside and see what his place looked like, without having to go through the window for once, though as they walked into the living area Ichigo was surprised to see Karin and Yuzu, both dressed up in their nurse outfits, running into the clinic area for some reason... and his curiosity got the better of him as he asked what was going on. Apparently there was a car accident at a nearby intersection and Isshin was telling someone that they needed to take the patient because they were beyond the level of the clinic's abilities, only for him to say something about the people being useless. Ichigo actually asked his father if there was anything he could do to help out, since it sounded like a bad wreck based on what he had heard so far, only for his father to tell him to go stay in a corner and stay out of the way, to which Sombra felt that he was being rude when his son was offering his assistance... to which Isshin got to work while Ichigo simply stood in the hallway, waiting to hear if his family actually needed his help or not before he went to his room.

After a few moments of waiting, and eventually coming to a decision on what to do, Isshin made a comment about the last patient being a large one and that he wanted Ichigo's help, though as he and Sombra entered the room in question they found that the person in question was actually Chad, carrying the parakeet's cage... and, when they looked at his back where the wound was located, both Ichigo and Sombra noticed that the wound in question looked like a Hollow's hand print, a bleeding one at that. Before either of them could do something Chad insisted that he was fine and ended up collapsing, causing Isshin to tell Karin and Yuzu to prepare a bed that was at the end of the hallway that all of them slept in, though as that happened Ichigo and Sombra headed towards Ichigo's room and found Rukia sitting on his bed. It was in that moment, when they discussed that the wound definitely had the smell of a Hollow attached to it, that Sombra found out that Rukia was living in Ichigo's closet during her time in the World of the Living... and that, for now, they would have to wait and see what happened with Chad and the parakeet.

Of course, when morning arrived, they discovered that Chad had fled from his room, as Rukia and Sombra stayed in Ichigo's room while he went down for breakfast, only for Isshin to tell him and Yuzu, since Karin was still in bed since she wasn't feeling well, that Chad was gone... to which Ichigo headed out before telling his companions what he was doing, causing them to climb out through his bedroom window and catch up with him when he stopped at an intersection.

"Where could Chad have gone?" Ichigo commented, looking at the various directions that were around them, as he was seeing if there were any signs of where Chad could have gone, but since his wound had been treated, and bandaged by his father, blood was out of the question.

"There's nothing from Soul Society about a Hollow wandering the town," Rukia said, to which Sombra nodded his head, as he couldn't detect the Hollow that he had felt earlier, because it was constantly switching between this world and Hueco Mundo, meaning it was going to be hard to catch it, "Usually Hollows hide themselves between Soul Society and the World of the Living, in the realm of Hueco Mundo, so there's no way to track them until they come to this world."

"We can't wait until he's attacked again!" Ichigo exclaimed, though even as he thought about Chad, and how he might be able to find him, he remembered the parakeet that he was carrying and the soul that was trapped inside it, "Of course, the parakeet. We just have to follow the soul that's trapped inside the bird."

Rukia opened her mouth to say something, to tell Ichigo that such a thing wasn't possible, but before she could actually say anything Sombra extended a hand and shook his head, as he knew that such a thing was possible since he could slightly feel the soul in question. Sure, he could leave and follow Chad on his own, but at the same time he noticed that Ichigo was closing his eyes and focusing his mind, where he seemed to have a slim light blue aura surround him while they felt a strange sensation fill the air around them as he sought out the parakeet. Rukia quickly realized what Ichigo was doing, even when the energy that happened to be filling the air turned into white ribbons that seemed to move in the air, spiritual ribbons that only they could see, surprising Rukia with how quickly Ichigo was progressing, before Ichigo snapped his eyes open as he grabbed onto one of the ribbons to his left and declared that he had found the parakeet. Not even a second later the ribbons disappeared and Ichigo charged off in the direction that the energy was coming from, though as Sombra followed after him Rukia stayed behind for a few seconds, since she was shocked by what she had seen... before she followed after them, as she was eager to see what sort of improvements that Ichigo might reveal to her while he fought whatever Hollow was following Chad.

While they headed down the street, however, Sombra felt the Hollow snap back into the World of the Living and felt that the parakeet was on the move, where a few minutes later they spotted Chad as he ran into the street as well, only to head down the street and leave them behind, as he didn't want to get them involved with what was happening, though as they started to move again Karin caught up with them and Ichigo was forced to take her back home, leaving Rukia and Sombra to deal with the Hollow. The one interesting part of the parting conversation that they had was that Ichigo asked Rukia to be careful, since she didn't have her powers back yet, before he headed home with Karin, though Sombra was more interested in the Hollow that was chasing Chad. Sombra was able to keep up with Chad no problem, since he wasn't limited to a physical form like Rukia was, who happened to be falling behind, before she ended up stopping when a voice spoke and mentioned a nice smell... causing her to stop while Sombra did the same, as he already knew that the Hollow had come to play and he was ready for it.

"You smell delicious," the voice said, to which the Hollow manifested right beside Rukia, with his mask in front of her face, where Sombra noticed that the creature's features resembled a frog with retractable bat wings attached to his arms, though it was focused on Rukia and not Sombra, "Let me devour... that soul of yours!"

It was in that moment that the Hollow attacked Rukia, who jumped forward, placed her hands on the ground, and backflipped a little before she faced the creature that had tired to kill her, though at the same time Sombra drew his sword and prepared himself for what was coming next.

"Oh? You won't die in one shot?" the Hollow asked, though at the same time it closed it's mouth and stared at Rukia, as it was definitely more interested in her at the moment, especially when it was recalling something that only it knew at the moment, "And it seems that you can see me. Just... who are you?"

In response to that Rukia took the opportunity that had been presented to her and kneed the Hollow in the face, surprising the creature in the process, before Rukia flipped onto the Hollow's back and landed there for a moment, before she started to move her hands around.

"O Lord," Rukia said, to which she lowered herself for a moment and prepared herself, while at the same time Sombra raised an eyebrow as he watched what was going on, before Rukia jumped into the air, "Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hado Number 33: Sokatsui."

That was followed by a force of some kind striking the back of the Hollow's body, bringing up a cloud of smoke in the process, though as Rukia stated down at the creature, as she moved away from it, she seemed pleased that she was able to hurt the Hollow... though as she landed on the ground, however, they discovered that the Hollow wasn't even phased by the attack at all and seemed to find the situation to be funny.

"I know that trick." the Hollow said, to which he turned toward Rukia and stared at her, once more ignoring Sombra, who was standing on the wall above him and was surprised that the creature was ignoring him, "It's a Shinigami power, isn't it? But yours is so weak that I felt nothing. That means that your a Shinigami, which explains why your soul smells as yummy as it is... that's nice. I've killed and devoured the last two Shinigami that have tired to help that kid cross over, and they were delicious."

"I assume that, when you mention a kid, your referring to the spirit inside the parakeet." Sombra commented, as he knew that, even if he spoke up, the Hollow was going to ignore him entirely and focus solely on Rukia, but at the same time this was the confirmation that he was looking for, as this was the Hollow that killed the last two Shinigami that were protecting Karakura Town before Rukia showed up.

"That's correct." the Hollow replied, keeping his focus on Rukia, confirming that Sombra wasn't even worth the creature's attention, though at the same time Sombra counted that to be a good thing, as they could get the truth and then surprise the Hollow with his arrival, before it raised it's hand and pinned Rukia to the wall that was opposite of the one that Sombra was on.

Before the Hollow could actually explain what it was doing, chasing the soul that was inside the parakeet, Chad appeared nearby and punched the Hollow in the side of it's face, sending it flying and releasing Rukia in the process, who coughed as she touched the ground and the Hollow crashed into the ground nearby... though, as Sombra watched with some interest, Chad proceeded to punch the air nearby, as if he was targeting the Hollow that he clearly couldn't see. What else was interesting was that the Hollow got up and seemed to think about what had happened, seeing Chad target the air and not hit anything, but as he readied himself Chad hit him again, somehow figuring out where the creature was standing without being able to see him. This time around the Hollow spread his wings and took to the skies, where Rukia and Sombra glanced up at him while the creature proceeded to taunt them with the fact that they couldn't hit him anymore, which would have been funny if he realized that Sombra was standing nearby... but Chad surprised them by gripping the nearby wooden pole and tore the majority of it from the ground, where Rukia directed him to swing it down and crushed the Hollow against the street in front of them.

"Now give up." Rukia said, staring at the downed Hollow that was in front of them, as she was surprised that Sombra had been able to stay his hand the entire time this had been going on, but at the same time she knew that he was eager to deal with this Hollow, "There's two people that can finish you off, one that's standing nearby and another that's on his way to punish you for what you have done."

Sombra prepared to jump down and stab the Hollow in the side, at least so they could get the story about why he was targeting the spirit inside the parakeet, but then it started to chuckle as it picked itself up, meaning that it had something planned... which was followed by it turning towards Rukia and Chad as it chuckled, which was followed by what appeared to be little frog like creatures that jumped down and pinned the duo to the ground.

"You Shinigami are so arrogant, and that's why we keep beating you." the Hollow said, though at the same time Sombra guessed that the creature had done the same tactic to the other Shinigami that it had fought in the past, but this time things were different, as Rukia wasn't alone, "You take us way too lightly for your own good. Now then, who shall I devour first? I think I'll save the guy for last and..."

That was followed by Chad getting up and forced all the creatures that were attached to his body to go flying, surprising the Hollow for a moment, who then had to get out of the way as Chad swung at him again, before Rukia used Chad's strength to her advantage and got rid of the small critters that were on her, allowing her to get up as well. That caused the Hollow to take to the skies once more, but this time around Sombra had enough of being ignored and flashed up into the sky behind the creature, where he swung his sword and cut a gash into the creature's back, knocking it to the ground in the process. As Sombra landed nearby some of the little frogs from earlier appeared from where they were hiding, after Chad knocked them off his body, and spat some leech like creatures onto his body, though Sombra simply stared at them for a moment, as he was curious as to what the Hollow was thinking of doing this time around.

"You'll find that those are hard to remove," the Hollow said, even though Sombra hadn't attempted to even remove one of them yet, as he found that they were simply sticking to him and not biting into him like he would have expected something like this to do, "especially since those are my targets!"

The Hollow opened his mouth and revealed his tongue, which made a sound that was different than what Sombra had heard so far, causing the leeches to detonate and cover the area around him in dust and smoke, where the Hollow chuckled as he stared at the scene in front of him.

"My leeches are small bombs that you can't get away from." the Hollow explained, speaking more to Rukia than to anyone else, since he believed that he had taken out the other target that had only gotten on his nerves, and it was the only time he had actually seen the creature to begin with, "They respond to sounds from my tongue and explode... and besides, your guard was wide open and I took advantage of it. Besides, there's nothing any of you can do at this point, not when I have a little surprise for all of you."

With that said Rukia noticed that some of the frog creatures had grabbed the cage that the parakeet was trapped in and brought it over to the battlefield, fully prepared to kill the bird and the spirit that was currently trapped inside it, all while the Hollow was laughing like he had won the fight... and was clearly planning on using the bird as a hostage to make sure that none of them attacked him while he had his fun.

"Now then, Shinigami," the Hollow said, focusing his attention on Rukia once more, while also ignoring the smoke that was behind him, as he could care less about the creature he had instantly killed, "run along and let me have some fun chasing you down... otherwise the bird gets it."

"Chad, just stay here and don't move." Rukia said, though at the same time she grinned for a moment, because she knew something that the Hollow didn't and that fact would prove to be the creature's downfall, "If you follow me he's going to blow the birdcage up... but if you wait, you'll find out something good."

Chad stared at Rukia for a moment, wondering what she was getting at, before he nodded and she fled the scene, to which he felt the creature that he had been fighting charge after her as she went someplace where others wouldn't be hurt by what was going on. A few moments later, when he was sure that both Rukia and the creature were gone, he turned towards the birdcage and found it levitating in the air, though in the other realm Sombra sighed as he set the birdcage in Chad's hands. It was a fortunate thing that the Hollow thought he was simply a pest, because that blast had done nothing to him, save for some scratches that could be patched up later on, and had given him time to hear what the Hollow had planned, before acting when both it and Rukia were gone by slicing up the frogs before they even knew what hit them. Now that the spirit was safe, for the moment anyway, Sombra sheathed his sword and charged off in the direction that Rukia had gone in, as he planned on catching up with her so he could put down the Hollow and see where his soul ended up going, as he had the feeling that it wouldn't be Soul Society.

Fortunately it didn't take Sombra long to catch up with Rukia, who ended up stopping at a three way intersection that was overlooking one of the canals that the town had, while at the same time noticing that she was bleeding a little from the side of her head and her left shoulder, but as she stopped so did he and the Hollow, who wasn't amused by her stopping where she did... which was around the time that Ichigo, looking a little upset over something, appeared behind the Hollow and pushed him to the ground with his foot.

"How long do you intend to stand on my head?" the Hollow asked in anger, though at the same time Ichigo jumped off the creature's head, touched down near Rukia, and turned to face the creature, who was currently pissed off at what was going on at the moment.

"Well, I was going to stand on it for a few minutes, to see if you figured out that you're chasing the wrong person, but then you beat me to the punch," Ichigo replied, though at the same time Sombra jumped down and landed beside him, surprising the Hollow for a moment, since it had been sure that it killed him earlier, "besides, you should be chasing after me, because I'm the Substitute Shinigami that's watching over Karakura Town... or maybe chasing after Sombra, the Arrancar that was watching the town before Rukia showed up."

"A... Arrancar?!" the Hollow said, staring at Sombra for a moment, where it's eyes glanced at the bone white crown on top of Sombra's head, something that immediately caused his mind to scream that he was in danger, before he realized that he was definitely in danger... and summoned his frogs to deploy the leeches so he could kill all of them before something happened to him.

In the following instant Sombra stood in front of the group and flashed around the area, cutting the leeches apart before they could even reach where he and his companions were standing, so that when the Hollow used his sound frequency they were covered in a layer of smoke. The instant that happened Rukia pulled out her glove and separated Ichigo's soul from his body, allowing him to appear in his Shinigami form while she caught his body, though at the same time Ichigo launched himself through the smoke and descended upon the Hollow while he was distracted. By the time the smoke cleared the Hollow was standing where the group had been standing and they were standing where the Hollow had been seconds ago, but at the same time Rukia carried Ichigo's body to a safe distance while Ichigo and Sombra stood side by side as they stared at the Hollow... who appeared to be extremely worried about his chances now, especially since he seemed to know a bit about what Sombra was.

Not a moment later Ichigo and Sombra charged forward and forced the Hollow to leave the area, though when it tried to flee back into Hueco Mundo, however, Sombra grabbed onto it's leg and pulled it back into the World of the Living, as he wasn't about to let this one flee from them... until the three of them were standing some distance away from where Rukia was standing, and happened to be watching them fight at the same time. The Hollow glared at them and sent three more of the frogs at them, which the duo slashed apart without a second thought, and their target used his tongue to ignite the bombs, but this time around they jumped through the smoke and brought their swords down on the Hollow, with Ichigo's striking the Hollow's left shoulder and Sombra's hitting the right arm.

"There's something I want to ask you, before we finish you off." Ichigo commented, though at the same time Sombra shared his confidence, because despite the intelligence that this Hollow possessed, and the interesting ability that he had used, against the two of them he stood no chance of winning, "Are you the one who killed the parents of the kid that's trapped inside the parakeet?"

"That's right." the Hollow said, though despite the fact that he knew that he was in trouble, thanks to the warning bells that had gone off when he realized what was standing in front of him, he still found that he could enjoy telling them what he had done before he actually disappeared, "I'm the one that killed that kid's mother, when I was still alive anyway. At the time, I was a serial killer that was all over the news... I was famous! That kid's mother happened to be my last victim. It was so much fun, she ran as hard as she could... and in the end, when she barely had any breath left, she still tried to protect her child from me. When I chased her out onto her veranda, however, was when things went wrong, because that damned kid grabbed my shoelaces and caused me to trip, resulting in me getting killed in the process.

After a while, I decided to pay the kid back for everything he had done to me, so I took his soul right out of his body and stuffed it inside that parakeet, before telling him this: 'Three months! If you can run around in that form for that long, I'll bring your mother back to life'. Of course I couldn't do something like that, no one can, but the kid bought it and started running as fast as his new form would allow him to, giving me the thrill of hunting him down while killing off everyone and anyone that tries to help him out, in whatever way they try. Each time I killed someone the kid would complain and try to quit, only for me to remind him why he was going through with this, that he was trying to save his mother, and he fell back in line and resumed our little game, all without realizing that I was never going to uphold my part of the 'deal'. And now that the two of you have lowered your guard, it's time for me to end the two of you as well!"

The Hollow sent a pair of frogs at them, though this time around both Sombra and Ichigo grabbed one and crushed them with their space hands, resulting in the Hollow getting ready to use it's tongue to blow their hands up, but what he wasn't expecting was the both of them to punch him in the mouth part of his mask and grab onto his tongue... only for the two of them to pull back a few seconds later as they ripped his tongue from his mouth.

"Go to HELL!" Ichigo and Sombra exclaimed, though at the same time they both swung their swords and cut two parallel gashes into the Hollow's mask, both going through one of his eyes, but this time around a green glow escaped from the cracks as the Hollow stood there for a moment.

That was followed by a surge of energy being released from the Hollow as a massive gateway of some kind, with a large skeleton on each of the two panels that were in front of them, appeared behind the creature, causing the duo to look at it with a look of surprise on their faces. Rukia arrived a few seconds later as the two skeletons started to pull the two sections of the door apart from each other, snapping the chains in the process, though she told Ichigo that this was the gate to Hell, where souls that committed sins when they were alive were sent when they were cleansed by a Zanpakuto. Since the Hollow had been a serial killer when he was alive, and it was only the deaths that he had caused as a Hollow that were being cleansed from his spirit, it made sense that he was being sent to Hell, to which the three of them watched as the gateway opened before their eyes. That was before a massive blade, wielded by a massive blue colored hand, pierced the Hollow's body and dragged the creature into Hell, where the gateway closed once he was on the other side, before the gateway shattered like it was glass and the world around them seemed to return to normal.

Once the Hollow was taken care of they returned to where Ichigo's body was located, and where Chad happened to be when they arrived, before Rukia checked the parakeet for the spirit's Chain of Fate, but after a few moments she was able to determine that it was impossible to send him back to his original body. Since he couldn't spend the rest of his life in the parakeet, as he'd be attacked by more Hollows eventually, Rukia told him that Soul Society wasn't a scary place and that he'd be able to live a nice life there, before Ichigo stepped in and told him that he'd be able to see his mother again when he arrived in the afterlife. Chad even had a touching moment with the spirit of the little boy, where they promised each other that, when they met again in Soul Society, when Chad died and was sent over, that he would carry Yuichi around like he did today... to which Ichigo, Rukia, and Sombra noticed the spirit smile as he imagined that day, before letting Ichigo perform the Konso on him, sending him on his way to the next stage of his life.

As Yuichi's spirit was sent to Soul Society, and left the World of the Living behind, Sombra had the strangest feeling that they would be seeing him again in the future, but at the same time he smiled, as it felt good to have dealt with the Hollow that had killed two Shinigami... and left him wondering what he and the others would have to deal with before the day was over.