pass without first examining the inhibitor. Maybe it wouldn't hurt if it were only for a minute or two. Then, she could return to Rukia's side. Slowly removing the twisted bracelet from her wrist, Orihime hesitantly held it out to Kurotsuchi and dropped it into his waiting open palm.

There was a crackle of light on contact, along with what sounded unmistakably like Kisuke's laughter coming from the inhibitor. It floated on the breeze, taunting them as it echoed throughout the garden.

Kurotsuchi frowned and flicked his haori back as he crouched down to retrieve the silver inhibitor from the ground. "That idiotic comedian." He grumbled under his breath and attempted to pick it up from the grass, but that same burst of light from before left his fingertips smoking.

Steadilyat the swirling of her senses and felt her heart trip as Kurotsuchi's eyes lifted from her inhibitor to stare at her with almost maniacal fascination. And Uryuu-kun's oft-repeated warnings about Nemu-chan's father rushed through her mind with the terrifying force of a cyclone, making her recoil from the thought of what Mayuri might do to her unborn children all in the name of science.

Humming, Kurotsuchi rubbed his hands together as he quickly cataloged the unique spirit pressure dancing madly around him. "It seems I've found something even better." He murmured with glee, the bracelet at their feet all but forgotten. This girl's body housed a gold mine of riches just waiting to be analyzed, picked apart and examined.

Advancing towards his new target, he narrowed his eyes as