HIYA! I'm BACK!

And I know what you're thinking.... 'WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!'.... or something along those lines?

Well, I had some family-related personal stuff going on and I kinda forgot about all this in the chaos.

But I'm back now, so it's all good. Plus, new chappy! YAY! :D!

Now just a little warning here, the first chappy's a bit confusing, but it'll make sense in a few more chappies.

Promise.

Oh! And there're LOTS of SPOLIERS for the SOUL SOCIETY ARC in this thing too!

Disclaimer - I DON'T OWN BLEACH OR ANY COPY-RIGHTED ASSOCIATIONS MENTIONED. They belong to Tito Kubo.

Anywhos, I'm keeping you from all the excitment.

Now read on!

To the story!

Chapter 1 - Awakening. Ichigo?!


~Captain's Meeting~

The Sou-taichou stamped his wooden staff to call attention,"everyone", he boomed, and all the Captains looked to him.

"Let us declare war on these Ryoka".


~Yuuki's Hosptial Room~

Yuuki suddenly jerked awake, frowning as a bad feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.

Furrowing her brow in concentration, she closed her eyes, and as she relaxed she found she DID sense something wrong.

She sensed several strong, new reiatsus. Displaced reiatsus.

Yuuki sighed,"and I'll just bet Yamamoto declared war on them", she muttered to herself.

She looked at the hallway door and bit her lip,'from their movements, these Ryoka seem to be trying to save Rukia.... and I CAN NOT let her die', she thought.


'This is just all too suspicious and it's sending off alarm bells in my head', Yuuki pondered.

"Something is definetely NOT RIGHT", she muttered, quietly slipping out of her bed.

Yuuki - being as perceptive as always - had, had a feeling something like this was going to happen, so she'd preserved her strength by sleeping more, appearing to all as if she were
slowly succumming to a coma, as she prepared for this exact purpose.

She dressed quickly in the clean shihakshou she'd hidden in the closet by the door and strapped on her shoes and her zanpaktou, ShiroHime(incase any of you forgot).

Finally ready, Yuuki walked quietly over to the window and knelt on the ledge. She gulped, then turned her head back to the door.

"I'm sorry, Toushiro-kun", she whispered to the empty room,"please, don't get angry with me".

Then, biting her lip, she flash-stepped out the window.

----

From the hall outside, Unohana stood frowning,"what could she be up to?", the woman wondered aloud, then looked out the hall window across from her,"..... whatever it is.... be careful, Yuuki".

----

~With Yuuki~

Yuuki lept from building to building, from roof to roof. She no longer used flash-step as that drained her energy too quickly, that, and she still hadn't completely recovered and needed to preserve her strength for as long as she could.

She also careful to hide her reiatsu. Can't have Toushiro finding out she was out of bed, could we?

Knowing him, he would completely dissreguard his duties and rush off to find her.

Yuuki shook her head,'no', she thought,'better that he thinks I'm safe in bed at the Squad 4 Hospital'.

Then, sensing two of the Ryoka's reiatsu's, Yuuki dropped to the ground in one of the many pathways of the Seireitei's maze of thoroughfares.

The short, white-haired girl's turquoise eyes lazily drifted to her right, immediately spotting something out of the ordinary.

(inspired by Comical World from the Bleach Soundtrack)

Her mouth hung open,"Ichigo?", she finally managed to exclaim softly.

Then,"what the HELL are you doing here?!", she hissed angrily,"I thought I told you to take care of Kaylee if anything ever happened to me!", she growled, advancing on him.

The Carrot-top-haired boy just stood there in shock, pointing at her rudely,"Yu-, Yu-, YUU-?!", he finally attempted to yell.

But Yuuki cut him off, quickly flash-stepping forward with wide eyes to slap a hand over his mouth,"baka!", she hissed, incredulous at his stupidity, right into his face,"don't yell so loud! Do you want to alert every shinigami in the vicinity of our location?!".

Yuuki glared heatedly at him until he mumbled in agreement.

After a moment, the girl removed her hand from his mouth - of course, only after she heard him say a muffled promise that he wouldn't yell so loud anymore.

"What are you doing here?!", he suddenly demanded in a loud voice,"and since when were you a Shinigami?!".

Yuuki's death glare settled on him,"what did we just discuss?", she asked, completely ignoring his questions.

"Yuuki! This is no time to dreg up old arguments, where the hell have you been for the last three months? Your sister's worried sick!", Ichigo grumbled, a glare now on HIS face.

Yuuki's face paled,"Kaylee....", she put a hand to her face and sighed tiredly(sound familiar?), then looked back up at him,"is she okay? I just had to leave so suddenly.... there just wasn't
time", she said with hurt in her voice.

Ichigo's anger immediately lessened,"well, she's okay", he stuttered awkwardly,"she's been staying at my house - with Yuzu and Karin", he explained, muttering.

"Thanks, Ichigo. You don't know what that means to me", she said, smiling again.

"No problem", he replied, starting to look sheepish, then he frowned,"so what are you doing here?", Ichigo asked, suddenly sounding curious and suspicious - at the same time.

Yuuki swallowed nervously, then mentally decided to tell him only part of the truth,"I'm here to rescue Rukia, of course", she said, her facial expression serious


'I also believe that there may be something sinister going on behind everthing! Like a conspiracy!'.

Well, that's what she WANTED to say.

But this is what she really said,"because she's my friend, baka", she chided angrily, awkwardly avoiding the question.(Note that Ichigo doesn't even think about the fact that Yuuki left
BEFORE Rukia even came).

"Besides, I heard you guys were here, so I've decided to help you's out", Yuuki explained, smiling broadly now, her arms crossed smugly.

"But if we get caught, I don't know you", she finished nonchalantly, her smile changing to a cheeky one.

"Yuuki!", Ichigo growled.

Yuuki's smile turned to a frown,"jeez, calm down, Strawberry", she retorted,"but I wasn't kidding, ya know. If I get caught openly helping Ryoka, I could be the next one up for execution".

In a matter of seconds, Ichigo's face changed from one of shock to an angry glare,"these people....", he growled, scrunching up his fist.

Yuuki sighed, rolling her eyes at his ignorance,"ya know, not everyone agrees with Soul Society law. It's there to protect every living soul, it's not just for our benefit", she said seriously.

"'Our'?, the guy behind him stressed.

"Huh?", Yuuki said, managing to look completely uninterested as she noticed this new person that had suddenly appeared without her noticed,"and you are....?", she asked.

"Ganju Shiba", he replied proudly, striking an unnescessary 'manly' pose.

Yuuki's eyebrow rose as she recognized the name,"Shiba Clan, eh?", she smiled,"heh, so Kukkaku is still around....".

"You know my sister?", Ganju asked, frowning.

"Yeah. We go way back", Yuuki replied vaguely, making a dissmissive motion with her hand while smirking,(no sarcasim intended), then she cocked her head to the side and said,"and
you?", confusing them for a moment, then Hanatarou popped out, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Hello there, Yuuki-san", he said nervously.

Yuuki silently thanked him for not resorting to the honorifics she'd been trying to drum out of him for the past two months AND for not using her last name and rank.

The less Ichigo knew about her life here, the better.

"Hanatarou?", Yuuki said, in a surprised high-pitched voice, then she sighed,"oh, dear god", she groaned, through gritted teeth,"this just keeps getting better and better!", she grumbled,(sarcasim INTENDED).

Yuuki sighed through her nose,"anyways. Ichigo, Ganju, Hanatarou. You guys need to follow me. Now", she said, shifting her eyes left and right, suddenly nervous as she searched for other nearby reiatsu.

She could swear she felt something off just a moment ago-,"why?", Ichigo asked warily, throwing off her train of thought.

Yuuki groaned frustratedly,"must you question everything I say?", she asked rhetorically, and when he went to answer, she cut him off again with,"no, Ichigo. Don't answer that", then,"look, just trust me, okay Ichigo? I actually know where I'm going".

She cocked her head to the side again,"no offence intended, Hanatarou".

"None taken, Yuuki-san", Hanatarou replied, smiling,"we were just heading to the-".

Ganju suddenly slapped a hand over his mouth, making Yuuki sigh in frustration. Again.

"Don't tell her where we're going, baka!", he hissed,"she's the enemy, remember?".

Then suddenly Yuuki appeared beside them using flash-step,"you do realize that Hanatarou is also a shinigami of the Gotei 13, right? And was, at some point, also your enemy?", she said,
eyebrows raised.

"She's got a point, Ganju", Ichigo interrupted calmly, his arms crossed in an 'all-knowing way' that just pissed Yuuki off,"and besides, Yuuki is MY FRIEND", he looked at Ganju threateningly,"and reguardless of how or why she's here, I trust her", then said in a light voice,"you should too".

"Whatever", Ganju grunted and Yuuki smiled as Hanatarou went on to explain their plan.

----

After a few minutes of horrible, detail-less explaining - mostly thanks to Ganju's death glares - Yuuki came to the conclusion that apparantly they had decided to sneak through the sewers - with Hanatarou as their guide - to get to the Shrine of Repentance, or 'White Tower' as Ichigo called it, where Rukia was being held.

Yuuki nodded, smiling approvingly,"great plan, Hanatarou", she congratulated him, slapping him encouragingly on the back,"lead the away".

----

Yuuki followed them through the sewers, ignoring what small talk they'd come up with as Ganju continually watched her suspiciously from the corner of his eyes.

In response, Yuuki just rolled her eyes,'MEN', she thought dryly.

Chapter End

M'kay! Hope you liked!

And remember to REVIEW guys! I get all these hits and stuff but only a couple of people actually review!

Oh, and sorry about the lack of paragraph formations, for some reason I can't get fanfiction's document online editor to let me do line breaks, so '_----' will have to suffice for the 'time-breaks' that I usually signify with a double space.

Anyways, the next chapter's already in the making so it should be out in the next week.

C yas!