author's notes :

This is the first first chapter of what hopefully will be a multi-chapter story. It starts out 10 years after the winter war. Ryo is a little OC but that's mainly due to the fact that there's not much out there about her.

This is my first fanfic, so be kind, and leave lots of positive feedback :)

Disclaimer : Damnit Kubo, you own it all, and I only own the situations I put your characters in. Life is unfair.

- The promise -

Chapter 1: Misunderstandings between strangers

She was having a great nap. Although her mattress felt lumpier then usual, it was warm and cozy, and smelled oh-so-nice.

"Good morning. How are you feeling?" inquired the decidedly masculine voice coming from her mattress;

"Gaaaaah, get off of me, pervert!" she screamed on instinct, while opening her eyes and confronting the reality of her lumpy mattress. She was lying on top of a very warm, very shapely, very aham, masculine chest.

"Hmm, you're the one lying on top of me?" noted the owner of said chest.

She looked up immediately and was confronted with warm, yet bemused green eyes. This prompted her to take action. She rolled on her back immediately, freeing her source of warmth, not for a moment however taking her eyes off of him.

"Gaah! Who are you? What- where…how? Come on, answers! Now! And I don't even remember drinking…wow, that's some powerful stuff…" she narrowed her eyes as the sudden thought popped into her mind "Or did you ROOFIE ME? You drug-rapist! No, that can't be right…I was drinking coffee. Okay, I don't know how you did it, but I'm sure it's your fault! However I won't judge you till I hear it. But this better be good. Who are you?" She had no idea who this guy was, but it was not everyday she woke up on top of a stranger. In fact, that had never happened. She was not that type of girl. Therefore, he was at fault here, not her. Her accusing hazel eyes met with …concern and a tinge of mirth? Was this guy laughing at her?

"Thank you. For not judging, that is. I'm Jushiro Ukitake. And you are?" he couldn't prevent the small smile that escaped if he tried. Although being accused of rape should not be funny, her animated facial expressions and the way her mind worked struck him as somewhat humorous.

"Not satisfied. What am I doing here? Where is here?" She was not amused. Again with the mirth, and the warmth. That was definitely the smile of someone trying not to laugh. Although, the gentleness in his eyes gave her pause. However, what kind of psycho finds this even remotely amusing? What kind of beast lies there, exuding warmth and gentleness after being accused of rape? She quickly took survey of her whereabouts. It would appear she was in someone's bedroom, lying in someone's bed. The bedroom itself seemed very inviting yet spacious, and a gentle breeze could be felt coming through the open sliding doors that led to a terrace. She was currently lying in bed beside a tall, half-naked handsome man whose gentle eyes were disconcerting to say the least. And she had no idea how she got here. She was so confused, and the sheer absurdness of the situation was enough to make her want to scream, and cry a little. She held it all in however, which made her suck in air unevenly in short little breaths.

" Take a deep breath. I'm afraid you're going to start hyper-ventilating" She seemed very nervous, yet her hostile glances at him indicated she was also getting upset. Resolved to alleviate some of her stress, which he figured was due their proximity, he quickly sat up, and encouraged her to do the same by gently pulling her up with him as he sat cross-legged in his bed. She sat and hugged her knees, all the while scooting backwards to the edge of the mattress. Her wary expression indicated she was still upset, but at least she seemed less nervous than previously.

"You're safe. I promise. Do you remember anything that happened after we crossed the senkaimon?"

" "You're safe. I promise" HAh!" His gentle voice provoked her anger. Did she look so gullible? "Sounds like what a stalker kidnapper would say. Seiko - what? I don't even know how we got here to begin with."

Now that the shock of waking up in a stranger's bed, (or rather, on a stranger's chest) was passing, she gathered her scattered wits to assess the situation. The handsome man before her wore a brown sleeping kimono, which provided heavenly contrast with his spring colored eyes, she noted grudgingly. He had a beautiful face, a true photographer's dream, but his face was saved from being effeminate by thick, perfectly shaped black eyebrows. His most arresting feature however was the shock of white hair that fell around his face and shoulders, giving him a look that was both exotic and dignified. He was drop-dead gorgeous!… And he was presently studying her like she was an escapee from an insane asylum. That shocked her out of her musings and into action.

She moved her left hand around to indicate the motions of a clock moving backwards " Start from the beginning, whitey."

His dark brows drew together. "Wh-whitey? It's Ukitake-san to you!"

She rolled her eyes at his indignation, and sighed. "Yeah, well, we just woke up in the same bed. We're past san, sama, and dono. Whitey, just spill. Something tells me this is not going to be pretty." Now that it appeared he was not going to jump her bones, she felt her impatience building up at finding herself without the memories to explain her current situation.

"Do you remember sitting at an outdoor café?"

"Yes…I right in the middle of an important chapter in my book too…I heard a weird noise, and when I looked up… hey, now I know why you seem familiar…you're the hottie who was chasing the fishface monster! Hey, did you catch him, or what?"

He raised his eyebrows," Hottie…I-!" He sighed, and shook his head, in an attempt to get back to the main topic. " Anyway, what kind of person sees a monster gunning for them, and simply winks? Are you mentally unstable?" his head turned sideways, still studying her as if attempting to decide whether she was, in fact, insane.

Her temper spiked at the sudden insult. "That's uncalled for ! And I don't have to explain myself to you…I may have flirted with you a little bit back then, but that does not mean I owe you anything. Anyway, it's not like I knew my…uhn…thingie watchamacalit was broken" she mumbled, realizing how weak her explanation sounded. She looked away from his face, suddenly embarrassed.

" Your thingie? Your…thingie? WHAT, YOUR BRAINS?" he replied, momentarily losing his patience with the unapologetic woman.

" I resent that! I'm in total possession of my faculties! As far as I know, you're the crazy one here…" she retorted, face flushed at the insult. "But really, I had a thingie that made me invisible to the monsters! …I guess it's gone now. Damn that cheapass shopkeeper and his inferior workmanship, I should write a let-"

" Monsters? Hollows" he interrupted, suspicion rising in the face of her obvious lack of knowledge.

" Who are you calling hollow? I'll have you know I'm brimming with emotion right now! Mainly evil emotion. Targeted towards you, in fact." she narrowed her hazel eyes, hands clawing the linen in the bed, in effort to stop herself from going at him.

" The monsters" He sighed. "are called hollows…really, how have you survived this long? Are you for real? What kind of shinigami are you?" his black brows snapped together, and dread starting building as he considered the possibility that he might have made a very big mistake.

" I don' t have an obligation to remember what those monsters are called, nor do I care. I've been just fine living my life the way I choose. Denial, denial, denial. If I don't look, they are not there. And if I'm going to get caught up in the supernatural, I rather do it in a book. So why bother with the terminology? I don't want to be involved! I want to live my life as normally as possible and I just want the damn monsters-"

" Hollows" he interrupted.

"HOLLOWS… to leave me alone. And the spirits, and the ghosts, and anything else that goes bump in the night. Unless of course, it's some type of sexy vampire who gets all shiny in the daylight… but I bet you're not it. Pity. You're probably just like Mr. Fro and Ichigo, and the rest of them weird black kimono types. What do you guys call yourselves again? Shini-kame? Why death turtles? I don't get it…anyway, it was lovely Mr. Turtle, but I have to go, I'm probably late for work anyway." She made to stand, but he caught her arm and held her in place.

" SHINIGAMI! Death Gods, not …death turtles! My first guess was right, you have to be insane to think these things up, and anyway you can't just go!Hm… you're not …uhm…in your world anymore." he said slowly, as it dawned on him that he had, in fact, made some wrong assumptions, and this girl was not, nor had ever been, a shinigami.

"Huh, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight-o. Yeah well, watch me go. Where are my shoes?" she looked down in the floor, then instinctively down her own body, " OH MY G…WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES?" she shouted, finding herself dressed in only a thin white kimono that came down halfway to her thighs to cover her. She immediately brought her hands up to her chest to further close the kimono. She was breathing rapidly and shallowly again.

" If you just calm down for a second, I'll explain everything that's happened and how you got here. But you need to relax, and take it slow, or you're going to open up your wound" he spoke gently, almost afraid to spook her further.

" My wound? My wound? What wound?" at the mention of wounds, she looked down herself again, scrambling around to check all her body parts. As she turned her neck to the side, a sharp pain followed, and as she quickly brought her hand to her neck, she was surprised to find what she could only guess was a bandage covering the side and back of her neck. " OOOoooooh tatata…it hurts, it hurts…holy crap what did you do to my neck? You ARE a vampire! HAH! I knew it!"

Ukitake was at loss of how to even tackle her accusations. He briefly closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and reminded himself that she had a right to be confused. And even if she seemed a bit soft in the head, it was probably a result of the trauma. She was scared, and vulnerable-

"OOOOOOOOOOWMY HAND! You BIT me !" he pulled his hand, which had been keeping her still, and looked down at it. It now held a perfect half - moon mark of her sharp, even, white teeth. He was surprised there was no blood.

" Yeah, Mr. Sexy Vampire, how does it feel to be bitten for a change, huh?" she accused, her bravado carrying her forward to poke at his chest too.

" Now I have to explain to a biting lunatic that she's dead. Can it get worse?" he mumbled darkly under his breath while rubbing the affected spot in his hand. Unbelievable, he was having to fight for the patience and tact he was renowned for. Too late, he realized she had heard his careless mumblings, as her face took an ashen color.

"WHAAAAAAA..I'm dead? And this is heaven? Or is it hell?" She looked up at an imaginary place above them, clearly speaking to someone other than him " Why did I come to Hell to be tormented by white-haired sexy vampires? And what a cliché! Is it because I never went to church? Geez, God, listen, I thought you knew I meant to, sooner or later, but apparently not…I'm sorry Lord, I don't really want to be a vampire's plaything, even if he is sexy… those were careless thoughts! I got caught up in the books! …But I really am good, and I want go to Heaven! …is it too late to say sorry? ARE YOU LISTENING?" He stared at her, as she kept having a one-sided conversation with whatever deity she believed, momentarily shocked at the absurd monologue taking place.

"You think I'm sexy? I-" he interrupted, mentally slapping himself as he noticed the direction of his thoughts. Shaking off that train of thought, he allowed himself a moment to get his mind back at the matter at hand. Following a deep breath, he took her by the shoulders, and very gently shook her until she looked back at him.

" You're not in hell, you're in Soul Society." he paused to let the information sink in. She could only blink, so he continued "That's where souls from the living world get sent to when they die. Hm…I haven't had to explain this to anyone in centuries. Hmmm…where to start…?" he stood up and looked around for some scrap paper and a pen.

"Soul Society…So you mean all that crap that shopkeeper told me is true? Huh, I figured he was just trying to get me to join his crazy cult. Alrighty-then" she put up a hand to stop him "You can save it whitey, I understand now."

" Whitey? You-! You understand…what, how!" he looked at her, surprised at the quick mental turnaround she had done. Without the need for pen and paper, he resettled by the edge of the mattress again, taking up his previous cross-legged position. She barely noticed, caught up as she was trying to recall the details of what that man had told her years ago. He prompted her with a discreet cough, shaking her out of her inner thoughts, silently asking her to explain further. She looked at him, as if suddenly remembering he was still there. With a sigh, she started to explain.

" Well, quite a few years ago, hummm…maybe nine, ten years ago? Back in high school anyway. Well, I ran into this dude when I was getting chased by some monsters…It was like, suddenly…all the mon-…hollows started noticing me, right? So I was running from them, while trying to find the death turtle guy that I had seen before…ahn,I mean ,death god…well, one of you guys! It was then that this guy named Urahara stepped in and saved me."

" Urahara? You were saved by Kisuke Urahara ?" he was in disbelief.

" Yeap. He had a sword inside his cane, can you believe it? He just made monster salad out of that bunch! At first I thought he was just a crazy katana-yielding bum, and that I was going to have to call the cops, but no, he said he used to be a turtle too!" she smiled a little, satisfied she was starting to make sense.

" We are NOT turtles!" he interrupted, offended.

" Fine, sheesh, whatever…it's not like any of you formally introduced yourselves to me before Urahara anyway. And he explained just the basics. Something about the circle of life? No, wait, that's the Lion King. Oh yeah, Soul Society was the after-life. Where the souls are sent, right? And ghosts were pluses, and monsters were hollows who used to be pluses but then lost heart. I don't know, there were diagrams and explanations, but I couldn't pay much attention to it cause I was like "OHMYGOD A TALKING CAT!" Did you know Urahara has a talking cat?" she asked, apparently still amazed at the possibility of having found a cat that talked.

" That's Yourichi, she's not a cat per se, she just takes the form of a cat sometimes." he explained with a smile, again amused by her train of thought, and the excitement in her voice.

"It's a girl? With that voice? At least it explains all the affection between them. Otherwise, someone should have called PETA-"

" Can you stay on the subject? What happened then?" he interrupted, aware she was straying off topic again.

" Getaboshi was all " It seems you have undeveloped powers 3""she said in a Urahara-like voice while fluttering an invisible fan in front of her face in perfect imitation of said man; "and the cat wanted to train me to defend the town, but they kept talking to one another about throwing me in a hole, and cutting my soul link… So obviously I was like Ooookaaay then, I don't know exactly what my chain is, but I'm sure I need it. Thanks, but no thanks. Plus, I'm allergic to cats, and I was right in the middle of training for track and field nationals. I won too."

" That's a remarkable impersonation of Urahara…" he couldn't help but comment, caught up in her story. "okay, so what happened then?"

"I got a medal?" she responded, rolling her eyes.

He sighed. "With Urahara…?"

" I told him no, of course"

" And he was okay with that?"

" He said "I'll be here 3" , fixed my thingie for me, and I haven't seen him since." she punctuated with a shrug.

" What is this "thingie" you keep referring to?" Now that he certain she was human, and almost certain - but not quite - she was not insane, he was curious to know how she had avoided Hollow detection all these years. Anyone with such strong, unusual spiritual energy would have been consistently targeted by hollows, and ended up either hollow-food or under the protection of the Gotei 13.

She rested her cheek on her arms. She sighed, and sadness briefly shadowed her face" It's a charm I suppose. It's a charm my mom gave me before she died. I wore it around my neck since I was a kid. She said to never take it off, and that it would keep the bad monsters away. But it broke one day. And that's when I ran into getaboshi. He fixed it into a bracelet for me. " she raised her head, anger suddenly breaking through her sadness "That punk looked suspicious from the start. I bet he knew it was going to break too!"

" A device that masks spiritual power, interesting…do you still have it with you?" he asked, curious to analyze the object.

" Would I be DEAD if I still had it? Why did you think I didn't run? I thought I had it, but then I looked down my arm and it was gone! And next thing you know, some monster grabbed me by the neck and sent me flying. That's all I remember, anyway." she shrugged, subconsciously bringing a hand to rub the bandage around her neck.

" Do you remember seeing me right before that? You winked at me!" he exclaimed, a slight blush spreading across his cheeks.

She giggled before continuing." Yeah, I saw you. I always mess with Mr. Fro and the other turtles…because they always ignore me, you know. And that hurts. Well, I suppose I ignored them too most of the time when I was in high school. Back then it was just easier. But even though nowadays I still pretend I don't see the ghosts and the monsters, I always at least say hello to the tur-"

"We're not-…forget it" He sighed.

"-But they never even look at me. Why did YOU look at me?"

"You had a lot of spiritual energy for a human and when I sensed you amongst the crowd I thought you were a shinigami, or a human with special abilities at least. I never however, expected you to just quietly sit there and get half-eaten by a hollow!" he half-shouted the last bit, anger rising at the memory of her getting mauled, and the feeling of helplessness that came upon him at that moment.

"Excuse-me, but it would appear that killing hollows is YOUR job, not mine. Protecting humans and souls is a death god's job right? How incompetent of you." She matched his anger, disliking his accusatory tone.

"HAH! You said it right this time !" he retorted grinning.

"Really, I just called you incompetent, and THAT's what you're focusing on?"

Shoulders slumped forward, he sighed. " I suppose you're right. I'm deeply sorry. I should have saved you. I should have done better. I've failed you, I failed my calling." Head hung down in shame, he looked utterly defeated, and so very sad.

Ryo didn't know why, but she couldn't bear to see him looking like that.

" Meh. What's done is done. It's not like you knew I was going to just stand there as a juicy treat for Fishface. It happens. And I'm sorry I startled you so much, that you lost your concentration on your job. Guess it serves me right!"

He looked up, still looking so very serious, eyes full of sorrow " Regardless, I'm sorry I couldn't save your physical body in time. "

"Don't sweat it. This seems like a nice place to spend the after-life and whatnot" she waved her arms around, false cheer evident in her voice.

"You haven't even seen it!" he replied, not appeased despite her positive attitude.

"Still, I'm trying to make you feel better. Show some consideration…you know, it should be the other way around. I just died, you know."

" I'm so sorry." His head hung down again, making her feel like a villain.

"Eh, I hated my life anyway. Always seeing spirits and ghosts, sometimes doing the weirdest things too. You should see what they get up to when they think you can't see them. Ha, hah. And the monsters were pretty annoying. And I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to help get them. I wish I had believed Urahara. Maybe I could have been like Ichigo and Rukia… they were always out and about fighting them back in high school…If I had taken up with them, instead of focusing so much on school we wouldn't be here now, huh?" She said, needing to admit to her share of the blame.

" Everyone has their time on Earth. I don't know if you were taken before your time, or if it was meant to happen, but you're here now." he replied, giving her a small smile.

She smiled back. "Well, that explains where I am. In the general sense of where in the world, or should I say, in which world I'm in. But it doesn't explain why I'm in your bed. I suppose this is your bed, right?"

"Yes, it's my bed. But there's nothing perverted to it, I swear!

"Sure, sure. I believe you whitey. Sorry I called you a perv, you don't need to get so upset over it. And I'm sorry I called you a vampire. And bit your hand. But still, how did I get hurt? I thought I died, so how can I be dead, and hurt? Do souls get hurt too?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, it seems that Urahara never did explain things properly to you" I am sure he tried but you wouldn't listen. "The Hollow was in fact after your spiritual energy, not after your body. When he grabbed you by the throat, he shook your soul out of your body. That's the sensation of flying you experienced. The damage to your body transfers to your soul however, and your injury appeared in your soul as well as your body. By the time I finished fighting him, and made my way back to you, the damage to your physical body was too extensive to save. Had I tried to save both body and soul with just my basic healing kido, I'm afraid you could have lost your soul too. I had to make a choice, so I saved your soul."

"Thank you. I'm embarrassed now I was so rude to you. You saved my soul. Wow. But again, how does that put me in YOUR BED?" she said tightly, pointing down to the bed where they sat.

" Eh, hah, see, about that… well, I uhm, made a mistake." he replied weakly.

" A mistake? IN YOUR BED?" she shouted, alarms going off in her head.

" No, no… I thought we established I'm not a pervert." he said with a frown, getting annoyed.

"Fine, but can you please explain then, how I ended up in your bed, Mr.I'm-not-a-pervert?" she said impatiently.

"Well, your reiraku was red."

" You were lookin' at my underwear? You ARE a pervert!"

" No, no…your spirit thread. It's basically a visualization of your spiritual energy. It means you are a shinigami." he explained.

"I am not a shinigami, trust me, I'd know if I was one." she rolled her eyes at the obvious.

" I think that's what Urahara meant when he said you had undeveloped powers. It would seem you had some hidden shinigami powers in you. After I finished fighting that hollow, I immediately looked for you. When I found you, you were already in shinigami robes. I thought maybe you were a shinigami after all, and that I had imagined seeing your chain of fate. It's not like I could wake you up and ask you, anyway. I brought you here so I could save your life. Although I had stopped the bleeding, the damage was too extensive to heal with my kido. I needed a proper healer. And I brought you through the seikamon that opens in my private quarters. That was the closest I could get you to a healer without sounding the alarm."

" What alarm?" she asked.

" Well, if you're not a shinigami with the protection squads, you're technically an intruder." he winced, thinking about the trouble they were both in.

"But I thought you said all souls come to soul society. How could I be an intruder?"

" Well, I brought you to my quarters in Seireitei. Only shinigami and nobles are allowed in the court of Pure Souls. Right now, I'm afraid we are both breaking the law."

"Great, I just died, and I'm already in trouble with the law." she was not impressed. Barely dead, and already on the lam.

"Plus, you haven't had a proper soul burial yet." he continued, delivering the last of the bad news.

" WHAT? You're going to bury me now?" she asked with alarm, not liking where this was going.

"No, but…well, when you die on earth, you're supposed to get what is called a soul burial. It's what sends you to soul society. It doesn't hurt or anything. It's simply a ritual that sends you to Soul Society or Hell. It serves as a balancing mechanism between the souls on Earth and Soul Society. It also relieves you of your sins and all the everyday worries that weighted back on earth. Basically, you wouldn't remember as much of your past life so that you could start fresh in Soul Society. Some people remember more, some forget everything." he explained.

"And you didn't give me one of those?"

"No. I am sorry, I thought you were a shinigami, so I carried your soul through the gates the normal way."

" But I'm still dead?"

" I suppose. Your physical body is gone."

" But I could still go to Hell?"

" Did you do anything that merits hell?" he asked with a frown.

She thought about it. After a few moments, she released a sigh." Not really. Just the usual stuff. Not going to church. Eating too many sweets. Jailwalking. I once drove over a squirrel. Is that hell-worthy?"

He smiled. She really was adorable in her insanity. " Nope. I think it's safe to say you're not going to hell. But you do have to get a soul burial. But first you need to heal. We can't do anything until then."

"So you're saying I'm stuck with you until I heal, right?" she said with a yawn, getting suddenly tired.

"Hm. I suppose there's no other choice …You have to stay hidden, and there's no better place than my private quarters." Ukitake responded with a blush, rubbing his neck in a self-conscious gesture.

" We should probably properly introduce ourselves then." she said, and yawned again. She made an effort to keep her eyes open, blinking away the sudden need to nap.

He had already introduced himself, but figured he might as well do it again. " I suppose it is better than being called whitey. I'm Jushiro Ukitake, captain of the 13th squad." he said with a small smile, offering his hand out.

" I'm Ryo Kunieda. Thank you for saving my lif-, err…my soul? I'll try my best not to get in your way. I'm sorry for the trouble, really." she shook his hand, and let out another yawn. Her lids starting to close, she lay back on the bed to briefly rest her eyes, which felt really, really heavy for some reason.

"It will work out in the end, don't worry. Now go to sleep, you need to heal. I'll be here beside you when you wake up." she heard him say, but could not keep her eyes open long enough to reply.

Author's random mumblings: So, what do you guys think? I personally love it. I'll tell you folks a little secret, I've actually written about half of the story, but I've been editing like crazy, so it might take some time to put it together here. I'll promise however, at least two chapters per week. THat's how I roll! YEAY!

*rolls around the floor in excitement*