A/N: I know it's been a long while since I've written a bleach story; but I hope you all enjoy this one. Let me know what you think.

Chapter 1:

In The Beginning….

Namika Shiba, youngest member of the Shiba Clan, readied her blade. She was prepared to lay her life on the line for the Seireitei. Being so much like her older brother, Kaien Shiba, she wanted to fight against the hollows and bring a sense of justice to the world. Whether that happened remained to be seen; but she was determined to succeed in the virtue.

"Namika, scout the perimeter."

She looked up from the hilt of her blade to meet the eyes of her Captain. The soft green of them gave a sense of comfort to her. The short glance was met with a smile as he shoved away a large chunk of his white hair away out of his face. Captain Ukitake was like a father figure to her, though she'd never admit that to anyone.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her brother giving commands to other members of their squad. Namika smiled at him. The entire squad looked up to him and she was no different. He turned to look at her, raising an arm up to scratch the back of his head innocently. The tattoo of their family crest on his arm was visible from under the sleeve of his shihakushō.

"Stay safe, little sister." He said placing a hand on the top of her head, messing up her long auburn locks in the process.

"I'm always careful. You have nothing to worry about." She answered while pushing his hand away from the top of her head.

"You say that and it only makes me worry more."

Kaien's smile faded and all that was left was painful silence. She watched her brother's gentle eyes narrow into the abyss of the forest that lay beyond them. The birds scattered in the trees and that's when Namika heard the howl of a hollow.

She searched in every direction for movement; but saw nothing until it was too late. Seeming to come out of thin air, the hollow lunged forward straight at her brother. Making the decision without question, she shoved her brother out of the way.

"NO!" Kaien shouted desperately.

Claws impaled Namika's body, causing her to go limp almost instantly. Jūshirō severed the head of another hollow when he heard Kaien's plea. His eyes widened in horror as he saw the body of his dear friend's sister hanging lifeless on the claws of overly large hollow.

Without a care in the world, it flung her body off his appendage. Kaien screamed in anger and lunged at the large beast only for it to disappear just as it had appeared, into thin air. Jūshirō appeared next to the fallen Namika. He looked down at her with sympathy before reaching down to pick her up in his arms. He felt the warmth of her blood soaking his clothing

"Is she..." Kaien asked unable to finish the sentence in its entirety.

"No; but she will be if we don't get her back to Unohana quickly."

Kaien couldn't say anything else. He knew that his Captain would be a lot faster than he would be. Giving a simple nod of the head allowed Jushiro Ukitake to carry his severely injured sister to Squad Four for dire treatment. All he could do was stand there and wish that he had done something different or realized sooner that the hollows had lain a trap for them.

He also realized that he was going to the one to tell someone close to his sister's heart to news and hope that he didn't kill in the process.

XxXxXxXxXx

Squad Four rushed around frantically. They scattered in every which direction to give space to the incoming patient. Her body lay on a stretcher, prone and cover in crimson fluid. Her breathing was shallow at best. The amount of blood pooling around her was significant and the man, who was carrying her in, knew that she'd be lucky to make it out of the room alive.

"Captain Unohana!" The man voice shouted from across the room.

A woman, dressed in a white haori, turned her head in the direction of the voice. She had long ebony hair wrapped around her neck and braided across the front of her body. A calm demeanor cascaded across her face. In a matter of seconds, it changed the second her gray eyes were upon the woman near death on the table. "What happened to her?" She asked softly.

"We don't know. Captain Ukitake brought her in this way. I didn't ask questions. I'm sorry, Captain." Her subordinate answered.

Retsu Unohana, Captain of Squad Four also known as the medical unit, hovered her hands over the injured woman. Her eyes narrowed slightly, concentrating on the task at hand. The girl's wounds were significant, she knew that; but she wasn't about to give up on her. As she worked diligently, Retsu studied her patient's features trying to figure out if she recognized her or not and that's when she saw the tattoo on the inside of the woman's wrist.

It was a crest she was all too familiar with. The Shiba Clan. Clearly the woman laying on the table was not Kaien, so it had to be Namika. A sudden twitch in her fingers ceased all other thoughts. "Her hand moved, Captain!"

"I see that. Go get me some fresh water and a cloth." She ordered.

"Right away!"

XxXxXxXxXxXx

A black void of emptiness surrounded her. Looking around, there was nothing but black as far as the eye could see. She tried to scream; but her voice was mute. Fear rushed through her veins, turning them cold. Spinning in circles, the burning sensation of tears stung the corner of her eyes. She wondered if this was death. If it was, she wanted nothing to do with it.

"Namika!" A feminine voice called.

Hearing her name, she shifted her head to look in the direction of the voice. A small shimmer of light was centered in middle of the black oasis. Namika started to run in the direction of the light. Once she reached it, the black faded replaced with a meadow filled with summer seasoned flowers. "What...the...hell…." Namika said wondering what was going on.

"You don't recognize this place?" The voice from before asked.

She turned around to come face to face with a black dragon that was no bigger than the size of a large dog standing upright. Crimson eyes connected with her jade ones. A chunk of auburn hair fell into her face as her startled body jerked back a step. "Kuroi ryū..." She said breathlessly.

"So you recognize me; but not this place? That hollow definitely did a number on your head."

"What do you mean? What hollow?"

Kuroi ryū cocked her head to the side, realizing what happened to her beloved partner. The moment the hollow struck Namika down, she knew deep down something was going to happen. The fear of her not surviving was still great; but now, seeing the shell she was now. Maybe death would have been easier. "You don't remember?"

"No...it's...all hazy. You are my zanpakutō; but the rest is gone..."

Namika frowned in frustration before collapsing to the ground on her knees. The warmth of the grass tickling her skin was as real as ever; but she felt that this whole conversation was a lie, something to distract her from the reality of death itself.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

Kaien rushed towards the Squad Four medical building. He could see that there was disarray within the room. He was losing his patience, so he grabbed the closest male squad member by the arm and held tightly. "Where is Namika?" He asked harshly.

"The Captain is working on her." The scared squad member replied in a trembling voice.

"Take me to her, now!"

Without arguing about the request, he lead Kaien through the crowded building to where his Captain was working on the woman in question. Kaien felt the guilt rise up his throat and choke him. He knew there was no way he was going to forgive himself for this transaction. Big brothers were supposed to look after their younger sisters' and he had failed in that task.

The second they arrived at the closed door, his heart pounded against the inside of his chest, making his hands shake. Reaching for the handle of the door, he took a step back as the door opened and Retsu Unohana stood before him. She was exhausted and sweating from her brow.

Retsu looked at Kaien for a moment and saw the desperate look upon his face. "Tell me, Captain Unohana….will she make it?" He asked clenching his hands into fists at his side.

"She's in critical condition; but stable at the moment. Namika has not waken and probably won't for quite some time. Her body needs to heal and to be honest I have no idea how her brain was affected by the several times her heart stopped beating."

If that didn't explain how close to death she had been, nothing would. Kaien trembled at the thought of it. How was he going to explain all of what happened their to rest of their family? If he couldn't figure out how to explain it to her Captain friend, he wasn't going to be prepared to tell their family.

"Can I see her?"

"Of course, just don't linger too long. She's got a ways to go in the healing process."

Kaien agreed to her terms and stepped out around her to enter the room. Inside, he could see Namika attached to several different devices. Taking the walk of shame towards her, he finally sat down in a chair next to the medical bed. "I am so sorry, Mika..." He apologized.

"I'm a sad excuse of a big brother. I'm the one who should have been protecting you and here you are doing it for me." Kaien said again.

"Don't beat yourself up over it." A familiar voice said from behind him.

He turned his head slightly to see the white Captain's haori and long blonde hair. The Captain of Squad Five, Shinji Hirako, stood in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. Kaien let out a sigh and returned his head in the direction of his sister. "You wouldn't be saying that if you had seen what that hollow did to her."

"You and I both know how strong willed she is. This won't kill her, of that I am certain." Shinji stated.

"How can you be so calm? You care for her, right?"

Shinji's eyes widened a little; but quickly returned to normal. He refused to let the situation break him. He had to be strong, not only for his squad; but for Namika herself. "I care more than she even realizes and that's why I refuse to believe anything less than her surviving. Those words will be told to her face to face when she wakes up."

Without hearing it himself, Kaien knew that The Captain of the Fifth Squad loved his little sister. That knowledge let him smile, at least partly. Little did they know, there were so many things working against them, especially for Shinji.

XxXxXxXxXx

The days passed with no sign of Namika waking. Kaien still held onto hope even though he was often told he should just accept that she was gone. When days turned into months, it became harder to grasp the hope and lessened the amount of time he visited that room that housed her in the Squad Four medical building.

Sitting in the office drowning in the paperwork that had been piling up on his desk, his Captain returned with a solemn expression on his face. The meeting with the Head Captain had taken much longer than usual that morning and he instantly knew that there was something wrong.

"What's wrong, Captain?" Kaien asked trying to keep calm.

"With all the chaos that's happened over the last few years, Head Captain Yamamoto announced that Kisuke Urahara was found guilty of hollow-soul reaper experiments, which resulted in so many casualties. I just don't want to believe that, nor do I want to believe that all those people are dead." Jūshirō answered sitting down on the floor with a sigh.

"You don't mean the rescue squad..."

"I do mean them..."

Kaien gasped in horror, knowing that Shinji had been a part of that rescue team. He also knew that Namika would be completely heartbroken when she woke to find out he was dead. Instantly getting up from his chair, he clenched his hands into fist. It was not how he wanted his sister wake up, so he refused to believe that Shinji was dead for her sake.

"Captain! Kaien!" A squad member yelled bursting through the door.

"What is it?" Kaien asked on full alert at this point.

"I've gotten word from Captain Unohana that Namika is awake."

Without a single thought, Kaien rushed out of the office and in the direction of Squad Four. His only thoughts were on her and how she was going to react to all the information she had lost over the last couple of month while she was in the coma. How she was going to react about the news of Shinji's death?

When he arrived, he was escorted to her room right away without any waiting at all. The door was already opened as Captain Unohana was checking her vitals. Namika was sitting upright and had a confused look upon her face. Her jade eyes were still glassy as they looked right at him. "Kaien..." She said in a horse voice, clearly not used to being used just yet.

Retsu turned to see the older sibling of the Shiba Clan standing in the doorway. She smiled warmly and proceeded to walk in his direction. "It seems all her wounds are healed nicely with only a small scar to show. However, there seems to be some amnesia when it comes to her memory. It's good to see that she recognizes you. Without some testing, I won't know how deep the amnesia is." She explained.

"It's better than not having her alive at all. I think in time the memory will come back."

"I hope you are right."

Retsu walked out of the room leaving the siblings some time alone. Kaien closed the distance and sat down in the chair next to the bed, reaching for her hand. Namika turned her head to face him fully. "What's wrong? You are looking at me like you haven't seen me in a long time." She asked clenching the bedsheet with her free hand.

"You've been in a coma for six months, Mika…"

"What do you mean? I...I...don't remember…"

Kaien's heart dropped. The frustration was on her face. She reached up to touch her face before leaning her head against her palms. The soft sobs erupted from her throat and there was nothing he could do to fix her mind. Guilt rose up as he watched his sister break down in front of him. "I'm so sorry. I should have been a better brother to you…"

"Don't say that...you've been the only one who ever understood what I felt growing up. Kūkaku never listened to me and now...I don't remember how I even got here…"

"What is the last thing you remember?"

"Promoted to the Thirteenth Squad from graduation and how happy I was knowing that I was going to be in the same squad as you…"

Kaien frowned, he wondered how he was going to tell her that her last memory had taken place over a year ago. It also meant that she didn't remember Shinji at all. As awful the thought was, he was slightly glad that Shinji might be gone, because the pain he'd feel knowing that she didn't remember him would be devastating.

Namika lifted her head up from her hands, wiping the tears away from her eyes. "I want to remember...and I'll be damned to live without my memories. Do I have friends...do I know love…"

"We will help you…I promise you that…"

"He's right. We will help you." A familiar voice said.

The siblings turned to look at the doorway to see their Captain standing in the doorway. There was a warm smile on his face and it gave Namika hope that she would one day regain her lost memories; but until then, she would do her best as a soul reaper in her beloved Squad Thirteen.

XxXxXxXxXx

Many Years Later….

Namika ran as fast as she could, not bothering if it was forbidden ground. The pain was far too real to be true, despite seeing it with her own eyes. The memory flashed through her eyes like a bad movie. There had been so much blood and the grim look upon that girl's face as she carried Kaien's lifeless body to their family home on the outside of the Seireitei.

He had promised her that he'd always be there for her and he had broken that promise. Now that he was gone that pain was too much for her to bear alone. Burning tears rolled down her cheeks; but it didn't matter to her, she wanted to leave it all behind.

"Halt! You need permission to leave." One of the guards said standing next to a large wooden gate.

"Step aside!" She screamed, ignoring the voice from her zanpakutō urging her to stop before things got worse for her.

"That's Namika Shiba. Word is her brother just died in combat." The second guard stated in her defense.

She stared at the senkaimon that would be her only exit out of the chaos she currently lived. Clenching her hands into fists at her sides, she was ready to strike if they weren't going to let her through. "Please...let me go…" She begged before another wave of tears trickled down her face.

"Let her go, she's in pain. Maybe a visit to the World of the Living would do her some good. There is plenty of hollows for her to take her frustrations out on." A new voice entered the fray.

The guards stood at attention when they saw who spoke those words. Namika turned to see her own Captain standing there. He stood with an emotional glance. It made her realize that it wasn't just her that lost someone important. He had to. "Captain Ukitake...are you sure?" The first guard asked.

"I'm sure."

"Thank you, Captain…"

"Don't stay too long."

The two guards stepped aside and opened the gate that would grant her a temporary freedom. She looked at her Captain once more and then ran through the gate. Jūshirō looked on, wondering if he had made the best choice. He knew that the Head Captain would be angry for allowing such a thing to happen; but he couldn't keep the grieving girl cooped up. It was unfair of him to do such a thing.

"Stay safe…" He whispered before walking away from the now closing gate.

Namika fell through the senkaimon and landed on the ground with a thud. Pushing herself up onto her feet, she looked around at her new surroundings. The moon was full up in the sky and it seemed so much further away than in the Soul Society. The grassy hillside was similar to ones she had seen in the Soul Society.

Her memory was still hazy about the things she learned about the World of The Living. Who was she kidding, her memory was still hazy about a lot of things. Her mind still wouldn't bring back the time she lost. Staring up at the sky, she was unnaturally calm by its glowing embrace.

"I wish I could remember everything, brother. Where do I go from here?" She asked herself.

"You've grown up, Namika." A voice said from behind her.

She quickly unsheathed her blade and swiftly turned around to see who had spoken to her while still a spirit. Her eyes widened when they made contact with those of someone who was supposed to have been executed years prior. There was no doubt in her mind though that Kisuke Urahara stood before her.

End Note: I know it's a slow start; but I promise it will get better.