To die, knowing it was your time had come was one thing. Dying way before your time, was another. To see a blinding flash of light, and know that you are about to die, that you can't protect the one you love most, that you're unable to stay standing, and save her… It made going to Soul Society that much harder.

When Tatsuki woke that morning, instead of finding herself in her soft, cotton sheet-covered bed, she found herself in a run down shack, laying on a dirt floor. A thin, dirty blanket covered her torso and shoulders, but did not reach her feet. She was alone. Trembling, she pulled the blanket off of herself, and stood, dusting dirt off her butt and legs. She wore a ragged kimono, nothing at all like the school uniform she had donned the morning before.

At the thought of school, memories of what had transpired before her demise flashed through her head. With a soft cry of pain, she grasped at her head, screwing her eyes shut. Orihime was okay, wasn't she? She had special powers, didn't she? She could protect herself, right? The hollow that had attacked them had been huge, the pure terror on Orihime's face flashed through her mind once again. It had easily destroyed her with that red blast, but, if she remembered correctly, Orihime had had some glowing shield. She had been protected, and then Ichigo had appeared with a giant sword a second later, right before her soul had been sucked away. Orihime was safe. Relief coursed through her, and she let go of her hair, taking a moment to examine her foreign surrounding for danger. Such things were second nature to her, after having to protect Orihime from all the creepers who dared tried to cop a feel. Silence greeted her ears.

Slowly, she made her way to the mat covering the door, and pushed it aside, taking a step out into the blinding sunlight.

The shack stood on top of a knoll, overlooking a small creek. There was nothing but grass. Tatsuki couldn't help but curse her bad luck. A plain? Where would that get her? Sure, there was some water, but what about food? She huffed angrily and crossed her arms, turning her head to glare at the bright blue sky. She didn't even have shoes!

After a moment Tatsuki shook her head, as if throwing all thoughts away from her mind. She couldn't think of Orihime, or the problem of footwear. She had to find some people, and then Ichigo. He had been scheduled to come back in two days. The only reason he had been in their world to begin with was to visit Orihime for her birthday, which, she had to grudgingly admit, was nice of him. Orihime had been devastated when he had left to permanently stay in 'Soul Society' with Kuchiki-san. Her jealousy over that had lasted months after that, including several mental breakdowns filled with crying, screaming, and the sound of things breaking.

Tatsuki hadn't been able to find any remorse in her hurt, though. This just meant that Orihime would be staying with her the whole time. They would be able to spend time together again, something she had been deprived of ever since Kuchiki-san had disappeared. At times she had felt awful for having such thought. The only thing that kept her from beating herself up entirely was the knowledge that Orihime wasn't really in love with Ichigo. More like infatuated. The crushing of her dreams to be with him wouldn't hurt as bad.

No! No more! I have to worry about myself! she thought, starting off the porch.

The first thing the did was examine the area around the shack. The land in front stretched on for acres. Grass flowed gently in the breeze and a few barren trees stood off far in the distance. Behind the it was the exact same except for the silhouettes of what looked like houses in the distance.

Maybe she could find other clothes and food there, even directions.

With that in mind, Tatsuki began the days walk to the one of the worst districts in Rukongai.


Screams issued as Ichigo almost literally tore apart the next house on the dirty street.

Where was she? Where was she?! WHERE WAS SHE?!

He asked every person he saw, every person that he sensed if they had seen a seventeen year old girl, about so tall with purple-ish spiky hair.

It was all his fault. If he had just gotten there a little earlier… Tatsuki wouldn't be dead and Inoue wouldn't be begging for death. He wouldn't be on a man-hunt in a world full of souls. He couldn't even sense reiatsu worth shit. Sure he might've been able to sense Rukia's, but what they had had been more profound, more special than friendship.

He had been so torn up that Yoruichi had come to see why his emotions were raising his reiatsu almost over the top. When he had told her the problem she had called Soi Fon, who agreed to help, who had called Kenpachi, and Kenpachi had told Yachiru, who had told Byakuya, who told Renji, who had told Hisagi, and Ikkaku, who had told Yumichika, and Matsumoto, who had told Hitsugaya, which continued down the grape vine until almost every power house in Sereitei had decided to search for her. It wasn't enough though. Even the nineteen of them plus Yoruichi wouldn't be able to search all of Rukongai for Tatsuki. And even then, only he and Yoruichi knew her reiatsu signature. The others could only rely on sight.

What Ichigo didn't know, though, as he tore apart District forty-three, was that Soi Fon, the one who had helped start the chase, had had a hunch about where Arisawa Tatsuki would end up after hearing the girls death, was heading to District seventy-four.


Pants of breath, harsh laughter, and pounding footsteps on dirt filled the air with sound. People were shoved out of the way or trampled as a woman weaved and ducked through the crowd, followed by several sneering men.

Tatsuki was running for her life. Literally. It was something she had never thought she would do. She was a black belt, after all, who's underground street fighting record was almost flawless. Even she knew, though, what a hopeless fight looked like. Nine on one was impossible. Even if she took out a ton, eventually one would subdue her with their larger size.

How it had come to this, she would never know. She had gone to ask for directions from the street vendors, but every time she got close to one, they would 'close' for the day. She had then decided to visit the local bar, which had people willing to give information. Yeah, walking into a pub as a single woman in a run down place like this wasn't smart, but she really hadn't expected this much desperation. Most men would've given up by now.

"Aw, come on baby!" when of the men cat called, while the others laughed. "You should feel honored I'm goin' after ya! I don't usually go after the short, flat-chested type!"

"Oh really?!" Tatsuki yelled, still trying to focus on running as fast as she could. It was a good thing she was a spirit, this constant running wasn't tiring her at all, but that also meant it wasn't hard for her pursuers. "What does getting fucked by a fat man feel like? Does it hurt?!"

"You bitch!" the man screamed.

"How original," she retorted, swerving around another corner. "That's the way I fucking am! Don't like than go find some whore who would gladly fuck you! Oh wait! I doubt he would want you either, you're ass hole's probably so loose a horse dick could fit in it! I bet all of you bastard's dicks are shriveled fuckin' prunes! That's probably why you have to resort to trying to fuck yourselves and the manliest woman in town!"

Their screams of outrage were music to her ears, and she laughed before swerving into a side alley, hoping to lose them, only to crash into a dead end.

"Come on!" Tatsuki screamed, looking around for any means to climb up the building wall blocking her way. "What is this?! A horror movie?!"

There was no escape, no pipe or uneven ridge to use as a hand hold. The yells turned to laughter behind her, and the footfalls slowed to a walk.

"Phew, what bad luck," the one who had called her 'baby' mused. "Run into a wall?"

Tatsuki scowled, and clenched her fist, not turning to look at them. She would make a pact right there. She would protect her virginity, or die trying.

And they sure as hell weren't gonna make it outta hear intact.

The men watched the woman in front of them, satisfaction written on their faces. She was hunched over, obviously shaken. The men strained their ears as she mumbled something.

"Huh? Speak louder!" the leader said, thinking it was some sort of plea for mercy.

"I said," the woman raised her voice, and spun around. "I'm going to castrate you all!"

The men had never heard, or seen someone so determined. Stupid as they were, they never even expected a woman with fighting spirit. She wasn't a shinigami, but if they hadn't run into her, she would've made a great one. Or at least, that's what they thought.

Anger replaced the contempt and the leader of the bunch, motioned a man forward. It was quite possibly the worst mistake he would ever make in his now shortened life.

Tatsuki leaped, drop-kicking the man in the face. As soon as she landed, three more were on her. She ducked from a punch aimed at her head, and smirked when it hit another man trying to sneak up on her from behind. She wove out of the way as a man tried to tackle her, and reached out.


Soi Fon watched, amused as the man trying to body slam the woman, who, by all account, looked like the Arisawa Tatsuki Kurosaki-taichou had described, screamed in pain. She wasn't even a man, but the torture of almost getting your balls ripped off by being twisted through a hakama had her wincing.

More cries of pain were heard, followed by sobs.

The girl didn't have bad reflexes. Top-notch for someone who had wasn't a shinigami. Her insults were amazing too. Unbeknownst to Tatsuki herself, Soi Fon had been watching the whole time. Admittedly, Soi couldn't help but acknowledge why those men would want her. She was beautiful- in an athletic sorta way. She was toned, tan, and though flat-chested, womanly. Soi smirked. But over all of that, her insults were definitely the best part.

The taichou let her legs dangle over the rooftop as she watched one take on nine.


Tatsuki slid smoothly into a crouch, leg flying out and kicking a charging thugs legs out from under him. The one who had first attacked her hadn't gotten up yet, but the others were, and even she couldn't look in all directions at once. Her power and speed had increased, she realized, as she once again threw off another attacker. Being a soul had more than one benefit.

"Got ya!" a voice behind her yelled triumphantly. A pair of strong arms wrapped around her, momentum and weight carrying the to slam into the wall.

"Sssshiiit!" Tatsuki cursed, struggling, as she was thrust upon the wall, and subdued by another. "She's mine!" the man she had almost decapitated fully in the nether regions, cried, slowly tottering to his feet. "I rip her fuckin' nipples off!"

Tatsuki sneered, "Why don't you do that to your buddy here," she motioned with her head to the brute holding her. "He's got bigger boobs than I do."

"Shut up, bitch!" her captor ordered, slapping her.

"Is that all you guys can think of to call me? 'Bitch'? What's next? 'Cunt'?" she provoked, hoping to make them mad. It didn't work.

One of them men in front licked his lips, and started forward.

"I swear to God if you try to kiss me I'll bite your tongue off." When he continued she bared her teeth, "Try me." Proving her point, because the man backed away.

"Obviously we'll get no where with this one," the leader muttered, pulling a knife out of his shirt pocket. "At least- not while she's alive."

The hair on Tatsuki's nape stood up, and her eyes widened before narrowing again. "Technically I'm dead, get it right you bastards."

"Well then, when you're body stops moving. Is that better?" he advanced, using a whole in the hilt of the knife to twirl it on one finger.

That's when everything exploded. Well, not exploded exactly, but all of a sudden men were flying everywhere, and the air was so heavy Tatsuki couldn't breathe.

"It's insulting to hear dogs like you talk like that about a true fighter," a female voice spoke.

Tatsuki opened her eyes (when had she closed them?) to the back of a petite woman dressed in black with a white haori. She had a katana attached to her back.

The men who had been about to kill her were scattered everywhere, slumped against walls, and face down on the ground. Most were bleeding.

The man Tatsuki had tried to castrate was crying and once again clutching his crotch, indicating he had probably been kicked there again.

"Are you Arisawa Tatsuki?" the woman's who had saved her's voice made Tatsuki's gaze snap back to her.

"What if I am?" she asked, guarded, pressing herself against the wall for support.

"I'm here to take you to Kurosaki Ichigo," the woman turned, setting her gaze upon Tatsuki.

She wasn't Japanese, Tatsuki realized. Her eyes were different, and she had a slight accent. She was just as flat-chested as Tatsuki herself, and her hair was cut short, with two wrapped braids with rings running from the back. "Who are you?" Tatsuki asked, curious despite herself.

"My name is Soi Fon," Soi said, smirking. "And I'm going to be your captain when you join the Gotei 13."


PHEW! I'm just gettin hit by all kinds off story ideas lately aren't I?

Anyway, this is probably the most CRACK pairing I will ever do, ever.

But I couldn't help it, I thought of how unrequited both of their loves were (hence the title) and the BOOM.

This will be yuri by the way. Just a warning.

So if you want me to continue, and like the idea, please review!

Cause reviews are like my drugs!