Chapter One: Chasing the Cerulean Cheshire Cat

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Grimmjow Jeagerjaques paced slowly back and forth atop a thin steel beam in the abandoned warehouse, lost deep in thought as he steadily walked back and forth, wall to wall. On the dirty ground floor beneath him, the adolescent in bright blue silk pajamas sat close against the brick walls, rather depressed. The youth beneath him bounced his head off the walls over and over again, the dull fwump. Fwump. Fwump. of his heavily brown haired head echoed throughout the building.

A few crates had been stacked here and there, but many were of rotting wood and were either emptied or half full of trash. Many of the crates had been moved around the room in an almost maze-like manner, some had been pushed against the wall for space, and some had been outright demolished, as if crushed by a bulldozer. And then burned.

Several times.

But what was truly eye-catching about the crates was the single intact wooden box, sitting forlornly in the center of the warehouse.

Or, more importantly, the small chunk of hollow mask sitting atop it.

The shattered fragment, if it had been observed more closely, could easily be identified as a piece from the partial mask Grimmjow wore on the side of his face. The top had been torn off, as if he'd struggled with its removal, and eventually settled for tearing half of it off.

The hunger…

The god awful hunger. It haunted Grimmjow. Every moment, every minute, every hour of every day. The hunger never stopped, and if not for the fact that a hole was already in his stomach, he'd have sworn it was making one. It never stopped, not for anything; Grimmjow had even tried the 'Danielle' method of staving off hunger that he had picked up whilst staying in their world. Which basically consisted of shoveling down as much food as possible, and then regretting it immediately afterwards.

Danielle was sort of a pig that way. And she'd gladly accept it if that meant getting more snacks.

It made Grimmjow shudder, how anyone (let alone someone quite as slim as Danielle Miller) could possibly eat that much food in a single lifetime, let alone within a few minutes. Although he was beginning to understand the motivation behind it. If only the damned hunger would just go away…

"So, do I get any kind of explanation?" the boy beneath him asked. Grimmjow paused for a moment, and then continued pacing, though slightly less deep in thought. He really wasn't accustomed to spending so much time thinking.

Although Donald Miller looked rather plain (aside from the glaringly blue pajamas), his eyes displayed a fierce intelligence, a burning curiosity. Everything about him seemed contradictory; his clothing was quite relaxed in style, but his face showed a ferocious attention and cunning. He sat limply against the wall, although his posture as he continued to hit his head against the wall out of boredom showed a very strict posture. Even though he looked rather frustrated, his attitude opposed him completely. In fact, he was very excited that he had just been escorted to a brand new world through a mysterious portal, or Garganta, to a place where even his perception had altered drastically. Almost like a very well animated feature.

Unfortunately, Grimmjow had expressly forbidden his departure from within the storehouse, leaving him stuck on the ground floor below.

To occupy himself, Donald had theorized the blue haired stranger's reasoning for all but kidnapping him, until he noticed that the mask fragment and Grimmjow's face and put two and two together.

He's obviously severely distressed… perhaps if I offered glue? No, no, that wouldn't work…

After several more moments of agonizing silence, Donald finally asked "So… do you, uh, kidnap people often?"

That came out wrong.

Grimmjow stopped pacing, one foot still mid-air as he was taking another step. He immediately dropped from the steel beam, at least twenty feet with ease. The white clothing he wore barely ruffled the air as he fell, giving the appearance of a very large droplet of rain.

Or someone smeared toothpaste on some bathroom tissue.

Donald immediately attempted to shove his fist in his mouth in order to suppress the sudden onslaught of giggles, and struggled desperately in the process.

"… The fuck is wrong with you?"

He pried his hand away from his face, staring at it, befuddled. "I… don't usually giggle."

"Tell me about it, ya' fuckin' sourpuss."

"… Excuse me?"

"Ah, shit," Grimmjow said, palm slapping his face in aggravation. "I'm really not in the mood to explain to you what you're usually like."

"Thanks, but I know what I'm usually like already." Donald replied.

"Keep it up, smart ass," Grimmjow threatened halfheartedly, sticking his hands in his pockets and leaning against one of the empty crates. "I'll kick your ass again."

"… Again?"

Grimmjow stared at him for a second, and Donald felt as if his eyes were boring directly through him. It was very uncomfortable. So, to counter, Donald stared right back at him, opening his eyes widely.

We must look like the world's strangest par of owl imitators ever.

And within seconds, Donald had relapsed into a fit of highly uncharacteristic giggles. It wasn't like himself at all, and that frightened him a great deal.

But, damn, the thought of Grimmjow sitting atop one of the crates, barely balancing as he crouched and flapped his arms while hooting wildly was pretty funny.

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Danielle trudged along the streets of Karakura Town drearily, positively oozing remorse.

Perhaps leaping through an open (and quickly closing) Garganta that had opened in her bathroom with nothing on but her bright pink pajamas wasn't such a great idea.

And why am I so stupid to have gone barefoot? She asked herself blearily as she tried not to drag her feet on the concrete sidewalks. Many passersby gave her strange looks, though she didn't really blame them. For one, she estimated that she still had roughly an hour to an hour and a half before the sun began to set. And, secondly, she was wearing pajamas. Very bright pink pajamas, completely covered in Hello Kitty faces.

… She really liked kitties.

Danielle had, for the past two hours, been trudging around Karakura Town, talking to as many people as she could about where she could possibly find her twin. And she was getting sick of explaining that, no, her twin wasn't identical and she didn't give very good descriptions.

Much to her dismay, she found that Karakura was much larger than she had previously anticipated. As such, she hadn't seen a single character from the main show Bleach that she loved so very much. In spite of this, she still had a couple of last resorts. Number one being sneak into Ichigo's house and steal food from his refrigerator.

Strange; she always seemed hungry.

Number two, find one of the other main characters, wash, rinse, repeat. However, a large problem arose when she attempted to enact her oh so brilliant plan.

She didn't know where any of these people lived.

Hence, the frustrated and downtrodden trudging. Although, she had to admit, the new Ani-Vision, short for anime vision as she had dubbed it, was pretty cool. Seeing everything through an altered perspective. She would be quite content to simply wander around all day, looking around. If not, of course, for the fact that she was on a very important, brother finding mission.

Which was obviously not too important. Again, trudging slowly.

She brushed her shoulder length black hair out of her way, strongly wishing she'd at least thought to grab a hairband on the way through the portal. Perhaps she could borrow (steal) one from Ichigo's house, should she ever find it.

Just as she was beginning to think she'd have to find a bench or bus station somewhere to spend a rather miserable night, she spotted a flash of white just ahead of a small crowd in front of her.

Her heart raced, and she promptly picked up speed.

"H- Hey!" she yelled out, waving frantically at the white clad person. She couldn't get a decent look at them through the people…

"Hold up, dammit!" she yelled, shoving through the surprised gaggle of teenagers in order to get to the person in white. Oh, how she hoped it was Grimmjow. Before she could reach said person, however, she stopped mid run, only to find that someone had grabbed her by the collar.

"Slow do – hrrk!" she exclaimed, as she was jerked roughly backwards.

"Well, whadda we got, here?" she heard, a gravelly voice greeting her as she was roughly turned on the spot. Hot, foul breath hit her in the face like a brick, assaulting her nose.

"Blech! What did you eat, garlic and elephant ass?" she asked without hesitation.

Once turned, she could see that the teenagers all wore matching school uniforms (of Karakura, way too much gray for Danielle's tastes) and the one that was currently holding her up by the collar was quite a bit larger than the rest. He had a silver nose ring, and a spiked Mohawk atop his head.

One of the youths in the back laughed at Danielle's statement, only to find Mohawk guy's fist in his face. The younger one dropped noiselessly, and the rest of the group made no move to help him. "Don't you know it's polite for ladies to say excuse me?" nose ring Mohawk guy reprimanded her angrily, shaking her as he did so.

Danielle didn't answer immediately. She was having difficulty deciding which of this guy's vital organs she was going to rip out first.

"So then why didn't you?" she asked in a cheerful voice.

Nose Ring's small gang fell deathly silent at the prospect of someone questioning his authority. "Bitch, what did you say?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were deaf and dumb."

By now, half the gang's mouths hung open in shock. Did she have a death sentence?

Danielle, in her haste, had been counting on the heroics of, quite possibly, her favorite anime character of all time. However, seconds ticked by, and there was still no Grimmjow in sight.

Aaaaaaany second now…..

"You know," Nose Ring growled lowly. "You got a real smart tongue on you." As he spoke, he pulled a small switchblade out of his back pocket.

"That is a terrible place for a switchblade, really. Sit down at the wrong moment, and you've just lost a perfectly good buttock." Danielle rambled (still suspended by her collar,) in an attempt to give Grimmjow more time to hurry up and save her ass. If he didn't hurry…

Maybe if I bust the buttons on my shirt? It would cause her to slip loose from her pajamas and give her enough time to get away from the knife, but she'd still be left wandering Karakura shirtless. Which she had a couple of problems with, but not nearly as many as being cut.

Come to think of it, she'd begun to analyze (Donald-yze) the situation in a far calmer "GOD DAMMIT CAN I GET SOME HELP?!"

"Put the girl down."

Nose Ring Mohawk guy's head turned so quickly Danielle heard it crack. To his immediate left, without so much as a warning, clad completely in white Quincy garb, stood Uryu Ishida.

Yay! A dramatic entrance and hero!

The gang leader seemed immensely surprised that anyone had managed to get the jump on him. His eyes narrowed dangerously, his sweaty grip on both the switchblade and Danielle tightnening.

"Or what, four eyes? You-"

And that was all he managed to say before Uryu cut him off with a sweep of his arm. "Enough."

Give it to 'em, hero!

The single word was enough to silence the much larger Nose Ring, much to Danielle's pleasure. "How dare you. Physically threatening the mentally handicapped?"

… Oh, fuck you, 'hero'.

"Uh…"

"And just as my poor cousin comes to visit, her first impression of Karakura Town is nothing of violence shortly after she gets lost! For shame, man!"

Danielle was really hoping to see Nose Ring Mohawk guy getting his ass kicked along with his Pinhead Posse, Kurosaki style. Although, so long as it kept her from being stabbed, she supposed watching the dude go on a guilt trip worked just as well.

Not nearly as satisfying, though.

"I'm, uh… sorry about your retarded cousin, man. I didn't know-"

"Ignorance is no excuse," Uryu waved him off nonchalantly as Danielle was lowered to the ground. She couldn't really believe that actually worked. Her feet set down, and she resisted the urge to dust herself off and tip her hat in as snooty a manner as possible.

That reminds me, I've got to get a damned hat.

"I shall be escorting my cousin from this point forward. Come along," he said to Danielle, swiftly turning on the spot and walking briskly in the other direction. Danielle, not wanting to be left behind with a severely confused group of angry teenagers, quickly caught up to him. She walked next to him for several minutes as they continued down the streets, taking multiple twists and turns. She did her best to remember locations, though.

"… So…." Danielle began. "…. Retarded cousin, huh?"

"I believe a 'thank you' is in order."

She bit back a snide remark, and begrudgingly said "Thanks… I guess. You, uh… you know those guys?"

"They are delinquents. But, yes, we attend the same educational facility."

It was odd, really. He was a rude, wordy little bastard; but in a lot of ways, he reminded her of her brother. Which was probably the only reason she hadn't punched him in the head yet.

Retarded, my ass…

Yet.

"So… why did you help?" she finally asked as they took yet another turn, Uryu checking the streets multiple times before taking the lead.

"Does anyone need a reason to help a lady in distress?" he answered, pushing his glasses further up his nose. The frames nestled snugly against his heavy black hair, and bright eyes shined behind them.

"Well, I really could have used a knight in shining armor, but I guess you did okay, too."

"Are you insinuating that my entrance was not dramatic enough?" he asked, offended.

"Wha- no, no, it was plent-"

"Is it the cape?" he asked, grabbing the hem and twisting it toward him to examine it closer as they walked. "It's the damned cape; I should have used the maroon inlay on the lower half of the stitches, not the upper – ah, I'll have to start a new one from scratch!"

"DUDE!" Danielle yelled, stopping him in his tracks.

Uryu stood stock still, listening intently.

"… The cape's fine. Thank you." she said breathily, pushing her hair out of her eyes. "I appreciate the help. I really do. But I'm kind of in a hurry."

"Well, that much is evident." He replied immediately. "Why else would you be wandering around Karakura in your pajamas?" he eyed the Hello Kitty coated (and a bit dirty) pink pajamas disdainfully.

"Well, you see, I'm looking for some - … hey." She said, scratching her head. "You said I'm your cousin that came to visit. How did you know I'm not from Karakura?"

"For one, you're lost."

"… Well, you got me there."

"Two, you're clearly insane." He continued.

"I guess that beats retarded."

"And three," he said, holding up a third finger. Really pushing that 'mentally handicapped' shtick, wasn't he? I can count, dammit…

"Three… you're evidently different."

Danielle jumped in excitement as they walked, clapping her hands. "Ooh! Ooh! Lemme guess – you're detecting powerful residual spiritual energy with your Quincy abilities?"

That, however, was not something Uryu was expecting. Whereas before, he had been a bit stiff and sharp tongued, he now became very cold and guarded.

"… And what makes you say that?" he asked carefully, and Danielle noticed his opposite hand slowly sidling into his pocket.

… Aw, fuck.

"Oh, uh, well, uh, you see… What I mean to say, Uryu, is, uh…."

"Go on," Uryu said, obviously distracting her in order to reach whatever was in his pocket.

"This is all Kurosaki's fault!" Danielle pleaded, leaning upon her rather unexpected last resort.

That seemed to satisfy some of Ishida's curiosity. Some of it.

"I see. And that's how you know my name?"

She almost said no, but nodded fiercely instead. No need to go giving away potentially plot destroying secrets. If she could help it, that is.

Danielle noticed that his hand was still in his pocket, evidently grasping whatever hidden (please not a weapon) item he had in his pocket.

"And while I'm on my top-secret uber-important quest, I kind of… need a place to stay."

"Are-"

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Danielle exclaimed gleefully before he could answer properly. She hugged him tightly, squeezing him as hard as she could.

Either she underestimated her own strength, or she was in a time period where Uryu wasn't very strong yet, because she nearly crushed the life out of him.

"Hrrk! Okay; okay! Just… put me down!"

"Sorry!" Danielle gasped, dropping him. "Are you hurt?"

Uryu glared at her as he stood, dusting himself off, as if her very insinuation that a mere mortal could possibly harm a Quincy had insulted him. "Only my Quincy Pride…"

"… Well, best be off then! Where do you live again?" she asked, pointing in multiple directions at once.

"Oh, yes, absolutely," Uryu said. "I'd be thrilled to have your company within my abode. For a fee."

Danielle paused, and then deeply sighed.

"STOP UNBUTTONING YOUR SHIRT!"

"Wha-?"

"INFORMATION! I MEANT INFORMATION!"

"Oh," Danielle said, quickly redoing the top button on her pajama top. She did her best to conceal a grin from him, her plan working just about perfectly.

If she wasn't careful, she was going to wind up just as manipulative as Donald… well, 'old' Donald. Reinvigorated and revitalized Donald didn't really seem to have the capacity for such things. Which, for some reason, only made it more important to her to find him.

"And… what sort of information do you mean?" she asked innocently. There were very few things in the Bleach universe that she didn't know about. Never doubt the powers of a fangirl.

"How you really got here, for example."

Aw, fuck.

"… I jumped through a hole," she answered, truthfully enough.

"… You… jumped through a hole." He said, a little disbelievingly.

"It's… uh, a magic hole." She said, trying very hard not to give away too much information.

"… A magic hole."

"Eeyup. A magic hole. It leads to a wonderful land, full to bursting with cabbage."

"… Are… I can't tell if you're lying or not."

"No, really!" Danielle said. And, indeed, her house was surrounded by approximately one metric fuck-ton of cabbage fields. "And it's how I know so much!"

"… What."

"The cabbages talk to me."

Uryu didn't really know what to do. Although he was glad he pinpointed her obvious madness, it was now making him very uncomfortable.

"Didn't you say Kurosaki told you-"

"Nope!" she cut him off. "Only some things! I'm actually also a super psychic spy!" she said, rambling in an attempt to completely derail the conversation and, hopefully, ease his discomfort.

She wasn't really doing a very good job of it.

"… A psychic spy."

"Super psychic spy!"

"… Okay." He said, slowly beginning to back away. She couldn't have that; she needed to prove her sanity, and fast, lest he decide that she was best left in the hands of the nice people down on the funny farm.

"You're birthday is November the sixth. You don't like your dad very much, and it was your grandfather that taught you Quincy technique," Danielle said quickly, picking up speed as she did so. "You mainly operate on 'The Pride of the Quincy', your main rationale for just about everything. You rarely use deadly force, you hate buttons and procrastination. You also have low blood pressure."

Which was clearly evident, from his rapidly paling face.

"One word you can't stand is 'haphazard', and you usually carry an extra cape on you at all times for effect, even though it has a tendency of hindering you. Pretend you don't care for Don Kanonji all you like; deep down, you love his show!"

If Uryu wasn't deeply disturbed before, he was now.

"Oh, and you're left handed."

"… Please…" he said in a low voice.

"Yes?" she asked perkily, awaiting entrance to his house, which they had recently arrived at.

"… Stay away from my home."

"Huh?" she gaped, confused.

"I don't know how you know so much," Uryu said, not looking at her. "but if you so much as set foot within one hundred yards of this house… I won't hesitate to kill you."

It was Danielle's turn to be shocked. Wasn't he supposed to be one of the good guys?

"I'll give you a spare change of clothes; I'm not that cold hearted. But that is all you are to take, and you're to stay outside as I collect them for you. I don't know if they fit well, and I don't really care. Just take them, and don't come ba-"

"He's watching right now, isn't he." Danielle guessed pointedly, crossing her arms.

Uryu now began to sweat heavily, though he did his best to conceal it. Instead of answering, he simply entered his house, quietly shutting the door behind him.

Danielle couldn't see, but she was positive Uryu's father, Ryuuken Ishida, was nearby. But why would he want his father to think he wanted nothing to do with her?

Uryu also has a thing about protecting ladies, even at great personal risk to himself…

Aw, fuck.

It wasn't long before Uryu returned, wordlessly placing the small bundle of clothes into her arms, and quickly turned and marched back inside. She heard a lock click into place shortly afterwards.

She sighed again, getting a good grip on the parcel. It was wrapped in brown paper, held together by a single string.

And, knowing Uryu, there was probably something useful inside. You know, aside from something that wasn't Hello Kitty pajamas.

Fortunately, though, she had a backup plan. Having seen Bleach enough to get a pretty good layout of Karakura Town (though obviously not good enough,) she had a decent idea of her general location. Meaning that she could make her way toward someone she was absolutely certain wouldn't deny her. And then, off to rescue Donald.

She let a small smile grow on her lips, and she set off in her new direction, clumsily gripping at the package in her arms, doing her best not to look even at all mentally handicapped as she did so.

And not doing a very good job of it.