Being back in Karakura Town was like a dream-turned-nightmare.

It was home, regardless of the changes, simply because of the presence of one single person. This person had been her rock throughout the years, the one thought she continuously clung to not matter how time passed. They had grown up together, had played together, had even shared their first kisses with each other for the reason of they knew they would never betray one another. That was the dream. Kurosaki Ichigo was the dream.

The nightmare was the rest of it. Her mother was here, school started and she had classes to attend starting next week, and the Hollows were getting out of control in the area. A few years away hadn't made any of it suddenly impossible or anything so simple. Because if there was one thing her American grandparents had done for her by sending her abroad was give her plenty of time to train the powers she had gained just before she left Karakura Town. And one hell of an education in terms of street smart and survival.

She was resting along the banks of the river, keeping to herself, when she first felt it. The reiatsu of what she originally thought was a Shinigami. It was overwhelming considering the distance between the two of them, but she had learned to recognize this person's reiatsu after long, long nights of keeping up with him. Her initial arrival had been weeks ago, long before she was due, and she sought him out under the guise of night. Ichigo's reiatsu became familiar, and so she was rather surprised when it spiked in the middle of the afternoon for no apparent reason she could think of.

And he just so happened to be nearby.

"Now, I could get up and go to him... or I could stay on this river bank until the sun goes down and grab some ice cream on my way home," Takahashi Kasumi murmured to herself with little indulgence to do either. She was relaxed, for once, but this had become too normal for her. Kasumi was used to change. She hadn't even changed her room, with the exception of the first night she returned to it, and this easy settlement into a schedule was irritating her deep beneath her skin.

She had been to many countries during her grandparents' tireless rampage to have her act the way they wanted her to. Her great great grandfather had been an immigrant to America shortly before World War II, and it was in the Japanese internment camps he met her great great grandmother, a white woman who had her own ideals separate from her Irish-Catholic family. She was constantly roaming the grounds near the edge of the "territory" as he had taken to calling it in his journals, so he had plenty of time to see her and fall in love with her. Then she birthed her grandmother, who was every bit as stubborn as she and twice as fierce. She managed to pick up a Japanese man well on his way to being rich, and she was pissed when Kasumi's father decided to return to his homeland of Karakura Town. She was double pissed when he fell in love with Kasumi's mother.

She was triple pissed when Kasumi was born.

So every time Kasumi was beginning to settle in and know her surroundings, her grandmother would rip her from the place and put her somewhere it was. It was like a never ending interior decorating was taking place, and Kasumi was the room being decorated. "Oh, I don't like too much French influence, let's place her in Germany." "I think she's had enough of this Spanish school, perhaps Korea would be a good place for." Kasumi sucked it up and sucked it up until she snapped and demanded to be placed back into Karakura Town. There were only so many times she could adapt, so many times she could attempt learning new languages before she was just being overwhelmed. Home was where she wanted to stay until it was boring or she felt like being somewhere else.

Her wish was granted, if only because Takahashi Tsukiko had learned Kasumi was going to live there even if it was on the streets.

But now she was growing stagnate, and she didn't like it. Things needed to get more interesting around Karakura Town, and they needed to get interesting fast. "Though," she thought aloud, "I suppose seeing Ichigo for the first time in so long will be interesting. It'll piss him off at the very least..." He was still in the same spot, his reiatsu calming down just a bit and sticking close to him. She stood up, dusting off her high waist jeans and hoping there weren't any leaves or grass in her hair. It wouldn't do to see Ichigo for the first time in so long and have such an atrocious appearance, but she had been putting it off for far too long anyway.

Kasumi's pace was leisurely as she set to his location, taking in the subtle differences of the area around her. There were almost no new shops, but the old places she had loved as a child changed in some way, from the number of employees to the entire design of the business's spot. It was briefly reassuring, but then it only made her even more antsy. She wished for a dramatic change, and she wished for it to be soon.

Eventually she met with the owner of such a massive reiatsu, and a weight lifted off her chest at the sight of him. He was taller than her by several inches and lanky, though the lanky part was likely due to his age and not yet completing puberty. His orange hair was the same as always, though it seemed dimmer in the light provided. He was talking to a dead girl, someone who had been killed here. Kasumi sent the ghost a message to keep quiet as she crept up behind Ichigo.

"Anyway, I'll see about grabbing those daisies you really like. See you here tomorrow?"

The ghost nodded her head. "See you here tomorrow. Uhm. Also-"

Too late. "RAHH!"

"What the hell?!" Kasumi grinned as she wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed to stay on his back. He had fallen forward a few steps, just barely catching himself before he fell into the telephone pole.

She nodded her thanks to the ghost. "I see you still haven't changed. Doing whatever you can to make the people around you happy..." Kasumi sighed, even as Ichigo went still, likely trying to place something about her. "It's not a healthy habit, Ichigo. Perhaps you should actually take my advice for once and look out for yourself one day. Not like there aren't plenty of opportunities, right?"

Ichigo reached behind him and grabbed the shoulders of Kasumi's shirt. "Eh?" was all she had time to say before she was thrown off his back and onto the hard concrete. She was lucky her back hit first, allowing less damage for her head. Glaring up at him, Kasumi was half tempted to take his arms and use them to throw him against the damn telephone pole, but she had learned long ago patience was best in terms of revenge.

Ichigo paused for a second. "And just when the hell did you get back and why didn't you tell me?!" Ichigo shouted at her.

Kasumi smiled at him, standing up and dusting herself off again. This time, just to piss him off, she ran her fingers through her jade colored her that just barely passed her shoulders. He gritted his teeth in impatience, but he was taking her in too. She was toned, even if she tried not to make it too obvious, and she cut her hair from when they were children. But her eyes, the dark grey of thunderstorms, had remained the same over the years.

"Now, when did I get back here? Hmm... three days ago? I think it was three days ago I made my official return. Why didn't I tell you? Well because you were so busy with school and your dad, and I was so busy with moving and redecorating and all else." The lies rolled off her tongue with ease, enough so it made her feel guilt. Something else she had grown accustomed to: lying. Something she had yet to get used to: feeling guilt afterward. Maybe there was some good in finding Ichigo today, if not at least to keep it interesting.

Suddenly she was wincing as her head hurt immensely. "I've been sending you letters for years, and you never wrote back!"

"Oww! Does that give you the right to hit me, you jerk?!" She reared back and punched his shoulder so he yelped and glared back at her. There was a simple reason she hadn't written back, well two, but she wasn't in the mood to go into detail about it. Plus, she wanted to keep him as far from Hollows as she possibly could, and if he knew about them and her relationship with Hollows, he would blow up into a million pieces. Then he would want to help, stupidly.

His brown glare softened, and he placed his hands on either shoulder. Kasumi's sleeveless shirt didn't allow him a good look at too many bruises, but the ones he could see made him frown slightly. "I decided to take up some self defense lessons in my last school. I asked the teacher not to go easy on me, so she didn't," Kasumi lied, the guilt rushing back at her lie. These had come from life or death battles she participated in regularly to call a job. "But enough about me. I want to know about you. How have you been? How is Yuzu? Oh, is Karin still playing soccer or has she finally picked up kendo? Tell me, is papa still nutty?"

Ichigo let go of Kasumi, and the two started a walk towards the direction of the clinic. "I'm fine. Tatsuki is trying to drag me to one of her tournaments, but I'll have to find a way out of it. I always manage to start my own fights when I go. Karin is still on soccer, and it doesn't look like she'll be letting go anytime soon. Yuzu is cooking and cleaning to her heart's content. And yes, dad is still nutty," he answered, dragging his feet along the ground. Kasumi smiled to herself. She always adored the Kurosaki family, even if Isshin had managed to beat the shit out of her once or twice. She was Ichigo's friend, and she ended up putting it to use in the end anyway.

"How's your mom?" he asked suddenly.

It had been... explosive to say the least when Kasumi left. The truth about her mom reached Ichigo, and he was about ready to tear Kasumi's mother apart and then beat into Kasumi she can always trust him and his family. Then Kasumi's grandparents all but forced her onto a plane in the middle of the night, and his first letter to her was about five pages long and demanded answers from Kasumi. Most were about her mother and if she was really alright, but the rest were wondering where she was and why she hadn't stopped to say goodbye to him.

"She's... fine." Kasumi's settlement was enough to make Ichigo frown again. "It's not like it's a big deal, Ichigo. I'm not ten anymore, so her negligent attitude doesn't bother me or how I live anymore. I eat what I cook, and she can either take the scraps or starve. It's the Takahashi way to have problems with their moms. I'm still a Takahashi despite it all. Now, let's stop talking about this heavy stuff. I wanna know your opinion on my haircut."

Ichigo placed his hand on top of her head and mussed it before pushing her away. Kasumi made an indignant sound before going and jumping on his back so he carried her some distance. The two nearly walked past the clinic in their mirth, and the only reason they realized it was Kasumi was brought back to reality by the presence of a Hollow. "Ah, Ichigo!" she called, and he turned from where he had been walking on ahead. She gestured to his house, and he looked in surprise. Pink shrouded his face, and he scratched the back of his head. Ignoring the flare of reiatsu from the Hollow, she waved to him. "I'll come see the rest of your family later. Take care, Ichigo!"

As soon as Kasumi was out of sight and hidden fairly well so no one would inspect her body, she reached down to her gold bracelet and gave it a tug. Her soul popped out, dressed in exactly the same thing as her human body. Without waiting a second, she launched into the sky, jumping so she was closer to the Hollow. Its eyes bugged out as soon as it saw Kasumi and what she could do.

Not that it had much time before Kasumi had it on its way to rest. She let out a sigh and stretched her arms above her head, looking to the sky above for several seconds. She lucked out this time. The Hollow had appeared in a lowly populated area, so there were almost no casualties.

Almost.

There was one. The soul crouched on the ground, folding into a fetal position. Kasumi took a few steps toward the soul before kneeling next to her. She was a middle aged woman, and she was going out of her mind. "No. No. My baby..." Taking another glance, Kasumi saw the bundle against her chest, but it failed to move or even breath.

Change that one to two.

Kasumi took a deep breath and placed her hand against the woman's head. "I'm sorry, ma'am." Kasumi's hand glowed where it touched the soul's hair. "I wish I could offer more, but I can't. Your child has moved on, and so shall you." The soul went toward the sky, but it didn't ease the tension in Kasumi's stomach. She hated this part of Hollow killing. They always managed to drag someone down with them...

Her sigh was heavy and irritated. "When I said I wanted change, I didn't mean for it to be a Hollow. You asshole," she murmured to the only god she ever paid any mind to. Fate determined everything, even when she went by other names. "The Future" or "Destiny" were no different from Fate. Fate just happened to be the reigning name in Kasumi's mind. Kicking a rock, she looked up to the sky. "It's coming, isn't it? The reason you ensured I would be born? I wonder... who else have you placed to stand beside me in these upcoming hard times?"

Because surely Fate wouldn't have given her this power if she wasn't meant to use it for something special. Maybe her destiny was to save a people. Or maybe it was to end a war. Perhaps, a long shot she liked to entertain, Kasumi had been born to sacrifice herself for the sake of the rest of the world. This power, it was strong, but was it enough?

The wind answered, seeming like a dark and gentle laugh. Attempting to deceive her but failing miserably. Fate liked her games too much to give it away.

Sometimes work in Central 46 was more annoying than it was worth according to Yuuma Rokoro. He was damn tired of the tedious dealings of the Shinigami, but it was all part of the treaty prepared between the Shibito and the Shinigami. The treaty was part of an even bigger plan, stored in the mind of Rokoro himself and known only by his closest confidants. The people around him were getting on his last damn nerve, talking about what exactly to do with Urahara Kisuke, as they had been discussing periodically for ages. It was a vote split straight down the middle on whether to keep the former captain alive or venture into the many methods of assassination attempts the Onmitsukido could utilize.

"He is too powerful to remain in the World of the Living. If he will not return here, he must be killed."

"He isn't hurting anything or anyone by living there. If anything, he has been helping. Raising two children and making sure his shop stays running is enough work, not to mention his constant shipments to Shinigami around the world, as well as to the Shibito when requested by Councilman Yuuma himself. Yet he can sometimes find time to kill the Hollows in the area."

The mention of the Shibito was another try at gaining Rokoro's favor, but they all knew Rokoro would only play the rules that benefited his people. He couldn't care less for the Shinigamis' lives if he tried. They attempted to force him to play their games, but he had little time for them. Rokoro kept his secrets guarded, and these men were only seeing the surface. The tip of the iceberg still had yet to make itself known, but they were under the impression they could see all of it even when they couldn't fathom how deep Rokoro's plans went. He had been waiting too long to kill them even by this point, but he just needed a while longer.

Because there was one reason to be active in this conversation. The Hogyoku was somewhere out there still, and only one person knew where it was: Urahara Kisuke. It would be vital to Rokoro's work and to ensuring not only the survival of his race, but the thriving of it. The Shibito were few in number to start with, but this treaty was making it impossible for him to assemble his people together in the light of day. So he worked in the night, using those he trained to train more and more. The Shibito were only as strong as their numbers.

His numbers were reaching five hundred now, and it was a number the Shinigami would fear as soon as they knew. Rokoro was looking forward to it. The Shibito had been feared because their strength was literally in their numbers, as long as Rokoro got to them in enough time. If one was able to get strong on their own... they were certainly going to be a problem for Rokoro. Without the proper control Rokoro brought, they would be able to reach maximum potential and throw a wrench into his plans. He was going to have to hunt a few down at the end of his plan already, and he wasn't looking to add more names to the list.

But first, the Hogyoku.