Hey guys! I know that it's been taking me a while to update my Bleach story. Well frankly, I'm having trouble writing anything lately, so I wrote this out of sudden inspiration out of the hopes that I'll be able to get back to writing again. This is something that came out while I was contemplating how to introduce my new Bleach OC. And this is an AU story, so nothing here applies to the cannon story.

However, this story is going to be darker than what I usually write. How so? Well…..

WARNING: This story revolves around kidnapping and rape. It is NOTHING EXPLICIT, but the situation is there with all the drama and angst. If you feel uncomfortable at all about reading this, then stop reading right now and hit the back button. This first chapter is the only chapter that will have this warning, so please heed it. You have been warned.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. I do own Toshiko.

Chapter 1

Renji was definitely in a good mood right now. He had a ticket to go see Simple Plan and he paid the rent so that he was good for the next month. He kept thinking that he was forgetting something, but pushed it to the back of his mind. He had his ticket, his keys, his cell phone, and was heading out the door.

However, right before he could open his door, his cell phone rang in his pocket. Without looking at the caller ID, he picked it up.

"What?"

"Hey Renji! Where are you? I told you to meet me at the library a half an hour ago."

Crap. He knew he was forgetting something. Toshiko had agreed to help him study for his history final that was next week. She didn't typically study for the subject herself, but she still got a better grade than him and was the only person who said that she would study with him.

"Sorry Toshi. I just found out that Simple Plan was playing tonight and got a ticket for it. Can we reschedule for tomorrow instead?"

Damn him! That was one of her favorite bands! The only reason she wasn't going was because she couldn't afford a ticket herself. That had a tendency to happen to her since she was living by herself.

"Fine. I'll let this slide. But skip out again and not only will I let you fail on your own, but I will also kick your ass for making me wait up again!"

Yep. He should have expected as much from Toshiko. She was a good friend, but if you get on her bad side, she would beat you mercilessly. That was probably due to the fact that she would hang out with Ikkaku and Yumichika, but still.

"Thanks. I'll see ya later."

"Later."

She sighed as she hung up. She was now going to spend another evening alone. There was no point in making plans with any one of her other friends considering that she knew that they were either studying or had other plans already. So, with nothing better to do, she picked up her bag and left the library. She figured that she could just play Mortal Kombat for a few hours before going to bed.

…..

The next day found Renji, Ichigo, Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Rangiku sitting around the lunch table.

"So Renji, you think you might actually score higher than a D on the final since Toshiko decided to show you mercy?" asked Ichigo.

"Uhhhhh….." Renji thought about what to say. He knew he wouldn't be able to pull off a very convincing lie since he knew that they would quiz him to see if he was telling the truth.

"You didn't study last night, did you?" asked Ikkaku, even though he didn't see a point since it looked like he was right.

"…No."

"So what did you and Toshiko do instead?" asked Rangiku.

"Well, I actually went to a Simple Plan concert. I'm not sure what Toshi did."

"You mean you didn't invite her to go with you?" she asked.

Crap. He didn't think of asking her to come along. He didn't need to say this out loud, though. Rangiku figured it out when he didn't say anything.

"Hey Ichigo, can you do me a favor since you're next to him?"

"Sure." He had a feeling he knew what she wanted to do. So, without further ado, he smacked Renji upside the head so that his forehead hit the table.

"Ow! What the hell?" He glared at Ichigo, despite the fact that it was Rangiku who gave him the order.

"That's my line! Toshiko's one of your oldest friends and you've been blowing her off a lot lately," said Ichigo.

"Have not!"

"Well, let's look at the facts here," said Rangiku.

"You skipped out on five study sessions with her, six sparring sessions, the last three times she asked to just hang out with you and…..come to think of it, you only actually see her at lunch anymore, don't you?"

…..If he didn't feel like a shitty friend before, he did now.

However, what Rangiku just said brought attention to another issue.

"Speaking of which, has anyone seen Toshiko today? She's usually here by now," said Yumichika. Everyone looked around, but none of them saw anyone with brown hair coming their way.

"Well, Rukia isn't here either. Maybe she's with her," said Ichigo. However, just as they were all about to agree that that was the case, Rukia came walking up to them with a frown on her face, no lunch, and no Toshiko in sight.

"Hey guys, have any of you seen Toshiko today? She hasn't been to any of her classes," said Rukia. That was when they all got a bad feeling about the situation. When they all shook their heads, Rangiku thought of an explanation.

"Well, maybe she got sick today?"

"Sick? Her? That's highly unlikely. She's never been too sick to come to school before. If anything, she can kick any virus' ass," said Ikkaku.

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

"This could be nothing, but I think I'll go check on her. Next period is study hall anyway, and the teacher doesn't care," said Ichigo. It really was unusual for their friend to be a no-show.

"I'll come too! Anything to skip calculus!" said Rangiku.

Eventually, the whole group agreed to go, but they had to leave separately since they definitely would have been stopped if they had gone as a group.

15 minutes later found them all meeting up at a street corner two blocks away from school. Once they were sure that they had everybody, they all started to head in the direction of Toshiko's apartment.

Toshiko lived five blocks away from the school. Like Renji and Rukia, she was orphaned at a young age. They all stayed at the same orphanage, which was how they had met each other and became friends. However, she was the only one in the group who didn't get adopted by someone, being dubbed by many of them as a "troubled child". Renji and Rukia knew that wasn't really true. She was just short-tempered. But that didn't change anything for her. The first moment she was able to live on her own, she took the chance by moving into an apartment on the far side of town from the orphanage. But, in order to be able to keep living on her own, she had to get a job. It seemed like whenever she wasn't at school, she was working, but she always made some time for sparring with the guys and hanging out with the girls.

It was because of this that her absence and apparent refusal to answer her cell phone was strange. She had never failed to pick up before.

Renji started to wonder why Toshi didn't show up. While it was true that she rarely got sick, she would also be extremely stubborn about letting a sickness slow her down and she still would have shown up for school. Unless one of her neighbors noticed and convinced her to stay in bed. He was hoping that that was the case. He was pretty sure that she was fine, either way. She was tough and stubborn. Anyone who had messed with her always ended up in the hospital. Whether that was from Ikkaku's influence or not, he had yet to determine. But she was always okay before. He saw no reason that she wouldn't be now.

At least, he didn't see a reason to be worried about Toshiko until they turned a corner and came in sight of her apartment building. Everyone in the group froze as a gunshot rang out from an open window on Toshiko's floor. The shot was followed by a moment of silence and then a woman in the building had let out a bloodcurdling scream.

In that instant, everybody bolted towards the front entrance. However, at the same time they started to climb the steps, two teens rushed out and collided with them. All eight people landed in a big pile at the bottom of the steps. The scene would have been hysterical had it not been for the situation.

The two teens were the first to recover and being on top of the pile they got up faster and took off down the sidewalk. As they took off, Rukia heard something clatter against the ground in front of her. She looked down as she got up to see it was a gun. It took barely a second for her to register what it meant.

"Hey! One of them is the shooter!"

At this, the two teens turned around to see Rukia staring straight at them. Then they paled when they noticed the gun one of them dropped. They took off running even faster, if that was possible. But this time they had Ikkaku and Yumichika running after them.

"Don't just stand there! Someone go see what happened!" shouted Ikkaku as he gained ground on the shooters.

Once they saw that the two intruders were being taken care of, Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, and Rangiku ran inside the building and headed for the stairs. Once they reached Toshiko's floor, they saw at the end of the hall the open window that allowed them to hear the shot.

They also saw that Toshiko's apartment door had been forced opened and someone was lying on the ground in front of it, bleeding out.

And that is where I end this chapter because I'm evil like that. For those of you reading this who has been reading my other Bleach story, I'm getting around to the update. I just needed some way to revive my Bleach muse and I chose this story as a way of helping. I'll hopefully have that update out by the end of this weekend.

Even though this story is going to be a bit darker than what I usually write, I hope that it has snagged your interest and that you'll be watching out for the next chapter.

Reviews are helpful and are greatly appreciated.

Later!