He stood on the bridge, watching the water flow under him, a breeze blowing gently. He gazed down at the expanse of blue, clear blue. He sat down on the edge, dangling his feet over, dazed by the reflection.
I could jump, he thought. No one could know, and I wouldn't have to face them anymore... into the blue. He had caused them so much trouble, they wouldn't mind if he was gone.
There was a whooshing sound as a seagull flew out to the sea, floating on the air like a leaf, not a worry in the world...

DOOM

He sprang to his feet, and tensed to run.

No. Not now, he couldn't do that now. Biting his knuckles, he looked in the opposite direction, as though someone would come onto the bridge any second. Sweat broke-- he couldn't leave them!

"I can't save them if I'm dead" he though as the air turned cold.

* * * *
She felt the air thicken, as though a huge cloud had come over the sky. Smiling to herself, she hopped from rooftop to rooftop, as though they were stepping stones. Finally, she came to a taller building and turned. A tall, muscular boy stood on a ledge beside her, standing against the wind as his robe whipped around him. He faced the girl.
"Why have you stopped?" he asked, tightening his ponytail.
"Can you feel that?" she responded, almost happy.
"What?"
"The air." She leapt off the building and continued her stepping. She wasn't so worried about their target anymore, her stride much more relaxed. Ever since she met him, ever since he saved her, she held a little more respect for him-- if he was coming, then the target was pretty well reached and annihilated, she thought.

* * * *
"SOMEONE SAVE ME!! AHHHH!!!"
Cracking it's neck, the hollow turned to the victim. This was going to be fun, he thought. Just a little play, before the feast.

The squealing woman and her child huddled in a corner of the alleyway. She looked up at the huge blurry silhouette in the sunshine. She screamed again, holding her son close.
"Well this is huge fucker, eh, Rukia? I thought he was Espada, his reiatsu is so huge."
Sniffling, the woman looked up to see two more shadows, humanoid shaped, blurry against the tears and the sunlight.
"Muuuuuuu---mmm" called her son. He was crying into her arm.
One of the figures seemed to peer at her for a moment, but then turned to the shadow.
"We're both going to need to take this one, he is a big fellow, Renji"
The figures seemed to take some kind of stance, like traditional kendo swordsmen. Swallowing, the woman wanted to comprehend no more, and closed her eyes.
There was screaming as something else joined the group.

* * * *
The beast dissipated into the air, as the girl finished it off. She turned to her partner, who was unconscious on the gravel beside the woman. He had saved them, she thought, rubbing her bloody brow. She looked at where the hollow had been. Why so many? Was it here to bait us, and then the others could come in and finish us off? It had been a ferocious battle, as the smaller hollow had pounced on them from all directions, and there had been so many. Renji had had no time to summon his Bankai when the hollows ambushed, and Rukia releasing her zanpakutou may have been disastrous for the mother and child. This was a dangerous fight.

And he didn't come.

That was what puzzled her more than anything-- all this hollow reiatsu and people's lives had been in danger, and he still didn't come. She could have sworn his reiatsu had been on the air, pounding down her very bones, an enormous weight, like the presence of a god. It was impossible to say that sensation wasn't him-- it could only be him.
She kneeled next to Renji, the mother and her child. Laying her hands upon them, she began to heal them.

* * * *