A/N: Ok, so this is going to be quite long. I am already at 100k and not done yet. I've been working on it ever since January, so I hope I can keep ahead of my updates.

I came across this little method of disclaiming in Kimsa Ki-Lurria's "Ivory Deity," and really like it so I thought I'd give it a try… with her permission of course.

Disclaimer:

I step out into center. "Let's start this show off with everyone's favorite Quincy delivering our disclaimer for the masses. Ishida Uryu, please step forward."

Ishida steps out from the wings and joins me, "Thank you Mystica-san," he says as he adjusts his glasses. "Let me start by saying that it is a good thing that you have decided to start disclaiming your stories. I know in the past you haven't been very good about doing this and that could lead to some serious legal trouble for you later."

I clear my throat again and say, "Um, thanks Ishida, but if you could just…"

"For those of you out there that don't already know, it is important for Fanfiction writers to put a disclaimer to their stories so that no one can later accuse them of copyright infringement. This can be a serious crime, one that the owners of Bleach would have every right to…"

"Ishida, I'm sure that our readers out there are aware of the whole disclaiming thing… how about you just give the disclaimer so we can move along with the story?"

He adjusts glasses again, "All right, if you don't want to make sure your point is made clearly then… Mystica does not own Bleach… is that all right?"

"Yes, thank you very much Ishida. We'll be looking forward to seeing you in the story later."

Curtin rises…

Chapter 1

Rukia sat in her brother's garden, watching as the cherry blossoms were caught by the gentle breeze and were lifted from their lofty branches. The petals danced in the air, filling the garden with a pink-white hue before settling on the ground in a soft, floral scented carpet. The Shinigami sighed as she thought how such a beautiful sight could remind her so much of her adoptive brother.

It was more than just how the cherry blossoms looked so much like his Zanpakuto's released form… the sight reminded Rukia of his very personality. Byakuya was not an easy man for most people to get along with. At first glance, he was a stand offish, prideful individual who would rather avoid social interactions. But Rukia had come to know the gentler side of her brother.

Just like the cherry tree in winter, hidden deep inside of it was the potential for such beautiful and gentle blossoms. It just took the right person to bring these attributes out. Rukia was one to believe that it had been her now deceased sister that had truly shown Byakuya how to love and it was her presence that would remind him of the man that he could be. Rukia sighed again, glad to know that she was able to at least keep her sister's memory alive for her brother.

"Welcome home, Rukia," her brother's voice said quietly behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at him. "I'm glad I made it home in time for the cherry blossoms, Nii-sama," she said and then turned back to watch the blossoms continue to drift on the breeze.

For a long while, they stayed like that, Rukia sitting on the edge of the deck over looking the garden, and Byakuya standing behind her. It was a peaceful moment that the two shared that was about to be one of Soul Society's last for sometime to come.

As Rukia sat there, she slowly began to notice a strange vibration coming from the floor beneath her. She had turned to look questioningly at her brother, wondering if he had noticed it, when he suddenly reached down and grabbed her, carrying her out into the middle of the garden. As she looked back over his shoulder, she watched the deck supports quake and then a few crumble, causing it to fall to the ground with the covered over hang crashing down on the boards where she had been sitting.

Byakuya set her down and turned to watch as the whole side of his house was crumbling due to the violent shaking of the ground. They struggled to stay on their feet as they looked around. Just over the edge of the wall that surrounded the garden, they could see other buildings in Soul Society crumbling and disappearing from sight.

"What is going on?" Rukia muttered.

Byakuya remained silent as he watched the destruction continue until the quaking finally came to a stop. Rukia looked to him, wondering what they should do, when he suddenly disappeared. She gasped, but realized that he must have left to find out what was going on and to report what he had seen. As a captain, her Nii-sama was about to have a lot of responsibility to take care of now that another emergency had come to Soul Society.

With a sigh, Rukia left too. She made her way back to her own squad's barracks to see if she had any orders regarding this new development. She had just returned from the real world too, hoping to get to spend some time with her brother. I guess that will just have to wait, she thought.

XXX

It was a very long and difficult day after that. Rukia had been assigned to work with a group from the fourth squad in searching for survivors of those that had been inside buildings that had collapsed. It was long and difficult work shifting through the debris. She had often had to call upon her own meager healing abilities to keep someone that she had found alive long enough for someone of the fourth squad to take over.

When all was said and done, there had been several hundred injured in the catastrophe, but only a handful of them did not survive. Considering the amount of damage that had been done, it was something of a miracle that more had not been killed.

Still, Soul Society was in a state of emergency and everyone was on edge. It didn't seem that anyone knew what it was that had caused the disaster, nor did anyone know for sure if it was an isolated incident or if it was a sign of more to come. Rukia, now coming to accept these emergencies as par for the course, was of the opinion that they had not seen the last of this particular problem.

She was in a state of exhaustion by the time she made it back to her barracks to give her report on her day's endeavors. She was surprised to find Captain Ukitake there himself to take her report. She would have expected her captain to be kept up in a captain's meeting, unable to return to the barracks already.

"Captain," she said, bowing before him. "Kuchiki Rukia reporting…"

Ukitake waved her off saying, "No need to be so formal, Rukia."

"Captain…?" she asked, wondering if she had missed something.

"I'm not here to take your report. I have been sent to ask a favor of you."

"A favor? What could I possibly do for you?"

"Well, since you seem to be the most used to travel to the real world, I thought that you might be able to check to see what has been happening there. There is some concern that whatever it was that affected Soul Society today, may also have had consequences in the real world as well."

Rukia nodded and asked, "Hasn't there been any reports from the real world yet? Surely if something had happened, those that are already stationed there would have reported."

Ukitake shook his head and replied, "We have been unable to communicate with anyone from the real world. Whatever happened today not only affected Soul Society's physical appearance, but also the spiritual make up as well. As it stands, no communications have been able to make it in or out of Soul Society and it was only about an hour ago that the twelfth squad was finally able to open a gate to the real world. Their report is that, though it is open for the moment, they are not sure how long it will remain so, or if they will be able to open it again afterward."

Rukia's eyes became large as she took in this new information. "So you want me to leave as soon as possible, I would assume."

He nodded, "Yes, that is the general idea. You'll be going with tenth squad Captain Hitsugaya and sixth squad vice-captain Abarai."

Rukia nodded, she had suspected as much. In matters of the real world, it was usually herself and Renji that were asked to go. If it was important enough to send someone of captain level, Captain Hitsugaya was the one most familiar with such trips. In dealing with situations in the real world, it helped to have those who were familiar with the way things worked there to be the ones sent.

"Yes sir," she said. "I will report to the gate at once."

"One more thing, Rukia," Ukitake said. "Please inform our substitute Shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, of our current situation. As much as I hate to think about this, we have to assume that this not an isolated incident and we may be forced to call upon his services once again before all of this is over."

Rukia nodded as she stood up. "I will do so, Captain."

"Also," Ukitake said as he reached into his sleeve and brought out a sealed envelope. "Would you be so kind as to deliver this to Urahara-san? It's nothing important, just inquiring into a personal matter," he told her.

She nodded as she took the envelope and tucked it inside her kimono. "Yes sir."

"Take care, Rukia," Ukitake told her, informally dismissing her.

Rukia hurried off to meet up with Hitsugaya and Renji at the gate. She had barely been back to Soul Society from her last trip to the real world and now she may be stuck there for quite a while. I wonder when I'll get to come home again? She thought longingly after the peaceful moments that she had shared with her brother earlier that day.

XXX

Inoue sat beside her open window in her apartment, looking out at the beautiful day outside. Such lovely weather, and it's nice that it came on a Saturday so everyone can enjoy it, she thought to herself. She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the windowsill with her head propped up on her hands. She was staring at the birds that had perched on the phone lines outside her place as her mind drifted to other things.

I wonder what everyone is doing to enjoy the weather today? She thought. Surly all of them have found something to do with such a wonderful day. She sighed as she tried to think of what all of her friends would probably be up to.

Tatsuki-san is probably at the dojo, practicing for her upcoming match. Kurosaki-kun is no doubt spending time with his sisters. He doesn't get to do that very much these days and they always love when he is able to come outside with them. She felt the corners of her mouth pull upward when she thought about Ichigo playing soccer with his younger sisters. She knew that he and Karin would always let their other sister, Yuzu, win whenever they played. Yuzu was the kind that never caught on that they actually were playing poorly in order to let her win, but all that mattered to all of them was that they had fun together.

That was something that Inoue missed most about having her big brother around. He had also let her win at games. It just seemed to be the responsibility of a big brother to let their younger sister win from time to time.

Sado-kun is probably out with his older friends. I think he said something about playing guitar at an outdoor gig with them today. Inoue knew that Chad played, but she was yet to actually see him. Somehow she got the feeling that he preferred that few of his high-school friends actually knew about his being in a band. It really seemed to be something he kept to himself, like so many other things in his life. She was slightly surprised that he had even mentioned that he was playing to her. He probably just wanted to let her know in case she had thought to do something with him today. He was thoughtful that way…

Ishida-kun is probably the only other one beside myself spending the day in solitude… but he probably prefers it that way. Ishida was a solitary individual and he, no doubt, was enjoying having some down time to himself on such a lovely day.

Inoue sighed unconsciously again as she continued to watch the chirping birds outside. Such a lovely day… but her thoughts somehow sounded melancholy, even to her.

Suddenly she gave a gasped as the birds that were perched outside all took wing at the same time. It seemed as if something had suddenly startled them, but there hadn't been any noises or anything else that Inoue had discerned that would have spooked them. She was wondering what could have scared them all off like that when she felt the first rumblings in the floor beneath her.

"Earthquake," she gasped, knowing exactly what those tiny vibrations meant. She quickly ran for the door of her second floor apartment. She needed to hurry up and get to the ground outside before the quake became any worse.

By the time she reached her door, her place was swaying with the shaking of the ground below. She had to grip the railing on the outside steps to keep herself upright as she made her way to the ground. As it was, she lost her grip and pitched forward a couple of steps from the bottom. She fell to her knees on the ground, scraping one of them, but not receiving anything more serious than that.

She struggled to stand as the ground continued to lurch below her. She managed to make it a few more feet away from her building before she gave up her struggle and sat down on the ground. She turned around and looked back at her apartment, wondering if it would make it through this quake. She thought briefly about her brother's shrine inside, but knew that he certainly would not like her to risk her safety to rescue that.

As the ground continued to shake, Inoue wondered what had caused this. Living in Japan, this certainly wasn't the first quake that she had been through. She knew that her country was a source for much seismic activity, but something about this one felt a little off.

There was a strange feeling in the air that stirred unknown misgivings inside of her. Something about this particular quake felt unnatural.

As the quake subsided, she let out a sigh of relief to find that her place had not toppled over. She knew, though, that going back inside now would be too dangerous. There could be damage done to the structure that was not visible and an aftershock could come at any time. No, she was stuck outside for the time being.

Slowly she stood up and scanned the neighborhood around her. Other people who had fled outside were now beginning to stand up and brush themselves off as well. None of the buildings in the immediate area seemed to have suffered too much damage, but that also could be deceiving.

"I should go and make sure that everyone is all right," she said as she turned and faced the direction of Ichigo's house. She paused a moment when she realized that his was the first place that she thought to check. But when she thought about it, he probably would be the last of their group that would need help. His father was a doctor after all so he would be able to deal with any injury that might have happened.

Inoue closed her eyes then and concentrated on the feeling of her friends. She could feel Ichigo first, as his was the most familiar and strongest spark of energy in town. His reiatsu pattern was just as strong and steady as ever. He was in no danger just then. Chad and Ishida were also just as bright and steady as was to be expected.

It was then that she had to concentrate a little bit more to sense Tatsuki. Her friend also had a higher spiritual energy than most, but it wasn't as powerful as the others, so it took a little more to be able to sense it. When she finally felt the little flicker of Tatsuki, she gasped, realizing that there was something wrong.

Just going by the feel of her reiatsu, Inoue couldn't tell what the problem was, but she was sure that Tatsuki was in trouble of some kind. She quickly turned and took off running in the direction that she sensed her friend.

XXX

Ichigo had, in fact, been playing soccer with his sisters in the field closest to their house. He had just kicked the ball to Yuzu and Karin purposefully missed a block, allowing Yuzu to score. He and Karin shared a smile at her excited exclamation over having just scored another point.

Suddenly the ground below them began to shake. "Karin, Yuzu!" Ichigo cried as he quickly ran over to the girls. He grabbed them both and held on to them as the shaking intensified. Yuzu began to cry while Karin remained perfectly calm.

Ichigo held onto his sisters until the quake finally subsided, leaving all three of them a bit wobbly, but none the worse for wear. "Where'd that come from?" Karin said as Ichigo released her from his grip. He continued to hold onto Yuzu as she was quite content to cling to him.

"I don't know," He said. "But we should get back to the house to make sure pop is ok."

He wrapped his arms around Yuzu and lifted her up as he stood. Yuzu was still sniffling and clinging tightly to her big brother, not wanting to let him go. "Come on, Karin," he said as he began to walk quickly towards home, carrying his other little sister.

Karin followed close on his heels, silently glad that she wasn't as emotional as her twin sister. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to have to depend so much on someone else. Karin had learned at a very young age that depending on someone else would only make it that much worse when that someone wasn't there anymore. And from the very little that she knew about the extra things that her big brother did, she knew it was a very real possibility that he was not going to always be there for them.

XXX

Chad had stopped playing just moments before the quake had hit. His band was performing on an outdoor stage at the east end of Karakura Community Park. A few moments before the ground began to shake, Chad had sensed something. It was too vague for him to know what it was, but there had been a definite shift in the spiritual atmosphere.

As he stopped, his other band members turned and looked at him. "Chad…" one of them said. "Snap out of it man."

But Chad ignored his friends for a moment as he slowly lowered his bass guitar and began to look around, trying to pinpoint what it was that he was sensing. When the ground first began to quake, no one felt it right away because of the loud music. It wasn't until the shaking was quite serious that the other members of the band stopped playing, finally realizing that they were all in danger.

The heavy stage lights were swinging wildly in the make shift rafters above them. All of them began to stumble off of the stage. Just then, a girder gave way above them and began to fall to the front of the stage.

The lead guitarist looked up and saw the beam heading right for him. In a panic, all he could do was throw his arms over his head, praying that it might somehow miss him. He felt something hard hit him, but it certainly wasn't the steel girder that he had been expecting.

With another blow, he was knocked to his knees a split second later. Slowly he opened his eyes to find that someone had wrapped their arms around him and was bent over top of him. He blinked and realized that it was Chad.

Quickly he shifted out of his friend's grip and saw that Chad had been the one that took the impact of the girder instead of him. "Chad!" he exclaimed as he saw his friend slowly lift the heavy metal off of his back and stand up. "Chad, man, are you all right?" he exclaimed.

Chad nodded to him but didn't say anything as he looked around. Lights had crashed onto the stage as well, but luckily no one had been under those. All of the other band members had made it off the stage and no one in the crowd seemed to be hit by the falling debris.

"Chad, are you sure you're all right, man. That thing must way a ton," the guitarist said as he eyed the beam now lying on the stage.

"I'm fine," Chad said and then turned and walked off the stage. "I need to check on something," he said without looking back.

His friend whom he had just saved simply stood there shaking his head.

XXX

Ishida had had far more warning than the others that something was very wrong. He had woken up that morning sensing something was off, but not really knowing what it could be. It was just an indescribable feeling in the air.

He had found himself in the late morning, early afternoon, being drawn to somewhere. He could feel a great power building up and he was curious to find out what it could be. It was mid afternoon by the time that he had wandered into the Karakura Community Park. He knew that there was a small festival on the east side of the park, but he felt himself being drawn to the center.

It's a good thing that the festival is off at the edge, Ishida thought. Whatever is building here feels rather ominous. There was a feeling in the air of mounting tension in the spiritual pressure all around him. It was almost as if the very spirit particles were being wound like a rubber band, tighter and tighter. It felt as if pretty soon that rubber band was either going to be released and sent unwinding, or it would snap with the tension. Either case did not bode well for the external world.

Ishida had just reached the center of the park, a large open field surrounded by a bank of trees, when the quake hit. A second before the ground began to tremble, he felt the spirit pressure snap around him. The moment that the tension was suddenly released, he fell to the ground, feeling sick and disoriented. The ground below him then began to quiver and turn soft. He gasped as he realized that the very dirt was becoming like a thick viscous liquid under him, sucking in his legs and hands where he was kneeling.

Taking a breath and trying to reorient himself, he pushed up from the ground, prying his hands free for the dirt. His legs were a bit more mired in the ground. He summoned his Quincy bow and fired a shot into the earth below him. It blasted up a spray of dirt from around his feet, allowing him enough space to pull free of the sinking ground.

Using his Hirenkyaku, he quickly leapt into the air and put some distance between himself and the area of unstable ground. Looking back from his higher vantage point, he saw that a circle about half the size of the field had formed of this soft dirt that was sinking downward. By the time the quake finished, there was a perfect circle of ground that had sunk about a meter lower than the surrounding area.

Ishida looked the phenomenon over, wondering what in the world could have caused something like that. The only thing that he knew for sure was that it was not a normal earthquake. Something in the spiritual plane had caused this and that meant that he and his friends were about to acquire some new problem.

Chad had coming running to the scene a moment later. He found Ishida kneeling at the edge of the crater, examining the disturbed soil. "Ishida…" Chad said as he walked up behind the Quincy.

"Sado-san, you sensed it too?"

Chad nodded, "Only as it happened though."

Ishida stood up and brushed off his hands before pushing his glasses up with two fingers. "I've been feeling something all day. Whatever caused this has been building since this morning."

"Then it wasn't a natural earthquake…" Chad said as a statement.

Ishida shook his head and turned to look at Chad. "No, I would say that something new has come to town. We should go find Kurosaki and Inoue-san. Maybe they sensed something else that could help us figure this out."

Chad nodded and followed after Ishida as the Quincy led them out of the park.

XXX

A set of bright blue eyes watched as the two boys ran from the park. Hovering in the sky above the circle in the ground was the tiniest of tears in the fabric of the world. These blue eyes that matched the color of the sky, narrowed in on the friends, wondering how it was that two humans could have sensed what he had been doing.

"Interesting…" a soft, slick voice sighed. "Very interesting…" the eyes disappeared as the tear sealed itself closed.