Chapter One - Pretty

She remembered the night well. It was the night they first meant. It was dark with stars bright in the sky. She had just become the 9th Division Captain not but two months or so before, when Tosen had defected with Aizen. She had been ordered to come down to the living world with Rangiku Matsumoto, Shuuhei Hisagi, Yumichika Aysagawa and Kira Uzuru to track and kill the Bount, a race of soul-sucking humans that were near extinction but pining for some kind of revenge on the Soul Society.

And she just couldn't have that.

Her name was Airashii Shikyo, meaning "pretty death." It was ironic, yes, but Yumichika seemed to like it a lot.

She had long hair, dark as night and contrasted dramatically against the pale skin of her face and neck. Her lips were soft and pink, always easy to smile. The Shinigami uniform she always wore wasn't designed to flatter a girl much, but it seemed to do her fine, emphasising her curves beautifully. She had white-blue, icey eyes than shone with the image of the moon, even during the day, and framed by long, seductive eyelashes.

But those eyes...those eyes were filled with memories from just too long ago. She had been dead for almost 50 years now, a Shinigami for 40 of those years, if you count her time in the Academy. But she was one of the very rare Soul Reapers that were able to remember what it was like in the living world, to have a family. She felt the pain of the loss of her glittering life as a human every day.

Until she meant him.

Somehow he seemed to make all those memories blurry, not in a way that would erase them, but in a way to stop the pain. She didn't didn't know how, he probably didn't either, but she found herself wanting to be around him more and more.

She went through the journey they needed, the one they wanted, and ended up where they were now.

But in the beginning, it was still a dark and starry night. And she hadn't meant him yet. But he waited to save her, patiently, from things she couldn't imagine.

~^.^~

Airashii Shikyo jumped from roof to roof, Rangiku Matsumoto at her side. She sensed spiritual pressure building up somewhere close, but she couldn't tell where.

"Are you feeling that?" Rangiku asked, as if reading her mind. "Someone's getting ready to get attacked."

"I know." Aira looked around the city as they ran.

She saw three figures in the distance, standing on the edge of a sort of grassy hill in the middle of a park. In the middle of that hill was an old man in what looked like some wooden chair.

"There." She said. "Rangiku, go ahead and see if Shuuhei or Kira need any help, okay? I've got this here."

"Yes, ma'am." Rangiku nodded before running off as Aira stood in her place.

She smiled before jumping, landing right in front of the guy in the middle. She recognized him as Chad from the group of Ryoka that had come to the Soul Society that one time to save her friend, Rukia Kuchiki. She smiled at him warmly.

"Well, hi there." She greeted him. "You must be Chad, we meant once, but you probably don't remember."

He just looked down at her with wide eyes. "Uhh..."

"Are those your buddies?" She asked, looking back at the two people behind him. "Hi!"

"Hi." The little dark-headed girl said flatly.

"Hi." The guy in the weird suit said in the same tone, only a bit more surprised.

"Well, I'm Captain Airashii Shikyo of the 9th Division!" She waved at them.

"Nova." The guy mumbled.

"Ururu." The girl said.

"Lovely to meet you!" Aira patted Chad on the shoulder.

"How nice."

She turned and raised her eyebrow at the old man.

"And you are?" She asked.

"My name is not your concern." He smiled evilly.
"Well, that's rude." Aira crossed her arms as she faced him. "You wouldn't happen to be a Bount, would you? That would explain the rudeness..."

The old man got angry at that comment.

"Now, now, now." Aira smirked. "Don't spike your blood pressure or anything, old man."

"I wouldn't..." Chad said behind her but she hushed him.

"I know what I'm doing." Aira smiled ovr her shoulder at him.

That's when the Bount attacked.

There was suddenly a huge whale-looking thing, covered in wood or rock looking scales, coming straight at them. It opened it's mouth as if it was about to swallow them whole.

Aira smiled to herself before swiping Chad, Nova and Ururu out of the way. She drew her Zanpaktou quickly.

"Hidoi Shi, Denkihime!" She called out.

Her Zanpaktou glowed with blue electricity as she turned back to the old man, just to see him disappear with his giant whale into the ground.

It's shadow was appearant, until it went too deep into the ground for her to see.

"Is that it's doll?" Ururu asked.

"A whale?" Chad said.

"No, it's a shark." Nova said.

"Guys!" Aira yelled. "I really don't think it matters! It's still powerful! I can't even track it-"

It jumped up just in time for Nova to grab her and tackle her out of the way of it.

He landed on top of her on the ground.

"Thank you." She smiled at him.

He promptly zipped the zipper over his eyes before standing.

She grimaced. "I said thank you."

"You're welcome." He muttered before walking away.

"He's shy." Ururu told her.

"Oh." Aira nodded as she saw the ground rise.

She jumped towards the giant fish and sliced at it's scales.

"Sutoraki, Denkihime!" She cried.

An electric shock was sent through her blade and into the fish, making it fall over and crash into the ground.

"Come on!" Chad grabbed her and they jumped onto the roof of a nearby building where Nova and Ururu was.

"What are we doing up here?" Aira demanded. "He's down! We need to take advantage of the situation!"

"If he swallows you, you go into a different dimention." Nova said. "That's where he keeps on going. When it seems he's going underground, he's really going into his own dimention. I can sense it because it's similar to my own power."

Aira sighed. "Complicated, complicated. Okay. What do you suggest we do?"

Nova was about to answer but the question, the doll erupted from the wall next to them and straight towards Chad.

He was done for.

Until Ururu jumped for him, knocking him out of the way and putting herself in the dolls path. She was instantly swallowed hole.

"Ururu!" Chad called.

The old man laughed as his doll sat, half surfaced on the roof with them.

"You can't escape Baura." He chuckled darkly. "He minipulates all time and space, whether high up, or in the ground."

"Where's Ururu?!" Chad demanded.

"She's in Baura's dimention, just floating around." He smirked. "But she won't stay that way for long. The dimention will slowly eat her away, leaving only her soul behind."

"Give her back!" Chad demanded.

"What about...no?" The old man laughed before disappearing into the roof.

"This way!" Nova yelled.

He grabbed Aira's hand and Chad's arm as he ran towards them. They almost got out before the doll attacked again, but it caught Aira's leg and ripped her from Nova's grasp.

She drew out Denkihime as fast as she could as the doll's mouth closed around her leg.

"Hidoi no Shi, Denikhime!" She called, sending a shock that would kill a normal Shinigami into the doll.

The doll was sent back at least a hundred feet, crashing into the wall. She managed to pull her foot out of it's mouth at about 250.

She dropped to the ground, unable to get up when Nova ran up, alone, and grabbed her hand, taking them into his dimention.

They reappeared in a narrow alley, with barely any breathing room as they were all stuffed together. Aira sat on the ground against the wall, rubbing her ankle as Chad leaned against the opposite wall and Nova stood at the enterance.

"Is this really nessicary?" Aira choked. "I'm closterphobic."

"Are you okay?" Nova asked her.

"Me? Oh, yeah." She smiled, brushing off her haori.

"That attack you used back there, what was it?" He asked quietly.

"Hidoi no Shi." Aira patted her Zanpaktou as it now sat in it's sheath. "Shock of Death. It's the highest level of Denkihime's shock."

"Hmm. Electric Princess?" Chad asked.

"Yep, that's my girl." Aira smiled. "Now, what are we going to do about this soul-sucking old geezard?"

"I think I have an idea." Nova said.

"Spit it out, Hidden Dragon." Aira said.

"If I can draw him into my dimention, I might be able to dissolve him and his doll and get Ururu out." He said. "But I'll have to take him by surprise if I'm going to get him in."

"That mean's there'll have to be the decoy." Chad said.

"That would be me!" Aira jumped up, raising her hand but landing on her ankle wrong, making her fall down again.

"It's too dangerous, and you're already injured." Nova shook his head.

"Ha!" She smirked as she released her reiatsu, giving her a blue glow. "Don't insult me."

She stood up, still at full reiatsu, and turned around, whipping her hair in Nova's face.

He blushed before zipping his mask again.

Chad rolled his eyes at the shy guy.

Aira flashstepped into the middle of a field, stretching. She pulled out her Zanpakou and laid it lazily at her side.

"Hello?" She called. "Hey! Old man! I don't got all day! Get out here!"

There was nothing as Chad appeared on the edge of the field.

"Ugh." She groaned. "I know you're there. Just because you're too scared to face me-"

The doll appeared almost fifty feet away from her and she smirked as she sliced Denkihime at the Bount on top as she jumped. She kicked it in the side as she began to land just as Chad sent a Spiritual Energy blast at it, driving it straight towards Nova.

Nova had his shield in front of him with the dimention open as the old man flew towards him.

The Bount cried out at first, throwing up some kind of shield to prevent going through as Nova strained to keep the dimention open.

"Oh, you are so annoying, soul-sucker." Aira rolled her eyes. "Sutoraki, Denkihime!"

As she struck the back of the fish, the Bount and his doll were forced through.

Nova quickly closed his dimention before collapsing to take a deep breath.

"He's in." Chad sighed in relief.

"What about Ururu?" Aira asked.

Nova nodded as he stood. "She should be- ugh!"

"Nova!" Aira yelled as he seemed to be struggling.

He stumbled away from them as he called out. "Stay back!"

Red Spiritual Pressure glowed around him as the portal opened back up in his chest this time. It quickly spread, the doll and the Bount emerging from it.

Nova collapsed as they flew away.

"You think you can beat me, you children?" He laughed. "You're a couple hundred years short of that feat!"

"Nova!" Aira got her knees beside him.

His shirt was ripped half off, revealing his chest, and his mask was pulled back a little, revealing more of his soft red hair.

"I'm fine." He told her.

"You bastard!" She screamed as she stood to face the Bount. "Now you've pissed me off!"

She turned to Chad. "Chad, take him somewhere safe, okay?"

"Okay." He grunted before picking up Nova and running to the side.

She turned back to the Bount who was waiting expectantly.

"Bankai." She muttered, holding Denkihime parallel and vertical to her face.

She sliced her sword back behind her. "Jouchaku..."

She thrust it foward, towards the Bount. "Soshite denka, Denkihime!"

Her sword evaporated into millions of little particle-sparks of electric energy. They swirled around her in a possessive way.

"Go, Denkihime!" She demanded, nodding towards the confused Bount.

The sparks surrounded the Bount, whirling around him and creating a sort of electric wind. She smirked when the doll began to sink into it's dimention.

"Denkihime!" She called. "You know what to do."

The sparks covered the ground surrounding her, trapping the Bount in his dimention. When he finally came up, Denkihime shocked him beyond comprehention, making him and his doll scream in pain.

The doll launched itself into the air to get away from the electricity, but couldn't stay there long.

"I will have you!" The Bount yelled as he fell down back into the earth, getting shocked again.

She watched it's shadow swim away from her and down the street.

She grimaced. "Well, fine then."

She held up the hilt of her sword that held no blade. "Denkihime, sweetie, come back to me, please."

The sparks surrounded the hilt until they formed a single blade.

She flashstepped to where Chad had Nova sitting on the steps.

"Are you okay?" She asked him, concerned.

"I'm fine." He told her. "Did you just use your Bankai on him?"

"Yeah, but he ran." She sighed.

"Is he gone?" Chad asked.

"No, he's coming back." She sighed. "We just don't know where. Nova, is there any way at all that you can sense him better?"

"Not now." He sighed. "Even before I was injured. His dimention is his dimention."

"I would use my Kido but even a Captain level Kido couldn't..." She stopped. "Wait. What if we combined our powers? Your sensor and my Kido together could locate him, right?"

"It should." Nova said.

"Well, come on." She helped him up and swung his arm over her shoulder. "We can't do this here."

He then zipped his mask again.

"Would you quit that?" She said, unzipping it.

He just zipped it back.

"Why do you do that?" She demanded as she flashstepped to the roof.

"He's shy." Chad told her.

"Shy? What does that have to...oh." She smirked. "You know we're going to have to touch for this to work right?"

He unzipped his mask and gulped before turning to Chad. "Did you bring that stuffed animal?"

Chad patted himself down before shaking his head.

"I don't think I can..." Nova looked wearily at Aira.

She rolled her eyes. "Look, I bet you Chad can touch without getting weird!"

She stood and hugged Chad, who patted her back but gave her a weird look and still blushed.

Nova sighed as she sat beside him, holding her hand out. He hestiantly took her hand after zipping up his mask. She put her arm through his, connecting thier arms and shoulders as well. She could've laughed when she felt him tense.

"Heart of the south, eye of the north, finger of the west, foot of the east, arrive with the wind and depart with the rain!" She said the incantation as she drew the diagram on the ground needed.

Nova's power poured into hers and she pushed her own power in with it.

Numbers rolled up on the ground, with different variations, but she couldn't lock on the right one.

"I...I can't find him." She said, frustrated.

Then she gasped as it locked on one number. "Got it!:"

She whirled around, pulling Nova with her, and pointed up. "Up there!"

Just as she said this, the doll emerged from the wall.

"They'll never expect an attack from above." The Bount whispered to himself.

But when he looked down, Chad was there, punching Spiritual Energy at him over and over again. The whale began to convulse, the more it consumed. It began spitting out the contents of it's stomach everywhere.

Aira watched anxiously, still holding Nova's hand and squeezing it hard, as she waited for Ururu to emerge. His face was burning under his mask.

And then, Ururu was spat out of the doll, landing on a tree that the doll had once consumed.

The Bount growled when he regained his balance and Chad stopped punching him and his doll to help Ururu.

"I'll finish you later." He snarled, before disappearing.

"Coward!" Aira yelled after him, before running to check on Ururu with Nova in tow. "Is she okay? Are you okay, Ururu?"

"Yes," she nodded before her gaze fell down to hers and Nova's linked hands.

"Um, excuse me?" Nova said in the quietest voice through his mask.

"Uh-huh?" Aira looked back at him and sighed at his closed mask.

"Can I have my hand back now?" He asked.

Aira looked down at thier hands and laughed. "No, I'm going to hold your hand until we get to Urahara's shop so we can get you fixed up."

He swallowed hard.

She wrapped her other arm around his shoulder, leaning her head on it. "You've gotta be able to touch girls, Nova, they're all around you."

"I don't want to." He mumbled as they walked.

He cursed how Chad and Ururu so conviently lagged behind, leaving him alone with her.

"We don't have cooties." Aira smiled at him. "Promise."

Nova was silent.

"You unzip that mask of yours and I might think about letting you go early." Aira suggested.

He shook his head roughly.

"Oh, well, then..." She smirked as she reached to unzip the mask completely, catching his other hand before he could zip it back. "It's just cruel how I'm doing this to you, but I feel it's my duty to the lovely ladies of the world."

She reached up and pushed back his mask, just a little, revealing a little more of his red hair. He flinched away as he tried to pull his hands out of her grasp.

"I'm not so mean as to take it all the way off." She grimaced. "I just want to see your hair. It's cool. I like it. And your eyes are pretty, too. I bet you're really cute under that mask."

She giggled as she saw the blush come up on what little she could see of his face.

"Nova, Nova, Nova." She shook her head as she lead him towards Urahara's shop.

"Why Captain Shikyo, so nice to see you." Urahara greeted her as she stepped in with Nova. "Dear, Nova what happened to you?"

"A Bount." Aira told him. "And please call me Aira, you make me feel old."

Urahara laughed before catching thier hands in the same subtle fashion Ururu had.

"My, my, my." He raised an eyebrow. "What do we have here?"

Aira smiled at him. "I'm trying to teach Nova here how to touch girls. He's just too shy for his own good."

Urahara grinned at Nova's horrified eyes. "Maybe you should listen to her, Nova."

He turned to walk back into the shop. "Now, come back here, Nova and we'll fix you up."

"Ready?" Aira smiled at Nova.

She released Nova's hands and in half a second flat he had that mask zipped up.

"Nova!" She yelled as he walked away. "Ugh. Hopeless."

Comments:

yeah, well...: This first chapter is pretty much a re-written version of Rangiku, Chad, Nova and Ururu's battle with...that guy that's name starts with an "s" and is a Bount. But instead of Rangiku, I put Aira, because it seemed like a good way to start out the story! Gomen.

Noba or Nova: In the subtitled version of Bleach, it's Nova, so that's what I see all the time, so I'm just gonna go with that. Gomen nasai!

Nova's shy: I think Nova's shyness is cute, but we have to find a way to draw them together, neh?