Author's Note:

There are countless versions of this story floating around on the Internet. If you've read part of this story somewhere else, I apologize. I have too many drafts, too many stories, too many usernames, the list goes on and on.

Previous usernames I have written fem Ichigo fanfiction on - Grimrose Eilwynn on ff, Lyn_Laine on ao3. This is here to let you know that I am NOT plagiarizing. They are also my stories! They are in fact older drafts of this story! :D

This should be the final draft of this story, however. I needed a new account to give myself the psychological space to make a good, coherent final story.

I'm strapped in for the long haul. I know exactly what I have planned right through to the ending. Let's see if I can finish this little tale of mine.

This story switches points of view periodically, with each point of view in first person. A new point of view will be denoted by the character's name at the top of the scene. I know this sounds complicated, but give it a chance. I'm good at this, I promise.

This is not a songfic, but theme-related music and poetry is included, and when Rukia talks about Ichigo in this chapter she unknowingly references Lauren Aquilina's "Wonder." I thought it was a good song for how so many characters seem to feel about Ichigo.

Strawberry Ghosts

"She wasn't looking for a knight. She was looking for a sword."

- Atticus

1.

Hollow

Shadows crept across the pillars of rock, across the sands of Hueco Mundo. The shadows were hungry. We needed to be fed, always needed to be fed, and we had just sensed a soul with incredible spirit energy in the living world. It had been slowly growing and growing in size and power, until it was now nearly impossible to miss.

Delicious. An easy target.

I was hungry… I wanted food…

We oozed up into the roiling grey skies above, and then all of a sudden we were turned upside down, falling slowly into the space in the living world where the soul was.

We landed amidst what humans called a city, crashing, claws ready, to the asphalt road. It was the middle of the night. As usual, no human sensed us.

This one might, though. The one we were chasing. It was unheard of… but possible.

It was me and one other Hollow on this hunt. We were small fries, but because of that we kept our senses sharp and open, and we had sensed this delectable soul before anyone else. As was usual with Hollows, we catalogued immediately all the things we could sense about her: fairly young even by human standards, female, living in a district of the place humans called "Tokyo."

As we landed beside each other, eyes gleaming in the darkness, there was an unspoken understanding between us: It was a race against each other, to see who ate her first.

This girl, whoever she was, was doomed.

Kuchiki Rukia

It was my first away mission to the living world since Kaien-dono's death, and I was keenly aware of this as I landed lightly atop an electric pole that night in district 3600: Karakura District, Tokyo city. My newly assigned station.

The portal closed behind me, black Hell butterflies fluttering away into nothingness in the moonlight.

Everything in this district seemed peaceful. I had been told it was what humans called a "suburb", a fairly safe, wealthy, residential area of the city. I could see the lights gleaming in hundreds of square or metal buildings, people and vehicles crawling through the black streets like ants even at this time of night.

I already had two Hollows on my alert system - I had checked - but there was something else. Something far more puzzling.

There was a gigantic spirit energy emanating from this place, and it was not coming from the Hollows.

It was massive and uncontrolled, spreading so far out around its point of origin that I couldn't sense exactly where the source was. Not yet. I would have to track it down.

I would think it was a massive Hollow, but the energy seemed benign and it was unmoving. That was what was curious to me. I had never sensed anything quite like it before. Was it a Plus soul, grounded to a specific place? It didn't feel like one.

In any case, I leaped off to go take care of my missions: hunt down the Hollows… but also, in between, search for the source of that other spirit energy. I could leave no stone unturned. My job was to monitor and control spiritual behavior in District 3600, after all, and this mysterious source was just as important as a Plus soul or a Hollow was.

Partly because it was far more massive.

Kurosaki Ichigo

I sighed, leaning against the alley wall, my arms crossed. "I'm sorry, boys, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave," I said. Already irritated at what they had done, and what I would have to do, and what was probably about to follow.

The thugs messing around on their skateboards in the alleyway all whirled around to look at me. I knew what I looked like, in the golden light of the setting sun slowly turning the alley into shadows: tall and stately for a Japanese woman, in a tight little high school uniform, a wood hair clip holding my long, messy, run-your-fingers-through-it exotic orange hair up behind my head in a clip and dangling fang earrings in my ears. I had warm amber brown eyes shaped like crescent moons and golden skin, and I was wearing flame red lipstick, almond blush, cocoa eyeliner, and a peppery, orange blossomy perfume called Black Opium that wafted across the alleyway. The brown nail polish on my short, blunt nails was chipped, and my shoes were reddish brown flats.

It also didn't hurt that my folded arms showed off my boobs.

The thugs leered, grinning, wolf whistling.

"Hey, baby!"

"Get on over here!"

There were five of them. They were walking toward me, about to gang up on me.

"Look at those long, wraparound legs!" the man who seemed to be the leader of their little gang shouted. My legs and butt were easily my best features; that was where their eyes had traveled down to.

"Take a good, long look, pal, 'cause they ain't never wrappin' around you!" I snapped. "I want you guys to leave. Now. And not come back. I'm not here to be your sex doll."

They stopped, scowling, and the leader growled, "I don't like the way you're talkin' to me," getting all up in my face. He was slightly taller than me.

I glared up at him, unfazed. "A little girl died here recently," I said heatedly. "That's my offering to her that you just ruined messing around with your skateboards." I pointed at a vase of flowers lying off to the side, glass shards everywhere, the broken petals sagging sadly, drowning, in a puddle of water muddied brown from the street. Someone had tried to do a stupid trick on their skateboard and that was the result. "You guys have been disturbing this place for days. You should have a little respect for the dead."

The thugs began cackling with laughter.

"Aww, she cares about the little dead girl -!" one said mockingly.

"What's the kid gonna do," the leader grinned, "come back and haunt us?"

"Idiots," I said, deadpan. "She's hanging right above you."

"Huh…?" They looked up, confused - and that afforded me the opportunity I needed. I leaped upward, bending my legs in a midair split, and kicked two in the face. I landed on my feet in a crouch, swept the third one's feet, and elbowed him in the face on the way down. I stood straight - the last two thugs were still standing there, stunned - and I grabbed the backs of their heads, smashing their faces into each other so that they head butted one another.

And then I was standing there calmly, surrounded by five downed, groaning thugs.

"Oh, yeah," I smirked, walking over to the leader and shoving his face further into the ground with my foot. The sole of my shoe was on his cheek in a victory stance. "I guess I should have warned you. I help lead the karate and kendo clubs at my school. I'm a master in both styles of fighting."

I leaned down closer to the thugs, my eyes widening crazily, and they began hissing, bloody-nosed, and backing up along the ground in alarm. "Shit - shit - crazy bitch -!"

"You ever come here again, you son of a bitch," I said quietly, focusing on the leader, "and people will be bringing you flowers. A little girl died here and you are to treat this place with respect. You got me?"

Slowly, begrudgingly, the leader nodded.

I turned around and walked right back out of the alley like nothing had happened.

As I grabbed my bookbag, a fair distance away from the scene with the thugs, the ghost of the little girl floated down next to me, invisible to all but me. She had the same general hallmarks that all ghosts did: chain emanating from a gaping hole in her chest, transparent, floating. She had pigtails and she was wearing a striped tank top at the time of her murder. She'd been about ten. She never left the alley she'd been shot in.

"They shouldn't mistreat your place again after something like that," I said. "They won't be back. I'll bring fresh flowers soon. Do you need anything else?"

"No. Now I can rest peacefully," said the little girl, smiling up at me. "You know, Onee-chan," she added admiringly, "if I'd grown up to be a woman, I'd want to be like you."

I paused - and then smiled sadly. She sounded just like my little sisters.

Joke was on them. I was a terrible role model.

"... Don't say that," I said quietly, and she looked confused. "Just - hurry up and pass on soon, okay?"

Some people never became ghosts - my mother hadn't - and all ghosts disappeared after a while. It was time for her to go.

I turned around and left her there, walking back out of the alleyway.

My name was Kurosaki Ichigo. Tenth grade. Fifteen years old.

My name meant "strawberry." Cute, right? Sometimes I hated that a little bit. I was not exactly the cutesy, sweet bubblegum pop kind of teenage girl.

I'd been able to see ghosts since before I could remember - though they'd been coming to me in increasing numbers and looking a lot clearer lately. It had started when I'd begun helping ghosts around my surrounding area. They came to me looking for peace, and I helped them find peace.

I couldn't help myself. Some of them, like the little girl, seemed so sad and desperate when they asked for assistance. How could I stand in front of someone like that and say no, I won't help you?

This seemed to increase my spirit-seeing abilities. And the better I could see, the more of them found me. It was cyclical.

I wasn't sure why I could see ghosts. My little sisters could too, though not as well as me. Our father ran a local hospital clinic from the bottom and front part of our house. I sometimes helped him with simple nursing duties, as did my sisters.

We saved some, we lost some. I'd seen my first person die when I was very young. Maybe that was why I had the ability?

In any case, I'd been born with the ability to see the souls of the dear and departed.

I walked up to the square two-story building whose first frontal floor had a sign reading Kurosaki Clinic, and went around the building to the back door, which led to the family room - our combined living room and kitchen, which was behind the hospital.

Since my mother had died, as the eldest daughter I'd taken over the mothering duties for the household. And it was past time for me to make dinner.

I slid off my shoes and walked through the back door with my book bag, announcing casually, "I'm home!"

"My sweet daughter Ichigo! You come home later and later every night! I can practically feel you drifting away from me, breaking curfew in that cute yet rebellious way! I know all you really want is love! Come, be embraced against your father's manly chest!" My weird dork of a father, tall, broad-shouldered, black-haired, and bearded, charged at me dramatically with his arms wide open.

Dad's hugs were always suffocating, so I put a fist right where his face was about to be, my expression not even changing from casual, and he fell to the floor.

"... Nice right hook, my daughter Ichigo!" He gave me the thumbs-up from the ground. My Dad was also an expert in martial arts; he was always very proud of my ability to punch.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, taking off my book bag, going to the kitchen and taking out the materials to make dinner. My sisters were sitting at the kitchen table across from the television nearby. "I know I say this a million times a day, Dad," I said, "but that did not sound normal. And I'm not drifting away from you. I'm just busy."

"Oh, I don't know about that," said one of my little sisters, Yuzu. "You've had less time for us since you started high school, too, Nee-chan."

"We're all agreed! We should stage an Ichigo intervention! There should be cake!" Dad barked, raising a fist, standing.

"No cake. No intervention. Busy." I glared slightly for effect. Then I went back to chopping ingredients. "I had a meeting with student government and then I had to save a ghost after school today."

"Ooh, another one!" said Yuzu brightly. She was very girlish and sweet, with lots of dolls, cute little dresses, and a bob of cinnamon-colored hair. She thought my system helping dead people very Gothic and romantic. "You know, I really envy you, Nee-chan. I'd love to be able to see like that. I can barely see ghosts at all as it is."

"It must suck, though, Ichi-nee," said Karin casually, "being so popular all the time. I don't even believe in ghosts." Karin had short black hair; she wore boyish clothes and loved soccer. She'd asked me to teach her self defense. She had a sarcastic, deadpan sort of expression, and pale, sharp features.

She was Yuzu's twin. They were eleven.

"Huh? But you can see them too, Karin-chan," said Yuzu in surprise. "Only Daddy can't see them at all."

Dad sighed, looking pathetic and irritated. He never liked being reminded that he was the only one in our family who couldn't see the dead. He sometimes pinned the gardener next door down with karate moves to prove he "still had it."

"It's all psychological," Karin explained. "If I refuse to believe in them, it's like they don't exist. You should try it, Ichi-nee. By the way, you've got a new one haunting you."

I turned around from the stove, where I'd been working on putting lots of yummy spices into the meal I was making, to find the ghost of an older man in a business suit with slicked-back greying hair and square glasses standing there. Same as always: chain emanating from hole in chest, floating, transparent.

"Let me guess," I said in irritation before he could even speak, "you need help finding peace and you heard around here that there's a girl in the Kurosaki Clinic in Karakura who can see the dead. Am I right?"

He nodded uncertainly, wary.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. I was really tired, and this was getting old, but I couldn't just turn him away. It wouldn't have been so bad if exorcising the dead was the only thing I had to do - but I also had high school, cooking, cleaning, laundry, bed-making, and three extracurricular activities to do. Oh, and a social life would be nice.

I had a life.

"Why are you complaining?" my Dad muttered. "What you can do is amazing."

Karin defended me before I could defend myself. "Ichi-nee's been under a lot of pressure lately." She scowled. "She says that more ghosts than ever have been haunting her."

"Yeah, she's fed up!" Yuzu agreed.

"She talks about stuff like that with you two?" my Dad yelped incredulously. He turned to me. "Ichigo, first you come home after curfew and now I hear you've been keeping things from me. Why don't you come to your darling father with your problems?"

"Are you kidding me?" said Karin flatly. "Who'd bring their problems to you? You're over forty, yet you possess the emotional maturity of a preschooler." Karin could be cold, cutting, and cruel when she wanted to be. Completely the opposite of Yuzu, who cried over everything.

I cut in before my father could go running to the memorial of Mom he'd put up on the wall. He talked to it faithfully every day, and especially when he felt something was going wrong with his children. He was so earnest, it was like she was really there for him. I'd never liked to see it. There were some things me and my Dad never talked about, and my part in my Mom's death was one of them.

I didn't talk about my Mom's death for the same reason I didn't like other girls looking up to me - implicit guilt. I'd done something terrible, and I could never allow myself to forget it.

"I don't know if I'd go that far," I said, and my father brightened. "But it's not a big deal." I frowned down at the stove stoically. "Karin, Yuzu, and I were just talking about the dead and I happened to mention it. It's not important."

"You're coming home at 7:30 at night, Ichigo," said my Dad, exasperated. "I'd call that important."

I turned with purpose back to the ghost. "What did you need?" I asked, ignoring the other problem.

"I have… a question," said the businessman uncertainly.

"A question another, more experienced ghost couldn't answer better?" I asked, confused.

"Yes," he admitted slowly.

"Okay. Fire away." I leaned against the counter, curious. Karin and Yuzu looked excited - they loved watching me take care of the dead, or fight other people. Dad just looked confused.

"What happens to ghosts… after our existence here… ends?" he asked.

I paused. "Why do you want to know?" I asked at last.

"I want to know if there's a Hell," said the businessman, wincing. "Because if there is… that's where I'm going."

I was silent for a moment. "I don't know what happens to people who pass on," I said at last, not judging. "I'm sorry. All I know is that it's a natural process of life and you can't avoid it.

"You want my opinion? I don't think there's anything after this. I think we're all star-stuff and our energy is absorbed back into the fold. I'm an agnostic - I'm not arrogant enough to rule out the possibility of there being anything out there. But I don't privately believe there's any life after this, myself.

"I mean, I've seen the dead all my life and I've seen horrible things happen to good people and I've never seen any evidence of a higher power." My arms were folded, almost defensively.

"So… oblivion?" the businessman pondered.

"Oblivion." I nodded decisively. "You get used to the idea. It no longer really frightens me.

"Look, no offense, Businessman Ghost Guy. But I don't think death has anything left to show me."

After dinner - I carried a bottle of hot sauce around everywhere with me and dumped it all over my food, I had soda with dinner, and there was always chocolate in our dessert - and then after cleaning up the kitchen, I headed upstairs to my bedroom.

It was covered in red and black posters, most of them portraying my favorite horror and gritty crime drama movies and my favorite punk rock, bluesy rock, and classic rock bands. One poster portrayed Juno, which called dibs on "best movie ever." One entire wall of my bedroom was all shelves filled with big, dog-eared old books, most of them classical literature and poetry - though there were some manga comics scattered in there as well. There was an electric guitar leaning in a corner, and notebooks full of doodles, songs, and poetry scattered all over my desk, much of them completely original, mingling among my electronics. (My laptop was usually opened to the video uploading page for my ASMR vlog, with some feminist news sites on the tabs after that.)

My bedside table was scattered with jewelry, makeup brushes and bottles, and nail polish selections; my wardrobe was stuffed to bursting with clothes and shoes. My bed was covered in a quilt with comfy flannel sheets; I often snacked in bed and so there were some crumbs dusting the covers.

Taped to the back of my bedroom door was Maya Angelou's poem "Phenomenal Woman", my all-time favorite poem:

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them,

They say they still can't see.

I say,

It's in the arch of my back,

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Now you understand

Just why my head's not bowed.

I don't shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing,

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It's in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

the palm of my hand,

The need for my care.

'Cause I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I sat down at my desk with my book bag to do homework. I was in advanced English courses in addition to all my regular classes. I was fascinated by the West, and I wanted to have a job where I traveled someday. I was ambitious - I didn't just want a job, I wanted a career.

I always got excellent grades in all my classes. I don't say that in a braggadocious way. I was out with something to prove. My orange hair was completely natural, but in a homogenous dark-haired society like Japan I got a lot of shit for it. Everyone assumed it was dyed. I had learned by force to cut my own hair to avoid clucking hairdressers, defend myself viciously from bullies and sexual harassment, and I got excellent grades to prove all the teachers wrong who called me a "Yankee" - a Japanese female gangster.

I also wanted to prove one teacher right: Ochi-sensei, my mentor. She was a thin, bespectacled woman, looked a bit like a librarian, but she was cheerful with a dry, exasperated sense of humor and she'd believed in me when no one else did. She saw something in me that others did not.

"You have great force of will, Kurosaki," she'd told me once. "You, more than anyone else I know, can do anything you want to in life."

I usually resented authority figures, but Ochi-sensei, she was alright.

I spent a while in bed, chewing casually on my favorite spearmint gum and chatting on social media while texting various friends: Mizuho and Keigo, a brother and sister, along with Chad, Mizuiro, Tatsuki, Orihime, Michiru, Ryou, Chizuru, and Mahana. Tatsuki and Orihime were my best friends. (I was also friends with the ghost of Orihime's dead brother, who hung around her apartment, but she didn't know that - didn't know about my death seeing abilities.) Most of my friends were girls, but Chad, Keigo, and Mizuiro were all guys. Tatsuki led karate club with me, Mizuho led kendo club with me. We occasionally had to beat the shit out of some guy who skirted our authority because we were women, but in most cases our expertise out on the mat spoke for itself.

I'd also made various friends through student government, but they were much more distant. More political allies than anything, agreeing with me on my efforts to expand the arts in our school, increase the amount and nutritional value and decrease the price of the meals the students were afforded, lower down on the dress code standards, and protect student privacy from randomized locker searches. They also helped me take surveys and plan student activities that weren't totally cheesy and didn't suck.

I listened to meditative audios and ASMR videos, and had a cup of herbal tea, each night before bed.

The next morning, I got up as always before everyone else in the house. I put on my jogging clothes and went on a morning run, the air dewy and the sky glowing pink and gold. I blasted music on my headphones and felt the usual sense of peace that this ritual always brought me.

I always played music outside my usual rocker girl fare when I was running - what I called "tough but feminine" music. Bouncy, energetic music. Today's songs were Terri Clark's "I Just Wanna Be Mad", Daya's "Sit Still, Look Pretty", and the K-Pop hip-hop group BLACKPINK's songs "Whistle" and "Boombayah."

(I also had a secret love for sad country songs and showtunes. No one outside my circle of family and friends knew about this.)

Then I got back home, took a brief shower, put my bookbag together and my uniform on, gathered up a new vase of flowers for the little ghost girl, and began making the usual breakfast - green tea, yogurt, fruit, and sweet natto (a fermented soybean paste with sugar).

Dad came out in a black suit holding a briefcase and a suitcase part-way through breakfast.

"Where are you going?" I asked in surprise.

"As much as I know my lack of presence will hurt you, Ichigo," he grinned, "I have to go to a medical conference. Do not worry, my daughter, I shall be back to shower you with hugs and kisses tomorrow!"

"Tch. Just get outta here," I said, pretend annoyed, snapping the dish towel at him. He walked out the back door and I said, "Dad." He turned back in surprise. "If you get all dramatic about this, I'll kill you," here, I glared, "... but you'll do great."

I could see him contemplate making a big deal about it, but in the end, to my relief, he decided not to. "Thanks, kid," he said, smiling, surprising me with a moment of actual seriousness, and then he left.

Karin and Yuzu came out shortly afterward to get breakfast. "Dad's gone for a conference," I said. "He'll be back tomorrow." I set their food down in front of them.

This meant little to them. Dad disappeared suddenly and randomly from time to time; I knew how to do everything in the house and we walked ourselves to school, so it didn't mean very much to us. It was normal.

Karin turned on the TV to the news as I called my friends Tatsuki, Orihime, and Mizuiro. "Yeah, I'm sorry about this, you guys," I said. "But I'm not going to be able to walk to school with you today. Something came up." I needed to stop by the little girl's alley and drop off her flowers, and no one outside my family knew I could see ghosts. "Yeah, no, it's nothing, family stuff, I just -"

I looked up at the television, and stopped, startled. I recognized that street. It was a major industrial thoroughfare full of big buildings near our neighborhood. And it looked like it had been torn to pieces by some giant claw. There was yellow caution tape surrounding the explosive site and the news camera had just panned in on the wreckage.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to call you guys back," I said, and hung up. "Turn that up," I said, grabbing the remote and raising the volume on the TV.

"The incident happened at about 7:30 this morning. A block down from the main street outside Karakura Station, the ground shook and many buildings exploded from some incredible force. Investigators and explosives experts are currently investigating the cause of the mysterious explosion, but -" The reporter kept talking, but Yuzu spoke.

"What's wrong?" she asked in vague concern. She must have seen my expression. Yuzu never paid attention to the news. Karin looked serious, though.

"That's close to here," I said in worry. "Be careful out there today, okay?"

I texted the same thing to my father and my friends. Little did I know. I should have followed my own advice.

I walked to the little girl's alleyway first, but she wasn't there. I paused, confused.

"Hey!" I called, looking around. No little girl ghost appeared.

This had never happened before. Had she passed on? She was too afraid to leave the alleyway she had died in, she'd told me so. Why was the alleyway so empty?

Then I heard a scream, and I realized it was her - the little girl. It was coming from the street beyond. A high-pitched howl, a kind of roar, followed it. And only I could hear her - only I would be able to help her.

Against my better judgment, because this too was very close to where I walked to school and also very close to where the last attack had happened, I ran out into the wide main street beyond.

Just as I ran out there, every single window on the bottom floor of every single building suddenly exploded in one high-pitched shriek.

I ducked, covering my neck with my arms, as glass littered the pavement around me. People screamed and started running in different directions; my ears were ringing. But I could hear her desperate voice:

"Onee-chan!"

I ran through the confused, stumbling crowds toward her cries. I passed by people with wide cuts split open by pieces of glass across their faces. I could barely see their shadows in the clouds of explosion dust, until all of a sudden they appeared to me, looking frightened and dazed.

"Onee-chan!"

I continued running, toward the center of the explosion site. She needed my help - that was all I could focus on in my shell-shocked mind. Someone needed my help.

Finally, the clouds of dust began clearing and I saw her running toward me. And beyond her - was a huge, hulking monster. Not a ghost, as I had supposed. It was a massive insect, the size of a building, a white mask with leering skull teeth for a face. Beyond the eyeholes was blackness, only a single golden light of sentience in each eye.

It was a mask with no person behind it.

It opened its mouth and the high-pitched howl, the roar, emanated from it. That was where the shriek had come from, I realized, the one that had destroyed the windows - I could even see how its huge pincers, unleashed, could create the chaos at the other site earlier this morning.

What was it? Why was it attacking Tokyo?

I stood there, frozen, my breath coming in great gasps, until I looked down and saw the little girl's desperate, crying face running toward me - and my limbs were freed, I could breathe again. I ran toward that helpless face. Then the ghost of the old man with the glasses came around the corner, running behind her, and the massive insect monster gave chase after them, howling.

"Onee-chan!" the little girl sobbed, reaching me.

"What is that thing?!" the old man shouted.

I was still in shock. "I - I don't know, I don't know - run!" It was the only thing I could think of to do. I turned around and began sprinting down the street, hearing the ghosts and the monster running behind me, feeling the monster's shadow growing over us as it gained on us.

Then the little girl shrieked, tripped, and fell - and after a moment's hesitation, I ran back to get her. "Keep going!" I barked harshly at the old man, who had paused, and after a moment he continued running. I knelt before the girl. "Come on, come on, get up -" I pleaded with her.

Then I felt the monster directly over us.

"Never mind, get down!" I screamed, throwing my body over hers, and it was a stupid thing to do, she was already dead, but I'd never have forgiven myself if I'd watched her be killed again and known I could have done something to stop it. This monster, whatever it was, it frightened her. It could somehow hurt her. That was all I registered.

I looked up in alarm, lying there in the street, saw the monster open its mouth to swallow me whole, saw the back of its throat, felt its putrid breath -

And then, abruptly, my vision was covered in the shink of a sword and a flash of black cloth.

A girl around my age was standing between me and the monster, blocking it from reaching me, her real katana sword unleashed. She was dressed like a samurai - black robes, white sash and under-robe. She was small, pale, and delicate, the kind of delicate I would never be, with shoulder-length black hair and violet eyes. Her face was carved ivory, expressionless, unfazed.

She leaped up high into the air, supernaturally high, with a single cry of effort, and stood there in the air for a moment. Then she slashed her sword down through the monster's head and through its body and it dissolved in one final howl, one last shriek, disappearing into nothingness.

The girl sheathed her sword and walked away.

I began to stand, legs shaking, face bloodless, stunned. "Hey!" I called after her, but she had leaped off and was already gone.

I could feel people beginning to speak words in the street behind me, in the aftermath.

"Another explosion!"

"What caused it?"

"What's going on?"

I turned to the woman nearest me and asked in confusion, "... You didn't see that?" I pointed at where the monster and the girl had been.

"I saw you scream and throw yourself to the ground," said the shaken woman. "I thought of doing the same myself!"

"Onee-chan." The little ghost girl was trying to tug at my sleeve. "Onee-chan."

"The monster was a spirit." I looked around to the ghost of the old man, who was standing there solemnly. "That's why it could hurt us. That girl was too."

But… but I'd never seen anything like either of them before; that made no sense! I'd been able to see ghosts all my life! I turned around to where the fight had taken place and the insect monster had been vanquished. It sounded silly even as I had the thought, like a drug trip or a hallucination.

Except it couldn't have been. The explosions in the streets. The ghosts I'd always known who had seen them too.

"... What the hell?" I whispered.

I went home instead of going to school that day, lying to my friends and family and telling them I wasn't feeling well. Then I had to convince Orihime not to come over with some of her famous "special soup" (Orihime was an eccentric cook, on top of all the other reasons why it was a bad idea). Yuzu fussed over me back at home. Tatsuki and Karin both seemed suspicious.

After dinner that night, which was made by Yuzu, I went upstairs to my bedroom and curled up on my bed, arms around my legs and head on my knees. I stared at the shadows on the far wall, thinking.

Who had that girl been? What about that monster in the street? How were they spirits - without having all the usual hallmarks of a ghost, like transparency or floating or a chain? They must have been spirits, right? No one else had seen them.

I'd always prided myself on knowing everything there was to know about death. It was a burden sometimes, yet I realized now that I had always found an odd sort of comfort in the idea. But there were only two options here. Either I didn't know as much as I'd thought I had, or I was slowly going insane and my sisters might be too.

Neither option particularly appealed to me.

I lifted my head in confusion when a black butterfly suddenly flew - right through my closed window. Like it was a spirit.

But then something even bigger happened. The black-robed girl stepped, floating, right through my bedroom wall. She didn't even look at me, her expression serious. It was weird, she looked just like a living person… except she could float and move through walls. So she must be a spirit.

Well - it looked like the answers to my questions had just come to me.

I backed up on my bed in fear, anger, alarm. "Hey! Hey - who are you - what are you doing here?! Why are you invading my home?!"

There was a silence. I heard the sounds of Karin and Yuzu playing a loud video game in the living room downstairs. The girl landed on the ground. She was still looking straight ahead of herself seriously. "It's close," she murmured. "The enormous spirit energy."

Was she deaf?

So I walked up to her, leaned down - she was pretty short - and stuck my face right up close to hers, flicking her in the forehead and saying loudly, "ARE YOU DEAF? I CAN SEE YOU. WHAT SPIRIT ENERGY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

And the black-robed girl nearly had a goddamn heart attack.

"You - you can see me?" she asked disbelievingly. "And - touch me?"

I straightened, frowning, hands on my hips. "Who did you think I was talking to?" I asked.

The girl straightened, feigning dignity. "I - I thought you were an undiagnosed schizophrenic."

"Funny. In that kind of getup? That's what I thought you were."

"I am not an undiagnosed schizophrenic!" said the girl indignantly. "I am a noble member of the house of Kuchiki!"

"See, the problem is, that's exactly what an undiagnosed schizophrenic would say. And this noble house of Kuchiki? Never heard of it."

I smirked as the girl swelled, reddening. So she was easy to rile up.

How fun.

"You presumptuous human! I would kill you if it were not against Shinigami Provisional Spirit Law!" the girl hissed, fists clenched.

Okay. Now I knew she was definitely crazy.

"You want to run that by me one more time?" I asked skeptically. "What the hell is going on? What are you?"

She may be crazy, but I at least wanted to hear her delusional explanation for all these fucked up events - and how she'd managed to defeat that monster.

The girl became more serious. "You should not be able to see me… I am on a higher level than what you would call a ghost… But since you can see me, I suppose I have to explain.

"I am a Shinigami."

Shinigami. Japan's Grim Reaper. God of Death.

Little Ghost Girl

Me and the businessman - his name was Taideki, he'd told me, and mine was Aiko - were running again that night. A big monster was chasing us, with the same mask face but this time a big, hulking, humanoid body.

"Why again?! What is this?!" I cried, distressed.

"I don't know," the businessman said tersely as we ran. "Where is that black-robed girl?!"

I tripped and fell again - even in life I'd been clumsy - and after a moment the businessman paused. But the monster had suddenly stopped several feet away from us, and lifted its head to sniff the air.

"It's nearby," I heard the monster murmur. "With a Shinigami..."

And then it loped off.

Kurosaki Ichigo

"You're a Shinigami," I said skeptically. "So… I've always been curious… when they're not out reaping souls… what do Shinigami do, exactly?" It was partly sarcasm.

Shinigami were like the Japanese version of the West's Grim Reaper. Supposedly, they came for dead souls. In living world culture, no matter what they were called, they were frightening emblems of death itself, always black-cloaked, eerie beings, silent as the graves they haunted. Seeing one only meant one thing - that your life was over. So the idea of one lazing on a beach with some suntan lotion was hilarious.

Kuchiki blinked, surprised by the question. "Well, it depends on the Shinigami," she said uncertainly. "I, for example, like drawing. And classical music. I enjoy climbing to high places, such as in rock and tree climbing. And I like bunnies."

"You like bunnies?"

"They're cute!" said Kuchiki defensively.

"Hey, I'm not judging. Do you have a pet bunny?"

"Sadly… no. I do not think my older brother would take kindly to the suggestion. It would be below my station." Kuchiki looked a bit despondent at this. "He is the head of the family. He must care about these things."

"You should get one anyway."

"Clearly, you have never met my brother."

"I'd get one anyway."

"I'm sure you would," said Kuchiki dryly. "Now -"

"Wait. I have more questions."

Kuchiki seemed impatient, but she said, "Okay. Go."

"What do Shinigami do on the job? And where do they live?" I asked.

"Shinigami have two principal duties," explained Kuchiki. "To destroy evil soul monsters called Hollows, such as the one you saw today - which humans also cannot see - and to help Plus souls, what you call ghosts, pass on to the next life, with a ritual called Konso. The next life is where we live. It is called the Soul Society."

"Do all dead souls become… Plus souls? How do you destroy Hollows? What happens to souls who die in the Soul Society?"

"Only the Plus souls with a tie to the living world become ghosts. Our job is to break their tie to the living world. We destroy Hollows with our zanpakutoh," she indicated to her sword, "and also with special spells called kido - high level incantations only a Shinigami can cast."

"So your swords are special and you say funny words."

Kuchiki looked irritated. "You know, I don't have to be explaining this to you."

"Alright, alright. What can the spells do?"

"Bind, attack, shield and defend, and heal. And as for souls who die in the Soul Society… well, first, aging is slowed down in the Soul Society. Ten years for every one of yours." So how old was Kuchiki? "And only souls with spirit energy even need food. But once a soul does die in the Soul Society, it is reincarnated in the land of the living."

"Is there a God?" I asked.

"There is a heavily protected Soul King in the center of the Soul Society's Seireitei city who keeps the two worlds together," said Kuchiki. "We do not know of a God. Some believe in one - these two interlocking cyclical worlds, tied together by the Soul King, must have been created by something - and some do not."

"Do you have to have spirit energy to be a Shinigami?"

"Yes. We are usually recruited from the masses, though the Soul Society born nobility are born to spirit energy naturally. That's how new souls form - they are born into the Soul Society. Even we don't know where the new souls come from."

"Are all souls born in Soul Society considered nobility?"

"No. You have to be of an established noble family with spiritual presence," said Kuchiki firmly.

"And how do you Shinigami decide who destroys what Hollows, or sends on what Plus souls?"

"We each have missions, are assigned sectors to guard for a certain period of time - in Soul Society and in the living world both, because Hollows attack Soul Society too. They live in the space between realms, a desert place called Hueco Mundo."

"Why are Hollows so evil?"

"They have a constant emptiness inside them. They eat souls to feed this emptiness."

So like vampires. "So… if a Hollow is destroyed, are the souls it ate released?"

"Into the Soul Society, yes. Very good," said Kuchiki, pleased.

"What is the Soul Society like?" I asked hungrily.

"It is a very good place. The commoner's grounds are a series of small villages. You would call them old fashioned… as I've said, we age much slower there." That explained the bizarre clothing. "Then there is a vast city in the center where the nobles and Shinigami live, called the Seireitei. The Soul Society is ruled by a council called Central 46, which regulates Shinigami and provisional spirit law. The Soul Society is much slower paced, full of nature and usually very peaceful. Ten to one it's better than the living world," said Kuchiki proudly.

"So… the Soul Society seems to have taken on Eastern culture… does that harken back to Ancient China being one of the oldest and first complex living world civilizations? Like, was there a war that decided this, Mayans vs Chinese, or…?" I was curious.

Kuchiki looked completely bewildered, like she had no idea what I meant. "What is… China?"

"It's… the country… near… this one?" I was now the one who was confused.

"Oh, you mean Region 45! The big one!" said Kuchiki brightly.

"Yeah, you know what? Never mind," I decided. "Next question. How do you get all those people from all those different countries to come together at once?"

"Well, it helps that all languages become one language in the Soul Society," Kuchiki explained. "Everyone thinks everyone else is speaking their language. And Shinigami, when planted in the living world, can assume any native language."

"Is there a Hell?" I asked next.

"Yes. Evil souls are sent there."

"How do you define evil?"

"Evil is one who has done dark things. Such as murder, or rape."

"And what was that black butterfly?"

"That was a Hell butterfly. Not actually related to Hell, funny enough. They relay messages, guide Plus souls on to the Soul Society - they do all sorts of useful things on command."

"So why haven't I ever seen a Shinigami or a Hollow before, then?" I challenged. Everything else fit. The souls never appearing. The souls disappearing.

"As I said, you have to be of a certain spiritual energy level to see us. Your powers have grown as you've gotten older, yes?"

"... Yeah," I admitted at last, thoughtfully. "They have. The more ghosts I come into contact with, and the more I age, the more my powers grow - like those ghosts in the street today. I knew both of them personally. So you think they've unlocked my power?"

"Exactly," said Kuchiki neatly, pleased. "That would explain it."

"Why was the Hollow attacking those ghosts today?" I asked. "Just because it wanted some spare food?"

"I suppose that must be it. I am not entirely certain," Kuchiki admitted. "We have not been able to analyze and understand all of the Hollow's behavioral patterns."

"So you're on a mission now? This is your sector?"

"Correct. I was searching for a source of huge spiritual presence, and then I was distracted by a Hollow alert, so I was chasing down the Hollow and then when I entered this room - which is very close to the spiritual presence - the Hollow suddenly went off my sensing radar. It's very peculiar. Like some force is obstructing my senses. That's why I'm in your room."

"And I can see you because I have the power that makes dead people Shinigami?"

"Yes, quite a lot of it. I have never even heard of a human who can see Shinigami before."

"So that could be why more and more ghosts keep finding me as I get older and older."

"Yes, it's probably a growth spurt of your spirit energy."

"Okay… prove it to me," I said firmly, crossing my arms.

Kuchiki seemed caught off guard. "... What?"

"If you have all these amazing powers… Show me some." This would be the deciding factor for me. I didn't believe in what I couldn't experience. I wasn't one of those 'blind faith' sorts of people. Con artists, fake psychics, magic, and stupid reality TV shows were not my forte, and neither, really, was religion.

"You see that I am different, yet you do not believe in me?" Kuchiki asked, both disbelieving and scathing.

"I want proof," I repeated stubbornly, lifting my chin defiantly.

Kuchiki's eyes narrowed. Then she suddenly unsheathed her sword, reached out, and made a little slice in my arm. I winced, there was a moment of pain - "How can you do that?" I asked wonderingly. "Plus souls can't touch living things."

"Do you ever stop asking questions?" Kuchiki asked in amusement. ("No," I said.) "It's all about how much spirit energy you have. The more you have, the more you can affect the living world around you. Now shush and watch me work."

Then Kuchiki put her hand over the cut in a flash of electric blue and the cut was miraculously gone. Just like that - zip. As if it had never been. I stared.

For the first time, Kuchiki smiled. "You see? Healing kido. A normal Plus spirit couldn't do that. Kido is one of my favorite parts of being a Shinigami - my kido marks at Seireitei's Shino Academy were top of my class."

The moment of peace was interrupted by a sudden roar. A horrible, piercing, screaming howl of pain met my ears, and I looked up, my face white.

"What is it?" Kuchiki tensed, half-standing, suddenly serious, immediately going for her zanpakutoh.

"Can you hear that?" My voice was shaking, and I hated it. "That horrible, piercing howl? It's coming from outside. Isn't that the Hollow you're looking for?" I recognized it from before.

Kuchiki paused, listening. "I hear nothi -" she began. And then she heard it. The howling cry of a Hollow.

"That's it!" she hissed, whirling in that direction. "That's the Hollow!"

Then there was a crash that shook the floor below, and a high-pitched female scream. The Hollow was attacking this house.

"That was Yuzu!" I screamed, and before Kuchiki could stop me I was out of the room and down the stairs.

A huge, hulking, humanoid Hollow had made a hole in the far living room wall and was reaching inside for my sisters, who had screamed and were backing up, Karin in front of Yuzu, who was staring around herself blindly for something she couldn't sense.

They saw me at the same time.

"Onee-chan! What's going on?!" Yuzu cried.

"Ichi-nee! Run!" Karin barked.

Then the Hollow swiped at them and rage and fear filled me. I ran forward and pushed them out of the way, felt the Hollow's giant hand wrap around me instead. It lifted me outside and up into the air above the street, my feet dangling.

"Nee-chan!" my sisters screamed, sitting upright from where I'd pushed them over.

"Let me go, you stupid, fish-faced freak!" I shouted, kicking ineffectively at the Hollow's hand.

"I've found you," it whispered, and opened its mouth to eat me - I froze - "Karin, Yuzu, run!" I screamed, unable to look away - my last act, I thought -

But for the second time I was saved by the Shinigami. I saw a flash of silver and then she made a cut deep into the Hollow's arm, leaping upward into the air. The Hollow roared in pain and dropped me, and the Shinigami caught me before I hit the ground, setting me gently down behind her. The Hollow retreated, its wounds healing themselves and its skin regrowing. That must be its ability.

I looked around - Karin and Yuzu had been knocked out by the Shinigami.

"Binding spell, the first - sai!"

I whirled around just in time to see the Shinigami wave a hand in a kido spell. I felt my arms and legs spring together and I fell over on my stomach on the ground, paralyzed.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I cried, struggling. "I can help you!"

"There is nothing you could do," said the Shinigami sternly. "Leave this to me."

She began to turn away toward the Hollow, lifting her sword - but with great effort, pushing against the pressure around my body, I had forced myself to my feet, legs and arms still tied. "I - will not - watch - another family member - die!" I screamed.

Not like Mom.

And a pressure I had not even felt building up inside me suddenly exploded outward. In a flash of gold, my arms and legs were freed.

"Stop it - how are you even standing - no human could -!" the Shinigami began. But then I sprang myself free and she stopped, stunned.

"Ha!" I said, grinning, flushed with victory. "Apparently, a human can."

"... Now I understand," said the Shinigami quietly.

I was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Hollows will eat all souls, that is true, but they usually go for souls with high levels of spirit energy," said the Shinigami quietly. "Those souls are particularly delicious to them.

"You, human girl, have more powers than I have ever seen in someone living. You can see Shinigami and Hollows as a living human. You can break top notch Shinigami binding spells under your own power. And I have realized - the thing blocking my senses was you. I felt your spirit energy from all the way across your district. The farther I went into the dense cloud of spirit energy you emanate around you, the harder it was to sense anything, until finally in the center - your bedroom - I couldn't sense anything at all.

"But you could. You heard the Hollow before me.

"I don't know why, but your energy has been almost completely sealed up until now. Then you started interacting with lost Plus souls - and that power was unlocked. It grew and grew, until Hollows everywhere began to sense it and pinpoint its location.

"The Hollows are attacking places you frequent, yes? And ghosts you know, yes? And now your house. And your family. People have been attacked, but no one has been eaten yet. Why?

"Because these Hollows aren't after just any soul. They are after you. They can sense you even in the people and places that are not you. They are hunting you down - tracking you."

I was quiet for a moment. So it was my fault, that these people were being attacked.

Kuchiki had turned away toward the Hollow.

"... And this will continue happening?" I asked quietly. "More Hollows will continue hunting me down, and hurting the ones I love, as long as I am around?"

Kuchiki winced. "... Yes," she admitted.

And then I chopped neatly to the back of her neck and head and knocked her out.

I stepped calmly over her prone form, facing the Hollow, who had healed completely and whirled around to face us - to face me. I took a deep breath. "Okay," I said, my face hard. "Let's do this."

See, I had it all figured out. If these Hollows continued hunting me through the people and places I loved, eventually, someone I knew was going to die. And I was already responsible for one loved one's death. I was not going to be responsible for any others.

So just let one of them kill me, I thought. Let it eat me.

But I wasn't stupid. Hollows were constantly hungry to feed the emptiness inside them, right? So if I let it eat me here, it would just go on to eat the other, unconscious people: Kuchiki and my sisters.

But if I led it to an abandoned place… and then let it eat me… then supposedly anyone in Tokyo would have an equal chance, right?

Obviously Kuchiki would never let me do this - it was her job to protect me. But I couldn't count on anyone, including the Shinigami, to always be there to save the day in time.

So I was taking out her guilt. I attacked her. After that, it was my fault I died. I wasn't going to let her stop me.

I took out the pocket knife I always kept on my person. Usually it was in case of harassment while walking through city streets. Now it had a different purpose - I was going to try to hurt or even kill this Hollow as it ate me. I had the power to touch Shinigami and Hollows. So I must have the power to hurt them, right? Then Kuchiki's zanpakutoh could send it on later.

I got into a strong stance before the Hollow, my eyes stony pieces of flint, fiery and determined. "Hey, asshole!" I shouted. "You want my soul?!"

The Hollow roared in response.

"Then come and get it!" And I turned around, and ran. The Hollow followed me.

I sprinted as fast as I could, feeling it catching up and catching up, its shadow looming over me - I was breathless, my legs pumping as fast as I could make them - I saw an abandoned park up ahead, in the darkness - stopped between two trees - whirled around, knife out and in front of me - its mouth opened to swallow me whole and I saw the back of its throat once more - I snarled, fearful and angry, getting ready -

Kuchiki Rukia

I woke up… and sat up, gasping. I was lying on the asphalt, my Shinigami powers intact, but the human girl and the Hollow were gone. Her sisters were still lying off to the side, unharmed.

Then I saw her up ahead, the vivid orange hair. She was running away, the Hollow chasing her, a moonlit knife glinting in her hand.

That idiot. An honor killing.

This human girl had been peculiar right from the beginning. First, she looked so much like a Shiba, the disgraced noble Seireitei house that Kaien-dono had come from. She could have been Kaien-dono's female twin. So when she walked up, got right into my face, yelled at me sarcastically, and flicked me in the forehead - there was more than one reason why I panicked.

It took me a while to catalogue the physical differences. The tall, elegant, feminine bearing. The warm autumn coloring. The fashion inherent even in what had to be a school uniform. The peppery, orange blossomy perfumed scent. She was pretty, I could concede, in a way that I wasn't. There was something a bit wild about her, something unmanufactured and natural.

Then she started asking questions, at first skeptical and then increasingly interested. Thoughtful questions. It was like her mind was always five steps ahead of me. She was insolent, teasing, humorous, lively, expressive, bold, and entirely infuriating.

And then she had demanded proof. A mere human. Arrogantly demanding proof from a Shinigami noble.

I didn't know why I was indulging her for so long, even as I was doing it. There was just something about her. She drew all eyes on her, she was the center of attention and controlled the atmosphere, she made things warmer somehow. She was not perfect - she was cynical, skeptical, sarcastic, fiery, at times vicious, overly idealistic, impatient and reckless, and she shrugged off pain too easily and butted in where she didn't belong.

But she was one of those people whose entire being was appealing, the imperfections included. Kaien-dono had been the same. Different, vastly so, but the same in that regard. He, too, had just… made people like him. In a blunt, not smooth, vastly uncharming way.

Then the Hollow had attacked. She reacted even faster than I did. She ran down the stairs fast, and the minute she moved away from me even a little bit, I could start to sense better again. That was when I began to suspect. Could a mere human… really do all this?

She had pushed her sisters out of the way of the Hollow attack and risked her own life. That was brave. I thought I remembered her from the street earlier today, too. She had thrown herself on top of a Plus soul to save the Plus soul from a different Hollow attack. Saving a ghost, who she didn't know wasn't just going to disappear anyway.

She befriended ghosts, the ultimately friendless. She obviously cared, perhaps more than she wanted to. And she saved people.

So a kind of respect had formed. Even a trust.

But when she'd broken the binding spell, that was when respect and trust had transformed to blind amazement. She had grinned at me, flushed in victory, cheerful. And what she had said - that she wasn't going to watch someone else die.

That, too, I could understand.

And my trust had become so deep-seated that I'd actually turned away from her. What a fool I was, to form an attachment so quickly. I should have seen this coming. Of course, a girl like this human was never going to take the idea of Hollows coming after her passively, lying down. She'd run down the stairs and pushed her sisters away. She'd broken the binding spell so she could find a way to help me defeat the Hollow and save her family.

She was a fighter. And when faced with Hollows, fighters either became Shinigami, or they were eaten.

And I should have let her be eaten, and then destroyed the Hollow and let her soul go on to the Soul Society, where the guarding was much heavier and she could become a Shinigami on her own merits. In a twisted sort of way, it did make sense. I should have let her die. Shinigami were never supposed to get involved with humans. This was dangerous.

But I thought of watching someone so much like Kaien-dono get eaten by a Hollow - I thought of losing him again - and I knew I couldn't do it. I realized I couldn't do the logical thing.

In a way, perhaps I was just as emotional as the human.

I swore, stood up, and ran after the human girl and the Hollow. Ran faster and faster - saw her pause in the abandoned park between two skeletal trees and turn around, face snarling and knife ready, prepared to accept death - get there in time, get there in time! -

And I didn't have time to fight it off. I realized this about a foot from the Hollow and the human girl.

So I did the only thing I could do, in a blind moment of panic. I ran in between them and took the attack instead.

I felt a moment of blinding pain, felt warm blood flow, pushed and pushed against the Hollow fruitlessly with my zanpakutoh, against where I'd made the cut, until finally it shoved off of me, spitting me back onto the ground and retreating to heal itself again.

I fell on the soft, wet earth and grass. I was dying, I realized. And if the way it spat me back out was any indication, it was going to eat the human girl before it was going to eat me. And I would have to watch.

And if I refused to accept that… I mean, I was too badly injured to fight it myself. There was only one thing I could do. No one else in the forces would be able to get here in time. There was only one option.

The problem was that it was highly illegal.

"Shinigami!" the human girl had cried. She kneeled over me. "Damnit, Shinigami girl!" she said fiercely, her face twisted in pity. "You should've let me die."

"You wanted to save your family and friends."

"Yes," she said, like this was an obvious statement, which, really, it was at this point.

"There is one other way you could do that." I was speaking quickly now. "You could become a Shinigami."

She paused for a moment, blinking. "But I'm not…" she said slowly, uncharacteristically uncertain. "I mean, I haven't kicked it yet. I'm not dead. I can't become a Shinigami."

Kicked it. What a peculiar expression. Focus, Rukia.

"You can." I sat up with pain, with effort. There was a rip right across my abdomen, bleeding freely. I had to do this before I lost my head. I lifted my suddenly heavy sword to her. "If I pierce the tip of my zanpakutoh through your heart, I can temporarily gift some of my powers to you. Since you have so much spirit energy, it should work… But if it doesn't, you will die." I winced. I felt I had to say it - to warn her of the risks. It was the moral thing to do.

She actually smiled. "Look, Shinigami girl," she said, amused. "Here, I have three options. I can either let myself be eaten here. I can run away and watch a bunch of my friends and family die and then be eaten… or I can pick the option where I might be able to save everybody, including myself.

"I think I'll take option three. Give me the sword."

She held out her hand, warm and friendly.

"Let's give it a try, okay, Shinigami girl?"

At long last, I smiled too. Something I didn't do terribly often, especially not on the job, and most especially not around a human. But I liked her, I realized. Not in the idealized, romantic way.

But in the way that, if she had been a Shinigami, I could see her as a colleague or a friend. She, like Kaien-dono, I could not imagine ever treating me differently or being afraid of my title.

She put her life on the line for others. In another life, she would have made a fine established Seireitei Shinigami.

"Not Shinigami girl. My name is Kuchiki Rukia," I found myself saying. "Rukia. You can call me by my given name." For a noble, this was a great admittance.

She looked surprised, but not displeased. "Kurosaki Ichigo, and you can call me Ichigo," she joked, amber brown eyes dancing. "Let's hope this isn't the last meeting for either of us, yeah?"

She took the sword into her hands. I pointed it toward her heart. The Hollow had recovered and was moving toward us. The zanpakutoh was at the ready. She swallowed, looking nervous. If I could admit it to myself, I was too.

But there was no time for words. I plunged the zanpakutoh straight through her heart, offering half of my power down its length. Half, I thought. Enough to get me under the Seireitei radar. Enough to let her fight Hollows for a little while. And after that… well, we would deal with that time when it came.

But even I was not prepared for what followed.

A great, enormous energy shot down the sword and jumped on top of mine - I struggled - it held me down - it was so much more powerful than I was - it sucked up more and more of my energy - the power was vicious, terrifying, unchased -

And then I felt myself become a loose soul, powerless, and I felt Ichigo's power plunge over the barriers of her physical body. I blinked, and when I could see again, I had fallen to my knees, in nothing but a white under-robe, covered in blood, Ichigo's unconscious body lying beside me. I whirled around - and there she was.

She had all my Shinigami powers, and her soul had reformed in front of the Hollow, blocking it from reaching us. The black robes clung to her tall form, clung to her curves. Her messy orange hair was still up in its wood clip, bone earrings dangling, makeup pristine. The perfume suddenly seemed more threatening with her increased spiritual pressure, a fearful tell-tale sign of her coming presence. Strapped to her back was a body-length sword, the single largest sword I had ever seen.

The unformed zanpakutoh, the asauchi, changed size according to the power of its owner. Never had I seen one become so large in an untrained rookie.

"Hey, asshole!" Ichigo called. "You said you wanted my soul?! Let's try that again!" She smirked, hand reaching behind herself for her zanpakutoh, tensed and at the ready. The Hollow charged.

Her Hollow hunting abilities were completely unformed, but her power made her fast and strong and she was obviously already a trained fighter in non-spiritual abilities. She began a wild, graceful dance around the Hollow, evading all of its blows, orange hair whirling, until at last she cut her giant asauchi sword down through its head and through its body, and it dissolved with one last shriek.

She lifted her head and locked eyes with me… then her eyes rolled into the back of her head, her sword fell to the ground, and she passed out. Just fell right over with a gentle thump.

"Ichigo!" I did not even recognize the horrified, fearful scream that issued from my lips. It was unbefitting of both a noble and a Shinigami. But I was no longer technically either, not after the irrevocable disaster that was tonight, and anyway, in my defense, it had been a weird couple of days.

I crawled in pain over to Ichigo's Shinigami form, crying out the girl's name pitifully, unable to do anything else -

"Relax. Her soul's just adjusting to its new form. It's a natural process."

I froze at the new voice - the new voice that could apparently hear mine. I whirled around to look.

A man was standing there, and he had a body but somehow I sensed great spirit energy inside him. He was looking right at me, his smile whimsical but his eyes cold and clinical. He had stubble around his chin, longish unkempt blond hair, wore a boat hat and clogs, had a long coat and carried a cane.

"Wh-who are you?" I tried to sound confident. Instead of helpless. Which I was.

"Urahara Kisuke, at your service." He tipped his hat politely.

I felt fear clog my throat. Urahara Kisuke was a traitor, a former Captain-class Shinigami, exiled from the Soul Society for illegal experiments on other souls in the name of spirit energy research. That body must be his own creation. That cane must be his zanpakutoh. They never did manage to take it from him.

"S-stay back!" I began pulling myself backward along the ground. "Traitor!"

"Relax, relax." Urahara put up a hand. "Now I'm just a lowly underground Shinigami equipment black market salesman who happens to reside nearby."

My eyes narrowed. "Happens?"

"Okay. So, I'm interested in the girl behind you. Have been for a while. And I'm willing to help you out."

"So you can get to her?" I asked in a hard voice.

"In a way," said Urahara enigmatically. "If you find that hard to believe…" His smile became icy. "Just… call me bored."

What could I do? I couldn't go back to the Soul Society like this. Teaching Ichigo the Shinigami ropes and going along with her on missions until my powers returned was the only way I got out of this intact. The only possible way I could get this under the radar.

And for that, I might just need Urahara Kisuke's help.

I closed my eyes in defeat. "I accept," I finally whispered.