So, considering this is the second revised chapter, I hope people enjoy this story actually. It's kind of hard to get people to honestly tell you what they think, so I do hope I get enough response out of this. The beginning of the story was completely different this time so I actually hope that made it different, and interesting in this case. Either way though, I hope you enjoy this chapter as well. It's a bit shorter then the last one, but they will get longer as the story progresses.


I don't won bleach of any of its characters. All OC's, but a few, are mine, and all characters belong to their owners, and not me.


When Nikkou woke up, she felt grabby, but also, oddly enough, warm. She could feel that she was laying on something or another, but she didn't know exactly what it was that she was on. Struggling to open her eyes, the black haired girl did her best not to squeeze them shut as a beam of light went into her eyes. The lit caused her to be link as she sat up, before she looked around the room.

The room she was currently in was like a small shed near one of the local farmers she knew had. The only difference was the fact that the shed looked like it was rundown slightly. There was also the straw that covered the floor of the shed in a sporadic way. While it was comfortable to lay on, Nikkou had no dilutions that it would be fine for her to stay in the shed. She knew how farmers got when they found people in their stocks of supplies, whether that be food, or straw like she was currently laying on.

Looking around the room, the small girl saw that there was a window not to far from the floor on the opposite side of the shed. The window let streams of light fall into the room gently, and it light the rest of the shed up. Nikkou took the sight in for a few seconds, before she stood up and ran over to the window.

Frowning for a second, the girl, jumped and managed to get a hold of the windowsill. The effort it took her to pull herself up and onto the window though, was a lot more then she expected. She was never a physically active person, and considering she had a sickly body most of the time, when she got up, her breathing was heavy, yet it didn't stop her.

As Nikkou was getting ready to jump down after she caught her breath, the door to the shed opened, to where several men walked into the room. Unfortunately, Nikkou had been spotted, which caused the lead guy to yell about a thief. Not taking any chances with the people in front of her, the small girl jumped down, before she took off.

The streets of the place she was currently in was completely unfamiliar, yet at the same time, it was familiar. The buildings were run down slightly in most places, and the streets were muddy. An image of her home town popped into her head, yet she couldn't seem to remember the name of the place.

Getting herself out of her thoughts quickly, Nikkou turned a corner quickly, the men from the shed chasing her. Considering her small frame though, she easily out maneuvered them by weaving through the crowds as to quickly hide behind a fence that was near her when she turned once again. The sound of footsteps was heard as she pressed herself to the fence, her heart pounding at the fact that she could quite easily get caught. If she was caught, that was it for her.

Thankfully she didn't hear anything else as she stayed where she was for a good minute, a breath of relief leaving her as she peaked out from behind the fence to see no one there. Hesitantly moving out, the small girl put a palm to her chest as to try and calm her heart beat, before she slid down the fence to sit on the ground. She had no clue where she was, but the fact of the matter was that she needed to be careful. Those men thought she was a theif just when she was trying to leave without trouble.

Nikkou quickly got rid of any negative thoughts, as she looked around the place she was. There were trees around the small village she was in, and it even looked peaceful, but at the same time it was foreign. She didn't recognize the place she was in, building style not included, and it made her scared. Being lost was something she had never had happen to her before, so the fact that she was lost was new, and completely unwelcome.

The girl shivered slightly on the ground, as the panic started to kick into her system. The fear started to cause her to silently cry, but she forced herself to hold the tears back. She needed to be strong at the moment, and the only way to do that was to not cry.

Sniffing a bit, Nikkou was about get up and walk away, only for a branch to snap, and her head to snap up towards the sound, black hair flying as she looked towards the person who caused the sound. The owner was a pale woman who had black hair. Her hair was put into a braid of some sort behind her as she knelt down near Nikkou. She wore a torn up kimono that used to look like it was flowery, but now, it was really destroyed. It still kept the woman's modesty, though there were holes here and there in the cloth.

"Who might you be?" The woman asked with a soft look, though that didn't stop Nikkou from backing up a bit.

The main reason for why she wasn't trusting this woman right away was the fact that she was, by all means, an unknown. She could be trying to hurt her just like one men who chased her. Now that she was reminded of that though, she realized just how badly her chest hurt from all the running. It was scary to think that her sickly form carried on to here, as that could mean she could get caught easier.

Moving a hand towards her, and breaking the girls thoughts, the woman tried to help the girl, only to receive a flinch as a result, almost like she expected to get hit. A frown made its way onto the woman's face, as she gently put a hand onto the head of the girl in front of her seeing her stiffen in the process. Giving a gentle look, the woman brought the girl into a hug, as the girl shivered a bit.

"Shh... It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you young one." The woman said with a soft tone, her skinny frame easily enveloping the girl in a protective way "I don't know who you are, but no child should need to be afraid of an adult."

Nikkou's shaking started to subside as the woman who was hugging her gave her comforting words. She had no clue who this was, but she was being nicer to her then anyone in her real family had been. Her mother would have said not to trust strangers, but there wasn't any hint that the woman who was hugging her was lying. Her instincts on people lying were usually very good, so the girl was hesitant to let go of the woman now.

Backing away from the girl though, the woman gave a small smile as she looked at the girl in front of her "My name is Hitomi. What's yours little one?"

"...Nikkou..." The girl said with a hesitant tone, though Hitomi just giggled a bit at the soft voice. Introverted children, while rare, we're not that difficult to be around.

Giving a smile towards the girl, while rubbing her black hair, Hitomi said "Well Nikkou-chan, I don't know about you, but I'd like to get out of the cold street now hm? You must be tired, so I believe it would be a good thing for you to get some sleep.

Nikkou mumbled out an agreement, as she started to stand up, using the older woman's frame to help herself stand. The black haired girls green eyes darted up to the woman who she was holding onto, as her warm Amber eyes looked at her softly. Looking down after a few seconds, Nikkou's hand drifted and finally ended up gripping a part of the dirty kimono that would make it so she would be following the woman from behind.

A laugh sounded out from the woman, as she stood up and started to walk, Nikkou following after her while looking at the ground. The whole time Nikkou's thoughts drifted to the place she was in. It wasn't that different, but at the same time, it was, if that even made sense.

She had woken up in a barn of all things in a bunch of hay. She had no clue where she was at that point, but before she knew it she was running away from a group of men as they tried to kill her, or something like that for 'stealing'. She had seen looks like they had on before, and she knew that she needed to get away.

Then there was the woman she was clinging to. She was so full of warmth, and kindness, somthing Nikkou wasn't used to honestly. Her mother had always kept her in the back, so she didn't see her parents much. The only actually kindness she received was the from the local blind man in the village. Everyone else gave her a sort of annoyed indifference.

Moving her head up, and not even bothering to move her hair out of her face, she looked around the area she was in to see that it was more run down then she initially expected. Some of the buildings had holes in their rice paper Windows, and there were some that didn't even have Windows. She heard some yelling, along with shattering glass from another, which made her wince.

That was not something she liked to head. Drunk 'customers' often threw bottles. She was lucky to have not been hit by any of them.

Turning her head to the other side, Nikkou quickly looked away as she saw a woman doing something she had seen her mother doing to a guy at one point. She didn't know what it was, but the fact was, it was something an adult did so she didn't need to pay that any attention.

Nikkou looked up towards Hitomi and the black haired child saw a disapproving look on her face looking in the direction that the man and woman were. So she was right about it. That wasn't something that a woman should be doing in a place where kids could see, or even at all. She was hesitant to ask what it was, but curiosity outweighed fear this time as she tugged on the kimono of the woman she was following.

"...what are they doing...?" Nikkou asked while pointing in the two adults direction, though she refused to look that way.

Hitomi's eyes widened at the question, before her eyes narrowed at the two adults. Cleaning her throat, she started walking a bit faster as she said to the child "I'll tell you when your older Nikkou-chan."

Nikkou gave a dissatisfied tone, but dropped it. If she didn't want to tell her, she would just have to ask when she was older. Maybe when she was of marriageable age, whatever that was.

As the two continued forward, they eventually stopped in front of a small wooden hut. It wasn't run down like the other buildings, but it was almost half the size in comparison. Whatever the case though, Nikkou that it was kind of nice. She didn't have all that much before she ended up here, so not having a lot was not something she really cared about in all consideration.

Letting go of Hitomi's hand, Nikkou tilted her head as she opened the door slightly to see a single room encompassing the whole inside of the building. In the process, she started to search the building, though it didn't have much more then a single bed.

Nikkou looked back towards the door as she saw Hitomi looking at her with a sort of amused smile. For whatever reason, the girls cheeks started to heat up from embarrassment, as she quietly walked back to the amber eyed woman, and stood behind her like she was hiding. To anyone looking at her it would have been kind of cute even, and that was exactly what it was to Hitomi as well.

"Well, here we are." Hitomi said with a bright tone "It's not a lot, but it's home. I hope you like it just as much as I do Nikkou-chan."

Nikkou ducked her head a bit to hide the embarrassment, as she mumbled out "...arigato Hitomi-san..."

A laugh was heard from the woman as she knelt down to Nikkou's level "Hey now. Call me Hitomi-chan! I mean, I'm giving you the same curtesy aren't I?"

Normally that type of sentence would scare Nikkou, but with the smile Hitomi had, it caused a ghost like smile to appear on the girls face as she mumbled "...Hitomi-chan..."

A bigger smile made its way onto Hitomi's face as she laughed gently "There you go Nikkou-chan. Now, would you like to do anything before we go to bed?"

Nikkou shook her head, which caused a smile to appear on Hitomi's face. Giving a gentle kiss to the girls forehead, despite the hair in the way, Hitomi moved a second futon she had folded up in the corner onto the ground as she moved the first one over. The second bed was a bit nicer then the first, but even then, Nikkou made her way towards the first, only to have a hand stop her.

Looking up towards Hitomi, the Amber eyed woman motioned towards the second bed "That ones yours now Nikkou-chan. I've slept in this one for years now, I can't very well have you sleep in that one. This one was for the occasional guest I received."

The girl made out to protest, but the woman gained a stubborn look as she made sure it was seen that she would vehemently argue with the girl. Childish, yes, but it was what the woman wanted.

Nikkou hesitated a bit, before she walked over to the other futon and laid down in it, giving a small goodnight to the woman who had comforted her. Despite this though, the girl still couldn't get herself to fall sleep. Something was keeping her up, and it was something that she didn't understand.

After a few minutes of silence, Nikkou heard Hitomi get out of her bed, and go over to something while whispering some words as well. The black haired girl couldn't hear everything, but the words 'I'm sorry' 'Please forgive me' and the name 'Hinata' were repeated a couple of times, but Nikkou didn't say anything.

She realized quickly that she was intruding on something that she shouldn't be, to where she quickly closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep.

She wasn't the only one who didn't wish to talk about her past, and that was something the black haired girl could appreciate if nothing else.


So, how was this chapter? I hope you enjoyed it, as this one was a bit dreary in my own opinion. The writer though doesn't know the opinions of her readers, so make sure you let her (me) know what you think aye? I take everything in stride, and I actually could use ideas if you want to give them. Nothing is a problem, though I will ignore flames. If you don't like this story, why are you here?

No questions this time either, but there will be some next chapter ok?