A/N: So slowly working myself through this story and it looks like it just might work out. Thanks for the reviews!

'-I'm going to make your life…a living hell."

Those nine words continued to ring over and over again in his head.

The drive home was completely occupied by thoughts of her, which would explain how he almost crashed about four times between the hospital and his house. Even inside with all the doors and windows locked for the night, there was still some kind of primitive fear.

How?

How was this possible?

How was she here?

Why the hell was she here?

Even the cold water raining down from the shower head couldn't keep her out of his thoughts. He curled his fingers against the white tiles and simply let the water run over every inch of his body. She talked to him for a minute or two at most and yet…God it was like he was already paranoid. Not just with seeing her, hearing her and knowing that she existed once more…but with the questions. She only made it worse by bringing the topic up and adding even more fuel to the fire.

Fuck…why couldn't things just remain in the past?

His fingertips brushed at the still dark-red scar over his left shoulder. He could still hear the sound of her weapon cutting through flesh, and muscle; grinding away at the bone till it felt like it was going to break clean in half under the pressure. It was the only scar he had that still continued to hurt even now. Hell, he still had smaller scars from where the tip of her whip had struck him and easily split open his skin. But that one…that one always reminded him of her.

He didn't feel hate towards her though…some part of him wouldn't allow him to.

"Why did it have to be you, Cirucci Thunderwitch?"

The drive to work in the morning was a bit more…relaxing after a mild-deserved night of sleep. The hardest part would actually be walking into the building. He thought about just entering through the E.R. but decided against it; there was no reason why she should frighten him and there was no reason he should allow himself to be frightened by her. She caught him off-guard…hell he was still off-guard but at least he would be better prepared this time if she were to make an encounter. But she wasn't stupid. She would spend her time watching and waiting for the perfect moment to corner him. She was smart; that's one of many things that hadn't changed about her.

Walking through the lobby doors, he watched as even at seven in the morning there were still a few people seated in the large room. A few were clustered around the magazine table, while others were spread apart from each other and found their own means of entertainment, either by the blandly decorated carpet underneath them or by the TV that hung from the corner and played re-runs of last night's news reports. The lobby itself was only decorated with a few fake plants and a few paintings that hung on the walls but then again, not a lot of people were looking forward to sitting in a room like this for hours possibly on end. Still though, it was better than resembling something that looked like a prison cell.

His dark eyes looked up at the empty desk that was settled next to the open hallway leading into the actual hospital. She probably hadn't showed up for work yet… He hoped so, at least that way he could avoid her as best he could from the start. Continuing down the corridor, he watched as nurses and office assistants walked back and forth past him; most were dressed in solid colored scrubs while an occasional one would have some kind of odd pattern or design on theirs. As long as the work was getting done and patients were happy, he couldn't careless about what they wore. Coming up to his office, he took note of the files that had been clipped to his door. Sighing, he gathered the five or so that were in there and pushed the office door open.

Wait…he locked it just before he left last night, didn't he?

"Morning, Four Eyes."

He locked up slightly at the voice before he looked up from the files in hand to the purple-haired woman who was seated on his desk. Always with that grin.

"Well well now, you can't just stand there and look stupid, which is easy for you, while all those patients are out there waiting for you to tend to bloody noses and ear aches." Cirucci spoke; holding up even more files for him. Pushing herself off the desk, she landed easily on her white stilettos before walking over to where he stood in the doorway. She pressed the files into his hands and moved her body just a bit too close to his own as she stepped through the doorway. Those purple eyes never once leaving his own till she turned and headed back to the front desk in the lobby.

"Dude I think she likes you."

He shuddered at the thought and turned back to the nurse behind him, who was clearly checking out the woman. "Albert…get back to your nursing station and just stay there." with that, he slammed his office door behind him. "Ugh, Jesus Cirucci…" he sighed and collapsed into his chair. It was only the second day and she already had him running on his last nerves. Something about her…she just looked so normal and human…and it was frightening. But she still looked the same, just without the teardrop cheeks, the wings, and the whip…although he noted that she continued to wear white regardless. Maybe some part of her soul was still connected to her former Espada self. Which still brought up the question of how she was here.

He could guess several different ways how but…none of them seemed to fit together into this type of situation. He supposed he could call Ichigo about it but he really preferred not to. Not that there were any harsh things between them, he would rather just try to solve this one on his own. He really needed to ask the woman in question but knowing her…the answers weren't going to be easy to come by. Unfortunately that would mean he would have to sit back and watch for the perfect opportunity to do so, which was not going to be easy.

Sighing, he set the files on his desk before he pushed himself out of his chair. He would deal with the files later, for now he had other patients to tend to and several surgeries to perform. Or were the surgeries scheduled for tomorrow?

It seemed like the last time he glanced out the window it was seven in the morning and now the clocks were already chiming in at eleven. Setting aside the last report on the second surgery he finished that evening, he let out a long sigh and fell back in his seat. Sometimes he wonder if he spent more time in his office or in the scattered hospital rooms. All he had to say was thank God the hospital upgraded and finally put in that second elevator.

The day had been fairly slow with more patients leaving rather than coming in, which meant there was a good chance his phone wasn't going to ring in the middle of the night and drag him back in. Pushing himself out of his chair, he grabbed his jacket from the coat rack and made sure to remember to grab the files as well. Stepping out of the office, he locked the door behind him and started down the long corridor that lead into the front lobby. There were several nurses who browsed around in the lounge drinking day-old, lukewarm coffee; other nurses grouped around in the hallways and around the front desks that were situated just outside of the lobby. The nightshift was beginning to arrive as the slow off-duty nurses and workers began to head out into the cool night air.

He placed the files on the empty front desk and slipped on his jacket before he stepped out into the pitch-dark night. The parking lot seemed kind of eerie with darkness covering half of the large area and with a light fog slightly beginning to settle, it added to the ominous mood. But it's not like he was worried by the eeriness of it; it was just the parking lot in front of a hospital, no need to panic. Pulling his keys out of his jacket pocket as he neared his own vehicle, he carefully slid the key into the lock and twisted it till a light click signaled its' release.

"It's been a long night covered in blood, hasn't it been Quincy?"

The voice caught him off-guard and caused him to drop his keys as soon as he had pulled them loose. He turned to watch her grin as she walked past him and to the purple Legacy parked next to his white Accord Crosstour.

"Yep, nothing like going home after a long day of filing papers and dealing with some guy who keeps staring at my ass." she continued; balancing her jacket and bag on one arm as she unlocked her car with her free hand. "God, I hope my housemate remembered to feed the cat this time."

"How?" he questioned.

She shrugged and pulled open the driver side door open long enough to toss in her jacket and bag. "I don't know, I guess it's because the cat's lazy as hell anyways, so it doesn't make too much of an effort to get noticed-"

"No, I mean how…how are you here? How are you standing here?" he rephrased.

"Oh well, I'm here because I was hired for this job and I'm standing on these gorgeous legs of mine." she grinned.

She was taunting him ONCE again.

"You know damn well what I mean." Ishida replied.

"Didn't I tell you that was for me to know and for you to figure out?" she reminded; spinning her keys around on her finger. She walked over and set her hands down on the hood of his vehicle. "Come on four-eyes, I'm sure somewhere in that rambling, slow mind of yours is the answer. You just have to work hard for it and want it bad enough."

He watched as she straightened back up and returned to her own vehicle. "Okay well…when a person dies, their soul goes to Soul Society and I'm going to make an assumption that that's where all souls go no matter whether the person is human or hollow. So somehow your soul got mixed up and ended up here, in the human world? But that doesn't make much sense. How are you…how do you resemble exactly what you looked like in your previous life? And how does it explain that you weren't just reborn…instead it looks like you just appeared here at that exact age?"

She shrugged lightly as she stood inside of the driver door. "Good night Quincy and try not to keep yourself up at night with those questions. Wouldn't want you to get paranoid or anything."

A frustrated sigh left his lips as she eventually got inside of her vehicle, started the engine and pulled out of her parking space; disappearing into the settling darkness around him. Well this was a sure sign he wasn't going to be getting much sleep tonight. Again.