Chapter 2

Orange vs Orange?

As the bell rang, Ichigo was scrambling for the door, high school hated him and that was alright, it was a mutual relationship to him. Orihime was following him.

" Ichigo! Wait up!" she walked beside him, " Is Rukia still around?"

" I think so…why?"

" I thought I saw Kenpachi the other day…but I could have been mistaken right? He can't want a rematch after all this time can he?"

" I hope not that would suck," he sighed, " I don't think I could take hearing Yachiru's giggling again." He huffed and watched a girl with long brown hair push past them, she blinked at him then glared with bright firey orange eyes.

" Watch yourself Gaito," she hissed and kept walking.

" HEY! Who the hell is Gaito? GET BACK HERE!"

" Ichigo!" Orihime tried to stop him, but he was already racing after the other girl. She turned a corner and kept running.

" STOP!" Ichigo shouted, but quite obviously this girl had no intention of getting caught, she spun to face her aggressor and put her hands over an orange seashell necklace.

" This is the last time I run from you Gaito!" the shell opened and an orange pearl began to glow, it flashed then a beam of orange energy slammed into Ichigo sending him sprawling. " You don't remember me do you? Well I wouldn't expect a slime ball like you to do me that courtesy…"

" WHO THE HELL IS GAITO? My name is Ichigo!"

" I'm through with your tricks!" she cried ready to blast him again.

" Seriously now think about this!" He somersaulted away from her, " What have I done to you?" The girl stopped and looked long and hard at Ichigo then gasped.

" I'm sorry," she replied calmly, " I took you for someone else…My name is Sara…and the man named Kaito has taken my sister Seira from our home. I have to find her." Ichigo huffed.

" Are you always so lovely?" he ducked a back hand from her.

" You aren't worth my time." She huffed.

" Alright fine, whatever." He dusted himself off then turned away from her, " Hey….if you want help-" he started, but as he turned she was gone. " What the hell?" He looked over the bridge they had ended up on and watched a shadow dart away through the water, but it was just a fish…right? A big ass fish…He shook his head and started to head back home. He dropped his stuff off by the front door and trudged up to his room.

" Finally, what a crazy day," he yawned.

" THINK FAST!" Rukia swung a bamboo sword at him and his head met wood.

" OW!" he yelped then batted the sword away from him, " What the hell was that for?"

" A shinigami is always on their toes!" she laughed.

" I'm not a shinigami anymore!"

" You never just stop," she huffed.

" You mean you don't," he corrected. Rukia slapped him.

" You can't tell me you don't miss running around killing things I mean honestly! What kind of teenager are you?"

" One who just wants to survive high school AND college!" Ichigo growled.

" You're ridiculous!"

" Why are you pushing this so hard? What's going on Rukia not even three months ago you wanted me acting normal and being a human now I'm supposed to be a shinigami again? Will you make up your damn mind?" They entered an intense staring contest before she finally sighed.

" The soul society has picked up some major Hollow activity," Rukia explained, " and strange demons are entering the spirit world and feeding off the energy of the souls, so much so that some are disappearing completely."

" How does that work?"

" That's what we're trying to figure out, but for now we have to keep the Hollows at bay and deal with the demons as we can."

" Intense," Ichigo replied with disinterest, " I'd love to hear this exciting news, but I have homework to do and a final to study for-"

" Ichigo you were a shinigami and as such you are required to act!" She slammed her hand into his chest and forced his soul out, " If you don't, then we could become outnumbered and then what? If the soul society goes the living world is next." Ichigo was coughing and he shook his head.

" I hate it when you do that…"

" Are you going to help or not?" she readied her hand to karate chop him.

" ….I take it this is a rhetorical question," he hissed then stood, " Fine I'll help…"

" Good," Rukia watched his zanpakuto appear with a smile, " It's back to training then."

Sara found her way back to the Hotel where everyone was staying, with a sigh she opened the door and found Karen, Coco and Noelle tidying up.

" Any luck?" Coco asked then her smile faded a little as Sara shook her head.

" No sign of Kaito anywhere…"

" Don't make the same mistake Lina did," Noelle waggled a finger at her.

" Lina thought Luchia's boyfriend was the bad guy," Karen giggled and Sara blinked then cleared her throat.

" I would do no such thing."

" She did didn't she?" Coco smirked then Noelle and Karen giggled their replies.

" Ohhhhh! I'm going to go take a bath," Sara growled before she stomped off to her room. I was sure Ichigo was Kaito… She blinked, Hey…he wanted to help me… She kept turning the crank on the bubble dispenser, Maybe…I should let him. Sara hated asking for help, but she knew when something had beaten her. Seira was probably alone and scared, she would never let this happen again. Sara sank down lower into the bubbles and relaxed as she let her orange fin hang slightly over the tub, the water was warm and the bubbles felt nice. No wonder Luchia could spend all day in here! After a thirty minute bath, Sara dried herself off and huffed, she had new found conviction, she would find Ichigo and take him up on his offer, if he was still offering it. She headed straight for the door.

" On a mission?" Hanon watched her.

" I'm going to speak to Ichigo."

" Wait why would you do that? He's a jerk!" she huffed and Sara whirled around.

" He's the only one on land so far who's offered to help me without me telling them that a strange demon I've never seen before attacked and took my sister, now if you'll excuse me," she stormed out the door leaving Hanon blinking and confused.

" NO! Have you forgotten everything you learned?" Rukia shouted. " You will die if you keep fighting like that!"

" Stop screaming at me and maybe I can jog my memory," he growled racing back at her. He swung, she blocked, he jabbed, she parried and so it went on.

" If you can't even land one simple hit with a bamboo pole how do you expect to wield your zanpakuto?" she groaned.

" Like this!" He jumped up and slammed his 'sword' down as hard as he could, knocking Rukia's out of her hands, " There we go, I think I'm getting the hang of-OOF!" He received a gut punt.

" Don't get cocky!" she picked her sword up again as Ichigo coughed and gasped for air.

" Not cool," he hacked.

" I could have aimed lower." She crossed her arms, the sun had set hours ago, and the two had been sparring since. Rukia could tell Ichigo was getting tired, but she had to keep him going, it was the only way for him to be ready to fight any Hollow coming their way. She blinked as a girl's voice floated over the night air.

" You know you could-"

"Shh!"

" Wha-?"

"SHH!" Rukia had her zanpakuto ready, " Hollows are normally male…but this sounds female."

" It sounds like the girl I met earlier today," Ichigo sighed as he stood, he listened to the voice, " She can sing…huh. Let's go check it out."

"Hold on. We don't know if it's her or a Hollow." She grabbed his arm.

"And we won't find out unless we go see will we?" Ichigo wrenched his arm away from her and started after the voice. Rukia followed him cautiously. When they found her, it was Sara and she was singing, but where was that music coming from? She held a white and blue microphone in her hand and the orange pearl in the center was glowing. An orange orb surrounded her then it flashed, causing the area to be bathed in orange light. Sara's clothing had changed as well, a floor length orange dress with yellow trim appeared hugging her bust and hips, she had orange gloves and her shoes were orange high heels. "What the-?" Ichigo had to hold a hand up to keep from being blinded.

" Who is she?" Rukia grimaced, " What is she doing?" That's when she saw a Hollow, sure it was a lesser spirit, but seeing it blaze in orange and yellow flame just because of this woman's voice was slightly unnerving. Sara was singing her heart out, as the Hollow's ashes fell into a pile the song changed, it softened, the guitar faded away to a piano and Sara closed her piercing eyes as she sang softly.

"Sazanami no BEDDO de me wo samashita asa ni
Subete ga owatte hajimaru no
Atatakaku shizuka na hikari ni tsutsumarete
Kibou ga michiteru umi ni kaeru no

Hora shiawase no kane ga natte nanatsu no umi ga kagayakidashitara
Ai no kiseki wo ichiban suki na anata to futari mitsumetai

Soshite sotto KISU wo shite ne"

As the last lyric was sung, the ashes swirled into an orange dust and collected inside the pearl. She sighed then closed the necklace as her dress flashed, her normal clothing reappearing.

" Wow…" Ichigo said a little too loud. Sara whirled around.

" Who's there?"

" Just me again…" He stepped out. " Wait how can you hear or see me?" Rukia huffed and followed him.

" I have my ways," Sara shook her head then sighed, " I see we got off on the wrong foot a while back…"

" Yea mind explaining what that whole thing was?" Ichigo nodded then was slapped by Rukia.

" What he means is we are Shinigami, we should know when a power like yours is being used."

" I see," Sara sighed, " I can't exactly tell you or I'd become sea foam, and I'm sure you can see my hesitation at that." She waved them to follow her.