Natsume:

I wake up slowly, and find that I have been moved off of the rooftop and down to the ground. I look around me and spot a girl about my age walking away from me. Her waist-length hair is braided tightly and is the color of licorice. She is limping quite a bit, so she really isn't all that far from me.

"N…Nemu?" Weak words leave my lips. The girl—actually, the assistant captain of Twelfth Company, Nemu Kurotsuchi—turns back towards me. She looks indifferent, as usual.

"I lifted you down, if you're wondering. Please drink what is left of the antidote; you have little life in you now."

I look at the ground to my left. There is a bottle standing half-full, its contents an odd color. I sluggishly sit up, and everywhere aches. I take the bottle, and find that saliva still moistens the rim.

Nemu turns back around, and walks away from me.

"If you're wondering, that one ryoka, Uryuu Ishida, took some. It was the least I could do for him since he didn't kill Mayuri-sama."

My eyes widen, "What? Where is that ryoka now?"

Nemu stops again, but does not look back at me.

"He went down the corridor to your right, if you want to capture him. Beware, though…He's extremely powerful."

"Un." I nod, chugging the bottle of antidote until it empties. Nemu disappears from my line of sight.

I am suddenly filled with so much more energy and immediately feel good enough to walk. So, I follow the ryoka's reiatsu.

Ishida-kun, huh? That's a fitting name. Heh, I can't wait to tell Yumichika-kun!

I continue on the path that will one day bring me misery.

Maki:

I wake up with a jolt from that same recurring nightmare. That happened 50 years ago, when I was so young and so in love.

"Haku…" I purr into my pillow.

I cringe. *groan* My head is pounding with fury. Oh, yeah, that's right. I was out drinking last night with…who, again? Matsumoto? Madarame? Hisagi? All of the above? Anyway, I don't remember; it doesn't matter. I open my eyes and peer out my window. Damn. I overslept. Wonder what's going on today.

{There's a battle afoot, dear Maki} Kouri tells me.

I rub the drunken sleep out of my eyes and sit up.

"Really? What is it? A ryoka?" I question at Kouri. He's across my bed, standing cloaked in black and staring at me with serious, ice-blue eyes.

{Yes, in fact there are six. While you were dozing away, I watched some intense battles commencing outside. It was hard to see feature, of course, since we're far away, but I can tell you that they're separated now.}

"Eh?! Is that right?! Wh-why didn't anyone come to get me?!" I say as I hastily leap from bed to change into my shihakushou.

{They're all out there and forgot about you. I believe that it's because of your, should I say, lack or cooperation?}

"Makes sense…Those bastards..." I mumble to keep it to myself. "You, on the other hand, sure are chatty."

I'm done and ready for action.

"Let's go now, Kouri. I've been asleep far too long and away from blood as well."

{How dark. That's not like you.}

"I thought it was a tad poetic." (knows nothing of poetry)

{*sigh*…Well, I'm here to protect you.}

He walks over to me and places his hand on my head. I look up at his ice-blue eyes. The same ice-blue eyes as…

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I mutter as I knock his hand off my head and turn away. I'm too lazy to go through my door so I grab my zanpakutou and jump out of my window. I run in a random direction and notice a familiar reiatsu. It's Natsume. I follow it, wondering what my friend Natsume is solely chasing for.