"Are you sure she saw you?" Rukia and Ichigo sat at a small round table in Urahara's back room. They had decided to ask Urahara to check Rukia's phone and the Soul Badge to make sure they were working properly, and Ichigo had decided to tell Rukia what had happened after he destroyed the Hollow, "Pretty sure," Ichigo said, "She was looking right at me, Rukia. I'm almost positive she could see me."

"Maybe she didn't see you and was just looking out the window?" Urahara suggested with a wave of his fan. Ichigo frowned.

They had returned to the classroom after taking care of the Hollow. Ichigo, after the surprise of finding Reiko staring straight at him, had expected the new girl to say something, or at least to freak out about seeing someone flying after battling a giant monster, but Reiko had said nothing. In fact, she had acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"I guess that could be true," Ichigo said in answer to Urahara's comment, but he sounded doubtful, "But there's still the problem with my badge-"

"And my locator." Rukia finished. Urahara nodded and gestured to the table where the two items sat after his inspection, "There's nothing wrong with either of them," he said, "At least, nothing that I could find. In my opinion, the alarms suddenly cutting off could be one of two things: either the Hollows are simply leaving as soon as they appear or-"

"Or someone's taking care of them before I can." Ichigo said. Urahara nodded and turned to Rukia, "Could it be that Soul Society has sent another Soul Reaper?"

"I haven't heard of such a thing, but I can't know for sure. I sent word to Soul Society but I haven't gotten a response just yet."

"Hmm," Urahara said, scratching under his hat, "Well then my suggestion is to keep an eye out. The next time the alarm goes off, try to pinpoint where the signal starts and dig for some clues. Anything powerful enough to get rid of a Hollow so quickly might be dangerous if its on the wrong side." Ichigo and Rukia nodded in agreement.

The sun had begun to set when they finally left Urahara's shop.

Ichigo was lost in thought while he and Rukia walked home. He couldn't help but feel that Reiko really did see him, and that it wasn't a coincidence or his mind playing tricks on him. But then, if she did see him, why hadn't she said anything when he returned to the classroom? She seemed like just a normal girl-

"Ichigo! Are you even listening to me?"

"Not at all-" Rukia smacked him across the head with her schoolbag. Ichigo grunted in pain, crouching down, "Geez! What do you have in there, rocks?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." Rukia opened the bag to show him. Inside were five stones about the size of Ichigo's fist. They were clear in color and looked like quartz, "Why the hell do you have rocks in your bag?" Ichigo asked, staring in amazement,

"I bought them from Urahara," Rukia said, fastening the clasp on her bag once more, "They're supposed to upgrade my locator to make the signal stronger. Even after the alarm ends, we should be able to read the signal to see where it originated." Ichigo straightened, still rubbing the spot where Rukia's bag had connected with his head, "Will those things work on my badge?"

"There's no need. I told you it isn't broken. Besides, I don't think these would work on-" The badge began to flash, "Hollow! Hollow!" Rukia's eyes grew wide and she wiped her cell out of her pocket, pressing buttons, "Ichigo!" she said once she had located the signal, "It's not far. The signal's coming from the park!"

"Right!" Ichigo held the badge against his chest. With a POP his Soul Reaper form was separated from his body. Rukia began to riffle through her bag, "You go ahead!" she said as she looked for the Soul Candy in her bag, "I'll catch up after I put a Mod in your body!" Ichigo nodded and took off for the park.

Ichigo arrived at the park in time to see a crab-like Hollow chasing the soul of a teenage boy. The boy was terrified, the soul link clanging against his chest as he ran as quickly as he could, but the Hollow was drawing nearer, "Hey!" Ichigo called. The boy looked over and in his distraction, tripped. He fell to the ground with a short yell and the Hollow barred down on him, "No!" Ichigo rushed forward, his hand on Zangetsu's hilt, but he knew he was going to be too late.

The Hollow suddenly stopped in its tracks. Ichigo paused. The Hollow was looking at something in the trees to its left. The boy looked up too, and whatever he saw made his eyes grow wide. Suddenly, a flash of red light shot from the spot that both Hollow and spirit looked at, and collided with the Hollow. Ichigo yelled in surprise, raising his arm to shield his eyes. When next he looked, the Hollow was consumed by burning red flames and was screaming in agony before it vanished.

Ichigo stared at the charred spot of grass before running over to the spirit, "Hey, are you okay?" he asked. The boy nodded in a daze, still staring at the spot between the trees, "What the hell was that?" Ichigo asked him. The boy shook his head, "I said, what was that?!" Ichigo grabbed him by the front of his shirt and shook the boy until he looked at him. His eyes were glazed over, "Did you see it?" he whispered.

"See what? What are you talking about?"

"The...the angel," the boy said, "There was an angel standing there, in the trees, she got rid of the monster!" Rukia finally arrived at the park, "Ichigo!" she called, "Is everything alright? Did you manage to get rid of the-" she stopped suddenly, "Ichigo, get down!" Ichigo looked up, confused, to see Rukia standing with her arms raised, palms facing him, "Hadō San-ju-ichi! Shakkahō (Way of destruction 31, Shot of Red Fire)" A ball of red flames erupted from Rukia's palms. Ichigo ducked just in time and the flames soared over his head, 'Watch where you're aiming that thing!" he shouted and then turned when he heard the rustling of leaves. The flames had caught on a nearby tree, and in the flickering light, Ichigo saw a shadow move, "Stop right there!" the shadow moved away, disappearing further into the trees, "Rukia, you take care of him!" Ichigo said, gesturing towards the spirit beside him, before taking off after the shadow.

The sun had completely set, making it impossible to track anything, especially when he didn't know exactly what it was he was tracking. He could hear noises as whatever it was crashed through the brush ahead of him. All Ichigo could do was let his hearing guide him through the trees. As he ran, he wondered what it could be that he followed. That blast had looked like one of Rukia's Kidō spells, but he hadn't heard an incantation before the Hollow was blasted. And then there was that spirit. He had said and "angel" had done it. Ichigo didn't know any angels, and doubted their existence. But he knew that whoever, or whatever, it was that he followed, they or it was powerful.

Ichigo burst from the trees into a clearing. He stood at the edge of the trees, his hand on Zangestu's hilt, eyes sweeping the area. Slowly he stepped forward until he was in the middle of the clearing, but he couldn't see or hear anything else. He defiantly didn't see any angels. He didn't see anything. He was alone. He dropped his hand from the hilt with a sigh, "What the hell was that?" he wondered aloud. He spun around at the sound of footsteps, ready to fight, and stopped when he saw it was Rukia, "Did you find her?"

"Her?" Ichigo asked, dropping his guard again, "What do you mean, 'her'?" Rukia gestured back the way she had come, "The spirit. Before I performed the Soul Burial, he said he saw someone-"

"Yeah, I know. He said it was an 'angel'." Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Perhaps it was," Rukia said, "From his description, the one who got rid of the Hollow was a woman with long hair. He said she had wings like an angel. He said he couldn't see her face, though. Was the Hollow really destroyed by a ball of flames?"

"Yeah," Ichigo said, "it shot right out of the trees at it and burned it up. If I didn't know any better, I would have said it was a Kidō spell, but I didn't hear an incantation before it happened. Are angels really...I mean, do they really exist?"

"I can't say for sure. I've never seen one, but there are plenty of tales about them to suggest they might be real, and judging from what that spirit said," Rukia crossed her arms in thought, "A woman with long hair and wings...and Kidō without an incantation," she muttered, "Someone really is getting rid of the Hollow before us."

"So what do we do now?"

"There's nothing we can do," Rukia said with a shrug, "Our only option is to upgrade the locater and try to find our 'angel' when the next signal appears. At least we know what to look for now." Ichigo nodded, "Where's my body, by the way?"

"Oh, I couldn't find the Soul Candy so I just stashed your body where it wouldn't get in the way." Rukia waved a hand in dismissal and started to walk back the way she had come, "'Stashed' my body?!" Ichigo said, incredulous, "I really don't like the way you said that...Hey! Rukia! Don't just leave me here! HEY!" Ichigo ran into the trees after her.

Neither of them even noticed anything strange about the tall oak tree they passed by on their way back into the woods. If they had looked up, they would have seen the 'angel' they were looking for. The black wings the spirit had seen had vanished into whisps of smoke when she landed in the branches of the tree. She had lead Ichigo to the clearing to get a good look at him, and had been disappointed when he hadn't sensed her sitting in the branches above his head. She had heard that Soul Reapers were more aware of their surroundings, but no matter. There was plenty of time for him to discover her existence. She brushed her long dark hair out of her eyes and smiled as she watched Ichigo and Rukia walk away.

To be continued...