After only a few moments' hesitation, Kyouraku moved forward, toward the unconscious girl. He bent down and placed his hand on her neck, feeling for a pulse. "Alive," he murmured, "but…"

"What is it?" Nanao questioned, looking suspiciously down at the girl.

Kyouraku suddenly scooped her up in his arms. He moved toward the small group. "Tell me," he said to Nanao, "what do you feel from her?"

Puzzled, Nanao reached out with her mind, looking for a reiatsu signature. Locating none, she reached out tentatively and placed a hand on the girl's head. Her frown deepened as she extended her senses to the girl. "Definitely human, but—"

"No reiatsu," Kyouraku finished, and nodded.

"But," Nanao said, looking up at her captain, "even normal humans have a very faint reiatsu! We should be able to feel something from her!"

"This is beyond anything I've seen before," Kyouraku said, looking serious. He turned and walked silently back into the eighth division offices. The other five followed warily. They walked through most of the long hallways to the back of the building, where there was a small temporary cell. Kyouraku instructed the guard there to open it, which he did, eyes on the strange girl in Kyouraku's arms. After settling the girl on the cot there, Kyouraku told two of the five people in his small group to keep watch on her along with the man guarding the cell, and left to alert the Head Captain.

Nanao stood watching the girl and pondering the meaning of her lack of reiatsu. She looked normal enough: somewhere around seventeen years old, with long, light brown hair that fell delicately around her shoulders as she lay in the cell. She was dressed in a tight dark green shirt and a flowing silver skirt that reached her ankles, but her feet were bare. There was a cherry blossom pinned in her hair. She seemed just an average human.

After around twenty minutes, Kyouraku returned, followed by Head Captain Yamamoto and captains Ukitake and Soi Fon. The cell guard wordlessly opened the door and Yamamoto stepped inside. They all watched, breath held, as he bent down and examined the strange girl. After a minute, he straightened and turned to the captains. "This isn't something we've ever dealt with before. Until we can be sure otherwise, she will be treated as a possible threat. Keep at least five guards on this cell at all times, and call me when she awakes. Captains, with me. We need to talk." He turned and strode out of the room.

Kyouraku told Nanao to assign five people to guard duty there, then followed the other captains outside, where they walked in silence to the first division to hold a small meeting.

Inside the eighth division, Nanao was back to watching the girl curiously. Three of the other four in the room with her were also glancing at the girl every few minutes. The last was staring at the opposite wall, looking faintly bored.

After half an hour, there was a quiet noise inside the cell. All five heads snapped in the direction of the girl, who had a hand at her head. Quickly, Nanao summoned a hell butterfly, gave it the message that the girl was awake, and sent it to the Head Captain. The five of them then set about waiting, breath held, as the girl took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She blinked at the ceiling of the cell for a few moments; then, abruptly, she bolted upright. She stared at the five guards of her cell as though she had never seen anything like them. Before any of them gained their voices, she spoke.

"Where is this?" Her voice was soft and controlled, and she spoke like someone of power or authority—her words were gentle, but commanding.

Nanao found her voice first. "Who are you?" She demanded.

The girl swung her legs over the edge of the cot and glanced around at the cell she was in. Her expression hardened a tiny bit as she turned back to Nanao. "Politeness would normally dictate that you answer first, as I asked the first question; however, if I am indeed where I think I might be, then I see why you would be in real need of some information." She moved forward, so that there were only a few feet of space, and thick steel bars, between her and Nanao. "However, I do ask that you let me out of here first. I have not done anything to threaten you, and I do not appreciate being… caged."

Nanao's eyes widened slightly, but she did not move. She paused for a moment, then repeated herself. "Who are you?"

The girl narrowed her gaze and walked forward, toward the bars of the cell. Even though the girl was inside the cell and she was outside, Nanao still took a step back. Immediately, she cursed herself for showing such weakness. However, the girl did not stop walking when she reached the bars. Instead, when she reached them, they seemed to melt away before her—she passed straight through them as though they were simply made of smoke. The bars reformed behind her, exactly the way they were before.

The five guards in the room gasped and stepped back. However, the girl simply smiled, raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, and leaned back against the cell. "I'm sorry to scare you. I promise you, I'm not a threat. But I will talk to you as a person, not a prisoner."

The others did not look convinced, but Nanao spoke. "So… who are you?"

The girl looked at Nanao seriously. "Alia," she said, "and if I might ask, who are you?"

"Eighth division vice-captain, Ise Nanao," Nanao said formally.

The girl, Alia, looked slightly puzzled. "Eighth division…" she repeated. "Eighth division of what?"

It was Nanao's turn to look confused. "Of… of the Gotei 13, of course." When Alia did not show any signs of recognition, she ventured, "Seireitei? Soul Society? Shinigami?"

"Shinigami…." Alia looked oddly around at them all. "Soul Reapers. Death Gods. I've heard that term, but only in…" she trailed off, then looked back to Nanao. "You're all Shinigami…?"

"Yes," Nanao said, "and apparently you're not."

"No."

"Then… what are you? And how did you get into the Soul Society?"

Alia suddenly looked somewhat sheepish. "Actually, I'm not entirely sure I can explain it myself. It was sort of an accident."

"Well, where do you come from?" Nanao asked, hoping to start somewhere with the stranger.

"You wouldn't—" Alia began, but at that moment, the door flew open and the Head Captain came barging into the room, closely followed by Soi Fon. Ukitake and Kyouraku strolled into the room a few seconds afterward.

Yamamoto turned first to Nanao. "Why is she out of the cell? Why did you not wait for me to arrive?"

Before Nanao could finish blushing and open her mouth to answer, Alia stepped forward, a scorching look on her gentle face. As she did, an unexplained cold breeze blew through the room. "She has a name, thank you very much for bothering to learn it. It gives me comfort to know that the greeting I would have received from the apparent leader of your people would have included talking about me as though I am an object." Alia stepped forward again. Though Yamamoto did not step back, he seemed to momentarily lose a bit of his composure.

Yamamoto started to say something else, but Alia turned back to Nanao, cutting him off. "Nanao, it was a pleasure meeting you," she said, giving Nanao a small, polite bow, "and hopefully we can finish our conversation soon, but I do not believe I want to stay here any longer with people like this." She glanced in Yamamoto's direction, then looked back at Nanao, her expression changing from one of disgust to one of cheeriness and hope. "There's a whole new world for me to explore out there… most of it can wait, but I'll at least have a look outside for now." She winked. The nine Shinigami in the room had merely a second to digest this pronouncement before Alia turned and stepped lightly from the room, closing the door behind her.