Chapter Four - Blue Fire

"Captain Unohana, is she going to be fine?"

"Yes. Though she's lost some blood, she will be okay. Thankfully, the cut was not too deep. You seemed to have brought her here not a moment too late."

Who is he talking to…? Ryoko thought. The voices seemed a bit muffled, but she could make out one of them. But the other… it sounded like a woman. She slowly opened her eyes slightly, staring out the ceiling. She let out a small groan, getting the attention of the two Captains in the room. Captain Ukitake was standing between the bed and the door, and was facing a woman with a long, thick, black braid in front of her body, who was sitting in a chair next to the bed. The woman had a kind smile and soft eyes, which made her feel slightly relieved as she turned to face said Captain.

"Oh, you're awake." Unohana said softly. "That's good."

Ryoko slowly sat up, putting her hand on her throat, feeling a bandage wrapped around it. She then looked down at her left arm and saw it was completely wrapped in bandages.

"Captain Ukitake told us about what happened, but didn't mention your arm. What happened to it?"

She frowned and looked down. Her throat burned slightly, but she took a breath and spoke anyways. "F-fire…"

"Fire?" Ukitake wonders, slightly confused. "What fire?"

"Th-there was a b-big fire… Daddy got me o-out of the fire… but I couldn't f-find mommy…" She looked at her arm. "I was hurt bad… and I closed my eyes… When I woke up… mommy and daddy were g-gone…" She frowned sadly and a few tears formed.

It was dead silent for a moment, before Unohana turned to Ukitake. "Captain…" She started.

He nodded. "Yeah. We need to talk to the Head Captain about this." He walked toward Ryoko and smiled. "Don't worry about it, Ryoko. For now, Captain Unohana will take care of you." She nods, and he turns and walks out.

Unohana turned to her. "You should get some sleep." She stood up. "I'll come back in about an hour to check on you. There's some food and water on the table next to you if you need it." With that, the Captain left. Ryoko sat there for a minute, looking down sadly.

Mommy… Daddy… These people are nice… but… I miss you… Tears flow down her cheeks. She then laid back on the bed and closed her eyes, drifting off into another sleep.

When she opened her eyes again, she wasn't in her room. She looked around, but only saw one thing: fire. Blue fire. It was everywhere, yet she wasn't being burned by it. There were houses and trees surrounding the area, but they were being destroyed by the fire. Her eyes were wide in shock. "W-what's going on?!" She screamed and knelt down, holding her head and keeping her eyes closed tightly. After a second of hearing the fire crackle, she heard a loud roar. The same roar she heard before. That made her jump. She got to her feet and started running as fast as she could. She ran passed multiple burned down trees and houses, turning her head to check if that 'thing' was following her. Sure enough, it was. She ran faster, but it was catching up to her. "Someone… anyone! HELP!"

Ryoko woke up with jolt, immediately sitting up, her head hung, breathing heavily. Her throat started to hurt again, and she put a hand on it once more. She heard a whisper in her head and her eyes widened. "W-who's there?" She mumbled, looking around and shaking. She looked down and jumped again, seeing a small blue flame in the palm of her hand. "What… is this…?" She said. The fire then spread in a thin line toward the window. She pushed the blankets off herself, and slowly stood up and walked to the window. When she opened it, the fire keeps moving like a rope off into the distance. "T-this… feeling…"

-SQUAD 1-

"What do you mean, she retained her memories?" The Head Captain boomed. "That's impossible!"

Ukitake stood facing all the other Captains. "She had markings on the left side of her body, and she told us it was due to the injuries she had when she died." He explained again. "Though not in complete detail, she explained that her father was able to take her away from a big fire, but her mother was nowhere to be seen. These flames must have damaged the left half of her, and gave her the scars."

Everyone took in the information. Something like this hadn't happened before, and it shocked even Mayuri. A 6 year old girl able to retain her life's memories.

"Well now, this is quite a development." Mayuri said, a hand on his chin in thought. "I would like to ask this girl some questions."

"We must not disturb her right now. She is still recovering." Unohana stated, looking at Mayuri.

"Even if she was alright, she'd probably be terrified out of her mind if she saw you." Toshiro, the albino midget, stated matter-of-factly. He had his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

"Enough." The Head Captain said, silencing them all. "We will keep this girl under surveillance. Is there anything to add?"

"There is one thing I discovered about her Spiritual Energy." Unohana state calmly, looking at the Head Captain. "I am uncertain why, but it seems as though there's a hidden power inside of it. It might not have been unlocked while she was alive because she was only a little girl, but she had a large amount of Spiritual Pressure. It doesn't rival any of us captains, but it is at least 3rd-Seat level, maybe even Lieutenant."

This really caught everyone off guard. How the hell does she have that much energy in such a small body?! Something was off, and everyone knew it.

"Captain Ukitake."

"Yes, Head Captain?"

"You are to keep an eye on Ryoko. You will help train her to control that power."

"Of course. I wi—"

Suddenly, both of the doors to the office sprung open, showing Lieutenant Kotetsu, breathing hard.

"What is the meaning of this, Lieutenant?"

"Forgive me, Head Captain, but something's wrong." She said, a worried look on her face. "Ryoko's gone!"

Ukitake and Unohana's eyes widened.

-RYOKO-

Ryoko ran through the Seritei toward a large mountain, the Sokyoku Hill. She looked up at the large area. "What is this place?" She stopped and watched the blue flames hit the side of the hill, then shoot up. She sighed and frowned, before running up the stairs to the top. Her left leg was starting to hurt, but she just ignored it and kept going. She couldn't stop. Whatever the flames were, they wanted them to be followed by her. She knew that… possibly. She finally reached the top, barely able to stand. She rested against one of the trees on top of the hill. Her throat burned even more now that she was breathing heavily, and her left leg was shaking. She was scared… no… terrified. What if the others found her? She'd be in big trouble!

Suddenly, she heard the roar same one from her dreams. She had no clue what that meant, but she knew it was important somehow. She tried to stand, but ended up falling back to the ground, her left leg now refusing to move. "Gah!" She yelped in pain. She looked forward at two large poles connected, or used to be connected, by another pole. She sighed, unable to move. She looked at her leg, propping herself up against a tree. "N-not good… Ngh!" She winced in pain as she tried to touch it. Tears start forming in her eyes.

-UKITAKE-

Ukitake rushes back to Ryoko's room in Squad 4 and he slams open the door. "Ryoko!" He sees she's gone, but the window's open.

"Oh no…" Unohana frowned. "Her body had yet to heal. Who knows where she is…"

"Captains?" Kotetsu said, her hands folded in front of her. "I saw a trail of blue fire coming from this room. When I went to check, she wasn't-"

"Blue… fire? Where was she going?" Ukitake asked, looking at Kotetsu.

She nodded, looking very worried. "It was headed toward Sokyoku Hill."

Both captains looked confused. "Why would she go to Sokyoku Hill of all places? That doesn't make any sense."

"Well we need to find her quickly and return her. If she moves too much, her leg would collapse. Those scars run deep into her leg."

"Damn…" Ukitake growled then looked at the room, noticing burn marks leading out of the window and through the Sereitei. "Unohana."

"I'll come with you. Kotetsu, take care of the patients while I'm gone. I will be back shortly."

"Of course!"

"Alright, Ukitake. Let's go."

-RYOKO-

With that, the two Captains went to find Ryoko, who was started to slip unconscious. Her head was spinning. She didn't know where she was now. She was so confused. She hated being confused. She started to cry, and thought about how her brother would handle this situation. Easy. He wouldn't be in this situation. He's too smart for that. As she started to close her eyes, she saw something. A light. There was something shining in the forest. She looked around for the flames, but realized there were none. Maybe she was just imagining it… But she decided to go to the shine. She practically crawled over toward it. If she tried to get up, she'd just end up falling again and get another injury for Captain Unohana to heal. As she crawled over, she realized what it was.

A sword.