Again, not to much to say in the way of author's notes, if you've read my stories before, you know mistakes are a given, though hopefully nothing too major. And if I put the Japanese of anything in here that you may not know, I'll try to remember to put translations as well. However, before anyone so much as THINKS of calling me a weeaboo, I'm going to point out that I'm in Japan as I type and am learning the frigging language, so stuff it. I don't want to sound vindictive, but I've gotten crap for this before from people outside of FF and I'm not about to let it happen here.

4

They arrived at the University to find that they were being split into groups. Ichigo, Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Hisagi, Chad, Orihime, and Tatsuki were to be in the same group along with Keigo and Mizuiro. For Keigo was not exactly too keen on seeing Ikkaku or Yumichika again, but put on his brave face all the same.

"Kurosaki," the teacher said, "Ishida was supposed to be in your group too, but he's coming later and I think he said something about being taken on a tour by another student."

Ichigo nodded and talked idly with Renji and the others, allowing Orihime and Chad to catch up with them, while they waited for their guide. He began to grow uneasy when they ended up being the last students there. After a few more tense moments, a young woman ran into the lobby where they were waiting. Her violet-black hair was pulled into a high short ponytail, her bangs pinned to the top of her head. Her blue-green eyes shone brightly as she smiled apologetically at them. She was dressed in a pair of black cargo pants along with a bright blue graphic-T and sneakers.

"Sorry I'm late," she said, "My first class ran a little over." She bowed as she added, "It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Suzuki Kyoko and I will be your tour guide today."

"You're… energetic, aren't you?" Renji said as she grinned at them.

She laughed, "Just naturally like that, I guess," she said, "Now, where would you like to start the tour?"

"Can I get a look at your sports curriculum?" Tatsuki asked.

"I'd like to see the computer science department," Mizuiro said.

"I hear your art department is really good," Orihime added.

"Well we have time to do all three, I think" Kyoko said, "I guess we'll start with business then, since this is class building for it."

She took them to the upper floors of the building, showing them various rooms with hardworking students and teachers in the middle of detailed lectures. Renji and the other shinigami became intensely interested in watching the students work away in advanced programs on the computers. Next, Kyoko lead them through various sports areas: a basketball court, a soccer field, and the like, giving brief descriptions of the teams, the practices and so on. Finally she took them to the martial arts areas. After finally prying Tatsuki away from the judo team, she took them passed the kendo room, where the clash of shinai and cries of "MEN!", "KOTEI", "DO", and "SUKI", could be heard.

"They're getting ready for a competition," Kyoko explained, "So it'd be best not to go in right now." She opened the door to another room, "This is where I tend to be after school," she said, "Kali practice."

Inside the room were several students going at each other, a stick in each hand. Every time the rods met, a resounding crack echoed through the room. Ichigo wondered vaguely if they were train for a competition too, seeing as they were all attacking with almost frightening ferocity.

"Wow, that's a pretty intense martial art," Ikkaku said in awe, "What's it called again?"

"Kali," Kyoko said, "I think it's Korean."

"It has a certain finesse to it," Yumichika said, "they're so fierce, yet so graceful. It's beautiful!"

One of the students practicing looked up and broke apart from his partner. He waved at them, grinning, "Hey, Captain Suzuki! I heard you were leading a tour, how's it going?"

"Good! But you better get back to work, co-captain, or I'll be sparring with you this afternoon!" Kyoko called back.

The co-captain grimaced, "I wouldn't wish that on anyone, you're scary when you fight," he said.

Kyoko laughed and waved goodbye as she shut the door again, "Now then," she said, clapping her hands, "art was next, right? After that I believe your teachers arranged a picnic lunch for you all."

"So you're the captain of that team?" Hisagi asked, "that guy made it sound like you're something to be reckoned with."

She shrugged, "I've won a gold medal or two," she said, "I'll admit I'm not someone to mess with, though. Ah, here we are."

They entered a large building to see a large group of girls dancing in a room directly across from them. One of them, a girl with wavy blonde hair spotted them and trotted out to greet them, smiling politely.

"Who do we have here, Suzuki?" she said.

"A tour group from Karakura high school," Kyoko said, "We're going up to the visual arts section, Sakurazaki, not the dance section."

"Aw that's no fun!" the blonde cried, "Why don't I accompany you?" she turned to the company, "I'm Sakurazaki Arisa, lead principle of the ballet troup. Suzuki, please allow me to come too!"

"If you insist," the entire high school group could tell that Kyoko didn't mean it. The air was rather tense as they rode the elevator up to the top floor of the building. They stepped off to see what looked like a maze of various hallways, all painted in various bright colors intermixing with a black background.

"The artists did this?" Orihime asked, "It's so cool!"

"Yeah," Kyoko said with a grin, "each artist has their own studio up here and can come in to work whenever they want. My best friend should be up here now."

"I thought Kirihara worked in the morning?" Arisa asked as they walked along through the various passages.

"It's both now," Kyoko said, "They've got a huge exposition coming up and she has a ton to do for it."

A tousle-haired boy rounded a corner and up to their group, his glasses slightly askew, "I knew it! Sakurazaki, it's you! I need you to model for me!"

"Well, I have done some modeling in the past," Arisa said with false modesty, "What sort of modeling is it?"

"Well, you see, I'm going do dump paint on you and-!"

"Hell no!" Arisa said, "Do you know how hard that will be to get out of my hair?"

"But-!"

"No!"

The student sighed, "Fine, fine, I get it!" he said, "I'll go ask someone else," he turned to Kyoko, "You think Kirihara will do it?"

"We're heading to her studio now," she said, "why don't you come with us and ask her?"

The boy fidgeted nervously as they began walking again, "Well… Kirihara kind of scares me… I don't want to end up like Mori."

"Mori had it coming," Kyoko said as she knocked on one of the doors, "he was being a total ass, I don't blame her for breaking his nose."

"And he's fine now," a voice said as the door opened to reveal another young woman. She was on the taller side, around the same height as Tatsuki, with long supple limbs and a light figure. Her black hair was pulled back and French braided to the back of her head until in reached her neck, where it trailed off into a low ponytail. Were it unbound, it would have fallen a little past her hips. Her eyes were a prominent grey, well at least the right one was, the left was covered by her bangs, which she had gently swept to the left in order to hide it. Her ears were perforated with numerous hoops, studs, and bars and it was a wonder to the high school students that they hadn't fallen off yet from the weight. She was dressed in a simple black tank top along with a pair of ripped jeans. A black chain was wrapped twice around her throat choker-style before disappearing into the fabric of her shirt. Her upper left arm was bound in gauze.

She saluted them casually, "Hi there, I'm Kirihara Kaida," she said, "but I tend to go by Kai. Nice to meet you all." Her eyes lingered a moment on Hisagi, but it was so brief that he wondered if he'd imagined it. She turned to the brown-haired boy, "What brings you to my studio, Taro?"

Taro averted his eyes, "well, you see, I need someone to model for a photo series, it's the last one I need to get done for the exhibition. I'm titling it Art in the Artist and it involves getting drenched in paint and I'll understand if you don't want to do it, but-!"

"You want me to model for your series?" Kai asked.

"PLEASE DON'T HIT ME" Taro cried, shielding his face.

She sighed, "I'm not inherently violent, Taro," she said, "I won't injure anyone without legitimate provocation. Mori was being an ass to Kyoko, that's why I hit him, alright? Anyway, I wouldn't mind modeling for you as long as it's nothing ridiculously sensual."

"You'll do it? Thank you so much! Is now okay?"

Kai shrugged, "I guess it'd be alright," she said, turning to Kyoko, "You want to bring your group over to see a demonstration? To be honest, I don't want to show my paintings until the exposition."

"That's okay," Kyoko said, "I'd love to see this."

"Why Kirihara of all people?" Arisa demanded, "how do you know she'll do a decent job when she's had no experience."

"A photo series doesn't exactly require any experience except on the part of the photographer," Kai said coolly, "and I'm sure Taro has his reasons."

"Well, I want it to be feminine," the poor photographer said, "because I think it'll really capture the essence of the theme. I also need someone who can pull of exaggerated poses and Kirihara's really flexible, so… yeah…"

The group entered a large studio, the walls of which were covered in plastic except for one that was covered in an intense array of splatter paint. It was in front of this wall that Taro told Kai to stand.

"Would you mind doing the shoot in just a sports bra?" he asked nervously, "and are you okay doing it in those jeans. Oh, and you should do it barefoot and if you could leave your hair down that'd be great!"

Kai followed his directions, pulling of her shirt to reveal the navy sports bra underneath and letting her hair hang loose down her back. Taro then came forward with a few buckets of paint, carefully pouring a series of bright greens, oranges, yellows and reds over her body.

"Alright, Kirihara, now stand against the wall, yeah like that," Taro said, entering a more professional mode, "Now, stretch your left arm up, yeah like that, and tilt your head toward it, yup. Now, can you put the thumb of your right hand in you pocket, exactly, perfect. Okay, now hold still, good. Now…"

It continued like this for several minutes, often with Kai contorting herself into rather strange positions (at one point, she was literally upside down with her feet parallel with her head). After they were done, she said goodbye to them and went off to go take a shower and Kyoko lead the group out to the picnic area.

"So how did you like it?" she asked as they walked towards the other students.

"It was certainly interesting," Orihime said, "Is Kirihara a photographer too?"

Kyoko shook her head, "No, she paints," she said, "and she's really good at singing too, but that's more of a hobby for her."

"She's really flexible, isn't she?" Keigo said, "I'm surprised she was able to do all that for the photos."

"To be honest, she didn't really seem like the type to go that far someone she didn't seem really close to," Renji said.

"Kai's not the person she may seem to be," Kyoko said, "She's had a rough past, that's why she may seem cold, but in reality she's really nice and fun to be around. She's always up to helping people when they really need it, so it's only natural that she'd help Taro with his showcase."

"I must say, she looked quite pretty, even when covered with paint," Yumichika said, "It was very artistic."

"You and your obsession with beauty," Ikkaku said.

Hisagi remained silent as they dissolved into idle chatter as they walked. His mind was reeling with what had transpired within the art building. To think that, of all places, she'd be here, in the human world. After almost twenty years, he'd never have imagined that she'd be here. However, except for that fleeting moment where her eyes lingered on him, she seemed to have no idea who he was.

Her appearance was different as well. In Rukongai, her hair was much shorter and she always pinned her bangs back from her face. Her ears had also been completely devoid of any sort of metal and she had always worn her clothes in a more conservative fashion. The only thing he remembered was the chain around her neck, though in Rukongai she had just let it hang down, she didn't wear it in the fashion he'd just seen now.

His head continued to spin and he didn't even notice that the group had stopped until he almost walked into Chad. He looked around to see that Kyoko was staring at something behind them. All of a sudden, she sprinted forward, leaping into the arms of a tall, white-haired figure standing by none other that Ishida Uryu.

"HARU!" She cried as the figure, whom Hisagi realized was another student, set her down on the ground. He was thin, but obviously well toned, with a handsome countenance. His lower lip and right eyebrow were pierced, but not to the say extent that Kai's ears had been. He was dressed in a black button down, grey slacks over black army boots.

He laughed as Kyoko continued to hug him, "I take it you missed me?" he said, leaning down and kissing her lightly on the lips. As he broke apart from her, "I'm sorry I made you wait so long. I'm all better now and return to my daily routine."

"I'm so glad," Kyoko said shakily, wiping tears from her eyes, "I'm so, so happy you're okay. I was so worried."

He smiled, wrapping his arms around her waist gently. He blinked as he noticed the rest of the group and grinned, "Hi there, I'm Kimura Haruka, but feel free to call me Haru. Sorry if I interrupted anything."

"I don't think you did, Kimura," Ishida said as he approached the group, leaving the couple behind. The group sat a little ways away from the other students as they were given their lunches. Ishida looked a Renji questioningly, "Are you here to investigate the rise in Hollow activity?"

He nodded, "Yup, and the possibility that there are more human shinigami here helping you out."

"I've seen them," Ishida said, "but I haven't made contact with them. There are two of them and I know their female, but they always hide their faces so I can't point them out to you. I can tell you that they're really strong and that one attracts Hollows through music."

"Music?" Yumichika asked.

"She sings, drawing the Hollows to her, then her friend comes in a cuts them down while they're distracted. I've never actually seen the singer fight, but her reiatsu's probably at the same level as one of your captains."

"That's good to know," Ikkaku said, "It helps out a lot just knowing that much."

"Do they have a specific time when they show up?" Hisagi asked.

"Night time normally, but I didn't see them last night, though the Vizards were out, so maybe that's why they didn't show."

"I see, maybe we can talk to them and Urahara to organize some sort of plan to draw them out." Renji said, "Thanks for cooperating, I know how you feel about us."

Ishida shrugged, "Doesn't matter," he said, then turned to Ichigo, "So did you see what I meant?"

Ichigo blinked, "Oh right!" he said, taking the photograph out of his pocket, "I completely forgot to look."

Ishida sighed, "Honestly, and you call me a moron," he said, "Well, did you see a student by the name of Kirihara?"

"Yeah, I didn't really know what to make of her, though," Ichigo said, "Why?"

"Think back to what she looked like, then look at that photo," Ishida said.

Ichigo looked down at the picture, then stared as he thought about Kirihara. The girl in the picture was younger, yes, and her hair was at chin length, but her bangs hung in the same fashion as they did now and arm still had the gauze wrapped around it. She had a harder, more violent look in her eyes than he'd seen mere minutes ago, but there was no mistake, this kid was the Kirihara they had just seen.

"Good lord," he said, "you were right, four years can make one hell of a difference. I can't believe she used to look like this."

"What's all this about?" Hisagi asked. He blinked as Ichigo handed him the photo, "That's… Kirihara?" he said, knowing full well that complications would arise if he admitted having known her from Rukongai.

"Damn she looks different," Ikkaku said.

"She's much prettier now," Yumichika said.

"Why do you have this, Ichigo?" Keigo asked.

"A couple days ago, some gang leader came to the school and asked me to help him find this person," Ichigo explained, "he said the picture was taken around four years ago, but it seems like it really is that Kirihara person."

"What gang is he from, what's his name?" Tatsuki asked, "and why did he ask you?"

"I think he said his name was Howl… or Flower, Follower…?"

"FOWLER?" Tatsuki whispered furiously, "Are you insane, Ichigo? The Zodiac is not something to get mixed up in! They're huge, HUGE, local gangs would kill to join the Dragon faction, since it's based right here in Karakura town. I don't know why they're so popular, but there's no way a gang like that can be good news."

"What does a gang what with this girl?" Renji asked.

"Fowler said he just wanted to talk to her," Ichigo said, "but I don't know if it's true. Don't worry, there's no way in hell I'm turning her in to him."

"That's good to here, otherwise, you're body would be floating in the river by sunrise tomorrow," Ichigo nearly jumped ten feet in the air as Haru whispered in his ear. The white-haired student glared at him, his ice-blue eyes becoming even colder than they had originally looked. He snatched the photo from Ichigo's hand and tore it into nearly microscopic pieces.

Kyoko stood with him, an equally unpleasant glare on her face. The two of them sat with the group as she said, "If you even so much as mention Kai to that Fowler guy, we'll rip you to shreds."

"You know him?" Ishida asked in surprise.

"What does Kirihara have to do with him?" Mizuiro asked.

"That's her business," Haru said, "Suffice to say, she has no intention of making contact with the Dragons and we don't plan on letting them make contact with her. Kai's worked too hard to get the life she has now and if any of you destroy it, you can expect hell from us."

"Is that understood?" Kyoko demanded menacingly.

They all nodded, surprised by the sudden change in their kind demeanors. The two college students sighed, Haru looking at them all apologetically, Kyoko glaring at the ground.

"I'm sorry," he said, "we just care about Kai, that's all. She's the type to shoulder everything on her own and we're worried about what might happen if she continues on this way. We never know what she's thinking, all we really know is that she's a great leader and we trust her implicitly. Again, I'm sorry for threatening you are, but I was scared that you would had her over without a second thought."

"We'd never do that," Hisagi said, surprised by the vehemence in his own voice, "We're not the type to just hand someone over without the full story. Even if we did have it, we wouldn't do anything without knowing what was going to happen for sure."

"That's gallant of you," Kyoko said quietly, "But let's just put this matter behind us, alright?"

"I just have one more question," Chad said, "Why you, Ichigo?"

Ichigo shook his head, "Even I'm not entirely sure," he said, "Fowler's convinced my name came up in a phone conversation she had about two years ago."

Kyoko's and Haru's sharp glances at each other didn't go unnoticed by Renji. The redheaded shinigami began to wonder if they had a connection with his former comrade-in-arms.

Haru looked pensive for a moment, then cursed, saying, "so this Fowler keeps a record of things like that. That bastard must be real determined."

Kyoko nodded, opening her mouth to speak, but she stopped short. Ishida, Chad, Orihime and the shinigami felt it too. A group of Hollows had just entered Karakura town, and high level ones at that.

Next chapter will be... yup, a fight scene. FINALLY, I know. That's also where the Japanese will start coming in and I'll do my best to remember tranlastions of kido spells and things like that, okay? Until then, reviews are greatly appreciated.