I realized that I kept everyone hanging in the last couple of chapters because of Kana being kidnapped so I decided that I'll post this chapter. :D Thanks for all the reviews, everyone!

Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure: Yeah, I wasn't planning on Kana being kidnapped until a couple of chapters into the story, but I didn't want to drag the story on and on and on without getting to the real plot.
ruler of dragons: Thanks so much! I hope this chapter will help out with that curiousity of yours. lol
Amaris Solbes de la Vega: The real question is... Why not torture you? lol If you really want an answer, then that will be because it's just too much fun. :D
Musicfreak25 and I-Elli: Thanks! That strawberry keychain part was kind of a spur of the moment type of thing. I wasn't actually planning on putting that in until right before I posted it on here. :)
GuitarGirl1418: Thanks a lot. :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. I only own Kana, other original characters that might appear in this story, and this plot.

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Ichigo Kurosaki in his soul reaper form was trying to search for his girlfriend everywhere. He wasn't sure how long his search went on (though he was pretty sure it had to be about three or four days), but within that time, he had to have seen every inch of Karakura Town and still found no sign of her. That only confirmed his assumption he had made that day when Kana became missing: Someone had taken her somewhere out of Karakura Town. Even though it confirmed his assumptions, he still couldn't fully come to those terms that she was really gone. The only two thoughts that ran through his mind were to find Kana no matter the cost and to kill whoever kidnapped her.

"Ichigo!" Renji's voice called out to him. The red-haired soul reaper flash-stepped and ended up with him. It had been a while since Ichigo had seen his friend because Renji was in the Soul Society informing the captains what had happened. "Ichigo, you need to stop this. Kana is not in town anymore. I already talked to the captains in the Soul Society. They're going to send some of the Stealth Force to come search for her in both the Soul Society and the World of the Living."

Hearing Renji say that Kana was no longer in town hurt Ichigo even though he knew that fact a long time ago. He decided to pretend to ignore the red-head and continued to jump from the rooftops of Karakura Town.

"Ichigo!"

Renji seized his arm and made the angered teenager stop on a rooftop of a home somewhere in Town. He looked at the teen with a humorless look in his eyes. That was how everyone looked lately when they found how Kana had been kidnapped. The only ones who knew the truth of what happened was him, his friends (Chad, Orihime, Uryu), everyone at Kisuke's shop, and now the whole Society.

"Ichigo, I understand how you're feeling," Renji told him though Ichigo wouldn't look in the red-head's direction. "I want to find her just as much as you do, but you have to think about this. You can't just spontaneously find abandoned buildings and hope she is there. We have to make a plan."

Ichigo knew Renji was right. He shouldn't be acting the way he had been trying to search for Kana. He just didn't know what else to do. He wanted, no, needed to find her. Plus, Ichigo wasn't one to plan ahead anyway.

"Are you even listening to me, Ichigo?" Renji shouted angrily at him.

Right as Renji said that, a waved of spiritual pressure brushed passed them, making their muscles stiffen. Then, a loud howl broke through the air. Ichigo and Renji looked at each other and nodded, both understanding what to do. They both flash-stepped into the direction of the howl leaving their previous discussion at a pause.

As the two came closer to the destination of the creature, Renji and Ichigo could see the owner of the howl come to view. A large, monstrous figure with a hole in its chest was there, and it had a skeletal mask covering its face. It was a hollow standing there in the middle of the park.

"I'm hungry!" it yelled while knocking down a large oak tree scaring many people who were nearby. They were unaware of the 12-foot monster that caused the tree to fall, but Ichigo and Renji weren't. They could see the hollow perfectly.

The two soul reapers stopped in front of the hollow and pulled out their zanpakutos, Zangetsu and Zabimaru. It was then the hollow saw them and got down on all fours.

"Hm, soul reapers," it said with amusement. "It smells like I'm going to have a great meal."

"You're out of luck today," Ichigo said with a smirk as he rested his zanpakuto on his shoulder. He was giving the impression that slaying the hollow was going to be a piece of cake. "Ready, Renji?"

"Yeah. Lets go!"

Suddenly, dark ashes appeared in the air right above where the hollow stood. Renji and Ichigo didn't move like they had planned and wondered what was going on. The hollow followed their stares and noticed the ashes as well. The ashes began to turn a light orange before they began to fall onto the hollow. Not a second later, the ashes turned into flames as soon as they touched the hollow.

"What the hell?" Renji muttered as the hollow began to scream out in pain.

Ichigo had thought the same thing, but didn't say anything. He just continued to look at the dying hollow collapse onto the ground. His face shown nothing but shock, horror, and confusion as he wasn't the hollow suddenly become ashes right before his eyes. The ashes then fell to the ground and completely covered the green grass from where the hollow once stood.

The ashes weren't the only surprise at that point. On the other side of the pool of ashes was a figure. Not just any figure, it was someone wearing the soul reaper uniform except neither Ichigo nor Renji could see the face of the soul reaper. Whoever it was had a white hood attached to the uniform and wore it so that it shadowed its face. The only thing the two boys could tell was that it was a girl that stood there from her height and body type.

"Do you think she's part of the Stealth Force?" Ichigo asked, not looking away from the girl. He was staring at her, waiting for her to do something, but she didn't do anything. If anything, she just stared back at the boys.

"I'm not sure, but we'll find out," Renji told him. Then with authority, he asked, "What is your name?"

She said nothing.

"What squad are you from?"

Again, nothing.

"What is your reason for being in the World of the Living?"

Still nothing.

"Do you know who I am?" Renji asked another question, ready to lose his temper in a drop of a hat. "I am the lieutenant of Squad Six of the 13 Court Guard Squads. I order you to answer my questions."

She still didn't reply. Renji was about to run at the girl to scold her, but Ichigo placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. The red-head didn't get it at first and looked at Ichigo confused. He saw Ichigo's eyes stare at the girl with shock and that made Renji look more closely at her also. It was then he realized what the girl was holding: a hilt to her zanpakuto.

"Where's her blade?" Ichigo asked, continuing to stare at her.

As if on cue, the ashes on the ground began to glow a dark red. The girl slowly raised the hilt in the air above her head as the ashes at the same time began to flow towards it. The ashes gathered together at the hilt and her blade began to build on it. As this process happened, the blade was glowing a dark red, just like the ashes, and the process didn't stop until all the ashes disappeared from sight. Both of the boys figured out then that the ashes that were used to kill the hollow was actually the blade of her zanpakuto.

Once her blade was back in one piece, the glow dimmed down until the blade was to it's original color. The girl slowly brought down her zanpakuto and then sheathed it. Ichigo and Renji continued to look at her curiously as they tried to figure out her next move.

"What kind of soul reaper is she?" Ichigo asked.

Renji didn't answer since he didn't have one to reply with. Instead, he began to talk to the girl "I'll give you one last chance before reporting you to the head captain about you're behavior. Who are you and what is you're reasoning for being here?"

The girl showed no signs of answering or moving for that matter. She just stood there with her hands down at her sides. She wasn't even going to try to run. It was like she was waiting for Renji to drag her straight to the Soul Society to be punished for disobeying orders.

The wind at that time picked up at that time, making the leaves glide through the air. The hood on the girl's head began to wave, and it would have fallen down if she hadn't placed her hand on it to prevent that from happening. Because of the wind, a piece of her hair fell out and came into view. It was a light blonde strand and it seemed to be wavy from Ichigo's standpoint.

Ichigo continued to stare at that strand, as if it revealed all of the girl's secrets. She had a small body, her height seemed to be shorter than Orihime's, and she had blonde hair… Ichigo felt stupid for not realizing it before. Without a second thought, The orange-haired teenager ran towards her after sheathing his own zanpakuto as he did so.

"Ichigo!" Renji called out, confused at what the teen was doing and followed close behind.

It didn't take long for Ichigo to get close enough to see part of her face. It wasn't recognizable, but he could see a smirk on her lips before she disappeared completely from both Ichigo's and Renji's sight. Ichigo stopped where he was and began to look around for any sign of her. He stopped so suddenly that Renji wasn't able to send that message through his body making him run into Ichigo and both falling to the ground.

"What the hell?" Ichigo yelled as he quickly got on his knees and glared at Renji with his fist in the air. "Why did you do that?"

"You think I did that on purpose?" Renji yelled back, getting up also. He glared back and pointed angrily at the teenager. "You're the one who stopped!"

Ichigo didn't say anything as he stood up and looked around for that girl. He tried to see if he could sense her spiritual pressure but couldn't find it. It didn't surprise him that much if she was who he think she was.

"Why did you run at her like that?" Renji asked more calmly as he stood up beside his friend.

"I had to see if I was wrong," Ichigo answered, still looking around.

"Wrong about what?" the red-head questioned. "By the way, the soul reaper's gone now."

Ichigo knew that the soul reaper was gone by then, but he still couldn't help double checking just to make sure. Then, he replied, "I needed to know if that soul reaper was Kana."

"Kana? I think that your search for her has messed with your head," Renji stated not quite believing what Ichigo had just said. "You should go home and rest for a little bit to help clear your head. Your family is probably worried about you, too. And don't forget about school. You should go to catch up on what you missed."

"What are you? My father?"

"Fine, don't listen to me if you don't want to. I'm just telling you the truth," Renji said, turning away from the carrot top. "If you keep searching for Kana like you have been, nothing will come out of it." He looked over his shoulder to stare at his friend. "See you." Then Renji disappeared from Ichigo's sight.

I know, I know. I can see the reviews now. lol Sorry to leave it at yet another sucky part of the story. I promise it will all come out well in the next two chapters. I swear!

I have the next chapter written up and ready to go. All I need are some reviews before I am able to post it up, so please review! The more reviews I get, the faster the updates! XD