~Cold but I'm Still Here~
A Bleach fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. And, I can't think of any sarcastic comments or jokes to add to the disclaimer, so I'm just gunna write the chapter.

Summary: Ember is an ordinary girl, leading an ordinary life. But it was boring, lacking, and downright depressing. Her only high points were when she was watching anime, listening to music, and sleeping-all of which sent her to a better place. She longed for something to happen that would turn her life upside-down, anything to bring her out of her lonely, miserable shell, she longed for adventure. She never thought anything would happen, until one day, a mysterious stranger transferred to her school and turned her life out-of-whack. Yet for some reason, this mysterious stranger was highly reminiscent of her favourite anime character….

Please read the authors not at the end of the story!! It's extremely important!!!

~CHAPTER SEVEN~

(AMBER MATTAYA)

'That's some pretty fancy shunpo kid, maybe being inside you won't be as bad as I thought."

I froze. It was the voice again. So I was hearing voices, but that wasn't the problem right now. The problem was that I was behind toushiro when i was running in front of him not 2 seconds ago. He was right, I could use flash step. But how? It was physically impossible!

"H-how did you do that?" Matsumoto stuttered out. Toushiro just continued to stare at me silently with shocked eyes. Okay, something was wrong. I could NOT use flash step. I-I-I KNOW!! I have schizophrenia! I was hallucinating, that had to be it. I KNEW I had schizophrenia, but no...my mom wouldn't take me to a doctor to be tested. Now who was wrong? ..wait...if I just hallucinated flash step, that means matsumoto and toushiro don't exist, I'm just imagining things. Ohh, things are finally starting to make sense...

Wait. If my hallucination was lasting this long...I'm psychotic. But...if I've totally lost it, how am I thinking so straight? Something weird was going on...and apparently I wasn't going to figure it out soon.

"Matsumoto...contact soul society. We have a situation on our hands." Shakily, Matsumoto took out a cellphone similar to toushiro's. Without realising it, I had started to quiver in fear. Soul society? Would they kill me? Would I help them fight hollows? Why could i use flash step? Oh man....

"Taichou! The connection has been lost, I can't contact them." She seemed panicked and toushiro swore under his breath. I was frozen to the spot. I was in the same position I had been in when I first left school with them. The position: dearly screwed and scared shitless.

"W-wait! Something...It's not possible!! I-I can't use flash step! You explained this to me a few hours ago! H-humans can't do stuff like that, and I'm a human!"

"I know Mattaya, now shut up, we need to figure out what to do." Toushiro responded harshly.

"Well taichou, you better do it quickly, it's 7:30 we need to bring her home." Matsumoto was right. My mom was going to start thinking that I got kidnapped or something, soon...

"Hai. Matsumoto, get in your gigai, we'll take her back. Don't talk to her parents, just walk her up to the door...I have an idea of what to do until we can talk to yamamoto-soutaichou." I gulped at this, that old guy was really scary.

Within a few minutes, they had ushered me into the van and we sped off towards my mom's house. (I only went to my dad's house a few times a month, and he didn't know I was there) Matsumoto walked me up to the door. Now that she was out of her school uniform, she looked around 20...my mom was going to have a lot of questions. DING-DONG

My brother answered the door. "Eh, squirt, scooch outta my way if ya' know what's good for you." I said pushing him aside and kicking off my shoes. Matsumoto giggled at this, despite my...maybe, dreadful predicament, I couldn't help but bug my brother. It was then my Mom walked swiftly towards matsumoto and shook her hand, introducing herself.

"Hello! Thank you for having her for dinner! My name is Katrina Mattaya! Please, come in and have a drink!" Matsumoto shook her hand and replied just as enthusiasticly.

"Konbawa! My name is Rangiku Matsumoto! We had lots of fun with Ember, we hope she can come again! And I'm afraid I can't come in my tai-brother is waiting in the car for me." It was then that my little brother made me realise my worst fear.

"Hey, wait a sec, I've seen you before! Your in that jap, mhpff!!!" It was then that i smothered his mouth with my hand and grabbed him in a headlock.

"Eric!! He he, I'm a bit thirsty! How about you make your favourite big sister some of your famous hot chocolate? Then, maybe I'll remove the parental controls I put on your laptop!" He immediately did what I said. I cought him trying to hack my account on his laptop, so I placed parental controls on his laptop so he could barely do anything.

"Well...anyways, sayonara!" Matsumoto waved and left the house closing the door behind her. Me and my brother sat at the counter in the kitchen, sipping our hot chocolate.

"Hey Amber," he started. "Ember." I just had to correct him.

Rolling his eyes, he continued. "Ember, didn't that lady look like one of those dudes from that anime you watch? Bleach or something?" I froze. Damn my stupidness!! My brother never wanted to watch bleach, but I forced him to because it was so awesome. If I hadn't done that, he would never had noticed. Shit.

"eheh, what're you talking about bro? You've lost it." He shrugged and we went our separate ways. He started banging his drums, and i turned on my ipod to drown them out. (in case you care, i was listening to my chemical romance)

'today was bizarre. Hollows, shinigami, soul society, and now flash step? Seriously, i must have some sort of defect or something...what am I going to do when they tell soul society about my "condition"? I can't believe this is happening...adn my brother nearly noticed matsumoto, if he doesn't keep his mouth shut...I'm going to have a shitload to explain to could I use flash step though? That was too weird, I wonder what's going on..."

It was then when I heard the strange noise. I cautiously looked around my room, but saw nothing. I turned my headphones up full blast and lied back on my bed, closing my eyes deep in thought.

The music was too loud.

My eyes were closed.

I didn't notice the person who had come through my window.

I didn't notice I was being watched.

When I sensed a strange presence in my room and opened my eyes, nothing could've prepared me for what I saw.

"what...the...HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM TOUSHIRO???? WHY THE F*CK ARE YOU IN MY ROOM?!?!?!?!?!?!"

Toushiro shoved his hand over my mouth to make me shut up, hissing angrily in the process. "you idiot! Someone is going to hear you and come running, shut up will you?!?! I here because you could be in danger, or you could be dangerous. Either me or matsumoto will be watching you at all times, for obvious reasons. Only until we can contact soul society, so you should be left alone by tomorrow."

I paled. They would call soul society tomorrow and then I would die. Shit.

...okay maybe I wouldn't die, maybe I was just being paranoid? Tch, how could I not be though, i had freakkin shinigami powers!!...well, flash step crap anyways. I was thanking my lucky stars that the day before I had gotten rid of my bleach posters. After I saw toushiro, I thought it was a good idea to ditch Bleach all together, and give up anime cold turkey. Clearly it was making me insane. I had given all my stuff to my best friend, saying that my mom wanted all the posters down in my room, and then I gave her the manga, and told her not to complain. She happily complied.

Okay, so to avoid awkward conversation with toushiro, I decided to go hang out with my brother for a while. Sure, we annoyed the hell out of each other, but we got along pretty good otherwise. He was the person I was closest to in my family. Also, if my worst fears came true, I wouldn't be able to see him again after soul society got contacted. At around 11:30 I finally shut down msn and climbed into bed. (obviously he didn't watch while I changed)

I was tired from the whole day, and I had a headache from trying to figure everything out, but I couldn't sleep. One, because I was way too nervous still, and Two. Toushiro was sitting at my desk staring blankly at a wall. I wasn't used to having some guy with a sword in my room while i tried to sleep, so it was giving me some difficulties to close my eyes...what have I gotten myself into?

(TOUSHIRO HITSUGAYA)

I didn't want to do it, but I had to. I stared at the wall while ember tried to sleep. I knew that she would get attacked by a hollow, and despite her strange abilities (flash step) she couldn't take on a menos grande. That's why I was here, she had to stay alive until yamamoto-taichou could examine her. Also, even if it was a pain, we were here to keep the humans safe. While I was starting to wonder if she was still an ordinary human, she was one all the same and it was my responsibility to keep her safe.

After pointlessly tossing and turning in bed for a few minutes, she finally sat up. She looked really annoyed, and turned to me.

"do you have to sit there while i sleep?? You know, alot of weird crap happened today, and the fact that an invisible, dead samurai guy is sitting in my room doesn't really help calm me down." I suppose that was true, so i shrugged and walked out of her room, leaving her slightly shocked, though i did hear her grumble, "freaky silent jerk" under her breath before rolling back under the covers. Humans were quite odd...or she was anyways. Though, she could hardly be considered human. Eventually, I ended up sitting on top of her roof, watching the stars. If I was doing all this watching and worrying tonight for nothing, I was going to be really mad tomorrow.

(AMBER MATTAYA)

Where was I? The last thing I remembered...I was trying to get to sleep...was I asleep? I took a quick look around. I was on a familiar plane of ice, and a fiery phoenix was floating nearby. I hadn't realised I ws lying on the ground. It was cold. Standing up quickly, I realised I was wearing the same white dress as last time, but this time i was also wearing white socks. I looked at the phoenix, it had a satisfied smirk on its face, and was looking down at me.

"congrats kid, looks like there is a reason i'm inside you" i swear this bird was smoking something. I didn't have fiery birds living inside me.

"Who are you anyways, and why do you keep saying you're inside me? You can't just rent out my body like an apartment building, where are we really?"

"Idiot girl, I have already explained all of this to you. I am the soul of a zanpuktoh, but you can't hear my name, so I won't bother saying it again, it pisses me off. We are in the depths of your soul, this is where I reside, and will continue to, until you finally hear my name and release me in the form of a sword."

I see...so I was mental. Even in my dreams i had things telling me I had a zanpuktoh, and spiritual pressure, and all this crap. Though, I suppose I had to believe it. A high ranked shinigami was wandering my house somewhere after all. Oh, and I managed to flash step earlier, that was another good reason to believe all this was really happening.

"If you're the soul of a zanpuktoh, why are you here? Human's can't have zanpuktohs, and I'm a human!"

"I'm your zanpuktoh, so I am in your soul. Duh kid, weren't you paying attention earlier when that captain kid explained this to you? Zanpuktohs are born directly from teh soul, creating a bond between person and zanpuktoh. That's how we're talking now, because of our bond. I must say, you aren't very bright, but it is nice to see something else besides this icy plain for once. I'm glad you finally found me, but I sense that you are bursting with questions. Lets get those over with now shall we?"

How it knew I wanted to ask it some questions, I don't know. Maybe it's this 'bond' thing that it kept talking about, but whatever... "yeah. What happened earlier? How did I use that flash step thing? Why can I use it? I used it when I fought the hollow too..."

"i don't know how you managed to do it either kid. I think it's safe to assume that you are no ordinary human though. You have the soul of a zanpuktoh, and you can use flash step. Something must've addled with your brains in the past or something...though I would remember something like that, so maybe not...ahh. I sense you are waking."

It was true, the scenery, and the great phoenix were both starting to fade away. I called out, "Wait!! Make sure you help me, I don't know what's going to happen!! And what's your name??"

"My name is Koorihon-"

It was at this point when Ember snapped awake in her bed.

The next morning, Toushiro wasn't around my house. I guessed he went to get ready for school, so I paid his absence little mind. As usual, My mom woke me up early, I went to school listening to my ipod, and I got there earlier than everyone else. I sat outside my classroom door, taking out my ipod again. I didn't even make it through half a song when a mysterious figure started to climb the stairs. That figure had abnormal, spikey white hair. I swear he was such a creepy stalker.

Without exchanging eye contact or a word, he plopped down on the ground beside me, and proceeded to stare at the wall opposite of us.

"Ember" He spoke in a tone so serious that broke the silence, I jumped slightly.

"what is it now toushiro? More hollows out to get me?"

"Haha, now shut up. Matsumoto was working on getting communication with the soul society last night. She nearly got it, but the connection got lost again for no apparent reason. If we can't contact them by tomorrow after school," (today was Thursday) "we're going to have to take you to soul society. To avoid suspicion, everyone's memories of you will be erased. We can give their memories back when we come back from soul society...if we come back" He added under his breath. It was then when I started to panic. IF we come back, IF?!?!?!?!? I was going to die, I knew it!! Dammit...I hadn't even achieved world domination yet! I was about to answer him, when the teacher showed up and let us into the classroom.

We silently took out our laptops, I have no idea what he did but I went on msn. Soon, the classroom started to fill, and class started. (we were in science)

(Black_fire has joined the conversation)

(PinkPolish123 has joined the conversation)

(Grapefruitrules has joined the conversation)

(blub_blub_fish has joined the conversation)

Grapefruitrules: Hey guys what's up?

Blub_blub_fish: what do you think is up moron, we're in science, how could anything possibly be up?

PinkPolish123: Geez Alysha...you're so negative, be nice to Colleen.

Blub_blub_fish:...

Grapefruitrules: Hey Ember, you're really quiet. And now that I think about it, you look really tense. What's wrong?

Black_fire: ...nothing

PinkPolish123: -_-U righhhtt...oh wait! How's your brother?

Grapefruitrules: Oh yeah! That's why you're acting so strange, is he alright?

Blub_blub_fish: Ember?

Black_fire: he's fine guys, just had some sort of panic attack...I'm pretty sure he was faking

Grapefruitrules: oh...lol

Blub_blub_fish: haha

PinkPolish123:...

A message popped up on my screen all of a sudden, "Icy_dragons has asked to be friends with you, do you ACCEPT or DECLINE?" who the hell was icy dragons? Oh...wait...duh. So I clicked accept, a new window popped up.

Icy_dragons: So this is the "msn" you mortals use to communicate? Interesting...

Black_fire: how the hell did you get my email?

Icy_dragons: I can see your screen...in case you're an idiot, I'm sitting right beside you

Black_fire: ...shut up shortie

Icy_dragons: Yeah, like your one to talk, anyways. Matsumoto should be adding you on her msn soon too. She will come to your house tonight to keep an eye on things. Also, so you think you'll be able to think of another excuse to come back tonight?

Black_fire: umm...why?

Icy_dragons: we don;t want your spiritual energy to rub off on other people, hollows might be drawn to them, and attack

Black_fire: Oh shit...m'kay, I'll see what I can do.

I really didn't want to stay in a house with 2 shinigami, but...if being in my presence was putting innocent people in danger, I would happily go to soul society to be executed right now.

I signed off msn after accepting a friend invite from "Shopping_rocks" and instead stared blankly at the teacher pretending to pay attention.

After a few minutes of playing more pointless tetris on my sidebar, there was a knock on the door, and a grade 12 student came in. "Hello Ms. Sibles, I'm here to get Toushiro Hitsugaya and Ember Mattaya"

Yup, just when I start to think things can't get any weirder...damn.

The class goggled at the grade 12 student, and It didn't surprise me...he looked really strange.

What, with flaming red hair, and a white cloth tied around his forehead, Renji Abarai was sure to attract quite a few odd looks.

And once again, I was so scared I thought I was going to piss myself. Why the hell was he here, and how did he know my name?

A/N: Aha! A long chapter, over 3000 words finally!!

Thanks much for the 6 reviews on the last chapter! And the reviews I got on previous chapters since my last update, as well as favourites and story alerts!!: MillieEllie, frozen ice cream, xoxHime-Chanxox, Panda-chan-san, Chibiussa, ..Jewel, Vampire Girl for LIFE, crystalstar83, ..Mikomi., PandaBelz, and LadyChaos1011.

Now, for that important message I told you about at the beginning of teh chapter. I thought I should let you know I'm leaving for a while(school trip) and I also have a bunch of crap I have to deal with, so I won't be able to update for at least a week. I need to see a doctor. Stat. We think I have an anxiety disorder, I had an anxiety attack last night, it was so bad...I've literally never been so scared in my life. Anyways...I'll try to write out the next chapter on paper during my trip so that I can publish chapter 8 as soon as I can, but I'm sorry about the absence :)

Anyways, thanks so much for reading, 5 reviews for the next update!!

(Also, I'm sorry this chapter didn't come sooner. I was up north all weekend, and so I had to type this chapter during class on Friday, and had to finish it tonight) but now I have to do laundry/pack for my trip, so...Bye!!

~ember-chan