Chapter 7-Helping Toshiro

The cell they chose for me was in Squad 10. Huh, go figure. The two guards pushed me in roughly, closing the door with a resounding slam. One of them held on to my zanpakuto and I couldn't help but glare at him. It was mine, damn it. (Not really, of course but wishful thinking never hurts)

Back to the issue on hand though. If I did have high spiritual powers, I could use them to bust out of here. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to call upon them.

Note to self: after all this is over, ask the Head Captain if I could take some Soul Reaper lessons. Maybe then I could gain a zanpakuto of my own.

So the main question... what the hell was I supposed to do now? If I did break out of here, I could try to find Ichigo in time to fight Kenpachi. But that definitely comes with a couple of problems. The first was that I had no clue where they were in the sewers and trust me, one could get easily lost in there. Second, I just got here so the guards outside were on high alert.

Plus, I didn't have any insane physical strength to bend the cell bars with. Ha! I wish! Maybe I could be like 'The Hulk' one day? And then there's also the fact that I didn't have anything to pick the lock with. Classic move, right?

Maybe I could wing it like Ichigo does most of the time. It was worth a shot, but definitely at a later time. I could feel the glares in front of me and I certainly didn't want to take the risk of angering anybody further. With that out of the way, I looked around and noticed there was a bed and a chair. There was also some food lying on a table. That was it though. It's a prison, what did you expect?

I hadn't eaten for about a day so I was seriously starving. I picked up the tray which consisted of steamed fish and rice and after a moment's hesitation, gulped it down in a matter of minutes. I honestly didn't expect them to poison the food at this point. They wanted me alive so I seriously doubted they would do anything counterproductive.

The food was good for Soul Society food. Of course I didn't have any standards to compare to within here but it didn't taste all that different from what I had in my world. After I finished, I sat on the bed and decided to sleep on it. I was so tired after all that happened.

Maybe it would be better if I stay here for a while. I'll figure out what to do after I get some well-deserved rest.

With that in mind, I went to sleep.


Switch POV-In Another Dimension

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I should've listened to you. I'm so sorry," I heard a woman's voice say. There were a couple of figures standing beside her.

Huh? What's this?

I looked around the room. It was clearly a hospital but I couldn't tell who the figures were. I could make out the woman, but just barely. I saw her hovering over a body lying in a bed. Like the woman, I couldn't see her face though I could tell it was a girl. I was so confused. Just what the hell was going on? Was this supposed to be some kind of joke? Either that or this was a really, really poorly made dream.

"It's not your fault. It was just a horrible accident. That's all." This came from the only male standing next to the woman. I couldn't see his face either, even when I strained my eyes to get a better look.

"No, it is! If only I had stopped her, this wouldn't have happened!" She leaned over the bed and kissed the girl on the forehead.

"I'm so sorry-" she started, but I couldn't hear the rest as I felt a sharp tug at the center of my being. No! Not yet!

But it was all for naught as I was sucked back into reality.

End POV


"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

I shot up in the bed and panted heavily. I hadn't thought about my world since I came here. The hospital looked like the ones I was used to. That scene made me think about how my mom would react if she found out I died. In fact, that was probably exactly what she would do. But that's just a coincidence, right? Unfortunately, I couldn't shake off the feeling that the dream had some sort of connection to me. Just what did it mean? And that brought about other questions I had.

Would my mom forgive me for the words I said to her? I know it was really harsh but I was so fed up at the moment. I wished to take everything back because that was certainly not how I pictured my last words to her were going to be. I at least wanted to say that I loved her for all the things she'd done for me. No wonder people say to not hold grudges because you never know what's going to happen in the future.

But it was too late now to fix anything. I was in another world and I could only move forward from here. I had a new life to live out. A new life filled with protecting my friends and sharing their adventures and hardships. I smiled softly and looked around, noticing it was night time. I frowned as I realized what that meant.

I frantically tore off the covers and walked towards the only guard on duty.

"Excuse me, guard? What's the recent news going on outside?"

He looked at me like I was some kind of disease. "Tch! Why? Want to join your little friends outside, Ryoka girl?" he sneered.

Whoa! What rained on his parade?

It must have shown on my face because he continued to glare at me.

"Well, it seems that one of your little friends managed to defeat the Captain of the 11th Squad, Kenpachi Zaraki. But know this, we'll get you back a thousand fold for what you've all done. You'll regret ever coming here."

I reeled back in shock. The guard took that as fright and sneered mockingly, returning to his post once more.

Hmm, so it's that late in the game, huh? Well then, Ichigo should be starting his Bankai training and Toshiro will be fighting Gin soon. Wait a minute! It's dark outside so that must mean that Toshiro's fight with Gin is right about now. God damn it! I think now's the time to bust out of here. I have to help him!

With my mind made up, I started formulating a plan. Okay, so this was Bleach. Because of my high spiritual pressure, I'm going to assume I can do Kido. So whenever the Soul Reapers want to do Kido, they usually have to concentrate their spirit energy. Easier said than done though.

Okay, okay. Concentrate. Focus your energy and gather it up. Let it flow through your body.

I took several deep breaths, gritting my teeth in concentration. I needed this to be quick, otherwise the guard would catch on. I imagined the energy gathering all around me and focused it in the center of my hand. After a minute or two, the energy started getting denser and denser. I could feel its heat flowing through me. That was definitely a good sign. I gathered the energy into my fingertips and a quivering ball of red light started forming in my palm. The guard sensed a change in the air and was startled as he saw what I was doing. He took out his zanpakuto but I didn't give him a chance to attack me.

Now!

"Hado #31, Shakkaho, Red Flame Cannon!" The ball of energy left my hand and crashed into the cell bars, breaking them. It hit the guard right in the chest. Haha, bull's eye! He landed with a thud on the floor and I checked to see if he was unconscious.

Yep! Definitely out cold. Sorry buddy, but that was for the greater good of your universe.

I sighed, picking up the zanpakuto they took from me.

Now to go save Momo and Toshiro! I hope I make it in time!


I continued running from the 10th Squad Barracks. I didn't know where I was going. I just picked a random direction and prayed it led to the 3rd Squad. I panted from the strain.

Urgh! Why can't I shunpo?! Wait... why can't I shunpo? I just did Kido so why the hell not? It's definitely worth a try.

In Bleach, you could shunpo while running or standing still. Since I was on a time constraint, I decided to try it while running. Usually when they shunpo it's all really fast. It doesn't seem like they need to concentrate, unlike Kido. It's like they will it to happen.

Okay, so here goes. Please let me shunpo, please let me shunpo! I've got to help them!

Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

"Shit! Please, I need to help them. Please let me shunpo!" I muttered frantically. Suddenly, I felt my whole body shoot forward and my stomach lurched at the sudden force. I ended up a few yards ahead of where I was before. But even with the sudden movement, I didn't stop running.

"Hell Yeah!" I willed myself to shunpo again and managed it, albeit a little shakingly. After a few times, I was shunpoing with minimal damage. My stomach didn't lurch at the sudden movements anymore and I felt like I was shunpoing for years.

I pasted the 9th and 8th Squads so I knew I was heading in the right direction. The Squad Barrack numbers were going down. I was going to reach the 3rd Squad pretty soon. When I got to the 6th Squad, I saw Renji running straight ahead of me.

"Renji!"

He turned a little but didn't stop running. I smiled and waved. He smiled too as I caught up with him. I stopped shunpoing, but kept on running. We didn't have any time to waste. We both knew that. And it might not look it, but shunpo takes a lot out of you. I was really tired.

"Momosaki, what are you doing here? I thought you were with Ichigo?"

Well, shit. He still thinks I'm a Soul Reaper. Well, no point in denying anything now. All the Captains know about me. But not the seer excuse though. Now is definitely not the time or place for that. We have other things to focus on.

"Unfortunately Renji, I'm not who I pretend to be. It seems that most people aren't these days... You see, I'm actually a Ryoka. Since I know a lot about the Soul Society, I managed to blend in. But I slipped up and the Captains caught me. I just broke out of jail a few minutes ago."

He looked at me like he'd been slapped.

"Look, I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to deceive you. I just wanted to help Ichigo and Rukia. And if that meant pretending to be a Soul Reaper to get information on her whereabouts, then so be it. My real name's Jenny Kadaline by the way."

My eyes locked with his, telling him I really was sorry. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I... it's okay. I guess I understand. You did what you had to do. To be honest, I sort of guessed that. I mean, you were so familiar with me and I never even saw you before. You also knew a lot about my abilities so I should have known that something was up. I mean, I kind of did but I didn't really dwell on it, ya know? There were more things to worry about especially since Rukia's execution dates were moving up..."

His fists clenched at his sides and I wholehearted agreed with what he was feeling. "And that excuse you gave was pretty vague in itself. Still, I'm glad I got to meet you. Without meeting you and Ichigo, I never would have known who my true enemy was."

He sighed and I nodded with relief. We stayed silent for a couple of minutes.

"Renji, listen to me. If you want to beat Byakuya, you need to get stronger. You need to obtain Bankai and..." I didn't get to finish as Renji spoke in surprise.

"Was it that obvious?"

"Haha, yeah. It was that obvious. Ever since you told me your feelings towards Byakuya. That's who you need to fight right now in order to prove yourself and most of all to save Rukia. As I was saying, you need to obtain Bankai in order to defeat him. Ichigo's training right now with Yoruichi..."

"Wait a minute. Yoruichi Shihoin? The Yoruichi Shihoin, who aided the traitor Urahara Kisuke with his experiments 100 years ago?"

"Yup, that's the one! But you should really get your facts straight. Those are just rumors. You don't even know the half of it."

He scoffed. "Yeah right, and I suppose you do?"

My eyes narrowed as I muttered darkly, "Why yes, I actually do. It's the benefit of being a Ryoka." He raised his eyebrows in shock at the tone I gave. He ignored inquiring about the rest of what I said for fear of angering me even further. I sighed as I shook my head.

"Sorry about that. I shouldn't have gotten so carried away. I just hate it when people accuse others of things they didn't do without first hearing the full story." Renji stared in surprise as he processed what I told him. Let him chew on that for a while. I seriously didn't want to go into detail about why Urahara was innocent and how Aizen framed him.

"Anyway, Ichigo and Yoruichi are training in an underground training center. Follow their spiritual pressure and train with them. The trail will be faint at first but I'm sure you'll find it," I said, trying to pinpoint where the training ground was.

He nodded. "Thanks. I'll be sure to do that. But what about you? Where are you going?"

"Well, I'm on my way to the 3rd Squad. I have a feeling something bad's gonna happen there. Call it gut instinct." I knew he wanted to follow me but he also knew he had other things to attend to. We nodded to each other and smiled, wishing each other a silent goodbye and good luck. We turned on our heels towards our destinations. I started shunpoing again when I felt a huge burst of spiritual pressure. I knew it was Toshiro's. A second one followed and I knew that was Gin's.

Just a little farther! Almost... there!

I stopped and saw Toshiro and Gin getting ready to fight. Momo was lying on the floor and Izuru was standing on the sidelines, dumbstruck in awe.

"Ah, so the Ryoka girl's back, huh?" Gin teased.

"You're damn right I am!"

"My, my, how rude. Someone needs ta teach ya a lesson on how ta talk to yer elders."

By this time, the sky had darkened and Toshiro called out Hyourinmaru. A wave of ice surged forward and I knew that Izuru was in deep trouble. I rushed over to him, calling out to my powers and shouting the first Kido spell that came into mind.

"Bakudo #81, Severing Void!"

A transparent shield formed and blocked the attack. Now that is pure awesomeness, I say!

"Thanks!" Izuru breathed, relieved at being saved. I smiled as I kneeled down next to him on the floor. As the two fought, I decided I had enough time to tell him about who I really was and about me being a seer. It took a couple minutes to explain, but once I had, all hell broke loose.

"What? That's not possible! No one can see the past, present, and future through dreams alone! That's ridiculous, absolutely unheard of!" He was getting angry and I could feel his anger raising. I didn't want to make a scene and have Toshiro or Gin focusing their attention on us so I tried to calm him down. It was understandable that Izuru was acting like this. He was a down to earth kind of guy and settled for logical explanations, much like Toshiro. So to have me say something like this totally goes against his way of thinking.

"But it is true and I can prove it. When you first met Renji, he was trying to prove that he was stronger than you in a match. He landed a really hard blow on your chest which cost him a lot of respect from your classmates. They didn't like how he treated you harshly. But you didn't care and sat next to him during a break. You met Momo and the three of you became best friends. Need I say more?"

"H-how do you know that? The details you put in were way more than what most people could provide. You would have to have been there to recall all that. But you just said yourself that you're a Ryoka, so then how...?"

"That's what I've been trying to you, Izuru. I am a Ryoka and I've never been here before. The only way I know of this is because I saw it with my own eyes through a dream I had. I am a seer. I know the past, present, and future because of what I am." He still had a look of doubt on his face.

"Seer or not... I'm sorry. I want to trust you but-but I cannot. I cannot disobey my orders. As a Lieutenant it is my duty to serve my captain. You're asking me to be wary of him and I can't do that. Not now, not ever. It's true that I might not know what he's doing, but... I trust Captain Ichimaru with my life. I will continue to serve him. That's part of a Soul Reaper's duty, especially as a Lieutenant."

I sighed in disappoint. I thought for sure I would be able to win Izuru over. I turned back to the fight, only to whip around and look at Izuru when he added something else that made my hopes soar.

"But..." He fidgeted with his robes and looked down. I stared, anxiously awaiting what he was going to say.

"But I don't think you're bad or anything. In fact, I think it's very noble of you to go this far to save Ms. Kuchiki. I can understand that. So... I guess you have... a bit... of my trust and admiration. But just a bit," he said nervously and quickly at the end.

Awww, so sweet! Cute little Izuru!

I shook my head and smiled at him. It caught him off guard. "Thanks Izuru, you have no idea how much this means to me. I understand your feelings but I have to implore you to not tell your captain or anyone else about me being a seer. Unless I give the okay, please don't let it get around. I would rather not have people know about this, after all, it is a dangerous ability."

He contemplated this a bit before he nodded. "I understand. Consider this payback for saving me back there. But just this once, okay?"

I grinned at his acceptance and nodded. At least I was making progress with him, right? Even if I didn't gain his complete trust it was still a start. I think at this point I was getting used to the fact that I didn't need to have complete acceptance of who I was from everybody I told that I was a seer. Unbeknownst to me, this fact would help me later on when I talked with Captain Unohana about a couple of pressing issues I had.

He smiled back as we focused our attention to the fight in front of us. I noticed that Gin's sleeve was cut and knew what he was going to do.

"Captain Hitsugaya, he's going to rip his sleeve and throw it at you!" I yelled as Gin was in the process of doing just that, his hands faltering at the sudden outburst. Toshiro used that distraction to bat the sleeve away and shunpoed back over to Gin, sword raised. Without that distraction, Gin would've injured him just like in the anime.

The fight continued until Toshiro managed to encase Gin's arm in ice. I ran over to Momo, unsheathing the zanpakuto I had. I held it in front of me as I turned my body to shield Momo. If Rangiku didn't come and stop Gin's blade, then I would have to. Momo needed to be protected at all costs. She was an important player in the game too even if she didn't have much screen time in the manga or the anime. Better to be safe than sorry. Who knows... maybe my presence here affected the events in Bleach somehow. You could never be too sure. Though I was pretty sure that Rangiku would show up though... at least I hoped she would.

"Duck, Hitsugaya!" Gin's sword came hurling towards him. He got out of the way just in time. Gin chuckled as he noticed Toshiro dodging his sword.

"Ya sure ya wanna dodge that? If you do, they'll die."

"Momo, no!" Toshiro yelled. Geez, what am I? Chop liver? But that thought was short lived as the blade came straight at me.

For some odd reason, I somehow managed to keep my cool even though I was scared as hell. I felt rather than saw the blade coming at me. My heart pounded in my chest. As the blade drew nearer, I swallowed my nervousness and steadied my blade. I smirked as the blade came within reach. It looked like I was on my own now. With that in mind, I sucked in a deep breath and prepared for the consequences that would surely follow.

This is it!

Suddenly, a blur raced right in front of me and blocked it with their own sword. I sat there shocked that I wasn't the one to stop the attack. After a few moments to collect my bearings, I let out a huge sigh of relief and relaxed my grip on the sword.

"Please put away your sword, Captain Ichimaru! Otherwise you will have both of us as your opponents," Rangiku called out. Her sword trembled and began to crack from the strain. Gin saw this and scoffed. He called back Shinso and said to take care of Momo first before worrying about him. He shunpoed away, leaving the rest of us utterly confused. Meanwhile, Gin was also confused as to what just transpired.


Switch POV-Gin

He walked over to the Central 46 Chambers quietly, so as not to draw attention. What would it matter anyway? The Central 46 was already dead and Aizen had his hypnosis working on the rest of the Soul Society. It wouldn't be suspicious for a Captain to be up and about this late at night for the Ryoka had everyone on high alert. Just as Aizen planned. Soul Society would never see it coming.

Inside, he felt a twinge of pity for what was about to happen. But he shook it off just as quickly. There were more pressing issues to worry about. Like whom that girl was...

She knew his moves even before he made them. She even went to Momo before he called out Shinso to protect her. And the way she was acting when his sword came at her. She didn't even blink! Like she knew what was going to happen and that Ran would come and save them. Not to mention her unusually high spiritual pressure when he first saw her. He should report this to Captain Aizen immediately, though he was pretty sure he already knew. He knew Aizen got that subtle hint of hers in the meeting room by the way he was staring at her. Well, things were definitely going to get even more interesting with this girl now involved in the battle. That was for sure.

End POV


Thanks for waiting guys! This is the rewritten chapter that so many of you have been waiting for. It's been like two months and I'm so sorry for that! I've been kind of stressed out with school. I know that's not much of an excuse but I've been trying my best to rewrite this. Thank you to SwirlzSmile for beta reading this chapter and all the others. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this and I'll see you next time!

Review are love!