"WHY...of all people Arel, you had to choose him?"

A man in a Soul Reaper uniform jumped in the air unnoticed by the citizens of Tokyo, he was on a mission to find two people. He appeared to be in his early 20's but in truth he was over half a century old. He scanned the streets for the location he was seeking, he squinted his eyesight, it was starting to give him a headache till he finally found it; the Hospital of Tokyo.

"Bingo." He smirked.

He flew down and his feet met the concrete leading to the entrance.

"I will stop you, little sister." He said to himself.

Rukia jumped. She felt the presence of an unknown Soul Reaper approaching. She and Renji had continued to stay and watch over the lifeless Ichigo most of the day.

"Did you feel that, Renji?" Rukia grasped the handle of her sword.

"Yeah, be on guard." He warned.

Whatever was coming, it's spiritual pressure was somewhat strong but not malicious. Suddenly it vanished.

They were ready. It was silent in the room minus the beeping sounds coming from the machines keeping Ichigo alive.

Then he came, the Soul Reaper came through the door like water.

He had silvery-blue hair, almost spiky. On his hips he carried two swords. But what was the most striking of his appearance was, his eye colors. His left eye was icy-blue and the other a fiery red-orange. And finally on the left side of his face was a scar, it went from his forehead to his temple.

"Who are you?" Renji asked.

"No need to worry, I'm not your enemy." He waved his hands, then he took his swords off his hips and placed them on the floor and smiled.

"Just answer the question." Renji said in a firmer tone.

"I'm Yuji Shankara. 5th seat of squad 12. I'm under orders of Captain Mayuri Kurosutchi to investigate the mysterious fainting of the humans in the World of the Living." He bowed.

"But why didn't he tell us beforehand?" Rukia asked, puzzled.

Yuji shrugged. "I don't know, he never told me there was already people investigating. But..." He paused, and slightly frowned.

"I'm also here for a personal reason and I can't just let it slide. I can put an end to all this, because I know what's going on here."

Renji and Rukia gasped. They let go of their swords.

"Please tell us."

Yuji rubbed and clapped his hands together,

"Alright, I'll make this short; The reason why humans have been falling into a coma is because of my younger sister, her name is Arel. She possesses the ability to drain their Spirit Energy, just like any normal Hollow hunts down their prey. Then she creates an illusion so her victims for the time being to prevent them from struggling against her grasp." He explained. "Any questions?"

"Yeah, how come she hasn't sensed that you're here?" Renji asked.

"I've learned how to turn off my Spirit Energy." The older brother said simply.

"Because," Rukia began, "She sensed us and became hostile." She turned to look at Ichigo.

"That's typical of her, really." Yuji put in. "Back at Karakura, she broke the rules of leaving the house, and followed your friend Ichigo here."

"Wait, she has a house? so she's a living person?" Renji said, baffled.

"Hypothetically, no."

"My question. Why Ichigo?" Rukia asked.

Yuji sighed.

"It's because of his huge Spirit Energy it attracted Arel to want to feed on him. As for your question, Lieutenant Abarai, Arel lives inside a gigai, because she was born as a spirit.."

He paused, and scratched his head, and a sad smile fell upon his face.

"She's a special case, despite her terrible doings she can be sweet sometimes. I'm her only relative and I watch over her. Because of her upbringing, I decided to keep her safe in the World of the Living so the Soul Society doesn't track her down because of the things she does. I've tried helping her change her ways but she just won't do it. She can't help it, she was...born from a Soul Reaper and an Arrancar."

"What?!" Renji exclaimed.

Rukia's eyes widened. "How is that possible? I've never heard of this before."

"It's been kept a secret from the Soul Society. I'd like to answer more questions, but I need to get to work on trying to draw out Arel from your friend here."

"How?" Rukia asked.

"Just step aside and watch. And please try not to disturb me." He walked to Ichigo.

Rukia noticed he was getting thinner and paler as time has gone by, soon he will be dead if nothing else was done. This man may be their only hope of helping him live. She tightened her fists and prayed he would be able to help.

"As I'm doing this, don't get the wrong idea." Yuji smirked with embarrassment.

"Huh? what do you mean?" Said Renji.

Yuji got on the bed, and on top of Ichigo, and he sprawled his hands to hold Ichigo's head and brought his face lower to Ichigo's as if...

Both Soul Reaper's faces turned bright red.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Renji shouted, both he and Rukia flailed their arms wildly.

Yuji stopped, he looked half annoyed and half amused.

"This is how I get close, there's no other way. What's with the cherry faces? I wasn't going to kiss him." He then made an evil smirk, it looked SO SIMILAR to Arel's when she smiled.

"Speaking of cherries, you do look like ice cream sundaes, dark chocolate, and you can be the pineapple with whipped cream on top." He giggled.

"Wipe off that smart-ass smirk and just do your thing already." Renji spat through his teeth.

Rukia rubbed her temples and shook her head, she felt like being surrounded by a couple of children.

"Will do." Yuji's smile disappeared and continued.

Renji whispered to Rukia, "Now I know where Arel gets her personality from."

"Shhh." She hushed him gently.

Yuji lowered his head to Ichigo's forehead, his eyes closed. Some slight Spiritual Pressure blew gently in the air, the machines beeped louder and faster as it grew more and more stronger.

"Open up your Soul to me Ichigo..."