THE FINAL EDITED CHAPTER! Yay! Hopefully now I can start writing it anew, but updates will probably be few and far between until I finish my Kaidoh story. I just wanted to go ahead and get this done, and have the idea in my head so I can easily come back to it. Now, on with the story!

A very happy Izumi was walking home after another great day at the Shoten. She was even whistling a little tune and there was an unmistakeable bounce in her step. According to Urahara, her skills were improving and he would start creating her new weapons the next day! Tomorrow seemed like a secret surprise that Izumi was so excited to discover. Then she sensed it.

A hollow. A new hollow, too; it didn't have much reiatsu. It was near the place Izumi had seen the dandelion head and the shinigami girl a few nights before. Without a second thought, Izumi unsheathed her katana and took off towards it. Okay, today's events took a little dive but it's still all good. Easy!

A few minutes into the run, all traces of the hollow disappeared completely. Eh? It's gone! Someone else must have gotten it, I suppose... Might as well just check the house then, make sure everyone's okay. She ran around a few corners and crossed the street to find the

Yep, this is the place. They've covered the hole in the wall, though. But not many houses have huge, gaping craters in their homes. It seemed even more damage had been done to the house, fresh damage. Hmm... what's that?

Two figures came out of the house and ran down the street. They were the same two people she saw a few days before. Ah, it's dandelion head and the shinigami! Nice pajamas, shinigami girl! The shinigami girl climbed onto the boy's back, gripping his shihakushou to hold on, and they ran off into the night.

It took a few moments to register but Izumi eventually realized that they were running somewhere and she quickly took off to catch up with them. Just then, she felt the spiritual pressure of the hollow return. The two were making a beeline right towards the hollow's location. She stayed back far enough to hide in the shadows and she decided to lock her spiritual pressure inside her katana for the time being.

Izumi managed to catch some of the shinigami's explanation about why spirits become hollows and gathered that this hollow must have been the spirit of some dead relative of whoever it was going after now. A hollow with a vendetta is very bad news... Maybe this time I can get there in time to stop it, she thought sadly before speeding up even more. It was not going to happen again. She'd make sure of it.

Oh wow, Izumi thought, as she tried to register the scene before her. Every detail had to be committed to memory so she could inform Urahara of what happened, but she was having a hard time going over it in her head. She never expected to see anything like that.

From watching the fight, Izumi had learned that this hollow was the soul of the redhead's older brother who had died in a car accident and had become lonely when the redhead slowly stopped praying for him. His depression made him a target for other hollows to turn him and he came back to kill her.

It turned out, though, that the soul of the brother was still inside of the hollow. The girl, Orihime, jumped in front of the hollow and hugged its face as she explained her reason for no longer praying was to show his spirit that she was happy and he could leave her to find peace.

Izumi didn't even know it was possible for the human soul of a hollow to fight the hollow side and take over again. But somehow this man managed to do so and, after saying a final goodbye to his sister, plunged the zanpakutou into his own chest.

Deciding that this was a bit too much information to absorb, she pulled a small notepad out of her cloak and quickly jotted down the names of everyone involved and a few of the details she would likely forget. Ichigo and Rukia, you two did a good job today. And Orihime did too, but her memory will be erased so she won't remember any of it.

With one last glance to make sure everything was all right, Izumi leaped into the air and took off to her home. That night had ended well. I'll tell Urahara about this tomorrow morning. Right now I need a nice bath and some sleep.

"... and that's what happened. That kid, Ichigo, he's progressing nicely on his own, ne?" Izumi asked Urahara the next day. They were sitting together in the front of the store as Izumi told him about the previous night's strange occurrences. He hid his thoughtful expression behind his fan as he silently went over it in his head. With a small sigh he flipped his fan closed and placed it inside his haori.

"Quite. We'll see what happens next. For now though, there's work to do!" he sang cheerfully, rising to his feet and shoving a broom into Izumi's hand. She sweatdropped and began to protest that she'd done everything already that morning, then a thought hit her. Urahara was starting to leave the room but Izumi quickly ran over to the door and picked up a very large canvas she had brought with her. She planted her feet firmly and swung it around a few times like she was throwing a hammer in the Olympics.

"Heads up, Urahara!" she called as she launched it at him. He turned around in surprise and THUNK! It got him right in the stomach and he was thrown from his feet through the doorway into the next room.

"It's the keiro-sekkai you asked for yesterday! I didn't know how much of it you needed so I figured this was a safe amount!" she called impishly as she picked up the broom and started sweeping the floor.

She heard some low gasping noises from the hallway but happily started to hum a little tune to drown it something small hit her in the back of her neck and she spun around. Her eyes scanned the room suspiciously. Nothing was there except for the hole Urahara had left in the sliding door.

Okay, where are you hiding, you little brat? Her eyes scanned the doorway and the aisles until she was sure that she didn't see anything. She growled to herself and started sweeping again. I know you're here, I can feel your presence.

And then she got hit again. "Okay Jinta, come out here and shoot things at me like a man, you little brat! I'll squash you like the bug you are!" she yelled to the store. Silence. Oh, I'm on to you, little man. You're going down.

She heard an almost silent whistle and spun around, clasping her hand in mid-air. She opened her palm and saw a little ball of paper. Eww, it's covered in spit! A flash of red came from the doorway and Izumi's eyes narrowed, like a predator catching sight of its prey. Gotcha.

With cat-like reflexes she pounced on the little boy and had him pinned to the floor. "Well, look what I've caught," Izumi sneered. She grabbed his ankles and hoisted him up upside-down. The little black pendant she'd told Ururu to give to him hung out of his shirt and Izumi smiled slightly. Which quickly turned evil.

Still holding him by the ankle, she started slowly climbing down the rope into the training room. About half-way down, she took his ankle and wrapped the rope around it so he was nice and stuck. Upside-down. "Ja ne, little man!" she cackled as she continued climbing down.

When she reached the bottom Urahara was looking at her strangely. "Ah, music to my ears," she said with a sigh as Jinta's screams echoed around the room. He looked up an had to hide him amused smile behind his fan. "So, what's on the agenda today?"

"Actually, nothing."

"Nani? Dost mine ears deceive me?" she teased. "I don't think you've let me off one day since I've been working here.

"Until your new weapons are made, you can't really train in combat. You've passed the tests for speed, stamina, spiritual awareness. I can't think of anything else to do yet."

Izumi scratched her head and thought for a second. Hmm, what to do, what to do... Suddenly, whispers that Izumi could barely hear startled her, and she spun around wildly to find the source.

Urahara watched her with confusion. "Is everything okay, Izumi?"

She looked around suspiciously. Is this another test? Am I supposed to do something with these sounds? All she could tell was that the voice was female and her voice was very quiet.

Ask if you can meet the spirit of his sword.

The voice sounded louder, and both Urahara and Izumi looked down at Urahara's cane. The he looked back up at her. "You heard that?" he questioned. She nodded and his eyes widened. "But how? A shinigami shouldn't be able to hear another shinigami's zanpakutou, especially when it's not released at all."

Miki shook her head, just as lost. "I'm not a shinigami, so I guess it's different for me." She watched Urahara withdraw Benihime and release her shikai. Her voice grew even louder, repeating the same request.

"Is there a way I could go inside Benihime? To meet her?"

He rubbed his whiskers in thought. "I've never tried it before. Nobody's ever suggested the idea before. It's worth a try, I guess." He flipped Benihime and held the hilt end out to her.

She held Benihime infront of her and closed her eyes, listening to Benihime's voice. After a few moments, she reopened them and looked at Urahara. "So... what am I supposed to do?"

He face-faulted.

"I don't know, I've never done it before!"

"Well neither have I! Help me!"

"Fine!" he walked behind her and grabbed the end of the hilt with his right hand. Izumi didn't notice his other hand wrap around her waist. She closed her eyes again, focusing on the sound of Benihime.

"Concentrate your energy on hearing her speak, then follow the voice," he whispered lowly in her ear. Within seconds Izumi's mind left her body.

The darkness slowly transformed into a large clearing surrounded by trees. Flowers were growing in the tall grass by her feet and the sound of water rushing over a waterfall came from somewhere behind her. There were a few oddities, such as a deep red river flowing through the bright blue sky, but everything came together with a certain beauty that Izume couldn't describe. "Well, this isn't quiet how I would have pictured it."

"Oh? And what did you expect?" a soft voice questioned. Izumi recognized the voice as the one she followed in and she spun around to face it. Standing behind her was, in the simplest terms possible, the most beautiful woman Izumi had ever seen. She was tall, slender, with full red lips and deep black eyes. A crimson and gold crown topped gorgeous, wavy black hair that cascaded down her pale shoulders. She was wearing a very elegant dress of deep red and black vine accents. This was Benihime?

"Konnichiwa, Izumi-san," she greeted with a warm smile.

"Konnichiwa, Benihime-sama," Izumi replied with a deep bow. Benihime began to laugh, a deep rich sound that filled the misty void of the room.

"There's no need for formalities, Izu-chan. Please, just Benihime." She grinned and started walking towards the forest surrounding them and Izumi quickly fell in step beside her. As they got closer to the trees Izumi noticed that their trunks were covered in red vines, just like Benihime's dress. They pulsed with energy, almost like veins with blood.

"How did you know that I would be able to come here?" Izumi asked out of curiousity. Benihime's eyes took on a mischevious glint.

"I know a lot more than I'm given credit for. Kisuke's mind gets clouded sometimes by various things: thoughts of the future, sensing hollows and other shinigami..." She paused and smirked. "Women." Izumi blushed and rolled her eyes. "But I pay attention to everything. And I've had an odd feeling about you since you came to the Shoten. There's been a slight connection between us that I don't understand."

"That's why I could hear your voice," Izumi realized.

"Right. And now we've established that you can come to my world, something only Kisuke should be able to do. It's intriguing."

A thought occurred to Izumi and she looked around. "Wait, why isn't Urahara here too?"

Benihime smiled slyly. "He didn't follow you. His mind is still in his world, holding your body while you talk to me. Don't worry," she told a startled Izumi, "he isn't doing anything inappropriate. But I dare say he's enjoying himself."

Izumi groaned and hid her face in her palms. "He's such a hentai!"

Benihime placed her hand on Izumi's shoulder in a mock-comforting way. "I know," she said solemnly. "You'd better go back before he defiles your body."

"EH?"

She smiled. "Just a joke. You should probably go back now anyway. We'll have to experiment more with this later. It was nice to meet you, Izu-chan."

"And you, Benihime-sama," Izumi replied, dipping into a bow. Benihime laughed gently and the world slowly began to fade into the mist, just as it had come.

Izumi's eyes snapped open. It took a minute for her to regain herself. The she remembered where she was and how she was standing with Urahara.

"Izu-chan?" he whispered in her ear. Her eyes she realized exactly what position they were in. Urahara tightened his grip around her waist and caught her eyes as she turned her head. They were nose-to-nose, frozen in time. A dull blush was spreading over Izumi's cheeks and her breaths were getting shorter and quicker. Her heart was pounding against her ribcage. Nothing was registering in her mind.

"HENTAI!" she screamed out, stealing herself from his grasp and bringing her foot up to roundhouse kick him in the jaw and send him sailing away through the air to land painfully on a boulder.

Izumi stood, breathing heavily and shook her head, trying to keep dangerous thoughts away. She looked down and saw Benihime, glimmering in the dust. She could sense Benihime's laughter at what had happened and her already red cheeks deepened in mortification.

She started towards the far end of the training room, planning to run home and never show her face again, when she saw that Jinta was still hanging from the rope ladder. Oh no! He saw us!

I got another review, and I shall now respond to it.

Pickles-sensei: I sent you a PM saying pretty much exactly what I'm saying now, but I still wanted to respond here like I usually do. I appreciate you taking the time to review and giving me some criticism, but I'm going to continue using Japanese words when I think I should. I don't use that many that aren't proper nouns and in their context I think it's not difficult to determine their meaning. And this is my story after all, written primarily for my own enjoyment. I'm sorry, but this is how I will continue to write my story. Again, thank you for the review!

I have no idea when the newest chapter will be, but maybe within the month. That's what I'm aiming for!