CHAPTER…(Dramatic Pause)….. TEN!

My gosh, I cannot believe I actually got this far. I seriously thought I'd flunk out and get flamed by the second chapter.

But I haven't! Huzzah!

Disclaimer: When I get MR and Bleach, not only you guys, but everyone in the world will know. Look out for a crazy red head screaming 'I HAVE WINGS AND A ZANPAKUTŌ, GET OUTTA MY WAY!' Because that will be me :3

On with the story!

I was asleep, I was almost certain I was.

Almost…

"Max?" A voice called, I looked around, seeing nothing but… well, nothing. It was completely black in my dream. How cliché.

"Who's there?" I yelled into the abyss. Taking an experimental step forward, I inched in the direction the familiar sound had come from.

"Max? It's me."

"You're gonna have to be a little more specific. I don't remember meeting any 'Me's in my life," I replied.

"It's Iggy!"

"Iggy? What're you doing in my dream, Ig?" I questioned, straightening up.

There was a small huff. "That's my line! I'm the one asleep here!"

I made my way towards the faint outline that I guessed was Iggy, who was looking around for me. I grabbed onto his arm; he felt the same, so he must be real…right?

"How about we settle on this, we're both dreaming," I proposed. He nodded after a moment, shrugging lightly.

"Alright, then how are we talking to each other? And where'd you go, Max?" He asked me, sounding very confused.

"…Ig, I'm dead."

"…"

"…"

"No, seriously..."

I smacked the strawberry blonde across the head, sighing. "I'm not kidding, Iggy! Why would I joke about that?"

He whined, rubbing his head. "Fine, if you're dead, how are we talking?"

"I…haven't figured that out yet," I admitted, frowning. How were we talking? I had gone to sleep that night, and Iggy was real, yet meant to be in the world of the living, so… how were we right in front of each other?

"Well… you said that you fell asleep, right? Maybe it's a telepathic thing," Iggy suggested, I blinked.

"You know, after seeing the things we have, I'm ready to believe just about anything… Has Angel ever been able to do this with you, or anything like it?"

After thinking for a moment, the strawberry blonde shook his head. "No, have any of your dead friends heard of it?" He asked.

My eye twitched at the 'dead friends' comment, but ignored it. "Not that I know of, I'll ask around, maybe it's happened before."

"In the meantime… do you have any idea what this place is?"

"Nope, do-. What the hell is that?!" I shouted, covering my ears as a harsh ringing sound filled the abyss.

"I have no idea. What happened?" Iggy asked, covering his ears, too. We looked around for any signs, but were met by nothing but the ringing sound. A moment later, the echoing of footsteps was added to our surroundings.

"Iggy, what's wrong? Wake up!" A voice said faintly, our eyes widened.

"Max? What's happening?" Iggy asked me frantically.

"I don't know!"

I reached out for my brother, but my hand went right through the middle of his chest; what used to be a solid body slowly disappeared, like sand in my hand.

"Iggy!"

I lurched upwards, into sitting position in my bed. I panted heavily, before looking at my alarm clock. It was the same sound as the one I heard in the... whatever that was.

"What's wrong with you?" Asked a voice; I spun around and glared at Hitsugaya. He stared back blankly, resting comfortably against my window.

"Nothing's wrong, why do you ask?" I lied, getting out of the bed and stretching.

Hitsugaya snorted, rolling his eyes. "You've been calling for some 'Iggy' for the past two minutes. Bad dream?"

I narrowed my eyes. "No. Now will you leave so I can get ready?"

The white haired midget didn't give me a response, other than turning and jumping out of my window. I slammed it shut and went to the bathroom, washing up for the day.

Academy students had the weekend off for once, yesterday had mostly been studying kidō. I had one day left before I had to go back to school, so I had conned Hitsugaya into taking me to Ukitake. He agreed on the condition that I spend less than two afternoons with Rangiku per week. That could probably be easy enough, seeing as I could only handle the woman in small amounts.

"Time to go," I announced, locking my dorm and following Hitsugaya towards the Seireitei.

"Iggy… He was the kid from the alley, right?" Hitsugaya said after a minute. I looked over at him, surprised. What was his sudden interest?

"Yeah, that's him."

"He's your brother?" I nodded, looking ahead once more. "You don't look alike at all…"

We paused outside one of the four large gates, ducking under the opening the giant man made for us. "He isn't my biological brother."

"Did you have one?"

I slowed down slightly, taking in the Seireitei again. It was a pretty nice place to visit, but really easy to get lost –and wander into jerks- in. "I had a half-brother once. I killed him, then he came back to life, then he was killed again."

Hitsugaya halted, staring at me with a quirked eyebrow. "You're very strange, Max," He said. Pfft, as if I didn't already know that.

"You know, I think I've already accepted that," I replied.

We started walking again, and arrived in front of Squad Thirteen ten minutes later. Two shinigami were arguing on who got to greet us, and others just stared curiously. The two ran over, the man stared greeting us.

"Welcome to Squad Thirteen! Ukitake-taichou is-,"

"-Waiting for you inside!" The woman with dark blonde hair ended, smiling.

This, of course, set off another argument. "Hey! That was my line, Kiyone! Go find someone else to greet!"

"There is nobody else, Sentarō!"

Hitsugaya sighed heavily and stepped around the two butting heads. I followed after him, into the barracks.

"Ukitake!" He called, pushing a door open. The white haired man inside looked up with a smile, a pot of tea was already steaming away on the table.

"Ah, Hitsugaya-taichou, Max-chan," He greeted us. "Please, have a seat."

I sat down quickly, while Hitsugaya folded his arms. "I can't stay. Some of us have work. I'll be back later to take you home, Max," He announced, turning and leaving hastily.

"Well… how have you been, Max-chan?" Ukitake asked, pouring a cup of tea for the both of us. I shrugged, sipping my tea.

"Fine, I guess… actually, I have a question for you," I admitted.

"Really? What would it be?" He inquired, sipping from his cup, before looking at me with curiosity.

"Is it possible for a soul in the World of the Living to contact a dead person through a dream?" Ukitake looked a little surprised at the question – I know I would-, but answered after a moment anyway.

"I myself have never witnessed something like that. But if there has been that before, I'm sure there's a document of it. Would you like to look for it?" He offered, I nodded. "There is a condition, though. Why do you wish to know this?"

I paused, biting my lip. Ukitake had been really nice, even visited me a few times, but would he freak out? I got the feeling he wouldn't, and sighed.

"I think… I think it happened to me."

Ukitake's eyebrows rose for a moment, before lowering. He nodded, standing up. "Well, then. Let's go have a look in the Daireishokairō."

"The…what?"

"It's the Great Spirit Library, it contains the history of the Soul Society."

"Iggy, what's wrong! Wake up!"

The boy jumped up, pulled from his dream…vision…thing. He glanced around, but sighed. He saw nothing but the same darkness as always. He heard Nudge's voice blabbering worriedly to his right, and who seemed to be Fang in front of him.

"Ig, what's wrong?" The other boy asked tensely.

Iggy panted, trying to make sense of what had happened. He had talked to Max, he felt her hand. She had been right there, and then he had slipped back into reality…

"We need to talk to Jeb," He announced, shooting to his feet.

"What? Iggy, what's wrong with you? The only reason he's even in Karakura is because of Dr Martinez, and she's leaving soon!"

Fang seemed angry, and confused. Iggy just shook his head. "I need to ask him something."

"What about?" Nudge asked, walking forward with another set of feet.

"About Max," Angel said for him, coming into the conversation.

A silence hung over the group; the only sounds were the early-morning walkers outside of the alley, and Gazzy's snoring.

Fang grabbed onto Iggy's arm, in the same place Max's feather –oh the irony- light touch had settled what seemed to be hours before. What was wrong with his internal clock?

"Is that true, Iggy? Why do you need to ask Jeb about her?" Fang practically hissed in his ear.

Iggy shrugged the elder boy's hand off, folding his arms. "Because, I talked to her."

He didn't expect them all to jump up and agree with him, really. He was more likely expecting Fang to boot him off to some asylum to be checked for insanity. So he was a little shocked when her soft voice said…

"He's telling the truth."

She really was an angel at times, that little girl.

"Nope… nope… nope… There's nothing about telepathic connection through worlds in this one, either," I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "I'm sorry about wasting your time like this, Ukitake."

The man smiled at me, patting my shoulder. "That's alright, Max-chan. Things like this take time; you can't expect to find what you're looking for in a place like this on your first try."

"But it's already ten o'clock and we're only on, what? 107 AD, that's just great!"

Ukitake smiled again, "You're very impatient, Max-chan. How about you return to your dorm? I'll keep searching tomorrow."

I looked up, blinking. "You'd do that?"

"Of course I would, Max-chan." He nodded, shutting the computer file directory down and leading me back to the exit.

"Thank you so much, Ukitake."

He shrugged, locking the several locks on the door. "It's nothing, Max-chan."

"Well, it's about time." I turned around, spotting the midget leaning against the outside wall.

My eyes narrowed. "Do you do that to make me feel like we've been keeping you waiting, or are you just always annoying?" I asked.

Hitsugaya's eye twitched. "Hey, it's not my fault you took so long!"

"How'd you even know we were here, anyway?"

"Ukitake left a note for me," He explained, holding up a small piece of paper. That smartass.

The eldest here chuckled, and we turned to Ukitake with raised eyebrows. "What?" We asked in unison.

"Nothing; why don't you take Max-chan home now, Hitsugaya-taichou?" He said, hiding a smile behind his hand.

Hitsugaya grunted, pushing off the wall. "Sure. Let's go, brat."

I scoffed, bowing. "See you around, Ukitake."

"Of course, bye, Max-chan," He said, waving as Hitsugaya led me away.

I turned to look at the shortie, tapping my chin. "You're extra moody today, what happened?" I questioned, gaining his attention.

"What makes you think something happened?"

"You're easier to annoy."

"Ah."

I rolled my eyes, he glanced at me as we exited the Seireitei. "What?" he demanded.

"Nothing…"
_

Knock, knock, knock

The man opened his hotel door, blinking. Two children, and a tall boy with unseeing eyes.

"Jeb," Iggy said solemnly. "We need to talk about Max."

Hello!

SO, I thought I might just put some more of the Flock into the story. Because, hey, they're a pretty big part of this, as well. Question time! (This is for the story, so lease don't think I'm annoying)

Should Max have an inner hollow? That would make her a vizard, and I think it would be awesome, because then she would meet Shinji and Hiyori

I'd also love any more suggestions on Max's abilities. ALSO! If she is going to be apart of this battle with the arrancars (Which she is) she will need some opponents!

I've posted a character sheet if you want to help me make some enemies for dear Maximum.

To the reviewers!:

WingedHero540: That could really work. Thank you so much for the suggestion

MorganBanner: *le gasp* I would never tell you to f*ck off, you're benefiting the story! Those idiots need lives, in my opinion. Thank you, I shall try and get around to fixing the chapters. About the special 'o', I just find it easier. I've seen too many stories where there are fights on how they spell Tōshirō. It's best to just nullify that as much as possible

NocturnalBeast: Thank you! God, with all these expectations, I'm starting to think I'll let everyone down when Max gets her zanpakutō… wish me luck!

SkyEra: Thank you for bringing that to my attention, I'm going to try and make it so that in their encounters (soon to be released) that most of their love evaporates, it seems like the rational thing to do. I can't have Max falling in love/ tripping others into love or else it's just gonna seem a little Mary-sure-ish of Max

fushigiarisu13: Hahaha, Max and Grimmjow should be a funny encounter. Thanks for the review!

Vani Parfait: Vani's account has been fixed, huzzah! Cotton candy is NOM! Yes, Ukitake would have no problem at all! I should have added in Ichigo and Max's meal time, but I didn't. Damn. Maybe another time. Thank you for you review, you are very awesome!

RuneSabre: Mmmmhmm Matsumoto = Nudge + boobs + weapon. *Nods* You are very observant with people's zanpakutō releases. I shall take this into account when designing Max-chan's zanpakutō. Thank you very much!

fayfan: Yay for bipolar weather/countries! I actually think Max going both places would be good. I'll probably do that… Thank you so much for the review!

Later,

-Shinigami