Pieces of an Unsolvable Puzzle

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, shocker; I know!

Momo shivered at the lovely warm feeling the suggestion gave her.

Then she shivered from a sudden surge of cold air. Brisk Mother Nature seemed to have a different idea. She was probably imagining things, but it felt as if the wind was laughing at her fiancé's strong affirmation of their bond together, mocking her. For several years, life and Mother Nature had been throwing her way too many curveballs, teasing her with dreams and fantasies that just usually ended in nightmares. And now, just when Momo was about to have one of the most important days of her life, nature had once again thrown a storm her way.

Bluntly, she was tired of it.

Her eyes fluttered and closed as she leaned comfortably against Toshiro, deciding to ignore the weather outside. Am I just being selfish? This, right here, right now, is it just a dream too?

You know better than that, scolded Tobiume.

She smiled as she felt Toshiro's firm muscles and soft hands supporting her. I know.

While she fell into a peaceful slumber, elsewhere the energy was tense to say the least. "Wait, just go over it again. I still don't understand," growled Ichigo, hands combing angrily through his hair.

Renji rolled his eyes. Yeah, it had taken awhile and a few punches from Rukia to understand the situation, but even he had gotten the gist of it—which was saying quite a lot.

"Ichigo, this is getting ridiculous, just pay attention."

"Why you li-"

"Save the fighting until later!" snapped Rukia looking angrily between her two best friends.

Ichigo shut up. He knew better than to take her over the edge.

"The twin stones in this picture are not just swords; they change to fit the personality of the person or persons they are on at the time. That's why they're so elusive and have only been studied once. Even then, they disappeared after being in the lab for only an hour."

"But Rukia," said Renji suddenly, "how do we know we are even dealing with the twin stones? You have absolutely no proof to take to the higher-ups."

"True, maybe I'm over-reacting, but we can't just sit here. We have to see if this threat is credible!"

Renji frowned. She did have a point, and it wasn't looking like he'd be able to talk her out of it.

"Why do these things matter anyway?" snapped Ichigo, frustration beginning to get the better of him.

"Bakka, these are extremely powerful, and the intruders' styles would coincide greatly with the stones. They are best suited for kido users. If they are connected and brought together; they could cause major damage."

Silence, a very major, awkward silence filled the room. Everyone knew how strong Momo was at kido, but no one felt like verbally pointing out the fact.

"Isn't there more information?" asked Orihime softly, concerned and wanting to break the silence.

"Sorry, at least not in the book," said Rukia. "It reads like not much is known about these twin stones."

Renji knitted his eyebrows together. "Wait, Rukia. There's a footnote."

She screamed and, chocking, closed her mouth before any more water could ram down her throat. The river flailed around her as she tried to kick to the surface. She heard voices; this time there were two. She reached as a hand appeared in her swimming vision. Using her last burst of energy, Momo grabbed the outstretched hand. As her head finally broke the surface, she found herself looking into Toshiro's apathetic face as he floated a couple of inches above the water.

"Shiro?" she chocked. He did not react; his cold face was not focused on her at all. Curiously, she followed his expression, which was fixed on the shoreline. The look was fixed on Shizuka, a younger, hyperventilating, screaming Shizuka. Where hate had been before, something stirred in Momo's heart for the ryoka.

It was pity.

"Toshiro, what's happening?"

He didn't answer. He glared and dropped her back into the raging water. Mid-scream, everything went black.

"You mean, if he had enough power to wipe out us or the main systems, he could take over everything with those!" stuttered Hanaterou at the 13th.

Rukia looked at the deathly pale faces around her. "Looks that way"

"When the two bearers bring the stones together, there could be a major explosion. Bring them together with an advanced kido user and the main frame at the 1st, it means disaster. New king, new squad, and new power for hypnosis attacks; this could be really bad." growled Renji.

"C…c'mon there are so many of us, surely we could take them."

"Well, remember Ichigo. It was difficult enough for five of us and a cat to invade Soul Society and rescue Rukia. They've managed to sneak in and try to take over with about three. They must have unique powers of some sort. Don't underestimate them!" said a certain quincy as he dropped effortlessly from the ceiling.

"Actually, I don't believe it was really that difficult for you," sighed Renji. "Or at least you made it look easy."

Ichigo, totally ignoring Renji, stared in disbelief at the newcomer. "Wait, Uryu, when did you get here? I thought you were staying in Karakura."

"Dad was being very uncharacteristic and gave me the okay. He said he would watch over the town for us. Plus, Chad's there. I officially landed last night; I've been helping Nemu. There's nothing new on that end."

Renji just shook his head, secretly wondering how the brat had managed to bypass his wards. Then he seriously thought about it; it really wasn't that surprising. He could worry about his lack of security later. "Do you always have to act so sneaky?"

"Yeah, why do you care?"

"We've in the middle of a real crisis, so you guys have got to focus!" snapped Rukia. "I guess right now we should fill in Toshiro and Momo. Then, we've just got to find the stones! If they're so powerful, they should leave some type of signature. They can't be that hard to find."

Uryu pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Sorry, Rukia, that just sounds too easy. There's something that we're missing, or these stones would have been found a long time ago."

"Plus, we don't even know if these stones are the real issue. The intruders could be poking around for something else," pointed out Ichigo.

Rukia kicked him.

The hospital room was dark. "I have got to pass these on to someone else," sighed Ikkau, thoroughly bored with his assignment. He had even taken a power nap to refocus, and it hadn't done any good. "And to think, 10 pages down in this blasted thing, still 227 more to go."

He threw the book at Yumichika's head to vent some anger.

He missed.

Momo blinked at the new scene in front of her. Her clothes were dry, and she wasn't shaking anymore. "Wh-"

She stopped abruptly as she stared at the shadowy figure in front of her as her vision cleared. His back was turned away from the captain as he inched through the shadows. Weirdly enough, this odd scenario was much preferred for Momo over the freezing river. Great, I must be dreaming again. It is almost like that last memory that surfaced when Shizuka attacked me.

"Guys! Over here; I heard something." The sound of pounding footsteps on the roof was rapidly approaching.

Shizuka hugged himself against the wall. Out of pure instinct, Momo did the same. She froze as the invader turned towards her, amber eyes bright.

Not having time for any kido, Momo relaxed with relief as it became apparent that Shizuka could not see her. Good, I'm just dreaming again.

"You're nuts. It was probably a bird or something," said a voice from the roof.

"May-"

"Just come on. We have to go check the West Wall."

"Hai!"

As the footsteps faded away, Shizuka began moving once again. Not really having a choice, Momo followed.

Considering that most of the buildings in the Sereitei look the same, it took several moments for Momo to realize that the two of them were in the 1st. Horrified, Momo watched as Shizuka skillfully and silently incapacitated the guards.

He was going straight for the main frame, and, dream or not, it sent shivers down the young captain's spine.

"TOSHIRO!" Momo screamed, picture fading into a swirling white vortex as she jumped up, right hand going instantly to her side.

"Looking for this?" asked a voice. Momo shook her head, begging for her vision to clear.

"Well, let's say that Rukia is right about her twin stone theory. How much time do we have, do you think?" questioned Renji contemplatively.

Ichigo sighed. "It's hard to say."

"Should we inform all of the Captains?" asked Hanaterou worriedly.

"No offense, but things to run smoother around her when everyone does their own thing," argued Uryu.

Personally, Renji agreed. All he had to do was look at any person in the room to verify the point. None of them were the best at following orders, thank goodness, so working without proper authorization wouldn't be an issue. "They wouldn't believe us if we told them anyway. One book doesn't count as proof."

Rukia sighed with frustration. "You don't think they would be cruel enough to attack during the wedding, do you?"

"Ichigo, where are you going?" cried out Orihime suddenly. Everyone turned to see Ichigo standing up on the window sill, the rising sun highlighting his hair with a brilliant orange. It made him look like a pretty impressive figure.

"Well, sitting around here isn't going to solve anything. Let's move. People need to go to Toshiro's, people need to go to Momo's, and people need to go to the main frame if we think that's the most susceptible area of attack."

Renji actually smiled; that pose brought back some powerful memories. "Hai!"

Meanwhile, Momo tried to fight down her rising panic, once more reaching for her sword.

"Momo, relax, I have it; I have Tobiume." whispered Toshiro, placing his arms gently on her shoulders as his fiancé finally became aware of her surroundings, not that she was showing him any signs to make him aware of this fact.

Her blank, yet wild, expression scared him.

Momo quickly grabbed the sword, nodded in thanks to a very, very disturbed Toshiro and started running as quickly as she could, grateful to feel her zanpaktou and the strength it provided her with in her hands again.

Of course, Toshiro, being the prodigy that he was, was faster still. "Hold on a minute. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO EXACTLY?" he snapped, stepping in front of her to force her to halt, ice in his eyes, sweat running down his forehead.

"The ryoka, he's breaking into the main frame."

"Wha…Momo, it was just a dream."

"It was…but it wasn't." she pleaded.

Toshiro's heart was thumping too loud as he looked at those chocolate irises, those determined chocolate irises. This doesn't make any sense. I have to get her to bed; she can't make it to the 1st like this.

"Okay, then let me go check it out…alone."

"No, until death do us part, remember!"

"Exactly, I want you alive. If you run yourself to death now, there is really no point, is there?" pleaded Toshiro, trying to stop her with some logic.

"I swear; it's happening…I'm not crazy. We have to go, together."

He looked at her, hard. He couldn't stand that look on her face. He sighed and fought down his rising dread. "Okay, but my orders go." I guess if I won't believe you, who will?

"Would you hurry up!" scolded Rukia.

Renji buried the urge to punch something, mainly her. "I'm going as fast as I can."

"Well, then go faster. Now, why now!" grumbled Rukia to herself.

Renji grabbed her hand, shaking her out of her reverie. "We have to turn up here."

"Oh, yeah"

The red-haired shinigami just shook his head. Like usual she is keeping all of her fears to herself; she hasn't changed a bit.

"Rukia, just trust me, we're going to make it. We're going to figure it out. We've gotten through way worse than this, right?" urged Renji, giving her hand an extra squeeze, reading his childhood friend easily.

Rukia smiled at him, reading between the lines. "Right"

Toshiro worked on keeping his breathing regular as the midmorning sun beat on them. Only two more divisions left. Considering how much I've been running around over the past couple of days, I should be a pro at this. His eyes narrowed as he watched Momo. While her breathing was labored, it was steady. Pure adrenaline was keeping her going.

She glanced over at him, drawn by the intense look, yet lost in her own confused thoughts. "You would never drop me in a river, right?"

"Where…in the world did that come from?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering. Sorry, the dreams are just starting to get to me."

"Momo, I would not let that happen to you in a million years. Remember, they're just dreams."

"Hey, guys!" yelled Ichigo as he barreled into Momo's living quarters.

The people he was expecting weren't there.

Someone else was though.

~Hinakyrie

Okay, thank you so much for reading this! Please, please, please review! I want some input and ideas for the next couple of chapters. What do you guys want to read? I have some ideas, but there are still things I have left open.