A/N: Hello ^^ This week was another working-on-fanfic-during-school-hours week. So I finished this chapter surprisingly quickly =P As promised, I have updated early. Enjoy!

Chapter 11 – A peaceful dinner

"Wait…Uh…"

"Leila."

"Yea, wait, Leila-san, you said I gave you these powers?" Satsuki asked while stepping back. Her back touched the wall. Shoot, nowhere to run, Satsuki cursed in her mind.

"Yes and in return, I'll do you a favour and give you your lost memories back." Leila beat her wings once to show off.

Satsuki frowned at the sight of Leila's wings. Her wings were a bit tattered, slightly frayed at the bottom, like old fabric. The wings are very unsightly, with a murky white colour and feathers that look very dry and unkempt, unlike the wings I have. Satsuki thought and widened her eyes. What the...'the wings I have'…? What is wrong with me? I've been saying weird things all day. Satsuki shook her head violently to clear her head.

Leila laughed and pointed at Satsuki, "The facial expression you just made was priceless." Still giggling, she plucked a feather off her wings and held it out to Satsuki.

The feather was ragged and resembled a brownish colour rather than white. "Just hold this feather for a while and you're memories will come back," Leila said after mumbling to herself.

Satsuki stared at her and then the feather suspiciously.

"Oh, come on. This is a once in a lifetime chance! Don't you want to know why you're having headaches and strange thoughts all the time?"

Don't trust her, a voice in her head warned. But Satsuki dismissed the warning. She was tempted by the offer. She wanted to know the reason behind the secretive conversations Rukia and the others were having all the time. She wanted to know why Rukia kept looking at Satsuki with a wistful expression on her face every time she thought Satsuki wasn't looking. Most of all, she wanted to know why she kept seeing weird images and having thoughts that never makes sense.

Satsuki help out her hand to grab the feather on Leila's hand.

Leila smiled triumphantly as she watched Satsuki reach for the feather. I've never seen anyone as gullible as you, Leila sneered in her head.

Just as Satsuki was going to touch the feather, Leila was suddenly knocked aside. Satsuki, surprised by the abrupt turn of events, sat back on her bed and stared at the scene in front of her.

Leila was held against the wall by her throat by a girl in black clothes.

It's the strange girl again, Satsuki realised, astonished.

"Can't…breathe…" Leila chocked out, feebly hitting the black-haired girl's hand.

But the girl didn't let go, instead her grip tightened and Leila's face started to change colour from lack of oxygen.

"S…stop it," Satsuki yelled. Oh my God! Satsuki screamed in her head. What the heck is happening here, seriously? Someone wake me up from this nightmare!

There was a small knock from the door and Rukia poked her head into Satsuki's room.

"Is everything ok?" Rukia raised her eyebrows at Satsuki's dishevelled form.

Shakily, Satsuki pointed to the wall opposite her. Rukia looked at the direction Satsuki was pointing to.

"Uh…. There's nothing there," Rukia said, frowning.

"Say what?" Satsuki breathed and looked at the wall. The two girls were gone. Satsuki groaned and ran her hand through her long, wavy hair. She laughed forcefully, "My bad, I was still half asleep."

Rukia shook her head helplessly, "Dinner is starting soon, and my elder brother and Ulquiorra are here."

"They are here already?" Satsuki looked at the clock; it showed 6:03 p.m. "I'll be down in a sec."

"'Kay," with that, Rukia disappeared back downstairs.

Satsuki sighed heavily. You shouldn't trust people that easily, a voice rang out in her head. Shut up, she yelled at the voice, leave me alone. Satsuki rubbed her face, annoyed.

...

Ten minutes later, Satsuki emerged from her room with freshly applied make-up and wore a pink tank top accompanied by a cute, black mini-skirt. She stood in the doorway that led to the dining room. Sitting around the circular oak table were Rukia and the students from Karakura High and two strangers.

They must be Ulquiorra Cifer and Byakuya Kuchiki, Satsuki thought, but which is which? She turned to Rukia for help.

Smiling, Rukia pointed to Ulquiorra, who was sitting between Byakuya and Orihime, "This person is Ulquiorra Cifer, the 4th Espada and also Orihime-chan's boyfriend."

"Eh? You never told me you had a boyfriend," Satsuki said to Orihime, who blushed and hid her face in Ulquiorra's shoulder. Ulquiorra nodded to Satsuki in acknowledgement.

"This is my elder brother, Byakuya Kuchiki," Rukia gestured to the man beside Ulquiorra.

The elder Kuchiki looked at Satsuki with a blank expression but his eyes showed quiet anticipation.

"My name is Satsuki Yamane. Pleased to meet you, Kuchiki-san. I have heard many great things about you from Ru-chan." Satsuki held out her hand and smiled politely.

Byakuya nodded and shook Satsuki's hand, still having a blank expression. But Rukia saw that Byakuya's eyes showed disappointment and sadness. She knew Byakuya was going through a lot of pain and longed to share it his sorrow, but the Kuchikis are strong people; she would not allow herself to damage his pride.

There was only one free space left at the table, so Satsuki ended up sitting between the Kuchiki siblings.

"Rukia," Satsuki said halfway through the meal.

"Yes?"

"Is it alright to be like this?"

"What do you mean?" Rukia looked at Satsuki, surprised by such a peculiar question.

"I mean, aren't you here on a mission? Are you sure it's ok to spend the time like this?"

"Oh…uh…the need for me to take action hasn't come yet."

"Oh…" Satsuki nodded slowly. She stared at the moon outside.

There were glass doors in the dining room that led to the veranda and backyard. They were originally going to have a BBQ outside but Orihime complained about bugs so they had no choice but to hold the BBQ indoors.

Should I tell Rukia about the two girls that were in my room before? Satsuki thought as she chewed her food. Would she believe me? She recalled the scene where the black-haired girl was holding the violet-haired girl by her throat. The black-haired girl must be the enemy; she used sch violent ways to stop Leila-san from giving me my memories back. But Leila-san was quite suspicious too. Satsuki thought of Leila's smile and shuddered internally. She was so freaking creepy… Next time I see those two, I'm gonna sprint away in the opposite direction. Satsuki decided.

"Tsuki…Satsuki!"

Satsuki's train of thought was broken by being shaken vigorously on the shoulder and Rukia's voice shouting her name.

"What's wrong?" Satsuki looked at Rukia's worried face.

"I should be the one asking that. You've been spacing out for ages now," Rukia huffed. Everyone at the table was staring at the duo. Satsuki laughed, "I was just lost in thought, is all."

Everyone still kept on looking at her.

"Seriously, don't mind me. Ah, look, the food's getting cold." Satsuki looked at the barbeque stove and piled meat upon meat on the cooking device.

The delicious smell of food made everyone stop staring at Satsuki and return to their mean and the room was soon filled up with happy chatting once again.

Except one.

Satsuki turned to her right and looked at Byakuya questioningly. After a while, he gave her a small smile and continued eating. Satsuki also returned to her meal, mulling over Byakuya's strange attitude and for some reason, she was feeling a bit self-conscious.

Ichigo, who was sitting next to Rukia, nudged Ichida in the ribs and said, without taking his widened eyes off the elder Kuchiki, "Did you see that?"

"Yea, he smiled; actually smiled!" Ishida kept his voice low but he couldn't contain his excitement and surprise. Chad nodded his head but didn't say anything.

The three boys continued to glance at Byakuya occasionally, in case he smiled again.

Curious, Orihime leaned in, "Why do you guys keep looking at Kuchiki-san?"

"Is it that obvious?" Ichigo looked at Orihime, half-way through chewing. Looks like his acting normal skills haven't improved.

"…A bit. So, what's got you three curious?"

"The elder Kuchiki smiled at Satsuki-san," Chad said quietly to her.

"What…Did you just say, 'the elder Kuchiki smiled at Satsuki-chan'?"

"Yea," the three boys replied at the same time.

"I think you guys have drunk too much coke."

"You can't get drunk from coke, Inoue-san." Ishida said.

"But you can get high on it."

"Orihime, Byakuya Taichou is also capable of smiling, see, he is doing it again." Ulquiorra said calmly and gestured to Byakuya with his head.

All four turned their heads in unison. They saw that Byakuya and Satsuki were having a conversation. Even though they can't hear the conversation, they could tell it was a pleasant one. Every now and then, Byakuya would give a small smile.

"Wow…its true…" Orihime whispered.

"See, looks like he really is human," Ichigo said, still staring at the duo.

"It is rude to stare," Rukia said sharply.

All of them cleared their throats and sat up straight. In an attempt to act normal, all of them reached out, picked up a piece of meat and put it in their mouths.

Satsuki raised an eyebrow, "Synchronised eating…?"

Byakuya smiled while shaking his head which attracted more shocked looks from Ichigo and the others.

An hour later, everyone in the room was doing their fair share of cleaning up.

"We used a lot of plates considering there are only eight of us." Satsuki stared at the three large stacks of plates and bowls next to the kitchen sink. Satsuki sighed as she got ready to wash them. Just seeing the dished made her feel tired already.

"I can wash them if you like," Ishida volunteered.

"Really? You are a saviour, Ishida-kun," Satsuki exclaimed happily.

Suddenly, various noises started playing from three different parts of the dining room. Satsuki and Ishida rushed into the room to find Rukia, Byakuya and Ulquiorra pulling out their Denreishinki. The relaxed atmosphere was replaced by one full of tension.

"Is it a hollow?" Satsuki looked at Rukia.

Rukia shook her head as she passed her phone to Ichigo, "Worse than that."

"Uh...is it a Menos Grande, then?"

"Nope, it's even worse than that."

Satsuki thought of other types of hollows, "Is it an Adjucha?"

"Can you stop this useless game? We don't have much time if a possibly Espada-level Arrancar is invading Karakura with who knows how many underlings," Ichigo muttered irritably while swallowing a Soul Candy.

"Nee-san!" Ichigo ran toward Rukia, who kicked him in the stomach.

Satsuki looked at Ichigo, lying on the ground and groaning in pain, and then looked up and saw another Ichigo, who was wearing a shinigami uniform and carrying a giant sword. She then turned to Rukia with a very confused expression.

Rukia sighed and smiled helplessly. She pointed at the shinigami-uniform-wearing Ichigo, "that is the real Ichigo.' She pointed at the Ichigo lying on the floor, 'And that is Kon. He's a Mod-soul who takes care of Ichigo's body and replaces him when he is out fighting."

"Well, he's not doing a very good job at taking care of Ichigo's body."

"Kon was a defective product."

"Hey, I'm not defective!" Kon said defensively while standing up. He took one look at Satsuki, who was leaning against the wall, and ran full-speed toward her shouting, "A new, beautiful girl~"

Satsuki widened her eyes at Kon's actions and held out her hangs protectively and closed her eyes.

"Gah!"

Satsuki opened her eyes and quickly realised that she was currently holding Kon against the wall by his throat. An exact replica of what the mysterious black-haired girl did to Leila.

Satsuki stepped back hastily. She covered her mouth with her hangs when she saw Kon slide down the wall in a daze.

"Satsuki," Rukia said in a small.

"I'm so sorry, Kon-san. I don't know what came over me," Satsuki, on the edge of crying, kneeled down next to Kon, who was still staring into space.

In a blink of an eye, Kon was out of his trance and had his arms wrapped tightly around Satsuki. "Hmm…not as good as Orihime-chan or Rangiku-chan, but good enough," Kon grinned, clearly in heaven.

"Chire, Senbonza-"

"No, Nii-sama, calm down! You'll ruin this place!" Rukia shouted and quickly kicked Kon's side, making him let go of Satsuki. You picked the wrong girl to pick up, you dummy! Rukia wanted to shout, but she knew that if she said this many unnecessary problems would arise.

Rukia huffed and then ate a Soul Candy. "Keep an eye on Kon for me," Rukia said to the Artificial Soul.

"Got it!" Chappy replied happily.

Standing up straight, Rukia looked at everyone in the room, "Orihime, Ishida, Chad, Kon and Chappy stay here in case someone attacks this place. Ichigo, Ulquiorra, Nii-sama and I will take care of the Arrancar."

Everyone nodded and Rukia turned to Satsuki, "We'll be back soon. Sorry about Kon's actions, he's very violence-enduring, so hit him as soon as he gets within a 3 metre radius of you, ok?"

Satsuki smiled and stood up, "It's ok. I guess its atonement for using violence."

Rukia smiled helplessly and proceeded to follow the others out the glass doors.

"Even though I don't believe that violence solves problems, good luck in defeating the enemy!" Satsuki hugged Rukia and waved goodbye to the others.

They all nodded and filed out the door. Byakuya gave Kon a 'hug Satsuki again and you die' look before stepping outside.

"I hope they're gonna be ok." Satsuki whispered, still staring at the four retreating forms in the distance.

"They'll be alright. All four of them are really, really strong. The only thing we can do is believe in them and cheer for them since we aren't good at fighting," Orihime smiled sadly. Her right hand tightened around a silver bracelet on her left wrist. Satsuki reached out and turned the largest trinket around to face her and saw that it was a silver bat with black wings.

Black wings…Satsuki thought and groaned as another migraine started. She slid down the wall and massaged her head.

"Satsuki-chan," Orihime said worriedly, "Is it another headache? Maybe you should go take a rest. We'll take care of the cleaning up."

Satsuki nodded, "Sorry about this. You guys are the guests and yet you're doing all the tidying up." She got up and walked slowly towards her room, one hand on the wall for support.

It took Satsuki five minutes to get to her room. She closed her bedroom door softly and sat down, her back leaning against the closed door and continued to massage her sore head. From the corner of her eye, she saw movement and suddenly a black-haired girl stood in front of her. Satsuki looked up, startled and her eyes zoomed in on the square object in the girl's hand.

Before Satsuki had the chance to scream, the black-haired girl had already used all her strength to knock Satsuki unconscious with Satsuki's bedside clock.

End note: I'm still not sure if I will have access to the internet overseas. If I don't get access, the next chapter won't be posted until the end of January next year . Fingers crossed!
Btw~ have a great holiday everyone! And if I dont get to update during my time overseas, have a Merry Christmas and happy new year everyone! ^^