Whoo! I did it! It's finally time for new chapters! Aren't you guys happy? I am!
New chapters are coming up, so you better be ready!

Disclaimer: I do not own this series; except for my characters and this story-line.

I woke up and found myself in the Soul Society, my body sore from only God knows what and dried blood covered half of my entire self. There was no one around by the look of things, which started to give me the chills. My body managed to get up from the floor and I had to take baby steps just to get moving again. I was so tired, I wanted to fall back down and sleep, but it couldn't be done, not until I found my friends. For what seemed like hours I wandered through the familiar halls of the Soul Society, passing all the courts in descending numbers. Finally, I crumbled to my knees and just screamed out into the air, with tears stinging my eyes. Everything foggy around me, which slowly drew my attention away from the sky. No one was coming though, yet I heard off in the distance the sounds of feet pattering against the floor.

"There she is!" Someone said as something bashed hard against the back of my head and knocked me to the ground.

What I thought to be a few people turned out to be about two hundred people who were angry over something. I tried to get up, but someone's foot stepped against my head and kept me down. My body was sore and people were pushing against ever little part of me to make sure I wouldn't get up. So I gave up the fight and allowed them to reach under me and drag me where ever they wanted to go.

"Why is she alive?"

"She's a monster."

"In the end, it'll be her fault that we die."

Someone grabbed onto my hair and raised my head towards them, but I had no energy to look at them. They angrily scoffed at me and roughly threw my head back to a comfortable position as I got dragged up stairways and rocky pathways. It took me a while to find out where we were headed, the execution hill where they took my mom. As we got closer, it felt like people slowly were disappearing behind me except for a few people, mostly the captains and their lieutenants. I could tell because of their high spiritual pressure and somber auras about this situation.

"Please... let me go... please..."

Whomever was holding onto me held a little tighter onto my arms, but refused to be swayed by my pathetic voice. When we arrived, they threw me to the ground waited till I got up on my own feet. Surprisingly, I could get up and when I saw what was in front of me I held my breath. It was the Sokyoku, it was clear because of the wide ground and its familiar aura of remorse in the air. Someone grabbed onto my arm and pulled me to the stand, where they pushed me onto it and stepped back.

The air surrounding me was sucked into a tiny bubble, and my arms rose up to my sides without consent. I tried to fight it, but no matter how hard I tried, nothing worked. Something white caught my attention, followed by his teal eyes as he came towards me. Toshiro just stood in front of me with an emotionless expression on his face until he stuck his hand out. I thought he was going to brush some hair from my face, but he went lower and yanked my necklace off of me. As my eyes watched him twiddle the pendant in his hands, I couldn't help but sob towards the ground.

"Why... why would you take that away from me...why?"

He looked up to me with a startled look on his face, but it quickly washed away as he turned around. I watched as he reunited with the other captains, and grasped even tighter onto my necklace. With a jolt, my body began to rise up into the air and sent my heart into a frenzy. Despite the pain I felt in my chest, my arms thrashed towards the front and my legs fought to move again. My head felt like it bashed against something as I stopped high above in the sky, farther than what they would tell me criminals rose up to. Everything beneath me started to swirl as a giant spear rose from the ground and was engulfed in a huge flame.

"No..." I cried to myself as the flames manifested into a bird and came straight towards me with everything it had.

I closed my eyes and imagined it engulfing me into its fiery wings and body, and burning me into nothing. Everything seemed to be going as intended, I would be dead and no one would have to worry about me anymore. I thought to myself about my friends and how much they would miss me. My parents and Takashi would be at peace and wouldn't have to live with the guilt of what happened all those years ago. Karin and Yuzu would eventually forget about me like Masaki and live the rest of their lives as normal human beings. It was supposed to be that way anyway, why should I interfere?

"Hikari!" A voice screamed at the top of his lungs which made the Sokyoku stop midway and cry into the air.

I opened my eyes as a blue arrow shot straight through the bird and destroyed it within minutes. All the captains below were shocked and fumed to one another as three reaitsus appeared in the distance. The white forest slowly fell to the ground until there was nothing left to take down, exposing the Ryoka at last. Miyu was in front and somehow was fighting at least five people until they took her down. Kouhei jumped over them and started shooting arrows in all directions, hitting anyone who came in his way. He almost made it to me, but Byakuya grabbed onto his shirt and two other people pinned their swords against his body.

"Miyuki! Kouhei!" I screamed in anguish, but then I realized C.J was still out there, so there was some hope left.

And sure enough, C.J in his resureccion form, came bolting through everyone and jumped into the air. He started to run on reishi, which no one seemed to be capable of doing at the time. I saw his bright gray eyes staring at me the entire way, his hand out towards me in an attempt to grab me. My hand nearly broke as I tried to reach towards him, but then everything stopped in a flash. His blood spurted from the wound against his neck and sprayed onto me as he fell towards the ground. My hand that I managed to stick out was covered in blood came back to me as I screamed in agony.

"Ciel!"

I was sobbing to myself when a second figure appeared in front of me and waited until I looked up towards him. His bright green eyes were smiling at me as he licked off some of Ciel's blood from his sword. Anger and disgust rose from the pit of my stomach, but got held back as his green eyes turned into brown ones. I froze in my spot as Ichigo suddenly appeared in front of me, scowling deeply at me.

"Why couldn't you just forget?" He sighed angrily at me as his hand reached out towards me and rested against my stomach.

I flinched as it went through my body, and came back with a small bluish-purple orb. It was encased in a small glass box, that immediately evaporated into the air. Ichigo smiled to himself as he held onto the thing more tightly, and ignored my presence. but for some reason I couldn't contain my anger anymore and started to scream at him.

"What the hell is that Ichigo! Was that in me all these years? Answer me Ichigo! Tell me the truth!"

He cringed as everything around us started to shake uncontrollably, most likely due to my sudden surge of exposed energy. Without warning, the bonds that held me let me lose, and he and I started to fall to the ground. Ichigo out of reflex released the orb which I caught back in my hands. It glowed brightly and went through my hands just as we crashed back into the floor and almost broke through the hill.

Everyone scattered as I sat up from the crater I made in the ground, but there was no energy left in me to move. I heard Ichigo shuffle beside me and stand above, his hand around my clothes. I grabbed onto his arm as he lifted me into the air without saying anything to me. I opened one eye and sudden realized that it wasn't my dad anymore, but a different man entirely.

He had pushed back brown hair and harsh brown eyes, a malicious smile on his face as his other hand grabbed my throat. My feet hung limply towards the ground as I started to choke on my blood and spit, the air in my lungs buring my insides. I could hear him laugh as I clawed my nails into his arm but nothing seemed to make him let go. In my head, I could hear a woman laughing too, but no other person was around. I was about to ask him who else was there, but then there was a sharp pain deep inside my stomach that made me cough up some more blood.

"Is the little child scared?"

"W-Who are you?"

"All I wanted was the Hogyoku back, but you had to take it away again."

"H-Hogyoku? What is that? Why do I have it?"

"I should have killed you again when I had the chance." He said as he created a blinding white blade in the palm of his hand, and held it against my stomach.

"Looks like I'll have to cut you open."

"P-Please don't." I begged and cried out loud, but that only made him chuckle as the blade plunged deep inside me again.

"You are so adorable... you know that Hikari?"

I choked on my blood as he went clean through my stomach and out the side of my hip with one swing. There was no way to stifle my screams, no matter how hard I tried to make myself less weak. He continued to laugh at me and cut around my body like a piece of meat. When he sliced down my chest, it took my breath away and everything became suddenly enveloped in a bright white light.

"I-ICHIGO!" I screamed as the light took away all my senses except for the pain I felt deep inside my chest.

My breath came back to me as I awoke in a dim and unfamiliar room. I could hear my heart beating against my chest as I grasped onto what cloaked itself around me. It took me a while to calm down and get my heart to thump in a comfortable pace. I brushed against my eyes to feel the tears still lingering from the dream I had, which made my stomach churn. The pain I felt was all too real, like it actually happened to me a long time ago. But the last time I checked, I was never cut up like that, not even in a dream when I was younger.

As I brought my hands down, they brushed against my pendant that miraculously stayed on during my unconscious thrashing. It gave me little comfort, the scene where Toshiro just ripped it off of me still left me in a bit of a shock. I laid back down and tried to keep myself from moving all together, so the pain would numb itself a little more. A couple of deep breaths in and out made it well enough to trail my fingers around my body, to make sure I hadn't died or something. To my surprise, there was no chain against my chest, only tightly wrapped bandages that pressed hard against my chest.

"No wonder I couldn't breath... this is too tight..." I coughed a little as I tried to make it loosen up a bit.

I tugged and tugged at all the lose parts until they unraveled completely, which scared me. My hands quickly grabbed onto the ends so I could just tie them back together, but something made me cringe. I put both ends into one hand and carefully felt around the area where I remembered Shinose had stuck his hand through. When I lifted up my fingertips, they were lightly dampened with bright red blood, so I quickly tied back the bandages back together and tried to keep myself from throwing up again. The room was spinning as I tried to forget about what happened, but it was too clear and vivid. Tears blocked most of my sight for a while until I rolled onto my side. I didn't even hear the person come into the room, I was too busy sobbing softly into my knees.

"S-Should I leave?" He asked me in a worried tone as something waved to and fro near his voice, giving it an almost fan-wind effect.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm done."

"You sure? I can leave and give you a moment-"

"I said I'm done."

"Touchy touchy... like father like daughter..." He grumbled playfully to himself as I sat up and finally acknowledge the man.

He was an older man, the same man I saw sitting at his store a long time ago. I could remember him because of his green and white hat and blonde (almost white) hair. He had the fan in his hand again, closed at first to let me see his soft gray eyes. But then he snapped it open and started to fan himself in front of me.

"Good morning sunshine."

"M-Morning, how long have I been out for? Am I dead?"

"Nonsense little lady, you're not dead. See a chain anywhere on you? We managed to find your gigai and fixed it up for you. It should fit you a lot better than before."

"That's great... I guess. Now people won't be able to find me at all... again. But that doesn't tell me how long I've been out."

"Hold your horses, it's not like you'll be going anywhere soon. There's too much damage to both your body and soul. You need to rest and build up strength, or else you'll kill yourself."

"Okay... but please, I just want to know what day it is? Or at least what time, there's no clock in here."

"It's almost four in the afternoon, you've been out for ten days."

"Ten days?!" I shrieked out loud, but that made him burst into laughter and nearly fall to the ground.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't think you would get overly-excited. It's only been two days since the arrancar came here, you missed nothing."

"M-My aunts?"

"Everything is fine, don't worry so much Hikari. It's not good for you."

"S-Sorry." I breathed out a little shakily as I winced noticeably at the sudden throbbing in my chest.

'Um... M-Mister-"

"Please, only those who try to kiss my ass call me Mister."

"Then what should I call you?"

"You know what I like to be called, you've heard it so many times already." He teased me, but it only made my head throb as I tried to think back to the past.

"I have? Did I meet you when I was younger?"

"Of course you did, back when you were not so damaged and bright."

"Bright? Okay... can you give me a second?"

"As long as you need." He said in a kind voice, so I took in a deep breath and tried to remember if I'd ever seen the man before.

I mean, I know I have, if I hadn't then I'd probably be more freaked out that a stranger patched me up. But he seemed familiar, and not just because I saw him a long time ago outside his shop. He seemed oddly familiar, someone that my dad or even my mom told me about when I was playing with them. Actually, I think he visited us at home, well at Byakuya's manor, since that was where Takashi and I grew up mostly.

"Have you... been to the Kuchki Manor before?"

"Loads of time, finally thought of something?"

"Vaguely, I remember a tall older man who wore a green and white hat all the time."

"That was probably me, since I'm the only one who can pull it off so well." He laughed as he skimmed the rim of his hat with his fingers.

"Right... Kisuke. Kisuke Urahara right?"

"Correct little lady, but do you remember what your dad used to call me?"

"Ichigo? I'm supposed to remember that too?" I grumbled to myself as the light in his eyes sparkled a bit when he heard me use my dad's name so fluently.

"Do you always call your father by his name?"

"Only when I'm talking to grown-ups... but they always seem surprised to hear me say it. Why is that?"

"Well, you're such a young girl and normally you would use his name when you're like... in your twenties or something."

"Fat chance, Takashi can't even say Ichigo around me. And he's like... twenty-five... I think."

"You're right, he's twenty-five."

"Oh... okay then... wait! I got it!"

I did remember his stupid nick-name, because this lady used to tease Ichigo about it when they came over. She was so pretty, what with her yellow eyes and perfect body, it made him squirm when she teased him about it. I remembered I used to laugh at my father's face, which only made things worse for him. Rukia would try and take me away, but the lady stopped her because she took a liking to me. I remembered hearing my father say his name over and over just to spite her, but it didn't work.

"Mr. Hat-n-Clogs! Right?"

"Ding-ding-ding! We have a winner!" Urahara said in a fake happy voice, he even went as far as to throw secret confetti into the air from his sleeve.

"Where'd the confetti come from?"

"Does it matter? Since you got it, I'll allow you to call me which ever name you'd like! Go on, surprise me!"

"O-okay... Urahara."

"Aw, you're no fun." He pouted to himself as I stretched my arms as he turned his back to me for a second to see if someone was there.

"Urahara, are my friends okay? They aren't... too damaged are they? Like me?"

"Don't you want to know what happened to you first?"

"Is it that bad?"

"Well let's put it this way," This cool, almost quiet voice said out of the blue as something walked past the corner of my eye. "You nearly died if your friend had not spent about three hours trying to patch up your hole."

"My... hole?"

"Do you not remember? That arrancar boy stuck his hand through you, not completely though. He probably wanted you to suffer rather than kill you." The voice continued next to me, but it only made Urahara scowl.

"Yoruichi, you don't have to be so blunt."

"She's not a child, you can tell by how she can easily say Ichigo's name."

"But she's not even out of high school, plus she's never been properly introduced to her world like everyone else."

"And who's fault is that?"

"Certainly not hers." Urahara said harshly as the creature hopped in front of me and landed gracefully in my lap.

"My... fault?"

The creature, which turned to be a black cat, looked up towards Urahara who stared at me for a second. I felt like I was on the brink of tears, but I bit my lip and tried to stop myself from thinking about it. He looked like he was in pain as the cat went over to him and started talking to him in a low voice. She was a sleek black cat with golden eyes, like the same cat from my house. But I told myself it couldn't be her, but later I realized it was the same cat, and she had been watching over me since only God-knew-when.

"It wasn't my fault... right?"

"No, it wasn't your fault Hikari. She's just being an bad cat right now." Urahara said with a small smile as he grabbed onto the neck fat and lifted the cat up from the ground.

"Your friends are fine, in pain... but fine. The Quincy has a few bruised ribs and a sprained wrist. Miyuki has a sprained ankle, but nothing much happened to her. Your arrancar friend... the mini-Grimmjow on the other hand-"

"Let me guess; fractured ribs, a nice gash to the side of his stomach, a bruised face, and a couple of stab wounds?"

"Not to mention his knuckles are scrapped up." The cat said out loud, which sort of made me laugh into my lap and in my hand.

"Sounds about right."

"Have you... has he...?"

"When they were younger, that was pretty much the outcome every summer before school started till Grimm and Shinose disappeared. Maybe four years that happened?"

"Interesting... we'll be right back, alright Hikari?"

"Take your time, let me just wallow in my migraine pain."

The cat and Urahara looked at each other, but I laughed and forced them to laugh along with me. Once they were gone, I sort of cracked and curled up into a ball on the floor again. Tears streamed down my face as the agony of not remembering just came back to haunt me. For so long, I had always wondered if it was because of me... after all these years. But then again, what did I do to deserve this? It never made sense, it just gave me a headache for a couple of hours after that.

"You go give her the food."

"No, he gave you the bowl. Noba, you go do it."

"..."

"Noba be a man!"

"Says the two-face coward."

"You be quiet Ririn!"

There was a little more fighting until the door slipped open and something walked through. I turned over and saw a little turtle plushy who was holding a big gray bowl above his head. He came over and set it down next to me without a word. We stared a little awkwardly at each other for a second before something broke behind us. He turned around and watched the door rattle around before he sighed and scratched his head.

"T-Thank you for the food." I said out loud as I reached down to grab the bowl, which made him turn around unexpectedly.

He looked back to the door and then to me before he bowed a little and left the room. There was a bit more fighting and then silence filled the air. I laughed a little too loudly as I heard my stomach growl just as badly. The food smelled amazing, but that was probably because I hadn't eaten in a few days. It was warm, and went down easily despite the pain in my chest and churning stomach. I scarfed it down, maybe about five minutes passed when I placed the bowl back down on the ground next to the door.

"Good food..."

There was no one making noise anymore, so I decided to get up and walk around. Bad idea. The first step I took instantly made me fall to the ground face-first. What made it even worse was that my chest exploded with new pain from the floor, so I couldn't help but scream a little. I stayed on the ground for a few minutes, breathing slowly and deeply so the pain could subside. My hands were digging themselves into the floor so I could surpress a little more pain.

"God...dammit! My legs are jelly sticks or something!"

I sat back up on my knees, and rested for another second before I tried to walk again. This whole thing made me feel like a little baby trying to walk for the first time. Takashi used to tell me that I was a baby who needed someone there to watch her. I would get angry and throw whatever was nearby at him, but Ichigo would intervene and scold both of us. He would then pick me up and carry me outside and help me with whatever I needed. I knew I was being selfish, but I loved how my dad would help me even if it was just a simple little thing. I needed him then, and I needed him now... but he never came.

"Why is she alive?"

"She's a monster."

"In the end, it'll be her fault that we die."

"I'm not a monster... I'm not..." I cried over and over into my knees, but the voices got louder and louder inside my head no matter how tightly my hands held against my ears.

"She'll kill us all!"

"There's really no point to keep her alive, is there?"

"I don't see why we shouldn't just get rid of her?"

"No one likes you. No one ever loved you."

"Freak."

"Did you see how badly she was injured? How could she survive that?"

"He should have just killed her when he had the chance."

"Where's the Hogyoku?"

My breath caught itself as that last question echoed in my head, what the hell was a Hogyoku? Why did that man want it so badly that he would kill me for it? How did Ichigo know about it being inside of me? Was it inside me at that very moment? Wasn't the Hogyoku something my mother told me about in her stories? What was it? Why did it draw back to me?

"Don't shove!"

Something broke again behind the door, which drew my attention back into the real world. The door, which was closed still, rattled like something or someone hit themselves against it. There were sounds of a scuffle behind them, but it felt more like someone was holding someone back. I managed to get back on my feet, and with tiny baby steps, I reached the door. It shook a little as I opened it, revealing my friends and the pluhies from earlier. Kouhei and Miyu were holding onto Ciel's arms while the plushies were around every inch of him. They all stared up at me like I was some sort of angel, with big bright eyes and small smiles on their faces.

"H-Hey there Hika." Ciel laughed at me, but I just blushed bright red and slammed the door shut on them without warning.

They all shouted at me, including the plushies, but I was too busy looking for a way out. The light from the window showed me the way, and without looking back I opened it and jumped right through. I hadn't even gotten up from the ground when I heard them screaming in shock and cursing into the air. I don't know why I ran, maybe it was because I felt embarrassed about being the weak person. The fact that I was only strong for a little while, and it nearly lead to my death probably helped too.

"Hikari!" Someone shouted, but I got up from the floor and hobbled my way somewhere away from there.

I knew that Urahara would yell at them and try to make them say, he would most likely tell them not to worry. But I also knew my friends would not listen without, and force their way out despite the pain they felt. So, I had a little time to get away, and the closet thing I could get to was a huge tree with its leaves still intact in spite of the thunderstorm. Unknown to most of my friends, I was the best at climbing trees, and of course my friends would never be able to find me... except one.

"Hikari, I know you're up there. You can't hide forever." C.J said in his calm voice as Miyuki and Kouhei shouted around every where else.

"Dammit, how'd you find me so easily? And how did you get away from Urahara so fast?"

"Well, he fought. But we had the upper hand." He laughed tauntingly at me as the tree shook from him added weight.

"Get off, you're gonna break the tree." I growled out childishly as he arrived on my branch with his psychotic smile.

"Nope, not until you get down too."

"I don't want to."

"Hikari-"

"I'm a fool to think I could have helped you guys. I nearly died..."

"No one cares, all that matters is that you're alive and safe. We were so scared, yet it was cool to see you like that."

"Really?"

"Really really. You need to rest."

"So do you, after all the fighting with Shinose. S'not a huge surprise to me how badly beaten up you got." I laughed softly as he grabbed onto my hand, not to pull me down, but to show that he was there for me.

"You know us a little too well, don'tcha Hika?"

"Maybe... un poco..." I said as my hand came up and squinted a little closely to his face, to give him the full view of it.

He backed up a little and started to laugh, which in turn got me to smile at him. We stayed in the tree a little longer, it was too soon for any of us to get back to the shop. He stared at me the entire time while I looked up to the sky, I could feel his gaze until I turned back. Then he smiled and softly grazed his bandaged hand against my cheek, pushing a little hair from my face. You could hear the frantic voices of our friends beneath us, so I felt it was time to go.

"Come on Ciel, our friends are gonna have a heart-attack if we-" He cut me right off with a touch of his hands against the nape of my neck.

I shivered a little as his hand grazed around my bandaged chest, drawing itself back up along my neck. His eyes seemed to be foggy, like he was under some sort of spell or something. My voice tried to come out, but it was stuck in my throat as he kissed me. All my senses just evaporated at that moment, like something just clouded around me. His hands combed themselves through my hair and held onto the back of my neck, so I couldn't pull away. I could feel myself tense up against him, my hands that held onto his shoulders tried to pry him away... but there was no strength in me to push him.

His feelings that he bottled up all these years were pouring themselves into me, like a wave of warmth after a cold night. They felt so tender and comforting, I couldn't help but let go of myself and kiss him back. These weren't the same feelings I felt with Kouhei, and this kiss wasn't just a tender peck to my lips. It was more than that, words could never describe what I felt that day with him. His body relaxed a little more and he pulled his hands away so I could lean against the tree without discomfort. After a while however, I started to regain my senses and bit against my lip so he could stop. But he mistook it for something more and tried to pry his way into my lips, which I did not want.

"C-Ci-" I gasped as his tongue entered my lips before my voice could escape again.

It was strange, Kouhei hadn't tried to french kiss me yet so I was unprepared for what came my way. My stomach churned for the worse, but all the strength I had built up went away as he continued to kiss me. It was another second before I moved the wrong way and my body twinged in pain. There was no way I could hold back, so I kinda let it out in the wrong way.

"Ow! Ciel no more!" I gasped as my hands held onto my chest as blood seeped through the bandages.

He pulled back and stared at the blood from my chest, not even realizing there was some spit still lingering on his lip. I tried to brush it away, but he flinched like I was trying to hit him so I brought my hand back. His eyes flashed between me and the bandages for a second before he wiped the spit of himself. I tried to say something, but he looked straight down towards his hands before I could grab his attention.

"I-I'm so sorry Hikari..." He cried out a little, with tears rimmed in his eyes like he had just gotten beaten.

I bit my lip hard until it drew blood, but even that couldn't bring his attention back to me. He refused to look at me with his ashamed face and eyes, he knew I would tell him it wasn't his fault. When I tried to grab onto him, he jumped right off the tree and landed perfectly onto the and when the tears refused to come out I slowly descended back to the floor. Just as I made it to the middle branch, I started to sob a little into my arm. Without realizing it, I missed a branch and soon felt myself falling towards the ground. Lucky for me, Kouhei just came out of nowhere and caught me midway.

"Hikari!" He seemed breathless as his usually stoic face turned into a worried yet relieved type.

"I'm alright!" I laughed a little too soon as I wiped some lingering tears from my face as he settled me back onto the ground.

I tried to create some space between us, but he quickly filled it back up without warning. My body fell lifelessly into his arms as he wrapped them around me and pulled me in. His head rested against mine for a second until he looked down towards me. My lips drew even more blood as I tried to hide the pain from his squeezing, there was no way I could just tell him at that moment.

"Dont. Ever. Do. That. Again." He whispered softly yet threateningly into my ear as he released me from his grasp.

I shivered in pain and a bit of regret for my selfish actions at the shop, why did I have to run? Everyone was worried about me, especially since that I had a giant hole that still needed tending to on my body. Of course he would be upset, I was his most special person right now, and I was just making him more stressed out. I wrapped my arms around his waist and buried my head into his warm and comfortable chest.

"I-I'm sorry." I cried into his chest, half because I ran away and stressed him out, but the other half for not being strong enough to tell him about Ciel.

He kinda stiffened up against my emotions, but slowly he rubbed my back and laughed into my hair. I looked up to his hazel eyes, which were teasing me the entire time I stared at him. He kissed the top of my head and then suddenly reached under me to carry me back. There was no way I could argue, so I happily wrapped my arms around his neck and rested against his chest. When I glanced up to him, he was smiling peacefully to himself, so I remained silent about C.J... there was no way I could ruin this moment for him with that kind of thing.

"Hikari! You're okay!" Miyu half-laughed and half-scolded me as she and C.J came up to see us.

"I am, hopefully you guys are too." I smiled with a small blush, but that only made her laugh even harder at me.

"Of course! What kind of people do you take us for?"

"Scaredy-cats." I laughed out a little into Kouhei's shirt mainly to hide the sudden pain from my chest from them.

"Aw Hikari!" She groaned out loud, which made both Senpai and me laugh a little harder at her.

She pouted to herself for a second before she couldn't contain her laughter anymore. We all stood there for a moment, but only three of us were laughing. When I stopped and glanced over to C.J, we caught each other's gaze for a moment. He quickly averted his eyes, but I could still see the shame and regret he was holding in himself. Miyu saw the sudden change in my face, and turned to C.J with a quizzical look.

"C.J, what's the matter with-" But her eyes got all big and she stopped mid-sentence because of something scandalous.

I didn't even get to see her, because almost instantaneously Kouhei's hands covered my eyes. Miyu did the same, well, she jumped right on C.J's back so it was easier for her to shield his eyes. But I already knew enough of what happened to be able to picture it, her reiatsu sparkled in front of me.

"Yoruichi! Come back inside and please put on some clothes!" Urahara''s voice shouted from the door, from the sound of it his fan covered most of his face from us.

"Not until these kids get back inside this instant."

I ended up being the only one beside her who laughed, her naked presence wasn't all that bad. It actually reminded me of one time I accidentally caught Rangiku changing. I think I was about four, because she squealed in delight and nearly suffocated me with her chest. Kouhei was confused, but I let him cover my innocent eyes as we passed her.

"Nice one Yoruichi..." I laughed under my breath, but she heard me and lightly smacked her hand against my arm which made Kouhei flinch.

"Poo, you're no fun."

I wanted to retort back at her, but then the pain in my stomach got even worse so I stopped. My hands that held onto Kouhei tightened themselves around his neck. He looked down at me, but I remained silent and just took myself out from the world for a second.

"Hey voice, are you still in here? "Cause if you are, I could use some of your sassiness right about now."

She remained silent, her presence was entirely gone from my mind and there was no way I could tell where she went. I had only been awhile, but I had grown fond of hearing her, she knew what to say to me when I needed her. And right now, I needed her to tell me what I should do about C.J... I needed her so badly.

"Well.. what should we do now?" Kouhei asked the entire group as we settled into Urahara's little tea room.

"Hm.. well the easiest thing we should do is let you four rest. We don't want anyone dying from their wounds now.. do we?" He asked with a small laugh, but it was obvious he was directing that towards me.

I unconsciously grasped my shirt tighter, as if I felt guilty about the wound in my chest. It drew Kouhei's attention, who rested his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer into his chest. I let go of my shirt and kind of held onto his hand without thinking, his warmth slowly crawled up my arm. He smiled to himself, but it was for my own selfish reasons to grab it, since there was nothing else I could do.

"After everyone has rested, we should train for what's coming up. Now that Hikari's had a taste for her powers, we should be able to draw it back out. It won't be easy though..."

"What do you mean? What about before?" Miyu asked him, but Noba, Ririn and Kuroda interrupted us by serving tea.

"That was just borrowed power, it might have been a lot, but it's not enough to fully awaken her real powers. We need to get her own strength in her before-"

"Before what? All the soul reapers come and take Hikari away from here?" C.J inquired bluntly, drawing the wrong attention from everyone to him.

"Well...I don't know. But what I do know is that Hikari is ready to acquire her own Zanbaktou. It won't be easy, but then again, being a soul reaper isn't like tying shoes."

"What will you have to do?"

"A difficult process, called The Shattered Shaft, thanks to Ichigo. If Hikari truly desires to be a soul reaper, then she must willingly-"

"Turn myself into a Visored... right?" I interrupted him to his surprise, which sent my friends into a frenzy.

"A visored?!"

"She'll become a visored? Hell no!"

"Hikari, you don't have to do this!"

"It's the only way! Come on guys, help me out here!" I sighed tiredly to them, but Kouhei stood up and started pacing in his spot.

"What if this doesn't work? What will happen?"

"Then I'll become a hollow, and you'll have to kill me."

"Then there's no way I'm allowing you to do this."

"Kouhei! What else can I do?! Because of what I did to Takashi, people are going to come after me. That's not a good thing to make a lieutenant do, even if I'm his younger sister!"

He growled to himself, and sat back to the ground, but it wasn't the end of our fight. I moved farther away from him, more towards Urahara who seemed a little surprised that I already knew about his process. We stared silently at each other before he broke away first and tried to reassure my friends that I would be okay.

"It's not as bad as it sounds, if Ichigo can survive, then I'm pretty sure Hikari will be able to do it as well. Do you guys not trust her?"

This question startled all three of them, as if they never thought about the idea. They glanced at each other for a second when Yoruichi stepped inside the room, this time with clothes on. She rested her arm against my shoulder, despite the tension in the air she was the most relaxed. In fact, she was smiling at me and trying to get me to smile back.

"You're a little daredevil aren't you?"

"I guess you can call me that."

"Now that everyone has an idea of what we should do," Urahara cleared his throat to get back out attention to him.

"We should just relax, and let us see what happens. Capise?"

"Capise captain." I said out loud for everyone's answer, which made him smile to himself and made Yoruichi laugh.

"I like this girl... I like her a lot."

asdfglhjlk I'm done. New chapters coming up soon, so be very patient. Your patience will be greatly rewarded.
Thanks to all those who have been waiting for so long. Thanks!