Chapter 12: Spirit Orb

Everyone was busy practicing with the spirit orb. So far Ichigo was having the hardest time and the twins weren't helping with their lively taunts. Sakura would have wanted to roll on the floor with laughter but she decided not to. She shifted her gaze and attention back to the spirit orb she held in her hands. She closed her eyes and focused her reiatsu into the transparent orb she held in between her palms. Slowly, light filled it and the same barrier that had enclosed Ganju had enclosed Sakura but hers was bigger than Ganju's. As soon as the two gatekeepers found that most of them had accomplished the task, the two gatekeepers let their guests perform what they had learned.

Orihime did well but Ishida's sphere was quite narrow by which Shirohageniko had commented that it was due to his personal issues. Chad was big but it was unstable and Sakura's was perfect though it was big. Lastly, Ichigo still wasn't able to put any bit of his reiatsu into the spirit orb. One of Ganju's minions stood in the doorway with an apron strapped onto his body, "Aniki, dinner's ready." Ganju then announced that dinner was ready and told everyone to eat. Sakura looked at Ichigo who had his back towards her. In his hands, he firmly gripped the spirit orb; as if he's lose everything if he'd ever let it go. "Ichigo." Sakura stood behind Ichigo and her face held pity. "Sakura, go ahead and eat. I'll follow after I'm done." He told her. Sakura didn't want to leave Ichigo but she felt that it would hurt his pride if she'd ever stay. Orihime wanted to stay as well but Ichigo talked her to eat. Sakura glumly followed the others as they walked towards the dinig room, trays of food were already set for each one of them. Sakura sat behind one, "Itadakimasu." She took her chopsticks and took the bowl of rice but her mind reeled on Ichigo. 'Ichi-nii' She let her chopstick dove into the fluffy white grains of food before ascending with a mouthful of them.

The whole place was rumbling and by now everyone except Orihime had finished eating. They felt that the tremors came from the room where they trained with the spirit orb. Sakura ran towards the room, behind her the others were sprinting towards the room as well. Even Kuukaku and Yoruichi ran to the room, Sakura's eyes widened. Ichigo was finally able to make the spiritual sphere but his was unstable, growing bigger as each second was made to pass. Kuukaku finally came into the room and she told Ichigo to suppress his reiatsu. The sphere was nos smaller than before but then it exploded. This earned Ichigo and Ganju a harsh and long sermon from the hostess. Sakura was thrown back by the explosion, blacking out for a while but it earned her another piece of memory.

"Sakura." A young boy with short midnight black hair and a pair of forest green eyes spoke as he sat down to a young five year old Sakura. "Yes, oniichan?" the young girl asked. The boy looked in front of him, as if watching a show but it was only an empty garden, "You can see them, don't you?" The girl looked beside her to her fraternal twin, "Yes." Sakura's cerulean blue eyes fixed themselves upon the array of plants that grew in front of them. Children, no, ghosts of deceased children were playing tag in front of them. "You want to join them, don't you, Ru-chan?" the boy asked once again. The chibi Sakura took hold of her brother's hand, "Let's play with them, Keisuke-niichan."Keisuke smiled and stood up as he felt her younger sibling tug upon his palm with her small fingers. Yes, they could see ghosts already at such a young age.

"Sakura, daijoubu?" Orihime asked and helped Sakura to her feet. "Ah, yes, I'm fine, Orihime-chan." Sakura looked at her surroundings, everyone was looking inside the already roofless room, Kuukaku was beating Ganju and Ichigo. Nothing changed. 'Maybe I just blacked out a bit…' The brown-haired girl thought and she walked into the room.

The next day, they had stood in of the giant chimney structure that Kuukaku proudly made. Each of them stood in a circle, Ganju held the spirit orb in his hands. No sooner, all of them poured their share of reiatsu in the spirit orb and a sphere enclosed all of them. The sphere was perfect and stable and so Kuukaku fired the cannonball into the sky. It was quite a turbulent ride when they reached atop the Seireitei, the cannonball was having difficulty in penetrating the barrier. All of them placed more of their reiatsu in the spirit orb and finally it penetrated the barrier but the sphere was breaking them apart. Ichigo tried to reach out for Sakura but his hand failed him by mere inches and no sooner they were apart. Before Sakura was separated, she could hear her cousin yell out her name.

"Sakura!!!!"