A/N: And so the quick Among the Times of Childhood arc. has been completed. Now we enter the Agent of the Shinigami arc, which will also be starting out in Angel's introductional POV before switching to a 3rd person POV. I have mentioned the possible POV changes in the begining of this story because it is needed.

I'm renaming the arcs to fit this story, and because it's fun, heeheehee.

BTW, Ichigo is 15 at the start of the Bleach's timeline.

Special Thanks To: I just love the pennames a lot of you guys use, most of them are so random, sometimes I wonder if there's a story behind them xD

Runa22694: Sorry for the super duper long update! .

DarknessDevoursXIII (Chapters 1, 2 & 11): Dear lord, you need to sleep more! Hahahaha!

darkangel

Sleepycatz 16

StartingAtTheEnd: The couple is going to be a surprise (Sort of, I guess, hahaha!)

Lyllah (Chapter 1)

Lady-Fluffie: asdhfjdrshgfuerhjgh Thank you! :)

RLunatic78: I'm sorry for the extremly long wait! I've been really lazy and haven't done anything but watch asian dramas for the past few weeks. I'll try not to make a habit of this, I'm so happy you like my story!

Roza: The pairings for this story is going to be a bit of a surprise . . . well . . . sort of, hahaha. And as for going along the story line . . . well, I have gotten the story up to a certain point, however, I might not write all the way through (Mainly because of the fillers *rolls eyes* which I'm skipping) the entire Bleach story line since it's really, really, long. I don't know, I'll have to see as we go.

Kitty-Wolf-Chan: Wow! Thank you SO much for reviewing every chapter you just read through even though it was already up to chapter eleven! Cookies for you! That's only happened to me once before and I had just about a heart attack this time like I did then! I'm surprised my story is one of those rare few to get you stumped, since you said that you can usually predict what will happen. That is my goal, though I try to give a little sense of what may happen in case some people aren't a big fan of major surprises (but I might fail on that part anyways, hahaha) I'm terribly sorry about the slow update, I've been a little lazy, not to mention me and my entire house (consisting of eight people) have been getting sick like so many others. Chad is awesome, isn't he? If I were in an anime such as this, I think your reaction would be a little better than mine, xD I'd probably find a tree to sit under in the fetal position and mutter to myself that I'd probably die. Or that I've gone insane. Looking forward to your future reviews! And again, thank you so much!

darkangel: Oh, the pairing is still a little undecided. I'm trying to figure it out, but I have a feeling of what I'm going to do with the romance for this Oc. But it's a secret, teehee. Happy (belated) christmas and new year!

Shaybo27: Oh it is no problem! I'm just glad you reviewed :) I hope you do (or did) well on your finals! Though from what I see, you might have no problem at all, hahaha and your guess for Angel and Ichigo having a semi-sweet moment was correct (at least, I think it'll be . . .) Anyways, there's going to be a season six of Merlin!? I keep hearing that the fifth season will be the last! This info really put my heart at ease! x_x I just about died when I heard it was going to end soon.

Hayate The Soul Reaper: Hahaha, yup, at last that scene is done xD Little known fact, angel is a drama queen! Before dying her life was pretty normal (other than the whole Strings of Fate thing) and didn't include so much violence. Yay! You got the Uryu hint, :P I was wondering who would get their little first-meeting encounter. I think you're only the 2nd person to have gotten it. But more about him will come up later ^_-

MonsterOnSweets: Haha, yeah I've noticed that Keigo is never really calm during 'normal' moments xD

Rinoreiri Murino Hitsuzen: Ah, thank you, i was hoping it wouldn't be disappointing, since I've never really gotten into the whole action-fighting genre of writing yet. The first section of the chapter was from Bleach episode 227, describing Mizuiro's POV of their first day of school :) I'm glad you liked it!

Scaehime-KingofKing's Daughter: Haha, that does sound like a mouthful doesn't it? Good point . . . And yup! You guessed correctly, that was indeed Uryuu! And yes, Angel does have the metal band around her neck, which will sort-of be explained soon. And Happy Holiday's to you too!

katchile94: :3 Oooh, when Rukia comes into the picture, things will indeed be different for Angel.

Bookgal7: Haha! The moment all has been waiting for! I hope the Tatsuki being defeated scene wasn't too sucky _ Hopefully I'll get better at the fighting, but ah well.

And another special thanks to PastaLovingHetaliaGeekfor personally reminding me that it's been a while since I last updated xD


Death and All Her Friends arc.

AWAKE
1

"We stand in awe before that which cannot be seen,
and we respect with every fiber that which cannot be explained."
- Rukia Kuchiki, Bleach

The world suffers with every change that drops in it's supposed path. Fate has been known to be a being of life, with a spiritual form who punishes those who rip apart the fibers which it had sewn together. It is not a kind 'being' to those who dare mess with it.

The string connecting each and every living life form on the planet do not change colors. They do not break. They can, however, be cut - when Death arrives with it's boney fingers, weilding the scyth that will then run along that line which contains the pulsing being of a person's life.

So when people say that change is always good, that it is necessary for everything, it only goes to show how ignorant they are to the path set out in the universe for every thing, and every one. They do not understand the true consequences of interfering with what should never be changed.

Cause - and - effect.

The world where I came from was set on two paths that could stray easily in one way or the other. Unknown forces, and those who rebelled against their fate, usually tilted this scale of light and dark. My job was to keep the world in balance.

The smallest things can bring about such unwanted change. The drop of a pin; the flick of a quarter; the cut of a wire. World War II would be a great example of how important my job actually is, even though I was in such high 'numbers' as one of the children who could see the Red Threads of Fate. The person before me, the child who disrupted his or her destiny to keep the world in balance, failed in one tiny detail. Many lives paid for it.

I can't explain to you how the power begins to dwindle as we grow to be much, much older. And another child - a child who's mind was still filled with wonder, hope, and innocence - takes our place. It was like the circle of life.

So how had I come to be here? I asked myself every day. The parallel world that could only exist in the mind of some random human who had a talent for drawing and life-changing speeches was a world I was currently walking upon in my death.

It wasn't until a year later after I had arrived here that I came up with a theory - though it was only a theory, it set my mind at ease for a time. Maybe this world really did exist, and just like us children who were sensitive to the running of life around the world, other people were sensitive to the ways of life of other worlds - of other dimensions that ran parrallel to ours.

It didn't explain a lot, like how my interferance, or my mere presance, would change the course of what was set out before the boy, Ichigo Kurosaki. But it was all I had.

Cause - and - effect.

Cause: A very powerful force brought me from my world to this one, and I became a part of the life of a young boy who was destined to save this world.

Effect: . . . This still remains to be unknown.


~ x ~


It was a peaceful evening in Karakura Town.

"YOU GOT A DEATH WISH PAL?"

Correction. Was a peaceful evening.

"Yeah! Nobody jumps one of our guys for no reason and lives to tell about it!"

Ichigo hummed, simply rubbing his head from the on-coming headache the thugs were beginning to form.

He was currently facing four teenagers around his age. The man with the loudest voice stepped up to him, his face twisted into that of anger.

"Is that all you've got to say?!" He boomed.

Angel leaned against the wooden electric pole, her arms crossed and a sigh escaping her lips. "You'd think I'd be used to Ichigo picking fights by now. But no, my faint, dead heart must ache everytime." She shook her head.

"Is he going to be all right?"

She looked down at the little girl, who hid behind Angel and ducked her head out of sight. Her hair was a light brown-color and held in high pigtails. Her outfit consisted of a white and pink striped tanktop and a pair of jean shorts. Her head barely reached Angel's elbows.

"He better be." She rubbed her forehead, "Yuzu will have another scream-fest if we're late for dinner again. Well, only because Karin might eat all of the food."

"Man, you're loud," Ichigo murmered.

"That's all you gotta say!?" The bulkier man rushed foreward, and Ichigo promptley stuck out his foot to meet the man's face. He fell to the ground with a loud thump! before his face proceeded to get smashed into the ground.

"You're gonna kill him,"

Ichigo ignored his spirit friend and continued stomping on the man's face. When he stopped, he glared at the remaining three and pointed to the broken bottle of flowers by Angel's feet.

"Now listen up! Do you see that!?"

The men shook and took a step back.

"First question," Ichigo growled. "what do you think that is? YOU, the one in the middle, ANSWER."

The man standing between his two frightened friends cringed. "W-Wait! Uh, I . . . I guess somebody left those flowers for some kid who got killed here."

Ichigo smirked before suddenly kicking the man in the face. "Correct!"

"Whoa dude, chill out!"

"Take it easy now!"

He stuck his hands into his pockets and set his foot down.

"Now the next question: Why is it laying on it's side?"

The man with the dark funky hair spoke, "It must have . . . gotten run over when we were skate boarding through here."

This only seemed to make Ichigo angrier, hearing it out loud. And as he spun, he kicked both men to the ground ten feet ahead of him. Angel winced at the sickening crack emiiting from one of the man's arms and gave Ichigo a glare.

"You guy's catch on fast!" His eyes suddenly burned with a raging fire. "NOW GO AND APOLIGIZE OR ELSE THE FLOWERS WILL BE FOR YOU!"

"He's scary . . ." The child spirit shuddered. Angel patted the girl's head, happy for the faint contact, and smiled.

"Don't worry, he's a sweetie pie once you get to know him."

"Who are you calling a 'sweetie pie'!?" Ichigo suddenly screeched.

"No one, no one," she laughed. The girl came out from behind Angel as Ichigo set the broken bottle back to it's right position.

"There, those guys were so scared, they shouldn't be showing their ugly faces around here anytime soon."

"Thank you for coming to my defense . . . maybe now I can finally have some peace."

He gave a side grin and motioned his head down the direction of his home.

"We gotta go now, but I'll be back again tomorrow with some new flowers."

"What's you're name? You look kind of familiar . . ." Angel asked curiously. The girl shyly turned to the ground and shuffled her floating feet.

"My name is Mai . . . We . . . kind of met when we were younger . . ."

Ichigo looked taken aback. "We did?"

Mai nodded. "Yes, you saved me from that scary man a few years ago down the river. The one near the train tracks?"

Angel couldn't help but flashback to the times her and Ichigo went down by the river. It had been a while since they even went near it, especially since Ichigo decided he no longer needed to go to the dojo.

She suddenly snapped up. "Oh yeah! I remember you!"

Ichigo scratched his head, "Eeh,"

She quickly waved him off. "Sorry about him, his memory kind of sucks."

"Like you should be talking!" He snapped back, but was ignored.

Mai quickly shook her head and bowed in gratitude. "It's fine! It was so long ago! I'm really grateful for your help!"

Ichigo gave up at trying to remember the girl's face and started walking down the road.

"Well, it's the least I could do. Be sure to hurry and pass on. After all, you deserve to rest in peace."


x x x


Night was beginning to fall as they turned down their street. Angel sighed for the third time that day and flew on her stomach with her hand supporting her chin.

"Your dad is going to be mad," she giggled. Ichigo sweat-dropped.

"That's not my fault. You're the one who made us take the long way home."

"Hey! It was either that or encounter the three sets of gangs ready to pounce on you! But my efforts seemed to go to waste," Angel feigned sadness and wiped away a fake tear. "You decided to pick a fight anyway! You'd think I'd be used to this now . . . "

The boy sighed and shook his head, not bothering to comment on what Angel tried to take was pity. The reached their building and he slid the door open with ease.

"I'm home -"

"CHYAAA!"

He flew across the room.

"At least we know where you got you're obsession with kicking came from . . ." The spirit muttered as Mr. Kurosaki stood above Ichigo with a scowl.

"You let your guard down! Always stay alert when you enter a room and you're late for dinner again!"

Ichigo stuck his father up to his father, his teeth grinding and his eyes glaring.

"Are you kidding me!? Is this how you greet the son who just helped a spirit find peace?"

"Oh, so it's the ghost's fault now is it? Just because you see ghosts and I don't - I suppose it's Angel's fault too for leaving your room a mess!"

"What does Angel have to do with anything?"

"I don't know, maybe you would have used her as the excuse, even though I can clearly hear you arguing with her about your room being a total mess! At least SOMEONE in this house knows some kind of discipline!"

Angel sweat-dropped as the two males fought and slowly back away with her hands in front of her. With a final sigh, she slowly faded into the seat across from Karin.

So glad I learned to do that, she thought to herself. Transporting herself from one place to another (as long as she could see it) really helped her, especially since Ichigo had a tendancy to run off too fast for her to keep up.

Karin merely ignored her older relatives and took another bite of her rice. Yuzu puffed out her cheeks, a habit she never seemed to grow out of.

"Would you two quit fighting! Get over here and eat your dinner!"

Karin held out her rice bowl. "Let them fight. More rice for me,"

"That's not very nice, Karin," Angel laughed.

Yuzu grinned and looked at the seemingly empty seat next to her. Her eyes were a slightly off at the figure she wished to see, but somehow, she knew Angel was there.

"Oh, is Angel here?"

Karin nodded, her eyes never opening as she played with the grains of rice with her chopsticks.

"She's been here for a while."

"That's so not fair," Setting the wooden rice scooper down on the cooker, Yuzu leaned back into her seat and frowned. "You are so lucky to be able to see ghosts. I can only sense their presence sometimes, but that's about it."

Karin kept her expression nonchalant and turned in her seat. Ichigo had just kicked their father down onto the floor and complain about his seven o'clock curfew.

"I don't see why you make such a big deal out of ghosts. I don't even believe in them."

Her sister gasped. "Karin, how could you say that? You see and talk to Angel all day and she's a ghost!"

With the wave of her hand, Karin set herself back straight and looked at her half-eaten food. "I'm in permanent denial. Angel is forced to be an exception, and that's only because she's the only sane one in this house. If it weren't for her, I don't know what I would be doing right now with those two loons breaking the furniture all day."

Angel tilted her head, though grateful that Karin still gives her the time of day (unlike the days when she was much younger), she still didn't understand.

"How could you not believe in ghosts?"

She shrugged. "Just because I can see ghosts, doesn't mean I believe in them."

Angel could almost feel the ice-cold rejection blizzard pass right through her. ". . . That's cold, man."

Ichigo slid over to the table and looked at the bowl set out for him, always next to Angel's usual seat. "Like my dinner."

"YOU DROPPED YOUR GUARD AGAIN!"

A socked foot slid right over the orange hairs of Ichigo's head, and with a fed up growl, he grabbed his father's ankle and threw him across the living room.

"DAMN IT, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

". . . no charge for the lesson," his father coughed out.

Ichigo ran a hand through his hair and turned to leave. "Forget it, I'm not hungry. I'll be upstairs, you coming, Ang?"


x x x


Angel sat with her legs crossed, her body hovering in the air and her elbow resting on her knee with her chin in that hand.

"You're very irritable today, don't you think?" She asked.

Ichigo didn't say anything at first, instead he slipped off his school bag and set it on his desk chair. It was different compared to the small wooden one had had since he was six, now that he had grown. It was roundish, with soft dark padding, and spun around with wheels on the bottom.

"I'm just tired," he said. She dropped to the ground and sat on the bed he lay on.

"Are you sure?"

He shrugged and set his hands behind his head.

"Something just seems off today, I'm fine."

"Oh my dear wife! Maybe it's because they're hitting puberty, but our daughters are being so cold to me! What do I do? What do I do?"

"For starters, you might want to take down that poster!"

She could hear the voices of Karin and Mr. Kurosaki downstairs. With another glance at Ichigo Angel rose an eyebrow. "You mean more off than usual? Because your family is acting as weird as they've always been."


x x x


Angel was sitting in front of the television when Ichigo walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Ichigo!" Yuzu greeted from her place by the stove. Karin was once again in her usual spot on the table, finishing off the last of her omelet.

"Where's Dad?" He asked.

"He had a meeting. So he should be home early tonight with more paperwork."

The toast was still warm when Ichigo grabbed it off the breakfast bar. Sticking it in his mouth, he saw Angel staring at the TV, her lips turned into a deep frown and her brow pushed together in what looked to be worry.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

She turned and floated by his side. He looked at the TV curiously, the piece of toast still hanging out of his mouth.

"The incident occured around Karakura station at around 12:20 AM. Witnesses report of hearing a loud crash and feeling the ground shake beneath their feet."

"That's near here." He muttered. Angel hid behind his back and peared over his shoulder at the TV.

"It doesn't even seem like an explosion. Look at the walls."

He bent closer to get a better look. The live camera was scanning the destroyed street, a large hole in the ground was crumbling in the surrounding walls, and the buildings had smashed in windows.

But among the side of the buildings, ragged lines, drawn in perfect unison, scraped across in sections of four.


x x x


"It looks worse up close," Angel commented as the passed the wreckage. Ichigo said nothing, instead just checking his bag for the new vase of flowers he purchased. They turned a corner, and suddenly she froze. Ichigo paused mid-step.

The spirit shuddered, looking around with an expression of worry before shaking her head.

"Hey, Ang, what's the matter?"

She didn't seem to pay attention, instead, with her feet hovering above the ground, she glided forward.

"Something's wrong . . ." She muttered to herself.

"Angel?" Ichigo called out again. The girl snapped out of her trance, looking up at Ichigo and gliding up a couple more inches to meet his height.

"What?"

"You said that something was wrong. Are you okay?"

She looked confused for a moment before blinking quickly. "Oh!" She gasped. "It's nothing, really."

Ichigo wasn't convinced. Just like how Angel observed him over the years, knowing his every expression and every tick, he knew her body language just as well. The way she automatically covered half of her hands with her sleeves, and then proceeded to knock her wrists together in an odd fashion, was an something she did when she was nervous, but didn't know what to make of something.

His eyes narrowed, but as he opened his mouth to say something -

A deafening roar had Angel covering her ears in fright. Ichigo snapped forward, following the loud cry until a large crash sent him turning down another corner.

"What the hell?" he gasped. Large cracks formed into the ground, bringing the monsterious creature to their attention as it rose from the smoke and debris.

"Whoa, what the hell is that?"

"Help!" A voice screamed; Angel recognized the voice of Mai, the spirit girl from the day before. She ran from the smoke, the creature in quick persuit, and watched as it reached its mangley claws behind her.

Ichigo growled as the girl cried out for help once more; he took a step forward, determined to stop the monster -

Angel watched as a black butterfly fluttered passed her nose. Somone in black robes fell from the sky, and with the swish of her arm, the sword in her hand sliced across the white, crumbling mask of the giant creature.

She recognised the person to be a girl; with short black hair and wearing odd black robes. She landed gracefully in front of them and sheathed her sword. Another chill ran up Angel's spine, and she instinctivley took a step back.

The girl barely gave a side glance before walking away and disappearing.

The path ahead of them cleared, and with a dumbfounded look, Ichigo ignored the muttering of the beginning crowd and looked on ahead.

"What was that?" he asked himself. Angel bit her lip, unsure of what to make of the situation.

Has it begun?


x x x


"Hey, Angel, who's this?" Karin asked as the spirit teen glided into the kitchen, Mai close behind her. She peered curiously at the young ghost girl, who hid behind Angel and grasping onto her back - her touch light and feathery.

Angel hesitated, wondering if it were best to leave out the morning's events with that weird monster and that oddly-dressed girl. She nodded to herself.

"This is Mai," she began, giving a pointed look at the spirit. "She's a . . . friend. And is a little frightened, is it alright if she hung out for a while?"

Karin rose an eyebrow, barely acknowledging the girl's mutter of not wishing to impose, and plopped herself in front of the television. "Whatever."

Angel sighed, for once being thankful of Karin's careless attitude about ghosts and smiled at Mai.

"You should be safe here for now, just in case there were any more of those monsters." and then she paused. "What was that thing anyway? And why was it chasing you?"

Mai shrugged. "I don't know. I've never seen it before."

"Well, whatever it was, it's dead now."

Angel hovered gracefully above her usual side of the couch - opposite of where Karin was sitting. Ichigo had headed upstairs, and though she wanted to follow, she felt that it would have been better to stay downstairs and just keep Mai some company.

"So, you just stay around here . . . in this house with that boy?" Mai asked, cautiously eyeing Karin who blatantly ignored her presence.

The older spirit nodded. "Yup. Been quite a few years now . . ." she tilted her head. "Wow, it has been a long time."

"But why?"

She shrugged, wondering just how to answer that question. "Why not?"

With an internal sigh, Angel rubbed the side of her head. How could you explain to another ghost that you seemed to disappear when distanced from a certain living person?

"Ichigo kicked Daddy so hard . . ." Isshin cried as he tumbled down the stairs. Yuzu patted his head softly as Angel just rolled her eyes.

"You'd think he'd learn after getting beat for the hundreth time not to disturb Ichigo in his room, like seriously."

"Agreed," Karin muttered. "You reap what you sow, Dad." She suddenly snapped her head to the far wall.

"What the hell is that!?" She jumped from the couch and crouched defensivly.

A deafening roar, much like the one Angel had heard earlier in the street, broke out before she could say anything. Her body suddenly felt heavy, like an unknown force was shoving her down, and she covered her ears from the splitting headache the loud noise was making.

She cursed silently to herself, her eyes widening as blood suddenly splurted out from Isshin Kurosaki's back.


x x x


A voice screamed from downstairs.

"ANGEL!"

Ichigo glared at the shinigami from his place on the ground. His hands were bound behind his back by some sort of spell this she-demon had placed on him, and now he couldn't move. The little brat - clothed in black robes with dark hair spiking at the ends around her neck - was named Rukia, and after all the nonsense she sputtered out to him, he couldn't be more angry with her.

"Goddamn it! You - who do you think you are!? That's my family down there, I told you something was coming! Unbind me! Right now!"

"Impossible," the shinigami merely muttered, slamming open the bedroom door. "This spiritual pressure . . . how could I not have sensed it before?"

"Ichi . . . go . . ."

"Karin!"

His sister collapsed to the ground, trails of blood dripping down the sides of her face.

"Good . . . it hasn't come here . . . s-suddenly . . . blood started pouring out of daddy's back . . . and Yuzu collapsed . . Angel . . . something - it has Angel!" She coughed.

"I could see it so clearly . . . but Yuzu and Daddy couldn't see it . . . Ichigo, you have to save her . . ."

"Damn it!" Ichigo cursed as Karin finally fell unconcious. Rukia checked to make sure the human was okay before turning with a warning glance.

"She's fine! Her soul is still - hey! Hey! What do you think you're doing!?"

Ichigo struggled to stand, his hands still bound by the invisible forced and her cursed again multiple times. "Release me!" he shouted, more to the binding than the shinigami.

"Stop it!" Rukia warned. "It is impossible to release that incantation with mere human power! If you try to force it you will-"

"SHUT IT!"

She shook from the sudden volume in the boy's force.

He needs to stop wasting his breath! she thought angrily. There's no way he can-

Ichigo yelled, straining his arms and willing his body to move with all his might. No, nothing would stop him. That thing downstairs attacked his family! That monster would not live to see the light of another day!

Rukia gasped. Wha-What is he!?


o o o


Angel

Cho-choking . . . I gasped for air, but something stopped me.

"Reed . . . fffmmm . . ."

I shoved the pillow out of my face, only to be met with a close up of Reed's as I caught my breath.

"The heck-Reed...REED?" I stuttered, though I wouldn't get a response from the sleeping girl. I sighed and reached to the bedside table to turn on the lamp.

My vision was instantly hazed with the familiar red lines I had seen all my life, so with a shake of my head I ignored their presence and sighed.

Reed was sleeping in my bed again. She lay there, sprawled out, nose twitching every so often, in her sky blue, rainbow-patterned pajamas.

By the scrambled sheets and the forgotten blanket left on the floor by her own bed on the other side of the room, I knew immediatly that she had another nightmare. It was a common thing that happened a few times a week. Reed would get a nightmare and crawl into my bed, seeking my comfort, but not wishing to wake me up at the same time. My mom no longer found it unusual to see one empty bed in the morning, because she would find Reed curled under me instead.

With all that room she could take on my bed, she just had to kick off the blankets and bury herself into my side at the edge. I rolled my eyes with an amused smile. What a brat.

It had been happening since we were young, so I was already used to it.

I loud thump caught my attention, and looking at my alarm clock, I wondered just who could be up and about at midnight.

Carefully, as not to wake up Reed, I slipped out from under the sheets and put on my robe. I stepped out the door, noticing my parents bedroom light on.

I was about to knock, wondering if something was wrong, until something stopped me.

"School for Gifted Children? That crazy school in Florida? You're bringing that up now?" My mother's voice. She did not sound happy. I tilted my head, going against my better judgment and listening in.

"It's not like they're going to use her as a lab rat, sweetheart! I think it would be good for her, and even us! We can't fully understand how her abilities work, these people can help her!" My dad, he sounded more . . . desperate.

"She doesn't need help! How could you even think of such a thing - I can take care of my own child without some crazy people's help! We can figure it out on our own!"

"Yeah, and what are you going to do when something happens? What are you going to do if her abilities increase and she doesn't even know what to do with herself? What are you going to do if they get her?"

"The Company have no idea where we are. We have been here for TEN. YEARS. We can't just send her off to some place, what if they find her?"

Send her off? Who? Me?

I furrowed my brow. They're speaking of someone, someone who is their child and has strange abilities they don't understand.

Me? Are they talking about me? It's the only explanation.

"This school is safe. I've already spoken to them - and before you blow up on me about doing this without you, just hear me out!"

I could here my father take a deep breath. I didn't like this. I didn't like this at all. Send me off to some special school? What special school? For kids with abilities like me? Why? WHo are we running from?

Who is The Company?

Why haven't I ever heard of this before?

"She won't have to leave immediatly. It's usually around the age of sixteen that they begin attending, that's four years away. She's only twelve, but she's already they'll do is keep tabs on her, to see how she's doing and how well her abilities develope. They've dealt with children like her before, and are very aware of how The Company works. It's not just one school in Florida. They have several scattered around the globe, so if anything happens, they can relocate."

A moment of silence. I can imagine my mother's face when things like this happen - that face of worry, the way her aged lips tilted into the smallest of frowns, but her eyes glimmering with tears she refused to release - she never cried. She refused it. But her face would still break out with red splotches, and her nose would stuff up as she held her breath.

"Then what about Reed? Those two are inseperable - sending her other half away from us, away from her . . . it'll break her heart!"

My dad sighed again. "That can't be together forever. And I'm sure they'll be old enough to understand when the time comes, we still have four years to get them prepared."

Another moment of silence. My mothers quiet sniffles could be heard through the cracked door, and I gulped.

"I don't like this," she whispered, just barely loud enough for me to hear. "I don't like this at all."

"It's for the best," Dad said. "She'll be safe, and Reed can live on with a normal life."

It finally clicked into my head. My face, too shocked to show any emotion, stayed still, but confused.

They're going to send me away. People are looking for us - looking for me - and so they're going to send me away. Away from Reed, away from our peaceful life here in Utah.

I didn't hear the footsteps coming towards the door, and suddenly a flash of light burned my eyes as my father opened it.

His eyes widned, and he looked at a loss for words. I just stood there, blinking, as if still processing what I had just heard. He called my name out in question, but his voice rang deaf to my ears. I didn't know what to say, and I wasn't worried that I was just caught listening in on my parent's conversation. I was to oupset, I really didn't know what to say.

So without any real expression, I looked into my father's eyes and said quietly . . .

"Reed had a nightmare again . . ."


o o o


My vision hazed, another bright, white light bringing me back into my present state of mind.

It was rare that I had flashbacks, and I wondered briefly why that particular one came to me now of all times: the day my life truly changed forever. I saw the world differently since then, and I spent every waking moment with an oblivious Reed at my side. She didn't know - neither I, nor my parents, told her of our seperated fate when our dreaded sixteenth year was to come. I was still learning of my abilities, so of course I didn't know that my life was going to be cut short two years before our official seperation.

Hopefully now, my family was safe. Wherever, whenever they were.

"ANGEL!" a familiar voice called my new name. I was snapped out of my thoughts, and suddenly my face twisted into that of pain. That sufficating feeling I felt before was caused by my body being crushed by . . . by . .

Okay, it was weird enough that I was feeling pain, but the fact that a large, creature-like thing was looking at me, his head ducked down to my level, was a bit to much for my freak-out meter.

"Oh, hell," I squeaked, my lungs constricting painfully.

A white mask made of a chalky-like substance stared at me, with two black holes for eyes. I felt sick, the fear I felt then seeming to hurt worse than the physical pain being inflicted upon me.

The pain wasn't anything normal. It wasn't a crushing feeling one would expect when being held in the clawed, marble hands of a giant monster. It was a feeling that felt more like an extreme case of uncomfort, it was suffocating, but my dead body could have no other reaction to it other than wishing it could truly die and give way.

My vision blurred in and out. I couldn't scream. I couldn't move -

Ichigo gave a battle cry, grabbing something that looked to be a metal folding chair and charging toward the large creature holding me.

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I chanted, wishing to yell out to the idiot boy for trying to do something reckless once again.

Run! Leave! Take your family and get as far away from here as you can! Forget about me! I'm already dead!

. . . I'm already dead.

"Idiot," I spat. I'm already dead Ichigo, why are you trying to save me?

"Let go of her!" Ichigo's voice was faint in my ears. I couldn't cry - the dead couldn't cry. But if I could, I'm sure I'd be a sobbing, screaming mess by now.

"Get out of here, please!" I managed to beg, but he couldn't hear me, my voice was too soft.

Ichigo charged, metal chair in hand -

Only to be knocked to the side. He was flung away like a nothing!

"Yes, attack the giant monster with a chair, THAT'LL WORK!" Oh sure, in times of being mad and needing to let out my sarcasm, I'm able to shout. How nice.

"Angel! Are you alright?" Ichigo yelled. By this time, my racing heart managed to calm itself enough for me to try and think more clearly.

"Oh I'm FINE. Just sort of, you know, suffocating, but other than that, I'M DAMN PEACHY."

"ENOUGH WITH THE COMMON CHIT-CHAT, I FINALLY FOUND YOU!" the creature laughed, and it's voice sent me into a small state of shock. It was rough, laced with several tones of voices like a true monster's would be. It's hand tightened around my spirit body and I let out a cry of pain.

"You fool!" Another voice shouted, and I managed to catch sight of someone else jump into the scene.

"Do you really think you're any match for a hollow?!"

I didn't know who this was, but I could tell it was a woman, and this fact tugged at a faint memory of my brain.

"Eh! I don't like Rukia's new hairstyle!" Reed whined, staring at a picture on her laptop. I curiously leaned over the bed, seeing a serious-faced anime girl with a sword at her side. Her full head of hair was short, ending at the nape of her neck, with big round eyes and strands of her bangs hanging over the bridge of her nose. I recognized her from several comics and pictures on my facebook. Bleach is a pretty popular manga/anime, so the official MangaFox page posted images of it now and then.

And that was all I saw before my world blackened once again. The creature wasn't happy by its lack of attention, and unknowingly worsoned that discomforting, suffocating feeling it gave me as it tightened it's fist.

Snippets of voices that muffled in my ears, cries of pain, and shouts of anger were all I was able to make out.

But I'll never forget that last image I saw before finally giving into the darkness, and letting my body give way to unconciousness.

Ichigo held that woman's blade to his stomach, her body slouched against streetlight as she spoke to him. He gave a damned smirk, with a fiery determination in his eyes that I knew all to well.

Taking a hold of the sword's handle, he stabbed himself right into his body.

I let out a last, unnecessary breath.

Finally. . . his story has begun . . .


A/N: *dodges knives and bankai attacks*

I AM SO TERRIBLY SORRY FOR THE SUPER LATE UPDATE . . . AGAIN!

I was dealing with writer's block, and then I got lazy, and the next thing I know, three months had passed! I AM SO SORRY PLEASE FORGIVE ME I'M NOT TRYING TO MAKE A HABIT OF THIS!

Really! I am sorry! Especially since I left you with a cliff hanger like that!

PLEASE FORGIVE ME!

I promise, promise, PROMISE, to try and do better!

But! On the plus side, I made a picture of Angel! It's not my best work (the hair is in her eyes too much) so I'm probably going to remake it, but be sure to check it out! It's on my facebook page, the link is on my profile.

I even put a little 'easter egg' in there in light of the upcoming holiday, so be sure to check it out. It might have a little clue! (pertaining to her name, perhaps? Hahaha)

For those who want to see the picture, but for some reason can not access Facebook (like, if your parents don't allow you), be sure to message me and we can figure out a way to make it viewable for you!

And another side note: I did not read over this, because I kinda just want to get it out of the way and posted. So inform me of any mistakes and where, and I'll go back and fix it. Especially on my spelling . . . my spelling is horrible.