A/N: AAAAWWWWW! I IS SO HAPPY! I got a chapter out Christmas EVE! Merry Christmas! That is my gift to you internet, a nicely (Ahem quickly rushed Ahem) done chapter before Christmas.
-Bleach-
12: Plans have changed
"Kagura what is going on my pet? I have been hearing many things I don't wish to believe you are capable of."
"I am sorry sir but if my guess is correct then I would assume that it came from Gaku and you know very well that Gaku hates me."
"What the hell Kagura! Don't say it like I am not standing right here."
"It is quite obvious from your grin that it was you that is trying to lead me to my demise but I doubt that you have any proof since I have done anything wrong."
"Don't turn you nose up at me bitch!"
"I find that you are more like a dog that I am Gaku."
"Damn it!" Gaku's spiritual pressure rose higher and higher.
"Honestly Gaku. Stop being ridiculous, your pressure is nothing impressive to me but if you want every one of Lord Madura's servants to pass out as well as any passing bystanders, by all means continue the sad display of your inability to control yourself."
"SILENCE! GAKU CONTROL YOURSELF THIS INSTANT!" Madura's voice boomed over the pair's bickering.
"Our apologies sir." Both Kagura and Gaku recited.
"Now, Gaku here has upturned some important information in his . . . ways. Come child."
A girl held by her wrists was being ushered in through the side door. "Lady Kagura, I . . . I am so sorry, but he found out and I . . . I was scared." She said through her tears and sobs.
Kagura looked at her with a calm face but inside she was in a terrible frenzy trying to figure out damage control. "I don't understand." She then turned to Madura and Gaku's creepy smile.
"She has admitted that there is a force that is against me. Is that true Kagura?" He said in a violent tone.
"Sir, you cannot expect me to know of everyone who is displeased, it should be expected that some would dislike"
"DISLIKE! THAT is why I have you around Kagura. YOU are supposed to help bring them to me and be their leader and role model!
"I am sorry sir that I have not been sufficient in carrying out your will my Lord."
"Are you claiming you are ignorant of this force?" Madura asked with hope in his voice, he turned to Gaku for confirmation but knew that it would be pointless. He had a bewildered look on his face. 'Of course, Kagura is just as strong as he is, if not stronger.' Shaking his head in disappointment and turned back to Kagura with a frustrated frown.
Kagura was still worried but couldn't help savoring the kicked dog look on Gaku's face. 'I shall remember this to cheer me up later.'
"Kagura."
'Uh oh. This doesn't sound good.' Kagura thought.
"This looks very suspicious, very suspicious because Kaname has been gone for almost four days. FOUR DAYS KAGURA! What am I supposed to think? Who else could orchestrate such a rebellion that could help someone escape?"
"Sir please, there is no"
"NO rebellion, well there are NO Kaname, NO trust, and NO answers coming to me from you." Madura looked at the quivering girl who was brought in. "Are you telling me SHE is a liar? Were you lying child?" She shook her head looking at him with light purple eyes that were a little more red than blue.
He turned to look a Kagura. "Are YOU lying Kagura?" She was silent, fear finally reaching her violet eyes. "Well then if I had to be honest I believe Kagura more than you child, forgive me but it seems that I have to kill you now."
"SIR! That is hardly necessary! Please! Maybe we could just lock her up! Don't kill her sir!"
She looked wide eyed from Kagura to Madura waiting for her fate. Madura made a motion and within seconds his guard came in and slit her throat within a blink of an eye and even began to carry her off.
He turned to Kagura with a frown. "I am sorry child but you have disappointed me." With another motion two guards came to her side but didn't kill her. "Take her to the disciplinary cell until I say otherwise."
The last thing she saw as the door shut the light away was Gaku's gleaming smile, and then there was darkness.
'Forgive me Kaname; I was looking forward to hearing your voice.'
-Bleach-
Kaname frowned but he had to admit that he did a good job in finding Yumi Asamoto within moments of his arrival. What was making him frown was the fact that she was totally useless! Freaking out, sure that was understandable but needing surgery! Now who knows how long it will take for her to understand and control her new powers and sharpen her skills before she is needed?
'What was I thinking; these kinds of things are never easy are they?'
She is an unstable person not possibly capable of taking on Madura. How will this work out? Kaname was thinking over and over the troubles his absence was causing Kagura but he was going to come soon, he had too. Ugh! It is this Yumi girl! She is taking forever to get ready. She is in no shape to take on his world. No this is ridiculous, at least once he talks with Kagura he will have some idea what to do next.
Sighing, Kaname goes to the nearest pay phone and types in a series of numbers. Checking his watch he realized that he only needed to wait precisely a single second more and then pressed the final number. Only a second until he hears the perfect tone of Kagura's voice. One more second and then he gets to hear her happy relieved voice and it would be because of him.
Ring
Ring
Ring
"Have you found the Beautiful Bow?"
"Who is this?" 'This is not Kagura and this is not good. Remember the plan, if possibly compromised then pretend that you don't know. But, Kagura.'
"The dancer has been taken. Have you found the Beautiful Bow?"
Kaname shivered, so things had not gone according to plan. "Yes, I have located the Beautiful Bow. Report."
"The Bird is more suspicious than usual now. One gone. The crocodile is on the look out. And sir. . . . . I'm sorry."
Click
Kaname wordlessly hung up the phone and left to a park and was found sitting on a park bench.
Uryu jogged up to him breathing heavily. "Where the hell have you been?" He asked angrily.
"Kagura."
"What?"
"Our leader of the rebel group was captured and I need to go back and help her before our group collapses and are incapable of resurfacing. Do you know how long we have been working on this rebellion? Years and years. I can't let all that work go to waste! I can't! I can't!"
"Calm down Kaname. Tell me what happened."
"Kagura was captured and Gaku found someone weak enough to give him a clue that it was her. He loathes Kagura. Madura had the informant killed. One of our followers."
"But they betrayed you."
"That's beyond the point. They were scared, probably by Gaku. I can't begrudge them that."
"I see."
"Madura knows that a group could exist, he probably already knew or at least suspected one but never thought that Kagura was behind it until know. He's on to us already and now Gaku is on full alert, minds that are scared and worried tend to be easier for Gaku to read and without Kagura's leadership the group might do something rash and stupid."
Uryu stood there trying to figure out what they should do. He looked at the guy in front of him and frowned. 'I've seen this look before.'
"Oh damn. Here we go again." Uryu said as he rubbed the back of his head.
"What do you mean?" Kaname asked with an upset look on his face.
Uryu looked at him again and realized the similarity of how he looked with how Ichigo looked when Inoue was taken. 'Great this means that we will probably need to go and do something stupid like storm a place without being prepared and leave really early and probably get hurt and risk our lives yet again. Man, sometimes this stuff gets old.'
"I don't know if you read up on us but we do have some experience with this sort of thing."
"I hope what I've read wasn't over exaggerating, the place she's being kept at is crawling with Madura's unwavering servants along with Gaku and the monsters that follow him. He is way more paranoid than the soul society, if you plan on breaking in, it's going to be hard, not something you can do by force."
Uryu shook his head. "We've followed Kurosaki into some pretty crappy situations with less to motivate us."
Yumi caught up to Uryu and Kaname. "It seems like we'll have to go there earlier than we expected then." She spoke softly with a bemused expression.
"Why? Why would you want to help us?" Kaname asked, confused about their commitment.
Uryu scowled while Yumi put her hands on her hips. "Are you stupid or something?" Uryu said as he pushed his glasses higher up the brim of his nose.
"Yeah, I promised I would help you stop him and it seems like this Kagura of yours is an important person to keep alive."
"We are not doing this for you; we are doing this for Yumi. The only reason you're getting help at all from us is because of her and it will probably be because of us that the soul society will throw in some support."
"Oh I wouldn't think of you actually doing this for me. I'm not even close to being stupid enough to think that you guys actually like me." He said with a smile.
"Damn right we don't like you. All you've done since you got here was cause grief and make me a nuisance to all my friends." Yumi said with an angry sigh.
"Now we have to go back to Urahara's and tell everyone what we have to do and work out how to get there and ask for some help from the soul society and probably call on some favors that I was hoping we wouldn't have to call on ever again in our life."
"Damn, this is going to suck isn't it?" Yumi said with a defeated look.
"What are you talking about?" Uryu asked but she just turned to him with a look of betrayal on her face.
"It is something I can do nothing about and I don't like it one bit. I can't believe you are going to do that to me!" She fussed as she griped her hands tightly.
"How can you be mad at me for not even doing whatever it is yet?" Uryu yelled after her as she stormed away.
'You are going to leave me behind Uryu.' Yumi thought as she felt her heart spasm with unease. She calmed down realizing objectively how they would be correct in leaving her behind in her state, but deep down she felt the weight on her heard grow at the thought of her friends fighting without her.
-Bleach-
Sitting in the back of the room she watched and listened as they made preparations for the battle ahead, the battle that they would fight without her they just didn't realize it yet. In her lap Sora sat and purred keeping her company.
"You know how I feel don't you Sora?" Yumi said as she scratched the black fur behind the ears of the hazel eyed cat. She had followed Yumi to the shop probably to try and relieve the pressure of her heart.
"So we need to send a team to save this Kagura at the least."
"Yeah but should we save some others?"
"I don't think that's such a great idea."
"Yeah I agree. Sometimes just the little rebelion helps bring the moral back into the the hearts of the people."
"It would help to have Yumi make her appearence."
"But. . . she"
Yumi sighed and turned to them. "I know. OK. I know, I am too much of a risk for a mision like this. I am too weak, too important to lose in a little cloak and dagger sckirmish like this. No offense, Kagura is an important person, a very important person, but so am I."
"Yumi."
"I know alright! Man! I hate it so stop looking at me like that!" She said as she stood up and stormed out of the room. Leaving Sora behind and a surprised room of people, Yumi sighed and jumped up to the roof yet again.
Everyone looked out the door and Ichigo started yelling.
"What the hell is wrong with her?"
"Ichigo. She realizes that she needs to stay behind. It's not something many of us in this room is capable of." Urahara said as he held his fan to his face.
"Urahara is right. She must feel terrible about staying behind, I know I would." Rukia said sympatheticly.
"I know how she feels." Orihime said looking at her hands. Everyone turned to her imediately feeling sorry for her. "It doesn't help that you feel sorry for her either. Nobody wants to be pityed."
They all silently looked at the beautiful orange haired girl. "Waiting is uncomfortable. Forgeting is imposible. But not knowing what to do is the worst form of tourture, its enough to drive someone mad."
They all looked at her in surprise. Something so profound yet simple came from her lips, and it was something that she sounded like she knew a lot about. Kaname wondered how such a bubbly timid, air head of a girl have this kind of wisdom.
Uryu nodded and wished that Yumi had stayed long enough to hear Orihime say that. 'I wish she could know that someone understands how she feels.'
He saw how Ichigo went to Inoue's side and offered her a kind smile.
Everyone agreed that Yumi probably needed some time to rest and be alone so they finished up their plans. Uryu looked to Orihime but she was too busy with assuring Ichigo and Tatsuki that she was fine. Turning around he saw that everyone had returned to discussing the finer points of the plan, who was going and what was the main reason for going.
Some had felt that Yumi should had been involved but she probably already knew what was going to be planed and would tell of anything that would go easier if she believed it would help.
'Odd how we all work together and know eachother in a way that saves us time.' Uryu thought as he took count around the room.
Ichigo and Renji listen to the important parts but we all know they are not the thinkers of the group. Funny enough, they know it too and accepts it. Orihime sits quietly and asks questions that pertain to people, If they may need to be healed or what use she could be while Rukia questions the plans and tries to understand to the fullest. Urahara gets the mechanics and is actually the reason we can get to places we need to go. Chad is also a good person to bounce ideas off of while it feels like I may be the one that adds to the plan with Urahara and the others who are more familiar with the place we are invading (in this case Kaname).
Uryu stood and started to wonder about outside the shop. He needed somewhere to think without feeling like he was being watched by his friends.
Yumi seems to fit into her own place here just as well as Tatsuki did when she entered our group. Maybe better. It feels like we completely trust her judgment and ask her for advice. How did she worm her way here with us?
He looked up at the cloudy sky and the setting of the sun. 'Another day has gone and it looks like trouble is just ahead of us again.'
"Hey."
Uryu turned his head to where the voice came from. He was startled because he was so deep in his thoughts but realized that it was just Yumi.
"What are you doing up there?" He asked still on the ground.
"I. I tend to have this thing with heights."
"Really?" He asked as he jumped up and walked over to her side still standing. He looked down on her sitting with her arms griping her legs like a child.
"If you want to know the truth I think better up high on a roof or a tree, somewhere in the sky."
"Many people are. It's a place that not everyone can follow you to which makes it an ideal place to hide away from the world when you need to think."
"But the funny thing is" She said as she gripped her legs tighter looking more like a innocent kid every second. "I'm afraid up here."
"Well that's silly. How can you love heights and be afraid of them at the same time? Isn't that a little redundant?"
"I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of falling."
"Falling? But. I don't understand. If you fall at this height you'll only get hurt, you won't die and I'm sure you won't fall." He said with a small smile. "Us special humans don't exactly fall a lot."
"I don't know Uryu. There is more than one way to fall. Being up this high reminds me of that."
He looked at her and released a giant pent up sigh. It sounded ridiculous especially coming from him.
"What?" Yumi asked surprised by his response.
"Everytime I talk to you lately, you say something profound and deep with wisdom and hidden meanings. It's interesting and such but I have to admit it gets annoying after a while." He said as he finally plopped down next to her.
Yumi blushed and thought about it. "I'm sorry" she said quietly.
Uryu turned to her with wide eyes. "No! I! I mean, you don't have to applogize!" Uryu exclaimed as he shook his hands feeling guilty for saying something like that to Yumi at a time like this.
"No you're right. I can be overdramatic sometimes."
"Really I get it. It's situations like these that get to people and start saying things like that. You really are a calm peaceful kind of person."
Yumi looked dumb struck right at his face and for what seemed like an eternity of silence, she bursted out laughing.
"What did I say?" Uryu sputtered, embaresed without knowing the actual reason.
"Nothing, nothing, it's not you. What you said just reminded me of something." She giggled between every few words.
Feeling a little better he decided to ask her what she meant only to receive a sad sort of smile.
"My mother said something to me before I left on a trip once a long time ago." Yumi said as she looked down on her knees and laced her hands together.
"She told me once that I was such an odd child. But of course she knew about my powers then, so naturally I thought she was aluding to them. She informed me that my actual oddity was that at one moment I could be calm, cool and collected, peaceful even. And then! In a flash I could be full of life and emotion, passion and darring! She said it was very much like the oddity in my eyes. The blue eye represents my calm side while the red would be the dangerous one."
Uryu frowned at her, confused as always whenever she opened her mouth. "Me being that overthinking self decided to take it a step further. My eyes turn purple which in the eyes of Madura make sense because he considers me to be some kind of royalty but to me it just represnts my bruised heart."
"Maybe you're both wrong." Uryu said thoughtfully.
"How so?"
"I don't think your eyes are purple. To me they are more of a Violet, the mixture between blue and red. I think it shows your temperance. Your clairity of mind."
They both looked at eachother and Yumi couldn't help but laugh again. "It is silly to look into insignifigant things that intently. What was I thinking taking what she had said so seriously?" She said still laughing.
"It's not that silly." Uryu said smiling at her happiness even if it was only for a moment. "Humans like to look for meaning in nothing. We want to think that we are her for reasons and that things are the way they are for a purpose. It's hard to accept that the world is just a jumble of chaos and were just living in in but who's to say that its not there for a reason hm?"
Yumi tilted her head towards him. "Now who's saying deep profound thoughts?" She said with a teasing smile.
Chuckling Uryu stood. "Yeah, well I hope you're feeling better. Got any insightfull thoughts left for me now?"
He watched her lean back realizing she was out of the hugging herself stance and wondered when that happend. She looked up at the sky and her eyes squinted like she was looking for the right words, trying to grasp the right thoughts."This strain I feel is temporary, it may last for the entire time you're all away facing trouble without me, but soon it will subside and some greater problem will take its place. How's that?"
"Well it's still depressing but at least it means you're prepairing yourself for the future. What am I saying? Of couse you would know more about the future than me."
"I know as much as you silly. No one can really know the future. Even you know that problems can be worse later on down the line."
"I think you just put down your powers to get everyone to underestimate you."
"Is it working?" Yumi said with a devious smile.
"Maybe." He said as he jumped off the roof.
She was about to look back up at the darkening sky when Uryu said something before he went back inside. "You know Yumi, sometimes the best part in life is getting up everytime we fall."
Smiling she replied "How cliche of you Uryu." And she stuck her tounge out at him.
"I'm sure we're all cliche, everyone has already taken everything and said it already." Uryu said while he wondered how she can be so mature and wise and transform to become this child right before him.
"Well that can't be completely true. That just makes everything we say that's new all the more unique!"
"Maybe it's not what we say but but who says it and how."
She smiled softly but it was a different kind of smile. It touched everypart of her face and made it glow. "And who it's too?"
"Yes, very much who it's too."
-Bleach-
A/N:This is my 12th chapter as you can see but 12 is my favorite number! I would like to mark this chapter and the time of year for thanking my wonderful reviewers!
I shall first thank my very first review EVER, yes people ever, I would say it is like getting your first kiss. (Yumi: What a weirdo, I hope she doesn't mean that. Uryu: No she's just being funny to earn points.) Greyfalcon!
Next is someone who really reviewed a lot in the begining and tied for the most reviews on SOAA! They gave me great feedback and advice. It really helped me out because I was unsure of what I was doing then and was worried about my ideas. I really appriceated their reviews and I hope to see them again in the new year. (Yumi: Yeah she's gained a lot of confidence since then. Uryu: True, but she still checks her stats everyday to see if someone reviewed. Me: DO NOT! Yumi: whispers* do to.) Haddrell! Thanks again.
The other person who tied for most reviews is Kurisetina! Thanks for your positive encouragement!
Thank you Sweet And Deadly, shadowgirl8992, and SasuTenLuvr your reviews made me smile :)
EmpressSaix got me to look up some stuff on a thesaurus and I got so much new stuff to work from because I got in to a frenzy of looking up quotes and symbols and well! (Yumi: A long winded thank you isn't it? Uryu: I would have just given a list and said thanks once and be done with it. Me: I just love my reviews, now shut up!) Just wanted to say thank you! The power of one review is very strong. It made me a better writer and made a better story.
Thanks to Monk Gyatso for calling my first story ever "remarkable". It gave me the strength to chern out this chapter.
And Godess of the Sun! You gave me the best complement ever!
Thank you all who read this story! I will continue it and while I don't think it will be excessively long, it may make it to another 12 chapters. (Uryu: Good Lord! 12 more! I don't think I can last that long with her. Yumi: Hm, well it could be fun. Me: at least someone is coming around.) Sigh, though I highly doubt it. (Uryu: I'll hope.)
Merry Christmas!
Riia