Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bleach or any related characters or properties.

.:13:.
Covering the Tracks

"And this is how the Kido will operate, then?" asked Lieutenant Kira, brushing his hands through his hair. "This is a lot more complicated than I thought."

The diagrams for the introductory kanji to create the source of the Kido spell were spread on the floor of Naruto's personal room in the Squad Thirteen barracks, several candles lighting the room and moonlight streaming through the window. Creating a spell from scratch was difficult work, and without the full consent of the Kido Corps, they were practically on their own.

"Yes, you're right, Izuru. It seems like it will work though, complex or not," Momo said confidently. She squeezed Naruto's hand affectionately, breaking his reverie. "You okay?"

Naruto shook himself from his own mind, grinning to reassure her. "Yeah, I'm all right. Just lost in my own thoughts."

You need to tell her about your involvement with Rukia's upcoming execution, his zanpakutou offered inside his mind. I can tell that the guilt is weighing on you; the trees are withering and there's a fog surrounding the clearing.

Naruto knew that Kusaritane was right. Who could be on his side but Momo?

When the squad received word that Rukia was in custody and scheduled for an execution, Naruto felt personally responsible. Yes, it was her fault that Ichigo had become involved; if she had had a few more seconds, maybe she could have figured out a way to attack Fishbone D without giving Ichigo her powers, and saving his family in the process. But it was not her fault that Ichigo had apparently taken more than she intended. It was, however, her fault that she had not tried to come to the Soul Society sooner with the detailed information of what happened. If she had, perhaps she might have gotten a more lenient sentence. A fighting chance is better than no chance at all, and right now, she had no chance.

"Naruto, what do you think about this array?" asked Momo, pointing to a swirling pattern of kanji that was divided into two directly in the middle. "It should work as a balancing agent in the spell's formula, right? It's modeled off of the source of the Senkaimon."

The Squad Thirteen Lieutenant could not really think about the kido formula, but he nodded nonetheless. She gave him another questioning look, wondering what was on his mind, and he just tried to give another smile to abate her.

He drifted back into his own internal dilemma, keeping enough focus on the conversation to ensure that Kira and Hinamori did not blow themselves up the first time they were to attempt the spell. He hardly knew much more than either of the other two Kido specialists, but this was a situation where the wrong phrasing on the scroll could lead to the incantation not working perfectly. And with something like the spell they were trying to create, that could be very bad news.

So what if she's going to be executed? The Kyuubi stated, huffing from behind his wooden prison inside his inner mindscape. It's her fault. You shouldn't stress yourself, although maybe if you did, the seal would weaken faster. On second thought, keep stressing, kid.

The inside of his mind seemed different every time that he performed jinzen, especially given the last few weeks. He felt conflicted and responsible and not responsible and carefree and all kinds of other emotions that he did not know how to process.

Rukia may not have been his favorite person in the world, but he still felt like that wasn't enough reason to make him feel bad for what was going to happen. And yet, he was terrified more and more for his own life that she would explain how he was involved with helping her in the World of the Living. He had covered for her after all, and he could not trust that she would not tell the truth.

He was sitting on pins and needles, and with the dark fog and the autumn-like leaves spreading inside the forest-like clearing, he had a visual representation of his inner turmoil. Kusaritane looked more haggard, the red-haired spirit's skin more gaunt and obviously affected by his struggle. Her clothing looked frayed, her white cloak with the orange kanji for Uzumaki almost in burning tatters. On the other side of the clearing, the wooden prison holding the fox was a little less colorful and almost charred from its presence.

He almost shook from the possibility, wondering if he was going to need to have the toads repair his seal on his next training visit. Kurama did look as though he was more... lively, more ferocious, stronger and fiercer. It did not seem as though he was as restricted, and that was definitely not a good sign. Maybe the stress of his guilt really was getting to him?

"It's not right to just pretend like Rukia's execution is not partially my fault," Naruto countered, and Kusaritane placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

"Do not forget that, Naruto. While I don't think you are to blame for her sentence, I do believe that if you had not agreed to cover for her or had turned her in, you may have spared herself from that sentence. And you may have spared your own life in the process."

He took a deep breath. He knew that his zanpakutou could not know anything that he didn't know deep down, because Kusaritane could only experience the world through his eyes and actions. Even if his sword spirit was a reflection of Kushina and Minato, it still came from him through his soul and his own power. He still liked to think, however, that his parents had their own voices inside the zanpakutou and that it was truly them speaking to him.

It doesn't really matter, does it? Whatever happens, happens. You can't change the past and you can't change the sentence. It still sounds like I'll be on the upside in whatever happens.

The blonde shook his head at him, glaring. The Kyuubi was unlike his zanpakutou in that it did not come from his own soul. It was its own identity and had its own motives and its own wishes. And it utterly annoyed him to think that Kurama wanted Naruto to be executed in order for it to escape and wreak havoc.

"What do I do? Can I confide in anyone about this, or do I just let it go and hope that Rukia doesn't talk?"

Neither of them had a clear answer, but he wasn't exactly expecting a clear answer from the fox anyway.

"Do what you think is best," explained the redheaded zanpakutou.

You know I can't even begin to care.

Her eyes flickered open with a start. The space behind her stomach near her spine throbbed as she moved. Her mind was racing, sweat pouring from a damp cloth around her neck.

She looked around her, realizing that she was sitting in some kind of desert, lying on a blanket that was drenched in sweat. Blue sky stretched everywhere, clouds seemingly fixed in place despite the light air flow around her. Buttes of red stone jutted up from the wasteland's floor, and a small hot spring was aligned at the base of a large mesa.

There were several people around Sakura, but her attention was definitely on the sight she did not expect to see: a teenage boy exhaustedly running from a seemingly normal little girl, who was hitting the ground hard enough to crack rock and stone. It took her several moments, and she blamed her wakening confusion, to realize that the orange-haired boy's Chain of Fate was dangling from his physical body lying on the ground.

Immediately, Sakura's eyes widened, and she snapped up against the pain running through her mind. She mentally began calling forth a healing Kido, running toward the spirit form of the boy running and dodging the girl's strikes with surprising amounts of speed.

She did not know where she was or what was going on, but she was not about to let that boy die.

"Stop," a voice said behind her, clasping on her shoulder. "You can't help him."

Sakura flipped around angrily, surprised to see Kisuke Urahara, the owner of the shinigami supply shop for when they were deployed in Karakura Town or the areas around it. His infamous hat and cane were not a welcome sight; he was a little bit annoying to deal with and his prices were not the best. Or so she's heard, anyway.

"What do you mean, I can't help him?! He'll die at this rate!"

The tall dark-skinned man she did not recognize lifted a hand and she recognized the familiar glow of a basic healing Kido. "I can help him to, but that would not get us anywhere."

The orange-haired teenager was a fighter, although if she had to guess, he was completely outclassed by this little girl. He had virtually no spiritual pressure, but her reiatsu was almost deafening in sparse moments. Definitely more than she would have thought possible from a little human girl, if she even was. Sakura recognized her and the little redhead as the shop's helpers, along with the taller man. But she could not place their names.

"If you help him, lady, he'll never get his shinigami powers back." The little boy said definitively.

"Uhhh... what?"

The series of mountains were rather large, but most of it was obscured by powerful mist that even clouded her eyes. She suspected that if she were to step into the thick of it, she would not be able to see more than a few feet in front of her. It clung to the highest heights, and she knew that the fog would thin at a lower altitude. And there was something strange about the energy in the area, because it kept her from using her spiritual senses to their fullest ability. It must have been a combination of all of that that kept Soul Society mostly away from the Elemental Nations.

The mysterious lands were full of strange creatures and people and abilities, but not many were still around today. Plagued by wars and even famine, most of the former political structure she could gather from any surviving locals (using a gigai of course) had fallen apart after the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Whatever that was.

Temari had the strangest feeling that she should not be here, but given what she was there to discover, she found no other choice. Tailing Naruto to the Elemental Nations had not proven to be a good way to learn anything; she was too afraid to get close for fear that he would find out.

It was her own motivation that brought her here, really. She was just as curious about her own life that Uzumaki claimed to know, as he was. He had not known much about her or her own life, only that she had living in a place called the Hidden Sand Village and had two brothers. And Temari was not exactly going to go out and ask him for more information.

So following him here was a plus for her, because she got to learn more about the world she grew up in while she was alive. She had always been curious; it must be something that every shinigami that had once been human felt at one point in his or her lifetime. Most just never had the opportunity to satiate that curiosity.

Her visit to the Hidden Sand Village, or what was left of it, had proved to not be as emotional as she had expected. No one lived there anymore, unable to trade with neighboring lands for goods or services. Eventually the desert killed them, and she imagined that was what would have happened eventually, even if the War had not occurred. Most of the survivors fled to the Lands of Fire and Earth, and she wondered if she was expected to feel badly about that.

Temari did not truly know her brothers. She did not know her family or her friends anymore. As she was now, she did not know her old life at all. The memories that Naruto recovered must have been a one-time event because of the Shinenju, and knowing him did not force her mind to revive those old memories. They just weren't part of her anymore.

It upset her that he was lucky enough to do that, but it did not necessarily upset her that she couldn't find any Sand villagers.

Temari took a long, deep breath. She had other things to attend to. Other things to worry about. Another breath later, and she shot over the edge of the cliff face.

She shunpo'ed through the air as quickly as she could, flashing into and out of existence for any potentially spiritually-aware observers on the ground. The mountain village stretched below him, busy and filled with more people than they could support. It, however, did not look as though they were living a very good life. People in dark red and brown military uniforms and sentries guarded nearly every corner. The civilians were haggard and looked as though they could not afford proper clothing.

She saw no signs of what Naruto had described as a Sand symbol, but she assumed that the survivors of the desert environment must have been assimilated into the new villages and lost their identity within a few generations. She literally had no idea where the survivors' descendants could be, but Temari pushed that away and tried to remind herself that it wasn't what she was here for.

She had already spent time scoping the place out, so she knew exactly where to go. There were several underground vaults, connected with intricate tunnels created by their ninjutsu. The entire Hidden Stone Village had a fixation on the earth, and their abilities were focused around building large walls and barriers and creating hidden escape routes deep under the earth. One thing that surprised her was that they had metallic support structures in some of the more important tunnels, built to not collapse totally so there is always a viable escape route.

Temari did not really know why, but studying the village's fortress-like defenses fascinated her. As a member of Squad Three, she paid a certain attention to the defensive capabilities of the Seireitei as they are often those in charge of maintaining the walls. Seeing the Hidden Stone Village's defenses interested her, and she often found problems with them. Choke points and wall thickness, using the natural mountain range as defensive backing, the river that runs through the town to the north that could easily be poisoned and slowly kill everyone there. It was the military aspect of her mind, but sometimes, she surprised herself with the things she could find as weaknesses.

It definitely seemed more heavily fortified than any other city she had ever seen in the World of the Living. Most other cities did not need that type of protection anymore, but the shinobi world was not as adapted to modern day as the other areas of the world. These nations were so cut off and obscured that she suspected they may not even be visible to those satellites that the modern world seemed to have. Probably the magic of the mist in the atmosphere, whatever it really was.

She stopped abruptly in the middle of a small courtyard, a great stone statue of a small man with a large nose, who looked as though he was holding a huge circular rock up with ease. She did not know who he was, but considering the ornate design made of the earth, she assumed that it was someone important to the village.

Temari took a deep breath before intangibly letting herself fall through the ground, dropping into the hidden underground chamber. The sensation of her body passing through physical matter was always very odd, like the solid matter flowing around her like liquid.

It took a full two minutes to fall far enough to reach the chamber's floor, passing through the solid bedrock before dropping. Torches were the only lighting available, and it gave the room way too many stretching shadows.

The hidden vault was an irregular circle, lined with a steel-like material that almost looked like it could be super-dense hardened rock. Its shape flowed in odd, hard waves, and she wondered if it had been carved from volcanic lava. Intricate symbols were woven into the floor and the walls and the ceiling, and they formed a full network of seals that reminded her of a spider's web. The outer lines of kanji slowly fell into the center of the room, where something stood on top of a dais.

It was a simplistic gold ring with etched designs and a bright red jewel right in the center. She stepped forward to inspect it further, smirking to no one.

Temari had finally found what she was looking for.

Sakura's mind was completely blown by all of this information. Rukia had illegally granted shinigami powers to a human? That was definitely not something to dabble in and do lightly, and there was a reason it was against the rules. At the same time, she could understand Rukia's point of view.

So Captain Kuchiki and Lieutenant Abarai came to Karakura Town, hunted Rukia down, and left the boy to die on the streets. Sakura could not help but feel that it might have been too harsh to do that, but at the same time, it made a lot of sense in the grand scheme of things and how the Soul Society views this offense. Destroy the soul sleep and booster so that he no longer has any powers, effectively eliminating the problem.

But now Rukia was going to die because of it? The execution had already been ordered, to take place in about one month's time. It was a serious offense, but was it that serious?

Sakura sipped her tea lightly, trying not to think about the information that had just been dumped on her. She sat at the table cross-legged on the floor, across from Kisuke Urahara and Tessai Tsukabishi, both former captains of the Seireitei in different legs of the military.

"One thing that bugs me that I don't think you ever answered," Sakura said suddenly, breaking the comfortable silence after the exposition dump. "How did I get here? Like, did one of you find me collapsed outside?"

An imperceptive Urahara grinned. "No, we didn't find you. An old acquaintance brought you here almost two whole days ago. He said that letting you die would leave him indebted to you for saving a little girl."

That confused her for a moment. Who could she be talking about? But then her mind returned to the strange man who had been seemingly human, but had been able to see her and talked to her.

"Oh, the white haired man at the hospital? What is the deal with him?"

Urahara shook his head. "A story for another day." He stood from the table, realizing that everything was a little too surprising at the moment ."All right, I need to head back down and help out with the second lesson. It should be ready now, I think. We need to all get ready."

"Me too?" she asked. "Because I'm thinking about heading back to the Soul Society, now that I've fully recovered."

Tessai shook his head, before sharing a glance with Urahara. "Well, we actually wanted to talk to you about that."

"We want to make a proposition for you, Sakura Haruno. There's someone that we want you to meet before you go back." The sly grin on his face stretched and the other shinigami could not help but feel slightly creeped out.

He awoke to the feeling of a piece of paper being pressed to his face, and he groaned audibly. He looked up groggily, wanting to turn back over when he saw his lieutenant staring over him.

"Nara, the results from the library have come back, the ones that you requested."

Shikamaru's attention was piqued only a little bit more than necessary, and he stood up from his bed in the barracks. He rubbed the back of his neck before turning back around to watch Lieutenant Ise adjust her glasses with a tight expression. "Anything interesting?"

She nodded, handing him the paperwork. "Squad members found monitoring records of energy surges that date back several decades. Recently, there's been an insurgence of spiritual activity."

Shikamaru interpreted the data in his hand in almost the blink of an eye. "So what's really interesting about this is that spiritual activity dropped off in that area for a period of almost seventy years, with almost no indication of any activity. The data accounts for shinigami activity, deaths and the appearance of hollows, but that entire period was almost insignificant."

Nanao nodded. "Yes, it appears so. Our scanners have difficulty locating spiritual pressures and spiritual matter in that area, so it could be tha-"

"No, that's not it. Our scanners work fine," Shikamaru realized, nodding lightly. "There's something that has been blocking them for this time. Is there a topographical map of the area?"

She thought for a moment, before realizing that she included one. "Flip to the second to last page."

Shikamaru did just that, putting the map face up on his dresser, wishing that he was more dressed in front of her than he was. He had removed his upper coat when he lied down, so he felt oddly vulnerable in front of her.

He quickly analyzed the map and overlapped it with the areas where they had the minor amounts of spiritual activity in his mind. "The inland areas have been mostly untouched. There's a significant spike here, in this forest area of the central island, right before it drops off into almost obscurity. The areas on the northern coasts have significantly more activity, even during the blackout period, but it is still enough of an impact that I think there's something here. Something is blocking us."

Lieutenant Ise followed his train of thought, confirming most of her own suspicions with his analysis. She was surprised, however, that something could be blocking the area from their sight. Most of Asia and even parts of Europe were in their jurisdiction, so it surprised her that there could be this hidden area. "It appears that elevation has something to do with it as well. Could it be related to the atmosphere?"

"Atmosphere?" asked Shikamaru, confused by her suggestion. "A naturally occurring compound that can block our reiatsu scanners is impossible."

"Are you suggesting that someone has blocked off the islands purposefully with an artificial gaseous compound?"

"It's a possibility," Shikamaru whispered, trailing off. "We need more data. Not enough points for a clear picture."

"We've done just about all that we can do with our records, and Central 46 won't authorize a mission there very lightly."

The man sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I have to visit the creepy mad scientist, don't I?"

Naruto tried very hard to go over his game plan once again, but it was obvious that this was a definite issue. He stood outside the door, waiting for his turn to visit her. Renji was currently inside, talking with her adamantly about what happened to her.

When Naruto heard about what Renji and Captain Kuchiki had done to Ichigo, it definitely put a sour taste in his mouth. Ichigo had been helping the overall picture for weeks, defeating hollows with his borrowed powers and doing everything that Rukia could have done in that time span. He assumed, when he really broke it down, that it all came down to the fact that someone had driven away a Menos Grande. And that someone had been Ichigo, all on his own.

And that terrified even Naruto, to be honest. A mere human who had only had his powers for a few weeks managed to win a battle against a Gillian-class hollow. Sure, he may not have killed it, but he forced it away. And that was sufficiently horrifying.

But now the kid was powerless, if not dead, and he had no clue what to do about any of it. Sakura was still missing as well, as if he didn't have enough to worry about as it was.

Between the Kido they were developing, to Sakura going missing and her reiatsu signature vanishing, to his normal training and Bankai training regimens, he just was not busy enough to deal with what was happening to Rukia. And yet, here he was to talk to her, and she was about to lose her life.

He slid inside the room the moment he could, staring at her through the bars. Renji shot him an interesting look. "Here to see your subordinate, Lieutenant?"

"Here to see a friend," Naruto corrected. The tattooed shinigami frowned at the implication but did not comment, leaving the two of them alone.

Rukia couldn't look at him. "What brings you here?" Her voice sounded so dejected, so defeated and exhausted. She was obviously struggling with the entire ordeal, the evidence all around her.

"I wanted to come and see how you were doing," he explained, trying to break the ice before he had to shatter the glacier.

She took another deep breath. "You're trying to save yourself."

Naruto's face paled, chill bumps running up and down her arm. Apparently, she wielded the world's largest hammer to break the glacier herself. "N-no, I..."

"Don't lie to me, Naruto," she explained. "I know that you're worried about a thorough investigation into what happened, and that your life is on the line here. You don't have to worry though; I don't want anyone else to get hurt."

He was stunned. She seemed as though she had already given up trying to fight for her life, the execution order cutting through whatever confidence she had about the Ichigo situation. She almost sounded... suicidal. Like she had just stopped caring completely.

"I'll admit that was part of my visit, but I want you to feel better, be happier, be safe."

"What's the point? I've got a month to live, so what's the point of trying to be happy in that last bit? I'm going to sit here and contemplate the meaning of life and death and everything in between for as long as I have left."

"I just don't want this for you!" Naruto nearly shouted. "I don't want this for anyone. Can we fight the order? Is there something we can do for a formal hearing about this?"

She laughed. "Hearing? Yeah, all that would do is allow the public to come and view my humiliation. I broke a law, a law that was in place for centuries, if not longer. There's a reason it is there, and I don't want anyone or anything to get hurt because I made a mistake."

"But you shouldn't want yourself to get hurt either! If I can get the opportunity, I can try to vouch for you, try to get you some kind of extension or parole or something."

She shook her head vehemently. "My brother would not allow it. I know that I don't deserve this, and if there were a way to escape and a place to hide, I might feel differently. But it's not worth it trying to fight the system over me."

"I could hel-"

"No." He watched her in deep thought for a long time, before she finally cleared her throat. "Naruto, I promise you this. Don't worry about me and don't worry about yourself. You've done enough for me as it is, and I want to thank you very much for helping me protect him for as long as I could. I'm not planning on dragging you down with me, so stop worrying over this. I'm casually optimistic that something will change, but I know that deep down, I don't think it will happen."

Even though she knew of Ichigo and his abilities, she still was shocked to learn that there were more humans with odd abilities. Urahara had postulated that it was because of Ichigo's apparently overbearing spiritual pressure, back when he had powers of his own, that his two friends had developed supernatural abilities of their own.

Sakura had followed the talking cat named Yoruichi, never realizing that there were some animals that could speak either. Mod souls and talking animals and shinigami and hollows and, according to Naruto's memories, elemental ninjas; each layer of the supernatural she peeled back gave her a new outlook on weird.

When they finally arrived in a clearing in the woods, Sakura looked at the three teenagers apparently assembled. Chad, the impossibly tall and built Mexican Japanese student with a killer arm; Orihime, the slightly ditsy girl with a big heart, an impressive chest, and apparently the ability to create three types of shields; and one last teenager who looked familiar but she had never met him before.

"Miss Haruno, this is Uryuu Ishida, one of our classmates," Orihime introduced airily. "Uryuu, meet Sakura Haruno!"

The uptight boy dressed in a school uniform, glasses, and slightly blue-black hair had a snobby air about him, and Sakura wondered what his deal was.

"Mmm." The look on his face was not exactly a fun look, and she wondered what his problem was. He did not bow back to her after she did, and apparently this was difficult to him. What was his problem?

She still did not even know what she was doing here anymore. She should have headed back by now, but she promised to Urahara that she would not exert any spiritual energy unless it was necessary or until they had time to take the proper precautions. He basically wanted her to meet these kids first, but he didn't know why.

Yoruichi stepped forward and cleared his, interrupting Orihime begging Uryuu not to be rude. "Sakura here is the Fourth Seat of Squad Four, the medical division of the shinigami. She leads the Interdimensional Relief Squad, and she deserves your respect, Uryuu."

He rolled his eyes. "You've done nothing to deserve my respect, shinigami."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. Who was he supposed to be? "Thank you for the introduction, Yoruichi. But what exactly am I doing here?"

Before Sakura could comment further, Orihime practically jumped for joy. "Oh my, you're in the medical squad! That's so cool, Sakura! One of my powers lets me heal injuries."

Sakura smiled at her enthusiasm. "Really?" She had not heard a detailed description as to what her powers were really all about, only that they involved shields of some kind.

"Yep. How do you heal things as a shinigami? That must be neat, because all I've ever seen are shinigami cutting things with those swords of yours."

Uryuu rolled his eyes. "Don't let her fool you, Orihime. Nor you, Chad." The taller teen looked down at the two of them, not bothering to comment. "They do not do much more than cut things, no matter how they try to act all high and mighty."

They did not quite know what to say to that, but when Yoruichi the cat began to speak, Sakura wished that she could have captured the exact moment his face changed into something filled with horror.

"What? You've never seen a talking cat before? Honestly, don't be such a wimp."

Orihime piped up. "You are making kind of a fuss, Uryuu."

"Sakura did not overreact this much," explained the tall Hispanic boy. The Squad Four shinigami did not expect to hear him speak at all, his voice entirely too deep for his age.

Whatever Chad said seemed to completely straighten Uryuu up, as he turned away to hide his face and adjust his glasses. Sakura noticed the small silver cross hanging from his wrist, and her eyes widened.

"Wow, you're a Quincy," she said with astonishment, almost backing up out of reflex. Seeing a Quincy was definitely not something she had expected; they were supposed to be extinct.

"And you're a shinigami, and probably a pathetic one at that, to be in the medical division."

Immediately, Sakura's anger peaked in her mind. "What did you just say, kid? Who the hell do you think you're talking to?"

Before the argument could escalate, Yoruichi cleared his throat loudly enough that everyone had to turn. Orihime had a slightly odd expression on her face, and Chad definitely looked nervous at the prospect of Sakura and Uryuu standing across from one another.

"Settle down, you two, before you do something you regret," explained Yoruichi. The cat watched them both expectantly, and when Sakura's expression finally dipped down, the cat sat on its haunches.

"What are you doing here anyway?" asked Uryuu.

Orihime and Chad were not as attentive as Sakura had imagined that they would be, and it seemed like they had met the cat before Sakura met up with them. She figured they would have wanted answers too, but they must have known more than her.

It took several moments, but within moments, Uryuu and Sakura were both shocked beyond belief, but for different reasons.

"Ichigo is planning on going to the Soul Society?"

"And you want me to help train her? That's treason!"

"Yep! He's going to go there to try to rescue Rukia. We thought you'd want to know, so you could help him too," Orihime explained, carefree before Sakura's words really settled in. "Uh... treason?"

Sakura had no idea what the details of all this really were, but she definitely did not feel like this girl should be that excited about the plan.

"This is way too complicated," Sakura explained.

"I agree," added Uryuu, surprised slightly that he agreed with her. "What Ichigo does has nothing to do with me."

"But... Rukia," Orihime stuttered. "Her life is in danger!"

The Quincy was unimpressed. He made a small gesture toward Sakura. "Rukia doesn't mean anything more to me than this complete stranger, Orihime. Why would I involve myself in matters of the shinigami?"

There was a long moment of silence. This was all too much for these kids to handle, and that much was definitely true. Sakura knew they had no chance to argue against that, not even the Quincy would be enough of a threat to them. They'd slaughter him the first chance they got, just to ensure that all the Quincy were dead.

"Too bad. But I understand that you're only doing what you think is best, Uryuu," the brunette stated, standing up."It's completely confusing to me at this point, but I am going to keep on listening and try to learn all I can about these changes that are happening. It's a little scary to have new powers awakening inside of me, but I want to know what I can do with them." She turned and locked eyes with the shinigami near her. "That's what you're here for, right? You'll help me, won't you, Sakura?"

The pink-haired girl sighed. She hated feeling like she was on the spot. "I don't know yet, Orihime. I really don't. I need some time to think, to process."

"I understand," she said lightly, her expression crestfallen. "I'm sure that Yoruichi can teach me all that I need to know!"

Sakura's chest ached, not sure how she should feel about all of this. She could be risking a lot for someone that she barely knew. If she helped them, then she could be fighting against the system she had worked so hard for. She... she had to figure out what to do.

"Naruto, I think we've run into a problem with the spell," Momo began the moment she sat down with Naruto at the table of their favorite restaurant.

"Hmmm? Really?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious. He had already decided to keep his mind off of anything resembling executions, informants among the squads, and missing friends. The Kido and Momo were definitely something that he could focus on.

Momo smiled as she adjusted her collar, entering a long explanation about a certain word in the incantation not matching with the source array. "Without that word, we won't be able to link the two together and the spell won't even work."

"So that word doesn't line up with the Senkaimon source spell then?"

She shook her head. "No, it won't work together, but Izuru and I can't figure out another word to replace it."

Creating the source scroll of a Kido spell out of kanji is difficult, but it is usually not this difficult, from what he's heard from others. If they had had help from the Kido Corps, they could have found a substitute word that would definitely help, if not actually work.

"I just wish it wasn't so hard," he said, glad to be talking about something productive. The waiter came by and took their order, disappearing into the back room. They came to this restaurant very often, and it definitely gave him chill bumps to imagine it.

"Do you have any ideas as to what word we could use instead?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. Are there any other birds that we could use?"

She looked up, thinking. "I don't know. Izuru already asked about that, but I can't come up with anything else. It seems like 'owl' would work, but maybe crow as well."

He considered the sealing array, remembering the words scrawled in a pattern that would eventually link to the verbal incantation. "'Crow' might work, but I'm not sure if the shape of the kanji will fit and flow correctly."

They drifted into silence, Hinamori lightly drawing in the palm of her hand the correct form of both 'crow' and 'owl.' Naruto reached over her soup and took her hand, squeezing it.

"Stop obsessing, we'll figure it out. We don't have to rush this; this is the kind of discovery that could take months or even years to decipher, and then even longer to actually get Central 46 to implement it."

"Yeah," she said quietly, gripping him back. "You're right. I'm sorry, I'm just very driven with this. It's such an excellent idea and could change our entire fight against hollows if it works."

Naruto merely nodded, her words reminding her of Ichigo's plight and struggle against the Menos Grande. He regretted bringing it up with Shikamaru now, the more he thought about it. Shikamaru was a sharp guy, and if he was bored enough, the Squad Eight Third Seat would put two and two together. Shikamaru was the one who terrified him more than anything, a loose end who would know and might even tell Captain Kyoraku about his hand in Rukia's case.

"Central 46 sure does work really, really fast to execute someone who does something wrong, but they don't take the same initiative to actually change anything," Naruto said suddenly, wondering what her response would be.

Her eyes widened for a moment before she put her hands in her lap, solemnly watching. "I know. It's... sad. Upsetting."

He was not quite sure how to respond, which is silly because he's the one who even brought it up in the first place.

"How... how is your squad handling that? How is Captain Ukitake handling it?"

Naruto gulped. "Not well. Most of the squad members did not know her very well, only knew of her by her last name. But everyone that knew her is especially upset about it."

She frowned, knowing what he meant. "Do you think they will be okay with it?"

"I guess they have to be." But I don't, and won't.

The guilt could practically tear him apart. She seemed to notice it, and looked at him earnestly.

"Are you sure you're all right? You've seemed really distant lately, like something is bothering you. Kiyone has complained that you aren't keeping up with your paperwork-"

"So she still gossips about me, huh?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

She laughed, a hearty giggle that made his heart melt. "Yeah, I suppose she does. Some of the members of the SWA gossip like a fish, and she's one of them. Her sister Isane complains about it all the time, but she's not much better." The two of them laughed together, and he was glad for the better mood.

"Anyway, are you sure you'll be okay? I know this must be... hard on you. If you need someone to talk to about it, I promise I'll listen. I've always liked Rukia myself, so I can understand why you would be upset."

Naruto was certain that he was visibly torn, which probably worried Momo even more than she was before. He wanted to tell her, explain to her what happened with Ichigo and how he covered for her so that she could hopefully return her powers more quickly and head back to Soul Society and pretend it never happened. He wanted to explain to her how terrifying he found it that a human with borrowed powers managed to force a Menos Grande to flee through a Garganta. He wanted to ask her what he should do about it, if he should own up to his mistakes and take whatever punishment he deserved for helping them.

"Yeah, I'll be okay. I promise, if anything comes up, I'll let you know and I'll sit down and force you to listen, even when you don't want to hear it anymore." He smiled at her, hoping beyond hope that she would not press him for more.

Momo nodded curtly. "Okay. Now, let's eat and head back, I want to work some more before I go to sleep."

He gave her a sly smile. "I think I can preoccupy your time with something that would definitely not be related to work."

Sakura had to add floating, defensive fairies to the top of her list of weird things she had witnessed lately. It was stranger than a human with powers he shouldn't have, it was stranger than an armored arm being strong enough to knock down an entire wall of the warehouse, and it was definitely stranger than a talking cat directing them all how to fight.

Sakura watched as Orihime was coached by Yoruichi on accessing all three of her shields, which were apparently combinations of her six fairies. An orange healing dome that used two of her fairies; an orange defensive triangular shield that used three of her fairies; and her last fairy could surround itself a force-field and could apparently potentially cut through any material, as long as her will was strong enough.

"I'm so glad you agreed to do this, Sakura!" Orihime said excitedly. She was obviously having fun using her powers, but every time she became overly excited, the black cat would correct her with his stern voice.

"Well, I'm only doing it temporarily," she explained. "I am going to head back in five days, which is five days before you head out to the Soul Society." Sakura had already worked out the plan with Urahara to hopefully take her out of the equation for being punished. Everything else that happened would be unrelated to her as long as she remained out of the way. It was a sacrifice she was going to have to take in order to help, but she did not want to commit. In the same vein, she did not want Chad or Orihime to die just because she was being selfish and protecting them.

"That's good. Now, where do we start?" Orihime asked, her fairies buzzing about her head in their flight forms. Sakura studied her for a moment, realizing that the girl was already seemingly tired.

"We start by getting your endurance up to speed," Sakura explained almost instantly. Yoruichi gave her an appreciative look while he helped Chad control his arm on the other side of the room. "This can be something for both of you, actually."

"Sakura's right," the cat added. "We need to know, and expand, how often you can use your techniques without becoming too exhausted and then help you learn how to use them efficiency."

"Efficiency is key. We don't want you to burn out all your energy in two or three shots or punches or deflections," explained Sakura. "We need to upgrade your healing ability so that you can do it faster and use less energy in the process. And Chad, you need to work on being as fast as possible while using your arm, and keeping it up as long as possible."

For almost two hours, both Yoruichi and Sakura worked their charges to death, getting them to almost no energy left. Sakura would then work on healing them by giving them a burst of her own energy from restorative Kido, and then they would work again. It was tiring work, but by the end of the time period, they learned more about Orihime and Chad's base limits.

Yoruichi turned to Chad to focus on him, giving him exercises that could hopefully improve his overall strength and endurance. Sakura turned to Orihime to test the limits of her specific powers.

"All right, I'm going to use a low-powered Hado Kido and up the intensity, and you're going to see how long you can hold it without your shield cracking."

Orihime nodded. "Oh, I hope this works. Baigon! Hinagiku! Lily! Santen Kesshun, I reject!" Instantly, her three defensive fairies appeared and formed into the triangular shield made of what seemed to be orange glass, pointed directly in front of her outstretched hands.

Sakura raised a hand and counted down, before firing an incantationless Byakurai. The lightning bolt launched from her hands, exploding against the shield and shattering it instantly. The human jumped back reflexively as her shield fell to the ground in pieces, disappearing as quickly as it had been summoned.

"Again."

Another bolt of light blue energy collided against the shield, lasting for a few seconds before eventually breaking again.

No warning this time. Sakura fired the low powered Hado a third time, and the surprised Orihime threw up her arms in desperation, shouting the kotodama. The shinigami's spell collided against the shield, and to her surprise, it held.

"What do you think happened that time?" asked Sakura.

"I don't know," she replied from behind her still summoned shield. "Instinct? Wait, I'll ask them!"

Sakura wasn't going to let her, waiting for just a moment before firing another Byakurai from the tip of her fingers. Orihime's defensive wall fell apart, throwing the human back.

"It's not instinct, but concentration," explained Sakura. "You're doing really well, but you have to keep your reiatsu focused inside the shield. If I'm right, you should be able to match almost any attack if you are able to control your reiatsu enough to block the attack's output."

"Hmm, that's an idea!" Sakura smiled at her enthusiasm, and it was practically infectious. Orihime looked back and summoned her fairies again, waiting for the Kido to be fired. She skewered her face in the most hilarious expression, and Sakura found herself actually laughing. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Orihime, you're just unintentionally funny. One more time, and try to see if you can match it!"

The blue lightning bolt flew through the sky, and she absently upped the intensity from before, wanting to test the girl. The attack visibly sped up, colliding against the force field a blinding light. When she could focus again, it seemed that the shield had held but the force had still pushed her back.

"Amazing," she sighed, surprised she was catching on so fast. "Put away your shield, we're switching to offense."

"Offense? I don't want to fight you, Sakura. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm not going to get hurt. You're not the only one who can create a barrier." Sakura was actually not that good at barriers, and it was surprising to her how good Orihimes's defense could be. She still needed to test her sword attacks against the orange defense, in case that was some kind of fluke where swords wouldn't work on it. "Orihime, take out Zoobaki."

"Damn you, woman!" a voice suddenly said, snapping in front of her and kicking Sakura square in the nose. The shinigami recoiled, annoying and having to staunch the small nose bleed he had created. "My name is Tsubaki, dipshit. You're just as bad as the rest of them!"

Orihime groaned. "Are you okay, Sakura?"

The shinigami nodded, a slight glow of healing Kido to heal the wound very quickly. "Yeah, just get ready."

She thought the incantation in her mind, instantly creating a thin barrier made of green light, shaped like a square. It was actually the strongest barrier she knew how to make, but she did not tell Orihime that. Sakura really wanted to test the other girl's offensive powers, and as annoying as Tsubaki, apparently, was, she had yet to see him cut through anything truly impressive.

"Cut the barrier in half," Sakura ordered, stepping to the side so that she would not be in the way. "You can do it."

"Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun, I reject!" There was a positive burst of spiritual power from Orihime as the speeding Shun Shun Rikka turning into a ball of light, rocketing toward the shield. There was a loud crash of sound, and Tsubaki veered away from Sakura's shield just after impact. Her shield had stayed in place, much to her disappointment. Sakura's other powers had already proven to be very interesting, but her offensive powers were lacking. There was almost no visible sign that Koten Zanshun had even made a dent or a scratch in the shield.

Orihime sighed, dipping her head down with insecurity. "Well... that was... unimpressive," muttered Yoruichi from beside Sakura's vantage point.

"Try again."

Another speeding dart collided against the shield, this time visibly affecting the shield. A thin line ran all the way down it, like it had cracked exactly horizontally.

"Again!"

The attack succeeded in hitting the shield and cutting it in half, and for what it was worth, it seemed that she was happy about it. Sakura did not put up another shield, wanting to test her other powers to get her confidence back up. Chad shared a high five with her, and had to use his left arm to do it because his right was still armored up.

"Yay! I'm so glad that worked! It just took way too long!"

Sakura pulled out her sword, sliding her finger along the edge despite Orihime's protest. "This should be much easier than it was before." Sakura had already tested her healing powers several times while they were doing their endurance exercises.

"Ayame! Shun'o! Soten Kisshun, I reject!" Her two healing Shun Shun Rikka, Ayame and Shun'o, flew out and extended into a small shield over Sakura's left arm.

The sensation was very strange, but it had a distinctly different kind of feeling from medical Kido or natural healing. There was no scabbing process, it just vanished after about two minutes. During that wait, they watched as Chad worked diligently on increasing his strength by smashing crates, lifting them, and throwing them with both arms. He was doing a good job and was able to do much more than he ever could initially.

When the wound was healed completely, Sakura marveled at her. It was definitely a useful ability to have when they went to the Seireitei and encountered what could be enemies. Healing the injuries of the fallen would be key if three teenagers and a cat would be enough to defeat the entire Soul Society and rescue Rukia.

They weren't captain level by any stretch of the imagination. It was pretty much already decided in Sakura's mind that Ichigo and his friends had to get in and get out as quickly as possible. It would be a fool's errand if the most powerful were authorized to engage the teenagers.

She took another deep breath. "All right, I want you to practice calling your powers without your chants. It might be hard or impossible, I'm not sure. But if it works similarly to Kido, you may be able to call on them automatically."

Orihime walked over and deactivated her powers, returning to the hairpins. It amazed Sakura, the true nature of her powers. They had a noticeable similarity to Kido and to a shinigami's zanpakutou, and the Shun Shun Rikka were very similar in design to zanpakutou spirits. It was interesting to her, and vaguely scary. What if she was something more than just a human with powers unlocked by being near Ichigo's unbridled spiritual pressure?

"She shows promise," Yoruichi commented as Sakura stepped back to watch their progress. "They both do. I don't even think we've even touched the full extent of either of their powers."

"I don't either," Sakura agreed. "Her healing is an invaluable asset, and her shield is definitely a useful tool. I am not sure about her offensive capabilities, though."

Yoruichi nodded. "If it's anything like a zanpakutou, her offensive powers are going to be weaker without any killing intent."

"Then we'll have to give her some killing intent."

The cat's eyes widened at the implication. "How do you suppose we do that?"

"We'll break her until that's all she has left."

The other looked at the pink-haired shinigami in a completely new light. "You know what, I think I'm going to like your style."

I'm so glad that this chapter is finished. If there are any grammar mistakes that you see, just know that I plan on doing a complete grammar overhaul on the fic very soon, and this one will be included as well.

I've been having trouble figuring out how exactly I was going to go with this chapter, so hopefully it turned out okay. I don't want to rush into things, and I love both Orihime and Chad so much that I wanted to include them. I always thought it was a cop-out that Kubo only showed that initial day of them learning how to use their powers, but did not imply that they trained any more than that. I figure that is very, very stupid and that there's plenty of potential to create some tiny canon divergences if they develop faster than they did in canon. The extent of how Chad trained will be expanded upon, that's for sure, when all the shit hits the fan.

Leave me a review and tell me what you think! :D