So, I think it's safe to assume I lost the few readers I did have -_-, but I totally get it,I'm a horrible updater! But I'm on a streak right now, so I hope to get more done... Starting school in a few weeks, so I'll try to suck as much out of me for this while I can with what time I do have. I'm sorry for not updating, if there's anyone reading this still, I wont make excuses, but I am determined to finish this story!I'm trying out flash backs for -I think- the first time. Honestly, in all my writing (I do a lot, believe it or not) I don't think I've ever done one, so I hope it makes some sense. If not, I'll try again.

oooooo

Ayame clutched on to Kisuke's hand as they were walking the streets of Kurakura town. It was just starting to get dark now, so the sky was turning into a beautiful blend of stunning oranges, magnificent yellows, enchanting pinks, captivating purples, and startling blues. All the people around her couldn't be quite as happy as she was, she decided. Happy was an understatement. Her heart fluttered like the butterflies that had adorned her face earlier. It was a strong feeling, but it made her feel lighter than air, leaving Kisuke to ground her by her hand. She liked the feeling.

It was when the sunset's light hit the water just perfectly that Ayame and Kisuke crossed the bridge on their way home. It would have been a crime toward passion not to stop and lay their eyes on the beauty of reflections. She moved away from Kisuke toward the side of the bridge, with him trailing by the hand. There, she rested her own hands on the flat and cold stone of the short wall. Intimately close behind her, Kisuke covered her hands with his. Trying to ignore all thoughts, she allowed herself to sink back into his chest, hoping with all her power that she just might melt right into his soul. As she craned her neck back on his shoulder to look at him, she saw her dreamy gaze was met by his. Between his genial smile and the radiating heat of his arms, there was no place she'd rather be; with the one who inspirited her. Kisuke lowered his head to kiss her forehead. As he lingered, Ayame closed her eyes and savored the caress as if it were the first and last she would ever receive. If it was to be the last, she hoped for a swift deafening to follow.

Inside, she felt the impending doom nearing every second of every day, and it swelled up in her chest when she thought about it. She had heard the late night whispers of worry and saw the effect she was having on everyone. Especially Kisuke, but maybe she was just watching him more. Day after day of this it wore her down, making her loathe everything that she knew she was. She was a sullen girl by each nightfall. The only way to help was to remember something -anything- but she couldn't even do that for them. If only she knew something of herself or even something of the world; then Kisuke and the others wouldn't have to try as they did. They all said they didn't mind, but they didn't see the wear and tear it was doing to them. She wanted to tell the to quit, to give up this chase for her past. She didn't care about it anymore, as there were now more important things. Like Urahara Kisuke. Ayame wanted to fix it,but would halting the search sever the bonds she had grown with them? Leave them with no reason to keep her around? The very thought of not seeing them was enough to give her night terrors.

It was selfish -she knew it- but she would rather protect them and yield her lonelieness than have them sacrifice themselves for her sake. "Kisuke-kun, I... I don't care about my- my past. Please, put an e- end this search..." Ayame turned to face him in his arms. He carefully watched her eyes, so she hoped he couldn't see her sadness. Bringing up her hand to trace the underlines of her eye circles with her fingertips, she begged one last time. "Please, please, Kisuke."

His thought process differed from her's. "Will you still stay?" Part of him knew her reasons, but he would catch stars for her, so if she wanted to forget her history, then she would. He asked her again as he rested both hands on the sides of her face, "will you... Still have a reason to stay?"

Ayame choked back tears of immense love and stared back at him. "I-I'm looking at my reason..."

"""""""""""""

Yoruichi could have killed him. Urahara was off doing who knows what, knowingly leaving her to deal with the issue of having the child captain of the Soul Society up her ass. He was trying her patience, that little one was. He and his trusted fuku-taicho were stalking around Kisuke's store as if they were just waiting for the occupants inside to do something wrong. However, she had to wonder if someone was.

A flash of red hair passing the window told Yoruichi that Matsumoto was near by. Tired of their unyielding odd behavior, she flew her hand out the window to grab the poor vice-captain by the ankle with which she dragged her inside. Leaving her smooth catlike calm, Yoruichi threw the other woman into a chair and cursed out an interrogation. "Tell me, Matsumoto. Why are you here? What is your purpose for being here?"

Matsumoto shrugged defiantly, not liking at all the violent treatment she was receiving from a fellow large chested woman. "I don't know! You know that!" Going on as she adjusted her top, she finally drawled out in a lazy exasperation, " 'Shiro doesn't know either. We were sent here to investigate. Investigate what- we have no idea."

Sensing her honesty, the feline had no choice but to let her go. She bashed her hands to her head and growled in frustration. It was making her more and more uncomfortable with the Soul Society's increasing interest in whatever they were doing. Confident as she was that they would have no reason, part of her knew it couldn't be a good sign. First squad eleven, and now ten?

If the Soul Society was going to flash it's numbers in reverse order, she hoped team nine wouldn't be next. Tousen Kaname-Taicho had a twisted sense of justice that definitely would not play in their favor.

Any extra squad was unlikely, but nothing seemed to be following a normal pace lately. Any extra squad would only cause increasing suspicion and danger. Danger that they were all facing with little understanding of what and why.

xxxxxxx

As Urahara and Ayame approached his shop, he hadn't noticed anything peculiar -as his focus was elsewhere- until Ayame gasped. She released his hand to run forward a bit for a better look. "K-kisuke! There's a little boy on the r- roof! We- we've got to help him!"

Kisuke knew exactly who she was referring to. Though he knew the 'boy' was in no danger, he humored her and ran along side with her for her attempt at rescue. They got closer to the shop, and Urahara realized that he would need to think of a pretty good way to explain why the captain was on the roof. And why the captain was dressed like Ichigo and the other shinigami she had been exposed to.

To his luck, Hitsugaya-Taicho of the tenth division had disappeared out of sight just as they were appearing on site. He hated to do it, but he had no choice but allow Ayame to think she had been seeing things. Leading her inside after her big day, he suggested she take a nap, which she gratefully accepted.

Before entering her room, Ayame paused at the door way to look at her companion. Holding the pictures of the day gingerly to her chest, she bit her bottom lip and cast an affectionate smile his way. "T-thank you, Kisuke-kun, for today... It was so... sp- special for me."

Kisuke pulled her in close to his chest for an endearing hug in which neither of them moved for moments long. Voice rumbling deeply in his chest, he told her, "thank you, Ayame, for accompanying me. You've done so much for me that you don't even know." He released an arm only to bring his hand up to her chin, where he lifted her face toward his. Bending low, he stole a quick peck on her cheek to which she blushed fiercely. His celedon eyes searched her violet eyes for permission to steal another kiss, but he didn't need to. With a quick burst of borrowed confidence, Ayame leaned on the tips of her toes to meet lips to lips. She didn't pull back quickly and he didn't feel anyone around, so he allowed his other hand to capture the other side of her face. Ayame moved back, pulling him with her, until her back was flush against the wall-papered wall behind her.

Kisuke wouldn't push her, as he did in the romantic dome of the WEW, so he pulled away against the rest of his heart's desires and smiled calmly at her. His heart was hardly calm at all though. With a quick glance to his left, he saw a furious feline with crossed arms waiting at the end of the hall. "Go sleep Ayame," he told his love. "I'll see you in a little while, okay?" She nodded with a starry look in her eyes, and went into her room.

Yoruichi waited until they were in the privacy of the meeting room to finally discuss the problems she'd been facing. They had no new information, and the information they did have were just random facts that seemed to be in no way connected. And now they had to deal with the Soul Society watching their every move. They were not even sure how they found out in the first place, nor why they were finding such interest in the random girl they found. First squad eleven came, and now ten. As she told him of the nature of the tenth captain's visit, Kisuke was finding it harder and harder to tell her that he and Ayame wanted to just stop the search. He knew that they couldn't, as it was bigger than their little group and would affect them if they stopped or not. He wanted to call off the search, he really did, but with each gathered piece of information, the worry in him and everyone grew immensely. He wondered how he was going to ward off the very interested Soul Society while keeping true to his promise to Ayame to steer clear of her past.

"I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place," Kisuke told his old friend with a frustrated sigh. "She suddenly told me to stop the search, but you and I both know that finding her was chance and that her past and future is going to come back down on us. I just don't seem to get why the Soul Society is so interested in us, when they only know of the trivial background information we've requested. And that information is questionable at best. She seems to be human, yet she seems supernatural. Renji says she was a shinigami, but the rest of her story doesn't match that. Then out of nowhere Kenpachi recognizes her as someone else. I am stuck, Yoru-chan."

With a grim expression, Yoruichi silently agreed that their search was at a vacant halt. "This is becoming more than we bargained for, but what other choice do we have? Until we know who she really is and have some clarification on what she has to do with the Soul Society, we're stuck. For now, I think all we can do is talk to Kenpachi and dig a little deeper inside her information." Kisuke nodded as his eyes drifted off in the direction of Ayame. Yoruichi felt like snapping at him, but as one of his oldest friends, she felt deep worry for him. "Kisuke... I know you don't want to hear this, but you can't get close to her like you've been doing. We don't know who or what she is yet. She could be anything, and I don't want to lose you to that. I like her a lot too, but I don't want to see you dead because you trusted too soon. Just play it safe until we know."

"I know her, my dear old friend," he told her firmly, "I have no doubts about her-" Urahara was stopped short at the sound of knocking by the door. He looked to Yoruichi and wordlessly agreed to continue their conversation at another time. "Come in, Hitsugaya-san."

The young boy stepped into the room with a harsh expression, though for once he wasn't followed by his bewildered looking counterpart. "Urahara Kisuke."

Kisuke smiled, he always felt that the young boy was much too serious for his age. "To what do we owe this pleasure of a visit?"

"You are under investigation for suspicious activities."

"I assure you, Toushiro-kun," the blonde started, hoping to lighten the mood with some familiarity, "we know as much as your lot does. Now, why are you really here?"

The captain's face dropped into a stern scowl, "I just informed you-"

"No," Urahara chided, "you told us the text-book phrase. I wish to know what exactly you think you are here for. What grounds, if you may?"

For a moment, Toshiro faltered, but it was barely visible on his face. He crossed his arms, deciding on what to tell and not tell. It was a point he didn't want to share with the people he was there to investigate. "I don't know. We were sent here on little information."

"What little information," Yoruichi finally spoke. She could see that he was hesitant to say, but one glare from her finally pulled him into talking.

Toshiro cursed and ran his small hand through his mass of hair. "The Hanobake Senshi. If you know nothing about it, you haven't been cleared to know about it. Before you ask, I know nothing. I wasn't informed of my purpose being here, but I received an anonymous tip before my departure." Hitsugaya would normally never give away so much information, however, knowing that Urahara was a man of genius, there would be no way of avoiding him should an investigation entail.

"The what?" Matsumoto entered the room, only half drunk, but sober enough to comprehend the severity of the conversation.

Kisuke cursed inwardly as the words of the small captain soaked into his mind. "The Half Monster Soldier," he explained as he looked to Yoruichi as if she knew just how bad their luck had turned. "I only heard the word, when I was passing from fuku-taicho to taicho of the 12th division. My captain had been mad, I knew it and so did everyone else. The only time I've ever heard of the Hanobake Senshi was the day he lay defeated at my feet..."

It was raining on the 12th of November, Kisuke had remembered this day grimly ever since it happened. The time had come for him to take on the role of the new captain of the 12th division in Soul Society, but first he had to defeat the previous captain, who everyone knew had lost his mind to his work. While he had the support of a great many of his desired squad and had favor among many of the captains, it was the few that believed he was too fickle, young, and inexperienced that held him back from simply becoming the captain. Even Yamamoto-Genryusai Shigekuni, head captain, saw his potential, but he believed in the law and saw to it that Urahara was to defeat the captain in order to take over the role. In his eyes, if Urahara lost to the captain, then surely he was not fit to be the new captain and the old captain was sane enough to continue. He and thousands of others gathered around to witness the battle, as was called for in Genryusai's decree of captain appointment.her who recommended Kisuke go for the position in the first place. "The day is grim," she told him as she took a peek outside the tent, "but that doesn't mean it has to be for you." Kisuke could only nod with a distant look on his face. He didn't understand why it was necessary for him to defeat the man he had idolized -despite the madness- just for his position. He would have been content just being his fuku-taicho, but Yoruichi didn't believe in doing anything halfway. Should Kisuke actually bring him to near death, he hoped that the other captain would give up before he had to kill him, but he knew well that he was far too lost in insanity to give up. The man was brilliant, Kisuke was sure that killing such a man would be a waste of knowledge when there was such a cleaner way to change roles. Yoruichi, his long time friend and captain, knew what was best for him, and he had complete faith in her decisions, so he would fight the current captain of the 12th squad and free him of the black spiral that is madness. "I wouldn't have pushed you so much if I didn't think you were ready for this, Kisuke. I can't wait to have you as my equal, friend."ever- and if it had, Kisuke certainly wasn't on the receiving end of it. He could only grin a goofy smile as he came up to hug her. She, however, pushed him away with her palm on his forehead, saying, "no hugging, just don't die."had to remember that he too was a genius, he just wasn't off his rocker yet. There was still time for that.you who will be losing this fight!" They had been fighting for nearly forty-five minutes -far too long for a duel- and the man was still insisting that he was alive and well, even at the end of Kisuke's zanpakuto.

So there Kisuke stood on the outside of the field, shielded from the crowd, though their clamor could be heard as a dull roar inside his corner. Shihoin Yoruichi, who was captain of the 2nd squad at the time, was the only company he had aside from the random shinigami who had come in to warn them that the battle was to commence in a few minutes. Yoruichi assured him and gave him confidence, though he doubted his own abilities more than she did. It was, in fact,

Such sentimental words had never come out of that cat's mouth in probably -

That phrase had sent him into battle on numerous occasions ever since then. After she had said if for the first time, Kisuke went out to the battle field, feeling more ready than he had in a million years. The captain of the 12th squad -though of unsound mind- was a genius, and Kisuke

The crowd was big, the man was loony, but Kisuke kept a level head into the depths of battle until the very end, where he had the end of Benhime to the hollow of the captain's throat. The captain was squirming and thrashing around violently under the metal point, even though he was missing a good part of his left arm and had the entire right side of his body crushed beyond repair. He was bleeding out every where else, but he still struggled like a dying, wrathful animal. Kisuke was trying desperately to keep him at bay, hoping to prevent the captain from receiving any further damage, but the man relented.

As if he were on his feet and hardly injured, the captain shouted, "the battle has just begun, dear boy, and it is

"Please, just say the word," Kisuke begged, "I don't want to kill you." He now had Benhime buried an inch into his throat, but the captain only paused for a moment before he jerked his head up to bring the sword even further into his neck, not far enough to completely kill. With the rain water blending in with the blood pooling around his body, the captain sputtered and wore a shocked expression on his face as if Kisuke had caused him the last pain personally. Now he looked almost pitiful, slushing out blood the way he was.tabi and simply laughed. Kisuke finally realized just how disturbed the former captain had been. He stood shocked and unmoving as the crowed cheered around him and recognized him as the new taicho of the 12th squad. The deceased man lay still at his feet, drenched in the brooding color of rose as the rain poured on his fallen body, mixing with the blood. His eyes were still open, and that was when Kisuke knew the soulless purple and golden eyes would haunt him for the rest of his eternity.

Kisuke realized that the captain was trying to say something to him, but didn't completely put all of his trust in a mad man, so he kneeled down next to his paralyzed side while keeping Benhime at his throat. "Sha...Sha... T-tabi..." Among the sloshy and choked noises, a few words could be made out. "Tabi...Ko...Tabi...H- h- Hano...Hanobake...S- senshi...Tabi..." Once the captain finally got the words out, his pupils dilated to the size of pinpoints and he fell silent. No more than a millisecond later, the insane man showed his new colors by lunging forward, snapping his jaws at Urahara, attempting to bite him. Kisuke jumped back and up, all while maintaining control of his sword on the captain's throat. He appeared to have died, as he layed motionless and still, the extra effort must have killed him in the end. Kisuke felt uncomfortable as the dead eyes stared back at him, piercing his soul. He found comfort in knowing that the captain was now out of his insanity and in a better place, at peace. Out of respect, Kisuke squatted down to his side again, placing his free hand over his eyes to close them. In response, the captain suddenly shouted 'tabi' again and laughed hysterically until he finally leaned all the way through the blade, splattering blood all over Kisuke's face, and successfully killing himself. In the last two seconds of life, he had said

Yoruichi came up behind him silently to lead him away from the gruesome scene, and as they left, Kisuke had to wonder if Captain Hanakokari had always been a heterochromian.

"I think," Kisuke started, addressing Hitsugaya, Yoruichi, and Matsumoto, "I know where to find information about the Hanobake Senshi...and Ayame."

ooooooo

Well, things are starting to make better sense now :) So that helps