Okay, before you all contemplate killing me for not updating in a few weeks, let me explain some things. First of all, my old computer had crashed. Yeah, and the new computer didn't have Microsoft Word, so I had to wait a few days before I could actually start writing out the new chapter. And then a bunch of other stuff happened so that, by the time I went on a vacation with my family, I didn't have this completely finished.

But, I did bring my laptop with me so that I could finish the little bit I had left to write with the possibility of updating while out of town. Especially since an anonymous reviewer who goes by Meg started sending me reviews on my first day of vacation. However, I had encountered a problem: I didn't have access to the internet where I was. My phone still received emails, which was how I knew about the reviews, but I was gone for two weeks without internet. And, since the reviews were anonymous, I had no way of getting in touch with you Meg, so sorry about the lack of response to the reviews.

I would also like to apologize to the rest of my readers for making you wait…again. But, things are going to get really interesting in this chapter and the next. I promise you this!

That's all I have to say before the chapter starts.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. I do own Shizuko and her Zanpakuto.

Chapter 21

Shizuko was focusing intently on the drawing in her sketchbook. Tessai had finished with the checkup and Urahara had given her some food after her stomach decided that it didn't want to keep quiet.

The sketch before her was of Shinji and Hiyori. She kept pouring over the sketch, thinking for some reason that something was off about it. She had prided herself for her photographic memory, so she knew that she hadn't made any mistakes when drawing either person. So why did it feel like that there was something amiss with the picture?

Suddenly, the door to the dining room opened, revealing the redhead, Renji. She shut the sketchbook as a group, who she sensed were fellow shinigami, filed in behind Renji.

They all took a seat around the table. Urahara and Yoruichi were the last two to come in and find seats. They sat next to her.

Shizuko looked around at the group of people, recognizing the white-haired kid from…..how long had she been in this town now?

Anyway, the kid sat across from her. To his right was a woman with strawberry-blonde hair and…assets to give Orihime a run for her money. To the woman's other side sat two men. One was bald with…..pink eyeliner? And the guy next to him had feathers on his face. She was going to have to ask him about the feathers later. For some reason, a small twinge of pain came out of nowhere in her head. What was with these headaches?

She would need to remember to take some headache medicine later. Medicine not prepared by Tessai, but she wasn't going to say that out loud.

Renji sat next to the kid across from her and on his other side sat a petite, black-haired woman.

The kid was the first one to start speaking.

"So, you're the human who Aizen is after?"

"I typically respond to Shizuko, but yes. That is me."

"…Anyway, I don't suppose you know just why Aizen is after you, do you?"

Shizuko shook her head.

"Not a clue. He just showed up out of nowhere, gave me an offer I refused, and then the next day, hollows and the hollows who called themselves 'Arrancars' just started coming after me. They kept saying 'Aizen-sama this' and 'Aizen-sama that'. They just kept running me out of whatever town I happened to be in until I came here. I assume you know what happened after I got here."

The kid nodded.

"Yes, we do. We also want to know if it is actually Aizen who is after you and not just someone else. Do you have proof that the person you met was Aizen?"

Shizuko nodded and flipped through her sketchbook until she found the drawing she wanted. She flipped it over so that everyone else could see the same sketch of Aizen that she showed to the vizards. What she didn't know was that he had discarded his glasses by now, so they were still in the sketch.

"That's Aizen, all right," said the bald shinigami.

"Wow! That's a pretty good sketch," said the blonde shinigami.

"Okay, so you have met Aizen. So you don't even have a clue as to why Aizen might be after you. No special abilities or any information you have concerning hollows and shinigami that seemed strange compared to what you typically heard from the local shinigami?"

She hesitated for a second before answering, but everyone had caught it. For just a second, her eyes had narrowed slightly and a guarded look passed through her features. But, she composed herself and acted as if the moment had never happened.

"Nope. Not a thing. Sorry that I couldn't be more helpful, but I really don't know anything about the situation I'm in, other than I need to fight in order to stay alive and out of Hueco Mundo."

Shizuko saw the look the kid was giving her. He didn't believe her for a second.

"Honestly, kid, I don't really know why Aizen and Kaname are after me."

Toshiro was just about to go off on her about the kid comment, when another key word from her statement caught his attention.

"Wait…..we didn't say anything about Kaname. How do you know about him?"

Shizuko frowned.

"Who's Kaname?" Now it was Toshiro's turn to frown.

"You just told us that he and Aizen are after you."

Her frown deepened. Did she really say something about a Kaname? But, who was Kaname?

"…Huh?" That was all she could think of to say. She really didn't know where that name came from.

Toshiro was wondering why she suddenly looked confused. Surely she knew more about the situation if she knew that someone else was working with Aizen.

"Shizuko….." upon saying her name, Toshiro came to another realization, "hey, don't you have a last name as well?"

Shizuko snapped out of her thoughts as she heard herself being addressed.

"Huh? Sorry, what did you say?"

Toshiro sighed.

"I was asking you what your last name is."

Shizuko went "Oooh…." Then scratched the back of her head.

"Well, actually I – "

"Hey Shizuko!"

Shizuko jumped as Urahara had all but shouted in her ear.

"Ah! What!" She didn't like it when people shouted in her ear like that.

"I just remembered that I forgot to ask Tessai to look at that injury on your back. You better have that taken care of now before we forget again."

Shizuko frowned.

"Wait what injury are you…."

Shizuko had no time to protest because Yoruichi had already stood up and, thanks to a hand grabbing the back of her jacket, took Shizuko with her out of the room.

Once they were gone, Urahara looked back at the group of shinigami who were all giving him strange looks.

"Uh, Urahara, would you mind explaining why you had her dragged out of here like that? We were still questioning her," said Renji.

Urahara brought his fan in front of his face as he gave them all a serious look.

"Well, there are just some things you need to know about Shizuko that she can't tell you herself."

Rukia frowned.

"Why's that?"

Urahara snapped his fan shut and started what was bound to be a long explanation.

…..

"WAAAAAAAH!" That was all Ichigo could say right before he hit a boulder face-first. His short flight was courtesy of none other than Hiyori. As usual.

"Are you even trying, Baldy!"

Yep, just another typical day of training for the vizards. Just without Shizuko. Despite the fact that they didn't say anything about it, the human had actually grown on a few of them.

Shinji was just hoping that whatever that shadow hollow thing was, Urahara had that issue sorted out. If anyone could solve that kind of problem, Urahara was definitely one of them.

At least, that was what he was hoping when Hachi suddenly stood up.

"We have a visitor."

That was all he said as Shinji sense Hachi create a hole in the barrier big enough for someone to come in. Someone with familiar reiastu.

"What could she want?"

"Why don't you let me tell you?"

Yep. The visitor was none other than Yoruichi. The only question was what did she want with them?

Shinji stood up and turned around. Everybody stopped what they were doing and walked towards the purple-haired woman. Even Ichigo and Hiyori stopped training and walked over to where everyone was gathering. They could sense that she had some news for them that they needed to hear.

"Yoruichi-san, what are you doing here?" asked Ichigo.

"I came here to talk about Shizuko."

"What, nothing bad happened to her, right?" Shinji asked in a nonchalant manner.

Yoruichi shook her head.

"No, but there are some things that I need to explain about the situation surrounding her."

"We already know." Yoruichi frowned at Shinji.

"Oh, you do?"

Shinji nodded.

"Yeah. Shizuko is the reincarnation of Urahara's sister."

"Wait, Urahara has a sister?" Ichigo asked. He was never told anything about who Shizuko used to be.

"He had a sister," Shinji confirmed before moving on with his explanation.

"Aizen had her killed about 100 years ago for some reason, and is now chasing after her reincarnation now that she has appeared. The only thing I don't get is why. My best guess is that she has something that was passed on with her soul into her next life, but I can't be certain."

"Wait, you came up with all of that? Just how long have you guys known about this?" Ichigo could see now that this revelation didn't happen just now.

Ignoring Ichigo entirely, Shinji just continued, "Isn't that right, Yoruichi?"

Yoruichi stared back at Shinji, and then took a glance at everyone else. After a moment of silence, she closed her eyes and sighed.

"I have to say…..I'm really disappointed in you, Shinji." Shinji's eyes widened.

"Huh?"

Yoruichi stared at him, frown on her face.

"It's one thing to not recognize one of your own friends after such a long time, but I can't believe you think that Shizuko had been reincarnated. You too, Hiyori."

Both of the blondes blinked in surprise, and then a look of realization dawned on their faces.

"Wait! You're not saying what I think you're saying, are you?" asked Hiyori.

Yoruichi's attention turned to her.

"I mean, come on. I know you both only saw it for a day, but surely you haven't forgotten what Shizuko Urahara's Zanpakuto looks like, have you? Or even what its ability is?"

Silence overcame everyone as they understood what Yoruichi was telling them.

"Wait. So what exactly is going on here?" Well, everybody but Ichigo understood what Yoruichi was telling them.

"Basically, Urahara's sister was never killed by Aizen in the first place," said Yoruichi.

…..

Shizuko was starting to get annoyed by Urahara. Really, he was. She did remember getting an injury on her back, but she certainly didn't have any problems with it after she woke up. She was pretty sure that one of the vizards had taken care of that for her.

But nooooooo. She had to be dragged off her ass by Yoruichi, who had disappeared somewhere shortly after dropping her off in a room down the hall, and trapped in a barrier by Tessai. A barrier that, despite being told otherwise, she was sure didn't do anything but hold her there. She was tempted to ask if she looked like an idiot to them.

She was wondering what he was talking about with the shinigami. Could it have anything to do with this Kaname person who just came up out of nowhere in the interrogation? It couldn't be about the fact that she couldn't remember her last name. She hadn't even told Urahara or the vizards that.

You're eventually going to have to tell them about that little fact.

Not now, Shadobisuto.

She didn't even want to talk about that now.

Suddenly, the door opened to reveal Urahara, who was hiding his face behind a fan again.

"Well, I see you're doing fine." Shizuko rolled her eyes.

"I was telling you that I am fine. Any injuries I had were already taken care of." Tessai was now taking down the barrier he had formed around her to prevent her from eavesdropping on the conversation in the other room.

"Just had to be on the safe side," Urahara assured her.

"Besides, I need you in top shape for your next activity," he said as he tossed her Shadobisuto. She caught it, eyebrow raised.

"And just what is that?" Before she could get an answer from him, Urahara walked out of the room, leaving her to follow after him.

"H-Hey! I was asking you a question!"

"And you'll get your answer in a minute," he assured her as he started climbing down the ladder to the underground training room.

When they got down there, Shizuko saw that all of the shinigami were gathered there as well. Yoruichi was still missing. Just where did she go?

"Yo! You sure you want her to fight one of us?" asked the bald shinigami.

Wait, did he say fight? Shizuko took a glance at Urahara to see him smiling at her.

"Don't worry. It's only a little sparring match. Nothing bad will happen….as long as you don't seriously injure each other."

"Wait, what?" Instead of giving her a response, he turned back to the group of shinigami.

"Now, the question is who to have you fight against?" He eyed the group carefully. Neither Ikkaku, Yumichika, nor Renji would be of any use in the demonstration he said he'd give them. He wasn't sure about Matsumoto….

"Ah! I know! Shizuko, I would like for you to spar with Hitsugaya."

I hope that this chapter was interesting to you. Yes, the truth, or at least part of it, has been revealed! The question now is how and why. I welcome any guesses. Meg, your guess was heading in the right direction, and the rest of your questions will be answered later.

Now, I'm sorry that the last chapter was rushed. I hoped that this one came out better.

Okay, now review and tell me what you think. I need to sleep off the jetlag and catch up on other people's stories.

Later!