Chapter 17: The Pain of Awakening

*So… how you guys doing? People are still reading this story right? Please review.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, just the OCs.*

Naoko could feel herself slowly rising up into the conscious world. Panic slowly seized her as she grew closer to waking. She didn't want to feel any more pain. Hadn't she suffered enough?

Gingerly she let herself become fully conscious and found that she felt no pain. Confused, she opened her eyes and saw that she was alone in a room at the Urahara Shop with the sun brightly shining in. Naoko carefully pushed herself up with her right arm until she was sitting up. She was dressed in a plain purple yukata. She pushed away the fabric over her left shoulder and noticed the layer of white bandages wrapped around it and across her chest.

She lightly ran her fingers over the dressing and felt a faint throb of protest. Well, that's weird, she thought. Last night I felt like I was going to die from the pain. Wait, was that last night? How long have I been asleep? Naoko slowly clambered to her feet. She swayed once, but quickly regained her balance.

Now what? Her stomach growled in response. The idea of food did sound appetizing and so did taking a hot shower. She made her way to the kitchen and ran into Jinta.

"Ah! Tessai, Naoko's turned into a walking corpse!" The little red haired boy cried.

"Walking corpse? Well, that's rude of you," Naoko admonished. She knew she probably didn't look all that good from the hellish night she had. But surely she didn't look like something out of a horror movie.

Tessai stepped out of the kitchen, "What are you yelling about now Jinta. Ah! Miss Naoko you are alive! What are you doing out of bed? You must rest."

Naoko shrugged her good shoulder, "I woke up and I was hungry, so I came out to get something to eat."

Tessai looked shocked and Naoko couldn't understand why. "You… you actually feel good, enough to eat even?"

"Yeah. Why? Is that a problem?"

"Considering you were on your death bed last night and now you look like something that crawled out of a shallow grave then yes," Jinta said.

"Jinta!" Tessai scolded.

"Do I really look that bad?" Naoko asked. She didn't consider herself vain, but if she looked as bad as Jinta said then maybe she should be concerned.

The large man adjusted his glasses, "You have looked better, but I'm sure a good meal and proper rest will have you looking much better."

Naoko nodded, still not entirely convinced, and followed him to the kitchen. She sat at the small kitchen island while Tessai whipped up a quick meal. It was then that Naoko noticed how quiet the place was.

"Where is everyone?" She asked.

"Something has happened. I'm surprised the commotion didn't wake you."

"Commotion? Wait, what happened?" Did something happen to her brother? One of his friends? Urahara? Or her grandmother?

Tessai briefly paused in his cooking to glance at her, "The Bount, Miss Yoshino, left early this morning. Once Uryu discovered this he went after and soon everyone went after him."

She left? Where would she go? Naoko's musings were cut short when Tessai placed a bowl of rice porridge in front of her and a cup of tea.

"I was hoping for something a little more substantial like eggs or fish not…" She said as she eyed the plain food.

"In time, perhaps, but for now I would like to play it safe. You may be feeling well now, but that could change. As far as we know the Bount's poison is still in your system."

Oh… right. Naoko had almost forgotten about that. She slid a spoonful of rice into her mouth as memories came back. She and her brother were taken to the Bount's mansion. They talked with their leader and he admitted to… Naoko took a deep breath. …to killing their mother.

She charged at him in a foolish, blind rage. You idiot. Didn't Yoruichi-sensei teach you better than that? She had, but obviously those teachings hadn't stuck.

And now Naoko found herself injured, poisoned, and could still very well die from said poison. I'm not invincible. I've never met an enemy that could actually kill me. I'm not nearly as good or as strong a fighter as I thought I was. I'm not invincible. Everyone can and will die and I almost did.

Facing one's mortality was said to be a humbling experience. No one said it was damn terrifying too.

She looked down and saw her hand was tightly gripping her spoon and lightly shaking. What is wrong with me? I hang around Soul Reapers, Death Gods. I see supernatural monsters and the spirits of dead people. Death has no reason to scare me.

But… am I afraid because this was my near death? Maybe that's why…

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of people coming in the store.

"…can't believe this. What do we do now?" That sounded like Ichigo.

"We'll… figure something out," that, Naoko recognized, was Rukia.

"Yeah, don't worry Ichigo. In the mean time, maybe we should have something to eat. I always think better on a full stomach," and there was the grating gentle voice of Orihime.

"Uryu do you want," there was the sound of a door quietly opening and then closing. "I guess that's a no."

Rukia stepped into the kitchen first with the others following, but they froze when they saw Naoko. The Quincy lightly waved at them.

"Uh… Hey?"

"Naoko… you're… you're okay," Rukia ran up to her and hugged her.

The hug took Naoko clear off guard, but after a few seconds she returned the gesture. Hugs were nice and always appreciated.

Rukia stepped back and looked at her, "Do you feel okay? You look a bit…"

"Like crap," Ichigo finished.

"Ichigo!" Rukia scolded.

"Well, she does," The Soul Reaper teen defended, then looked at Naoko. "No offense."

"None taken? Anyway you look like you got your ass handed to you," Naoko countered.

Renji tried to hold back his snickering at the look on Ichigo's face at that apt observation.

"So what's been going on? Where's my brother?"

They each traded looks with each other and that did nothing to ease Naoko's growing sense of foreboding.

"Yoshino's dead," Ichigo started off.

Her eyes widened and she felt cold suddenly. Rukia sent him a scathing glare.

"What? There was no way to break that gently, better to say it and be done. She snuck off in the middle of the night to confront Kariya. When Uryu woke up and saw she was gone, he went after her and then we went after him."

Ichigo's voice became a little more somber, "She fought him, but he was too strong and he killed her. We were kept busy by his minions and Uryu wasn't able to save her."

Renji took up telling the rest, "After she died, he used her body to make these weird looking bats. He called them Bitto. I'm starting to see why humans associated these guys with vampires."

"Do you know what these Bitto do?" Naoko asked.

The redhead shook his head, "No, we grabbed Uryu and hightailed it out of there."

The Quincy girl said nothing, her mind was busy trying to wrap itself around the fact to Yoshino was dead and that her brother had to stand by and watch. Naoko felt a little saddened by her death. She may not have known the woman for long, but she did save their lives twice.

And her brother… That's where Naoko really felt bad. She couldn't imagine what it must be like to be so helpless and unable to protect those one cared about.

She should visit him later and see if she could help him. That's what sisters did right? Help their brothers? This sibling thing was still new to her, but that sounded right. She hoped it was.

Kariya sat in the small, but nicely furnished bedroom. He and the rest of the Bounts had taken refuge in a small second home of his. One of the benefits of living so long was being able to accumulate some wealth if one knew how to invest properly. The house was located not far from where they would be opening a gate to Soul Society provided everything went according to plan.

He was mulling over the loss of Yoshino. It wasn't really that much of a loss, but a man did have needs and she was easy on the eyes. Pity someone beautiful like her couldn't be content with the life he gave her and had to let her pesky morals and ethical values get in the way.

Oh, well. At least he got something worthwhile out of her demise.

Thinking of which the sounds of high-pitched squeaking and wings flapping brought him away from his musings. The window of his room was open and in flew a bat. It was black and about the size of his hand with faintly glowing red eyes and tiny sharp white fangs. The critter landed on his finger and hung upside-down. Kariya reached into the furry pouch on the creature's front side and pulled out a small vial of glowing orange liquid.

"Well done. You work fast, don't you?" Kariya asked.

He rose from his seat and placed the vial in a velvet lined box. This was just the start, but soon more would be coming with the same liquid filled vials. Those vials contained the souls of living humans in a highly concentrated form that would increase their strength to new levels.

Levels that would hopefully be enough for them to invade Soul Society and kill Aizen.

"Now go my pet, we'll need more than this," he calmly commanded.

The bat squeaked as it flew away to do its master's bidding.

"I'm not saying you've made a complete recovery, but you're certainly on the mend," Urahara said as he studied Naoko's shoulder.

After she had eaten Urahara had asked if he could look at her wound. They sat alone in the same room Naoko had woken up in earlier. She held the yukata close to her chest to keep her modesty even if she didn't have much to cover.

Her shoulder didn't look as bad as Urahara had feared. A large purplish-blue patch of discoloration covered almost her entire shoulder. It looked a little darker in the center where the snake had bitten her. But since the skin of the area wasn't rotting or showing any signs of infection Urahara considered themselves lucky.

He still found it remarkable that Naoko was alive at all. The impossibly high fever and general weakness almost made him think the worst would happen. But it didn't so there was no point dwelling on that. He could sense no malevolent reiatsu coming from the wound and Naoko wasn't exhibiting any symptoms.

"It doesn't look too bad, more like a giant bruise."

"It certainly feels like one. It throbs a bit and even more when I move it. Are you done yet?" She said.

"Almost, why? You have things to do today?" He asked with a slight tease in his voice.

"I want to clean up and go talk to my brother. He's got to be troubled by what happened and as his sister I should try and help him, right?"

"You're asking the wrong guy. I'm an only child so I wouldn't know much about sibling relationships. So good luck," he said.

He let her go and Naoko went to the bathroom to bathe, comb her hair and dress in fresh clothes left for her. Did Grandma leave these or did Yoruichi-sensei get them? Either way Naoko changed into fresh undergarments, white shirt, socks, and a black skirt. She found her black jacket in the pile and put it on with a slight smile, glad that her favorite piece of clothing made its way back to her.

Soon she found herself standing outside the door to where he had cloistered himself. Naoko lightly tapped the door, waited a few seconds, and let herself in. He was sitting on the floor and looked to be lost in thought. She closed the door behind her and quietly sat near him.

"Brother?" She gently asked.

Uryu started, not having noticed her entrance. "Naoko? How—Are you…?"

"I'm fine. My shoulder hurts a little, but I'm alive. What about you? How are you?" She asks in turn.

He looks away and to Naoko it looks like he's trying not to cry. He asks in a thick, but steady voice, "Did the others tell you what… happened to…"

"To Yoshino? Yeah, they did. I'm sorry Brother. I'm just… I'm sorry," Naoko says gently.

I couldn't…. do anything to save her. I was helpless just like when Grandfather died. I could only stand by and watch someone die. I couldn't protect them. I can't protect anyone, not with the way I am now. Uryu doesn't know if it's possible to have his powers restored. He's too afraid to ask Urahara or his grandmother if it's possible. But after today he might actually shove that fear away and ask.

He tilts his head slightly to look at Naoko. I'm an older brother who can't protect his younger sister. I'm pathetic, a shame to older siblings everywhere. I don't want to lose her. I can't protect her in battle so the only thing I can do is keep her away from battle.

"Naoko, I want you to go back to your home and stay there," he said, trying to sound authoritative.

She blinked at him, stunned. "Excuse me? I'm not going anywhere without you. If you think I'm letting you face these people, powerless and alone, then think again."

Uryu resisted the urge to sigh. "I may be powerless, but I won't be alone."

"You think that carrot top nitwit or the rest of them are going to be able to protect you?" Naoko challenged.

Why must you be so stubborn? "They can protect me a lot better then you possibly could."

He hated the hurt look she was giving him, but he needed to do this. He needed to drive her away from all this, from him. Her safety was more important than her feelings.

"I can still fight, which is more than you can say," Naoko choked out. Her voice was tight with anger and indignation.

Uryu tried to channel as much of their father as he could. If anyone could cut a person swiftly and lastingly it would be Ryuken. It's for her own good. "And do you see how that worked out? You fought, you lost, and you nearly died. You're a poor fighter and an even poorer Quincy."

Now she was getting pissed. You ungrateful bastard. I've put my life on the line to help you, protect you, hell even save you! And this is how you repay me? ! "You… are unbelievable. I'm here alive and you don't seem to be thankful for that. And is me not being a normal Quincy the only thing you can focus on? So what if I'm not normal? I can still fight my own battles."

"Battles you have no reason to be partaking in. They don't concern you and you shouldn't be foolishly putting your life at risk like that," Uryu countered.

"You're one to talk," she scoffed. "At least I know how to fight, but you? I bet you've only relied on your precious powers to protect you. The Bounts will still be after us."

"No, they'll be after me. I'm sure as far as they know you're dead."

Naoko paused and looked at him hard. "Is that what you wish? Me dead? Your disappointment of a Quincy sister? Is that why you didn't say anything when Kariya offered you that deal to save me?"

This has gone too far I should've told her that I want her safe and why. He looked at her, hurt, "Naoko that's not—"

She cut him off, "Forget it, I don't want to hear it."

Before he could say anything more Naoko fled from him leaving Uryu with his thoughts on how this could've gone better and he wishes it had.

The scene in the Head Captain's office could have been funny if it wasn't about a serious matter. A short, very young looking white haired boy standing before a larger, bald old man.

The Head Captain's voice rumbled gently in the spacious room, "There has been an increase in spiritual disturbances in Karakura. I know Kurotsuchi has informed you about the Bounts and the danger they can present to the balance."

He knew the boy was capable of eradicating a nuisance such as this. He also needed the experience of leading an away team in the World of the Living, two birds with one stone.

Hitsugaya nodded.

"I am sending you and a small team comprised of whomever you wish to bring with to Karakura and stop whatever it is the Bounts are doing. You will be leaving tomorrow morning. I wish you luck."

"Thank you, sir," Hitsugaya said before bowing respectfully and leaving.

*I know it would've been easier for Uryu to explain his motivations, but it wouldn't have been nearly as fun. Come on, those two had to have a fight eventually, siblings fight we all know this.

I changed the Bitto from weird, cheap looking mosquitoes to bats. The Bounts are compared to vampires and bats are often associated with vampires so…

Please review and I'll post again Feb 19th.*