So I've gotten my OC into a big mess that I myself am still wondering how to get her out of. Oh well, that's the fun in writing this, I guess :) Any suggestions are welcome, my dear reviewers! Hope you like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own... What kind of name is Bleach anyway?

Chapter 25: Meeting

"Everything is something you decide to do, and there is nothing you have to do."

I asked Kenpachi and the other shinigami I met during the night. All of them (Hisagi, Kenpachi, Yachiru, Toshiro) gave me the same answer: Rukia was in the human world for a solo mission, so she wasn't told about me. I was there as a human student, not on any mission, so I wasn't supposed to be involved with her. However, they also said that should the two of us meet, it is up to me to reveal myself to her and help her, or to ignore her. I didn't tell them I've already met her though.

Before school the next day, I dropped by Urahara's shop to tell him about what the captains and lieutenants said about it. Once again, he gave me no helpful advice, though he did inform me about an incident that had happened that night. Apparently, Orihime's brother had turned into a hollow and attacked her and Tatsuki, and her soul got detached from her body. Ichigo arrived with Rukia and 'saved the day'. I sometimes wondered how Urahara knows these things.

When I went to school that day, I found Orihime and Tatsuki giving Akirai, Hanaha, Michiru, Ryo, Chizuru and some other classmate a ridiculous story about what happened the night before, involving a sumo wrestler (or was it a yakuza gunman?) breaking into her house and shooting a bazooka at her wall). I must say, the memory chikan is quite interesting, since it is able to substitute a memory with another... And if it's based on the limits of one's imagination... I didn't expect Tatsuki's imagination to be as wild as Orihime's... Well, at least Orihime was able to escape from this incident relatively unscathed. After all, the first time I got detached from my body, my chain broke and I ended up becoming a hollow. I wouldn't want that to happen to Orihime.

I spent the first lesson thinking about Rukia. I decided not to tell her about me yet, and wait until the right 'opportunity' comes or when it is absolutely necessary. Hana-chan and Aki-chan came to find me during lunch break and asked me about Orihime's funny story. I had to explain to them that the story wasn't actually true and was actually part of a shinigami's damage control. They pretty much told me that if I had done the same to them the time we met a hollow on a shopping trip, I'd be quite dead... Perhaps not these exact words but their I-approve-of-you smile was more a threat than a compliment... I'd say they're getting bad influence from someone and I know exactly who. Should I copyright my smiles?

Sometime later, the day after I got my lieutenant badge (though I decided, as a precaution of sorts, not to wear it until Rukia returns to Soul Society) when I was hanging out with Mizuiro, we found Ichigo and Rukia having lunch together at some corner in the school. I overheard Rukia telling Ichigo that she had top grades in the demon arts and hoped that Mizuiro didn't hear that.

Mizuiro commented on how Ichigo and Rukia seemed to be getting along very well and they started a conversation about Ichigo and how much he cared about the impression he gives others. I just watched Rukia struggle to fit a straw into a drink with amusement. Then Mizuiro happily made proper introductions of himself and Ichigo interrupted him by warning Rukia that Mizuiro's hobby was womanising. Well, the thing was, as Mizuiro finally admitted later, he was only interested in older females... I think only Ichigo, Rukia and I understood why Ichigo was warning someone who was supposedly our age.

Keigo joined us not too long after, and the only person missing was Chad. Hanaha and Akirai were hanging out with their own classmates, so they weren't going to join us. Keigo went all drama and soon, misunderstandings happened... Which involved Ichigo asking Rukia out and the like.

Then Ooshima the bully came along and kicked Keigo. Apparently his suspension had been lifted, so he was back again, causing trouble as usual. And while Keigo tried to pacify Ooshima and stop him from trying to attack Ichigo, Ichigo had to go and insult him and egg him on of course.

"I'm gonna kick yur arse!" declared Ooshima. All of us stared and I couldn't resist it.

"Uh... could you repeat that? Yur arse? Seriously? Was that an accent you were trying to imitate or is that how bad you really speak?" Okay, so I wasn't usually the mean insulting type if person, but hey, this idiot was annoying... and funny.

Before said idiot could attack us for insulting him, Chad came along and sent him flying, so it was all good. Then we noticed that Chad seemed to be injured. He told us he got hit by a steel beam and collided with a motorcycle... Both of which is quite a feat. The fact remains that he was still alive and I think that was pretty amazing too. I mean, I know I would probably survive those too, but only because of my shinigami/arrancar body and because repeated duels with my fellow division members tend to toughen one's body quite a bit.

Then what was more surprising was that the guy on the motorcycle was seriously injured so Chad was late cuz he was sending the poor dude to the hospital. Anyone see anything wrong with what I just said? But my interest in what Chad's body was made of was almost automatically pushed aside when Chad introduced us to a supposedly cursed parakeet who calls himself Shibata Yuuichi. He was pale yellow with pink cheeks.

"Chad... Where did you get that parakeet?" Ichigo asked. Rukia was still struggling with the straw and by then, I was torn between helping her and watching her struggle some more (hey, I never knew sticking a straw into a drink was so difficult... I had better teach my division members some modern day stuff before they become entertainment for someone else.)

"Yesterday..." Chad began, then promptly gave up on trying to explain himself because, as Keigo put it, 'it was too much work'... though that was a pretty lame excuse if you ask me. And so... an argument about Chad's bad conversation habits started. I was just sitting back and enjoying the show when I overheard Rukia telling Ichigo not to worry about the parakeet because the soul inside it wasn't evil, but could become a hollow if left alone for too long (hey Gin, I haven't forgotten that incident yet.) Hmm... Should I advice them to be more discreet in their conversation? Well, we'll see...

The next morning, Ichigo came rushing into the classroom asking if Chad had come to school. I had just arrived too, a little earlier than Ichigo, but when I checked, Chad wasn't around, which was weird because he's usually early. Then Ichigo dashed out of the room in such a hurry that had me worried. Just as I saw our sensei walk into class, I decided to follow him. So I swiftly shunpo-ed out of class without anyone noticing. Along the way, I took out Perrito from my school bag and wrestled the modsoul out from the toy husky. After I popped the modsoul into my mouth and detached myself from my body, I sent an annoyed Perrito back to class while I sped on, faster now that I didn't have my human body to slow me down.

I followed Ichigo, making sure to keep myself a safe distance away and suppressing my reiatsu to lower than a normal human's level. It wasn't hard because his speed could never match up to mine while I have shunpo on my side. I saw Rukia meet up with Ichigo along the way and from their conversation, it seems like Chad had been attacked by a hollow and they were investigating it. But the hollow was currently in hiding and according to Rukia, there was no information about the hollow from soul society. I checked my cell phone to be sure, and yep, no hollow alert... Not that I needed it much. Being part hollow has it's perks.

All of a sudden, Ichigo stopped in his tracks and went silent. I watched as ribbons of reiryoku seemed to appear in the air and Ichigo grabbed the one belonging to the spirit in the parakeet and they followed it. So... Ichigo could find reiraku eh? Not bad. He seems to be developing his shinigami abilities at a very fast rate... Maybe even faster than me. I sometimes wonder about this whole shinigami thing. Was it possible for someone to just have the talent to be a shinigami? I still don't even know how I, a human-turned-hollow-turned-human, became a shinigami.

We caught up with Chad pretty soon and when he spotted us, he started to run away from us. However, before we could follow him, we spotted Karin, Ichigo's younger sister, leaning by the street, looking very sick. Now which idiot who let her out of school like that? Rukia convinced Ichigo to take Karin home and for a moment, I had to consider who should I follow. Well, since Rukia was following Chad, the spirit and likely, the Hollow, following her would probably be better. So I did. They were probably going to meet up later anyways.

As we were following Chad, I suddenly felt the presence of a Hollow. Then I saw a Hollow dash in front of me and attempted to attack Rukia. I watched from afar as Rukia faced the Hollow, using a Soukatsui (Hado no. 33) with the complete incantation. But due to her weakened powers, the Hollow didn't receive a single scratch from the kido spell. It attacked her once more... Not biting her, but simply knocking her with one of it's... Uh... Limbs? Anyways, it wasn't looking good. When I saw it strangling Rukia, I nearly acted. I said 'nearly', because Chad came back and punch the Hollow in it's jaw.

It wasn't that Chad could see the Hollow, as we found out later. He could hear them though, so he merely had to follow the voice of the Hollow to hit it. Then the Hollow took to the air, but Chad was not deterred. He merely uprooted a nearby telephone pole and swung it in the direction of the Hollow. Have I ever mentioned how crazy this guy seemed? A telephone pole? Seriously? Just how strong was he?

Chad swung the telephone pole down and sent the Hollow crashing down to the ground. While it lay on the ground, Chad and Rukia walked up towards it, telling it that someone was going to come along and deal with it soon. But the Hollow merely laughed.

"Have you ever wondered... How I managed to devour two shinigami before this?" I blinked at his statement. I must have missed something earlier... But I had no time to ponder it's words as I sensed a sudden surge in Hollow reiatsu. Then dozens of Hollows appeared before me, blocking my view of Rukia and Chad (I was perched atop another telephone pole some distance away). Crap.

Rukia and Chad quickly came back into view as the Hollows overpowered them and pushed them to the ground. I didn't have to worry though, because Chad proved to be quite adequate in dealing with the Hollows. He easily threw the ones on his back off, then following the voice of the main Hollow, swung a fist at him. Then he kicked the Hollows off Rukia's back. But then the main Hollow took to the air again.

Rukia came up with a ridiculous but probably feasible plan, and they executed it. Basically, Chad launched Rukia into the air with his superhuman strength and Rukia advanced on the Hollow in the air. But she was then attacked by a tiny Hollow that was perched on the main Hollow's body. Rukia fell as the mini Hollow spat something onto her and Chad caught her. The spit turned out to be a bunch if slimy leeches. Then the leeches exploded.

"Surprised? Those leeches are my targets, miniature bombs. They only explode in reaction to the sound of my tongue," the Hollow explained and I saw that the Hollow had a strange tongue that looked like a vibrating tuning fork. I frowned. Things weren't looking good. If Ichigo doesn't turn up soon, I'd have to step in.

The next thing the Hollow did was to reveal the caged parakeet that he had gotten while Chad and Rukia were distracted. I saw a leech-spitting Hollow perched on top of the birdcage as Rukia got up and ran towards it, dodging flying streams of leeches as she went. She wasn't fast enough though, and got caught by more leeches which exploded, causing her to bleed. And that's when I thought, that's it. I'm stepping in.

"Enough!" I yelled as I unsheathed my sword and jumped. Rukia, Chad and the Hollow looked up in surprised as I descended upon them. I stood protectively in front of Rukia. I don't know what relationship she has with Kuchiki-taichou, but I definitely didn't want to face his wrath if his sister gets killed because I didn't save her in time. And Renji'd probably come after my skin too. Most importantly, I couldn't just sit there and do nothing while a fellow shinigami is getting beaten up by a damn Hollow.

"Another shinigami!" exclaimed the Hollow, sounding delighted. I frowned at it.

"Sorry, playtime's over," I told him and killed several leech-spitting Hollows and their leeches with a swing of my sword. I turned to Rukia and Chad. "Maybe I should've stepped in earlier, but I thought you guys were doing fine until this beast started using those leeches... So I waited. My apologies for being late."

Then I used Utsusemi, Kaze no Ha (Empty Cicada, Wind Blade), a technique modified from Kuchiki's utsusemi, first used in my first hollow-hunting mission/lesson (A/N: refer to Chapter 14) to eliminate all the surrounding leech-spitting Hollows as well as the exploding leeches that erupted from the sliced Hollows. Once I was finished with them, I glanced at the main Hollow and smirked as I saw a figure behind it.

"And here comes another shinigami," I said as Ichigo swung his leg down on top of the Hollow, a kick that ended with a satisfying thunk and the Hollow collapsing. Then Ichigo saw me.

"Chizuki?" His eyes were so wide, I loved his surprise. "You're... You're a shinigami?"

I grinned. "Yep! Surprised? But hey, it's a small world! You and Rukia are also shinigami after all."

Before our lovely conversation could continue, the Hollow below Ichigo got up, throwing Ichigo off his head, yelling, "How long are you gonna stand on my head?!"

Ichigo landed on his feet beside me with no problem and we faced the Hollow. I glanced back at the injured Rukia. "Hey Rukia, could you use your Gokon Tekkou and eject Ichigo out of his body? Then I can heal you while Ichigo gets to practice some Hollow-killing."

Rukia, still wide-eyed, did as I instructed and I was a little surprised. I did expect a little bit of resistance as she was probably still shocked by my appearance, and it was a little disconcerting to see a classmate follow what I say so obediently. I was only used to ordering 11th Division members around, and they don't always do as they are told either.

The Hollow attacked us as we were 'distracted', but Ichigo was quick. He leapt behind the creature as the creature attacked, and Rukia caught his body while he went into his shinigami mode. I observed that Ichigo looked pretty badass with his orange hair and shinigami uniform, not to mention that giant katana he carried. I think it's one-and-a-half times bigger than mine.

So while Ichigo criticised the Hollow for making Karin cry, taking hostages etc, I brought Rukia to one side and did my best to heal her. I wasn't a professional at it... My kido grades were as bad as an 11th Division member could have, but I did get tired of bothering Unohana and her shinigami with the many injuries we 11th Division members often get from spars and duels, so I managed to hone my healing skills a bit.

Luckily, Rukia's injuries weren't too bad. Just as I finished healing her, Chad came running towards us with the parakeet and the cage in his arms. We told him to bring the parakeet to a safe place far from here, then we returned our attention to the fight.

Ichigo was getting rid of the remaining leech-spitting Hollows. I forgot to warn him that the leeches can still explode when he slices up the Hollows until it was too late. The leeches fell around Ichigo and exploded simultaneously, creating a super large explosion. Ichigo leapt out of it in time and descended in front of the Hollow, swinging his sword as he went. Just as his blade was about to cut into the Hollow, he stopped.

"One thing I want to ask you," Ichigo said to the Hollow. "The one who killed the parents of the boy inside the parakeet... Was that you?!"

Then the parakeet said something. Rukia and I glanced sharply at the parakeet. "What did you just say?"

"I said," repeated the parakeet. "I'm sorry... Everything is my fault... Because of me, you two and mister are hurt. It's because I wanted to bring my mommy back to life. I'm sorry..."

And the parakeet kept repeating his apologies while I exchanged glances with Rukia. Bring his mother back to life? That wasn't possible! The asshole who-

"Did someone tell you that there is a way?!" Rukia asked, sounding as shocked and enraged as I was.

"That's right." We turned back to the Hollow who continued speaking with a smirk. "I was the one who killed that brat's mother... It was four or five years ago, back when I was still alive."

Then the Hollow went on to explain how he was a serial killer, how he enjoyed killing the boy's mother, how desperately she had tried to protect her son, how he was about to deal the finishing blow when the boy tripped him and he fell off the balcony to his death. In revenge, he forced the boy's soul into the body of a parakeet in a cage.

"I gave him a mission," the Hollow said with a horrible laugh. "He has to run away from me in his current form for three months! If he does that, I will return his mom back to life!"

"Return to life...? You can-"

"Of course he can't! No one can!" I interrupted Ichigo. "Bloody sonofabitch!"

"I was just paying lip-service so that he'd go along with it and it was completely effective!" the Hollow said happily. "I would kill the humans protecting him, one after the other. Every time I killed one of them, the brat would whine about it and I'd tell him his mom is waiting for his rescue! It's fun, you know. Every time I say that line, he'd perk up and wail 'Mommy! Mommy!'"

I could barely stand it any longer... It has been a long time since I felt this angry. In fact, I hardly remember a time when I'm angry before. Ichigo attacked first, but the Hollow blocked his sword and shot a couple of leech-spitting Hollows at him. The Hollows spat out a whole load of leeches and the main Hollow laughed.

"See? Your stance is unguarded and they hit you! Now it is over!" Then he stuck out his ugly tongue to detonate the leech-bombs. I watched as Ichigo quickly rammed his leech-covered hand into the Hollow's mouth.

"Hey... I'm returning these bombs!" Ichigo said with a grin. Then when the Hollow froze, unwilling to move his long tongue to make any sound for fear it'd detonate the bombs in his mouth, Ichigo sliced off his tongue. The Hollow was enraged, but Ichigo merely went on to hack at the Hollow.

I sat back, deciding that since Ichigo was already torturing the Hollow, there was no need for me to do so. It was satisfying to hear the Hollow shriek and feel its almost-tangible fear. Ichigo mercilessly went on to slice at it to punish it for murder. Finally, he swung his sword in one big arc and sliced the Hollow's head. As the Hollow died, gigantic nightmarish double doors appeared behind the Hollow.

"What in the world is that?!" asked a shocked Ichigo.

"The Gates of Hell," I answered. "Rukia must have explained to you that the slice of a zanpakuto cleanses the sins of a Hollow... But only the sins the Hollow committed as a Hollow are cleansed."

"Those who have done terrible deeds in their lives are sent to Hell," Rukia continued. "Look. The Gates of Hell are opening."

And the Gates of Hell opened. The Hollow screamed and tried to escape but a gigantic blade impaled it. The gigantic blade belonged to a gigantic tattooed hand that emerged from the gigantic Gates. Then I caught a glimpse of a laughing face as a diabolical laughter filled the air. Then the Gates closed and disappeared.

We returned to the caged parakeet and we checked the soul of the boy within the parakeet. The chain of fate had been long disconnected and there was no way we could return the boy back to his body.

"Don't worry," Rukia reassured the boy. "Soul Society is a place where there is nothing to be afraid of! You'll never be hungry, your body feels light... It's 9 times out of 10 better than this world."

I kept my poker face on, so that my skepticism wouldn't show. Soul Society wasn't exactly paradise after all... But I guess it may be better than the human world... Personally, I think the two worlds are the same. Hueco Mundo on the other hand, is a whole different story. And high-reiatsu spirits do get hungry...

"If you go to the other world, you can see your mom," Ichigo added. "It's not possible for her to return to life here... But if you were to go over there... This time, your mom really will be waiting for you."

The parakeet looked delighted and Ichigo took out his sword. "Well then, shall we send your soul off now?"

"Y-Yeah!" the boy agreed, then he turned to Chad. "Mister... Thank you for everything. Because you carried me around, I didn't get hurt at all. Well, I should go now... Thank you very much."

Chad simply said that it was nothing then... "Yuuichi... When I die and go over there... Can I carry you around one more time?"

The boy beamed at Chad. "Sure!"

Then Ichigo sent the soul on his way. A jigokucho came and guided the soul to Soul Society.

After Chad left and it was just the three of us, there was an awkward silence. Rukia and Ichigo stared at me... While I stared back at them feeling a little sheepish for Kami knows what reason.

"Okay... So maybe it's time for a little reintroduction?" I said, breaking the silence. "As Ichigo would know, I'm Yoruka Chizuki, formerly from Mashiba Junior High. Now I'm a student at Karakura High. And I so happen to be a shinigami too."

"You're a shinigami... Since when?" Ichigo demanded. Well I suppose he must be quite surprised, since we've known each other for more than two years now.

"Since our second last year at Mashiba... Quite a long story, actually," I replied matter-of-factly, as if I was talking about the weather... Which incidentally, was very fine today.

"What are you doing here?" Rukia asked... Sounding frightened?

"What do you mean by what am I doing here? If you're asking me why I'm here here, I came to help you guys out against that Hollow. If you're asking me why I'm in Karakura instead of Soul Society, well, I have a human life too you know. I go to school here though I live in Seireitei now."

Ichigo and Rukia looked pretty confused then, but I wasn't going to give them anymore info unless they asked for it... Though I suppose it wouldn't hurt to...

I stuck out my hand to Rukia. "Anyway~ Nice meeting you, Kuchiki Rukia."

She took my hand though she was still staring at me like a zombie. I slipped a small folded piece of paper into her hand as we shook hands. I didn't know how much she has told Ichigo about Soul Society and shinigami, so the secret note was just in case she hasn't told Ichigo everything yet.

Then I waved cheerily and went on my way while the two of them continued to stand there like statues.

...

THE NOTE:

Hey Rukia,

No worries, I haven't told anyone about you and Ichigo yet, so the only shinigamis who know about this are Urahara, you, me and Ichigo... And maybe Tessai. You'd better hurry and get back your shinigami powers before Soul Society comes after you though. It's been approximately a month since you arrived here, hasn't it?

Be careful.

Fellow shinigami, friend and classmate,
Chizuki

That's all for now! I'll be updating in another week or less... A new school year is starting soon though, so I may not be able to update as often as I like. To those who follow my other fanfic (the Naruto one), wait a little longer~ I wanna make use of inertia and momentum to finish another chapter of this fanfic first... before a writer's block comes along and ruin everything.

P.S. Please review!