From Two Different Dimensions

Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo.

Chapter 25: Looming Danger

Blank. Total emptiness...

There was nothing in this room. Or space. Whatever it was, she couldn't focus on anything around her. Nothing was visible though she was not engulfed in darkness, rather it was the opposite. The whiteness of her surroundings blinded her. It was like literally everything was shining and glowing white all over. She could have been standing or even floating, the current state of hers which she wasn't sure of herself.

Slowly, and agonizingly, she felt her right arm rising but oddly she didn't feel her muscle flex at all. It seemed like a folded piece of paper getting unfolded.

Was that sand? She felt sand entering her nails. And some grass underneath her right hand. Slowly and gradually, she was starting to see everything evolve. The more her surroundings started to colour, the more horrific everything was becoming. Her right arm was starting to feel sore, and her body heavier. However blurry still the surroundings were, it came to her realization that she was hanging from a great height, which explained the immense urge to tighten her grip on the grass, feeling the hard ground underneath.

Mustering the strength for the worst, she faced down, and gasped at the skyscraper-distance between her feet to the ground below. She then screamed at the top of her lungs.

Sakura snapped her eyes open, a surge of relief rapidly flowed through her at the sight of a familiar room. She was back in her own dark bedroom, she thought, in the midst of breathing heavily. For a while she stayed put, not moving a muscle as she tried to calm down, ebbing her tensions away. When she tried to get back to sleep, it was to no avail for the next three hours.

X

Sakura didn't remember when she had fallen asleep again, but the next time she opened her eyes, it was already morning. Though she was still feeling like crap, she forced herself to sit, and let a yawn escape her mouth.

That was one heck of a nightmare. It had felt so real though, Sakura thought tiredly, rubbing her eyes and yawning again. She managed to stand up, grabbed her white robe, and walked out to the balcony outside. Judging from the colour of the sky, the number of people walking down the streets below and the mild busyness within the vicinity, Sakura assumed that the time was around seven o'clock, lazily disregarding the watch in her bedroom.

"Good morning."

She jumped in surprise at the sudden voice. Right, left, right again and then left. No one was there.

"Up here."

She threw back her head to look up, her gaze landed upon someone who was sitting on the roof. She wasn't sure how to react at his presence.

"…Hitsugaya."

"Rough night, huh?" Toushiro asked coolly as soon as he noticed the apparent eye bags above her slightly-flushed cheeks.

Sakura looked away, not meeting his gaze. "I just… didn't sleep well last night." She was still rather awkward around him after it was revealed to her that this man used to be her lover. Ino might have been joking yesterday, but this guy hadn't made a single effort to deny it. He had instead shortly glared at the blonde before exiting the house.

Toushiro jumped off the roof and Sakura admired how smooth his movements were. The toes on one foot touched the top of the balcony fence first before his feet landed.

"If you're not a ninja, what are you?" Sakura questioned, still highly curious as to what kind of people belong to that group which no one desired to disclose to her yet. Toushiro bent his knees so that their eyes level with each other.

Toushiro searched her emerald eyes. "You really wanna know?"

Sakura gave an eager nod of her head, to which Toushiro was forced to bite back a chuckle at her cluelessness. And then there was wind, and he was gone. Sakura blinked twice before rushing to look over the balcony fence. Toushiro was below on the street with an indescribable expression on his face.

"Too bad you can't know it now. See you later, Sakura." He started to walk away from her home.

A vein popped in her head, and she bared her teeth in annoyance. "Hey! That's just cruel! Come back here you-"

"I'd keep it down if I were you," Toushiro said over his shoulder. Sakura clasped her hands to her mouth immediately, realizing how she might have disrupted her neighbours. "Damn it."

Toushiro made a small wave with his hand, signaling that he was departing for real. Sakura made a face on his retreating figure, and then stormed back inside her room.

"Seriously…"

'His name is Hitsugaya Toushiro. You two were quite close. Don't you remember him?'

Sakura remembered how upset the woman – the one with beautiful, long, blonde curls - had looked as she had said those words to Sakura.

"We're close, eh…? And lovers…? So much of a boyfriend he is. Not helping at all."

There was a knock on the door, making her jump in surprise. "Sakura, you up?" the voice belonging to Kizashi called on the other side of the door. Sakura walked to the door and opened it to see her father carrying some old books in his arms.

"What's the matter?" Sakura asked.

"Well…" Kizashi's gaze dropped onto the books, and once again – this time more focused – Sakura looked at them. Something ticked in her brain, and her eyes went wide at the sudden realization.

"Those are my Mangas!" Sakura swiped one from the stacks and studied its cover. It was no wonder she couldn't recognize it straight away. Her current seven-year-old brain had registered the book as being fresh and good as new. But now that supposedly nine years had passed, the books were withering away. She ran her hand across the cover, feeling its softness and fragility underneath her skin as opposed to it being used to be a hard cover. She could even smell dust from it.

A small part of the tip of the corner at the bottom was torn off. Sakura remembered the fictional character displayed on the front cover well as how it was supposed to be. It showed a magnificent drawing of a teenage boy, with blonde, spiky hair and eyes that were dreamy. He was holding a long-handled scythe - as far as stereotypes went - the common weapon for a Soul Reaper.

Kizashi rearranged the slightly disarrayed books in his arms. "I found them in the storage room. Though this was all I could find… I believe there are some volumes missing but I think this should be enough to jog your memory."

Sakura grinned at him. "Thank you, dad."

X

Toushiro hated how he came across a sweets vendor's stall, which was located in the busiest streets in Konoha that he had randomly chose for a brief sight-seeing. The worst part was that he couldn't buy anything there. His options narrowed down to stare longingly at those mouth-watering amanatto, sigh in defeat, and then leave.

Unaware to him, Ino happened to be shopping within the vicinity and had seen how he had stared at a certain food. She waited for a while, and when she was sure that he wouldn't see her, she approached the stall.

"I'll have what the boy was looking at," she said and then giggled.

The lady behind the stand smiled and scooped up a few into a plastic. "Such a generous young lady you are. Do you know that kid?"

Ino handed over her coins and took the plastic with her. She smiled back. "Yeah. And he's not a kid. He's actually older than he looks."

X

Ino arrived to a hill that overlooked the village. As soon as she reached the grassy land on top, she spotted Toushiro lying on the ground with his arms behind his head. A huge tree behind him gave a comforting shade over his body.

"The view is nice over here, eh."

Toushiro opened one eye, apparently Ino's presence were not really a big surprise to him. The kunoichi sat down next to him, but a bit further back. She outstretched one arm which was holding the plastic filled with amanatto, observing how Toushiro eyed the food hanging over his face with a startled look.

"Ah. You saw me."

"Take it. I'm sure you hadn't had anything to eat ever since you arrived here yesterday."

Toushiro sat up, simultaneously snatching the plastic before he uttered the word 'thanks.' Ino saw him popped one into his mouth, then another one, and another one…until he ran out of those sweets.

"You're really worried about her, weren't you? Is that why you chose to stay over in this world last night?"

Toushiro didn't answer straight away. He kept his eyes locked to the sky above. "How did you know about us? Who else knew besides you?"

"Hey, you don't answer questions with more questions."

When Toushiro remained silent, Ino sighed in defeat. "Remember the first time you arrived in front of my flower shop? Before that, Sakura and I talked a bit. She somehow let it slip that you're her boyfriend. I don't think she intended to reveal it though."

His continuing silence allowed Ino to add on, "I don't think there's anyone else here who knows. But, I know a Shinigami comrade of yours who does know as well..."

This seemed to gauge Toushiro's interest as he slightly turned his head around towards her, urging her to continue. "I don't know how Shuuhei-san came to know-"

"Hisagi? Darn. Didn't see that coming."

"Toushiro-kun, what actually happened between you and Sakura, eh? You two are confusing me." Ino insisted, leaning forward now so that she could see his face. She was prepared for another silence, but when Toushiro opened his mouth to speak, she felt relieved.

"I wanted to protect her… Save her."

Ino's expression was perplexed. "Save her…? How?"

"That…" He paused, and looked up again. "I'm not sure anymore."

From the corner of her eyes, she could see him balling his fists, hard.

X

"Sakura! More friends are here to see you!"

That was her mother. Not long ago, Sakura had talked to her over breakfast, endlessly requesting to know more about this particular unique group of friends she had no idea about, but was somehow associated with. The answers thrown her way never eased her, instead they leveled up her frustrations.

"For the last time, Sakura, we don't know much about them. This is the first time your father and I were introduced to them, to be honest. Are you going to eat that?"

Sakura sat upright on her bed, and spoke grumpily, loud enough for her mother to hear downstairs, "My ninja friends or…that group again?"

"The latter! Be ready they're coming up!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. She wanted to fix her dress, but then something dawned upon her. Like a bulb lighting up in her head.

"Wait a minute… Why do most of my visitors are from this weird group? Where are the rest of my ninja comrades?" Because Sakura had a lot of visitors yesterday, she hadn't considered the unbalance to be a big deal. However, when she thought about it carefully…

There was a knock on the door, despite it being left slightly ajar. "Sakura-san, it's us. Abarai Renji and Inoue Orihime," said a masculine voice.

Their voices didn't seem to reach Sakura for she was still deep in her own thoughts. "Wait… What if the reason this group won't tell me who they are is because…they're not exactly the best kind of people to mingle around with? Maybe they just wanted to protect my feelings…? Oh my God… I think I get it… No wonder they all look kinda strange…"

Orihime peeked through the opening. "Sakura-san? May we come in?"

Sakura continued to struggle with her thoughts. "Okay let's see… Calm down Sakura. First, there's Ichigo-kun and Rukia-san… Ichigo-kun has this unusual orange hair and he keeps a badge that has a skull face on it. Weird. And Rukia-san hit him occasionally…"

"Oi, Sakura-san. Are you talking to yourself?" Renji asked, suspicious.

"And then, Shuuhei-kun…" Sakura felt her face warmer before she finished her thoughts on him. "Although he sounds charming… He does have a tattoo on his face… My brain still can't remember things but I think that tattoo means…something. And then there're those scars down his face."

"But he's still damn good-looking though," her thoughts finished her sentence.

Renji rolled his eyes. "Okay we're coming in."

"Ah, and Hitsugaya! His hair colour is just unusual to me… Did he bleach his hair? It seems like it."

Renji and Orihime apparently overheard everything, and chose this moment to sweatdrop. The red-head Shinigami raised an eyebrow at Sakura's peculiar behavior. "Sakura-san, what are you babbling about? Good grief, it's getting worse on her."

"Could it be…" Sakura trailed off.

And then came Orihime's sweet voice, and it happened to catch Sakura's attention. "Sakura-san~ We've come to see you."

Slowly, Sakura turned around to face the door, stared at Orihime first, before her eyes landed upon Renji. Sakura widened her eyes in shock at the sight of the heavy tattoos on Renji's forehead and his bright long, hair.

"Oh my God… It's confirmed… I have befriended the yakuzas!" In a matter of seconds, Sakura shrunk herself to the corner of the room refusing to look at the two of them.

A vein twitched on Renji's forehead. "What the hell does that supposed to mean?!"

Sakura ignored him. "I knew it. I must've not made any good friends back in the Ninja Academy. Years later I got rebellious, wandered the streets, until I stumbled upon a group of hooligans and then they took me in and-"

"Sakura-san…"

The said person almost jumped at how Orihime had magically gotten to a very close distance from her. Renji studied the girls crouching at that one corner of the room, growing impatient by the minute. Orihime's next move shocked both Renji and Sakura.

Orihime pulled Sakura into a hug, and Sakura was forced to collapse onto Orihime's huge chest, feeling her breasts squished to her face. "There there… It's alright, Sakura-san. We're all good people!"

X

"Ishida-kun and Sado-kun had planned to join us. But something came up in the last minute and they had to bail out. So it's just me and Renji-kun now," explained Orihime to the clueless Sakura. It hadn't taken a lot of effort to convince Sakura that she had never ever associated herself with a bunch of yakuzas, so it had gotten easier to calm her down, and set her on the bed. Orihime sat next to her while Renji took the chair.

Renji sighed. "I actually suggested that we postpone this meet. But Inoue insisted that she wanted to see you as soon as possible." Orihime nodded vigorously with a smile on her face. Renji then muttered to himself, "Her puppy dog eyes were just…not something you could turn down so easily."

Sakura quite heard that, and so her eyes studied Orihime's features. This young lady was gorgeous, cute, and cheerful. Sakura wouldn't blame Renji if what he had said to himself was true.

"Sakura!" The voice of Haruno Mebuki called. "One of your friends from yesterday is here to see you again."

A rush of images formed in Sakura's head, but the one which stood out the most was the picture of a certain man. Suddenly, much to her satisfaction and delight, the man appeared at her bedroom door. This time, she felt the butterflies in her stomach when they locked gazes upon seeing each other.

Renji greeted the newcomer, "Oh, hey! Hisagi-san!"

Shuuhei was equally surprised to see him. "Abarai! Hey man… Didn't expect to see you in this world."

"Back at ya."

"How's your session with Sakura?"

Renji smirked. "Can you believe that she thought you're a thug?" As soon as he had said it, Sakura was on her feet, blocking Shuuhei's view from Renji, and waved her arms frantically. "No! I didn't mean that! Ha..Ha..Ha.. Shuuhei-kun?"

It was too late though. Shuuhei was already sulking at that same corner of the room.

X

Sakura was at the balcony again, this time looking over at Shuuhei bidding goodbye to Renji and Orihime who were off to return to their home. And by home, it was somewhere Sakura thought – and she had a strong feeling about it – was not anywhere within the village. Sakura chose to ignore having anymore deep thoughts about them again. After all, they did promise that they were going to tell her. All she had to do was make progress on her memories.

It didn't change the fact that deep down she was still afraid though. What she feared the most was not being able to retrieve her memories and stayed feeling helpless forever. She was so scared that tears were starting to well up in her eyes, and as soon as she realized this, she suppressed the sadness straight away, enough to not start a cry.

"Sakura."

She looked down, and noticed that Renji and Orihime had gone, leaving only Shuuhei now.

"Yeah?"

Shuuhei kept his eyes onto hers, and smirked at the scenery surrounding both of them. "I'm coming up, Juliet."

Instantaneously, Sakura crouched down and hid behind the fence, hoping that Shuuhei hadn't noticed her reddened cheeks. "I-Idiot!"

She heard a faint chuckle, before she noticed something overshadowing her frame. She looked up, and was surprised to see Shuuhei standing on top of the fence. He then got inside the balcony.

"It sure is kinda hard to make a high jump in this gigai," Shuuhei mumbled to himself.

"What?"

"Nothing. Let's get inside and start our session, alright?"

Sakura put her hands on her waist. "What more can you tell me anyway? I still don't know what you people are. You can jump like a ninja, but you claimed to be something else." Sighing, she walked back inside her bedroom and sat down on her bed with a gruff.

"Sakura-"

"I'm bored. I've been confined in this place for days without ever getting to step outside."

Shuuhei then had an idea, but it had to be done following a slight risk.

X

"I'd like to ask your permission to take Sakura-san out."

She couldn't believe it. He actually walked up to her parents and said that. Moreover, with his head slightly bowed! Haruno Mebuki's hand shot to her mouth. "Oh my…"

Sakura could have sworn she saw a tint of pink on her mother's cheeks. Her father, on the other hand, kept a straight face. Sakura puffed her cheeks, looked away, crossed her arms over her chest and prayed that this would be over soon.

Shuuhei added on, "I just think it's a good idea for her to see the village and take in the surroundings. She might remember something."

A booming laugh erupted from Kizashi, startling everyone in the room. He gave a 'thumbs up' with his hand. "Sure. Just don't be out too long. She's still recovering."

Shuuhei felt as if a weight had been lifted off his back. He grinned. "Of course."

And just like that, Shuuhei and Sakura were out and about, wandering the streets of the village without exchanging much conversation. Sakura had been acting enthusiastic just by being outside, for this was her first time of getting to see the village after waking up thinking that she was supposed to be seven years old.

They kept on walking, until the number of houses started to decrease, and they came upon a river. A small wooden bridge was up ahead, connecting the sidewalk they were currently on to the other side. Trees were lining horizontally on the other side, which Sakura assumed, to be the beginning of a small forest. Sakura walked up to the bridge, leaving Shuuhei to stare at her back.

"Sakura…"

"Ne, come on, Shuuhei-kun," Sakura made a 'come here' gesture with her hand, and Shuuhei followed her from closely behind.

His mind then replayed the scene from four months ago, during the time Sakura was brought to the Spiritual Arts Academy for the first time. The day when the seven Shinobis first stepped foot onto the land of Seireitei, there was nothing more Shuuhei had known besides that they were placed in a special class, established for the sole-purpose of educating these Shinobis until they were deemed ready of obtaining Shinigami powers.

He didn't get to see who - amongst the hundreds of villagers in Konohagakure he had visited a day earlier - took up the huge offer. However, Shuuhei heard a rumour that one of the Shinobis was a girl. He overheard by accident about how a lot of guys complimented her looks. They said she was cute and that she had pink hair, to which Shuuhei scoffed involuntarily. The long-lost sister of Squad Eleven's Lieutenant Kusajishi, he thought.

And then one day, he heard another rumour that a guy from Class B just harassed the pink-haired Shinobi. What she did to this student amazed Shuuhei. According to a Class A student he was talking to, Haruno Sakura used bare her fist alone to send the guy crashing from Class B through E, resulting in a broken rib and teeth loss. Because she eventually realized – and because her fellow Shinobi comrades convinced her to – that a single grope on the butt was not a brutal harassment and that the guy didn't deserve to be punished that way, she had quickly ran over to the fallen boy, already surrounded by tons of witnesses, and healed him using her ninjutsu, immediately garnering interests from the impressed watchers.

It was only two weeks later that Shuuhei got to see the face of this girl everyone at the Spiritual Arts Academy was talking about.

"Hisagi-san," Kira Izuru called out to the Ninth Division Squad Lieutenant. Izuru was bringing some papers for the Academy administration. In order to get to the administration office, he had to pass the kido training grounds first where he saw his former senpai and now comrade standing, looking at something within the darkness of the kido training grounds.

Shuuhei turned to face him. "Ah, Kira."

"What are you watching?" Kira questioned curiously. He stopped beside Shuuhei and his eyes followed where Shuuhei's gaze landed on. In front of them, a hundred metres away, was someone wearing the Academy uniform practicing her kido.

"Eh? What's she doing here at this time? Everyone should've gone back home by now," Kira told him, astounded by the presence of a student in the area when the clock almost hit seven at night.

Shuuhei shrugged. "That's what I'd like to know. But I can't just tell her off when she's so determined like that. Look at her."

Sure enough, Sakura was so immersed in her incantation and spell shooting to even notice the presence of two highly-ranked Shinigamis. Or perhaps she did notice, but decided to ignore them.

"She's one of the Shinobis, right?" Izuru asked, and Shuuhei simply nodded. Both men continued to observe Sakura for another minute. After they concluded that her kido skills were barely mediocre, they left.

Three days later, it never occurred to Shuuhei that he would see her again in the same place and at the same time. He didn't stay for long though, but enough to notice an improvement in her shootings.

Another five days had passed when he saw her there again, this time instead of by accident, he actually went there with the intention of seeing her progress with his own eyes. He had heard earlier that Haruno Sakura was progressing really well in the academy, so it intrigued him enough to see her again.

Apparently, her kido skills were still weak. People might have been talking about other areas that Sakura was advancing greatly on, but Shuuhei could still see right there that Sakura was still struggling with her aiming. But he wouldn't blame or criticize her though. After all, it had only been less than a month into starting the curriculum. If anything, Sakura was progressing really well.

"Can't stay too long," Shuuhei said to Izuru, who happened to be there as well that night.

Izuru averted his gaze from the field to Shuuhei. "Busy with work?"

"Nah. Rangiku-san invited me over to the Tenth Division Squad building for a drink. Would you like to join us, Kira?"

Izuru chuckled and elbowed Shuuhei in the upper arm. "Are you sure you want to invite me, Hisagi-san? Shouldn't it just be the two of you alone?"

A blush crept up to Shuuhei's cheeks. "H-hey… W-what are you talking about?"

Izuru ignored the question. "I can't though. Life is tough as an acting Captain. I've got some papers that needed signing. See you, Hisagi-san."

There was something about Sakura's determination and hard work that kept Shuuhei coming back to see her every day after that. And not each day went by without her being absent there, training her guts out. And then one night, when he arrived at the field, he saw her there as expected. However, she was silently sitting on a bench at the far end of the field.

And she was crying.

More words might have gotten around until they reached the ears of most of the Gotei 13 Shinigamis, because on the next day in the morning, Juushiro, Rukia, Renji, Toushiro and Rangiku decided to pay a visit at the Academy and asked the whereabouts of Haruno Sakura. They saw her at the kido training grounds, showcasing her greatly-improved skills in both hado and bakudo. Even the Captain-Commander Yamamoto later on trusted her to carry out her first mission in the living world, which involved not dummy hollows, but real ones.

That day was also the day that he first talked to her, and at the same time, was able to finally see her eyes. All these times, he could only see her in the dark, her figure standing out in the middle of the huge field. He never got to see her face. What made her shine in those nights, were not her pink hair that he was amused of in the earlier weeks, but her consistent display of persistence, resolve and hard work.

So when he finally saw her face up close, to him, her emerald eyes were just beautiful.

Throughout the weeks after Sakura was promoted to Gotei 13, there was no reason for Shuuhei to step foot onto the Academy grounds again. Sakura trained somewhere else which he didn't find out where until much later.

Inviting Shinigamis over for a drink or organizing small parties for a group of friends twice or thrice a week- that was something Rangiku would do. Every time an opportunity arose for him to see the funny, beautiful and sexy Lieutenant of the Tenth Division Squad, he would instantly snatch it. So when one day Rangiku called him over for a drink – to top it off, just between them both – and Shuuhei declined without a second thought, followed by a baffled look thrown his way by Izuru who stated, "For real, Hisagi-san?!", it was then that he realized that no matter what…

He had to get Haruno Sakura's attention at all costs.

X

Konoha Library

Could it be just a coincidence?

Sai flipped to the next page of the book. "…observe their facial expression…"

It couldn't, could it?

"…the previous page says… hmm why does it sound contradicting…? Ignore the look on their face…"

"Hm. Team Seven! First it's the Jinchuuriki we're dealing with. Now, the kunoichi has become a bothersome relevance concerning the alternate world."

Sai remembered the dry laugh that followed next.

"Keep an eye on the girl, Sai. This is your new mission. Assassination on Uchiha Sasuke had been a failure. I'll count on you to at least keep tabs on the kunoichi's whereabouts, until further instructions come your way."

No voice had come from Sai. He had kept his posture still, with one knee on the ground and head bowed. When he had heard footsteps going away, he looked up, seeing Danzo walking back inside the building. Sai had thought it was over, but the elder had spoken again.

"If she needs your help, don't hesitate. Gain her full trust."

Sai came out of his reverie; the opened book in his hands greeted his face. He placed his elbow on the table, and rested his head in his hand. What had amazed him was that, not long after that encounter more than a month ago, Sakura had contacted him because she had a request. It had turned out that she had to take him with her to the living world on the other dimension so that he could train her like he was meant to kill her. Sakura had been so adamant about it, because she had to break her Zanpakutou's four-swings limit.

Was that a coincidence?

Sai finally closed the book he was reading, feeling it worthless since he couldn't focus at all. He had thought that the plan was simple, had gone beyond happy and relieved when Sakura had achieved her full Shinigami powers. When she was finally doing the closing procedure on the ill-fated portal, Sai had known that nothing could go wrong, and especially when all this was over, Danzo wouldn't lay a finger on her.

How heart-shattering moment it had been. That one full month of Sakura lying unconscious on the hospital bed.

Currently, Sakura having amnesia and the ongoing crisis surrounding both dimensions could only mean that an evil scheme was coming their way, plotted by Danzo of course. Sai slowly got up, packed his books and drawing equipment before he made his way out of the library, extremely not looking forward to his meeting with Danzo in a few minutes.

X

"Still nothing? Does this place not trigger anything in your head, Sakura?"

Shuuhei looked expectantly at Sakura, and sighed when she shook her head slowly. Shuuhei leaned slightly forward over the bridge rail, admiring the clear blue water running underneath.

Sakura looked up at him. "How old was I when I met your group?"

"You met us just four months ago."

"Ah, yeah. I think someone told me that." Sakura let silence befall them for a few seconds to let the both of them enjoy seeing the currents. They would occasionally see small fishes in the water. "Have I ever told you anything about myself?"

Shuuhei seemed to be thoughtful for a while. He regrettably shook his head. "No. We hung around sometimes, but you don't tell me much about yourself. We tend to talk about battles, fights, crimes… that sort of stuff. You'd tell me the fighting styles of your people while I'd compare them to mine, vice versa."

"Oh!" Sakura exclaimed, as if she had formed a good idea. "Ne, ne… Shuuhei-kun! Tell me what I was like. What sort of abilities do I possess?"

Shuuhei smiled at her. Yes, he could tell her that. "You have amazing healing abilities."

"I…I heal?" Sakura asked in surprise as she brought up the palms of her hands up, staring at them disbelievingly.

"Yes. And then there's your extraordinary strength. When you hit something, you'll create a crater… Sakura, what are you doing?!" Shuuhei asked quickly, panicked when Sakura crouched down and balled her fist as if she was readying to punch the wooden floor. Shuuhei's face paled just at the thought of the impact she could deliver to the small bridge. However, instead of the bridge collapsing, Sakura's fist received the blow.

"Ow oww!" Sakura moaned in pain, using her other uninjured hand to squeeze her bruised and reddening fist. A chuckle escaped Shuuhei's mouth. He crouched down in front of her, resisting the urge to pull her into a hug.

"Hey, you can't do that if you don't channel your rei-… chakra properly."

Sakura was still pouting and wincing, but her eyes shot open the instant she a felt huge, warm hand enclosing hers. Shuuhei took her injured hand and brought it close to his face for inspection, his grip so gentle yet firm. The kunoichi could feel her cheeks dangerously warming by the second. His hand was still around hers for another few seconds before he looked from the reddening skin and up to her face, and grinned. "You should take it easy, Sakura. You're still recovering."

What Shuuhei did next shocked her more. He brought her hand even closer to his mouth, and kissed it. The moment it ended, Shuuhei realized what he was doing, hence a small blush on his face.

"Pervert!"

The Shinigami was then rewarded with a slap across the cheek by the now red-as-a-tomato kunoichi.

X

"Sakura-chan!"

Shuuhei and Sakura were just leaving the bridge when a man in an orange jumpsuit came up towards them. Naruto jumped from one boulder to another, before landing on the ground and jogged the rest of the way up. Somehow, seeing him made Sakura felt like home. She waved at him. "Ah, Naruto!"

Her teammate stopped in front of them. "There you are, Sakura-chan! I've been looking everywhere for you. Come on, our friends are waiting at our usual hangout spot."

Shuuhei suddenly sensed that they were not the only ones there. From the corner of his eyes, he scanned the area beyond the bridge and behind the trees. When he turned back, he caught Naruto's eyes, and they briefly exchanged understanding glances.

"Shuuhei-kun, I-"

"Go ahead, Sakura. You should meet with your friends. I'm sure you'll have a better result with your ninja comrades."

Sakura smiled at the taller man, before Naruto grabbed her wrist. Shuuhei's gaze automatically landed at the point of contact. With an added enthusiasm, Naruto said, "Let's go, Sakura-chan!"

They were gone within a minute. Now alone, Shuuhei scanned the forest behind him for one last time, before he abandoned the place.

X

Soul Society

In order to have solid evidences, they would need a report gathered from another inspection that should be performed by someone from the other dimension. Right after Yoruichi gained approval from the Captain-Commander to bring over a reliable and trustworthy person, the woman went over to the Shinobi World, dragged Hatake Kakashi to this place and showed him the land where the original portal came from.

With the Sharingan activated, Kakashi studied the surroundings. He pulled his hitai-ate back down once he was done. "Yoruichi, this place is heavily clouded with an unusual illusion."

"That's what Sakura said. Did you see the portal?" Yoruichi asked him as she stared ahead of her to where to portal had appeared one month ago, just in between the river and the huge, rocky cliff. She added, "We saw how the portal was shattered to millions of pieces after the incident."

"It's still there. In front of us."

Yoruichi instantly faced him. "What?"

"It must have been part of the illusion as well when it broke apart. I can confirm that if I break the illusion now, we'll see the same portal there," Kakashi told her, pointing to the area where Yoruichi had been staring at. "This illusion is something else. No one is around to maintain it for a hundred years. It intrigues me as to what kind of technique that was used for this."

"Huh. This place really lives up to its name eh."

"What's this place called?"

"Haunted Red Land," came her answer. Kakashi looked around as if seeking for something that could relate to the name. When he couldn't find one, he asked, "Why such name?"

"This place was without inhabitants for centuries. It's marked red on the map because this is the only place in the whole of Soul Society that looks unusual by nature. No one has ever stepped foot onto this land on free will, just because something about it is just eerie. Simply put, no one ever bothered coming here for any reasons. They'd rather leave it empty."

Kakashi nodded, finally understanding the background of the place. And then one thought came to his mind. "I'm still curious as to how the hollow managed to get into the portal."

"The Twelfth Division Squad is still doing their research on that," Yoruichi stated, locking gazes with Kakashi. "Now, let's get you back home. Thank you for your assistance, Kakashi."

X

Konohagakure, Shinobi World

"Ne, Sakura-chan… Did Sai come by to see you?"

Naruto looked at Sakura expectantly. They were walking down a street with high wooden fences on the sides, and one side was slowly showing an open space. Sakura could see a glimpse of swings there, so she assumed that was the park that Naruto wanted to take her to.

"Who's Sai?"

Naruto stared at her. "He was the guy with short, black hair. Pale skin. He talked to you for a bit at the hospital. So he hasn't showed up for a session with you?"

"No, I don't think so. So far I've met you, Ino, Ichigo-kun, Rukia-san, Shuuhei-kun, Hitsugaya, Abarai-kun and Orihime-chan. That's all," Sakura told him.

"Hmm… I wonder where Sai has gone to. I haven't seen him ever since the day at the hospital," Naruto wondered. They finally arrived at Konoha Eleven's usual hangout, which turned out to be in a different place than the park Sakura had seen earlier. It was just behind the corner of another side of the high wooden fence, past the park.

Sakura was then greeted with more new faces.

"Sakura!" Kiba started, which followed by Akamaru barking in acknowledgement.

"We've heard about what happened. Do you really have no idea who we are?" Shino asked as he stepped forward. Hinata followed suit. "W-We just came back from a mission and couldn't be there to see you when you woke up… Sakura-san."

Sakura lifted her hand to the back of her head and rubbed it sheepishly. "Yeah, I think this is my first meeting with you guys."

Kiba, Shino and Hinata stared at her in disbelief.

"Sakura," called Ino and Sakura immediately turned to face her. There were two men behind her. "These are my teammates. Hey Shikamaru, Chouji! Introduce yourselves."

And so everyone introduced, or in their case, re-introduced themselves to her. Sakura eventually learned that these people had been her classmates back at the Ninja Academy. They told her about how all of them had gotten closer because of the Chuunins exam they all had participated in not long after their graduation.

Sakura listened silently to their stories, the laughs, the occasional cussing, and even desperate moments during the exam. The more she knew about them, the more her life was making sense. And for that, she was grateful.

X

The number of people taking notice of him as he walked down the streets had considerably decreased, given that Shuuhei was not in a gigai anymore. Much to his comfort, it was faster to move around and sense other people's spiritual power now. As he neared Sakura's home, he could sense a familiar reiatsu hovering on the roof top. Shuuhei quickened his pace, jumped from one balcony to another, and finally landed on top of Sakura's home.

Shuuhei stared at the number 'ten' on Toushiro's white haori for a moment, before he began. "Hitsugaya-taichou."

Without turning around, Toushiro acknowledged him. "What is it, Hisagi?"

Shuuhei looked up to see what Toushiro was looking at. But it was just a heavily-clouded sky. Shuuhei returned his gaze to the young Captain's back.

"Someone was watching Sakura."

Toushiro turned slightly, finally looking at Shuuhei at the corner of his eye. "Then we better hurry. We're heading back to Soul Society now."

"Yes, sir."

Shuuhei proceeded to turn around, Toushiro did the same and waited as Shuuhei reached for his Zanpakutou, held it in front of him into the space in front of them, and turned it like a key. As they waited for the traditional doors to form, Shuuhei wondered about what was going on in the genius mind of the man beside him. Shuuhei wanted to know why Toushiro wasn't spending his time with Sakura, but then again he wasn't supposed to know about their relationship.

"Hisagi."

The doors were open now but neither walked ahead to enter. The hell butterflies were already hovering above their heads.

"What you already know… I'd like you to keep it to yourself."

It was like Toushiro was reading his mind, Shuuhei thought, quite puzzled at the young Captain. And then Toushiro walked first, Shuuhei counted until Toushiro made five steps before he followed suit.

X

Seireitei, Soul Society

Captain-Commander Yamamoto hit his wooden staff once onto the floor, its loud thud grabbing the attention of all Captains in the meeting room at once. "We'll now begin our meeting to follow up the latest events. Captain of the Eight Division Squad, Kyouraku Shunsui, you may now give your report."

Shunsui tipped off his straw hat slightly, making his eyes visible to everyone before he started, "I met with the Hokage two days ago. She's highly concerned about an underground organization in the village, because it happens so that its leader is greatly ambitious enough to annihilate anything in order to restore peace within the village."

Unohana raised an eyebrow. "I don't quite follow… Shouldn't that be a good thing?"

Shunsui returned her gaze before he added more, "Everyone is already aware that if the powers inside Haruno Sakura remain dormant, so does the portal's signal and therefore, no interference from hollows. We already have our proof by looking at the graph that shows declining numbers of hollow intrusions in the Shinobi World for the past three weeks. Things have returned just the way they were four months ago. I believe it's not an exaggeration when the Hokage said they think that someone out there wants to keep this statistics permanently."

"Hm," Yamamoto Genryuusai grunted in response. And then Ukitake threw a question, "But that's still an assumption, correct?"

Shunsui sighed. "Yeah, it still is."

"I'd like to add on to the possibility of someone wanting to harm her," said Toushiro, receiving everyone's attention immediately. He continued, "According to Hisagi, this morning when he was out with her in the village, and in Haruno's case, her first time going out ever since having amnesia, Hisagi was under the impression that someone had been following them."

Somehow Toushiro didn't like the sound of Shuuhei's and Sakura's name coming together in a sentence, but he kept it professional in front of the Captains.

"Very well," Yamamoto said suddenly. "We shall adjourn our discussion regarding this issue as so far everything is still an assumption. But it's a good idea to have one of you keeping an eye on her, just in case someone really was following her in the shadows. Now, Captain of the twelfth Division Squad, Kurotsuchi Mayuri… I was notified of your recent findings. Could you explain it to all of us?"

Mayuri displayed his signature grin. "As much as I hate working with an outsider, a ninja from the Shinobi World reported through Shihouin Yoruichi that the portal still sits in Red Land-"

"Haunted Red Land?" Soi Fon interrupted with a question. Other than that, she was scowling at the mention of Yoruichi with a different companion.

"Yeah, whatever. So my computers couldn't detect the portal just like how it wasn't able to before that pink-haired Substitute Shinigami realized her Shinigami powers recently. It happens so that the place is engulfed in an unusual illusion that even my advanced technologies couldn't uncover. Well, I don't care much about it. Here's what I recently found out…"

The Shinigami Scientist let out a small chuckle after that, creating suspense in his untold research. Everyone in the meeting waited silently.

"It appears that the portal is also connected to Hueco Mondo."

-End of Chapter 25-

Next Chapter: Agreement Between Two Worlds

Note:
Amanatto - a Japanese sweet made of beans covered in sugar and syrup. (Hitsugaya's favourite food)

A/N: Thank you to those who reviewed the previous chapter! To all readers, stay tuned for more dramas. ;) Please do leave your thoughts/comments/reviews on this chapter. I'll be back next week with chapter 26. Have a nice day.