A/N: I don't own Bleach. Now to the story and beyond!
Real Time - Lucky.
Hamako Sato was lucky. Very lucky. The arrow embedded in her chest had hit 19 millimeters to the right of her heat's sinoatrial node. Still, there was another arrow in her gut. She toppled forward, her limbs splayed out under her.
"Pity." out of the corner of her eye, she saw Haschwalth walking towards the nearest patient. No. Without thinking, she wordlessly activated Blut Vene: Anhaben. Haschwalth bounced off it and stumbled back a few steps. His shocked expression was priceless. She had to laugh. She couldn't feel the two arrows sticking out of her, but that was probably the adrenaline. Suddenly, the way forward was clear.
Hamako's grandmother had modified her cross once, and that was to install a device that would allow the user to go between the Soul Society and the World of the Living. Hamako used up the rest of her energy to activate the device, disguised as a deep blue gem on the middle of her cross. A bright blue light issued from it, creating a whirlpool of glowing blue reishi. It was going slower than usual; she could see her patients being dissolved into reishi.
Through the blue light, she could see the shocked expression Haschwalth. The wide-eyed, slack-jawed face did not suit him. Hamako would have laughed if she hadn't been shot in the gut. Through the storm , she heard the red-headed girl, Inoue, say weakly, "So, this is what happens when a Quincy dies."
She thought Ishida must have sweatdropped. "N-No, that's not…" Ishida replied, frazzled.
Hamako felt her arms and legs being broken down, then her torso, and finally, head. Everything went black.
Hamako opened her eyes. She was in the big room under her grandmother's Ramen shop. Machines hummed softly in the background. She blinked and sat up slowly. She was in a row of beds full of patients. She felt her abdomen. No wound, no pain. A sudden thought hit her: There are still more people out there. She looked at her watch. It was five, nearly six in the morning. She must have been out for quite some time. A subtle coldness and weight told her that her cross was still hanging around her neck. She took a breath. I'm going back. She mentally checked what clothes she was wearing - still her outfit from before- and activated the blue gem on her cross. She saw her grandmother walk into view - holding a mug of what probably was green tea - as she vanished.
