Main POV

This was it, I was going home. I charged at it. Surely I would hit it any moment. I kept running and I was no where near the barrier. Panic flooded within me, I was getting closer and closer to the edge of the alley way and nothing. I hit the end, coming out onto the street that was behind it. 'What?!' I thought looking at the street around me. It was almost exactly the street I'd walked into the alley from when I first accidentally stumbled upon Karakura town, except it still had this weird cartoon-y filter.

I looked around a moment longer and then back at the alley, Ichigo was standing there, watching me fail. There was almost a look of pity on his face. I sighed and turned around. Maybe the barrier was only accessible if you came at it from this side. I walked through with purpose, arms out in front of me, searching for it. I was getting more and more desperate the longer I went without finding it. I stood in the same spot I was standing in when I couldn't get through the barrier the first time. I waved my arms over the spot and nothing.

"Please," I cried in desperation. "Please be there."

"Hey," Ichigo said, coming towards me a little.

"No!" I cried out to him. "I have to get back," I told him as I slid to my knees.

I started to wonder if I'd ever get home, there was no way I could get back through this alley way, none. But if I couldn't go home this way, how could I? I wondered, if I couldn't get back then what would my family think? That I'd just left them? Would they think I'd run away? Would they think I'd been murdered or kidnapped or something even more horrible?

And then it hit me. Maybe I was dead. Or dying. Sudden transport to an anime universe was often the focal point of OC fan-fiction but completely unheard of in the real world. Unless you liked the TV shows Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, but again, that was fiction as well. And they only went back in time, not into a cartoon. That was it, I was dead. Somehow, something had killed me as I headed home and I was dead. Was this heaven? Purgatory? Was this some strange test where it would be decided if I go to heaven or hell? Was this some kind of coma dream?

"Uo," Ichigo said from above me. I looked up and he was right there, looking down on with with concern as tears welled up in my eyes.

"Ichigo you don't understand. I have 4 younger siblings, if I'm not there to protect them, I don't even know what could happen," I sobbed. "I have to get back to my family."

"Alright," he nodded and crouched beside me. "But sitting here crying won't get you back. Why don't you come on back to my place and we'll try and figure out how to send you back."

"So you believe me?" I looked up at him. He sighed.

"I'm not sure," he replied. "But clearly you're upset, so I'm not about to leave you alone in a the street and make you deal with this by yourself."

"That's fair," I nodded and let him help me up off the ground. I wiped my eyes and let him lead me back towards his house. I supposed I didn't really have anywhere else to go should I not go with him. "Are the others going to be mad you came after me instead of talking to them about whatever the problem is this time?"

"Probably, but just a bit," he shrugged. "They're always mad about something."

In just a few minutes we were back at the house and I was being lead inside. This time, I wasn't almost unconscious, so I took the time to appreciate how cool my surroundings were.

"You have no idea how cool this is for me," I said quietly.

"I'll try to take that as a compliment, you little otaku," Ichigo laughed softly, ruffling my hair.

"Who's a little otaku?" Ikkaku called from Ichigo's sofa. "Ah Uotani, you're back."

"She's going to sit in on whatever it is you guys have to say," Ichigo told them. I turned quietly to him and gave him a look. "What?" He asked more quietly. "If this really is an anime then you already know everything."

"Smartass," I mumbled and moved forward to kick off my shoes and walk round the sofa.

"Kurosaki, are you so sure that's a good idea?" Toshiro asked, clearly annoyed.

"Yeah, what's the harm, she already knows everything anyway?" Ichigo replied flippantly.

"You fill your girlfriend in on everything?" Rukia teased.

"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Ichigo screamed and I laughed before sitting down between Renji and Rangiku.

"I thought you said you just met her, how'd you have time to fill her in?" Ikkaku asked.

"I thought whatever it was you had to talk about was urgent?" I bumped in.

"Well if you two idiots are done causing interruptions, let's get started," Toshiro replied irritatedly.

"The department of research and development picked up an odd energy signal in the world of the living about a week ago and sent out a team of shinigami to investigate," Rukia explained and I held my hand over my mouth to stop myself from chuckling at her childlike drawings. "We discovered a rift in between worlds and since then a barrier had been placed surrounding it. Earlier today, the rift sealed. But before it did, the barrier was broken and something got out. We're not sure what it was, but now, we're the ones tasked with hunting it down."

"Why wasn't anyone guarding it!?" Ichigo yelled. "How could you just let a monster wander into our world and run loose?!"

"The rift sealed?" I asked.

"Yes," Hitsugaya confirmed.

"Do you know why?" I asked. "Or even why it opened in the first place?"

"We don't know the details as of yet, we're hoping once we find whatever came through we'll have some answers," he explained.

"Is there any way to open it back up, you know, when you find whatever it was that passed through?" I said next.

"That's something we won't know until we find the creature that came through," Hitsugaya explained while Rukia and Ichigo continued to argue in the background.

"When you find it, what exactly do you intend to do with it? Do-do we kill it or.." I started.

"Again," he sighed. "That'll have to depend on what we find."

"So, what if it's not like a hollow, what if what we find is more like an arrancar or something humanoid?" I asked.

"Depends on their intentions I guess, if it was an arrancar we'd be forced to kill it, as per the new law imposed by central 46," Hitsugaya explained.

"I knew it," I spun around to see Yuzu standing behind the couch and pointing at me.

"What?" I asked, drawing the attention of Rukia and Ichigo again, as well as everyone else in the room.

"You're pretty," She explained.

". . . " I stared at her for a moment. "Uhhhh... thank you?"

"It was sure hard to tell under all that blood, but now you're all cleaned up and awake I'm sure of it. You're pretty!" She beamed.

"Oh, uh, thanks Yuzu," I replied awkwardly. "That's nice of you to say, you're, you're pretty too."

"Thank you! It's nice of you to say," she said and then went back to the clinic where she had been heading before the interruption.

"Uh.." I started. "When was I all covered in blood?"

"You mean you don't remember?" Ikkaku yelled. "How could you forget something as important as that!"

"It was earlier this evening," Ichigo explained, arms folded across his chest. "When I found you you were covered in blood. I figured you hit your head hard."

"No wonder you didn't believe me when I said I was fine, that must be a pretty hard thing to sell when you're all bloody like that," I replied reaching up to touch my forehead where I felt the most pain. I winced a little and felt that my skin now hosted several butterfly stitches.

"I'm surprised you didn't notice those earlier," ichigo said.

"Something else I didn't notice, where are my clothes?" I asked looking down at myself. I was wearing a black, three quarter length sleeved shirt, leggings and a plaid skirt. I looked very much like I'd stolen a post timeskip Karin outfit.

"You were literally covered in blood," Ichigo deadpanned. "Karin lent you some of her clothes."

"I knew I recognised them," I replied. "I'm surprised they fit to be honest..."

"I'll say," Rangiku chinned it. "It's not like you're not pretty well endowed in the boob department. And everywhere else for that matter. I'd better keep my eye on you if I want to keep any of the men for myself." I snorted.

"Trust me, they are all yours," I replied. "I have bigger fish to fry."

"Yeah, like where the hell you came from and when you're going back," Ichigo said.

"What? Sick of me already?" I grinned.

"So," Rangiku asked. "Why were you all covered in blood earlier?"

"She was like that when I found her," Ichigo explained for me. "I was walking home when I passed the alley near my house. I got there just in time to see her hit the deck and when I got over to her she was bleeding. I figured it was from the fall."

"And then what?" Hitsugaya asked, intrigued.

"And then she kept saying all this stuff about barriers and that she couldn't remember where she was or how she got here," Ichigo explained and I shot him a look. It was very possible it was me the shinigami were looking for and I had no intention of being murdered or heading to Squad 12 for testing.

"I see," Hitsugaya rubbed his chin.

"Ichigo, you got a moment?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure," he replied and we walked into a nearby corridor. As soon as we were out of sight I smacked him right upside the head, which was harder than I thought thanks to the height difference. I began to wonder how Rukia had done it so effectively up until now. "OW! What the hell was that for!?"

"Stop telling them things!" I whisper yelled. "After all the stuff they said about a rip in between words and something coming in and a barrier... sound familiar?" I asked.

"You can't seriously think it's you they're talking about..?" He glared at me.

"Makes sense," I shrugged. "I did tell you I was from a place where you were the main character of an anime based around your life as a shinigami. Other than me being a complete psychopath, how else could you explain it?"

"Con," he started. "And I really need you to listen to me on this one." he said. "Cussion."

"Don't get smart with me on this now! You're little OP buddies form the undead club are now searching to hunt me down, I am not in the mood for you being an asshole," I growled.

"They're not going to hurt you," Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah? Your friend Rukia offers you some of her power to save your family and the rest of them try to murder her! And that's after they stabbed you!" I threw my arms up in the air. "Shinigami have a little tendency to overreact and I don't plan on being around when they figure out it's me they're trying to kill."

"Oh please," he rolled his eyes. "You're the one who's over reacting. Come on, let's go back and see what they think," he grabbed my arm and dragged me back to the living room, my feet skating across the floor.

"I've been thinking, Uotani," Toshiro said and I paled. "About that barrier earlier, I think whatever it was that came out of that barrier.."