Shippoman: First off, I want to give a shout out to our newest reviewer Suzume Amai as well as thank all of you who have been reviewing since chapter one and especially those that have stuck around from my last story, like rebecca taylor. You all make it worth posting. You guys are awesome! Now on to the story!

Chapter 5:

The remainder of the trip to squad 9 was made in silence, with Yukiko becoming deep in thought and Shuhei trying not to drag up any other strong memories for her. He was rather disconcerted by the face she'd shown when talking about the man who'd saved his life as a kid. It wasn't the face of someone who'd just been friends with him. No, he was certain there was more to their past relationship than just camaraderie.

As they stepped into the squad 9 area, he paused in his path and turned to face his companion once more. Before he could say a word though, he was distracted by the look of curiosity and concealed amusement on her face. "Is something wrong?" he asked watching her eyes move from one end of the street to the other.

"Hmm...it's all pretty different," she answered though she didn't sound too surprised. "I'm pretty sure some of these buildings have been re-purposed since I was last here."

"You make it sound like you were here all the time," he muttered derisively. "But being from squad 5 you wouldn't have seen this area nearly that often."

Yukiko chuckled mirthlessly at this and shook her head. "Did you forget what I said before already? I told you that Kensei was my first Captain didn't I?" She chuckled again and shook her head. "I may have introduced myself as being from squad 5...but before I joined that squad I was a part of squad 9...as the 10th seat," she told him easily. "Even after my transfer I was here at least once a month for sparring with my old squad members."

She took a deep breath after that and seemed to enjoy the afternoon air before her eyes snapped open and looked at him in surprise. "What now?" he demanded.

"Tell me, are there plum trees near here?" she asked hurriedly.

"Uh...you mean the orchard?" he asked in confusion.

Without responding, she dashed off farther into the squad area, leaving him to race after her. It was difficult keeping her in view with how fast she was moving, but he was able to just barely follow along. Moments later, his surprise and confusion only grew when he saw her stopping near the orchard he'd mentioned before and began slowly running her hand over the trunk of the nearest tree.

"I don't believe it," she murmured softly, not even registering that he was there as well. "How...how did an entire orchard manage to grow here?" Shuhei heard a delicate snort come from her as she shook her head. "And to think, you only used to be a single plum sapling; just barely getting its start."

She closed her eyes and lay her head against the rough bark, drinking in the scents and sounds from the orchard. Shuhei continued to watch silently, unsure about what exactly he should do about her. There were things that needed to be done, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to end her momentary peace.

As they continued to stand in a seemingly frozen moment in time, a group of voices coming from within the orchard reached their ears, bringing it to a close.

"I swear I felt her!"

"I know that's what you thought you felt, but she's been gone for a long time now."

"We all want to believe she's back, but there's no way."

"You were just dreaming."

"Tch, looks like those four were slacking off again," Shuhei muttered under his breath. Things were hard enough keeping track of his own work, but trying to make sure his men completed their work as well was a hassle. Especially these four.

He was just stepping forward, ready to call out to the four to get back to their post when he noticed something. Yukiko had her eyes glued on the rest of the trees, looking for the sources of the voices with tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. What had triggered her now?

Then all at once the four in question came around a tree, bringing them into view. There were four young men, with various colors of hair and stature. All of them were older looking and had a mature air about them, but that did nothing to mask the more childish sounds of their voices. Shuhei knew them well. The blue haired one was currently his 6th seat. The one with blonde hair was his 9th seat. The brown and black haired men were both 12th seats and had been for awhile. It was as if they didn't care if they advanced or not.

Again he was about to yell at them for goofing off, but the female beside him was too fast. In an instant, she was across the gap that separated them and had her arms wrapped around the neck of the brown haired man. Shuhei reached for his sword on the off chance that she'd snapped and was attacking his men, but stopped when he heard the muffled hiccup. She was crying. Little did any of them know, she was trying her hardest to ignore the images of the four before her taking turns tearing her to pieces. She didn't want it to be real. She clung desperately to the idea the images were wrong. They had to be...

"What?" the four all exclaimed at the same time.

The one who was hugged was the most stunned until an all too familiar scent reached his nostrils. Then, he felt her reiatsu and his hands came up to pull her off just far enough so he could see her. He felt his hands shaking with disbelief until she looked up at him with tear filled eyes.

"U-Ume," he gasped having no clue what else to say.

The instant he said her name, the images all but vanished from her mind. She felt relief and joy fill her fear ravaged body making her cry all the more. "Kouga..." Yukiko hiccuped. Tears were sliding unendingly down each cheek but she didn't care.

Kouga was too stunned to say anything, but he wasn't the only one. The other three were staring at her with their mouths hanging open in disbelief.

"Sakagi," Yukiko whispered giving the blonde a hug as well. Then she turned to the other two and caught each one in one of her arms hugging them both at the same time. "Harris, Darui. You're all still here. I'm so happy."

After she released them Darui managed to find his voice as he pumped his fist in triumph. "See! I told you I felt her!" he exclaimed pointing her out to his friends. He brushed the short black spikes out of his face and grinned from ear to ear. "I knew there was no way she was dead."

"Yeah, I knew she'd come back one day," Kouga added with a cough. He was trying to force himself to regain some modicum of composure back. "I always said she was too good be taken out by anyone."

"We really missed you, Ume," Harris laughed pulling a strand of blue hair behind his ear. "I think we can all say we're thrilled to see you in one piece again."

Yukiko laughed at them and hugged them all once again while trying to keep from breaking out into more tears. She was just so overcome that she seemed incapable of forming any words.

After a few moments of different greetings and exclamations of disbelief the group finally started to calm down."You grew your hair out," Sakagi muttered. It was the first thing he'd said since she got their attention.

"I guess," she murmured scratching her head. "Honestly I just never got around to cutting it. Rose would blow a gasket if he could see it now." The five of them chuckled at her statement, just enjoying each other's company.

"What are the four of you doing?"

The group turned to see the Shuhei standing back a ways glaring at them. He had his arms crossed over his chest and it was clear he was irritated with the situation. Yukiko glanced at her four friends and found it amusing they were looking anywhere but at him. Not one of them opted to answer his question knowing they didn't actually have a good one for him.

"Don't you all have work to do?" Shuhei demanded harshly.

They nodded in response and began turning away from him to return to their work. Before they could move too far, however, Yukiko stepped forward and smiled softly at the lieutenant. "Actually, Shuhei, I have a request," she murmured. "I know being the acting captain has placed a large amount of work and responsibility on your shoulders and simply leading me around will in the long run be a waste of your time. Therefore, I request that these four take your place in that matter. They'll show me around, we'll have a chance to catch up, and you can return to your work that much faster."

Shuhei couldn't deny that he believed he needed to get back to work, but he also hated the idea of the four putting off their work even longer. In the end he decided to go along with her. "That's fine...but you only have two hours," he replied after a few moments. "After that the four of you have to finish your work."

"You can count on us Lieutenant Hisagi!" Kouga exclaimed quickly.

"Thank you for allowing us even this much time," Harris murmured giving a respectful bow of his head.

"Don't worry, Shuhei, I'll make sure these guys finish their work," Yukiko promised.

After that the five old friends took off into the orchard and disappeared from view. Shuhei groaned internally as he watched them leave before turning to get back to his own paperwork. He understood their desire to catch up after 107 years of separation, but he was starting to wonder if he would regret letting that girl have her way. In the end, he supposed he'd have to wait for that mystery to be answered.

"And that's when Sakagi here passed out."

It was mid-afternoon and the group of five found themselves sitting in the middle of the plum orchard telling yet another story from the last 107 years. Yukiko was sitting on the ground with her back pressed against the nearest tree, Darui was sitting cross-legged on the grassy area, Harris was seated on a rock they'd moved there, Sakagi was lying on his back trying to relax, and Kouga was standing in the center as he gestured about to emphasize his story. As he mentioned the downed soul reaper, he nudged him with his foot.

"The hollow had knock out gas for breath," Sakagi growled pushing the other's foot away. "You would have too if you'd been caught in it."

"Yeah, but this time I wasn't," Kouga pointed out excitedly. "Anyway, while he was passed out on the ground, I swooped in and blasted it away with a # 72 Hado."

"72? Kouga, you can still barely do a # 60 on your best day," Darui laughed. "Besides, the two of you only survived because Lieutenant Hisagi jumped in at the last second."

Yukiko giggled lightly at the group as Kouga nearly tackled the smaller man in an attempt to get him to stop. Meanwhile, Harris moved to sit beside her and smiled lightly. "I'm glad to see you in such good spirits," he murmured. "I was a little worried last night. You didn't seem to be doing well."

"Harris, I'm about as good as I can be," she pointed out. "Being around the four of you makes it considerably easier to handle, but that doesn't mean the pain isn't still there."

"I understand," he murmured. "Would it be too much to ask what you went through? I know you had to explain it to the captains already, but I was hoping there would be a way for us to help you more."

Yukiko looked him over for a moment unsure of how to answer him. In the process, she noticed that Kouga and Darui had stopped their little scuffle and Sakagi was fully sitting up; all of them paying close attention.

"A-alright," she murmured. "I'll tell you what I can, but it doesn't leave this group, understand?"

They all nodded and waited with baited breath. Since their tour the day before they'd noticed some subtle changes about her and were wondering why they existed in the first place. They weren't stupid, however, they knew very well that she'd been forced to remain a prisoner of Aizen, Ichimaru, and their former captain Tousen. They knew the chances of her being traumatized for life were very high.

"Well...first off, I'm only really able to move or speak with anyone because of Soyokaze," she explained sadly. "Those three did a real number on me...it's almost impossible to keep a hold of myself around those I knew back then. Even just feeling their reiatsu can set me off."

"So how are you able to talk to us so normally?" Darui asked worriedly.

"Like I said, it's mostly thanks to Soyokaze...but it's also because of you," she murmured smiling sadly. "See, during all of Aizen's illusions I never once heard my nickname spoken. Not by the fake you or the fake Mashiro. So, hearing you say it so easily reminds me that all the terrible memories I have of you aren't real. They were all Aizen's fabrications. Thanks to your use of my nickname it's easy to separate the actual you from the illusion." She shook her head at this point and set a hand on her forehead. "With everyone else...it's not that simple."

"I see, Aizen did a good job making his illusion versions of everyone almost exact copies," Harris murmured in thought. "It's impossible for you to toss the illusions to the side. You just can't tell the difference."

Yukiko nodded and sighed heavily. "If it was only that it wouldn't be so bad," she muttered. "Unfortunately, Soyokaze basically pushed all those memories behind a door within my mind. Right now it doesn't take much for the pressure behind that door to build allowing the memories to leak out. Memories of every person I used to know...killing me at least once." She shuddered at the thought and shook her head to clear it of the images her statement instigated. "If too much comes out without me being able to calm down the door bursts open and I'm bombarded by every memory from those years."

The four stared at her without saying a word. None of them had any idea of what to say after all. They had never experienced anything like the pain she'd obviously been through and didn't know how to help her. Eventually, Sakagi sighed and moved closer to her. "You're taking on too much at once," he growled out. "So fix it."

"What kind of a response is that?" Kouga demanded. "If she could fix it, she would have done so by now."

"I'm saying split it," Sakagi reiterated. "You said you had memories of every person you knew, right? Well then instead of risking having an avalanche of memories, separate them for each individual. It's always better to tackle something a piece at a time rather than all at once."

Yukiko blinked a few times before his words fully sank in. "Can we really do that?" she asked her blade.

"It is possible to organize the memories in that manner and have a separate door for each," Soyokaze responded. "But it would take a couple days at least to finish and there's no guarantee it would even work."

"But there's no guarantee it won't either," Yukiko pointed out. Her sword did nothing to tell her she was wrong so she nodded and moved into her meditation pose. "Sakagi...I think you're onto something," she told them. "I'm going to give it a shot but it'll take a couple days to complete. So if you guys could ask that I not be disturbed until then that'd be great."

The guys looked at each other as she slowly closed her eyes without waiting for an answer. "Is she really going to meditate for two days?" Darui asked nervously. "She could end up really hurting herself that way."

"Yeah, but you know how she is," Kouga chuckled rubbing the back of his head. "No matter what we say she'll still do it. She's always been stubborn like that."

"Yes...it is very worrisome," Harris agreed. "However, as long as it doesn't stretch more than that she should still be fine. She isn't exerting any energy during this after all."

"How are we going to keep people from bugging her?" Sakagi demanded harshly. "She never thinks these things through. If someone like the Head Captain demands to see her we'll have to whether she's finished or not."

"Finished with what?"

The four jumped to their feet at the sound of the voice. When they spotted the owner they all saluted him and nervously waited to hear him berate them again. When nothing else was said Harris slowly lowered his hand.

"It's a surprise to see you, Lieutenant Hisagi. Is there something you needed?" he asked slowly.

"Woah, Madam Shihoin...it's been a while," Kouga added when he spotted the purple haired woman. "We heard you were back but until we saw Ume it was a little unbelievable."

"Did you need something with Ume?" Darui finished.

Shuhei glared at the four of them before responding. "What is she working on?"

"Oh...well uh..." Kouga tried to answer but found he hadn't really understood enough of the conversation to repeat it to someone else.

"She's trying to separate her memories to make them easier to handle," Sakagi summed up in a deadpan.

"Right, and she asked that she not be disturbed until she is finished," Harris added.

"Tch, she's got a lot of nerve demanding to..." Shuhei started, but he was cut off by Youruichi who stepped closer to the group of four.

"So then she's meditating right now?" she asked curiously. She stepped passed the four to see that Yukiko was in deed in a meditative position. "How long will it take?"

"She said a couple days at least," Darui answered with a sigh of relief. He seemed to realize they could relax now.

"I see, well that's a shame," Youruichi muttered shaking her head. "I needed to talk to her about something. Oh well, I can just have you lot relay a message to her."

"What message?" Kouga asked eager to help.

"Just let her know the Ryoka are leaving tomorrow and I'll be going with them," Youruichi answered after a moment. "And let her know that if she ever needs it, the 11 of us are more than eager to see her in the human world."

"Eleven...?" Kouga started to ask but he stopped when Sakagi jabbed him in the ribs.

"We'll make sure she gets it," Harris promised.

"In that case I'll head out," Youruichi laughed turning away from the group. "Just leave her for now, Shuhei, she's not hurting anything. And if I'm right, this should give her a bit of a boost to her recovery. Oh, and you boys let her know that Unohana, Ukitake and Shunsui all want a chance to speak with her as well."

"Sure thing, Madam Shihoin," Darui agreed.

Shuhei sighed heavily as he realized the ex-captain was leaving and he needed to catch up to her. It looked as if he'd have to put off talking to her himself about the ex-captain he looked up to. He just hoped that the two days it would take to finish the separation would be worth the incredible hunger she'd be experiencing when it was over. Somehow he was sure he didn't want to see how she was once she was up and moving again.

Shippoman: I'm sure you all guess who Youruichi was referring to but if not you'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, Yukiko finally has a hint on something that might help. Question is will it be worth it? With her fears weighing in from all directions, and with squad nine being her only sanctuary how long will Yukiko be able to hold on to what's left of her shattered mind? Stay tuned to find out and please remember to keep reviewing. Seeing your opinions really make my day and make my writing even better.