Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach. Wish I did, but I don't.

Chapter Three

Orihime's Apartment

Karakura Town

Monday 1:40 am

Orihime tossed and turned in her sleep. The nightmare had returned with a vengeance.

Orihime once again found herself watching helplessly as Tatsuki was dragged into the crack by the black tendrils. But to her horror, didn't end there like it did last time.

A moment later, Tatsuki rose from the crack, her eyes closed and a katana in her hand. Her hair and her skin, excluding a small area around her left eye, were pure white. The sword she was holding was longer then most sealed zanpaku-tos. It was about the same length as the swords of captains Zaraki and Hitsugaya. The guard was a bronze jagged X The handle was black with crimson line spiraling up it.

A feral grin spread across Tatsuki's face, revealing a mouth full of black teeth, as she opened her eyes. Her left eye was normal, though it was unfocused and lifeless. Her right eye however, looked like a yellow ring in a sea of black.

Fear consumed Orihime as she started to back away from Tatsuki. She backed up two steps before Tatsuki charged at her. However, it was at a speed that Tatsuki shouldn't have been able to do. Tatsuki rammed her shoulder into her stomach, sending Orihime flying to the ground. When Orihime opened her eyes again, Tatsuki was standing over her, her sword was raised over her head.

"Don't do this Tatsuki. This isn't you." Orihime pleaded with her friend.

But her words fell on deaf ears as Tatsuki slashed Orihime repeatedly across the chest before bring the sword over her head again, preparing to deliver the killing blow. Orihime screamed in pain as tears of pain and sorrow rolled down her eyes.

"Why Tatsuki?" was all she could say.

The grin that hadn't left Tatsuki's face for an instant, faltered for a split second, before growing even wider. Then the sword came down.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Orihime shot up out of bed. She was breathing heavily and tears were rolling down her cheeks.

Her bedroom door slammed open. In the doorway was Hitsugaya and Rangiku, zanpaku-tos drawn, searching the room for any dangers.

Realizing that they heard her scream, she attempted to put on her fake reassuring smile. "Sorry for waking you guys up. It was just a nightmare."

Both soul reapers sheathed their zanpaku-tos and raised an eyebrow at her, before looking at each other. Hitaugaya nodded at his lieutenant before walking out of the room. While Rangiku sat down on the bed next to her. Gently rubbing Orihime's back, she asked, "Are you sure? Do you wanna talk about it?"

The smile on Orihime's face dropped and a fresh set of tears rolled down her cheeks. "It was horrible."

Orihime explained in detail her first nightmare and the first part of the second, leaving out the part where Tatsuki attacked her. She honestly didn't know what to make of that. Thought of Tatsuki purposely hurting her, was inconceivable.

When she finished, the tears had gone from a few to a steady stream pouring down her cheeks. Rangiku hugged her, trying to comfort her.

"What if wasn't just a bad dream. What if Tatsuki really is in danger!" Orihime sobbed.

"It was just a nightmare. Your friend, Tatsuki is fine. She's overseas attending a funeral. You yourself said she would be returning pretty soon. And when she does, you're gonna feel pretty silly for worrying so much about nothing." Rangiku said to her, in calming voice.

Orihime hiccuped and rubbed the tears from her eyes. A small smile crossed her lips. "You're right. If Tatsuki was here, she'd be telling me the same thing. She'd say I was worrying too much."

"It's alright Orihime. Can I get you some water or something?"

"No, I'll be alright."

Rangiku rose from the bed and before walking out of the room, said, "Okay. Try to get some sleep Orihime."

When she left, Orihime laid back down and tried to get some sleep. But the images of Tatsuki attacking her, wouldn't leave her mind.

She couldn't help but wonder why? Why was she having such horrible nightmares? Why did they involve Tatsuki? And why did Tatsuki attack her?

Monday 8:27 am

Orihime yawned as she started her walk to school. She had only gotten a couple hours of sleep because of the nightmare.

Hitsugaya and Rangiku were busy with their soul reaper duties this morning, so she was walking alone. Until she heard a familiar voice. "Hey! Orihime!"

'That's!'

She turned around and saw Tatsuki running up street towards her.

At that moment, all of the exhaustion she was feeling, disappeared. She yelled, "TATSUKI!" and ran towards her best friend.

As soon as she was in reach, Orihime grabbed Tatsuki in a big bear hug. "I missed you so much Tatsuki!"

"I missed you too Orihime. But could you let go. It's kinda hard to breath."

With a sheepish grin on her face, she let go. "Oops. Sorry Tatsuki. I guess I don't know my own strength."

Tatsuki snickered and said, "Thats alright. Listen, I'm sorry for not calling you before I left. But there was only one flight leaving that night and there wasn't any time to call."

"I understand. And I'm sorry for your aunt and uncles' death."

"Thanks." There was a sad look on her face for moment before it turned to a smile. C'mon, we gotta get to school. And you have to catch me up on everything I missed while I was away."

The two girls started walking towards school, talking and laughing. All thoughts of the nightmare from last night were gone from Orihime.

Karakura High School

Monday 8:50 am

Ichigo Kurosaki yawned as he walked though the hallway towards his classroom. A month of training with the vizards had been difficult to say the least. But in the end, his inner hollow was now under control. Though he could only use his masked state for eleven seconds. He'd have to work on that. But now he was ready for a bit of a breather from training and Aizen and his arrancar. Which in this case, was school. He hadn't been to school since the beginning of his training. Looking back at it, he probably should have had Kon use his body and go to school for him.

'And have him hit on every girl in class? I don't think so.'

He was about to open the classroom door, when he heard a very familiar voice. "ICHI-!"

Without even thinking, his body reacted as it always did. He clotheslined Keigo.

He looked down at the teenager sprawled on the floor. "Hey Keigo. When'd you get back?"

Before Keigo could answer, another voice from behind, called out, "Hey Ichigo. Hey Keigo."

Ichigo glanced back. It was Mizuiro. "Hey Mizuiro. You're back too."

Mizuiro looked at him questioningly, "Too? What do you mean?"

"You, Keigo, and Tatsuki, all left on the same night, for the same reason, funerals."

Mizuiro shrugged. "Really? Now thats wired."

Ichigo nodded and replied, "Yeah. I wonder if Tatsuki's back too."

Keigo picked himself off the floor. His hands were rubbing his nose, which had blood dripping down it and was starting to swell up a bit. "Ow, ow, ow! That really hurt! Did you to have to hit me so hard Ichigo?"

Ichigo hesitated moment.

'Did I really hit him harder then I normally do?'

"I'm sorry Keigo. I didn't mean to hit you that hard."

"I'll be fine. Just don't hit so hard next time." Keigo replied before walking off to the nurse's office.

Ichigo sighed.

'Great job Ichigo. First day back from training and you almost break Keigo's nose.'

Mizuiro, seeing the expression on his face, said, "Don't worry Ichigo. Keigo has a hard head. He'll be fine."

Ichigo nodded as they walked into the classroom. As they entered, Ichigo saw Tatsuki talking to Orihime, Rukia, Ragiku, and the group of girls they normally hung out with. Chad and the other soul reapers either sitting quietly or talking amongst themselves. Oddly, Uryu's desk was the only empty one.

'Come to think of it, I haven't seen him in awhile. Wonder where he's at.'

Ichigo mentally shrugged before greeting the others and sitting down at his desk. Hopefully, he'd get a few days of peace and quiet.

An Abandoned Warehouse

Monday 6:06 pm

Tatsuki and Mizuiro stood atop an old, abandoned warehouse, waiting for Keigo to arrive. He was late, but then he was living in the same building as two soul reapers. So he had to take extra precautions to avoid being spotted doing something a human shouldn't be able to do. At the moment, secrecy was more important then time.

Hence the reason they meeting in this old warehouse, located at the far end of town from where they lived.

Tatsuki was pleased that the day had gone without a hitch. Frankly, she had been nervous that someone would suspect something. Just thinking about should have someone suspicious. Three people left on the same night, for the same reason and then returned the same day. The similarities were just too great to be a coincidence. Yet no one suspected that any was wrong. In fact, Ichigo even commented that the three left the same and for the same reason, yet didn't suspect a thing.

After an hour of class passed and it became obvious that Ichigo and the others didn't suspect a thing. When she realized that, she spent the rest of the day, fighting back laughter. It was just so hilarious. We're they all really that gullible? That stupid? Fortunately, her acting abilities were far better then she gave herself credit for.

There was a static buzz, signaling Keigo's arrival. The two of them turned to the newly arrived teenager. A grin spread across Keigo's face which still had a bandage on his nose. "Well that was an interesting day."

The three of them burst out laughing, dropping the masks they had been wearing since they arrived at the airport. The laughter went on for a few minutes before they stopped.

"Did you see Ichigo's face when he thought he busted my nose!"

Mizuiro chuckled. "When I said you had greet Ichigo like you do, I didn't think you'd bust your gigai's nose to psyche him out like that.

Keigo peeled off the bandage on nose, revealing a completely healed nose. "Though I wouldn't have been able to do without you, Mizuiro, for distracting him for a moment, so I could bust my gigai's nose."

A smirk formed on Tatsuki face. "So you found an actual use for these stupid gigais."

Tatsuki hated gigais. It felt like she was wearing a wet suit that was three sizes too small. She wondered how Rukia and the other soul reapers could stand using them. Even worst they couldn't leave their gigais unless their cover was blown or unless they ordered to by either Aizen, Gin, Tosen or the Espada they directly reported to, Ulquiorra. Same with the limit that sealed a third of their power.

Mizuiro pulled out his cellphone. "So, shall I make the report to Ulquiorra or do one of you want to?"

Tatsuki nodded. "Go for it."

Flipping open the cellphone, Mizuiro dialed the number to directly contact Ulquiorra. He raised the phone to his ear and spoke, "Ulquiorra-sama, it's us." "Yes, they don't suspect anything." "Yes, captain Hitsugaya and his team don't either." "We don't know about those two." "Yes. We understand." "Yes. I'll tell them."

Mizuiro turned off the phone and put it back in his pocket. "Luppi will be leading an attack on Wednesday night around 7:45. Aizen's orders are for us to observe and not to blow our cover."

"Aw c'mon! Is that all we're gonna do here? Sit around and watch while everyone else has fun?" grumbled Keigo.

Mizuiro sighed. "I know how you feel Keigo and I don't like it any better. But Aizen wants us to be his eyes and ears in the living world. For the time being anyway. So unless you wanna lose a limb like Grimmjow or end up on a table in Granz's lab then I suggest you follow Aizen's orders."

Keigo grumbled out a "Yeah, yeah."

Tatsuki didn't blame him. She was just as annoyed as he was. She was a girl of action. Actually, she couldn't really call herself a girl anymore as she was now no longer human. But that was beside the point. The point was that she is a being of action. The thought of sitting out of a fight, irritated her. She really wanted to fight Ichigo, to see which one of them was stronger. Back when they were human, she had always beat him when they sparred. But now he was a soul reaper and she was an arrancar. Unfortunately, orders were orders and she wasn't about do something stupid, like that cripple Grimmjow did.

Keigo glanced at his watch and sighed. "I gotta to go. I gotta pick up some groceries for my sister and if I don't get back in like twenty minutes, she'll yell at me. Course, she'll yell me if I'm on time." He sighed again. "I swear if this mission last longer then a week, I'll probably snap and end up killing her slowly and painfully which will probably blow my cover." A grin crossed Keigo's face as he added, "But will be really, really gratifying. See ya guys tomorrow." And with that he replaced the bandage on his nose and sonidoed off the roof.

Tatsuki rolled her eyes. Keigo just admitted he may end up blowing their cover, just because he couldn't tolerate being around his sister! It was pathetic and unworthy of an arrancar.

Mizuiro having seen her expression, chuckled. "I can't stand being around Keigo's sister for more then ten minutes. Frankly, I applaud him for simply living with her."

Tatsuki raised an eyebrow. "Is she really that bad?"

"Oh yeah."

"Wow. I thought you could tolerate just about anyone."

Mizuiro shrugged. "Not her."

Tatsuki briefly snickered before saying, "Well, we should be going before someone sees us."

Mizuiro nodded and the two sonidoed off the roof.

Wednesday 7:40 pm

Tatsuki uncapped a bottle of water and chugged half the bottle in one gulp. She had been jogging for the last twenty-five minutes and her gigai was tiring. Another reason she hated her gigai, her physical abilities were limited to slightly better then the majority of people.

Her cellphone started to beep. She glanced at her watch.

'They're early.'

She pulled the phone out of her pocket and flipped it open. The screen showed that the Garganta was opening up a few blocks away.

'Looks like I won't have to go very far.'

She was about to finish her water, when she heard a static buzz and a hand wrapped around her throat and lift her off her feet.

It was Grimmjow. He said to her, with a sneer on his face, "Arisawa. Enjoying your time back in the human world?"

As Grimmjow's hand was wrapped around her throat, her answer came out as a rasping, incoherent sound. Grimmjow, realizing this, loosen his grip, allowing her to answer. "I thought Aizen-sama told you not to even talk to me while I'm here. Did you really miss me that much cripple? Or did you just wanna lose your other arm?"

Grimmjow growled. "Bitch! I'll rip your throat out!"

"Aww. I love you too cripple. But before you go any further, you should know that Ichigo and others are coming. So perhaps we can postpone this little romantic get together to a later date."

Grimmjow snarled at her. But in the end, let go of her throat. Before he sonidoed away, he said, "Arisawa, you, Kojima, Asano, Luppi, Ulquiorra and that punk Kurosaki will all eventually die by my hand, so enjoy your life while you can."

Tatsuki rubbed her sore throat.

'I'll be waiting for you to try it Grimmjow. And I'll make you wish Tosen took your head instead of your arm.'

She then walked a block closer to battle that was breaking out. Completely unaware of black cat that had just disappeared after watching everything that transpired between the two from a nearby alley.

Urahara Shoten

Forty minutes later

Urahara sighed. "This is gonna complicate things."

Yoruichi nodded her head and replied, "Indeed. Should I get Ichigo and the others?"

"No. Let them rest. We'll tell them tomorrow night. It's going to be difficult for Ichigo and the others." He sighed again. "Out of all the things Aizen could have done. This was the one thing I didn't expect and yet it's also one I should have expected him to do."

"There's no way you could have expected this. You're good Urahara but you're not that good."

"No. I should have expected this. It was Aizen excels at, using a person's own weakness against them. In the case of Ichigo, Orihime and Chad, it's their friends. I figured that he'd try get them to fight each other. You know, divide and conquer, that kinda stuff. I just didn't thing he would target Kurosaki's friends that had yet to awaken their own spiritual power."

"You mean that they?"

Urahara sadly nodded and replied, "Yes. Had fate been a little different, they would have been like Orihime and Chad. But now that doesn't matter now. If I know Aizen, they're arrancar now."

Anger and sadness crossed Yoruichi's face. "Ichigo, Chad and Orihime won't believe that."

"Of course they won't. They'll cling to the only other explanations for what's happened. That they've either been brainwashed or replaced by impostors." Urahara sighed. "I really need a drink. Hey Tessai! Bring out some sake!"

A moment later, Tessai stepped out of the back room with a bottle of sake and two glasses on a tray.

Urahara grabbed a cup and poured sake into it, before looking at Yoruichi and asking, "You want some?"

Yoruichi considered it for a moment before simply nodding. Tomorrow morning, the two of them would be suffering a nasty hangover. But the pain of the hangover would pale in comparison to the pain and heartbreak they would bring tomorrow night.