A/N: I'm very sorry for this extremely late update. School and work took up a lot of my time. Thanks to some classes though I think my writing has improved. As some of you may notice I've changed romance genre to adventure, I'm not really sure how much romance I'm going to actually have in this story. I've also added Chad and Uryu to the character list due to the importance they will play; Rukia will eventually get involved so don't worry Rukia fans. I've also revised the previous chapters, mostly making it so that there would be only one pov for each scene. Enjoy.

Revised: Thank you nypsy for pointing out mistakes

Encounter

Her head was pounding again for what felt like the twentieth time that day. Orihime had been having on and off headaches for the past three days and with each one images of places and people she had never seen before flashed through her mind. She knew what she was going through wasn't normal, but she couldn't figure out what the cause of it was. Until the red head figured out what was wrong she wasn't going to inform the others and worry them.

Which one should I get? The teen thought to herself as she looked at the various pain relievers in the aisle of the pharmacy she was in. Some of the headaches she was able to ignore but others got intense enough that she couldn't even think straight; especially when she tried to block out the images. She finally grabbed one, paid for it and was just walking out of the store when she bumped into someone walking on the sidewalk, causing her to drop her medicine.

"Watch where you are going," a frustrated woman's voice said. Orihime quickly picked up the pain reliever and was about to apologize to the woman but found herself struggling to get the words out when she got a look at her. Although the woman was wearing a hoody with the hood up the teen could see her face and hair clearly. Brown eyes, auburn hair. She was the woman that Orihime had been seeing in her visions. "Didn't your parents teach you any manners?"

"I…I'm very sorry." Orihime quickly apologized and bowed her head. Doing her best not to let the unsettling feelings she was having at the woman's appearance show on her face. "I haven't been resting well lately and have been having trouble paying attention to my surroundings. I'm very sorry"

She hesitantly looked back up at the woman. When she did a mild headache hit her but the red head was able to ignore this one. The woman seemed less upset with her but a scowl still marred her face.

"Just be careful with where you are going." The older red head said before walking off.

Orihime watched her as she went down the street. She knew for sure that that was the woman from her visions. She was about to try and follow the woman to see if she could get any answers but was stopped when someone called to her.

"Orihime!" She turned around to see Tatsuki running up to her. Once the long raven haired girl reached her she took a moment to bend over and catch her breath. The red head could only summarize that her friend had been running from quite a distance.

"Hi, Tatauki. Is something wrong?" She wondered what could have gotten her closest friend so flustered.

"I felt your reiatsu fluctuating a lot today." Tatsuki answered finally looking up to her. "So I came looking for you to see if you were okay."

Orihime smiled, "I'm fine Tatsuki, no need to worry." Her friend didn't say anything in return as her eyes fell on the bag in the red heads hands, then her blue eyes drifted to the building they were standing by. The raven haired girl suddenly snatched the bag out of Orihime's hands.

"What's in this?" She said frantically. "It better not be what I think it is!" Orihime could only stare dumbfounded at her friend's hysteria as she pulled out the pain relievers. A small blush appeared on Tatsuki's face as she slowly placed the pill container back into the bag. "Sorry Orihime. I… overreacted"

Tatsuki offered the bag back to her and the red head took it back gently. "What did you think I bought?"

"Well…uh." The raven haired girl stuttered. "Hey, don't you have to get to work?"

"Oh yeah, I need to hurry or I'll be…" Suddenly Orihime remembered the woman she had ran into just a bit ago. She quickly turned back in the direction the older auburn haired woman had gone, but saw no sign of her.

"Orihime…,"Her friend called in concern, "are you alright."

"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered while trying to keep her uneasiness from showing.

Ichigo walked down the desolate street. He had been having the most uneasy feeling for the past three days. He had been expecting something to happen right away. But Orihime's parents had yet to show themselves. And there had been no signs of anyone with any particular powers to indicate that the Inoue Clan was getting involved. There had only been regular hollows showing up like they normally did. The orange head didn't believe that his friend's parents had given up on trying to get her.

There hadn't been any attacks on the school. There wasn't any unusual activity at the bakery that Orihime worked at. No surprise attacks of any kind at all. It frustrated him to no end. He was starting to wish that something would happen so he could have a better idea how he could protect Orihime. He was so busy trying to figure out what was going on and what he could do for his friend that he ignored the hooded figure that walked past him. Until there was a sudden flare of reiatsu right beside him. The substitute quickly turned only to find a hand wrapped around his throat and his body paralyzed.

"Hello there, boy." The woman said. She lifted her free hand pulling back the hood revealing what Ichigo could only assume was Kasumi Inoue. Her auburn hair, brown eyes, and body figure made her look like an older version of Orihime. But her eyes had a cold stare to them that contrasted to his close friend's bright eyes. "Where is my daughter?"

Me and my big mouth. Ichigo thought back to his early thoughts. He tried to make some kind of movement but his body wouldn't obey his commands. The substitute could feel his reiatsu being drained away from him.

"Where is my daughter?" Kasumi repeated more firmly.

"Bite me!" The orange haired boy gritted through his teeth. "I'm not telling you shit!"

The woman glared at him and tightened her grip around his throat. He could feel his reiatsu being drained even faster.

Tatsuki was starting to get very worried about her friend. Orihime had been acting weird the entire way to the bakery. Her brown eyes had been drifting around as if keeping an eye out for something. Occasionally the auburn haired girl would rub her temples as if trying to ease some pain.

"Orihime, are you sure you are alright?" The raven haired girl asked. "You seem a little fidgety."

"Wh…," she stuttered looking back at her, "oh, I'm fine."

Tatsuki wasn't buying it. Something had her auburn haired friend spooked. And she had a pretty good idea what it was.

"What do you need the pain relievers for?" She eyed the bag in her friends hand, trying to forget how she overreacted to what she had thought was in it. "I thought you didn't get sick."

"I don't." She stated in a way that sounded believable. "I've just been having headaches lately."

They were just reaching the bakery and Tatsuki was about to ask what was causing the headaches when she felt someone's reiatsu dropping. Ichigo's reiastu. He was nearby. The raven haired girl looked at her friend only to find the red head had a bewildered look on her face.

"What?" Orihime asked. "What is it?"

She can't feel it? She thought. How?

"Tatsuki?"

"It's nothing Orihime," she answered. The raven haired girl put a smile on her face to try to reinsure her friend. "You better get to work before your boss gets upset."

"Alright, see you later, Tatsuki." Orihime waved before heading into her workplace.

The raven haired girl waved back before turning around and running to Ichigo's location. He wasn't far, which only served to confuse her more as to why Orihime couldn't sense what was going on. She ran down the street and when she turned the corner she saw the dilemma. Her orange haired friend was on his knees, frozen stiff, with an auburn haired woman's hand wrapped around his throat.

She ran up towards them. The woman seemed too focused on Ichigo to notice her presences. Once the black haired girl was close enough she jumped up into the air, with the momentum she spun around with her leg lifted up and delivered a firm back roundhouse kick to the woman's head.

The older woman let go of orange head and fell back a couple of feet to the ground. Ichigo fell back and started to take deep breaths. The woman seemed to be in a state of shock. She just lay still on the ground for a moment before picking herself up. The auburn haired woman glared at Tatsuki. Her face was sporting a red mark where the karate girl hit her.

"It's rare for someone to catch me off guard like that," the woman stated. "But you should have stayed out of this."

The woman's speed surprised the raven haired girl. There was no time for her to react as the auburn haired woman reached for her. The brown eyed woman was just inches away from her when Tatsuki felt someone's arm wrap around her waist and pull her away. The woman jumped back just in time for Zangetsu to only cut her cheek.

"You alright, Tatsuki?" Ichigo asked her once he let her go. She saw that he was in his Soul Reaper form and his human body lay lifelessly sprawled on the ground.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked back at the woman who brushed her hand against her bloody cheek.

"How do you still have so much energy?" The auburn haired woman asked Ichigo.

"I don't go down so easily," he answered with a smirk.

"Don't think this is over." She glared at them. A small glow surrounded her body and Tatsuki could see the bruise and small cut on her face heal. Then she suddenly disappeared, which the raven haired girl surmised could have only been super speed.

"Was… was that…" She began to ask her friend.

"Yeah," he said with disdain. "That was Orihime's mother."

Kasumi jumped up onto the top of a building. Frustrated that she had been so focused on the boy that she failed to mind her surroundings and got taken by surprise by the girl. She wiped the blood of her smooth skin and felt around to make sure the cut was gone. She then pressed her hand against a small device that was in her ear.

"Osamu," she contacted her husband. "Failed on target Alpha."

"Very well," she heard him say. "I'll proceed on target Beta."

After their encounter with Kasumi, they decided to run to Kisuke's to inform him of the recent development. Ichigo saw the shop come into view as he and Tatsuki rounded the corner. They ran up and he slammed the door open.

"Kisuke, we need to…" He stopped himself when he saw the auburn haired woman with her back to him sitting in front of the blond haired man. She turned around giving him a good look of her face. The substitute started to panic, she looked older, but it was Kasumi. His hand shot for his badge.

"Miss Inoue." His friend's surprised voice stopped him. The woman's widen brown eyes rested on her.

"Tatsuki." She said equally surprised.

"What are you doing here?" They yelled at the same time.

"Tatsuki," his hand rested over his badge, the orange head's thoughts now in doubt of his original assumption of the woman, "who is this?"

"This is Suzume Inoue," she answered. "Orihime's aunt."

A/N:Hope you enjoyed. Once again I'm sorry for the late update. I have a pretty good idea of how I want the next chapter to go so it should only take me a week or two. Also the next chapter should feature the first real battle of the story.