Author's Note:

This follows bits of episode 14 of the anime.

Remember that reviews, comments, and constructive critiques are very much appreciated!

This fanfiction is rated M because it may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.

Bleach and its characters © Tite Kubo
All of the inserted, non-canon characters are © me

"There is a sudden influx of Hollows in Gense," informed the leader of the patrol group Ayaka became a part of not just this morning. "We have been ordered to find the source of abnormal activity and report back what find. I want everyone to split into groups of two once we reach the Human World." He started putting names together in pairs. Ayaka and Hayate were paired up and assigned to Karakura Town. They left the Soul Society and made a safe journey to the Human World.

Hayate looked to Ayake and said, "Take that side, and I'll take this side." He pointed one way and then the other. His partner nodded then used shunpo to start the patrol as soon as possible. There were so many incoming Hollows that her phone was going haywire with constant beeping. Ten minutes into her search, she faced a Hollow. It was easily disposed of with one wakizashi. She looked up after the brief fight and saw rifts in the sky.

"What is going on?" she mumbled. This was not good. The Hollows were being attracted to or forced into the Human World for some reason. Five or six Hollows were what were reported on a good day, but this was pretty much a terrible day. More Hollows were appearing than she could ever remember hearing about before. "I wonder if Hayate-sama is holding up," she thought as she met another Hollow, this one bigger than the last.

Spirit energy she vaguely remembered caught her attention. It felt like the one from last night. From that girl. Ayaka turned down one street and came across a small Hollow that prowled the girl she had sensed. The girl just stood there, staring off into space. Or could she see the openings in the sky? Before the Hollow could make an easy meal of her, Ayaka came to the rescue. "What are you doing just standing there?" Her heart skipped a beat when she came face-to-face with herself once again. Quickly, she regained her cool.

After two more Hollow encounters, Ayaka finished escorting the other girl. She stayed behind and watched her step up to the door. It opened to an elderly man whom the school girl bowed to. His eyes looked over her shoulders and landed on Ayaka. Their piercing gaze frightened her. A shiver ran up her arms, and the hair stood up on the back of her head. The silent meeting did not last long because the door was closed and they were inside. Ayaka frown and gritted her teeth. Something bothered her about that old man. She turned on her heels, and then started for a group of energies not far from the house.

"Sumimasen, ojii-san," Ayame said quietly when she bowed to him outside the door. He did not say anything in return. There was a short, tense silence before she stepped inside. Before she had a chance to talk to him, the elderly man left for another room. "Obaa-san," she called to the old woman. Her grandmother shuffled out from the family room. The look on her face showed that she could only assume what her husband of six decades was doing. Ayame took her shoes off and left them at the door, and then walked to the family room after her grandmother. She set her school bag down on one of the couch cushions and groaned. "Obaa, I came home as soon as I could, but weird things happened," was her way of apologizing.

Her grandmother smiled up to Ayame. "It's fine, dear. Your grandfather was just over-reacting. Oh, what happened to your necklace?"

Ayame blinked, and then looked down. She put her right hand up to her neck. The cross hit her chest; she had forgotten that Ishida moved it to her wrist. "I… felt like keeping it on my wrist now." A door closing hard spooked her. She turned around to see her grandfather walking toward her. In his hands was an envelope. No words were exchanged when he handed her the envelope. Ayame was nervous about what was inside. Something fell out and landed on the floor, but she did not notice. She took out and unfolded a letter handwritten in black ink on paper that was like new. As Ayame read the letter, her expression changed from worry and nervousness to confusion and scare. What was written did not make sense. She threw the letter down and ran for the front door. "Ayame, wait!" Her grandmother stood up and reached out a hand to catch her by the arm. The old woman was stopped by her husband who only lifted a hand to interrupt her. In under a minute, Ayame had her shoes on and was out the door.

"Don't just let her go!"

Ayame's grandfather picked up the photograph. A happily painted picture of a family of four was smiling up at him. "There's nothing we can do," he said quietly. "We knew that someday she'd have to read the message." He put the letter and the photograph back into the envelope with a long sigh. "Our part in her life has come to an end, and we have done more than was asked of us."

Ayame ran as fast as she could, tracking the spirit energy of the person who protected her from the Hollows. She looked up in horror to find a hole in the sky opening up. An ugly thing poked its head out. That's one big Hollow, was all she could think.

Ayaka looked up as she ran. That must be where they started coming from, she thought. Hollows gathered around a giant crack splitting the sky open. A large concentration of them centered in a park around the corner. She jumped over railing separating the sidewalk and the green grass of the park in order to waste no time turning corners. Just as a Menos Grande emerged from the black rift. She recognized Kuchiki Rukia though she was in civilian clothing. "Rukia!" she called. The more practiced shinigami turned around to see who was shouting her name.

"Nazahara! What are you doing here?"

Once she caught up to Kuchiki, Urahara stepped into the scene. Rukia exchanged words with him, and then fell to her knees. She could only see it as a bakudō. Not wanting to be paralyzed like Kuchiki, Ayaka stood back and just watched. There was not much she could do without back-up. Urahara, however, made it clear that the battle was necessary for the two she sensed closer to the Menos.

A new energy signature came to her attention. The school girl had followed her after they parted ways at her gandparents' house. "What are you doing here? This isn't a place for you," Ayaka told her.

Ayame stopped after passing by who she thought was Kurosaki. She slouched over and put her hands on her knees to catch her breath. That was the hardest, fastest, and longest she had ever run in her life. Her lungs felt like they could collapse. But, she endured the pain and stood up. "I want to know your name," she demanded.

"What?" Ayaka blinked in disbelief that this girl was oblivious to the Menos Grande lurching around.

Kurosaki - well, Kon, because at this time Ichigo was working with Ishida to get rid of the Menos - exclaimed, "Hey! There's two of you!"

He was ignored. Ayame repeated herself, "I want to know your name."

Ayaka grinded her teeth together before giving an answer. "Nakahara Ayaka. Why do you want to know?"

"Because... I'm Nakahara Ayame."

"This is getting interesting," Urahara interrupted. It was difficult to tell if he was talking about the fight against the Menos Grande he was watching, or if it was about the fact that Ayaka and Ayame had the same family name. Seconds before the Menos left, a red wave of energy was sucked up and then blast out from the Gillian's mouth. Everyone was stunned into silence when they witnessed the real Kurosaki hold back the Cero. Ayaka's breath caught in her throat when the Cero was returned to the Menos, slashing it from foot to shoulder. There was little damage done to it, but it retreated back into the rift. When it was gone, so were the other Hollows and the black rifts that tore the sky. The sky became blue again in a matter of seconds. Ayame could only stand and watch everything happened. What seemed to happen for almost an hour only lasted minutes after she came to the park. "You two should probably leave before you cause any more stress than there already is for those two," mentioned Urahara. "You two look like you have something to talk about. Ayaka, I'll give them a message back at the Soul Society. It should give you a day or two to sort things out."

Ayaka nodded. "Let's go, then," she told Ayame. Both of them headed out of the park. Once out of sight from the others, Ayaka stopped Ayame by taking her by the arm. "Before you say anything..." She could not finish what she was saying. The expression Ayame gave her made her rethink what she was going to say. Ayaka sighed, and then let go of Ayame. It was an awkwardly quiet walk. Ayame led the way to her grandparents' house. The silence between them felt heavier than the spiritual pressure from the Menos Grande. Ayame's grandfather's stare gave off an even more dangerous feeling when he answered the door.