A/N: I've got nothing new to say, so I'll keep it short and sweet: please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Bleach.

Soul Mates

Chapter 3: Distractions

Ichigo ran through the halls as fast as he could, often having to shove his way past several fleeing lower-ranked Soul Reapers. He had tried calling out to the first group he'd encountered, asking what had happened, but they were panicked and had been unable to articulate anything other than that they didn't know. So he had given up and continued past them, following the smoke as it got thicker and heavier.

At this point his throat was scratchy and raw, and he knew he would need a good soak before he got the smell out of his hair. It was getting harder to see, and he was forced to slow to a fast walk, one hand covering his mouth and nose. His eyes were watering from the sting, and when he rounded another corner he suddenly felt like he'd walked into a sauna.

I'm definitely getting closer, he reflected with mixed feelings. But it's probably too much to hope that some idiot just forgot to blow out their candle before they went to sleep last night.

The heat was nearly palpable now, and Ichigo reached up to wipe off a line of sweat from his forehead as he rounded another corner.

He heard Renji before he actually managed to spot him through the thick smoke.

"-bucket over here! Quickly!" Renji was bellowing from somewhere in front of Ichigo, to his right.

That's Byakuya's office! Ichigo realized immediately, his eyes widening. He picked up his pace, then, heading for his friend's spiritual pressure and the seemingly-solid form ahead of him that looked like Renji.

"Renji!" Ichigo called as he got closer, removing his hand from his mouth in order to actually be heard.

The Renji-shaped outline turned and made a gesture that Ichigo still couldn't quite see, calling, "Ichigo! Thank goodness – I was afraid your barracks had burned, too!"

By the time the words had left Renji's mouth, Ichigo was finally able to make him out through the smoke. Ichigo's frown was deep as he stepped up to his friend. "What happened?" he asked as his eyes continued past Renji, toward the wall of orange-red flames before them.

Renji turned his attention forward again as well, a similarly severe frown on his face. "I'm not entirely sure. The Captain sent a Hell Butterfly for me early this morning, saying they had all been called for an emergency meeting and that he wanted me waiting for him in his office when he got back. By the time I got here, the office was on fire and there was already smoke coming from the Eastern barracks."

"Damn," Ichigo said as he watched several Soul Reapers attempt to douse the flames with fresh buckets of water. A loud hissing sound filled the air and a large, thick plume of smoke wafted up, but when it thinned it was obvious that the water had done very little damage.

"This isn't working," Renji declared.

The crackling around them was so loud already that they nearly missed the final warning of an imminent structure-collapse, and both men's eyes widened as they quickly looked up, searching for the source of the sound.

"Clear out!" Renji hollered a beat later, spotting the large – and growing – crack along a beam above them. Projecting his voice to be better heard, Renji repeated, "Everybody outside, now!"

One of the Soul Reapers before them, holding a newly-emptied bucket, paused and asked, "Where will we go, Lieutenant?"

"I don't care, just get outside!" Renji instructed even as several of his subordinates began running for the hall behind them. But the hall was quickly clogged with Soul Reapers eager to obey – and escape the smoke.

"There's no time for this!" Ichigo growled, reaching up and unsheathing Zangetsu. Turning toward the wall to his left, he called, "Back away!" And then he swung his zanpakutou forward, releasing a blast of spirit energy at the wall and blowing it to pieces.

The beam above them creaked loudly with the force of the resulting shockwave, and Ichigo adjusted his hold on Zangetsu in order to duck beneath the massive blade. Around him, the Soul Reapers were fleeing through the newly-created exit, many dropping their buckets in their haste to retreat.

Renji, who had released Zabimaru in order to assist Ichigo in fending off the complete collapse of the building, suddenly began cursing and said, "Get out, Ichigo! It's gonna blow!"

Grunting with the impact of another large chunk of burning building on the other side of his sword, Ichigo looked over to Renji and asked, "What?"

"I said: 'it's gonna blo-'!" Renji began, his words cutting off as his prediction came true.

Several Soul Reapers, along with Renji and Ichigo, were thrown forcibly from the building when the ever-growing flames finally reached the small oil-lamp that Byakuya kept on the corner of his desk.

The building beneath their feet shook, just for a second, and Orihime's breath caught in her throat. I can't imagine that's normal, she thought, swallowing heavily. But, when she glanced to her right, neither the hollow nor Zangetsu looked particularly perturbed.

Zangetsu was gazing up, toward the sky, with a thoughtful, unconcerned expression on his face.

The hollow was glaring into one of the large windows in front of him, but he seemed to sense her eyes on him, because he turned slightly and cocked an eyebrow at her. "Something on your mind?"

Orihime did her best to fight down her embarrassment and stammered, "Eh, I…um, is that normal?"

"Tch," the hollow scoffed, crossing his arms in his sleeves as his eyes drifted to the window again. "Yeah, you could say that. Idiot got himself blown up again."

Her eyes widened as an instinctive worry overtook her, and she clasped her hands in front of her chest as she asked, "Is he alright? Do you know what happened?"

"He'll be fine," the hollow replied indifferently. "But if you wanna know what's going on, take a look for yourself."

Confused now, Orihime hesitated. Carefully, she asked, "How do I do that?"

Pulling his gaze away from the sky, Zangetsu replied, "The windows reflect what Ichigo sees. You need only to look into them, and focus, to see it for yourself."

Orihime took a deep breath, but before she could say anything more, or start toward the nearest window, Ichigo's voice echoed around her.

"Dammit! When I find the bastard who started that fire, I'm gonna beat the crap out of him!" As if in response to his words, the light breeze that continuously flowed through his inner world increased in intensity. It whipped around them fiercely, though it died down after several seconds.

"Ichigo?" Orihime called reflexively, caught off-guard by the disembodied voice that seemed to have floated down to them from the sky itself.

The hollow smirked, chuckling faintly, but chose to remain silent.

There was a pause before Ichigo's voice returned, the angry intensity gone and replaced with concern. "What is it, Orihime?"

Orihime's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed brightly. She hadn't thought he would hear her, and now she didn't know what to say.

"I think you caught her off-guard, King," the hollow cut in with a faint laugh. "She's not exactly used to your charming narrative."

"Crap. Sorry about that, Orihime," Ichigo replied, sounding strangely guilty.

"Oh, no, it's alright!" Orihime insisted, waving her hands around as if he could actually see her. "I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me! I mean, if you can hear me – which you said you could – then it only makes sense that I'd be able to hear you, too!"

"…yeah, I guess you're right. I'll, uh, try to keep that in mind."

"Ichigo," Orihime began carefully as she moved to one of the windows and knelt before it, "are you alright? What's happening?"

Reassurance filled his voice when he responded, and a gentle breeze swirled around her briefly as he said, "I'm fine, Orihime. I don't really know what's going on yet; someone set fire to Byakuya's office and some of the barracks. Renji said there was some sort of emergency Captain's Meeting; I can't imagine this is separate from that."

Desperately wishing that there was something she could do to help, Orihime replied, "Then you should focus on what's going on around you; I'll try not to distract you again. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," Ichigo instructed firmly even as the reflection on the window rippled and blurred.

Suddenly, Orihime could see what had probably once been a part of the Squad Six courtyard. But it was covered in burning debris, and the building beyond it was still aflame, with thick, black smoke reaching toward the sky. Soul Reapers were scattered between the burning building and her vantage point – where she assumed Ichigo was standing.

And then his voice returned, casual, even slightly teasing, as he said, "Besides, at this point I'm kind of used to hearing voices in my head."

"Better be careful who you admit that to, King," the hollow commented on cue. "You don't want the wrong person knowing the truth about you."

"Don't lump me in with you," Ichigo retorted.

Ignoring their bickering, Orihime kept her eyes on the reflection in the window and, as the image turned and Renji's crouching figure came into view, she said softly, "Just be careful, Ichigo."

"I will," Ichigo promised as he moved toward Renji.

"Renji," Ichigo called as he knelt down beside his coughing friend. "You alright?"

Between gasping chokes, Renji managed, "Yeah…fine. You?"

"Better than you," Ichigo said with a smirk.

Renji lifted a half-hearted glare to his friend before turning his eyes back toward the burning offices. "Damn," he grunted as he pulled in deep, stabilizing breaths.

"Lieutenant Abarai!" several nearby voices cried, echoed by pounding feet and rustling fabric.

Ichigo stepped back from Renji as the taller man pushed to his feet, wiping off some dirt from his shihakushou.

"I'm fine," Renji repeated more convincingly, lifting his voice to be heard by the Soul Reapers around them. He looked over to the group and, spotting a member that he recognized, asked, "Has anyone thought to notify Fourth? We're gonna need medical assistance."

"I sent someone to Fourth just a few minutes ago, sir," the Soul Reaper replied quickly.

While they spoke, Ichigo turned in a slow circle, attempting to look past the thick cloud of smoke that hung overhead.

After a moment, he realized that he could see other plumes of smoke, all farther away, and a sinking feeling settled in his gut. This couldn't have happened tomorrow, he thought with a mental sigh. Aloud, he said, "I hate to break it to you, but I think Fourth's got other problems."

"What do you-?" Renji began, cutting himself off when he noticed what Ichigo was looking at. "Damn."

"…Your orders, sir?" the Soul Reaper nearest them asked hesitantly.

Forcing himself to turn his glare away from the distant smoke plumes, Renji lifted his voice and barked, "We still need to get these fires under control – I want every able-bodied Soul Reaper contributing! Get more water – find something to smother these flames!"

"Yes, sir!" a chorus of voices sang out, before rapid, barely-controlled shuffling broke out around them.

Lowering his voice once again, Renji added, "Ichigo, I need a favor from you."

Ichigo, who had been about to lend a hand to smothering the flames, paused and glanced back over his shoulder. "Yeah?" he asked, suspecting he already knew the answer.

Without removing his eyes from the flames, Renji said, "I want you to go to Squad Thirteen and see how things are going over there. …Maybe Rukia can lend a hand with these fires." The last was clearly said for effect more than anything else.

Ichigo nodded. "Alright. I'll catch up with you later, then." He disappeared in a flash-step a beat later, headed toward Rukia's squad.

Ichigo had alighted on a rooftop over Squad Ten's barracks, noting that a large majority of the buildings and grounds were frozen over, when a distant explosion drew his attention. He paused, turning in the direction that the explosion had come from, and narrowed his eyes as he attempted to see through the fresh smoke. The explosion had come from a large section of land beyond the barracks, possibly beyond the territory of the squad itself.

Could that be…? He focused, attempting to judge the spiritual pressures that were flaring in the area. He couldn't be sure, but he suspected that Toushirou's was among them. And he was sure there were a couple that he didn't know at all.

And then a soft voice offered, "That's definitely Toushirou. And Rangiku's there, too."

His lips lifted at the corner, and Ichigo shifted direction. "Thanks, Orihime." He would ask one of them to send a Hell Butterfly to Rukia when he caught up to the fight, but he couldn't risk letting the people responsible for all of the devastation get away.

Two flash-steps were all it took for Ichigo to catch up to the fight, and he got there just in time to see a man in an old, pale blue men's short kimono over Capri-length dark pants and worn sandals shatter a tendril of ice that had coiled around his ankle with his sword.

Toushirou was facing off with the unknown man, an angry set to his jaw and a tight grip on the hilt of his zanpakutou. His back was to Ichigo, and he gave no indication of being aware that Ichigo was there.

Rangiku was several feet to the side, attempting to corral two more men in similar states of dress. She had one ensnared within a high-level bakudo, and she was currently parrying blows with the second. The side of her face that Ichigo could see was smudged with something dark, and her shihakushou was scorched and frayed along one sleeve.

Ichigo returned his attention to the man Toushirou was fighting, saying, "Need a little help, Toushirou?"

"I can handle him," Toushirou replied firmly. "But one of them got away. See if you can catch up with him."

"Right," Ichigo said, understanding the request wholly. But he paused for a moment, adding, "If you get a chance, could you get a message to Rukia? Renji wanted me to check up on her."

"I wouldn't worry," Toushirou replied. "Juushirou should have gotten back by now."

Nodding, Ichigo said, "Good." And then he shifted and started forward in the direction Toushirou had indicated.

The man Toushirou was fighting attempted to intercept him, crying, "I don't think so, Soul Reaper!" His sword was raised, poised to strike, but Ichigo simply glared at him and kept going. A moment later another surge of ice rose up, blocking the man's path and forcing him back.

"I'm not done with you," Toushirou declared plainly.

Ichigo was out of earshot before any more could be said, and as soon as their spiritual pressures were behind him he was able to hone in on the one he was chasing. He was the first to admit that spiritual pressure wasn't his forte, but he could tell that the one ahead of him was stronger. It was also being suppressed, though poorly.

A couple of well-placed flash-steps had him all but caught up with the man he was chasing, and Ichigo reached up, wrapping his hand around the hilt of his sword. Here we go, he thought fleetingly as his eyes finally landed on his target.

The figure was roughly the same height as he himself, but leaner. He was entirely covered in an ankle-length cloak, complete with a hood that was pulled up. A large bag was slung over one shoulder, though it looked mostly flat, as if its contents had been emptied. And his right hand held tightly to the sheath of a sword.

Ichigo took a deep breath and flash-stepped ahead of him, directly into the man's path. His grip remained tight over Zangetsu's hilt. "That's far enough," he declared, voice tight, as he materialized just a few feet in front of his target.

The cloaked figure came to a quick stop, grip tightening over his sword, and then he lifted his head to size up the Soul Reaper in his path.

Ichigo's eyes widened when he realized that his opponent wasn't a man at all. His opponent was female.

The unknown woman narrowed her pale blue eyes at him, undaunted by his appearance before her. "Step aside, Soul Reaper." Her tone was clipped, her voice cold and threatening. It perfectly matched the look in her eyes and the set of her narrow jaw.

"Sorry," Ichigo replied, holding her glare easily. "I can't do that."

"Are you willing to die today?" she asked in that same tone.

"Are you?" Ichigo countered.

A slow, confident smirk curved the woman's lips and she declared, "You won't kill me."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed as he replied, "You're right. I'll just defeat you, and then I'll drag you back to let the Captains decide what to do with you. But if you're responsible for those fires, I imagine a few of them will want to kill you."

"You're awfully sure of yourself, boy," she said.

"I could say the same about you," Ichigo returned. "Now why don't you tell me who you are, and why, exactly, you attacked the Seireitei."

"Those answers don't concern you," she replied harshly.

"I disagree," Ichigo challenged.

Silence stretched between them for a long moment as the woman studied him blatantly and then, finally, she demanded, "Identify yourself, Soul Reaper."

Voice calm and grip steady, Ichigo replied, "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, Substitute Soul Reaper."

One slim dark brow lifted in synch with a single corner of her lips as she repeated, "Substitute? I think I might be insulted."

"Let's see if you still feel that way when the fight's over," Ichigo suggested pointedly.

"I would," she began, "but I've no need to fight you. So consider yourself lucky."

"Lucky?" Ichigo repeated. "Don't think I'm gonna let you go just because you don't want to fight me."

The woman made a frustrated sound and suddenly leapt backwards, landing expertly on a tree branch several feet away. As she moved she tugged her nearly-empty satchel forward and dipped her free hand inside.

"Not so fast!" Ichigo called, immediately racing forward and leaping into the air.

He pulled Zangetsu forward, the wrap falling away with a mental command, even as she removed her hand from the bag.

She smirked, watching him carefully, as she flicked her wrist and tossed the two objects in her hand toward him. A snap of energy from her fingertips ignited a spark along the edge of one of the circular objects, and then she quickly jumped to the side.

Ichigo realized too late what the small objects were, and he only barely managed to shift Zangetsu, using the broad side of the blade as a shield, before they exploded.

Heat and flame slammed into him, and the force of the explosion knocked him physically backwards. His back collided with the thick trunk of a tree and he grunted with the impact, managing to retain his hold on his sword. Fire licked his knuckles and fingertips, running along the blade before catching his hakama.

Dammit! he cursed as the pain set in. He dropped to the ground when the force of the blast lessened and immediately rolled, smothering the flames that had begun burning along his shihakushou. But his body ached from the collisions with the tree and the ground, and between the heat of the now-raging fire around him and the heat on his recently-burning clothing he felt as if his skin had been set aflame, too.

"Ichigo!" Orihime cried, concern heavy in her voice. "Are you alright?"

Hoping his internal voice was reassuring, Ichigo replied, "I'm fine, Orihime. The fire's already out."

"You're an idiot, King," his hollow interrupted a beat later. "How did you not see that coming?"

"The bag looked empty to me," Orihime defended carefully.

"I assumed she'd used her zanpakutou to start the fires, alright?" Ichigo explained with a grunt as he pushed properly to his feet and attempted to look around.

The firebombs had done a good job of obscuring his line of sight in every direction. Between the half-circle of flame that continued to lick its way higher and higher, and the thick, dark smoke the flames produced, he could barely see a thing. There was no doubt in his mind that his opponent had gotten away.

Orihime's voice whispered through his mind again, though this time she was clearly thinking out loud more than anything else. "That's so terrible…."

She was right, of course. The fire was doing a number on the forest in the area, and Ichigo was sure it would only get worse before it was put out. Unless he could somehow use his spiritual pressure to smother the flames.

"There might be a way," Zangetsu declared calmly.

The hollow made an irritated sound even as Ichigo and Orihime simultaneously asked, "What?"

Zangetsu projected his voice for Ichigo to hear even as he focused his gaze on Orihime, saying, "While she resides within your world, Orihime Inoue's abilities are as much your own as mine."

Two pairs of eyes widened as Zangetsu's meaning sank in.

After a prolonged moment of silence, Orihime said, "My Souten Kisshun could reverse the fire and the damage." She paused again, her voice softening with embarrassment, though she managed not to stutter when she added, "You can use it if you want."

Ichigo swallowed heavily, but he knew she was right, and he knew it was his best option. Taking a deep breath, he asked, "How do I do it?"

Orihime was silent for a moment, contemplating his question. She wasn't quite sure if he would need to summon her individual Shun Shun Rikka the way she once had, so she closed her eyes and silently called them forth herself before finally answering him. "Souten Kisshun."

"Souten Kisshun," Ichigo repeated, enunciating the phrase carefully. It was a command he was familiar with, even if it was one he hadn't actually heard in a while.

The moment the words fell from his lips he felt Orihime's spiritual pressure flare within him, but as the power built it seemed to merge with his own. Knowing enough about learning new techniques, Ichigo offered no resistance as his muscles moved without his conscious command.

His arms lifted until he was holding his sword with both hands, the tip of the blade pointed toward the ever-building flames, and a visible golden energy ignited around him. The energy quickly rushed into the blade, travelling along it and building momentum until it shot off from the tip. In a silent explosion of gold and warmth, the small ball of energy grew in to the familiar dome of Orihime's Souten Kisshun, and the dome settled over the burning forest easily.

Ichigo's arms fell back to his sides as he watched in silence while the dome quickly smothered the flames and reversed the damage to the greenery before him.

"If you wanted," Orihime began carefully, a level of wonder in her voice, "you can use it to heal yourself, too."

His first instinct was to decline her offer – to insist that he was fine and that his scrapes and burns would heal naturally without difficulty. But, with their changed situation, she would know whenever his injuries caused him discomfort. She would know that the burns still did hurt, even if it was a stinging that he could ignore.

And, more importantly, he could sense her worry. This was nothing worth worrying her over.

"Alright," he agreed. "When it's done."

Her smile, it turned out, was as warm as it was bright.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Whew, I feel like I did a lot in this chapter…but maybe that's just because it took me a while to write! LOL Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one! And I'm kinda hopeful that the liberties I'm taking make at least a little sense given the (admittedly unusual) context of the story…but you'll have to let me know! And please stay tuned for chapter four!