Chapter 4 Awakening

"How could this happen to me I've made my mistakes, Got nowhere to run, the night goes on, As I'm fading away, I'm sick of this life, I just wanna scream how could this happen to me."

Tasha MacDowell felt the cool breeze of the night air hit her on her face as her husband opened the door of their burgundy jaguar. Finally snapping her out of the trance she had been in since the officer left her and her husband standing in the living room of their home. Daniel MacDowell had his hand outstretched towards his wife waiting for her to take it. She looked up at him she had tears at the corner of her eyes and they were threatening to spill over. "Danny if they're, if they're..." she trailed off. But there was no need for her to finish her sentence, Daniel knew what she was trying to say he had been thinking the same thing.

"Tasha, let's not get ahead of ourselves, let's just see what they have to say." Daniel gave her the best smile he could muster, "Here sweetheart take my hand." Tasha stepped out of the car grabbing a hold of her husband's hand not daring to let go. She looked down at her feet and inhaled deeply before looking back up into her husbands gray eyes, she squared her shoulders and nodded at Daniel. They walked hand and hand through the door's of Karakura General Hospital Emergency.

The couple looked at each other and smiled weakly before walking over to the reception desk, the nurse behind the counter looked up from her paperwork she smiled brightly and asked "How could can I be of service"

"Yes, uhm I'm Daniel MacDowell, this is my wife Tasha, we were told our daughters were in an accident and were brought here." Daniel gave the nurse a weak smile

"Okay sir I need their names."

"Denae, Cheyenne, Mitchie, and Alex MacDowell." There names shook off his tongue. The nurse's smile faded and her eyelids slightly drooped. She stood from her desk and smiled this time a bit more forcefully.

"Please have a seat, I will get the doctor." Daniel and Tasha saw the change in the nurses disposition but decided to ignore it . They were going to think positive, even though nothing gave them a reason to. Officer Samson failed to give them any information. He just said that the girls had been in an accident, and that they were needed at the hospital. He had offered to give them a ride, but Daniel didn't want his rattled wife in the back seat of a patrol car, although she seemed rather put together he knew it wouldn't take much to send her over the edge. They sat down in the first available seats not to far from the reception desk. There were very few people there and the room was rather quiet. The waiting room was very welcoming it had soft earth tones for wall paint and brown cushioned chairs, a water fountain to the left, and a 42' flat panel t.v. off to the right showing the news(and after the break more from Nelliel coming to us live with Tragedy on the bridge),

Tasha was still holding onto Daniels hand, she rested her head on his shoulders letting out a long sigh. "My daughters are strong and very powerful...I'm sure in a matter of minutes I will see Alex running to me asking for something outrageous while Cheyenne rolls her eyes... their okay...their okay." She closed her eyes and nodded "Yes, nothing to worry about, nothing at all" she told herself. Daniel looked down at the top of his wife's head. Her breathing was even, and she was stroking the back of his hand, he knew she was doing it absentmindedly. She had to be thinking of their children, of their daughters.

"Daddy Hummers are the safest cars ever and if you love us you would want us to be safe." He chuckled to himself as Alex voice rang out in his head,she always knew how to con him. She was his baby girl, and although her powers were the weakest of the bunch she more than made up for it with her strong personality.

"What kind of accident, could my daughters be in, with their kind of powers." He thought to himself. "Mitchie had the least control of her powers, but her sisters more than made up for that; didn't they". He shook his head "no they are alright, I am being foolish they are alright nothing but minor cuts and bruises, right."

"Ahem" someone cleared their throat obviously trying to get the attention of the bewildered parents. Daniel and Tasha MacDowell looked up to see a young man in his late 20's or early 30's looking at them. He had short blonde curly hair, and aqua blue eyes. He had flawless tanned skin. He wore green scrubs with a white lab coat. "Hello" he began "My name is Dr. Carlise Cullen; are you Daniel and Tasha MacDowell."

"Yes we are" Daniel answered.

"Could you please follow me." The doctor turned on his heels and began walking towards a door to the far right of the waiting area. The lights were turned off and it was very small room. It had had four chairs and a coffee table. Two chairs were on opposite sides of the table. Dr. Cullen turned on the lights and gestured for the couple to have a seat. He closed the door and sat in a chair on the opposite side of the parents. He sat up right shoulders squared with his arms rested on his thighs and his hands folded in front of him. He inhaled deeply before he spoke. "I am sure you were told that your four daughters were in an accident." The parents nodded, Dr Cullen inhaled deeply again and closed his eyes for a second before continuing. "There was a family that went over the Karakura Bridge in their car. Two adults, and two children." Tasha gasped and began shaking her head. She knew there was no way her daughters would stand by and watch a family drown. "Your daughters jumped in to save the family."

"Doctor their okay right, please just let me see them, I just need to see them." Tasha MacDowell went to stand but Daniel held her firmly in her chair. He whispered in her ear.

"Tasha let him finish, remember who are daughters are...we will see them soon" He turned to the doctor and nodded for him to finish.

"The water in the river was very wild today, and unfortunately...I'm sorry to have to say this...but two of your daughters didn't make it." Daniel and Tasha's eyes grew wide and their breath hitched. Did he just say two of their daughters were dead. The doctor continued "The other two were revived at the scene but the paramedics were unsure of how long they had been without oxygen, we are running tests to determine if there is any brain activity, or..or if they are brain dead."

"Oh my God no! no! no!, please you. you have to be mistaken." Tasha's composure was finally shattered, and tears began to stream down her cheeks as her breathing became more rapid she grasped at her chest. She was trying to collect herself maybe she didn't hear the doctor correctly. Daniel spoke the words she didn't want to hear, the words she was sure the doctor hadn't said.

"Doctor are you telling us, that two of our daughters are dead and the other two might be brain dead."

Doctor Cullen nodded his head. "Yes. I'm very sorry for your loss Mr and Mrs MacDowell. Daniel's body began to tremble from head to toe he buried his face in the palms of his hands and began to shake his head side to side. Tasha stood up and walked over to the doctor and knelt down at his feet grabbing a hold of his hands.

"Please doctor there is a mistake, please you don't know our girls this is a horrible mistake." She looked at him sky blue staring into aqua blue as if wielding him to give her the answer she wanted.

"I'm sorry ma'am there is no mistake" he shook his head and took a hold of her hands and rubbed them.

Tasha stood up and sat in the seat next to the doctor, directly in front of her husband she began, rocking herself and chanting "no, no, no, not my babies...please God not all of my babies"

"Please wait here, we will come for you when the test are done." Dr. Cullen stood up to exit, he was nearly out the door before he heard a cracked whisper coming from Daniel.

"Doctor which one of our daughters are dead?"

Meanwhile

Rangiku, the busty red, head was walking rather fast through the Rukon district. She really wasn't in a hurry she was just trying to lose the little pink haired chipper kid that became her shadow for the day. Yachiru skipped along at Rangiku's right side. She was humming a tune to herself and was having no problem at all keeping up with Rangiku. Yachiru looked like a six year old girl she was dressed in the standard black soul reaper uniform and she was playing in her pink hair. "Chesty do you have any idea where you're going you probably should let me lead" Yachiru looked up at Rangiku with a wide smile.

Rangiku gave Yachiru a huff and quickened her pace. They rounded a corner when suddenly they heard a loud crash, up ahead about ten feet away a large crowd was gathered. "Hmmph looks like the locals are gathered once again to select the village idiotic brute, we don't have time for this let's go a different way Yachiru." Rangiku was about to turn around and head the opposite direction when she heard a female voice rang out.

"Hime, seriously get off of him we don't need this shit right now." The voice sound like it was coming from the center of the make shift ring.

"No, next time he will think twice before he decides to grab a woman's ass." another woman answered, probably! Hime. The ground began to tremble and it took Rangiku no time at all to figure out who the man was that began all of this trouble because the next thing she knew he was flying through the air and had landed at her feet. She looked down at him, both of his eyes were black and he had a bloody split on his bottom lip. She was about to speak but Yachiru began laughing and pointing at him.

"You got beat up by a girl, my Kenni would never want to fight a wimp like you," she said. She was now rolling on her back with her hand over her mouth trying to control her laughter. Rangiku rolled her eyes and walked over to the now dispersing crowd.

"Okay, Hime was that necessary, he was actually kind of cute." A girl with auburn hair had her hands on her hips and was talking to another girl with her same hair color. She was wearing black pants and a red and white plaid shirt. There were two other girls with them both with blonde hair they too were glaring at the girl with arms across their chest.

"You know Mitchie you are a little too nice sometimes, just a little too nice," Hime answered she was flipping her hair and brushing the dirt off her arms and pants.

"Excuse me!" Rangiku had walked up to the four girls, there was something off about their spiritual pressure. The others may have thought that the minor earthquake from moments before was nothing, but Rangiku knew better. "I saw the way you girls handled that brute over there, do you like to fight."

"Look lady, we don't know who you are, but that guy was asking for it, we don't go around looking for trouble, if that's what you are insinuating." A young girl with blonde hair and gray eyes spoke.

"Lex that's enough, we don't need anymore fights today." The other blonde haired gray eyed girl spoke, her outstretched hand towards Rangiku. "Hi, my name is Denae, these are my younger sisters, Cheyenne, Mitchie and the rude one here is Alex, would you mind telling us where we are and how we can get back to Karakura Town."

"Hmm" Rangiku began rubbing her chin, how was she going to tell these girls, that they were dead. "Well no need to beat around the bush" she thought. "Uhm, you are in the Rukon district of the Soul Society, you can't go back to Karukura Town because...because you're dead." She expected them to start yelling at her, she expected the little blonde haired meanie to maybe take a swing at her but what she didn't expect was for them to start laughing.

"Oh yeah, if we are dead, then why don't we remember it, I mean I think we would remember dying." The blonde haired meanie Alex had her hands on her hips and face turned up. "So, cut the bullshit lady and just tell us how to get home."

"It's Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto, and like I said before you are dead and this place is your home now." She about had it with these girls if they didn't want to listen to her why waste her breath, she was about to leave when she heard the oldest one speak to her.

"Do you know Gin Ichimaru" Rangiku turned her gaze to the oldest Denae she was looking down at her feet avoiding the shocked looks of her sisters "He told us to find him when, when we got here" she lifted her head to meet Rangiku's gaze.

"How do you know Captain Ichimaru?" The other girls heads snapped towards Rangiku their mouths were wide open, this had to be an elaborate joke. No they couldn't be dead. They looked back at their older sister searching her face for an answer. She always had the answers, but instead she spoke to Rangiku.

"Will you please take us to him?"

"Denny you can't be serious, we're not dead we're not..." Cheyenne shook her head side to side, she then grabbed Denae's shoulders and began shaking the blonde haired girl. Someone had to knock some sense into her, because they weren't dead they couldn't be.

"That's enough Hime, now isn't the time to fight me, we have to go." Denae looked at Rangiku "Will you please take us to Gin Ichimaru, I'm sure he has answers."

"Well there goes my spa day," Rangiku said under her breath. She turned on her heels and began walking back towards the Sereitei. "Hey you haven't seen a pink haired demon around have you?" Rangiku asked an elderly woman standing near by. The woman shook her head. Rangiku shrugged her shoulders "Oh well, I guess she got bored and ran off" The girls followed Rangiku in silence none wanting to address the obvious question. After walking for what had seemed like forever and a day, the girls walked through the gate to a place Rangiku called the Sereitei. The buildings were much cleaner, and better taken care of and it almost seem like the sun shined brighter here. The place they just left had dirt roads and run down shacks as homes. This place was the exact opposite with its perfectly paved streets and nicely built homes and buildings. Even more strange all the inhabitants were wearing the same robes as Rangiku and carrying swords.. "Sooo, you never said how it is that you happen to know Captain Ichimaru."

"Lieutenant Matsumoto who are these individuals you've escorted into the confines of the Sereitei?." A tall man with gray eyes asked, he had long black hair and was wearing the same black robes as everybody else but with a white haori, a pale green silk scarf and white fingerless gloves. He looked disgusted as he began to study the girls one by one until his angry gray eyes fell upon seething jade green eyes that seemed equally disgusted. She spoke before he had a chance.

"Who the hell are you to judge? I see the way you are looking at us!" The ground began to tremble "Ever since we got here it's been one incident after another!"

"CHEYENNE!" The other three girls screamed. Cheyenne closed her eyes and began to breathe slowly in and out until the ground stopped shaking. She opened her eyes to see the man still looking at her with wide eyes. She knew that look, it was oh so familiar, here we go again, she thought he could never understand. But his gaze softened and he took one step closer to her before he spoke.

"You must learn to control your emotions and not let them control you." He inched closer to her face and she could feel his warm breath. "Do you often lose control?"

"No, never!"

"Hmm, then why is the ground trembling again?"

Cheyenne inhaled but couldn't let her breath go, usually when she lost it she knew she was losing it and could instantly gain control of her power, but this time she hadn't realized she was shaking the earth. "He smelled so good and his voice, his voice..."

"You're doing it again"

"Shit" Cheyenne slapped her hand over her mouth. Her sisters were behind her laughing their asses off. She secretly wished that she had her ipod right then, she just wanted to drown the world out with the sweet sounds of Metallica or maybe even a little Insane Clown Posse.

"Captain Kuichiki, these women have requested to be taken to Captain Ichimaru...they know him and." Rangiku was cut off by said Captain.

"Are you in the habit of taking ryoka directly to a Captain; Lieutenant Matsumoto?" Captain Kuichiki stated while still eyeing Cheyenne.

"No Captain, just ryoka named Denae, Cheyenne, Mitchie and Alex." She finished her sentence with a smile on her face.

Captain Kuichiki eyes widened for a second before he stepped aside he began to walk away but spoke in a monotone voice "Very well then, be on your way" He stopped and turned and looking back at Cheyenne "I will see you again, try not to destroy any buildings in the mean time." He flashed a quick half smile before turning to walk away.

"Well that was odd, even for Captain Kuichiki, well then time to be on our way, this way." Rangiku turned on her heels and began walking towards squad three. After walking a little further they reached their destination. Rangiku knocked once and entered "Oh Gin you have visitors...are you busy?"

The cool voice floated through the open door and it sent a chill down Denae's spine "My my Rangiku, if I said I was busy would it matter." There was a chuckle "Very well let them in." Rangiku poked her head out and gestured for them to enter with her head. No one moved at first. This was awkward, they were outside of the office of the man who told them they were going to die, was he psychic, or was he just a crazed maniac because for all they knew he could have been the one that killed them. They all turned and looked at Denae.

"What! why are you all looking at me?" Denae looked scared and confused a look that never graced her face... ever.

"I mean Denny, you did hit it off with him best...you know." Alex shrugged her shoulders and started singing "Oye Loca! Ven pa'ca" she began imitating her sisters dance moves from the night in question.

Denae exhaled sharply she closed her eyes and tried to remember the man's face but was drawing a blank. She remembered the attraction oh God did she remember. Well hopefully he remembered her face maybe even her put her shoulders back and raised her chin and marched right into his office, she stopped two steps in and froze on the spot leaving her sisters no option but to walk right into her.

Gin sat at his desk his smile faded and his eyes flew open; yes people his sky blue eyes were open and they were staring right into Denae's gray eyes. He slowly stood up from his desk and whispered "Chakka Zai."

Meanwhile

Daniel and Tasha MacDowell stood in the hallway, just outside the door of their daughters' hospital room, rooted to the spot unable to move forward or backwards. Doctor Cullen told them that their daughters had some brain activity but not much. There was significant amount of brain damage and they had to be kept on life support. It was unlikely that either girl would ever wake up and if they did they would never be the same. So Daniel and Tasha just stood there looking at their daughters both lying in hospital beds. Denae and Cheyenne, their two eldest daughters were still alive; but just barely. Tubes and I.V's coming from everywhere and their chests rising and falling in unison, those two had always been in sync. But now watching them breathe together, felt like a cruel joke because it wasn't really them breathing in unison but the machines breathing for them. Tasha closed her eyes and tears began to streak down her face, she felt Daniel grab her hand as he began sobbing. She tried to remember her daughters voices, their laughs, a time where they were all happy. But she couldn't the only thing she could hear was the sounds of those God awful machines.

Beep...Beep...Beep.

Songs used in this chapter

Untitled-Simple Plan

Thank-you to those who kept with this story thus far, don't worry smexy time will be coming soon as well as more face time with our favorite soul reapers :)