"It's a miracle!" Isshin shouted as he threw his arms into the air, "A truck plows through our house and we don't get so much as a single scratch!"

The entire Shade family stood outside their home, staring at the large hole that had once been their kitchen. Isshin was ecstatic while Jake seemed to be in slight shock. Tegan and Syke looked at each other in disbelief but for completely different reasons.

Tegan sighed. "What I wanna know," she said, "is how it happened and none of you woke up. I mean, I was drugged outta my mind but surely something like that would've been heard by someone." She paused then turned to Isshin, "And why did the police wait until the morning to let us know what happened?"

Isshin shrugged. "Maybe they didn't want to wake us up." he said casually.

Syke watched as Tegan twitched before her sister and father began to argue. She looked to the house, grateful that no one knew the truth but still wondering. What had happened to Rukia?

"Oh no!" Jake's cries cut her from her thoughts. "My homework was in there!"

He ran into the house through the newly made door in search of the missing papers.

Tegan stepped up next to Syke, Isshin now in a crumpled heap on the ground.

"We have a nerd for a brother." she deadpanned, watching Jake run around frantically.

Syke merely nodded in agreement.

Monday morning, Tegan and Syke headed towards school, both exhausted from the previous day's work. As soon as they reached their classroom, Tegan dropped into her seat at her desk and placed her head on her arms - ready for a nap. Syke sat down more gracefully, keeping an eye out for their teacher.

As class had yet to start, students were all over the classroom, catching up from a weekend apart.

None of the others from their group were in their class. Match was a year below them and all of the others were a year above. The only reason Tegan and Syke were in the same class was because Isshin had waited to enroll Tegan so that they could enter school together.

Syke's attention was diverted as two of her classmates headed towards her. Keigo and Mizuiro were two guys that she would hang out with once in a while – they amused her.

It was obvious that they had something important (to them at least) to talk about. Keigo was practically skipping towards her and Mizuiro had a gleam in his eye that Syke had learned to be wary of. She braced herself as they neared her.

"So," Mizuiro drawled, leaning forward in interest. "I heard something interesting the other day."

Oh no. Not another rumor. Mizuiro was known for hearing all the little details of people's lives whether they were true or not. He used them to his advantage too. Syke had watched him practically rip apart some guy's social life just for talking to him wrong. Thankfully, that was years ago and Mizuiro had mellowed some and did not resort to blackmail at every opportunity to get what he wanted.

"That so?" Syke drawled out, wondering if her display of disinterest would irritate the boy.

Keigo, however, would have none of the mind games as he blurted out, "We heard a truck ran into your house!"

Oh. Syke relaxed. Was that all? She had been slightly worried for a moment.

"Yeah," she confirmed, nodding her head, "pretty much. Tegan was furious about it and Dad…. Well, you know how Dad is."

Keigo nodded furiously all the while shuddering in remembrance of the eldest Shade as Mizuiro hummed thoughtfully.

"Hello there!"

A voice broke the trio out of their musings - a bright, cheerful, hideously familiar voice. Syke felt a chill travel down her spine and turned to see who had approached them even as her mind already made the connections.

Rukia Kuchiki stood before them - dressed in the school uniform.

Syke jumped up in horror and from the corner of her eye, she could see Tegan peeking out from her arms in curiosity. Meanwhile, Rukia remained standing there, smiling cheerfully at Syke.

Mizuiro's face lighted up. "Oh yeah." he said, "I almost forgot. We got a new student today. Rukia Kuchiki."

Keigo smiled dreamily, "Isn't she something?"

Syke was not paying attention; she was still trying to figure out just how it was possible. How was Rukia Kuchiki standing in front of her at that moment?

Mizuiro then noticed his friend's strange reaction and looked to her inquiringly. "Is something the matter Syke?" he asked innocently, causing Syke's head to whip around towards him in disbelief. Thankfully, Rukia's next statement kept her from making an even bigger scene.

"Oh my! You must be the person that the principal said would be showing me around. Syketon Shade, right?" Rukia gave a slight curtsey, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Keigo sighed dreamily again and Mizuiro looked to Syke.

"Is that why you just freaked out, Syke? You forgot to show around the new girl?" he asked.

Syke hesitated then nodded vigorously as she spoke hurriedly, "Know what, why don't I just go show her around right now? If you'll excuse me!"

She reached around, grabbed Rukia's arm and – faster than the girl could blink – dragged her out of the room. Mizuiro and Keigo watched with amusement as their friend disappeared through the door, dragging the confused transfer student with her.

Syke did not stop running until she and Rukia had reached an abandoned walkway outside. Breathing heavily, she released Rukia and paused to catch her breath. When she was breathing normally again, she turned to the petite girl with eyes narrowed.

Rukia merely smirked back at her.

"How come the others can see you?" Syke demanded abruptly, crossing her arms.

"I don't know what you mean," Rukia answered silkily but she was still smiling.

"Don't give me that! You're a Shinigami!" Syke exploded. "That's like a ghost, right? They shouldn't be able to see you without the use of special cameras! Or at least you shouldn't be this solid!"

Rukia obviously never had any intention of convincing her that she was just a normal human. She was just doing this to see Syke's reaction; the human girl could see it in her face. As though worried about being overheard, Rukia glanced to the left, right, and around them before she whispered lowly with a sparkle in her eyes, "I'm in a gigai."

"What the fuck is that?"

"Watch your language." Rukia admonished sharply, eyes narrowing.

"Tell me what a damn gigai is, and I'll watch my fucking language."

This caused Rukia to roll her eyes.

"It's an artificial body. We Shinigami use them if we are weakened or wish to be seen by the general populace."

Syke decided not to go further into how an 'artificial body' was supposed to work. Instead she questioned, "Why are you here in my school?"

Rukia's smile faded as she became serious for the first time today. "I need your help, Syke."

"Why do you need my help?" Syke asked warily.

"I meant to give you only part of my powers the other night. But…somehow, you got them all. My zanpakuto is gone, my kido is useless, I can't do anything I used to. But the Hollows are still here, Syke. I need you to help me fight them now that you have the power. At least until I get my own powers back."

Syke's response? "You're joking."

"Does it look like I'm joking?"

"It looks to me like you're insane."

Rukia stared hard at her shock. "Surely you're not serious?"

"I think we've already gone over this. And don't call me Shirley."

"Syketon!" Rukia hissed. "Don't you remember why I gave you my powers?" Syke winced at the memory, it was still fresh even after having been several days ago.

"Ok, ok." She sighed, "I get it." Syke rubbed at her brow in irritation. She really did not want to get involved any more than she already had but the memory of that creature…. If there was more of those running around then she wouldn't be able to just sit around doing nothing. She already knew what her answer would be; there was no denying the point.

Grimacing, Syketon braced herself for what she was about to say – for the pledge that she was going to take.

"I'll help you." She promised, eyes locking with Rukia's.

Tegan Shade was a lot of things – lazy, manipulative …. schizophrenic – but she was not stupid. Nor was she ignorant. Syketon never freaked out over something so simple.

'Forgetting to show the new girl around, puh-lease.' She mentally scoffed, eyes trained on the door that her sister had just disappeared through.

~Paranoid~ A distorted voice brushed the edge of her mind, followed by another's laughter. Tegan grimaced but otherwise did not respond. Her doctor had recently been getting on to her for doing so. She honestly did not see what the problem was. She had only been telling the two of them to "shut up and mind their own damn business." Apparently, however, doing so was just "encouraging her inner demons." Tegan scoffed at her own memories. Sometimes, her doctor was an idiot.

Syketon did not return to class that hour. Hell, she did not return to class at all and it had Tegan slightly worried as she headed home by herself. Sure, she was glad that Syke was finally skipping school for once but still, it was so unlike her sister… And that transfer student had not returned either. Curiouser and Curiouser.

"Tegan!"

Tegan was pulled out of her thoughts by Kita's yell and she turned to greet her friend with a smile.

"Wazzup, Ki?"

Kita rolled her eyes at the nickname. "Must you call me that?" she groaned even though her words were teasing.

"Of course." Tegan answered easily, all too familiar with this particular conversation, "It annoys you, does it not?"

"Jerk."

"Dumbass."

They simultaneously stuck their tongues out at each other before continuing down the road together. The two of them had been friends for years and knew each other well, which was why Tegan could tell that Kita was not in as great a mood as she displayed.

"So, what's the matter?" she questioned, pulling the left strap of her bag over her shoulder. Damn thing was far too heavy to carry on one side.

Kita huffed, crossing her arms in irritation. "People were weird today." She informed Tegan, who merely furrowed her eyebrows.

"Aren't they always?"

"Well," Kita paused a moment, "Yeah. But I mean, they were weirder than normal today. Pyro was on edge so bad that he was almost twitchy, Match was almost a down right bitch at lunch, and Kyvain was acting depressed! Then you an' Syke didn't even bother to show up at lunch and save me from them." She glared at Tegan through her bangs, "Thanks a lot for that by the way."

"You're welcome." Tegan automatically replied. Huh, the group was acting odd.

"Maybe it's in the air." She muttered to herself, semi-forgetting that Kita was next to her.

"What?"

Tegan's eyes snapped to Kita in surprise before she elaborated, "Oh well, Syke was actin' weird today as well. She actually ran out of school first period. Never came back."

"You're kidding. Syke?"

Tegan shook her head in amusement, "Yeah, surprised me too."

"Gonna tell your dad?"

"Hell no. There's no telling what that old goat would make of it."

Kita laughed at that, "True."

They continued on in silence, unaware that their friend's life was taking a new path and that they would soon be following.