I do not own bleach so stop rubbing it in! I give full credit to the creators of the show and I thank my reviewers for their reviews. It makes me happy.

Chapter seven.

Kumiko flash stepped for her life through out Seireitei. She had been doing this for the past few hours. She knew there was no way to actually get beyond the wall. She just had to play keep away until Ichigo came. But that was proven to be more difficult than it seemed. Right now she just lost a whole stinking unit of shinigami. She was faster than most of them but some were actually able to keep up for a time.

Kumiko desperately tried to look for a place to hide. She looked up and saw a big hill with stairs going up the side of the cliff. She hoped that up there that there would be a place to hide. She began to flash step in that direction and was there in a matter of minutes. She panted for a little while and continued to flash step up the stairs.

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"The captain's meeting will now commence," Yamamoto Captain of the first squad said, holding his walking stick. Everyone minus one was present.

"What's going on?" Shunsui asked, adjusting his hat.

"The child ryoka has escaped. Who is the one that did the test?" Yamamoto asked, his eyes closed.

"I did. That child could not have possible have been able to use kido," Kurotsuchi said, stepping forward.

"Well she did," Yamamoto said. "Who talked to the child last?"

"I did," Hitsugaya said, staring at Yamamoto.

"What was she talking about?" Yamamoto asked, "You said you had wanted to see me last night, was it because of what she said?"

"Yeah, it was." Hitsugaya said, arms crossed. He looked over at Captain Kurotsuchi and asked, "How do you know that kid, Kurotsuchi?"

Everyone was shocked at that comment.

"What are you talking about boy?!" Kurotsuchi said angrily but slightly nervous, "I merely took the test that's all!!"

"Really, because I have information that proves otherwise," Hitsugaya said, his eyes narrowed.

"Please explain yourself, Captain Hitsugaya," Yamamoto said, indifferently.

"I had obtained permission to use Shinri Tate by Captain Yamamoto last night. I questioned her about the test. She happened to bring up Kurotsuchi in it. Apparently he was not exactly thrilled with her being there."

"You make it sound like he knows her." Soi fong said her face serious.

"I'm saying he does. She claims to remember him from the beginning of her childhood. He had ordered her to be killed when his experiment became a rumor about fifty years ago. Captain Ukitake was with me when questioning her. She was brought up by two people who stopped the shinigami from murdering her. Seeing Captain Kurotsuchi scared the heck out of her."

"Outrageous!!" Kurotsuchi said, fuming.

"Are you saying that the child was lying under Shinri Tate? An armor pendant built to make suspects tell the entire truth?" Byakuya said, his eyes shut.

Kurotsuchi was furious but silent.

"That matter will be dealt with latter. Right now the child is running around Seireitei somewhere. According from several sources, she has quite a speedy flash step. She has not attacked anyone but I still wish for her to be brought to me. Kurotsuchi I want you nowhere near this child. That is an order," Yamamoto said, opening his eyes.

Kurotsuchi forced a nod but was enraged.

"We can not afford right now to have all the Captains go out and look for this child. Captain Kuchiki, Captain Aizen, and Captain Hitsugaya will go looking for her. Everyone else presume your duties."

"Hai!!"

------

Ichigo sat trying to figure out how the stupid orb thing worked. He stubbornly tried again only for it to fail.

"Man why are you trying so hard to rescue this shinigami girl. Do you love her?" Ganju asked, finally feed up with watching the dude fail at making the shield.

"No."

"Did you make some vow to save her?"

"…"

"Did she pay you to come and save her?"

"NO!!"

"Then what!!"

"I owe her!!"

Ganju was shocked. He owed her?

"She saved my life once. In fact she saved my family's life if I think about it." Ichigo said, "Besides, they took Kumiko away."

"Kumiko?" asked Ganju.

"Yeah she is a little girl who came with us. She got taken when we tried going through the gate."

"Little …girl? They took…"

"Yeah she's little compared to the rest of everyone else. She's got these big blue-grayish eyes and dark hair." Ichigo said, becoming furious at himself for letting her get taken, "She's got a smile that's a mile wide. She didn't really even want to come all that much. She only came because of me."

Ganju sniffled and broke out into sobs, "THAT'S HORRIBLE!! THIS IS THE WORSE THING THAT SHINIGAMI HAVE EVER DONE!! TAKING A SWEET INNOCENT GIRL BECAUSE AN IDIOT LIKE YOU WANTED TO COME SAVE SOMEBODY!! THAT POOR LITTLE GIRL! WAAAAAAA!"

Ichigo grimaced as Ganju tried to stop bawling like a baby. He straightened up and wiped away his tears.

-----

Kumiko panted sitting on the cold ground. Her legs felt a little worn out from running so much.

She had been running and hiding for four stinking days. She didn't want to be caught by anybody but still didn't have a plan. She was very good a finding and hiding reiatsu. She was very good at flash steps. But after a while, you become tired of doing it.

She was now hiding in a dark alley way. She would have to move again to a safer spot eventually. She had been only able to rest a good few hours. She rested between the garbage pails and the corner, for about an hour.

Then she felt it.

-------

Rukia watched Ganju fall from Byakuya's blade.

"Ganju-san," Hanatarou said, horrified. Byakuya turned and looked at Hanatarou.

"Stop, Nii-sama!!" Rukia said standing in front of Hanatarou. Byakuya did not faze by her comment and brought his hand around.

But only to be stopped by someone else.

"My, my. I would stop right there, Captain Kuchiki," Ukitake said, friendly like.

"Captain Ukitake!!" Rukia said, shocked.

"Howdy Kuchiki. You've lost some weight." Ukitake said with a wave.

"What do you think you're doing, Ukitake," Byakuya said, dangerously.

"Hey, hey, that's my line. Releasing ones shikai is a class one felony. What are you thinking Captain Kuchiki?" Ukitake said seriously.

"Permission has been granted. The situation is to be considered a war affair."

"Has it become that serious?!"

Suddenly a huge reiatsu hit them.

"What is this?" Ukitake asked, shocked.

Ichigo then appeared in front of Rukia but was facing Byakuya.

"Yo," Ichigo said smirking.

"Ichigo!!" Rukia said horrified, "What are you doing here?! I told you not to come after me!! I will never forgive you!!"
"Shut up already!" Ichigo said furious. "Everyone came to save your but. Even Kumiko came, who you've seem to piss off to the extreme."

"Kumiko…" Rukia said, wide eyed.

"Yeah, some Captain took her away," Ichigo said, his grip tightening on his sword.

"ICHI-NI-SAN!!!"

Ichigo spun around only to have something grab his head. He stumbled back almost falling over the railing. Everyone looked shocked.

"KUMIKO!!! GET OFF-" Ichigo froze in mid sentence.

"Kumiko!!" He hugged her only to have her foot make contact with his chin.

"You idiot!! Because of you I got dragged away by some creepy Captain only to be threatened by some other creepy Captain! Then they put this weird thing on me and two nice Captains asked me questions and gave me chicken ramen. But then I got shut away in a really cold cell and I broke out only to have people chasing me with kantana's for the past FOUR DAY'S!!" Kumiko said, pointing accusingly at Ichigo who was on the ground. Rukia sweat dropped, along with everyone else.

"Gomen, I probably deserved that," muttered Ichigo, kneeling.

"Kumiko-san!!" Ukitake said, shocked. He had been resting for a while, he wasn't aware she escaped.

"Ah! Captain Ukitake-san! Captain Kuchiki-san!" Kumiko's attitude change drastically to a happy manner. She somehow forced Ichigo to get up and pointed at Ukitake.

"He was one of the nice Captains. He gave me the chicken ramen!" She held onto Ichigo's hand like there was no tomorrow. Ichigo was glaring at Byakuya who was simply staring back.

"Kumiko stand back," Ichigo said, seriously.

"Why?" Kumiko asked, looking from Byakuya to Ichigo.

"Because I'm going to defeat them and get you and everyone else out of here," Ichigo stated simply. Byakuya stepped forward.

"I am going to end this minor affair," Byakuya said, softly, "I am not sure how you regained shinigami powers. But you should have stayed home and lived."

"I will once I save Rukia," Ichigo said, plainly.

"Once I defeat you, Rukia will go back in the tower and wait for her executed and the child will go to Yamamoto. He will decide what happens to her." Kumiko gulped, but refused to get scared again.

"I won't allow it." Kumiko went on Ichigo's back again, refusing to do anything else. But Ichigo didn't mind at the moment. Just as long as he was able to protect her.

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