Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. I've said this…*counting on fingers*…twenty-six times? No, wait. This chapter makes twenty-seven. Have I said it enough yet?

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#70: The Sinful

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#100: Harlequin

Holy crap. Already broken one hundred reviews… It's only been a week… That right there shows the difference in how many readers I'm getting compared to this point in NQaP. Once again, I love you all.

Please note: It is not necessary to watch "Bleach: Memories of Nobody" to follow along with the coming chapters. It is recommended though. I know I'm re-watching it to refresh my memory (Laugh Track). It can be found on YouTube right now, but who knows how long that will last.

"Well, this is odd…" Ichigo crouched atop a streetlight, looking down at the white spirits milling about the shopping district. Never seen anything like these guys before…

"Hey! Strawberry!" Ichigo looked down to see Hiyori, Lisa, Mashiro, and Rukia standing under his perch. "What the hell's going on?"

"What makes you think I'd know?" Ichigo deadpanned. "Until a few months ago, I didn't even know about Hollows and Shinigami. You tell me what they are, Miss Centuries-Old-Shinigami."

Hiyori kicked the pole, causing it to tremble and nearly shake Ichigo off. "I've never seen these things either, Strawberry!"

"Sheesh…" Ichigo rolled his eyes and reached into his kimono. He pulled out the phone Urahara had given him before the invasion of Soul Society. He flicked through his contacts and hit 'Call'.

"ring…ring…ring…click…Urahara Shoten. How may I help you?"

"Hey, Tessai. Is Hat-and-Clogs conscious yet? We've got a bit of a mystery downtown."

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Kurosaki. You did do quite a number on him, after all. Perhaps you could describe the situation to me?"

Ichigo glanced at his phone then put it back to his ear. "I'll do you one better. Got an address I can send a picture to?"

"Of course." He gave Ichigo the number.

Ichigo snapped a couple pics of the strange spirits and emailed them to Tessai.

"Hmmm. They look familiar, but I can't quite recall where I've seen them. I'm not sure what they are."

"Seems to be the theme of the day…"

"I apologize. I'll show the manager when he awakens. I suggest trying a Konso for now. If that doesn't work, try to contain them until we can find out more about them."

"Thanks. Sorry to bother you." Ichigo ended the call. "Tessai says try to Konso them. If that doesn't work, we may want to give Hachi a call, so we keep them in one place," he said to the girls below him.

"Can you even perform Konso anymore?" Rukia asked.

Ichigo shrugged. "I was little busy training to take on an army. It never came up." He scratched at his mask fragment. "We probably shouldn't test it on something we've never seen before…"

"I agree," Lisa said, her Zanpakuto appearing from thin air. She drew the blade and tapped the hilt against the head of one of the white and pink spirits.

Absolutely nothing happened.

"Epic fail," Hiyori snickered.

"Guess we should call Hachi." Lisa sheathed her sword and turned back toward the group.

Behind her, the spirits' heads turned red and they all focused the Vizard, Shinigami, and Arrancar.

"Uh…Lisa?" Mashiro pointed over the black-haired Vizard's shoulder.

Lisa turned around just in time to become the bottom of a dog pile.

"Nevermind…"

"Panty-Flash Tornado!" The pile of spirits was sent flying in all directions. Lisa flipped to her feet as more of the spirits closed in.

"Any ideas?" Hiyori asked as the girls backed into a circle. They had no clue what these things were. They couldn't just go hacking away willy-nilly. Punches and kicks kept the spirits at bay, but more kept coming.

A group leaped into the air at Ichigo. The Arrancar snorted and jumped off the streetlight, smirking as the spirits crashed into each other and fell to the ground, apparently out cold.

Ichigo blinked as a sudden wind whipped up, carrying red and brown leaves with it.

"What the hell's with these leaves?" Hiyori yelled, slugging a spirit that had grabbed one of her pigtails. "It's frickin' summer!"

A gap in the horde provided the answer.

"A Shinigami?" Rukia gaped at the purple-haired girl gracefully slicing through spirit after spirit. "Stop! You can't just kill them! They're not Hollows!"

"Damn!" Ichigo Sonidoed, reappearing in the path of the Shinigami's next swing. Steel rang when it made contact with his iron-skinned palm.

The girl's eyes widened in shock as his hand closed around her Zanpakuto. "What the hell are you doing?"

"That's my line!" Ichigo yanked the Zanpakuto out the Shinigami's hands.

"Hey! Give that back, jerk!" She hopped up and down, trying to reach her sword, but Ichigo held it over his head, out of her reach.

"Was I not clear to the old man? Shinigami are supposed to stay out of Karakura!"

"Strawberry! Can you worry about that later?"

More of the odd spirits were appearing. Without using their Zanpakuto, sheer weight of numbers was starting to tell against Rukia and the three Vizard.

"Crap!" Ichigo grabbed the unknown Shinigami by the large bow around her waist and tucked her under his arm, ignoring her protests. "You're coming with me." He charged into the group of spirits, bowling them over. "'Scuse me! Pardon me! Gangway!" He skidded to a stop beside Rukia. "We might want to call Hachi now."

"No need, Ichigo. I'm already here."

"Clear out, everyone!" Shinji's voice warned.

"You heard him!" Hiyori punched a spirit out of the way and leaped into the air. Lisa and Mashiro were right behind her. Ichigo grabbed Rukia and followed, the purple-haired Shinigami still struggling in his other arm.

As soon as they were clear, a yellow-orange barrier flared to life around the spirits.

Ichigo dropped down beside the former Captain of the 5th. "I bet you think you look so cool, showing up out of nowhere like that."

Shinji grinned. Then he took a closer look at the spirits inside the barrier. "Oh? These look like Blanks."

"What the hell's a 'Blank'?" Ichigo asked.

"Those are Blanks," Shinji said, as if speaking to a small child, pointing to the trapped spirits. "Ow!" He cradled his skull, rubbing at the goose-egg Hiyori's sandal had left.

"Stupid Shinji! Quite acting all mysterious and tell us what they are!"

"Put me down, jerk!"

All discussion ceased as a small fist thudded into Ichigo's crotch. Ichigo blinked a few times before looking down. He smirked at the surprised Shinigami. "Didn't feel a thing."

Mentally, the Arrancar heaved a sigh of relief. Hierro, you are my new favorite power.

"What the heck are you?" the girl asked.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, Karakura's resident Arrancar, duh." Ichigo rolled his eyes. "You been living under a rock or something for the past week? Broke into Seireitei? Spent two days raising hell and kicking the crap out of everyone I came across? Frickin' Hollow invasion? Any of this ringing a bell?"

"Not a bit."

The group of Vizard exchanged looks and all shrugged their shoulders in confusion.

Questioning would have continued if Hachi's barrier hadn't started to crack.

Everyone familiar with the strength of Hachi's barriers stared in shock as the cracks expanded. With a sound like a thousand windows shattering at once, the barrier exploded and the Blanks poured out.

In the middle of the multitude, a white-haired man in armor stood. He smiled at the group, then he and the Blanks vanished into thin air.

"Well…that was odd," the purple-haired Shinigami said.

Ichigo snorted. "Please. You're in Karakura. Stuff like this is par for the course."

-x-

Orihime and Tatsuki arrived in the shopping district to find nothing out of the ordinary.

"Orihime, what's going on?" Tatsuki asked her friend, who was looking back and forth. She seemed to be trying to make a decision.

"I promise I'll explain soon, Tatsuki." Decision apparently made, Orihime took off again, heading for the stores.

"What the - ?" Tatsuki ran after her. "Orihime! Wait up!"

-x-

"You wanted to see me, Captain Soifon?" A young-looking, somewhat unkempt man stepped over the threshold of Soifon's office.

Soifon looked up from her paperwork and nodded. "Come in, Amagai. Please give me a moment."

Shusuke Amagai sat in front of his Captain's desk as she finished her paperwork. She placed the last form in her 'Out' box and turned her attention to Amagai.

"How did your patrol go?"

"Very well, Captain. I should have the report on your desk by this evening."

Soifon waved her hand dismissively. "It can wait. I imagine you'll have a lot to think over tonight."

Shusuke blinked. Captain Soifon, normally the picture of efficiency, telling him to take his time? What the heck was going on?

"I assume you read the reports of what happened while your team was out on patrol?"

"Yes ma'am. It was rather difficult to believe until I saw current state of the Seireitei."

Soifon nodded. "Short-term, there is little we can do, except start rebuilding. It will take a long time to get our numbers back up. However," she met Amagai's eyes, "the most important thing right now is to fill the empty Captain spots. Two Captains turned traitor, one is dead, and another alleged traitor unaccounted for. We cannot afford to have our strength so drastically reduced in the current situation."

"Captain?" Shusuke was starting to see where this was going.

"You are an excellent leader and without a doubt are the strongest man in this Division. I've respected your decision to stay a Patrol Leader, despite how much I wanted you as my Vice-Captain. You are loyal to your men. That is an excellent quality to have." She leaned over her desk, her gaze boring into Amagai. "But now Soul Society is facing a crisis. For the good of all the worlds, I'm asking you fill one of the four spots." She leaned back in her seat. "Take the night off. Think it over. If you accept, I'll recommend you to Captain-General Yamamoto."

Amagai sat silently for a few moments. Then he bowed low, his forehead touching the ground. "I don't feel I am worthy of such an important position, ma'am. But I will consider it."

Soifon nodded. "I will support your decision, whatever it may be."

Amagai stood up, bowed again, and left.

As the office door slid shut behind him, Amagai allowed a malevolent smile to cross his face for a brief moment before he schooled his features.

This was exactly what he had been waiting for.

-x-

"Whoa! This place is cool!" the unnamed Shinigami cried, seeming quite cheerful, despite being bound in a Bakudo #4: Hainawa.

After the encounter with the Blanks, Ichigo, Shinji, and Hachi had returned to the Vizards' warehouse with the Shinigami girl. Rukia and the Vizard girls had stayed in the shopping district. Obviously being attacked by spirits that had become lost in the Dangai (according to Shinji's extremely brief explanation) was not enough to counter the female obsession with shopping.

"Hey! Can you let me go? I've got an itch."

"If you'd quit trying to run off, we wouldn't have tied you up," Shinji answered.

"I don't see what the problem is. I'm a Shinigami. I was just doing my job," she huffed.

Ichigo groaned. "The problem is that this is Karakura Town. I told Soul Society just a few days ago that we don't want or need Shinigami here."

"As if the Soul Society would listen to a weirdo like you." She gasped. "Oh! I bet you guys are part of some prostitution ring!"

Ichigo, Shinji, and Hachi all sweatdropped at the sudden change in subject and evasion of their questions. Then what she actually said registered and they stared in shock at her misconception.

"That's it isn't it? You've kidnapped me and you're going to have your perverted way with my beautiful body and then sell me to the highest bidder when you get bored!"

"Say what?" Shinji leaned down in front of her and smiled. "Does this look like the face of a guy that would do something like that?"

"Yes," the girl and Ichigo said at the same time.

Shinji slumped in a corner, a dark cloud of despair hovering over him.

Kensei walked down the stairs, looked at Ichigo and Hachi standing over a bound female Shinigami (who's shihakusho had become rather disheveled from her earlier manhandling by Ichigo), saw Shinji sulking in the corner, and shook his head. "I don't even want to know." He turned around and walked back upstairs.

I'm sorry. I had to stop there. I don't think I'd be able to top Senna's accusations this chapter. That scene popped into my head and was too random and hilarious to not include.

Next chapter we'll see more plot advancement, some more characters will get introduced, and maybe a small skirmish or two. There will also be an explanation of the Blanks to bring Ichigo and those readers who have not seen the movie up to speed. Look forward to it!