Hi guys. It's garganta. I can't believe how many of you have my story in their favorite- and alert-list! It really makes me proud! Thank you all so much! And thank you all for your really nice reviews, especially LeftHRyder- you reviewed "New Life" from the very first chapter up until now after all. Thanks for that! I really hope you'll enjoy it till the end :)

O Aiko, where art thou?

Aiko opened her eyes after the insanely bright light disappeared and she looked around. She was in the middle of a completely deserted path, to her left and right shabby shacks. She stood up shakily and looked for a tall guy with bright orange hair but only saw a few heads peeking through dirty and/or broken windows.

An old, bald man with a fuzzy white beard and a slightly crooked stance approached her slowly, looking gently at her, trying not to scare her off.

"Hello, little girl, what's your name? I am Akaze Takashi. It seems like you just died and were sent here by a shinigami? What a shame, in such a young age…" He trailed off.

Aiko backed off a little; she was beginning to get slightly panicked. The old man recognized that and stopped walking to her, giving her space but kept on talking to her.

"Do you know where you are, little girl?"

Aiko tried to stay calm, but had a hard time doing so. She was scared.

"S-s-soul S-s…" she started but trailed off. She couldn't remember the correct name anymore.

What was it again? Something with soul, I am sure.

"It's Soul Society, little girl. This is West Rukongai District 43 to be exact. You are lucky to have landed here…you could have get it much worse. We are not exactly wealthy around here and there are some struggling every day for food and clean water but the crime rate is not that high. You were sent here by a shinigami, weren't you? Someone with a black kimono and a sword?" He explained.

Yes, Kurosaki-san suddenly had these things on and tapped the bottom of his sword against my forehead…why had he all those weird things on anyways? He looked like a samurai-hero or something like that, but didn't this old man-san say something about shinigamis?

Aiko unconsciously touched her forehead as she thought about all that. She suddenly realized that that old man-san always referred to her as 'little girl' and she couldn't have that.

"Uh, my name i-is Urugawa Aiko an- and you are r-right, K-Kurosaki-san sent me here and h-he said h-he a-and Kuchiki Rukia-san w-would l-look for me…" she stammered.

What am I thinking? I only talked to him a few hours maybe…he wouldn't care for me and waste his time on searching for me…but he promised me…didn't he?

She was startled as she heard several gasps as more and more of the inhabitants walked out of their shabby homes.

"Did you say Kurosaki- san? Like Kurosaki Ichigo? And Kuchiki Rukia? You have some really famous friends, you know that?"

"Huh? What d-do you mean, old man- san? Are you f-friends with Kurosaki-san?" She asked, getting more confident as she began to think that those people wouldn't hurt her.

The old man dropped a sweat at how Aiko referred to him but ignored it for now.

"No, we never saw Kurosaki Ichigo nor Kuchiki Rukia, but we surely heard of them. Kurosaki Ichigo defeated Aizen Sosuke, a very evil man. And Kuchiki Rukia first lived in South Rukongai District 78, a very bad place to grow up. But she was adopted a long time ago by Kuchiki Byakuya, the head of one of the four noble houses in Soul Society and was about to be executed a little more than 2 years ago. But Kurosaki Ichigo rescued her. You know, things like these spread very fast around the districts, even though there are so many."

Aiko could just listen in awe, her eyes wide and her moth slightly open. It was quite a lot to take in. Kurosaki- san a famous hero and Kuchiki Rukia-san an adopted member of a noble house. And a criminal? She was about to be executed after all.

I have to ask Kurosaki-san about that. If he'll come at all,…but he will come and get me, he promised!

After Takashi assumed, that Aiko didn't have to say something to what he just told her, he decided to offer her a place to stay.

"You could stay with me and my wife, Yoshiko, here," he said and pointed at a gentle looking, small woman with loosely braided white hair. "You said that Kurosaki Ichigo would come to look for you didn't you? While you wait you can stay with us."

"Yes, we would love to have you with us, Aiko-chan." Yoshiko smiled kindly at her. "But be warned, Aiko-chan. Don't get your hopes too high, that Kurosaki-sama will find you so soon. Rukongai is big, and once a Shinigami sends you to Soul Society it is random where you will land. And Rukongai has 320 districts. You could have landed anywhere. It may take many months until they find you."

Aiko was shocked after she heard that.

320 places where I could have landed? That's like a- a… million! It could take month until he finds me she said…he'll forget me. That's for sure now…I better get used to living here…

Aiko stood up, her eyes firmly on the ground, and walked towards those two nice old persons, who offered her so kindly a place to live, a roof over her head. She bowed politely.

"Thank you for letting me stay with you". She mumbled, her eyes were on the ground. They couldn't see her face and she was glad about that. She struggled to keep herself from crying, trying to stop her lower lip from quivering so violently and her eyes from tearing up. She was glad that she could at least control her voice perfectly. As long as they didn't see her face, there was nothing that would give away the tiny flame of hope, she had kept burning in the depth of her heart, that now vanished into nothingness.

Ichigo and Rukia were in front of Byakuya's office in 6th division. They were at the Kuchiki manor at first but were told, that Byakuya had a lot of work to do and was still to be expected in his office.

"You sure you want to come with me?" Ichigo asked Rukia.

Rukia just shrugged. "I have to see him sometime again anyways, so it doesn't matter if it's now or later. And I want to know too, how he found me. It's not that easy after all. He didn't know how I looked and many years passed since my sister abandoned me. I could have been anywhere by the time he came searching for me."

"Alright then…" Ichigo said and knocked on the door.

They waited a few seconds for a response. "Come in," came finally Byakuya's monotone voice and Ichigo opened the door.

"I need to talk to you, Byakuya." Ichigo approached him directly.

Byakuya raised an eyebrow ever so slightly, non-visible for the mere eye.

"What could you have to talk about with me, Kurosaki?"

"I need to know how you found Rukia back when she lived in Rukongai."

Byakuya now raised both his eyebrows in a visible manor, if you looked close enough.

"Why do you ask?"

Ichigo grew slightly impatient. Why wouldn't he just answer his questions but ask him questions in return? But he kept himself from saying something stupid. This was important.

"Because I need to find someone myself."

"I see. I shall tell you then, but you will be disappointed. Hisana told me that she and Rukia were sent to District 78 in South Rukongai, so it was most likely the place I would begin to search for Rukia. And the moment I saw Rukia, I knew she had to be Hisana's sister. Rukia looks too much like Hisana to not notice. In the end I was just lucky that Rukia happened to be still living in said District. Of course it took me a year to find her; the district was chaotic and big after all. And I guess that you do not know in which district whoever you want to find was sent to. So you have 320 districts in a total to search. Your situation is unlikely more difficult than mine was, Kurosaki."

Ichigo could barely hide his disappointment. He had hoped for a great searching squad which Byakuya could possibly have been offering him for help (if he found somewhere the kindness in that black hole in his chest which swallowed every kind of emotion and what also happened to be his heart).

Ichigo sighed and resigned himself for a long time of searching for Aiko. He hoped that she was fine and that she would have faith in him. Sure, he had just talked to her one time for maybe a couple of hours, but she was dead because of him, he left her walk home alone. He couldn't and wouldn't leave her alone this time. He promised to take care of her in Soul Society and he wouldn't break that promise. He just hoped that she wouldn't lose faith in him.

Byakuya eyed Ichigo's expression carefully. He knew that boy well by now. He knew that Ichigo wouldn't stay still until he found whoever he wanted to find. And that attitude reminded him of Hisana. He remembered painfully how guilt ridden his beloved wife was because she abandoned her little sister, who now happened to be his pride, and how she would spend every free second of her life trying to find Rukia. Of course the circumstances were as different as they could be- Hisana's reason was guilt, Ichigo's was most likely something like a promise. It would be just too typical for him to have a reason like that. He didn't know who this person Ichigo wanted to find was and he didn't know what this person was like. He actually didn't even care. But he would help him, this one time, because he knew that Hisana would also help him and because he wanted to make up to Rukia for interfering on her promotion over the last years. He didn't miss how she avoided him since that meeting but he would wait until she would approach him and he knew that she would. He glanced at Rukia and caught her eyes with his but she looked down the moment their eyes met. He sighed inwardly at that and spoke up.

"I will help you find whoever it is you want to find, Kurosaki. But don't you think it is because of you, that I help you. I have my own reasons to help you." He stole a glance at Rukia. "You should speak with the gatekeepers. And I had some workers of my manor help me search. I will talk to them to help you as well. Now I would like to continue with my work, if you don't mind."

"Thank you, Byakuya!" Ichigo grabbed Rukias wrist and was off in the direction of Kuchiki manor.

Byakuya allowed his mind to drift off for the shortest moment to Hisana and had a sad smile on his face, which was gone as quickly as it came and he went on with his paperwork.

It was now a week since Ichigo talked to Byakuya. He talked to the four gatekeepers and even had a little success. They all had heard of several thousands of 'newcomers' to Soul Society on the day he died but Jidanbo, whom he talked last to and whom he knew since he was the first one he fought in Soul Society, told him something that caught his attention. Someone, probably a young girl, said, that she was friends with him and that she was sent to soul society by him. He thanked Jidanbo for this magnificent news and was about to head westwards when Rukia took halt of him.

"Ichigo, wait!" She struggled keeping him in place because he wouldn't listen.

"I can't Rukia, I need to find her! She's waiting! It's been a week now!"

"Would you just listen to me for a second?" She said and grew annoyed at his impatient attitude, so she kicked him hard on the back of his head and caused him to land face first on the ground.

"WHAT THE HELL YOU BITCH?" Ichigo screamed at her and clutched his now throbbing head in his hands, staring at the petite shinigami in disbelief.

"Stop whining, I didn't even use my full force because I didn't want you to die yet," She said nonchalantly. "Also I wouldn't have needed to do this if you would have listened to me in the first place. But anyways, what I wanted to say is-," she took a deep breath- "YOU NEED A PLAN YOU IMBECILE!"- and punched him hard in his face. Ichigo was about to yell again but Rukia was not finished yet.

"How did you want to find her? Just walk through every district and scream for her, in the hope that she would somehow hear you and just walk out? Don't be foolish, Ichigo! Without a plan you would be lost in there! You would need an entire lifetime just to find a hint of her! Nii-sama needed a year to finally find me and he even knew in which district he needed to begin his search! And he was right as he said that he was lucky that I still was in that district! It's not like you need to stay your entire lifetime in one district, how would Hisana-sama would have ever met him if it would be like that? If you would finally get to the district where she originally was sent to, she could be in an entirely different district!"

Ichigo looked down to the ground as Rukia still huffed over his impatience. She was right and he hated that fact. He hated it when she was right, because than she would always act like that. She would punch him and she would hold emotional speeches like this one and they always would have the desired effect and he just hated it. But he couldn't help to always be grateful for her being by his side at times like these. He wouldn't admit it though. He would never admit things like these. He finally stood up and looked at her.

"You are right Rukia. It will help to have a plan. Do you have one?"

"Actually, yes." She answered and turned to look at Jidanbo who had watched the whole scene with great interest and amusement. "Ikkanzaka-san, who told you about that girl? From whom did you hear that she was friends with Ichigo?"

In an old shack in West Rukongai, district 43, Aiko sat on the floor in her new room with her arms around her legs, he chin on her knees. It was a small room, with a small window with a grille. Her bed was a thin futon on the floor which had also dirty sheets to keep her from cold. She now wore an old yellow kimono, which was a tad too long for her but she didn't complain.

It was a week now that she lived with old man-san and his really nice wife. They were so kind to her but she just couldn't get used to this. It wasn't like she liked those two, but she didn't feel comfortable. She couldn't talk to them in the easy way she could with Ichigo. In this short amount of time he had felt more like a friend to her than anybody else ever did. She couldn't stop thinking about the passionate way he used to talk as he told her about Rukia. She seemed like a funny person with a fondness for some rabbit called Chappy and a very physical way to express her aggravation over something. And she gets quickly annoyed when someone mocks her about her height or her drawings. At least that's what Ichigo told her and it also sounded like he kept mocking on her about her height and drawings. She wondered if he liked to be hit or if he just liked to be hit by her. But both possibilities were just plain weird.

She sighed and drew her legs closer to her chest. She wondered if Ichigo was looking for her at all. If she recalled what old man-san and his wife said Rukongai was a really huge place with hundreds of districts and it would be really hard to find anyone here.

She also wondered why Ichigo promised to look and care for her when they were here at all. Was it because she was so afraid and shocked as she realized that she was dead? Was it out of pity for her? Did he really mean it as he said that he'd look out for her? She didn't know. She was just so confused.

She couldn't wait anymore. She looked outside.

It's beginning to get dark…they should be sleeping soon.

She remembered how she talked to old man's wife-san a couple of days ago. If she remembered correctly, she said, that Rukongai was separated in North-, East-, West- and South-Rukongai, which had all 80 Districts, which made 320 Districts in a total. Each had a number, which got bigger when the district was further away from the center and the center was where Ichigo most likely was. And if she was in District 43 it meant, that she was somewhere in the middle. Not too far away from the center. And she also asked in which direction the center was. She knew where to go, to find Ichigo. She decided to take a short nap, before she started her journey to the center.

As Akaze Yoshiko knocked at Aiko's door to wake her up and got no response she opened it and was greeted by an empty room. She immediately knew, what Aiko was up to, and for that she mumbled exasperatedly: "Stupid little girl."

She walked back to her and her husband's bedroom and told him.

"What should we do about it? And what should we tell that Kurosaki-boy when he finds here?"

"We will do nothing…what can we do in our age? And we can't sent someone off to search for her, they would have no chance to survive…and about that boy, well, we tell him what happened and we show him the direction she went too…you showed her the right direction didn't you?" He asked concerned. He knew how his wife sometimes confused directions and showed the complete opposite direction of which she originally intended to.

"Why yes, of course I did. I told her that the center is there," she said as she pointed further to the west.

Takashi swallowed hard. All he could do was now pray for her.

Please survive, little girl, please do the right thing and come back…

So, Chapter 4 is done. What do you think? What about the Aiko-parts? Annoying? Or more like 'legen… wait for it… dary? I liked them, because I like Aiko. There I really have to pat myself on the back for creating her :P

And something I'd really liked to know: What did you really enjoy about my story so far AND what could I still do better? I'm looking forward to your reviews because I am sooo sure you'll give me plenty ;)

I'll do my best to update as soon as possible. Just be patient.

Garganta.