Just as a quick heads up, I may not be able to update tomorrow, because I'll be going to an all day concert =) If I get the chance, I will, but most likely it won't happen… Sorry…

Anyways, I'm being really mean to the characters this chapter. Why? Well I was woken up at 8 in the morning by loud, insistent hammering in the basement. Then I was dragged to get a blood test at nine, and one of those heart thingy madooeys that have some kind of cool technical name that I can't remember at the moment. btw, never pass out in a doctor's office. She/he will then send you off to get some tests done which involve you stripping in front of a complete stranger, getting needles jammed into your arms, and having stickers stuck to your chest and legs which really hurt when they're pulled off. Yeah... Not fun. So, just don't do that.

And then I had two cups of coffee, was hyper for about... an hour and made a really pretty sparkly bracelet. Don't give Stormy coffee. It's a bad idea.

On an up side, I finally got my Ipod speakers to work XD I have to hold it in a specific spot, and if I move it even a little it turns off, but I solved that problem by propping it up with a kleenex box and a binder.

Yeah... If I owned Bleach, there would be depressingly angsty parts where people are maimed and seriously injured and the good guys lose, and then there would be light, fluffy parts where nothing ever happened. No in between. So be glad that Tite Kubo owns Bleach and not me.

Byakuya stood over top of Sturgeon Hospital, staring across at the city. From up here the whole place was a sprawling mess of roads punctuated by square buildings. Behind him lay Erin Ridge, in front of him was a long street of stores, with everything from London Drugs to Chapters to Rona. To his right were several restaurants, and on his left were more houses and a long road. In the distance he could just barely see the small, outdated fire station. Until St. Albert grew from a town to a small city, there had only been one fire station. Now there was a new one over by Lacombe park, and the little old one just squatted in its awkward position at the bottom of the hill, barely used.

Byakuya turned slowly, surveying the landscape, searching for any unusual reiatsu. It had been a week since they had arrived at St. Albert, and still he hadn't found anything out of the ordinary. Sure, there had been the odd hollow, but nothing that warranted sending a Captain, a Vice Captain, and a Third Seat out to investigate. Either the Twelfth Division's equipment was faulty, or this was one sneaky… whatever it was. And somehow the first didn't seem very likely. The equipment had never been faulty before.

A flicker of something caught his attention, and he spun around, stormy eyes searching for something that stayed out of his sight. He could feel it; it was close and coming closer. But why couldn't he see it? Sharp pain ripped through his shoulder, and Byakuya stumbled out of the way in time to avoid having his arm cut completely off, swearing under his breath.

Dark laughter rang through the air, surrounding him. Byakuya stood perfectly still, straining to figure out which direction the laughter was coming from. The soft hiss of air parting in the path of metal alerted him to a second stroke and he dodged the attack, lashing out with Senbonzakura. His sword met nothing but air.

"Confused, little Shinigami?" asked a light voice. The words dripped with venom, and echoed around him, giving him no way to tell where it came from. "Don't worry. Soon enough you won't feel anything at all." Byakuya gritted his teeth, and didn't answer. Instead he waited for the next attack. It came with alarming speed, but he was ready this time. He ducked and thrust Senbonzakura out towards the air where the attack had come. His sword was met with the resistance of flesh, and he dragged it sideways, noticing with satisfaction the blood that dripped from the wound. Now he knew where his opponent was. Quickly, before his trail could disappear again, he slashed at the air again, roughly in the same spot that the other wound was. His opponent dodged backwards, and there was the sound of cloth tearing, but his sword didn't meet flesh.

Again, there was the whoosh of a blade coming towards his back, and again he dodged it, and tried for the wielder. He missed.

"Dammit," Byakuya hissed. It was nearly impossible to fight while the opponent stayed invisible. At this rate, he would dead long before he'd even done some serious damage. There were only two options left. Strategic retreat, which wasn't his style and…

Byakuya dodged the next attack, and dropped his sword blade first towards the ground. It sank into the air, ripples flowing out from where it had hit. "Bankai," he said, not even bothering with Shikai. He knew that he needed more than that. "Scatter. Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

Renji was dozing off in Math 10-C- he already knew it all anyways- when a sudden burst of strange reiatsu jolted him awake. He sat up straight and glanced towards the window, wondering if he ought to make a run for it and intercept the owner of the reiatsu. The spike in Byakuya's reiatsu made his mind up though, his captain already had it in control. Renji waited for the strange reiatsu to disappear, but it didn't.

The teacher asked him a question, and he glanced at the board and answered it quickly, his mind still on carefully monitoring the fight between Byakuya and his unknown opponent. Suddenly, Byakuya's reiatsu spiked, and Renji's eyes widened. Bankai.

Byakuya, what are you doing?

Kaili stared blankly at Mrs. Grant as she went on about nouns and verbs, not really paying attention. She already knew it all anyways. The sudden appearance of a strange reiatsu made her start in her chair, and turn her head towards the window. Was this what they were sent here to take care of? If it was, then she should probably leave and go fight it. She was just getting ready to ask permission to go to the washroom, when she felt Byakuya's reiatsu and relaxed again. He would take care of it. She couldn't imagine Byakuya ever losing, not even to something as strong as this seemed.

She was just zoning out again when she felt the sudden spike of Byakuya's reiatsu, and sat up even straighter in her chair. Bankai? What was he thinking?

The row of giant blades surrounding him burst into thousands of millions of little tiny blades which glinted pink in the light. Another attack came, and Byakuya blocked it with some of the little blades and allowed all the others to attack the seemingly empty space in front of him. Crimson drops of blood told him that he had hit his target.

This was better. An attack came from the back, and he blocked it and allowed Senbonzakura to pierce his opponent's flesh with his shimmering pink blades.

"Hmm," again with that echoing voice, that seemed to come from everywhere. "You're better than I thought, little Shinigami. That was fun. Let's do it again sometime…" and the voice faded away, along with the reiatsu.

Byakuya's body sagged, and Senbonzakura returned to its original form, resting gently in his hand. He sheathed the blade, and pressed a hand against the deep wound in his shoulder. The blood loss was beginning to make him dizzy. Stumbling a little, he turned and headed back to the hotel.

Yeah... If I don't update tomorrow, don't kill me please! I'll try, but it's highly unlikely.

I'm extremely bored and lonely right now... Somebody, please, talk to me! PM me and tell me a funny story or something. Or just PM me. All of my friends are gone for the long weekend and my little sister's being a little brat. Entertain me!

... Or not. Your choice.

-Stormy