A/N: Hope you enjoy, everybody! Happy Reading~

Disclaimer: I don't own original material (anything pertaining to Bleach), I only own my ideas and characters.

Chapter 3

She kept screaming the entire time; black swirling around her, pulling and shoving her in one general direction. She was blind the entire time, the blackness clouding her vision until a spark of light shot through the thick smoke. The beam getting brighter and brighter, she focused on the light until she was forced to cover her eyes in pain. She immediately felt the floating sensation dissipate as she shot out into the light, her body tumbling on rough rock as gravity took hold again.

She eventually stopped rolling; still keeping her eyes closed, she groaned and shifted onto her back. Her breathing was labored as she instinctively checked for injuries. The pain in her ankle was still bad, but now she could feel cuts and scrapes littering her body. She sat up and tightened her hair tie, her hair was even worse now in tangles and knots, it would take hours to tame the rats nest her hair made.

She opened her eyes and took a look around, what she saw was strange, she didn't recognize it at all.

"Where am I?" She mumbled, standing up and dusting herself off. Her jeans were nearly ruined with holes, and her jacket was getting there. She was on a jagged cliff, grey rocks pilling high in some places and creating large craters in others. She cautiously walked to the edge of the cliff, and all she saw was black, below and in front of her. She didn't see a bottom, it looked like an endless pit; she backed away and looked the other way. There wasn't a green thing in sight, no plants or animals, it seemed completely deserted. Although she did see snow topped mountains in the distance; with ragged edges and contrasting sizes.

Kimiko was thankful that she was away from the hollow, but decided against that when she suddenly felt a chill. She looked around but didn't see anyone, she had a feeling someone was there, but it wasn't a good feeling. If she was in the Bleach plot, she should've recognized this place right off the bat, but she's never seen this place in her entire life.

"Hello . . .?" She called out anxiously, her eyes flickering from each towering mini mountain to the next large crater.

"Who are you?" A harsh voice commanded. She jumped and looked to her right. A man stepped out from behind a pile of rocks, and her eyes widened, his attire was strange.

He stood in a large white kimono, obviously too big for him, with a neon blue sash tightly controlling some of the extra material billowing in the wind. The sash was wrapped twice over his right arm and three times over his left leg, also wrapping around his chest to tie together at his hip. He also wore a black sleeveless over-coat, the collar extending in a large V-shape to his hip, with ragged strips of cloth connecting the end of the V with the back of the coat to keep it from whirling freely in the wind.

He also had a tight bandana, the same color as his sash, covering the right half of his face, along with some of his spiky black hair. His eyes were nearly the same color as his hair, excluding the grey tips. His hair was nearly shoulder length, black at the roots, then slowly lightening to a grey near the tips.

She had to admit, he was a strange sight to see, and she didn't recognize him at all. That was the worst part; she didn't know where she was, let alone who that guy was.

"Well?" The voice snapped out again, impatiently. She whipped her head up to meet his eyes and flushed, she had been staring at him far too long.

"Um . . . My n-name's Nakano Kimiko." She stuttered out nervously, she nearly groaned in frustration, she had to go through this again. She really hoped he was a nice guy; otherwise the bruises on her neck would probably get worse.

She started backing up when he stepped closer. She watched his eyes narrow in suspicion, before disappearing and reappearing in front of her. She shrieked in surprise, then fear as he grabbed the collar of her hoodie and hoisted her up and over the edge of the cliff.

"Oh my God!" She gasped out, bringing her hands up and gripping his wrist. She glanced down and felt a rush of fear go through her.

"How did you get here?" He said again, his voice cold and impatient. He shook her slightly and she gasped again, tightening her grip on his wrist.

"I-I d-don't know!" She shouted desperately, her eyes pleading with him.

He didn't relent, his eyes still narrowed in suspicion. He loosened his grip on her collar slightly, and she screamed as she began slipping.

"I SWEAR! I DON"T KNOW!" She screamed out, her knuckles white from the pressure she was exerting on his wrist, trying to hold on. He began uncurling his fingers from her collar, she was slipping faster. She had to do something; he was actually going to drop her!

"Wait, wait!" She cried out, before taking a deep breath and blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

"ICHIGO SENT ME!" She shouted, with her eyes clenched tight. It was silent for a moment, then she yelped when her body moved, landing on the ground with a thump. She lie on her back and opened her eyes, looking at the man standing above her hesitantly.

He stood there for a moment before glancing behind her and nodding.

"You said Kurosaki sent you?" A smooth voice echoed behind her. She snapped her head around and stared, horrified, at the silver haired man.

"Oh no . . . oh God . . ." She whispered in shock. It couldn't be, was this Ichimaru Gin's soulscape? How did she even get here? Why was she here?

"Um . . . well . . ." She muttered with a wince, as she turned around and sat on her knees. That probably wasn't the best thing to say but at least it got her on the ground.

"Not exactly . . ." She quickly backpedaled when she saw his hand reach for what was most likely his zanpakuto. "Wait! I swear I don't even know what's going on either. But, I mean, he was going to drop me! I had to say something!" That didn't help her situation at all. She noticed Gin wasn't smiling, he was completely serious.

"You say his name like you know him." It wasn't a question, merely in inquiry.

Her eyes widened, "Uh . . . yeah. I guess you could say that, I talked to him, you know, but . . . um . . ." She hesitated, how was she going to explain this? Ichigo and Zangetsu made this easy on her, even when she was freaking out, but this was Ichimaru Gin. He was a terrifying person, even though she knew he was kind of a good guy.

She took a deep breath and breathed it out slowly, looking at the ground. "I kind of ended up in Ichigo's soulscape to, I don't know how. I think I may have died before that and then somehow ended up in his inner word but I'm not entirely sure." She rambled quickly, trying to skim over the details as best she could. "I talked to Ichigo and Zangetsu, you know, his zanpakuto, and that's kinda what they said and . . . yeah. Um . . . and then I fell asleep and kinda met Ichigo's inner hollow, and . . . he was about to kill me . . . I think, so I panicked and now here I am." She said all that in seconds, fidgeting the entire time and looking everywhere but at Gin and who she supposed was Shinsō, who was now standing near Gin.

She jumped when she saw Gin kneel in front of her, his infamous grin still absent. She could see a glimmer of blue between his narrowed eyes, and faintly realized in was about the same color as his zanpakuto's sash and bandana.

"You don't remember how you got here?" She hesitated again at his simple question.

"Well . . . not really. I mean, I didn't when I first got to Ichigo's soulscape, but then I had this weird in-the-dark moment or somethin', that really freaked me out, 'cause I had this weird flash of pictures. Zangetsu said that maybe they were memories. I only saw this guy there though, I know he said something really important but I can't remember." She silently cursed herself, she was still talking really fast, and she still felt panicked. This whole situation was entirely different from the one with Ichigo and Zangetsu, she couldn't stop rambling, not to mention with Shinsō glaring at her and Gin staring at her seriously, and it was really freaking her out.

He was silent for a moment, ". . . You recognized me."

'Oh no . . .' Her breathing hitched and she went completely stiff. She hadn't thought about that, even if this was real, how was she going to explain that she knew everything about him and the Bleach plot? He was technically in league with Aizen, would he say anything even if she did tell him. He already knew she was in his soulscape! She was screwed. She needed to think up an excuse!

"Um . . . Yeah, cause . . ." 'Shit!' She cursed; her mind whirled, trying to come up with something, anything!

It was too late; the ringing of a metal blade caught her attention. She gasped as she felt the cold metal pressing against her throat. Suddenly, he grinned, the serious expression wiping off his face.

"You could lie to me, but I don't think that would be a very good idea." He mocked in a sing-song voice.

Her eyes widened; swallowing, she spoke, "O-Ok, ok. I-I'll tell you. Please just get your sword away from me." The sword didn't move, she whimpered; feeling the blade cut into her already bruised neck, blood slowly leaking out from the thin cut.

She thought it best just to go with a somewhat half lie. "Well . . . I kinda know what's going to happen. . . I mean, like . . ." She was having a really hard time explaining this; she closed her eyes and tried again. "I had this . . . somewhat . . . vision . . . of the past and what's going to happen here, while I was . . . passing through, I guess." She mentally slapped herself, a vision? Really? That's the best she could come up with? The corniest of excuses . . . and she picked that one. Great.

He looked at her, silently. She could tell he didn't believe her, at least some of it though. "How much do you know?" He said as he removed the sword and sheathed it.

She hesitated before squeaking out, "Everything." She saw his grin falter for a second before he brought it back up. He stood up and stepped back a little, waiting for her to stand up. She followed suit and stood there awkwardly.

"So . . . I know everything with Aizen and you. With the whole you wanna kill him stuff. So, could you not, like, tell him about this? 'Cause I don't really know what's going on and . . . yeah." She suggested, slightly skittish.

"Now why would I tell Aizen, wouldn't that defeat the point of finding out how you got here? Besides, you could be an ally." His mocking voice conveyed, his smile still wide.

"Uh . . . Right . . ." She coughed slightly, her body still taunt. She couldn't tell if that last part was sarcastic or not.

"I suppose you know my name already, I'm Ichimaru Gin, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Nakano Kimiko . . . uh . . . Ditto." She heard him chuckle slightly, and she winced. Now she knew what Rukia meant when she called him a snake, he was mocking and sarcastic, and although she noticed everyone's voices were different from both the sub and dub of the anime, his was exactly like Rukia described it.

"Um . . . Can we talk about this whole thing later? I should probably get back to Ichigo and Zangetsu, they're probably worried, you know, with the whole Inner Hollow thing." She was still nervous around him, and she'll probably always be, he was intimidating.

"Of course, we wouldn't want to worry them, now would we?" He cooed sarcastically. "If you know how to get back, that is." His grin widened in amusement.

She blanched, no, she didn't know how to get back, and she'll probably go crazy if she had to spend the rest of her life with him!

"Crap." She muttered. "Ok, it was like this giant black cloud of smoke that came just after Ichigo's hollow tried to kill me. I have no idea what happened!" Kimiko explained, pacing back and forth.

"Maybe I could just try to imagine it or something." She muttered again as she closed her eyes and tried picturing the cloud of smoke. After she was pretty sure nothing happened, she slowly opened one eye, then the other.

"It's not working!" She whined, panicking slightly.

"You said it only appeared after you were nearly killed, correct?" Gin's voice came again as he walked up to her.

"Uh . . . yeah?" She answered back nervously, she didn't like where this was going.

He unsheathed his sword and raised it high, "I think I can help."

"WAIT! STOP!" She yelled out, raising her hands. She screamed as he swung his sword down in an arc, no intention of stopping.

Suddenly she was jerked away from the blade, watching numbly as the tip barely missed her neck, and screamed again as she began to drown in the darkness, the tendrils wrapping around her and shooting her body into the black cloud.

Gin watched as Kimiko and the cloud slowly dispersed from his soulscape, his grin falling from his features. He had felt the foreign reiatsu overpowering her own and create the cloud.

He heard his zanpakuto speak, "Things are going to get complicated." Shinsō stated simply, standing beside his master. Gin agreed.