Chapter Twelve

Apologies, Introductions and A Visit

World of the Living, Two Weeks Later...

Katie's Room...

Katie Hansen was sleeping soundly in her bed. She was also dreaming about Nick. She didn't know why, but the Nick that she depicted in her dreams was different than her Nick. In the dream, Nick had half a mask over his face as he kissed her, but she didn't know why or even how that mask got there. Then, as he was about to kiss her, he stabbed her, thoroughly killing her. With a gasp, she woke up and held her chest, tears starting to form in her eyes. Nick, you'd better be the same when you get back home. She thought, worried about the man she loved with all her heart.

Katie reluctantly fell back asleep after calming herself down and began to dream of her normal, real Nick once again.

Downstairs, in the Living Room...

Tabitha had just felt Katie's Spiritual Pressure spike a little as she woke up from the bad dream. Tabitha thought of going to see if she was alright, but decided against it. Katie could barely sleep anymore without worrying about Nick. A quiet knock sounded at the door, pulling Tabitha off the couch towards the door. Opening the door, she gasped as she saw a Soul Reaper standing in front of her. "Who are you? What do you want?" She said, coming out of her body, hand on the hilt of her Zanpaku-to.

The mystery Soul Reaper put his hands up in a gesture of peace. "Former Squad One Captain Tabitha Lenora, correct?" He asked, gulping.

Tabitha calmed a bit. "Yes, what do you want?"

"Me, along with a small squad of other Soul Reapers, have been sent here by current Squad One Captain Raymond Barrett to help protect the girl, Katie. If you would like more information, just ask me what you'd like to know."

"Oh, okay then. What is your name? You look somewhat familiar to me?" Tabitha asked curiously.

"I'm surprised you remember me at all," He said, bowing slightly. "Although, I guess it can't be helped. I was one of the more troublesome students in your class around thirty years ago."

"Wait a moment," Tabitha thought about the man's face. "Troublesome Maxi Oriana?" He nodded. "God, I never would've thought that you would become a Soul Reaper. It's great to see you. Thank you for doing this."

"Well, once I heard your name, I thought I had a sort of obligation to come," Maxi smiled. "You were the one teacher that straightened me out. I wanted to come to thank you, seeing as you left soon after that, after I graduated."

"Oh, I'm so sorry you couldn't tell me earlier. So, do you belong to a Squad, or do you do freelance?"

"I'm actually the Third Seat of Squad One. I wanted to be on your Squad, but since you weren't there anymore, I had a hard time thinking about it. I finally decided to follow in your footsteps, however, and here I am. Would I be able to meet Katie anytime soon? I have already met your son, and I have to say, I don't want to be on the wrong end of his Zanpaku-to."

"I hear you. You can meet her in the morning. She's sound asleep at the moment. She can see you, though, in case you didn't know. Also, is there anyone else I taught that accompanied you?"

"Yes, actually. My whole class is here now. But, I came because I was the worst and I wanted to bring you a couple of messages that seemed to just follow us here."

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you mean there are two Hell Butterflies that just seemed to follow you to the World of the Living?"

"Yes, ma'am. Here you go," He released the two butterflies and bowed again. "I'm sorry, but I have to go now. I will come back tomorrow with everyone else so we can catch up for a bit."

"Please do. But, tell everyone to be in a body, please."

As he ran, Maxi nodded at his old teacher. Tabitha looked at the two butterflies in her hand. "Well, let's get this over with." She mumbled, bringing them into the living room.

The first one was in Nick's voice. She had actually seen this one coming, but two weeks after he probably found out? That seemed a little stupid, even for her son. "Mom? How could you not tell me about this inner Hollow thing? If you had told me, I would've tried not to get bitten by that stupid Hollow! Also, Jewel's the one who let that fact slip when my inner Hollow came out and took full control of my body until I ripped the mask off. When I come home, I want a private explanation about this. I love you, and tell Katie that I'm doing fine. You know I don't want to worry her. Goodbye." The message ended.

Tabitha smiled. Of course Jewel was the one to let it slip. She never was good with secrets. "Now, for you, little guy. What do you have to say?" She asked the other Hell Butterfly, which then proceeded to talk in her dead husband's voice. "Oh Tabitha, I'm sorry I died that night! I'm sorry I couldn't keep Nick from this problem. I'm sorry for never asking to visit you! I wish I could take it all back. I love you, Tabitha."

Tabitha was starting to cry. "You stupid idiot," She relayed. "I forgave you a long time ago! Just promise to come back to me. I love you, too." The Butterfly flew back away and back to the Soul Society.

Soul Society, Squad Four Training Facility...

Jasmine was just leaving the training facility having finished her training completely. She had decided to go see how Nick was doing with the inner Hollow control training. She had only been walking for a few minutes when she had seen her father, along with two people that she had never seen before. She called to Elias. "Dad, wait up!"

Her father turned to see her running over to them. "Jasmine! What are you doing walking the streets alone?"

"Oh, don't be so protective. You haven't been in my life for ten years. I can handle myself."

"I guess you can. But, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to visit Nick."

"Really? That's where we're going. Oh, yes, that's right. Toshiro, Rangiku, this is my daughter, Jasmine. Jasmine, this is Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumodo. They're from Japan's Soul Society, both Squad Ten. They were sent here to keep an eye on Nick while he's with the Visoreds."

"Oh, okay. It's very nice to meet you, Captain Hitsugaya, Lieutenant Matsumodo. Thank you for coming to help with my brother."

"It isn't a problem, sweetie," Rangiku ran up to Jasmine and hugged her tightly. "We're glad to help out."

"Rangiku, let her go. You're crushing her." Toshiro said, his voice sounding annoyed.

"Yes, sorry, Captain," Rangiku let go. "You can just call me Rangiku. Everyone does."

"You aren't even part of a Squad, so you don't have to be so formal about anything. You can just call me Toshiro. So, are you all coming, am I going alone, now?"

"Oh, right." They all said and rushed back to the genius captain. (A/N: Who hasn't grown any taller than he is in the anime, lol.)

They arrived at the Visored base and walked in to find Jewel. She saw them and bowed slightly. "Hello, Captain Hitsugaya, Lieutenant Matsumodo. Hello, Nick, Jasmine. How are you all?"

"We're all fine. How is Nick doing, Jewel?" Jasmine asked, worry completely etched into her voice.

"Don't worry. He's finished the first part of his training. Now, all he has to do is defeat his inner Hollow in his Inner World and, if he wins, he's finished. He's actually just started. Would you all like to watch the battle for a while?"

"Why not?" Nick Sr. said, leading the way down into the basement training area.

As Jasmine climbed down the ladder and looked at where her brother was still training, she gasped in shock.

A/N: What just happened? I don't know, yet. Since I have a while until the new episode of Ghost Hunters International, I may just write the next chapter, so be ready for it. Also, if you wouldn't mind, I have no reviews for this story. Could anyone help me with that. Maybe even a little sympathetic favorite story, author or even Story/Author alerts. For the record, when a story is on the favorites list, you don't know when the story is updated unless you're one of those people who check every story on their favorite list in order to see if it was updated. I figured that out the hard way. I should bash myself with a frying pan. LOL!

Next Time: I'm not telling you, I want to just write what happens. Even more reason to add this to favorites/alert lists if I don't post the next chapter tonight.