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At school Lotus was more depressed than she had ever been before, it had been almost two entire weeks and she felt empty, not that she wasn't happy Leto was gone, she was…kinda.

The annoyance was gone which was good but Leto was a mental part of her and it felt like a section of her brain had been cut out, even some knowledge she had was going missing! She had to keep repeating Leto's name because she was beginning to forget, and she kept running through all the hollows she had seen Leto fight so she wouldn't forget what they looked like.

"Leto, come back already!" She stared hard at her reflection in the mirror and saw herself staring back, she couldn't help but cry now.

Subsequently Rukia barged in with shinigami Ichigo in tow; they stopped immediately as Lotus stared at them.

Ah, now she knew why that shinigami in the park had been so familiar…

"Ichigo…this is the girls toilets…you can't b-be…be…" She hiccupped bursting into tears again.

Both Rukia and Ichigo looked at each other, how could she see them? Rukia dismissed it for now, they had something important to do. She checked her hollow tracking devise, there was defiantly one in here, a big one, but the only thing with any remote reiatsu was Lotus, and she had a lot of it, yet, not a trace of hollow was in her.

"Ahahaha! You miss me enough to cry my little flower?!" A familiar voice to everyone in the toilets echoed around them.

"L-Leto?!" Lotus stood up immediately, ignoring Shinigamis' fighting stance, she'd ask questions later, right now Leto was the only thing important!

A soul churning laugh revolved around them. Ichigo shivered as he felt the hollow inside him stir.

"If you miss me so much! Swap places with me!" Lotus looked around frantically, where was the voice coming from?!

"Over here dumb ass!" Leto appeared in the mirror, Lotus let new tears fall. "Leto! Leto! Leto where did you go?! I was so-!" She was cut off mid sentence as she felt something sharp trace her spine, she looked at the other mirror, Rukia was looking very serious and holding her sword to Lotus's back.

"Let me take over Lotus, or do you want to join me in the black world you banished me to?!" Leto let out another cold laugh.

Lotus turned to look at her classmates, they were not taking this lightly. "H-hey…what are you-" before she could finish her sentence her body jerked.

"Outside!" Leto hollered through her laughter, throwing Lotus out of the open window…her soul anyway.

Meanwhile, back at Lotus's house.

"Ohmygosh! Everything is just as I left it! I think…" A girl around the age of 15 wandered into the living room of Lotus's house with Ukitake, who rolled his eyes.

"I told you, you wont remember anything of your past life."

"I know, but its fun to make it up." She grinned up at her crush.

Her name was Valiant, Val for short, she had been told she had to come and train her niece, whom she did not remember but apparently left her everything behind to in her will, to become a shinigami and fight the hollow inside her and win…even though she had no idea what she was doing.

She had reverted back to her teens along the path to the soul society and was quite pleased, being a wrinkly old woman was a terrifying thought. Since she couldn't remember being a wrinkly old woman to begin with.

"Now, don't burst out and suddenly say 'Hey I'm your dead aunt' because that might scare her a bit, just say you're here to help her." Ukitake knew she wasn't listening but said it anyway.

"I had horrible taste…" Yep, she wasn't listening. Instead she was flicking through a few books she had and then eyeing the stuffed owls that eyed her back, she didn't care if she was old back then, she would have never ever bought those owls by her own will!

"I'll leave you to it then Val." Ukitake planted a kiss on the top of her head and she went bright red, she knew Ukitake saw her as a sister but that didn't mean she had to, she turned her head up to him and beamed as he patted where he'd kissed her before stepping through the gates to the soul society, a few black butterflies fluttering out.

Valiant looked about her, nothing to do but wait…

"I wonder if there's anything 'dirty' in my niece's bedroom?" And in she wondered.

"L-Leto, how about we just erase their memories? Like last time?" Lotus was genuinely afraid of conflict, so she let Leto handle it most of the time, but if she let her take over now, its most likely she'd eat Rukia and Ichigo, which was a no-no.

Ichigo called upon his sword and looked at Lotus coldly his eyes showing nothing about what he was thinking, which made her feel awful inside, but when Rukia did it she felt nothing.

"Hey! I'm not running away again! Besides you banished me! You should make it up to me!" Leto was in one of her stubborn moods.

Lotus backed away from the two shinigami, she wasn't a bad person and her hollow hadn't eaten anything that was alive so she didn't understand why they were pointing their swords at her.

"Why is there a hollow in our school?" Ichigo looked at Rukia, expecting an explanation.

"Probably to get to you." She steadied her sword.

Lotus started panicking. "Eh?! Wait! I'm not a-UWAH!" Leto quickly threw Lotus's to the left as Ichigo swung at her.

"Get a grip woman!" Leto cursed her and tried to take over.

Lotus gripped her arm that Leto was now controlling, a mask slowly creeping at her jaw. "Stop it Leto! You'll make it worse!" She gritted her teeth as a sword came close to her face.

"Well get your damn sword out!" Leto wasn't going easy on Lotus.

Lotus looked down at herself, a sword? Where the hell from?! She was still in school uniform! Before she had time to think Ichigo was in front of her, he was looking rather confused, but brought the sword down on her anyway.

Lotus screamed before contact, well…before there was supposed to be contact.

"HEY! DON'T TOUCH MY NIECE!" Ichigo's attack had been stopped by non other than Valiant and her rather long Emerald sword, it was surprising it could withstand Ichigo's Zangetsu, it looked brittle, but it clearly wasn't.

Lotus was coughing on the floor, staring up at her savior, her mask still growing.

"Who are you?!" Rukia joined Ichigo's side in a flash and was pointing her sword at Valiant.

"I am Valiant! I have been sent by my good friend Ukitake and Captain Byakuya to train my niece Lotus to become a shinigami! And they will not be pleased to hear you've been attacking her!" She stood taller than she actually was, and had a serious look on her face.

"Brother?" Rukia looked a little dumb at this point.

Ichigo looked between Lotus, who was quivering on the floor from shock, and the new shinigami before him. "Shinigami? But she's a hollow!" He pointed accusingly at Lotus, who flinched.

"Shut your mouth you stupid child! Your not one to point fingers!" The newcomer attempted to cut Ichigo's hand off but he moved it quickly. She turned to Lotus and helped her to her feet. "Hello! I'm your dead Aunt Valiant, but you can call me Aunty Val!" She shook her hand.

Lotus stared at her with eyes the size of plates before fainting.