Would you Love me if you knew what I was?

Chapter Twenty-Four: Turn of Events

Listening to: next contestant, by: Nickleback, XDDD

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach nor do I claim to. It pretty much sovereigns over meh, but I call dibs on Yumi, Archer, and my other OC's! So, ha!


Yumi took a sharp intake of breath when a certain burst of spiritual energy hit her straight on, a message engraved deeply in. She stopped in the middle of her forced run and the others followed suit.

"I have to go back…"

Archer's eyes widened when he heard this. "Are you crazy!? You're pretty much bordering death row behind that Kuchiki chick! Not only that, but you're still weak. Look at you! You barely have enough energy to go on much longer!"

Reisha shrugged as she kicked a stone in her path with her boot, "Who knows? If all goes well, she'll get killed before the boss gets to her—oww!" Immediately, her arms went to her head that was recently attacked by a chop to the head from Archer.

"Bakayaro!"

"Archer, I have to," she said and held her left forearm unconsciously, "Please understand!"

Archer frowned in contemplation and scratched his chin. Then, letting out a sigh, he shrugged and then tapped his knuckle lightly against her forehead, "Fine, but I'm not busting you out of a jail cell again. Don't overdo it!"

"I promise! I'll be fine," she said, gritting her teeth and hoping her lie wouldn't be as apparent. Normally, she would stay away from such warnings sent to her like that, but this one seemed…too real to go unchecked.


Hitsugaya's eyes were focused on his enemy. It was only natural for his zanpakto to relay those feelings into its appearance. Those ruby red eyes glowed with a rage only dragons knew, and its scales shifted and churned as if it was a raging storm, intent on destroying everyone and everything in its path. However, unnoticed by the wielder, Hyourinmaru's scales was beginning to turn dark, almost a grey blue instead of a fresh aqua. It soared towards its prey with alarming speed.

And its target was none other than the third division captain, Ichimaru Gin.

A surge of ice and water came crashing down on both captain and Fukutaicho and Ichimaru took a leap back. Izuru was not as lucky but managed to evade the majority of the icy blast. Water soaked through his shikakusho as he held his arms up in a defensive position.

'All that water pressure… That speed! I could hardly avoid—'his thoughts were cut short when he felt the ice cold and prickling pain on his skin. That was when he knew of the grim inevitability that was in store for him as he screamed in pain before crashing into the ground, ice beginning to form on his limbs.

Ichimaru was luckier to have avoided the dragon, but not as such for its master. Once he landed on the rooftop, Hitsugaya came crashing down with his blade sweeping in a deadly arc for his head. It never made contact though, for instead of metal on metal, the captain had opted for his dragon to dispose of the Sanbantai. Hyourinmaru roared and went head on with Ichimaru's blade, Shinsou.

In practice, it would have been the right tactic. The short blade allowed just enough support behind it to withstand the sheer force of the dragon. In actuality, it was merely a distraction for what Hitsugaya was really after.

A chain, just as cold as the beast itself wrapped around Ichimaru's left arm and incased it in bone chilling ice. Crouched down was Hitsugaya, a pitiless expression on his face as he readied himself for the final blow.

"It's over, Ichimaru."

That silver head turned ever so slightly and finally, those eyes of his opened up to reveal jewels of crimson that contrasted with Hitsugaya's emerald.

"Taicho, stop!" a voice suddenly called out and the tenth division captain's focus was thusly distracted. Hitsugaya's head turned to the side to see a panting Yumi, alone and clearly exhausted.

"Miyamoto, you idiot what are you—"before he could finish, his heart felt like it was gripped with an iron fist with the next four words.

"Shoot to kill, Shinsou."

The short blade extended quickly, cutting through his Haori and shooting directly towards Hitsugaya's head.

If Hitsugaya had seen the blade come a second later, he would have been dead. Well, that or blind in one eye. He dropped backwards and let his sword slide across Ichimaru's to ward it off.

"Sure you wanna dodge that, Taicho?" Ichimaru asked with a fox-like grin. "Hado 4: Byakurai."

His finger pointed the other way and Hitsugaya followed the attack to see it pointed at Yumi. His voice felt caught in his throat as time seemed to slow down to a crawl. Every second, Shinsou inched closer and closer to Hinamori, but a deadly and well aimed kido spell was heading towards his subordinate.


From the top of a sheer cliff, a female figure sat on the edge. One leg dangled while the other was propped up and let her head rest upon it. As the moon dipped, the sun began to rise. From high above, the sight was beautiful. Birds flew across the sky and the start of a new day was approaching. No one would even consider the thought of Ryoka breaking in or the execution of a Kuchiki Noble. Everything looked so normal that the only thing Yoruichi could do was sigh in temporary bliss.

However, the side of her that was an assassin willed those ignorant feelings of sweet nostalgia away and shoved her into the cold reality that is now. The cat glared down at the sun with contempt.

"Two days left…" Beneath the earth below was a single Shinigami, warming up for the coming exercises that were sure to bring him hell. Yoruichi contemplated to herself silently, 'Ichigo is definitely improving at a high rate. Compared to other Shinigami, it would be surprising to say the least…'

But at best, that only goes for his combat skills.

The ex-second division captain frowned once more. 'At this rate, can Ichigo seriously get Bankai in only two more days?' A thought came to her. Maybe she could extend the amount of days?

No, Urahara Kisuke, who had developed the method himself, took only three, and also explained that any longer would be too risky. She doubted even Ichigo's soul could handle the strain, even if they still had extra days to spare.

"Yoruichi-sama, what is life without its chances? Go on, take the plunge!" A familiar voice echoed in the back of her mind and she shivered inwardly. It had been a while since she had last remembered her old friend back in the days she was still captain of the second division.

He was her second vice-captain but if she didn't know any better, he would have been her one and only at the time. Always in need of advice, he would provide it without her asking. He never failed her and his memory would not allow it either.

"Well?"

'For one more day,' she decided and stood up from her perch and kept her eyes on the horizon, 'If his soul hasn't matured by then, I'll have to take the risk.'


A flash of light stunned him for a second and a large burst of reiatsu nearly made him double over that the texture of it. It seemed malicious and sadistic. Wait, there was another signature. The first one clouded it but Hitsugaya could feel traces of anger and scorn, and it was clearly masked and controlled.

When the dust cleared, two new players arrived at the scene. An unfamiliar face stood over Hinamori, her left hand grasping the extended blade and changing the path of its direction.

Blood dripped down from the hand that clasped the blade and a smile crept on her features. However, it never reached her eyes that flashed with cruel intent. Dark purple locks with black highlights framed her face and three black marks marked her as more than familiar to the tenth division captain.

"Now, now, we don't want anything drastic to happen, do we?" she spoke with such a chilling voice and Hitsugaya could feel the animosity seeping off her words. He shuddered quietly to himself and hoped that Ichimaru was in worse for wear.

The other unknown figure that had stood over Yumi deflected the kido spell and helped her up, "You wouldn't want to try that on me, Ichimaru Gin." His brown locks were lifted by the wind that was picked up from the force of the blast. His hand also seemed to smoke with burn marks but no such expression of pain registered to him.

Unfortunately for them, Ichimaru simply smiled at the increase of company, "My, my, this is an unexpected turn of events."


No omake this time kiddies. Sorry. But hey, it's summer for me in a few days so hold tight! I'm sorry I haven't updated in soooo long! There was just some stress and all. So, forgive me? Plus, this chapter was an ass to write. I didn't know how to get Yumi in there...So that's why it's shorter than usual...again...-sigh-

-update 6/26/09-

Since you all have been great readers, I managed to get in a little preview for you guys:

"Yeah Taicho. Instead of going after me, you should really look after her."

"Matsumoto, move."

"Yumiko…" he murmured and then nearly dropped his sword in shock.

"I don't know either," she shrugged and stared at both her bloodied hands and Hinamori's, "Maybe it's because we're both alike…"

Yeah, only sentences. :p You'll live, yeah? Oh, read The Philosopher's Stone by Jibun no Omoi! It's a really good story by an amazing author.