A/N: Hey everybody and sorry for the late update! I have been super busy with school, trips, cleaning and my friends so I didn't really have time to add any new chapters... Anyway, I'm going on a trip with my family on the thirtieth and won't get back to my home (and my computer) for at least two weeks, so no more chapters for a while! Sorry about this and a big thanks to all of the people who continue to review this story! :) But anyways, here you go! The meeting between Tatsuki and Akira! Of course there will be no romance or anything for a while because I want them to start out as friends and Akira will probably be very busy for the next little while...

Chapter 7: The Meeting!

Akira stepped cautiously through the bright streets of Karakura being careful not to bump into any of his fellow pedestrians. He had felt his brother's presence disappear from the town and wanted to know where he had gone. It was curious though. If Uryu had died then there should have been some fluctuation in his spirit pressure as he fought for his life or it should have died out slowly, not just vanish into thin air. One second it was there and the next gone. That's why Akira was walking slowly through the streets instead of dashing madly all the way to where Uryu had last been. His brother couldn't have died. Gone somewhere else, yes but not dead. If Uryu had died the little town that they had both lived in would stand no chance against Akira's rage. With his new powers the town would be annihilated within seconds.

Akira slunk all the way to the house he and his brother lived in and crawled with ease up the wall and into the window. It was not his first time doing such things as he often entered the bedroom through the window after a particularly late night while fighting hollows. He glanced around the darkened room. First he would search the room for anything out of the ordinary because he didn't want to be caught in some sort of a trap that his brother had set up for him, if that's what this was. He scattered his brother's papers across the desk and inspected the bed all the while keeping his senses on the alert for any intruders. After he concluded that there was nothing of suspicion in the room he jumped out the window casually as if he had not just fell from the second story of the house and continued on his way with his hands shoved in his pockets.

He continued to follow the trail towards the place of his brother's disappearance which required much concentration that was very hard at the moment seeing that it was a beautiful sunny day in Karakura. Now most people would consider that to be a good thing, but to Akira who was covered from head to toe in black clothing it was his worst nightmare. His black cargo pants and t-shirt had been heated up by the sun's rays sweltering him while there was not even a gust of wind to cool him off. By the time he had made it half way to his destination he was collapsed on the ground. Normally the heat would bother Akira yet not be enough to actually make him faint but it was just his luck that last night he had pulled an all-nighter while trying to learn a new move that he had come up with. Needless to say he had overexerted himself and was only starting to pay the consequences. As his vision started turning black he caught a glimpse of two feet running towards him.

A cool breeze floated across Akira's face bringing with it the faint smell or oranges. He kept his eyes closed as he turned, hoping to savour the last few moments of rest before he would be forced to awaken and start the day. But come to think of it, there was no small shaft of light falling through the roof onto his face and the faint smell of ramen that hung around his residence was missing. As the events of the day slowly filtered through Akira's head he bolted upright and his eyes flashed open, staring wildly at everything. He was laying in an open room with large windows on a plain beige couch. The floor was wooden and the walls were a beautiful red color that was neither too dark or too vibrant.

"Yo, it's Akira Ishida right?" The voice came from a teenage girl of about five feet. She had rich chocolate eyes and short and spiky dark hair. Akira could vaguely remember that her name was Tatsuki something or other and that she was quite good at karate. Other than that his mind drew a blank.

"Yeah," he replied to her question. "And your Tatsuki..." He trailed off, not knowing her last name and unable to think of anything else to say. It was surprising, most of the time his mind was firing off twenty things he could say every second but it suddenly drew a blank when he saw her.

"Arisawa," The girl stated and at Akira's confused face she continued. "Arisawa, it's my family name if you were wondering." Akira nodded and continued to stare blankly around the room until Tatsuki continued to speak. "You know, you caused a big stir up at school. Nobody has seen you for weeks and Uryu wouldn't say a word about you." At this Akira looked up at the girl in surprise. He hadn't realised that he had been away that long. His training must have made him forgetful... And Uryu hadn't said anything... Uryu! During his talk with Tatsuki he had forgotten all about why he had returned to Karakura in the first place.

"Shit! Uryu." He mumbled to himself without realising that Tatsuki had heard him.

"What's wrong with Uryu? I thought that he went off somewhere with Ichigo since neither of them were home." Tatsuki sounded genuinely concerned about his brother so he ignored the fact that she was friends with a soul reaper.

"Nah, it's nothing, we just got in an argument that's all." Akira said while hoping that Tatsuki would buy it. He truthfully didn't want her to be worried, it was strange because normally Uryu was the only one that he cared about. He frowned, he would have to think more about this later.

"Hmm," Tatsuki hummed. "Well if you need somewhere to stay for now you could always sleep on the couch." She didn't seem frightened at all at the thought of letting one of the worst students at the school stay at her house and Akira both respected that fact and worried about it. He respected it because that meant that she wasn't afraid of him like so many of the other girls and even boys were, but he was also frightened by the fact that she was so trusting of other people. What if he was a person who meant her harm?

"Are you sure?" he asked tentatively. "What about your parents?" He already had one angry father to deal with if Ryuken's glares were anything to go by. He didn't want to have to deal with another murderous parent if he could help it.

"Ah," Tatsuki commented in a tone that was slightly lacking of emotion. "My mother divorced my father some years ago and my father is on a business trip."

"I'm sorry." Akira replied quickly, hoping that he hadn't hurt her too badly by bringing that up. "I didn't know..." he trailed off.

"It's fine," Tatsuki said in a falsely happy voice as she smiled at Akira. He knew that voice all too well because it was the one he had used so often back in his village... "I didn't know her at all, but don't mind me..." He could tell by her eyes that it had bothered her but he didn't know what to say. He wasn't good at comforting people as the only true parental figure that he had ever had was Uryu's grandfather. "So will you be staying?"

Akira thought for several moments. Right now he had nowhere to sleep inside of the town and he was hoping to talk to his brother when he returned, as he was sure that his brother had only left off for somewhere with the shinigami and if they had earned that much of his brother's trust he might just be able to give them a chance. He would also like to have the chance to get to know this girl better. He contemplated Tatsuki's proposal for several more seconds before realising that the pros far outweighed the cons and replied. "Sure, I might as well stay for a bit."

"Well I'll go and get some blankets for you then!" Tatsuki yelled over her shoulder as she walked off down the hall. Akira shook his head to remove his eyes from her retreating figure. She had said that she would be getting out the blankets but he wouldn't need them until a reasonable sleeping hour. As he glanced out the window he got his answer from the dark shadows coating the ground. He must have been asleep for longer than he thought.

After Tatsuki had returned to the room they chatted for a bit before she headed off to bed and left Akira to ponder the downsides of having slept for most of the day. By the time he finally fell into a restless sleep the sun was already starting to rise. Little did Akira know that during the events of the night he had completely forgotten about his search for his missing brother.

A/N: Does Tatsuki even have a family or are they dead? For this fic she will have a father but if anyone knows the answer please tell me!