Everyone stared at Sara in pure amazement. Even Urahara was absolutely stunned by what she had become. None of them feared her at all, but they were just astounded with how easily she had sent Kurodo flying, and the way she now looked. Sara's expression told them that she wasn't happy with the way she had been forced to reveal her form. Sara then let out a sigh and somehow flew towards where Ichigo and the others with relative ease. She landed a little way from them as they stood there gazing at her. Urahara pulled down his hat and spoke.

"Well, this sure is interesting!"

"Interesting? Would someone like to tell me what the hell is going on?" Ichigo demanded.

"Why are you asking us? We're in about as much in the dark as you are," Uryu stated.

"Well thanks Uryu for clearing up that for me!" Ichigo replied sarcastically.

"I was only answering your dumb question! You don't have to yell at me for not giving an answer I don't even know!" Uryu yelled.

"Woah, whoa! Hold your horses guys. Let's all keep it down a bit shall we?" Urahara said. Uryu and Ichigo scowled at each other before turning away. "Now, Sara, would you care to explain to all of us?"

"Before that, I've got some questions! One, where the hell are we? Second, how do you know my name? Thirdly…who the hell are you, you, you, you, and you?" Sara asked, pointing to Renji, Urahara and the three mod souls. After a short pause, Renji reluctantly explained.

"I'm Renji Abari. I'm the lieutenant of Squad 6, of the 13 Court Guard Squads of the soul society. I've been positioned here to take over the previous soul reaper positioned here. This is Kiskue Urahara. He owns a small shop, but also helps us guys out with anything technical that we need. This right here is the basement,"

"This, is a basement?" Sara thought.

"These are mod souls created by Urahara. They're-" Renji went on to say but was interrupted by Sara.

"Spare me the lecture, I know what a mod soul is!" she said.

"OK then. Now that that's resolved, how about you answer our question?" Urahara questioned. Sara let out a sigh.

"I'm Sara Kishi. And I have the power…" everyone looked on with baited breath. "…to control the four elements; earth, air, fire and water," she explained. Everyone looked at her with jaws dropped.

"Is that true…?" Urahara enquired.

"Well, yeah! Why the hell would I not tell the truth?" Sara snapped. After a few moments, Uryu spoke.

"So that, explains how you got over here," he said recalling what happened a minute ago. "You used your power to manipulate the air around you, and gave you the ability to fly," he went on to say.

"Very impressive. You managed to deduce that much after only seeing it once…I expected much from a Quincy!" Sara replied.

"What? You know about Quincy's?" Orihime asked.

"Yeah I do. The cross on your wrist is a bit of a big giveaway," she said looking at his Quincy cross.

"So let me get this straight. You're a human who has the power to control the elements, right?" Renji asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sara said scornfully.

"Well, it's just that, your spiritual pressure doesn't seem all that human. It feels more like a spirit," he explained.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to add that part," Sara responded. "Unlike Quincy's, my power resides in my soul form. Meaning I have to transform into this form in order to access my powers,"

"So does that mean you're like a soul reaper?" Chad enquired.

"No. Unlike a soul reaper, my chain of fate is still connected, therefore I'm still human," she went on to say.

"Really? Is that even possible?" Uryu questioned.

"Well, apparently so," she said.

"Just one more question," Urahara. Sara glared at him. "We know what you can do…but who exactly are you?" Everyone stared at her intently, waiting for her response.

"If I'm honest…as far as I'm aware I'm just an ordinary high school student," she said. They continued to stare at her in a really odd way. "What?" she yelled after a few more seconds of gawking at her.

"Are you serious? You know how to change into a soul yet you don't know what you are?" Renji exclaimed.

"Nope," she said blankly. They were all dumbfounded with her answer.

"That aside, I think ultimately there is only one thing we really want to know," Urahara said. They all looked round at him. "And that is…whether we can call you a friend, or an enemy," They turned back to Sara. After a few moments she let out a sigh.
"Well, if a Quincy is willing to team up with you soul reapers…then I guess I might as well!" she said. Everyone smiled a little, now that they had a new member to the team.

"Sara, I…" Ichigo began to say.

"Ichigo," Sara said smiling. Then her face dropped into a sinister glare. She then kicked him hard, and sent him flying. He landed but had to grab onto the top of the rock, to stop himself from falling.

"Sara! What the hell was that for!" he yelled.

"Since when did you have soul reaper powers! Even more so, how the hell do you a zanpaktou that freaking huge?" she yelled.

"That's a bit of a long story," he replied as he got up.

"I'm listening!" she answered.

"Why don't we go upstairs in a bit. We can explain that later," Urahara explained. Sara let out an exasperated sigh.

"Fine then," she responded as Ichigo came back to join the others.

"All that aside. Did you know that Yoruichi was here conducting an investigation?" Urahara asked.

"Yeah? I was wondering what had her so concerned," Ichigo answered.

"I don't know all the details, but an unexplained phenomenon has everyone concerned," Urahara added.

"What sort of phenomenon?" Uryu enquired.

"So far, all that I know is that it was serious enough to justify the Soul Society closing the passage to the world of the living," Urahara went on to say.

"I know! I bet it's got something to do with the Aizen incident, doesn't it?" Renji commented.

"Doubt it. Aizen got away with the Hōgyoku but he's still gonna need a lot of time before he can mature it enough to utilise its full power. He probably won't surface or make a move for a while, which is good, cause right now, you're too weak to counter him," Urahara said. "But Ichigo…"

"What is it?" he asked. Urahara dropped to one knee.

"Soon enough the issue of the Hōgyoku will return and we will not be able to deal with it, without your bankai. Will you try to learn to use it again? I'm asking you to do this for me," Urahara bowed his head.

"Alright…I'll do it-"

"An excellent choice, good decision, thanks so much!" Urahara interrupted.

"Huh?"

"That guy could see a refrigerator to an Eskimo..." Uryu muttered.

"Hōgyoku? Aizen? Bankai? Yoruichi? Just how much are they gonna have to explain to me?"

"Alright then Ichigo, why don't we get straight to it and start cultivating your situational analysis and critical judgement skills," Urahara said.

"Err…err," Ichigo murmured.

"Ichigo, you really need to use your head more. You let your opponents take advantage of you far too often," Urahara explained.

"Sounds like typical Ichigo to me…" Sara commented.

"Will you shut up?" he shouted.

"Why 'cause you hate the truth?" Sara said and then laughed a bit. Ichigo growled.

"Ironically the member of your group the best at that kind of critical thinking is actually Uryu, the one who doesn't even have any powers any more," Ichigo turned his head to look at him.

"It's true, right Uryu?" Urahara enquired. After a short pause Uryu spoke.

"Yes. I lost my Quincy powers while fighting in the Soul Society,"

"Why you! Why the hell didn't you tell us?" Ichigo questioned.

"All those times you didn't use your powers was because you couldn't?" Renji exclaimed.

"Is this really true, Uryu?" Orihime asked.

"You freaking idiot!" Ichigo said.

"What was that?" Uryu asked.

"By doing that you put every one of us in danger. I'm not trying to say that you endangered us by not having any powers. Fighting as a team, we all have different things we contribute, and you were a huge help there in the Soul Society. But if you lost your powers that isn't something that you should of kept secret from the rest of us. We would have been a stronger team if we'd known. Hey, you have to trust your friends enough to tell them the truth. You know that," Ichigo lectured.

"Ichigo…" Uryu said. Just then Ichigo disappeared from view, and Sara replaced it. She had kicked him, again.

"Don't tell me you actually tried to fight the Soul Society?" she yelled. Ichigo jumped up quickly.

"Yeah, but it's a bit more complicated than that!" he yelled back.

"How could be so dumb? You're an even bigger idiot than I thought!"

"Do you think she'll stop attacking Ichigo?" Orihime asked.

"From the looks of things, I doubt it," Renji replied.

"OK now. I think Ichigo's had enough for one day!" Urahara said. Sara just crossed her arms. "I think that concludes our lesson for today. I think we should go upstairs and have something to eat. I'm guessing by now, Tessai has whipped us up something tasty!"

"But an entire town just got destroyed, what are you gonna do about that?" Ichigo questioned. Ririn just giggled.

"You should know we'd never do something like that. That was just a big hologram!" she explained.

"Well where did all the kids from our school end up?" Ichigo implored.

"They're probably waking up now..." she added.

Later, Ichigo and the others had finished explaining everything to Sara about Rukia, Aizen and the various powers they all had. Also, Urahara introduced them all to their new enemies-the bounts.

"So I've been thinking," Urahara said as he closed his fan. "Ririn, I think you should go to Ichigo's place,"

"Huh? Come on!" Ririn moaned.

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked.

"I think it would be best if Chad, Orihime, and you had a little extra support," Urahara explained.

"But…why?" Orihime questioned.

"These mod souls will be very helpful because they all contain reishi sensors," he continued.

"Sensors?" Orihime questioned.

"Specifically designed to detect reishi waves. In other words it appears the enemy is now targeting living humans and seeing how you four have such high abilities, I'm sure they'll look on you as very tempting prey. Of course there's no guarantee they'll notice you, so we must do what we can to find them," he said.

"Hm. I see…Where does that leave me?" Uryu enquired.

"Yeah and me. I don't recall my name being said, so you're just gonna leave me or something?" Sara added.

"Well you see Uryu as I was trying to explain…"

"You don't have any abilities any more!" Ririn butted in. Uryu was stunned and then became depressed.

"Oh yeah that's right huh?" Ichigo added.

"As for you Miss Kishi, I think it would be best if you stayed here a while," Urahara said.

"What?" she exclaimed.

"Not only would it be easier for you to be able to join in but it gives us a chance to become more comfortable with you, and you with us. Plus, if you'll let us, we can take a look at your powers,"

"Wait a minute! I only met you an hour ago, and now you want me to come live here?"

"Oh come on, I'm not that bad!" he said cheerfully.

"That's not the point!" she replied.

"Don't worry, Sara. Mr. Urahara is a nice person and we all trust him," Orihime added.

"That's all well and good but it just seems a bit creepy to me. I'd probably be more comfortable admitting that I'm worse than Ichigo," she said.

"Is that so?" he asked bringing his face closer.

"On second thoughts, the old man is a whole lot better…" she responded. Ichigo looked downhearted.

That night, after the three mod souls went home with their new homes, Sara went back to her apartment to get her things.

"Should I really do this? Am I getting too involved? Of I move in with them, then it'll look more suspicious when I have to leave….Oh well. Masuyo is just going to have to deal with it. There's nothing I can do. I want to protect my friends."

She slid open the shop door, with her rucksack on her back. She then went the back, to the living quarters within the shop.

"Sara! Glad you could make!" Urahara exclaimed. Sara just let out a sigh. "Jinta! Would you come here a second?" Urahara called. A few seconds later Jinta entered the room.

"Yeah boss?" he asked.

"Jinta, would you mind taking our guest to her room?" Urahara requested.

"Sure thing. Come with me," he responded. Sara followed Jinta down the corridor. "I'm afraid you're gonna have to sleep in the same room as the moocher, but if you want we can move you to a different room, if you feel more comfortable," Jinta explained.

"Moocher?" Sara asked. Jinta opened the door to one of the rooms and they both went inside it. Inside, it was like the rest of the design of the living quarters, but there was a window on the wall she was standing opposite. There were two beds in the room, one was pristine but the other had some stuff on the bottom.

"So you're back are you?" a voice said. Sara turned her head to see Renji was on the other side of the room, sitting down looking at his soul pager.

"That's the moocher?" Sara enquired.

"Yeah, so if you need to change rooms then let us know," Jinta added.

"Shut up!" Renji said as he closed his soul pager and stood up.

"No, don't its fine here. Thanks Jinta," Sara said as she went over to her bed and put her bag down next to it.

"Dinner's gonna be ready soon, OK," Jinta said as he walked out.

"OK then," Sara responded. He closed the door behind him. Sara let out a sigh.

"So you're an old friend of Ichigo, right?" Renji asked as he sat down on his bed. She looked up at him.

"Yeah. I used to live here in Karakura Town 6 years ago. We used to train together at the local dojo. Even though he's gained the power of the soul reaper, I can still kick his arse!" Sara said. Renji chuckled a bit.

"But it seems like you two are good friends," Renji added.

"We are…Ichigo is…one of the best friends I've ever had," she said as she clutched the bracelet underneath her top. She then got up and started to unpack the things in her rucksack.

"So, are you going to show us your skills soon then?" Renji asked.

"Huh?"

"Well, although we know what kind of power you have, but I think it would be best if we see it in action. You know, to find out how strong you are,"

"Well…I'm not much of a show-off if I'm honest. But I suppose I can do something," she said as she finished taking out all of the things she needed to from her rucksack.

"Hey moocher! Miss Kishi! Dinner's ready!" Jinta yelled. Sara walked over to the door, and noticed Renji hadn't moved.

"Hey, you coming?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute," Renji said. Sara then slid the door open and walked down the corridor. After she had left, Renji got up and looked over at her things. He noticed a small silvery thing next to her pillow on the side that Renji couldn't of seen from where he was sitting. He picked it up and observed it. It was an earpiece.

"Why would someone like her, need something like this...? There seems to be too many unanswered questions with her…" he thought as he put the earpiece back where it was and went to join the others for dinner.