Me: So-(sniffles)- we're back.

Rukia: (blows nose loudly) ...yeah. (Sniffles) Stupid cliffhanger.

Me: I AM SAD TO REPORT THAT I'M STILL NOT TITE KUBO, AND THAT IS MY DISCLAIMER.

Lyrics: She calls out the farther that I fly/ I love that sound so give me one more line/From the sky, she pulled me down tonight.

"Peyton, just...calm down. I'm fine. See? Would my...Would my temple be throbbing if I...wasn't?"

Which had been a lie.

"Okay." Her hand squeezing a little tighter.

Five minutes later, Peyton's voice. "No, keep breathing! Ichigo!" A few more breaths.

And then...Nothing.

LATER...

Ichigo felt like shit. There was no way he could still be alive with this much discomfort. He had probably been sent to Soul Society or Hell or...something. Yeah, that was a lot more likely.

He felt like opening his eyes, but just trying to made his head pound. Eventually, he could open them a bit without the major headache, and saw he was at Urahara's. Speaking of which, Rukia and Hat-And-Clogs were there, talking by where he was laying.

"It makes no sense, that energy she put out...I didn't know a human body could contain something like that without combusting, not to mention she's lucky I helped her get it to stop before she fried Tessai...I honestly have no idea how she - Oh look, it's Sleeping Beauty," Urahara said cooly after noticing Ichigo eavesdropping.

Not like he had much else to do than lay there and eavesdrop. Rukia sighed with relief. "Oh, good, you aren't in a coma. Honestly, I'm gone seven hours and you almost die? Fool..."

He knew she was kidding, but scowled at her anyway. Urahara gestured at his stomach. "Cut it kinda close there, Ichigo."

"How long have I been out of it?" It felt like he had been lying there for days.

"Almost forty-eight hours," Rukia answered. Oh. That might be why.

"...Where's Peyton, is she okay?"

"Well, yes and no."

"What the hell kind of answer is that?"

"Yeah, he's back," Urahara commented as Rukia sweatdropped.

"Well, physically she's fine, but she's worn out."

Urahara glanced at a hallway, which Ichigo guessed was near wherever Peyton was, then gestured to a spot on the floor. "That's an understatement, Rukia. Once we got her taken care of, the kid didn't leave that spot right there until Rukia forced her to, about ten minutes ago."

Great, that was his fault, too. He could easily see Peyton kicking his ass - or attempting to - for making her all sleep-deprived.

Urahara poked Rukia, making her jump. "Let's go somewhere else to talk about...that," he said mysteriously.

She pointed a menacing finger at Ichigo. "Don't move around too much, you might reopen your wounds," she instructed before slinking out behind Urahara.

The more he thought back, the more he remembered about the fight. Like how hard Peyton was crying when he was basically dead. And Kon's yelling. Urahara's voice. Peyton shouting something about how no one should touch her, she couldn't "control it".

If he thought even further back, he could even remember hearing what sounded like insect wings, and bright purple light dancing against his closed eyelids.

"He's dead...Wait, how did he die?"

Peyton wanted to sleep so bad, but her stupid mind wouldn't let her. It kept thinking of Ichigo, and worrying, and thinking of a logical explanation for all that energy she shot out.

It had to be some sort of adrenaline rush. Maybe since she had a spirit connection, she had a different kind of adrenaline rush than the average person. And since she was a dumbass, she didn't know how to control it. Yeah, that must be it. Right? Right?

But eventually she fell asleep, and when she woke up, she heard hushed whispering. Peyton slowly stood up, her stiff bones protesting, and shuffled into the hallway.

Rukia and Urahara immediately stopped talking, and Rukia sighed in annoyance. "Goddammit, where can you have a secretive conversation around here, Kisuke?"

She stomped off, and Urahara followed. But not before telling Peyton oh-so-casually, "He's up."

Great. Now she'd never get some sleep. She ran towards the room he was laying in, walking once she was in his view so she wouldn't look like an idiot. Peyton smirked with amusement as she stood patiently by the sliding door. Ichigo was so deep in thought he didn't even realize anyone was there.

So she did what any good friend would do: sit right next to him until he did, which resulted in him being scared shitless.

"What the hell, Peyton? GODDAMMIT, YOU DON'T JUST SNEAK UP ON SOMEONE LIKE THAT!"

She simply laughed. "Hi. You're not dead, after all. ...And it's not sneaking up if you sit beside the person for a good five minutes, dumbass."

"Good to see you were so worried about me," he mumbled moodily. If he only knew she had just left his side for the first time about twenty minutes ago...

But a look in his eye suggested he did.

"Now, why would you do something so selfish, like stop breathing?" she scorned with mock anger. "You're such a jackass. I think it has to do with your height."

Ichigo shrugged, then winced at the pain caused by the movement. "Maybe so, but maybe I'm just a really cruel person."

She smiled. "Well, cruel or not, welcome back."

Ichigo looked her up and down. She had his jacket on again (it was always freezing at Urahara's, something to do with his merchandise), but it was stained with blood. Actually, her clothes were blood-stained in general. She had a couple scratches on her face, but that was nothing compared to the hand-shaped mark on her neck. So he choked her, huh? That bastard's lucky he's dead already...Oh, wait, that reminds me!

"Earlier - or I guess, a couple days ago - you said he was dead. What happened to him?"

Peyton paled, and before she could answer, Urahara walked in with Renji, Rukia, Matsumoto, and Toshiro.

Matsumoto perked up. "Oh, good! You're alive after all, Ichigo!" Toshiro reflexively winced at her suddenly squealy voice, which was understandable since he was less than a foot away from her.

Peyton looked so tired and confused that Ichigo decided to be nice. "If you haven't noticed, there's a newbie here," Urahara said before Ichigo could. Damn.

Who were all these people? Well, obviously they were Soul Reapers judging by their robes, but still. Peyton was so confused, so she just continued to blink up at them blankly, trying not to give in to the urge to rub the mark on her throat. Her throat was still killing her...

The girl noticed her and perked up, flipping her strawberry-blonde hair behind her shoulder. "Oooh, who's this? I'm Matsumoto, lieutenant of the 10th Divison," she explained proudly while holding out her hand eagerly.

"...Peyton," she said hesitantly before shaking it. "And this is my Captain, Hitsugaya. And you know Renji."

Peyton and Toshiro exchanged a sort of half-nod of acknowledgement. The Captain looked about the same age as her, if not younger. Odd. His white hair was even more odd, but she supposed hair color should be the last thing to surprise her nowadays.

Matsumoto was bouncing with excitement, which with the way she was dressed was not a good thing; her boobs (or maybe inflatable rafts was more appropriate) were threatening to pop right out of her shirt. "So, how do you know Ichigo and Rukia? Do you have a brother? What size are those, B or C?"

Toshiro cleared his throat in annoyance, and she shut up while Peyton tried hard not to process that last question. "We're here for a reason. A REAL reason."

She turned serious. "Oh, right. Take it away, Rukia."

Now both Peyton and Ichigo were lost. "The man you fought wasn't just a man, though that much should have been obvious. He was a Bount, Ichigo, in case the Doll wasn't enough of a clue for you."

"I KNEW IT!" Renji yelled, at the same time that Ichigo yelled, "That's impossible!"

"Calm down!" Rukia snapped, and they both shut up.

"I thought they were all dead, and the only one that could have kids died with them," Ichigo said in confusion.

"So did we, but new evidence suggested otherwise," Toshiro answered.

"What kind of evidence?"

"Does it matter? He's dead either way. That's not the main reason we're back," he answered cooly.

"She is," Matsumoto stated, pointing at Peyton.

She sweatdropped. "Gee, no pressure or anything."

"Do you remember what happened between you and the Bount yesterday?" Rukia asked casually.

"Yes..."

"Do you remember HOW it happened?"

"Ummm...adrenaline rush? Caffeine, maybe? That V8 I had that morning?" she replied carefully. They sweatdropped. "Look, I don't know," she snapped defensively. "All I know is that it just HAPPENED."

"I am so lost right now," Ichigo commented.

Renji nodded. "They lost me at Bount."

Rukia sighed. "Yesterday, I was summoned to Soul Society for a possible threat. Hundreds of strange souls and what looked like bitto were converging all over Karakura for seemingly no purpose. Then another presence came up. Something I myself have never witnessed. And all the souls and bitto that had appeared were suddenly eradicated and sent to their proper dimensions in a matter of minutes."

"Twelve minutes, forty-four-point-seven seconds, to be exact," Matsumoto added seriously.

"When Kon came to find me, he told me what happened between you and this Bount. Rukia and I put our heads together and found you were the new presence," Urahara explained.

"...Damn," Renji said to break the silence, and Urahara looked his way.

"Hey, wait. Renji, if you had no idea about all this, why are you even here?"

Everyone looked at him. "Uhhh...actually, Strawberry's little sister sent me."

"How the hell did you run into my sister?" Ichigo demanded to know, temple throbbing.

"Dude, she ran into me! She was all 'Ichigo hasn't come home, make sure he's not off doing anything stupid,' and then I heard you were here and now here we are."

Everyone else sweatdropped. "Whatever," Rukia said impatiently.

"So...let me get this straight...Peyton's a Soul Reaper?"

"That's the problem. Peyton, what kind of energy did you emit, exactly?"

"Uhh...it was, um, dark purple. And it looked like electricity. Felt like it, too. And once it stopped, I couldn't really stop it, but...that was probably my fault."

Matsumoto suddenly looked troubled by this, biting her lip in thought. "No zanpakuto, no uniform," Toshiro clarified.

Peyton shook her head. "No, nothing like that. I stayed in my own body, too."

"So basically, she's an USO?" Renji asked.

"A what?" Peyton asked him.

"An Unidentified Spiritual Object."

"Okay, I am NOT an object, and I am NOT an alien, thank you very much!"

"Who said anything about aliens?"

"Well, it sounds way too close to UFO."

"Wait wait wait!" Matsumoto yelled before their idiotic argument could progress any further.

"I remember something like that...Something about the electric energy she described...but it was literally centuries ago, it might've been an urban legend by the time I was even born," she said thoughtfully. "I know I've heard it, though..."

"I've got tons of those works in my library, I'll dig for some stuff," Urahara offered casually. Great. Peyton was now a research project for Soul Reapers. It was just what she dreamed of being as a little kid.

Matsumoto suddenly perked up again and looked from Rukia to Peyton excitedly, then to Ichigo. "And I'm happy to announce we'll be here for quite a while to keep an eye on Peyton and those powers of hers. Right, Captain?"

"...Yes, how wonderful," Toshiro replied with hardly any inflection. Then Rukia randomly got all mad at everybody, shouting that Ichigo needed rest and Peyton needed food, and they all dispersed immediately.

Matsumoto pumped her fist. "Yes! WacDonald's it is!"

"But McDonald's is so much better," Renji protested as they ran out.

"Bring me something back," Ichigo called after them, he and Peyton exchanging a grin and already thinking of ways they could snoop through Urahara's merchandise when everyone left. Matsumoto grabbed Peyton's wrist and practically dragged her along, dashing all her hopes of being nosy, and Ichigo whistled the funeral theme innocently.

"You want some more injuries?" Peyton snapped before she was yanked out the doorway.

Rukia: (claps) YES!

Ichigo: Stop yelling, dammit!

Me: (baby voice) aww, does the big bad Soul Reaper have a headache?

Ichigo: (death glare)

Me: (clears throat nervously) Well, uhh...review! Or Ichigo will get angry.

Ichigo and Me: AND YOU WANT LIKE ME/HIM WHEN I'M/HE'S ANGRY!