Previously on Bridge the Gap, Kyoukan!

Urahara explains that Jesa's power is empathy, feeling others' emotions as one's own. Rukia gives Ichigo a Chappy-based explanation. At Ichigo's inevitable comment about Rukia's artistic abilities, Jesa latches onto Rukia's annoyance and calls out Sode no Shirayuki's release phrase. Sode is transferred to Jesa's inner world, to their and Rukia's distress. Sode goes back to Rukia's inner world when Rukia takes a hold of Jesa's charm, which morphed into a duplicate of Rukia's zanpakuto. Jesa notices how late it is and realizes that her family moved into the formerly abandoned house near the Kurosaki Clinic. After getting permission to 'huggle' Yoruichi, Jesa starts crying over how much she misses her cats, whom she had to leave with a friend in America.

Chapter 5: First Day at Karakura High

"I'm home!" Ichigo called. Rukia had already snuck into Ichigo's room through the window.

"Ichigo! You know we always have dinner as a family at seven! Why are you so late?" Isshin yelled, trying to land a punch on Ichigo.

"Um, that would be my fault, sir," I said from the doorway.

"Jesa, why are you still standing there?" Ichigo asked, simultaneously dodging a kick.

Isshin looked over at me. "Yes, yes, why are you still standing there? Come in, come in!" Aside to Ichigo, he wiggled his eyebrows and added, "First name basis already, Ichigo? Nice."

I facepalmed. "I shoulda known something like this would happen..." I mumbled. "Kurosaki-san, sorry to disappoint you," Not really, when you're being ridiculous like this, anyway... "But Ichigo and I are just friends. There is absolutely no romantic attraction between us, and I'm not your 'third daughter' or whatever. Ichigo was just walking me home since I'm still learning my way around Karakura, and my family moved into the old house nearby. I'd appreciate it if you refrained from suggesting anything to the contrary. I really must get home now." I turned my attention to Ichigo and his little sisters. "Bye, Yuzu-chan, Karin-chan. See ya 'round, Ichigo."

"Jesa! Time to get up. It's your first day at your new school!" Mom called up the stairs.

"Right, thanks, Mom! I'm getting up," I called back. I wish she hadn't woken me up. I was in the middle of an awesome dream...

While Mom and I were eating breakfast, I started telling her about that crazy-cool dream she pulled me from.

"-And then, after Ichigo commented about the 'crappy Chappies,' as I knew he would, I called on Rukia's sword, and there it was in my hand!"

Ding-dong! interrupted the doorbell.

"I'll get it, Mom. I'm about to head out, anyway. Love you. Bye."

"Bye, Jesa, love you, too."

After I grabbed my backpack from its place by the front steps, I opened the door and saw the boy of my dream.

Which, apparently, wasn't a dream. I reached out and poked him on the arm. Solid.

"You're real. You're really real. It wasn't a dream..."

"Ichigo," Rukia began. She had been standing behind him. "Did she act like this when you met her yesterday?"

"Nope."

"So why is she now?"

"No idea. Why don't you ask her?"

"Well, Jesa-chan?"

"Uh... because... I was... too focused on how cool it was to think about whether it was really happening? I dunno, really." I shrugged. "So, why don't you guys tell me what Karakura High is like while we're walking?"

"Hi, Orihime-chan! How ya doing?" I said as I walked into the classroom.

"Jesa-chan? What are you doing here?" she asked, looking up from her cross-stitch of... was that a robot?*

"Chatting with friends while waiting for class to start, same as you," I answered matter-of-factly. "I was going to request that I be placed in your class, since being around people I already know would help my transition into the school system, but that's not gonna be necessary, since I was placed in here anyway. So, Orihime-chan, who's standing behind me?"

"That's Sado-kun. Sado-kun, this is Jesa-chan. She recently moved to Karakura," Orihime said brightly, confirming what I had thought based on what I knew about reiatsu and how Sado's powers had been described.

"Hi, Sado-kun. As Orihime-chan said, I'm Jesa. Pleased to meet you," I said, turning around and nodding my head in greeting. He just mirrored my nod, but I was fine with that. Sado's a man of few words.

"Shh, class is starting," Ishida hissed back at us.

"Ah, lunchtime! Finally!" Orihime cheered. "Jesa-chan, want to join us on the rooftop?"

"Sure, I'd love to. Thanks."

Ichigo, Orihime, Ishida, Sado, Rukia, and I were all munching on our individual lunches. Suddenly, the door flew open with a bang.

"Ichigooo~, how do you always get the pretty transfer girls right away?" whined the voice of the boy who had just arrived.

I could tell Ichigo was annoyed at Keigo's interruption. "Asano Keigo, right?" I said quickly. "I'm Jones Jesa. My family recent moved into the old house near Ichigo's. ...Wait, did you call me pretty?"

"Why, yes, I did. And I meant it, too," Keigo said.

"Uh, thanks, I guess." Hasn't anyone ever told him not all girls care about their looks? I thought in annoyance.

"And that necklace is absolutely lovely. How do you get it to glow like that?"

"Well, lately, it's only been glowing when I've been either very annoyed or very angry," I replied, switching from a fake-sweet tone to a stern one part way through.

I could practically hear him thinking, 'Backpedal, backpedal, backpedal!' Although, that might have just been my empathy. I smiled at the reminder that, yes, I, Jesa Jones, did have powers.

And that started me wondering if Keigo, Mizuiro, and Tatsuki could get powers as easily as I had. I mean, they had known Ichigo a lot longer than I had, so it seemed possible. "Asano-san," I began. "Would you mind finding Arisawa-san and Kojima-san and asking them to come up here? There's something important I'd like to discuss with all of you." I gestured towards the whole group.

"Anything for you, my dear," Keigo replied. So much for not having many guys hit on me.

After Keigo left, Ichigo scowled at me. "Why are you bringing them into this? I left them out of the loop to protect them."

I sighed and started rubbing my forehead. "You know the phrase 'what you don't know can't hurt you'? Not always true." I leaned back against the wall behind me. "Remember when I mentioned 'Ulquibat'? It's not just fan speculation. That fight you had with Grimmjow... It wasn't the last of the fights with the Espada. In the anime, they cut to a filler arc involving the Kasumi-Ooji clan, which didn't make much sense, because when that finished, they just jumped right back into the Hueco Mundo stuff without hardly any transition. Anywho, in the manga, Aizen takes the fight to Soul Society and-"

"Jesa-chan~!" Keigo interrupted as he returned, followed by Tatsuki and Mizuiro. "I'm back!"

"I can see that, Asano-san," I replied, only using formality because I know it annoys him when Mizuiro does it. In my usual, casual manner, I greeted the other two. "Hi, Tatsuki-chan, Mizuiro-kun. I'm Jones Jesa. Feel free to call me by my first name. ...I mean my given name. I moved here from America recently, and I'm still getting used to calling it something other than my first name," I explained. "Did Asano-san tell you why he wanted you to come up here?"

Tatsuki answered. "He mentioned a new friend of Ichigo's having something important to tell us, but that's it. You're the new friend, I take it?"

I nodded. "Mmhmm. But before I tell anything, I have a question for you three. Have you ever seen Ichigo wearing a black outfit that looks like it came out of the feudal period?"

"Actually, yeah, I have, and he usually has this huge sword with him, too," Tatsuki said, staring at Ichigo in suspicion.

"I could see him in a black outfit, but I couldn't quite make out the style," Mizuiro answered.

Keigo's answer was similar to Tatsuki's.

I turned to Ichigo. "See, Ichigo? They were already involved, so your attempts to 'keep them out of the loop to protect them', as you called it, weren't going to work."

"Jones-san," Ishida said to me, "I have a question for you."

"Well, Ishida, I might have an answer," I replied. My brother, three years younger than I, and thus still in middle school, hates it when I make those kinds of jokes, but whatever. He's not here.

Apparently, Ishida doesn't like them either. "I hope you do, for your own sake—"

"I won't know, though, until I've heard the question, now will I?" I countered.

"Ahem, as I was saying, before I was interrupted," Ishida continued, now staring at me. I lowered my head contritely, and he continued, "How can you prove we can trust you?"

"Oh, is that all you wanted to know?" I perked back up. "That's simple. A person's inner world represents who they really are, right? And since I can be quite literal-minded—ha, literal minded—never mind," I rolled my eyes as I accidentally used 'mind' a third time. "Anywho, my inner world should have some kind of definitive proof that you guys can trust me."

"That's great in theory, Jesa-chan," Rukia commented, "but there's a major flaw. How can we get into your inner world?"

I pursed my lips as I thought about that. After a couple seconds, I smiled. "Maybe you can't, but there's someone here who already has!" I looked intently at Rukia.

"You mean Sode no Shirayuki, right, Jesa?" Ichigo asked.

I nodded happily. I really wanted them to trust me, and this seemed like an idea that would really work. "So, what's she say, Rukia-chan?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Rukia raised an eyebrow.

"Sode-san. What's she say about my inner world?" I answered, as if it should have been obvious.

"What, you think I can just talk to her in my mind without entering my inner world?" Her confusion was evident. "What gave you that idea?"

"Uh, well, when I accidentally called her into my inner world—sorry about that again, by the way—I could talk with her like that, and you noticed she was missing right away, so I figured it was normal," I replied with a shrug.

"Wait, you mean that's another thing unique to me?!" Ichigo whined. "Why can't I ever be normal about anything?"

"Because normal is boring," I said with a smirk. "And you, my dear friend Ichigo, are the polar opposite of boring."

"And how would you know that?" Tatsuki asked me, arms crossed.

"Oh, right. You weren't there when I mentioned the anime and manga," I mumbled. "Someone's been publishing manga and anime about Ichigo online," I said to her.

"Why am I having trouble believing this?" she interrogated.

"...Perhaps because you've been kept out of the loop of Ichigo's adventures, so you don't know why people would actually like a show about him?" I guessed.

"Perhaps." Tatsuki then turned to Ichigo, and I felt her frustration spike. "I knew there was something going on, Kurosaki Ichigo! And when I confronted you about it, you told me it wasn't my business. So tell me: how come this new girl seems to know more about you than she should, and you're perfectly fine with it?!"

"Hey, I never said—" Ichigo began, but I didn't give him time to finish. All these tense emotions were giving me a headache.

"Tatsuki-san, calm down! Please!" I pleaded as I reached out a hand, wondering whether putting it on her shoulder would calm her down or make her lash out worse. "He was trying to protect you by keeping you out of the loop. He hasn't told me anything I didn't already know before I even moved to Karakura, so, please, if you have to be mad at someone, let it be me."

*'her cross-stitch of... was that a robot?' Orihime has mentioned being in the handicrafts club, so I decided that she knows how to cross-stitch, since I'm familiar with that particular handicraft. I got the robot idea from her drawing of her 'future self'... a robotic version of her.

A/N: Thanks to Apocalyxtic98 and Snowy12345679 for all their beta-reading help so far.

Reviews are always appreciated, but I won't beg for them.