Previously on Bridge the Gap, Kyoukan!

Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizuiro arrive at Urahara's shop, and Jesa leads them to the back room where the others are having dinner and discussing the message Renji brought from Soul Society. After a brief staring contest, Renji summarizes the report: The 12th division has detected new reiatsu signatures around Karakura; most are unidentified, but a few are human, one of which changed significantly yesterday. Jesa deduces that this one is hers, and Kon reveals that the unidentified signatures are probably from mod souls.

Chapter 12: The Plot Arrives!

"Mod souls?" Ichigo echoed in slight confusion after swallowing his bite of ramen. "Isn't that what you are?"

Kon nodded in confirmation, his solemnity indicative of how serious the situation was. "There's more, though. One of the signatures I picked up seemed familiar, but I can't figure out why..."

I munched on my noodles as I thought. 'So it's probably not Nozomi... Kon certainly didn't recognize her at all when she first showed up in the anime. So who else could it be?' With my next thought came anxiety. 'If it isn't anyone from the show, which seems to be likely, then all that time spent watching the later arcs won't mean a thing!'

"Do you have any information to add, Jesa-san?" Urahara asked, watching me closely.

"Hm? Oh, right, my Bleach knowledge," I began. "Unfortunately, I can't think of anyone who might fit the situation with the mods. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful..." I looked down in slight shame.

After a brief but uncomfortable silence, I felt arms wrap around me in a show of sympathy. "Jesa-chan," Orihime said softly after releasing me from the hug, "Just because you can't help the way you think you should, that doesn't mean you can't help at all."

Fortunately, I hadn't gotten so deep in the meltdown that I couldn't snap out of it easily. And Orihime said just the right thing to help me break out of it. I nodded to her and smiled in appreciation. "Thanks. You're right, Orihime-chan."

"Of course! We're friends, aren't we?" she replied with a smile.

I nodded, took a deep breath, and looked around at everyone: Renji, Ichigo, Rukia, Kon, Ururu, Jinta, Tessai, Ririn, Kurodo, Noba, Chad, Ishida, Orihime, Yoruichi, Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro, and finally Urahara. "So. What's the plan?"

Renji was the one to answer. "Well, part of my orders was if I came across anyone with one of the odd reiatsu signatures, I was supposed to either modify their memory of spiritual incidents, or bring them to Soul Society if possible."

"Really?" My face lit up in excitement. "I get to go to the Soul Society? Awesome!"

Renji raised an eyebrow at me. "Why are you so eager to go to the world of the dead? Going through a senkaimon would essentially kill you. You do know that, right?" The last question was said in a condescending tone, as if he thought I were an idiot. Which he probably did at the moment. I mentally shrugged at that.

Outwardly, I smirked back. "True, if I were to use a standard one, but not if I use Urahara's, with the matter converter!" I turned back to Urahara and commented sincerely, "One of your many great inventions, by the way."

"You flatter me," he replied. That stupid fan he pulled out again is seriously getting on my nerves!

In a moment of brilliance, I casually asked Rukia if she would sokatsui one object into oblivion for me if I bought a Chappy plushie for her. At her eager nod, I pointed at Urahara's fan. "There's your target, then. I don't know how soon I'll be able to get the plushie, but I will get it for you."

"Jesa-chan, I'm sure we can work something out, right?" Urahara whimpered. I wasn't sure whether I should be shocked, annoyed, amused, or what, that his worry was genuine. I got around that dilemma by just ignoring it.

I pretended to think about his request for a bit. "Hmm... Nope, sorry. I'm busy working out a deal with Rukia-chan at the moment, and it's hard for me to focus on more than one thing at a time." I gave him a goofy, crooked grin and turned back to Rukia. "Whenever you're ready, Rukia-chan."

"Wouldn't you prefer a surprise attack, though, Jesa-chan?" Rukia suggested. "It'd be relatively easy for him to block if I were to fulfill my side of this deal now, since we're discussing the matter right in front of him."

"Eh, I guess you're right," I replied. I turned back to the annoyance's accomplice and spoke in an attempted mock-mysterious tone. "Your fan is safe, Urahara-san. For now, that is..." Having dealt with that bout of silliness, I sat up straight and tried to get back on track. "Moving on, we were discussing a visit to the Soul Society, right, Pineapple?" I ignored his mumbled comment about 'scattered kiwi minds' or some other such nonsense. "Does it have to be right away? I do have school in the morning."

"No," Renji replied. "The soutaicho was surprisingly lenient about that. He said that if you knew Ichigo, I could wait until the weekend to bring you in. Didn't want another invasion, I guess."

"Yeah, I can see that."

The next Saturday afternoon, I found myself free-falling towards the western section of the Rukongai. The previous four minutes had consisted of running from the Cleaner in the Dangai. Seriously, why is it that any time Ichigo or his companions use Urahara's senkaimon, that thing shows up?!

Anywho, before that, I had told my mom I had been invited to a sleepover with Rukia and her friends. When Ichigo, Rukia, and I arrived at Urahara's, Renji was on the phone with... I'm guessing it was Byakuya, to give a report about his mission, and to let them know we were coming. That's when I realized that Mom might get worried if she couldn't get a hold of me while I was in another dimension, so I asked Urahara if he could loan me a soul pager temporarily. Apparently, the only extra one he had was a prototype he had finished the other day. It was best described as a fusion between the standard soul pager and a smart phone. It was quite the upgrade from my flip phone I had gotten a couple years ago, so who was I to complain about it being a prototype?

After that, we followed Urahara to the training ground. Yoruichi recapped the gist of the matter converter and its necessity for Tatsuki, Mizuiro, and Keigo's benefit, and then morphed cat, at which Keigo and Mizuiro completely freaked, much to the amusement of the others present. Renji and Rukia left their gigai, and Ichigo used his badge to pop Kon's pill out of the lion plushie. Ichigo swallowed the mod's pill and separated from his body.

"Urahara-san, could you keep an eye on my sisters while we're gone?" Ichigo asked.

"Isn't that usually my job, though, Ichigo?" Kon spoke up. At this point, I felt something from Tatsuki, but I couldn't quite figure out just what she was feeling and decided to ignore it in favor of hearing the answer to Kon's question, which I had also been wondering about.

"Yeah, usually. But you're coming with us, this time," Ichigo responded. "You have info about the situation."

I wonder what he's leaving unsaid, I thought. What is Ichigo planning?

By that time, Tessai and Urahara had finished charging up the gate, and off we went.

So, here we were, Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, Orihime, Chad, Yoruichi, Ishida, Kon, Tatsuki, Mizuiro, Keigo, and I, all free-falling towards the ground. Somehow, I was able to hear Nee-chan's call over my screams of terror. "Jesa, calm down! Jesa! Jesa, please!" she pleaded. "Jesa, if you don't calm down, I'll have to-"

I couldn't calm down, though, and what Nee-chan would 'have to' do, I couldn't tell. I'm not scared of heights, nor of high speeds, as long as I feel secure, like on a roller coaster. But I was free-falling with no harness, no parachute, no technique like shunpo, nothing at all to slow my descent. Put simply, I. Was. Freaking. Out. Suddenly, I felt like I had been jerked backwards, and then I fell flat on my back onto a trampoline.

A/N: *sighs in relief* I finally broke through that blasted Bakudo Infinity: Writer's Block! Sorry it took me so long, but I don't have nearly the same level of reiatsu that Ichigo has.

Thanks to my beta reader, Apocalyxtic98, for her help, including the suggestion that I extend the scene involving Urahara's fan. ^_^

Also, thanks to Anjel Kitty for catching a couple little mistakes, and for letting me join her for lunch.

God bless!