Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters. I am merely borrowing a couple of poor souls to thoroughly batter and bludgeon in a world of my own making. Yohlis and all that resides within it are mine, so please don't steal them, kay?

Authoress' Note: Hi everyone! It's been an age. Well, about 4 years roughly, but who's counting? So, this is really my first Bleach foray and it's taken me a while to get back into writing anything again, but here it is. Parts of this were typed days after the first chapter was done, and parts were done a few months ago, and the rest was finished over an evening and night time. So, it's probably really weird and different sounding in places, but I don't care because I checked for missing words and that's my proofing for life done now :D. On another note, this story will be updated again as regularly as I can make it, since I do work a bit, watch soaps with my dad AND play rpgs - both offline and online. Anywho, I hope whoever reads this is still interested or intrigued, and please bear with me! I am trying to get back to creating things again. It's a struggle, but this place I'm in sucks creativity and life from one's own soul.

Resonating Souls

Chapter Two: Resonance

Ulquiorra Schiffer emerged from the Garganta and contemplated the scene before him with calm silence. The two Soul Reaper guards – so few? – were positioned protectively in front of his target. The young human girl standing just a metre behind her escorts appeared to be afraid, something that Ulquiorra fully expected from one such as her. Human beings always feared that which they could not understand or ever hope to comprehend.

One of the Soul Reapers shouted "Arrancar!" – stating an obvious fact that further lessened their overall worth in the Espada's eyes. Clearly, they had never considered the possibility of encountering a threat such as him in this middle realm.

Barely raising his voice above a controlled and steady volume, Ulquiorra issued his orders to the human girl. Apparently, his words were perceived as a threat immediately after he had finished vocalising them, for the closer of the two Shinigami charged Ulquiorra, their Zanpaku-tou raised as they advanced. With little more than a wave of his hand, the foolish man was slain, his body broken and heavily bleeding on the floor. The other Soul Reaper must have been incensed after his comrade's demise, for he too barrelled towards the Arrancar with reckless abandon – and met the same gory end.

By now the human woman had begun to truly panic – from what Ulquiorra could glean of her facial expressions and body language – and she almost looked ready to bolt. Yet, underneath her obvious fear, he could detect a small trace of resolve. He had no idea what was slowly taking place within her small mind, but he knew with a certainty that it was keeping the human girl from choosing the 'flight' option – something that most of her kind were well-known for.

He repeated his offer, "Come with me, woman."

Orihime couldn't focus on his words. All she could see were the two dead Shinigami, their bodies laying either side of her in tattered pieces. It's my fault they're... She couldn't finish the thought. Logically, she knew they were only doing their duty, but logic hardly ever came into play where Orihime was concerned.

The Arrancar repeated his demand once more, and Orihime knew with a certainty what she had to do. She clenched her fists and finally forced out an answer to the Arrancar's cold demand,

"No, I will not."

There was the briefest of facial tics, a small twitch of his jaw, which indicated to Orihime that he had heard her words, but otherwise he remained as still as stone. Clearly he was not bothered by what she had to say, and no matter her decision he would take her with him anyway.

Still, Orihime refused to go without a fight. He wasn't going to intimidate her. Not after all of the work she'd put in so that she wouldn't be a liability anymore. She needed a way out of this. There had to be something she could do to escape, or at the very least send a message to let Rukia and the others know what had become of her. A quick glance at the fallen Reapers and a small flare of hope began to take shape in her heart.

If I can just heal those two, then maybe they can get help while I stall this guy. How tough could he be..?

The very idea of trying to fight off this cold and robotic-like Arrancar – heh, robot. I wonder if he has laser eyes? – was scary enough, but she would rather that than the alternative. Orihime Inoue was not going to be a captive for anyone's nefarious purposes.

Swallowing her nerves and mustering her resolve, Orihime turned her back on the sable-haired Arrancar and called forth her powers, "Shunô, Ayame. Sôten Kishun, I reject!" The warm light of healing covered the two dead reapers, their injuries vanishing and their ruined clothes restoring in the process.

The Arrancar's voice seemed closer when he calmly said, "You're only delaying the inevitable, woman. Cease this foolishness."

Orihime snuck a glance over her shoulder to see that the Arrancar had moved a couple of steps closer, but he still had not raised his hand to attack her. His hands remained firmly in his pockets, as though nothing concerned him and perhaps that was true. The first time Orihime had met this Arrancar, nobody could stand up to him as an equal in combat, and it was probably through sheer luck that he had left them all alive. Maybe fighting back really was inevitable.

Her resolve strengthened when one of the two downed Soul Reapers started to groan on the floor, and so she beat down all of her worries and fears, knowing that at any given moment they could both awaken. They would need time to escape and she would try to give them as much as she could.

It's now or never!

Keeping her right-hand trained onto her healing shield, Orihime pivoted on her feet and aimed her other hand straight at the Arrancar. He didn't so much as blink at her clear display of disobedience, even when she summoned her only offensive power, "Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun, I reject!"

The small, but mighty fairy emerged from her hair-clip and sped towards Ulquiorra in a flare of orange light…

Elsewhere, in a world without Hollows, Wholes or Soul Reapers, two young men – not yet out of their teenage years – stared one another down across a burning farm plot and readied their swords for battle.

One was barely able to grip his blunted-blade and his entire body shook with the effort of standing on his feet. His charcoal locks clung to his brow, face and neck from perspiration, and he found himself repeatedly brushing his long fringe out of his mismatched eyes.

The foe he was trying to fight off did not struggle to stand at all, for he was a hardened soldier compared to the dark-haired boy. His face was adorned with an assured smirk, already confident in his victory over the untrained farm boy. His fighting stance was strong and he held his blade firmly in his gloved hands. A strong gust of wind whipped his lavender hair into his face briefly, and tossed about his obsidian-coloured cape, but he paid no heed to either of these disturbances.

The purple-haired boy tightened his grip on his sword, ready to end the charade of their battle and cut the darker boy down, when a soldier – merely a grunt in the ranks of the great army – bounded up to the boys, a great sword dragging behind in his black-gauntleted hands,

"Captain Delcamire!" At this the fairer boy craned his head in acknowledgement, "We have the girl. Orders are to retreat back to the capital before reinforcements from the Litmahnan army arrive."

Delcamire glared at his subordinate and lowered his weapon, "Fine! Load the prisoner into the ship and prepare to leave. Relay the orders to the others immediately." He turned back to the exhausted boy a few paces away from him, "It's your lucky day, peasant. We have what we came for, so this is your free pass. However," he marched up to the boy and heavily beat his fist into his jaw, knocking the boy clean off his feet and sending him sprawling to the soot covered ground, "raise a blade to me, or any Krutessan, again and I shall end your pitiful existence." He spat on the boy's face and pivoted on his feet, strutting back to his colossal warship with all of the arrogance befitting a young man with too much power at their will.

The fallen boy grasped his sword more firmly into his left-hand and used it to lever himself onto shaky legs. He took a careful step. And then another. A bead of perspiration slid from his brow and dripped into his eye from the exertion of pushing his body. He just couldn't let the coward get away though, not while he still had fight left in his soul.

"Hey!" The violet-haired Captain's stride didn't even slow, so the farm boy tried again, "Oi! You with the pony-tail! Get back here and fight me you coward!"

Delcamire halted briefly to fire a mocking glare and another scathing taunt back at the other boy, "You aren't worth the bother peon, so quit trying to pick a fight when you quite clearly cannot even stand on your own two legs. We have our target, so don't push your luck." He indicated just over his shoulder to his warship with a quick tilt of his head, and the other teen peered into the distance at the hideous blot on the landscape that was several times larger than his family's farm house had been.

He blinked in confusion, not understanding what it was that the soldier expected him to see, until a flash of snow-white hair passed across his vision, disappearing into the slate coloured air craft's cargo hold. My sister!? He looked back at the smirking Krutessan Captain, took another shaky step and very nearly collapsed face first into the ash-stained soil. Cruel laughter accompanied his misstep and all the boy could think of was his sister being man-handled, tortured and then most likely murdered by monsters just like the one that stood mere feet from him.

He levered himself back up on his sword again until he was almost eye-to-eye with the lavender-haired teen. "What do you monsters want with my sister?" he desperately cried out.

A finely shaped eyebrow quirked up in amusement as the Krutessan replied, "Our lord and Emperor wants the girl, not I or my men. And she could never be your sister, since she was created in our labs." He looked over his shoulder and saw that the remaining soldiers had finished loading back onto the war ship, "Now, I really must be going. Don't annoy me any further, peasant."

He spun about on his feet and began to make his way back to his ship, some thirty feet ahead of him, when a warm amber glow began to envelope his body. Delcamire turned slowly to see what the farmer's son was up to – perhaps he means to try some magic? Laughable – and his mismatched eyes widened comically when he saw that the light was coming from the other teen's own body. Waves of dazzling light were pulsing steadily from him, concentrated mostly out from his hands and hair – which had started to alternate between his normal coal colour and a vivid orange.

"Are you trying some kind of magic on me fool? Whatever trick you're trying, it won't work." He lifted his right arm, readying his own fireball volley to retaliate with, but suddenly found that he couldn't muster the energy for spellcraft at all. In fact, he could no longer move a single part of his body once he had raised his arm. "What have you done to me?!"

The other boy didn't appear to be hearing Delcamire at all; his gaze had lost focus and the energy was starting to heat up the air around him. His hair was now stuck on a glowing, fiery orange hue and the light had completely encased the area that the two teens were standing in.

Delcamire's skin began to itch. It was growing uncomfortably warm from where that foreign energy touched it, and he could swear he heard a strange chanting sound too. Something like…

"Hinagiku! Baigon! Lily! Santen Kesshun, I reject!" The tri-fairies formed up the shining protective barrier just in time, as the sable-haired Arrancar had just deflected Tsubaki back towards Orihime with a careless swipe of his palm. The fighting fairy rebounded off of the triangular shield and dropped listlessly to the floor of the Dangai, groaning in pain from hits to his miniature frame.

With all six of her fairies in use and no foreseeable way of escaping her foe, Orihime felt truly powerless. How did she ever think she could delay this monster? He was too terrible an enemy…and her friends were all fighting creatures just as powerful as him at that moment! I have to get away and help somehow! I can't be a burden to anyone ever again. Her healing still wasn't finished for the two reapers, and the Arrancar was advancing on her position every second, closing the gap between them until there were barely two arm-widths separating him from her.

"Cease your foolishness and come with me now, woman. This is not a request."

The way he said 'woman' reminded Orihime of her dream once again, and the fact that he was now so close that she couldn't help but stare at his eyes – eyes she knew to be a brilliant shade of emerald, obscured as they were by her still present orange shield. She tore her eyes from his and looked down to where Tsubaki had fallen, only to find that he had vanished from his slumped position on the floor. Where did you go, Tsubaki? She tried to reach out with her feelings – just like Kuchiki-san showed me! – to locate her injured friend and felt a slight 'tug' from just behind the Arrancar's head.

He's behind the Arrancar? He's not going to try attacking again, is he? Her unease began to multiply by the thousands when, sure enough, her little fighter encased his body in his own aura once more for a full-out assault on her enemy's skull. He charged towards the apparently unsuspecting Arrancar, trails of orange light dispersing into the atmosphere as he flew. Orihime flared both her healing and her barrier – to speed up the recovery of the reapers so that they could flee and also to defend should anything go wrong – when the Arrancar once more avoided harm, this time by ducking his head down just as Tsubaki flew to meet his mark.

The over-empowered fairy met with Orihime's pumped up shield in a blindingly brilliant flash of pure energy, and sparks from the two rained down over her healing fields, causing them to flicker and fade out before the reapers could regain consciousness. Amber light, the same kind as her manifested powers, slowly began engulfing Orihime and freezing her where she stood.

"What's going on?!" the high-schooler cried out in surprise, as she started to rise off of the floor in the light beam – Oh my gosh! I'm being abducted by aliens! Please don't let them be the kind that body-snatch or probe or…

Her hand was snagged in a tight grip, pale digits clinging securely around her much smaller appendage and a stable weight keeping her mostly grounded. She blinked and saw that the Arrancar – what was his name again? – had snatched a hold of her hand and was stubbornly attempting to bring her back down to ground level, but his efforts were falling short as he too was getting caught up in the light.

The woman's powers were behaving strangely and unpredictably. This much Ulquiorra could assume based on the surprise painted heavily upon the silly girl's overly expressive face. When he saw her begin to levitate – how is she doing that? – he closed the miniscule gap between them and latched onto her left-hand, trying to keep her from flying away to wherever she thought she could escape.

What he did not expect, was to suddenly be caught up in the strange energy, frozen in his action of grabbing the girl's hand, and also to start floating himself. The area around them both began to fizzle and surge with heat, the light glowing brighter in its intensity, when suddenly everything faded; light, sound, smell and feeling all gone in an instant. Then feeling returned as Ulquiorra felt a violent stabbing pain across his whole body, and he felt his powers fading and disappearing in the bleak void of nothingness. His hand was still securely holding onto his intended captive, but he could barely focus on that little detail from all the different assaults to his nerve centres he was receiving by some unknown entity. He felt like he was burning and dying all over again.

So when it all suddenly stopped, he was not prepared.

Nor was he prepared for the abrupt drop from the sky that both he and the girl experienced, followed by a solid crunch as they landed on a poor young man who would never have been able to move in time.

Ulquiorra's mind went blissfully blank as consciousness eluded him, and blackness took over.

Orihime felt a foreign tingling up and down her skin, like getting sand everywhere and being unable to remove the itchy feeling no matter what, and then she started to smell the horrid combination of smoke and blood. Before she could question what was burning, her vision grew black and she fell unconscious. Therefore, she never felt the collision with an unfortunate young man who was only just barely able to stand on his own two-feet. A young man whose hair had finally settled back onto its ordinary tar colouring, and whose eyes were as odd-looking as one could get – one grey and one blood red.

The sound ceased for Delcamire, and the light finally disappeared. He thought for sure that he had merely imagined it all – too much time spent around this peasant has dulled my mind – when a whole ripped in the air and two bodies dropped through it, both wearing peculiar clothing, and both falling with an almighty 'crunch' onto the Farreanian farm boy unfortunate enough to be standing directly under them.

All three were knocked unconscious, so the captain took it as his cue to get as far away as possible before more weird lights took him hostage again. He made directly for his ship, which was just beginning to seal up the cargo hatch, but stole a glance back at the strange heap of people, noting that the other teen's hair had returned to normal. He couldn't fathom what had just taken place and frankly he really didn't want to know.

How could he explain what had just happened anyway?

Yes, it would be best to pretend it had never occurred.

The hatch sealed shut, and his war ship took to the skies, jet-black fuel plumes billowing out behind as it sped off to the north.