Saturday had arrived almost too quickly. Erisia was sitting in her apartment waiting for the phone call that might or might not come to summon her to the shop. She decided that it was early enough yet that they weren't likely to need her right away so she decided to run a quick errand. She returned to the college campus to return a book she no longer needed in her research for a class assignment. Since she had not been summoned to Uruhara's shop as yet, she did not see why she couldn't do this one little thing.

It was as she emerged from the library and got to the commons that she felt it. That familiar feeling she always seemed to get right before the bad things happened. The shadow panther was telling her to run as she saw a tear form in the sky... ~ I can't run. Not now... innocent people, Panther... all around here~

~And what good will you be able to do? Run and get help... stay and you may die.~

She knew the panther was right... But her time to run had run out. The Hollow fell to earth, causing the fountain near it to sputter out... She looked up at it and in a split second made a choice...

~ There's only one chance Panther... drop the barrier.~

~It will sense the spike too.~

~ But Tessai and Uruhara... and Byakuya... if I don't they won't know...~

The panther could not argue... It dropped the barrier. Her reiatsu spiked considerably and she moved, running as fast as she could as the Hollow crashed across the commons towards her... She just had to keep running... The panther had to admire her will. She was scared witless, he could feel it, but she was still trying to do the best she could with what she had.

~ If we get out of this, I will tell you my name.~ It promised... She just kept running. Her luck was running out. She could feel it growing closer but she dared not stop - dare not even turn to see just how close. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, willing herself to go faster... The panther tried to help her, to bolster her flagging strength... But soon one of the dagger like claws had gone through her shoulder and she fell... It was not fatal, but she knew the next one would be.

~ I'm sorry panther. ~

~ No need to apologize Erisia.. I should apologize to you. ~

Uruhara had been going over some of the data with Byakuya when it happened. Suddenly all three men in the shop looked stricken by something... but before two of them could even fully register what was going on, their third seemed to have dematerialized for lack of a better term.

He felt the flare in reiatsu. Erisia had gotten the panther to drop its shields... but why? The only thing he could think of was that she was in danger and with no other way to contact them, she was doing the best that she could with what she did have. He had not entered a gigai so thankfully he'd not had waste the time to abandon it.

He used shunpo to get to where he felt her reiatsu... He arrived in time to see the Hollow's claw deliver the final blow. The young woman whose life he had saved, the woman who had endured so much... felled by a damned Hollow.

Rage engulfed him. But his rage was not white hot. It was not some flash in the pan that would quickly burn itself out. No, his rage grew colder until it was pure death and it spiraled down inside him so fast there was no processing it. There was just action. Whether he had actually said Scatter aloud or not, mattered little. The flurry of focused rage and reiatsu that accompanied the released form of his zanpakuto was devastating. In less time than it took to blink three times, the Hollow was gone.

While there were many people milling about and some looking around in a confused manner, his focus was elsewhere. Not on the few sensitive humans who noticed not who or what but that something was going on. Not on the damaged fountain... His attention went to one place and one place only... He could see Erisia's soul and her body. In that moment, his only thought was action. He took hold of both and quickly moved to Uruhara's shop.

Uruhara blinked in shock as Byakuya returned... "Well I suppose that takes care of one thing." Absently falls from his lips. Cold eyes turned on him and Kisuke took a step backwards... He knew better than to push anything right now. He knew that look in Byakuya's eyes. He hadn't seen it many times but he knew what it meant. There were not many things that could accomplish it, but Byakuya was pissed.

Erisia was confused as to what was going on... So much had happened all at once... ~Shadow panther?~ Her mind called out...

~ I cannot say anything just yet, Erisia, I am sorry.~

Then she was being set down and there was a flurry of motion around her... It was only then that she realized that there was something distinctly wrong... What did not make sense was why was she looking down at herself... why... was she not... Her mind went sideways and whether it was truly possible or not, Erisia fainted.

Uruhara noticed the spirit Eri falling. "I suppose we will have a great deal of explaining to do... when she comes back around." He says with a sigh.

"What will we do?" Tessai asks.

"If we take her to the senkai gate she can pass through as though she's just a shinigami... So long as we do not perform a soul burial she will still be her... her memories will remain. It is the soul burial that puts a spirit to rest. Consider it a reset button. If we do not press it, she does not have her slate wiped clean." Uruhara explains.

"But that's only if she doesn't wish to... return to her life. If she wishes to return to her life, I can make her a gigai... No human would know the difference." Uruhara says simply.