disclaimer: i do not own bleach or any of it's characters/locations/etc. i only own this plotline and the OCs

thanks to: Red6 for the story favorite =]

please please please R&R. i'm only going to upload more chapters every 4 weeks or so, unless i get a good amount of reviews or requests to do it sooner. so review! and tell you're bleach friends to do the same! thanks =p

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Chapter 2

"All right," I said, checking off the last item, "I think we got everything on Urahara's list." Ururu, Jinta and I each held a small bag of groceries as we stood outside the Hirohyaku Supermarket. Ururu opened her bag and looked through the products inside one last time. As she nodded to me, I folded the list up and slipped it back into my pocket.

"Can we go now," Jinta whined. I shushed him and he stuck his tongue out at me. Ururu sighed and started to walk away. She was so much more mature than I was when dealing with Jinta. She could always stay calm and firm, while I usually succumbed to my inner ten year old and only egged him on. I looked at him and he shrugged. Swinging his bag over his shoulder, he walked after Ururu, whistling, and I followed.

We had gone a few blocks before I started to realize something was off. It was a Sunday afternoon and town was usually packed with people doing their shopping for the week. But, the further we walked, the less people there seemed to be around. Where is everyone…? It can't be that hot out...

As if in answer to my question, two boys exited a convenience store a bit ahead of us. Their heads were inclined towards each other and they were speaking quietly, but I was able to pick up what they were saying.

"– biggest thing I've ever seen, I swear to you," the shorter of the two insisted. "Like a giant…footprint, or something!" I strained to hear them as a truck rumbled past on the street beside us.

"Woah, no way! Right in the middle of the park?" the short boy's friend asked, incredulously.

"Yeah, it's huge! I think I even saw a couple of camera crews hanging around." As they turned a corner the boys' voices began to grow faint. I stopped and watched them walk away, thinking about what they had said. Ururu and Jinta had stopped and were looking after the boys as well. That would explain where all the people are, I guess. Maybe we're gonna get to take a detour through the park after all, I thought excitedly. Turning to the kids, I tried to look as disinterested as possible.

"Wonder what that was all about. Wann go see what's going on?" I hoped my performance was working well enough, but my legs felt anxious and I could feel myself fidgeting a bit. Jinta narrowed his eyes at me, clearly suspicious, and was about to say something when Ururu interrupted him.

"Maybe we should." Jinta stopped short and looked at her, his eyebrows raised.

"You think he'd wanna' know?" he asked quietly after a bit of a pause.

Ururu did not even answer. She simply began to cross the street in the direction of the park. Jinta looked at me and I shrugged, doing my best to look bored. But, when my mask cracked and a smile slipped through, he rolled his eyes and stalked off after Ururu.

I couldn't tell why I was so anxious to get to the park, but there something about the whole situation that seemed strange. There was something in the air, some feeling of anticipation that seemed to energize the atmosphere. It was...electric. I had never felt so awake and aware. But something in the back of my mind stirred slightly, as if this feeling was familiar to me from a time not so long ago. I was trying to remember when that was exactly when we reached the park gates.

As we got nearer, we fell in with a steady flow of people all heading in the same direction. We stopped just before the entrance, watching people of all ages push to get inside. Looking at the kids, I squared my shoulders and braced myself. Reaching the crowd, we began to squirm our way between people, taking care to stay within sight of each other. Once we had pushed our way in, it was easy to see how worked up everyone was getting. We were jostled around so much that I made sure I grabbed a good handful of both the kids' shirts so I wouldn't lose them. But, trying to keep up with them and trying not to get elbowed by an overzealous observer was taking more out of me than it probably should have.

At first I thought it was because I was being knocked around like a pinball that I was getting breathless, but as we got nearer to the footprint, I recognized that familiar feeling of pressure on my chest. It was the same one that I had felt when I saw the little girl earlier by the vase of flowers except that this time, the pressure was multiplied many times. I was feeling a bit light headed from it when Jinta grabbed my and Ururu's hands and pulled us through a space between the surrounding people to find a way to the front of the crowd.

When we emerged I could feel my eyes widen. "Footprint" was not the right word to describe this thing. Yes, that was its general shape, but this impression in the ground looked more like someone had taken a few tons of dynamite and set it off. I could see a few crushed trees lying at the bottom, looking more like toothpicks in size compared to the crater itself. What could have made something like this, I thought, feeling an odd prickling of fear along my spine. And where is it now?

I looked down to see Ururu and Jinta both staring at the footprint, as if mesmerized. Ururu's eyes were quickly scanning the area, taking in all she could, while Jinta's were simply wide with amazement. I recognized a bit of the fear I had felt for a moment in his eyes, too.

"It's…so much bigger than usual," he whispered, more to himself than anyone else. I looked back at the crater, wondering when the hell he had seen something like this before, when I noticed a man on the other side staring at me. He was oddly dressed and stood so still I wondered if he were even breathing. His high cheekbones were startling, making his face seem pointy and angular. Our eyes met and I realized, as my stomach knotted up, that they were a deep, blood red. I was about to point him out to the kids, but my sentence was cut off by a sudden stabbing pain in my chest. It tore right through my body, sending a jolting shock through my arms and legs. I dropped my bag of groceries on the ground and the carton of milk burst open, splashing all those near me. I clutched the front of my shirt and clawed at my chest, the pressure there increasing with every second. I could not breathe, and I started gasping for air.

I could hear Ururu and Jinta next to me, asking me if I was alright. I wanted to answer them, to tell them about the man. To tell them we needed to get away from this...thing, but I could not get enough air in my lungs to do anything.

I fell to my knees and threw my hands out in front of me to keep from hitting the ground completely. Looking up, I saw that my vision was beginning to blur. But, my eyes still managed to find the man again and as our eyes locked, he grinned. I was starting to see stars pop up in front of my eyes when I felt someone grab my arm and pull me to my feet. I felt my arm being draped over someone's shoulder, and theirs wrapping securely around my waist. I was being dragged away, but I could not see straight enough to tell who it was that was holding me up. It felt like we were walking forever. The pounding of my heart in my ears began to subside and I could no longer hear the buzz of the crowd. As my rescuer finally laid me down, I felt the pressure in my chest begin to lessen and closed my eyes, breathing heavily.

A shadow fell over my face. "Sayuri? Sayuri, can you hear me?" My eyes shot open.

"Rukia?" I opened my eyes to find that I had been carried to a bench on the total opposite side of the park. Gripping the back of it, I tried to sit up but my head instantly started throbbing as soon as I was no longer horizontal. Standing over me, her eyebrows drawn together in worry and what looked like confusion, Rukia placed a hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me back down.

"You probably shouldn't try to get up just yet," she told me, "It looked like you almost blacked out." Looking up again, I met her violet eyes with my silver ones. I had met Rukia Kuchiki three weeks ago when I started at Karakura High School and was placed in her class. She always seemed so happy and smiley that seeing her as serious as she was at the moment was a bit unnerving. I nodded, and then regretted it as I felt my brain bouncing around the inside of my skull. Wincing, I placed my hands on either side of my head.

"What happened?" she asked, looking at Jinta and Ururu who were standing on either sides of the bench.

"No idea," Jinta said. "We were just lookin' at that…thing, and she started makin' funny noises like she couldn't breathe or somethin'." Rukia's eyes narrowed as he said this. Judging by the look Rukia was giving me I knew she was about to ask a million questions, so I decided to speak up.

"I'm fine, honestly Rukia." I forced myself to sit up and show her, even though everything around me began to spin. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, stretching my lungs as far as they could go, and smiled. "See, I can breathe just fine. It was probably just the heat. It's really nothing to worry about." Rukia's eyes looked over my face again, considering my excuse. She glanced at Ururu who nodded back at her. Then, as if a switch was hit, her expression smoothed and Rukia was back to normal.

"Well that's good to hear. You really had me worried, Sayuri," she chirped. "Maybe we should sit here for just a little longer until that crowd at the gate lightens up. Otherwise, we'll never get out of here." I nodded as Rukia took a seat next to me on the bench. The kids sat on the grass beside us and chatted with Rukia about the Urahara Shop and what we were doing in town. As I listened, I tried to recover from the normal whiplash I got from Rukia's everchanging personalities.

I liked Rukia. After a few days of trying to break through the phony friendliness she put on in school, I managed to find her real identity underneath. She could be tough and brutally honest, but always accepting. And she jsut had this way of making me feel welcome whenever we ran into each other. To me, she was very easy to talk to and I found myself getting closer to her everyday.

After a while, the crowd began to dissipate and we decided it was time to head back. Getting up, Rukia held out her hand to me and said, "Even if you are feeling better, maybe I can walk back to the shop with you anyway, just to make sure. It would make me feel a lot better." I was about to protest but the threat that suddenly appeared in Rukia's eyes made me quickly shut my mouth and nod, weakly, in agreement. "Great," she said pulling my arm back over her shoulder before I could even blink. "Let's go!"

And so, as if being half-carried, half-dragged all the way through town wasn't embarrassing enough, the second we re-entered Urahara's yard, Jinta's sick sense of humor only made it worse.

"All right people clear out, we've got a highly unstable person comin' through here," he turned and waved his arms at an invisible crowd, ushering them out of the way. Shooting me a grin laced with pure evil, he continued, "She might trip over the air and knock herself out again." I felt my muscles tense as I prepared to lunge at him, but I was still trapped in Rukia's arm that held me like a strait jacket, so I didn't get very far.

I was shocked at how strong she was for so small a person. A few inches shorter than I was, and I really wasn't that tall to begin with, she simply wrapped her arm further around me and braced herself against my attempt to break free. It was like being tied to a brick wall.

"Get lost," she hissed at Jinta, again surprising me with the power in her voice. But Jinta, of course, would have no part in taking directions from anyone. Closing my eyes, I tried to tune out their argument and keep my still woozy body from collapsing in Rukia's arms. Suddenly, the door to the shop slid open with a bang causing us all to jump. Tessai's large frame filled the doorway as he gazed from one end of the yard to the other.

"What's all this noise for?" he asked, stepping out and walking towards us. One of his eyebrows cocked slightly as he caught sight of me and my captor. Rukia and Jinta both opened their mouths to respond, but I was tired of being treated like some mental patient who didn't even know her own name. Before either of them could say a word, I wrenched myself out of Rukia's vice grip and threw up my hands.

"Nothing!" I said, a bit louder than I had intended. As everyone's eyes turned to me I could feel a blush creep its way onto my face. Wonderful. I was back at the center of attention. Three cheers for my amazing people skills. Smiling awkwardly I continued, "Nothing is wrong. I am perfectly fine. See," I patted myself down a bit so they would see I wasn't in immediate danger of losing any limbs.

"She fell and hit her head." I turned and glared at Jinta, making a mental note to find a storage closet I could lock him in later.

"Then she passed out in the park." I turned to stare at Rukia with disbelief and betrayal written all over my face, but she kept her eyes on Tessai. He looked at me and I felt about ready to explode.

"No, I didn't. I just…." I scrambled to find an explanation, "Almost...did." Yeah, you've definitely got 'em all convinced now, Sayuri. Suddenly, my head throbbed painfully and I swayed a bit. Concern quickly took the place of amusement on Tessai's face and both he and Rukia took steps toward me.

"Maybe we should go inside," he said, his deep voice rumbling softly. Even though I knew Tessai only had my best interests at heart, I rolled my eyes and groaned loudly. Walking past everyone, I stopped just to the side of the front door.

"I am perfectly fine," I repeated, ignoring the invisible hammer that was currently beating away at my skull. At the moment, my desire to be out of the uncomfortable spotlight was much stronger than my desire for the pain to stop. "I am just going to sit here," I indicated the ground beneath me, "and close my eyes," I pointed to my eyes. "So, you can all go inside and gossip about what a delicate flower I am, but I think I'm going to sit this one out." And with that, I plopped myself down, leaned my head back against the wall of the shop, and closed my eyes.

There was some mumbling and shuffling of feet, but eventually they all made their way into the shop. Once I heard the door slide shut, I let out a deep breath and opened my eyes. I lay down on the cool concrete slab that ran the length of the front of the shop and reveled in the sudden silence that surrounded me.

Being the center of attention had always bothered me, not really because I was shy, but because it was too much pressure for me to handle. Everyone watches you, hanging on your every move, and expects certain things of you; it had always made me uncomfortable ever since I was young. I was a people pleaser, and the possibility of failing in front of a group of people made me very nervous. I was much happier keeping to myself, where the standards weren't so high.

Through the open window around the corner from my spot, I could hear a door slide open and hushed voices entering the room. Before I could call out and let them know I could still hear them, I picked up on what they were saying.

"- been out there for a week already." That was Urahara. "He's been following something, but it keeps disappearing right before he can get a clear reading on what it even is."

"How can you lose something that huge," Rukia asked, annoyed.

"He's not even sure if they're the same entity at this point."

"Ugh, you should have let me handle this, Urahara." I wouldn't want to be whoever 'he' was, I thought. Clearly he wasn't very good at doing his job. "Anyway, that place reeked of spirit energy. I could sense it from the other side of town. It's no surprise she fainted, anyone would have."

"Well she's the only one that did, which means you were right, Miss Kuchiki," Rukia scoffed at Urahara's formality. "And you know what will come next. It's starting."

"Wait, what's starting?" Jinta piped up. Lost in my relief that I wasn't the only one who felt out of the loop, I almost missed Ururu's whispered comment.

"What about the man?" There was silence for a moment in which I supposed Urahara had waited for Rukia or Jinta to explain. When they didn't, Ururu continued. "When we carried her away she was mumbling something about him staring at her."

"I didn't see anyone," Jinta dismissed the idea, "She hit her head pretty hard you know." I stuck my tongue out at him even though he couldn't see me.

"Did you see him?" Urahara asked. When Rukia didn't respond he continued talking, but I had stopped listening. My thoughts flew back to the man in the park.

There had been tons of people crowding around the footprint on all sides, but somehow, I had knew he was watching me. I closed my eyes and his face was instantly there, in my mind, as if he was standing right in front of me. Now that I was thinking more clearly about him, I recalled his hair, sleek and black, twisted at the nape of his neck into a long braid nearly reaching his waist. But, what I remembered the most were those deep set, crimson eyes.

The more I thought about them, the more they became the only thing I could see in my mind. I felt a sensation of being trapped, unable to look away from them. It was as if his gaze burned right into me and completely enveloped me. Suddenly, his eyes sparked like flying embers and held so much rage it was paralyzing. I felt myself falling into those pits of fire and just before the flames could lick my skin, a terrible howl broke through my thoughts and my eyes flew open.

The sound pierced the calm air around me and reminded me slightly of nails on a chalkboard. When it finally ended, I flipped over onto my stomach and looked up only to find that my face was inches away from a pair of yellow, feline eyes.

"Yuroichi," I said, relief flooding through my boiling veins and cooling them. The black cat blinked at me curiously and I smiled. She must have meowed at me and my imagination amplified the sound into that howling. Chuckling at my own ridiculousness, I sat up and back onto my knees. Scooping Yuroichi up into my arms, I scratched under her chin, something she never let anyone else do without a good scrape and a hiss. As she purred, I took a few deep breaths, still trying to calm my racing heart.

I placed her down on the ground next to me and leaned back against the shop wall again. I was just about to close my eyes when that noise rang through the air a second time and my stomach twisted into knots. I sat up straight and looked at Yuroichi who was licking her paws and clearly not making the noise at all. So I didn't imagine it. I looked off into the sky, over the wall that surrounded the Urahara Shop where, somehow, I knew the sound was coming from. My hands began to tingle and feel strange. They were really hot and tingly, as if I had just stuck them in an electrical socket. I clenched them into fists and took another deep breath.

Rukia came bursting through the door a second later, shouting something back to me about having forgotten an appointment she had. I watched her race around the corner of the wall and shook my head. There she goes again, I thought. Rukia had been running off at random moments ever since I met her, so I had learned not to pay it too much attention; I figured she was just a naturally forgetful person. But this time it felt different. She had seemed a great deal more agitated than usual and didn't even let me say goodbye before she completely disappeared. Could it have anything to do with that noise? Something was definitely up.

"And I have no idea what it is, Yuroichi," I said, the cat turning her face to me in response to hearing her name. I stood up, and looked at the sky again where the howling had come from. "But that noise definitely did not sound human. And I have a bad feeling that whatever it is also made that footprint in the park." Yuroichi meowed at me and I looked back at her. Leaning down to scratch under her chin once more, I left the cat outside. As I stepped back through the door to the shop, however, I could have sworn I saw her looking at the sky in the same direction I had been. Weird.

Once my eyes got used to the darker lighting inside, I could see that things had pretty much gone back to normal. Had anyone else even heard that crazy sound? Urahara was dozing on his step again, his hat pulled down low over his face. Jinta was reading comics and Ururu was sweeping the floor. All of them seemed far too calm after that conversation I had just overheard. I wonder what's really going on, I thought, crossing my arms across my chest and eyeing them all suspiciously.

Whistling floated in from the hallway as Tessai came around the corner. His arms were stretched around the base of what looked like a tower of storage boxes, most likely filled with new inventory. I realized, with a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach, that the height of that tower far exceeded Tessai's own massive 6'5'' frame. He clearly couldn't see where he was going and, with every step, I could see his feet feeling their way along the floor in front of him.

On the very top of the tower, I could see one of the display jars that usually sat in the front of the store, freshly refilled. It was rocking dangerously and, as I watched Tessai get closer to the step, I had a feeling that the jar wasn't going to make it. A strange jolt shot through the center of my body at that moment, and I felt as if time had suddenly slowed down. I could see the jar tipping back and forth like a pendulum as Tessai's foot hovered in the air, searching for the floor beyond the step.

Not really consciously thinking about what I was doing, I threw myself forward, hoping I would make it across the room in time before the glass shattered on the floor. It felt like forever watching the jar finally tip over too far and begin to free fall through the air, Tessai none the wiser. I reached out my hand and, as I felt the cool glass hit my palm and my fingers wrap securely around it, it was as if real time had turned back on.

"Oh, Miss Kobayashi!" Tessai said, surprised. He put down the boxes and, as he was standing back up, he noticed the jar in my hand. Blinking in confusion he looked from me, to his pile of boxes, then back to the front doorway where I had just been standing. "How did you…get over here so quickly?" I realized my heart was beating about a million times too fast as I gazed down at the jar.

"I don't –," I looked back towards the doorway to see Ururu standing still, her broom mid-sweep. Jinta's face peeked out over one of the shelves as well, and both had looks of suspicious interest on their faces. Neither of them spoke a word as my brain struggled to catch up with what had just happened. Why was everyone looking at me so weirdly. Had I really moved that fast? It didn't seem like the door had been that far away, but the more I thought about it the more I understood how odd it must seem.

It would have normally taken about three or four good strides to cross the room at a run, but I could only remember taking one step. I had simply jumped forward and I was instantly at Tessai's side. Looking down at the jar again I let out the breath that had gotten caught in my throat as the reality of what happened. "I don't know," I said quietly, more to myself than the others.

"I think our friend Sayuri's had enough fun for one day," Urahara's drawl surprised me. I looked over my shoulder to see him fanning himself, his hat not as low over his face anymore. "Why don't you go home and get some rest." He lifted his face and his eyes met mine from under the brim of his hat. The joking, goofy man I dealt with every day was suddenly gone and in his place, there was nothing but the fire of authority. His voice held not a tone of suggestion, but that of a command. As I handed the jar back to Tessai, my hand shaking slightly, I could feel everyone watching me carefully as if at any moment I was going to spontaneously combust.

Grabbing my bag from hook on the wall where I kept it, I slung it over my head and across my chest. I walked out the door in silence, shielding my eyes from the still blazing sun and headed for home.