disclaimer: i do not own bleach or any of its characters or locations mentioned in the manga or anime. i just own this story line and the OCs

thanks to: Bonnie Fritz, AuroraAliceHime, theenglishgirl, Shibien11, and peace love and books for joining us on this crazy train.

sorry, i know i know, the chapter's a little late. the semester just ended and with finals and summer classes starting it took a while to write this chapter out. it's a long one...so be prepared. but the fun's just getting started so hold on kiddies =]

m

Chapter 9

I leaned my head back against the street wall and took another bite of my apple. Rikku was sitting next to me braiding small strands of my hair together.

"And you're definitely sure it was him right?" I asked, looking over at her. The little girl gave me an angry look and I turned my head to face forward again. This was the fourth time I had interrupted her work, and I could see she was getting closer to slapping me. I fidgeted a bit, still anxious to find out what else she knew.

When Rikku had told me she knew who Renji was, I had spent ten minutes trying to get her to tell me anything she could about him. From what she said, Renji had been in Karakura Town many times before. Rikku was pretty sure he lived somewhere in town. He would go away for short periods of time, but then come back in some weird clothing she kept calling his "suit". But, the most important thing was, she was absolutely positive that the Renji I had met was the same one she had seen in town several times before.

As she tugged on my hair a bit I sighed and tossed my apple core in a nearby garbage can. It was a little farther away than an ordinary shot would have made, but along with all my other…"changes", my depth perception and agility had increased dramatically over the last few weeks, and especially since last night. I made the shot as easily as if the can had been sitting right in front of me.

"Done!" Rikku beamed, sitting back and admiring her work. "Come look!" She grabbed my hand and yanked me to my feet.

"Ok, ok," I laughed, "Easy killer." She pulled me over to a puddle of rain water that had collected near the corner of the wall. Kneeling down, I placed both hands on either side of the water and leaned over it. The kid had done a pretty nice job. Running my hand over the braid, I admired the way she had made it run from the middle of my forehead, down the side of my face, and around the back to pick up the rest of my hair and trail down my back. "It looks amazing," I said, smiling up at her. The girl twirled around a few times in excitement and I laughed again.

As she spun, something on her chest glinted in the sunlight. It was the chain that hung there, and I found myself staring at it intently. I had always wondered about it. There was a strange feeling it gave off that I couldn't quite lay my fingers on. Sensing a slight change in the mood, Rikku stopped spinning and followed my gaze. She wrapped a small hand around the links and tugged a bit. She smiled up at me, a proud grin on her face.

"This is my soul chain. Isn't it cool?" She let it go, and the metal clinked together. "It won't come off no matter how hard you pull, but it doesn't hurt me either. It's just there," she shrugged, clearly indifferent about the matter.

"What's it for?" I asked, reaching out and letting my finger lightly brush the bottom-most link.

"It used to be connected to my body when I was alive. But now I'm not, so this is what's left." She smiled at it admiringly. Then, as if someone had flipped a switch, her face turned serious, and her eyes looked fearful. "But the monsters don't like it. They say it's noisy and always try to grab it and take it away." Her hands instinctively bundled up the dangling chain and held it to her chest.

I frowned and looked at her questioningly. "The monsters?" I asked. She nodded and her eyes traveled to the sky, scanning the clouds a bit before they flicked back to mine.

"They come from the sky. Out of these big black holes and they howl real loud and scary. They're really big and have white faces, like they're wearing party masks." My eyes narrowed a bit. Howling. Masks. Monsters. The snake?

"Do they have holes in their chests, too?" I asked, turning to kneel in front of her so our eyes were on the same level. Rikku nodded her head very quickly. "Are there lots of them here? How many?" Rikku shrugged.

"I don't know. They're never here long. Ichigo and his friend usually make them go away. They're not very nice monsters. They try to eat the shiny people." My head tilted to the side.

"The shiny people?"

"Mhm. Like Ichigo, or his friend, the lady with the black hair." My thoughts immediately flashed to Rukia. But that was crazy, there were tons of people in town who had black hair. Rikku could be talking about anyone. But what did she mean by shiny? "You're shiny now too," she added, smiling at me again.

"Me?" I asked, pointing at myself. She nodded.

"You weren't always shiny, especially when you first got here. You would walk by here all the time with Jinta and Ururu and never notice me. But then, a little while ago, every time I saw you, you got brighter and brighter and then you saw me when you fell down here." She plopped herself down on the ground and giggled a bit.

"They can see you too, can't they? Jinta and Ururu? Are they shiny people too?" Rikku nodded in affirmation. That explains why they had acted so weird that day when I had knocked over Rikku's vase. They had probably known she was there all along and were caught off guard when I suddenly could as well.

Maybe shiny people were people who could see the spirits in this town. What else did any of us have in common besides Rikku? And she was dead, so each one of us had to have this same freaky talent to be able to see her. It couldn't have anything to do with my other new powers, because I was pretty sure that Ichigo didn't go for moonlit lightning battles in the park. But, if he was also a shiny person, as Rikku called them, did that mean he had seen one of those monsters before? Maybe he knew something about them, or about Renji and where he had come from?

A beeping sounded from my school bag. Pulling open the flap, I rummaged around inside until I pulled out my cell phone. The alarm I had set was going off, letting me know I had twenty minutes before the first bell sounded at school; just enough time to walk there from Rikku's corner.

"Time for school?" she asked, still on the ground.

"Unfortunately," I said, turning to her and offering my hands. She took them, and I pulled her up into a tight hug. She turned her face up towards mine and rested her chin against my stomach.

"Will you come back soon?" she asked, her eyes so hopeful and lonely that I felt my throat tighten a bit.

"Of course I will," I told her, leaning down and kissing her forehead. Letting go, she stood with her hands behind her back and watched as I picked up my bag and swung it over my shoulder. "How about I bring another flower next time?" I asked, nodding at the vase. Instantly, Rikku's face lit up and I laughed. She was so easy to please, it was too sweet. I waved goodbye when I reached the corner, and then headed out for school.

It hadn't been my plan to stop and talk with Rikku originally. After the night I had, I just couldn't sit in my house and wait until it was time to leave. I needed to get out into the fresh air. I had left much earlier than usual, telling Emiko and Isamu I was going to run the track before classes to help wake myself up a bit. I was really going to just walk around town for a while and kill time before my alarm sounded, but soon I found myself lost in thought, not paying attention to where I was going. My feet had carried me right to the entrance of Rikku's street and I had looked up to see her lying on her stomach, nose to nose with a cat. Although I had left the house to be alone, I suddenly felt the need for company, and had spent the next forty five minutes sitting and chatting with Rikku as she braided my hair over and over until she got it right. I reached up and ran my hand over the braid again, smiling.

I suddenly thought about what it would have looked like to someone passing by who couldn't see her kneeling next to me. My hair would have been braiding itself. I laughed a bit. Every day it seemed like she became more real to me, more solid and…there. It was weird to think that she was dead and only a spirit that was left behind while her body was somewhere else. I could touch her and hug her and spin her around. She was very real to me and the more time I spent with her, the less freaked out I was at being able to talk to dead people.

Walking through town, I realized it had gotten easier to spot others just like Rikku than before. Physically, they didn't look much different than they had a week ago, but now the feeling in the air around them had changed. I could just sense them differently now. The edges of my mind wrapped around them as I passed by and I could just feel that they were no longer anchored to this world the way living people were. Their presences felt light and airy, almost like silk fabric that flows over your hand like solid air.

I had counted forty-two by the time I reached the gates to school. That was when I realized I hadn't felt a pressure on my chest at all that morning. Every time I turned around it seemed like these strange things were becoming more normal.

"Let's just hope it stays that way," I muttered to myself, but apparently not quiet enough.

"You hope what stays what way?" Turning around slowly I saw Orihime and Uryuu standing a bit behind me. Orihime's head was tilted slightly to the side like it usually was when she was confused, but there was a friendly smile on her face. Uryuu still looked exhausted, but not as hostile as he had the day before. But still, I couldn't forget what had happened, and I suddenly felt very awkward standing there with them.

"Nothing," I said, lowering my eyes to the ground. I gripped the strap of my bag a bit tighter and was about to turn and walk away when Orihime dashed forward and grabbed my wrists. Holding them tightly, she gazed at me intently, her eyebrows furrowing together in seriousness. I looked at her in surprise.

"We're sorry about yesterday, Sayuri," she said, her voice was low and sounded honestly regretful. "It's not easy to explain, but-"

"Orihime," Uryuu stopped her from finishing and stepped forward to where we stood together. She looked at him and they were silent for a few moments, obviously having some sort of secret conversation. Seems like everyone around here can communicate telepathically these days…. Turning back to face me, Orihime gripped my wrists a bit tighter.

"Uryuu is sorry too, he's just too stubborn to say it." The boy scoffed and rolled his eyes, sliding his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "You just caught us all off guard and we're really sorry, so please please don't be too angry at us because we're still your friends and I hate seeing everyone all tense and quiet." The words rushed out of her mouth so quickly I almost couldn't make out what she was saying. Looking into her eyes, I could see small tears welling up in the corners.

"I'm not angry at you," I sighed, realizing this was going to be harder than I thought, especially if Orihime was going to start the waterworks. I hated seeing her so upset.

"Promise?" she whimpered, sounding like a little kid rather than a sixteen year old. I pulled myself out of her hands and held my pinky up in front of her face.

"I pinky promise." She smiled and sniffled, wrapping her pinky around mine and squeezing.

"Can we go in now? We're going to be late." Uryuu pushed his glasses up his nose again, and I shot him a look.

"You should get more sleep. You look terrible." He rolled his eyes and walked away towards the front doors. Orihime giggled a bit and wrapped her arm around mine like she usually did. It still felt a little weird walking to class with her. Although I had told her I forgave everyone, there was still unfinished business that was going to have to be dealt with sooner or later.

When we got to the classroom we learned that we were in fact, not late at all, but just on time for the warning bell. As I separated from Orihime and walked down the aisle of desks to my seat, Ichigo nodded a hello and I smiled awkwardly back. Rukia however did not even lift her eyes from the book she was reading. I felt an instant sadness wash back over me. I couldn't understand what I had done to offend her this much, but I didn't know exactly how to ask her without her getting angrier with me. Maybe Ichigo would know…. I had decided I would ask him later that day at lunch when Miss Ochi walked into the classroom.

"Good morning everyone," she chirped, more awake and ready to go than all of the students in her class combined. There were some half-hearted grunts from around the room and a few small waves as well. Seeming satisfied, she immediately opened our math textbook and began copying problems on the board.

The first few periods of the day passed by as uneventfully as they always had, until about the middle of our Lit class. I was busy writing down the common elements found in a novel of the Romantic era, when I could hear the door to our room open. Figuring it was just a student delivering some kind of message or detention slip, I kept my head down, scribbling on. I didn't look up until Miss Ochi said the last thing I ever expected to come out of her mouth.

"So, you've finally decided to join us, have you Mr. Abarai?" My pencil point broke and I felt my eyes widen to the point where they actually started hurting. I lifted my head slowly and inhaled sharply when I saw who our visitor was.

Renji stood beside Miss Ochi's desk, one hand in his pocket, the other holding out a slip from the office. He was wearing the school uniform, but clearly did not care about proper dress code. His shirt was loosely tucked into his pants and his sleeves were rolled up to the middle of his forearms, revealing a number of black tribal tattoos. The first few buttons were also undone, showing off more impressive ink work on his chest as well. His hair was still pulled back into a ponytail, but he had lost the black bandana he had worn around his forehead.

What the hell is he doing here…?

"Yeah, sorry. I've been away with my family and we just got back." He grinned and several girls in the room audibly swooned.

I would have rolled my eyes if I hadn't felt my breathing grow ragged and a strong pressure beginning to build on my chest. It started getting harder to hear things because my heart was pounding so loudly in my head. I felt a bit lightheaded and as Renji turned towards the class and gave a small wave to everyone, his eyes found mine. They widened in shock. He apparently had not been betting on seeing me ever again also. Guess we both had crappy luck.

I couldn't honestly say how long we both just stared at each other, but it was long enough for everyone to begin shifting awkwardly in their seats. At the edges of my vision, I could see Ichigo looking back and forth from Renji to me, but I felt frozen. I was trying hard to breathe normally again, but it was like the more I stared at Renji, the more intense the pressure got.

"Sayuri?" Miss Ochi called for the third time. "Is everything alright?"

"No. I think I need to see the nurse." As I heard my voice, it sounded very far away and quiet, and as I stood up from my seat I felt the ground tip dangerously beneath my feet. I tried very hard to steady myself, and looked at Miss Ochi, waiting for her permission to leave the room. I must have looked pretty bad because she took no time to even consider that I might be faking.

"Of course. Go right ahead." I nodded and instantly regretted it. A throbbing pain tore through my skull, and breathing was getting so hard that I felt like my lungs were just not functioning at all. As I started walking towards the door, Renji started walking down the same aisle towards the desk that was behind mine; the only empty one left in the room. He was watching me cautiously. The second we passed each other, I knew I wasn't going to make it to the door.

I had decided not to wear my uniform jacket to school again, since the temperature was not that much cooler than it had been all month. As we passed, my bare arm brushed against Renji's and a wave of electric pain shot through me like I had never felt before. I heard myself gasp loudly, and suddenly felt all control leave my body. I fell towards the ground, blackness beginning to cover my vision from the edges inward. A pair of arms stopped me from hitting the floor, but I couldn't quite make out whose they were. Several chairs scraped against the floor as, I'm sure, most of the kids in my class jumped up to see what was wrong with me.

"I'll take her to the nurse."

"Me too!"

"I'll go with you."

"Mhm." The bell suddenly rang to signal lunch, and everyone else in the class scrambled out of their desks as well. I felt myself being carried out of the classroom and down the hallway. Instantly, my vision cleared up when we left the more confined space of room 2-3. I could tell we were not headed towards the nurse's office, but rather towards the roof. I was carried up the staircase and the moment we were outside, I could feel myself really calming down. I looked up to see that it was Uryuu who had caught me. He's a lot stronger than I thought he was.

"I'm fine, you can put me down now," I said, squirming a bit and trying to swing my legs down without kicking my skirt up. Uryuu gently lowered me until my feet touched the cement, but he kept his hand on my shoulder making sure I could stand on my own. The dizziness was gone, as well as everything else I had just been feeling. Weird.

Looking around I saw that Orihime and Chad had come up to the roof with us and were both staring at me, their faces serious with concern. I patted myself down a bit, and then flashed them a thumbs up. Orihime looked relieved and I'm sure Chad would have too, if his face muscles actually functioned properly.

Angry voices echoed up the stairway as Ichigo and Rukia emerged, both with angry looks on their faces.

"-really not that difficult to control it. I don't know why it's so hard for you," Rukia said crossing her arms and spinning around to face Renji who had just emerged as well. He slammed the door shut angrily, and turned to face us all.

"It's not my fault this gigai is a piece of crap. I can barely even move in this thing. You're lucky I was even able to walk here today." Rukia glared at him.

"You think I don't feel the same way? The point is, you need to just suck it up and deal with it. Stop whining like a child, it's pathetic."

"What did you just say?" Renji snarled, stepping forward so that the toes of his shoes touched Rukia's. She looked up at him and for a moment I actually felt like laughing, the whole scene was just too funny. Even though I had no clue what they were talking about.

"She's right Renji," Uryuu said from behind me. I turned to look at him in surprise. So Uryuu knows him too…small world. "I'm surprised more kids in that room didn't pass out. You were leaking enough spirit energy to bring down the whole building." Spirit energy? There was that phrase again, the one I had heard everyone whispering for weeks now when they thought I couldn't hear them. Was that what had made me so dizzy?

"I reigned it in," Renji said, sneering.

"Yeah, after you almost killed Sayuri," Ichigo said as he leaned back against the wall to the stairwell. My face felt hot.

"I was just a little dizzy that's all," I said, not looking at anyone.

"Oh please, we both know you can handle higher spirit pressure than what I was giving off just now," Renji said, stepping towards me. My head snapped up and I stared at him. So I didn't dream everything that happened with that snake after all…

"What are you talking about?" Rukia asked, looking confused as well as angry now. Renji grinned, his eyes still locked on mine.

"I'm actually surprised that little bit that leaked through affected you at all after last night."

"Last night?" Ichigo looked confused and kept shifting his eyes from me to Renji, like he had done in the classroom earlier.

"You've met?" Rukia asked, looking at me. It was the first time she had addressed me since the day before and I wasn't quite sure how to respond.

"Unfortunately," I answered.

"Yeah, she got herself cornered by a Hollow last night in the park." Everyone immediately reacted, so I could safely assume that Rikku's information had been true. That snake monster was obviously not the first of its kind to show up in Karakura Town. But Renji had called it a Hollow…and everyone seemed to know what it was, not just Ichigo and Rukia. "She's lucky I showed up," Renji continued, crossing his arms and looking smug. I felt the incessant urge to smack him in the face rise inside me again.

"I was lucky…?" I asked in disbelief, my voice sounding a bit shrill. There was no way I was going to let this obnoxious jerk take all the credit for beating that thing. "I was doing fine on my own until you showed up and pissed it off." The grin on Renji's face broke.

"You were planning on running away," he shot back at me, "And you couldn't even get that far without getting knocked down."

"Oh and I was the only who got knocked around, huh? In case you forgot, you were blacked out for a good couple minutes, face down in the dirt."

"Even when I was, your little lightning bolts couldn't even break all the way through its damn body." At this point, I realized we were standing as close as he and Rukia had been before, glaring at each other.

"Ok. I'm lost," Ichigo said. Pulling my eyes away from Renji's, I looked over to see everyone staring at us, looks of bewilderment and confusion over all of their faces. Renji was still standing over me, trying to make me feel like I was below him on some kind of level only he understood. I rolled my eyes at him, and pushed him in the stomach with both hands. He stumbled away from me a bit and it was my turn to grin. Turning to the others, I was a little nervous about telling such a strange story. I had seen what reactions would come already. But, Renji was there to back me up, even if he got most of the details wrong. Maybe they would believe me this time.

"I was walking through the park last night on my way home from work, and this big snake monster…a Hollow I guess, followed me."

"What do you mean it followed you? You saw it?" Rukia asked. I sighed; this was going to be complicated…

"No, not exactly. I couldn't see it at all at first. I could just feel it. Like something was watching me. And then I got to the footprint in the park and wasn't paying attention and it threw me back into the trees." Orihime winced a bit, as if she could feel the pain of hitting the ground like I had done. "When I got back up, it was kind of like I put glasses on or something. Everything got clearer and I could see it then."

"Glasses? Really?" Rukia and I both shot Renji glares, and he immediately stopped laughing.

"You said you were doing fine on your own," Uryuu chimed in. "What exactly were you doing?" They all looked at me expectantly. I could feel the anxiety of being the center of attention start to take hold of my nerves. My face started to flush and I stared down at my hands.

"She shoots lightning out of her hands," Renji informed everyone. It sounded so ridiculous I actually expected a few of them to laugh. But everyone was silent, still staring at me and waiting. No point in hiding it anymore I guess, I thought nervously.

I backed away from all of them a bit, not sure exactly what would happen after my exertions last night. I took a deep breath and let my hands fall to my sides. Closing my eyes, I had a fleeting thought that it wasn't going to work and I would look like an idiot. Stop it, Sayuri. You can't think like that, or it definitely won't work. Clearing my mind, I let myself forget that I was standing in front of my friends and thought back to the night before when I was in the park. I pictured the snake coiled up in front of me, its yellow eyes filled with hatred and bloodlust. I could see Renji off to the side, lying on his stomach in a pool of blood. The memory was becoming so real I could almost smell the salty, copper-like aroma of it. It triggered the feelings of anger inside me, of being the cause of someone's pain.

I felt a heat begin to grow in the center of my body. The more I focused on it, the farther it reached. I felt a warm sensation cover my arms, and soon it shot downward and came to rest in the palms of my hands. I heard gasps from my audience, and pulled myself slowly out of my meditative state, hoping I wouldn't lose the heat. But it stayed constant and never wavered once. Opening my eyes, I could see my friends all staring at me, their eyes wide and mouths open. Except for Renji. He stood behind everyone and was smiling at me, the same way he had before he knocked me out. Freak.

Raising my hands in front of me, I turned them over a few times. The little bolts wrapped themselves warmly around my fingers, as if hugging me, like we hadn't seen each other in a while. I smiled in relief that they seemed pretty stable. Now for the icing on the cake, I thought rather excitedly. I stretched my left arm out to the side, and aimed my fingertips at the farthest corner of the roof. There stood an old air conditioning unit that was no longer used in the building. Taking a deep breath, I exhaled slowly. At the same time I released some of the heat and watched in amazement as a bolt of lightning shot from my fingers and collided with the unit. There was a loud crash as it exploded into pieces, and I felt myself smile.

Looking back at the others, I saw many different reactions. Orihime looked ecstatic, and Uryuu looked slightly aggravated, probably because I had just destroyed school property. Renji was shaking his head and laughing a bit. Ichigo looked slightly shocked and Rukia…looked sad. Serious, but sad.

"We should go see Kisuke," Ichigo said quietly.

"Urahara?" I asked, and he nodded. Ichigo knew him too? Apparently everyone just knew everyone in my life at the moment, because they all seemed to nod in agreement as well. "What can he do?" I asked. I remembered the way he had looked at me the night before, as if he had known all along what was going on with me. Had he really known?

"I don't know," Ichigo admitted, "But he might know at least something about this."

"I have a feeling he's known all along," Rukia said, crossing her arms and looking pissed.

"That makes two of us," I said, feeling the heat surge in my palms again.

ooo

After it was decided on the roof that Urahara needed to be interrogated, we had all left school early, much to Uryuu's dismay.

"Miss Ochi won't even realize we're gone," Rukia assured him. "She never does." Once we reached the store, everyone walked right past Tessai who greeted us at the door and straight into the back room Urahara usually hung out in. I stayed towards the back of the group, waving to Tessai as I followed the others. He raised his eyebrows at me questioningly and I had just shrugged back.

Ichigo charged on ahead and slid open the door to reveal my boss lying passed out on the floor. There were two large pillows underneath him which were usually used for sitting on, but if Urahara was tired enough, there was nothing stopping him from having a good nap. His green and white striped hat was covering his face and fluttered a bit with every exhale he let out. As we all stepped into the small room, I began to feel a bit choked by the tension that hung in the air.

"I suppose you children are here for some answers," Urahara said, his voice muffled by his hat. Of course you're not sleeping. He sounded bored and lazy like always, but I couldn't just shrug it off this time. I stomped over to him and smacked his hat away, not caring if I hit his face in the process. He opened his eyes lazily and grinned at me.

"You're damn right we are," I said, my voice seething with frustration and impatience.

"There's no need to be hostile," he drawled, and I seriously considered singeing his hair a bit. "Everything will be revealed in its own time."

"Its time is now, Kisuke," I said, my voice wavering dangerously. I could feel the heat in my palms growing. He knew something…he had always known something about whatever the hell was going on. I was still standing over him and watched as his eyes flicked over to my hand which was balled in a fist. He sighed and sat up.

"Well then, I'd appreciate if you'd calm down and try not to electrify my home, Miss Kobayashi. You should realize by now that that special ability of yours seems to be easily fueled by your emotions. You'll have to learn some control if you ever want to master it." He ran a hand over his face.

"I am in control, don't you worry about that," I snapped.

"And there's another problem," Urahara laughed and looked up at me through his shaggy hair. "You think you can do everything by yourself. You don't need to lean on anyone for help. You didn't even tell your friends about the changes you've been experiencing lately…." I looked away, not sure of how to respond.

As I had suspected, Urahara was very good at reading people. He had had me figured out from day one it seemed. I stared down at the floor, feeling everyone's eyes on me. He was right though. I hadn't told anyone, but who would have believed me? Their reactions the previous day were perfect examples of what would have happened sooner if I had told them when everything had started. But that still wasn't a good excuse for why I didn't trust them or go to them for help.

I felt a hand land on my shoulder. Looking up I saw Ichigo standing beside me. He was looking at me very intently and I felt something brush against the edges of my mind. But it wasn't just a feathery touch…it felt like a hand or something probing its way along. It also felt familiar and I had a strange feeling, although I had no way to explain it, that somehow it was Ichigo.

"Sayuri didn't do anything wrong. Her intention wasn't to ignore us so you can stop picking on." He looked at Urahara who raised an eyebrow. Ichigo squeezed my shoulder a bit and then sat down at the table. "Why don't you stop trying to make her feel bad and just tell us what's going on." I watched as the others nodded and sat down as well. None of them said a word about me keeping them in the dark, and I felt an overwhelming sense of acceptance again, just like I had on my first day at school.

Hesitantly, I took a seat next to Rukia, who flashed me a smile that was apologetic. Her eyes held mine a few seconds longer, hinting that there was quite a bit that needed to be said between us. I looked back at Urahara and fixed him with an intent stare.

"Spill it." He chuckled.

"Have you mastered flash step yet?" he asked me. What was that? Obviously my confusion showed because he followed up by saying, "Can you run super fast?" I grimaced a bit at the childish vocabulary and then nodded. Flash step, or whatever it was called, came easily to me now whenever I wanted to use it.

"I can do it whenever I want now," I said.

"And obviously you can see spirits and spirit beings. At least, that's what Jinta and Ururu tell me." There was a small scuffle from the hallway, and a flash of pink skirt. I smiled and shook my head. Filthy little eavesdroppers… "Your ability to sense the spirit energy of those around you seems pretty advanced based on that exchange between you and Ichigo a few moments ago," he nodded towards where we had just been standing. He noticed that…? But how did he know what happened if it was inside our minds…? "Something you'll learn about spirit energy, Miss Kobayashi, is that if your skilled enough, you can eventually tap into it without others noticing." He placed his hat back on his head and pulled it down to partially cover his eyes.

I could feel my face grow serious. He was starting to mention things that I was still in the dark about. But I did know that if there were ways people could read my mind, I wasn't sure I was ready for this club just yet.

"What about the…lightning? Is that normal?" I bit my lip as I waited for the answer, dreading whatever it might be. Whether you were some kind of superhuman like he was speaking of or not, I'm sure being able to shoot lightning out of your hands was still a weird trait.

"At first I thought your lightning was just some different form of Kido. That's a type of attack most Soul Reapers can use," Urahara said. "Someone like Renji," he gestured to the doorway where Renji was still standing, leaning against the frame. "Ichigo and Rukia are also Soul Reapers-"

"But is it normal," I interrupted, feeling my nerves growing by the second. Urahara looked at me, fixing his eyes on mine.

"No. I'm afraid that the lightning you release is, in fact, real lightning rather than spirit energy. You are also not a Soul Reaper, although you certainly feel like one." Some of the others nodded at this statement.

"If I'm not a Soul Reaper, than what exactly am I?"

"That, my dear, is the million dollar question. But you're in luck because I happen to have the answer." I sat up a little straighter. "It took a little while for me to be sure. I had to research material that hasn't been touched in hundreds of years. But I can say for sure that you, Miss Kobayashi, belong to a breed of Spirit Beings that date back to about the beginning of the Soul Reapers." Urahara stood up and walked over to a lamp that stood in the corner of the room. He unscrewed the glass cover, exposing the light bulb. Long, black, shapes were suddenly cast upon the walls, making us all look disfigured and deformed.

"They're called Shadows."