• • •

I winced, shutting my eyes as a bright light flashed. The already strong winds picked up even more, become more turbulent. I felt Ichigo's hand bump mine for a second, before I was sent flying back. The motion jostled my grip on Orihime's hand, causing our hold to break. Screaming, I was forced away from everyone.

• • •

Zaraki Kenpachi, Taicho of the Eleventh Division, narrowed his eyes at his subordinates. "What the hell?! We've searched all night and still nothing!"

"How disappointing," Yachiru, the Fukutaicho of said division, sighed. The pink haired girl peered over Kenpachi's shoulder, staring down at the lower ranking members who were bowing in fear; they had yet to find the Ryoka that were supposed to be entering the Seireitei.

"Hey, you can go back to your post now!" The spiky haired Taicho ordered, snapping at his members. He was upset that there had been no news about the Ryoka; if there wasn't any news about them, then who was he supposed to fight?

They had already survived an assault from Ichimaru, a fellow captain of the Gotei Thirteen. They had to be strong.

Kenpachi's ears twitched, hearing a new sound. "Ah? What's that…sound..?"

Turning around, the Taicho looked up into the sky. That's where the sound had originated. A bright light began to shine high up in the sky, growing larger with each passing second.

"Damn," Kenpachi cursed, watching as minutes passed and the light began to glow a bright orange. Somehow, the reiatsu had become unstable, forcing whatever had passed through the shield that protected the Seireitei to explode.

Looking up at the sky, he smirked. "They separated into five..!"

Kenpachi's one free eye danced between the five points of the explosion; each of them seemed to be roughly the size of a human. Every one of the groups was traveling fast, soaring across the sky and towards varying points across the Soul Society.

"Which one…?" The Eleventh Division Taicho asked, a sadistic grin pulling his lips back. "Which one is…the strongest?!"

• • •

I winced, opening my eyes.

The orange glow surrounded me, fully encasing me in a warm embrace. However, the light was bright and stung at my eyes. I looked around, seeing that I was all alone.

"Maybe it's better this way…" I sighed, narrowing my eyebrows as I watched the buildings approach. Luckily, I didn't see any Shinigami scurrying around. Maybe I had traveled farther than the others?

Whatever the case, I was glad that I was heading towards an abandoned area. I knew what I had to do to save myself, but it would have easily given me away to any of the Shinigami roaming around.

My hand flew in front of me, palm pointing outwards and towards the quickly approaching ground. Concentrating on my reiatsu, I prepared for the Kido that I was about to use. "Bakudo #37: Tsuriboshi..!"

My reiatsu sparked in my palm, moving together to form a blue sphere. I soon fired the sphere from my hand, watching as it grew bigger and sparked when it was in the air. In a flash, six points spaced equally around the sphere exploded. Blue reiatsu ropes fired out of the sphere, embedding itself to anything sturdy that it could find; the walls of a nearby storage building and a tree mainly. Once the ropes hit and latched onto the surface, the remaining sphere sparked once more and expanded. It stretched in each of the six directions, forming what looked like a trampoline.

In all actually, it was remarkably similar to a trampoline. Although I think this would be considered more along the lines of a safety net; like something you would find underneath an acrobat when they performed.

While I was still falling, I twisted my body so that I was falling and looking up at the sky. It would feel better if my back met the net rather than my face.

I winced once I collided with the Kido spell, praying that it was strong enough to keep me from splattering on the ground. So many things could have gone wrong… and I hadn't performed Kido in quite a while…

But it turns out that I had nothing to worry about. My back collided with the net, and I was bounced downward. It was like a huge spring; I was kept from hitting the ground and bounced up and down until the net finally settled down.

"It landed somewhere over here..!"

"Hurry!"

"We don't want it to escape!"

Silently cursing, I glared at the directions of the voices. None of them I recognized, but I would have been surprised if I did recognize any of them. Seireitei was a large place and I only knew a handful of Shinigami.

In the blink of an eye, I used flash step and disappeared from the scene. I knew that they'd find the Kido spell; I didn't have enough time to remove all the traces that a spell left once it'd been cast. They'd know that a Shinigami was on our side. In fact, they might even already know that I'm among the 'Ryoka.'

I flashed stepped onto a nearby roof, trying as best I could to cloak my reiatsu as the Shinigami approached. I peered over the edge of the roof, lowering my body down so I wouldn't be seen as easily.

"There's no one here!" A Shinigami from the crowd exclaimed, angrily stomping his foot.

Another one of the Shinigami scoffed. "Are you stupid? Do you not see the remnants of a Kido spell?"

"A what?" Another Shinigami echoed, scratching his dark hair that was pulled into a side ponytail.

"A Kido..!" The leader of the small squadron, I'm assuming, exclaimed as he turned around to glare at the other Shinigami in the group. "See that huge net? Obviously it was used to catch whoever was falling! They're probably long gone by now!"

"S-S-Sorry, sir!" The group stuttered, all bowing at the waist.

I snickered, watching them bicker among themselves. Really, they didn't have a nice squadron leader. He thought he knew it all, and so, he ordered everyone around. Of course nobody would listen to him and do as he said. I know I wouldn't listen if I were placed in that group.

"Let's go! We can't let the intruder escape!"

"Yeah!"

"We'll go left, you go right!"

"The Ryoka seem tricky! Look closely!"

Heaving a sigh, I leaned back against the roof. The squadron had just run off, looking for any trace of the 'Ryoka.' They didn't know that I was up here watching them the whole time. Tricky indeed. If they couldn't even sense that I had been here the whole time, then none of them were worth my time. Besides, I doubt any of them would have known where Rukia is being held.

And that's a big problem: I have no clue where Rukia's at right now.

"Where do they keep criminals?" I muttered to myself, crossing my arms as my eyes shifted to the sky.

Representative Shinigami or not, they still should have taught me their customs. If they had, then I would probably know where Rukia was being held until she was executed. I was only placed in the combat classes…they didn't want me learning about the history of the Soul Society or their laws. I remember them telling me that it would be meaningless to teach me all of that material.

Maybe they had a feeling that I'd turn traitor and help bust a criminal?

"No, I don't think so." Ankoku-Tatsu hummed, "The whole situation was new for them; they'd never had a human display Shinigami powers before. So they did what they thought was best. Either way, you wouldn't be able to become one of them officially until you were dead. Even to this day, I'm surprised that they haven't tried to kill you."

"I know," I whispered, cutting my eyes to the side as I watched more Shinigami pass by. "But what I learned then isn't helping me now."

"Think about it logically." Anko responded, sounding calm. I envied that about her; she was always calm, no matter the situation at hand. "Where would they normally keep their criminals?"

"Well…" I hedged, feeling my eyebrows furrow with the intensity of my thoughts. "My best guess would be that they'd keep the criminals in the holding cells. I remember passing by some of them in my division one day. Most of them were empty, but they were still jail cells. Do you think they'd keep Rukia in the Thirteenth Division holding cells?"

"That'd be one of the best places to look." My Zanpakuto spirit answered, nodding her head in my mind's eye. "However, I'm guessing that those holding cells are for petty crimes. If Rukia really is waiting to be executed, I'm thinking that they would place her somewhere else."

"Yeah," I breathed out quietly, closing my eyes in frustration. "But I don't know my way around the Seireitei well enough to know what all of the buildings are. I'm sure they've got a special place to keep her, but I just don't know where that would be."

"They might even be keeping her in the Sixth Division holding cells." Ankoku-Tatsu reasoned. "Renji and Kuchiki-Taicho were sent to capture Rukia in the World of the Living. Because of this, and the fact that Kuchiki-Taicho is Rukia's adopted brother, they might be keeping her in Sixth. That is his division after all, correct?"

"Kuchiki Byakuya is the Taicho of the Sixth Division." I muttered, feeling my eyes narrow in a glare. "His is Rukia's brother, although I don't know why he even bothered with adopting her; especially when he was the one to capture her."

If dragons were capable of shrugging, I'm sure Ankoku-Tatsu would have shrugged. "You don't know what motivates him. He's a Taicho; he operates on a completely different level."

"Don't I know it…" I scoffed. "But first I need to focus on the others. I need to know if they're alright. Who knows, knowing them they've probably already gotten into a load of trouble."

"Yes, I can already feel their reiatsu flaring." The Zanpakuto spirit said, "I can feel confrontations occurring all over the Seireitei."

I nodded, closing my eyes in concentration.

Ichigo's was the first flare that I recognized. Like I had told him earlier, I was well attuned with the feel of his reiatsu. It was strong; his opponent, whose own reiatsu seemed a bit familiar (although I couldn't place the feel of their reiatsu with a name), didn't seem like he'd be a match for Ichigo.

Ganju…he'd be someone that I'd worry about. He didn't have much reiatsu to begin with; he was neither a Shinigami nor a human. He was a spirit from Rukongai who possessed enough power to perform little Kido like spells and such. His opponent, however, seemed strong.

Chad's reiatsu was sturdy. I knew he was safe and alive.

Ishida and Orihime's were close together. They were probably grouped together when we fell. I'd have to trust Ishida to keep Orihime safe. She wasn't much of a fighter at all. And I had promised Tatsuki that I would look after her… I wouldn't let her get hurt. Tatsuki knew more than everyone assumed…she was great at putting two and two together.

I could also feel Yoruichi's faint reiatsu. When she was in that cat form, it was harder to feel anything from her. But she was prowling somewhere nearby.

"Everyone's fine," My Zanpakuto spirit reasoned.

"I know. I can feel it." I whispered, placing my hand over my heart as I counted the steady beats. We promised to ourselves that we'd rescue Rukia, even if our own lives were put at stake. "Let's go."

• • •

"Third Division?!" I shrieked, eyes wide. "You've got to be kidding me!"

With my luck, I had landed somewhere in the Third Division.

How did I know this?

Well, after I checked for everyone's reiatsu and made sure that they were all in good shape, Ankoku-Tatsu suggested that I scout around to see where I was. After all, I needed to know where I was if I was going to head towards my division.

"Luck just isn't on my side, eh?" I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest as I glared up at the large three printed inside the Gotei symbol that was painted on one of the buildings.

"Hurry and move." My Zanpakuto spirit ordered. "I don't like the feeling of this division. Ichimaru has always made me feel uneasy…"

I nodded, completely agreeing with her on that one.

Ichimaru Gin was probably the creepiest Taicho out of all thirteen of them; unless you counted the Twelfth Division Taicho. Ichimaru-Taicho just gave me chills. His smile sent shivers of fear down my spine. Sure many people compared him to a fox, but I think he's more like a snake. We'd already encountered him once; hopefully that'll be the last we'll see of him while we're here.

Shaking my head to dispel my thoughts, I flash stepped throughout the Division. I tried to hide my reiatsu because I didn't want to be found so easily.

It didn't take too long until I recognized that I was in the Fourth Division territory. Unohana-Taicho was another Taicho that I wouldn't want to mess with. She could be downright scary when she smiled. However, I did slow my pace a bit throughout this division; the Fourth Shinigami weren't fighters, they were healers.

I did notice that the Fourth Division seemed really empty. Many of their Shinigami were out of sight and their roads were empty.

"Something doesn't feel right." I whispered, placing my hand on Ankoku-Tatsu's hilt. "Usually the Fourth Division is as busy as a beehive. Why would it be so silent here?"

"Think about it. Ichigo's reiatsu is still steady; that must mean that he defeated whomever he was fighting against. There's no telling how many other Shinigami that he's attracted and defeated."

"True," I said, blinking in realization.

It did make sense. Especially when you took into consideration how Ichigo just ran flat out towards the Seireitei when we first arrived in the Soul Society. That kind of jumping the gun got us on their radar in the first place. Naturally he'd just run around until he found out where Rukia was, defeating numerous Shinigami along the way. That's just how his mind worked; action first, consequences later.

Maybe that's how I needed to go about this:

Act first, think later.