Disclaimer- Still don't and never will own Bleach

Chapter 4

An Old Friend

In a matter of moments Sayomi had maneuvered her way over and around the many buildings and rooftops that were between herself and the reiatsu of a man she had thought dead for over half a century. Landing lightly on her toes she slowly lowered herself onto her feet atop a cream colored brick wall that rose about five feet from the ground. The street she was on was dark and she was hidden from view by the thick shadows provided by a large tree that towered over the fence, its drooping branches concealing her well.

The scene before her made her eyes widen in surprise, she had been so focused on the reiatsu of the man who hadn't been in her life in so long that she hadn't noticed that there were others present with him as well. Four others to be exact.

There was a black haired boy who was lying on the ground a few yards from where she stood on the brick wall. A boy she immediately recognized as a friend and classmate.

"Uryu," Sayomi whispered, frowning in concern at the boy's back.

Even from where she stood she could tell that he wasn't in danger of dying. He had been knocked out and was coming back around, he appeared to have a wound on his side, but she could tell by the strength of his spiritual energy that he would be just fine. She looked away from her wounded friend to see that Ichigo Kurosaki stood defiantly facing a tall red headed Soul Reaper -she knew he was a Soul Reaper by the black uniform he wore- who was holding a large, sectioned sword with fang like protrusions extending from each section; his zanpakuto.

Quickly taking in the wound to Ichigo's right shoulder which was bleeding freely through the torn black fabric of his own Soul Reaper uniform, Sayomi's eyes wandered around the street before her to see what condition the others present were in. The black haired girl she had seen at the school almost two months before was standing helplessly a few feet behind the red haired Soul Reaper, watching the events as they unfolded with wide, worried eyes. The red head was glaring menacingly at Ichigo, he looked as if he wanted nothing more than to crush Ichigo into dust with his bare hands.

Sayomi sucked in a shuddering breath as her eyes focused on yet another person, the only other person and the one who she had thought she had would never see again. Standing a few feet to the left of the black haired girl was a man with long black hair in the standard Soul Reaper uniform, but with an exquisite white scarf wrapped around his neck and silver tubes in his hair. Kenseikan, they signified that he was nobility, and the head of his noble clan at that.

Watching from nearly forty feet away Sayomi was careful to not draw any attention to herself. Her reiatsu was skillfully concealed and being that she was able to move as quietly and nimbly as a cat when she wanted to while in human form remaining undetected was no real challenge. Staying completely still, unsure of what to do, she considered intervening on Ichigo's behalf, but she knew that Ichigo was prideful and wouldn't want any help from her. This thought kept her rooted, unmoving, to her hidden spot with a frown on her face as she watched her classmate who didn't know who she really was, or what she really was. Helping him would reveal to him, and many others, who and what she was as well as where she was. This wasn't information she was entirely comfortable revealing. Especially to Soul Reapers, people she kept telling herself she hated.

'You don't hate them all, little one,' said Fuyukaze.

His breezy attempt at a reminder of something she wanted to forget made a pained look cross her face for a moment. '.. He probably thinks I'm dead, Fuyu... And it's probably better that way.. I'm almost surprised he hasn't noticed me, though... He was always able to sense me, even when I was suppressing my reiatsu.'

'It's been a long time, hime,' Fuyukaze replied softly.

Sayomi sighed inwardly and watched Ichigo who seemed to suddenly lose all of his strength. He fell to the ground after a nasty run in with the red head's sectional zanpakuto that had brutally torn through his shoulder. Her eyes widened in surprise a few seconds later when reiatsu began to pour from the orange haired boy and he stood back up with a smirk, unaware that he was doing something rather out of the ordinary. The color that had been draining from his face was quickly returning while his shoulder knitted itself back together, his energy was quickly returning as reiatsu continued to flare around him, reviving him though he had no idea what was happening.

The red head charged forward, trying to appear unperturbed by the display, but Sayomi had seen the brief surprise that had widened his eyes when the reiatsu had begun pouring out of Ichigo with surprising strength. He was thrown backwards when Ichigo sliced through the air with his over sized sword that he was still holding in his hand. There was a cracking noise as the sunglasses that had been on the red head's forehead suddenly snapped and slid off his face to land on the pavement below him. Blood poured from a cut to the man's head as he stared, stunned and confused, at Ichigo who was preparing to attack him again.

Ichigo, however, was now the one to be surprised. He never got the chance to continue his assault when the blade of his sword vanished a few inches away from the guard. It looked as if the blade had cracked and broken, but the missing part of the blade was nowhere to be seen.

Even Sayomi's eyes widened when the black haired nobleman dropped the sword's blade to the ground, it hadn't appeared even to her quick eyes that he had moved an inch. She had seen a brief flash of color from his scarf, but that had been it. The instant after the blade had clattered to the ground the man moved again. This time Sayomi's eyes were ready and followed every move he made, and he didn't make many.

"No," Sayomi whispered urgently when she saw the glint of steel in the moonlight, there were two quick flashes and then the noble was standing stoically beside Ichigo.

The metallic and bitter smell of blood pervaded the air and engulfed Sayomi's senses as Ichigo slowly fell to his knees on the asphalt before he fell limply forward to lie shocked and bloody on the ground. The black haired girl shouted and ran towards the fallen teen, but she was pinned to a telephone post by the red haired Soul Reaper after taking only a few steps.

Sayomi didn't hear the words that were exchanged in the next few seconds, but she did see Ichigo's shaky, blood speckled hand rise up to grasp the hem of the black haired man's hakama. She saw the look of annoyance that crossed the man's handsome face, and the white gloved hand that was slowly making its way to the hilt of his sword.

In the instant before the man could draw his sword, Sayomi had made her decision.

A cool breeze that carried with it the scent of snow and something like pine and fresh earth swirled up a small amount of dust from the pavement as Sayomi landed in a crouch, one knee on the ground, the other near her chest. Her right hand was held out to her side, grasping Ichigo's wrist that she had removed from the nobleman's hakama. Her other hand was holding the carved sheath of her sword near the guard of the sheathed weapon as she rested the item on her raised knee. Her head was bowed and her face hidden from view by her white hair that had come free of its bun in her rush to Ichigo's side and was pouring over her shoulders in soft, uneven waves of white.

"Who the hell are you?" The red head growled menacingly at her.

Sayomi remained silent and kept her head bowed, her eyes were staring at the ground in front of her. She could feel the smoky eyes of the nobleman staring coldly at the top of her bowed head, it made her heart speed up in her chest nervously. This reunion was not likely to end well and Sayomi was still not sure revealing herself had been a wise choice to make, however, it was too late to change her mind and she would have to deal with the repercussions of her actions.

There was a rustle of movement as the red head decided he was going to charge at her, annoyed with her silence. Her moves were so quick and fluid that the red head was stunned when he found himself inexplicably pinned to the ground with the blade of a pure silver katana at his throat. His surprised dark eyes looked in to the pale blue eyes of the woman who now stood over him, her face was a mask of controlled coldness. The look was unnervingly similar to the one that was even now on the face of his captain who stood behind the woman, his eyes on her as she held the tip of her polished sword to his throat.

"Who are you, woman?" The nobleman behind the woman demanded in an icy monotone.

Renji saw something flicker in the woman's eyes, he thought they looked incredibly sad for a moment, but the look was long gone before he could identify it with any certainty.

Taking a breath, Sayomi released it slowly before answering. "Have you really forgotten me already, Byakuya?" Sayomi asked calmly. "I've never forgotten you." Sheathing her sword, Sayomi turned around. Her blue eyes met the cold, steely gaze of the handsome black haired man in front of her.

The man's stormy gray eyes widened in shock for a very brief moment that no one but Sayomi noticed. "Impossible," Byakuya scoffed, his cold and unaffected demeanor returning easily.

"That's what I thought when I felt your reiatsu," she replied conversationally, a wary smile lifting the corners of her pink lips.

"You're supposed to be dead," Byakuya pointed out harshly.

"Yes, well... So are you," she replied quietly, her smile dropping away.

"Captain, who is she?" The red head asked curiously, his eyes studying the both of them in turn.

"..Sayomi Himura," Byakuya answered blandly.

"The former captain and heiress to the old Himura clan?" The red head asked, surprised by the revelation. "I thought she was dead."

"It would seem that wasn't the case," Byakuya replied. His eyes had never once strayed from the cool blue eyes of the woman before him while he had spoken with his subordinate.

"But what is she-"

"Renji," Byakuya snapped coldly at the red head, finally tearing his gaze away from Sayomi's.

"Yes, Captain," he replied as he stood up quickly and turned around.

Sayomi heard him mutter a command and heard the sound of wooden screens sliding apart.

"I will leave the boy alive, for now. As for you... I would suggest returning to the dead," Byakuya said, casting a disdainful glance at Sayomi before turning his attention to the doors that had materialized in front of his lieutenant.

"That's the only greeting I get from you after all of these years, Byakuya?" Sayomi inquired softly. "We were-"

"You are dead, and I have no desire to speak to ghosts," Byakuya cut in in a cold monotone.

Her eyes narrowed defiantly, though she could feel a stab of pain in her heart at his words. "If that's the case then why not kill me?"

"What's the use in killing someone who's already dead?" Byakuya replied.

"You have orders to, don't you?" She inquired blandly, her eye eyebrow lifting when she saw that Byakuya had no idea what she was talking about when his lips twitched into a slight frown. "You have no idea, do you? Yamamoto never told you or the other captains about what happened, did he? Surprising, considering he wanted all of us that went out to that campsite nearly a century ago to be executed."

Byakuya stared coolly at her, his expression was unreadable, giving away nothing of what he thought of Sayomi's words. "You're already dead, Sayomi," he said before turning away from her again.

Sayomi continued to stare at him defiantly, but a part of her broke and she felt as if she could cry, but she wouldn't. Not here, not after everything she had gone through. What should it matter to her anyway how this nobleman treated her? They had both thought the other to be dead. They had both moved on in their lives and there was no longer a connection between them that should matter, at least that was what she was trying to convince herself of.

The nobleman began to walk towards the open screen doors, the black haired girl following along after him.

Ichigo, who until then had been looking confusedly between Sayomi and Byakuya, looked up at the departing girl. "Rukia, what are you doing?" He asked shakily.

The girl turned towards him, tears swimming in her violet eyes. "Don't move, Ichigo. Don't come after me, just lie there and live a little longer."

"Rukia, you can't be serious," Ichigo cried.

"If you move an inch from there or try coming after me.. I will never forgive you," the girl said before turning away and following after the two males who had already walked through the gate that lead to another world, a world Sayomi had left a long time ago.

Sayomi watched with a secret longing as the first set of doors began to slide shut, she saw the gray eyes of Byakuya look back at her briefly before the doors shut with a clack and began to fade back into the dark night.

There were a few grunts from Ichigo as large raindrops began to fall from the sky, pattering onto the ground softly. Sayomi walked to Ichigo and knelt beside him with a sigh. "What the hell were you thinking, Ichigo?" She scolded quietly.

"Sayomi, how..." He struggled to speak, but his teeth ground together as a wave of pain swept over him.

"Don't worry about that right now," she told him.

The rain had began to fall heavier, and Sayomi was quickly becoming drenched in the downpour. There was a sudden break in the rain and Sayomi looked up to see that Kisuke Urahara stood over her and Ichigo, an umbrella in his hand. He smiled softly at her.

"I want to know what you had to do with this, Kisuke," she said as she stood up.

"For now we should concentrate on helping your friends here," he replied.

"Where's Tessai?" she asked.

"I'm over here," the large man replied as he stepped out of the shadows.

"Help Ichigo, I'll help Uryu," she said to the large man.

Tessai nodded and handed her a small box,a first aid kit, and an umbrella.

"Thanks," she said as she walked towards the dark haired boy that was now sitting up.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Tessai asked Kisuke quietly as he knelt down to examine Ichigo's wounds.

Kisuke sighed, and scratched at his head. "She's strong, she always has been. I'm sure she'll be fine."

"Hey, Uryu," Sayomi greeted impassively, approaching the black haired boy.

Uryu looked up and was surprised to see Sayomi smiling kindly down at him, but he could easily see that the smile was false as it didn't light up her usually bright eyes. He pushed his glasses up on his nose to cover his surprise and cleared his throat. "Sayomi, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I should ask you the same thing, Uryu. You should have known they were too strong for you," Sayomi replied as she looked down at the cut to his side.

Uryu seemed speechless for a moment before he sighed. "I knew something was different about you."

Sayomi chuckled, it sounded hollow and empty instead of amused. "I figured as much, but anyways let me see the wound."

"I'm fine," Uryu replied indignantly.

Sayomi sighed and sat down beside him, lifting his shirt to reveal a bleeding gash just below his ribs. Ignoring Uryu's attempts to get her to leave him alone and brush her off she poked at the skin under the wound.

Uryu winced and hissed at the pain her antics had caused.

"You're fine, huh?" She teased. She set her zanpakuto beside her and opened the small box Tessai had given her.

"So are you a Soul Reaper then?" Uryu asked, eyes on the sword she had set down.

"No," she answered without looking up as she dabbed at the cut with a piece of gauze soaked in antiseptic. "Now, hold still, I haven't done this in a while."

Sayomi placed her palm before the cut and a green glow emitted from her hands and flowed into the wound, which began to slowly knit itself back together. The wound was mostly closed when she lowered her hand, a bright red line was now the only sign of the wound that had been there.

"Let me wrap it, and then just be careful not to reopen it," she said as she reached into the small box beside her for a roll of white bandages.

Uryu stuttered out a denial and quickly stood up, smoothing out his shirt as he did so. Sayomi looked up and noticed he was bright red, she quirked a brow at him.

"No, I'm fine, thank you," he said to her.

"Ok, but don't whine to me if you reopen it and wind up bleeding to death," Sayomi replied with a shrug.

"So who are you, really?" Uryu asked her.

Sayomi sighed and looked down at her hands. "I am Sayomi Himura, adopted daughter of Hiroshi and Mai Himura."

"You know what I mean. Were you a Soul Reaper?" Uryu asked.

"I hate Soul Reapers," Sayomi answered quietly. "They fear too easily that which they do not understand."

Uryu stared down at her in confusion for a moment, but the look changed to understanding as he nodded. He understood what she meant all too well, but didn't know how the words applied to her.

"So then what are you?" He asked.

"I am..." She trailed off with a listless sigh and shook her head. "I am dead... I am nothing anymore to nearly everyone that once knew me, except maybe a memory."

"You're wrong," Uryu said to her.

Sayomi looked up at him, surprised.

"You're not nothing to me, you're a friend," he told her. He blushed and pushed his glasses up on his think nose to cover up his discomfort.

Sayomi smiled softly. "Thank you, Uryu. I think I'll tell you my story one day, but.. not tonight. I'm not quite feeling up to it."

"Whenever you're ready then," he said to her.

She and Uryu had become relatively good friends in the few years since she had begun to attend the school in Karakura Town. They were both fairly quiet, reserved and didn't particularly like the company of others, and somehow they had managed to become friends because of that. They would always wind up eating together and studying together, neither one minding the others silence. Of course Sayomi was also friends with Ichigo and a few of the other students but she tended to prefer Uryu's company to the others, they would all eat together or hang out every now and then but not frequently.

"I see Sayomi patched you up pretty well," Kisuke said cheerily from behind Uryu.

Uryu turned to look at the blond, whose eyes as usual were hidden under the brim of his green and white bucket hat.

"Yeah, she did. I'm going to be going home now. Take care of Ichigo, because it's obvious that if anyone's going to be able to save Rukia, it's him and not me," Uryu replied as he turned, pushing his glasses up in his nose.

Sayomi frowned. "Rukia was the girl with Byakuya, right?"

Kisuke nodded. "Yes, she's his sister."

"His sister, but that's not possible," Sayomi said.

"Umm, well..."

"Kisuke, tell me whatever it is that you're not saying," Sayomi ordered coldly.

"Well, you see she's his sister... in...law," Kisuke replied awkwardly.

Sayomi gasped and her eyes widened. She swallowed and stood up from the ground quickly, grabbing her sword as she did so.

"I see. Excuse me," she muttered before turning and beginning to walk away from everyone, picking up the black bag she had left under the tree when she had jumped to help Ichigo.

Uryu watched her back in confusion as she left.

"I wonder what she plans on doing? I know she won't go home and she won't return to her friends. Poor thing has nowhere to go," Kisuke said from beside Uryu.

"I suppose you're trying to tell me to go after her?"Uryu asked blandly.

"Of course not, why would I tell you to go after a sad, lonely, depressed, homeless-"

"I get it," Uryu replied. "I'm going."

"Bye," Kisuke sang merrily as Uryu walked off.

"Sayomi?" Uryu called quietly as he walked up beside the white haired girl.

She appeared not to have heard him as she continued walking in silence, her head bowed and her sword clutched in her right hand.

"Sayomi," he called again.

"Hmm?" She hummed as she looked up at him, her eyes were unfocused and glazed over.

"Come on," he sighed, as he grabbed the girl by her elbow and turned her to their right.

Sayomi allowed him to lead her away, she didn't really see anything as they walked only blurry images of trees and buildings.

Uryu stopped suddenly and she blinked, realizing that they were standing in front of a plain white door.

She watched as Uryu reached into his pocket for something that he then used to unlock the door and push it open. He walked in and she followed after him numbly. She stopped when she had entered what was a neat and clean small living room. To her right there seemed to be a door that lead to a kitchen and to her left was a couch, a wooden coffee table, and a stand with a small television on it.

"Let me get you a towel," Uryu said as she stood there glancing at her surroundings but not really seeing anything.

Uryu disappeared through a door that was on the opposite side of the room from the kitchen and reemerged a moment later with a towel in his hands which he handed to Sayomi.

Sayomi stared at the towel for a moment before she raised her right hand and stared at the sword that was still clutched in her hand. There was a flurry of cool air as the sword in her hand seemed to disintegrate in a shower of silver and blue, the silver and blue circled her wrist, reforming the silver and blue bracelet that she always wore.

Uryu remained silent after the display and just continued to hold the towel out to her. When she finally took the towel in her hands, he pointed to the door he had walked through to get the towel.

"The bathroom is just inside there to the right," he told her.

She nodded and slowly made her way to where he had instructed her. When she reached the bathroom, she looked into the small mirror that was over the sink. Her eyes were unfocused, and her skin had paled more than was normal. Water dripped from her wet hair and her clothes were fairly wet from the recent rain as well. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Sayomi set the towel on the counter by the sink, and put her bag down on the floor. She took a step towards the shower and turned on the hot water. After slowly undressing, she stepped into the hot stream, letting it wash away the coldness that had taken residence in her bones. After a few minutes she turned the water off and reached for the towel she had been given. After drying herself off and squeezing most of the water from her hair Sayomi opened her bag and pulled out the only dry items she could find. A pair of light colored jeans and a white tank top that had a black haired fairy dressed in bright pink sitting on the leaf of a blooming black rose.

Gathering up her wet clothes and her bag, Sayomi exited the bathroom. Uryu was sitting on his beige couch, a pot of hot tea before him on the coffee table and two cups set on either side of the pot.

"Sorry I hope you don't mind that I showered, I wasn't really thinking about it," Sayomi said to Uryu, her voice was quite and there was no emotion in it what so ever.

"Don't worry about it," he replied.

"I should go, I don't want to be a burden," she said as she made to walk towards the door.

"And where do you plan on going?" Uryu asked.

Sayomi froze, he had a point. She wouldn't go home, she knew that it was likely Kensei or someone else was already there waiting for her. She also had no intention of going back to the warehouse to face Shinji, she was afraid she might kill him if she saw him at the moment.

"That's what I thought. Now sit down and have some tea," Uryu said as if he were talking to a small child.

Sighing, Sayomi turned around walked to the couch she set her bag to the side and sat down on the opposite end from Uryu.

They sat in silence as they sipped at the warm green tea that Uryu had prepared. Sayomi suddenly felt drained and extremely tired. She set the small cup down on the coffee table and sighed. Leaning her head back on Uryu's couch she rubbed absently at her eyes. Before she even realized it she had fallen asleep.

~A/N~

So has anyone else read the most recent Bleach chapter? It made me so happy to see... well, I won't give it away, but it was nice to see some of the old faces again! I'm really curious about the next arc, it seems to me that there is some deeper meaning behind everything that was said in this chapter and I'm looking forward to finding out what. I just thought I'd share how much I liked the most recent chapter. I'm a little sad about the 3 week break, but I'm sure I'll survive and maybe I'll try to catch up on other manga I've fallen behind on...

Anywho, thank you, thank you, thank you! XxXLIFEafterDEATHXxX, lostfeather, and Ms. Lucky1322 your reviews of the last chapter were much appreciated.

PLEASE REVIEW! Please, please, please?