Chapter 32: Necessary Recruitment

The loud beeping of Kirara's alarm woke her the next morning, reminding her that after everything that had gone on, she still had school to attend. She'd already skipped the previous day, but after missing a week recently, she couldn't afford to draw more attention to herself by missing more.

'It's the last day before summer. At least if I go in today, they won't be on my back for so much skipped class after the break,' Kirara thought to herself. 'If I even have to go back,' she added.

So she spent the usual amount of time sulking after turning off her alarm clock, wondering why she had to be the one spying on Ichigo, and then reluctantly pulled out of Shinji's grasp as he continued to sleep.

"Suppose this way I can find out if anything happened last night," she murmured to herself as she pulled on her shirt and skirt, ignoring the socks that had been neglected for weeks now, and lifted her bag to head out for the day.

"You're forgetting something," as Kirara went to open the door, the sleepy voice behind her made her smile.

"Am I?" she asked innocently, turning around as Shinji watched her through hooded eyes, looking so comfortable that for a moment Kirara was tempted to just get back into bed and sleep for the rest of the day. Instead, she walked over with that innocent smile still on her face, before leaning down to kiss his cheek. "I'll see you later, Hirako," Kirara whispered, only for his hand to shoot out.

Kirara's squeal was louder than she'd intended as he yanked her down onto the bed, causing her to drop her bag with a thud as he pulled her on top to kiss her. She giggled, making herself more comfortable as Shinji didn't seem to have any plans to let her go. Unfortunately for him, Kirara broke the kiss to grin down at him. "Later," she whispered, and a sleepy smile spread across his face.

"I'll keep that in mind," Shinji whispered, pulling her in as he pushed up to kiss her softly. Kirara sighed into it, once again tempted to stay, but Shinji was the one to end it this time. The knowing look on his face told Kirara that he knew exactly what effect he was having on her, but she just kissed him quickly once more, and reluctantly climbed back to her feet.

"I'll see you later," Kirara said softly, smiling as she lifted her bag to head out to school, all while her mind was still swimming.

Kirara found that she was grateful for forcing herself to attend class on the last day before the summer holidays, as she ended up with a few answers by the time class ended.

Not only had Rukia Kuchiki seemingly vanished from not only class, but the memories of their classmate and Ichigo's wild Reiatsu had also completely disappeared. Whatever had happened the previous night had not been great for the oddly subdued teenager, but Kirara could practically smell Kisuke's involvement, since Ichigo was still alive to tell the tale.

The two lingering presences from the previous day had also vanished, telling Kirara that the Captain and Lieutenant had returned to the Soul Society, and taken Rukia with them. Despite Ichigo's misery, Kirara couldn't help but be glad that Rukia was gone. Being near a Kuchiki every day had been nothing but stress on Kirara, and she was glad that she could somewhat take it easy again.

Uryu Ishida also skipped the last day before the summer break, which surprised Kirara. He'd never missed a day from what Kirara knew, so something was definitely off about it. Again, she was glad he was. She was still stewing in resentment for his stupid move of using Hollow Bait.

The one absence that did worry Kirara, however, was Hibiki's. The girl didn't show up for class at all, and when Kirara finally gave in and sent her a text, Hibiki just apologised and explained that she was sick with a summer cold. Something about it didn't feel like the whole truth, but she knew she couldn't do much about it. So instead she promised that they would hang out over the summer when Hibiki was better.

"So what are you up to this summer, Kirara? Sleeping?" Tatsuki teased as class was dismissed and everyone spoke excitedly about what they were up to for the summer. Kirara grinned at her.

"I plan on spending at least the next few days in bed," she winked, and Tatsuki rolled her eyes. "Other than that, not much," Kirara answered. "I know you have the Nationals coming up, but what about you, Orihime?" she looked at the orange-haired girl standing with them. "Any plans for the summer yet?" Kirara asked her.

"Nope!" Orihime smiled happily. "I don't have a clue," she admitted. As she spoke, Kirara glanced over at Ichigo, who was deep in thought as he stared at the desk beside his. The one that had been Rukia's.

"Here's a great idea!" Chizuru interjected quickly with an overeager smile on her face. "You should stay the summer at my house! My parents will be on vacation, and it'll be just you and me!" she suggested.

"Oh no you don't!" Tatsuki growled at her, knowing exactly where Chizuru's mind was going.

"Well, why not?" Chizuru scowled back. "It's not like I'm inviting her to take a bath with me!" she protested.

"No matter what you suggest for your holiday plans where it's just you and Orihime, we know it's going to be inappropriate," Kirara said, hands on her hips. 'My plans aren't much better, but at least I'm older than these kids…and less oblivious,' she admitted, glancing at Orihime as confusion filled her eyes.

"What's inappropriate about spending time together?" Chizuru demanded, glaring back at her. "It seems you're the ones with filthy minds, you know," she accused.

"Why you…" Tatsuki growled, her face red with a blush as Kirara just looked blank. When her phone buzzed again, she pulled it from her pocket expecting it to be Hibiki agreeing to meet up over the summer. When she found it wasn't, a confused frown crossed her face.

"Everything alright, Kirara?" Orihime noticed the look on her face. Kirara looked up at her quickly as she shoved her phone back into her pocket, before plastering a smile on her face.

"Yep, all good here. I have to go, but we'll meet up over the summer, yeah?" she asked them as she edged towards the door.

"Of course!" Orihime nodded.

"Have a nice summer!" Kirara called as she hurried out the door, losing her smile the moment she was out of their sight. She weaved around the other students who were abuzz with excitement for the start of their summer holidays.

It didn't take her long to find Shinji, who was leaning against a wall looking deep in thought. She didn't need to call out to him, as the moment she came into sight his attention moved to her, but he didn't lose the frown on his face. "What's wrong?" Kirara asked as she reached him, worry making her stomach churn. Shinji reached up and put a hand on her head, lightly ruffling her hair as if to calm her down.

"We have a problem," he said quietly, sending an irritated look over Kirara's shoulder. Turning while Shinji's hand stayed on her head, Kirara's frown grew as Kisuke approached. Draped over his shoulder was Yoruichi, who for once didn't make a teasing remark.

"Glad to see you're in better shape than the other day," Kisuke started as Kirara turned around fully to the pair. Despite his calm words, Kirara couldn't stop the worry from growing. While they had bumped into Kisuke more than a few times over the last century, he had never actively sought them out. And he'd never had Yoruichi in tow.

"What's going on?" Kirara asked, tearing her gaze from them to look up at Shinji as he stood beside her. His scowl hadn't lessened. Kisuke sighed, and pushed his hat back so that he could look her properly in the eyes. Whatever it was, it was bad, and Kirara steeled herself.

"We need your help."

Summoned in the middle of the night by the ominous message sent by Urahara, Ichigo made his way to the man's shop, his mind filled with thoughts of Rukia's last words to him. It only further boosted his resolve to enter the Soul Society and save her.

"Well, well, if it isn't Ichigo. Right on time! Welcome to the club," arriving at Urahara's shop, Ichigo found the man standing waiting for him outside. However, he wasn't alone, and Ichigo stopped, eyes wide as he saw his best friend rising to his feet.

"Hey…Chad," Ichigo stared at him as he managed to start moving forwards, stepping into the grounds of the shop. "What are you doing here?" he asked slowly.

"Rukia saved me once," Chad answered him in his quiet, rumbling voice. "I want to help her out if I can. I'm going too," he announced, and Ichigo inhaled sharply.

"Huh?" he couldn't quite grasp what Chad had said, staring at him.

"What's the matter? Are you hard of hearing or something?" Ichigo jumped at Uryu's sharp voice behind him. When he whirled around, Ichigo found the Quincy standing there, wearing a white uniform. "I don't take defeat well, especially when it's at the hands of a Shinigami," Uryu spoke, still angry about the events that had taken place over a week ago. His loss against the red-haired Lieutenant who had come to retrieve Rukia had been humiliating to say the least. "So I'm going too," he declared.

"So I guess we're all present and accounted for," Ichigo's surprise continued to mount up as Orihime emerged from the shadows with a small, determined smile on her face.

"Orihime?" Ichigo stared at her, struggling to process the rapid chain of events unravelling around him.

"Yes! I got the message too," she said, bowing politely.

"Hold on a second! Can somebody please tell me what the hell is going on here?" Ichigo demanded, turning from Orihime to Uryu, and over to Chad. Kisuke just smiled with amusement at his utter confusion.

"Wow, you really can't sense Reiatsu for shit, huh?" all four of the teenagers jumped at the sudden voice, turning quickly to see Kirara walking towards them with Yoruichi in her arms. Wearing her shorts and cami under her pink flannel shirt, Kirara almost seemed as normal as them, but not only was she missing the plaster that she normally kept over her nose around them, she carried her Zanpakuto over her shoulder.

"Kirara?" Orihime stared at her with wide eyes. Kirara glanced at her, before turning a glare on Kisuke.

"You didn't tell them?" she asked Kisuke.

"I thought I'd leave it to you," he just smiled pleasantly. Kirara rolled her eyes, cursing him under her breath.

"Who the hell are you?" Uryu's voice had taken on a harder, more suspicious tone as he saw the Zanpakuto over her shoulder. "Another Shinigami in our class, or are you like him?" he asked as Kirara turned a cold gaze on him.

"Neither," she answered him in a voice as cold as her gaze. "Kisuke and Yoruichi asked me to help out, so they're not just sending a bunch of kids on a suicide mission," she said, looking down at Yoruichi. The cat was sitting content in her arms.

"A bunch of kids? You're one to talk!" Ichigo shouted, pointing at her. "You're in our class!" he pointed out. Kirara smirked at him.

"And Rukia Kuchiki was just a kid too?" she asked, making him inhale sharply.

"So you are a Shinigami," Uryu growled, as if what she'd said confirmed it. Kirara rolled her eyes again.

"Clean out your ears, Quincy. I just said that I'm not," she said, sounding bored. Uryu glared at her. Kirara then sighed, already feeling a headache coming on. "Let's just say I'm an interested party. I'm here to help you rescue Kuchiki, assuming you want my help?" Kirara asked, trying to make her voice less cold.

The moment she'd been asked to return to the Soul Society to help rescue Rukia, Kirara had felt like she was going to be sick. She hadn't set foot in that place since she and the other Vizards had fled, and she hadn't had any intention of returning. At first she'd wanted to refuse, to tell Kisuke to shove his request.

But she owed him her life. All of them owed him. So she agreed, even if it warred against everything within her.

"Of course we do!" Kirara gave a yelp when Orihime flung her arms around her in a hug.

"Careful of Yoruichi!" she exclaimed, embarrassed as Orihime hugged her.

"I didn't know that you had powers too, Kirara! This is amazing," Orihime smiled widely at her as she let her go and stepped back. "I'm so glad that you're coming too," she said, and Kirara managed to smile at her, trying to ignore the thoughts of exactly where they'd be going.

"None of this helps explain what the hell is going on here!" Ichigo shouted, frustrated as he found himself with more questions than answers.

"You're a little slow on the uptake, aren't you?" Yoruichi spoke up, and Ichigo froze. "Kid, don't tell me you didn't notice the increase in the hidden powers of these three," she accused in that taunting tone of hers, which seemed even worse in the deep voice that her cat form gave her. "While you were training to regain your Shinigami power, these three were also training in their own way," she berated Ichigo. "Even Kirara here. She's been hidden in your class for months and you were oblivious. All of you were oblivious," Yoruichi made sure to include the other three in that comment as Kirara smirked. "Instead of criticising, bow your head and thank them," Yoruichi scolded Ichigo.

"A talking cat!" Ichigo screeched, not seeming to take on board anything that Yoruichi had just said.

"He's not a cat. He's Mr. Yoruichi," Orihime scolded him, frowning at Ichigo.

"It is shocking, after all," Uryu admitted.

"It's his first time meeting him, I guess," Chad added in.

"Mr?" Kirara looked down at Yoruichi, who just batted her lightly with her paw as if to tell her to shut up. She didn't bother to correct them, knowing that Yoruichi would reveal the truth at some ridiculous moment.

"Yes, yes, let's end it there," they looked over at Kisuke as he clapped his hands together. "We can't keep talking outside. Please come in," he gestured for them to go inside.

"Let's get this over with," Kirara sighed, walking inside the shop.

"You alright, Princess? You seem moodier than usual," Yoruichi commented idly as they reached a trapdoor waiting for them to descend below ground.

"Don't call me that, or I'll drop you straight down that hole," Kirara warned her irritably. "Of course I'm not alright. I've to go back to that place after a hundred years, and you know who's there," she said quietly.

"If you didn't want to go alone, you could have asked Shinji to go with you," the cat sighed. "Then again…you never would have gotten anything done," Yoruichi's words made Kirara's eye twitch.

"Kirara, no!" Orihime gasped as she saw Kirara holding Yoruichi by the scruff, dangling the cat over the hole.

After managing to calm Kirara down, the ground went down the hole to find a massive space that was almost identical to the one that Kirara trained in with the other Vizards. The ceiling above was deceptive, making it almost seem like it was suddenly daytime again.

"That ladder is going to kill someone someday," Kirara mused as Yoruichi hung from her shoulder.

"Wow! All this space beneath the shop!" Orihime exclaimed, eyes bright with wonder. "This is so neat…it's like a secret base!" she declared.

"Really?" Ichigo looked a little exasperated by her reaction.

"What a wonderful reaction!" Tessai, having heard Orihime's delighted words, rushed over to grasp her hand tearfully. "I, Tessai, am deeply moved," he almost seemed to weep with joy.

"It's been a while, Tessai," Kirara smiled at the man.

"Good to see you, Kirara," Tessai sobered, nodding at her as Orihime looked at Kirara. Curiosity burned in her eyes, as she wanted answers like the rest of the group.

"Alright, your attention please," they turned to Kisuke as he clapped his hands together, keeping them from getting distracted instantly. "Here we go," he held up a small device in his hand, and in a moment a massive stone structure assembled behind him.

Instantly Kirara went cold as she looked at the modified Senkaimon in front of her. It was as if until this moment, she hadn't fully processed what she was doing. "This is the gate that leads to the Soul Society. It's known as the Senkaimon, which is written 'Tunnel World Gate'," Kisuke exclaimed, before his bright words took on a more serious tone. "Now listen very carefully. Before that…" in the time it took Ichigo to blink, Kisuke had appeared behind him and thrust the end of his cane against the back of Ichigo's head.

Uryu, Chad and Orihime all gasped as the cane seemed to pass through Ichigo's head, forcing his soul out of his body. His body collapsed lifelessly, while Ichigo now stood beside it in his Shinigami attire.

"He pops out so easily…" Uryu considered as he and Orihime crouched beside Ichigo's body, while Chad propped it up.

"Hey, at least warn me before!" Ichigo snapped at Kisuke.

"That Zanpakuto…" he whirled around as Kirara now stood behind him, studying the massive Zanpakuto that was as long as Ichigo was tall. It was wrapped entirely in white cloth, and didn't have a tsuba by the handle. It was entirely different to anything that Kirara had ever seen. "How weird," she mused aloud, arms folded.

"Kirara, what the hell do you know about all this? I thought-"

"I joined your class to keep an eye on you, Ichigo," Kirara cut him off sharply, looking up at him. His Reiatsu had returned, as wild and uncontrolled as before, but something was different about it. That strange feeling she'd picked up on before had changed, and made Kirara look at Kisuke. He gave her a grim smile in response as if to confirm what thought had just crossed her mind, and Kirara spat out a curse. Before she could say anything, Ichigo had grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and yanked her towards him, lifting her enough that her feet just skimmed the ground.

"Ichigo!" Orihime gasped as she jumped up, but Kirara held out a hand to stop her.

"Why the hell were you spying on me?!" Ichigo snarled at her.

"Your Reiatsu is insane, and you can't control it for shit. Left to your own devices, who knows what shit you'd get up to. Or what you'd draw in and lead straight to your friends, who have Reiryoku and power of their own," Kirara replied calmly, not scared of him in the slightest. She then reached up, and rested her hand on Ichigo's wrist. In a flash, she'd twisted, and Ichigo cursed from the pain that lanced up his arm, forcing him to release her.

"Now, now," Kisuke called over as Ichigo massaged his throbbing wrist. He'd no idea what she'd done to him, only that it hurt like hell. "No fighting amongst yourselves. You're going to have plenty of people to fight where you're going," he warned them. "Let's continue," he turned back to the Senkaimon towering over them. "This gate has a layer of Reishi Henkan-Ki; a spirit-particle conversion machine on top of a normal Senkaimon," Kisuke explained.

"Want to explain that in a language we all understand?" Kirara asked, arms folded.

"As you already know, the Soul Society is a world of spirits. It is impossible to enter that world unless you have the form of a spirit," Kisuke explained as Orihime, Uryu and Chad stopped messing with Ichigo's uninhabited body and listened carefully. "However, only Ichigo, as a Shinigami, and Kirara, can cross through," he explained. Kirara still looked bored, but didn't miss the looks sent her way by the others. "So we'll use the Henkan-Ki to convert you into spirits," Kisuke told them.

"So in other words…we'll be able to pass without extracting our spirits, by going through this gate," Uryu summed up.

"Correct. You will be able to enter the Soul Society like that," Kisuke nodded, pleased that he'd understood the explanation.

"Okay, got it!" Ichigo snapped, impatient to get going. "Let's get-"

"However!" as Ichigo went to walk past, Kisuke jabbed his cane into Ichigo's side and made him grunt in pain. "The time limit that we have to open the gate and connect it to the Soul Society is four minutes," Kisuke warned as Ichigo moaned, rubbing his side.

"Shit, Kisuke," Kirara pinched the bridge of her nose. "You want them to run that in four minutes?" she demanded. It was an insane request, and she was starting to wonder if she should just back out now.

"Normally it would be impossible," Kisuke admitted. "It's a reckless idea to start with. I'll do my very best and hold it for four minutes. If you can't cross over in that time, you will be trapped forever between the Soul Society and this world," he warned. Kirara looked at the expressions on the faces of the four.

"W-what should we do?" Orihime wondered, her voice quivering as she suddenly began to question what they were doing.

"Just go forward," Yoruichi's answer was simple. "I told you that the heart and soul are connected. The important thing is what you feel in your heart, and the will to move forward," she told them. "Kirara and I will be your guide," she said as Kirara walked forwards to stand with her. "Go forward. Only those who can do that can follow us," Yoruichi turned to the four.

"Are you babbling in your sleep, or what?" Ichigo rolled his eyes. "That's why we're here!" he shouted.

"Then you understand that if you don't pass through in time, you'll be stuck forever," Kirara warned him, her voice soft.

"I just have to win, right?" Ichigo demanded, holding her gaze. After a moment, Kirara grinned.

"Yep," she confirmed. A bright light started to shine from the Senkaimon, as Kisuke and Tessai began to power it up.

"Are you ready?" Kisuke called. "Run in the instant it opens," he instructed. Kirara started to stretch her legs, preparing herself for a proper run. She knew she could clear it easily with her Shunpo, but she doubted any of them could go anywhere near as fast as she and Yoruichi could.

Heart pounding, Kirara stared at the white light pouring from the Senkaimon, refusing to back down now. The moment that light changed to something more, she took off, with the rest of the group right beside her, and passed through the Senkaimon, vanishing.

This is where things really differ from the original version of this story; Kirara is actually involved in this arc!

Hope you liked it!

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