It was happening again. The strange tingle that indicated that something or someone was watching her. Ichigo looked around her surroundings a bit, discombobulated by the feeling that had been pestering her off and on for a while now.

Yet despite the oddness of the feeling, she couldn't really say that it was a bad thing. She usually knew when people were lying to her and angry or upset. Though she didn't quite understand how she knew those things.

She just...did somehow.

Stepping back a bit closer to her mother, she automatically sought out her parent's hand and upon making contact with it, held it tightly in a little white knuckled grip. Which pulled her mom's attention away from the small display of possible gifts that she had been examining to lock eyes on her.

The tightness of Ichigo's grip alerted her to the fact that something was bothering her baby.

"Darling, what's wrong?" Masaki asked, concerned as she watched her eldest daughter shift her body closer to her. Almost as if to hide herself. Though she knew better than to think that her darling child would ever hide behind her for anything.

Her daughter may have been a young child, but she was brave. Sometimes almost to the point of stupidity like her father. But that wasn't the point.

She and her husband had noticed for a little while now that their daughter was acting peculiar at times. Almost as if she were a wild animal sensing danger, yet didn't know where the danger lurked. And they both didn't like it.

Whatever it was that was making their eldest daughter feel like that was obviously some sort of trouble. But neither parent had any idea of what they should do to help her. What could they do?

They already knew that Ichigo was a gifted child.

One that could see and hear things that others couldn't. Masaki had teasingly asked her baby if she was seeing ghosts once, and Ichigo had looked at her with an expression of someone who had lived for thousands of years. That somber look had been shockingly out of place on her child's little face. But it was her baby's reply that scared her the most.

"Yes. I see ghosts."

The second that the admission had left her daughter's lips Masaki had nearly thrown up. Not because she was angry or even disgusted with her baby. Not by a long shot. She could never feel angry or disgusted towards any of her babies for something that they never asked for.

No, she had nearly gotten sick because she knew what it meant for Ichigo. To see spirits, meant that she would eventually see something much, much worse than mere ghosts.

Hollows.

They would hunt her baby if they ever sensed her spirit energy. And since Ichigo was still young and she and her husband had put off her training so that she could remain a child just a few more years... they would likely kill her. And that wasn't something that Masaki would stand for.

At the moment, Ichigo's strength was beyond staggering for a mere child. Masaki had started doing what she could to cloak her baby's spirit energy with her own, but Ichigo's had been dangerously leaking out of late.

And Masaki feared that she would have to call her cousin Ryoken, or her husband's friend Urahara, for help if it continued for much longer.

Reaching out, she combed her fingers through her baby's shoulder length ginger locks and smiled a bit when her daughter relaxed a little bit.

"Is it the alien's again?" Masaki asked in a whisper tone.

Ichigo stopped looking around and frowned at her for a second before saying sagely. "I think so."

"Do you know where they are?"

Ichigo pointed up and to the left a little bit and Masaki knelt down and followed her daughter's arm to where she was pointing. Sure enough, even she could tell that there was something there. Though its presence was very faint.

It didn't feel evil or malicious to her when she reached out to it with her own senses. But then that didn't necessarily mean anything. Some evil's were cunning enough to seem harmless to lure in prey.

Thankfully, Ichigo was well aware of this fact. She saw enough evil in the world around her to have caused her to wise up more than other children.

"Well, there does seem to be something there. Doesn't there?"

"Why are they watching me? There's nothing special or interesting about me. So why don't they just go away?" Ichigo griped, sounding almost angry to her mother.

Masaki stared at her baby for a second as she repeated her daughters' words over and over in her mind for several seconds before she burst out laughing. Oh, if only I wrote a book. Then you could see just how special you are. Masaki thought as she giggled while her daughter stared at her strangely.

"It's not funny mom." She muttered sullenly as she kicked at a nonexistent rock on the pavement next to her.

Masaki giggled a time or two more before she finally stopped laughing and wiped at her eyes because she had laughed so hard that they had teared up a bit. "Oh, my darling child. I didn't mean to make it seem insulting. But you are by far one of the most interesting people that I know."

Ichigo looked at her mother with a slight pout marring her face.

"Well you are!" Masaki said almost defensively as she gently gathered her daughter in her arms and hugged her. "You, my darling Ichigo, were born to do great things. Just because you can't see that, doesn't mean that others don't. You'll see what I mean in time. I promise." She said as she kissed her daughter's cheek, leaving behind a bit of red lipstick on her face.

"Mom!" Ichigo whined in protest as she wiped at the smudge and gave her mother a small glare. "Mommy kisses, bleh. Gross." The girl muttered with a smile.

Masaki laughed again, this time her amusement faded quickly as she glanced back at where her baby had pointed before and extended her arm with her index finger pointing at the spot and mouthed a warning to whatever or whomever was watching her eldest child.

I see you.

Conrad's heart was beating so hard in his chest that he could feel it even all the way to his toes. This...was peculiar. Very much so. First of all, it was practically unheard of for anyone to be able to tell that they were being watched by Ulrike's orb. And then to be able to locate where the orb was watching from- was also unheard of.

Conrad wrapped his arms around his middle for several moments, just trying to calm himself down. But it was so very, very hard. He felt such a strange thrill shooting down his spine. His body was shaking from it as his mind chanted, She can sense us! She knows that we are here!

Was it because of Julia's soul? Conrad couldn't help but wonder.

"Ulrike, what the hell was that?" Gwendal snapped. Apparently unnerved by what they had found out today.

"I'm not sure," The priestess answered. "This has never happened before."

"Well, is there any way that you can find out?" Gwendal demanded.

Ulrike hesitated for a moment before then saying, "The Great One is laughing."

That little comment caught both men's attention as easily as someone screaming in their ears. They both froze for a moment or so. Conrad used that time to slowly drop his arms back to his sides and focus his attention on the priestess.

"Why is the Great One laughing?" He asked curiously as he tilted his head to the side a little bit.

Ulrike just smiled. "He seems to be very happy as well as amused." Conrad said nothing while Gwendal scowled at the girl before she then looked at them both with a knowing glint in her eyes and said, "He says that she will lead you, Conrad, a merry chase one day."