Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Seer ❯ She Who Loses ( Chapter 11 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

I was perched on the back porch of Rangiku's house, enjoying the light breeze that wafted by as my fingers danced over the strings of my koto. I hadn't been able to sit down and practice since before the festival, so I had made it a point today to set aside time. With all that had been happening lately, it was nice to just sit and do something that seemed normal.

After I had repaired the damage from our fight two days ago, Toshiro had left me in Rangiku's care while he went to talk to the Captain of Squad 2. I hadn't seen him since which wasn't odd, but after all the time we had spent together yesterday it left me just wanting more. I had been so distracted today that Rangiku had given up on making me do her paperwork. Now she lounged beside me, laying across her porch like a lazy cat as I practiced.

"If you keep playing so slow, you're gonna put me to sleep," she complained as she rolled over, propping her chin on her hand.

I rolled my eyes but otherwise ignored her. She had no appreciation for classics.

"Is this really what you do in your free time?" she asked.

"Unlike achieving a level of power or ability, one must keep the rust away by practicing an instrument," I said, half quoting something my old instructor had told me.

"You are so boring," She groaned.

"I could sit here and cross stitch if you'd prefer," I commented as I glanced at her from the corner of my eye.

"That's even worse," my zanpakuto said as she appeared on my other side.

"You're one to talk," I shot back at her. "What do you even do all day?"

"I watch you fumble around like a baby baboon. It is very amusing," she commented with a twinkling laugh.

I drew my eyes away from my koto and glared at her. Both of her teal eyes gleamed with amusement as she watched me. She was sitting with her back propped against one of the porch support beams, her legs turned elegantly to one side so the long fabric of her kimono was splayed out to her side. She wasn't wearing a mask today so much as blue and green feathers emerged from her skin where her eyebrows and cheekbones were and layered back into her hair. Even her eyelashes appeared to be tiny feathers, glowing with a metallic light as the sun hit them. Her kimono was decorated in similar colors, like she had captured the image of a peacock and trapped it inside the fabric. Armor like that of my shikai's covered her, the metal in hues of gold that seemed to warp with the rays of light.

"Ria," Rangiku's hesitant voice came from my other side. "Who is that?"

"Tankyu no Unmei, Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto," I said as I paused my playing to gesture between the two of them. "Rangiku, Tankyu no Unmei. My zanpakuto."

"What?" She half shouted in surprise as she rolled over to sit on her knees. "This is really your zanpakuto?"

I nodded as I resumed playing my koto, my eyes watching my fingers as I stroked the strings with my picks. I heard Rangiku move around me and over to my zanpakuto as they struck up a conversation. How on earth Rangiku could get my zanpakuto to talk about fashion was beyond me. All she spoke to me about was serious stuff… or she made fun of me. I couldn't really complain though. We understood each other better in the last two weeks than we had in the last ten years.

Time flew by for the next while. I listened to Rangiku tell my zanpakuto about fashions in the human world while I ran through song after song on my koto. It was so relaxing and at the same time distracting that when the mood suddenly changed I was stunned into silence. The feeling in the air darkened like a shadow had been cast over me from a dark and ominous presence.

"Ria, what's wrong with your zanpakuto?" Rangiku asked hesitantly.

Slowly I drew my eyes away from my koto to gaze at Tankyu no Unmei. Her eyes were moving frantically around the area. It was like she could see something that we couldn't as her gaze would focus on something for a moment, then dart to look at something else. The peacock feathers that had decorated her kimono seemed to shift and change every time that her gaze stopped, only to shift once more when her eyes moved again.

"She told me once that her appearance was affected by my name for the day," I said quietly as I watched her. She seemed completely consumed by whatever she could see, not showing that she had heard my voice at all.

"If her appearance is changing, what does that mean?" Rangiku asked quietly.

"My name has changed."

Abruptly my zanpakuto stood, the movement so fast that I barely saw her get to her feet. She moved towards me, her face coming so close to mine that I felt her breath on my cheek as she drew our sword from its sheath and said, "Maebure no Shukufuku."

My shikai's armor seemed to explode around my body, the power of it slapping against my mind in a tidal wave of information. I had the odd sensation of falling even though I knew I was still sitting on the porch as I fought to control the power. I pulled myself away from my koto, sliding back on the porch until I knew I was clear of it and rolled over onto my hands and knees. My mind's eye was overwhelming my sense of self as I tried to stuff all the information into categories. Condense, make is smaller… There was just too much. I could sense everything within the barracks area; the grass, the concrete, the wood, people, fabric, papers, voices, heart beats… It was just too much.

"What the hell are you doing?" I bit out as I tried desperately to rein in my senses.

"Your name is changing, Herald. I am going to find who is pulling your fate's strings."

"How are you-"

"I am the Seeker of Fate, Tankyu no Unmei, and you are my Herald," She flicked her sword out to her side as she stepped down from the porch and walked out into the grass. I followed her with my gaze until a pulse of power took my vision, consuming me with my mind's eye. "This is my power. I just allow you to use it."

In my mind's eye, she was dancing with each step she took, a slight crouch with a flourish as she moved. Her sword twirled around her, the tip of the blade forming elegant arcs of light that streamed behind her in banners. When she was several yards away she stopped, and turned towards us, flicking her kimono's skirt with her foot so they lay behind her in an elegant swath of color. She raised her sword in the air, turning it with a flourish so the blade was down. She jerked it down suddenly, slamming the blade into the ground all the way to the hilt. Images exploded across my vision, consuming my mind. Distantly I felt my body fall to the porch as my control over my muscles was lost to me. There was just too much…

'There,' I heard her voice echo through my head. The sound of doors opening swished through my mind and I felt someone's gaze on me. A spark of fear ate through my chest as grey eyes came to the forefront of everything in my head.

My senses seemed to retract from where ever they were like I had been pulled from a pool, the remainders of what I had been engulfed in still clinging to me, but no longer lost in the torrent of it all. My vision came back to me as my zanpakuto withdrew her sword from the ground, her eyes narrowing as she considered the blade. Her teal eyes abruptly flicked to my own, consuming my vision.

'He will try to draw you away,' her voice whispered in my head. 'Do not fall for it, Herald.'

"… is she?"

"I don't know. Her zanpakuto just…"

My head was pounding, a pulsing pain that seemed to emanate through my entire brain. The voices I could hear were all female, but my brain hurt trying to put voices to faces so I didn't try.

"She said her name had changed, then her zanpakuto activated her shikai…"

Geeze, what were they on about?

"Her zanpakuto did that?"

"Yes. I didn't know her zanpakuto had a spiritual pressure like that. I was so caught up in the power that I couldn't do anything but watch."

I moved to roll over, lifting my hand to cover my face. Something cold and sharp bit across my cheek, startling me into opening my eyes. The arm guard from my shikai was still covering my hand and the picks from my koto were still taped to my fingers. But… I wasn't holding my zanpakuto? Whatever. My head hurt too much for me to care. I continued rolling over until I was able to curl into a ball on my non-armored side with my head resting on my arm.

'Your mind wasn't ready for the strain of using your shikai to its full potential,' my zanpakuto's voice echoed through my head.

'I hate you so much right now, you know that, right?' I thought at her, flopping my other arm over my head in a futile attempt to block her out.

'Your name is She Who Loses, but for moments it changes. Be careful today, Herald.'

"Shut. Up." I growled at her.

Silence greeted me for a moment, and I basked in the slightly lessened pain of not thinking. Why couldn't I just pass back out? I would have welcomed the dark abyss of nothingness right now.

"Is she awake?"

The sound of a door sliding open had me gritting my teeth.

"Ria?"

I lifted my arm from where it was covering my face so I could see the parted shoji doors that led outside. My vision was fluctuating between what I could actually see and my mind's eye, the effect of seeing without seeing making my stomach roll with dizziness. Looking into the light felt like stabbing my brain with a hot poker, so I glared at the head that was poking around the parted doors. "Go away," I growled at them.

The door slowly slid closed, the soft tap of the door grating against my mind. I dropped my arm, hiding in the darkness it provided.

"Is she okay?" a feminine voice whispered.

I wanted to roll my eyes, but it hurt too much so I didn't bother.

"She's grumpy," another voice said. "I don't think I've seen a look that scary from her. Like, ever."

"I bet she gets it from Lieutenant Nanao."

It really was too much effort to yell at them, but I wanted too…

"Send Toshiro in there. I'll bet she doesn't give him the death glare she gave me."

"Why would Captain Hitsugaya not get the same reaction that you got, Captain Abarai?"

"Oh, you haven't heard?"

"Heard what?"

"Toshiro and Ria are dating!"

"If that's true, sending him in there is certain to prematurely end their relationship."

"No way. You should see the way she gets distracted thinking about him. It's so cute."

Giggling burst out from numerous female voices, the sound of it making my head feel like it was going to burst. I was going to kill Rangiku…

The door to the room I was in slid open quietly and I heard someone walk in. I opened one eye and shifted my arm just enough to see someone's feet as they turned to close the door behind them. I closed my eye and tried to ignore them, covering my eyes once more.

"They are insufferable," Toshiro muttered under his breath.

"Yes," I grumbled in reply.

My mind's eye honed in on him as he moved towards me before his hand brushed across my arm guard. I let my arm slide away from my face to lie across the floor and tried my best not to cringe as my head throbbed with the movement. His fingers brushed across my temple in a feather light touch that had my face cringing with pain.

"Your head?" He asked as his fingers left my temple to brush across the exposed skin beneath my arm guard.

I hummed a short note of agreeance.

"What happened?"

I groaned and buried my face into my arm.

"She wasn't ready for what I did," my zanpakuto said. I thought for a moment that she was talking in my head, but then I felt the touch of silk brush across my forehead. Unlike any other touch or movement, this seemed to sooth the pain in my head ever so slightly.

"What did you do exactly?" he asked.

"I found the one responsible," she replied softly as her hand stroked through my hair. "The one responsible for changing Ria's names."

"Are they the same person who has been behind the attacks?"

My zanpakuto didn't say anything as she pulled my kanzashi from my chignon. For the brief moment that her hand left my hair the pain came roaring back in my head with a vengeance, making my body tense and curl into a tighter ball. Her hand easily returned to my hair, pulling the ribbon from my chignon so her fingers could run through my locks. Gently she coaxed me to relax and pulled my upper body out of its ball until I was draped across her lap, my head resting on her forearm as her other hand continued to stroke through my hair.

"There are rules that must be followed," she said after a long moment. "I am the Seeker of Fate, Tankyu no Unmei. I see what fate has in store. I am not one who changes fate, who creates fate, or who defends fate. But, when someone tampers with fate I am allowed to protect my herald. Even if protecting her means breaking some of the rules."

"Did you break your rules today? And that is why Ria was incapacitated?" He asked. I felt his hand take my own, pulling my palm into his lap as his fingers curled over the armor of my arm guard.

"Yes and no." She replied. "I did not break the rules, but to do so I abused the connection between us. She was not ready for the power. Like funneling a river through a brittle straw, I damaged her mind. One day she will be strong enough to do what I did without suffering like this, but for now I shall tend to her. Repair what has been broken."

"You are not a normal zanpakuto, are you?" He asked in a hushed tone.

"Is Hyorinmaru a normal zanpakuto? Was Muramasa? What about Kyoka Suigetsu? Tenken? What is normal when it comes to the other half of a Soul Reaper's soul?"

"Quit being all wise sounding and shit," I grumbled as I rolled onto my back, my shoulder pauldron pressing into my zanpakuto's waist. I gazed up at her from where my head was resting in her arm, taking in the way the feathers that covered her face seemed to glow with the light from the window shining behind her.

"Would you prefer that I sound dense and slow like you do?" She quipped back at me. I rolled my eyes, but caught myself as a stab of pain shot through the front of my head and scrunched my eyes closed. Her fingers rubbed into my hair line, soothing the pain until it was just a dull ache.

After a moment I asked, "What were those doors I heard?"

"A senkaimon," she answered with a hushed tone. "I didn't realize you picked up on what I saw."

"I heard doors and a sense of dread as I saw his eyes in my head," I said as I thought back. My head protested, but with her hand touching my skin the pain was bearable. "The same eyes that everyone else had."

"He resides in the Human World," my zanpakuto said. "But, he possesses a zanpakuto. A former soul reaper, I'm certain."

"What else can you tell us about him?" Toshiro asked.

"You are not as sensitive to spiritual pressures as my Herald is, but she can share with you the knowledge of what he feels like. Should you ever encounter him, you will know who he is."

"I don't know what he feels like," I protested.

"What did you think that sense of dread you described was?" she said, quirking her head to the side as she gazed down at me. "To someone like you, non-combat oriented and fragile, it may feel like dread. But, to someone like your captain, he will feel much like any other opponent."

I wanted to take offense to what she had said, but I caught myself and instead of glaring back at her I turned my gaze to the ceiling. I didn't like to think of myself as fragile, but I really was. Durable wasn't a word anyone would use to describe me…

My zanpakuto drew her hand away from my hair and rested it on my breast plate. "I am controlling our shikai at the moment, and I will continue to do so until our bond is repaired. Don't do anything stupid until I am done, Herald."

"Isn't it kinda redundant to tell me not to do something when you already know what's going to happen?" I sniped at her as I shifted to give her my best flat glare.

"Perhaps I enjoy watching you squirm," she laughed lightly and abruptly vanish. For a moment, I remained where I was in the air, as if her body was still there supporting my back and head but after a moment I dropped like a rock to the floor. My mind's eye flared sending nausea rolling through me as the world churned around me before it clicked off and I was left with only my closed eyes to see through. Her light laughter echoed through my head as I reached up to rub where the back of my head had connected with the floor.

"I swear I am going to get revenge for this shit one day," I growled as I moved slowly to sit up. Without my zanpakuto touching me, my head didn't hurt like it had but it still ached like a deep bruise. I placed my sword arm behind me to hold my body up as I ran my other through my hair to pull it away from my face.

"How is your head?" Toshiro asked from beside me. I blinked slowly to make sure my mind's eye wasn't going to flare up before I glanced over to him. He was sitting beside me, his arm held out as if he meant to catch me if my arm gave out.

I gave him a small smile and moved to fully sit up as I turned towards him, my legs bent at my side. "Hurts still, but not near as badly."

"Captain Sui Feng and I only returned a short while ago, but according to Rangiku you've only been unconscious for a short time," he said.

I nodded slowly and glanced around at the room. It wasn't Rangiku's house I was in like I had expected, this place looked familiar… "Where are we?"

"The Ise Manor," he replied. "Rukia found you and Rangiku just after your zanpakuto released your shikai. She had you both brought here. She, Lieutenant Nanao, Rangiku, Captain Sui Feng and your sister are just outside."

I let out a sigh and dropped my gaze down to look at my armor. I knew why my zanpakuto had done it, using our power to search for him, but I almost wished she hadn't. I didn't like being a burden to everyone. I knew that they didn't see it that way, but I sure did sometimes. I did my best to keep my life as a soul reaper away from my sister, and now here I was throwing it in her face. She must have been so worried…

"Ria," he murmured as his hand rested over my own. I shook my head, but quickly stopped as the movement made my mind's eye kick in. I clamped my eyes closed as the extra sense overtook my sight, filling my head with information. I tried to shove it back down, but it was like trying to stop a river without a dam. It just kept coming, the sight expanding until I could see the entire room and then the manor and the people inside. The power abruptly vanished, but came back a moment later, stronger than it had been before.

"Where is my zanpakuto?" I asked between clenched teeth.

"She has it," he replied quickly, understanding that I was asking for my sword and not her. "Can you control it?"

"No," I said sharply. "I can't turn it off. It's like it's got of a mind of its ow-" my words clipped as pain roared through my head and I let out a hissing groan. I didn't let myself curl up into another ball like I wanted to, instead bowing my head and stiffening my body. The more my vision flared, the worse it got, like the expanding vision directly correlated to the pain in my head. Was my zanpakuto looking for someone again, or was my head just trying to recreate the event?

'It's not me,' her voice chimed in as if on command.

'Then fix it, damn it.' I demanded.

'It takes time…'

"Ria," Toshiro cooed as I felt his hands slide into my hair on either side of my head. The touch only made my sight focus on him instead of expanding and I started to pull away. His fingers flexed and he pulled me back towards him. I opened my eyes despite not being able to see and tried to figure out what he was doing. My mind's eye normally functioned like overly detailed vision, seeing through and into things that my naked eye couldn't, but without being able to control the power everything around me was just a mix of layers and colors in my head. There was no depth, no separation, everything was just there, cluttering my head with incomprehensible information.

"Your eyes are like your zanpakuto's," he commented softly.

"Is she looking at you, or am I?" I asked with a whisper.

"You are both the same person," he replied just before his mouth covered mine. I closed my eyes on instinct as he kissed me, my hands lifting to knot in the fabric of his haori. His spiritual pressure rose as I relaxed into him, his hands still holding my head guiding me to lean forward until I was pressed against him. "Let me in," his voice rumbled against my lips. I hesitated at his words, barely understanding what he was asking until I felt his spiritual pressure rise higher. It wasn't like something turning on, so much as a tidal wave of power that engulfed me.

A thrill of something shot up my spine at the feel of his power. Cold sweat was suddenly slicking my skin as I moved to pull away from him, panic controlling my movement. He was so strong. I had known in my head that his reiatsu was unimaginable compared to mine, but feeling it… Oh god, it was too much. I knew I shouldn't have been afraid, but I couldn't help myself. I was a baby rabbit in the arms of a dragon, and even though I knew he wasn't going to eat me, I was looking at his teeth all the same.

"Don't fight me," he murmured as one of his hands left my head to wrap around me, holding me where I was. "I can help you control your power until you can do it yourself."

"Y-you'll consume me," I confessed as my body started to shake with the strain of keeping myself from freaking out.

"I'll do a lot more than that."

… What? Was he flirting with me? Right now? Or was my mind just turning dirty?

His hand slid back to grip the back of my head as he forced me to press tightly to his body. His power exploded through me. Ice shot through my veins as his reiatsu, his spiritual pressure, wrapped mine like a sleeve, the sensation confining and absolute. I struggled against it, I couldn't help myself. I knew what he was doing, I knew that I needed to stop resisting him and let my reiatsu meld with his, but I just couldn't. I was so freaked out that I couldn't think through what I was doing. I pushed against him, but his arms held me where I was. His spiritual pressure was so different from my own. It was like ice grating through my veins, seizing my heart with cold and freezing my bones. I had to get away. I had to!

"Let me in…" he whispered into my hair. "Trust me."

I hesitated in my struggles when I heard his voice. I did trust him, I really did. He wouldn't hurt me, not on purpose, but convincing the panic sitting in my chest that he wouldn't… I gave up. I resigned myself to his will and relaxed into him, nuzzling my nose into his haori instead of trying to push away. The pain in my head scorched my mind as my sight tried to expand, but it stopped, shrinking back as Toshiro's spiritual pressure engulfed me. Now that I wasn't fighting it, it was like a cool breeze flowing through me. It mixed with my own power, soothing my mind's eye and chasing away the pain in my head. It felt… it felt so good…

I think I blacked out for a while, opening my eyes to find my head cradled in the crook of his shoulder and my body lying across his lap. A wet cloth dabbed at my brow, the warmth of it surprising me and making me startle.

"Good morning," my sister's voice greeted me as I tried to blink away my blurry vision. My head didn't hurt… There was a slight straining feeling in my mind when I turned my head so I could look at her, but that was it. No pain… What on earth had Toshiro done?

"Is it still morning?" I asked her slowly, my voice a little rough sounding.

"Not even close," she said, her warm smile illuminating her face. Her hair was braided to the side today, the long black strands pulled over her shoulder to drape down to her waist.

"Pregnancy looks good on you," I joked, knowing full well the lecture I was going to be avoiding by bringing it up in front of someone else.

"Thanks," she grumbled, her expression darkening to a very scary glare for only a moment… or it would have been scary to someone else. To me, it was funny. Her gaze flicked up for a moment to look at Toshiro before it returned to my own. "You look terrible, but you feel better than when you first arrived here."

"How did I feel?" I asked. She had some sense for spiritual pressure, though it was minimal due to lack of training. Since we felt similar, she could always gauge my spiritual pressure to some degree.

"Sick, or uneven like an intermittent signal. Now you feel steady, but so… cold."

"I temporarily shared my reiatsu with her, to keep her own steady for a time," Toshiro said.

Her gaze slowly slid up to him, her eyes narrowing in a judgmental look as she said, "Don't think that just because Ria likes you, that I like you. You are going to have to do a lot more than fancy kido/kaido mumbo jumbo to earn my approval."

"I am aware," he said in reply.

"How long was I out this time?" I asked as a distraction as I moved to sit up. Toshiro's hand moved to my back, helping to ease my body up to vertical until I was sitting just beside him, my hip pressed against his leg. His hand stayed subtly pressed against my back, hidden by how closely we were sitting.

"Long enough," she answered promptly. "You are not allowed to come back to me in such a state ever again. You will be healthy and conscious from now on. Am I understood?"

"I understand," I replied with a soft smile. "Had I been able to object, I wouldn't have allowed us to come here. I am sorry Mio."

"Just don't get hurt again and it won't be an issue," she said as her mouth set in a stiff line. I knew she was trying to keep herself from looking concerned. I had seen the same look on her face when I told her that I was going to join the Spiritual Arts Academy and several times after. My sister wasn't stupid. She knew that being a soul reaper could be dangerous, and she knew that the higher in rank that we became the more danger we would most likely be put in. She was a giant bundle of worry when it came to my safety. I did my best to not bring up any details of dangerous situations that I was or could be in, and she did her best to ignore her urges to baby me.

"Could you give us a moment?" I asked her, referring to Toshiro and I.

"Absolutely not," she replied as she dropped the cloth she had been dabbing my forehead with in a bowl at her side. I started to ask her why, but she continued, "If I hadn't been so distracted by Lady Rukia and Rangiku I would have never allowed you to be alone with a man in a private room. He may try to take advantage of you, even if he is your captain."

"Mio!" I half shouted her name. "What kind of an accusation is that?"

"I don't understand all this spirit energy, pressure, reiatsu non-sense," she said as she gestured vaguely at the both of us. "But I do understand that you are a lady, he is a man, you two work together and I walked in here to find you in his arms. From the stories I've heard from Rangiku, you two are no longer allowed to be alone in this house. It isn't proper conduct for a lady, even if you are seeing each other. Proper courting takes months if not years of interaction before you are allowed to be so familiar with one another."

"I heard from Uncle Shunsui that you were only seeing Daichi for 6 months before you two were married," I shot back at her.

Her eyes widened as a blush lit her cheeks. She was at a loss for words for a moment until her expression changed and her whole face grew red. "You can't go around calling the heir to the Kyoraku Clan 'Uncle'! I thought you grew out of that bad habit! Shouldn't you be calling him Head Captain anyway?" She accused me.

"Don't change the subject," I quickly interjected. "How long were you two dating before you were engaged? Two months? Three at the most?"

"I wasn't a lady like we are now. The proper mannerisms didn't apply at the time," she objected.

"Are you saying that Daichi's mannerisms were in question at the time? Shouldn't he have had the sense of what 'proper courting' was?" I said, making quotation marks with my hands.

"You know very well that your bother in-law's sense of etiquette is impeccable!" She half shouted. Oh, this was just too good. Getting my sister flustered was such a rare occurrence. I just had to keep going…

"I don't know, he is pretty dense. Just how long did it take him to guess the cookie hint?" I asked her as a devious grin turned my lips.

"He didn't guess! Lady Nanao completely spoiled it after you told her the next day!"

Oh… crap.

"Technically I told Uncle Shunsui, and she just over heard," I said with an embarrassed laugh.

"It doesn't matter!" She almost shouted, her voice raising to a squeak. "I wasn't going to tell her until I had no choice! She is worse than our mother ever was about children! I am three months pregnant. Three months! And she is already planning the baby shower, picking out colors for the nursery and interviewing nannies!"

"She wants to make sure you are well taken care of," I tried to assure her.

Her eyes seemed to bulge from her head, "This is my baby! She may be the head of the clan, but this child is going to be mine! She can train her to be a priestess all she wants, but the baby is mine!"

"If you keep getting so worked up, it won't be good for your baby," I said, trying to distract her from her current train of thought.

"I am only three months pregnant!" She squeaked. "If I want to get worked up, I will! You deserve it!"

The door to the room slid open and we both turned to look. Lady Nanao stood in the open doorway, her gaze fixated on my sister. "Is everything alright in here?"

"We are fine, Lady Nanao," my sister quickly responded as she schooled her face and posture. "We were just discussing recent events." She turned back to me, her eyes pleasant until she knew that Lady Nanao couldn't see her expression and she released a monstrous glare. I pointedly avoided her gaze, keeping an innocent expression on my face as I looked at Lady Nanao.

"You shouldn't be stressing yourself Mio," Lady Nanao tutted as she walked over to my sister and offered her hand. "Come, some fresh air will do you good."

The evil glare that had been focused on me vanished as Mio took Lady Nanao's hand and pretended to use it as she stood. "Thank you," she said politely as she followed her to the door. She sent me a sharp glare over her shoulder before she vanished through the doorway.

I was in such deep shit the next time my sister caught me alone…

"From the way you speak of her and the way she acted before you woke, I imagined her to be more of a mother figure to you. I wouldn't have guessed that by your interactions just now," Toshiro said, drawing my attention away from the doorway.

"She's mad at me. Normally she acts like how you thought, but until she gets it out of her system, I think I'm going to be on her naughty list," I said as I turned to him. His aquamarine gaze was focused on me, watching my movements as I turned my body so I could face him instead of straining to look at him. His hand shifted with me, trailing from resting on my back to my outer thigh as I settled with the line of my hip pressed to his leg as he sat with his legs crossed. My shikai armor was still on me, so instead of leaning to the side and resting my weight on my arm I sat up straight.

"So," I started but hesitated for a moment. "What exactly did you do?"

"You aren't well versed in kaido, correct?" He asked me.

"No," I said with a slight shake of my head. "I understand the concept behind it though."

"Normally, healing someone involves replenishing their reiatsu, and then using that to heal the body. Your reiatsu was chaotic and unstable with your shikai active and your bond with your zanpakuto damaged. Instead of replenishing your reiatsu, I forced yours to accept some of mine, allowing me to stabilize your shikai temporarily."

A slow smile crept up to my face. "So, you put a little piece of you inside me? Such a guy thing to do."

"It's only temporary," he quickly said. "Aside from making you sleep until your zanpakuto is finished, there was nothing else I could do to ease your pain."

"Thank you," I said as I reached out and rested my hand on his chest. "I don't know what I'd do without you to pick up the mess I tend to make of myself."

"There wouldn't be a you," he murmured as his hand closed over mine. His gaze was soft as he looked at me. Without him saying anything I knew that I wasn't a bother or a burden to him. Even before anything was between us, I hadn't been a nuisance. It was just how he was. But now I was more than a job description to him. Now… now I was something more and I never wanted it to change.

"I want you to always look at me this way," I whispered.

"Are you sure?" He asked as his expression changed into something heated. I instantly was reminded of the other day in the medical wing as his gaze trailed down from my face ever so slowly until I knew he was staring at my chest intentionally.

A blush heated my cheeks and I started to smack his arm playfully, but stopped short remembering my arm guard and instead giggled to myself. "You are terrible." His gaze met mine once more and he started to say something, but caught himself as his gaze focused on something behind me. I had my back to the door, so I had to assume someone was standing there.

"Captain Sui Feng," he said as he lowered my hand from his chest, but still held it.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but my men are actively tracking Takeshi Nakai. He was spotted a few minutes ago entering the Soul Society from Kira Clan's private Senkaimon. Will you be joining us as we search for him?"

"Go ahead, I'll catch up with you in a moment," he said as his gaze came back down to me. I listened to Captain Sui Feng's footsteps until they abruptly vanished.

"Who is that?" I asked once I knew that we were alone again.

"Takeshi Nakai is the stealth force member who we suspect has been possessed just like 4th seat Kyrouni was. The same man that attacked you at the warehouse."

I blinked at him for a moment. A name for the face… He wasn't someone trying to kill me after all. He was just another puppet like Amagi had been. "What are you going to do to him?"

"If we can't free him from whatever is controlling him or capture him, I will kill him," his voice was matter-of-fact, like killing Takeshi Nakai was a little concern to him. My eyes softened and I found myself coming to my knees. I knelt while he remained sitting and I rested my sword hand on his shoulder as I kissed him. I meant only for it to be a short kiss, but his hand still on my thigh flexed and I became distracted for a moment. Remembering myself, I pulled back from him and gave him a very direct gaze.

"Be careful," I murmured.

"You stay here, in the Ise Manor. If he evades the stealth force he may come here, after you and your sister. Without your shikai, you cannot defend yourself," he said as he kissed me again. "The wards around the estate will keep those who do not belong out. You are safe here."

"I'll be here," I replied. "Just… don't take too long. You'll make me worry."

He kissed me again before he left, leaving me sitting alone in the room. I stayed where I was for a while, my back to the door as I remembered the feeling of his hand on my thigh. The way he kissed me so tenderly… My sister may have been right about our relationship being improper, but I didn't care. Maybe it was just because I could feel him on my skin, his spiritual pressure clinging to me like frost on a winter's morning, but I wanted nothing more than to immerse myself in everything that was him.

Shaking my head I came to my feet and left the room. I stepped out onto the porch and stopped to take a moment to orient myself in the manor. They had put me in one of the guest rooms instead of my old room, putting me on the opposite side of the compound from where I normally roamed. It was closer to the staff quarters rather than the family rooms, putting me only a building or two away from the kitchens and directly across from the dining hall.

I heard low female voices coming from my right, so I turned to investigate. In the room beside the one I had been in there was a medium sized kotatsu table set up in the center of the room. Sitting at the table Lady Rukia, Lady Nanao and Rangiku sat, fussing over some papers they had laid out before them. They were so immersed in whatever they were looking at, that they didn't even notice me as I poked my head around the corner to observe them for a moment. Silently I backed up, not wanting to be confronted by their questions or comments. Surely, they had heard everything next door. They were so close and the rooms were only separated by shoji doors.

Normally it wouldn't have bothered me that people had overheard our conversation, but Lady Rukia was right there. Since she had married Renji, she's turned into a sort of match maker. Every relationship in the 13 court guard squads had probably been influenced in one way or another by her. I didn't think she had gotten her fingers on Toshiro and I yet, but I really didn't want to know. Turning away from the room I opened my senses to feel my sister… but I couldn't. Normally my ability to sense people was as easy as scenting the air, but now all I could feel was Toshiro's spiritual pressure.

Oh…

I understood exactly what he had done.

He had infused his spiritual pressure into my own, but he'd set a limit on what it could do. With my own power fluctuating, it was the best way for him to ensure that I wouldn't have to worry about losing control. I would have no control at all. He had made me mostly defenseless, but like he said, it was the only other option besides forcing me to sleep which would have made me completely helpless. I really couldn't leave the Ise Manor...

Letting out a small sigh I set out to find my sister. I wasn't able to protect her in my current state, but at least I could be with her while I waited for him to return. Surely, she couldn't be that mad at me still.

Wandering into the kitchen first I had to step out of the way of several staff members who were busily carrying items to and fro. My sister was where I figured she would be, occupying a section of counter in front of one of the windows. Her back was to me as she fiddled with whatever pastry or desert she was making. I walked up behind her and rested my chin on her shoulder. I was a little bit shorter than her, but I made up for it by standing on my tiptoes so I could look down at what her hands were doing.

"You were smart to come see me while I'm in the kitchen," she grumbled as she placed a little blue sphere on top of a custard she had coated some tea cakes in. It looked like she had just started on the tiny deserts, one other finished one set aside on a wire tray.

"Because you won't try to brain me with a pan?" I asked playfully.

"No, because I don't want to ruin my tea cakes. If I stop to beat you with random utensils, I might break my cakes." She made it a point to emphasize her words as they pertained to violent actions. She let out a long, frustrated sigh before she tilted her head to rest it against mine. "Never mind that. No use in getting mad over spilt milk."

"Love you too, Mio."

She continued decorating her tea cakes as I watched from her shoulder. Baking wasn't something that my sister actually liked to do, but decorating things was a passion of hers. She was so good at using frosting and other materials to create pieces of art on top of food that she had considered opening her own little bakery. She had eventually decided against it though, saying that turning her hobby into a job would make it unenjoyable.

"I was totally unimpressed with your Captain, by the way," she commented out of the blue.

"What? Why?" I asked in surprise.

"He's so serious," she said, sticking her tongue out. "And stiff too. And that flat, annoyed stare that he gives just about everyone, ugh. I don't know how you can like a guy like that."

"He's different with me," I said quietly as I wrapped my unarmored arm around her waist in a hug.

"He better be. I mean, he even looks weird. What's with that white hair of his? He doesn't look even remotely old enough to have that kind of hair."

I laughed lightly as I said, "It's part of him, just like this armor is part of me. He is just so powerful that it effects his appearance."

"You're not chasing him because he's strong, are you?"

"Really?" I asked her in a flat tone.

"I have to ask," She said with a shrug.

"No, I'm not. If I wanted to chase rank I could have done that long ago." I said, rolling my eyes even though I knew she couldn't see me.

"Good point," she said as she picked up one of the finished tea cakes and held it up for me to take.

"Oh," I murmured as I stepped from behind her and took the tea cake.

"To finding love in all sorts of strange places," she said as she held one up of her own and tapped it against mine like a toast. We shared a very similar smile and promptly stuffed the cakes in our mouths, chewing happily in unison. Anyone watching us would have been able to tell we were related.

I swallowed the tea cake in one giant gulp, surprised by how hard it was to actually get down. It was like I hadn't chewed it very well, but I knew that I had. Tea cakes were light and easy to chew, but something wasn't right… Something surged through me, like a power was trying to take me over. My spiritual pressure surged for only a moment, squashing the power like I would have stomped on a bug.

I dropped to my knees as I started coughing, the bits of tea cake expelling from my throat before I could swallow it all the way. With my fit of coughs a small blue orb bounced across the ground, hitting the cabinets before rolling back to me. I clutched my chest as my coughing eased until I was spitting out what remained of tea cake. I reached down and picked up the little blue orb, lifting it so I could look closer at it. I hadn't thought anything of it when my sister was putting these on the tea cakes, but it looked a lot like a soul candy. It was just the wrong color… Soul candies were green, not blue…

"Ria," my sisters voice came out in a harsh whisper. I stood abruptly, tucking the blue orb into my sleeve so I could look at it later. I turned to my sister and stepped back with surprise. Her normally chocolate eyes were flashing colors, one moment chocolate brown, the next a flat grey. Her lips were trembling with the effort to form words as she stared at nothing.

"M-Mio, what's wrong?"

"Th-There's something… in my head," her voice came out, broken with the struggle she was going through to speak. Her face scrunched like she was in pain, then it abruptly slacked. She closed her eyes as her body sagged forward, her arms dropping to her sides. I started to move towards her, to catch her if she fell, but abruptly she let out a howling laugh that I had never heard come from her lips before.

"Ria darling," She said as she arms spread dramatically. "I'm here to make you suffer!" She cheered as she turned, giving me her back. I watched her in shocked horror as she danced through the kitchen. The staff in the room had all stopped what they were doing to watch her as she moved around them and slipped out the exit.

I startled once she was out of my sight, closing my gaping jaw. What the hell… I pulled the blue orb from my sleeve and looked down at it, trying to puzzle out what had happened. Soul Candies were for removing a soul from a gigai. I had never heard of them being developed for taking over a soul. It just wasn't possible. Something had to be empty in order to be possessed… What the hell!

Coming to my senses, I stuffed the orb back into my sleeve and ran after my sister. I couldn't feel her, so I tried to guess where she had gone. I ran down the porches as I looked for her, but no matter where I had gone, she wasn't there. Her room, the patio, the dining hall… She wasn't anywhere to be found.

"Ria, what's wrong?" Rukia's voice caught my attention as I ran down the porch.

I didn't stop moving, shouting over my shoulder, "Mio's been possessed. I can't find her!"

I heard them talking to each other, deciding on a plan of action as I left them behind. I ran past the front entrance to the manor and almost tripped over my own feet as I spotted her. She was just on the outside of the gate, her back to the manor as she spoke to someone. Someone in a black stealth force outfit…

"Mio! Get back inside the wards!" I ordered.

She turned to me, grey eyes lit with amusement as she smiled at me. "Oh, silly Ria, it's perfectly safe out here. You should come join us too," she said as she waved me over. I ran towards her, but stopped just inside of the gate, my eyes darting between hers and the stealth force man's.

"Takeshi Nakai," I said as he grey gaze met mine.

"Oh," he mused. "It seems that they've finally noticed an absence in the ranks."

"Give me back my sister," I demanded.

"Come out here and I will think about it," he said, his eyes twinkling with a smile that was hidden by his mask.

My sister covered her mouth with the fabric of her sleeve as her eyes changed from grey to chocolate for a brief moment, "Ria, help me!"

I started to move towards her, but stopped myself. If I went out there, I was as good as dead. I knew he was using my sister as bait. They wanted to kill both of us, but if he couldn't enter the Ise Clan's grounds then he had to get me out. It was just a wicked plot, but… she was my sister! How else was I supposed to save her? Her eyes shifted back to grey as I watched, her gaze focusing on me before she shrugged.

"It was worth a shot," she grumbled.

"Mio!" I heard Daichi's voice just as he passed me, going through the gate to the outside. I didn't even have a chance to stop him, to say anything, before he jerked back. Blood flung through the air as Takeshi struck with his sword, slicing Daichi across his chest and stomach. I just stood there, watching as his body fell to the ground, bouncing slightly with the impact.

"No!" I screamed as I lunged forward and through the gate. I saw Takeshi's strike as he swung at me and I used my arm guard to take the blow as I stepped over Daichi's fallen form. He swung at me again, and I shifted my body to take the hit with my shoulder pauldron as I grabbed the fabric of Daichi's shirt and threw him back through the gate. My movement left me open to attack, but there was nothing I could do about it. His blade bit into my side, but it didn't puncture me, instead sliding down my armored obi until it ended and sliced through my exposed hip. The mesh armor of my obi didn't look like metal, and he had mistakenly gone for what would have normally been my softest parts.

I assumed my best defensive stance for hand to hand combat, angling my armored side towards him in preparation of defending his blows. I knew I was at a disadvantage against him. Even if he was being controlled by someone else, he was a member of the stealth force. They specialized in shunpo, whereas I specialized in my shikai.

He stepped between Mio and myself, hiding her smaller body in his shadow as he dropped his stance. He pointed his index finger at me. "Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six!"

My eyes widened and I moved to dart back through the gates to the Ise Manor. I couldn't stop him from using his bakudo. I simply wasn't strong enough to react like that. Even if I was able to call on Danku, without an incantation it would break under the pressure of his incanted bakudo and trap me.

"Bakudo #61. Rikujokoro!"

The beams of light caught me in mid air just before my body made it through the gate, but my momentum kept me moving until I landed on the ground only inches inside the gate. I couldn't move, even as my body was frozen in the position I had been in when I had jumped. Such was the power of the Rikujokoro, I was completely immobilized and barely able to breathe. My body slowly fell to the side, landing so that I could see the tops of their heads in the corner of my vision.

"You idiot," Mio spat. "Now how are we supposed to take her with us?"

"You could go in there and get her," he shot back.

Mio let out an exasperated sigh, but caught herself as she looked up. "Captain Abarai is coming," she said quickly. Takeshi glanced up and past me before he turned and threw my sister over his shoulder.

"Hey, be careful you oaf. I'm pregnant!" she yelled at him just before he took off in a flash step.

Mio… tears wet my eyes as I stared at the empty space that had been. My sister… They had taken my sister!

I couldn't move. I couldn't feel her. I couldn't do anything. I was useless. Even Daichi…

Tears fell from my eyes as I stared blankly at the empty gateway. If I hadn't been so weak… If I had been better prepared… If I had paid better attention… If I had… If…

"Ria," Lady Rukia's said, her footsteps sounding behind me. I barely heard her over the sound of my despair. Mio was as good as dead... and her unborn child…

I heard the slide of a sword being unsheathed and was abruptly released from the bakudo. My body shifted as I fell to lay flat on the ground, but it served to do nothing for me. I slowly reached out to where my sister had been, my arm falling slack with my fingers out stretched. She who loses… I wasn't supposed to lose my sister. Why couldn't I have lost something else?

"Daichi," Nanao's voice cried out.

Slowly I rose to my hands and knees, my eyes never leaving the spot just outside the gate. I should have grabbed her instead of Daichi. I should have tried to restrain her with a bakudo. I should have tried to do more than I did. She would never have forgiven me if I had tried to save her instead of her husband though. But still…

"His injury isn't life threatening," Rangiku's voice said calmly. "I'll start healing, but we need to get him inside."

Moving one limb at a time I crawled towards the gate. If I could just feel her spiritual pressure, I would know where she had gone. Then I could follow. If the wards on the Ise manor hadn't kept Takeshi from reaching me, he would have killed me. I knew it was a stupid idea. Those stupid little soul candies… I should have been paying more attention. I should have realized what they were.

"I thought they couldn't enter the wards?" Rukia asked.

"He must have gone outside the gate. The wards here are only meant to keep people who have never entered the grounds before, out." Nanao quickly explained. "It will not keep objects or people who have entered before from coming back."

I stopped crawling once I reached the gateway. I sat back in the center of it, my arms lax at my sides as I stared out. If I went out there in my current state, they would surely kill me. What could I do? What could… my zanpakuto do?

'Tankyu no Unmei, can you find her?' I thought to her.

Her voice was hesitant as she responded, 'If I hadn't damaged our connection, yes.'

'If I forced the connection, could you do it?'

'Yes, but you shouldn't.'

'I don't care. Give me our sword.'

'This will change your name, Herald. This was not part of your fate.'

'I don't care, give me our sword!' I demanded.

'This may get you killed,' she protested.

'I don't fucking care. Give me our goddamn sword!' I shouted at her in my head. 'You may not be able to change fate, but I sure as hell can.'

I could feel her regret in my heart as our sword appeared in my hand. I clenched the blade as I rose to kneel on one knee. My bond may have been damaged, but I would force it to work like I had been doing for years. I slammed the blade down through my thigh, completely piercing through my leg until her tip bit into the ground. Even with Toshiro's spiritual pressure regulating my own, my shikai's power shot up like a rocket as my blood fueled it. I had aimed for my inner thigh, for the artery there, but not a single drop of blood fell to the ground from my blade as my zanpakuto absorbed it like sponge.

'Find her!' I commanded my zanpakuto.

'It may kill you if I do this,' she warned me.

"Who is the master here? This may be your power, but you are my zanpakuto. Do as I say!" I shouted out loud.

"Ria, what are you doing?" Rukia's asked from behind me. I ignored her.

"Self-sacrifice," my zanpakuto said aloud. "Don't make me do this Herald."

"Tankyu no Unmei, I know you can do it. Our bond may not be fixed, but I don't need it to use your power," I said as I ground the blade of our sword harder into my leg. If she wouldn't do it, I would do it. I let my senses spread out, my mind focused on one thing. Mio. Information flooded my mind, but with such a strong directive I ignored it all. Where was she… Where was she damn it?

The part of my spiritual pressure that belonged to Toshiro flared inside me just before his hand clasped over the handguard of my sword. He completely surprised me as he pulled my sword from my body before I could react, turning it with a swift flick of his wrist which effectively forced my hand to release the hilt. The power I had gained from sacrificing my blood to my zanpakuto vanished as soon as my hand left the hilt, leaving me wide eyed and panting. Without my zanpakuto to absorb the blood, my thigh bled freely and quickly formed a puddle underneath me.

"What the hell are you doing?" He demanded as his hand clamped down on my inner thigh, just above the wound I had made. His grip was painfully tight as he pressed down, using just his strength to block the blood flow from my artery.

"They took my sister!" I half shouted as I got over my surprise. I started to reach for my sword, but he tossed it away behind me. I started to scramble after it, but his grip on my leg kept me from going anywhere. I had to find her! Why didn't he understand that?

"She's already gone," His voice was sharp, but it barely even phased me through the panic that was running through my head. "We found them just as-"

"I can't feel her," I interrupted him. "She's going to die and I can't even feel her!"

"Calm down Ria," he urged me. "She will be okay."

"No, she won't!" I objected as I pulled the soul candy from my sleeve and held it up. "She's not even there, she's someone else!"

"You're not making any sense. You need to calm down," he tried to coax me down.

I could hear myself breathing faster and faster as I tried to think, tried to process. I couldn't do it. I had failed. I had lost my sister, and I was too pathetic to save her.

No…

No, I needed my sword. I could find her. I didn't have to be useless! "Let me go," I said shakily as I gripped Toshiro's arm. "I can find her, I just need my zanpakuto."

"You can't find her Ria," He said as his other hand pulled mine away from his arm. "She's not in the Soul Society."

"W-what?" I asked, blinking dumbly up at him.

"They took her to the Human World."

"H-How? They were just right here!" I said as I frantically gestured to where they had been.

"They are using private senkaimon to travel back and forth from the Human World."

My face dropped as I understood. "The Kannogi Clan is only seconds away with a good flash step…"

"Yes," he said as his grip on my leg tightened even more.

My shoulders dropped at his words. She… wasn't here. I had been too slow. If I had just made my zanpakuto give me my sword earlier, before they ran, I could have stopped them. I could have done something. My body slumped to the side as my chest tightened and a sob tore from my throat. I couldn't do anything… I couldn't do anything! No matter how I looked at it, I was weak in the Human World. Even if I could get there… There was just no way…

"Ria, it's going to be okay." I knew he was trying to talk me down. When I had slumped to the side, he had followed me to keep his hand gripping my inner thigh. Tears continued to fall down my cheeks as I stared at the spot she had been.

"Captain," Rangiku's voice said softly. "She needs to deal with her grief."

Silk slid across my skin just before the arms of my zanpakuto wrapped around me. I started to pull away from her, but stopped when I felt her emotions like they were my own. I wanted to blame her for making me weak and unable to save Mio, but she was just as grief filled as I was. She… she hadn't known this would happen when she had damaged our bond. My fate had changed, but she couldn't say anything because of the rules. I was safe, but she regretted her actions... Her armor vanished as I buried my face into her chest and cried.

"Herald," my zanpakuto said softly as her fingers ran gently through my hair. "You need to be healed before you bleed out."

I didn't respond to her even though I had heard her. I didn't care. I just… A foreign touch slid across my temple and my world went dark.

I dreamt of Mio… The memories of when I was a child filling my heart with such joy, only for the nightmares of losing her to tear it all away. She wrapped a shawl over my shoulders before I walked out into the winter's snow. She laughed as Daichi was struck down, the grey of her eyes mingling with brown. Her fingers touched my cheek as she helped me put on my make-up before my coming of age celebration. Her touch as she weakly pulled my sleeve, blood turning the pretty pink of her kimono crimson…

I... opened my eyes… I was lying on my side in a futon, staring at a set of familiar shoji doors. There was a fine fuzz that coated the room, in the darkness it looked like white dust, but as I shifted to look at it better I realized it was frost. I started to curl up so I could hide my face from the cold, but there was a weight at my back, an arm under my head instead of a pillow. The scent of the mountains in winter registered in my head, and I realized who was lying behind me. I started to turn, I wanted to see him, but I was stopped by a sharp, burning pain in my thigh. That's right… I had tried to force my zanpakuto…

His arm flexed around my waist, pulling my back against his chest. I hadn't noticed the way he was holding me until he'd moved. I let myself relax, shifting my leg just enough so I wouldn't press against it on accident. I snuggled my shoulders back and turned my head into his arm, settling myself comfortably against him. I barely felt the chill from the frost in the room while I was snuggled against him like this. He was so warm…

Something brushed across my lips, teasing my mind into waking up. My eyes didn't want to open though. I was still so tired… Another touch as something drew across my brow and trailed down my temple. A small groan escaped my lips as I scrunched my eyes and forced them to open. Toshiro was looming above me, his fingers gently trailing down my cheek. My vision was blurry with sleep, but even so I could see the gentle smile that turned his lips.

"What are you doing in my bed?" I asked sleepily. I was happy he was here, but I had to poke a little fun.

"You are actually in mine," he murmured in reply. No wonder I had recognized the shoji doors… Any other time, his words would have made me blush but I was just so darn tired.

"What am I doing in your bed?" I rephrased.

"I wanted to keep an eye on you, since every time I leave you alone you seem to get into trouble," he said. His tone was playful, but the meaning behind his words…

"And that's why you're in it with me?" I asked as I raised my brow at him.

"No," he murmured as he leaned down and pressed his forehead to mine. "I haven't had issues controlling my reiatsu in years, but you…" he pressed his lips to mine in a gentle kiss, the weight of his body pressing into me as he leaned over me. "You make my emotions hard to control, and like last night I couldn't keep my reiatsu from effecting the area around me."

"I'm sorry," I murmured against his lips.

"Don't do this ever again," he said as his hand trailed under the comforter and down my yukata to stop over the bandages around my thigh. His touch was gentle as he gripped my leg, coaxing it to lift and my knee to bend till it was propped up. My thigh didn't hurt like it had when I woke up in the middle of the night. He must have healed it sometime before I woke up.

I started to say something, but closed my mouth on the half-formed words. I chewed on my bottom lip as I tried to think of what I could say. There wasn't any defending my actions. I had acted in desperation when I had tried to force my zanpakuto. It had neither been smart nor the best plan of action. I hadn't had time to think through everything that had happened, but I knew that deep down I regretted it. My zanpakuto had been trying to tell me to stop and I had ignored her.

"You don't have to say anything," he said as his hand shifted, sliding under the fabric of my yukata until his hand was directly touching the bandages, his skin sliding across mine. His touch had my mind suddenly very awake and very aware of just how high up my thigh that I had stabbed myself. "Just promise me you won't do this to yourself ever again."

"I promise," I said breathily. His touch had me wanting to make little noises as he started unwrapping the bandages, his fingers tracing lightly over my skin. My entire body was suddenly hot as I rolled my head back and tried my darnedest to not make a sound. I couldn't stand to look at him as my eyes slid closed and I tried to control my face. He was just removing my bandages. Nothing more… Oh…

"Am I hurting you?" He asked, his forearm under my head shifting so my face was angled towards him.

"No, it doesn't hurt at all," I breathed out as his touch caressed my inner thigh.

He chuckled but continued to unwrap my leg. I didn't think he was trying to tease me, but I couldn't help but squirm under his touch. His touch felt good, but this was so… "My sister would kill you if she found us like this."

"You're probably right," he replied as the bandages slipped free from my skin. "We will get her back, Ria."

"I would like to believe that, but-"

"Then believe it," He cut me off. "I'm taking you with us to the Human World as soon as you are well enough. We will find her and bring her back."

I blinked up at him, surprised by his words. "T-to the Human World?"

"Every time I leave you behind I come back to find you injured," he said as his finger trailed over the line of tender new flesh where my zanpakuto had gone through my leg. His touch brought a shiver that ran through my body and I embarrassedly tried to hide it by shifting to get more comfortable. The look in his eyes told me that he knew exactly what he was doing to me, but his hand left my leg to trail up and rest on the futon beside my shoulder. "I'm not making that mistake again."

"You know that my shikai is pretty pathetic without an abundance of reishi around me. Are you sure it's okay for me to go with you?" I asked.

"You are mine to protect," he said, quoting himself. "If you are with me, no one will harm you."

My eyes softened and I nodded. "I'll try my best to not get in the way."

"You won't be in the way," he said. "Your shikai may actually be of use."

"I don't see how," I replied as my thoughts trailed off to my zanpakuto. I needed to apologize to her…

"Did you know before yesterday that your shikai could find people?"

"No, I had no idea. But, when I think about it, I don't see why I couldn't," I said as my gaze trailed up to the ceiling. "When I am using my shikai, my other sight, I can see a lot more than just reishi. I can feel, hear, and see everything. I just can't think through it all. It's like information overload when my senses spread too far. Like if I was a computer my processor would overheat or crash or whatever term they use."

"And if all that information wasn't there?" He asked. I turned my gaze back to him, pondering his words.

"I suppose I wouldn't have an issue then," I said slowly.

"We want to use you to find where they are hiding."

"Find… where they're hiding?"

He leaned back, reaching to the other side of the futon behind him and picked something up. Shifting back, he set my zanpakuto beside me before his hand rested over my abdomen. "We were searching for Takeshi Nakai and the person controlling him in the Human World. We tracked them to Karakura Town, but haven't been able to find them otherwise."

I stared at my zanpakuto. Her handguard wasn't as shiny as it had been lately, but still the metal caught the light and gleamed. I slowly rolled over and started to reach out to her, but I hesitated. She felt… sad.

Toshiro pressed into my back, the heat of him making me relax as he whispered into my ear, "She is you. Don't be afraid to speak to her."

"I'm not… afraid. I don't know what to say," I admitted.

"Then don't say anything at all," he whispered. He pulled away from my back and I turned to watch him as he got up, pulling the comforter over the spot he had left barren. His gaze was all for me as he headed for the door to his room. "Rest. When you are ready, we will leave for the Human World."

I watched him as he slid open the door and vanished through it. Slowly I turned back to my zanpakuto, my gaze resting on her for a long moment. Letting out a resigned sigh I picked her up and pulled her to my body. Lying back down, I held her to my chest and curled my body around her, nuzzling her hand guard with my cheek. It was like she relaxed in my arms even though she was just a sword and sheath. Without words, we shared our regrets and apologizes. We had both made mistakes… The weariness that Toshiro's touch had chased away seemed to sweep over me and I felt myself drift to sleep with my zanpakuto cradled in my arms.

…

The next time I awoke I was alone with my zanpakuto still clutched to my chest. A fresh shihakusho was folded next to the bed with my kanzashi and hair ribbon laid on top of it, so I made quick work of getting dressed. Toshiro was spoiling me too much. If he kept taking care of me like this, I'd never be able to go back to the way it was before. But, that wasn't such a bad thought… I blushed as the phantom feeling of his hand caressing my thigh came to mind and quickly shook my head in a futile attempt to get the sensory memory to go away. When we saved my sister, she was so going to be able to tell we had done 'something'. She would just ask me a simple question like, 'What happened while I was gone?' and I'd totally blow it…

Emerging from Toshiro's bedroom I glanced around the empty living room that greeted me. His spiritual pressure was still mingling with mine, but despite that I could still feel him and several other people nearby. Wandering through his house I came to the front door which had been left partially open. Poking my head through the opening I spotted a small gathering of people a few feet away from the porch. They were chit chatting amongst themselves, so I made quiet work of passing through the door and walking up to join them.

Toshiro was the first to notice me, turning to face me as I came up to him. He didn't even try put on a professional appearance as his hand found my waist. It surprised me, but I let him guide me to stand at his side. His gaze searched my face for a moment before he said, "Your color is back."

"I am pretty pale skinned normally. I don't know how much color I can actually lose," I said jokingly.

"Apparently, a lot," Rangiku said as she snagged my hand and pulled me away from Toshiro so she could hug me. "You had us worried."

"I'm sorry," I said as I hugged her back. "I wasn't thinking clearly."

"No, you weren't," Rukia said with a humph. "The next time you decide to do something stupid like that say something so I can knock some sense into you before you do it."

I laughed lightly as I turned to her. Her violet gaze was steadily focused on me, intense and irritated. I quickly looked away, not wanting to try and hold her gaze. I looked around at the rest of the small gathering of people and couldn't keep the surprise from my face. Lieutenant Abarai, Lieutenant Madarame, Captain Sui Feng and Squad 11's 3rd seat Ayasegawa were all standing in the group. I quickly gained a proper posture as I pulled out of Rangiku's hug.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted something," I quickly apologized.

"We were waiting on you silly," Rangiku said cheerfully.

"W-Why?"

"Because, we're all going to the Human World. Karakura Town is Squad 13's jurisdiction after all," Rukia said as she patted my shoulder and started walking away. I watched her back as Renji joined her, waving over his shoulder as he caught up to his wife. I turned back to the remaining crowd, the look on my face clearly wondering about the rest of them.

Captain Sui Feng started after Rukia and Renji, saying, "Takeshi Nakai is part of the Stealth Force. It's only right that I go knock some sense into him."

"You just want to go see Yoruichi," Rangiku teased as she followed her.

"I do not! This is purely business," Captain Sui Feng defended.

"And we are bored," Lieutenant Madarame said as he and Ayasegawa followed them.

"Life in the Soul Society is too peaceful lately," Ayasegawa said with a sigh.

"It's damn boring is what it is!" Madarame corrected him. "There's nothing to fight, nothing to kill. It's so lame!"

I smiled as I watched them walk away. "I didn't expect there to be a team of people going," I said quietly to Toshiro who was still standing beside me.

"Some of them have their own motivations," he said as his hand slipped into mine. "But most of them are going for you."

"Whatever their motivations are, it makes me happy. I trust you, but you're only one person. You can't be everywhere at the same time."

"It's not just us that you see here," he said as he pulled me along with him as he followed everyone else. "We have friends in Karakura Town. Friends who understand just how important family is."