“Good morning, girls!” Kon yelled, sprinting into our room giddily. I groaned quietly. Who the hell needed all this commotion this freaking early?

Kon lunged and landed directly on Babs’ chest. “Aah, nee-san…” he sighed, “you’re so soft….”

Babs awoke slowly and noticed the plushie on her. As if it was a natural thing, she picked him up and threw him out the window without a word. As if nothing had happened, she proceeded to the bathroom groggily.

I sighed. She was such a stick-in-the-mud in the morning. I woke Tara up and began to get ready for the day. School was gonna be interesting, considering what had happened the previous day, what with everyone gaining their powers. 

I got dressed, brushed through my horsetail of a mane, polished my teeth, and was out the door with my friends in twenty minutes. We walked together to school today because Ichigo was paranoid about more Hollows showing up and didn’t want to leave us alone. 

“Aww,” I said, “Ichi-nii wants to protect his little girlfriend!”

Ichigo and Tara’s heads snapped towards me, both their faces turning bright as a Christmas light. 

“N-no!” Ichigo said. “That…that’s not it!”

“Yeah!” Tara finished. “He wants to protect everyone! That’s the kind of person he is!”

I grinned. “Whatever. Either way, you guys are so cute.”

They seemed to ignore me, their only response being the joining of their hands as they walked. 

“Jeez,” Babs whispered to me. “Don ‘cha think we get enough of this?”

“Babs!” I chastised. “They’re in love. Or maybe in lust, but whatever. They’re happy, and that’s all that matters. You don’t wanna be around the kawaii-moe flowers, buzz off.”

She gave me an angry growl but conceded with my argument. 

We made it to the school and parted ways to our respective classrooms. Besides Uryu’s lame excuse for why his arms were covered in medical tape, the day unexpectedly progressed as it normally would. Today Uryu ate lunch with us, which was extremely unexpected. It began quite awkwardly but he soon melded in with our crowd. 

As the final bell rung I sighed, streching in my chair. It’d been a long past couple of days and I was happy to get home and sleep; a nap sounded like Heaven on Earth to me right now. I slowly groggled home, ignoring my friend’s idle, giddy chatter. Going inside, I made a beeline for the bedroom and passed out. I was happy to get a full, 14-hour sleep.

Unfortunately, I was known for never getting what I wanted. 

********************************************************************************* 

“Guys! Guys! Open up, come on!!” 

I woke up quietly, rubbing my eyes in an attempt to further wake. What the hell…?

Tara awoke and went to the door. “What is it?” she half-said, half-yawned. “It’s three in the morning!”

“It’s Rukia!” Kurosaki said from the other side of the door. “She’s gone and left a note!”

“Okay…?” I said, “isn’t it good that she left a note? Better than her just disappearing.”

Ichigo sighed. “You don’t understand! Come in my room, you guys gotta see this!”

Tara and I got up and made our way next door, where a piece of paper with awful doodlings on it was shoved in our faces. Yup, that was Rukia, alright. We skimmed the paper quickly, figuring out the adolescent code and reading the true message:

I’ve gone away. I won’t return. Don’t look for me, and don’t worry about me. Stay low for a month or so, and burn this letter after you read it. Live a normal life and forget about Shinigami. If you want, send Kon to Urahara Shoten. Be happy, Ichigo, Tara, Adel…all of you. Goodbye.

~Rukia Kuchiki

“She’s run away!” Tara said. “But…why? Why now? And why can’t we look for her?”

“I don’t know!” Kon cried. “But I want my nee-san back!!!” 

“Okay, guys,” I said. “This is really serious. Rukia’s about to be captured.”

“How do you know that?” Ichigo looked doubtfully.

I growled. “That’s irrelevant. Now seriously, we need to get out there. Try not to fight, her captors are two million times stronger than us, and yes, Ichigo, that includes you.” He glared at me but I ignored it. “Although, rethinking it, a fight may be the only hope. Just…don’t rush into anything, okay, guys? Okay, let’s go!”

Tara and I ran to our room and changed into tees and jeans while Urahara made an “unexpected” appearance and transformed Ichigo into a Soul Reaper. We met outside the house in five minutes. 

We quickly ran down the street, almost as if Hell Itself was chasing us. But when we finally found Rukia on the edge of town, I felt my knees go weak.

There lie Uryu, bloody and mangled on the ground. He was alive, but only hanging on by a thread. I saw his opponent and my eyes widened. 

There, holding up his sword in victory, was the Sixth Company’s vice captain, Renji Abarai.

“Reflect upon your foolishness and die,” Renji said to Ishida while he raised his sword, preparing to attack, “The name’s Renji Abarai, the one who killed you. Nice to meecha!” He started to swing down and I lunged. 

“No!” I cried, throwing myself on top of my friend. Thankfully Renji was paying attention and stopped and inch before impaling my back.

“Wha?” he said in confusion. “What the hell is this? Who are you, girl?”

“Stay away from Uryu, you bastard!” I shouted, ignoring his questions. “I know all about you and your damn Captain Byakuya! So go away! You know you didn’t want this assignment, Renji!”

The Shinigami’s face paled. “What the--how do you know about us? About the captain? Just what are--” he was interrupted by the introduction of Ichigo’s spiritual pressure, making him pale more and almost sink to the ground. 

Ichigo came on to the scene, planting himself in front of Ishida and I. “Ichigo Kurosaki,” he introduced, “I’m the guy that’s gonna kick your ass. Nice to meecha.”

I took this as an opportunity to shelter my friend and motioned to Tara, still on the sidelines. “Tara!” I shouted. “Come help me!”

She was paralyzed for a moment but rushed to me and helped me pull Ishida out of the action. “We’ve got to help him somehow!” she said. 

“Yeah…” I said. “Here! Take off his shirt!”

Her face flushed pink. “What?! Why would we do that?!”

“Tch,” I said, grinning at her innocence. “We can tear the cloth to use as bandages, stupid! In this state he needs anything he can get!”

She looked at me wearily for a moment but nodded. “Okay!” She removed Uryu’s shirt while I supported his upper body. She began to tear them into strips and tend to Ishida while I watched the fight. 

To be perfectly honest, it was one of the most boring fights in Bleach history. So I’ll sum it up for you: slashity, slashity, slash, slash, Ichigo gets cut, Renji gets cut, more slashing, slash, slashity, Renji gets pissed, Byakuya comments (A/N: \(/0//0/)/ ), slashitness, Renji goes into shikai with Zabimaru, slashes Ichi-nii across the back, makes him hurl blood, slash, slash, slash, bye-bye to Ichigo’s shoulder, Rukia stops Renji from killing Orange Juice, Ichigo’s spirit energy increases and he gets up but is fallen again by Senbonzakura (Byakuya’s zanpakuto), slash, slashity, slash, and Byakuya, Renji, and Rukia leave. Oh yeah, then it starts to rain in such a cliché way that I wanted to hurl. 

Since Uryu pretty much good as gold, Tara decided to rush to her boyfriend. “Ichigo!” she cried. “Ichigo?! Come on, babe! Ya gotta get up!! Seriously, you’re going to die like this? In battle? Without even struggling? You and I both know you’re too good for a coward’s death! So you have to survive! Get off your berry ass and hug me, you idiot! Just like always! Just like always!!!” By this time she was hysterical, her makeup running from the rain mixed with her tears and dripping down her face. 

I woke Uryu and sent him on his way before rushing to my friend’s side. “Tara,” I said, “come on. You gotta snap outta this; everything’s gonna be--”

“But you don’t know that, Adel!” she yelled, streams of tears sparkling her face.

I smiled and pulled her in for a comforting hug. “But I do,” I said. “Remember all those times in Bourne’s class, when we’d sit in the back and you’d listen to me complain about how Ichigo Kurosaki never died, no matter to what limits he was pushed? Tara, hun, this is only the beginning. Strawberry-kun’s got a long way to go before he kicks the bucket.”

She sniffled and wiped her nose. “Yeah,” she said a bit more clearly, obviously not choked on tears anymore. “I guess you’re right. But look how he’s bleeding! Where can we get him help?”

A smooth, flirtatious voice interrupted us. “I believe that’s where I come in, ladies.”

__________

So, BYA-KUN'S HERE!!!!!!!!!! Whoop so excited!

So...as of 1/29/12, I'm REALLY close to 10K reads? I hate to be a read whore, but if you could help me get to it...please? It'd be really great....jus' sayin.. :)

Thanks!

-Maycee-chan~