"My, my." said Yoruichi as she and Asa flew upwards, while Sado, Orihime and Uryu, and Ichigo and Ganju were thrown into other directions. "Who would've thought I would be stuck with you, Asa-chan?"

"Neither did I." she said with a sheepish smile.

As much as they wished to travel in the air, they eventually had to land somewhere. As they prepare to do so, they saw a few Shinigami, lead by someone whom Asa knew, waiting for them with their Zanpakutou unsheathed. When the orange energy that shrouded the two began to approach them, it suddenly disappeared without leaving a trace, catching them off guard at the suddenness.

"It disappeared!" said a Shinigami.

"Find it!" ordered the leader as he lead them away. While his subordinates were too focused on searching for the Ryoka, the leader glanced over his shoulder at where he last saw them right before they disappeared, and furrowed his brows before diverting his gaze back ahead. 'I don't know what Asa-san is thinking, but I hope she's aware of what she's doing.'

Meanwhile, Yoruichi and Asa were sitting on a nearby roof, watching them leave to find the two of them. "Do you think we should split?" asked the latter with her gaze still fixed on the leaving Shinigami.

"I would end up alone." replied the cat. "But, that may actually be more convenient."

The woman nodded before standing up. "I'll see you and the rest later." she said.

"Be careful, Asa-chan." said Yoruichi before walking away, leaving Asa to use Flash Step to head towards the other direction.

Despite that she was hiding from her own kin, going around Seireitei was like a walk down the memory lane for Asa. Even though twenty years seemed like nothing to a Shinigami, she had missed her home terribly. There were many occasions when she would dream of Soul Society while sleeping during her mission, and sometimes, she wondered if she had made the right choice of leaving home. She was aware that she had to leave her friends and family behind, as well as the warmth of the people in Rukongai who often welcomed her whenever she visited them. But still, she had to, for she thought it was the only way of moving on from the past that kept haunting in her sleep.

At that moment, Asa suddenly stopped in her tracks. Something was not right with the whole situation at hand now. Rukia was charged with the unauthorised lending of reiatsu, the subsequent loss thereof, and the exceeding time limit; there's no doubt that those were serious crimes, but what didn't settle with her was how the matter had been handled. Asa may have been away for two decades, even if things were to have changed during that period, she still found it odd. Too odd to be brushed off as something that had already been decided within the framework of the law.

Again, she picked a hiding spot where no Shinigami was in sight. She looked down at her Zanpakutou and touched the hilt. "Come out and play Onigokko (tag), Tamako (Ghost Child)." As soon as she murmured that line, she opened the pummel, and out came a dark purple miasma that soon manifested into a little being. It took an appearance of a little boy, who was wearing a brown robe bound by a black obi, with pale skin and ivory hair, with the exceptions of black eyes with red pupils, and a prominent stitch mark that extended from his forehead, down to his nose bridge, curved to his cheekbone and ended right next to his ear.

"Asa-nee!" greeted the boy happily. "Are we going to play a game today?"

Crouching down to look at him in the eyes, she smiled at him and replied, "Not really, Tamako-kun. I just need you to go around Seireitei and find out what is happening. Once you're done, I'll give you a snack. Is that okay?"

The said boy nodded, seeming to be content with the deal. "Okay!" he sang before running off to the corridor, where Asa watched him disappear into the shadows.

After some time of using Flash Step to go from roof to roof, she stopped as she was making sure that she didn't use up most of her reiatsu solely on moving around, besides finding a hiding spot before the Shinigami could find her. Leaning against a roof, she spied on the Shinigami and watched them run up and down as they searched for the Ryoka as the alarm continued to blare throughout Seireitei. "Division Two, go to the east quarter!" ordered a Shinigami as those groups began to move to their assigned position. "Division Four, detour to the west quarter! Division Three to the south quarter! Seize the Ryoka on seight!"

"Damn, where the hell'd those Ryoka go?!" cursed a Shinigami as he led a group.

"We're gonna get you wherever you are!" shouted another.

"Damn right!" he retorted. Asa hid herself more as she watched a group of Shinigami run down the corridor. "Hurry up, maggots! Otherwise another group'll find 'em first!"

"How did you guys all suddenly turned into hardasses?" asked the Shinigami behind as the team turned into a corner.

Seconds later, they came back out before turning into a different corner. "...I didn't realize it was a dead end." muttered one of them with embarrassment.

"Geez, you goin' senile or what?!" asked the first Shinigami angrily. "I'll show you a dead end!"

"What?! You were idiots for following me!"

"Say what?! You're the idiot!"

"Quit acting all high-and-mighty, like you're the boss or something!"

"Hold on, calm down!" shouted another, trying to break the heated argument.

'Things really have changed after merely twenty years.' thought Asa before softly heaving a sigh. Once the coast was clear, she came out of her hiding spot and continued moving. While doing so, she suddenly sensed some energy lingering in the air, making her look at where they came from, and furrowed her brows. 'I can feel reiatsu collisions all over the place.' Her thoughts then went to Ichigo and his friends, making her assume that their fights had begun. 'Don't any of you die, no matter what.'

However, she had accidentally let her guard down. When she leaped to the ground, she was immediately surrounded by a large group of Shinigami. 'Judging by the way they look, they seem to be from the 11th Division.' she noted.

"What's wrong?"

"You scared?"

"You can't get away now, you Ryoka!"

"You're one smoking hot babe!"

"C'mon, let's have some fun~"

"Yeah! If we can show off here, we'll get a special reward from you!"

"With this many of us, she won't slip away this time!"

Asa could've easily take them out the moment she unsheathed her sword, but she was too kind. Although she was surrounded. she didn't have the heart to injure them as a form of distraction for her to escape. It was easy, but cruel to her. So instead, she resulted in using what Yoruichi taught her. While counting internally, she shifted her pivot foot in a position that would allow her to carry out the technique. As soon as she counted to three, she charged at the Shinigami and began taking them down using hand-to-hand combat at incredible speed, one that was so fast that none of the Shinigami's eyes could follow. And before they knew it, one by one, they fell to the ground with stinging pain in their pressure points that disabled their movements.

By the time they were on the ground, with some of them unconscious, Asa was gone. She had used Flash Step to move to a different place. Suddenly, a familiar spiritual pressure made her halt in her tracks. She furrowed her brows with uneasiness the moment she recognised it. 'I sense Zaraki-san's reiatsu.' she thought before horrible scenarios began playing inside her mind. 'Is he making his move? Ichigo, please be careful.'

Just then, a familiar giggle rang in the air, and out came Tamako from the shadows before running towards her. "Did you find anything, Tamako-kun?" she asked while rummaging her left sleeve to pull out a candy that was half the size of her fist.

The ghost child took the candy before thanking her. "Yes, I did!" he said proudly, like he had discovered the biggest secret that his Master needed, which was exactly that case. "Kuchiki Rukia's grace period had been reduced from thirty-five days to twenty-five days, and by then, she's to be executed using the Soukyoku." The entire sentence struck a core within Asa, who was starting to feel uneasy about the whole ordeal. She didn't think that Rukia, who was barely a Lieutenant, was going to be executed using a device that was often used on a Captain-level criminal who had done a severe crime.

'Something is definitely not right here.' she thought, alarmed.

"Oh, yeah!" came Tamako suddenly while munching the candy, breaking her chain of thoughts. "3rd Seat Madarame Ikkaku and 5th Seat Ayasegawa Yumichika, both from the 11th Division, as well as the Lieutenant of the 6th Division, Abarai Renji, had been defeated by the Ryoka, as what the Shinigami calls them."

'A Lieutenant, 3rd Seat and 5th Seat have been defeated?' she questioned herself. Although she didn't like the thought of her kin being defeated, it sort of gave her a sense of hope that Ichigo and the others were still alive.

"I see." she said to Tamako, who had just finished the entire candy that she had given. "Thank you, Tamako-kun. You may go back now." As soon as she opened the pummel of her Zanpakutou again, the said boy transformed into a black miasma that went back inside before she closed it.

"That was Tamako, wasn't it?" came a familiar voice from behind her, one that needn't her to turn around to look at the person as she listened to his footsteps come closer. "And earlier, you used Kakurenbo (Hide and Seek); one of Kage Odoriko(Shadow Dancer)'s abilities without having to transform into a Shikai. It may seem like you'd disappeared, but Kage Odoriko was only playing with time and space by extending the time for them to escape. As soon as we blinked, Kage Odoriko turned that one second into the ten seconds that allowed you to escape from our sight."

Asa closed her eyes and smirked at the explanation. "As expected of you, Izuru-kun." she said before finally turning around to face the said man, who had blue eyes and shoulder-length blond hair combed into three points, with two in the back of his head and a third part covering his left eye. He was wearing the standard Shihakushou, and was wearing the 3rd Division's Lieutenant armband on his left arm, which caught her attention. Her smirk then widened into a smile. "I see you've made it this far." She looked back at him sadly and added, "I'm sorry I wasn't there to watch your graduation and promotion like I promised."

Izuru shook his head before giving a small wave to assure her that she had nothing to apologise for. "It's alright." he said with a smile. "After all, you did tell me that you were going on a mission for twenty years before you left." His smile soon faltered, and he looked away before muttering, "And I understood why you made that decision."

Asa, too, had a small frown on her face. She took a few steps forward and placed her hand on his shoulder, making him look at her in the eyes. "You don't have to bear such a burden, Izuru-kun." she said softly. "Michiro's death is something that I have to remember for the rest of my life. Also, I promised your parents that I would look after you. It would be unfair of me to disappear without telling you beforehand." She then removed her hand to brush away the stray hairs that were separated from his front hair, brushing them back in place before cupping his cheeks with it. "And to this day, I intend to hold that promise."

The said man was about to say something, but he hesitated because he wasn't sure how she would accept it. Instead, he just nodded to respond to her. However, he suddenly picked up some energy that were approaching where they were standing, causing him to snap his head at its direction. Once he was certain who were heading towards them, he spun Asa to the other direction and gently pushed her. "Go, now!" he said urgently, trying to keep his voice as low as possible in case the other Shinigami could hear them.

"Izuru-kun." she murmured with surprise She thought he would stop being nostalgic and capture her as ordered by the authorities, but he was encouraging her to escape instead.

"I've known you since I was a boy, Asa-san." he began. "I know you wouldn't join the Ryoka without a reason, and whatever it is, I don't have the right to interfere. After all that you've done for me." The said woman stared at him, still caught off guard by his behaviour. She wasn't sure if he was going to attempt to trick her, but knowing him, she decided to trust him instead.

Just as she was about to leave, Asa turned back to him and warned, "Be careful, Izuru-kun. With things going on right now, there's bound to have internal conflicts." The said man needn't question her, for he believed that she must've seen something ahead of everyone. Once he gave her a nod, assuring her that he would watch his back, she used Flash Step to move away, just in time for another group of Shinigami to reach.

"Kira-fukutaichou." greeted one of them respectfully.

"One of the Ryoka got away when I got here." he reported before walking towards where the Shinigami came from, opposite of where Asa had went off. "Let's go."

"Yes, sir!" responded the Shinigami, who then proceeded to follow him as they began running behind.

While running along the corridors, Izuru glanced over his shoulder at where he last encountered the Ryoka. 'Asa-san.' he thought, looking back ahead as he lead the group further and further from the said woman. 'Don't blame yourself for my parents' death, as well as Sasaki-sama's. He wouldn't have want you to no forgive yourself by grieving over him for so long.' Those were what he wanted to tell the said woman.

By evening, leaning against another roof, Asa peeped at a group of Shinigami talking to each other before running off. She then glanced at the opposite direction and narrowed her eyes. 'That incredible reiatsu a moment ago...' she trailed off, for she knew what was going on when she sensed a familiar one that followed afterwards. 'Ichigo, I hope you're alright.'