Ichigo's Point of View

I was staring out the window, lost in thought. This morning, the Soul Society told Rukia to return immediately. They didn't explain why. I told my friends this, and Evie said that Renji got the same message at the same time as Rukia. There seemed to be nothing of importance about it, but still, it was a little weird and sudden.

I jumped a little when my combat pass went off. I was too lost in thought. I looked outside and saw the hollow. I was about to get up when a soul reaper with familiar white hair killed it. "That was quick," I mumbled to myself. Toshiro turned around and looked at me. The message in his face was clear. He wanted to talk to someone. He looked at a few seats behind me and watched Evie. She was watching him back.

• • •

Me and Evie were walking home after a failed mission of spying on Yajimaru. Everyone else was too busy to help us.

We were both thinking about Toshiro.

"Who was that soul reaper?" Evie asked. "He seemed to know you."

"That was Toshiro Hitsugaya, the Captain of Squad 10," I explained. "I wonder why he's here..."

"I'm here because I have a few questions," answered the soul reaper. We turned around and saw Toshiro walking towards us in soul reaper form. His turquoise scarf swayed gently in the wind.

"Hey Toshiro," I said.

An anime vein popped on his forehead. "It's Captain Hitsugaya." He calmed down and turned to Evie. "Are you the Hollow Hunter that Lieutenants Kuchiki and Abarai met?"

She nodded. "That's me. I'm Evie Ressello."

"I came to ask you about the half-being, Yajimaru. Do you know if he went anywhere last night?" he asked.

Evie shook her head. "Not that I know of. We've been wanting to spy on him, but we couldn't because we don't know where he lives and he can teleport so it would be too easy for us to lose him."

"Why?" I asked. "What happened?"

"This morning Captains Kuchiki and Ukitake, for some reason, ordered Lieutenants Kuchiki and Abarai to return to the Soul Society. When questioned about their actions, they claimed that a feeling came to them that they needed to. When trying to remember what happened last night, both Captains fell over in pain." Mine and Evie's eyes widened in shock. "Captain Unohana checked on the two and claims there is some sort of mind block. We just need to know if half-beings have the ability to change memories."

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea. I don't know very many abilities that half-beings possess. The only ones that I know of are teleportation, shape shifting, and Alchemy." Evie explained.

Toshiro turned to me. "Do you know anything?"

I shook my head. "I didn't even know about half-beings until a month ago. The best place to get answers would probably be Yajimaru."

"Do you know where he is now?"

We both shook our heads. Then I said, "We tried following him after school, but he disappeared. For all we know, he's on the other side of the world."

Toshiro nodded. "Alright. Thank you for your help. I'm going to see if I can find Yajimaru myself then." He turned around.

A thought came to my mind. "Hey, Toshiro, is Rukia and Renji going to come back soon?"

He turned around and faced us with a confused look on his face. "The lieutenants were supposed to be here by now. I don't know what's keeping them." Then he flash stepped away, leaving me and Evie to be even more confused.

We started to walk away, with no clear destination in mind.

I looked at Evie through the corner of my eye. She had a thoughtful look on her face. "Do you think it was Yajimaru that attacked the Captains last night?" I asked her.

She looked up, a little startled. Then she shrugged. "I don't know. I was telling the truth when I said I don't know very many of the half-beings abilities. I don't even know if he has the ability to enter the Soul Society. Last time I checked, he isn't a spirit." We walked a few more minutes. "Hey, Ichigo, have you ever been to the Soul Society?"

I nodded. "A couple of times. Why?"

"I'm just curious."

"Have you ever been there?"

She shook her head. "I never had the chance to."

We walked in silence. In no time, we found ourselves in a park. Strangely enough, this was the same park that we found Evie with her arms broken and her suit disappearing in the air.

I looked at her again. She had a look of disgust on her face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She sighed. "I'm disgusted with myself for failing so miserably against that hollow."

"Don't feel bad, Evie," a familiar voice said from behind us. We whipped our heads behind us and saw Yajimaru walking towards us, already holding a sword. "I purposely sent that specific hollow after you just so you two could meet." The way he worded that reminded me a bit too much of Aizen, and the fact that he sent Rukia to meet me.

"What are you doing here, Yajimaru?" Evie was glaring at him. She was changing into her suit. I pulled out my combat pass and left my body.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here for you." He lunged at us. We both moved out of the way in time.

Evie brought out her Reishi sword and I grabbed my Zanpakuto.

"It's two against one, Yajimaru. You don't stand a chance," Evie said.

"You think I would lead you here without being prepared first? If that's what you think, then your sadly mistaken."

Suddenly the ground reached up and grabbed my legs, preventing my from moving. "Hey!" I shouted. "That's not fair!"

"Ichigo!" Evie yelled. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" I started chopping at the ground. Small pieces were flying, but I was getting somewhere.

Evie charged at Yajimaru, and they clashed swords. I was vaguely paying attention to the fight.

When I finally got free, I saw that Evie and Yajimaru were both panting.

I flash stepped next to Evie. "Are you alright?" I asked.

She nodded. "I'm fine."

We were watching Yajimaru, waiting to see what his next move was going to be.

"How did you know we were going to be here?" I demanded. Me and Evie didn't even plan on coming here.

"I led you here," Yajimaru said simply. Our eyes widened in shock. That didn't make sense.

"Stop saying nonsense," Evie shouted, clearly angry.

"I'm not. I was letting out just enough spirit energy for you to track me here. Don't tell me that you weren't paying attention to my increase of spiritual pressure." We growled slightly because that was exactly what was going on.

"Ichigo," Evie whispered. "Flash step behind Yajimaru. I'll distract him with zaiphon and then you attack him."

"'Zaiphon'?" I asked.

"I'll explain later. Just get behind him."

"Stop whispering over there," Yajimaru yelled, an anime vein very clearly there. "I'm going to win. There's nothing you can do about it."

I flash stepped behind the half-being. Yajimaru turned around and faced me. I saw an orb form in Evie's hand. It was red. I could feel it's power from where I was standing. It might sound crazy, but the feeling emitting off the orb felt like hatred, and anger.

Evie jumped in the air and was about to use her zaiphon to attack when Yajimaru turned around and placed his hand in front of Evie's face. She froze while still in the air. "Sleep," Yajimaru commanded in a hypnotic voice. Evie collapsed to the ground and her Hollow Hunter suit began to fade away.

Yajimaru, once again, faced me. I flash stepped behind him, but he followed me. "You bastard, what did you do to her?"

Instead of answering me, Yajimaru charged at me again, but this time, his hands were in the same position as they were when he told Evie to sleep.

I started gathering my spirit energy around my zanpakuto and shouted, "Getsuga tenshou!" Yajimaru was hit by it head on and he flew backwards several feet.

He stood panting worse than he was before and looked pretty beat up.

I glanced behind me and saw Evie was still asleep and completely out of her Hollow Hunter suit.

I turned back to Yajimaru. "Answer my question. What did you do to her?"

Yajimaru wiped the blood that was falling down his face into his eye. "She's alright and alive," he answered calmly.

I growled. "Then wake her up."

He glared at me and held his sword with both hands. "Not until I get what I want."

We charged at each other. If I wasn't in soul reaper form, I was sure that people would've been able to hear the sounds of clashing swords on the other side of town.

"What exactly is it that you want?" I demanded.

"That doesn't matter to you," he grunted. Our swords were being used to push each other.

"Of course it matters. Evie's my friend."

We jumped away from each other. Suddenly, we heard a familiar voice, "Reign over the frosted heavens, Hyouinmaru!" A dragon made of ice headed straight for Yajimaru. He moved to the left. Toshiro landed on the right of him. Yajimaru was surrounded.

"Is she alright?" Toshiro asked me.

"She's alive but I don't know when she'll wake up," I answered. I gestured to Yajimaru. "He did something to her."

Toshiro turned to the half-being. "Was it you that entered the Soul Society last night and commanded Captains Ukitake and Kuchiki to tell Lieutenants Kuchiki and Abarai to return?"

Yajimaru smiled smugly. "Maybe."

Before we could say anything else, Yajimaru disappeared, his sword with him. I turned around and looked at Evie. She was still there and alright.

I walked over to Evie and shook her shoulder. "Hey, Evie, wake up." She didn't even stir.

Toshiro walked over to us. "Is she waking up?"

I shook my head. "It doesn't look like she will anytime soon. I think we should take her to Kisuke's. Just let me get my body." I got up and walked to my body and went back into it. Then I went back to Evie and picked her up in my arms. Me and Toshiro started to walk to Kisuke's shop.

On the way there, Toshiro asked, "What happened to Evie?"

I wasn't really sure, so I just explained the entire fight from the beginning.

"Hmmm, I wonder if what Yajimaru did to Evie is what he used to make the Captains send the Lieutenants back to the Soul Society," Toshiro mumbled more to himself than to me.

"Are you going to return to the Soul Society and report to the Head Captain?"

"I will after asking Evie what it was like with that mind-control that he did."

We quickly got to Urahara's Shop. Toshiro opened the door and we walked in. Kisuke came out from behind a door and greeted us. "Hello," he said from behind his fan. Then he noticed Evie. "Is she alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah, she's fine. I'll explain everything but let me put her down somewhere."

"Alright, I'll show you to her room." I followed Kisuke to Evie's room. "Do you think we should ask Orhime to come here?" he asked.

"If she doesn't wake up soon, then we'll ask Orhime if she can help." We walked into Kisuke's living room area and me and Toshiro started to explain everything.

Evie's Point of View

I was swimming through darkness. Okay, so maybe swimming isn't the right word to describe the feeling. I wasn't exactly flying, either though. I was just... floating around in the darkness. I didn't know how long I was in here.

I didn't feel scared. I didn't feel any need to. All I knew was that I was supposed to sleep. Then a thought occurred to me. Why was I supposed to be sleeping? I stopped moving and remembered. Yajimaru told me to. Why did I listen?

Suddenly, I bumped into something. I turned around and saw two me's! They looked exactly like me, but instead of my usual dark brown hair, purple eyes and school uniform I was still wearing, the one on the left had blue hair, matching blue eyes and was wearing a black kimono. The one on the right had red hair, matching red eyes and a white kimono.

"Master!" They said together. Their voices sounded familiar.

"Rachel?" I asked. "Michelle?"

Rachel nodded and smiled and Michelle crossed her arms, clearly grumpy. "You don't need to say it like that," she mumbled.

I laughed a little. "Sorry, I've never seen you guys in this form. What are you guys doing here? Where is here?"

"When Yajimaru sent you to sleep," Michelle began explaining. "Somehow he sent us to sleep too. You don't have to worry. Ichigo and that other soul reaper was able to get him to leave before Yajimaru could kidnap us. I can sense it."

"As for where here is," Rachel interrupted. "It's a little two dark to tell."

"A little!" Michelle exclaimed. "I can't even see my hand in front of my face!" To prove her point, she did just that.

Before Rachel got the chance to say something else, I asked, "Okay, than how are we going to light up the place so we can see?"

They both shook their heads sadly. "If we knew the answer to that, we would be able to see already," Michelle said.

"Neither of us has ever been through something like this before," Rachel pointed out.

I thought for a second and imagined the place lighting up, and it did just that. All three of our eyes widened in shock at the scene in front of us. We were in a hallway that looked like it belonged in a school or a hospital except that it was too big to be in a real one. The hallway looked like it stretched on for eternity. The floor we were standing on was like the sky. It looked so real, I stumbled for a second because I thought I was going to fall. The ceiling above us looked like the ocean. I thought I even saw something move, but I wasn't 100% sure. I reached up to touch the ceiling and the water rippled as my hand went through. My hand actually felt wet too. When I took it out, it was completely dry. Woah. The walls looked like ordinary walls, a light grey that stretched forever. The only light was coming from the ocean ceiling and the sky floor.

"Where are we?" I mumbled. The place, even the grey walls, I thought looked beautiful.

"I think its your inner world," Rachel said, looking straight at me.

"It's my what?" I exclaimed. "I thought only soul reapers could enter their inner worlds." Even Michelle looked confused.

"I don't know why, but my past vessels were able to enter their inner worlds," Rachel said calmly. Then she turned to Michelle. "I thought you had that ability too."

Michelle shook her head. "I didn't know that was possible."

I was just as confused as both of them. "We should stop trying to figure out why we're here, and focus more on how we're going to get out of here."

They both nodded, actually agreeing.

I turned to Rachel. "You said that your past vessels always had the ability to enter their inner worlds. Can you tell me how they leave?"

She looked off into space for a second. Or, I guess not space but the ocean. Well, you know what I mean! "I remember that they close their eyes, concentrate and then their gone."

I nodded. "Alright." I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate, but I wasn't really sure what I was concentrating on.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Orhime looking at me with a relieved look on her face. Then I realized everything had a yellow tinge to it. Two flying things made the yellow thing disappear and they went back together on two snowflake pins Orhime was holding. I realized that was the first time I saw her power.

"Orhime?" I asked. "Where am I...?" I sat up and realized I was in my room in Urahara's Shop. "When did I get here? What happened?"

Orhime suddenly hugged me. "Oh, Evie I'm so glad your alright!" I hugged her back. This was a little unexpected. "Ichigo brought you here yesterday and said you didn't wake up so he asked me to heal you!" She sat down again.

"How long was I asleep?" I asked.

"Well, you were asleep for about a day. You missed school." My eyes widened. That was a bit of a surprise.

"Where is everyone?"

"They're outside the door, waiting for you to wake up!"

I closed my suddenly tired eyes and focused. Orhime was right. Ichigo, Uryu, Chad, Toshiro, Kisuke and another spiritual pressure I didn't recognize was waiting outside the door. I vaguely wondered where Jinta, Ururu and Tessai were.

"Come on!" Orhime grabbed my arm and dragged me up. "Let's tell everyone you're awake!" We walked to the door and she opened it.

Everyone looked up, worry on their faces for a second, quickly replaced with relief.

"Are you alright, Evie?" Uryu asked, readjusting his glasses.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I was studying the owner of the unfamiliar spirit energy. It belonged to a women with purple hair and golden eyes. Her eyes reminded me of a cat. Her spirit ribbon was red, at the same time, not. That confused me but I decided not to question her. Yet.

"This is Yoruichi," Kisuke said from behind his fan.

Toshiro got up from where he was leaning on the wall. "What exactly was it like when Yajimaru went into your mind and told you to sleep?"

I thought for a second. "I could feel him there, literally in my mind. I only heard him say sleep, and this huge feeling came over me and I did just that." Then I explained how I was floating in darkness for a while until I met Rachel and Michelle, the darkness disappeared revealing my inner world (everyone was shocked at this) and then I woke up.

"How can you can enter your inner world?" Kisuke asked.

I shrugged. "Apparently, Rachel has that power to send her vessel there."

Toshiro started walking to the door. "I need to report this to the Head Captain immediately." We followed him outside to see him off.

When we stepped out, Toshiro took his zanpakuto out of its sheath. He struck it out like a key and the end disappeared. He tried to turn it but it was stuck. Toshiro furrowed his eyebrows and pulled harder but to no avail.

"What's wrong Toshiro?" Ichigo asked.

"I don't know," he answered. "The Senkaimon won't open."

"Could Yajimaru do this?" Uryu asked. "You said he went into the Soul Society the other night."

"I'm not sure, but we can't rule him out as a possibility." Toshiro pulled out his soul pager and pressed some buttons. "I have nothing from the Soul Society." He continued to press buttons, maybe trying to send a report or something. After a few minutes of this, a buzzing noise came from the phone. "That's strange. The signal is blocked to the Soul Society."

"How is Yajimaru able to do these things?" I murmured to myself.

Toshiro turned to Kisuke. "Can you open a Senkaimon for me?"

Kisuke said, "Follow me."

We walked into his house and he opened some sort of trap door. We all descended the long ladder. When I saw where we were, I was amazed. Who knew there was a desert-like area hidden under Kisuke's shop?

"Don't gap at this place," Ichigo whispered in my ear.

"Why not?" I whispered back.

"Trust me. You don't want to encourage Kisuke." He leaned away from me, leaving me staring at Kisuke questioningly.

"Violà!" Kisuke shouted as a giant gate, the Senkaimon, appeared. The smile on his face told me that he said something similar to that before.

Toshiro walked over to it and placed his hand in it, making sure he could enter it safely. "Thank you Kisuke," he said as stepped through.