It was another busy morning in Karakura Town. Working people were leaving their homes after greeting their loved ones farewell and rushing to their workplace. Children soon followed, wearing their school uniforms and carrying their schoolbags as they began walking or cycling to their schools. Some of their parents, who weren't keen on letting their children walking on the streets, dropped them off at the school gate before going off to continue their day. Stray animals were leaving their homes and began looking for food to feed their younglings. It was another day for a new beginning for everyone.

Somewhere hidden in one of the dark alleys, a portal suddenly opened. Despite the agonising screams coming out from it, they were inaudible to everyone who were walking pass the alley. At that moment, a pair of fair-skinned feet stepped out from the portal, and the person exited in time for it to close behind them. There stood a curvaceous woman with silky, long black hair, and the light reflected in her brown eyes made them seem to sparkle, as she looked around with wonder and curiosity.

'So this it - the Human World grandfather told me about.' she thought before confusion set in. 'But where am I in this world? I can't go back to Soul Society right now. My reiatsu is almost drained from that mission. I have to find a place to stay to rest. But where?'

"Well, well." came a familiar voice, along with a pair of clogs clanking on the ground with each step the person took. "Who do we have here?"

She turned to the source and her eyes widened with surprise, followed by a smile flickering across her face. "Urahara-san!" she greeted. "It has been a while!"

Urahara was a tall, lean-built man with light skin and grey eyes. His light blond hair was messy and had some strands framing the sides of the face, hanging between his eyes. He also had some chin stubble. Instead of his Shihakusho and white captain's haori, he wore a dark coat, which sport a white diamond pattern along its bottom half, a dark green shirt and pants underneath. His outfit was completed with a pair of traditional Japanese wooden sandals and a striped dark green and white bucket hat that shadowed his eyes.

The said man grinned at her. "My, my!" he said while eying the woman. "You've grown a lot, Asa-chan! A fine one, I might say!" She blushed at the comment, making his grin grow wider before he let out a cough. "Anyway, what brings you here? I thought you'd go back to Soul Society after twenty years in Hell?"

"I'd just completed the mission right before opening the portal." she began with a small smile. "But the last lost soul was giving me quite a battle. My reiatsu right now is drained, and I need a place to rest before I go back."

"I see." he hummed before a thought went through his mind. "If that's the case, you can rest at my shop!"

Asa looked at him, blinking owlishly. "Your shop?" she repeated with confusion. "I didn't know you have one."

"But now you do." he responded. Urahara went up to her and slung an arm around her shoulders. "Come! While we walk, let's talk about what happened while you were gone." Although he seemed chirpy and jovial, Asa took note of the tone in his voice at the end of the sentence, which she gave her the impression that things had indeed changed since she was gone. As soon as she nodded, she used Flash Step to get to his shop as he led her towards there.

"So what happened?" she asked as they jumped from roof to roof of homes and shops. "We can save the older events for later, if there's an urgent matter at hand right now."

"Well, you see, Kuchiki Rukia had given a human her Shinigami powers." he began briefly. "But this is against the rules, so she was brought back to Soul Society. This human, Kurosaki Ichigo decided to go and rescue her."

She nodded understandingly while muttering, "I see."

Urahara glanced at her from the corner of his eyes and said, "Asa-chan, if you don't mind, could you follow Kurosaki and his friends to Soul Society? Because I..." He trailed off the last sentence, reluctant to continue it.

But the said woman knew what he meant, for that was more than enough. She gave him an assuring smile and said, "Anything for my senpai." He returned the smile before looking ahead as they continued to make their way to his shop.

"Oh, and one more thing." he suddenly added.

"What is it?" asked Asa with a raised brow.

A wide grin flickered across Urahara's face, and he said, "You should wear something like this every day. It actually suits you."

Asa blinked at him with confusion, clearly not understanding what he said. When she looked at herself, she blushed furiously. The clothes she was wearing were quite revealing; a white tube top and shorts with shredded hems. "I-It's not like I have a choice on clothes! " she defended with embarrassment. "M-My Shihakusho was ruined while battling with those lost souls!"

"Yeah, right." he sang in a teasing manner. "But you know, I kinda like it when you're in that."

Asa's face flushed bright red before shouting, "Urahara-san!

During her one week stay at the Uruhara Shop, Asa met some new friends. One of them was Jinta, a small boy with red hair and sharp eyes with small irises. He often wore a white t-shirt with the Urahara Shop logo printed on the front, and a pair of blue pants with the bottoms folded up to his knees. Although she had spent a short time at the shop, Jinta was really fond of the woman. She never nagged him and would advise him on many things, even though he slacked off during working hours and bullied one of the employees. Surprisingly, it motivated him to work harder, on top of her giving him his favourite food whenever he got the job done. He had a very vague to no memory of his own mother, but Asa was able to fill that role, and he didn't regret one bit of it.

Another one who was fond of her was a girl named Ururu. She had a perpetual blush on her cheeks, and wore a white t-shirt with the Urahara Shop logo in pink print and a pink knee-length skirt with white dots. She had round purple eyes, and long black hair with a purple tint. Her hair was tied into pigtails with pink hairbands, while the front was parted down the middle with two strands of her bangs in the middle of her face, opposing each other. When she mistakenly sold poor quality merchandise to a customer, she became upset and cried, which caught Asa's attention. The poor girl frantically apologising for her error, but all the latter did was kneel down to her level and wiped away her tears with her thumb, softly assuring her that it was a mistake that could be easily solved by exchanging the merchandise with the customer. From that day, Ururu saw her as an idol, not just because of her beauty, it was also because of her calmness and intelligence. She hoped that one day, she was able to be as mature as the woman, and could deal with her problems easily without crying much.

Tessai was a tall, muscular, lightly tanned man. His hair was cornrowed, and he had a large handlebar mustache, which was connected to his long sideburns. He wore a pair of rectangular-framed glasses that often hid his eyes. His attire consisted of a white muscle shirt with regular pants and a blue apron. He was someone that she knew when she was still in Soul Society, even to the extent where she met him when he was the captain of the Kido Corps. When she came into the shop, he was so delighted to see her that he shed tears of joy, bombarding her with questions on how her millennium-long mission. Almost every morning, the two of them, with Uruhara occasionally joining them before going off to train the boy name Ichigo, would char over hot tea specially brewed by Asa, and it was the most delicious tea Tessai had ever tasted.

One night, Ichigo, a fairly tall, lean-built young man with peach skin, spiky orange hair and brown eyes, left his home after receiving an amulet from his father while thinking about the events that happened until now. By the time his thoughts ended, he had arrived at the Urahara Shop. "Oh, Kurosaki-san." greeted Urahara. "You're right on time. Good, good."

"Chad?!" said the surprised boy as his gaze landed on the other person that was waiting for him as well. "Why're you here?"

Yasutora Sado, who was often called Chad by his friend, was a dark-skinned, muscular and tall man with pronounced cheek-bones and wavy brown hair with bangs that hung over his brown eyes. His sleeveless shirt allowed his tattoo to be seen. The tattoo, which read "Amore e Morte", was on his left shoulder, and consists of a heart with a snake and angel wings around it. "Kuchiki Rukia... saved me once." he replied. "I'm going too."

"Huh?" responded the confused Ichigo. "Wait, what?!"

"What?" asked a voice from behind. "They didn't tell you?"

Ichigo turned around and became more surprised. "Ishida?!"

Uryu Ishida was a bespectacled fair-skinned teenager of average height and slender build. He had straight, chin-length black hair framing both sides of his face, and blue eyes. He was donned in a white Quincy outfit, with blue stripes representing the Quincy cross, and a mantle. "I can't let it end with me losing to those Shinigami." he said. "I'll go too."

"Now we're all here." said a female voice.

The orange haired boy turned to the source and was even more surprised. "Inoue?!"

Inoue Orihime, a slender yet curvaceous teenager of average height, had brown eyes and long orange hair cascading to her waist. She wore her hair in bangs tucked behind her ears with hairpins in memory of her brother. She bowed to him, smiling. "Pleased to be working with you."

"Huh?" stammered Ichigo when he realised that his friends were all ready to go with him to save Rukia. "Wai... hold on, wha-wha-what?! What is all this?!"

"He's pretty slow, isn't he?" pointed out a black cat.

"Yoruichi-san!" greeted Orihime.

"Boy!" called Yoruichi. "You can't say you haven't noticed the bubbling of power within these individuals. While you were training to regain your Shinigami powers, they were each training on their own, as well. Stop with the questions and bow your head to thank them."

Ichigo stared at the cat with wide eyes. "A..." he trailed off before screaming, "A CAT TALKED!"

"It's not a cat, it's Yoruichi-san." corrected Orhime while carrying the cat.

"I guess it is surprising." said Uryu.

"This was their first meeting..." trailed off Sado.

"Okay, okay, enough of that!" said Urahara, clapping his hands to get their attention, which did. "It's not good to stand around talking outside, so let's just go inside first." The team walked inside the shop.

"Inoue." The said girl stopped and turned to look at Ichigo.

"What?" she responded.

"How much have you heard?" he asked. "I mean... it's pretty dangerous."

She diverted her gaze to the side, avoiding looking into his eyes, and smiled. "I promised Tatsuki-chan that I'd follow you. And... that I'd come home no matter what." His eyes widened as she ran inside the shop. Without saying a word, he went inside as well.

Under the shop, as if they had entered a completely different world, the team stood in front of a tall pillar. "W-Wow!" exclaimed Orihime with awe. "Such a huge space under the store, it's so cool! It's like a secret base!"

"Really?" asked Ichigo, who was clearly not interested.

Tessai held the girl's hand and shed tears of joy. "What a magnificent reaction." he said. "I, Tessai, am deeply moved!"

She giggled sheepishly. "It was nothing." Sweat drops formed on the back of Ichigo's head as he watched the scene.

"Okay, okay, your attention once again." called Urahara while clapping his hands. "Now, here we go." As soon as he snapped his fingers, a giant square-frame stone appeared. "Alright, this is the gate that leads to Soul Society. It's called the Senkaimon, and it means "realm-penetration". Ready? Please listen very closely. But first..." He hit Ichigo his staff to detach his soul from his body, much to his friends' amazement.

"Damn it, tell me when you're gonna do that!" yelled Ichigo in his Shinigami form while the others looked at his soulless body. Urahara merely chuckled.

"Hey, hey, so there's no more Kurosaki-kun in this Kurosaki-kun?" asked Orihime, amazed like Uryu and Sado.

"Of course not!" said the said boy. "Don't talk about me like some jar of candy!"

"And secondly, I would like you to meet a special person." added Urahara. Everyone's attention was on him as he glanced at the giant boulder that was near him. "You may come out now."

A female Shinigami came out from the boulder and walked towards him. Her long hair was tied in a low-ponytail that reached her waist. It was Asa. This time, she wasn't wearing the outfit she had on a week ago. She was dressed in a new set of Shihakusho, but because of her large breasts, her robes were hung loose, revealing some of her bosom, much to her discomfort. She carried her Zanpakuto at the sash of her uniform on the left. It was a normal katana with a dark purple hilt-wrapping, a tsuba shaped like an eye and a black scabbard.

'What a beautiful woman.' thought Orihime with awe. The boys, on the other hand, had blushes on their faces upon seeing this beauty.

"Everyone, meet Yamamoto Asa-chan." introduced Urahara. "She'll be following you all to Soul Society, which is where she lives."

Orihime took a step forward and bowed to her, smiling. "Nice to meet you, Asa-san." she greeted before turning to the blushing boys. "They are Kurosaki Ichigo-kun, Ishida Uryu-kun and Sado Yasutora-kun, but Kurosaki-kun calls him Chad."

"N-Nice to meet y-you." stammered Ichigo and Uryu in unison while Sado nodded stiffly, with his bangs hiding half of his face and not allowing others to see his expression.

Asa giggled with amusement when she noticed their reaction, making their blushes rise. "Nice to meet all of you, too." she said before turning to the cat. "It's been a while, Yoruichi-san."

The cat smirked, nodding. "Same here, Asa-chan." it said.

"Anyway!" called Urahara, getting everyone's attention. "This gate is made by piling spirit exchangers atop the normal Senkaimon."

"Spirit exchangers?" repeated Ichigo, confused.

"That's right." said Uruhara. "As you know, Soul Society is a world of souls. Entering it is impossible unless you're in soul form. However, the only ones of you who can move around in soul form are Shinigami Kurosaki-san and Asa-chan. So we use an exchanger to turn you into spirits and send you there."

"Basically, even without pulling out our souls, if we go through this gate..." trailed off Uryu.

"That's right." said Uruhara. "You can enter Soul Society in your current state."

"Alright, we got it." said Ichigo impatiently as he stepped forward. "Now, let's get sta-"

"However..." Urahara jabbed him at the side with his staff, cutting him off and stopping him. Ichigo stood at the side with his hand on the boulder for support while the other subbed the area Uruhara jabbed him in. Orihime watched with a sweat drop on the back of her head. "The amount of time we can open this gate and stay connected to Soul Society is at most four minutes."

Except for Asa and Yoruichi, who were aware of this fact from the start, the rest gasped. "Can we even make it in that time?!" asked Ichigo.

"Normally it's impossible." was Uruhara's reply.

"Huh?!" came Ichigo's

"This is an unreasonable endeavor to begin with... the most we can stretch it is four minutes." said Uruhara seriously. "If you can't reach the other side in that time, you kids will be permanently imprisoned in the space between Soul Society and the Human World."

Orihime softly gasped. "What should we do?" she asked.

"Go forward." replied Asa determinedly, making her and the boys look at her. "Your heart and soul are connected. The most important thins is the state of your heart. The will to move forward."

"Asa-chan and I will be your guide." added Yoruichi. "Move forward, that and that alone. Only those who can do that will come with us."

It was silent among the group before Ichigo took a step forward and said, "Quite your sleeptalking. That's the reason we gathered here."

"You understand, don't you, boy?" challenged Yoruichi while looking at him from the corner of its eyes. "If you lose, you'll never be able to return here."

"All I have to do is win, right?" clarified the boy.

Yoruichi stared at him for a few seconds before saying, "Exactly."

Just then, lights appeared in the gate. "Everyone ready?" asked Urahara. "Please jump in simultaneously as it opens."

"Yeah!" responded Ichigo.

"Here it goes!" shouted Asa as they all jumped into the gate. 'I'm coming home.' was her thought as a small smile appeared on her face.