"Oh mother of all things holy!" I moaned, falling, instinct kicking in as I flailed in the air.

You're a soul reaper, you idiot, Ikari informed me in the back of my mind.

"Oh right," I breathed out, my voice lost in the wind already.

I halted and righted myself, standing above a small town. It was amazing what the powers of a soul reaper were.

"Ikkaku?" I called out, hoping he didn't see how much of a fool I was.

"Right here," he answered, appearing beside me.

"So where are we?" I asked, looking down at the town beneath my feet.

It spread out in all directions, the town ablaze with lights of all colours, some flashing while others remained solid. The town was framed by a forest on one side and a river running on the other. Feeling light- headed, I looked up and breathed deeply through my nose.

"Karakura Town," he answered, sweeping his own gaze over the town. "Come on, we better make this quick."

"Karakura Town?" I asked him as we dropped down to the ground, landing in the shadows just before a street- lamp on a little cramped alley.

In my mind, a hint of a memory floated by, blurry and too fleeting for me to grab. It was gone in seconds and forgotten, my mind turning to something else. "Doesn't this place already have another soul reaper here?" I asked, peeking around the corner before heading out.

"Yeah, Rukia Kuchiki," he replied.

"Wait, Kuchiki?" I grabbed his shoulder and turned him towards me. "I didn't know Squad 6's captain, Byakuya, had a relation."

The light in the town showed me enough to see the look of disbelief on his face, before it transformed into a 'really?' look. "Where the hell have you been hiding? Under a rock?"

Feeling my face burning up, I brushed past him, ending the conversation. He caught up easily, drawing a device from his pocket. Flipping the top half open, a little screen lit up with blue light and an enveloped flashed on the screen. Ikkaku pressed a button on the pad below the screen and text began to print on the screen.

"The Research Division say that the energy levels of the Hollows have been increasing and they have been able to pinpoint a medium- class Hollow. It's going to appear in the park not far from here," he explained, tapping the nail of his finger against the time in the corner of the screen. "It's going to appear in less than 10 minutes so we better get a move on."

Heading that way, we kept to the shadows, late night humans passing by us when we flitted before stalls. We were invisible to them unless they were beings of high- spiritual pressure. Although, I did have one child staring at me with a slack jaw when I vaulted onto a two-metre-high wall and walked along it like a tightrope.

We reached the park with time to spare, so Ikkaku lazed on a park bench while I went to explore my surroundings. A hand on the hilt of my zanpakuto, I walked past creaking swing sets and steel slides, before coming to the border of a small forest. I found a worn path, curiosity piqued as I looked down it. 

Leaves crunched underfoot as I took an involuntary step in. For some reason, a feeling was building in my chest: longing. The branches shifted in a growing breeze, the smell of crushed pine needles and citrus flooding my sense.

Laughter, light and clear.

Half a face, I couldn't see their eyes; a smiling mouth.

Shaking my head, the wisps of the memories faded quickly and I was left feeling as if I had forgotten something important. Worried that I had used up all my free time, I wandered back over to Ikkaku.

"Anything yet?" I asked, watching as he peered at the device's screen again then shook it.

"Nothing," he growled. "And it's two minutes late."

Air hissed out between my clenched teeth as I drew my zanpakuto and starting drawing with the tip in the ground. I was hoping that this mission would be a 'get-in-get-out' type, but now I was risking discovery back home because we were still stuck here, waiting for Hollow that didn't come on time. For five more minutes, nothing happened; that is, until the screaming began.

Our attention was drawn immediately to a small girl, piggy- tails in disarray, running straight towards us. A chain hung from the middle of her chest, swinging wildly like her arms. She wasn't that far from us now, when she glanced over her shoulder and stumbled.

A roar, then behind her, large imprinted footsteps in the ground. I couldn't see the Hollow, which meant it was still partially between worlds, but the life of that poor soul was in grave danger.

Heedless of Ikkaku calling me back, I rushed forward with zanpakuto in hand. My chest burned but I ignored it as I watched the girl struggling to rise, a hand outstretched to me. I was barely a metre from her before I was knocked to the side, a large cloud of dust rising and grass clumps raining from the sky from where I once stood. A sound like thunder rumbled around the clearing but I couldn't see anything through the dust settling heavily over my view.

"You idiot!" Ikkaku yelled at me, holding me by the waist while I was bent forward, my legs weak underneath me.

Blinking, the dust settled enough for me to see the large paw, long serrated claws embedded in the ground where I had been standing before. Something touched my right arm; blood ran like rivers down my arm from my shoulder. Stunned, I tried to remember when I had been hit but couldn't. I realised then that I owed my arm to Ikkaku, because if he had pulled me out any later, then I would have lost a limb.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Ikkaku yelled angrily, releasing me.

"I was trying to save the girl!" I replied, my eyes glued to the Hollow forming before me.

Large, red eyes filled the sockets of a Hollow mask with a long snout. Sharp teeth jutted from it's oversized jaw, horns curled in spirals around its head and pointing parallel to its jaw. A long, purple forked tongue flicked out to taste the air, ears unfurling from behind its horns, like bat wings, twitching and listening.

It had long arms and a pair of paws like a bear's, both equipped with three serrated claws, all about as long as me. It stood on muscular hind legs, the feet armoured with scales of sorts, short stubby talons for nails. A row of Hollow bone ran like spines down it's back from the base of its heck, before the bone encompassed a long, slender tail.

Standing at five times my height and being just as fat, it seemed to sneer down at Ikkaku and I. One foot was on top of the soul, leaving her top half free to scream and shake in fear.

Growling, I got my feet underneath me and released myself from Ikkaku's hold. I moved forward to help, but Ikkaku made a grab for me again, holding me firmly by my uninjured arm.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"We have to help the soul!" I cried, struggling to break from his grasp.

"It's a trap, Kera! It always was!" Ikkaku shouted over the howling of the Hollow.

The high pitched roar made my eardrums want to burst before it cocked it's head to the side, like a dog, and smiled. Rows of pointed teeth showed as it leant it's head down, one eye on us and the other on the soul. It raised it's foot, the poor soul too immobilised in fear to try and make a run for it.

Dread flooded through me; I knew what the Hollow was going to do. It might have been a trap, but the poor soul was still a soul.

"NO!" I screamed, just as its jaws closed around the soul's head.

My eyes wide, I couldn't seem to get air back into my lungs as the Hollow devoured the soul, before it turned on us, grinning mockingly. Ikkaku inhaled sharply, before I wretched my arm out of his grasp.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I screamed, black spiritual pressure enveloping my sword as I jumped high into the air, before slashing at its head. My spiritual pressure became a tangible form, arcing out in a giant curved line of black light.

One of the Hollow's clawed hands came up to stop me, blocking the attack, before I retreated to a safe distance. I panted, the adrenaline buzzing in my veins, my chest aching from the movement.

Crack.

Part of the claw broke off, falling to the ground and this angered the Hollow greatly. It's whole head swung round to me and it growled. I ran at it again, aiming to incapacitate it by hacking off its legs, but it's tail reached me first, swinging towards me like a whip. I tried to jump, to get out of the way, but it connected with my legs and threw me away.

I hit the ground hard, all air knocked from my lungs, before I scrambled back to my feet. Thankfully, nothing was broken as I patted myself down, only a slight burning in my chest. The Hollow had drawn away from me, its attention on Ikkaku.

Ikkaku fought, aiming for the arms, dodging the claws, until the blasted tail came round for him too. He managed to block it but the force pushed him away and he landed in a crouch on the ground.

Incredibly furious now, I called on my shikai, before bursting through the flame- like spiritual pressure and launching myself into the air again. The clawed hands came, droplets of crimson smeared on the serrated teeth, but I was quicker in this form.

Flash- stepping around them, my main target was it's head but I only managed to land a fleeting blow to the side of the skull before that blasted tail got me again.

But I had done enough. Screaming in agony, the creature clutched at its face, splinters of the mask falling to the ground. Ikkaku, seeing his chance, flash- stepped forward, but the Hollow swung round at that moment and opened it's jaw right in his path.

Panic seized in my throat as the jaw snapped closed around him before the sound of Ikkaku roaring filled the air. Arms quivering, he held open the jaw of the Hollow with his zanpakuto, which was now a spear – his shikai form. The tip was wedged between a set of teeth, Ikkaku holding it tightly, as the Hollow began to screech in pain and shake its head.

"A little help would be nice!" he yelled.

Glancing down at my zanpakuto, I realised it wouldn't be effective; I couldn't get close enough to use it with that tail swinging around all the time. The plan hit me and I quickly sheathed my sword before jumping towards the head of the Hollow.

Time for Kido.

I prayed that this would work instead of destroying Ikkaku. Focusing my Reiryoku into a single point in my body, I felt the beginning of the power in my chest and arms.

"Hado number 31!" I commanded and immense power flowed down through my arms and out of my palms, just as the creature looked towards me.

The explosion was devastating, creating a large shock wave that knocked me from the sky and sent me skidding in the dirt. Coughing and waving away the smoke from my vision, I heard a dull thumb and headed towards it, hoping that it wasn't a dead Ikkaku.

It was Ikkaku, but he wasn't dead. He held himself upright with his zanpakuto planted into the ground, the end half of the wood and plume of feathers burnt and crumbling. He was covered in soot and a little burnt around the edges, but otherwise fine. He threw me a faint smile before standing tall.

"The Hollow disappeared between the worlds after the attack. We should be ready when it comes back."

Standing back to back, we waited for the Hollow to appear. My chest ached horribly as if the pain was branded into my bones, but I dared not bend over to try and relieve the pain. I had to ignore it if we wanted to win.

Faded howls came to us first and we waited in the silence that followed, eyes searching, back to back to the whole time.

"It's here!" I cried as it appeared before me, snarling and foaming red spit drooling from its jaw.

"Split!" Ikkaku shouted, standing beside me as it lunged forward.

I flash- stepped away, my chest burning like someone was trying to pry it open with metal hands, but I had to get an advantage on this creature. Landing against a tree, I used its trunk as a launch pad and flew through the air towards the creature. Ikkaku was distracting the Hollow and it gave me the chance to alight on its head.

It noticed straight away though as I ran to the crown of its head, directly between the horns. Clawed hands came at me, but I cut them away, using the horns as shields when needed. As the creature howled in pain and fury, bucking and shaking its head, I stabbed my zanpakuto straight down into it's skull, before running towards it's snout, dragging my zanpakuto along in a line to create a massive fissure.

By the time I finished, the creature was screaming in complete agony, before it disappeared and I landed on the ground heavily. Panting, I clutched at my chest, fire in my veins and bones. Spots danced in my vision and I struggled to stay upright, before Ikkaku got under my arm.

"That was no medium class Hollow," I wheezed, my zanpakuto slipping from my fingers as I clutched at my chest. Blood pooled in my hand and soaked the front of my uniform and I grimaced. "It was too intelligent and definitely too powerful."

"if I had gone alone, then I would be dead," Ikkaku said, patting my arm and bending down to retrieve my zanpakuto. "Thank god I talked the Head Captain out of sending someone from Squad 6."

A flicker of orange made me pause before my next statement, drawing my attention numbly. I strained to see in the dark around the park, but quickly dismissed it. It wouldn't surprise me if my brain was starting to imagine things from the pain and exhaustion.

"Come on, we better head back," Ikkaku muttered, opening a doorway. Holding each other up, we stepped through without a hitch.

Let's just say that it was a different story on the other side.

Kenpachi, Yachiru, the Head Captain, Shunsui, Unohana and a couple of other higher ranked soul reapers stood before me and Ikkaku.

That's when I realised that I was in big trouble.

"Hiya," I said meekly, waving my bloodied hand.

No one deigned to wave back.

I'm totally screwed now.