Shippoman: The moment you've been waiting for has finally arrived. Sorry about not getting it up until now, but I wanted to have enough chapter completed before I pushed on so I can have a kind of buffer in case I get writers block again. As a warning and a reminder, this is a sequel to Changing Winds. It picks up the story near the end of the invasion of soul society just so you aren't too confused when it starts. Also, the rating for this one is higher just in case. Yukiko went through a lot and frankly a T rating probably won't cut it...well it might but I don't want to take any chances.

Also I want to remind everyone I don't own bleach or any of it's characters...just the ones I came up with in this. So without further ado...

Shattered Soul

Chapter 1:

"Okay then, Ichigo, are you ready to get started on your Bankai training?" A dark woman with long purple hair and feline features was standing in a wooden structure staring at an orange haired teen with a large smirk.

He returned her smirk with one of his own and tightened the tie around his waist. "You bet I'm ready, Youruichi," he declared firmly. "What do I have to do?"

"Follow me," she answered. Then she lifted a floorboard and jumped down to a very large space that stretched as far as the eye could see. The entire room appeared to be nothing but rock, like a cave or something.

"Ichigo looked around the area and was surprised to realize it looked familiar to him, though he couldn't put his finger on why. He couldn't think of anywhere else he'd have seen it in the human world and was sure he'd never seen it in the soul society; since he'd only arrived a week or so ago. Him and his three companions, Orihime, Ishida, and Chad. They'd picked up one other along the way, a guy by the name of Ganju Shiba. His sister had assisted in their entry into the Seireitei, the home of the Gotei 13. The very group preparing to execute his friend, Rukia Kuchiki.

"I know you haven't completely recovered yet, but we don't have a lot of time to wait for you to finish," Youruichi pointed out as she stood before him with what looked like a cardboard cutout shaped like a person. "This is a special method of Bankai training that'll take three full days to complete. All you have to do to get started, is stab this figure with your zanpakto."

Ichigo understood why she said what she said. He had only just woken up after having fought with Zaraki Kenpachi followed by Byakuya Kuchiki. He'd somehow won the first fight, but he didn't have the chance to finish the second. Youruichi had interrupted that one and taken him here to train. That was less than 12 hours before now.

"So, do you have any questions before we begin?" she asked curiously.

He was about to respond, but something caught the corner of his eye and he looked to a point behind the female before him. At the corner of a large rock formation, he could make out a girl with long dark red hair that reached her waist. She was wearing a shihakusho like the other soul reapers, but her dark green eyes looked completely dead.

"Just one," he lifted his hand and pointed to the strange female. "Who's that?"

Youruichi turned to see who he was pointing at and her grin faded considerably. "Don't worry about that right now. All you need to know is that she won't interfere with your training," she responded with almost no inflection.

"Actually, I'm more worried about her accidentally getting caught up in it," he commented.

"Fine, I'll be right back."

He watched her zip over to the girl and murmured a few things in an undertone. At first, nothing seemed to have gotten through to her, but then she slowly began to move and disappeared from view. Moments later, Youruichi returned to where she'd been before, having already grabbed the cardboard figure once more.

"Alright, she's no longer there," she murmured and Ichigo could see the smallest signs of pain in her eyes. "Now, are there any more questions?"

In answer, Ichigo drew his sword, shot forward, and ran Zangetsu into the obejct's chest, his smirk returned in full force. "Let's just get this started."

He noticed Youruichi's approving grin before his attention was diverted to the cardboard cutout. To his surprise, there was a puff of smoke in which his sword vanished; and in its place stood the old man he was very familiar with. Zangetsu. His Bankai training had begun.

After hours and hours of training, Ichigo felt like he was beginning to reach his limit. The training set up by his zankapto required him to use different blades scattered about the training area that represented some part of his heart. He was supposed to find the one blade that represented his combative strength in order to win. He'd gone through twenty different ones by now and not one did the trick.

He was about to grab yet another one when Zangetsu suddenly vanished before him and he looked around trying to find him. "Youruichi, what's going on?" he demanded when he spotted the dark woman heading his way.

"The first day is over Ichigo. You should probably take this chance to rest and relax," Youruichi responded easily. "There's a hot spring a little ways in. Feel free to take a dip, it should help you recover."

Ichigo grudgingly agreed and followed her directions toward the spring. As he drew closer, he found a bar/table carrying several towels. "Good, I'll need one," he thought, stripping and slipping one around his waist.

Then he made his way to the spring, just wanting to slip into the hot water to ease his aches and pains; and wash the blood off of himself. As the spring came into sight, he spotted something that made him freeze in his tracks, the towel being the only thing he was wearing. It was the girl, the same girl from before standing in the water with her front pressed firmly against the side shielding her from view.

As he stood there, his surprise and confusion keeping him in place, her dead eyes moved over and focused on him. Those eyes that held almost nothing and seemed to register nothing. Then he watched as they slowly seemed to clear, clear and actually see him. She blinked a few times before a shout of surprise tore from her throat and she ducked beneath the water.

Ichigo shouted as well and quickly turned around facing the opposite direction. "I'm sorry!" he exclaimed. "I had no idea you were in there!"

"You could have at least called out!" she shouted back. He could hear her climb out of the water and the rustle of clothes behind him. He made sure not to turn around for fear of what she'd do if he actually saw anything. "Actually it was somewhat my fault. I didn't realize I'd been in there for so long. I should have been out before you finished." She seemed to have calmed down quite a bit and her voice was taking on a more mellow and almost monotone quality to it.

"Right." Ichigo didn't really know what else to say. He had no idea who this strange girl was or where she came from. Her shihakusho told him she had to be a soul reaper of some sort but other than that there was nothing for him to go off of. "So, who are you?" he asked curiously.

"Is that really what you ask a girl you peeped on in the bath?" she returned. He thought he detected the slightest hint of tease in her voice, but that quickly vanished. "I don't make a habit of introducing myself to strangers." He wanted to turn around and tell her it wasn't like he was dangerous or anything but thought better of it. "You can turn around now, I'm decent at least."

He slowly did so and saw she was right. That was fast, he'd never seen any females change as quickly as she seemed to. "Sorry about walking in on you, my name is Ichigo Kurosaki," he told her holding out a hand in greeting.

"Ichigo...I see, so you're the human Youruichi told me about," she murmured softly. Her eyes were showing a lot of pain and sorrow as she mentioned the cat woman. "In that case...call me Ume. That's all you need to know." With that she turned and disappeared leaving Ichigo completely stunned.

"That was weird," he thought not sure what to make of the strange soul reaper. Either way with her gone that meant he had the spring to himself.

He jumped to the top of the giant rock next to it and went down the water slide landing in the spring with a loud splash. Right away he noticed his body repairing itself, even healing a small cut he had on his cheek in seconds. He was so stunned by the effects that he tried drinking it, thinking it'd do even more.

"Ichigo, how's the water?" he heard Youruichi call out. He answered with a wave and a few noises as his mouth was still full of the water. "Really, then I guess I'll try it myself." He spat the water out and shouted as he realized Youruichi was stripping and going to climb inside.

When he heard the splash and peeked through his shielding fingers he was almost disappointed to see she'd transformed back into a cat. Youruichi teased him a bit before their conversation steered toward her and Urahara's origin. She explained a little, telling him the two of them had known each other for a very long time and that he'd been the captain of squad 12 once upon a time. By this point she'd transformed back into a woman and he almost drowned trying to keep from seeing her naked form; which she laughed at.

Once that was through, they fell into an almost comfortable silence before a familiar question came up again. "Say, Youruichi, what can you tell me about Ume?" he asked hoping she wouldn't redirect him again. "Who is she really? Where'd she come from?"

Youruichi took a deep breath and thought it over. "I can't tell you everything, it's not my story to tell," she explained. "But suffice it to say that you saved her."

"What? I've never seen her before," Ichigo argued completely confused.

"Ichigo, she was sealed, inside a prison that could not be found," she explained. "Her prison happened to be in one of the buildings you and Kenpachi obliterated during your battle. When your energies clashed, the power from both was enough to shatter it, freeing her."

*Flashback*

"I felt her energy the instant she was freed and followed it," Youruichi explained. "When I found her...she was not all there."

Youruichi paused near a hole in the wall, her tail flicking back and forth as she looked inside and found a figure wearing black robes kneeling on the floor with her head in her hands. She was muttering something unintelligible under her breath.

"Yukiko," she murmured, in her deeper cat voice. There was no response. Believing the girl may not recognize her, she morphed back into her human form and reached up to the girl's cheek. "Yukiko, can you hear me?"

This time, the girl jerked away from her touch and tightened her hold on her head muttering faster as tears slipped down her cheeks.

"Yukiko!" This time Youruichi almost shouted her name, trying to get the girl to look at her without any luck. After she continued to mutter in fear, the dark toned woman took a deep breath and tried something else. "Ume?"

This time, the girl froze and slowly lowered her hands from her head. She looked up at Youruichi with eyes filled with fear and nothing else. Her eyes were dead. "Youruichi?" she mumbled, only barely seeming to register the woman's presence.

"Yes, it's me," she murmured softly wrapping her arms around the younger soul reaper. "Ume, remember the place we used to train?" The girl slowly nodded her head. "I want you to mask your reiatsu and go. I'll meet you there after I take care of a few things. I'd rather you not be found by him."

Her eyes widened at this and she started muttering again and almost relapsed into her little ball. Youruichi managed to keep her from snapping and to promise to go where she asked. She waited until the girl disappeared before heading toward the end of the battle. She would need to get there quickly and retrieve Ichigo before any of the squads located him.

"It was as if she was hanging onto her sanity, her life, as best as she could, but was losing the battle. Until I used the name she'd always hated, she wouldn't respond. As far as I could see, the girl I knew and cared for was gone. Long gone."

*End Flashback*

"So, you're saying she was set free because our reiatsus were rubbing against each other?" Ichigo asked worriedly. "Why was she sealed? Was it on purpose? Is it really a good thing that I let her out?"

Youruichi glared at him for a moment before sighing. "Yes it was intentional, but not because of anything she'd done," Youruichi explained. "The person who trapped her did so for nefarious reasons. When you freed her, you truly saved her. I only wish I'd been able to do so myself years ago."

After that, they lapsed into silence and Ichigo reluctantly left his questions at that. Whatever had happened, was obviously not a topic to be breached, especially not at the moment. Well, at any rate, it was back to training. He only had two days left to learn his bankai, and he was not going to fail Rukia.

Shippoman: There you go, chapter 1 all done and posted. Hope you all enjoyed it and are looking forward to the rest. I will try to get the chapters out every other week just to give myself a little extra time. Anyway...next chapter someone else learns about Ume's existence and the three traitors make their exit. Stay tuned and please remember to RR.