A/N: Sorry this one has taken so long! My brother recently got married and there was just not enough free time to crank anything new out.

Oh! Just so you know, I created a blog on tumblr for this story, though right now it only has sketches of the masks on it. Feel free to check them out, if you wish. The blog is named after this story, so just plug that in and it should take you right to the page. Hopefully.

Also, thanks for all the favs and reviews guys! (To:DarkAngelLilithX) As a lovely reviewer pointed out, Byakuya has actually beaten Ichigo in battle. (Good job catching that, honestly sometimes even I forget and it's my story :/)

And, according to my Abjune rule book that means… He has indeed passed stage three! Congratulations Byakuya! That does not mean he has completed the bond, though. (To: Kuro Neko to Kuro Bara) Let's see if I can actually clarify this, haha. Okay, so first contact MUST happen before second, but the third stage can actually be passed at any time. It can happen before first contact, between first contact and second, or after the two have been completed. Again, ALL stages must be passed for a confirmed bond, but only the first and second part must happen in sequence. All right, hopefully that cleared up some things, and if it didn't I'm going to repeatedly integrate all this into the story itself, as Hiwarai is even more helplessly confused than you – if that's even possible.

Man, there so many rules and considerations for all this to work, I'm not surprised you had to point that out. I'll try to keep it coherent and logical, but it would be a miracle if I didn't leave at least half of you confused.

This story is so crazy and convoluted…but I love every insane, nonsensical second of it.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Bleach Franchise and never will. All my amateurish fumblings are for mine own and other's amusement.

Chapter 5

I could only stare at the fingers hovering mere centimeters from the blue band in a stunned silence. I opened my mouth, trying to force words of warning to my lips, but the sounds wouldn't come.

Stop. Stop! STOP!

As if from thin air, Ganju appeared to grab the outstretched arm. He studied the bright blue energy for a long minute, hand clamped around the taller man's wrist. It was only when he dropped the limb that he stated, "I don't think it's a good idea to go touching things we don't understand. Can you dispel the sphere?"

He'd turned those last words upon me and I hurriedly nodded. I shut my eyes and imagined sucking the bubble back into myself. The process was more gradual than I would have liked–not to mention exhausting–but, in the end, it worked. I swayed on my feet, eyes only fluttering open when I felt a steadying hand on my shoulder. I blinked at Orihime and gave her a grateful, "Thanks."

She nodded, but only let go when I no longer looked like I was on the verge of collapse. I turned slightly, to find Ganju observing me. He took a step closer and said, "Something tells me that you know what that blue ring was."

It wasn't really a question, but I knew that was hardly a reason not to answer. "I think I do," was my hesitant response. I had a feeling, but I wasn't sure.

"You want to elaborate?" He asked, voice and eyes hard–tentative ally or not, it was apparent that his trust extended only so far. A threat, even an unconscious one, would not be taken lightly.

"Hey, lay off her man!" Ichigo snapped as he moved to stand between me and Ganju. "It's just her power. Not her fault the guy was stupid enough to try and touch it."

"What did you just say!?"The Mustache Man in question growled. The ensuing argument was enough to distract Ganju from his interrogation, so I edged to the back of the room. There was an unpleasant tug in my stomach as I leaned my forehead against the wall and let out a heavy breath. I stared down at my shaking hands, clasping them together until they turned white with the pressure. I needed to calm down. Nothing had happened. Hell, I didn't even know what would have happened if he'd touched that band. But I'd been scared–was still scared, actually.

By the time a shy young man came to announce that dinner was ready, that anxious sickness had abated; or, at the very least, been pushed to the back of my mind.

As all of us, except Ichigo, headed toward the door, Orihime lagged behind, chirping out assurance that she was actually quite full. I glanced at her, knowing the real reason she wanted to stay, even if my oblivious sibling did not. As Ichigo urged her to go, I saw a brief shimmer of hurt in her eyes, though it was quickly replaced by an artificial smile.

Oh, Orihime…

Just for that, as I walked by my brother, I kicked him right in the shin, "Idiot."

"Ow! Dammit, Hiwarai, what the hell was that for?!" Ichigo yowled as I stomped away from him.

"For being you," I hissed. As hard as it sometimes was for me to believe, there were two women in love with my brother, and, if he wasn't careful, he'd end up hurting both of them. Regardless of whom he chose–if he chose–I knew at least one would wind up with a broken heart.

As I followed after my companions, watching the bobbing amber mane of my best friend, I had to fight down a sudden surge of pity. If the way my brother looked at Rukia Kuchiki was anything to go by, then Orihime was fighting a losing battle.

The worst part is…I think she knew it too.

…

I only realized I was starving when we all sat down before our meals. The moment my knees hit the floor, I wolfed down the food like I was channeling a certain brother of mine. When it was gone, I collapsed on my back with a happy groan. Chad looked amused, Uryuu revolted, and Orihime…. She stared down at her meal, a soft frown on her face, not even bothering to nibble at it.

My brow furrowed, eyes narrowing upon the dim glow of her aura until it came into focus. It was a clear, pastel blue – like a cloudless summer sky. I ignored this because, despite what some may believe, the color of a person's aura had nothing to do with their mood. The blue coloring, as wel as its clarity, told me only that she had an open and forthright personality. No, if I wanted to know her emotional state, I had to look at the edge of her aura – to the fluctuations and vibrations of its light. It roiled in slow, laborious curves – like a building storm. With years of experience deciphering these "Soul Waves" under my belt, it took me little more than a second to figure out that she was worried. It was my years of experience as her friend, however, that helped me figure out why.

I sighed, "Orihime."

She jumped and turned to stare at me with wide eyes–as if I'd just caught her doing something criminal. I smirked, "Go ahead and eat Ori."

"But I – um, no…I'm not," she stuttered, trying and failing to derive an excuse for not eating without giving away the fact that she was saving the meal for Ichigo.

"I've got about four granola bars in my bag," I told her. He won't starve, went unsaid. She blushed, realizing that I'd seen right through her, but smiled at my reassurance, "O-okay."

I waited until Orihime quietly, hesitantly, began eating before I turned away. I laid there for a minute, seriously considering taking a quick nap, when Uryuu spoke up, "Hiwarai?"

"Hmm," I hummed in reply.

"Back in the training room," he said. "Ganju asked you if you knew what that energy band was. You appeared to have a theory, but Ichigo interrupted before you could explain. I'm curious, what were you going to say?"

I opened my eyes slowly, feeling the weight of their questioning gazes all too well, "I thought…I mean, I think it was Nekomi."

"Nekomi?" Orihime and Uryuu blankly echoed. Chad didn't say anything, but I had a feeling that he was already reaching his own conclusions. Even if he'd only seen the mask that one time, I didn't doubt that he remembered it.

"What is a Nekomi?" Ishida demanded. "Is it dangerous?"

"He…I…you don't understand…it's not," I stopped, feeling it was best to show them before I tried to say anything more.

'Nekomi,' I called and immediately felt him unfurl from my soul like a cat from its slumber. The mask formed upon my face a moment later with a burst of blue fire. Both unaccustomed and unprepared for the sight, they all flinched back. I felt a touch of remorse for startling them, but a greater part of me undeniably enjoyed the sight of their shocked faces.

'Kitten,' Nekomi drawled the single word out, managing to make it both a greeting and a question at the same time.

'Do you mind if I introduce you to a few friends?' I asked apprehensively, knowing that he'd never been…enthusiastic about the idea before. He didn't seem interested in talking to anyone but me. It was both flattering and frustrating. He mulled it over while my three companions stared at the mask with awed curiosity.

"This is Nekomi," I stated as he weighed the pros and cons of communicating with 'non-Hiwarais.'

"A mask?" Uryuu asked a touch dubiously. "I saw it before–in the portal."

"That was him," I nodded.

"He…," the dark-haired boy murmured, pushing his glasses up his nose as he considered my statement. "Are you suggesting that it's sentient?"

"Yes," I affirmed carefully. 'Nekomi…?'

An 'I'm still thinking' was all he grumped back.

"Does he talk?" Orihime chirped, leaning around Chad to get a good look at us.

"He's not a very…sociable…creature, but he can talk," I tentatively supplied. The speculative gleam in Ishida's eyes told me that my emphasized 'can' had not gone unnoticed. Just because he could talk, didn't mean that he would.

"Aw, is he shy?" Orihime said with a soft, sympathetic coo. It was a familiar tone, usually reserved for small, injured animals and elderly people – not demonic masks. Also, I'm pretty sure that if you looked 'shy' up in the dictionary, you'd find Nekomi's name among the suggested antonyms. From the sharp, barking laughter that echoed between my ears, I figured my mask was of a similar opinion.

"Er, well –," I started with a small wince of a smile, only to be cut off by an impatient Uryuu. "What is he?"

"He's a…fragment of my soul, I think. Neither of us are too sure," I answered, giving Orihime a curious glance when she gasped. Her silver-grey eyes had a moon-like quality to them, glazed as they were with thoughtful surprise. A slender hand reached up to touch one of the two flower shaped hairclips holding back her bangs – gifts I knew to be from her late brother.

'Well, it looks like you can handle the conversation from here. Not like a "fragment" has any thoughts or feelings to include, after all.' Nekomi said with an indignant huff, because my mask possessed the temperament of a toddler and had an ego big enough to span the Pacific Ocean. (Though, to be honest, that's kinda part of his charm.)

'Oh my God, are you pouting?!' I felt myself wavering between confused sympathy and incredulous laughter. I mean, was he seriously upset over a simple word – and not even an offensive one at that?

'…No.'

'You're definitely pouting.'

'Am not!'

"So a piece of your soul splintered off and formed a completely different personality – even gender – all on its own?" Uryuu's words, forged in skepticism and sharpened with distrust, cut across my inward dialogue like a knife.

I blanched at the persecution in his tone, "What are you trying to say, Uryuu?"

He leveled me with hard cobalt eyes, "How do you know that Nekomi is part of your soul?"

And not somebody else's…

That implication hung in the air, suspended between our clashing gazes. I forbid myself to falter, to allow that insidious question root, because I knew…just knew. I let him see that resolve in my eyes – an impenetrable wall of fire composed purely of my will. My answer to that question was this certainty, wordless and complete.

'Hiwarai…' I didn't know how to describe the softly spoken word at the back of my head. Grateful, anxious, happy, reverent, nervous. All of them? None of them? Before I had the chance to ask, his physical presence disappeared in a puff of blue fire as his mental one faded to away. I kept my eyes steady, forcing myself to focus on Uryuu. Unsettled as I was by Nekomi's abrupt departure, I refused to let it show.

Finally, Ishida closed his eyes with a sigh, conceding with, "Stubbornness must be a defining characteristic of the Kurosaki family, I swear."

That comment went a long way toward clearing the room of its stifling tension, but it was my slow grin that cleared it completely, "It's one of our best qualities, if I do say so myself."

That's when I noticed something black out of the corner of my eye. I turned to find it was our feline companion, but my customary greeting faltered at the sight of his pensive yellow eyes. I didn't know what questions were running between those ears of his, but they cast a shadow over his face – one which caused tendrils of dread to start poking at my stomach.

"Yoruichi?" murmured Chad, having noticed the cat's appearance as well. His head snapped up, all expression falling away until he could study the room with a neutral mask.

He cleared his throat softly, "I apologize for disrupting your meal, but I need Orihime, Chad and Hiwarai to accompany me."

"What?! Why?" Uryuu exclaimed, doubtlessly scandalized by his own exclusion - the great Ishida. I tucked my chin against my shoulder, hoping to hide my smirk. Sometimes the man was too cocky for his own good. Huh, kind of reminds me of a certain someone...

The cat said over his shoulder as he escorted the three of us into the hall, "There's nothing for you to worry about, Uryuu. I just need to discuss a few things with these three."

We trailed after Yoruichi, leaving a sputtering Ishida in our wake. As I walked down the corridor, I fell to the back of the group and Orihime slowed to keep pace beside me. She whispered, "You shouldn't let it get to you."

I looked at her confused, and she gave me a small smile in return, "What Uryuu said. I don't think you should let it get to you."

Of course she'd see that little bit of uncertainty in me, no matter how hard I tried to hide it. I forget, every once in a while, that she's known me as long as I've known her.

I turned my head and closed my eyes, gathering all the knowing that I hid within my soul to utter these words in truth, "I won't."

Though I would look back upon this moment, and wonder why she didn't tell me about her own spirits – why she didn't reassure me with proof that there can be separate entities of a single soul – Orihime would later come to say this:

"In that moment, I could tell, that you needed faith far more than you needed facts."

And you know what? She was right.

…

When Yoruichi had called us away, I'd thought it was to find a room to quietly inform Chad of our new…natures. So color me surprised when the cat asked our tall friend to wait for us out in the hall. Chad seemed unfazed by this development; because he is Chad, and Chad is never fazed. Orihime and I, on the other hand, were at a loss when we opened the door to find Kukaku Shiba; especially when the first words out of the woman's mouth were a brusque, "Finally. What'd you little shits do? Take a detour?"

The fireworks expert must find it physically painful to be genial, I think. We shuffled in as she went on to say, "We gotta make this quick Yoruichi – I have preparations to make and too many incompetent underlings to leave unattended."

"Very well," The cat nodded before explaining to both me and Orihime, "Kukaku has agreed to assist me in creating the charms I mentioned yesterday, but first, we require a personal object from the both of you – preferably, one that you can physically wear."

"You can't put the charm on us directly?" I asked, confused.

"No," Kukaku retorted simply, leaving it up to Yoruichi to elaborate with, "As the spell degrades, so too does the item it is ingrained upon. It hardly matters if said item is a human soul – to it, energy is energy. By the time the charm is exhausted, the object you give us will cease to exist. It's a small price to pay for the protection it offers, but, even so, I'd suggest that you give us something expendable."

I looked over myself, considering what I could and could not live without. My clothes were the first thing that came to mind, but then again, I didn't want to get in a situation where I had to change them, and couldn't. The bell my father had given me, which now hung about my neck, wasn't an option. The pack, including its supplies, wasn't going to work either. Also, seeing as I didn't want to be barefoot by the time the spell ended, that meant my flats were out as well.

And my wrist band….No, I won't be using that.

In the end, the only thing left was my favorite headband, which I reluctantly removed from my hair and handed to an impatient Kukaku. I watched curiously as they imprinted the charm upon that tiny bit of cloth. It was a fairly simple ritual, as it turns out. Just a few phrases, an outpouring of soul energy, and boom, they were handing me a talisman.

I tugged my new charm back on, feeling a bit miffed. I mean, shouldn't magic be…I don't know…more magical? True, it isn't really magic, even with all the talk of spells and such, but it's about as close as one can get. Despite my disappointment, I squeaked out a quick thanks. When I got little more than a grunt in return, I wasn't too surprised.

And then, once Orihime's offering (a shoelace) received its own charm, the fireworks expert was out that door without so much as a "Sayonara."

Kukaku Shiba's apparent allergy to social niceties did not make her any less terrifying. Or awesome. It did, however, tend to leave everyone else in a bit of a daze.

I blinked over at Yoruichi, "Now what?"

"Now," the cat replied. "We talk to Chad."

…

The first conversation I ever had with Chad went very much like this one. He asked only a handful of questions, and otherwise seemed content to do little more than sit there and listen. What few words he had to offer were measured and low, rumbling out from his chest as if he had all the time in the world to say them. The expression you could see beyond his curly mop of hair was calm, relaxed even. He was a steady, reliable constant that could make any situation, no matter how chaotic, simpler just for being there.

I can't remember the topic of that long ago conversation, but I recall thinking that Chad very much reminded me of a boulder in a river – a comparison that remains accurate to this day. No matter how high or fast the river runs, it must bend and break and bow around the steadfast rock. All of this I could see reflected in his aura, which was a fittingly matte mixture of grays and browns.

When I first met Chad, near five years ago, he'd been trying to stuff his large frame into a chair about three sizes too small for him. He'd seemed awkward…out of place, and yet he'd fit so perfectly into our little world – like he'd belonged there all along. If you overlapped the Chad of five years ago with the one of the present, it might seem as if he hadn't changed at all. He was still calm and steady and effortlessly kind. He was still a gentle, loyal giant. Chad would always be Chad and I found great comfort in that fact.

And yet, the moment we were finished talking, I knew that something wasdifferent – I just couldn't tell what that something was.

"Hiwarai..."

I paused, turning back to look up at Chad as both Orihime and Yoruichi passed us by. I titled my head in question, but he said nothing more than that. Just my name. Over the years, I'd noticed several such moments, when it seemed like he didn't have the energy or will to drag the words out of his mouth and yet still wanted to speak them. Living around such…vocal people can sometimes make you forget that others can say an awful lot with silence.

"Chad?" I asked, trying to read him, trying to understand. Was he worried about me? Scared?

Orihime called my name from the hall, and I swiveled to face the door, "I'll be there in a moment Ori."

I turned around again, only to take a step back in surprise. Chad had raised his hand, stretching it out toward me, as if he'd gone to touch my arm to get my attention and then stopped. I let out a shaky laugh, feeling silly for being startled by Chad of all people. My laughter trailed off as his hand continued to hang there.

"Chad…?" Tension curled its fingers under my ribcage when he offered not even a twitch in response. He stared down at his hand, with an intensity I'd never before see. It almost seemed like…he was angry. With himself? I couldn't tell, as I've never actually seen Chad mad before. I rushed to reassure him, stumbling over my words as I did so, "Look, it's okay. It takes some getting used to – the whole no touching thing. No need to feel guilty. I mean, this all pretty new and sometimes even I forget!"

For a second I thought he hadn't heard me, but then he sighed and seemed to kinda…deflate. His hand dropped away and I felt the tightness in my chest ease. He shifted to the side and started for the door, apparently feeling bad enough about the accident to want to put some space between us. I appreciated his consideration, but I hoped he knew that I wasn't mad about it.

"Chad?"

He slowed to a stop but didn't turn around. I frowned in confusion, "I thought you wanted to ask me something?"

"…It was nothing important," he replied, before calmly walking out the door. I stared after him, at a loss.

There was almost a sense of weight to the place he once stood – like he'd left something behind. I don't know another way to describe it, what with the things he hadn't said somehow managing to take up more space than the things that he had. I'd always thought that Chad was easy to read, because he was simple. Not stupid, just…straightforward, honest. Maybe that's why it never once occurred to me that he, of all people, could have secrets. And even then, I thought he'd never be any good at hiding them.

I suppose it's safe to say, that I was wrong on both accounts.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry this one is kind of short, guys. I really wanted to get this one out so we could move on with the story. In the next chapter we are heading to the Seireitei, though!