I do not own Bleach or Skip Beat

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Prologue – An Unfortunate Meeting

Kyokou Mogami walked down the street, grocery bags swinging on her arms as she made her way back to the hotel she and Ren were sharing, once more playing the role of the Heel siblings. He was filming in Karakura town this time, a little town Kyokou had never heard of, and playing the role of a deadly Yakuza. Kyokou shivered, frightened by the memory of the look on Ren's face earlier that afternoon while on set. He had decided to use aspects of her character Mio as the foundation for his new character in the film. His bone chilling smile of pure hatred had frozen all but his beloved Setsu. He had really looked like he was a crazed, blood thirsty Yakuza.

Because it was dark, she wasn't really paying attention to where she was going, and so didn't hear the sound of fighting just ahead of her until she rounded the corner and saw them. She stopped dead in her tracks. There were four people before her. One was a boy about her age with vibrant orange hair dressed in some sort of weird black kimono and holding a sword as long as he was tall. Challenging the orange haired boy was a man with spiky red hair and tattoos all over, wielding a sword that seemed to extend like a slinky toy. Watching the battle was a tall, severe looking man with long black hair held in place with silver clips. Beside this man stood a girl about Kyokou's age with short black hair and wearing a simple dress.

The orange haired boy seemed to be wounded, and struggling to fend off the other man. Kyokou closed her eyes and shook her head. Surely she was dreaming! However, when she opened her eyes, all four of these odd people were still there. The orange haired boy managed to fend off the red headed man, but was visibly exhausted from the effort. Despite this, he smirked and prepared to attack again.

It happened before Kyokou could register what was happening; the tall man moved, and in the blink of an eye he stabbed the boy twice. The orange haired boy seemed as surprised as Kyokou was, toppling over, his sword falling from his hands, broken. That's when impossible things began to happen. The boy could still move, but the girl scolded him, for some reason telling him not to come after her. They were leaving him alive, but could he really live with such injuries?

With a scream, Kyokou ran to his side, whipping out her cell phone and dialing Ren, barely registering that the other three had vanished through an odd looking door that seemed to appear out of nowhere. She begged for Ren to pick up while the orange haired boy groaned, attempting to lift himself up. With her free hand, Kyokou pushed him down, whispering, "Don't move. Help will be on the way soon."

The boy looked up at her. "How . . . can you see . . . me?" he huffed, trying to rise up on his hands again.

Of course I can see you, Kyokou thought, holding him down, but Ren picked up before she could answer the boy.

"What is it, Setsu? Did you get lost?" Cain Heel asked, startling Kyokou. She'd forgotten; they were in character. "Setsu? Are you there?"

"Yes," Kyokou answered, dazed. "Cain, you must come quickly," she said, trying to get back into character, but failing when she looked back down at the orange haired boy. "There's a boy here bleeding out in the street! You have to come help me!"

"Where are you!?" It was Ren now. "Kyokou, answer me, where are you!?"

Kyokou looked around for a way to describe where she was, but completely forgot everything about being in character when another odd looking man approached her. Ren was yelling desperately in her ear now, but she barely heard him, captivated by the newcomer. A fan covered the lower half of his face, and the upper half of his face was mostly obscured by a bizarre, striped, green hat. He was dressed in green, and the clogs he wore echoed loudly against the pavement. The fan moved away from his face, revealing an amused smile that sent chills down Kyokou's spine.

"Interesting," the man said. He brushed past Kyokou, who sat frozen in place. "My, my, Ichigo Kurosaki. What a pickle you've gotten yourself in."

The orange haired boy grunted, also looking up at the new comer with as much confusion as Kyokou felt.

"Kyokou!" Ren practically screamed. "Answer me, dammit!"

Startled, Kyokou returned to the phone. "Sorry, I –"

The phone was ripped out of her hand and tossed aside, shattering a short distance away. "I'm afraid I can't let him find you," the newcomer said, his face now stern. "You'll have to come with me, Miss Kyokou. My apologies, but I need to know how you came across the Kurosaki boy here, and why you have such high spirit pressure."

Kyokou blinked up at him. "Wh . . . what? Who are you?"

"That can wait," the odd man said. "Tessai! Assistance, please."

Kyokou jumped, startled when a rather large man in an apron appeared, his hair pulled back in small braids. He nodded to the strange man who seemed to be in command and easily through the orange haired boy over his shoulder. It seemed that by this point the youth had passed out from his injuries. Kyokou looked back to the odd man who was now studying her with a glint in his eyes. In a blur of movement, he moved, and she felt a sharp pain at the base of her neck before she too passed out.

Kisuke Urahara picked her now lifeless form up and nodded to Tessai. "Let's go."

"What do you plan to do with her?" Tessai asked, concerned.

"I don't know yet," he said, glancing down at her. For a girl so concerned about the boy's welfare, she was dressed very oddly. Her clothes were dark and very revealing. Her boots jangled and she had a piercing in her ear and lip that was connected by a thin chain that also had a cross on it. Her hair was blonde, tinged with pinks and blues. All in all, she looked like some odd goth/punk girl, and she was very out of place here in Karakura town. What was her interest in a boy she shouldn't have been able to see? And why did she exude such high spiritual power?

Smiling, Kisuke decided he would find out later when she woke up. For now, they just needed to take care of Ichigo Kurosaki.