Disclaimer- I don't own Bleach but I do own my new oc...Just don't tell her that.... She might hurt me... She might not look scary, but she is....

Ok, a few things. For those of you who have read my other stories then you probably already caught on to this but anyways..

So when there is text inside '....' it means it's a thought, or something said in someone's head. If the writing inside the '...' is in italics, then it's most likely a zanpakuto unless otherwise specified, k?

And then anything in "..." is spoken word unless otherwise specified, but usually I only use the double quotes if it's spoken word so yeah.

Make sense? Hope so, if not just ask, I try to make it really distinct what's what though.

Chapter 1

A Glimpse of the Past

A little girl, no more than ten years old in a dirty and torn yellow yukata ran barefoot down a dirt path lined with low bushes, weeds and small, twisted trees. Her soiled white hair fanned out behind her as she ran and salty tears leaked from her soft blue eyes as small whimpers racked her tiny body.

A cry escaped from her lips as she tripped over a rock and went sprawling into the dirt. She tried to stand up again, but her little body was too tired, and it didn't help that she hadn't eaten in days.

There was a sort of screech-like howl from behind her and another sob escaped her shaky lips, making her body tremble with its force.

She already knew what was behind her without looking, a monster. A scary monster that wanted to eat her because she was different from the majority of the people in this desolate place she called home.

It looked like some type of bird with a white face and pointed nose. It's large, taloned feet made strange squelching noises in the dirt as it approached the frightened child.

The little girl again tried to push herself to her tiny feet, but only made it halfway up before she was thrown through the air when something collided with her little side. Her body collided with the rough bark of a tree and she sank to the ground in a heap.

Her last vision before she blacked out was of a man in white with graying hair, he was standing with his back to her, facing the monster that had chased her.

"I think she's waking up now," someone said, the voice sounded masculine and strong.

"The poor thing's been asleep for almost a week," another voice said, this one was feminine and soft.

Light blue eyes slowly fluttered open and were met by brown eyes and a soft smile.

Immediately, the little girl became frightened and whimpered quietly, raising a small hand to rub at her eyes.

"It's alright dear. You're safe," the woman who was leaning over her said reassuringly.

The woman had dark brown hair with a few streaks of gray and tanned skin, she was smiling warmly and her brown eyes were dancing with life.

"Where am I," the little girl asked quietly, timidly.

"You're at our home. My name is Mai Himura and that over there is my husband, Hiroshi Himura," the woman answered as she nodded towards a large man that was leaning against the wall by the doorway.

"What happened to the monster," the little girl asked shakily.

"Don't worry about the monster. It's gone," Mai replied with a reassuring smile.

"What about my brother," the girl asked.

Mai looked surprised and glanced at her husband who just shook his head.

"I'm sorry dear but I don't know. Do you have family somewhere in the Rukongai," the woman asked.

"No, ma'am. Just my brother, but I got lost a few days ago and couldn't find him. Then the monster tried to eat me," the little girls blue eyes began to fill with tears as she spoke.

"Shhh. It's alright now," Mai said softly to the upset child, "Where were you living dear?"

The little girl shook her head, "We didn't have a home. We slept where ever we could, and ate what we could find."

"I see. What is your name little one," Mai asked, as she pushed a strand of the girls white hair from her pale cheek.

"S-Sayomi, ma'am," the girl sniffled as she wiped at her teary eyes.

"Well Sayomi. Would you like to live here with Hiroshi and I?"

The little girl's face brightened for a moment, before falling into a frown.

"But what about my brother," Sayomi asked.

"If we find him, he can stay too. How does that sound," Mai said happily.

The little girl nodded vigorously and smiled brightly.

"Alright. It's settled then," Mai said with a smile as she stood up from the bed, "We should get you cleaned up and fed. Sora."

A moment after Mai had called, a young woman appeared in the doorway.

"Yes Mai-sama," the woman asked as she bowed.

"Would you please help Sayomi here in getting bathed and dressed," Mai asked.

"Of course, Mai-sama."

"Sama," Sayomi said slowly as she gazed at Mai.

"Yes Sayomi, sama. You will be Sayomi-sama now too. You are a Himura now, and that means you are a noble, and must learn to act like one. Do you think you can do that?"

Sayomi nodded her head and grinned toothily up at the woman.

"Good, now let Sora help you bathe and dress. Once you're done she'll fetch you some food, I'm sure you're hungry," Mai said, before laughing lightly when Sayomi's eyes brightened at the mention of food, "After that you should get some more rest."

"Yes Mai-sama," Sayomi answered, with a small, awkward bow.

Mai patted the girl on the head and smiled before walking to where her husband stood near the door. He was a large man, nearly six feet tall, lean and muscular. He had graying brown hair and pale brown eyes.

The couple exited the room and slid the thin door shut behind them.

Once the two had left, Sora, who was a woman of about twenty years old, with short blond hair and blue eyes walked up to Sayomi and smiled.

"Come along Sayomi-sama we need to get you nice and clean," the woman said cheerily as she held out one of her hands for the girl to take.

Sayomi frowned up at the woman and didn't take the offered hand.

"What's wrong," the woman asked.

"I'm a sama now," Sayomi asked, her little face seemed to be confused and was scrunched up a little.

"Yes, you're a sama now," Sora answered as she tapped Sayomi on the nose, "You are Sayomi Himura-sama. You are the daughter of Hiroshi and Mai Himura-sama."

"But I'm not their real daughter, wouldn't they like to have a real daughter instead of me," Sayomi asked.

Sora's face fell slightly and she bowed her head, "That's enough questions Sayomi-sama let's go and get you in the bath."

Sayomi looked disappointed at not having received an answer but she nodded her head and took Sora's hand.

Bright blue eyes fluttered open, and looked around in confusion. The small dark room wasn't the same she had been in moments before. But then she was no longer a child either. She was over a hundred and sixty years old, young by some standards and ancient by others.

'Just a dream,' she thought as she rubbed at her tired eyes. 'Well a memory, anyways.'

She tugged at the hem of the short gray skirt, the shiny silver chain link bracelet with a dark blue ribbon through it tied in a neat bow on her wrist, tinkling quietly. Straightening up, she frowned at the red tie that was tied at the base of her throat. With a sigh she tugged on the beige sweater vest over the white button up shirt and pulled her long white hair out of the shirt.

Slipping on a pair of brown shoes over her white knee high socks the small girl grabbed the black book bag that was by the door and left the tiny room.

'I really don't know why you waste your time going to this school thing,' a voice said to her, it was a calm, cool voice, like the first soft blow of wind that signified winter had arrived.

The pale girl rolled her light blue eyes and sighed.

'What else do I have to do in this rather horrid world,' the girl retorted.

'You could always go back to them,' the male voice said to her.

Another sigh escaped the girl's pink lips as she brushed a few strands of her elbow length white hair from her face.

'I refuse to go back, and you know it,' the girl replied haughtily.

'More like you're too stubborn.'

'Fuyu,' the girl warned.

'Fine, fine. But really Sayomi-sama do we have to go,' Fuyu asked arrogantly.

'Honestly Fuyu it's not that bad,' Sayomi replied.

'At least-'

Sayomi stopped abruptly on the path that she was walking along. She was only a few houses down from the school, standing in the shadow of one of the trees that lined the street.

'Sayomi-sama, are you alright,' Fuyu asked.

'That girl,' Sayomi replied as she stared at a girl that was maybe only an inch or two shorter than herself with black hair, the girl's back was to Sayomi as she walked up to the gates of the same school she was headed for. 'Her reiatsu is the one I've been feeling, but it's different now. Almost nonexistent.'

'A Soul Reaper,' Fuyu stated, an icy edge to his soft voice.

'Yes, she's a Soul Reaper, but what is she doing in a gigai and school uniform,' Sayomi mused.

The black haired girl paused at the gate to the school and slowly turned in the direction that Sayomi was in. When the girl's purple eyes landed on the shade beneath the tree she had sensed someone under, there was no one there, just a few brown and green leaves skidding along the concrete.

'You're not going to school,' Fuyu asked as Sayomi walked down an alley that led away from the school and back into the residential area surrounding it.

'No, I'm going to see Urahara. That girl had to have gotten the gigai from him, so he most likely knows who she is and what she's doing here, as well as who the new spiritual pressure belongs to. It seems very familiar, don't you think?'

'It does, but I can't seem to place it.'

The girl walked a few minutes before coming to a neighborhood of apartment buildings. She walked along the path that was lined on either side by fences or the walls of the apartment complexes, and dotted with a few benches and trash cans.

She stopped at one of the openings in the wall and turned into it. Before her was a rather nondescript two story building with a little banner that proclaimed it to be the Urahara Shoten. Walking up to the sliding doors of the entrance the girl lifted a small, pale hand and slid open one of the doors.

Inside the doors was a series of shelves that held an assortment of candies and other sweets and snacks. Sayomi entered the shop and shut the door behind her, slipping off her shoes, she walked towards the raised platform that led into the rest of the building that served as a house. She heard footsteps from the back of the shop and stood impatiently, tapping her white clad foot against the wooden floor.

A tall, muscular man wearing glasses and an apron walked into the room.

"Ms Himura, what can I do for you today," the burly man asked when he laid eyes on the white haired girl.

"Hello, Tessai. Is Urahara available," the girl asked politely, her voice quiet and soft, reminiscent of falling snow, for though it was calm now, it could be cold and unforgiving at times.

"I'm afraid that he-"

"Well, well what have we here," a man said as he walked into the interior of the shop. He wore a green and white beach bucket hat over his blond hair and dark green hakama and kimono top, over which he wore an open black robe.

Sayomi quirked a thin brow at the man whose eyes where hidden in the shadow of his hat.

"Ahh, Sayomi," the man sung upon laying his eyes on the small white haired, blue eyed girl.

"Kisuke, I believe Tessai was in the process of trying to get you out of having to see me," Sayomi said coldly.

Kisuke shivered as she spoke but quickly shook it off and smiled brightly.

"Well I'm here now, how may I help you, beautiful lady," Kisuke asked her pleasantly as he whipped out a little fan and covered part of his face.

"You know why I'm here," she stated.

"Ah, yes well, how about some tea," the blond offered.

"Fine, but I expect answers, not your usual useless banter," Sayomi said.

She followed the store owner and the large man to the back of the shop and sat down on a red cushion that was set before a round wooden table.

"I suppose you sensed the changes in spiritual pressure," Kisuke asked.

"Yes, I had sensed an unfamiliar spiritual pressure in the area lately, but last night it died down and was replaced by another. This one is stronger, and seems to be uncontrolled," Sayomi replied as Tessai set a little green tea kettle on the table as well as two red cups.

Sayomi poured herself a glass of the hot green tea and waited for Urahara to answer.

"And what is it you wish to know," he asked.

"As I was walking to school this morning I saw a new student, she had short black hair, purple eyes, a little shorter than me, which is pretty impressive," the girl muttered as an after thought, before continuing, "sound familiar?"

Urahara seemed to think about the question for a moment while tapping his fan against his chin, "Nope, not at-"

"Don't lie to me Urahara, do you remember the last time," Sayomi asked, her voice unnaturally calm, in a way it almost sounded as if she were singing.

A visible shiver made its way down Urahara's back and Sayomi repressed a satisfied smirk.

"Well," she pressed.

"Oh, I remember now," he replied sheepishly.

"Good. Now who is she?"

"It wouldn't be right to give away information about my customers, I would lose their trust," Urahara said dramatically.

A sudden stir of wind swept through the room, lifting Sayomi's hair off her shoulders briefly before it settled back down.

"I'm not in the mood for your games Urahara, who is she? She's a Soul Reaper correct?" Sayomi asked.

"Um, well," the man replied as he rubbed at his neck.

"So she is," Sayomi stated. "What is she doing in the real world? In one of your gigai none the less."

"Well...."

Another stir of freezing wind swept through the small room making Urahara chuckle nervously.

"She was sent to watch over Karakura town, but things went wrong and she accidentally gave her powers to...someone," he replied.

"I see. That explains why she seemed so weak, she's recovering. It also explains the strange surge in reiatsu I felt last night. Who did she transfer her powers to? The reiatsu seems strangely familiar to me."

"I don't know."

"You're lying again."

Urahara waved his hands around in front of him frantically while stuttering out a denial.

"Never mind, I'll figure it out on my own. Now stop your whining," Sayomi ordered.

"Shouldn't you be in school," Urahara asked.

"I don't go because I have to, you know," Sayomi replied flippantly. "I go because I'm bored."

"Bored?"

"Yes, bored. Ever since I came to this stupid world I've been bored."

"You miss the Soul Society?"

"I miss the life I could have had, that I should have had," Sayomi answered as she looked into the green tea before her.

"Yes, don't we all," Urahara agreed.

They sat in silence for a little while sipping casually at their tea.

Urahara sighed contentedly.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

Sayomi frowned. "I hate Soul Reapers," she said quietly.

"Even though you were one?"

"That was a long time ago," she answered wistfully.

"Not that long ago."

"Perhaps. I think for now I'll avoid her. I don't need anyone alerted to where I am," Sayomi said as she stood up from the table.

"What about them," Urahara asked.

Sayomi scoffed. "They won't cause trouble unless it's beneficial to them. They won't be interested in some run away soul reaper. They may, however, develop an interest in the one that possesses the reiatsu I felt last night. It's strong and they'll be drawn to that. As long as whoever it belongs to stays out of trouble, it shouldn't be a problem though. I trust you'll take care of that.

Urahara chuckled.

"Don't do anything reckless, Urahara," she said as she made her way to the exit.

"I would never," the man replied in mock offense.

Rolling her eyes, Sayomi exited the shop and walked around the town for a few hours until a flare in reiatsu caught her attention.

"It's the same as last night, and the one I've been feeling all day," she said as her eyes roamed the streets.

Without hesitation, Sayomi ran up the block and passed all the houses and buildings until she came to a little park. She saw a spider like hollow chasing the soul of a small boy. She was behind the spectacle, covered from view by the shade of a few trees and a short block wall.

She heard some shouts and then the hollow began to disappear. When it began to disintegrate Sayomi saw the source of the spiritual pressure she'd been feeling as well as the little black haired girl she had seen earlier at the school.

"Ichigo, what have you gotten yourself into," she muttered as she watched her orange haired classmate who was now dressed in the black garb of a Soul Reaper perform Konso, Soul Burial, on the small child.

A frown creased her face as she watched the two people leave the park.

After looking at the spot where she had seen Ichigo perform the Konso, Sayomi sighed and turned away from the little park. She walked back to her little apartment that was in a more run down part of town. She walked up the shoddy, creaky steps to the second floor of a building that looked as if at one time it was actually quite nice, but now the paint was peeling and there were water stains on parts of the ceilings from leaks. Unlocking her wooden door and pushing it open, she stepped into a small room. She had a bed roll off towards the back under the one window in the room, and there was a little kitchen area with a small fridge to her left, and a little bathroom to her right. If she hadn't been as small as she was she wouldn't have fit in the cramped space.

Walking over to the small fridge, she grabbed a bottle of water and then sat down on her bed roll in deep thought.

'What are you going to do, Sayomi-sama,' Fuyu asked.

'I really don't know. I want to avoid her at all costs while she's here, but something tells me that Urahara is up to something. When isn't he though,' she answered.

'Are you just going to hide out here then,' the voice asked.

Sayomi sighed. 'No, I'll probably visit them.'

'I'm sure they'd like that.'

'It's been awhile and I'd like to see some of them again. That and it's been a long time since they've tried contacting me. Meaning that they have either not gotten any new information or they no longer feel the need to consult with me,' Sayomi replied.

'So they likely have no new information then?'

'Yes. They wouldn't make a move without my knowing and if they did they know there would be consequences.'

'For one so small, you really are a little scary sometimes,' Fuyu stated.

'Fuyukaze,' Sayomi snapped.

'See.'

The white haired girl growled, 'Well for a zanpakuto you talk a lot.'

By them or they Sayomi and Fuyukaze were referring to the Vizard, or the Masked Army, as they were called. They had all been forced out of their home, the Soul Society, nearly a hundred years before. They had then taken refuge in the world of the living. Waiting, and watching. It had not been a simple mistake, or bad decision that had landed them in the predicament that they were in. Instead, it had been a traitorous and vile act by a fellow Soul Reaper that had triggered a reaction within them all. This reaction, had awoken the evil beings that dwelt deep in their souls.

Their inner Hollows.

Kisuke Urahara had been able to help them before they had fully been taken over by their hollows, but they then had to learn to suppress it, to beat down, and then how to harness the power of the beings inside them.

To say the least it had not been easy. They were no longer simple Shinigami, they weren't hollows either, they were something else entirely. They were stronger, faster, and more powerful than they had been before the act that had nearly turned them into monsters. They were now able to call upon the beings within themselves, and use that power to aid them in battles. Vizard, masked army, they got their name by being able to manifest the mask of the hollow that lie trapped inside them.

However, a new race, especially one so powerful, was not easily accepted. To Shinigami, hollows were the enemy. So what do you do when your friends, your leaders, and even some of your nobility are suddenly able to use powers that only a hollow should be able to use? There was only one thing to do in the eyes of the Soul Society.

Fear.

You fear them. You push them away, and make them outcasts in their own home for something that was beyond their control. Force them into exile and tell them never to return.

This being said it is easy to see why they would hate Soul Reapers, some don't feel as strongly as others, but the majority can't forgive the injustice done to them. Many even hate humans, their emotions are thought to be too fickle and unstable.

The Vizards have accepted their fate. Many embrace the new found abilities they were given. Why wouldn't they though, they are stronger than almost any other being, and they know that in the end that extra strength will help them to defeat the ones who ruined their lives.

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