Chapter 1 - Breakout

Akemi raised her head as far as the iron brace that held her body in this stiff position would allow. 'What's this?' she wondered 'Spirit Pressure?' . Her prison was designed so no form of spirit power could get in or out, so either she was imagining it after all this time locked in here, or the seals keeping her here were wearing. Only one way to test it.

Starting at her toes, she flexed each individual muscle. The were stiff from lack of use and screamed in painful protest, but they worked, which was a sure sign that the seals were weakening. The corner of her lips twitched into a smirk. Experimentally she opened her eyes, just as she'd expected it made little to no difference to the darkness, although as her eyes adjusted she saw a soft blue glow resonating off the walls. Concentrating hard, she pulled the unfamiliar spirit pressure towards her, absorbing it into her skin and focusing it into her muscles. She shifted slightly in the brace, counting the thick iron bands restricting her movement to a fraction of a centimeter, they ran from the top of her ribs to her ankles, all attached to a long metal beam that ran from the tips of her toes to the top of her skull, keeping her head tilted forward so her chin was almost resting on her chest. Being more careful this time, she counted the bands round her arms and fingers, not too bad. Breaking through the main part of the brace would be easy enough, but... the part of the brace that held her arms was separate from the rest, but because of the injuries it caused, it was most likely weaker.

Thankfully, the people who had imprisoned her in here hadn't made her prison out of the spirit pressure absorbing rock they usually would have so all she'd had to do was suppress her spirit pressure for the first few decades of her imprisonment and eventually Soul Society must of assumed, due to her lack of spirit pressure, that she'd died and removed the guards from the doors. With a great amount of concentration, she pulled up an image of a large iron gate in her mind. If she released enough of her spirit pressure, she could use it to blow the braces open.

"First gate... open."

Her body glowed violet, illuminating the space around her, she was at least ten feet from any surface, including the floor and ceiling. Now she'd opened the first 'Spirit Gate' it would be slightly easier to open the next few Spirit Gates, but she was weak at the moment and would only be able to hold them open for barely any time at all, or it could be the complete opposite effect, and she wouldn't be able to close them again, resulting in her death.

"Second gate, Third gate, Fourth gate... open"

An immense amount of spiritual pressure exploded from her, disintegrating the bonds instantly. To her relief, only the Third and Fourth Gates snapped shut again so she managed to stay upright as she hit the floor, though she did have to use her hand for balance. Only moments later a white blade of energy cut through the bolts on the door, though it soon faded in the residual energy of her spiritual pressure. Unfortunately it didn't open the doors.

"Third gate... open."

The doors were blown open and she started to take shaky steps forward, overwhelmed by her own power.

"Third gate... close. Second gate... close. First gate... close"

Kisuke sat bolt upright in his bed, sensing the familiar spirit pressure. She was breaking free, but that was a ridiculous amount of spirit pressure, she'd barely be able to stand after that. He rose from his bed and dressed swiftly, grabbing his zanpakto before leaving to 'accidentally' break the lock on the doors of her prison.

The spirit pressure got ridiculously immense for a moment, before fading to almost nothing.

Ichigo's eyes snapped open. What was that? That spirit pressure, it was so strong, but gone so quickly, maybe he imagined it? Yeah, probably.

Kisuke held his zanpakto high above his head, the edge of its blade directed towards the lock. He focused all his spirit energy into the blade and swung it down in a straight line. A bright white curve slashed out from the edge of the blade, cutting the bolts on the door clean in two. A moment later a bright violet light shone brightly through the crack in the doors, before blowing them wide open with a violent gust of wind. The light momentarily blinded him, but he could still see the silhouette's of a girl, her hair blowing out wildly behind her. As the light faded completely she fell forward, Kisuke catching her before she hit the ground. Her spirit power quickly fading.

"Kisuke-kun..." she uttered, before passing out. Her voice, though scratchy and choked, was still musical.

"It's good to have you back Akemi-chan" he whispered, cradling her in his arms.

"So you felt it too?" wondered Ichigo

"Ah," nodded Chad

"We all did." confirmed Orihime

Ichigo looked round the group, so he hadn't been imagining that short burst of ridiculously strong spirit pressure last night.

"I wonder who it was" said Orihime

"Or what" suggested Uryu

"Yeah..." muttered Ichigo, his mind elsewhere. He wondered if Urahara or Yorichi had felt it, probably. They might even know who it was with such ridiculous spirit pressure that it woke even him up, and he wasn't exactly known for his ability of sensing spirit pressure.

"I'll drop by Urahara's store after school, he might have some kind of explanation."

"I'll go with you!" insisted Orihime

Chad nodded, indicating that he'd come to.

"I-I might as well go too" added Uryu, not wanting to be left out.

Tessai made to grab Ichigo before he burst in unannounced, but the boy ducked out of his reach and flung open the doors. The four teenagers froze at the scene in front of them.

There was a girl, with long hair about the same colour as Kisuke's, and fairly pale skin, she was wearing a simple skirt and t-shirt. She looked no older than them, possibly even younger, and was curled up on the floor with her head and arms in Kisuke's lap, she appeared to be asleep. Kisuke was stroking her hair and smiling to himself. Only Ichigo seemed to jump to the worst and probably most inaccurate conclusion.

"You dirty old pervert!" he yelled, throwing a punch at Kisuke, who caught it easily with his free hand.

"You've made a mistake Ichigo, this isn't..."

"Like hell it is! How old is..."

"N-niisan?" asked the girl, rubbing her eye "What's going on?" she looked to Kisuke for answers

"Oh sorry Akemi-chan, did we wake you? Let me just get rid of these people then you can sleep in peace."

Akemi pushed herself into a sitting position, although it looked as if she was still leaning on Kisuke "No, it's alright, I'm f-fine now" she insisted, suppressing a yawn.

Ichigo was completely frozen to the spot, mentally smacking himself in the head. Of course the two were related, they looked so similar!

"Kisuke-san! I didn't realize you had a little sister!" flourished Orihime, her eyes lighting up at the younger girl

"That's 'cuz I never told ya" he said plainly, now letting go of Ichigo's fist.

"Are you just here to visit or are you staying?" Orihime asked Akemi brightly,

"Um..." she looked wide-eyed at Orihime,

"Hold on Orihime, I haven't even asked her that myself" said Kisuke "Now tell me, why are you here?"

***

"... so then we thought to come and ask you!" finished Orihime

"I see..." muttered Kisuke, looking at the floor, scratching his chin, deep in thought.

Ichigo hadn't gotten involved in the explanation, the look the girl was giving him was making him so nervous to the point of not being able to speak. The look wasn't accusing or angry, just curious and searching, not once in the last five minuets had she broken eye-contact with him, or even blinked. Her eyes were deep blue and penetrating, when she looked him in the eyes, it was like she could see straight into his soul.

"So do you have any idea who was the source of so much spirit pressure?" asked Uryu

"Huh?" asked Kisuke, snapping out thought "Oh, well I know Akemi was using her spirit energy about that time" he said nonchalantly, waving his hand towards Akemi, who didn't even notice the sound of her name.

"If you knew it was Ameki-san the whole time, why didn't you just say so?" snapped Uryu, annoyed

"It's just that... well she was in a space between an alternate reality and the Living World at the time, and it's highly unlikely you could sense Akemi's spirit pressure from here."

Orihime looked slightly confused "Um, what do you mean?"

Uryu adjusted his glasses "He means that Akemi-san's spiritual pressure isn't strong enough to be sensed from the living world." he seemed to notice the penetrating look Akemi was giving him, similar to the one she'd been giving Ichigo only moments ago. "Um, not that I mean that you're weak!" he rushed, thinking that he'd offended her, though she didn't look offended "It's just that...!"

"So who was it then?" asked Chad, turning to Kisuke and cutting off Uryu. Akemi turned her gaze back to Ichigo

"That's what I'm not sure of... Akemi, can you sense anything? Or anyone?"

"No" she answered instantly and bluntly

"Are you even trying?" accused Uryu

This seemed to draw her attention away from the silent interrogation she seemed to be giving Ichigo. The look on her face was a mixture of hurt and mild surprise "I can sense no dangerous spirit pressures outside of this room." she said, her voice was soft and musical, even slightly child-like. In the smallest way, Akemi reminded Ichigo of Yuzu.

Kisuke smiled slightly and ruffled Akemi's hair "Little Akemi here is incredibly sensitive to spirit-pressure, she could sense even the slightest twitch of spirit pressure from over several kilometers away, if she tried that is." he seemed to just take in exactly what she'd said "What do you mean 'outside of this room'?"

She smiled at him "Nothing,"

Kisuke observed his sister cautiously for a moment, before turning back to the rest of the group, only Ichigo seemed to catch the sideways glance Akemi threw at him. "Well, until we're sure it was nothing dangerous, be on your guard and I'd advise you not to go anywhere alone, just in case."

Akemi looked up at her brother, a curious look on her face.

"Why did you lie?" she asked "Now they'll be worried for no reason."

He just smiled and ruffled her hair, before getting up from the table and walking away from her. For some strange reason, Akemi got the feeling that he wasn't.

Deep in thought, Kisuke stared at the ceiling. Now he understood why he'd woken up in the middle of the night. It was the strange spiritual pressure that Ichigo and the others had sensed that woke him up, not Akemi's, that had been too faint to wake him up, almost non-existent, it was just pure coincidence that the bursts of spiritual energy had happened simultaneously and that he'd sensed hers as well.