Okay...whoever thought the last chapter sucked...I agree with you. I was so focused on thinking of everything ELSE...I was kinda just on auto pilot. Like I knew what I wanted to write and words were in my head...but it didn't go down how I wanted. I shall now try and write in Soi's POV...because first person is much easier for me now than ever.

Again...not long...but hey...it finally happened!

Sorry for any mistakes.

AU! OOC!

I DON'T OWN BLEACH!

Life was a series of moments. Specifically recently. It's like I blink and everything is always changed. I'm always somewhere new. And it scares me.

I could be dead now because of so many things, but I'm not. And that makes me happy. Being with Yoruichi makes me happy, and I know she'll do whatever she has to to keep me safe and sound.

So when I asked her to change me…it wasn't really an option anymore. When I asked for the mark…it was about keeping me safe.

Because The Agents had answered. But with bad news. Gin wouldn't back down, no matter what. He was already breaking boundaries and treaties with other clans of other races and backgrounds.

Greed was his biggest sin, but not in any of the worst ways we're ever told as children. He's greedy in the big ways that every villain in comics is.

With those big plans to take over the world. Only this time…there's no superhero army, no marching bands of humans…it's just him and his clan…and rag-tag groups of tribes that don't even know if they want to fight against him.

So it was worse…because he may just get his way. And Yoruichi was so scared because I was his target for a possible mate.

Choices had gone out the window. Mistakes were easy to make at critical time limits. Decisions needed to be made.

And number one on the list was making me one of them.

I'd learned so much in the past few weeks. All those ghost stories to scare you aren't really stories to keep you in line. They're stories to scare you off and keep you away; parents just use them to their advantage.

There are people under the water, Mer people, but they have legs. Only they have little fins here and there so they can swim faster than fish. And they look normal (so Kisuke tells me) and they have gills on their throats so they can breathe just like fish do. Apparently they trained themselves to be able to walk on land and breathe our air.

There are Centaurs; they live in rain forests that are so dense even the strongest human made tools can't get through. They made the trees that way. And they make them germinate so quickly.

There are gnomes that live underground; I've been told most earthquakes are their doing.

On abandoned house lots or rotting old buildings there are creatures people think of as ghosts, but really they just like to be alone. And eat rotten materials I guess.

All around us are strange things I've always only thought of as omens. But I guess the only real dangers are vampires and this strange race of creatures that come from lava rocks mixing with plant life.

But those lava rock monsters aren't all social and they hate to be bothered.

Volcanoes are the humps on giant's backs and hills are the backs of giant moles. All these things that could be explained to me…it just made me want to be more attached to their world.

Because human life is greedy and insignificant to me. The only things that mattered were my parents and my cousin.

The world had expanded to me over night. And it almost hurt to have all these secrets exposed to my slightly smaller mind.

A part of me that was trying to be rational told me to go home and forget it all so it could happily continue in the confines of its boxed existence. But the other stronger half told me to go forth and change, because this life wasn't just about me now.

And I know it sounds like an awful line from a book…but it literally told me that. And when it did I think I thought I was nuts.

"It's going to hurt." Yoruichi warns. We're in her room of the beach house.

"Not as bad as the vampire's treatment. They suck you bone dry and you can feel it all happen. I hear they even crunch a few of your bones." Grimm calls. They're all here to see it start.

It's a ritual…tradition if you'll allow me to say so. It was proper to them. My hands were tied down and when they left the door would be locked and one of them would be staying here with me.

I hope it's not Yoruichi.

"Grimm …shut up." Kisuke hisses and the younger werewolf huffs, falling silent for the first time in actually several minutes.

There's a silence and I look at Yoruichi. I know she doesn't want to…but it's not a choice anymore. She wants me safe. Because there's no guarantee that I'll be safe if and when Gin starts a war.

She leans down…whispers she's sorry…and then there's this awful pain right on my shoulder. My muscles are burning and twitching.

It hurts so bad…and I hear an awful scream before I black out.

I'm not sure how long I've been here or like this…but now my life really is a series of small moments.

I'm awake…then I'm not.

And when I am there's always horrible pain. I can feel my bones stretch and then snap as they shrink again. I can feel my muscles build then destroy themselves.

I can feel my teeth change shape and grow before shrinking again. My fingers curl and stretch before they shrink too.

I can feel fur sprout along my limbs. It itches and scratches when I'm awake. I can feel it prickle along the underside of my skin before it presses through the flesh.

My mouth changes, my jaw stretching as I grow a long ugly wolfish maw.

It makes me glad when I black out.

The backs of my eyes hurt and my brain feels to big for my skull and my tongue feels heavy in its case of teeth. Every time I find the strength to pull my eyelids up I have to close them because the light stings so bad it hurts and all the colors are a cloud of swirling rainbows.

If I had to guess I'd say this is what acid feels like when you take it. Only acid can have a good side. And this was just pain. Everything hurt…I lost track of days and nights and hours.

Everything was a mess. I was a mess.

And then it doesn't hurt anymore. I can breathe fine. My ribs don't feel to tight against my lungs and my beating heart. The bonds on my wrists don't leave sore sports on my skin from being to tight. There's no fur pressing through my flesh, no ears sporting from my head.

That one had been strange. I could feel the skin stretch and cover my ears as my scalp tingled and ears sprung from my skull cap. I'd been awake for that.

I'm not to tired, but I'm hungry as a savage. My stomach growls, I open my mouth to speak for the first time I in I'm not sure how long but my tongue feels heavy and cottony. I choke out something that sounds like Yoruichi's name.

And she's there, she gives me something to eat, it's warm and sticky and soft as I chew. She gives me something to drink, brushing my hair from my face and telling me how well I did. Almost like my mom did when I rode my first bike and fell several dozen times.

But this is different. She's my mate…and she's proud of me, but I can see the hurt swimming behind her eyes at what she's done. I want to tell her not to cry but my tongue is so heavy to form words and I'm suddenly overwhelmed with exhaustion.

"Sleep." She whispers.

I sigh, my eyes closing. I feel my head loll to the side and I'm asleep. I'm changed, but I'm real and living and better than before. I'm alive.

And nothing has ever felt so amazing.

Not the catastrophic pain I was under before now. Not coming to a new strange place. Not even meeting Yoruichi.

But this…this is unbelievable. And being with her just makes it all the better.