I woke up slowly, taking in the walls which were blurring slightly. Looking at the clock, I realized I needed to get up if I was going to make it to school. Stretching until my joints popped, I slid out of the warm sheets and headed to the closet, stopping to put on a shirt. Before I could bang on the closet door, it slid open, showing Rukia, fully dressed, and crouching on the low shelf. "Morning, Ichigo." She grinned brightly, jumping past me quickly into the hall. 'She's in a good mood.' I thought idly.

Still rubbing sleep out of my eyes, I dressed slowly. Kon was still slumped on the edge of my bed, which annoyed me. "Hey, Kon, wake up!" He made no move to awake, only mumbling 'Rukia' and turning onto his back. Rolling my eyes, I quickly left the room, cursing as I realized I was going to be late for school if I didn't hurry. Rukia was standing at the front door, her book bag on her back and mine in her hand. Her earlier look of happiness was gone now, replaced by a look of worry and impatience.

"What's your problem?" I demanded, annoyed that she had taken my bag. Ignoring me, Rukia crossed the small kitchen, pulling me with surprising strength out of my chair, grabbing a piece of toast as she towed me out the front door. When we were outside, in the glaring light, she shoved the toast in my mouth and dropped my bag and hers behind a bush. Quickly, she forced her way out of her gigai, shoving her body behind the same bush. "We've got a big problem. A hollow has been reported."

"And…. Why can't Renji handle it? We have school!" I mumbled around the toast. Rukia looked over at me as if I were insane. "Why do you think I hurried you out the door like that? Renji did go to handle it, and he's been missing for over three days now! We've been called in to find and save him, if needed, you idiot! Now, hurry up!" Ignoring the insult, I quickly became a soul reaper, letting my body slump next to hers in the bush. "Let's go."

We ran for a while, Rukia checking the hollow's position every so often. When we ran about a block from Kiskue's shop, we both heard a loud roar. Rukia shot me a knowing look. "To the right. It's big." She murmured. Grinning, I pulled out Zangetsu slowly. "We've got this." She smiled at me tightly. As we rounded the corner, a horrific sight greeted us. It was big, but that's not what was so horrible. It had no mouth, but where its mouth should have been was slivery blood. The blood trailed down its chin to its hand, which was holding Renji. Renji was also covered the silver blood, which I slowly realized was his own. As we approached, the hollow roared in fury and threw Renji down so fast his limp body was a blur. Rukia screamed, and then ran to where Renji was, taking his head in her lap. She ripped some fabric of her skirt, pressing it to Renji's mouth, where the silver blood was pouring out. "Ichigo," she called, looking up at me, "Have you got this? I need… to take care of Renji." Nodding, I turned to face the hollow, which had used my distraction to creep slowly forward. I raised Zangetsu, charging forward quickly.