I have made a terrible mistake.

Gongs sounded overhead, rapid footsteps not far behind. My lungs screamed as I gasped for air, darting around a corner and jumping through an opened window. I landed on my feet, searching for a hiding spot. There! I squeezed myself in behind the standing cupboard, one of the few furniture pieces, and held my breath.

Angry voices drifted through the opened window but nobody ventured into the room.

"Where did she go?!"

"Find the Ryoka!"

"Hurry! There are footprints leading in this direction."

"Are you positive that they went this way?"

I stayed hidden long after their voices disappear, heart thumping in my chest. My head ached just trying to hold back my spiritual pressure from leaking out. Ever so softly, a scuffle sounded and I dared a look around the corner.

A lone man stood there, staring around. His bald head reflected the sunlight. I bit my tongue to keep from calling out. With a sigh, Ikkaku walked off without a backwards glance.

I wheezed for air in the safety of the room, hands on knees. Adrenaline spiking, every creak and groan in the dark caught my attention. For two long hours I had been flitting between squad barracks, searching for a place to hide. But it seemed that the Soul Society was on high alert after the initial notice. Every soul reaper in every damn squad was out on patrol. It seemed that sections of Squad 11 got the afternoon hours.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll be back out after my shower," said a female voice, directly outside the door.

I jumped and threw myself near the hinges of the door, just as it was pushed open. The blonde hair girl didn't even notice my presence or that her door had swung shut on its own. She sure did feel the jab I sent into her stomach and elbow to face though.

She collapsed and I caught her before she made too much noise. With disgust, I noted the blood I left on her skin. I slipped in to her stylish bathroom and quickly washed up, keeping an eye on her to make sure she stayed asleep. Then I carried her to her bed and dropped her on it before I stripped her of her uniform. Tucking her into her blankets, I made it seem as if she had opted instead to sleep than go shower.

I dressed quickly and tied my old clothes into a bundle and hung it around my waist using a black sash she had in the cupboard. I'd have to wash them some other time. I studied myself in her mirror and it was if my past self was staring back at me.

Too noticeable. Any soul reaper with enough brains would immediately tell who I was in a heartbeat. Cursing silently, I looked around the room for something to help disguise myself. My eyes spied a bottle of hair colour.

The lid came off with a pop. Blue cream with a single finger strike through it. Perfect. I dipped my fingers in then ran them through my hair until I had a multitude of blue streaks.

I tilted my head before the mirror. I didn't look too bad with blue hair. On the girl's table were two plain black clips which I used to draw my hair away from my ears and face. The girl groaned behind me; I checked on her but she was only rolling her head back and forth on the pillow.

"Interesting you chose that approach." Chiya's humanoid form materialised in the mirror. Her long blue hair cascaded down her back.

"Guess we're twinning tonight."

"Anything at all? I can't believe we lost them!" a shouting voice drifted into the room.

"Well I can. I feel like we're chasing a bloody ghost."

"Hey, didn't we already come down this way?"

The voices passed on and I risked a look out the window. All clear. Silently, I slipped out, sticking close to the wall. It was growing dark now, splashes of pink in the sky and heavy shadows creeping along the ground.

I had no plan, no place to hide. Night time would be my friend but after that, I was screwed. I had to find a way to let Ichigo and the others in. Or better yet, get back out and stick close to them. I'd rather be trapped outside than trapped in here.

A hell butterfly broke my thoughts and I watched as it gently fluttered down to the wall, right beside my head. Its wings opened and closed mesmerizingly slow. I barely breathed. What was it doing here? Did someone know I was hiding here?

Ridiculous and utterly preposterous. Sure, they knew I was in the Seireitei – Gin would have told them – but not where.

Ever so cautiously, I raised a finger. The butterfly flew to it.

Old Hog, 7 o'clock.

The butterfly took to the sky and I watched on in surprise. That could hardly be classified as a message. It was more like a reminder for some air headed individual. Maybe it had been for the girl I knocked out.

The shadows had grown enough for me to move out and I navigated my way through the alleys, careful to avoid the patrolling soul reapers. I was somewhere near the Squad 6 barracks when a voice barked at me.

"Hey, what are you doing out?"

"Huh?" I spun quickly, feigning innocence while my heart thumped like crazy in my chest. There's no need to panic. Just keep your spiritual pressure under control and they won't recognise you.

"What division are you from?" said the man, folding his burly arms over his chest. Brown mop like hair flopped over his heavy set eyebrows and wide eyes.

"Squad," Eleven, "Four," I replied hurriedly, keeping my gaze downcast. A slip of my tongue would give me away. Now I just had to play the role of a timid natured Squad 4 member.

The man, who had the weirdest nose I had ever seen, leaned down close and breathed on me. "Squad Four aren't on duty tonight. Only Squad's Nine, Three and Seven are patrolling." His narrowed eyes said it all.

He didn't believe me.

"Look, I'm just trying to get to..." I racked my brain. Get to what or where? "...the Old Hog," I stressed, gazing at him with fluttering eyes.

He blinked several times then slowly drew back. "Why would someone from Squad Four be going to the rowdiest bar around?"

I cursed inwardly. I had no choice now.

"You know, you do bear a striking resemblance-"

"No hard feelings and all," I cut him off and sent a right hook into his jaw. The impact sent him flying and I rushed after his unconscious body. I felt sort of sorry for decking the guy but I didn't need another alarm raised.

His feet slithered along the ground as I hauled him into a dark alley and propped him against the wall. To hide him even more, I grabbed a garbage bag left to disintegrate in the gutter and draped it over his torso then smeared mud on his face to dullen the stark whiteness of his skin.

I slipped out of the shadows and hurried towards the Old Hog. It would only be a matter of time before his friends found him and raised the alarm.

I'd only been once to the bar, back before I had enrolled in the soul reaper academy. My partner at the time was a frequent occupant of the bar. Me, I more-so enjoyed the fact that if you climbed the tall wall behind the bar and walked along it for a hundred metres, you could climb down and sneak into Squad 9's laundry room.

My grin spread as I walked under shadows and torchlight. It hadn't been a pleasant few years of my life but those glimpses of a life I wished to lead spurred me on. I passed by Squad 9. Several soul reapers stood outside, one of them smoking a joint. They were grim-faced and weary, not even glancing my way.

The Old Hog looked exactly as I remembered, from the paint peeling from the walls and doors - all a disgusting brown and grey colour – to the tape crisscrossed over the windows to hold the fragile glass from spiderwebbing from it's many cracks. The only new addition, I noted as I drew closer, was the clock face above my head.

7:14pm.

Oops.

Hopefully the message was not for me.

The door creaked pitifully as I entered, eyes adjusting to the watery light thrown by the hanging lights. There were a handful of soul reapers within and a couple of higher class individuals who looked to be from the Rukongai.

The bar keeper looked up as I walked in, already placing a bottle a sake on the counter. Hesitation made me pause and that's when he called out to me.

"I knew it was you hiding in there."

I jumped and swung round. In a booth close to the door sat Ikkaku Madarame.

~

After taking the sake from the counter and placing in front of Ikkaku – who immediately sculled it – I slid into the seat opposite, eyes narrowed.

"How the flipping hell did you know it was me?" I hissed.

""A report came through that a single Ryoka had escaped into Squad 5 territory. When I went to investigate, I felt your spiritual pressure," he said as he sipped his drink. "It feels weird, by the way."

My fingers brushed the collar and hurriedly, my other hand drew them away. Obviously it wasn't working well enough which meant I would have to limit the amount of fights that I most definitely would get dragged into. My eyes suddenly widened. If I had released my spiritual pressure enough for Ikkaku to sense it then...

"The Captain hasn't sensed you yet. I don't even think he remembers your spiritual pressure. Plus only a few members of the squad close to Squad 5 barracks could tell you were in the Seireitei and they're too afraid of the captain to risk his wrath."

That both stung and calmed my heart. While I wanted to return to my squad, the fact remained that my Captain wanted to skin me alive. Another pressing matter came to mind.

"How's... Yachiru?" I asked softly. My chest ached just remembering what I'd done to her. It felt like a lifetime ago yet was always lurking in the back of my mind, reminding me every second of my grievance.

Ikkaku pondered that for a moment and that was what frightened me. Ikkaku never thought too hard about things.

"She's okay but kind of distant at times. She's also a lot more moody. You should hear her screaming for them to bring you back home."

"Home? Why does she want me back? I sliced her chest open."

"I don't think that matters to her. She idolises you in a sense – you might have hurt her but she forgave you a long time ago."

The air between was silent.

"Most of the squad have," he whispered, a sadness to his voice.

I drummed my fingers on the table, staring in shock at Ikkaku. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with the real Ikkaku?"

"Don't worry," he said, grinning maniacally, "the real Ikkaku is still here."

"The real Ikkaku would have challenged me to a battle immediately, with a bet in place. And Yumichika would be right with you. Or the real Ikkaku would have turned me in already for his sense of duty to his captain is greater than his love for sake."

"I left Yumichika behind at the barracks. As for that, you know nothing rivals my love for sake."

"You're lying to me and yourself if you think that." Something's not right here.

He sighed heavily and leant back in the chair when he realised I wasn't buying his crap. "They think I've been called to the Head Captain's office. No one knows I'm here tonight. Not even the Captain."

"You tell the Captain everything though," I pointed out, stunned.

Ikkaku's lips were thin and his cheeks tinted pink when he glanced away.

...

...

Wait, what? I flattened my palms on the table. "Ikkaku..."

"What?" He didn't look me in the eye, instead looked down the neck of his see-through sake bottle. The pink in his cheeks spread. "You're my friend, Kera. I can't let them capture you – wouldn't make me a good buddy then, would it?" He was rabbling.

No, you can't let them catch me for another reason, I thought and bit my tongue to keep the words from coming out.

I realised now what I was faced with. The man who I saw as a brother thought of me as something more. Enough to risk his life for me, the Ryoka everyone was hunting.

He cleared his throat and pushed back his chair. "Anyway, I better go. Squad 11's on patrol duty in about half an hour. I suggest you get as far away from the areas surrounding Squad 11 and Squad 12 as you can."

Before I could even utter a sound, he was gone and I was left alone in a smelly bar with no plan.

I guess this means I'm winging it.

As long as I didn't stray too far into Zaraki's radar, I would be safe. I stumbled out of the bar into the cold night air. There were barely any soul reapers outside now, most either holed up indoors or most likely patrolling closer to the gates.

If I was a Ryoka, I'd stay close to the outer edges of the Seireitei. But I wasn't one. A manhole caught my attention and silently, I lifted it up and peered down into the darkness of the sewers. It would be safer than above ground plus only stupid soul reapers would be down here.

With a final glance, I slipped in down the ladder, shutting the manhole above me. Complete darkness. I clutched the slimy ladder tightly, disorientated. I'd never encountered darkness like this before.

Ever so slowly, I climbed down, careful to have a good grip of the rungs before I shifted my weight. Wouldn't do to fall and break a bone in this cesspit.

My feet sloshed ankle deep in filth after a tense few minutes. I shuddered and tried to keep my mind far away from thoughts of what swam in the sewage water.

Now what am I to do?