There was a pillow under my head and my blanket had been pulled up to my chin. I snuggled deeper, relinquishing my hold on reality. My eyelids drooped, watching lazily as a golden form curled itself at the foot of my bed. I wanted to ask the 'thing' what it was but it was peaceful enough that I decided I didn't need to know. I drifted down into my dreams of banquets and lazy afternoons in the sun with not a care in the—

"Kera!"

My arm gave a violent twitch and I felt my sleepiness falling away. Someone was disturbing my peace and so god help me, I'd send them into their own dreamtime in a second.

"Get up. We don't have time to waste!"

That voice... I groaned. Why couldn't she let me be? But the urgency in her voice had me scratching my head at what I had been doing before my nap.

"Wake up," she growled, a tenor in her voice that had me fighting to the surface of consciousness. I came round, eyes fluttering open, just as she stabbed her finger into my thigh.

I gave a yelp and jolted into the world of the living. "What was that for?" I hissed, shaking off the cobwebs and pulling my clawed finger out of my leg. Hollow bone didn't come stitch it up so I tore off the hem of my uniform and tired it around the wound. "Are you mad?"

'You're the one sleeping on the job.'

I rubbed my bleary eyes. Chiya had sat down in the shade of the building. Flies buzzed around us in the empty street. The occasional boom and blast of spiritual pressure rose on the spring breeze.

"Damn," I muttered, pulling myself to my feet. Paulo had crowed that the others were walking into a trap and now it might be too late for me to reach them before they encountered the captains and lieutenants. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?"

I just prayed that Kenpachi's bloodlust meant Orihime, Chad, Uryu and Ganju didn't have to fight – no offence to them but they probably wouldn't stand a chance in their states. I hoped they'd been broken out of their prison before that or we'd be taking two steps back instead of forwards.

'I tried. You sleep like the dead when you want to.'

"I was tired, okay," I snapped, standing and dusting myself off. I looked left and right then up to the hill before us. If I couldn't single out the spiritual powers of my friends then I'd have to head for Rukia and I had a horrible, sinking feeling of where she was. It was not a place to travel to all by my injured and weak lonesome.

'You're a right ol' hot mess,' she said with a snort.

A tick appeared on my forehead. "I guess it takes me a little longer to adjust to my new powers than I realised. I also came into this thinking I had an all-powerful entity hosting itself in my body but I guess even dragons have limits."

She grumbled but her mouth was shut. Good. I didn't need her side comments this late into the mission that we were woefully unprepared. I did enough licking of my wounds as it was. At least I beat Paulo. If I hadn't... I shuddered, dispelling that thought. Showing my face in the Squad would be out of the question and Ikkaku would laugh about it until we were old and grey.

Thinking about the fight with Paulo gave me an idea. I wasn't too crash hot at it but I could do it if I concentrated enough. That was what my teachers told me anyway.

I bowed my head and clasped my hands together before my face. In the darkness it was a little easier for me to concentrate.

'Please don't tell me you're praying or I will throw up.'

"Quiet," I growled, calming my breath and listening to the throb of my heart in my ears. "I'm trying to get us a direction."

Ever so slowly, the throb of my heart was replaced with the throbs of spiritual pressure in all directions. The stronger the Reiryoku, the deeper the throb and emanation of reiatsu so I focused on only the strongest ones. I clung to the new sensations, waiting for any colours to tell me what I wanted to hear. It took longer than I wanted to wait for the colours to bleed through.

Pink.

Two lots of Green.

Red.

Even violet.

I dug deeper, stretching further until I felt near to my limits.

Golden yellow.

"Found it," I breathed out and opened my eyes, releasing everyone's reiatsu from mind. "Ikkaku and Yumchika are fighting. I can't sense the others which means they'd moved on. Kenpachi's having a stand-off against two others I can't place."

'And let me guess, we're headed for your Captain?'

"It's the only logical choice," I said, turning right and running. "Yachiru will be there and she'll be able to tell me where the others went."

'Sure, sure,' she replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I questioned.

'I think you know what it means. Unless I really do have to spell it out for you.'

"Enlighten me."

'You're going to find your Captain because you want to make sure he's okay and not just because the lieutenant is going to be with him.'

"Pfft, that's utter ridiculous, I know he's fine. He's Kenpachi Zaraki," I answered, butterflies in my stomach.

'Yeah and you have a high-school crush on him.'

I made sure to keep running straight and my eyes opened. Chiya's reply was sending my mind into a meltdown of all the things I'd been trying to avoid since day dot. Finally, I said the words I'd been ignoring.

"Yes, I have a crush on my Captain."

A weight lifted off my chest and it felt good to say it out-loud. Yet it cut to the bone though because I knew nothing would come from it. How could it? He was a Captain and I was whatever I was these days; his only love was a fight that he could exert some effort for.

"You'll have to tell Kenny this too. I think he's really been missing you."  Yachiru's words echoed and brought a ghost of a smile to my lips before I gave my head a shake.

"Why did you bring that up? I have much more important things to worry about."

'You're right so tell your heart to shut up and start listening to your brain. What's it telling you?'

I sighed and stopped running. "It's telling me I need food, rest and to..." I looked up. "I need a higher vantage point." I vaulted onto the roof and that was when I spied the black dome in the distance. "What the hell is that?" And how did I not notice it coming into existence?

It had curious rings on the edges of the blackness and what appeared to be roped wrapped around it and anchoring it to the surrounding buildings. From it, I sensed nothing but there was the feeling that someone with incredible power had created it. Where Kenpachi's spiritual pressure had been was an empty space; he was inside it.

I shunpoed with the reserves of my strength, ignoring Chiya's outburst at the direction I was taking. In little time, I was standing on the edge of a rooftop, staring at the black dome inches before my face. From this close, it was a dizzying height and breadth. Definitely a Captain's Bankai.

'Kera!' Chiya hissed. 'Someone else is here!'

I whipped my head round and saw the Captain of Squad 7, Sajin Komamura, standing there regarding me through the slits in his helmet. My breath caught in my throat but there was little I could do. Chiya was calling me an idiot in multiple different ways as I backed down off the edge of the roof. Sajin followed me with his eyes but made no move for his weapon.

He must be waiting for Kenpachi and whoever to finish fighting.

I squared my shoulders and put my hand on the dome's wall. I know you can beat them, Kenpachi. Good luck. I'll be waiting for you. I felt awkward and embarrassed even saying those things in my head so I quickly shunpoed away, Sajin's eyes in the back of my head.

The Senzaiku was a lot closer now, the palace's white walls startling in the sunlight. All my horrible foreboding feelings seemed to be coming to fruition this whole mission. Several incredibly powerful individuals were standing on the cliff's edge beside a large wooden frame and a halberd held in place with rope.

The Sokyoku. I'd never seen it this close before but the tales that were told in the districts when I was running rampant were enough to conjure nightmares. The whispers said that this was a punishment not to be taken likely. Any Shinigami whose sin severely broke the law would face their trial on Sokyoku Hill. They were never spoken about or seen again.

Rukia's crime did not warrant this form of punishment. It shocked me that the Gotei 13 had even decided it was needed at all. If Rukia is to die this way for transferring her powers, would this have been my fate for maiming my lieutenant had I been caught? I shuddered to think about that thought.

'I've changed my mind. We can stay down here with your Captain.'

"I thought you weren't afraid of anything."

'Have you seen the state we're in? We might as well throw ourselves in front of the halberd.'

I gnawed on the inside of my cheek, weighing my options. There weren't many though. I was hungry, tired and running on empty; it would be the easiest option to wait by Kenpachi and wait for Ikkaku and Yumichika to finish their battles.

My eyes spied the long, zigzagging stairway carved into the side of the hill and my mind was made up for me. No matter the state I was in, the face remained that Rukia was in danger. She was my friend and I had no intention in letting her die. Orihime and the others would no doubt be on their way so I didn't have a moment to lose. I raced across the rooftops, hoping that I'd reach the top in time.

"You realise that this is our death sentence? If you get there before the others and you're alone up there with the Captains, we have no hope," Chiya said grimly.

"Then we better say our prays." 

A/N: Slightly shorter chapter than the others but like the chapter title says it's the calm before the storm. And what a storm it's turning out to be...