Bleach: New Girl in Town

Author’s Notes: Awhile back, a friend began to work on a fic that had an OC of mine in it. So bits and pieces from that story have been placed here concerning my OC as I helped her with those scenes. I have rearranged the words to sound somewhat different but there are similarities. The bits and pieces came from “At the Edge of Tomorrow” by Rain-and-Thunder. I don’t own Bleach, just the characters Alexis and any other characters who are not in the series.

Story takes place shortly after the parakeet incident in Ep 5 and goes to Ep 14 when Ichigo defeats a menos.

New Girl in Town

It was like any other day as classes began at Karakura High School. Kids entered the class and took their seats while others mingled with their classmates. When the bell rang to indicate class was to start, each student took their designated seat. The last to enter was the teacher. She was known as Misato Ochi. She had long brown hair, always pulled back in a low ponytail and glasses over her brown eyes.

“Alright class, settle down. I have interesting news to greet you all before we even start the day. We have a new student who travelled all the way from the United States. So I would like to welcome her in before anything gets started.” Misato greeted. She turned and looked towards the door, indicating for the girl to enter.

To everyone’s surprise there stood a young girl of around five feet and five inches tall with wavy blonde hair going little past the shoulders. She had bright green eyes and easy to see she was American.

“Everyone this is Alexandra Cruz.”

“Alexis,” the girl corrected with a scowl, giving the teacher a sideways glance.

Both Ichigo and Rukia looked up to the girl. Rukia was completely confused, as she never heard of ‘United States’ before. She knew she’d have to ask Ichigo about it later.

“Okay,” Misato gave a cringed look. From the gaze her new student was giving her, it was easy to see the teacher was a bit intimidated by it.

Her eyes turned to the class. “Hello,” she greeted to everyone. “I’m Alexis and it’s going to be interesting to be here at this school.”

Trying to recompose herself, Misato lifted her head a little higher. “Alright…Alexis. I see you can speak Japanese very well.”

“I’m fluent in both Japanese and English. You all know English is my primary language but from the time I was young I was taught Japanese as it’s in my heritage.”

“Well that’s good to hear. So where shall we sit you?” Misato looked around the class.

“Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!” Keigo suddenly yelled raising his hand up. “She could sit beside me!”

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Misato answered. “Besides, there’s no available desk for her there.”

“Dork,” Alexis muttered in English, getting the attention of a few students wondering what she just said.

A couple students understood what she said. They gave a quirked brow, surprised by her choice of insult for their fellow classmate.

Misato looked at Alexis, nearly frowning. She had also heard what the girl said. Keeping quiet, she looked around the room again and saw a free desk. “You can sit over there by Uryu Ishida.” She pointed.

Alexis followed the finger to see a rather lean tall boy with glasses. Instantly, Alexis scowled and felt shivers go up her spine. ‘He’s a Quincy’, she thought. ‘Damn it.’ Knowing that everyone was looking at her, Alexis moved forward and took a seat near the Quincy. He gave her a look, immediately wondering what was wrong.

“What?” she snapped.

“One could ask the same thing about you,” Uryu stated, pushing up his glasses. “You’re the one who is glaring at me and you don’t even know me.”

Not realizing she was doing that, Alexis suddenly felt like she’d been slapped in the face. “Oh. Well sorry.” She turned away to listen to what the teacher was saying.

During the course of the day, Uryu did his best to show Alexis around, much to her dismay. The male teen couldn’t figure what her problem was and when he’d bring up the subject, she would snap a remark. Alexis couldn’t wait to go home. She was going to need to find a way to not be around Uryu that much.

Misato looked up as the day drew to an end. She closed her books and stood, getting everyone’s attention. “Well guess that will be all for today.” She then shuffled her papers just as the last bell rang. “Have a good day.”

Alexis stood, preparing to gather her books and head home. She knew her Aunt would be expecting her. She failed to notice Uryu stood at the same time she did, observing her quietly.

Realizing she was being watched, she turned in his direction. Seeing it was Uryu who had his eyes on her, she gave a sigh, deciding to speak with him about why she kept giving him the cold shoulder. He did have a right to know. “We need to talk.”

“I would think a proper introduction is in order before exchanging pleasantries and having a conversation.” Uryu adjusted his glasses higher onto his nose. He had showed her around but not once did she introduce herself to him nor he to her. “Where you are an American, I will forgive you this time.”

Immediately fuming at his arrogant attitude. She slammed her hands down onto his desk.

The abrupt sound of Alexis’ hand hitting the desk, startled Misato. She jerked to look up to see what was going on. “If you two have an issue, you could always take it outside.”

Alexis glared at the teacher. Snatching her books up in a quick rage, she swiftly turned on her heel and stormed out without another word.

Uryu sighed. “Please excuse us, Miss Ochi.” Uryu gathered his own books and made his way out of the room, intending to continue the conversation Alexis so rudely began. “I'll check on Alexandra.” Once out of the room, he saw her retreating back. Picking up speed, he approached her.

“What was that about?” he asked the girl when he was close enough. He soon frowned, noticing she was giving him the silent treatment. “Alexandra?” he asked.

“Will you please just shut up already,” Alexis snapped. “It wasn’t even important anymore, ok? So just drop it. And it's Alexis, not Alexandra.”

"Look, Alexandra." Uryu began, ignoring her usage of the nickname. He could hear an agitated sigh from the girl. He then reached up and placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her walk. “You seem to have a problem with me and it’s beginning to get on my nerves and we only met today.”

“Like I care. And you’re the one who was being rude by making that smart-ass remark about introductions. So the only person to blame here, is you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my Aunt is waiting for me. Alexis shrugged his hand from her shoulder. “Good day.”

This time the Quincy let her walk away, as he reached up to adjust his glasses again. “Why do I get the feeling there is trouble brewing?” he muttered to himself before continuing to exit the school and head home.

-

A few days later, as Alexis fell into her new school routine, she felt herself get uneasy around Uryu and even around Ichigo and Rukia. She could sense something was off on all three. Yeah, Rukia had been in the class a little longer than she was but almost everyday Ichigo and her always seemed to take off and return later and today, of course was no different. The two arrived and began class but soon would disappear in a hurry.

Afterwards, everything seemed to then go fine after the two left until it came lunch. Alexis sat at her desk, quietly eating, not wanting to be bothered and ignored Orhime and her friends while they chatted. She could sense Uryu nearby, eating his, but she did her best to ignore him too. Suddenly there was a commotion from the nearby open windows and every head turned in that direction.

"Excuse me, this is the 9th grade class group 3 right?"

It was Ichigo and he had jumped three floors straight up. Jumped up with no visible help, aside from his own leg power.

Everyone in the room, including Alexis, gasped in surprise seeing such an incredible and inconceivable act beyond anything a human was capable of. It wasn't humanly possible to leap three floors straight up, not without some sort of help.

"Wh-wait a second!" Tatsuki stuttered, pointing an accusing finger at the boy. "How did you even get up here? It's three floors straight up."

Not impressed, Alexis stood and marched to the front of the gathering as well. "You should enter in the Olympics. I'm sure you'll get the gold medal."

Tatsuki looked from Alexis to Ichigo and back again. "I don't think the Olympics is really the issue here."

Uryu also stood. He could tell straight off the bat that wasn’t Ichigo. He took a spot near the back, silently observing. He didn't plan on interfering in anyway, just waiting to see what this Ichigo wannabe would do. Though at the same time his eyes drifted from the Ichigo look alike to gaze at Alexis. He began to feel some strong spiritual pressure from the blonde. But the question was why could he feel it now after not being able to sense it before?

"How else?" Ichigo shrugged, stepping into the room as if it were the most natural thing. "I jumped. You saw it with your own eyes, didn't you? And I suppose I am that awesome aren't I?" that last bit was directed solely at Alexis.

"Are you sure you didn't just slink over from the class next door?" Alexis narrowed her eyes, finally a little more serious. "I mean, how do we know you are not just conning us?"

The power Uryu sensed a few seconds ago suddenly was gone. He blinked wondering now if it was coming from the boy Ichigo after all and not Alexis.

Ichigo grinned at her. "You don't." his eyes then did a quick scan of the room, resting on each girl for several seconds before landing on Orihime and pausing on her rather endowed assets. Alexis was now completely from his mind. With a quick jerk, he suddenly appeared squatting on the desk in front of Orihime, holding her hand with one hand and stroking her hair with the other. "I don't believe we've met. Would you do me the honor of giving me your name miss?" He then kissed the back of her hand, causing the girls to all squeal in shock.

"You dolt, you already know her!" Alexis snapped.

Ichigo looked over to Alexis and grinned. He then hopped over to her, giving her attention once again. If he had stayed still for one second longer, he would have been placed in an arm hold from Tatsuki. He slowly walked around her, checking her out as she turned.

"What are you doing?!"

"Just confirming something?" Ichigo replied simply.

"Confirming what? Newton’s law of motion?" Alexis snapped getting fed up by the moment. She had seen Tatsuki had tried to attack Ichigo but missed.

"That you have a nice shapely butt in regards to your small breasts." he reached out, giving her a sharp slap to emphasize his point, and caused Alexis to jerk violently, face turning into a ripe tomato.

Uryu gasped, not sure if he should be upset or amused to see Alexis become completely embarrassed. Either way, he remained where he was.

Tatsuki looked from Orihime to Alexis, then Ichigo. "What's wrong with you?!" she demanded just as Alexis threw an anger filled punch, which Ichigo easily ducked to the side. "I don't know what you think you are doing, but it needs to stop right now!" With each word Tatsuki advanced menacingly on her childhood friend.

"Actually..." Ichigo leaned in close to Tatsuki's face, eyes meeting her's in a curious stare. "You're actually pretty cute as well." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Enraged, she then hefted the teen and threw him across the room before grabbing a desk and threw it at him. Ichigo got to his feet and easily dodged the desk and it sailed through a closed window.

“What are you so freaked out about?” Ichigo asked. “I only kissed your cheek.”

“You son of a…” Tatsuki then threw another desk, which he then dodged again.

“Hold it right there!”

Ichigo turned to see Rukia, standing stern and upset. “I don’t think so!” He then ran towards the window where he came.

“Ichigo! Look out!” Rukia yelled.

Ichigo continued to make a break for the window only to find his way blocked by the real Ichigo. "And where do you think you're going?"

Alexis, now able to fight off her embarrassment, was still fuming and wanted to kick Ichigo’s ass for giving her rear a little tap. But before she could move, she found herself pulled to one side as that Uryu guy held her upper arm tightly. "Careful.”

She wanted to growl at him but then her attention was diverted when she saw two Ichigo’s. So that’s why Uryu grabbed her so fast. With him being a Quincy, she knew he could see the Soul Reaper Ichigo.

"It's all over now." Rukia said simply, walking up behind the boy. "There is nowhere to run."

"Think so huh?" Ichigo suddenly swung out his leg, kicking the real Ichigo.

To the rest of the class, it looked like he struck at absolutely nothing, just kicked at the space in front of him. They watched as though he was fighting an invisible adversary.

Uryu and Alexis watched the entire display in what was going. She never bothered to struggle out of his grasp until the two Ichigo’s left the classroom. It was then he silently released her. Grasping the arm he grabbed, she moved over to the window the two disappeared out of.

Alexis stood staring at the window during the rest of lunch, after the two had left. Her arm felt a little sore from his grasp, and tingled slightly from his touch. She looked rather annoyed though; frowning in thought before returning to her seat just as she realized lunch was now over.

-

Alexis sat at a small desk in her bedroom, supposedly working on homework, but was instead staring blankly at her arm. Her mind was continuously on the events that happened at lunch when Uryu had grabbed her, pulling her to the side just as several rows of desks came crashing down, not knowing his actions were pointless. She could see what was going on, and even now it still baffled her. There were two Ichigo's, one dressed in the school uniform while the other was dressed in a black shihakusho, a Soul Reaper, just like the ones in the U.S. But how was that possible?

"Does Ichigo have a twin? No, that can't be right. I'm sure I would have heard something of it before now if that were the case." Alexis mused. "No, he doesn't have a twin. I'm sure of that. But then who was that other Ichigo?"

Alexis’ thoughts were interrupted suddenly when she heard a knock at her door.

"Yes?" Alexis answered, jerking her head up suddenly. "Aunt Joan?"

She lived with her aunt, Joan, a woman who like her, came from America. Though the older woman had moved to Japan when Alexis was really young, to be an English teacher. During her younger days living abroad, Joan had met and fell in love with a young Japanese man. Their happiness was short lived when a creature attacked. It had happened so quickly, Joan never had time to process anything until it was too late when her fiancé was ripped from her arms. After that day, Joan never found happiness again and continued to live her life as an English teacher.

It completely surprised her when she received a phone call from Alexis saying she was taking a trip to Japan. What surprised her more was when Alexis arrived, she stated she wasn’t returning home and she didn’t want her parents to know she was there. Understanding, Joan did what she could to help Alexis be enrolled into school.

"I've prepared some food. Would you like it in your room or-" Joan started.

"No thank you. I'm not really hungry." Alexis shook her head. "Something happened at school today that has gotten me baffled. If it's ok, I'd rather just be left alone."

"Alexis?" her aunt sounded worried. "Are you sure you don't want something?"

"I'll be fine." Alexis snapped then regretted it. "Sorry. No, I'll be fine, really. I'll get something to eat later."

"Ok, I'll leave your food in the microwave then." Joan disappeared, leaving Alexis alone in her thoughts once more.

Happy to be alone again, Alexis’ mind was right back to Uryu and how he pulled her away from the commotion. Where she knew he was a Quincy, he must have seen the Soul Reaper but he didn’t know she could.

“Perhaps it’s because I can hide my spiritual pressure,” she wondered. She looked at her arm once more. But he really hadn't needed to grip her arm so tightly. She touched the small beginnings of a bruise, and made an annoyed face. "Idiot."

With an angry sigh, she looked back at her books and finally began studying.

-

"Hey Alexis!" Orihime ran up to Alexis, as the said girl approached a group of students who were looking at a large score board. It was now considered mid term for Japan. If Alexis had remained in her home country, she’d be hitting the beach now, enjoying her summer break. She knew going to Japan, vacations were much different.

It had been a couple weeks since the incident in the classroom and no one seemed to remember what happened that day with Ichigo. It was as if it never happened. Not wanting to be made a fool, Alexis kept her mouth shut about it and later learnt the Ichigo who slapped her wasn’t the real Ichigo and the real Ichigo was the one who was a Soul Reaper.

"Have you seen the test scores yet? You made it, so we should celebrate."

"Test scores for what?" Alexis blinked confused for a moment and then realized, thanks to her Aunt explaining how the school system worked. "Oh...those."

She followed the bouncy girl to the board where there were people groaning over their results, and some congratulating others over their scores.

Orihime stopped when she reached her best friend, Tatsuki. “Hey Tatsuki!”

“Hey. So you made it in third place. Pretty smart for a girl,” the tom boy girl replied, earning a nervous chuckle from the busty orange haired girl.

“That’s not fair!” whined Michiru. “Orihime has both brains and boobs.”

Alexis frowned as she tried to ignore the others until Keigo began to open his big mouth.

“Ah, let the girls have the tops scores at least no one from our group made it in the top 50. That would be embarrassing.”

Mizuiro pointed. "Take another look."

Keigo looked to where his friend was pointing, which was the 23rd spot. Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Whaaaaaat! Ichigo is ranked number 23?!" Keigo screamed horrified. He immediately turned to his orange haired friend. “You cheated! There’s no way you could have scored that high!”

"Shut up Keigo,” the teen groaned with a shrug. “I score high on tests because I study for them. You should try it sometime.”

“So that’s what you were doing all those nights when I was asking for you to come hang out. But no, you were always saying you were too busy, but the truth is you were studying like a total nerd!” The kid then went into a freak out mode. “Nooooo! I’m friends with a nerd!”

“Oh give it a rest you big baby!” Alexis barked, finally having enough. “If you want to get anywhere in life, you need to study.”

Keigo stopped his yammering and looked at the scoreboard again and freaked out even more. "And the hot new transfer student made 18." Keigo began to cry. "How could this sort of thing happen?"

"As your friend just stated. It's called studying. Try it, if you even know how to read you brainless monkey." Alexis shot back.

"Are you saying I'm stupid?" Keigo asked with a look like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.

"I think that's exactly what she’s saying," Ichigo nodded.

“It’s your words, not mine,” Alexis crossed her arms. “Jeesh. I know homeless people who are smarter than you.”

“But… but…” Keigo stuttered.

“You know it’s strange seeing that you actually do study,” Mizuiro started, changing the subject.

“My hair gives me enough abuse, I’m not going to be an academic loser on top of it,” Ichigo answered.

Keigo immediately stopped acting like a baby. “I’m sorry, I guess you’re right. Sorry I ragged at you.” He then grinned. “Well at least you,” he rushed over to Chad. “You didn’t embarrass us by scoring in the top 50 right?”

Chad stayed silent but pointed to the scoreboard. His name was right up there at number 10. Both Mizuiro and Keigo freaked out this time and ran off saying they’d never hang out with them again. Alexis rolled her eyes and looked at who was in the number one slot.

“They’ll be back,” Tatsuki replied as she watched them flee.

“Oh well, I guess it’s lucky for him none of us is in the number one spot,” Ichigo said as he looked at the scores. “Uryu Ishida. Who is that guy? I’ve never heard of him.”

“Really? He’s in our class,” Orihime responded.

Ichigo then gave a horrified look.

“You’ll notice Ichigo has a knack for forgetting people’s names,” Tatsuki answered as she stepped beside Orihime.

With them talking about Uryu, Alexis turned on her heel and walked away.

“Alexis?” Orihime asked, getting the other’s attention. The blonde never said anything as she continued to walk away, fists clenched. “What’s wrong with her?”

“No clue…” Ichigo breathed as he watched the blonde leave.

-

There were hollows everywhere; Alexis had no idea so many could appear in one area all at once. How? Why? Something must have lured them here. But what could lure hundreds of hollows to one area, and from what she could see they were appearing all over Karakura Town. No matter where she turned, hollows were appearing, at the market, at the school, even the parks.

The day had been like any other with her mundane new school life. She heard about Uryu and Ichigo having some form of confrontation in the hall but she ignored it. But then after school that was when everything went crazy. She was on her way home when suddenly the sky opened up revealing several Hollows.

Dodging into an alley she took a shortcut leading towards the center of town. And in the middle, smack dab in the center of around seven to eight hollows... Uryu Ishida.

A bow was fit into his hands, hands that were strangely cut and bleeding. His bow flickered once as if fading out, and then grew strong as he fired beams of energy arrows into the hollows, destroying one after the other. But it was obvious he was getting tired. He must have been fighting for a long time.

Clenching her fists, Alexis watched him destroy every hollow that had him surrounded. Finally getting a chance, he allowed himself to catch his breath.

"This is some mess isn't it?" She finally made her presence known.

"Alexis!” Uryu jumped, surprised by her presence. “Why are you here?"

"Why am I not surprised? You just had to try and be a show off and boost that male ego of yours," Alexis frowned, ignoring his question. "What were you thinking?"

"What makes you think any of this had anything to do with me?" Uryu retorted, not liking how she threw that low blow about his pride. He saw a Hollow come up behind her. Without a thought, he fired another arrow over her head slaying the hollow. He could now feel her spiritual pressure, which meant she could see Hollows perfectly.

Alexis jumped; surprised the Hollow was able to sneak up behind her. “You bastard.”

"Speaking of which, how long have you been able to see Hollows?" Uryu asked as he took another breather.

Getting over her shock, Alexis smirked. "For as long as I can remember."

"How?" Uryu pushed.

Both teens saw another Hollow approach them.

Not flinching to the approach of the ugly beast, Alexis stretched out her arm, revealing a silver cross around her wrist. "I guess you could say...it's a natural gift." an elongated bow formed in her hands, blue and glowing. "But right now words are useless Uryu Ishida...or should I say Quincy? I tried to tell you I could see Hollows, but you would give me an attitude so I would respond in kind."

"Wait...you’re..." Uryu started, eyes widening. The reflection of her notching an energy arrow show through his glasses. "Alexis?!"

She fired her arrow, getting the Hollow right between the eyes.

"Wrooooooooooahhhhhhhhh!" it howled before vanishing from sight.

"A Quincy." Alexis gave the stunned teen a smug look. "Why yes I am, thank you so much for noticing. Of course it would be harder to notice when I suppress my spiritual pressure so not to alert anyone to my presence."

"But how can you be a Quincy? I'm the last one, the last of the Quincy." Uryu stared as she destroyed another hollow that approached them. She was just as good as he was, if not a little better.

"Are you so blind you cannot see what is in front of your face, or just dim witted? Either way I am as I appear." Alexis fitted another arrow into place. "And besides, should the one who placed the whole town in danger have the right to question me?"

"Wrooooooooooahhhhhhhhh!"

The two teens quickly turned at the sound and found themselves surrounded by more Hollows, forcing the two to stand back to back.

"I think...for now at least we put all questions aside and work towards a common goal." Uryu shoved his glasses further onto his nose.

"First smart idea you've said yet geeky boy." Alexis began to sprint to one side, and Uryu the other so for a moment they crisscrossed in front of the other, bows held straight out and fired. The hollow were simultaneously destroyed as both hit their marks head on. "Nice shot Uryu."

"You as well...Alexis."

The two ran through the town side by side until reaching a park . "You called me Alexis, not Alexandra," she pointed out a little surprised, realizing during the whole exchange he never once referred to her by her birth name.

"Oh, you prefer Alexandra after all then?" Uryu asked smugly, knowing the answer.

"Just shut up already." Alexis retorted, as she saw Uryu smile. "Alexis is fine."

"So this is where you've been...Uryu!"

Alexis looked ahead to see the substitute soul reaper waiting for them. His zanpakuto was resting comfortably over one shoulder, and he was tapping his foot in impatience.

"Ichigo?" Uryu questioned. "Shouldn't you have better things to do right about now?"

Ichigo suddenly grabbed Uryu by the collar. "This is all your fault. You put countless lives in danger, and for what? Your own damn pride?"

Alexis shoved between the two, a hand on Ichigo's chest and one on Uryu's. "Enough already! Look, pointing the blame on who did what doesn't change what's already done. I say the best thing we can do for now is put any unnecessary differences aside and combine our individual strength."

Ichigo blinked in an almost dumfounded way and pointed a finger to Alexis. "Uh…she can see me?" he asked Uryu.

"I think that's obvious." Uryu indicated to the bow she held in her hands. "But, she does have a point, which I don’t like to even admit. The thought of aiding a Soul Reaper disgusts me."

As more Hollows arrived, the trio stood back to back in a triangle like formation, hardly paying any attention when Kisuke and crew arrived and began blasting away hollows left and right. They did however notice the sudden chill in the air, as if death itself were looming over. The sky suddenly darkened over and a crack appeared in the sky, like a glass that was slowly shattering.

"Guys...I don't really feel so well." Alexis was feeling the strain of the extra spirit pressure, and though Ichigo and Uryu still stood it was obvious they felt it too. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

Then the sky began to tear and something was emerging, something large and dark with a mask the size of a car. It looked left then right and began to move towards the city.

"What is that thing?" Alexis whispered horrified. "It's like the mother of all hollows."

"I-I dunno. The bait I used couldn't have possibly called that here." Uryu stared wide eyed. "That thing, we can't let it go after people."

"Yeah, guess so." Ichigo held his blade ready just as Alexis slid to her knees.

"I can't deal with this anymore." Alexis gasped, bow vanishing. "I’m gonna have to sit this one out."

"It's ok Alexis, you just sit here and rest while I finish this thing off." Ichigo began running head on at the hollow, not even thinking over his actions. Uryu was quick to chase after him, leaving her alone.

"Ahh...wait." Alexis held out a hand.

"I think perhaps...we should leave things to them wouldn't you agree Miss Cruz." Kisuke had appeared behind her out of nowhere. "This is a battle they have to fight alone." Kisuke lifted her into his arms and carried her over to where the others were.

"Do I know you?" Alexis asked calmly.

"Nope, I don't believe we've met." Kisuke answered simply. "Though it's a pleasure to-"

Alexis caught his jaw in a mean uppercut causing him to release her and grab his face in pain. "Then please don't suddenly pick me up like you know me, asshole!"

"Ahhh...you're so mean, Alexis." Kisuke huddled in on himself nursing his jaw and possibly ego as well. He suddenly stood back up as if nothing had ever been wrong with him. "But right now we have other things to be concerned with. You do have quite a mean right hook though.”

Alexis gawked at the man, surprised by his sudden change in attitude. She was about to say something else when suddenly Rukia ran up to her, whose eyes were wide, horrified. "But that's a menos."

Alexis looked at Rukia. "A-a what?" She was still feeling nauseous with the Menos present. Where she never felt strong power before, she wasn’t equipped to dealing with it.

"A Menos." Rukia answered. "They are created when several hollows merge and form into one body. I suppose you could call it a super hollow."

Alexis scratched her head in puzzlement as she stared at the badly drawn picture of a small bunny with an arrow pointing to a larger bear with muscles. The captions under each read normal hollow and Menos. "Sorry, I don't really get it."

Rukia sighed. "Anyway, it means there is no way they can defeat this thing."

Suddenly there was a surge of spiritual pressure coming from Ichigo as both girls stared open jawed in amazement. It was like someone had flipped on a switch holding back some great hidden power he possessed, and now it was all flowing out in huge waves.

"Was he always that strong?" Alexis asked Rukia in disbelief. "I mean he didn't seem like this when Uryu and I encountered him earlier."

"I-" Rukia hesitated. "No, he wasn't. Not anything like this, at least."

Just then the menos leaned its head back and a glowing red sphere was forming at the mouth. The air around it seemed to sizzle and every nerve in Alexis' body was screaming in terror. This was something she'd encountered before, though on a much smaller level, and only dealing with normal hollows. "A cero." she and Rukia whispered at the same moment.

Just as the Menos fired, Ichigo ran before it's blast, catching it with his Zanpakuto and holding it in place, though it was obvious he was struggling with it, teeth clenched and groaning with the huge effort of just holding the huge sword in place.

To Alexis it felt like she was witnessing something truly miraculous, something so incredible it had to be seen to believe it. Not even she was capable of stopping a cero and that was from a normal Hollow, this things cero was big enough to blow up a city, and he was stopping it with only his zanpakuto?

Redirecting the blast, Ichigo sent it flying back wince it came. The Menos was hit by its blasts and it suddenly began retreating back to Hueco Mundo through the tear it had created.

"It's retreating?" Rukia then shook her head. "No, Ichigo is forcing it to retreat."

Then without warning the boy collapsed, right after declaring his victory. Ichigo began to glow as his zanpakuto stretched and distorted, his untapped power finally going out of control. Just then a foot stepped on the sword, causing Ichigo to weakly look up to see Uryu, causing the excess spirit energy to flow into his bow once more, which then he began to fire off that energy into the sky, but even that was taxing on him and just when he looked as though he would collapse he felt the energy flowing into another source. "Alexis?"

"Shut up and just keep firing!" she snapped. "You say you hate Soul Reapers, even substitute ones then why save this one?"

"Shut up." Uryu snapped back. "I have my reasons."

Together they shot one huge arrow after another, with it being the two of them the strain was lessened but after what felt like days both collapsed panting as Ichigo had previously passed out as well, his spirit energy drained.

"Well, we did it." Alexis turned her head to the side, towards Uryu.

"Yeah, guess so." he nodded. He looked at his hands to see the rawness and blood. “Guess I need to get his looked at.”

Alexis looked over at him. Her hands weren’t as raw, but were beginning to get there. “I think I can help you.” She tiredly stood just as Kisuke and Rukia strolled over to them.

“Well done,” Kisuke announced.

Alexis turned to the man. “Just who the hell are you and how the hell do you know my name?”

Uryu looked up to the man, never seeing him before.

“I’m Kisuke Urahara of…” he started but was interrupted.

“Urahara Shop not too far from here,” Uryu finished. “Why are you here?”

“He knows all about Quincys and Soul Reapers,” Rukia answered. “Not sure as to why but when a Soul Reaper is stationed here in the World of the Living, Kisuke is the one to see for supplies.”

“So the shop is just a front then to your real job,” Alexis snorted. “That doesn’t answer how you know who I am.”

“I’m a friend of your Aunt’s,” Kisuke answered.

Alexis turned away from him. “Fine. Next time tell me before being a smart ass.” She looked at Uryu. “Come on, I’ll take you back to my place to get your hands bandaged up. Aunt Joan won’t be home for another couple hours.”

Nodding, Uryu carefully stood and walked with the blonde, ignoring the others around him.

-

Alexis and Uryu sat in her room, silently, while she worked on cleaning up his wounds. Alexis refused to look at him and just focused on cleaning and bandaging him, until finally she couldn't take it anymore. "Look if you have something to say just spit it out."

Uryu shoved his glasses further up his nose. "What is there to say?" he asked. “You’re the one who kept me in the dark of who you were when you knew who I was the whole time.”

"So you’re staying silent because I withheld information from you? What kinda freak are you?" Alexis snapped back, slapping another bandage on rather rough and making the boy wince.

"Apparently the same kind as you." Uryu stated simply. "But what I want to know is how. I wasn't aware there were other Quincy clans outside of Japan."

"You'd be surprised the things you have no knowledge of." Alexis replied darkly. "I've seen things I often wished I had not."

"Alexis." Uryu actually sounded sympathetic now instead of snide. "What happened to-"

"Well that's all in the past. I’m not fond of speaking about my past," she rushed out as she gathered up the medical supplies and placed them back in the kit before leaving the room a moment to put it back in the bathroom where it belonged. She then soon returned. "And I'd rather deal with the here and now."

"So ah...about your Quincy abilities how much training have you had?" Uryu decided to change the subject. "I mean you obviously knew what you were doing out there."

"Let's go." She walked over to the entrance to her room.

"Go where?" Uryu asked confused.

"You want to know more about my experience as a Quincy right?" Alexis asked. "I prefer showing rather then telling. I know a place, it's where I go to practice."

Leaving the apartment, Alexis led Uryu through the town, trekking several miles through the woods, something Uryu was not pleased about. Once arriving, he was star struck. There were several stuffed bags of felt tied to trees, hanging from low branches. On the front of them were weird faces, like tortured faces of hollows. Alexis stepped forward drawing out her bow once more. "I come here when I want to think."

Pulling back she released one shot, and quickly turned and released two more. The first one hit its target and the next two hit another target with the second arrow shooting through where the first had been only moments before.

"I've trained more or less on my own for three or four years, and before that I trained with a few others. But now I mostly train myself on a regular basis." Alexis shot another arrow through the branches of a tree and it curved sharply upward and into the clouds.

"After arriving here, a few months ago, I've felt the need to train even more. But it wasn’t until a few weeks ago when I was given permission to start school. I first had to apply for citizenship and then do the aptitude test to see which high school I was good to go to. While I waited, it gave me time to set up this place for training.”

Uryu sat down on a log in the clearing, sighing as he did so. "I've done my own training. Mind you when I was a kid, my grandfather trained me."

Alexis turned back to him, cancelling out her bow. "I think I can understand that. My family was-well let’s just say I understand at any rate."

"Thank you for your assistance with my injuries." Uryu stood dusting himself off. "And for before."

"Do you have to be so formal?" Alexis asked, snide tone returning. "Can't you just say ‘well thanks I need to go’?"

“I’m not used to being around others who are like me. My father has given up on being a Quincy and the only person who ever really taught me, is dead,” he answered.

“Sorry to hear,” she replied.

“Yeah, well, like I said, I’m not used to it. I’ll see you at school. Thank you for showing me this place, Alexandra.”

“I told you, its Alexis, you moron!” she yelled.

Uryu smirked. “Always so defensive.” With that he turned away and made his way back home. He could hear her fuming as he left.