Bleach: Joining as One Arc: Signs

''Ahatake looked around. Once again, he was standing in the formless mist, but this time, it felt different. Like a dream, but not at the same time. As he looked, the mist formed a into a dark forest, he saw the same white flash he had seen about a week ago.''

"Where am I?" He thought, as he started to walk. "And what was that?" ''He started to look around again, and saw the flash of white duck behind a tree. He followed, and to his surprise, saw a white haired girl sitting there, staring up at him with a blank expression. Before he could say anything however, he sat bolt upright.''

"Tch..." He thought, the sunlight pouring into his room. He'd had that dream before, the night after he was healed. It ended the same way as before as well. Before he spoke to the girl, he woke up.

"Mmm...."

His sudden movement had caused his wife to stir out of her own slumber, as well. She raised the back of her hand to place on her head, eyes fluttering open and blinking several times in order to force the haze away. "Morning already....?" She managed to say hoarsely, not bothering to get up. She didn't bother to get up immediately - she was aware that she was unclothed, her sheets the only thing that covered her grace. She raised an arm to wrap the sheets around her as she slowly raised herself up into a sitting position, weary eyes looking over at Ahatake.

Ahatake took the hint, chuckling. "I'll excuse myself then." He said, getting up and bowing his way into the bathroom. As he splashed cold water onto his face and brushed his teeth, he went over the dream. The same dream, give or take a few details, twice in one week. What did it all mean? He sighed, gargling and spit out the water.

"Can I come out?" He called. His wife wasn't fond of him walking in on her while she was naked, so he decided to be polite and make sure she was ready.

"Yeah, It's fine now!"

During the time that he was in, Megami had slipped out of her bed and into a bathrobe for temporary, sitting on the bed with her legs crossed as she waited patiently for her husband to leave the bathroom.

Ahatake walked out, yawning widely. "I will never understand why my seeing you naked bothers you, but, in an interest of keeping the peace, I'll deal with it."

Megami allowed herself to raise an eyebrow, uncrossing her legs and standing up on her shoeless feet. "Honestly, it really doesn't." She answered, the usual night not too far from her mind. "In the instances that it does happen, though, you end up barging into the room I'm in or something." She walked past him towards the bathroom door as she spoke these words.

Ahatake laughed as he reached for his suit. After putting it on, he shouted over the shower water. "If you need me, I'll be downstairs."

"And I'll be up here, for the time being!" Was the answer.

Ahatake walked downstairs, yawning. He had to go to work today, but he'd go after breakfast. His boss wasn't going to be too pleased with the fact that he hadn't been into the office in over a month. Normally he'd get fired, but his boss was normally quite lenient. He sighed, sitting down at the table. He had no cooking skills, so he'd either have to wait for Miharu to wake up or for Megami to down.

"Master..."

A voice rang throughout his head, causing him to look around. No one was there. He placed a hand on his head. "Ugh..." He muttered, getting up to fix a pot of coffee. "I must be hallucinating..."

For a moment, he spent his time alone within the main area with his coffee. No one else had apparently stirred under the morning rise, obviously heavy sleepers. But it wasn't too much time before Megami brought herself down the stairs, her footsteps light as to not suddenly disturb anyone else from their slumber. As with morning "procedure", she walked over to Ahatake to give him a chaste kiss, then moved into the kitchen in order to begin.

After about a moment, Miharu slid down the stair rail like always, landing neatly onto the carpet.

"Good morning everyone!" She said in a piercing voice, making sure she was audible.

Ahatake winced, chuckling. "Good morning to you."

"Good morning, dear...." Megami, having been used to Miharu's obnoxious behavior, had not batted an eyelash towards her and continued to prepare the food.

Miharu was surprised that her mother hadn't reprimanded her for sliding down the railing, but didn't complain, since she didn't want to hear it. She slid into a chair, leaning back against the windowsill. "So what's on the to-do list for today?"

"Well, I have work." Ahatake said, pouring his third cup of coffee. "I'm not exactly sure what your mother has planned."

Considering that Megami was in the kitchen, the woman was not paying direct attention to the conversation that the father and daughter were having. Thus, she had not seen Miharu's sliding down the area. However, she did manage to hear the words spoken. It would be a waste of voice to have to raise her voice in order allow them to hear her - it was the morning, after all!

"Probably cleaning and stuff." Miharu supplied when her mother didn't give them an answer. "If that's what it is, I'll help out if you need any!" She called into the kitchen.

"Thank you, dear!"

"Mhm!" Miharu said, nodding as Daiyaku came downstairs, rubbing his eyes. "G'morning everyone."

"Hey kid." Ahatake raised a hand, lazily acknowledging the boy's presence. He was now on his fifth cup of coffee and counting. He frowned. "Megami, I've got to go, I'll grab a pastry on my way."

"Try not to stress yourself!"

"Thanks for the concern!" Ahatake called as he left the house, taking off running down the street. He did indeed stop at this store to pick up a bun, which he ate hurriedly as he rushed into the building, writing his name down on the sign in sheet.

Work and Family
"You're late Ahatake! The boss wants to see you."

"Awf craf." Ahatake muttered, wolfing down the last bit of bread.

"DO YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR JOB AT ALL!?"

Ahatake winced as the Boss's voice rang through his ears. He groaned. "Obviously, or I would have ran the moment the secretary said you wanted to see me."

A vein throbbed in the woman's head. "So what is your excuse for being absent for over a month?"

Ahatake frowned. "Well, I've been preoccupied with life or death situations to be honest. Hell, my partner in this job should have been able to answer these questions for you. And then I've been in a coma for awhile. I spent the last week recovering or so."

"Your partner is just now returning as well." The woman said, frowning.

"Then why aren't you chewing her out?" Ahatake asked, visibly annoyed.

"Her former superiors had given a decent excuse as to why last week before she returned." She replied as if it was obvious.

Ahatake's eye twitched. "Alright. Anyway, I'll try to avoid missing any more work days, can I leave now!?"

She nodded and Ahatake got up and left the office, groaning again and muttering something under his breath.

"I heard that!"

He ducked out as fast as possible, walking up to his office. He sighed, sitting down in his chair, and waiting for his partner to arrive. It didn't take long, he could hear her voice coming from outside the door as she turned it. She walked in, talking on a cellphone. "Kenta, I told you, I'm at work right now." She sounded unusually snappish, even for her. "I'll call you later." She snapped the phone shut.

"Oi." Ahatake said, looking up.

"Oh, Ahatake, you made it." She said, looking over at him.

"Yeah." Ahatake said, sounding irritated. "So tell me, we've both been absent for the same amount of time, why am I the only one the Boss decides to have a go at?"

"I got lucky?" She suggested simply, smirking slightly.

"Don't give me that." Ahatake said, chucking a pencil across the room. "Ukitake-san bailed you out, didn't he?"

Her smirk widened slighly, which gave Ahatake his answer. "Lucky little..."

Rukia took her seat, casually wheeling the chair over to the desk. "I think our time would be better spent working than arguing, don't you?"

Ahatake sighed. "Guess it makes sense why they paired us up. You being the Seireitei's Yūrei Ōkoku representative and this being the office of '''Seireitei-Yūrei Ōkoku Relations."

"Finally." Ahatake said, getting up. "I thought this day would never end."

Rukia placed her chair back where it had come from. "I'll see you tomorrow Ahatake."

"Yeah, later Ruk-" He stopped dead.

"Master..."

The voice was back. He placed a hand to his head. He felt a sharp pain as the voice cried out again. Rukia noticed this, turning around, her hand on the doorknob.

"Ahatake, is something wrong?"

"No..." He murmured. "Just a headache that comes and goes. I'll just drink something."

"Alright." She replied slowly, taking another look at him before she stepped out of the office.

Ahatake shook his head, and stared at where she had just left. He blinked, and, for an instant, saw the flash of white again. He needed rest. He walked downstairs, checked himself out, and vanished in a burst of flames, landing neatly on his favorite chair in the living room.

If he activated his spiritual sense then, he would've sensed presences within the backyard. Of course, knowing what they were doing was not out of the question. However, they were obviously familiar. Three of them were the signatures of Megami, Miharu, and Ezra. However, the fourth one was not only familiar.... it was one he had not sensed for quite a long time. In fact, the last time he encountered the source was only within his dreams.

Could it be....?

Even with his headache he could tell who it was. Nami. He groaned again as he sat up. He walked into the kitchen, grabbed the largest mug in the cupboard and poured the remaining coffee into it. He added several cubes of sugar into the coffee. He was gonna need this. He vanished into a burst of flames again, appearing sitting in the tree out in the backyard. "Hello everyone." He said, taking a swig from the cup.

The bustle of activity effectively rendered his statement ignored for the most part.

Ezra and Miharu, true to nature, were busy sparring. Before, Ezra had been critical of the girl's fighting style. However, because of her improvements thanks to Seireitou's training, he had not said a word about it and remained silent the time that they were doing. It was a surprising fact that he was managing to hold his own against her blocks and parries as natural as he had done before, although he always found himself retreating from Miharu's advancing blows and mostly counter-attacking at every opportune moment.

Nami and Megami, as they were watching the spectacle and sitting on what appeared to be a stone bench, were talking.

"....had two daughters of your own..." Megami was saying, indicating a lit cigarette within Nami's mouth. The said woman in turn was regarding her with a mixture of boredom and interest. "And your husband doesn't mind?" She wasn't scolding her or anything, but kept her conversational tone and a neutral one, at that.

Her sentence brought a scoff from the brown-haired woman. She folded her arms across her chest, crossing her legs. "Princess don't do much of shit, actually. All he does is lay there and sleep. Maybe if we're all lucky, he'll get up and walk around the house a little bit, but other than that, he's pretty much a lazy-ass. He doesn't care what I do."

Despite her rather rough tone in comparison to Megami's, the red-haired woman actually chuckled at her words, prompting Nami to cock an eyebrow. "Uh....what's so funny about that?"

"I just remembered...." Megami answered, smile growing wider. "Ahatake did have a habit of calling you Princess, and you had a habit of complaining about it. Now, you're doing it to your husband. I find that sort of thing ironic, don't you?"

Nami's eyes widened, a slight flush coming across her face at the words and realization. This caused Megami to laugh, covering her hand with her mouth. "Oh, don't tell me you never realized that!" She said mirthfully, reaching up to elbow the brown-haired woman in the arm. "After all those years, too!" She didn't falter when Nami turned her face away to hide the slight embarrassment that was showing.

Ahatake sighed. He didn't want to get down from the tree, but they wouldn't hear him. Daiyaku climbed up to the tree, the only person who even knew Ahatake was there.

"Any idea on how you're gonna get their attention?" He asked, curious.

Ahatake chuckled. "One." He waved his hand, causing circular wall of fire to erupt around the yard, floating above the grass so as not to harm it. This, naturally, caught the attention of everyone.

"Hello." Ahatake said, raising a hand.

Nami had not taken well to the introduction.

'"MAN, WHAT THE FUCK?!?!"'

Megami automatically (and in a comical manner) ducked as Nami spun her head towards her ex-husband in a rather heated stare. Of course, the guy could've shouted and called for their attention. She was less than pleased to find out her feet nearly caught fire thanks to what she considered was an attempt to be an attention hog. She unfolded her arms and instinctively clenched her fists as she glared at Ahatake.

Ahatake didn't flinch. Daiyaku did however, jumped down from the tree in case the woman decided to attack it. "Tone it down Nami, you're going to wake up the neighbor's kids." He took a gulp from the coffee mug. "Curious though, what are ya doin' here?"

Nami glared at him for a moment more, but allowed herself to explain nonetheless. Her fists unclenched, and her body eased. "Well, if you have to know...." She answered slowly. "I go places, and this was one of the places where I go. While I was visiting said place, I decided to also pay a visit to the family just for old times' sake."

Megami raised her head back up, smiling warmly and gesturing to Nami. "She was actually expecting you to come to the door, dear. She thought you were still cooped up in the house like you always were before."

"I did work occasionally." Ahatake said in a voice of mock hurt. He finished the remained of the coffe, and began to slide forward on the branch, looking like he was about to fall, until he was sticking upsidedown to the branch, his feet glowing. "That reminds me, where's Akiko? She leave or something?"

"She left for someplace else for a while..."

"Probably sensed the impending doom." He said, obviously referring to Nami.

"That's not very nice Tō-chan." Miharu piped up. "She's actually fun to talk to."

"Hah...." Nami muttered, clearly not believing that Akiko would run from the likes of her.

Megami was quick to back her newfound friend up. "Doom? Why, she's been quite nice ever since she's gotten here!" She exclaimed. "I really think you just worry too much, Ahatake." Behind her and unbeknowing to her, Nami pulled one eye open and stuck her tongue out at the male Kurosaki.

Ahatake saw this, and frowned. "Try living with her for a few centuries. You'd be singing a different tune, I assure you."

''"I found you..." The voice again. It broke his concentration and he fell from the branch into one of the bushes Megami enjoyed tending to. "Dammit..." He muttered, clambering out of the bush.

It happened too quick for anyone to react.

"Uhm.....Ahatake....?"

Megami was the first to pipe up her questions on the matter, eyes widening slightly at the spectacle. Nami herself was staring at the man with a raised eyebrow and somewhat of an amused look. "Oh, god, what kind of apple's fallen from that tree?" She remarked, following it up with a bit of laughter.

"Shut it." Ahatake said, chucking a rock at her, which missed her face, cutting her cheek instead. He was clutching his head, despite not having fallen on it. "Ugh..." He felt shaky.

He was thankful Nami was not the type to get violent over a scratch. The rock brushed past her skin, and she winced at the contact. However, she allowed herself to do nothing. Megami, however, immediately got up and walked over to the spot where she was to stoop down towards him. "Are you all right?" She asked gently, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I...honestly have no idea." Ahatake said slowly. "I've been hearing voices over and over in my head for the past week. I've had a recurring dream involving that same voice. And I've been seeing white flashes."

"Obviously, you've got yourself a stalker, then." Nami said amiably, causing Megami to look over her shoulder in wonder at the woman.

Ahatake looked at her curiously. He had no idea what it was and was willingly to take anyone's suggestion, even Nami's. "What makes you think that? I'm hearing the voice in my head, not getting notes with disturbing messages written on them."

"Situations like yours mean that someone's got a link to your head, or at least the ability to send messages telepathically to you." Nami answered readily, folding her arms across her chest and leaning back a bit. "Someone's taking an interest in you and is trying to convey some sort of message to you. What has this little voice been saying to you?"

Ahatake thought, trying to remember. "For the past few days, it's simply been the word Master over and over. What made me fall from the tree though, the voice said I found you."