Disclaimer: You know the drill: I don't own Bleach, yada, yada, yada.

Omnyoji. They are like Quincys - humans who have practiced their magic to perfection -- except, like shinigami, they send Hollows to Soul Society without killing them. Omnyoji clans were once scattered throughout Japan but as time has moved on, their focus turned to living matters rather than other worldly ones. Because of this, the numbers of true omnyoji dwindled and only two successful clans survived through the flow of time: the Sakaraba and the Minami.

Omnyoji have a treaty with shinigami. They do not deal with Hollows unless there is no other choice and focus on the protecting the wandering souls who are subject to being targeted by Hollows, unless an omnyoji specifically asks Soul Society for a task to take out a specific group of Hollow that only omnyoji can handle. The omnyoji and shinigami have been on good terms, and the clans that still practice omnyoji magic today often send their children to Soul Society to train under the guidance of a renown shinigami - captain or not - to make them more affiliated with the souls of the dead.

And like shinigami, omnyoji also wield zanpakutou, but they are much more powerful. The ones who have mastered their Zanpakutou are said to be even more powerful than a captain in Soul Society because they can actually summon the souls of their Zanpakutou to the mortal/present realm. They are often masters in magic, both shinigami and their own and many master them young. Because of such powers, Soul Society also looks over the actions of omnyoji if one decides to rebel against Soul Society itself.

Yet they are needed to also aid Soul Society from people who try to destroy it...

Prologue - Interference

Aizen Sousuke, Tousen Kaname, and Ichimaru Gin rose above the grounds of Soul Society surrounded by the untouchable white light of Menos. They were leaving their home behind, their former comrades, their memories. All that was left for them was for their ambitions and dreams to be fulfilled with the key they attained.

The captain of the 13th division, Ukitake Jyuushiro, glared at the man who devised the chaos between the shinigami and the ryoka over his subordinate's execution. Like all of his fellow captains and vice-captains on the ground, a surge of betrayal and contempt filled this mind as he helplessly watched them rise higher into the sky -- into the place where Hollows resided in between Soul Society and the mortal realm.

"How low you have fallen, Aizen," the white haired captain growled as the addressee's lips curled into a feral smile.

"Don't be so arrogant, Ukitake," the former 5th division captain replied as his smile faded. "Since the beginning, no one has ever stood in the heavens. Neither you nor I. Or even God himself."

He took off his glasses, shattering the frail object in his hands and losing the kind facade he always had displayed. "But that emptiness in the throne of heaven will be filled. From this day forth..."

He stared down at the small speck of people below him as he and the other two former captains disappeared into the crack in the sky.

"I will be the one to stand in the heavens."

Aizen Sousuke planned everything out perfectly well before he discovered that Kuchiki Rukia was the woman he was after, before he persuaded Tousen and Ichimaru to join him, and even before he decided to search for the "key" that the former 12th division captain Urahara Kisuke left behind in his notes. Even with the appearance of the ryoka later on, he and his two accomplices managed to keep their initial goal in tact.

However, as the former 5th division captain disappeared into the realm that Hollows called their home, a small tinge of worry sunk into his mind as he recalled a very powerful group that he and his followers had prevented from interfering and aiding Soul Society, one that Soul Society would now definitely try to call for help. And they would find a way to recommunicate with Soul Society.

Omnyoji.

Back in the mortal world in a city close to Karakura Town, a young woman sat in a chair, dangling her arms over the open window as she stared up at the sky, watching the stars as they danced around. She was no older than sixteen with dark hair that was loosely braided and slung over her right shoulder and equally dark hazel-blue eyes that also held a tint of amber inside. She was humming quietly to herself, not so loud that the spirits around her would hear but not so soft so that she couldn't hear it herself. She was content in dangling her arms out the window like a young child, staring at the sky and humming ancient songs to herself since there was nothing else to do but wait.

A flash of light filled her vision and she stopped humming.

"...Ran?" her voice, soft like air, echoed in the room. Her guardian, not surprised that she had not acknowledged his presence when he entered to sit and read his book, glanced up.

"Did you feel that?"

"Aa," Ran replied, shutting the book closed.

She turned around to him, a serious look settling in her dark eyes. "He's started hasn't he?"

The woman remembered back to the matter she and her "family" settled just barely a few weeks before and the promise they made to their fallen comrade. She closed her eyes, remembering back to those harsh weeks.

"We have to stop him."