"Miyako! Do you know where my son is?" Isshin cried from the doorway. Isshin Kurosaki the single father of Ichigo, Karin, and Yuzu. Having dark hair and eyes, Isshin's side burns went down in to a goatee that Karin had taken upon herself to make fun of. He was also a town doctor and his clinic was his house. He was answered with a loud yawn.
"Huh?" I asked tiredly as I my hand through my long yet spiky hair. "Not a clue, but if I had a guess he would be doing something spirit related." My name is Miyako, I go to the same school and have the same class as Ichigo, so that would explain why he'd ask me. What he has yet to grasp however, is that I am not his babysitter and don't know or care what he does after school is over.
I rubbed my dark eyes before standing up from the couch and stretching.
"Have you ever thought you're a little too laid back?" Karin asked. With dark hair like her father, her eyes were a dark color as well. She was the 'tom-boy' in the family.
"Nope," I replied straightening out my black leather jacket. I also wore black tank top, grey pants with a spiked belt, a chain hanging from my side, and black combat boots tied to my knee. A loud thud was heard near the doorway.
"Ichigo's home." I droned.
"DO YOU KNOW WHT TIME IT IS DELINQUENT! DINNER IN THIS HOUSE IS AT 7 O'CLOCK SHARP, EVERY NIGHT!"
"COME ON! IS THAT ANYWAY TO TREAT YOU'RE SON AFTER HE JUST RISKED HIS LIFE TO HELP A SPIRIT FIND PEACE!"
"NO EXCUSES! THE RULES OF MY HOUSE ARE IRON! YOU BREAK 'EM, YOU GOTTA BLEED! OR MAYBE YOU WANT TO RUB IT IN MY FACE THAT YOU CAN SEE GHOSTS AND I CAN'T! WHY CAN'T I HAVE THE GIFT? WHY!"
"SHUT UP! I DIDN'T ASK FOR IT!"
"Please stop fighting, dinner is getting cold and Miyako's here." Yuzu said. Yuzu was the youngest in the family. Having short straight light brown hair, she was a sweet, sweet girl. She was also the 'girly-girly' in the family.
"Let them fight, more rice for me."
"That's not very nice Karin." Yuzu scolded.
'I'm getting a headache.' I groaned. Knowing it was only going to get worse, I laid back down on the couch.
"YOUR RULES ARE WAY TOO STRICT! DECENT FATHERS DON'T MAKE THEIR TEENAGE SONS BE HOME BY 7:00!" Ichigo yelled coming into the kitchen. With brown eyes and a head full of orange hair that could grab anyone's attention, Ichigo was one of the loudest and most hardheaded people I have ever known. And also one of the only friends I have ever had. He, unlike me, was still in his uniform, the top of his jacket open so you could see the blue shirt underneath.
"Hey Ichigo, you got another tag along." I announced not even looking.
He groaned and started swatting at him to get him to leave. "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN THERE! TAKE A HIKE WILL YA! YA DAMN PEST!"
"I swear you must have the worst luck in the world." I sighed collecting my things.
"Shut up Miyako! What are you doing here anyway?"
"How rude. And here I thought we were friends." I said in false offence, reaching into my bag for the assignment we were given. "Here, its due Monday. I already have half of it done."
"Oh, sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it," I dismissed starting to leave. "You were helping the girl in the park right?"
"Yeah."
"Then I will see you tomorrow morning." I waved as I walked out the door, leaving Ichigo to deal with the madness inside.
It didn't take me long to get to my house because I only lived four blocks down. I unlocked the door and was met with silence. Same as always.
I had no family around here, so I lived alone. Well not completely alone…
I whistled, and then heard loud steps coming down the stairs and was nearly tackled by my dog Tobi.
"Hey boy, did you miss me?" I cooed scratching his head. He barked happily.
Tobi was a full-grown American Alsatian, with grey fur with black accents.
I took off my shoes and entered the living room. There was a TV set up across from a table and a couch, and the hallway connected to the kitchen. Some of my artwork hung on the walls and a black sword hung over the couch. Up the stairs was my room where there was another TV, a computer, and some more drawings. It was pretty bare in my opinion, but it was enough to occupy me.
I walked up the stairs to my room and dumped my bag on the chair before heading to the bathroom with a tank top and shorts in my hands. I looked into the mirror and saw that my skin was more pail than usual and I had dark circles to go with my dark eyes. My dark spiky hair fell into my face and a thin ponytail was held at the back of my neck. A silver chain wrapped around a black ribbon was tied around my neck, and silver charms hung from my ears.
I groaned before jumping through the shower and my usual nightly routine, before collapsing into bed for the night, and drifting off as Tobi slept beside me and the TV lulled us to sleep.
I woke the next morning to the annoying buzz of my alarm clock. I smashed my hand onto the snooze button to get the dreadful noise to stop. I yawned and stretched in bed, and smiled when I watched Tobi do the same. I took notice that the TV was still on and the news was reporting about explosions that were going on.
'That's near here.' I thought as my eyes narrowed.
I stood and quickly dressed in my boy's uniform; I absolutely abhorred skirts, so the school had to suck it up and let me wear the boys uniform. Similar to how Ichigo wore his, I left the top open so you could see my collar and a tease of cleavage; the top of my white shirt underneath also unbuttoned. Coming down the stairs while pulling my hair back into its ponytail, my eyes immediately caught sight of the sword above the couch, the sword itself was long, its had a black sheath and a guard decorated with skulls. The hilt was covered in black leather straps and grey underneath as a small skull hung from it by a chain.
Tobi whined at my side causing me to snap out of my stupor and look at him with his big innocent eyes.
"Alright, alright," I sighed. "I know what you want." I walked to the kitchen and took out the bag of dog food for him and put it in his bowl. "Here." I said giving it to him, then collecting my bag and heading out the door.
I saw Ichigo waiting outside his house when I got there.
"Sorry I took so long to get here, I had to feed Tobi."
"No problem." He dismissed. I noticed the vase of flowers sticking out of his book bag and smiled. "What're you smiling at?"
I didn't notice he was watching me. "Oh nothing."
As we walked to school we passed a couple crime scenes tapped off, no doubt from the 'explosions' going on. We eventually made it to where the soul of the little girl usually stayed, but she was nowhere to be found.
"Hello?" Ichigo called. We both looked around for her, but were interrupted by a very distinctive howling. Ichigo ran after it.
"Wait! Ichigo hold on!" I called running after him trying to get him to stop.
'Why is this happening?' I thought, 'After all this time, why is this happening now? Damn it!'
Once we made it back into the city, things quickly decided to go to hell as a bug looking hollow was tearing up the street and chasing the ghost of the little girl we were looking for. Ichigo and I kept running against the crowd to get to it, him to see what was happening, and me to make sure he doesn't get killed.
"What the hell is that?" he asked. I gritted my teeth.
"I-I don't know." I lied.
"Help me!" the little girl yelled running past us, with us quickly following along with the hollow.
"What is that thing?" she asked.
"I don't know!" Ichigo answered. She tripped and fell, and Ichigo ran back to help her. "Come on! We gotta move!"
I stopped running and narrowed my eyes as I watched a black butterfly fly past. A Hell butterfly.
A girl dressed in black pulled her sword and slashed the hollow across its mask. She landed before jumping and hacked it right down the middle of the mask, causing it to vanish as she landed and sheathed her sword. "Wow…" Ichigo awed.
She turned back to us and glared, and I glared right back at her before she walked off. 'Damn Shinigami…'
"Wait hold up!" he called out to her. The other people started to come back and ask if it was another explosion among other things. Ichigo looked around for where she went, looking even more confused than before.
I placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump slightly. Looks like he forgot I was here. "Come on, we still have to get to school."
Great, now my good mood was ruined…
After school ended it was a quiet trip back for Ichigo and me. He was locked so deep in thought that he wouldn't have heard me if I had said something. I didn't even have Kendo practice today to help me cool off.
When I made it home I didn't turn on the lights like I usually would, I just dropped my bag to the floor and lay down on the couch. Glaring at the ceiling, as Tobi whined sensing my mood. I turned to look at him as he looked up at me with his big eyes, giving in I pet his head for a little while. My gaze drifted to the sword above me…
My breaths were horse sounding as I breathed out, my body was aching everywhere, and my eyes were losing focus of the ones in front of me as a white shell started to encase me. 'Those BASTARDS!'
I roared a loud and echoing roar.
Snapping out of it I jumped from the couch and went to my room to change, exchanging my school clothes for some black sweat pants, a gray tank top and a black sweater.
It was dark out once I finished eating my dinner, (left over beef and potatoes yum!) and decided to spend the night looking up at the sky from my roof. And that's exactly were I was. It picked up my mood if only a little. It was nice and peaceful, and was one of the only times I actually felt at peace.
The peace was broken when I felt a ripple in the air, a Shinigami…
'What does that little girl think she's doing?' I wondered. I could feel another hollow nearby; it was probably chasing that girl again. I felt another pulse in that little Shinigami's spiritual pressure. 'Bakudo No. 1 Sai. That wasn't very nice, using a Kido on a human is very pointless.' I soon after that felt the pulsing of a Konso. 'So she did have a reason for coming, it must have been Ichigo's little tag along from yesterday.'
But there was a problem, that hollow I mentioned earlier was getting closer. Fast. I quickly jumped up from my spot and started jumping from roof to roof to get to Ichigo's house. I hadn't done it for a long time, so it felt weird doing it after so long. But I could feel my muscles stretching out from their limited use, and felt reenergized. It felt good having to do this after so long.
I could tell just from the weak Reiatsu that she exerts that she was pretty low on the food chain of Seireitei, not even a seated officer. She couldn't even sense the damn thing! She wouldn't stand a chance against that hollow, and I'll be damned before I let anything happen to Ichigo and his family.
I arrived in time to hear Karin yell from the hollow's hand, for the Shinigami to run out, and for Ichigo to stumble down the stairs still trapped in the Kido. 'Damn that Shinigami, I cant let myself be seen, so I guess for now I'll watch. I'll intervene only if I have to.' I thought from my perch on the house across form them.
I watched as Ichigo broke through the Kido that the Shinigami had cast, I smirked. It fell when I watched Ichigo run at the hollow with a chair, and get punched by it and sent crashing down.
"I found you!" it growled reaching out to grab Ichigo. But the Shinigami pulled her Zanpakuto and sliced into the hollows arm, causing it to scream, drop Karin, and disappear. Ichigo caught her unconscious form before she hit the ground.
"Karin! No!" he yelled.
"Don't worry, she'll be alright. The Hollow left without devouring either of your sister's souls."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. It's seeking a specific soul to eat, one with a much higher concentration of reiatsu. In fact, the hollow earlier was hungry for that soul too not the girls."
"But why?"
"For some reason most of your reiatsu was hidden deep within you until now, when you needed it to save your sisters. That's why I didn't sense anything unusual about you when I arrived. It also explains why the hollows haven't come after you. The reiatsu you have bottled up inside you started to poor out when you came in contact with that girls ghost, and as a result, your soul became exposed. Those two hollows today detected your soul through that girl, and they were using her to track it down which means…the hollows are really after you."
"Those things want me?" he whispered. A roar echoed throughout the area as the hollow reappeared.
"Its back! Get out of here!"
"No!" he yelled. "So the vicious attacks on that poor girl were because of me?"
"That's one way to look at it."
"And now both of my sisters could wined up dead and the whole thing is my fault!" he growled and ran past the Shinigami to stand before the hollow.
"Stop!" she yelled.
"Coward! Quit attacking others! If it's my soul you want, come and get it. Fight me one-on-one you ugly bastard!"
The hollow seemed more than happy to oblige, and roared again before launching himself at Ichigo. Time seemed to slow as I leapt up to kill the hollow, but hesitated as I saw the little Shinigami rush in, taking the hit as it bit into her shoulder. She wrenched her Zanpakuto from its jaw taking out one of its teeth, before falling to the ground.
"You… are a fool!" she snapped. "How could you possibly think…you were a match for a hollow? One soul doesn't satisfy them for long, if you keep this up we're all going to end up as its food!"
'That's why I'm here little Shinigami, to make sure that Ichigo and his family survive. You…can die for all I care.'
She crawled to the telephone pole and leaned against it, then grabbed her Zanpakuto, and pointed it at Ichigo. I knew what she was doing.
'You are a fool, little Shinigami.' I thought. 'I will kill you myself if Ichigo gets hurt for this.' He grabbed the blade and buried it into his chest. A giant explosion erupted from them and the hollow's arm flew off.
Ichigo now stood in full Shinigami garb and carried a Zanpakuto similar to the girl's, but as long as his body. But the most staggering thing was how much Reiatsu he was exerting. 'Well damn.'
I jumped down from the roof and landed behind the little Shinigami as she was now kneeling on the ground in a white Kosode, signifying that she lost all of her powers. Hearing my landing she turned to me surprised, "You were with Ichigo today."
"Yea, I was." I said staring down at her hard, before looking over at Ichigo. "You know that was a very naughty thing you did."
She blinked up at me, as if she didn't understand "Huh?"
"Don't pretend you don't understand." I glared. "You and I both know how much trouble you're going to get into, little Shinigami." She apparently didn't like that.
"Hey who are you to call m-" an enormous amount of pressure pressing down on her interrupted. My gaze narrowed.
"Someone that you don't want to piss off." I answered. I let the pressure ease, but she now looked up at me in fear and questioning. "Tell me something," I asked. "What Captain are you under?"
It took her a minute to answer. "Uh, Kuchiki Rukia under Squad thirteen's Ukitake Jushiro." She introduced. My eyes widened slightly.
'Kuchiki? As in Byakuya and Ginrei?' I was broken from my thoughts when Ichigo collapsed after the hollow disappeared. 'Most likely from exhaustion, poor guy.' I sighed before walking over to him then carried him on my shoulder to his body near the pole the little Shinigami had been leaning against, and merged them together again.
Rukia watched in shock as the dark haired women took Ichigo and his family back into the house. She assumed that she was trying to make things as normal for them all when they woke up.
But the more pressing question was who exactly this woman was. That pressure she had felt earlier had been massive, and for a brief moment felt as though her entire being had been ripped apart into nothing, until all that was left to prove her existence was a puddle of blood. She knew that that pressure had to be hers yet; she couldn't feel anything from her now. Just like a ghost, it was as if she wasn't even there. And how did she know about the Soul Society? She was obviously not like the other humans here.
"Stop staring at me…" She said breaking Rukia from her thoughts.
"I'm sorry." She apologized.
"Don't be sorry, just don't do it again." She dismissed. Rukia felt a tugging at the back of her Kosode, and screeched as she was lifted onto the dark haired woman's back. She turned and glared at her, "Do. Not. Screech. In. My. Ear."
"I'm sorry."
"Your apologizing is pissing me off, if you say 'I'm sorry' one more time I am going to hit you." She announced jumping off onto the roofs and away into the night.
"I'm s-" the women underneath her growled in warning. "Where are you taking me?"
"I'm taking you to Kitsuke." She answered simply. "You need a gigai now right?"
Rukia paused for a moment; this woman was defiantly more knowledgeable than she should be. "How do you know all this?"
"That's my business…"
"Ok then, why are you helping me." The woman below her stopped suddenly, then dropped her unceremoniously on the ground. "Why'd you do that?" she ignored her.
"Why am I helping you? Well that's the million-dollar question isn't it?" she turned to stare down at her. "I guess the best explanation would be, because I tie up loose ends."
"Loose…ends?"
"Yea, your now a liability. I'm now involved with this little shit storm you've started wither I like it or not. So I might as well make my life easier and supply you with the right directions." She stared up at the older women in curiosity. What was she trying to say? "The point I'm trying to get across is that I am not your ally." She announced glaring down at her, then picking her up by the front of her kimono till her feet dangling in the air. She stared up at her in fear. "I don't like you one bit, and personally don't give two shits about the trouble you have ahead of you. In fact I would jump at the chance to kill you myself. I am doing you a favor just this once, which means you owe me, so repay me by not telling Ichigo about this little conversation." She poked her in the forehead. "Lets keep in mind little Shinigami, that you have no where to go. Consider yourself in the lions den." She then threw her down over the side of the building, ungracefully falling on her face. She was about to start yelling at her when she saw that the dark haired woman was no longer on the roof. She turned around and saw a small store hidden in this back lot.
'Urahara Shoten'