The Tournament
Tatsuki sighed. The international tournament started in 2 weeks, and she needed to train. Since Orihime had disappeared without even a note to her, she just couldn t focus on training. Sighing again, she picked up her karate headgear, and stared at it. Sitting around wouldn't do her any good, but neither would training if she didn't have her heart in it. Placing the headgear down on the floor, and stumbling over the various broken training dummies on the floor, she made her way to a small desk with a stereo system on it. Picking up a small CD case, she opened it and placed the CD in the tray. The tray slid shut, and after a few seconds, the sound of drum and bass filled the room. She fell back onto the bed, and pulled out a volume of Fruits Basket. If she was going to veg out, why not do something she enjoyed, rather than just sitting and doing nothing? After a while, though, she realised, she really was in a slump. She had read and re-read the same few pages repeatedly for a good 2 hours now. Throwing the book at the wall, she jumped up and grabbed her headgear. Quickly changing into her karate gear, she grabbed a bag and walked out of the door.
As she walked down the road she took almost every day to the dojo, this time, she could not help but feel a twinge of loneliness. Normally, she could at least see someone she knew on the way, but everyone seemed to have gone. Ichigo, Orihime, Chad even Ishida. Everyone had just gone. Hell, she would even welcome Asano at the moment, as loathed as she was to say that, even to herself. Anything to break this emptiness she felt. To try and stave it off just a little bit, she reached into her pocket, and pulled out an MP3 Player. At least she wouldn't have to talk to anyone with headphones in. Reaching a road, she looked both ways, as she was taught, and crossed. She paid very little attention to what was actually going on around her as she reached the small village that the dojo was located in. Many people stopped what they were doing and waved, but she took no notice of them. It was hard enough doing anything without them trying to talk to her. As she reached the dojo, she had to deal with the irritating receptionist. God, that woman pissed her off. And Tatsuki really didn't have the patience for her today. As she walked past her, Tatsuki flashed her membership card. As Tatsuki expected, a voice came from behind her. "Oi! You!" Tatsuki looked over her shoulder. "What?" "Tatsuki! Your taste in music is horrible! I can hear your drum and bass crap from here! Turn it down!" Tatsuki whipped around, putting her headgear on as she did so. "Now, you hussy, listen to me. I'm here to train for a tournament, and I don't give a crap about what you think of me. Let me get on with what I want to do, leave me the hell alone, and I won't beat the shit out of you. Got it?" The receptionist just nodded, and went back to her magazine, staring at Tatsuki, to see what move she would make next. Tatsuki, confident with the fear she could now see in the receptionist's eyes, threw open the paper doors, and entered the training hall.
Her training today consisted of what it normally did. Beating on a dummy until it either broke, or Tatsuki moved onto another one. This time, she imagined Ichigo's face on the dummy. Why wouldn't the asshole tell her about where everyone had gone? He knew. She knew he knew, but he didn't tell her. It's not as if she really cared about the others. Hell, they don't make much of a difference to her life, as far as she was concerned. But Orihime? She needed to know where she was and how she was doing. If she couldn't be around to protect her, she had to at least know someone was. But Ichigo still wouldn't tell her. She pestered and pestered him, until he disappeared too. No note, no nothing, he just left without a word. Ishida and Chad had left on that same day too, and she was left with no-one. "Why?" she yelled, as the dummy's head came clean off with one swift kick. As she did this, a head peeked around the side from the office of the dojo. "Tatsuki, a word, if you please." "Osu, Sensei" she replied, and walked into the office.
She had never been in the sensei's office before. It was a small place, decorated very traditionally, with artwork and weapons dominating the walls. At one end, lay a desk, which the old man who taught her everything she knew was sitting behind , motioning for her to sit in the seat opposite the desk.
Cautiously, even nervously, she sat down in the seat, crossed her legs, and faced the man sitting in front of her. She had great respect for him, and always followed this small ritual whenever she saw him.
"Tatsuki. We don't mind you destroying the dummies. We even get them made especially for you, but in these last few days, you've been unfocused, shall we say? Has something happened in your life? Something big?" At this, Tatsuki looked away. She didn't want to share this with anyone. Not even the man she'd admired and looked up to her entire life.
"No, sensei. I'm just nervous about the tournament." This was a lie, and both people in that room knew it. "Tatsuki, if you were worried about that, you'd drop out from school, like you did before." "It's the holidays, sensei. I just think it would be better to take it a little easier this time." Another lie. She wouldn t be able to get away with this for much longer.
"So, you don't want to talk about it. That s fine. But Tatsuki, remember, if you ever need to talk, I'm always here. I know you can't talk at home." "Osu, sensei." With this, she got up, turned around, and walked out of the room, then out of the dojo itself.
As she walked out of the dojo, Tatsuki sat down at the side of the dojo, and just thought.
Where were Orihime and the others? As she said to Ichigo before he disappeared, her aura, or spiritual pressure as the new kid, Toshiro, called it, had disappeared. As normal for the last few days, Tatsuki, at the same time each day, had closed her eyes, and tried to sense Orihime's spiritual pressure. And today, as normal, it wasn t there. Her head in her hands, Tatsuki stood up, and started to walk towards the vague direction of her house. She hadn't even noticed that it had gotten dark. Stopping at various points, and searching for Orihime s spiritual pressure, she could never find it. After ten minutes of stopping and starting, she reached her house. She gritted her teeth, clenched her left hand into a fist, and opened the door.
The instant she opened the door, she tried to sneak as quietly as she could towards the stairs. However, her father had noticed her. Tatsuki! Get back here, you worthless little cow! Storming towards her, bottle of beer in hand, he shouted at her "Out again? What were you doing this time?" Tatsuki tried to run upstairs, but her father had caught up to her, and had hit her across the head with the bottle. "Stupid slag! Do something valuable with your life, than spending all your time on that bloody fighting thing." Tatsuki did what she usually did to get out of situations like this. She lay, and pretended to be unconscious. She couldn t escape from this any other way. Eventually, after much cursing and another hit from the bottle, he staggered off, swearing as he went. Tatsuki waited until he had gone, and made her way up to her room.
Once she got there, she did what she always did after this happens. She picked up the large bottle of painkillers she kept by her bed, and swallowed a day's worth of tablets. Then, she took the icepack she kept in her bag, and placed it against her head. For many years, this had been her routine 3 times a week.
So her friends didn't worry, she told her friends, if she could call them friends now, that she got the injuries in practice. To stop this happening every time, Tatsuki started to train in karate, hoping a day would come when she could pluck up the courage to fight back. Today was' t the day, just like the last few years of her life. Changing into her nightclothes, keeping a weary eye out for her father, she prepared to sleep. The faster tomorrow came, the better. Her father would go off on another trip, and Orihime might come back. Swirling her mouth out, and spitting it into the sink, she put her toothbrush away, and towelled off her hair. The painkillers were starting to make her drowsy, so she opened the portioning door connecting the en-suite to her bedroom, set her eyes on her bed, and collapsed. A few seconds later, she fell asleep.
Arisawa Tatsuki. This is the place. Landing on the roof of the house silently, the man moved around to Tatsuki s bedroom window and climbed in. Once he was in, and worked out how to dodge the various broken objects on the floor, sat down on a chair, and waited until dawn.
Tatsuki woke up to the sound of silence. Her father had left the house for another week. Turning over, she went to go back to sleep.
"Are you Arisawa Tatsuki?" This surprised Tatsuki. She must be dreaming, she decided, and snuggled deeper into bed.
The man repeated the question. "Are you Arisawa Tatsuki?" Tatsuki snapped awake at this. Who was this in her room, and how did he get in without her noticing? Being cautious, as this man could be a killer, or worse, she replied. "Yes." A few seconds passed, in which the man muttered some inaudible things to himself. Tatsuki decided that she was going to get a look at this man, whoever he was. Sitting up, she looked down her bed, and was shocked to see a man at the end of her bed. What shocked her, however, was his clothes. He was dressed in a black gi and a pair of black hakama. She looked at his face, and was shocked even further. There were three large scars, down the entire length of his face. As she looked away from the scars, she noticed he also had a tattoo on his face, in the shape of a 69 , and for some reason, some tape bandage.
"Who are you?" "Hmm. Maybe it wasn't best for me to introduce myself like this. My name is Hisagi Shuuhei. I've come to tell you what's happened to your friends." Tatsuki's ears suddenly pricked up. "What? You know? Tell me!" "We thought you'd react like this. "Who is we?" "Soul Society. I'm not going to bother explaining, but listen up. Your friends are probably at this moment, locked in a mortal battle with what we call Hollows. With me so far?" Tatsuki swallowed, and nodded her head. She knew she could trust this man. She didn t know why, but she felt like she could trust him.
"We have sent a few of our captains after them. They are the cream of the crop. The elite. They'll bring them, and your friend Orihime back safe and sound." Tatsuki jumped out of her bed, grabbed Hisagi by the clothes, and held him into the air.
"You know where Orihime is? Tell me! I need to go and get her! I need to protect her!" "Calm down. Miss Inoue is absolutely fine. Even though she's in the hands of the enemy, we are extremely confident she won t be harmed." "If she's safe in the hands of your enemies, that means, you must be my enemy!" With that, Tatsuki launched a kick at Hisagi's head. Reacting quickly, he blocked with his forearm.
"Hmm. Good reflexes. But i'm not your enemy. The hollows are your enemy." "I don't care!" Tatsuki went to punch him in the stomach, but he caught her fist in his hand.
"Anyone who upsets Orihime, I beat the shit out of them. That has never changed. She must have gone willingly, if she didn't, i'd have known. If she'd go willingly with them, that's what i' m believing is right." Taking the opportunity, she headbutted Hisagi, causing him to fall back in his chair. "Listen to me! You remember when Acidwire attacked you and Orihime? That was a hollow! That s the sort of soul that has Orihime with them now! Monsters! That s why we've sent captains!" "Acidwire? You mean Orihime's brother?" "We don't keep a note on their human name, just their hollow name. That's who Acidwire must have been." Tatsuki broke free of Hisagi's grip, and sat back down on the bed.
"The hollows are those monsters, and they have Orihime? Oh shit, oh shit." Hisagi stood up and put his hand on her shoulder.
"You know about her power, don't you? That's why they want her. And that is also why we sent our captains. To get her and her power back safe." "Is that all she is to you? Power?"'"Shinigami deal with many souls. Our priority is to make sure all souls stay safe. I'm going now. I'll be around the human world for a few days, just in case you have any questions." "Thanks." With that, Hisagi moved over to Tatsuki's window, and jumped out.
However, at the moment, Tatsuki couldn't care less. She had to do something. Anything to get Orihime back to her. She had a flash of inspiration. She had to train. If she trained, she d be stronger. Strong enough to stop this ever happening again. Wasting no time, Tatsuki ran into her en-suite, showered, changed, grabbed her bag and ran out the door.