Im so sorry about not updating on time but I was not able to gain access to a computer that has working Microsoft word on it….but anyway I hope that you will enjoy this chapter!
Last Time
"She can see you because she is of a similar race as you, Shinigami. . . Oh, I should warn you though… If you make any attempt to harm her in anyway . . . I will not think twice about killing you, Shinigami . . . for she is my charge . . ." the spiky blue haired man warned Ichigo in a deadly calm, deep baritone.
"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo exclaimed, his sword ready to defend himself if he has to.
Present Time
Chapter 2: The Strength
. . . To be granted the power,
The strength of shadows,
Only to be tainted,
By the one sworn to protect . . .
The spiky blue haired man smirked, revealing sharp looking canines. The man chuckled to himself before he walked over to Azura to stand behind her.
"You'll have to ask her… Shinigami… for who I am shouldn't concern you … it's who my master is that you should be more interested in … I will take my leave now … remember my warnings … Shinigami…" the spiky blue haired man said as he faded back into the shadows behind Azura.
Azura paled slightly as she started to back away from the orange haired teen boy in front of her. Ichigo grabbed her wrist before she could get to far from him.
"Who or what are you?" Ichigo demanded of Azura as he kept a firm grip on her wrist.
Azura tried to pull away from Ichigo but she was not strong enough to break the orange haired teen's grip on her wrist. Sighing to herself in defeat, Azura looked up at him with her eyes filled with a sadness that shocked him and caused him to loosen his hold on her wrist. Azura did not pull away even though she very well could have done so.
"I suppose that I do owe you an explanation, don't I?" Azura sighed, "Are their others that I might have to repeat myself to besides you? I don't want to have to repeat myself."
Ichigo nodded, "Yeah, there are others, follow me. I'll take you to them."
Ichigo let go of Azura's wrist and began to walk off in the opposite direction of her house. Azura looked at the shadows behind her before she started to run to catch up to Ichigo so that she would not get left behind.
XXX
Azura and Ichigo finally arrived at the place where the other people that she would have to explain herself to were staying. It was a small shop that seemed to be put in an out of the way place for a shop.
"This is Urahara Kisuke's shop. He's the person you'd want to talk to the most." The orange haired teen explained.
Azura nodded and stepped inside of the shop. Ichigo kept walking to the back room of the shop. He stopped and turned around to see if Azura was still following behind him. She was not, so he motioned for her to continue into the shop's back room.
When Azura had taken her black leather, metal studded boots off and left them with the other shoes that were sitting in the front of the door, she nervously entered the room, expecting the worst case scenario to happen. That she was going to be yelled at and called all the names under the sun, and then be attacked.
That did not happen. The conversation that she thought that she had heard before she had entered the room had stopped. Azura looked around the room, it was small and a dining table was centered in the square room. There was a blonde man that wore a straw hat that slightly covered his eyes. He was smiling at Azura in a friendly manner that made her feeling only a little less unsure of him. There was something about the blonde man that she could not quite put a finger on, but she knew he was different from the other people that she had met before.
"Ichigo, do you mind introducing this pretty lady to the rest of us?" the straw hat wearing blonde man chuckled, a fan opening up and covering his lower face as he spoke.
"Yeah, and explain how she is staring at me." A red haired man whose hair color matched Azura's exactly and was wearing the same strange black clothing as Ichigo, demanded.
Azura had been staring at him since she had noticed that they shared the same hair color and that they both had black tattoos. Azura blushed when the red haired man stated that she was not suppose to be able to see him.
'Can this day get any worse? No, wait I don't want to have that answered.' Azura thought to herself as she sighed out loud to herself for the fourth time that day.
"I guess it is safe for me to assume that you all are the ones that Ichigo said that I should explain my situation to.
"I am Zigitsuga Azura. I was attacked be a hollow and that was how I met Ichigo. No, actually I met him when I ran into him after I had arrived at my new foster home." Azura began.
"A pleasure to meet you Zigitsuga-sama. I have not heard that family name in years. Where are your parents Zigitsuga-sama?" the blonde man asked Azura.
The way that the blonde man had addressed Azura caught her and everyone else in the room off guard. She sat down at the table by the blonde to give herself some time to think of a way to answer. She did not even know what he was like, or even the red haired man's name was for that matter.
"They're dead…" Azura answered softly, looking down at her hands. She had decided to tell the truth, she was getting vibes from the men in the room that told her that she could trust them enough that what ever she would say here would not leave the shop's walls.
"…" the red head just stared at her with Ichigo and the blonde man.
"They were eaten by the hollow that had attacked me earlier. My twin brother was also eaten by the hollow." Azura elaborated, still looking down at her hands, "So, I'm the last surviving member of my family."
"That is not good, not good at all. Oh, I'm Urahara Kisuke, the rude one from before is Abaraii Renji." The blonde man stated.
"Indeed, it's not good at all. My charge is the last of the Children of the Nightmare Flames. It would benefit you Urahara-san to protect her." A familiar baritone voice rumbled in agreement.
"Eh? Kajikage, what is going on? You almost never appear in your physical form and now this is the second time today that you have appeared." Azura asked the shadowy figure that appeared behind her.
"I mostly don't appear simply for the fact that your foster jerks would a)try to kill the both of us or, b) kick you out with no where to go. My job is to keep the Zigitsuga clan heir and only surviving member alive." Kajikage, the spiky blue haired man with the deep baritone, explained, "Not to be your reason for your death."
"Oh,…" Azura said with an expression of uncertain understanding.
"What the hell are 'Children of the Nightmare Flames', and what does that have to do with her family name or the creepy guy behind her that reminds me of a hollow and a zanpakuto at the same time?" the orange haired teen shouted.
Ichigo was no longer wearing the strange black clothing or the huge sword anymore. As a matter of fact, he was now dressed in the clothing of a regular teenage boy.
Azura shrank back away from Ichigo when he had shouted, it was an automatic reflex for her from all the times she had been treated so badly by her foster parents. At her reaction, Kajikage growled warningly at Ichigo, as if daring him to yell at her again.
"Now, now. I'm sure that Zigitsuga-sama will explain everything in her own time. Do you have a place that you would like to stay other than the place where you got those bruises from, Zigitsuga-sama?" Urahara proposed, trying to keep the situation from getting out of hand, "You're welcome to stay here anytime."
"R-really? I'd appreciate it immensely if I could. I'll have to get my things though." Azura said, relief obvious on her face.
"I'll get those things for you little one. You need to stay here where you are safe from other hollows." Kajikage said before he disappeared.
"Thank you Urahara-san for letting me stay here with you." Azura thanked Urahara, bowing respectfully.
Urahara just smiled at her from behind his fan as he returned her bow. 'Things are about to get interesting.' Urahara thought.
END CHAPTER
Well I hope that the bleach characters weren't too OOC….the interesting parts are coming up soon, so bare with me! Im sorry if I have misspelled anything or if my grammar wasn't the best in the world. Anyway, review! They are the food that feeds my inspiration to keep writing! Thanks!
