SailorStar9: After getting the prologue out, this is Chapter 1 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?
Disclaimers: I own nothing, except for the plot bunny. Heck I don't even know who to pair Hasu up with.
Chapter 1: The Day I Became A Shinigami; Hasu's Pendent Reveals Its True Form
We have no form, therefore we fear it, and because we are formless, we revere it. Thus we are slain. The above quote appeared across the screen, as several Hollows manifested, the episode beginning with a look at a world of darkness, and several figures in the dark.
"I see, I feel a strong pulse." Atop a telephone pole, a young woman dressed in a black kimono mused and jumped down.
That evening...
"You suddenly kick Yama-chan down and you tell us 'outta the way'?" Toshi-Bro echoed. "Say something!" he demanded when Kurosaki Ichigo remained silent. "You little..." he was silenced by Ichigo's kick to the face.
"Whoa, Toshirin's getting..." Mit-Bro gaped as Ichigo continued to pummel Toshi-Bro.
"Quit yakking!" Ichigo snapped. "All of you bastards, look at that!" he pointed over to the fallen bottle his twin was kneeling beside. "Question 1: What the hell is that? Yes, you in the middle."
"Um... a tribute for the kid who died here recently." Mit-Bro stammered.
"Absolutely right!" Ichigo sent him flying with a kick. "Okay then, why would the bottle have fallen over?
"Well, we were skateboarding and knocked it over." one of the skateboarders admitted.
"You bastards!" Ichigo knocked the two over. "I dare you to do that again. I'll make it so people will lay flowers for you too."
"We're so sorry!" the group of thugs fled.
"If I scared them that badly, they probably won't come back here." Ichigo remarked.
"Nii-chan, was that really necessary?" Hasu asked, righting the bottle and replacing the flowers back. "We'll bring some new flowers for you tomorrow." she told the spirit of the dead girl who had appeared above the bottle.
"Thanks for chasing them away." the girl replied. "Now, I can rest peacefully, Onii-chan, Onee-chan."
"You're welcome." Hasu smiled.
"Hurry up and go to Heaven." the siblings bade the girl farewell, the ghost vanishing as they walked back home.
Once home...
"We're home." Ichigo announced.
"You're late!" Kurosaki Isshin landed a kick on his son's head. "You punk of a son! You know our dinner time is seven o'clock every night."
"Damn you, is this how you greet your son who went out of his way to help a ghost on the way home?" Ichigo snapped.
"I don't wanna hear it!" Isshin barked. "Only punishment awaits those who disrupts our family time, no matter what the reason is. Or what, are you bragging that you're the only one who can talk and touch ghosts?"
"Shut up!" Ichigo retorted, father-and-son battling it out, again. "I didn't ask for this power."
"Stop it, two of you." Yuzu chided. "The food is getting cold."
"Let them be, Yuzu." Karin advised. "Hasu-nee will take care of this. More please." she held out her rice bowl.
True enough...
"First of all, making a healthy male high school student come home at seven every night is unimagi..." Ichigo retorted, hammering a punch across his father's face.
"Enough!" Hasu glared, senbon needles between her fingers, scaring both males witless.
"Ichi, Hasu-nee, you've already got a new friend." Karin informed.
"What?" Ichigo gaped, a glass-wearing ghost floated between the twins. "When did you...? I exorcise and exorcise and they keep coming back, dammit."
"Thanks for the food." Karin put down her bowl. "Ichi has it tough being hi-spec."
"But you know, I'm kind of jealous." Yuzu admitted. "I can sense presences, but almost never see them."
"I don't believe in ghosts and stuff, so..." Karin stated.
"What?" Yuzu echoed. "But you can see them too, can't you? Dad's the only one who can't see them."
"Regardless if you see them or not, if you don't believe, then it's likely that they never existed." Karin death-panned.
"That's cold, Karin." Hasu joked, giving her younger sister a kiss on the forehead. "Ready my rice, will you, Yuzu?" she requested, kissing Yuzu on the cheek and headed upstairs.
"They've been having a tough time lately." Yuzu remarked, after the elder siblings retreated to their respective rooms.
"Now that you mention it, Ichi said they're seeing them a lot more lately." Karin noted.
"What?" Isshin gaped. "He tells you two that kind of thing? He didn't tell me..."
"Of course not." Karin stated. "Who'd talk to a father who's past forty and still communicates like a child?"
"Oh Mother..." Isshin walked over to the poster of his late wife. "Lately, maybe because of puberty, our daughters are being so mean! What should I do?"
"First, do something about this ridiculous house." Karin death-panned.
The next day...
"Morning, bro." Yuzu greeted.
"Morning." Ichigo entered the kitchen. "Where's pop?"
"He said a meeting." Hasu supplied.
"He won't be home tonight." Karin added.
"Oh." Ichigo removed the toast from the toaster.
"What's wrong?" Yuzu inquired, seeing the elder siblings focused on the news report.
"That's nearby." Ichigo remarked, toast in mouth.
On the road...
"Hey!" Ichigo called, rounding the corner, the twins passing the sealed off explosion site.
"Nii-chan..." Hasu started, both siblings alerted by a rumbling sound and took off into the direction of the resulting explosion.
"What's that..." Ichigo gaped, a Hollow emerging from the smoke.
"Onii-chan!" the girl ghost called.
"Run!" Hasu barked, the trio fleeing the scene.
"What is that?" the girl spirit inquired, the mantis-like Hollow chasing them.
"Hell if I know!" Ichigo snapped. "Hey!" he stopped in his tracks, the girl having fallen over her feet.
"Hurry!" Hasu urged.
A Hell butterfly fluttered by, announcing the arrival of a Shinigami. Kuchiki Rukia entered the battle, slashing across the Hollow with her katana, before finishing off the Hollow with a downward slash.
"Hey..." Ichigo voiced as Rukia walked off. "Hey you!"
That night...
I don't get it. Ichigo mused on his bed. Who was she? His eyes widened when a Hell butterfly fluttered in, Rukia hopping into the twins' room. "Who are you?" he gaped.
"It's near." Rukia hopped off the table.
"Don't gimme, 'It's near.' dumbass!" Ichigo leveled a kick on her back. "You scare me shitless then ignore me? I asked you who the hell you are."
"You can see me?" Rukia gaped. "Rather, you kicked me..."
"Of course we can see y..." Ichigo started.
"You are the boy in town earlier." Rukia recognized. "This is strange. Ordinarily, no one should be able to see me. Very well, I shall tell you. I am a … Shinigami."
"I see." Ichigo noted. "So basically you're a Shinigami? And you came all the way from some place call Soul Society to vanquish evil spirits. Which means that monster earlier was one of those evil spirits. And it attacked that little girl. Okay, I'll belie... no way I'll believe that, dumbass!" he exploded.
"You fool." Rukia chided. "You can see ghosts, but you refuse to believe in the existence of a Shinigami?"
"Of course." Ichigo replied. "Sorry, but I've never once seen a Shinigami before. I don't believe in things I can't see."
"You are seeing me right now." Rukia reminded.
"I'll accept that you ain't human." Ichigo stated. "But go play Shinigami somewhere else. Got that, you stupid brat."
"You just had to say it." Rukia twitched. "Way of Binding, number 1." she chanted. "Sai! You can't move." she informed. "This is what is called Way of the Demon. A noble magic that can only be used by a Shinigami. Despite how I look, I've lived nearly ten times as long as you. And you call me a 'stupid brat'? Normally, I would eliminate you. But it just happens that I'm forbidden to harm people I'm not ordered to. Be grateful, stupid brat. And while I'm here..."
"That guy from yesterday..." Ichigo gaped when Rukia performed a 'Soul Burial' on the glass-wearing ghost. "What happened to that guy?" he asked, the spirit turning into a Hell butterfly and fluttered off.
"I sent him to Soul Society." Rukia re-sheathed her sword. "In your language, you'd call it 'going to Heaven'. That's one of a Shinigami's jobs." she went on to explain Soul Society, Pluses, and Hollows with her pictures.
"Hey, you hear that?" Ichigo started.
"In any case, it's certain that the second one is roaming this area." Rukia confirmed. "Well, I don't know why, but recently, I haven't been able to sense its presence, as if some huge power is hindering my senses."
"Can't you hear it's loud-ass voice?" Ichigo barked. "Ain't that the monster?"
"Loud voice?" Rukia echoed. "When did it...? I hear it." she gasped. "No doubt. That's the voice of a Hollow."
"Yuzu!" Ichigo gasped, recognizing his sister's scream.
What spirit force! Rukia winced at the immense spirit pressure once she ran out of the room. I couldn't sense this!?
"Bro..." Yuzu staggered towards Ichigo's room.
"Yuzu!" Ichigo looked at his sister who had collapsed at the front of his door. "Hasu-nee-chan and Karin..."
"Dammit!" Ichigo cursed, sitting up as Rukia took off upon hearing Karin's scream.
"Hasu-nee..." Karin gasped on the ground in front of the Kurosaki gates, the Hollow grasping Hasu within its claws.
"Stay back!" Rukia barked, Ichigo having tumbled down the stairs.
"Hasu, Karin..." Ichigo got to his feet. "Dammit! Hasu!" and despite Rukia's warnings, released the binding spell.
"Wait!" Rukia cautioned, Ichigo grabbing a folded chair and charged at the Hollow.
The Hollow simply slapped Ichigo away.
"I found you." the Hollow droned, Ichigo dodging the incoming punch and allowing Rukia the opening she needed to slash the Hollow's arm.
"Hasu!" Ichigo caught his younger sister.
"Don't panic." Rukia assured. "Your sisters' souls weren't eaten by him. He's seeking souls of high spiritual power. That's it." she realized. "The Hollow from this afternoon wasn't after that girl. I don't know why... but until just now, your pulse was subdued to the lowest possible emission. So I didn't sense anything from you, and no Hollows attacked you until now. It's just a guess, but the pulse that couldn't flow out of your body must have flowed out into the world when you touched that girl ghost. In other words, those two Hollows followed the strength of your scent from that girl. They're all after you. It's here." she warned, the Hollow re-manifesting. "Hey!" she called when Ichigo dashed in front of the Hollow.
"Hey," Ichigo voiced. "You want my soul, don't you? Then, come fight me for it."
Time seemed to stop as the Hollow reached out for Ichigo when Rukia intervened, taking the blow.
"You fool..." Rukia muttered, collapsing on the road. "You should already know your strength is nothing against that. Or did you think it would all end smoothly if you just gave it your soul? At this rate, we're just all waiting to be its prey. Do you want... to save your family?" she crawled over to lean against a lamp post.
"Of course." Ichigo replied."Is there a way?"
"There's only one." Rukia tightened her grip on her blade. "You... must become a Shinigami. Thrust this Zanpakutō through your heart and I will pour my powers into you. I don't know if this will work, but there isn't any other way."
"Gimme the sword." Ichigo made his decision. "Shinigami."
"I'm not 'Shinigami'." Rukia corrected. "I'm Kuchiki Rukia."
"I"m Kurosaki Ichigo." Ichigo gripped the blade and thrust the sword into his chest, the energy outburst severing the Hollow's right limb.
Impossible. Rukia was stunned. "I intended to give only half my spirit power, but he took it all? What is he?" I've never seen a human with enough spirit force to confuse a Shinigami's senses. I've never seen a human who could break a Demon spell. And I've definitely never seen a Shinigami's Zanpakutō become that huge.
"Nii-chan..." Hasu awoke to the powerful energy out-surge, the lotus pendent she always wore around her neck ever since she was a baby, reacting to the spiritual outburst.
"The girl..." Rukia's eyes widened when a bright light shot from Hasu's neck, manifesting into one of Tula's attributes, the Lotus Lamp. "It couldn't be... Tula-sama..." she looked on as the revealed Lotus Lamp floated into Hasu's hands. I've found her...
"Feel my wrath for having raised a hand at my family." Ichigo glared at the Hollow. "And go to hell!" raising his new blade, he vanquished the Hollow with a downward slash.
SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.
