Chapter Two: Kori

Hikari

I was sooo upset. I mean, here I was, face-to-face with Kori Kuchiki. It's not that I didn't like her, it's just that we didn't get along too well. She thought that I was a moron and I thought that she was a know-it-all.

Oh, sorry, you must not know. I'm Hikari. The narrator was getting old, and I'd rather tell it from my perspective. Don't worry, I'll make sure that everyone gets their bit in. But, for the most part, you'll have to listen to me. So, here goes nothing.

"Hey, Kori, we were wondering if you would like to go with us to the parade." Akira said. He smiled, and I could see that Chiyo didn't really like that.

She cocked her head slightly and asked, "There's a parade today? What's the occasion?"

We looked at each other, not able to come up with an answer.

"Um, it's the… anniversary… of when… someone… did something important?" I tried to come up with something on the fly.

She looked at us and smiled, "Oh, I am really sorry. I can not go." She looked up, to her right. "I have to… clean the house, and watch the family." She shrugged apologetically and scratched her nose. "Sorry. Maybe next time."

Akira and Chiyo nodded in understanding, but I wasn't fooled. I am a master at lying, and can pick out a crook from a mile away. From her body language (scratching the nose) to the fact that she wouldn't use contractions, I knew that something was up. I also knew how to definitely tell.

"That's alright," I said smoothly. "So, have you seen any good movies lately?"

She relaxed, and that was when I knew that she had been lying. Then, she narrowed her eyes at me.

"Yes, I have. Not too many, so I won't bore you with the details. Besides, I have work to do and you have to get to the parade, right? It looks like it's about to begin."

We turned and saw a procession of people steadily moving toward the zoo area. Running off, I turned and looked back. Kori stared at me, intently, for a second, and then turned and walked in her house.

"Ugh, why did we have to go to Kuchiki's house?" Chiyo complained. I rolled my eyes. "Now we're gonna be late!"

"Well, we had to try. And, Kori was so cool about it." Akira attempted to lighten the mood, but it backfired and Chiyo gave him a nasty look.

She started shouting about how he was "goggling" over her and "why didn't he pay her any attention". The more Akira tried to defend himself, the worse it got for him. I laughed, and suddenly, the death-stare turned on me.

"And, what were you doing? That whole 'what movies have you seen' thing was completely irrelevant! If I didn't know better, I'd think that you were a bit embarrassed." She looked at me slyly.

"Okay, don't even go there. Never in my life would that happen. And, second, it was a test. She was lying about not being able to go. Trust me, I know when people are lying."

"What?" Chiyo asked, obviously shocked. "How do you know that she was lying?"

I sighed. "Body language, eye movement, and some other stuff. But, I had her after I changed the subject. She relaxed, and that's when I knew that she was lying."

Chiyo still didn't look convinced, and I didn't feel like fully explaining the theory of micro-expressions, so I just kept running. Finally, we got to the zoo. Unfortunately, there were already a lot of people there.

I heard something far in the distance. I didn't see anything in front of me, so I turned around.

In the distance, there was this huge figure, hulking, and dead-white. It had a weird mask on its face and a hole where its heart was supposed to be.

What the…? I thought. Looking around, I saw that no one else had noticed. How do they not see this? It's gigantic!

Spinning around, I began to run. Keeping my eyes on the monster, I crossed street after street. Above me, I noticed a figure in a black kimono jumping from house to house, in the same direction.

Thank goodness, I thought. I'm not the only one who sees this thing. I hope this guy has something to fight this monster.

Turning, I ran along the sidewalk. Cars whisked past me, probably on their way to the parade at the zoo. Thinking about that made me remember that I had left my friends at the entrance. I shrugged it off, not worrying about it.

I turned one last time, and almost ran into the thing. It was a lot bigger in person, taller than most, if not all, of the buildings around. It was stomping around, crushing utility poles, clearing the roofs off of houses, and stepping on people. I did the only thing that I could think of…

"Hey, stupid!" It looked down at me. "Yeah, you, big and ugly! Why don't you leave these people alone?"

The monster clearly had no clue what I was saying. But, it could see that I was being a nuisance and, wanting to eat me, it started in my direction.

Crap, I thought as I ran. Sprinting around it seemed like the best idea, so that's what I did. I drew its attention with a few more taunts, and then ran away from everyone. I prayed that someone would come and help, because I couldn't run forever. At the outskirts of the city, the monster got tired of chasing me. He – I assumed it was a he – smashed his fist down right in front of me. I skidded to a stop, literally inches from becoming a squished-cartoon-Hikari. I turned around, eyes wide.

The monster-thing was right in front of me, his arm raised. There was no time to react; I just closed my eyes and braced for impact.

There was a whoosh in front of me, and then the sound of metal scraping. I opened my eyes, and saw the figure from before. He was holding a katana, protecting me from the beast.

"Run away, you idiot!" His voice sounded familiar, and was oddly high-pitched.

"No, I want to help!" I replied foolishly.

"Ugh, fine, then. Run behind it and be a distraction. I'll slash it from behind."

I did as was told, dashing out and yelling out all sorts of insults. Its head followed me, and when I got to the point where its head would turn any farther, it turned around. I smiled.

Perfect.

And, then, its arm swept out and hit me. I flew into a tree. The pain was excruciating, and I said some stuff that I can't put in print. Laying there on the ground, I had a bad perspective, but I remember seeing someone flying up in front of the sun, and then crashing down, sword slicing. As soon as the blade touched the monster, it reached out and grabbed him. At that point, I had started to get up.

"Hikari catch!" I looked up, and saw a spinning blade coming towards me. Like a pro, though, I caught it. One-handed, no less. The detail was immaculate, and the tsuba (hand guard) was interesting. A white diamond. I had no idea what I was doing with this sword, or what the diamond meant, so I just stood there.

"What are you doing, just standing there?" He coughed, getting crushed. "Use the thing, idiot!"

Those words spurred me into action, and I charged in. I was no rookie with a blade; I knew what I was doing.

With its other hand, the monster tried to squish me again. Instead, I sidestepped and ran up its arm. When I got to the shoulder, I stabbed. The thing dropped the other guy, staggering back. He fell to the ground, landing with a thud. Now that it had a free hand, the beast grabbed me and threw me to the ground.

I hit the concrete. HARD. I coughed up some blood, and my vision went hazy. More importantly, the guy's blade clanged out of my hand. It was only a few feet away, but I couldn't reach it in time.

I thought that it was over, when, again, the guy saved my skin. He took the blow, using his body as a shield. The guy then dashed at his sword and stabbed the monster in hand. He then grabbed me and moved to a nearby tree. All of this happened in about a second or two.

Wait, how did he move so fast? That can't be possible!

"Hikari, you retard. Why didn't you go for the head?"

"I didn't think…" I looked up at him. And, realized that he wasn't he at all. "Kori?"

She looked down at me. "Yes, it's me. I'll explain later. But, I don't have enough energy to finish this guy off; I used most of it saving your butt. We're gonna turn you into a hero, alright?"

I had no idea what I was getting into, but I nodded. If I was able to take this guy out and save everyone at the park, then there really was no option.

The creature started back towards us, slowly but steadily. "I'm gonna take this sword and ram it into your chest. One of two things will happen: Either you'll come out, with a sword like this, hopefully strong enough to take this guy out. Or, you'll be killed instantly." I frowned at that last one. "But, if you hesitate, you'll die anyway. So, are you in?"

I looked at the monster, then at Kori. I wasn't sure about how this would work exactly.

"So, either I live or I die. Those aren't bad odds. Let's do this."

She grinned. "You have no idea how long I've waited to do this." And, then she proceeded to stab me.

That wasn't too nice, I said to myself, hypocritically.

Then, there was a huge flash.

I emerged from the clichéd smoke, gripping a claymore. It was huge, with some illegible writing on the hilt. The tsuba was a simple circle; there was nothing special about the blade, minus the fact that it was almost as tall as I was.

I was dressed in the exact same outfit as Kori, minus a few unimportant details. I remember thinking,

Man, I really wish I had some action music right now.

Kori

I meant to give him half of my strength. Only half. But, Hikari ended up taking it all. Every last drop. I was left in a white kimono, showing that I had nothing left.

Hello, my name is Kori Kuchiki. I'm not sure what Hikari has told you about me, but I'm sure that it has been only positive.

Anyway, there Hikari stood above me, with a gigantic longsword gripped in both of his hands. The thing, a Hollow, roared and lashed out its arm, but Hikari didn't move. He just… appeared behind the Hollow. A second later, a slice appeared on its leg. Then, Hikari back flipped high into the air. He brought his blade down and sliced the creature in two. It dissolved into nothing.

Hikari turned around. "Lucy, you got some 'splaining to do."

He walked over to me, but stumbled. He steadied himself, shook his head, and then passed out.