Welcome to Chapter 2! This is, I guess, kinda longish. I HAD to introduce part of the plot in this--yes, yes, I know--an NMW story with an actual PLOT?! (Insert Gasps of Horror and Amazement) Who knew, right?
(cough) Sorry. I let someone I don't normally beta-read, beta-read for me and he was being a "sarcastic" ass about the fact that I had some say in how this story was going to write itself. We call him The ISH Bastard even to his face because his response is usually (literally) "Insert Sarcasm Here" even at a serious moment....yeah, like I said, the ISH Bastard.
So, yeah--NEVER going to let him beta-read for me unless I'm REALLY desperate...and maybe not even then.
Reviews:
Harpygirl91: Harpy-chan! Long time, no review! You were missed! ^^
You think this is interesting, do ya? Then....then let's hope I can keep it that way....heh heh... ^^;
Anyway--on with the show.....
Ghost in the Shell: SAC-SSS/Full Metal Alchemist/Fushigi Yuugi
Death Note/Mai-Hime/Code Geass/Sailor Moon/Shaman King
Naruto/Bleach/Karas/InuYasha
"Brave New World"
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Chapter 2
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The Afudamuri Apartment Complexes consisted of at least 8 different multi-storied buildings in two groups of four, each courtyard having their own playground for kids, a zen garden with the fore mentioned fiend gate and a koi pond and apartments of varying sizes within each building. There was a children's park and a good elementary school close by and a nice children's clinic and a few stores just a bit further on. It was only a handful of blocks from a train stop and there were at least two bus stops in the immediate area. It was a nice place to live and it was a relatively quiet area of Niihama…until the occasional call out brought the police around and the residents started to wonder if they weren't in a troubled area after all.
Hotaru remembered coming to this complex when they were first being constructed and the fiend gates were being put in. She had seen the same gates going up in various other locations all around town, giving the fiends, demons and spirits a quick way to get to away from humans. These gate helped boost the spiritual and elemental harmony within the city and in such a war-ravaged time with technology on the all time high, it was a necessary addition to the city construction plans.
"Either of you remember when we got the last time you've been to this place?" Sagisaka asked of Hotaru and Ichigo in the back seat of the car as Kurei pulled up between a pair of marked police cars.
"Back when they put in the gates." Hotaru said.
"Back when one of the Gotei 13 captains wanted to move to the world of the living and wanted to take a look at the apartments." Ichigo admitted. "The last call out we got from here was the lesser demons that got killed in one of the buildings' basements. 'Member that one, Hotaru?"
Hotaru snorted softly. "I couldn't get the taste of decayed demon out of my mouth for over a week. It was hell."
Kurei turned off the engine and the members of the Intervention Department got out of the car, Grimmjow on Hotaru's shoulder again. Hotaru closed her door and felt the katana on her back hum softly at the proximity of the fiend gates. She looked around quickly found the apartment that they were needed at. As SOP, they would have vacated the residents on the floor, 3 floors up and 3 floors down but when fiend activity was confirmed, they had vecated everyone out of the building and it looked like they were all waiting at the barricades with the spectators, waiting to go back inside their homes.
"Go on up, you two." Sagisaka instructed. "Inspector Kurei and I will handle everything down here. Let us know what you find out."
"Not a problem. C'mon, Firefly." Ichigo nodded, heading towards the apartment building. Hotaru scratched Grimmjow under the chin as she trailed after Ichigo without saying a word. Now Ichigo's bad feeling was rubbing off on her because she was feeling more and more apprehensive the closer they came to the apartment building.
Hotaru fell into step beside him, getting Ichigo to look at her. "You okay, Firefly? Your reishi's spiked."
"Your bad feeling's rubbed off on me." Hotaru told him softly as they reached the police tape line just passed the cars. Ichigo took his badge wallet from his coat's inner breast pocket and flashed his badge to the uniform at the line. Hotaru took out hers from a similar location and did the same. The uniform looked at both then lifted the tape to let them through. Ichigo still had to duck under, being taller than the shorter officer's reach but Hotaru passed under the line no problem.
Grimmjow hissed at the uniformed man, slipping in between Hotaru's head and the hilt of her katana. Hotaru paid the officer no heed as Ichigo stopped and looked back, hearing the cat start growling darkly at the officer.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ichigo snapped at the man unhappily. "There's a crime scene over our heads and you've got the goddamn nerve to look at my partner like she's just a piece of ass?"
"No cop dresses like that." The officer muttered to Ichigo. "She looks more like hooker. She ain't undercover; I work in undercover an' she ain't one of us."
"We're Intervention Department." Ichigo saw the surprise in the man's face. "You hear of shunko, dumbass? It makes it impossible for the users to where anything that covers their shoulders and upper back—and the only things like that in her size is tops like that. So get your hand outta your pants and shut the fuck up. We don't have time for your goddamn porno fantasies."
Hotaru continued onto the apartment building, leaving Ichigo to deal with the cop. She reached the front gate, where another officer was standing guard. Hotaru gave him her ID and he took a good look at the picture and then at her, then flipped through the accompanying plastic pages to look at her other credentials.
"May I see your watch, Lieutenant Colonel?" The officer at the gate requested. Hotaru took the pocket watch out her pocket and showed it to the man. He closed her wallet of credentials and handed it back to her as she put her watch back in her pocket. "Sorry for the second degree, ma'am. Had to make sure. And don't mind the idiot at the tap, ma'am. Transfer rookie."
"It's all right." Hotaru reassured, tucking her ID away as the officer opened the gate for her.
Hotaru passed by him and walked the short distance to the lift. The young officer inside the lift opened the gate for her without even asking for her identification and pressed the button for the floor the crime scene was on. Hotaru leaned up against the back of the lift, her eyes closed and Grimmjow on her shoulder with his paws and head on her head, looking around through the mesh sides of the moving box.
"Not like the lift at home, is it, Grimm?" Hotaru asked the cat, getting a meow in return.
"You think it's wise to bring your pet to a crime scene, ma'am?" The young officer asked, glancing back at Hotaru. He wasn't fighting to not look at her chest, which made her glance at his left hand—yep, married.
"He's not so much a pet as he is my partner." Hotaru told him, lightly tapping her temple.
"Oh, a shell pet or a bio-pet body with a human ghost, huh?" So, the married officer knew about that kind of thing, did he?
"Your wife work around prosthetics?" Hotaru asked, getting the officer to look at his ring than smile at the realization that she had seen it.
"Pediatric cyberization and prosthesis at the Kohoku Cyberization Hospital." The officer nodded. "She got to see such weird things like your friend there…but from the way he's moving around, I'm thinking he's something else but he's still got that 'humanoid' feel to him, if you don't mind me saying so, ma'am."
"He's definitely a 'something else'." Hotaru looked at him over the tops of her glasses and then pushed them up higher on her nose. "When you get home, officer, no matter what time, wake up your wife and tell her how much she means to you. And if you have kids, do the same. Whatever you do, do not bring this home with you. Leave it in the car, at the station, outside the door—just do not bring it into your home. It will be hard but it's the only way you're going to be able to hold it together for the long run."
The officer looked at her with grattitude and gave her a nod and a soft smile. "Yes, ma'am. I'll do just that. Thank you for the advice."
The lift came to a stop and the officer opened the lift to let her out on to the needed floor. Grimmjow sat back on her shoulder and Hotaru exited the lift, heading towards the taped off apartment. She passed a man in a much different uniform but didn't pay any attention to him, seeing a small number of policemen with their heads between their knees and far from the door as possible.
What was so horrible beyond that door which had seasoned cops running for fresh air?
"Ho-Hotaru?"
Stopping half way to the door and turning part way around to see who had said her name, Hotaru saw the different uniform she had passed. It was a uniform she knew quite well, having one of her own in her closet. This man had short black hair and gold eyes behind rectangle glasses with facial hair along his chin and jawline. He too had a gold band around his left ring finger but it was older with a couple scratches from hard work over the years.
It took Hotaru a couple minutes to recognize who this was but she gave them a soft smile. "Good evening, Hughes."
Hughes seemed surprised that he had been correct, only snapping back to reality when his cell phone started giving him a dial tone. He quickly hung up and put it in his pocket, giving Hotaru his full attention now. He gave her a smile and came to her side.
"It's been so long. I can't believe that it took me so long to recognize you." Hughes said good naturedly with a chuckle. "Gracia and I have been wondering when you're going to drop by and Alicia's been asking about you. I thought you were still doing that investigation in Munich—I mean, I heard it was still on-going and last I heard you were over there—5, maybe 4 years ago."
"I was needed else where." Hotaru smiled softly. "I'm with the Intervention Department now."
"The Intervention Department, you?" Hughes repeated. "One would think that would be a waste of their talent."
"It's one of the jobs I'm qualified for and I can still go home at the end of the day." Hotaru replied with a soft shrug. Grimmjow meowed, getting Hughes' attention. "Oh, how rude of me. Brigadier General Maez Hughes, meet Grimmjow, my currently four-legged companion."
"You're the only State Alchemist that I know that can get away with having your pet at work with you when you're working for someone else." Hughes sighed, scratching Grimmjow under the jaw.
"Grimm gets into the impossible places for me. He's more of a partner than a pet." Hotaru informed Hughes with a soft smile, getting Grimmjow to nuzzle her. "Like the way Black Hayate and Lieutenant Hawkeye function. If you'll excuse us, Hughes, we have a crime scene to look at."
"Oh, of course. I was just calling headquarters to see which State Alchemist they were going to send but I kept getting the run around." Hughes motioned for Hotaru to take the lead. Hotaru started towards the apartment with Hughes at her heel. "I'm glad it's you, honestly. There aren't very many of you that have a strong stomach and are still among the sane, the free and the living."
"Especially that first one." Hotaru muttered in agreement with a quirk of a smile on her lips.
The faint stentch of death was far stronger for Hotaru, making her hand fly up to her nose and take a large step back. Hughes looked at her mildly surprised, then at Grimmjow who sounded like he was sneezing. Hotaru reached into her coat pocket and took out a tin of tiny mints. She opened the tin and took a small mint out, giving it to Grimmjow who took it instantly. Hotaru gave herself two before closing the tin and putting it back in her pocket.
"Your senses have gotten sharper." Hughes observes, standing by the door. "Most of the guys don't smell it until they're half way through the walk-through."
"I'm 21, Hughes. My senses only get stronger with age." She pointed out, striding across the apartment's threshold. She stooped at the entryway and put the fingertips of a hand on the hardwood floor, looking deeper into the apartment and looking around. "…the threshold's no longer pure. It won't do anything to wear shoes inside."
"You can tell that by touching the floor?" Hughes asked as he watched her step up onto the hardwood. She walked a few steps further and then unhooked Grimmjow's collar, letting the cat jump from her shoulder as she tucked the leash into her other pocket.
"The grounds and each apartment were given protective seals and charms once each was completed. Doing so much evil or dark intent and the karmic scrubbers, for lack of a better term, get used up to the point where it's no longer a problem to wear your shoes inside." Hotaru explained distractedly, looking in the coat closet by the door. Grimmjow peered in and then slunk down the hall, reminding Hughes a little of Black Hayate in investigative mode.
Hotaru slowly ran her hand over the wall next to her. "Death is soaked into the walls, new and old…" She took her hand from the wall and glanced at Hughes. "Did they find bodies?"
"Only a few were in large pieces while the others were chopped up into segements that could fit into plastic bags but yes, mixed in with the comparatively scant amount of garabage. The Prefectural Police set to work clearing out all the bags, trash and bodies while the Intervention Department was notified and responded." Hughed told her, bringing up the information in his Cyberbrain. "There was evidence of possible alchemis involvement. I was called in to confirm it and then they were to call in a State Alchemist. I can taste the alchemy in the air but I can't find any evidence of it."
"It's a side effect of bringing you back with a method that required alchemy as a portion of the equation…you'll be able to taste, feel and recognize transmutational activity from now on." Hotaru murmured distracted again, crouching and putting her fingers against the hardwood. "The wood's thicker here than it should be…..no, not thicker…"
"Compressed?" Hughes supplied.
"…yes, exactly…" Hotaru mumbled rising to stand again. "Something of significant weight walked the same path almost everyday." She locked her eyes on the bedroom down directly down the hall from her. "Has anyone checked behind that door, gone anywhere near it?"
"Not since evidence of fiend involvement was confirmed by the puddle of mixed blood. We collected the evidence for you and even sent the cop who stepped in it to your lab rats already, not sure what to expect when coming in contact with a mixture of human and fiend blood." The higher ranked State officer informed the girl as hotaru started towards the door. She wasn't more than half way before Grimmjow came out of the small room he had been inspected and fell into padded step at her heel. "The bathroom and that bedroom where filled with the bags, corpses and garbarge. We got it all out and turned it over to the NPA forensics."
"State forensics has better equipment." Hotaru commented off handedly. Grimmjow stopped a third of the way from the door while Hotaru stepped closer.
"Hey, Firefly—you in here already?" Ichigo called out, looking around before looking forward.
"Mrow!" Grimmjow meowed, getting Ichigo's attention.
"Oh, there you are. You're all black from behind, Firefly." Ichigo remarked. "Oh, hey, Hughes."
"Ichigo Kurosaki—you stuck in the Intervention Department, too?" Hughes teased, shaking the young man's hand.
"Hey, don't knock it until you try it. We get less paper work than anyone else." Ichigo chuckled as hotaru stopped on the edge of the congealing puddle coming from under the door and reached her hand towards the closed barrier. Her hand stopped a hair from the surface and her eyes snapped wide with a faint gasp, instantly getting Ichigo's attention. "…shit…."
"What?" Hughes asked, clueless but recognizing that something was up.
The weird design on Hotaru's sword suddenly opened to reveal the face of a watch and then it blinked, turning into a real eye that moved around in its socket and blinked. An ethereal ring chimed in the air, an aura starting to form around everything. Grimmjow suddenly started hissing at the door, not moving closer.
"Hughes—down!" Ichigo grabbed Hughes' jacket as the aura over took them, both men falling to the ground as something dark and fierce broke through the door like a giant bullet from a gigantic gun and catching Hotaru around the waist, taking her out the door and through the floor railing in the air above the empty contained area.
"Ka-ra-ssss!" The thing hissed venomously at Hotaru. Hotaru pushed herself up from being bent over the creature and rammed her knee into its chest as hard as she could. A strangled shout left its lungs as it was forced to release Hotaru. The young woman pushed off the creature and flipped in the air, a gold mandala firing out of the eye on her sword and growing larger to allow her to pass through it.
As soon as Hotaru passed through it, she was no longer in her street clothes and her various armaments, but in a dark red satin bodice top, a pleated black mini skirt with black knee high boots that had stiletto heels and laced up the front, a dark wine colored coat with white fur on the hems, cuffs and hood and black designs scrawled on the arms and back sliding off her shoulders. She had a black choker around her neck and her blue crystal with her hair pulled back in a high ponytail, her bangs falling in her face. Her lips and nails were dark red and she had black fingerless gloves on her hands with her glasses on her face and her piercings all in place. Her Karas sword was in her right hand.
Hotaru rose from her momentum-canceling crouch and watched the creature recover and cirle over head with an angry hiss. It did not like her and hotaru had to admit for putting her in this outfit when it was this frickin' cold—the feeling was mutual.
"Karas." A pretty voice said, making Hotaru look at the girl next to her that glowed a pale, thoer-worldly light. "You must get rid of that creature. It was once a fiend but no more. If it escapes, this will only repeat itself. You must ilimenante that thing."
"Yes, Yurine." Hotaru nodded to the girl.
"Then go, Karas. And protect your territory." Yurine commanded.
Hotaru fell backwards off the gazebo, another gold mandala appearing behind her. In a well mastered flip onto her feet, Hotaru passed effortlessly through the mandala and then landed on the concrete with the soft tap of cement and metal.
As a Karas, Hotaru's armor sculpted her figure with armor panels on her sides, abdomen, chest, shoulders and back. Armor panels down her arms and legs gave her long talons and stiletto heels with a fine chainmail tunic skirt on the front and back. Her helmet covered her lower face with a fosted steel panel with pulsing blue tear trails down her "cheeks" and her upper face was hidden by a darker piece of steel with bright glowing blue eyes, a raven curved around her head. The wings came around the sides of her face, the head sat on her forehead and the long tails were long feathers that trailed down her back. Between the spaces of her dark blue, royal purple and dark steel colored armor was a black undersuit. Her sword had multiplied, becoming two and literally crossing at the small of her back and chained closed.
"Karas!" One of the Prefectural Police exclaimed, point at Hotaru and getting her to look at him. She looked from the startled police officer and the other municipal cops to Kurei and Sagisaka. Kurei just gave her the fond "there you go again, making a scene" smile and head shake. Sagisaka looked up at the thing in the air and then at Hotaru.
"Well, don't just stand there, Little Lady. Show these unis what a Karas can do." Sagisaka told Hotaru, motioning to the creature over their heads. Hotaru silently gave him a nod then looked back up at the thing overhead, watching it circle.
Hotaru's Yurine held up a feather and then swiped the air between her and Hotaru with it, the feather passing over Hotaru's figure. "Take to the skies, Karas, as the crow that you are."
"Yes, Yurine." Hotaru crouched and large metal bird wings shot out of her back and rose up as straight as they could stretch before sweeping down and throwing Hotaru into the sky.
"Wow, so that's Karas." A uniform murmured in awe at Hotaru upward shot and the collision with the creature, taking it higher out of harm's way.
"Close, that's a Karas." Another uniform corrected, watching in unusual dogfight in the sky. "There's one in every district, every city. They protect everything whether human, demon or fiend….and this one's one tough cookie."
"She has to be." Kurei said, watching with a half smile. "She's one of the High Seven, after all."
The two uniforms looked at him. "A High Seven Karas?!"
"Yup, a High Seven and a Mikura turned Karas." Kurei confirmed with a gentler smile now. "That's the living Karas, the Karas of Souls."
"The living Karas…" The first uniform breathed in awe.
"Karas of Souls….wow." The second mumbled in agreement.
8-8
Ichigo got off the floor, pulling Hughes to his feet. Hughes cautiously went to the door and then to the hole in the railing, looking down at the pavillion below. He stumbled back, a Karas shooting straight passed him and into the sky, colliding with that thing with a hard echoing thwack.
"Shit, there's a Karas here." Hughes muttered as Ichigo took his handkerchief from his pocket and covered his nose and mouth, stepping onto the air as if it were solid. Grimmjow leapt up onto the "as if solid" air as well and followed Ichigo to a clean spot inside the room itself.
Hughes turned back to the apartment in time to see Ichigo slip into the bedroom. He walked back into the apartment and to the door, debris from the door littering the ground and sticking in the blood.
"Ichigo—there's a real, honest-to-God Karas outside!" Hughes said, pointing towards the door and trying not to breath in the noxious smell of death, decay and God-knew-what else from the room.
"Yeah, probably." Ichigo responded, his comment muffled by his handkerchief.
"Do you know how rare it is to see a Karas, let alone watch one fight?" Hughes asked, trying to convince Ichigo to come watch with him.
"Go watch the Karas of Souls kick ass, Hughes." Ichigo instructed, looking around.
"The Karas of Souls?!" Hughes repeated. "We have a member of the High Seven saving our asses and you don't want to watch?!"
"I'm fine where I am, Hughes. Go ahead and go watch." Ichigo dismissed, taking a flash light from an inner pocket of his jacket. He turned it on and looked around, scanning the walls and ceiling while either stepping in a clean spot or on the air itself. Grimmjow was walking on the air now, near what looked like a rough handed sketch of a Shinto gate on the wall across from the door.
"You're in the Intervention Department!" Hughes groused, going back to the walkway to watch the fight. "And you don't want to watch a High Seven kick ass?!"
"I'll show you my memories some time, Hughes. You'll shit bricks when you get a glimpse at what I get to see on a regular basis." Ichigo muttered behind his handkerchief. He glanced at Hughes watching Hotaru fight high above their heads and looked back at the symbols painted on the walls. "…she is not going to like this…she is sooo going to hate this…."
8-8
"Die, Ka-ra-ssss!" The creature darted at Hotaru, obviously on a collision course. Hotaru gripped the hilts of her swords, her Yurine watching on from the corner of the closest building.
"Do it, Karas." Yurine commanded, the chains glowing amber before shattering and freeing her swords. Hotaru pulled them from their scabbards and the pure steel blades gleamed like moonlight in the electric lighting of the city.
Hotaru shot forward, her blades nothing more than gleaming streamers—all this but a blur to those below. To the Yurine, she saw every move down to the last detail. Hotaru came to a stop feet away and resheathing her blades. As soon as the hilts and the scabbards met, the creature exploded into bright green fire and dropped towards the ground, burning away until it was nothing but a speck of ash that dissolved before it touched the concrete far below.
Hotaru descended until her heels clicked onto the cement, her Yurine stepping out of her shadow. Her armor dispursed into amber feathers, revealing her dark red and black outfit and coat. She shrugged on her coat better, her sword not leaving her hand.
"You've done well, Karas." Yurine told her Karas.
"I'm glad you're happy, Yurine, but now I have to get back upstairs and I'd rather not go back up the elevator." Hotaru responed, closing her eyes with a sigh. "Come on, we have to touch to get me back to normal…though it's not at cold when I'm like this."
Her Yurine giggled softly. "You are truly the Karas of Souls, Hotaru—strong, noble and true."
"Come on, job to do. Job to do." Hotaru told her Yurine, walking towards the apartment building again. Yurine turned into a cat and hopped onto Hotaru's shoulder, the Karas crouching and then leaping the amazing height into the air.
Hotaru almost over shot the floor she needed but a golden mandala appeared and she passed through it, going back into the clothes she arrived in with everything she had arrived with. She landed on the top of the railing on the ball of one foot, using chakra in her hand to catch herself on the edge of the next floor up, starling her spectators on her needed floor.
Hughes looked at Hotaru speechlessly and Hotaru put her finger to her lips with a wink, signally him to keep quiet. She slid off the railing and walked back into the apartment, brushing her hair off her shoulder and pushing her glasses higher up on her nose. She stopped at the puddle and stooped, dipping the pad of a finger into the concoction and rubbing it between that finger and her thumb.
"Hughes said it was a mix of human and fiend blood." Hotaru said softly, getting Ichigo and Grimmjow's attention. "But…it's more than that."
"You're not going to taste it, are you?" Ichigo asked, minor disgust in his voice. "I nearly puked the last time you did that."
"No, I'm not going to taste it, not this time." Hotaru reassured stepping on the air above the puddle and walking into the room. "An illegal fiend gate in a moderately human community, warrants at least 18 years."
"And all the murders?" Ichigo asked. "Ain't that life so many times over?"
"It is." Hotaru confirmed, looking around, her eyes better than Ichigo's in the half light. "These are all symbols, runes to create one's own pocket fiend realm but from the way it's written, it'd be so terribly cramped. And they're pulling the life power from the blood itself and the lives sacrificed to make it…" Hotaru touched her hand to a fresher puddle and rubbed that between her fingers and thumb. "…human and fiend are only 2 of the componants. Just from touch and the residual power, I'd have to say that there's demon, soul reaper and shinobi in the mix…but there's something else."
Hotaru walked over to the gate and touched the side of it. Power filled every pore and then suddenly cut. Ichigo shot to her side, catching and supporting her before she dropped into the blood. She leaned her head against Ichigo's shoulder with her eyes closed and breathing deeply despite the smell.
"Firefly, are you okay?" Ichigo asked, getting a soft groan.
He scooped her up and carried her out of the room and out of the apartment, setting her on her feet on the walkway. Hotaru collapsed without support and she leaned against the railing, trying to catch her breath.
Ichigo cradled her face in his hands and pushed her bangs out of her way. "What happened, Hotaru? What was that?"
"…K-Karas….the power in the blood that made the gate—it was the blood of a Karas." Hotaru told her partner in a low, almost scared and pained voice. "It has to be Jyouru. He's the Karas of this district…he-he went missing at least 3 weeks ago. The other 6 have been looking for him but they haven't had any success. I've been looking for his body on this end…we found nothing for those entire 3 weeks, Ichi."
"Well, now we know why Ever-Vigilant Jyouru disappeared." Ichigo got a nod, Hotaru not meeting his eyes. He could feel how clammy she was from that moment of contanct with that gate.
Ichigo caught her biceps and pulled her onto her booted feet. "C'mon. Let's get you cleaned up so you can lay down and rest. You look like you're about to pass out."
"I have to tell the others." Hotaru told Ichigo, leaning heavily on him as he supported her to the elevator. Hughes scooped up Grimmjow and followed the duet into the lift.
"Kurei's Otoha's acolyte. We tell him an' he'll tell them on your behalf." Ichigo reasoned. "You need to lay down for a bit, Firefly. You're scary pale, babe; not a good look for you."
Hotaru didn't argue anymore but Ichigo knew he hadn't exactly won. If he could get her back to her place and get her to sleep, then he'd count this silence as a victory but he knew Hotaru well enough that it wasn't even going to be something to be considered. Hotaru would want to stay until they found the fiend that did all that. The thing she killed wasn't the one responsible, only a squater—Ichigo knew that much.
And that meant freaky whatever was still out there with another illegal gate no doubt in operation.
MWAHAHAHAHA-HA-HA....HA...ha...(cough cough)...heh.
I felt a little evil writing this, as you can tell. I was NOT gonna make it easy for them!
MWAHAHAHA!
Anyhoo....
Uh, yeah--how did you guys like the description of the armor? It's kinda rough but maybe--just maybe--I could get someone (who's DEFINITELY far more talented than I) to draw it for me.
How'd ya like the fight scene? Did that turn out all right?
If you have any questions, PM me, Review or email me with "FF.N BNW Q's" or I'll ignore it, since I don't open emails i don't recognize.
Plz read and review an' I'll do my best to get my next chap up soon.