Yo again everybody! Back with another chapter. I'm kind of a little annoyed that I haven't gotten more reviews but I've largely resigned myself to the fact that I won't be getting much until at the earliest the next couple of chapters or at the latest when I get to the second book and into the Soul Society Arc where some of the real fun is going to begin.
Anyway as always enjoy the show.
"Please mister please!" Yūichi pleaded. "You're in danger! You have to abandon me!"
"Don't worry about me," he replied. "My body can take it."
"But you don't understand! He's coming!"
Yasutora said nothing as he ran through the streets with Yūichi's birdcage. The truth was that ever since he had first taken Yūichi there had been this growing feeling that there was something following them, something causing the accidents that had harmed him and threatened others. Was it the same thing that had done…whatever that was to Keigo or was it something else?
"Chad!" Mizuiro called out, stopping the teen in his tracks as the boy ran up towards them.
"Mizuiro," Chad stammered, surprised by his appearance.
His friend had refused to leave him the moment he attempted to leave the school. So he purposely outran Mizuiro and had taken a different route back so that he wouldn't be in danger. But somehow he had found them and if there was something dangerous after them he was now in danger too.
"I thought I lost for awhile there," Mizuiro said, stopping in front of him. "And I see you got your bird back. We should head back before-"
"He's here!" Yūichi shrieked.
Suddenly something that felt like a giant arm slammed into his side, throwing him off his feet. Yūichi's cage clattered to the pavement alongside him. Chad looked up, searching for some sign of what attacked him but there was nothing there.
"…What just happened Chad?" Mizuiro nervously asked, his eyes darting back and forth.
Yasutora shook his head. "Get out of her—Aaagh!"
A large foot stomped down on him, cutting him off. However to his eyes there was nothing on him yet he could feel it slowly crushing him. "Chad!" Mizuiro shouted, wide-eyed in panic. "Are you al-"
But the same invisible force that was pinning him struck down his friend. Mizuiro crumbled into a heap on ground. Chad called out his friend, pushing back against the force pinning him. It was strong but not as strong as him, not when his friends were in danger. Roaring and pushing against the ground with everything he had Yasutora shot up to his feet, throwing the force off of him. He could hear and feel something large hitting the pavement behind him but he didn't stop, scooping up Yūichi before rushing over to Mizuiro and tossing him over his shoulder. With the two in his hands Chad took off down the street.
"Chad please put me down," Mizuiro said as he bounced up and down on his shoulder. "If this continues I'm going to throw up."
Yasutora shook his head. "Sorry. Can't."
Ichigo groaned in frustration as he leaped from rooftop to rooftop, looking for some sign of Chad and the bird but there was nothing. They could have gone anywhere and he didn't have the time to crawl over every square foot of town. He stopped on top of a small store, trying to think of a different approach. Maybe he could sense Chad's location with like with hollows or better yet he could try to sense the hollow that was undoubtedly stalking him. No that wouldn't work. Chad was like everyone else. Trying that would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. And the hollow seemed to be able to hide itself as neither he nor Rukia had noticed it before. So could he find Chad, the hollow or the spirit in the bird?
The Substitute Shinigami froze, the gears in his mind spinning in new directions. That was it! The spirit, Yūichi was in the body of a bird, two souls in one body. They would stand out like Keigo's and the demi-hollow's had though probably not as much but it was a start.
Ichigo closed his eyes, focusing on his sixth sense. The reiraku, spirit ribbons appeared around him, weaving and swaying as though they were alive. Nearly all of them, whether belonging to the living or dead were white. Some seemed bright and lively while most were muted and weary. He saw Rukia's ribbon, a muted red that only moved with the wind. She wasn't the one he was looking for. He needed to find Yūichi's ribbon.
"That's the one!" he shouted, reaching for the bright white ribbon coiled around a muted, thinner one.
The instant his fingers wrapped around it Ichigo felt a sensation of child-like innocent as well as heartbreaking sorrow and guilt. Somehow he knew that this ribbon was Yūichi's. The other ribbons faded away as others sprang up around the ribbon. Most were dull white but two of the closest to Yūichi were different. One was faded and black and has it brushed near his hand Ichigo could feel what could only describe as malevolence and evil radiating from it. The other…the second ribbon was strange. Like most of the others it was dull in color and moved lethargically in the air. But it wasn't like the other ribbons. It moved chaotically, twisting and curving in random patterns, its colors an ever-changing rainbow. But Ichigo ignored them; they didn't matter at the moment. Clutching Yūichi's ribbon he took off, sprinting towards the ribbon's source while praying that he wasn't too late.
"Please Chad, I can run on my own," Mizuiro implored as he continued to bounce on his shoulder. "Besides people are starting to stare."
While that was true Yasutora didn't care. Let everyone stare and think he was weird if that meant that they escaped from that thing. He turned a corner, entering a residential area. It was pretty empty given the time of day. The only other people he could see were a pair of painters on a scaffolding in front of a house. But at least there was no sign of their invisible attacker.
BAM!
Chad stopped in his tracks; Mizuiro had stopped moving while Yūichi was screaming even louder. "Chad…" his friend uttered, his voice filled with fear. "You better start running again. Now!"
Before he could react a car with its roof caved flew over his head, crashing onto the street a few feet in front of them. It was a clear message to him; there was no escaping it. The sounds of the car being destroyed had drawn the attention of the painters, both of whom were staring at them. "What the hell's going on?" one of them shouted. "What happened to that car?"
As if to answer their question the roof of another car suddenly caved in as though something large had crashed into it. Upon seeing that both men took off, climbing off the scaffolding at a surprising speed before running away without their van.
"Mizuiro hold onto Yūichi and stay back," Chad said as he set the two of them on the ground.
"What are you going to do?" Mizuiro asked, lifting up the bird cage.
"What I always do," he replied, cautiously approaching the damaged car.
With a roar he swung a right hook in the area around the side of the car. He managed to graze something but that was it. Another invisible fist collided with him, knocking him back a few steps. Chad lashed out at where the blow had come from only to make contact with nothing before being struck again. This time it felt like he was being forcibly poked in the chest by two large fingers. It was a mocking blow but it also gave him an opening. Thrusting his right fist upwards, Chad delivered an uppercut with everything he had to his unseen attacker. His hand met something solid.
A sudden, short gust of wind struck him, ruffling his clothes but nothing else. Several seconds passed and nothing happened. Yasutora frantically looked around for some sign of their attacker but there was nothing. Had he managed to scare it off?
"Look out!" Yūichi screamed in terror.
A split second later something big and fast slammed into him with the force of a freight train. Chad was thrown into the air before crashing and rolling across the pavement. It hadn't left. Bruised, battered and a little bloodied but otherwise alright Chad quickly climbed back up to his feet. The moment he stood up he raised his arms defensively, watching even the slightest of signs. Again it slammed into him but this time from behind. And once again Chad rose back up. He was not about to let this thing beat him. Readying his body for the next blow he raised his fists again.
Suddenly Mizuiro appeared, lunging in front of him and throwing an open can of paint. White paint flew out from the can, striking not the ground but something else entirely. It coated parts of the head and upper body of what Chad could only call a monster floating before him. There wasn't enough paint for him to get a clear picture of what exactly it was but there was enough to give him a clear target. Driving his fist forward with all the power he had Chad punched the momentarily stunned monster square in the face. The monster's face was surprisingly hard but flexible at the same time. As their attacker crumbled backwards from the force of his punch Chad glanced over at his friend. "Mizuiro? Could you see it?"
"Not in the slightest," the shorter boy casually replied. "But I could just barely hear its movement. Figured if it could hit us and you could hit it something like paint could stick to it. Plus your bird seems to be able to see it just fine."
The monster got back up and slammed it's still invisible fists into the street. Chad could tell from the way it held itself that it was pissed off which was good for them. A pissed off opponent was more likely make a mistake.
"Chad," Mizuiro called out, a look of concern on his face as he held his left thigh. "Something hit my leg and it's still there."
A grin stretched across the monster's odd face and its mouth opened up. There was a popping sound followed immediately by Mizuiro's screams as he collapsed to the ground. For a moment all Yasutora could do was watch his friend in stunned silence as he clutched his bleeding leg. But before he could offer any kind of help something small struck his right shoulder and clung to it. This was the thing that had hurt Mizuiro. An instant later there was a pop and pain lanced through his shoulder as it was shredded. He cried out in pain and fell to one knee. It hurt like hell but it wasn't enough to keep him down. Slowly Chad rose back up, ready for more.
As if on cue more of the small objects struck his body and exploded. Agony consumed his body as tears opened up all over his body. Yūichi and Mizuiro were screaming his name but it sounded more like whispers. He fell to his hands and knees, blood pouring from his body. The monster approached, leering over him with a look of sadistic glee on its paint covered face. It was over, he couldn't beat this thing and now it was going to kill him, Mizuiro and Yūichi.
Suddenly something slammed into the monster from above, driving it back and into the air. "I'm sorry for being late Chad."
"Ichigo…"
Ichigo scowled in anger as he looked around at his friends. Chad was a mess, bloody gashes covering his body. That he was still stand was a testament to his incredible physical endurance. Mizuiro was on the ground, his face pale and bruised while his hands were clutching his bloody leg. "I should have been faster," he said with a sigh. "But don't worry I'm going to take care of that thing once and for all."
The hollow had gotten back, standing hunched over on its hands and feet like a frog. It was an ugly one though the paint really didn't help it. There were folded flaps that looked wings on its long arms. Its mask had a huge forehead, a leering grin and nostrils that looked something off a pig. But it wasn't alone. There was a dozen or so of these small, big headed lizards around it. "What are you boy?" it said, sniffing the air loudly. "You smell like a Shinigami and you got one their swords but you're a human."
"I'm a Substitute Shinigami," Ichigo replied, leveling his already drawn sword at the hollow.
"A Substitute?" The hollow started to chuckle, a deep and wicked laugh. "Well I got news for you kid I've already killed two real Shinigami. What chance do you have against me?"
He swung his sword at it but the hollow was faster, jumping back from the blade before grabbing it with its hand. "You're the boy that slew that pathetic bitch," it said. "I'm gonna miss her you know. Making her suffer like that reminded me of my old days."
"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked, perplexed by the hollow's comment.
The hollow chuckled some more. "Back when I was alive I was famous. Everyone was talking about me and all the people I killed," it said, sounding absolutely giddy. "The media even dubbed me the 'Naruki Slasher'. Oh those were the days. Sure the Shinigami call me now the Shrieker but it isn't quite the same."
A serial killer? This hollow had been a serial killer? He had never really thought about what happened to guys like that when they died. Not that it really mattered. If anything it made his job easier as this wasn't Orihime's brother, an innocent person turned into a monster. This was monster through and through.
"Then I found the brat's mother. She was a stubborn one. Kept on trying to fight me off while shielding that little brat of hers," the hollow snarled in disgust. "Finally I managed to off her on the balcony and you know what happened next? That little bastard tripped me and I fell over the railing!"
Ichigo felt his blood boil. This bastard had…had…
"After that I was dead and pissed off. All my hard work and fame were gone! Wiped out by a scrawny brat!" the Shrieker sneered. "But I figured out a sweet little plan. I approached the boy and told some stupid sob story about his mother being in terrible danger and that only he could save her. So I yanked out his soul and put it in the parakeet and he's been running with me ever since. I even promised that I could bring her back to life if he could help me eat ninety-nine souls."
The bright haired teen froze, absorbing what the hollow had said. "Could you really bring her back to life?"
"Of course not you fool," the Shrieker sneered. "No one can bring the dead back to life."
Ichigo couldn't help but curse his foolishness. Of course the dead couldn't come back to life. Life was life and death was death, it couldn't be undone and reversed. But that this bastard would trick an innocent child like that was sick, depraved and vile. For that alone this bastard deserved death. With a roar he pulled his zanpakutō from the Shrieker's grasp, cutting its palm in the process. "Bastard!" he screamed, swinging his blade horizontally at the hollow.
The Shrieker leapt back, evading the weapon with ease. "Aw…and I was just getting to the best part too. Don't you at least want to hear about it?" it said. "Everyone that tried to help him was just another meal for me. And their screams…oh I loved it. After a while the runt would get all upset and try to back out but all I had to do was say, 'But what about mommy? She's counting on you to save her.' He ate that crap up every single time."
This depraved monster had played on the sorrow of a little boy who had lost his mother for its own cruel desires. "I'm going make you pay for that," Ichigo coldly said before he took off, charging the hollow with his sword.
The Shrieker laughed as the tiny lizards started spewing out pink worm-like leeches. They struck his body and clung to him, stopping his attack. "Time for some fireworks!" the hollow yelled, sticking out its tongue.
Its appendage was long with a strange hole near the end that extended all the way to the tip, like a forked tongue. The two ends of the tongue clicked together and the leeches on his body exploded. Ichigo staggered back and fell to a knee, blood pouring from his wounds. So that's how it hurt Chad and Mizuiro.
"And that wasn't all that happened Substitute Shinigami," the Shrieker continued with glee. "You see not long after I put the brat in the bird his bitch of mother showed up, trying to rescue him. Naturally I stopped her. Didn't kill her though. It was too much fun watching her squirm. Then you went and offed her just as she was getting fun to watch. And they say I'm cruel."
Yūichi let out a heartbreaking wail as Ichigo's eyes widened, realizing just what had happened to the demi-hollow. It had been the Yūichi's mother this whole time. She had been trying to protect her son after death but because of this monster's actions she was only to able to watch as her son was forced to help kill innocent people. The horror and sorrow of that turned her into that demi-hollow and if he hadn't stopped her she would have eventually become a full hollow. And throughout all of this he got off on it like the sick freak it was. "I see," Ichigo calmly said, rising back to his feet without so much as a thought to his injuries. "Then I'm going to put you down like the animal you are!"
He took off again, evading the flying leeches with ease earning a yelp of surprise from the hollow. The truth was he had let the Shrieker attack him to gauge what he could do as what kind of beast it was. It jumped back in an attempt to avoid him but he was faster, thrusting his left fist forward. He smashed through the teeth of the Shrieker's mask and grabbed its tongue. The hollow gasped, staring at him in panic. With a yank Ichigo pulled the appendage out through the hole in the mask and hacked it off with his sword. The Shrieker screamed, the bloody stump of its tongue flailing in its open mouth. "Let's see you use those leeches without this," Ichigo spat, throwing the tongue on the ground.
"You little bastard!" it roared in pain and anger. "You haven't beaten yet!"
It lashed out at him with its large hands but he dived under the limbs and drove his sword into the Shrieker's right leg, piercing it just below its knee before cutting into the pavement. "My leg! My leg!" it howled as it tried to free itself but it was no good the hollow was pinned.
"Now you can't move or use your bomb-leeches. You're helpless," Ichigo said, his voice calm but laden with anger while maintaining an iron grip on his sword. "Feels bad, doesn't it? That's what all your victims felt!"
The Shrieker's eyes were filled with terror and panic as it struggled against the sword pinning it. In desperation its hands wrapped around it leg just above the wound and pulled, tearing off the limb and freeing itself. But it didn't stay or attempt to attack him; instead it took to the air to escape. Ichigo pulled out his weapon from the severed leg and jumped into the air after it. "Fear's a terrible thing. It makes you want to hack off your own leg to escape it," he said, closing in on it, his blade raised above his head. "Don't forget it! Drive that fear deep into your brain and disappear from this world!"
Roaring he slashed down, slicing through the Shrieker's left forearm and wing. With the limb the hollow couldn't maintain its flight and fell, crashing to the pavement below. Satisfied that the Shrieker wasn't going anywhere Ichigo dropped down, landing beside it. The hollow struggled to climb up on its two remaining limbs. "Damn…damn you…you little boy," the Shrieker cursed. "You're not even a true Shinigami! How could you beat me? I've killed Shinigami so could a runt like you do this to me?"
Ichigo ignored him, readying his weapon for the final blow. "This is for my friends, for all the people you've hurt, and for Yūichi and his mother!" he roared as he swung his sword down on the hollow's head.
The large blade sliced down through the top of the Shrieker's mask, cutting into his left eye. The hollow howled in agony as green light erupted from the hole in his mask, the force of the energy throwing Ichigo and his zanpakutō back. The Shrieker started to flail wildly in the air yet he was somehow frozen in place. There was a loud rumbling as a massive gate rose seamlessly from the ground. On each door of the gate was the upper body of a skeleton. Both were joined together at the shoulder and had bandages covering the tops of their heads and an eye. Above their heads were several short chains bolted across the seam between the doors.
Suddenly he chains started breaking one by one and as the last of them snapped the gates slid apart, crimson light pouring out. A pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared from within the gate, staring down at the Shrieker. Suddenly a massive sword tore through the hollows chest, a sword being held by an equally large arm. A loud, deep laughter echoed out of the gates, sending a shiver down Ichigo's spine. "What is that?" he uttered, watching things play out with a mixture of surprise, confusion and a small amount of fear.
"When a zanpakutō slays a hollow it purifies the soul they were of all the sins they committed as a hollow," Rukia said, appearing at his side. "But it does not absolve a soul of the sins they committed in life. Those who have done truly wicked acts in life are sent to another place, Hell."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" the Shrieker screamed in utter, primal terror as the hand drew back into the gate, pulling him with it.
As soon as the tip of the blade slipped behind the gates they slammed shut and withdrew back into the ground. For a moment all Ichigo could do is stare at the spot where the Shrieker had been before being dragged off. "So there really is a Hell?" he asked, breaking the silence.
"You didn't think that criminals were sent to the same place as everyone else, did you?" Rukia replied.
Ichigo just shrugged his shoulders, turning back to her. Then that monster was right where he belonged. "How's Keigo?"
"I stabilized his injuries and called a…" She paused for a moment, searching for the right word. "An ambulance? Is that what they're called?"
"Yeah. That's good," he said, nodding his head. "Do you have enough energy left to tend to Chad and Mizuiro?"
"Not really unless they're in danger of dying," Rukia answered, eyeing his two injured friends.
They were banged up alright but Mizuiro looked like he just needed some stitches and bandages for his leg while Chad was…well Chad. Even though he was the worse out of the two of them he was already back on his feet, holding Yūichi's bird cage. If he didn't need her immediate help, none of them did. "Nah. Don't worry about it. You've done enough. But I suppose we better take care of Yūichi now too."
Rukia nodded her head in agreement. "That would be best. He's been removed from his body for too long. He can't go back," she grimly said.
"It doesn't matter now," Yūichi quietly said, sounding absolutely heartbroken. "My mommy is gone."
"No she's not. I sent her on to the Soul Society," Ichigo replied, approaching the boy. "She's there waiting for you right now."
Despite being in the body of a bird Yūichi's lit up with hope, the kind of look that only a child could have. "R-really?"
Ichigo couldn't help but smile. "Yeah."
Standing on a telephone pole she silently watched as the Masked-Touched teen said his good bye to the soul in the parakeet before Kurosaki sent it to the afterlife and the weakened Shinigami erased the memories of the two teens. Multiple possessions, both animal and human, a rampaging, dead serial killer and an opening of the Gates of Hell, all and all a rather messy situation for one so young. Yet he had endured and overcome it all with surprising speed. Even her most recent projections were quickly becoming obsolete.
She pulled out an old gold pocket watch and started to wind it up. Things were speeding up, deviating from their projected timetable. But it was of little consequence in the long run. The plans were flexible, ready for any conceivable complication that could arise. However if nothing else Kurosaki's boy was getting interesting. Prior to Kurosaki there had been no known child born of a Shinigami and a living human. That alone made him and his siblings fascinating subjects of study. Of course with Isshin and prior to her death, Misaki around her ability to study the children were far more limited than she would have liked. They had wanted to the children to grow up 'normal' which was their prerogative but it was utterly foolish. Such children could never be what the small blind people of the world considered 'normal,' her observations had proven that a hundred times over.
Kurosaki had been able to see ghosts from the moment he had been born and his own spiritual pressure had risen dramatically over the course of his short life. It wasn't just the sheer mass of his spiritual pressure that was beyond the norms but the speed at which it had risen as well. His growth was unprecedented even for a living human. He was becoming what could only be called a living storm of spiritual energy, a storm that was affecting those around him even if he himself was not aware of it.
His sisters on the other hand were more in line with the typical Class Two human with the spark of what they had mostly dormant for the time being but could become active at any moment, a pair of half-awake Sleepers on the cusp of Awakening to the True World to use the fanciful words of her less enlightened 'colleagues'. While the older of the two had the most basic of visual sense of spirits and other entities the younger of the two could see spirits on the level of most sensitive humans as well as possessing a rudimentary psychometric power. There was a high probability that had the girl come into contact with the spirit she would have picked up glimpses of its past.
"Hey Rukia," Kurosaki called out. "Have you ever seen a rainbow colored spirit ribbon?"
"What? There's no such thing a rainbow colored spirit ribbon," the Shinigami replied.
Kurosaki shook his head and began to focus his senses. "There is and it's right here."
"Sorry Kurosaki but that just won't do," the woman said, pausing briefly from winding her watch as the face of it started to glow gold.
The ribbon he sought vanished completely from even his senses. "Huh? Where'd it go? It was right here."
"I told you Ichigo," the Shinigami said, shaking her head.
The boy was becoming more perceptive. But was it because of his heritage or was it because of the Shinigami powers he had gained? Regardless of the answer this was not the time for him to start finding out about things that even the Thirteen Court Guard Squads did not know of. Besides it could potentially ruin her own private project and she could not have that happening. Yet at this moment his passive involvement was still necessary. That and Urahara's own interest in the boy left her currently unable to remove him from the situation.
Regardless she had lingered far too long in Karakura. There matters elsewhere that required her attention. She stopped winding her watch and clasped it shut, disappearing from Karakura Town, from Tokyo and from the country itself.
"So how are your friends?" Tatsuki asked as the two of them walked home together.
Ichigo shrugged his shoulders. It had been a long, long since the two of them had walked home together and it felt good. He had never really realized how far apart they had drifted during middle school. They had been best friends since they were little kids practicing karate in Furin Hall. Back in those days she had kicked his ass most of the time…well actually virtually all the time and she still stood at the top of the short list of people he didn't want to get into a fight with. A friendly spar was alright but not a full on fight. Yeah he had beaten her the last couple of times they fought but it was always by narrow margins and it always annoyed her when she lost to him.
Yet when they reached middle school and he left Furin they drifted apart from each other. Thugs and punks started going after him increasing with frequency, leading to him meeting Chad while Tatsuki gravitated towards Orihime and other girls. From there they just started hanging out less and less. Now most of his interactions with her were at school. They just never really hung out together anymore. He had to say that it was nice to be hanging out with her again. "Mizuiro and Chad are already out of the hospital and Keigo will be out in another day or two," he replied.
"That thing really did a number on them," Tatsuki idly commented.
"Yeah but it's gone now," Ichigo said with a slight nod of his head. "Upset that you weren't involved?"
His childhood friend shot him a questioning look. "A crazed spirit possessing that loudmouth Asano and a serial killer hollow? Nah. I'd rather not get involved in craziness like that though it would have been cool to have seen that talking parakeet."
The bright haired teen couldn't help but chuckle. Spirits, hollows, werewolves and possessions all in the span of less than two weeks, craziness was being to become a part of his daily life. A part of him wondered if this was what it was like for a normal Shinigami or if he was somehow a magnet for crazy stuff. Hopefully it wasn't the latter. "Yeah it was something different alright," he said. "But it was kind of creepy too. When I first saw I got this feeling like it wasn't supposed to be."
"Technically it wasn't. A human soul isn't supposed to be in a bird's body."
Ichigo couldn't deny her logic yet there was something else, something about the sight of Yūichi that unsettled him from the beginning. "Yeah but…well you had to be there to feel it."
Tatsuki paused, frowning and closing her eyes as she placed her hand on the spot between her eyes. "Something wrong Tatsuki?" Ichigo asked, eyeing her with a bit of concern.
"Just a headache," she answered, shrugging him off. "I've been getting them a lot lately." She put her hand down and turned to him. "So where's Rukia?"
"She said she was going to resupply."
Tatsuki cocked an eyebrow at him. "Resupply? Where would a powerless Shinigami resupply?"
"Let's see…" Kisuke Urahara said as he studied the read out from her Denreishinki. "Three low ranked hollows slain, standard fee, no bonuses. But the Shrieker…that was one nasty piece of work. Killed two Shinigami before your friend Kurosaki took him out. There's a five thousand Kan bonus on him."
Rukia had expected as much. Fishbone D, Hexipodas, Sora Inoue had all be young hollows with maybe two years of being hollows between the three of them. The Shrieker was different from them simply because of the soul he had been in life. Wicked men gave rise to horrible hollows and the Shrieker had been no expectation to that rule. That it had killed two of her few Shinigami with only a year or so of existence under his belt was testament to its vile cunning and depravity rather its own power.
"Have you gotten those things I ordered yet?" she asked.
The scruffy shopkeeper just grinned. "Just arrived last night Miss Kuchiki." He turned to the little girl that on his staff. "Ururu, would you please go and get Miss Kuchiki's order."
"Yes sir," the short girl said, bowing her head before leaving the room.
"Anything else?" Urahara asked as he turned back to her.
"I need a recharge on my memory modifier as well sixty tablets of Somafixer Internal Soul-fixing medicine and a power cell for my Denreishinki," Rukia answered, pulling out the modifier from the pocket of her uniform and handing it over to him.
The device had been used far more than she had ever expected. Normally it was used to cover up destruction caused by particularly powerful hollows and on those humans attacked directly by hollows. Usually those charges would only be used a couple of times during a month long assignment yet she had ended up depleting it in two weeks on Ichigo's friends and family. It seemed almost like Ichigo's large spiritual pressure was drawing hollows to him and those around him. While this made things safer for those deceased souls still residing in Karakura as well as quicker and easier for them to slay hollows it was having harmful effects on those around him. She would have to talk to Ichigo about working on suppressing his immense spiritual pressure.
"What grade?" Urahara asked, unplugging her Denreishinki.
"The cheapest."
The shopkeeper just shrugged his shoulders. "It's your funeral."
At that moment Ururu returned, holding a pair of wrapped items. "Here you go Mister Urahara," she said, handing them over to her boss.
"One Intoku and one Gikongan," Urahara said, giving them to her.
She put the Intoku, the Concealer into her pocket before she started to unwrap the Gikongan container. To her disappointment, it wasn't the one she wanted. "Hey! I wanted Chappy!"
"Well Chappy is the most popular model which makes it hard to get," Urahara replied, his tone completely unapologetic. "Besides what do you need with one anyway?"
While she was currently powerless it would only be a matter of time before she recovered her powers and when she did she would need to be able to leave her Gigai. "When my powers have recovered I'll need it."
"Fair enough," Urahara replied with a chuckle. "So shall I put this on your tab or are you going to actually pay this time?"
"So the day after tomorrow…" Tatsuki finally said, approaching a subject that neither of them wanted to talk about.
For a moment Ichigo said nothing, just staring down his street. The day after tomorrow was the day. "Yeah…"
"Give her my respects," Tatsuki said, walking off towards the street she lived on, leaving him alone.
'Mom…'
Yeah I've changed up the order of things a bit. Kon's going to appear after the Grand Fisher for a couple of reasons though mostly because I feel that after a heavy chapter like that we need something to liven things up a bit. And I've unveiled a hint of things to come down the road, when things get quite interesting.
As always like it, hate it let me know with a review.