Chapter 4: Stepping Stone
"What did you say? Hey!?" Francesca asked franticly as the young man in her arms body went limp. "Well, I don't blame you for passing out after that blast." Francesca muttered as she laid the young man's body on the ground so as to apply the healing kido to his wound.
As green light formed around her hands Francesca idly noted that the young man was only wearing sweatpants. She assumed those strange Hollows attacked him at his home and he had no time to concern himself with being properly dressed. This brought her thoughts back on to the Hollows that attacked the two Fullbringers.
The first thing that came to her mind was that they were a major threat to everything in the general area of Karakura Town.
She couldn't feel their reiatsu which made her conclude that somehow these Hollows all attained power on par with the Head Captain, Ichigo Kurosaki.
She then quickly realized that she was most thankfully wrong when she saw that the two Fullbringers were not only being chased by all three of the Hollows but fighting them as well. If these Hollows really were on par with the Head Captain than the Fullbringers should have been dead, or captured judging by how they were encircling the one she was healing moments before.
'These Hollows might not be on an Ichigo Kurosaki level threat but I still have to be wary. Though, that does leave another question…' As she thought Francesca settled her eyes on the young man's bone-tooth necklace.
'I felt the reiatsu from those Hollows attacks and the reiatsu of your brother. Neither of them were the ones to draw me here with that cero and it felt too much like a Hollows power to have come from your brother. So does that mean-'
"Yeah, how's it coming over their!?" Francesca was pulled out of her thoughts as she heard the other Fullbringer call out to her. She saw he was still holding the strange black insectoid humanoid Hollows at bay. "I need a little more time! Hold them off just a bit longer!" "Right! Eat this you bastards!" The chain wielding Fullbringer cried as he shoot two green fireballs at the black Hollows that exploded on contact with their bodies. 'I have to hurry.' Francesca thought as she returned to healing the young man before her.
"Man you guys just won't give-!" Tai muttered as he dodged another cero fired at him from the smoke of his attack. The Hollows that immerged from it looked almost entirely unharmed. The only indication of damage was a few scorch marks on their black exoskeletons.
'I don't get it!' Tai thought as he wiped a few more fireballs from his chains at the Hollows, trying to keep their attention on him. He wanted them to follow him a little further away from Sasuke, Sasha and the Soul Reaper but he learned if he moved away a certain distance the Hollows would just direct their attention back to the others.
'Do these things not feel pain or something? I used Hell Geyser on them a couple of times and they look like it barely did anything to them.' You see, Tai's Fullbringer is called Hell Chains. They have the ability to burn someone or something with one-fourth the pain Tai has caused them over time and the more pain he has caused his target the stronger the flames get and the more pain the fire can cause. Hell Geyser is a stronger version of this ability in which his flames burns his targets with one-fourth of the pain he has caused during his entire life time and due to his position in Xcution that accumulated pain is quite a lot, even just a fraction of it.
The fire he creates also burns hotter in correlation with the amount of pain being given so even if these things couldn't feel pain they should at least be burning. That was what Tai thought but the Hollows still looked relatively fine and could still move and attack with the same level of efficiency they had from the start.
'And what's more I can't feel any reiatsu coming from these things. I can fell the reiatsu coming from their attacks but besides that these things don't seem to have any.' Tai knew this was strange. He didn't have any really idea why this was but he hoped it wasn't like the old Fullbringer urban legend. The one that spoke of a person growing so strong you his power transcended that of mortal perception that a person on that level could wave a sword and fell mountains.
'But if these things had that kind of power they should be able to just wave me off like some fly. It doesn't make any sense.' Tai thought as he whipped a barrage of smaller fireballs at the black clad Hollows.
'Well I guess I should count myself lucky that these things don't seem to be too out of my league. I just hope that Soul Reaper girl get Sasuke healed-' "Niji-shin: Orenji!" (Rainbow God: Orange!) Tai's thoughts were cut off by spikes of earth that erupted from the ground around the insectoid humanoid Hollows. Two of the Hollows moved out of the way of the spikes in time but one was impaled by multiple spikes and was thrashing about on them. Besides that though it seemed to be fine from what Tai could see as it was trying to free itself and was not screaming in anguish from the brutal attack.
"You alright?" Tai heard from behind him and looked over his shoulder to see the Soul Reaper pulling her zanpakuto out of the ground and running up to him. "Yeah and my brother?" "I was able to stabilize him but he's still unconscious. Here-" Francesca removed her hell butterfly communicator from her hair and whispered something into it.
As she did the hell butterfly sprang to life as it began to flap its wings and emitting a dark purple aura. "Take your brother and follow this hell butterfly. It will lead you somewhere safe where he can get properly healed." "Got it, and thanks." Tai nodded his head in understanding and turned to fetch Sasuke. As he was about to make his first step the twin tailed Soul Reaper stopped him with a hand pulling at his white undershirt.
"Wait! Sorry, but I almost forgot. Can I borrow some of that fire of yours?" Francesca asked as she put her sights back on the Hollows. "Well this isn't any ordinary fire. I'm not sure you can manipulate it like you did with the wind and earth." Tai stated as he remembered what the Soul Reaper girl did with her zanpakuto that caused the wind and earth to react in the matter that they did. It made Tai a little nervous to know that this girl seemed to have the ability to manipulate the elements.
"Can it burn? Does it feel hot to the touch? Does it have the properties of normal fire?" Francesca asked as she saw the Hollows preparing ceros, even the one still impaled on the spike.
Pulling here Kido pistol from its holster on her right thigh Francesca fired off a few rounds of Hado #31's at the Hollows that disrupted their attacks.
"Well, yeah but-" "Then that will do, now light'em up!" Francesca ordered making Tai stand at attention. "Right!" Tai answered as he ignite his Hell Chains and green flames danced about them.
"Niji-shin: Aka." (Rainbow God: Red) With the simply command the green flames of Tai's Hell Chains began to feed into Francesca's zanpakuto, shifting from green to the color red. Her zanpakuto's blade was now clad in a red hot flame that radiated heat. Tai never noticed before but from the guard down to a strip of cloth that came off the hilt had changed from white to the color red.
"Thanks now get going." Francesca stated as she turned her attention fully onto the black clad Hollows. Tai nodded and was moving to retrieve Sasuke. The two Hollows not stuck on the spikes saw this and tried to move in to intercept but were stopped by Francesca who moved in to cover Tai's escape. "No you don't!" Francesca swiped her zanpakuto in a wide horizontal arc and let the fire that encompassed her blade loose.
As the flame left her blade it grew and incinerated everything in its path towards the advancing Hollows. The insectoid humanoid Hollows ran right into the flames and were engulfed entirely.
Francesca kept the flames from spreading to the rest of the forested area and concentrated the huge inferno down until it only surrounded the Hollows in a twelve foot pillar of flames that only further intensified the localized inferno. Francesca could see the outlines of the Hollows through the flames and saw that they were actually melting. But even still, the Hollows did not scream in agony and were actually still trying to move forward and attack her with ceros.
Pouring more of her reiatsu into the fire Francesca intensified the heat until the Hollows were nothing more than puddles of black goop. Seeing this Francesca drew the inferno back into her sword which shrunk back down into the flames original size.
Looking down on the now charred, melted, and glowing red earth the Hollows were standing in moments ago was a clump of black bubbling goop which was all that was left of the strange Hollows. However the fact that it was bubbling worried Francesca slightly. She felt like the mass of goop was still trying to attack her even in the sorry state that it was in.
'Why is this stuff worrying me? Their goo-!' Francesca jumped back from the mass of black goop, and just in time as a hailstorm of ceros began to fire out from it; blasting everything in the area indiscriminately.
Francesca let loose the flames cladding her blade at the goop mass of the Hollows and changed the attribute of her zanpakuto ability once more as the guard down of her zanpakuto shifted from the color red to orange.
"Niji-shin: Orenji!" Francesca stabbed her zanpakuto into the ground and formed a half dome of earth in front of her that acted as a sturdy defense against the barrage of cero. She knew it wouldn't last forever but she just need a few moments to gather her thoughts and come up with a strategy to finish these things off permanently. 'No wonder I was worried. Those Hollows weren't being purified even though that last attack looked like the end of the fight.' Francesca thought to herself as she pulled up more of the earth around her to strengthen her make shift shield.
'Man I really do need some sleep if I could forget something like that.' 'I did tell you to get some sleep Fran-chan.' Francesca mentally kicked herself for letting that thought cross her mind. 'Not right now Niji-jii, but if you're talking got any ideas?' 'I suggest we use Hareyakana Niji Hikari (Radiant Rainbows Light) to finish these creatures off but since it takes so much out off you; you have to get the third one over here so you can take them out all at once.' "Got it!" Without a moment hesitation Francesca got to work.
Francesca first pulled as much of the earth around her as she could into the dome to reinforce it as much as she could. She would needed it to last about thirty seconds as she was going to direct her attention away from the mass of black goop attack and on to the impaled Hollow.
Directing her zanpakuto's power at the earth around the impaled Hollow and retracted the spikes. The impaled Hollow dropped to the ground. As it was trying to get to its feet to strike with its gooey comrades Francesca, not missing a beat, quickly switched Niji-shin's attribute once more and the color of the guard down changed from orange to green.
"Niji-shin: Midori!" With a quick flick of her wrist her zanpakuto caused the wind around the Swiss cheesed Hollow to push it towards the black goop with the added benefit of being shot up along the way by random ceros.
With the strange Hollows all together Francesca pushed off the ground just as her earthen shield was destroyed. Francesca shunpoed up into sky until she was standing at a height that made the indiscriminant cero fire far less harmful to her.
Closing her eyes Francesca raised her zanpakuto above her head with both hands as she channeled a generous amount of her reiatsu into the blade of her sword. The blade began to shimmer like a rainbow in the midnight sky as the strip of cloth on the hilt of her sword swayed with the same rainbow glow in the breeze of the gathering wind.
But not just wind, water, earth, fire, all of the elemental forces she could manipulate congregated and funneled their power into her blade as she opened her eyes and cried "Hareyakana Niji Hikari!"
With a cry she felled her zanpakuto and its power down onto the Hollows below that; on contact erupted into a brilliant shower of what could only be described as a rainbow god's divine judgment.
'The lieutenant isn't going to like this.' The 20th seat of Squad 101 thought as she took in the view of the ten yard diameter and five yard deep crater she just created with her attack from her spot in the air. There was also the sight of having random chucks of earth, tree trunks and the scattered scars of barren ash on the land around the crater.
'He's definitely going to chew me out for the work I just gave him to cover this up.' Francesca sighed as she focused her attention back on the still giant smoking hole in the ground she had created.
Even though she was sure those Hollows were purified the twin-tailed Soul Reaper descended cautiously to make sure her attack had done the job.
Settling on the blackened and deforested earth Francesca approached the crater and saw nothing inside. The Hollows were gone.
With a sigh Francesca fell to her knees in both relief and exhaustion. Hareyakana Niji Hikari was both her strongest and most unstable of her zanpakuto's abilities. Niji-shin ability granted Francesca manipulation over the elements that corresponded to one of the seven colors of the rainbow.
Red for fire. Orange for earth. Green for wind. Yellow for lightning. Blue for water. Purple for poison and indigo for Steel.
For the most part she can only manipulate one of the seven elements at a time and if she wanted to use another element she would have to switch colors and the effect her zanpakuto caused while the color was in use would end, except effects such as the spikes of earth that would not require her reiatsu to direct and manipulate would stay behind. However if the elements are available to her and they worked well together, for example winds that feed the fire she could use those elements together but it is taxing on her to do so and she chooses not to do this for the most part.
She also cannot conjure any of the elements that her zanpakuto could manipulate. As such she predominantly uses the colors green, orange and indigo to fight as they are the most widely available to her.
Hareyakana Niji Hikari is the combination of all the ambient elements however small around her and her own reiatsu combined to create an attack that her Captain told her was on par with the Head Captain Ichigo Kurosaki's Getsuga Tensho in his youth, though unlike him she couldn't spam the attack as readily due to the fundamental differences of their attacks.
While Getsuga Tensho was the compressed reiatsu of the Head Captains that was funneled through his zanpakuto Francesca's Hareyakana Niji Hikari used both conflicting and blending elements around her that her reiatsu gathered and directed into an attack that was almost like pure energy. The fact that she could control that energy at all was amazing but to use it as an attack was insane.
Suffice to say, or think in this case 'I could really go for a good night's sleep Niji-jii.' Francesca thought as she felt Niji-jii nod in agreement. 'Then shall we go home then?' With his reply the petit Soul Reaper got to her feet and hopped into the sky. Even though she was tired she wasn't so beat that she couldn't do something as easy as getting back to her squad's barracks. But before that she wanted to see if those two gotten to the place she sent them safely.
Tai had followed the hell butterfly to a store in Karakura Towns old shopping district that was nestled away in a back-alley, making it a little out of the way. The store, for the most part looked normal enough, a two storey complex with the store on ground level and the owners home probably on the second floor. Above the store doors was an actual wooden sign that read "Urahara's Antique Store" and underneath in smaller words read "Open 24/7"
'An antique shop opened 24/7? What does the owner think he's running a convenience store? And is this really the place I was supposed to go?' Tai thought as he glanced around. It was the middle of the night and he was in a back-alley, so of course he saw no one around. Tai could see that the lights were still on inside the store.
"Well she said I could find some help inside so…" Without much to go on Tai opened the door and walked inside with the hell butterfly beside him.
The bell on the top of the door rang and caught Tai's attention. 'Really trying to sell the antique shop feel huh?' Tai mused as he looked around. The store smelled like musty old wood with the hint of incent mixed in. The shelves were full of antics from silverware, vases, decorations and swords, old fashioned kimonos and books. Everything Tai could see looked like stuff from the 20th or 19th century and from what he could tell they all looked in rather good condition.
'Which means I probably shouldn't touch anything.' Tai thought as he readjusted his brothers unconscious form and walked deeper into the store. Making his way to the back of the store Tai saw an unmanned reception counter and a black cat sleeping on it. Walking up to it he saw a bell and rang it. "Excuse me. I was told I could get some help here."
Tai waited a few moments but no one came. Ringing it a few more times Tai kept calling but to no avail. "24/7 my ass where the hell is any-" "Oh, I'm sorry. I was asleep. It seems your friend could use some help."
Tai jumped at the sounded of the new voice as he saw a girl come down the stairs behind the counter. She looked around Sasuke's age, about sixteen or seventeen. She had short black hair that was a little disheveled from just waking up, black eyes and a rather pale complexion and had on drab colored gray pajamas. All and all a plain looking girl.
"Uh, yeah. I was told to come here-" "By a Soul Reaper girl right? Named Francesca?" The girl finished as she lifted the counter door. "I guess, never got her name." "Well I know that's her hell butterfly and if she thinks he needs help than come up stairs." The girl said as she held up the counter. Tai walked through and behind the counter and the girl lead him up stairs.
Once up the stairs the girl led Tai to what she told him was her room and told him to set Sasuke on the futon on the floor. Doing so the girl placed her hands over Sasuke's body and they began to emit a green light. After a few moments the light faded and the girl turned to Tai.
"Well, looks like Francesca over reacted. Your friends going to be just fine, from what I can tell Francesca healed his wound from the cero blast for the most part and all he needs a good night's rest." With that said Tai leaned up against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief.
'Well that's one load off of my mind.' Tai thought as he began to go over the situation that his brother, Sasha and he were in now. 'Those weird Hollows were definitely sent after us or at the very least Sasuke. Dammit, did Yuuki sell us out to that guy we meet after delivering the book? I knew that guy had to be trouble. The fact he was looking at Sasha like that meant he could see her but I didn't think he had access to Hollows!?' Tai took a breath to calm himself before he continued his train of thought.
'Calmed down Tai, no good comes from getting worked up and jumping to conclusions. Though given the situation it's no stretch to think that guy had something to do with this.' Running a hand through his head Tai looked at Sasuke's resting form and sighed.
'Hmph, look at me. Not much of an older brother huh Sasuke? Sure I got us off the streets after mom died but look where we ended up. I work as an assassin for anyone who can pay our boss so that we would have a place to live, food and water and not do anything stupid with our powers. Not really capitalizing on that last part huh?'
'Then we find out you were a Fullbringer too and better yet you wanted to help me, saying "It wasn't fair that you were the only ones supporting us." Dammit, if it weren't for Yuuki finding out I probably could have talked you out of it. I mean you were still a kid! But no, Yuuki just told me if I didn't teach you to be a killer we were going to be back on the streets… or worst. But that doesn't even matter now does it because it looks like we got someone on our tail and our only options are run or-' "Hey, you okay?" Tai turned his head to the voice and remembered there was another conscious person in the room besides him.
The plain girl had moved away from Sasuke's form and now looking down at Tai with a sympathetic smile. "Hey, I know you're worried for your friend but like I said he just needs rest now and by the looks of it so could you." The girl said as she motioned at Tai with her hand.
Tai looked himself over and saw he wasn't in the best shape either. His shirt was a bit tattered and he had some bruise here and there but nothing major. No what hit Tai the most was how tired he was and remembering how late it was.
Standing up and trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes Tai turned to the girl next to him. "Wouldn't be the first time I've felt this tired. I'll be fine to stay up a little longer and besides I have something's I should probably talk to about."
"I guess but let's go in to the kitchen and talk about it. If either of us wants to stay up we'll need something in our system right?" The girl in drab asked as she motioned Tai to follow her. "Besides, knowing Francesca she's probably on her way here to check up on you two."
"Really? I mean she must be tired too after facing those-" "Well you're not the only one that has had tiring days or in that girls case weeks. Besides she's one of those people that don't like leaving her responsibilities to others." Arriving in the kitchen the girl asked Tai to take a seat as she grabbed went over to the coffee machine. "The name's Kasumi Goto by the way and yours?" "Tai Dorobei." "Well then Dorobei-san how do you take your coffee?"
"I can't believe you said something so corny like that to that Soul Reaper girl. Is that really what you wanted your last words to be if you were really going to die?" "I was losing conciseness and she was cute. What else would I have said?" "I don't know but angle, really?" Sasha and Sasuke said as they laid and talked in Sasuke's inner world.
An empty field of waving golden grass that stretched out as far as the eyes could see. A field covered in a blanket of perpetual night with stars that littered the sky over head and a striking full moon that looked way to white to be just a representation of the moon in the real world. Sasuke knew that his inner Hollow was up there on the moon. He could feel it every time he tried to will it to come out into the open, to draw on its power.
But every time he called out to it he'd get nothing, at least nothing helpful.
The first time he tried to call on his inner Hollow he tried for the direct approach at Sasha's request. As soon as he tried to call forth his inner Hollow his consciousness was pushed out of his inner world by a massive pulse that came from the moon that actually rendered him unconscious for two days in the real world.
When he regained consciousness Sasha was pissed. She couldn't believe Sasuke's Hollow was such an idiot, saying "What Hollow would pass up the chance to be let out?!" Sasha thought it would be easy for Sasuke to call out his inner Hollow because of a Hollow nature but Sasuke's Hollow acted like it wanted nothing to do with him. So she told Sasuke to keep trying until his inner Hollow gave up.
Suffice to say his inner Hollow did not want to be disturbed. So Sasuke was continually pushed out and rendered unconscious in the real world until he gotten used to the power that pushed him out and could resist it. However he still couldn't open the metaphorical door to his inner Hollow and Sasha just gave up.
She ended up telling Sasuke that it would be better to just probe for any weaknesses in his inner Hollows barrier that kept Sasuke from accessing its power and try to draw on as much as he could without alerting his inner Hollow, which at this point Sasha started to refer to as "Shiri (Ass)".
"She saved us didn't she? It wouldn't be a stretch to say that she was an angle." Sasuke said in a matter of fact tone. "Yeah yeah, don't remind me." Sasha replied as she rested her boney head on Sasuke's chest with an irritated look on her face. She was obviously pissed that she actually owed her life to a Soul Reaper and if Sasuke was guessing right she was also a little pissed about something else.
Absentmindedly he placed a hand on her head and started petting her. "Thanks for trying to-" Sasha hit him in the face with a flick of her tail, cutting him off. "Just shut up…and you're welcome." Sasha said as she let him continue to pet her head.
"But now what?" The Hollow asked as she turned her head to face Sasuke's. "I mean it's not like we can go back home with it blown up and all." "Yeah, but not just that." Sasuke responded with a scowl from his thought. "I don't like that they could just seem to find us. I mean we've been able to hide our reiatsu from other Hollows for years and yet those three knew exactly where we were and even targeted our apartment specifically. I think someone set them after us."
"You don't think that Yuuki sold us out to that guy we saw today, do you? I mean-" "Yuuki wouldn't do something unless he saw value in it for Mr. X." Sasuke said as he looked up at the sky of his inner world. "Mr. X has money and men so that guy couldn't offer him that and whatever he could offer Mr. X had to be something Mr. X doesn't have. What that could be I don't know so let's leave that question alone for now and try another. Why us?"
Lifting his hand to the sky Sasuke stared at it as he continued. "My affinity to pull on souls is the only thing I could think of that would make us a target but besides you I never really use it. I mean I even forget I have it sometimes."
Putting his hand down Sasuke pushed himself up and continued his thought. "Yuuki doesn't know about my affinity, at least I don't think so but even if he did he wouldn't sell us out because it wouldn't be in Mr. X's best interest to hand me over unless they made a deal that I would be study or something. Though that could explain some questions it wouldn't explain why they sent Hollows after us if Yuuki could have easily just called us over and then they could have take me away."
Sasuke looked Sasha straight in the eyes. "No, I don't think Yuuki sold us out but either way I don't want to turn to Xcution for help. For one even, if he knows what I can do I don't think he would help us. Whoever sent those Hollows after us might have more and Yuuki might just abandon us if he thinks it's in the best interest for Mr. X and Xcution. Besides-" Picking Sasha off his chest he draped her over his shoulders and scratched the back of her head. "This is the perfect chance to cut ties with Xcution and to make a better life for ourselves. I don't want to keep being some lapdog for Xcution to order around and worry what they might do to us, don't you agree Sasha?" Sasuke asked as he looked up at the sky.
"You're hoping the Soul Reapers will help us, aren't you?" Sasha growled as Sasuke's plan became clearer to her. "You know I don't want to have anything to do with Soul Reapers." "Sasha you know why I'm-" "I don't care!" Sasha jumped off of Sasuke's shoulders and stood in the air to face him at eye level.
"I am a Hollow! Their Soul Reapers! It's their job to kill me!" Sasha grabbed Sasuke's shoulders and sank her claws into them as she drew herself closer to his face. "That Soul Reaper girl might have helped us but she would easily turn her blade on us if she knew about me! I thought you said you liked having me around!? I thought you said you wanted to heal me or whatever that bullshit you were spouting was!? Well if those Soul Reapers find out about me then you can kiss that stupid dream good-bye because they will kil-!"
Sasuke embraced Sasha and held her close to his chest. "What the hell are you-" Sasha tried to break free but Sasuke hold on her didn't budge. "Sasha, just shut up and listen!" Sasha stopped her protest, shocked at Sasuke's sudden outburst. For as long as she knew Sasuke he has never snapped at her before. She was stunned silent and simply listened to his words.
"I helped save you remember!? I don't know why I did it but I couldn't help myself! I saw that look on your face and how scared you were and I knew I had to save you! After I saved you I asked if you wanted to stay with me right. So of course I don't want you to die!"
Sasha remembered how the idiot holding her had asked her, exhausted and breathing hard but still had a stupid grin on his face as he asked if she wanted to come live with him saying stuff like "We were a great team huh?" and "We should keep being one.". Sasha remembered telling him that she could use a place to stay will trying to sound like she had ulterior motives but…
"I know why you really stayed-" Sasuke said as if reading her thoughts and at the moment Sasha didn't know if he was. "-but I didn't care. I was using you to gain power just like you were with me. I wanted to break free from Xcution. I didn't want to kill people just because if I didn't Tai and I would be thrown back onto the streets… but I did anyway. "
Sasha heard Sasuke's voice start to grow hoarse as she felt tears start to fall on her head. She knew Sasuke always hated working for Xcution. Being a Hollow she could relate, not wanting to listen to anyone she didn't want to but she also knew what it meant to be weak and be pushed around and forced to do things you never wanted to do just to survive. It was survival of the fittest after all and that was the way of the world, any world.
"I knew some of them were horrible people and that their deaths were for the better… but for the most part…they were families, families of high ranking officials, business men and politicians. And I killed them all…" Sasuke fell to his knees, clutching Sasha close to his chest and just cried. As Sasha guessed it began to rain.
Sasha had learned how Sasuke's inner world worked after spending so much time with him and, after a while being able to enter into his inner world with help from their unique bond as Fullbringer and 'fullbring'. His inner world reflected his soul and also his emotional well being, so of course it would rain now after facing those black Hollows, not know what to do next or who to trust. Even if Sasuke was usually unfazed by things he had to have felt something, and is inner world reflected it.
The Hollow didn't know what to do at the moment. Her thoughts were still a bit jumbled from trying to process everything that was happening, so for awhile she just let herself be held by Sasuke as he continued to cry from both his face and the sky above them.
"Sa…Sasuke." Sasha knew why Sasuke was crying and why he was bringing up his past with Xcution. He was trying to make Sasha understand they were too weak. Too weak to fight and too weak to run and hide.
"I'm…I'm sorry." Sasha buried her head into Sasuke's neck and wrapped her tail around his body. She didn't cry, being a Hollow she couldn't but she still felt guilty and sad. Guilty for letting her fear of the Soul Reapers scare her into ignore their problem and sad that they had this problem in the first place and couldn't deal with it themselves. However, she also felt sad for Sasuke.
She couldn't deny it any longer. She cared for this kid. She cared what happened to him. She cared about staying by his side and protecting each other. So, even though her instincts told her it was stupid, that it was the dumbest thing she had ever done, even trumping the time she first put her life in Sasuke's hands when they had meet all those years ago…
'Huh, I thought I didn't have a heart?' Sasha mused as she continued to speak. "Sasuke, I'm sorry. I know…I know you don't want me to die and I know were not strong enough to face our problem." It was hard for Sasha to say but she knew it was the only way. "So…So asked them. Asked the Soul Reapers for help Sasuke, even if I-"
Sasuke put his hand on Sasha's head causing her to stop talking as he pet her gently. Not wanting to protest, Sasha just let Sasuke continue to pet her as he whispered in a low voice. "Thank you, Sasha." Sasha just closed her eyes and just enjoyed the feeling of Sasuke's hand as both of them sat in silence as the rain began to dissipate overhead.
After about five minutes of silence Sasuke was laying down on the damp golden grass with Sasha resting on his chest, petting her head. He wanted to keep the moment going for a little longer but knew they needed to talk to Tai about their plan.
Sasuke figured Tai had come to a similar conclusion that they did and was more worried about him right know than anything else. 'I know you think you're a terrible brother sometimes Tai but you do your best and I know it.' Sasuke thought as he closed his eyes with a smirk on his face. He tried to discern what condition his and Sasha's bodies were in in the real world. Thankfully they both seemed fine.
Opening his eyes Sasuke stopped petting Sasha and used his arm to prop himself in a seated position. "Sasha, you ready?" "Yeah, let's just get it over with okay." Sasha said as she climbed onto Sasuke's shoulders. "It will be alright Sasha, just trust me okay?" Sasha said nothing and only nodded her head in response.
"All right. Back to the real world we go." Sasuke said as both Sasha and him closed their eyes and pushed their souls out of Sasuke's inner world and into their bodies.
For a moment Sasuke kept his eyes closed. His body still felt a bit sore but leagues better than when he first got hit by the cero. He could also feel his body resting on a futon on the floor covered in a blanket with his head propped up by a pillow. Suffice to say Sasuke felt pretty comfortable right know and he'd rather not move right now.
'Well I guess I should be resting…five more minutes?' Sasuke pondered as he hoped he wouldn't just fall asleep before he could talk to Tai. 'All though, it is night right know so maybe I should tell him in the- huh?' Sasuke tried to turn over to his right to get even more comfy as he had decided to fall asleep and tell Tai of his plan in the morning, but as he was turning over he felt something pull on the blanket keeping him in place.
Sasuke's first thought was it was Tai being a worried brother and clutching to his blanket as he slept beside him and although that might have been it Sasuke notice that it wasn't Tai's reiatsu that he felt beside him.
'Oh this is just too good ~!' Sasuke heard Sasha's voice telepathically, laughing ominously. Sasuke opened his eyes and first saw and unfamiliar wall. Turning ninety degrees to the left he saw an unfamiliar roof and finally turning another ninety degrees to the left he saw a rather familiar sight of- 'The face of an angle.'
'Are you seriously sticking with that?! She's not that cute!' Sasha's voice shrieked in his mind as he laid his eyes on the sleeping form of the twin tailed Soul Reaper girl that saved Sasha's, Tai's and his life.
'Well it's not like I know her name and-' 'Yeah, yeah. First thing that came to your mind. Blah, blah, blah ~. Why the hell is she sleeping right next to you!?' Sasha reacted like a normal person would in this situation at finding out that a person whose job it was to slay your race was resting right next to you.
Sasuke on the other hand… 'Well she would be tired after defeating those Hollows I'm guessing and she probably-' 'And how the hell can you be so damn calm about this?! I mean seriously are you gay or something!?' Sasha shrieking and distorted voice echoed throughout Sasuke's mind as he began to slowly move out from under the covers as not to wake the girl next to him.
'No, but it would do me no good to act like some anime harem protagonist and freak the hell out because a cute girl was sleeping next to me, wake her and probably have the living shit kicked out of me by her and probably wake the neighboring-' 'No! Just…never mind! I don't want to hear it just…follow the plan. Find Tai and talk with him and probably wait till morning to ask this chick about anything given your letting her sleep right know.' Sasha says in a exhausted and irritated tone as Sasuke covers the girl's body with the rest of the blanket, agreeing with his reptilian companion.
'Yeah, Tai's reiatsu that way so let's go' "Goodnight, Tenshi(Angle)-san and thank you again for saving-"
'Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now! Now!'
As Sasuke was whispering his thanks to the sleeping girl Sasha kept assaulting him with orders and the two made their way out of the room with on coming headaches. Meanwhile Francesca slept soundly, dreaming of sunshine and rainbows.
Downstairs in the antique store the black cat on the counter opens its eyes. The cat already knew their was no one around so she hopped of the counter and went to the stairwell. Instead of going up the stairs on its left though the cat turned to its right and went through the wall which was actually a holographic illusion and made its way down.
Briskly the cat bounded its way down the stairs that went far farther down than they probably should have until it arrive at the bottom which led down a long hallway. The black cat went into a full on sprint and made its way down the hallway until it arrived at a certain door and pawed at it until it heard noises from inside.
"Ah yes, yes I 'm coming!" An upbeat mans voice could be heard on the other side of the door and the unlocking of many metal and electronic locks. At the final click of a lock unlocking a dirty blond man who appeared to be in his mid thirties. He had on a green and white striped bucket hat that shaded his eyes, a dark green coat over a green shirt, light green pants that stopped above his shins and wooden sandals.
The man looked down at the cat and smiled a bit. "Yes Yoruichi?"
"Kisuke their are some rather interesting individuals up stairs that I thought you who'd like to meet with." The cat responded in a rather masculine voice given the fact it was in fact female.
"Oh I know Yoruichi, I saw them on the cameras. Kasumi-chan is taking care of them right now and it is rather late. I'll talk with them in the morning so you can go join them if you wish though it would be nice to have some company in here." Kisuke responded with a mock sigh which made the cat sigh as well. "Well I was enjoying my cat nap upstairs and since I don't want to go back up-" The cat cut it self off as it made its way into the room Kisuke was in.
The man in the hat and clogs smiled as he went back into his laboratory and closed the door behind them. He returned to his seat in front of a monitor as the cat hopped into his lap. "Let us see if these three can help us with our new plans Yoruichi-san." Kisuke said with a sly smirk as he began to stroke Yoruichi's fur. A live video was being played on the monitor that showed Tai and Kasumi in the kitchen having coffee as Sasuke was wandering into view holding his head.
Omake: A Fanfiction Readers Guide to Soul Reaping? Golden!
"Lesson One: A Greeting and A History Lesson!"
"And cut!" I, call out as Yoruchi and Kisuke-san finish their scene perfectly. I contently sigh as the stage crew begins to clean up from today's shooting.
"I think that went pretty well, but I am terrible sorry for the long wait dear readers." I turn my attention to my co-director and master, Lord Skag as he addressees you, the readers with a embarrassed look on his jagged spiked face.
"Yes, please forgive my master and his-" "No, no Ashtoreth. I do apologize for the wait but it was only do to my laziness. I have no other excuse but I still hope you enjoyed this chapter and will continue to read Bleach: Death 101 dear readers." My master steps down from his co-directors seat and bows.
"Oh and the one narrating right now is the director and official narrator of Bleach: Death 101, a lovely consciousness I have formed in my mind, lady Ashtoreth, the silver weaver."
"A pleasure to meet you readers. As my master has stated I am the one narrating this tale of swords and reapers. My master had the thought sometime ago but decided to hold off until now to tell you all about me" My sweet Ashtoreth says with her calm motherly voice.
"Uh, Master please, it is my job to narrate not-" "Yes, yes I know but you wouldn't have talked about yourself like that so I had to." Master states plainly as he returns to his chair and reclines in it with his clawed hands behind his spike crest head, a smirk planted firmly on his face.
"Well either way master I believe you had one more thing to discuss with our readers before we precede with anymore chapters."
"Oh, it isn't me who shall be discussing it Ashtoreth. No, it's that guy over there. Yeah, Gin-san!" Master points behind him to the craft services table as he calls out to Gin-san who is looking for something to eat until he looks over to us with his closed eyes. In a moment Gin-san shunpos over to us.
"Hello Skag-san, Ashtoreth-san. What's up?"
"Gin, you liked doing those Arrancar Encyclopedia omakes' for Tite Kubo right?"
"Oh, yes. They were rather entertaining and educational for the viewers and I always loved having new guest each time I did it. Though they didn't like me that much for some reason." Gin-san says as he shrugs.
"Well how 'bout doing those segments for Bleach: Death 101? I'd do it myself but you have more experience and a better overall personality for it." My master said as Gin-san cupped one hand under his chin and considered the offer.
"Will I be getting paid overtime?" "Sure." "Than of course though I do have to ask if Ashtoreth-san will be narrating through the entire time. It just seems a little strange don't you think?" Gin-san asked as he looked at me with his closed eyes and fox like grin.
"You see? Like that." Gin-san stated as he points at me with his thumb.
"Well the readers can't exactly see us, they can only read and visualize us in their heads. So it is kind of necessary."
"I guess. So what shall I be discussing with our readers today?" "This." With a snap of my masters fingers a projector appears from out of the ground that starts to project the image of of words "Lesson One: A Greeting and A History Lesson!"
"You know this is getting rather meta Skag-san. Don't you think it will annoy some of the readers if we continue like this?" Gin-san ask as I nodded, agreeing with his line of think as it was getting a bit hard to follow for me as well, and I'm the narrator.
"Don't worry about it and just hope their getting a laugh out of this. I am following omake canon here so it should be fine." My master says as he waves off our concerns. I apologize dear readers if this is starting to make no sense.
"Well let me just get us back on track then Ashtoreth-san. Script." My master pops a script into existence and into Gin-san's hands. Gin-san then goes through the script at lightning speed, memorizing his lines and all while keeping his eyes close. Impressive.
"That should do it. Now then-" Gin-san steps in-between my master and I's chairs and precedes to walk to the left side of the projection and turns, pulling out a pointer from his shihakusho's sleeves.
"Now then, today dear readers I shall be discussing this fanfictions past as well as clear up any questions you may have. First off, this fanfiction is based on another fanfiction called "Hogyoku ex Machina" written by Mac Ceallach-san. In this fanfic Ichigo Kurosaki instead of using Mugetsu to halt Azien's continued ascension to beyond godhood tries to take him down another way so he does not loose Zangetsu and Hichigo (his inner Hollow) that had fused due to wanting to give back to them for granting him this power."
"However this plan backfired as when Ichigo tried to deal the killing blow to Azien from up close the Hogyoku reacted to Azien's life being threatened and sent both Ichigo's and Azien's consciousness back in time to the moment Azien first obtained the Hogyoku, during the final parts of the 'Soul Society Arc'. So yeah a time travel fanfic~! But what's this it's actually good?! That is at least what Skag-san believes and he sticks by that thought."
"I do!"
"So the most obvious changes in the time line is I'm am no longer dead or more specifically my soul did not reincarnate back in the Living World. A few other peoples deaths were prevented as well, and yes ladies that means your favorite Arrancar is alive and well, though I don't know if he survived into this century. I guess you'll have'd to wait and see." Gin-san shrugs as he continuous.
"Also Skag-san has change some of the aspects of the zanpaktou's and their abilities from what Mac Ceallach-san made them to their canon forms such as Kenpachi's zanpakuto, Nozarashi. You may have also notice that Muramasa was with Ichigo in the first chapter. That is because Ichigo had acquired Muramasa as a second zanpakutou. Now do not think this makes Ichigo OP as he does not us his powers carelessly. In fact he is for the most part he is in the same position that Genryusai Yamamoto once was in, a person with extreme power that had to restrain himself to do, for the most part paper work. I would explain more about Ichigo's and his abilites but Skag-san has stated that information will be explained further down the line, he simply wanted to clear things up for those of you who don't read the authors notes or did not read "Hogyoku ex Machina"."
"And that about sums it up~!" Gin-san states as he taps his pointer on his hand. "Now if you have anymore queries you would like answered. Please asked and with that we end of our lesson. Next time we shall be discussing how the alien Soul Societies function and how the Senkaimon Relay works so look forward to next time students!"
"And cut!" My master calls out as- "Wait, master I'm the only one allowed to yell cut!" Ashtoreth yells childishly at me, losing her normal calm and motherly air as she begins to- "And what did I say about narrating!? It's my job!"
"And with that, until next time readers! This is SkagthePrinceofHell signing off!"
"Master!"
"Goodbye my students!"