A/N: I'm super sorry it took me soooo long to update. I was having trouble with my computer, plus I can't write every day. Again, super sorry.
Thank you so so so very much: QueenPersephoneofHades, X-tremeFighter2000, and StarTrail. I extremely appreciated that you took the time to read and reveiw my story. It is because of you that I actually feel like writing this.
Please enjoy!
The next morning, I got up early. I didn't think I slept a wink. The whole time I got dressed, I heard Wrath giggling like a manic, even when no one was talking. I felt giddy, too.
Sloth only yawned. So far, the day was pretty normal. I went into the house for breakfast, witnessing another familiar scene.
The T.V. was reporting the fallen building sight. In that moment, Ichigo opened the door, fully dressed, while I sat with Yuzu and Karin, watching the television.
"Hey," he greeted no one in particular.
"Good morning, Ichigo," Yuzu smiled, bright eyed and bushy tailed.
"Morning." He made his way to the table and grabbed a piece of toast.
"Where's dad?"
"Early meeting," Karin explained nonchalantly. "He said he'd be late tonight, too."
"Again, huh?" He sighed, putting the toast in his mouth. The T.V. caught his attention; the 'accident' still being broadcasted.
"Something bad happened?" Yuzu questioned, noticing the smoking building on the news.
"That's near here..." Ichi mumbled, the toast hanging from his mouth.
"Don't we walk by there every day to school?" I signed, trying to looked worried. Ichi nodded.
"Speaking about school, we should head out.
. . .
After Ichi had gotten a new vase, with small, yellow flowers, we were out. We really did pass the damaged area, but Ichi didn't give it another look.
I stopped outside the alleyway, peering through the yellow tape.
"Mao," Ichi warned. "Let's go." I looked up at him, nodding and jogging shortly to catch up. I think he thought I would be sick to my stomach to see the damage. Aww! But I've so many movies with so much worse than property damage... plus my parent's car...
We stopped at the familiar corner, Ichi calling for the little ghost girl. When no one appeared, we heard it. The cry of a hallow. But Ichi didn't know that.
"Stay here," he commanded, sprinting down the road. Psh. I could tell acting so week was going to get annoying. We ran- Wait, you didn't think I listened to him, did you- as fast as we could to a busy part of town. I had to work hard to the keep up with Ichi. My soul may be trained, but my body sure wasn't.
People were rushing past us like a river, but we kept pushing through, trying to understand what was happening. Ichi, at least. I thought it was extremely brave of him to go towards the trouble, even though there was really nothing he could do. Sorry to steal your thunder by following.
We were forced to stop when a building collapsed in front of us, billowing everywhere.
In which, as it faded away, Ichi laid eyes on his first hollow.
In which the hollow let out a roar that would make me pee my pants if I had no idea what would happen next.
"Wow, what the hell is that?" Ichi wondered in shock, not really asking me. Staying in my persona, I gripped his sleeve.
"Help me!" cried the ghost girl, appearing from the smoke. She headed straight towards Ichi, but then passed him.
"Hurry!" he cried, as all three of us took off.
'Wait...' Wrath kicked in. 'What was the point of running up to the hollow in the first place, if we were just gonna run away instantly?'
'Please, don't ask.' Sloth pleaded. The hollow preceded to chase us.
"What is that thing?" The girl squeaked.
"I don't know!" In that instant, she tripped.
Ichi stopped running. He rushed back to her; there was no way he was leaving her behind. I went back, too, helping her to her feet as the hallow got closer, and closer... Until there was no way we would escape.
And Ichi didn't even notice the delicate, black, Hell butterfly flutter in front of his face. His eyes were on the Soul Reaper clad in black, as she floated in front of the hollow and drew her sword.
Blood splattered as she slashed its mask, destroying it. Then she landed, and charged again, slicing it all in half. It dissipated in an instant, and Rukia stood on the ground, sheathing her sword all awesome like.
"Wow..." Ichi gasped, me grabbing his sleeve again. I had let go to escape.
Rukia glanced back, but then disappeared as the people who witnessed everything (though they couldn't exactly see anything), wondered back to the streets.
Ichi tried to get her to stay, but she was nowhere in sight.
He stared at the damage for a few seconds, until he snapped out of it.
"Are you okay, Mao?" I nodded slowly, trying my best to look as freaked out as Ichi. I kind of actually was; it was so different from watching that in the anime...
Going to school felt rather strange.
. . .
I felt slightly upset I missed what happened in Ichi's room, when Rukia explained what a hallow was.
'Well, at least you saw it in the anime..." Sloth comforted, as I lay in my bed inside the clinic (much like Ichi when Rukia walked through his wall).
'But Sloth... I haven't seen it! I want to know what happens!' Wrath shrieked.
'It was really funny!' I thought. 'Rukia explains to Ichi the whole hollow -mumbo-jumbo by drawing bad pictures, and Ichi says they suck.'
'Oh!' Wrath giggled. 'Go on!'
'She had him in a kido and she drew a mustache on him.'
Wrath's giggling made me smile.
Finally, I heard the hollow's cry as it searched for Ichi. And in a few seconds, I heard Karin scream.
I leaped out of bed and rushed outside. The hollow was dangling Karin in its hand.
"Ah! Put me down!" There was a whole in the wall, and the hollow was several stories high, so I leapt to the house, opened the door, and ran besides Rukia, who was watching me in one eyes, and the beast in the other.
'She was with that boy earlier... can she see me, too?' Rukia thought, turning her attention back to the monster. She would deal with the boy and girl later.
I was frantically signing, asking the most innocent questions I could think of.
"Where's Ichigo? What is that thing? Why do you have a sword? Who are you? Are Yuzu and Ichigo alright?" I was signing so quickly that it was sloppy, and I'm sure she couldn't understand.
Suddenly, Ichigo rolled down the stairs in a crash. I ran to his side, pretending to check for the binds I knew weren't there.
"Stay out of it!" Rukia demanded, snapping at me and Ichi. He tried to crawl, or maybe stand up. I helped him the best I could but there really wasn't anything we could do.
"Damn it!" He swore in frustration, finally getting to his feet. Rukia stared at him in wonder.
Ichi rushed in front of Ruki (I shall call her so, from this point on), with me trying to grip his sleeve to stop him. I failed, but then remembered that I can't stop him anyways.
'Oh, yeah. It really is different than from watching the anime...' I thought, slightly upset that Ichi could get hurt.
"Fool!" Ruki cried in annoyance. "You'll only get in the way!"
"Shut up!" Ichi shouted, determined to save Karin no matter the cost. "Karin!"
He began to struggle from his bonds, grunting with the effort.
"Stop! The kido is too powerful for you to break. You'll only cause damage to your soul!"
With a mighty cry, Ichi freed himself in a flash of light. Then, like the brave, heroic... headstrong, idiot he is, he rushed the hollow, grabbing a stool and raising above his head.
I sucked in a gasp so loud I'm sure Ruki heard the air. The hollow swatted Ichi away like he was a fly. Then it turned to him.
I rushed to the hole in the wall to get a better look, and started crouching.
"I've found you!" The hollow boomed, raising a giant fist. He tried to grabbed Ichi, but he jumped away, hidden by the debris. As the hollow was recoiling his hand for another strike, Ruki leapt in and attacked him. She sliced his forearm, nearly in half, and landed. The hollow roared, and dropped Karin.
Ichi had to slid to catch her. The hollow disappeared in rage.
"Karin!" Ichi cried. I climbed down the side of the house (good thing I was wearing pants), and jumped the last few feet. I preceded to dash up to Ichi and take Karin from his arms, checking her pulse.
Even though the family owned a clinic, Ichi had little medical knowledge; that was more of his sister's department. Yuzu took it upon herself to train me, so I could help in the clinic.
I didn't need to do anything to know she was going to be alright, even though she was unconscious.
"Don't worry," Ruki comforted, both me and Ichi. "She'll be alright. The hollow left without devouring either of your sisters' souls."
"Are you sure?" Ichi questioned, concerned.
"Yes. It's seeking a specific soul to eat; one with a much higher concentration of spirit energy... In fact... the hollow earlier... was hungry for that soul, too, not the girl!"
"But why?" Ichi pleaded. I put a hand on his sleeve, trying my best to comfort him. He looked totally freaked out.
"For some reason most of your spirit energy was hidden deep within you until now; when you needed it to save your sister. That's why I didn't sense anything unusual about you when I arrived!" Ruki concluded, unknowingly weighting Ichi's conscious. "It also explains why the hollows haven't come after you. The spirit energy you have bottled up inside you started to pour out when you made contact with that one girl's ghost. As a result, your soul became exposed. Those two hollows today detected your soul through that girl, and they were using her to track it down. Which means..." Ruki turned around, adding suspense for the big reveal. "The hollows are really after you!" Ichi looked horrified.
'That was cruel!" Wrath exclaimed.
'Tell me about it," Sloth commented.
"Those things... want me?" Ichi spit out. I gripped his arm tighter.
In an instant, the hollow returned with a bellow.
"It's back! Get out of here," Ruki commanded.
"No," Ichi insisted, "so the vicious attacks on that poor girl were because of me?"
"That's one way to look at it."
"And now both of my sister's could wind up dead and the whole is my fault?" He gritted his teeth. I barely noticed he had stood up, with me still on my knees with Karin. As Ichi ran forward, I tried to grab his pant leg, but I was too late.
'I need to stop doing that. One of these times I'll actually succeed.'
Ichi ran right in front of the hollow, despite Ruki's protests.
"Coward! Quit attacking others. It's my soul you want; come and get it." He declared darkly. "Fight me one on one, you ugly bastard!" The hollow attacked in rage. I wouldn't have seen Ruki take off if I hadn't known what would happen next.
The hollow's open mouth clamped down... on Ruki's shoulder. Blood sprayed on the sidewalk, staining it.
'Blood...' Suddenly, I felt sick to my stomach. It looked like the stained on my parents' car...
Ruki sliced the hollow's mask and broke free, bleeding profusely. She collapsed, in front of a shocked Ichi.
"Soul reaper!" He cried.
"You..." she groaned out, "Are a fool. How could you possibly have thought you were any match for a hollow?" She breathed, heavily. "Did you really think that everything would be over if you'd given your soul? One soul doesn't satisfy them for long." She struggled to lift up her head. "If you don't stop interfering we're all going to end up as its food!"
Ruki managed (somehow) to drag herself up to a nearby telephone pole to lean against. "I'm too injured to fight..." She choked out.
The hollow was still crying in pain, holding its face. "Do you... want to... save your family?"
"Of course I do!" Ichi said, as if it were the most obvious thing on the planet. It kind of was. "If there's a way, tell me how!"
"It will only be temporary, but..." Ruki continued, clutching her sword and angling it upwards. "You must become a soul reaper yourself!"
"Wha?" Ichi's eyes widened.
"You must take my Zanpakto and run it through to the center of your being, so that I may pour my power into you," she clarified.
"I can't guarantee that you'll live, but if it doesn't work it won't matter."
"Then give me that blade... Soul Reaper."
"My name is Rukia. Rukia Kuchiki."
When Ichi grabbed the sword and aimed for his stomach, I rushed out of his yard, to his side (I put Karin against the house), and gripped his sleeve, like I always did. He looked out of the corner of his eye, hopefully seeing my worried face, and not my excited one.
"And my name is..." The hollow charged, twice as angry as before. "Ichigo Kurosaki!" He guided the sword through his core.
It was a good thing no one heard me scream.
A/N: Hi! Okay, I just thought I should add that until Mao actually hatches her plan, everything will be very similar to the anime. But I promise I will change it up later on. I probably won't reveal what Mao's powers are until much, much farther on, when she can actually use them (you can thank Fate for that). I most likely won't reveal the full extent of Mao's plan until after the Rescue Rukia arch, either. Just thought I should put that. I appreciate all reveiews; more than appreciate, actually. And I would also like some pointers or ideas for the future of this story. I already have everything planned out, but some pieces just don't seem to fit. Thank you, all!
~MaoIsSleepy
