A/N: So… here I come again… Finally the forth chapter. This is the penultimate chapter of the introduction part of this story. Bear with me please…
Appreciation corner:
I would like to thanks for those of you who have reviewing since the first chapter:
pauLinian4eVer (Sorry if I didn't reply your review before -_-);
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Disclaimer: Last time I checked, Kubo-sensei still own Bleach.
Chapter 4
The Gentle Giant
"To bring somebody into your life, take a step into theirs."
-From 'Just One Fool Thing for Another'-
"See you tomorrow, Chad!"
Chad nodded to the other band members. He waved goodbye and took his guitar. His regular practice was just finished. He hummed some melody while walking through the studio's door. His band will perform in about two weeks. They had to practice more often.
'Summer holiday.' He thought. He remembered this time about a year ago, when, instead of having fun and practicing with his band, he spent his time with Inoue, practicing with their cat-teacher, Yoruichi-san.
'I never thought I would have those kinds of experiences. Going to Soul Society to save Kuchiki, who was a transferred student at that time. Not long after that, encountered the Bounto. Then saved Inoue from Hueco Mundo.' he thought.
He stopped before the pedestrian cross. Waiting for the light to change its color. He looked up at the sky, 'Abuero, if you look at me now, will you proud with what I've achieved?' he spoke mentally.
He crossed the street and started wandering to some alleyway. A place, where Ichigo and Chad used to fight during their middle school year. He wondered if that place still become a place where delinquent boys hanging out.
A loud shout was heard, as if answering his unspoken question.
"DAMNIT WOMAN!"
That's it.' A woman? What did they try to do to whoever the woman is?' Chad thought as he ran to sound direction.
He heard a loud thug sound. He ran faster, didn't want to be late. He was near the noisy alley way. He was panting due to the lack of oxygen. He looked at the scene and saw a woman, older than him, surrounded by four men, definitely this place has become worst than the delinquent teenagers' hang out place. She held a plastic bag with sunflower logo on it. A man was writhing, holding his stomach near them.
Chad waited. He was studying the scene right before his eyes. 'What do they want from that woman?' He kept watching the woman who, strangely, didn't look frightened. Her deep green eyes, carefully stared at each of the men. She held her hair in a high ponytail. She wore a white Capri with white t-shirt, and white flip-flops.
"I'm so sorry. But I told him before that I might hurt him, if he tried something funny." She spoke. She has a usual woman voice, feminine, and soothing.
"Now, if you will, gentlemen, please… I need to go home."
"Listen woman. Which part of the words: COME WITH US that you don't understand?"
"I don't see a reason why should I come with you." She answered back, this time her voice rather threatened. "And which part of that sentence you don't understand?" she added.
"You don't have to know why…" a man said while he charged to the woman.
Chad almost ran from his spot, when he abruptly stopped as the woman moved delicately avoiding the attack, then used a perfect aikido movement, bring the man down. Chad was stuck in his place. He watched as the woman beaten each man who tried to attack him. None of the man was able to touch more than her wrist. After all the men down, she dusted her Capri and when she looked up, she saw Chad.
She walked pass the unconscious body, then turned her heels to give a last solemn bow as if they were her sparring partner in a mere practice. She slowly walked toward Chad and gave him a genuine smile.
"You're alright." It was a statement, not a question. However, Chad couldn't help himself from saying that.
"Well… I guess so." She answered. "Despite a nervous feeling mixed with a little frightened back then. But… to keep it short. I'm alright." She added.
'Nervous and frightened? She was?' Thought Chad, unsure.
"Thanks for asking, by the way."
Chad nodded in respond. "This place is dangerous." he said. They began to walk toward the main road.
The woman looked at him, "I never encountered something like that before. Well, I seldom choose this way, to be honest."
Again, Chad only gave her a short nod.
"Oh… I'm so sorry. I forgot my manner." the woman suddenly stopped. She walked in front of Chad, then facing him. "My name is Kirika Satohara. Thank you for your help." She bowed.
"Yasutora Sado." He said. A little confused, 'What help?'
"Ah… nice to meet you Sado-kun." She responded. "Are you a high school student?"
Chad nodded, again. He was amazed, though, considering not many people guess he was just a high school student because of his size.
"Then, you're in your holiday, right?" again, he nodded. Kirika lost in her thought.
"Ne… tell me, can you do me a favour?" she asked him.
Chad raised his eyebrow. He nodded, nevertheless.
"Hm… the thing is... do you know Karakura Summer Festival, right?" upon seeing Chad nodded in understanding, Kirika continued, "Good. I'm participating as the committee for the festival."
Chad still looked emotionless.
Kirika chose to be straight to the point, "So... tell me, have you ever play taiko before?"
Chad stopped in his track. "Taiko? Me?" then he shook his head.
"Yes… well…" Kirika looked flustered. "Do you want to try? I mean..." Kirika huffed, "We need more people, strong people, to play taiko and organize other things for the festival preparation." she stopped, looking intently at her companion. 'Of course, he may be thought I'm insane. Who asked for random people to participate in a festival?' She mentally spoke.
"Ah… I understand fully if you decline. I'm so sorry for offering such a weird offer." She said, rather flustered.
"Ah… No…" Chad started. "I mean, I want to try."
Her deep green eyes widen in amusement. "You want to? Oh… Thank you… Actually, there are only few male in our commitee, that is why, the preparation progress is slow and we still in need of people who can play taiko. Thank you…" she said in sincere gratitude.
They separated in the main road. Kirika already gave him a map about her house location and they also exchange their phone number.
'Well, this is the first time I participate in a summer festival.' thought Chad. 'Do you see, Abuero, I use my power to help people. Even only playing the taiko.'
'Are they siblings? They have this strange reiatsu… They can't be shiki. They are pure human, but they have this kind of power? Where… or how did they get that?' Kirika mumbled to herself.
Ichigo looked at his surrounding. He recognized immediately that he was in his inner world. It has been a long time since he visited his inner world. He looked around, looking for Zangetsu who usually appeared out of nowhere. He didn't feel his reiatsu though.
'This is weird.' He thought. 'Why all of sudden I came here?'
"Yo… King." a familiar sound heard behind him.
Ichigo turned his heel to be face to face with his inner hollow.
"YOU!" he shouted. "Why are you here?" he asked rudely.
"Don't be so rude, King." Shirosaki answered coyly. "Instead, you should be grateful."
Ichigo glared at his white-creepy doppelganger. "Why should I be grateful?"
"Because I called you, to give you a warning." he said with a confident smirk.
"About what?" Ichigo suddenly felt tense. 'Must be something up to no good.'
"That we will fight soon. And at that time, you won't be able to defeat me."
This time, Ichigo smirked. "And what make you confident that you can beat me this time?"
"I don't know exactly. But lately, I've been stronger. I can feel that my hollow power is increase." He paused, giving Ichigo a glare, "I'm sure you feel that too, King."
Ichigo gasped. True, this last days, he could felt that something influenced his inner hollow. He had to struggle to suppress whatever it is. Late at night, he kept awaking, not knowing why. He didn't know if he was having nightmare, because he didn't remember any of the dream. However, he did have a strange feeling that his inner hollow had become stronger. Nevertheless, confessing that, will give his hollow more weapon.
Now, that Shirosaki had confirmed his assumption, Ichigo decided to go find the vaizard and asked if any of them felt the same way as he did.
Ichigo stared at his inner hollow. "I'll be ready. Whenever it is, I will be ready. And once again, I will crush you." he said confidently.
Inside his heart, he remembered the world Rukia said few months before:
"If it is about your hollow… then just become strong enough until you can shatter it in an instant! The 'You' That still lives in my heart, Ichigo… would do exactly that!"
'I will always be the "Ichigo" that lives in your heart, Rukia.' thought Ichigo.
Ichigo awake abruptly. This time, he remembered his conversation with Shirosaki. He knew it wasn't a mere dream. He knew that what Shirosaki said was true. His hollow was everything but a liar. He glanced at his bedside clock. It's just 3 in the morning.
It's a free-hollow night. Rukia had arranged a schedule to take care of hollow. She divided their team into two small teams. Ichigo and Rukia, then Chad, Orihime, and Uryuu. Each small team will take care of hollow in different night. That arrangement allowed them to have free night. Well, except Orihime. She, sometimes, had to helped Ichigo or Rukia when one or both of them sustained great injury. But she brushed their worries by saying, "I'm glad I can help." and even offer them some snack. Knowing her, both of them never accept her offer. She's an incredible healer but honestly… she's the worst and weirdest cook they'd ever met.
Ichigo descended the stair to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took a bottle of green tea. He took a big gulp, then when he was about to replace the cap, he noticed something written on the cap. "Rukia" it said.
"Damnit. This green tea is hers." muttered Ichigo.
Then he shrugged. 'What she doesn't know won't hurt her.' he thought. 'won't hurt ME, to be précised.'
Ichigo closed the fridge and saw several post-it papers attached on it. Mostly with Yuzu neat handwriting.
"Take care of the rabbit at school. 9 AM." the newest one said. The date was that very day.
"Dad, I'll be going to school today." said Yuzu while serving breakfast after the usual morning commotion (bonding, in Isshin's word).
"Are you going to meet with some school boy and have a da…" Karin whacked his father's head on the back.
"Idiot. We are going to take care of the rabbit at the school yard. Today is our turn." said Karin, kept squeezing his father's head, until he lost consciousness.
"Rabbit?" asked Rukia eagerly. Ichigo rolled his eyes. Her reaction was exactly what he imagined since the first time he read that post-it.
"Yes, Rukia-nee. Do you want to come with us?" asked Yuzu, now sitting on her chair.
"Hm…" Rukia put her finger on her chin, considering the idea.
She had nothing to do today, not particularly. Today supposed to be her patrol day with Ichigo. However, she still can go with the twin and change to her shinigami form if any hollow nearby. Moreover, she could protect those two. That's it.
"I'll go with you." she beamed.
Ichigo smirked mentally. He knew that she won't let that kind of offer down. "You have to hurry then, you should be at school at 9, right?" he looked at his brown hair sister.
"How do you know, Ichi-nii?" asked Yuzu, quiet surprised.
"I read the post-it on the fridge last night when I took the green tea bottle…" Ichigo's voice trailed off, he took a nervous glance toward Rukia.
"There's only a bottle of green tea in the fridge and it's belong to…" Karin trailed off. She smirked, knowing what will happen next.
"Did. You. Just. Say. That. You. Drank. My. Tea. Ichigo?" asked Rukia dangerously.
"No… I meant… it was just an accident… I didn't know… it's yours. Really… I swear…" Ichigo stuttered.
"INDIRECT KISS" declared Isshin. "Not quite what I want you to do, Son. But as a first step it is… mmmmmmmmpppphh.."
"BRUAK"
Ichigo's face was flustered red. Redder than Renji and Jinta's hair combined. He sent his father flying outside the dining room, paid no attention what kind of house furniture was broken at that collision.
He turned around to see a blushing Rukia. 'Is she really blushing?' Ichigo thought. He couldn't help to notice the red color on her delicate white face.
"YOU…" she roared, standing near the fridge with her left hand hold a near empty bottle.
'Uh… oh… not a good sign.' Ichigo thought. Maybe it was a different cause of blushing. She was blushing furiously. Yeah… to be exact she was furious badly that made her face blush a shade of red.
"YOU… DRANK ALL MY GREEN TEA, YOU IDIOT!"
Ichigo ran for his life, and his pride. While Karin stiffen a laughter. Yuzu, on the other hand, tried to calm Rukia down by saying that they should be hurry if they didn't want to be late. As she mentioned about the rabbit, Rukia was a bit calm down.
Yuzu shot Karin a glare. Mouthing "Don't encourage her." which made Karin's laugh become more and more unstoppable.
"Aaaah… so cutee…." Rukia hugged a white rabbit tightly.
Yuzu just smile seeing that, while Karin being ignorant like usual, well… despite a small smile that nearly appeared in her hard face. They just finished cleaning the cage and now they were feeding them. There were 10 rabbits, varied in colors and size. In an instant, the white fat rabbit caught Rukia's attention. She's been eyeing that rabbit since Karin struggled to open the lock.
"Yare… yare… Rukia-chan… if you don't loosen the hug, she will be suffocated." a familiar voice was heard from outside the cage.
Rukia turned to look at the voice owner. "Satohara-san." she exclaimed, to be honest, she felt uneasy around her, yet she couldn't deny the calming atmosphere that seemed always around the older woman.
She didn't realize she had been staring at the older woman, who now chatted cheerfully with Yuzu. Karin, however, noticed Rukia's stare and walked toward her. She nudged Rukia, which made the later blinked. She looked at Karin, and nodded.
'No, she is not dangerous.' was all that Karin knew from her after Rukia's visit to Urahara. It's just small information, nevertheless, it's all she cared at that time. She looked at her twin who still having a rather nice conversation with their music teacher. Karin didn't hold any personal grudge to her, in contrast, she felt sorry for the woman who just lost her loved one. And, despite her liking, Karin was touched when the woman cried in the funeral. Yes, she was creepy, but… Karin can't explain a strange feeling that flowed inside her when she watched her teacher cried like that.
Kirika noticed perfectly what the other two girls felt right now. She didn't seem to bother, instead she focused her mind to chat with the brown hair girl. She liked Yuzu, and she knew the feeling was mutual. Kirika caught a glance from Rukia, again. She sighed mentally, this girl already tried to gain information about her. It's not that she can get it easily, though. However, Kirika worried that sooner or later (more likely sooner) she'll be exposed. That Rukia girl seemed like a girl who will pursue anything she want, and with her hard work, usually she could get it.
Rukia still clutching at the white rabbit. Nevertheless, her mind kept wandering to her conversation with Urahara few days before.
Flashback
"What do you mean by reiatsu's scent?" asked the greedy merchant while flipping his fan in front of his face. Yoruichi just looked at her right through her eyes.
"I meant like I said before. Is it possible to happen?" she repeated her question for the third time.
'Really, I want to be here when Satohara-san had a word with Urahara. Not that I thought that will happen.' thought Rukia.
"I believe it is possible to happen, Kuchiki-san. However, only on some certain, unusual, conditions." Urahara now put off his façade and started to have a decent-serious conversation.
"Did you encounter one?" asked Yoruichi.
"No." said Ichigo shortly. He gave Rukia a quick glance about not to say about Karin. Rukia understood instantly.
"Hm… we can't help you if you hide something from us, right, Yoruichi-san?" Urahara gave them his famous glare and eerie smile which cause the hair on Ichigo's neck stood up.
"Is it something to do with your disappearance, Kuchiki?" asked Yoruichi.
Rukia glared at Ichigo as if saying 'Honestly, you asked these people when you're looking for me?'
Ichigo returned her glare with his what-do-you-expect glare.
"If you two finished glaring and having mental lover conversation…"
"We were not having lover conversation!" spat Rukia and Ichigo simultaneously.
"And I didn't disappear." added Rukia.
"But you hid your reiatsu." said Ichigo.
"I didn't."
"Did so"
"Did not"
Urahara and Yoruichi glanced at each other, knowing that this was the end of their discussion. And so, they both left the two shinigami in quarrel. Little did Rukia and Ichigo know, that they were not the only people who can have eye-conversation. Yoruichi gave a light nod at Urahara, while the later mouthed "be careful" the purple hair woman.
End of flashback
Rukia still lost in her thought even when they already left Karakura elementary school. She tried not to stare to Kirika. Despite what she said to Karin few nights before, she didn't know yet whether she was dangerous or harmless, like she said before. The truth was, even if Rukia knew that Urahara was insane and greedy and cannot be trusted (for some reasons); being uninformed was not one of them. He always five steps ahead all of the gang. This time, Rukia somehow knew that Urahara was clueless about that kind of reiatsu.
She also wondered, why Ichigo kept saying that she was disappeared. She didn't disappear, nor hid her reiatsu. If her reiatsu being untraceable, she was sure that Kirika was involved.
Rukia clutched a business card in her hand, 'I have to speak with her. In private.' she thought.
A/N: Yei… another chapter was finished. Soo.. I'm still waiting for your response. Please be kind and write a review. I just need to know whether you like, or hate, my story . I do appreciate any kind of reply. Thank you for reading…
Next Chapter: the lost cat
