A/N: sunday is my day off sorry bout not posting! There'll be no ink-splatter drabbles from now on, only disclaimers! Hehehe good thing ne?
disclaimer: bleach is not mine for the taking! Definitely not mine!
On The Wings of an Angel
Chapter 7: Shinigami
"Dad?" Hikaru called as she hurried over to her father's side. Byakuya immediately dropped his dark reiatsu as she approached, too aware of her presence. Hikaru frowned, she was certain that her uncle's reiatsu 'felt' murderous just a while ago.
"Hikaru, we are leaving now. You still haven't met Ukitake-taichou," Rukia sweat-dropped as she felt the same dark reiatsu from her brother. As if on cue, a hell butterfly fluttered right up to her nose. It was from Ukitake-taichou, asking how much longer will it be before he meets his "first prodigy." "Nii-sama, we are honored by your invitation for us to live with you here, but I have given my word to Ukitake-taichou…" Rukia harped on his brother's code of honor.
"Of course, a Kuchiki never breaks her word, Rukia. I understand. Go now so that you can rest and your daughter can prepare for the examinations tomorrow." Byakuya gritted his teeth. He doesn't need his adopted sister to remind him of a Kuchiki's word of honor. For now, he must be contented with the fact that they will be visiting him at least three times a week, besides he is not entirely certain he could live with that ryoka-Kurosaki Ichigo under the same roof.
"Uh, Kuchiki-taichou, thank you for welcoming us in Soul Society." Hikaru bowed before her uncle. She still doesn't know how to address him.
"You can call me…Byakuya-sama, Hikaru. It sounds inappropriate if you keep calling me Taichou when your mother is my sister." Byakuya considered for a while. He knew that the only person he allowed to call him by that name was his late wife, Hisana. Somehow he feels that Hikaru should be calling him that, he certainly doesn't want to be called Byakuya-ojichan, no. It sounds too…old... and unbecoming of him.
Rukia raised an eyebrow at that. Was she hearing things, or did her brother just asked her daughter to address him by his first name honorific? She glanced at her husband and saw that his jaw was once again hanging low. So, she was not hearing things. Her brother did ask her daughter to call him "Byakuya-sama".
Ichigo couldn't help but gape. After all, he just heard what the "great" Kuchiki Byakuya had said to his daughter. It sent shivers down to the core of his soul. First Byakuya gave him death-vibes, then it suddenly disappeared when Hikaru approached them, then he keeps insisting that Rukia is a Kuchiki when she is clearly a Kurosaki already. Now, he's asking Hikaru to address him by his first name honorific? Hell! Some screws must have gone loose inside that man's head! He privately thought.
Hikaru tensed before she relaxed. She smiled warmly at her uncle when he told her how to call him. She appreciates that her uncle is trying to make her feel a part of his family. She had heard stories about him after all, and none of them included him being a man with emotions. Now if only he would stop feeling murderous about her father…
"Oi, Byakuya, I guess we'll be seeing you around. We really have to go." Ichigo hastily said gathering his wife and daughter into his arms. It satisfies him to see Byakuya flinch every time he tries to stop himself from killing him in front of Rukia. Well, Rukia and Hikaru are mine, I'm just demonstrating it to him so that he'll never forget, he thought. He led his family out of Kuchiki mansion keeping a tight hold on both women, leaving Byakuya fuming behind. Hikaru looked back just before the gates closed and waved a goodbye to her stoic uncle. Byakuya stiffened. He did not expect Hikaru to look back. He raised his face up to the heavens, Hisana….
Rukia elbowed Ichigo in the stomach, "Ichigo! What was that about? Are you trying to pick a fight with Nii-sama?" Ichigo faced his wife to retaliate.
"He was acting all high and mighty on me Rukia!"
"But did you have to annoy the hell out of him?!"
"He was annoying the hell out of me!"
Hikaru sighed. It's one of those moments when her parents enter their own little world and completely shut her out. Not that she minds it though, she knew it was one form of how they show their affection with each other. She tried to drown out her parents' shouting but she can't, so she tried walking a bit farther away from them. Then she got lost. Yeah, Kurosaki Hikaru has one weakness, she's terribly bad at directions-akin to Kenpachi and Yachiru's, if not worse. After about ten steps away from her parents, she's lost. And she knew they'd skin her alive if she can't go back on her own.
"I knew I went that way, or was it the other way? Arrgghhh!" Hikaru cried exasperated. Just then, two lecherous-low-ranking shinigami thugs saw her.
"Hey, you! Whatcha' doin' wonderin' about this area?" one of them asked her.
"I'm sorry sir, I was just...ah...looking around." She lied. Hikaru knew that those men would take advantage of her if she shows any sign of weakness, besides, Tsubasa is anything but on battle mode at their arrival.
"You are looking around huh? Well, well, well. What have we got here? A wandering shinigami with no zanpakuoto. Well then, let us show you around. Come on pretty girl, let's have a good time..." The other thug grabbed her, but missed as she instinctively used her flash step. The man made hard contact on the ground.
"Why you little punk! Let me teach you a lesson..." The first shinigami who talked to her unsheathed his soul-slayer.
"You wouldn't want me to fight back, I tell you." Hikaru's voice was dead serious. Gone is the timid and gentle girl, now she's every bit the shinigami her parents' and grandpa are.
The other man who was slumped in the cement got up and drew his sword too.
"You're too cocky for a girl now aren't you? Let us teach you to respect your elders girl, then you'd beg us to stop." Both of them charged at her.
Hikaru smirked, looking disturbingly like Ichigo. She was trained in flash steps by no other than the Goddess of Flash, Yoruichi. She is not about to soil her Tsubasa by clashing swords with those thugs, her shunpo should be enough. She effortlessly dodged the sword attacks. She punched one of the thugs straight in his face and kicked the other in his stomach. Both dropped cringing in pain on the ground. They cursed, one of them threw some strange ball at Hikaru's face, which she easily dodged, but then it exploded into a powdery smoke, causing her eyes to water and making it difficult for her to breath. Normally, Hikaru would calmly think things over before acting, since the punching-of-the-bully-in-the-playground incident, she had learned to reign in her temper. But now, she totally lost it. These guys know nothing of honor and much more, respect. They had crossed the boundary of being tolerable in Hikaru's book. The guys thought that she was being a sissy, hearing her cough helplessly in the smoke. They laughed, but not after the smoke cleared and they saw a pissed off Hikaru standing tall, giving them her own "death glare".
"This is it. You've crossed the line. Don't say i didn't warn you about fighting me. Descend. Tsubasa." she said in a dead monotone, her eyes flashing no emotions at all. The men suddenly felt her strong reiatsu and they were forced to the kneel on the ground once again as the white-bladed sword materialized in her hand.
"O-oi! What are you some kind of a monster?! Sto-stop!" one of them pleaded, eyes wide staring at her zanpakuoto. They had thought that she was defenseless.
"Enough talk. Now, fight me." Hikaru said as she poised her zanpakuoto for the attack. She was about to strike when, "HIKARU!"
Her mother appeared beside her and restrained her hand which was holding Tsubasa. "Hikaru, don't."
Ichigo slowly walked over to the men who were still down on the ground, covering their heads in fear. "Hey, bastards. I don't know what exactly you did to my daughter, but one thing I'm certain, you don't want me to know cause you'll be so dead by then. Be thankful you are still alive. Now, to teach you a lesson or two about messing with my daughter..." And he proceeded into teaching them the "physical" consequences of their actions.
Hikaru tensed, she was still full of battle aura but her mother holding her hand is slowly dowsing it off with her own cool and calm reaitsu...had it been her father who had touched her, those men would surely be dead by now...
A/N: well? A taste of what Hikaru can be once pissed let's see what happens when she encounters really strong opponents now...we'll see...keep the reviews coming
