It's suddenly come to my attention that...I have...no...life...
A friend indeed
Kurosaki, leave the Hollow exterminating to the professionals…
"What the heck do you mean by that, squirt!?" Aiko was more confused than ever. "And what the heck was that that you shot!?"
Adjusting her glasses, Setsuko scowled at the taller girl. "As I said, Kurosaki…leave the fighting, to the Quincies…" With surprising agility, the small maroon haired girl jumped off of the roof and disappeared from sight. Even with her own speed, Aiko had no idea where the smaller girl had disappeared to, as she scanned the streets and alleys below.
"What…just happened?"
It was a weird night for the teenaged Shinigami, even with the concept of spirits and Hollows floating around. Aiko sighed as she arrived at her window sill, and clamored through as quietly as possible. Everything still seemed to be in order, and nothing seemed damaged at all. Her body was still under her sheets, appearing to look like she was sleeping. Of course if anyone went to check her pulse, they would be surprised to find a dead girl.
Sensing someone else's presence, Aiko drew her Zanpakuto and pointed it towards a dark corner of the room. Something moved in the darkness, and muffled cries and a soft crackle reacted. Ok, Kon's still tied up… Aiko thought to herself and slowly lowered her guard. A second presence alerted her, and she pointed her sword towards the area opposite her. A figure approached the moonlit area near the open window.
"Emi-chan?" Aiko whispered loudly, as the light skinned brunette came into view. Her hands up and palms shown in an act of surrender.
"Hai, Aiko-chan." The girl responded in a similar whisper
"What are you doing here?"
"Well, your mom said that you'd be sleeping, and when I found you weren't snoring as usual, I figured that you were out tonight." Emiko explained.
"Oh…" Aiko strolled over to the bed sheet covered form, and pushed into her own body. The black kimono gave way to a pair of white Chappy Bunny pajamas, and the sheathed sword disappeared from existence. Now sitting up in her bed, Aiko gave an involuntary yawn and jumped onto her feet towards her friend. "Well, I meant what you were doing in my house."
"My mom's had another late night job interview and to celebrate, Orihime-nee-sama brought me and Setsuko-chan over here to visit." Aiko was busily un-wrapping a roll's worth of duct tape from the restrained lion plush, but jerked the stripe violently off of Kon's mouth upon hearing the girl's name.
"What!?" she shrieked, just loud enough to shutout Kon's scream of pain. "What's she doing here?" Aiko subconsciously grabbed the little lion plush and began wringing him between oppositely twisting hands.
"Well, Setusuko-chan is Orihime-nee-sama's daughter…and my mom and I are living at their house until we can find our own place to stay." Emiko confided as she sat down on the messy bed. "And I think that my mom, her and your mom all knew each other when they were younger…"
"Oh…"
"Nee-chan…you're killing me!" Kon groaned out in fluffy pain. "And Orihime…nee-chan…I can sense her…valleys!" Irked, Aiko threw the plush against the opposite wall. She knew all too well what he meant whenever he mentioned 'valleys'.
Still sitting at the dining table, the three mothers were discussing about each other's children, namely Orihime's daughter was the current topic.
"…so that's what you meant…" Tatsuki took a sip of her second cup of sweet sake.
"I never knew that she was in high school already, Orihime-chan." Rukia, on her fourth cup, hasn't shown any signs of sake consumption…yet. "But still, it makes sense since Uryu-san's the father."
"What do you mean, Rukia-chan?" Orihime, one not to drink sake, was drinking her own substitute. A nice cold glass of milk…mixed with banana juice and tiny cubes of pickles…and crème de menthe.
"Orihime-chan…you were the valedictorian for our high school class! And Ishida's pretty smart too!" Tatsuki was a bit tired of her friends' obliviousness.
"And what are the chances, that all three of our daughters would know each other in school!" Rukia poured her sixth cup. "I'm getting the feeling that all three will be very good friends!"
Meanwhile, a small maroon haired girl had found her way to the second floor. Upon opening an arbitrary door, she found the raven haired teenager talking about her…negatively of course. "Oi, Kurosaki! Stop talking about me like that!" She burst through the door, and a small squeak sounded out when it slammed against the wall upon opening. "Hmmm?" The small girl ignored the teenagers for a moment, and closed the door behind her to investigate the sound.
Neither Aiko nor Emiko would never have expected what had happened, nor would they ever look at the 'child genius' the same way again. After a squeal of joy, and a squeak from the plush, Setsuko pounced on Kon and gave a squeeze that could crush bones. Good thing he was stuffed…
"Oh!!" Setsuko cried happily and she swung the toy around like…a ten year old.
Emiko cooed at the sight of the little girl, while Aiko smirked like mad. Reaching under her bed, she blindly looked for a small pouch. After one click and a flash, Setsuko immediately froze in terror and slowly turned her neck towards the two teenagers.
Her eyes went even wider when she spotted the disposable camera in Aiko's hands, and was caught in a second picture during her hesitation. "Aww, isn't that cute, Emi-chan?" Aiko mock-cooed.
"Oh yeah, I forgot that Set-chan loves lions!" Setsuko's eye twitched, and spontaneously, she dove towards the camera.
It was day once again, and in the busy time of the rush hour traffic, a middle aged man made his way towards the other side of the street for his lunch break. He was about five foot nine, with dark brown and confident eyes, dressed classily in a brown business suit. His hair was starting to show signs of graying, while his eyebrows and moustache managed to stay a keen and strong dark brown color. Despite the frequency of this lunch trip, the man would never arrive at his destination today.
An unseen force jabbed through his back, straight through his heart. He crumpled to the ground and astonished many people around him. For you see, no one knew that this man was stabbed. There were no signs of it, for example, like a stab wound, or any splattering of blood. To them, all they saw was a healthy looking man suddenly fall to the ground while clutching at his chest.
"Oi! Old man! Are you ok?" A lone bicyclist rode up to the man. To his amazement, the man's eyes shot open; they were a gleaming amber-brown hue and he grunted softly as he stood up. He brushed his suit over and began to walk away as if nothing happened, and the bicyclist was confused. "Hey old man, you should go to the hospital!" Being the Good Samaritan that he was, the bicyclist rode after the man, desperate to get him checked over.
Hearing the clicks of the bicycle, the man suddenly turned around and struck the bicyclist with two fingers. Tossed off of his bicycle, the younger man tumbled on the ground but stopped as if something was connected to his chest. Straining to stand up, the young man was confused as to why it was so hard to breathe. "What!?" He saw his body crumpled on the ground, and connected to his chest was a metal chain. Looking down to his own chest, he saw that the chain was latched onto him as well. "What…what did you do to me!?"
The old man smiled at the other's predicament, but his eyes were directed elsewhere. Looking where his glare was pointed to, the bicyclist's own eyes grew big with terror. Fear paralyzed him when he saw the monstrous beast standing behind him, but was too short of breath to scream. No one else paid attention to the beast…only to his crumpled form at his bicycle.
"Aniki…can I eat this one?" the beast's deep voice queried.
"Hai…" the old man responded, and he began to walk the opposite way down the street of Karakura Town. It was his lunch break after all…
Some notes from the Typewriter
And so...it begins...
Fun Facts:
-Aniki means big brother or superior (frequently used in Yakuza speech)
-I figured it out...from chapter six and on, this story takes place between the prologue of RadiantBeam's 'Over and Over again' fic, and ends just before chapter 1...heheh, I know loopholes...
Legal Stuff:
-Rukia, Orihime, Tatsuki and Kon all belong to Tite Kubo
-Aiko belongs to RadiantBeam
-Setsuko and Emiko belongs to me!
