Mori: Woot! I love reviews! Has anyone played Mario galaxy? I can understand if you haven't, not everyone has a Wii. But go to you tube and type in "Mario feeds luma" and it's like the first one there. That's how I get when you feed me reviews! XD LMAO I need at least twenty reviews to burst with snacky happiness! XD
I'm glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter! I ALMOST wrote a lemon, but then I was like…I wanna be evil! Don't worry though, I'll do it eventually my little closet perverts!
W A R N I N G S
"Aniki!" Tsukiko whined at Ikkaku, who nearly spit out his sake in laughter. Considering Ikkaku was both older than her and her superior, she referred to him as 'aniki' in stead of 'nii-chan'. He was like an older brother to her, especially the way he was butting into her business at the moment, "Why would you ask that?!" She bared her teeth at him and glared viciously as he continued to laugh. It had been a nice simple day. The sun was bright and the breeze was gentle. The occasional cloud drifted by and they watched, as the white fluffs drifted carelessly, and sipped their various drinks. Ikkaku preferred sake, while Tsukiko stuck to simple teas. Yes, all had been calm and quiet until Ikkaku spoke his mind.
"I was just curious!" Ikkaku smirked, "The both of you weren't exactly quiet after all!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Tsukiko thought she'd play it smart by playing dumb. She denied him the knowledge of her and Renji.
"Don't play dumb with me," He set down his cup and looked at her almost seriously. He clasped his hands together and acted in a girly manner to imitate his friend, "Oooh! Ren-kun!" He mocked and continued, seeing her face grow red with embarrassment, "Oooh! Oh please-"
"I never said those things!" She jumped up, holding her fist to his face.
"So you admit then!" He jumped of from his own seat to meet her challenge.
"What?! Admit what?!"
"Oh c'mon! Yachiru fuku-taichou might be naïve, but don't take me for a fool! You were messing around with him yesterday weren't you?!"
"Could you be any louder?!"
Squad eleven members far and near felt the ground shake beneath them and head their superior's scream echo across the division. A few members that were playing shogi on their sides lazily, held the board in place and continued with their game as soon as it was over. Somehow, this had become a sort of ritual for most members.
"S-so, you admit it then?" Ikkaku was sprawled out on the floor with several bruises and bumps complete with a black eye and a mission tooth. Tsukiko blushed and crossed her arms, refusing to admit it even though she knew he knew. Ikkaku sat up, a serious look plastered on his face, "Don't go getting carried away, kid. I was just askin',"
She cracked an eye open at him and saw that all of his injuries had magically disappeared. She let her mind drift for a moment, wondering how he had managed to get rid of them so quickly. After all, this wasn't some cartoon where one could fix themselves up in a jiffy.
"Don't get your panties in a bunch," He picked his cup back up, which had managed to retain any damage, "I am your 'aniki' after all right?" He gave her a knowing smirk.
Tsukiko huffed and crossed her arms, "Doesn't mean you have to interfere with my love life,"
"I'm not," he threw back, "I'm interfering with your sex life,"
"Aniki!" Ikkaku smirked as she complained further. She threw her fists repeatedly at his back, but her paid her no mind and continued to drink his sake happily. She stopped abruptly, sensing something she had not sensed in quite some time, but she couldn't comprehend it. She usually felt them at night, but here out in the day it was nearly impossible. It was so bright out, aside from the occasional could that drifted by.
Ikkaku felt Tsukiko's hands tremble against his back. He quickly grew serious and set his sake aside. He gave her a side glance and saw that her eyes were panicked and uncertain. She looked like she was about ready to faint. He probably would've though it was something that was making her act this way if she had been looking at something in particular, but seeing as how she wasn't he thought her actions were just plain strange. He narrowed his eyes and looked around the court yard. He didn't sense the presence of anything, other than themselves, around. Nor did he see anything out of the ordinary. Ikkaku glanced back at Tsukiko, eyes still narrow and alert. He knew something was wrong and that he had to be on alert, "What is it?" He asked so that she could just barely hear him.
She leaned in close to his ear, "Don't move," her voice was choked and ripped through the deafening silence. Nothing else made a single sound other than their own breathing. He could hear the panic in her voice, "They won't attack you," Before he could ask what was going on, a large cloud drifted over the court yard, casting a shadow and with it the things even more sinister. The cloud froze in place, blocking out the sun. Several shapeless shadows emerged from it. Their yellow hollow eyes glaring at Tsukiko for not being able to attack her in so many days, weeks even. Each one was about the size of a large boar, but held no resemblance to one in any manner. Their cloud-like shapes held firm against the ground. One bared its fangs and howled out. It wasn't like a hollow's cry. It was extremely high-pitched and almost sounded like a cross between a bat's screech and a human's scream. The other's quickly followed suit.
Tsukiko picked up Amaterasu and stood in front of Ikkaku, "Oi, what's going on? What the hell are those things? They don't even sound like hollows, much less look like them," Ikkaku stood up, ready to draw his own zanpakutou. Tsukiko held her hand up to stop him, "What are you-?"
"Don't," She cut him off sternly, "Don't get involved. They won't attack you. It's me they're after," She drew Amaterasu and readied herself for their attack, "If you really want to help, then go inform Yamamoto soutaichou-sama,"
"But-"
"Ikkaku," Her voice was deadly and serious, "I'm begging you,"
He clenched his fist and stared at her for a moment, trying to decide if he should really leave her or not. She'd never asked him for anything before, even if it was something small. She'd also never been this serious, as far as he could remember. He grit his teeth, growled, and nodded, "Fine. Don't go dieing on me, ya hear?!" She gave him a nod and a small smile before he used shunpo to get out of there as quickly as possible. Tsukiko turned her attention back to the shapeless, black creatures and glared at them. They screamed out once more and began to huddle together. Her eyes narrowed and she clenched her sword tighter. They'd never done that before and it set her on the edge. For a moment it bubbled and released puffs of smoke as the creatures joined themselves together. The shadow became even bigger and its shape was more definite and round. Arms and legs stuck out as well as a small stub for a head, so that its yellow eyes can stare her down. The cloud remained in place.
Tsukiko raised Amaterasu, "Howl, Ama-" She gasped as it swung its large hand down in her direction. She quickly leaped out of the way. She didn't think that a thing so big could move that quickly. It towered over her threateningly, and clawed at her again. Tsukiko dogged it again and swung Amaterasu almost carelessly. A large scar worked its way up the giant's arm, but it quickly recovered. She landed on the roof, but it followed her and smashed the tiles with its mighty fist. Tsukiko jumped down and cursed.
H E R E
"You can't go in there! There's a meeting going on!" A guard tried blocking his path, but the intruder shoved him aside and continued. He pushed the doors open forcefully and set eyes upon thirteen captains alone.
Ikkaku bowed low, "My apologies for interrupting this important meeting! But I'm afraid this is urgent and cannot be postponed!"
Yamamoto looked extremely annoyed, knowing he was from squad eleven and was without manners, "What is it then?"
"Right now fourth seat of squad eleven, Tsukiko-san, is fighting off creatures that are unknown to Soul Society. They've somehow managed to break through our city's barrier,"
Yamamoto looked deadly serious as he stared Ikkaku down, "If what you say is true, then it seems we have no choice but to postpone this meeting for the time being. I wan any available captains to report to squad eleven with their respected vice captains to investigate these creatures. Go!"
"Hai!" Everyone echoed in unison and vanished with a flash.
"Ikkaku," Kenpachi caught up with him, "What's the meaning of this? What creatures?"
"I don't really know myself," He glanced at his captain, but averted his eyes back to the road ahead of him, feeling somewhat guilty for leaving her behind, "Weird looking things appeared and she just told me to go inform everyone about it,"
"Ken-chan?" Yachiru had made her way onto his shoulder without them noticing it. She looked up at Kenpachi's stone face. She knew he was worried, even if her didn't show it or admit it in any way. She knew him better than that.
S H A D O W S
"What the hell are these things?!" Yumichika shouted out, swinging his sword at them left and right. He had been taking a leisurely walk around the squad, when he spotted Tsukiko fighting off the shadows. As soon as he stepped into the court and called to her, some of the smaller ones turned and began to attack him. Tsukiko valiantly fought off as many as she could handle, even with the largest one still swinging at her. She had released Amaterasu several times, but they would screech and jump on her zanpakutou, covering up the bright light.
"Nii-chan!" She ran over to Yumichika and fended off some of the creatures. She tried to catch her breath, "You okay?"
"I'm fine, but what are they?" He glared at the creatures crouching to the floor and getting ready for their next attack.
"I don't know," She shook from rage and frustration and clenched Amaterasu tighter, "They've never attacked during the day before. They've never even attacked other people! Now they're joining together to become a larger being! I don't know what's going on anymore,"
"Oi!!" A familiar voice called from a distance. Tsukiko could've taken a wild guess and still gotten it right, she was more concerned on not taking her eyes off of her enemy. Yumichika, however saw no harm in looking. A small smile greeted his lips as he saw so many shinigami, both captains and vice captains. Ikkaku was the first to greet them, "Looks like things've gotten a lot worse here. Hope you don't mind, kid, I brought the whole clan," He smirked. Tsukiko didn't once look back or smile at them. She was too focused on how the shadows were behaving and too busy wondering why they began acting differently. Ikkaku, getting no reaction out of her, grew a bit anxious and walked up to her side, "Kid?" Her eyes were full of rage and fear, he could see her hands shaking at the hilt of her sword. He couldn't tell which emotion overpowered her actions. Fear or anger?
"Oi, Tsuki," Renji took a single step forward, causing her to mentally break.
"No! Stay back!" Her reiratsu skyrocketed, causing the creatures before her to scream. Several of the smaller ones lashed out, but she struck each one down, only to have it replaced by another. She hadn't noticed that the largest one was staying still. Tsukiko no longer knew what she was doing. Her only targets were the shadow creatures that threatened her existence. She lashed out wildly at each one, hoping that it would be the last in line. The others watched in silent horror as they watched the ryoka shinigami lose it. She was handling them perfectly fine on her own, but they still felt a need to charge into battle themselves. Tsukiko's reiratsu was forceful enough to scold them if they got any closer. She was too busy striking down some of the smaller ones and didn't notice the looming shadow above her head darken.
"Oi! Tsuki!" Renji called out to her. Tsukiko snapped to her senses and turned around. She reacted without thinking and stabbed the shadow's large belly. Instead of just the stomach, the whole creature burst and turned to a dark liquid that devoured Tsukiko like waves trying to sink a ship. She yelped and struggled against the darkness, "Tsuki!" The darkness reached her neck. She saw Renji weave through the pool of nothingness.
"Don't!" She managed to choke out with lungs full of liquid. He paused momentarily, but continued once more, "DON'T!" She screamed at him and finally sunk beneath the wave of darkness. The pool at Renji's feet began to recede rather quickly and form half way into the giant shadow creature (though half of it was still on the ground in a puddle). The captains and vice captains drew their zanpakutou at the creatures. The smaller ones gathered around the larger one and turned their backs to the shinigami. They all looked over their shoulder, almost laughing at them with their yellow eyes. A sort of growling whisper carried itself on the wind.
The large creature sprouted arms from the puddle and leaned in as close as it could to the shinigami without being poked by their zanpakutou. It opened its mouth halfway and spoke a single word. It's voice was deep and hollow, it echoed across the division in a low growl, "Regret," was all it said before lowering itself back into the ground. The smaller ones followed after it and disappeared.
Several shinigami tried going after the shadow, but it receded back into nothingness too quickly. It was gone before they could make their way over to it. Renji grit his teeth and punched his fist into the nearest wall, causing himself to bleed. Ikkaku cursed to himself and kicked the side of the building. Yumichika bit his thumb and remained as calm as he could. Yachiru made her way to the spot Tsukiko had last been and simply stood there staring at it, like she was going to appear there at any moment. The other captains and vice captains looked at each other, not sure of what to make of the situation.
Byakuya was the first to recover, "Send a hell butterfly to Genryuu-dono and Central 46. Inform them of all that has happened here in squad eleven. Include that the ryoka shinigami, Tsukiko, is now missing,"
T O R N . A P A R T
Tsukiko shot forward from her silent slumber and came face to face with nothing but a deep grey world full of dark grey clouds. She jerked her head left and right, but found nothing else. Slowly, she stood up and continued to look around. She steadied herself and cautiously reached for Tsukiyomi. Her hand gripped air and her eyes widened. She reached for Amaterasu and again her hand gripped the air. She reached and touched her back, not believing that her zanpakutou were gone. She steadied her rapid heartbeat and took a deep breath. There had to be a way out somewhere if she was able to get in. She took one step forward and immediately an enormous reiratsu filled the area, making the sleeves of her uniform fly in several different directions as once. It was almost strong enough to make her struggle for breath a few times, though she quickly grew used to it.
The shadows being cast beneath her feet, grew many times longer than they had been a moment ago. They spilt into seven separate figures and formed a sort of circle around her. Four of the figures were small and petite with feminine figures, two were somewhat tall and held no feminine features whatsoever. The last one stood directly in front of her. It was the tallest and had a muscular build. He towered over her and smiled, his crooked, rotting, teeth stood out from the shadowed figure. Tsukiko's, stance was cautious as she glared at each one around her. She looked for the one to attack first.
"W-what is this place?" Her voice was shaky and echoed through the dense fog. One of the feminine figures moved forward and grabbed her sleeve roughly, clinging to Tsukiko as if she would save her from the emptiness, "W-what are you-! Let go!" She tried to shake the figure off, but it held firm. Tsukiko tried backing up a bit; the others moved aside and let her fall to the ground on her back. The one that had grabbed her held her tight, in both hands, to the ground, "Get off!" Her voice echoed once more. The figure held her down firmly as the outline of its mouth turned into a sad frown. One could say that the look in someone's eyes could bring about old memories, or the expression on another's face even. But the way the frown was held, reminding someone of their past, could be counted as a strange trigger of memory.
Tsukiko screamed at the pain of the memory that flashed in her mind. Hot, salty, tears ran down her face as she tried to claw at the shadow holding her down to get it off at any costs. Tsukiko kicked and struggled against its grip and screamed at the top of her lungs. Her time in the seireitei lead her to believe that each and ever one of her memories were special and that she'd never want to forget anything, no matter how horrible things got. She proved herself wrong. At that moment she thought to herself that perhaps she'd forgotten everything in her past life on purpose because there simply were no good memories to cherish along with the bad. The only things she ever remembered were pain and sorrow to torment her now happy life. Tsukiko regretted wanting to know of the past that was meant to be forgotten to her. Aoiyuki Tsukiko had many regrets.
G O M E N . N A S A I
Abarai Renji was in no mood for this, but he had no choice. He definitely didn't want some scum transferring her to another cell. First, Tsukiko and now Rukia. Things definitely weren't going so great for him.
"What is it Renji?" Rukia turned her head slightly from inside the cell, "Has the day of my execution been pushed forward?"
"In less than fourteen days you will be executed," He kept his voice calm and strict as if he didn't know her at all, "I'm transferring you to the senzaikyuu shi-shinro, the repentance palace four deep cell," She nodded and let several shinigami dressed in white restrain her and force her to wear a white mask over her head. Renji calmly lead them to the repentance cell. Everything was deathly quiet along the way, aside from the sound of their footsteps. Renji let his mind wander to where Tsukiko could possibly be. It'd been several days already and there was still no sign of her. Not even so much as a trace of reiratsu. Poor squad twelve was constantly being pressured by so many people these days. Renji checked daily with them for any signs of her. Hinamori found time here and there, but the ones that were really doing all the pressure were none other than squad eleven. Kenpachi threatened them once or twice, Yachiru annoyed the living hell out of them and in fact spent most of her days within the twelfth division these days. Ikkaku and Yumichika would go along with Renji each day, but would also cause more of a ruckus than Renji. Renji knew that if he did cause too much trouble, then his captain would stop letting him pay daily visits to squad twelve because of complaints. Yachiru, Ikkaku, and Yumichika were the lucky ones since their captain was already on their side. Of course there was the occasional, random, squad eleven member that checked in to see if anything was found, but they were soon 'shooed' off the division for being inane and in the way to the squad. These days, Kurostuchi Mayuri, captain of the twelfth divison, was taking plenty of pain killers before each meal.
The white tower standing before him, brought Renji out of his thoughts. The guards brought her within the holding cell and he followed in after them, "Can you see, Rukia?" he asked after the cloth was removed from her head, "Out that window," She didn't even have to turn her head in another direction, for they already faced her towards the window. So far away, but very clearly, gleamed a giant zanpakutou on another hill, "The sokyoku," he stated referring to the zanpakutou in the distance, "The instrument that will end your life," Rukia said nothing and merely continued to stare out the window. One of the guards explained to her that she would look upon her fate each day in hopes that she would realize her misdoings. He then used kidou to release her restraints. As they were leaving, Renji walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, leaning in really close to her ear so that only she could hear him, "Here's a tidbit of idle gossip for you. Yesterday, some new ryoka entered the Soul Society. There were five of them," He paused momentarily before continuing, "One of them was a soul reaper with a sword as tall as he was. A soul reaper with orange hair," She suddenly turned to face him, her eyes full of surprise and wonder. The most life Renji's seen in them for a long time.
He walked down the hall, thinking of what he had just told Rukia, when he was interrupted by Captain Aizen.
L O S T . A N D . F O U N D
"Mayuri-sama," Vice captain of the twelfth squad, Kurostuchi Nemu, appeared by her captain's side in a hurry. He had just thrown out the eleventh squad's vice captain and was ready to take a few more pain killers to relieve his head. He glared at her sudden appearance, wanting to be left alone for the time being.
"What is it, Nemu? Can't you deal with it yourself? I just got rid of that pink haired nuisance and I need a bit of silence," He swallowed them with a bit of water and tried to wave her off.
"But, Mayuri-sama, I assume this will be of importance to you if you don't want anymore of squad eleven members in our presence,"
"Oh?" He looked at her, now with interest and she handed him a chart on a clipboard. His eyes scanned the page and grew wider as they traveled downward.
"Attention! Attention! All captains!" An emergency alarm could be heard throughout seireitei, "All captains report immediately for an emergency officer's conference!" Kurostuchi rolled his eyes as the announcement repeated itself and further continued to instruct vice captains to meet in a certain area.
He got up and began to leave the room, "Nemu, send a few people from our squad along with a few neighboring squads, don't include the eleventh squad. I don't want that that damned captain down my back if something goes wrong,"
"Hai, Mayuri-sama," She quickly left the room after her captain and informed some of her squad members as well as the captain from the tenth division. He granted her several of his shinigami and agreed to keep the information under low profile until the situation was confirmed.
R E Q U I E M
The bright, hot sun beat down upon her back. It almost seemed as if it wanted to burn a hole along her spine with the amount of heat it gave off. Sweat formed on her brow and ran down her face, running onto the cool blades of grass. A few tickled her nose, but she was too lost to realize it. Her body ached and she felt feverish, but her own body told her otherwise. She shivered, despite the sun beating down harshly upon her back. Her eyes darted back and forth as far as they could and her breathing was unstable and coming out in shallow pants. A gentle breeze blew by, making her shiver and whimper slightly as the blades of grass brushed against her skin. The grass only agonized her further.
"This way! The charts said she's supposed to be in this direction!" She heard a voice and felt her heart race. Many footsteps could be heard around her and made her panic mentally, "Over here! I've found her!" At that point she no longer cared. Her body ached far too much and she'd rather soon die. Many others appeared by her side, touching her body and making sure she wasn't dead since she hadn't moved an inch when they'd arrived. A few people began to turn her over on her back, causing her to let out a scream of agony.
"Tsukiko-san! Are you alright?! What happened?!" Someone shouted at her. She winced at the level of his voice and continued to stay in her 'empty' phase. Her eyes were pupil less and glazed over, as if she wasn't fully conscious of her surroundings. She felt a cool hand place itself on her forehead, making her shiver yet again. The person jerked their hand back instantly, "She's burning up! Quick! We need to her to a medical station!"
Tsukiko looked around frantically. None of the shinigami there had the features she wanted to see. She felt herself grow sicker as hot tears began to spill from her eyes. She mouthed something, but none of them took the time to notice in their panic. She began to cry a bit harder, seeing that none of them were listening. The searing tears only added more pain to her already burning forehead and brought on an even stronger headache. She continued to mouth a single name and they continued to not notice. She found her voice and began to whisper it every few seconds, but her voice was still small and meek; cracking every few seconds. Her throat burned and felt like it was being scratched from the inside. She swallowed what little saliva she had and was able to talk a little clearer.
The shinigami that had begun to carry her looked down upon hearing an unknown voice. He looked down at her fragile and petite form and almost lost balance from the way she looked at him. Not too long ago he had somewhat disliked her for waking up all of seireitei because that same morning he had kitchen duties. Sleepiness plus kitchen meant plenty of burn marks for him in particular. He had disliked her for that reason alone, but seeing her as she was now changed his mind completely. Her eyes were still as empty as before, but were now full of tears that streamed down her cheeks. The red ribbon in her hair held fast against the wind current, careful to hold the ebony colored hair (with red streaks) in place. Her dry lips moved in a single motion and repeated it each time she got through what she was saying. She, somehow, knew he was now paying attention to her and directed a question at him. He was completely taken by surprise.
"Where's…Ren-kun?" He could just barely make out what she was saying because of the wind that whistled in his ears, but watching her lips move helped him quite a bit. Again she spoke, "Ren-kun…where's Ren-kun," Her voice cracked when he didn't answer her and she continued to let the tears pour down her cheeks. He felt bad, but went back to watching the path ahead of him. The entire way she refused to stop asking where Renji was.
Tsukiko felt herself being carried, but she didn't care. The freezing wind agonized every pore of her skin, but she didn't care. Her zanpakutou's hilts dug into her back, but she ignored it. She refused to stop asking. It wasn't long before the painful wind stopped beating her skin and the zanpakutou on her back stopped trying to stab her. She felt the warmth and comfort of a futon and she relaxed a bit, though she still felt uncomfortable form sickness. Her stomach felt like it was going to empty what little contents it had left and her dizzy head didn't help any. A familiar face rushed into the room. Though it wasn't the one she had originally wanted to see, seeing him set her at ease a bit more.
"Taro…-kun," Hanatarou kneeled by her side in complete shock. Her current state was unbelievable. It was as if she was just brought back from the dead.
"That's a first," The shinigami from squad ten muttered behind him.
"What do you mean?" Hanatarou asked without even looking back at him.
"The entire way over here she was muttering 'Ren-kun. Where's Ren-kun?'" He folded his arms and leaned against the wall.
"I see," Hanatarou looked at her fragile form once more and let rage fill his body. Instead of a shocked expression, his eyes now held a determined look in them, "Thank you for bringing her here. Please leave the room for sanitary purposes," His voice was firm. The man nodded and left in a hurry.
Tsukiko, without warning, cupped his cheek in her hand gently. He could feel her shaking from fatigue from her fever. She smiled sadly at him and let more tears run down her cheek, "Taro…-kun," She let her hand drop to the floor and felt herself slipping out of consciousness.
"Tsukiko-neesan," He whispered to himself, "What happened to you?"
N O T H I N G . C A N . B E . E X P L A I N E D
Mori: Yee! So how'd you like that one? Confusing much? XD lol I bet there's a lotta questions in those noggins! X3 Don't worry! All shall be answered…eventually!
Don't forget to review! Remember I need at least 20 reviews to burst with snacky-reviewy happiness!
