My eyes widen in shock "What the hell do you mean." Grimmjow said walking forward a bit. The look on his face was the first time I'd seen him look worried. I was too shocked to move let alone speak "Like I said Starrk is gone. I can't find him." She said this couldn't be happening maybe he went to take a nap somewhere and forgot to meet up with her. But that wasn't like him he would rather do the job then be lectured for not showing up at all. Starrk may have been lazy, but he did what was asked of him.
My hand tighten around the door knob and I heard a faint click snapping me out of my thoughts I noticed Ulquiorra pushing the door closed. He glanced down at me then quickly turned back to Tier "Explain." Tier brought one of her hands to her forehead "yesterday morning the two of us went to Hueco Mundo in search for something that could help us and the soul reapers understand what's been causing the resent spike of hollows this past month. The moment we stepped into the area we were attacked by waves of them. One of the battles had destroyed a pillar and it crashed into the side of the dome and that's how we came upon one of the secret levels. There we found-"
"We know, Nelliel has already informed us on your findings and the actions that followed." She looked over to me and I nodded as confirmation. "Today we went back to find a way into the last level. We tired destroying the floor but that was futile so I suggested that we split up and look for a key,, a door a lever or even an elevator something to get us down there. I chose to search the other floors and that he remained on that floor and search the labs."
She brought her arms across her chest "he agreed and I left. Hours upon hours we searched however my search bared no fruit. When it was time to meet back up he didn't show so I assumed he might have either found something or fallen asleep. I waited another 30 minutes before I went to the lab, but upon arrival Starrk was not there only a blood trail was left." I found myself holding my breath. My gaze fell to the floor this was not happening. "Where did the trail lead you?" Ulquiorra said his voice was colder then I was used to.
"It lead to a trap, a trap that was a waste of time." She paused and took a breath "I was surrounded by hollows with an arrancar as their leader." "Did you get anything out of them?" Grimmjow said I watched as he was growing irritated by the minute. "Yes, but not to Starrks where about." He raised his eyebrow. "What did you learn?" I spoke I could hear my own voice filled with fear. I didn't understand why I had this choking fear building up inside me.
"After I killed majority of her followers the arrancar told me that she was looking for someone, her sister." "And why the fuck would we care about her sister?" I wanted to calm Grimmjow down but he had a point. Harribel looked to Ulquiorra " because she's the one sending hollows here. She said her sister is hiding here and she wants to be the first one of her siblings to find her." A moment of silence had passed before Ulquiorra spoke "she has the ability to control hollows." Tier nodded
"I didn't believe it at first but I seen it in person. She brands them and then they follow her orders without question. But that wasn't what convinced me, the moment they were branded with the weird looking symbol their spiritual power had doubled and that's when they became a problem to handle." "They attacked you again?" I looked over her appearance again could that be why she was covered in cuts and bruise. "She tried to brand me." Was that even possible I held my elbows tightly "What did the symbol look like?" We all looked to Grimmjow.
Ulquiorra walked over to my bookshelf and plucked a book from the row and then a pen from a cup on my desk. Tier took the objects and drew what she had seen, when she finished she handed it to Grimmjow however the look on his face showed his disappointment. He clicked his tongue "shit it's not the same one." He took the pen from her and drew the symbol he knew. "For the past 2 weeks I've found this mark on the ones me and the shinigami's have killed." He turned the book to face us it was a drawling of either a crown or the top of a trident and below his was the one Tier drew it looked like a slug or a petal.
"Proven by this information we not only have this women and someone else sending in hollows but there is a high chance that there is a 3rd party involved and their all supposedly looking for their sister. A sister that has made it past the shinigami and is now hiding I guess from them." Ulquiorra said "what are we going to do?" I asked him because my mind was drawing a blank. "For the moment we can start by finding Starrk and once we find him we'll decided what actions to take from there. We have no need to jump into a fight with these arrancar just yet." I looked over to Grimmjow hoping to see if he would disagree, but he appeared as if his mind was somewhere else entirely.
Was I the only one that wanted to take action, why did everything feel reversed? I wanted to know why I was so ill at ease about doing nothing. Something felt utterly wrong. "What about faith, we can't leave her by herself. Who knows how long it'll take before we find him." Harribel said "she should be fine tomorrow Ichigo will be here with a few of his friends and we can just convince them to stay the night." I said I didn't want to leave Faith unprotected and without one of us, but us finding Starrk was important. Ulquiorra and Tier nodded agreeing to my idea however Grimmjow wasn't thrilled about it. I knew he wanted to stay, but at the moment they wanted him to come along and him fighting both of them on it was not the best option for him.
Suddenly there was a light knock on my door the 3 of them looked to the door. Crap I slapped my head with my palm. I totally forgot about leaving Faith downstairs in the basement. I washed the earlier emotions from my face took a deep breath and smiled as I opened up my door. I was met with an irritated look on her face. "Don't you smile at me it's been well over an hour you could of told me you were going to" her sentence died before she could finish. She was looking past me into the room I followed her eyes and seen her looking at Harribel. "Nothing to worry about just had to deal with some idiotic people that thought they could tell me what to do." Tier smiled at her, Faith nodded then caught sight of Ulquiorra. "Ulquiorra where have you been." She said not really asking it as a question as she smiled. He walked up to her and gazed down at her, she was the only one that could get him to show an ounce of emotion.
"I was dealing with shinigami which was more trouble than it was worth." I watched as she fidgeted under his gaze. I don't know how he did it, but he was the only one of us able to get her to act younger than her age. "Well at least you got whatever it was out of the way." He gave her a light nod then turned his gaze at me however said nothing. "It's late I think we should call it a night." I said. He nodded in agreement and he walked off to his room and Tier to hers. I glanced to faith but her eyes were fixated on the figure behind me. I could see her face turning bright red.
A smile plastered my face thanks for the ammo I said to myself. I looked behind me to a shirtless Grimmjow who was paying no attention to us but to his phone. I bent down to whisper in her ear "I bet he wouldn't mind if you took a picture." She shook her head to snap out of her trance "I don't know what you're talking about. I wasn't staring I just glanced at him for just a second." I watched as the light blush on her face deepened this was enough ammo for a whole week. As I was about to tease her, her whole face went red and she ran off to her bed room slamming the door behind her. I could hear Grimmjow chuckling coming closer and as if nothing happened he walked past me and headed down stairs.
-xxxxx-
I woke up with the light from the sun coming through the space between my curtains. I slowly turned over to my side facing away from the window. I sighed as I knew I wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep. I reached under my pillow to grab my phone but the space was empty. I lift the pillow to see that it wasn't there quickly sitting up I started running my hands over the bed. Where's my phone? I stood on the bed and pulled up the sheets and comforter shaking them. I heard something bounce off my bed and land on the floor. I dropped everything and went to pick up my phone.
I had no miss calls or even text message sighing I put the cell phone on my desk next to a stack of homework and notes that everyone brought me yesterday. Since I was feeling a lot better I told them I'd be able to go back to school Monday. I kind of didn't want to do homework on a Saturday but if I wanted to catch up I would have to. I could do a half today and the rest tomorrow I thought as I went in to the bathroom.
When I was out of the shower I could hear my bed room door open. I sighed knowing exactly who it was. I dried myself off and tossed the towel in the hamper with the rest of my dirty close. I put on my grey shorts and a small white t-shirt I combed through my hair and put it into a pony tail. I took a deep breath "why do you keep coming into my room when you're bored." I said as I opened up the door to find ...Ichigo? "I take it that I'm not the only one who does that then." He said leaning back on his hands. I could feel myself blush "it's not like I allow him to do it." He laughed as he rose to his feet.
"I didn't say you did." This was embarrassing "so who was it that you thought came into your room?" He looked at me with a small grin. There was no way I was going to tell him that I thought he was "Grimmjow?" I felt the blush on my face deepen. "Ahh so it was him." "Shut up!" I punched him in the arm but he only laughed harder. "So you two are getting along and better than I thought." I punched him again but harder. "Why are you here?" I asked so he would drop this topic, he grabbed my hands "I told you I'd be over today to keep you company remember." I stopped struggling to get free "oh yeah I forgot." There was a knock at my door and to my surprise it was Keigo.
"Noooo!" He yelled as he pulled me and Ichigo hands apart. "You can't have her I won't allow you." Keigo pulled me into his arms. "What's with that scream?" Renji said walking into my bed room with Rukia behind him. "Ichigo tried to make a move on my Faith." He said squeezing me tighter." I'd be careful throwing that phrase around." Uryū said coming in with Orihime and Tatsuki. Did the whole class show up to my house. I hope not I don't think I can fit anymore into my room.
"What's that supposed to mean." Keigo scowled at him. I tried to pull free but he really didn't want to let me go. Seeing that I was stuck Ichigo grabbed Keigo by the back of his collar and pulled him off me with one swift tug. "What are you all doing here?" I said ignoring keigo cries. "Well we knew you were bored of being in the house so we called each other up and decided to hangout here." Rukia said. I ran over to hug the smaller girl as tight as possible.
"Oh yeah Faith we want to introduce you to a few more people." Renji said pointing out the door with his thumb. They have people they want me to meet. Could they be more shinigami? I thought to myself as all of us made are way out of my room to the living room. I was the last of us to come down the stairs. I stood on the stairs glancing over the people that filled my living room I seen 3 that I didn't know, for some reason I knew that they were soul reapers. They looked to me and for an instant I felt myself hesitate, every muscle in my body tensed up.
What was this feeling? It couldn't be because they were shinigami could it. No I've been around Renji and Rukia and never had this feeling before I didn't know what it was and the very air felt strange yet vaguely familiar. One of them stood out more than the other 2, he was a tall man with long white hair flowing over the right side of his shoulder. The man looked thin and fragile like if I were to touch him the wrong way he would break, but for some reason I knew it was a façade. His green eyes locked with mine and I felt myself catch my breath. He gave a small smile and a pain shot through my head and my right eye started pulsing.
"Faith you okay?" I could hear Rukia but she sounded so far away. Someone placed a hand on my shoulder and I glanced over to see Ichigo. I shook my head "sorry about that felt a little dizzy that's all." I smiled at him and made my way down in to the living room. I turn my attention to the unknown guest "hi I'm Faith nice to meet you." I said as I tried to hide the pain that was coursing through my head. The white haired man walked up to me with his hand out stretched.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Jūshirō Ukitake." He smiled at me and I reached out to take his hand. The moment they touched I was overwhelmed with a feeling that I could only describe as joy. I felt so confused "This is Tōshirō Hitsugaya" he pointed to the young looking blue haired boy. So he was the one Karin was talking about that didn't want her to tell Ichigo. He didn't look any older then Ichigos sister's but I knew not to judge by looks alone. He then pointed to a woman with long and wavy blond hair, blue eyes and very large breast "this is Rangiku Matsumoto." She smiled and waved but I couldn't get past her breast, I had thought that Orihimes were huge but how is she able to stand up straight with those monsters.
Everyone started laughing glanced around wondering what I had missed. "What" I said "I'm use to reactions like that." Rangiku said, crap I smacked my head "I said that out loud didn't I." I tried to cover my face "and you already know Ikkaku Madarame." Jūshirō said "long time no see." Ikkaku said as he patted me on the back a little too hard. "It's been too long." I smiled at him then rubbed his head he swatted my hand away. "Hey cut that out!" He yelled "Baldy don't raise your voice to a woman!" Rangiku yelled "I'm not bald it's shaved!" I started laughing but stopped when it started to make my head hurt more. "But if you shave till there's no hair then you're bald." Renji said. Ikkaku glared at him "I'm not."
I felt a hand on my shoulder and I glanced over to see Ichigo tilt his head over to the direction of kitchen. I nodded and followed after him with Jūshirō and Hitsugaya right behind me. I wonder what they want to talk about with me. Once in the kitchen I sat on the counter with Ichigo right next to me. I watched as the young shinigami shoulders dropped he seemed extremely tired. "First I want to apologize for pulling you away from your friends." Jūshirō said giving a slight bow "there's no need for an apology." He stood up straighter and gave another smile. "But I would like to know why you and captain Hitsugaya have come to my home." There was a pause the 3 of them stared at me with looks of confusion.
"May ask of how you know that I'm a captain." The young shinigami asked I had almost forgotten that what Karin had told me was a secret and I wasn't supposed to let anyone know that I knew. "Um Karin had told me about you." He seemed to buy it I thought as I watched him sigh heavily. "We're here to check up on things and I wanted to meet you." Jūshirō said with a smile that never seems to leave his face "checking for what?" I asked Jūshirō had a confused look on his face as he stared at me then over to Ichigo. I glanced over to him as well but he kept his gaze to the floor "is there something I should know or should have known." "I can understand why Kurosaki hasn't informed you of anything that has been happening but due to certain circumstances his personal feelings will have to be ignored."
"For the pass 2 weeks or so there have been massive sightings of hollows in the nearby areas. And with new information we have found we believe your safety may or may not be in question. I let Ichigo fill you in on the rest." Jūshirō said. I found myself at a blank I knew about the hollows but I also was confused at how my safety would be in question. There'd be no way that I could end up in danger not with Harribel and the others watching over me and my friends out there risking their lives to keep everyone safe.
"There is one more thing. I would like it if you would keep this on you at all times even when you're just in the house." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small grey box. I looked at the box then back to him he held it out encouraging me to take it. I got off the counter and I accepted the box. I examined it but it seemed like a normal box. "The box isn't what's special its's in it." I opened it and seen a locket there was a mask carved on it, opening it I seen a small dark purple cube rotating inside. I couldn't help but stare at its beauty it was well crafted and eye catching.
"When you're in danger no matter who it is I want you to throw this into the hole and it will take care of the rest." "Jūshirō, what hole do I throw this in?" I pulled my gaze away from the jewelry to look up at him. "You'll know when you see it until then keep it with you at all times." I nodded "I promise." He patted my head and I felt joy wash over me again. I didn't know why but his hand felt familiar like that of a father. "Well it's about time I head out. It was nice seeing you, Faith." I smiled to him "thank you for this." I lifted the box he smiled and turn his back to me as he was about to leave he suddenly stopped to look at me then to my hand. Without knowing I had unconsciously grabbed the end of his hair.
I hesitated before letting his hair slip through my fingers. I could feel a sadness building up in my chest. "No worries I'll see you again." I nodded and watched him and Hitsugaya walk out of the kitchen. "Ichigo have I met him before?" I looked to him "I don't think so." He sounded unsure of himself. If I didn't know him then why did I not want him to go? "Why did it feel like I've heard those words before?" The pain in my head started throbbing. Suddenly Ichigo grabbed my head and pulled me into his chest. "Maybe your parents said the same to you when you were little." Could that have been the case could it be that Jūshirō reminded me of my father.
And that's when I felt a little disturbed, I couldn't remember my father. How could a man I've never met remind me of a man I can't remember?
