Twilight Marionette:Bonjour Bonjour everyone, how you all doing! Da dadada daaaaaa!
Twilight Puppeteer: ..........
Twilight Marionette: Whats wrong?
Twilight Puppeteer: Your late again.
Twlight Marionette:But...but...but... I had a migrane, i cant think with a migrane!
Twilight Puppeteer:Heh, thats just one of many reasons you never thi....
Twilight Marionette: Silence!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, themes, ideas or, you know, stuff in general, legal stuff. Ah! Hello nice dark corner!
Chapter 9: Whispering Wind
Ichigo found himself here again, the inner world in which both Zangetsu and his inner Hollow resided. As usual the weather was clear with only a few white clouds in the sky, not a hint of rain and that gave Ichigo confidence in dealing with his inner Hollow self, it was agood sign that he was still in control. "Why am I here this time, need me to listen to your pathetic threats again?" he asked with feigned interest.
"Welcome back king," the Hollow said in a sarcastic tone, completely ignoring Ichigo's question "Your loyal subjects have been waiting for you."
Though the words were innocent enough Ichigo could feel the extreme malice behind them. He followed the Hollows gaze and turned his back on him and found himself looking at Zangetsu, perched on his sword with his black coat flowing around him as if it were made from mist. Zangetsu however paid Ichigo little attention and simply stared off into space. He turned back to face his Hollow self, who had walked over towards Ichigo and was nearly right next to him. Less then two meters apart, they stared into each others eyes.
The Hollow made to reach for the weapon on his back, causing Ichigo to do the same. "My my, jumpy today aren't we Ichigo?" it said mockingly and lowered its arm away from the hilt of its sword. Much to its amusement Ichigo did not at first and lowered his arm much slower. "Not sleeping very well are we?" the Hollow asked, though it was more of a statement then a question.
"Bastard," Ichigo replied in a harsh but controlled tone of voice. The Hollow grinning happily back and started to laugh to itself as if laughing at some great private joke, which only served to anger Ichigo. "Shut up!" he shouted and as fast as a flash reached behind his back and wrapped his fingers around the hilt of Zangetsu and brought the blade down towards the Hollow.
However the Hollow had fully expected him to react like this and reacted faster then Ichigo, deftly pushing the blade off course with his hand and slamming it into the ground. As Ichigo's free hand reached for him he grabbed it with his spare hand and gripped Ichigo's wrist tightly. "Your still so bad at this, you know that? Still so weak," He taunted Ichigo as he smiled evilly. However he released his grip on both Zangetsu and Ichigo's wrist which must of taken Ichigo by surprise for he stood dumbfounded.
"What the hell?" Ichigo said as he pulled Zangetsu from the ground and looked the sword up and down before sheathing it on his back. The Hollow had pushed the sword away so easily and restrained him just as easily, which was not a good sign.
"Believe it or not king I don't want to fight you tonight," the Hollow said in its echoing voice.
"Then what?" Ichigo replied in a slightly confused tone.
"You don't remember do?" the Hollow asked in a mocking voice.
"Remember what!?" Ichigo replied, his frustration building, the Hollow was playing word games with him he was sure of it.
"The other night dumb ass!" it said grinning.
Ichigo's hearted skipped a beat. 'The other night? Does he mean the girl dancing on the water?' he wondered. "I remember well enough," he said though the words sounded hollow even to him.
The Hollow considered his lie and merely laughed in response and grinned at Ichigo. "You don't remember at all? Nothing after she wrapped her arms around you? Thought so!" it said triumphantly.
"And you do?" Ichigo replied testily.
"I should hope so, I did save your life after all," the Hollow replied. "Cant have you dying on me after all, since that body will be mine one day."
Ichigo looked into his eyes but saw no lies there. In fact he knew it was telling the truth, his Hollow would never lie if the truth was more amusing to hear. "Saved my life? But she didn't do anything to harm me," Ichigo said, fishing for answers.
"Heheheh that crazy bitch was going to kill you you know, I barely took control in time," the Hollow said in a sarcastic voice. "I have no idea who she was, but she really wanted to kill you for some reason, guess the crazy bitch didn't like you disturbing her dance."
'Kill me? But I never sensed any malice or reiatsu coming from her, though I cant deny that I felt threatened despite her words,' Ichigo thought. He must of blacked out and woke up later that morning, the thought that the mysterious shadow girl was able to restrain his movements so easily was disturbing. Though obviously she no such power over his Hollow self, or maybe she simply didn't know that he had 2 souls within him. "You killed her?" Ichigo asked. The Hollow's grin weakened slightly at the question and Ichigo grinned back. "You couldn't kill her, could you?"
"Heh, that bitch had some nice moves, she kept gracefully sidestepping all of my attacks, then she pulled a vanishing act on me and ran," the Hollow said, clearly not amused that he had to admit to have being unable to kill her so easily. Though next time she wouldn't be so lucky, he swore to that.
Ichigo woke up slowly as the light poured through his window and across his bed until it shone over his eyes, forcing him to turn his head away. 'I need to find out who that girl was from the other night, I could care less whether or not 'he' is lying about what happened but I need to find out. It didn't feel like she was trying to kill me, whoever she was.'
Ichigo climbed out of bed and went over to his window and opened it, letting a small breeze blow into his room, making the sweat on his brow feel icy cold against his hot forehead. He waited there for a few seconds, half expecting an upside down Akatsuki to appear in front of him again. Though if he was honest he didn't feel like dealing with her weirdness today. He crossed the room to his cupboard and started to get dressed. 'I really don't remember her trying to kill me.'He heard the sound of girls laughing and walked back over to the open window and looked out into the garden below, Akatsuki was there in her red uniform and she seemed to be squaring off against his father. Ichigo didn't even try to guess what this confrontation was about but knew his father had probably started it. Yuzu was trying to get between them and Karin was grinning to herself in amusement.
'Akatsuki-chan said she found me the other day, but what if she knows more then she mentioned, in any case, I think this is something she can help me with,' Ichigo thought and grinned to himself.
Akatsuki's expression turned apathetic and she felt a shiver go down her spine.
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"A song?" Akatsuki said a perplexed tone, she turned her head on its side and gave Ichigo a puzzled look.
Ichigo nodded his head in acknowledgement. "I followed the sound of a song here," he said as he looked out over the water, remembering that girls beautiful dance the other night. "I don't know how to describe it, now that I think about it I feel as if the song was intended for me to hear," he said as reached down and picked up a small round stone and rolling it around in his hand.
"Uh huh," was all Akatsuki could think to say, she had no idea what he was talking about. "So why am I here anyway?" Akatsuki asked curiously. She had been playing quite happily with Ichigo's family when he strode into the garden and dragged her off, saying he had something he wanted her to see. She patted Ichigo on the head several times as if praising him. "Congratulations on becoming a fully fledged stalker!" she said to Ichigo as he turned to face her.
"Who are you calling a stalker anyway!?" Ichigo snapped back at her.
"The one who followed a girls voice and spied on her while she was dancing," Akatsuki pointed out in a sarcastic voice. She grinned at Ichigo's flustered expression and snickered.
"Your missing the point here! I wasn't going to do anything to her or anything!" Ichigo retorted.
Akatsuki replied with a long winded hum, she closed her eyes and smiled innocently. "Anything? I wonder what anything could be, do tell me Mr Shinigami-sama," she said in a over exaggerated innocent voice. Ichigo didn't take the bait and ignored her, turning around he bounced the stone in his hands a few times then launched it over the water. Akatsuki followed it with her eyes as it bounced a few times then disappeared below the surface.
"Do you anything about her?" Ichigo asked in a serious tone of voice.
Akatsuki sighed dejectedly, Ichigo was being much too serious for her to have fun with. "Why would you think I would?" she asked dejectedly and scratched her head. Ichigo turned to face her and she could read his expression easily enough, he wasn't fully believing her. "Lets face it Ichigo, your description leaves a lot to be desired. A shadowy girl with red eyes on a moonlit night dancing over the water?"
Ichigo's serious expression relented slightly and he smiled. "Akatsuki-chan," he said softly. Ichigo reached out and took her shoulders in his hands and looked her straight in the eyes.
Akatsuki, taken by surprise by his suddenly intimate actions failed to react at all, she merely blushed slightly, unsure of what Ichigo's intentions were. He gently moved around her, turning her with him until her back was facing the clear waters of the river. His hands slid down her shoulders and along her arms and came to rest around her elbows.
"Akatsuki-chan," he said again. It amused him to see how nervous he was making her, her expression a mix of anger, confusing and embarrassment.
"Y y y yes!" Akatsuki said much too loudly.
"Can you swim?" Ichigo asked and grinned at her.
"Eh!?" was all Akatsuki was able to say before Ichigo suddenly launched her backwards towards the water.
Ichigo watched as she fell clumsily backwards towards the water, her expression was priceless. Akatsuki hit the water with a large splash and she disappeared below the water for a few seconds before she exploded from the water like an angry bear. Her long hair hung messily all down her back and face. "Guess it wasn't you last night then huh. Seems you cant walk on water and your far too clumsy," Ichigo said as he turned around and brought his hand to his chin as if in deep thought. Then he burst out laughing. Then he heard an all too familiar noise, the sound of gathering energy and he slowly turned his head to face Akatsuki again.
Akatsuki had somehow managed to tidy her hair and face up in the few seconds he had been turned around, her eyes were closed and she had such a cute innocent smile on her face. Black waves of energy was rapidly gathering around her left hand. Ichigo's expression became nervous as she gracefully pointed her left palm towards him, the Cero energy gathering rapidly there. "Now wait, wait wait wait I can explain," he said as he crossed his arms in front of him defensively.
"I'm not angry, Kurosaki Ichigo," she said in a cute, innocent voice, "Lets play a game!"
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Akatsuki sat cross legged by the waters edge, her clothes damp still but no longer soaked, she looked across to her side at Ichigo and smiled warmly at him. Ichigo returned her smile with a grimace. Ichigo however was very much soaking wet, Akatsuki having chased him into the river with a WEAK Cero blast. They had since been sat in silence, watching the water flow by as they both dried out from their respective trips into the river.
"I'm guessing since I passed your little test, your next question is, can I find her?" Akatsuki asked as a way of breaking the silence.
Ichigo nodded in agreement. "Can you, you seem to be good at finding people, at least a lot better then me," Ichigo answered honestly.
"Hmmmmm," Akatsuki hummed and rolled backwards and ended up standing upright. She brought her hands together in the center of her chest, as if she were praying in a church and dipped her head towards her hands and closed her eyes. She reached out with her senses into the area around her.
Ichigo watched intently as she stood up and started to what looked like praying to him, but he guessed that was just her way of focusing. Though he didn't like the idea of admitting it, he knew she was much more sensitive then he was. First the Arrancar in the park and then Rukia afterwards, both times she had sensed their presences long before he had, he was sure of it. He wondered if that was her role in Las Noches, some kind of scout. He had to admit, right now she looked quite cute.
'Theres nothing here besides the two of us, the only spiritual presences here are our own, if I remove those from my senses then I feel nothing here, nothing at all,' Akatsuki thought. She opened her eyes then felt faint, an unexpected wave of tiredness swept over her.
Ichigo watched as she slowly opened her eyes, they seemed to be more full of life then usual, more clear then gold. Ichigo's eyes opened wide in shock as Akatsuki seemed to waver and then collapse towards the ground, her knees hit the floor lightly and she fell forwards. However Ichigo was able to catch her as she fell and held her in his arms, her hair spilled across the floor as he turned her over. Her cheeks were blushed red as if she had just run a race. "Akatsuki? Akatsuki you OK?" he said and put the back of his hand on her forehead. 'No fever, I wonder why she fainted, do Arrancar even catch colds?' he thought as he stood up and lowered her legs towards the ground while supporting her body so that she stood up against him. He relaxed as he heard her curse under her breath.
"I'm sorry Ichigo, there's nothing here to track," Akatsuki said apologetically as she gently pushed herself away from Ichigo, unsteady on her feet she carefully stood upright.
Ichigo sighed and scratched his head in thought, if Akatsuki couldn't track the mysterious girl from the other night then there was no way he could, maybe Urahara knew something he wondered. Akatsuki, who had become bored of watching Ichigo think had walked off and was humming a song he didn't know of. It wasn't the same one from the other night, nor was it the same one from when she was riding on his back. "Akatsuki! Sing for me!" Ichigo ordered which earned him an evil look from her.
"Huh!?" Akatsuki exclaimed and put her hands on her hips and leaned towards him with a sarcastic grin on her face.
"Sing for me, that song you were humming just now, sing it for me," Ichigo explained, he had a hunch and was running with it. The way she was humming, it was very similar to the way the shadow girl had been singing.
Akatsuki's face turned slightly red and she jumped away from Ichigo and pointed at him accusingly. "I'm not singing for you!" she said in a flustered tone. "We barely know each other!"
"Huh?" Ichigo said confused, "What the hell are you talking about!"
"You heard me!" she snapped back. Then she realized Ichigo had no idea why she was so flustered about what seemed like such a simple request. "I c c c cant sing this song for you, it wouldn't be appropriate!" It was a private song, one she only sung for certain people, and Ichigo certainly wasn't one of them.
Ichigo looked at her with a combination of confusion and frustration. Then he grinned evilly at Akatsuki and she returned his grin with a nervous smile. "It was such a shame about you hair, it was so nice and long as well," Ichigo said menacingly.
"Eh?" Akatsuki replied nervously. "Wait wait wait! Maybe you can sing what you heard to me instead, maybe I can tell you what it means?" she said nervously, backing away from Ichigo ever so slightly, her hands out in front of her peacefully.
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Otono had found her at last, whatever caused Akatsuki to charge a Cero, no matter how weak, deserved her full thanks. Trying to track Akatsuki had proved beyond impossible for Otono and it had driven her to distraction. It had been like trying to find a drop of water in the rain. Akatsuki had relatively low reiatsu, befitting her rank within the Arrancar but she was also very good at controlling the spirit energy she did have and was able to suppress it to the point that she felt like nothing more then a human. But a Cero, now that was something that couldn't be masked so easily and it had drawn Otono's attention straight away to this place by the river. "I've found you at last, Akatsuki-sama," she said to herself with unconcealed malice.
Otono reached for her Zanpakuto but stayed her hand when she saw the man standing next to Akatsuki and rage flared up under the surface of her composed facade. 'Its that Shinigami from before, how low have you fallen you bitch, to use the Shinigami to hide from us!' Otono thought and grimaced. The orange haired Shinigami was a problem, last time he had defeated her so easily that she thought twice about jumping out. She had never seen Akatsuki fight, all she really knew about her level was the number that Aizen had given her. But, there was no way she could defeat them both.
"I wont fail!" she said to herself with conviction, then she remembered Gin's smile. "I can't, afford to fail, not again!"
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"That's the best I can do, pretty sure that didn't make any sense what so ever," Ichigo said as they walked along back to his home along the water front. "Well?"
"Well, I might know what language that is, I might not," Akatsuki said vaguely with a innocent smile.
Ichigo motioned towards her hair with a scissor like motion of his fingers.
"Wait wait wait!" she said quickly and defensively, "Its a very old Hollow language!"
"Hollow language?" Ichigo repeated curiously, did that mean the shadow girl was a Hollow then, or at least knowledgeable of Hollows. But Ichigo had never heard of different Hollow languages before. "So what was that girl singing about?"
"Hmmmm no idea," Akatsuki said and shrugged her shoulders. "I only recognized a few words out of that mess you call singing," Akatsuki said mockingly.
"Akatsuki!" Ichigo snapped in frustration, it felt like she was being deliberately uncooperative. "What about the words I remembered then?"
"I don't know!" she snapped back.
"How can you not know!?" Ichigo replied.
"Its hard to explain," Akatsuki said, her voice suddenly became much softer and confident. "You see, its not a language that was made for speaking with. Its a language, that was made for singing with, you see." Akatsuki stopped walking, forcing Ichigo to stop and look back at her.
"For singing?" Ichigo asked. He had noticed the sudden change in her voice and personality, she suddenly sounded so much more mature and kinder then the Akatsuki who had chased him with a Cero blast. "Why for singing?"
Akatsuki closed her eyes and smiled at him and hummed to herself. "Its a beautiful language, it really is, each word has many different meanings. The tone, the pitch, the way you move, the look on your face and the feelings inside your heart. These things, they come together, and give the words meaning." Akatsuki opened her eyes again and casually walked off, as if that deep moment had never even occurred.
Ichigo nodded and scratched his head, he had no idea what she was talking about, but he got the basic idea. "So, what your saying is, unless you were here to hear it, you cant tell me what the song was about?"
"Pretty much, those 4 words have about 10 different meanings that even come close to making sense, and plenty more that don't," she said in an uninterested tone of voice. "Besides, like it even matters, knowing what the song was about wont help you find her Shinigami, so don't worry about it, kay?" Akatsuki said and walked away.
"Heh, guess your right about that," Ichigo said to himself, since Akatsuki had already walked off, though he could quite clearly hear her complaining about him. 'But, it felt important, that i should remember, as if I'd heard that song before somewhere.'
