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Lucky 13

Chapter 10

Gwin and Hajime stared at each other for several tense minutes, sizing each other up. Finally both charged at each other with blinding speed. Hajime lashed out with his sword but Gwin dodged at the last second.

"To slow, nya." Gwin taunted with grin.

"I haven't shown you what speed is, Hollow." Replied Hajime who then began to move in circles around Gwin, repeatedly slashing him with his sword. He stopped the assault and jumped back a distance from Gwin and thrust a palm in his direction. "Way of Destruction #33 Sokatsui!" (Blue Fire, Crash Down) A blast of blue flame shot out and hit Gwin with a massive explosion. When it cleared, Gwin was seen covered in numerous burns but he smiled and gave a joyous laugh.

"Pain; it hurts so much. You're the only one who's ever hurt me this much, nya." He continued cackling as red energy began to form in his mouth and Gwin unleashed a massive blast.

"Cero!" Hajime said surprised with no time to dodge or cast a spell, he brought up his sword and holding onto it with both hands he held the blast back, but even with that he was pushed back; he dug his heels into the dirt, but was still pushed back digging deep furrows into the ground. In the same instant the cero ended Gwin appeared in front of Hajime and slashed at his face tearing through his mask; however Hajime managed to dodge enough that the only wounds were three scratch marks on his cheek. With his mask torn of he was revealed to be rather young physically looking to be in his late teens or perhaps early 20's. He had dark red-brown hair; a braid wrapped in cloth extended to just below his shoulders; at the end of the braid a golden ring was tied.

"You are strong, nya." He rejoiced. "You stood up to my cero, nya."

"You are stronger than I anticipated; I will have to use more drastic means." He pulled his sheath from the loop on his belt and slid the sword inside of it; he then held the sword parallel to the ground in front of him.

"What's this, nya?" Gwin narrowed his eyes.

"Soar through the skies; and seek out your prey, Hayabusa." (Peregrine Falcon) the sword glowed and transformed into a four bladed chakram about a foot across in diameter. With a flick of his wrist the chakram went flying at Gwin who merely stepped out of the way.

"You have to work on you aim Shinigami, nya." He taunted but then was forced to dodge as the chakram came back at him; the chakram then stopped in midair and went after Gwin again who began to run from the chakram as it chased him only flying a few feet behind him.

"You can't run; once I loose Hayabusa from my hand it will not return to me until it hits its target."

"If it can catch me, nya" Gwin taunted while continuing to run from Hayabusa.

"You might be able to outrun Hayabusa, and even might is a strong word." Suddenly Hajime appeared directly in front of Gwin. "But you can't outrun me." And he gave a powerful quick kick to Gwin's chest knocking the wind out of him; spinning him around so he could see the chakram as it hurtled toward him the chakram split into two, creating two projectiles with two blades each; both spinning like buzz saws. "Too late do foes find out there are two chakrams not one."

"NYA!" Gwin howled in surprise as one chakram bit heavily into Gwin's right shoulder and the other into his left side and he fell to the ground in a heap; blood pooling around him. The chakrams returned to Hajime's hand where they combined into one again and resealed into a sword which he drew.

"Now too make sure you're dead." He raised the sword up and prepared to bring it down in a stab but someone caught his wrist.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you; bird-boy." Said a playful female voice behind him. Hajime turned his head sharply to look at this intruder and his eyes widened.

"Lady Yoru…" However that's all he managed to get out before being knocked out by a quick and decisive blow to the neck.

"Good to see you to Hajime." She said looking down at him. "Ha, geez you even have the same hairstyle as her now." She walked over and looked down at Hoshi and noticed the hole in the center of his chest. "What the…?" she watched with fascination as the hole closed and the symbol for Cat reappeared, however she quickly noticed his grievous wounds and gingerly picked him up and flash stepped away.

Urahara Shop

Hoshi's eyes opened.

"Is this Soul Society?" he tried to sit up but gasped in pain.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Said Yoruichi off to the side; Hoshi managed to turn his head to look at her. "Your wounds were pretty severe; you're lucky to be alive."

"But I shouldn't be alive."

"What do you mean?"

"That man, he came here to kill me because I was destroying souls; well the Cat was. So I let him stab me; at least I think I did; I blacked out at the last second."

"You really are an idiot aren't you? Do you really feel that bad about something you have no control over? The Cat did all that; if you want to stop the Cat from destroying souls then don't let him; don't just throw your life away."

"Why everyone I care about is dead and gone; what's the point of me staying here."

"Everyone you that care about are gone, but the people who care about you are still here. Would you let them down?"

"Please who really gives a damn about me?"

"I do for one, and so does Urahara."

"Please you only care because I have weird powers."

"No we care because you're a good person; besides what about Tatsuki? You promised you would go with her to watch her match; you can't fulfill a promise when you're dead." She pointed out. "She's the closest thing you've ever had to a friend; and you would go against a promise to her."

"No I couldn't do that; guilt's the last thing I need on conscious, dad use to say that promises should never be broken; no matter what."

"That sounds like something Aizu would say."

"What did you just say?"

"What? Oh nothing just musing." He could tell she was lying but he didn't feel like bothering with it right now. "But we have other things to worry about now; as soon as you finish healing we're upping you're training."

"Why?"

"One incase Hajime comes back."

"Who's Hajime?"

"The Shinigami who attacked you, he was once a protégé of mine; and you should consider yourself lucky that he held back against you."

"Wait a minute; I don't even remember fighting him."

"You didn't; the Cat did. In a way he saved your life, because if you die so does he. That's why you need more training; you need to be better able to use the Cat's powers without losing control. You'll have to for what's in store for you."

"Which is?"

"Hajime wasn't the only Shinigami to come from Soul Society tonight; there were others. They came here for Rukia, they arrested her for giving her power to Ichigo and she is facing execution. Ichigo is mounting a rescue along with friends of his who have developed spiritual power; I'm sure he could use your support."

"Normally I wouldn't care she did break their laws." He sighed. "But I still owe them a lot for helping Yomi. I'll repay Ichigo by helping him and Rukia by saving her. Hopefully after that I won't have to deal with this ever again."

"What's with you; you cut yourself off from everybody who might possibly care about you."

"I never had any friends growing up, I had time for school and martial arts; but other than that I had to help mom around the house a lot. Dad he couldn't do a lot of things he was too weak to do a lot of things most of the time; but it never got him down and he always had a smile on his face and a sparkle in his eye."

"What was wrong with your father?"

"You could say fate dealt him a bad hand. He was anemic and hemophilic; he didn't have any blood to spare and if he got even a scratch we had to rush to the emergency room. My mother was always so worried about him; He used to refer to himself as her other son because she worried so much. But it didn't slow him down a bit." He laughed, a broad smile on his face, even though he winced slightly from the pain. Yoruichi couldn't help but smile as well it was perhaps the first time she had seen him truly smile. But almost instantly the smile was gone. "But then there was the accident, he was working late one night. He shouldn't have been pushing himself so hard; he got dizzy and stumbled into the street…" Hoshi grew silent.

"It's okay I think I can guess what happened." She said sympathetically.

"If he hadn't been sick already he might have survived, but he lost too much blood." He sighed and turned his head away from Yoruichi. "I'm just going to go to sleep now." Realizing he didn't want to talk anymore Yoruichi just sat there for a few minutes until she was sure he was asleep; she then quietly stood and left the room.



Several days later

Hoshi sat in the stands of the local gym that was being used as the arena for the regional championship martial arts tournament. He watched as Tatsuki entered on the field and she looked across the field at her opponent, a big brute of a man who was favored to win this year's tournament.

"It's over now, that girl's good but there's no way she can beat Yochi." Said a man near Hoshi.

"What make you say that?" asked Hoshi dryly.

"Are you kidding me? Look at him they don't call him the Living Mountain for nothing."

"You do realize size doesn't mean much in these things; it can be a weakness as much as it is a strength."

"Really wanna bet on it?"

"Twenty bucks says she wins."

"You're on." Hoshi took his eyes off the man, and focused on the match below. Tatsuki stared down the large man in front of her.

"Don't think I'll go easy on you girlie." Taunted Yochi

"I'd be insulted if you did." With that the match began, Tatsuki struck out first and landed and open palmed strike to the chest, surprised by her strength Yochi stumbled back a step. The crowd was simply stunned that girl who seemed as slight as Tatsuki could even manage to budge the Living Mountain.

"That's my girl." Hoshi said with a smile but then shook his head. "My girl?" however before he could finish the thought he watched as Yochi made a counter attack and lashed out with a strong punch aimed straight for her torso; Tatsuki tried to duck under the blow, but Yochi's fist collided painfully with her shoulder. Tatsuki gritted in pain as her right arm hung limp at her side. "Tatsuki!" he ran down the stair ways in a flash until he was on the arena floor. "Tatsuki are you okay?"

"I think he broke my arm." She said wincing in pain.

"Ha that's what she get's, I'm unbeatable." Gloated Yochi, Hoshi turned and glared at the man and narrowed his eyes; suddenly to anyone with spiritual sight Hoshi's right eye glowed and became pupil slit.

"You cheated." Said Hoshi flatly.

"What the hell you talking about kid, don't get mad at me because your girlfriend lost."

"Under the bandages you wrapped around your hand and arms, you're wearing brass knuckles."

"How dare you!" Yochi screamed enraged and charged at Hoshi; however Hoshi dodged and punched the large man in the stomach and with minimal use of the Ox and Ram he sent him flying. Satisfied he looked back to Tatsuki.

"C'mon I'll get you to the infirmary." He held his hand out to her.

"Thanks." She reached out with her good hand and he pulled her up.

Later

Hoshi and Tatsuki walked down the street; Tatsuki's arm in a sling.

"At least he didn't break it; the doctor said it was just bruised, but I'll be in the sling for at least a week." Tatsuki said looking at her injured arm.

"That's good at least." Replied Hoshi

"You know you really don't have to walk me home you know."

"I'm not walking you home we live the same way, besides you should welcome my protection." He said jokingly.

"What you don't think I can take care of myself with an injured arm?"

"Well do you?" Tatsuki dropped into a stance. "You can't be serious?"

"I'll prove it to you." Tatsuki ran at Hoshi, who reach out and grabbed her wrist pulling her off balance and she fell into him and winced as it jostled her arm. She grabbed onto Hoshi's shoulder and pulled herself up so she was level with him there faces inches apart; both their faces reddened slightly at this. "I guess I do need you to protect me; do you mind." Hoshi gave a small smile and moved forward and placed his lips on hers. Tatsuki's eyes widened slightly but then closed them as she pulled herself closer with her free hand. After a few moments they parted.

"No I don't mind."