Diabolik Lovers: The Soul of a Protector 11
For the past week up 'til Monday, Yui studied the book of Kido spells, Hakudo and martial arts given to her by Urahara and Ichiru. Every day has been pleasant for her, every morning she would wake up and do meditation for an hour bonding with her Zanpakuto, a method that Urahara called, jinzen, to have conversations with the Zanpakuto in their Inner World as Soul Reaper and Zanpakuto understand the other's spirit energy. Then she would take a shower, then make breakfast with Tessai, Ururu and Jinta, even though young Jinta would slack off and get in trouble with Tessai. Ichiru would visit often to go to the training room and train with her Blood Fire Weapon and to see the progress Yui was making with studying and Zanpakuto training. Every day, Ichiru and Urahara would give her an update about what's happening in the outside world since she is unable to leave due to training and studying Kido, not that she was complaining since the Urahara Shop has become a real home for her where she can be herself without the fear of getting hurt by her "care takers". To her she felt like she has a real family.
Today was the day where Yui starts going to her new school, she feels nervous and excited because she hasn't been in a daytime school in so long. Her school uniform consisted of a white blouse with a red bow, and a grey skirt.
Ichiru made up a backstory for Yui should anyone ask where she came from. Yui is a distant cousin of Ichiru on her late Mother's side of the family and she is an orphan that is under the guardianship of Mother's cousin, Kisuke Urahara, Yui's uncle to get a fresh start away from her abusive foster family. Imagine Urahara's face when Yui teasingly called him Uncle Kisuke.
Yui smiled at the memory as she fastened the bow of her uniform. Looking at the mirror, provided by her "Dear Uncle Kisuke," she surveyed her outfit, her spirit orb pendant hanging by her neck.
She went to the dining to see breakfast waiting for her where she sat down and started eating her breakfast as she listened to Urahara give her the rundown about what's happening, "As you are aware, Ichiru will be picking you up to and from school, you will be sharing classes with the gang, we had to pull some string to make sure your classes are the same." he gave her a mischievous smile as he said this, "School ends at 2:30pm, 12:30pm on Wednesdays so make sure you finish whatever homework you have before training. Oh and I've also packed your lunch box." He's taking his role as Yui's uncle very well it seems.
Yui smiled, downing the rest of her juice, "Of course Uncle Kisuke." Urahara laughed in response, fanning himself.
Once she was done she made her way to the front door, "Hold on Yui." Urahara stopped her, holding her school bag for her to take, "Lunch is on the side right by your books." he said as Yui took the back, thanking him gratefully before going to the front, sensing Ichiru approach.
Yui opened the front door and closed it behind her as Ichiru stood waiting at the gate entrance to the shop area waving Yui over to her. Smiling, Yui jogged over to Ichiru,, and walked by her side as they made their way to school. Camelot wasn't with her and her arm wasn't in a sling anymore, but she was still bandaged.
"So, how are things going with you Ichiru?" Yui asked as they continued on their way to school.
Ichiru frowned, "We are still unable to locate the Sakamakis anywhere, I'm afraid. We've been around the clock taking shifts, the shifts that overlap with hollow extermination." she said regretfully.
Yui felt guilty that they are going through so much trouble for her sake to put a stop to the vampires.
Ichiru saw Yui's guilty expression, "Something like this was going to happen eventually,so it's not your fault. 'Sides, this adds some excitement to my life." she grinned, making Yui smile and giggle.
They arrived at the school in no time as they made their way to their shared classroom until, "IIIIICHIIIIIRRRUUUUU!" Keigo came running down the hall at full speed with an excited smile on his face, aiming himself at Ichiru.
Ichiru, used to Keigo coming after her everyday since freshmen year, jumped at the wall and used the wall to leap over Keigo with her left foot, "What's up, Keigo." she said as she flew over Keigo who lost his footing and face planted on the floor, skidding a couple feet before stopping. "Welcome back, Ichiru." his voice muffled against the floor.
Yui sweatdropped at this whole scene before catching up with Ichiru who continued to their classroom. "What was that about?" Yui asked as soon as she caught up with Ichiru.
Ichiru answered, "That was Keigo Asano, me and Ichigo knew him since we saved him from getting beat up by a gang member on the first day of school freshmen year." She explained then had an annoyed look on her face, "The boy assumed that me and my brother were a couple of criminals due to our tendency to get into gang fights and became leaders of those gangs." she grumbled as she remembered what Keigo said to her and Ichigo after they saved him.
Yui sweatdropped listening to this, "Gang fights?" she squeaked out.
Ichiru explained, "Yeah, we had a habit of getting into fights since Junior High, some thug was hitting on me and wouldn't take no for an answer, so my brother beat his ass when things escalated. Since then, we made a reputation for ourselves as the 'Kurosaki Twins,' because when you mess with one twin, you get your asses handed to you on a silver platter by both twins." she finished grinning.
Yui was amazed by how close the twins are to each other, it made her wonder that if she had a sister, she wouldn't be so lonely and scared. But with Ichiru, she felt as though she has been her sister all this time before they met. She can't explain it, but it was as if they were connected to each other, like they knew the other before they heard of each other.
They entered their classroom to see the rest of the gang gathered together at Ichigo's desk, as they approached to see what they were talking about. Ichigo saw his twin, "Ichiru." he said, beckoning her over to him. Ichiru saw the regretful look on his face, "What's the matter, Ichigo?" she asked worriedly with Yui by her side.
Uryu answered, "Last night, a woman was murdered in an alleyway, her body drained of blood."
Yui and Ichiru felt their hearts drop, "You're not saying..." Ichiru paused, dread filling her.
Ichigo nodded, "It's as we feared, their attacking humans already." he said with worry as he thought of what that woman went through. "However, we were unable to find her soul anywhere."
Ichiru became confused, "What do you mean you couldn't find her?"
Rukia answered, "It's as we say, she was nowhere to be found, we searched everywhere. Usually, the soul stays in the last place they died in order to wait for the soul reaper to help them pass on."
Ichiru's breath caught in her throat, "They can't be capable in using people's souls for their own benefits, can they?" she asked as dread continued to fill her.
Yui answered, "They are different from other people, it would be no surprise if they have the ability to do such things." she said fearfully, already fearing the worst that is yet to come.
Chad nodded, "She's right, they'll go to many lengths to get what they are after. Even resort to drastic measures."
Ichigo agreed, "No doubt about it, they're organized, they don't attack at random." he said before the bell rang, signalling the beginning of class as they went to their seats.
Yui's seat was in the middle of the gang with Ichiru on her right, Ichigo on her left, Uryu in front, Chad behind, Rukia in front of Ichigo and Orihime in front of Ichiru.
Throughout the day, Yui paid attention in class and had lunch with the gang on the roof. But that didn't prevent the dread that filled her saying something bad was about to happen.
Ichiru, Orihime and Rukia escorted her back to Urahara's Shop. "You know Rukia and Orihime, you didn't have to come if you don't want to." Ichiru said as they walked to Urahara's.
Orihime smiled, "That's alright, we wanted to come, I wanted to work on tonight's homework with you guys." she said bubbly beside Rukia.
Rukia said, "'Sides, I need some supplies from Urahara, and I wanted to see how Yui will do in Hakuda training." she said then looked at Yui, "You ready to fight with Ichiru?"
Yui nodded, "Yeah-wait, I'm fighting Ichiru." she asked incredulously as she looked at Ichiru's bandaged arm.
Ichiru held up her right arm, "I'll be fine, I've been through worse situations that involved scrapes and burns before, so this will be no different." she said reassuring Yui.
Yui was still uncertain with fighting an injured person, "Um...okay, if you say so." she said as they arrived at the Urahara Shop area.
All four went inside and went to Yui's room to get started on their homework. Within an hour, they were finished and had dinner that they prepared as they talked about personal things at school and how they've been dealing with it.
Yui looked at the clock to see that it was 4:30pm and decided to get ready for training. She put on the training clothes that she wore when she practiced using the spirit orb with Ichiru then made her way down to the underground training room to see Ichiru, Rukia and Orihime waiting for her.
Ichiru told her to do stretches to make sure that she doesn't pull a muscle during hand-to-hand combat.
Now with all her muscles stretched out, Yui was ready for Hakuda training as she listened to Ichiru give her instruction, "Now, Hakuda is a close-combat style of fighting, in which one is unarmed and uses only one's body, and is one of the four basic fighting styles of the Soul Reaper. High speed Taijutsu attacks are used to overwhelm the opponent.[3] Physical strength and skill is determined by this class. It is a combination of various martial arts. I believe you studied up on this." She explained the concept of Hakuda to Yui who listened intently, wanting to learn how to fight.
Yui nodded then asked, "So, how are we starting this training session?"
"Hit me."
"Hm?" Yui sweatdropped at her order, "I beg your pardon?"
"Take your fighting stance and try to land a hit on me." Ichiru instructed standing straight and relaxed.
"Um, okay." Yui took her fighting stance that she saw in the books. Once she was ready, she threw a punch at Ichiru who caught it in her right palm and pushed Yui back, making Yui stumble back.
When Yui righted herself, she stared at Ichiru who made a 'come here' motion with her hand. Yui nodded then charged at Ichiru with her fist raised and tried to punch her again, but Ichiru sidestepped, caught her wrist and spun her around so fast, that Yui lost her footing and landed on her butt.
Yui groaned, rubbing her sore backside and looking up at Ichiru, "Remember Yui, the first steps to Hakuda is evading and defending yourself against attacks. Defence and attack are one of the key points to combat, once you know how to defend yourself, you learn how to anticipate your opponent's movement and attack the weak points of their being. So find mine." Ichiru explained getting into her fighting stance, expecting Yui to stand up.
Yui smiled and stood up, "Again." she said before attacking once more, with Ichiru deflecting before she herself aimed a punch at Yui, who leaned her head back to avoid the hit and jumped away from Ichiru.
Ichiru was impressed, "You followed the book quite well, now let's see how well you do out of the book." she charged at Yui and aimed a series of kicks and punches at Yui who deflected, dodged and jumped in order to avoid getting hit as they moved around the underground landscape.
For an hour, Yui and Ichiru performed Hakuda with each other, defending and attacking each other until Yui landed a hit on Ichiru's injured arm making her wince as pain shot up her arm. They were both panting by the end of their training session as Rukia and Orihime cheered them on.
Ichiru got her breathing back to normal as she stood up and bowed in respect to Yui who bowed in return signalling the end of their fight. "You did very well, Yui. Tell me, what was my weakness that you found during our fight?" Ichiru said rubbing her right arm as Orihime sprinted over and began to heal them both.
Yui sat cross legged across from Ichiru as Orihime healed them, "I noticed that whenever I try to hit or kick you, you block them with your left arm in front of your right, to avoid injuring your arm further than it already is." Yui answered as Orihime finished healing them.
Ichiru smirked, "Very good Yui, you passed the first part of Hakuda training. Next week, we'll add some spiritual power to your hits." she said as she stood up, pulling Yui up along with her.
Rukia smiled at how well they did, "That was most impressive, now we can-" "Ugh!" Rukia stopped talking when Ichiru, without warning clutched her chest in pain as she fell to her knees.
Orihime and Yui dropped to her sides, "Ichiru, what's wrong?" Yui asked, concerned about why she was in pain.
Ichiru breathed heavily, still clutching her chest with her eyes wide with panic before she bolted to her feet and ran to the ladder, "Ichigo!"
Author's Note: I know you're all wondering why Yui's Zanpakuto spirit is male, you see not every Zanpakuto spirit has the same gender as their Soul Reaper, just like with Renji's and Shunsui's Zanpakuto spirits being female instead of male.
Yui's Zanpakuto spirit is a mysterious entity that will hold the key to Yui's past, so you have to understand that I couldn't decide whether or not it should be male or female.
Stay tuned for more and tell me what you think might happen next.