Author's Note: Hey guys. And Gals. And any animals that happen to read fanfiction... Welcome, to the twelth chapter of Broken Blood! These author's notes are gonna be kinda short from now on. This isn't a blog for pete's sake, right? Oh, and in order to return to a normal update schedule, I'm going to try and upload next chapter on...umm...let's say:
Monday, November 25th. Get on my ass about this people. If I don't update on that specific date, blow up my PM box.
Dem review replies will be at the bottom. Till then, just relax and read. Drink a Mtn Dew: it helps. (Other sodas are available...)
Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, while Rosario+Vampire goes to Akihisa Ikeda.
"Regular Speech"
'Thoughts'
Sounds/Emphasis on words
'Zangetsu/Inner Hollow/Ura Moka'
"Hollow/Demon talking"
Chapter 12: Pancakes
"Now now, Kurosaki," said Urahara, slipping on his green hat. "I'm guessing you'd want to know why I'm here?" He gestured to a leather sofa near his desk, and both Ichigo and Moka promptly sat.
"Not really," said Ichigo, leaning back with the back of his head resting against his palms. "You said that you were coming during that phone call, right? Though, I'm kinda surprised you came this quickly: you usually take your sweet time."
Urahara placed his hand over his heart. "Oh! Your words hurt me a lot, Kurosaki-san! Is this what I get for helping you over the years? Oh well," he continued, whipping out the fan. "You are right in the sense that I've arrived rather quickly." His expression turned somber. Dark. Serious.
"The reason for that is..." He slid his hand underneath his kimono, pulling out a-
Platter of pancakes. Pancakes?
"They serve excellent pancakes in this establishment." Urahara happily proclaimed, waving a flapjack at Ichigo from the end of his fork. "So soft, yet the consistency is not overdone! So good~~!"
He was so caught up in his pancakes that he failed to notice Ichigo creeping up on him. The substitute shinigami snatched it out of the shopkeeper's hands, who cried out in protest. Ignoring him, Ichigo sat back down and placed the platter in Moka's lap.
"Eat this," he said before Moka could decline. "If you don't, I'll force feed you." Moka merely grumbled, ducked her head and began to eat, stabbing the fork into the soft flesh of the pastry.
Meanwhile, Ichigo had his arms crossed and was arguing with Urahara.
"Now, tell me why you're really here." Urahara ignored the question and began to mimick Ichigo, crossing his arms and pouting. "I sure damn hope you have some other reason than the pancakes, because if you don't, I'm gonna send you flying back to Karakura." Ichigo warned, cracking his knuckles.
"What a poor sport you are." Urahara sighed, shaking his head. "Like I said before, it's no wonder you have no friends." He dodged Ichigo's first punch, rolling out of the way. He shook his finger at the soul reaper, while smirking and singing,
"No no no. Not today, Berry-san." Ichigo's eye twitched. He ran towards the shopkeeper, yelling with his fist outstretched. Too quickly. Urahara merely stepped out of the way, and kicked the soul reaper in the ass, just like he had done a few moments earlier. Ichigo's face slid across the floor, the smooth surface allowing him to sail quite a few feet.
"My my, same temper as always." Urahara planted his foot on the back of Ichigo's head, cleaning his ear with his pinkie.
"The fuse is still short on that bomb, isn't it?" called a voice from the doorway. Moka choked on her pancake in surprise, exploding in a coughing fit, and Nel patted her back. There stood Yoruichi Shihoin, in all her-clothed-glory. She was in her usual orange jumpsuit, complete with dark leggings and light tan cuffs.
"Yes it is," Urahara confirmed. "Even shorter, now that there's an attractive young woman in the room." He inclined his head towards Moka, completely aware of Yoruichi's dangerous glare.
"You're talking about me, right?" teased Yoruichi, rapping Urahara's head with her knuckles. She joined him on top of Ichigo, making sure to dig the heel of her foot into the shinigami's hand. Ichigo yelped, kicking his foot against the floor in frustration. He pushed against the floor with his other hand, rolling out from under the two former-captains. They fell on the floor with a dull thump.
"Okay now," breathed Ichigo, dusting off his shoulder. "What is the real reason that you came to Yokai Academy?"
Urahara flew back on his feet, straightening his kimono and clearing his throat, suddenly business-like.
"Very well, Kurosaki-san. It is rather important that you see this anyways." He looked over to Moka. "You can some along too if you'd like, Miss-?"
"Moka." Yoruichi supplied. The shop-keeper wiggled his eyebrows, liking the name.
"Oh? Okay then, come along you two!" Urahara smiled, opening the door to the hallway.
"It's time to got to my lab."
(-\xXx/-)
Tsukune sat in the classroom, completely oblivious to the lesson Ms. Kagome was teaching. He was in deep thought, taking account of the events that had happened the past few days. Ichigo had arrived, saving Moka from Keito the first day. He was grateful for that. When Keito had appeared the second time, and everybody was hurt, Ichigo had come and saved them all. He was thankful for that as well.
But what he was not thankful for was all the attention Moka was giving the new guy.
Sure, Ichigo is a pretty handsome dude; nobody could deny that. Moka was a really gorgeous girl-duh. It would be a no-brainer if these two got together. However, Tsukune knew that Moka wasn't like that. She wouldn't just get up and date a guy she had just met, and throw away everything that she and Tsukune had built. He had put so much time into their relationship, allowing her to drink his blood, being there when she needed him, pouring out his heart and soul to just be able to kiss her-
Tsukune stopped, surprised. Since when had he developed such obsessive thoughts about his best friend and crush? Sure, he liked her and all-loved her-but why was he feeling so possesive in keeping her to himself? The boy sighed, brushing a stray hair away from his face. Maybe he should just let Moka be. It wasn't like she'd choose this guy over him, right?
That thought made him relax, leaning back against his seat and breathing in the stuffy air of the classroom. Kurumu sat beside him, with her desk scooted over so that it was touching his. Her head was rested on his shoulder, snoozing despite the evil glares she recieved from the teacher. Whenever Tsukune shifted in his seat, or tried to lift her head off of him, Kurumu would moan, "Oh, touch me there again Tsukune! Mmm 3", earning him several stares of mixed anger and shock, much to his embarrassment.
Mizore wasn't too happy about what was happening to her stalkee. She kept trying to create a trail of ice behind Kurumu, to freeze the succubus fast to her seat. Luckily, Yukari must have prepared for this. Not wanting her friends to get hurt and/or in trouble, she would wave her wand and carry the ice away. Sometimes, she even had to summon a chisel to scrape off the cold ice Mizore was creating.
Tsukune noticed this and smiled; his friends were really something. Kurumu; the beautiful girl resting on his shoulder. She was especially cute when she was frustrated, biting her bottom lip and fidgeting in her seat, along with rubbing her hands together in agitation. Her pout was adorable, and her blue-hair and well-endowed chest made her one of the most wanted girls in school.
Mizore; the quiet one who liked to read his newspaper articles. She was quiet and perceptive, and had a calm and mostly reserved demeanor; a quality most other girls (especially Kurumu) lacked. Contrary to what the succubus would say, the yuki-onna actually had a nice chunk of boys fawning over her. Her royal purple hair worked amazing with her pale blue eyes; however, it was her eyes that were her downfall. She had eyes that seemed distant, cold, unyielding. It was easy for boys to become distant and wary of her.
Yukari; his youngest friend at the academy. Her petite form made her the target of many pedophilic minds within the school, but she was able to protect herself if needed. Her short-cut hair fell down to her neck, and she always wore that silly little witch costume. Tsukune could remember their first meeting clearly: she was a troublemaker that wanted to do things on her own, never really having friends. That all changed when she met the newspaper club. Now, she was a loyal friend that looked for anyway to get him and Moka together, so that they could become a 'mènege à trois' whatever that meant. Tsukune didn't know if he wanted to find out.
The human looked out the window, watching as the branches of trees swayed gently in harmony with the wind. Every shift in the air moved the leaves back-and-forth, as gentle as a mother with her baby. As gentle as Ichigo when he first held Moka. As gentle as Moka's voice when she spoke to Ichigo during his kendo match. As gentle as-
Tsukune groaned and layed his head on the desk. He just couldn't get them off his mind! He knew what he was feeling; jealousy. Envy. Very typical symptoms of heartbreak. Yet, it didn't mean that he had to accept it. He lifted his head off the desk again, much to the annoyance of the sleeping Kurumu, and he raised his eyes to the ceiling. The boy's expression was full of determination.
'Tomorrow,' he thought, 'I'm going to spend the whole day with Moka. Whether Kurosaki-san knows that I like her or not, I'm going to do this.' Then his confident resolve faded. 'I hope he doesn't mind. I mean, hopefully he doesn't like her like that, or I'm in big trouble.'
Then, the bell rang; signaling the students to go to their groups. Tsukune stood up, Kurumu clinging onto him and rubbing her eyes. After pushing her desk back, Tsukune led the rest of the newspaper club into the clubroom. Gin wasn't here today; apparantly, he had gone to 'investigate' a little more with his camera.
"Okay girls, can you settle down?" Tsukune tried to calm the constant bickering of his friends, to no avail of course. Kurumu kept waving her hands and shouting insults at Mizore, while the yuki-onna held her hands on her hips and retaliated. In the middle of it all sat Yukari, groaning and rubbing her temples.
Tsukune tried again, albeit more desperately. "Mizore-san, Kurumu-san, could you please stop? We've got work to do." The girls grumbled, before dropping their argument and turning to the human-in-disguise.
"My beloved Tsukune is right!" proclaimed Kurumu, wrapping her arms around the said boy's head and hugging him. Digging his head into her bust in the process. "We have very important work to do! The news NEEDS to be heard by the lesser people! And it's up to us to deliver it!" She pumped a fist into the air.
"Hmm," agreed Mizore. Her eyes were a brighter blue than before; seeing Kurumu hug Tsukune made her attitude soar, causing the room's temperature to drop a dozen degrees. She crossed her arms and looked away from the succubus. "I agree with my darling Tsukune; we do indeed have work to do. Now, let's get started shall we?"
The ice woman led the group to the large table in the center of the room, and Yukari poofed in a large box. Inside the box were rows upon rows of files, each containing intel on the 'Yokai Killer'.
"So, what do we know about the Yokai Killer so far?" asked Kurumu, taking charge. She held a report up with her index finger and thumb, eyeing it with her beautiful purple iris.
"Umm," piped up Yukari, sitting up on a step ladder in order to reach the table. "It says here that he or she is the cause of several disappearances on the academy grounds."
"Multiple buildings destroyed," murmured Tsukune, reading another report. "Including the old boat shack by the pool. This is a pretty scary person."
"Or persons," supplied Kurumu, fixing her hair ribbons. "We don't know if it is one person or two, or maybe even a group." Mizore pulled out a whiteboard from a nearby closet. On the white board was a map of the entire academy grounds, with pins sticking out of random locations.
"Thanks ice cube." winked the succubus, narrowly dodging an icicle aimed for her eye. "Anyways, these are the reported locations of some of the attacks. Since we can't pinpoint exactly where some of the others went missing, we'll have to make do with some vague areas." Tsukune, using a red marker, drew several large circles around the red pins.
"The red pins represent the general areas where some of the missing people were supposed to be." continued Tsukune, carrying on where Kurumu left off. "The white pins are where buildings were destroyed. And the black pins," he shuttered, trailing off before speaking again.
"The black pins are where blood stains have been seen. Along with bits of the school uniform." The group remained silent, horrified of what they were reading. Mizore cleared her throat.
"To date, nearly 47 students have disappeared. 9 buildings were destroyed either completely or halfway. We have no clue who the possible killer(s) are," She paused. "However, there is a picture we have from a girl that claims she was attacked by the killer."
The other members of the newspaper club stiffened in their seats. A picture? Since when? And why weren't they told about it?
Mizore reached into her back pocket, and with a flick of her wrist threw the picture on the table.
On the picture was a creature with a terrifying mask, with an arm reaching out as if to grab the viewer. Although it was sort of blurry and distorted, you could still very clearly make out the shapes; the hand, each individual finger, and the sadistic grin that emanated from the mask.
But most importantly, you could see the large, gaping hole in the center of its chest.
(-\xXx/-)
"And, here we are!~~" sang Urahara, stepping into the doorway of his lab. Which just happened to be-
The Ghost Hunting Club headquarters. Both Ichigo's and Moka's eyes twitched upon entrance.
The room had been completely renovated. All of the desks had been removed from the area, leaving a lot of extra space. The computers, which had previously lined the windows, were now arranged in two rows in the center of the room. The walls were now lined with counters, where a large amount of tools and other gizmos were gathered. Luckily, the wall with all the developed pictures were still intact-yet, the one picture of a hollow was missing. Chiyo had been talking to one of her fellow team members when she noticed the group enter. Or, more specifcally, when she saw Ichigo enter.
"Hello!" she squealed, running right over. Ichigo noticed that she, along with all the others, was now wearing a white scientist coat. Her hair was wrapped in a messy brown bun, and she now sported a pair of square glasses. Almost like a naughty-librarian-kind-of look. She smiled widely at Ichigo, but spotted Urahara and quickly dipped into a bow.
"Urahara-sensei," she breathed, regaining her composure. She cleared her throat. "What brings you to the clubroom? I thought you said that we could have today to ourselves so that we may-ah-familiarize ourselves with the technology you brought us."
The shopkeeper smiled. "Yes, I did say that didn't I? No need to worry, I'm just going to my private computer room. Can you lead us there, please?" he asked politely.
"O-oh yes! Right this way, sir!" Chiyo chirped, leading the group to a newly-installed doorway. The other ghost-hunters stepped out of the way, some abandoning their computers and logging on to others. She entered a code on the dialpad, and the wall quivered and shifted, revealing a hidden doorway with stairs. As the girl led the group down the steps, she began to speak of how she had met Urahara.
"It was quite sudden, actually." she admitted. "We had just woken up and dressed when one of the girls said she heard something strange coming from the clubroom." She glanced at Urahara, who was covering his mouth in amusement.
"Mr. Urahara had completely destroyed our room. Broken pieces of wood were scattered all across the floor, and he just stood there holding a sledgehammer with a sick smile on his face." she frowned.
The shopkeeper interrupted her before she could speak further. "Why don't you focus on what I did afterwards instead of beforehand? After all, I clearly did you a favor by removing all those poor excuses for furniture anyways."
Chiyo scoffed, readjusting her glasses. "That was school property! *sigh* Anyways, he was kind enough to replace the broken equipment with more advanced ones. He even gave us the latest version of thermal detection cameras, along with night vision and a mode that even provides popcorn."
Ichigo smirked; truely a Urahara invention. But then he began to think a little more about what was happening.
"Hold up," he said, raising a hand. "You mean to tell me that all of this," he gestured towards the stairwell and the lab above. "Was all done within 2 hours?!"
"That and the lab coats," the former captain added. "Don't forget the coats."
Yoruichi rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up about the stupid lab coats. It sounds as if you're more proud of them than any of your other inventions." Ichigo's eyes suddenly lit up, and he moved closer to Urahara so that only he could hear.
"Hey, Hat-N'-Clogs?" The shopkeeper turned his head towards the shinigami.
"Hmm? What is it, Kurosaki-san?"
"Speaking of inventions, I've been meaning to ask you; why did you give me a modified gigai? Why not just let me run around in my soul form? It would have saved you a lot of time."
The former captain smiled. "Oh, so you noticed? Well, the answer to that is quite simple really: the school won't let you carry your zanpakuto around it's hallways, now would it?" He let the question sit awhile before continuing. "That would mean you'd have to keep Zangetsu locked up in your dorm room, and it would be QUITE a bummer to have it there instead of your hands during a fight. So, I created a gigai that enabled you to have your powers without them being there. Do you understand?"
Ichigo nodded, but before he could reply the stairway had ended. They now stood in a large white room, far larger than the room upstairs. In fact, it was probably the size of a gymnasium. They were currently standing in a closed off area, separated from the main room by a pane of glass. A column of complicated machinery lay before the glass window, with buttons and levers flickering on and off. A large doorway connected the two rooms, though it was covered by a thick iron door with many different kinds of locks on it.
However, it was the main room that captured Ichigo's attention; it was a dark black color, with several light blue lines running through in many complex patterns. It seemed like a circuit board.
"That is the simulation room." said Urahara, snapping the group out of their stupor. "It has actually existed here since the school was built, and was used in a variety of activities." He clicked a series of buttons on the computers, and the scene before them suddenly shifted. What used to be a circuit board now became a canyon, with deep trenches carved into the floor and rocks protruding form the sides.
"As you can see, I am able to generate different environments whenever I wish." The shopkeeper announced, his voice booming overhead from a secret speaker. "This is especially useful for training." He pressed a different series of buttons, and the scene warped again. Soon, they were in a snowy tundra, the winds blowing viciously across the night sky.
"However," continued Urahara, his voice much softer. "The room's use was banned after a large group of students were accidentally burnt alive after the scene shifted to a volcano." There was an awkward silence that followed. Moka shivered, and, terrified, buried her face into Ichigo's shoulder. Yoruichi chuckled behind him.
"I managed to convince the headmaster to give me permission to use this room. Sadly, you will not be using this today." Urahara teased, pressing a big red button at the end of the console. The simulation room flickered and dimmed, before returning to its original form. The rest of the group groaned, hoping to see a little more of the room. "Instead, come closer so I can show you my findings."
He pushed a final button on the computer console, and a large screen suddenly appeared on the glass pane.
"I am here to explain the differences." Urahara said cryptically.
"The differences between demonic aura and reiatsu, that is."
Oh, I'm such an asshole for cutting it off right there, right? Oh well, at least you have something to look forward to on Monday ^_^ Oh, and did you guys enjoy the little peek in at Tsukune's point of view?
Anyways, here are some review replies, like I promised. Notice how I tried to clear up the gigai issue in this chapter? Well, I'll explain it further. Urahara made the gigai so that Ichigo could always summon Zangetsu wherever he was, as carrying a giant sword in a school would seem pretty unnerving. It's a lot more convenient than a mod soul, and the badge that Ichigo holds. Is this a good enough reason? I hope so, because the gigai's going to stay.
To the guest that said it was impossible for Ichigo to be 145 pounds; I got the info from the wiki, man. Also, I'm 5' 10" and I'm 180 lbs. It seems relatively similar to me.
Let's see, what else... oh! Darkcloud02! Your question was answered in the gigai paragraph.
FinalDemon: No, I didn't die yet. Neither did I do the die
Tahaku: I'm glad you enjoy the story, and I'm going to try and return to weekly updates!
Jose19 asked: Is Moka attracted to Ichigo in a romantic way or is she still hung up on Tsukune? I admit, I haven't really touched the romantic drama in this story. Moka is feeling drawn to Ichigo because of his power; we shall see if any new feelings develop as the story goes on :) And Tsukune's still in the game-he just has some heavy competition! Oh, and by 'hook up' I hope you don't mean lemons. If that happens I'll have to change the rating and then right a sex scene...eh. Not in this story, sorry. However, I will have a kiss between them. And passion. A shit ton of passion.
Arcangel1342: One more person? And who may that be?
Oh yeah, I remember a couple people asking for a harem for Ichigo. I personally am not into that stuff unless it's a comedy (Ex. Nisekoi and R+V) And other fanfics I have read on this sight have Ichigo make out with Yoruichi one second, and then Momo the next, and then Tatsuki, and then-It just isn't to my liking. Sorry :/
*yawn* That does it for the review replies. I'll probably do more in a few chapters. Anyways, a BIG thanks for reading this far into the story! Drop a review to let me know how I'm doing, give me tips and advice, but please no hate. Haters are potaters. And you don't wanna be a potater :b
One more thing before I go: remember that picture I was drawing for the cover? I'm still working on it. Juggling school and writing and drawing is tough! Plus, I'm afraid that if I post it as my cover somebody would steal it and claim it as their own.
Have a great weekend! Signing off,
xX:/Renegade's Revenge\:Xx
