A/N: Holy crap guys. It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry if this seems a bit immature, but the delay was due to...well, girl problems. Uggh.
So, many apologies for not telling you guys about my recent hiatus. I hope this chappie makes up for it. I've read some other bits of literature, including fanfiction and the Divergent series (*sniff* *sniff*) so lets see what I learned.
Oh yeah. My internet is back. Hopefully I manage to get back into the sway of things to do this story justice.
Chapter 14: Disappearance
Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, and Rosario+Vampire belongs to Akihisa Ikeda.
(...did I forget something up here? I have a nagging suspicion that I did…)
"Excuse me, but what exactly is the Soul Society?"
Ichigo froze in place, suddenly feeling very numb. He glanced first at Moka, then switched his attention to Urahara before she could catch his eye. They must have gotten carried away in their conversation; so carried away in fact, that they had forgotten about Moka's presence. Urahara, however, didn't seem the least bit undeterred. Actually, he looked quite happy that she'd brought up the topic.
"Ah, yes! I suppose I should clear that up before we go any further. But first..." Urahara rolled up his sleeve and checked his watch. "Kurosaki-san, I advise that you take one of those pills right now." He looked at Ichigo expectantly.
"Huh? Why?" muttered Ichigo, eyeing the pez dispenser he held in his palm. It had the head of a rabbit, eerily similar to Rukia's own custom-made Chappy dispenser. 'Why couldn't it have just been something normal, like a dog, or a cat, or-'
His thoughts were cut short when Urahara quickly and violently squeezed his thumb on the head, shooting a pill into Ichigo's mouth, which had opened at Urahara's actions. He choked and gagged, coughing up the pill a little before swallowing it for real this time. It tasted surprisingly sweet, like strawberries. Huh.
Ichigo suddenly felt a blast of cold course through his body. He shivered, raising his right hand to his chest, hoping to warm the sudden coldness. Soon, the cold had reached every fiber of his being, stretching from his head down to his toes. But as quickly as the feeling had come, it vanished, leaving Ichigo with a ghost of the feeling he had just witnessed.
"Whoa, what the...?" murmured the shinigami. He gingerly rubbed his chest with the tips of his fingers. Somehow, he had felt the angelic aura race through his body. It was almost like ice water, seeping down to his veins and mingling with the hot, already present demonic aura. Cooling it down, making it more solid.
He looked up at Urahara, a questioning look in his eyes. Which quickly turned into a glare.
"What the HELL was that for?! I could have easily done it myself you old goat!" He continued to count off insults at the shopkeeper, before Yoruichi decided to intervene. She stuffed his head in between her 'assets', causing the shinigami to flip the hell out.
Urahara smiled, folded his arms, and averted his attention to Moka, choosing to answer her question instead of an annoyed soul reaper's.
"Well you see my dear, the Soul Society is a very sacred place. Miss Yoruichi and I work for people there, and Ichigo- well, he stumbled upon it accidentally." he inclined his head towards the strawberry, who was currently fighting off a grinning Yoruichi. "Sadly, we are under strict protocol to not reveal too much information about our cause." He smiled apologetically at the small look of disappointment and embarrassment on the girl's face. "However, I will tell you what I can-"
Suddenly, a sharp buzzing noise emanated from the walls, the shrill volume blaring through the large room. Urahara jumped up, and checked his watch again.
"Oh my! It's that time already?" He raised his head back up to face Moka and Ichigo, who was currently trapped in Yoruichi's headlock. "Moka-san, I'm afraid I'll have to save the explanation for another time. At the moment, it's time for you both to go to your next hour." He dashed back to the keyboard and pressed a series of buttons. Abruptly, a small doorway formed in the wall to their left, revealing a spiral staircase to the floor above.
The blonde man made a 'cut' gesture to Yoruichi, who rolled her eyes and let go off the teen.
"Ichigo, be sure to take one pill every day. It is vital that you keep your reiatsu stable, especially in this environment." called Urahara to Ichigo. The soul reaper rubbed his neck and nodded, then ran to the doorway with Moka in tow. Before he reached it, a loud voice piped up from the corner.
"Bye-bye Itsygooo!" wailed Nel. "Don't forget to come and visit!" Ichigo glanced over his shoulder and waved, grinning, and then took the last few steps to the doorway. A few seconds later, they were up the stairs and on the ground floor of the school. The false floor that had parted for their entry quickly and smoothly slid back into place, as if nothing had ever happened.
Back in the lab, Yoruichi chuckled.
"Kisuke, you don't think they-?" she trailed off, letting the question hang.
The shopkeeper smiled, before turning back to the control panel with a swish of his coat.
"Yoruichi, whatever do you mean? C'mon, we've got work to do."
xXx
Now that they were on the ground floor, Moka and Ichigo had to get to their next class, which was luckily a study hall. It had only been a minute since the bell had first rung, so the hallways were moderately filled with students, most of which chose to ogle at the couple that seemed to be together AGAIN. Girls melted into the floor when they cast their eyes on Ichigo, his burning-brown eyes looking straight ahead. Boys, meanwhile, were standing and smiling stupidly at Moka, hoping to get the vampire's attention.
Alas, Moka's focus seemed to be elsewhere. Specifically, on her Rosario, speaking with Ura Moka at the events they had just witnessed.
"Hmm...interesting..." muttered Inner Moka, recalling the events that they had just witnessed. "It seems like we are on to something big here. Bigger than I had previously thought. Here we have an unknown creature, coming into our territory with his companions, and he doesn't give a single indication of his intentions."
She watched through Outer Moka's eyes as the teen bumped into another guy, and then yelled at him for getting in the way. "Not exactly the nicest person we've met either, right? However, he seems to have warmed up to you and the others. Making friends is not exactly the kind of thing someone would do if they were trying to harm the school."
In the real world, they had just turned the corner to the girl's dorm room. Ichigo leaned against the wall, resting his head on the fine marble.
"You should get your stuff. I'll wait out here, okay?" he told her. Moka nodded, and hurried inside into her room.
The room was small, but strangely very comfortable. Every corner of Moka's bed was neatly folded, reflecting her tidy habits. A small dresser with a mirror stood in the corner. Pictures of Moka with Tsukune and their friends last year outlined the edges, and one big one in particular stood at the tip top, circled.
Moka plucked it between her fingertips, smiling at the memories. It was around the time she first met Tsukune. Her arms were gently wrapped around his neck-as were her teeth- and behind them stood Kurumu and the others, bickering about something or another. Ice was sprouting out of the ground, trying to claw at a flying Kurumu's heels, and of course Yukari was laughing behind it all.
Moka let the photo drift from her grasp, stepping away from the dresser. Oh, the memories. It was astonishing, really, how time seemed to fly when you were sharing it with others. She couldn't imagine going through the school without all of the friends she had and all the experiences she went through with them. They helped make her who she was today, and she really hoped that she changed something in them as well.
" I doubt it," came the snide comment of Ura Moka. Mentally sticking her tongue out, Moka gathered the rest of her books and stepped back out into the hallway. Ichigo was there waiting for her.
"All good to go?" he asked. He stood up from the wall, arching back and stretching.
Moka nodded. "Let's go meet up with the others, okay? Usually at this time, we would all go to the courtyard and get a drink from the vending machine."
Ichigo yawned and put his hands in his pockets. "Sure. I could go for an ice coffee, anyways."
They wandered through the wide hallways, amidst the large crowd of students around them. The school was slightly more alive now that first hour was done with, like a sunflower waking up to the sun's rays. Students left and right were chatting animatedly, and Moka could spot the occasional tail or furry ears that were released unconsciously.
She glanced over at Ichigo. His eyes were running along the walls and ceiling, examining the architecture. His lips were formed into an 'O', as he was apparently stunned by the complexity of the school building; the roman-styled marble columns along the walls, joined together by some other pale stone, and a curved ceiling made up of interconnecting mirrors (1) Moka couldn't help but admire the work as well; it was a very simple design, yet that was what made it complex.
The pair was snapped out of their admiration when they arrived at the grand staircase, which they promptly took to the bottom floor. Ichigo glanced to the left and right hallways, not quite sure which way to head.
"This way, Ichi-kun." smiled Moka as she walked through the hall on the right. Ichigo made a face between relief and minor annoyance, before sighing, making a mental note of what he learned, and setting a brisk pace to catch up with Moka. As he did so, somehow his gaze focused on the infirmary.
And a weird feeling began to form in his gut.
At first he just ignored it, thinking it was just the jitters from remembering when he had to bandage both Moka and Tsukune. But as he walked past the door, his trot slowed until he finally stopped. Something didn't feel right. And it had something to do with the infirmary.
"Moka!" He called out to the vampire, who was a few feet away from him. "Go on without me, I, uh, have something I have to ask one of the nurses. About treating something."
Moka eyed him curiously, before saying "Alright!" and continuing down the hall. Ichigo waited until she was out of view, before entering the room.
He walked through the aisles, taking note of the unknown kids who were resting for one reason or another. Glancing around, he didn't exactly know what he was looking for. Nothing seemed to be amiss. He mentally berated himself for having such a random feeling, and turned around, intending to leave the room. As he turned, however, he noticed that one bed was messed up. Recently used, by the looks of it.
But that wasn't the thing that caught his eye. Instead, it was the strands of royal purple hair that were scattered across the pillows and bed sheet.
Keito was gone.
Even after suffering severe injuries from both him and Moka, she still managed to get up and leave. He scowled, the familiar muscle movement creasing his forehead.
"No, that couldn't have happened…" he thought. "Even Moka had to wait a week or two before her arm healed. Keito was here for a day, bleeding and with several broken bones. Not to mention the branding on her skin. How could she…"
A young student nurse suddenly appeared from the back room, checking on the patients on the bed. When her eyes fell upon Ichigo, she immediately adopted a smile and flattened out her apron, stuck out her chest, and approached the shinigami.
"Excuse me, aren't you Kurosaki-san? The new guy around here?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes. Ichigo shifted uncomfortably, inching away from her.
"Uh, yeah." he said weakly. Before the nurse could ask him anything else, he interjected with "Do you know where the girl in this bed went?" while gesturing at the bed before him. The nurse looked at the bed, placing a delicate finger on her pale lips, thinking.
"Eh, lemme check. I'm just a student nurse, so I keep track of all the patients in the checkout/check-in book." She scurried over to the nurse's desk, opening a rather large binder, and began to flip through the pages. Settling on a page, she ran her fingers down the line until finding what she was looking for.
"Oh yes! Keito is the girl you're looking at, right?" she asked, looking up. Ichigo nodded. "She was checked out this morning, by special request of the…"
She suddenly gulped. "Oh no, that's not good…"
Ichigo cocked an eyebrow. "What? What is it?"
The nurse shuddered, not speaking. Instead, she turned the binder so that Ichigo could see for himself.
"Checked out by special request of the head of the Public Safety Committee, Kuyou Suou."
(1) I'm just having a bit of fun with the design of the building.
Okay, that's it for this chapter! Again, many apologies for the lateness of this chapter. I really feel bad for neglecting to update, and that's not fair at all to all of the people that like this story. I don't plan on ever being this late again, though it may take some time for me to get back into regular updates. Until I can make a for-sure plan, it is good bye for now (: Hope this chapter was still good!
xX:/Renegade's Revenge\:Xx