Chapter 14 Fight!
After she gained her new appearance, everyone around her kept staring at Jaden.
"Wh-what the? How did she just..." Ichigo mumbled.
"It was her locket. I can't explain it, but somehow after she destroyed it, a massive amount of spiritual energy came out of it and entered Jaden." Rukia explained.
Ichigo was staring at Rukia as and after she explained what had happened, but Jaden didn't seem to listen. All of her attention was on the Hollow in front of her. After Jaden threw her limp body towards Ichigo to have him watch over it and as she put her sword in front of her, her sheath unknowingly turned red.
"Ichigo, watch over my body for me and don't you dare butt in." Jaden said, just barely looking over her shoulder.
"What?! But I-" Ichigo argued.
"If you think I'm just gonna let you talk about taking me down, you must be dumber than I thought!" the Hollow said, leeches being launched at Jaden from all sides. The Hollow used its' tongue to cause all of the leeches explode, creating a massive amount of dust and wind. Also making it impossible to see Jaden.
"Jaden!" Ichigo called out. It was just then Jaden jumped out of the dust cloud and came down, just barley cutting the Hollow's arm.
"You're too slow, but I can tell your soul will still be tasty." the Hollow said.
"Damn you." Jaden grunted. The Hollow began launching more leech bombs at Jaden. She was easily able to cut all of the creatures in half, making sure no leeches got on her.
"So that Hollow used those things to tie up Chad and attack you two, right? What a coward." Ichigo said.
"I don't think that bothers Jaden at all. In fact, I think knowing that gives her strength." Rukia said.
"Ichigo? What's going on?" Chad said. Rukia and Ichigo looked over their shoulders to see Chad holding the bird in its' cage. They both knew Chad was wondering why Ichigo was holding Jaden's body.
"Don't worry. Jaden is just fighting the Hollow." Ichigo answered.
"So she's ok!" Kasu exclaimed, appearing from behind Chad.
"You're that boy from earlier, the one with Jaden." Rukia said.
"How is Jaden able to fight that thing?" Chad asked. Rukia was going to say something, but the two of them went back to watching Jaden fight the Hollow after more explosions occurred. Another cloud of smoke was created.
"Where'd you go?!" the Hollow exclaimed. Just then, Jaden jumped out of the smoke cloud and landed right in front of the Hollow, her sword landing right against the Hollow's mask.
"Now, if you don't want to die any quicker, you better start talking. Explain what you've been doing to that kid." Jaden said.
She already knew what this Hollow had done in his past life, but she still felt like she needed to here it from the Hollow. Jaden also knew that Yuichi was explaining to the others right now. Jaden heard every detail from the Hollow, the mirder of the kid's mom, how he died, and the deal he made with Yuichi. The more she heard and remembered, the madder Jaden got. Soon, a red aura surrounded her sword, causing the Hollow to jump back. When Jaden saw her sword was, there was a black burn mark.
"Gah! Why you little, damn you! What did you just do?!" the Hollow shouted, a hand over the burn mark.
"You torrment an innocent little boy...and you complain about a simple burn?!" Jaden shouted, rushing at the Hollow. He reacted by sending leech bombs at her, but she simply cut them and avoided the leeches in them.
"If you complain about that, then I'll give you bigger one!" Jaden exclaimed, bringing her sword down, cutting the Hollow's mask in two. Green light suddenly burst out of it, a massive gate appearing behind the Hollow.
"The gates...of the underworld." Jaden mumbled, looking up at the gates in awe.
"That's correct. Since this Hollow committed terrible crimes when he was alive, he is being taken to the underworld." Rukia explained. Just as Rukia finished explaining, a giant sword pierced the Hollow through its' chest. The sword and the Hollow were soon pulled back into the gate, which also vanished.
"So that's the underworld, huh?" Ichigo said.
"Well, that's where a guy like him deserved to go." Jaden said.
"Jaden!" Kasu said after running up to her.
"Kasu. Thank god you're ok." Jaden said, patting his head.
Rukia was able to see Jaden's sheath became white again. That reminded her about what Jaden did to gain the powers for her to be the way she is. Thinking about that, Rukia looked over her shoulder to see the small shambles that used to be Jaden's locket.
"Jaden...about you locket..." Rukia mumbled. Jaden looked at Rukia but then back at where Rukia was previously looking.
"Oh yeah...Jeez, dad's probably gonna be pissed." Jaden said, sheathing her sword.
"Seriously?! That locket was important to you wasn't it?!" Ichigo said. Jaden just looked at him for a second but then walked and kneeled down where she smashed her locket. Behind her, she could here Ichigo being yelled at by Rukia. Jaden sighed before rising to her feet.
"Hey, don't worry about it." Jaden said, turning on her heel to face them and also causing the two of them to stop shouting at each other.
"But, Jaden..." Rukia said, trailing off. Jaden just snickered at her.
"Besides, you two still have Yuichi to worry about." Jaden said, pointing to Chad Yuichi who stood behind her. With that said, Jaden began to take her body out of Ichigo's hands.
"Wait a minute Jaden. Maybe you should be the one to perform the konso, if we must." Rukia said. Jaden just gaped at Rukia for a few seconds.
"Huh?" Jaden mumbled.
Rukia was tending to the bird while Chad, Ichigo, and Jaden stood behind her. After giving his thanks thanks to Chad, Jaden stepped forward and kneeled down beside Yuichi's cage.
"Alright, I'll begin the konso. I hope you find your mom, Yuichi. I know what it's like to miss a mother." Jaden said. Yuichi stared at her, but soon smiled.
"Miss Jaden, thank you for helping Mister Sado. Maybe I'll see you again too." Yuichi said. Jaden smiled and quickly sent his soul to the Soul Society.
"So, you're soft to little kids?" Kasu said as he moved behind her with a sly smile. Once again, Jaden's anger quickly got the better of her. She quickly grabbed his scarf and began shaking him.
"Don't you dare start! Don't forget, you told me you're older than you look and that kid earned his sympathy and you're just about to earn a spanking!" Jaden shouted. As she was constantly shaking Kasu, Rukia and Ichigo couldn't help but stare and sweat drop at the sight.
"Um, Jaden?" Ichigo said. Jaden soon stopped shaking Kasux who now had swirls in his eyes. Jaden looked up at him.
"Just who is that kid? And how can he see the Hollows and you?" Ichigo asked. Jaden's face slightly paled after hearing that. She hadn't thought of a good excuse.
"Oh, well, you see, he's.." Jaden mumbled.
"I'm her little brother! My name's Kasumoto, but you can call me Kasu." Kasu suddenly said with a wide smile. Everyone, especially Jaden and except for Chad, stared at him.
"But, Jaden said-" Ichigo began to say.
"I'm adopted. Her father, Allan, adopted me when he moved here with Jaden." Kasu explained.
"Is that true Jaden?" Rukia asked.
"Oh yeah. We're siblings. Neat, huh?" Jaden said with a wide grin, but her eyebrow was twitching and she was unconsciously tightening her grip on Kasu's scarf, unknowingly suffocating him.
"Um, Jaden. He can't breathe." Rukia said. Jaden looked at him with her anger filled smile.
"Oh yeah. My bad. Wouldn't want to hurt my...little brother, after all." Jaden said, letting him go and fall flat on his back. After returning to her body, Jaden pulled Kasu onto his feet, making sure he was fine.
"Well, I'll be heading home. With my dad not there, I'll have to get takeout or something." Jaden said, putting her hands behind her head and walking away with her hands behind her head and Kasu following her.
"Jaden!" Ichigo called out. Jaden stopped and looked over her shoulder.
"I'm...I'm sorry. If had known about the Hollow sooner then maybe-" Ichigo said, but Jaden interrupted him by kicking him in the face, giving him a small nosebleed.
"Kukaku Shiba was always my role model in this show." Jaden thought before she began to speak.
"Don't start with that apology crap again, Ichigo! What's happened has happened and regetting or mourning over mistakes we've made won't help anyone. So just forget it. And, hey, now I'm a Substitute Soul Reaper. So don't worry about it." Jaden said.
"Um, ok. Sorr- I mean thanks!" Ichigo said with one hand on his bloody nose. Wth a smirk, Jaden turned around and began walking away with Kasu once again.
"I wonder if Rukia will notice what I did when she meets Kukaku." Jaden thought. She shrugged at the thought and walked home with Kasu.
After reaching her house, Jaden looked at the empty driveway and gained a sad look. But, that immediately faded after she enter her house. Before she knew it, Jaden was sent face first skidding across the floor for a few seconds.
"Ha! It seems you've gotten too relaxed while I was gone!" a familiar voice shouted from where she stood. As she got onto her hands and knees after lying flat on the floor, Jaden's eyes slightly widened from the who the voice belonged to, but that small amount of shock and happiness faded to anger.
"What the hell dad!? You come back from a car crash and that's how you greet me!?" Jaden shouted, jumping onto her feet.
"A simple car crash can't get rid of me that easily!" Allan said. Jaden glared at him for a few moments before folding her arms and looking at the ground.
"I'm glad you're home." Jaden said just loud enough for him to here. Before she knew, she got pulled into a hug by her dad.
"Haha! Actually worried about you old man, huh!? Well, don't worry! I'm not leaving this world until I've taught all you need to learn!" Allan said.
"Yay." Jaden said while rolling her eyes.
"Hey, Jaden. What happened to your locket?" Allan asked, removing his hold around her. When Jaden heard that, her eyes gained a sad look.
"Dad...I'm sorry. The locket, it's gone and I...I just..." Jaden said, but trailed off.
"Hey! Don't worry about it!" Allan said. Jaden looked up at him in shock.
"So you lost the locket, so what? Layla will always be with us." Allan said, for once acting professional. Jaden smiled at him and was glad everything turned out ok, but she then remembered something.
"Hey, how come you left without leaving a note or something?" Jaden asked after pulling out of the hug.
"I was gonna be back before you got home. I was out job hunting and I found one! I start tomorrow!" Allan said, doing stupid poses.
"And what job is that?" Jaden asked.
"It's at this very nice hospital. I swear, though, the place is like a maze. It's owned by this that goes by the last name of Isha- no. Ishu- no." Allan said, continuing to guess the name. Just by hearing all of that, Jaden was able figure what he was trying to say.
"Ishida?" Jaden said.
"Yeah! You're other skills may need improvement, but you are smart." Allan said, ruffling her hair before walking into the kitchen. Jaden watched as he walked away and sighed.
"So, he's gonna be working for Uryu's dad?" Kasu asked.
"Yeah. Man, this is gonna come back to bite me in the butt. I just know it." Jaden said as she walked up stairs. After getting up stairs, instead of laying down on her bed, Jaden opened up her window and looked up the sky that was now a beautiful shade of orange due to the sun set.
"Mom, I hope you can still hear me. I'm strong now, I protected Rukia, Yuichi, and Ichigo. But, dad's getting hurt. I just hope I can protect him too, if I'm around or not." Jaden said.
"Sorry about your locket, Jaden." Kasu said, standing behind her. Jaden closed the window and turned around, kneeling to be face level with him.
"Man, you're just as bad as Ichigo. Now, no more apologizing about my things, got it?" Jaden said. Kasu soon smiled and nodded.
"Now...about that 'little brother' lie back there." Jaden said. Kasu's smile immediately faded and his whole face paled.