B A Y O – B A Y O :

I forgot to mention this last time but… WE FINALLY REACHED OVER 2000 REVIEWS GUYS! OVER 2100 REVIEWS NOW! Oh my goodness I'm so excited; and it was all thanks to YOU! Yes, YOU! :) (points out of the screen) YOU are the reason for Furareta's success! You guys are super amazing. :)

And my fast updating streak is still going on! I'm on a roll! :D I hope you all don't mind the blindingly fastness of it all… I don't know why, but whenever I finish a chapter I just can't WAIT to show it to you guys. I dunno, it's just a weird trait of mine…

But BEFORE you read the chapter… I must tell you that this chapter is written differently from the rest. It's not a drastic change, just kind of… different. Megumi's still the narrator and all, but this time we're reading what SHE'S writing. This whole chapter is a diary entry—a really long one, haha. So don't get confused when italics suddenly switch to normal and you have no idea what's going on. Technically, it SHOULD all be in italics, but looking at it for too long would make my eyes hurt… so it would probably make yours too. :)

Don't be confused if the writing seems jumbled and out of sequence; Megumi's not a very good writer. ;)

Enjoy!


. F U R A R E T A .
… "love hurts"… a bleach fanfiction

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Furareta © b a y o – b a y o
Bleach © Kubo Tite

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CHAPTER F O R T Y – F I V E :
"Dear Diary: Training with Yoruichi"


Opening Theme: "Kanashimi no Kizu" by Kitade Nana


Dearest Diary,

So things have taken a drastic turn since the first day that I started to train with Yoruichi—you know, the day when I pathetically quit and ran away with my tail between my legs. Now that I've finally learned Raiuta's name, we were able to get my training underway… And I swear, after the morning I woke up after my first day of training, I could barely move out of bed! Everything hurt! Muscles that I didn't even know existed in some places were throbbing and burning as if there was a hot iron turned on in there! Needless to say, Raiuta found it very amusing.

As I'm writing this write now, I've ended my sixth week of training. Yoruichi divided the themes of the training within the weeks; as in, she would focus on teaching me something for a week, and I would learn something new the next. It was a Monday-Friday thing starting at ten o'clock sharp each morning, and I could rest over the weekends. Each week—no, day—was an adventure under her, and I loved it. And… call me crazy, but I think Yoruichi and Kisuke look absolutely amazing together! (insert hearts here) I feel as if they've become my substitute parents!

Anyways, Yoruichi said that this coming week, she would teach me some higher-level kidou spells and continue working on flash-step, meaning that the toll taken on my body would be a little less than sword-training—thank heavens! I was so happy that I decided to enter it in a journal… And I'm so awake right now that I'll record what I learned each week, along with maybe something else that happened during the week.


( Week One )

Week one: basic sword techniques—specifically swinging, blocking, and parrying.

"If you don't grip your sword tight enough, it'll get knocked out of your hands!"

I grunted as Yoruichi came down at me, her fist knocking against the flat part of my sword. Raiuta's defensive sonic boom erupted, blowing Yoruichi back and shooting me away. So we've already established the fact that Raiuta blows enemies away when struck, but another thing I've learned was that the boom was stronger depending on the intensity of the impact. So the harder they hit, the farther they're thrown back. But it worked the same way for me, too, and I still haven't gotten used to the whole "ricochet back" thing yet; I lost my balance every time.

"Better," Yoruichi stated as she walked up to me. She took my bandage-wrapped wrist in her hand and inspected it. "How's your wrist?"

I grinned and twisted it around. "Still one bone!"

Another thing I learned about myself, this time… My bones were weak. Maybe it was because I hated milk—I don't know—but my wrists were especially weak. The first time Yoruichi tried the whole "flying out of the air and smacking my sword" thing on me, I sprained one of my wrists. Heh heh, yeah… Can I help it if I'm a pathetic, fragile, and frail little girl?!

Anyway, Yoruichi had a kick over it, and Kisuke also thought it was really funny. Sadly enough, though, neither of them looked the least surprised…

Tessai, to my surprise, was a powerful kidou master and knew some handy healing spells, so I wasn't put out for too long. Something good came out of it, however: we affirmed that my gourd only absorbs wounds that spill blood. To keep from something like that happening again though, Yoruichi introduced my best friends, the bandages, to me. She said it was to help keep my wrist sturdy. So every day I would have to wear these bandages wrapped tightly around part of my forearm down to my knuckles. It was hard to get used to.

At the end of every week, Yoruichi held a "time of evaluation" where she would explain to me what I excelled at and what I… didn't excel at.

And Yoruichi wasn't exactly the beat-around-the-bush type of teacher.

"Your sword handling is sloppy, your balance is horrendous, your bones are weak, and you can't swing your zanpakutou without twirling around like a freaking ballerina," she said to me that Friday afternoon, just as we were finishing up.

Every comment was like an assortment of cooking utensils falling on my head, yet I accepted them. "Y-Yes… I'm sorry."

"But," she added, and then she paused. "Your feel for reiatsu is impressive. It's almost like you can tell exactly how strong an attack is going to be; and your reflexes aren't bad either, but they can be refined."

It was during this week that she told me what the Division 4 that she kept referring to was: they were basically the medics who sat on the back line of fights to provide support.

As much as I didn't mind being medic-material…

Yoruichi plopped a hand on my head and grinned at me. "You've potential, kid. Keep at it."

I smiled. "Right!"

And thus ended my first week.


( Week Two )

Second week: reiatsu control in the form of kidou.

I liked the fact that this week I didn't have to do any head-on combat—long-range was more my style, especially with Raiuta.

But this whole kidou thing was super exhausting!

"These incantations make absolutely no sense," I murmured to myself as I screwed up on words again. I had spent a whole week learning these, and I was still getting tongue-tied. "Who made these things up anyway?"

"Oi! Speed it up over there!" Yoruichi impatiently shouted. She was standing several yards away from me, waiting for me to hit her with whatever spell I wanted to. She only taught me two so far—a binding spell and an attacking spell—but neither of them had gone as well as I wanted them to… She crossed her arms and sighed.

I steadied my feet into the ground and put my left palm over my right forearm, at the same time mumbling another incantation. "Hadou 4: White Lightning!" Heh, ironic that I would be using another lightning technique. I concentrated my reiatsu in my right palm, weighing the amount of energy I would put into it, and let it flow out of my hand. As hard as these were to accomplish, though, I really enjoyed doing kidou. I thought it was actually kind of fun—as if I had suddenly become a magician. It reminded me of those adventure stories my parents would read to me…

Yoruichi stared at my attack and swatted it away as if it were a fly. The lightning bounced from her counter, flying off into the sky and exploding into a rock. The cat woman watched the debris fly for a second before turning to me—and suddenly, she disappeared.

"Flash-step," I murmured. I could feel her reiatsu moving—and though she was fast, and frighteningly so, I could still, just barely, follow her. I readied my palm for another spell, concentrating on the spirit energy in the air.

( There! )

"Bakudou 1: First Restraint Obstruction!"

I smiled as I lowered my palm. "I got her!" I exclaimed excitedly.

"Not bad," Yoruichi said as she easily squirmed out of my spell. I waited in front of her, expecting another harsh review. "Let's see… You're reflexes are getting faster, as is your reactions to different situations. You're still doing pretty decently at observing and controlling your reiatsu, as well."

I grinned giddily, despite the fact that I was panting like a dog.

"Hmm. I think reiatsu control might be one of your strengths. You're already exhausted for an attack so weak, though, so we'll need to work on that."

"Yeah… I'm beat," I sighed, leaning over on my knees.

"Next week we'll start refining your reiatsu skills—whatever that may be," Yoruichi said. "We'll practice your swordsmanship at the same time, which means that you're going to be a lot more tired from now on. Think you can handle it?"

Oh boy.

"Of course!" I said, pumping a fist. "I'll take on anything!"

Yoruichi stared at me and laughed.

"Atta girl."

And thus ended my second week of training.


Before I go on, I guess I should put a little something here… an intermission, I guess.

Mind you, after the second week of training, I had already grown used to the routine of training and I wasn't getting tired as much. Every day I would come to the basement at ten o'clock sharp. I would start out with some laps around the area—I started out doing five every day last week, and this week it was ten—and then some push-ups and crunches. Yoruichi was merciless when piling on the workouts too—if I so much as came one second slow of doing a certain drill in a certain amount of time, she'd make me do the whole thing again.

Needless to say, I got whipped into shape pretty badly; and even Takuya-oji noticed one night when I came home.

"Have you been exercising, Megumi-chan?" he asked, tipping his glasses down a bit as I tumbled in. "I noticed you began gaining… muscle?" He seemed unsure as to what term to use to describe the foreign objects on my arms and legs that were muscles.

You have no idea, I wanted to say, but I simply smiled at him. "Oh, you know those store-keeping jobs! Kisuke had me moving all the time—brooming and dusting and all!" And then I would promptly scurry on up to my room and instantly fall asleep.

As challenging as it all was, though, I was having a lot of fun. I knew learning something as difficult as this would be hard and painful, but I never thought that I would actually have a good time doing it.

Heh, just wait until the next three weeks, though…


( Week 3 )

Week three: defensive attacks and higher-level kidou spells.

This week, Yoruichi had Jinta, Ururu, and Mimi help with the training. They all formed a triangle around me, and on Yoruichi's command, they would rush me. Within that time, I would need to discover a way to defend against all three of them at the same time and then attack.

I failed the first couple times, resulting in extra laps around the basement, but I was ready to get back in there and try again (And it may have just been me, but Usacho seemed to enjoy beating me up).

The third try was a charm.

I was already all scratched up and exhausted by the time this started, but there was one thing I remembered: swinging my sword throws a shock wave of sorts—meaning, why wait for a collision to blow them back? Or even better, I could trip them!

As they all rushed me for the third time, I bent low to the ground, and did a funky-looking twirl with my sword. Thanks to Raiuta's weight, it was easy to spin her around for a long time; and I realized that with the continual swipe of the sword, there would be continual waves shooting from the blade.

I tried to incorporate this into tripping them. If I was bent low enough, and my swipe was precise, I might be able to send a wave strong enough to throw them off balance.

And low and behold, it worked! … On Jinta and Usacho, anyway. But I'd rather defend myself against one person manually rather than three. I blocked Ururu's attack and I jumped back, murmuring an incantation. Thanks to Raiuta's wrist strap, I could just let her hang off my elbow while I performed some kidou.

"Hadou 31: Shakkahou!"

This was one of the higher-level spells Yoruichi had Tessai teach me. It was a spell meant for higher-level Shinigami who had a good grasp on kidou, but she insisted that I use it since she was confident in how I controlled my reiatsu; this was the second time I'd tried it.

The first time… well, that didn't end up very well—I kind of almost lost my arm.

Shakkahou was a spell where a big ball of energy would form in your hand and blast towards the enemy. It was really cool-looking, but it took a lot out of you—and was really hard to control. I could barely keep my arm straight as I shot it and the pressure was straining on my wrists. Plus, it basically drained me of energy.

Out of sheer luck, though, a tiny ball flew forward and exploded on them. I finally won.

"It's about time," Jinta murmured as he cleared some rubble from his eyes. "Sheesh, that one kind of hurt."

"You did it, Megumi-chan!" Ururu murmured, completely unscathed.

Mimi didn't say anything as Usacho bounded back to her.

"Nice thinking," Yoruichi commented as she landed before me. "I was wondering what you'd do to get them. The kidou could use some help…"

I was rubbing my wrists as she spoke. "Yeah, that one actually stung a little," I admitted. There was still smoke in front of my palm where the energy ball was formed.

"I'm impressed, though," Yoruichi said. "You're adapting well to kidou. Your reiatsu experience is growing little by little, but you can control it all the same." She grinned and patted my head again. Apparently that became a habit for whenever I did something well. "Good job."

After that, we continued with another drill.

By the end of the week, I was actually excited to hear my progress report; for the first time, I think I did okay this week.

"You're coming along well with your kidou, as expected," Yoruichi said. "Your swordsmanship still needs a lot of help, but you're barely surviving. Don't worry about it too much though, because that's not going to be a strong spot no matter how much we work on it…"

I giggled sheepishly.

She smiled. "You're improving. Next week, I'll teach you something fun."


( Week Four )

Week four: flash-step and air-walking.

As soon as she told me what I'd be learning, I was ecstatic. At the remembrance of how invigorating it felt to travel at nearly light speed, I was just itching to learn how to do it on my own.

"Flash-stepping and walking on air takes consistent control of reiatsu—so much so that it'll need to become subconscious to you—but I think you can handle it," Yoruichi said. "We'll see how agile you are."

"Okay," I said as I tried to mask my excitement.

Kisuke told me earlier that Yoruichi is considered The Goddess of Flash since she's mastered everything there is to know about the skill. Knowing that intimidated me a little bit, since I didn't know what she expected out of me. I mean, I guess I was okay with my reiatsu and everything, but I didn't know how difficult it might be to learn.

Speaking of Kisuke… He was talking to me earlier this morning, before I went down to train.

"Good morning, Megumi-chan!" Kisuke said in a sing-song voice as I appeared punctually at his shop.

"Morning, Kisuke," I smiled as I saw him. He never failed to greet me so enthusiastically every time I appeared.

"I have a favor to ask of you," he said as I walked up to him. I had already gotten into my Shinigami form, and my body was wandering around the store aimlessly. "Would you mind if I took your mysterious little gourd there for examining while you train? I've been dying to discover what it can do," he said. He was like a little boy eying his favorite candy as he looked at the gourd on my hip.

"Sure," I said, handing it to him. By then it had collected a fair amount of my wounds inside; it was almost halfway of the way full of my blood. It was kind of freaky, to be honest...

"Hmm—normal weight, normal size," he observed as he carefully rolled it in his hands. He worked on the cork that clogged the top. "Ugh! The cork is pushed in tight, haha…"

I stared at him. "Here, let me see…" He handed the gourd to me, and I popped it open. It barely resisted. There was a short, awkward pause before I handed it to him. "Uh, here you go!"

Kisuke, however, didn't look the least bit surprised. He smiled as he took both the gourd and the cork from me. "Seems you have a magical touch, Megumi-chan."

I grinned nervously before trotting off to the basement, although I stared at the gourd for a little while as I left.

'Are you sure you have no idea what it does?'

( My guess is as good as yours! Bucket-hat Man will find out eventually, though. )

I didn't have any guesses to what else it could do but heal my wounds, though. Hmm…

Oh well.

Anyway, back to flash-stepping.

It sounded like an easy concept to understand: concentrate my reiatsu in my feet and focus on high-speed movements. It sounded easy.

Doing it first-time, on the other hand, sent me flying face-first into the side of a mountain. I think I left a permanent mark of my body there.

"Okay, that's not exactly what I was expecting," I murmured pathetically. I rubbed my probably broken nose.

"You were able to do it pretty fast on your first try. You have to have really good control over your reiatsu and quick responses to the scenery change—as you experienced," Yoruichi explained as she bandaged a cut over my eyebrow. We visited the shop briefly so she could get some bandages. Without my gourd, nothing was healing me. I normally wouldn't expect her to be willing to bandage her students; I guess I was wrong for thinking she was a ruthless, cruel and uncaring teacher. I stared at her as she finished patching me up.

Shihouin Yoruichi—she's gorgeous. Dark skinned, dark-haired, and those orange eyes that threw everything off—I was so envious. She's got to be the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.

"You're really pretty, Yoruichi-sensei," I murmured absent-mindedly as I stared at her.

She was surprised at the random compliment, but she quickly recomposed herself and smiled with a small chuckle. It might have just been me… But was she embarrassed? "Thanks, kid," she replied, patting me on the cheek. Could it be that she doesn't get compliments like that often? "Let's work a little more on your shunpo and we'll move on to air-walking."

I jumped up. "Yes ma'am!"

We spent a couple more hours working on flash-step, but it was a lot harder than it looked—but it was less draining than kidou was, thankfully… That is, unless you went at it consistently.

In that case, flash-step was torture.

Air-walking was so much easier, and I caught on quickly. It was almost like flash-stepping, only you concentrated on creating ground to stand on in the air with your own reiatsu. We didn't have to spend too much time doing that.

Kisuke asked for my gourd that entire week and continued studying it, but he still wouldn't tell me what he thought about it—he said he'd wait until he was sure he knew what it did.

"Not bad this week, Megumi," Yoruichi commented that Friday. "You've caught onto flash-step and air-walking pretty well. You're endurance isn't bad for your build, either; I say I can have you do fifty flash-steps without breaking a sweat after two weeks."

"Fifty?!" I exclaimed, my eyes bulging. Right now I could barely do three without keeling over. "Are you serious?"

Imagine all the running she'll make me do…

"Would I kid?" Yoruichi rolled her eyes. She saw the look of sheer terror on my face and laughed, smacking me hard on the back. "Come on, I'll treat you to dinner tonight."

I caught my balance before I could fall. "Huh? Really?!"

"Geez, you make me sound like some heartless witch," she laughed.

I laughed as an idea came to mind. I smirked. "I challenge you, Goddess of Flash, to a race to the ladders!"

By the time I had done one step, though, Yoruichi was already waving to me at the ladder. "For losing, we can split the cost!" she shouted, her beautiful smile playing on her lips.

I pouted as I ran.

"Awww!"


( Week Five )

Week five: putting it all together—swordfight, kidou, flash-step, and air-walking.

This week was—by far—the hardest week of training I'd had to do yet, and Yoruichi was merciless. Apparently she was being serious about me mastering fifty flash-steps; she doubled my laps at the beginning of the week, totaling in fifty each day. Haha, fifty laps for fifty flash steps…

As painful as it was, though—and as much as my legs pleaded amputation every day—it was working. My endurance was lasting longer, and by the middle of the week I could do five flash-steps without feeling tired at all.

But once she started combining everything I learned so far, my endurance began to slip… And Kisuke still had my gourd.

"Think faster, Megumi—Yasuo won't wait for you," Yoruichi said as she came at me with a kick.

I blocked it with a swing of my sword. By this time I had finally gotten used to being shot back, so I flew into the air and landed smoothly on my feet. Yoruichi stared up at me; she was going to flash-step. I flash-stepped as soon as she did, and her feet and my blade collided in mid-air; she flew up, and I was thrown down. I caught my balance by doing a flip. My time on the ground was cut short though as I jumped back, murmuring a familiar incantation. "Bakudou 1: First Restraint Obstruction!"

"Nope," she declined, immediately breaking out of the seal. "That may work on Hollows, but it won't work on Yasuo. Come on!"

I growled. Tessai taught me the higher level restraint, but I didn't know if I could do that one yet—not without it completely draining me, anyway. Let's see… If I were to use a Hadou technique—White Lightning—she would reflect it somewhere else. There might be an opening... Well, it was worth a shot. Another incantation was murmured.

"Hadou 4: White Lightning!"

She looked disappointed. "Who do you think I am, Megumi?" she sighed, raising her hand.

It was barely there, but I saw it.

I flash-stepped so I was right next to her, murmuring an incantation the whole way. "Hadou 31: Shakkahou!"

Her eyes widened as soon as she saw me, and she managed to slip away—but I managed to burn a little of her shirt. "Aww man," I murmured as I slipped back to the ground, where she was patting a little spark that had erupted on her shoulder.

"Wow, you almost got me," she said with honest surprise. She gave me a smirk. "It was a common strategy, but I wasn't expecting that from you. Good job."

I smiled at her.

The whole five days, Yoruichi focused on refining each skill I had learned; and on some techniques more than others. She really liked how fast I was moving along with the flash-steps, so she really hammered it in there; I blame it on her own love for flash-stepping. I had to admit, though, it was amazingly invigorating.

"You're doing well, Megumi," Yoruichi said on Friday. "Your reflexes are a lot better, along with your endurance and shunpo. Remember what I said about your possible strength being reiatsu control?"

I nodded.

"I can see it in your flash-step too, since you're doing better in shunpo. You're getting a lot faster." She grinned. "Maybe someday I can start teaching you shunko… But that's not until a long ways away. But other than that, you're doing well. Have you noticed you haven't been as clumsy?"

My grin widened. Yes, this training conquered my clumsiness. "You're not going to criticize me?"

She stared at me. "Well… Your swordsmanship still sucks."

I shouldn't have asked. "… Oh."

She laughed. "If you have weaknesses, you have to increase your strengths in order to make up for it. Just focus on that and you'll be fine."

"Okay. So what's shunko?"

"A lot of fun," she replied with a smile. "Shunko—flash release—is the art of combining hand-to-hand combat with kidou. I'll teach that to you once you're comfortable doing the higher level spells."

"It sounds complicated."

"Well, it is… But it's a good skill to know."

And thus ended week number five.


Another intermission!

So to sum up my first five weeks of training: amazing. Behind all the pain, the suffering, and the anguish I experienced, I learned so much. Yoruichi is a wonderful teacher.

Speaking of Yoruichi, I've grown a lot closer to her since we first started. We were nothing but student and teacher before, but we usually hang out and eat dinner together after some training sessions now. She hated it whenever I put her name above my own, so I never told her that I was really lucky to be able to have learned under her. Someone who has so much skill and talent in so many ways really shouldn't be stooping down to my level to help me out just because I asked her to… But she did.

I really like her; she's like a mother-figure to me.

Oh, and I also figured out she hates being given honorifics. Knowing this though, I still call her Yoruichi-sensei. She keeps getting onto me for it, but eventually she stopped…

The next week I'm gonna record is the week I've currently just finished… But what was in store really wasn't what I was expecting.

You'll find out why soon…


( Week Six )

Week six: … nothing?

When I went to the Urahara Shop that Monday morning—punctual as usual—Yoruichi and Kisuke met me in the store next to the hole leading to the basement. I was surprised to see the former, because she usually met me in the basement.

"Morning guys," I greeted happily as I popped out into my Shinigami form. "What are we doing today, Yoruichi-sensei?"

"Actually, Megumi-chan, you're going to take a break today," Kisuke said with a smile.

I blinked. "Huh? Why?"

"Because," he pointed to my gourd, "I'm almost positive I know what your gourd can do, and I was so happy that I thought I'd give you a break."

"Really?!"

"Yes, yes. Come on, I'll tell you the story. I haven't even told Yoruichi-san the entire thing yet!"

Yoruichi sniffed as we followed him into the back, where the table I always sat at was. We took a seat around it, and I plopped my gourd on the table. The blood was still swirling around inside.

Kisuke seemed to be really excited about his findings. "Your gourd is a very interesting object, indeed. For one thing, its cork can only be opened by you." I caught onto that when I had to open it for him every day. For one day, though, he wanted to examine it while it was closed. "Another thing is that it's indestructible! I've tried it's durability by everything imaginable! Hammers, swords, kidou, fire, throwing it, stomping on it—it isn't affected at all."

"Whoa, seriously?" The gourd, to me, looked really fragile—especially since it was partly transparent. It looked like it would break easily. But if Kisuke tried almost everything like he said…

I stared harder at it. There wasn't a scratch on it at all.

"And the blood?" Yoruichi asked, who seemed as equally curious as I was.

Kisuke nodded. "It's another defensive attribute of Raiuta, just as I thought. It only absorbs your blood wounds, Megumi-chan, correct?"

I nodded.

"Well, it also only absorbs your blood." He held up his finger, which had a tiny gash in it with some blood stains around. "It won't take my blood." He stared at the subject in discussion. "I'm not sure if it's the actual process, but once your blood is absorbed into the gourd, it goes through a stage of purification."

"Huh?!"

"Once it's purified," Kisuke continued, "It becomes a sort of medicine—only, for other people. For example, take this gash here." He held up his finger again. It was a fresh wound still. "May I?"

I pushed my gourd to him after opening it. Kisuke pulled a small shot glass from his shirt and put it on the table. He poured some of the liquid from inside into it. "Watch this—this is the cool part." He lifted the drink to his lips—the liquid was still blood red, but it was definitely not as thick as blood—and downed the glass.

Did he technically just drink… my blood?

Before I could become nauseated, I saw the wound on his finger glow—and in seconds, it disappeared. "See?" he said with a relieved "ahhh." "And also, here—" He lifted his left arm. "See this arm here?" He moved it around in every which direction.

"Uh huh…"

"This arm was broken before you came this morning."

I gasped. "What?! How did you break your arm?!" I glanced at Yoruichi, who had coughed. "… You had her break your arm?!"

He laughed and waved off my reaction. "It's not like it's never happened before! So anyways," he said. "Technically, Megumi-chan, your blood heals any wound. In fact, it's like an energy drink—it completely rejuvenates me! I feel like I can do anything!" At this he laughed, as if I was supposed to suspect the same thing.

I was too busy indulging in my shock. "My… b-blood heals people?"

"Exactly!" He whipped out his fan again. Apparently, this guy wasn't taking this the same way I was. "Your purified blood purifies the bodies of other people, thus curing their wounds. Dandy, eh? In order for it to work though, the heart has to be pumping out blood. So that rules out bringing someone back from the dead." He sniffed as he magically brought a handkerchief from his side and dabbed at feigned tears. "I wasn't able to resurrect my beloved Hamtaro…"

I blinked. "Hamtaro?" As in the hamster anime show? He kept a pet hamster?!

"Does it heal her, as well?" Yoruichi asked level-headedly. She seemed to be completely calm.

"I'm not sure. I wasn't able to test it," Kisuke said with a shrug, tossing the handkerchief over his shoulder. He saw me freeze and he grinned evilly. "Although, I could right now if I wanted to…"

"Kisuke, you're going to give her a heart attack," Yoruichi said calmly.

"One more thing!" Kisuke said, ignoring her. "I found out one more quality about your gourd. It's quite stupendous, actually… a great find! I'm a genius!" He clapped his fan shut with a triumphant snap and called, "Oh, Mimi-chaaan!"

I was startled. "Mimi?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

I turned. That sounded a lot older than Mimi…

A tall, slender, and stunning sand-blonde beauty stepped into the room. I blinked at her. "Um… who…?"

She looked like a model. Her skin was smooth-looking and milky, and her face was delicate and heart-shaped. Short blonde hair was cut so that it was barely above her shoulders and framed her features—and stunning lavender eyes—perfectly. A flustered blush formed on her cheeks as she noticed me staring at her. "S-Stop staring, Bakemono," she huffed.

I gasped. "No way!" I shouted. "Mimi?! Is that you?!"

"You don't need to shout when I'm standing right here," she snapped.

My jaw hung lifelessly as I gazed at her, and I turned to Kisuke, who seemed amused with my reaction. Yoruichi just sat there with her arms crossed, staring at her. "What the heck happened?!" She was even taller than I was now! There was no way that could be Mimi… But then again, there was no way that couldn't be Mimi! She's the only one that I know of who talks to me like that…

Kisuke laughed, waving the little gourd around. "It purifies blood, Megumi-chan." His grin widened as he looked at Mimi. "I remember you telling me once that Yasuo-san was hinting that your blood was a cure."

Wow, that was way back in the House of Horrors. I nodded numbly as I gaped at Mimi.

"He was dead on. Once purified, it turns Bounto back into humans. You, Megumi-chan, together with Raiuta, are the cure for the Bounto curse."

I stared at Mimi, and then at Yoruichi, and then at Kisuke. "What…?"

"I'm not sure how it works," Kisuke said. "I know that all zanpakutou carry special abilities; and this gourd just may be your trump card, Megumi-chan. It's like an indestructible bottle of instant-life Pepto Bismol."

I lifted up a shaky finger. "Then… Then why is she…?"

"I only took a drop of it," Mimi explained.

"She didn't trust me! Can you believe that?"

"If I took a cup of it, I would be dead right now," she continued. "I told you that I stopped aging when I hit seven years old. After a drop of your blood, the curse was removed and I began aging again."

"Wait… Why would you have died?" I asked.

"I was supposed to have died decades ago," she said. "I grew to this age… whatever age it is… within two and a half weeks. I'll be in my twenties by the time another two weeks pass, which is roughly five years in one week. That is, unless I take another drop of your blood—which, in that case, I'll disappear."

"Two drops is all that's needed to cure a Bounto," Kisuke said. "And it's all inside you, Megumi-chan."

That sounded so corny.

"So I had the cure the entire time…?" I murmured, dumbfounded.

"Technically, yes," Kisuke said.

"Do Hikaru and Riana know?" I asked.

Mimi shook her head. "No, I haven't been there since I started aging." She paused as if to think about something. She knew that I wanted to keep this a secret until the right time. "But I'm only half human right now."

Before I could ask, Kisuke explained, "She took half the dosage and received half the cure. The boundaries on her age have been lifted, but she still has her doll, which is an attribute only Bounto have."

"And I don't have much of an appetite for reiatsu anymore," she added a little happily.

I leaned onto Yoruichi for emotional support, who simply watched me sympathetically. "… Wow," I murmured. It was like my brain was going to explode, rebuild, and then explode again. The information was so unreal, so… much. It was like I was dreaming again. There's no way…

'Raiuta?'

( … Yes? )

'How do you feel?'

There was a brief silence. ( As if I don't really know myself anymore…? )

Good comparison.

"If Akina were a Shinigami, she probably would have had similar powers," Mimi said, shrugging. "Don't look as if you've lost yourself."

"So this is hereditary?" I murmured.

"Remember, Megumi-chan, you're a defender—this shouldn't surprise you that much, especially with what Yasuo-san said to you."

"Yeah, but… my blood? It heals people?!" I had almost expected that I was going to have to die or something before I could help the Bounto. Well… technically, I was, since Shinigami are dead people anyway… But wait! I'm not dead! Or am I?! "Argh!"

Yoruichi knocked on my head. "Stop shouting. Think of it this way: two drops of it can cure a Bounto. How simple is that?"

"And it doesn't even have to be drank, necessarily," Kisuke said. "As long as it enters the bloodstream, it should work. We could turn it into a syringe and then inject—"

"No needles."

Kisuke blinked at me. "… No needles."

Wait a moment. If my blood reverts Bounto back to how they're supposed to be at this time, I could help those people that Yasuo was turning into Bounto. If Yasuo or Romeo took two drops, they'd disappear onto Soul Society, and if I gave two drops to the new Bounto, they'd go back to normal—and that solves our Bounto problem.

"So… all they need to do is take two drops?" I asked numbly.

"Yes," Kisuke said.

"What happens when it's full?" I asked, pointing at the gourd.

"Good question. I don't know." He paused and looked at me. "However, we can find out…"

Yoruichi sighed as I cowered again. "I have one more question," I said, raising my hand.

"Yes?"

"Can I lay down somewhere?"


After that, the rest of the week passed by normally; I trained in the basement with Yoruichi, refining what little skills I had. However, I kept getting distracted by the seemingly useless thing that sat on my hip—and I'm still pretty darn distracted. It's an idea that I still haven't grasped yet. It was easy and relieving knowing that my… purified… blood healed people, but that it was the cure that lifted the Bounto's curse? Could it really be that simple? But Mimi standing there, looking as if she was around my age, was evidence enough. There were still so many questions I wanted to ask…

What else am I hiding? Is this really hereditary? Or am I an alien—a freak?

Well… Needless to say, that took me down another drastic turn. Just when I thought I had no more questions to ask, there was a million more. Only me…

Well, that's about it. I don't know if I'll ever read this again, but we'll see.

- Megumi


Ending Theme: "Kimi ga Iru Kagiri" by Stephanie


A/N: Oh my goodness, this chapter was SO LONG. Over 6000 words, 13 pages on Word… Oh wow. That really got me. I thought of splitting it, but I didn't want to spend two chapters on this…

So yeah, a pretty uneventful and boring chapter—kind of. Unless you like to see Megumi struggle with learning this complicated stuff and then get blown away, again, by a power she didn't know she had. I was actually thinking of skipping the whole training thing and move on, saying that she did train… But I thought a chapter of seeing her actually learn something might be a better choice. I hope you enjoyed it, nonetheless!

I'm already excited about the next chapter! Some pretty gnarly things happen, I'll tell you that.

So now we discover the secrets of Megumi's gourd—her blood IS the cure for Bounto! The secret has finally been revealed! But what kind of secrets lay behind that? Are there consequences she hasn't realized yet? Another mystery behind the mystery? Oh, the suspense!

And you'll find out soon once you review, review, review! ;)

Special thanks to:

Phoenix and Fire, aminea88, RheaTheMeepoe, Arin-chan, My Ashland, waterbluegirl1234, CRdragonPyro, CrieLaw13, kanameXakari, pinkatailmon, -lazy llama-, Claamchowder, , triggerspec, , Satupilvi, Leopardstar, Vangcorra, Hikari6007, Kukino3, Mai, Mari Ferolla, dokuki, FailedWriter, -Not, Ereana, hyourin-kusabana, BLACKROCKER, xXxAiirinxXx, ember-chan, The Rain Collector, Oshima zakura, Megumi Yunai, iv, erina destiny, hitsugayaXOX, NeferNeferi, viettvnt, Sportin' Purple Neck Pillows, GothicCinnamon, Onepiecewonder, Naruto-Lover227, makoko, missy, Kayleigh Volturi, Zanyx, HeadstrongNozomi, Immortal Eden, haku fan1, FrozenIceCream, avatar-chik, YOUR MOMMA D, Julie013, Mournful Storms, Shanni-chan, steel-alchemist, jennyz, joster13, NamineNasha, Kana090, flora236, BionicLemon, nameless reviewer, sAppHiRa-hiMe, LadyChaos1011, Sky-chan, jazzmin92, darkheart1992, songo714, Afiercebeauty, Dreamsong22, ShioriOokami, THANK YOU!

I noticed some old names and new names as I was typing this up! And welcome back or welcome! Thank you for reviewing, and I hope you'll be able to join the awesome reviewer's club! :)

You guys are amazing! I hope to have the next chapter up really soon… But please tell me honestly, do you not like these fast updates?

… And that was a serious question. :D

Signing out,

Bayo – Bayo!

PS: Hamtaro © Kawai Ritsuko

:)