Kenta and his father screamed both in horror, when the monster crashed threw thier balcony-door and tried to grab them with one of it's long tentacle-like arms. It was able to catch Kenta's leg and tried to flee with him...
"HEEELLLPPP!" the boy screamed horrified after he was caught and the monster tried to pull him out.
"KENTA... HOLD ON!" his father screamed and hold his son on both hands. He tried to kick the Hollow away but it didn't help.
Thier loud screaming and the noise of the shattering balcony-door was heared by several neigbours. Two men ran upstairs to help.
Keigo pulled as strong as possible to get his son out of the Hollows grip. It was obvious that it came just to attack them.
"DADDY, HELP ME!" Kenta screamed again.
Keigo didn't know what to do. When Kenta's right hand lost grip his his hand he tried to grab something to throw it on the Hollow. And so he threw the remote-controller of the TV. But the Hollow was not impressed and simply swallowed it...
The door was kicked oped and the two neigbours entered the apartment to see the monster, too...
"AGHHH... WHAT IS THAT?" one of the men screamed.
"HELP US!" Keigo screamed and so the two men start to help free Kenta out of the monster's claws...
More and more Shinigami reached the affected region. Everyone was busy to handle the hordes of Hollows. They soon realized that all the Hollows were on the way to one specific spot. The people in the small town meanwhile, were so terrified and paniced that they fled out of town by car, with busses or by just running. At the harbor, a fishing trawler and a warehouse were burn blazing...
Inside thier apartment, Keigo and his neigbours were finally able to pull Kenta out of the grab of the Hollow. The boy, whose right leg was full of blood now, was flying threw the room and crashed on the floor in the corridor, right before the entrace. Keigo crawled towards him to look after him.
"WHAT'S THAT MONSTER?" one of thier neigbours screamed again.
Keigo ignored the fact that his neigbours were able to see the Hollow clearly. But than he could hear the screams of the people outside. Kenta screamed, too. Not because he was bleeding out of his leg, but because the monster was still in thier apartment and destroyed thier living-room. Keigo took his son and fled with him outside, where he could see the Hollows flying threw the air...
Rukia and Renji rushed back to the Kurosaki's house. Later saw in TV that obviously the whole region and everyone who was there right now, was suddenly able to see ghosts and Hollows...
"...douzens of witnesses insist on seeing the spirits of the death plane-passengers and several men in black Kimonos using swords to let the ghosts dissappear..." the newsanchor explained. "Our colleague Makoto Hirabata, was near the crash site and we are still trying to reach her..."
"Oh my god! Ichigo... is suddenly everyone up there able to see ghosts? Why?" Orihime asked shocked and confused.
"He is telling it like that." Ichigo murmured and went to the window.
It was a wonderful sunny day in Karakura. No cloud on the sky, the sun shining and happy children playing outside on the street. It was not comparable to the hell that was opening up in Hokkaido. Ichigo start to feel his son near the house...
Keigo meanwhile fell down when his neigbours stormed out of the apartment and stepped over him. One of them was caught by the Hollow, who left the apartment over the balcony again. The other neigbour jumped over the balustrade in panic and fell into the yard. Keigo placed himself over his son to protect him and used one hand to hold the boys eyes. He screamed endlessly. He was afraid. And Keigo was so, too. He had no idea why suddenly so many Hollows appeared out of nowhere.
Keigo could see around one-hundred Hollows flying over the town. Maybe more. Like predators surrounding thier prey. And they looked for something. On the street Keigo could hear more and more cars. The people wanted to flee out of town. Including the woman, who helped Makoto out of the restaurant...
The woman just brought her to her house. Makoto wanted to use her phone. But as soon as they arrived, the husband of the woman, took his wife and forced her into the car to flee out of town, too. Both screamed on Makoto to join them, but instead Makoto ran away hid in the couple's house, where she found a laptop with webcam. Luckily it was running and logged-in. Just what she needed. She sat down at the desk and used the laptop to contact her channel again... it was time to fix some old mistakes...
Keigo lift his head. He realized that the Hollows were after them. But the monsters seemed confused... Like they were not able to localize them directly.
"DADDY... Are this..." Kenta wailed, but Keigo hold his son's mouth to prevent that he busts them.
"SSHHHH... Be quiet!" Keigo hissed and looked up again.
They barely escaped the Hollow in thier apartment. But that one was gone... Keigo lift up carefully, to look around. As long as these Hollows are circling over them, they would never reach the harbor alive. All people were suddenly able to see them and in panic everyone ran away to seek shelter somewhere. Carefully, Keigo looked back into his apartment. It was heavily damaged but empty. The Hollow was gone. Maybe, they could hide here until the Shinigami handled the Hollows and flee after. It was simply too dangerous outside now. And he would be able to treat his son's injuries here...
"Kenta, quick... go into the bathroom..." Keigo said and shooed the boy inside. Outside, he could see how a Hollow grabbled a woman and draged her over the ground.
In horror, Keigo had to witness how the woman, he saw several times before but never really talked with her, was bitten by the Hollow and than the Hollow start to lick off her blood. It was so disgusting. Like the Hollow was more interested in her blood than into her soul. Than the monster, left her behind on the crossroad and attacked her husband instad, who tried to safe her...
"HEY GUYS! GET OFF THE STREETS! OR THESE MONSTERS WILL CATCH YOU!" Keigo screamed as loud as possible. Screaming was one of his biggest talents. It was one of the things the people couldn't stand about him in the past. But now he hoped that his 'penetrating' voice let the people understand the situation. "HIDE! HIDE SOMEWHERE!"
Indeed the people could hear him. And so, instead of fleeing out of town, they decided to hide inside thier houses. It was way safer. And Keigo did so, too. He hid with his son in the bathroom to treat his son's leg...
In Karakura, the taxi, Kazui and his friends took after his father strictly ordered him, stopped in front of the clinic. Ichigo came out after he felt the presence of his son and paid the driver hastily. After that he shooed the three teenagers in. Inside, Orihime finally recieved an information from the airline...
"...ah... I found her... Tatsuki Arisawa! She was booked on the flight from Haneda yesterday!" the woman from the airline told. Orihime was crying for several minutes and told her a sad story to force her to tell her what she wanted to know.
"Yesterday? But today... she was not aboard?" Orihime asked full of hope.
"No! According to my data, she was on yesterdays flight from Haneda. And not from todays flight from Narita."
"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much, I am so relieved, now!" Orihime said and said goodbye before hanging off. Right in this moment, Ichigo came into the room, together with the three teenagers. "Ichigo, I finally got through. And Tatsuki... was not on board..."
"Oh my gosh! What a relieve!" Ichigo said.
Orihime was extremely relieved, too. She was so happy that she even had to cry. But she was still wondered why Tatsuki was not answering her phone. Than she turned to her son...
"What the hell did you think when you did that. You lied to us, than you tried to interfere into the life of a foreign child. Kazui, we thought that you are dead. In TV we had to see that the plane, you wanted to take, exploded after it crashed into a paddy field..."
Suddenly Ichigo remembered something. He remembered that he saw something similar several days ago. So he cut off his wife...
"...you are grounded! For how long depends on... Ichigo? What's up?"
"It exploded in a paddy field... The child predicted it!" Ichigo realized. Suddenly he understood the connection. "Orihime, I saw that vision of the child, too. It predicted this crash..."
Just a second later, a door to the Soul Society suddenly appeared in the room. Rukia came threw the door and joined them. She was totally distraught, pale and agitated...
"Ichigo, Orihime... Oh, HI kids, Ichika... you are grounded! Ichigo... Orihime... it's about Tatsuki..."
"Oh, everything is okay! I just talked with the airline. Tatsuki was not on board of the plane..." Orihime said relieved.
"Oh, she can't be on board of that plane. Because she is in the Soul Society since yesterday. And she is under arrest!" Rukia explained.
"WHAT?" everyone present screamed shocked...
At the same time, Makoto was finally able to arrange to get Live on air again...
"I hope it is worth it?" the director asked.
"It will be!" Makoto said. Outside she could hear the Hollows circling over them. She was pretty sure that she won't survive this day. But she hoped that this auction would safe Keigo and his child... "I have to be Live on air, at any cost!"
In his bathroom, Keigo treated his son's bleeding leg. The boy was still totally scared. He had the feeling to not to recognize his own father anymore. It was not because off that Keigo was bleeding black blood or that he had a crack in his head, which was definetely not humane. Keigo just finished cleaning the wound and wrapped a bandage around it. After that he wanted to throw away his torn and blood soaked trousers but his son asked this question again...
"What am I?"
"What do you mean with that? You are a boy! A brave and healthy little boy."
"And what are you?"
"I don't understand!?"
"Daddy,... are you a ghost?" with this question, Kenta really scared his father. "Is that the reason why we can see them?"
"Oh, please this is ridiculous! We are normal humans. You are not the only one who is able to see this creatures right now. Everyone here in town sees them. I don't know why. But it is neighter your nor my fault. Understand? Now it is important that we keep calm and don't get paniced..."
"You said... that we go to the harbor immediately... to make a boat-trip."
"Yes, but... After these creatures are gone." Keigo said and hugged his son. Thier only hope now was that the Shinigami take care of this situation. And as soon as the Hollows are gone, he would be able to get his son out of town and to Russia. But for now they were forced to hide here in thier bathroom... "Listen... we have to wait here. I just go and get you other pants..."
While Keigo left the bathroom for a few seconds to get clean clouthes for his son, several Shinigami arrived right in front of thier house.
"Okay... The orgin of the wave... is living right here... he and the child have to be protected at any cost, until we have sealed him..." the Shinigami explained. He was once part of the commission and now in the department for humans with spiritual awareness. And he was well aware of the truth. But he was not sure what to expect in Keigo's apartment. To be honest, he was slightly afraid of entering the place...
Keigo stormed into his son's bedroom and looked for some clean clouthes before storming back to the bathroom and locking the door. Just a few seconds later, the Shinigami arrived on the balcony and went inside. He was shocked about the chaos. It was obvious that a Hollow already arrived in here. But he could feel that both were still 'alive' and that they hid in the bathroom. So he knocked on the door.
"HELLO! Are you in there?" the Shinigami asked while he tried to open the locked door.
Keigo was able to feel them again by now. And his son realized it, too... The voice, talking to them, belonged to a Shinigami.
"Hello... I know that you are in there... we... I am from the police!" the Shinigami lied. Maybe it would calm down them. He knew Asano's psychological profile. If he smashed the door open, Asano would freak out... So he had to earn his trust...
In Karakura, Rukia told Ichigo, Orihime and the kids everything. Still upset but now the others were pretty upset, too...
"SO THEY LIED TO US ALL THIS YEARS?!" Ichigo screamed so loud, that it hurt in the ears of the others.
"AND TATSUKI WAS KILLED BY KEIGO?!" Orhime screamed with tears in her eyes.
"No, looks like Tatsuki was killed by spiritual pressure when she killed Keigo?" Rukia explained. She didn't understand her own words, too.
"What? You just said that he is still alive and up there in Hokkaido?" Ichigo moaned.
"The idiot from the department explained me this. Listen to me, I know that these are too many bad news at once but we need your help now. Back then, Keigo kidnapped his son to hide up in Hokkaido only because he was afraid that that what happens right now there, happens. And if we don't interfere now, at least half of the people in Hokkaido will de dead before lunchtime..." Rukia moaned. In the meantime, Renji arrived...
"HEY, look what I was able to arrange for us. This is some kind of portal-creator... It is a direct way for us to go to Hokkaido instantly..." Renji yelled.
Right there, Keigo hold his son's mouth in the bathroom. He wanted to prevent that the boy screams and busts them. He prayed for the Shinigami not beeing able to feel him. But that was ridiculous? He didn't know very much but he knew enough to be sure that they were definetely able to feel them. The Shinigami knocked again.
"Oh, please! We are here to help you... ASANO!" now the Shinigami screamed. Keigo was horrified... The Shinigami meanwhile stopped talking for a second to calm down. He remembered that screaming on Asano would make it worse. "Please, I am begging you to listen to me... The Hollows are here because of you... they want you and your son. And we don't know for how long we will be able to keep the situation under control. When Arisawa attacked you yesterday... she killed you..."
Keigo didn't understand it. He didn't understand anything anymre.
"Listen... We know that you were not responsible for Kurosaki-Gate, ten years ago. There was a terrible misapprehension back then. We all really regret what happened. So please... You can only safe your son and yourself, if you trust us. Please open the door. I can feel the spiritual powers you are radiating. And if we don't treat you immediately, your body will blow up like a balloon..."
"Daddy, who is that?" the boy wailed afraid. "And who is Asano?"
"Ssscchhh..." Keigo hissend and looked around. There was nothing in the bathroom, he could use to defend himself. "Who is there? And who is this Asano? I don't know anyone with that name?"
"Please, Asano-san! We know everything! About your accident, and about your life. You know how difficult it was to hide you? We are responsible for your passport and your ID. Thanks to us, you were able to live under your new name! We unlocked the hospital security-door for you to kidnap your son. And we took care that no Shinigami comes close to your son. What ever is going on here, only with your help we will be able to stop it..." the Shinigami told. The whole place was trembling and there was a huge noise outside. "Please open the door! I need to see what Arisawa did, to know what do do to repair your Gigai..."
"What are you talking about?"
"You died back that night! The body you put into the taxi to burn it, was your original human-body..."
Keigo suddenly got flashbacks... from the accident... how he crashed down the slope with the taxi... the fire... his legs were on fire... The body... The Shinigami took care of this other body the whole time...
He start to tremble and looked on his hands. HE... a Gigai? Is he just a artifical body? What's that nonsense? That's totally impossible... It was impossible that he is a dead person in an artifical body?
"If you don't open the door, I will kick it in!" the Shinigami yelled. "We are loosing time. More Hollows are on the way and we can't handle them any longer..."
Keigo didn't know anymore. Was it really over? Was really everything a lie? Did he really didn't 'hide successfully'? Was he really 'hidden by' the Shinigami? And if it was true, what is the reason for it?
"Kenta... sit down in the bathtub and stay down!" Keigo whispered and took a big towel to cover the boy before he sneaked to the door. "If... If I open the door, you will just... smash a sword threw my chest, admit it?!" Keigo wailed.
Far away, he could hear a very loud explosion. The fires at the harbor were spreading faster and faster and just reached the big fuel-tank. When it explode, the shockwave let all windows in a radius of a half kilometre burst. Due to the hard work of the Shinigami, the Hollows became less. But the reinforcement of Hollows seemed to be endlessly. In Karakura, Ichigo and Kazui left thier bodies, Ichika left her Gigai and Orihime got a 'soul-ticket' to get threw the Shinigami-portal to Hokkaido. Yupa walked threw the portal, too. But he was left behind, as he was no Shinigami and had no Soul-Ticket. While he start to get upset because he was left behind he saw how the TV programme suddenly changed...
"...Am I on air?" Makoto asked afraid and breathing hardly. Face and clouthes full of blood...
"Yes, Hirabata-san. You are live on air... What is going on? What is happening right now up there?" the newsanchor in the studio in Tokyo asked totally shocked and worried.
Yupa stared on the TV and sat down.
"I am... In the Okhotsk Subprefecture! In a little town called..." the connection was bad, but it became suddenly better. "... Monsters... attacking the the people... They are called Hollows! I know it because... because 10 years ago... I already reported about them. But nobody remembers... This... is a personal plea to... Ichigo Kurosaki... from Karakura-cho in the Tokyo Prefecture... He... is a Shinigami..."
Yupa start to scream. She did it again? She exposed the Kurosaki's in TV again... live on air...
"...he is the... only one, along with his... other living-dead friends... who are able to fight this monsters. Please, I am begging you... I am so sorry for exposing you in TV back then. Keigo Asano didn't did it, as you think. His violent sister... Mizuho Asano... she abused her child and wanted to get revenge on Keigo because he report her to the police. She send us a package with very disturbing stuff... Kurosaki, HELP US... OH PLEASE HELP US..."
After that the connection to Makoto was cut. The power failed in the town.
In Keigo's apartment, all lights start to flicker briefly. Keigo was scared but than suddenly the light in the bathroom went on again.
"Asano, please! I am alone and not armed..."
With trembling hands, Keigo slowly and carefully opened the door. To his surprise, the Shinigami took even a step back...
When the door opened, Keigo saw the Shinigami in front of him. He was like all the other Shinigami he met in his life. A big, strong guy with a burly body who wore a black Kimono and a sword. But unlike all the other Shinigami he met before, this one had some kind of friendly expression. He remembered him a little bit on Kaneda Ochi. The Shinigami he met prior to his 'death'.
"Asano-san, it is a pleasure to met you finally. By now I just read about you in your file. I was responsible to update it..." he said friendly. Keigo didn't know how to react. When he opened the door a little bit more, the Shinigami was finally able to see the 'damage'... "Oh my gosh... Now I am not surprised that the spiritual energy is popping out of you so strong... Arisawa damaged your Gigai so badly... I don't know if we can safe it. I think you will need a new one!"
"Are you... going to kill me now?" Keigo asked coldly and as quiet as possible. "If it is true... spare my son! He has nothing to do with anything of this."
"No, nobody will kill you! Especially not your child. Unfortunately, Arisawa already did it when she... you didn't mention it? You didn't mention that your...? I can see from here that your neck is broken at two places..."
Keigo lift his hand to feel his neck at the place the Shinigami mentioned. Indeed he could feel that his neck felt weird. Is it... oh it is really broken! But shouldn't be he dead, by now?
"Tatsuki... she...?
"She is in custody! You didn't kill her, Asano! We found her body in the freezer you and Hirabata buried in the forest. You barely hit her. Looks like she died due to the imense spiritual energy that shoot out of you when she attacked you..."
"Ikkaku?"
"Your son won't be punished. Maradare scared him. That's clear."
"Ichigo?"
"He does not know that you are alive! But he had eye-contact with your son. Looks like it activated a Fullbring ability in your son."
"He is here! I feel him..."
Ichigo and the others just arrived threw the portal on the road right in front of his apartment. Both families were shocked about the situation in town. Far away they could see the blazing flames at the harbor. Everywhere were injured or dead people. Makoto lost connection with her channel but was kind of relieved when she saw Ichigo threw the window. She went down and hid... She really believed in Kurosaki's words and really hoped that it was true when he said that he really misses Keigo. So he would help him, or not...
Ichigo could feel Keigo... really strong. He could feel him in the small apartment-building next to him. As soon as he was sure where he was, Ichigo jumped up to the first floor and stormed threw the door...
Ichigo became pale when he saw Keigo. Keigo felt his burns start to crumble when Ichigo stormed inside in his Shinigami-form and looked on him...
Both gazed on each other for a few seconds without saying a word. Both weren't able to say a word. Ichigo was totally terrfied about what he saw... Keigo... with grey hairs, and looking much older than he should. His face disfigured with burns. And with a terrible injury in his face, he got from Tatsuki. Ichigo was also able to see under Keigo's shirt that his neck was definetely broken. A normally lethal injury. So it was definetely a Gigai... Rukia was true when she told him. A distraught, traumatized man who start a new life under a new identity. For his son. The boy was in the bathroom. He could feel him there. And Keigo... he was way more shocked about thier meeting than Ichigo. And latter even start to cry...
"Keigo?!" Ichigo wailed and wanted to hug him immediately. But than he stopped. He knew what happened the last time when he came to close and to fast. A heavy wind gust blew threw the destroyed balcony door and blew threw Keigo's hairs. That was the moment, Ichigo could see the crack in Keigo's head. This body was very close from falling apart...
"Ichigo?!" Keigo wailed back. Mentally he prepared to die. But before so, he carefully closed the door to the bathroom. He didn't want Kenta to to hear anything. Both Shinigami realized that Keigo wanted to protect the child inside the bathroom at any cost. They saw the pain in his face and the will to do really everything to not let anyone of them close to the boy. And Keigo was really ready to everything. There was no runaway anymore... it was time to face his fears...
"Keigo... What happened to you? I am so... so endlessly sorry!" Ichigo wailed and sank down on knees. Keigo didn't believe his eyes. If it was a trick, it was a good one. But Ichigo really looked totally distraught. "I know everything... Rukia told me everything and she forced this so called department to tell her everything... I know you only did this to protect your son. You never wanted him to be able to see Shinigami. You didn't want that he gets treated so poorly like we did it with you. We were terrible friends..."
"You... You said the exact same words ten years ago..." Keigo remembered and thought about the fateful evening on his terrace. "... and... in a few seconds the others will storm in, too and... than... what's next?"
Ichigo didn't know what to say. Another heavy explosion in town let the house tremble. The fire was visible threw the destroyed balcony door. A nearby house collapsed and the power finally failed here, too. And than suddenly Orihime, Rukia, Renji, Kazui and Ichika appeared in the door just like Keigo predicted. Everyone with pure horror in his face when they saw Keigo and his current condition.
The Shinigami from the department of humans with spiritual awareness took his ID out of his pocket to prove to Keigo that he told him the truth and that he was just here to help him.
"Asano, our department was formed after the Kurosaki-Gate. Also because of you. We listened to your interview you hold with Hirabata. And we will force the Kurosaki's and the Abarai's to listen to it before they even dare to get close to you..." the Shinigami explained, confusing everyone present just more than he already was. "Asano, after your accident your soul was put into this special isolating Gigai, to prevent that you attract Hollows. Your human-body was so hardly injured that the present Shinigami had to take care of your body. But you freaked out and than you burned your body and..."
"That was my real body?" Keigo asked scared. "I burned my real body?"
"You... You don't know that this is just a Gigai?" now the Shinigami was pretty confused. "Well... that explains everything... But you have to know that the Gigai was hardly damaged when Arisawa attacked you. It is going to fall apart. Your soul will be exposed and than you will..."
The Shinigami was not able to finish, because Keigo start to scream...
"HOLLOW!"
And suddenly there was a huge noise in the bathroom...
Inside the bathroom, Kenta hid in the bathtub for the whole time. His father ordered him so and so he did. He didn't hear what they talked about in the other room. But he could hear that it was about a guy called Keigo... But than he realized that something went closer to them... Long before the distracted Kurosaki's and the Abarai's could feel it. But before he was able to scream, something crashed threw the wall right over him and a big black claw grabbled him...
"DADDY!" he screamed as loud as possible.
Keigo, who stood in front of the door for the whole time, stomed into the bathroom and tried to get to his son.
Kenta could see his father approaching and later was able to grab him, but the Hollow jumped off and flew away with the two
It happened so fast, that no present Shinigami was able to react. They all just saw Keigo and his son flying away with the Hollow...
Please review. STAY HEALTHY!