Chapter 2: Family Situation
(5/10/2021):
Alright, long time coming since I updated the first chapter back in February. Technically speaking, this chapter has been written since the beginning of March, but I got slammed with work and only focused on editing it in my spare time when I wasn't absolutely exhausted. Things are leveling out though and I hope to get content out faster than a three month turn-around. I will say though that this was a lot longer than I meant it to be, so there's that. Hope you enjoy! =)
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." - Mahatma Gandhi
"GOOOOOOOD MOOOOORNNNIIINNNG, GUUUUUUURRREEEEEEENNN!"
"ENOUGH WITH THE WAKE-UP CALLS!" It was Guren's turn to drop kick his father to the bedroom floor when the latter tried to jack-knife Guren to his bed. It was another morning where he questioned his father's maturity and sanity for trying to "toughen" up his son. Were there any mornings where he didn't?
"Not bad, my son," Isshin said through battered breath, strained, but still holding together with tears in his eyes. Tears from what? Joy? Pain? "I have nothing left to teach you." Maybe both.
"This is hardly teaching any-!" Guren stopped mid-breath, foot held firmly in place on Isshin. Something wasn't right. "Wait…" He glanced over his father and realized with a strange, sickening uncertainty: "Where are your wounds?"
"Huh?" Confused, Isshin blinked to clear his eyes. "What wounds?" Guren couldn't believe it. He lifted his foot off and slumped down onto the bed, a far-away look in his eyes. Last night felt so real. Was it real? As Isshin got up off the floor, Guren tried to remember. What happened last night? A giant with a fish for a head came to mind. By itself, the thought was kinda funny (fish people, maybe?), until he remembered its eyes. Hollow and dead, filled with a hunger from a bottomless pit. And a woman...Kuchiki Rukia, wasn't it? He grabbed his chest, as the thought of a blade piercing his chest crept into his mind. That happened, right? Then...when it happened, a radiant golden light exploded outward in all directions. It felt like a great damn had released...and he wasn't alone. There were others, and they cut down all who stood before them. Yes, the fish head; he killed it himself, split its head in two and it disappeared into the wind. It hurt his family and he made it pay with its life. But...what happened afterward?
Nothing. He couldn't recall a thing.
"Hello? Earth to Guren, hello?" His father's voice brought him back to the present, or maybe it was him snapping his fingers in front of Guren's face. Guren grabbed his father's hand roughly and squeezed, his annoyance growing within. "Ow ow ow ow ow, uncle, uncle!"
"Guren to Earth, I've found the problem in your programming." After another bout of pressure, popping a few joints in the process, he let go. Isshin groaned and whimpered in relief, tending to his almost broken hand.
"Geeez, my son has a grip!" Guren wasn't paying attention to him though, for as Isshin shook his hand to get his blood flowing again, Guren was questioning everything else: was it a dream? If it was, it felt real. Maybe it was best to let it be a dream and nothing more. Who wants to try and explain that? Hey, we almost died last night, I fought off monsters by becoming seven others, and this all started after I stabbed myself. Great pep talk. As he got up to get ready for school, Isshin piped up. "By the way, a truck crashed into the house last night!"
"...what?"
Guren really couldn't believe it. In the side of their house was a giant hole, from floor to ceiling. Wood, splinters, and furniture littered the ground. Their living room and kitchen were a disaster, but that wasn't what surprised him.
"It's a miracle, ain't it? Took down the whole wall and no one was hurt!"
"Miracle? It's a miracle no one woke up! Driver didn't even give us the courtesy of their insurance number." Karin pouted after her rebuttal to her father's words.
"Hey! Breakfast is getting cold!" Yuzu's voice from inside the house carried well, but the words felt like an echo to Guren's addled mind. They couldn't remember a single thing about last night, believing the carnage to be the act of a truck driver. Maybe that was for the better, to live in ignorance to the horror of those creatures; so maybe it was a blessing. Or a curse, for now he knew the answer to his question. Last night did happen, a Shinigami was in his room, and a Hollow almost took the lives of everyone he loved.
'No wounds...on anyone...wait a minute…' As Isshin gathered up wood planks to board up the house after breakfast, a realization came to Guren. 'Everyone was healed...and no one remembers a thing? Is this "their" form of damage control?' Yuzu called out again for them to come, but Guren was in a far away place.
'Since she isn't here, did she go back to...Soul Society? And what happened to the other...me's?'
Karakura High seemed tame compared to what he had experienced. Late for class, but not caring, the quiet halls were a welcome relief. The only sound were the echoes of his footsteps in the hallway, a steady rhythm that brought a sense of normalcy. Having spent the better part of the entire morning helping his father, he welcomed the mundane of school. For once, he didn't mind the prospect of taking tests. Ring-ring-ring-ring! The class bell rang and like clockwork, he could hear the students mingle and move for lunch. So much for peace and quiet.
"Yo! Guren!" A voice called out from the end of the hall and though he could not see them, it was Mizuiro's voice. Once in view, walking through the sea of other students as they filled up the hall, he saw Mizuiro stand beside Chad and Keigo. It was nice to know some things weren't changing.
"Yo," Guren greeted as he walked up to them. Out of the three of them, Kojima Mizuiro was the shortest, 5'-½" to Guren's 5"-4", Asano Keigo being 5' 7½", but they were all still midgets compared to Sado Yasutora (or Chad) and his 6'-5½". It helped to have tall friends.
"We're about to head up top for lunch, you coming?" Mizuiro asked and held up his lunch box to emphasize his question. "You missed half the day already." He was the calm one of the bunch, short black hair, fanned out at the tips, but he did tend to point out the obvious. Eh, oh well.
"Yeah, truck hit the house and I had to help Dad with the clean-up." Guren replied, flinging his school case over his shoulder. Keigo's mouth dropped from shock, and one could feel the panic before he spoke.
"What?! Why am I just hearing this?!" Ah, Keigo, the "drama" king, not because he caused it, no, but he loved hearing about it. With medium length brown hair, he thought himself quite nice looking, if only in his head. Not the worst to know.
"Cause you slept through first period." Mizuiro chided Keigo.
"Oh yeeeah," he said with a sly grin on his face, as if appreciating an inside joke. Dense, maybe, but still not the worst. He had his moments.
"I could help." Chad's low voice made Guren blink for a moment and glance up. Chad was the silent one, of Mexican and Japanese descent, dark-skinned and wavy brown hair. From his voice, Guren wondered if the notion made Chad sad he didn't ask sooner, but Chad was stone-faced; not an emotion to be seen. Nope, not sad, just being a friend. Guren couldn't help but imagine Chad lifting an entire crate of wood and fixing up the wall, beating down his Dad should the good doctor attempt to help. His size wasn't just for show.
"Nah, we got it covered," Guren replied with a nervous chuckle. Try as he might, the mental image made him think he was tiny compared to the giant. The guy does have more than a foot on him.
"Hey, find Tatsuki later!" Keigo suggested, pointing down the hall to their class. "She keeps thinking you might be dead, or something."
"Sorry to disappoint. Still very much alive." Poor Tatsuki, being teased, but Guren was glad she didn't hear Keigo, before he became 'poor' Keigo instead. Arisawa Tatsuki was a childhood friend of Guren's. They met at a karate dojo when they were four and they've sparred together ever since. The idea of her beating up Keigo brought a smirk to his face, but he knew he didn't have to wait too long. Before the end of the week, Keigo would say something to piss her off.
"Son of a...are you...Kurosaki Guren?" Eh? No, it couldn't be. He knew that voice. He gulped on reflex and turned, only to look into the eyes of the very real, not a dream, woman from last night: the Shinigami. What? WHAT?! He just felt like his brain short circuited. "Nice to meet you!" She followed up her greeting with a curtsy. Why was she wearing the same uniform as the female student body, here, at Karakura High?
"Ah, Guren, this is Kuchiki Rukia." Mizuiro introduced. "She just transferred to the area because of a family situation. She's in the same class as our's." Same...class...so she's a student here now, is that it? Since when?! And how can they see her?!
"Right…" Guren replied, inwardly groaning as he gave Rukia a look of 'I don't believe a word of this'. The only thing she did was smile, the same one given by people when trying to sell a convincing lie. If it was anyone else, given the circumstances, it might have worked. With him? Fat chance.
"Kurosaki-kun, I don't have any textbooks yet. May I look at your's?" She offered her hand as if she were to grab them from him, but when he looked down, he could clearly see writing on her hand that read: 'Make a scene and I'll kill you!' Lovely, just lovely. First she stabs him last night as a Shinigami, now as a new student? Didn't she have better things to do than to involve him in...whatever she does?
"Sure...right...my locker is...down...this way…"
"Alright, why the hell are you here?!"
"So much yelling! Whatever shall I do? I cannot possibly stop someone so strong!"
"For goodness sake, stop talking like that!" Guren felt like he was beating his head against a wall talking to this damn woman and it was making his skin crawl. At least now they were outside in the school yard, away from the others during lunch. This was one conversation he would rather not explain if someone overheard them.
"Hmph!" She huffed, crossing her arms and not the least bit amused. Spoiled brat. "Little rude much?" She had no idea. "I studied to blend with your culture if need be."
"Then blend anywhere else but my school! And that still doesn't explain why you're here!" Now it was his turn to huff as he jabbed a finger at her. "That thing last night is gone, so why are you here? Impersonating a student hardly seems like a good cover for you. I thought you went off to that Soul Society place you mentioned."
"Fool." Her sharp rebuttal caught him by surprise as she glared him down. "Only Shinigami can return to Soul Society. As it stands, I cannot. You took all of my powers."
"What?" Now it was time for him to be confused. "I took them? What are they, like clothes or something you can give away? I don't feel any different."
"That's because they are not in your body, but your soul. Last night, I had only intended to transfer half of my power. Instead, you got all of it." He nodded as he started to see how this could put a damper on things. "I'm forced to use this Gigai in the mean time."
"Gigai?"
"An artificial body Shinigami can use to be seen in the physical world. I'm using it until I regain my powers." Rukia yelped in shock when Guren walked up and pinched her cheek. She smacked his hand away in response.
"Seems real enough. No wonder the others can see you."
"It is. With it, I'm not as easy of a target to Hollows." She rubbed her face, flustered and not sure how to respond.
"Soooooo…" Guren drew out the word, contemplating his next question. "If you don't have your powers, what do you want from me?"
"Ah, yes, until I regain my powers, I need you to perform my duties in my stead."
"...huh?" His thoughts came to a full stop at the next station to nowhere. Need him to do...what?
"You have my powers. It is only natural you perform the duties of a Shinigami. I will assist, of course, but as the only one here who can do this, you don't have a choice in the matter."
"Right...hmm...how about no?"
"Excuse me?" In disbelief over his blatant response, Guren was already walking away before Rukia could regain her composure to speak. "Wait, you're-"
"Listen," he cut her off when he swiveled to face her, hands in his pockets. "I'm grateful for what you did, but I'm not a Shinigami. Fighting monsters is not on my list of things I want to do. I fought to save my family. That's it. Saving other people is your problem, not mine." As he resumed his stride, widening the gap between them, he barely heard her next words.
"I see. Then I have no choice."
"Huh?" He felt something tug at his shirt and initially, he thought she grabbed him. So that's how we're going to play now? But then he started to feel something across his back, neck, shoulders and down his legs and arms. It was like he was "shedding" off his skin, like how one sheds their clothes, but the feeling pulsed through his body. He "felt" himself pop, like air released from a container, but he was the air. His world flipped upside down as he fell to the ground, flat on his back.
"What the-" Perplex, he sat up and he saw "himself", flat on his stomach right across from him. "AH!" In a tossle, he scrambled to his feet. "That's me! What! What! How!?" he yelled in shock, flailing his arm toward Rukia after seeing "himself" in the dirt. "What?" From the corner of his vision, he noticed the black sleeve of a kimono across his arm. Grabbing at the outfit, it felt familiar, and that's when he remembered: this was what he wore last night, the exact same one. He turned to see his other self on the ground. "He" was on the ground, wearing his uniform, but he was also standing in a kimono.
"Well...this wasn't what I had planned this morning." Absently, his hand roamed to the hilt of the katana at his side. Its presence felt less like a weapon and more like an extension of his awareness as he focused on the tension coming from it; the same tension he felt last night, a power hiding under the surface, under his control over and to use as he saw fit. Rukia smugly dusted off her hands and he noticed something new: a red glove on her right hand, with a skull surrounded by blue flames.
"I take it...you did this?" She simply nodded as she took off the glove and stuffed it away in her skirt pocket. How did this work? A single touch of the glove and boom, no body? Pop goes his soul? Seemed a little too convenient, but so was the internet from the same perspective. He sighed as he straightened his posture. "I take it I don't have a choice at the moment, eh?" She shook her head.
"Follow me."
"Any particular reason why we came here?" It had been about twenty minutes since they walked over to the nearby park. Guren started to wonder what the deal was, for nothing special was going on. No Hollow, no souls, not even normal people.
"Does a spirit come near here?" Rukia asked, breaking the silence. Now that he thought about it…
"Yeah, a boy comes here sometimes. About five years old. I've seen him maybe a handful of times. Why?" She took out a flip phone (Shinigami have phones?), opened it, and showed him the screen.
"Orders from Soul Society. They detected a Hollow would be here around noon." Guren had a sinking feeling about this. "If I had to guess, the Hollow is going after the boy." And just on cue, they could hear the scream of a Hollow: its blood curdling scream. Movement from across the yard caught their eyes and a spider-like Hollow scurred across the ground. Towering over most of the park's jungle gym structures, it pursued a boy of no more than five years. He was screaming, running with desperation, and Guren's blood ran cold.
"Help me! Help!" the boy cried out. Guren couldn't just stand back and watch this unfold. Just as he was about to draw his blade, Rukia shouted.
"Stop!" He glared daggers as he snapped back to her. "He's a stranger, right? Why help strangers if they are other people's problem?" Her stone face portrayed no emotion, an icy voice on the wind that cut through to his core. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was using his own words against him. Why?
"How can I not if he's right in front of me?!" An anger boiled inside and threatened to spill over.
"In front, or far away, it's the same! It doesn't change that they're being attacked." He ground his teeth in frustration as her words stabbed at him. "The work of a Shinigami is not that convenient, to place selfish desires over their lives! We must treat all souls fairly! If you want to save that boy, you must accept saving all of them, regardless of place or time, even if you have to sacrifice your life!" Your...life? The memory of last night replayed in his mind.
He was about to die. They were coming for him and when everything looked grim, she stopped them. She drove them back, but when the dust settled, she was bleeding, injured, and scared. He remembered her face. He remembered...
"Sacrifice…" he whispered under his breath. In the yard, the boy ran and ran, but he tripped over a tree root. As he scrambled and screamed his last, cowering before the oncoming slaughter, the Hollow loomed over to devour its meal, with one leg in mid swing, ready to strike. In the next instant, the Hollow howled in pain. Guren, in one fluid motion, drew his blade and cut off two of its legs. In retreat, it retracted from him as the air distorted and wrapped around it, disappearing into the wind. Guren watched and waited, blade in hand and did not budge, even to Rukia's presence when she walked up beside him.
"Guren, have you accepted-"
"Just shut up." His words cut and felt like a cord around her throat, as his eyes snapped to glare at her. They weren't the eyes of a scared teen. They were the eyes of rage, with flakes of gold power lingering behind sharp, terrifying eyes. "I don't buy any of your selfless sacrifice bullshit." Contorted into disbelief and shock, she couldn't believe it. What was he doing if he wasn't going to perform the duties of a Shinigami? "I saved him because I wanted to. You can call that selfish, but I'm not a cold, heartless bastard who won't protect those he can see. Is that wrong, according to your Shinigami duty?" Her face softened and her eyes became less stern.
"You risked your life to save me, but you didn't do it out of some duty as a Shinigami. Your duty is no justification for sacrificing your life!" Her eyes widened and weavered. The air distorted beside them and just as the Hollow roared for the kill, Guren's blade pierced its head, splitting it in two. It didn't have a chance as it disintegrated before them. What's more was she couldn't tell how he knew. He never turned his head. He moved his arm and killed it without looking. It was like nothing she had ever seen before.
"If giving your powers makes me a Shinigami, then so be it. But don't start thinking that I don't care." For a moment, she couldn't read his face. In a state of contemplation, but without any prompt from her, he strode over to the boy. The kid lay on the ground, amazed he was still alive. "Hey kid!" Guren's voice jerked him to attention, snapping his eyes to Guren's. "Time to send you off." He closed the distance to the kid, blade hilt at the ready.
"Send off...to where?" Now that was a good question. He wasn't sure about the details, but if there was one thing last night taught him, Guren would find out later, some day. He gave the only response he could think of.
"To Soul Society." And with that, he touched the kid's forehead with the butt of his hilt, leaving a kanji that shined with a blue light, growing brighter and brighter until it enveloped him. Just as quickly as the light appeared, it dispersed. All that was left was a black butterfly, fluttering and flying out to the sky.
'Excellent Konso…' Rukia contemplated and felt amazed, glad, that he did not act with restraint. If she didn't know better, she would not have suspected he was but a human. 'No...not quite human anymore…' Maybe he wasn't so bad of an accident, after all.
While she stood in her thoughts, Guren was...content. If this was part of the job, he could get used to this. He turned back to Rukia and she was smiling. If he didn't know better, she seemed a little proud of what she saw.
"Until you get your powers back, I'll help you out." She nodded in response.
"Alright. Thank you." He nodded back, sheathing his blade and glancing up toward the sky. Maybe one day he'll visit this Soul Society place. Maybe it is a good heaven for the people they send off, just like she said yesterday.
"Wait a minute…" he said out loud as a thought dawned on him. His realization came down like a ton of bricks. Rukia tilted her head inquisitively. "If I'm a Shinigami...then where are the others from before?" Her face went blank, the gears in her head turning; she opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, then closed it again. If thinking burned wood, the fire went out a long time ago.
"I don't know."
Fantastic...
"Oh, my dear sister, everything is hidden within, right? The Jade box, passed down from our mother, you must give it to me! Sister Marianne! Now! No! We mustn't open the box, Francois! No…!"
"What the heck are you doing?!"
"AHHHH!" Rukia fell to the ground next to the park bench, kicking up dirt, but desperately trying to hold onto her book. She didn't want it to get dirty, but there wasn't much luck for her black dress, soiled by tiny particles of sand. Guren seemed to tower beside her when she looked up, a bat in his hand and several baseballs in the other. "F-f-fool! You startled me!" She stuttered, slightly embarrassed as she sat up.
"Riiiiiiight, you and your horror manga."
"I'm-I'm studying modern language! I have to learn your-"
"You ain't learning anything but cheesy stereotypes. Besides…" He gave the bench a smack with the bat. The loud crack freaked Rukia as she scrambled to her feet. She glared for what he did and was about to say something when she sniffed suspiciously. There was a sharp odor in the air.
"You're...done?" she asked cautiously, wary of his answer.
"Yep!" Guren exclaimed, patting the pitching machine beside him. He felt pretty good after the workout, but when she didn't say anything further, he felt a little deflated. All she did was stare. To break the silence, he continued. "I hit all the balls it sent at me. The machine is supposed to test coordination and reflexes, right? So, I hit the balls."
"Including...the bad ones?" she asked with guarded disbelief.
"The...bad ones?" He gulped. He wondered maybe this had been a little too easy.
"Yes. The bad ones were the pepper-filled ones." Silence. "You...didn't just hit all of them...right?"
"Yep."
"YOU FOOL!" She screamed, not sure if she was more agitated over him hitting all of them or that she was going to have to replace more balls in it than she wanted. "YOU WERE ONLY SUPPOSED TO HIT THE BALLS WITH THE HEADS ON THEM!"
"HOW THE HELL CAN I TELL THEM APART IF THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME!" He yelled back as he held up two different balls. One was a picture of a bunny head and the other, while labeled as 'hand', looked much the same as the bunny head, only no eyes, nose or mouth. Rukia was about to tell him off some more while she crouched down to access the controls on the unit, but as she assessed the control panel's touch screen, she stopped. She almost didn't believe the reading it was giving her. It was empty.
"Did you open it?" she asked. Guren didn't seem like the one to cheat at training, but she was seen worse in her time.
"Hmm? No. Only thing I changed was the speed. First couple shots were too slow, so I sped it up." As he explained, she opened the settings and her eyes widened. The safety limit had been turned off. Nicknamed the "Randy Johnson" after some baseball player in the human world, this wasn't just a pitcher machine. It was designed for Shinigami training to test coordination and reflexes, but with the safety off, it didn't just fire them: it launched them at over 350 miles per hour, close to the speed of sound. She glanced over at Guren and watched as he casually tossed one of the balls up and caught it on the way down.
"How long did you use the machine?" she asked.
"I'd say...about twenty minutes total. Why?" The machine had over a thousand balls. Past tense, for it was empty. The timing circuit had a default of one second, meaning it launched one ball every second. He hit a thousand balls, at 350 miles an hour, in under twenty minutes. And he didn't look tired. Sweaty, sure, but not the least bit sluggish. She wasn't sure whether to be in shock, impressed, or scared; he didn't know what he had accomplished yet.
'Becoming a Shinigami didn't just give him powers. It somehow made him physically stronger and faster.' As Guren took swings of the bat, practicing his technique out of boredom, she could not fathom how this was possible. 'Only two other groups are capable of similar feats in the human world, but he's neither. So...how is this possible?' The more she tried to reason an explanation, the more useless it became. The whys could be found later.
'I'm going to need a new training regiment.'
"Alright, listen," she started as she stood back up and swiped both balls from Guren's grasp. If he was capable of this type of feat, she needed to go over the basics sooner rather than later. "A Hollow's weakness is its head." She raised the 'head' ball up for emphasis. "Split its mask to end a fight quickly."
"Sounds easier said than done. What's the catch?"
"You sneak up on them. A quick strike, one hit, will end just about any Hollow." Guren recalled during his previous two fights ending them quickly with one strike, as she said, but it was always a frontal assault. "This is a foundational strategy for fighting Hollows."
"Sneaking?" He doubted aloud, wondering how this was a so-called fundamental. "Definitely easier said than done. We haven't had the time for that kind of approach before. I'd rather just take them head on."
"Fool!" She swiftly threw the ball at Guren, but he reacted on reflex, shattering the ball with a swipe of the bat. Greatly annoyed, but ignoring the smell of spice, he was about to rebut against her, but stopped when she continued. "These are Hollows, not humans." She raised up the "head" ball again. Guren realized the subtlety. The bad ball had captured his full attention, when it never dawned on him the Hollow could have been doing something else in his blind assaults. All it would take is a single distraction. "They will not care for honor or fairness. Many Shinigami have lost their lives in a straight fight. Don't repeat their mistakes!"
"How do you-"
"HELLO, KUROSAKI-KUN!" The two almost jumped out of their skin when a voice proclaimed their presence loudly behind them. After picking their hearts up from the metaphorical floor, Guren turned and realized it was Inoue Orihime on the hill pathway. She waved enthusiastically as she made her way down. Two inches short of Guren's 5'4", he could only describe her hair color as "burnt orange", waist length and held back out of her brown eyes by two six-flower hair pins. "What you doing here, Guren? Hmm?" She sniffed the air cautiously, wrinkling her nose as the spice hit her senses. "Is that pepper, I smell? Are you cooking? I've got food with me if you want to start a party." She lifted a grocery bag to eye level, but Guren was having some doubts as to its contents.
"Said food being…?" he questioned, drawing out the question.
"For dinner, of course!" She beamed, delighted with herself as she pulled out a leek and twirled it like a baton. "Leeks, butter, bananas and bean jelly jam!" Yep, serious doubts. He sincerely hoped she had the rest of the ingredients at home, but knowing her, she could probably whip up something.
'Speaking of dinner, what the hell is she making?' Based on the glee in her voice as she said it, she was happy with her selection at least. If he stuck around, he might not say the same. Pepper didn't seem like it would go well with those items in anything but a stew...but still...
"Oh! Rukia!" she exclaimed, waving to her as if noticing her for the first time. Was she not being observant again?
"Do I know you?" Rukia asked with a confused expression. Strike number two: one for Orihime, one for Rukia, and the odds were not looking good for either department.
"This is Inoue Orihime, from class, remember?" Guren reminded her, hoping this would jog her memory.
"Oh! Yes, Inoue-san, it's a pleasure to meet you again!" Rukia curtsied in greeting (why?) and to his shook, Orihime curtised back (her too?).
"Like wise!" Orihime replied gleefully. Guren blinked in astonishment. Curtsying is a thing? If this was Rukia's default reaction, how was this going to play out with everyone else? In the corner of his eye, he realized Orihime's arm was bandaged up. An injury?
"Hey, what happened to your arm?" he asked, pointing to her left arm.
"Oh this? A car hit me, but it's nothing," she said, scratching the back of her head out of embarrassment. Only it wasn't with her left hand.
"A car hit you?!" Guren shouted. "You need to get it looked at!"
"I'm fine, really. This isn't the first time this has happened."
"There was a second car?!"
"And a third. And fourth. Oh and the bicycle." She started rattling off other incidents that had occurred over the last several weeks and he was slowly remembering each bandage she showed up to school in over that time period. Holy crap. Maybe he was the one not being observant. Strike three: they're all out.
"Does she get hurt a lot?" Rukia asked, leaning closer to him to whisper in his ear.
"More than you know." He answered, before returning his attention back to Orihime. "But really, get it looked at and stop, like, going around cars. Last thing you need is a trip to the hospital." As Guren attempted to talk sense into Orihime, Rukia's gaze trailed down to her bandaged leg and her eyes darkened, suspicion crossing her face.
"Orihime, is that from the car too?" Rukia asked and pointed to it. She knelt down for a closer look and with a glance, Guren wondered about it too. A large bruise crossed over most of the skin and it was oddly shaped, not like from any car that he ever saw.
"Oh this? I noticed it today, but maybe it's from the car too. I'm not sure." Orihime mused and thought back to then. She quickly forsaked the thought when she saw Rukia's face tighten, deep in thought with a hand on her chin. "Hey, everything alright?"
"What? Yes yes, fine." She replied, waving her hand around as if to shoo away the attention on her darkened mood, but Guren saw right through her attempt; she was slightly flustered as she gathered herself and stood up. "It just looks like it hurts."
"Oh yes, even worse than the arm!" Orihime affirmed, lifting her leg up as if to show it off. Guren could have face palmed.
"Then get it looked at!" he wailed, peeved she didn't seem to listen. Orihime scratched the back of her head again and blushed.
"Oh, I'm late!" she exclaimed, glancing at her watch and realizing the time. She put her leek back into the grocery bag and made her way back up the hill. "I'm late for my show!"
"Hey!" Guren called out and Orihime looked back from atop the hill. "Do you need me to walk you home?"
"Oh, no, I'll be fine, but I appreciate the offer," she said, flattered by his words but waving to them bye. As she walked down the path, out of earshot of them, she started to sulk and pout. "Shoot, why did I turn him down? Would have been nice to walk with him…" Though slightly sorry for herself, her remaining thoughts were filled with what she would make for dinner later that evening.
As Rukia watched her leave, she stood in dark contemplation, eyes narrowed and trying to figure out the solution to a puzzle in her head.
"Yo, Earth to the death god, care to share with the class?" Guren's words spurred her to attention as she blinked. He could see the struggle in her eyes, getting her thoughts together from the interruption in order to answer him. It was kind of amusing when she did that, but he could see the struggle in her eyes. Something was gnawing at her. It was enough that he wished he could help, but he had a feeling she would only let him go so far, like a line in the sand she dare not cross.
"Orihime...are you two close?"
"You jealous?" He teased, trying to break the gloom, and was amused by her exacerbated frown she made in response. Before she had a moment to tell him off, he continued. "No, not particularly anyway." Her face softened as he answered and he looked out towards the distant setting sun. "Our first meeting wasn't a good day for her." His voice contained a hint of sadness, a shadow of the far away memory that weighed on him.
"What happened?" she asked, apprehensive to know the answer.
"Her brother died." Rukia felt her heart skip a beat and her eyes widened in surprise. He didn't see this; he was caught within his own thoughts. "It was a car accident. We tried saving him, but it was bad. He bleed out internally and we didn't have the equipment to deal with it. By the time an ambulance got there...he was gone. I...can sometimes hear her scream." He felt his skin crawl, goosebumps going down as he folded his arms as he recalled the day. It wasn't a pleasant memory. "That was about three years ago now." He sighed as he dropped his arms and he turned to Rukia. Though it wasn't a good memory, he was feeling better for talking about it. He didn't realize it had affected him this much, so it was refreshing to let it out into the air. "Why'd you ask?"
"No reason," she replied, not looking him in the eye and she turned toward the hill path up. He thought about pressing the issue, knowing it wasn't the truth, but the look in her eyes made him stop. Sometimes it was better to let things be. He scooped up his bat and picked up the batting machine with the back straps. The sun was setting and he wanted to get home before something else eventful happened.
"Say, where are you staying? It's getting late," he asked, adjusting the machine straps to more comfortably carry it.
"Are you interested in my private life now?" she replied, giving him a smirk and a mischievous look in her eye. Touchẻ, teasing him back.
"Ha, you keep your secrets then. Don't come crying to me if you're cold under a bridge somewhere." Not that he knew anything about where she lived, but he was not about to pry that can open. As he walked away with the machine on his back, Rukia glanced back towards Orihime's path, a solemn look on her face.
"I hope I'm wrong," she whispered.
"Hey Guren-chan, where's my pajamas?" Yuzu called up from the bottom of the stairs as Guren rounded the corner, a towel over his head. He was not going to get dragged into whatever this was as he walked towards his room.
"How the hell should I know? It's not my day for laundry!" he retorted. Is some peace and quiet so difficult to obtain in this household?
"Gosh, you don't have to be rude, you know." Her pouting was nothing but adorable, though in his irritation, he was being short-sighted. He realized that and turned back.
"I'm sorry. No, I don't know where they are." Good, now he felt better as he got back to his room and shut the door. Everything was the same, but different. This time yesterday, he was but an ordinary human. Now, he was a Shinigami. Life seemed so simple before learning about monsters that ate people's souls. Just the thought made his stomach drop, but it wasn't depressing. He had the power to do something about it. He looked at his hands and clenched them. Despite not being in that form, he could feel it, deep down, like an extension of himself. But it didn't feel separate or new. It was as if he always had it, just never knew where to look.
Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep.
"Dah fuck?" Where was that noise coming from? Sounded like a pager or a phone notification tone. He walked over and picked his android phone off the desk. Nothing. 'Strange, where did it-'
Beep beep beep.
"Okay, I know I'm not crazy, where the-"
"GUREN!"
"WHOA!" He felt like he jumped out of his skin when Rukia shouted his name and opened the door to his closet. He almost tripped on his towel when it fell to the floor. "Why the hell are you in my closet?! And why are you wearing Yuzu's pajamas?!" Wait a minute, they're the same clothing size? No, that can't be. Yuzu always oversized her pajamas because they made her feel more comfortable. Still though, how did she get in his house? This was not on his list of shit to deal with today!
"Nevermind that, we have an order!"
"Another Hollow?" he asked as Rukia put on that red glove of her's. "Wait, what-" She moved to slap him with it before he could react. Oh no, not again. The feeling of leaving one's body wasn't painful, but it felt like the air escaping from a bottle of shaken soda when one opened it. Only instead of air, it was his soul and his body fell limply to the floor. In the same instance, a clawed hand reached out from a distortion in the air and tried to grab where he had just been standing.
'Here?! In my room?!' The distortion opened further as a head and body crawled out. It was like a Naga straight out of folklore, but its head was bone white from the Hollow mask it wore and a hole went through the center of its chest. The shine of its scales reflected the light of the desk lamp shade and the sheer weight of its body upon the bed threatened to collapse it. 'Damn it, I need to kill it before it attracts the attention of my family!' He drew his sword to cut the Hollow in one fluid motion, but the damn thing whipped just enough at the last moment. The tip of his blade sliced off the eye portion of the mask and it reared back with a roar of anguish. 'It feels pain in its mask? Good to know.' Blood spilled from the cut and Guren's katana dripped some from its tip to the floor.
"That can't be…" Guren muttered under his breath. His eyes widened as he watched it shriek, curling its body, and disappearing back into the air distortion from whence it came.
"It got away! Let's move!" Rukia shouted, opening the window and motioning for him to follow after her. "If we go now, we might-"
"Wait." She stopped and turned back to him. His stern eyes weighed in on her, forceful and unrelenting. "That wasn't a Hollow. That was Orihime's brother!" His words gripped the air like a vice and felt like stones in their hearts. He did not understand why, but her face softened at his words. She knew. She had hoped this situation wouldn't come, but no one can predict everything.
"Remember when I said we don't attack Hollows from the front?" She asked. He nodded. "Other than practicality, it is so we do not see the face of who they once were. At one time, Hollows were people."
"What…?" These monsters were people before? How? Why? When? The mix of confusion, frustration and questions must have shown on his face because she raised her hand to seize his attention.
"I'll explain on the way. Right now, we have to move! Orihime is in danger!" All indecision was swept from his face and he nodded. Grabbing a napkin from his desk, he wiped the blood from his blade and sheathed his sword.
"Let's go."
"Riding on my back was not my idea of teamwork!" As he leaped through the air, jumping from roof to roof, Rukia was situated on his back. While she kept her balance well and didn't interfere with his movements, the entire thing felt a little awkward. He didn't know he could jump or move like some olympic athlete, but here he was, scaling buildings in a single bound. The whole thing would never have occurred to him until she shoved him out the window. He landed on his feet just fine, but she landed on him, like mounting a horse and commanding her noble stead to get moving. Oh, he was so going to get her later. "Besides, won't others see you? You're still in your Gigai."
"It's unavoidable," she said, keeping steady by gripping the collar of his kimono. "If you want, I can carry a broom and make people think I'm a witch."
"It's not Halloween yet." As the wind blew past them, he was not bothered by his speed. He thought maybe it would be straining to go as fast as he was, but no, it felt as natural to him as breathing, without restraint or exertion. "Now, what exactly are Hollows?"
"Like I said, they were once people," she explained as he picked up the pace. "When humans die, over time, they can lose their sense of self if Shinigami cannot get to them. Eventually, they warp themselves to fulfill the purposes they believed they had in life, to fill a void left from living an incomplete life. They become Hollows and destroy the very things they wanted to protect while alive. Ever heard of stories of how spouses pass shortly after the other dies? They became Hollows and ate their souls." How morbid. The thought sent a shiver down his spine. Now he was starting to question if other things were caused by Hollows as well.
"Hollows do not kill because they want to. They try to fill the emptiness of where their heart once lay." Their heart? The holes in their chests stood out to Guren as the literal embodiment of what she described.
'No heart…'
"If they don't have a heart, do they still feel like us?" Guren asked, spurred by the thought. If Orihime's brother is going after her, what is he trying to protect? Why go after Guren? Out of all the people Guren could think of, he was not the first person who came to mind for a Hollow to eat.
"I don't know. Never talked to one long enough to find out. They tend to want to kill me." Fair point. "When we saw Orihime earlier today, she had a bruise on her leg, remember?" How could he not? It was unlike any injury he had seen before. Almost like-
"A Hollow grabbed her there." Rukia's words felt like puzzle pieces falling into place. He started to get a sinking feeling of where this was going. "I wasn't absolutely certain until you explained about her brother. Normally it takes years for a Plus to become a Hollow, but three years is about the standard time frame. If it is her brother, she will be the first he goes after."
"But there's something I don't get," Guren interjected, picking up the pace again as he rounded a corner. Despite the twists and turns he made, she held on steady. "If Hollows go after those they care about, why attack me? And why just grab her leg? She was hit by a car, so maybe he was trying to save her?" he asked, speaking his thoughts out loud.
"Perhaps. Maybe it believed it was helping, but I don't know why it attacked us. It doesn't normally..." Her words trailed on as another thought occured to her. "Say, where did you learn to fight like that? The single draw you did, I mean."
"Combination of kicking someone's ass or my Sensi kicking mine," he replied, chuckling at a previous memory where the very thing happened when he didn't keep his form during practice. "Between back alley fights and the dojo, I hit the dirt running since about four or so. Been practicing Kenjutsu for a few years and I picked up some Battoujutsu techniques along the way. Back there was the first time putting it to actual use though."
"Could have fooled me." While it could be seen as an off-handed compliment, Rukia was being serious. Though only his second day as a Shinigami, he had a better grasp of fighting as a Shinigami than she ever saw during her own training days. If she didn't know better, she would have assumed he had already trained before. Her thoughts were interrupted when she realized where they were. "We're here."
"Yeah, I can feel it too." He landed outside Orihime's apartment and looked up toward the open window of the second story. He could feel its presence. Its roar followed a moment later and shook him to his core. Were they too late? Guren didn't want to think about that outcome.
"Go on ahead. I'll kick the door in." As Rukia vaulted from his back and rushed toward the staircase, Guren examined the open window. He could make that jump, right? Only one way to find out. Bending low to the ground, he kicked off and leapt to the second story in a single bound. He caught the window frame to prevent himself from falling, but when he looked inside, his eyes widened in shock. The Hollow stood up straight and slowly slithered towards Orihime.
"Who are you? Stay back! Stay back!" she shouted, backing away slowly from the approaching terror.
"Have you forgotten my voice, Orihime?" it asked sorrowfully. It flexed its clawed hand before clenching it. Its fist shook violently and the Hollow roared in anger. "You wound me, Orihime! YOU WOUND ME!" It snapped open its claws and dashed forward, with every intention to cut her down where she stood. It never made it within a meter of her when Guren appeared and blocked its path. In one draw of his blade, he sliced open its extended palm. It screamed and fell back, retreating within a distortion of air and disappearing from sight.
"That is so cheating," he sighed as he glanced from side to side, on the lookout in case it showed up again. "How do they do that anyway?" At the side wall of the room, he saw Tatsuki lying on the ground, blood on her shoulder, but still breathing. 'Damn it, she was attacked too. I hope she's-'
"Guren?" Huh? Orihime's voice felt like a far away echo and his blood felt like ice in his veins. He only ever heard a voice like that under one circumstance. "Guren, is that you?" He turned to look at her. Shaken, but holding herself together, she looked relieved and okay. Nothing odd or out of place...except for the chain sticking out of her chest. His eyes followed it to the opposite wall and he felt his heart sink. Over in the corner was also Orihime, lying on the floor and not moving, an identical chain in her chest in the same, exact spot. "I knew that was you!"
"Orihime," he spoke, his voice as heavy as lead as he turned back to her. "You're able to see me…" his voice trailed on, unable to finish the rest of his statement without his worst fear being realized.
"Yes." The disembodied voice of the Hollow reverberated from the center of the room across from them as the air twisted and turned. Its body phased through its portal and slid to the floor. Its matted black hair did little to conceal the red, empty eyes that stared them down. The white, jagged skull opened its jaw to reveal two sets of teeth and a hiss of air escaped its mouth. "Orihime is dead. And soon, so shall you!" Like a snake poised for the kill, its tail whipped with such speed, Guren barely had time to raise his sword to defend against the brunt of the impact. Unfortunately, he didn't have the footing; when it collided, it threw him through the apartment wall; the wall was torn apart and splinters rained all around. As he spun to regain his balance, he searched for something solid to slide on, so that maybe he didn't go through the next building. As if on command, he skid to a stop.
'That's...new,' he mused and realized why he stopped. It wasn't the ground he stopped on. He stopped himself using nothing but air, his body suspended several feet above the ground. 'I'm on air?' Guren didn't have much time to contemplate the mechanics, however, as the Hollow strode over to the hole in the apartment. It roared and lashed its tail further than he thought it could, like a whip snapping outward to reach its target. 'Shit!' It was quicker than him and he could only watch as it headed straight for him.
"Arrrrrrrgh!" The Hollow howled in pain and swung its tail back. Just as the tail tip was about to pierce Guren, a figure sprang into view between them and slashed through it with a blade. The fluid motion left him a little dumb-founded. He hadn't expected someone to come to his rescue.
"You gonna stand stupid or actually help me?" The rebuttal snapped him to attention. He recognized that voice. At a full height of 6'7", the red haired woman glanced behind her at him, her nodachi rested on her shoulder, and she smirked at the shocked look upon his face. "What? You surprised you're not the only red head?"
"Ah-no, I'm not. But wait a damn minute," replied a flustered Guren, trying to collect his thoughts. "Where have you been? Would have been nice if you got here earlier!"
"Please, as if, I came as soon as I sensed the Hollow. Speaking of which…" she said and repositioned herself towards the apartment. "It has been ignoring us." Guren's eyes narrowed at the implication. Using the air like stepping stones, they vaulted forward.
"You...stopped praying for me, Orihime." It was talking to her? They stopped at the new apartment hole edge, looking in, but with their blades at the ready. It wasn't moving; just...talking. From a low slouched position, it was well within arm's reach to kill her, but...it hadn't.
"Sora?" Orihime reached out to its mask and moved the bangs of its hair to the side. The cut from earlier had sliced off part of its mask and they could clearly see an eye: a human eye. Earlier, Guren had seen its eyes as red, blackened and dark, so why was it different now? What changed? "Is that you, Sora?" Orihime whispered, not sure whether or not to believe what lay before her own eyes.
'Human in a previous life…' Guren mused and wondered what triggered Sora to fall into despair and turn into a Hollow. It had said something about...praying?
"Son of a…" Rukia was able to bash the door in, stepping inside, but immediately stopped when she saw the Hollow from across the kitchen and Orihime reaching out to it. She visibly gulped, apprehension sinking into her face, but despite breaking the door, it did not react to any of them. Either it didn't notice, or it didn't care. Its attention was completely on Orihime.
"Yes, it's me, Orihime." It bowed its head, solemn and reserved. If Guren didn't know better, it was giving her revererance. Rukia's words played over in his head. If people twisted their souls to fulfill the purpose they believed they held in life, what was Sora's purpose?
"Why did you hurt Tatsuki? Guren?" Orihime asked, running her thumb over its forehead. Its eyes narrowed venomously and it snapped back up, edging forward slightly.
"They tore us apart!" It roared and hissed in displeasure. The other Guren inched closer and stepped to the side quietly, blade down at her side. She was trying to come up from behind it, but it was too close to Orihime. They both knew they'd have to wait for the right moment. "You prayed for me every day. I was happy, but you met her and prayed less! And after that boy, you stopped!"
"Sora, it's not like that!" she pleaded, but her words fell on deaf ears as it shouted again.
"I was so lonely! LONELY!" The other Guren leapt forward, but the Hollow's tail twisted and smashed into her, throwing her clear into the corner as she crashed to the floor.
'Shit!' Guren tried to take advantage of the opening too, but he was too late. It swiped with its claw and he narrowly blocked the blow with the edge of his blade sunk into its palm. Its strength pushed him back. He was having a hard time keeping his footing and his blade shook slightly as they glared each other down.
"Stop, Sora!" Orihime screamed. She dashed over and started pounding her fist against its side. Not like it did anything to it anyway. "The brother I loved would never hurt people! Stop it!" Okay, maybe that would. It screeched, abandoning his stand-down with Guren, retracting its hand, and it twisted its body to turn to her. With both hands, it grabbed her by the chest and proceeded to crush her. She struggled against the strain and could barely breathe, pain radiating through her body.
"You did this! You made me this way! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" It never followed through on its threat. In the next instant, Guren slashed through both of its wrists, severing its limbs from its body, and it howled in pain before turning to bellow at Guren. "Why do you always get in the way, Kurosaki!?"
"Because you should never threaten your family!" Guren thundered, anger seething through his veins as he whipped his blade to point at its mask. It stopped and dared not move. They both knew the stakes here, but he was furious. "What kind of brother would say he'd kill his own sister? Even a monster knows better!" He wanted nothing more than to split its skull wide open, but he would never forgive himself if he did it right in front of Orihime.
"Monster? I protected her from the monsters!" It cried out and shifted in place. Though its wrists were cut off and its arms bleeding, it didn't seem bothered. Damn these Hollows and their pain tolerance. "I rescued her from our parents! Vile and abusive! I would kill them now if they weren't already dead! When I died, I still protected her! You will not get in my way!"
"SHUT UP!" Guren couldn't stand it anymore. The rage inside built to a feverpitch and it burst like a bomb. He would not hold back anymore. The Hollow had prepared to lung toward him, but when Guren's rage spilled forth, it stopped. It suddenly wasn't sure anymore. Off to the side, Rukia watched the exchange and waited to see if and when she could intervene. It was a double-edge sword; she had no powers, but she wasn't going to just sit idly by and do nothing. Around the same time, the other Guren had gotten up and circled around the Hollow. She wasn't much worse for wear either, bleeding from her head, but this Hollow wasn't a fool. It had keen senses and could sense movement around it. That wasn't the most interesting thing, however.
'What?' Rukia suddenly couldn't move. At the moment of Guren's rage, an immense pressure dropped like a weight onto her entire body. 'That's impossible.' The other Guren noticed it too, eyes wide as they both looked to him. 'In just one day, he's developed that far?!' She now recognized the look in the Hollow's eyes: fear. It wanted to bolt. For the first time, it was questioning its purpose.
"You want to protect her?! How about from the very thing you have become?!" He turned the tip of his blade and pointed toward a nearby mirror on the wall. "Go ahead! Look at what you've turned yourself into, and answer me! What do you protect her from?!" It waited. For a moment, all it did was stand there, the gears in its head running. It was unsure. It was afraid of the answer. Slowly, it turned and slid across the floor. Once in view, it gasped, eyes wide in horrow, for now it knew and saw its face. Were all Hollows like this? Were they aware of what they had become? What they had twisted themselves to be? Guren wasn't sure of that answer, but he had to ask. Could Hollows feel? Were they truly heartless monsters? Or were they simply driven mad by their own despair?
"Sora…" Orihime stood up from the floor, having been dropped from earlier, and walked to her brother. She raised her hand to his mask and tears started to roll down her face. "I'm sorry. I didn't stop praying because I didn't care. I didn't want you to see me unhappy anymore." It wept a tear, looking toward its sister and lowered its head. For the first time, it felt shame. "I wanted to share my happiness with you, not my pain. Remember the hairpins you gave me?" She parted her hair and the glimmer of it shined: a six petal flower, one on either side of her head. "I told you I hated them, but fate took you from me. They were the last you ever gave me and I will always treasure them. Please, Sora...I didn't…" Her words trailed off as her face turned pale and she slowly sank to the floor. Unable to hold herself up, she tumbled over, eyes slowly closing shut.
"Orihime!" It cried out, but Rukia was already there, kneeling over Orihime.
"Move! The Inga no Kusari is still intact. I can save her! I said move, damn it!" Out of all the things she thought she'd do, reprimanding a Hollow wasn't one of them. It hovered over Rukia, but backed away, allowing Rukia to begin the healing. With two palms faced out toward Orihime, Rukia's hands began to give off a dull green glow. The Hollow whimpered, with tears now freely going down its mask.
"I knew." They all blinked and looked over to it. Its voice changed. It didn't sound like a Hollow, but that of a person: a human. "I knew the entire time, but I wanted her to myself. I became...possessive. When she prayed, it was like I was alive again."
"She never stopped thinking of you." Sora turned to Guren, who flourished his blade and sheathed it. "Those who died or those who get left behind, they all feel alone." Guren walked over and knelt down alongside Orihime. "She would never intentionally harm you. She holds you in too high regard for such thoughts." As Rukia's healing helped stabilize her soul, Orihime's eyes opened and drifted over to her brother, a smile spreading across her face.
"Sora…" she whispered.
"Orihime…I'm sorry…" said Sora, who lowered himself over to her and bowed his head. "I…" A shift in the air reverberated through the room and he snapped back suddenly, eyes wide and he grabbed his head with his arms as he howled in pain. "No no no no no no no!"
"Sora!" Orihime tried to reach out, but Sora jerked back and crashed against the back wall, thrashing about and twisting his body. He kept repeating himself, but his voice changed with every other word, from his normal voice to that of the Hollow.
"What's happening?" The other Guren asked, her blade raised and ready, just in case.
"He's a Hollow! His instincts are trying to take over again!" Rukia stood Orihime up and tried to drag her back, but she wouldn't budge. She looked to her brother with both fear and worry; fear for what he is, but worry for his own well being. "Orihime, he's too far gone. He's not your brother anymore!"
"NO!" Orihime shouted and tore away from Rukia, stepping forward with her head held high. That was her brother and she'd be damned if she'd leave him to fight his demons alone. "He's fighting himself. He's fighting for me." Her hand drifted to her hairpin briefly, remembering the past; of a brother she loved and who would do anything to protect her. She steeled herself in her resolve and stepped forward again.
"Sora!" He stopped in his frenzy and hissed at her; his eyes were not human anymore. The Hollow was winning. In the fight for control, its hands regrew from the stumps of its arms. It flexed them with a primal fixation before roaring in triumph and setting its sight upon its target. One claw reached out to grab her. "Fight it!" The Hollow jerked to a stop, barely inches away from her head and it trembled. Something was happening, but what? "Fight it, Sora! Fight it and win! I know you can!"
"Ori...hime…" Its hand withdrew slowly, but began to tremble violently and it howled again, this time in agony as it grabbed its head and banged itself against the wall. "I...I...I…"
"Orihime, he can't go back!" Rukia shouted over its screams. "Once a Plus has become a Hollow, they can never be human again. They become slaves to their instincts, monsters of chaos."
"No!" Sora roared, turning toward Rukia and hissing in denial. "No…" His words turned to pleading, as he wrapped his arms around himself and sunk to the ground, his tail curling around him. A sadness settled over him, tired, scared; Guren understood that feeling. Knowing that despite all one could do, the past could not be changed. Life goes on. Everything goes on. Even the dead, it seemed. "Monster…" Sora unwinded himself, coming to his full height and looked toward everyone. His eyes roamed over each of them before settling on Orihime. "No. I am not a monster." A distortion of air unfolded, blanketed him, and he vanished from sight. He was gone.
"Sora…" Orihime whispered and collapsed, exhaustion settling in. Rukia rushed over to her, and after checking, she sighed.
"She's okay." All three of them sighed in relief. Guren stopped gripping his blade, not realizing he had this entire time and the other sheathed her sword, a far-away look in her eyes before she slumped to the ground on her ass, blade resting against her shoulder.
"That was not what I expected tonight," she said, glancing toward Orihime. "Is she safe? Is he gone?"
"I don't know," Rukia said, pulling out her phone to check. Several beeps later and she pocketed the thing. "He's long gone. My instruments can't detect him anymore."
"What does that mean?" asked Guren as he knelt down beside her and Orihime. There was still a lot he didn't understand.
"I'll explain later. Right now, we need to get her back into her body." With raised palms, she started up her Kido again, the green glow spreading out to Orihime. A few minutes later, her soul phased back into her body and her eyes slowly opened. As if from a long nap, she stretched, popping a few joints in the process and sat up, looking between the three of them.
"Holy crap, that wasn't a dream. I've got some ques-"
POP! Rukia pulled a device from her pocket, held it in front of Orihime, pressed a button and something similar to a firecracker went off in her face, knocking the poor girl out, and down to the floor she went.
"What the hell was that?" yelled Guren, taken completely by surprise for the new gadget she took out from nowhere. Where the hell was she storing these things?
"Kiokuchikan or memory replacement. This is what lets us do it, a kikanshinki or Account-Replacement Spirit Device," she said, holding up the thin device that looked like a cigarette lighter. "It replaces the memories of the last few hours. We won't know what they are until they wake up though. Hmm…" She realized Guren was giving her this 'what is this shit?' kind of look and tried to explain further. "You'll see what I mean in the morning. Now that one over there..." She got up and walked over to Tatsuki. Guren rose up to follow her, realizing that during the entire situation, Tatsuki was lying unconscious over near the wall. Thankfully, the bleeding of her shoulder had stopped and she hadn't woken up despite all the commotion. If she had, that would have been another thing to contend with. "She might not have seen anything, but it's best not to take any chances." She lowered the kikanshinki and with a flick of the switch, another pop like a firecracker went off, smoke and all like the last one.
"Remind me never to give you any fireworks," Guren mused. Both uses in their faces and without so much as any alteration. He hoped it didn't use actual gunpowder. With that out of the way though, there was one thing left to figure out. He turned to the other Guren and walked to her. With an open hand, he held it out to help her up. She glanced up, saw the hand and smirked, taking it with a slap before rising to her feet. "So...how did...this...come about?" Guren asked, motioning between the two of them.
"Honestly, beats me," she replied as Rukia walked over. "Closest thing I can think to describe this...thing...is that I just...became. Moment you got stabbed, poof, I'm here. I imagine the others are the same way."
"Others?" Rukia inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep, though I don't have a clue where they went off to. It's strange, cause I'm a girl, obviously," she motioned to her figure who put Orihime's breasts to shame. They still reminded Rukia of a certain someone, making her blush slightly. "But I have your memories in my head, kinda like a book, only it's not mine, it's your's. I'm you, but not you, get what I mean? Eh, maybe not. It's weird." The more she talked, the more Guren was starting to get a headache from thinking about it. If this was how they came about, how were the other five fairing?
"Okay, so...where did you go after last night? It's been almost a day since you were...born?"
"Close enough," she shrugged, using her sheathed blade like a walking cane and leaning on it. A little ironic, since it did look like one. "I popped up a little ways from here. Sensed the Hollow and here I am."
"So you don't have any recollection of what happened after the fight?" asked Rukia.
"Nope, nada, zip, not a nut, not a shell, not a flipping clue if it hit me in the face."
"I didn't either, but I passed out after the last Hollow died...maybe they're connected?" Guren theorized. "Doesn't explain the time lapse though." Other than some kind of time warp thing (is that a thing in the spiritual world?), he didn't know how these events played out.
"I know someone who might know, or at least point us in the right direction." Both of the Guren's turned to her to elaborate. Rukia suddenly felt very small next to the two, both of them towering over her. "He's not my first choice, but he's the only one I know who could help at a time like this."
"Won't he start asking questions about...sorry, what do we call you?" Guren asked, motioning to the other Guren as he felt flabbergasted by everything up to this point.
"Name's Shien. Don't know about a last name, so I guess I'm Kurosaki Shien."
"...right, won't he ask questions about Shien and the others? Oh shit, there's seven Kurosaki's, plus my dad and sisters."
"They're my sisters too, you know?"
"We can't just have Kurosaki's popping out of the woodwork."
"We don't have a choice in the matter. You're the one who got stabbed, not me."
"This just got a lot more complicated," mused Rukia as she rubbed her two temples.