"Dialogs"
"Thoughts/ Telepathic talking"
Part two
Rukia slipped out of the camp as quietly as possible, stopping every so often to make sure she wasn't being followed or they realized she had escaped. Also, she was very scared, this would be the very first time that she went into the night. She couldn't recall ever having spent a single night without a roof over her head or being let out of the family mansion after sunset.
When she left the vicinity of the camp, it took her several minutes to figure out which direction to take, but, somehow, the moonlight formed a path that she felt compelled to follow. She didn't know for how long she walked, but she was glad she was wearing the kimono, the temperature was dropping more than she expected and the heat effects that the sake had offered her were wearing off, although the dizziness persisted.
She, for some reason, did not stop walking, she was following the moonlight path that was taking her in the opposite direction to the flowerfield by the lake she used to bathe that afternoon. It did not take so long, or so she thought, time passed distorted in her head, until she found another field of completely white flowers that emitted a silvery light. She was not amazed by the moon flowers, mythical flowers that only blossomed under the full moon, or so that was in the stories that her nannies told her when she was a child, however she was amazed by the beautiful steed standing in the center of the field.
The stallion kicked the ground, whinnied, and shook his head in a very peculiar way. She was fascinated by that being, his mane and fur were completely white and on his forehead there was a crystal horn that emitted a warm golden light that reminded her of the rays of the sun. When Aizen said that it was like a kirin, she never thought that he would be such a majestic creature that glowed on his own.
"You were calling me?" Rukia asked the steed when she was already at a safe distance and that he, in response, shook his head in an affirmative movement, "Why?" She asked as she approached the creature and he moved his head again, making her understand that he wanted her to caress him.
The unicorn began to snort and sniff Rukia's ears and neck, as if making sure that her scent was that of the person he was waiting for, which made her laugh at the tickles it caused her. And, curiously, his closeness cleared her mind of the sake's aftereffects.
"You're beautiful, you know?" She said after a few minutes clutching the neck of the steed. She did not know what the cause was, but she felt calm and relaxed with him, like she could go to sleep. The weariness of the day finally caught up with her.
The princess held the unicorn by his snout and continued stroking him gently, focusing her gaze on his beautiful hazel eyes.
"I am Rukia, sister of the Daimyo of Rokubanta,i" She was silent for a moment. "I wonder,"Yawn, "what should I call you..."She said before hugging him again and starting to fall asleep holding him.
"My name is Ichigo, little midget," She thought she heard the unicorn say.
"It's," Another yawn "... beautiful... name," She said before falling asleep, "and don't... call me," Yawn,"... midget.
Rukia felt very warm, she did not want to get up, but the dawn light, which began to bother her face, forced her to open her eyes. She was on the ground, leaning against the unicorn that was staring at her.
"I-ichigo ...?" She said, not knowing where she got that name from, when she realized that the source that offered warmth was him. The unicorn snorted in approval upon hearing her mention his name and began to sniff and lick her ears. "Stop it, ha, ha, ha, you're tickling me... Ichigo, ha, ha, ha, stop please... Ichigo..."
Rukia struggled for several minutes with Ichigo who kept tickling her playfully, ruining her hairstyle in the process by causing part of her hair to come loose and only the top of the headdress to be held by the tweezers and combs.
"I don't want to..." Rukia heard in her head"I like you...
"Me, ha, ha, ha, too ... I like you too, ha, ha, ha... stop, we have to go, ha, ha, ha, Aizen wants to hurt you," That sentence made Ichigo stop playing with her.
"Don't worry about him, the maiden has already taken care of him," The unicorn said a little seriously.
"The maiden? You mean O-ri?"
Ichigo didn't answer her for a moment, Rukia could feel the seriousness emanating from him.
"The unicorn that called her... died, right?"
"Yes, she killed him with her gullibility," Ichigo said, "maybe she killed Aizen to make up for her mistakes."
"I understand, or so I think... Ichigo, what happened to the flower field?" Rukia asked when she realized that the moon flowers were gone, in their place there were normal wild flowers.
"The flowers left," Ichigo said carelessly, "they'll be back, the ingrateful primalunas are very capricious."
"Capricious? What do you mean by capricious? They're just flowers," Rukia was getting confused, did the flowers have a will of their own?
"Yes, the flowers were annoyed that you were more beautiful than them," Ichigo said with a poorly concealed false grief.
Rukia had a hard time believing what he was saying, but she had no doubt that Ichigo was telling him the truth. If he existed, the flowers could surely have a will of their own. There was so much information that she had to suddenly absorb that she leaned against Ichigo, his breath comforting her so much, so she fell asleep on him again.
"We have to go," Ichigo woke her up, her demeanor suddenly wary and her voice urgent.
"Huh? Leave? Where to?" Rukia said coming out of her sleep stupor and realizing that the sun was very high, noon had already passed for quite some time. She had slept for hours.
Why had he slept so long?
"Far and we must do it fast, we are being chased and they are not far away," Ichigo said alarmed.
"Chased? By whom? Didn't you say that Aizen was dead?
"He is, the maiden must be doing it"Ichigo said as he got up from the ground," I didn't think she would come after us.
"O-ri is chasing us... but why? She was the one who gave me Sode no Shirayuki back."
"Good, you will need her to defend yourself when we have to fight them. Now, get on me," Ichigo ordered.
"Yes..." Rukia said, although she was actually quite unsure of how she should ride his back while she was wearing a kimono.
"Quick!" He hurried her when, after a couple of minutes, she still didn't get on his back.
The urgency in Ichigo's voice made her forget all the shame that had stopped her, that caused the kimono to open up to the height of her legs and chest, undoubtedly greatly helped to stay in place by her poorly knotted obi.
"Hold on tight," Ichigo said and moved his mane indicating her to hold on to him.
"Ichigo, if something happens," Rukia began to speak as she drew Sode no Shirayuki, "and your life is in danger, don't hesitate to abandon me."
"Don't even think about it, midget, I would never abandon my bride."
"Your what ...?" She couldn't finish her question because Ichigo started to run at full speed.
A small armed commando was approaching their position, they looked different from the soldiers that Rukia had seen the day before, disheveled and covered with mud and their armor was misplaced.
And, although Ichigo and Rukia tried to lose them, and almost succeeded several times, they caught up and surrounded them.
"Give up, Rukia-hime," Said a female voice, although it sounded distorted and hollow, "give the unicorn up and we will let you go..." The owner of the voice made her way to the front of the group, it was O-ri, she wore armor and rode a completely black steed that looked too skinny to be normal, lacked eyes, chunks of flesh were torn off, and a strange, broken bulge on its forehead.
"O-ri?" Rukia could not believe that it was the same woman, nor could she reconcile that she seemed to be riding the unicorn for which she had appeared to feel distress. "I don't believe you," Rukia said, noticing that she also looked strange. Her hair, once shiny and well-groomed, now looked dirty and disheveled; her clothes were badly put on and barely held in place thanks to the obi, her creamy legs be seen from mount and it seemed that her huge breasts were going to fly out of the misworn kimono on her body.
"Make things easier for us, Rukia-hime," The redhead suggested in a way that sounded more like a threat," for your own good."
Rukia began to caress Ichigo's mane, that must have been O-ri's unicorn, apparently she had managed to turn him into a war horse, although he looked anything but magnificent.
"What did you do to that unicorn? How did you reanimate him?" It was obvious to Rukia that that unicorn had long since passed away, "And who are you? What did you do to O-ri?"
"Well, we ate her, isn't it obvious?" It was Grimmjow, one of the soldiers who had been in charge of watching her. He didn't look changed in the least, he was the only one of the soldiers who hadn't undergone a change in his appearance, "along with all the Gobantai soldiers."
"They are nekomatas." Ichigo mentioned, as he struck the ground violently with his front leg, "they have taken the soldiers' skins, the woman must be the Hime of the mountain nekomatas."
"O-ri-hime ...?" Rukia asked, looking for a name to refer to the woman in front of her
"I like that name, I hadn't thought about it," The woman ignored Rukia, which momentarily dislodged her.
"... Are you a necromancer?" She managed to ask immediately, the name didn't matter as much as getting out of there safely.
"And a very good one, Rukia-hime. We found this beautiful specimen after his mighty horn had been cut off. And, despite being dead, he still emits power, it's not much, just enough to keep the spell that revived him on him. And I want more power for myself," She said as she pulled out from between her breasts a piece of bone that was inlaid with gold.
"So you sent Grimmjow to infiltrate Aizen's camp," Rukia's face was serious and hard. "You want his horn," She didn't ask, it was a statement.
"You are very clever, I only hoped to get the horn of this unicorn, but when they cut it off, it lost all its magical qualities, now it is only a piece of common bone," O-ri-hime threw the fragment to the ground, it was nothing more than a piece of trash for her.
The act produced in Rukia a feeling of anger, that was not the way to treat the deceased unicorn. Ichigo seemed to share that feeling too, he was kicking the ground with his right paw and he hadn't stopped wheezing for a while.
"I'm not going to give you Ichigo," Without delay, Rukia drew Sode no Shirayuki and Ichigo stood on his hind legs to look bigger, an action that intimidated several of the nekomatas that were near them, and then went full throttle towards O-ri-hime.
"We'll see, Hime-chan," The nekomata who wore O-ri's skin said mockingly before drawing her own katana and starting a gallop with her unicorn. "Attack! Get that unicorn, I'll take care of her!"
When Rukia and O-ri's katanas met, the force they used made them fall from their respective unicorns. They did not take long to stand and begin a duel in which both did not plan to give in.
O-ri-hime didn't expect Rukia to be able to defend herself, she imagined that, like any other princess, they would have her at home doing basically nothing and making no more effort than necessary to lift her ink brush. And she, in general, was not wrong; Rukia did not have the proper posture and neither was she holding adequately Sode no Shirayuki so she was hurting her hands and was shaking every time she gave a thrust. If she didn't hurry soon she wouldn't be able to keep her grip on her zanpakuto.
Still, determination could be seen in her eyes, she would never allow even a single hair of Ichigo's mane to be touched.
"Give it up, Hime-chan," She scoffed at Rukia's inexperience. "You can't go against me," And made a movement with her katana in such a way that Sode no Shirayuki flew off Rukia's hands.
Rukia was barely able to evade O-ri-hime's attacks, at least, the biggest impact was being received by her kimono, which was becoming tattered and leaving small cuts on the skin that had not been covered by silk, and now she was forced to run to try to reach her zanpakuto that was only a couple of meters behind her.
"Gyaaaa..!" Rukia yelled as she felt O-ri-hime's katana bury in her side just when she had reached Sode no Shirayuki's tsuka (hilt).
"See? You can't beat me, just give up and give me your unicorn, he, he, he," O-ri-hime took her katana from Rukia by throwing her to the ground with a kick.
"Never," Rukia managed to whisper before feeling a metallic taste in her mouth. Her sight was blurring but she still had her zanpakuto in her hands and she could feel O-ri-hime walking in circles around her. That gave Rukia an idea, she just had to wait for the right moment.
"You make me waste my time, it took me a lot of work and coordination to steal this skin," O-ri-hime stopped walking when she was behind Rukia's back"and I would rather return to my mountain soon.
"You need my permission to take Ichigo," She tightened her grip on Sode no Shirayuki and adjusted her right leg in the proper position.
"Not really," She raised her katana ready to end that useless fight. "Say goodbye, Hime... What ...!?
Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!
O-ri-hime did not expect the cut she received in the middle of her speech, or that the cut would be wielded practically vertically, starting from her right thigh to her left clavicle and leaving a small cut on the nape of her neck from which a little blood spilled on Rukia before closing without leaving a scar.
"I have as much experience in sword fighting as you thought," Rukia said, panting, "but I am not defenceless..."
"That won't do you any good, girl, a normal katana can't harm me," As proof the large cut she had received began to close like nothing and just spilled some blood.
"But this is not a normal katana," Rukia said, falling to the ground exhausted on her knees. "Sode no Shirayuki is a zanpakuto..."
Neither of them expected what happened next. In the place where O-ri-hime's wounds had been before, a layer of ice was generated that began to cover her entire body
"It ... can't ... be!" She managed to scream before being completely turned into an ice statue that broke into pieces.
Rukia's attention soon turned to finding Ichigo and helping him take down the nekomatas that were surely attacking him, just by numerical strength. She turned her head to look for him, but it was impossible, the nekomatas in their real form were running in all directions.
They were running away.
The ones who could, because there were many bodies collapsed on the ground, both human and huge anthropomorphic two-tailed cats.
"Ichigo! Where are you?" Rukia began to crawl to the epicenter of the crowd, trying to avoid being overwhelmed by the nekomatas in her path.
Ichigo was nowhere to be seen, in his place was a young man who must have been her age or just a little older. He was beautiful, with long golden hair, he wore white garments with gold decorations and in his right hand, he had a completely black katana and with what seemed to be a black chain that he wrapped around his waist the hilt came, to Rukia's peace of mind.
Behind the young man, the reanimated unicorn could be seen, which now looked worse than before, had less flesh, his mane looked more battered than before and his skull was fully visible. The young man went all the way back and forth from the unicorn to the place where O-ri-hime threw the horn's missing piece.
"You can rest now," He said as he inserted the horn into the unicorn's snout.
At that moment the appearance of the unicorn completely changed. Jets of luminous water came out of the earth and began to surround and rotate around him, which, after forming a path of water that extended until it disappeared from view, revealed an equine that had completely recovered its flesh with fur of similar color to weed that form on some river banks, a mane made of dark green weed, and sparkling aquamarine eyes.
"Now, he's a Kelpie," Said the blond young man who began to walk towards Rukia, who was still on the ground. "Once a unicorn loses his horn, he cannot longer live, however, sometimes, we manage to transform ourselves into something else to survive, to put it in some way."
Rukia did not understand what he was talking about, she had never heard the name of such a creature. Although, she had never heard of unicorns before, and if such a steed existed she should not doubt the existence of such a kelpie.
The kelpie began to trot down the path of water, making it splash with each blow of his hoof, until he disappeared into the distance.
"Huh? How did that happen? I thought the unicorn was dead and who are you, and where is Ichigo?"
"Wow, midget, do I look so different that you didn't recognize me?" the young man said when he bent down to take Rukia into his arms.
"I-ichigo?!" Rukia lunged closer to him to hug him. "I'm glad you're okay! What happened to you?"
"I took human form, do you like it?" He said as he started walking in a direction that Rukia could not accurately determine as the world began to spin.
She, in response and without letting go of his neck, just nodded, actually the only thing she cared about was that Ichigo was fine. The fact that he was attractive was just an unexpected plus.
"When you finished with the Nekomata-hime using magic, you freed the unicorn from the control that she exerted on him, but having already acquired life, it could not exist in the same form as before."
"And what will become of him now?" Rukia said softly and loosening her grip on Ichigo.
"Now that he is a Kelpie he will go to live in a river or lake and will breed more kelpies with young maidens who agree to ride him, although I don't think they always do so voluntarily."
"I-I'm not feeling well, Ichigo..." She said before her grip loosened completely and one of her arms fell off Ichigho's side.
"Rukia? Rukia!"
He finally noticed the wound on Rukia's side and her blood's strange and blackish color.
Nekomata: Nekomata (original form: 猫また, later forms: 猫又, 猫股, 猫胯) are a kind of cat yōkai described in Chinese and then Japanese folklore, classical kaidan, essays, etc. There are two very different types: those that live in the mountains and domestic cats that have grown old and transformed. Nekomata are often confused with Bakeneko.
Kelpie: A kelpie, or water kelpie, is a shape-shifting spirit inhabiting lakes in Scottish folklore. It is a Celtic legend; however, analogues exist in other cultures. It is usually described as a black horse-like creature, able to adopt human form.