Ichigo'S POV
Ichigo had burst out of the dorm and made his way towards the spiritual pressure of the hollow he'd just heard.
What the hell? I thought the Soul Reapers in this jurisdiction would take care of these threats!
Ichigo had continued to train even after the incident with Yhwach. His training got him to a point where his Soul Reaper body and his Human body were shared. He no longer need a gigai. His body would just be able to call forth his reiatsu and envelop his body, making his human form disappear and change him into his Soul Reaper form.
Ichigo had just exited the building and swapped into his Soul Reaper form and took off in the direction of the Hollow.
RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!
Ichigo had appeared before the Hollow. The Hollow was a four legged spider with it's typical skull shaped mask. Ichigo looked at the Hollow and could sort of sense the reiatsu from it. The levels of this Hollow were typical, nothing a normal Soul Reaper couldn't handle.
Where the hell are all of the Soul Reapers here?
Ichigo pulled the larger of his two swords and fired a Getsuga towards it. The Hollow quickly dodged it and leaked out a dark fume out of it's mouth. The Hollow quickly made it's way around Ichigo, spreading the fumes around him. Ichigo felt a bit dazed. Like he had forgotten why he was there or what he was doing. Ichigo quickly snapped out of it when the Hollow lunged towards him and spewed a silky web towards him. He slashed the through the webs and floated above the dark fumes. He got a good look at the Hollow from above and saw a gas tank strapped to the back of the Hollow.
That looks just like the gas that keeps pouring from his mouth. Who or what put that there? Was someone experimenting on Hollows? If they were, Ichigo needed to alert Rukia and the others in the Soul Society.
Ichigo continued to analyze the Hollow. Trying to find if there was another other "augments" on it. After about ten more minutes of analyzing, Ichigo realized there was nothing else altered on the Hollow. Ichigo turned to the Hollow and drew his second sword. He quickly made his way towards the Hollow and sliced it in half. The Hollow disintegrated and he made his way to the closest Soul Reaper outpost.
Later at the outpost...
The sun was already setting and he just made it to the outpost. It was completely deserted. No trace of a single Soul Reaper.
Ichigo pulled out his phone and was about to call Rukia when he remembered that she had just become a Captain.
She's probably too busy right now. I'll fill out my report as usual and then I'll leave her a message.
Ichigo filled out his report saying he encountered a odd Hollow and that it seemed modified. He also stated that it could just be a coincidence and that maybe a gas tank just fell onto the creature. He submitted his report and left Rukia a text.
"Yo, it's Ichigo. I came across this strange Hollow, I have the details in the report I submitted, but what concerns me more is that there are no Soul Reapers patrolling this area. Why is that? Is something going on there? Should I come and help out?"
Sent.
Ichigo made his way back to the dorm and right before he entered the building, he reverted back to his Human body.
"Not a scratch." Ichigo muttered to himself.
The pros to not having a gigai was that he wouldn't have to store his body somewhere and have someone finding him unconscious and worrying. The cons were that his wounds would transfer. And not having someone who was an expert in Kido healing was making it a bit harder to keep his body in top shape.
"Well, should probably head back in and set up my room and get to bed. I'm gonna need a early start. Gonna be heading to that babysitting jobs tomorrow." Ichigo muttered to himself.
Asuna's POV
Asuna watched Ichigo leave the room and take off.
She turned around and looked at the rest of her boxes the living room. Asuna sighed and began taking the boxes to her room. She entered her room and saw the that there was a bed, a study desk, and an empty closet. She continued to bring the boxes in and started to unpack them.
Asuna started unpacking. The boxes with items that weren't clothes, she would set up in her room. Things like an alarm clock, picture frames, photo albums, etc. Any and all clothes were sorted by color and hung into her closet.
After spending some time unpacking, Asuna was tired out. She spent all day moving boxes around and unpacking them. She took a break and sat on her bed.
No notifications. No new texts. No new calls.
Asuna felt a bit lonely. Kirito hadn't texted her or called her. She began to worry. Felt they were getting distant.
No! Kirito is just busy. Like me. I spent all day unpacking my things. He's probably doing the same. Plus, he's on the other side of the world...
Asuna sighed. She layed on her bed and turned her face into the pillow she brought. She took a couple of deep breathes and turned her head to look out the window. The sun was setting and the sky was a beautiful pinkish-orange. She began blink slowly. Then, she dozed off...
In a deep slumber...
Asuna woke up, weary. In a dazed state, she realized she was locked in a small room. So small it only fit her body, with no space to move. This place was completely dark and contained nothing, except a door peep hole.
Asuna focused and looked through it, everything in black and white. Trying to focus her eye, she saw again had the dream. She saw the bat-like monster and the horned man again. She also saw Kirito on the ground, with a blood pooled around his head. She watched as the monster and man fought. Barely being able to see them, only for split seconds, she could only see sparks flying after clashing weapons.
Asuna began pounding on the door and began screaming.
"Kirito!"
Nothing.
"Kirito! Pl-please get up!"
Still nothing.
"Please...please get up. Kirito...I...I...need yo-
Asuna shot up, sweating bullets. The same window she dozed off to, now turned to a dark blue hue. She realized that her phone was ringing. Still frightened, she just picked up the phone.
"H-hello?" Asuna answered.
"Hey...babe? Are you okay?" A familiar, warm voice answered back.
"Kirito!" Asuna shouted, forgetting about her nightmare.
"Yeah, how's it going there?"
"It's fine. I just got here and started to unpack. I'm a bit lonely, but everything's still fine."
"You don't have a roommate?"
"Uhh...I do. It's just we just met and I can't say anything about him..."
"Him?" Kirito responded, sounding a bit troubled.
"N-no, it's nothing like that. I promise." Asuna blurted out.
Asuna could just hear laughing on the other side of the call.
"I know. I know. I'm just like teasing you." Kirito said.
Asuna wanting to change the subject asked Kirito a question.
"How are things over there?"
"Well, it's not the same as Japan that's for sure. But everyone is nice to me and Sinon. She actually is my roommate. Thank goodness, I didn't want to be paired with some weird dude or weird girl." Kirito said, sounding joyful.
"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying your stay there. What time is it there?"
"It's around 0400 here. It's about a 16 hour time difference."
Asuna was astound. Her boyfriend was calling her at 4am in the morning? She was lucky to have someone like him.
"Well, you should be going to sleep. I don't want you being sleep deprived. So, bed now." Asuna said.
"Yes, ma'm." Kirito said mocking a soldier.
"I love you, Kirito." Asuna said, joyfully.
"I love you too, cutie!" Kirito said, happliy.
Call ended.
She laid back down on her bed. Grabbing her pillow and cuddling with it. She missed him. She could only hear him. She couldn't see him, nor touch him, nor smell him. It made her a bit depressed.
The dorm room door opened.
She heard the person to the other room and enter the bathroom, which was connected to her room.
Asuna knocked on the door and asked, "Ichigo? Is that you?"
"Yeah, sorry. I had to use the bathroom pretty bad. Didn't mean to scare you." Ichigo replied, sounding a bit disgruntled.
"Well, I'll leave you alone. I'm gonna head to bed for an early start tomorrow."
"Sounds good. Same goes for me. I gotta head to a job interview tomorrow anyways. Goodnight!"
Asuna went back to her bed and laid back down. Plugging her phone in and grabbing her blanket, she laid back in bed. She remembered Ichigo talking about a job interview just now and it made her remember about the job spot she was looking at. She grabbed her phone and looked to see if it was still available.
Job status: Open
Well, she figured she should get looking for a job too. She was going to head out to the babysitting clinic tomorrow.