A Small Defense
Chapter Five: Rumors and Mayhem
"I think you should give up on Ichigo."
Orihime pondered Tatsuki's words as she watched Ichigo. Tatsuki had known about Orihime's crush on Ichigo from the very beginning and had even encouraged her to take action on a few occasions, but in the last few days her tune had changed and Orihime wondered why. She briefly thought that it might because of the fight that Keigo said Tatsuki had with Ichigo, but then why would she bother telling her that Ichigo hates Spirit Hunter. It was during that same conversation that Tatsuki had told her to give up on Ichigo. Did Ichigo hate Spirit Hunter so much that he now hated Orihime? Somehow that did not seem right either.
"Orihime!" Tatsuki called, pulling the girl out of her thoughts.
"What is it, Tatsuki?"
"We were called to the principal's office."
"What for?" Orihime asked, failing to think of a reason for them to be called down.
"Probably because of Ichigo's stunt at the filming."
"But we didn't do anything."
"Don't worry, I'll get us out of it!"
Orihime smiled at Tatsuki's confidence and followed her out of the room. When they reached the door to the office; they found Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, Keigo and Mizuiro waiting to enter. It seemed that everyone from their class that had been at the filming had been called down. Tatsuki immediately walked over to Rukia.
"Hey, is everything okay?" She asked the petite girl standing next to Ichigo.
"Hm?" Rukia responded, before her eyes suddenly widened in understanding. "Oh, yes, everything is okay! No harm done!"
"Didn't I already tell you everything was okay?" Ichigo asked in irritation.
"You did, but I wanted to hear it from Rukia."
Orihime was a little surprised by Tatsuki's concern for Rukia -especially since Ichigo and Rukia had both been tackled by security guards. She would admit that at first it was more shocking to see the tiny girl being tackled, but Ichigo was the one who got knocked out, so why was Tatsuki so worried about Rukia? Maybe it was because of her hypoglycemia. The day before the filming, it had gotten so bad that they had found her vomiting into a bush after gym class. Thinking about it now, Orihime realized that Tatsuki had been acting a bit strange ever since they found Rukia vomiting.
Orihime did not have long to think about it as they were soon called into the office. Inside the students found themselves facing the principal, Ms. Ochi and Mr. Kagine. It did not take long to realize that the only one who really cared about the incident was Mr. Kagine. The burly gym teacher began chewing them out instantly, but was soon interrupted Tatsuki who claimed that she and Orihime were simply walking by and got dragged in. Orihime felt herself panic a bit when it seemed that Ichigo and Tatsuki might start fighting, but Tatsuki quickly stuck her tongue out at Ichigo before informing Mr. Kagine that they were heading back to class.
"Do you really think that's it's okay for us to leave?" Orihime asked as they walked down the hall.
"It's fine, Ms. Ochi and Principal Ogawa clearly don't care."
"But Ichigo seemed upset."
"Oh, that? Don't worry about it. Ichigo knows that I have his back where it really matters."
Orihime was tempted to ask more but stopped and turned her head when she heard rapid footsteps coming towards them.
"I see you escaped too." Tatsuki said with a grin as Rukia approached them.
"Where's Ichigo?" Orihime asked.
"He and the others climbed out the window while I was pretending to cry, I'm sure we can catch up with them if we hurry."
They found the boys catching their breathe and hydrating at one of the outdoor water fountains, and began walking back to class together. Even though most of the conversation revolved around Rukia's fake crying, Orihime found herself excited to be walking with this group because it made her feel like she was one of Ichigo's friends. The conversation was suddenly cut short when Rukia's phone beeped, prompting Ichigo and Rukia to run away together. Watching them running off together, something clicked in Orihime's head.
"I never noticed before, but those two seem to like each other, don't they?" Orihime said.
As the boys began to debate whether or not Rukia liked Ichigo, Orihime looked at Tatsuki who was avoiding eye contact with everyone. It was obvious to Orihime that her best friend was making a point of keeping her mouth shut.
"Damn it!" Ichigo said. "Again, you drag us all the way out here and there's no hollow!"
"Shut up!" Rukia snapped as she dragged his body out from behind a wall. "Stop whi-"
"-Oi! What the hell are you doing!" Ichigo yelled.
"Bringing your body to you!"
"Well don't! I can walk to it myself!"
"Ichigo, it's fine."
"Like hell it is! You're pregnant, you can't be dragging bodies around!"
Rukia rolled her eyes.
"Just get back into your body!"
"Fine! But you need to get that soul pager fixed." He said as he reentered his body.
"These false alarms aren't my fault!" She snapped back at him. "When it goes off I have to assume a hollow has appeared, so I report it. What else can I do?"
Ichigo sighed as he finished rejoining with his body.
"Well get it fixed, you can't keep going like this!"
"What's that supposed to mean!" She asked indignantly.
Great, now she was angry.
"Look, it's bad enough that you have to be there when there's actually a hollow to fight, but this constant running around for nothing can't be good for you and the baby."
"Oh, you think you don't need me anymore?"
"What? No! That's not what I meant!"
Ichigo was now panicking and trying to explain his concerns in a way that would not set her off further.
"Bickering, are we?" A man's voice said, causing Ichigo and Rukia to stop fighting and face the voice.
"How unprofessional." He continued as he walked towards them.
His features were hard to see in the dark. All Ichigo knew about this stranger was that he was tall and thin, with dark hair and glasses. He could also see that the guy was wearing some weird white clothes.
"Good evening, Ichigo, Rukia."
Ichigo shifted his position so that his body was shielding Rukia.
"Who the hell are you and how do you know our names if you don't mind me-"
"-I don't mind." The stranger interrupted. "I also know that you can see spirits, Ichigo."
"How. . . do you know that?" Ichigo asked in surprise.
The man turned his head to the side.
"Another hollow has just appeared."
"No way." Rukia said, right before her pager began to beep.
She lifted it up and read the screen.
"There's a new one here, alright." She said. "How did he know?"
"Which way?" Ichigo asked.
The man pointed to the left.
"It's over there. Can you not sense such a simple thing?" He asked in a mocking manner. "And you call yourself a soul reaper?"
He summoned a bow made of blue light and shot an arrow into the air. It soared through the sky and hit a hollow that was rising above the buildings. The hollow was destroyed in one shot and Rukia looked down at her phone.
"The signal vanished!" She said.
Ichigo looked up from Rukia and back to the man in white.
"So tell me, who or what are you!"
"Uryu Ishida. I'm a quincy. Soul reapers are my enemies."
"Just what do you mean?" Ichigo asked, moving his body to block Rukia more.
"Is that too complicated for you? I'll say it again, more clearly for you. Ichigo Kurosaki, you are my enemy."
Ichigo was not able to get the incident out of his head. Not only had the guy insulted him, he had also declared soul reapers -and Ichigo specifically- to be his enemies. How far did that extend? Did he know that Rukia was a soul reaper? Even if he does not, would his hatred for Ichigo extend to Rukia and their child? He had to find out. That being said, no matter what the answer is, Ichigo was still looking to pound the guy's face in.
Orihime was wandering the halls after school when she saw Ichigo talking to himself. She stopped and listened in for a moment, before realizing that he was trying to figure out a name, and she was fairly certain she knew which name it was.
"Do you mean Uryu Ishida?" She asked.
"Uh -Orihime. . . Yeah"
"It's a pretty cool name isn't it?" She asked.
"Yeah!" Ichigo said, suddenly enthusiastic. "I was just saying it cause it's such a cool name!"
"I agree!" Orihime said cheerfully. "In fact, I say his name to myself all the time while I'm sitting next to him in the home handicrafts club!"
Orihime was so excited to be having her second conversation, alone, with Ichigo. She was even more excited to learn that they had something in common. When Ichigo asked her to take him to the home handicrafts club, she enthusiastically agreed. It was her first time really hanging out with him, but as happy as it made her, she found herself questioning if it was right.
She kept thinking about Tatsuki's suggestion that she give up on Ichigo. She also thought about the rumors about his relationship with Rukia, and the observation that she had made yesterday. The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that there was truth to the rumors; but for now, that's all they were, rumors. Until anybody confirmed otherwise, Ichigo Kurosaki was single. Even if he was in a relationship with Rukia, there was nothing wrong with Orihime spending time with him. She was just introducing him to a new friend -or that was what she thought until Ichigo said he was insane and walked away. She felt her heart sink again as he walked away and she remembered Tatsuki's other words.
"I just don't want to see you get hurt."
Was he really in a relationship with Rukia? If he was, was it wrong of her to hope to be his friend. Was she just telling herself that she wanted to be his friend or was she secretly hoping that he would fall in love with her and leave Rukia? Orihime shook her head. How could she have that last thought? She did not even know if he was really dating Rukia, but she was certain that Tatsuki knew the answer. She spent the rest of her time in the home handicrafts club wondering whether or not she should ask Tatsuki about it. She finally decided that it could not hurt to ask -especially if she made it clear that she understood if Tatsuki did not feel comfortable sharing someone else's secret.
Uryu Ishida went to school with them. Not only that, he was in their class! Ichigo now found himself glad that Rukia had gone off to Urahara's by herself. He did not want her around while he dealt with this guy. Sure, there was a possibility that he was all talk; there was also a possibility that he did not know about the baby or about Rukia's identity, but Ichigo did not want to risk finding out the hard way.
He could not give this guy a chance to hurt Rukia and the baby, so Ichigo was determined to find out what he could. Ever since seeing Uryu in the home handicrafts club, Ichigo had been keeping a close eye on him and even began to follow him home. It turned out that stalking him was not all that easy since he was good at sensing spirit energy. Uryu boasted about his skill to detect spirit energy, and in the process, Ichigo's fears were confirmed. Uryu Ishida knew about Rukia's identity and about the baby. He assured Ichigo that he did not attack defenseless women and children, but his attitude still had Ichigo on guard. It was clear from the way he spoke that Uryu hated soul reapers. Even though Rukia was currently powerless and the baby was human, Ichigo felt that Uryu's hatred extended to them.
"Why don't we play a little game, Ichigo Kurosaki?"
"What- A game? You think I'm interested in a game right now?"
"I think you'll be interested in this one; a duel to determine which of us is stronger, the Quincy or the Soul Reaper. I'll show you just unnecessary Soul Reapers are in this world."
"A duel? When?" Ichigo asked.
"Right now."
Ichigo thought about it for a moment. He would not deny that he liked the thought of kicking this pompous guy's ass, but he was not sure if it would accomplish anything, he also did not want to deal with Rukia yelling at him for being reckless.
"That idea is ridiculous." Ichigo scoffed.
"Why do you say that?"
"Because I don't have anything to prove to you! I don't know anything about Quincys and I don't know what you have against Soul Reapers, but it has nothing to do with me -and you better leave Rukia and our kid out of it too!"
"What a surprise, you're afraid to fight. How do you expect to protect your child when you're afraid to accept a simple duel."
Ichigo's eyes narrowed.
"Was that a threat?" He asked.
"I was simply stating a fact. If your child inherits your spirit energy, it'll be targeted; and with a father who's afraid of a simple challenge, what chance does that child stand?"
Uryu had truly crossed the line this time.
"That does it. If a duel's what you want, a duel's what you'll get." He said as unzipped his bag and pulled out the stuffed lion that Rukia insisted he carry around with him.
"It's about time, Ichigo!" Kon complained.
"Hmm?"
"Why'd you leave me in that stupid bag all-"
"-Cough it up." Ichigo demanded, cutting off the stuffed animal's complaints.
"Wait a sec. Forget what I said about the bag. You can put me-"
Ichigo shoved his hand in Kon's mouth and dug around for the pill. Once he found it, he pulled it out of Kon and swallowed it, forcing his soul out of his body. He barely spared Kon a glance as he landed on his knees.
"Kon, you're wanna get back. I'm about to give Mr. Handicrafts some stitches to sew."
"Uh, I'll be over there!" Kon said, clutching his stuffed body tightly and scrambling backwards.
"Now tell me what the rules are for this thing, so we can get started."
Uryu reached into his pocket and pulled out something thin and grey.
"We'll use this to begin. It'll help."
"Huh? What is that?" Ichigo asked.
"Hollow bait. If I crush this, hollows will start gathering quickly."
"What the hell?"
"Whoever kills the most hollows in twenty-four hours wins. Simple, right? Even you should be able to understand that."
This guy was insane!
"Hold on a minute, this is just supposed to be between us! Doing that will put everyone who lives here in danger!"
"Believe me, no one will get hurt, because I know that I will wipe out every single hollow that comes here. If you had more confidence in your abilities to protect others, you would accept my challenge." Uryu said, before crushing the bait.
Suddenly, Ichigo heard a rumble of thunder. He looked up and saw a hollow emerging from the sky. It let out a roar, but before it could get any closer, one of Uryu's arrows shot up and destroyed it.
"That's one for me." He said smugly.
Ichigo grabbed Uryu's shirt and tackled him to the ground.
"Why so tense, Ichigo Kurosaki?"
"Change things back right now." He demanded. "You get those hollows out of here!"
"It's too late for that. Soon the bait will have the whole town crawling with hollows. Sorry, but the die has already been cast. You should use your time better, there's people out there who need you."
"Damn you." Ichigo said as he released his grip on Uryu's shirt.
"I suppose I should remind you that hollows have a tendency to go after those with high levels of spirit energy first."
Ichigo felt a jolt horror run through his body as he remembered Yuzu and Karin being attacked by hollows. He also remembered that Rukia, who was pregnant and defenseless, was off on her own in a town now crawling with hollows.
"DAMN IT!" He yelled. "KON! Go find my family and take care of them, I'm gonna find Rukia!"
Ichigo began running in the direction Urahara's shop without looking back. How could he have done this! He thought he was defending Rukia and their child, but instead he had put them in danger! All he could think about now was trying to get to Rukia and destroying every hollow he crossed.
Sorry that this isn't the best chapter. I decided to experiment with shifting perspectives and I was on a bit of time crunch since I'm going on vacation so I ended up rushing a bit. I also didn't do my usual final readthrough (although I always seem to miss something anyways).