ALERT!! ALERT!! READ THIS NOTE, PLEASE!!! I have edited this chapter so please check it out before going onto the next chapter (if there is one). It's pretty long and fairly written (couple of mistakes here and there. XD) So please read this newly edited chapter and leave a comment after.
Follow the Feathers
Disclaimer: I do not own Tsubasa Chronicle (anime nor manga) OR any of the crossover manga.
Chapter 1 –
Kurosaki Ichigo slumped down into the warm seat attached to his desk. It was nearing summer once again and the arrancar would take action in winter… At least there would be a lot of time before the attack… He would have to train…
His usual frown was still stuck on his face as if glued there. How would he start training…? Should he ask Rukia? Nah, that girl was…well… too bossy in his opinion. He yawned and looked over at his three other friends, Sado Yasutora or Chad, Asano Keigo, and Kojima Mizuiro.
Definitely not those three… well, maybe Chad… However, he really didn't want to bother him since…
His mind wandered to the first time they faced an arrancar. It was…pretty deadly and… His eyes saddened, it was his fault that Chad was almost crippled.
He turned his attention to Arisawa Tatsuki, his childhood friend. She was a fairly good fighter, but, once again, he really didn't want to bother her with sparring… Besides, he didn't think he could hit a girl…
Therefore, that left… Who exactly? Oh yeah, the other shinigami. His mind wandered to the tenth division captain, child prodigy, and one hell of a short shinigami (he wouldn't like that), Hitsugaya Toushirou. The kid was short and had a white-ish gray hair color! Would he want to be seen – ahem. Never mind that.
So what about the third seat of eleventh division, Madrame Ikkaku? NO WAY, his mind told him firmly. He really did not want any blood to be spilled and besides… Ikkaku would take it wayyyy to far.
Now, there was the tenth division assistant captain, Matsumoto Rangiku, but once again, his damn rule of no hitting girls. Moreover, another thing, he really didn't think he could keep his eyes off of her… AHEM.
Then there was that girly and vain fifth seat of eleventh division, Yumichika Ayasegawa. Ichigo certainly did NOT want to spar with that person.
Nevertheless, maybe Abarai Renji was another story… Maybe he might ask for a go… Just some friendly sparring between friends… Oh sureeeee, friends, more like rivals for Rukia's – AHEM.
Enough of that, he told his wandering mind as he crossed his arms and shook his head. A sudden tap on his shoulder shook him out of his thoughts.
He slowly turned his head around slowly as the raven-haired girl stared at him strangely. "What?" he asked slowly, as his mind became to grow faster and faster in the thinking process.
Rukia raised an eyebrow. "I…" she started, and then turned around with yet another strange look, "Never mind…"
Ichigowould have let it go if it wasn't the fact that he was so god-damn curious. "What is it?" he demanded, sleepily. Yes, he was that curious.
The raven-haired girl turned around and then… "They're annoying me," she stated bluntly, as she pointed a finger towards a group of rowdy people including Yumichika, Ikkaku, Keigo, and Renji.
He only gaped at her as she turned to walk away, hoping that he'd do something about it. He was, after all, their friends. He felt an eye twitch and turned around to see what all the fuss was about in the group.
This was going to be a long day.
--
"Maa, maa… That was certainly fun, wasn't it, Ichigo?" Ikkaku asked as the group began to walk to their respective homes from school. School had just ended and the group – consisting of Ichigo, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Renji, Rukia, Hitsugaya, Matsumoto and Orihime – were talking about the incident that had happened earlier.
"'Fun'? You call that fun??!! I could have gotten detention!! You could have gotten detention! For gods sake! That was a STUPID argument at that!!" Ichigo nearly yelled as the others cringed at his loud voice.
"Shut up Ichigo!" Rukia commanded, as she got ahead of the group and was now walking in the near front. Hitsugaya, Orihime and Matsumoto hung in the back, chatting about something.
"Why don't you shut up, Rukia? Why the hell are you even here? Aren't you and the others supposed to be taking care of the arrancar?" Ichigo asked out of frustration. That shut her up.
"Aww!! Ichigo! You shouldn't be so rough on a lady!" Ikkaku teased the orange-haired soul reaper.
Ichigo gritted his teeth and got up near the front of the group.
Toushirou frowned and placed a finger on his chin. "Something… isn't right…" he muttered to himself as his mind went over the things he did today and tried to find what was so unusual about today.
Rangiku heard his mutter and bent down to ask her captain. "Whatcha muttering about, Taichou?" she asked with a sweet voice. She leaned over at that too. Orihime did the same, curious to what the two soul reapers were talking about.
This only caused our dear little child prodigy or a soul reaper to frown even more. "Something… is going to happen… today…" he only replied before the group started to split.
Ikkaku and Yumichika went first, scurrying off to find their residence in which they had forced Ichigo's friend, Keigo, for them to stay. In exchange, they'll protect him. Everyone wins, right?
Keigo really wished he had Rangiku to protect him. But that only earned him a few death glares and a bashing on the head courtesy of Ichigo.
Rukia, who had overheard Toushirou's conversation with Rangiku and Orihime listening in, cast the child prodigy a worried look that he had missed and left with the flaming Ichigo.
She, too, had felt it. A strange feeling that tingled through her soul, (only because she didn't have a real body) and the clouds had just sudden darkened when a minute ago, it had been as clear as could be.
Something was definitely going to happen.
Today at that.
She just hoped it was for a good thing.
--
The rest of the walk home was quiet, deeply quiet. Not a word was even heard from the three of them. Not a word from the two Shinigami's and not even from the bustling girl in the back, timidly walking, staring at her feet.
Ishida Uryuu had not been seen for the last few days and she was getting worried. More than usual too! Her hands balled up into fists, fingers wildly moving about in frustration. She couldn't help it! She really, truly…!
She looked up, watching the backs of the two Shinigami's walking right ahead of her. She really cared about him… she had to admit it, she really, truly did.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice that they had reached her apartment door until the captain of the tenth division spoke up. "Oi… Are you alright?" he asked, quite concerned about the lady who was taking care of his adjutant and himself. (Though he tried to hide it).
Rangiku seem to notice his concern. She crossed her arms against her busty chest and smiled. "Orihime-chan, Taichou's just worried about you!" she reassured the other busty lady, patting her on her back, like a mother when Orihime had looked concern about Toushirou's question.
In return to Rangiku's answer, Toushirou only glared at his assistant captain and retorted childishly, "I am not!" Orihime had to smile at the captain and the assistant captain's relationship. The door clicked open and the three of them walked inside, adjusting towards the heavenly cool air of the apartment.
"What do the two of you want for dinner today?" Orihime being her usual self asked as she turned around to check if the two Shinigami's were behind her. "Eh?" she asked herself when the place she had turned around to see were empty of Shinigami's – whether it was spirit or body.
She smiled to herself. It must have been another Hollow nearby or some sort that had caused the interruption. No worries, she told herself as she spun around quickly, eyes closing with the smile.
"Nothing out of the ordinary."
Orihime snapped open her eyes and let out a squeal of surprise. She had not expected the tenth division captain to be standing in front of her with a scowl. "E-Eh?!" she asked, just about to jump out of her skin. "'N-Nothing out of the ordinary'?" she repeated, thoroughly confused.
Toushirou raised an eyebrow to match his scowl. "Didn't you hear me? I said nothing out of the ordinary for dinner," he explained slowly as if speaking to a younger child. Rangiku only smiled apologetically behind him, as if saying that it wasn't Orihime's fault that Toushirou was in a bad mood today.
Orihime nodded at the explanation and clapped her hands together, "Well let's get started then!" she excitedly said to herself, now rushing into the kitchen bustling about.
The tenth division captain turned to look at her retreating back. Once again, he raised an eyebrow. "She… Didn't sense it?" he asked to his assistant captain, "No one else did?"
Rangiku shook her head at her captain's question even though she knew he was only questioning himself. "I called the other Shinigami's on his mission and they said they didn't sense anything. Then I called Ichigo and again, he said he didn't sense anything and as for Rukia-chan… She didn't sense anything either… Are you sure it isn't just you, Taichou?" she asked uncertainly, for she knew that her captain was rarely wrong.
Toushirou shook his head. "I'm sure it's more than that… I'm sure… It's more than just me… Imagining things…" he told Rangiku. "I'm pretty sure…"
--
If no one else sensed anything, then there was nothing to be worried about right…? But there wassomething up. There was something…Something was going to happen… He just didn't know what it was… Or whether or not it was a good or bad thing… Toushirou raked his mind thoroughly looking for an explanation to what this weird vibe was about.
So much that he almost missed putting his spoon in his mouth. "Eh?" he asked himself as his mouth hungered for more food. "Oh…" he realized what happened and continued to eat.
"Taichou's distracted!" Rangiku teased the short kid in a sing-song voice. She may have seemed drunk however, this was NOT a drunk Rangiku.
"Shut up Matsumoto," Toushirou said as he set down the stainless steel spoon and rubbed his forehead with his fingers. Apparently, he was having a headache. Then, without warning, his head jolted up as if he had sensed a strong vibe of reiastu.
He got up from his seat without warning, startling both females. "Something's here…" he muttered as he began to walk towards the back door.
"Eh? Toushirou-kun? What are…?" Orihime began as she, too, got up and started to follow the short kid.
Rangiku looked a bit startled but she got up nevertheless and began to follow the other two towards the back door. "There is…" she realized as she suddenly felt the reiastu. "A Hollow?" she asked herself as she took out Soul Candy.
Toushirou stopped her and shook his head. "I don't think so. I don't think a Hollow would have this much reiastu and a Menos Grande… Peh, I doubt one would come out this late. So… Could it be one of the other Shinigami?" he asked to himself.
"I-I don't recognize it…" Orihime said quietly as the trio got closer and closer.
Toushirou reached out an arm and pushed the door open. There, he saw four strangers.
"Spirits?" he asked himself and the others as he saw the foreign clothing they had on. They looked as if they had gotten into a time-traveling machine and gotten into the future.
Thus the beginning of a raging war.
--
The darken clouds stretched and stretched as it began to point towards the ground. Then, after the balloon-like object reached land, it popped and there, emerged a group of four unlikely travelers.
"So what world are we in this time?" a black ninja-like man with black spiky hair asked, looking around their surrounding. They were on, was what seemed to be some body's apartment roof top. Moreover, it seemed to be night.
"I don't know, Kuro-rin!" a tall, blond man replied with a smile. He, then, went onto teasing the black ninja with his nicknames. "Ne, Mokona?" he asked, turning his attention towards a white, talking and moving pork bun.
The "pork bun" looked over at the blond man from a top of a brown-haired male's head with squinty eyes. "Mokona doesn't know yet…" it muttered. A red jewel on top of the weird bun's head gleamed. It then, looked down at the person in which it was sitting on. "What about you, Syaoran?"
The boy looked up at the white pork bun and shook his head. "It's not where Sakura-hime or where I came from…" he said thoughtfully as he looked over to the light brown-haired princess.
--
There, on top of Inoue Orihime's apartment rooftop were a group of strange people. More like, four people. Standing furthest from the door in which Hitsugaya Toushirou, Matsumoto Rangiku, and Inoue Orihime stood, was a tall man with blonde hair and sapphire eyes. He wore a strange white fur jacket with odd blue patterns.
Next to him was another tall man. Only he was the only one who actuallylooked remotely Japanese. He had spiky black hair of the night, blood red eyes and the outfit that he wore fit what people in the early days in Japanese culture would wear – if they were ninjas.
Closest to our group of three here was a tall and skinny yet handsome boy that looked about sixteen with untidy chestnut hair and fierce, determined eyes of amber. A deep forest green cloak was worn loosely over a black tank top. He had on a pair of tan pants and black boots.
Next to the boy was a girl about the same age – younger or older. She was also tall and skinny. Her auburn hair matched perfectly with her emerald gems of her eyes and she wore a strange dress that could be easily mistaken for a Princess's gown in another world.
The blonde man decided to answer for the group. He smiled and grinned and closed his eyes as he answered uncertainly, "Nope! We're not spirits. We're um… Travelers!"
Hitsugaya Toushirou would believe that they were spirits, but the fact that they had used the term "Travelers" instead of "foreigners" or the fact that they were lost really made him think otherwise. He narrowed his eyebrows in suspicion.
What were these people?
--
The girl looked up at him with sleepy eyes and smiled. "No… It's not…" she said disappointedly. A sudden sound behind the doors caused the group of four to be on guard. Who knew what lies behind that door? Or "who" exactly!
The door opened and a short kid with spiky white hair, aqua green eyes, and scowl on his face appeared. His arms crossed, a tie hung loosely around his neck, shirt messily on as if he had worn in all day, and pants rolled up as if he was too short for the long pants. He was accompanied by two other females.
One of the females had an orange-brown like hair color that went down to her waist and two cute flower hairpins kept her hair in place on each side. She had a surprised look on her face; she wore a pink shirt and white knee-length pants.
The other female had almost the same hair color as the other female, but she was also wearing a uniform almost exactly like the short kid, only she was wearing a skirt. Her hair was long and wavy. Both females had a huge chest.
The kid only made a face and aloud, he asked, "Spirits?" He was obviously annoyed and confused at the sudden appearance of the group of four.
Flowright D. Fai answered for the group. He smiled and shook his head, "Nope! We're not spirits. We're um… Travelers!" he explained with a grin.
The kid once again, made a face. "'Travelers'?" he repeated, "You mean, foreigners?"
Fai nodded in agreement. "Yes! Um, foreigners!" the blonde-haired person agreed. He looked at the others and asked, "Right?"
The other three agreed at once.
This time it was one of the female's turn to speak. She turned around to look at the straight-haired female and, excitedly, said, "See! Taichou was right again!"
It was Syaoran's turn to speak up. "'Tai…Chou'?" he asked, as he tilted his head a bit.
The kid only looked as if he was really wishing to be anywhere but where he was right at the exact minute. "Look, just…come in and you can explain to us how you got up here!" he commanded as the wavy-haired female interrupted.
"Taichou! This isn't your place first of all so you can't really invite them in! You have to ask Orihime-chan first!!" she argued for the sake of her friend as she hugged the other female.
The group could only sweat drop.
The straight-haired female only shook her head and protested, "No! You… You can invite them in… If you want, Toushirou-kun…"
"Itold you, it's Hitsugaya-taichou!"
--
The group followed the trio with Syaoran and Sakura beside each other in the lead. Mokona sat on Syaoran's head while Kurogane and Fai followed inside. "Well, this sure is like the Hanshin Republic…" Fai commented, taking a look around. He had seen a few cars pass by on the street below and confirmed that they were on a roof of what appeared to be the straight-haired female's apartment.
Syaoran nodded in agreement to Fai's comment, noting that it was, in fact, almost just like the first world they had dropped by. He remembered Masayoshi-kun, Shougo-kun, and of course their kudans… He wondered out loud what they were doing at that moment.
(--)
At that moment:
Shougo sneezed quite violently and covered his nose. "Jeez, did I catch a cold?" he asked himself. Masayoshi looked up at his team leader.
"Maybe someone's talking about you…" he answered.
"Nah, probably not," Shougo replied, shrugging off the comment that happened to be accurate. "Now let's get to the game!"
(--)
While walking inside, Toushirou couldn't help staring at the group in front of him. The two females were in the front, leading while he hung in the back, making sure that everyone was with them.
It was then that he noticed that the boy with chestnut hair was carrying – no – had a weird bunny-like creature on top of his head. The creature had a strange red jewel plastered onto the forehead and never-open squinting eyes.
At first, he didn't know how to react to such a strange creature. But he decided to ignore for now, brushing it off thinking that the pork bun-like thing was just a stuffed animal.
He watched them chatter for a bit, never getting too close in case they attack or better yet, he just didn't want to know what they were talking about. It was their privacy. Though, he swore he had seen the pork bun-like thing open his mouth to speak. (He did hear a whistle).
--
When Fai didn't hear Kurogane comment, the blond haired man began to nudge the ninja and poke and prude him with all his annoyingness ability. "Kuro-tan not answer?" he asked, as cute as he could.
The ninja only growled.
"Aww!! Kuro-pii's getting madder now!!" Fai cooed just as Syaoran began to sweat drop. Sakura only rubbed her eyes from the sleepiness that almost overtook her. The trio leading them didn't seem to hear.
This time, the ninja exploded. "I told you not to call me stupid names!!" he yelled, catching the attention of the two females in front of them.
"Hm? Something wrong?" the female with wavy hair asked, making an unreadable face.
"Nothing!" Fai said smiling his usual smile and waved a hand.
The female smiled in return and turned back.
They finally arrived in the living room of Orihime's apartment. "Hyuu, nice place," Fai tried to whistle, complimenting the place.
"Again! With that stupid 'Hyuu!!' crap!" Kurogane exclaimed, clearly tired of the "hyuu" stuff.
The straight-haired female only blushed and bowed awkwardly. "T-Thank you," she answered, "Um, please, sit down," she gestured to a group of cushions.
They sat and began.
--
The odd group (in Toushirou's eyes) made themselves comfortable and settled down onto the cushions. The chestnut-haired male came forth – appearing to be the leader – and bowed awkwardly. "I-I'm Syaoran," he started, stuttering a bit. Toushirou had to raise an eyebrow at this. Did the boy have no last name?
Apparently the other two also didn't.
He then pointed to the only female of the group who at that moment seemed as if she needed some sleep. "This is Sakura-hime," he said, adding the honorific. Toushirou raised another eyebrow at this. A princess?
"This is Fai-san," he continued, gesturing towards the smiling blonde male and last but not least, the only male who looked Japanese, "This is Kurogane-san."
So their introductions were done. Guess it was theirs?
"I'm Hitsugaya Toushirou," he replied quite blandly while making a face.
"AH! I'm Matsumoto Rangiku!" his busty and hyper assistant captain greeted, grinning quite maniacally. She then hugged the poor girl next to her and said, "This is Inoue Orihime!" she pointed and hugged her even tighter.
"N-Nice to meet you," Orihime tried to bow.
"Pleased to meet you," the blonde answered with a smile. The ninja only grunted and the other two followed the blonde's example.
--
Toushirou looked as if he wanted to speak, but Syaoran beat him to it. "U-Uh, I think that… We were all wondering… W-What were you saying? Before? About 'Spirits'?" he asked with uncertainty.
The kid ignored the question and went straight to the point. "Where did you four come from?" He gave them a suspicious look.
"Syaoran-kun…" the princess suddenly said, as she rubbed her eyes daintily. Her head lobbed from side to side as if her neck was unable to hold her head upright. "Are you…alright?" she asked, ignoring Toushirou.
Syaoran looked surprised at first and nodded. "I'm fine, but…" he answered but was suddenly interrupted by Sakura's sudden faint. Her head rested on his shoulder and he carefully rearranged her so that she rested on his lap.
Fai looked over Syaoran's shoulder, worried for the princess. "Is she alright?" he asked, watching the princess sleep. Syaoran nodded and looked up at Toushirou.
"Is it…alright if… well… We don't have any other place… Is it alright if…" Syaoran started with uneasiness. One, he didn't really know these people, two, should he really be trusting them, and three, what kind of dangers lie in this world? But something told him he could trust these people.
Orihime interrupted him. "It's fine. You can stay as long as you'd like," she answered without a hitch. Syaoran's expression grew from surprise to delight.
"Really? Thank you so much!" he thanked her. He couldn't really thank her enough.
"But first, you have to answer the question," Toushirou added, "Completely and truthfully."
Kurogane rested against the wall behind him and grunted. "Fine, but you have to answer the kid's question, too," he answered, referring to Syaoran.
"Agreed."
--
Hitsugaya fingered his chin as he closed his eyes in thought once again.. Was this a set-up from the Arrancar? Or was it truly possible? To be able to travel through different worlds and meet different people of the same souls… Was this… Were these people…lying? Were they trying to make him look like a fool? No, he remembered the look on their faces when he blurted out the word, "Spirits".
This situation was certainly interesting and the two females sitting beside him on both sides were quite surprised…
"So, you're saying that all of you are from another world?" Hitsugaya repeated Syaoran's rough explanation. At the question, Syaoran and Sakura both nodded, agreeing on that fact.
"Okay, so the ninja guy is from ancient Japan, Blondie is from a very cold world, the princess is from the Land of Clow and you're an… archeologist?" the child prodigy asked with a raised eyebrow, directing the comment to Syaoran. Once again, Syaoran nodded.
Syaoran watched as the young white-haired male closed his eyes once again and began to think. Did this male believe him? What if he didn't? What would they do? He turned his gaze over to the two females sitting beside him.
The first one, called Matsumoto Rangiku was a heavily-chest woman who seemed to be the second-in-command when it came to this "mission" thing the young male had mentioned briefly over. Her expression were pretty easy to read since she was staring intently at the captain as if asking what he thought of them.
The second one, called Inoue Orihime was also a heavily-chest female. She seemed younger than the first female but she also seemed pretty spacey. Her expression, like the other female, was pretty easy to read. Her mouth pouted into a troubling face and her eyes stared at the carpeted floor.
Syaoran then turned his gaze over to his accomplices. Kurogane, the black ninja from the world of early Japan – or Nihon as he called it – was now leaning against the corner wall, back against the cool surface of the wallpaper. His head was laying on his right shoulder, as if he was trying to sleep.
Fai, the slim and tall magician, from the world of Seresu – a very cold and wintry area – was sitting crossed-legged on the carpeted floor right behind Syaoran and Sakura. He was watching the conversation with a smile.
And lastly, Syaoran's princess of the Land of Clow, Sakura-hime. The sleepy princess was kneeling right next to Syaoran and right in front of the magician. She daintily rubbed her sleepy eyes as the rest fell silent to hear Hitsugaya's answer.
Syaoran didn't know what they had talked over or when at all, but Hitsugaya finally looked up with his piercing aqua eyes, heaving a sigh and answered.
"We believe you."
-End Chapter 1-
Author's Note: Hopefully you like this story. I hope you enjoy it! Please review! Review and I'll try to update soon!