Chapter 27

Akita had provided Tanya with some disturbing information as they rode the bus to the other side of town. Apparently, Rukia had been a member of the local school student body since the middle of the last month, meaning she had been playing student nearly the entire time she was on patrol. This of course was not a good look. Without evidence to the contrary this sure seems like an operation to leave the Soul Society and go rogue in the World of the Living. Less charitable people would assume that without issue.

Rukia was lucky Tanya had come along because this was the kind of uncharitable situation those looking to unseat nobles would drool over. Tanya was not exactly charitable on the situation herself, she'd hoped for an easy little mission to get in good with the commander of the 13th and maybe ingratiate herself some more with the Kuchiki family. Now the situation was more complex. If she could not get Rukia to come back with her, her career could be in trouble. Being known as the soul reaper who let a noble run off or fail to bring her back was bound to close several doors if she was not exact and making sure the blame did not fall on her.

Not to mention there was this unknown soul reaper in the mix as well. According to Akita this Ichigo Kurosaki was also a wrench in the works as she had been able to confirm that he was not a soul reaper from the Soul Society, though it was possible if she checked the record she could be wrong, but considering Akita had said he had been a student at their school for a long time, and that she knew one girl who said she'd known him since grade school, she felt assured she could assume that this was a human playing at being a soul reaper.

A substitute soul reaper, one of the things that should be illegal but everyone supposedly let it pass under the right circumstances. Hopefully, this would be one of those right circumstances otherwise Rukia is going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble when she gets home.

Tanya was beginning to regret taking on this mission. It all seemed so simple to begin with, but now everything was becoming complex. At least she wouldn't be walking too unprepared into this situation. That was something she thanked her luck that she ran into Akita for. Though that was about all she could thank Akita for. Something about the girl was setting off alarms in her head. Like she should know her but she couldn't place her. She half wondered if it wasn't a reincarnated Christina Pringsheim. If she tied Akita's hair back in a ponytail there would be some similarities, and she'd still yet to find any information on Pringsheim in the Soul Society, so the possibility that she had died and already been reincarnated was not out there.

Though the girl didn't act like Christina Pringsheim. She obviously did not have the memories of her last life if it was her and Tanya was not going to poke that situation more than necessary. The girl did seem thoroughly entranced by her presence, asking several questions about her "heroic deeds". It would seem that her rescuing of her grandfather had made some sort of impression on the young girl.

Since she had nothing better to do she told a few stories about fighting monsters and Hollows to entertain her as they rode the bus to their stop. Nothing she thought was too major or interesting but the girl seemed rather taken by it all, even mentioning how she would like to be a hero like her. An amusing thought but she both warned and reminded the girl that technically she should not go out there and use her powers to hunt hollows openly as that would draw the eyes of less friendly soul reapers.

The girl seemed to understand what she was saying and nodded in agreement. Soon thereafter their bus came to a stop and Tanya handed her some of her spare legal tender so she could get wherever she needed to go and then said goodbye before stepping off the bus. Opening up her tracking spell she did a quick check and confirmed that her target was up the hill in front of her. A rather unfortunate walk but she would bear it.

As she made her way up the hill she quickly determined that this was a road that led to a cemetery of sorts. An interesting place for Rukia to be hiding but it was most likely that this was just a stop-off. Perhaps there was a Hollow hunting the grievers who came to see loved ones? It made some sense and would work well in a report she would have to write up if things went terribly and she needed a way to attempt to get herself out of trouble as well.

Then again perhaps it was a trap. A way to deal with any followers would be to take them out in the middle of nowhere where fewer people would get involved. It was doubtful that the girl was prepared for her and waiting to attack but just in case Tanya lowered her spiritual pressure to as low as she could get it so that she may have the element of surprise on her side. She also stepped off to the side of the road and used the trees for cover. If you were going to use stealth it was better to actually be stealthy. After all, the mark one eyeball was able to spot someone in entirely black clothing even if their spirit pressure was hidden.

A good thing she did because about 15 minutes after walking up the hill she found something, well better to say she found someone. Standing in the middle of the road which became more of a dirt path this far up the hill was Rukia, not in her soul reaper uniform but in a local dress by the looks of it talking to some teenager with orange hair. It seemed like a deeply personal conversation by the looks of it, overhearing something along the lines of the boy felt that he had killed his mother.

Which was an interesting take but not a concern of hers though finding out the kid was in fact Ichigo through Rukia's use of his name was useful. Still, him storming off in a huff gave her a grand opportunity to talk to Rukia. Stepping out of the treeline Tanya let go of some of the control of her spiritual pressure so she didn't sneak up on her wayward soul reaper and make things awkward.

Rukia sighed as she watched Ichigo jog up the hill towered the cemetery. Perhaps she had been stupid to ask too many questions about the death of his mother and the possibility it had been a Hollow attack. Sure his statement that he killed his mother made no sense, but considering how protective he was of his family perhaps he simply meant he felt responsible for whatever happened. Though that in itself was foolish. He was a child when his mother died. This could be surmised just by doing simple math.

Shaking her head she wondered if she made a mistake following him up here. Digging into his secrets wouldn't exactly endear Ichigo to her, but a part of her wanted to help him if she could. He had been good about this unfortunate circumstance they found themselves in, and if she could help it was the least she could do.

Those thoughts came to a stop as she felt a mass of spiritual pressure coming from directly behind her as if something dark and angry had stepped into the world and was about to murder her the moment she turned to look and see what had come to find her.

Breathing quick and shallow, as the air felt slightly oppressive she turned half-expecting to see a Hollow, ready to strike her down. Instead, she saw a blonde, pony-tailed, blue-eyed teenager, staring her down. She was dressed in a soul reapers uniform, with the addition of a peaked cap, her sword hanging loosely from her belt, and a silver medal over her left breast.

"Tanya?" she said, shocked as the Third seat of the 10th Division stepped onto the road.

"Good afternoon Miss Kuchiki, fine day for a walk in the woods, don't you think?" the soul reaper said more than asked, taking a step toward her with certain accuracy in her strides that seemed more at home in a dancer than a warrior.

Still a bit shocked to see the Third seat in the World of the Living, Rukia took a moment to respond. "Um, yes it is a nice day, but what are you doing here?"

Tanya tapped her chin before she responded. "Well that is a good question. Why would the Third seat of the 10th division come to check up on an unseated member of the 13th, when she's been on patrol a few days longer than she was meant to be and has a report that she is fighting a large amount of Hollows weekly when most folks may fight one Hollow a week."

Rukia gulped, not likely where that was going, "You came to check up on me?"

"Bingo. I'm here to check up on you, and bring you back if I decided you had gotten yourself in over your head, and let me tell you, finding out you have been moonlighting as a high school student at the local school has done nothing to improve my mood for not bringing you back," Tanya stated, her voice gruffer near the end making her sound thoroughly annoyed.

Whatever Rukia was going to say was cut off by Kon saying "oh no" and jumping from her backpack before running up the hill, the little mod soul imbued stuffed lion quickly leaving view of sight.

"Huh... Well that's something you don't see everyday," Tanya said, looking in the direction of the lion for a moment before she finally returned her focus to Rukia. "Now to continue our conversation please explain to me why you have missed your return date and the situation in general."

"It's complicated," Rukia said, unsure how to broach the subject of how she had lost her powers completely when she'd given them to Ichigo.

"Complicated in what way?" Rukia noted Tanya's hand shifting from hanging loosely to her side to now resting on her sword hilt as the blonde asked this.

"I can't return to the Soul Society yet, I just can't," Rukia said, taking a step back worried that Tanya would strike her down.

As much as Rukia had come to know Tanya over the years she wouldn't put it past her. The girl loved to fight and was a rules lawyer, and here she was currently standing there as a rule breaker. She had a feeling this would give Tanya plenty of opportunity to work out her aggression.

Tanya for her part seemed even more angry by the statement saying through a nearly clenched jaw, "you can't return to the Soul Society or you won't?"

Gulping down her fear Rukia confirmed, "I can't."

As if the tension had simply floated away Tanya took her hand off the silver sword and removed herself from a fighting stance.

"Can't is a lot better than won't. So can I assume that you have not gone rogue after being denied promotion for so long and are conspiring to flee the Soul Society or possibly do something just as stupid?"

Rukia stood there a little bit stunned, not comprehending that this had been what the blonde in front of her had been thinking. After a moment of not breathing she coughed and then shouted, "no, what?! No, no, th-that is not what is happening here."

"Oh, that is good," Tanya said, shaking her head. "For a moment there I thought I was going to defend myself against the idiocy of levels that I believed were impossible."

"So then Rukia, explain the situation. I just got off a bus with a contact saying that you are posing as a student at the local school and that there's another soul reaper in the same school. Said soul reaper supposedly was human just a few months ago which would imply that he would be a substitute soul reaper. Now I know you and I know both of those actions are illegal, but I would assume you also know that emergency situations happen and under the right situation those can be made validly as long as they're temporary, so fill in the holes in my knowledge base please Miss Kuchiki."

"You have contacts in the World of the Living who go to Karakura High?"

"Yes and I won't be telling you who they are, now don't get off the subject. And please be as quick as possible."

Rukia was plainly stunned by how much information Tanya had managed to gather in such a short time, but it did make explaining what the blonde didn't know easier.

"There was a hollow that I was tracking down and in the process of confronting it I was severely wounded. With no other options save death I gave my powers to a human who could see me so he could defend his sisters and me. However, after the fight my powers did not return. They still have not returned for that matter. All I can do is some basic kido spells and that's about it."

The blonde brought up her right hand and tapped her chin in thought before asking, "Did the human forcibly take your powers or were they given willingly?"

"Willingly," Rukia offered.

"That's not good but that's not bad either. Powers were given in a combat situation which can be argued was a necessary use of ability. I assume the reason you've been going to school is to keep an eye on the human to make sure he doesn't misuse it?"

Rukia nodded, surprised by Tanya's willingness to let her explain this.

"That also puts points in your favor when or if this goes to court. You've attempted all methods to restore your powers I assume?"

"As much as I can. As far as I'm aware it's just a waiting game," Rukia commented.

Tanya shook her head and continued on, "well, I mean we could try and stab you through the chest with the substitute soul reaper's sword to see if it goes back to you, though that's probably not the safest method of finding out if it works or not."

Rukia nodded her head to that, not liking the idea of having a sword shoved through her chest one bit.

"So where'd you get the Gigais?" Tanya asked, looking her over.

"There's a local contact for the 12th division I believe. He supplied me with everything I've needed so far."

Tanya seemed to smile at that before she asked, "Hmm, do you have his number or card so I can confirm your story?"

"Umm sure. I can even show you where he works after we're done here if you have time."

"Officially I'm on patrol in the city next to this little town for the next week so I'll have time. Also I want a thank you and Visha will want an apology when this is all over. Do you know how close you got to having the Stealth Force here instead of me? "

Rukia shook her head, unaware of the goings on to the Soul Society considering she'd been stuck in the World of Living for the past month.

"If Nicole, who's someone else you will need to thank, hadn't come to my apartment concerned about you, your captain would have most likely sent the information about your lateness up the chain of command, that's how close. If I had not interceded on your behalf you probably would have been disappeared by the overzealous folks in the Stealth Force."

"I don't think so, I'm sure you're overstating that," Rukia said, concerned about Tanya's statement.

Tanya blinked a couple times and said, "there are secret police forces. Trust me you don't want to be on the bad side of such organizations."

That was something to consider. Tanya was from some time around the 1930s and from the history she'd been learning in Ichigo's high school she knew Tanya's home country of Germany was not a nice place at the time to put it lightly. So she simply nodded and said, "all right I'll concede the point."

"Good," Tanya said. "I've put my head on the same platter as yours at the moment so it feels good to have you realizing the gravity of the situation you are in," Tanya finished with a sigh of relief.

"What do you mean your head's on the same platter?" Rukia asked confusedly.

"My career prospects could be damaged by associating with this situation, let alone if it's determined that you were breaking the law and that I helped you break that law. Well I'm not really sure what the punishment for creating a substitute soul reaper is but I do not want to find out what the punishment for being associated with the creation of the substitute soul reaper is," she said, taking a few steps so she was next to Rukia looking up the hill towards the cemetery.

"I'm not sure it's going to be that bad. We just need to find a way to get my powers back and then no one will be the wiser about this whole situation."

"Oh, you don't know," Tanya said with a side glance. "Tell me, do you know the difference between the creation of a temporary substitute soul reaper and a permanent substitute soul reaper ?"

"Um no," Rukia offered.

"There is no difference on your part. It's the same ritual, but the only reason one is temporary and one is permanent is due solely to the person's own spiritual power. The more power a person has the more likely it stays. You didn't just create a temporary one, you created a permanent soul reaper which means even if you get your powers back and leave this Ichigo will still have his power and will probably still attract hollows and fight them, which means the next soul reaper to take this post will find out about him and what do you think he'll do?"

"He'll report his existence to his commander," Rukia said with dawning horror.

"Exactly. Unless we're willing to remove that problematic issue from coming up, you will be found out eventually and you will be put on trial for his creation."

Rukia stepped back in even greater horror at the suggestion of murdering Ichigo. "We can't do that! We can't murder Ichigo!"

Tanya shrugged and tilted her head. "If that's the course you want to take then so be it, but it's a harder road to secure your innocence then."

Rukia was about to try and argue with Tanya when a voice broke the quiet of the empty road.

"Rukia what's wrong? Kon said there was trouble." Arriving at a very inopportune time, Ichigo rounded a corner on the road carrying the stuffed animal in one hand by the neck and looking concerned. The orange haired teen looked Rukia over, then looked Tanya over, then did a double take before saying, "hey Rukia, who's your military otaku friend?"

With a sigh Rukia thanked the Soul King that Tanya was from the 1930s of a foreign country because she had a feeling that Tanya might have felt insulted. Those thoughts were interrupted by a rather loud and heavily German accented, "What?"

Turning her head quickly she saw that Tanya looked annoyed, very annoyed in fact. How did the blonde know what otaku meant? Rukia had no idea but she took two steps away as the situation disintegrated around her.

Ichigo Kurosaki ran down the pathway as fast as he could. He was worried that something had gone terribly wrong. He had left Rukia alone because he needed some time to think, not liking the implications of her comments on the death of his mother. He had ended up a bit too distracted in his own thoughts and only Kon's appearance had broken him from his considerations.

Once that had been done two things had happened. One, he'd learned from Kon that something was wrong and someone was here to take Rukia away, whatever that meant. And two, there was someone with a strong spiritual pressure in the direction of Rukia.

Normally he probably would have missed this but once Kon sounded the alarm he started trying to feel what was going on and that's when he sensed the pressure. At first he thought it might have been a Hollow but he could feel the telltale signs of a soul reaper to the pressure though this reaper felt somehow darker than both Rukia and himself.

This prompted his concern and started his run down the hill, quickly grabbing up the lion doll in case he needed directions off the path or needed to get out of his body to fight.

Halfway back to where he had left Rukia though the feeling of the pressure had changed. It lightened a bit, which had taken some of his concern away, though with how it blotted out Rukia's he was not sure if this was a good thing. So he doubled his efforts to get back down the road.

Thankfully when he rounded the bend in the road to where he left her he saw Rukia and an unknown soul reaper standing in the road having a chat. By the looks of it they weren't fighting and Rukia looked very concerned and startled by whatever the new reaper had said.

The unknown soul reaper in question was a girl not much taller than Rukia. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and had an old style military hat on her head trimmed with white. On the side hung a Zanpakuto, a short sword compared to his own though unlike Rukia's, which had been a katana, this one appeared to be in some sort of European style and was brightly shining till it sparkled like silver, which matched the silver badge located over the girls left breast. The silver badge-like item along with her hat gave her a look of some authority, he figured, though as he looked her over she also looked like some kind of military nerd.

"Rukia what's wrong? Kon said there was trouble." Not really thinking about it he said the first thing that came to his mind after that. "Hey Rukia, who's your military otaku friend?"

The spiritual pressure that had been coming off the girl, which had been calming, immediately began ramping up, seemingly double the amount compared to what he had sensed before as a look of anger passed over the girl's eyes. With a heavily German accent the girl yelled "What?!"

Wondering what he had stumbled into he calmly said, "your hat," while he pointed to it and said, "it looks like something a history nerd would wear."

The girl's hand came to rest on her sword handle in response as she spoke with that German accent. The glares she was giving were a mark of some anger issues she seemed to have. "Are you uninformed about soul reapers? Have you no idea of the situation you are in? I am not some sycophantic otaku pining for the great days of military empires. I served in those military empires. My fashion sense comes from that time period, so I would appreciate it if you did not insult me by calling me something like a teenage nerd. I've killed a lot of people for the right to wear this hat."

The girl's verbal assault was fierce and rather deafening, her voice having elements of an action movie drill sergeant's cadence. And her hand never left the blade on her side. He was a bit worried he would need to grab the mod soul from the lion toy and defend himself.

"Sorry, my mistake," he managed to get out, holding his hands up defensively.

Looking next to the blonde he saw that Rukia seemed very confused before she finally stepped in between them saying, "calm down Tanya. He meant no offense, he's just a kid."

The blonde haired girl now named Tanya took a deep breath and then breathed out before continuing without the accent, "he may be a kid but he sure looks like an orange haired punk trying to stir up trouble."

'That hurt' he thought, bemused by the insult more than anything. He had heard far worse over the years because of his orange hair.

"I'm going to assume this is the human who appears to have accidentally stolen your powers."

"Hey I didn't steal-" Ichigo began only to be cut off by Rukia.

"Um, yes this is Ichigo Kurosaki, the substitute soul reaper who's helping me maintain peace and keeping the Hollows down. Ichigo, this girl is Tanya Degurechaff, a fellow soul reaper from the Soul Society, who came to check up on me."

"And does not like what she's seeing," Tanya spoke up, her hand still on her sword.

"Well sorry that I don't meet your expectations," Ichigo said, annoyed by the judging glare she kept giving him.

"Expectations?" the blonde questioned before she took a step to get around Rukia. "I'm going to assume Rukia has been playing this rather foolheartedly and hasn't told you of the situation that you are now in. Are you aware that your existence is illegal? That temporary soul reapers are supposed to be temporary and your continued having of the abilities is a crime that could get Rukia pulled in front of a court of nobles who want nothing more but to see soul reapers they're not connected to reminded they're not the ones in charge of how the world works?"

A bit horrified by the implications that this blonde soul reaper was implying he asked, "Is this true?" as he looked towards Rukia.

She looked a bit pensive before following up Tanya's words, "though Tanya is overstating the seriousness of the situation, it's not good, but she tends to assume the worst."

"If you assume the worst you're surprised when things are better," Tanya mused before continuing. "I've had too many victories turn to ash in my mouth not to see when foolhardy trust that things will work turns out to be just that, foolhardy hopes." She then turned to look at Ichigo and said, "so, now that you know that you know the situation I have a question for you: how good are you in a sword fight?"

Blinking, not completely understanding where this was going, he said, "I've killed a lot of hollows in the last month."

This resulted in Tanya making an annoyed hum before saying, "so no sword fighting training. That's not great," she said, shaking her head.

"Why is that?"

"Soul Society works on the old methods of legal code. If this was to come out I could make a good show as a lawyer fighting for Rukia's freedom and continued soul reaper status, but if you could prove yourself worthy of the title and swear your loyalty to the Soul Society and all that, that would go a long way towards making sure Rukia survives the inevitable court case. Of course to do that you'll most likely have to fight some of the seated officers of various divisions to prove yourself worthy, and some divisions are not as friendly as the one Rukia is from."

"Wait, you mean in order to help her I'm going to need to learn to fight against other soul reapers?"

"Mechanically speaking yes, but it's not just her you will be helping. As you're running around with soul reaper powers, you are bound to piss off some of the more… conservative I guess would be the word, divisions and factions within the Soul Society. Some of them might be willing to remove you from the board as they become aware of the situation, damn the results of whatever trial Rukia has to go through. You very well could end up with the whole of the Soul Society coming after you," the blonde finished, seeming rather smug as she explained the depth of the situation in front of him.

Ichigo stood there taking in this new understanding of the situation thinking hard before finally he just sighed and said, "Fine. I'll find someone to train me in sword combat so I can help Rukia."

"As to be expect-" whatever Tanya was saying died midway as the smug look fell off her face. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?!" she yelled, sounding startled.

"I said if it's to help Rukia I will find someone to teach me how to use a sword properly," he said, crossing his arms across his chest as he looked at the blonde.

"You've had that sword for a month. Most soul reapers are products of decades of training and you think you can learn to properly use that sword in I don't know maybe 2 months because that's what you're looking at here. Someone will be here within the next 2 months to take her back and when that happens you need to be ready to state your case and that you're willing to work for the Soul Society. Also defending yourself from reapers who have decades of experience who will want to challenge you and prove that you are not able to keep up with them."

Nodding his head along to the statement, he simply said, "Rukia saved my life and the lives of my family. I owe her one. This is the least I could do."

"You're positively insane," the blonde said before she drew her sword. "The only way to solve insanity is to make the point more clear. However you've been making your soul reaper Powers appear, do so now. I will be the judge to determine if you would have a chance of pulling this off."

Without theatrics he shoved his hand into the lion doll's mouth, ignoring the complaints from Kon, and recovered the soul candy. He quickly popped it into his mouth and let Kon take control of his body, stepping out now adorned in the shinigami robes and carrying his massive sword across his back. Cracking his neck he turned to Kon and said, "Take care of my body," before turning back towards Tanya saying, "all right so how are we going to-"

He was cut off as a solid kick landed to his guts, sending him flying back into a tree. Coughing and getting air back in his system, he stood up pulling his sword from his back quickly and preparing for a second attack only to see the blonde standing where he had been. Her sword was pointed towards the ground while she stared him down.

"Rule one, your opponent is under no illusions of honor. Yes some of them may have honor and some of them will not take the opportunity presented to kick you in the gut when you look away from your opponent, but you're just as likely to find opponents that will. Better to treat all fights as a life or death situation than to end up dead don't you think?" she asked with a spreading grin.

Smiling at the tough love method of training the girl presented he said, "Yeah, I think I get you."

To be continued.

Edited by: Lord Feunoyr, 1Coltsguy
Community edited by:

Community editable doc (Chapter 27) No story suggestions in the community editing document, Keep all story suggestions and comments in the thread

Writers Note: second to the last chapter I have saved up, so what does everyone think, of that canon step, not sure where I was going to go with it, so there are good chances when I get to writing chapter 29 I might go a different direction than I originally planned. So feel free to talk and suggested ideas.

Also still thinking about switching to first-person… I find lot easier to convey a point of view that way now. Might put up a vote or something in few days if people have an opinion on the matter in the comments.

Patrons: Afforess, Gremlin Jack, Weise, Xodarap4, Yamato, Duncan Sproule, James Moorhouse, Dankermaler, Hats88, DrkShdow, Devilstar101, Michael, Mana Rope, Falk Hüser, Daniel Martinez, Silver Wolf, Mackenzie Buckle, Markus, Neso, Staradder, Lmc9389, Staradder, victor a lopez-barron, Qweunn, KrasieK, Zollus

Reviews
setokayba2n: canon is here!
Necromancy94: Good
AnimeA55Kicker: she lived in his division for month... he gave her to push that started the first Tasha conversation