A/N: A handful to thanks for reviews: Mondtanz, Rukia's Reflection, KitElizaKing, BiblioMatsuri, and Carrie96235. And thank you to anyone who put this or its author on their lists. Why did no one tell me that it's been nearly a year?
Disclaimer: I do not own the Inuyasha or Bleach characters, manga, anime, movies, etc. They belong by copyright laws to Rumiko Takahashi et al, and Tite Kubo et al, respectively.
Secrets Abound
We're Not Detectives
Blinding light woke Ichigo the next morning. Rolling over, he tried to get away from the bright sunshine. When that didn't work, he tried covering his head with the extremely downy pillow the luxurious hotel favored and rolled the other way.
Only to promptly end up on the floor.
Cursing, he hauled himself to his feet and sat on the edge of the cot. Rubbing a hand through tousled hair, he gazed around the room with blurry eyes. The walk-in closet was about the size of his room and he had to admit that the small window was a nice touch. Even if it did face east so that the rising sun would hit the occupant of the cot square in the face.
Part and parcel of being in the "dog house" no doubt.
The cot was over six feet long thankfully and wider than the average makeshift bed. Perhaps the women of the Taisho clan had had a momentary surge of sympathy and let the designers install the extra large sleeping area. Or perhaps the men had snuck it in when their wives weren't looking.
Whatever the case was, Ichigo was just glad that he'd gotten to sleep in a halfway decent place. He'd had visions of camping out on the couch earlier last evening before Hisana had told them about the extra sleeping quarters.
"Ichigo, are you awake?" Rukia asked before barging into the room without knocking.
"No, I just fell out of bed and kept sleeping. Yes, I'm awake. Sort of…" he added on a yawn.
"You don't have to be snippy. Arisawa-san is ordering breakfast." Rukia studied her partner for a few moments before touching his shoulder. Feeling the tight muscles, she frowned. "Your muscles are knotted. That cot isn't good for you."
"It's nothing a hot shower won't cure. Still, it's better than most cots. It's wide enough and long enough, so don't worry."
"But you fell out of it."
"That's because the sun hit me in the eyes and I tried to get away from it. I guess part of the torture is to get hit square in the face with the sun in the morning."
"Ah, I understand." Rukia turned to leave, the tall teen following her out of the room.
"How did you sleep?"
"The bed was comfortable enough but it's too big for me. I'm used to sleeping on a single futon."
"If it makes you feel better, I don't think that's made for one person. It looks like an entire family could fit on there with room to spare."
"Either that, or a really big demon," Rukia mused offhandedly.
"Considering the tapestry of the large dog demon in the foyer, I'd say that was a definite possibility too." Ichigo scratched the back of his head before moving to the drawer he'd put his clothes in. "I'm going to hit the shower and then I'll be out for breakfast."
Rukia nodded before leaving the bedroom. She felt a bit guilty for making him sleep in an uncomfortable bed when they were in unfamiliar territory but propriety had to be maintained and she had a feeling that any indiscretion on her part would be reported to her brother if the demon lord found out. They seemed to have become friends of a sort so she had little doubt the closeness she and Ichigo shared would be monitored with a critical eye.
"Did you wake the goof up?" Tatsuki asked, setting the table with napkins and actual silverware and chopsticks depending on the person's preference. Glasses filled with juice and cups of tea or coffee were already laid out, enticing sleepy high school students to the table.
"Didn't have to. Turns out he woke up by himself by falling out of bed."
"Idiot," the other girl muttered with a snicker. Done with her preparations, the martial artist went back into the room she shared with Orihime to bring the healer out.
Ishida, having heard the conversation sat in the chair closest to the door, wide awake despite the fact that his other classmates appeared to be on instant vacation mode. Chad followed, slightly sleepy but still awake enough to exchange his usual monosyllabic morning greeting. "Kurosaki's late to the party as usual, I see," the archer said, his insult lacking its normal bite. Apparently he wasn't as awake as he wanted others to think.
"Considering the fact that Isshin usually wakes him up with some sort of physical abuse, he was probably enjoying the peace," Rukia mused. "It was so quiet, for a moment I thought something was wrong until I remembered where we were."
"This is true," Ishida allowed, having experienced the Kurosaki patriarch's personality quirks. Having found out that Isshin had been a Shinigami, it was little wonder that insanity ruled the Kurosaki household. He'd noticed that at times the only sane person that appeared to live there was the one that didn't have the power to see and talk to spirits.
Keigo and Mizuiro finally made an appearance, their attempt to sleep in clearly thwarted by the noise that their classmates were making. A soft bell let them know breakfast had arrived and the group of teens readily gave up any notion of sleeping in for the chance to eat the delicious offerings that they'd been given. Last night's dinner had been consumed as only hungry teenagers could and the same thing would happen to this meal as soon as everyone sat down.
Ichigo was the last to join the group, orange hair still wet from his shower. He sat down in the only empty seat available, grimacing when Keigo began to talk his ear off and Chad didn't utter so much as a murmur to save him from having to answer the class clown's questions. "So, do you guys have any ideas about how we're supposed to go about being seemingly oblivious teenagers?" The daiko finally got a word in edgewise, mainly by putting his friend in a headlock and choking him into silence.
"Although I'm sure some of us won't have a problem with that, I suppose the only thing to do is pretend we don't see, sense, or hear anything that would be considered unusual." Ishida took a small bite of the croissant that he'd buttered. "On second thought, the strangest things here are probably us. It's probably a good thing that Lady Hisana seems to have a few screws loose or it would definitely be suspicious that a group of humans won the contest instead of demons."
"A few screws and some lost marbles," Tatsuki put in, looking at the spread that was before them. It wasn't what she had ordered and figured that the demoness had had a hand in changing what was brought up. The others didn't seem to mind as they were in the process of devouring the majority of it.
"They don't expect us to be anything but normal teenagers on a once in a lifetime vacation. So we act like they expect us to," Rukia said, looking pointedly at her partner. "We pretend that we don't notice when their powers fluctuate and that we don't have any spiritual awareness or powers ourselves. Eventually they'll relax around us and those that the Taisho brothers want taken into custody will continue their nefarious dealings none the wiser."
"But we're not detectives, Kuchiki-san," Orihime protested. "How are we going to know when they're back to their bad deeds?"
"Trust your instincts, Inoue-san. If they don't seem like good people, chances are that they aren't. They'll have an aura around them that shows their true intentions. And I doubt that they can hide that like Aizen could."
The healer looked at her friend and nodded. "You'll need to be careful, Tatsuki-chan."
"Aizen may have been able to bring me to my knees but I'm not about to let some traitorous demon do the same."
"You shouldn't stray too far from someone who has powers, though," Ishida said after a moment. "We can use Kojima and Asano as distractions because all they want to do is pick up girls. I doubt any demon will see them as a threat. They'll probably see them as nothing more than nuisances at best."
"All right, so why don't Mizuiro and Keigo go to the beach first? It'll make it seem like the rest of us were held up because we were waiting for the girls." Ichigo shoved the rest of his breakfast down and stood. "Rukia, go change into your bathing suit and have either Inoue or Tatsuki help you with the sunscreen. The longer we take to join the other two, the more relaxed we'll seem." Ichigo paused in leaving the table, Rukia's lack of response surprising him a bit. Normally she would have berated him for daring to order her around. "Rukia?"
"It's nothing. Inoue-san, would you mind helping me with the sunscreen? Nii-sama would be most displeased if I burned."
"Of course! Why don't you bring your suit into our room? Didn't you tell me that you got a new one? Tatsuki did too…" The ginger haired young woman pulled her friends along, completely ignoring the martial artist's complaints.
The boys blinked, wondering how the topic changed so suddenly. Trust Orihime to diffuse the tension and take things in a totally new direction. "And on that note… Have fun down there, Mizuiro, Keigo." Ichigo went back to his room to apply his own sunscreen, having a healthy respect for the damage the sun could do.
"Sure, Ichigo." Mizuiro tucked his phone away for a moment, intent on gathering his things.
"I'll get some drinks. Meet you in the lobby, Mizuiro." Keigo turned to raid the fridge, silently wondering if he could pull off the undercover work. While he didn't mind trying to pick up girls and enjoy the beach, he wasn't sure he could pretend not to notice the strangeness that was sure to accompany the gathering of demons they were likely to encounter. His experience with Shinigami and Hollows bothered him enough, there was no telling how he'd react to any powers the other creatures had.
Mizuiro for his part didn't seem to mind playing decoy for it gave him a chance to get new girlfriends. The dark haired boy even appeared to be anticipating the challenge. Ishida had explained to him at some point the night before that the woman he'd been interested in when they'd arrived had been a demon so now the pick up artist had equated demons with beautiful women. Keigo didn't quite understand how his friend had come to that conclusion but on the other hand, if his sister was anything to go by, it wasn't far from the truth…
"Keigo," Chad started, jerking his friend from his thoughts.
"We'll be fine, Chad buddy," the brunet said, recognizing the tone in the giant's voice. "We know what to look for this time."
"Just the same," Ishida said, coming out of the room he shared with the larger teen. Loading a bag with necessities, he took one of the bottles of water Keigo offered with a nod of thanks.
"We won't go wandering off. Or at least I won't. Mizuiro might have to be rescued if he gets too interested in another man's wife though."
"Is Kojima-kun really that bad?" Orihime asked when she returned, tilting her head at her male friends. She hadn't had a lot of interaction with Mizuiro until after she became friends with Ichigo.
"He tried to hit on Rukia the first time he was introduced to her," Ichigo said, rejoining the group. "He has a thing for older women so it's good that he didn't know that she's over a century old at the time." Of course, when he had found out, it had intrigued him for as long as it took for Ichigo to find out of his renewed interest and make it clear to his friend what would happen if he continued his pursuit. The threat of a thousand sharp blades coming after him had made him lose interest quick.
"You are far too over protective, Ichigo. I could have handled his advances myself."
"Yeah, but if you had, I might have one less friend," he shot back, his eyes widening at the bikini she was sporting. "What the… Rukia!"
"You're so innocent," she teased, his cheeks reddening even more than they had at the sight of her.
"What happened to your other one?"
"I borrowed that from Yuzu. This is mine."
"I think she looks nice in it," Keigo said and shrunk under the glare he got. Ishida gave him a gentle push towards the door and he left without making another comment.
"I agree with Asano-kun," Orihime piped up, her own figured displayed to advantage in her two piece. Tatsuki was in a sporting single piece, no doubt worn in case she had to protect her friend's chastity.
"Thank you, Inoue-san. If you're done being an idiot for the moment, Ichigo, let's get going. The faster we put ourselves under their scrutiny, the faster we can get this whole thing over with."
"Ah, yeah, I guess." Still discomforted at the sight of his partner in such a skimpy bathing suit, Ichigo slung one of the beach bags over his shoulder and headed out the door.
"You're so juvenile, Kurosaki," Ishida said, trying to sound unaffected by the whole thing. The truth was that Inoue's suit had affected him more this time than the last time he'd seen it on her.
"Says the idiot who's blushing over Inoue."
Chad kept his own council, glad that none of their female friends was making him act as stupidly as the two in front of him. They bickered back and forth, either unwilling or unable to come to a truce. He had thought that by now they would have realized how similar they were and let bygones be bygones.
It was almost like they were related.
Lady Hisana watched the group of human children walk down to the beach, some talking amongst themselves while others argued. The two foolish ones had come out earlier and were already trying to pick up girls with a black eye to one as a result. "Grandmother, what's so interesting?" her granddaughter asked, looking up from the mound of paperwork the elder dog demon was making her do.
"The human pups. They really are a strange group."
"Yeah, and it's probably a good thing that they're not trying to fool anyone by acting. The one in the glasses has a thing for the big busted one and every demon in a hundred meters can probably smell it."
"Don't be so vulgar, Shu," Fumiko said. "Let them be normal kids for once. I'm sure they'll hear or see something that we haven't been able to. If our allies ignore their existence and we pretend to be nothing more than gracious hosts to winners of a contest, everything should work out just fine."
"Should and will are two different things," the elder female said and couldn't help but sigh. "For some reason I have a feeling that it's not going to be so simple."
"You shouldn't worry so, Grandmother," Shu said, leaning against the window sill and following her gaze. A strand of once white hair fell into his eyes and he blew it back. Last night after returning to he scene of his most recent debacle, the mysterious blue substance had expanded in its evasiveness and ended up dying his hair in one last explosion. His parents had laughingly told him that it had served him right and he'd have to go back to school like that until it either washed out or faded. "You can always do what you're best at in the meantime," he added, trying to cheer his grandmother up.
"And what is that?" Hisana asked warily.
"Well, other than bedeviling Uncle and Father, you're really good at match making."
"This is true…" she murmured and narrowed her gold eyes in concentration. Now which pair of human teenagers did she give a push to first?
Digging his feet into the hot sand Ichigo paused as a shiver raced up his spine and he looked around in suspicion. "That's odd…."
"What's wrong?" Rukia asked, having seen his visual search.
"Nothing, I'm sure it's nothing. The old man isn't here after all." There was no way he could make trouble from way back home.
Isshin couldn't, but someone who had an equal sense of mischief making could.