HALCYON DAYS
Volume Five: Drowned in the Rain
Chapter Six
Evening was descending over Japan while Chappy drove like a bullet through the countryside, her motorcycle purring while she hit the gas. She could faintly make out the Karakura Town skyline in the distance. They were close.
"Nearly there, Lady Rukia!" she shouted over the engine roar and whipping winds. "Hop!"
Rukia nodded and looked over to Ichigo in the sidecar. He hadn't spoken a word the whole drive, his head craned back and eyes staring up at the dusky sky.
They finally reached Karakura Town and puttered through the streets until they reached the Kurosaki Clinic. Ichigo wordlessly phased out of the sidecar and took a few steps towards the entrance, only to stop short.
"Ichigo, are you alright?" Rukia looked out at him searchingly, unable to see his expression.
He was still as a stone for what felt like a long time before turning to look back at her. He was wearing a casual, easygoing smile.
"Yep! Feels good to be back. You coming inside?"
Rukia was taken aback by his brave face. She studied him before relaxing into a fond smile.
"Yes, of course. Just let me slip into my Gigai first."
"Why d'you need to be in your Gigai?"
"It's protocol," Rukia said. "So long as I'm in my Shinigami form, my Reiatsu can attract Hollows. Our spiritual bodies were appropriate for Kagamino City because we were trying to bait Grand Fisher, but here we must seal ourselves lest we attract danger. You too, Ichigo."
"Lady Rukia, before I exit this body, I have something for you. Hop!" Chappy reached back and opened a pocket compartment in her motorcycle. "While you and Kurosaki-san were investigating one of the crime scenes, I noticed a vendor selling this..."
The Artificial Soul produced a plush doll in the likeness of a flying squirrel wearing a baseball cap. It was Nuts the baseball mascot.
Rukia's eyes widened and then watered. Hearts materialized and burst around her like bath bubbles, and she let out a squeal of kawaii.
"Squee! Chappy, you're the best!"
"Anything for my Lady, Hop!"
Ichigo watched them with a derp face. It's just a squirrel, man.
Rukia fitted her hand with a Reioshi Glove and pressed it to Chappy's shoulder, prompting the Gikon to spit up its soul candy straight into her outstretched palm. Rukia phased into her emptied Gigai and, with a devious smile, plunked Chappy's marble into Nuts. The doll shivered to life and gave a salute.
霊押 Reioshi (Soul Shover Glove)
"Reporting for duty, Lady Rukia. Hop!"
"Hehehe!" Rukia squeezed the squirrel's cheeks. "This is a fitting vessel for you, Chappy! So cute. Now remember to play dead if any mortals see you."
"Yes, ma'am. Hop!"
"Let's just get into my goddamn house," Ichigo grumbled.
He picked Rukia up by her shoulder and leapt them both up onto his bedroom windowsill. After phasing through the glass, he opened the pane and let her slink inside and onto his bed, where Kon was awaiting them in a fetal position.
Ichigo and Rukia squinted down at the Mod Soul, wondering what had gotten into him.
"I messed up, big time," Kos was preemptively cowering before his master. "Forgive me, Ichigo. I got you intobig trouble."
"What?" Ichigo frowned. "I'm gone for one day and you ruin my week?! The hell happened?"
Kon recalled his argument with Yuzu and winced when Ichigo punched him over the head.
"Ouch! Hey, watch it! This is gonna be your cranium again in just a minute."
"How dare you make Yuzu cry!" Ichigo hissed. "Unforgivable!"
There was a knock. Ichigo, Kon, Rukia, and Chappy all looked up at the door.
"Uh... who is it?" Kon called out nervously.
The door creaked open and Karin poked her head inside to see Ichigo and a strange woman sitting on together on the bed. The little Kurosaki sister looked briefly confused before narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
"Am I interrupting something?"
Ichigo, invisible in his Shinigami body, gave Kon a fierce pinch. The Mod Soul winced and looked to his master, who pantomimed Speak! She thinks you're me, remember?
"Uh, this is just my friend," Kon pointed at Rukia. "Pay her no mind."
"Salutations!" Rukia waved with a fake smile. "Please pay me no mind."
"Alright, well I just wanted to let you know Yuzu is still really upset and doesn't want to go to the sleepover anymore," Karin said.
Ichigo raised a threatening fist at Kon, as if to say 'Apologize now!'
"I… I'm very sorry," Kon said bashfully. "I just got carried away. I'm very protective of, um... Bostov."
"So Bostov's actually your doll?" Karin said with a confused arch of her eyebrows. "I didn't realize you played with dolls, nii-san?"
"Well, now you know," Kon mumbled. He let out a nervous laugh, then looked up at Ichigo. The Shinigami Deputy was so red in the face that steam was shooting from his nostrils.
"Okay, okay, I'll make this right," Kon sighed. "I'll give her Bostov, alright?"
Karin studied him and glanced over at Rukia, pointing at the squirrel plushie cinched around her waist.
"Is that a Nuts doll?" she asked. "Can we borrow that, too? I think it might really help lighten Yuzu up. She loves Nuts."
"Oh, this?" Rukia laughed nervously, holding up Chappy. "Well... sure you can! Can we just have a moment?"
Karin scrutinized Rukia for a long while before giving a nod.
"Sure. I'll go let Yuzu know." She shut the door.
"Phew!" Kon laughed bashfully "Well, problem solved, right – ?"
Ichigo smacked him upside the head so hard he upchucked his soul candy. Ichigo's human body flopped back onto the mattress, lifeless, while the Shinigami Deputy took Kon's marble and shoved into the lion plushie.
"Okay, okay, so maybe that wasn't ideal!" Kon waved his cherubic lion limbs frantically. "What are you gonna do to me?!"
Ichigo grinned down at him with diabolical portent.
"You're gonna go to tea time with Karin and Yuzu, and you're gonna like it."
"Great, now I have to hand over Chappy as a peace offering," Rukia sighed. "Please just grin and bear it for tonight, Chappy."
"Yes, Lady Rukia!" the squirrel plushie saluted. "Hop!"
After reentering his human body, Ichigo visited Karin and Yuzu's room to deliver Kon and Chappy along with many apologies.
"I promise I'll never talk like that to you again, okay?" He knelt down and brushed away his little sister's tears.
"Okay," Yuzu smiled, snorting back tears.
"I want you to go have a fun time with your friends. Can you do that for me?"
"Yes, nii-chan!" Yuzu chirped, hugging the two dolls close. "And I promise I'll bring back your beloved Bostov without a scratch!"
Ichigo frowned, nearly bursting a blood vessel.
You can dunk that good-for-nothing pervert in acid for all I care.
He brought his sisters downstairs, where their father was awaiting them.
"Alright, Dad, here they – "
"You fool!"
Isshin launched forward and kicked Ichigo square in the face, sending him somersaulting back into the wall with a crash.
"Don't ever make your sister cry again, you punk!" Isshin shaked a fist down at him. "Toys are never more important than family, got it?!"
Ichigo was splatted against the wall like a pancake, a goose egg sprouting from his forehead while his eyes saw swirling stars.
"Got it," he mumbled dazedly.
Isshin ushered the girls out to walk them to Midoriko Tōno's house. The coast was finally clear.
"We've both handed off our Gikon, Ichigo," Rukia said while descending down the stairs, finding him still in an upturned heap. "I hope you have your Shinigami Deputy badge handy, in case you need to access your Shinigami body."
"I got us covered." He got back up onto his feet, dusted himself off, and produced the placard out from his back pocket. "We've got nothing to worry about."
Rukia's expression turned serious.
"I've been meaning to ask you... what happened back there in Kagamino City?" she broached.
He hesitated to answer, looking lost in reflection while turning the badge in his fingers. With a sigh, he pocketed the placard and headed for the door.
"I wanna take you somewhere," he called back to her. "Let's go for a walk."
They walked through Karakura Town until they came upon the river. Ichigo strolled down the hillside and onto the concrete slope leading to water while Rukia gingerly followed.
He finally reached his destination and sat down, hugging his arms around his knees while staring out at the gentle river. Rukia plunked down beside him.
"Why are we here, Ichigo?"
He was quiet for a while, listening to the trickle of water and the sway of grass.
"This is where it happened."
Rukia's eyes widened. You mean this is where your mother died?
Ichigo nodded feebly, as if reading her thoughts.
"When I realized I could see ghosts, I came here every day. I sat down, right at this spot, and waited for her. I didn't know her spirit was gone, too. So I just waited here whenever I could, afraid that if I ever moved on, if I ever left Karakura Town even for a day, I'd miss my chance to see her again."
Rukia placed a hand on his shoulder. They sat together, in silence, and gazed out at the river. Droplets began to fall and gradually multiplied.
It had started to rain.
"That's a very touching story, Kurosaki Ichigo," a voice said.
Ichigo and Rukia bolted upright and turned around to see a Shinigami standing six meters away, clad in Shihakushō and a straw hat.
"Saidō Eikichirō?" Rukia whispered, recognizing the interloper's face. "We thought you were dead."
"Almost," Saidō replied with a smile, rainwater sloshing down the brim of his hat. "Grand Fisher nearly got me, but I managed to escape. Been laying low ever since."
Something's not right. Rukia felt a chill run up her spine.
"What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked tersely.
"I'm here to help save your sisters, Kurosaki," the Shinigami warned. "I'm afraid they may be Grand Fisher's next targets."
"What?!" Ichigo gasped, his fists tightening. "How do you know that?"
"There's no time to explain." Saidō extended out his hand. "If you want them to live... then please hand over your Shinigami Deputy badge."
Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "What'd you just say?"
"I said hand over your badge, sonny, or your sisters will be picked clean to their bones before you can ever hope to reach them," Saidō chuckled, his voice lowering into a deeper brass with every word.
A aura of rot emanated from him, expanding in all directions and taking on a familiar shape.
The shape of Grand Fisher.
