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Auburn Strands and Red Threads #20
"Here kitty, kitty, kitty. Here kittyyyy."
Inuyasha twitched, mind shrouded in darkness, swatting at the itchiness on his nose.
"Kitty, kitty, kitty."
He grumbled, grabbing at the evasive annoyance with no results to show for it.
"Wake up, kittyyyyyyy."
Inuyasha's eyes snapped open, and he grabbed the plant that had been dancing across his face. He sat up, glaring at the crumpled cattail. "The hell?"
"You're awake!"
He looked around; the sun was beginning to set. Inuyasha vaguely remembered losing consciousness after Kagome told him to 'Sit', but he wasn't sure why he had given in to his foggy mind. He looked to the side but groaned, annoyed. "You're gonna be a problem."
The blond man blinked, staring down at him. "Well, that's rather rude."
"No," Inuyasha huffed, getting to his feet. "If you keep poppin' up in my life, then that means you're either here to stay or yer my enemy."
The man propped one arm on the other and rested his head on his fist. "Friend or foe, huh? That seems to be the case for me, too."
Inuyasha ignored him and took to staring at his dark surroundings. He was still in the forest—next to a crater that suspiciously looked like him—and his friends were nowhere in sight.
They left him again.
"Hey, Fuzzy."
Inuyasha went rigid, feeling his ears being groped.
"So, tell me about Ohumru House some more. What's it like? Did I get you there? Why'd you come back?"
Inuyasha whirled around and grabbed the man by the collar. "The hell are you talking about?"
"Well," the man grinned, "I dabble with experiments, and traveling between time and space is something I've been interested in for a while." He shrugged. "I mean, it's not the most exciting thing, to be honest, but yesterday was the first time I tested it out." The man paused, assessing the silver-haired's expression. "So? Did it work?"
Inuyasha released the man, trying to think. "Travel between time and space?"
"You know . . ." The man pursed his lips for a moment, thinking. "I take a person or a thing and I transport it to another location. In theory, I would break through the barriers of time and space to get to a destination in an impossibly short amount of time. Imagine us getting from here to the northern mountains in less than ten seconds."
Inuyasha frowned. "That's impossible."
"In a normal situation, yes! But with my genius know-how, it's very possible!" When Inuyasha made no signs of believing or understanding him, the man sighed. "Okay. Yesterday, you were near here, correct?"
"Yeah . . ."
"And where were you when you woke up?"
Inuyasha opened his mouth to speak, but it all clicked with him then. He had woken up in Orihime's bed, but there was no possible way he should have been there. Admittedly, he had been worried about her, and he did want to see her, but he shouldn't have gotten that far. He should have been dead, actually.
He raised a brow, skeptical. "Yer tellin' me you transported me through . . . ?"
"Time and space, yes." The man nodded, pleased Inuyasha finally understood.
"But . . . how did you know where to send me?"
"By the spiritual energy coming from you, my dear fellow. You see, every living thing emits a type of energy, which then mingles with the energies of other living things that makes contact with it. What I'm able to do is distinguish between-"
"Stop." Inuyasha rubbed his forehead. "Look, I don't really get it, and I don't care. Thanks, I guess, for . . . doin' what you did, but I need to get back to my friends."
"So my experiment worked?"
"Uh . . . yeah . . . Sure."
"Excellent!" The man pulled out something to write with and something to write on. "So, I'll keep doing this . . . And this isn't needed, so . . ."
Inuyasha stared at the man in a state shy of bewilderment. This man was too friendly, and Inuyasha didn't trust it. This man claimed to have transported him through time, and Inuyasha really didn't trust it. No stranger should be willing to do that, and any stranger that could do that must have many other (mind-boggling) things to hide.
"Hey!" the man said cheerfully, yanking the half-demon's attention back. "Any tips for me?"
"Uh . . ." Inuyasha looked the man over. ". . . Yeah. If yer gonna wander around the forest, try not wearin' white."
Before the man could let that set in, the red-cloaked boy was already sprinting off.
The Next Evening
"This could classify as a form of stalking."
"It's not stalking."
"You're abusing the powers I've given you."
"I'm using it to protect a friend."
Ichigo and Rukia stood on the roof of Orihime's apartment building in their Soul Reaper forms. Ichigo was crouched, methodically scanning the area, while Rukia stood at his side.
"Listen," Rukia sighed, "don't you think you're being a little too concerned? We both know we haven't sensed anyone suspicious lurking over here."
"And I told you there's a red-cloaked guy causing problems."
"Yes, you said that, but I'm having a hard time believing it. First off, you claim that you fought him in the Soul Society, but no reports about him has been issued."
"Then ask around. I'm sure someone else saw him."
"By your accounts, the only other person would be Orihime, and the likelihood of her keeping a secret about this is pretty low."
"Ask her, Rukia. We talked about him."
"Are you sure this isn't about someone else?"
"Like who?"
"Kisuke Urahara."
Ichigo looked up at her; Rukia was looking at him blandly.
"I saw Orihime coming from his house when I went to go pick up some supplies," she said. "The two seem pretty close."
"So you suspect something, too."
"I did until I actually talked to them about it—separately, of course."
Ichigo eyed her critically. "You mean you actually asked them?"
"No, Ichigo, I didn't ask if anything indecent is going on, but I didn't have to. Orihime happily talks about Kisuke and how she's been spending time at the Urahara shop, and Kisuke definitely isn't hiding anything."
"So, all you did was talk around the issue and pulled a conclusion from their answers."
"It's much more effective if you knew how we Soul Reapers do it." She raised her nose in the air teasingly. "I don't expect a substitute to fully understand my methods."
"Uh-huh. And just what did your Soul Reaper expertise find out?"
"They're like brother and sister."
"Uh-huh. . ." Ichigo eyed her, stating the obvious, "But they're not."
"But they act like it."
"And it's weird."
Rukia sighed, crossing her arms. "Is that what this is about? What, Ichigo? Orihime can't have friends you don't approve of?"
He scoffed, turning back to survey. "It's not like that," he muttered. "Kisuke aside, she's getting herself mixed up with bad company, and it's not like she'd tell either of us if she was in danger."
"You think so?" Rukia thought for a moment, not really knowing how truthful that may be. "Whatever. One truth still remains, and it's that there's no Hollow activity or unknown beings skulking over here."
"There's also no Orihime."
"Ichigo-" Rukia rolled her eyes, catching movement in the distance. "Here she comes now."
Ichigo looked over as well and saw Orihime's figure approaching. Inwardly, he sighed, relieved, but there was still the troublesome knowledge of her whereabouts. It was none of his business—especially since she was okay and nothing was happening—but he still wanted to pry more than he should. This was the second day in a row Ichigo and Rukia had been watching Orihime like this, but already Ichigo noted that she would leave Kisuke's house close to dark. That was a bad habit—for her to be walking at night—and he wondered if Kisuke said anything about it. The man should discourage her from visiting or leaving so late if she had to walk home alone.
Ichigo originally started doing this because the red-cloaked guy bothered him. Why had he been fleeing with Orihime and what did he want with her? Why didn't Orihime say anything about that boy?
Unfortunately, Ichigo hadn't gathered any information on him.
Besides, this was new to him.
If this was karma or some act of divine justice, it was bestowing its punishment very well. His friends weren't obligated to tell him anything, but it bothered him how he was on the opposite end of shady secrets. He had been so used to being the one involved in things he couldn't explain that he had no idea how to deal with it when the tables were turned. The worry and constant questions swirling around his head made him want to personally apologize to anyone who had been in this position, but he had to deal with what was going on now. Orihime wasn't telling him or anyone what she was up to, and there was a chance this would end tragically. He would be there to protect her if she needed it, so she should tell him. If anything happened to her . . .
He frowned, catching odd movement. "Do you see that?"
Rukia frowned as well. "See what?"
Ichigo leaned forward, his eyes squinting. "The hell is that . . . ?"
The two looked closely at the dark formation following Orihime. At first, it appeared to be a shadow, but it wasn't corresponding to her movements or anything around her. It was actually getting closer to her.
Uncomfortably so.
"I can't feel anything from it," Rukia mumbled, placing her hand on her zanpaktō. "There's no spiritual pressure from a human or a Hollow."
Ichigo got to his feet. "Let's go."
Orihime wondered, as she walked home, what Inuyasha could be up to.
She had only seen him briefly before he was on his way again, and she came to realize . . . she was a bit disappointed.
Inuyasha was a new friend; she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible just to validate their closeness, but, she knew, boys were different. They didn't like to be in one place for long, and Inuyasha had business to tend to in his own time. It would be foolish to expect him to spend time with her all the time, but he was growing on her.
She wasn't quite sure what her friendship with Inuyasha was based on, but she knew it made her happy when he was around—like how it was with all her friends. She worried for him, sure, so maybe she wanted to make sure he was okay, as well. She never knew what to expect when Inuyasha showed up at her door, but she had definitely gotten used to him showing up. It was odd that she felt odd when he didn't . . .
She blinked, feeling an eerie unease running up her back. Her feet kept walking; something urged her to look over her shoulder, but her brain screamed for her not to. She swallowed hard, squinting in the growing darkness.
Was she being followed?
As many times as she's taken this route to and from Kisuke's house, she had rarely seen another person. She tried to ease her mind with the fact that this route wasn't exclusive to only her. If there was indeed a person behind her, there was no need to assume she was being followed. However, a more sinister motive wasn't unlikely—Tatsuki had warned her about stuff like this.
How was she supposed to deal with it?
Was she supposed to turn around?
Was she supposed to run?
There would be nothing wrong with just turning to face the person. If they were out to harm her, then their actions might waver once she got a good look at their face. If they were not out to harm her, then at the very least they would think she was a bit weird.
She jumped, almost screaming, when her pocket vibrated. She pulled out her cellphone, and saw she had a text message. Was it wise to distract herself when she was being followed—if she was being followed?
Her phone vibrated again, violently.
Rattled, she pulled out her phone and flipped it open to see she had two messages. She clicked on the icon and saw it was from the same unknown number. The first message simply said, Orihime. The one below that made her breathing shallow:
Stay calm you're being followed
Involuntarily, her pace picked up. Her fears had been confirmed, but now the uncanny timing of the texts was scaring her. Not only was the number unknown, but it meant she was being watched by two people. Or was it possible the person behind her was the one doing this to frighten her more—to make her too rattled to think properly.
Her phone vibrated again:
Turn right
She looked up, seeing a crossroad coming up. Despite her better judgment, she discreetly peeked over her shoulder. A dark mass was behind her, its movements similar to a drunken man. The fact that this didn't look like a monster frightened her to extreme levels. Humans were scarier than Hollows. She walked among humans every day, and any one of them could be out to hurt her, but the fact that they could hide their intentions made them dangerous. Hollows were out to do harm all the time—that's just what they do.
But humans . . .
They could torture in ways Hollows didn't care to.
Orihime's breathing began to thin, her heartbeat a hollow pounding in her chest. She should call Kisuke. The person behind her wouldn't dare do a thing if she had another person as a witness to what was happening. Then again, if this turned out to be nothing, she would worry Kisuke for no reason.
She turned right.
Her phone vibrated.
Walk faster and turn right then make a quick left don't walk too far
She did as she was instructed, becoming light-headed. When she made her left turn, she found an alley was created by two surrounding buildings, which led to a dead-end. Her breathing became shallow, but she heard footsteps sluggishly coming her way. She pressed herself against the wall, quietly easing farther back into the alley. She watched the long shadow approach, the figure drawing near.
". . . girl . . . shard . . . Kill . . ."
Orihime paled, any other thoughts lost by that single word: Kill.
This person was aiming to kill her?
She couldn't understand what she could have done. Was this a case of random killing?
Her phone vibrated, but her hand jerked, causing it to fall on the ground. She dropped to her knees to pick it up, but the shadow loomed over her then. She looked up and found herself being stared down by a man in business attire with vacant eyes. His head fell limply to the side, his body slouched awkwardly. In his hand, he held a metal bat.
"Sh . . . shard . . ." he wheezed, voice hoarse. He raised the bat over his head. "Sh . . . shard . . ."
In that moment, she wasn't scared, and she knew she could defend herself, but she didn't move. She didn't know why.
She didn't know why.
But the pain of the bat had registered clearly when it came crashing down on her head.
Her head banged against the pavement, vision blurring. She breathed in deeply, unable to yell or shriek, and groaned as the pain took over her senses. Her head throbbed mercilessly, and she could feel it bleeding. There was a hard metallic bang next to her head, and she realized her attacker had struck again but missed.
Why didn't she move even then?
Why didn't she try?
She still didn't know. All she was aware of was that her consciousness was leaving her, she felt as though she were being pulled from her body, and she only hoped she wouldn't feel the blow that was surely coming. Orihime closed her eyes—the act causing more pain than she thought was possible—and waited.
Pathetic woman.
Orihime felt her skirt begin to whirl by some internal wind. The next thing she remembered was the sensation of her skirt violently tearing.
When the bat hit her head, Ichigo had used Flash Step. He stood behind the man with the weapon, but his eyes had immediately been drawn to Orihime. She was face down on the ground, motionless.
When the bat came down for the second time, Ichigo had snapped and withdrew his zanpaktō. He could vaguely feel Rukia's spiritual pressure from somewhere; she hadn't used Flash Step, but she saw what he was about to do.
He was going to strike down a human.
However, Ichigo's senses screamed at him, and he jumped out of the way just as a blast of pink energy shot out from the alley. He landed on a roof; Rukia landed shortly after.
"What was that?!" she yelled.
"I don't . . ." His gaze fell back on the attacker. Everything above the hips had been blown off, leaving nothing but sputtering blood and dangling organs. "What . . . the hell?"
The mutilated body fell to its knees before collapsing completely.
Ichigo and Rukia stared in horrified silence. Their first instinct was to think someone else had been in that alley, but the two Soul Reapers felt nobody else.
"Ichigo," Rukia said, trying to prioritize something, "where's Orihime?"
Ichigo grit his teeth, jumping back towards the alley. "Orihime!" He landed and pushed aside the mutilated body that had fallen near her.
There was too much blood.
He didn't know how much of it was hers and how much of it was from her attacker. Looking her over closer, he saw the side of her skirt had been ripped, exposing much of her thigh. He bent down, but Rukia placed a rough hand on his shoulder.
"You know better than to move her like this." She looked down, her stomach twisting. "I'll stay here. Hurry and get your body."
When Inuyasha had finally caught up to the group, the sun was beginning to set. Kagome was on a talking basis with him again, but she was still mad by his inability to explain anything about his disappearance.
It was some time after talking had dwindled and the sun had left completely that the half-demon had a weighted tingle branching throughout his body. His pace slowed, eyes locked on scenery he didn't see.
Miroku looked over at Inuyasha. The group had almost made it back to Kaede's hut, but the half-demon was highly distracted—troubled, even. Miroku lowered his pace, allowing the boy to catch up with him.
"Hey," the monk mumbled.
Inuyasha looked at him, registering his presence. "Hey . . ."
"I'd be willing to hear your thoughts."
Inuyasha frowned. "It's . . . Something is . . . wrong." He looked at him, digressing. "Did you guys collect the shards?"
"What shards?"
"That large demon had four or five shards on 'im."
"Eh . . ." Miroku scratched his head worriedly. "We had no idea where you were, so there was no telling where that demon was. Kagome stopped being able to sense them after a while." He looked at Inuyasha, a brow raised. "Why did you leave them?"
"I wasn't . . . completely myself."
Miroku sighed, shrugging. "Those fleeing demons must have made off with them by now. I'm sure we'll see them again through another battle. The good thing is that we didn't lose any of the shards we already have." He looked at his friend again. "But what's really bothering you?"
"Something isn't right." Inuyasha looked at Miroku, puzzled. "Kagome . . . She gets attacked all the time in her era."
"What, you mean by demons?"
Inuyasha nodded.
"That only happens if she has a shard on her."
Inuyasha pressed his lips together for a moment and mumbled, "She has a shard."
"She carries lots of shards, doesn't she?"
Inuyasha shook his head gravely. "Not her."
"Then . . . ?" Miroku's eyes widened, jaw dropping. "You gotta be kidding me . . . Inuyasha, why did you let-"
"She can protect herself," Inuyasha said curtly, but he wasn't convinced. He looked forward, debating with himself even though he already knew the outcome. "Cover for me."
"Cover-? No, don't lea-"
Inuyasha sprinted in a different direction, leaving Miroku as the only one to see him depart.
The monk groaned, quickly trying to think of an excuse before the rest turned around.
"First off," Isshin said, emerging from the clinical room, "when did you leave the house?"
"Does it matter?" Ichigo muttered, ruffling his hair. He looked to the side for a moment before sighing. "I'd been studying all evening, so I decided to take a walk."
Isshin stared at him blandly.
Ichigo rolled his eyes, agitated. "How is she?"
"Well, I've stitched her up, but considering she didn't wake up even once with no anesthetic being used, I'd say she's not doing so hot."
"Is she . . ." Ichigo bit his tongue, not sure how he wanted to finish.
"What? Dead? In a coma?" Isshin huffed, crossing his arms. "As long as I'm here, I highly doubt she'll die, but a coma isn't out of the question." He ran a hand across his chin. "Of course, if she woke up, then we would know it's not as serious as we think . . . Possibly."
"So we just wait?"
"The hardest part, right?" Isshin patted his son on the shoulder, walking on. "I'll check on her again shortly. Yuzu and Karin had to clean her off, so don't pull back the blanket just yet." He turned back to his son, a gleam in his eye. "You can save that for when she wakes up, my dear boy."
"Walk away."
Isshin laughed heartily as he left.
Ichigo walked into the room, lingering by the door, unnerved. Orihime lied on a bed with a sheet draped over her up to her shoulders. Her head was wrapped in bandages, and he could see the spot where blood had seeped through. He walked over to her and inspected her up close. Her eyes were purple around the edges, and her skin had an unhealthy yellow hue.
She didn't look like she was on the road to recovery.
Seeing her like this, Ichigo felt distressed, but maybe for all the wrong reasons. There were a lot of things about her attack that didn't make sense—mainly the fact that she had been attacked. Stalking was one thing, but that man was out to kill her.
But he was the one who had been killed . . .
By . . . Orihime?
Ichigo looked at the shelf next to the bed; Orihime's clips were resting on it. Her skirt had been torn on one side, and her clips had been next to her. He pieced together that they could have caused the blast, but her clips couldn't do that. Her blasts weren't pink and they weren't that powerful. He had inspected them closely, but the only odd thing he saw was that one clip looked different from the other. Other than that, there was nothing particularly special about them.
At least . . . not really.
Whatever power she obtained had saved her, but why was she attacked? When could she have possibly trained to this skill level? Did this have anything to do with Kisuke? If so, then the man was planning to use her for something . . .
He was putting her in danger.
Rattling filled the room, causing Ichigo to look around. On the shelf next to her clips, Orihime's phone was vibrating and playing a pop song he didn't care much for. The lyrics, at this moment, were very unfitting:
Ha-ha! Ha-ha! Oh, no, you're in pain! What a shame! Don't ya know that life's a game, and you can't be caught up with today! But I'm alright—it's okay—so let's do The Ha-Ha! Ha-ha! Ha-ha!
Ichigo snatched the phone up, briefly looking at the caller ID, and answered it. "Kisuke."
There was a pause. "Ichigo? Why do you have Orihime's phone?"
"She had an accident, so she can't speak right now."
"Accident?" There was a long silence. "Is she okay?"
Ichigo glanced at her. "She's sleeping right now, so I need to go."
"What happened?" Kisuke asked hurriedly.
Ichigo closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in deeply. "Hard to say. I found her passed out on the street and brought her here."
"Here?"
"Look, I have to go. Just know she'll be alright so long as she remains here."
"Ichigo . . ." There was more silence. "I'll be visiting soon."
They hung up, and Ichigo placed her phone back on the shelf, his fingers drumming against it lightly. He looked back at Orihime, letting any troubling thoughts subside.
He could not meddle in her life anymore. He couldn't forget that.
He could smell her blood.
Inuyasha hadn't even been close to her apartment when he caught whiff of a scent that both enchanted and nauseated him. Considering he had never smelled her blood up close, he hoped this eerie hunch of his was wrong, but he followed it anyway.
It led him to a darkened passage created by two large buildings, and he saw the remains of a human along with the tainted stench of impure blood. He bent down, distinguishing the scent he thought to be hers, when he noticed two things. The first had been the remains of the body—it had clearly been controlled by a demon; he could make out body parts from the mangled intestines that definitely were not human. The second thing he noticed was the faint glimmer of the moon bouncing off a tiny object. He picked it up, and discovered it was a jewel shard.
"Dammit," he muttered, clenching the shard in his hand. Judging by the remains of the human, it had been blasted by some kind of energy. Everything in him was convinced Orihime did this, but where was she? If this other scent was hers—if it was indeed her blood—where was the trail leading her away? Where could she have gone?
Inuyasha stood, sniffing the air. There was another scent . . .
"Who are you?"
He turned, finding a small woman in dark clothing standing behind him. He recognized the attire, and the people who wore it never brought anything good with them.
"What happened here?" he countered. "Was there a girl involved?"
The woman's intense gaze faltered a bit before sharpening once more. "Are you responsible for what went on here?"
"What went on?" Inuyasha took a step forward. "What-"
"Don't come any closer," she warned, crouching, taking hold of her weapon. "Identify yourself. Who are you? What do you know about what occurred?"
Inuyasha felt his desperation taking over. He wanted to be angry and just be done with this nonsense, but he couldn't go rushing off either. His nerves demanded to be in the comfort of others because he was sure this night was not going to end well.
He sighed, standing down. "I just . . . I'm looking for a girl. Her name is Orihime."
Rukia took a moment to truly look this stranger over. She soon concluded this was the red-cloaked threat Ichigo had told her about, but this boy didn't come off as a threat. But . . . he was poking around after the attack and was now asking about Orihime. He knew her by name.
Was he someone they could trust?
He looked sincere, but Orihime never brought him up before as either a friend or a foe. The only account Rukia had to go on was that of Ichigo, and it wasn't anything to take lightly.
"I didn't catch your name," she finally said. "I am Rukia Kuchiki."
". . . Inuyasha." The boy eyed her warily. "You're from that society, aren't you?"
Her eyebrows rose. "You know about us?"
He frowned. "I know whenever someone dressed like you comes around Orihime, it only means trouble." He looked down at the blood, his eyes menacing, turning back to her. "You know her, don't you?"
Rukia said nothing.
"She's hurt. She needs help. Did you guys even treat her wounds?"
Rukia straightened; she was confused now. "What's your relation to her?"
"She's . . ." Rukia noticed how the things on his head—ears?—drooped. "She's really important to me."
There was a long moment where the woman stared at him as if she didn't know what to do. Inuyasha did not know what to make of the situation, but he waited. There was a good chance Orihime was taken to that other world, so he knew she could lead him to her.
Until she gave him a reason to attack, he would play it nice.
She pulled out an object from her robe, bringing it to her mouth. "This is Rukia Kuchiki. Is there any backup stationed in Karakura Town?"
A few seconds later, a voice responded. "Yes, Miss. Kuchiki. What is the situation?"
"Can you detect my location?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I need you to come here for immediate detoxification. There has been unidentified activity along with one human fatality."
"Yes, ma'am. We will be there shortly."
"Good." The woman put the object away and looked back to Inuyasha. She appeared as though she would ask him something, but she ultimately turned away. "Come with me."
Inuyasha became defensive. "Where to?"
She didn't answer until he saw her shoulders raise then lower. "I'll take you to Orihime."