Author's Note: Yo. Here's Chapter 3. Read, Review and check out my other Stories.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
"Rukia" - Regular Speech
'Ichigo' - Thoughts
*Kaien-dono* - Zanpakutō speech/thoughts
"Bankai!" - Spiritual Technique
Chapter 3: The Substitute
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We stand in awe of that which cannot be seen.
And we respect, with every fibre, that which cannot be explained.
-Kuchiki Rukia
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Ten Years Later…
A Street, Karakura Town
The five street punks were pissed off.
Well, to be exact, four of them were pissed off. The fifth would have been pissed off as well, but he had been KO'd. He had been one-shotted by the lone schoolboy wearing the grey uniform of Karakura High School that stood in front of them, looking irritated.
His loud orange hair was like a red flag to a bull to these street punks, and the surely grim expression on his face didn't exactly help matters.
"You've got a lot of nerve kid!" the apparent leader of the group growled angrily. "You just randomly kick Yama-chan into the street and then have the nerve to order US to get out of the way!"
"Ehhhh…" the 'kid' grumbled as he scratched his head.
"Don't just stand there going 'ehhh', say something, you little-!" the leader snarled as he started a slow, but powerful, punch at the kid.
{Wham!}
Long before it connected, the schoolboy's right leg shot out and slammed into the head of the punk, knocking him to the ground.
"Toshirin!" one of his friends called out in worry.
The schoolboy then proceeded to stomp on the fallen punk a few times to make sure he stayed down.
"I can't believe Toshirin's getting his ass kicked like this!" one of the punks said in disbelief.
"This is really bad!" another said.
"That's just messed up!" the last conscious one said, wincing as the boy stamped on Toshirin's head.
"Quit yer yakking!" the orange-haired boy barked in irritation as he finished 'pacifying' Toshirin. "All of you idiots…look at that!"
He pointed at a nearby lamppost, where a bottle filled with water and flowers was lying on its side, having apparently been knocked over at some point.
After giving the punks a moment to observe the bottle, the boy raised one finger.
"Question One!" he declared. "What the hell is that? You, in the middle!"
"Um…an offering for the kid who died in a car accident recently…?" the street punk said hesitantly.
"Absolutely Correct!" the kid shouted as he kicked the guy in the jaw.
"Ah! Mit-chan!" one of the two remaining punks cried.
"So then…why exactly would the bottle have fallen over?" the kid asked roughly.
"Err...ah…we were…skateboarding and kinda...knocked it over…?" one of them replied.
"Correct!" With a flurry of kicks, the two punks were sent flying by the abnormally strong schoolboy. "I dare you to do it again!"
At this, the boy's already intimidating aura turned into a demonic one that promised pain if he was crossed as he said, "If you do…I'll make it so people start laying flowers for you bastards too!"
"Gyaaaaaa!" the punks shrieked. They grabbed their KO'd friends and beat feet as they shouted. "We're sorrrryyyy!"
Left alone, the boy grumbled, "Tch. Idiots. I scared them quite a bit so they probably won't come back here anytime soon."
He turned around to look at the lamppost where, in his vision, the spirit of a young girl appeared. "I'll bring some fresh flower for you tomorrow, OK?"
"Thank you for chasing them away, Onii-chan. Now I can try to finally rest in peace." the girl replied with a smile.
"Don't mention it." the boy said as he picked up the bottle and set it upright. "See you tomorrow then. And hurry up and go to heaven."
As he began to walk off, a familiar voice spoke up, "You really taught them a lesson, Ichigo no Aniki."
From around a corner, a girl appeared. She was a couple of inches shorter than the boy, Ichigo, was. Her long red hair was styled in a pigtail, which reached down to the small of her back. She wore the female uniform of Karakura High and had her schoolbag in one hand, her bokken in the other and a grin on her face as her pale jade eyes looked at Ichigo.
"Kirika." Ichigo sighed. "Didn't I tell you to head straight home? Today's the day you're heading to your sensei's place for a month, right?"
"Aniki, I've been packed for the last two days." Kirika replied. "Besides, you never know when those idiots might try to do something stupid, so I have to make sure you don't get in over your head."
"Who's the older sibling here exactly?" Ichigo muttered as he rolled his eyes. "Fine, let's go home then."
Kirika fell in beside her brother as they started to head towards their home.
In her mind, Kirika was happy to be with her brother. She thought back over the last decade she had spent with her new family after Urahara and Yoruichi had sealed Kaien's memories.
Yuzu and Karin were adorable sisters who she loved unreservedly. Ichigo was a protective big brother who she could rely on. Things would have been perfect, where it not for that incident six years ago.
The redhead snuck a look at Ichigo and sighed mentally. Six years ago, Ichigo had been attacked by a Hollow on the way back from his Karate lessons. Masaki had thrown herself in front of it and been devoured instead.
She had desperately wanted to tell her brother not to blame himself and to explain Hollows to him, but Yoruichi and Urahara had prevailed upon her not to for some reason. She had fought the decision, but had given in when the Isshin had asked her as well.
After that, Ichigo had withdrawn from his family somewhat. He had become colder and had hidden his emotions from everyone, donning the mask of an irritable loner. It had taken concerted effort over the course of three years on the parts of herself and Arisawa Tatsuki, his childhood friend and sparring partner at karate, to draw him somewhat out of his shell.
The girls had changed as a result of the death of their mother as well. Yuzu had taken over most of the household chores and become something of a surrogate mother to the rest. Karin had become dry and blunt. For her own part…she didn't understand how losing something for a second time hurt so much more than it had the first time.
As for Isshin…he had become a regular fool. Immature, childish and irredeemably an idiot, he constantly attacked Ichigo from dawn to dusk. She had spotted the tell-tale signs of the Soul Reaper Art of Hakuda (White Hits) in his attacks, which had led to her confronting him alone one time when she was twelve.
'I can't tell you now, Kiri-chan.' he had said with a pat on her head. 'When the time comes, I'll tell you and Ichigo everything. Until that time, just trust me.'
She hadn't liked it, but she had bowed to his wishes. She had just put more effort into her training sessions with Tessai-sensei and Yoruichi-sensei.
A small smile graced her face as she thought of those two. She was getting stronger by leaps and bounds compared to a regular student at the Shinōreijutsuin, according to Yoruichi at least.
Her Zanjutsu (Art of the Sword) was good, her Hakuda was even better. She still needed a bit of work on her Kidō (Demon Way), but Tessai-sensei had told her she was at Seated Officer-Level Kidō.
Her Hohō (Step Method) was in dire need of improvement by contrast, but she was working hard at it and could at least use Shunpo without much trouble, although Yoruichi could dance around her like a ballerina around a rhino by comparison.
"What's with the smile?" Ichigo asked her.
"I'm looking forward to going on my leave of absence." she replied honestly. "My sensei are all tough, but I really enjoy learning from them."
"They'd have to be good with the improvements you make every time you go on an extended training trip with them." her brother replied with a fond smile at her. "You came in first place in that kendo completion, didn't you?"
"Aniki, it wasn't just a kendo completion, it was the Regional Kendo Championship." Kirika rolled her eyes at her brother as they came up to the Kurosaki Clinic. "Better get ready; the old man's probably gonna jump kick you again."
"Damn Oyaji…" Ichigo grumbled. "Stand back."
Letting Ichigo move ahead, Kirika waited for the usual hullabaloo between the two to begin.
She wasn't disappointed.
As Ichigo entered the living room and called out, "I'm home…", a foot lashed out of nowhere and smashed into the side of his face.
"You're late!" Kurosaki Isshin bellowed.
Ichigo landed on his shoulders with his legs sprawled out in a heap as his father stood over him triumphantly. Isshin hadn't changed all that much in the last decade, except with his personality.
"You delinquent!" Isshin scolded his son. "You know dinner is served in this family at seven o'clock sharp!"
"Why you…!" Ichigo flipped himself onto his feet and went nose-to-nose with Isshin. "Is this any way to treat your own son, especially as he just helped a poor ghost pass over!?"
Kirika slipped past the two arguing males and went over to greet her sisters.
"Hey 'Rin-chan, 'Zu-chan." she said with a smile.
"Welcome home, Kiri-nee." Karin greeted her as she started to tuck in to the food.
"Are you going to have dinner with us before you head out, Kiri-nee?" Yuzu added as she bustled around the kitchen. "And you two, stop fighting! Dinner's getting cold."
Karin, her black hair trimmed to a couple of inches below her ears and wearing a soccer t-shirt and shorts, regarded her twin with a sigh. "Just ignore them Yuzu. More rice please."
"But Karin-chan…" Yuzu, the soft-hearted girl that she was, looked conflicted at this.
{Wham!}
With one final kick, Ichigo sent Isshin flying headfirst into the wall and started ranting about how stupid it was to restrict a healthy Highschool student to a 7:00 curfew.
"Aniki, another one's tagged along." Kirika sighed.
Ichigo looked over his shoulder to see the spirit of an ordinary salary man floating over his head.
"Oi! Get lost!" Ichigo barked irritably as he lashed out at the ghost, trying to get rid of it. "No matter how many times I get rid of them, they just keep. Coming. Back!"
"Thanks for the food." Karin said before turning in her chair to view her brother fighting the ghost. "Poor Ichi-nii. He's too damn popular with the dead."
"I sorta envy Ichi-nii and Kiri-nee." Yuzu said with a pout. "I can sense ghosts, but I can't see them all the time."
"I don't believe in ghosts." Karin stated firmly.
"Eh? But Karin-chan, you can see them too, can't you?" Yuzu asked in surprise. "The only one who can't is Tou-san."
"Whether I can see them or not, if I don't believe in them, they don't exist." Karin stated bluntly.
"So cold!" the ghost shivered.
"'Zu-chan, can you pack up some leftovers for me in a Bento box?" Kirika asked as she ruffled Karin's hair. Karin only let Kirika and Ichigo treat her like a kid, but she still grumbled about it.
"Hai." Yuzu leapt up and started packing food into a box.
Isshin, taking advantage of Ichigo dropping his guard, attacked him again, but was thrown off and defeated by a cross counter when he tried a right straight.
"Winner by KO, Aniki!" Kirika declared.
"Geez! I'm off to bed!" Ichigo grumbled and stomped off.
"Onii-chan!" Yuzu called after him before the door slammed shut.
"Oyaji, you really have to start moderating how much you attack Aniki." Kirika said severely as Isshin leapt to his feet as if Ichigo hadn't slammed a fist to his face. "He'll really hurt you if you keep this up."
"Old man, it's your entire fault." Karin agreed with her elder sister.
"Why?!" Isshin asked pitifully.
"You seriously have to ask?" Kirika shook her head as she grabbed her bento from Yuzu. "Well, I'm off. 'Rin-chan, keep the old man off of Aniki until the morning or Aniki'll throw Yagi-men (Goat Face) into the river again."
"Hai. Got it Kiri-nee." Karin nodded. "Have fun with your Sensei. I'm looking forward to meeting her one of these days."
"Sensei's looking forward to your twelfth birthday too." Kirika said with a grin as she picked up a backpack that she had placed in a cupboard that morning. "Yuzu, you're coming with too."
"But I don't wanna learn to fight." Yuzu whined.
"It isn't learning how to fight; it's learning how to stop someone from hurting you." Kirika countered. "You two are going to be beautiful women when you grow up and you're adorable right now. I want you to be able to protect yourself."
"Kirika's right, honey." Isshin said with a nod. "I know you hate the idea of hurting people, but Kirika, Ichigo and myself would prefer they get hurt rather than you two. Just give it a try on your birthday, OK?"
"OK, Tou-san." Yuzu sighed reluctantly.
"Well, I'm off. Ja ne." Kirika waved as she left and then yelled. "See you later, Aniki!"
"See ya!" Ichigo called back.
Kirika headed out the door and started walking. When she reached an ally, she ducked into it and reached into her backpack and pulled out a brown hooded cloak, she fastened it over herself and raised the hood over her head before vanishing in the blur of a Shunpo. She flashed into existence at the top of a building a few hundred meters down the road, before vanishing again.
The Kurosaki Clinic and home was in the Minamikawase area of Karakura Town. To get to the Urahara Shōten in the Mitsumiya area would involve crossing the Karasu River and then the rest of Karakura, as it was on the opposite side of the town.
She really didn't feel like traipsing through the streets and have to fight off street punks who came on to her, so she took the scenic route. With the special Reiatsu-dampening cloak that Urahara had thoughtfully provided to her, the only way the Soul Reaper assigned to Karakura Town could find her was to spot her visually, and she could sense that the Soul Reaper was busy fighting a Hollow somewhere in Karakura Honchou.
'Odd…this Reiatsu is strangely familiar…' Kirika thought with a frown. 'It isn't Yoruichi-sensei, Tessai-sensei or Urahara-san, so who can it be?'
Shrugging off the sensation of familiarity, Kirika continued moving towards the Urahara Shōten, finally appearing in front of the unassuming shop in a blur.
Silently striding forwards, she rapped on the door and waited. A short moment later, the door was opened by the small redheaded boy called Jinta who either worked part-time for Urahara or was his surrogate son. Kirika wasn't quite sure which one it was.
"Oh. It's you." the brat said rudely.
"Mind your elders." she chided him as she bopped him on the head as she passed him.
"Violent woman." he muttered.
"Jinta-kun, do you want any of your allowance this week?" Tessai rumbled as he walked into the front room. "Kirika-kun, it is good to see you. Is your family well?"
"As well as can be expected, Tessai-sensei." Kirika replied as she removed her cloak and stuffed it into the backpack again. "Oyaji's driving Aniki mad with his constant attacks, Yuzu's worried about Aniki and Karin is as well, despite the fact she hides it better."
"Oh? What is wrong with your brother?" Tessai asked.
"Recently, more and more spirits have been drawn to Aniki's growing Reiryoku." Kirika said with a frown. "It's making him more stressed out than normal."
"His Reiatsu is especially dense as well." Tessai noted. "I can feel it from here. It's roiling like a turbulent sea and attracting Hollows. Have you managed to persuade him to meditate?"
"Yeah, a bit." Kirika nodded. "He isn't sold on the fact it can help him out, so he isn't doing it much. It would really help if I could tell him about Soul Reapers and Hollows, you know!"
"The manager doesn't wish you to tell that information to your brother without just cause." Tessai repeated his part of the argument they had had on the subject for the last six years.
"I'm getting really sick of being given the run-around, Tessai-sensei." Kirika growled. "I've been told that you all have a plan of some kind, but you all refuse to tell me anything about it."
"I understand that it is frustrating, but you must trust in our judgement, Kirika-kun." Tessai said firmly. "Even I do not know the entirety of the manager's plan as he keeps quite a bit to himself."
"Yeah…I know." Kirika sighed in defeat, "But seriously…I want to go Hollow hunting. I'm strong enough to take a regular one on, no problem."
"We shall see at the end of this month." Tessai said neutrally. "Now then, it is time for Kidō practice. I think you have earned the right to learn another offensive Kidō by now. Which would you like to learn out of Hadō # 31, Shakkahō and Hadō # 33, Sōkatsui (Way of Destruction Number Thirty-Three: Blue Fire, Crash down)?"
"Sōkatsui." Kirika said immediately. She already knew Hadō #4, Byakurai, but that was the extent of her knowledge of Hadō.
"Very well. Let us descend to the training room." Tessai said with a nod.
As they climbed down the ladder, Kirika was not happy. She was being jerked around like a marionette on strings by the people at the Urahara Shōten, and she didn't appreciate the sense of not being in control of her own actions at all.
"Where's Yoruichi-sensei and Urahara-san?" she asked as she noted the fact she hadn't been glomped by the werecat as soon as she set foot in the Training Room.
"The manager is in his lab conducting an experiment of some sort, while Yoruichi-dono is out on the prowl." Tessai replied. "Now, Sōkatsui can be a powerful Hadō, despite it only being number thirty-three. The amount of Reiryoku you put into the initial build up determines how powerful the Kidō is. The blast can be a wave of destruction if a sufficient amount of Reiatsu is put into it. Observe."
He held out his hand and a blue orb appeared in his hand and launched itself at a rock. It became a stream of energy that slammed into a rock and cracked it.
"That was at low power." Tessai explained. "Now, this is what a powerful Sōkatsui can accomplish."
He raised his hand yet again and the blue orb of light appeared again, only this time, it glowed brighter and was larger than the previous one. When Tessai shot it off, it became a mighty blast that smashed into the other side of the training room with a loud smash after pulverising several rocks that were in its path.
"Kami." Kirika breathed. She was stunned. Tessai hadn't even said the name of the Hadō as he fired it, let alone the incantation that people normally required in order to use it.
'As one would expect from the former Commander of the Kidō Corps.' she thought.
"Now, I will teach you the incantation." Tessai said. "Kindly vacate your Gigai."
Kirika sighed and undid the tie that held her hair together in its pigtail, prompting a small ring to fall out of it. Grabbing it, the redhead pressed it to her forehead and released her Soul Reaper form.
Urahara had created it based on the same technology as the Gokon Tekkō (Soul-Apprehension Gauntlet). He had tried to call it the 'Urahara Yajū Kaijo Yubiwa' (Urahara Wild Beast Releasing Finger Ring), but Yoruichi had beaten him up and called it the Gokon Yubiwa instead.
Kirika's Shihakushō had grown with her, which was a relief as she didn't know where one got replacements. The odd pair of bandoliers that were part and parcel of her outfit were still puzzling Urahara, which drove him half-mad with frustration, much to Kirika and Yoruichi's undisguised amusement.
As Tessai taught her the incantation, Kirika dismissed her irritation with the three Soul Reaper exiles of the Urahara Shōten, as it would only get in the way of her learning the Kidō.
Once Tessai was satisfied with her recitation of the incantation, he told her to try it out at a low power level.
Raising her hand to point at a rock, Kirika began the incantation.
"Kunrinsha yo! Chiniku no kamen, banshō, habataki, hito no na o kansu mono yo! Shinri to sessei, tsumi shirame yume no kabe ni wazuka ni tsume o tate yo! Hadō #33, Sōkatsui! (Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Way of Destruction Number Thirty-Three, Blue Fire, Crash Down!)"
She had put a moderate amount of Reiryoku into it, but she didn't expect the result that she got. A large blast erupted from the orb of blue light she generated, utterly destroying the rock she targeted, as well as gouging a large trench in the ground on route.
"…slightly too much Reiryoku there, I would say Kirika-kun." Tessai said after a moment.
"But…I only put a middling amount into that…" Kirika said in disbelief.
"You did, but it would seem you have an affinity for fire-type Kidō." Tessai explained.
"But you keep saying I have a Flowing Water-type Zanpakutō." Kirika said in confusion.
"That has nothing to do with your Kidō affinity." Tessai explained patiently. "To actually possess an affinity for an element is very rare in the Soul Society and has almost always been an element unrelated to the abilities of the user's Zanpakutō. Kuchiki Byakuya for example has an affinity for lightning-type Kidō. His mastery of the Byakurai is second to none."
"I…remember one memory I saw before you sealed them, of Kaien talking to Rukia." Kirika said slowly. "Her confidence was shattered by him. I dunno if I wanna be like him."
"Just because you have a similar rare skill doesn't mean you are like him." Tessai informed her. "I would dare to say that you couldn't be like Kuchiki Byakuya if you tried. You have adopted your brother's inability to not interfere with someone in trouble, regardless of the right or wrong of it. Byakuya-dono is infamous for rigidly following the strictures of the law, regardless of his personal opinion of it."
"Sounds like Kaien's memories are seeping through, eh Kirika-chan?" Urahara asked as he strolled into the room.
"I wasn't remembering one of Kaien's memories; I was remembering a memory of viewing the memory." Kirika corrected him. "You've finished with your experiment then?"
"Hai, for the moment at least." Urahara replied cheerfully. "Ara, ara, you two have certainly done a number on my training ground. Tessai, kindly fix the damage while I test Kirika-chan's Zanjutsu."
The redhead blinked. Up until now, either Tessai or Yoruichi had sparred with her and taught her the basics of Zanjutsu. Yoruichi had unearthed her Zanpakutō from somewhere, which too the shape of a kodachi with a pure black sheath and a round tsuba decorated with intertwined cats. By contrast, Tessai's Zanpakutō was a standard katana with a plain steel tsuba.
Their styles were just as different. Yoruichi's style, as benefited the former Commander of the Onmitsukidō, focussed on defeating the enemy as quickly as possible with quick, economical and precise cuts and stabs to vital locations across the body.
Tessai on the other hand favoured a defensive style that forced the enemy to go to him. While reactive, it allowed the muscled man to observe and analyse the style used by his opponent for openings and weaknesses and then exploit those openings.
Urahara had never drawn his Zanpakutō in Kirika's presence, but she remembered Yoruichi's remark that Benihime was not a pleasant Zanpakutō to be on the receiving end of, so she was rather glad that the eccentric shopkeeper had kept his sword to himself up until now.
Still, she knew that her opponents in the Soul Society wouldn't play nice with her, so Kirika drew her own Zanpakutō in preparation to spar the ex-Captain.
Despite going into Jinzen at least once a day for over a decade, she still didn't know the name of Kaien's Zanpakutō. It really irritated her that she couldn't hear her name after all this time. The Zanpakutō Spirit thought it was because they hadn't been in combat, real combat with an enemy determined to do harm to them. Kirika tended to agree, but the three ex-Captains had stonewalled her suggestions of heading out Hollow hunting for combat experience.
"Why the sudden desire to fight me, Urahara-san?" she asked as the blond Soul Reaper unsheathed his blade from the cane he always carried around with him.
"I'm testing you to see if your skills are up to scratch." Urahara said as he placed the sheath of his sword to one side. "Should you pass, there is a mission that you shall accompany me on soon."
"And what do I need to pass this 'test' of yours?" she asked warily. She could sense the restrained bloodlust rippling off of his Zanpakutō as he held it in a relaxed and easy position at his side. Despite that, there wasn't a single opening for her to attack.
"Knock my hat off my head." Urahara said as he adjusted said hat. "I agree with your premise that you haven't been able to learn your Zanpakutō's name because you haven't experienced battle, so I thought a small spar might persuade the two of you to bond more closely."
"Not going to work." Kirika shook her head at once. "Your Zanpakutō may be letting loose a lot of killing intent, but none of it is yours. As long as that remains the case, she and I will not bond in combat."
"Ara…that is a point, but you still need to knock my hat off to go on the mission." Urahara shrugged. "Tessai and Yoruichi estimate that your Zanjutsu is the equivalent to an Eighth Seat in the Guard Squads. Let's just see how accurate they are, shall we?"
Kirika nodded briskly and assumed one of the five kendo stances, the hassō-no-kamae (All Eight Directions Stance),which allowed her to react to an attack from any direction, despite it being an offensive stance.
"Ahhhh…the hassō, eh?" Urahara said with a glint in his eye. "That might be of an advantage to you against humans, but it is of little use against a Soul Reaper or Hollow."
"Teach me how to fight them then instead of preaching!" Kirika snarled before vanishing in a blur of Shunpo. Kisuke leaned back as he dodged a double-handed horizontal chop that would have taken his hat off and cut it in two if he hadn't moved. As it was, it had missed by the barest fraction of an inch.
"Impulsive." Urahara sighed as he brought up his Sealed sword and slashed lazily at Kirika, who twisted in mid-air to avoid it and simultaneously slam a kick into the shopkeeper's chest to propel her away from him.
"Oh? You're a lot more flexible than I gave you credit for." the man remarked as Kirika landed on the ground a couple of meters away. "Well then…time for me to attack…"
Vanishing in his own burst of Shunpo, Urahara sent a fast stab straight at Kirika's heart that she was barely able to deflect at the last moment into grazing her shoulder.
Grunting in pain, Kirika reached out, grabbed Urahara's hand, and tried to swipe his hat off with her sword again. The next thing she knew, she was slamming through a rock at a ludicrous speed before she managed to recover and flip onto her feet.
"That was close." Urahara remarked. "A word to the wise, Kirika-chan, never try and grapple with the former Corps Commander of the Detention Unit of the Onmitsukidō."
"So, you finally reveal something about yourself." Kirika grumbled.
"Hai?" Urahara was nonplussed by the bitterness in her voice.
"Every day of the last decade that I've been here, I've learned lots about Tessai-sensei and Yoruichi-sensei." Kirika said. "But comparably, you never reveal anything about yourself. All I've know about you till now is that your Zanpakutō is Benihime, you were the Captain of Squad Twelve and that you can't perform basic cooking skills to save your life."
"Oi!" Urahara protested, "I can too!"
"Instant Ramen doesn't count, Urahara-san." she replied with a snort. "The point is that while I respect you, I don't trust you."
This plainly startled the man, but he had no time to ponder it as Kirika charged at him with her sword bared, barely giving the man time to bring up his sword. Parrying Kirika's blows, he looked her in the eye.
"Why don't you trust me?" he asked in confusion.
"How can I trust someone I don't even know well after a decade?" she hissed. "Always hiding behind a mask, always refusing to explain what this oh-so mysterious plan is you have…I am not going to dance to the tune you play for much longer without an explanation!"
'Crap. I hate it when Yoruichi's right.' Urahara winced at the accusatory tone to her voice.
For the last year or so, the werecat had been agitating at him to stop being so standoffish to Kirika and open up a little to her. He had refused because he still had a kernel of suspicion in him that she might be an assassin of some kind that Aizen had sent to eliminate them.
When he had told the purple-haired women that, she had given him a look that he recognised from when they were just kids in the Shihōin Mansion. She had only given him that look when he had said something utterly stupid and at odds with reality.
He could easily tell that Kirika was being utterly honest thanks to his long experience at seeing through the best dissemblers and deceivers in the Soul Society. There was absolutely nothing she was hiding from him, because there was nothing to hide. Now it was getting dangerously close to the point that she might chose to go off and leave them at this crucial juncture.
Kuchiki Rukia had been sighted by Yoruichi as the newly assigned Soul Reaper of Karakura Town for the last couple of days. In addition, Kurosaki Ichigo had been in close contact with a Plus Soul today.
The Hollows would be on him like no one's business. Rukia would also be drawn to the immense, untamed Reiatsu that Ichigo subconsciously exerted. Moreover, if things took a turn for the worse, Urahara himself would step in.
He had to get Kirika back on the bandwagon and fast. First things first…
"Keep control of your anger." he told her. "Anger dulls the Zanpakutō of a Soul Reaper. Keep cool and calm."
"Anger is flowing through my blood like venom!" she bit out. "If you had bothered to get to know me, you would know that!"
Kisuke locked blades with her and started to force her back. "Regardless of how you feel about me, you have to maintain a cool head. A blunt blade cannot cut anything, nor can it protect anything."
"I…there's too much anger…I can't control it." Kirika growled as she pushed back against Urahara. "If I was allowed to fight the Hollows, I might have an outlet for it, but as you insist on wrapping me in cotton wool, I can't even do that!"
'Ow. I'm having my mistakes thrown in my face here.' the shopkeeper winced at that. He had made the same mistake Hirako Shinji had made with Aizen. He had distanced himself from her and not allowed her to get to know him or vice-versa, meaning he didn't know her frustrations first hand. Oh, Tessai and Yoruichi had told him of her growing frustration with them, but he had dismissed them as mere teenage rebellion.
"Ara…it looks like I have some thinking to do." he muttered.
"So hurry up and beat me already." Kirika ground out as she forcibly disengaged from him and leapt back again, panting. "You never intended for me to win in the first place, so why are you delaying it?"
Urahara raised an eyebrow at this. Since when could she read him so well?
"It isn't that hard to figure out." she snorted, interpreting his expression correctly. "If there is a mission you have to undertake, whatever it is, you want me out of commission so there isn't even the slightest chance of me finding out about it. Exhausting my Reiryoku is a good way to accomplish that, more so if you don't let Tessai-sensei use Kaidō on me afterwards."
"Well, well…you are perceptive." the former Captain made a mental note to not underestimate the deductive capabilities of the young Soul Reaper in the future. "Truthfully, it would be better for you to sit this one out, but the prize is real. Knock my hat off and you win. I will not make it easy, however…"
He raised his Zanpakutō above his head and, for the first time in nearly a hundred years, unleashed his own desire to kill from it. Benihime shrieked with delight in his ears as she was given almost full rein to fight. All she wanted now was to be released into her Shikai and things would be lovely for her.
Kirika was almost crushed by the sensation of the Captain-class Soul Reaper's desire to kill. His bloodlust was through the roof and she was having trouble breathing from the way it pressed at her. The redhead refused to retreat or collapse however.
"…damn…that's quite the desire to kill you have there…" she said as she assumed the basic kendo stance. "Looks like you finally intend to fight somewhat seriously."
"Do try and survive." Urahara remarked, "Yoruichi-san would be most upset with me for getting you killed."
With that, he flashed in and slashed her across her chest, sending her flying once again.
'…! Damn…" Kirika thought as her vision started to be edged with black from the shock of the pain. 'Is that it? One half-assed attack from a Captain and I fall? No…no! I will not be defeated so easily! Not as long as my revenge is incomplete!"
Abruptly, her vision shifted and she was in her Inner World. In the past decade, statues of the people she had come to care for had appeared there, dotted around the landscape. Ichigo, the twins, Isshin, Yoruichi, Tessai, Tatsuki…they were all there. The waters flowed through the endless aqueducts and canals smoothly and without an end to the water.
*Kirika-sama.* the form of Kaien's Zanpakutō appeared before her, a frown on her elegant face. *Is that the extent of your determination? Of your will to fight?*
"He's a Captain-Class Soul Reaper." The redhead protested. "I'm barely at the level of a Ninth Seat, if that. If he wanted to, he could cut me to pieces with his Zanpakutō, blast me with Hadō, bind me with Bakudō or just kick me to death with Hakuda. I can't match him."
*All of that is true.* the Spirit acknowledged. *But you could still make him work for it. Yet you have given up. Look at the water in your Inner World; it is clotted with muck from your lack of resolve and it has stopped flowing due to your inability to move forward.*
Kirika looked around and saw that it was true. The waters, usually a glowing blue, were now a dirty brown/green colour and were stagnant, not flowing at all.
*You desire to fight Hollows and reprimand the schemer for not letting you do so, yet crumble at the first true test he gives you.* the disappointment in the Zanpakutō's voice cut Kirika deeply. *Not only that, you refuse to accept me.*
"What do you mean?" the redheaded Soul Reaper asked in bewilderment.
*Part of the reason you cannot hear my name is our lack of combat experience together.* the blue-haired woman explained. *The other part is that you do not think of me as your Zanpakutō. You always mentally refer to me as being Kaien-sama's Zanpakutō.*
"You are though." Kirika said in surprise. "I'm just the girl that was lucky enough to have the potential to have a Water or Flowing Water Zanpakutō."
*That isn't the reason and you know it.* the Spirit chided her. *You are still punishing yourself for being the sole survivor of your friends, as well as your inability to help your older brother with his grief from losing his mother. These things are not your fault and were completely out of your control. Kaien-sama would tell you so himself, accompanied by a hefty smack to your head to get the point across*
"I…suppose so…" Kirika said hesitantly. "It's just…what right do I have to be happy, when the others aren't around to be there with me? And I should have ignored Urahara and just told Aniki about Hollows six years ago."
The Zanpakutō Spirit smiled at Kirika and drew her into a gentle hug before speaking softly. *Your friends, from what you have told me about them and the memories I have seen of them, would be happy that you are living a life without pain and suffering and would be most horrified to think that they were preventing you from being happy.
*As to your brother…you trusted the judgement of your teachers and I personally believe it was the correct decision to make at the time. He would have blamed himself even more than he already did if you had told him a year or even two years after her death. I believe that your sensei are either too cautious or have a plan in the works for Ichigo for them to insist on keeping him in the dark this long*
"Knowing Urahara-san, probably the latter." Kirika muttered as she enjoyed the hug of…her…Zanpakutō. "So…where do we go from here?"
*You have to forgive yourself of the sins you believe you have committed and believe yourself worthy of possessing my power.* the Spirit told her. *Then I believe you will finally be able to hear my name and Kaigo.*
"Right…" Kirika relaxed and allowed herself to fully feel the grief and guilt that she had been hiding within herself for ten years. The emotions were almost as crushingly overpowering as Urahara's bloodlust, but she forced herself to feel them in their entirety, not hiding any of it from herself.
Then she acknowledged them. It hurt, oh dear sweet Kami did it hurt, but she persevered. As her acceptance of them grew, so too did her desire to absolve herself of them. She wished that there had been something, anything, she could have done ten years ago, but as she had been -a child with no knowledge of how to even use rudimentary Reiryoku control and chained with heavy manacles day and night- she had been helpless. Her surviving had been mere luck and chance, nothing more.
If one of her friends had survived rather than her, she would cheerfully tell them to live life to the fullest in her stead. She though and hoped any of the others would think the same thing, so that was what she would do…live for their sake…live her life to the fullest and avenge their senseless deaths with the power that had been gifted to her as a result of surviving!
With a shuddering breath, Kurosaki Kirika forgave herself for being helpless to help her friends, for surviving when they had not and for being unable to help Ichigo, her beloved Aniki, recover faster from the murder of his mother.
*Are you alright, Kirika-sama?* her Zanpakutō Spirit asked as she drew back from her wielder.
"I'm…fine." Kirika said quietly. "I'm just a bit emotional right now, that's all."
She wiped the tears that had escaped her eyes and looked at her Zanpakutō with a look of determination that she had not shown in ten years.
"I think I'm ready to hear your name now, my friend."
*Very well then…my name is…*
With Urahara, seconds before the strike.
The shopkeeper sighed as he bypassed the girl's defence -which was good enough to hold off an Unseated Soul Reaper and perhaps any of the Seated positions up to the Tenth Seat- and cut her from the left shoulder to her right hip in a single, smooth motion, sending her toppling to the ground in a small eruption of blood.
She wasn't ready and hopefully this would drive the point home. He did feel bad about cutting her so deeply, but Tessai could heal her up in a jiffy, so there wasn't anything to worry about.
An explosion of Reiatsu from Kirika made Urahara leap back from her, his swords held at the ready for whatever she was about to do.
Staggering to her feet, Kirika glared at him as she held her Zanpakutō out to the side, pointing at the ground as if she were about to drop it. Then, she said something that surprised him.
"Taikai sakamake, Kokuten nigose …Nejibana! (Surge through the Great Sea and Roil the Dark Heavens…Spiranthes!)"
As she spoke, she started to twirl the sword in her hand anticlockwise, making it began to glow with a faint golden light and change form. It elongated to the length of a spear, with one end a corkscrew drill and the other a combination of a trident, a Bishamon-Yari and a ji. Water flowed from both ends of the trident as Kirika finally halted the spin with the corkscrew to the ground and the business end to the ceiling.
"Now…it comes for real." Kirika said firmly. "Nejibana and I are now one."
Grasping the spear with both hands, she vanished in another Shunpo, appearing just above Urahara and bringing her Shikai down to slam upon Urahara, who swiftly blocked it with his own sword. As the weapon impacted upon his own, Urahara noted the differences between the weapons that it was amalgamated from.
Other than the spearhead, it held a crystalline appearance. The side blades were concave as opposed to the Bishamon-Yari's crescent moon blades. The horsehair tassel at the base of the blade was blue as opposed to the traditional ji's red. The only thing that hadn't been in Yoruichi's report of Kaien's Shikai was the kanji on the middle blade, but it was so faint that he couldn't make it out.
Suddenly, Kirika disengaged and swung her weapon around to attack his left. This time when he blocked it, he was also hit with a small wave of ice-cold water.
This time he was the one who disengaged and held up his sword.
"Okiro, Benihime! (Awaken, Crimson Princess!)"
His Zanpakutō glowed crimson as he unleashed its Shikai. The blade turned into a medium-sized blade that was somewhere in between a katana and a kodachi in length. The overall appearance was just lightly different from that of a regular katana. Rather than a tsuba, there was a U-shaped guard to prevent someone sliding their sword along the edge and attacking the wielder's hands directly. The last two inches or so of the Tsuka was bent at an angle as well.
"That is an odd looking katana." Kirika said with a frown. "And why the heck are you releasing your Zanpakutō? I can barely keep up with you when I have my Shikai released and you don't!"
"I did say it wouldn't be easy, didn't I?" Urahara said with a grin. "Now then…Nake, Benihime! (Scream, Crimson Princess!)"
He slashed in the air, unleashing a wave of crimson energy that roared at Kirika as it flew towards her. Wide-eyed, she Shunpo'd out of the way and counter attacked with a vertical slash at Urahara.
"Nake." he said almost lazily, creating a hexagonal shield in front of his raised sword that stopped both the spear and the water cold. The redhead pointed her off-hand at the ex-Captain.
"Byakurai!" Kirika snarled as she sent a large blast of white lightning at him.
"Nake." Urahara switched to the offensive version again, overwhelming the Hadō and forcing Kirika to leap into the air again and try another swipe.
"Kamisori, Benihime! (Razor, Crimson Princess!)" came from Urahara as he sent a crimson arc of energy at her, but this attack made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as her instincts screamed 'danger!' at her. She spun Nejibana away from Urahara and Shunpo'd away.
"Not going to work~." Urahara sang.
Kirika's eyes widened again when she reappeared as the crimson energy redirected itself to attack her again. She spun Nejibana one-handedly into a vortex of water in front of her as she called out the defensive technique Nejibana had given her.
"Buyō Kōen: Uzu no Mai! (Dance Performance: Dance of the Whirlpool!)"
From the whirlpool, a deluge of water erupted and slammed into the Kamisori. Both techniques struggled against one another for a moment before mutually annihilating each other in an explosion of water and crimson energy.
'Impressive. That wasn't a full-power Kamisori, but still, she did manage to neutralise it.' Urahara thought.
But Kirika wasn't done yet. "Buyō Kōen: Rasen no Mai! (Dance Performance: Dance of the Helix!)" She commanded.
The whirlpool shrank to nothing as she pointed the tip of the spear at Urahara and started rotating Nejibana on its axis. A smaller, more condensed whirlpool formed around the spearhead before being launched at Urahara.
'This must be her offensive technique then...let's see how good it is.' Urahara thought as he called out, "Nake, Benihime!" and bringing up his Chikasumi no Tate (Blood Mist Shield) again.
The Rasen no Mai slammed into the Chikasumi no Tate with a great roar, the two techniques straining against one another as their wielders battled for supremacy.
"Daiippo: Suiryū! (First Step: Water Flow!)" Kirika ground out as she Shunpo'd closer to Urahara, which made the Rasen no Mai stronger. Still the hexagonal shield withstood the attack.
"Overcome it! Nejibana!" Kirika cried.
The water began to glow a light blue and the pressure suddenly turned up…way up. It had been bearable before, but it now felt like Ikkanzaka Jidanbō, the Gatekeeper of the Hakutōmon had decided to sit atop his shield and he could see actual cracks in his Chikasumi no Tate, which was frankly astounding.
'Belief in herself and her Zanpakutō…Heh…looks like she's going to win this one…' the shopkeeper thought. He adjusted himself just before his defensive technique failed and the Rasen no Mai writhed and roared its way at Urahara, who was just barely within its reach.
His prized green and cream hat was sucked off his head and sent flying with numerous tiny scratches and tears in it. Urahara mentally upped that attack from 'try to avoid' to 'Stay-The-Fuck-Away-At-All-Costs' as he didn't want to experience that hitting his body.
"Looks like you win, Kirika-chan." he called as the watery attack collapsed.
Kirika was looking on with disbelief. She…she had actually won?
"Kirika-chan?!" Yoruichi yelped. She had just come down the ladder at the sound of fighting going on, to see Kirika and Kisuke locked in battle with each other…both with their Shikai out!
Kirika looked like she had been doing freestyle sparring with someone far outside of her capabilities. Her Shihakushō was torn, ruffled and bloody from a cut on her arm and a long cut across her chest. Her hair was a mess and she looked utterly exhausted…yet she also looked more exhilarated than the first time she had succeeded in casting Bakudō #1, Sai (Way of Binding Number One, Restrain) on Jinta.
"Yo…Yoruichi-sensei…" she said dizzily, "I…I unlocked Nejibana…and beat Urahara-san…"
With that, she collapsed on her back, Nejibana returning to its Sealed Form as its wielder lost consciousness. Yoruichi and Tessai were at her side in an instant.
"Tessai, heal her up and put her to bed." the werecat said quietly as her eyes bored a hole into Urahara's own. "I need to have a word with Kisuke…in private."
"Hai, Yoruichi-dono." Tessai gently picked up Kirika and took her to the living quarters.
One they were out of earshot, the Shihōin Princess unleashed her anger upon Urahara.
"What the living hell were you thinking, using Benihime on her like that?!" she yelled. "It was a miracle that she unlocked her Shikai at all, but nooooo, you just had to up the ante when she pulled it out! Which techniques did you use on her?!"
"Nake, Chikasumi no Tate and Kamisori." Urahara replied. "But-"
"BUT NOTHING!" the infuriated woman roared. "You know full well that sometimes Benihime goes too far when she attacks! Using Nake is bad enough, but Kamisori? Really?! She could have been killed!"
"But she wasn't." Urahara felt compelled to point that out. "Not only did she release first, she had me on the defensive when I was still using Benihime's sealed form. Granted, I was fighting at the level of a Fourth Seat, but that's still impressive, wouldn't you say?"
"You…aarrrgghh!" the werecat half-screamed before glaring at her old friend. "Do this again and I'm scratching your eyes out and replacing them with your balls. Understood?!"
"Haaaaiiiii!" Urahara squeaked, covertly covering his family jewels.
The woman marched off to inspect Tessai's work, leaving a sweating Urahara behind her, muttering about violent women again.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
The Next Day
Classroom, Karakura Highschool
Kirika yawned as she entered the classroom. She had slept well last night, but the amount of Reiryoku she had used wasn't a small amount by any means. Sōkatsui, Byakurai, releasing Nejibana, using the two techniques that Nejibana had given her, forcing more Reiryoku into Rasen no Mai…she was still knackered and it was First Period!
"Ki-ri-ka-chan!"
All of a sudden, two female hands were grabbing her boobs and massaging them. With a tick mark on her head, the redhead delivered an elbow into the gut of the person standing behind her, forcing her to let Kirika go.
"Chizuru, how many times have I told you to not to grope my girls?" the younger Kurosaki growled as she swung around to face the most (in)famous lesbian in all of Karakura, Honshō Chizuru, who was currently gasping for breath from Kirika's blow to her ribcage. A fellow redhead, the lascivious libertine ambushed every girl she came across and leered at them through her red framed glasses. Kirika was one of her favourite targets, along with Tatsuki's best friend, Inoue Orihime.
"Ohayō, Kirika-san." Well, speak of the devil. Orihime was a buxom girl with long burnt-orange hair and was the number one Chizuru-groping target.
"Hime!" the fallen lesbian miraculously revived and leapt to try and grope her when…
{Wham!}
…she was struck atop her head by the furious fist of Arisawa Tatsuki, reigning Orihime Protection Squad Captain and all around Martial Arts queen.
With her short, messy black hair, Tatsuki was very much your typical tomboy, but she was a good friend and would stand by you come thick or thin.
"Ohayō, Inoue-san, Tatsu-chan." Kirika replied cheerfully, ignoring the moaning girl at their feet. "How are you two today?"
"Meh. Fine when she isn't trying anything with Orihime." Tatsuki prodded Chizuru with her toe meaningfully. "How about you, Orihime?"
"I'm good." the bubbly girl replied happily. "Kirika-chan, you look tired."
"A guest instructor dropped by my sensei's place to put me through my paces last night." Kirika lied cheerfully. "He was a real hard-ass, but I managed to impress him in the end."
Before anyone could say anything else, a scream of 'Ichigooooo-!' was heard and then abruptly cut off in the corridor.
"Asano." She and Tatsuki sighed in unison. The rather hyperactive Asano Keigo was someone who the two girls could swear had been taught the Kurosaki Isshin-method of male bonding, thus resulting in Ichigo hitting the boy at least once a day.
A moment later, a sour looking Ichigo walked in, followed by a somewhat dazed Keigo and a placid Kojima Mizuiro. The two were exact opposites. Where Keigo was excitable, Mizuiro was calm and collected. Where Keigo was a wannabe ladies' man, Mizuiro was the real deal.
"That looked like fun, eh Asano-san?" Mizuiro asked conversationally.
"Why Mizuiro, why?! We're friends!" Keigo wailed dramatically.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Ishida Uryū glaring at her before taking his seat. She sighed to herself. When they had entered Highschool, Uryū had tried to challenge her to a match, but she bluntly told him that she could care less for his pride and no challenge of his would be accepted by her.
Yoruichi-sensei had explained the history of the Quincy Massacre, almost two-hundred years ago, to her, as well as the death of Uryū's grandfather, which the young Quincy had attributed to deliberate orchestration on the part of the Soul Reapers.
Personally, she actually agreed with the self-proclaimed 'Last Quincy' on the last one. Urahara had mentioned the person who had taken over the Twelfth Squad upon his exile was a man called Kurotsuchi Mayuri, who was either a sociopath or just plain insane, she couldn't tell which. It had likely been him who ordered the surveillance teams to not assist Ishida Sōken against the Hollows who killed him.
"Chad!" Keigo called as a giant of a boy entered the classroom. Sado Yasutora, known to his friends as Chad, stood literally head and shoulders above his fellow classmates. The boy was one of Ichigo's best friends and had helped him out ever since Ichigo saved his keepsake from his grandfather from some thugs.
The taciturn boy nodded a greeting to everyone before the teacher came in and called them to sit down. With much shuffling and scraping of chairs, the class came to order and the lessons for the day began again.
Kirika only half concentrated on the lessons, thinking through something that Nejibana had told her after she won her round with Urahara and she had fallen unconscious.
*My Kaigo has changed from what it once was.* the Spirit had said in a perturbed way, *It used to be 'Suiten Sakamake' (Rankle the Seas and Heavens). I do not understand how or why this happened.*
As this was only the second instance of a Zanpakutō being transferred to another person from the original wielder after their death, they were in reasonably unknown territory here. Tōsen Kaname had discarded his own Zanpakutō in order to use the blade belonging to his fallen friend, which meant it was pretty cut-and-dry.
In Kirika's case, Nejibana was suppressing her own Zanpakutō as well as the Inner Hollow that had been born in her thanks to that bastard Metastacia melding with Shiba Kaien. This was the first time such a thing had happened, ever, according to Urahara.
She suspected that just as Nejibana might influence what her eventual Zanpakutō's abilities will be, she was slightly influencing Nejibana in return, which caused the slight change in the Kaigo, as well as the odd Kanji Urahara mentioned on the blade. She would have to examine it herself after school.
{Graaaaaahhhhh!}
Kirika shivered as she heard the screech of a hunting Hollow. Locked in her Gigai, helpless like this was not comfortable. She would be just as helpless as a regular Plus Soul if it were not for the fact she knew Kidō, Hakuda and Shunpo.
Still, she resolved to be careful when she headed back to the Urahara Shōten after school. Maybe she could find out who this familiar Reiatsu was that was hopping around Karakura like crazy. It had to be a Soul Reaper due to how it was moving at the speed of a mediocre Shunpo and was attacking the Hollows that were popping up left and right thanks to her Aniki's unrestrained Reiryoku.
'This seriously has to stop soon. Tatsu-chan, Inoue-san and Chad have all been inundated with his Reiryoku because the seating arrangements put them around him. Hell, even I have some bleed over from him.' the Soul-turned-human thought anxiously. 'If this goes on, they'll either commit Soul Suicide or Hollowfy without a Zanpakutō to balance their Souls or…or they'll manifest powers to make up for the absence of the Zanpakutō! Is that what Urahara wants?!'
She was torn between horror and awe at this revelation she had stumbled upon. Horror because it was a disgustingly Machiavellian tactic, to force humans into the dangerous world of the spirits long before their time.
She was in awe, because it just might work. If they developed their own, individual powers, they would be able to surprise the Thirteen Court Guard Squads with them, maybe even hold out against them, for a while at least, while the stronger members took out Aizen, Ichimaru and Tōsen.
It was brutal, heartless and the most hateful thing she could do to her friends…but she also knew that to win a war with a madman, sometimes you had to dip into the dishonourable and dastardly.
This of course made her think on. If that was what the blond ex-Captain had in mind for Ichigo's friends, what the hell did he have in mind for Ichigo?!
'He'd better not mess with my family.' she growled to herself. 'Me, yes. My friends, at a stretch. But not my sisters or brother!'
After School
Urahara Shōten
"Urahara!" Kirika yelled as she stomped into the small shop, brushing past Tsumugiya Ururu, the other assistant at the Shōten, a small girl with pigtails and a perpetual blush on her face.
"Ah, Kirika-chan. Excellent timing." the blond man said as he looked up from some contraption or other. "The mission is in a few minutes; if you still want to come along with me, get your Reiryoku-suppressing cloak out."
"Tonight?" Kirika was derailed from her intended verbal beat-down of the man by this sudden revelation.
"Hai, something crucial is about to happen and we are on damage control duty." Urahara said cheerfully. "By the way…catch."
Kirika caught a blank mask. It was black, with eyeholes and no other decorations. She sent the eccentric shopkeeper a quizzical look at this.
"In case we run into any of your Spiritually Aware friends." he said simply. "Just be warned that you won't be able to talk with it on. It'll also suppress your Reiatsu for as long as you are wearing it."
The redhead blinked at this. So, not only was she going to be wearing a cloak that concealed her Reiryoku, but this mask that would mute her and prevent her building up her Reiatsu to any degree.
"What are you plotting?" she asked suspiciously.
"The first step to attacking Aizen." Urahara replied seriously. "What you'll see tonight will be hard, but do not interfere."
"What?" This was starting to piss her off.
"Trust him, Kirika." Yoruichi sighed as she leaned against the doorframe nearby. "At least, if you're still going."
Grumbling at being told off somehow by her favourite sensei, Kirika freed her Soul form from her Gigai, donned her cloak, and slipped on the black mask. It fitted over her face snugly and seemed to use a small amount of her own Reiryoku to stick to her.
Attempting to speak, she found that she couldn't, just as the ex-Captain had told her. Nodding, she pulled the hood up to complete the concealment of her Reiryoku.
"Let's go then." Urahara said cheerfully. He stood up, nodded goodbye to Yoruichi and led Kirika out of the shop. It was already becoming dark and she was glad of it, as it meant that there was little chance of being spotted by any of her friends.
"Follow me." Urahara said as he vanished in a bur. Kirika swiftly followed him but struggled to keep up. He was moving so fast that sometimes all she could see was his back in the distance. She mentally upped the priority of fine-tuning her Hohō skills from necessary' to 'urgent'.
{Grrrraaaaaaaaahhhhhh!}
She heard the shriek of a Hollow and looked around in horror. She was in Minamikawase, almost near where her family's home was!
'Yuzu! Karin! Aniki! Oyaji!' she thought in a panic. The Hollow Reiatsu in the air was immense and she had a very bad feeling about it as she drew closer to the Kurosaki Clinic and the feeling of Hollow Reiryoku increased with every step.
"Wait." Urahara stopped her atop the building across the street, silently casting an illusion Kidō to conceal their presence. She looked down at the street and blanched in horror. A large Fishbone-D Hollow had Karin in its grasp and her brother was charging it from the wrecked Clinic with a goddamn collapsible chair as his only weapon!
"Remember what I said." Urahara muttered to her. "Do not interfere."
She glared at him in a fury. How dare he tell her to leave her family in mortal danger of having their Souls eaten?! What does he think he's playing at?!
Below them, Ichigo got one-shotted by the Hollow and a sense of accomplishment emanated from the Negative Spirit.
"Found you." it gloated at Ichigo.
Before it could so much as take a step towards him, a small black shape flew from the ruined Clinic and slashed the Hollow's arm that held Karin with a Zanpakutō…a very familiar one, along with an all too familiar wielder.
Violet eyes glaring in concentration, short black hair waving as she moved and her petite frame not grown in all the time since Shiba Kaien had seen her. Kuchiki Rukia had shown herself.
'R…Rukia?!' Kirika though weakly. 'What the hell are you doing in the World of the Living?'
She was certain that her turmoil was being reflected all the way down to her Inner World right now. The woman who had both saved and slain the original owner of her Zanpakutō was now trying to save her family. How ironic.
With a howl of pain, the Fishbone-D dropped Karin and Ichigo caught her deftly, the Hollow fading into the darkness as it temporarily retreated to lick its wounds.
Kirika listened as Rukia calmed Ichigo from panicking and deduced that it was because his Reiryoku had been at a low emission level that he hadn't been attacked before now, but coming into contact with the Plus Soul girl from earlier on today ('When was this?', Kirika wondered numbly) had allowed the Hollow just now enough of a scent to track him down.
'Don't say it like that! Aniki is just going to blame himself and do something reckless!' the eldest Kurosaki daughter railed mentally.
Sure enough, Ichigo placed Karin gently on the ground, stood up, charged out and challenged the damn Hollow to take his Reiryoku if it could! Kirika felt like beating her head off a brick wall at his stupidity. If he survives this, she was going to kick his ass for making her worry so much!
The Fishbone-D roared as it elongated its neck to try and eat Ichigo. Kirika wanted to move but was held in place by Urahara's strong hand on her shoulder. Rukia didn't have anything holding her back, however, and interposed herself between Ichigo and the Hollow with a small Shunpo, raising her blade as she did so.
The Hollow bit into her solidly, the left side receiving more damage than the right. She still had her sword though, and the tip was inside the Fishbone-D's mouth. With a grunt of effort, she sliced through a portion of the Hollow Mask and sent the Negative Spirit staggering back roaring in pain.
Then she collapsed, her wounds bleeding profusely.
"Hey! Soul Reaper!" Ichigo called out.
It was rather satisfying to hear Rukia admonish Ichigo for being an idiot, as well as not seeing past what would happen after the Hollow devoured him, but Kirika planned on rehashing this conversation with him herself at a later date, so she ignored what the raven-haired Soul Reaper was saying until she dragged herself to sit against a pillar nearby.
"Do…you want to save your family?" she asked in a pain-filled voice.
"Of course I do." Ichigo replied.
"Well then…you must become…a Soul Reaper." Rukia lifted her sword, Sode no Shirayuki, and pointed it at Ichigo. "Thrust this Zanpakutō into your heart and I will pour my powers into you. The chances that this will work are slim. There is even the chance that you may die because of it, but there is no other way."
Ichigo stared at her before saying, "Gimme that sword, Soul Reaper."
Rukia grinned slightly. "My name is not 'Soul Reaper.' I am Kuchiki Rukia."
The Fishbone-D, now seriously pissed because it had been wounded, roared again and started to charge the two figures with murder in mind.
"Izzat so? I'm Kurosaki Ichigo." Kirika's idiotic brother said as he thrust the Soul Slayer Blade into his heart.
'Aniki!' Kirika screamed in her mind as a brilliant bluish-white light engulfed the pair of them, stopping the Negative Spirit in its tracks due to the blinding quality of the light, then…
…the Hollow was suddenly short an arm. Standing before it was Kurosaki Ichigo, wearing a Soul Reaper's Shihakushō. Across his back was a ridiculously large sword sheath and in his hand was a bludgeoning monster of a Zanpakutō that Kirika had a hard time believing was a sword as opposed to say, an oversized kanabō.
'Seriously Aniki. I knew you had bad control of your Reiryoku, but this is ridiculous!' Kirika thought with a sweatdrop. She was so relieved that he was alright that it took a moment before she spotted Rukia sitting on the ground, completely disempowered.
'He…he took all of her powers?!' was all she could think. She had read something about the little transference rite that Ichigo and Rukia had just undergone. The Soul Reaper was always in control of how much to transfer to the Human, so how the hell had Ichigo taken more than Rukia had meant to give?
She watched as Ichigo cut the leg off the Hollow and then switched to view Rukia's stunned, uncomprehending face as the new Substitute Soul Reaper neatly bisected the Hollow with one smooth cut of his oversized Daitō.
"Time for us to move in once your brother goes back into his body and puts the girls to bed." Urahara muttered.
Nodding, Kirika watched as Ichigo returned to his body and carried the unconscious body of his sister into his home, while Rukia stared around in disbelief.
She leapt in fright as Urahara and Kirika appeared from seemingly nowhere in the place where Fishbone-D had been only minutes before.
"Well now, Kuchiki-san…" Urahara drawled. "…It looks like you might need some assistance, correct?"
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Next Chapter: Hollows, Horrors and Quincy
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