Chapter 13: Explanations
Verena and Ichigo both could feel a knot appear in the back of the heads when at school the very next day the Shinigami, Rukia Kuchiki appeared in the class. They knew Kisuke was a genus at fixing things, but the girl had been injured the night before. Shouldn't she have been resting at the shoten?
Ichigo felt a tap on his shoulder and looked behind him at his annoying cousin. "A friend of yours?" Uryu asked sounding quite annoyed at him.
Ichigo scoffed. "Tch." he leaned back in his seat. "I'll explain later, but try to ignore her."
Sado eyed Ichigo, the two shared a look as Ichigo nodded towards Keigo and Mizuiro. An unspoken request was sent from one to the other to protect those two. Sado gave a nod before returning his gaze to the seemingly innocent looking young woman before him. Over the years he'd begun to develop extra sensory abilities after meeting the Kurosaki twins. He could see spirits as well and right now he could sense something from that girl, but he was unsure as to what it was.
Verena watched Rukia walk towards her like nothing was going on and that it was the most normal thing in the world. To outside spectators, it was just that. To her, she was dreading the next hour of having to sit next to the Shinigami. Lunch couldn't come fast enough.
Walking up the stairs to the roof, the twins walked next to each other with the Shinigami following them when they got to the roof is when she began to talk. "Bringing me to an empty place. What dost thou intend to do to me?"
Both turned and gave her a weird look. "Stop talking in that weird way!" Ichigo exclaimed.
Weird? she wondered having recalled some of the books she'd read the night before. "How rude! Is it not good for someone who has learned in one day?" she asked.
"Perhaps if we lived in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries." Verena explained to her as she sat down upon the ground with her legs crossed in front of her.
"If you're walking around, uninjured, why the hell haven't you returned to Soul Society?" Ichigo asked her as he leaned against the chain fence behind him. "Isn't your job over? Why are you even in my class of all places?"
Verena shook her head as Ichigo's anger started to rise a bit, along with his voice. "Calm down Ichi." she told him as she took a sip from her juice box.
"You fool!" Rukia yelled back at him. "Only Shinigami can return to Soul Society. Right now, I'm unable to return there..." She rubbed her arm and looked away from him with embarrassment crossing her face.
"Huh?" he questioned, looking at her confusedly.
"Because I've lost my Shinigami powers!" she exclaimed angrily.
Huh. She has an angry streak too. Verena smiled. Ichi may have met his match here. She continued to sip her drink.
"Huh? How?" he asked as he scratched the back of his head.
"When I was attacked by that hollow last night." she told him in a huff. "Something happened. I don't know how it stole my powers." she clenched her fist. "But I will get them back somehow." she sighed as she looked at him. "I have but barely any abilities left. I'm forced to be in this artificial body." she pointed at herself.
"A gigai." both twins said in unison.
Rukia looked at them with surprise. "Okay, now I must know." she began, "What are you two and how do you exist? I know you stated you were a Shinigami/Quincy..." she pointed at Verena. "but that's impossible! Quincies are enemies of Shinigami and visa versa."
Verena chuckled. "It's a bit of a story..." she eyed the Shinigami woman.
"I have time." Rukia told her. The two stared at each other before Verena grinned.
"Okay." she said. "Our father was a Shinigami named Isshin Shiba, captain of the tenth." She watched Rukia's eyes widen at the name of their father's name. "He came to the World of the Living because of reports of a powerful hollow in the area and decided to handle to situation himself."
"He found the hollow." Ichigo continued as he pulled the juice box out of Rukia's hands and opened it for her before handing it back. "It was a possible Vasto Lorde class, but he wasn't certain. It was fast and destructive."
"That was when a Quincy woman appeared, she saw this hollow overpowering the Shinigami and went to assist him." Verena said as she recalled the tale their mother had once told them. "She would later become our mother."
"She destroyed the hollow." Ichigo told her with a small smile appearing on his face. "She obliterated it, unfortunately, she got injured. Badly."
"Isshin, our father, had fallen in love with her after witnessing the strength this human woman possessed." Verena saw that Rukia was listening to every word they were saying. Beyond the doors to the roof she could sense their cousin listening to them. Uryu was trying to hide his reiatsu, but was unsuccessful when it came to her senses. "The injury caused by the hollow had some of the hollow's reiatsu within it and was beginning to hollowfy her."
"Unfortunately, Quincies don't really hollowfy; they just die a very painful death." Ichigo explained. "Pop didn't want to see this become her fate." he chuckled. "That's when Getabushi appeared."
Getabushi? Rukia wondered as she continued to drink her juice. Who is that?
"He helped Pop by sending him into Mom's inner world where he fought and sealed the hollow." Ichigo told her. "Unfortunately, the only way to stop the hollowfication was to bond Pop's soul to Mom's."
"Pop lost his powers, was placed into a Gigai and then married Mom after she'd graduated high school." Verena told her. "He went to college, became a doctor in order to support her and himself."
"Then they had us." Ichigo finished as he took a bite from the sandwich that Yuzu had packed for him.
You're forgetting to mention me King. Ichigo heard his hollow chuckle.
Yeah, I know. he told the white haired being. I've come to terms what you are, but something is telling me not to say anything about you.
Oh? the white haired hollow went silent for a moment. You think she'd try something? Ichigo stayed silent at that. Gotcha King. I'll stay in the background.
"Where is Isshin Shiba today and why don't you go by his name?" Rukia inquired but suddenly got a sense that, that had been the wrong thing to ask as both teens suddenly gave off a sad vibe.
"Our father was killed by the hollow called Grandfisher after he had killed the monster and sacrificed himself to save our mother's life once again." Verena stated with some sadness to her voice. "We use our mother's name because our father did have enemies who may try to harm us."
Rukia's eyes had gotten wide at this revelation. Grandfisher? He's a very powerful hollow. I know he has been on the list of deadly hollow's for many years. Rukia bowed her head in respect. "I'm sorry." she apologized at bringing up obviously painful memories. Another Shiba was killed by those monsters. She felt her own emotions try to come forward as the memory of her mentors fate came to the forefront of her mind.
Ichigo cleared his throat, regaining her attention. "Getabushi trained us with Mom's permission." he told her. "He's the one that gave you that body. We were going to check up on you after school, but since you're obviously alright..." he went to walk towards the school doors.
"Wait!" Rukia yelled out. "I have a request for both of you." she bowed to the ground. "I cannot continue my duties, so I plead with your honor. Please take over my duties and keep this town safe for me!"
Ichigo gave her a gentle push with his foot. "We'd do that any way," he grinned. "so there's no need to ask when it's already a given."
"Thank-you." she sighed as she was helped into a standing position by Ichigo a second later.
"Tag team?" Verena asked as she stood up to follow them. Sensing Uryu leaving she supposed it was time to return to class.
"Sure." Ichigo agreed as he opened the door for the girls. "I get the first week, you get the next and so forth."
Verena chuckled. "Should we bring Uryu and Chad with us?" she asked with a grin.
"Uryu will make it a competition." he grumbled as he followed them. "Chad can't fight yet."
Verena raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure about that?" she inquired with a tease in her voice.
Ichigo blinked in surprise at her. Could Chad fight hollows now? He shook his head at the notion. How would that work? He stayed in his thoughts until he returned to class where he soon was distracted by a new problem, math.
Across town a black hole opened up, a garganta. Crawling out of the darkness a multi-legged hollow began it's prowl for it's next meal and prey.
M-Angel: Now that Rukia knows who they are, and who Getabushi is, she can begin to understand the two a bit better. I'm thinking of having her just watch the two and how they fight in order to assess how strong they truly are before making a judgement on the two. Also, yay for new readers! Hehe... ^_^
Hope everybody had a wonderful Passover and Easter weekend! ^_^