I am back and with the sixth chapter. I apologize for the delay again. I hope you enjoy the story so far. Again, I will be posting this fanfiction once a week. Please do not impose any negative comments, harsh criticism or thoughts. Constructive, positive and thoughtful criticisms are accepted.
Thank you and enjoy!
Icestar123
Chapter 6
Chad threw the dark figure off his shoulders."What have you done with Ichigo?" He demanded. He panted, and slight sweat dripped on his body. He didn't have his powers so he cannot fight here. He cannot fight yet.
"Ah yes. Ichigo Kurosaki. A question that must be answered dearly. Sadly, you will not know if you cannot defeat me. Why not submit yourself and allow that answer to be known to you instead?" The dark figure mocked.
"There is no way I will do that. I will rather beat you to death than follow with the likes of you." Chad replied as he charged forward again. Fist raised, he was ready to aim an attack towards his enemy. However, the dark figure was smart. He dodged the attack with much ease.
"Attacking me like that. Do you have no sense of what you are doing? You cannot defeat me without your powers." The dark figure chuckled.
"I will battle you until you are down to the ground. I vow with my words on that." Chad murmured like a vow. Running, he rose his fists and slammed down, enough to cause the ground to shake a little.
"Ho ho ho~. What is this? You are rather unexpected aren't you?" I think that is what I like about you." The dark figure grinned."You can surely be good of a servant towards our Master. it would certainly lure Ichigo Kurosaki in without much trouble."
"Leave Ichigo out of this." Chad warned, glaring with fierce intensity. He raised his fists once more to ready for another punch towards the dark figure before him. All the dark figure did was chuckle with great amusement.
"I believe that is something we will have to disagree on." The dark figure flew immediately towards Chad without a second of thought. Chad kept his stance. He had nowhere to go or to run. There was little choice. He had to take the shot head on and without rejection.
Ichigo...I'm sorry. But I must do this in order to protect you. Chad thought. With a warrior cry, he threw his fist forward towards the dark figure just as the same time the dark figure stretched out his bony hand towards Chad. Chad closed his eyes. He knew he was going to die and soon.
A scream initiated. This caused Chad to open his eyes. The blue arrow, glowing with blue light had shot straight into the dark figure's chest. A gurgled grunt escaped the dark figure's lips.
"What...the...hell...?" He strained. Turning his head slowly, the dark figure noticed who it was. Uryu was there, arrow readied at hand to shoot again."No...way..." And with that, he exploded into dust.
"Are you okay Chad?" Uryu was by his side immediately. Chad stumbled a step and panting before looking back at his friend.
"Yeah...thanks Ishida. But I'm more curious on how you got your Quincy powers back." Something seemed odd.
"Yoruichi gave us this fruit called the Reiatsu Fruit. It grows in the Soul Society. It can allow us from our world to travel into other dimensions. I ate it along with her and Orihime. Take it also Chad." Uryu urged, revealing the said fruit on his hand."With this, you can get your powers back."
Chad looked at the fruit momentarily before back at Uryu."Where did Yoruichi got it?" Something did not add up. They all appeared here in this dimensional world without grabbing the Reiatsu Fruit in time.
"Aizen. Aizen gave the fruits to Yoruichi. I'm suspicious too, Chad but we got to use this. Or else, we might not fight the forces in this world." Uryu replied."Come on. Eat it."
"Alright." Chad nodded. He took the fruit at hand and ate it. A marking of his power appeared at the palm of his hand. He blinked then smiled a little. Focusing, he felt his hand and arm transform. Opening his eyes, he looked at his arm.
"It works." Chad spoke in surprise. Uryu nodded.
"Come on. We need to find the others. Yoruichi and Orihime are waiting. Can't keep Kurosaki waiting." Uryu spoke. Chad nodded and rose, letting his transformed arm return to normal. Then Uryu and Chad ran back towards where Yoruichi and Orihime were waiting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Kairi honey, come inside. It's time for dinner." A voice of a woman called out from the window. The boy, Kairi was giggling, playing with his toy ball when hearing the voice. Dropping the ball, he immediately nodded.
"Coming mommy!" He ran back to the doorway where it greeted him. Inside, another man, burly and muscular greeted him with a hug.
"Kairi, you have been such a good boy. Come on, your mother has cooked your favourite dish tonight. Steak with mashed potatoes. You like that yeah?" The voice of the burly man spoke cheerfully. The boy Kairi nodded with a giggle.
"Steak steak steak! Is it the usual steak Daddy?" With round and big eyes, he asked with the most innocent smile. The burly man nodded with the same smile.
"Of course dear. We will never forget your favourite dish." He reassured. Inside the kitchen, was a woman who was of average size and with a huge smile on her face.
"Oh Kairi sweetie! Sit down sit down. Can't get the dinner cold now yes?" She spoke cheerly.
"No I can't let it get cold!" The boy Kairi replied with a giggle. As soon as he sat down, however, something entered inside of him. The boy sudden world changed.
Before he knew it, his hand was holding a knife, covered in blood and the burly man and the woman with a huge smile were on the floor, the floor stained red with blood. The boy Kairi looked emotionless.
With one last quick motion, he dived the knife straight into the back of the burly man, watching the body flop in helpless death. After, the boy walked away and away. Away from the scene.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End of Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yuugi woke up with a shot up from his bed, gasping and panting with air. His body covered in sweat and his eyes widen with aftershock of the nightmare. The nightmare was grotesque and utterly disturbing. Kairi? Who was Kairi? The boy with the knife...stabbing repeatedly on his parents...over and over and over again...the image inside of his mind was disturbingly unreal. It gave shivers up in his mind. Then it occurred to him the duel with the dark figure back at the warehouse. Master Kairi. Could it be that it was him, the man behind all of this? The same one whom he dreamt about?
The spirit of the Pharaoh appeared next to him and with concern.
Yuugi? I sense a great disturbance in your mind and in your spirit. Something must have entered in your mind for you to get this horrid nightmare.
Yuugi was still taking his time recovering, immediately curling up in position to try and ease some comfort. The night was late. 2am in the morning it marked on the clock. For him to wake up in this nightmare, it was almost disturbing to the point where it was nearly unable to turn back.
I don't know. It suddenly came into my mind. After the fight with that hooded figure...could it be related? Yuugi speculated after a few moments of calmness.
I am not sure. I cannot answer your questions that clearly. All I am clear about is that this nightmare is no ordinary nightmare. It could very well be a fragment of someone else's memories being passed through your soul to create this nightmare. You must be careful Yuugi.
I can't just shake off this feeling...that this is supposed to warn me of something. I never had this kind of nightmare before. For me to get this right now...it's almost odd. Should I...tell the others about this? Yuugi asked his other half with concern.
Perhaps you can...however you must trend carefully on how you are to approach this topic. They could have taken this a little more differently in perspective. Was the spirit's answer.
They wouldn't think I did it...would they? Yuugi panicked.
I highly doubt it. It could be they might be speculating that this nightmare may be a sign for what is to come. However, we cannot determine it right away whether or not it is a sign or not. This is what I meant Yuugi.
I'm scared, Other Me. Yuugi expressed.
Do not be afraid. This would be solved. I'm sure of it. I just believe we need to usher more caution as to not make the wrong slip ups. The spirit spoke and letting his hand rest on Yuugi's shoulder. Yuugi nodded then looked around where Ichigo, Renji and Byakuya were asleep.
We shouldn't keep them waiting I guess. This issue is pretty important. Plus with both worlds in danger, it's only natural we need to speak now better than speak later.
A wise choice. The Pharaoh praised with a smile. Yuugi smiled back. With renewed determination and confidence, he got off his bed and approached Ichigo first carefully. He gently shook his shoulder. The spirit of the Pharaoh disappeared back into the Puzzle meanwhile.
"Ichigo...? Wake up. There is something I need to talk to you about." He whispered. Ichigo grunted softly, but didn't bother to wake up right away. He tried again by shaking his shoulder gently again."Please...I think I have an important nightmare that I need to have you guys to hear." Another grunt followed by a groan. Soon, his eyes opened and squeezed them again, rubbing his eyes form tiredness.
"Yuugi...what the hell is going on...? Waking me up in the middle of the night like this..." Ichigo mumbled tiredly, soon sitting up.
"I'm sorry but I had a nightmare and thought that I can talk about it with you. It felt important and scary at the same time." Yuugi spoke softly.
"S'kay. What's the nightmare about?" Ichigo finally put his attention towards Yuugi. He re-narrated the nightmare briefly to him. Yuugi tried to keep it short and condense, and also to bring out the important details. It was just like a story, except that he felt that this nightmare was more than just a simple story. The whole time he was talking, Ichigo was listening intently, having now been wide awake now. Once Yuugi was done, he looked down to rub his arm.
"...And that is how my nightmare went. I know it might sound weird but...I feel like this nightmare can be a clue to something. A big clue. Plus they mentioned Kairi. I remember my duel with the dark man that he mentioned about the same name. It has to be related." Yuugi looked up after to see what Ichigo's expression might be like.
"Maybe...but this nightmare sounds like it's your first time seeing it. Why did it even come to you in the first place?" Ichigo inquired with folded arms.
"I would like to know that as well. I'm...not a dreamer with illusions am I?" Yuugi was quite worried. This nightmare had nothing good in them. He did wish he had clues and intel about what is going on here. Nothing was quite adding up and that is what is bothering Yuugi the most. Ichigo looked as though he had other thoughts.
"Hey...it's alright. This might actually find out what kind of this guy Kairi is. Your helping more than you think." Ichigo reassured with a small smile. It did made Yuugi feel a little better at least. He smiled.
"Thanks, Ichigo. I just...thought that my dream might be silly and it may not help as much. But knowing that it did help...it's a relief." Yuugi murmured with a soft smile on his lips. Ichigo's eyes soften before placing a hand on his shoulder.
"We will figure this out. And this is a big step into doing so." Ichigo reassured once more. Yuugi could only nod. He wanted to catch them as much as the orange haired male did. The more the mystery builds, the less it would do justice for those trying to get to a conclusion. There is just no way he can let the man behind the scenes do what he wanted them to do.
"Right. I think...we should think about this tomorrow. I'm sorry to wake you up in the middle of the night like that. The dream just took me by surprise. We both need rest so we can continue tomorrow in stopping them." Yuugi assured. There was something about Ichigo that was inspiring and never seen before. He was a hero and had a stand that never changes. It gave him nothing but inspiration.
"Yeah..." Ichigo yawned and stretched his arms lazily."I have been through enough to feel rigged for being dragged through this. We need to figure this problem out sooner or later so I can return back to my world and you can live safely in your world. There isn't anyway that we can let those bastards do what hell they have thought up in their minds." Ichigo grinned."You rest well now alright Yuugi?" Yuugi put on a bright smile and nodded.
"Right! You too Ichigo!" With determined and hopeful look, he returned to bed and laid down. The spirit of the Pharaoh appeared once more and smiled in approval.
You seem to be encouraged after what Ichigo spoke. I am glad he helped you gain energy.
He did more than that Pharaoh. He taught me to not lose hope. And we can't lose hope in a time like this. As bad as it may seem. Ichigo...it's no wonder his friends rely on him so much. He fights a battle that is ensuring that victory will be secured for him. We must do the same.
We already are. You have me. And you also inspire me to gain victory for others as well. Your kindness gives me hope, Yuugi. The Pharaoh smiled softly.
I...give you hope? Yuugi was shocked. But I only am there behind the scenes as I watch you duel. I wanted to help you too and also give hope for others.
You have and you also gave me hope too, Yuugi. You just have not realized it yet. His other half replied. Without you, even Kaiba would not even come to you. Or any of your friends that you made. They are the reason they came together.
Thank you, other me. I will do my best to fight for everyone. I will not fail at all. Yuugi smiled towards his other half. For him to encourage him was especially good. He could always rely on him. However, Yuugi had a feeling in his heart that one of those days the Pharaoh would have to return back to his own world. It made him a little sad, but understandable.
After talking with his other half a little more, Yuugi went to pull the covers over himself and to rest. It was time for rest so he could try and do more tomorrow to get their world back to normal. Free of danger normal.
To be continued..