Chapter Ten
"Ichigo? Karin?" Rukia gasped, coming in just as Ichigo kissed Karin. It was ironic that she would come in at that moment. Karin immediately shoved Ichigo off of her and sprinted forward, grabbed Rukia's wrist and using her lower vantage point, as she was crouching, to sweep Rukia's foot, and force her back into the office.
"So, what? Now you're not going to let me leave? If I know one thing it's that Ichigo wouldn't hurt me and that you, strong as you are, Karin-chan, you couldn't lay a finger on me in battle.
"It's not what it looks like, Rukia…" Karin said flatly. Rukia stared at Karin doubtfully, not saying anything for a second… Then two seconds… Then four. Finally, after a painfully protracted silence, she spoke.
"Really? Because it looked like you were just about to… What was the human phrase? 'Make in' with Karin-chan…"
"Well, first off, Rukia-chan…"
"Don't call me that, fool!" Rukia snapped, kicking Ichigo in the face even harder than she usually did. Ichigo laughed inwardly, feeling that he had gotten back the Rukia he knew back when he first met her.
"Rukia, then… First off, the phrase is 'to make out'.
"Really?" Rukia asked, momentarily forgetting her anger. "I thought because the person's tongue entered the other's mouth…"
"Second of all," Ichigo interrupted impatiently. "We weren't making out, and if you really think so little of me as to think that I would cheat on you then I really do wonder if you know me at all." Ichigo said, feeling that he had the right to be at least a little bit irritated that she would instantly jump to 'he's cheating on me with his sister' when she saw what happened.
"Okay… Well, I'm all ears, as they say. Did I get that right? Good." Rukia said when Ichigo and Karin nodded.
"Well, you already know that I love Ichi-nii. He's told me on several occasions of late that he doesn't feel the same way. I just asked him to give me one kiss… One real kiss, and then I would give up."
"And you think I should believe that load of Malarko?"
"You mean Malarkey? Well, tell me, Rukia… You trusted Ichi-nii enough to trust your very life to him on numerous occasions."
"That's irrelevant. The American public trusted Bill Clinton to be president, and he still cheated on Hillary with that Monica Lewinsky…"
"How is it that Rukia is failing every subject other than Japanese in school?" Karin whispered to Ichigo. Ichigo shrugged. She had made quite the insightful comment. Trusting someone with your life and trusting someone with your love could be two different things.
"Well… I can't make you believe me, Rukia. I would like you to. I don't want bad blood between us… Especially since your brother'd probably Senbonzakura my ass if he found out. But I can't and won't try to force you."
"You know, Ichigo… You're an idiot!" Rukia shouted, taking out her sword, causing Karin to take out her bokken more out of habit than that she thought it would help. Instead, though, Rukia merely slammed Ichigo in the stomach with the hilt of the sword, causing Ichigo to collapse in pain to the floor.
"But a better person…" Rukia continued, her face softening. "I've never known." She whispered. "I believe you."
"Then… Why did you hit me in the stomach like that?" Ichigo gasped. Rukia gave Ichigo a smirk that discomfited him slightly. "Well, because it was funny… And because you're still an idiot. Even if you weren't cheating on me, you just kissed your own sister on the lips."
"Yeah, yeah… Sorry…" Ichigo muttered, blushing. He admitted that it was flattering to have so many beautiful women interested in him… Rukia, Karin, Orihime, Riruka (even if she wouldn't admit it). But he would still never love anyone like he loved Rukia. It seemed ironic that everyone and his sister seemed intent on interrupting that evening.
"Oh, my… Isn't this an interesting scene? I do apologize for interrupting. I knocked and waited, but nobody came to the door…" Captain Kyoraku said politely, bowing to the group. "Hello, Rukia-chan, Karin-chan…"
"Don't call me Karin-chan, old man! You're not my friend, you're a creepy old perv!"
"Karin! That's the Commander-General!" Rukia snapped, appalled that Karin would speak so rudely to the head of the Gotei Thirteen.
"No, no… It's alright… I am getting on in years…" Kyoraku said with a mild laugh. "Maybe I'll be lucky enough to grow as old as Yama-jii someday…"
"Who's Yama-jii?" Karin asked.
"He was the former commander-general and the most powerful Shinigami in the Court Guard… Outside the Royal Guard, of course."
"Well, to what do we owe the honor, Commander-General?" Rukia asked politely.
"Oh, there's no need for such formality, Rukia. I just need you and Ichigo to go down to Karakura Town…"
"Us? Surely a normal Shinigami could do it? Do you really need a captain and a lieutenant to do it?"
"Well, there's been reports of strange spiritual activity going on in Karakura recently. It isn't quite Hollow activity, but Shinigami that I've sent have returned with severe wounds that even our best healers can't fix… It's bizarre.
I think you'd agree. I've spoken to Kisuke, and he's all set up to give housing to you for a little while. He says he won't even charge you."
Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other skeptically. Kisuke didn't seem like he was that much of a philanthropist that he would allow them to stay at his place for free. Regardless, it was what they had, so they had no right to complain.
"Can I go, too, Commander-General?" Karin asked, completely changing her tone, now. Kyoraku looked over at her with a rueful smile.
"Ooh… Much as I hate to deny a beautiful woman, sweetie, I can't let you get involved in this. You aren't even a member of the Court Guard yet, much less a seated member."
"Karin-chan… Go back to the Shin'o Academy and focus on your education." Ichigo said firmly, surprising Karin with the –chan suffix. She nodded, unable to say anything.
Tatsuki looked over her shoulder suspiciously. For over a week, now, she had been being followed. It wasn't so much that she was afraid. She knew that she was second best in Japan, even with a broken arm. But it was uncomfortable to have some creep following her.
At first, she had assumed that the man had been following Orihime, so she always walked Orihime home first, then went home herself. But today, she was walking alone and the person was still following her. That meant that either the person wanted her, or that the person was interested in knowing who was protecting Orihime. Tatsuki would never let a creep hurt Orihime.
She had led the person into a relatively open place. She felt certain that she could fight them off if she needed to, and that if she couldn't, she could scream and kick… No… She wouldn't do that. Her pride wouldn't allow her to act so weak.
Tatsuki stopped and turned around to see a skinny, somewhat androgynous looking man walking up to her, looking slightly nervous. He wrung his hands. Tatsuki backed into a fighting position, and ordered him not to move.
"Stay right there. I swear I'll break your fucking neck if you take another step!" Tatsuki demanded, finding that there was something about the man that set her on edge, made her more nervous than she should be around a man of his apparently weak constitution.
"My… I-I knew you had to be a strong and confident woman, but to threaten me with such violence?" The man muttered nervously. Tatsuki relaxed slightly.
"I'm only a fan of yours, Miss Arisawa. I saw you with your girlfriend, and I didn't wish to interrupt you while you were on a date."
"Sh-she's not my girlfriend! Why do people assume I'm gay!?" Tatsuki demanded, blushing partially in indignation and partially in embarrassment. She had in fact had feelings for Orihime for years. But they weren't dating, and she was sure they never would.
"Well, no offense meant, Miss Arisawa… But it's easy to mistake one of your… Bold disposition as being gay. But… I'm a great admirer of yours, Miss Arisawa… I saw your match all those years ago when you got second place even with a broken arm…
I-I was sure you were going to win. That was what got me interested in martial arts. As you can see I'm still not much to speak of. But, I still wanted to meet you at least once."
"Oh… W-well…" Tatsuki said nervously, not sure whether she should let the man get any closer to her. He acted so shy and harmless, but there was something about him that set her on edge.
"Well… There's no need to stay so far away from me…" Tatsuki said, ignoring her worries, and relaxing further. The man smirked, and suddenly, Tatsuki was certain she saw a flicker of light on the concrete below and saw the pavement ripple like it was only rubber. Then the man was gone from her sight…
In the next moment, Tatsuki reacted even before she could think. The man stopped and looked at her with a cold, calculating look, trying to determine whether she was simply well trained or if she had spiritual awareness, or both.
"I'm impressed, Miss Arisawa. Most people don't even notice me moving. But I saw you look down at my feet and start when my Bringer light flickered and the concrete rippled." He looked around and saw that they were quite alone.
Again, he flashed forward, but this time, he was careful not to let there be tell-tale signs of his movement, and this time, he was successful in tazering Tatsuki in the chest, causing her to convulse momentarily, frothing at the mouth, and collapsing to the ground.
"Oh, good. You're awake. It's nice to see you in the waking world again, Miss Arisawa. I admit that you're beautiful when you sleep. I've met very few women as beautiful as you. I was considering going after that friend of yours.
"She had such an amazing aura, such joie de vivre. But alas, I felt certain that she wouldn't be as interesting to pursue as you. You see, my hunting has become boring. It's too easy. Nobody has any clue what's going on, and nobody seems able to counter me. You of all people surely understand that, right? A woman who's come out on top in such a world as ours."
"Shut up… You wouldn't even be able to touch Orihime!" Tatsuki sighed, halfheartedly moving against her restraints. It was more the ropes around her legs that she was worried about. If she could break them, she could escape. She was a fast runner, and she had proven that she could outrun almost anyone in her class, save for Ryo Kuneida who could run the 100 meter in 10 seconds flat.
"Don't bother fighting your bindings. You won't escape, and if you behave, I won't harm you. You see, I'm running… A genetic experiment. I've proven to have exceptional genetics. I'm smart, talented, handsome and powerful." The man said, wiping the flour off his face and standing up straight, fluffing out his shirt to take on his full height.
Contrary to how he had looked before, he was actually about 172 cm tall, and though he was slender, he wasn't as skinny and weak as he had looked at first. His hair was long and slightly messy and was stark white, though that may have been a result of the flour in it. It could have been any light color.
"Do you know the problem with people today, Tatsuki Arisawa? Please don't overthink this. It's a simple answer. The problem with people is not that they're stupid. It's not that they've become inferior. It's that we've slid into decadence.
"In other words, humans are slothful. 'Good enough' has become acceptable and the men and women who lead the nations of the world have done nothing of consequence to remedy the situation. I believe that that is an injustice to the human race.
"Humans evolved from apes to become superior, and now that superior humans exist, they are forced into hiding, forced to remain silent about their abilities for fear that fearful and bigoted humans will fear and hate them for their powers. Does that seem like a world worth living in?"
"I disagree with you. But obviously my opinion doesn't matter to you… Besides, you're starting to bore me, dipshit…" Tatsuki snapped, twisting, having freed her legs a few seconds before, performing almost a break dancing move, sweeping the man's legs out from under him and kicking him in the stomach and starting to run away.
Almost immediately, the man was standing again, and grabbed Tatsuki's arm with a strength that shocked her to the bone.
Regardless, though, Tatsuki swept his legs again and missed this time, but then turned around and elbowed the man in the solar plexus. She then grabbed his arm and flipped him into a pile of crates, smashing them.
Slowly, the man stood, groaning but also smiling and clapping.
"See? This is the kind of experience I wanted. You're intelligent, you have good instincts and you listen to your instincts… For the most part. It was foolish to let your guard down around me.
"I saw your suspicion when you felt the predator in me. Then you ignored your gut instinct. Most women never manage to even touch me, even if they do suspect me. But you, you countered my moves in succession, and even got in a few of your own.
"However… I really haven't got time for this. I do apologize, Tatsuki-chan…" The man said with a laugh, holding his hands out and gripping them tight. Suddenly, Tatsuki gasped in agony as both her legs were broken at the same time and she collapsed to the ground.
"That's better. Just relax until this is over, Tatsuki-chan. I promise you'll feel much better in a moment. Ooh! Look at that! The sun is setting… Perfect. Tatsuki-chan… Have you ever pictured, or imagined what your first time would be like?
"No. Don't answer. It would ruin the moment…" The man said, seeming far more manic and excited now. Slowly, he pulled Tatsuki's skirt down and slowly, tortuously dragged his finger along her pussy, causing Tatsuki to squirm. It was horrifying, but she was… Unwillingly, of course, feeling it. It was sending a tingling through her body that made lights burst before her eyes.
"Feels good, doesn't it? I'm pretty good, huh?"
"W-what… What are you doing?" Tatsuki gasped, barely able to speak now. She could feel her pussy getting wetter and wetter.
"A woman as smart as you shouldn't need me to tell you. I'm passing on my genes. If more people in the world had my talent, maybe the world would be a less mediocre place. Please just stay down and it will be over soon. I'll even call the ambulance for you afterward." The man said. Tatsuki tried futilely to elbow the man, but found that she was weak from blood loss.
"You smell really nice, Tatsuki-chan. I wasn't lying when I said that I was an admirer of yours. You're exactly the kind of person I want to fill the world with. Somebody who isn't satisfied with being second rate. I'm impressed.
"You're getting really wet. You must be really horny. Maybe you're actually bisexual. Well, either way, I suppose it doesn't matter to me… And there… It… Goes…" He said, watching as the sun went completely over the horizon and the moon showed itself completely. Slowly, the man pulled his pants down, showing himself to be completely hard and pretty big.
It was in that moment that Tatsuki made one last bid for freedom, and bit the man on the hand as he reached down to restrain her, and he yelped and pulled his hand back.
"Quite the little viper, aren't you? Well, I can fix that." The man said, flicking his wrist. Tatsuki screamed in pain as a gouge was cut across her left eye, blinding her in that eye. It also cut open her school shirt.
"Now, please don't fight any further. I don't want to have to hurt you any more." The man said, once more pushing down on Tatsuki. He was about to penetrate when he was interrupted once more. This time, though it was by an outside source.
"Hold it, you freak!" Came a male voice. The man stood up, not bothering to turn and face them.
"Yeah, yeah… Gimme thirty minutes. Go get some coffee… Or tea, or something… It's on me." The man said dismissively, waving a hand at the intruder, throwing some money on the ground, not even turning to look at them. Ichigo shook his head, though.
"Now! Get up and turn around!" Slowly, the man turned around, and comprehension dawned in his eyes
"Ah… You must be the infamous Ichigo Kurosaki. I couldn't miss the bright orange hair. And if I'm not mistaken, you're… Rukia Kuchiki?
"You're even more beautiful in person. I have to say, Kurosaki-san. You have great taste in women. Miss Kuchiki is smart, beautiful, strong, talented, influential."
"That's Lieutenant Kuchiki to you. We of the Gotei Thirteen…"
"Have been sent to deal with the threat that you pose to the human world, blah, blah, blah… Please surrender yourself peacefully and come quietly, blah, blah, blah…" The man said exasperatedly. "Yeah, I've heard this at least three times already.
"I've already dispatched your three comrades. They're not dead. I passed on my superior genetic material to the females. One of them was a virgin. The third was a man. Neither of the women remembers the fight. I wasn't worried about the man."
"And just now, you were about to rape Tatsuki…" Ichigo said. The man shook his head. "Of course not. I was doing a favor for the human race. I'd explain the logistics of it if I felt I had the time, and if I felt that a dimwitted boob like you could understand. But I really must kill you two, finish with Tatsuki and get on my way." The man said.
"I guess I can tell you. My name is Tabito Megumi. I know, it's a bit of a girlish name. It's a pleasure to meet the both of you, though. Now, good bye…" Megumi said, waving his arms. Suddenly all the crates, rocks, trash cans and other debris in the alley rose into the air and went flying at Ichigo and Rukia, both of whom dodged as best they could. However, when they gathered their senses again, they found that Megumi was gone.
"That was weird. Rukia-chan? Did you recognize the power he was using?" Ichigo asked, going about finding Tatsuki and helping her up. She couldn't stand.
"Oh, boy… Let me see, Tatsuki…" Rukia said, feeling bad seeing Tatsuki so badly off. She didn't have any clothes that would fit Tatsuki, given how much bigger Tatsuki's breasts were than her own. Rukia had to say that she sometimes felt jealous of Tatsuki and Orihime, wondering what they had done to be blessed with such large breasts.
Ichigo had said that it wasn't important. But Rukia wasn't sure that was true. From what she had read of the human literature in Kisuke's shop, breast size mattered to men, especially where sex acts were involved.
"Well… I don't have any clothes that'll fit you, Tatsuki…" Rukia said ruefully. You can't walk around stark naked… What should we do?"
"Call Orihime… Tell her where we're at the intersection of Kichi and Araki. She'll know where that is."
"Inoue? Yeah… I guess her clothes would fit you with space to spare, wouldn't they?" Rukia asked. Tatsuki scowled with her one good eye.
"No need to rub it in."
"But I don't know Inoue's number…" Ichigo said. Both Rukia and Tatsuki looked at Ichigo skeptically.
"Ichigo… The woman who's been in love with you for years now hasn't given you her phone number yet?"
"I never asked for it. Why would I need it?"
"Idiot. Well… I have it… Hold on… Yeah, Hey, Orihime… Could you bring some clothes to the intersection of Kichi and Araki? Never mind why I need them! I'll tell you about it later." Tatsuki demanded, exhausted just from that small exertion. She had lost quite a bit of blood between her leg and her eye.
Sooner than Ichigo and Rukia would have suspected, Orihime descended from above, appearing right in front of them, Bringer light flickering around her feet. Ichigo and Rukia both knew that Orihime was a Fullbringer, but to find that she had such fine control of her power now was impressive.
"Tatsuki-chan! What happened to you!? Your eye! It's completely gouged out!" Orihime cried, hugging Tatsuki tightly.
"I knew that someone had been following us for over a week, now. I assumed they were following you… Another one of your creepy admirers, so I ignored them. But then, today I knew they were following me. He came out and said he was an admirer of mine.
"It turned out he was some weird telekinetic rapist freak… No, he didn't rape me. Ichigo and Rukia got here before he could. But he put out my eye and broke both my legs… Damnit! It hurts!" Tatsuki yelled, knowing that screaming about it wouldn't help, but finding that it made her feel a little bit better.
"Oh, Tatsuki-chan… We'll get you cleaned up and fixed as soon as we get back to Mr. Urahara's shop… Kurosaki-kun… Could you carry Tatsuki-chan? I would be…"
"Of course. Climb on, Tatsuki… Actually, scratch that. Just hold still… Ichigo said, hefting Tatsuki and using flash step to head on over to Kisuke's shop.
Soon, the group reached it with Orihime far behind, panting as she pulled up in front of the shop, but not complaining. By the time she walked in she found Tessai already performing Kido over Tatsuki's body. He looked up at Orihime and sighed.
"I was able to repair her legs. Those were merely crushed as if by a very strong pair of hands. However, the eye is a different story. It seems to be oozing some strange energy that I can't put my finger on. I have asked the owner to attempt to identify it.
He has taken a sample of the blood in her eye and is analyzing it right now. But it may be a while, he says. If this is a new power that we haven't heard of, it may be difficult to understand."
"I understand. May I try to fix her eye? My power is a little bit different from yours, Mr. Tessai. Maybe it will have a different outcome." Orihime said politely.
"You can try. Please be careful, though. The owner wouldn't like it if you got hurt on his watch."
"I understand… Tatsuki-chan, are you awake?" Orihime asked gently, leaning down and looking down at Tatsuki, tears flooding her brilliant brown eyes. Tatsuki looked up with her one good eye.
"Yeah, yeah… I'm awake." Tatsuki said, blushing again.
"Good… I'm going to try to heal your eye. Mr. Tessai couldn't fix it, but I'm hoping that I can." Orihime replied.
"Whether or not you can doesn't matter. One eye or two, I still see only you…" Tatsuki muttered. She found that after her strange and frightening experience with that magic user, she appreciated life in a whole new way such that she wouldn't miss a chance to tell Orihime how she felt.
If it changed Orihime's opinion of her, then that only meant that their friendship must not have been that strong to begin with.
"Oh, I know."
"I really… Wait, what?"
"I've known how you felt about me for a while now. The way you always defend me. The way you always keep Chizuru-chan from grabbing me. I figured I would just wait until you were ready to tell me…" Orihime said sweetly, showing much more insight than she usually displayed.
"R-right… Well… H-heal away, then…" Tatsuki muttered, now a deep shade of crimson.
Orihime no longer needed to speak the names of her Shunshunrikka to use them, so she released them and worked on Tatsuki's eye. However, she found that she couldn't fix it all the way. She certainly couldn't restore vision to it, and the scar remained, though it did diminish a bit, and it could now be hidden by an eye patch. In fact, at that moment, Kisuke walked in with a white medical eye patch and handed it to Tatsuki.
"I figured that you might not be able to fix it… At least not right away. We'll continue to work on it. Maybe one of the Vizard can fix it."
"Who are the Vizard? They people like you, Orihime? Who can use powers?" Tatsuki asked, raising an eyebrow. Orihime nodded.
"Well… Yes… If what Kurosaki-kun explained to me has stuck, they were people like him, but then Sosuke Aizen did some weird stuff to them with a magic orb called the Hogyoku and transformed them into Hollows and they had to leave Soul Society and live in a warehouse down by the docks." Orihime said.
Ichigo was impressed that she was speaking so coherently. He knew that Orihime was certainly intelligent. It was merely that her head was always off in space, so she often didn't make much sense when she spoke.
"You're pretty close, Miss Inoue." Kisuke said with a grin. Then, his smile faded and he was all business.
"Aizen did betray Soul Society one hundred years ago. But he didn't use the Hogyoku on the Vizard. If he had, their conversions into Shinigami/Hollow hybrids would have been much cleaner. As it was, he used science that I had initially discovered, and he modified slightly to suit his own ends, so I couldn't explain it fully as he burned his notes and I had little time to look for them.
"But he turned the Vizard into Shinigami/Hollow hybrids. But they weren't exactly half and half. Rather, think of it like a pie chart. Aizen wedged a 15-17% Hollow soul into the Shinigami soul that they already had, and that was powerful enough to forcibly transform them into Shinigami/Hollows… And…"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah… All this science talk is terribly interesting…" Tatsuki said sarcastically. "But why did he do it?"
"Oh! Oh, right! Well, you see, a Shinigami soul, just like a Human body and a Human soul has a limit as to how powerful it can be in any one area. Think of it as a chart of percentages. Spiritual Power, Kido, Speed, etc, etc. But, what if you could break that supposedly unbreakable limit? Well… You can.
"But you have to be willing to make a sacrifice. You have to be willing to become part Hollow. And that is high treason in the eyes of Soul Society as it goes against everything Soul Society fights for. At that time, 100 years ago, Aizen was only doing tests.
"He was finding out if there were any limitations to what such a transformation could do, what kinds of souls could handle the transformations, blah, blah, blah. He found out that a Soul had to be at least lieutenant level to handle such a drastic change in one's spiritual constitution. Mr. Kurosaki was lucky. He wasn't anywhere near lieutenant level when he was hollowfied…
"That's another story that I can tell later. He wasn't destroyed as the other souls were… Or rather, the souls spontaneously disintegrated, leaving no trace that they were there save their shoes and clothes. If I'm correct, Aizen used my banishment from Soul Society to go through my research and find that I had built the Hogyoku, or the Destruction Orb.
"It was one of the few things, though that I took with me from Soul Society, and I planted it in Rukia-chan's gigai when she first came to the Human world. That was why she was sentenced to death. It wasn't because Aizen had anything against her.
"He needed the Hogyoku to continue his experiments and his plans. He managed to get the Hogyoku and disappeared into Hueco Mundo, which…"
"You really like to hear yourself talk, don't you?" Tatsuki asked, distinctly unimpressed.
"Aww! You're making me blush!"
"It wasn't a compliment!" Tatsuki snapped furiously.
"Don't mind him, Tatsuki… He's just an idiot who's been gathering sawdust in his head for years, now…" Ichigo said.
Suddenly, that somehow brought Tatsuki back to the point she was thinking of for hours until Kisuke went off on that Hokey-pokey or whatever nonsense.
"Isn't sexual assault the kind of shit we should report to the police?" Tatsuki asked, one eyebrow raised. The entire group looked at her.
"And when you tell them that a freak sexually assaulted you and then proceeded to telekinetically bombard us with garbage from the alley?" Kisuke asked. Then, he smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry. We will report it. I don't doubt that he's done this before.
"He seems to have gotten this down to an art if he was able to catch you by surprise like that, Miss Arisawa. We have to work out how much of the police report to fabricate so that it will still be real enough to put them on alert. You said he was stronger than you, right?"
"Yeah… It was frightening how strong he was. It was like he wasn't even human…" Tatsuki muttered, shivering.
"That's good. We can use that…" Kisuke said with a wink. Actually, can you walk, Miss Arisawa?"
Tatsuki struggled to get to her feet and wobbled before stabilizing herself.
"Yeah. I can walk."
Kisuke took his cane and wacked Tatsuki's shins hard enough to make her legs buckle under her. He caught her in his arms, and carried her out the door.
"No you can't. The man broke your legs with his bare hands. He was just that strong." Kisuke said with another wink. Tatsuki made a mental note both of the fact that she had to act as though she couldn't walk and to hit Kisuke as hard as she could as soon as she could.
