Time to panic

I watch Toshiro carefully, wondering whether Momo has said something to him. I can't imagine why a Hollow would want to try and convince a human that I'm somehow the enemy, even if she's probably still unsure of my identity. But the way he looks at me… it's as if he does suspect something.

I'm so busy contemplating the situation that I don't notice Rukia attempting to get my attention, until it's too late. She cuffs me around the head in irritation.

'Sheesh,' I say, rubbing my head although it doesn't really hurt that much. 'What was that for, midget?'

'You were ignoring me, strawberry,' she snaps with an evil grin. 'I was asking you about Grimmjow.'

'What about him?' I ask warily. We're currently sitting under a tree because it's lunchtime, and I turn my head towards the soccer pitch where I know Grimmjow will be right now.

'It's just, I think you really creeped him out,' Rukia murmurs. She catches my expression and smiles again. 'Not that it's a bad thing- I mean, there's no way he's ever gonna target you again, and he won't try anything against me, Momo or Toshiro. I think he and his group are quite embarrassed about how you owned them all. That's why they're not talking.'

I have to agree with her. I was made partners with Grimmjow in PE the other day, and throughout the whole exercise he did not once talk to me. No snide comments, nothing. It was nice, but quite worrying.

'You really weren't kidding about the martial arts training,' Rukia says approvingly.

'Uh huh,' I say, watching as Toshiro gets up from the grass a few metres down the hill we're on, and walk off towards the digital suite building, perhaps to complete some last minute homework. He leaves Momo still eating her lunch, and after looking up at Rukia and I to check if it's okay to join us, Rukia beckons.

'Have you noticed Toshiro has been a little distracted lately?' Momo says, looking slightly worried.

'Yeah, he doesn't seem like his usual self,' Rukia agrees.

'Maybe something happened to him,' I suggest. Yeah. Maybe a certain Hollow said something against me to him. I look at Momo to see whether she shows any signs of, I don't know, guilt. Nothing. She just continues to eat her sandwich as if she's an ordinary school girl. She and Rukia begin to talk about some show they both watched on TV last night, and in my boredom I take a risk. Lying next to me is a fallen stick from the tree and I concentrate on the Telekinesis I should be developing. There's got to be some way for me to make the stick rise, even if it's only for a short while. It stays exactly where it is.

Maybe I should try on something smaller. Lying on top of it is a dead leaf, shrivelled and brown. About one of the lightest things in the world. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, picturing in my mind the leaf rising from the ground. I open my eyes and watch in astonishment as the leaf is lifted up into the air.

I did it!

Wait… no I didn't. Other leaves and various food wrappers lying on the ground are also moving.

It was the wind.

Shit.

Trying not to feel too disappointed, I continue eating my lunch.

I'm getting more reckless. Either braver, or stupider. But I heard somewhere that you're only brave if you get away with it. If you don't, you're stupid. Well, I'm getting away with it, so there's a positive. Or, at least, I was. Until now.

I practice my powers whenever I can, regardless of humans (or even Momo) being around. Of course, no one ever realises it's me. The light bulb in Geography burning up, then magically working again. The rubbish bags on the pavement outside Rukia's house spontaneously combusting (I gotta admit, that one was funny, and Rukia definitely agreed).

School has finished now, but I have no intention of leaving just yet. I know Toshiro was in the ICT block again, and I have to find out what he's doing. I know he saw me earlier. It's already dark, and I was so very, very stupid. I wanted to see how powerful the beam would be if I used my Lumen and pointed it directly up. Most of the kids had left the front courtyard outside of school and I was furious. Every single object I'd tried to move had stayed exactly where it was, and I knew powerful emotions generally made me stronger. So I thought that my Lumen would be at maximum power so far.

I was right.

The beam went up into the night sky really far, like one of those really powerful torches. I knew that this wasn't the case, but it was as if it was actually touching the stars. And for a brief moment, I felt young and inexperienced once more. I imagined the beam reaching up, soaring through the universe, past this solar system at two hundred and ninety-nine million, seven hundred and ninety-two thousand, four hundred and fifty-eight miles per hour. All the way, finally reaching Lorien.

And when I switched it off and looked back at my surroundings, I spotted Toshiro watching me.

He didn't say anything. His eyes were wide open, but he didn't look as shocked as I expected him to be, as if he was actually expecting something like this. Well, he was already suspicious, wasn't he? The signs were all there. And then he turned around and walked away, leaving the school yard and heading home.

What if he tells someone?

What if he tells Momo?

Right afterwards, I raced towards the digital suite, praying that it was still open. I haven't had ICT today but I could just convince the teachers I had emergency homework to do. And that's where I am right now, typing in Toshiro's username. Only I don't know the password. I know it requires a number, and I'm aware his favourite number is ten.

I type in icedragon10, simply because he's always drawing pictures of dragons made of ice. A message comes up in red saying invalid password. I try a few other things. His favourite ice cream. What I think might be his favourite movie. I'm positive that the number ten is a part of it, but what could the letters be? It could be something completely random. Or maybe, hopefully, he was sentimental and used something meaningful to him.

Well, there's one more idea I haven't used yet. I type it in and add the ten at the end, and to my surprise, it works. Smirking at the fact that the password really is quite personal, I immediately go on the internet and look at the history. This feels wrong on so many levels, but I have to protect my identity and I know Toshiro knows I'm not an ordinary human. All those hours he's spent in the digital suite have only taken place after the Spook Walk when I displayed my immense strength.

Throughout the next few minutes, I grow terrified.

The websites he's been on alone give me reason to worry. He's been researching people with inhuman strength, people with powers. It may have seemed like a dead end there, because there are so many fake stunts and pranks on YouTube and stuff like that. There are millions of results like that all over the internet. But he's dug deeper. And somehow, he's come up with this news report about some kid in Mexico who stopped a building collapsing with just his own strength. Toshiro has looked deeper into that. And he's managed to find a chatroom about it. Horrified, I see he has mentioned that he knows someone who is extremely powerful. He hasn't mentioned my name, but that gives me little relief. And as I watch, he updates the chatroom before my eyes, obviously from his home, saying that he has seen me do something extraordinary with my hands. You would think that no one would believe him, but someone replies.

I have to cover my mouth to keep from yelling as I read the anonymous post.

What number are they?

Toshiro obviously has misunderstood the question, obviously believing the person he's talking to is a foreigner and not well acquainted with English. He types back, He's fifteen years old.

The reply reads: Is he Number Four?

In my fear, I pull the plug out of the computer instead of switching it off, and I'm out the door before any of the teachers even notice.

It takes me ten minutes to get to Toshiro's house. Nobody's home, but as I break the door open and race upstairs to his room, I find his computer still on. He's arranged to meet with someone in the nearest city outside Karakura. He must have gone to the train station. But Toshiro's sensible. He wouldn't just arrange to meet a stranger, even in circumstances like this. Unless he fears for his life, or the lives of those around him.

Toshiro Hitsugaya thinks I'm going to kill him, because of what he's seen.

I can't tell Zangetsu. He'd take me out of this town and I'd never find out what happened to Toshiro. For all I know, he could be walking into a trap. Then again, the person he was talking to might not be a Hollow. They could be Loric. And I have to know.

Somehow, I need to catch up with Toshiro and find out for myself exactly what is going on. But I can't do this alone. I've never done anything alone, and I hate being dependant, but I may need to get someone that both Toshiro and I trust to convince him not to suspect me in any way. And there's no way in hell I'm taking Momo with me.

''Sup, strawberry?' Rukia says with a grin as she opens the front door. Just seeing her non-fearing face calms me down. Ever so slightly.

'Are you doing anything tonight?' I ask breathlessly.

She crosses her arms and looks thoughtful as she leans up against the door frame. 'Well, Shirayuki's out tonight, so it's just me. Why? You wanna do something?'

'Just to be clear, you're probably not gonna enjoy it.'

'So, not a date.'

'Not really, no. Well, not at all.'

'You look scared,' she says, worry appearing in her eyes. 'What's wrong, Ichigo?'

'It's Toshiro,' I gasp. 'He's doing something bad. Something really stupid. I need to stop him, but I can't do it alone.'

'What are you talking about?'

I tell her where he's going, and how he's meeting someone, and I reassure her that there's a very good reason why he could be in danger. I beg her not to ask questions, and to just trust me.

'You do realise you owe me a huge explanation when this is over,' Rukia tells me as we board the train. I've texted Zangetsu to say that I'll be spending the evening at Rukia's.

'You are an awesome girlfriend for agreeing to this,' I sigh. I'm never gonna be able to pay her back.

As we take our seats next to each other, she says, 'Seeing as I've already done this much, I should be allowed to ask at least one question.'

'… Fine.' I guess I admit defeat.

'Why has Toshiro done this?'

'I… I think he's afraid of what he thinks I might do.'

'So this is definitely your business, then? You're not just butting in because you're a caring friend?'

'What happened to one question? And yes, this is kind of my fault.'

Rukia entwines her fingers on her lap, then begins to twirl the long strand of hair between her eyes absent-mindedly, something she always does when she's nervous. 'Maybe you should have called Momo to come as well. If anyone can talk Toshiro out of something, it's her.'

I have to think about how to reply to that one. 'Sorry. It's just, I was panicking and the thought never crossed my mind.'

'Well, we'll just have to hope that we can convince him, then,' Rukia smiles.

'Yeah,' I say. 'I guess we will.'

If I had followed the book exactly, it would have meant me making Ichigo and Toshiro rescue Zangetsu because he has been kidnapped. Except, I want to do things different from the book to create my own plotline, so this is the way it's going to go.

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