Has anyone else noticed that each chapter starts with Jessica waking up? I just noticed that. Don't worry, it won't continue too much. It's just that those spots are the best for cliffys (or is it cliffies?)
Anywho, I hope you guys are enjoying the rewrite. My plan for the future of the story is a very general and open plan, so if you guys have ideas, feel free to send them.
DISCLAIMER: To own Bleach would be a dream come true! Sadly, I'm stuck in the waking world.
Death was something that was always so close and yet so far. I was one of those people who like to live life like I was going to die tomorrow. But I never expected to die tomorrow. I didn't want to die. Until the end.
Being dead never frightened me.
Being alone scared me.
Being forgotten terrified me.
I died.
Now I'm dead, but I'm not alone or forgotten. Ben died. Nick died. Now we can keep our promise and stay together.
I groaned and rolled over. I groaned again when my action was accompanied by an annoying high pitched tinkling sound. Through the haze that surrounded my mind, I vaguely noticed that I was being shaken. I could hear voices, but it sounded like I had cotton in my ears.
'……Jessica……'
That was the other voice. It was much clearer than the other voices through the cotton, and much clearer than it was before- when I was alive.
'……Jessica………not the end…………awaken……'
I wasn't entirely sure why, but I decided to listen to the voice again. Last time he had gotten me killed.
I tried to push my way through the thick fog I was drowning in. After a while, I noticed that the hand that was shaking me was getting stronger. I focused on that.
"Jess! Jess, please! Wake up!"
"Why is she always the last to wake up?"
"We were awake the whole time."
"Still."
I groaned and tried to pry my eyes open. It didn't work. After a few more minutes of groaning and being shaken, I managed to peel my eyelids apart. Ben and Nick were both leaning over me, worry written all over their faces.
"Loud…" I muttered. The cotton in my ears disappeared. Now it felt like the whole city was screaming in my ears.
"Jess?" I winced. "Sorry," Nick whispered.
"Are you alright?" Ben caught on and whispered too. I opened my mouth to reply, but decided against it. Even my own mutter had hurt my ears and head. I shrugged instead.
"Wh-" I held up my hand to stop him. My hand felt like a lead weight, but it wasn't too unbearable. I closed my eyes and took a moment to focus on what I could hear. Everything was so loud. I popped my ears and tried to relax. The noise gradually grew quieter and the pain began to fade. I opened my eyes again when I no longer felt the need to shove a screwdriver into my ear to stop the noise.
"I think I'm okay now." I didn't whisper, but I did speak softly. I opened my eyes and smiled up and my brothers. I sat up, but didn't stand. They just sat down next to me. I could see that we were still sitting in the same intersection where it all happened. It was strange and refreshing to see them both unharmed. After what that thing had done to them-
"Jess? You there?" I jerked away from my thoughts and looked at Nick. "Did you hear me?"
"No, sorry, what?"
"I asked if you remember what happened." I thought.
"I remember we drove up to the intersection and saw the car with the guy. Then I heard those voices and Ben got sick and-" I stopped, clamping my eyes shut in an effort to stop the next memory. It was a failed effort.
"And?"
"It killed you two." I opened my eyes. "It killed you and then it killed Ben."
"What happened after that, Jess?" Ben spoke barely above a whisper. "Do you remember?"
"I-yes. Yeah, I remember hearing you, both of you. You told me to run. I heard you, and the monster, and-"
"And?"
"I heard him. He told me what to do." I listened carefully, but I couldn't hear his voice anymore.
"We knew you heard the monster, you responded to it. But, Jess, who else did you hear? That voice you told us about?"
"Yeah. I asked him what to do and he told me."
"He told you to stand there and let that thing kill you?"
"And you listened?"
"Since when do you give up?"
"Since when do you do as your told?"
"What was I supposed to do? I wouldn't have lasted five minutes on my own, even if I did have Kyoko-san. We promised to stay together."
"So you died?" I didn't answer. I just crossed my arms and pouted. For whatever reason, they refused to see things my way. Ben started pacing and I noticed the same tinkling sound from earlier. I looked over at him and found the source. A chain. There was a chain coming out of his chest. I looked over at Nick and he had one too. I let my eyes drop to my own chest and saw the same thing. We were all dead. We were all souls.
"So I guess that answers that question," I grumbled. They both looked over at me and I flipped my chain to show them what I meant.
"Yeah," said Nick, "I figured it out right before that thing got me. I thought from the beginning that we were most likely in Bleach since that's what started this whole thing. Then the invisible monster showed up and I eventually figured out it was a hollow."
"So what happened to it? Shouldn't it be trying to eat us right now?"
"It's dead," Ben jumped into the conversation. "Right after you- it got you, a shinigami showed up. We didn't know who he was, but he fought the hollow. He killed it, but it did a number on him. He died not long after. He tried to send us all to Soul Society before he died, but…"
"We told him to send you first, but he said he couldn't unless you were conscious, so we decided that if you woke up before he died, we'd all go together, but we wouldn't go until after he sent you."
"Really?"
"Of course! Do you really think we'd leave you?" I smiled at them. I was so lucky to have the two of them.
"So," I started, "What do we do now? Do we wait for another shinigami to come along? Three souls wandering around together is bound to attract some seriously unwanted attention."
"Well we can't really do anything without a shinigami sending us to Soul Society, but if we just wait we're either going to turn into hollows or get eaten by them."
"This is so bothersome," Ben mumbled. "I say we fight. If a hollow shows up, we'll kick its ass."
"And what happens if one of us becomes a hollow?"
"The first question we need to ask is 'how do we avoid it'. Turning into a hollow takes roughly a year, depending on the length of the soul's Chain of Fate. It's the chains that keep the souls bound to their unfinished business in the world of the Living."
"What kind of unfinished business?"
"Anything from protecting loved ones or places that were important to the soul, to getting revenge on someone. Orihime's brother stuck around to protect her."
"Yeah, and then when he got turned into hollow, he went after her."
"That's because souls have limited contact with the living, so they can easily become obsessed with who or what they're bound to."
"Well, we don't have anything that we're bound to, so where does that leave us?"
"How much time do we have?" We glanced down at our chests. The chains hung down to our knees. I smiled, trying my hardest to not let them see what I noticed about my chain and spoke up.
"Our chains are pretty long, so we should have a good amount of time as long as nothing happens to speed up the process. But look at the difference in our chain."
"What difference?"
"The last link in the chains of every soul in Bleach is a half link. It's where the chain broke from the body and where the hollow transformation begins. The chain erodes from the break point until it creates a hole in the soul. Our last links are whole chain links."
"That's weird. Why are they like that?"
"Because we are bound to something," Ben said with a grin. "Jess let that thing kill her so she could be with us, and we refused to pass over without Jess. We're bound to each other. We only had each other when we were alive, so we're bound to each other now that we're dead. If we stick together and look out for each other, then we should be OK."
"But what about the negative emotions?"
"We won't need to worry about that as long as we stick together."
"Yes we will," I said with a sigh. "You guys are my big brothers and you watch out for me. You look after each other too, but you're more likely to jump to my defense than each other's. If you guys focus on protecting me, you could start to lose track of protecting each other."
"She's right. We could end up attacking each other trying to protect Jess, or turn into hollows because of it. Here's what we do. We'll all help each other focus. If one of us starts to focus on one sibling more than the other, we point it out. If one of us starts to get overcome by negative emotions, we point it out and help them calm down. On the up side, maybe the full link means we have more time."
"So what happens if we get attacked by a hollow?"
"I think Ben had the right idea. If we meet a hollow, there's no way we're going to be able to out run it. We should find a way to fight them."
"How?"
"We can try the basics, but kicks and punches will only get us so far." Then Nick stopped. He stood there looking at me for a minute.
"What?" He didn't answer. He just looked over at Ben before looking back at me. But he wasn't really looking at us, he was looking at some invisible thing around us.
"Nick, what are you doing?" He still didn't answer, he just kept looking back and forth.
"Nick?"
"Do you guys see that? Tell me you see that!"
"Ow! Could you please watch your volume, Nick?"
"Sorry," he said only slightly quieter.
"See what?" Ben looked around, but saw nothing. "Nick, there's nothing there."
"Yeah, you're absolutely right. I'm not seeing anything just like you didn't smell anything and Jess didn't hear anything. You said you smelled something rotting, right? But you didn't smell it until we got out of the car where the hollow was. And, Jess, you said you could hear us after we had died. You heard us and the hollow."
"And that other voice too, the one I heard when we first got out of the car. I guess it was the voice of the guy who died. The hollow must have eaten him before it killed us."
"Right, but you heard things you shouldn't have been able to hear, and Ben smelled something he shouldn't have been able to smell. Now I'm seeing something neither of you can see, that I probably shouldn't be able to see."
"What do you mean?"
"Jess, did you ever hear other sounds? Not voices, but other sounds that shouldn't have been there?"
"Yeah, sometimes. I'd just ignore it and blame it on my imagination, though. Why?"
"What do you hear right now?"
"Nothing, really, just our voices." Then I remembered something. "But, before the hollow got me, I could've sworn I heard your hearts beating. Well, before they stopped."
"Are you sure you don't hear anything strange or different now?"
"Like?"
"I don't know, like…like…" He looked to Ben for help who only shrugged. I sighed and closed my eyes, listening carefully for anything out of the ordinary.
"I hear a humming, it's like a humming sound. It sounds like a generator running or something." I kept my eyes closed and listened harder. "I think I can hear something else too, but-"
'……l……en……'
"But what?"
"I-I don't know. It sounds really far away."
"See if you can make it out."
'……lis…en……'
"I-I think I can hear that voice again, the one that told me what to do."
"What's it saying now?"
"I think he's telling me to listen, but I still can't really make it out. It's probably nothing," I concluded and opened my eyes.
"No, Jess, don't give up. Keep trying." Nick reached out and covered my eyes.
"See if you can talk to the voice. Ask it what you're supposed to listen to." I sighed, but did what they said.
'Hello? Are you there, freaky mystery voice? Am I supposed to listen to something? What am I supposed to listen to?'
'……listen……'
'To what?'
'……life……'
'How?' I could hear his voice again. I couldn't understand what he was saying, but I could hear his voice again and it was much clearer than when I was alive. I couldn't help but feel a little relieved. For whatever reason, that voice and who ever it belonged to were important. I didn't know why, but they were.
"Anything?"
"I think he told me to listen to life."
"What the heck does that mean?"
"Beats me. Why is this all so important, Nick?" I tried to pull my head back to open my eyes, but he kept his hand over them.
"Hang on, just try one thing, I want to see if this works. Keep your eyes closed and tell me if you hear that buzzing noise get louder or if you hear any other noises." I nodded and waited.
Nothing.
"Nick-" I groaned. This was stupid and getting us nowhere.
Then I heard it.
I gasped and pulled away, leaping back as far as I could while still sitting. I sat there and stared at Nick.
"What- Jess, you alright?"
"What? What did you hear?"
"It-I-I don't know what it was. It was just loud, just noise. But i-it came from Nick."
"What do you mean 'it came from Nick'?"
"I mean the sound I heard came from right where Nick is. It sounded weird, though, different. It didn't sound like our voices. It sounded like-"
"Like the sounds and voices did when you were alive?"
"Yeah, kinda."
"Nick, what's this all about?"
"I look at you guys and I can see this kind of aura thing around you. It just kind of looks like light at first, but if I focus it has a tint of color to it." He looked down at his hand and grimaced. "But I can't see anything around me."
"So our senses are all out of whack?"
"No, I don't think so. My sight is the only thing that seems different. What about you guys?" He looked at me and I just shrugged. Nothing else seemed weird or different. We looked over at Ben.
"What?"
"Your sense of smell is whacked out, right? Anything else?"
"I think you guys are nuts. I don't smell anything now."
"Maybe cause there's nothing to smell. I think I can see reiatsu, and Jess can hear it."
"So I can smell reiatsu? That's stupid! Nick, I get that things are weird with us being in Bleach, but now you're just jumping to conclusions."
"But that's what Jess heard. I flared my reiatsu and she reacted."
"It actually really makes sense. If Nick didn't try to flare his reiatsu, I wouldn't have noticed anything more than a hum. We're just normal souls, normal pluses, so our spiritual pressure is really weak. But, you said you smelled something rotting when we were near the hollow. You must have smelled its reiatsu."
"Did you hear it's reiatsu?"
"I don't know. There was a weird undertone that I heard when it spoke, that might have been it. But if I can hear reiatsu, then I might have been hearing it differently. Instead of just hearing it, I heard the voices. They were the voices of souls, so maybe I could hear the voices better depending on how strong the person's reiatsu was. I heard the hollow clearly. Well, more clearly than I've heard anything else like that."
"So we can see, hear, and smell reiatsu."
"So what do we do with these oh so mystical powers of ours?" It was a fascinating discovery, but how did it help us?
"I don't know," Nick admitted. "I brought it up cause I kept seeing that weird light around you guys, and then with what happened with the hollow I wanted to figure out what was going on."
"We can at least hunt down a shinigami or some human with a high reiatsu to help us out. We could probably find Karakura town."
"Maybe we can learn to fight." We looked over at Ben. "Maybe we can sense reiatsu so well because we have natural skill or something. I bet it has something to do with the mystery guy we talked to our last night in our world. He sent us here for a reason, and I know it wasn't to prove a point about 'being careful what you wish for' or any of that crap."
"You think we could train ourselves to fight hollows?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Alright. How about we search for Karakura town and train as we go?"
"Sounds like a plan."
We headed down the street and back to Konohaakai town. We walked along in silence, each of us testing out our new 'abilities'. Ben was right, we were there for a reason. We didn't know what it was just yet, but we would make sure we were ready for it.
Time passed and seasons changed. We didn't know how long we had been dead, but we could estimate by the seasons and how quickly our chains deteriorated. We trained as best we could and actually managed to improve. Nick said he could see more color around us and Ben learned our scents. I seemed to be the slow one. My hearing improved a bit, but not enough that it made any kind of difference. I still just heard a toneless hum when I listened to their reiatsus. They brushed it off saying that it was because they were still so weak, but I knew better. They had both gotten faster and stronger. I was still just the scrappy little sister. We ran into the occasional hollow, but nothing terrible. We worked together and dealt with it quickly enough. It was a while before we managed to actually kill one. All the others ran away after we wounded them. We began to worry when stronger hollows began showing up.
"I think it's because we're getting closer to Karakura town."
"Or maybe because we're getting more appetizing."
"Either way, this is getting dangerous. We need to find a shinigami, time's running out."
"I think we're still ok for a while, Nick." I smiled at him, trying to get him to lighten up. He and Ben both seemed to be getting more and more stressed lately.
"No, Jess, we're not. You keep trying to act like nothing's wrong, but you noticed and we noticed and we can't just do nothing!" I sighed. I thought I had been hiding so well too.
"Nick, stop. We can't do anything. My chain isn't that short, so don't worry about it." Our chains had all started hanging down to our knees. The only problem was that the length from my chest to my knees is much shorter due to my lack of hight. They were taller. They had more chain. They had more time.
'……time………run…………out……'
"Jess, our chains only go down to our waists now," Ben put in. "Nick and I still have some time, but you don't have as much. We need to hurry and find a shinigami before you run out of time."
"Fine! We'll look harder for a shinigami! I just don't want you guys to worry yourselves into hollows."
"Relax, Jess, we're not going anywhere any time soon."
From then on, things got steadily worse. Nick started getting stressed and worried about me and Ben got irritable. I trained harder than ever, hoping it would help them relax at least a little bit. No such luck. I tried to stay calm to be the voice of reason, but it didn't last when their chains started deteriorating faster than mine. At the rate they were each going, we would have turned hollow around the same time. The idea of sticking together didn't help the situation in the least. All of us were still hole-free, so we weren't too upset, but I knew that all the negative emotions were definitely speeding up the whole process.
Just when I was ready to give up hope and Nick and Ben were ready to start ripping each other's hair out, it happened. The biggest hollow we had seen yet found us in the middle of the night. We had camped out in the park of the city we had just blown in to. We didn't care about the cold or how hard the benches were because it didn't really matter now that we were dead.
I was the first to wake up. I heard something and bolted awake. Ben was up a second later and Nick a few seconds after that.
"What're you guys getting?"
"I heard something. It sounds big."
"It's a hollow. It smells like a walking morgue with a broken cooling system."
"Lovely."
"You see anything, Nick?"
"Yeah, it's a faint glow, but it looks like a giant shadow."
Giant was an understatement.
'……death……'
'Look! If you're not gunna tell me anything helpful then shut up! This one's going to be hard to take care of.' I had grown accustomed to hearing his voice now. I stopped telling the guys about it because it didn't really seem important anymore. Sometimes he would be helpful and others he would just be annoying.
'……not run………kill……'
'What do you mean 'not run'? Of course I won't run.'
'……hollow………you…………kill……' I thought for a moment, trying to decipher what he was saying.
'The hollow won't run away if we hurt it. We'll have to kill it before it kills us, won't we?'
'……yes……'
I grit my teeth and stood next to my brothers as we prepared for the first big fight of our after-lives. When the hollow finally came into full view, I almost mistook it for a Menos Grande. It towered over us.
"Well, don't you three just look delectable!" it sneered and licked its lips. "Won't you join me for dinner?" We didn't respond. We just stood our ground, hoping and praying that we would be able to survive.
The fight itself was all a blur. The three of us dashed around the beast, striking it where we could, and dodging the swipes of its huge clawed hands. The next clear thing I can remember is lying on the ground wounded, watching Ben trying to overpower it. Nick had been knocked clear across the park, and was running back to the fight as quickly as he could manage on his now hurt leg. It tossed Ben aside after a moment and turned to scoop up Nick as he ran over. In the blink of an eye, Nick was twenty feet above the ground being crushed in the hollow's grip. Ben and I watched helpless as Nick struggled in vain to escape.
"Oh, don't worry. Your little friends will be joining you soon enough." With a flick of its wrist, Nick was thrown up into the air before plummeting down to the monster's waiting jaws.
It happened so fast I almost missed it.
Nick's eyes gleamed in anger and determination and his reiatsu shot up. In the next second, Nick landed safely on the ground. His chain had vanished, a sword appeared in his hand, and the two halves of the hollow's mask slid apart where it had been sliced. None of us moved as the giant creature dissolved in the background. The stillness was finally broken when Nick groaned and collapsed. Ben and I clambered to get up, ignoring the pain from our open wounds, and rushed over to our brother. I could clearly hear the humming of his reiatsu, but it had a different tone now. It almost sounded like a hissing sound.
"Nick? Nick! Wake up, man!" He only groaned.
"Nick, you killed the hollow! You're a shinigami!"
"Wh-wha-?"
'……West……'
'What?'
'……West…………brother……'
'What are you talking about? I don't understand.'
'……blade……' I looked down at the sword Nick still held tightly in his hand. I grimaced. There was no time to worry about the sword, we had to take care of Nick first. I pushed the voice to the back of my mind where I couldn't hear him and gently pried the blade from Nick's hand.
"Ben, help me get him over to one of the benches." He nodded and grabbed Nick's left arm, slinging it over his shoulders before hoisting him up off the ground. I was too short to do the same, so I took his other hand and put it on my shoulder so he could use me as support and wrapped my arm around his waist to help steady him.
"Wh-what h-happen-?"
"You killed the hollow, Nick."
"H-how?"
"You're a shinigami now. You sliced it clean in half with your zanpakutō."
"Z-zan-?"
"Just rest up, Nick. We'll explain everything when you wake up." He didn't need telling twice. His eyelids dropped like lead weights. As carefully as we could, we set him down on the nearest bench to sleep. Ben and I plopped down on the ground and leaned back against the bench.
"What do you think happened?"
"I don't know," I mumbled. "Does he smell different to you? Cause I think his reiatsu sounds a little different."
"A little. It's not different so much as it's stronger. I can really identify it now, not just know that it's Nick's scent."
"What does he smell like?"
"Fall."
"Fall?"
"Yeah, Autumn. I don't really know how to explain it, but you know how when you open the door and you get a whiff of that smell and you just know that it's Autumn?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"That's what it is."
"Huh. Weird." We lapsed back into silence as Ben kept an eye and a nose out for any more hollows and I let myself drift away into my thoughts.
Nick was a shinigami. He had become a shinigami. It was uncommon for people in the Rukongai to get a zanpakutō on their own without going to the Shino Academy. Aside from Ichigo, I didn't know of any cases where pluses went right to shinigami. The only reason he was able to make the jump was because he had been a shinigami before and he knew that he was supposed to become a shinigami again. On top of that, his father was a shinigami, and it took him nearly becoming a hollow to get him to his inner world. Yet, Nick became a shinigami and killed that hollow. Maybe Ben had been right when he said that our super senses meant we had great potential. Maybe he could become a shinigami too. Maybe I-
"Jess! What are you doing!" I snapped out of my thoughts so fast I thought I got whiplash. Before I could figure out what was going on, Nick's sword was ripped from my hands. I sat there for a second blinking stupidly.
"Wha-?"
"What were you thinking?"
"What? Ben-"
"Why would you play with the blade of a friggin katana? Are you trying to cut your hand off?" I looked down at my hands that hadn't moved. I had been playing with the blade. In fact, I had been running my fingers along the edge of the blade. I wasn't bleeding. I didn't have so much as a scrape.
'……blade……'
My eyes snapped up to the sword now sitting in Ben's hands.
"Ben, it's not a katana."
"What do you mean it's not a katana?"
"Look at it. The edge is on the wrong side of the curve. It's totally dull on the outside." He finally looked down and saw what I was talking about.
"It's a sakabato."
"A what?"
"A sakabato. It's like a katana, but the edge is on the opposite side of the blade. It's also called a reverse blade. It's not commonly used because it requires elite strength and speed to be able to wield it like a normal samurai sword and still be lethal with it."
"So why is Nick's zanpakutō a sakabato instead of a katana like everyone else's? Not to seem mean or rude or anything, but Nick's hardly a master."
"True, but he did cut that hollow in half with one clean cut."
"Do you think we'll become shinigami too?"
"Yeah. We're all in this together. I'm sure we'll become shinigami too soon enough."
Ben was partially right.
It was long before Nick woke up. When he did, we explained what happened as best we could. From then on, Nick started training harder every day. The skill he had shown when he obliterated that hollow seemed to have disappeared, but that didn't stop him. He said that he had a responsibility now to protect us more than ever now that he had a zanpakutō and was no longer in danger of turning into a hollow. Nick was never the 'leader' of our little group so to speak. We usually tried to treat each other equally and take equal responsibility for things. Sure, there were occasions where one of us would take the lead or whatever, but Nick and I tended to let Ben take the lead. He was the oldest, and was a natural fighter and protector. So, I knew it was only a matter of time before several things happened: Nick would push himself way too hard for the sake of protecting us, he would eventually burn out from overworking himself for so long, Ben would start to go nuts from feeling like a burden, and he would become a shinigami too. My own fate, on the other hand, wasn't as foreseeable. I knew something big was coming, but I had no idea what. Then there was the voice. I couldn't tell if he was trying to be helpful or obnoxious. One night, I finally was on my last nerve. He had been talking my mental ear off and I couldn't get to sleep.
'……time…running…………'
'Why do you still bother? I can barely hear you!'
'……important……'
'Alright fine! I'll listen reeaal carefully and you tell me what's so important.'
'……time……'
'Yeah, 'time', I get that. You've been telling me for the last few weeks that time is running out or whatever. What happens when time runs out?'
'……defeat……'
'Defeat? Okay, so we'll lose at something. Who are we fighting?'
'……o…ar…………som……'
'I can't hear you.'
'……o…r………so……'
'It's getting harder to hear you.'
'……they…………come……'
'Alright, so the bad guys are coming. What do you want me to do about it? I'm just a ghost. Ask Nick, he's got a sword now, maybe he can help you.'
'……you………………hear…………………alone……………………help………………………you…………………Jessica……………………nothing………………you……………I am……………………not yet ready……………but you are not defenseless………………use……………………energy………………………summon……………magic……………………… kidō…………'
I couldn't make out enough of what he was saying to understand what he meant, but the last word I heard certainly caught my attention. Kidō. He said I wasn't defenseless, that I had to summon some kind of magic. How could I use kidō if I was just a ghost?
'Sorry to burst your bubble, buddy, but you seem to have missed the part I said earlier about being a ghost.'
'……kidō……'
'Yes I know, you want me to use kidō. Well, I can't!' I laid there staring up at the stars. I could hear Ben and Nick's gentle breathing with crystal clarity even though we were several feet apart. My hearing had improved since Nick changed. I had gotten stronger and faster, but I still didn't compare to them. I wonder if Nick could use kidō. He's technically a shinigami now so he should be able to. He would need training, though.
'So let's assume for a minute,' I thought with a sigh, 'that I can use kidō. What then? I would need a teacher.'
'……no……'
'What do you mean 'no'? I can't just stand up, say "Hadō #4: byakurai" and have lightning shoot out of my fingers.'
'……yes……'
'You're insane.'
'……you are…………talking………voices in her head……'
'Only one voice.' I heard a gentle rumbling sound after my comment that I guessed was the voice chuckling.
'……do not quit before………………begun………………great potential………power………………reach………grab it……'
'But I don't know anything about kidō. How am I supposed to learn without a teacher. I can't do it on my own.'
'……I will help……'
That night, I did what I thought to be impossible. I, a ghost, not only used kidō, but did so without any form of teacher. My mystery voice guided me in how to listen to my own reiatsu and feel my own power, but that was it. Whether that was all he was trying to tell me or that was all I could hear, I still managed it. When I felt that I had a good understanding of my own power, I decided to give kidō a shot. I held my hand out to a nearby sapling and whispered to myself,
"Hadō #1: Shō." The branches swayed slightly and a few leaves fluttered to the ground. It wasn't the effect I had hoped for, but it was something. I didn't sleep at all that night because I was too intrigued with my discovery. I stood next to that little tree all night, focusing on listening to my reiatsu and using it to use kidō. Now, I didn't like the idea of having to rely on kidō to take care of myself, but beggars can't be choosers. I would just have to rely on kidō until I was strong enough to become a shinigami and fight properly. Truth be told, I had always been a Kenpachi fan. I had decided a while ago that, if we ever made it to Soul Society, I would become a shinigami and join the Eleventh Division. According to the Brute Squad of Soul Society, kidō was cheating and a pathetic way to fight. They would never accept me if I didn't become a great fighter with a sword.
'……you will……'
'What, become a great fighter?'
'……yes……'
'What makes you so sure?'
'……you are…………………I know you better than……………yourself……'
'Pft! Whatever. I just want to prove myself to them.'
'……you will……'
The next morning and the weeks that followed were some of the best I had since waking up in the street that first fateful day. I showed the guys my newfound skill and we all trained to get stronger. Nick and Ben eventually picked up a few kidō spells, but I seemed to have a natural talent for it. Ben made fun of me about my kidō and my love for Squad Eleven, and I made fun of him for the way the spells kept literally backfiring on him. Nick steadily got better and better with his sword, though he was still unable to hear anything from it or communicate with it in any way.
Finally, the day came when my prediction came to fruition. We were attacked by another gianormous hollow. Nick fought against it tooth and nail, and managed to do some serious damage. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Nick collapsed after a few rounds with the hollow. He had worked himself to the bone and burned out. I managed to keep it from killing Nick with what little kidō I had. It was about to finish the two of us off when it was Ben's turn. My knees buckled and I collapsed next to Nick, partially from the force of the hollow's strike and partially from the sudden flare in reiatsu from Ben. The hollow was equally surprised and turned to face the new threat. Ben stood there, chain gone and his new sword locked tightly in his grip. The hollow roared and lunged at him. Ben didn't even flinch. He crouched slightly before springing at the beast, blade flashing. My eyes struggled to keep up with the fight, but I missed most of what happened. I didn't miss a single sound, though. I heard every swing, every swipe, every slash, and every cut. As quickly as it had begun, the fight was over. Ben had a few gashes, but nothing too terrible. The hollow wasn't so lucky.
"Y-you bastard…" it groaned as it began dissipating. Ben just stood there, still in a battle stance, breathing heavily from the fight. As soon as the last bit of the hollow had faded away, Ben collapsed to the ground in a crumpled heap. I listened for his reiatsu as Nick and I rushed over. He was alive, well as alive as a ghost-turned-shinigami can be, though he was out cold from his wounds. I could hear his reiatsu had changed too. Instead of a buzzing sound, it sounded like a crackling fire, but with a strange tone. For whatever reason, the sound of it made me think of blue flames. I just chalked it up to what Ben had said about Nick smelling like Autumn. We drug him over to someplace safe to wait for him to wake up. Nick kept look out and I tried to decipher the ever cryptic voice in my head.
'……East……'
'What?'
'……East…………brother……'
'Again? Why do you keep saying that? What about my brothers?'
'……not…………brothers………………look……………blade……………brother……'
'You're still not making any sense.' Regardless, I decided to try to listen to him and indulge my curiosity. I picked up Ben's blade and examined it closely. Like Nick's, the sword was a sakabato, not a katana. 'Why are both their swords like this?'
'……this form………………………………mark of a master…………masters of war………battle…………………our masters…………will not………………………understand……………………………………………beings of strength……………power……………unparalleled……'
'What? Why do I have such a hard time hearing you? Why does it sound like you're so far away?'
'……you…………not hear………because……………not…………listening…………letting yourself hear…………………not trying to hear………I………………………my power………only offer…………must……………………reach out…………take……………listen…………………to me…………my voice…………accept…………power…………………………own……'
'You're just confusing me more! What do you mean I'm not trying to listen? If I wasn't trying to hear you, I wouldn't hear you. I've tuned you out before. Or is that what this is about? You're upset that I tuned you out!'
'……not understand……………hear as I hear……'
'What the hell does that even mean? 'hear as I hear'? Quite being so cryptic! I can barely hear you so stop trying to make me solve riddles and puzzles.'
"Hey, Jess, you alright?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah, Nick, I'm fine. Just zoning out. You see anything?"
"Nah, nothing yet. I think we should be okay till the sun comes up. Why don't you get some sleep?"
"Not tired. Hey, did you notice?"
"Notice what?"
"Ben's zanpakutō. It's a sakabato just like yours."
"That's weird. I wonder why they're like that."
"Beats me. Maybe Ben'll have some idea when he wakes up."
He didn't. So, we all ended up wandering around looking for Karakura town. We finally came to a city and found a road sign that said Karakura town was just 35 miles away. So, we started moving faster and taking shorter breaks so we could finally finish our long journey. That's when the shit hit the fan. We were almost within city limits when I heard this horrible ripping sound.
"What the-"
"What's wrong?" Nick asked, instantly alert.
"I heard something."
"I'm getting something too. Smells like hollows, but different."
"What do you mean? Different how?"
"Do you see anything?"
"No, not really. I can see reiatsu all over. I think the whole aura of Karakura town is covering whatever it is up."
"Well this can't be good."
'Okay, I know I've never really asked for your help before, but I guess there's a first time for everything, huh?'
'……run……'
'From what? We don't know what's coming or where it's coming from only that it is coming.'
'……abominations……'
'Hollows?'
'……worse……'
'Worse than hollows? What's coming?'
'……abominations……'
'Abominations that aren't hollows. That's helpful.'
'……anymore……'
'What?'
'……anymore……'
'Not hollows……'
"…anymore."
"What?"
"Guys, we have to get out of here," I practically whispered.
"Why?"
"Jess, what's wrong? You just went pale all of a sudden."
"I don't know for sure, but I think I know what's coming."
"What?"
"Arrancar."
As if on cue, a huge Garganta tore open in the sky right above us. The arrancar that came out weren't ones that we recognized. We knew most of them since most Espada had only a few Fracciòn. Szayel had a ton that he created but these arrancar didn't look like something he'd create. There were three of them, but I didn't get a very good glimpse of what they looked like. I was nearly deafened by all of the sudden reiatsus flaring at once. The three arrancar flared theirs and drew their swords and Nick and Ben responded in kind, yelling at me to run. In most cases, I would have ignored them and fought anyway, but the circumstances were too much against me. My chain was growing ever shorter and I was scared of being alone again. My brothers were both shinigami now. If we got to Soul Society, they would go to the Gotei 13 and I would go to the Rukongai. Even if I became a shinigami there, I would be stuck going through the Academy without them. So, I knew that I was weakened from negative emotions and more in danger of becoming a hollow. Then there was the fact that I was stuck with nothing but kidō for defense. I had taught myself a fair amount, but I only remembered so many spells from the show and manga. For a moment, I stood there contemplating what to do. I was terrified.
'What do I do?'
'……RUN!'
That was all I needed. I turned and took off, running away from the noise of their reiatsus. I ran and ran until I heard something coming up behind me. One of them had decided to chase me. I turned around at the last second, knowing he was directly behind me, and mustered up all the energy I could. I didn't say anything, but apparently I didn't need to. The Shakkahō that blasted from my hand sent the arrancar flying. He landed sprawled out in the street nearly 60 feet away from me. I didn't bother to get a good look at him before turning back ahead and demanding my legs to move faster. I didn't see, but I heard. His reiatsu had a hollow, empty tone. It almost had an echo to it. When I focused on the sound I felt like something started oozing over my arm. I shivered, checking to see that nothing was there.
When I finally stopped running, I had to struggle not to collapse. I wasn't sure how my lungs hurt so bad when I didn't have a real body.
'……Jessica……cannot stop………must keep running………must escape……'
'But Ben and Nick-'
'……will not die……………protected……'
'But what if I don't find them again?'
'……you will……now……you…………danger……………please run……'
'Run where? That oozy guy caught up with me once, and I doubt that weak Shakahō will keep him down for long. What am I supposed to do?'
'……trust me……'
'What?'
'……do……trust me…?……'
Did I? Did I trust this mysterious voice that's been following me from the very beginning? Did I trust him with my safety? with my life? with the lives of my brothers? Did I trust his promise that I would find them again?
'Yeah, I guess I do……'
'……stop……wait……surrender……'
'What?'
'……obey……'
The last time I did what he said, I died. And I stayed with my brothers. I stopped dead in my tracks and waited in silence. It wasn't long before that silence was shattered. I heard all three reiatsus of the monsters. They weren't too far away, but they hadn't noticed me yet.
"Where did she go?"
"I lost her for moment. She used one of the shinigami's kidō spells."
"That's impossible, she's not a shinigami."
"Yeah, she had a chain and no sword."
"If this is some lame excuse because you lost her-"
"I didn't lose her! And why are you so worried about my target? Where are the males?"
"We got them into the Garganta, but something pulled them away."
"They didn't get swallowed in the void, did they?"
"Of course not!"
"We wouldn't be careless enough to lose them in there!"
"Whatever pulled them away from us opened a Garganta somewhere else."
"They're in the spirit realm now."
"Then the shinigami have them."
"No, they were taken to some wilderness. We will have plenty of time to catch them before the shinigami find them."
"What will Aizen-sama say?"
"They're not lost for good, and he shouldn't be too upset as long as we bring one of them back."
"She should be easier for you to turn, right? Since she's still a plus?"
"Yes, but there was something about her. I want to change her as quickly as possibly. Things may get sticky if she changes."
"Don't you think you can handle her?"
"Of course I can! I'm just saying that it would be easiest to turn her now so I can save my strength for the males. She's weak and on the verge of becoming a hollow as it is."
"Well I doubt she'll become a shinigami in the next few minutes."
"Come on, Aizen-sama will be please as long as we bring at least her back, but we shouldn't keep him waiting."
With their conversation done, they started to move. They were heading right for me.
'……wait……surrender……'
'You want me to surrender to them? To Aizen?'
'……no……'
'Then to who?'
'……me……'
'What? You? Why? Who are you? What are you? Why are you in my head? Why can only I hear you?'
'……I……'
The terrible trio arrived.
'……am……'
They stood behind me. I could hear their smug smirks.
'……your……'
"Well hello there."
"You'll be coming with us, princess."
'What? My what?'
Silence.
'Where are you?'
More silence.
They moved toward me.
'Fine. I can't take three arrancar. If you have something up your sleeve, then go nuts. This is all you now.'
Then I felt it. A strange power began flowing through me. I didn't know what it was, but I didn't really care.
'……fight……'
I turned around to face my opponents. I couldn't see anything. There was so much noise that my vision started going blurry. As soon as they felt my power, they became defensive and flared their reiatsus. I clamped my eyes shut and played it by ear. Pun intended. I held my hands out, palms facing them and immediately used the one Bakudō spell I could use well.
"Bakudō #1: Sai!" Immediately, their swords clattered to the ground, causing me to flinch at the extra noise, and their arms became locked behind them. I didn't know if I would be able to handle a Shakkahō, so I went with Byakurai. The lightning bolts blasted from my fingers. One hit each arrancar. They all went down. I hit them all again for good measure and quickly contemplated what to do next.
'Alright, you've kept me going so far. What now?'
'……run……'
'Where?' I didn't hear his voice, but something else in response. One sound began standing out against the others. I said a silent prayer that the owner of the mysterious voice really was on my side.
…
Here is another
Japanese poem for you.
So, how did I do?
…