I do not own either the Soul Eater or Bleach universes, nor do I intend to profit from their use

[-][-]

Shinigami Chronicles

Act 1: Hollow Eater

Chapter 6: Extenuating Circumstances

[-][-]

A pale grey haired man in his lower thirties sat in a low swivel chair, shrouded in darkness, his eyes masked by his rounded glasses that mirrored the computer screen before him. A lone cigarette hung from his lips as he looked from his research notes to the monitor and back again, his fingers in a flurry of motion across the keyboard as he transposed the results of a very recent addition to his research schedule.

The furious fluster of keyboard presses halted momentarily when he reached up to crank the rather large screw that jutted out from the side of his head. However, the man didn't return to his typing as he sensed a familiar presence just behind him.

"Sid." the man called without turning to face the zombie. "Back for the specimen I take it?"

"Just for your report, Stein." Sid replied simply. "I know how rarely you get a chance to study something like this these days. Wouldn't want to ruin your fun."

Stein smirked slightly as he whirled about in his chair to face the zombie operative. "Spirit would have a fit if he heard you say that."

"You can't really blame him." Sid said as he moved to turn on the lights. "He was your unwilling patient for quite some time."

"If only his wife hadn't noticed." Stein murmured with an air of nostalgia. "I've always enjoyed a good dissection. Demon weapons like him are particularly fascinating."

"Right." Sid deadpanned as he flipped on the lights "So what's the verdict?".

The sudden brightness in the room garnered a slight flinching reaction from Stein, though his composure was regained almost immediately afterward. "You were right about one thing, Sid." Stein said as he swiveled to face his monitor once more. "This isn't your ordinary closed soul here."

"How so?"

"Well, its grey color for one." Stein replied as he began to type once more. "Most souls have a very well defined color spectrum that they adhere to. For the most part, standard human souls range from white to very light tinges of color, depending on strength of the soul. Meisters on the other hand, tend to have deep hues of neon blue for the color of their souls due to training.

Yeah, I know that." Sid said "Demon weapons can be either red or blue, depending on the nature of the weapon, witches are purple, immortals are green, and the color yellow can be found in any one of these types of souls, including meisters."

"Right." Stein said without turning from his work. "Though there are some outliers that break the norm and take on colors normally associated with other soul types, the general distribution is fairly close to what you described." Stein stopped typing just long enough to flip over the page of notes he was transposing. "However, this grey soul is not an outlier of any of the soul types. It's something entirely different."

"And that thing is?"

"I'm not quite sure." Stein replied pausing in his typing for a moment. "The wavelength of it is frazzled and chaotic. It doesn't appear to have a standard pattern that it returns to."

"So it's something you haven't encountered before?"

"I'll have to check my data bases." Stein answered, resuming his note transcription. "Suffice to say, I haven't encountered something like this recently."

"I see, anything else?"

"One other thing." Stein stopped typing once more. "Where did you get this?"

"The usual place." Sid said as he turned to leave Stein's workspace. "somewhere classified."

Stein took a long drag on his cigarette, as he turned back to his work, releasing the fumes in a knowing sigh "Need to know basis information, huh?"

"Yeah, you know the drill." Sid said as he started on his way out. "Let me know if anything turns up."

"Of course." Stein replied, returning to his work. "And Sid?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't forget to turn off the lights on your way out."

[-]

Sid now stood just outside of Stein's domicile in Death City's south suburban district, a dark expression on his visage as turned to make his way towards Shibusen. If Stein's description was on the money, then that soul Ichigo found could become a bit of a problem. It was something of a dangerous move to allow Stein access to the soul, seeing as his episodes were becoming more frequent as of late. A bout of the crazies could lead to the inadvertent destruction of the soul. However, Stein was one of the most qualified men to analyze non-standard souls in the country, if not the world. If any pertinent information as to the birth of said soul could be garnered, it would be worth the risk.

At least that was Death's take on the matter. Sid wasn't quite sure what the city's founder had in mind regarding that soul, if anything at all. That guy, more than anyone else Sid had met, was truly unpredictable.

Suddenly, an incessant ringing interrupted Sid's ponderings just as he was nearing the throughway into the entertainment district. He brandished a small black cell phone with a comical skull emblazoned on its back from his side pocket. The call appeared to be from Sakkon.

"Hm" Sid murmured as he accepted the call. That was rather quick. Even for a recon mission. The moon was just beginning its rise as the stars had just begun to unveil themselves. Sid had at least expected a full days time before Sakkon's report. He wasn't terribly efficient. No doubt he had need of information regarding the recon area.

"Sakkon." Sid said as he found a dark and empty alley to take the call in.

The sounds of a struggle could be heard in the background and Sakkon's nervously frazzled voice came through the phone. "Sid, that you?" His voice sounded like he was on the run during the call.

"Yeah, it's me." Sid answered. The sounds of the struggle briefly rose as a loud crash sounded off in the background. "What's going on over there?"

"Your 'simple recon mission' escalated in risk." Sakkon replied between breaths, his voice bouncing with each step he was apparently taking. "I've died once already."

"What's the situation?"

"Hold on."

The sound of sharp breaths and running feet emanated from the phone for a few moments, the struggle underscoring it slowly dying down. After a moment Sakkon continued "One of the golems here's gone nuts, and it's using a demon weapon somehow. I don't think it knows I'm alive at the moment though."

"So it has sentience?"

"Either that or that demon weapon it's wielding is one hell of a puppeteer." The sound of metal clashing with metal repeatedly underscored Sakkon's voice, escalating in volume as he continued. "In any case, I need back up as soon as you can get it." The telltale cry of a chainsaw punctuated Sakkon's last statement followed by a brief pause and hurried footsteps before Sakkon continued in a slightly more panicked voice. "I think we're gonna need a scythe out here."

"I see." Sid said darkly. "Can you last for at least an hour?"

"Well, with Kyouren running interference…" Sakkon took a deep breath, apparently weighing the merits of the situation. "Maybe."

"Well, you'd better try, that's about the best I can manage on such short notice." Sid's frown deepened "Also, Kyouren's there? I thought I told you not to involve civilians in your work."

"He involved himself." Sakkon replied "Never takes no for an answer, that guy… "

"It helps if you actually give him the chance to." Sid said with a knowingly exasperated sigh. "But we'll talk about that at a later time. For now I'll get you your back-up as soon as I can. Try to keep the situation contained until then."

"Roger that." Sakkon said in a slightly dampened tone. "I'll do my best."

A monstrous roar followed by the sound of shattering glass and splintering wood came through the phone speaker just as the call was cut off.

Sid frowned as he rushed towards Shibusen, dialing a new number into his cell. He'd expected the reports of golem rampages to be hallucinations brought on by Asura's release. The beast had originally housed himself in Europe when he was active during the dark times, so it seemed a fair assumption that he would return to one of his old haunts first. Just being near him in his contained state could cause one to fall prey to fear born hallucinations. Released, his effects would be even more far reaching. So such developments were expected.

However, for the golem to actually be rampaging, something else had to be going on. Sid only hoped Sakkon could survive long enough to give his report on the matter. With Asura at large, and Maka in the throes of hollowification, adding another problem that he knew little about to the pile of unknowns already present was something Sid wanted to avoid.

For the moment, however, the safety of his operatives and the residents of the Czech Republic came first. He only hoped the back-up would arrive in time.

[-]

Meanwhile, somewhere in the golem village, a dark haired man in his early twenties wearing mud-ridden, dusty overalls and thick craftsman's gloves hid behind a wooden shelf as he closed a black phone with a stylized skull insignia on it and shoved it into his pocket. He frowned nervously as he considered the contents of the conversation that had just transpired. An hour could seem like an eternity in some circumstances. And it wasn't even guaranteed that the reinforcements would arrive by then.

Even still, an hour was pretty good for an impromptu request, so Sakkon couldn't complain. At the very least, he could avoid dying a second time for that long. He hazarded a fleeting look around the hardwood cover he was hiding behind.

There were three aisles of various trinkets, woodcrafts and souvenirs just ahead of his one. The front-most one was smashed in half with splinters of wood, shards of what was left of the remains of a display window, and a thirty something man in the middle of the aisles two halves.

The man in question wore a brown shoulder holster lined with a myriad of minuscule capsules over a plain white T-shirt, a blue windbreaker jacket that normally covered them from view halfway off the man's shoulder. Even though he appeared to be rather haphazardly sprawled on the floor, the grip on the swords he had in each hand suggested that he was only marginally fazed by the situation.

"You okay over there Kyouren?" Sakkon called from his hiding place

"Guy hits hard." Kyouren replied as he sheathed the blade he held in his left hand so that he could pick himself up off the ground. "I didn't think I'd fly quite this far."

"The main thing's that we got him away from the people here." Sakkon said taking a precursory glance before moving to Kyouren's position. "Death would have our heads if any of them were hurt because of us."

"Your head." Kyouren corrected as he dusted off his black slacks. "Death would have your head if that happened." He then tightened the brown waist harness in which the sheaths for his two swords were ensconced. "I'm not a part of that witch hunting band of yours."

"That's not all we do." Sakkon replied. "You know that."

"Maybe" Kyouren replied "But the fact that you do that at all is reason enough for me."

Sakkon sighed at this statement "And yet you still tag along on these missions."

"I have my reasons." Kyouren said simply as he redrew his left sword. "Golem's going to be back here any second now. Have you got a plan or something?"

"What would you say if I didn't?" Sakkon asked sheepishly

Kyouren was about to say something indignant to this remark but was interrupted by the roar of a gas engine and collapsing stone as the ledge in which the display was originally held was burst through by one angry golem. A rather crass voice accompanied the golem's arrival as a head momentarily formed out of the chainsaw. "Alright you little shit. I know you're in here somewhere. Come on out, I've got 200 years worth of bloodlust to sate."

"I'd say you'd better come up with a plan quick, Sakkon." Kyouren murmured with a slightly miffed expression as the dust from the golem's initial entry swirled about. "Gericko over there's not gonna wait much longer."

"Just give me a few seconds." Sakkon said as he took the opportunity to dive for cover just before the dust cleared.

The golem focused on Kyouren as the crass voice returned, the head that had formed out of its weapon seeping back into the chainsaw. "So you didn't run. Good. My engine's primed and ready." The chainsaw said as the golem took a step forward. "Woulda been a waste if there wasn't someone here to kill with it."

"'Glad I could assist you?" Kyouren replied.

"You wanna 'assist' me?" Gericko cried in a raving tone as his engine roared. "Stop pissing me off!"

"'give him a few seconds' he says" Kyouren muttered under his breath as he took a lowered sidelong stance, holding his left blade before him at mid-riff level, his right blade just below his neckline. "Like that's gonna be easy."

As Kyouren finished the sentence he had just enough time to duck under a wild horizontal swing from the golem, taking the opportunity to step into slashing distance of the golem's legs. He used that same stepping motion to move into a turning slash with the left and then right blade, continuing the spin to step around the golem as turned to slam its weapon down upon its adversary.

Kyouren could hear a rather verbose string of expletives coming from Gericko as Kyouren just managed to sideslip the chainsaw's attack, flowing into another turning slash, this one aimed at the golem's midsection. Although the attack connected, no visible reaction was registered by the golem as it moved to grasp at the whirling swordsman with its free hand.

However, the swordsman was already using the momentum from his spin to throw himself into a sidelong combat roll through the golem's legs, slashing at the back of the construct's left leg in the process.

Again, this garnered no reaction from the golem, although Gericko exclaimed something about holding still, that Kyouren didn't catch. He was too focused on avoiding the chainsaw that was headed straight for his head. The swordsman managed to launch himself just out of range of the attack, springing into a slightly skewed side flip to dodge the gas powered weapon.

However, he was swatted out of the air by the golem's free hand and sent careening into the hardwood shelf that Sakkon was hiding behind. This garnered a triumphant "Ha!" from Gericko as the golem held its position for a moment, seemingly savoring its brief victory.

"Still can't get a fix on its wavelength." Kyouren muttered as he picked himself up off the ground. "Its like its everywhere but it's not."

"That's bad." Sakkon murmured from behind the shelf. "You can't do much until you sample it with those swords of yours."

"I could at least dampen his attacks then." Kyouren agreed "Have you got a plan yet? The golem's almost here."

"Working on it." Sakkon said, his eyes fixated on something just outside of one of the store windows.

"Well, work faster." Kyouren said in a sing song voice as the golem began a plodding run towards them. "I can only do this for so long."

With that Kyouren rushed forward to meet the golem, once more embarking on an acrobatic tour of the construct's body, narrowly avoiding its every swing with almost precognitive timing. However, several more smashed aisles and a broken wall later, Kyouren found himself pinned against the furthermost aisle of the store, all the rest of them having been destroyed.

As the golem reared back to jam the chainsaw into its enemy, Gericko's voice came out of the weapon as it roared menacingly. "It's been too long since I've had a good gorefest." The chainsaw roared once more. "I'm gonna savor this."

"Anytime now Sakkon." Kyouren mumbled under his breath.

As if to answer his request, a raucous crashing noise came forth from the west end of the store. This was followed by a rather large object charging down the aisle and slamming hard into Gericko's golem. Gericko's golem staggered and fell from the force of the blow, releasing Kyouren in the process.

Now, a new living construct stood on the field of battle, blocking Kyouren with its massive body.

"About time." Kyouren said as he took his ready stance once more.

"Hey, I had to put that other body someplace safe." Sakkon replied, his voice emanating from the construct. "Not an easy job with mister bloodlust over there. It was a lucky thing this golem was in a stone shed."

"Fire with fire, eh." Gericko said as his golem picked itself up off the ground. "Not a bad idea. If you had a demon weapon to match me with maybe you could actually do something."

"Working on that." Sakkon said, casting a sidelong glance at Kyouren.

Kyouren, whose stance had shifted to a forward facing one, was holding his two blades in a cross shape, his eyes closed at the moment. However, he still responded to Sakkon's questioning glance. "Give me time."

"On it." Sakkon said as he charged forward, his right arm upraised for a heavy swing.

It was parried easily by Gericko, who returned the favor by thrusting his chainsaw into Sakkon's mid-section.

"You're a pretty crappy fighter." Gericko remarked as he revved the engine of his chainsaw. "You're not gonna do shit to me."

To this Sakkon responded by throwing his body forward, deepening the gouge that Gericko had made into his body and toppling himself and Gericko to the floor. "I don't need to do anything meaningful." Sakkon commented as he wrapped his arms around Gericko's golem's body. "I just need you to hold still for a second."

Realizing what was happening, both Gericko and his golem began to struggle against the hold, the chainsaw roaring ever loader as it ripped away at the Sakkon's construct's insides. Sakkon however, glad of the fact that golems didn't have nerve endings, held fast.

Meanwhile, a white haze had surrounded Kyouren's blades as he returned to his normal stance. He hopped over to the side of the still struggling Sakkon and Gericko, selecting an effective vantage point for himself as he sheathed his left blade, and gripped his right with both hands as he said "Get ready Sakkon."

With that he lunged forward, jumping into a falling overhead cut. Sakkon had just enough time to make one exclamation before both he and Gericko's golem were cut in twain.

"Damn it, not again."

[-]

Elsewhere in a dry barren wasteland a single blackish-brown trail of dust and exhaust blazed across cracked desert earth, swirling into the heat-ridden red-orange oblivion that was the cloudless dusk of Death Valley. The loud roar of a heavy engined motorcycle accompanied that traveling cloud of dust, utterly destroying the peaceful silence that would have reigned on this gradually cooling evening.

The wind rushing through his hair, the heavy thrum of a powerful chrome V-twin engine at his feet and the raucous roar of said engine's exhaust did little to calm Soul's nerves as he blazed a trail across the craggy desert. Behind the sunglasses he'd opted to wear to defend his eyes against the dust that was being thrown about as he and his passengers moved towards their destination Soul's eyes were tense. He'd hoped that this morning was nothing more than pre-mission jitters on Maka's part. Such a supposition was a stretch, he knew that better than anyone. But, he'd hoped that maybe, just this once, Maka would be obsessing over the sort of thing that the average girl would. Boy troubles, cool clothes, gossip among classmates or something petty like that.

Then again, if that were ever really the case, Soul probably wouldn't have liked her as much as he did. She was cool in that way. Logical, strong, and active, if she ever had problems with boys or clothes, she handled them directly.

That was why Soul knew from the very beginning that whatever was happening was serious: Maka had come to him for advice on the matter. That, more than anything else, had put him on edge. Because that was the other thing she was better at than anyone: knowing when she really needed help.

It would've been horribly uncool if he couldn't answer her call for help. Hell, the situation was uncool enough, considering that it wasn't even her that was riding behind him on his treasured motorcycle.

At the very least Ichigo appeared to be composed enough, though his death grip on the seat suggested otherwise. Blair, who had taken a perch on top of Ichigo's head, didn't appear to be bothered by the high speeds at all. No doubt some sort of spell was holding her in place up there.

"So you said 'go southwest'" Soul shouted over the roar of his motorcycle. "You gonna tell me what's in that direction?"

"An old quarantine area from back in the dark times." Ichigo replied "Used to hold all kinds of creatures in it. It doesn't see much use now."

"Why are we going there?"

"Containment. Your friend's not going to be in a very agreeable mood when we find her."

"Really?" Soul replied with a frown. "And you know this how?"

"I don't know." Ichigo admitted. "Not for certain. The circumstances seem to be adding up, but I'll have to see her symptoms to be sure."

"You're dodging the question. How do you know all of this?"

"I've seen it before." Ichigo replied "It didn't happen in exactly the same way the time before, but then, it's different for every soul."

"What do you think's happening to her?"

"Some form of hollowification." Ichigo said, raising a steadying hand to the cat on his head as they went over a particularly large bump in the ground, soaring into the air. "Beyond that, I'm not sure."

"Hollowification?" Soul asked as he leaned back in preparation for the landing. "What's that?"

"It's a form of soul transformation." Ichigo replied as he braced himself for the landing. "Makes you hungry for souls."

"Is that all?" Soul said with a bit of relief, easily maintaining his balance as they landed heavily on the rock laden landscape. "That doesn't seem so bad."

"It is when the hunger takes a life of its own." Ichigo explained as they weaved about the dry rock-strewn landscape. "It will fight for control over her, first in the body, then the mind, then the soul."

"Heh." Soul replied with a smirk. "Maka's pretty strong when it comes to at least two of those areas. She'll crush whatever it is that's in her."

"It's not that simple." Ichigo replied "It isn't just some fight between two souls."

Soul frowned grimly as he maneuvered the motorcycle through a sea of sandstone rocks and sand. "Then what is it?"

"It's a fight for existence." Ichigo said darkly. "And control."

"So what?" Soul replied "I've got the hunger and I'm completely normal." Soul ignored Red's brazen laughter at the statement as he continued his reasoning "Maka's better than me when it comes to matters of the soul. She'll know what to do to win. She'll kill whatever bastard it is that's trying to take her soul away from her."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Ichigo said simply, a serious expression on his visage.

"What?"

"Hollowification isn't a sickness. It's a condition. There's no virus to cleanse, or bacteria to kill." Ichigo scowled grimly. "It's caused by the soul itself. If you destroy the cause, you'll destroy the soul too."

An annoyed and befuddled expression formed on Soul's visage as he gunned the engines of his beloved motorcycle, its mighty roar echoing across the rocky landscape. "Then what are we supposed to do?"

The first stars of night were appearing, heralded by an overall cooling of the desert air as Ichigo replied

"What we can."

[-]

The hatchet was in her hands again. It had slipped out of her hands at least three times due to fatigue and thirst, if not more. Yet somehow it had returned to her hand without her noticing until it slipped through her fingers once more. Once again, the small weapon fell through her fingertips as she dragged her feet through the cool sands of the steadily darkening Death Valley night.

Her eyes drifted towards the moon, ever grinning, its unblinking gaze returning Maka's listless stare. She didn't understand why she was here, why she was looking to the moon and the stars that surrounded it. Some vague part of herself wanted to know why, yet that question was slowly fading into the ether along with the rest her conscious perceptions.

It felt like she was viewing everything through a hazy filter, her own thoughts appearing muddled and indecipherable as she attempted to make sense of the situation. Only the sand across her feet and the desert breeze's gentle caress let her know that she wasn't just dreaming, that she and this desert were both in fact real.

At least as real as the growing weakness in her arms and legs.

Something wasn't right about that. Something she couldn't quite…

No use…

Weak

Too we a k to

thi n k

She needed more…

S t re ngth

Strength?

No

Po w e r

E n e rg y

But… wh e r e?

A moment of clarity came to her as the hatchet returned to her empty hand once more. She held the hatchet before her, a more focused stare boring back into her listless gaze from within the reflection of the hatchet.

"Sustenance…" she murmured, tightening her grip on the weapon. She spoke to the purported being on the other side of the blade. "N e e d…"

Maka's attempted sentence went unfinished the words trailing off into indecipherable babblings as the haze of incomprehension slowly returned.

Maka heard one last reply before she went under completely.

"I'll take care of that."

[-]

"Huh." Soul said veiling his surprise under his usual mask of boredom. "Didn't expect something like this."

Before him stood a rather large dungeon like facility, with stone wrought walls, barred and sealed windows, rusted steel doors and a rather bleak color palette of grays, greens, browns and blacks. The entire area was framed by a cavern of sandstone and other mineral deposits, adorned with enormous stalactites and stalagmites jutting out at all sorts of arbitrary angles.

Behind him was a fairly long drop to the floor of the canyon that this cave was formed in. A rather small and unwieldy pathway back to the top of the canyon was all that separated Soul from the more than one-hundred meter drop to the fierce river rapids down below. He'd had to walk his motorcycle down to the cavern entrance, not wanting to leave it out in the open, even if the chances of it being stolen out here were little to none.

Ichigo, who had leapt off the motorcycle almost as soon as they'd stopped, now stood just in front of the browning double doors. Blair was still nestled comfortably atop Ichigo's head somehow, despite the old swordsman's initial attempts to remove her. She appeared, at least to Soul, to be quite smug about this fact.

Even knowing that it was in fact a lecherous witch that was perched upon that man's head, Blair's insistence on remaining in that position still came off as cute somehow. No doubt Blair was fully aware of this fact.

This notion was confirmed as soon as Blair made eye contact with Soul and winked in her usual suggestive way.

Soul turned to check the chain lock on his motorcycle once more, hiding the flush that was rising in his cheeks as he said. "Looks pretty ancient."

"That's because it is." Ichigo replied as he began to search his pockets for something. He had apparently resigned himself to Blair being on his head. "This place was probably around before your grandparents were born." He continued as he fished an old style long shaft key with a skull emblazoned on the bow of its head out of his pocket. The skull, Soul noticed, was rather intricately detailed, with a very convincing likeness to the real thing.

"I wouldn't know." Soul said with a shrug. "Never met my grandparents. Hardly knew the ones that raised me."

Ichigo, his back to Soul as he was opening the rusted doors, paused for a moment, allowing an empty silence to pervade the cavern before he replied. Blair had turned to face Soul now, a mischievously interested expression that would normally be associated with a gossip monger on her fur filled visage.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Ichigo said.

"Ah." Soul said with a smirk and a throwaway gesture. "It's nothing I didn't choose." Soul's smirk broadened a little when he saw Blair's impish curiosity become slightly more genuine. Ichigo however, remained concentrated on the door before him.

"Even still." Ichigo continued as he shoved the key into the door. "It sounds like a hard life to live."

"It's only as hard as you make it." Soul replied "And that's what I like about it." Soul had to hold back a triumphant laugh as his last statement fully transformed Blair's intrigued expression into rather baffled one

Soul's reply had a different effect on Ichigo, garnering an approving chuckle from the swordsman as he thrust the doors open. "That's one way to look at it." He said before turning to Soul, a serious look on his visage. "Are you ready?"

Soul shrugged. "I guess."

"Good."

With this Ichigo unveiled the limiter band on his right wrist and undid the latch that held it in place. Although it looked like Ichigo had just had a weight lifted from him, Soul didn't notice anything special beyond that.

Soul was nonplussed. "What are you doing?"

"Luring her in." Ichigo said as he moved to the mouth of the cave. Soul watched expectantly as Ichigo took a stance and braced his right arm. Soon afterward a rather large sword formed in Ichigo's right hand, to Soul's mild surprise.

"Huh." Soul murmured. There was no partner that he saw there. Nor was there any indication of soul resonance, although he wasn't the best person to judge that sort of thing. Still, this didn't appear to be any form of technique he was familiar with. Perhaps this was some form of advanced meister technique. That would make sense considering this guy was apparently supposed to teach Maka after the extra-curricular mission. However, there was a vague similarity to Chrona's form of meistery.

"Nice trick." Soul remarked. "So now what?

"Now we wait."

[-][-][-][-]

Notes From Days Long Past

Observations

[-][-][-][-]

May 31st 2013

Never written a research document before. Not sure what to do here. "Just watch them and write what happens" was what Urahara had said. Blame him if this is unclear.

I'll start with the kids here. Ever since Mizuiro saved that first kid, seven more little guys have ended up living in the shop. It looks like the hollows won't leave them alone unless they have proper protection. i.e. Yoruichi and Urahara.

And me in whatever way that I can help.

Anyway, I'll go in alphabetical order with the kid's names

First we have Aya Fukui. Brown hair, hazel eyes. Likes dresses. She's pretty quiet, usually spending most of her time doodling or coloring things. Also picks at the floor with her hands when she's waiting for things. She and Ururu get along pretty well actually. Urahara apparently found her alone in the Kansai district. We haven't found any trace of her parents yet.

Next we have Haruki Hamasaki. Black hair, brown eyes. Likes to have her hair in a ponytail. Really, really likes puzzles, blocks, and just about anything else that requires construction. Also, orange juice. She can't seem to get enough of that OJ. Keigo came across her in Karakura near a reported hollow encounter site. What Keigo was doing anywhere near a situation like that, I'll never know.

Then there's Hideyoshi Akiyama. Black hair, hazel eyes. Wears a fedora at all times. He's a pretty fidgety kid, hardly able to sit still for even ten seconds. It makes him a bit of a pain to watch, but he is fun to play sports games with. Also, I think he idolizes Urahara. It must be because of the hat. Orehime had found him wandering a graveyard somewhere. I still need to ask Hime why she was there.

Then we have Julian Deschamps. Blonde hair, green eyes. Likes to wear long robes and jackets. Has a very strong vocabulary for his age. Also a very good reader, he picked up on the Japanese language fairly quickly. It seems like every day he's looking for something new to learn. He even asked me to teach him martial arts. Urahara found him during a "business trip" to Europe. He won't say anymore than that.

Now we have Kaede. She won't say her last name. Black hair, one red eye and one blue eye. Likes the color black. She seems pretty sharp on the uptake, catching on to things quickly, and generally seeing through the white lies that adults tell. She also has a thing for bugs, especially crickets and cicadas. Yoruichi found her after resolving a hollow attack near a metro station. I think she ran away from home.

Next is Keiko Himura. Brown hair, blue eyes. Generally wears a red beret in her hair. She has a way of staring at things when she's in deep thought. It's a good natured stare, but the amount of time she can spend without blinking can be a bit creepy. She's also very good at origami, already having made several paper animals for Mizuiro. I think she's a bit taken with him. Then again, he was the one that found her in Karakura so it makes sense.

Last but not least we have Miu Nakahara. Red hair, green eyes. Wears glasses and a blue bandana in her hair. She's another fidgety one, with the flexibility of a gymnast the stamina of a marathon runner. Yoruichi's been putting that extra energy to good use, teaching her the basics of spiritual and physical combat. I'm also taking lessons from her, mostly because I need to learn this stuff, if I'm ever going to catch up to Ichigo and the others. Karin was the one to find Miu, after a hollow interrupted her soccer game while chasing the poor girl. It was a good thing Hitsugaya just happened to be in the area that day.

Well that's all of them I guess. As for what I've seen of them, nothing really special has happened. According to Mizuiro there's something weird about Keiko, but I didn't need him to tell me that. Anyway, they just seem like normal kids to me.

I do like them though.

Anyway, nothing spectacular to report today, unless you count OJ spills and broken windows. Yeah Hideyoshi broke one of the windows while trying to show Miu the proper way to throw a baseball. To be fair Jinta broke three more while showing them his "amazing super bat technique" So don't be too hard on them.

Tatsuki Arisawa

[-][-][-][-]

More to come…

Was it enjoyable?

Or perhaps not?

Either way inquiring minds want to know