A/N:
Scae: Kubo Tite owns Clorox, and Yana Togoso owns BOB, the Black Organization of Butlers. Jesa is me. Sort of.
Uxi: I own an OC who pops up later. She is such more me than my daily output. *sweatdrops at Scae and her own comment*
Esmi: We don't own Bleach or Kuroshitsuji! I do, however, own Yumi!
Scae: Esmi! Don't explain the joke! It loses the funny!
Esmi: Well excuse me for being afraid of lawyers. *rolls eyes at Scae*
Scae: *raises an eyebrow*
Uxi: I'm not saying anything. It was their idea…
Scae: A side note: I found a contradiction between the last paragraph of chapter 2 and something Jesa says in this chapter. I prefer how we have it here, so the paragraph in chapter 2 has been changed. The revised version is also in this chapter under "Last Time". Also, sorry for the major delay in posting this chapter. We had it written for a while, but after that, we also dealt with sending it to two different beta readers, deciding what comments we agreed with and what was fine as is, incorporating the changes we did want to make (such as an unexplained lack of Rukia's presence in the earlier versions), and interacting with that strange thing called real life.
Uxi: Updates will be whenever we can get together and write our poor fingers off. Since we have to deal with these things called writing other fics and writer's block and schoolwork. Eww…
Scae: Well, not quite so much 'eww' for me, since I'm a creative writing major. It just takes thyme. :P
Esmi: Um that's an herb, Scae.
Scae: I know, hence the :P
Esmi: Now on with the chapter! ^^
~Last Time~
(Jesa's POV)
I nodded and hoped that would be enough to prevent a tension headache. Those were among the few downsides to my kyoukan. I loved having powers. What girl wouldn't? But the pain I felt when my friends had arguments near me could be unbearable at times, especially if I was participating in the argument. I almost never had to deal with tension headaches lately, but from the churning coil of emotions I could feel in Yumi's reiatsu, combined with Ichigo's confrontational personality...
Chapter 3 (Ichigo's POV)
Just as Jesa finished unlocking the door to Yumi's house with the spare key cleverly hidden in plain sight mixed with other keys on a wind chime, Yumi teleported in.
I was about to start in on Yumi right then and there, but Jesa reminded me that we were still in full view of anyone else in the neighborhood. I nodded, and motioned for Jesa to lead us back to the dining room.
Once we had all sat down, I leveled a glare at Yumi. "Why'd you show up at our fight with the hollow?" She didn't seem taken aback at my glare, keeping a cool expression on her face. She didn't seem to like me very much.
"Originally I was only going to protect Jesa-chan; however, on the way there I received word from the Dispatch—" Yumi started.
"From the what?" I interrupted.
She seemed a bit annoyed that I interrupted her. "That would be the Reaper Dispatch Association, Kurosaki-san. They manage Reapers and oversee the collection of souls according to precise and well-kept lists."
"That's much more efficient than our patrol system," I overheard Rukia mutter to herself.
Rukia may have been impressed, but I wasn't. "So you had the right to kill that guy, just because his name showed up on some fancy list? I'm still not seeing it."
"As I was saying, I received word from the Dispatch that a new soul in that same area had been added to my list, and I was very relieved that it was that man's name that had appeared instead of Jesa's." Yumi sighed in a delayed form of relief. "Also, I did not kill that man; he was already dead by that point. If I had killed him, I would have gotten into more trouble than it would be worth with my boss and the other higher ups for going against regulations!" She seemed even more annoyed now.
"He didn't look dead to me," I said as I crossed my arms.
"Well, I would not expect you to able to tell that with the certainty that I can."
I raised an eyebrow, rather than making any verbal counter to her statement.
"Reapers are not allowed to kill humans that are not on our lists, and we can only collect their souls at the exact time of their death, not before." Now she was glaring at me.
Jesa started scratching her head. "What do you mean by Reapers? How is that different from shinigami?"
Yumi's reply sounded like it came out of a textbook, albeit not one to be found anywhere in the Living World. "A Reaper's main job is to collect and judge souls at their moment of death and determine where to send them, be it Heaven, Hell, or, in some very rare cases, back to life; however, the vast majority of souls on our lists will not have enough of an impact on the world to allow them to continue their lives. Also, like the shinigami of the Gotei 13, we Reapers hunt hollows to keep them from eating the souls we are supposed to collect, but protecting the pluses is not our priority."
It seemed like she knew what she was talking about, and I had other things I wanted her to explain anyway, such as what I took as a lack of honor. "Okay, I guess that explains what you did to the other guy, but why the heck did you hit me with the bakudo when my back was turned?!" If it were just Yumi and me, I wouldn't bother trying to keep my reiatsu under control, but I didn't want to overwhelm Rukia and Jesa, so I kept it reined in as much as I could.
"I am not particularly fond of hollows being near Jesa-chan or my house," Yumi said, still glaring at me. She obviously wasn't very fond of me, but I couldn't find it in me to care at the moment.
"I may use hollow powers when necessary, but I am not a hollow," I growled. Under normal circumstances, my reiatsu control was much better than it used to be; but these were not normal circumstances. I mentally asked Zangetsu-ossan to help me keep it stable since I knew losing control, whether of my reiatsu or of my temper, would likely shatter any chance of gaining Yumi's trust.
Yumi glanced at Jesa before replying. "However, you still possess hollow reiatsu and thus may be a threat to Jesa-chan."
I was about to reply sarcastically when Jesa spoke up. "Yumi, I met Ichigo within a couple days of moving to Karakura, and in all this time you and I have been apart, Ichigo has never once dealt me permanent harm."
"Permanent harm. So he has hurt you." Yumi put one hand on her hip.
Jesa waved her hand dismissively. "I've gotten bruised in training. That's all I meant."
"How many times has he lost control of his hollow nature and caused trouble for everyone else?"
"No more times than he's taken it back! And Shirosaki is more of an inner arrancar than an inner hollow, anyway."
"That does not change the fact that there is still hollow reiatsu in him, whether the inner being is rational or not," Yumi retorted, a hint of her agitation present in her voice. Her eyes kept glancing over towards me, as if expecting me to burst out in anger with all of my 'hollow nature' and start attacking everyone.
Jesa sighed. "Look, Yumi. With my power comes the ability to get into others' inner worlds. I've been in Ichigo's head, literally. I know I can trust him. Do you trust me?"
"Jesa-chan, you, I trust. It is this Shirosaki I do not trust." She sounded bored, as if what she said should have been obvious.
"You can do jinzen, right, Yumi?" Jesa asked, seemingly out of nowhere. I wondered what idea she had gotten this time. Sometimes her more creative ideas worked, sometimes not.
"What is jinzen?" Yumi looked at Jesa in confusion.
"Meditation, going into your inner world," Rukia answered. Her quick glance at Jesa told me she didn't know what Jesa had planned, any more than I did.
Yumi just stared blankly at Rukia and Jesa.
"There goes that idea, then." Jesa's pout would have been amusing in other circumstances. "I was thinking maybe you could meet, or something."
"Why do you think I would want to meet a hollow, Jesa-chan?" Now Yumi's stare showed bewilderment and indignation. "You did see what I did to the last hollow I encountered, correct?"
"Well, yeah, but that was just some random hollow. A bit stronger than the run-of-the-mill ones we usually deal with, come to think of it, but that's not the point. Shirosaki's part of Ichigo—"
"And that is supposed to encourage me?"
"Standing right here, ya know," I said dryly. Yumi shot a glare towards me for interrupting their 'conversation'.
"Yes, Kurosaki-san. I know you are here." Yumi's glare wasn't quite on par with my own, but it came close.
"You've been talking about me as if I weren't, though. Well, a part of me, anyway."
"A part I still do not trust, need I remind you. How can I be sure you can keep control and not let that part harm Jesa-chan?" This time her aggravation was clearly evident in her voice but still overshadowed by her concern for Jesa.
"I guess you wouldn't accept something like 'I've made an agreement with him,' but either way, Jesa can take care of herself."
Yumi's stare informed me that she wasn't going to just take my word for it. "That remains to be seen, Kurosaki-san."
"Then let's see it," Jesa said, taking a sip of her now-flat root beer. "Ichigo, do you mind letting him out for a bit?"
"Jesa-chan, you cannot be serious! You would wish for something like that to be in my house?!" Yumi stared at Jesa, wide-eyed.
"What? No, not here. We'll find some abandoned parking lot or something."
"Do you understand what you are saying?!"
"Yes, I know what I'm saying." Jesa rubbed her forehead and sighed. "I don't get headaches around arguments like I would when I first discovered my powers, unless things get really tense, but I still don't like fights between friends, headaches or not. And even if you and Ichigo aren't friends of each other, you're both my friends."
"I do hope you realize that this is not going to end well," Yumi said, readjusting her glasses, a scornful grimace on her face.
"Maybe not for Shirosaki," Jesa said, smirking. "I can take him."
Rukia mumbled what sounded like "Chappy help her," but I probably misheard her.
Oh, really? Shirosaki snickered. She thinks she can take me, eh? I'm game, King.
I mentally rolled my eyes. "Might want to tone down the overconfidence, Jesa. He's rather interested now."
"He will not be so interested when I am through with him," Yumi said darkly, hatred radiating from her whole being. I would have been offended had it not been warranted.
"Yumi, please?" Jesa was now sliding her cross charm back and forth on its chain.
"Fine, but only because I want to see the smirk wiped off Shirosaki's face." Her grimace had now become a malicious smile, and I started to wonder if I should be worried for Shirosaki.
He started laughing madly. Unless she has some super-ed up power level like our bankai-mask combo, I doubt she can touch us. And even then, it's not likely. Ha!
"Alright," Jesa said, then glanced at Rukia. "But don't interfere. Rukia should be able to tell if I'm getting in over my head."
Said midget nodded in agreement.
"Wait, who said you would be the one fighting him?" Yumi said, wide-eyed.
"I thought that was the whole point of this, to show I could hold my own if he took control…" Jesa tilted her head.
"No! I refuse to allow that!" Yumi crossed her arms.
"And I refuse to let you fight him, either! I don't trust that you won't let this extreme hatred of yours get the better of you!" Jesa took off her glasses and started rubbing her eyes with her palms, which she only did when she was dealing with either a lack of sleep or a major headache.
"Be that as it may, I will not allow you to put yourself in such danger, regardless of the reason," Yumi said, her tone fierce, but at the same time full of concern.
"Oi, oi! I'm telling you, I'll be fine!" Jesa stopped rubbing her eyes, but only moved her left hand out of the way to reveal her determined gaze. "And Ichigo can force control if things get too far."
"If the point is whether you can hold your own in combat, why not just duel Kuchiki-san instead?" Yumi narrowed her eyes, clearly still not liking the idea of Shirosaki sparring with Jesa.
"I thought the point was that I could hold my own against Shirosaki in particular." Jesa put her glasses back on and looked at Yumi. "Now I'm confused."
"The issue is whether you can hold your own against any opponent, not just him." Yumi explained dryly.
"Well, even if she can hold her own against me, Ichigo is the better fighter," Rukia said with a shrug.
"Why don't Jesa and I fight, then?" I said.
"Fine, but if any harm comes to Jesa-chan, you will face the repercussions," Yumi said with an almost too-pleasant smile on her face.
I'm seriously starting to wonder if she knows Unohana, Shirosaki commented, successfully distracting me from the smile of doom that had accompanied Yumi's threat.
"I can live with that," I assured, smirking confidently. "She'll be perfectly fine."
A/N:
Scae: My cousin, "Delaware Visitor", brought up a couple good points in her review, such as the frequent POV changes in the first chapter, and why Yumi would need to borrow a car. We could have put the scene with Ichigo and Rukia in the dining room in Ichigo's POV easily enough, and if we go back and do a re-write at some point in the future, we probably will.
Esmi: Additionally, for our use of 3rd person, we did it to avoid POV changes within a few sentences of each other when we expressed both Yumi and Jesa's thoughts in the kitchen scene. We will try to keep the POV changes to once or twice a chapter in the future. On the matter of Yumi's car, she actually doesn't own one since she lives alone and (as seen in this chapter) can teleport long distances if it's too far to walk.
Uxi: Hope ye shall join us again!
Scae: Reviews with concrit (constructive criticism) are much appreciated, but we know some people lead busy lives. If you only have time for a quick note, it still lets us know people are reading and enjoying what we write. As I've said in Bridge the Gap, Kyoukan, I write because I enjoy it, but a large part of that enjoyment comes from knowing others enjoy reading what I've written.
All: Please review. ^^ ^.^ ^_^ Ja ne!