alright, actual chapter 2 this time
by the way, I love the fact that people are favoriting and following this, but please, please leave me reviews, it's only way I have to improve my writing
anyway, this is where things start to pick up a little bit
so without further ado, let's get to it
The first week in Karakura went well, apart from having to report her complete lack of progress to Integra every day. She may have sounded calm, but Seras knew her master's master well enough to tell that she was getting impatient. in more domestic concerns, she had started working nights at a convenience store across town. It wasn't as if she was being a burden on the Kurosaki household's food budget, but she decided that she'd rather not feel like a freeloader despite Isshin's protestations that she really didn't have to.
Speaking of Isshin, she was glad to see he hadn't changed at all, ambushing Ichigo in the halls, dive-bombing his bed at 4 a.m., and generally keeping his son on edge at all times. She was just glad he was smart enough not to try to sneak up on a sleeping vampire. She'd feel terrible if she accidentally killed him in her sleep.
The second week, on the other hand, had been interesting...
It had been a beautiful night, tugging at her instincts to just run wild and hunt, so here she was in the park soaking in the moonlight and trying to ignore that second bit. She was just starting to wonder if leaving her Harkonnen behind had been a mistake, snickering a bit at the thought of Isshin's expression when he saw her lugging a gun nearly twice her size.
Then she heard it
The telltale sounds of something trying sneak up on her.
She frowned, annoyed at herself for not noticing sooner and disdainful of the creature for daring to try to get the drop on a vampire. And so, she decided to teach it a bit of a lesson in manners
Finally, the creature came charging out of the trees with a roar. Seras elected to simply jump straight over it, twisting in the air to come down in a crouch.
The whatever-it-was was huge, nearly 8 feet tall and shaped somewhat like a vaguely humanoid dog. However, the detail that stuck out most in Seras' mind was the bone-white mask on it's face.
It roared again, spinning to face her, hair-like quills on it's back bristling. Well, if it was a fight it wanted, Seras was more than happy to oblige
She snarled right back at the creature, letting her left arm dissolve into a cluster of writhing shadowy tendrils
Ducking it's first wild swing, Seras raked at the things side with her shadows, but could tell she was only doing superficial damage at best, so she leaped onto it's back, intent on carving her way up to it's head.
Unfortunately, the creature seemed to sense what she was trying to do and rolled over on it's back trying to crush her.
Cursing, Seras barely managed to jump clear in time. This gave the monster the opportunity it needed to backhand her into a nearby tree hard enough to break it in two.
Standing up, and now thoroughly enraged, Seras stalked towards the thing, which reared up and roared at her, seemingly in an attempt to make itself look bigger
all this did was expose it's throat to her
This was a mistake
Seras moved as though luanched from a cannon, striking the creature dead in the center of it's chest and knocking it over backwards, now lost in a haze of rage and bloodlust, Seras wasted no time latching onto it's throat with all the force of a bear trap.
Thick black blood pured down her throat as the creatures struggles weakened, trying to dislodge her to the very end
Seras had thought she understood what it meant to be a vampire when she had eaten Pip, but this? This was something entirely new. The feeling of raw power washing over her was like nothing she had ever felt.
Her shadows reached out and enveloped the creature as it dissolved into motes of light, absorbing every one.
That had been a week ago. She had immediately called Integra to inform her of her discovery and declare her mission complete. After all, the creature's blood had told her that it had been preying on human souls.
Of course, then it turned out that there were more of the damn things, so it looked like she was here more or less indefinitely.
Well, that was alright, there hadn't been any vampire attacks worth noting in England since Millennium had been destroyed. She would come home if Integra called for her, but she doubted that was going to happen any time soon. For now, this was her sole mission.
Apparently the thing was called a "Hollow", as she had learned when she had shown up on Isshin's doorstep, dripping with the blood of the last one she had killed and demanding answers.
Which was why she was currently sitting on a rooftop listening for the telltale cry of a Hollow
As near as Seras could figure from what Isshin had told her, these Hollow things were a sort of demon, souls that had lingered too long in the living world and been consumed by their anger and regret, eating the souls of others in a vain attempt to fill the emptiness within them
Truly pitiable creatures then, perhaps even more so than her own species
a roar echoed across the sky
well then
time to get to work
She leapt off the roof, reforming her left arm into a giant wing as she did.
It was odd, she had started noticing that her personality was starting to slowly shift towards her missing master's with every bit of blood she drank. Her control over her shadows was getting better too, so there was that at least.
In a few moments she was over the Hollow, dragging her out of her reverie.
This one was stalking a pair of teenagers
A pair of teenagers who seemed to neither see nor hear the giant misshapen monster bearing down on them
This struck Seras as odd, but then she had more pressing concerns
Like saving the poor idiots' lives
Dismissing her wing, she dropped out of the sky like a stone, impacting the monster's back like an artillery shell, already ripping and tearing with shadowy claws as she landed. the hollow screamed and reared back, trying to throw her off, but to no avail as simply ducked around the flailing claws, reaching out with tendrils of shadow and breaking it's arms as she went, and sank her fangs into it's throat
Raw power poured down her throat and her shadows grew and stretched in response, wrapping around both the hollow and herself, holding it down as she fed. Soon enough the creature stilled and broke into fragments of blue light, all of which were absorbed by her shadows. She sat there crouched for a moment longer, little more than a pair of glowing red eyes in a mass of living darkness. Seras wondered what her master would think if he could see her now. she'd come so far from the scared little police girl he had turned that night, and while she was still hesitant to hunt humans, it seemed that as long as she stayed here she wouldn't have to. Just one of these Hollow things could keep her fed for days.
the cry of another hollow pulled her back to reality. She considered letting it go, she'd just eaten after all, but then realized that the sound was coming from worryingly close to her new home.
a moment of cold fear swept through her, quickly replaced by rage
still largely just a mass of shadows, Seras took to the air once more
as she approached, she noticed that not only was the hollow close to her house, it was directly across the street.
Seras was about to dive at this new threat when a small girl dressed all in black burst out of the door with a sword already raised to slash at the hollow.
Now this was new. Seras wondered just what exactly the girl had been doing in her home and what she thought she was doing going up against a hollow with a sword
The girl was knocked back and the hollow reared up, giving Seras a view of it's other arm, revealing that it had Karin in it's grasp
Rage threatened to overtake her, but some instinct held her back, realizing that something important was about to happen
Ichigo chose this moment to appear in the doorway, instantly charging at the monster holding his sister with...
...
a broken chair leg
well, if nothing else, Seras would give him points for courage,
seeing this new challanger, the hollow turned and slashed at Ichigo
only to connect with the girl in black, who had seen what was about to happen and crossed the intervening distance faster than even Seras could follow.
Seras was too far away to hear what they said to each other, but it culminated in the girl impaling Ichigo on her sword
one flash of light later, the girl was dressed in a simple white robe, while Ichigo was dressed in the odd black uniform the girl had been wearing, complete with an oversized sword, which he proceeded to remove the Hollow's arm with, freeing Karin. The hollow itself fell soon after.
two more howls, it seemed that massive burst of power had drawn some unwanted attention
Seras hit one at a dive even as Ichigo turned to face the other one, too focused on the fight to even notice her until the Hollow he was fighting was reduced to specks of light.
He stared at the mass of writhing shadows that made up Seras' form, taking an involuntary step backward when she detached herself from the rapidly fading hollow and turned to face him, as she pulled herself back into a more human shape.
Ichigo was just getting more confused, "Okay, does someone wanna tell me what's going on here?"
Seras sighed and opened her mouth to answer, only to be interrupted when the girl, still bleeding heavily, staggered over, "What are you waiting for you idiot? she's clearly some kind of Hollow! Attack!" she yelled, clearly in pain. Ichigo just looked back and forth between them, clearly still confused and getting annoyed.
"What? Like hell am I hollow!". Seras decided she didn't like this girl very much.
"then what are you? And why do you look like my cousin?"
okay
that was it
"Ichigo?" she said sweetly, Ichigo looked wary
"Yes?" he answered
Seras turned and decked him
"that would be because I am your cousin you moron! And I happen to be a vampire, not a hollow!"
Ichigo's eyes widened in shock, and then rolled back into his head as he collapsed, whether from the blunt force trauma, the revelation, or both, was not immediately apparent.
Seras stared for a moment before turning to the other girl, incredulity written on her face. "did he just faint?"
the girl, for her part, looked just as surprised as Seras
"okay, you, start talking", the girl flinched, but seemed to find some inner resolve
"I'm not telling you anything, Hollow!" she snapped, Seras just rolled her eyes
"didn't I just get done saying that I'm not a Hollow? I'm a vampire dammit!"
the girl just snorted, "vampires are a myth!' she shot back, trying (and failing) to act brave in the face of the unknown. Seras just stared at her a while longer before a slow smile took over her face
"you know what? I don't actually need you to tell me anything do I? I can just take it", Seras stepped forward, grinning widely, fangs fully on display
the girl's eyes widened as she tried to backpedal, but she was far too slow. Seras pinned her to wall, carefully biting into her neck, the girl continued to struggle for a second before passing out from sheer terror. Seras had thought that Hollow blood was the most potent thing she would ever come across, but it was nothing compared to this. Honestly, it was a good thing she had eaten not five minutes ago, otherwise she might have drained this girl, ah, Rukia, that was her name, dry. Images, memories, flashed before Seras' eyes, telling her all she needed to know about the girl and what she had done to Ichigo. However, before she had a chance to sort through those memories, a tap on her shoulder brought her focus back to the real world. She glanced back over her shoulder to see Kisuke Urahara, the shopkeeper Isshin had introduced her too after her first encounter with a hollow.
"Why hello there Seras!" he said, tone seemingly mild. Seras caught the implied command and obligingly released Rukia, licking the fang marks to help them heal. The girl, now thoroughly unconscious, slumped over her shoulder
"was there something you wanted? she asked drily, Kisuke beamed like a miniature sun
"Indeed there is! I must ask you to keep your promise to kill only Hollows miss Dracula"
Seras stared for a moment before shaking her head
"I never should have told you who my sire was"
"Nope!"
Seras just sighed, this night had gotten far too complicated for her taste
and there it is!
I even managed to figure out how to deal with my changes to the overarching plot
for now at least, there's a couple more places where it's gonna be relevant before I start breaking new ground
on another note, writing action has turned out to be a lot easier than I though it was gonna be, so that's good at least
okay then!
on to the next!