I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to read. Hope you enjoy it!
SmileRen; Thank you!
EmpressSaix; I hope you feel better! I actually love Don. He's such a funny character.
Luafua; Thank you so much.
16; Thank you. You got it!
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"I didn't even do anything." Ichigo grumbled scrubbing out his frustrations on a desktop. "All you did was talk to the stupid idiot and all the sudden you're a hero."
"Less talky, more worky~" I sang smiling at him from my perch at the teachers desk. "I'm also working with Don to rebuild our schools reputation no thanks to you, you little delinquent."
He glared at me not appreciating me throwing the gym teachers words at him then resumed grumbling and scrubbing.
"You know help you know."
"I could but I'm not." I yawned. "You're the one who decided to switch this to morning clean ups."
"Hollows mostly attack at night! I had no choice."
I rolled my eyes at him. He knows Rukia and I could handle it if something happened beside who wants to wake up early and arrive to the school before even the teachers arrived?
He glared and began to scrub harder grumbling under his breath like some kind of sociopath.
"Hey do you know how old Rukia is?"
He paused looking at me funny for a moment before shrugging. "Said she was over a hundred or something."
"Is this her first mission?" I asked twirling a pencil across my fingers.
"I don't think so." He eyed me curiously. "Why?"
"It does seem weird to you that someone trained to fight Hollows lost so spectacularly? That's her job. She has wide arsenal of Hollow slaying powers but instead she ended up with a relatively minor wound, that somehow made her completely useless and relied on a gamble that you could handle it for the moment but instead lost her all of powers? Strange people show up acting like they know what's going on. It's pretty fucking odd and that's coming from some like me."
"You sound like one of those crazy conspiracy theorists." Ichigo said moving to another desk.
The door slid open with a loud clack. In walked a tall, lean boy with dark hair and glasses. I recognized him from class. He was the smart kid, Ishida, who sat up front near the window.
He glared at me before glaring at Ichigo. I raised an eyebrow watching him stalk over to the desk Ichigo was working on.
"Hey. I'm working here." Ichigo barked in irritation. "Can't you wait until class starts?"
Ishida just side stepped him opening the desk and pulling out a small wooden box and some papers before glaring at the both of us and leaving.
Reiatsu flared slightly in the classroom before Ishida turned and walked out not bothering to close the door behind him.
"That was fucking weird." I said watching Ishida saunter down the hall. "What did you do to him?"
"He glared at you too!" Ichigo snapped throwing his sponge into the bucket. "I don't even know who that guy is!"
"He's in our class! Ishida… something or other." I shrugged. His name doesn't really matter to me. "Why'd you flare up at him if you don't know him?"
"I didn't." He blinked beginning to wipe down the windows. "I didn't feel anything. Are you sure it wasn't you? You're pretty air-headed most of the time."
"I'm pretty sure, jackass." I threw a pencil at him.
"Easy there, space cadet!" He laughed before cocking his head at me. "What can you even do?"
"Hollows can't stand to be in the presence of my sheer awesomeness. That's about it."
"I'm being serious here!" Ichigo sighed throwing the rag he was using at me. "Hollows are dangerous. I don't want you messing around with them if you can't use your powers."
"I can take care of myself, mom." I threw the rag back at him. "Beside I'm the one who's always saving yo-"
"Good morning my closest friends in the universe!" Keigo shrieked bounding through the entryway trying to glomp-hug Ichigo only to get kicked to the floor.
"Morning Keigo." I said getting out of the teachers podium and helping him up. "Ichigo is cranky this morning you shouldn't talk to him."
"I am not cranky!"
"He does seem extra grouchy today." Keigo agreed posing thoughtfully. "Do you think he's getting enough fiber?"
"Probably not." I said mimicking Keigo's pose. "Maybe he's sexually frustrated with Rukia being around him so often. He is at that age."
"Stop talking right now!" Ichigo barked turning completely red.
"Our little Ichigo." Keigo cried theatrically placing his head onto my shoulder. "All grown up!"
"You should probably give him the talk now, honey."
"I've never liked either one of you!" Ichigo snapped getting back to his work trying to ignore us.
"Oh no! He's in that rebellious stage!" I gasped trying to laugh at the increasing tension growing on his face.
"I guess I'll be having two talks with our precious little Ichigo!" Keigo chirped. "Just think of all the cute little orange hair grandchi-"
A soaking wet sponge landed in Keigo's mouth splashing me along with it. I grabbed the Windex bottle and sprayed Ichigo while Keigo chucked the sponge back at him.
Ichigo caught it easily before hitting me in the chest with it.
"You son of a bitch." I hissed waving the sponge at him so the water would spray him.
Keigo grabbed one of the cleaning rags and used it to whip him. Ichigo grab the bucket and used his hands to throw water around.
"What are you guys doing?!" Rukia's voice barked halting our water war. "Aren't you guys a little o-"
Ichigo and Keigo both splashed her. She was quick enough to dodge grabbing the broom and swatting them with it repeatedly.
"Enough! I'm done!" Ichigo cried stopping Rukia's assault.
"Why did you hit us so hard?" Keigo cried rubbing his arms. "It was only water!"
"That water was dirt as fuck though." I said looking at the brown tinge it created on my shirt.
I walked over to my desk and removed the button up top of my uniform.
"Don't do that in here!" Ichigo yelped closing his eyes and covering Keigo's.
"Cool your tits!" I sighed zipping up my jacket. "I was wearing an undershirt. Are shoulders to provocative for you, pervert?"
"Caref-" Rukia started to warn but it was too late Orihime stepped in a puddle and slipped falling hard onto her rear.
"Owie~" She pouted looking confused while Tatsuki helped her to her feet. "Why is the classroom all wet?"
"Who's the idiot responsible for this?" Tatsuki demanded crossing her arms and scowling at the four of us. She's scarier than a mother bear when it comes to Orihime.
A couple of other classmates walked to the entrance of the classroom and paused looking at the puddles on the floor.
"The jerks from two-b came in. It was a valiant battle and in the end we won." I said with a shrug tossing a dry towel over a puddle.
"That's the worst lie I've ever heard." Tatsuki deadpanned.
"There wasn't any casualties was there?!" Orihime asked eagerly peaking the interest of the rest of our classmates.
"Unfortunately, Keigo here suffered a head shot." I clapped him on the shoulder wondering how bad that sponge had to taste.
"Those puddles your stepping in is the tears of our vanquished foes." Rukia said handing one of the boys a broom. "Please help your valiant defenders clean up."
Rukia seems to have magic human controlling abilities because all the boys agreed to help clean up save for Ichigo, who looked on in disbelief.
"You guys are ridiculous." Tatsuki sighed taking Orihime out of the room so she could change skirts in the bathroom.
"Don't lump me in with them!" Ichigo barked.
"One of us! One of us!" Keigo and I chanted earning a forlorn groan from the dismayed teen.
Fortunately, the classroom was cleaned and dried within a few seconds before Oichi-Sensei, our homeroom teacher, walked in.
"Wow. Nice job Kurosaki." She commented setting her things on the podium. "I'll have to ask the principal to cut down on your punishment."
Ichigo beamed at her comment but instantly scowled when Ishida walked in glaring at him.
"What is that about?" Keigo whispered taking his seat behind me. "It's very intense."
"I don't know." I shrugged.
"He's been following Ichigo and Kuchiki-chan. Maybe he's jealous." Mizuiro said quietly getting his notes prepped.
"No shit?" I asked raising an eyebrow towards Ishida. "That's interesting."
"I saw him stalking the last night when I was out on my date." He shrugged nonchalantly. "She's taking me to Kyoto Tower next break~"
"N-no!" Keigo gaped in horror. "This break we were all supposed to do something as friends! Create memories and experience the teenage life! Not hang around with old ladies!"
Mizuiro gave him a cold look. "She's a kind woman who wants me to meet her friends and buy me things. I can't refuse besides the teenage years are boring."
"I can not believe what I just heard." Keigo breathed looking like he was on the verge of hyperventilating. Knowing him that is entirely possible.
"Relax." I said patting the top of his heads. "We'll go out and have a good time."
"Am I invited this time?" Chizuru asked eating the last bits of her apple.
"The more the merrier!" Keigo chirped rattling off the various things we could do.
"Alright kids!" Oichi-Sensei said to get our attention. "Let's begin roll call!"
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"Would you like to join us tonight?" Rukia asked after class ended and we made our way home.
"Yeah come slay Hollows with your awesomeness." Ichigo mocked glowering at the world.
He's been in a sour mood since Ishida confronted him in the hallways between lunch, which is probably the reason Rukia wants me around. I wouldn't want to be stuck with an extra grouchy man child either. He didn't say anything about what was said to him only keeps hissing "That damn Uryu. Who does he think he is?!"
"Does someone need a nap? Maybe a warm bottle?" I cooed giving his a mocking pout. "Should I call the Waaaambulance? Maybe they can fix your poor hurt feelings."
Ichigo stopped walking and glared down at me. I glared back up at him and crossed my arms over my chest giving him my signature eyebrow raise. Rukia frowned at the two of us but did look concerned.
"Sorry." Ichigo finally sighed breaking eye contact and running his hand through his hair. "I shouldn't be taking my anger out on everyone else."
"You think?" I said unfolding my arms and giving him a smirk. "You should have kicked his ass."
"I was stunned!" Ichigo defended. "He knows! He said he hates Shinigami. That he hates me! I'm not even a real Shinigami!"
"How does he know?" Rukia asked. She looked one hundred percent done with the humans in this town.
"He said something about Quincy and a showdown. I don't know! I was too angry to pay attention."
"Quincy?" Rukia blinked. "I've never heard of them but… I'll be back later!"
"Oh very helpful!' Ichigo shouted after her. "Thanks for nothing, Shinigami!"
"She's fucking quick ain't she?" I said watching her disappear down the street. "Like a tiny Asian Usain Bolt."
"You don't even care she's head off to Kami knows where leaving us to deal with her job?"
"Dude. She's probably got some Shinigami connections trying to figure out what the hell a Quincy is. You love doing her job and it's just you." I said turning towards James's shop. "I got shit to do."
"Fine!" He huffed stomping off making me laugh.
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"Damn it." I hissed glaring at the guns in my hands.
I couldn't get my Reiatsu to respond the way I wanted it to. I just pooled into my hands then wrapped around the guns uselessly.
The first time my Reiatsu went into the guns. I could feel the guns like they were a part of me.
"What are you so upset about?" Keigo asked spinning around in my swivel chair. Mizuho kicked him out of the house for a few hours, she doesn't want him around her friends. "You've been hitting the target perfectly each time."
"You could get really hurt doing that in here." I said changing the subject but seriously, spinning around near live guns sounds like a recipe for disaster. "And these pieces of shit are doing what I want."
He stopped spinning peering at the paper target in the range. "They hit… what more do you want?"
"Does this have to do with the secret club Ichigo, Rukia, and you are in?" He questioned peering up at me with a hint of sadness in his eyes. "Can I join the club?"
"What 'secret club' are you talking about?" I asked disabling the guns and putting them away deciding to work the counter before I threw them down the range.
"Mizuiro and Chizuru both said they saw you guys out late one night. Ichigo, Rukia, and you were acting weird at the Ghost Hunt filming which was weird by itself with all that screaming! Then you guys left for a while and came back." He pouted sadly. "You even walk home with them more often."
I stared at him. Despite his cheerful demoner, Keigo is actually a pretty lonely guy just looking for someone to spend time with him. His parents are never home even when they are they ignore him. His sister seems to hate him and does everything in her power to pawn him off on me. Not that I mind. Even the rest of his school friends take him hardly pay attention to him.
He was such a sad kid in elementary school. He reminded me of one of those sad puppies you see at the animal shelter. That's why I dragged him around everywhere until he grew into the class clown he is now.
"You guys are nuts. There is no secret club. We live in separate directions why would I walk home with you?"
He stared for a few seconds before pulling me into a one armed hug. "I knew that! You'd tell me if there was a secret club though, right?"
"You'll be the first to know about it."
"Hey!" James barked, he's permanently in drill sergeant mode while in the shop, pointing at Keigo. "If you are going to loiter around at least make yourself useful and unload the supply truck!"
"Yes, sir!" Keigo yelled giving him a cringe worthy salute before running of into the back room.
I laughed at his antics going over the invoices.
"Pardon, what might this be?"
"An AMT Hardballer." I looked at the gun slid across the counter. "Made by Arcadia Machine and Tool, that's where the amt comes from, produced nineteen seventy-seven to two-thousand and two."
"Hurm. Very interesting." The man drawled sounding completely uninterested.
I glanced up at the customer normally they were more invested in the information I dished out. He was tall, dark, and wore a shop keep uniform.
"It's you!" I hissed glaring at him. "You've got some balls showing up here after the stunt you pulled at the show."
"My apologizes, Karissa-Dono." He inclined his head slightly. "Another matter required my attention."
"You're here to apologize?"
"I am here to offer my services."
"What kind of services are we talkin' about here?" I asked warily. The guy was kind of weird. Known to leave bodies laying around in the woods.
"I can help you with your Reiatsu. I can show you how to use it effectively."
"How?" I asked narrowing my eyes at him. "Are you a Shinigami too?"
He tensed looking a little sad and bitter for a second. "Would you like my help or not, Karissa-Dono?"
"Why are you helping me?"
"Curiosity." He paused waiting for a group of people walk by. "There are no ulterior motives. This is just something I'd like to do."
I hesitated. On one hand, I could use the help. On the other, I don't know anything about this man nor do I know if this isn't some kind of trick. What if he's one of those Quincy things and thinks I need to die for being around Shinigami. He could be a straight up psychopath cleverly leading me to a brutal trap.
"Fuck it lets do this." I said shaking his hand. "I get off at six."
"Meet me at this address." He said pulling a post-it note out of his apron pocket.
"Who are you anyway?"
"Tessai Tsukabishi."
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The address was some random empty warehouse in the shipping district. I was definitely going to be murdered.
"Good evening." Tessai said opening the door before I could knock.
"Hi." I said walking past him looking around the surprisingly well lit room.
The entire place looked like a rainforest. It was uncomfortably warm and humid and buzzing with the sounds of bugs flying and birds singing. It even smelled like what you'd assume a rainforest would smell like. Mold and fresh rain.
"Oi, what the fuck?" I asked looking at him. "How did you get a rainforest in here?"
He just smiled motioning for me to follow him. Trees and various unusual looking plants moved out of our ways until we wound up in an empty area with a dirt floor.
"This is the weirdest murder lab I've ever seen in my life." I commented watching a pair of yellow eyes disappear into the bushes.
"Have you seen many?"
"I've season C.S.I. so I know some shit."
Tessai laughed before stalking around me looking me over. What could he be looking for anyway?
"Hurm. Where to start?"
I raised an eyebrow at him deciding to tell him what I know. "I've only killed one Hollow. I shot them with two Berettas. I haven't been able to replicate the actions since."
"I see. Have you brought the original guns with you?"
"Duh." I deadpanned sliding my hands underneath my jacket. "Just in case you tried some crazy shit."
"I can't believe I'm going to hand these over." I thought placing the guns in his outstretched hands. "Murdered by your own guns what a way to go."
He ignored that rotationally offensive statement examining my guns in his hand turning them over every once in a while.
"Have you used these ones to replicate what happened when you killed the Hollow?"
"No." I looked closer at my guns in his hands. Could they have been the reason it worked?
He rubbed one of the engravings on them. "Sun and the moon. Do these have some value to you?"
"Yeah." I nodded taking them back. "They were commissioned as gifts from Pops and James. They were made to fit my hands."
"Hurm. Lets do some Reiatsu building techniques then we'll try those."
"Okay."
"This style is called Ba Gua Zhang." He grunted swiftly moving through motions with his hands and feet but hardly moved from the area. "The practice of circle walking."
"That sounds completely retarded. Walking in circles? What the fuck is that supposed to do?"
"The movements will help you channel your Reiatsu. This style is immensely spiritual." He did some moves before launching a lighting bolt at a tree. "Ba Gua Zhang contains an extremely wide variety of techniques including various strikes, kicks, joint locks, throws, and distinctively evasive circular footwork. You've already learn quite a few of these things during your wrestling training."
"How do you know that?" I asked kind of creeped out but curious. "Can I shoot lightning bolts too?"
"Maybe in time." He shrugged. "As such, Ba Gua Zhang is considered neither a purely striking nor a purely grappling martial art."
Tessai ran me through the stances one at a time moving to the next one only when he thought I had the stance down pat. It wasn't difficult. First a palm form while walking in a circle, then in a figure eight doing different styles of striking.
"You are too rigid, Karissa-Dono." He stated circling me like a vulture. "You need to flow. Think water."
"What does that even mean?" I thought trying to loosen up while Tessai lit incense and sipped tea.
I relaxed everything I could focusing on my Reiatsu and the moves. Slowly but surely my Reiatsu started following my movements. It seemed to move where it was needed most. To my feet, while I was sliding around. To my fists, if I was doing a punch.
My Reiatsu felt like cool steel of a gun running though my body. It was comforting. I practiced moving it to various places around my body using different amounts each time.
"Very good." Tessai said pointing at a tree before handing me one of my guns and one he already had. "Try shooting now."
I grabbed them. Instantly, my Reiatsu went into my own gun completely disregarding the foreign one. It felt like I should have it's twin in my other hand. I could feel it from it's place on Tessai's blanket.
I pulled the trigger and a ball of Reiatsu shot out hitting the tree. "My power relies on these?"
"Yes. Those guns are a part of you now." Tessai nodded leading me to his blanket for tea. "Think of them as your Zanpakutou for now."
"Right." I stared at them in curiosity. "I wonder what else I can do with them."
"Tomorrow we will work on the strange way your Reiatsu fans out."
"Right?" I blinked taking a cup of tea. "Same time tomorrow?"
"Yes."
"Do Pops and James know anything about this?" I thought hardly listening to Tessai's speech on practicing the Ba Gua steps.
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Usian Bolt is a Jamaican Olympic sprinter, often regarded as the fastest man in the world.
Ba Gua Zhang is a fighting technique that involves little movement. It's also the style that air bending and Jet's abilities in Avatar; The Last air bender and the Hyuuga technique, from Naruto are based off of.