Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or anyone or anything from Bleach. It's as simple as that. Everything else, however, is mine. :D
Chapter 11: Visions or The Beginning of the End, part 1
The next day my class was rather empty. Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, Tatsuki, Chad, Keigo, and Mizuiro have all been dragged down to the principal's because they ended up on TV last night. I find it kind of difficult to hide my smirk. Clearly there are advantages to being invisible sometimes.
But it was strange not having everyone else in class, especially Ichigo. Without his overwhelming spiritual pressure flooding my senses I can feel a faint spiritual pressure that seems to be coming from inside the classroom. I scan the backs of my classmates for the umpteenth time trying to figure out where it is coming from, but I can't quite pinpoint it. It's like the person that it's coming from is trying to suppress it or something.
I lean back in my chair and my mind drifts to something that has been occupying my thoughts for most of the morning. For the first time since I've come to Karakura I didn't have any dreams last night. It was so strange to wake up and not have faintly familiar images echoing in my head.
I wonder if it's got something to do with the vision I had last night. Last night was as strange as it was frightening. It was exactly like one of my dreams, but it felt like I was living it rather than dreaming it. I have no idea what it means, but I'm going to have to get over my reservations and talk to Urahara about it soon. There's no telling what could happen to me if it happens again in the middle of a fight.
My death sense twinges again, stronger this time, as I feel the presence of a Hollow. I sit straight up and raise my hand, preparing to excuse myself from class. That's when I feel Ichigo's and Rukia's spiritual pressures take off towards it. I relax. They can handle it. A dark-haired boy at the head of the class raises his hand and asks to go to the bathroom.
…
The others returned a while ago, but Ichigo and Rukia didn't show up again until lunch. I am just about to eat when they pull me aside.
"Taylor," Ichigo begins seriously. "Did you kill that Hollow a while back?"
I blink at him in confusion. "No. Why?"
"It was gone when we got to the site where it emerged," Rukia answers.
"Maybe it went somewhere else?"
Rukia shakes her head. "No, someone had already killed it."
"That's weird…" I murmur. I look back up at both of them. "What do you think happened?"
Ichigo and Rukia exchange glances. "We're not sure," Rukia answers again. "But we have to get to the bottom of this." Ichigo and I both nod in agreement.
…
Later that afternoon as I am on my way to Urahara's I come across Rukia shouting at her Soul Pager.
"Darn that Kisuke Urahara! He's never around when I really need him! But he's always right there when he's not wanted! You call yourself a business man!"*
"Are you ok?" I ask her, interrupting her tirade.
Rukia lets out a little 'eek!' in surprise and whips around. "Oh," she visibly relaxes. "It's just you Taylor."
"Having problems with the Soul Pager?"
"Yea…and Kisuke isn't freaking answering his phone!"
"You know you could just come to the shop with me instead of yelling at it."
Rukia starts to blush, embarrassed. "I think I'll take you up on that."
I freeze as the spiritual pressure of a Hollow appears. "Rukia! There's a-!" Her Soul Pager begins to beep.
Rukia grabs it and flips it open. "I know. Let's go get Ichigo."
I follow her back into the school building at a run.
…
Meanwhile, Ichigo was hanging out with Keigo and Mizuiro inside the school. Keigo had just finished giving Ichigo grief about getting good grades when Mizuiro turned to him and asked in a perfectly innocent voice, "So, what's your relationship with Rukia?"
Ichigo's scowl deepened. "Why are you asking?"
"Oh no reason," Mizuiro answered the picture of innocence. "I've just been hearing some interesting rumors recently."
"I bet," Ichigo scoffed. "Ever since we were on TV everyone seems to think there's something going on."
"Well is there?" Keigo asked, jumping into Ichigo's face.
"Of course not," Ichigo answered dismissively. "We're just friends."
"Ah…" Mizuiro was smiling in a way that was starting to make Ichigo uncomfortable. "That's good for you and Taylor then."
Ichigo stiffened and his face heated up. Where in hell had this come from? Surely he wasn't that obvious! "Wh-what're you talking about?"
When he turned to look he was dismayed to find Keigo and Mizuiro smiling smugly at him. "There's nothing going on." Ichigo added turning away again. Damn it why was he blushing so much?
"But you wish there was don't you?" Mizuiro's voice was sweeter than honey.
"Ichigo and Taylor sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Keigo sang.
Ichigo had had enough. "You guys are both idiots. I'm going home." He turned away, blushing furiously, and began stomp down the hallway. He was interrupted by a shout from Rukia.
"Ichigo! We need you!"
He turned to see Rukia and Taylor charging full speed down the hallway at him. As they ran by Rukia grabbed his shirtsleeve and dragged him along.
Keigo and Mizuiro blinked in surprise. "Sorry guys, but we need to borrow him for a minute!" Taylor shouted and waved as she ran by.
Mizuiro chuckled. "They're pretty forward, huh?"
"Aaaah man! How come Ichigo gets all the cute girls!" Keigo's lament echoed through the hallways.
Ichigo didn't notice as Rukia dragged him by his dark-haired classmate.
Uryuu Ishida pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He wasn't surprised. He knew that Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki weren't even aware of his existence. He was a bit surprised, however, when Taylor Smithson shot him a curious glance as she passed him.
…
"Damn it! There's nothing here! Again!" Ichigo shouts in frustration. "You need to get that stupid thing fixed!" he shouts again, referring to Rukia's Soul Pager.
"Yea I know. I'll take care of it tomorrow. Just hurry up and get back in your body already!" Rukia snaps back, just as frustrated as Ichigo. She drags Ichigo's body around the corner.
I sigh and fight the urge to roll my eyes as I get back into my own body. We aren't getting anywhere with this. "There was a Hollow here…" I say quietly, expanding my senses and trying to figure out where it has gone. I can feel just the faintest trace of a spiritual pressure, but it isn't a Hollow or a Soul Reaper. It feels…human?
"Are you sure?" Ichigo snaps at me, now back in his body.
I turn on him, glowering. "Have I ever been wrong before?" I reply, unable to keep the haughtiness from my voice.
Ichigo blinks at me for a moment and then visibly deflates. "No you're right. Sorry." He reaches back and starts scratching the back of his head.
My expression softens as my chest warms. I give him a small smile, which he returns with a faint tint of pink on his cheeks.
"Fighting amongst yourselves? How sad." A male voice echoes down the street followed by the sound of footsteps. We all turn to see a dark-haired boy our age emerge from the shadows.
"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo asks.
"I would say I'm disappointed, but I didn't expect much from you Ichigo Kurosaki. It seems that Ms. Kuchiki and Ms. Smithson aren't much better, however."
Ichigo's expression hardens into anger while Rukia looks wary. I stare at the boy my mind whirling. I know this kid from somewhere. And his white outfit is familiar for some reason I can't place. "He's in our class."
Rukia and Ichigo both turned to me, surprised. "Really?"
"Well I'm glad to see that one of you isn't a total idiot." The boy smirks. "I also know you all can see spirits."
This catches all of us off guard. "D-don't be ridiculous…" Ichigo begins. "There's no such thing as-!"
I cut Ichigo off as my death sense twinges again. "There's another Hollow!"
"What?" Rukia exclaims as her Soul Pager goes off.
"Which way?" Ichigo asks, rushing over to Rukia to look at her Soul Pager.
Before she or I can answer the dark-haired boy does. "That way," he says pointing off to the right. "And it's pitiful that you can't even tell that much. And you call yourself a Soul Reaper?**"
All three of us just gape at him as a silver charm dangles out from his sleeve. There is a sudden burst of spiritual pressure and a glowing blue bow forms in his right hand. The boy reaches forward, grips the string, and pulls back. He lets a glowing blue arrow fly just as the Hollow appears down the street. The arrow goes straight through the Hollow's skull and it disintegrates.
That's what I suppose happened anyway because as the blue arrow passes me the edges of my vision begins to blur. As my vision starts to contort and twist my only thought is 'Not again!'. I blink to clear my vision and I'm no longer standing in the streets of Karakura.
Again there is no sound, but this time I'm glad there isn't. I'm standing on a battlefield, in the middle of a mêlée. Flashes of light reflect off steel as Soul Reapers swing their blades, bright red blood showering the grass. There are flashes of blue as men and women in white costumes fire arrows at the Soul Reapers even as they are cut down. A blue arrow passes right by me, nearly cutting into my cheek and again my body moves without me doing anything.
I turn and see a boy dressed in white behind me. He looks so young. He can't be more than 10, but he stands there with terrified determination and a blue bow and arrow aimed at my heart. My arm raises, sword in hand, and the boy's expression twists into terror. He turns to run, but my arm comes down anyways. His blood splatters my cheek.
What the hell? What is this nightmare? It continues on and on and I am helpless to stop it. I can only watch as my body slaughters more and more people. Unable to take it any longer I begin to scream, begging for the vision to stop. But there's no one to hear me.
…
Ichigo turned back to look at the boy in shock when he spotted Taylor. She was looking straight ahead, her eyes open but staring at nothing just like last night. What really alarmed him was that there were tears running down her cheeks.
"Taylor?" Worry made his chest feel tight. "Taylor!" Still no response.
"What's wrong with her?" Rukia asked, clearly concerned.
"I don't know, but she did this last night too." Ichigo turned back to Taylor again. He laid his hand on her shoulder and shook her gently. "Taylor!" he called.
With a sudden in take of breath she blinked and returned. However, she suddenly began to collapse, panting.
"Taylor!" Ichigo grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling as she dropped to her knees. "What the hell happened?" he asked her, crouching next to her.
"N-nothing…" she panted and wiped her eyes.
Ichigo couldn't stop himself from snorting in disbelief.
"R-really I'm fine," she told him, offering him a smile as shaky as her voice.
Rukia could only watch. What on Earth had happened? It had happened before?
"Your spiritual pressure…" Taylor began, standing slowly after gently refusing Ichigo's attempts to help her up. "That's what I felt in class this morning." Taylor made steady eye contact with the boy.
Uryuu pushed his glasses up his nose. He wasn't entirely sure what had just happened, but there was something haunted in Taylor's gaze. He was also surprised that she had felt his spiritual pressure in class when he had been so careful about hiding it. Uryuu knew that Taylor was more sensitive to spiritual pressure than Ichigo or even Rukia but this was impressive.
"Yes, it was mine," Uryuu told her, his voice coldly aloof.
Ichigo stepped in front of Taylor protectively, Rukia beside him. "Who are you?" he asked, his voice half a growl.
***"I'm Uryuu Ishida. Quincy." Ichigo heard Taylor's sharp intake of breath behind him. "And I hate Soul Reapers."
"What did you say?"
"In other words, Ichigo Kurosaki, I'm saying I hate you."***
…
The next day Ichigo tried to catch the Uryuu kid from the night before as their last class let out, but he disappeared. He then tried to catch Taylor and talk to her about what happened, but she was already on her way out the door with Rukia.
Ichigo followed them, but became caught in the crowd of students looking at their midterm grades in the hallway. Ichigo spotted Taylor and Rukia down at the end of the hallway about to turn the corner. Taylor caught his eye and waved to him before she disappeared too.
Ichigo sighed. He was worried and it made him anxious, his stomach churning uncomfortably whenever her thought of her. But Taylor kept insisting that nothing was wrong. It bothered him too that Taylor didn't seem to trust him enough to tell him.
Ichigo turned away and caught sight of the grade postings. At the top in the number one spot was Uryuu Ishida. Ichigo's scowled deepened. What the hell had he been playing at the night before?
"Oh! You know Uryuu?" Ichigo jumped a bit as Orihime seemingly materialized next to him. Apparently Ichigo had said the bastard's name out loud.
"Not really…" Ichigo grumbled. "Do you know him?"
"Uh-huh!" Orihime replied cheerfully. "We're in the handicrafts club together!"
Ichigo stared at her dumbly. "The handicrafts club?"
"Yea! Come on I'll show you!"
…
Rukia and I arrive outside the Urahara shop to see Jinta and Ururu fighting in the yard. Tessai appears and lifts Jinta up into the air to stop him from bullying Ururu. Impatient Rukia steps forward and kicks Tessai in the ass. Not a smart move.
Rukia hisses and collapses, grabbing at her foot. Tessai, completely unfazed, turns and spots us. "Ms. Smithson good afternoon. And Ms. Kuchiki too. What can we do for you?"
"We want to see Kisuke…" Rukia grumbles. She stands and hobbles after Tessai as he leads the way inside. I sigh. This should be interesting.
As soon as Urahara catches sight of us he perks up. "Ah Taylor you've brought Ms. Kuchiki today! Tell me what can I-!" Urahara is cut off as Rukia throws her Soul Pager at him, catching him in the chin.
"I don't have time for that today Urahara. I don't know how many times I've called you and you won't answer!"
"Ah I'm sorry," Urahara replies his apologetic tone sounding distinctly disingenuous. "We've been rather busy lately."
"Whatever," Rukia scoffs. "Anyways, we've got some questions about what's been happening recently and I'm pretty sure you can answer them."
"I see. Do tell." Urahara's expression turns serious. He looks up, his gaze passing Rukia and his eyes locking with mine. I harden my expression. Oh yes. There are definitely some questions that I want to ask him.
Author's Note:
Ta-da! Chapter 11! As I said my chapters are going to be shorter from now so they'll be more manageable. This one is like half the length of Chapter 10.
Anyways this chapter is kind of a segue into the next one, which is gonna have some really important stuff in it. The next few chapters will have less romance and will reveal more about Taylor too. Also I'll be writing less from the points of view of Ichigo and the other characters, as we get farther along because I'm assuming you already know what happens with them. Pretty much I'm not going to try to rewrite the entire Bleach plot and what I write will have to do with Taylor.
Also I'm sure you've noticed that the scenes that occur in canon are not a play-by-play of what actually happens. This is again so I don't bore you by writing out the plot and because it's a hell of a lot easier this way. I'm essentially paraphrasing everything that happens because that's how this story is set up so hopefully no one will accuse me of plagiarizing.
That being said when I do quote things directly- which I will try to keep to a minimum- I will cite it. There are three instances of that in this chapter as follows:
*English language Vol. 4, Ch. 34, by Viz
**English language Vol. 4, Ch. 34, by Viz
All dialogue between the ***s English language Vol. 5, Ch. 35, by Viz
Yes I know the asterisks are annoying, but I'm pretty sure that I can't do footnotes on here and in text citations are even more annoying. And I can't find it in myself to not cite the direct quotes (curse you grad school!).
Reviews! Thank you bored411, metsfan101, zipscool, and HichiShirosaki! You're all awesome! And please review if you liked the story or have any ideas for how I can improve it!
I should get another chapter or two out at least over winter break. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year until then!
Thanks for reading!
imagination junkie