Yeah yeah yeah, I update slow. Sorry, blame school. Anyways, I don't own bleach.
It had been a few days since the strange black fire, but it was still fresh in everyones' minds. No soul reaper was able to get the image of the darkness out of their minds. There had been numerous captain meetings in the past three days since the incident. All the students who graduated from the academy the same night, were also talking about the strange occurence.
"Haruko, do you know anything about it?" Izuke asked the purple haired girl. Afterall, her creepy grandfather was the captain of squad 12.
"No. From what I know, the Department of Research and Development are still working on it. Besides, it may take a while before even I am told anything." Haruko responded.
"I hate that we are always the last to know!" Akemi pouted, crossing her arms.
"Get over it. It's just how things work." Tsukiyo said as he looked towards the sky. He had to stifle a shutter in his bones, just thinking of the black fire. It had blocked out the light of the moon, leaving nothing but the lamps that had lite the area for the celebration. Thinking of that night reminded him of his friend who was currently missing from the group. "By the way, anyone know where Kori is?"
"Oh yeah! How was it when you and Kori went outside by the way! You two looked so cute together!" Akemi's words streamed from her mouth like a song almost.
A light shade of pink emerged on the young Hitsugaya's cheeks. "What- What the hell are you talking about? I told you at the dance! I only needed to talk to her!"
"Face it Tsukiyo! You like Kori!" Akemi accused as she pointed right in the white haired boys face, with a triumphet smile on her face.
"Tch. No way!" Tsukiyo denied as he swatted her hand away.
"Sorry to interupt, but Hitsugaya-Kun, there is evidence that you have affection for Kori-Chan."Haruko said, hiding her mouth behind her sleeve to hide her small smile.
"As if!"
"Come on Tsukiyo. We already know. We've kinda known for a while." Izuke said calmly, trying to ease his friend into the idea of admitting his crush.
"Just shut up!" Tsukiyo barked as he turned his backs to his friends and crossed his arms. Akemi and Haruko chuckled while Izuke just smiled and shook his head. The three of them knew that was most likely Tsukiyo's only way of saying 'You're right'.
"Katsu-Chan." Harribel said softly, looking at the ravenette across from her.
"It's Aizen isn't it? The black fire." Katsue asked bluntly. She continued, knowing the answer to her question. She held the white cup of tea in her hand, her knuckles turning just as white while her vice like grip only tightened. "He's really back. And he wants revenge."
"It would seem so." Starrk said, he was seated next to Harribel across the tea table from Katsue and Ichigo.
"Dammit!" Ichigo cursed as he slammed his cup on the table. "Argh! I just wanna go find that bastard and-"
"And swing your sword around like a moron?" Grimmjow finished the strawberry's sentence with words he didn't plan on saying. But Grimmjow, who took his usual place leaning against the wall, couldn't take his eyes away from the contents of his cup of tea. He was clearly deep in thought, hence the lack of venom in the insult he had dealt Ichigo.
"You would do something else?" Ichigo asked skeptically. The blue haired captain didn't even respond. It was Starrk who then spoke, not that it was really related to the topic.
"Kori, she looks so much like Ren." Starrk said, Katsue followed his gaze out the window, to see her daughter looking at her Zanpakuto, polishing it on the porch. A sad smile fell on her face as she thought about her sister.
"Yes. When she started getting hair, I thought she was going to have hair redder than Ichigo's, but then it grew out more and turned white. And the amber eyes are the same as Ren's." Katsue sighed lightly.
"Have you ever told her about Ren?" Harribel asked.
"Yes and no." Katsue answered. "I mentioned that I had a sister, but she was killed by-" The white eyed girl's breath hitched for a moment. "Aizen."
"Anything bad that happened during then, could be blamed on Aizen." Grimmjow snorted as he finally took a sip of tea.
"And what does she know of Aizen?" Starrk continued with the questions.
"Only that he's really bad. I went into detail about very few things. Honestly, I just wanted to keep her away from anything that ever related to that bastard." Katsue growled.
"Maybe we should tell her." Ichigo said out of nowhere. All eyes looked at him in surprise, asking him to explain. "Aizen is obviously back. And he's looking for revenge on the Soul Society. She'll be safer if she knows." Ichigo's brown eyes met Katsue's, and the doe eyes looked horrified.
"No! I will do anything I can to make sure she never has anything to do with Aizen, she won't even know about some of the things he's done. Things I've done." Katsue's voice fell to a whisper closer to the end, but she seemed to regain it when she said "If Kori wasn't my daughter, and I didn't fear for her well being, I would track Aizen down right now and kill him."
"Kid, I hate to break it to you, but she's not gonna be any safer or happier if you don't tell her." Starrk said. "She won't be safe here."
Katsue snapped her fingers. "Your right! She won't be safe here, but what about the human world?" Four pairs of shocked eyes landed on the girl. "Think about it! The oken isn't in Karakura anymore, and that leaves no ties between the Soul Society and the human world. She would be safe! And it doesn't even have to be permenent, just until this whole crazy blackfire thing calms down and they know what it is! Hell, it may not even be Aizen!" Katsue sounded like she was on the edge of excited hysteria while she said this.
"Well," Starrk stopped to think about it for a moment. "makes sense. If you're okay with it, Harri and I could watch your house for you." Harribel nodded.
"Well Ichi?" Katsue looked at the orange haired boy expectently. He seemed to ponder it for a moment.
"Well, I guess we could stay with Karin or Yuzu." Ichigo sighed. Katsue tackled him and hugged him.
"Awwe! Thank you so much Ichi!" The girl didn't realize she was choking him until he turned an unearthly shade of purple. She let go and then took on a serious tone. "Now we just need to tell Kori."
All the eyes in the room looked out the window towards the girl, then Grimmjow decided he should call her. "OI! KORI! GET YUR' BUTT IN ERE'!" The five adults watched as the teenager jumped at the sound of Grimmjow's thundering voice and ran into the house.
"Yeah?"
"Uh, Kori?" Katsue said uneasily, now realizing she was going to have to tell her daughter an excuse as to why they'd be living in the human world for a while. "We're going to stay in the human world for a while, your Grandfather and aunts are dying to see you! Right Ichigo?"
"Huh? Oh! Yeah!" Ichigo said.
"Oh cool!" Kori smiled. "So how long are we going? A few days, a week?"
"Well, actually..." Katsue shifted uneasily. "We were thinking a couple months."
Kori's eyes widened in shock, and somewhat horror when she heard this. She barely got the words out as she said "A couple months?" Her mother nodded and Kori regained her composure, and she placed a smile on her face. "Okay. When do we leave?"
Katsue pursed her lips before she answered "A couple tommorow."
"Oh. Well. I'm gonna go hang out with Akemi and them. Bye." And Kori suddenly raced off, Zanpakuto in hand.
"I'm a bad mom." Katsue hung her head low in her hands. Ichigo just patted her back and said some comforting things.
Kori ran. Her feet padding against the ground so fast, it was hard to even here them. When she noticed this, the girl realized she was using flashstep, something she had recently picked up on, after having Haruko help her with it. She didn't know where she was going, she just ran. Suddenly, she felt her cheeks were wet. She was crying.
"Idiot! Why are you crying!" She scolded herself. She didn't get why she was crying. It was only a couple months away. Who knows, maybe they could come back early. Hell, she could even take breaks from the vacation to come say 'hi' to everyone. But even these comforting thoughts didn't stop the oncoming tears.
Abruptly, Kori fell backwards when she ran into something, or someone. She looked up to see she had run into her white haired friend, ironically enough. He opened his mouth to probably yell at whoever ran into him, but stopped when he saw it was Kori.
"Kori? What's wrong?" He asked a bit alarmed. He helped the girl up, and was suddenly holding her close to him. This made the girl break. She started sobbing horribely. And that made her feel like an idiot. And feeling like an idiot pissed her off and made her even more sad, thus causing more tears. Tsukiyo, who had two little sisters, held her and just kept making 'shh' noises until he finally found his words. "It's okay, just tell me what's wrong."
I haven't updated in a while, and I have to go to bed right now, so I'll stop here. Sorry if it seems rushed, it is. I really wanted to get into the plot that I finally have an idea for. So yeah. Reviews appreciated, especially what you think of the new characters. Catch ya later.