Me: Ok, next chapter. And on the same day. Hoary!
Mitsuki: You seem extra happy today!
Me: That's a lie. I'm only happy that I got this chapter done so quickly.
Ren: -reads the chapter-
Ren: Wait! Where's us?!
Ren: -points to her, Kitora, Mao, and other characters not shown-
Me: Next chapter.
Characters not shown in this chapter: Damn.
Matsumoto: There's not a lot of romance in this chapter.
Shiha: And you promise your readers there would be some.
Me: Sorry! I sort of got carried away with trying to build up suspense to the next chapter's fight scene and sort of forgot.
Ichigo: -hopeful-
Ichigo: So there's no romance or mushy stuff at all?
Audience: NO!!!
Me: There will be some, trust me. But first I gotta get the first fight scenes for the Mountain Arc. So I apologize for those that really wanted a lot of romance. There will be some soon, just not a lot of it this chapter and maybe some the next.
Audience: Yeah!
Ichigo and a lot of the boys: Damn...
Ikkaku: Wait, so there's MORE than one fight scene? YEAH!!!
Me: Ah...ah...forget that!
Me: Just begin!
Mitsuki: You're trying to hide something!
Mitsuki: -points a figure at Me-
Kaida: Mitsuki!!!
Kaida: -chases Mitsuki around with a frying pan-
Everyone: -anime falls-
Hitsugaya: Review.
Kira: You're positive.
Hitsugaya: -glare-
Me: Oh, and I'm sorry how the last two chapters were kind of...odd. I rushed on Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 crammed too much stuff in that one. Sorry. Hopefully this chapter will make up for my mistakes. And please be warn it might be bad. Sadly starting to get writer's block.
Me: Also, sorry for those who wanted their characters to be shown this chapter. I know most of them got cameos or short parts last chapter. Next or the one after they will have a bigger part, promise.
Thanks and stuff since I' too lazy to reply via PM...
Love is war-Mistress Kurohi-: Thanks for your review! Hope this update is fast enough for you! I'll try to keep Yumiko in character as long as I can!
CrimsonSharpie: Arigatou for the review! I'm happy that you liked it. I'll try to update as fast as possible. And I hope you like the double update today. :) Can't wait to read your next chapter of your story too! Keep your good work up too!
Ominias: Thanks for your review, as always! To answer your question, Renji did stop but the old woman is somewhat deaf and didn't hear him each time. So that's why she was running after him no matter how many times Renji apologized. Hope you like this next update!
Shiraihime Fuyuki: Hello! I must first thank you for the review, of course. And yes, I do agree that the last character was somewhat confusing. I did add to much different elements. I'll try not to next time. I just wanted to get some of the characters you and other readers submitted. I hope you can forgive me for that. The humor, yeah, I sort of ran out of ideas so I had to think of something quick. Sorry for that. As for Yumiko, I'm still working on her since she's not my original character. Once again, sorry about that. Ha, I'll try to sleep early but no guarantees. ;) Thanks for the review and constructive criticism; I can always improve. Best wishes to your own story too.
Kira michi: Arigatou for the review! Wow, you reviewed fast! I wish I was the same. Yeah, there will be some romance but would you mind if it's not a whole lot at first? I'm still testing out ways to add some romance in between the characters but not have it progress to something really fast. I want to build each of their relationships first. And don't worry, here's the next chapter! P.S. I need to start reading that story of yours I keep forgetting. Can't wait to read it!
Before you begin...
Note: Please excuse any kind of grammar, spelling, and/or other errors. Spell check is not always perfect and I may not catch everything in it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters except my version of the plot and characters. Any other characters that will appear that do not belong to Bleach or me belongs to their respectful owners.
-o-o- Chapter 10 -o-o-
Snow Day
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
'Thoughts'
"Speaking"
It was now the next day after the school had arrived at the resort. And it was also the first day for everyone to go actually do something instead of nothing. That meant skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, sledding, use the hot springs, you name it. But not everyone would be allowed that same kind of pleasure; the Karakura Gang had patrols to carry out and a mission to complete. So anything they had planned otherwise was canceled.
Orihime whistled a tune as she stirred the pot in front of here. That pot contained everything from carrots to sugar and squid. If it wasn't for the cottage having their own kitchen and fridge the group would have been thankfully spared this.
Kaida's eyebrow twitched as she watched nearby, having stopped her own cooking. Unlike her orange headed friend she was making edible pancakes. But the sight and smell of the other's cooking wasn't something she could ignore.
"What is that smell?" Renji asked, being the sixth to enter the kitchen/dining room. The two room were connected together for there was no wall separating them. Orihime and Kaida had come down first to make breakfast for everyone. Uryū had woken up next since he wanted to finish sewing up his new mittens. And Hitsugaya was already down because he didn't need much sleep from all the paperwork he did. Jeez, no wonder he didn't grow. Kira sat next to him, since there sadly was no other chairs, and was arguing with him again. No change there.
Orihime looked up and smiled at the red head. "I'm making squid vegetable stew!" Renji almost threw up at the sound of it.
"Sounds...nice." the boy replied, trying not to insult the girl. He walked into the kitchen and looked over Kaida's shoulder towards her food. He mentally breath in relief that something was at least edible.
"What are you doing?" Kaida asked, just realizing the red head was looking over her shoulder. She turned her head slightly and found herself a mere few inches from Renji's face. A red blush began spreading across her face at how close he was.
Kaida, in an attempt to hide her blush and get Renji out, punched him in the stomach before pushing the red head out of the kitchen. "Out! No one in the kitchen but cooks!"
"What?! What for?!" Renji exclaimed, confused and rubbing his sore stomach. What was so important about just having just cooks in the kitchen? Apparently the red head hadn't witnessed the fact that Kaida had been blushing from him.
"Don't ask." Uryū answered, pushing his classes up. He had done something similar when he wanted a class of water but instead got a kick across the face. However, he didn't get the blush he saw Kaida give to Renji. "Apparently Kaida-san prefers to have the kitchen to herself unless someone else is going to cook in there."
"Seriously?" Renji asked. That was so stupid! Kaida glared at him, all signs of the blush gone. Now it was annoyance at the tattoo head. Kiyo, Ichigo, and Rukia decided to walk in now. And they were all confused at the commotion.
"What?" Rukia asked as well. She and the other two didn't know what was going on. Kaida sighed and shook her head.
"Forget it." the three that entered looked at each other but shrugged. Ok then.
Kiyo sat in a chair before looking at the shinigami gathered around him. "What are you guys planning to do today?"
"Um..." Ichigo began, not really sure how to answer. The plan was to just spread out among the resort and find out if there were any suspicious activities or people around. But if the others were expecting them to be somewhere the plan was screwed.
"We don't know yet." Rukia continued quickly, trying to cover up Ichigo's unfinished sentence. "We never been on the mountain before." Kiyo raised an eyebrow.
"Really? Kind of hard to see." the boy said, making the group tense up a bit. But before any other form of talking could be heard the whole cottage shook. Everyone was alarmed at the sudden earthquake and was about to jump out of their gigai, or body, when the rest of the missing group yelled out the same thing.
"MMMIIITTTSSSUUUKKKIII!!!!!!!!!"
Kaida growled, snapping the frying pan off. She then began marching back down the hallway and up the stairs to see what the commotion was all about. "What the hell did see do now?!"
The remaining ones in the kitchen remained silent as the older sister went to go punish the candy girl stormed out. Only once they were sure that she was gone did Renji speak first.
"What did that girl do now, anyways?" the sixth division fukutaichou asked, grabbing a plate and some of Kaida's already made pancakes. He didn't have to get anything from Orihime since she was still making it, thankfully.
Ichigo shrugged, following Renji's example. "Dunno. Probably threw everyone's clothes into a fireplace."
"Or put a skunk in their face." Kiyo added. The group stared at him with odd faces. The older twin scratched his head before looking away.
"What? It happened once." the boy mumbled.
Sweat drops.
"Or how about splashing everyone with water?" Tatsuki growled, walking into the kitchen with about three-fourths of the remaining group. Matsumoto, Shiha, Yumichika, Yumiko, Kaida, and Mitsuki weren't with them. The first four could be found in the bathrooms, seeing as they had gotten there first. The latter...chasing the candy girl around the place.
Orihime looked at them, stunned. "She did that?!" Ikkaku nodded, drops falling from his head and onto the other people around him.
"Watch it!" Tatsuki growled, twitching. The two proceeded to glare at each other as the others watched with O.O expressions. That was a new fight no one had seen yet.
Suddenly the cottage shook again, but the group didn't need to be worried about this one. They knew that Kaida and Mitsuki were causing a whole lot of noise in the upper two floors as they ran around. But they did worry when they heard something smash on the ground in one of the hallways.
"MITSUKI!!!" Kaida's voiced roared, shaking the house once again. Half of the people downstairs stumbled or flat out fell from the sudden death cry. Another loud sound of something being broken could be heard.
"KAIDA!!! STOP IT!!!" Mitsuki's voice cried as she ran down the stairs, the other girl right behind her. You could hear as Mitsuki trip over her feet and fall down the stairs, crashing into all the decorations stationed at the case near the bookcase. But she still somehow managed to get up and run out of the backdoor, grabbing a jacket, scarf, and mittens. She had already had her winter clothes on and boots for some reason. Kaida took off after her, taking a bit longer to put her boots on.
The girl then ran out of the door, it slamming shut behind her. Her shouts and yells however could still be heard from the kitchen as she chased Mitsuki down the path and past other cottages. It seemed that no matter where they went the two of them would go Kaida will always try to kill Mitsuki.
Kiyo snorted as he got back up, seeing as he had fallen out of his seat. "That was expected."
Deadpans.
"No shit, Sherlock." Kira said mockingly, catching the fruit the boy threw at her. Everyone else deadpan at them again before going to get their own breakfast. The four in the bathroom still weren't down yet, amazingly.
As the group crowded into the kitchen, Rukia looked at all the people that were there until she noticed that Keigo wasn't there. Glancing around, she tried to spot the drama king boy but could not find him. And right when the she was about to voice her thoughts a loud crash could be heard from outside in the hallway.
Rukia, along with whatever group could fit in the small space, peered out and watched with confused faces as Keigo laid at the bottom of the staircase, twitching. Their heads then turned towards the front of the stairs where they noticed Matsumoto, Shiha, and Yumiko up there, yelling. Or, the latter two.
"FREAKING PERVERT!!!" Shiha screamed, red in the face. She was fully clothed but still was soaking wet from her shower. Yumiko, who was standing next to her voiced similar yells.
"WHY THE HELL DID YOU OPEN THE DOOR?!" she yelled too. Many of them finally got the picture of what happened. And it was one they did not want to know. Especially Ichigo.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" the boy yelled, rounding on the drama king boy. Yelled at boy laid in fetal position on the floor, whimpering.
Mizuiro shook his head at his friend. "Jeez, he always has to try something."
"Tell me about it..." a few of the other grumbled. Keigo just continued crying anime tears as he laid there in pain.
"Oh, why me! Why me! Why can't I get a girl to-" it never continued since Shiha had thrown a nearby book at his head and beat Ichigo to killing him. He now laid unconscious at the bottom of the stairs with everyone else deadpanning at the scene.
Matsumoto, who apparently was still taking a shower at the time, had come out with only a bath towel around to check out the noise. She didn't seem to notice that most of the boys turned bright red when they saw her. Many of the girls rolled their eyes at the boys behavior.
"MATSUMOTO!!! PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!!!" Hitsugaya yelled, irked at his fukutaichou. But then it turned on Kira when she annoyed him for having a slight blush. After all, he was still a boy, no matter how old he was or how he looked.
Yumichika, for who knows why, then came out, also only in a towel. Everyone pretty much wanted to die from all of this now. NO ONE wanted to see Yumichika in only a towel. That was just way to...eww!!!
"Not a sight I want to see!" Shiha yelled, running down the stairs and into the kitchen. A few other people followed as well. Yumichika looked at all of them before holding his head up snobbishly.
"What is so-"
"DON'T EVEN GO THERE!!!"
PULSE VEIN.
"Hmph! How rude!"
"SHUT UP!!!"
"BOTH OF YOU PUT SOME CLOTHES ON NOW!!!"
After another hour of dealing with that and other crazy stuff the group finally left. Kaida and Mitsuki never returned, so everyone assumed that the two were still running around somewhere. No need to worry about them until later. Now they were just deciding where to go.
Yumiko left the group shortly after the staircase incident, seeing as she had to go check in with the other teachers and student advisers. She was also going to see if she could find out more about the incidents happening around the area. She would meet up with them around three.
Kiyo, Shiha, Renji, Ichigo, and Rukia headed over to the lifts to catch a ride up the mountain. All of them were going to go snowboarding. And the later three were going to try and get a better view of the place in the meanwhile.
Matsumoto dragged Orihime towards the spa before her taichou could stop her. She insisted that the spa was further away from the main resort area and that she could get examine the place before they got there. Which was really a bad cover up since she really just wanted to pamper herself and Orihime.
Tatsuki headed toward the dojo, having heard that some sort of competition was going on there. Winner would receive the title of Mt. Fuji's greatest as well as some prize money. Keigo and Mizuiro followed as well since the first wanted to see some girls and dragged the latter.
Kira headed in some random direction, not really caring to what she would do. All she knew was that she wanted to get away from everyone and relax for a bit. And listen to music in peace.
Hitsugaya, after he couldn't stop Matsumoto from leaving, went towards the nearby lake and woods to figure out the suspicious tracks there. Course he was still fuming at his fukutaichou he didn't have time to stay hung out on it. He needed to see if he could find some clues of something before the day was over.
Chad followed Uryū towards the nearby village by the resort. The two were going to investigate there for the day and see if anybody knew anything about the bizarre incidents happening on the mountain. And for Uryū to but some more cloths for his sewing.
Ikkaku headed towards the gym to train. He wasn't going to patrol since there weren't many other places left to cover. Plus he rather fight than patrol. Yumichika instead headed towards the lounge. He rather be warm and toasty that receive harm to his 'prefect' skin.
So the group separated for the day, each to their own jobs. But they weren't the only ones there...
Shiha laughed for the tenth time as Renji faced planted in the snow again for jumping off the ski lift wrong. The red haired shinigami still could get it after doing it ten times. And his friends laughing at him didn't help.
"Shut up!" Renji spat, picking himself up. He had just had it with all of them. So he hadn't gone snowboarding before, so what? It was a stupid sport!
Kiyo crossed his arms and smirked at Renji. "I thought you would be the first to pick this up out the two of you since you said you went snowboarding before." he said, counteracting the thoughts Renji had said in his mind. He then pointed towards the girl standing next to Ichigo. "But Rukia makes you appear like an idiot."
PULSE VEIN.
"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BRAT!!!" Renji yelled, finally back up. Kiyo rolled his eyes before sliding down the slope with his borrowed broad. He looked back when to smirk at the fuming pineapple head.
"Later!" he said, jumping off one of the jumps laid across the place. Renji growled at him before kicking off himself to follow. Now the pineapple head was chasing the other down the mountain towards the bottom. His shouts and Kiyo's taunts could still be heard despite the fact that the two were getting further and further away from the three at the top.
Shiha shook her head at them. "Jeez, so much trouble." turning back towards the other two she nodded them a goodbye. "I'm going to see if I can see them rip each other's eyes out. See ya later, Bunny, Carrot-top!" and with that she left with an angry Ichigo twitching.
"THAT'S ICHIGO!!!"
Sweat drops.
After Rukia whacking the boy to calm down Ichigo scratched his head and sighed. "Man, this is getting nowhere. Already two hours and nothing." Rukia looked thoughtful.
"It seems whoever or whatever is causing all the problems is smarter than we thought." the girl concluded. "But why only shinigamis that come to help and still exterminate the Hollows? Yet only small things are happening to the Humans that has given themselves away." the orange head shrugged.
"Maybe it's a rogue shinigami." Ichigo tried, remembering the time when he, Yumiko, Chad, Uryū, and Orihime was like that. He then snapped out of those memories as he watched Renji barely miss steering into another tree. If it wasn't for the fact that the two of them up there were still talking seriously he may have laughed instead of snickered. Rukia still had the hard thought look on her face.
"Yes, but it's rare for a shinigami to leave the Gotei 13 without being detected." Ichigo blinked at his raven haired friend in confusion.
"What?"
Rukia sighed before beginning her explanation. "The gate that connects the World of the Living and the Soul Society is constantly monitored. There's no way that once can leave undetected unless they disarm the Division Twelve computers. But those specific computers are always under constant watch and guarded. It's impossible to just leave."
Ichigo nodded his head in understanding. "So the only way one can get away is-"
"Hey! Flirting couple down there!" a female voice suddenly yelled out. The two turned pink at the comment and looked around quickly, trying to find the source of the noise. And to avoid looking at each other. Turns out the noise was behind them.
A girl, clad in a snow jacket and pants, was snowboarding down he higher part of the mountain. They couldn't see what the girl really looked like since she had a large ski hat covering her hair and dark tinted goggles on as well. A small strap on bag was around her waist as well.
The unknown girl continued down towards Ichigo and Rukia until she was close enough to stop. Huffing a bit, the girl left out a laugh at the confused two.
"Good. Thought I might have missed you." she said. Ichigo and Rukia stared at her.
"What?" Ichigo asked.
"Who are you?" Rukia added. The girl sighed, adjusting her goggles.
"Dang, I thought you guys were smart." the girl sighed. "Oh well."
TWITCH.
"What you say?!" Ichigo shouted, close to pulsing a vein. The girl smirked, happy to get a reaction out of him.
"You heard what I said, Orangey." she then pointed towards the bottom of the mountain as Ichigo did pulse a vein. "Want me to apologize and introduce myself? Gotta beat me down the mountain."
Rukia butted in at this moment. "Hold on!" the girl exclaimed, trying to catch the girl before she took off down the mountain. Exclaimed at girl turned around while avoiding capture and waved.
"Come on, Orangey! Too scared you'll lose?" she mocked, baiting the boy. It worked.
Ichigo grunted before taking off after the girl. "You'll regret that!!!"
"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled, now trying to stop her friend. But he was already too far ahead. The raven haired girl was then left to chase after the two of them down the mountain. However she couldn't help but feel suspicious of this girl.
How could see had gotten higher up if where the two were just at the highest the lifts went?
Matsumoto smiled happily as she let herself down into the hot springs. The warm water was really a great change from the cold snow that had begun falling again. Each of the flakes melted long before they reached her by the hot steam being released from the water. The perfect escape from the cold.
"Isn't this great, Orihime?" the tenth division fukutaichou asked, closing her eyes to enjoy the comfort some more.
"Um..." was the reply. Matsumoto opened her eyes to see why her human friend wasn't enjoying the hot springs like her. Turns out Orihime hadn't gotten in the water yet. Instead she was standing at the edge of the springs.
The tenth division shinigami looked on in confusion. "Orihime? What's the matter?" the asked girl shook her head rapidly, indicating, or trying to say, there was no problem. The girl just didn't want to admit that she had never been in a hot springs before.
"I-It's nothing!" the girl stuttered back, still not getting in. Matsumoto looked worried now.
The asked girl smiled weakly. But before she could reply, something or someone came up behind her and pushed her into the water. Her arms flailed our around her seconds before she came in contact with the hot water.
"AAAHHHH!!!!!"
Hitsugaya walked silently as he continued down the deserted trail before him. After avoiding some of the teachers and resort staff guarding the trail where the tracks were the boy had managed to sneak past all of them. He needed to know if the tracks left behind in the snow were really a Hollow's before the snow buried them. And by the rate the snow was falling, it would be soon. Course he could hold it back but then it might alert whoever was hiding on the mountain and flee. That couldn't happen.
The white haired boy continued for a few more minutes until the trees branched out into a small clearing. Though the ground was sheet white, the imprints could still be seen through many parts of the field. Many overlapped each other.
He walked up towards the nearest ones and crouched down for a better look. He could see about three different sets of prints in that one small area. The first was a large, oddly formed, paw print that was eerily similar to ones of a Hollow. There was no doubt a Hollow was here.
But the two marks dancing around the Hollow's one were much smaller and rounded. Both were long but didn't leave any distinct prints apart from looking like an oval. And by the way they were seen looked as if someone or two was fighting the Hollow and succeeded. But who they belonged to remained a mystery.
Suddenly the leaves across the clearing rustled, making Hitsugaya stand up quickly, alert. He knew that he should have been the only one hear since everyone else was back at the lake. And that he had sneaked into here. That meant something that wasn't supposed to be there was here.
The rustling happened again, this time a few feet away from the first. The tenth division shinigami narrowed his eyes, ready for whatever it was to come out. Though his gigai was weak he could still move more skillfully than a typical human could.
"Who's there?" Hitsugaya ordered, demanding an answer. The reply was more leaves moving around. The unknown thing/person remained hidden.
Just when Hitsugaya was about to go investigate a voice giggled throughout the area. The shinigami instantly scanned the area, trying to pinpoint the exact location. He couldn't. Not even Hyōrinmaru could despite being an ice zanpakutõ.
"Who's there?" Hitsugaya repeated, waiting for the smallest change of movement. "Show yourself!" another giggle followed shortly after.
"Silly, silly, silly, boy. Don't you know your manners? You have to introduce yourself first." the voice asked, female. The tenth division taichou pulsed a vein at the comment but kept his composure.
His eyes narrowed as he continued looking around. "Who are you?" the voice sighed, as in disappointed that Hitsugaya hadn't done what she said.
"Like I said, introduce yourself first and I'll tell you who I am." she said again, angering the boy. It didn't seem like he had a choice, despite what his better judgment was telling him.
"Hitsugaya Toshiro, division ten taichou of the Gotei 13." he growled, getting ready to jump out of his gigai. The voice giggled, as if she was excited by his answer.
"A taichou? How different." some leaves rustled again and Hitsugaya bolted forward. The voice continued as if he had never moved. "I can't give you my name; my partner would be mad at me. But, boy, I can tell you that I'm the one you're after." Hitsugaya was just few feet away. "Later...Ice Boy."
Hitsugaya burst through the bushes, looking for whoever the voice belonged to. But there was nothing. Not even footprints. It was like they were never there to begin with. The boy let out a growl and narrowed his eyes. He was that close to finding out who it was but failed. And the last words she said.
'She has a partner.' the boy concluded, remembering that one part. And now they knew that he and the others were there, trying to flush them and finish them. They were now on a shorter time limit than ever.
Suddenly, about a few hundred feet ahead of him, he saw a figure moving away from the clearing and him. Not taking any chances, Hitsugaya ran forward, taking his Soul Candy dispenser out as well. He couldn't let them get away again. With that thought in mind, the boy sped up.
The white haired shinigami ducked underneath low branches and jumped over the logs scattered around him. Now he was only a couple of feet ahead and could see the figure clearly. It was girl. The same girl that was just with him in the clearing. Sprinting the last few yards, the boy ran out the trees and tackled the girl.
Both him and the girl tumbled a bit in the snow before they came to stop, him on top of the girl's back. He let out silent, heavy breaths as the girl laid stunned beneath him. He had got her. But before he could speak first, the girl went first.
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
Kaida opened the door to the lodge, having lost Mitsuki awhile ago. Everyone stared at the girl that was huffing and puffing and letting the cold in. They all turned away when dark glares were shot at all of them. Regaining enough of her breath, the girl closed the door behind her and went toward the back of the room where a few people were sitting.
She let out a weak smile before collapsing in one of the empty chairs. "How are you guys?" Yumichika, Keigo, Mizuiro, Chad, and Uryū looked at her.
"Good." Chad greeted back. He and the Quincy had gotten back rather quickly after heading to the village. Many of the people there were tourists that had no idea what was going on as well. And many of the shops were closed because of the incidents. But Uryū was able to get his supplies before the two were forced back to the resort. They then went towards the lounge to wait for the others, seeing as they did not know where everyone was expect to meet at the lounge before three.
Keigo was, however, in an opposite mood. "Horrible! When I went to the dojo there were TONS of hot babes there! BUT they were all looking at those muscle heads! And when I-" Kaida chucked a pillow at his head to shut him up. It didn't work because he then began crying about how girls was mean at him.
Yumichika scoffed at how the boy was talking about girls' beauty; it was plain oblivious that he was the most beautiful. Even though he didn't say that out loud he still got a pillow thrown to the head by Kaida. Apparently he was so easy to figure out that he didn't have to say anything for people to know what he was thinking about.
"Where's Mitsuki?" Mizuiro asked, not looking up from his cell phone. He was trying to figure out why there was so much static appearing on the screen and why he couldn't get proper service. Usually his phone could get service anywhere. Maybe there was some sort of problem at the cell tower or something.
"Who cares?" Kaida groaned, leaning back against the chair. "She could fall of a cliff for all I care."
"You do know that she can do that here?" Uryū asked, wondering if the girl really meant it. The older sister gave him a pointed look.
"Why'd you think I said that?"
Dot. Dot. Dot.
Wow, she was really pissed.
The door to the longue opened again, two figures coming flying in. The five in the back of the room watched as Renji chased Kiyo angrily, Shiha walking in laughing behind them. It seemed that the two had finished their race down the mountain and Renji was still angry at the boy. And was now chasing him around the room.
"GET BACK HERE!!!" the red haired yelled, jumping over a chair and scaring the poor person sitting there. Kiyo snorted before avoiding two teachers and turning towards the other exit of the longue.
"WHEN I'M DEAD!!!"
"I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU DEAD!!!"
"DAMN IT!!!"
Shiha laughed hard as the two boys exited the place, leaving a whole crowd of confused and terrified people. The purple headed girl then headed over towards her six friends. She smiled as she rested her arms on the back of the chair Kaida was in.
"Well? That some entertainment or what?" the girl asked. The group stared at her.
"You're insane." Kaida muttered, covering her face with an arm. Shiha smiled widely.
"Yup!"
Anime falls.
Someone had given her candy and now was suffering from Mitsuki-Crazy Syndrome.
Ichigo gritted his teeth as he finally reached the bottom, searching for the girl that had dared call him a nickname. But as he searched the area at the bottom for the girl he found no signs of her anywhere. There was only other students in the area that had just come down or where planning on heading up.
"Damn it!" the shinigami representative cursed, pissed that he couldn't catch the girl. Rukia, finally having just come down, came to a stop next to the boy and hacked his head.
"Idiot!" the girl yelled. "What the heck were you thinking?!" Ichigo glared at her and rubbed his head.
"I was thinking about getting back at that little brat!" he snapped back. Rukia glared back at him before shaking her head at him.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow at his adopted noble friend. "What?"
"You didn't seem to notice that she had come down from the restricted area above us?" Rukia asked sharply. Ichigo looked stunned for a minute as he processed this. The girl shook her head again.
"Well, how was the hell was I supposed to know?!" Ichigo responded. Rukia kicked his face this time.
"BY USING YOUR HEAD!!!"
"Um...excuse me..." the two yelling at each other looked in front of them to see on their classmates in front of them. She was shaking ever a bit having just witnessed everything that had happened between the two and was now terrified of them. Rukia and Ichigo composed themselves quickly.
Rukia tried to reassure the girl with a bright smile. "Yes?" the girl gulped before continuing.
"T-There was a g-girl that t-told me to t-tell you that she w-would be nearby i-if you wanted to f-find her." the girl stuttered, still scared. The two shinigamis looked at each other before back at the girl. The looked at girl now felt like she was going to faint from fear.
"Do you know where she went?" Ichigo asked, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. He needed to get even with that girl! Their classmate nodded and pointed timidly towards to the area past the cottages.
"T-There." she answered. Ichigo and Rukia nodded their thanks before taking off, leaving the girl shaking in her boots. She was still terrified of them.
Her friend walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "You ok?" the girl asked freaked out and flipped her friend over her shoulder.
"AAAHHH!"
"EEP!!! SUZU!!! IT'S ME!!!"
Steam rose out of the hot springs, covering the whole area in a warm fog. Matsumoto looked around in alarm, looking for her friend. She couldn't see anything in this mess and she hadn't heard from Orihime since she screamed.
"Orihime! Orihime! ORIHIME!!!" the woman yelled, moving around to find the girl. A voice coughing and spluttering to her right made the woman sigh in relief.
Orihime held onto the ledge of the pool as she used the other to cover her mouth, coughing out the water that had entered her mouth. She was lucky that she hadn't bumped her head against the rocks or something.
The coughing girl was suddenly then pulled into a hug by the tenth division fukutaichou. She remained trapped in the embrace until the big busted woman let go. Matsumoto looked happy beyond relief.
"You're ok!" Orihime nodded.
"Y-Yes."
Matsumoto looked at the girl. "What happened?"
"Me!"
Both of them looked around and saw that Mitsuki was dancing around, smiling. She didn't seem to notice, again, what she had just done. Matsumoto gave Mitsuki for once a pointed glare.
"Mitsuki-chan! You shouldn't had done that! Orihime could have been hurt!" she scolded, making the girl's mood dampened. Her jumping stopped and she stared apologetic at the two of them.
"Gomen, Orihime, Matsumoto." the girl sniffed, acting like a three year old had gotten caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar. She actually seemed like she was sorry, unlike those other times with the others.
Orihime gave a small smile. "It's ok, Mitsuki-chan. Just please don't do that again." Mitsuki's face instantly brighten and she tackled the girl, sending the three of them back into the water.
"Thank you! Thank you! I will never to do something that to you ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever again!" the candy girl cried happily. But she jumped up when she realized that she had gotten into the hot springs with her winter clothes on.
"HOT! HOT! DOUBLE HOT!!!" Mitsuki screeched, jumping and splashing around in the springs. The other two laughed at how Mitsuki was back to herself and having fun. But after a while they did decide to help the girl out of the pool. And by then the girl was red all over the place. But did she mind?
"That was fun! Let's do it again!!!"
Nope.
Kira glared as best as she could from her position under Hitsugaya. "WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?!" the younger Yumi sister had just been wandering around, bored, when all of a sudden the white haired shinigami had tackled her. And so she now laid pinned by him. They were so lucky that no one else was there with them right now.
Hitsugaya's teal eyes widened in surprise. "Yumi?!" Kira pulsed a vein.
"No, it's Santa Claus." the girl retorted sarcastically. "Sure as hell it's me! What the hell are you doing?!"
"I should be asking you the same thing!" Hitsugaya snapped back. "What are you doing all the way back here?!"
"Looking for a place to get away from you!" Kira answered back sharply. "Now if you don't mind, I FREAKING WANT THE FEELING IN MY LEGS BACK!!!" And with that the girl tried to break free of Hitsugaya's grip but failed since the boy was strong than her.
The tenth division taichou pulsed a vein as well. "Quit lying, Yumi! You were the one back there in the clearing!" the girl underneath him snorted.
"What the hell are you talking about?! I already said that I was just looking for a place to GET AWAY FROM YOU!!!" the girl snarled, getting more pissed off the longer Hitsugaya pinned her.
"That seems like a pretty far place to go." Hitsugaya retorted back. Ever since the picnic incident he had been suspicious of her and the others. And especially after Rukia's birthday with the discovery of Ren and Ichi. There was just no reason the heterochromia girl should have been in this part of the woods.
Kira's eyes narrowed even more. "You're one to talk! Why the hell are YOU back here?!"
But before the two could argue any more a huge gust of wind appeared, throwing Hitsugaya finally off the girl. Both covered themselves as they waited for the wind to pass, the force of the blast making dust fly from the snow. Nothing could be seen expect pure white.
Kira coughed, trying to get the snow out of mouth. Shielding her mouth and nose, the younger sister tried looking around for the guy that tackled her. She couldn't see him. The most she could see was some sort of black clothing some way away. It could have been the midget but they seemed a bit tall to be him. But before she could be sure they became hidden underneath the snow. And so did she.
The two were now lost as the wind continued to pick up.
Shiha looked at the cards in her hand before picking two and laying them face down on the table. "I play two 3's."
"B.S." Mitsuki declared, wanting to prove her friend was cheating. The purple headed girl smirked and flipped over the cards she had just laid down. It was a three of spades and a three of hearts.
"Wrong." Mitsuki pouted before gathering the cards up.
"Monkey butts!"
Deadpans.
Orihime looked out the window worriedly, watching as the wind continued to gush around them. The second day here and there was already an unexpected storm hitting the place. And four of her friends till hadn't come back since the storm began. She was getting worried now.
Kaida shared Orihime's worries as well, shifting often in her seat. The group was settled in one of the lounges, having been forced to by the teachers for their safety. She wanted to go look for her sister but couldn't. The storm had started an hour ago and still no sign of her, Ichigo, Rukia, or Hitsugaya.
Kiyo looked up from the game most of the group was playing, expect him, and looked at Kaida's worried face. He gave her a weak grin in hopes to make her feel better. "Don't worry; they'll be fine." it didn't help.
Renji yawned. "Yeah. They're probably in the cottage or something, waiting it out." Kaida sighed.
"Maybe..."
Suddenly the power turned off, making the room pitch black. Many people screamed as the teachers and student advisers tried to calm the students down. Mitsuki clung to Shiha, scared. Now all the shinigamis in the room were worried. Something was wrong.
A pounding noise could be heard coming from one of the entrances. More screams erupted. One of the teachers nearest to the door squinted through the clear window to see who it was. She couldn't see much through the blaring wind and snow.
"YO! OPEN UP!" a voice yelled from outside, almost having not been heard from inside. Yumiko bolted toward the door immediately, despite the fact that she was supposed to be calming the students down. Helping the teacher, the two pried the door open and helped the frozen Ichigo and Rukia into the room. Teachers began running all over the place to try and get things to warm the two up.
"Quick! We need blankets!"
"Get some hot chocolate!"
"No! Get them in a chair first!"
"Someone calm the students down!"
"Where's the flashlights?!"
The two that stumbled in were ushered quickly into two chairs, blankets being pulled over them and being handed hot chocolate. Many of the teachers scolded them and expressed their relief for them being safe but let the caring to Yumiko and the others since their other students were still panicking. Ichigo's and Rukia's friends hurried on over.
"Are you guys all right?!" Orihime exclaimed, beyond worried. She was trying to help with Yumiko make the two as comfortable as possible. Rukia seemed fine since her zanpakutõ was ice based but Ichigo was a bit less. He was cold but not enough to be frostbite.
"Yeah, we're fine." Ichigo confirmed, trying to reassure her. He then frowned at his sister when she kept rambling about him being safe. "Yumiko, shut up. I'm fine." his sister looked at him but sighed.
"Did you see the other two anywhere?" Matsumoto asked, starting to get worried about her taichou. Usually he would've have been back by now but that wasn't happening. Something was defiantly wrong.
Rukia shook her head. "No. We were looking for a girl that we saw on the slopes when the storm started up. We tried to get back here as quickly as we could." Kaida's hands gripped around her arms.
"So...you didn't see Kira or Hitsugaya anywhere?" the older sister asked, wanting to be absolutely sure. Despite the lack of light they could see that the girl's face was paling. The two looked at each other before down.
"I'm sorry."
The girl turned around sharply and went to stand next to the window, eyes staring out into the storm. She didn't say anything as she left; just walked away. Kiyo and Mitsuki followed after a few seconds of silence, to go and comfort the sister. Shiha, Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizuiro left the group after them to help calm the students down when one of the teachers asked for help. So it now just left the Karakura Gang there.
All of them remained silent as they were left to their own thoughts. They knew that this storm was unnatural and that two of them were still stranded out there somewhere. And in a few hours it would be dark, temperatures threatening to go down to below freezing point. Hitsugaya may be able to stand the cold but they knew Kira wouldn't; the girl would freeze before they found her.
Ichigo spoke first. "We have to go find them." his sister stared at him.
"You can't be serious!" Renji nodded his agreement.
"You know just as well as we do that this storm is not some natural thing. Someone is causing it on purpose for who knows what reason and we need to stop them."
Orihime looked at them worriedly. "But Chad-kun, Uryū-kun, and me can't go help you! And you can't all go! Everyone would become suspicious if you all left." Matsumoto gave Orihime a small, comforting smile.
"Don't worry; we'll be safe." she turned to the others and stood up. "I'm going."
Renji nodded his head as well. "Same." Ikkaku rolled his shoulder and grinned.
"Hell yeah I'm not gonna miss this!" Yumichika shook his head.
"I believe I will stay behind."
"I'll stay as well." Rukia volunteered. "If whoever causing this has an ice-element zanpakutõ as well I won't be of much help."
"Then I'll go." Ichigo said, being the last to volunteer to go. His sister held him back.
"No." she ordered.
Ichigo stared straight at her. "I can take care of myself. You make sure everyone stays safe here the others." And with that he shrugged his sister back and used Rukia's Soul Candy Dispenser (since his badge made him looked dead and he forgot Kon) to jump out of his body with everyone else. And without waiting for his sister to protest, followed the other three out.
The group stared as the five went out to deal with the problems. The ones that were left behind now had to wait and hope that it would turn for the best. Yumiko was the only one out of them that shook her head after her brother vanished from her site.
"What a damn fool." the girl muttered, looking back up. "You better come back safe, Ichigo."
The group split up after leaving the lounge, hoping to cover more ground that way. In about four hours it was set to become night, the temperature set to drop about two degrees or more per hour. They had exactly no time to waste. Matsumoto and Ikkaku headed towards the lake first to see if they could find their two missing friends while Renji and Ichigo instead went towards the mountain to start there.
Matsumoto looked around, a sad attempt to try and see through the wind. The wind had died down a bit but was still going strong. Already about a few minutes out here and she was already feeling the effects of the cold. And usually shinigamis wouldn't feel it that quickly. Someone was definitely causing this.
"Yo! Rangiku!" Ikkaku yelled, a few feet away. He pointed towards a small figure a couple hundred feet away. "There's someone over there!"
"Who is it?!" the woman yelled back, trying to see what the eleventh division shinigami was seeing. The most was a small blurry outline.
"How the hell am I supposed to know?!" the bald shinigami yelled back, running towards whoever it was. Matsumoto followed behind. The two fought against the harsh weather using shunpoing trying the fastest they could to reach whoever it was. The distance soon changed to just a hundred feet, then fifty feet, ten feet...
Both of the shinigami froze when they saw who it was. Matsumoto had a horrified look on her face as she glance down at the body before her.
"Oh my god!!!"
Renji covered his face, trying to avoid the whiplash the snow kept giving him each time the wind changed direction. Since the two had headed this way the wind had gotten stronger and stronger. They were no doubt getting close to the source of it.
The red headed boy looked over to where he could partially see Ichigo's orange hair. "Be careful, Ichigo! We're getting closer to whoever's doing this!"
"I know that!" Ichigo yelled back, his voice barely being heard over the sound of the wind. The two continued on. But as the two continued on they lost sight of each other. And the wind was too loud to hear what the other was saying.
CLANG!
Ichigo whipped around. He had heard metal clash against metal. And it was somewhere nearby.
CLANG! CLANG!
"Renji!" Ichigo shouted, trying to find the red head. "Where the hell are you?!"
"....er....h...e!" was the most the orange head heard back. He tried running to where he thought he heard them fighting but found nothing. All he kept hearing was the sounds of fighting. Trying again the boy shunpoed to a different spot but got the same result. He cursed right there and then at the damn wind.
"Ah, the big boy too scared to be alone?" a voice said into his ear. Ichigo whipped around and pulled Zangetsu out of the bandages it was held in. Holding it up, he use his strength to block a long, silver blade from cutting him.
Ichigo glared at the person in front of him. He couldn't see who it was, the wind and the cloak they were wearing obscured his view. The most he could see was their sword, the silver blade with silver vines circling over a heart as the hilt.
He threw his sword upward, breaking the contact between him and the mysterious figure. They jumped backwards so that they were a few feet away from him. Everything about them still remained hidden.
The shinigami representative pointed his sword at them, eyes narrowed. "Who the hell are you?!" the girl giggled.
"Why don't you find out?" a female voice asked, almost familiar to the one on the mountain. She then disappeared, alarming Ichigo. He then began to look around, trying to find the girl again. But she seemed to have disappeared with the wind.
Ichigo growled out of frustration. "Where the hell are you ?!" the girl giggled, the voice right behind him again. His eyes widened in shock as he turned around to see her sword pointed straight at him.
"Right here."
SLASH!
Me: There's the end of the chapter!
Renji: Wait, who the hell was I against?!
Rukia: It's probably in the next chapter.
Renji: I got that!
Orihime: Where's Ichigo?
Kira: -points to the other room-
Kira: Still fighting.
Orihime: But the chapter's over.
Kira: Tell that to those two.
Everyone: -sweat drops-
Audience: Is there any romance at all in this story? Huh? Huh?
Me: FOR THE LAST TIME I'M SORRY!!! Just please be patient. I said there was maybe going to be some romance. I just didn't mean a whole lot.
Audience: -grumbles-
Me: -sighs-
Kaida: You should be more focused on school, you know.
Me: -rolls eyes-
Me: I know, I know. Jeez, you're like my mom.
Kaida: -glares-
Producer: -pushes Hanatarou forwards-
Producer: Say goodbye!
Hanatarou: -trembles-
Everyone: Well?
Hanatarou: -faints-
Room: ...
Producer: Err...goodnight while we go fetch a medic.
Mitsuki: YOU KILLED THE POOR GUY!!!
Everyone: MITSUKI!!!
Sign: Ja ne.
*~Kira~*