A/N: Here is the second chapter – I still don't own bleach and any similarities in this story to places/things in real life are merely coincidence.
Chapter 2
"Yeah we do but I'm beat!" pronounced Ryu. "lets all go get changed or summit and meet at the usual place."
"The usual place?" Saisho asked
"I'll show him." Chloe interrupted everyone.
"Well that's settled, meet at the place in 45 minutes, okay? Come on sis." Ryu and Yuki walked away in the direction up the street towards the edge of town.
"I'll see you guys later" Mamoru said before walking towards the middle of town.
"So it's just us now, where do you stay Saisho?" asked Chloe.
"Ugh, that way" Saisho pointed in some random direction. "Down by the river" he added.
Chloe nodded her head in understanding, "looks like you're coming to my place, my dad had a habit of keeping all the clothes he had when he was growing up, I'm sure we will be able to find something that fits ya."
"Sounds like a plan" Saisho replied before himself and Chloe started walking towards Chloe's house on the outskirts of town.
Although the sun was going down, the weather was still quite warm and normal. His day had turned into one that was void of normality however. It was the first time that he had seen a "hollow" for more than half a second without blanking out and he wondered why. Better yet why did all of these people have so much power and what did they use it for? All of these questions were floating around his head while he was walking with a girl he had only just met to her house to borrow some of her father's clothes after he had just tried to protect her from being killed. This definitely is not a normal day.
"You didn't have to do that earlier for me you know" Chloe said trying to spark some kind of conversation. "You know push me out of the way like that."
"Yes I did." Saisho replied, "Because I'm not the kind of person who can just stand there and let a girl get hurt in front of him."
Chloe just smiled "I knew there was something about you I liked" she said quickly.
"You what?"
"We're here" Chloe said walking up to her door and opening it acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened at all.
As Saisho followed Chloe into the house he was greeted with stairs facing directly in front of him and a door to the left that went into a sitting room. Inside the sitting room there was a couch facing a television and another chair off to the side. "I'm just going to get changed quickly then I'll take you to my dads old stuff to you can steal something off of him." Chloe then disappeared back through the door they just came through and up the stairs. Saisho looked around the room more whilst she was away. It was a pretty normal room, the only things that really stood out were a line of trophies along the mantelpiece. All of the ones on the right hand side looked like they belonged to Chloe whereas all the trophies on the left hand side had the name "Tatsuki" engraved on them. "My mum won them when she was my age" Chloe said suddenly reappearing behind Saisho. She pointed to a picture and thrust it infront of Saisho, "This is my Mum and Dad when they were around our age." The picture showed a girl who looked a lot like Chloe smiling next to a guy with red hair and tattoos on his face.
"So where are you're parents now?" Saisho asked
"Thats a tough question," Chloe responded, "for now just know that they are in a place far away, where my Dad is from."
"Hmm, okay" Saisho replied not too sure what to make of the answer, he then turned to face Chloe and noted her new attire. She was wearing dark blue jeans, a black tank top with a black shirt on, not done up properly so you could see her toned stomach. "Nice style" Saisho said nodding to Chloe whilst talking.
"Thanks, now come on and lets see if anything suits you upstairs." Saisho then followed Chloe up the stairs and into a room directly at the top. Chloe had already taken the liberty to lay some stuff out on the bed that was there. "Take you're pick, I'll be waiting outside." Saisho then looked through the clothes that were laid on the bed. He replaced his school shirt with a blue shirt that he left unbuttoned so you could see his black t-shirt underneath and found a pair of black jeans that seemed to fit well enough. He then ruffed up his hair a bit more and walked outside to meet Chloe.
"Wow my dad's shit actually looks good on someone." exclaimed Chloe with a hint of surprise in her voice.
"Thanks, so where is it that we are going?"
"Its a sort of strange place that sells stuff like a coffee shop but plays rock music and sort of serves as a venue for smaller rock bands – we have played the place a few times."
"Cool, lets get going then."
"Follow me" Chloe said with a sort of care free skip in her voice.
Chloe and Saisho walked back towards the centre of town, Saisho quickly found himself in a very quiet street compared to the hustle of the rest of the town. On the corner of the street was the coffee shop known as the Venue. (Made up name not associated to anything that may happen to have the same name) As Saisho walked into the venue he had a quick look around, there was a smallish stage at the far end and a counter opposite of it. The rest of the place, apart from the area directly infront of the stage which was empty, was littered with brown coloured couches and other comfortable forms of sitting with tables. Saisho and Chloe spotted the others and walked over.
"Move up guys," Chloe said whilst squeezing herself onto the couch, Saisho not wanting to bother anyone, grabbed a chair from another table and pulled it over.
Saisho had a quick look to see who was all there – Mamoru sitting at the back and was now wearing a red Hawaiian style shirt, Ryu, was sitting opposite him wearing a very plain blue shirt, and Yuki was sitting opposite where Chloe sat wearing a white t-shirt and jeans.
Yuki wasting no time asked "How much of today do you actually remember then?"
"I remember you guys fighting some huge monster that you called a hollow which had a big white mask even though I normally black out when I see those things." Saisho responded. "What are those hollow things anyways?"
"I'll take this one guys" Chloe said, "When someone dies their spirit becomes separated from their bodies. Those spirits with regrets will often have their chain of fate bound with the focus of their regret."
"What's this got to do with "Hollows"?" Saisho asked impatiently.
"We'll be coming to that idiot so be patient" Yuki quickly butt in.
"Over time the chain of fate shortens until it is gone completely, when this happens the chain devours a hole in the spirits chest and the spirit will vanish and reform as a hollow with a mask. These hollows will target other spirits, especially ones that were close to them whilst they were alive and will try to devour them – a spirit which is devoured by a hollow will also turn into a hollow." Chloe continued.
"So how do we stop spirits from turning into hollows?"
"That's my job, I am a "Shinigami" or "Soul Reaper" if you prefer, and it is my job to hunt hollows and cleanse them with my sword and to send any spirits to Soul Society via "konso" or "soul burial," and before you ask soul society is where souls live once they die."
"Wow, that's a lot to take in, but what happened to that hollow today, it was Yuki that killed it not you?"
"I destroyed it."
"You destroyed it?"
"I am a Quincy" Yuki said with a stubborn resolve emanating within her voice, "and I destroy hollows that attack humans."
"Whats a Quincy?"
"A Quincy is a human with spiritual power and uses it to destroy hollows. So how many hollows have you seen?"
"Quite a few, well over 30, but like I said I normally black out and when I wake up they are gone."
"That's very strange."
"Yeah well no use going over and over it, I'm going to get a drink" Saisho said as he stood up and walked over to the bar. "Double vodka and coke please" Upon receiving the first drink Saisho immediately downed it and asked for another. Walking back towards his seat he noticed that Chloe and Mamoru were talking to some guy in front of the stage and that Yuki was missing, probably doing her own thing somewhere. Saisho took a seat next to Ryu at the table and downed half of his next double vodka.
"She's single you know," Ryu stated at seeing where Saisho's gaze was lurking.
"Is she? Who are we talking about anyways?"
"Heh i seen where you were looking."
"Oh really, and assuming that we are talking about the same girl, how is she single?"
"The fact that she beat up the last two boy friends that she had when they tried to break up with her, no guy that knows her wants to take a chance on her." Ryu then noticed that Chloe and Mamoru had started walking back over to the table and decided to end the little game of his. "Just food for thought my friend" He knew he had hit the jackpot when he seen Saisho turn round to face him and give him one of the meanest glares he had ever seen, the icy blue eyes giving absolutely nothing away. "I'm heading home," Ryu said to the group when the rest had wandered back over. Mamoru nodded his head indicating he would be heading off as well.
"We got a gig here tomorrow guys if we can find a guitarist" Chloe said just as Ryu was walking away with Mamoru
"Yeah I'm sure that we will find one" Ryu said giving Chloe and Saisho a wave from over his shoulder.
Once Ryu was out of earshot Saisho turned round to face Chloe. "I can play guitar you know"
"Really, like what kind of music do you play?"
"Hard rock and metal music, I kind of like the sort of slower melodic styles as well."
"That's perfect, and will you be able to play tomorrow?"
"Don't see why not"
"Awesome, you're proving to be a nice addition to our little group, you know that?"
"So what does everyone else play?"
"Mamoru plays the bass, Yuki plays keyboard, Ryu plays the drums and I sing. We have had some trouble finding a guitarist that fits in with the rest of us but it has always been a lot of fun. Anyway it's probably about time that i got moving off home."
"That's cool, I'll walk ya home" Saisho said after downing the rest of his drink and standing up. Saisho stood up and followed her out.
"You don't have to walk me home you know, I can look after myself."
"Yeah i know but where I am from we don't let girls walk home by themselves regardless."
"Where is it that you are from anyway?"
"Originally I don't know" Chloe turned round to give a confused look so Saisho continued "I lived on the streets in my early life, even I don't know how I survived, there were times when I remember being hungry, eventually I would pass out from hunger and when I woke up I was fine until the same thing happened over and over again. That was until I was taken in by a man who I would call my Uncle out of respect. Uncle Kiboo gave me a place to sleep and enough food to tide me over. He taught me how to defend myself and how to read and write and how to play the guitar as a way of expressing myself. My uncle Kiboo's house in the middle of no where is where I would have to say I'm from."
"So did he teach you all of these little rules you seem to have?"
"Nah, you wouldn't believe me if i tried to tell you where i got those from."
"Try me"
"Okay, but promise not to laugh, I have voices inside of my head. They sort of tell me things and guide me when I'm not sure what to do."
"Doesn't sound at all strange to a Shinigami."
"And what does that mean?"
"Our swords, our Zanpacktou are a part of our souls and they teach us how to fight and are there to support us when we need them, communicating with them is required to grow in strength as a Shinigami. And shit!" Just as Chloe turned around the corner she saw a hollow, very simillar to the one before. Why are they showing up so much now, but she didn't have time to react as the hollow let forth a shattering scream and threw Saisho into the wall on her left. She quickly reached into her pocket to take out her Gikongan but was surprised at what she seen in front of her. Saisho was standing there with his shirt swaying in the wind with a sword attached to his back. The sword was long reaching from his shoulder down to his knee but still looked like a lean blade. Chloe looked towards the wall that she was sure she had seen Saisho flying into and was amazed to see him lying there unconscious. "What are you Saisho" she said out loud but the Saisho standing with his back faced to her said nothing. Instead it merely took out its sword from its sheath on his back and cut the hollow in half. As the hollow was disappearing and the Saisho turned around and Chloe almost stopped breathing at the sight that greeted her. It was still Saisho that was standing there in exactly the same clothes, however on his face there was a white mask, a mask that looked exactly like a hollows, there was also blue marking along the right hand side of the mask, blue lines that were on the chin, under the eye and on the forehead. (Think Ichigo's mask but blue instead of red)
"Do not fear, I am not going to hurt you." The voice of the second Saisho said in a voice that was definitely Saisho's yet it had some sort of strangeness to it as if there was more than one person talking at the same time.
"What are you?" Chloe asked not sure whether to be afraid of her new friend's spirit or not.
"I will show up less now that I see that the boy is in good company, are you a Shinigami young girl?"
"Yes, why?"
"This boy also has Shinigami blood inside of him, perhaps you can teach him a few things." After saying this the second Saisho laid next to the unconscious Saisho and their bodies merged together and thus Chloe's ordeal for the night was over.