Chapter 13: Mysterious Presences
Ahh, one more day of class until spring break! X) What a way to almost begin it with a new chapter! ^^
So, about this chapter, I hope you like it as well as the next few (not saying you didn't enjoy the other ones or future ones) because I couldn't believe how I was able to create 5-6 chapters without using any dialogue from the anime x.x (besides this first part xD) Originally it was only supposed to be two chapters, but the number of words kept passing my usual 3500-4500 (and sometimes even to 5000) words so I decided to split the chapters up some more.
Enjoy! I will post up the disclaimer in the bottom so that I won't spoil something! ;)
Everyone's Point of View
Kazuma and Ayano were at a warehouse to get rid of an evil spirit lurking there. Ayano wore her uniform as always while Kazuma was bundled in a coat and scarf due to the cold.
Kazuma sneezed as Ayano just finished defeating the evil spirit. She de-materialized Enraiha and sighed in relief. She heard Kazuma clapping and looked at him, "I can't believe that people are actually stupid enough to pay you to stand there like a bump on a log. Must be hard being you." She said as she walked towards where he was standing.
"What can I say? It's a tough job. Somebody's gotta do it," Kazuma said coolly.
Once she was in front of him, she crossed her arms, "What a joke! Let's get one thing straight, I don't need a bodyguard. You're only here because of my dad. If it were up to me, I'd would either be working alone or be paired up with Karai, but, sadly, I can't since she has been busy with her own missions lately… so I'm stuck with you."
"Well yeah. Why state the obvious?" he asked.
"And by the way, why are you dressed all bundled up like that? You're here to protect me, not watch a soccer game!" She yelled at him while pointing at his clothing.
"Because I'm freezing my ass off and can't make fire," he said like it was common sense.
"If you're so cold, blow some more wind in here!" she yelled again.
"What do I look like? A space heater?" He said while starting to walk away, "Geez, you're so annoying."
Ayano went after him, "Kazuma wait up! When you're on duty from now on, start wearing a coat and tie. That way you'll look like a decent human even if you're not."
"What's the point of me getting dressed up when there's no one around to show it off to?"
"What? I don't count? Or even Karai?"
"I think you're missing the point."
"By the way, did you think about what I said and settle things with Karai already? Because whenever I mention your names to each other, you don't respond still… and it's been almost a week already," she asked curiously even though she knew the answer already.
"Nothing that you need to worry about," Kazuma said.
"I have every right to know! She's my sister!" she fumed.
"Please, just leave it alone right now Ayano," he said while walking.
"Fine, fine… Geez, you are both so stubborn… but like I said before, you better fix things or else I'll find you and burn your ass," she said, but he just kept quiet.
She then chuckled and smirked, "So I'm guessing that you do admit your undying love for her by your lack of response?" Once again, he kept quiet, but turned a little red. Ayano couldn't see though since his back was turned to her.
Ayano sighed and decided not to provoke him any longer. Instead, she went in front of him to block his path, "I'm starving. Take me to get some food! You owe me that much," she demanded.
"I guess I'm treating again?"
"Oh come on, it's no big deal right? It's just the money you earned doing nothing anyways."
"All right, I suppose a little dinner wouldn't hurt anyone," he complied.
"Now you're starting to figure out how things work around here," she said, looking satisfied and turning around happily, "We do things my way."
He sighed and muttered, "At least Karai is considerate enough to pay half the bill."
Ayano apparently heard what he said. She stopped and turned around to face him, "What was that?" she said with a stress mark on her head.
"Nothing," he said while passing the angry Ayano and going on ahead. Ayano just followed after him as she continued to fume at him.
"By the way," Kazuma started to say before he stopped and turned to face Ayano, "That night, you knocked me out of my senses," he said as he paused a bit; looking up at the sky.
A smile then appeared on his face, "I see things clearly now, but I still need more time to think though. I do admit, though, that I love Karai, with all my heart, so you don't have to worry as much. What I am trying to say really is…," he said as he looked back at Ayano, "Thank you; I'm glad that you called, even though you were looking for Karai. You know, you can be pretty wise at times," he chuckled.
Ayano started blushing, but composed herself before she turned red and looked like she was satisfied, "Yeah, you're welcome. I'm awesome like that. Just make sure you actually talk to her sometime. She's going on a mission soon so you're going to have to wait until then," she then went passed him, but paused after a few feet to look at him seriously, "Oh, and if you do ever get together with her, you better not make her hurt or heartbroken or else you will have to deal with me. Got it? Good," she said before turning around and walking ahead, not waiting for Kazuma to answer.
Kazuma was shocked by Ayano's behavior, but shook his head with a smile once more before catching up to her. 'I am not going to break her heart.'
What he didn't know was that he could possibly break her heart if someone unexpected were to come back.
Karai's Point of View
"Achoo!" I sneezed while resting on my bed. I frowned. Someone must be talking about me… oh well. I was so exhausted after working so hard for the past week since I had seen Kazuma. I missed him, but I was still mad, no, furious at him.
I sighed, not knowing what to do. All I could do really is wait and see what will happen. Hopefully it won't be a long wait.
I heard a knock on the door, "Who is it?" I asked.
"It's me, Ichiru," he said outside the door.
"Come in."
The door opened and Ichiru walked in. He slowly shut the door behind him and leaned against the door, facing me, "So how are you doing?"
"I'm fine…," I said while looking at the ceiling.
"Are you sure? You don't seem like it," he said worriedly.
"I'm all right… so what's the news of the special mission?" I asked him.
He shook his head lightly before placing a folder at my side, "This contains the details for the mission which I am to accompany you with."
"Oh really? That's nice. It makes life easier without doing it by myself," I said, still lying on my bed.
He smiled, "We leave tomorrow so make sure you read that and be prepared by then. Bring warm clothes since it is still cold outside."
"Of course Ichi," I said before he left the room and I was by myself once again. I grabbed and opened the folder and read the information of the mission thoroughly.
From reading the details, Ichiru and I have to go investigate some strange noises, wailings and crying, to be more exact, coming from a haunted house two towns away. There is said to be a yoma in the house that needs to be exterminated.
How very interesting…
The next day…
Ichiru and I just arrived in the train station in the place where our mission was, Karakura Town.
It has been a while since I've been here, but the place still looks the same. The last time I was here, I accompanied my parents when they were meeting some friends of theirs. They wanted to see my parents before they moved to America. It was a touching farewell.
There's no record of any magic users here, which I thought was weird at first, but I got used to the idea since I have been to plenty of towns where no magic users resided. I guess that is why they ask us magic users from other towns to take care of the "supernatural" cases.
The house that Ichiru and I were asked to go to was on the other side of town, which was going to take a little long to get to, so we decided to stay in town overnight to explore as well if our mission was finished quickly. We brought small bags with our clothes and belongings, making sure that we had light loads.
After traveling by train all morning, we went to go look for a restaurant to go eat at before going to the hotel that has already been arranged for us.
There wasn't any snow here compared to home, but it was still cold. I don't mind it since I can keep myself warm, but I am still not fond of it. It is a good thing that it will be warm again by next week, but for now; I have to deal with it.
I was wearing my usual attire except I used my long-sleeved trench coat again. Ichiru had one too. I'm glad that we're fire magic users or else we'd be wearing more clothing than we were wearing now.
As we walked, Ichiru was explaining the details more about our mission, but I paid no attention as I admired the scenery. Unbeknownst to Ichiru and me, especially Ichiru, though, two people were running in our direction. One of them was a little ahead of the other one and he wasn't paying attention to where he was running since he was in a hurry.
"Ichigo! Wait up!" one of them yelled.
I heard whoever said that and turned my head straight just in time to notice a guy heading into Ichiru's direction, who was still looking at the mission folder and "talking to me" about the details. The guy wasn't looking where he was going so neither of them knew what was coming. I tried to warn him, "Ichiru, I suggest you move out of the way."
He looked at me confused, "Huh?"
Before Ichiru and the guy knew it, their foreheads collided. They were both thrown on to their backs to the ground. They both had swirly eyes and probably headaches as well. I caught the mission folder before all the papers could scatter.
When they were out of their dizzy state, they both went on a sitting position and held their heads in pain. When they looked at each other, both of them had angry looks on their faces. They stood up so fast and pointed at each other accusingly.
"What the hell, you moron! Watch where you're going!" Ichiru yelled at the guy.
The guy had a scowl on his face, "Who are you calling a moron, you bastard? You were in my way!"
"It's not my fault you weren't watching where you were going, you blind oaf!"
"Bastard! What did you just call me? I dare you to say it again!" the guy challenged.
"I'm sorry! Are you deaf now too? Well then, read my lips! You are a blind oaf who is as sightless as a bat and deaf as a worm!"
"Why you─!" the guy said as he and Ichiru glared at each other intensely with sparks starting to form in their eyes. Ichiru and the guy kept on going at it, accusing each other for the incident.
I smacked my forehead because of their childish behaviors. The girl who was with the guy stood next to me as we both sighed at each of our companion's behavior. I didn't think Ichiru could even blow up like that, let alone, allow himself to collide with someone and then fight about it.
I shook my head in dismay, "And I thought I was the accident-prone one."
"Tell me about it, this one is always troublesome and I always have to go save his butt every time. I don't know what to do with him," the girl right next to me said while shaking her head in annoyance before panting a bit from the run she just had.
I took a good look at her as we let the boys continue their fight. She had pale skin and was just a little shorter than me and more petite than me, but healthy enough. She had black hair that was shoulder-lengthed with a strand hanging between her violet-colored eyes, which were like Ichiru's, except her eyes were darker. She was wearing a white dress with a long-sleeved jacket over it, a scarf and black boots. I could tell that she was a mature and serious person with the way she acted and looked.
I then looked at her companion. He had an unusual orange-colored, spikey hair, peach skin and brown eyes. He was fairly tall, a few inches more than Ichiru, and was lean-built. He was wearing blue jeans, a dark green long-sleeved jacket, a t-shirt underneath and sneakers. He also kept a scowl on his face which I guessed he always had on.
Not bothering with breaking up the two, Rukia faced me and held out her hand, "By the way, I'm Rukia Kuchiki. This idiot who I am stuck with is Ichigo Kurosaki." Strawberry, huh?
I chuckled to myself inside, not wanting to be questioned by Rukia. That's so funny that he has a name that also means "he who protects." I bet his name suits him well. Even though I don't know him, he looked like the kind of guy who wants to protect everyone, even though he easily gets into fights… and has a scowl on his face a lot. I then smiled a bit sadly. That's just like Kazuma, except he doesn't have a scowl all the time.
I then grasped Rukia's hand after almost being lost in my thoughts. After our hands made contact, I felt that Rukia's presence was different from any normal person or magic user. It was nothing I've ever felt before and I noticed that she could feel the same as well with me. Nonetheless we both shook our hands, "I am Karai Uchiha and my companion is Ichiru Uchiha, my cousin."
We let go of each other's hands and continued watching the two. We were both a bit suspicious of each other, but we didn't do anything about it. Well, at least I did since I have a case to solve. Rukia then conversed with me, "So where are you from?"
"We live a few towns away from here. My cousin and I have some business to take care of here," I vaguely tell her.
"Really? Do you know where you are going?" she asked curiously.
"Yeah, it's just on the other side of town. We were actually going to get something to eat first and then go to the hotel to drop off our belongings."
"Ok, but just in case…," she said first before grabbing Ichigo's cell phone in his pocket without him noticing and looking back at me with a smile, "We should exchange numbers. You never know, you might need some help getting around."
"Sure," I chuckled since she used Ichigo's phone. We swapped numbers before we closed the phones.
"I'm usually with Ichigo so it won't be a problem if you're looking for me. Well, we've got places to go so we'd best be on our way," Rukia said, grabbing Ichigo as he was about to punch Ichiru before looking back at me, "I hope we see each other again soon."
I smile at her as I grabbed Ichiru, "Same here. It's been a pleasure meeting you," I said before she started dragging Ichigo away, "See ya Ichigo!" I said before they were far away. Ichiru was still pretty upset as I dragged him in the opposite direction towards the nearest restaurant.
He calmed down after a few minutes so I let him go. He adjusted his clothes and looked at me, annoyed, "You know, we could have avoided that whole situation if you moved me out of the way yourself in the first place."
"Your problem; besides, I think I just made a friend," I chuckled before my face then became serious, "But they had different presences from a normal person or magic user. I don't know what though."
Ichiru held his chin and began to think, "Actually, I noticed as well. Whatever they are, that guy's presence was really high. He probably can't control it as well as the girl."
"Yeah," I said before shrugging my shoulders, "Whatever. It's not our business anyway. We'll probably find out later if we hang around here long enough. I have Ichigo's number after all."
Ichiru snickered, "That guy's name is Ichigo? Seriously?"
I nodded my head, "Yeah, but you do know that his name also means he who protects. It doesn't just mean strawberry."
"I know, I know. But that's a good nickname to use for making fun of him. I'm going to call him that from now on," He said evilly.
I shook my head, "Yeah, if you ever see him again. Now let's go. I'm even more hungry now thanks to your little stunt so you're treating me," I said before walking ahead to find a restaurant. (Haha, you see what's funny about what she said?)
"What? Why! Come on Karai! That wasn't my fault! He was the one who bumped into me! Karai!" he said, catching up to me.
Rukia's Point of View
I just dragged Ichigo away after he bumped into that guy named Ichiru. His spiritual pressure was different from a normal person or being that I know of, even Karai's was different as well. It didn't even feel like an arrancar or visored. Besides that, though, Karai was nice and harmless. Good thing I got her number or at least Ichigo has it since it was in his phone. I sighed, now I have to tell this idiot my thoughts on the two we just met.
I stopped walking and threw Ichigo in front of me. Before he could yell, I whacked him on the head.
He held his head in pain, "Ow! Dammit Rukia! What is your problem? My head still hurts from that bastard colliding with me!"
I shook my head, "Oh quit being such a baby Ichigo! That is what you get for not paying attention to where you are going."
"That's easy for you to say! You don't have that whacko Don Kanonji looking for you! I'm surprised he didn't even find us after the collision! You'd think that he would have caught up to us by then!" He protested.
I rolled my eyes, "Whatever Ichigo. Besides, we've got more important things to worry about. Did you happen to feel anything different about Karai and Ichiru?"
He looked at me confused, "Who are you talking about?" I face-palmed at his forgetfulness and whacked him again. Once again, he held his head, "Rukia, stop doing that! I didn't hear their names since I was arguing with that guy!"
I shook my head and sighed, "Ichiru is the guy you collided with and Karai is the one I was talking with," I reminded him.
He blinked before remembering and he realized what I was saying. He was now serious, "Now that you mention it, I did. They have different presences, but they still feel human as well, just like me."
"I know," I said, crossing my arms, "But I don't think that they are a threat and I think Karai feels the same way about us."
I took out my Denreishinki (soul reaper cell phone) to make sure that they weren't Soul Reapers and it showed nothing, "Yup, definitely not Soul Reapers."
Then, out of nowhere, a beeping sound came from my Denreishinki, "We'll worry about them later. Right now there are hollow detections coming from two locations. One is nearby and the other is on the other side of town."
I then made a face which Ichigo noticed, "Rukia, what's wrong?"
I answered him, "This is weird. Hollows usually appear in random locations. We've been killing hollows around the second location a number of times already. It seems like they've been hanging around that area for a while now. I thought it was a coincidence, but now I'm thinking it's not."
"Whatever. We'll go and defeat the hollow and see if there is a pattern or something if you're so concerned about it," he said while taking out his substitute soul reaper badge, preparing to go into his soul reaper form.
I nabbed it from him before he could use it and he got pissed off at me, "Hey! What's the big deal Rukia?"
"I'm not going to let you leave your body lying around all day, leaving me to save you as people panic that a teenager collapsed out of nowhere! And, not to mention, I'd have to move your body before it gets taken for an autopsy! Now listen, we are going back to your house and make Kon inhabit your body since I have no extra mod soul for you right now. Now come on!" I yelled at him.
Ichigo sighed and went along with my idea, not wanting to get whacked again. We started running in the direction to his house.
Yeah, so who was expecting to see characters from Bleach? Hehe Ichigo is one of my favorite characters even though I keep getting him whacked (and whacked some more later on) xD I'm sorry to those who haven't watched Bleach before, but I just had to put it in. =D The idea of a crossover was inspired by CMR Rosa so credit is given to him!
Please Review! Even saying "good chapter! Can't wait for the next one!" will be enough. I have a number of people who favorited this story and only about two-three people review each chapter =(
Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma or Bleach, just her OCs: Karai, Ichiru, and other characters that I made up.