Chapter 15: The Yoma
Hiii… what… is… up? =P I decided to update earlier than I was planning on so be happy xP
As you can see, this is a new chapter which I hope you'll like as always (or sometimes). X) There are fight scenes here which I suck at doing so bear with them, or if you like them, then yay!
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma or Bleach.
Karai's Point of View
We ran to the second floor and headed for where the sound was coming from. We stopped in front of the hallway, waiting to hear where the sound was.
"Hey! Let me out of here!" a voice said down the hallway in the last door as the banging noise kept on continuing.
Ichigo, Rukia and I ran to the door and I opened it quickly. Ichiru fell right on the ground in front of us on his back. He groaned in pain and went on his side, revealing his hands held together with duct tape.
I quickly kneeled down to get the tape off him, "Ichiru! What happened?" I was able to get the tape off him as he stood up, rubbing his wrists.
"That creepy Ayano-look alike hit me in the head, tied me up and locked me in the damn closet! Where the hell did she go? She didn't get to you, did she?" he yelled in annoyance.
I shook my head, "No she didn't. We haven't seen her around. I'm all right, though, but it doesn't look like you were."
Ichigo laughed, "What did I tell you? He got himself locked in the closet!"
Ichiru gets pissed off at him, "You think it's funny that I got locked in the stupid closet?"
"Yeah I do, especially since it was a girl that did it!" Ichigo snickered as he cracked up even more.
Rukia and I simultaneously face-palmed. (They seriously have been smacking heads and face-palming a lot for the past three chapters XD)
"Why you-!" Ichiru started yelling before he stopped after realizing something, "Wait a minute! Ichigo? Rukia? What are you guys doing here?" he exclaimed as he looked at them back and forth before looking at me perplexed, "Karai?"
I sighed, "I'd think it'd be best if Rukia told you herself." Ichigo had stopped laughing by now and became serious.
Ichiru looked at Rukia as she explained to him the whole concept like she did with me… even with the sketches… which he didn't have a problem with as well. I think it's only Ichigo who thinks her drawings sucks. I'm pretty sure he believes them just as much as I did.
When she was done she asked him, "Do you understand now?"
Ichiru nodded at her, "Yeah I get it and I believe you. If Karai believes you, then I do as well."
Rukia smiled at him, "At least you and Karai took the information well unlike Ichigo here did."
Ichiru snickered this time while Ichigo got mad, "S-shut up!"
I shook my head before holding my chin in thought, "So that girl probably is involved with the case. The question is how is she involved, and where is she?"
Just then, wailing sounds echoed through the hallway we were in. We all turned around to see two hollows. One was on the railing of the stairs and the other was on the floor in front of us.
We all went into battle stance. Ichigo and Rukia got their zanpakutos out and held them firmly with both hands. Ichiru held up his hands and fire formed around them. I materialized Kaito Enraiha to my hand, with fire surrounding it, and just like the two Soul Reapers, I held my sword with both of my hands.
The hollows wailed once more before the one on the railing went downstairs to the first floor and the other hollow went into the first room of the hallway to our right.
"Dammit! They went into different directions!" Ichigo shouted.
"Great… I think it'd be best if we split up into two groups then," Rukia complied.
"You're right. It's the only way to get this done quickly. Ok, Rukia and I will fight the hollow on this floor while the two of you go downstairs and take care of the other one!" I ordered before looking at the two who I paired together, "You got any problem with what I said?"
"Yeah, I do," Ichigo said before he yelled, "Who died and made you the leader?"
I raised an eyebrow as Rukia did her part and a smack could be heard, "Ow! Fine, you can make the decisions!" Ichiru just sighed.
I nodded, "Ok then, now let me repeat myself… does anybody," I said while glaring at Ichigo, "have any problems or concerns besides whining?"
Ichiru and Ichigo both glared at each other before sighing in defeat and looked at me, "Nope."
"Good. Now get you're asses down there and defeat that thing before Rukia and I kick them there for you."
"Let's get this over with," Ichigo said before glancing at Ichiru, "Come on, Ichiru…"
"Fine by me. The sooner we kill that thing, the better," Ichiru added, trying not to complain, as they ran downstairs to exterminate their hollow.
I sighed, "I hope they will be all right."
Rukia placed a hand on my shoulder, "Don't worry, they'll be fine. Now let's take down the hollow."
I nodded, "You're right, let's go." We ran to the room where the hollow was.
Everyone's Point of View
(With Ichigo and Ichiru)
Ichigo and Ichiru didn't like the fact that they were stuck with each other, but they weren't in the right position to complain right now. They had to defeat the hollow.
They finally made it down the first floor. They were at the bottom of the stairs, conflicting whether to go through the living room on the left or the dining room to the right.
"I'll go this way," Ichiru said, referring to the right, "and you go that way," he said, pointing to the left.
"Sounds good to me. We might be able to corner it to the room that meets the ones we go through," Ichigo said.
Ichiru stared at Ichigo while Ichigo himself was weirded out, "What?"
"You actually had a good idea. I didn't think you were this smart," Ichiru responded.
Ichigo growled, "Of course I'm smart dammit! Whatever, let's just do this." That was the last thing he said before flash-stepping into the direction he was supposed to go.
Ichiru shook his head in amusement as he went to his own direction. He kept his guard up as he searched the room. The hollow was big enough to see, so it shouldn't have been that hard to find it.
From the corner of his eye, something flashed by him. He quickly turned to his right, but he didn't see anything.
He then sensed something behind him and hastily turned around. The hollow was right in front of him. He was able to shoot a fireball at the creature, but then it got pissed and hit him so hard that he flew back into the next room.
Ichiru crashed into something that made his fall easier, but heard a groan under him.
He turned his head to see Ichigo all swirly-eyed under him. Ichiru quickly got off Ichigo and held his stomach since it hurt from the hit that the hollow gave him. A small flame emitted from his hand as he healed himself to make the pain lessen. When he was done, he looked back at Ichigo on the floor sheepishly, "Oops, sorry about that man. You all right there?"
Ichigo gave a thumb's up as he continued to lay down in pain, "Never better. We got to stop colliding with each other… I'm guessing you found the hollow?"
A wail could be heard in the room that Ichiru was thrown out of.
"Yup," Ichiru said before extending a hand to Ichigo, "Need a hand there?"
Not caring to fight right now, he gave him his hand and Ichiru helped him up to his feet. Once Ichigo was up, he held his back in pain from the fall, "My back…"
"Here, I'll heal it for you," Ichiru said before he placed his hand on Ichigo's back to diminish the pain. After about a few seconds, he pulled back his hand and the fire went away, "Better now?"
"Much better," Ichigo said as he grinned like an idiot and stretched his back, "Thanks. I don't feel like an old man now."
Ichiru chuckled, "You're welcome and thank you for easing my fall. I guess we're even."
"I guess so," Ichigo said as he smirked before going serious, "Now that we're all good to go, let's get that ugly thing."
Ichiru nodded as they both ran to the room where the hollow was. The two became curious when they saw the hollow going around the room, sniffing areas that it stopped at.
"Hey, does the hollow look like it's looking for something?" Ichiru asked Ichigo suspiciously as they kept their guard up in case the hollow surprise-attacked them.
"It does… but we should defeat it now before it finds what it's looking for!" Ichigo said before he hastily charged for the hollow. Ichiru just shook his head before he followed right after him.
The hollow growled as it faced them when it noticed that they were heading straight for it.
Ichigo was screaming as he ran at the hollow. He swung his giant sword at it, but it got out of the way before it can get sliced in half. The hollow goes onto the ceiling above Ichigo and Ichiru and stay there. It turned its head to wail at them before jumping down to claw them.
Ichiru shot a large fireball at it, causing the creature to fly back and hit the wall, "Ha! Payback! In your face, you son of a bitch!" Ichiru yelled at it with a smirk.
The hollow looked angry at Ichiru again and went straight for him as his eyes widened, "Umm, I think I spoke too soon," he said while shooting more fireballs at it.
Each time the hollow got hit by a fireball, it got held back a bit, but it still kept its mind set on killing Ichiru.
He began to panic, but was relieved as Ichigo came in and slashed the hollow's arm off just in time before it could reach Ichiru. It screamed in pain at the loss of its arm and started going crazy.
"Nice job Ichiru, you really pissed it off," Ichigo smirked.
"Shut up! Just pay attention to the thing!" Ichiru yelled as he was being cautious for when the hollow was after him again and he got an idea. He looked at Ichigo, "Hey, I got a plan. I'll attack the hollow and make it keep coming for me to distract it so that you can attack it when it's off-guard."
"You actually want to be the distraction?" Ichigo said surprisingly with a hint of a smirk.
"No, but we don't have that much of a choice right now and seeing as it hates me more than you…" Ichiru said depressingly.
The hollow started to compose itself and looked at Ichigo this time. The said person noticed and placed a hand on his partner's shoulder, "Your time to shine, my friend."
Ichiru shoved his hand away, "Whatever… Like we keep saying, let's get this over with." He then runs in the opposite direction from where Ichigo was and shot fireballs at the hollow.
Before the hollow could go after Ichigo, it got annoyed by Ichiru once more and went after him instead, with one arm. When its back was turned, Ichigo ran for it while the hollow wasn't paying attention. He flash-stepped to the back of the hollow and swung his sword at it twice. It finally disappeared.
Ichigo and Ichiru both panted in relief that the hollow was finally dead.
"Geez, the hollows today took longer to kill than usual," Ichigo said while scratching his head.
Ichiru was confused, "What do you mean?"
"Something's been off today. The stronger and faster ones have been showing up for some reason. Something in this house must be attracting them badly."
Ichiru nodded in agreement and holds his chin, "That makes sense. Maybe there is a presence here that is strong, but we don't know what it is."
"Yeah, could be… I wonder if Rukia and Karai killed their hollow by now." Ichiru and Ichigo suddenly almost lose their balance when a loud noise erupted in the house, coming from upstairs which caused the house to shake. It then stopped.
They looked up at the ceiling. Ichigo spoke, "Guess they didn't… That sounded like one of Rukia's Kido spells. You think we should go help them?"
Ichiru shook his head, "Let them take care of it. They should be fine. We should conserve our energy and figure out what is going on. They'll catch up. We should go look for clues."
"You're right, they both are strong," Ichigo said. He paused a bit before speaking again, "You know, you're not so bad for a bastard." He then smirked.
Ichiru snorted, but smiled nonetheless, "You're not so bad for a strawberry."
Ichigo started to get pissed once again, "Don't call me that, you bastard! My name means he who protects!"
Ichiru held up his hands in protest before he smirked, "I know. I know. It's just funny to call you that. Lighten up." He said as he walked past Ichigo to go search the first floor while Ichigo followed after him, still fuming, "Well, you wouldn't like it if I called you that!"
Ichiru just shrugged, "Nothing's wrong with my name. It means a ray of hope."
"Well, it also means a thread…" Ichigo said as he smirked.
"Hey, at least it's better than strawberry!"
Wailings could be heard in the next room. They glanced at each other with glaring eyes that said "We'll take care of this dispute later" before they ran to go kill the hollows.
(With Karai and Rukia)
Karai and Rukia made it to the room. When they saw the hollow, it looked like it was searching for something.
Karai glanced at her partner, "Rukia," she started to say, but Rukia cut her off, "I know. It's searching for something."
Karai nodded and gripped her hands on Kaito Enraiha, "Let's take care of this one before the other hollows come." She swung her sword as a stream of black fire went straight for the hollow. It noticed in time and dodged the attack. Now it faced them and screeched in anger.
Rukia sheathed her sword, extended her right arm so that her hand faced the creature and put her other hand on top of her extended arm. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!" After her chant, a red ball of fire energy appeared in front of her hand, "Hado number 31! Shakkaho!"
The ball of red fire energy then fired towards the hollow and hit it dead-on. It flew back, hit the wall and landed on the ground.
Karai was amazed at the power and spell that Rukia used. It was incredible. 'That was awesome! I definitely have to spar with her one of these days.'
Even though it was injured, the hollow slowly pushed itself up and screeched at us, before jumping all the way over our heads and going left into the hallway.
"Oh great, come on!" Rukia said as she ran out of the room with her arms in the same position for her attack with Karai following after her.
Rukia faced the hallway in the direction that the hollow was going and put her arm out again in front of the creature's back this time as it tried to run away. She proceeded to chant again, "Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws."
A blue fire energy ball, which looked more powerful than the other spell that she did, formed into her hand, "Hado number 33! Soukatsui!" The ball blasted towards the hollow as Karai swung a stream of black fire herself, but it turned to the right into a room just in time as their attacks hit the wall, causing the house to shake a bit.
Rukia scowled, "Dammit, we missed it by that much."
"It's all right! Now let's go get that hollow before it gets away!" Karai exclaimed as she went running into the room where the hollow went with Rukia right behind her.
Once again, it was going everywhere around the room, looking for something. It looked desperate too.
"This hollow is really annoying me…" Rukia exclaimed, "I think it's time to make it stop jumping around. Karai, attack the hollow when I tell you too," she said while pointing a finger in front of the creature this time. Karai nodded as she waited for Rukia's command.
"Bakudo number 30! Shitotsu Sansen!" A golden triangle formed from her finger and three beams of light shot out at the hollow so quickly. The hollow, too distracted on searching for what it wanted, didn't notice the triangle aiming for it and got itself pinned to the wall. It screeched as it struggled to get out, but it was impossible.
"Karai now!" Rukia yelled.
Karai charged for the hollow with her flamed sword and sliced it in half. It disappeared as well as the triangle that pinned the creature. The flames from Kaito Enraiha disappeared and Karai de-materialized it.
She turned towards Rukia and smiled, "Those were amazing spells that you did and very powerful too."
Rukia smiled back, "Thank you, you're pretty powerful yourself." She then held her chin as she walked forward until she was in front of Karai, "Judging by how the hollowing was behaving, there is definitely something going on in this house. Nobody can sense any spiritual pressure or presence except for the hollows since they are so attracted to it."
"Yeah, it's weird. We haven't even seen that girl around who supposedly lives here," Karai said.
"Are you talking about little ol' me?"
Rukia and Karai looked at each other in confusion since neither of them said that. They both looked at the entrance of the door. There stood Sakura, with an evil smile, "Hello there Karai."
Rukia sheathed her zanpakuto as Karai simultaneously summoned Kaito Enraiha. They held their swords in battle stances. They were surprised by the encounter since they didn't sense her presence.
"You're the yoma that has been haunting the house this whole time, aren't you?" Karai said coldly.
Sakura pouted as she stepped inside the room, "Now why would you think that?"
"Don't play dumb with us! Reveal to us who you really are!" Rukia yelled.
Sakura smirked, "Fine then, I'll show you my true form." Sakura still had the same figure, but now was in a water form with red eyes. She also floated in the air now.
"So you're a water yoma…" Karai said slowly.
The water yoma smirked once again and spoke in a demonic voice, "That's correct."
"So why are you here? And what are attracting these hollows so badly? And how can you speak?" Karai asked curiously.
The yoma grinned and laughed, "I might as well tell you since I am going to kill all of you."
Rukia growled, "Get on with it then so we can kill you first!"
The yoma scowled at Rukia, "Impatient much, are we? Fine then. Yes, I am a water yoma; so obviously, I am made out of water. Unlike other yomas, I don't possess my prey; I kill them and take their physical appearance."
Rukia and Karai are shocked by what they hear as the yoma smirked, "Yes, I killed the one whose appearance I've taken. No need to worry; her spirit still remains here in this house. I didn't devour her completely yet. I want to make it a nice slow process because of the high spiritual presence she has. It's enough for me to last awhile and sustain myself."
Karai snarled, "So that's what is attracting the hollows."
"If that's the case, then why can't we feel her presence anywhere? Even yours too," Rukia asked.
"That is because I placed a barrier in the location where she is hidden so nobody can find her. Although, it still attracted those stupid creatures here for some reason," the yoma said before smirking, "And I guess I'm strong enough to mask my presence which is why you can't sense it and also why I am able to speak."
Rukia and Karai are once again surprised. 'No way! This yoma is probably really strong if it has such skilled abilities!' Karai thought astonished.
The yoma smiled evilly, "I know, shocking right? That's how powerful I am now thanks to my energy source. I was so lucky to find her. No, actually, she found me!" the yoma exclaimed as it giggled before continuing, "But there's no point in telling you what I mean since I am going to kill you two and then your companions downstairs. Maybe I'll keep you all with my energy source so I can move on to one of you after I completely devour her," The demon then took a stance, ready to fight, with Rukia and Karai doing the same.
The yoma laughed at Karai, "You honestly think you can defeat me? You do know that water beats fire right?"
Karai smirked, "We'll see about that. Lots of fire will probably be able to cool you off until you are nothing."
The yoma scowled when she said that and released some of its spiritual energy for the fight, "I'd like to see you try!"
Just on cue, Karai ran straight for the demon, "My pleasure!" she yelled before swinging her sword at it. It dodged before she could hit it.
Karai growled as she turned around just in time before it could claw at her. She swung her sword, but it disappeared in a flash.
The yoma then appeared in front of Rukia. She tried to slice it, but it disappeared once again. The demon did that several times, annoying Rukia and Karai.
"Dammit! It's taunting us!" Rukia shouted before she flash-stepped out of sight. The yoma then reappeared once more a few feet in front of Karai and noticed Rukia wasn't around, but didn't care as it fought Karai.
Karai shot a stream of fire at the yoma while it sent a stream of water. When their attacks impacted, steam was produced, canceling the attacks. Karai growled as the water yoma smirked, "You won't be able to defeat me!"
Suddenly, Rukia appeared behind the yoma and had her arm extended once more, "Hado number 31! Shakkaho!" The attack hit its target and it flew in Karai's direction.
Karai had her chance and swung Kaito Enraiha at the yoma and sliced its front. It then stood still as it held its stomach and howled in pain from the gash that leaked a watery blue blood instead of the regular red blood, "Damn you people! I guess you are stronger than I thought. I have to go heal myself with my precious energy source. Just you wait! I'll be back and far stronger than before!"
"Don't even think about it!" Karai said as she ran for the yoma, but it disappeared before she can hit it. The yoma's presence started to get harder to sense before it became hidden once more.
Karai was pissed, "Dammit! That damn yoma is probably with her now! And we don't even know how to find their location!"
Rukia crossed her arms in annoyance, "That demon is more troublesome than those damn hollows. I think we should go meet up with the boys and create a plan on what to do. There's no need to get angry right now."
Karai calmed down and looked at Rukia, "You're right. Let's go then."
Rukia nodded as they both ran downstairs to go find Ichigo and Ichiru.
End of another Bleach/Kaze no Stigma chapter!
The yoma has finally been revealed! Although, it was pretty obvious that it was "Sakura" who is actually an imposter taking the real Sakura's appearance. The kind of yoma that it was probably not as obvious, though. I was pondering what kind of demon to make it and debated between water, wind and some other elements, but I stuck with water to make the yoma "shape-shift." I know, I know, you're probably thinking then how is Karai and Ichiru supposed to defeat it if they are fire magic users? I just made it work somehow. xD
I can't really remember if yomas can speak or not (which I think they don't), but I made this one talk to make it more entertaining. ;)
More Bleach crossover chapter coming up within two weeks! Please REVIEW!