Disclaimer: I don't why anyone would think I owned Bleach.
Chapter 5: It Has Begun
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." -Sun Tsu
Diana made another candy trip to Urahara's but stayed for a little while to annoy the occupants with songs from Halestorm. Oddly enough, Urahara sang along. By the time she got home, it was late, so she sequestered herself in her room. She was in the middle of playing a puzzle game on her handheld when she heard the Hollow.
She quickly realized that this was the event where Rukia gave Ichigo her spiritual powers. It wasn't like she could do anything about, so she watched from her window, the Hollow ignoring her. She watched as the Hollow steadily became more solid to her. She watched as Ichigo ran out to save his sister like the reckless idiot he is. She watched as a blurry Rukia got blindsided by the Hollow she probably should have been focused on. She watched as Ichigo tried to sacrifice himself to save his family, the reckless crazy idiot. She watched as Rukia took the hit for him instead attacking the Hollow from behind to either finish the monster or get its attention away from Ichigo when she really doesn't have the build to be able to take a hit.
Why is it people seem to think the only way to stop an attack is to block it anyway? Either end the beast before it can follow through or deflect it in some way. For someone of Rukia's body type, taking a blow is pretty much a sure fire way to disable herself.
Conclusion, Ichigo is a reckless moron (what else is new) and Rukia lacks battle sense. Frickin' brilliant. She'll whack them next time she sees them. (Even if Ichigo's a lost cause.)
It occurs to her that she got sidetracked and the fight is now over, if you can call Ichigo slicing up a Hollow with little to no resistance and amateur skills a fight. She can now clearly see Ichigo and Rukia in their soul forms, and Urahara is walking up to Rukia and an unconscious Ichigo.
Diana wondered if she and Urahara should still have that talk. Maybe in the morning; she can afford to miss a few hours of school.
-5-
The next morning she left early with a wave to her dad and arrived at Urahara's shop to greet an impatient Rukia. Apparently, Urahara had to put the finishing touches on 'something' before he could greet her.
That was fine, it gave her time to drill some sense into Rukia's tiny skull before she could repeat the same mistakes and wind up impaled by Grimmjow's hand.
"So who's the snowflake?" She asks Jinta, who she met on one of her candy runs.
"Just some idiot soul reaper who got injured on a low-level hollow." He said dismissively.
"Is that what that monster was?" She intoned. Rukia twitched.
"Is it alright to tell a human about this?" Rukia muttered. Hypocrite.
"Well, I can tell that you're a spirit, Snowflake, and Urahara-san promised to tell me if I became interested or got forced to become involved with what's going on. No harm, no foul, Snowflake."
"Fine, but my name Kuchiki Rukia, not Snowflake." The Snowflake drawled, clearly annoyed.
"No, you're delicate, small, pretty and feel cold. You are a snowflake."
"Enough with the Snowflake!" Diana just laughed and looked for something relatively harmless.
She spotted a paper fan on the tea table Snowflake was sitting at. It must belong to Urahara. She down with it in reach.
"I'm not reckless enough to charge into a fight I'm fairly certain I won't win, unlike my stubbornly reckless and brutal friend. I assume you were trained to fight those things." Snowflake nods tensely, like she's waiting for a bomb to off. "Do you know what went wrong?" Diana secretly hopes that she does and is trying to learn from past mistakes.
"I gave my powers to a human." Diana sighs. A vein pops on her forehead.
"YOU FRICKIN' IDIOT! DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH OR ARE YOU FRICKIN' STUPID?!" She whacked Snowflake over the the with the fan.
"That is the result, not a mistake!" She paused, "Since you are incapable of recognizing mistakes, I am going to burn them into your little skull until you learn from them."
"What would a child know about fighting Hollows!" Snowflake yells.
"More than you apparently!" Diana hit Snowflake with the fan again. "I may not know about Hollows, but I do know how to fight and strategize to a reasonable extent. You broke one very basic rule, and made actions that exposed your weaknesses and, if I'm right, ignored your strengths."
Snowflake just scowled at her, it seemed the fan hurt enough to keep her quiet. Diana went on, "A rule of fighting any opponent: don't take your eyes off the enemy. I don't care if a reckless crazy dumbass is doing something insane save whatever you were going to do to the dumbass until after your enemy is no longer a threat. Always assume your enemy won't wait for reckless idiots to quit being reckless idiots. Some people are just too dumb to live."
"So, are you telling me to pay attention to the enemy or calling Ichigo reckless idiot." Snowflake's expression was now a deadpan.
"Both." She replied with as much exasperation she could muster. Ichigo was just incurably reckless.
"Fighting styles play off of personal strengths and weakness. What works for your mentor, might not work for you, so if you are trying to copy the fighting style who's strengths and weaknesses are far different from your own, then forget it. Use the skills you have in a way that works. I'll even help you start." Snowflake looked dubious. "What? The person who taught me strategy gave me a similar speech, and it helped me turn my traditional Judo into something to be feared. Although I can't enter any Judo tournaments because it really isn't Judo anymore."
"So you created your own style of fighting style." Snowflake said, now interested.
"Yes, and I have very little tolerance for pain, so I like to deflect or abuse my opponent's power instead of taking a hit. You yourself seem like a glass cannon: someone who can do a lot of damage, but can't take a hit." Diana gave Snowflake a stern look. She looked ready to argue, but thought about it. She understood this time.
"Maybe…"
"Sneak attacks and speed are your best friends; it helps that you're so small. Attack as you think best. Think about it when you get your strength back."
Rukia looked downcast.
"What with that face? Is it because you lost a fight?"
"No, I'm just worried I sentenced your friend to an ill fate."
"Is that what you're worried about? What's done is done. We cannot change the past, we can only learn from it, and all that yap. Besides, knowing him, he's more likely to thank you for giving him the power to save his family, no matter the consequences."
"He'll have to do my job as a Shinigami."
"Does that involve protecting people?" Because it's Ichigo.
"A Shinigami protects all souls, by sending lingering souls to the Soul Society and destroying Hollows."
"Then he'll love his new job. If he resists, it's because he's being a stubborn idiot, unwilling to leave his comfort zone." She paused. "That or he's pretending to be a hardass again."
-5-
Urahara was being annoying and promised to tell Diana everything after school, telling her to escort 'Kuchiki-san' to school. The day went much the same as it did in anime and manga, except Ichigo and Rukia came back to Diana who had moved Ichigo's soulless body to someplace more secure. She scolded the both of them for leaving it out in the open.
When she went to Urahara's after school, he, of course, gave her the promised information. (Even if she already knew)
"You don't seem surprised by all this." He noted after the basics.
"Not really. Call me crazy, but I always figured that there was something going on that normal people weren't aware of - actually, why is it I got out of being relatively normal?" That was still bothering her.
"I would assume that you are a particularly spiritually sensitive soul. Combine that with moving to a spiritually charged area from an area deficient in reishi, and your soul began to create its own reiatsu to balance itself out."
"And it helps that my neighbor happens to be a reiatsu power house."
He nods.
"Is it possible for you to get me gun that works on Hollows? I don't want to get cornered with no way to fight back."
"Sure.~ But it will cost you."
"I'll work at the shop after school."
"Mind keeping an eye on Ichigo, and his friends, if they start becoming spiritually aware as well."
"I'd do that anyway."
Diana keeps the fan, by the way.
Next time: Diana gets powers; side effect: crazy.