Alright!! So here it is. After my long absense and lack of inspiration for the next few chapters, I finally have finished it. And just because I love you all sooooo much, I'll do something special for ya! I won't just up date one chapter...but TWO!!! HA HA!! Yes, because of how I'm doing the next couple of chapters with my lil contest winner, it's going to take me a while to up date again. So the extra chapter is just to tie you all over until I update again. Until then, expect one-shots from me on occasion when I need to get the blood pumping. So let's get this parteh started!! woot woot!
Disclaimer:...*glares* I'm not even going to say it again. You know by NOW!! *whimpers and sobs* Not mine!!
A/N: These chapters might be a bit shorter than expected, but meh..work with what ya got!! Now onward!!
Days had passed since that soul shaking incident at the Urahara-shoten. Everyday afterward, the group would gather at the shop that held the most recent and by far the most confusing and tiring mystery that they had ever encountered. At times, days were spent merely observing the slowly healing girl, taking in every shudder and whimper that would pass through her lips. Others were spent discussing and contemplating just what could be happening. Orihime had gotten over the incident of her hand and continued to take post by Arena, taking the hand that was by her and rubbing soothing circles over the tepid skin with her thumb. Ishida made sure that he was in reach of Orihime should another relapse come about.
Every mind in that room went over what had occurred and the previous encounters with the girl on the futon. Yoruichi and Urahara shared what information they could with the group and the information that was shared was only the beginning of the shocking truth that they would know later. Yoruichi had disclosed to them that Arena was more than human as could be noted by her flashing spiritual pressure. She told them that she was of a mixture, but that Arena her self would have to tell them what she was mixed with. Heads nodded wearily at the facts given to them. Urahara had then shared with them that since Arena could not very well continue to stay at the shop, that she would be admitted to the school so that she could be watched during the day. Also that Soul Society would be sending down a group to help with this until all things could be told.
When Urahara told of the people he knew for sure would be coming, various reactions were made. Orihime and Rukia smiled and began plotting, Chad, Renji, and Ishida merely nodded, and Ichigo groaned and muttered under his breath darkly. Hiding the majority of his face behind his beloved fan, Urahara chuckled then looked at the resting figure who had thrust them all into this.
Sweat lightly sprinkled her forehead and her breath came in shallow low pants. Her fingers would clutch the sheets across her waist tightly and then loosen. Eyelids fluttered minutely and incoherent words whispered in the air, too low and soft for anyone to hear. Days continued to pass without incident. Everyone went to school, though assignments and class occurrences were the furtherest things from everyone's minds. The next day when everyone had gathered, they immediately knew something had changed and cautiously made their way into the shop. Yoruichi, Urahara, and Tessai were seated, each looking solemn and contemplative. When they became aware of the group's arrival, their eyes rested on them and everyone knew that something seriously wrong had occurred since they last met.
"Arena is awake…but barely." Yoruichi whispered, her eyes moving to stop at the table the three surrounded.
Orihime let a sigh of immense relief slip out and put a hand to her chest. Blinking her gray eyes, she trained them on the dark-skinned woman that had delivered the news that she had so desperately wanted to hear for weeks now.
"Can we…go and see her now?" She inquired softly, her voice trembling with excitement that the young woman that had surrounded her thoughts was finely awake.
Yoruichi glanced at Urahara, who nodded, and then looked at Orihime. "You can…but she isn't responsive as of yet."
"What do you mean by "unresponsive", Yoruichi-sama?" Chad replied his muscles tensed.
Sighing, she repositioned herself and then explained.
"This morning, Kisuke and I both went to check on her to see if anything had changed during the night. We found her lying there as usual, but her eyes were open. We sat by her and tried to get her to talk. She did nothing except blink and stare at the ceiling. We then sat her up and gave her some water to drink, but she wouldn't touch it and made no move to remove from her person. I had to maneuver her to drink it. We carried on as we usually did, changing her bandages and making her comfortable. During that whole process, she never made any objections to us moving her and she never spoke. It was like she was nothing but a doll, completely lax and empty. When we finished, I sat by her and continued to try to get her talk for about an hour. She just sat, still in the position we put her in, and stared. Nothing we did got a response of any kind from her." Yoruichi sighed again. "So you can try talking to her, but I highly doubt that you will achieve much except more staring and silence."
The group eyed each other doubtfully and then nodded, expressing their want to see her. Urahara got up and made his way to the room that held her. They also made their way to follow, but were stopped by Yoruichi. When asked why, she merely said, "So that Urahara can prepare her for your arrival. We have been the only people that she has seen awake and we don't want her to be startled lest we have a relapse or something more dangerous." When Urahara appeared and nodded, Yoruichi let them pass and followed as well.
The mix-matched group entered the eerily quiet room and sat in their seats. Renji and Chad sat on her left while Urahara and Yoruichi sat in front of her. Rukia positioned herself beside Yoruichi's left, while Orihime and Ichigo sat on her right. Orihime slowly took her hand as was her custom and kept the limp appendage there for the rest of their stay. The room regained its silence once everyone was situated and attention was focused on Arena.
Orihime cleared her throat and gave the first attempt. "Arena-san….Arena-san, can you hear me?" She spoke softly, not wanting to startle the woman, but as expected, she received no response. She rubbed the hand she held, trying to coax any reaction, but failed. Renji tried next since he was the one that had gotten the strongest reaction from her all those weeks ago during their first meeting.
"Oi, onna! Say something, don't just sit there and stare. We're talking to you." He spoke gruffly, trying to rouse her anger…or anything that he could get. Still nothing that he said gave him what they needed.
"Arena-san, could you please say something to us, so that we can at least know that you are okay?" Chad tried next, thinking that if he asked directly instead of trying to provoke her that it might work. There was a twitch of her left hand and an extra blink, but other than that nothing.
Each person gave their attempts afterward, but still nothing, only blank dead stares and soft breathing. An aggravated sigh from Ichigo after Ishida had tried after him caught everyone's attention. His knuckles were death white from him clutching his hands so tight upon his knees and the continuous twitch of his left eyebrow told of the explosion that was sure to come. But to the immense surprise of everyone, Ichigo merely sighed and locked his gaze on Arena. He made a noise in the back of his throat and looked at the figures in front. "That beast said that Chad had a pretty good connection to her right?" He spoke finally causing eyebrows to rise. Yoruichi and Urahara both looked at each other and then nodded.
"Then wouldn't it make sense that Chad stands a better chance at getting to her than any of us?" Ichigo pondered out loud, an idea starting to grow in his mind. The others nodded and with his tentative plan slightly finished, Ichigo stood up. Looking at everyone, he asked "Do you all remember when we first took her to my house?" Nods answered him. "Do you remember that it was when she looked over at Chad that she fainted and that wound at her abdomen started to bleed again, did any of you hear what she said before she blacked out?" Eyebrows furrowed at this question and minds raced to remember the incident. Rukia gasped and looked up at Ichigo. "She said, "No…can't be him," if I remember right." Ichigo nodded and then looked at Chad. "I'm thinking that if Chad can some how get her to recognize him again, then we might have a chance of finding out some stuff." Murmurs of approval swelled and died. Urahara grinned and opened his fan again. "Well well, Kurosaki-kun, who knew that you could be so intuitive when you need to be!!! This is a grand day for us all!!!" He exclaimed…and barely missed the cup that sped for his head. Ichigo mumbled about 'baka shop-keepers' and was about to say something when a commotion at the front of the store made them all jump to their feet and head that way. Orihime stayed back, opting for staying with Arena in case something happened.
The group made their way to the front and stopped. There in front of them was Jinta trying to hit somebody with his broom and Tessai tackling the poor kid to the ground. A yell of anger came and that is when the identity of the figure and those behind him came to light. Gasps of all kinds came as the names of the people were shouted out.
"Ikkaku, Yumichika, Matsumoto, Toushiro, and Shuuhei- san!!!!" The various reactions of the now identified individuals resounded. Ikkaku with his grin and boken in hand, Yumichika with his comment that yelling was not at all beautiful, Matsumoto giggled and waved at her friends and Toushiro glared with his indignant squawk of "That's Hitsugaya-taichou!". The last person, Hisagi, merely nodded and observed all around him as he had never been to this place before and was currently thinking why Yamamoto-soutaichou had requested he also go with the crazed group. Ichigo and he nodded at each other, as they had sparred once or twice during Ichigo's random visits to Soul Society and now knew each other as well as expected. Introductions and explanations were shared and all went to one of the more spacious rooms in the shop. When everything quieted down, Hitsugaya briefed everyone on why they were here, telling of how Yamamoto-soutaichou and Mayuri-taichou had become interested in what was going on with Arena. To make sure that nothing bad came out of her appearance, they had been chosen, since the majority of them had been there before quite a number of times, and told to watch her for a while. Just to get a feel of what problem she could possibly pose to the Soul Society and observe how she interacted with others. When Rukia asked how they knew of Arena's existence, Hisagi answered that it was her monstrous surge of spiritual energy that had flared briefly and Mayuri-taichou had sensed it with the radars that he had.
With that being said, Urahara and Yoruichi both told of everything that had happened from the first run-in at the school to her attack during her stay at the shop to her current state, with interjections from the others. Hitsugaya nodded, keeping note of what was said and storing it for later review. Matsumoto squealed at the prospect of finding a new friend, much to Hitsugaya's ire, and Ikkaku grinned at the thought of someone having enough spiritual energy that could possible rival Ichigo's, as unimaginable as it may seem. Yumichika commented that as long as she was beautiful then they would get along great and Hisagi did the same as Hitsugaya, storing notes of what had been told as well as looking at the shop and the people around the room. Most of them he had met and liked well enough while others he was introduced to and told of how they contributed to the shop. Yoruichi opened her mouth to speak when Orihime's call for them rang through the rooms. Everyone was out the door before her call could stop and they arrived just in time to see Orihime lean over Arena's convulsing body and try to restrain her by herself. Ishida moved Orihime and the same people took over, except that Chad and Renji had switched positions with Renji holding her legs and Chad holding down her arms. Ichigo kept a steady pressure on her shoulders and biceps, opting to press her up into his chest and steadied her thrashing head by crossing his arms tightly around her upper half and maneuvering her head into the crook of his neck. Though mindful of her open mouth lest she bite him in her fit. Her hair swished sharply in the air, letting off a soft scent in the room that made Orihime think of fresh rain and thick summer nights.
Wide eyes took in the scene as the new arrivals witnessed first hand what had been shared just a few moments ago. A shrill scream erupted from her mouth and suddenly, before anyone could brace themselves, a bone-cracking pressure crushed the room. Orihime, Rukia, and Ishida were pinned to the floor as the pressure continued to press against them, a heavy sweat breaking out over everyone. Renji, Chad, and Ichigo gritted their teeth together as they fought to stay upright, pants starting to rattle in the room. Urahara, Yoruichi and the newly arrived members pressed against near-by walls and also tried to keep upright. The pressure increased along with Arena's blood-chilling screams and screams from the surrounding people joined in. Clothes became soaked with sweat in minutes and eyes widened, the sheer force of the pressure causing them to gasp and pant for air as their chests felt caved in. Bones and joints cracked and popped and skin felt taunt, too burned and too raw for anyone to do anything. Hitsugaya, Urahara and Ichigo all squinted at one another, as difficult as it was with the sweat steadily pouring down their faces and into their eyes and nodded. Each began to let their spiritual energy mount, trying to combat the squeezing pressure and Ichigo let out a roar as his bursted forward, causing the air to crackle with raw power and slight electricity to shock people. The pressure fought back, trying to push Ichigo's into submission. Everyone knew that if this didn't stop soon, some of them wouldn't be able to handle the pressure for much longer and would black-out, the pressure crushing their chest and they could very well die from the sheer force. Ichigo shut his eyes, trying to focus on pulling more of his never-ending energy out and not the burning that surrounded him or the sweat that seemed to leave trails of fire across his skin.
Arena's screams reached levels of insanity as electricity clashed. As both pressures fought, finally with Hitsugaya's and Urahara's spiritual energy as well, the pressure decreased and soon disappeared. Numerous gasps and sobs for air resounded in the room and each person collapsed to the floor, either in the room or in the hallway. After several minutes of gulping air greedily into their lungs and shakily getting into a more comfortable position, when their bodies allowed them, they all stared at each other and then at the limp lifeless body that had caused it. Ichigo shakily placed her down and Chad and Renji flung themselves from her, grabbing at their chests and still gathering as much air as possible. Ichigo's heavy panting barely moved the soaked locks of hair and he braced his hands on either side of her. Getting a semblance of breathing back, he wiped the dripping sweat from his face and neck and then looked at the girl below him. Her eyes were blank, her skin an ashen color and as he looked on, his eyes widened before he pressed his ear to her chest and gasped.
"SHE ISN'T BREATHING!!" Ichigo rasped out, pushing his body to move to her side and begin what CPR he knew. Yoruichi staggered into the room and dropped to her other side, helping Ichigo as they tried to bring back her breathing. Orihime started to sob and Rukia held her hand, softly murmuring that she would be okay and that Ichigo and Yoruichi would revive her. Everyone else looked at that the scene and stayed silent, hoping that they had not just suffered that for nothing.
After about five minutes of trying, both Ichigo and Yoruichi stared at the lifeless body, no sound coming from her. Yoruichi moved away and looked at Urahara, whose eyes couldn't be seen from the way his head was tilted. Ichigo murmured under his breath and kept pushing on her chest, leaning down to see if she was responding. Suddenly, he cursed loudly and pressed hard, whispering for her to wake up so he could kick her ass for putting them through what they had. The dead eyes suddenly widened and the body jerked a couple of times, strangled noises coming from the mouth. The scream started off soft, barely there…dead. Then it rose in volume, the rattling sound becoming stronger, until another full-blown scream charged through the air. Her body lifted up and then slumped to the ground again, her head lolling to her left side and she surrendered to the encasing darkness of her mind. Spurts of blood came from her now opened wounds and her newly clean yukata become a burning crimson again. Tessai shakily came in when Urahara summoned him, and without asking what happened, set to work on her wounds again. When she was cleaned and a new yukata was brought out and she was changed, Tessai left, saying that he had to go check on Jinta and Ururu and make sure that they were breathing fine on their own now.
Breaths of relief came after she fainted; each person looked at one another. Urahara faintly cleared his throat, still not right after the incident, and spoke hoarsely when he had everyone's attention. "I believe that things are going to get a bit more interesting." Then turning to the still shuddering group said "You all had better get use to this. Something tells me this is only the beginning of something more." He spoke low, the seriousness of his tone sending chills down their spines and as eyes landed on the figure and resolves were formed, each person vowed in their minds to figure out just what the hell was going on…and they would as soon as the key to all this awoke next.
WOOT!! Finished. I must say that this chapter makes me proud!! I hope you all had just as much fun reading as I had writing it!! ^-^ Remember constructive criticism is appreciated greatly!! Ja ne!! and don't forget to review and comment!!