Quetzal - ya chapter 6! (bows) hope you all like it its a bit shorter then other chapters. I also now have a beta Matchstick800 who is working on the older chapters at the moment.
Xxxxxxxxxx
Chapter 6 - why me?
Xxxxxxxxxx
Yup she was right, that was for sure, thought Seras frustrated as the moron managed to turn the spirit into a hollow in under a minute after its appearance, but not before having the most completely inane argument with it. Ichigo had tried to intervene only to get caught by security and then get knocked out of his body by Kisuke. At which point he had grabbed the exorcist and hauled him into the building so the hollow would chase them and leave the crowd alone. Hearing it screech she cursed and dodged around security, unknowingly running right by the live news cameras in the process in her attempt to get around the other side of the building, only to be grabbed a moment later by Kisuke. Such a tiny glimpse of her should have come to nothing, but half a world away someone just happened to take notice.
Back inside the hospital Ichigo's limited patience was running short as he tired to get Kan'onji to understand the seriousness of the situation, something that was looking to be a lost cause. The amusement he could feel radiating off his Zanpoktou was not helping either, he was pretty sure the other was laughing at him. A minute later it seemed he had finally gotten though to the idiot when the hollow burst out of the floor. Ichigo reached up to grab the hilt of the zanpoktou but a flash of warning from it made him pause for a moment. The Hollow roared and slashed at him he ducked drawing his zanpoktou anyways the tip glancing off the wall in the process as he swung at the hollow. Ichigo might not be a genius but he understood that had he drawn his sword where he had been standing before it would have gotten lodged in the wall, the sense of approval he got at that thought confirmed he was correct. Ichigo sidestepped out of the way of another attack stabbing at the hollow as slashing wasn't really an option in the tight confines of the hall, he needed to force the fight outside, but where? There were spectators every where were would be safe, unless! Ichigo flicked a glance around before spotting a staircase just to the left of the hollow, the roof!
Ichigo spun managing an angled slash at the hollow taking advantage of the longer diagonal to avoid clipping the zanpoktou on the wall, and forced the hollow back several paces just enough to clear the path to the stairs, he reached back and grabbed Kan'onji by his jacket again dragging him along to the roof. He knew the hollow might not follow if he didn't, and as annoying as he was he couldn't let the moron get eaten. He ducked under a glob of something nasty and green looking as he hit the bottom of the stairs the exorcist yelling as he lost his staff to being glued to the wall by the stuff. Ichigo made a mental note to avoid getting hit by the stuff.
"Boy what are you doing!" Kan'onji yelled as they exited onto the roof, Ichigo tossed him off to the side before answering.
"Simple I couldn't swing my sword down there." He snapped not the least bit surprised when the hollow tore through the floor to get to them screaming about how hungry it was and how much it hurt. Ichigo winced in sympathy for the agony the creature was in, but he didn't let it slow him down as he attacked once more, trusting his Zanpoktou to give him some kind of warning if he was about to make to severe of a blunder like in the hall again. After that the fight only lasted a minute before the hollow collapsed to the ground a cut going clean through its mask. It took all of Ichigo's will power not to bludgeon the exorcist over the head when he ran up crowing about how he (ichigo) had destroyed the monster. "stop laughing." Ichigo said flatly not taking his eyes off the hollow. Kan'onji looked at him confused.
"Why not boy? You beat the monster!" He asked puzzled "You should get more excit..." he stopped mid sentence as the hollow started to dissolve a look of horrified shock crossing his face as its form disappeared to show the human it had once been. "No...it...can't be...He's the one I!"
"Thats called a 'hollow'" Ichigo said quietly turned away as the light of the dissolving spirit faded away. "When the chain attached to a ghosts chest comes off and a hole open's...the ghost becomes an unreasoning monster, a 'hollow'"
"A hole..in the chest..it can't be..what have I been doing all these years?" He collapsed to his knees "I am ashamed of myself." He muttered Ichigo looked back at him his expression a little softer then It had been, he understood, he hadn't known at first either what the hollows really were, but at least he hadn't been creating them by accident.
"Hay, thats enough cryin' for now, everyone's waiting for ya." He said finally taking pity on the man, Kan'onji looked up and heard the crowd shouting his name on the ground, he got up and looked over the edge. Ichigo smirked looking over at him. "Whats wrong? Given 'em what they want. Thats a hero's job, ain't it?"
"Boy..." He sighed and walked to the edge he paused for a moment before making his usual over excited cheer and yelling " Mission complete!" At the ecstatic crowd he looked down at them for another moment before speaking again to Ichigo. "Boy, that was a superb fight. I admire you courage and wit..as well as your strength. Please lend me your strength again in the future." He said holding out his hand Ichigo hesitated only get a mental nudge of encouragement from his Zanpoktou he sighed looking uncertain.
"Well, if it's only once in a while." He finally relented taking his hand and shaking on it.
"Right, then from now on...YOUR MY NUMBER 1 STUDENT!" Kan'onji yelled happily Ichigo face faulted.
"I GOT DEMOTED!" He thought outraged as his zanpoktou laughed at his new plight, a moment later he realized that he wasn't simply feeling amusement he was actually hearing the other laugh..this revelation was echoed by a flash of surprise form the blade followed by what could only have been an attempt to actually talk to him, he mentally strained his ears trying to hear the other, but all he could make out was a faint static, he could tells its was words, but he just couldn't quite make out anything.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Kisuke was truly beginning to worry about Isshin's pet vampire, the creature had been acting more and more like an over protective mother hen where Ichigo and the girls were concerned. That wasn't really a bad thing overall, and he couldn't pretend to be an expert on vampire behavior seeing as he had only one example of a real one, but it just seemed at odds for the species. Maybe that was just her, and she was afraid of loosing her new family after her old one had turned on her with the exception of her master. That mark on her shoulder though, he frowned down at her seeing the faint silvery lines half covered by her black tank top. That worried him, the reiatsu he felt from it creeped him out, he rarely found anything that could truly be described as evil, not even hollows felt like this thing did, nor did Seras's own reiatsu. The power in it seemed to grow the more Ichigo was in danger, at which point Seras would go a bit over protectively nuts, it would then fade when the danger had passed becoming barely visible, it had to be connected to her behavior somehow.
The cheering of the crowd made him look up to see Kan'onji waving down at the crowd and yelling that the monster was gone, he snorted unimpressed at the man, but please Ichigo was able to defeat the hollow easily without getting the bystanders hurt. "DAMIT LET GO!" Snarled Seras from where she was trapped in his arms, he looked down at her with a grin.
"Whats wrong Bat chan you don't like me any more?" he asked sending her a fake hurt look, she growled eyes glowing red, and he let her go trying not to make it seem like he was in a hurry to do so. For all that he had fought things that were far more deadly something about Seras's made him nervous.
Seras for her part was ready to strangle the annoying shop keeper when he finally let her go, he reminded her far to much of her master sometimes except not as insane. That was probably a good thing though, she wasn't certain if the world could survive two of them. She huffed glaring at him before looking back at the hospital seeing Ichigo jump down from the roof without even stumbling and made his way over to them looking like he couldn't decide if he was annoyed or happy.
"Your alright?" Asked Seras he nodded smirking.
"Hell ya, made another break through tonight." He said grinning Seras looked please at this.
"Fantastic." She agreed.
"A break thought hu? On what?" Asked Kisuke Ichigo shot him a look apparently just noticing him.
"Who the hell are you?" He demanded looking irritated Kisuke blinked looking a bit taken aback before grinning snapping his fan open to hid his smile.
"Who me? Why I am merely Urahara Kisuke!" He gave a sketchy half bow. "your friendly local shop keeper." He said brightly Ichigo stared at him incredulous not believing it for a second, Seras snickered.
"Don't believe a word he says Ichigo, he's the one who got that false body for rabbit lady, he not human, though I'm not sure what he is." She said Ichigo glanced her way and nodded looking thoughtful. Kisuke mean while was giving Seras a hurt look.
"But Bat-chan!" He said dramatically. "How could you say such terrible things about poor little me?" Seras looked at him unimpressed.
"One wonders." She said drily looking back at Ichigo Kisuke let his act drop a bit looking back at Ichigo as well.
"But truly, what break though?" He asked Ichigo hesitated and shot a look at Seras who shrugged at him.
"Well, Seras found out that the Zanpoktou are alive and that I should be able to talk to it, so I'v been trying to and have been making some progress." He answered haltingly, it took much of Kisuke's hard one self control to not show his surprise at this, he was trying to talk to his zanpoktou, and was making progress?
"How well can you hear him?" He asked feigning minor curiosity Ichigo frowned.
"Well, mostly just emotions, its like playing charades half the time, but I could almost hear him earlier, I could tell it was words but I couldn't actually hear what he was saying, just that he was saying something, that was better then before." He answered.
"Indeed?" Kisuke asked brightly. "Well thats wonderful! Keep at it you'll get it eventually!" He added brightly trying not to think about just how fast Isshin's sons powers were growing.
Half a world away someone was already getting on a plane before the live show had even ended, moonlight glinted off his glasses as he grinned.(1)
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm laughing right now because you all think you know who that is..haha ^_^ any guess's?
Ps who should Seras be paired with? Put in anyone you want except Ichigo, Alucard, renji, and Pip. They are not choices ^-^ review! It makes me happy!
