Rebirth: A Tale of Two Souls

5: Lackluster Aftermath

"Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace."

-Oscar Wilde

"Kagome?"

The high school girl was about to groan and turn over, it wasn't a school day, then her mother opened the blinds and the evil that was light pushed away the possibility of sleep. "Hey Kagome? Are you all right?"

"Mmm, yeah…" She managed to push herself up as she stifled a yawn, her hair sticking in awkward directions. "I didn't realize I'd fallen asleep down here. Was having the strangest dreams last night."

"Oh cool!" Souta hopped into the room as he exclaimed the niftiness of his attention, picking up the sword that was still settled in the corner. "Awesome Kagome, where'd you get this?"

"Souta, don't play with that." Their mother chided at once, frowning at him before he could draw the blade from it's sheathe.

"Aw, mom…why does Kagome get a sword?" He whined as he instead settled his eyes on the ceramic hairpiece. "…and what's that?"

"It's a…" She blinked a little then, pausing…she wasn't sure what it was. She didn't remember any of the night before after about the time she brought the man she saved back here. Though she did remember that being in his hair clearly. "It's a hairpin…sort of. I helped out someone that was wearing it yesterday, that's his sword too…he had it."

"Who is this?" Her mom considered her a tad skeptically.

Kagome did her best to look innocent. "I saw a man that was injured on my way home from school and I managed to help him but I think I was pretty sick cause I don't remember much after we got here. I guess he left and forgot some of his things."

"You shouldn't just invite people into the house Kagome." Her mom shook her head as if disappointed. "I know you want to help people but what if he would have hurt you?"

"Yeah." Souta jumped in. "Or stolen all of our stuff."

"Homework Souta." Mom interrupted him. "Now."

"Aw mom," he repeated. Walking off sulking as he muttered. "Kagome gets to listen when I'm in trouble."

"I'm sorry mom." Kagome was a little deflated, she hated making her mom worry and suffer. She always took so many things with a smile sometimes the girl forgot and took her for granted. "I think I should try and find him to give him his things back though."

"Did you finish your homework yet?" The mom put her hands on her hips, a dust cloth on one hip where she'd been dusting off the tabletops. "If not, finish your homework, then you can search for this mysterious case."

Kagome knew better than to argue on the matter of homework after she ended up nearly failing and having to be considered an incomplete last year. "Okay."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The soul reaver was settled on a bench at a street corner, seated only because he'd spent the night lost and in the rain. His hair had mostly dried in the warming morning air though his kimono was still horribly damp yet again. He'd spent the evening lost in various memories and thoughts of family and duty. So trapped in his deliberations that he hadn't even realized his zanpaktou was still at the strange woman's house that had saved him.

He'd visited the disagreeable ex-captain's shop in Karakura town but no one had been there, or they hadn't been answering. It seemed everyone that might notice his missing was still in battle on the other side of the magical barrier they'd created to separate the souls of the city and keep them safe.

In general his day had been going poorly so he was preparing to travel to an estate his family kept on the mortal world in the case of just such an extreme encounter. It wasn't as if he could be returned to the battle until someone from his world realized what had happened to him.

Then he felt a tug at the edge of his consciousness. A moment where something in his mind darkened and focused on an area far from where he was now. A sort of alert went off in his mind in the form of menacing emotions. A hollow was nearby, back toward the area he'd traveled from the night before. Likely going after the spiritual energy the woman had that had saved him.

He didn't hesitate then, his steps were of the flash variety as he traveled back toward where he came and the hollow in question. Such work would normally be below a person of his position but it was still his duty to remove those hollows that would appear when he was here. Likely it was just a weak creature trying to pick off humans while the war waged in the mirror Karakura town.

It was then he realized he was without his sword for the first time, chiding himself for letting the whore get to him so much he would leave behind a part of himself. That couldn't be helped now though, if his senses weren't lying to him the creature was getting closer to the very girl he was dignifying-ly cursing in his mind.

As he jumped over another group of homes, coming to an easy landing in the front yard of the home they'd entered the night before his eyes searched out the wicked looking creature.

It's ivory-colored mask was long at the sides and it's eyes were narrowed and angry as a result of how it was built. A short tongue with barbs on it's end was sticking just an inch from a maw as big as half of the rest of it. The creature itself couldn't have been bigger than four feet tall, though it's rows of teeth shimmering maliciously took up a good two feet of it's width by itself. Overall it looked somewhat like a demonic frog, shadows clinging to it's dark body and helping it to blend into the environment so well the woman it was watching through the second story window hadn't a clue of the ugly creature stalking her on the other side of the glass.

Without his sword Byakuya wasn't limited however and whatever it might have been planning with it's barbs never came to fruition. He pointed at the creature with his palm outward and spoke calmly the name of his kido. "Blue Fire. Crash Down."

A single red balls of fire shot from where his palm faced, shooting unerringly into the hollow and seeming to eat it apart, spiritual power from the spell slaying the low level hollow nearly instantly. It didn't even finish a death cry before it faded away.

In the room Kagome yelped and fell backward out of her chair, staring at where she could have sworn was a strange monster on fire outside of her window…her mouth in the ready to catch flies position as she tried to make sense of what had happened. She couldn't have just been seeing things. She was in that odd seat on the floor with her back still hurting from where she'd rolled over the chair to get to this point for several minutes. When she finally managed to close her mouth she crawled to her feet and edged back over to her almost finished paper wearily to glance out the window.

Only to find herself staring at the street, a bird flying by as if nothing at all was amiss with the world, and making her seriously wonder about her mental status. "Maybe I belong in a funny farm after all."

"Been saying that for years!" Souta put in his two cents with a laugh as he opened her door without knocking. "Mom and I are going to the store, wanna come?"

"I am almost done so I'll just wait here, can you ask her to pick up some more notebook paper." Kagome replied, managing to chill out a little when her little brother started teasing her. "And stop being a little brat."

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes at her and headed off again, she heard him mumbling to his mom but not what it was he was saying and she heard the door close a few minutes later. She stared at her paper on the history of the second world war and finished out her last paragraph quickly, signing her name so she could go lay down on her bed.

"What's wrong with me lately? I'm not just seeing things? But why would a demon be burning outside of my window?" She commented to herself aloud, speaking aloud to herself was a bad habit she'd picked up after she left the feudal era. "Maybe that is a sign I am going totally nuts…why should I be seeing something like that here?"

She was wrapping herself in circles when she heard someone knocking on the door downstairs, hopping off the bed and moving over to the door. "You should remember to take your key in case I'm not…" it wasn't Souta as she expected.

"…here." she finished off-handedly as she stared at the still damp Byakuya. There was something about him that was just alluring but she couldn't put her hand on it, she was starting to think she'd dreamed up his handsome countenance and he was the last person she'd expected to see again. "Hello."

"Hello." He returned the customary greeting, his face stone as he watched the girl. "You still have my Zanpaktou."

"Zan-pack-toe?" She blinked blankly when he said it like that, unsure of what he was talking about, is that what he called his barrettes?

"My sword." He explained shortly, noting that the girl at least looked much better than the night before. Her complexion wasn't as flushed and she just seemed healthier in general, though it wasn't too surprising…people with high spiritual energy tended to heal faster than others.

"Oh. Yeah…come in." She opened the door for him and waited until he was inside to close it again. "It's up in my room, you forgot your hairpin too. Are you sure you don't want some dry clothes?"

She didn't make a move to walk to her room yet, those wet clothes had to be horribly uncomfortable and she still wanted to help the now half-drowned (again) man in front of her.

"My kimono will suffice for now, though I do require my zan…sword." He corrected himself after the way she butchered the word earlier, he had no reason to repeat the experience. He didn't even offer a response to her insinuation he wore barrettes like some school-girl or courtesan.

"Sure, well, hold on a moment." She held up a finger and then dashed up the steps two at a time, pausing at her doorway.

There were more of the masked demons again. These ones were smaller and almost imp like, having little barbed tails and tiny wings on their backs, the masks seeming dragon-like in nature. They had the sword she was after in their hands as if they were going to just fly away with it before she made her arrival and they turned empty gazes her way.

Kagome's scream echoed through the halls of her home.

End Chapter

Okay this one is a little shorter than I wanted but I liked the place as somewhere to end it before next time. Poor Kagome, thinking she's crazy and with Byakuya thinking she's a whore still. So I guess a little more battle from Byakuya next time but it's difficult to write battle for him. He's so…'Smack dead' when it comes to such weak stuff.

-Aura

P.S. Thank you for the continued reviews. Life has been hectic as usual but I managed to find myself some free time to write.