Trading Yesterday for Tomorrow Chap. 2
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Kisuke Urahara's Shop
Kisuke was lounging in a comfortable leather Recliner. His back slightly tilted forwards, and his feet crossed delightfully. He had a cup of his favorite brand of tea in one hand and today's newspaper in the other. The steam from the tea filled his nose… the smell of leafy green mint. A regular routine morning. He sipped the tea gently, feeling the warmth glide down his throat. A slight slurp arose from him.
"Ow Jinta, stop..." he heard Ururu yelp, in a very calm and barely recognizable voice. He tilted his green gaze upward from the text. Green orbs looked down the hall as he saw Jinta hitting Ururu as she walked along doing her chores.
"Ha, Ururu defend yourself!" he teased. He made another blow to her head. He was again acting like a child, which Kisuke couldn't blame him, he was indeed a young kid.
The man sighed. "Jinta, go do your chores" he commanded as he saw that the tiles had not been swept nor had the living room been cleaned up, a pile of trash had not been taken out, and his sandals had not been washed, which these were all Jinta's chores.
"Hmmppp!" the red headed boy frowned as he stalked over to the trash. Angrily throwing it over his back and walking out the door. It still amazed Kisuke that Jinta even listened to a word he said. But he did not question him, for he didn't want to have the question backfire.
Kisuke turned his gaze back to the paper reading the largest section in which an earth quake had happened on Main Street. Or so they had suspected it to be an earthquake. His emerald green eyes read the caption.
"Boss!" he heard another voice. The voice was recognizable by any standards and Kisuke immediately knew who it was.
He irritatingly looked up from his paper to see Tessia sparkly as ever. The man had his hand up to his forehead in a salute motion.
"Ah, Tessia. How is our guest doing?" he asked, placing his paper to the side. He didn't want to be interrupted once again, so he decided to abandon the whole idea of a peaceful morning.
"I am glad to report that her injuries have been completely healed. All we do now is wait till she wakes up to see if there are any symptoms that I had not seen." He explained.
"Good," Kisuke clapped his hands together. "Now how are we doing on the project I ordered you to check…" The two continued their mindless conversation. But, up above their heads, through the roof, lay a girl who is asleep. Dreaming away her world, having the hours pass by her.
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"Mhmhmm" she mumbled under her breath. Her body twitched a little as she was having the same incident as yesterday. The dream where she would swing on that swing, and see the girl. But, she still had no idea why or what the dream meant to her. She did not recognize the girl, she did not really favor swings in any particular way… it was a mystery.
She shook her head a tad as her face grimaced. "No…no no" she uttered. Her hand clenched the blanket that covered her body. Sweat beaded down her forehead.
"No no no!" she spoke a tad louder. The dream was coming to its peak, soon it would end.
"NO!" she lurched upwards. Her dream had awoken her in an ugly manner. Her eyes were wide with fear, they were red from the intense feelings.
"SLAM!" her head crashed into the roof of the building. Denting the roof from force, and giving her one heck of a headache.
"OWWW!" she covered the bruised forehead as her eyes scrolled upwards to see she had hit a roof. She raised her eyebrow in confusion. Her eyes then managed to take a look around.
"An… attic?" she asked to herself. Around her stood boxes and boxes of junk and papers. The height of the room was only three feet tall, the cause of her slamming her head into the roof. It was so dusty that it made her throat itch. Along with spider webs and rotting floor boards filled her vision. Her eyes had a trouble time seeing because there was barely any light.
The only reason she could see at all was because in the far right corner was a small window, it barely let in a sliver of light.
"What… happened?" she asked as she recalled the memories of last night. "I knocked out, right?" she put her hand to her chin to think. "So… did those people take me here?"
She looked around the attic, confused as to who would put an injured girl up here. "AND WHO THE HECKS PUT A FLIPPEN KNOCKED OUT GIRL IN A MOLD INFECTED ATTIC!" her voice shook the room. "Seriously, that's completely idiotic!" she coughed as dust filled her lungs.
"Mmmmm" she heard a voice. It was muffled, and mumbling. She couldn't make out what, or who was speaking. Let alone what they were saying. She leaned her head against the floor of the attic, where she could tell the sounds were emanating from. The wood was harsh, and kind of splintery, but Tatsumi didn't pay attention to it. She listened inattentively, wanting to know if they were planning to murder her or something, but more importantly who the heck had taken her hostage.
"Yes, Boss I have made the preparations. It's up in the attic, would you like me to go get it right now?" she heard a manly voice. 'Wait, a second. That voice sounds familiar! So these are the people from last night!'
"No, that's fine I would appreciate it if you cook them thoroughly this time. They made me sick last time." Came another voice. Tatsumi's eyes widened with horror, her mouth fell agape.
"There planning to eat me?" she asked horrified at the thought. "Their cannibals!" She felt her heart began to tremble. "I don't want to be eaten."
"Yes sir, I'm sorry for our last meal. The fat seemed to be tougher than I had anticipated…"
Tatsumi felt her eyes get watery, "They imprisoned me in this place and now they are going to eat me alive. My fat and everything!"
"That's fine, I just hope it turns out better than last time." Tatsumi shook her head.
"No, no, no, no, no!" she started panicking. "I am not going to be eaten by a bunch of rabid animals!" she exclaimed. "I'm getting out of this place!" she then started searching around for some way out, some how to get herself out of this place. She was feeling for the ladder that attics usually have to the ground floor, but it must have been hidden, for she couldn't find it.
Her eyes then remembered the small opening of the window. "Yes!" she said as she crawled over to the window. Could she fit through that? It seemed awfully tiny. "I have to try! For the pancakes at home, I have to try!"
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Behind Kisuke Urahara's Shop
"Stupid Ururu! I'll get her back for this!" Jinta slammed the trash against the side of the dumpster, it made several unedifying noises as it fell to the ground. Cans, Paper, Boxes, Books, Electronics, and several other broken or used junk left scratches on the hug green dumpster.
Jinta was angered by the fact that Ururu had tattle tailed on him, or what he thought was tattle tailing. He then proceeded to kick the dumpster on the side, having an angry boil in him. "Hmmpp!" his arms folded into themselves. Thoughts of how he would get back at her filled his mind, he would sure make it something that no one would forget, that's for sure.
"Ehh, herrr" he heard something. He turned his head to face the direction.
"Huh?" he asked. He thought he had heard someone grunting.
"EHHHHHH!" there, he heard it again. The red eye browns frowned in curiosity. "ERRRRRRR! STUPID WINDOW!" he heard someone yelling.
He started walking around the corner of the grey wall. "W-who's there!" he asked, completely taken by surprise at who it was. "What?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes, wanting to make sure he wasn't dreaming. But, again he was remained with the same answer.
There, climbing out of their attic window was the girl form last night. More like trying to climb out of the window. He snickered as he saw this conundrum unfold.
"EEEHHHHH!" she tried to push her way through. It seems like she had somehow managed to stick out her torso and head, even her arms, but her bottom just couldn't fit through that 1 foot by half a foot window. Her hands were placed on the each side of the window trying to force her body free of the stuffy attic.
"Hehe," he started laughing a little. She looked so dramatically in pain, and he somehow found that amusing.
She appeared to have noticed someone was laughing at her. She peered down from the window and looked straight at Jinta.
"AHHHH!" she yelped at the sudden appearance of someone seeing her look like such an idiot. She quickly tried to defend what she was doing. "UMMM! I'M JUST TRYING TO GET A VIEW!" she chuckled nervously. Jinta raised an eye brow, maybe he could have fun with this girl.
"Oh, ya? Then what are you trying to get a view of?" he asked sarcastically. The girl panicked, as her eyes darted all over the place. There was really nothing to view, considering that there was a grey wall right in front of the two, and the only thing you really could see was the dumpster.
"Umm, this wall!" she spat out, her answer made no sense.
"What wall?" he asked. Was that seriously her answer, pretty stupid if you asked him.
"THIS WALL!" she pointed to the one of the shop. Her hand patted the wall on its side, acting as if they had been best buds since day one.
"What are you doing?" he asked, not wanting to fool around with her any longer.
"PLEASE DON'T EAT MY FLESH MR. CANNIBLE SIR!" the girl blocked her face in a defending motion. Jinta stared at her in confusion. "I DON'T TASTE GOOD, I TASTE LIKE… ummmm, well… hmm, I have never actually tasted myself before. I wonder… what do I taste like?" she started speaking more to herself than to Jinta. He simply stared at her, one half of him wanting to fool around with her, and the other completely confused as to what the heck she was talking about.
The silver haired girl lifted up her for arm to her face. Her tongue stuck out just enough to lick the skin. A disturbed face was on her now. She quickly took the hand out of her mouth and started flying spit all over the place. Some landing only an inch from Jinta.
"BLEHHHH! EWWWW, THAT'S JUST GROSS!" she started yelling. "DUDE, THIS IS JUST PLAINE FLIPPEN HORRIBLE!" she yelled pointing at her arm. Jinta gave off a really grossed out face, one that he rarely made.
"IT TASTES LIKE DIRT, AND DUST, AND LIKE IM DRINKING WATER FROM A POND FULL OF DUCK POO…." Jinta interrupted her.
"THAT'S SICK! Don't describe it!" he took a step back from the freakishly weird women.
"You… know what? It's actually not that bad… maybe I should try it again, just for good measure you know?" she was about to start nomming on her hand, but someone interrupted.
"Huh? What is our guest doing, Jinta?" asked Kisuke Urahara. He walked up to the two, seeing the strange women trying to eat herself? He gave a concerned look as he knew that was not normal.
"Did… you hit your head harder than we thought?" he asked, sweat poured from his neck.
"What? No… I just think my hand tastes pretty good? You want a lick?" she asked, letting her arm dangle from the window. The two beings below knew that whoever this girl was, she might not be right in the head.
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15 minutes later
Tatsumi sat comfortably at the table, her body scooting every so often on the mat trying to get even in more of a suitable situation. She placed her hands together as they sat in her lap. Once she had realized that she was the only one who wanted to eat herself and not these people, she had decided to come in for a cup of tea.
On the other side of the table sat the owner of the shop, and his right hand man, who was currently serving them cups of tea. Tatsumi gladly took one of the cups, sipping the drink as if it were medicine that could save her life.
"So miss…." The man in the hat started ushering her to give out her name. Tatsumi stared at him blankly. A few seconds went on with complete silence. You could hear the breathing of everyone at the table.
Tatsumi took another sip of tea, "So miss …what?" she asked. She apparently had missed the point of him making such a statement.
"He is asking what your name is." Explained the other man.
Tatsumi smiled, "OHHHHHHHHH! Well, my name is Tatsumi Yamaski!" she cheered and took a piece of bread that the man had also served. She nibbled on the end, tasting the buttery object. "And you two are?" she asked her mouth stuffled a bit.
"I am Kisuke Urahara, the owner of this shop! Which if you would like to buy anything, feel free to have look around! We are currently having a sale on Tessia's delicious homemade candy!" the blond haired man yelled as he pointed to the shelves that held objects.
"Uh hu…." Tatsumi pretended to pay attention. She was actually more interested in tea to tell them the truth. She brought the cup up to her face, swirling the liquid around in the cup. She watched it intently, actually wondering if the liquid was some type of acid.
"And I am Tessia Tsukabishi, pleasure to meet you Ms. Yamasaki," the buff man gave a small bow, his glasses gave off sparkles.
"Yes, yes…" she swiveled the tea around even more. "Uh hu, so that's nice. Well, I'll be going now!" she stood up from the table. "Ya, so thanks for healing me up and all that flippen pancakes stuff, yadda yadda yadda!" she started picking up her sword and strapping it to her side.
"Oh, are you sure you don't want to buy anything?" asked Kisuke.
"Are you healed all the way up?" Tessia also wanted to ask a question.
"Hmm, ya sure whatever," she said as she walked out of their front door. Leaving the door to slam itself as such. Tessia and Kisuke looked completely dumbfounded; she had left only really interacting with them for merely 5 minutes.
"Ya… well okay. Back to work!" called the chappy man as he took out his special fan. He waved it in front of his face. As he usually did.
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In the city of Karakura Town
Tatsumi sighed in relief. She absolutely hated sitting around a table, making idle conversation. She had actually had nightmares about that.
m"How long have I been walking exactly?" she asked herself. She had indeed been aimlessly walking around the large town, not knowing exactly where to go, or what to do. She had not come up to any hollow's and that's really the only thing you can do with your soul form. I mean she had tried to play with people's minds and act like a ghost, but that got pretty tiring after about an hour or so.
It was about mid day, and she was already for her afternoon nap. "This job sure is boring! I shouldn't have signed up for it!" she sighed as she walked along the sidewalk.
"I wonder what I could do?" She saw someone walking by her. Of course they couldn't see her, or hear her, but maybe she could play around with him. That might at least help her with her boredom.
She walked up next to the man who seemed to be walking home from work. She jogged a little bit in front of him, stopped, faced sideways and stuck out her foot. Waiting till the man would trip over her ligament.
"AHHHHHGGG!" the man screeched as he fell over, his suitcase opening and his papers floating around. Tatsumi laughed a little. His face was planted into the cement.
The man frowned and cussed under his breath. He stood up to his knees and angrily picked up the fallen documents. Tatsumi went behind the man and kicked his back foreword, so he would again fall over. She snickered. This was fun, cruel and horrible, but fun.
Every time the man would try and get up, she would knock him down again.
"WHAT THE HECK!" the man yelled as he was again pushed down. He got up only an inch and was pushed down again. He then got really irritated and started sprinting towards, who no's where, and leaving his papers. He just didn't want to be thrown on the ground for the next hour and a half. Tatsumi started howling laughter out, she wasn't that bored anymore. Well, for maybe the next minute or so.
"ROOOOOAAAARRRRRR!" her laughter was quickly quieted. The sound of the beast seemed to shake the ground underneath her. Tatsumi squinted as she pointed herself in the direction of where she thought the hollow was. It was so close by she could swear it was standing right beside her.
"SHLINNNGGGG!" her hand pulled out her zanpakuto. The silver shined in the sunlight. Tatsumi felt her body move, she raced towards the hollow. Wanting to kill the beast before it had even the slightest chance of killing a human, or devouring a soul.
Her hair flowed in the wind, her hands kept her sword straight forward, prepared to strike at any moment. Her mission, her job, what she signed up to do. 'To protect humans, to kill hollow's, that is my mission.'
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The little girl screamed, her voice though seemed to trail off in the wind. She screamed again, but as before it seemed like a whisper in a crowd. Her heart raced, her eyes seemed to be flickering around in every direction. But, she just couldn't see what was going on.
"SLAPPPP!"
"AHHHHGG!" she wailed in pain. It had hit her again, who, how, or why it was doing this to her was a mystery. She fell onto the concrete sidewalk, blood slightly oozed out of her mouth. Her leg was aching and seemed like she could not walk on it. Her whole body was confused, she couldn't see the monster. She couldn't hear it. But, she knew it was there. It was hurting her, and she didn't understand why.
"Please, monster. Please stop hurting me!" she asked, as if wanting the monster and her to become friends. Her voice was soft, silky, and ever so sweet. Her voice carried a burden though, a burden that was heavy. Her voice although it could smooth rabid animals with its lavender, carried a weight on it.
Her eyes darted around once more, nothing was seen but the walls that surrounded her, the street light in front, and the cold alleyway she had been kicked into.
Her deep brown eyes spilled a couple of tears. She didn't want to die, she wanted to live, but how could she. She was helpless, she couldn't even see the monster. She couldn't even protect herself.
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"AHHHHHHHHH!" Tatsumi yelled as she swiped down her sword. Her sword sliced through the air with no problem, her target. The hollow. The hollow was in a dark alleyway, hurting a human girl. This angered Tatsumi to the limits. Her eyes were fierce and her rage was at its max. She hatred hollows, period. But, she felt complete and utter disgust towards the ones that choice children as their targets, it was completely sickening to her.
Her sword crashed down onto the hollow's back leg, slicing half way through the bone. Causing the green leg to burst out with purple blood, squirting out onto the ground and onto to Tatsumi herself. Her shinigame outfit was now completely covered with the deep and thick purple substance.
"RAOOOOOOORRRRR!" the hollow screeched in pain. Its body failed around, hitting walls and windows, smashing them instantly. His pain seemed to be great, but Tatsumi had only done such an amount of damage to him.
"SHINIGAME?" roared the hollow in pain. Tatsumi couldn't tell if he meant that as a question or just saying that in a surprised tone. The hollow breathed heavily, trying to regain his composer. He was completely taken by surprise, he was too busy fooling around with the little girl that he had not minded the other spiritual pressures around him.
It had a dark green body. He stood on all fours somewhat like a gorilla. His tail was long, and seemed to be his weapon that he used to injure people. His mask was half red and half bone white. He had slits on his mask, allowing those yellow gleaming eyes to peer out. Wanting to see its prey struggle. The monster seemed middle class, one that Tatsumi knew it would not be that hard to kill. Or so she thought.
Tatsumi didn't deal with fair play. She would kill this hollow as quick as possible, no fooling around.
She ran at the hollow, her sword slightly turned to the right, wanting to slice his mask in half. She grunted under her breath, her sword slicing in a sideways motion. The beast used its long tail to block her attack, only getting a scratch from her sword. Tatsumi frowned as she took a step back. Her sword pulled backwards and then forewords, trying to slice the tail clean off. Her sword did indeed strike, but the tail only got a small scratch. Tatsumi's eyes widened as she tried to dig her sword in deeper. But it just would not budge. The tail was like another sword blocking her own, she couldn't cut through it. This was an amazing fact. She had never experienced a hollow that could block any sword like this.
The beast snickered at Tatsumi. His hand swung its weight horizontally, pushing Tatsumi's body backward. She felt her body rush through the air, and felt a tad bit of blood be pushed out of her gut, where she had just been hit. The blood flowed through the air, as she herself flew into a tree. Her back scratching the surface of the bark. Leaves fell from force.
She quickly stood up, her sword outstretched. The hollow ran at Tatsumi, his speed quick. Tatsumi had a hard time seeing where his next movements would come from .The hollow reached out his hand trying to swipe her like last time, Tatsumi ducked. The hand of the beast gliding above her head.
Once the hand had passed she jolted up, sending the sword straight into the heart of the beast. Penetrating the skin, but not giving him a damaging blow. She frowned, how could she had not remembered that you can't kill a hollow like that. You have to slice it's white mask, then and only then will the beast disappear.
The hollow grunted a little as the sharp object dug into the skin. His tail automatically whipped around to the front. Hitting Tatsumi in the side, sending her flying towards his other hand. Tatsumi again was soaring through the air, having no power over her body.
The hollow saw that she was heading straight towards his right hand. The hollow took this perfect opportunity to smack her back in the other direction with his fist.
He did so, making Tatsumi's eyes pop out in pain. He slammed the girl into the ground, shaking the earth beneath her. The ground crackled at the weight.
"UGHHHHH!" she spat out blood that had reached her mouth. Her ribs cracked from the pressure. And her organs almost seem to be pushed backwards. She struggled underneath the giant's fist. It squished her even more, making her body fill with agony.
Her breathing became erratic as they struggled to receive oxygen. Tatsumi lifted up her sword, the silver blade striking down on the hand of the beast. It sliced though the skin, as more blood spurted out of his hand.
The beast growled, releasing the hand from her body as he struggled to keep the pain toned down. He held the hand as it burned from the many sensations of wounds he had received. Tatsumi tried to get to her knees, a task more easily said than done. She took deep breaths as her body excepted the oxygen. She held one hand on her knee, while the other half of her seemed to not move at all. She was hurting, discomforting bones had snapped, her lungs damaged, her gut feeling knocked around, and her head killing her. She continued on though. Not sparing a thought of dying from a hollow.
"You stupid shinigame, you should have just left me alone. That way you would not be devoured! HEHE!" the hollow laughed. His voice filled with the blood of many.
Tatsumi thought for a moment, she couldn't beat this hollow. He was too strong for normal measures, way to strong in fact. She had not expected him to be this way… but she would have to use it. Her options were limited, and time was ticking away each moment she did not strike the being.
Tatsumi felt her hand grip the blade, the smooth material under her skin was comforting. She stood, though it seemed this action only broke and displaced even more bones. She winced a little, but withered through the pain.
She stood, her body aching. Her breath became silent. "Liquefy, …Ginkonzaku…" she whispered.
The hollow's eyes widened at the voice of her. It seemed so determined to kill him, ready to use whatever forces necessary. Blue flames of Reitsu flowed around her body. The flames engulfed her, some of it seemed like if you would touch it you would die. Tatsumi closed her eyes, focusing her spirit energy.
She could feel her. Her sword, Ginkozaku appearing. Tatsumi knew that in a matter of moments her shikia would be released.
"Whats happening!" demanded that hollow. "T-the sword!" he stuttered. His voice raspy as the color of the flames glinted off his mask.
The once shiny and pure sword of Tatsumi's, was now…. Seeming to melt away. Melt away with her spiritual pressure. It oozed and splattered on the ground, making its way up to the hollow. Crawling as if it were alive.
"Die, hollow!" Tatsumi opened her eyes. Wanting to see the expression of the hollow before he was gone.
"AHHHH!" the hollow screamed in agony.
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Tatsumi sheathed her sword. The blade making a metallic sound when doing so. Tatsumi smiled as she watched the hollow disintegrate into the atmosphere. She felt accomplished, she killed the hollow. And had managed to save the girl, "All in a day's work!" she cheered. Her hands clasped together as she spun around in excitement. Her heart filling with joy, although her body was not in such a condition to allow these motions she did so anyway.
Tatsumi felt her rib move, which she then in return bent over it pain. "OH DARN YOU RIB!" she scolded it. But, then an important thought had returned to her. "THE KID!" she gasped. She waddled over to the alley way, searching for the one kid who had been injured from the hollow.
Her mouth fell agape as she saw the girl lying on the ground. She limped even faster, looking like some crazy old mad man. When she had finally managed to drop herself by the girl's side, she tried to feel for a pulse.
"Good!" she breathed out. "She's just unconscious!" a caring smile came up on her face. Her upper lip barely moving from its spot.
Tatsumi stared at the girl. She seemed to not have any major injuries, they all seemed like scratches and bruises to her. Tatsumi felt a wave of relief fall over her; the girl had probably passed out from fear, and not injuries. The pale hands of Tatsumi picked up the limp girl's body. Her feet dangling over the side of her arms.
"I'll have to take her somewhere. But, where? I don't even know who the heck this girl is!" she commented as she stared at the tiny helpless female.
A round and cute face, it seemed so adorable to Tatsumi. Her hair was a light brown color, as it was short. Tatsumi had remembered that her eyes were the color of a deep brown, and her skin was a peach. Her skin was pure, and her person itself even purer. Tatsumi thought that the girl had reminded her of a fruit. A sweet and pure little girl. Tatsumi smiled at how she could tell how sweet this girl was, just by what she looked like.
She seemed just so adorable sleeping unconscious like that, then Tatsumi shook her head. "That sounds really creepy," she whispered to herself.
Her baby blue eyes searched across the street, "Dangitt!" she muttered. She had no idea where she was or where she had come from. The most likely thing to do would be to put her next to a hospital or something, but Tatsumi had no idea where that was. Nor could she ask anyone for directions. This was a conundrum. She was stuck… completely motionless.
"Isn't there anyone I could talk to?" she asked herself. Then a thought had occurred to her… the people before were able to see her. They were able to heal her spirit form… and more importantly they could SEE HER! She wondered why this had not occurred to her earlier. Tatsumi shook her head she had more pressing matters to attend to. "Maybe… they know" she asked. It was a long shot, but she might be able to remember which direction she had come from.