I'm so happy! I've peaked over 25 reviews! I could die!
Also, I am very, very, very, very, very sorry for posting late! This week was CRAZY. And next week is going to be worse for me. My birthday is on Saturday the 22nd. I hate to say it, but I'm probably going to be too busy to post that day. We're looking at a delay in another update….probably two weeks from today if we're lucky. SORRY!
So I couldn't help but notice that no one seemed to catch the reference to another work of fiction in the last chapter. I'll write something just for you if you can guess it!
I wanted to thank all of you who have read, favorited, reviewed, and followed this story! If you like this, please review it! I like to know where I stand so I can make the story better. Also, if you have any requests for stories, let me know. I'm usually not the type to work on things simultaneously, though. So if you send a request for something to me, and I respond to it and tell you I'll do it, just be patient!
Terms:
Urusai: Shut up.
Yakuza: A Japanese Gangster
Ganbatte! Good luck!
9 Meters: 30ft
Okasan: Mom, Mother, ect.
Chapter 7
The Following Day
One week and two days (maybe a little more if they were lucky) was all they had to prepare for the upcoming battle. Anna felt much better now, having returned to her natural state. Still, the challenge that faced them was nearly insurmountable. She could only hope that these children were fast learners.
Ryuuken walked beside her, having already called the hospital and set up arrangements with his staff for a "vacation" he was taking. He had insisted that he assist with educating the group, two heads were better than one, after all.
Anna had used Ryuuken's cell phone to call each person, Urahara first, of course. After explaining the breadth of what she needed, he'd made mention of an underground training facility they'd utilized before. They would split the group into two separate sections. Anna would take Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia, and Urahara; and Ryuuken would train Uryuu, Sado, Renji, and Rangiku.
Urahara had been somewhat reluctant to agree to be included in training, but Anlanah had managed to impress upon him that there were things he needed to learn. That, and the real hook that got him to agree was that Anna had offered to allow him to take some of her blood as samples and go over some of her clan history and lore with him. She had not forgotten that he had been the one to mention he could assist them with resealing Adam. Anna had felt an immense well of reiatsu beneath the man's enigmatic exterior, even in her dull human form. She wanted him to help them, needed him to help even the odds a little.
"Something has been bothering me, lately, Anna." Said Ryuuken as they walked.
"Hmmm?"
"Adam is not one to make intelligent decisions, he's much more like a feral animal….so why did he attack Inoue Orihime instead of going straight for you?"
"I'm been wondering the same," Anna replied. "Do you remember Serene?"
"Yes, how could I forget her?"
"Given her position, she is my information broker for all that goes on between worlds. When Adam burned the main house down and slaughtered the rest of our family, it was Serene I went to for a way to stop him. She told me about Orihime, which led me here.
She would never betray me. Serene and I have been bond sisters since we were children. She could no sooner slit her own throat. However, she is not the only information broker in our world. Recently, a man has been rivaling her. He is intelligent, he is cut throat, and he is a business man through and though."
"Who is he?" Asked Ryuuken, already knowing where this was going.
"That's the thing, he's a fucking ghost," Anna hissed. "No one sees him, no one knows where he is, and no one works for him directly that I could find. He uses a ludicrous message system. Not only does he not go through any of the normal carriers, he uses bloody carrion birds, vultures and the like, to deliver and receive messages. Apparently, the messages are delivered to a cave somewhere on the southern end of the country, but from there, the paper trail just ends. There's no one in the cave, no one fetches the letter either, they just disappear. It's like a horror movie. Anyway, whoever he is, I think he's been feeding Adam information."
"It's more probable that he's helping Adam because they share the same goal." Ryuuken pointed out.
"But to what end? Adam is completely mad, Ryuuken, he wouldn't listen to intelligent plans, much less allow someone to help him. He'd be more like to stab whoever was helping him in the back for the sheer thrill of it.
If the worlds are merged the end result is pure chaos and destruction. It makes no sense with this information broker's level of intelligence."
"Maybe a personal vendetta?"
"Against me? Not probable. Why would someone destroy the fabric of the universe just to get at me?"
"That would be the real issue, wouldn't it?" Replied Ryuuken. "Have you obliterated any families or innocents in the last 22 years?"
"None that I can think of." She paused. "But, I've been in a lot of wars, Ryuuken. None recently, but it's not like I haven't killed in the past. I've decimated clans…for the exact reason I intend to seal Adam for."
"I've noticed that masterminds usually show their faces eventually," He replied thoughtfully." For the time being it's probably in our best interesting to deal with the problem at hand first."
"I hate to let it lie, but you're right." Anna sighed. "Why do I get the feeling that this is going to bite me in the ass later?"
"It probably will," He shifted his gaze to her, the corners of his mouth pulling up just slightly. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
Shortly, they arrived at Urahara's shop. Outside sat two children, no older than 13. Once was a girl with dark hair, a lock of it running down the center of her face between her eyes, the rest framing her face to just below her shoulders. She sat reading a chemistry text book, her eyes a soft indigo hue. The boy was standing in the yard, swinging a broom around like a baseball bat. His hair was flaming red and slicked back. Anna through he looked like he intended to try out for a classic yakuza.
She felt curious, though. Why were children this young here? She didn't remember seeing them previously when she was here. What was more, for children, they had fairly decent reiatsu. The girl looked up at Anna for just an instant and said something so soft, Anna couldn't even read her lips. The boy stopped the swinging of his broom to look at Anna and Ryuuken, then shouted:
"OI! TESSAI! CUSTOMERS!"
Tessai strode out, a smile crossing his face.
"Ah, Anlanah-dono, Ryuuken-dono, come in, Urahara-san is waiting." Said the large man.
"What? You know this gaijin, Tessai-?" Started the boy before getting struck upside the head by the big man.
"Forgive Jinta's rude manners, he's not very bright." Said the girl, barely loud enough for Anna to hear.
"Die in a fire, Ururu!" Shouted the redheaded boy, only to be struck by Tessai again.
Great, more crazy people, sighed Anna mentally.
"Come, Anlanah-dono, Ryuuken-dono," Tessai said as he motioned to the door of the shop.
As she moved forward, she saw a little black flash at the corner of her eye, down by her feet. She halted in her step, turning her gaze down to see a sleep beautiful black cat with large golden eyes.
Anna suddenly had the urge to pet it. Swooping down, she lifted the feline into her arm, holding the animal gently in one arm, it's feet curled up on her forearm. She began walking forward again, and the cat purred as Anna's free hand scratched the soft fur right behind its ears. A small smile played on Anna's features.
As she passed the entrance, the two young teens bowed, giggling a little.
What was that all about? Anna wondered as she stepped into Urahara's store. She felt a little annoyed.
Following Ryuuken and Tessai to the sitting room, Anna's annoyance eased at the content sounds the black feline made in her arm. Tessai opened the screen door gesturing Anna and Ryuuken in. As she entered she saw that they were missing a few people. Rangiku, Urahara, Renji, and Rukia were the only people there. The rest, it appeared, had set to arrive.
Everyone's eyes focused on what Anna held in her arms. They all looked like their eyes would pop out of their heads. Her annoyance was suddenly back with vengeance.
"Yoruichi-san!" Cried Urahara, jumping up from his seated position to rush over to Anna, taking the cat from her. He swung the feline around, much to Anna's dismay.
He obviously doesn't like that! She thought.
"U-Urahara-san…."Anna ventured, a blush rising in her cheeks. "I-I don't think he's enjoying that…."
The room exploded into laughter. Anna's face flamed red, suddenly embarrassed. So what if she liked cats? Was it really that strange? Anna began to fume a little, a vein popping out of her temple.
Then she realized that the cat was laughing, too. Did she just step into the Twilight Zone? Did she finally just snap? She turned to Ryuuken, his face unsmiling, but his eyes were bemused.
The laughter subsided and the cat requested to be set down. Urahara set the little animal on the floor, it immediately went back over to Anna.
"I'm Yoruichi, a friend of Kisuke's," It said in a deep male voice. "Douzo."
"LaRell Anlanah, d-douzo." She said, leaning down to scratch the cat behind the ear again, unable to help herself.
Yoruichi purred and rubbed up against Anna's hand. Once again the feline was in Anna's arms before she knew it, and Anna had taken her seat at the table, Yoruichi sitting contently in her lap.
"I like her, Kisuke," Yoruichi purred.
"Do you like cats, Anna?" Asked Rukia.
Anna felt like a child, she cursed herself mentally for breaking her badass image. Her cheeks reddened again.
"Y-yes."
Renji started in on hysteric gales of laughter.
"I thought you were supposed to be some badass Tengu?! How can a bird like cats? BAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Urusai." Came Anna's sharp voice, her eyes alight with thoughts of murder and torture. Renji's mouth snapped shut like a ventriloquist's doll as the temperature in the literally dropped. Anlanah's eyes were glowing slightly with a blue light.
"Sumimasen…" He said bowing quickly as sweat broke out on his forehead. Rangiku and Rukia giggled.
"Urahara-san," Said Anna coolly, her icy gaze shifting to Kisuke, the smile instantly disappearing from his face. "I believe we are still missing Uryuu, Sado, Ichigo and Orihime. Would you be so kind as to give them another call?" Before I kill you….was not required as an afterthought, but understood.
"H-hai, Anna-san." Urahara seemed glad to leave the room.
"Mouuu, Renji, you should know better," said Rangiku, rolling her liquid blue eyes. "Every woman likes cute things! It's in our nature! And Yoruichi-san is the pinnacle of cute, right now, ne?"
The cat lifted its head up in pride.
"I'd prefer beautiful and elegant as opposed to 'cute', but it's better than what that idiot Ichigo is always saying." The feline said indignantly.
Urahara poked his head into the room, slowly entering and clearing his throat to get their attention.
"It appears that our young friends are already here." He said with feigned cheerfulness, obviously still wary of Anna. He was putting as much distance between himself and her as possible.
No sooner had he spoken did the familiar voices of Uryuu, Orihime, and Ichigo come from the other end of the shop. Ichigo and Uryuu were arguing, and Orihime was trying to interject and change the subject.
"I keep telling you, it's none of your fucking business, Ishida!" Ichigo shouted. "Why are you so hooked up on me calling Orihime by her first name?!"
Oh, well that's interesting…Thought Anna to herself, making a mental note of this information for later.
"You have no right to tell me what is or isn't my business, Kurosaki." Responded Uryuu coolly, then: "I will find out what's going on, you're a big enough imbecile that you'll let it slip eventually."
"What did you just call me?!" Hollered the redhead. "I swear to all that's holy, Ishida, we take this outside now and I'll kick your ass!"
"I-Ichigo…" Started Orihime.
"We're already outside, you idiot!" Came Uryuu's voice.
"Ishida-kun…"
"FINE! We'll throw down right here, take off your glasses, four-eyes."
"Is that really the best insult you can come up with, Kurosaki? Honestly, it's getting old, not to mention that it's extremely infantile."
"BOTH OF YOU, JUST STOP!" Shouted Orihime over their arguing.
Silence followed.
"Please, can we just go inside?" She continued timidly. "Everyone is waiting on us."
Moments later, Uryuu, Sado, Orihime, and Ichigo walked into the sitting room to be greeted by subdued smirks. Well, except for Rukia, who was trying to hide her laughter and failing very poorly at it.
Anna couldn't help but notice something different about both of the gingers as they walked in. They no longer had personal bubbles with each other it seemed. And Orihime seemed…different. Something interesting had happened between the pair of them, Anna could only hope it wouldn't interfere with their training.
"Oh!" Exclaimed Orihime. "Yoruichi-san, you're here, too!" Smiling Orihime happily reached down and pet the cat in Anna's lap, then took her seat next to her. Ichigo flopped down right next to Orihime.
"Don't get comfortable, yet." Anna told them. "Now that we're all here, I think we should go over mine and Ryuuken's plans for you lot in the training facility. She looked at Urahara, standing up with Yoruichi in one arm. "Lead the way."
"Anna, could you put me down?" Asked the cat, making Anna start. Anna apologized and set the feline down gently, ignoring Ryuuken's snort of amusement.
"You got a thing for cats or somethin'?" Asked Ichigo.
Anna's eyes flashed and she shot him a murderous look, if he could see auras her's would have been twisted and black.
"Is there a problem with that?" She asked, her voice like ice and her smile turning to poison.
"N-no, no ma'am…" Ichigo replied quickly, having a flashback of a similar smile from the captain of squad four.
"Good, let's go."
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Anna clapped her hands together.
"Okay, so Ryuuken and I will be training you in separate teams for 4 days. Once we're done, you'll have one day to rest before we put what you've learned on a trial test where it will be Ryuuken and I as a team against all of you.
I wouldn't look so cocky yet, Ichigo, Renji, not until you've beat us in your one on one training.
For five hours every day, you'll be working in a collaborative effort to take down either myself, or Ryuuken. Then, for two hours at a time, you'll be going up against each other in groups of three while I or Ryuuken work with each of you individually during that time."
Anna assessed the clueless looks around her.
"You'll see more of what I mean once we start. Basically, every day will consist of 13 hours of training with breaks and good at your leader's discretion."
They groaned.
"Are you trying to kill us?" Whined Rangiku.
"Very well," Anna said in a defeated tone, everyone relaxed in response. "Eight hours against me or Ryuuken, and eight hours against each other sound better?"
"16 hours?!" Balked Ichigo.
"You'll still get eight hours of sleep." Offered Anna helpfully. "Well, maybe less if you want to bathe before bed." She placed her hands on her hips.
"So! I will take Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia, and Urahara." She barked.
"And I will have the displeasure of working with Uryuu, Renji, Matsumoto, and Sado, no offense Sado." Said Ryuuken.
"None taken." Replied the giant.
"What about me?" Asked Yoruichi.
Anna blinked looking down at the little black cat.
"You can fight?"
"Of course I can fight, I'm not some flea bitten stray."
What could a cat do to hurt me, really? Thought Anna.
"Very well, you'll be with me."
"Wonderful! I can't wait to test my skills against you in speed!" Replied the feline with a glint in its eyes.
"Yare, yare, Yoruichi-san," Piped up Urahara. "Maybe you should stop being so misleading first, so Anna-san knows what she just got herself into."
"Eh?" What does he mean by that? Anna wondered suspiciously.
"Oh, I forgot…" Replied the cat.
A Large puff of steam exploded around the feline, and Anna took notice that all the men in the vicinity promptly about-faced, blushing.
Out of the cloud strode a tall bronze skinned woman with black hair and keen golden eyes, completely naked. Anna's jaw dropped.
"Y-y-y-you're not a cat?!" She exclaimed.
"Cats don't talk, silly." Replied Yoruichi. "Funny, I thought the fact that I'm a woman would have caught you off guard more."
Urahara tossed some clothes at her over his head, back still turned. The beautiful golden eyes woman started to pull some clothes on.
"I suppose I've seen stranger," Anna admitted, though not without a note of disappointment in her tone, that Yoruichi was not, in fact, a cat. Then she realized something. Now she would have five instead of four to train. She sighed. "I'll have to go back to our original plan of five hours of group work, we couldn't possibly keep a 17 hour schedule without actually killing one of you."
"Oh, thank God!" Praised Rangiku. "I need at least 8 hours of beauty sleep!"
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Ichigo had been though intense training before, many times. But this…this was downright grueling.
After they had split into their separate groups, Anna had given them a brief rundown of her capabilities. The most interesting, Ichigo found, were her energy attacks.
"First thing I'm going to tell you is that, unlike kido, our magic doesn't always require the use of a name or incantation. That being said, since I will be going all out, you lot will have to learn when to anticipate when I'm going to use magic by reading how my reiatsu fluctuates." Said Anna informatively.
Rukia snorted.
"Good luck with that, Ichigo!" She laughed.
"Oh, can it, Rukia." He retorted.
Anna's eyes glinted, and an icy smile swept over her face.
"I hope none of you are particularly attached to the clothes you're wearing." She sneered.
"W-why do you say that, A-Anna?" Asked Orihime, fiddling nervously with her hands. Anna's grin only widened, making her look like a fox.
Okay, that's just scary! Thought Ichigo.
He looked over at Orihime, thankful that he'd been able to convince her to dress practically. She wore a pair of capri gym pants and a plain pink T-shirt, her Shun-Shun Rikka were actually in her hair today.
Anna gathered her thick chestnut hair behind her head, tying it back tightly with a ribbon. She strode over to a timer than she had set down on a rock and set it for three hours.
"We'll take a short break after this goes off." She said, that chill inducing smile still on her face. "As soon as I start this, your only objective is to render me unconscious or make me say "I yield". Ganbatte!" The last word was laced with sarcasm.
Now, two hours into their first training session, Ichigo already felt fatigued. Rukia and Urahara were standing on either side of him, Orihime was behind them, ready to provide support, and Yoruichi was about 9 meters behind Anna. They were all struggling.
Anna stood perched atop a jagged formation of rocks, she had taken damage from their attacks, but her body regenerated so infuriatingly fast that it became a futile effort. Straight forward attacks were useless. They had to come up with a new plan of action. She hadn't even used any energy attacks, yet. Ichigo felt like she was playing with them.
It pissed him off. Especially since he had been pretty serious about this. He wanted very badly to wipe that mocking sneer off her face.
"Rukia, I need you to try to lure her over by that rock there…" Urahara was saying in a low voice. "And Ichigo, I need you to tie her down for…oh…at least 10 seconds if you can manage it. Orihime-chan, if you could be so kind as to ready Soten Kisshun around Anna for when I signal you."
"Losing your nerve, children?" Anna taunted.
They launched off simultaneously, Ichigo leapt up coming at Anna from the left. He had yet to use his Bankai, so it was Zangetsu's shikai form that he swung at her.
Anna's smug grin stayed on her face as she deftly flipped over Zangestu at the last moment, her delicate looking hand resting on the flat of his blade, her feet in the air, body perfectly centered in gravity. Before Ichigo knew it, her form rotated and her foot connected with his cheek. He felt his body fly backward as stars exploded in his vision. He attempted to regain his footing before he hit someone or something, but couldn't manage it. How hard had she kicked him?
He collided with a boulder, pain wrenched through his back as he bounced off of it. His sword swung forward and lodged into the ground below him to prevent himself from falling forward.
He cursed. She didn't even have her weapons out! Frustrated, he finally decided that using his shikai was a meager effort.
"BANKAI!" He righted himself after the wave of energy from his zanpakutou's release subsided.
"Oh, ho!" Jeered the blue eyed Fae. "Finally getting serious, eh?"
"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!" Rukia shouted, swinging Sode no Shirayuki. Anna vanished out of the way, moving from her original perch, and a few meters closer to Urahara's intended trap. Yoruichi took her own cue and came at Anna from her right. Anna's arm shot up, grabbing the bronze woman's ankle and, using her own momentum against her, side stepped and flung her into a boulder. Ichigo had launched himself into the air while she had been distracted. Now, he came at her from the air, Tensa Zangetsu held behind him as he charged up his reiatsu.
"GETSUGA TENSHOU!" A rift of pulsating black reiatsu ripped from his sword racing towards her. Anna looked up at him, her smile disappearing, her eyes widening just a little. He couldn't help but feel satisfaction at her alarm.
The wave hit her straight on, obliterating everything in its trail. It connected, he knew it had. Smoke and dust formed a cloud that he couldn't see through. He expected to see the Fae come shooting out at him from the cloud almost instantly. Or maybe fire off one of those energy attacks she hadn't used yet. But nothing came, there was no movement that he could tell.
"Ichigo! That was too much!" Scolded Rukia. "Anna-san! Daijobudesuka?"
No answer.
Ichigo suddenly felt very worried. It occurred to him now that maybe he might have let that attack off a little too viciously. He had been serious on that one. But with all her flaunting he figured that she would have been fine. The orange-haired substitute shot himself through the air and into the still swirling cloud of debris.
"Anna?" He called, looking around without much avail.
"You're really not very good at thinking things through, are you?" Came her voice from behind him, filled with that same sardonic tone as before.
He cursed mentally and started to round on her, Zangestu swung in an arc, but she was gone. Ichigo turned back and forth searching for any movement, any sign of her. There was none. This was different.
So this must be what it feels like. He thought to himself dryly. All those times he had created after-images of himself with his Bankai…
"Too easy!" She laughed, it was impossible to tell where it came from.
Ichigo felt the hilt of a sword come down at the back of his neck.
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When Ichigo woke, he was in Orihime's Soten Kisshun. He sat up, hitting his aching head on the dome. When did he get injured?
"I'm sorry!" The size of the orb expanded to accommodate him, as Orihime's concerned face came into view.
"Sonofabitch!" Ichigo spat, his memory returning. He'd been unconscious for a whole hour. Orihime jumped at his expletive. He felt immensely disappointed in himself. Not only had he allowed Anna to make a fool out of him, he'd also lost.
"Sumimasen, Ichigo!" Orihime sputtered, looking as though she might cry. Her lower lip trembled as she swallowed back her tears.
"No…Orihime, I didn't mean y-" He began, his voice softening.
"Congenial as always, Kurosaki-kun." Came Anlanah's voice, laced with sarcasm and facetiousness. Ichigo's head snapped over in the direction of her voice.
The tall, blue-eyed woman was leaning over Rukia, healing her broken arm. Urahara was busy bandaging Orihime's arm, which appeared to have a nasty scrape from her elbow, to her shoulder. Yoruichi was sitting comfortably cross legged, seemingly uninjured atop a flat rock over by where Anna had set the timer. The bronze woman had a slightly crooked smile on her lips. Anna finished her work on Rukia and stood, hands placed on her hips.
"In case you're wondering, Ichigo," She began. "Your team lost while you were taking a little nap."
Ichigo clenched his fists. Just who did this she think she was? She had practically cheated!
"However, you were the only one to make me draw both swords today." She remarked thoughtfully. "Good job. Just stop rushing headlong into things so much and you might actually defeat me in our one-on-one later."
It was at that moment, that Orihime's stomach gurgled obnoxiously. Ichigo's attention turned back to her, and he watched with fascination as her face went crimson from the neck up like a thermometer.
"Right, then! Time to eat. We'll see if Ryuuken's group did any better than you lot did."
They didn't. Anna sighed in exasperation. She motioned for Kisuke and Orihime to help her mend the worse part of their injuries. Ryuuken was virtually unscathed. Anna shot him one of her icy glares as she saw the poor shape Renji was in.
"You really don't know how to pull your punches, do you, Ryuuken?" She hissed at him. Ryuuken met her gaze steadily, staring her down.
"Unlike you, I don't play with my prey."
Ichigo watched as electrical shock waves travelled between the two of them, he got that eerie feeling again, they were definitely in a battle of wills. Weren't they supposed to be long lost..lov-…friends?
"I'll take you back to school, old man." Anna threatened.
"Last time I checked, Anna, you were about 280 years older than I am." Responded the doctor imperturbably.
"And last time I checked, the first complaint you had after fu-"Ryuuken was to her in a flash, his hand over her mouth, eyes slightly wide. And…was that embarrassment coloring his cheeks?
"Oh, God, just get a room!" Called Rangiku from behind Ichigo whose expression was one of utter naiveté.
Ryuuken removed his hand from over Anna's mouth, his expression obviously defeated, while Anna had that smart assed smirk again.
Tessai called them, now descending from the ladder at the entrance of the training grounds, a large basket over his arm. Ururu and Jinta followed with smaller baskets.
Ichigo heard Orihime's stomach growl again, and smiled, looking over to where she stood. She was bright red and she was tapping her stomach.
"Shhhh, tummy! We'll eat in a minute!" She scolded herself. Ichigo couldn't stop himself from chuckling.
Lunch first, then another 10 hours of training.
The day had just begun, and there was a lot of work to be done.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
There it is again, thought Uryuu as he watched Ichigo and Orihime while the group sat down for lunch. They've both started calling each other by their first names, and Kurosaki keeps looking at her with that soft expression. Something happened….
He shifted his attention over to his father and Anna.
And those two…something's definitely up with those two. I haven't seen Ryuuken react that way since Okasan…..His gaze snapped away as Anna's eyes slid fluidly to meet his, she never paused in her conversation with Rukia. Wait…..NO WAY….Ryuuken and HER? Uryuu smothered a laugh in his drink with a snort. So the old man does still have normal human emotions.
Still, this was not the time to be starting budding relationships. This was going to start to prove as a problem later. It might have already. Uryuu hadn't seen Anna in action, but from the sound of it, she had literally treated them with kid-gloves and still beat all five of them at once without even getting scratched.
And there was something that had appeared in Anna's eyes that bothered him. Even though she hid it very well, it disturbed him more than anything else that he had witnessed so far today.
Complete bleakness, and dread.
Today must have been her day to gauge their chances at supplanting her brother. Behind the smile, which she masterfully made to reach her eyes, and behind the cocky façade, Uryuu knew she thought they would not be ready for this battle. He would have to take care to get her alone later to talk with her.
He wanted to tell her that training was not always the best mechanism for determining this group's aptitude on the battlefield. Especially Ichigo's.
Still, Uryuu hoped that after their one-on-ones, Anna might show a little more hope in her demeanor. She knew what they would face better than anyone, and if she was doubtful, even if the others were too dense to really notice it consciously, they'd still be able to pick up on it. They'd still notice the small hesistations in her orders and direction, and they'd still notice her mistakes when she slipped up.
None of these were good for someone who was supposed to be leading them into a potential suicide mission.
Uryuu ventured a sideways glance at Orihime. Her eyes were on Anna, who was talking animatedly with Rangiku about some of the fine jewelry that could be found in her world. Orihime's eyebrows were knitted together slightly.
Ah, so you noticed it, too. He thought. Warm grey hues shifted to look at Uryuu as they exchanged a silent understanding.
"Is there a reason you're staring at Orihime like that, Ishida?" Scowled Ichigo. Uryuu felt a vein pop out at his temple as his blood pressure suddenly spiked.
"Do you ever get tired of hovering over her like a nervous mamma-bird, Kurosaki?" He hissed back at him, standing abruptly with his lunch in hand and stalking off.
"What's his problem?" He heard Rangiku behind him as he headed to a more peaceful place to eat.
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Okay! So end of Chapter 7. I know it's a little shorter than normal, but, you know….it IS the holiday season!
I've been mulling over a new idea for a completely AU fanfic for Ichihime. I'm thinking about playing with an old Greek myth.
Anyway! Please, if you are enjoying the story, or if you have complaints, please review it! If you think this fic is good enough that it should grow in popularity, review it! Anyway, thank you guys so much for reading! I really do read through all of my reviews and squee at every favorite and follow that I get!
-Third.