Chapter 7 - Research
In the previous chapter...
I gave him a quick hug, before opening the door, looking over my shoulder,
"Arigatou, Ichigo-kun. Goodnight," Ichigo smiled,
"Yeah, 'night."
--
I smiled as I finished off my breakfast,
"Thanks, Yuzu. I forgot what it's like to have a proper family breakfast." It was true. I hardly ate any breakfast anymore, and if I did, it was only a piece of toast or two. But Yuzu had cooked us all an English breakfast. It was hard to believe she was only 11. For some strange reason, Karin still seemed hostile towards me, but I'd decided to ignore it. I was tired since last night I went into Shinigami form to accompany Ichigo, but I was wide awake as soon as I'd finished,
"Kishiko-chan, I have your uniform all washed and ready. It's out on your bed," I stood up and collected my plate and cutlery,
"Arigatou, Yuzu-chan, for the breakfast and the uniform!" I placed my plate in the sink and rushed up to the small room I was sharing with the twins. As I was clipping my bra into place, I heard a voice behind me,
"What are you doing here?" I grabbed my shirt and held it up in front of me. Standing in the doorway was Karin, holding the same hostile gaze she had done since last night. I began to put my shirt on,
"We told you last night. My house got torn to shreds. I have no-"
"I'm not talking about that. I know you're the same as Ichigo. I can sense it, like I can with Ichigo. You go out in that weird black uniform with those swords. I saw you sneaking out last night. Don't take me for a fool!" I gasped and left my ribbon drooping mid-tie. After a few seconds, I laughed nervously,
"Oh, come on, Karin, it's only my first night here. I wouldn't be sneaking out!" Karin's eyes narrowed,
"Don't treat me like I'm stupid. I'll pretend I don't know... for now. But don't take me for a fool from now on," and with that she left the room, leaving me shocked. Ichigo hadn't mentioned that Karin could see spirits. I quickly tied my bow and left the bedroom, looking in the opposite direction as I passed Karin.
~*~*~
"Won't people be suspicious if we're spotted walking to school together? It could really damage your reputation," Ichigo smiled,
"Nah, don't worry. If they tease, we'll just beat 'em up," I chuckled, "And besides, I'm pretty sure everybody's heard about by now. I heard it was on the news. And besdies, when a 'truck' supposedly crashed into my house, itwasahollowbytheway, everybody heard about that straight away. And it happened at the night, and everybody found out the morning after," I brought my bag over my shoulder, looking at my feet as we walked,
"Hey, did you know that Karin knows your secret?" I looked up at Ichigo as he looked at me back,
"Y-yeah, only recently though. I try to avoid the subject. How did you know?" I sighed,
"She confronted me this morning and told me. I wondered why I'd been looked at so strangely by her last night and this morning," he raised an eyebrow,
"Hmm, well, coming off the subject, I want you to meet some poeople. They're in our class, so hopefully you'll recognize them. They know about the whole secret thing."
"Ohh, really? Can't wait."
"Good, good. You can come hang with us today," as we approached the school, I felt my stomach drop. I was not looking foward to this.
~*~*~
We'd managed to finally get into the classroom. Aswell as the fact that everybody was asking about the house, unbeknownst to us, a paparazzi group had been there, and a picture or two had caught us in the crowd while we'd been hugging, so as well as everything else, there were now rumors going round that us two were going out. It was strange somehow. Yesterday I was having paper balls and even a cricket ball thrown at my head. Now, instead of mocking me, people were asking me if I was okay, asking me about my house, and most of all, asking me about my relationship with 'Berry head'. So, even though people were still questioning me homeroom, there were less people, since most had already asked me. Ichigo led me across the classroom towards a group of three people,
"Kishiko, this is Orihime, Chad, and Ishida," he pointed to each of them in turn, as they each bowed. I bowed back before Uryuu, the blue haired 'Quincy', spoke,
"So, you became a Shinigami yesterday?" he asked.
"Yeah, dunno how though. I was just automatically pushed out, it was so strange!" Uryuu 'hmm'd', before Ichigo continued,
"Yeah, Urahara's started to do some research into it, we're gonna go down later and see if he's made progress," I looked at him,
"We are?" I asked. He looked back and nodded,
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I thought I'd told you. Sorry," I shook my head,
"Nah, it's okay. Not like I have a home to go back to anyway," Ichigo's expression turned to somewhat annoyance and confusion,
"H-Hey! I'm giving you a home, aren't I?!" I laughed and stuck my tongue out at him,
"I've only known you for a day, but I seem to know you well enough to figure out that you panic alot!" I looked up to see Uryuu and Orihime smiling, and Chad... well... it was hard to see what Chad thought. His face always seemed to have the same expression. The bell rang, and we all took our places for home room. And the whole time I couldn't take my eyes of the berry-headed hero sitting two seats down one row across from me.
~*~*~
Me and Ichigo walked down the path towards Urahara Shoten. Uryuu, Orihime, and Chad were going to come with us, but they all had things to do. Uryuu had to do some Quincy training, Orihime had Rangiku and Toshiro to attend to, and Chad wanted to go and hang out with his other friends. So, as me and Ichigo walked down in a happy silence, we finally reached the small shop.
"Strangely, I'm not looking foward to this," I muttered. Ichigo shoved his hands in his pockets,
"Me neither, to be honest. But trust me, you've got it worse, Urahara preys on pretty girls," I shivered,
"Yeah, thanks for telling me now," I mumbled jokingly, missing his hint completely. We reached the front door and slid it open, walking in to find Renji.
"Hey, Renj," Ichigo greeted. He turned round, and I struggled to stifle a laugh,
"O...Oh my God, Renji. What are you wearing?" Looking him up and down, I saw that he was wearing a pink apron with white frills over hippy clothing, with a matching maid's cap. He was holding a vacuum in his hand. Me and Ichigo almost collapsed with laughter. He scowled at us,
"Shut up! That teme Urahara said that if I wanted to stay here I had to do some chores... in a specially designed uniform..." he blushed as we laughed even harder. After we'd calmed down, I apologised to Renji,
"No prob. I s'pose I woulda done the same if it was Ichigo wearing this."
"Hey! Don't get any ideas!"
"Oh c'mon, Ichigo, you'd look cute!"
"No way! Before we get any further with this, where's Urahara?"
"Oh, he's through there." Renji pointed to a door. We said our thank you's and goodbyes and slid the door open, to see a tired looking Urahara, pieces of paper spread around him on the table. He looked up and smiled when he saw us,
"Ah, Kishiko-chan, Kurosaki-kun, welcome, I'm glad your finally here," his tone sounded as tired as his appearance as we sat down on two already-prepared pillows, along with two freshly-prepared hot drinks. I took a small sip out of mine, whereas Ichigo downed almost all of his.
"So, figured out how she got her powers yet?" Ichigo asked. Urahara nodded,
"Yes, but it's so strange. I haven't seen a case of this in 350 years," Ichigo raised an eyebrow,
"What is it?" he slid forward a piece of paper that contained a lot of text, too much for me to be bothered to read it. I took a quick glance at it before he continued,
"A rare case where a human who may have had ancestors who have become Shinigami while they are still living, then the human is born instantly becoming a Shinigami without having to die, or go through a process like Ichigo has. Their first encounter with becoming a Shinigami normally occurs around mid-teens, like you, Kishiko. Its an extremely rare genetic condition, but does come with its side effects," I was the one to raise an eyebrow this time,
"Side effects...?"
"Yes."
"Like?"
"Well, one example being, having an inner hollow," Ichigo's eyes widened,
"An inner hollow?" Urahara nodded,
"I'm afraid so. It may be a possibility. I'll need to take something of Kishiko's that contains her DNA," I nodded. I took a couple of strands of hair and tugged it out, wincing slightly. I handed it over, and he carefully placed them on a piece of paper, taping either end to keep it safe.
"Arigatou, Kishiko-chan. I can get the results in a couple of days."
"Arigatou, Urahara-san. Goodbye." I stood up with Ichigo and we made our way out, saying goodbye to Renji, who quickly took his apron and maid cap off when he saw us exiting. As we began down the road, I lightly linked my fingers in with his. He tensed up at the sudden contact, but quickly relaxed, and accepted it, closing the gap between our palms. We began to chat about things such as homework, homeroom, the strange day at school, Yuzu's cooking, and his Dad's idioticness. Time seemed to fly past as we reached the Kurosaki clinic.
"We're home!" Ichigo yelled. We slipped off our shoes and Ichigo put his slippers on. Yuzu came dancing into the room, presenting a pair of purple slippers,
"Here, Kishiko-chan! I bought these for you on the way home!" I sighed in relief, glad to have some comfort on my feet, and extremely glad that they weren't pink. She grabbed the bag in the doorway and rummaged through it,
"Oh, and I picked these up for you, too!" she placed the pair of slippers on top of a pair of purple and white pyjamas and handed them to me. I smiled warmly,
"Thank you, Yuzu-chan!" she grinned as I placed my new slippers on and walked upstairs, Ichigo following behind. We went into his bedroom, and I leant against his bed, bring one knee up to my chin to rest it on. Ichigo closed the door and sat on his desk chair, wheeling round to face me.
"So, how come you were so tense by the whole 'inner hollow' thing?" I asked. As soon as I said the words 'inner hollow', he seemed to instantly tense up like he had back at the Shoten. He sighed,
"An inner hollow, or Visored, is the technical term, is when a Shinigami has both Shinigami and hollow powers. If controlled, they are able to become stronger by producing their hollow mask. If it is unstable, the hollow will use weaknesses to take over the Shinigami at times, going insane and having a huge amount of strength. It can be stopped though, by fighting the hollow back and tearing the mask off," I gasped as my eyes widened,
"Woahh! How do you know so much about that, Mr. Smarty pants?!" he gulped and pulled his collar,
"Well, you see... I went through Urahara's process to become a Shinigami, and there were 3 stages. The second stage was a pit where I was restrained. I had to get out before these things encroached my spirit chain. I didn't get there in time, and it began turning me into a hollow, but somehow, I managed to fight it, and something went backwards with it, and I was a Shinigami, but a hollow at the same time."
"Woah, I bet that was horrible! Have anymore good stories?" he blushed, obviously embarrassed,
"Well, you know Rukia? She originally gave me my powers, but it was a crime to do so. So when she got taken away to get excecuted..." he continued to tell me, and he told me more stories that weren't relevant to Shinigami, like the first time he'd met Tatsuki, and the whole time I was happy to listen. It just felt soothing listening to his voice. We were brought out of it when we heard Yuzu yell 'Dinner!'. I rubbed my stomach,
"Yum, I could so do with some of Yuzu's cooking. Her breakfast was delicious!" Ichigo laughed,
"Yeah, she's a great cook." He looked at me, and cocked his head to the side,
"You look taller than yesterday..." he muttered. I looked. It had been easier to look at him today,
"Oh yeah, I'm about as tall as your lips. Well, at least I'll have no problem kissing you," I laughed, and although I half meant it, I noticed Ichigo had gone quiet,
"Ichigo, are you okay?" I asked. He shook his head and looked at me,
"Oh, what? Yeah, fine."
"Good good, c'mon, time for dinner," I danced down the stairs towards the kitchen. I hadn't heard Ichigo mutter 'You'd be the perfect girlfriend...'
TBC.
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This chapter was originally going to all be about the research, but as you can see, it wasn't :P I know that 'condition' doesn't exist in Bleach, but it's MYYY story [: Finally shum Ichigo shmut next chapterrr ! Also Ichigo's POV x]
In the next chapter...
We both looked at her, still gently snoring. I sighed,
"I don't know why," I muttered "but I think I'm in love with her."