Disclaimer: Bleach and all the characters in it are the property of Tite Kubo and Shonen Jump. This fanfic is being written merely for the enjoyment of myself and whoever happens to like it.
Reviews would be most welcome, as would constructive criticism. In the case of the later, you can be brutally honest, but please don't be abusive. And flames will be ignored.
There have been more Favorite Story and Story Alert arrivals; a kind welcome to valhala100, leviathon88, Fifth Horseman, marduk-report, grim reaper 15, xxxANKOxxx, HedonismBot, OYA7200, Tallisa of Swallow's Crest, Tasuxeda, Kurosu Kage, Dantrag-tc, and Madgod.
That's a lot of new people for a first story, and I'm very grateful to you all for this informal praise.
I'm also learning quite a bit from just these first several chapters about what to do and not to do with any future stories I write (and I have plenty of ideas). I've already had a couple of people mentioning they were confused in places, and I'll try to work on that (I mention this because this chapter has some stuff in it that will be rather confusing; I intend to clear most of that up in the following two or three chapters). I had a lot of trouble with this chapter, which is the main reason it took so long, but I think I got it finally put together; I'm taking a couple of big chances with it plot-wise, so hopefully they don't wind up in the "You've got to be kidding me!" category.
On the other hand, I've had several very positive reviews lately, so I'm obviously doing something right as far as all of you are concerned.. Hopefully, I'll continue to deserve such praise.
Anyway, enough talk; here's the next chapter...
This wasn't happening.
Even as she fought for breath...
What the hell is this?
Tatsuki was staring wide-eyed at...
It was some sort of...snake monster, a snake monster with a skull mask for a face.
And arms...
And hands that were trying to choke the life from her, pressing down as though the roof had fallen on her.
What the hell is this? What the hell...?
The words kept repeating themselves over and over.
It was supposed to be a fun night...
Get off me you sonuva-!
Tatsuki had sparred with her friend; welcomed Feng-sensei back; went to Orihime's home to spend the night...
Whatever this thing was, it wanted Tatsuki; it was only slowly trying to kill her, savoring every minute of the experience, its eyes alight with feral victory mixed with hate.
She tried to bat at the arm with her own free right arm, but she might as well have been using a flyswatter; the monster didn't even acknowledge the action, much less react to it.
Damn it, think Tatsuki, think! You're not going to die like this!
Especially since she thought she might finally have figured out a way to get Orihime and Ichigo hooked up; over the tea they'd had earlier, she thought she might have even begun to finally get the girl past the worst of her hesitance...
Then Orihime's stuffed bear Enraku had come apart.
And after that...
Some kind of thing came and went after the two of them like some insane heat shimmer with mass.
Tatsuki could feel the blood running now, feel the pain from the wound on her shoulder.
It was only after she'd received the wound that she could even see monster, and now she wished she couldn't; Tatsuki could practically feel the murderous intent in the thing's 'eyes'.
And she could feel her life beginning to slip away...
But the worst was the pressure...
Please gods...don't let me die like this...
She could feel the increasing pressure of the thing's hand as it continued to bore down on her, the weight daring her ribs to break and her heart and lungs to crush. Its body was pressing down on her as well, her legs and hips pinned down by whatever part of the 'tail' was supporting the thing's torso.
And it was squeezing her neck...
Tatsuki couldn't remember when her bones had felt this brittle...
Don't let me die like this...please...
Tatsuki felt so weak, and she hated that.
She hated that she could feel the thing's body heat seeping through her clothes, hated the air of dominance she could feel this male...thing had over her...
And she hated that she couldn't do anything about it.
All those years of training, and this is all I can do?
Tatsuki knew she would die here.
And then Orihime would, too.
And then gods knew who else as this monster went on its way...
Let me fight gods, please! Give me a chance to kick this thing's ass!
And then she heard and saw something knock into the side of the monster and the pressure was gone from both her body and throat. Tatsuki didn't care what had happened, she just started gulping mouthfuls of air trying to get her body to work and her mind in order as quickly as she could.
The monster was off her...she was safe...for the moment.
She turned her head and saw the monster temporarily on its side, shock mixed with some of the unnatural rage in its face. And then Tatsuki saw what had knocked it over...
Orihime...?
The ginger-haired girl was quickly getting back up onto her feet and backing away from the monster, taking a moment to look in Tatsuki's direction to make sure she was all right. Tatsuki tried to smile but she was sure it came out wrong from the look her friend gave her in return.
And then Tatsuki noticed the chain...
The chain bolted to her friend's chest...that lay winding along the floor to...
Another Orihime laying in a heap in a corner of the room...
The fear and confusion returned with a vengeance.
What the hell is all this!
She had no time to think on it; the monster had recovered from the blow that stunned it. It picked itself up and began looking at the two teenagers in the room, sizing up its targets.
Tatsuki knew she had to help, had to pick herself up and...
She couldn't do anything.
She didn't think her body was broken, other than a wounded shoulder. And there was nothing wrong with her thought processes that she could see.
Tatsuki just couldn't get her body to work for some reason, and that scared her.
Orihime would be alone against the monster, and even if she did have her black belt in karate...even if she did have the benefit of Feng-sensei's training...
The girl wouldn't stand a chance.
The beast in the room agreed with that opinion; it gave Tatsuki one look, dismissed her as nothing to worry about, and then turned its full attention to Orihime.
Even though her friend had a resolute look on her face as the creature prepared to attack, Tatsuki knew they were finished unless a miracle happened. There was no way any human could go up against something like...that.
And all Tatsuki could do was fight through the fear and silently pray for a miracle...
It was raining hard outside the dojo, the gray color of the overcast sky seeming to bleed into everything the rain touched. It made Shaolin glad about the fact that she was indoors, where the colors were still crisp and bright.
The shinigami didn't hate rain, it was just that she'd had a long day training the students – the last of them had left for home with their parents not too long ago, and she was looking forward to a nice evening with some tea and a good book. And the rain would make for good sleeping weather...
Then Shaolin stopped; she could feel something...something was wrong...
She waved it away.
Nothing had been happening in Karakura for something like a decade; no Hollows, no monsters, not even anything in the way of shinigami visitors.
Shaolin knew she was just dream-
"Help! Somebody help me!"
Masaki-san!
Thoughts of tea or a relaxing evening went out the window as Shaolin heard her friend's voice over the rain outside. She and her son had just left Furin Hall not too long before, both with smiles on their faces; it was hard for the assassin to understand what...
No, she could feel it now. There was a Hollow here and Shaolin didn't need to be told who and what it was here for.
She raced to her room, started tearing through the place. The cabinets...her bed...under her pillow...
Nothing.
She made her way to the kitchen and tore through the cupboards and clutter there. Still nothing.
Where the hell are you, Hana?
How could she have misplaced someone she almost considered a friend, someone she needed to-
"Somebody help me!"
Masaki sounded, if anything, even more desperate.
There was no more time; Shaolin had to get there now, even if she was stuck in her gigai.
Running through the hallways, she prepared to materialize Suzumebachi; the zanpaktou would be essential to making her more than an 'innocent bystander'-
Nothing happened.
No blade appeared in her hand, and for a long moment Shaolin just looked at it like an idiot.
She tried again...again...again...
It felt like she was trying to get a spent cigarette lighter to work.
And still nothing.
Damn it, I don't need this!
If she couldn't make her own blade come, Shaolin had one other weapon she could use. She raced back to one of the closets and tore through the accumulated boxes and chests until she reached a small case in back. She had to fiddle with the latch for a moment, and then threw the lid open and started digging through the things inside, heedless of the mess she was making.
Shaolin didn't care; she needed to find-
YES!
She grabbed Hana's reishi blade, the one Shaolin had stowed away years ago and then, leaping from the closet, the assassin flew threw the corridors of Furin Hall making for the outside world.
Even as she came into the gray outside and the steady rain started drenching her, Shaolin's only thought was of Masaki and Ichigo. Now that she was focusing on it, Shaolin could tell this was a powerful Hollow; there was no way a pair of unarmed humans, even spiritually powerful ones, could face off against this thing.
"Don't you touch my...! Ichigo...Ichigo...!"
Hold on, Masaki-san, I'm coming!
At least she was trying to come.
The rain was making the concrete and asphalt surface of the streets slick; after ten seconds or so she swore to herself that she was running on a treadmill for all the progress she was making. And it didn't help that the rain was soaking through to her skin, making her saturated clothes weigh her down.
But she had to keep going; a friend and her son were depending on Shaolin.
And Isshin would never forgive her if...
No, I will save you two...just hold on!
The conviction gave Shaolin fresh energy and she began to pick up speed, racing past the houses and green spaces towards where she'd heard the screams.
Towards the river...
Even as she reached the sculpted banks of the river, Shaolin pulled out the blade and activated it; the harsh blue-white light that came forth from the hilt comforted her a little. Below her the normally placid waters of what was supposed to be a creek were now raging because of the heavy rainfall. Her feet squelched in the near-mud that the levee's side had become, and she took a moment to scan the scene.
She didn't see a Hollow, but its stink was everywhere, slowly being washed away by the rain.
But if it wasn't here...
No...
She started to shake her head as she saw the body further down the slope, not far from the river's present edge.
Please no...
A young woman lay face down in the grass, her long brown hair a mess, a broken umbrella thrown to one side. And even from here Shaolin could see the red of blood all over the woman's back.
"Masaki-san?"
There was no response.
Shaolin almost leaped off the top of the bank and made her way down to the body, trying her best not to slip or tumble in the mud and rain-slick grass. Her heart came up further into her throat as she noticed a smaller body pinned underneath Masaki's.
Please gods...not him, too...
Even as she hoped that her friend was still alive, Shaolin could tell the woman was at best critically injured; Masaki didn't move at all as the shinigami made it to the same level of the bank and then came up to her. Shaolin deactivated and stowed the reishi blade as best she could, and then knelt beside her friend. It barely registered in the assassin's mind that she was beginning to shiver from the cold rain.
"Masaki-san...?
She reached out and lay a hand on Masaki's body; there was no response, and she could only feel the ebbing heat of a corpse.
Shaolin shook what was left of her friend, just to be sure.
Nothing.
Something in Shaolin crumpled and she hung her head for a moment, her tears adding to the water on her face.
"Masaki-chan, I'm sorry...I...I didn't mean it...I-"
But there was no point in continuing; the woman was dead...gone.
Shaolin needed to see to the living.
She took in a deep breath to steady herself, grabbed Masaki's body, and then rolled it onto its back so Ichigo would be uncovered. The sight of the woman's face made Shaolin feel a little better; Masaki had a look of grim determination, and there was no sign of the desecration the Hollow had done to her.
But then Shaolin turned her attention to the boy and her heart stopped.
Oh gods no...
Ichigo was dead too.
The tearing and rending of flesh and the blood that had been on Masaki's back was reproduced on Ichigo's chest and neck. The nine-year old boy's face was contorted in horror; like his mother he could see ghosts, Shaolin knew, so he'd had the small consolation of knowing what had killed him. But...
She'd failed them.
Just like she'd failed so many others over the years...
Shaolin didn't know what to do, so she sat there for a moment letting the rain continue to fall and soak her. She tried to think of it washing away the numbing pain she was feeling.
"Ichigo...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..."
"You're sorry?"
Shaolin started at the words; it couldn't be...
She turned a little to the side, and her eyes widened in horror at the look Masaki was giving her. The expression on the corpse's face had changed from a moment ago; now the woman Shaolin had always known for her sunny personality had a look of righteous outrage. Even though Masaki was obviously dead, she was slowly struggling into a sitting position, the wounds on her back seemingly forgotten.
Shaolin just stared slack-jawed at her friend, and it took her a moment to pick herself up off the ground. A moment later, and both women were standing and facing each other next to the body of Ichigo.
"Masaki-san, wha-"
"Don't change the subject, Feng Shaolin!"
The animated corpse pointed at her son's remains.
"He saved you, remember? I thought you promised to protect him. Was that a lie?"
The assassin found herself shaking her head in disbelief.
"No, wait...I tried to get here as fast-"
Masaki thrust a finger accusingly at Shaolin.
"I'll bet you did. But you didn't quite make it, did you? Now you can have Isshin and the girls all to yourself. You always did think Ichigo was a problem; maybe you'll have a better time controlling Karin-"
"No, Masaki-san...it's not like that!"
Even as she said the words, Shaolin tried to back up and put a little distance between her and the accusations. But the ground wouldn't let her move; her feet had sunk into the mud of the bank and held her fast enough for her to lose her balance. Before she knew it, Shaolin was on her back as firmly as Masaki had been just a moment before.
The accusing undead towered over her for a moment, and then shook her head sadly.
"You're one of my best friends, Shaolin-san; a shinigami able to hold her own against a captain. How could you do this to me? How could you do this to my family, to..."
Then Masaki's face turned to something past Shaolin's head.
"Isshin..."
Shaolin, the terror in her heart rising even further, tried to turn her head to see but found the mud holding her fast. With main strength, she heaved herself up just a little, enough to break its hold for a moment, and then flipped herself onto her chest. The grass had disappeared for some reason, all she could see was the raging river in hills of brown and maybe a stone here and there.
And standing not very far from her was Isshin and his two daughters.
How they had gotten here so fast didn't register, nor how they could be free of the wet and mud that was beginning to coat Shaolin. All that mattered were the looks of horror on their faces as they saw Masaki and Ichigo. Isshin in particular turned to look his old friend in the eyes.
"Shaolin-san, how could you?"
The two girls looked like they were on the verge of tears
"Mom...?"
"What happened to you?"
This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening.
The girls turned to Shaolin and suddenly their faces became masks of rage; Karin seemed particularly upset.
"You loser! How could you do that to Mom, how could you let her die? I HATE you!"
"Girls, please, I-"
Yuzu shook her head.
"Don't say anything, you...you... Just go away!"
And then she turned and ran off, Karin following after giving Shaolin one final dirty look. After only a moment they had disappeared in the now-darkening gloom of the rainy evening.
Shaolin just wanted to get out of here, to get away from it all.
But she couldn't get away; the mud was holding her too fast.
"What a truly pathetic display of failure. My condolences, Isshin, Masaki."
At the new voice, Shaolin turned her head to see Ishida Ryuuken standing nearby, looking at her with disdain even as he remained utterly immaculate in his white suit and blue and silver tie.
"What did you expect? She is a failure."
There was Hirako Shinji, a snide and triumphant smile on his face.
"A total reject."
Hiyori appeared, dressed in a red jumpsuit and baseball cap and shaking her head in sadness and disgust.
"A source of shame to our clan."
Shaolin turned her head again and saw there was now a large group of men and women wearing the black garb of her old division, the Punishment Force...
Her clan. Her brothers and sisters, cousins and aunts and uncles.
The people she'd cut ties to for-
"Yeah everybody, she's a real waste of space."
The words and the voice cut through Shaolin's heart like a knife. She struggled to peel herself from the muck the ground had become, struggled to confirm who was coming to join this procession of shame. Finally, she managed to get up onto her elbows and looked down-slope, where the voice had come from.
Now there was no river; there was only a trench lined with lumber to keep the mud from burying anyone who might be inside. On the hillside, the buildings were in ruins, lit only in the now-dark sky by the occasional flash of...something in the distance.
And laying face down in the mud were bodies; some in what was left of Quincy white, some in the uniforms of 20th Century soldiers, others in the peasant garb of people from Rukongai. There were even a few in the black robes of shinigami...
And walking up to her from there was the dark-skinned vision of nobility herself, clad in black and orange, her dark hair flowing like a waterfall in the rain.
"Yoruichi-sama..."
"Oh, you remember me? How touching."
She was smiling, but there was something wrong with it. It had a sort of feral quality to it, this smile, and when she looked, Shaolin could see the glint of madness and excitement in the Shihouin heir's golden eyes.
The younger shinigami tried to keep the fear out of her voice as she spoke.
"Wh-what are you..."
"Doing here? Oh come on, you know I like to come by every now and again. And what do I find this time?"
She sighed and elegantly waved a hand at the gathering as she came up in front of Shaolin.
"You screwing up again. I mean, that poor woman and her family... Really, Shao-chan, you couldn't even stop, much less kill, one stupid Hollow?"
Shaolin started to protest her innocence, but one of her clanswomen came forward to cut her off; built not unlike Shaolin, her short dark hair had a bit of the silver that flashed in her eyes from the now-intermittent light of the scene.
"You had your chance, cousin. Let someone else have a turn, someone better than you."
Everyone was just glaring at her now: Masaki, Ryuuken, Isshin, Hiyori, her clan... All of them looking at the pathetic figure in the mud and all with a look that said they just wanted her to go away.
She wanted to scream, but Yoruichi simply tut-tutted.
"Now Shaolin, I think I speak for everyone here when I say I've had enough of your screwing up. I mean, I know Kisuke likes you and all...but I don't have much patience for the hired help. I can, after all, get that whenever I want to."
The woman got down on one knee and looked Shaolin in the eyes, golden orbs boring into the younger woman's soul.
"You know, you like bathing in this stuff, don't you...?"
She pointed to the mud at their feet even as she brought her face up to Shaolin's.
"I hear it's excellent for the complexion..."
The noblewoman grabbed Shaolin firmly by the top of her head, smiled the smile of the mad, and then drove the assassin's face into the mud.
Shaolin struggled for what seemed like forever, trying just to breathe and not to get sucked down further into the muck, and then her head was raised again for another dunking. Now it was just her and Yoruichi-sama in an endless sea of mud; through a tear in the clouds, a watery-blue moon bathed the place in a sinister light.
"Yoruichi-sama, please...!"
The noblewoman sneered at Shaolin.
"Please what? You want me to spare you or show mercy? How dare you give me orders, woman! A piece of trash like you has no business being near me, much less being my 'humble servant'."
A violent rage overtook Shaolin at the words.
Hadn't she been loyal all these decades in the Living World? Hadn't she given up everything for this woman?
And for what?
Using all the strength she could muster, the ex-shinigami swiped at her former mistress' face.
"Shut up you bitch!"
Her fingers found their mark, tearing through the dark skin and noble features...
And revealing under the tatters pieces of a bone-white face.
Shaolin was paralyzed with fear, even as the fake Yoruichi closed her now-yellow eyes and shook her head.
"No respect for your masters...either one of them."
Then the woman shrugged lightly, even as Shaolin struggled to get out of what was now a vise-like grip.
"Oh well...see you later 'Little Bee'..."
Before Shaolin could do anything else, she was driven deeper into the mud, buried in it, engulfed in it. She tried to struggle out of the mire, but even as she did she could feel her body begin to become one with it. Bone softened, muscles and skin melted, her mind began to disperse, and after a moment she began to become one with the field.
Become one with her other self...
No, she didn't want to do that, didn't want to surrender.
Didn't want to lose herself to the darkness.
Shaolin wanted to fight, to survive.
She exploded out of the body of the morass, struggling against the material that was clinging to her, wrapping itself around her limbs and body, trying to tie her down.
She fought for air, trying to breathe through the muck she was in, trying to hold whatever she could in and use it for her struggles.
And then Shaolin realized that she was breathing air, not mud.
As soon as that revelation entered her mind, Shaolin began to feel fabric instead of earth on her skin; the moisture was from her own sweat, not rain. There were no strange lights, no thundering explosions in the distance; while it was dark, it was also quiet.
She was in her room at Furin Hall, in her bed...
The assassin spent a few moments trying to calm her nerves and control her breathing. She forced herself to remember her training for such things, all the decades her clan had spent forging her into a tool for the Shihouin Clan.
And after a while, Shaolin could feel her heartbeat slow...she could feel her breathing become more even...she could feel her nerves calm...
She wasn't sure how long it was before she opened her eyes again; probably just a few minutes, though sometimes she spent hours in such 'meditation'. But she was better now, and the ex-shinigami silently praised the teachings of the clan she'd abandoned so long ago.
Shaolin was still rattled, but she could think and act rationally now, and she could reflect on what had happened to her.
She'd had the dream again.
It first came to Shaolin a few nights after Masaki's death, when the ex-shinigami had finally been able to get something approximating sleep. It had been simple at first, just a replay of the memory of finding her friend's corpse in the rain. And then over the next several weeks it had grown, like some malign rumor spreading through the streets and taverns of Rukongai, adding and layering her fears and failures into it until...
Until that sea of mud had appeared.
She hoped Hiyori wasn't right about what it meant...
Isshin had nearly been destroyed saving her from that...thing all those years ago; it killed her to think that he might have failed anyway.
The assassin quietly shook her head to clear the thoughts from her mind and wiped her face to remove the tears she knew would be there. Whether they had been shed during the dream or after she didn't care, she just wanted them gone.
The cellphone going off nearly made Shaolin jump through the ceiling.
After regaining her breath, she scrambled to the table, desperately clutching for the phone while letting its ringing guide her hands in the dark. They soon found it, fumbling it open and then putting it to her ear.
"Finally... Where were you? I have been trying to reach you for the last fifteen minutes."
"I...I was asleep..."
There was a pause as Hana absorbed that.
"You were having a nightmare again, weren't you?"
Shaolin found herself nodding in the dark.
"Yeah, but I'm...I'm all right."
"You do not sound all right."
The assassin frowned at the phone.
"That's because someone rang me at...whatever time it is. Look, I'm fine now Hana; what did you want to talk to me about?"
There was another pause, one that didn't help Shaolin's nerves.
"It is all over now, Shaolin, but there have been a pair of Hollow attacks in the general area."
The ex-shinigami could feel herself tensing up, even as her heart sank at the news.
"Let me guess: one of the attacks was at Isshin-san's place, right?"
"Yes, the first one. It only lasted several seconds; Ichigo drove it off."
Shaolin sighed and buried her face in her free hand.
"Great, Isshin-san...'We don't need to train Ichigo to hide his reiatsu, everything'll be just fine...'"
Then something occurred to her; she turned her attention back to the phone.
"Hana, how do you that's Ichigo out there?"
"It is the same reiatsu as the one we ran into this afternoon. And it just appeared out of nowhere when the Hollow attack at the Kurosakis' occurred... And before you ask, it is not Isshin's signature I am detecting; I would recognize that in a heartbeat."
Shaolin nodded her head.
"So that means either it's Ichigo, or this Kuchiki Rukia is visiting him..."
"A convenient visit, indeed."
The ex-shinigami just sighed; she could swear she was beginning to get a headache.
"I don't even want to think of the other possibility right now; there's too much stuff going on..."
She got out of the bed and started heading for the closet; she had a feeling she'd be needed.
"Where was the second attack?"
Hana didn't answer for a moment, as though stunned by the abruptness of her friend's question.
"Inoue Orihime's house..."
The ex-shinigami stopped for a moment, letting the news sink in.
"Shaolin...?"
"I'm wondering which of the gods I pissed off to have this happen... All right, Hana, is anybody there...now, or..."
She could feel it...
It was like a gentle breeze at first, flowing past her and filling the room with a recognizable 'scent'.
It was the presence she'd felt that afternoon.
"Ichigo's coming straight here, isn't he?"
"Yes, he is, and at a pretty good clip...for him, anyway..."
Shaolin tried to keep her emotions in check.
"Which means he left the girls all alone, after a Hollow attack?"
"That may not be a bad thing, Shaolin. He stopped off at his house first before coming here; he may just be coming by to ask advice, not help."
It took a moment for Shaolin to answer. She could feel Ichigo's presence filling the entire area; the background energies of the people in this part of Karakura faded away as the boy drew nearer.
"Let's...see what he wants. In the meantime I'm getting myself ready."
By the time she was opening the closet doors, she could only feel herself and Ichigo in the immediate area. She shook her head and almost cursed Isshin, and then held it back; it was only partially his fault that he had a son who was so powerful and yet so untamed.
It always brought her at least a little on edge, she hated to say, because it made her blind.
Being near Ichigo, she couldn't sense Hollows...couldn't sense other people...couldn't sense anything.
It was like being in thick fog; anything could come up to her now and she wouldn't even know until-
The door to the room flew open, a tall figure panting in the doorway.
Running on pure instinct Shaolin's hand flew to her back, Suzumebachi's hilt already starting to materialize...
And then the figure, realizing what was going on, wildly held out its hands.
"Wait a minute, sensei! It's me! It's Ichigo!"
Shaolin was thankful for the noise; it made her realize what she was doing. She stopped trying to draw her zanpaktou and let it quietly re-merge with her gigai, all the while staring wide-eyed at her former student.
"Ichi- Wh-what the hell are you doing here at this time of night?"
He recoiled from her words, what she assumed was a look of fear on his face matching his movements.
Good, he needed that; with everything going on, she needed to snap at...something.
Even if it was Ichigo.
It took a moment for the young man to collect himself.
"Listen...sensei, I'm sorry, but...please, I need some help with something..."
Now she was feeling bad, her earlier shock having disappeared and some shame creeping in with the worried tone his voice had.
Kurosaki Ichigo didn't beg; he was too much of a macho man for that, which meant the boy truly felt he needed help.
Not surprising considering what he's probably gotten himself into right now...
"Sensei...?
She didn't turn around, but simply went back to looking through her closet.
"What did you need my help on?"
It took a moment before he answered, enough time for her to grab a t-shirt to examine.
"I saw you this afternoon."
She nodded her acceptance, to both his statement and her choice of clothing.
"You killed those Hollows, didn't you?"
"That pretty much settles whether he is the current shinigami for the area, doesn't it?"
Shaolin nodded again to two different things at the same time.
"Yes, I did. How would you know about that? I didn't see you there."
He paused, and then sighed in what sounded like defeat.
"It's...complicated..."
The light switch clicked, and a moment later Shaolin could see she had a...tie-dyed t-shirt...?
"You see it's- Ahhhhhhhh!"
Maybe her night vision wasn't as good as she thought it was...this had to be one of Orihime's...
She turned at the strangling sound Ichigo was making and saw something that made her eyes widen.
Kurosaki Ichigo stood in the doorway, clad in a black shihakushou – the robes of a shinigami - with a massive zanpaktou strapped to his back by a leather band. He'd had a strong reiatsu as a human, but now as one of the death gods he filled the room with his power like a blazing sun.
It was depressing to Shaolin seeing him in that state.
But he was impressive...
Or would have been if he wasn't stiffly bowing to the point where his eyes were fixed firmly at the floor.
Shaolin arched an eyebrow.
"What?"
"I-it's just...could you please put some clothes on?"
She just closed her eyes for a moment in disapproval as she realized what he was getting on about; she was currently wearing a black silk nightgown that was apparently too short and revealing for his delicate sensibilities.
"Gods..."
It only took Hana a moment to respond; if she'd been in the gigai, Shaolin knew the mod soul would have been roaring.
"It...it must be fun...knowing that...you can cause that reaction at your age..."
The assassin groaned inwardly, crossing her arms and glaring at him; he could be just as bad about this as Orihime sometimes.
"You barged into my bedroom in the middle of the night. What did you expect?"
The question brought the young man up short; he stood there like an idiot before trying to answer.
"Well, I-uhm..."
She sighed in frustration and turned back to the closet. She grabbed a different t-shirt and some pants, and then started changing.
"You know, Ichigo, if you ever want to have a family – and I really hope you do – you need to get used to things like that."
The young man's only response was to sputter incoherently. Shaolin just sighed in defeat at the display.
"Never mind. Let me just guess: you're here about the attack on Inoue-san's apartment?"
"How did you-?"
Shaolin finished dressing and then went for the equipment box on the closet floor.
"I have my sources; I'm in contact with one of them right now, in fact. Are Inoue-san and Tatsuki-chan all right?"
There was no answer.
The assassin grabbed the reishi blade and a small pouch with some equipment in it, secured them to her waist as best she could and then turned her attention to Ichigo.
He was still bowing.
"I'm decent now."
He stood erect, a sheepish smile on his face.
"Oh-uhm...yeah..."
"The girls, are they all right? I assume that's why you came here?"
Ichigo nodded, some shame mixed in with relief.
"Yeah, sensei, it's...they're in pretty bad shape, and...I don't know what to do..."
Shaolin didn't wait for him; she made her way across the room, past him, and on into the hallway to the front entrance.
"If it's that urgent you can tell me on the way. Let's get going before- Ahhh!"
Before she knew what was going on, Ichigo grabbed the ex-shinigami and hauled her into his arms.
"Ichigo, what are you doing?"
He shrugged and made sure she was secure before racing out the door.
"This'll be faster; you are worried about time, aren't you?"
"Hoisted by her own..."
Shaolin just shook her head and tried to hang on as best she could. A moment later, Ichigo began climbing into the air, as though on some invisible stairway, and then they started on their way to Orihime's.
She waited a minute to let Ichigo calm down a little and for her to get used to the sensation of being carried through the air by someone else; it was weird for her to even consider it, much less live it. But then again, it wasn't the first time she'd pretended to be human.
"Now, what happened Ichigo?"
He sighed as he tried to compose his thoughts.
"There was a Hollow...it attacked me and Ru..."
Shaolin didn't bother to look him in the eye.
"Tatsuki-chan already told me about your girlfriend."
The young man groaned; apparently he wasn't entirely unaware of what things looked like at school.
"She's not my-! Like I said...it's complicated..."
Shaolin nodded at that. The young man carrying her sounded unsure of himself on this and...perhaps even betrayed...
"Wait a minute! Shaolin, I did not detect... Oh gods, she was wearing her gigai to the battle wasn't she?"
Shaolin wasn't going to say anything at the moment, but Hana had a point. Rukia would have been constrained by the device, as well as being visible to any moron who walked down the street.
Why would she...?
It wasn't important; the assassin decided to focus on things that were.
"Is your family all right?"
He nodded.
"Yeah, Dad and the girls are all right; it was just after me."
They were silent for a moment.
"That's what you wanted to train me for, wasn't it? Because of the Hollows...?"
Shaolin looked at his face; he didn't seem to be upset, just curious.
"Yes...yes it was. Ichigo, you know how I used to tell you about the power you had within you?"
He nodded.
"Well, I'm sure you're aware now that I was being literal; you're going to have to face the fact that you're a Hollow magnet, because of all that power you have... It's just something you're going to have to live with."
The young man looked like he was thinking about it, and then he just nodded his head.
"I understand. Thanks for telling me, sensei."
Some part of Shaolin rose a little at the sight; he was taking it much better than she would have, she was sure.
Maybe the little boy was turning into a man under her nose.
"Anyway, what about Inoue-san's apartment? How did you know to go there?"
Ichigo snapped to and thought again.
"I cleaved off some of the Hollow's mask at my place and..."
He stopped and his face started looking a little haunted.
Shaolin patted him a little on the back to comfort him; it had been a nasty experience the first time she'd seen what Hollows really were. She couldn't imagine anyone still remotely human who wouldn't be disturbed.
"It was Sora, Inoue's older brother. Rukia said he'd probably go after family so... Sensei?"
At the sound of the name, Shaolin started feeling a wave of self-disgust crash through her and she turned her face out towards the Karakura skyline.
"Inoue Sora? But I thought he was not anywhere near...'turning'..."
The ex-shinigami ignored her friend's words; she could only try to keep from getting sucked into one of her dark moods.
"Sensei...?"
She shook herself somewhat back into the real world.
"It's all my fault, Ichigo... I had three years and I w...no, I couldn't do anything to help him..."
"Well, you don't have a zanpaktou, so-"
"I can do konsou, Ichigo; I can send people to the afterlife if I want."
There was a pause.
"Then why didn't you?"
Shaolin turned again to Ichigo and saw him looking at her, though without anger. He had simply asked a question.
She gathered her thoughts and then just sighed.
"It would have brought down trouble like you wouldn't believe. And not from the Hollows..."
"Soul Society?"
She nodded.
"We can talk about it later, though. What kind of shape are Tatsuki-chan and Inoue-san in?"
He looked really troubled now, much like he had when he'd first barged into her bedroom.
"Tatsuki's pretty banged up, but she'll live...I think..."
Shaolin glared at him.
"You think?"
He shrugged.
"I don't know; I'm not a medic. Rukia gave her something she said would supposedly help heal her, but..."
He looked at Shaolin like she might bite his head off if he said anymore.
"And Inoue-san...?"
Now he looked really nervous.
"She's...had her soul ripped out of her body..."
Shaolin had to clamp down on her emotions, but she let enough of them through to her face and voice to give Ichigo a clear message.
"And you left her there like that? Like you left Tatsuki-chan?"
The look of shame on his face deepened.
"I didn't have much choice, sensei; I didn't know what to do...and then I remembered you this afternoon and...it that or..."
Shaolin thought about that for a moment and then sighed; she didn't want to know what Plan B had been.
"Was her Chain of Fate intact?"
Some of the shame turned to confusion.
"Her what?"
"For crying out loud, you would think if this Kuchiki woman was going to have him do her job, she would at least inform him of the basics..."
After a moment, a light seemed to go off over his head as he understood what Shaolin was talking about.
"Oh, that chain that ran from..."
She nodded her head.
"Yes, that chain. Was. It. Intact?"
He nodded in return and a wave of relief flooded through the ex-shinigami. She went on to the next question.
"Was her physical body all right; it hasn't been torn up, mutilated...anything like that?"
He looked unsure and a little squeamish as he did it, but he shook his head.
"No...I didn't really check, but it looked like it made it through the fight without a scratch."
She continued holding him with her gaze for a moment, and then sighed and looked away.
It was the best answer she could hope for until she actually see things for herself.
"All right...maybe she can be saved; it doesn't sound like a complete screw-up."
"But you're not happy with me?"
She turned to his face again and caught his gaze.
"Should I be?"
He looked troubled for a moment, sighed...and then smiled a little.
"No, I guess you shouldn't...I really screwed up."
"Then why are you smiling?"
He thought for a moment.
"Because there's someone I can talk to about this, go for help if I need it...someone other than Rukia."
Shaolin arched an eyebrow.
"You know, Ichigo you keep using her first name with no honorifics... Is she an old friend you never told me about? Someone you met when you were a kid?"
He shook his head.
"No, I just met her not too long ago."
"No wonder Tatsuki-chan was worried..."
They passed another moment in silence
"Did you leave Kuchiki-san at the apartment as well?"
He shook his head.
"No. No, I...took her back home...told her to get some sleep...that I'd get help..."
Again, there was something in his voice and expression...
Upset...a little shaken...
Shaolin took a moment to try and concentrate on the 'other' part of Ichigo's reiatsu, the one she assumed was from this 'Kuchiki Rukia' person. She was curious about this 'new woman' in her former student's life.
It took a bit of effort – Ichigo's energies were so strong – but she finally managed to tease out some of the foreign reiatsu and sample them.
It was cold...but not frigid like ice. It felt more like snow; softer, more gentle...more subtle.
But as Shaolin could attest through experience, snow was plenty cold and dangerous in its own right.
And unfortunately it was just the kind of thing she would have expected from some member of the high nobility of Soul Society. It probably also meant the girl wasn't quite as big of a fop as Shaolin had thought...
The funny thing was...the reiatsu didn't really feel like it came from a Kuchiki...
Shaolin internally shrugged; noble families adopted all the time, this girl might be just another example. Which of course meant the girl was all the more valuable to her new clan...
"Thanks for coming, sensei."
Ichigo's words cut through Shaolin's musings; she turned her attention back to him.
"Thank me when the girls are okay. And Ichigo...?"
He looked at her.
"Yeah?"
She assumed a serious expression.
"You're not my student anymore; you don't have to call me 'sensei' anymore."
He looked a little embarrassed and deflated.
"Oh...I..."
The ex-shinagami smiled a little.
"You can call me 'obasan', or just 'Shaolin' if you want."
He arched an eyebrow in puzzlement.
"Why not Shaolin-san?"
She took a moment before letting her smile turn a little impish.
"Because you're too rude for honorifics, Ichigo-kun..."
The target of her words looked suddenly scandalized and embarrassed.
"Sensei!"
They traveled in silence for another couple of minutes before Orihime's apartment block came into view; even as she kept tight hold of Ichigo, Shaolin did a quick scan of the area.
There wasn't any major damage to the neighborhood that Shaolin could see from this side, which was a good thing. Even an experienced warrior like herself tended to leave locations this dense torn up a bit. She would expect a newbie like Ichigo to half level the place.
So the fact that the houses and streets she could see from here were completely intact, even after a fight with a Hollow was a good sign of the boy's abilities.
Or his luck; Inoue Sora would have been a newborn Hollow, after all.
Ichigo made the final few 'steps' to the complex, and then vaulted over it and landed in the air across the street from it, standing in the cone of light spilling out from...
"Oh gods..."
The gaping hole that used to be the side of Orihime's apartment.
Some part of the ex-shinigami's mind took note of the battle damage elsewhere; the street pavement below her had been cracked, she thought one of the light poles had been bent, and there were pieces of wood and glass strewn below from the side of the building.
But she couldn't keep her eyes from the hole for long.
It was easily two meters to a side; Shaolin could see right into the apartment room as though it were some kind of giant diorama.
And everywhere she could sense the remains of Hollow; the place stank of it. It was even worse since she knew the Hollow in question before the change...could remember what his reiatsu was like before this horror.
The scene would have made her sick in the past; now, after a century in the Living World...
She guessed some part of her was getting a little jaded, despite her attempts to the contrary.
But not jaded enough to confirm for herself something else.
There was no sign of another shinigami's reiatsu.
Ichigo had remained silent the whole time, and when she looked back at him she could see the worry and shame in his face.
"Did anybody see your friend?"
It took a minute for him to register the question.
"Well...probably not; it's late..."
The assassin shook her head in disgust and started muttering.
"Idiot was probably wearing it in broad daylight."
"Or 'broad nite-lite', as the case may be..."
Shaolin ignored her friend's quip and pointed to the ruined room.
"Take us in."
Ichigo nodded and after a few steps he allowed Shaolin to set her feet on the apartment floor. He remained silent as she took stock of the place.
It would have been worse if Orihime were the kind of person to own a lot of furniture or other assorted junk; as it was only some pillows and a couple of small foot tables had been been thrown about. There were some scars on the walls, some from claws, a couple that looked like they'd been made with acid. All around, mixing in with the feelings of Hollow was the residue of the memory replacement aerosol Shaolin was sure Ichigo and Rukia had used.
The place had the air of some disaster site or war photo; the remains of what had probably been a quiet evening between friends...
And on the floor lay Tatsuki and Orihime, where earlier events had left them.
Shaolin could see the blood on Tatsuki's shoulder and the tears in her outfit; the young woman's face was pale and set in an expression of pain. And Orihime was just...laying on the floor a distance away as was her soul a couple of meters beyond that, the Chain of Fate connecting the two of them lying limply on the floor.
There was no one crying like Shaolin had half expected...
No one to sympathize with or console...
Only silence.
Like six years ago, by the river in the rain.
Shaolin closed her eyes for a moment as the emotions began to well up in her.
She was too late.
Again.
"I'm sorry, obasan, I..."
Shaolin held up her hand.
"Just be quiet for a minute, Ichigo."
Ichigo just nodded and stood near the wall.
The ex-shinigami felt the familiar anger building in her at the situation, as well as an equal well of despair enter into her soul. Ichigo had tried his best, but this was not a sport for amateurs; there was another qualified shinigami...sort of...in the area, and Shaolin could only feel that it was ultimately that person's fault this had happened.
In her younger days, Shaolin would have cried, she would have screamed her rage and frustration to the heavens, she would have done any number of wild and immature things.
Instead, she just stood there for a minute and let the wells of rage and despair fill and then overflow, let the emotions wash through her being, tasted them and absorbed them. She added the scene to her internal catalog of memories like a picture in her album back home.
And now that she had 'absorbed' the scene, Feng Shaolin took a deep breath to steady herself and then shoved the worst of the emotions back where they had come from. They would be hopefully locked away until she could deal with them at a better time.
Or until they invaded her nightmares again.
She turned back to the young man that was with her.
"Ichigo, I'd like it if you would do something while I look at Tatsuki."
Ichigo shook himself out of what thoughts he had in his mind.
"What?"
She swept an arm to indicate the entire area.
"This apartment. Look at it, look at the bodies, the damage; I want you to burn all this in your memory like I just did."
Ichigo's whole form seemed to sag.
"I'm sorry, I..."
Shaolin held up a hand and softened her voice.
"I'm not yelling at you. I'm telling you this because you're probably going to be running into a lot of it fighting Hollows. You're going to see a lot of damage and you're going to see a lot of dead friends and innocent bystanders."
She pointed to Orihime and Tatsuki specifically.
"This is what's going to happen, sometimes even if you don't screw things up. You need to get used to it, live with it, or it's eventually going to destroy you."
Ichigo took a few moments to absorb that; he looked very unsettled with the idea at first, but then seemed to accept it and grimly nodded.
"All right, obasan..."
Shaolin went over to Tatsuki and knelt next to the teenager. The smell of the memory chikan was all over her, as was that of Inoue Sora; he'd probably assaulted her.
He'd been a kind man, the assassin knew, and this sort of behavior would have horrified him; it pained the ex-shinigami to think that Tatsuki, and maybe Orihime as well, had been introduced to the spirit world in this fashion.
"I'm sorry, Tatsuki-chan..."
But now it was time to begin healing; the mourning and battles could come later.
"Uhm...Shaolin...?"
"What, Hana?"
The ex-shinigami made sure to just mutter the words so Ichigo wouldn't hear.
"Are you going to actually use kidou in front of Ichigo? I mean, should you not send him away or something?"
Shaolin shook her head.
"If Ichigo is ignorant of the Chain of Fate, than he wouldn't know what I was using. I mean, remember what happened a few years ago?"
"Oh...yes...that little mess back home you told me about? I guess if your cover could survive that, it can survive this..."
It had been a long day.
Even as she landed on the roof of Furin Hall, Shaolin couldn't stop shaking her head about the mess in Naruki, one of the cities next door to Karakura.
She hadn't seen that many Hollows in...well, years. Enough that even the shinigami assigned to that place wasn't going to begrudge help.
She'd still been careful, of course, and only picked off some of the outliers; Gotei 13 pride wouldn't allow for anything else.
But the assassin absolutely could not allow the creatures to make their way into Karakura. She wasn't sure what had kept Hollows away from here, and she didn't much care. There were just too many high-reiatsu people in the area now for this to become anything other than a buffet table if the monsters ever did return.
A case in point was here right now.
She had felt Kurosaki Ichigo's presence as she neared her home, and now even her well-trained senses were half-blinded. She knew he was here, but had no idea where in the building he might be.
Shaolin figured she'd just have to be careful as she made her way to the ground at a side entrance and went in. Hana wasn't back here yet from Naruki, and while she wasn't worried about the other students seeing her like this, if Ichigo-
"What are you doing, obasan?"
The assassin froze and then turned at the all too familiar sound. Something in her crumpled as she knew her existence was about to change then and there. Years of being careful and keeping her identity a secret were about to go up in smoke because...
Standing in the hallway nearby was the six year old Ichigo.
Oh, damn...I guess my secret's out...
He didn't seem upset, just...curious, and he continued to look at her for an answer.
What the hell do I tell him, I mean...?
"Uhm...you're here for this afternoon's class, aren't you?"
Ichigo nodded.
"...Is your mother here, too?"
The boy shook his head.
"No, she dropped me off like she usually does."
"I see..."
Okay...how do I explain shinigami to a six year old boy in a way that won't get me banned for life from the Kurosakis'...?
"Are you playing ninja or something?"
There was a note of disgust in his voice, as if he thought his 'aunt' was too old for games.
What...?
Then she realized...the boy had never seen a shinigami before, and he'd never felt the reiatsu of one...
He wouldn't know what he was looking at unless someone explained in detail.
Maybe I can make this work...
Shaolin smiled sheepishly at him.
"Well...er...yeah, I guess you could say that..."
He looked at her funny, and then smiled and shook his head.
"You know, you can be weird sometimes, obasan..."
Is he actually going to buy that...?
The boy turned and started heading down the hallway toward the training room.
"Hey, Ichigo!"
The boy stopped and looked at her.
"Give me a couple of minutes to get into something normal, and I'll be with you. I think you might be ready for that new set."
Now Ichigo was beaming; the smile melted away most of Shaolin's fears.
"Oh, and about this get-up I'm wearing...?"
"Yeah?"
Shaolin put a hand behind her head and gave what she hoped was her most embarrassed smile.
"Uh...could we keep this a secret between us? Just you and me?"
Ichigo thought about it for a moment.
"Okay!"
And then he continued on his way down the hall, leaving a relieved and bemused Feng Shaolin shaking her head and thanking every god she knew.
That did not just work out, did it...?
Shaolin smiled at the old memory as she worked the healing kidou on Tatsuki. It helped to lighten her mood, and after the earlier nightmare it was a welcome bit of balm on her soul.
"Do you think that since he has met another shinigami he has put two-and-two together?"
The ex-shinigami thought about that for a moment and then sighed.
"If he has, he hasn't said anything. I'll just play the game until he calls me on it."
The object of Shaolin's memory and conversation was standing nearby, watching her glowing hand and Tatsuki's healing wound with fascination.
"Is she going to be all right?"
Shaolin waited another moment, until the wound had closed completely, and then pulled back to examine her handiwork.
"She ought to be fine now; maybe a little stiff in the shoulder for a few days, but that's all."
She sniffed the air.
"Well, that and getting high off these fumes..."
Ichigo smiled a little, but she could see he agreed with her about the air quality; he was trying not to wrinkle his nose at the smell of...
...something that was trying to be bubble gum.
The assassin supposed that an aerosol agent should have some kind of scent, though, and better a pleasant one; she tried to keep the thoughts of mustard gas out of her head.
But still...bubble gum...?
"Orihime next?"
Shaolin shook her head at her former student's question.
"Not quite."
The healing kidou had closed the wound; now Shaolin needed to make sure to cover up more of the evidence. Carefully she took off the shirt Tatsuki was wearing and replaced it with one of Orihime's shirts, making a point of ignoring Ichigo's reaction.
"Uhm...what are you doing...?"
Shaolin looked over to find Ichigo trying to focus his attention anywhere other than Tatsuki's body.
"What do think will happen if Tatsuki-chan wakes up in a torn, bloody t-shirt without a matching wound?"
He thought a moment, and then nodded in understanding.
"Her memories would have been messed with for nothing."
Ugly words, but Shaolin liked 'messed' more than 'altered'; it was closer to the truth.
In any event, it pissed off Shaolin to no end to see her prize student wind up like sack of vegetables on the floor. It would have probably pissed Tatsuki off even worse; she still hated being seen as weak.
But that was one problem taken care of.
"Now for Orihime..."
Shaolin turned to the two ginger-haired girls laying on the floor in heaps. She could see the Chain of Fate between them was still intact, thank the gods, but the girl was still centimeters away from death. All it would take would be for the Chain to break, and Inoue Orihime would be off to Soul Society.
Or become a candidate for Hollowfication.
The ex-shinigami supposed things could have been worse; if it hadn't of been for Ichigo, the girls would have been entirely consumed, much as Masaki had been. For that Shaolin could be grateful.
She looked again at the object of her thoughts; the ex-shinigami couldn't help but be a little impressed by the sight of him. The last year had added a little more to his height; sharpened his features closer to a man's than a boy's; he was already physically growing into a fine example of one of the Shiba, his striking orange hair notwithstanding.
"You look good, Ichigo, even in that outfit."
Ichigo blushed a little.
"Uhm...thanks, obasan."
"Don't get used to it, though; I have no intention of letting you die before your time."
"Okay..."
The strangest look had come over him, that same uncomfortable expression when he'd been talking about Rukia – it set her on edge.
She dismissed the concern; one thing at a time. She pointed towards Orihime's spiritual body.
"Ichigo, pick her up and bring her next to her physical form, will you?"
The young man now looked even more uncomfortable, though for a different reason as he eyed Orihime.
"Do I...have to?"
Shaolin groaned inwardly.
"Ichigo, you carried me all the way from Furin Hall; you're saying you can't carry her a couple of meters?"
"Well, it's just..."
"...you're just his obasan; Inoue-san is a woman."
Shaolin sighed in disgust and headed for Orihime's soul. Looking at it up close, she didn't really feel angry about this whole thing – by now she was feeling more in control of the situation – but she could feel something in the pit of her stomach. As she came to the girl's soul-form and looked down on it, she could only feel one thing...
"One more thing I can lay at their feet..."
There was a pause as Hana absorbed the ex-shinigami's mutterings.
"You mean the Gotei 13?"
Shaolin bent down and carefully picked the still-sleeping soul-form up, nodding her head as she did so.
"It's just...'a couple of humans'. I know they're supposed to reap Inoue-san's soul if she dies but...well, it would just be minor loss, now wouldn't it?"
Hana paused, as though shaking her head.
"It is just one incident, Shaolin..."
"Which I see happening all the time...with no regrets..."
She ignored the strange look Ichigo gave her, concentrating instead on what she was doing.
"Are you all right? You sound winded..."
Shaolin was breathing heavily now, and it was something of a relief when she carefully set the soul next to the body.
"I guess Inoue-san is heavier than she looks."
"So that is where all the food goes...an extra-dense spirit form..."
Shaolin smiled a little as she grabbed the Chain and started stuffing it back into the physical body; it quickly disappeared and then 'melted' into its host.
"Be glad you're not here, Hana; I'd let Inoue-san have a turn with you for that."
"I am female; I can talk about another woman's weight if I want to."
Ichigo arched an eyebrow.
"Who are you talking to?"
The ex-shinigami picked up Orihime's soul and laid it on top of its physical twin. Letting the soul's 'weight' help her, Shaolin then carefully pushed it back into its material host.
"I have someone I work with over the phone; how do you think I knew about your problem before you invaded my bedroom?"
The young man had enough sense to look a little embarrassed, put he didn't push further.
"He probably thinks I am some nerdy genius holed up in their room all day, surrounded by computer screens..."
Shaolin smirked at that as she took the time to finish properly aligning Orihime's physical and spiritual bodies. The ex-shinigami was glad Ichigo's curiosity about most things was still muted; he'd still fully accept any explanation given to him that made sense, even if things otherwise looked fishy.
The flip-side, of course, being that he was probably going to be as much a magnet for con-men as Hollows. Kisuke would probably be able to double his yearly profits off the young man...
"I know this is not a good time, but have you ever done this before?"
"A couple of times..."
While she let Hana think on those words, the assassin began chanting a ritual she hadn't used in...well, she had been in the business of sending people to the afterlife, not bringing them back.
The mod soul's words aside, Shaolin hoped she was doing this right...
After a couple of minutes Shaolin was finished, and she became relieved when she heard a small sigh escape Orihime's lips. The girl was going to be all right now...
Shaolin hoped.
Ichigo was hovering over her shoulder now, fascinated by what he had just witnessed.
"Is Inoue-san...?"
The ex-shinigami spent a few more seconds looking Orihime over, and then nodded her head.
"She seems to be all right, though I'll probably want to keep an eye on her for a few days to make sure."
Ichigo looked extremely relieved now and he bowed deeply.
"Thank you, obasan. Thank you..."
"You're welcome, Ichigo. Now, if you would help me with one more thing?"
Shaolin proceed to gingerly pick Orihime up again, and waved her head to Tatsuki.
"Take her into the bedroom."
Ichigo had a strange look on his face, but after a little hesitation he did what he was told. Apparently he was prickly on the subject of doing something with girls other than saving them.
"What are we doing?"
They quietly carried the girls to the bedroom; Shaolin set Orihime down on one side of the bed, while Ichigo set Tatsuki on the other.
"We're doing the same thing I did with the t-shirt. Covering this stuff up is more involved than gassing peoples' memories away, Ichigo."
"But Rukia-"
"Was being extremely sloppy. The memory replacer will make the brain come up with whatever sounds good considering the situation."
She backed off a little from the bed and took one more look at the girls to make sure they were all right.
"If we leave them in the other room, with what looks like...what would you say?"
Ichigo looked at the destroyed wall and thought for a moment.
"A gas explosion...?"
Shaolin nodded.
"That's a good idea. Anyway, if they woke up unharmed in a room like that, well..."
Understanding came over the young man.
"They'd come up with some pretty wild stuff, wouldn't they?"
"Yes, they would. It isn't much effort to help preserve their dignity, and it helps with the cover-up."
They headed back into the other room and she took one final look around.
"Well, there's not much else we can do...I'm surprised no one's come here yet..."
"I do not like it either..."
Ichigo shrugged.
"I guess we got lucky."
"Well, let's not press that luck; let's get out of here."
Ichigo nodded his understanding, picked her up again, and soon they were in the air headed back to Furin Hall.
It was a couple of minutes before Ichigo spoke up again.
"Can you teach me that stuff, the things you did back there?"
Shaolin thought about her reply.
"Maybe... We'll see later. But for now, after you drop me off at home, you go back to your place, get in your body, and get some rest. Or is this a full-time job?"
Ichigo looked uncomfortable again.
"Actually...I really need to talk to you about that..."
"But you don't want to..."
Shaolin could only silently agree with the mod soul.
"Ichigo, is there something going on I should know about?"
The young man looked for a moment like he was going to try and evade again, and then he sighed and shook his head unhappily.
"It can wait, obasan, at least for tonight..."
"Then how about I meet you tomorrow at school...say lunch period...and we can talk about it. And don't worry: I'll try not to drag you away by your ears in front of your friends."
Ichigo looked mildly horrified at the prospect for a moment; no doubt the image vividly appeared in his mind. Then he collected himself and his nervousness abated just a little bit.
"All right, that'd be good."
"And you can bring Kuchiki-san with you; I'd like to have a word with her."
He nodded firmly, and there was a sort of...not mad, but determined look in his eye.
"Oh, you bet I will."
"Okay, I want to be there when you three get together; there is definitely something weird going on here."
Once again, Shaolin could only silently agree with her friend.
Did Ichigo like the girl or not?
They spent another minute in silence. Shaolin took the time to look out over the nighttime skyline of Karakura, looking at all the bright lights on the ground drowning out the ones in the sky.
This world had changed so much over the past century...probably unlike Soul Society, which never changed...
She wondered if she'd ever be able to adjust if she went back.
She wondered if she'd ever want to go back, even if she lost everything here...
"Sen...Obasan?"
Shaolin had to take a moment to bring herself back to reality.
"Oh, sorry Ichigo...I was just daydreaming a little."
"I wonder why? After all, you just finished a trip half-way around the world, followed by the discovery that your home is no longer safe, and top that off with a nightmare-plagued 'sleep' and..."
She nodded imperceptibly at her friend's comment; it would be a couple of days, probably, before she was fully in tune with this new reality she was finding herself in. Until then, she would just have to wing it...
"It's kind of weird, traveling like this. But it brings back some memories. Good ones."
The ex-shinigami looked at Ichigo and saw him smiling a little in remembrance.
"Yeah... I kind of remember when you used to hold me like this, back when I was a kid. Now I'm grown and carrying you around."
Shaolin returned the smile.
"Actually, the memories I was thinking of were a little older."
Her expression turned wistful.
"Your father carried me like this a couple of times. It was very romantic..."
She teasingly tightened her grip and pressed herself closer to him. Ichigo looked slightly horrified.
"Obasan!"
She could feel his grip loosen and his footing become less steady, and she gave him a mild glare.
"Ichigo, eyes on the 'road', and don't even think about dropping me."
The young man went from flustered to outraged.
"Dropping you? You're the one who distracted me!"
The two of them shared a glare before he regained his footing and continued on. Shaolin could almost feel Hana laughing.
"Oh, I would love to be the princess of that shining knight..."
Author's Notes:
Thanks to everyone who gave a response to my question about the use of Japanese in this story; the input is much appreciated. I'm going to be keeping the use of honorifics in dialogue, both internal and external, but I'll stop using it in the narrative (with the exceptions of 'Yoruichi-sama' and 'Feng-sensei' since those are hard-wired into the respective characters' brains). One exception will be when a character is saying something like 'Mom' or 'Dad'; the reason is that it would be entirely a foreign word replacing a commonplace English equivalent, rather than something tacked on the end of a name.
As for other Japanese words, I'm going to use the same rule I apply to English: if I have to look it up in a dictionary, it isn't going to be used.
Now to answer the latest reviews; I want to thank everyone who sent them in, I really enjoyed reading them:
EVA-Saiyajin: Thanks. Most of the younger characters are going to be a little OOC, due to Shaolin's influence (she's been living in Karakura for the last couple of decades by this point, so she's something of a fixture in the community); some changes are going to be more subtle than others, though. As for Yoruichi, I don't think I've mentioned what her relationship with Shaolin is in the present, and she will have her side of the story to tell the kids...
Ability King KK: Thanks for the review. I'm glad you liked the concept of a Masaki/Shaolin rivalry, as I'll be exploring it a bit more later in the story (yes, we will actually get to see Masaki in person in a flashback or two); that and a couple of other things I've raised will hopefully explain her attitude towards Ichigo.
Nexus the 13th: Thank you. Be aware, too, that Shaolin coming to the Living World didn't just affect Karakura; her absence from Soul Society during that century affected some changes as well. One or two of which will be affecting Ichigo and his friends.
Fifth Horseman: Thank you for the wonderful review; I really appreciate the input from you and everyone else. I'm happy you thought well of the characterization of Sui-Feng – one of my pet peeves in fanfic is people being out of character without reason (an AU, of course, is an exception). And I'm glad you liked the flashbacks, as there are going to be more of them from various times in Shaolin's life (I'm going to try not to go back and forth too much in time).
HedonismBot: I'm glad you like it enough to review this early; it's going to be a while before it's finished (and I do plan to finish this story) and hopefully it will continue to entertain. And I'm glad you liked the way I handled the characters; Orihime's going to be a bit...eccentric, but competent.
Tallisa of Swallow's Crest: Thank you for the great review. I may have laid the antagonism against Rukia a little thick, but this is my first fanfic so I'm learning about this kind of stuff as I go. They will have a bit more reason to dislike her as they go, though. And I'm glad you liked Hana; my reasoning was that if Sui-Feng stayed on Earth she would have been given a gigai, and later on she almost certainly would have been given a mod soul for it as she doesn't strike me as the type to stay in one place for very long or stay out of trouble.
Dantrag-tc: Thank you for the praise, it's well appreciated. As you can see, Ichigo is going to be playing a much bigger part in the story; one reason I wanted to use Sui-Feng and Tatsuki was for a different viewpoint on this kind of AU (most AU's of this nature have Ichigo and/or his band as the viewpoint characters). As for Ichigo, he's going to be a major character of course; after all, he's the center of the hurricane for a lot of what's happening...