Chapter 3:
"Yu…zu…"
Ichigo opened his eyes. He could see the floor and the kitchen standing on its side. His body ached. This head throbbed. He got his arms under him and began to push himself up. He sat on the ground and looked around the room.
Everything was quiet, but the remnants of the fight were all around him. Everything from the fallen table and books to the open front door and his missing sister.
His sister.
"Yuzu!" he gasped. He stood up and looked around. "Yuzu!" he called but there was no answer. "Yuzu!"
He was alone. His sister was gone.
How did this happen? Why did this happen? How could he let it happen? Why didn't he do more to stop it? He was pathetic. He wasn't strong enough.
What was he going to do? How was he going to get her back? Where did they take her? Why did they take her?
Ichigo started to run out the front door. Maybe he could find them on the street and stop them. Maybe they hadn't gone far. He could still catch them.
Something moved.
He stopped. He heard a noise coming from the kitchen.
Were they still in the house? Was it Yuzu? Was she still here?
He tiptoed into the kitchen and looked on the other side of the counter. The fridge door was wide open and someone was crouched in front of it, eating with their bare hands.
It was a man with scraggly hair.
Overcome with rage, Ichigo's first impulse was to attack. This man was one of them. He was with that group. However, rather than attack him then and there, Ichigo opted to do something else.
He grabbed a chair from the table and held it over his head. He started to sneak up behind the man. He wanted to hurt him, not kill him. He could lead him to Yuzu.
The man continued to eat, reaching into the fridge with one arm and shoving food into his mouth. Empty bottles and jars lay around him on the floor. He was eating condiments and leftovers. Ketchup and mayonnaise containers lay beside half-eaten apples and fish. Ichigo could hear him munching so he must not have been able to hear Ichigo behind him. This was good news for him.
Once he was within striking distance, Ichigo raised the chair high and brought it down over the man's head.
To his great surprise, the chair shattered before it could reach him.
Ichigo staggered back, his eyes wide with shock. The chair hadn't shattered, it was sliced. Protruding from the man's spine were blades. They sliced the chair to pieces before it could do any damage.
The blades shrank back into the man's skin. As soon as they were hidden, the man turned around. His brown eyes eyed Ichigo up and down as he chewed a piece of celery.
"A human."
Ichigo remained perfectly still.
This man was human, wasn't he? But those blades… That was something no ordinary human could do. Yet, Yuzu was able to see him. She couldn't see ghosts like her two siblings, so this man must have been human. No, he couldn't have been. Not with those blades sticking out of his spine.
If he wasn't human or ghost, then what was he?
After analyzing Ichigo, the man busied himself with the fridge again.
Snapped out of his shock, Ichigo stood tall and demanded answers. "What are you? Why are you here? Where is my sister?"
The man kept eating.
"Where is my sister?" he shouted. He tried to hit the man, but another blade came out of his back and waved about in the air.
Now Ichigo was able to see it more clearly. The blades were attached to long flexible tentacles allowing the man to move them wherever he pleased. Attacking him from a different angle wouldn't work.
"Where is my sister?"
The man stopped eating and stood up. He turned his body to face him, bringing his broken arm into view.
"Your sister?" the man said calmly. "You wish to locate your sibling?"
"Yes. Where is she?" he said firmly.
The man blinked. "It is not as if I owe you anything." He looked down at his broken arm. "This arm is useless to me now. It will not heal as fast as I would like it to. I thought eating would speed up the healing process but I do not see any change, good or bad."
"Those people in your gang. Where are they? Where did they take my sister? Why did they take my sister?"
The man looked at him again. "I do not know. They left me behind because I would only slow them down with this injury. I told them I would find them once I am healed. I am of no use to them like this."
"Where is she?" he asked again.
The man did not answer which infuriated Ichigo.
"Where is my sister?" he shouted. "Tell me!"
"She must be with them. I watched them take her."
"Then where are they?"
"I do not know. I will find them eventually." The man looked him over again. "You are the one they call Ichigo Kurosaki, correct? I was under the impression you were a Soul Reaper. What I see before me is a human."
"How do you know my name?"
"Miku told me."
"Miku?" Ichigo remembered the young man outside his school. The one talking to the man with the doll.
"He said people at the school called you by that name."
Miku must have overheard Ichigo's friends calling him by name. Was he involved with these men somehow? Was the man with the doll interested in him for some reason? Had he asked Miku to find out his name? Had Miku simply told them because they had asked? Maybe he wasn't involved at all. He wasn't with them during the attack. He must have only given them the name in passing and didn't think much of it.
Asking Miku would have been no different from them asking a student. Apparently, he wasn't involved. Not knowingly, at least.
"Why did they take my sister?"
"I do not know. Not the whole story."
"Then tell me what you do know."
The man stood there. "I…"
He stopped and looked towards the door.
"Ichigo!" Uryu came running into the house. "Ichigo, where are you? Are you alright?"
"Uryu."
Uryu spotted him and came over. "I saw the front door open. It looked like a fight went on so I rushed…" Uryu looked at the man standing in front of the fridge. "Who is this?"
The man looked Uryu up and down. "Another human."
Ichigo gave the man a harsh look. "He was with a group of people who took my sister. He won't tell me where they've taken her or why. I'm trying to get it out of him."
"Then we need him alive." Uryu stood beside Ichigo and glared at the man. "You better start answering our questions. Tell us where you've taken Ichigo's sister."
"I do not know." The man looked down at his broken arm. "I see no point in this. You are repeating the same questions over and over again and it offers me no benefit. This conversation will not heal my arm so there is no point in contributing."
The man started to leave the room but Uryu stopped him. "Answer our questions."
"Move aside."
"Answer us."
Ichigo saw the blades slither out of the man's back. He was readying an attack.
"Uryu, this guy isn't human. Watch out."
Uryu saw a glint and summoned his bow. If this man wasn't human, there was no reason to hold back.
Upon seeing the glowing bow, the man stopped. "Not human. You are not a human."
"Give us answers and I won't shoot your head off." Uryu pulled his weapon tight, but he was bluffing. He hoped intimidating the enemy would be enough to get answers.
The man did not look frightened at all. He looked indifferent. His expression never changed but his words expressed joy.
"What good fortune. I think I shall try." The blades swung around in the air, but he wasn't trying to cut him. It was to give him enough space to move about. He pushed his way past Uryu and out the door.
"After him!"
Uryu and Ichigo gave chase, but the man hadn't gone far. He was barely out of the front yard when they caught up to him. The man wasn't very fast.
Uryu fired a warning shot but the man did not stop. He deflected the second arrow Uryu shot and disappeared into an alley. Ichigo and Uryu stood at the opening, knowing it was a dead-end. This man had nowhere to go.
"Just give us answers!"
The man turned around at the end of the alley and faced them calmly.
"Answer us and we won't hurt you."
The man suddenly dropped to the ground as if pushed by an invisible hand.
"What?" Ichigo and Uryu exchanged looks. They cautiously approached the man on the ground. He wasn't moving.
"What do you think..?"
"Think it's an act?"
"Not sure." Ichigo gave the man a kick. "I know he's alive, but…"
"Ahh!" Uryu threw both hands over the back of his neck and screamed.
"Uryu?"
Uryu backed into the wall, clawing at his neck. "Ichigo! Help! There's something… Ahh!"
"Uryu! Hang on, I…"
Before Ichigo could do anything, Uryu's arms dropped to his side and immediately calmed down.
"Are you ok?"
Uryu looked down at his arm and made a fist. "This one is not broken."
Ichigo knew something was wrong. That was Uryu's voice, but the way he spoke was all wrong. He sounded like the scraggly man.
"I can return now."
Ichigo grabbed him as he started to leave. "Uryu, talk to me. What happened?"
A blade slithered out of his back and swung at Ichigo. He jumped back to avoid being cut, but came back just as quickly. He knew what had happened.
"Get out of him!"
Uryu kept the same calm expression. "Why? This host is optimal. It is not broken and it surpasses that of a human. I am of more use than I was before."
"Uryu? Can you hear me in there?"
"Why are you shouting?"
"Uryu!" Ichigo grabbed both shoulders and shook him. "Uryu!"
"Are you-"
Uryu suddenly disappeared from sight. Ichigo fell backwards, thrown off by yet another surprise. A box stood where Uryu had been a moment ago. The box rattled and shook. Someone was inside.
"Whew! That was close." Kisuke stepped around the side of the box and waved at Ichigo with his fan. "You ok?"
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"I followed the screams." Kisuke leaned against the box with his shoulder. "To be honest, I was just on my way to speak with you when I noticed you and Uryu running this way. I knew something was up, so I followed. I saw the blade and took action. Uryu would never use a blade."
"Something happened to him. We were fighting this guy and suddenly-"
Kisuke held up his hand. "Not here. Back at my place. I'll take a look and see if we can help him."
Please review! ^-^