Colliding Worlds

Book 8

Forbidden Love – Chapter 3

Feeling a feather like touch on her cheek, Sasha felt herself break out of darkness. The gesture was comforting enough; she wanted to see who was giving her solace, which was the first for her in six years. Slowly, her eyes opened to see Jushiro sitting on the very edge of the sofa, gently caressing her cheek in a consoling manner. It was his caress that woke her. As she focused in on his snow white hair, memories came flooding back to her in how he saved her from... what was that again... oh yes, a Hollow, and then he took her to a nearby park, which he dropped the biggest bomb shell she ever heard of.

The fact the man she danced with was from another world who commands a platoon who fights white masked monsters. And those monsters were actually spirits of dead humans. But what got to her most was learning that the monster who attacked them was claiming to be her ex-husband or the fact she had these special powers that has made her a target. Although, it wasn't until he was carrying her, intending to take her to her apartment when she fully finally lost it and everything went black when he reproduced another one of him. Her eyes widened at the memory and then darted around.

"Wh...where am I?" she asked, nervous.

"It's ok," replied Jushiro, noting her immediate distress. "We're in your apartment. Luckily, with Hiro going ahead of us, he secured easy access to your home and then left."

Wanting to sit up, she began to pull herself into a sitting position. She felt his hand reach up behind her neck, lending her assistance until she was fully seated. Looking down upon herself, the throw blanket normally on the back of the sofa was now draped over her body.

"I suppose that makes sense. It would have been really hard for you to open the door with me unconscious." She looked to her window and saw the sun was rising. "Wait a minute!?" she gasped. "What time is it?"

Jushiro looked up to the window. "Judging by the angle of the sun, it's about eight. Your fainting spell kept you asleep all night."

"Never had a fainting spell that lasted that long," she admitted. "And you stayed with me all night?"

"As I've said, I'm here to protect you, so yes, I was here. I slept a little in the chair before making a small bed on the floor." He pointed to the area where there were a few blankets.

"You can handle the floor?"

"I normally sleep on a futon at home," he answered.

Knowing she was still in her evening gown, she carefully stood up and made her way to the kitchen. He followed behind her. She poured herself a glass of juice and then turned on the kettle.

"I'm sorry, this is a little unsettling still," she answered, her back to him.

He took a seat at the table, seeing what she was doing. "I apologize. I had hope to not put either one of us in an awkward position. Soul Reapers don't normally associate themselves with humans, though it has happened from time to time, especially with those who can see us."

"So the way you are right now, no one can see you?"

"No," he answered. "Only way for humans to see us is by being in a gigai."

"A gigai?" she blinked turning to him.

He sighed. "A gigai is an artificial body that allows a soul reaper to interact with humans."

"So in other words..." she paused. "What you're telling me is the duplicate you... was the fake body... and you used that, to help get you in?"

"In a nut shell, yes," he answered. "In all honesty, I had a feeling you were going to faint while we sat on the swings."

"Oh... I suppose that makes sense." She lowered her head. "I'm sorry about before," she apologized. "What had happened and then you telling me you're not from this world completely overrode my senses. But I think it's sunk in enough that I could handle whatever else you have to tell me."

"What makes you think I have more to say?" He was curiously.

"I can see it in your eyes," she answered, turning to give him eye contact. "Even now your face has 'concern' written all over it because of how I reacted. Until you told me, it never really crossed my mind about Hollows and Soul Reapers, though I've seen them before. I would just run with the rest of the public to get away."

"So you've said," he answered. "But this time, you were close to one..."

"It flipped me out. I mean I've actually seen one of your kind around town from time to time. He has a huge sword on his back with wild orange hair."

"Huge sword?" Jushiro blinked then chuckled. "Oh, you mean Ichigo Kurosaki! He's actually a human who has Soul Reaper powers because of his father."

She turned away again just as she knew the kettle was boiling. "Would you like some tea?"

"Please, thank you," he graciously accepted.

She pulled the kettle off the stove, turning off the appliance before reaching into the cupboard for a mug. She then quickly prepared the tea before taking the mug and her juice and walked over to the table. Handing him the tea, she took a seat opposite of him.

"So your kind can have children with humans then?" She was mildly surprised by this new piece of information and she found her mind wondering what it would be like to be with a man of that sort of stature.

"It's been known to happen, however it's actually forbidden," Jushiro answered. "But in Ichigo's case, it's complicated and one I would rather not dwell on. He's a substitute Soul Reaper."

She nodded in understanding. She knew all too well about not wanting to discuss certain information about certain subjects. It was still a shock to her she even told him about her husband. "And You carry a sword too?" she inquired, changing the subject. It was the least she could do to get off the discussion about awkward topics.

"All Soul Reapers do," he answered, sipping at his tea after removing the tea bag. "Each one is unique."

"How unique?" she asked, a bit curious, trying to have an open mind of the matter.

Closing his eyes a moment, he knew he really shouldn't tell her, but this was a very unusual situation. "Many of us just have to call out of a word, calling our Zanpakuto into what is known as a shikai state, like what you saw from mine."

"Zanpakuto?" She didn't understand the concept of that. "I thought it was just a sword."

He gently smiled at her. "It is, but our swords are not ordinary like human ones are. These have 'magical' abilities. Some, like my own, are known to have the ability to fire energy blasts of varied sorts. And then there are others who have just a physical type where it transforms into a different weapon. Each are unique and can be deadly no matter who the wielder is."

Sasha deeply sighed, trying to understand what he was saying. She wasn't denying what happened but had to accept it and she was doing her best to be open-minded. If she could always see ghosts and monsters, then she should be able to eventually accept what he was telling her, in time.

"What is with these Zanpakuto?" She looked down to the hilt of his sword. "Looks normal to me." Where they were sitting at the table, he was able to have his sword rest against his hip. Normally he wouldn't sit at a table with his sword attached to him, but he didn't want to take any chances.

He looked down to the hilt, seeing she was eyeing the weapon. "Yes, right now my Zanpakuto looks like a regular sword but that's because they're right now in a sealed state. And they will remain that way until I awaken them."

"Into what I saw earlier?"

"Exactly." Jushiro stood and removed the sword from his sash to rest it on the table before sitting back down again. "As I said, each one of us has a different command and each one will form differently. There is one where when he releases his shikai, the sword shatters into tiny blossoms of blades, which prevents him from being able to use his Zanpakuto in physical combat."

"Shikai? I take it then that's the formal name of releasing the sword's power?" she asked, puzzled once more. That was the second time he said that word.

"Yes." He was quite surprised she was taking this new information so well.

She leaned her head back in her chair as she sipped at her juice. This was all confusing for her, but at least she wasn't freaking out like before. "And I take it when your swords transform it helps to fight off your enemies?"

"If they can't be defeated by normal physical contact, yes," He answered as he continued to sip his tea.

"I do have one question for you," she began after a few moments of silence. "You said 'they' when referring to your sword, what does that mean?"

He sighed once again. "Our Zanpakuto actually are living entities, which are a part of ourselves. My Zanpakuto is one of the only ones to ever actually be a double entity. Sogyo no Kotowari are twins."

She took a deep breath trying to process all this information. Seeing she was starting to have a bit trouble focusing again.

"I must apologize, this is getting too much for you."

She looked up. "No, it's me who should be sorry. I asked. It's not your fault I'm giving you the 20 question interrogation." She looked down at herself. "Would you mind if I change?"

"Of course. I need to touch base about my mission anyway."

She gave a nod and carefully stood, before making her to the bedroom, so she could remove her gown. She would need to send it out to get dry cleaned. In the safety of her room, she leaned her back against the door, holding a hand to her chest.

"What the hell am I doing?" she cursed to herself, turning on the light switch. "I have a strange man in my kitchen!" She took a few deep breaths before walking over to her floor length mirror, taking a look at herself. "But he did save me and was kind of enough to tell me what is going on? But was he telling the truth?"

Reaching behind herself, she unzipped her dress, pulling off the gown. "I can't see him lying about that since I was attacked by a monster who claims to be my ex-husband and his sword did transform…"

The whole time Sasha was changing, she was literally having an argument with herself. She just could not decide whether to trust him or not. But at the same time she couldn't always see bad in men just because of one bad apple. Of course there was also the promise she made to herself of not allowing her horror of a marriage to disrupt her life in finding happiness.

She was still arguing with herself when heard a soft tap at the door.

"Sasha?" Jushiro called from the other side.

Her heart nearly leapt into her throat, nearly half expecting the man to bust through the door. At least that's what her ex would have done. But the door never opened.

"Sasha?" he called again. "Is everything alright?"

She shook her thoughts. "Yeah. Just give me a moment," She replied in a shaky voice.

"Are you sure?" he asked from the door, not opening it.

"Yes. I'm fine," she rushed out. "You just startled me is all."

Looking to the bedside table, she noticed her alarm clock showing how late it was getting. She had not realized she actually zoned out while arguing with herself. Feeling like an idiot, she rushed over to her closet and quickly grabbed the first thing she could get, which happened to be a loose fitting sweat pants and matching sweater. Going over to the dresser, she quickly took a brush through her hair, and then grabbed a hair tie, pulling her auburn tresses back into a high ponytail.

Satisfied, she left her bedroom, and to her surprised he wasn't there. Making her way to the kitchen, she found him at the table again but there in front of him was a plate of food. Opposite of him, another plate of food sat with a fresh glass of juice. This was definitely not something she was expecting, especially from him. He cooked them breakfast.

"We haven't eaten since last night," he replied as she took a seat, "I took the liberty of making us breakfast."

"Thank you," she said, taking a bite. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head at the sweet tasting bite she took. Forcing herself to chew and then swallow, she greatly enjoyed the taste. "I've never tasted anything like it!"

"You like it?" he asked after swallowing what he bit into.

"Like it? I love it," she exclaimed.

He smiled and then the two ate in comfort silence. Once they were done, Jushiro offered to take her dishes and place them in the sink. She again thanked him and retreated into the living room to again sit on the sofa, curling her feet up.

He soon came into the living room, taking a seat beside her. It was then he noticed her clothing. He had never seen anything like it before. But she was human and he knew humans dressed differently. Over nearby on the wall behind her, he could see a clock hanging, indicating it was still morning.

"So..." she began after several moments of silence. "What now?"

Jushiro looked to her. "I am to stay with you until the situation is resolved. Afterwards, I will return back to the Soul Society where we probably will never see one another again."

She lightly snorted. "Well that's a bit harsh. That means you're going to needing..."

"My gigai, yes. I've already dealt with that. In a couple hours, I will be able to walk the streets with you and people will see me."

Bringing a hand to her head, she sighed. "At least it won't be as shocking to my system as the first time."

"I will be remaining in the gigai unless an emergency." He too did not like the idea. "Is there anything you need to do?"

"Yes, I need to find out what happened at the library and talk with my best friend Becki. Also need to take my dress to the cleaners."

"Perhaps when my gigai returns, we can do those errands together and you can show me around," he suggested.

"I suppose." With a huff, she leaned backwards against the couch, frustrated. "What to do now?"

He shook his head. "I'm sure you have more questions."

Lifting her head, she regarded him. "I think that's obvious. Where did you learn to cook? I never had a breakfast quite like that before."

He gave a smile and began speaking about his family and how he knew how to cook. The more he spoke, the more questions she had. He even briefly spoke about his siblings and how he's the oldest of said siblings.

The two spent the time, while waiting, talking about the Soul Society and how Soul Reapers worked. Each time Jushiro spoke of something new Sasha didn't fully grasp, he would break it down, allowing her time to absorb everything. He knew it wasn't proper to tell her everything, but her life was endanger and he wasn't going to leave her in the dark for anything. He couldn't afford that.

Eventually the topic switched to her high spirit levels. She had to fully understand what was at stake if he wasn't around to protect her. She had no tamed amount of power and someone from Heuco Mundo wanted her and even went so far as to recruit her ex-husband to go and retrieve her.

In time, Sasha began to feel uncomfortable on the sofa, and slowly stood. She then turned to regard him, seeing him in his proper glory of being a Soul Reaper with the haori. "I suppose what you say makes sense. Can't have an omelette without breaking some eggs."

"Interesting analogy. But yes, your high amount of spirit energy, known as spiritual pressure or reiatsu, is the reason why hollows in general are attracted to you. And with me beside you, I can now sense your power. Once he's defeated, your ex-husband probably will not be resting in the Soul Society, but will go to hell."

She snorted. "He deserves to go to hell for the hell he put me through. I lost so much of my young adult life because of him." She sighed. "So on Earth, which you call 'World of the Living', people with high spiritual pressures are the only ones who can see you and the Hollows?" she asked, finally fully grasping what he had been telling her.

"Yes, that's about it," Jushiro explained. "Glad to see you're able to grasp this."

"Trust me, I'm not. It will take me awhile to really fully understand, but what happened last night, I can't just play dumb and ignore it. In the past I could but not now... people were hurt, maybe even killed and I would have been too if not for you."

He then gave a smile. "Well you can rest easy. There were no deaths last night, just many wounded."

She couldn't believe how sweet he was to her. Telling her things she probably thought were completely forbidden and even made her breakfast, he was just too good to be true. Of course his smile was just so charming. It was hard to believe that a kind and gentle man as Jushiro could even exist? And the most unusual part was, they only just met several hours ago.

She looked at his gentle smile and felt herself wanting to melt. This was nearly a dream come true for her, to actually find a man who was kind and gentle. She knew they existed, but it was like one to one million ratio. And his gorgeous white hair was soft to the touch. Lucky for her, she was able to figure that out when he had carried her with her arms were around his neck. She was able to feel the silky texture of his hair against her fingers.

"Thank you for your kindness," she added, realizing she was staring into his handsome face. She took a seat again, eyes averted down, hoping he didn't notice her staring at him.

"I do have one more question. How do you know where everything is?" she asked.

"Well, while you were unconscious, I took a look around, I hope you don't mind."

"I see..." she replied slowly. "Guess that makes sense. I mean what are you going to do while waiting for me to wake up? Stupid question."

"No, it wasn't a stupid question. Never think that. In normal circumstances, I should have left as soon as you were safe."

"You didn't look in my bedroom did you?" she asked suddenly, nearly holding her breath.

"No. That's your private room. No one should ever go into one's private bedchambers without permission. It would be a very dishonorable act and I consider myself a very honorable man. Though I did figure out you have two bedrooms."

"You are too kind," she replied. "And yes, I have two bedrooms. The second one is set up as a guest room. Usually my friend Becki uses it. But that won't be the case now for the duration of your stay."

He gave a nod. Seeing he was going to be there awhile, he stood and removed his haori before sitting back down, relaxing. He draped the white coat over the arm of the couch.

Reaching over, Sasha grabbed the remote for the TV, turning it on. She didn't want to talk anymore, needing time to allow everything to sink in. She knew Jushiro was watching her and surprisingly enough she didn't find that intimidating.

Immediately on the news was reporting about the disastered re-grand opening of the library. As the two watched, Sasha became extremely worried as the reports were saying something completely opposite of what really happened.

"What the hell!?" she blurted. "That's not what happened!"

"No," Jushiro answered as he watched the report. "We have a device that can alter memories. It's too dangerous if the public were to learn there was such things as Soul Reapers and Hollows. Their minds were be altered to believe that is what happened."

She abruptly turned to him. "You're having them think it was an explosion that caused all that damage!? How could you? The authorities will now look for pieces of that explosive. They will demand a deep investigation of what happened and why."

He nodded. "Which is what they will find. We've already planted pieces that would make up a human made explosive and they will even eventually find a body, at least what's left of one. It will be made to look like it was once a human body."

She blinked, confused. "I don't understand. It only happened last night. How would..."

He rose his hand, silently asking her to stop talking. "While you were in too much shock, I contacted those I work with and told them what happened. They acted quickly to send someone to plant the pieces needed. We are always well prepared for disasters when involving Hollows. The investigation will come to a close into thinking it was done by a suicide bomber. We may not be well versed in how humans do everyday mundane acts and dress, but we do keep track of your advancement in technology. Many humans die each day and it's a Soul Reaper's job to help the lost souls to find a better place instead of being earth bound."

"But CSI will be able to identify the body through dental records," she argued.

"Not when there's not enough to identify the body," he reasoned. "From what I've read one needs some form of DNA to identify someone. There won't be no DNA found to make a match."

She went silent a moment as she turned back to the TV and continued watching until the phone rang. Sighing, she stood as Jushiro continued to watch the TV. His attention was quickly diverted when Sasha began to speak loudly.

"Whoa! Whoa! Slow down Becki!" she huffed. "I'm ok... No, I didn't stick around..." she paused a moment. "It was so frightening I had to get out of there and fast..." There was another pause. "Becki. Beck. Will you calm down already!" She huffed again. "Alright. Alright. I have to go out later and take my dress to the dry cleaners. I will make a stop at the police station and leave my statement."

Jushiro stood and walked over to her. The way she spoke with her friend, he could tell her friend was frantic about what happened. He wanted to be sure he was there for the woman for emotional support.

"Becki. Can I talk to you later? I am going to get ready and head over there now. Yes. I promise I will call you later." She sighed knowing she finally calmed her friend. "Bye for now."

Jushiro tilted his head as his companion hung the phone up. "I take it your friend was worried?"

"Worry is not the word for it," she sighed again. "I had to lie to her just to get her off the phone and I will have to continue lying to her when I speak with her again. And even have to lie to the police in what really happened."

He nodded. "It's unfortunate but necessary. For that, I am sorry." He rested a hand on her shoulder. "Remembering how you reacted last night, your friend would not understand."

She shook her head. "No, she wouldn't. There was once, when we first met. I saw a Hollow... and she was with me. I asked her if she saw what I saw and she thought I was nuts. Never again did I ever bring it up."

"Come, lets put something else on that could ease your mind."

With a nod, she walked back to the sofa and switched the station to something that was less stressing. Jushiro never questioned what she was watching. He just wanted her to relax. Nearly the whole time the two watched, Sasha wasn't really paying attention to the show as she replayed the night's events over and over again. In time the gigai Jushiro used had arrived, which nearly freaked Sasha out once again all due to it being too strange seeing two of the same person. Even after Jushiro and the gigai became one, it still took a bit to get used to the idea. When she was comfortable enough, the two left to do the errands that needed to be done.


Edited: June 4 2023