[A/N: Hello, all! I wrote and Eizou Hakusho chapter to go hand in hand with this and I'll be posting it shortly, so keep an eye out for it. Don't forget to review!]

Chapter Eight: There is Always Something Going On

The rest of my weekend was quiet and mostly uneventful. I'd made plans to see Ichigo on Sunday, but because of the ever exploding Hollow population, it didn't happen. Monday when I got to school, Ichigo was sitting at his desk with Chad and Uryu, just staring out the window while they engaged in conversation.

I walked over to him and tapped his shoulder. He looked up at me. He was obviously tired.

"Hey, sorry, I didn't call you last night," he said.

"It's fine," I said. "You look exhausted. Were you busy yesterday?"

"Yeah," Ichigo said.

"And no one's come to tell you what's going on yet?" I asked.

"Nope. I'm guessing Spirit World isn't saying much either," he said.

"Correct. It's all up to you, I'm afraid," I said.

"Well, I'm taking a break today. I'm wiped," he said. "Af-san can handle things for today. He's always complaining about me anyway."

"Af-san?" I asked.

"He's the Soul Reaper who replaced Rukia," Ichigo said. "I don't remember his real name, but he has an afro."

I shook my head. "I bet he hates you." Ichigo nodded. "And I bet he reminds you of his name every time you see him."

"Something like that," Ichigo said with a yawn.

"And I'm sure you think both of those things are completely unrelated," I said.

". . . I think so," he said.

I shook my head. Poor oblivious Ichigo.

888

"I can't," I said dropping my face down onto my notebook. Math homework. I'd fought demons and psychopaths and aliens, but math, that was my real arch nemesis.

"You can. Don't be so over dramatic," Ichigo said scribbling down his answers on his bed. I frowned at him from his desk. He looked up at me. "What?"

I held up my textbook and showed him. "It's the scalene triangle, Ichigo."

"So it is," he said.

"Look at it. It's so. . . scalene. It's mocking me with all its. . . scaleneyness," I said.

Ichigo stared at me for a moment before looking back to his homework.

"You worry me sometimes," he said as I sat my book back down.

"Scalene," I said. "It's so scalene."

"Stop saying scalene," he said.

"Scalene," I said. He looked up and glared at me. I smiled. "Please help me."

"I think you're beyond help, Kairi Son," Ichigo said.

"Please? I'm tired of Uryu laughing at me every time I fail a test," I said. "I won't fail if you help me. I keep looking at this triangle and I want to vomit. Then I look at the formula to find the area and it makes me so dizzy which just makes me want to throw up."

Ichigo sighed and sat his books aside. "Come here." I took my math book and sat next to him on the bed. He pointed at the formula. "This is called Heron's Formula. It's not even that hard. You're just lazy and unmotivated."

"Doing things is hard if you're lazy and unmotivated, especially if 'things' is math and it involves thinking," I said.

Ichigo sighed, obviously getting slightly annoyed with me, and pointed to one of the triangles. "What is the perimeter?"

I laid my head on his shoulder. "That's just when you add all the sides together?"

"Yes," he said.

"So, it's 24," I said.

"Right," he said. "Your hair smells nice."

"Thanks. It's vanilla and sugar, not that I think sugar has a smell, but whatever," I said. "It makes my hair smell nice."

"It's soft too," he said running his fingers through it. "I do like the haircut."

"You sure? I'm still having some regrets for my super long hair. I'm also still sweeping it off my bedroom floor," I said.

"It's good. It's different," he said. He kissed the top of my head. I turned my head and kissed him.

I really had intended to leave it at that, but there was this really funny thing about kisses. They were addictive. A small a kiss always made me want just one more, which led to another, and then a few more. Eventually, it stopped being playful and cute and each kiss lasted longer and longer, each one becoming fueled more by lust.

We ignored my math book as it clattered to the ground. We shifted into a more comfortable position lying back on his bed. Usually we were careful not to descend so far into this state, but with our only other obligations currently being homework, and with Yuzu and Isshin at Karin's soccer game it seemed that all caution had been thrown to the wind, and I didn't mind.

His fingers were still in my hair, tugging slightly tighter as we deepened each kiss, pulling us closer together. I gripped his back tightly as the intensity of each kiss grew. It was like I couldn't hold him tight enough or have him close enough. Each kiss was pushing me further and further and nothing could satisfy me.

Ichigo's hand was on my thigh and slowly creeping upwards. He stopped when he got to the hem of my skirt. My heart was racing, I could heard blood coursing through my ears. I kissed him more fiercely, hoping to distract myself from his hand, but that wasn't helping.

And then Ichigo moved from my lips and worked his way slowly down to my neck. A pleasant fuzziness started to fill my head and my desire for not only his lips began to grow, but my want for the rest of him did as well.

That familiar tingling sensation began to build between my legs and I brought Ichigo's lips back to mine, trying as hard as I could to not let the feeling overtake me. But Ichigo and I weren't on the same page.

His hand slipped under my skirt ever so slightly, but the move had obviously been intentional, like he'd done it to gauge my reaction. I let out a slight hum, and moved one of my hands up to slide my fingers through his hair. This was all the permission he needed as he slowly began to continue making its way upward.

I grabbed a fistful of his hair and tugged at it tightly as his hand reached my panties. He hesitated, and I knew he would, debating on whether or not he wanted things to go this far. I couldn't be mad if he changed his mind, but I sincerely hoped he didn't.

Ichigo took upon himself to venture forth, much to my relief. His fingers brushed over the fabric at my bikini line and he traced it down between my legs, causing my whole body to shudder under his touch. He took his thumb and ran it over my slit, and a slight whimper crawled out of my throat. He repeated this movement several more times causing me to hold onto him tighter.

I could feel Ichigo growing hard against my leg. I moved my hand down and gently caressed him through his slacks. He let out a groan in response. I unbuckled his belt and was met with no protests as I undid the button of his pants.

Ichigo hooked his finger under the elastic of my underwear and went to pull them off.

"Ichigo, you need to get to. . . Oh."

The most painful silence of my life enveloped the room as Ichigo broke our kiss and his hand moved from under my skirt. I turned my head ever so slightly to look at the foot of the bed where the voice had come from. There was a tall red haired man standing there, black sunglasses perched on his forehead. He was clad completely in black.

Another soul reaper.

"What the hell are you doing here, Renji?! Don't you people believe in privacy or doors or knocking?! You just show up in my house like I'm never busy and never have company! Like I don't have a life or something!" Ichigo scolded him.

"I didn't know you were entertaining a lady friend. I would've waited until you were, er, finished," the man said seeming slightly amused. Suddenly he covered his mouth. "You just yelled at me and she probably doesn't even know I'm here."

"Oh, I can see you. This is humiliating for all parties present," I said as Ichigo moved from atop me. I sat up and then got to my feet and started to adjust myself. "I'm Kairi Son."

"Oh! The former Spirit Detective. I've heard of you," he said. "I'm Renji Abarai. Lieutenant of squad six of the 13 Court Guard Squads."

"Are you going to tell me what you're doing here?" Ichigo asked.

"There's kind of a situation and you need to get down to Kisuke's right now," he said.

Ichigo sighed. "Fine just give me a minute."

Renji nodded and stepped out into Ichigo's hallway, closing the door behind himself.

"I'm so sorry about that," Ichigo said.

"It's okay. I'm sure more humiliating things have happened than this," I said.

"No. I really can't think of anything," he said.

"Yeah me either," I said packing my school things away. "How likely is it that I'll see Renji again?" I asked.

"Very likely," he said.

"Right. Okay," I said. "I'll just go home then. Let me know what the hell is going on."

"I will," he said. I walked up to him and kissed him. "Be careful going home. Walk, don't fly. You don't need to draw any unnecessary to yourself."

"Okay," I said, kissing him once more. "I'll see you later then."

I grabbed my book bag and opened his bedroom door. Renji was still standing there, trying not to appear as awkward and embarrassed as he probably was.

"Lieutenant Abarai was it?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah," he said, going red in the face.

"Until we meet again," I said.

He nodded and I walked down the stairs and out of his house. I'd hoped the fresh air would wash the humiliation away, but alas, this was not the case.

I started my walk home and tried not to think about it and hoped Ichigo wouldn't get too much crap from his Soul Reaper buddies for what Renji saw, but if his friends were anything like mine that wasn't going to be the case. At the very least I could be grateful that it was Renji and not Isshin, which probably would've been worse.

Halfway back to Kurama's house a bad feeling over took me. I stopped walking and looked around. I was next to the park, which was deserted. That wasn't unusual considering that it was starting to get chilly out, but the rest of the street was also deserted. No cars, no people, not even birds or stray cats or squirrels.

And then I sensed it.

Any Hollow was bad news considering that I was completely useless against one, but this one was stronger than average, which was even worse.

I kept walking, hoping that maybe my presence would go unnoticed.

Wishful thinking.

An arm sprang from the trees in the park and reached out toward me. I leapt out of the way and the creature crawled out in front of me.

Ichigo had said that the stronger Hollows were usually more intelligent, but this one seemed just as brainless and stupid as the rest usually did.

I knew that Ichigo was probably with Kisuke by now, and Uryu, Chad, and Orihime would be there as well. The appearance of Renji meant that the amount Soul Reapers in Karakura Town had probably increased as well, but none of them seemed to be nearby at the moment.

I could either run, and it would chase me without a doubt and probably put other people in danger. Or I could stay here and take my chances and hope someone showed up.

The Hollow came at me again and I jumped behind its head, landing on the sidewalk behind it. I dashed into the park and it followed. I jumped into a tree. It wandered around below the tree searching around for me. It could tell I was there, but couldn't find me.

This was really strange. Hollows tended to be on the dumber side at times, I'd been told, but they were always very good a finding a meal. Suppressing my energy or not, a Hollow should've been able to find me in a second. And the vibe I was getting from this thing was just weird. I'd sensed Hollows all the time now that I'd gone to school in Karakura Town, but this thing felt off somehow from the norm.

Finally it looked up into the tree and spotted me. It lunged forward for me and I leapt down from the tree.

"Move, Detective!"

The sky started grow dark and the air turned cold. I didn't know where the voice was coming from or even recognize it in the slightest, but I didn't want to question whoever it was.

I jumped back toward the grassier area of the park. The Hollow turned to follow me, but before it could even move forward, a large dragon made of ice came forth and engulfed the Hollow.

I nodded. Impressive.

I watched as the Soul Reaper responsible for this walked forward from the trees. He was small—very small, almost childlike. He had spiky white hair, and bright blue eyes. He had a green sash going across his chest holding the sheath for his Zanpakto on his back. His robes were all black, similar to Ichigo and Renji's, but over it he wore a white haori.

"Detective Son," he said.

"Former Detective now. Just Kairi," I said. "And you are?"

"Toshiro Hitsugaya, Captain of Squad 10," he said.

"Thanks for that," I said.

The Captain went to say something, but our attention was taken from our conversation as we felt a spike in energy from the trees. The Hollow crawled out of the trees, but it was different than when it had attacked before. The hole in its chest had gone. And I finally realized what it was that had felt off about it.

"Impossible," Toshiro said.

"Excuse me, Captain," I said stepping in front of him. I charged up for a Spirit Gun.

Demon energy. That's what was different. Hiding beneath all that Spirit Energy that Hollow was giving off, there was Demon Energy.

I fired off the Spirit Gun at the monster, destroying it immediately.

"A demon," I said.

"A demon that's also a Hollow," Toshiro said. "I'm beginning to understand why we were told to come here."

"We noticed a week ago things were weird. What is your intelligence team doing?" I asked.

Toshiro glared at me. "You must be friends with Ichigo."

I smiled. "Something like that."

888

I alerted the rest of my team to the situation and went to Kisuke's.

Hiei, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Yusuke were arriving just as Toshiro and I did.

"Kairi, you know you can't just go around picking up stray children," Yusuke said.

Toshiro glared at him.

"Yusuke, this Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya. These are my friends, Yusuke, the other former detective, Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara," I said.

"Yes. I've heard a lot about the five of you over the past few months," Toshiro said as we walked inside. "Especially the events surrounding the tunnel."

"Speaking of which, we were actually quite surprised the Soul Society didn't get involved when they decided they wanted to get rid of Yusuke," Kurama said.

"What the Spirit World does with its employees is its own business. Besides, it wasn't as if you posed any threat to us," Toshiro said.

"I wish King Yemma was as reasonable as you," Yusuke said.

". . . I wouldn't say that," I said. "I know the Soul Society has a history. Like with the mod souls or the Quincies or the-."

"I think you've proved your point, Detective," Toshiro said.

"It's Kairi. I'm not the Detective anymore," I said.

We finally stumbled upon Ichigo, Renji, and Kisuke. With them were a very and tall, dark skinned man with cornrows, a handlebar mustache, wearing sunglasses, and a woman, obviously a soul reaper, who was also tall with strawberry blonde hair, with the largest set of breasts I had ever seen in my life.

"Ah, you've finally made it. Sadly our other guests haven't arrived yet," Kisuke said.

"Your. . . Your. . ." Yusuke started staring at the woman.

"Yes I'm a Soul Reaper as well," the woman said.

"Yeah, that's what I was gonna say," Yusuke said.

"Good to see you again, Kairi. You don't look so disgruntled," Renji said.

"Will you shut up and leave her alone!" Ichigo scolded him, whacking him on the head.

"Hey, what'd you do that for?!" Renji said returning him the hit.

This slowly dissolved into a miniature wrestling match during which Renji and Ichigo continued to shout at each.

"Will you two stop fooling around?" Toshiro asked.

"Why did he say you looked disgruntled?" Kurama asked.

"Don't ask," I said, feeling myself flush again.

"These are the former Spirit Detectives and their friends: Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara and Kairi," Kisuke said. "This is Rangiku Motsumoto, lieutenant of Squad 10 with Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya. This is Tessai who helps me around the shop. And this is Renji lieutenant of Squad six, although, Kairi it sounds like you two have already met."

I continued to feel myself flush as I nodded.

"Why is your face so red?" Yusuke asked.

"I thought I already said don't ask," I said.

Renji nudged Rangiku. "She's Ichigo's girlfriend."

Rangiku gasped and brought her hands to her mouth. "Is she really?! But she's so pretty!"

"Why did you say she's pretty like that, like I wouldn't be dating someone who's pretty?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, you're so rude all of the time, Ichigo. Ugly, pretty, tall, short what girl would want to date you?" Rangiku asked. "What is your appeal, Ichigo?" Rangiku looked over at me. "Well, sweetheart?"

"Oh, that wasn't a rhetorical question?" I asked.

"Well, between you and me, I'm just curious," Rangiku said walking over to me. She put her arm around me. "So tell me, why Ichigo?"

"Um. . ." I started, "I don't know. I just. . . Like all of him."

Renji mumbled something under his breath which prompted Ichigo to start beating him again.

"I think it's because he has the sword," Yusuke said.

"Do you really think I'm that shallow, that I would base my interest in someone solely on whether or not they had a sword?" I asked.

"I dunno, Kairi. I mean think about all the guys you liked and how many of them had swords," Kuwabara said with a nod. "All of them."

"Coincidence," I said.

"Or your subconscious is telling you like boys with swords," Kurama said, jokingly.

"Don't encourage them. They'll actually believe you," I said.

"Oh, come on. Saying everything isn't an answer," Rangiku said. "There has to be something."

". . . I guess, it's that he's really nice," I said.

Rangiku looked over to Ichigo beating Renji then back at me.

"Well, he's nice to me at least. I mean, he has a temper obviously, and sure he can be rude and disrespectful-."

"But these are all qualities Kairi looks for in a man," Yusuke said. I smacked him upside his head.

"Ichigo is a nice guy. Before we were dating he'd walk me home and if it was raining he'd always share his umbrella with me because I never wear a coat and I don't own an umbrella. And if anyone he knows is in a bad mood or going through something he's always the first to ask what's wrong and if someone's okay and he always tries to put them in a good mood because he doesn't like seeing people upset. And he's so devoted to being a Soul Reaper and protecting people and that's just so great," I said. "There aren't a lot of guys like Ichigo."

"Clearly," Yusuke chuckled.

"She's gonna hit you again and I'm not gonna stop her," Kurama said.

"You make him sound so sweet," Rangiku said. "Maybe he's just putting on a show for you."

"I'm not just putting on a show for her! Will you stop telling her things like that?!" Ichigo shouted.

"As interesting as I'm sure Ichigo's love life is, we have something more important to discuss," Toshiro said, obviously getting irritated with how things were unfolding.

"Sorry, Captain, I'm just trying to figure this all out," Rangiku said.

"It's not really that difficult to wrap your head around," Ichigo said.

"Well, the matter at hand is," Toshiro said, still struggling to push on. "On our way here, Kairi and I encountered something strange."

"Oh, right! I almost forgot," I said. "I was going by the park on my way home and this Hollow came out of nowhere and it was kind of weird. It was stronger than most of the Hollows I've sensed before and the energy it was giving off was strange. But more than that it was stupid. I remembered you saying that the stronger Hollows usually have some kind of intelligence, but it was just not bright. It was almost feral. That's when the Captain showed up."

"I used Hyorinmaru to dispatch the Hollow," Toshiro explained, "but it didn't work. Not completely."

"Not completely?" Renji asked.

"It got back up, but it wasn't a Hollow and then I realized what was weird about it—Demon Energy," I said.

"Demon Energy? You mean it was a demon?" Ichigo asked.

"Definitely a demon, but definitely also a Hollow," I said.

"What you're saying is impossible," Kurama said.

"I'd agree, except I saw it myself," Toshiro said.

"How does something like that happen?" Yusuke asked.

"I think I can provide you with some answers."

I looked back and saw that Rukia had arrived, though she had not been the one who'd spoken. With her was a tall man, or I assumed it was a man at least. He was dressed as a Soul Reaper, the same garb Toshrio wore so I assumed he was a captain, but he also wore a large purple scarf around his neck. His face was painted black in the center, with the border of it being white. There were golden cones on his chin and his ears. He had a large white hat on his head that jutted off pointing to the right. His hands were white as well, and his finger nails were blue and short, except the middle right one which was exceptionally long.

Standing next to him was a smaller woman with green eyes and black hair. Behind them were Orihime, Uryu, and Chad.

"Ah. So you're here finally," Kisuke said. "I was wondering how much longer we were going to have to fill up our time embarrassing Kairi and Ichigo here." I rolled my eyes. "Lady and gentlemen, may I introduce Captain of squad twelve, Mayuri Kurotsuchi and his lieutenant, Nemu. This is-."

"Kairi Son, age 15. Half human, half Saiyan, former Spirit Detective," he said.

"Um, I'm sorry, I don't like when people have been looking me up," I said.

"Well you're so intriguing that I had to. The anatomy of a super Saiyan like yourself is probably fascinating," he said.

"Anatomy? What?" I asked.

"And not just you—Yusuke Urameshi, also 15, also former Spirit Detective, a half breed with the Mazoku gene. Fascinating."

"I'm gonna go stand over here where it's less weird," I said going to stand by Ichigo.

"Good idea," Uryu said.

"Mayuri is head of research and development," Kisuke said.

"Ah, I see. So you're just a curious scientist," Kurama said.

"And also creepy. No offense," Yusuke said.

"None taken," Mayuri said.

"It's good to see you again, Rukia," I said.

"You too, Kairi, though I wish the circumstances were different," she said.

"Likewise," Kurama said.

"So about this creature Kairi and I encountered," Toshiro said. "Can you explain what it was?"

"I certainly can. I created them after all," Mayuri said. "They're hybrids of demons and Hollows. I thought to myself one day, what would happen if I fused the two together and if it were possible, and it was. The creatures were powerful, but also lacked intelligence and but could easily be manipulated into following orders. . . but one day they got loose from my lab and I couldn't find them."

"They got out and you couldn't find them?" Hiei asked, the disbelief apparent in his voice.

"Are you serious?" I asked. "How do you still have a job? That kind of negligence is unacceptable where I come from."

"Well, they never popped back up so I assumed they weren't a problem," Mayuri said.

"Well, nobody thought Shinobu Sensui was a problem either until he popped up spouting off about the end of the world," Yusuke said.

"And now all these souls are disappearing and suddenly your little science projects have popped back up and I am a little suspicious," I said.

"As well you should be, because they are connected," Mayuri said. "I no longer have control over my little pets but someone else has and whoever it is has made them more powerful. The only thing we know about them for certain is that they're making their way through to the Living World by the same means that the rest of the Hollows do."

"From Hueco Mundo," Uryu said.

"And if someone is snatching up souls from Hueco Mundo it's safe to assume that whoever is taking these Hollows is also the one controlling these hybrids," Kurama said.

"But what for?" I asked.

"To help make whatever they're doing easier," Kisuke said. "Soul Reapers can't kill 'em, and you can't kill 'em. Not alone anyway."

"And no one knows who is behind this or why they're doing it?" Hiei asked.

"Only that whatever they're up to is going to potentially unravel the fabric of the universe," Kisuke said. "So I think it's pretty important that it gets looked into."

"And it is," Rukia said. "In the meantime, the head captain has ordered that reinforcements be sent to Karakura Town and West City which seem to be the epicenter of the trouble, however, there is one other place where we've noticed an increase in activity."

"Where?" I asked.

"Mount Paozu," she said.

"That's where me and my family live," I said.

"Not a coincidence," Kurama said.

"I suggest you find a way to get them here. If any of the hybrids start popping up there, your family will be in danger," Rukia said.

"Right," I said.

"And in the meantime, I suggest you all make friendly with each other. You're going to need each others help to get rid of these hybrids," Kisuke said. "And you can bet that they'll only be getting stronger when they figure out we're onto them."

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem for you and Ichigo, Kairi," Kurama said.

"Enough with the jokes, Kurama. Everyone knows I'm dating Ichigo. Let it go," I said.

"You're dating Ichigo?" Rukia asked.

"I know! Isn't she too pretty to be his girlfriend?" Rangiku asked.

"Stop saying that!" Ichigo complained.