[A/N: Sorry I've been gone for so long. I had to deal with some health issues in December and when school started back up, I got swamped (don't take two political science classes and Japanese at the same time. Just don't do it). I also moved, but I'm all settled in, midterms are behind me and I finally have a handle on school. I also hit a bit of a wall with the story (who has two thumbs and can't write fight sequences?), but I fixed that as well. As I post this, I'm writing the final fight sequence. Lastly, thanks all for participating in the poll and you've made your stance abundantly clear. I'll keep trying to post weekly and hopefully have the whole story posted before finals (because I have summer classes and won't be taking a break afterward). Anyway, thanks for your patience! Don't forget to review!]

Chapter Eighteen: It's a Very, Very Mad World

I sat down outside and stared up at the Valley of Screams looming overhead. It was bothering me. A lot.

"Do you hear it too?"

I looked up and saw Kuwabara standing there. I nodded as he sat down next to me.

"Like a thousand people whispering in your ear," I said. That's what it felt like. A thousand voices whispering in my ear. Some of them were happy, others were sad and angry.

"It's really creepy," Kuwabara said. "It's not just voices. It's like I can feel them."

I nodded. "I've been thinking about you, Kuwabara. What you are, I mean. I mean obviously your advanced Spiritual Awareness has given you some kind of extra sensory perception," I said. "And I think that your awareness is so advanced, so powerful that you're actually empathic."

"Empathic?" Kuwabara asked.

"You can read feelings," I said. "It's really cool."

"Yeah, but you can read minds and see the future, and move stuff," Kuwabara said.

"Well, I don't read people's mind without permission, and obviously seeing the future has never done anything good for me. The telekinesis comes in handy though. Sometimes the remote is very far away," I said

Kuwabara chuckled. "Do you have any idea what's gonna happen?"

I shook my head. "And for all our sakes I hope I never do. At least that gives us a chance."

I heard chuckling behind me and saw Bardock there. I rolled my eyes.

"Do you have some input into this situation, oh, wise and knowledgeable one?" I asked.

Bardock shook his head. "You seem to have a firm grasp on the situation. Not like you could do anything about what I have to say."

I got to my feet. "Look here, I don't care if you're family or not. You're on my last nerve with this shitty attitude of yours. You obviously know something the rest of us don't, so why don't you share with the rest of us."

"What part of there's not anything you can do did you misunderstand?" he asked.

"And what part of I don't care did you misunderstand?" I asked.

"Hey, calm down, Kairi," Kuwabara said, coming to my aid. "He's obviously not gonna talk. Don't let him get to you."

"Too late for that isn't it?" Bardock asked. I glared at him. "I get your frustration, kid, I do. But you'll understand later. When you finally see what I did, you'll know why."

I shook my head. "Not telling me because I'll find out later isn't good enough."

"Would it have made a difference if I had told you about your friends?" Bardock asked.

"We'll never know, now will we?" I asked. "For all we know-."

"For all we know, what? You could've saved them? You would've known how to save them? When has that ever been the case?" he asked.

"I don't want it to be the case. That's why I always try," I said. "I'm sorry you couldn't convince everyone that Frieza was going to blow up Vegeta. I've been there. I have, but I can't just give up. Even if I end up being wrong time and time again."

"Maybe you're just an idiot," Bardock said.

Kuwabara scoffed. "Maybe you're just a coward."

". . . Right, Kairi says that you think destiny breaking's your specialty right?" Bardock asked. "You're just as much of an idiot as she is."

"And that's the last straw—you can talk all the crap you want about me, but I'll be damned if I let you talk down to Kuwabara," I said. "Come on, Kuwabara; you don't have to take this."

888

"That grandfather of yours sure has an attitude," Botan said.

"It's hard to see how you're even related to the guy," Kuwabara said.

I shrugged. That was debatable.

"Thanks for taking up for me, by the way," Kuwabara added.

I scoffed. "It's like I said. No one's allowed to talk shit about you, Kuwabara. You are a man among men."

"A man among men?" Hiei scoffed.

"Bite me shorty!" Kuwabara scolded him.

"Kuwabara is a man among men," I said. "He's saved our asses more times than any of us can count."

"You can count them," Yusuke said. "And it was four times."

"How do you put up with this all day?" I asked.

"By trying and failing to kick my ass every day," Yusuke said.

I pressed my hand over Yusuke's face to keep him from talking anymore.

"The point is, that my grandfather is a butthead," I said. "And once again we're waiting for something horrible to happen and we don't even know what to expect."

"Do you think someone else is going to die?" he asked.

"I hope not," I said. "But why else wouldn't he tell me."

"Guys." Goten had come out. "The Soul Reapers are back. . . We've got an issue."

That wasn't good to hear. We followed Goten back to the others where there was something clearly wrong.

Everyone had gathered back together and volume at which they were talking was very, very unsettling.

"What happened?" I asked Ichigo when I found him.

"They found where everyone is hiding," he said. "It's in the Valley of Screams."

"Well that's good right? We should be able to go there and kick their asses," Yusuke said.

"It's not going to be quite that simple," Rukia said. "We believe that their base of operations is a large space ship. Only part of it is exposed. The rest of it stretches several feet underground."

"Underground?" Dad asked.

"Yes. From what we can tell, there are about three levels underground," Rukia said.

Gohan got a very contemplative look on his face. "Is anyone else getting red flags?"

I shook my head.

"Do you have any images of the ship?" Gohan asked. Rukia retrieved a picture for him. Gohan nodded. "I was hoping I was wrong." He showed the picture to Dad and Vegeta. "Look familiar?"

"But. . . How is that even possible? Didn't it get blown up?" Vegeta asked.

"I don't think there's anything we can rule out at this point," Dad said frowning.

"Okay, you guys are freaking me out. You wanna just tell us what it is?" Goten asked.

Gohan turned the picture to me and Goten. It'd been years since I'd seen that ship, but I didn't my memory jogged to recognize what it was.

"That's Babidi's ship," I said.

"Indeed it is," Gohan said.

"So if Babidi's ship is there. . ." I started.

"We shouldn't assume the worst just yet, Kairi," Trunks said.

"Maybe you haven't been paying attention, Trunks, but we're doing a pretty shitty job of avoiding worst case scenarios, and if there's one scenario we shouldn't ignore, it's the possibility that Babidi is inside of that ship and that on top of all these other assholes, Buu is back as well," I said.

"Kairi's right. Especially considering the possibility that if Buu is there he could very well be a hybrid like the rest of them," Vegeta said. "That would make him considerably harder—nearly impossible to defeat."

"And he was pretty much invincible before so that's not exactly a comforting thought," Goten said.

"Should. . . Should we know who you're talking about right now?" Uryu asked.

"Yeah. Who's Buu? And who's Babidi?" Ichigo asked.

"It's a long story," Dad said.

"But if Buu did get revived with everyone else, we are completely boned," Yamcha said.

"Before that even becomes an issue, there's another obstacle that has to be gotten past," Rukia said. "Aside from whatever horribleness is inside of it, the entire ship is surrounded by thousands of hybrids."

"This just keeps getting better and better," Ichigo said.

"Most of them aren't very powerful, but there are a lot of them, and their numbers seem to be growing," Rukia explained.

There was a collective groan from everyone. All we needed was a large group of monsters who kept multiplying.

"All right, you guys. I know that this is the end of the world, but we all need to take a moment to relax. We're not going to get this done if everyone's flying around all crazy not thinking clearly," Kisuke said. "We need to develop a plan."

"A plan for what? We don't even know what we're up against," Uryu said.

"Well we know they've got Cell and Frieza in their pocket for sure," Gohan said.

"And maybe this Majin Buu guy we know nothing about," Ichigo said.

"Even if you knew anything about Majin Buu it wouldn't help us," I said. "If we have to deal with Buu again we're gonna be up shit creek without a paddle and no amount of prior knowledge is going to help."

"Hey, why don't you take a chill pill there, Kairi," Yusuke said.

"I think everyone should take a chill pill," Kisuke said. "Breakfast?"

888

Despite the fact that I hadn't eaten yet, I didn't have much of an appetite and I knew it wasn't hunger that had set me off.

"I figured I should pull you out of there before you bit your boyfriend's head off," Yusuke said.

"Thanks. I probably would have," I said. "I'm sure by now everyone probably knows about Buu though, so now at least he won't think I'm a lunatic."

"No one thinks you're a lunatic. Just severely traumatized," Yusuke said patting me on the head. I frowned at him. "Don't look at me like that. We're all traumatized here. That's what makes us so compatible. We've all seen crazy shit and managed not to commit homicide."

"That's not true," I said frowning even more.

"Sorry. I keep forgetting. . . And Kurama too! Geez. Has your brother murdered anyone lately?" Yusuke asked.

"Goten is a little saint, and Gohan, who's seen more shit than I have, is surprisingly well adjusted," I said. "Kurama and I are the only crazies in the family. Well us, and my grandfather apparently."

"Your granddad was raised to commit genocide. It's like, you know, part of his culture or whatever," Yusuke said. "It's cause, you know, we're not born evil. People are taught to be evil. You teach someone that genocide is okay and they're not going to have a second thought about doing it."

I knew Yusuke had a point and that of all the things I could be giving my grandfather a hard time about, his time wiping out other races wasn't one of them. Vegeta had been just like him once upon a time after all. He now looked back at his part in Frieza's empire as nothing to be proud of.

"That still doesn't excuse him being a shady asshole," I said.

Yusuke shrugged. "I don't know, Kairi. I mean. . ."

"What?" I asked.

"I can just totally tell you guys are related," Yusuke said. Remember what happened with Genkai?"

I shook my head. "When I saw what was going to happen to Genkai, it was too late for me to do anything about it."

"And yet, you still didn't tell anyone," Yusuke said.

"I did," I said.

"After the fact," Yusuke said. "Because you decided that it was too late to do anything about it. Just like your good old grandpa is doing right now." I rolled my eyes. "And be real, Kairi. If you knew something bad, like really bad, was going to happen, and you knew there was nothing we could do about it, would you really tell us what you saw? I know in your soul you believe that if something bad were going to happen you would tell us, because you always do, because you really want to believe that you can change the future. . . But you don't think that you can."

"What an awful thing to say," I said.

Yusuke shrugged. "I think you try as hard as you can to change the bad shit that you see, but you've never been able to and that eats away at you. And then there's your grandpa who watched his whole race, including himself get wiped out, but couldn't stop it. And yeah, you saw that too, but. . . It's kind of weird how you walked away from that with a positive attitude."

"So what are you saying?" that I should cut him a break?" I asked.

"Don't give him shit for not telling us what he saw. It's totally cool to give him shit for being a tool bag in general," Yusuke said.

"There you guys are."

Yusuke and I looked back to see that Ichigo had finally popped up to come looking for me.

"Everyone's one about done," Ichigo said. "I saw your dad eat."

"Terrifying, right?" Yusuke asked. "I saw Vegeta try to take something off his plate once—he stabbed him in the hand with a fork. Kairi's just as bad."

"Shut up, Yusuke," I said.

"All right cranky pants," Yusuke said jumping up too his feet. "Looks like you guys are about to have a conversation I don't want to be a part of so I'm gonna go find Kuwabara and Hiei and harass them."

Yusuke ruffled my hair, much to my annoyance before leaving me alone with Ichigo who took his place beside me.

"Did you eat?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I'm not hungry."

"You're always hungry," Ichigo said. "But I'm guessing that's not why you were getting so irritated with me."

"No, hunger was not part of the equation. The truth is just that I'm crazy and traumatized," I said. "Did they give you the run down on Buu?"

Ichigo shook his head. "They all kind of agree that anything we learn about him isn't going to help us."

"And that has done nothing to satisfy your curiosity I assume," I said.

He sighed. "You keep joking that a little childhood trauma builds character, but this isn't character—it's fear."

"Lots of people are afraid of things," I said.

"People are afraid of the dark and spiders and monsters hiding under your bed," Ichigo said. "But this isn't like any of that."

I stared at him for a long moment. "I'm only going to tell you this story once, and then you can't ask about it ever again, okay?"

"Promise," he said.

"When I was eight, the World Martial Arts tournament happened. My dad died during the Cell Games but basically got like a day pass to come back so he could participate," I said. Ichigo nodded as I had explained all of this to him previously. "But then, this guy Babidi showed up collecting energy from whoever he could so he could revive this creature called Majin Buu. He was just some weird, pink, bubble gum monster and Vegeta blew him up and we thought that was the end of it, but then he pulled himself back together. And no matter what we did, he was always stronger and stronger. But then he decided to stop killing people and was having some kind of identity crisis so he like, expelled the evil from himself and then he dropped a couple pounds and was even stronger. That asshole is what destroyed most of the population—pretty much all of it. But then, through a series of events, part of that goodness that was still inside of him, got thrown out and then he turned into this unstoppable asshole who blew up the planet. We were only able to get away because my dad can do that fancy teleporting thing."

"How did you stop him?" Ichigo asked.

"Basically, Namek, the planet where the Dragon Balls basically come from wished Earth back and through the greatest display of intergalactic team work the universe has ever known, we managed to gather up enough energy to destroy him wholly and completely. Additionally, this is when my ever so beautiful psychic abilities started develop so I had the wonderful opportunity to see the planet explode twice. And that's why I don't talk about it because who would want to talk about seeing everything and everyone you know and love blasted into oblivion. We used to the Dragon Balls to make sure no one else remembered, but I remember and so. . . Scarred for life now," I said. "This is your last opportunity to ask me any questions so get them out of the way now."

Ichigo's mouth hung slightly ajar as he shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"And?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I won't ask about it again. Except, how did you manage to get all that energy?"

"Spirit Bomb. Use multiple sources of energy to create one massive ball of energy and then boom. That's it," I said. "It's very powerful if you can collect enough energy. Sometimes a small amount does the trick. But all of Namek and all of Earth and various other planets was just what it took for us to get rid of Buu. Spirit Bomb."

Ichigo nodded. "That attack must be-."

"Huge and spectacular and my dad is the only one who can use it. That's why I keep him around—for end of the world scenarios," I said. "And also because he gave me 50 percent of my DNA and I wouldn't be alive without him and whatever."

Ichigo chuckled. "I promise I won't bring it up anymore."

"Thank you, because I don't like talking about it," I said. "And I also left out the part where I was murdered."

"Murdered?" Ichigo asked.

"It was Vegeta and he was under mind control and I got wished back by the Dragon Balls and that's basically why I can't get wished back again if I die and now that is also a closed topic of discussion," I said. "Any other questions?"

Ichigo shook his head. "It all just still seems a little impossible."

"Yes, and hollows are just so run-of-the-mill and normal. Nothing odd about that," I said. He chuckled. "Sorry you have to date a crazy, traumatized girl who keeps getting attacked by aliens."

"It's probably because you make me feel more normal and less crazy," he said. I rolled my eyes as he chuckled at me again. "I was joking."

"Sure you were," I said leaning over and resting my head on his shoulder. "But I am glad you're a Soul Reaper."

"Uh, why?" he asked.

"Because if you were you, just the way you are, but had no experience with any of this weird stuff I'd never be able to go out with you," I said. "Like imagine if we were going out and I had no idea you were a Soul Reaper and we're just casually making out in your room when a hollow attacks. It's not like you can just say 'be right back, gotta go fight some monsters.'"

"That would be awkward," Ichigo said.

"But look at you, weird as all get out, and only slightly confused by everything that's been going on," I said. "How did I get so lucky?"

"You went to school in Karakura Town," Ichigo said. "The place with the world's densest population of weirdos."

"Well, you're my favorite weirdo," I said. I kissed his cheek and rested my head back on his shoulder.

"There you two are! Yusuke told us you would be out here canoodling."

Now Rangiku and Orihime showed up. Rangiku seemed prepared to tease Ichigo to the point where he got into that state where he was flustered and angry. Orihime had taken to being in that state where she was being quiet. I never could understand what was causing her bouts of introversion.

"No one's out here canoodling!" Ichigo said, already well on his way to being perturbed.

"They're just waiting for you guys to come back. They want to get going soon," Orihime said.

Ichigo got to his feet and held out a hand to help me to mine.

"You okay, Orihime?" I asked her.

"Oh, yeah! Totally fine!" Orihime said, suddenly cheerful again.

"Kairi, can I talk to you for a minute? Just a teensy tiny second," Rangiku said, sounding suspiciously innocent for once.

"Uh, sure," I said. Ichigo walked with Orihime back to the others and I went to stand with Rangiku. "What can I help you with?"

Rangiku watched until Orihime and Ichigo were out of sight inside and then she smacked me upside the head.

"Lay off Orihime will you?" Rangiku asked. "You're just as stupid and oblivious as that boyfriend of yours."

"I'm sorry, have I done something wrong? Last I checked, I was totally decent to Orihime," I said.

"Then what the hell was that, huh?" Rangiku asked.

"I asked her if she was okay. How was that wrong in any way?" I asked.

Rangiku let out a sigh and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Listen, Hon, I know I've been great about teasing the pants off you and Ichigo since the very moment we met, but I do know deep in my soul that Ichigo is actually a really great guy," Rangiku said. I nodded even though I was confused about where this conversation was going. "I know it, you know it, so obviously, other people have to know it, right?" I nodded. "People like, Orihime, for instance know what a great guy he is."

"Sure she does. . . They're like best friends," I said nodding.

Rangiku shook her head at me again. "Come on, you're not an idiot. Why, oh why, would a girl ever start acting weird whenever she saw her friend hanging out with his girlfriend."

I paused as I contemplated this for a moment. All the times I'd seen Orihime turn quiet and weird were times when I was with Ichigo—just now for instance, then there was the time yesterday at Kisuke's, she even got weird during art class when I was just talking about him.

There was only one explanation. I face-palmed myself.

"She likes him. Orihime totally likes Ichigo," I said. I was getting to be as oblivious as Ichigo. I was bordering on Yusuke territory for missing the plainly obvious.

"Ding, ding, ding," Rangiku said.

"How did I miss this?" I asked. "Why wouldn't she say anything?"

"Because she's Orihime, and she's a sweetheart. And you're happy and Ichigo's happy and even if she does like him she doesn't want you to be unhappy," Rangiku said.

I liked Ichigo even though I was reluctant to go out with him at first and I didn't want to think that if I had known she liked him that I would have backed off. Now I was just feeling guilty because she probably felt like I was constantly dangling him in front her all of the time.

"Am I a terrible person?" I asked.

"For liking Ichigo? No. You can't help who you fall for after all," Rangiku said. "But you could do a better job of not being up in her face about it all the time."