I apologise profusely for the few grammatical errors in the previous chapter.
I was so peeved at having my memory stick stolen I… forgot… to… check.
Hey, so I know that this chapter is unbelievably late but I've had to deal with a supreme amount of horrid grown up stuff recently. Plus this chapter went wrong three times but I realised what the problem was now and have fixed it. It was simple really; the chapter was too long to suit the purpose of its content. I tried to incorporate too much detail to it and ended up adding too many characters and events that caused it to collapse in on its self. Normally I enjoy long chapters but for this one… it just didn't work.
The next chappie definitely won't take two months to put up.
Notreallyaname: I agree with you for the most part that the whole recurring, 'oh I'm the new vizard/hollow/soul reaper/human/spirit king's daughter and pupil of Karakura High', is increably annoying. It's nice to know that people appreciate different kinds of eventualities and possibilities. I do enjoy writng the various pov's as it helps the audience gain a certain understanding behind each characters actions. Interplay between characters is always just as important as the story; each relationship dynamic that I have started to work on will eventually begin to change with what will happen in the very near future. I honestly can't reveal too much about Mai, BUT! After this chapter that will immediately alter. This chapter is more about satisfying Ichigo's deep curiosity of his friend. It's something Ichigo doesn't quite understand himself so he just goes with it like he has done with everything else he's done so far. This is also something I will be working on.
Memory25: I'm glad! Really, it's good that my writing is actually decent enough for you to get used to its style. You know, it totlly shocked me to recieve reviews that were basically ego strokes. It's awesome. Oh, the whole yokai/hollow mix... you'll understand later. The two have their own stories but they do kind of interlink at points. Ichigo is the hollow slayer. Eventually it will be him who has to deal with Mai's hollow problem. Not that she won't have anything to do with hollows but her life is about to start getting undeniably messy and it would be silly to put all the responsibility on the wrong person's shoulders. Mai isn't the ony main part in this fanfic. Everyone has a job. It just so happens that hers is a little bit more screwed up. No, neither Rukia or Ichigo know of the yokai but they will soon and this will start to slowly tie into what I wrote in the prologue. Yes the hollows find her yummy, but they would seeing as how she's... something else. Have no fear! I know I'm annoyingly vague but it is absolutely necessary at the moment. The awkward Mai thing was always something I had in mind. She's not an idiot but sometimes she's simply too literal for her own good. And yes, a word about the texting. I'm really sorry if the dots on the text are irritating. You see, I suck at text speak but I found a way around it. I once did an essay on discourse comprehension and I found that people automatically and unconsciously infer the emotions, pauses and any other communication cues whilst talking or texting and not just their own but other people's too. In phone text for this fanfic any pauses that seem strantge are more or less from the recievers point of view. It will occur less and less with familiarity I assure you.
Randomlyrite: I will. I will keep the awesomeness coming so help me god. Adios amigos!
Chapter 7:
The Unexpected
Previously…
Moving my head slowly I looked up behind me and stared stunned.
"...Mai?" He uttered in soft astonishment.
His name was out of my mouth before I could stop it.
"...Ichigo."
A few minutes before…
The night was striking.
The crickets sang and the breeze mingled in perfectly with the slight intrusion of the forewarned summer warmth. It would have been peaceful. It should have been the type of night that promoted friendship and movie night; the teenage excitement known to prelude the scent of the coming holiday months.
The fireflies that normally danced in the enchanting night light of the Karasu River were caught fluttering around trees and bushes bringing a fantastical impression of an ordinary town… with layers of freakishness that transcended normal freakishness, a town with ghosts and hollows and soul reapers…
But really it was quite pretty.
…Who the hell cares?
Ichigo Kurosaki glowered at the twinkling sight of nightlights.
Having already past Tatsuki's house, Chad's house, the supermarket and circling twice around Mashiba Middle school Ichigo was more than ready to call it a night.
"This way Ichigo! Just one more pass, that ought to do it!"
…But his miniature, forever perched on his shoulder pain in the neck Miss Rukia, I'd die for Chappy Kuchiki, wasn't.
The irritably inclined boy watched with his cheek twitching in disbelief as she walked, with a bounce, several steps in front of him looking constantly from her phone to her surroundings. Every now and then she'd pause, point at something and beckon for him, her mule to, at her ladies request, slay the big bad monsters of the night.
…Where did she get all her energy?
Unfortunately whenever he arrived at the exact spot she'd described there wasn't a hollow in sight. They'd been out walking for well over an hour… not a single hollow.
Typical… he thought with a huff. When you're not looking for them fifty appear out of nowhere to ruin your day. When you want just one to show up, you get tumbleweed.
He saw Rukia pause again and watched as her eyebrows slowly furrowed in concentration.
She's tiny… she can't have that much energy to spare.
It was difficult to believe that this… girl… was the same person who'd showed up at his house just a couple of weeks ago dressed like a samurai and slicing through the thick arm of a hollow.
And here she was, dressed in his little sister's summer dress.
Appearances can be so deceptive.
And he'd been grateful to her at the time but…
…But that didn't mean that she wasn't, as he stated constantly, a pain in the frigging neck.
With his feet heavy on the pavement Ichigo scowled towards the source of his current qualm. "She dragged my ass all this way… not a damn hollow in sight…"
"Oh, another signal! This way!"
His forehead throbbed. "Here's a wish, may all your chappy crap burn. I'll do it myself; I'll take your stupid pictures and your chappy mug and have myself a little bonfire…"
Ignoring his every word (he'd been muttering jadedly to himself for the past twenty minutes now) Rukia hoped, no prayed to the Spirit King himself that they found a hollow soon. Driven though she was even she had limits and they were being pushed. Neither she nor Ichigo could go back to his home while the tracker on her phone beeped. If they missed just one possible hollow it would mean the consumption of a lost spirits or the life of an innocent civilian.
But the phone wasn't working properly. They'd arrive at a specified place only for the beeper to stop completely rendering them in silence.
They both came to a stop somewhere on the north side of Karakura Community Park.
Again, there was nothing.
"Oh look. No hollow. Shocker."
He really wasn't helping. Grinding her teeth at his sardonic words she fumed down at her phone.
What was wrong with this thing?
"…Rukia?"
"Just a second…"
"No Rukia, I…"
"Just one second Ichigo!"
"RUKIA!"
Startled she whirled around to look at him. "Whoa! Hey, what's your…" She trailed off at the look on his face.
He was frowning at the ground and though this wasn't an altogether unusual thing for him to do it was his stance that caught her tongue.
Where before it was slumped and sluggish it was now straight backed and tense. His jaw tightened minutely and his eyes gazed into the concrete pavement unseeingly.
"Do you feel that?" He asked her without looking up.
Looking askance of her Rukia tried to focus as hard as she could with the limited amount of reitsu she'd reacquired in the past weeks. Her head pounded with the effort involved but she couldn't sense a thing. Perplexed she stared back at her friend. "Ichigo, I can't sense anything."
Abruptly he sucked in a sharp breath and looked up towards the park pointing somewhere ahead of them with a finger. "That. You're telling me you can't feel that?"
Shaking her head with a concerned frown she watched as he brought a hand to his chest clutching at the fabric of his shihaksho there as if his heart were in pain.
His eyes clear, Ichigo exhaled and was sure he recognised the sensation he was feeling. With a furrowed brow he glanced towards the park again. Mai…
"Ichigo?" He heard Rukia's voice but tuned her out for a moment.
He couldn't be positive but… in any case he had to go check it out.
"Oh my…"
Looking towards Rukia he saw her eyes widen down at her phone. "What is it? Another false alarm?"
"N-no, there's a swarm of them heading this way. Just down there." She pointed.
"Swarm?"
"Oh yeah." She confirmed.
Without warning two hollows charged out from the trees left of them. Unexpectedly however they didn't immediately turn towards them. Instead they headed off in the same direction Rukia had pointed. Ichigo smirked cockily as a sudden rush of adrenaline took him unawares.
"Well, it's about time! Look out hollows, here I come!"
And with that Ichigo charged into the fray with his huge hollow dispensing weapon waving dangerously above his head.
Rukia sweatdropped at his battle charge. Well, at least he's more awake now…
Distracted, the first hollow wasn't granted even one second of warning before Ichigo's large zanpacto tip was imbedded directly in the middle of its mask.
"Take that!"
He's killed one hollow and already he thinks he's king. Rukia shook her head… then gasped and dodged to the side. "Ichigo, three more!"
"What?!"
He turned and promptly cursed. There were indeed three more one of which already had a powerless Rukia on the run, its large feet stomping without rhythm as it pursued her.
Light on his feet Ichigo ran forward bringing his sword up in both hands allowing it to scrape across the ground as he sliced up into the neck of a hollow.
He'd gotten used to the weight of his weapon by now; he no longer hesitated like before.
Cut… dodge… slash… That's all it was about really.
It wasn't so difficult.
But almost immediately he ran into the same problem he'd discovered the night before. Using this method of fighting Ichigo could only battle one hollow at a time. It left him wide open and he knew it…
…He'd just never cared about it until now.
Jumping high over a fence he sliced through the side of another hollow and on landing swerved around to knock its block off.
He lifted his head in time to witness Rukia running for her life… again.
Cursing he shot forward and, as he neared her, glimpsed out of the corner of his eye a figure jump easily over a 15 foot wall and land without stumbling. Frowning he carved a right angle cutting through the legs of the hollow hunting Rukia and it flopped forwards with a pitiful roar almost squishing her.
"Hey, be more careful in fu- ICHIGO!" She exclaimed in objection as he ignored her, almost immediately sprinting away from her.
The figure he'd just seen had been rammed into side on and was currently scraping bodily against the gravel. The hollow responsible was stronger than the others but it wasn't the hollow that made him move as he did now.
With speed he didn't care to comprehend he diced a hollow to his left, cleaved through the skull on his right all the while keeping an anxious eye on the human ahead of him. He didn't even feel the need to look at where he was aiming; every hit landed precisely where he'd meant it too. As if his limbs were doing the fighting for him.
Hot tendrils of energy blew softly against his skin incurring a deep and foreign urge within him to reach for the source… and a tightening of his gut; a response he couldn't even begin to understand.
But he didn't need to chase it down… because she was right there in front of him.
And as he closed in on her the hollow nearest to her moved in for the kill; its jaw opening sickeningly wide as it let out an ear-splitting roar and the raw energy issuing from its prey climaxed.
The feel of it made it difficult for Ichigo to breathe.
The energy itself was a flux of out of control emotion mixed together with a healthy shot of something so primal and primordial it caused shivers in its victims i.e. all the hollows, Ichigo and Rukia. The hollows stilled unnaturally and Rukia coughed suddenly breathless.
Ichigo just ploughed through, impatient to finally get the answers to so many questions.
He stepped in just in time to block the savage blow from the hollow onto the girl. He looked down at her and waited as he strained against the bulk behind him.
Her back stiffened and he heard her gasp quietly.
Moving slowly out of the lethal attack position she'd secured for herself she turned her head and looked behind her towards him. The first thing he glimpsed was her eyes…
…And immediately felt like a marked man.
They glowed; bright, burning, hot and cold, safe and undeniably perilous… green and penetratingly deep.
His stomach clenched and he truly felt as if he were in danger.
But…
He was also oddly captivated.
She was so interesting it was actually treacherous.
"...Mai?" He uttered in soft astonishment.
Said girl stared at him; surprise, wonder, adrenaline, and concern shining through the brightness of her energy.
"…Ichigo?" She murmured.
Hearing his first name and not his last did something strange to him; like his body had plunged down off of a cliff and his hands had only just managed to grasp the face edge. His muscles clenched as he felt the low growl of the hollows around him take in her scent; like dogs, or sharks.
She had to move… right now.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" He growled down at her.
She blinked and her mouth opened and closed before she regained her voice.
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?"
He rolled his eyes. "What do you think genius? My job!"
Her eyes flickered to his shinigami robes and then her head ducked further down to look through the bottom of his widely positioned legs towards the gaping form of Rukia Kuchiki. "I can see that…" She waved to Rukia and the girl managed a disbelieving kind of hand jerk.
"So you can see me."
It was kind of obvious; she'd been looking right at him the whole time. He'd been distracted by the bright energy in her eyes and covering her form but it hadn't completely escaped his notice.
And he felt the knowledge settle comfortably and satisfyingly in his chest.
One secret down; a million more to go.
…Should be fun.
Looking at him directly in the face she nodded. Then her eyes drifted over his shoulder and she pointed. "Er, you need to get rid of him."
He arched a brow. "Him?"
"The hollow."
"It's a he?"
"It's a he." She confirmed as she pressed her lips together in insecurity.
"And how do you-" Before he could finish the hollow behind him, aggravated at being ignored pushed down on his back and Ichigo's legs buckled under the pressure.
Straining, he grunted and pushed back letting his sword swing out behind him as he did so. It sliced deeply into the hollow's chest and it staggered backwards. Taking a breath he noticed Mai step forward with a concerned expression on her face.
"You're injured."
I'm injured?
He looked down and scowled further. He'd been scratched twice; large bloody gashes, one on his left arm and the other across the top of his shoulder and to his back. How had he missed them? The whole time he'd been running to help her he hadn't paid much attention to his surroundings; it should have worried him more but it didn't. Mostly he was vexed at his inability to guard his side.
"I'm fine." He muttered gruffly. Self conscious, he gestured to the many hollows slowly surrounding them. "It's just… there are a lot of them."
Mai sighed. "I noticed. They've been chasing me."
"That's where they kept going off to?" Rukia called out as she ran towards them; the stump legged hollow crawled pitifully after her.
Mai nodded sheepishly. "I tried losing them in the park but they didn't give up."
"They wouldn't, not with how you smell." Muttered Ichigo under his breath.
"Sorry?" She asked.
He shook his head. "Nothing."
"Er Mai, why are you glowing?"
The vivid glow of her energy reflected eerily in Rukia's eyes as they moved over Mai's face.
"Ah…" Mai blinked then bit her lip. "I honestly have no idea."
She looked away from Rukia who glanced somewhat dumbly at Ichigo (the guy just shrugged perplexedly) and towards the hollows.
They looked threateningly peculiar; they just stood there with their awkward bodies and continued to stare at her, at them.
Gee… she'd hoped that her stint with supernatural attention would somewhat decrease after the previous evening but as usual she received the opposite of her wish.
It is amazing though; fear of the dark is omnipresent. The possibilities of what could reside in the dark places of the world create an irrational basis for nightmares in most individuals. But only a small percentage of those people truly understand why.
Now Mai was one of those people.
She wasn't sure if she should be thankful or not.
"Why are they staring at you?" Rukia asked.
…Because I'm an affront to nature perhaps?
"I'm kind of more concerned about the fact that any minute now we're about to become hollow food." Said Mai cautiously and it was true; the hollows wouldn't stand there all night and were already twitching out of their stiff positions. Her eyes darted from one hollow to the next searching for a weak spot but what did she even know about hollow slaying?
Lifting his heavy looking zanpacto across his shoulders Ichigo snorted. "Not if I have anything to say about it."
Rukia frowned at his nerve; where normally admirable it was now impractical. "There are a lot of them Ichigo and you're not exactly unhurt."
"I'm not just going to stand here and do nothing."
"I know that but…"
"What, do you have some kind of a master plan hidden up that obnoxiously happy dress you're wearing?" He ignored the staggeringly threatening glare the annoying midget threw his way and continued. "Because I'd love to hear it any time now…"
"No I don't but…"
"Tag and bag them."
Eyes darting towards Mai both Ichigo and Rukia looked nonplussed. "Huh?" They said in unison.
Glancing quickly and tensely at Ichigo she swallowed. "I tag them then you bag them." She shrugged using one shoulder and it looked incredibly awkward on her. "What do you think?" She asked quietly and hurriedly as if trying to convey that they had in fact only seconds to devise a plan of action involving only an injured substitute soul reaper, an ex- genuine soul reaper who was dried out and practically useless and… Mai, whatever she was. Oh yeah, she glowed… not much help there.
Looking at her briefly Ichigo's eyes scanned the line of hollows and found his scowl hardening, his jaw tightening; he didn't like the way this was going.
I tag them… you bag them.
What do you think?
What did he think?
At that second he would have loved to have peered at her haughtily and in all his glorified masculinity as he said the words 'no way in hell' in a plain and resoundingly deep baritone that suggested he had everything under control and didn't need the help of his friend to get out of this situation in one piece.
He wasn't a chauvinist. It had nothing to do with the fact that she was female. He knew with a clearer mindset than any other guy his age that girls could more or less take care of themselves. But in this circumstance, where he was doing his damn hardest of upholding the supposedly honourable position (according to Rukia, he wasn't sure if she wasn't just trying to comfort herself with the words) of being the town's protector, a job in which he failed to maintain the other night when Mai…
He couldn't let her place herself in harms way like this.
Not again and definitely not by his choice.
He opened his mouth to tell her this, to convey as best he could with the limited sensitivity he felt he possessed that she had to play the part of a damsel and behave accordingly while he got sliced up, but the moment he caught her gaze the words died on his tongue and his mouth sealed shut.
Don't.
Her eyes were begging for his trust.
He could see that she knew how dicey the idea was. For her to make herself a target and reel in the hollows so that he could subsequently eliminate them was an idea that floated perilously on the edge of stupid. He was the soul reaper not her. But then he remembered how she held off against an upper level hollow to give Chad time to escape, how she could see everything he could see when nobody else excluding Rukia could. How he'd opened a secret door within her just for the purpose of satisfying his curiosity and how she continued to both surprise and draw him in over and over again.
He had to remind himself that not too long ago he was just an average human too, one who, like her, could see ghosts and hollows and now he was a substitute soul reaper.
Had he ever truly been normal in any sense of the word? Had she?
If the faint glow still pulsating outward from her form was any indication he'd have to answer that with a stony 'no'.
Taking in her strong, unwavering gaze he was forced to realise something else; he was only as good as his word. And what was that word worth if he failed once again to protect simply because of his fear to acknowledge that he couldn't succeed without her? It would be without substance, totally worthless and Ichigo was nothing if not a man of his word. If he vouched that he could handle the line of hollows facing him without aid then the promise would have to be truth.
…Only that it really wasn't; there were too many of them.
And Mai…
His eyes flickered back to her.
Her brow had started to crinkle and she pulled at her lower lip hesitantly.
Oh hell.
She was thinking about his safety.
And he had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to stop her once she decided to act.
Even if he did hate the idea.
He exhaled heavily. "I'm going to regret this." He muttered as he dragged a hand roughly through his hair.
By the surprised expression on her face followed by the minute smile on her lips he figured she took that as his assent.
"Go." He ordered before he changed his mind.
She did.
And what he witnessed next couldn't have shocked him any more than if a herd of pink elephants suddenly stampeded through the area (and let's face it, at this moment in time within the walls of Karakura that kind of thing really could happen). Or if his father suddenly became the straight man before proclaiming that after years of lies he was in fact female.
One moment she was there and the next she was running at the hollows, gaining on them, almost there… through the slight gap in the line… past them… still running. Ah…
The hollows were so puzzled by the behaviour they actually paused to look from each other then back to Mai. Ichigo could practically see the sweat drops on their skulls.
"Er, was 'tag them' another phrase for 'run away'?" Asked Rukia straight faced.
Ichigo just closed his eyes for a second, asking for patience.
But then Mai turned around.
And by the expression on her face there was no question about her intentions.
Her feet slammed loudly against tarmac and by the glare of her energy he could no longer see the pupils of her eyes. She jumped high into the air vanishing for a moment before two glowing feet smashed heavily and almost silently into an absolutely stunned hollow.
For half a second it hung in the air paralysed.
Then it flew backwards towards Ichigo who, startled, almost dodged out of its way before it came to a well aimed stop at his feet. Somewhat confused the hollow looked up at Ichigo who, more than a little dumbfounded himself, simply poked it in the head with his zanpacto.
He glanced up at Mai and blinked.
"Oh… uh, ah…hm." Rukia spluttered before wisely closing her mouth.
Mai didn't look at them.
Her eyes were flickering from each of the hollows as they stretched and moved to strike at her. They weren't happy. She looked so amazingly tiny amongst them. Then they all roared in her face and Ichigo saw her jump slightly (Hn… she's afraid?) before shooting off to the left and this time they all moved with her.
Feeling like he knew what she was about to do he moved forwards slowly; both hands tightly griping the hilt of his soul cutting tool feeling the blunt scratches pull on his arms and he watched her with tense eyes.
Mai's upper body twisted round once she neared the corner and found herself grasping the pole of a lamppost as she pulled herself off the floor swinging around, feet first, to level the nearest hollow in its skull. Feeling the resounding crash as the hollow landed on its ass she lashed a foot out towards the back of its head hearing the slight hiss of her energy hurting it. Using the momentum of her move she skidded through the legs of the second surprising the third behind it as she ran up its body; her right foot pushing off its thigh to its shoulder before landing a flashing left punch to its super hard skull. Her hands steadied herself on the falling of the hollow's shoulders before pushing off in a backwards flip.
Something flashed in her mind's eye and she moved swiftly to the side barely avoiding the mighty fist of the enraged hollow. Running again she ignored the scrape on her shoulder and looked back to find Kurosaki already taking care of the hollow whose head she'd kicked. He landed on its chest, sword already deep within the cracked mask and it vanished in a silent ripple as its core was tinted in a slight blue light.
Him working with her felt… Different. It felt… nice.
The pensive expression fell off her face when she realised she was running, with five or six hollows on her tail, straight for a collision course with Rukia.
The girl in question almost drooped believing in the solid concept of her apparently unfortunate kismet.
"Oh dear god." She breathed disbelievingly and apprehensively as she observed for just a moment the image of Mai wide eyed and running for her life with beefy hungry hollows chasing her.
Then just as she thought Mai and her posse would flatten her more effectively than a rolling pin to bread dough the girl swept her off her feet, literally. As her shoulder pushed into Rukia's navel her arms wrapped around her legs and she continued to run, in fact she hadn't stopped once.
"What are you doing?!" Rukia screeched as she failed to secure a decent grip on the back of the girl's shirt.
"Trust me!" Mai shouted back, the added weight hardly seeming to bother her. "I know what I'm doing!" She looked behind her towards the angry horde of soul eaters. "Well, sort of." She admitted hesitantly causing her load to squawk indignantly.
Almost immediately after she spoke she leaped out of the way of another white fist; one of the hollows had retractable arms and was probably one of the few progressing to the next level in its power. That's when she sped up.
Making sure Rukia was completely affixed to her Mai, in some subconscious intuitive sense, pumped energy through her system. The resulting speed caused the surrounding environment in Rukia's vision to blur.
She barely felt the movement of Mai's legs as they flew over concrete. But the girl's energy left her stranded in a feeling of assailment. Blinking thoughtfully her eyes began to narrow. Then her body stiffened. The overwhelming focus of the strange power caused an almost uncontrollable sense of vulnerability within her, complete with a sheer need to do something… to defend herself from the source, to turn hostile and prevent its surge to power.
Such a strong reaction it was that Rukia felt her fingers dig into the skin of Mai's back of their own accord. She wanted off of her but she couldn't move. Ancient memories forced their way upwards from the deep in a haze of foreign sentiment readying her body to attack her everlasting, relentless and ubiquitous foe before it was too late…
"It's alright Rukia, I've got you."
Hearing Mai's composed voice pushed through Rukia's inner alarm and she found herself relaxing. Frowning suddenly at the abrupt serenity of Mai's reitsu she clung to the girl's school shirt feeling somewhat foolish for being carried like an errant child.
And feeling somewhat confused by the state of her emotional awareness and the affect that Mai's reitsu seemed to have on her. One minute she was frozen in a position of dread and the next she'd relaxed into the utter fidelity of the energy.
She looked down, watching the footwork of her carrier curiously.
Strange indeed.
Then she was lifted high into the air.
Glancing behind her Mai couldn't help the wave of anxiety at seeing that her speed was doing little good anymore. There were only so many times she could circle the park; any further and she'd risk putting innocent civilians in jeopardy. Her eyes flickered around her searching for the black shihaksho and daring orange locks that emboldened her friend.
Her eyes found him to her left. He looked up and met her gaze just as he took out another straggler and immediately understood the concern in her expression. Then his eyes widened slightly at the sight of Rukia being carried like a wild cat over one of her shoulders.
He moved instantly.
Mai's feet pushed off the ground forcing her muscles to cooperate in a high jump that should have been impossible whilst carrying Rukia. Once she reached its apex she looked down expectantly.
Just underneath and appearing suddenly from the left Kurosaki bounded into the hollow closing in on the two girls. He ran it through before it could stop itself from colliding into him and then sprinted off towards the right side of the road.
The pattern worked. Mai would create an opening that Ichigo would take advantage of.
And even Rukia had to admit that it was a decent plan given the small amount of time they had to prepare. "Not bad." She mumbled grudgingly. It was hard to be appreciative from her uncomfortable position.
"TO YOUR RIGHT!"
Reacting instinctively to Ichigo's shout Mai barely had enough time to gasp as she quickly manoeuvred out of the way of the rather large hollow stampeding at her from the right…
…Only to leave herself completely wide open as she positioned herself for an attack to her back.
Shouting out in panic and feeling once again frustratingly useless at her lack of power Rukia went flying as Mai was hammered in the back. Just when she thought she was about to do a kamikaze into the concrete strong arms circled around her. She felt the body holding her slam painfully into something.
Blinking her eyes open she couldn't quite understand what it was she was seeing at first.
She wasn't in Ichigo's arms; she was lying in Mai's.
The anomalous girl had been sent carousing into the side of a car and a very visible dent had been left as evidence. Mai's eyes were closed in a grimace of what Rukia could only assume was pain.
"Mai?" She muttered somewhat dumbfounded.
Shock jolted through her when Mai's eyes immediately opened. They weren't swimming in pain either; they were an ocean of calm. "That was fun." The girl said quietly before smiling softly and understandably at Rukia.
Before she could utter any form of rebuttal she watched Mai's eyes flicker to behind her form and they sharpened dangerously.
"Crap. Rukia, you need to get off me." She muttered hurriedly.
Turning in confusion Rukia exclaimed when as she stared at the hollow who'd attacked them charging hungrily and manically for them.
"Ichigo!" She shouted for help, knowing that he wouldn't make it in time but still trying anyway. The creature's footsteps thundered on the concrete.
Wide eyed, Rukia could only watch as the Hollow reached for them…
Only to be intercepted.
A hand, an unfurled glowing hand with its fingers pointed perpendicular from the ground and to the sky protruded out from the back of the thin mask made of bone.
And then an explosion of energy rocked the air.
A thin layer of verve circled her arm rupturing out along the limb down to about a metre in length from her finger tips where it pulsed. You could hear it; a loud whirr of natural energy. Then her hand fisted suddenly and pulled forcefully out from the mask watching absently as the dying creature roared and exploded in a cloud of light particles.
Staring down at her fist Mai blinked slowly and swallowed. She had felt the energy build so vehemently and rapidly that she'd actually had trouble breathing for a moment when she'd acted without aforethought.
As if it were simply in her nature.
She'd moved around Rukia resolutely without thinking about the apparently impossible idea of flesh battling against supernatural skull impediments and had spread her fingers straight and flat and had plunged them forwards and upwards.
It had been painful but it had also felt supremely excellent.
And for a moment she'd suffered the emotional output of a creature denied its rightful peace in an afterlife of confusion. All of its desire, its need, its emptiness and she'd eradicated it all leaving clearly the bright light of the soul within.
One perfect moment of peace for a spirit long since forgotten by the world of the living.
There was a long silence in which Ichigo stared fixedly on Mai's hand. Rukia, sprawled dumbfounded on the pavement searched the area and realised that they were, finally, alone.
They'd done it.
Gazing around her at the lack of hollow presence Mai Li brought her hand up to her face almost covering her mouth in shock.
"Holy shit." She breathed locking eyes with a bewildered Ichigo. He blinked at her.
Well that's one way to put it.
Yeah… shock.
He walked towards her slowly, his eyes drifting from the gradually dimming glow encompassing her form towards the somewhat shell shocked Rukia who sat child-like on the tarmac.
He simply raised an eyebrow at her and it brought Rukia back down to earth. She rolled her eyes at him and made to stand.
Looking back towards Mai he spoke. "Are you alright?"
She nodded absently. "Yeah…"
"What was that?"
Mai exhaled and shook her head. "I'm not sure." She frowned and looked down at her hand again. "It hurt." A lot, she thought. She was pretty sure she'd have trouble moving her fingers in the morning if the throbbing pain was anything to go by. The muscles had been pushed too far for one night.
Furrowed brows over soft, troubled eyes took her in. "It hurt?" Ichigo stepped closer to her. "Do you need healing?" Assuming automatically that if she did Rukia would aid her.
Mai raised a brow. "Healing? No, I'm fine… thank you." She looked around the edge of the park again. "You took them all out. I'm sorry." She shook her head self deprecatingly. "I really wasn't much help at all was I?" The half smile she wore was shamefaced and delicate.
His scowl returned.
She didn't think she'd helped?
Is she joking?
He figured that she was probably in disbelief at her own actions and she wasn't the only one. The resounding hum of her power had made the short hairs on the back of his neck rise. But as she stood there, a hand raised to clasp the back of her neck, all he could do was frown seriously at the sight and sound of her faint uncertainty, her insecurity.
That wasn't a sentiment he'd come to associate with her.
Caught up in his thoughts he felt hands on his arm and turned, startled to find that Rukia had already moved silently over to him to heal his wounds. She'd told him about a week ago that if she didn't heal him immediately post hollow hunt he'd suffer from them at an even greater intensity later when his soul resided inside his body. Since his spirit was apparently loaded with reitsu it made sense to think that any injury suffered whilst in his shinigami form hurt half as less than it would otherwise.
Concentrating, Rukia tugged a ripped piece of his robe away from his shoulder with the fingers of her left and pressed her right hand against the red of his wound. It'd been a great many years since she'd first laid eyes on a bleeding injury. Back then, so hopeless and afraid of everything underneath the surface, she'd outwardly hardened herself and got stuck into treating the sight. If anyone saw her sweat or shake at all they'd kept quiet about it.
Wounds only reminded Rukia that no matter how strong a person had become or how high up they were on the social and economical ladder, they were still equal to everyone else in the grand scheme of things.
She'd clung to that belief desperately in her early years at the academy. Giving Ichigo a fleeting look she started to heal him. Influencing her reitsu to perform Kido, to heal specific injuries or to just create a pretty fireworks display, even with a low level of spiritual energy Rukia still beat many members of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads with her mastery of the demon way.
Realising how drained he must have felt, Rukia concentrated on healing him as quickly as possible.
Tucking some loose hair behind one ear Mai turned away from her stare at the ground. She looked up and found Ichigo still staring at her a few feet away. Tilting her head slightly sideways at him she gave a small tentative smile, the sole function of which was to simply express genuine warmth. Just because. He was her friend, one she considered trustworthy who'd trusted her in return.
After a long moment he looked away and down left where Rukia was finishing his healing. Remembering his words earlier Mai bit her lip hoping he didn't regret accepting her help.
"And… I'm done." Muttered Rukia. She stood and patted Ichigo's now restored shihaksho.
Mai's eyebrows creased at the sight: the ripped cloth had indeed been repaired. Now that was interesting.
Ichigo rolled his shoulder and nodded a thank you at Rukia, barely covering a yawn in the process.
The peace of the area reminded all of them of their fatigue. Now that the danger was over the urge to sleep overrode all else.
Shoving a hand roughly through his hair he came to a decision.
"Mai?" He said.
She blinked. "Yes?"
"I'm walking you home."
She reacted just as he thought she would.
"Say what?"
He looked at her seriously. "You heard me."
She shook her head. "Kurosaki, it's not…"
"It's not necessary, I know." He finished her sentence matter-of-factly and still ignored it anyway.
"But you must be exhausted." She argued. Then, eyes darting around as if trying to find a distraction she suddenly pointed westward. "If I cut through the centre of Mashiba I'll…"
Tuning out her argument he scowled pensively as he noticed something and found his eyes focusing on her aloft arm.
It was trembling.
He looked back towards her face and she faltered, seeing his glance. Too late she brought her arm back to her side. She shifted her feet and looked back towards him earnestly, then spoke quietly. "Please, you don't need to help me."
She was used to taking care of herself. He knew that. Everyday he'd observed it seeping through her. She was a survivor; someone so painfully accustomed to being alone that she didn't understand how to receive an offer of help with any kind of natural grace.
Fortunately/unfortunately for her Ichigo Kurosaki didn't know when to quit.
Sighing he moved forwards. Her head tilted to look at him curiously. Once he reached her he lifted his zanpacto over his soldiers and into its sheath and considered her. Slowly, very slowly, he wrapped the fingers of his right hand completely around her left forearm and tugged.
She stumbled forwards and he moved backwards with the motion. Turning on one foot he began to walk towards home pulling her with him. "If I turn my back on you, you'll just disappear on me again." His eyes shifted to look at her side on. "You do that a lot."
A look of surprised disagreement flickered across her face before it faded into an, 'oh yeah, I do that don't I?' expression.
His lips threatened to lift.
"And what happed to Ichigo?" He asked noticing how Rukia had begun to follow them form behind.
"What do you mean?" Mai asked openly.
"You called me Ichigo earlier. Now you're back to Kurosaki." He said passively as his footsteps tapped lightly across the sidewalk.
"Oh."
"It's annoying."
"Why?"
"Friends should call each other by their first name; it's good manners, don't you know that?"
An eyebrow rose on Mai's forehead. "It is?"
"Yes. It is."
She frowned. "But you refer to Orihime as Inoue."
He paused for a second in thought. "…That's different."
"Why?"
"It just is." He said with a shrug.
She blinked. "…Okay."
His grip never once loosened on her arm and it didn't occur to Mai to mention it or to complain. Instead, about ten minutes into their walk she'd glanced down at it for a minute.
"You have large hands." She alleged quietly.
Ichigo's eyebrows rose. "Hm?"
She gave him a quick look. "Your hands are big. Here…" She lifted her right arm and without touching his skin placed her long fingers to hover over the ones gripping her. They were much smaller.
"See?" She said with a slight smile of discovery.
He just looked at her.
"Oh…" He glanced down at the sight of her fingers overlapping his. He could just feel the warmth of her palm. He frowned, contemplating the limb. "They are big… I never noticed that before." It surprised him for some reason; he'd never compared his hand size to anyone nor had he ever thought about it.
He hummed thoughtfully and they continued to walk.
Rukia stared at them.
Then she smacked the palm of her hand against her forehead and closed her eyes.
Unbelievable.
Shouten
Urahara stared down into the device he held and released a breath. "…Just as I thought."
"What? What is it? Did it work?" Jinta called out to him, standing as still as he possibly could in the yard in front of the store.
Urahara simply smiled and tapped on the screen in his hand. "They clustered together within ten minutes of her exit. That would make it…" He checked the time on the display monitor. "About one hour after we slipped it to her…"
"How effective was the capsule?" Tessai asked with crossed arms.
His smile transformed immediately into a smirk. "Extremely. It worked a little too well actually. She's not going to be happy."
"How long would you give her?"
"Before she calls? Any moment now…"
And almost immediately his phone, which coincidentally happened to be out alongside the device of unknown function, chirped into the night. Urahara flipped it open and put it to his ear.
"Why hello there!" He cried out jovially.
On the other side of the line Mai's voice could be heard clearly with the speaker on.
"Urahara you trickster, the hollows converged on me and I think you know why."
He blinked innocently even though she couldn't see it. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that about ten minutes after I left your store every hollow within a five mile radius was drawn in my direction, or more precisely towards me. I believe you know the cause behind this."
Wincing slightly at the reality of what he'd done (and the small fact that he couldn't help but find it somewhat humorous) he looked down and shuffled his feet. "Well… you know that tea you drank?"
"Yes?"
He let out a foolish giggle; it was more like a nervous plea to the heavens. "…It was spiked."
To Mai he talked like it was an amusing joke. Like a college boy at a college party spiking his friend's beer with vodka 40% proof.
"You… YOU WHAT? Oh…"
He heard a slight shuffling sound on the other end. "S-sorry…" He heard her mutter to somebody who she'd probably scared with her shout.
He sighed and looked towards Tessai with a pathetic beam. Whoops…
"You spiked my tea? You actually spiked my tea? People actually do that?"
"Nope! Just me."
"What's wrong with you?" She said dead-pan.
"Alright." Moving his head to gaze into the distance he answered her seriously. "I promise it wouldn't have hurt you, nothing serious like that…"
"Nothing serious? I just had a serious run in with a small troupe of hollows and you say it was nothing serious?"
He knew that. The fact that she was talking to him now was a kind of obvious confirmation of her safety. "You're perfectly fine now though, right?"
He heard her exhale. "Only because of Kurosaki, thankfully."
"Oh, the hero arrived on time did he?!" He queried cheerfully.
"…You planned this didn't you? The hollow perusal, Ichigo's arrival, their eradication, you planned the whole thing."
He tipped his head towards the physically absent party. "Guilty."
"Why?"
"I was measuring the productivity of your energy levels in relation to the usually attractive magnetism reitsu naturally seeps. To do this I had to increase your output but ten." He stood there, quite still and relatively calm in the open air. "I had a theory. It turned out to be correct." It usually did.
He expected a tirade of angry questions but instead received a curious enquiry.
"Your conclusion?"
"You have no control, other than its basic functioning, over your energy. It's a homing beacon towards the unfilled; the hollows. Despite its similarities to reitsu, it's fundamentally different so they're probably confused by its impression and oscillation." The hat covering half his face in darkness Kisuke frowned. "I don't know how this relates to the yokai as of yet but I fear that with you being able to sense them, and with you being a wanted commodity to the un-whole spirits…" He let the sentence trail off; she was intelligent enough to grasp its finale.
She needed help.
"I see."
"The effects of the amplifier I administered to you have already worn off. You shouldn't expect another attempt on your life like the one tonight." But it was an example of what could happen should she gain strength without control.
"I understand. I need to learn control… Er, how do I do that?"
His lips turned up at the corners. "Don't worry, I'll help."
"Thank you. Oh, and about that question? The one you didn't actually ask. I think I figured it out."
His eyebrow rose. "…And? Your answer?"
"…Yes."
"Are you sure?" He asked quietly. It was a serious point of responsibility.
"I am. I promise."
"What changed?"
"Nothing. I would have said yes either way. It's the right thing to do."
"Oh." He was left momentarily speechless by that.
"And… I want to. Even if that reality scares me." She spoke tentatively.
It was obvious to him that she would feel this way. "It shouldn't. In fact it makes a lot of sense." He replied gently.
"How so?"
"Another theory of mine." He didn't elaborate and she didn't ask.
Will you impede the yokai?
…Yes. I will.
Kisuke Urahara knew the implications of what Mai was but her energy reactions and emissions were something he was having difficulty grasping. His first thought hadn't connected clearly with his second but now… what with her similar treating of both the hollows and the yokai…
Maybe… maybe, she was exactly what she was meant to be.
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