• • •
Heavily sighing, I glared at the homework that sat on my desk before me. It was almost taunting me; rather, all of the other objects in my apartment were, wanting me not to finish the Japanese history worksheet in front of my face. My bright blue orbs zeroed in on the questions, as I made a vow to finish them. With a sigh, I caved and read through the first question. Lightly tapping the eraser of my pencil against my desk to the beat of the music blaring through my radio, I had to admit; I was completely distracted.
Blowing my bangs out of my eyes, I shook my head.
What famous battle occurred-
I blinked, my eyes widening. That reiatsu; that was the reiatsu of a Hollow. It was so strong. Especially considering the fact that my phone hadn't gone off with any orders.
Flustered, I rushed about my apartment as I tried to find my gikongan. I found it on my nightstand, and I quickly swallowed the bright green pill.
"Paku, I want you to stay here. Stay safe, as well. If there is danger, I want you to run." I instructed the gikongan, whom I had recently decided to name Paku.
"Yes, Junko-Sama~!" Paku happily replied, saluting me as she watched me phase through the walls and run out of the apartment. Countless times I had asked her to drop all of the formalities, but she always refused. I hated –Sama being added to my name; it made me feel old.
Suppressing a shudder, I phased though the walls into Kurosaki's bedroom. "Rukia!" I exclaimed, seeing her sitting on the edge of his bed.
I had offered for her to stay with me in my apartment across the street, but she refused. Rukia said that it was for the best if she stayed here; that way, if a Hollow appeared, she could get Kurosaki to go and eliminate it. So, it wasn't a shock to me at all when I saw her just lounging in his bedroom.
"You felt that too, Jun?" Rukia asked, as she crossed her arms. Her deep violet eyes flashed at her words, showing how serious the situation seemed to be.
"Yes," I nodded. "It was definitely a Hollow that I felt. But what I don't get is that my phone hasn't gone off. I've checked and re-checked, and still no orders."
"Rukia..!" Kurosaki yelled as he threw the door to his room open. His cinnamon brown eyes landed on me, widening. "Jun..?"
"Of course it's me," I said, lightly rolling my eyes. "With you running up here, I'm guessing that you felt that as well?"
Kurosaki nodded his head, about to respond until Rukia cut him off.
"I felt it even from this room. I didn't sense anything from the parakeet, but Chad's wounds reek of Hollow!"
I blinked, feeling the tension in the room. "So, what do we do now?"
"We need to keep an eye out for the Hollow. I know that you can sense them well, so I need you to keep an extra eye out for them. Contact us if you sense anything different." Rukia explained, "Other than that, there's nothing we can do until the Hollow shows up. Then the Soul Society will send a page for it."
"You mean there's nothing we can do?!" Kurosaki bellowed, eyes wide.
"No," I sighed. "Rukia's right. There's nothing else we can do but wait. Even if that does seem like the worst option."
• • •
"Jeeze, I hate mornings with a passion." I mumbled to myself, bringing my hand up to block the yawn that tore from my lips. I was slowly trudging towards school; dreading each step my feet took my closer to that torture chamber.
Why did I hate mornings? I had a feeling I knew why.
I could never sleep at night. Each time I tried, I would close my eyes and see their deaths, over and over, again. Wincing, I bit my lip and clenched my eyes shut as those memories flashed though my brain once more.
"Junko!"
I literally jumped feet into the air, my hand clenched onto the gray fabric of my uniform top as I tried to steady my heart. I swear it had almost leapt out of my chest.
"Jeeze, Kurosaki! What is it?!" I yelled, still trying to calm my racing heart. I wasn't expecting to be brought of my painful revere by my name being screamed so close to my ear.
"Where's Chad? Have you seen him?!" Kurosaki asked, lightly grabbing ahold of my shoulders and bending down to stare into my eyes.
I blinked, surprised. "Chad? No, I haven't seen him… Why?! What happened?!"
"He ran away from the Clinic!" Kurosaki said, lightly panting from all of the running that he had already done while he searched for his friend. "We have no clue where he's at!"
"Have you checked the school? If I remember correctly, he always shows up at least ten minutes early." I asked, my eyes skimming towards the sky as I tried to recall the information.
"Yes, he's not there! Nobody else had seen him, either!" He explained.
"Ichigo! Jun!" Rukia called, as she ran over towards us from the other direction.
"Rukia, did you find any traces of him?" Kurosaki asked, turning his attention towards the dark haired ex-Shinigami.
"Nope; how about your way?" She asked.
"No," He replied, shaking his orange head.
"Well, there's nothing from the Soul Society about any recent Hollow activity." I said as I checked my phone again. "There's nothing showing up on my radar, either."
"I know. Besides, in the first place, Hollows hide between the dimensions of this world and the Soul Society when they are not doing something evil. So we will only be able to sense it when it enters here to attack Chad!" Rukia explained.
"That's why Shinigami must wait for orders from the Soul Society to attack." I said, as I put my phone back into my bag. "However, some Shinigami can sense the Hollow before it materializes if they are close to its surfacing point. Although most of the time they're usually far away, so it's much more difficult to pinpoint the exact location of the Hollow; especially if you aren't receiving any help from the Soul Society."
"Chad is being targeted by a Hollow! It'll be too late if we act only after he's been attacked..! I've gotta do something!" Kurosaki muttered, as he paced and held his head in his hands.
"Well," I mused, racking my brain to think of anything plausible. "Theoretically, it might be possible to trace the spiritual aura within the parakeet that Chad had, but it'd be extremely difficult. No, more likely, it's probably not even possible in the first place."
"Of course!" Kurosaki exclaimed, turning to stare at me. I could see the light shining behind his eyes; hope.
"Wait! That's not possible-" Rukia tried to speak.
"All right, I'll try it!" Kurosaki spoke, nodding his head as he completely ignored Rukia.
Standing completely still, Kurosaki ceased all of his moments. Closing his deep cinnamon eyes, I gasped when I felt the spiritual pressure in the air thicken. It wasn't hard to breathe, like it would be if a Taicho released their reiatsu; no, this was more like a reiatsu that strayed to my shoulder blades and pinned me down. Looking over at Rukia, I could see that she was surprised as well. In fact, she couldn't really take being in such heavy reiatsu for much longer.
I gasped, taking in a gulp of air, as the reiraku appeared. White ribbons seemed to materialize from the reiatsu Kurosaki had released into the air. The spirit ribbons twisted, almost like an eerie wind was blowing them around. Some caressed my skin, feeling soft like silk.
Instantly, Kurosaki's hand darted in front of my face; clutching onto a white ribbon that had been twirling around me. "Found him!"
Blinking like a deer caught in the headlights, I numbly felt myself nod. Kurosaki gently tugged the ribbon away from me, smirking at his accomplishment. "This way!"
"O-Okay!" Rukia and I stuttered, running after Kurosaki who had instantly zeroed in on the parakeets reiraku.
I couldn't believe it! That was reiraku; the ability to visualize a spirits aura. Only higher level Shinigami are able to accomplish it. Mainly, because the technique requires so much reiatsu, along with a high level of concentration. After all of my years of training, I had never seen it done properly before. I have never been able to do that.
And that spirit in that parakeet… The human part of the soul and the birds own soul was so thoroughly mixed together last time we saw it. Because of that, it would greatly intensify the ability to actually find it; its own existence would be so unclear..!
I have to admit, Kurosaki is very impressive. He's grown much more than I would have expected him to. And in such a short amount of time, too! He has mastered skills that I haven't even been able to master…
Seeing a dark blur, my eyes zeroed in on it. "There he is!"
"It's Chad!" Kurosaki yelled, his feet pounding even quicker across the pavement as he pushed himself to run faster.
Chad heard and saw us, his dark eyes widening underneath his mess of dark curls. Quickly turning into the intersection before us, he turned and ran away from us, his back facing us.
"Idiot, why are you running away?!" Kurosaki bellowed, "It's dangerous by yourself...!"
"…Ichi-Nii…"
Kurosaki froze, his body rigid. He spun around and his eyes widened. "Karin! Wha-What happened to you?! You look like you can barely stand..!"
As soon as those words left his lips, the small dark haired girl fell to the ground with a muted thump.
"Karin!" Kurosaki yelled, gritting his teeth as he ran over to his little sister. Kneeling down, he gently picked her up and placed her head in his lap. She was out; looking as cold as ice. Her face was pale, and covered in sweat.
It was obvious that this was going to be problematic.