• • •
"Karin..!" Kurosaki screamed, as he watched his dark haired little sister tumble towards the concrete. As he rushed to her, I bit my lip; thinking. Sighing, I knew what had to be done.
"Kurosaki!" I yelled, satisfied when his deep cinnamon eyes found mine. "You should take her home already. Rukia and I will follow him!"
"Wha? What are you talking about? You guys can't…"
"Don't complain!" Rukia barked, cutting Kurosaki off. "It would be a problem for us if she were left here. That would distract your mind from the fight."
Kurosaki hesitated, turning to face his sister.
"If you understand, then just go! Got it?!" I asked, narrowing my eyes towards him in what I hoped looked like a confident and fierce look.
"Do you think that you can handle it on your own, Jun?" Kurosaki asked, not facing us. "Because…Rukia, your power to fight Hollows still hasn't come back, has it? So, don't push yourselves too hard…"
"Idiot," I hissed out, smirking. "As if we'd let you worry about us."
"Jun's correct, you know." Rukia nodded, smiling. Turning towards me, she tugged on my arm. "Now, let's hurry!"
Yelling a quick, "See ya!" over our shoulders, we took off in the direction that we had just seen Chad take off towards.
Not too long after we began running, we caught a glimpse of Chad again. However, he was way too quick for us to catch up to him. Especially when we were both limited by bodies; me by my human body and Rukia by her gigai.
"Damn it," I seethed, as I pushed my legs to go faster. "Chad's way too fast!"
"I know! I can't keep up in this gigai!" Rukia spoke, panting from the intense run we were having.
As if in slow motion, things considerably seemed to dwindle down. Then, I felt it. With the entire fiber of my being, I could sense the dark reiatsu of the Hollow that had been chasing after Chad the whole time. It was worse up close; much more potent than what clung to Chad's wound.
Turning my head towards Rukia, I could see that she didn't sense the Hollow; at least, not yet. But the worst case scenario happed: the Hollow appeared behind Rukia..!
"Watch out!" I called out, eyes wide.
"You two smell nice..!" The Hollow spoke; its voice dark and spine tingling. "You've both got very tasty scents… Let me eat those souls of yours!"
"Rukia...!" I screeched, seeing Rukia get slapped to the concrete of the street. She was too focused on chasing Chad around; she didn't have her back guarded well enough. She couldn't have even begun to try and dodge the Hollows attack.
Luckily, Rukia was able to skid to a halt. Although, I bet she probably got a bad case of road rash on her palms and knees.
"Heh, you didn't die from one hit." The Hollow observed. "Huh..? You're really something. Plus, it seems like the two of you can see me. What in the world are you two?"
Before I could tell her not to, Rukia jumped and kneed the Hollow underneath its mask. Her hand grabbed onto the upper portion of the mask, and she nimbly pushed herself further up in the air.
"Dominator! Mask of flesh and blood, all living beings, fluttering! That which has the name human! Truth and temperance! Slightly imbed your claws into the walls of innocent dreams! Hado thirty three! Sokatsui~!"
Rukia could fire it..! The Kido spell was successful! That had to mean that some of her Shinigami powers were returning; even if it was occurring slowly.
Although, something about the spell felt a little bit…off?
The smoke from the blast quickly cleared away, making all of our eyes widen: not even a scratch was left on the Hollow!
"Get outta there, Rukia!" I screamed. Again, it had looked like the Hollow was moving in slow motion; I could see that it was going to attack her.
Rukia's eyes widened at my words. She barely had enough time to dodge; and she didn't come out of it unscathed. Some part of the Hollow had managed to cut her upper arm, even through the school uniforms jacket top, which was pretty thick.
"Hehe, I recognize that spell just now… It's Shinigami magic..! Am I right!? But yours is so weak I didn't even feel a thing!" The Hollow roared, laughing at Rukia's pathetic attempt to wound it. I grit my teeth, rushing over to Rukia who was still kneeling and holding the wound on her upper arm. "So you were a Shinigami. Then that explains why your scent is so tasty. And I bet the other one is a weakened Shinigami, too! Ah, Shinigami. Just that word brings back good memories. You know, I have eaten two Shinigami who have come to send that brat to the afterlife. They tasted the best!"
"You said, 'That brat.' Do you mean the spirit inside of that parakeet, Yuuichi Shibata?" I asked, narrowing my icy blue eyes at the disgusting Hollow.
"Yep," The Hollow spoke, as if it were proud of the answer.
"It seems that you're persistently chasing that brat around… Why?" Rukia asked, glaring at the Hollow as well.
"Who knows? I'll tell you if you both quietly let me eat you…" The Hollow cooed, pointing straight at Rukia and me.
"You bastard!" I screamed, my glare darkening. "Rukia, quick. Shinigami me..!"
Rukia nodded, quickly trying to pull the glove from out of her pocket. As soon as it was on her hand, the Hollow had her pinned to the wall. Before I could blink, I was pinned to the same wall by its other claw.
"Heh…you're both so weak. Are you guys both really Shinigami? Why don't you two shed that human shell? Eh?"
Before Rukia or I could send back a sarcastic comment, Chad had appeared before my face and tried to punch the Hollow. Surprisingly, his hit landed. The Hollow fell to the ground in agony from the punch, successfully releasing both of us.
"Did I…hit him?" Chad asked, still holding his fist up in the air.
I was about to congratulate him, but then he randomly started striking the air once more. Sweat drops formed on the back of my head as I sighed.
Apparently, Chad couldn't see Hollows. He just had a lucky punch.
"What the heck?! Hehe… He scared the crap outta me, but it's just a fluke! I thought that he could see me..!" The Hollow started speaking, only to be cut off by Chad's fist again.
"Yeah, I hit him."
No way! Chad had just hit the Hollow again..! And he was fighting the Hollow so calmly… It was something he couldn't see, hear, nor sense. And he still wasn't freaking out or anything. I haven't known Chad long, or know much about him, but I did know that he was strong. But this strong..? Strong enough to take on a Hollow bare handed? That possibility hadn't even crossed my mind.
The Hollow cursed, then flapped it arms. It turns out its arms were like wings, capable of letting the Hollow float into the sky.
"Wha..?!" Rukia asked, eyes wide as we shared a glance at each other. There would be trouble if we had to fight the Hollow up in the air. And it's not like Rukia could just turn me into a Shinigami in front of Chad. Unless she'd later wipe his memory clean…
"Hyahaha! You can't attack me this way! Right?! What are you gonna do, loser Shinigami's?!" The Hollow roared with laughter as it looked down at us all.
"Don't space out..!" Rukia warned Chad, desperate for him to leave.
"Chad, you need to run away! He's flying!" I added, nodding my head.
"Both of the transfer students..?" Chad asked as he turned his head to look down at the both of us. His dark eyes widened in surprise. "You both…can see ghosts..?"
"That doesn't matter right now!" I argued back, "We can't attack from this distan-"
"Where?"
"What?" Rukia asked, furrowing her eyebrows after Chad had cut me off.
"He's flying so… which direction?" He asked.
"What can you do even if you know that?" I asked, confused.
My eyes widened as Chad wrapped his arms around a telephone pole that he was standing beside. "I can do this." With a fierce grunt, Chad managed to snap the telephone out of the ground! Like it was a twig, that's how much effort it took him! "So, which direction..?"
"R-Right there..!" Rukia answered, as I was still in shock. "Just swing it down!"
Displaying his herculean strength once more, Chad swung the telephone pole down. He hit the back of the Hollows neck, sending it plummeting down to the Earth once more. With the force of the blow, the top of the telephone pole broke off from the impact.
Casually, Chad swung what was left of the pole across his shoulder as he stared off into space. Rukia and I moved over towards the fallen Hollow.
"So give up. It's your time to be rid of. Stay still for just a bit longer." Rukia stated, as she crossed her arms and glared down at the Hollow.
"Heh, heh, heh…" The Hollow laughed.
"What's so funny?" I asked, raising my converse clad foot and kicking the Hollows back out of anger.
"I'm wondering how you didn't think about it… Why is it that, up until now, I was able to defeat and devour two Shinigami..?" The Hollow asked, taking a dramatic pause while Rukia and I narrowed our eyes at the pitiful creature. "Geeze… Because of that thoughtlessness all of you Shinigami are beaten by us..!"
We all froze, feeling the Hollow's reiatsu rise. Even Chad seemed to sense that something wasn't quite right, even if it was just because Rukia and I were rigid.
My eyes widened as I looked around.
All around us little Hollow minions appeared. Before we could move, we were tackled to the ground, covered in them.
"Ehehe. This turns the table, doesn't it?" The Hollow asked. "Geez, you simple minded Shinigami's… I fight alone for just a little while and everyone assumes that I'm their only opponent… Did I say even once that I didn't have friends with me? Heh, heh, heh! Weeeeell then, which should I eat first..? The unappetizing guy is -"
With another grunt, Chad managed to use his strength to bust out of the grip of the Hollows minions, and strike a pose quite similar to one that Hercules would himself. I couldn't help but let my jaw drop, feeling my left eye twitch at the scene.
"This guy is ridiculous! He answers every little thing with his biceps! This muscle brained id-" Chad darted towards the area where the Hollow was at, and attempted to land another punch. However, his swipe missed. "iot?! D-Damn it! What acute senses! Even though he can't see me..!"
"Over here, Chad!" Rukia called out, seeing as how we were both pinned to the ground by the Hollow's minions. "Kick right above me and Jun..!"
With two separate swift kicks, both Rukia and I were freed from the smaller Hollows. Angered, the main Hollow took off into the sky once more. However, Chad didn't know that and was still blindly trying to punch him.
"No, not over there!" Rukia yelled, "He's flown off again!"
"The sky..!" He murmured, looked up at the sky once more.
"Relax." I spoke, smirking. "I've got an idea..!"
• • •
"Transfer student Kokawa… You're really… going to go through with this..?" Chad asked as he held me in his strong arms. I was scrunched up in a ball, beaming at the brilliance of my idea.
"Yep! With your super strength and my awesome ghost seeing capabilities, there's no way that we can go wrong~! Now, hurry up and throw me!" I said, grinning.
I'm pretty sure that this would look like a stupid idea to anyone if they passed by. I had originally planned for Rukia to be the one tossed, since she was a bit smaller than I was, but she didn't have all of her strength back yet. So that would most likely be a suicide attempt.
"You know… This feels like an awfully dumb strategy, but…" Chad rumbled off in his deep voice, as he sunk a little lower towards the ground to get ready to toss me.
"You don't have the authority to say that to Jun! This is a wonderful idea..!" Rukia said, a huge smile on her face. Originally, she was going to Shinigami me, but then Chad wouldn't have been able to throw me as well because he wouldn't be able to see me. If we did this and the plan worked out, we would be able to beat the Hollow without me changing into a Shinigami in front of Chad.
"Alright, let's go~!" I ordered, "Aim at two o'clock!"
"Which way is two o'clock?"
"Eeeh?! This way!"
"Keep it at a forty degree elevation!" Rukia added in, doing the calculations in her smart little brain.
"Th-That's too high, moron! I'm not a firework..!" I yelled, my eyes wide. Chad readjusted the height and I nodded. "…Right! There! Stop!"
"Let's go." Rukia ordered, throwing her arm out into the air. She was only missing the little flags that the airplane people had to direct traffic.
"Blast off~!" Rukia and I shouted at the same time, as Chad launched me into the air.
It was a rush, feeling the wind forcibly blowing back my hair and excess fabric of my school uniform. I was heading straight towards the Hollow, just like we had planned.
"That's why we told you to give up," I stated with a smirk, as I grew closer and closer to the Hollow.
"No..! I understand, so don't do anything..! I'll give up!" The Hollow screamed, throwing its hands into the air in a sign of surrender. However, its eyes then narrowed. Lowering its arms, I spotted one of the Hollows minions on its shoulder. "Or not."
My eyes widened in surprise.
The minion used its hands to squeeze its bulbous head, and it spit out a huge ball of what looked like leeches..!
"Jun..! It's a trap! Get out of there!"