9
~Flashback: Tenebris' POV~
'Why do I feel like the world is about to end?' I thought to myself as I woke up. The sun was shining in through the window, not a single rain cloud was in sight. 'Well, the feeling isn't being caused by a rainstorm. So that means...' I lifted my head to see Ichigo getting ready for the day. He was moving slower than normal. I could just smell the depression rolling off of him in waves. 'Yup... It is Ichi that is causing this feeling.'
I watched as he left the room without saying anything. Normally that tells me what day it is, but I couldn't think of it at the time. "Why is Ichigo so depressed?" I thought aloud.
'Wait...isn't mom's anniversary coming up?' I sat up and looked at the calendar. The date was June 16th. 'That answers that. Tomorrow is the day mom died.'
My mind wandered to Rukia. I noticed that she wasn't here. I'm surprised by that. Normally she wouldn't leave without me being within her sight. 'Maybe she is starting to trust me,' or that could just be my wishful thinking.
'I don't want Rukia to bother Ichi tomorrow. I'll offer to kill the hollow that day in his place, so he can spend the day with the family.'
With that plan made up, I grabbed a book and jumped out the window to head for his school.
Ichigo and our family were getting ready to leave the house and head for the graveyard. I waited for Ichigo to leave the room so I could grab Rukia before she and the modsoul - named Kon by Ichigo - could jump out the window and follow the family.
"What are you doing, hollow?!" Rukia demanded, and lucky for me, quietly.
'I guess it really was just wishful thinking that she was starting to trust me,' I thought to myself, but then shook the thought off for more important matters. "I just want to tell you to not bother Ichigo today. He isn't in the right mindset to kill hollows. So if you find one just let me know and I'll kill it. Okay?" I waited for her to answer.
Rukia had a thoughtful expression on her face. "Ichigo did say something about taking the day off today," she said, mostly to herself than to me.
"He did? When?" I asked.
"Last night before we went to bed. You were out during that time."
Oh yeah, I was hunting a hollow for dinner. "Right, well can you come to me when a hollow shows up? I won't give you a hard time about it."
Rukia thought about what I said. "I guess I could go to you, but what happens to the souls after another hollow kills them?"
"They go to the cycle of rebirth. Unless I eat them, then they are a part of me for about a year before they enter the cycle. But if you were asking for a normal hollow, then the soul would be trapped in the body of the hollow that ate them until said hollow is killed by a shinigami," I explained.
"Well...that was more informative than I was expecting. They don't teach about naturally-born hollows in the Shinigami Academy," said Rukia.
I shrugged. "It could be because we're rare. Now let's go. I would stay hidden if I were you," I added the last sentence as an afterthought. I didn't want Ichigo to see her. 'Now hopefully she will stay hidden.'
I left the room and headed downstairs where Ichigo and the family were waiting for me.
"Okay, Tenebris is here. We can go now," said Karin.
We left the house, and Ichigo decided to ask, "What took you so long?"
"Making sure a certain shinigami didn't bother you today," I said.
"You didn't tie her up, did you?"
I shook my head. "No," I said.
Ichigo sighed, "Are you not going to tell me?"
"Let's just say you will have nothing to worry about today." 'Hopefully...' I thought at the end.
We were making our way up the hill when Karin saw someone up ahead. Both Ichigo and I looked and saw that it was Rukia.
'Darn it, what is she doing waving so cheerfully like that?' I thought.
"It seems like she knows you, Ichigo," said Yuzu.
"She's a classmate," I said and Ichigo repeated this to Yuzu.
"I think I should go talk to her," Ichigo added. "You guys go on ahead to mom's grave, I'll be right back." He took off and dragged Rukia somewhere.
I sighed, "I'll be right back as well. I'm going after them." I quickly followed their scent.
It took less than a minute to catch up to them, and it seemed that I had not missed anything.
"What are you doing here?!" Ichigo interrogated Rukia.
"I'm here so that when a hollow shows up I can tell Tenebris," explained Rukia. "She offered to take your place today earlier this morning."
Ichigo gained a surprised look on his face. I don't know why he is, he should know I would do something like this for him. He turned to me and asked, "Is that true?"
I nodded my head. "Yes, I asked her to not bother you today."
Ichigo's eyes softened. "Thank you, Tenebris," he said.
"Ichigo, may I ask you something?" Rukia started and waited for Ichigo to turn back to her. "I was thinking...about your mother. Could she have been killed by...a hollow?"
Ichigo's face paled at such a rate, I thought he was being drained by an invisible vampire or something. I saw Rukia open her mouth again to continue, but I wasn't going to allow that. I quickly covered her mouth with my right paw and used my left to hold her in place. I then turned to Ichigo.
"Ichigo, why don't you go back to the family," I suggested with a cheerful smile on my muzzle. "I'll handle things here."
Ichigo hesitated for a second, but then threw a glare at Rukia. "Fine, I'll go," he said, and then turned to leave us. I waited until he was out of sight and I could no longer hear his footsteps, and when those faded I turned my attention back onto Rukia.
"Never say something like that to Ichigo again, or to anyone else for that matter," I said sternly and with my pupils narrowed. I must look like an angry cat or snake right now, because Rukia was looking at me fearfully. I took a deep breath to calm down, and then I let her go. 'I need to set this girl straight.'
I sighed, "Look, Ichigo blames himself for our mother's death, so you saying stuff like that isn't going to get anywhere with him. He didn't see anything. All he saw was a little girl about to jump into a rushing river, and he tried to stop her, but the girl was already dead. Mom tried to stop him, and I didn't know what to do at the time. I couldn't fly and I wouldn't have been able to save them both. Mom grabbed Ichigo and pulled him away from the river, but that is when a shadow of something appeared. I knew then what I needed to do. I rushed forward to attack the creature. I admit it could have been a hollow, but I couldn't see it very well due to how dark it was and the rain, but it could have also been something else. I attacked the creature, but I wasn't strong enough, nor big enough to do much damage. I was thrown off and knocked out. What happened after that is unknown. All that I do know is that when I woke up, mom was dead and Ichigo was crying and trying to wake her up, only to not succeed."
Rukia had a shocked expression on her face, as well as a look of guilt. That means she understands that what she said to Ichigo was insensitive.
'What she doesn't know is that this was when Shiro woke up and saved us. It was thanks to him that the creature didn't kill us, but he won't tell me what it was. Now that I think about it... he always got this thoughtful look on his face when I brought it up. Did something else happen?' I thought, realizing that some things didn't add up, but I don't have enough pieces of the puzzle to fill in the gaps.
*beep, beep, beep* I almost jumped because of the sound of Rukia's soul pager going off.
"Augh, now of all times?" said Rukia as she was digging for her pager. "Sorry Tenebris. Remind me to apologize to Ichigo later, won't you?" she asked just as she fished out her beeping pager from her pocket. I nodded my head to let her know that I'll remind her. She nodded back in thanks and looked at the screen of her pager. Her face paled at what she was looking at. "Oh no..."
I tilted my head to the side. "What's wrong?"
"The hollow appeared by your sisters," she said, making my blood run cold.
"Let's go!" I shouted while grabbing Rukia's blue dress and placing her on my back as I ran in the direction of Yuzu and Karin.
TBC
I decided that I was going to go with how the manga went for this chapter and ch. 11, because I didn't want there to be a shinigami popping up and finding out about Tenebris. We don't need the Soul Society finding out about her quite yet. Also, more bonding time with Rukia and Tenebris. I have a plan for what really happened that night Masaki died, and I'm sure a lot of people thought of it. It will take a while to get there, because Tenebris forgets to ask Shiro what really happened that night. After all, Grand Fisher isn't dead, and we all know that Shiro would have killed him.
Shiro: Darn straight I would have! XD
Ichi: I wish I could have killed him. Darn it, dad.
Enj/Dark: Can't be helped. At least you got a crack at that hollow, right, Ichi?
Ichi: I guess... :(
Shiro: Please review! ;)
