Chapter 32
Following a talking cat was not how Tanya had expected to spend her Thursday evening but there she was and there the cat went trotting along as if it owned the streets. Granted, at this moment it wasn't talking so it would appear to any random passersby to be a normal cat but once you knew it was not a cat, it was sort of an odd thing mentally to handle.
"So… talking cats." Tasha's voice came from somewhere behind her. "That's not exactly something we've heard of before."
Mentally Tanya gave an affirmative before continuing, "I do not think we've ever seen what happens to the ghost of an animal before, so maybe this is something similar?"
"No, I've seen everything you've seen." Tasha said, "and I think we would have seen ghost animals before if that was a thing so we should probably add that to our things to research." Tasha paused, and continued, with a bit of humor in her voice, "Never really gave it much thought but where do animals go when they die?"
"They probably don't have enough spiritual energy to become a spirit," Tanya hypothesized.
"Perhaps," Tasha said, "or perhaps maybe there's a Soul Society for animals and this is an agent of said society."
The image of a black, tiny cat wielding a sword came unbidden into Tanya's mind and she let out a chuckle. Which drew the cat's attention to her.
"Is there something funny that I should know of, soul reaper?" The talking cat leading a literal ghost to a candy shop asked.
"No, nothing at all," she said simply, not willing to accidentally insult the cat before asking, "so, for how long have you known Urahara?"
"Oh, all of my life," the cat said in a tone that belittled the asker of that question, as if it was common knowledge that the man talked to talking cats, and that the talking cat in question was just a normal part of life. Speaking of life, all of the cat's life? That tells Tanya absolutely nothing. That could be anywhere from a year to several hundreds.
Tanya made a noise of annoyance, before letting it slide. It was obvious that the cat was playing some sort of game with her knowledge. Tanya had two choices, to play along with the charade or to walk uncomfortably with a talking cat. Tanya far preferred silence to unwanted company, so she was tempted to stay silent.
Instead she simply shook her head and asked, if a bit brashly, "Well then, going to give me any clues on why Urahara wanted to have a conversation with little ole' me?"
The cat made a sound between a hum and a meow before saying, "Nah it's best to have that particular conversation with him yourself."
The black cat was about to make another turn when Tasha spoke up saying, "shouldn't that have ended in Nya?" Causing Tanya to chuckle again.
Said cat gave Tanya a look that said he suspected something but gave a little shrug before moving on.
Mentally Tanya said, a bit sternly, 'Tasha, keep the humor to a minimal amount right now. We need to know what's going on.'
"Fine but I reserve the right to make a joke if it comes up."
Tanya simply sighed before moving on. Soon enough they arrived in front of the candy shop and the cat led the way to the actual entrance at the back. It really was a strange way this building was placed here Tanya had to admit. On either side of the building were modern two-story structures and then there was this lot here with a one-story structure with a driveway that led into a backyard that any guest could serve as a parking lot but she'd never seen a vehicle parked here.
It did offer them a lot of privacy in a backyard but the wisdom of that was odd.
Soon as they rounded the bend, the cat trotted up to the front step where a certain messy shopkeeper who better have got a decent explanation if he didn't want to get severely injured was sitting his hat sitting low on his face as he passed his cane back and forth between his hands. "Oh there you are. I thought something might have gone terribly wrong and I would have to send out the troops to go looking for you."
The cat spoke up first as it took a seat next to him saying, "There was a bit of excitement on the way over here; good old-fashioned hollow attack."
"Hope it's dead," Kisuke said.
"It's quite dead," Tanya said as she folded her arms under her chest. "There might be another mess I have to deal with in a couple days but otherwise the situation is under control."
"Another mess?" Urahara asked, looking to the cat.
"Two girls may happen to have been in the area at the time and apparently have gained the ability to see ghosts thanks to that fight."
"Wow, sounds like you put out quite a little spiritual energy there huh? Must've been a hell of a fight."
"Not really," Tanya said, shaking her head. "Just bad luck forcing me to go a little bit heavier than I would like." And taking into the account that those girls were in the same class as Ichigo who pumped out spiritual energy for days it's likely they were already heavily contaminated. They would have developed the sight sooner or later, but better not to mention that in case Uruhara was reporting to the Soul Society. A reaper accidentally giving a person the sight? That's an accident that can be brushed under a rug. A substitute reaper who's not sanctioned by the Soul Society? That's a crime or at least something that could upset quite a lot of people.
Basically it was a no-win situation, either Tanya would be known as someone who accidentally gave someone some sight or helped in the cover up of a crime and accidents are a lot better for a career than crime.
Urahara nodded his head before saying, "If it happens, it happens. I will see if I can cover it up a bit. I have assets to do that, anyways!" He clapped his knee as he got up and said, "I have something inside that you might find interesting, follow me."
He stepped into the shop and the black cat followed. Having no other choice in the matter Tanya followed them, stepping into the shop she realized that there's a few more faces around then the last time she'd been here.
Two kids were currently arguing behind the counter, a girl and a boy, one with black hair and one with red respectively. The boy was being a little bit overly aggressive but other than that there was only a side note.
And moving boxes around in the background was a very tall muscular gentleman wearing a pair of glasses. Something about him was odd and Tanya couldn't put her finger on it. "He's totally watching us," Tasha said in the back of Tanya's mind, already confirming what she was suspicious of.
There were quite a lot of people here. All of a sudden she had to wonder if they weren't here to keep an eye on her in case something that was talked about was rather upsetting. Of course Tanya may have been a bit paranoid but then again once you'd had an interdimensional entity go after you for a decade plus you're allowed to be a bit paranoid.
Urahara led the way to a door and opened it revealing Tanya…
Tanya had to blink a couple times as sitting in the middle of the room was herself perhaps looking a bit younger, or was that just her imagination? Either way there she was balanced on her knees and not moving at all dressed in the same uniform as Rukia.
"Tada!" Urahara said, flourishing his hands as if it was a celebratory moment.
But she stepped forward to examine the body closer and noticed that it was very close looking like an exact copy of her.
"How many security cameras do you have hidden in this place?" Tanya wondered aloud at how he'd been able to create something from just a few minutes of her being in here.
Urahara simply tapped his head with his cane and said, "Don't need security cameras for this, I'm just that good."
Tanya gave him a look before saying, "Well I do thank you for the offer but I believe in 3 days I'll be leaving si it seems a waste to use this and I don't exactly have the funding."
Urahara shrugged before shaking his cane in his hand and saying, "Three days is the perfect time to get some use out of a body and ask for funding as well! I said it could easily be taken out of the bounties. Oh and maybe a question or two you can answer."
'Ah, a hidden agenda,' Tanya thought. Well as much as she probably should be running the other way, this person had managed to create an exact copy of her. She could completely throw out the use of the exact copy of this body, however it would allow her to not only be able to use the local mass transit system but allow her to poke around Ichigo's father and see what happens.
Nodding her head, Tanya turned and said, "All right then. What is the question that would warrant me getting a body?"
"Well that's an easy conversation all right. You've been getting yourself entangled in a lot of threads recently, a lot of little things that are going on that you probably don't know everything you're even involved in. So I'll ask you a question that should cut right to the heart of the situation," He pointed his cane at Tanya like it was a sword and said, "Why do you want to help Rukia and why do you want to help Ichigo?"
Tanya raised her eyebrow, not exactly sure how many threads she really had gotten herself involved in but it was a simple question and it wouldn't harm her to give a simple answer.
"Career prospects," she said matter of factly with a shrug.
The cat, which had apparently snuck past her and was now currently poking at the front of the body let out a laugh as Tanya said that. When all Tanya did was turn to look at the cat who had its paw currently pressed into the right breast of the gigai the cat stopped laughing and blinked before saying, "Wait really?"
"Yes for the most part."
"That's a bit more centered considering what you're doing than what I thought we might get out of you," the cat said, sounding judgmental. "I mean if you're just worried about your career prospects wouldn't it be better to run away from this situation?"
Tanya blinked before saying, "No, no it would not. I took this mission to help Rukia because she saved my life years ago. I have to honor that or I would appear unhonorable amongst the rest of the Soul Society which would take my career prospects and murder it."
"What about Ichigo?" Urahara asked, having lowered his cane back to the ground now leaning on it as he looked at Tanya.
"Well he's key to making sure that Rukia comes out of this unscathed. If she does, I have created an alliance with one of the noble houses of the Soul Society and that's a bit of social networking that will do me good for the next 100 to 200 or more years depending on how long I live."
"Huh… So basically you believe in being socially altruistic if it will reap long-term benefits for you?" the cat asked.
"Oh you make that sound like a bad thing," Tanya said, turning back towards it. "We all do it, we all follow the rules, we all try to gather support for whatever projects we're trying to do. I'm just a little bit more honest about it."
"Ha! Honest my ass," Tasha's voice said from over Tanya's right shoulder causing her to grumble.
"Huh, and you came here all on your own? You weren't ordered or anything?" Urahara asked, drawing Tanya's eyes back to him.
"No, I did not have any orders to intercede in this situation; plenty of people know where I am though if that's the real question you're trying to ask."
Urahara cracked a smile at that before saying, "No no, no that's not what I'm asking though good instincts there."
"Not so much instincts as more understanding the cliche," Tanya said with a shrug.
This got a sharp note of laughter from Urahara before he continued normally. "Well then I think all our questions are answered. Mind handing me your pager?"
Tanya did as requested in reaching into your pocket and pulling it out. He quickly went through the bounties and did something with them before tossing the phone back to Tanya.
"There you go. Buddy's all paid for," as well as reaching into his pocket he pulled out what appeared to be a candy dispenser. "A complimentary artificial soul to run the body when you need to step away and deal with business." He tossed that to Tanya as well and she nodded.
"Ah wonderful," Tanya said before turning to the body. "Now how exactly do I get in the body?" she asked gruffly.
"Like this," a voice emanated from behind her before she felt the pinpoint of a cane pushing her forward.
A moment later, she stumbled forward face first into the chest of the false body and then everything got weird for her as her soul rearranged itself to be facing the right way.
Tanya was a bit disoriented by the sudden shift of perspective but she was on the ground looking up at Urahara. He was still standing there with his cane poking in the general direction of where she had been standing.
Looking down she saw the candy dispenser had apparently fallen out of her hand when she hit the body as well as her pager and both were on her lap.
"Well that was an odd experience," was the best she could say before she grabbed the items and quickly pocketed them standing up, carefully since the skirt that came with this outfit was rather short for her taste. Then again pants were more her taste anyway.
Brushing herself off as she stood there she said, "Now that that is accomplished I guess I'll be on my way, though I do have a question. In 3 days when I need to go back, do I just return the body and you can store it or is there some other system I'm unaware of?"
Urahara shrugged before saying, "You can do that and for all I care you could pop the soul candy and just let the body run around on its own, though I guess it would probably be more sense to put it in storage."
Tanya nodded before she took a step getting used to the shoes which were not the normal supporting boots she had preferred as well as her own weights. More wasteful with the body. Including several areas that had not really felt weight before and she's cracked her back.
"Interesting", she finally said before asking, "either way, any legal documents or the such do you have I could use for this body? Just because I exist doesn't mean police aren't going to ask questions if I am loitering somewhere too long."
"If you think that I had to encounter these possible problems then I think you think too much but I like that nonetheless. Hey Tessai, bring in the care package."
The large man with glasses stepped into the room with what appeared to be a purse and offered it to Tanya. Nodding her thanks she took the purse and opened it, quickly looking through it and discovering that yes there was a school ID as well as a few other important things and a bit of startup cash.
Pulling up the information Tanya quickly noted that for the early 2000s this stuff was pretty good and would pass any inspection she could think of. "I have to say this is some fine work Urahara. If I didn't know better I'd say you were probably doing a little bit of illegal document creation on the side," she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Urahara chuckled before saying, "Well I'm a businessman and a businessman keeps his secrets to himself but let's just say I've been at this for a long time."
"A long time," Tanya said. "Were you perhaps at this business in '83?"
Urahara's smile froze for a second before saying, "well that's an odd question, rather specific year too. Do you need to know this answer for any particular reason?"
Tanya shrugged before saying, "No not really. It was just a passing thought. My curiosity doesn't affect Rukia and what doesn't affect Rukia I really don't need to know," she mused before continuing, "though perhaps if it affects Ichigo I might. But even then it's just a might and it's more of a passing curiosity of my own."
The smile returned as he said, "Yeah I have been here since '83 at least, maybe a bit longer."
"Interesting, quite interesting…" Tanya said, starting to walk towards the door before stopping. Turning back she said, "Out of curiosity if I were to ask that a gigai be made could you do it for me?"
"If you got the coin I see no reason why not," Urahara said with a smile.
"Excellent. I doubt it'll be anytime soon but once this current chaos is over let's hope that this meeting flourishes into a good working relationship. Until then goodbye Urahara," she said before turning and walking out the front entrance just hearing him agreeing with her on the way out.
Later on Tanya would think she probably made a mistake by taking the money. Yes she had a body now and could use the mass transit system which was 10 times more efficient than running around everywhere that you needed to be but, as the night wore on she realized one fatal terrible mistake.
She couldn't use her normal sneak into people's hotels routine.
Oh sure she could but she would actually be caught by security cameras or she'd have to have to get her body into the room which was problematic as well. People are going to notice that sort of thing so she was left with a rather massive problem.
Standing in front of the hotel she had been staying in one right on the border between two towns she's been hunting.
Her luck seemed to have run out; it would seem that she wasn't exactly sure what to do on that matter.
She was sure she could rent a room but she didn't have that much money. A problem she should probably look into fixing only she had… "Oh that's an idea," she said while Tasha replied, "That is a crazy and insane idea."
"It's an idea, I mean what's the worst that could happen?"
"What's the worst that can happen by leaving this body functional with that soul candy walking about with a notebook full of investment advice over the next 10 years? …Well I can't actually think of anything terrible but you get the point right? That's a bit of a problem."
"It's a problem but not a major one and one that's for the Soul Society and not one for me," Tanya said, turning to walk in the general direction of a school supply store that had been down the street from her hotel a short distance and that she just sort of walked past.
"We don't even have that much money. How are we going to give this soul candy enough funding to even invest?"
"Well that's quite simple. We ask for an initial investment from the Quincy girl, she was interested in helping me out and I'm sure she'd be interested in doing it in anyway."
"You want to abuse the girl's heroism complex towards you for your benefit? I'm starting to remember why people called you evil."
"Not evil, just efficient," Tanya mused as she entered the shop. It would be open for another half hour by the clock so she better make it quick. Moving through the store she quickly found a notebook and grabbed it and a few pens with a couple color choices.
"Okay I get the pen but why the color choices?"
Tanya shrugged before saying, "I'm unfamiliar with how much intelligence this soul candy actually has. Sometimes a picture book is good enough so that if she knows what emblems to use for her investments then all the better."
There was a sigh from somewhere deep inside Tanya's mind before she responded. "All right I'm going to go get some sleep, don't do anything crazy while I'm out."
"Wait, you can sleep?" she tried to ask but got no response so apparently that was either a yes or Tasha was ignoring her.
Either way Tanya shook her head and moved to the front of the store quickly getting in line and making her way through the checkout using a little bit of the spare cash he had to pay for the items she wanted.
And with that accomplished she then headed outside and went back to trying to figure out where she was going to sleep tonight. 'Well the park wasn't so bad,' she thought, 'and summer was coming so I wouldn't be too cold so it could be pulled off for these last few nights.'
At least that was the plan before she felt a hand on her shoulder and heard, "Hey this is going to sound crazy but have we met before? Like a couple hours ago?"
Turning in confusion Tanya found herself face-to-face with a black haired girl. The same girl that had been hanging out with the Quincy girl and the orange haired girl. The one that could now see ghosts and had seen her in her soul reaper form.
Coughing, she tried to figure out what to say before going with, "No no we have not," she said, hoping the black haired girl would believe an easy lie.
The look that the black haired girl said otherwise, "Right what was that that you said? Entfessel die Gewalt des Krieges, Shirubātitania."
Tanya sighed as the girl repeated the summoning for Tasha's second form, though she was impressed at her reciting it perfectly. "Ah huh that sounds like a weird chant, I've never heard that in my life."
Well if the look wasn't enough to say that she could tell that her lies weren't working the fact that she was smashed into the wall as the girl held her by the front of her shirt was a good implication.
"Okay there's enough weirdness going on that I've had it up to here with this, so try again. Did we or did we not meet a couple hours ago?"
Well this was unfortunate. The girl was choosing violence and Tanya could respond in kind though that would be sort of antithetical to the whole purpose of a soul reaper. After all, we weren't supposed to harm the living and it's not like the girl was asking to join the fight against hollows. That was a big no no but wanting to know what the hell was going on that was somewhat reasonable.
And she could always have Rukia see about removing these memories of the situation once she was gone… huh… now that's an idea.
Smiling nicely, Tanya said, "Well I guess I could tell you more though only if you do me a small little favor."
"And the favor is?" the girl asked, her eyebrow raised.
"I need a place to stay for the night, offer me a bed and I'll give you some information."
There's a moment's pause before the aggressive girl agreed with an offered hand which she took.
Tanya would admit this was probably not the greatest plan in the world however she would also admit she didn't want to spend the night sleeping under a tree. She'd done that enough in her last life and granted there's probably less chance of frostbite or drowning in mud but she still was uninterested in exposure.
That being said, having to go along with a lie that she was a friend of Tatsuki's and that she'd be sleeping on the couch tonight due to a broken pipe in her apartment was somewhat annoying but acceptable. After all, if she was going to have to sleep somewhere better to be on a couch then on the muddy ground. At least here she would be warm.
Plus it would give her plenty of time to go over the notebook and put in every bit of information she could think about about the coming economic future of the world and which stocks to invest in.
Perhaps she'd even leave information to invest in that crypto thing. It had been a bit of a news for several years before her first death and as long as things played out very similarly it probably would be a thing here. She was unaware of when that started but beyond that of course there were many other tech companies that were going to see large booms over the coming years that were notable. Well there were several that were interests that may go bust but would be worth some money for a few years. Even so it might be worth an investment in its early days.
Some may say playing the stock market with knowledge of the future was cheating and to that Tanya would simply say no one had done it as far as Tanya was concerned, and since it's never been done it's not illegal. Not the greatest logic but really it was an opportunity and opportunities do not knock twice…
Her thoughts of potential economic outcomes were interrupted by Tatsuki staring down at her with an annoyed look saying, "Okay so I got you a place to stay, how about you start telling me some things I want to know."
Tanya tapper her chin with the pen in her hand before saying, "Well what do you already know? What do you believe you know? I need to know at least that much before I can tell you anything."
"Let's start with a simple thing: you fought some sort of monster, why, how and what was it?"
"The why is because it's a monster that was going to eat you. The how is because I have the ability and the what is that the technical term is hollow. That's all the information you should know if you don't want to end up disappearing in some need to know basis sort of situation."
She stepped back saying, "Are you implying that this is like CIA kind of stuff?"
That wasn't exactly what Tanya was going for but it was actually a good cover so she said, "Beyond the CIA if you get my meaning."
"Okay so how come you're wearing one of our school uniforms?" Tatsuki asked, still staring down at her with an unbridled need for information.
"Your school happens to host members of our organization for a little extra cash."
"Are you saying our school is a safe house for paranormal warriors?"
Again not her intended meaning but it would work so she gave a nod. "Let's go with that."
"So is that why Akira was able to shoot an arrow made of energy from her hands?"
'Ah so Akira hadn't given all the details,' Tanya thought as she would imagine that conversation would have been hard enough, but trying to explain to your friends that you have supernatural powers after you're almost eaten by a monster that was probably there to eat you because you have supernatural powers is a bit of a hard thing to do.
Nodding her head Tanya said, "In a roundabout way yes though there's some slight differences. She's less a member of our supernatural warriors and more of an uncounted acquirer of power that we tend to look down on as someone who should not be using their powers."
"If they're able to help fight these hollows shouldn't you want to train them so they can defend themselves?" she said, annoying Tanya to some extent.
"Again in a roundabout way, yes. That's actually my official stance though the official governmental stance is no it would prefer them to not be involved at all and to just not get involved. There's a lot of things in the world that are complicated and we just don't want them possibly making the situation even more complicated."
"So she shouldn't have used her powers, is that what you're saying?"
"Yes," Tanya said before continuing. Using her powers puts her at risk of annoying those in charge which was why I had to put out a little extra energy to save you just to cover up her mess. Unfortunately that's why you now have the sight now."
"Ow… okay alright I understand everything up to this point but I have one more question. What does this have to do with Ichigo?"
"I'm unfamiliar with this person you're speaking about," Tanya said, keeping a calm face. Screwing over Ichigo did not really make any sense to her. Training him so he can defend himself? Sure, fine, it'll help her save Rukia. Making it so his normal everyday life was complicated by people knowing his secret? Well that's kind of an asshole move and it would be better to not expose his current problems as best as possible. At the bare minimum she would do him that favor.
"I don't believe you," Tatsuki said, still looking down at Tanya. "Me and Orihime both remember seeing him in the exact same uniform as you were wearing hours ago. now there's a possible coincidence here but then there's just the insanity of the things that have been going around for the past few months so try again."
Tanya shrugged and said, "I'm unaware of this Ichigo person, although if I was, why would I spill information that's probably secret to them and they don't want you to know about it? It seems to me if you have a question for Ichigo you should be asking Ichigo."
At the bare minimum redirecting her ire to Ichigo would do something although that statement did not seem to make her happy. Instead she said, "I can kick you out."
"Really? After you just went out of the way to help get me in here with your parents you'd have to explain to them why you kicked me out. That's a hard thing to pull off. I think your parents would not be happy about that and probably would never let you have another person stay over here again. It would be better to at least wait till morning and then say something came up and I now have another apartment to stay in that wouldn't bug your parents."
"Hmm alright, point, fine so since you're not going to tell me what I want to know about Ichigo, how about you tell me this then. Is being involved in the spiritual world dangerous?"
"Very dangerous," Tanya said matter of factly. "Without proper training you could end up dead or worse."
"Do I want to know what worse is?"
"Remember that creature that you saw probably for the briefest of moments? The one that was trying to eat you? That's worse."
"…" Tatsuki blinked before saying, "Are you saying that you can be eaten by them is worse or that a person can be turned into one of those?"
"All of the above."
"Okay and let's say Ichigo is involved in this. How much trouble would he be involved in? How dangerous a situation is he in?"
Tanya shrugged before saying, "Not as much as you think assuming he's getting training. If he's getting involved in this world and assuming they're going to work out a way to undo the whole mess he's involved in it's only a matter of time for it all to be cleared up."
"Hmm I still have a lot of questions," she said, taking a seat across from Tanya in a chair.
"And I'm willing to answer some of them as long as they don't break a line that I can't tell you about."
"That makes this conversation overly complicated don't you think?"
"I don't make the rules, I just follow them."
"Okay and what exactly is the rule? What is the overarching rule you are supposed to follow?"
Tanya shrugged before saying, "It's a very similar rule to the one when it comes to Akira, non-spiritual aware people are not supposed to be aware of the Spirit World and its dealings. That's the rule. Soul reapers are meant to handle hollows, the living are meant to live their lives."
Tanya realized she'd screwed up the moment she saw Tatsuki sit up in her chair.
"Just gave me a couple words there. Soul reaper… so is that the profession or something else?"
Tanya made an annoyed noise before saying, "The title and the profession for those who handle the spiritual world are soul reapers, they are meant to keep the living away from the problems of the dead."
"And what Ichigo is is a soul reaper now."
"Hmm I already said I'm not going to delve into other people's lives on this matter."
"Okay so you won't go into personal information. How about this then can a normal human gain the powers of a soul reaper?"
Hmmm this girl was quick on the uptake and was quickly finding ways to get information out of her without exactly breaking the limits she set which she kind of respected to some extent. Creative conversations to avoid the actual conversation was a neat way to hold a conversation and she was more than willing to contribute to this.
"Yes though it is a practice that is not recommended, only used in an emergency, and is only supposed to ever be temporary."
"Okay so I assume temporary is not a problem. What happens if it's permanent?"
"It's a problem that should not be a thing. Imagine a child holding an AK-47. It's a lot of power to give a child yes they can use it but they can cause a lot more damage than intended. And the one who gave the child an AK-47 is often held responsible for the acts of the child so not the greatest situation to be found in."
Tatsuki nodded her head and said, "Let me see if I understand the situation then, if someone accidentally got permanent soul reaper powers who's alive this is a problem for whatever governmental body you represent and could be dangerous for this person."
"Yes exactly."
"If, say, a friend of mine was to get powers and was in trouble, is there any way I could get powers to help them?"
Tanya stared at the girl with a level of an annoyance she didn't know she could feel. "I swear your generation is full of idiots. Technically yes, though that just means more people in the problem and we should simply be focusing on getting the situation back to pre accidental powers given out as that is safer for everyone."
"Right and how would someone go about getting these powers?"
"Well it's quite simple, let a soul reaper shove their sword through your chest while they're doing a ritual. Of course it would be best to have someone you actually trust not to actually just stab you through the chest and kill you when you do this so not the wisest way to get powers if you ask me," Tanya said in order to try to scare the girl off of these questions.
As much as she wanted to help they didn't need her help and they didn't need her causing more of a mess so better to just scare her off before something terrible and stupid happened.
"Gnarly," Tatsuki said, holding her chest just about her heart. "Yeah, that's not exactly a great way to get powers."
"No and it's not even a sure way to get it permanently, remember that ritual is supposed to grant temporary powers. Permanence requires quite a bit of… let's call it spiritual presence already for it to hold and latch on to," Tanya said, trying to make it clear that this was a bad plan and she should stop thinking about it now and forevermore.
"So what happens to the soul reaper when they give up their powers?"
"Normally when this happens they are severely injured already so they are recuperating. Only are we now finding out that they can be reduced in power quite a bit when given to someone who can take it on permanently and need time to recover."
There was a look in Tatsuki's eye before she said, "Rukia is a soul reaper isn't she? She showed up just around the same time this craziness started and hangs out with each of you all the time even though we've never met her before in our lives?"
'Damn it,' Tanya mentally moaned before saying, "Again personal information I cannot give out."
Tatsuki let out a deep breath and seemed to deflate into the chair a bit before continuing. "So you're saying that this is business I should not be involved in. None of us should be involved in and to just stay out of it even though I'm offering you my home to stay for… how many days are you looking to stay here anyways?"
"I leave on Sunday," Tanya said before continuing, "and as for your other statements, yes you should not get involved in this. Just live your life as a normal human and hope all goes by without issue. If anything I would try not to even ask Ichigo about all this mess. He's got enough on his plate to worry about. Better to support him as a normal friend than to be supporting him in this craziness as he needs some normalcy right now."
"Fine I will try to leave this be for now, but if you want to stay through Friday, Saturday and some of Sunday, you need to do one thing for me."
"I'm listening," Tanya said leaning back on the couch.
"You need to have lunch with me and the other girls and try and explain this to them as well."
"By other girls, do you mean Orihime and Akari?" Tanya attempted to clarify.
"Yep."
"One of those girls is well aware of this information for the most part I would think."
"Good. She can tell me if you're lying or not."
"Ah. Good thinking. Well I guess we could have some sort of lunch tomorrow though I do have a pretty busy schedule. I have a meeting I need to attend as well as a surprise I need to deliver if you're willing to humor my schedule. I guess I could meet you later in the day though it may even be an evening meal."
"I'm willing. I want to know what this is all about. They want to know what this is all about and we want some clarification."
Well that's perfectly all right. Granted Tanya would just keep track of everyone she was being forced to tell information to and give this list to Urahara. She assumed he had some way of cleaning this up that would leave the girls with no memory of this whole conversation, but if not well she would give out as little information as possible.
"Okay that's good because hopefully they can have some answers to some questions that I can't even figure out at this moment," Tatsuki said, rubbing forehead before asking a question Tanya hadn't actually been prepared for.
"So wait, if the spirit world is supposed to only be handled by spirits how do you have a physical body now?"
"Well it's not a coma victim if that's what you're thinking. It's an artificial construct, designed to look like my spirit body so I can interact with the World of the Living."
"Which explains Rukia," Tatsuki said pointing her finger at her.
"Hmm, you know if you're so sure that Rukia is somehow involved in this you could invite her to the conversation tomorrow though I would advise against it."
"Oh and why would that be?"
"Well someone has to keep an eye on the town and make sure that more of those hollows don't eat anyone and I'm going to be busy talking to you. That means she and her current partner will have to do the job if of course she is as you suspect."
"Ahhh," Tatsuki drawlled as she rubbed the back of her head in annoyance as she seemed to come to the realization that I meant that would be more work for Ichigo since Rukia would not be there to advise him.
"Okay just you, me, Orihime and Akira, those are the only participants in the conversation."
"Excellent," Tanya said. "Now if that whole mess is over I think I need to figure out how I'm going to sleep tonight." She started to turn towards the couch to figure that out before she stopped and had a thought. Turning back to Tatsuki who was starting to stand up she said, "Also I'll need a phone book."
"Why do you need a phone book?" Tatsuki asked, confused.
"I have a meeting with someone who I need to track down and though I think I know where they are I need to make sure of it. The phone book will help me confirm it. It'll only be an hour long trip I think. So I should be back in time for our conversation."
Tatsuki shrugged before saying, "Alright," walking out of the room to find their phone book. Now that she was out of the room though Tanya remembered her other plan to write down some information about possible investment advice for the little artificial soul candy and got to work jotting that down quickly.
The world is simple, follow the rules and you will have a good life. That was a simple way to understand it and that was a simple way to work within its understanding and his understanding of the rules was capitalism ruled. The key to having a full and fulfilling life was to find yourself a comfortable position in any corporate setting doing whatever job necessary to maintain your position and make sure that you and maybe your family will have a good life.
This was something Tenya had understood from a young age ever since he'd read about the Chicago School of Economics. Oh he did refine it over the years and learned more the general principle was good for all the rules get yourself a good position and have a good life. And for the last 18 years that's what he had done. And today looked like any other. He was working himself down to the bone to make sure he was going to get good grades and be ready to move on with his life. Secure that prime position that would make sure that his future would be well taken care of no matter what he would have to do to do it.
Currently he was waiting for a letter from a university he had sent out his information to that would put him in the direction of getting the proper college education needed and from there he was about networking finding the job that would get him the life of a businessman.
A position that couldn't come any sooner, he was having to share an apartment here in the outskirts of Tokyo with a bunch of, well not as driven individuals as himself. They were always trying to drag him out to one party or another. He went once or twice but it wasn't really something he did and though some of them were old friends it was apparent that their destinies were probably not going to be going to the same place.
While he was studying they were playing and while they were drinking he was studying. He would achieve his dreams if he worked hard enough and they seem to take things a little too lackadaisical in his opinion.
A flaw that would probably harm their career prospects in the future, one that's disturbed him in some way. How could someone risk their career, their life, and their schools for a little bit of pleasure and fun now? Better to save up for your retirement and enjoy it in your elder years than to waste time now as your time now was precious and limited. You're only going to be at your peak condition for whatever job you want to do for a short time in this world. It's better to use that condition to secure your later years.
At least that was his opinion. He tried explaining that once or twice to his roommates and they'd give him the look of someone who was insane so he'd stop trying to explain it to them and just enjoyed a drink once or twice but soon he would be on his way to a future that would be better than hanging out and drinking with a bunch of hooligans.
His thoughts were interrupted as Arashiro knocked on the door.
"Hey Tenya, there's someone here to see you. They said they have an important message from one of your colleges."
'And thus begins my journey,' he thought standing up while saying, "Thank you Arashiro . I'll go see about this." With that said he walked into the very small hallway and down the way to the front door of the dorm area and pushed it open. There were many things he was expecting to see; his mailman, perhaps an actual college official here to give him the paperwork or maybe he was being pranked with empty hallway.
A blonde American girl standing in the hallway in a uniform that was a bit tight on her and appeared to be about a year younger than him was not one of his things that he had expected to see. At all.
The fact that she was younger was the only reason he didn't turn around to ask why they had brought a stripper to his apartment.
"Tenya Hakuseki," the girl said and in rather flawless Japanese taking him aback but he decided that he must be missing something.
Clearing his throat and trying not to look at the rather large and imposing front weights on the young and rather short girl he said, "Yes that would be me."
"What are your thoughts on the Chicago School of Economics?"
A strange question but one he had no problem answering. "One of the greatest institutions ever created by man."
"That's what I thought," the girl said, shaking her head before kneeing him in the balls.
One moment he was standing, the next moment he was holding on to the edge of the door as he slid down confused and in pain.
Clearing their throat the girl said, "In 2013 your boss is going to tell you to watch your back after firing a druggie. Do it. Do not underestimate the capacity for humans' need for revenge or for directing hatred at themselves and others. It'll save your life, Tenya."
And with that the short girl who was now standing over him menacing turned and walked away leaving the poor Tenya to nurse a pain that would not easily go away as well as endure the laughter of his two roommates as they asked what he had said to that girl.
What had just happened was the only question he had though the girl had just prophesied something, possibly a very fatal something which shouldn't be possible. Was this just some random act of a crazy woman or something more? Shaking his head he slowly pulled himself up and said, "I didn't say anything, just some crazy girl I think."
Arashiro slapped his shoulder and said, "Yeah well a crazy hot girl like that is going to be just that: a little bit crazy. Shouldn't have tried to proposition her Tenya." Well that he could agree too that the girl was rather hot, and though he was in pain he had no trouble watching her leave in her short skirt.
"That was a bit harsh don't you think Tanya?" Tasha said with a bemused tone sounding like she was floating over her shoulder again.
"Harsh but necessary. I probably just saved his life," Tanya said watching the street lights waiting for a cross so she could get to the bus stop that would take her back to the train station that would take her back to her official place of work.
"Yeah you also probably robbed him of children."
"Doubtful. I didn't hit him that hard."
"Yeah sure for a soul reaper you didn't hit him that hard but he's not a soul reaper. You probably just blue balled him into permanent abstinence."
Tanya shook her head before saying, "Have you not felt a bit weaker since getting in this body? Obviously when we're inside it we're running on human standards, which is a bit annoying but understandable. Can't have people running around with superhuman abilities that could be arrested. Better to set a limiter on the body."
"Oh yeah I have been kind of feeling a bit less bloodthirsty from you. That would explain it. That also explains why you attacked. You're feeling a bit cramped, not able to let out all your aggression."
"Hmm that's a bit much, I simply wanted to make sure that he would remember and pain is a good way to remember something. In 12 years when he is told by his boss to watch his back he'll probably have a flashback to this moment, feel a phantom ache, and do exactly that."
"Hmm, although I thought you said you weren't going to do it since it didn't actually affect your life."
"True but then again if I can spare my alternate self from the fate that I lived, even if it wouldn't be as drastic as being sent to another world to fight in an alternate World War 1 I think that's a good thing. At bare minimum he will have a chance to work his life out now and if he somehow does not follow my advice I have not exactly lost anything."
"Ahh so if doesn't listen to you you've lost nothing and if he does listen to you you have a soul brother who you can basically watch over and see how his life ends up going."
Tanya shook her head saying, "I wouldn't put it that way, but you're not exactly wrong either. In a way he would be considered my brother and if I've set my brother on a better path than the one he would have ended up on then that's good for everyone I think."
"Still don't you think physical assault was a bit much? That's not really the most convincing. And why did it feel like you were really annoyed when you saw your own old face again? Was this perhaps a bit of self-hatred? After all it was that old mindset, the one he so proudly displayed, that got your life ruined in the first place."
"Quiet you. We have other missions," Tanya said, tuning her out, not wanting to discuss her crazy theories about what may or may not be true about it and Tanya's internal mental struggles with her identity and what was her existence.
Isshin smiled faintly as he looked up at the portrait of his dearly departed wife thinking of better days and wishing she was still around to help with things. He had been separated from the spiritual world for a long time and had tried to raise his kids well while staying separated from it for as long as possible though he had to admit something was going on.
He didn't know what exactly yet. Urahara always kept his secrets. It wasn't very helpful and he only felt like sharing them when he did but he knew something was up. Sure he couldn't see hollows anymore so he couldn't fight them but he would like to know if there was some sort of issue going on. After all, even without seeing hollows he had to deal with some of their victims. He had several people come in over the last few months with wounds that were obvious given by hollows which had him suspect that things were getting a bit tumultuous in the spiritual world and the fact that he had to have half his house rebuilt tended to mean that something else had gone on while he was out cold a few months ago. He was wondering if he should probably push harder on it but so far nothing had made its way to his family as far as he knew. Well he was suspicious about that Rukia girl. Her last name was rather distinctive as even if you've never seen her before he heard the name quite a bit while he was an officer in the Gotei 13.
Perhaps they were a coincidence but well when the devil wants to get you and the people you have made connections with you tend to start thinking about coincidences the same way you think about nuclear bombs. They're both something you don't want near you.
That being said he did note that Ichigo seemed to be in better spirits than he'd been in a while and was getting better at defending himself, so perhaps what was going on would not be so bad in the long term. If he could defend himself he could defend his sisters and that was what's important.
He also finally seemed to not be so held up in his head every time around this year even after they'd return from seeing his mother's grave he would be rather down but this week he'd been, well, Ichigo. Almost like he'd made peace with what had happened all those years ago finally. That was a good thing. Dwelling too much on the past was not good. It was certainly sad but he needed to look forward towards the future, that is what his mother would have wanted.
Perhaps he should talk to Urahara and see if he knew anything about what was going on to find out if perhaps there was something that was threatening his family he should know about.
He's probably not getting answers out of the man but if he at least made an effort maybe he'd get something out of him but then he would need to have a day where he wasn't busy dealing with people who are coming in for a checkups and dealing with minor injuries.
Today had promised to be another one of those days, he'd already had to deal with one guy who'd screwed up and crashed his motorcycle into a wooden fence. He'd be fine though and he told him to stay around for a bit considering he may have a concussion and was stupid enough not to wear a helmet while driving.
Let him recover here before letting him leave otherwise he might crash his motorcycle again and this time not step away with minor injuries.
People were coming in with summer illnesses including one person who is obviously having an allergy attack who he'd sat down and got them the right kind of medication. And he would be busy pretty much all day taking care of anyone else who stepped in with even the most minor things. Isshin really didn't have much time to investigate what was going on with Rukia when he really thought about it.
Hopefully it would turn out to be nothing. The spiritual world would calm down and he wouldn't have to worry about any more kids could go on with having a normal life and everything would be fine.
His moment of thought was interrupted by daughter acting as a nurse coming into his office and saying, "Dad there's a young woman here who has a bad arm injury. I think you need to take a look at this."
Nodding he got up from his chair cracked his back. "Alright let's see this young woman and send her on her way to school. After all, I assume she's school age right? She should probably be in there."
Yuzu nodded and said, "Right. She looks to be about Ichi-nii's age I think."
"Huh, alright," he said, taking the chart Yuzu handed him. Walking into the main area of the clinic he looked around each of the four beds before finding one occupied by who he assumed was his patient. She was currently laying down while watching the television he had installed not long ago. He put on his best face and walked over to examine her.
He pushed the curtain to the side and said, "Hello how are you doing miss-" he looked down at the chart and stopped. As he went to look at the name and was left a bit confused. Was it pronounced digger job, daratroph? He wasn't exactly sure so he said, "Miss degurechaff as he read the chart.
Degurechaff sounded oddly familiar. Looking over the chart his eyes stopped at the rather hefty bosom of the younger woman before going back down to look over more medical information. "Is that Russian?" he asked, trying to clarify that information.
"German," she said again, having a voice that sounded very familiar. Finally he stopped looking at the chart and looked up at the girl's face and froze. He hadn't noticed it at first because his eyes had stopped at the generous bosom but now he did the blonde hair, the blue eyes, the strikingly sharp features, that was Tanya… the girl his old second lieutenant had brought into the division all those years ago. She was sitting there holding a bandage over her arm and looking none the worse for wear.
Hell last time he'd seen her she had been half the girl she was now though she hadn't gone up much by height at least.
Had she died between the time he'd met her and this was a reincarnation of her or was this actually Tanya here to investigate him? Well check that. The fact that there wasn't a team of soul reapers bursting down his front door to arrest him probably was a cue that this was not an investigation of him per se or at least if it was she had no confidence that he was who she thought he was.
Best to play it smooth. "Looks like you got yourself a bad injury there," he said, moving closer to inspect the wound. She moved her hand out of the way revealing a cut. 'A rather straight cut almost self-inflicted, not too deep and wouldn't leave a lasting scar,' he estimated.
"What happened here: he asked, leaning over to get a better look.
"Slipped falling out of a bus. Wasn't used to the new heels on my shoes."
'Likely story,' he thought but he simply nodded his head sagely and said, "Yeah those buses can be a bit of a pain if you aren't careful." Taking a seat in a rolling chair he pulled out the bandages and got to work first cleaning the wound before making sure he wouldn't need to stitch it and then bandaging it up carefully pretending not to know who this girl was as she apparently pretended not to be what he knew her to be or perhaps she wasn't what he thought her to be. Either way he should treat her as a stranger.
"Well that is done," he said. "That should cover it. I see you're wearing a Karakura high school uniform. My son goes there. Do you know him?"
"Yes I'm familiar with Ichigo, that's why I thought about this place first instead of the hospital I knew it was closer."
"Haha wonderful! It's always good to have a little bit of self-advertisement out there so that people know where to go for help," he said with an amused smile.
"Well unless you have any other injuries or questions I think you're good to go."
The girl nodded and stood up saying, "Thank you for the help."
"No worries in fact since you're a classmate of my son, tell Yuzu that this is on the house, your first one at least. Next injury you're definitely going to have to pay."
The girl chuckled in a rather musical tone before saying, "Thank you Isshin," as she bowed to me before leaving him there a bit stumped.
Looking down he confirmed his name was not on his shirt. Now there was the possibility she just seen the name somewhere within the building and there was a possibility that she'd learned it from Ichigo but there was also a very dangerous possibility and perhaps he should talk to Urahara find out what the hell's going on and why that young reaper is poking around his medical center."
Writers note: oh hey were still here… and were moving forward! Ah what happen this chapter, tanya got a body, ment some people, took out some self harm on her past self, and and ichigo dad getting clue something up…. All quite minor changes to time line when you think about it…
Edited by: Coltsguy, Patrick Ford, Guardsman Pius, Parker McClane
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Review
Mernom: they did i believe whole situation was bit confused
setokayba2n: febuary not bad could be worst, as for hallow king could get on the radar now
King of Fans: yeah chapter 9 was solid peaince of work i thing
Bashleyz: thank ya
Eedura: one of them is... runt and this one are hopfllly going to start trading off for while
4dolf Uchiha : are you high?... oh way your communist... how elses could you thingk tanya is nazi
williamcll: i beeen told to manny.
StarBoundDisaster: some where good i hope
slydino: here you go
onuremin09: here you go!
Blaze1992: can still happen yeah peaple really wanted that but staff i was working at the time made good arguments why i should not do gun... besides pull arm spell slinger is cooler
ksfb17: and there you go... your lucky your PM when you did this came out on sapce battles a few days ago, and i was just wating to if got any edites it did not and since your reminded this late migth as well drop