Author's acknowledgment: to a growing concern amongst the viewers.
Hi, Blackout2010 here to answer a noted concern amongst the masses of FF in regards to my story. First off, I'll come straight out and say this story is by no means abandoned nor do I plan I abandoning it (I mean who the hell writes a story only to want to abandon it intentionally later, that's kind of lame but I'm getting off track)
If I were to come to start screeching halt in production, I just go back to editing my work to try and jump start again, failing that I would release a chapter and use the responses and reviews to get started up again. {I mean if I'm gonna abandon it I should at least submit the stuff I've already done.}
Now for updates, while a few already know of my…circumstances, I'm just going to put this out there for everyone out there who I haven't spoken too. I will soon come into a change of…occupation (hopefully) which will inhibit my work speed, so you may not see anything from this story for a while (but again it goes back to the paragraph above). So I ask for your patience on that and with me. Thank-you, now: unto the prefic banter.
Blackout2010: Greetings (again I suppose). Welcome to latest installment in this…drama?
Ichigo: Stop stalling and answer the question that's on a good number of people's mind. Who's the new 'Substitute' Shinigami?
Blackout2010: Well…how about we make this a little for the reader. How about you [the reader] think of who the new Substitute would be, and then after if you choose to leave a review, let me know who you thought the person would be.
Ichigo: Isn't that a little vague? I mean it's not an OC is it, cause that would be really sadistic…
Blackout2010: No, no. It's an actually character created by Tite Kubo and…here's a hint you've met the person Ichigo...well I suppose not in the fic least, but…hmm that leads to a paradox…you know what never mind I said anything!
Ichigo: (gee, real helpful)
Blackout2010: Now then take a moment to think about your choice
{Insert moment to ponder}
Blackout2010: Ok, now go ahead and read, and good guessing people.
Ch. 10 Perfect…
Ichigo got up the next morning early to get a quick last remember me bite to eat, and hurried over to the meeting ground so that he and his new partner, Rukia Kuchiki, could do their assigned tour of duty in, to his amazement at the statistical oddity of it occurring again, Karakura town. Ichigo had grabbed the usual quick apple and toast combination, as he zoomed through the cafeteria to be prompt and provide a good example for what a true Shinigami was supposed to be like for the newbie.
His mind having mentally figured out that since he was still retaining his fourth seat position and still going to Karakura meant the lack of danger was probably accredited to his partner and her last name. However he resisted the urge to make any prejudice judgments about the Kuchiki since he knew first hand that not all nobles we're spoiled brats like Omeada-baka, especially after his little visit to the Fon family the previous day.
While it couldn't be noticed by his business like face as Ichigo was going through the hallways, he was actually a feeling myriad of emotion. He was a bit sad at the fact that he'd be alone this time around with no friends to be had if this Rukia person didn't like him, excited to be back out on the battlefields again, and strangely happy for what did and almost had happened last night with Shaolin.
'I don't see what you're so fucking happy for. You were one step away. This fucking close and she'd have been yours forever but NOOO, you had to be Mr. goody-two shoes. I'm telling you king, I've been with you since day one and occasionally love you like a brother, but I SWEAR I will kick YOUR ass if you don't tap HER ass next time!'
Hichigo snapped, still reeling that any straight man would willing cock-block himself, for another. It was so inconceivable to him that it nearly blew his mind and the worse part about it was that if he tried to influence him, the woman would get suspicious about his drastic change in behavior and try to kill him.
'Oh get over yourself. You're just as bad if not worse than Omeada, at times.' Ichigo pointed out in distaste to the depraved creature that roamed his inner world unhinged, as he left the second division barracks and entered the labyrinth road ways of Seireitei's inner sanctum
'Don't you DARE compare me with that punk ass bitch!' Hichigo screamed out, burning with anger at the mere insidiation that Ichigo was making that the two of them were even remotely in the same league as each other 'I might be a lot of things King! A lot of shit but last I checked FAT and USELESS definitely wasn't on that goddamn list!'
Ichigo rolled his eyes at the monster's means of justification. 'Look. Just set it to the side for now. Besides we gotta focus on killing some hollows and staying alive first before we can get back to Shaolin' the teen stated playing on the hollow's basic impulses and hobbies, all of which included death of someone or something
Dark Zangetsu scoffed 'Yeah right, us dying is about as likely as Hanataro beating Shinjiro in a Zanjutsu duel to the death! Still I suppose it's been a while since I got to make something worth killing bleed, and I do miss the feeling.' The hollow mused elatedly at the end with the prospect of death and carnage as it started cracking it's knuckles and popping it's shoulder to loosen up the muscles, ready to go back to the grind stone that doubled at making tomb stones for his next victim
Ichigo sighed in vexation at how easily the creature diverted it's attention, like a cat suddenly jumping at a beam of light on the ground thinking it caught it till it sees another solar ray 'Are you really part of Zangetsu? Or are you just making this shit up as you go?' he obligatorily asked feeling like he had insulted the older wiser Zangetsu inadvertently, who was no doubt watching passively the constant arguments, conversations and dealings between himself and his own dark side.
The doppelganger looked thoughtful for the briefest of seconds as if it wanted to answer the question, but then smirked smugly inside of Ichigo's mind and decided to not even bother answering his question, since if he couldn't figure it out by now he'd probably get it in time. Ichigo was about to ask again, since the usually chatty but blood thirsty hollow remained quiet on his end which was both a cause of relief and great concern, when someone walked into him as he veered around another corner in the maze-like Seireitei on route to the meeting grounds.
"Ohh, sorry about that pal." The silver haired man that walked into Ichigo replied, his eye lids opening about halfway to reveal his crimson red orbs in a threatening and condescending way "I hope I didn't hurt you." He added his grin growing wider, knowing things were about to get real interesting now that he encountered his target and finished his task.
Ichigo felt a little creeped out by the guy, and the way he spoke sounded very insincere border lining sarcastic. The junior officer had to actually clench his fist to physically resist the urge to shudder being around one of his superiors. The only other person to actually get this kind of reaction out of him was back when Shaolin had threatened to kill him on numerous occasions during the first few months in squad two before getting appointed the nickname 'Sloppy Kurosaki' by the at the time ticked off uptight woman.
"It's alright Taicho. I'm ok, now if you'll please excuse me, I need to get going." He wisely ended the conversation quickly as he walked around the guy to get away from this uneasy feeling he was receiving from the Taicho, and return to his soon to be started mission.
As Ichigo's body started to fade further and further into the distance, the silver haired Taicho turned around in the direction the man went and with his eyes still open, let his very wide grin break even further across his face, making him look like an image of a laughing demon "Heh. Bye-bye Kurosaki." He said in a innocent child-like voice before letting out a dangerous almost possessed chuckle, in his hand the Senkaimon creation device and Soul pager he had 'relieved' the unsuspecting man of, knowing that by the time he realized it, everything would be far too late to stop anything. 'Guess, I should report in for the next phase. Guess things are final going to liven up around here!'
(Ichigo)
Entering the meeting grounds where he and Rukia would meet he saw the open Senkaimon door guarded by a Shinigami with a spear. "Hey, it's me Ichigo Kurosaki, scheduled to use this gate alongside Rukia Kuchiki." He told the guard and took a quick gander around the area hoping to spot her "Speaking of which you haven't seen her have you? She was supposed to be here by now." He asked, only knowing it was a girl, because he had heard the name be called at the S.W.A meeting that one time he went
"Oh, so you're the guy." The guard said aloud, having confirmed that this was definitely the guy who was supposed to be here after taking a look at the scheduling mandate he had and seeing his name next to hers for this location "Well you're late Kurosaki-san. She already went on ahead."
The swordsman was a taken aback and thrown for a loop both at his partner having gone ahead without him, and that he was late for his mission that Shaolin was counting on him to accomplish. He looked at the clock on the nearby wall and it said 7:00 am, the time they were supposed to meet up with each other, which bewildered the man even further. "I'm not late. We were supposed to be here at seven on the money." The male Kurosaki contested over the odd occurrence
Now it was the guards turn to be confused "Really? Because she arrived an hour earlier, saying that you had to leave by six am sharp. She waited on standby for about ten extra minutes and when you didn't show she went on ahead, asking me to keep it open till you decided to show up. I guess there was a mix-up somewhere." The guard then shrugged it off casually since it wasn't entirely his problem "Then again you both are from different squads are you not? I guess it happens from time to time. Nobody's perfect."
The experienced reaper verbally cursed his luck that someone, screwed up such a thing but let it go since he, Rukia and the mission would hopefully still be fine. The only real problem would be the time zone difference between Soul Society and Karakura, which would affect his body from the jump in spiritual planes. "Fine. Whatever." He muttered out grumpily to himself
He then pulled his Hakama's collar down a bit and placed his index and middle fingers against the outline of a small flower on his skin. "Ichigo Kurosaki, limiter on." The flower lit up brightly for a moment and then when the light faded the flower turned a dark black, symbolizing it current in usage
Biding the guardsman farewell, the soul reaper entered through the Senkaimon gate, and hurried to the other side, back to the quiet trainee area. After jogging for a few minutes, he saw the light at the end of the tunnel which caused Ichigo to quicken his pace, a giant grin exploding on his face as he returned back to Karakura town.
As soon as Ichigo flew out with the door promptly closing behind him it's purpose served, he instantly realized two things. One: that it was nighttime, as the stars lit the clear sky overhead while the man made lights tried to compete eager to not be out done by nature, and two: He was floating hundreds of feet in the air, and since he wasn't expecting such unsteadygrounding he wasn't using his reiatsu to keep him airborne…which meant
"OH SHIIIIIIT!" he screamed, while plummeting straight to the ground at break neck speed, doing his best to focus his reiatsu before he became a strawberry jam splattered across the smoothly paved tarred main street of the unsuspecting town.
As his reiatsu reached sufficient enough power he messily flash stepped over to a nearby convenience store roof top mid free fall just barely making it in time as his body collided with the roof ground, in pain but very much alive. "(Pant) (Pant) You'd think I would have learned my lesson of falling off buildings. (Groan)" he said bitterly to Hichigo
'You make it sound like it's my fault.' Hollow Zangetsu shouted ready to defend himself once again from more false accusations and slander, after all if he was to be known for his infamy it should at least be accurate 'This incident was because some dick wad doesn't know the first thing about the proper fucking placement of entranceways, and that Incident inside here!' throwing it's arm around the surrounding infrastructure of the inner world, to help the man recall the memory better 'happened because your dumbass decided to open a window and step out before you had FULL access to your Shinigami powers or even an Asauchi with you, and if it wasn't for me grabbing hold of your ass and pulling you back into the building, we'd both be dead!'
"Whatever." the teen responded dryly, having difficulty believing the bastard was really keeping track of such things since he normally only cared about the here and now, and the living from the soon to be dead.
'Let's just get this over with. So find that Bitch who left you and kick her ass!' The creature barked out, still feeling edgy over how things had been going lately
'So friggin violent all the time, I wonder how I haven't lost it yet.' He silently wondered as he closed his eyes and opened up his senses to possibly feel or detect any nearby Shinigami, which would hopefully be his partner or a clue to her whereabouts. His eyes snapped open when he detected four spiritual signatures, three clustered together a moderate distance away and the one faraway almost isolated near the west side of town, it was definitely one hollow, a strange unknown one to Ichigo, and two Shinigami, but the second Shinigami signature was extremely faint. 'Someone's dying!' Ichigo concluded as he felt the signature begin to fade more, slowly getting weaker
In a blur of speed Ichigo, hurried over to the skirmish. He dodged through traffic jumping from car top to car top and hopped up skyward unto the power lines to get a better view of the surrounding area, when he sensed them again he leapt from the electric lines unto the buildings and started to jump from one building to another, chasing after the quickly retreating pair. Who were stabilizing their distance from the pursuing hollow, more than likely for the injured ones sake.
'Don't they teach healing kido anymore?' Ichigo wondered as he dropped down from the building since he was close and rounded past another corner way, trying to head off the fleeing pair. Not understanding why the Shinigami didn't even bother to heal the ally in his or her arms so they could re-engage the target, or radio in back up telling him their current position instead of having to chase them. Ichigo followed the road down till he was in a dark four way intersection, and came to a halt unsure which way to go, since their spiritual energies were coming at him from all the directions.
Doom. Doom. Doom.
"That way! Hurry!" a desperate voice yelled out to someone
"It's getting closer!" another fear filled voice, seemingly answered the first one
Hearing the sounds of apparently women's voices and the approaching steps of the hollow, Ichigo turned to the east and ran down the street, and grinned seeing two people, one being carried underneath the shoulder of the other, as she ran towards him with a giant fish faced hollow creature in hot pursuit of it's meal.
"I got this just keep moving Rukia!" he reassured pulling out Zangetsu as the pair flew by in their rushed escape barely acknowledging his command, not that they needed to be told what to do. The strange fish faced creature stopped it's chasing of the female Shinigami and looked at the death god with the colossal blade quickly seeing it as a new source of food lying in it's way. The dumb creature tilted it's head before roughly launching itself forward, it's gaping mouth open to take a chunk out of him.
Ichigo didn't even bat an eyelash at the creature, instead he brought Zangetsu around and caught the blade inside of the fish bone hollow jaws halting it's attack.
"Wow, your weak." Ichigo commented, extremely disappointed in the strength difference between this thing and Giant Devil or even Screamer. 'Then again it's the trainee area.'
"Graahhha!" the hollow roared in displeasure for having a blade stuck in it's mouth rather than the sweet Shinigami soul only inches away.
"You can't even talk either?" further disappointment filling the young man's voice, while the creature moved it's face a few inches closer to the man "(sigh) Oh well best do away with you and help out my Kohai before tearing her a new asshole."
Putting a bit of his enormous physical strength to good use, the strawberry hacked off the upper portion of fish bones head. The body dissolving into nothingness now that it's life had been extinguished
Seeing his work done, he turned back and ran in the direction of his partner ready to kick her ass for her stupidity. As he arrived on the scene, he saw a small collection of mantis type hollows being fended off by the female soul reaper. Without a moments hesitation Ichigo jumped in to give his assistance to the woman.
The female soul reaper's arms were shaking in apparent fear but she none the less willed her body forward and swung her kind of blunt Zanpaktou at a mantis striking it's head area, causing it to roar in both pain and annoyance at the feeble attack.
The mantis swung it's sharp scythe like claw knocking the blade away from it as it slashed at the girl who instinctively jumped back to avoid getting cut across her upper body. As she jumped back, she turned around hearing the roar of the strange creatures behind her and her eyes widened in surprise when she learned she was jumping into the waiting embrace of another mantis. The girl closed her eyes to at least mentally lessen the pain about to befall her.
However before impact could be made between the two, Ichigo swung his giant blade at the waiting hollow destroying it before it could thrash the newbie from behind. "Are you alright?" he questioned as he moved to position his back facing hers to prevent another back attack on either of them.
The now hyperventilating girl nodded her head as she took a step closer to the back of Ichigo. 'Great, she's practically immobilized…' Ichigo thought in worry seeing his partner, from over his shoulder, shaking hand. Taking his hand off his sword but remaining in his spot to not frighten the girl, he pointed his finger at another mantis "Hadou 4 Byakurai!" he yelled shooting a thin line of white lightning.
The girl seeing the bizarre move, decided to take the distraction the spell had on the monsters and swung her asauchi at the creature in front of her catching it off guard. The blade impacted the side of the monster causing it to stagger to the left from being struck in the neck.
"Go down!" the female Shinigami grunted out despite her increasing panic, pulling the blade back just enough and preformed the action again whacking it like a wood cutter trying to cut down a stubborn tree with a hatchet.
The second cut did the job as it sliced through the creature enough causing it to disappear and leave her blade's edge stranded in mid-air. The girl turned around and saw that her ally was busy dealing with the other creatures giving her a chance to breathe. Her previous exhaustion from running away and now being forced to fight catching up with her.
Ichigo swung his sword horizontally and bisected the remaining two hollows from the waist up. Seeing how all the threats had been successfully eliminated Ichigo took the time to look around and noted that the whole from earlier was still safe having got up and hide behind a telephone pole. The man let out a sigh of relief before he turned to his partner who was still panting up a storm from exhaustion.
"Hey you alright?" he asked. The woman swallowed the lump in her throat as she stepped into the streetlight so she could better see her savior.
The girl was light skinned and had golden brown eyes, and dark purple hair with a small red ribbon in it to tie the back up in a spike. Her Shinigami uniform was pristine with no added attachments whatsoever. Clutched in her hand was as a long but narrow katana that might have served better at bashing someone on top of the head rather than cutting them apart.
"I-I'm fine now. T-T-Thank-you." She stuttered out, unable to believe what just happened to her
"Good." He said crossing his arms methodically, the calm before the vastly approaching storm "NOW WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING GOING OFF ALL ALONE LIKE THAT! YOU ALMOST GOT YOU AND THAT WHOLE OVER THERE KILLED! TELL ME WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!"
The girl took a step back as she didn't expect him to suddenly go off the deep end on a total stranger, she would have sworn he'd have flipped a table if one was present "Who the hell do you think you're talking to buddy!" the girl snarled out, not happy at being yelled at after a life or death situation she honestly didn't expect on her way back from her last night school class "I'm thankful that you saved me, but you don't have to blow up on me! That was my first time seeing those…those things!" unable to describe what the creatures were despite their animal-like appearance, since they were either clearly not of that geographical origin and able to be that big and feral
"You've never seen a hollow before? And you're a Shinigami!" he asked clearly not seeing that one coming at all, since he remembered his senior hollow hunt in the outer edge of Rukongai, when he was fifteen 'Whose running Shino Academy to produce people like this!'
"I-I am?" the other Shinigami replied back genuinely confused 'D-did he say S-Shinigami…? Like the death gods from those old kiddy stories dad used to tell me about?'
"Hey stop ignoring me!" the woman in white yelled, chucking a rock at Ichigo, who clutched his head in pain from the impact the stone had against his skull.
Ichigo looked over at the soul, and saw a dark haired girl with a strange antenna like parting of hair going over the bridge of her nose and dark blue eyes, with an unhappy look on her face. The short woman had on a white kimono of perhaps a soul who just died in the bath, when all this started happened.
"Alright, I'll Konso you." He snapped, rubbing the sore spot on his head further cursing his string of bad luck so far. 'First the arrival time, a really hot-headed but pathetic partner, and now a rock to the head. What else does today have in store?'
"I don't need Konso, I need help!" the dark haired girl in the white kimono shouted, startling the boy that some random soul knew Shinigami only information.
"Wait, how do you know that?"
The girl puffed up that he still hadn't figured it out "Because I'M RUKIA KUCHIKI, your partner you ninny!"
Ichigo stared at the girl like she was crazy, before turning back to the other Shinigami, who nervously waved back after getting stared down by the man. Finally he couldn't take it anymore "Pffft. HAHAHAHA! Oi, that what you get for going it alone!" he ridiculed, since bad situations always came up when people tried to do things on their own all the time 'Heh, it seems my lucks improving already.'
The proud Kuchiki took a double take on what he did before she sneered at him venomously "Oh yeah well how about this Bakudo 1 Sai!" the pissed girl yelled her incantation, her hand aimed in a crisscross pattern at the hysterically laughing man.
Ichigo kept on laughing until he felt his limbs start to lock up at the joints while his muscles suddenly quit working. "Huh? Wha-uugh!" and then he fell down to the ground face first getting a rise from both girls. "Hey, let me go you midget!" he demanded, while said midget came over with a evil grin on her face and started drawing a creative image on his face
"There now we're even baka." She said smugly, to the now mouse looking man with the word baka written all over his forehead.
"Ahh, should I just leave?" the still unnamed girl said with her nervous smile, still standing there though wishing she wasn't more and more.
"Can someone please tell me what's going on!" the downed man yelled out as his body began to fluid reiatsu into his body to undo the binding spell he was caught in by Rukia 'I hate binding spells!'
"Fine. I'll explain." Said the white robbed Rukia, who sat down in front of him and pulled out a sketch pad from out of thin air "You see after I left since you didn't bother showing up-
"That because you were early!" he yelled out interrupting her recounting of the events that had transpired while Ichigo wasn't present
Bam! He got whacked in the head again this time by the notebook the girl had in her arms.
"as I was saying." She said when silence reigned again, continuing on as if she hadn't hit a defenseless man, much to the man's annoyance "I went on patrol around town all day by myself." She flipped the page and a super hero rabbit was standing on the top of a building looking over the city "eventually fish bone showed up, as I was preparing to return back to the Senkaimon." Flipping it again as a evil looking rabbit showed up confronting the super hero rabbit in the middle of the street
'God does her drawing suck.' The distraught teenage Shinigami mentally stated his opinion, on the verge of crying his eyes out at the horrible luck he'd been having so far
'Don't say anything otherwise your gonna get whacked again.' Hichigo suggested as he and the other Zangetsu were working out the last kinks in the spell to free the king 'Though, I still say if you had gotten 'Lucky' yesterday, this would never have happened.' The berserker commented using a lousy pun, which only further added to Ichigo's grief
"Unfortunately, a human was nearby the girl over there." Rukia pointed her finger to the still nameless woman, continuing unabridged since she couldn't hear the mental conversation inside her still trapped senior "so I tried to fight it off, however it took me by surprise by going after her and I was unfortunately too heavily wounded to continue fighting as I took the blow, so in order to ensure our survival I had to force transfer my powers to her. And so here we are now." She finished giving the report to her commanding officer on the status quo
Finally undoing the spell Ichigo pushed himself up from off the ground to stand again "So you screwed up?" He roughly summarized all of what she said into four simple words. A tick mark appeared on her head, for being taunted by this guy despite his personality being similar to her deceased friend, and she moved to hit him again when he caught her wrist mid swing. "Please don't do that, I was just joking." He then let her hand go, while Rukia pulled it back and rubbed the spot she was grabbed at
"Look, I'll fix this whole thing, I just gotta get out my Senkaimon unit and we'll be fine." He started to go through his uniform, wondering where he put the damn thing. When he couldn't find it he started to search and pat himself down harder and more hurriedly "Shit I don't have it!" Ichigo panicked, still feeling but not finding the very important piece of equipment
"Whhhattt!" Rukia yelled out in disbelief that he didn't have that of all things, since it was almost if not just as important as a Zanpaktou on a mission to the human world or anywhere outside the realm of Soul Society "How do you not have it!"
"Ahh…" stuttered Ichigo his pupils shifting back and forth on the bottom corners of his eyes as he tried to recall what had happened on his way here, he then remembered bumping into that creepy red eyed silver haired captain before leaving Soul Society 'Shit, I must have dropped it after walking into that guy!'
'No, that can't be it.' Dark Zangetsu disagreed, suspicion on his mind when thinking about that creepy feeling the silver haired man gave Ichigo 'If you had dropped it, you would have at least heard it bang against the concrete floor. Perhaps and I'm just throwing this out there, but maybe that guy stole it from you, after all being taught by the one of the best hakudo fighters in Soul Society only another Taicho could really have a chance at getting past your reflexes nowadays.'
Ichigo scowled at the implication Hichigo was referring to. Surely another Shinigami, a Taicho no less wouldn't resort to the common thievery of another's Senkaimon unit. Right?
"Tell me Rukia do you have one?" the strawberry asked automatically, trying to not jump to conclusion especially those kinds of conclusions since it was wrong to believe evil of other without proof.
"No, they told me that it would be given to the higher ranking Shinigami." She said in honesty, informing him of what was told to her by a messenger from the equipment depot branch of the R&D
'What the hell's going on? That's not normal. Usually both people have one for just this situation. Maybe Zangetsu is on to something.' Ichigo thought growing more worried about this strange line of behavior, first the arrival time and now no equipment, but pushed it to the side for now. Since someone needed to take charge of things to which he was the only candidate with human world experience "Alright. Nobody panic. We're temporarily stranded until back up arrives, which shouldn't be too long since my Senkaimon unit was also my communicator. So we'll just do our normal job until then."
"I don't have a communicator but I do have the hollow alert." The raven haired girl said, retrieving a cell phone looking device from her pocket that blipped on and gave the time of night and current position of the team
"Good, now we just need a place to -" he stopped speaking as he sensed a place with very powerful spiritual energies nearby, which were Shinigami like in nature "I think we just lucked out" A grin on his face at the incredible stroke of luck that they could be getting out of this jam as soon as they go into it
Ichigo quickly grabbed Rukia under his shoulder and the other girl's hand, and flash stepped as quickly as possible to the area he was sensing. When they arrived at the source, they were confused to see a traditional Japanese store, not a team of Shinigami having a meeting or preparing to leave back to Soul Society.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Rukia asked ignoring their 'friend' who was busy kneeling over a garbage can throwing up, her body unused to the movement of flash step especially from the extremely fast-paced movements of the Special Forces officer
"Only one way to find out." He answered as he walked over to the porch of the shop and lightly knocked on the door "Hey is anyone in there?"
The door opened just a crack and a dark skinned large heavily built man with a goatee, wearing glasses and an apron appeared with a fierce expression on his face "How may we help you tonight sir?" the man asked very nicely a stark contrast to his outward facial expression
Ichigo moved sideways and pointed at Rukia lazily "Yeah, my friend over there is hurt and needs some assistance."
"I understand bring her in while I go get the manager." He said gruffly fully opening the shop door before returning back into the building, searching out for it's owner to inform him of the 'guests'
Seeing that they were allowed entrance, Ichigo walked back to Rukia and helped her to her feet so they could continue on, while the other girl watched them cautiously and after mentally weighing things and wiping her mouth with the sleeve of the black get up she had on followed them into the store after they had entered. As they entered the building they saw some strange arrow like design on the floor that pointed to another arrow just a few feet away. With a shrug at the strange décor tastes the group followed the signs until they ended up in a small well lit circular room, with the guy from earlier, sitting next to a new man at a table.
The other man was a blond haired guy with a strange hat on his head that had bucket feel to it with a white and black pattern in it, he also had a black coat thrown over the shoulders of his green attire that ended in a pair of sandals, in his hand was a cane of some kind.
"Ah, welcome to my humble shop Shinigami! How can I help you today?" the blond manager said with a million dollar smile on his face, as the three customers sat down in the chairs provided by his assistant who was wearing a name tag with the word 'Tessai' on it
"We need your help to get back to Soul Society." Ichigo informed knowing that if these two could see and already knew about Shinigami it would save them time on having to explain things and expedite their departure.
"Sorry, but I can't help with that one." He said happily, much to the Shinigami's chagrin that he was so damn chipper about the current situation they were in "But I can give you a mighty fine discount on some of our products!" he offered, ready to give the 'discounts' to the Shinigami by which he meant having the prices set at 120% normal price not that they would have known of course
"Tell me would you have a Senkaimon creation unit or a communicator?" asked the powerless Shinigami willing to buy that if they couldn't get his assistance in returning. After all money was no object to the Kuchiki clan.
"I'm afraid not." He lied smoothly, though when he saw Ichigo begin to narrow his eyes seemingly suspicious that a Shinigami shop keeper wouldn't have such vital equipment, he followed up with some truth to keep himself of the radar "I only deal with accessories and some items related to Soul Society. You know a sort of office supplies store for Shinigami who happen to be in the human world, not really stuff that the R&D would have."
Ichigo looked back at Rukia, a frustrated sigh escaping him since they were back at square one, waiting to be rescued by another team. "Tell me do you have a Gigai for my partner here." He asked wishing for some kind of break in this endless stream of bad news
The blond man looked at the woman intently with an eye brow raised and hmmed real quick as his mind pondered all the possible scenarios that could have left her in such a state "Tell me Miss Shinigami how exactly did you go about losing your powers." He inquired to help narrow the feasible possibilities and come up with an easy or easier solution
So Rukia began explaining the situation to the man telling him everything from when she first arrived in Karakura to when she encountered the hollow on her patrol to lastly when she was beaten and had transferred her powers to the girl beside her, who seemingly absorbed most if not all of it, to which the girl apologized with a pout. The manager nodded his head as he started taking notes of the situation and when all the information was given the blonde started to mentally run through which Gigai would be best.
'Hmm, well I suppose I could give her that one. I've been meaning to get rid of that mistake ever since I got here, and this could be one chance.'
"Ok, I got just the one for you Miss Shinigami." He answered getting up from his chair to go check the back for the special Gigai
"It's Rukia. Rukia Kuchiki." The Kuchiki introduced, having remembered her manners that her brother had teachers instruct her on for when she joined the clan
"Ah, it a pleasure to meet you then Ms. Kuchiki." He bowed before walking out, through the door they had entered in, rather rudely since he or his friend still hadn't introduced themselves to the group. Though Ichigo couldn't say anything since he, being too focused on getting out of here, and the other girl, who was nervous about everyone in the room in general, in the group hadn't either. They sat in silence, not one trying to make any conversation at all before the man came back in, with his happy smile still shining "Ok, well the good news is that I do have a Gigai for Rukia-san, the bad news is that it won't be ready until tomorrow and I don't have a spare for captain frown over there. So come back tomorrow and I'll have you in your new Gigai."
'Captain Frown' scowled at him wondering why everyone in the world wanted to give him demeaning nickname, like 'Sloppy Kurosaki', 'Strawberry-chan', or now 'Captain Frown', while Rukia got up from her chair and thanked him and promised to stop by tomorrow. Though Ichigo figured she was being so much more courteous and friendly with the shop keeper since it was to get back at him for calling her a midget earlier.
The owner walked the Shinigami plus one team to the entrance of his shop, before seeing them out. As soon as the man turned back to close the door Ichigo called out to him. "Oh, sorry for not introducing myself. The name's Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki."
The man stopped mid-motion of closing the door with a dumb look on his face, since he didn't expect to have to introduce himself since he was an exile, and this Ichigo fellow was a Shinigami of Soul Society, his technical enemy. "Keisuke" he said before rudely closing the door in Ichigo's face, ending the conversation before anymore information could be found out about him.
'Geez if he wanted us out, he could have just said so.' Ichigo grimaced at Keisuke's strange behavior, while his mind subconsciously drifted back to the traitor Soifon had told him about, though he did tinker with the idea since the man knew about Shinigami, did match some of the physical description, and seemed to have spiritual pressure he never-the-less dismissed it, since why would a traitor allow Shinigami into his home and let them leave knowing of his whereabouts, and he really didn't come off as captain material. Anyways Keisuke was a rather common name, it could be anyone.
"Hey, Ichigo." The girl in white said to report in their first good break to the brooding man in charge "I just got us a place to stay at her apartment." Jabbing her finger at the still unintroduced girl "She said if her dad knows he wouldn't mind letting us stay for a few nights. Well, me I suppose since he probably can't see you and you won't be in Gigai."
Ichigo nodded his head, not wanting to argue with the girl's choice of location since he didn't really have a place to let them crash at, since he wasn't super familiar with Karakura town and knew exposing her to the element, when Hanataro and he occasionally stayed at the qwik mart roof, would be completely unacceptable given her weaken state. The man walked past Rukia to the generous soul to at least give thanks. "Hey, thanks for letting us stay at your place for the night."
"It's no problem." The violet haired golden eyed girl said with a smile, having started to warm up to the two since their initial encounter "and I doubt dad is going to be mad, especially for those who saved my life. It's the least I could do…ahh" she faltered upon having to use the orange haired Shinigami's name since they had yet to officially introduce themselves, which she felt embarrassed on since she was usually pretty good at remembering to do that.
"Ichigo." The appreciative Shinigami answered, extending his hand out for the traditional handshake
"Haha, 'strawberry' how manly!" the girl chuckled at the man's expense for the meaning of his name, which made the true Shinigami groan in annoyance. After stifling her mirth away the girl closed her eyes and grabbed the hand gently "Senna. Senna Kurosaki." She introduced amicably ready to make friends with the intense but friendly death god
Ichigo felt his heart stopped when she said the word Kurosaki. "W-what?" he asked reflexively his smile dropping away and his face getting shades paler with shock as Kurosaki was a very rare name and only he and his mother ever carried that name in the history of the afterlife, with the exception of only one other person…
"I said it's 'Senna Kurosaki'" the human girl said weaker, hoping she wasn't offending the guy since his arm that she grabbed had started to shake with almost nervousness? and he had gotten a faraway look in his eyes like he was thinking about something else entirely.
"Tell me." He said coldly, which got the attention of the two women since they could practically feel the ill intent in his words. His eyes were filled with a dark light, at the thought of seeing him of all people here, since he abandoned him and his mother when he was born "You said you live with your dad right? Tell me: What's. His. Name." his voice getting harder with more dark thoughts filling him, thoughts of how his mother might still be alive if the man known as 'Isshin' had stayed with her.
The girl looked down at the ground in guilt, which caused Ichigo's anger to falter since he didn't expect to upset her "Well…he's…he's not really my dad." She admitted her voice full of sadness at having been reminded of her origins, but continuing finding strength in perhaps protecting him from Ichigo "You see dad told me I was originally an orphan, and he adopted me when I was still a really young since he's been with me for as long as I can remember, but instead of making me change my last name to his, he made me keep my last name. He said it was the only thing that was truly mine and that no one could ever take it away."
Ichigo bit his lip at jumping to the wrong conclusion, while Rukia looked away able to sympathize with her words, since she had no one too at least until her sister brought her big brother into her life. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up." He tried to apologize for his insincerity to the human turned Shinigami girl
"No, it fine." She said a bitter-sweet smile on her face "I'm proud to have my dad even if he is a bit weird sometimes. But at least you guys will get to meet him too."
"I'm sure we will." Rukia replied, before turning a sly eye towards Ichigo, who returned the look with a questioning stare "Maybe he can teach Ichigo here how to be on time in a person's life when it's REALLY important!" she teased trying to break the unneeded tension and make their hostess smile again
Ichigo rolled his eyes "Oh, get over yourself! You were early!" He shot back getting a playful chuckle from Senna and a heated glare from Rukia, as the pair walked off towards Senna and her father's home.
It took a while for them to get there, since Senna was adamantly against using flash step, lest she throw up again though Rukia promised to help train her to take up the mantle of Shinigami until her powers returned, also dragging Ichigo along for the ride too since he was the only Shinigami available for the task to teach her kido and flash step, much to his annoyance for being signed up for something he didn't at least consent to, not that he would have had a choice since he had firm understanding of his limitation and knew that he couldn't protect Rukia and Senna while killing hollows at the same time.
"Here we are." The dark purple haired teenager announced their arrival at her home, breaking the bickering between the Shinigami over the details of their mission and the training schedule for Senna.
The house looked like a medical clinic. When the Shinigami brought it up to her attention, she informed that it was actually a morgue for dead people and that she and her father lived on the second floor apartment which could be accessed from the side of the building.
The two Shinigami caught a bit off guard from learning where they would stay remained silent, as they followed their hostess up the metal stairway, and waited a second while she fished for her key to open the door. As they stepped in they were both pleased to see that it didn't look or smell of dead people, and looked like a place a regular family would stay at. It had a small nice couch and TV set over in the small living room, while across from that the kitchen and dining room were pretty much one with just a small table and chairs a few feet away. There were also three doors, which Ichigo assumed was their bedrooms and the bathroom.
Senna walked over to the table to check for the mail since her dad came home from work before her, and saw a letter addressed to her from her father. She opened it up while the two Shinigami looked around the place they would have to call home for an indeterminable amount of time.
To my dearest Daughter
It saddens me to say this, but unfortunately I must be away on a business trip for a little while. Don't worry, even if you don't see me, I'll always have an eye out on you or any kids that I would be like a father too, like I promised I would be for you. But I don't want you to think I'm coddling you. You're a big girl now at the age of seventeen, I think you should be more than responsible enough to handle having guests over so you won't be alone while I'm away. So you're in charge of the house your word is law. Stay safe and know that I love you very, very, much my daughter.
Love
Daddy
'I see. Darn. I hope you stay safe dad.' Senna accepted, pressing the letter against her hakama after reading the content of it.
She turned back around and yelled to the Shinigami who had wandered astray "Hey! It looks like Dad won't be here for a week or two since he's on a business trip. He also said it's alright to have others at the house since he trusts me so long as we don't make too much of a ruckus." Relaying the message to them, as they appeared back in the kitchen having finished inspected the place
"Dang, I kind of wanted to meet your dad." The only man in the house said disappointedly, since he probably would admitted that he could use a fatherly role model figure since Kyoraku-Taicho was not the qualifying type not that he had kids, Shinjiro wasn't a father same with Hanataro and Toshiro, while Ukitake was too sick to ask for advice.
"Don't worry. I'm sure you will someday." She reassured, setting the letter back down on the table "So how long are you guys going to be in town?" asked Senna as she took a seat at the table, eager to have a conversation with an actual death god and not a random spirit that she saw on occasions who would later decide to haunt her for a bit.
"We WERE scheduled to be here for only a month." answered Rukia, still wondering how this took such a wrong turn for the worse, in the trainee area no less. "but considering this fiasco it could take longer, unless a rescue team shows up."
"Well how long will that take?" worry filling the ribbon wearing girl's voice, since she still had school to attend and wouldn't be able to do this Shinigami business forever "I mean you Shinigami do have some kind of failsafe right?"
"Honestly, I don't know." replied Ichigo in brutal honesty which caused the girl to deflate a little bit "I suppose it could be a few a days, since we have no way of contacting them. Though they should get antsy when no one calls in for a status report, and they'll send someone to find us."
"I see." She said in disappointment, that she couldn't help them in anyway. As she stared down at her clothes she saw that it was the same as what Rukia had been wearing earlier, which brought up the question: where was her clothes?
"Hey, umm how exactly do I? You know go back to being me." gesturing towards herself with her free hand while her other pulled up her collar so she could peek down and blushed in embarrassment and quickly dropped the piece of cloth back against her. Having just learned firsthand she was completely naked underneath, no trace of her previous clothes were there (1).
"Oh that's simple, all you do is get back in your body…YOUR BODY!" Rukia yelled hysterically, unable to believe her oversight on something that important "We forgot your body back there!"
Now it was Senna's turn to flip out as she shot up from her chair "OH MY GOD AM I DEAD! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" her mind plummeting into the depths of despair at the idea of no longer being able to do the things she wanted to do with her life.
"Look let's calm down! I'll go back and find you, in the mean time, Rukia why don't you inform her on how to re-enter her body again." Ichigo instructed, getting from the chair he was sitting in and started running to the door, heading back to the incident zone searching for reiatsu energy emanating from the not so deceased corpse.
Finding the woman's body Ichigo hurried back to the home and dropped it on the floor, to which Senna easily got back into her body, much to her relief at not being dead permanently. Once she was back in she picked herself up off the floor, and gave a thankful hug to the two of them before walking into the kitchen to make some leftovers since she was starving from all the running away from that weird hollow thing that Rukia had mentioned when she was carrying her. "Would you like some?" she offered, since she didn't have a clue if the death gods would actually need to eat food or not since they were dead but didn't want to take the chance of looking like a bad hostess
"Nah, I'm good." Ichigo declined not feeling particularly hungry while Rukia also declined and went into the next room to go see an object that had got her attention earlier "But if you have a bed that would be nice" feeling unusually tired for some reason
"No worries. You see that room over there" she pointed to the room at the far end "That's dad's room, he usually let guests sleep in there when there over so you can have that room, while Rukia stays in mine."
"Alright, good night." He said wishing her sweet dreams as he walked past Rukia who was entranced by the strange box thing called a 'TV'. He entered the dark room, and flipped the light switch to see that it was surprisingly tidy. Almost like it was never used in the first place. Ichigo got into bed and quickly drifted into sleep.
(Inner world)
"Hmm. Somethings up, old man. Ichigo's overall power level is decreasing." The hollow said in suspicion, since his power was actually supposed to keep rising. In fact it was almost due. Something was wrong.
'I sense it as well. It is most troubling; perhaps a step of caution would be best.' The spirit answered unsure of this recent development. 'I have a plan that will require you to follow to the letter. Maybe then we can find the source.'
(Human World: Rukia)
After about an hour or so watching the human made show on the strange box, she had bided Senna good night, once she was alone in the room, Rukia's mind went into overdrive wondering about her partner and why he looked so much like her deceased friend from so long ago. 'Is he his reincarnation?' The short girl thought, trying to figure out the mystery of Ichigo. 'Is Kaien haunting me for killing him?' she slapped her head for those thoughts 'No, Kaien said it wasn't my fault, so it's not…I'll never bring down my team again…'
As she laid in the bed, her mind slowly grew more fatigued. Deciding that enough was enough she went to sleep deciding that she'd get her answers soon, as she continued working in the human world alongside him.
(Elsewhere)
A small personal report was dropped on a wooden desk by a lanky man with silver hair, a Taicho's Haori with the emblem of three and a very eerie grin on his face. Alongside the report was another status report that said 'for Taicho of two only' and Ichigo's Senkaimon unit and communicator.
The glasses wearing man sitting at the desk looked at it with a pleased expression, his brown hair being pushed out of the way so as not to obscure his vision "Excellent. Now we need only do the next part of our plan before things will finally come full circle."
"Course, I'll just go get the device real quick and hand out these status reports from 'Kurosaki-san' to his Taicho." The silver haired man replied to his leader, turning away from the man and exiting the room, to provide the first step in the fall of Soul Society.
"Perfect." said Aizen smugly, casually leaning back in his chair and envisioning the world he would soon create after the fall of the one who escaped Kyoka Suigetsu, already knowing who to send and what to say for his spectacular performance 'Farewell, Kurosaki-san.'
Author's notes
1. It's only for the first time the power transfer that's why she naked underneath. Rest assured, from now on when she's shot out she will be wearing bra and stuff underneath. Shinigami do not battle in the nude.
Blackout2010: Well that's ends that chapter.
Senna: I'm so excited to join the team, hopefully I can live up to your expectations!
Rukia: Don't worry, I gave Ichigo my powers once and look how far that took him
Ichigo: Bleeding on the ground against Byakuya?
Rukia: Of course not!