Near the far northern side of Karakura Town's shopping district, a man hummed as he sat in the back of his little store, frowning a bit as he took the cup of tea that was handed to him by the large tanned man dressed in a white shirt, jeans and a black apron with a smiling chibi face of the first man on the front of it.
"Yen for your thought, Mr. Urahara?" The large man asked and Urahara simply hummed as he placed the cup of tea down on the table in front of him while tapping his thigh with the fan he held in his other hand.
"It's nothing, Tessai. Just contemplating what to do with our young guest in the other room?"
"The Chad boy?" Tessai asked as he stood up, pushing up his glasses as Urahara nodded whilst placing his fan down before picking up his tea and taking a sip from it.
"Indeed. I expected young Kurosaki to be the one who would push back the Gillian that came through and not his friend. Moreover, I was not expecting to find out how much his soul composition differs from the average human or the other friends that defeated the Hollows at the school."
"I know what you mean, sir. I couldn't help noticing that the move he used at the end is very reminiscent to that of a Cero and while I was healing him, I…discovered something very interesting."
"The fact that his soul is half Hollow and half Human and they exist in perfect harmony instead of the Hollow side just devouring the human side? Yeah, I noticed that too, but how? The only way that could even happen is with our little secret and that's been sealed inside Ms. Kuchiki when I gave her the Gigai."
"Speaking of Ms. Kuchiki, are you sure this is the correct path, sir?"
"What do you mean?" Urahara asked as he looked up from his tea at his assistant and Tessai frowned as he looked away before shaking his head.
"I do not know how to feel about forcing a young girl such as her to become a human permanently when we both know how it feels like to have our society kick you out for things out of your hands."
"Hah, I understand, Tessai, and if I had another way of destroying it, I would have done so. Unfortunately, this was the only method I could figure out that would work even if it means that one more person would be mad at me for destroying their life. Then again, what's another person to the hundreds that are already there?" Urahara spoke with a wry smile and Tessai looked at his boss before smiling and shaking his head.
"Like I said, I simply have some doubts about the situation, but you have never led me astray, old friend. So, I will stay by your side and see this through."
"Glad to hear it. Now! I believe our guest is waking up, so why don't we go and see if he's going to tell us the secret as to why he's using Hollow abilities?"
Name: Yasutora Sado
Age: 16 Years Old
Race: Fullbringer (Hollow-Hybrid)
Reiryoku Levels: High
Reishi Control: Advanced (12.7%)
Reiatsu: 4th Seat
SKILLS:
Boxing: Advanced (5.8%)
Fullbring: Advanced (8.1%)
Spiritual Sense: Advanced (11.3%)
Brazo Derecha de Gigante(Right Arm of the Giant) [Incomplete]: Advanced (18.3%)
Cero: Adept (58%)
Kūmon: Novice (68%)
Congratulations on defeating your first Gillian. Truly, it was a strenuous battle, but you came up on top and have now taken your first step to reaching your full potential.
As you may have noticed, you have gotten two new abilities since you absorbed the Gillian, both of which you can check out and read about at your own leisure.
Well done and continue to strive to be better.
As Chad finished reading the second box floating above his face, he sighed as he closed his eyes, frowning a bit as he felt how chaotic his Reiryoku was acting with the addition that was the Hollow's own Reiryoku combining with his own.
'That last battle was quite tough.' Even when he had worked together with both Uryu and Ichigo, it took all three of them giving everything they got to defeat the beast and they still almost lost if he didn't tank its final blast.
'Speaking of that, is that the Cero skill I'm seeing here? Is that also what I did against that Menos and with those Hollows that attacked Ichigo's sister?' Chad thought with a frown as he sat up, wincing slightly at the sharp pain that flashed through his arms when he used them as support before sighing he pressed on the Cero skill and read the entry on it.
'Allows a Hollow to concentrate parts of their Reiryoku and some of the Reishi in the atmosphere into an orb in front of them that they can unleash in the form of an energy blast/ beam with the use of any of their body parts. …Sounds like a pretty cool technique, but it's not as versatile as Fullbring.' The teen thought with a hum as he closed the Cero skill tab before opening up the one for Kūmon.
'Allows a Hollow, Gillians to be specific, to travel from their home dimension of Hueco Mundo to either the Soul Society or the Living World through the usage of the Garganta? Okay, first off, nice to know that Hollows have a home dimension where they come from. Secondly, I'm guessing Earth itself is called the Living World and that Rukia and any other Shinigami come from a dimension called the Soul Society. Thirdly, does the last part mean that there's another dimension in between those three dimensions that allows travel between them? Is it like Limbo? Does that mean Hueco Mundo is Hell? No, didn't Rukia say that there is a hell when we stopped that Shrieker hollow?'
"Hah, my head is spinning right now."
"Well, I suppose vertigo is to expected after you tanked and repelled a Cero to the face, Mr. Sado." Chad nearly jumped out of the futon he was laying on before flinching as he put too much pressure on his arms, blinking as he felt the pain dissipating.
Looking up to see who spoke, he was surprised to see two men entering the room he was in, the one on the right being the taller and bulkier of the two as he lowered his hands while the light orange glow around them faded away.
The one of the left, though, was the more mysterious of the two as he hid the lower part of his face behind the paper fan in his grasp, only his eyes visible from under the striped dark green and white hat that he was wearing as he sat down in front of the teen before snapping his fan shut with a smile.
"Hello! Glad to see our patient survived his first battle against a Gillian."
"Where am I?" Chad asked as he looked around, his guard up as the man chuckled while placing his fan and cane on the floor in front of him.
"Apologies for not introducing ourselves. I am Kisuke Urahara and this is Tessai, the man who saved you from falling to your death after you narrowly killed that Gillian…or should I say after you purified it? I must say that I do not know of any being that could purify Hollows other than a Shinigami."
"Because you are a Shinigami?" Chad asked, watching as Urahara simply hummed while Tessai raised an eyebrow.
"And what makes you say that, Mr. Sado?"
"I can feel that your Reiryoku feel similar to that of Ichigo's and Rukia's so you're either Shinigami or Substitute Shinigami, which would still make you Shinigam."
'That and I can see your titles above your head.' Chad thought with a frown as he took a quick glance above both of their heads, hiding his grimace at what he saw.
Name: Kisuke Urahara
Age: ?
Race: Shinigami
Reiryoku Levels: Immense (Suppressed)
Name: Tessai
Age: ?
Race: Shinigami
Reiryoku Levels: Immense (Suppressed)
Ichigo has been the only person Chad has seen with Reiryoku levels ranked Immense since he got his powers so for him to be sitting in front of two beings that had the same level of spiritual power, he was a bit distressed as he didn't know if he could beat them to escape.
"Hmm, very astute of you, Mr. Sado. Yes, we are Shinigami, but we do not ally ourselves with the Soul Society. More importantly, you don't have to look so distressed. Your friends know that you're here and you're free to leave whenever you want." Urahara's words made Chad blink as he looked at the man before letting out a soft sigh as he relaxed and sagged slightly into the futon.
"I guess there's no hiding it if you can see it."
"Heh, it's easy to guess since you're around unfamiliar faces. You did have some people visit, but since they were from Naruki City, I did not trust them and told them that you would go visit them."
"What did they look like?" Chad asked and Urahara hummed as he looked at Tessai who answered.
"One was a tall man dressed formally with a white shirt and suspenders. The other was a pink-haired girl about your age and dressed in the Karakura High uniform."
"Ah, yeah. They're friends."
"And I'm guessing they're the same type of spiritually-enhanced human as you are, correct?"
"One could say that. Um, thank you for healing me and taking care of me, but most of the pain has disappeared so am I okay to leave?"
"Of course. Tessai, do you perhaps have a shirt and a pair of pants for Mr. Sado to wear?"
"Of course. Third drawer to your left behind you, Mr. Sado."
"Wait, what?" Chad asked with a frown as he lifted the covers over his lower body before blinking as he realized that he was only wearing a pair of boxers, looking back up with a sheepish look in his eyes as Urahara chuckled whilst picking up his fan and cane.
"We'll leave you to get dressed."
"So, what do you think of him?" Urahara spoke out loud as soon as Chad left the building, sitting down in the darkness of the entrance of his shop as the moonlight shone through the window in front of him.
"He has some good spiritual sensing, I'll give him that. It didn't take him long to figure out that you and Tessai were Shinigami." A black cat with golden eyes spoke with a deep voice as it stalked out of the shadows and into the moonlight, Urahara chuckling as he lifted the fan to cover the lower part of his face.
"But not good enough to catch you hiding in his room, eh Yoruichi?"
"He's a few centuries too young to even think of sensing my presence when I don't want to be found." Yoruichi spoke with a scoff as they laid down, Urahara smirking before his smirk faded as he looked at the entrance.
"What do you think? Think he's got promise?"
"His hand-to-hand combat is pretty good even for a brawler that's been fighting only thugs in street fights. His Reiryoku is also quite powerful for a human, but his control over it though is not as good as one would expect for someone with that strong of a Reiatsu. His other abilities, while foreign to me, seems to be handled quite good, which shows that he has a good amount of control over them."
"And you noticed what Tessai and I did when he looked at us, right?"
"You mean how he looked at the top of your head at something for a split second and back at your faces? Yeah, it was quite weird, but the moment he did, his guard went fully up and he went tense, as if he knew that he wouldn't win in a fight against you."
'That and the presence he gave off is not unlike that of our Visored friends.' Urahara thought with a frown as he thought of his fellow traitors to the Soul Society, who were banished after the Central 46 found out that they had been forced to become Hollow-Shinigami hybrids.
It felt the same for Chad too, except the Shinigami half was replaced with his human side and it also seemed as if it was his human side that was more powerful than the Hollow side, which was also keeping it in check.
'Hmm, I know of only one thing that can do so, but if mine is still sealed inside of Rukia, then there's only one other person that could do it. The question is…why a human and why now?'
"Hah, I'll keep an eye on him while looking out for Ichigo. Make sure he isn't a threat to your little pet project."
"Mr. Kurosaki is the son of a friend, not a pet project."
"I know how your mind work, Kisuke. After all, I had to deal with it from the time that we were young." Yoruichi spoke with an amused tone before they disappeared into the shadows once more, Urahara rolling his eyes before letting out a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
Looks like his peaceful life of banishment was about to become a not-so-peaceful life.
'And it's at the same time as Bingo Weekend too. Hah, I guess you can't have everything in life.'
Chad sighed in relief as he flew through his open window and landed with a soft thud in the living room/ dining room/ kitchen of his apartment, thankful for the fact that nothing was stolen as he plopped down onto the sofa with a relieved smile.
Even if Mr. Urahara and Mr. Tessai did look and act friendly, there was just something about being around people that could beat him that put him on alert, which might stem from the fact that he has not gotten used to the fact that there might be numerous people on that same level.
"Hah, maybe I should take tomorrow off from school."
"He's back from being near death and already he wants to skip school." Chad wanted to be surprised, but he also knew how determined Riruka was when she wanted to meet someone, so all he did was turn around to see her leaning against the doorway.
"What? Not even surprised I'm here?" She asked with a smirk as she walked out of the doorway and sat down next to him, Chad simply staring at her with a raised eyebrow before he spoke."
"Why are you in my apartment?"
"Eh, the window was open and I wanted to see if you're good now, especially since you thought it was a good idea to take a Menos' Cero to the face."
"Okay, that sounds like a good enough reason." Chad nodded as he leaned back against his sofa, Riruka rolling her eyes as she did the same and the two of them looked up at the ceiling.
"So, did you have to deal with Hollows as well?"
"You mean during the attack? Yep, a couple. There was this weird tentacle Hollow and one with a triangular head and I didn't expect myself to be able to take them both on, but as it turns out, Orihime and Tatsuki both awoke their spiritual power."
"Wait, what?" Chad asked in surprise as he sat up and looked at Riruka, who giggled & nodded as she sat upright as well.
"Yep, Orihime awakened her spiritual power and the hair pins she always wears turned into this healing/ defensive ability that also has offensive capabilities. Tatsuki's abilities however were purely offensive and stemmed from the sash of her karate gi that she tied around her head. It apparently doubles every aspect of her physical and spiritual power, which she used to help Orihime take out the tentacle Hollow."
"And you being the strong being that you are, decided to take out the other one on your own, huh? Is that why you have a new scar on your hand?" Chad asked while looking at the faded jagged scar on the girl's hand and Riruka rolled her eyes as she stood up.
"Yeah, it also showed me that I needed to restart my physical training so Jackie has been helping me get up to par."
"Oh, good to know. Did you tell the others about what happened?"
"Yep, Kūgo told me to tell you that since you think you can take on a Menos, he's upping your training with both him and Jackie fighting you from now on in duo fights."
"…Hah, of course he is." Chad muttered with a groan as he stood up, Riruka giggling at the tired look on Chad's face before the tall teen blinked as the girl reached forward and hugged him.
"Really, though, I'm glad to see you're okay."
"Don't worry. I'm not dying anytime soon." He spoke and she rolled her eyes as she pulled back, looking at him with a smirk before nodding as she turned and began walking towards the window.
"Remember, training after school tomorrow. Don't make them wait or else I'm going to be forced to train with you."
"That would be better for you, wouldn't you?"
"And more work too, which is not what I want. Anyway, see you tomorrow." Riruka greeted before leaping out of the window, Chad watching the girl skating through the sky with a pink aura around her body before looking down at his body where she had hugged him.
'Either I'm reading too much into this…or she likes me. …I'll leave that for tomorrow's Chad to find out.'
A/N: And this chapter ends on a soft…note? I don't even know how I want to do the romance for this story, but I think I'm leaving it for a later time.
Anyway, this was more of a soft chapter after the series of battles last chapter but next chapter we're continuing on with the next arc~!
Like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories & even some that haven't been released out to this site yet. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until next week...
Ba-Bye~!