Chapter 30: Darkness Within
Even as activity buzzed around her, with most of the students looking excited and rushing down the corridors, Kirara could only yawn and go at a leisurely pace. Already looking forward to a nap, she barely even registered the crowd of students standing together until one called out her name.
"Good morning, Kirara!" Orihime exclaimed, waving with a big smile.
"Morning, Orihime," Kirara couldn't help but laugh as she approached her. She stood with Tatsuki and a few other girls from their class. "I swear, you siphon off everyone else's energy to keep yourself so bright," she accused.
"She just gets a good night's sleep," Tatsuki said simply, a small grin on her own face. "You might want to try it," she said. Kirara shrugged.
"I'd never get my homework done if I did that," she said simply. Tatsuki rolled her eyes. "So what's everyone doing here?" Kirara asked, looking at the crowd in front of them.
"Exam scores!" Orihime exclaimed. Kirara grimaced. The exams had been annoying to say the least, and when the other Vizards had found out she'd actually started studying, she'd been tormented ruthlessly for it. "Come on, let's take a look," Orihime led them towards the paper stuck to the wall as some other students moved away, looking dejected. They took a look, scanning the board for their results, and Kirara gave an impressed whistle.
"Third place? Damn Orihime," she nudged the girl, who blushed.
"Pretty smart for a girl, Orihime," Tatsuki patted her head. Orihime gave a pleased laugh.
"This sucks! Orihime has both brains and boobs," Michiru complained from beside them as she compared Orihime's score with her own, which was much lower down the list. "It's not fair!" she whined.
"If it makes you feel better, she's a terrible cook," Tatsuki said as a way to placate her. Kirara nodded, her stomach churning at the reminder of the food Orihime had prepared for her to try.
"And her food combinations are something only she can handle," she added, thinking of her own foolish mistake of trying peanut butter and pickles with her noodles. She'd been sick most of the night.
"Orihime!" the moment Tatsuki took her eyes off Orihime, Chizuru threw her arms around her and nuzzled her cheek against Orihime's. "You're my best friend and I'm so proud of you!" she exclaimed with delight.
"Could you keep your pride to a dull roar?" Kirara asked with a tired voice, earning a glare from Chizuru. The redhead had never quite warmed up to her, especially since Kirara had no problem calling her out for her creepy behaviour.
"Oh…" realising what they were all looking at, Keigo moved in to take a close look.
"Asano, you're looking way too high for your score. Check the bottom," Kirara snickered. He turned to her with a haughty look, puffing out his chest.
"Just because you're a nerd, Miss. 21!" Keigo pointed to Kirara's score. She just smiled pleasantly at him, making him huff when she didn't take offence. "Whatever. The girls can get their high scores if they want," he waved a dismissive hand. "At least nobody else embarrassed us by ranking in the Top 50, right Mizuiro?" he asked the young man who'd leaned in to check the scores. Kirara snorted.
"You sure about that?" she grinned. Keigo frowned.
"Take another look," Mizuiro pointed at the board.
"Wh…what?!" Keigo screamed. "Ichigo is ranked number 23?! You cheater!" he wailed at Ichigo as he walked up to check the board. "There's no way you could have possibly scored that high!" he yelled. Ichigo just rolled his eyes.
"Shut up, Keigo. I score high on tests because I study for them," Ichigo told him, glaring at the overdramatic boy. "You should try it sometime," he said. Kirara grinned as she watched Keigo wailing.
"Aha! So that's what you were doing all those nights when I was asking you to come hang out!" Keigo accused. "You always said you were too busy, but the truth is that you were studying like a total nerd!" he yelled, making enough of a scene that most people were staring at him. "I'm friends with a nerd!" he wailed.
"Maybe he just didn't want to hang out with you?" Kirara suggested. Mizuiro stifled his laughter.
"It is a bit of a surprise to learn that you really study," he admitted.
"My hair gets me enough abuse. I'm not gonna be an academic loser on top of it," Ichigo explained with a shrug.
"You're so determined, Ichigo. It's admirable," Kirara said, but Ichigo didn't miss the gleam of mischief in her eyes. He scowled at her.
"I don't need to hear that from you, delinquent," he warned, and Kirara winked at him.
"Careful, Ichigo. This delinquent scored two above you," she teased, and he rolled his eyes.
"Even delinquents can get lucky now and again," he muttered.
"Alright then, have it your way!" Keigo yelled, disgusted at how high both of them had scored. "But see if I ever ask you to hang out with me again!" he pulled a face. Ichigo ignored him. "At least you wouldn't go and do something embarrassing like score in the Top 50, right Chad?" he then nudged the tall, quiet young man who had practically materialised beside them. Kirara admired just how quiet he could be.
Chad didn't speak. Instead, he just pointed, and they all followed where he was indicating to. Kirara burst out laughing as both Keigo and Mizuiro screamed in horror at just how high up Chad's name was. "I'm horrified! I had no idea I was hanging out with such a bunch of complete geeks and brainiacs! I'm through with all of you!" Keigo screamed as the two ran off.
"I'll give them a day before Keigo's screeching Ichigo's name in class again," Kirara said, arms folded.
"What were they screaming about?" she turned as Hibiki approached, and her smile softened.
As Kirara had expected, Rukia had altered the memories of everyone in the class. To what exactly, Kirara had no clue, but none of them had asked her about how she'd almost put the modified soul inhabiting Ichigo's body through the wall. And she was glad for it.
"Exam scores are out," Kirara answered. "Not everyone reached the lofty standards they expected," she grinned.
"I see," Hibiki turned slowly, looking up at the board for her own name. It took her a moment to find it, before a pleased smile crossed her face and she stepped back.
"I'm guessing you too have embarrassed them by placing in the top 50," Kirara said, and Hibiki nodded, a flicker of a blush on her face. It grew when Kirara nudged her. "Great job," she praised.
"Thanks," Hibiki said quietly.
"I guess it's lucky for them that one of us isn't in the Number One spot," Ichigo considered, turning back to the board to take a look at the name that was two above Orihime's. "Like…Ametatsu Ishida…?" Ichigo frowned, not recognising the name. "I've never even heard of him," he admitted.
"It's not Ametatsu, it's Uryu," Hibiki corrected quietly. Kirara's eyebrows furrowed and she lost her smile at the name.
"Yep. Uryu Ishida," Orihime confirmed.
"You know him?" Ichigo looked at the pair.
"He's in our class," Kirara answered for them. Ichigo's eyes widened and he gave a choke.
"You'll find that Ichigo has an uncanny knack for forgetting people's faces, and the names that go with them," Tatsuki warned. "Come on," she pulled Orihime away as the girl looked up at Ichigo with a concerned look.
"That's weird…" Ichigo folded his arms as he tried to remember just who Uryu Ishida was. Kirara shook her head, and started heading for their classroom as well.
"Kirara?" Hibiki caught up to her. "Are you okay?" she asked. Kirara smiled at her again.
"Of course. Just tired as usual," she said. Hibiki frowned, but didn't push it. She never did, and Kirara was somewhat grateful that she was just too timid to push for answers.
Kirara knew Uryu Ishida. She'd bumped into him a few times, and something about him had put her on edge. She didn't know what or why, but he did. So she kept her distance from him, hoping that it was just her paranoia.
Clearing her throat quickly, Kirara widened her smile. "Summer's coming up. Any plans for the holidays?" she asked Hibiki, hoping to take her mind off the strange boy in their class.
"Oh, uh, not much really," Hibiki shrugged. "I don't normally get up to much during the holidays. My parents work a lot so I'm just left to do my own thing," she said quietly.
"Then we'll just have to do something, won't we?" Kirara grinned, and Hibiki lifted her head with a surprised look on her face. Then she smiled a sweet smile that made Kirara's smile widen.
"Yeah," she agreed. Kirara chuckled, patting her shoulder as she wondered just how she'd managed to get so attached to her classmates.
'I really am just a soft touch, huh?' she thought.
'That has been obvious for a long time,' Kokoro no Kage spoke up quietly, and Kirara just rolled her eyes.
The next day rolled around, and Keigo was back to his normal whiny self as he made enough noise for the entire class. Of course, he managed to get in plenty of nerd comments throughout the day, making it obvious that he still wasn't entirely over what he saw as a betrayal.
Kirara yawned widely as she left school and started walking home, as tired as ever as she wondered if she could sneak in a nap before training.
'Was Ichigo acting strange today, or am I just imagining things?' Kirara wondered to herself as she shifted her bag onto her shoulder. Ichigo had seemed deep in thought most of the day, while Rukia had skipped class for the day. 'More Shinigami crap, probably. I better just keep an eye on him. How much trouble could he really get up to?' she rubbed her eyes.
The pain that lanced through her head behind her eyes made Kirara stop where she was. It was blinding, causing her vision to flash and turn white for a moment. Her sight returned, but the pain lingered, and Kirara put her hands to her head.
"Shit…what the hell?" she whispered as the dark sensation usually buried deep within her chest started to stir.
'Can't you sense it, Princess?' the voice deep within her head that was often reserved for Kokoro no Kage's words spoke up. It was almost identical to Kirara's, only with an eerie pitch to it that warped as she spoke. 'There's something in the air, and it's calling to me!' she shrieked, and Kirara staggered, feeling as if she were about to be sick.
"What are you talking about?" she whispered. "Stay the hell down there. Don't make me beat you into submission again," Kirara warned, and heard laughter in response. The pain didn't grow any worse, but it didn't fade as Kirara couldn't bring herself to move.
'Oooh, so brave, Princess. Can you really take me on without your Knight around to keep you safe?' the inner-voice asked sweetly. Kirara frowned, not understanding what she meant. The dark feeling rose again, and Kirara dismissed her words to focus on burying her back down below. She was in charge, and she wasn't going to let anyone else take control.
"Seems I was too late to warn you," Kirara's eyes shot open at the familiar voice, and she managed to look up at the man standing in front of her with a concerned look that was half-shadowed by a green and white bucket hat.
"Ki…suke…" Kirara managed to speak, staring at the former Captain studying her. "What's going on? What warning?" she asked, struggling to keep herself from throwing up just for talking.
"It would appear that Ichigo Kurosaki's class has more than a few…interesting characters," Kisuke said, and his gaze dropped to show that he was well aware of Kirara's uniform. Any other time, she would have cursed being caught. But right now she needed answers. "Not least of all a young Quincy," Kirara's eyes widened and for a moment she forgot how to breathe.
"A damn Quincy? I thought they were wiped out years ago," she whispered, stunned by the revelation.
"It would appear some survived the massacre," Kisuke said lightly, but his expression was still grim. "And Uryu Ishida appears to hold a particularly nasty grudge against Shinigami," he said.
"I don't blame him," Kirara muttered bitterly, before doing a double-take. "Wait, Uryu Ishida? Shit. I knew there was a reason he made me nervous," she hissed, before wincing as the pain intensified in her head for just a moment.
'I won't be restrained so easily this time, Princess!' the voice howled. Kirara took as deep a breath as she dared, fighting both the nausea and the cold feeling deep within.
"So Ishida has a grudge against Shinigami. What's that got to do with what's happening to me?" Kirara asked roughly, keeping a hand to her head.
"It seems quite a few Quincy inventions survived even after their massacre," Kisuke said, and put his hands on Kirara's face to tilt her head up, studying her pained face. "He got his hands on something called Hollow Bait," he explained as Kirara let him examine her for a moment. She trusted him enough to do so. "It appears he's using it as a way to have a competition of sorts with Ichigo. It's certainly an interesting way to go about it," he said, and Kirara pulled out of his grip.
"Shit, Kisuke. A warning would have been really useful," she growled.
"I didn't know until it was too late. I had hoped it wouldn't affect you or the others," Kisuke admitted.
"Oh, it's affecting me alright," she muttered, fighting the impulse to track down Uryu and beat him senseless for pulling such a stupid stunt just to prove a point. "Any idea how long it'll last for?" Kirara asked him.
"I'm guessing roughly 24 hours," Kisuke said, grim. Kirara cursed again. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked her, and she glared at him.
"Of course I will be," she growled, and saw him barely conceal a faint smile. "Asshole. Don't worry, I'll barricade myself away until it's over," Kirara managed to start walking despite the internal struggle, and Kisuke stopped hiding his smile.
"Oh, by the way, Kirara," he called after her. "That uniform looks very cute on you," he told her.
"Do not make me punch you, Kisuke," Kirara warned over her shoulder, flipping him off as she kept walking. Kisuke just laughed, but it faded soon after.
"Still work to be done," he murmured, making a note to keep an eye on Kirara before vanishing to return to the others.
Sitting in the grass of the park, Hibiki had taken up a spot in the shade of a tree as she had a book in her hands and read it intently. It had been one that Kirara had recommended to her one day out of the blue - Hibiki didn't know that she was much of a reader until then - and she found that she couldn't put it down.
With time to spare before she needed to start heading home, Hibiki was enjoying her quiet time in the park with the summer weather pleasant. After another long day surrounded by other students, she needed the quiet to wind down, and it was much nicer to do so in the park than at home.
A strange chill ran down Hibiki's spine, drawing her out of the world of the book that she was so engrossed in, but she didn't dare look up. The chill that had gone down her spine started to travel across her entire body, giving her goosebumps as it became a struggle to keep her breathing even.
'There's something there…watching me,' Hibiki acknowledged to herself, not daring to look up at the beastly creature that was slowly advancing on her from a short distance away. It was spindly, with six legs that moved slowly but fluidly, and the mask that covered its head was twisted into a feral smile.
"Something smells…delicious," Hibiki resisted a shudder as she heard the grating voice, and instead slowly moved her hand for her bag nearby. "So delicious…so young and oblivious," the Hollow's voice was as slow and deliberate as its movements. "She will be an easy feast to dine on!" she suddenly screeched, and Hibiki yanked a set of goggles from her bag and pressed them against her eyes.
The moment the Hollow reached her, stabbing out with one thin leg, Hibiki vanished.
The leg slammed against the tree where Hibiki had been leaning against it, impaling it with a loud splintering sound. The Hollow shrieked. "What the hell?! Where did she go?!" it roared as it struggled to pull free.
"I'm right here!" Hibiki's shout made the Hollow whirl its head around to try to find her. Hibiki stood in the shade of a nearby tree, glaring at her as she wore the goggles over her eyes. "I'm not an easy meal," she said, trying to sound brave, and not like she was shaking like a leaf.
"Impressive, little girl. You can see me, and you dodged my attack," there was a loud crunching sound as the Hollow finally managed to pull its leg free. "You'll make me work for my meal, but that's it. You're mine!" he lunged at her again, only for Hibiki to vanish once more. She reappeared nearby, stepping through the shadows as if they were doorways.
"No, you won't," Hibiki said quietly.
"It's a fun trick, but I can see you shaking. I can smell your fear, little girl. You won't last long against me," the Hollow warned her as he slowly turned, trying to figure out just how she was moving.
Hibiki swallowed, her heart pounding as she tried to summon her courage to do more than dodge the Hollow's attacks. She glared at it, trying to hide her fear. 'Come on Hibiki, you can do this. What would Kirara do?' the thought popped into her head so suddenly that it surprised her. 'Kirara…why her?' Hibiki wondered, feeling as if she was trying to remember something.
"Please let go of me," Hibiki couldn't bring herself to speak any louder than a whisper as she stared at Ichigo kneeling before her. Something about him was off. He felt…wrong. Like he wasn't Ichigo. And it wasn't just because he was acting strangely. Something told her that he was only appearing as Ichigo.
"It's okay," he smiled at her sweetly. It looked so wrong on Ichigo's face, when Hibiki only knew him with a permanent scowl etched into his features. She hated attention on her at the best of times, but now, with this stranger holding her hand and the entire class staring, Hibiki just wanted to cry.
The second that he moved in to kiss her hand, there was a blur and suddenly he was gone. It took everyone in the class, Hibiki included, a second to catch up to where Kirara had slammed Ichigo against the wall hard enough that the thud was audible to everyone.
Holding Ichigo against the wall, Kirara suddenly seemed far taller than Ichigo, despite being a full head shorter than him. Power felt like it radiated her. Power and fury. And it made Hibiki hold her breath without realising it.
Whatever Kirara said to Ichigo was too quiet for the rest of the class to hear, and none of them dared move to try and listen. But whatever it was had a flicker of fear flash across his face.
"How did you…" Ichigo's voice gave an unnatural quiver of fear. Then Kirara had glanced to the window as if expecting someone else to appear in the same way, and after a few more whispered words to Ichigo, she released him. Instantly he sank to the ground, terrified.
"Kirara?" Hibiki found her voice despite that power and fury that still radiated in the room. Kirara stepped away from Ichigo, her hands clenching and unclenching by her sides - it didn't look like she was even aware that she was doing it.
"Shit," Kirara's curse had been quiet, and she hadn't looked at anyone before sprinting out of the room.
Pain shot through Hibiki's temples, making her flinch as the memory forcibly unlocked in her mind.
"How did I forget about that?" she asked, suddenly left with more questions than answers. For some reason, she'd thought was that some creep had broken into the room before being chased off by Tatsuki and her fury.
"You're wide open, little girl!" Hibiki looked up quickly, eyes wide under her goggles, before she stepped back and threw her hands up. The shade that she stood in suddenly began to move, rising from the ground in a fluid motion. "Wha-" the Hollow didn't get a chance to defend himself as the shadows slammed against him, throwing him several feet away.
"Whoa…" Hibiki was breathless from such an action, stunned that she was able to do so. So far, she had only ever been able to step through shadows. Nothing more. Yet now the shadows had risen from the ground and stayed there as if acting as a wall, and the more she thought about it, the more they began to change shape, until they'd formed a familiar figure.
"What is that?" the Hollow growled as he recovered, pushing himself to unsteady feet as he glared at the lean, human-shaped shadow that seemed to wear a uniform like Hibiki's, but the hair was shaped into a long ponytail that flickered as shadows rippled off it like smoke. "What are you, girl?" he asked her, stunned as Hibiki found her resolve.
"I'm not your easy meal!" with her shout, Hibiki threw her hand out, praying that the shadow would respond. As if on cue, the shadows leapt into the air straight at the Hollow and punched it hard. The monster crashed to the ground so hard that it caused a rumble that Hibiki felt.
The Hollow groaned, but as it tried to get up, it found that its movement was restricted. With a yell, it realised that the shadows where it had fallen were slowly rising up and clinging to it, holding firm even as it thrashed. Hibiki could feel it in her gut, fighting to keep a hold on the monster. She didn't know how much longer she could go before her power would vanish - it had never been particularly reliable - so she commanded the shadowy figure once again.
There was a sickening crunching sound as the shadowy figure smashed a fist down on the Hollow's sneering Mask, causing it to start to break apart as the shadows started to deliver a flurry of blows, before suddenly vanishing.
Hibiki fell to her knees, breathless and exhausted as her powers vanished. For a terrifying moment, she thought that she was now helpless against the monster, but when she looked up, she saw that it was starting to break apart, vanishing slowly.
When it vanished completely, Hibiki didn't move, but after a long moment she realised that tears were running down her face. She had been so scared. So damn scared. But she'd beaten the monster with her powers. She had tapped into something more than she'd thought herself capable of, and the idea was exhilarating, even if she was still so scared.
Then she heard the light clapping nearby, and looked around quickly as a figure emerged from behind a tree. Tall and lanky, he had a mess of black hair and a smile on his face that almost seemed mocking with his hooded eyes.
"Not bad, little Arai," he said softly.
"You…" Hibiki breathed, before the world suddenly pitched to the side, and she collapsed in the dirt.
Hope you liked it!