Chapter 03: Cursed Parakeet, and the Great Zashiki-Warashi

"Um, I'm usually happy to be held so close by a pretty girl, but this feels like a hostage situation..." Keigo muttered weakly. The following morning after last night, Keigo had enjoyed a pretty normal morning, all things considered. Now, this was what he was getting for ignoring Orihime's barely hidden glances at him while he'd been distracted by Chad's unusual absence.

"I told you, didn't I? I was only satisfied for that moment, but I've got more questions for you now." Tatsuki casually replied as if one of her hands wasn't gripped onto his bicep, herding him towards the roof during their lunch break. Orihime, a total angel as usual, sheepishly followed after them with her own lunch. "Besides, Ichigo was recent, but you've been a shinigami for much longer, if not all your life. What else did you lie about?"

"Literally just the spiritual stuff. I'm still the same me." Keigo shrugged. "Just good ol' Keigo Asano, who can be annoying to guys and super persistent to girls. Besides, we're not friends, Tatsuki-chan. We're just a step-up above acquaintances, so I really don't owe you anything in regards to my private life. My only true friend just moved away a while back."

"...I see." Orihime responded, sounding despondent for some reason. [I guess it isn't a surprise Asano-kun doesn't consider us friends. We barely hang out with him for any reason. Even now, we're only with him because we want to know about yōkai from him...]

[Well, he's not wrong. Maybe him being with Ichigo's just him helping out a newbie, then. It's not like Asano's a jerk or anything bad.] Tatsuki groaned as she rubbed the back of her head. "Look, even if you say that, a couple of new questions came up between me and Orihime since last night... so please, just humor us a bit."

Keigo sighed at the girls' true thoughts. "I'll just send over Chizuru to you girls later. She's a Fullbringer as well, so she'll answer the necessary questions you have."

"Wait, what?!" Orihime exclaimed, just as shocked at this as Tatsuki. "Chizuru-chan's a Fullbringer, too?!"

"Yeah, the only other one in our class... well before you two." Keigo smiled as they finally reached the door to the roof. "Also, Tatsuki?"

No longer holding back his actual strength, Keigo easily pulled his arm out of Tatsuki's grip and wrapped it around her own, drawing her in close. "You'll need to build up your physical power to be able to match Ichigo now, let alone me. As a fellow supernatural combatant... you're too weak right now."

[The fuck does this asshole think he is?!] Tatsuki immediately pulled her right arm free from between them and raised it up to smash her elbow against his chin, her eyes widening when all that accomplished was slightly raising his head up. [WHAT?!]

"Like I said... too weak." Keigo couldn't help but taunt her. Grabbing the offending limb, Keigo simply raised it up high by her wrist, nearly lifting Tatsuki off her feet with how hard she tried to free herself. "I'm not being mean, though. Do you remember what Ichigo and I told you about hollows going after people with above average amounts of reiryoku?"

Tatsuki stilled along with Orihime, the latter having been trying to free her friend.

"Now that at least one of you is a confirmed Fullbringer, both of your reiryoku levels are a good bit higher than it was yesterday." Keigo released Tatsuki, giving her and Orihime a serious stare. "Just like they did with Ichigo, hollows and other yōkai will take notice as well. You no longer have the privilege of being... below notice. Of course, you no longer need to worry about human limits, though. Just do as you normally train, but much heavier weights and longer runs."

"...good to know." Tatsuki smirked at the challenge, surreptiously rubbing her wrist. [I'm no slacker, but it looks like I'm gonna to really adjust my regimen if what he says is right.]

"Great." Keigo pushed open the door, seeing Ichigo and Rukia already there. "Yo, Ichigo! Rukia-chan~!"

"Kuchiki-san!" Orihime rushed ahead of them, clasping her hands around Rukia's while the latter still held a juicebox in them. "I have so many questions I wanted to ask you all day!"

"It's amazing how blunt Orihime can get with her character." Tatsuki muttered before joining Orihime in separating Rukia from Ichigo, the shinigami giving the boys desperate looks that went unanswered.

"They seem to be taking it pretty well." Ichigo noted as Rukia weathered Orihime's rapid-fire questions.

"They're newbies, like Chizuru was a few years back." Keigo replied as he began eating, ignoring Ichigo's shocked look at her name. "Give it time. They'll soon be treating ghosts as casually as we do."

"R-Right..." Ichigo sighed. [That's true... I still don't remember exactly when I went from being scared of ghosts to being so carefree around them. Still, if Keigo's been a shinigami all his life, why didn't he ever let me know about my reiryoku if it was going to be attracting hollows?]

Because Keigo found no need to upset Ichigo's civilian life when his Shokan Heishi could kill every hollow within Karakura at their strategic positions through out the city. Rukia and the hollow that followed was an unprecedented mistake. He'd have to double the amount of Shokan Heishi and spread them out further now, just to be sure.

Just because hollows preferred targets with high amounts of reiryoku didn't mean that they'd often ignore easy pickings right before them. The hollow ignoring the little girl ghost that night to chase after Ichigo (who'd been two whole blocks away) was a fucking miracle as far as Keigo was concerned, especially when the girl had told him about how his hands had been inches from her.

Thankfully, he'd gotten there to send her on to the afterlife.

[No, wait. I could already see ghosts, but it took me a while to believe Rukia herself. Damn... That's on me, I guess. And her shitty drawings.] Ichigo's thoughts finished up, causing Keigo to inwardly chuckle. Maybe he'd get Rukia a little something... for her apparently shitty drawings.

"By the way, Chad hasn't been around all-day." Keigo spoke up. "Did you hear anything from him?"

"No." Ichigo frowned, only for his eyes to widen while Keigo finally felt Chad's reiatsu close by. "Hey, Chad, what the hell happened to you? And what's with the bird?"

Frowning at Ichigo's words, Keigo turned around and gawked at the sight of the muscular teenager covered in bandages while carrying a caged bird for some reason. ...wait. "Who is this?"

"Hello, my name is Yūichi Shibata. What's your name?"

That simple statement, less than ten words, instantly turned Keigo's curiosity into horror. Rushing before the bird and holding up the cage, Keigo ignored the others' reactions. "Who did this to you?! Who put you in there?!"

Getting no answer but a shocked look from the bird, Keigo turned towards Chad. "Where did you get this bird from? Give me all the details!"

After exchanging glances with Ichigo, Chad finally replied. "Yesterday night. A friend of mine passed him to me, saying it was cursed. According to him, the parakeet's past owners all got killed by gruesome misfortunes."

Ichigo's eyes widened as he took another look over Chad's bandages. "'Gruesome misfortunes'?"

"...Ichigo, how well do you trust Chad to keep a secret?" Keigo made his decision.

[I trust Chad.] "I trust Chad." Ichigo replied immediately, gaining Keigo's approval before he suddenly astral projected out of his body, surprising them all. "Keigo, is something wrong? Is the bird a danger to Chad?"

"By itself, no. The soul inside this bird... is a kid." Keigo revealed, causing the others to still. "The real danger is from the one who put this kid's soul into a bird... Tsk! It's not here, right now. Tatsuki-chan, Orihime-chan, you two should return to class for now along with Chad and Yūichi-kun. Ichigo, you and Rukia will take one of these and follow after them."

Keigo's shadow spread out before three of his Shōkan Heishi stepped out. "One of you will stay in the kid's shadow. The other can be with either Tatsuki-chan or Orihime-chan. The last of you will go along with Ichigo in other to find who-"

"It's a monster." The bird- No, Yūichi spoke with a sad tone. "He was the person killed my mommy and became a flying monster after he died. He took me from my body and put me into the bird."

"...so it's a serial killer turned hollow, huh." Keigo finally breathed, his calm tone at odds with his reiatsu beginning to darken his surroundings. Noting the spiritual pings of alarm he was now sensing from allover the school, Keigo sent out a single wide pulse of reiatsu and calmed himself down, quietening their worry. "Ichigo."

"Say no more." Ichigo stepped out of his body as well, a hand already on his sheathed sword. "Chad, I promise to explain later, but look after the bird until we get back."

"...alright." Chad accepted as he took back Yūichi's cage, his assigned Shokan Heishi sinking into the former's shadow.

Keigo turned to the human girls, their assigned Shokan Heishi sinking into Orihime's shadow. "Tatsuki-chan, I know you don't want to hear this, but you girls need to stay back as well."

"Bullshit! We can help!" Tatsuki protested.

"A hollow capable of stuffing souls into foreign bodies would have an easier time ripping them out from their original bodies." Keigo harshly rebutted, causing Orihime to flinch. Scanning the memories that his words brought up, Keigo softened his tone. "It's only been an evening. You're not strong enough. Not yet."

"...yet." Tatsuki solemnly replied. "But we have to do something."

"Take our bodies to the nurse's office. She'll understand when you tell her that it was a 'twilight emergency'. She's a yōkai, too." Keigo replied, earning another "WHAT?!" from his classmates (except Rukia and Chad). "The Shōkan Heishi will memorize the traces of foreign reiatsu on this bird and seek out its source in opposite direction. Good luck."

"You too." Ichigo replied before he and Keigo leapt off the roof in opposite directions.

"I'm surprised at Asano's quick command." Rukia spoke up while Ichigo carried her on his back, following after the shadowy knight as it often paused now and then to presumably sense out the hollow they were looking for. "Does he have any prior experience leading others?"

"Not as far as I know." Ichigo replied after a while, thinking through his memories of Keigo. "Keigo was always resourceful, energetic and hysterical... but he was also kinda emotionally wise, I think. Before Mizuiro, his best friend by the way, moved way, that guy hid all of his issues behind a smile until Keigo got to him."

Ichigo frowned. Everything he'd just said... was the total amount of what he knew in regards to Keigo Asano. "I should hang out more with him."

Rukia made a noncommittal hum while looking through her phone. "Why can't I find anything about this?"

"If the hollow is really a former serial killer, did he find out how to hide through Hueco Mundo like Orihime's brother did?" Ichigo fretted. "We can't just wait for that fucker to come out at his own time."

"Unfortunately, that's what we have to-" Rukia paused, her head suddenly shifting to the side. Just as she did that, the shadow knight suddenly stopped and began running in that direction. "It's that way! Follow it!"

Ichigo tilted against a lamppost before launching off it towards the hollow, speeding up as fast as he could. A couple of seconds later, Ichigo growled at the sight of a winged hollow in the middle of flying towards the school. "Hey, ugly!"

"Huh- Oh, shit!" Unfortunately, the hollow's past as a serial killer must've helped him react better to a teenager dropping down onto him with a sword as large as he was tall, Rukia leaping off just before contact as the hollow blocked with his arm. "You shinigami fucker!"

A second later, the hollow screamed out in pain as Keigo's shadow knight hacked into it's wing with a halberd, definitely grounding it. "You worm! How dare you?!"

While the shadow knight probably couldn't speak, it gave an excellent reply by flipping it off and then giving Ichigo a thumbs-up before sinking into its own shadow and disappearing.

"I got it." Ichigo hefted his sword at the hollow. "You're leaving this guy to me, right? I'll definitely finish this bastard off!"

"No! Even if you're a shinigami, I won't let myself get offed by some brat again!" The hollow roared in pain-filled rage. "There's no way I won't-"

Ichigo ended his rant by stabbing straight into the hollow's mask, pushing it deep enough to have the blade pierce out of it's skull from behind. "I have no interest in a serial killer's backstory. So you can just go to hell!"

To Ichigo's surprise, rather than dispersing into motes of reishi after he'd ripped his sword out, the hollow spasmed in place as a beam shot out from its head and rose straight up to form a gigantic gate, with many chains binding it and two massive skeleton top halves sticking out on both doors.

"Wh-What the hell?!" Ichigo exclaimed.

"Exactly as you say." Rukia spoke up from beside him, eyeing the gate warily. "That... is a gateway to Hell. Zanpakutō can only cleanse hollows of their sins after death. For sins that have been performed before death, depending on the severity of it, Hell comes to collect them."

After a moment, the two skeletons each pulled on their half of the gate, slowly forcing the metal doors open. As the door opened, an empty void appeared beyond it, multiple ropes covered in charms keeping the gate from opening entirely. Out of the void, a colossal arm with grey skin and a piece of armor on it's shoulder sprung forth and grabbed the fatally injured Hollow, its sheer grip not only crushing the hollow by the multiple breaking bones Ichigo could here, but also squeezing out many glowing orbs that were most likely souls. Retreating back into... Hell, the arm reeled in the hollow and caused the gates to slam shut, soon shattering into thousands of tiny fragments that dispersed into black reishi.

Rukia sighed in relief. "I... I have never actually seen that in all of my years... only in the academy texts and some reports..."

"Think about it from my perspective!" Ichigo shot back. "I'm way too young to be aware of what awaits me if I grow up into a scumbag! You've had at least a century to be forewarned!"

"Century?!" Rukia kicked Ichigo's shin, clearly offended. "I'm 56, you fool!"

"So, the serial killer went to actual Hell?" Tatsuki questioned after they all reconvened in the nearby park after school, still wondering what her life had become that she had to capitalize the last word of her sentence.

"Indeed." Rukia confirmed. "It exists only by its own sovereignty and is not a place that any but the condemned should tread."

"Do... Do souls stay in Hell forever?" Orihime asked.

"I don't know the details, but probably not." Asano shrugged. "Reincarnation exists in all pantheons, after all. But we can at least be sure that Hell doesn't permit innocents in it's territory."

"True. I saw that giant hand actually squeeze out all of the souls that bastard had chomped on so far before yanking him down to Hell." Ichigo confirmed before pausing as he tilted his head back. "What the fuck has my life become that I can say that with absolute seriousness...? But now that's the killer's dealt with, what about the kid?"

"I got it. Chad, drop the cage down." When Chad did so, Asano went down on a knee and opened it up, pressing two fingers against the bird's chest. "...okay, I got him."

Asano's fingers pulsed purple as he gently shoved the bird, causing Tatsuki and Orihime to gasp when a young boy with brown hair stumbled out of the bird. "There we go... ah. His Chain's gone."

"Chain?" Tatsuki didn't understand what that meant, but considering Ichigo and Rukia's expressions... "What does that mean?"

"All souls possess a Chain of Fate connects them to their living bodies, especially when they've left it for whatever reason." Rukia hesitantly explained as she stared at the chain hanging from the boy's chest, which freaked out Tatsuki a little. "A Chain of Fate that's damaged enough to be severed... signifies that the body its supposed to be connected to can no longer function as the soul's vessel."

"Ah..." Orihime pressed a hand against her chest. "So that was that chain was for..."

Tatsuki didn't feel any better. Kuchiki's words essentially meant that the kid was now dead for real. "That's fucker's lucky he got to Hell before I could reach him!"

A nasty voice in her mind that sounded like Asano taunted Tatsuki on how she would've accomplished anything as she currently was.

Rukia gave a small smile as she squatted before the saddened boy. "Hello, Yūichi Shibata. My name is Rukia Kuchiki. My friend here is going to send you to Soul Society, where you can live peacefully and without fear."

"...okay." Yūichi sniffled.

"Yūichi." Chad suddenly spoke up. "Someday, when it's my time to go over there, do you think I could carry you around again?"

"...sure, I'd like that, onii-chan!" Wiping his tears, Yūichi gave Chad a wide smile. "Thank you for always protecting me!"

Chad smiled. "No problem."

"Great. I'll send him off then." Asano pointed two glowing fingers towards Yūichi, slowly spinning them around. "Twilight acts as the boundary between day and night as well as the mundane and the esoteric. With my advent, I, Keigo Asano, hereby blur the boundary and grant you safe passage into paradise."

As he spoke, glowing trails of light were left behind by his fingers until his final words pushed forward a glowing ring that encircled Yūichi and opened up a portal behind him. "Step through, Yūichi-kun. Do so, and I guarantee that you'll meet your mother on the other side."

"Really, onii-chan?" Yūichi perked up at Asano's confirming nod before waving goodbye at Chad and running into the portal.

"Was that true?" Ichigo suddenly asked. "Is he really gonna meet his mum?"

"Mama taught me that ritual herself, said it was almost guaranteed to reunite souls with their loved ones. By the specific wording of the aria, that portal will take Yūichi to his idea of Paradise, a.k.a. a continued life with his mother... provided that she hasn't already passed on into reincarnation." Asano shrugged. "Of course, I heard that there's a newer and quicker version, but it doesn't really factor in the transferred soul's preferences."

"Oh?" Ichigo turned an amused gaze towards Rukia, who moved to hide her disgruntled expression from him. "Mass production issues are apparently a thing even in the afterlife."

"...so, what now?" Orihime finally asked.

"Now...?" Asano crossed his arms and seemed to be debating heavily with himself- "No, that's a bad idea, Kokukishi. While she can easily induct these guys into the Moonlit Side, they'll get drawn into crazy situations as her payment."

"...is he actually talking to his sword?" Ichigo questioned as they all watched Keigo arguing with his katana, his gaze directed down at the sheathed blade.

"It's not unusual to have mentally converse with your zanpakutō as a shinigami." Rukia shuddered. "Still, given my recklessness with giving you my reiryoku, Sode no Shirayuki is going to lecture me severely once I regain my powers."

'Ah. It's not abnormal.' Tatsuki noted as Keigo finally lost the argument with his sword. 'I wonder if my own fullbring will be similar.'

"Fine, then!" Asano groaned before turning towards them. "Hey, when next are you all free?"

"I'm free, right now." Chad replied.

"Me too." Ichigo added.

"We can go as well." Tatsuki locked arms with Orihime. "Where are we meeting this lady?"

"Location is meaningless to her. Just the mere act of calling for her will reach her ears as long as we're within the city borders." Asano pulled his sheathed katana out from his sash and banged the scabbard against the ground. "Come, great spirit of the land. I, Keigo Asano, beseech your presence at your benevolence."

A weird ripple of purple energy spread out from his scabbard and flashed far into the distance in an ever spreading circle. "It won't be long now. I give her at least a min-"

*TWANG*

Tatsuki suddenly heard the loud twang of a string-like musical instrument, not from a direction but directly inside her... soul(?). 'Wait, is that a biwa?'

"-ute." Asano startled just as the others did, all of them immediately realizing their new location. Rather than the park, Tatsuki gasped as she only saw endless wooden walls, floors and doors akin to old-style Japanese homes. And to make things a lot more weird, their layouts were ridiculously bizarre, arranged in physically impossible directions. "Urgh, I hate when she does that."

"I know." A female voice spoke up from Asano's side, surprising them all except him as he was apparently used to this. The woman, if that was what she really was, was incredibly pale, possessing vibrant red lips and glossy black hair that obscured her eyes and reached down to her hips as she knelt with a four-stringed wooden biwa with a large bachi pick in her hands. Furthermore, she donned a slightly loose white kimono with a red stripe in between two black stripes around her waist as well as a red triangle at the bottom of her dress, decorated with flames and skulls motifs while open at the top to reveal her shoulders and a fair amount of cleavage. She also had ribbons tied around the sleeves, a buckled strap around her neck and traditional sandals with extremely high platform soles. "Ichigo Kurosaki, Orihime Inoue, Yasutora Sado, Tatsuki Arisawa... and Rukia Kuchiki. It pleases me immensely to finally meet you all face-to-face."

"Guys, this is Karakura." Asano introduced. "Assuming you all know what a zashiki-warashi is, Karakura's the genius loci formed from the collective consciousness of the entire city."

"Woah..." Orihime was completely dumbfounded, and Tatsuki really couldn't blame her. Even if Tatsuki hadn't just been transported into some bizarro dimension, the sheer... presence of the woman before her couldn't be understated. It almost reminded of her of the same 'feeling' she'd gotten from Asano when his own shadow had popped out freaking knights of all things, but at a superior state. "Hello, my name is Orihime Inoue! It's nice to meet you too!"

Tatsuki snapped out of her staring when Orihime suddenly replied, her best friend's bow suddenly reminding the girl of her manners. "R-Right. I'm Tatsuki Arisawa. It's an honor to meet you."

Ichigo and Chad greeted just as swiftly, with even Kuchiki giving the deepest of bows.

"Karakura-sama, may I ask a question?" Kuchiki requested. At Karakura's acquiescing nod, she continued. "Do you know of a way to help me recover my reiryoku at a quicker rate?"

""Ah."" Both Ichigo and Asano perked up at that, giving Karakura eager looks.

"I do know of a way, but you might not like it." Karakura replied. "As I'm sure you are aware of, a shinigami with reiryoku that has dropped to crippling levels requires sustenance, rest and an environment with plentiful of reishi that they can passively absorb."

"While I am not lacking in the first two thanks to Ichigo's help, I won't find anything like the third requirement here in the human realm!" Rukia's voice reeked of desperation. "The closest equivalent is right here, and I know it's not exact because these humans haven't dropped dead immediately."

Wait, what?

"Yes, that is true." Karakura nodded in confirmation. "I had to suppress my power enough so that their souls weren't forcibly ejected from their bodies."

Wait, what?!

"However, my solution is much simpler." Karakura pointed at both Ichigo and Asano. "These shinigami possess great amounts of reiryoku, both being capable of warping their environments from sheer saturation alone. They can provide you with enough reiryoku for your needs."

Asano frowned. "Karakura-sama, she's not a Quincy. She can only absorb reishi passively, which means she'd need at least an hour's worth of close exposure for any significant changes."

"Not to mention, I've been close enough to Ichigo for at least a month now, but I've made little progress despite his horrendous control of his reiatsu. How much closer do you...?" Rukia trailed off as her eyes widened in realization, her cheeks reddening immensely. "...no. No!"

"A young woman like you shouldn't be so averse against sharing a bed with either of these two handsome men." Karakura wondered, causing them all to realize her intended plan. "Are they ugly to you or something?"

"No, she can't!" Orihime protested, her own cheeks burning red as well. "Kuchiki-san really can't! N-Not with Kurosaki-kun, at least!"

"Not sure why I was specific in Inoue's refusal, but she's got a point." Ichigo sighed, causing both Tatsuki and Asano to groan and clap their forehead in unison. "My sisters are one thing if either of them find out at anytime, but if my old man of all people found Rukia and I sharing a bed..."

Tatsuki knew Isshin Kurosaki and considered this to be a valid excuse. However, this would leave Asano as the other and only choice.

"I'm not that against the idea, and Mama's out of one of her archeology expeditions so I'm currently home alone." Asano revealed with a grimace. "However... I've got..."

Chad seemed to realize it first, his words causing all of their jaws to drop. "You have a girlfriend."

"...Chizuru Honshō and I have been dating for the past few months." Asano's confirmation had their jaws drop further with sheer disbelief. "But Chizuru's still happily attracted to girls, so she won't see Rukia in my bed as anything... platonic. I mean, our relationship's kinda... erotic, but that's just Chizuru wanting to find a way to seduce Orihime-chan too. If she believes that Rukia-chan is an option as well..."

Orihime nervously laughed while Rukia crossed her arms in thought.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Asano shrugged before giving Rukia a shake of his head. "Sorry, Rukia-chan, but it's no good with me either."

Rukia inhaled deeply as if steadying herself, her eyes opening in determination. "No. I can deal with that. As long as Asano-kun does nothing untoward to me..."

"Which I won't." Asano immediately assured.

"...then we c-can g-go ahead with it." Rukia's resolve was almost ruined by her stutter.

"Okay, then. I'll call Chizuru and warn her to behave herself." Asano nodded before turning to Karakura. "Thank you for your help, Karakura-sama."

"No need. By the way, I want all of you except Keigo for some quests around the city." Karakura stated. "Nothing major, but they should all be fitting to your talents and be done before nightfall."

"Well, you girls wanted to know more about yōkai, right?" Asano smiled wryly. "Welcome to the Moonlit Side. By the way, which of them's going to be dealing with the rogue oni you mentioned last time?"

"Tatsuki and Orihime are sufficient enough for that." Karakura stated. "Tatsuki in particular does desire more combat experience against the supernatural."

Tatsuki blinked in surprise before grinning excitedly. "Yeah! If fighting's involved, I'm definitely your pick!"

Tatsuki knew at least that oni tended to rather strong but only as brutes compared to the two actual soul-eating hollows they'd been involved with so far, but that was fine. Even she knew the value of starting points.

Once she was strong enough, she'd shove her fist into Asano's damn teeth..

"Excellent reply. Let's get started right away." Karakura strummed one of her biwa's strings.

*TWANG*

KingVessel: Tatsuki sure is excited, huh? Also, spreading out into a bit of yōkai lore before Soul Society comes knocking. By the way, Karakura's power level within her own city actually matches Yamamoto(without bankai) because she's formed from the aggregate of Karakura's residents, which now include a couple of Captain-level individuals living there for a while now...