Three days and each hollow has disappeared from my tracking programs…
Kuchiki Rukia nibbled her thumbnail in thought as she stood, perched atop the lamppost to look over the glittering lights of Karakura Town. A small town on the western side of Tokyo prefect, reports from that area of the world noted a steady decline in the amount of hollow activity for roughly ten years. In the last three, the overall percentage of hollow activity hit an all time low, leading Soul Society to believe there was an outside force eliminating the hollows; miko or even Quincy perhaps.
Reaching into her black hakama, Rukia flipped the cellular phone open to display a map where a blinking light and arrow flashed on it. "Another hollow."
Taking off from the lamppost, she skipped across building and air alike, making good time towards the hollow when it suddenly stopped broadcasting a signal.
Scowling down at the device, she continued on her way, coming to a stop on top of a roof where the unmistakable remains of a hollow battle could be seen; a few upturned trees and a crater here and there where a large body or perhaps the hollow itself landed hard.
"No doubt about it; it was definitely here." Rukia heaved a sigh. Three days with hollow signals mysteriously disappearing and no definite answer from Soul Society. She was about to leap off when she caught a snippet of a conversation from the tree-line.
"… if you weren't so eager… might have been killed…"
Silently Rukia slipped in between the trees to peer around the trunk of a large tree at an unusual sight of a little girl with brown hair tending to a older teenager with orange hair. Next to him stood a boy in Quincy battle robes, his hands bandaged up, possibly from a previous fight. "Troublesome," said the Quincy, "the way you keep running into battle Ichigo."
'Ichigo' snorted derisively, and Rukia noted the etched scowl on his face. "I had it, Ishida," he said as the girl tied off the last of the bandages.
"I still can't believe you got hurt by a simple Hollow Ichi-nii," chastised the little girl, making Rukia frown. The girl was spiritually aware? "Mou, Ishida-kun, you need to keep a better eye on Ichi-nii, especially since back up is on the other side of town."
"Sorry, Yuzu-chan," said Ishida, embarrassed by his oversight. "I'll do a better job covering Ichigo."
Suddenly Yuzu's head snapped up and Rukia pulled behind the tree. "What's wrong?" asked Ichigo. "Yuzu?"
"Uh… nothing. I thought I felt something."
The girl is very perceptive. She's also lying: I'm sure she saw me.
"C'mon Ichigo," sighed Ishida, grabbing Ichigo by the arm and hauling him up. "Let's get back before Yuuko-san gets us doing MORE things for Urahara-san."
Rukia's eyes widened. The first name she didn't recognise but the second was notorious: Kisuke Urahara. There was only one person who bore that name outside of Soul Society and it was the exiled Shinigami Captain.
There was a rustle of branches and Rukia peered out, only to see falling leaves and three people disappearing into the sunset. "Shunpo?!" gasped Rukia.
Reflect
Written by Shaun Garin
There is no such thing as random occurrence - only hitsuzen
It took Rukia another day to track down the boy with orange hair and another to find a point of entry in the strangely warded building. Somehow, someone had warded the Kurosaki home with seals that would prevent entry of anything not keyed to the wards.
The Kurosaki's (according to the small mailbox on the front of their home), were a close-knit family as far as Rukia could note. There were three children, the little brown haired Yuzu, the dark haired Karin and the orange-haired Ichigo, the mother Masaki who worked in the clinic with the father Isshin.
There were many people who came and went from the Kurosaki household at all different times, and they were never the same people twice. Two girls, one flighty and orange-brown haired, the other dark haired but both carried themselves like trained warriors… until the orange haired girl tripped and landed bust-first into the road.
Two boys, one brown haired and one black haired and shorter than the other. Ichigo refered to them as Keigo and Mizuiro. They both emitted strange power, similar to a shinigami's energies but much less focused.
Two more arrived later in the day; a massive dusky-skinned brown haired boy or man who they called Chad, and the Quincy in normal dress. They called him Ishida, presumably his last name. The towering dark skinned boy spoke little, as did the Quincy, but both of them were friends with the entire family.
Finally, and Rukia would have missed it if she wasn't paying attention, a black cat slipped through the bedroom window.
It seemed that Ichigo and his family were entertaining people, and soon, one by one, they left for the night when the evening wore to a thin dusk.
"I'm going to take out the trash honey!" crowed Isshin, startling Rukia out of her reverie and she pressed herself against the building. Within minutes, Isshin walked out, humming a tuneless song as he dumped the trash into the waste bin. Then, for a brief moment, Rukia could have SWORN he looked right at her.
Hours passed and Rukia was getting bored, looking over the house when her cell phone beeped. Finally, she thought to herself, relieved that there was something to do. But before she could move, a window opened and Rukia flattened herself against the building.
From it, a sleepy voice filtered through it. "Nee, Yuzu, is it one?"
"Yeah," said the voice of the littlest. "Feels tough though."
"Should we wake Ichi-nii?"
"No, I can handle it. Go ahead and sleep Karin-chan."
"… k…"
The window opened fully and out slipped the tiny form of the youngest of the Kurosakis. Rukia blinked as Yuzu literally leapt to the next roof, down to the retaining wall and ran across it, clad in her teddy-bear pyjamas and bathrobe.
Right. For. The. Hollow.
Cursing, Rukia took off after the surprisingly fast girl. Rounding the corner, Rukia swore. It was a massive hollow, its big white head dwarfing its pitifully small reptilian body. But the little girl stood her ground even though it bellowed a war cry in challenge.
"Get away!" snapped Rukia, unsheathing Sode no Shirayuki and leapt at the hollow. The hollow whipped its tail at her and Rukia sliced it off, only to get a fist to the stomach. Flying backwards, a pair of arms caught her around the middle and Rukia fought the grip a second before a warm voice belonging to the dark haired girl tickled her ear.
"Oi, whatcha thinking going in here without backup?" admonished Arisawa Tatsuki who was dressed in a sleeveless shirt and shorts. Letting Rukia go, she turned to Yuzu and called out, "Yuzu-chan, finish it off already: some of us are getting tired. I have a test tomorrow."
"Sure," said Yuzu and Rukia scowled.
"You can't stop that thing without a zanpakutou…" started Rukia, but she didn't even get past 'can't' before Yuzu reached into her chest and drew a long blade; a katana that shimmered in the moonlight. The sound of rushing water accompanied it and Rukia's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "Wha…?"
"Shower, Lluvia sobre la Luna…" whispered Yuzu. Immediately water fell from the sky and the hollow cried out in pain as it was literally eaten away by the attack. Slowly, painfully it tried to lumber out of the area of effect, but Tatsuki shot forward, ploughing a kick into its face. The hollow reeled back into the storm which became a torrent of water, like a localized typhoon. There was one last pained howl and moonlight sprung from the earth, dissolving the rest of the creature.
"Well, that's that," said Tatsuki, wiping her sneakers on the grass. "You're getting faster Yuzu-chan."
Yuzu blushed. "Ano, I'm not that good yet. Not as fast as Ichi-nii or Karin-chan."
Tatsuki rubbed the girls' head before she turned towards Rukia, eyebrow upraised. "You're a new face around here."
"Kuchiki Rukia, Thirteenth Division of the Gotei-13." said Rukia, a little stiffly.
"Maa, you're so uptight," shrugged Tatsuki. "I'm Arisawa Tatsuki, and this is Kurosaki Yuzu. Just as a fair warning, you'll be seeing a lot of us around Karakura Town. Call us the town exorcists."
"Very well…" Rukia turned to look at Yuzu, eyeing the sword in her hands. "That blade… it's a zanpakutou, is it not?"
"Uh, yes it is," said Yuzu, a little nervously.
"And it's name… Lluvia sobre la Luna was it?" Rukia said, stumbling a little over the unfamiliar name. "I admit I have not seen a pure water type up close before. Tell me; how did you fight within your gigai? I was unaware that a team of Shinigami were here, much less skilled enough to fight without releasing."
"Er…" stammered Yuzu.
"Oi oi, it's getting late. Yuzu'll explain everything tomorrow. Why don't we head back there Rukia-san, and we'll let you rest for the night."
Rukia nodded. "One night. And then I require answers."
Rukia's morning began with a crash, smash and bang as Isshin drop-kicked Ichigo in the face, or at least attempted to do so. Wiping away sleep from her eyes and wincing as she had slept on Sode no Shirayuki, Rukia slowly came back to awareness. Sitting up, she noticed that a thick blanket had been placed on her during the night. "Oh, you're awake," chimed in the lilting alto of Kurosaki Masaki, Isshin's wife. "Rukia-chan, was it? Welcome to our home."
Rukia blinked rapidly. WHEN did she fall asleep on a human couch? For that matter, HOW did this woman see her? "Er… thank you for your hospitality," said Rukia, bowing from her seated position awkwardly.
"Maa, it's all right," giggled Masaki. "Isshin-chan, our guest is awake!"
There was a thunderous noise of stampeding feet from the upstairs bedroom and a scruffy man in a loud shirt skidded to a halt. "AH HA!" bellowed Isshin, "I see, I see. Welcome to our home Shinigami-chan!"
Rukia shook the ringing daze from her ears out. "Er, it's Rukia. Kuchiki Rukia."
"Ah ha, Rukia-chan then," grinned Isshin. "Kurosaki Isshin. This is my lovely wife Masaki, and my two girls are upstairs; you met Yuzu last night and Karin is in the bathroom. ICHIGO! OI!"
"What old man?" asked Ichigo, sticking his head downstairs, only to pull back as Isshin tried to spin-kick him. "WHAT?"
"Come say hello to our guest," said Isshin, clapping Rukia on the shoulder like he had seen Shinigami all the time. "Rukia-chan, this is Ichigo, our eldest."
"How do you do," muttered Ichigo. "Hey old man, Okaasan, I'm heading to school early."
"Maa, Ichigo-chan you need to eat first," chided Masaki. "You know how hungry you get all the time."
"Eh, it's okay, Tatsuki has a granola bar for me. Ishida called me while I was upstairs: said there was a hollow or three near the docks."
Rukia's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the casual talk of hollows in the area. "I must go," said Rukia, getting up.
"Maa, you need breakfast young lady," said Masaki in a tone that broke no argument.
"But…!" Flabbergasted, Rukia was lead to the breakfast table, Masaki taking her zanpakutou from her hands and setting it on a too-conveniently placed sword rack.
"You too, Ichigo-chan." Ichigo froze at the door and sighed, returning to the table. "Let Ishida know to take Sado-kun or Orihime-chan with him. Kami-sama only knows Yoruichi-san has been trying to get that girl to fight a little more."
"Orihime isn't that bad," grumbled Ichigo over his breakfast of rice and fish. "She's a black belt in regular martial arts and one only knows what she, Tatsuki and Yoruichi-san get up to during training."
"Morning," yawned Karin, stumbling down the stairs in a too-large sports shirt with 00 across the chest. "This the guest Yuzu brought home?"
Rukia nodded politely. "Kuchiki Rukia, nice to meet you."
"Mmm, she's not bad," eyed Karin, yawning a little wider. "Hey, Ichi-nii, you planning on showing her around town?"
"Um… later maybe?" replied Ichigo, a little caught off guard by the left fielded question. "We've got training this afternoon and I think Keigo nearly got his fully formed yesterday."
"That's good news then," said Isshin, sitting down as well. Yuzu came thundering down the stairs, dropping into her chair with a "good morning". "Keigo's power is almost fully formed. I'll be interested to see how it fully manifests."
"Tch, you just want to see another Shinigami so you can send them to sandal-hat," grumbled Ichigo.
"You know it was for your own good, boy!" snapped Isshin. "I did my best to get you to even hear Zangetsu's name, and you took such a long time. Feel lucky Kisuke is nice enough to even put you through the Bankai training."
Rukia speared a fish a little too hard. "WHAT?!" she exclaimed.
"What what?" inquired Ichigo, mouth full of rice.
"Bankai training… just who are you people?" exclaimed Rukia, her nerves frayed from the multiple shocks in a row.
"Oi, Yuzu-chan, you didn't tell her who we are, did you?" muttered Karin. "She looks like how Tatsuki did when we introduced her to Yoruichi-sensei."
"Sorry, I overlooked that," said Yuzu, ducking her head in shame.
"Let's start at the beginning then," said Masaki and Rukia relaxed a little. "We're the Kurosakis. This is my husband Isshin, or as you know him Captain Isshin Kurosaki from over twenty years ago."
Rukia looked over at Isshin who grinned, waving a hand. Her chopsticks broke and she stammered out, "Captain Kurosaki?!"
"And these are our children, Ichigo, Karin and Yuzu."
"Children…?" Rukia felt a little weak.
"Oh, and they all have shinigami powers too," added Masaki cheerfully. "It comes from their father."
Rukia felt her mind shutting down. "Er… you were saying bankai training a minute ago… none of you have it… do you?"
As one, everyone pointed to Yuzu and Isshin raised his hand. "Technically I haven't used mine in ages, but darling Yuzu has had hers since she was little."
Rukia looked at Yuzu, then at Ichigo and then Karin. "And you two?"
"Shikai," the pair chorused. "Though I'm close to Bankai," added Karin. "Ichi-nii is something of a slow learner."
"Oi!" protested Ichigo.
Rukia's brain decided it had enough and she passed out in her chair.