Chapter 20: The Sentence and Training Continues
Rukia was facing Renji; her faced showed no emotion whatsoever. Renji's face, however, did.
"What did you just say?" His right had gripped the bar as he faced the person in front of him. "Kuchiki-taicho...what is..."
"You heard me. Do not make me repeat myself again and again." The six division taicho spoke with no emotion whatsoever, "The class one felon, Kuchiki Rukia shall be confined on death row...and twenty-five days from now, shall be put to death in the Central Court. That is the Soul Society's final decision."
Renji's faced clearly showed that the decision was not right. But knowing his face, he kept his anger to himself. Rukia lowered her head, as well as her eyes, already accepting her fate.
"This shall be the last time you and I shall speak." Byakuya directed to Rukia. He turned away from her and walked away. "Rukia, the next time we meet shall be on the execution platform."
'We must not shed tears.' Rukia thought. 'That is the defeat of the body by the heart. Because, for us, this thing called "the heart" can become nothing less than proof that one's existence is superfluous.'
"Lesson two...Shattered Shaft." Tessai said.
"At the bottom of the Shattered Shaft, erosion takes seventy-two hours to complete. That's three days. By that time, become a Shinigami and climb up from there, if you please. Otherwise, when you become a Hollow...we will have to put an end to you." Urahara said.
"You son of a bitch, you tryin' to kill me?!" Ichigo screamed.
"Yes...the moment you give up."
Tsukiko stood aside with Ururu and Jinta. The three were playing with Luna, who ended up falling from the ladder.
"Tsukiko-chan! <3" Urahara called out towards Tsukiko.
She looked up and said, "Yes?"
Wham! His cane came straight through her forehead, sending her falling onto her back. She jumped back up and screamed, "What the hell was that for?"
"Time for your training." He simply said.
"Couldn't you have at least warned me? I mean, I could have just gotten Luna out of her body and all."
"No, this way is more fun. Now then come along." He began to walk away.
"Ururu, Luna, can you both please watch my body and make sure Jinta doesn't do anything with it?"
"We will."
Tsukiko followed the bucket hat man and stood next to him. "So how are we going to work on my spirit energy?"
"Hmm...I'm not sure."
She anime fell to the ground and got up. "What do you mean you're not sure?! You agreed to this telling me you knew what to do."
"Yes well, after training you for two days, I detected something different about you. Normally I can help you out with normal spirit energy, but yours is a bit different."
"Different as in how?"
"Its magic based. You have both normal and magic based spirit energy. The normal energy is when you don't call out an attack, like Mystic Shadow Strike. But the magic energy is once you call out an attack. With the magic, you can do all sorts of attacks and defenses. The normal ones allow you to go fast, determine other spirit energies, those types of things."
"So then how is this going to work?"
"I'll help you with your normal spirit energy. For your magic energy, you will either have to go to your Zanpakutou's spirit world or summon it here. In order to summon it, you may have to work on your normal one first."
Tsukiko nodded her head. All of this information about having two based spirit energies hadn't surprised her as she first thought it would have. After all those dreams with Kuro Maho, she didn't find it shocking at all.
"Alright. I'll do it. Let's work on the normal one first."
Random yelling was heard in a warehouse. Both Chad and Orihime were the ones who were causing all the yelling. As they were yelling, they both did random arm gestures that went along with it. Yoruichi just sweat dropped.
"This is totally hopeless." That certainly caught the attention of the two teens. "At this rate, I'll never be able to send you to Soul Society."
"What? Come on..." Orihime said.
"Don't 'Come on' me. If you don't gain the ability to manifest your powers at will...then even if you go to Soul Society, you'll just die like a dog. It's not a difficult to do. Just remember the first time and follow that."
Orihime then said, "That's easy to say, but...back then, I was just frantic..."
"What were you frantic about?"
"What?"
"When a person takes up arms, they are trying to protect something. It may be their own life...their status...their honor...someone they love...something they believe in...be it good or bad, there's no difference in their desire to protect. Recall what it was that you wanted to protect that day." The black cat explained to the two.
"Oh."
'I...Ichigo's sister?' Chad thought of Karin in his head. '...Red hat' an image of a hat appeared '...Long hair' long black hair showed up '...She's Ichigo's sister so...she looks like Ichigo?' an image of Ichigo came out 'A girl...' Red lipstick appeared as well. Then suddenly, a rather disturbing image of Ichigo looking like a girl came into Chad's mind. He choked.
"Looks like you've failed to remember it completely." Yoruichi told him as a sweat drop appeared. The cat turned to face Orihime and said, "What about you?"
"I..." Inside of Orihime's mind, the image of the octopus like Hollow appeared. "I...Back then..." The events that had led to her new powers appeared in her mind. "I was just frantically...frantically..."
Her flower pin shined and Chad took notice. "It sparkled!"
"Really?!" She asked excitedly.
The pins glowed and broke apart. Her six little guardians appeared. "You guys!" Orihime smiled.
"You called?" Shun'ou asked. "When you're in need, don't hesitate to tell us."
Tsubaki then came and kicked Shun'ou on her back, causing her to stumble to the side.
"Exactly where in this situation are our powers needed?!?!" Tsubaki demanded.
"What did you do that for?!" Shun'ou exclaimed as she rubbed her back.
"I'm sorry. I was remembering some things and I just..." Orihime stopped talking as soon as Tsubaki kicked her own forehead. "Ow!"
"Don't friggin' call us when you're not in a pinch, you stupid woman!" He began to pull her hair and Ayame just simply was on top of Orihime's head.
"Tsubaki, cut it out." Ayame tried telling him.
"Owww!"
"You're hurting her." Lily said.
"Shut up!" the male shouted. "She pisses me off!"
"No! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please! It hurts! Ah, stop it! Nooo!" Orihime shouted as she ran around, trying to get Tsubaki off of her. Everyone just looked at her run. Chad even had a sweat drop on his face and Yoruichi scratched her head.
"You damn...stupid woman!"
"Tsubaki, cut it out already." Shun'ou demanded.
"Oh dear, oh dear." Hinagiku said. "He's going wild again."
"Tsubaki is such a violent guy." Baigon commented.
"I said I'm sorry!"
"Well done." Yoruichi said. "Although, it looks like next she needs to practice on how to train her power. Well then..." the cat looked at Chad, "how about you? For what reason will you go to Soul Society?"
Tsukiko stood aside from those who were near the whole and it had been nearly fifteen hours since Ichigo was in the hole. She took out her phone and it read twelve eighteen in the afternoon. She sighed as he put her phone away and sat was down Indian style concentrating on her spirit energy. She remembered clearly what Urahara told her.
"When you can make a ball of energy on top of your hands in your human form, then we shall move onto the bigger and funner things."
'Energy ball huh?' She closed her eyes and held her right hand out, palm facing upwards. Inside her head, she began to think up ways to form this one thing. 'What if I concentrated on one spot, would it help?'
She opened her eyes again and looked at the palm. "Maybe if I just make a small cut and look at the blood, I can surely concentrate on that area." She looked around her and found two small rocks. She carved out one of the rocks and made the edge pointy.
"Here goes." She grabbed her new bladed rock with her left hand and pressed it upon her right palm. She winced in pain, but ignored it. She pressed a little harder and she succeeded. Blood seeped out of her cut.
"Now that that is done, let's go onto the next task."
Tsukiko concentrated on the single drop of blood that was forming at the center of her palm. Every ounce of her spirit energy that she felt, she transferred it onto her center. She focused and focused.
Ten minutes passed by and by now, small beads of sweat seemed to appear on her forehead. She kept on concentrating. Suddenly she felt something happen. The energy was coming to her.
Burp!
She covered her mouth with her left hand and she sweat dropped. All that time she spent concentrating only helped her to burp.
"Okay, let's try this again." She focused her eyes on the crimson red spot. She sent all her energy into her right palm. She kept staring at the spot, waiting for something to happen.
A black, glittery light sparked. Tsukiko blinked, not believing whether she is seeing things or not. She poured more of her spirit energy to her palm, wanting to know whether this was working or not. A small black sphere began to form over her blood.
Her eyes widened in surprisement. She was doing it! The small sphere kept growing in a slow but steady pace. At the moment, it was the size of a ping pong ball. Tsukiko closed her eyes and focused feeding more of her spirit energy to the ball.
Once she opened it, she smiled. Before her very eyes, the energy ball got bigger and bigger. The energy ball was now the size of a billiard ball and it kept on getting larger. One more rush and then it reached a perfect size.
Tsukiko got up from the floor carefully, not wanting to lose all the concentration she had on her spirit energy. She walked towards Urahara and called out to him. "Oi, Urahara!"
Urahara turned his and faced Tsukiko. A smiled was plastered on his face.
"Ah so you managed to do it! Good job. Now try throwing it and catching it."
She just looked at him as if he had two heads. "Huh? Man it took me a while to do this and now you want me to get rid of it?!"
"Yup!"
'God this man is insane! Alright, here goes.' She lowered her right hand down and then brought it back up. The spirit ball flew up towards the sky and then came back down. Tsukiko watched the ball and once it was starting to come near her, she readied some spirit energy to capture it. She moved her left hand and there, it had landed.
"I did it!" She smiled while jumping up and down.
"Good! Now we can go to the bigger and funner things!" Urahara smiled in delight, but then the smile faded away. "Tsukiko, why is your hand dripping blood?"
Tsukiko lifted her palm and held it in front of her face. Blood was indeed falling more faster. 'Ah crap.'
"I had to make a cut so I can concentrate and all. I'll go and bandage it up. Oh and Imma go to the market and pick up some ice cream. I'll be back soon."
She walked away from him and passed by Jinta, Ururu, and Luna. "Hey Luna, wanna come with?"
"Sure."
Once the two were in the store, Tsukiko headed towards the bathroom and began her search for bandages. She found a one and began to clean the cut. The cut sizzled after putting on rubbing alcohol and a small amount of foam had appeared over it. It had gotten infected and it would end up leaving a scar.
After she bandaged herself up, she grabbed Luna and placed her inside one of her tote bags. One foot outside and they were already blinded by the bright sun.
"Damn, freakin' sun. You are now on my hit list." Tsukiko said aloud.
The two left the store and headed to one of the markets.
"Wow. The underground training room literally makes you lose track of time, eh Luna?" Tsukiko asked.
"It sure does. What are we going to buy?"
"Uhh, I am in the mood for some ice cream. Oh and maybe some chocolate flavored pocky. We'll see what else there is once we get there."
ROOOAAAAARRRRR!
Tsukiko stopped walking and Luna kept quiet. A Hollow had just roared and by the sound of it, it was not that far. Tsukiko immediately pulled Luna out of the bag and reached her fingers inside the mouth of the plush dog.
Out came the silver candy pill. Tsukiko popped it into her mouth and swallowed. Out came her soul and Luna now took over her body.
"Come on, Luna. You'll be my back up today." Tsukiko spoke as they both began to run.
Tsukiko began trying to sense the Hollow. After two days of training, she had managed to be able to detect Hollows by their own spirit energy. The Hollow was near the residential houses.
The two ran as fast as they could. Once they reached their destination, there stood the Hollow in all of its ugly glory.
The Hollow's body was just like a lions, the tail long and pointed like a scorpions'. The mask was large, chalk white, and had spikes all around the top. It roared.
Tsukiko removed Kuro Maho from its sheath, preparing herself for a fight, while Luna a got in fighting position as well.
"Let's rock!"
Tsukiko ran towards the Hollow, Luna right besides her. She went to strike at one of its legs, but failed to do so. The Lion-like Hollow swiped her with its tail and sent her flying to a wall.
"Tsukiko!" Luna shouted in worry.
"Do not stop. Keep fighting."
Luna ran towards the Hollow. She managed to dodge the tail and aimed to kick the Hollow in the face. By now, Tsukiko had managed to get up and run back to the fight. While the Hollow was distracted, she stabbed the front ankle. The Hollow screamed in agony. Luna had managed to kick the Hollow, but there wasn't a large amount of force to crack the mask.
"Damn pestering Shinigami. Stop moving so I can eat you!!" The Hollow roared.
"Over my dead body!" Tsukiko screamed out.
"With pleasure." Then the Hollow did something that neither of the two suspected. It moved its tail with such great force, pushing Luna towards the wall. And then it happened.
It stabbed Luna on her right shoulder blade. Both Luna and Tsukiko screamed. The same place where her body was stabbed at was now being shown on her soul. Blood rapidly came out of Tsukiko's/Luna's body. Blood had also flowed out rapidly from Tsukiko's soul.
"HAHAHA! Is that all, little Shinigami! You and your little human self are going to die now!"
"Run, Luna! Go somewhere! Anywhere!"
"But-"
"Not 'buts'. Just do it! It will save us both!!"
Luna nodded and ran. Every step she took she winced. Blood was running down her green shirt and the shirt began to soak up with blood. She didn't stop running, but only managed to look back one last time. She saw Tsukiko dodging the Hollow's tail. She looked forwards and ran to the once place she knew was the closet.
Tsukiko was now alone. She wished that Rukia was here, helping her out at any way possible. She wished Ichigo was here to back her up no matter what. Hell she even wished Ishida was there too.
'Must stay calm,' she thought, 'use all the information you have learned in training.'
The Hollow laughed and brought up it tail, reading to strike it downwards towards her. Tsukiko quickly summoned all her spirit energy and sent it towards her feet. The Hollow yelled as it brought down its tail with great force.
'NOW!' She then became a blurry image to the Hollow. With the force that the tail had, its pointed end had gotten stuck on the floor.
"WHAT?! Where did you go?!"
"Behind you."
The Hollow turned its head and saw Tsukiko for a few seconds, until she disappeared again.
She had finally perfected Shunpo! She had managed to move much faster then she could have possible imagined. She smiled and was now facing the Hollow.
"Now, go to hell! Kuro Maho, Mystic Shadow Strike!"
The black glittery beam erupted from the two sais and headed directly towards the target. The Hollow screamed in misery as a beam escaped its mouth. Behind the Hollow, a gate appeared.
The gate was a dark purple color, making it intimidating to the eye. Four sets of chains were around the very top of the gate and they were atop two skeletons. Each one had a missing arm, but it made it seems as if there were two arms. The skeleton to Tsukiko's left had its right eye bandaged along with the rest of its head, only showing the left eye, mouth, and its nose. The right arm was holding the center of the door. The skeleton to her right was the same as the left, only the opposite. Its right eye, uncovered and it had its left arm out.
The hands began to move. Its grip on the opening got harder. It began to pull it apart. The chains, which were once hanging a little, were now being held under pressure. Each one of them snapped. It the back, it was pure red.
Purple gust appeared as soon as the gate was fully open. The Hollows mask began to disintegrate and suddenly a large sword appeared, stabbing the Hollow. A large hand held the blade and pulled the blade back into is domain. The doors closed slowly. As soon as it was closed, the gate began to crack and it shattered into millions of pieces.
Tsukiko had finally witnessed the Gates of Hell for the first time. She snapped out of her gaze and remembered what she had to do now. She had to look for Luna. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the mod soul's spirit energy. She found it and then used flash step to reach her.
Luna was lying in one of the hospitable beds the Kurosaki's had in their clinic. Karin had found her walking and immediately ran to help her. She helped Luna towards their house and luckily, their father was there.
He had cleaned the cut and bandaged it up. He told her that it was going to leave a scar and that the scar would take a long time to fade a little. But the strange thing that Luna noticed was that Isshin never said her owner's name. Luna ignored it and just listened to what he had said.
Overall, the only injuries that she had were bruises on her back and where her ribs were at and the large gash she had gotten thanks to the Hollow. He had told her that she would have to spend the night and she would be able to leave tomorrow in the evening.
Tsukiko ran to the Kurosaki Clinic and as soon she arrived, she looked through one of the windows. She found Luna, laying down one of the beds asleep. Luna was wearing a large white shirt and the bandages on her body was visible. From what she was able to see, it was wrapped around her chest and on her right shoulder.
Tsukiko sighed. She knew that she would have to wait outside until it was dark. She sat herself on a tree that was nearby the Kurosaki's and waited.She turned her head around and began to examine all of the damages she took. She looked on her right shoulder blade and noticed that the bleeding had finally stopped.
'That is really going to leave a scar. I wonder what else I got.'
She opened her shirt up a little and Tsukiko gasped. Where her ribs are at, a purple and greenish color was surrounded by her natural color. She placed her shirt back down and sighed.
"Damn stupid Hollow and damn me for not paying attention carefully." Tsukiko said to herself when a yawn flowed out of her mouth. "I think I'm just gonna take a nap here."
Tsukiko made herself comfy on the tree branch, closed her eyes, and fell asleep quickly due to exhaustion.
"Where is that girl?" Urahara said as he took a bite of his apple.
"Who knows." Jinta said while he looked over the edge of the hole.
"Should I go look for her?" Ururu asked.
"No, let her be. She might have run into some friends or something."
Inside the hole, Ichigo was still on the floor. The mouths on the chain was eating another piece and as soon as they swallowed the last of one piece, they went back to sleep.
'Now...the fifth erosion is over. It looks like these things repeat a cycle of erosion and sleep ever few minutes.' Ichigo groaned and began to move. He stood up on his knees as his thoughts continued,
'During the erosion, I can't even move from the pain, it's so intense my hair's gonna fall out. So I'll try...when these things are asleep.'
Ichigo stood up from the ground and looked at the wall that was in front of him. He ran as fast as possible. His right foot hit the wall and that's when he began his descend up towards the top. Ichigo shouted as he kept going up but then, he lost his footing, causing him to fall back down.
"Dammit!" He shouted.
At the top, Jinta and Ururu were staring down the hole. Urahara sat behind them, his fan covering his lower face.
"That brat's unbelieveable. He's actually climbed about three meters up this almost vertical wall using that approach." Jinta commented.
"Oh. Well, well." Urahara said as he fanned himself.
"That idiot." Ururu plainly said.
Ichigo was once again flat on his back breathing heavily.
"Damn!" He said aloud.
"Heeey!" Jinta shouted from above. "You hungry at all?"
"No, I'm not! I'm a friggin' soul right now! How can I be hungry?!" Ichigo screamed back pissed off.
From atop, Jinta grinned a cat-like smile. "That's good. I'll tell you something interesting. If you get hungry while you're a soul...that's a danger signal that you're one step away from becoming a Hollow." That certainly caught Ichigo's attention, but began to sweat drop at what the boy said next. "Well, when you're thirsty, you're still ok. When that happens, you can drink some of my spit."
"Bastard!"
As spit began to form out of Jinta's mouth he said, "Come on, Ururu. You do it too."
"Okay." The little girl said and began to spit herself.
"Hey, come down here, dammit! You brats! That fell on me! Quit that! If you don't quit, I'll kill you! Quit! Quit it!!!"
Urahara took a bite of a fresh red apple.
When Tsukiko woke up, it was late at night. She didn't know the exact time or how long she even slept for. She jumped from the tree and landed on her feet. She walked her way towards the Kurosaki Clinc and looked for an open window. On her first try, she found one. She lifted it open quietly and once it was open, she snuck inside.
The house was quiet. Everyone must have been asleep. She walked up to Luna and saw here there asleep. Tsukiko smiled at her and then began her search for her bag. It was next to the bed on a chair. She looked through the bag and found her cellphone. It read eleven forty-nine.
Tsukiko sighed and placed her phone back. She turned to face Luna and began to shake her awake.
"Luna....Luna...Luna wake up!" Tsukiko whispered while she shook the mod soul.
Luna groaned and opened her eyes. "Tsukiko!"
"Shhh." Tsukiko said with her index finger covering her mouth. "Be quiet. We don't want to wake anyone up. Ready to go back to your body?"
Luna nodded and remained still. Tsukiko went on top of her and let her soul be taken back inside its proper place. Once Tsukiko was back in, she spat Luna's pill onto her still bandaged palm. She grabbed the stuffed dog plush and placed the pill in its mouth. Luna then began to move around and looked at Tsukiko.
"I was so worried about you. Did everything go ok?" The dog asked.
"Yeah, everything went fine. Sent the damn bastard to hell. So, did Isshin say when we were going to be able to leave? Oh and what are the damages?"
"Damages are that you now will have a scar that is about five inches long now. There is a bruise over your ribcage and some on your back. Otherwise, you're fine and we can leave tomorrow in the afternoon." Luna then stopped speaking and her small black beaded eyes made it seem as if she was going to start crying.
"Luna what's wrong?"
"I'm sorry," she sniffed, "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have had these injuries."
"Oh Luna," Tsukiko grabbed the stuff animal and gave it a hug. "It's alright. If it asn't for you, I could have died. Now let's get some sleep ok?"
The dog nodded her head and closed its eyes. Tsukiko lied back down, closed her eyes and fell asleep for the second time.
It was around eight forty-five when Tsukiko awoke to someone cooking. She gently lifted herself up and looked around. Her shirt from yesterday was soaked in blood and now she had no other shirt.
The door opened and Tsukiko turned to look. Karin walked in, a tray in her hand. Eggs, bacon, two pieces of toast, and a glass of orange juice were on the tray. Karin looked at her and said,
"Morning Tsukiko. You feeling better?"
"Morning Karin and yeah I feel much better. Thank you so much for finding me."
Karin set the tray in front of Tsukiko. "It's no problem. It was a good thing I found you when walking back from playing soccer."
"Thanks, big time!"
She smiled and said, "Well, eat up now. My dad is gonna come and check up on you soon. I'll be back in a while to pick up your plate."
"Alright. And thanks again."
Karin simply nodded and left the room. Tsukiko sighed and ate the food brought to her. She ate everything in a matter of ten minutes, when someone else walked in. This time it was both Yuzu and Isshin.
"Tsukiko-sensei! Are you feeling better?" Yuzu asked as she ran towards her.
"Yeah, I'm feeling better. Just that the bandage is making me itchy."
"Don't worry; I'll change it for you once dad checks up on you."
"Alright now let's check those wounds on you." Isshin said as he began to inspect all of the damages.
Tsukio winced once he touched the bruise on top of her ribs.
"This might take less than a week to fade away. How did this happen?" Isshin asked.
"Some guys just ganged up on me. They were trying to rob me. I managed to knock 'em out but one of them got me from behind. Then I ran and that's when Karin found me." Tsukiko lied.
"I see. Well, let's check that stab wound." Isshin began to remove the bandages slowly. She winced when she felt the cool air hit her wound. He began to clean it once again. Once he was finished, he called Yuzu over. He looked at the teen and said, "You better take care of yourself alright. You can leave at noon if you want."
She nodded at him and he smiled.
"Alright. I have to make sure that Ichigo's girlfriend is safe ya know." He said with a large grin.
As soon as the words escaped his mouth, he was hit in the head by none other that his own daughter Karin.
"Shut your mouth you old man! We can only make fun of them when they are both together." She shouted.
"Your right I forgot. Now both of you help her shower and all those things I told you to do."
"Yes dad." The fraternal twins spoke at the same time.
Isshin smiled at the three girls and left. Karin and Yuzu faced Tsukiko and said,
"Time to take a bath. We're gonna help you so that the wound won't bleed again."
Tsukiko just simply nodded and stood up. With the help of Yuzu and Karin, they led her to the bathroom and helped her take a bath. The entire time, Tsukiko felt extremely awkward. Having two girls younger than you help you bathe was pretty weird. After her bath, she was given an extra toothbrush and she brushed her teeth.
She was dressed now in the same black shorts and was wearing a white bra. Yuzu and Karin began to bandage her back, leading to her chest and ribs. After that, she now had a white tee-shirt, courtesy from Ichigo's room. Tsukiko was about to dry her hair, when she had thought of something.
She had been wanting to cut her hair for the longest now. She thought that perhaps she could cut it herself and thus, a light bulb went on.
"Hey Karin, Yuzu, come here for a sec."
The two girls walked over to her. Karin then said, "Yeah?"
"Do you guys have some scissors?"
"I'll go get them." Yuzu volunteered and went to grab them.
"Why do you need scissors?"
"Gonna cut my hair."
Yuzu came back and handed her the scissors. Tsukiko thanked her and asked if they wanted to help. They both nodded and then their work began. Once Tsukiko was finished, her hair was now short. It ended above her shoulder and it was in various layers, just like when it was longer.
"Awesome! We did such a good job!" Tsukiko said as she gave the girls each a high five.
"Tsukiko, you can leave now. Tsu-Where's Tsukiko?" Isshin asked as he approached the three girls.
"Uh, I'm right here." She said.
Isshin was shocked. "What happened to your hair?"
"I cut." She said while her fingers went through her hair.
"Looks nice. Oh and you can leave now. Just be careful, alright?"
"I will and thank you all once again." Tsukiko gave them all each a hug. She went to grab her stuff and left their home.
Once they were walking, Luna popped her head out of the bag and looked at Tsukiko.
"Nice hair."
"Thanks, now let's go to the market."
She ran quickly to where she originally was supposed to be at. At the market, she took out her cell phone and checked the time. Barely two nineteen. She sighed and began searching for what she needed to buy.
After going down every isle, she got what she needed. Ice cream, pocky, ramen, and some feminine necessities. She knew that she could always steal some chocolate from Urahara's shop whenever she needed it and that would be extremely soon.
She went to the register and paid for all of the items. After she paid, she walked outside and checked her cell phone once again. It was now three o' five. She walked back quickly to Urahara's and as she walked, she hoped that no one she knew would recognize her. Why? So she wouldn't be stopped to talk about how vacation is so far.
She finally got there in twenty minutes. She walked inside and placed everything in its proper place. She put the ice cream in the fridge and went to her room. She placed the pocky and ramen by her duffel bag that was next to her futon. After that she went inside her bathroom and placed her new razor and tampons inside a cupboard.
After doing all that, she fixed her hair and grabbed Luna from her bag and headed towards the ladder. She climbed down, which took her about six minutes and then walked to the rest.
"So what have I missed?" She asked.
Urahara, Jinta, and Ururu turned to face her. Surprise was in their faces once they saw Tsukiko.
"What did you do to your hair?" Jinta commented.
Urahara hit him in the head to shut him up and Ururu said, "I like your hair, Tsukiko-chan."
"Thanks Ururu. But seriously, what did I miss?"
"Nothing much, just that Kurosaki-kun has reached his sixth erosion. And that these two started spitting at him. Now tell me, what took you so long? You were gone for almost two days."
"Ah you see," she began as she rubbed the back of her neck. She told them the story of how she encountered the Hollow and how she and Luna had gotten injured and how the Hollow was sent straight to Hell.
"I see. Well, let's continue your training."
With that said, Tsukiko grabbed Luna and reached for the pill. She managed to find it on her first try and popped it into her mouth. Her soul came forth and there, everyone saw her scar.
"Okay, let's get to work. What do you want me to do?"
Urahara thought for a second and then said, "Practice your Shunpo. Run around the whole area for two and a half hours then have a break, then run again for another two and a half hours and then try to walk on air."
"How they hell am I suppose to walk on air?!"
"Just think of it as a floor. Now go and run along."
Tsukiko simply sighed and concentrated on her spirit energy. She then began to run around the whole place. 'This is going to be boring.'
Urahara just sat there watching her run around. The man just chuckled when he saw her almost trip after her fourth lap. He then turned back to the hole and watched the two kids keep on spitting at Ichigo.
After the running for two and a half hours, Tsukiko was dead beat. She lied on the ground, breathing heavily, trying to catch her breath.
'Jeez even dancing doesn't make me breathe as hard as I am now.' She thought as she moved her arms to make a head rest. 'And I still have two and a half more hours to go.' Inside her head, fake tears were pouring out like a river.
Ururu walked towards Tsukiko and laid down next to her. "Are you tired, Tsukiko-chan?"
"Tired is an understatement. It's more that I'm dead beat."
Ururu laughed. "You'll get used to it eventually. You should take a nap, its most likely getting dark outside already."
"Hmm, how 'bout we go and check? C'mon, I'll give you some ice cream that I bought."
Ururu smiled and nodded her head. The two got up and walked towards Luna.
"C'mon Luna, let's go upstairs for a while."
They walked to the stairs and climbed up. Tsukiko practiced jumping from wall to wall. At first, she had somewhat tripped on her own feet but managed to catch her fall by grabbing the ladder. She then did it again but when she was more than halfway, she fell. Luckily, Ururu managed to grab her. After thanking her, she said in her head that the third time is a charm. And it was.
Once she was at the top, she went back in her body and placed Luna back in her own body. The three walked to the kitchen and prepared their ice cream and ate it. The three were just relaxing and kicking back. Soon, they fell asleep.
After napping for almost four hours, Tsukiko changed her bandage. They then went back to the training ground and Tsukiko went back to training. She ran around again as a Shinigami and then after running for two and a half hours, she then began to try walking on air.
'Here goes.'
Urahara had just finished eating his eleventh apple. He wiped his mouth clean with his thumb and stood up.
"I wonder if it's night outside. It's terribly hard to tell time in this room."
Down in the hole, Ichigo was laying down on his side.
'Damn...I can't get up there...' he thought as he looked at the top. 'How much time has passed...I don't know. How the hell can I climb this wall?!'
Up at the top, a figure appeared. The figure then came running down until it reached the bottom. It was Jinta and he had with him a plate filled with fruits.
"I brought you food." He spoke with a grin, "I figured you'll be getting hungry soon."
Ichigo grinned as he spoke, "What're you talkin' about? Hungry, my ass. Take a good look." He looked down to his chain of fate and said, "There's still plenty of my chain of fate left." He looked back at the boy.
Jinta's grin faded and he said, "It's understandable you can't sense time in a hole like this."
"Time?"
Jinta placed the plate down and said, "Just about seventy hours have passed since you've entered the hole. Faster people would be turning to Hollows about now." Ichigo got to his knees as the boy continued, "And one more thing...The last erosion...is nothing like the others."
As soon as Jinta said this, erosion began once again. This time, every piece on the chain began to form mouths.
"All the links are...Quit that...Stop, you bastards! Sto-" The chains were now completely gone and there was now a hole on Ichigo's chest. White liquid began to spill from his eyes and it came out of his mouth. Ichigo screamed and a Hollow mask began to form on one side of his face.
Jinta made it back to the top and there was Ururu. As soon as Tsukiko heard the screams she ran towards the hole. Panic was on her face.
"Oh, shit. He's really becoming a Hollow!" Jinta said.
"Beginning rescue measures." Ururu said as she had her left arm out in front of her.
"Hold it."
Ururu turned around and said, "Kisuke-san..."
"Look closely at him." All three of them did as he continued speaking, "Normally, when a Plus descends to a Hollow...first the spirit form shatters and reconstitutes into a different form. But he's totally out if sequence.
"The mask is being born first, while the body is still a Plus. This is a sign if his resistance. There is still a possibility he will return to being a Shinigami. Let's watch what happens a little longer...until he really becomes a Hollow. Just a tiny bit longer."
"You better be right, Urahara. Or else I am going to kill you." Tsukiko said as she walked away back to training, not wanting to be near them at all.
Ichigo screamed. It was there a voice spoke to him.
"Can you hear me, Ichigo?"
Ichigo opened his eyes and saw buildings. Everything was sideways, to him, the building were not going straight up as it normally does.
"Where...am I?" He said as he looked around.
"Over here."
Ichigo turned around and there he saw a man. Long dark brown hair flowed in the air, while a pair of black clear sunglasses was on his face. He had a moustache and a beard. A long black jacket flowed around him as if the bottom was ripped. Under that jacket was a white shirt, the collar having tears as well. He had on black pants and black shoes. And as he faced Ichigo, he was on top of a pole.
"Who...are you?"
"'Who'? What are you talking about? It's me, --------."
'I can't hear him.' Ichigo thought as he kept on facing him.
"I see. So I still haven't reached you...How sad. Just how many times must I strain my voice before it will reach you? And yet, nowhere in this world can there be anyone who knows me better than you."
"What're you talkin' about?" Ichigo asked with his eyes closed. "Sorry, but I dunno anyone as depressing as you." Ichigo opened his eyes and stared in shock. "You...how did you..."
The man was now not on the tip of the pole, but on the side of it now as if he was on a balance beam.
"You surprise me. How can you sit in such a place?"
Ichigo finally took notice but it was too late. He had begun to fall backwards. He screamed in fright and the man began to fall with him.
"If you're screaming, you must be relaxed. That's promising. Don't worry. A Shinigami is he who controls death...He rules over a great many spirits."
"R-Right now, I'm not a Shinigami." Ichigo said as kept on falling.
"Remember! The Shinigami powers destroyed by Kuchiki Byakuya were...only the Shinigami powers given to you by Kuchiki Rukia. Of course they were. They were all he set his aim on. Because he thought the matter would end if he eliminated only those. He was careless. He failed to see that you have your own Shinigami powers."
"My own...Shinigami powers?" Ichigo asked in a shock.
"That's right. It's just like your friend, Takeshi Tsukiko when she first came in contact with a Shinigami. It's the same with you. Your powers, which began to awaken because of Kuchiki Rukia's powers, hid themselves in the depths of your soul the instant before Kuchiki Byakuya's attack."
The man turned his body around so that it looked as if he was standing up. "Now, find them! If there were any time you could seek out your hidden Shinigami powers...it is only now that this world had begun to crumble."
The buildings began to crumble and instead of rubble, boxes began to fall. "Among the countless boxes now falling, your Shinigami powers are hidden in just one. Find that one."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Ichigo shouted.
"I won't listen to excuses. There is no time. If you don't find it before this world completely crumbles...then you will become a Hollow."
Ichigo kept on falling and then landed in water. He kept on sinking; the boxes following him.
'How do I...look for just one box with Shinigami powers inside, out of all of these...How the hell do I find it...First of all, I...was never good at sensing spirit power or whatever to begin with. Didn't Ishida say something like that...Ishida? How did he figure out that Tsukiko and I were Shinigamis, anyway?'
"...eh?" Ishida's voice began to ring out.
'Some kind of easy way...'
"...know eh?"
'Somehow high and mighty...What was it...' Ichigo closed his eyes and began to think.
He was remembering Ishida holding out a ribbon. Then Ishida spoke clearly, "Did you know, eh? Shinigami's spirit threads are color red."
Ichigo opened his eyes and finally remembered. "That's it!"
White threads began to appear in front of him. But there was a single red one that stood out. Ichigo grabbed it and shouted out, "This one!"
He pulled the box and it opened. "What...the...A Zanpakutou's...hilt?" There was the hilt of his Zanpakutou.
The man appeared behind Ichigo and he sensed him.
"You did well to find me," He spoke. "I hope that next time, my name will reach your ears."
"You...could you be..."
The buildings began to crumble and fall.
"What are you doing?! It's crumbling! Pull me out already!"
Ichigo grabbed the hilt and began to pull it out.
As the others kept watching, Ichigo's Hollow mask was almost complete. Tsukiko stood next to Urahara's right while the two kids and Luna were on his left. Ichigo's scream was haunting Tsukiko, for she did not want to see something like this happen.
The bonds on Ichigo began to break and Tessai took quick notice.
"It's at the limit, Manager! Switching to suppression style!" He stuck his hands to the ground and said, "Way of Binding No. Ninety-nine, type two: Bankin! First song, Shiryuu!" Bandages wrapped around Ichigo. "Second song, Hyajurensan!" Knives of some sort stabbed Ichigo.
The ground began to shake from where the other was at.
"Hey, Tessai! If you hit 'em with that, he'll die!" Jinta yelled down towards Tessai.
"What?! You can't do this, Tessai!" Tsukiko screamed.
"At this point, I have no choice. I have already reached the limit of simply holding him. He must be eliminated before he becomes a Hollow." He placed his palms together as if he was praying and said, "Final song, Bankin Taihou!"
A coffin-like box fell from the sky and was heading straight towards Ichigo. A crack began to form where Ichigo's chest is suppose to be at.
"This is the end!"
The box landed on top of Ichigo and then there was an explosion.
Urahara and Tsukiko grabbed the kids and Luna and hovered over them, protecting from the beam that emitted from the bottom of the hole.
"Something came out!" Jinta said.
A beam came out and landed on the ground. Urahara and Tsukiko got off the kids and Luna and looked to where the thing landed.
"What the hell was that?!"
The dust began to settle as they all stood up. Jinta and Tsukiko began to walk forward.
"Hey!" Jinta shouted out. "Is it you? Answer, orange boy! If you're alive, answer me!"
Red glowing eyes shined through the dust. As soon as the dust cleared, there stood Ichigo. A white cloth was pinned down and flowed with the dust while another piece of cloth was on his head. He was in his Shinigami clothes, but there was a Hollow mask on his face. The mask was white with three red stripes curving towards where the nose should be at. Most of the mask was covered by the cloth.
"Shinigami clothes and...a mask?" Tsukiko said.
"Is he a Hollow? A Shinigami?" Jinta asked.
Ichigo moved his right hand and grabbed the hilt of her Zanpakutou. Tsukiko grabbed her sais, while Ururu and Jinta readied themselves for a fight, if one was to happen.
"Don't take us lightly! Come on, if you're coming!"
With the hilt of his weapon, Ichigo slammed it on his face, breaking the mask. The shattered pieces fell to the floor and Ichigo grabbed the remaining part with his left hand. He lifted it off his face while the cloth went with it.
Everyone was shocked. He moved the remaining piece and moved it so that it was on the left side of his head.
"He didn't become...a Hollow." Jinta said.
'I knew he could make it!' Tsukiko thought in her head.
"Tsukiko," she turned to face Urahara, "I want you to go back to training. But if something is to go wrong in the next lesson, protect the kids."
"Okay." She walked away from the group and continued her training.
Ichigo balled his left hand and released it. He did it for a few more times when clapping was heard.
"Congrats!" Urahara said as he now faced Ichigo. "You've returned to being a Shinigami right on time." He had a huge smile on his face and he held his opened fan. "Superb! Lesson two, clear!"
Ichigo walked over to Urahara and said, "Shut your trap!" He hit Urahara with then end of his hilt right on the man's chin.
Urahara was on his squatting, his hands covering his face as Ichigo stood over him. Ichigo laughed and had his arms crossed as he spoke, "The second I came back to life was the second your luck ran out. I swore..." He said with his finger up in the air, "...if I got out of the hole alive, I'd make sure to...kill you dead!" Anger marks were all over his head as he pointed at Urahara.
Urahara moved his hands from his face and looked at Ichigo. He grabbed his cane and said, "Well, that's perfect." He stood up and continued, "Let's use that energy and...go straight to lesson three."
"Ehh?" Ichigo said as his right eye began to twitch.
"Lesson three has no time limit." Urahara pointed to his hat and continued, "Knock my hat off with your Zanpakutou and it's clear."
Ichigo swiped what was left of his Zanpakutou upwards, a light shining after his attack. It made a small tear on Urahara's bucket hat. Ichigo jumped back and Urahara took notice of the cut on his hat.
"Impressive. Such an attack with only a broken Zanpakutou..."
Ichigo pointed out his broken weapon towards Urahara and said, "Of course! If I get serious, I've got plenty more where that came from! Forget that laid back 'no time limit' crap...Let's settle this in about five minutes." Ichigo stated as he held his hand out with all fingers and thumb up, representing the number five.
"Yes, well...Okay, in five minutes..." Urahara grabbed the top of his cane and pulled it up. There he showed his own weapon. "...let's settle it."
Tsukiko was sitting down; she made an energy ball from her spirit energy and began to through it up in the air. She sighed made it disappear.
"I wonder if I can make a shield of some sort with my spirit energy. That is magic right." She thought as she scratched her head. She grabbed one of her sais and with the other hand, she grabbed a rock.
She tossed the rock upwards and with her right hand she concentrated her spirit energy into the sai and waved it in front of her. Hoping that a shield would appear, the rock began it's descend downwards but no shield came out. The rock hit Tsukiko on her head and she held it in pain.
"Okay, this is going to take a while."
