Chapter fifteen: Fresh Air.
Chapter fifteen.
"Why the long face?" A raspy voice, one that Haru could recognize anywhere reached his ears. "Did something happen?"
"Yoruichi." Haru acknowledged the cat with a short nod. "Yes, something did happen. But you know that already, don't you?"
"I know a little bit." Yoruichi admitted, standing up from the ground as she graciously walked near the boy.
The duo left the store without much needing to be said, a silent agreement between the two as they left the place.
"So then…" Haru spoke after a few minutes of silent walking. "You mind telling me a little about this Rukia Kuchiki? I assume you know her, right?"
"Hardly, I have never seen her before." Yoruichi told him, and for the most part he was inclined to believe her.
"Hm… Meaning, she is not that special?" Haru asked. "I'm a little sad, I expected something more out of a real soul reaper."
"I am a real soul reaper." Yoruichi reminded him, though she knew well the boy was just messing around. "Besides, you shouldn't be comparing us to just any soul reaper… You'll end up feeling sorely disappointed if you do."
"In other words, you two are special?" Haru eyed the cat curiously. "That's nice to hear, I was afraid every single soul reaper would be ridiculously strong like you."
"I'll take the compliment." Yoruichi replied, sounding rather amused at the idea. "By the way… Where are we heading?"
"Home." Haru stated in response, stalking Ichigo in order to confirm his suspicions would have to wait, he needed some rest.
"You wanna tag along?" Haru asked her. "I would appreciate the company."
"Oh, I'm sure you would." Yoruichi smiled. "Sure… It's not like I have much to do around here, I could use a nap."
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
Haru fell on his bed, bouncing off the mattress and falling on top of it again. The comfiness of his bed stripping all the stress from his mind.
"Man… I'm so stressed. Why can things never be simple?" He rolled around, taking hold of his sheets as he covered himself with them.
"Oh, you'll get used to it…" Yoruichi jumped on the bed, landing on her four paws. "Things are never simple when Kisuke is involved."
"..." Haru stared at the cat in silence, as if he was expecting something to happen; expecting her to do something.
He kept staring with an unreadable face as the cat got herself comfortable, taking the universal 'cat loaf' position to rest.
"Disappointed, mhm?" Yoruichi spoke first, her raspy voice in her cat form filled with amusement. "Well? Tell me."
"A little bit." Haru admitted.
"Pervert."
"Guilty as charged."
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
"Time to rise and shine, sweetheart." Haru growled in response to his mother's kind words, covering himself with his sheets.
This time, he was prepared, this time he wouldn't be forced out of bed, the witch wouldn't take his sheets, not again.
The cold morning air wouldn't hit him again, he was prepared to face this challenge, he would get his five more minutes of sleep.
No matter what.
"Haru…" Himari pleaded with her son, her innocent act fooling no one, certainly not him. "Come on…"
The woman tried to pull the sheets off him, but Haru held them tight, so tight she would find better luck burning them off rather than taking them from him.
"Oh, I see how it is…" Himari's demeanor switched, her tone so ominous that it almost made Haru's resolve falter.
Without another word, she left the room. Haru was suspicious, just what was she planning, exactly?
'No, no.' He shook his head. 'I must not think like that, that's what she wants.'
And so, he closed his eyes.
'Not this time, mom. I win!' He thought triumphantly, curling up in bed as he prepared himself for a nice sleep.
"Haru." Himari spoke again as she reentered the room, a 'thud' sound reaching him as she left something on the floor. "Last warning."
'I'm afraid not, mother.' Haru thought, still feeling rather triumphant. 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on…'
There, it hit him, something wet, soaking him from head to toes, something cold, freezing cold. Water. Cold water.
"AGRHR#!E@$#J-"
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"ANRKDJEKR." Haru screeched, hissed and rolled around the bed in pure, unadulterated agony. He threw his sheets, soaked in water.
"I warned you." Himari told her son, leaving the empty bucket on the floor as she watched his son scream. "Someone is here to see you."
"...?" Though still freezing cold, Haru still had the mind left to process his mother's words, even if very slowly.
Someone wanted to see him? That's why he had been soaked in cold water on his free day?
"There better be a stripper on that door or I am killing them." He growled, perhaps a little too loud.
"You want another bucket?" Himari asked.
"I hate you."
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
Haru, still soaked, shirtless and in his pajamas, stormed towards the door without a care in the world, clenching his teeth in anger.
"Oh, Haru…?" A voice reached him as he opened the door, one that he recognized but couldn't quite place due to his overwhelming anger dulling his reasoning. "... What the hell happened to you?"
There, he met gazes with an all too familiar face, one that he had been meaning to see since yesterday.
"Ichigo." Haru said as the orange haired teenager stood just outside his front door. "You are not a stripper."
"Come again?"
"Tch." Haru clicked his tongue, spotting a short figure behind the orange haired boy. "Kuchiki, right? You are not a stripper either."
That's right, it was not just Ichigo, but that rogue soul reaper from before that stood at his front door.
"Oh… It's you." Rukia said, recognizing him on the spot. It seemed like Ichigo hadn't told her where they were going. "What is a stripper?"
"Wait. You know her?" Ichigo raised one of his hands up, seemingly even more lost than before. He turned to Rukia. "You know him?"
"Sort of." Rukia said.
"Not really." Haru replied.
"Ugh…" Ichigo rubbed his head, frustrated and uncomfortable in equal parts. "Look, I don't get what's going on here, and I know this will sound weird, but…"
"Come in." Haru interrupted him, signaling for them to come inside, calming down more and more as each second passed.
"Uh?" It was Ichigo's turn to be confused now. He was welcomed in, just like that? No questions asked?
He and Haru weren't friends, not by a long shot, they got along well, but that was about it. It was a little bit strange that he would welcome them in without a second thought.
"I said come in." Haru repeated. "You wanted to talk, right? Let's talk, then."
Haru walked inside, and so, with several questions in Ichigo's mind, he followed after, and so did Rukia.
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
"I get it." Haru said, sitting on his bed with a towel resting on his shoulders as he finished dressing himself.
"You do!?" Ichigo yelled, taken aback. He had just told Haru possibly the craziest tale ever, and he just believed him?
"Mhm." Haru nodded, humming some words as he looked around his desk for some of his old sketches. "You do remember, right?"
"Remember what?" Ichigo inquired, as he and Rukia, who still remained uncharacteristically silent, followed his movements.
"These." Haru threw a couple of papers at Ichigo and Rukia, some sketches of a couple of hollows. "I showed you some of these back in the day, remember? From what I can gather from your story…"
"You happened to meet this little girl, Rukia Kuchiki…"
"I'm not 'little'." Rukia snapped at him, but Haru still carried on with his summary, much to her dismay.
"Then, she fought a hollow, similar to these." He pointed to the sketches. "She lost…"
"I didn't lose!" Rukia snapped again, this time speaking considerably louder, but he ignored her all the same.
"You two performed some vague, rather dangerous and possibly life threatening ritual, so you could become a soul reaper."
"You became a soul reaper, and then the day after, Kuchiki here is chasing you until you agree to do all her work as a soul reaper."
"... Did I cover it all?" He finished.
"..." Ichigo stared at Haru in silent awe. "You got all that? You believe me as well?"
"Well, of course I do." Haru told him blankly. "I have been taking care of them for ages. But I don't get it, what is the problem here?"
Haru hadn't missed the fact Ichigo had failed to mention that the ritual he and Rukia performed was apparently a crime.
He could bring it up right then and there, but if he was gonna do it, it would be better to do so when the rogue soul reaper was not around.
There was also the possibility that she herself wasn't aware of the crimes she had committed, but if that was the case…
Urahara should have told her about it, right? Unless the man was scheming, as per usual, and had a hidden motive behind his actions.
"Um… Well." Ichigo turned around so as to face Rukia. "I half expected you to have a solution for… whatever this is."
"Afraid not." Haru told him. "I know just a little about soul reapers, enough to know they exist, but that is about it."
"You." Rukia spoke up, having remained silent up until that point. "You are the one behind the disappearance of hollows around town."
"Um… Possibly?" Haru shrugged, it wasn't just his doing after all. Ishida had gotten rid of his fair share of hollows as well. "Why?"
"A human." Rukia said, her face filled with sheer disbelief as she spoke. "A human has been dealing with all of these hollows, just like that?"
"Yes and no." Haru corrected her. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't think I count as a human, not a normal one at least."
"..." Ichigo, who had remained silent for a bit, spoke up after some deep thinking. "Rukia, we should leave."
"Wait, Ichigo." Rukia told him in an attempt to stop him. "I still have some questions…"
"No." Ichigo shut her off, shaking his head from side to side. "I came here looking for a solution, and he doesn't have it. I don't wanna get him involved in this mess…"
"Oh, leaving so soon?" Haru asked him, a sly grin present on his face. "And here I was wondering if we could have a little spar."
"A spar?" Ichigo asked, sounding positively confused. "What for?"
"Well…" He began; he could think of a reason or two.
"You came here because… Well, simply put, you'd rather not fight some monsters, which is fair enough."
"Fight me instead, as a small test. You'll get better at fighting, possibly at dealing with them as well. Who knows? Perhaps you will even grow to like it."
"And if that happens, then there is no longer a problem, right? You'll take care of her duties for a while, until she recovers her powers, that is."
"So, what will it be? You feeling up for it?" Haru asked, his smirk turning roguish as he tried to talk him into accepting.
"He'll do it." Rukia accepted in Ichigo's stead, ignoring the annoyed scream from the orange haired teenager.
"Wait, I haven't accepted…!" Ichigo tried to protest, but it was all in vain. Rukia had her mind made up.
"Why not?" Rukia asked him, elbowing him in the ribs so as to get the teen to stop complaining. "You get better at fighting, I get to ask him questions, he… Well, he gets something, I guess. Whatever that is."
"You want me to fight him as a soul reaper? You two are insane!" Ichigo told them both, feeling like the only sane person in the room. "I won't fight someone who is unarmed…"
"Oh, so that is it." Haru realized, of course, always so noble. "Then don't worry about that, I'm never unarmed."
"Yeah, right." Ichigo wasn't buying it. "I'm sorry, but fists are not gonna do it…"
"Fists? Nah." Haru's forearm began shining under his long shirt, emitting a green light that grew brighter and brighter. "I just summon it…"
As if to further prove his point, the black haired boy summoned his sword forth from within his tattoo, morphing into his elegant blade.
"Like so." He finished, pointing the tip of the sword at him.
"Rukia, how did he…?" Ichigo, lost as he was, tried to look for an explanation from the short girl.
"I'm just as lost." Rukia whispered to Ichigo, shaking her head. "Truthfully, I'm not even sure about what he is."
"Do we have a deal, then?" Haru repeated.
"I guess we do." Ichigo replied with a sigh, he had come looking for answers and he was about to leave with a hundred more questions.
"Alright!"
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
"You sure no one comes around here?" Ichigo asked, glancing from left to right as he found himself staring at nothing but trees.
"Trust me." Haru assured him, summoning his sword as he took a fighting stance. "I have been training in this forest for a long time, no one comes around these parts. However, if someone does, I'll sense them."
"You will?" Ichigo asked with a strange look. "How?"
"..." Haru paused, this was the first time he encountered someone who didn't know that. "Ugh… It's like.. You sort of feel it… It kinda tickles… That sounded weird. Whatever, I'll explain after the fight!"
"Alright, then." Ichigo turned to face Rukia, watching as the girl put on a red glove with a white skull on it. "Do it."
"With pleasure." Rukia told him, rushing towards him as she smashed her gloved hand against his face.
The moment she did, something difficult to explain happened, as Rukia pushed another body out of Ichigo's body.
That's right, there were now two Ichigo's, one dressed in full black, wearing a shihakusho and wielding a sword as large as him.
The other Ichigo fell limp to the ground, almost as if he had died on the spot, he remained motionless.
"What the…?" Haru couldn't help but give voice to his thoughts. This was something he had never seen before.
"Ugh… Yeah, that." Ichigo told him, rubbing his head as he watched his limp body on the ground. It still was weird. "It's like… Um… You know what, I'll explain after the fight as well!"
"Heh." Haru smirked, that worked just fine for him. "Alright, then. Show me what a soul reaper can do. You have big shoes to fill Ichigo!"
No more pleasantries, no more taunts, no more words. It was almost like a silent agreement between the two, from then on, there was no more talking.
Thus it happened, Haru, the more experienced fighter, rushed straight at Ichigo, feeling more comfortable with taking the initiative.
He lunged at him, a grin on his face as he covered the distance separating the two in an instant. And with no hesitation, he sliced.
Ichigo wielded his massive blade around, acting on pure instinct as he managed to obstruct the slash with his zanpakuto.
'He's fast.' Ichigo thought, holding his ground despite taking the strike. The two collided again, this time, Ichigo striked first.
'He's slow.' Haru thought, and he deflected Ichigo's slash with little trouble, sending the blade straight to the side.
Ichigo's zanpakuto crashed into the ground, leaving a huge dent on it, but the orange haired soul reaper didn't let go of his sword.
Ichigo's punkish, fierce gaze as he locked gazes with him made him smirk.
'That's more like it.'
Ichigo tried to lift his blade up with the intention to launch another attack, but before he could even do so, he found his hands stuck.
Haru took hold of Ichigo's blade as well, his hand touching the edge as if it was little more than a piece of dull metal, pushing the zanpakuto further, deeper into the ground.
Immediately after, Haru made use of his hand wielding his sword to make a single, forward thrust towards the teenager.
Ichigo tried to force his blade up,but much to his surprise, Haru had such overwhelming strength with just that single hand, he couldn't even make it move an inch.
Then he saw it, the blade nearing, shortening the distance between him and his unprotected chest, straight to his heart.
"It's over?" Haru asked, his tone tainted with a little disappointment. His blade had stopped mere millimeters before piercing Ichigo's skin.
Ichigo released the breath he did not know he was holding, falling back on the ground as Haru let go of the teenager's sword.
'Huh.' Haru blinked, almost not believing it had been over in just two strikes. 'That was unexpected.'
"Again!" Ichigo growled, standing up from the ground just as quickly as he had fallen a second before.
'...?' Haru smiled. 'Round two, it is, then.'
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
Ichigo fell to the ground for the eighteenth time, falling ass first into the dirt as he groaned in frustration.
Three hours, it had been three hours and Ichigo had yet to land a single strike on his opponent.
"Again!" Ichigo growled, forcing himself to stand up again. He looked rather frustrated with his continuous failure to land a blow.
"Nah." Haru told him. "We are done."
"No we are not!" The moment Ichigo managed to get up using his zanpakuto as support, he felt all his energy leave him.
'What?' Ichigo fell to the ground, exhausted. He collapsed onto his back, how had all his strength left him so suddenly?
"Hm… How do I put this?" Haru, spotless, took a step forward. "You have no technique, which in retrospect, is to be expected."
"You have good instincts though." He complimented him, that much he had to admit. "You also have some incredible stamina…"
"All in all… You did great." He said at long last, taking Ichigo by surprise.
"I did great?" Ichigo didn't seem to like that, if anything, he seemed offended. "I didn't land a single strike. I couldn't do anything!"
"You are right." Haru agreed. "You couldn't. However… You have that look, and that's more than enough."
"That look?"
"I asked for a spar, that's all." Haru reminded him. "One single fight, nothing more, nothing less. Yet, each time… You got up, and asked for us to fight again."
"You liked it, right?" Haru asked him, a wide smirk on his face as he spoke. "You liked fighting me."
"..." Ichigo stared at him. "I didn't hate it."
The moment he said those words, he fainted, so exhausted it almost felt unnatural, he had fought with all his might, sure, but to be exhausted to such an extent?
"I figure that's about as much of an admission as I am gonna get from him." Haru said, turning towards Rukia.
The girl in question had remained observant, silent for the past three hours with just some random tips thrown here and there.
"You did something to him." Rukia said, it was not a question, but a statement. "He's all out of strength."
"Yeah, fighting for three hours in a row tends to do that." Haru replied effortlessly. "It's nothing a good night of sleep cannot fix, I'm sure."
"That's not what I meant."
"Isn't it?" Haru shrugged his shoulders. "I must have misunderstood, then."
"I don't think you did." Rukia eyed him suspiciously. "Just what is that sword…?"
"I'm not obligated to answer that." Haru told her, shutting off whatever questions she might have tried to verbalize. "It matters not. I said I would spar with him, so I did. I also showed him that fighting can be rather fun."
"You can't be sure." Rukia said, staring at the unconscious form of Ichigo on the ground. "He had fun fighting a person, fighting a hollow is another matter altogether."
"You are right about that." Haru agreed. "I imagine that he will fight even harder against a hollow."
"What…?"
"He's a protector, that much, I can tell." Haru explained, kneeling near the teenager. "I won't sit here and pretend I know him all that well, but I have seen enough of him to know that."
"Ah, one more thing… You can handle him, right?" Haru asked, turning to face the rather small girl as he gazed back at Ichigo.
"Handle him?" Rukia sounded rather confused. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean carry him back…" Haru replied in a blank tone. Wasn't it obvious? "You can do that, right?"
"I… I mean, I should, but…" Rukia hesitated a little, without her powers it would take a long, long time to get him back home.
"Alright, then." Haru stood up, facing the opposite direction as he began walking away from them. "Later!"
"Wait. You are not just gonna leave, right? I have no powers, it will take me age…" Rukia blinked, Haru was gone.
"That bastard…" Rukia cursed under her breath. He really left, just like that!
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
[Hours later.]
"Mhmm…" Orihime stared at the sky, her mouth hanging open as she seemed to be zoning out, staring into nothingness.
'This girl…' Walking next to her, Haru chuckled, amused at the sight.
"You are doing it again." Haru pinched the teenage girl on the cheek, causing her to shy away from his touch in between whimpers.
"Aww." Orihime pouted, touching the reddening spot on her cheek. "I'm sorry."
The teenage girl had the rather strange habit of zoning out, and when she did, her mouth just hung open as she stared into the void.
'I can never tell what she is thinking.' Haru thought, walking side by side as the two carried on through the familiar path to her house.
Focusing on the road, Haru carried some groceries -mostly bread- in his free hand, with a comfortable silence filling the streets.
"Isn't it odd how…?" The evening sun cast long shadows on the ground, as she spoke, Haru's gaze landed on her.
'Always smiling.' He found himself thinking about her.
Her attitude, upbeat, so carefree, completely unbothered by everything and anything, it was just… So refreshing.
For an instant, he felt the stress leaving him, taking off his mind of all the plans, schemes and secrets surrounding him and his friends.
"Haru..." Her voice reached him, feeling her poking him on the cheek. "You zoned out, kind of like me, actually… Oh, no!"
The girl made a dramatic pause, horrified at a sudden realization. "What if I rubbed it off on you?"
"..." He chuckled. "I was just thinking."
"Thinking?" Orihime cutely tilted her head to the side. "About what?"
"About…" Haru paused. "Well, about you. I was thinking you are such a breath of fresh air, it's actually…?"
Haru watched as Orihime walked past him, her steps quickening as she made some distance between them.
'Ah…' Orihime thought, holding her breath. 'Not again. My face is so red, I can't let him see me like this.'
"Orihime…?" Haru stared at her back, watching as the distance between them grew. "You mind slowing down a second? You are walking a little fast."
"Ahaha… I was, um." The girl laughed awkwardly, making Haru wonder just what her deal was.
'Think, Orihime, think.' The beautiful girl thought hard about whatever excuse her brain could come up with.
"Oh, a race!" The redhead announced randomly. "I was um… I was thinking about how after I eat all of this, I'll need to lose some weight."
"So if I race before I eat, I won't need to lose weight at all!" The girl proudly proclaimed, sharing her genius idea to the world.
And just like that, she started running.
"...?" Haru smiled lightly at her antics. "There she goes… I better keep up."
Haru stretched a little, he still had some energy stored up from earlier, so he could use the occasion to release some of it.
"Alright, then…" He watched her vanish into the distance, letting her get the advantage before he began running. "Ready…"
"Steady…" He whispered. "Go!"
End of chapter fifteen.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
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