InuYasha Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction / Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ »—:♫ HOUKIBOSHI ♫:—« ❯ Bleanuyasha 04 ( Chapter 4 )

- Bleanuyasha 4 -

 

“You gotta be shitting me,” Ichigo said incredulously. “You really expect us to buy into this?” He looked from Urahara's face to that of Kagome's. Both were sitting across of where he was, with Orihime hovering beside her cousin and Ishida hovering beside Orihime. Kagome was still holding on to Kon, much to the delight of the Mod Soul. She looked like she found comfort in having him close to her chest like that. It irritated the orange-haired Shinigami because it kept the little brat out of the reach of his fists of fury. He briefly considered warning her about the plushie's preference towards perversion, but he vindictively kept quiet.

 

They had just been treated to what the old man claims to be as an accounting of Kagome's so-called adventures with an ancient dry well. “What a bunch of bull,” he added when the old man took a breather from talking. Even he wasn't so gullible as to believe in everything the old man fed him. He had already been cleverly manipulated once. It was enough for him to learn his lesson.

 

A time-traveling miko in the quest to complete a jewel that could grant any wish? What did they take him for? Did they think he was some kind of stupid?

 

He looked from Inoue's face to Ishida's questioningly. “Don't tell me you actually believe this crap?” He ignored Kagome's heated glare as he took in Orihime's apologetic one and Ishida's impassive stare. He expected Inoue to side with her cousin. Blood was thicker than water and all that jazz… but Ishida? Wasn't he supposed to be the logical one? Wasn't he supposed to be the one with the extensive knowledge and all that crap?

 

Uryuu cleared his throat and pushed his glasses higher on top of his nose. “Well, Kurosaki… you see… I've heard of the legend about mikos from my grandfather before,” he explained. His grandfather had been the last of the greatest of all Quincies. He could only hope to be as great a man as his beloved grandfather was, but he would be happy even if he only lived to be one tenth of the man he had been.

 

His beloved grandfather told him the legend of a great line of holy warriors these mikos were. Telling him that while Quincy powers totally obliterated Hollows, miko powers purified them, which was equivalent to a holy sending. Their powers also worked on a wide variety of things, but in the old days, they were focused mainly on protecting human beings from the threat of demons.

 

Grandfather told him that he has never met any of these so-called mikos, and the last known one died more than five hundred years ago. There was no evidence to this day that they still existed. To see one now was like seeing a mythical creature… like a unicorn or something along those lines.

 

Uryuu, at that time, chalked it up under the fairytales and life lessons that his grandfather loved telling him, and never gave it a second thought up until now.

 

If what Urahara Kisuke told them was true, Kagome was supposed to have been, still is, and what seems to be the only guardian of a powerful jewel named the Shikon no Tama. Said jewel was presumed to be able to grant any wish and was supposedly created from the fusing of a miko's soul with several demons due to a great battle that happened thousands of years ago. Kagome was firmly believed to be the only person alive to have the power to contain such jewel, and to purify it. She was the only person who could keep it untainted and safe from evil influences.

 

According to Urahara, she was also the last of a dying race. Their line had extreme spiritual potential in it, thus explaining Kagome and Orihime's unique abilities. It didn't mean however, that there would be a guaranteed, true-blooded miko in their family. He explained that when the last guardian died, the jewel disappeared with it. The new era where humans became smarter and eventually advanced to be the dominant species was also ushered in, with the remaining youkai either dying or bred out. Whatever was left of that race was now living in harmony with the human population. Or most of them at least.

 

Some lived like Hollows, in between dimensions, or crossing in between the living world and Soul Society. The few who weren't consumed with thirst for power or bloodlust were the first to divulge their knowledge (reluctantly or otherwise) of demon magic, which was now incorporated into Soul Society's Shinigami training.

 

He glared at Ishida for selling out and said “I still don't buy it,” refusing to budge.

 

Even the subject of the Hougyoku, the Crumbling Treasure, was rehashed. The Hougyoku was a small jewel-like thing that the former Shinigami Captain had invented. It allowed Shinigamis to go beyond their limits and obtain Hollow-like powers. His researched failed to give him a way to destroy it, so he sealed it away instead, hiding it from others who wanted it to obtain power.

 

Urahara continued to explain that Kagome had been his prime research example for hiding the Hougyoku. It seemed like he came across the legend during his years as the lead specialist for the Research and Development Section of Soul Society and devoted a lot of time studying it. Souls were hard to track in the afterlife, having eighty different levels outside of the Court of Pure Souls, but he managed to observe how the Shikon slowly fused completely with its host when he had the opportunity to meet one of Kagome's past reincarnations. It seems like when Kikyou made the decision to burn her body together with the jewel, the jewel attached itself to its guardian's soul and slowly began to merge with it. He was exiled a little while after that, but the meeting was burned permanently into his memories, he reminisced.

 

Kagome wondered if it was Kikyou he met and asked. He answered no, it wasn't someone named Kikyou but it was a sweet girl named Miyako. The name didn't ring any bells for Kagome and she felt a tinge of guilt at her relief for it not being Kikyou. Even if she had long ago accepted her past reincarnation, albeit regarding her relationship with Inuyasha or the fact that people tended to look at Kikyou as the better miko, she just didn't want to live under the priestess' shadow again.

 

Ichigo merely rolled his eyes at the drama. He couldn't see what was so special about the jewel at all. From his experience, things like that only caused problems. Take Rukia, for example. She changed his life when she gave him the opportunity to awaken his Shinigami powers, but it also led to several unfortunate events that almost cost her and the lot of them their lives. And whose fault was it? He glared at old man Urahara.

 

The exiled ex-Captain continued with his explanation, telling Kagome how he had been excited after he found out about Kagome's birth. It was the first time, he said, that the jewel manifested itself inside its guardian's body like that. During that time, he was already residing in the living world and was delighted to observe what seemed to be the final stage of the fusion.

 

Kagome felt uneasy thinking about how he was able to monitor her without her or Inuyasha's knowledge. One would think that the inuhanyou's keen sense of smell would have detected any suspicious characters lurking around the shrine.

 

Urahara countered that she fell through the well just as he was forced to shift his priorities elsewhere. The miko didn't have long to wait before she was enlightened to what the circumstances of his forced inattentiveness were.

 

At this point of his explanation, she didn't fail to observe that Ichigo had gone from looking disbelieving to smug.

 

Kagome couldn't help but wonder how he could experience all those things and not believe that demons and a magic well existed, the jerk. He's not even remotely cute at all, inner Kagome raged and she silently agreed. That constant crinkle on his forehead was definitely a turn-off.

 

Definitely, inner Kagome agreed.

 

“So when people die, their souls wait in this world until they get sent to this `Soul Society' by so-called `Death Gods'? Like some sort of afterlife?” She wanted to clarify. Somehow, she presumed that Pied-piper-like youkai was the only one responsible for helping dead spirits move on. I guess I was wrong. At Urahara's nod she continued “And when they die there, they get sent back in the living world? Like being reincarnated?” Urahara nodded at her again, seemingly pleased by her conclusions.

 

Kagome's mind reeled with the possibilities of this implication. Would her friends be living in this Soul Society right now or were they already reborn back into the living world? What about her non-human friends? What happened to Shippou, Sesshoumaru and Kouga? And what of Inuyasha? He was a hanyou. Did half-demons get reborn as a demon or a human?

 

So many questions plagued her, but one took precedence over everything else. “Why are you telling me all of this?” She asked with a sinking feeling. She existed without knowing this intricate society before. She was perfectly happy unaware of it. Why did they have to spoil it for her?

 

Orihime placed a hand on her cousin's shoulders, as if sensing her distress. A feeling of great trepidation was starting to consume her. Wasn't it enough that they risked their lives to protect Soul Society and even lent a hand in defeating Hollows that wandered over to the living world? Her cousin didn't need to be dragged into this whole mess. She was surprised to learn that Kagome had kept a large chunk of her life from her, but she did it too, so she didn't exactly have the right to point any fingers here.

 

Urahara cleared his throat. “Surely you noticed the increase in Hollow activities as of late?” He waited until Ichigo and Uryuu nodded in confirmation. “They were attracted here by a lure.”

 

“What!?” Uryuu raised his hands defensively as his friends looked at him. “I didn't do anything, I swear!” He defended himself. “At least, not this time around…” He added sheepishly, looking at his friends, eyes wide. Huge beads of sweat were starting to appear on his forehead despite the cool temperature. He wished they would stop looking at him like that, like they were all blaming him for this mess.

 

Ichigo was about to start on him but Urahara waved the Quincy's excuse off. “Whoever said that you were the one responsible for this?” He chuckled humorlessly and turned to the miko.

 

Kagome's eyes bugged out of her head indignantly. “Wait, what are you implying? Wh-why are you looking at me like that?” She asked, her voice raising an octave. “Are you saying that this is my fault!? Are you crazy? Are you insane!?” She turned to her cousin, eyes pleading for help. She couldn't even tell the difference between a demon and this so-called `Hollow' of theirs, so why was it her fault all of a sudden?

 

Orihime squeezed her shoulder again, trying to comfort her. “I'm sure that that's not what he's implying, Kagome-chan,” she said, looking questioningly at the exiled ex-Captain. “Isn't that right, Urahara-san?”

 

The man in the striped hat grinned at them, like a cat. “But it is, technically, her fault.”

 

Kagome clenched her fists in an effort to calm her raging temper, earning a strangled squeak from Kon. Counting to ten and breathing deeply, she managed to not punt anybody into the nearby wall with her fists of doom. She almost got a hold on her temper until Ichigo snorted.

 

“Figures. I should've known better,” he said. He hadn't known the chick for more than half a day but he already knew she was trouble. He would never fall for the trick that those doe-like eyes were trying to pull on him. It reminded him too much of that old movie Bambi, and he never liked Bambi anyway. For a children's movie, he felt that it had been filled with too much drama and angst. He couldn't prevent Yuzu from randomly bursting into tears upon remembering the death of the doe's mother even weeks after they saw the blasted thing. And he was still suspicious of that little Thumper. He could tell that the bunny was a pervert from first glance. The name was a pretty huge giveaway… just remove the T and… “I knew you were evil at first glance,” he declared, signing his own death warrant.

 

This time, he didn't have time to duck as she punched him with the fist still holding Kon. The spectators comically blinked in unison, surprised at the speed the girl had. The plushie-filled fist connected with Ichigo's jaw and his head snapped to the side from the impact.

 

“I am NOT evil!” Kagome fumed, chest heaving. How dare he call her evil?!!! She helped save the world SEVERAL times and didn't even think about world domination or the like, despite having possession of the Shikon.

 

“Why you little…” Ichigo recovered, embarrassed that a girl managed to catch him off-guard. He took a precautionary step back as his fingers itching to wrap around that smooth slender neck of hers. It seemed like someone had to teach Inoue's cousin what the meaning of respecting your betters was. How dare she punch him!?! Lucky for her, he wasn't into picking on females. A dozen things to say to her flashed on his mind all at once as he straightened up. “You are SO uncute!” He bellowed into her face.

 

Kagome's eyes widened at the insult. “You're one to talk yourself, Mr. Frowny Pants!”

 

The both of them forgot that they had an audience, glaring at each other, irritated.

 

“At least I make frowning look good. What about you, even if you smile until your face breaks, you're still uncute!”

 

“Says who, genius?” Kagome pointed an accusatory finger at him. “You?” She snorted.

 

“Are you in league with the Hollows?” Ichigo asked, bravely stepping into her punch-radius, trying once again to stare her down. Did she not notice the great difference in their height?

 

Apparently not, because the miko kept glaring back right at him, ignoring the crick in her neck. Damn he was tall. “Until a few minutes ago, I didn't even know what a Hollow is. For all I know, you could be in league with Naraku! Or worse, you're probably one of those power-hungry demons who's after the jewel!” She took a step back from him, standing in front of Orihime, as if to protect her. Suspicious eyes darted from one male to the other. “I can't feel any jyaki from any of you, except for a weird aura coming from you,” she pointed at Ichigo, “but you take one step closer and I won't hesitate to purify you.”

 

Uryuu swallowed the lump in his throat; the look she gave him chilled him to the bone. He couldn't help but wonder where the seemingly sweet girl he offered shelter to last night went. He didn't fear any kind of purification she would unleash on him, but he didn't have a doubt in his mind that she could still probably kick his ass if she really wanted to.

 

“Kagome-chan,” Orihime interrupted just as Urahara burst out laughing on the couch, “I don't think any of them are, um, youkai. I've known Kurosaki-kun and Ishida-kun for a long time and we've been through a lot together. I can assure you that they're not evil.” She gulped. “And I'm sure that Kurosaki-kun didn't really mean it when he accused you of being evil.” Her nervous smile almost faltered.

 

When Urahara's mirth subsided, he wiped the tears from his eyes and spoke again. “I guess this is my fault,” he chuckled again. “Would you children sit back down please? And no fighting this time.” He waited until they were all seated. “You know that lure with the incident years ago with the Menos Grande?” He asked, referring to the incident where a Hollow the size of an office building came to town. The former schoolmates nodded, recalling how their odd group formed informally that day. “I'm not talking about that kind of lure. I'm talking about something like a beacon, attracting foe and friend alike to its location.”

 

Kagome sank further into the sofa; she could almost guess what he was going to say next.

 

“It's the Shikon no Tama,” Urahara Kisuke said, confirming the miko's suspicions. “Somehow, Kagome-san, the jewel has been resonating more powerful than usual.”

 

“Do you have any idea why that might be, Urahara-san?” Uryuu inquired.

 

“How old are you?” Urahara asked Kagome.

 

“Twenty,” she replied. “I'll be twenty-one this year,” she thought to add.

 

“That's it then,” Kisuke said authoritatively, and the others leaned forward to know what he was so sure about. “As humans call it, you're `coming of age',” he explained. “Your merger with the jewel has given you its powers and other benefits, but it seemed to have come with a contract filled with fine prints.”

 

Kagome was almost afraid to ask. “Like…?”

 

“Well I'm guessing that you're probably going to continue leaking immense power, no matter how expert your control is when it comes to masking your presence, until you turn twenty-one. With this comes the danger of having more and more powerful beings come after you. I frankly don't know how they hope to extract the jewel from you,” he looked thoughtfully at her side for a moment, making Kagome feel uncomfortable. He was looking at where the jewel resided and it was unnerving how much this man knew about her. “The Shikon no Tama was torn from your side, was it not?”

 

Kagome nodded.

 

“When you were born, the jewel was kept in your heart.”

 

The miko frowned in protest. “But when Mistress Centipede pulled me down that well, she tore the jewel from my side.”

 

“Yes, but I don't know if you could tell for yourself, but the jewel is now back in your heart,” he reiterated, pointing to her left chest. That, of course, caused the others to stare at her breast area, and Kagome felt herself blush at so many people staring at her like that.

 

She brought Kon to shield herself from the gazes, even though it probably wasn't much help.

 

“Is it that light right there,” Uryuu asked, pointing at her breast, “with the pink aura?”

 

Ichigo was frowning at the same spot.

 

“Yes, can you see how it's different from her natural aura?”

 

Orihime nodded her assent, continuing to admire her cousin's colorful spiritual energy. “I noticed that earlier,” she remarked, smiling happily, “it's so pretty, Kagome-chan!”

 

Kagome smiled, not minding her cousin's close scrutiny, but she felt somewhat disturbed by the orange-haired frown factory's intense gaze. She was starting to feel like a piece of meat in an auction.

 

The simple remark triggered the Shinigami's memory. “I know you now!” He jabbed a finger at Kagome's direction. “We have the same class and you're that weird girl with the spirit threads!”

 

“I am NOT weird, YOU are!”

 

“I know you are but what am I?” Ichigo snapped back. He couldn't figure out why he liked to bait this woman. The way her eyes flashed in anger and her chest heaved in contained fury was cute. Wait, did he say cute? He meant to say uncute. Yes, that's right… she is SO uncute. She was the most uncutest of all the uncute people in the whole history of uncutedom.

 

Uryuu bobbed his head up and down, earning a glare from the miko. “She does have two colors for her spirit threads,” he agreed. “Why is that?” He asked what seemed to be the expert on the miko at the moment.

 

“It's because of the tama,” the store owner supplied.

 

“Well that explains the pink spirit thread and aura, but what about the blue?”

 

“The blue color is due to her being a miko. Ordinary people have white spirit threads, while Shinigamis have red. Holy priestesses and monks with strong spiritual power have blue.”

 

“Her? Holy?” Ichigo scoffed.

 

The vein on Kagome's forehead throbbed dangerously, heat rising to her face. Why was this guy picking on her? What is it with her that he kept trying to bait her? She kept her mouth shut, refusing to take the bait. “You were saying something about me turning twenty-one, Urahara-san?”

 

Getting back to the important topic, Kisuke nodded. “I guess the best way to explain it would be that the jewel will mature by the time you're twenty-one and you will have full control of it again. It should have happened right around when you were sixteen or so, but since it wasn't inside you, it took a bit longer than that.”

 

“And what happens before this maturation?”

 

“The power will continue to attract everything that hungers for it between here and Soul Society,” came the casual reply. It was almost as if he was talking about the weather.

 

“If she's leaking power, couldn't I just help her with it like with Kurosaki and release it into the atmosphere?” Uryuu was stronger than he was years ago, such a job wouldn't even require much effort for him now. This time, he was sure that he wasn't going to get bloody knuckles.

 

“It doesn't work that way,” Urahara said, shooting down the option. If only things were that simple…

 

“And what happens after the maturation?” Orihime piped up.

 

For someone who was a well of information a moment ago, the former Shinigami Captain was tighter than a clam this time. He glanced at the clock and clucked his tongue. “Ara, would you look at the time? I didn't realize I have been dallying for so long.” His eyes formed a straight line as he smiled, waving his right hand in the air apologetically. “I promised the others I wouldn't be gone for too long, you know how Jinta and Ururu get when left alone for too long,” he said, referring to the two children that attended to his Shinigami shop when he was away. “I'm sure Tessai is pulling his hair out in frustration by now,” he added.

 

Tessai was like his assistant in a way, and the children were somewhat afraid of him, so Ichigo wondered why the old man looked like he was trying to get away from them as quickly as possible, when he had just managed to turn their worlds upside down in the span of several minutes.

 

“Hey, ousan,” Ichigo called out to the shop owner, but the guy was already poised to jump off of the window sill.

 

“Kagome-saaaaaaaaaan,” Urahara saluted the miko. “I'm sure that this isn't the last that we've seen of each other. If you need anything, anything at all, Ichigo knows where to find me. Be careful, Ichigo you help keep our little miko safe and Ja matte ne, until we meet again!” No one managed to get a word out before he disappeared in a flash.

 

“Does anybody feel like the important details have been left out, or is it just me?” Kagome thought out loud after a moment of silence.

 

Four pairs of head nodded in response.

 

“Oh!” Orihime exclaimed suddenly, “The rain stopped and,” she looked out the window, “the water has receded!”

 

What? Kagome thought incredulously, thinking it too good to be true. It didn't just rain like that, flood like it was The Day After Tomorrow and then have everything back to normal barely a day afterwards. She looked out into the street and sure enough, the flood that stranded them last night was nowhere to be seen. As if it didn't even exist to begin with. Everything was freshly kissed by the rain, the only evidence that there was a storm.

 

How weird.

 

- o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o -

* ^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ * * ^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ * * ^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ *^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ * * ^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ *

- o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o -

 

“Let me get this straight,” Ichigo said, staring down at her, “I don't like you and I really don't care what happens to you.” Kagome glared at him and opened her mouth to answer, but he cut her off, continuing, “If it wasn't for you cousin, who I know will be upset if something bad happened to you, I wouldn't even consider doing you this favor. If it wasn't for the fact that my friends backed me into a corner, I wouldn't be here right now,” he finished, making it sure that she understood what this was. He didn't want her to get the impression that he was doing this to protect her because he was told to, or worse, because he liked her or anything like that. She wasn't even his type.

 

In fact, he didn't have any type at all. All women were trouble, plain and simple. The one he was oh so kindly escorting back home and protecting from any potential Hollow attacks seemed like a bigger pain in the neck than most.

 

“Eat me, Strawberry-chan.” Kagome smiled at him sweetly as the Shinigami's eyes doubled in size at the new nickname. She didn't want to get into a fight with him in public, so she gave him her best angelic expression and batted her eyelashes at him innocently.

 

Whatever retort he had died in his throat and he tore his eyes away from the insufferable onna, glaring at the scenery as it whizzed past them instead.

 

They were currently on a train back to where Kagome lived. From what he was told, it was some sort of shrine. He didn't volunteer for this, but they left him no choice when Ishida quickly offered to take Inoue home.

 

With old man Urahara's warnings still ringing in his ears, Ichigo had been left with no other option but to at least sort of look out for her, at least until after whatever reinforcements from Soul Society came, if they did. They would probably leave THIS to him as well, recalling the past few months of relentless Hollow-fighting without any sign of anybody from Soul Society at all.

 

Just his luck. One of this days, his reputation was going to be ruined and he was going to be labeled as a `good guy', he just knew it.

 

They got off the train at the next stop and Ichigo had no trouble following the girl as she weaved her way through the crowd. Several minutes later had them climbing the steps to the shrine, but a voice called out to them, making them stop.

 

“Higurashi!”

 

Kagome turned around, resisting the urge to groan. Ichigo turned to the voice curiously, and watched as a boy around their age caught up to them.

 

“Hojo-kun!”

 

“Are you alright, Higurashi?” Hojo asked, clasping Kagome's hands into his own. He called the shrine last night to chat with Kagome, but her mother informed him that she hadn't come home yet. Considering how fierce the rain was last night, he had been beside himself with worry, thinking about the sickly girl braving the harsh weather outside, trying to get home.

 

He was so worried that he decided to stop by today and see if Kagome managed to make it home safely, since the rain and flood seemed to have miraculously disappeared. He was a bit startled when he noticed that his Kagome wasn't alone. There was a man with her, with orange hair and a frown on his face. He was taken aback for a second, wondering what he did to warrant the unfriendly face.

 

Kagome noticed the exchange. “Hojo-kun, this is Ichigo. Ichigo, this is Hojo-kun. He's a friend from highschool,” she didn't know why she bothered to explain her relationship with Hojo to Ichigo. Not that it was any of his business anyway, because it wasn't.

 

“Nice to meet you -“

 

“Kurosaki,” Ichigo grit out, narrowing his eyes at this Hojo person. He didn't want to be familiar with this guy.

 

Hojo gulped and hastily let Kagome's hands go. “-Kurosaki,” he said.

 

“Did you have anything in particular that you wanted to say to Kagome?” He raised a brow and towered at the boy. Did he have to use his scary face to scare this schmuck away? What was he to the girl anyway? Her boyfriend? He scowled, making Hojo shrink back from the ferocity of it.

 

“Er… nice to see you're safe and well, Higurashi!” Hojo bit out. “I'll uh, I guess I'll catch you later, bye!” He rushed down the steps, taking two at a time and disappeared into the distance.

 

Kagome looked at him funny, trying to figure out what he just did. Hojo had always been really dense, but no amount of anvil-sized hints ever made him leave her alone. The guy was absolutely delusional.

 

“What?” He snapped, irritated. “Upset that I chased away your boyfriend?”

 

Kagome shook her head, resisting a silly urge to giggle. “Hojo-kun is not my boyfriend,” she rolled her eyes at him. They continued climbing the stairs, Ichigo allowing Kagome to walk ahead of him… and it wasn't because he liked the view from behind!

 

“Seemed like it to me.”

 

“Well, he's not. He's just someone who can't take hints.”

 

The explanation seemed to pacify him, and Kagome couldn't name the feeling that fluttered in her stomach. Now that she was home, did that mean that she wasn't going to see him again? They did have a class together, but…

 

“Great job scaring that spineless boy out of here, Kurosaki,” came a voice from under the Tree of All Ages, startling them. “And if I had known beforehand how beautiful our ward was going to be, I would have come here sooner,” said Yumichika, the Fifth Seat of the Eleventh Shinigami Division said, stepping out from under the tree dramatically. He flicked his hair to the side, making sure to show the miko his best angle. With the sun shining down on him a certain way, he was sure that he resembled a magnificent rainbow.

 

Kagome didn't know what to say to the colorful peacock, looking at his colorfully decorated eyelash and taking in his strange pose.

 

“Does it make you want to do the Luck-Luck Dance?” Ikakku asked, emerging from behind his fellow Eleventh Division member. “Yo, Ichigo!” He waved at his fellow Shinigami and then gasped when he saw Kagome. “Your beauty knows no bounds, I agree with my teammate. Let me honor it by presenting you with my good luck dance!” He bowed with a flourish and began to do a series of body undulations that looked unnatural, especially when performed by a bald man with red eyeshadow.

 

Ichigo had his face behind his palm, debating whether to bang his head against something hard or knock the two Eleventh Division Shinigamis' heads together.

 

Kagome resisted the urge to hide behind Ichigo at the appearance of these strange men, but she did step a little bit closer to him, just a little bit of precaution in case one of the lunatics on her yard decided to come after her.

 

“Why do I always get stuck with these blathering idiots?” Ichigo and Kagome turned to look down at the newcomer. “Yo,” Hitsugaya Toushiro, Captain of the Tenth Division greeted, “we're here to make sure that nothing bad befalls the miko,” he explained.

 

- o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o -

* ^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ * * ^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ * * ^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ *^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ * * ^_^ * ^_^ * ^_^ *

- o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o -

 

I've been alternating between typing this chapter and the GSD fic… but I feel sooooooo lazy!!! (bangs head into nearest wall)

 

DISCLAIMER for every chapter: I don't own the rights to Inuyasha or Bleach. I just like to use their characters, murder their personalities and use them for my own amusement in a whacked out crossover crackfic.

 

A/N: I'm sorry if those unnamed characters are a bit confusing. I feel like I shouldn't name them just yet because I don't want to ruin the surprise… BUT… most of you have guessed who the guy is but none have guessed who the girl is yet. Teehee! Yes, it's obvious that the guy is Ichigo's Zanpaktou (soul slayer), Zangetsu. The person he keeps talking to is cough-cough-static-cough. XP (whistles innocently at Naien) I really don't like to portray Kagome as helpless and defenseless, and the five-year gap should be enough time to make her grow into what she is right now in this fic. Not so much of the self-pitying angst-filled Kagome anymore. =P

 

Oh and I didn't make that part up about the Shikon no Tama being in Kagome's heart when she was born… er, sort of anyway. Anyone who has seen the entire series can attest that they have flashbacks of Kagome's birth near the ending of the series, and if you look at the scene where Mama Higurashi holds Kagome in the hospital, the Shikon glows in baby Kagome's chest area. I don't know if that was just some anime fluke or not because I haven't read any of the manga. =P

 

I think I'm progressing more with this story in my warped little mind than what I actually write. (Sweatdrops) I think I have imagined several, SEVERAL chapters of this already but only have up until this chapter to show for it. lol (is ashamed of self)

 

I wonder if anybody caught that teenie hint in this chapter… skips off to eat chocolate and cuddle with her Ichi plushie.

 

Review onegaishimasu!