Bleach Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ New Life ❯ Bravery ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Bleach or any of the anime/manga characters.

Warnings: Mild Language and Violence

Bravery

 

Kagome came outside to find a very strange-looking man.

He had pure, silver hair that cascaded down to his hips. His skin was sickly, similar to the yellow skin tone of death.

And on his face were fragments of a Hollow mask. From what Kagome could gather, the mask had once been designed as a cobra.

Just as Kagome was fully out the door, she heard Orihime yell Ichigo's name. And, when Ichigo turned to look, the man attacked.

In the blink of an eye, he smashed Ichigo into the ground with so much force the concrete spider-webbed outward for several dozen of feet. Blood sprayed upward, and the man cackled evilly as he brought a sword up, evil power crackling along its length.

Kagome found that everyone was too stunned at Ichigo's quick defeat to move. Luckily, she had no such qualms.

Before anyone even realized she was there, she had pulled Shinji's blade from its sheath and taken off.

She landed on the other side of the street just as the man's sword arced downward, heading for Ichigo's throat.

His eyes widened in surprise when suddenly, a sword was blocking its path. And he was even more surprised to find that a simple spirit had the strength to hold his attack backward, with seemingly little effort.

The others stared in shock at Kagome, who had a look of absolute calm on her face.

The man was completely caught off guard when she suddenly brought her blade up, knocking his own back and leaving a huge hole in his defense.

And she took the opportunity, the edge of the blade burying deep into the man's chest, right next to a perfectly circular hole that was already there.

Nobody expected what happened next, even Kagome. As her thoughts turned to destroying the man, holy energy rose from the core of her soul. Her hand suddenly ignited in pure, pearly-white energy, which exploded outward.

“What the hell!?” the man yelled, staring in fascination at the power.

And then, the glow left her hands, and began to shoot up the blade's length. Fortunately for the man, he had a good survival instinct, and launched himself backward, just as the energy reached where he'd been.

When the energy made contact with his blood, the entire sword ignited with white fire, and the blood instantly turned to smoke.

“Shit!”

Before anyone could do anything, the man suddenly vanished, leaving the group to stare in shock and awe at Kagome.

Suddenly, a crushing force hit her, and she dropped to her knees, clutching at her chest. She watched as suddenly, a fourth of the length of her chain suddenly ignited with light and disappeared. Her breathing suddenly became labored, and the power she'd released came back with a backlash strong enough to draw a small whimper from the ghost.

The others stared at her as, despite an obvious and incomprehensible agony, Kagome dug Shinji's blade into the ground and used it to push herself upright. If they hadn't seen her collapse, they wouldn't have known that she was in pain, except for a few stray tears falling from her ethereal form.

Shinji whistled quietly as he saw Kagome struggle upward, which seemed to annoy Hiyori.

“I've never, ever seen a spirit capable of fighting off a Hollow, much less a Vasto Lorde,” Urahara murmured. “And that power…”

“I think a reconsideration's in order,” Shinji said, turning his attention to Urahara. “Even Ichigo got his ass kicked by that one. Admittedly, he was distracted, but even so, he was more than capable of defending himself if the attack wasn't overpowering. And she didn't even hesitate.”

“Tch. The bitch got lucky,” Hiyori growled.

“Lucky, huh? Lucky doesn't get my sword out from under me, even if I'm distracted. And besides, her chain's already cut. She's begun to change already,” he added, pointing at the severed length of metal.

“You want to train er, it's on you. I'm goin' home,” Hiyori said before vanishing.

“So, what do you think?” Shinji asked, focusing on Urahara.

The man rubbed the back of his neck and sighed heavily as Kagome, using Shinji's sword as a crutch, ambled toward them.

“She's got some serious potential if she were to live. But I don't like the idea that I could make another Vizard, and I get the feeling she'd end up just like Ichigo. With a lot more class and intelligence, maybe, but more or less the same,” Urahara said, staring at Ichigo, who was currently engulfed in Orihime's power.

“You didn't do shit,” Shinji countered. “Now that bastard Aizen, on the other hand… Well, he's a whole different story. But it's not like being a Vizard is a horrible thing. We're all just pissed that it was forced onto us.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Urahara sighed.

Finally, Kagome reached them, panting and clutching the hilt tightly.

She quickly brought the sword up and handed it to a bewildered Shinji.

“Sorry… Didn't mean to steal your sword. It was just the closest one,” she panted out.

“How the hell'd you move like that? I didn't even feel you there. Hell, I didn't even see you until you blocked that sword.”

“I have no idea,” Kagome said with a shrug.

Urahara took in her spiritual energy with a sigh.

“Alright, kid. I'll help you come back to life. But everything that happens is on you, got it?”

“Yes, sir!” Kagome exclaimed, her excitement obvious.

They left the others, heading deep into the store. Kagome watched in curiosity as he opened a hatch-like cover, and what appeared to be sunlight filtered through. This confused her greatly, as it had been night-time outside.

“Umm… How-”

“Just go down, and all will be explained,” he said before jumping through the hole.

Kagome got nervous when she didn't hear the thump of his landing, and looked down. And nearly passed out at the size of the ladder going to the ground, way low down from the hole.

She marveled that Urahara seemed to be fine, looking up at her expectantly.

With a gulp, Kagome climbed down, holding onto the rungs for dear life. Finally, she touched ground and couldn't hold back the sigh of relief that came from her.

“Welcome to my basement,” he said with a wide smile.

“Your… basement?” she asked, blinking. “But, this place is huge… It looks like it could be beneath the entire city…”

“Oh, no! I got bored one day and decided to make myself a place where it's always sunny, so I never get depressed. And this is the result. It's kind of separate from the world up that ladder.”

“Really? Wow… that's amazing,” Kagome said, looking at the vast expanse of sky beneath the store.

“Yep. But enough about that, you want to get back to life. So, I'll be putting you through the same thing I did to return Ichigo to his Shinigami powers.”

There seemed to be a dark tone behind what he said, and Kagome involuntarily gulped as her mind came up with multiple horrible scenarios.

“Umm… Why do I get a bad feeling when you say that?”

“For good reason. I'll warn you right now. If you go through with this, and survive, you're going to hate me. And you'll also be incredibly strong, even if you get lucky and don't suffer like Ichigo did.”

“S… Suffer?”

“He showed you that mask. You felt that power. He has to suffer everyday knowing there's a monster inside of him.”

“I'm not afraid of that,” Kagome said with enough determination to surprise the man.

“Alright then. That was your last chance to turn back.”

“I'll follow through, no matter what. I have people waiting for me,” she said, straightening as though in challenge.

“Well alright then,” Urahara said with a smirk. “Because of the seriousness of your mission, I'll be putting you through one painful trial right after another.”

“That's fine.”

“And I'm telling you that it may not work. I don't know what kind of blood you've got in you other than miko, so I can't say what'll happen when I try to make you into a Shinigami.”

“I'll take the risk.”

“Alright then,” he said, a grim expression on his face. “Should it not work out, anything you've got left to do?”

Kagome considered his words, wanting to immediately claim that it'd work. But she'd learned through her adventures with the others that sometimes, the world just didn't work like it was expected to.

“Yeah… If I die, for good, could you go to the Higurashi shrine in Tokyo and tell my mother?”

“I can do that,” he said with a nod.

“Then let's start,” she exclaimed, her determination setting a fire in her eyes.

“Well alright then,” he said, smirking.

And then, two small children and a mountain of a man appeared out of nowhere, eyeing Kagome speculatively…

 

A/N:

There's the newest installment of New Life! Be sure to tell me what you think!