Chapter thirteen: Three years later.
Chapter thirteen. [A/N: Please, read the comment at the end of the chapter once you finish reading.]
[Karakura Town, Year 2001.]
"Ha!"
"You little shit…"
"Dodging won't help!"
Swing after swing, slice after slice. Two swords met with one another as the duo of swordsmen engaged in a dance of blades.
The sound of steel colliding filled the room, droplets of blood and sweat painting the floor as the fighting carried on.
Parry, thrust, parry, slice. Haru defended and attacked in that order, his gaze fixated on his opponent.
Ginjō countered, clenching his teeth as he readjusted his loose grip on his two handed sword.
Haru slid forward, his movement almost ghostly as he tried to gain an advantage the moment he saw him readjusting his grip.
He made a diagonal slash, an attempt to land a decisive attack to finish it all.
It was all for naught though, they clashed blades yet again at the last possible second as their swords met for the hundredth time.
"Oh, fuck off!" Haru complained, skidding backwards from the sheer strength behind their collision, soon coming to a halt.
"Shame." Ginjō mocked, cleaning sweat and blood off his forehead as he held a cocky grin in his lips. "You almost had me."
"Yeah, right." Haru growled in annoyance, cleaning his obscured vision from the blood that covered his left eye.
It might have looked as if both swordsmen were evenly matched, but truth be told, Ginjō had the upper hand, even if by just a little.
Both of them looked like a hurricane had hit them, their hair was a mess, dirt, sweat and blood covering them all.
However, this was nothing more than one of their 'casual' sparring sessions, one that they frequently had together.
From their conditions, one could tell the duo were basically even, but that didn't last for long, as something happened.
Haru covered himself in green light, using the reiatsu he had managed to absorb from his opponent during the fight to heal.
Thus, mere seconds later his wounds vanished, leaving nothing but dry blood in contact with the healed skin.
"Tsk." Ginjō spat on the ground. "I hate that thing. It's not much of a training session if at the end I am the only one left messed up."
"Is that so?" Haru replied, this time it was his turn to have that same shit eating grin on his face. "Shame. You almost had me!"
Haru mirrored Ginjō words, much like he always did during these training sessions they held.
"Yukio!" Ginjō screamed, staring to the sky as he awaited for an answer. "Get us out, we are done for the day."
The duo sealed their swords back to their original state, morphing them back into a cross and a tattoo respectively.
Mere seconds later, some sort of digital screen manifested itself in the sky, showing the face of Yukio behind it.
"Hm…" Yukio stared at them both from his position atop the heavens, looking almost like a king staring at his subjects. "Alright."
Yukio complied with their request and pressed some buttons on the device on his hands, forcing the duo out of his 'digital world.'
The pair manifested out of thin air into the real world, being forced out of the blond's special dimension built for their training.
"Man…" Haru complained, feeling like he was about to puke. He glared at the device on Yukio's hands. "I'll never get used to that."
Yukio's Fullbring, 'Invaders Must Die' granted him several abilities, amongst which he was capable of creating a separate dimension inside that handheld game console.
It was quite useful for training purposes. After all, it allowed them to fight without a care in the world about their surroundings.
Much to Haru's misfortune, it also had the peculiar side effect of leaving him feeling rather nauseous for a handful of minutes.
"You finished earlier than usual. Did something happen?" Yukio inquired, feeling a little bit curious at the change in their routine.
"Something like that." Haru replied evasively. "It's just that with me working at the parlor full time…"
"He'll be visiting that girlfriend of his." Ginjō interrupted, his shit eating grin back in place. He elbowed Haru. "To have dinner, right?"
"I should never have told you about that." Haru cursed under his breath. "Also, she's not my…"
"Yeah, sure." Ginjō replied, shrugging his shoulders at him. "Save it, I ain't buying it."
"Tch." Haru clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Regardless… It's been a while since we had dinner, so I am leaving early today just so we have some more time."
"Sounds like a pain in the ass." Yukio merely stated. He was not one for wasting time at dinners with people, romantic or not.
"You'll be thinking differently real soon, trust me." Ginjō told the blond with a knowing smile. "You are just not at that age… Yet."
"Haru here, on the other hand…" He said, placing a hand on his shoulders. "Well, at eighteen, he's at just the right age for that sort of stuff."
"Fuck off." Haru replied, feeling rather pissy. His good mood was turning sour. "You will get it next time we fight, I promise."
"Oh, will I?"
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
He knocked once, then a second time, his knuckles landing on the door as he took a step back to make room for it to open.
A handful of seconds later, the door opened. The light from indoors reached him, illuminating his face as he smiled.
There she was, Orihime Inoue, no longer that sad, fragile, child on the verge of breaking she once was.
Having turned fifteen not too long ago, the girl was a sight to behold. She had grown curvier and taller, still around the average for a girl her age, but taller nonetheless.
Her hair, which she once made sure to keep short now rained down her back, cascading freely till a little over her hips.
"Haru!" A radiant, vibrant smile matched Haru's as she almost pushed him inside her little apartment.
It had taken him some solid work to get her to drop the formalities when addressing him, but at long last, he had triumphed over her.
"Easy." Haru told her, though he laughed alongside her as he allowed himself to be pushed inside. "We have time."
"I know, I know." The orange haired girl replied in between snickers, her upbeat nature setting the perfect mood. "Come on, I bought lots of bread just for us!"
"For us?" Haru grinned. "You won't eat it all yourself the moment I get distracted, then? That's a relief."
"Mhm, Haru…" Orihime whimpered, she seemed genuinely ashamed about that. "That happened once… It won't happen again. Ever!"
Haru found her words hard to believe, but smiled nonetheless. He wasn't here for the food after all.
"You promise?" He asked her.
Raising her fist to the air, her eyes filled with resolve as she replied, it made for quite a comical sight.
"I promise!"
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
"Police are searching for student Hiroshi Takahashi, 16, who disappeared during…"
'Another one?' Haru stared at the TV, frowning as he raised from the couch to get a better look at the television.
On it, an image of the missing student reported on the news was being displayed.
"Say, Haru…"
"Hm?" Haru took off his eyes from the television, his gaze landing on the teenage girl as he rested on her couch. "What is it?"
He watched her from the living room, his gaze traveling through the door connecting the room to the kitchen.
She was cleaning the dishes by herself despite his insistence to help; he stared at her, curious about what she wanted.
"It's…" Pensive, she paused. "Is something bothering you? You are not feeling lonely, are you?"
"...?" Haru blinked. "Come again?"
"I mean… I just…" The girl waved her hands around in a frenzy, panicking at her sudden outburst.
'I just asked something stupid.' Orihime thought. 'Didn't I?'
"It's just that…" Still flustered, she tried to collect her thoughts. "I can't quite explain it, but… You have that sort of look, like something is bothering you."
It was hard for her to put her thoughts into words, but simply put, she had just never seen him around anyone else but her.
Furthermore, Haru had dropped out of school in his last year, almost out of nowhere.
There had to be an explanation for that, she thought. Perhaps he was being bullied? If so, was he feeling lonely?
Haru fell silent for the briefest of seconds, just for an instant, but for a moment nonetheless.
A fraction of a second later, he replied.
"Pffft." He snorted. "I see, so that's what you were worried about. That is kind of cute, actually."
If she had not been flustered enough already, his response made sure she was, as her blush deepened even further.
"I'm alright, really." Haru assured her. "Besides, I do have friends, like, five of 'em."
"Although…" He added, something about their conversation piquing his interest. "You did mention high school… Isn't your entrance ceremony tomorrow?"
"You remembered!" Orihime said, sounding rather cheerful all of a sudden, her mood doing a complete switch in the span of a handful of seconds.
Once, school had been something she dreaded, after all, she herself had been the target of more than a few mean girls.
However, from the moment she had met her best friend, Tatsuki, her once troubled middle school days had turned into something she could look forward to.
"Well?" He asked, offering her a chance to talk to him about it. "How are you feeling about it?"
"Um…" Orihime, as cheerful and outgoing as she was, stuttered as she tried to muster a response.
"You can talk to me about it." Haru reminded her, always open to hearing what she had to say. "We have time, after all."
"You sure?" The girl asked. "You don't mind?"
Haru did not reply, offering nothing but a short nod and a soft smile in response.
"Alright, then…"
'Honestly…' Haru thought, listening in as she began talking. 'She can be quite perceptive from time to time.'
Orihime was right, something was bothering him. A certain presence had been looming around town for the last couple of weeks.
Furthermore, in the past week and a half, there had been three reported disappearances on the news.
Again, he stared at the television.
'I suppose this makes it four now.' He corrected himself, breathing out a frustrated sigh.
A Hollow, no doubt.
'I should talk to Ishida about it.'
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
"...?" Ishida groaned, woken up from his sleep from the sound of his phone ringing.
His hand instinctively landed on his glasses lying on his desk, picking them up and putting them on in a single motion.
The phone kept ringing, but he ignored it as he stood up from bed and turned on the lights in the room.
With the lights on, he stared at the clock on the wall and frowned, realizing just how late into the night it was.
"Tsk." Ishida turned towards his phone, there was a single person that had his number that could possibly call him so late at night.
"What is it?" He asked, sounding rather irritated as he answered the call at last. "It's 2:00 AM, in case you haven't noticed."
"It's 2:07, actually." Haru's voice reached his ears from his phone, his response irritating him even further.
"That's it, I'm hanging up." Ishida told him, taking his phone off his ear.
Haru and Ishida had a somewhat… Complicated relationship, so to speak.
Throughout the years, the two of them together had tracked, hunted and eliminated no less than hundreds of Hollows.
From the outside, a stranger would call them friends, no doubt. From the inside though, their relationship resembled more that of siblings.
Haru, reckless and irresponsible in equal parts, always did his absolute best to irritate him. His natural cockiness only furthering that.
Ishida on the other hand, despite being younger by a full three years, was the more responsible, sensible voice of the duo.
"Wait, don't!" Haru screamed, panicking."It's important, I swear."
"I'm listening." Ishida told him, placing the phone near his ear.
"It's about a Hollow." Haru confessed. "You have seen the news, I assume?"
"..." Ishida sighed, he had seen them. "I'm well aware."
Four missing people in the span of a week and a half in a town as theirs? That was big news. There probably wasn't a single person who hadn't heard about it by now.
"Then let us deal with it tonight." Haru said, his voice dripping with a feeling Ishida had grown well acquainted with. His lust for 'meals.'
Ishida, as much as he appreciated his friend's help in fights, was no stranger to the fact that their reasons for fighting were fundamentally different.
Ishida fought Hollows, yes, but why? For his pride as a Quincy, for his duty to protect the souls, both of the living and the dead.
Haru on the other hand… His reasons were much more selfish, he had learned that a long time ago.
He was there to absorb Hollows, devour their reishi and make it his. For him, saving someone was just a nice side benefit.
"No." Ishida shut him off before he even began his attempt to coerce him into joining him for another late night hunt. "I can't, not tonight."
"Aw, come on!" Haru asked him, sounding rather surprised at Ishida's refusal. "What do you mean you can't?"
"My entrance ceremony is tomorrow." Ishida rubbed his temple, stress seeping from his tone as he muttered his response.
"..." No sound came from the phone for a little as Haru remained silent, leaving Ishida waiting for his response.
"You are kidding, right?" Haru asked, breaking the silence. "It's the first day, literally no one cares!"
"Literally EVERYONE cares!" Ishida barked back as he shook his head in disbelief at his friend's antics.
"Well, I didn't care…" Haru argued back.
"You are a highschool dropout." Ishida pointed out. "I also don't have the luxury to work at my mom's tattoo parlor."
"Ok, rude." Haru said. "Fair enough, though. I'll go on my own."
"Don't." Ishida warned him. "Wait for me, we can go tomorrow."
"Nah, I'll go.." Haru replied, and even though Ishida could not see him, he could tell he had that stupid trademark smirk of his on his face.
"You are just unbelievable…" Ishida said at last, giving up to reason with him. "Fine, but be careful."
The entire exchange might have seemed like a discussion to some, but for them it was nothing more than their usual banter.
"Careful?" Haru sounded a little surprised, offended even. "It's just some Hollow, what is there to worry about?"
"Well, I guess you are right…" Ishida conceded as he failed to come up with a reasonable argument other than a gut feeling.
"I'm leaving, then." Haru told him, but not without leaving some final words for Ishida. "Good luck at school, by the way."
"Thank…-" As Ishida was about to thank him, Haru hung up. "..."
"Asshole."
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
"Asshole." Haru muttered, unknowingly mirroring his friend's words as he sneaked his way out of his house.
He headed straight towards the door, making sure not to make even the faintest of noises as he made his exit.
However, just before he got past the living room and into the hall, he froze on the spot.
"Going somewhere?" His mother, Himari, spoke to him, her voice reaching him from the living room.
Himari sat on her sofa, arms crossed below her chest as she glared at him.
"I…" Haru panicked, this was not the time to be discovered! "N-No? I was just checking if the door was locked…"
"Don't even try it." Himari warned her son, locking glances with him as she spoke. "I know all about these night escapades of yours."
"Mom, I can explain…" Haru in fact could not explain. But it never hurts to try.
"There's no need." Himari told him, interrupting him before he could even try to defend himself. "It's alright, I understand."
"Y-You do…?"
"Of course I do." She said. "I was once young as well, you think I never made one of my boyfriends visit me late at night?"
"…?"
"You may go." Himari carried on, not noticing her son's confused face. "Have fun, it's fine, however…."
Himari threw something at him, with such force and accuracy it startled him out of his confusion, but he managed to catch it nonetheless.
"And listen to me when I say this..." Himari said as he watched her son gaze at the thing she had thrown at him. "Do. Not. Make. Her. Pregnant."
"...?" Haru stared at the pack of condoms his mom had thrown at him, still not fully processing the bizarre situation he was in.
He almost felt like screaming 'wait, this is a misunderstanding!' to her, but upon giving it some thought, this worked just fine for him.
"T-Thanks mom." Haru replied after a few seconds of awkward silence. "I will! I mean… I won't!"
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
"Fuck, that was awkward." Haru mumbled to himself, still blushing a little as he jumped from roof to roof.
Leaving his thoughts about their huge misunderstanding behind, he focused, not just on his task at hand, but on a presence as well.
He kept on moving from roof to roof, no longer needing to remain motionless to sense a target as he once did in the past.
'Nothing.' He thought, shifting his focus towards the south part of the town. 'Nothing there either.'
"Hm…" He paused, sensing something near him, or rather, someone. A familiar presence, one that he could call a friend.
Haru had no idea what that person might have been doing outside so late into the night, but it wouldn't hurt to go and say hello.
With that in mind, he vanished from the spot, leaving nothing but a soft trail of green light behind.
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
"Hey."
"Well, if it isn't Haru." That soft, elegant voice belonged to none other than Tsukishima. "What a pleasant surprise."
"I didn't expect to find you of all people out here so late into the night." Haru commented, landing next to the man. "Did something happen?"
"What a strange thing to ask." Tsukishima told him, his ever present mysterious smile plastered all over his face. "I'm here for the exact same reason you are here."
"Is that so?" Haru found that hard to believe, the Tsukishima he knew couldn't be bothered to deal with some measly Hollow. "Is there something special about this one?"
"Hardly." Tsukishima replied. "He's effective, though. And that is a problem."
"How so?" Haru inquired, feeling suddenly curious about the whole thing.
"At this rate, if he is allowed to keep devouring souls like this, sooner rather than later the Soul Society will intervene." Tsukishima explained, his gaze fixated on his preciated book. "You know what that means, don't you?"
"I see." Haru said. "If we don't deal with it, they will send someone to do it. Someone capable, am I right?"
"Nicely deduced." Tsukishima complimented, sounding rather genuine. "Yes, and that we cannot allow. You know that, right?"
"Mhm." Haru merely gave a nod of acknowledgement in response. "Chances are, that soul reaper could find out about Ginjō, right?"
"Precisely."
Haru did not know a lot about Ginjo's past, he had heard just the bare minimum from him, but he knew enough.
Ginjo was a rogue soul reaper, specifically a rogue substitute soul reaper, whatever that meant.
What's important here is that the Soul Society was after him, so the less attention that Hollow attracted, the better.
"Well then…" Haru knelt near the edge of the roof. "Any idea where it is? I can't pinpoint its exact location. It'll be a pain in the ass if we can't find him."
"..." Tsukishima closed his book, leaving his bookmark inside of it as his gaze scanned their surroundings. "Don't you see?"
"See what, exactly?" Haru asked, sounding rather confused. Tsukishima was always so needlessly mysterious.
"We don't need to look for it." He explained, crouching near the edge just like Haru. "Let it come to us."
Tsukishima began lowering his reiatsu, but he made sure not to do it in an instant, but gradually.
The man gestured for Haru to do the same, and so he imitated him and lowered his spiritual pressure as well.
A solid minute after, both of them had decreased their input of reiatsu so much that even they had a hard time sensing each other.
"Good enough?" Haru asked, frowning as he spoke. It required a fair bit of effort from him to lower his power to such a degree.
"Hmh, that should do the trick." Tsukishima replied. "Keep it like that, and be sure to flare it in sudden, small bursts, let it know we are here, but don't scare it away."
"I see…" Haru whispered, realization hitting him at last. "You want to make it look like we are some weak souls for him to feed upon?"
"Hollows are sad, tormented creatures." Tsukishima stated, his voice ever so calm. "It doesn't take much to trick one with the prospect of an easy meal."
"Fair enough." Haru had never tried such an approach, he prefered hunting them, but he could see the use of it. "So what now?"
"Now we wait."
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
"Oh? Look, look!" Haru whispered, pointing from their ambush spot towards a single pale soul walking on the empty streets.
"Hm… Isn't that curious?" Tsukishima said, sounding rather intrigued at the sight. "It seems like this one has some interesting tricks."
"A cunning creature." Haru said, his eyes scanning the seemingly harmless spirit walking down the streets. "But a creature nonetheless."
The duo stared, not at the spirit, but at the transparent, almost invisible massive creature crawling right behind it.
A curious sight to be sure, the creature seemed to be using some sort of illusion as bait. It made it seem as if there was nothing more than a harmless spirit there.
"That is funny." Haru snickered, low enough so as to not give away their location. "It's like that fish, what was it called again? Lantern fish?"
"You are thinking about the angler fish, actually." Tsukishima corrected. "That's no good; you should be reading more books."
"Yeah, not happening…" Haru muttered back, he was not about to waste time reading some books about fish of all things. "Is it a lure, then?"
"It seems like it." Tsukishima said, the both of them still staring from high above at the creature and the bait. "That would explain the disappearances."
"It attracts humans with high spiritual powers, humans that could normally see spirits." Haru speculated. "It tricks them into thinking it is just another harmless spirit, then devours them."
"..." Haru felt a sudden thirst, almost animalistic in nature. Devious as that ability might have been, this Hollow felt special.
He wanted it for himself.
"Do you mind if I…?" Haru began, but did not even finish his sentence as he crouched near the edge, flexing his leg muscles as he prepared himself to leap forward.
"By all means, go ahead." Tsukishima said with an unreadable smile. "He's all yours."
An instant later, Haru vanished, shattering the roof slates of the house they were standing in from the sheer force behind his leap.
"There he goes."
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
Haru crashed right in the middle of the street, leaving a crater on it for some poor worker to fix the next morning.
He landed mere inches apart from the lure of the beast, his face almost touching with the bait as he got a good look at it.
"What…?" The lure spoke, the girl's mouth moving.
It mimicked the form of a young, pale, black haired girl, it would look convincing if not for the fact he could see the monster behind.
"Fascinating…" Haru mused, grinning as he summoned his sword, taking a strong grip on its handle. "It really is just a bait."
"Hehe…" The Hollow, perhaps due to sheer arrogance, perhaps due to stupidity or a little bit of both, laughed. "Hehehe."
"You can see me?" It cackled, sounding maniacal and monstrous. "Not just the lure, but me as well?"
The Hollow's laughter got louder and louder as it stared at what could be nothing less but a human with high spiritual powers.
"It must be my lucky day." The beast growled, baring its gigantic teeth at him. "You'll make for one good meal, boy."
"A good meal, you say?" Haru spoke again, his grin widening to match that of the beast, almost splitting his face apart. "What a coincidence."
"I was thinking…" He spinned his sword around, still holding it between his fingers. "... The exact same thing."
Realization came a second too late for the beast, its mind processing that his role this time was not that of the hunter, but the prey.
Before the Hollow could even come up with an action course, a single slash at mind-blowing speed severed the lure hanging from its head.
With the lure severed, the body of the young girl fell to the ground, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
His true form revealed at last, a monstrous creature materialized, having remained 'invisible' for the eyes of most.
It was huge, two times the size of the boy in height, with dirty green fur covering it from head to toes in all but one spot: Its vile mask.
"AAAAHKHKG." The Hollow released a horrified, pained shriek, still unable to even process what had just transpired.
Its reaction, again, came a second too late. Before it could even prepare itself for the stranger's next move, it hit him.
His legs were sliced in the blink of an eye, no, even faster than that.
All the monster could see was a trail, occasional bursts of green light blinding him as he was severed into pieces.
Its arms, legs, its eyes, even part of its teeth were severed in so little time the beast could not even find the chance to scream.
Then, with no arms, no legs, no eyes nor teeth, the beast fell to the ground right next to its severed lure, motionless.
'Two seconds?' Haru thought, stopping his mental count as he stared at the beast, twitching on the ground.
"W-W-W-What just… H-Happened?" The Hollow managed to get out some words, despite the excruciating pain it was in.
"Hm?" Haru glanced downwards, stepping on the beast as he climbed closer to its head. "You lost, that's what happened."
"I… L-Lost?" The beast sounded just straight up confused. Lost? How? It had not even realized the fight had begun in the first place, and it was already over?
"Indeed, you lost." Haru came to a halt, poking the beast with his sword as he spoke. "Well, you know what they say…"
"There is always a bigger fish… Or hamster." He added upon closer inspection of the mangled monster. "Or hamster-fish… Or whatever you are, really."
He finished rather awkwardly, focusing his energy on the tip of his sword, piercing the beast as his blade began absorbing it.
The Hollow began shattering into small, miniscule spiritual particles as he assimilated them into himself.
Grand Fisher was no more.
"Huh… A bit spicy." Haru spat on the ground. "But that was a lot of reishi for a single Hollow. He must have been special."
"You never fail to make it look artistic." From behind, Tsukishima landed near him as he took a look at the scene. "You finished this one rather fast though. Shame, I had almost no time to read."
"Yeah, sorry about that." Haru said, testing out his movements as he swung his blade a few times in the air. "Hm… I expected more of an increase, this one looked promising."
"It can't be helped." Tsukishima reasoned with him. "You have absorbed countless of them, special or not. You won't feel that much of an increase with each and every one of them."
"I suppose you are right…"
[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
[Twelve hours later.]
"Auch, auch!" The pained, dramatic whimpers of a woman filled the tattoo parlor, accompanied by the buzzing sound of the machine. "It hurts!"
"Hang in there, we are almost done." Haru told the woman, though he lifted the machine from her skin nonetheless.
He looked at his work, suppressing the need to sigh as he tried to calm down his client for the sixth time during their session.
"I… How long?" The woman asked, fearful. "How much longer?"
"I dunno… Like, eight minutes?" Haru estimated, using some baby wipes to remove the excess of ink and blood from the tattoo.
"Eight… Eight minutes?" The woman breathed in slowly, regaining her composure, she mustered some courage. "Alright, do it."
The buzzing sound from the machine filled the room again, and aside from the usual pained grunt from his client, the session carried on uninterrupted.
"And… Done!" He finished wrapping the tattoo, covering the open wound from exposure to the air. "You like it?"
"Like it? I love it!" The woman smiled as she stared in awe at her tattoo, a nest with three black birds covering most of her forearm.
"I'm glad." He matched her smile, this was his last client for the day, so he sighed in relief. "Alright, listen here. You'll be needing…"
He listed to his client all the things she would be needing to take proper care of her new tattoo, and just like that, he was free.
"Nice work there." Himari complimented her son, patting him on his back as he removed the gloves from his hands.
"Thanks…"
"Oh, by the way." Himari added, her smile turning dangerously innocent. "Get that dirty black cat out of the studio."
"Agh… Not again!" He jumped from the comfort of his seat, staring daggers at Yoruichi as she walked around their shop.
This devil of a woman had developed the habit of infiltrating their parlor as a cat during working hours, just to annoy him no doubt.
"Out." Haru told her, kneeling near her as he tried to pick her up from the scruff of her neck. "You'll get me in trouble."
"Meow." Yoruichi smiled deviously at him, and sprinted away from his grasp as she paraded around the shop.
'I'll kill her.' Haru thought, gritting his teeth. 'I'll really do it.'
End of chapter thirteen.