Chapter fourteen: A Mess.

Chapter fourteen.

"You… Get back here, Yoruichi!" Haru chased after the black cat as it escaped, leaving through the parlor's back door.

Under normal circumstances, that wouldn't have been a problem, a normal cat would just get lost in their backyard.

Thing is, this was not a normal cat, this was a woman, a devious one at that. If she walked through the backyard, she would eventually arrive at their house.

'Ugh… Come back here!" He watched as Yoruichi paused in the middle of their garden, stopping for a second to stare at him.

For an instant, their eyes made contact, and she threw her a mischievous, dirty look as she rushed past the yard.

'Mom is gonna kill me.'

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

"I better not find it here, Haru." Himari warned her son as she scanned the living room with her gaze.

"Ugh…" Haru sweat dropped, nervousness taking over as he searched around the house for the rogue cat.

He had searched the living room, the dining room, and the bathroom. Which just left his mother's room, the guest room and his own.

'Please, not in her room.' He thought, was it perhaps too late for him to turn into a believer and start praying?

Haru auto piloted towards his mom's room, shifting through the room like a ghost as he remained as silent as possible.

Then, he grabbed the door's handle and forced it open, gulping as he stared inside.

Nothing, no cat, the room was clear.

"..." He breathed in a sigh of relief, all the tension leaving him as he thanked Yoruichi for not being THAT mischievous.

'My room, then.' He realized, quietly closing the door as he headed towards his room, expecting to find the cat resting on his bed.

As he opened the door to his room, he realized he was right and wrong at the same time. How was he wrong, you ask?

Well, he did find someone resting on his bed.

However, he did not find a cat resting on his bed. He found a woman, a smiling, naked dark skinned woman.

Covered with his own fucking sheets, at that. The audacity of this woman.

"Wh…" Haru paused, rubbing his eyes. An hallucination, perhaps? Nope, she was still there.

Under normal circumstances, this would have been nothing short of paradise, however, his mother was literally one room away from them.

"Please." Haru whispered, begging to Yoruichi. "Don't make a noise."

"Hm…?" Yoruichi smirked, placing her elbow on the mattress, using it as support so that she could rest her face on her hand. "Me? You are the one making noise here."

'Fair enough.' Haru thought, biting his tongue so as to shut himself up.

"Regardless, I'm not using an artificial body… I'm in my spiritual body, no regular human should be able to see me."

He remained quiet, his gaze lingering for a bit too long on the woman's skin, long enough for her to notice as she leaned forward.

"See something you like, mhm?" Yoruichi asked, sounding as mischievous and seductive as ever. It was all a game for her, wasn't it?

Haru gulped down, locking his room's door. If his mother knocked on the door, spiritual body or not, he would throw Yoruichi straight out of the window.

"A lot." Haru confessed, cautious and aroused in equal parts. Yoruichi was as unpredictable as she was beautiful, after all.

"I imagined as much." Yoruichi mused, pleased with his answer. "Sorry for the surprise, but I felt like a little reward was in order after taking care of such a big target last night."

"...?" Haru came to a halt, suddenly connecting the dots behind her reason for being here. "I see, was that hollow important after all?"

"Not important, but infamous." The dark-skinned woman corrected, rolling around his bed as she stretched herself. "You have a comfy bed, I'll say that much."

"Infamous? That small fry?" Haru had to keep himself from jumping to his bed. He was well aware that whatever was going on here, was on her terms, not his.

"Grand Fisher, that is, or rather, was his code name." Yoruichi told him, moving to the corner of the bed, leaving a free space near her.

'Is she…?' He wondered, unsure whether this was some sort of invitation for him to sit there or not.

'Well…' Haru sat near her. 'As a wise man once said, fortune favors the bold. Or, in more modern terms, risk it for the biscuit!'

Yoruichi did not react to his actions, or if she did, he didn't notice. In fact, she just kept on talking about the hollow like nothing.

"You might have thought of him as a weakling, but the reality is he had managed to elude the soul reapers for fifty four years."

"For real?" Haru had to suspend his disbelief at that, was Soul Society that incompetent? "You sure we are talking about the same Hollow?"

"Hmh, quite so." The beautiful woman replied without pause, nodding as she raised a single finger, pointing it at him. "You took Grand Fisher down."

"That's a good thing then, right?" Haru said, his gaze fixated on the woman's finger as it reached closer to his face.

"You could say that." Yoruichi half-agreed, her finger poking him in the cheek as she startled him. "However, it could also leave us with a small problem. Nothing major, really."

"Really?" Haru held his breath in, watching as she traced her finger down his face. "What problem?"

"Well, they will likely be sending someone, a soul reaper, to survey the area." Yoruichi stated.

'You've gotta be kidding me.' Haru cursed inside his mind. That was bad news for them.

The whole point behind killing Grand Fisher was to avoid the attention. But it seemed like in doing so, they had attracted even more attention from the Soul Society.

"What's with the face?" Yoruichi asked, taking the chance to pry into the matter a little. "Is that somehow a problem?"

"Well, sorta." Haru admitted. "It depends on for just how long that soul reaper is planning to stick around."

"Hm…" Yoruichi mused, the sheer melodiousness behind her voice managing to enchant him. "Well, whatever the case…"

"It will most likely be a handful of weeks before that soul reaper gets here. I just felt like I should tell you about it."

"You did?" Haru tilted his head at that, whenever Yoruichi was around, it was usually to deliver some message from Urahara.

"Yeah, Kisuke…" Yoruichi trailed off, remembering her conversation with the man. "He thought it would be more fun if we let you find out about it by yourself."

"That dickhead…" Haru muttered, clenching his fist at the mere mental image of the man.

His relationship with the shopkeeper had been the one that had evolved the most these past years.

The man was his teacher, the one who had been kind enough to teach him all he knew about the arts of the sword.

He was also a complete dipshit who never warned him about stuff and let him faceplant into danger without warning.

The two of them had quite the complicated relationship to be sure.

"Thanks." Haru smiled at the woman, genuinely thankful for her warning. "I appreciate it, I really do."

Yoruichi blinked, surprise flashing through her features for just an instant, but it was gone just as fast, replaced by her usual seductive smile.

"That's interesting." Yoruichi said. "You can smile like that after all. Not bad, not bad at all."

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

"Man, this is just the best." Haru fell on the couch, the good old couch he had spent endless hours resting in. Ikumi's couch.

With some time to spare, he decided this was as good of a shot as he was gonna get to visit the beautiful brunette.

With him dropping out of high school and working full-time at the parlor, their time together had suffered as a consequence.

"You visit me after so long…" Staring at Haru as he laid on her couch, Ikumi felt her rage spike, threatening to erupt. "... and the first thing you do is sleep!?"

"I mean…" Haru gave her one of his certified lustful stares. "We could do something else, if you'd like? Something more fun?"

Haru smirked as he rolled off the sofa just in the nick of time so as to dodge a heavy book flying at him, courtesy of Ikumi.

"Honestly…" Ikumi gritted her teeth, the same scene between them repeating again and again. The woman knelt, picking up the book from the floor. "You never change, do you? You are just the same boy from all that time ago."

"..." Haru took the beautiful chance to sneak a peek at her bottom as she knelt, still lying on the floor. "I'm not just a boy though."

Ikumi turned around, facing him as she threw him a questioning glance. What did he mean by that, exactly?

"Not anymore." He finished.

His final words did little to hide the not so subtle meaning behind them. The two locked gazes for just an instant.

"..." Haru swallowed down his nervousness, rolling just a little closer to her as he basked in the woman's beauty.

There was just something about middle-aged women, a certain charm that he couldn't quite put a name to. It captivated him.

'I'm sure she is attracted, she has to be.' Haru really believed that. Narcissistic much? Perhaps, but he was confident in his looks regardless.

In the past, he had been little more than a good looking high school student, one who lusted after a middle-aged woman with a store to manage, and a child on top of that.

It was no wonder his chances with her had been close to non-existence. But their circumstances had changed, he was no longer just a high school student helping her at work.

Standing up from the floor at last, he extended a helping hand for her to take. When she didn't take it immediately, he grabbed her and pulled her up.

Yes, perhaps he was being a little rougher than he needed to be, but hey, so far he had heard no complaints from her.

It was that same scenario from the past, his lustful words, him dodging books, them both on the floor, it all repeated itself, much like it had done countless times before.

However, this time, there was a difference, one that in retrospect, made all the difference. Haru towered over her, and it was her who now had to look up to meet his face, not him.

"I…" Ikumi tried to pull away, but for just another second, he held her in place.

"See?" He smiled, that arrogant, devilish smile that fitted him oh so well. "No longer a boy."

Haru let her go before she could come up with a retort, he had made his point and that was good enough for him.

Besides, it's not like Ikumi would ever let him do shit to her when her son is sleeping in the room next to her office.

'That's good enough.' Haru reasoned with himself. 'For now at least.'

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

"I see." Ginjō talked at last as he and the rest of Xcution listened to what Haru had to share with them. "That could be a problem.".

"How so?" Yukio interjected, not seeming to understand what the big deal was. "It sounds rather simple to me. Shouldn't we just lie low until the soul reaper leaves?"

"Easy for you to say!" Riruka snapped at Yukio, baring her teeth at the blond. "All you do is play with that stupid console, of course it's not going to matter to you."

"I'm with Yukio here." Jackie interjected, resting on the sofa next to Ginjō's. "That soul reaper won't stay here forever."

"..." Giriko remained silent, preparing some drinks for them on the bar, content with listening to their exchange.

Tsukishima, much like he often did, just smiled, seemingly amused to no end with the situation. Haru could never read him.

"What about you, Haru?" Ginjō asked him, gulping down his drink the moment Giriko left it on the table.

"Me?" Haru asked back, feeling a little self-conscious as the focus shifted towards him from out of left field.

"Who else? You are the one who brought this information to us, after all." Ginjō reasoned, his gaze traveling across the room. "I'm sure the others agree."

"I…" Haru paused, what did he think? Yukio's idea seemed like the most sensible, but truthfully, it was a bit boring.

Urahara and Yoruichi were the two soul reapers he had met, but even they weren't acting members of the Soul Society.

He was kind of curious.

He wanted to see what a soul reaper's job was like, not just when dealing with hollows, but with the regular souls as well.

"What if…" Haru began, but hesitated a little. "I mean, should we even do something? We have remained under the radar so far, right?"

"What are you suggesting, exactly?"

"Frankly? Nothing, nothing at all, that's what I am suggesting." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "I mean, as long as the soul reaper doesn't see Ginjō we should be good."

"If so, the rest of us don't matter all that much, in fact, we could even go ahead and interact with them."

"Although, we should make it seem like we are not a group, but individuals who are just acting on their own accord."

"I see." Jackie spoke, expressing her own thoughts on the matter. "In other words, 'some humans with powers' is nothing to write home about, unless they are organized."

"Exactly my point."

"What if they do see him, though?" Riruka asked, jumping right back into the conversation. "If that happens…"

"Then we let Tsukishima do his thing." Haru finalized, all of them turning to face the aforementioned. "And we make the soul reaper our little puppet. Sounds good?"

"Hm… How devious, Haru." Tsukishima spoke for the first time, his smile looking rather predatory. He seemed to like the idea. "I don't mind, it sounds like a good enough plan. But what about the others?"

"I'm in." Riruka agreed in a heartbeat, as long as she could still go out shopping, she didn't care about what happened.

"I'm in as well." Jackie agreed.

"Same here." Giriko did so too.

"..." Yukio didn't even bother to take his gaze off his console. He didn't care as long as he wasn't required to go out.

"It's decided, then." Ginjō concluded, drinking down another glass the moment Giriko served it to him.

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

[Two months later.]

"Huh?" Haru raised his head, taking his eyes away from his breakfast to meet his mother's gaze. "A truck crashed into their house? You are joking, right?"

"Does it look like I'm joking?" Himari asked her son, massaging her temples as she recalled the conversation she had with Isshin.

"Hm… Well, that's unusual." Haru said, munching in some bread as he spoke. Orihime had gotten him under the habit of eating a lot of bread lately. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yes, no one got hurt." Himari watched her son as he ate his breakfast. "Do you mind if I ask you for a favor?"

"..." Haru eyed his mother suspiciously. It wasn't like her to ask for favors, not at all. "What is it?"

"Could you check on them? I fear Isshin might be downplaying the situation. He tends to do that a lot." Himari scratched her head, frustrated. "I have my hands full today, otherwise I would go myself."

"Let me see…" Haru took out his phone, checking his schedule for the day. "I have two appointments, but they are both small pieces, really. I could go after I'm done with them, though."

"Really? You are a lifesaver, Haru." Standing up from her chair, Himari ruffled her son's hair till making a mess out of it.

"Ugh… Mom, I just fixed that." Haru pouted, he was eighteen and his mother still insisted on treating him like a child.

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

"..." Haru stared at the Kurosaki Household with his mouth agape. "You can't seriously expect me to believe a truck did this."

Haru turned to face Isshin, by some odd coincidence he had met the man on his way there.

"Seriously, I mean it!" Isshin retorted, waving his hands around as he behaved like his usual goofy self. "Isn't it a miracle no one got injured? And not a single one of us woke up!"

"..." Again, Haru stared at the man in silence. Isshin was a goofball, sure, but not to this extent.

Some random truck had crashed straight into their home, no one got injured, no one woke up, and he just didn't care?

'What's going on here?' Haru thought, sweat dropping as Isshin showed him inside through the hole in the wall.

Haru focused, closing his green orbs for an instant as he extended his consciousness, feeling the remnants of reishi around the area.

'Hm…' Haru felt it, that recognizable darkness on the reiatsu he had grown so familiar with. 'A hollow, is it?'

However, that left him with more questions than answers. If this was the doing of a hollow… Well, frankly, all of them should be dead.

'There's something fishy going on here.' Haru followed Isshin on a fascinating tour through their destroyed house, still deep in thought.

'I should probably contact Urahara.'

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

"Heeeeey." Haru welcomed himself into the shop, not even bothering to knock as he stepped in. "Urahara? Yoruichi? Is anyone here?"

Two small figures greeted him past the door, a redheaded boy with a scowl and a black haired girl with an innocent look in her eyes.

"Oh, Jinta, Ururu." He recognized the two in an instant, he had met the two during his sword training with Urahara.

"The shop hasn't opened yet." Jinta told him, arms crossed as he tried his absolute best to look intimidating. He failed.

"Ururu, is he here?" Haru decided he would have an easier time talking with the girl, so he addressed her first.

"Yes, but…" Ururu glanced towards the back of the shop, feeling more than a little nervous all of a sudden. "I don't know if we should…"

"Is he with someone?" Haru shot another question to the girl, drilling her with questions till she spilled the beans usually worked.

"I… He's…" Ururu stuttered. "H-He's with a guest."

"Ururu!" Jinta glared at the girl.

"I'm sorry!"

"Thanks, Ururu." Haru patted the teary eyed girl on the head as he walked past them, heading towards the back of the shop.

"Hold it!"

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

"Well, well… If it isn't Miyagawa-san." Urahara sat on the floor, greeting Haru with a carefree smile despite him having barged in.

Haru didn't immediately acknowledge him, he first stared at the one person present in the room who he didn't know.

The person in question was a rather short, black haired teenage girl, wearing a school uniform.

"..." Haru and the girl stared at each other for just an instant, but the former soon took his gaze off the girl.

"Urahara." Haru spoke, acknowledging the man at last. "I have some questions."

"Straight to the point, as usual." Urahara noted, his smile still in place.

"You know me." Haru merely stated, remaining unflinching even under the man's unreadable gaze. "First question, then…"

"Hold on a second…" The girl spoke up for the first time, her face the perfect mixture of confusion and mild irritation.

"There was an accident…" Haru carried on, not the least bit concerned about what the teenage girl had to say.

"I said, hold on!" The girl interrupted, stomping on the ground loud enough to get their attention at long last. "I need him to do something for me! I was here first! You can't just barge in and…"

"I can, though." Haru tilted his head to the side, with such an innocent face it made her stop mid-speech. "I literally just did."

"Grrrr…" Haru blinked, had the girl just growled from sheer rage? It seemed like she had quite the temper.

"Alright, alright…" Urahara clapped his hands together, earning their attention. "Miss Kuchiki, Miyawaga-san, let us all calm down for a second here."

"From what little I have heard so far, I think we might be able to solve both of these issues simultaneously."

"How, exactly?" Haru inquired, eyeing the man suspiciously. "You know something, right? Nevermind, stupid question. You always do."

"Well, I know a little bit of this and a little bit of that." Urahara replied, standing up from the floor with the help of his cane. "It's just a matter of connecting the dots. First things first, let us get on with the introductions."

"He…" The shopkeeper pointed his cane at Haru. "... Is Haru Miyagawa, a student of mine, so to speak."

"Former student." Haru corrected.

"And she…" Urahara carried on. "... Is Rukia Kuchiki, a soul reaper. Well, sort of."

His slight correction made Rukia flinch, but she kept her mouth shut, she was not much of a soul reaper without her powers, after all.

"Oh." Haru vocalized his surprise, 'connecting the dots' as Kisuke had said. It wasn't a truck accident after all, but a fight between a soul reaper and a hollow.

"Oh indeed." Urahara's smile widened. "I'm gonna take a gamble and guess the accident you mentioned happened at a clinic."

"Aye, you are right about that." Haru gave him an affirmative nod in response. "... As you always are."

"Well then, that makes things easier to explain." Urahara confronted Rukia, who had remained quiet, listening to the exchange between them in silent contemplation. "Miss Kuchiki."

"Yes?" Rukia asked, a little agitated as the focus of the conversation suddenly shifted towards her.

"I'll place the order." Urahara told her mysteriously. "It is our second most popular item though, so it will take some time until it arrives. Is that alright?"

"Understood." Rukia replied, she needed some time to convince a certain someone to perform his duties, so it worked just fine for her.

Rukia turned around, and she stared at Haru, her intense gaze fixated on him as her mind made sure to memorize his face.

Then, without another word exchanged between them, she was gone. Leaving without even bothering to bid them farewell.

"Jeez." Haru whistled, facing Urahara again as the man closed the door which the girl had just left open. "What was all that about?"

"Oh, that?" Urahara moved back to his usual spot, sitting on top of a pillow as he laid on the floor. "Just some business with a new client."

"Yeah, about that…" Haru stared at the man. "A soul reaper, right? I must say, I am disappointed, she felt rather weak, almost like a human."

"You noticed, then?" Urahara asked, his smile widening ever so slightly. "Well, Miss Kuchiki is facing some… Unusual circumstances, let us say. As a result, for the time being she is mostly powerless."

"Hm…" Haru hummed, a little bit interested in just what these unusual circumstances were. "Well, that's nice and all, but… I still have some questions left."

"Do you?" Urahara's smile didn't falter. If anything, he looked even more amused.

"You answered a question." Haru admitted. "I still have some more left. For instance, if that girl, Kuchiki, lost her powers as you say she did…"

"What is she doing here? Shouldn't she head back to the Soul Society or something?"

"Perhaps she should." Urahara commented, so casually it made Haru pause to listen. "If she wants to get herself locked up, that is."

"What was that?" Haru asked, perhaps he had somehow misheard him. Still, he could swear he heard him say she would get locked up.

"Oh, didn't I mention it?" Urahara took his fan from in between his clothes, waving it around as he spoke. "My, my, how careless of me…"

"That's right, as of last night, Miss Kuchiki has become a criminal, and I do expect her to be severely punished as well."

"Punished?" Haru tilted his head. "For what crimes?"

"Oh, you know…" Urahara's smile turned into a grin, Haru had asked the correct question at long last. "Transferring her powers to a human, that would be all."

"..." Haru froze, a chill running down his spine as he considered the implications behind the man's words. "Who…?"

"A rather severe crime, I must say. Still, luckily for her so far she has escaped detection…" Urahara added almost as an afterthought.

"Who did…?"

"Though again, I imagine it won't be long until she gets tracked down. If that happens, I can't imagine what…"

"Who did she trade powers with, exactly!?" Haru snapped, a number of faces flashing through his mind as he spoke.

'Karin, Yuzu or Ichigo.' One of them, he reasoned.

It couldn't be Isshin, he hadn't sensed fluctuations in his spiritual pressure, not in the slightest.

'Ichigo.' Haru realized; if it was one of them, then it was probably him. The oldest, courageous, a protector at heart. It must have been him.

Haru breathed out the breath he was holding, massaging his temples as he tried to consider what this meant for him.

"Hold on a second." An idea, a sudden dangerous thought arrived inside his mind. "If… If she is a criminal, then what about the human she traded her powers with?"

"Naturally, that human will be punished as well." Urahara replied, not looking the least bit concerned. "Killed, no doubt."

Upon hearing those words, Haru felt like screaming. What had Ichigo gotten himself into, exactly?

Make no mistake, Ichigo was a nice guy and all, but Haru wasn't about to risk his life for him if that meant fighting some mysterious supernatural organization by himself.

Still, perhaps he could warn him? Assuming of course that rogue soul reaper, Rukia Kuchiki, had not done so already.

'Agh.' Haru rubbed his head, frustrated. 'What a fucking mess.'

End of chapter fourteen.