Also Tatsuki’s mother didn’t remember a thing that happened not that she would after all, as far Tatsuki knew the only one other person in her family that could see spirits was her father, but that didn’t exactly fall well within the necessities for a TV Tokyo Lighting Technician’s job description. Thank goodness his job usually kept him in Minato-ku, and away from any real danger during the week. As for Ataru, well thanks to her Magic 8-Ball he slept through the entire thing, oddly enough though for someone who wasn’t caught in the middle of the fight he was the one that ended up the most injured.
Still despite wanting to help and clean up the shop her mother insisted that things were fine, and that if she was late to school the consequences would be grave. Of course knowing her mother as she did, that was more than enough to get Tatsuki moving and in class just before the Ochi-sensei arrived.
“Tatsuki-chan, what’s the matter?” Orihime the girl’s best friend asked out of concern, “Usually you’re one of the first people here in the morning.”
“Someone crashed into our shop last night and ran off,” Tatsuki said sticking with the official story but with real anger and frustration, “It must be some holiday for boozehound truckers, first Ichigo’s place last year and then my house this year, we’re just lucky he only ran into the shop and no one was hurt.”
“And you didn’t even stay to help, how inconsiderate,” Keigo remarked butting into the conversation, “Or did you just come to school to recruit some real men to come by your house later to help.”
“Oh that reminds me,” Tatsuki perked up, “Kojima, Sado could you two come by my house later we could really use your help right now.”
“Of course,” the baby faced bay replied to his classmate’s inquiries, “I’d be glad to help.”
“Sure,” was the only response that came out of Sado, a half-Mexican giant that towered over everyone in the classroom.
“Wait, what about me?” Keigo began to whine.
“Now Keigo this is a job for real men,” Tatsuki said hiding a smile, “not bad comedians.”
“Alright class, now that Asano’s drama routine has begun we might as well start home room,” Ochi-sensei said as she caught everyone’s attention, “for starters today we have a new student joining us. Kuchiki-san, can you please come in and introduce yourself.”
“Thank you Ochi-sensei,” a girl Tatsuki instantly recognized as the Shinigami from last night, “my name is Rukia Kuchiki, I hope we can all become great friends.”
Tatsuki raised an eyebrow at the Shinigami’s appearance and behavior; however decided to wait until lunch to raise the issue on the hows and whys to the Shinigami, ‘After all there’s no telling just what she’d do if I brought this up in public.’
After Social Studies in third period it was time for lunch, and of course Tatsuki was more than ready to go on a little fact finding mission; however first she did have to take care of the basics. “So Orihime, did you remember to bring lunch?”
“Of course Tatsuki-chan,” quipped her bubbly red-headed companion, “I’ve got taiyaki and ramen with wasabi and honey.”
“Are you sure you should be eating that?” Tatsuki inquired despite her years of experience in dealing with her best friend’s unusual palate.
“What do you mean?” Orihime responded, “It’s totally delicious, you should try some.”
“Maybe some other time,” Tatsuki waved off desperate to avoid the pitfalls of food poisoning, “I have to go check on the new girl, after all someone had to make sure that the boys or heaven forbid Honsho don’t get their hands on her before she gets time to adjust.”
“Oh, okay,” Orihime said understanding the situation after months of Chizuru’s attentions, “I’ll see you back in class.”
Tatsuki navigated the halls until she spotted her quarry chatting with Keigo and Mizuiro, “Pardon me boys, do you mind if I borrow Kuchiki-san for a little girl-girl chat, I think she might need a few warnings about the unusual problems around the school.”
“All right so what is this all about,” Rukia stated with her personality back to normal, “why did you bring me back here.”
“I was just wanting to know why you were still here in the human world,” Tatsuki stated, “I thought that you would have gone back to the Soul Society after last night to file a report or something.”
“My posting in the human world will not be up for about a month,” the shinigami stated as she slid on a red fingerless glove with an emblem of a skull burning with blue fire, “besides I’ve noticed something odd since last night and I want to confirm my suspicions.”
Without a further word the Rukia shoved Tatsuki and caused her to be pushed out of her own body, “What the hell did you do that for?”
“Remember what I said about noticing something odd,” Rukia continued, “last night I gave you about half of my spiritual energy to make you a substitute shinigami, it should have already dissipated by now but for some reason you are still have the powers of a shinigami. For that matter my own powers should have completely returned; however something seems to have slowed their return and until I know just what is causing this I cannot afford to use my powers normally to do my job.”
“Okay,” Tatsuki sighed, “I understand you need me to fill in for you until you’re one-hundred percent again. Of course I’ll be glad to help, without you my mom and I would likely be dinner by now, and of course as Lee-sensei’s always told me it’s a martial-artist’s duty to defend the week.
“Fine as long as you understand,” Rukia said taking out her now beeping cell phone, “but right now we need to hurry I’ve just detected a Hollow nearby.”
“Alright let’s go!” Tatsuki said following Rukia as she took off, “Oh by the way Rukia, there is one thing that I really need to know in order to be a proper shinigami.”
Still running and looking at her spirit phone Rukia asked, “What is it?”
“How do you perform Konsou?” the substitute shinigami asked as her they ran to what was likely a very hungry hollow.
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(Posted Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:02)
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