Chapter 3. After the rain

Meanwhile in the spirit world.....

At an elegant pure white palace, lives a woman with dark yellow hair, peach in skin and royal blue eyes standing at the balcony, waiting anxiously for something else. Just as the three men appeared at her doorstep, she turned around and went towards them as said with an impatient tone :

" Took you long enough."

As the three men kneel before her, one of the men said: " It's done."

" Did you kill him? The spirit demon?" she asked, excitedly.

" Unfortunately, we killed a soul reaper." answered the second one, letting her smile melted away.

" I knew it! You're more useless than I thought. I just want you to annihilate Keitaro's son, yet you failed to do so. Instead you killed one of Yamamoto's pests.", she grunts in anger and paused a little bit as she continues., " Alright, just end the little boy and his pathetic substitute soul reaper. I want their heads as my new trophy."

" Yes, your Highness.", all three men bowed before her. By the time she walked away from them, she turned around and commanded as if she was annoyed by their actions, " Don't ever disappoint me again."

" Yes, your Highness." they answered before they got up and watched her disappear from the doorstep.

As the woman walked towards a room, a bald man and a partially bald one, were rapidly following her and one of them asked : " Oh dear Kazumi, how's the lovely weather we're having? "

" Let's just say, your men are far worse than scumbags. Even the Espadas can do a better job than them. " she said, furiously.

" Please calm down. Someday, the boy dies along with a substitute soul reaper. We'll be rejoice afterwards." he said, amiably.

With her devious looks, Kazumi opened the door and saw her stepbrother along with his pretty looking wife with a silver bruise on her right eye, massaging his shoulder on this glorious white and gold room. While she entered the room, he asked:

" Is Keitaro's little boy gave up his ghost?"

" I'm afraid no, but Koro is." she answered acrimoniously.

" THEN IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!! I WANT ISSHIN AND KEITARO TO PAY FOR WHAT THEY DID TO ME!! I'VE HAD LOST EVERYTHING, INCLUDING MY OWN CHILDREN BECAUSE OF THEM!! ", he roared.

Kazumi stood further away from him as he lashes out in anger and thew objects to the mirror, shattering it into billions of pieces.

While everyone else were spooked, she waited for him to calm down before she could come up with a sinful plan that could change everything. She looked at the wife and said :

" I should pay a visit to them. It must be very devastated.", Once she left the room again, she ordered to the bald man,

" I'll send them the whereabouts on Ichitaro."

In a puzzling situation, the bald man was left confused by her request thinking what she was actually planning.

Hence, without any further complications and questions, he does what he was told. But as for Kazumi's step brother, his thought about his estranged children especially his son while he clenched his fist lividly, made him even more furious.

~~~~~~

{ Ichitaro's POV }

He sat on the pavilion, watching the wind and leaves dancing in the streets. Silence had reigned over the city once again, but this time Death had started a gloomy parade.

It's been few weeks since Koro's death and Ichitaro was more depressed than anyone else, though he never showed up any of his emotions. During his funeral, he didn't showed up due to his emotions altering him too much, especially what really happened to him 10 years ago.

Enjoying the sorrowful silence of a gothic sombre tunes and wore one of Koro's favourite black puffed coat around his shoulder, he thought about those men that had brutally killed him. He even recognised their faces, so his plan was to figure out who they were and what do they want from him.

Then, someone was standing in front of him and asked him in a sweet voice, causing a quick disturbance : " Ichitaro, are you okay?"

He looked at the person and saw the figure was Orihime. Wearing her favourite dark pink sweater, yellow panty horse, a light brown boots, a gray skirt and a blue beanie on her head as she gazed at him in a sympathetic tone.

Emotionlessly, Ichitaro answered :

" I'm fine. There's nothing you can worry about."

" That's not true. Even if you haven't had any emotions left, I can still see it." she said.

" Alright, maybe you got me.", he sighed as he shifted away so that Orihime could sit., " I do have problems."

Orihime sat near him. She looked at him as he's ambivalent onto his feelings and felt completely sorry for him.

" I know that feeling. Ever since my brother died, I was in the same situation as you. Yet thanks to Ichigo, not only can my brother find peace, but also I can find ways to move on. However, that doesn't mean that you're going to be silent for a long time."

Ichitaro may not be a type that talked through about emotions, but he knew that Orihime had treated him like a little brother despite protecting her since 3rd grade.

Just as he was ready to talk about his own ʼfeelingsʼ, another person came to visit him and this time it was Uryuu. He said :

" Ichitaro, I was going to check on you."

" Nah, I'm good." Ichitaro answered. By the time, he was about to check his pocket to look for his phone, he felt something like a piece of paper.

As he picked it up, it was nicely folded into square shape. Orihime and Uryuu were as surprised and confused as he was.

" What is that?" she asked.

" Some sort of piece of paper.", he answered, " Should we open it?"

" Sure ." said Ichitaro. He unfolded the paper and was curious on what it said.

" Ichitaro, what is it?" Uryuu asked.

" Hmmm, let me see." said Orihime. She read the piece of paper carefully, but she realised that it was written in ancient letters. Puzzled as she was, Uryuu also glanced at it. Until then, he noticed something and said :" Ichitaro, that note seemed written in ancient letters."

" What does it mean?" asked Orihime.

" I'm not quite sure what it means but, I think that Koro wants to tell us something."

" Wait, I think there's a book inside his car. Maybe if we find it, it'll lead us something. " Ichitaro said as the three of them went to the garage, where it was parked.

~~~~~~

At the garage, Ichitaro pulled out a long velvet white sheet and discovered that the Impala was there, without any scratches all over it. Before Ichitaro could reach the car keys from the key holder, he said :

"Alright, you know that I'm still bummed about Koro. But as long as we can find that book, maybe it'll give an answer that we need."

All agreed as he opened the car and all three went inside it. Both Ichitaro and Uryuu were at the front, while Orihime was on the back seat. When their search continued further, Orihime discovered a certain object.

" Guys, I found something.", she said. Both of them checked on her.

" What is it?" both of them asked.

Orihime picked up something and answered as she pulled out from one of the seats:

" It looks like some kind of a small diary. Could it be that book that you've been telling us about?"

" There's only one way to find out."

They opened a small diary with a smooth black leather cover, at first they ignored the warning which said :

" READ THIS , IF YOU DARE!

- Koro Yamagata "

' Come on, Koro. You're dead. It's not even necessary to scare the crap out of everybody.' Ichitaro though. After they turned pages, Uryuu noticed something familiar.

" Uryuu?"

" Ichitaro. Look at that piece of paper again." he said, leaving Ichitaro confused. He took the piece of paper and looked carefully for the words. Ichitaro was more puzzled when reading this : "Here me, dragon?"

" What does that mean?" asked Orihime.

" It must be some sort of a prayer from spirit demons." said Uryuu.

" Spirit demon?"

" Yeah, maybe. However, if we learn more about them, it'll lead us to a certain clue."

" I'm not sure what it is. ", said Ichitaro in which he later asked., " But how are we going to find out about the spirit demons? "

By the time they were out of the car, Orihime bumped next to a metallic wardrobe filled with tools and small cardboard boxes against her arm and shoulder pretty hard. Feeling a tiny bit of pain, Uryuu and Ichitaro both helped her getting back up and went to a safer corner.

" Hey, are you alright? Are you hurt?" asked Uryuu.

" Don't worry, I'm fine. It's not really that serious." she chuckles.

That's when a black crow flew over it and accidentally knocked over the wardrobe including a flashlight with neon blue lights, leaving Orihime's cute scream. While three of them quickly got back and the piece of paper was dropped from Ichitaro's hand.

Shortly, Ichitaro noticed something as the flashlight was slowly flickering at the paper, indicating a certain ancient words in transparent. He picked up the paper and the flashlight.

" Guys, you really need to see this." he said, immediately.

" Huh, Ichitaro?" she asked as they went towards him. Ichitaro began to flash the lights over the paper and discovered that there's another piece of the jigsaw puzzle - more ancient letters appeared from the lights and Orihime opened the diary and found another meaning of the letters.

" What does it say?".

" Hmmm, it says here that "Find a Yamagata heir, he'll lead you the way." I'm not sure what it means either." she said.

" Yamagata? Hey, now I get it. If we find one, then he'll be a solution to all of this." Uryuu said.

" A Yamagata? "

" Think about this, Orihime. The Yamagatas are the pillars of the Soul society, they're the reason why they arbitrated an ongoing war for thousands of years between entities and lastly they're the only foundation that created the Authorities to armistice the entire spirit world, even the Soul society. "

" So, if we find that guy, he'll probably know about the spirit demons and where they come from. " said Ichitaro.

" Exactly. So all we have to do is____", by the time Uryuu was about to finish, Ichitaro's father Neji arrived at the garage.

" Oh, Ichitaro. I'd thought you're gone without telling. Anyway, someone wants to see you." he said.

" Greetings, Mr Kagami." said Uryuu.

" Oh hey, Ishida. I didn't see you. How's your father doing?"

" Well he's doing great actually."

During their conversation, Orihime gave Ichitaro the diary and the piece of paper.

" You know what you must do.", she whispered and Ichitaro nodded before he heads out.

After leaving the garage, Ichitaro seemed to had wondered if whether or not spirit demons really do exist. While his father started to catch up with him, he later asked :

" Who actually wants to see me, dad?"

" Well, she said she was a friend." he answered. Ichitaro was emotionally surprised when he heard about his only friend, whom he had lost contact 5 years ago.

" Kumori is here?"

" Maybe not. But she said she was a friend.... An old friend of your mother."

' Mom's old friend? Who is she?' he thought.

Neji lead him to a living room, where his mother and Kazumi was there next to the small TV. He could see that his mother wasn't actually happy about her 'visit' at all. In fact she was filled with fury and wanted to punch her in the face. Kazumi, on the other hand, was amiable. But hiding her true apathy should anyone got hurt. She stood up, went to Ichitaro and asked :

" That's your son, Keitaro?"

" Just get on with it. He saw what happened and you're here, going to rub his own wound with salt." Keitaro said, furiously.

Kazumi gave her devious smile.

" Oh, don't worry. I'll tell him that's all." she said.

Ichitaro wasn't really impressed with the way she represented herself, as he looked at Orihime and Uryuu from the back of the garage room.

" I know that you're Kumori's little 'friend' and I've had learnt about Koro. But it was just an assassination from the Soul society and I believe it's pretty normal." she said, knowing very well that it's a lie.

" An assassination?" whispered Orihime.

" Wait, how did she know? " Uryuu asked, silently seeing Ichitaro saying nothing and wasn't shocked about it.

" Ichitaro... Since you had seen these assassins, I'll protect you. On one condition - you have to say these words and no one will come and kill you.", She continued.

Just as she lay her hand on his shoulder, he simply walked away from her. He even knew that these men aren't from the soul society at all because their dress code is different from soul reapers.

" Go on, kid. Say those words " I didn't see anything." and I'll protect you."

Ichitaro clenched his fist as his anger got the best of him.

" You think it's a joke? You think that Koro was killed like a fucking animal? You think that I'm going to forget everything?!" he asked, lividly.

" Ichitaro, I just want what's best for you ----"

" Best for me, my ass. I'D RATHER DIE THAN SAY THOSE WORDS!!!" he shouted as he ran away from the living room all the way to the garage.

" I hope you're happy about this. Ichitaro deserves justice, not this bullshit. " Neji said before walking away to find his son. Kazumi, bitting her precious light pink lip and said, thoughtfully towards these two men:

" Find Ichitaro and kill him."

~~~~~~

Orihime and Uryuu followed Ichitaro to the cemetery, which believed to be his favourite dark place. They'd spotted him sitting under the trees near the tombstone and Orihime asked : " Ichitaro, are you okay?"

" I'm... not okay. That lady, why would she say something like this? Telling me that Koro's death was an assassin and I want to forget about it as if I'll live a shitty life with fucking rainbows?" he asked, with a sad, crestfallen tone.

" Wait a minute, if Koro was wanted for many years, why didn't Yamamoto had sent a manhunt for him? " asked Uryuu.

" I don't know. Those guys, they don't look like soul reapers at all. " he answered.

" Just as I suspected. Ichitaro, you have to get out of here as soon as possible. Maybe these guys are after you. "

" But why? " she asked.

He looked at the tombstone shaped like a house. Besides that, the black crow was on top of it. Ichitaro sighed and said :" Guys, I may have an idea, but it'll be stupid. "

" Huh? " both asked.

" If I hide in here, maybe those guys would be gone. However, if anything ever happened to me tell my mom and dad that I love them." he said.

" Okay, we'll do it." said Uryuu.

" Be careful. " said Orihime.

Ichitaro ran towards the house like tombstone and went inside. By the time he was supposed to be relaxed when he had Koro's diary in his pocket, he saw a crow carrying what appeared to be a Hallow pass. He soon remembered that it belongs to Ichigo, despite the fact he had lost his shinigami powers. It then dropped it in front of him and he picked it up.

Even though he knew that Orihime and Uryuu had helped him, he realised that he should find out more hidden secrets and where are the spirit demons. He sat down and thought about this over and over.