The hollow rushed toward the newly reborn Shinigami, only for Ichigo to swiftly block the attack with his large sword. The former Shinigami on the floor looked at the exchange in a daze before looking at herself.
Shirou also got confused, but he quickly shook his head. The hollow was about to attack Ichigo again and he had to help.
He quickly rushed toward the Hollow, holding Kanshou and Bakuya firmly in both hands, he jumped over Ichigo and cut the beast in half.
"Wha- Shirou?!"
After delivering a clean cut, Shirou landed on the ground, approached Ichigo, and chopped his head.
"Ouch! What are you do-"
"Did you realize what you had just done?" Shirou scolded his idiot brother. "Why would you decide to fight against a Hollow?"
"Huh?! How do you know-"
"That's not important. If you just leave everything to the Shinigami over there, everything will be fine."
He pointed at the girl who looked at them in a daze.
"Knowing you, I know that you jumped into that Hollow without realizing its danger when you saw Karin collapse. Even if you can see ghosts, you are basically naked! What are you gonna do if the Shinigami didn't lend you power?"
Shirou glanced at the lady, hoping his glare delivered enough message for her to not bother interrupting their sibling spat. She caught that message well and decided to ignore whatever was going between those two brothers.
From her expression, she had many questions for Shirou, but now he had to scold his reckless twin brother.
"How can you be so stupid? What if I was late and you died?"
"W-wait, I could handle that myself! Hell, I would kill that Hollow in one strike if you didn't interfere." Ichigo spat back. "More importantly, how did you know about that creature?! Did you get the same ability as me or something? How could you-"
"That's not important and I will explain everything later. For now, go check on our sister."
"... Got it." Ichigo finally calmed down and looked at Karin.
Shirou sighed and looked at his twin brother. This was not a good night.
Sighing tiredly, he rubbed his temple and closed his eyes, letting out an exhausted breath. Then, he approached the girl whose clothes had changed into white robe.
"Shinigami from Soul Society, I believe? May I ask a few questions regarding tonight's incident?"
"... How coincidence. I also have a lot of questions for you." The girl smirked, although it was clear from the glint in her eyes that she was being serious. "How should I address you, mister?"
"My name is Kurosaki Shirou, Miss Shinigami." Shirou introduced himself politely. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise," She bowed respectfully in return. "My name is Kuchiki Rukia."
***
After putting Karin and Yuzu in their respective rooms, Shirou sat in the living room. Ichigo sat next to him, the boy had already returned to normal appearance.
Currently, they were sitting opposite to Rukia Kuchiki in awkward silence.
Nobody talked for a minute before Rukia cleared her throat, bringing two attention to her.
"I will cut straight to the point, Kurosaki Shirou, Ichigo." She began, looking directly into his eyes with determination evident in hers.
"Why does a mere human like you possess such a high level of spiritual energy?"
"Well, I don't know." Ichigo scratched his hair before looking at Shirou. "And you, Shirou?"
"I was born with it." He replied honestly.
"Born with...?" Rukia repeated doubtfully. "... Your parents must be extraordinary then."
"Our parents can't see ghosts, only us and our sisters can." Ichigo interrupted before crossing his arms together. "Anyway, why did you look like that?"
"Why, you ask? It's because you took all my Shinigami power." Rukia glared angrily at Ichigo. "Because of that, I can't transform into my previous form again or return to Soul Society. Right now I am using a Gigai until my power returns."
"Calm down, Miss Kuchiki. We need to hear more explanations to understand what happened here." Shirou calmed her down by putting his palm up. "Can you please tell me how everything led to this?"
"Maybe your brother can explain it better than me." Rukia's voice was filled with sarcasm. She glared at the taller boy again who smiled sheepishly in return.
"It's complicated..." Ichigo mumbled.
"Then let me explain it to you." Rukia cleared her throat before speaking again.
She explained everything that happened prior to her arrival.
According to her story, Ichigo met her in his room earlier tonight because there was a Hollow lurking in the town. Apparently the evil spirit was after Ichigo's high spiritual power, planning to devour him, Karin and Yuzu.
When they were talking, the Hollow got a hold of Yuzu and Karin, causing Ichigo to rush blindly. To save him, Rukia blocked the Hollow's attack and got injured, then it led to the situation that Shirou saw.
"Sigh..." Shirou sighed heavily and rubbed his temples with his fingers. "I won't say that you're at fault, Ichigo. I would also try to save Yuzu and Karin in that situation if I were you. However, asking for power to defeat Hollow is certainly a reckless idea."
"Then how?! I only acted based on my gut feeling! I wanted to save my family! What else can I do?!"
"Ichigo." Shirou spoke calmly. "That's not the correct way to talk in this situation. Calm down."
Ichigo was taken aback as if he just realized how loud his voice sounded. After calming down a bit, he let out a weak chuckle.
"Sorry..." The taller boy muttered softly.
Nodding slightly, Shirou turned towards Rukia once again. His expression changed into a serious one as he opened his mouth to ask another question. "I understand the situation but I won't apologize or feel bad about it. Your power can return to normal, right?"
Rukia nodded stiffly before continuing her explanation further.
"Normally when transferring Shinigami power to another person, the amount given would be at most half. However, your brother accidentally broke the spell limit and received the whole portion of it. It's temporary though, as the power will slowly come back to the original owner."
"Great. That means the problem is solved."
"Yes, for now," Rukia muttered under her breath, clearly frustrated by her situation.
She looked down at her hands which trembled slightly from anger before taking a deep breath to compose herself once more.
"Now it's time for me to ask a question." She looked straight at Shirou. "You seem knowledgeable in these matters. Who are you?"
"Kurosaki Shirou."
"You do know that's not what I mean, right?" Rukia glared at Shirou.
"Yeah, Shirou! Man, how long have we been siblings, huh? Why did you hide something like this from me?!" Ichigo shouted indignantly.
Well, they weren't completely wrong in their accusation. After all, there was definitely something odd going around here with him knowing all that stuff and even killed the Hollow in one strike.
No ordinary person should've known about reiryoku or anything related to souls.
Not to mention he mentioned Shinigami when Rukia was questioning Ichigo...
Still, Shirou kept a poker face throughout. There wasn't anything worth hiding anyway.
After thinking for a while, he decided to throw someone under the bus.
"I learned a bit from a shady shopkeeper." He answered.
***Chapter End***
Now Ichigo know about Shirou's power!
One shot Hollow, he's really strong, isn't he?