Chapter 11

 

I rubbed my eyes as I poured myself a second cup of coffee. It was nine-thirty in the morning and I had yet to fully awaken after the previous night’s events. Renji and Rukia’s appearance overnight had left me drained. Toshiro walked into the kitchen with a smile on his face, looking relatively well-rested.

 

“Good morning, Mina-chan,” he greeted, pouring a glass of orange juice for himself.

 

“Good morning,” I answered before taking a sip of my coffee. What I really needed were a few more hours of sleep. Not even five minutes later, I could hear a knock at the front door. Standing outside were Rukia and Renji, dressed in normal street clothes, for which I was grateful for. I opened the door and stepped aside to allow them in.

 

“Have we come at a bad time?” Rukia asked.

 

“No, it’s fine. Come on in. Is there anything I can get you?”

 

“We just need to talk to you and Toshiro,” Renji answered. I nodded and led them to the kitchen, where Toshiro sat on a stool beside the counter. A smile grew on his features when he saw our guests enter the room. I sat beside him, taking another sip from my coffee, while Rukia and Renji each took a seat across from us.

 

“What do you want to talk about?” I asked.

 

“Rukia and I will have to keep our eyes on you both, following you around for much of the day.”

 

“How exactly will that work? Neither of you can follow me into my office.”

 

“Why not?” Rukia asked.

 

“I’m a teen counselor. They have the right to confidentiality and I can’t break that. I’d lose not only my job, but my license.”

 

“They wouldn’t see me,” Renji answered.

 

“That doesn’t matter. I’m the only one who is allowed to hear what they have to say unless they want to tell someone else. If you come in, you’ll be violating their privacy and I can’t allow that. Besides, how could they not see you? There’d be no place for you to hide.”

 

“Most people can’t see Soul Reapers,” Rukia answered and I mentally berated myself for forgetting that note. It was too early for me to be remembering this stuff. “As long as we aren’t in a gigai, we’re invisible to the world.”

 

“That still doesn’t solve the issue of my clients’ confidentiality,” I pointed out.

 

“Then Renji can wait outside while you’re with a client. I will be with your brother, making sure no harm comes his way. In the afternoons, Urahara wants you both to go to his shop, where he can teach you to defend yourselves.”

 

“When does the training start?”

 

“Today at four.”

________________________________________________________________________

 

Toshiro and I walked to the odd – admittedly sketchy – candy shop Kisuke owned, Renji and Rukia following behind us. I’d learned that they were each wearing a gigai, a false body, and could be seen by other people. Of course, this earned many odd stares because of Renji’s facial tattoos.

 

“Miss Kitamura!” someone yelled and I turned around to see a familiar young man with short, spiked black hair and strong facial features. He was muscular for his age, seventeen. As he drew nearer, I could see faint scars near his eyebrow and lower lip, where he’d once had large piercings. He’d only gotten them as an act of defiance and never really liked them.

 

“Tsume, how are you?” I greeted with a smile. Renji and Rukia both stepped aside to allow the teenager to stand in front of me. Tsume pulled me into a tight hug, catching me by surprise for a moment. He’d never been one to hug excessively.

 

“I never got the chance to really thank you,” he said, pulling away. People often wondered why I took the job I did. This was the reason: being able to help people like I’d helped Tsume.

 

“I’m glad you’re doing well.”

 

“I was accepted into the college I wanted. I’ll be majoring in creative writing.”

 

“That’s awesome, Tsume! I remember some of the short stories you brought in to show me. I’m so proud of you.” A light blush crossed his cheeks, giving him a more boyish look. Tsume then glanced at Renji and his brows furrowed in thought, probably trying to figure out who the Soul Reaper was.

 

“Friend of yours?” Tsume asked, nodding towards Renji.

 

“Something like that,” I answered with a chuckle. “I met him though some friends who asked me to show the two of them around town.” Tsume knew very well that the only people I was around with such negative dispositions were my clients. He must have found the sight before him odd, but he nodded nonetheless. He then knelt down and shook hands with Toshiro.

 

“Hey, little buddy. You taking good care of your sister?” Toshiro nodded. “Not giving her any trouble, right?”

 

“No, sir,” Toshiro answered. Tsume ruffled his hair with a laugh.

 

“Att’a boy.”

 

I smiled softly at the two of them. I rarely brought Toshiro to work with me, part of the reason being that I worked with kids who would be bad influence. Tsume was one of the very few of my clients that met Toshiro and they became close almost immediately. Tsume treated my brother like a sibling he’d never had. Toshiro just had that effect on people.

 

“Mina-chan hurt her arm, so I’m helping her.” Tsume raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked up at me.

 

“What happened?” he asked.

 

“I was attacked a couple weeks ago. I’m doing fine,” I answered, trying to quell his fears.

 

“Let me know if you need anything. I’ve got to get to work. I’ll see you later, Minako. See ya, Toshiro.” Tsume waved to use and nodded politely to Rukia and Renji before walking off.

 

“Your brother almost made a big mistake,” Renji hisses as we began walking again.

 

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

 

“Humans aren’t supposed to know about Hollows or Arrancar.”

 

“Toshiro knows not to tell anyone what happened to us. He’s not as immature as you assume he is.” I turned my attention back to where I was walking, effectively putting an end to the conversation. From behind me, I could hear Rukia chuckling.

Author's Note

This isn't mentioned here, but it will be sometime soon. There is something called a 'mod soul'. Basically, it's a soul in a pill. Soul Reapers take these pills to control their gigai (false body) whenever they aren't using them.