That Hollow Feeling: Return of Ikasoruke

Meandering Through the Land
Three figures were walking down the street trying to get to the next town a few miles from there, Ray Martinez was leading while his two companions were following him.\

"Wow," said Saya. "I never expected all the interesting things in this world! It's way different than the Soul Society."

Hikaru pulled out one of the wireless earbuds that he used for his iPod and said, "Remember how I told you not to act so uninformed?"

Saya smiled and said, "I'm not a dunce about this world. I always noticed things when I came to whack Hollows."

Hikaru chuckled, "Alright, my bad."

"Sorry about this guys but i told you i can never stay in one place." Ray looked back with a guilty look, "Especially with Aki still trying to kill me."

"It's alright," said Hikaru. "I don't really mind it."

"Thanks, it justs annoying that I can't stay in one place for long." Ray said putting his hood down and kept walking forward.

"You're kinda like a stray cat," mused Saya. "You always have the road ahead of you."

"Haha, when you put it like that i guess i am but still even a stray cat can find a home when given the opertunity." Ray said looking at Saya.

"I hope that home is back in the Soul Society with you honored as a hero," said Saya. She then muttered, "With Aki as your wife."

"I heard that!" Ray looked at her," And besides the Soul Society longed forgotten about me. That home is not for me." Ray said.

"Then move to Montana," said Hikaru. "The mountains are nice and secluded."

"Haha, if it was that easy i would've bought a log cabin there but like i said destiny has other plans for me." Ray said putting his hood back on.

"Alright," said Hikaru. "Where do we go from here?" There was a fork in the road. One path led to New York City, and the other led to Hoboken.

"Well it's not my choice." Ray said as the wind suddenly blew to Hoboken," We go to Hoboken." Ray said walking the way to Hoboken.

"Let's go to New York City!" chimed Saya. "I've always wanted to go to a city!"

Hikaru looked at Ray, "Well?"

"Look you guys i know you want to go but trust me I have a really bad feeling about this." Ray argued.

Hikaru smirked and said, "Come on, I say live life loud! You'll never enjoy life if you keep in a rut of misery and self-pity." He looked toward the direction of New York City. "Besides, there's a couple people there we need to meet."

Ray looked at the trail and knew that something errie was wrong but decided that they would need help,"Alright then, but only to make sure you guys don't get into trouble." Ray said following them.

"Right, Saya, lets go." Hikaru looked around for Saya, but she was nowhere to be seen. He looked to see a dust cloud head toward New York. "Oh, crap."

Skies of Blood
Ray was looking everywhere with Hikaru trying to find Saya but it was to no avail,"Man where the hell could she be?" Ray asked.

Hikaru sighed and said, "The city..."

"Oh great, we better go after her before something else goes wrong." Ray said as he shunpo'd away to the city.

Hikaru sighed, "That's subtle..." He flashed away as well.

Turn on the Lights
Saya cooed at every sight in the city. Restaurants; clothing stores; the vast amount of people; it was all part of some amazing dream. She simply looked at the city with wonder in her eyes. "Hikaru-kun! This is amazing!" She looked around, but she didn't see Hikaru or Ray near her. She then scratched the back of her head and thought, Guess I jumped the gun...

"Hello miss," said a female voice. "You lost?"

Saya turned around to see a woman in her early twenties with tan hair, hazel eyes, and a great endowment. "Uh...yeah. I got seperated from my friends."

The woman smiled and said, "I can help you find them if you want."

Saya smiled and said, "That's OK, I can find them." ''I don't want this woman to follow me. Her breasts are way too big.''

The woman smiled and said, "It's not good for a young girl to wander alone. C'mon, I'll help you." She grabbed Saya's hand and began to go.

"Hey, wait!" called Saya, but the woman wouldn't listen.

The woman turned around and said, "Look, I don't want anything bad to happen to a cute girl like you. So I'm going to help you whether you like it or not." She then had an expression of surprise on her face. She then said, "Oh, you're a Soul Reaper, aren't you?"

Saya's eyes grew wide.

"Alright, this changes things," said the woman as she put the bottom of her fist in her palm. "Come on, I want you to meet my brother!" She then led Saya to a Holiday Inn. Saya looked around and said, "So who exactly are you?"

"I'm Suteki Kasumi," answered the woman. "I was born with spiritual awareness."

"Really?" asked Saya.

Suteki nodded, "Yep, and my brother is an Arrancar."

"Say what?" exclaimed Saya as she entered Suteki's room. A man with spiky red hair, silver eyes, and an Arrancars Hakama and blue jeans was lying on the bed watching TV. He also had a cross shaped scar on his face that was similar to Hikaru's scar. His mask fragments weren't visible though. He looked at Suteki and said, "Welcome back big sis." He looked at Saya and said, "Who's the raven-haired cutie?"

Suteki looked at Saya and said, "That's right, I didn't ask your name."

"I'm Saya Kōkiaru."

Suteki smiled and said, "Cute name. The oaf on the bed is my brother, Sora."

"I AM NO OAF!!" yelled Sora. "What's an oaf?"

Saya giggled uneasily. Suteki noticed this and said, "Don't worry, he isn't an Espada or anything."

Sora raised his eyes, "Does she even know who they are?"

"Well, Saya is a Soul Reaper," answered Suteki.

Sora raised his eyebrows, "Really?" He stood up.

Saya tried to back away, but Suteki stopped her. "Don't worry."

Sora put his hand on Saya's left shoulder and looked at her. He then smiled and said, "It's great to finally meet a Soul Reaper. I've never seen one in the world of the living before."

Saya looked up at Suteki and said, "Why do you have an Arrancar as a brother?"

Suteki beckoned Saya to sit down. "At first, I thought he was a guardian angel 'cause he reminded me of my brother who died. It was only after living with him for a while that I noticed that he was an Arrancar." She smirked. "And he tried to take a bite out of me a few times."

Saya was silent. Sora laughed, "Well, I am a hollow, and her soul smells good. But I can control myself."

Suteki laughed, "Can you?"

Sora blushed, "You are my sister."

Saya sighed and said, "So can you help me find my friends or not?"

Suteki's cheerful tone turned to a very serious one. "There is someone in this city who has targeted your group. You may not be able to sense it, but there is a shield around this room that prevents any spiritual pressure from leaking out."

Saya looked around, and did indeed sense such a shield. "Who's the guy?"

Suteki sighed, "It is a man with pale white hair and skin, dark eyes with purple irises, a black upside down cross scar on his left cheek, and a horrid amount of spirit energy."

Saya gasped, "That's..."

State of Emergency
Ray was looking around the buildings, in between crowds, and even in some places he thought she might be in but couldn't find a single trace of her energy," Man, where can one girl hide so well?" Ray asked Hikaru.

"She's not hiding," said Hikaru. "Even if she was, I could detect even the slightest milligram of spirit energy. But she's disappered completly." He looked around and said, "Weird..."

"No, there's something in the air i can't tell what it is but i can sense it." Ray said looking around the area as he tried to find out where this errie feeling was coming from.

"Well, well," mused a noticably evil voice, "It has been a while..." A figure walked up to Hikaru and Ray. "Hikaru..."

Hikaru's eyes widened, "Ikasoruke!"

"You know this Arrancar Hikaru?" Ray asked looking at Ikasoruke as he held the hilt of his blade just in case anything would happen.

"He's not an Arrancar," answered Hikaru. "He's my Inner Hollow."

Ray looked at him and had widen eyes," But how, most inner hollows aren't able to survive in the living world without a host to hold them in." Ray asked looking at him.

"That's where you're wrong brat!" snapped Ikasoruke. "You see, I was once a part of Hikaru's old powers that lied within his second Zanpakutō, Gyakujōkusariken. I gave Hikaru unimaginable powers, but he soon turned tail and left me behind, wanting to rely on that whore of a Zanpakutō, Tenshitō!"

"Tenshitō is a female Zanpakutō, by the way," explained Hikaru. "At the time, I couldn't control my energy well, so I had to split my soul. Ikasoruke is the other half of my soul."

"I see, so you're the source of that erie feeling I've been having what do you want from Hikaru?" Ray asked.

Ikasoruke blushed and said, "I want him to take everything away from me."

Hikaru's eyes narrowed and said, "Go to Hell, you belong there."

"You're the one who's blocking us from feeling Saya's spirit energy aren't you?" Ray glared at him.

"Huh? Who's Saya?" asked Ikasoruke. "Your girlfriend?"

"Actually, she's my girlfriend," answered Hikaru.

"Feh," spat Ikasoruke. "Women are so stupid and useless. The world should only have men in it."

Hikaru rolled his eyes, "I assume you'll turn all churches into brothels?

Ikasoruke brightened up, "Great idea!"

Hikaru glared, "You should have died long ago."

"You're the one who needs to die, Hikaru!" yelled Ikasoruke.

"Enough! Quit wasting our time and tell us where she is!" Ray yelled getting irritated.

"I told you before, I don't know where Hikaru's whore is," answered Ikasoruke. "I just came to give you guys a message. 'We are getting closer to the Center'."

Ray was shocked as he drew his sword and started building his energy up to very dangerous levels," What do you know of it, tell me now!" Ray said very dangerously as he stared at him.

Ikasoruke cackled and said, "I know nothing, brat!" He then disappeared from their sight. "You are insignificant right now. I could kill you, but I hate crowds. Let's meet on the battle field soon. KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Ray sheath his sword and stood there with a blank expression on his face.

Hikaru looked at Ray and said, "Don't you just want to kill him?"

"Yeah, but we're still no closer to finding Saya." Ray said.

Hikaru then heard his Soul Pager ring. He opened it up to see it was actually a call from someone. "Hello?"

"Hikaru-kun!"

"Saya!"

Ray just had a look of shock on his face," You had a soul-pager all this time.............. AND YOU DIDN'T BOTHER TO TELL ME?!" Ray shouted.

"It was for the sake of plot development," said Hikaru.

"Where are you guys?" asked Saya.

"Wall Street," answered Hikaru.

"You better hope she finds us soon before I use my spirit foot to kick that soul-pager up your gigai ass!" Ray threatened as he sat down to calm himself down.

"Um, can you guys come to the Holiday Inn near Wall Street?" asked Saya. "There's this woman named Suteki Kasumi who wants to meet you two."

Hikaru sweatdropped, "S-Suteki...Kasumi?"

"Oh i have a bad feeling about this." Ray said getting up.

As Lovers Go
"Hello Hikaru!" Suteki forced a smile, despite hiding a mace behind her back.

"Greetings, Miss Kasumi," bowed Hikaru.

"Run away..." Ray whispered very soflty.

Meanwhile on a diffrent rooftop Aki was using bonoculars to spy on Ray as he stood outside.

Suteki threw the mace away and glomped Hikaru, "It's been too long you goof!"

Everyone except Sora went, "WHAT?!"

"So you don't hate me?" asked Hikaru.

"Well," blushed Suteki. "You did do THAT to me..."

Saya then stared at Hikaru, "What did you do?!"

Hikaru narrowed his eyes, "I stole a bag of Doritos from her."

"THEY WERE SPICY NACHO DORITOS!!" yelled Suteki. "THE ULTIMATE OF ALL SPICY SNACK FOODS!!!"

Everyone was dead silent.

Aki heard the entire conversation and blinked at the stupidity.

"Okay, really...................quiet." Ray said to break the awkardness.

Sora sighed, "She always freaks out over the smallest things."

"Anyway," said Saya. "Sorry for running off like that."

"It's alright Saya," said Hikaru. "Suteki is a trustworthy person. And Sora as well."

Saya looked at Sora and said, "He says he's an Arrancar, but he's a good one."

"So how exactly do you all know each other?" Ray asked.

"Sora once entered through a Senkaimon by mistake and ended up in the 7th Company Barracks' meeting room," answered Hikaru. "Nodoka and he had a fight, then we became friends." He looked over at Suteki and said, "As for her, I'm in charge of overlooking the San Jose area, so I met her when she was shopping with Sora."

"I see, but the thing I'm wondering is how is it that we weren't able to sense Saya's spirit energy" asked Ray.

Aki then started to get intrested in the converstation as she shunpo'd a little closer to them.

"I sensed that Ikasoruke was in the area," replied Suteki. "So I set up a barrier that blocks any spiritual pressure. Downside is that it's the same as Seki-seki rock."

"Intresting, and here i thought Seki-Seki stone was really rare even in the Soul-Society." Ray said then sensed something and looked out the window.

Aki knew that she forgot to lower her spirit energy and hid behind something then she lowered her spirit energy so Ray wouldn't be able to find her.

Suteki laughed and noogied Ray. "I said it was the SAME as Seki-Seki, not the same thing!"

"Okay i get it!" Ray said trying to get out of the noogie.

Suteki smirked and said, "You're really cute, you know that? It's too bad the girl up on that rooftop doesn't think so." She pointed at a roof to her left.

Aki finally had enough and crashed through the roof looking like she wanted to kill a living thing then she looked at Suteki and drew her sword.

Sora had one of his swords at Aki's neck and said, "If you even cut a hair on her head, you will die."

"Don't underestimate me Arrancar." Aki said holding a secret dagger very to his neck.

"Hold up," said Suteki as she lowered Aki's Zanpakutō. "Anyone else hungry?"

Hikaru's stomach growled, as did Saya's and Sora's.

"Well i could eat." Ray said as he got up and streached.

Aki just stared at all of them then suddenly her stomach growled too.

Suteki put her arm around Aki and said, "Want to join us?"

"Get off me!" Aki pushed her off,"All I'm here to do is to kill him!" she pontied towards Ray.

"Of course you are." Ray said without caring.

Aki's stomach growled again, making her blush.

"Can't kill your boyfriend on an empty stomach," chimed Suteki.

"He's not my boyfriend!!" Aki yelled.

"Like she even had a shot with me." Ray said.

"Ha, I rather kiss a frog." Aki said.

"Mizu's the worst," mused Saya. "Sayuri says that his breath tastes like snakes."

"Lets discuss the other things wrong with my brother at a place with some food," said Hikaru.

The Impression That I Get
Everyone now was situated at a table in a restaurant called, 'Del Monico'. The air was filled with the smells of Italian food.

Saya moaned and said, "What a wonderful smell. If only we had a place like this in the Seireitei."

"Then we'd be more industrialized in the Soul Society," continued Hikaru.

Suteki grinned, "I love this place. I always come once with Sora whenever we come to New York."

"Not bad i guess." Ray said looking around the restarant.

"Let's see what's on the menu," Hikaru opened the menu in front of him. His eyes widened at the sight of the things he could order.

"Wow!" squealed Saya when she peered over Hikaru's shoulder. "They serve pretty high end stuff here!"

The waiter showed up and said, "What will you have?"

Suteki smirked and said, "Best plate of spaghetti that ya got, Mario."

Sora nodded. "Me too."

Hikaru looked through and said, "I'll have the special today."

"Good choice sir!" said the waiter as he wrote down the order.

"And I'll have a caeser salad on the side," added Hikaru.

"Alright. What will the lady beside you have?"

Saya looked at the menu and said, "Um, I'll have the same as him."

"How romantic," mused the waiter. He looked to Ray and Aki, "What will you two have?"

"Spaghetti with meatballs" both said at the same time then they looked at each other and huffed.

"I'll have anything He isn't having." Aki told him.

The waiter leaned over to Suteki, "Those two in a fight?"

Suteki shrugged, "Dunno."

The waiter wrote down Ray's order, then said to Aki, "Does it matter what you get then?"

"No as long as I don't the same thing as Him!" Aki said pointing towards Ray.

"Alright, calm down," said the waiter. He then muttered, "Bitch..."

Ray heard this and instanly twisted his arm and slammed him at the taple,"I bealive you owe this lady an apology." Ray said pulling his arm.

"Eh...I'm sorry miss!" said the waiter frantically.