And the next little part for our snippet.
There are some things I'd like to talk about from the last few posts, but its currently 10PM here so I'll address it another time or when part 3 of 3 for this little thing is done.
Enjoy!
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One Month Ago...
Bentsubasa strolled down the streets of Teito with a confindent walk and a bright smile on her face, unmindful of the looks she received no doubt due to her hair and figure, she was certain. She was not in her Disciplinary Squad uniform this day but in more rather mundane clothing, or about as mundane as a simple tee shirt and blue jeans combo from a high end store to go along with a warm overcoat and pink wool boots to combat the cold winter air. Bags of clothing from the hottest stores this section of Teito had to offer swung to and fro in both hands as she happily entertained thoughts on how she'd cure Natsuo of his little... problem.... that had a small
chance of having problems when it was time for her to be winged. No doubt, one look at her in one of the items she had in her bags and that hottie of a man would proclaim her his forever and take her. She just needed one last thing to push it over the top.
She giggled aloud at that, bringing both hands to her face, which would block her sight momentarily if not for the fact that she had closed her eyes as she laughed, daydreams already in place and now a small formality before final victory! After all, she was Sekirei Number One-Hundred and Five. The pretty, powerful package known as Benitsubasa. There was nothing she could not fix nor no enemy she could defeat if she put her mind to it and used all of her strength. She was all but assured to be the next member of the Third Disciplinary Squad; the one that would watch over the Sekirei Game itself and the first one that would have an Ashikabi.
'Ahhhhhh~ Natsuo-saamaaaa'
Her mood only conitinued to climb as she reached her destination. There was no where to go but up from here.
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Elsewhere...
Ichigo let out an irritated groan as he stood outside in the cold winter night, his hands rubbing his arms for warmth. "Dammit, what the hell is taking her so long?" he grumbled irritably. It hat been about two hours since he had put his latest apartment hunt to an end for this weekend, and true to his word he had returned to Izumo to check in on Uzume. Not long after, she had somehow convinced him to take her out on a night on the town. He was hesitant at first, and at first his fears were alleviated as she brought him to a nice out of the way spot for dinner. They even managed to have a nice conversation about what they had been doing the past week, and he even laughed at a story she had about Kagari and a rare irriate client of his.
It was fortunate the story ended without incident, as it would be awkward to harass the host club worker about it when he returned later. In spite of himself, the time they spent together was relaxing in a way. And more than once he found himself enjoying their time together. He actually forgot about the events that brought them together in the first place and simply saw it as a man and a woman enjoying themselves and having a good time.
Dare he say it... he was actually having a date and enjoying it.
So of course that had to come to a stop.
"I knew it was to good to be true," He grumbled again as he glared at the shop Uzume had disappeared into some time ago. A shop that was one of the places that screamed 'no men allowed.' At least no married men allowed... And even though Uzume claimed that they were married, ('Right...', his mind would scoff) there was no way in hell he would be caught dead going into a lingerie botique. He'd rather fight off Aizen, Yammy, Grimjaww, and sad clown arrancar by himself with his hands tied behind his back and no Bankai than go into that den of femininity.
"And I can't belive she wanted me to come with her." he snorted. "Model my ass." He let off a sneeze, and gave the store another irritated glance as he caught another cloud of warmth that sped away from him from his sneeze as he rubbed his arms. "Shit, might as well go inside until she's done in there."
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"Thank you for your patronage!"
Benitsubasa nodded twice with a happy sound of acknowledgement and bent down to grab all of her bags and nearly skipped her way to the exit. Lost in the euphoria of her daydreams with the hot little number she just purchased that she swung the door open and plowed into an near immovable object, both stumbling outside. She yelped as her foot had caught into something that caused her to twist and all, a few of her items falling around her and out of the bags.
Her breath caught as some of those items hit the cold hard and in some spots wet ground before her temper started to flare and the urge to kill began to bubble. Eyes twitching, her fists clenched as she brought herself up into a crouching position, one arm rested on a knee while a fist was held to the ground.
'I'm gonna kill the poor sap who did this! All my work for Natsuo ruined by this....this....'
"Sorry 'bout that," came a deep male voice. "Didn't see you there."
So it was a male. Deluded fool. Only one man could touch her!
"Didn't see me there?!" she growled as she quickly stood up and balled her fists and twirled around, ready to lay into him, her mind telling her it was likely some wretched, poor fat otaku who wanted to peak into the lingerie store.
"How dare you- you....you...," she instantly halted and started to choke.
He was tall. A bit taller than Natsuo with brown eyes that looked at her in concern. Atop his head was a bit of a spiked mess of hair, but it suited him extremely well, his bangs stopping short of his eyes sans a bit that fell a bit lower at the bridge of his nose. But the most amazing thing was the color of his hair, standing out as much as her's did, a bright shock of orange that screamed 'LOOK AT ME' at this... this.. this...
The poor fat otaku image burned away like a flash flare as her mind saw this.. this....
'OHMYGOD, HE'S A HOTTIE!" her mind screamed at her as her body and heart began to heat up. Caught so off guard she fell limply to her knees in shock and stayed there with her mouth and eyes agape.
Ichigo blinked as the girl in front of him starred at him in wide eye shock. Almost as if she was starring into the face of god. "Uh.... are... are you ok?
"N..." she muttered.
"N?" Ichigo repeated.
"N... not... not at...all," she managed to get out, her voice weak and light as her body began heating up to a point that she was sure that the snow underneath her was going to melt.
"Do you want me to call someone?" he asked, concern entering his voice. "A doctor? Your parents? A friend?"
"N..no.. thank you," she got out, her voice still very light.
"Are you sure?" Ichigo asked again. "You don't look so good. I really think you should see someone."
"I... I'm f-fine..." she gasped. "I... just n... need to sit sitll for a sec..."
Ichigo frowned slightly, "You're sure?" she nodded and Ichigo sighed. "Fine then. Sorry 'bout bumpin into ya."
"Hey Ichigo~!" Chirped Uzume as she walked behind him. "I'm done."
"Super," Ichigo grumbled as he turned to his Sekirei. "Let's go."
"Sure thing," she nodded before looking down to see a girl staring at his back, her eyes still wide in shock. Something in her mind gnawed at her that she should know this girl, but the different clothing along with the gaping open mouth and wide eyes averted any recognition she would have made otherwise. "What's with her?"
Ichigo shrugged, "Dunno. She says she's fine though."
Uzume shrugged back, "If you say so, then let's get a move on." She clutched his arm, and dragged him away from her sister sekirei. "The movie starts in a half-hour and I forgot its a premiere! We gotta go now to get in line!"
"Premiere?" His mind racked for more information on what was premiering this week but drew a blank. "I hope this ain't some chick flick, Uzume."
"Oh you'll love it, trust me." Uzume replied as she pulled him along, their voices trailing off before long as they disappeared into the thick crowd. Back near the door to the lingerie shop Benitsubasa remained unaware as she continued to stare off into the space Ichigo stood moments ago. A small crowd gathering around the shell shocked sekirei with her bags and items strewn about her.
Finally she blinked.
"Oh... oh damn," she grumbled as her body continued to remain warm. "This... this is not good," she muttered as a hand came to her heart, pounding so hard it felt like it would burst through her chest. She took in a deep shuddering breath as she brought her legs tightly together as her mind replayed that man's image.
"Hey?" a voice called out. "Are you okay?"
She then suddenly stood up, looked around and to the crowds shock quickly grabbed her things and jumped high into the air, trying to get to high ground.
'Where'?
She looked around, bags in her arms as her mouth continued to suck in large gasps of air.
'Where'?!
That... that... wonderful...
No...
She bent to her knees as she tried to bring up Natsuo's face before it was burned away by the image of that wonderful orange-haired man's face.
Again she stood and grabbed her things as she began to jump to different rooftops to look around, at one point removing her jacket; her body so hot the cold air wasn't helping any as she looked to and fro into the sea of people below, desperately searching for an orange color.
'No...'
Again, moments later found herself on a new rooftop, again scanning the grounds below.
'Where?'
And without thinking she dropped down, ignoring the gasps and screams of people from where she landed, not caring about the cracks and cratering of the ground below. As if a drop from 6 stories up mattered...
But still...
She raced for hours, looking from shop to shop, street to street, almost car to car.
...no sign of the orange haired man.
Finally, she found herself flat against some rooftop, where she didn't care, all that she could think about was that she couldn't find him...
And trying to deal with the fact that she was reacting....
Her body, hot, her heart pounding, her mind a wretched mess with one man on her mind...
And it wasn't Natsuo.
She curled into a ball on the roof, not caring at the snowfall, the flakes instantly watering as they neared her skin as her arms covered her head.
She shook, in some cases violently as tears fell as thoughts about her future and Natsuo conflicted with the loss of that orange haired man and an overwhelming desire to be whatever he wanted.
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And one more part or so to go.