"An assignment?"
"Your first. You are to be stationed in the World of the Living, and protect Karakura town. However, since this is your first assignment, you'll be supervised by Rukia Kuchiki, Ichigo Kurosaki, and Haruto Nakami."
"Understood, sir."
"Captain Kuchiki, I'll leave the rest to you."
"Yes, Head Captain." Byakuya said. "Asaka, my sister and Kurosaki are in the Living World right now. Lieutenant Nakami will accompany you there."
"Yes, Captain."
"You may leave."
Rei Flash Stepped to the gateway, where Nakami was waiting. He glanced up as she drew near. "Oh, hello, Rei."
"Since when were we on first name terms, Lieutenant Nakami?"
"Would you prefer I go back to Miss Asaka?"
"I'm not sure which one I dislike more, especially when you say it."
Nakami laughed. "Your coldness is rather refreshing sometimes. So, shall we go?"
Rei nodded. "Sure."
"And by the way, nice tattoo. I had no idea you were such a badass rebel."
"Shut up!"
Nakami laughed again, before leaping through the gate opening. Rei followed him through.
Rei sighed, then knocked on Ichigo's window. He opened it a few seconds later, and his eyes widened at the sight of her and Nakami.
"Rei, what're you doing here?"
"First, can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure. Why're you here?"
Rei slid through the open window. "I've been stationed in this world, to protect Karakura town. By the orders of Captain Kuchiki and the Head Captain, you, Rukia, and Nakami are supposed to make sure I don't do anything stupid."
Nakami stepped into the room after Rei. "That's correct."
The closet door was flung open, and a stuffed lion walked out. Rei shrieked in alarm at the sight of a toy moving all on its own, and felt as though she would pass out, especially when the lion gave a holler of delight and lunged at her. "Finally! A girl with boobs!"
Rei was about to slice it in half, until Ichigo lunged out and grabbed it, flinging it down on the floor and squashing it under his foot. "Idiot! Mind your manners, or I'll toss you out!"
He looked back at Rei, who was still in disbelief. "T-t-talking st-t-tuffed anim-m-mal!"
"And perverted, if I may add." Nakami said.
"Oh, right, you've never seen a Modified Soul, have you, Rei? Sorry about that." Ichigo said. "This is Kon, a Mod-Soul. He hangs around here. If he bothers you, then you know how to deal with him." To prove his point, he stepped on Kon even harder.
"Ouch! My stuffing'll come out! Get off!"
Rei swallowed. "Oh, okay! Walking, talking perverted stuffed lion! Okay! Nothing to worry about, nothing to worry about!"
Nakami placed a hand on her shoulder. "You sound plenty worried, Rei."
She smacked his hand off. "Hey, hands off!" She snapped, back to her normal attitude. "And I said, no first names!"
Nakami chuckled.
"Rei!" Rukia gasped when she returned to Ichigo's room. "What're you doing here?
"Hey, Rukia. I'm stationed here in Karakura town."
Before Rukia could reply, Kon launched himself at her. "Sister! I missed you!"
Rukia stomped a foot on him. Hard. Rei winced a little. Ouch!
"Oh, by the way, Rei." Rukia added. "How are you healing up?"
Rei poked her side gently. "It's getting better, but it's still there. It'll heal."
Ichigo cocked his head. "Don't you think it's a bit weird that Orihime couldn't do a thing about your wound? It's like it doesn't even affect you or anything."
"It didn't." Nakami said.
All eyes turned to him. "What do you mean?"
Nakami shrugged. "I was curious, so I did some research. Apparently, Bloody Rose has the ability to cancel out any outside force in order to protect its wearer. Since its wearer was unconscious, Bloody Rose reverted to canceling all outside forces."
Rei looked down at her bracelet. "There's so much that I don't know about Bloody Rose. But the thing is, for some reason, Bloody Rose can only be worn by female Quincies. I'm the last female Quincy, so it obeys me now. It used to belong to my mother, until she was killed by an Arrancar."
"There were Arrancar even back then?"
"Yeah. There were also Espada, and all those other Hollow/Soul Reaper mutations. They aren't completely gone, even now. Some still linger." Nakami said.
Ichigo groaned. "And after all the trouble we went through fighting Aizen. You'd think they could just do us a favor and disappear."
"You shouldn't say things like that, Ichigo. You'll regret it one day." Rukia reprimanded.
"I know, but I can't help it. That's just how I think about this stuff."
Rei yawned, leaning back against the wall. "Either way, it's the job of a Soul Reaper to get rid of them, right?"
Suddenly, something beeped. No, wait. Some things beeped. Rukia reached into her pocket. So did Nakami. Both pulled out what looked like cell phones.
Nakami frowned. "Miss Asaka, why haven't you gotten yours out, too?"
"I-I don't have one."
"Yes you do. Let's see, for Squad Six, it should be in the front pocket on the inside of your uniform." Nakami smiled. "Well, check for yourself."
Rei scowled as she reached into the pocket on the inside of her robes. Sure enough, her fingers closed around something smooth and cool to the touch. She pulled it out, revealing a sleek, dark blue cell phone. It had a camellia, the symbol for Squad Six, engraved into the metal case, along with her name.
"Why would a Soul Reaper have a cell phone?" Rei asked.
Rukia explained. "These look and function like cell phones, but they can communicate between the Living World and Soul Society, as well as locate the whereabouts of Hollows."
"They can?" Rei said in wonder, flipping the phone open. On the screen was a map of Karakura town, with a red dot flashing right over the high school.
Nakami clucked his tongue. "A Hollow right where the school is, huh? Tsk. Annoying."
Rei blinked. "That dot's a Hollow?"
"Yeah." Rukia and Ichigo stood. "You coming?"
"Huh? Oh, y---- hang on." An idea formed in Rei's mind. "Actually, I was thinking of staying here and letting you three take care of it."
"What?" Ichigo asked, surprised. Rei ignored him and braced herself.
Rei gasped in pain, clawing at the camellia tattoo on her neck. It was glowing blue, and burning like thousands of needles again, except even worse than when she had first gotten it. If the pain was this intense if she did something as simple as not Purifying a Hollow when she was supposed to, then how would it feel if she actually acted against the Soul Society, even if on accident.
"What's wrong, Rei?" Ichigo asked.
She winced, rubbing the tattoo. "Nothing. It's just that this tattoo is a real pain in the neck, both figuratively and literally."
Rukia and Nakami immediately understood. Ichigo sensed that he shouldn't ask any questions at the moment. Rei stood and stretched. "Well, let's go, shall we?"
The Hollow howled, reaching for the soul of a young woman, who screamed in fear.
"Help! Someone! Save me!"
The Hollow leered at her. "Yummy! I'm not a picky eater, but pretty young women always taste so good!" He opened his crocodile-like jaws. The young woman/soul screamed again, backing away from the Hollow with her arms shielding her face.
Suddenly, something silver flashed, slashing the air in front of the Hollow and stopping it. "What's this?" He grumbled. "Who dares to disturb my meal?"
A lithe figure landed softly in front of the Hollow, a smirk on her face, golden eyes glowing, face framed by shining black hair. "My my." She quipped. "I never thought I'd see a perverted Hollow. Then again, I'm sure there are perverts for every species. Oh well." Another slash, and the Hollow screeched in fury before dissolving away.
Rei tutted, blowing off a speck of dust from her blade before sliding it back into its sheath. "That was pitiful. I didn't even have to draw both knives. At least put up a fight next time." She sighed, then turned to the spirit of the young women on the ground. "You okay?" She asked kindly.
"Y-y-yes, I'm fine."
Rei smiled. "That's good. Look, unless you want to be attacked by a Hollow again, you'd better pass on."
"Pass on?"
"Of course. Pass on. To the Soul Society, where you can live safely and happily."
"But how do I get there?"
"Leave that to me." Rei pulled out a knife again. The woman shrank back. "Hey, it's okay. I won't hurt you." She turned the blade around, and tapped the woman on the forehead with the butt of the hilt, leaving a glowing blue mark. The woman sighed peacefully, before sinking into the ground, on her way to the Soul Society.
Nakami jumped down and landed beside Rei. "Not bad. Not bad at all."
Rei sheathed her knife again. "Whatever." She replied, back to her usual cool and indifferent tone. "It was a disappointment, to be honest. I was hoping for a better fight. Not an arm wrestling match against a perverted Hollow."
"A win is a win." Rukia remarked. "You saved a Soul. That is all that matters."
All of a sudden, their phones beeped again. Rei pulled out hers first. "Would you look at that. It seems like the Hollows are gathered in a certain spot. The abandoned temple, to be exact." She pointed at the dozens of red dots of the screen.
"Tsk." Ichigo tutted irritably. "That's where a lot of Souls gather. It's like a buffet for Hollows. We should hurry."
Rei snapped her phone shut. "In that case-----race you!" She blurred out of sight, rocketing off towards the temple.
"Hey, wait up!" Ichigo hollered, chasing after her. Rukia followed, along with Nakami.
The Hollows swarmed the temple below her, reaching for the cowering souls. Rei sighed. Not more perverted Hollows. Oh well. She plunged downward and dove in front of the souls.
"Hey, you Hollows." Rei called. "What do you think you're up to?"
"What a stupid question, from a stupid Soul Reaper." A Hollow with a pig snout snorted. Literally. Rei had to dodge the blobs of spit flying from his mouth.
"Okay, that's just gross!" said Rei. "You'd better hope a drop didn't land on me, or I'll run you through."
"With those tiny blades? Can you even manage a cut on me?"
"Let's see. Hmm, those ears of yours look like they could use a good trimming. They bother me." A flash of silver, and both large ears fell to the ground.
The pig Hollow who lost his ears howled in pain, blood spurting from where his ears once attached to his head. "My ears! My ears! My ears!"
Rei shrugged. "You asked if I could cut you. There's your answer. And get this, I didn't even use both knives. You see, my zanpakuto different names. My zanpakuto, in both normal and released state, are called Inazuma. One knive is Ina, and one is Zuma."
She tapped a finger on the silver hilt of the knive she held. "This one's name is Zuma. She has a silver hilt, and is the speed half of my zanpakuto. As fast as lightning." Rei placed her hand on the flat of her blade. "Strike, Zuma!" Her hand slid quickly along the blade, and her knive extended to the length of a regular katana, with a gleaming silver blade and hilt, a silver ribbon tied onto the end, fluttering ever so slightly.
Rei turned the katana around in her hand, until the blade was tucked back neatly the length of her right hand. "I haven't had a good fight against a Hollow in a long while. Hope you'll prove to be a worthy enemy. Come, attack me."
"Why you---!" The pig Hollow charged. Rei blurred out of sight, her katana flashing. A second later, the pig Hollow dissolved into powder.
"Tsk. And I thought you could fight. Seems I was wrong." Rei turned to the other Hollows. "Alright. Who's next?"
The Hollows looked uneasy, but charged anyway.
Rei smirked. "Excellent."
She did a backflip, arching high over the heads of the Hollows. "Shoot, Zuma!"
A crackling arc of electricity streaked from Zuma's blade, frying the Hollows in dust. Any Hollows that remained were quickly finished off by Rukia, Nakami, and Ichigo, who arrived a few moments later.
Ichigo propped his sword over his shoulder. "So that's Zuma, huh?" He asked, nodding at her silver katana.
"You heard?"
"Yeah. And we saw your lightning bolt. Pretty cool."
"Thanks."
"But what about your other blade? Ina?"
Rei pulled Ina out of its sheath. "Ina is the strength and power half of my zanpakuto, while Zuma is speed and agility. Ina is also gold. Slice, Ina!"
Ina glowed, before lengthening, until it was almost exactly identical to Zuma, except it was entirely gold, with a gold bell attached to the base of its hilt. The bell tinkled softly when Rei moved.
"They're beautiful!" Rukia breathed, gazing at Rei's zanpakuto. "One gleaming gold, one shining silver. Strength, speed. Power, agility. The perfect combination."
Rei shrugged. "That's a little too much. Besides, your zanpakuto is the truly beautiful one, Rukia."
Rukia shook her head. "Our zanpakuto are beautiful in very different ways. Mine is in physical beauty and purity and elegance. Yours, however, are different. They radiate power, in a way I can't exactly describe. It's just----different."
"Well, either way, I like my Ina and Zuma just the way they are. I couldn't care less if they're pretty or not."
Rei sheathed her zanpakuto. "Anyway, I hope those were the last of the Hollows for today."
Nakami checked his phone. "They are. For right now. Let's go back."
Rei yawned, her eyes starting to close. "I'm tired. I'm gonna go take a nap."
"What?" Ichigo asked. "It's still the bright outside. The sun's just started setting. How are you this tired?"
"Ichigo." Rukia said, stopping him. Rei yawned again, then passed out on the stone ground.
Nakami knelt down beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "She's sound asleep."
"Why is she so tired?" Ichigo asked again.
Rukia sighed. "I did some research back in the Soul Society. The answer is Bloody Rose." She pointed at the thick chain bracelet on Rei's right wrist, where the Quincy cross hung. "Bloody Rose has an independent spirit, and rebels against its wearer until she proves herself worthy of it. Then it swears life long allegiance to its new master, and fights under her command. But only three Quincies have ever proven themselves to Bloody Rose in the past hundreds of years. The rest perished while trying, and the luckier ones went mad. If Rei wants Bloody Rose's power, she needs to subdue it. Fighting against it has drained her of energy. I'm actually astonished that she can still fight with such ease. I fully expected her to go unconscious for the entire time."
Rei twitched in her sleep. Nakami reached down and scooped her up in his arms. "In that case, that's all the more reason to head back. Let's go." Carrying Rei, he leapt from building to building, making his way back to Ichigo's house, Rukia and Ichigo following.