And I will keep walking till the day I die.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005 Episode 4 - The Cursed Parakeet!
As police sirens wail in the background, Chad and two friends, Shiego and a black-haired boy sit at a construction site with a white cockatiel in a birdcage. The black-haired guy tells Chad and Shiego that it is a cursed cockatiel, all of whose previous owners died horrible deaths. He offers it to Shiego, who turns it down, then at Chad, saying that it is cute. Shiego says that Chad has a soft spot for cute things. The bird mysteriously begins to flap its wings and caw loudly, and the three friends look up to see a steel beam falling down on them.
In the rugged landscape where Hollows seem to live, a voice says that they will continue to consume to fill the emptiness of their existence. A dark figure with creepy red eyes materializes, continuing by saying that Shinigami taste exceptionally nice, and once one knows the taste, one inevitably becomes captive to it.
The steel girder, luckily or unluckily, falls on Chad’s shoulders and thus, the rest are unhurt. Chad bleeds from the forehead, but nothing more. Suddenly, the cockatiel speaks, thanking Chad (it calls him “Mister”) for saving him, and after telling Chad that his name is Shibata Yuuichi, asks Chad what his name is. While his two friends stare in amazement that the bird appears to know what is happening, convinced that the bird is really cursed, Chad replies with his name. Shiego comments that Chad is really fascinated by it now.
Ichigo does not believe that his wound had healed up in one day, but Rukia says that her grades in Demon Magic were tops, so healing like that is a piece of cake. Ichigo is rather surprised too that Shinigami actually have a school. Rukia asks him how she should drink from a packet, and Ichigo vaguely replies that she should stick the straw in it and drink. While she continues to stare at the packet, Mizuiro walks up and comments that the two are awfully friendly with each other, and when Ichigo denies that, he says that is okay too, and that Ichigo should consider what others think a bit more. Ichigo replied that if he did, he would have dyed his hair black long ago. Rukia is still trying to drink from the packet, but after having found the straw, she does not know where to stick it into. Mizuiro greets her, and Rukia, acting as usual, greets him politely. He is pleasantly surprised that Rukia actually remembers his name. He gives a brief autobiography, but is interrupted by Ichigo, who tells Rukia that Mizuiro’s hobby is girl-hunting, so she had better be careful. Despite Mizuiro’s denials, he says that beneath the innocent look, Mizuiro is actually an incurable womanizer. Mizuiro complains that Ichigo is ruining his “image”, then says that in any case, he only goes after older women. Ichigo says that this is the precise reason why he told Rukia to beware. Remember, Rukia is almost 10 times Ichigo’s age.
Keigo comes along just then, speaking in the olden Japanese we often see Rukia speaking, asking what Rukia is doing here. As revenge, Mizuiro says that Ichigo had hit on her and lured her up. Keigo at first curses Ichigo, then congratulates him for a job well done. He then walks up to Rukia, over shrouding her petite frame. He thanks her for coming to this “squalid garden of manliness”, then announces that lunch will be a huge party. He also tells Rukia that should she need any help, she can always turn to him.
Hearing this, Rukia is pleased and thrusts the packet drink in Keigo’s face. Keigo takes a step back and accidentally bumps into Chad, who is bandaged up. His friends ask him what happened, and he explains that his head injury is because of a steel beam, the one on his hand from a traffic accident in which he also carried the injured motorcyclist to the hospital, causing him to be late for school. Ichigo wonders what Chad is made of. Chad puts the birdcage down, and Shibata greets them, telling them his name, and asking for theirs. Ichigo and Rukia both see that something is amiss, but Keigo is more excited, asking the birds to recite after him his name.
Ichigo asks Chad where he got the bird from, and to cut things short, Chad simply says that he “got it” yesterday. As Ichigo continues to stare at the bird, Rukia tells him not to worry, as whatever is inside the bird isn’t bad – probably a lonely ghost. Rukia adds that sometime tonight, they should give it a soul burial, causing Ichigo to lament that he will lose out on sleep yet again. As he takes the drink out of her hand and helps her to stick the straw in it, she is glad that Ichigo actually worried about others at just the hint of a ghost, and learning the mindset of a Shinigami.
Ichigo tells Rukia that it was in 8th grade that he met Chad. Because of his hair, Ichigo had constantly gotten into fights. On the day when the fights became serious, it was Chad who stepped in to save him. Chad however, will not retaliate when he is attacked. Rukia comments that the juice is good.
Ichigo arrives home that night, and is greeted by his sisters bustling about in nurses’ uniforms, Yuzu carrying a box of medical equipment. She tells him that there was a traffic accident at a nearby intersection. He then hears his father shouting over the phone at some hospital staff, demanding that they open up hospital beds for the patients that the clinic’s insufficient facilities are not able to treat. He slams down the phone after instructing the person to tell the chief of staff that it is a request from Kurosaki. Ichigo asks him if there is anything he could do, bur Isshin replies that there is nothing he can do, so go hide in the corner so he does not get in his way. Ichigo does just that.
The door opens and Yuzu and Karin, supporting Chad, stagger in. Isshin takes over and tells Ichigo that it is now his turn. Ichigo realizes that it is Chad, and Chad raises his head and looks at him. Karin stares at the bird in Chad’s hands in fear.
There is a terrible wound on Chad’s back, purple in colour and resembling a Hollow’s handprint. Isshin says that it looks like a burn, then begins using a cotton ball to swab the wound, saying that Chad will have to take it easy. However, Chad thinks otherwise, getting up and putting on his shirt despite the incomplete treatment of his wound. Isshin says that there is no way he is fine with that kind of wound, and true enough, Chad, who had just risen to his feet, collapses to the floor.
Rukia sits on Ichigo’s bed, as he asks her if she felt “it” just now. Rukia replies that she did, even from so far away – nothing from the cockatiel, but the scent of a Hollow from the wound. Meanwhile, Chad lies on his bed, looking at the cockatiel which sits on the table next to him. Karin too, is unable to sleep, seeming somewhat plagued by the appearance of the bird.
The next morning, Karin, to Ichigo’s surprise, is not down for breakfast as she does not want any and does not feel well. Ichigo is surprised by that too, as it is obviously very rare for Karin to be ill. Suddenly, Isshin barges into the room and tells Ichigo that Chad has disappeared from his room, where a window is open and the curtain flutters merrily in the breeze.
Ichigo runs around in search of Chad, and so does Rukia. The two meet at an intersection, and check with each other if they have picked up Chad’s trail. Neither have, and there is no information from Soul Society regarding the Hollow, nor anything on the radar. With her scrapbook drawings, Rukia explains that Hollows go undetected when they hide in the space in between Soul Society and the living world. Therefore, until the Hollow after Chad appears in the living world, they will not know its location. Ichigo earns a scrapbook in his abdomen after a negative comment about her drawings.
Ichigo comes up with the idea that they can track him down by following the trail of the spirit in the cockatiel, but Rukia says that it is impossible. Ichigo concentrates hard, and is suddenly outlined by blue light. Little firefly-like particles are flying around him in the air, surprising Rukia, who seems to know this feeling.
Chad and the cockatiel are hiding out in a construction site, and the bird apologizes to Chad for not telling him the truth, that all who own him meet misfortunes. Chad says that it is okay, but Shibata says that he need not worry about him anymore, and instructs Chad to leave him here and go. Chad refuses. Meanwhile, Karin still lies in bed coughing, but gets up with the thought of having to tell Ichigo something in her mind. Ichigo is still surrounded by the light particles, which then condense to form white ribbon-like things. Rukia is shocked, as even she cannot sense such a weak ghost, let alone follow it. Ichigo opens his eyes as he grabs one of the threads. As they vanish, he begins running in the direction of the thread he pulled. Rukia stares after the disappearing figure, wondering if what she had seen were spirit threads – visualized spirit energy that only top Shinigami should be able to see. Astonished by his growth in so short a period of time, she runs after him.
Chad sits with Shibata in the construction site, and Chad thinks they will be safe for now. Shibata tells him to go, but Chad replies that being sturdy is his only worth. Just then, they hear a creaking noise, and Chad jumps away just in time. The Hollow has found them. Chad jumps out through an already-broken window, and happens to meet Ichigo at a T-junction. Instead of running toward them, he instead runs in the opposite direction. Suddenly, Ichigo hears Karin calling him, and turns to see her panting and using a lamppost as support. Karin falls to her knees, and Ichigo runs over to her. Rukia tells him to bring her home while she will go save Chad, as she does not want his concentration to break while fighting a Hollow because he left Karin there. Ichigo asks if she has enough strength to take on a Hollow, and she replies that she would never slip up enough for him to worry.
The two take off in opposite directions, Ichigo with Karin bundled in his arms. Karin tells him that, since she was the closest in age, she saw the memories of the ghost possessing the cockatiel. The strongest memory of the boy had flown into her: right before his eyes, his mother was murdered. She begs him to save Shibata. In the meantime, Chad continues to run, the birdcage in his arms, Rukia chasing after him. She complains that if she were not in a faux body, she would have no problem catching up, and curses the Demon Craft Development Bureau for putting ordinary physical limitations on a faux body. As her breath gets heavier, she hears a voice commenting that it smells something good. Rukia stops in her tracks just as the Hollow appears out of the ground, trying to get a taste of Rukia’s soul. Rukia somersaults away, and the Hollow is surprised that she can see him, and that she did not die from one hit.
Rukia knees the Hollow’s face, and from behind the Hollow, performs Demon Magic: Way of Destruction, number 33 by chanting the incantation, “O lord, mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man, truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Way of destruction, number 33! Soukatsui!” Rukia is pleased that the spell works and that her powers seem to be returning, but she then realizes that the Hollow is not even scratched.
Chad and Shibata can hear the sounds of the fight, and after Shibata tells him that Rukia is being attacked, Chad puts Shibata’s cage on the floor so that he can go off to help her. Shibata argues that it is dangerous, so Chad moves him to the ledge of a wall. That was, however, not what Shibata had meant. Chad, who is unable to see ghosts, so the Hollow will surely get him. But his words have fallen on deaf ears: Chad continues running in the direction of the sound. The Hollow has seen the spell before, and he recognizes it as a Shinigami’s spell. He mocks Rukia’s spell as weak and incapable of even hurting him. Rukia is annoyed that she still has not recovered enough to use even that level of Demon Magic. The Hollow comments that she must be an ex-Shinigami, thus explaining her tastiness. He adds that he has already eaten two yummy Shinigami who had come to perform a burial for the ghost in the cockatiel. Rukia then asks him why he has been stubbornly chasing the ghost around, and the Hollow replies that if Rukia were to behave and let him eat her, he would answer her queries.
Karin begs Ichigo to tell Shibata that if he goes to heaven, he can see his mum again, and he won’t be lonely anymore.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005 Episode 4 - The Cursed Parakeet!
As police sirens wail in the background, Chad and two friends, Shiego and a black-haired boy sit at a construction site with a white cockatiel in a birdcage. The black-haired guy tells Chad and Shiego that it is a cursed cockatiel, all of whose previous owners died horrible deaths. He offers it to Shiego, who turns it down, then at Chad, saying that it is cute. Shiego says that Chad has a soft spot for cute things. The bird mysteriously begins to flap its wings and caw loudly, and the three friends look up to see a steel beam falling down on them. In the rugged landscape where Hollows seem to live, a voice says that they will continue to consume to fill the emptiness of their existence. A dark figure with creepy red eyes materializes, continuing by saying that Shinigami taste exceptionally nice, and once one knows the taste, one inevitably becomes captive to it.
The steel girder, luckily or unluckily, falls on Chad’s shoulders and thus, the rest are unhurt. Chad bleeds from the forehead, but nothing more. Suddenly, the cockatiel speaks, thanking Chad (it calls him “Mister”) for saving him, and after telling Chad that his name is Shibata Yuuichi, asks Chad what his name is. While his two friends stare in amazement that the bird appears to know what is happening, convinced that the bird is really cursed, Chad replies with his name. Shiego comments that Chad is really fascinated by it now.
Ichigo does not believe that his wound had healed up in one day, but Rukia says that her grades in Demon Magic were tops, so healing like that is a piece of cake. Ichigo is rather surprised too that Shinigami actually have a school. Rukia asks him how she should drink from a packet, and Ichigo vaguely replies that she should stick the straw in it and drink. While she continues to stare at the packet, Mizuiro walks up and comments that the two are awfully friendly with each other, and when Ichigo denies that, he says that is okay too, and that Ichigo should consider what others think a bit more. Ichigo replied that if he did, he would have dyed his hair black long ago. Rukia is still trying to drink from the packet, but after having found the straw, she does not know where to stick it into. Mizuiro greets her, and Rukia, acting as usual, greets him politely. He is pleasantly surprised that Rukia actually remembers his name. He gives a brief autobiography, but is interrupted by Ichigo, who tells Rukia that Mizuiro’s hobby is girl-hunting, so she had better be careful. Despite Mizuiro’s denials, he says that beneath the innocent look, Mizuiro is actually an incurable womanizer. Mizuiro complains that Ichigo is ruining his “image”, then says that in any case, he only goes after older women. Ichigo says that this is the precise reason why he told Rukia to beware. Remember, Rukia is almost 10 times Ichigo’s age.
Keigo comes along just then, speaking in the olden Japanese we often see Rukia speaking, asking what Rukia is doing here. As revenge, Mizuiro says that Ichigo had hit on her and lured her up. Keigo at first curses Ichigo, then congratulates him for a job well done. He then walks up to Rukia, over shrouding her petite frame. He thanks her for coming to this “squalid garden of manliness”, then announces that lunch will be a huge party. He also tells Rukia that should she need any help, she can always turn to him.
Hearing this, Rukia is pleased and thrusts the packet drink in Keigo’s face. Keigo takes a step back and accidentally bumps into Chad, who is bandaged up. His friends ask him what happened, and he explains that his head injury is because of a steel beam, the one on his hand from a traffic accident in which he also carried the injured motorcyclist to the hospital, causing him to be late for school. Ichigo wonders what Chad is made of. Chad puts the birdcage down, and Shibata greets them, telling them his name, and asking for theirs. Ichigo and Rukia both see that something is amiss, but Keigo is more excited, asking the birds to recite after him his name.
Ichigo asks Chad where he got the bird from, and to cut things short, Chad simply says that he “got it” yesterday. As Ichigo continues to stare at the bird, Rukia tells him not to worry, as whatever is inside the bird isn’t bad – probably a lonely ghost. Rukia adds that sometime tonight, they should give it a soul burial, causing Ichigo to lament that he will lose out on sleep yet again. As he takes the drink out of her hand and helps her to stick the straw in it, she is glad that Ichigo actually worried about others at just the hint of a ghost, and learning the mindset of a Shinigami.
Ichigo tells Rukia that it was in 8th grade that he met Chad. Because of his hair, Ichigo had constantly gotten into fights. On the day when the fights became serious, it was Chad who stepped in to save him. Chad however, will not retaliate when he is attacked. Rukia comments that the juice is good.
Ichigo arrives home that night, and is greeted by his sisters bustling about in nurses’ uniforms, Yuzu carrying a box of medical equipment. She tells him that there was a traffic accident at a nearby intersection. He then hears his father shouting over the phone at some hospital staff, demanding that they open up hospital beds for the patients that the clinic’s insufficient facilities are not able to treat. He slams down the phone after instructing the person to tell the chief of staff that it is a request from Kurosaki. Ichigo asks him if there is anything he could do, bur Isshin replies that there is nothing he can do, so go hide in the corner so he does not get in his way. Ichigo does just that.The door opens and Yuzu and Karin, supporting Chad, stagger in. Isshin takes over and tells Ichigo that it is now his turn. Ichigo realizes that it is Chad, and Chad raises his head and looks at him. Karin stares at the bird in Chad’s hands in fear.
There is a terrible wound on Chad’s back, purple in colour and resembling a Hollow’s handprint. Isshin says that it looks like a burn, then begins using a cotton ball to swab the wound, saying that Chad will have to take it easy. However, Chad thinks otherwise, getting up and putting on his shirt despite the incomplete treatment of his wound. Isshin says that there is no way he is fine with that kind of wound, and true enough, Chad, who had just risen to his feet, collapses to the floor.
Rukia sits on Ichigo’s bed, as he asks her if she felt “it” just now. Rukia replies that she did, even from so far away – nothing from the cockatiel, but the scent of a Hollow from the wound. Meanwhile, Chad lies on his bed, looking at the cockatiel which sits on the table next to him. Karin too, is unable to sleep, seeming somewhat plagued by the appearance of the bird.
The next morning, Karin, to Ichigo’s surprise, is not down for breakfast as she does not want any and does not feel well. Ichigo is surprised by that too, as it is obviously very rare for Karin to be ill. Suddenly, Isshin barges into the room and tells Ichigo that Chad has disappeared from his room, where a window is open and the curtain flutters merrily in the breeze.
Ichigo runs around in search of Chad, and so does Rukia. The two meet at an intersection, and check with each other if they have picked up Chad’s trail. Neither have, and there is no information from Soul Society regarding the Hollow, nor anything on the radar. With her scrapbook drawings, Rukia explains that Hollows go undetected when they hide in the space in between Soul Society and the living world. Therefore, until the Hollow after Chad appears in the living world, they will not know its location. Ichigo earns a scrapbook in his abdomen after a negative comment about her drawings.
Ichigo comes up with the idea that they can track him down by following the trail of the spirit in the cockatiel, but Rukia says that it is impossible. Ichigo concentrates hard, and is suddenly outlined by blue light. Little firefly-like particles are flying around him in the air, surprising Rukia, who seems to know this feeling.
Chad and the cockatiel are hiding out in a construction site, and the bird apologizes to Chad for not telling him the truth, that all who own him meet misfortunes. Chad says that it is okay, but Shibata says that he need not worry about him anymore, and instructs Chad to leave him here and go. Chad refuses. Meanwhile, Karin still lies in bed coughing, but gets up with the thought of having to tell Ichigo something in her mind. Ichigo is still surrounded by the light particles, which then condense to form white ribbon-like things. Rukia is shocked, as even she cannot sense such a weak ghost, let alone follow it. Ichigo opens his eyes as he grabs one of the threads. As they vanish, he begins running in the direction of the thread he pulled. Rukia stares after the disappearing figure, wondering if what she had seen were spirit threads – visualized spirit energy that only top Shinigami should be able to see. Astonished by his growth in so short a period of time, she runs after him.Chad sits with Shibata in the construction site, and Chad thinks they will be safe for now. Shibata tells him to go, but Chad replies that being sturdy is his only worth. Just then, they hear a creaking noise, and Chad jumps away just in time. The Hollow has found them. Chad jumps out through an already-broken window, and happens to meet Ichigo at a T-junction. Instead of running toward them, he instead runs in the opposite direction. Suddenly, Ichigo hears Karin calling him, and turns to see her panting and using a lamppost as support. Karin falls to her knees, and Ichigo runs over to her. Rukia tells him to bring her home while she will go save Chad, as she does not want his concentration to break while fighting a Hollow because he left Karin there. Ichigo asks if she has enough strength to take on a Hollow, and she replies that she would never slip up enough for him to worry.
The two take off in opposite directions, Ichigo with Karin bundled in his arms. Karin tells him that, since she was the closest in age, she saw the memories of the ghost possessing the cockatiel. The strongest memory of the boy had flown into her: right before his eyes, his mother was murdered. She begs him to save Shibata. In the meantime, Chad continues to run, the birdcage in his arms, Rukia chasing after him. She complains that if she were not in a faux body, she would have no problem catching up, and curses the Demon Craft Development Bureau for putting ordinary physical limitations on a faux body. As her breath gets heavier, she hears a voice commenting that it smells something good. Rukia stops in her tracks just as the Hollow appears out of the ground, trying to get a taste of Rukia’s soul. Rukia somersaults away, and the Hollow is surprised that she can see him, and that she did not die from one hit.
Rukia knees the Hollow’s face, and from behind the Hollow, performs Demon Magic: Way of Destruction, number 33 by chanting the incantation, “O lord, mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man, truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Way of destruction, number 33! Soukatsui!” Rukia is pleased that the spell works and that her powers seem to be returning, but she then realizes that the Hollow is not even scratched.
Chad and Shibata can hear the sounds of the fight, and after Shibata tells him that Rukia is being attacked, Chad puts Shibata’s cage on the floor so that he can go off to help her. Shibata argues that it is dangerous, so Chad moves him to the ledge of a wall. That was, however, not what Shibata had meant. Chad, who is unable to see ghosts, so the Hollow will surely get him. But his words have fallen on deaf ears: Chad continues running in the direction of the sound. The Hollow has seen the spell before, and he recognizes it as a Shinigami’s spell. He mocks Rukia’s spell as weak and incapable of even hurting him. Rukia is annoyed that she still has not recovered enough to use even that level of Demon Magic. The Hollow comments that she must be an ex-Shinigami, thus explaining her tastiness. He adds that he has already eaten two yummy Shinigami who had come to perform a burial for the ghost in the cockatiel. Rukia then asks him why he has been stubbornly chasing the ghost around, and the Hollow replies that if Rukia were to behave and let him eat her, he would answer her queries.
Karin begs Ichigo to tell Shibata that if he goes to heaven, he can see his mum again, and he won’t be lonely anymore.
wanderer