From Ghoulies And Beasties p14

From Ghoulies And Beasties
File Fourteen: Faerie
"Ah Ireland! I've been waiting to come here! So many amazing legends to explore!" Rukia mused as she walked towards the Cork International Airport Hotel, it was the first time they could actually walk from the airport to their hotel instead of having to get a car of some sort, it was rather refreshing as a matter of fact, "Speaking of... wich of those many legends will we be exploring today?" he asked, she smirked, "I know you've heard of faeries Ichigo," she said, he raised his eyebrows as they walked into the hotel, "FARIES Rukia? We're looking for FAERIES? Well why not just throw the boogeyman in here and call it a done deal?" he muttered, she huffed, "Boy, I'm starting to wish we HAD found that Jersey Devil so you couldn't make fun of me..." "I'm not making fun of YOU I just..." he sighed lightly, "I just still can't come to grasp that we're actually looking for faeries..." "Um, excuse me?" said the clerk at the check-in desk, "Did you say 'faerie'?" "Er yes, he did," Rukia replied, "Oh, if you want to see some Little People, I'd say you should go soon, the best time to see 'em is in the morning," she said with a smile, "Really? Where exactly?" Rukia asked, "Well let's see... trees and bushes are good... hills too, they like hills... any place with a faery circle," Rukia smiled brightly, "Thanks for your help," "Oh no problum, so er.. were you checking in?"

"It'd be best if we went now Ichigo," Rukia said as she set her bags down on the floor and grabbed her backpack, patting Draco on the head in the process, "Why now? We just got here," "Faeries are out most in the mornings, that's why, besides then we'll have the entire day to ourselves," he rolled that around in his head for a few moments, "Mm... ok... that's a good point I guess..." he muttered quietly, "Bye Draco, we'll be back soon," Rukia said, blowing a kisss to the little dragon as she and Ichigo left the hotel room and started towards the elevator, "I hope our destination isn't far.." he mused, she shrugged, "I don't know," she replied as she got in the elevator, "What?" "Well," she said, pressing the down button as soon as he walked into the elevator, "Faeries are all over Ireland, so I'm going to ask wich cities have the most," she replied, he groaned, "You're just PRAYING to get us in trouble aren't you?" "Oh hush, the Irish veiw spotting Fae as a normal occurance, they think you're the weird one if you don't believe in them," she said, the elevator dinging and opening the doors as they arrived in the lobbey, "Back again I see," said the receptionist, "Yes, actually, my husband and I were hoping to see some faeries.. do you know where may be the best place to catch them?" she thought on that for a moment, tapping her finger against her chin, "Well... I saw a couple of them in Killarney... that isn't far from here if you drive..." she mused, "How long ago did you see them?" Rukia asked, "Oh just a few months ago... unfourtinately I was on my way shoppin' so I only glimpsed them for a moment out me car window, but they seemed to carry on about their buisness not noticin' me," she said, Rukia nodded and smiled happily, "Ok, thank you very much for your help," she said, "Oh not a problum at all," the woman replied as Rukia and Ichigo walked out of the hotel

"If faeries are as smart as people say they are, won't they just fly away from us before we can even Kido them?" Ichigo asked as the two walked through a large feild, Killarney was full of feilds, forests, and other places Faeries were nowen to lurk, so Rukia had just made a rash decision and asked the driver to stop at the first one she liked, couldn't hurt after all, "First of all, don't you mean before I can Kido them?" she replied with raised eyebrows, he frowned, "And second of all, I think it's BECAUSE faeries are so smart that we'll have luck, if you'll recall, both the vampire and werewolf cooperated with us, the vampire especially, given how smart the Fae are they probbably know why we're looking for them and will help us out," Rukia mused, "I mean they do show themselves to people pretty often you know," she mused with a shrug, "Yeah... I guess that's true...." he muttered, the two continued walking for a few moments before they came up to a hedge that cut off the feild from a nearby neighborhood, "Hm... is it just me or does this hedge look... off... to you?" she mused, tilting her head, "Off how? It's a hedge Rukia," she bent down and pointed to a small crack in the bottum between two of the bushes, "Here, this looks interesting to me... not quite man made but not quite natural either..." she mused, "So?" "So it COULD have been faerie made," she mused with a smirk, "So then what does that mean?" he asked, she smiled, "I guess we'll just have to find out hm?" she said with a smirk, pushing through the bushes and into another, even larger area, but it wasn't the small neighborhood that she had been told was just through the bushes, it was a beautifull forest with an even more beautifull lake nearby, "Woah...." they wispered in unison, "Toto, I don't think we're in Killarney anymore..." he muttered, she gasped as she looke around at all the beautifull things, natural lights flashing and sparkling, the lake was immensely clean and beautifull and the forest smelled like a forest should, full of flowers and trees and clean air without the pollution most modern societies had, "Do you think we could be in the Faerie World?" she wispered, "Faeries have their own world?" he asked, "No but it's just called that, remember I told you about the other dimensions? The Faerie World is one of them," she replied, "Oh... so we might ACTUALLY be in Oz... he said with a chuckle," "What's 'Oz'?" ".... You'll have to watch it sometime..." he muttered back, "Wait... do you hear that?" Rukia wispered suddenly, Ichigo shook his head and she gestured for him to follow her as she started walking deeper into the forest, and the deeper they went, the more he heard it, the sound of music playing, beautifull music... they continued walking until they came upon the site of a group of Faeries dancing and playing music, flutes, picalo, violens, the music didn't stop, in fact the Fae didn't even seem to take notice of them, Ichigo and Rukia continued standing there and stared on in awe at the beautifull sights and sounds of these creatures, "I reckon you're looking for me," they heard, turning around and seeing a small faerie flying in front of them, her silver wings fluttered mystically at an incredably fast speed that may have rivaled Ichigo's Bankai, her hair was dark red, maybe just a tad lighter than Renji's, her eyes were bright blue and freckles covered her cheeks and nose, her dress looked like it was made from blue rose petals, but really it could have been from any flower, "I'm Ember, you're Soul Reapers correct?" she asked in her beautifull, soft spoke voice, Rukia just nodded slowly and the Faerie smiled again, "Come with me, I'll help you with your mission," she offered, flying through some trees, Ichigo and Rukia immediatly followed and came to a smaller part of the forest with a clearing in the center, Ember stopped in the middle and smiled as a wite glow surrounded her, in only seconds her size had changed from that of Rukia's finger to a woman who's only a little taller than Rukia herself, "I think it'll be easier for you to get what you need this way," she said with a smile, "Why are you helping us?" Ichigo asked, Ember shrugged, "Well why not? We're always happy to help Soul Reapers and anyone else involved in the mystic world as we are," she replied

~+~

"Thank you again for your cooperation Ember," Rukia said with a bow, the faerie smiled back and shrunk back to her original size, "It's not a problum at all, anything we can do to help the protectors of the after life," she said with a smile, "We appreciate it," Rukia said, adjusting her backpack, "I must say, this place is amazing, I'd love to just... stay here..." she mused, "Actually, alot of people like to have picnics in this garden, because it's so peacefull and relaxing," she said with a smile, Ichigo smirked, "That actually sounds pretty good, you want to do that Rukia?" Ichigo asked with a bit of excitement, she rubbed the back of her neck slightly, "O-Oh I wouldn't want to intrude-" she said, "Oh it's no intrustion at all, we like having company from different species, it's mighty fun usually," she nodded slowly, "Well, I guess it'd be alright then, but we have to go get Draco first, he doesn't get much fresh air and this is a good oppertunity," she mused, Ichigo smirked,, "Way ahead of you, if it's a picnic we need food for it too after all,"

~+~

"It's so rare that Draco gets to be out in the open like this," Rukia mused, watching as the little dragon hopped around in the grass, happily bounding about and chasing butterflies, "Yeah but for being out in the open he sure isn't allowed to do much," he mused, glancing at the leash he was on, "It's a baby leash Ichigo, alot of toddlers wear them," she explained back, popping a peice of food from the picnic in her mouth, "Mm-hm, sure, that's your excuse," he chuckled, "No I'm serious!" she huffed, he chuckled, picking a grape off of the stem and putting it in his mouth, "Mm-hm," he chuckled again, "Mm.... can I have one of those?" she asked, pointing to the bowl of grapes wich were sitting behind Ichigo, "Hm? Yeah," he said, plucking a grape off of the stem and holding it out, he had thought Rukia would reach up and take the grape but instead she opened her mouth, expecting him to feed it to her, wich he didn't protest against, by this point Ichigo had come to the conclusion that life is too short to sweat the small stuff, if she wanted him to feed her a grape he'd feed her the grape, "You know, since grapes used to only be grown in Europe, the Egyptians considered them a delicacy, wich is why you always see pharohs and queens being fed grapes by their servants, it'd be the equivelent of a wite truffle, the most expensive mushroom in the world," she mused, leaning over him and grabbing another grape and munching on it, "HOW do you know all this stuff?!" he groaned, "Psh, excuse me for being intellegent," she muttered, he sighed, "Rukai you are OVERWELMINGLY intellegent, you make normal people like me look like we have the mental capacity of a peanut," "Actually-" "No, no 'actually', I'm tired of hearing 'actually'," he muttered, reaching over her and grabbing a few chocolate-covered-peanuts from the bowl beside her

"I guess we should probbably get going," Rukia mused as she sighed and looked around at the beautifull land around her, they had been out here having this picnic for what felt like a few hours, though she knew that when Faery Dust was involved there was really no telling of time so she couldn't be sure, she felt that the time was coming quickly that they should get back to the hotel and send their collected information to Soul Society, "So soon?" Ichigo asked with a small frown, "Well.. we've been here a wile... we're nearly out of food," "But Draco is having such a good time..." she turned around and raised her eyebrows, "Draco is sleeping..." she muttered, pointing to a large oak tree that the little dragon was sleeping under, he coughed lightly, "Er... well.... hey did you see that waterfall over there?" he asked, standing up, "Yeah, why?" she asked, he smirked and helped her stand up, "Come on, let's go swimming," he said, pulling her towards the cliff, "Ichigo we're still in our clothes..." "It's no problum, I brought these when we went back to the hotel to get Draco," he said, reaching into her backpack and pulling out both their bathing suits, "But the lake is so far down, how would we get there? And what if we get lost?" he snorted and shoved her swimsuit into her arms, "Just be spontanious would you?" she sighed, "Fine... but if something goes wrong it'll be your fault," she muttered as she started walking towards a tree, "Isn't it always?" he asked rhetorically, ducking behind another tree to change

"So how do you suppose we get down there?" Rukia asked, putting her hands on her hips and looking down at the beautifull lake below them, Ichigo smirked, "Easy," he replied happily, the two had already decided that Draco would be ok sleeping alone since some of the faeries had offered to watch him, so it was alright for them to leave him there, Ichigo grabbed a large vine from one of the trees and tugged on it, "This seems sturdy enough," he mused, grabbing ahold of it, "Ichigo? What are you-" before she could ask he swung off of the cliff, let go of the vine, and dropped into the lake, she blinked, "I-Ichigo!?" she screamed, he popped back up moments later, running his fingers through his wet hair, she timidly grabbed onto the vine as well, taking a few steps back before swinging forward and dropping into the lake as well, her eyes still closed, she struggled to resurface, but once she did she opened her eyes and immediatly looked up at Ichigo, "Th-This water's f-f-freezing!" she muttered as she tread water, he chuckled, "You just have to get used to it, it'll be fine soon," he said, winking at her, "So... why did you want to come swimming?" she asked, he smiled lightly at her, "I just thought it'd be fun, we haven't been swimming for a wile and this water looks so clear and prestine...." "I'm sure it's Faerie magic that makes it that way," she mused, he shrugged, "Yeah you're pretty right about that," he mused, suddenly jerking back, "What's wrong?" she asked, "A fish swam over my foot..." "Oh yeah, you've never been swimming in anything other than a pool have you?" she asked, swimming towards he bank of the lake, after all she was used to fish swimming over her, she DID grow up in Rukon... "That isn't true, I swim in the ocean remember? I've just never been in water so shallow with fish swimming around me is all..." he muttered, she smirked as she spotted an oddly shaped rock on the bank of the lake, it was large and round and a bit hollowed out, almost like a bowl, so, getting a devilish idea, she grabbed the rock-bowl and started swimming back towards him, "Oh, mm-hm, that makes sense," she muttered, scooping water into the "bowl" and leaning up the best she could, "Ichigo what's that?" she asked, instinctively he turned his head to look for where "that" was, "What? Where are you looking?" he asked just as she dumped the water on him, "Ah hey!" he laughed, turning around swiftly and nocking her off of her feet, making her fall backwards in the water and land on her back, the water was shallow but still not nearly shallow enough that her tiny feet could touch the bottum, so when she fell she only flipped onto her back, "Oooh you're going to pay for that!" she giggled, splashing water towards him, he splashed back and without much time at all passing they were in an all-out water war with eachother

~+~

"My body is so sore...." Rukia muttered as she and Ichigo stumbeled back towards the hotel, still nearly soaked from their swim and having to lug back Draco and the picnic stuff, "Ichigo you really gave me a work out," she said with a light laugh, he chuckled, "I do what I can," "Or maybe I'm just out of shape," she suggested, "Yeah that's it, too much American food and not enough exercise chasing monsters, yeah, that's it Rukia," he said sarcastically, tapping her on the back of the head, "It could be..." she mumbeled as they entered the hotel and walked towards the elevator, "I'm serious Ichigo, before this mission I never-" "Had a vacation?" "Er... well no but I was going to say I never took an assignment so... lightly...." she mused with a sigh, pressing their floor number and letting the elevator doors close, "You know you're allowed to be relaxed, you don't have to be on your toes every second of every day that you're working," he mused, listening to the elevator ding as it came to their floor and they both got off, walking towards their room, "Be that as it may... I must admit, this is the most fun assignment I've ever been on," she said with a smirk as Ichigo slipped the key into the lock on the hotel door, they both walked in and Rukia immediatly let Draco out of her backpack, "I'm going to take a hot bath, see if the water will help my musceles," "What about your hair?" "Er.... you're right... maybe a shower is better.." "Mm-hm, take some Ibuprofin for your sore muscles ok?" he instructed, she nodded and grabbed some clothes out of the closet before ducking into the bathroom, Ichigo yawned, pulling some fresh clothes out of the closet as well, he was fairly dry, despite his hair still being awfully damp, Draco chirped at him a few times wich made him pause in mid-undress and stare at the clock, "You want dinner already? You just ate lunch!" he said with a frown, Draco walked up to him and rubbed against his leg, chirping and mewling a few more times, "Alright alright fine I'll order some food in a minute," he grunted, only then hearing that someone was calling in through the laptop Rukia had, sighing, he quickly put on the dry clothes and tossed his damp ones in a nearby hamper, grumbling to himself, "Yo," he said as he turned on the computer, "Ah Ichigo, how are things going?" Ukitake asked happily as he appeared on the screen, "Good I guess, we got the faerie information," "Oh that's good," he said, cheerfull as always, "Hey Ukitake let me ask you... do dragons normally eat alot?" Ukitake blinked, "Um well... not really, Adelinda only eats about as much as I do, why? Is Draco's appetite high?" "Oh yeah, he seems to be always hungry," he replied, lightly scratching Draco under the chin, "Hm, it's probbably just him, Adelinda doesn't seem to eat much," Ichigo huffed as he put the tubes and viles of samples into the container for transport, "Yeah or maybe it's just the males that eat alot," "Well that would be comparable to just about every species," Ukitake said, Ichigo huffed, "It'd be comparable to Renji..." he muttered back, Ukitakte chuckled quietly, "SO where are we going to be off to next? Paris? Rome? A dense forest in the middle of nowhere like usual?" Ichigo guessed, "Actually you'll be staying exactly where you are," the captain replied, "What? Here in Ireland?" "Ireland, Cork, the hotel you're in, it just so happens the next creature on your list is in the same spot as the faeries, I'll send over your file," Ichigo scratched his head, "Well that's a first...." he mused, just then Adelinda jumped onto the computer and started chirping, making Draco start pawing at Ichigo's leg, "I think someone wants to see Draco," Ukitake laughed, "Yeah someone wants to see her too," Ichigo said as he put Draco in front of the screen, "It's fine, I gotta order some food for the little monster anyway,"

~+~

"So are you feeling any better Rukia?" Ichigo asked sometime after Rukia left the shower, by this time it was fairly late in the evening and the conversation with Ukitake had been a wile ago, now they were just relaxing, Rukia watching some kind of anime they found on and Ichigo reading a Shounen Jump volume, "A little, the hot water didn't help much though, I'm still pretty sore," she mused, crossing her legs at the ankles, wile Ichigo was leaned up against the headboard of the bed, Rukia was supporting her head in her hands, lieing on her stomach at the foot of the bed watching TV, "Huh... I could help you out," he mused, putting down the manga magazene and moving to be closer to her, "Oh? And what would you do?" she asked with a small laugh, her reply came when he set his hands down on her shoulders and started to make small circles with his thumbs, she tensed slightly, "What are you doing?" she asked quietly as his fingers began to diligently but gently apply more pressure to her shoulder blades, "I'm giving you a massage, what does it feel like I'm doing? Murdering you?" he asked with a huff and a bit of offense in his voice, "You don't have to do that, I'll be alright," she wispered, "It's ok, I don't mind," he replied, swinging one leg over her legs so that he was in a better position to massage her, "Y-You sure?" she asked, "'Course, what's the matter with you? Haven't you ever had a massage before?" he asked with a snort, "No, have you?" she replied, "Er... well... no not really... but I didn't think I'd make you uncomfortable touching you, I mean... I figured you'd be ok with it," she smiled lightly and folded her arms, laying her head on them, "I'm not uncomfortable with it at all, I'm very comfortable, it was just a little surprising at first," "Oh..." "But you're good at this," he smiled, "Thanks,"