Claws That Scratch The Flesh pt.28

Claws That Scratch The Flesh
Eighteenth Scratch: The Truth
"Why are you suddenly interested in helping me? What made you change your mind about the other agents?" Ichigo asked suspeciously, "We ran into Ukitake last night, he was .. acting suspeciously," Shinji replied with a shrug, "You just... ran into him? And what exactly do you think it was about him that was suspecious?" he asked with a frown, "Where he was, what he was doing... it was just ... weird," Shinji added, "And where exactly was this? Come to think of it what were the three of YOU doing when you ran into him?" the three exchanged glances, Shinji shifting uncomfortably and wrinkling his nose, "Any way we can go without telling you that?" "Not really, no," Ichigo shrugged back, Shinji looked around, noticing all the people at the department that may be privvy to their conversation, "Fine, we'll tell you.. meet us in an hour at the diner a few blocks from here, the one with the koi on the sign, got it?" "Yeah, I think I can do that," he replied, watching them walk away and grabbing his phone, not even hesitating to text Rukia about the events

~+~

"Do you REALLY think they've switched sides?" Rukia asked with a suspecious frown, "Well I wouldn't put it past them completely, they seem pretty easy to influence," Ichigo replied with a slight shrug, she narrowed her eyes, wrinkling her nose, "I don't know... it just... it just feels weird," she sighed, raking her fingers through her hair, "Yeah, it feels REALLY weird, I definately agree," he nodded, checking his watch and sighing, "And now they're late... aren't they?" Rukia guessed, he nodded slowly, closing his eyes, "Just... give them time... just in case, just give them a little more time..."

~+~

"'Scuze me there gentlemen! It looks like you could use some help, I could give you a hand if you want," Shinji sighed in releif wen he heard the voice, he wasn't sure why but his motercycle had given out completely by the time he was only half-way where he needed to be and although Kensei and Rose HAD been tailing him he couldn't see them anymore, he really hoped they just had gotten ahead, both because he didn't want them to be stuck in his position, and because he was a little afraid of what might happen to him if he's late... "Thank you!" he sighed in releif, turning on his heel and freezing, the man in the truck- who was currently getting out of said truck- was none other than Shunsui Kyoraku, one of the men he had been getting ready to expose....

~+~

"I can't believe they're not coming," Rukia said with a frustrated sigh as she ran her fingers through her hair, "To be honest I don't know why I even expected differently, those guys all have some kind of screw loose somewhere and I can't believe I trusted them to come out here and talk to begin with," Ichigo grunted back, taking a long sip of the coffee next to him and rubbing his eyes, "I'm too tired to deal with all of this..." he groaned, "I guess we should just cut our losses and head back then huh? There isn't much more we can do here," Rukia observed as she checked her phone, still no new messages.... sighing loudly, she started to pick up her things, getting ready to leave the cafe' as Ichigo was doing when suddenly a loud ringing interrupted them both, staring at eachother a bit worriedly, they dipped into Ichigo's backpack and withdrew the laptop, setting it on the table and answering the video call that was waiting for them, "Hello?" Ichigo called, the man on the screen looked up, taking a breath, "I think I have a lead on our monsters, I think... I might even know how to get rid of them...."

~+~

"This is quite some overheated engine you've got," Kyoraku mused as he looked over the motercycle in question, "I'm surprised you were able to stay afloat for as long as you did considering how fried it is, good thing I found you though, who knows what might have happened if I didn't?" he mused, leaning back and wiping some of the stress from his brow, "That would be quite the problem I guess," Shinji replied quietly, "Oh quite," Kensei muttered back, only for Rose to jab him in the ribs, "Try calling you know who, tell them what happened," he breathed, Rose nodded slowly, grabbing his phone and starting to search for the number he had saved under Ichigo's name

~+~

"You really think you know how to take them down?" Ichigo asked in amazement, Derek just nodded, looking down at something away from the screen and then back up, "It sounds like they're being controlled by someone right? Then it doesn't matter what kind of Unseelie Faery they are, it should all work the same way, they're probbably being controlled by some sort of faery as well, and if that's the case, you'll just have to control the one in charge to stop them," he explained, "Easier said than done," Ichigo huffed, "How would we do that?" Rukia asked, "With their name, you have control over faeries if you have their real names," he replied, "So... that's it then? All we have to do is get their name? That... that sounds easy, we just have to figure out who it is," Ichigo said with a grin, "It isn't that easy, most faeries have different names- birth names- from the ones they use in society so that this sort of thing can't happen, we'd have to get the faery's BIRTH name from them, isn't that right Derek?" "You're there, that's exactly what I was going to say next," Ichigo grumbled, cursing and sinking in his chair, "Do you have any other good news?" "You might be able to get the name easily, if you go into the forest and trap the leader," he explained, "And how do we do that?" Derek smirked slightly, "There's a substance that repels faeries, cover yourselves in it and you can act as human magnets in a way, carral them into one location until they talk," "And what substance is this exactly?" he grinned looking back at them, "Iron,"

~+~

"They aren't picking up?" Shinji hissed, cursing under his breath and groaning as he rubbing his eyes, pacing around in small, concise circles, "Can you track them?" "Relax, we have our cases that we're working on, that should give us plenty of time with him in the office to confront as need arises," Rose replied with a shrug, Shinji sighed, rubbing his nose again, "I just hope that we aren't making a gigantic mistake here...."

`+~

"So that's it then... we're really doing this?" Rukia asked softly as she peered across the desk at Ichigo, "As far as I know yeah... we're doing this, tonight," he confirmed with a small, tense smile, he had a nagging feeling about all of this, it wasn't a bad feeling exactly, but it sure as all hell wasn't a GOOD one either... "Where are we going to get that much armor?" she asked suddenly, "Don't worry, I know a guy," Ichigo replied with a non-chalant shrug, "You KNOW a guy? You know a guy who can just... supply tons and tons of iron?" Rukia asked in almsot disbeleif, "Yeah, hence... I know a guy," he replied, glancing up right when a hand was placed on his shoulder, "Kurosaki! We're glad we caught up with you," Shinji panted, sqeezing past Rukia and sitting in a chair across from him, "I know what this looks like-" "Do you?" "Bu I can explain.. I just... I need you to hear me out," before he could even finish that thought there was a tap on Ichigo's shoulder and he got up immediately, "Sorry guys, I'll be back to discuss this later, something came up," he replied, bolting and Rukia following right after him, "There's something strange about that," Rose mused, "More than strange," Shinji muttered back, looking at the desk and grinning, there was a phone number sitting out in broad daylight, he wasn't sure where it belonged, but he new one thing: he was going to be reading it later, and hopefully uncovering whatever secrets there were being hidden in this office...

~+~

"How terrible is it that I STILL can't believe you actually have an iron guy?" Rukia teased as she leaned back in the seat, "It isn't GREAT," Ichigo teased back, pulling the car into the parkinglot and glancing at her, "Now... you're sure you want to do this? This isn't just your fight anymore, it's bigger than that, so if you ever want to back out..." he blinked, glancing at were she was squeezing his hand and then back up as she smiled at him, "Ichigo, I'm still here aren't I? If the creepy visions of seeing them in the HOUSE didn't run me off, nothing will," "I guess you have a point," he smiled softly, getting out of the car and staring at the building ahead of him, "Alright, first things first.... iron...."

`+~

"You sure we don't need to go to that store first? Whatever it was?" Rose asked cautiously as he glanced at Shinji, "Positive, they're just heading to the wall again, I know it, and once they're there what would they need from a specialty store? Nothing, unless it's climbing equipment, but we have our own for that," he added with confidence, Rose took a deep breath, nodding slowly, "If you say so," he muttered, getting in the car, "Kensei, you alright? You seem awfully quiet," Shinji observed off-handedly, "Yeah it's just.... I have a bad feeling about this, it isn't anything I can explain logically but.... it's just a really, really bad gut feeling..." he sighed, leaning in the back seat of the car, a bad feeling.... it had been a long time since he had once this strong...