From Dusk...To Dawn - Sequel to 'Into the Sweet Darkness'

Chapter 1 - More trouble?

Sana pov:

"Haaaaaahhh......I need a break...." I sighed resting my cheek on the table in front of me. I was beat taking all these classes and having to take coaching for high school student aspiring to get into the field of business.

Two whole years had passed since the Kageroza incident, two whole years since I had sensed even the slightest trace of Sousuke. I had assumed that he would turn up after a couple of months or at least cause some trouble in the human world or Soul Society. But there was nothing and after six months of waiting, I gave up on ever seeing him again.

After he had escaped and saved me from Kageroza, Soul Society had called me to find out what had happened and what Sousuke was planning. Honestly, I didn't know what he was planning so I told that that he had come to save me, he left me in the human world and then disappeared. I had to tell them the truth this time and so I let them know that the Hougyoku had been reactivated.

Kisuke san found it hard to believe that the Hougyoku had been reactivated. I left out the part about it being possible because it had absorbed my reiatsu. I guess he knew the reason but he didn't say anything. And I was glad for that.

Michael was really happy that I had sorted out things without having him to lie about my so called vacation. A few days after Sousuke had disappeared, I had called him again to tell him that things had settled down (for the time being) and I didn't need him to give any reasons to my friends and family. In one way I was glad, on the other hand, I had been wary of letting Sousuke go again.

But he was gone now and I had no way to track him. He said he wanted to get even more powerful. So maybe he didn't need my reiatsu anymore....maybe I really was just a....tool.

Thinking of it that way, my heart twinged. I felt used, betrayed to some extent. I didn't want to believe that his feelings for me were fake. After all, he did save me before Ichigo could.....I still I had felt uneasy. But since he didn't turn up for the past two years, the sadness slowly faded as I accepted reality. I gave up on Sousuke. Perhaps this was the extent to which we were meant to be. Perhaps this was the point until which I could endure. And once I gave up, I felt like a load had been lifted off my shoulders.

Besides the thing about Sousuke, the notice about the debt we had with Chen's company had been taken care of. After seeing my abilities, he had taken the safe choice of not getting on my bad side. When my father had asked how I convinced him, I told him that I gave him a hint of how I could be if he made me angry.

Of course, my abilities were yet again sealed off by Mayuri san but this time it was with a simple looking necklace.

I don't think it was a very good thing to have done; to completely seal off my powers that is. After ichigo lost his powers as a shinigami, Sado, Ishida and Orihime were responsible for defeating Hollows that appeared in the town. Rukia never came to see us again after Ichigo lost his powers and in some way, I wished that I could help them defeat the Hollows. After all, some of them were pretty strong.

Its not that I doubted their strength. They could take care if the Hollows just fine without me....but still.

In the last few months, we had some unfortunate events of being brainwashed by people who possessed powers that only special humans had. They were special like me and Ichigo but they called their powers as 'fullbrings'.

Unlike Sado, Orihime, Ichigo's family and friends, the fullbring of the main bad guy hadn't worked on me so he wasn't able to mess with my memories. Ichigo and I ended up as the only sane people and the battle had proved to be a true turning point in our lives.

Soul Society got more than 100% trust on us and Ichigo was able to get his shinigami powers back in full swing. All the captains and lieutenants of Soul Society did trust him before, but there were some doubts that had come up when Ichigo had figured out that the substitute badge was actually just a way for Soul Society to monitor him. Bit ichigo wasn't so narrow minded. He trusted his friends and wanted power only to protect the people he loved.