Night had fallen over Karakura Town, the stars were shining brightly in the sky, and the citizens were safe and asleep in their beds.
Well, they were asleep, at least. Tamashi Kouseki had awoken in the middle of a sound sleep because of a chill that had passed down his spine, and right now he felt any number of things, but safe wasn't one of them. He tried to shake it off and go back to sleep, but it was no use. So, stifling a yawn, he got up, got dressed, and headed outside to take a walk. Maybe some fresh air would help clear his head.
As he stepped outside and looked around, he got a sense where the odd feeling that had woken him was coming from, and began to walk towards it. It wasn't that he was particularly curious, but usually when this sort of thing happened, he found that the feeling passed as he was walking to meet it, and the uneasiness it gave him when he walked away was almost unbearable.
He was pretty sure there was at least one convenience store open at this hour in the direction he was heading, so he went off towards it, but stopped as the prickle feeling going through his body intensified. Taking a deep breath, he calmed his mind down and settled the cold pit in his stomach. When he felt a spark of warmth settle across his body, he continued on.
D-Roy grinned at Rukia from where he hovered over her, mocking her failed attempt to freeze him to the ground. He was about to make a snide comment when something hit him in the side of the head, and he was flung out of the circle of influence made by Sode no Shirayuki.
"Hey! Who's the moron who took that cheap shot?" He snarled, looking around for the culprit. He choked on his next words as he realized the loser in question was none other than Grimmjow, having just finished kicking him out of what was now a large pillar of ice. Grimmjow hit him again for the snide remark before giving him a rather serious look.
"Stop wasting your time screwing around with these fools. I'll handle them. I need you to go investigate something. A mysterious reiatsu just flared up and vanished, like somone's trying to evade detection." Grimmjow pointed in the direction indicated, suggesting with a glance that any argument would prompt worse punishment than a kick to the head. D-Roy merely nodded and headed off.
Rukia checked her tracking device, and sure enough, there was an indication of an unidentified reiatsu that faded from view even as she watched.
"GETSUGA TENSHOU!!"
There was a moment that passed through Rukia's mind where she wondered what was going on, before the Getsuga flew past, barely missing her and Grimmjow, who had tried to attack her while she was distracted. Ichigo took the chance to rush in and lock Grimmjow down in close combat while Rukia fumed.
"Ichigo, what the hell was that? You could have taken my head off!!" She screamed.
"There's no time for that, you have to stop that Arrancar! Whoever he's going after won't stand a chance. I'll hold this guy off, now go!"
"Oh?" Grimmjow's voice was almost like a purr as he grinned at Ichigo. "Confident aren't you? Well then, you'll be the first to die."
Rukia didn't hear anymore of the conversation as she raced off after D-Roy. Ichigo was right, whoever this was apparently had only enough reiatsu to be barely noticeable, and couldn't possibly stand up to one of these Arrancar. She just hoped when she caught up that it wasn't already too late.
Kouseki stared up at the sky from behind some trees, having taken cover due to a very uneasy feeling in his gut. No sooner had he hidden himself did he see an oddly dressed man, face half-covered in bandages, flying to where he'd been only moments ago. Kouseki had seen and heard some strange things, but this was taking the cake. He tried to remain calm. Last time he'd seen something with that odd mask-like feature, he'd done something that had made it suddenly not seem to notice him. Kouseki focused and hoped that the same thing worked on this guy too.
It appeared to be working. Though the figure stopped in mid-air to look around, his gaze passed the trees where Kouseki was hiding several times without stopping or even doubling back.
"I know you're out here, Shinigami! Why not stop playing stupid games and show yourself?" He said.
Shinigami, Kouseki though, what the hell is a Shinigami?
Kouseki's answer seemed to come in the form of a mysterious blast of ice arcing it's way towards the strange man, the point of origin seeming to be yet another strangely dressed figure, this one in black and wielding a sword of pure white. The man seemed to have no trouble at all dodging the ice, and struck out at the woman, who only just managed to block his hand with her sword.
Something seemed very off about all this. Flying men and women, people blocking swords with their hands. Everything was spinning around in his head as he watched a battle begin in the skies above him. They seemed to be exchanging insults back and forth, but he could barely hear them from his position. A few broken words here and there, and a name that sounded suspiciously like Hiroi, though the name didn't quite seem to fit very well.
Suddenly the man stopped, surrounded by several rods of light that appeared to restrict his abililty to move. He struggled as the woman took up a pose and started to chant something, and Kouseki strained to hear. The incantation seemed to take a while, and at the end a blue sphere of light shot out of her hand towards the trapped individual. At the last second, he broke free and caught the woman with a blind attack. Kouseki watched in horror as he pressed the assault, even when the woman obviously couldn't fight back anymore. His legs froze as the man held her by the collar and started to draw his sword.
That was all it took. Drawing in a shaky breath, Kouseki stepped out from the trees and took a pose similar to the one the woman had taken a moment ago, struggling with himself to remember the words and the feel in the air that he had picked up as he began to chant, praying that this would work.
"Oh lord, mask of flesh and bone! All creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man!" He cried, straining to recall the words.
D-Roy turned to look in the direction of this new distraction, resheathing his zanpakuto with a grin. There was some stupid human trying to fire a spell at him. He glanced back at Rukia, then slowly drifted to the ground and tossed her aside. He'd finish her off later, right now, this human was far more entertaining.
"Oh, what's this? Little human wants to play Shinigami does he?"
Kouseki had to steel himself as the man slowly moved closer, and despite all his fear, not to laugh at the crazy teeth in this guy's mouth. He continued, "Truth and temperance, Upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws!"
The grin never left D-Roy's face as he approached. Really, this place had some of the silliest creatures. "Just another loser who can't wait to die, aren't you? I should thank you, really. I was bored up until just now..."
"Way of destruction 33..." Kouseki's resolve was starting to fade a bit as the man continued his slow, ego-driven pace, until his face was right in front of the palm of Kouseki's hand.
"Hmmm, lost your nerve have you? Go ahead, Mr. Shinigami, fire your spell!" D-Roy even went so far as to lean in so that his face was a mere few inches away from Kouseki's hand, laughing all the while.
A short distance away, Rukia struggled to stand, watching the proceedings with a mix of curiosity and irritation. Even though this young man had distracted D-Roy, now Rukia was obligated to try and save him as well as stop the Arrancar. This human was either working a very clever distraction, or he was dumb enough to think he could actually cast kidou properly. Either way, Rukia had to take advantage of the distraction and regroup.
When she finally stood, she cast a critical eye over the human standing rather unimpressively across from D-Roy. He was about a full head taller than Rukia, with shoulder length brown hair and a slight build suggesting that he wouldn't in the best of situations be able to take a hit from another human, much less D-Roy. But there was something about his eyes...a confidence to them, like there was something hiding in the bright green circles. She even thought she saw him grin a little as the Arrancar laughed in his face.
"Soukatsui!!" Kouseki gritted his teeth, and his heart skipped a beat. There was a moment of emptiness, and then he felt a rush, like lightning ripping through his body. The sensation had been building up in his chest until now, and when he uttered the final word, it rushed out through the palm of his hand. There was a flash, and D-Roy's eyes opened wide in shock.
As Rukia watched, she felt a strange sensation, like a cork being pulled from a bottle under high pressure. She looked on in surprise as the spell fired successfully, catching D-Roy in the middle of a choked laugh and passing straight between his teeth. It exploded in the back of his throat, the force knocking him several feet away.
D-Roy's head spun, the blast having caught him completely off guard. He felt around his mouth with his tongue, angrily noting that several teeth had been blown free. It only took a moment for his vision to clear, and he leapt into the skies in a rage, staring down at the insolent pest and shouting at him. "Nice trick, Mr. Shinigami, but I'm still alive! And that's all that matters in the end. Now, I'm going to show you what real power is like!" He held out his hand and pointed a finger at Kouseki, a small ball of red energy forming at the tip.
Rukia's heart almost stopped. Cero! She thought, He'll never survive that. I have to stop this. She didn't have much time. All she could do was run, and hope she could get the young man out of the way. She felt a chill go down her spine as the Cero fired, and she took the only chance she had to save the unwitting human.
Kouseki felt something crash into him, and the next thing he knew he was on the ground a distance back from the blast that had almost hit him, the woman from the fight earlier laying on top of him looking much worse for wear. He rolled her off of him as he checked to see if she was okay.
"Run..." She rasped, "He's more interested in killing me...just get out of here."
"Well, I admit it's annoying that you got out of the way, but at least now I can take both of you losers out in one go!" There was a maniacal laugh, and a second blast of that same energy came rushing towards them.
He didn't stand a chance. There was no way he could run, and he couldn't just stand and let this woman die. He decided to stand in the way of the Cero, hoping that at the least, he could provide some measure of time for the woman to get back up. She stood a much better chance of winning this fight.
Time seemed to slow down as the red blast worked it's way towards Kouseki, and he watched as his left arm instinctively swung up to meet the aggressive energy. He closed his eyes as it hit. Fire lanced down his arm, burning hot, and he opened his eyes to see the damage.
But nothing was happening. In fact, as he watched, he saw the energy being drawn painfully down into his arm. He winced, but tried to ride it out, opening the palm of his right hand and focusing, isolating the feel of the energy. Kouseki smiled inwardly as he saw a ball of red energy form at the palm of his other hand, and began to try and mix his own energy into it, watching as it turned an odd purplish color. Rukia watched on in horror and fascination as the energy was absorbed into the boy's palm, gradually fading from view.
"What the hell? How'd you survive that?" D-Roy shouted, rage being replaced by a sudden fear. No way was this guy a human. He began to draw his zanpakuto.
Once the energy had settled nicely into Kouseki's palm, he thrust it forward, gritting his teeth as he let the painful feeling go. There was a sound like a drum being hit and punctured, and the purple energy rushed forward, engulfing D-Roy in an instant, stifling his scream of pain and rage. Kouseki could feel his body being shaken apart from the sheer force of the blast, like he was being crushed into the ground below his feet, his body running cold as the energy was sucked out of it. By the time it was over, there wasn't a trace of D-Roy remaining.
Kouseki took a deep breath, relaxing. It was over. Somehow he'd managed to stop whoever that guy was. He was about ready to congratulate himself when stars exploded in his vision and he collapsed to the ground.
Rukia stood behind him, eyes closed, a vein twitching in her head as she finished cracking Kouseki over the head. "I TOLD YOU TO RUN!! What kind of idiot stands in front of a Cero like that?! You could have killed us both!" She shouted. When he didn't respond, she opened her eyes to see Kouseki on the ground unconscious, foaming a little at the mouth. She looked around a little worriedly.
A moment later, Captain Hitsugaya landed nearby, looking a bit worn out, but otherwise okay. He came forward, casting a glance at Rukia, then looking over Kouseki. "What happened here? We had just finished our fights when we sensed this massive reiatsu." He nudged Kouseki with his foot, then crouched down to inspect him.
"It's a bit hard to explain, Captain Hitsugaya, but I came to investigate an odd reiatsu that showed up for an instant on my tracker and vanished. One of the Arrancar came in pursuit." She watched as Hitsugaya inspected the boy, looking away nervously as his gaze lingered on the bruise on Kouseki's head.
"Is that so. And you finished the Arrancar off then? And what happened to this human during that time?"
Rukia thought a moment, measuring the consequences of lying to a Captain versus telling him what had actually happened. "He got in the way, but because the Arrancar was distracted momentarily, I was able to finish him off. He got that way when D-Roy misfired a Cero."
Captain Hitsugaya gave her a disbelieving look, fully aware that there was probably more to the story. He decided to let it drop for now. "Fair enough. You should get this guy to a hospital. I can't be certain, but he seems to have fractured nearly every bone in his body." He stood slowly, then looked around a moment. "You know how this stuff works better than I do, and I have to report back to Soul Society. Give me a full report of what happened later." Captain Hitsugaya nodded before heading off.
Rukia pulled out her phone, but instead of calling the hospital, she dialed a different number instead.
"Hey, Urahara, got a minute? I have something here I think you'll be very interested in..."