The Gathering
"Getsuga Tensho!"
Ichigo screamed as a cloud of dust parted giving way to a blue crescent. His opponent easily dodged the half-hearted attack with a quick step to the left sliding to a halt.
"Why is he wearing that mask?"
Ichigo asked himself as he tried to catch his breath wiping away a large trail of blood that had accumulated on his forehead.
"It doesn't look like a hollow mask at all…so why…"
Just moments before the attack hit him Ichigo noticed a stream of fire coming from his left.
"When did he move?"
Hoping to overpower his opponent with only his Shikai Ichigo dashed over and locked swords.
"Where's Naruto!?" The words reverberated.
Ichigo was surprised by the question. It was the first time his opponent spoke since he attacked him from behind, what's more it sounded as if he was wearing a hollow mask.
"Who the hell is Naruto? Who the hell are you for that matter?"
With their swords still locked, Ichigo's opponent yells, "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!"
Being blown back by the attack Ichigo tumbles across the ground and grinds to a halt.
"Damn Kiske, sending me here without any information."
"Lighting Blade!"
With absolutely no time to dodge the attack, Ichigo is struck in the shoulder. The severe pain coupled with the shock of a surprise attack is just enough to knock him out.
As Ichigo slowly comes to he remembers the fight and winces at the dull pain in his shoulder. When he looks up he sees a silver haired man and realizes it was the same one he was fighting earlier but with out the mask. Ichigo panics and tries to get out of the bed but is stopped.
"Relax. Sakura took pretty good care of that wound in your shoulder but if you keep thrashing around like that you'll open it up again."
Ichigo calms down and lays his head back.
"So why am I here?"
"Well, I couldn't leave you out in the forest to die now could I?"
"Actually you could have," he says tugging on a chain he noticed attaching his arm to the bed.
"If I had then I wouldn't be able to get the information I wanted out of you. Like for starters: Where's Naruto?"
"I told you already, I have no idea who your talking about I just got here."
"From which village?"
"I'm not from a village, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, substitute Soul Reaper from Karakura Town."
Just as Kakashi felt the conversation was getting somewhere another member of ANBU lands at the window sill of the hospital room.
"Hatake senpi, Lord Hokage needs to speak to you now."
Kakashi looks at Ichigo, "Don't go anywhere 'Soul Reaper.' I have more questions for you."
Kakashi stands before the Hokage eager to get back to his interrogation.
"Kakashi did you get any valuable information from the man you found?"
"No ma'am, but I was just about to go deeper into why he was here so if…"
"There's no time right now. I've received word that another one appeared nearby, and I need you to go and assess the situation. If you feel they have any information concerning Naruto's whereabouts detain them by any means necessary."
"Lord Hokage, I'm starting to feel the people showing up here may not be connected to Naruto's disappearance, or at the very least they aren't directly involved with it."
"Kakashi, if I recall you requested to rejoin the ANUB Black Ops for the sole purpose of finding and retrieving Naruto. As such I expect you to follow orders without question. These people might not be directly connected to the incident but they may share some other link. Now go, and while you're at it take the other one with you."
In a flash Kakashi is gone without a trace.
Kakashi ends up at a holding cell where a young man wearing a red trench coat, black pants and white gloves sits shackled. As Kakashi approaches the guard says, "Hey Kakashi, you come to get him out? He's been makin' 'em all day," pointing at a group of small figurines on the floor of the cell. When the blond haired boy notices Kakashi approaching a look of excitement washes across his face.
"Kakashi, your back! So did you find out anything about my brother?"
"Sorry Al, still nothing. But on the bright side the Hokage seems to trust you a bit more so she told me to take you on a mission to check out someone else that just appeared. I guess she figures you might know them."
"Great! Does this mean that later on we might be able to search for Ed?"
"We'll see."
The cell is opened and the two leave heading for the village's main gate.
A flash of light appears ten feet off the ground in a small clearing in the forest. A young man wearing a white tee shirt and blue jeans pops in and falls to the ground face first. He gets up off of the ground and dusts off his jeans. After a quick pat down he reaches into his pocket and pulls out what looks to be a small cell phone. He holds it up in the air as if he were trying to get a signal and remarks, "This thing is busted. Stupid Botan, I should have known that I couldn't get equipment that actually worked from her."
"Yusuke, you do know that I can still hear you right?"
"Umm….uh..yeah of course I knew," he lied, "I just wanted to make sure so that's why I said that…like that."
"Well, for your information the "Multifunction Trans-dimensional Cell Phone" is not broken. Lord Koenma said the last one ended up there so I transported you so you could go and check it out. Besides you looked like you needed to make a quick escape."
"I didn't need your help Botan, I had everything under control."
"Those things looked like they were about to eat you alive." Laughs.
"Shut up, I had them right wher…! Botan I have to go."
Yusuke closes the cell phone and puts it away, then raises his index finger and thumb to a bush.
"You can either come out now or I can make you come out!" No answer. "Fine, Spirit Gun!"
Kakashi and Al both dive out of the way of the attack as the blue beam decimated the bush they were hiding in. Al covers his eyes form the explosion and Yusuke notices red inscribed circles on the palms of Al's gloves.
Kakashi readies himself for a fight but before he can attack Al cuts in.
"Kakashi maybe we should try to talk to him."
"The kids right, Kakashi was it? So, are you guys working with Sensui?" Yusuke's phone rings but he turns it off. "And why are you wearing that ridiculous mask?" pointing at Kakashi's face. Kakashi fearing another blast from his finger rushes forward to attack. Yusuke jumps up hoping to avoid the attack, but Kakashi follows suit. Seeing Kakashi still coming full speed with his sword drawn, Yusuke aims directly for his mask and fires. "Spirit Gun!" Kakashi manages to dodge the attack in time but his evasion throws his attack off course as well. Yusuke has his right shoulder cut but not seriously. Being exhausted from fighting for what seems like the entire day Kakashi is unable to shift his momentum to rebound and launch a counter attack and instead continues moving forward and lands somewhere in the woods. As Yusuke lands he hears a smack. Turning to see what made the sound he sees a flash of lighting, seconds later he is trapped in a stone cage and notices Al with his hands on the ground..
"Hey kid you really think this is gonna stop me?"
Yusuke rears back and with a single punch reduces the cage to rubble. He attacks Al with a flurry of punches, but thanks to his training with his brother Al manages to dodge all of them. As Al gets up from ducking the last left hook he finds Yusuke's finger pointed directly at his face.
"Gotcha!"
Just then Yusuke sees a glint of light coming off of a kunai and pulls his head back to have the knife miss him by mere inches. As it passes in front of Yusuke's face Al catches the knife with his right hand, spins around and presses it lightly to Yusuke's chest.
As he exits the forest Kakashi chides, "You didn't forget about me did you?"
Kakashi decides to question the tied up Yusuke before they head back for the village.
"So who are you and what are you doing here?"
"My name is Yusu…."
"GRRRAAWWWW!" A blood curdling scream comes from what seems like all around them. A giant masked figure comes from the trees. It has yellow eyes, four arms, a huge tail and a massive hole in the center of its chest.
"Ka-Ka-Kakashi, what is that thing?" Al asked in a nervous voice.
"It's one of those things I was fighting just before I got here," Yusuke explained, "If you guys haven't fought one of these things yet, I strongly suggest we work together to get rid of it."
Kakashi eyes Yusuke suspiciously but decides to release him from the paper bombs binding him and all three prepare to engage the hollow.
Al claps his hands, places them on the ground and pulls up a long ornate staff with a blade on either end.
"Wish I could do something like that," Yusuke joked as he pointed his finger at the hollow, "Spirit Gun!"
The blast was only meant as a distraction which the hollow easily deflected. Yusuke jumped straight towards the hollow's face and delivers a solid right hook and smirks seconds before being swatted out of the air like a fly. Kakashi, seeing how strong the beast was, holds his sword out in front of him and yells, "Lighting Blade!" wrapping his sword in electricity and extending its length. Al throws his staff end over end and gets it to lodge itself in the hollows forehead. Kakashi leaps forward and cuts one of the hollow's four arms off and goes for another but is met with a fist crushing him into the ground. Preoccupied with the pain of losing an arm and trying to get the staff out of his head, the hollow doesn't notice Al creating four giant fist of his own on either side of him and attacking. With the hollow unable to move, Yusuke gets up and lands an uppercut to the hollow's chest and yells, "Shot Gun!" and wounds the hollow causing him to spit blood. Kakashi frees himself from the hollows fist just in time to hear the hollow scream and release a burst of spiritual pressure blowing back all three fighters. The hollow then opens his mouth and begins to build up a ball of crimson energy.
Yusuke recognizes the attack. "That move is very dangerous, and could most likely kill us all."
Kakashi puts together a few hand signs, "Earth Style: Giant Mud Wall!"
Yusuke slams his fists together and yells, "Spirit Wave!"
Within the orb of energy Al claps and places his hands on the ground encasing all three fighters in a dome of solid steel.
The hollow releases his cero creating a crater as he destroys all three barriers and looks at the beaten warriors, then he prepares for another blast.
"FINAL FLASH!" A wave of yellow energy cascades across the hollow reducing him to nothing more than ashes. A man clad in blue with long black hair lands in front of the battered group and says, "Pitiful. You guys are even worse than that fool Kakorrot."
The fighters stumble to their feet Al being the only one in the group that actually seems grateful for having his life saved. "How did you beat him so easily?" Al asked.
"Those creatures are no match for a saiyan elite. I've already destroyed three others like it."
"Big deal," Yusuke boasted, "I just took on a whole horde of those things a while ago, that one was a little bigger than I expected."
"This isn't some kind of a competition." Al whispered from the background as Vegeta and Yusuke started comparing stats.
"GRRRRAAWWWWW!"
"GGRRRRRRAAAAAAWWWWWW!"
"RRAAWWW…"
More screams, and considering how well they fared last time, Kakashi, Yusuke, and Al weren't too happy to find out more hollows were coming. Even Vegeta was looking a bit worn. As the gang of four hollows appeared from the trees the group prepared for a tough fight.
"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo's familiar voice rang out. A large jagged black and red crescent sliced through the four hollows and they each disintegrated. As the cloud of dust cleared from where the attack originated Ichigo said in an almost ice cold voice, "Tenza Zangetsu."