Hi again everyone! hee~! I have always been curious about the so-called zero bantai and thus I came up with this ridiculous idea for a story involving everyone's favorite strawberry! yayy~! And yeah...I'm just a damn otaku. :P
One:
The air surrounding the empty field was oppressive with dark energy and the silence that mostly prevailed was broken only by the monstrous howling of four monsters surrounding a lone figure standing in their midst. In the half light of the distant street lamps his hair was easily visible as it stood out with its unusual vibrant color.
There was a moment of terse silence as one of the monsters attacked ruthlessly hurried while the others provided distraction so it could strike.
The figure barely flinched as the Hybrid's blade pierced straight through his back. Without a moment's hesitation he pulled at the offending blade, splattering blood everywhere and leaving a gaping hole on his shoulder and used it to cut off its owner's head. All of it he did with an expressionless face and blank opaque white-blue eyes where blood tears glittered unshed.
He took two staggering steps back and got into position the torn hem of his haori fluttering madly as he increased his reiatsu. The black flames now tinged with red and white on the edges danced around him erratically.
The three remaining Hybrids sensed the change and each took cautious steps back even as his intense reiatsu exploded around them cracking the pavements. He raised his arm and black tendrils coiled around the monsters' body in a bone crushing grip. When the light abated there were only remnants of swirling black smoke where the monsters had been standing only moments before.
He stood still for a moment, Zangetsu on his side as his eyes started to regain their normal brown color.
What...just happened? Where am I?
But his trail of thoughts abruptly stopped as he fell face down on the cracked pavement with a dull thud, his sword slipping from his iron grip and shattering before dissipating. Through his blurring vision he could make out a large outline in the shadows distinctly human in shape that was coming towards him before everything went absolutely dark.
In the ringing silence that followed came the sound of thunder as lightning flashed across the dark sky. Out of the shadows stepped out four figures coming towards Ichigo's unconscious body. One of them, a child took a crunchy bite off an apple and giggled softly as they approached.
"The Senkentai is coming..." a man's voice spoke in a slight drawl his voice slightly muffled by his mask as he helped hoist Ichigo up.
"Come on old friend...wouldn't want them seeing us." Another man's gruff and rather familiar voice answered before all of them vanished on the spot, leaving behind only the apple the child was eating.
A full second passed before Urahara and Yoruichi burst into the scene and stopped dead at the sight that met them. A light rain has just started and they were slowly getting drenched by it as they stood there motionless.
"Urahara-san...what just happened here?..." Renji's voice said in an unbelieving tone as the others walked towards them wearing the same shocked expressions.
Everything within a five mile radius was destroyed; the ground had a huge crater splattered in blood. It looked like a massacre had taken place there.
"There's no mistaking...Kurosaki-san was indeed here. The residue of his...reiatsu is strong in the area." Urahara said after a while of shocked silence looking pensive with his finger on his chin.
"He's been here alright." Ikkaku said silently as he held up a piece of Ichigo's haori covered in blood.
"Well where the hell is he then?" Renji asked his brows furrowed.
"Oh? Why is there an apple here?..." Yumichika asked as he pointed at the said fruit, a good two feet from where Ikkaku found the torn piece of haori.
"Apple?" Yoruichi asked sharply as she quickly appeared beside Yumichika who was standing near it her nose sniffing the air. If she had been in her were-cat form they would have been wriggling.
"Something wrong Yoruichi-san?" Urahara said peering at the woman whose brows were trembling slightly.
"It's been three days since these Hybrids started to appear...Those things are abnormally strong that they've managed to occupy the mobilized representatives of Gotei Juusantai for two days...and now this." She said all this while her gaze was fixed on the apple, her yellow eyes narrowed.
"Something tells me those Hybrids aren't appearing here because they're on a rampage. Something's drawing them out. Something with enough amount of reiryoku to be able to lure them..." Yoruichi was still absorbed in her thoughts as she spoke. "Hybrids don't normally appear anywhere...especially not in the human world even if this town has a large quantity of reiryoku that won't be enough to draw out monsters like them."
"You're not saying...it's them?" Toushiro asked with quivering wide eyes.
"Ah. It is possible. But we can't be sure at this point. Although I advice that the Soutaichou be informed. A probability like this should not be taken lightly." Yoruichi replied firmly.
Thunder rumbled above them as lightning flashed closer this time and brighter. The rain was pouring harder now.
"I-Ichigo!" Rukia called out as she saw his soaked body lying near the bushes. She ran towards him and felt for a pulse. She gasped when she felt how icy his skin was on her fingers.
The others heard her voice and somewhere behind her she heard Renji shouting something to her but the rain was making it hard for her to hear a thing. All she could hear was her heart thumping against her chest, her breath coming in short gasps the more she looked at Ichigo lying there unconscious before her. Her grip on his wrist tightened and she felt a sort of a bump on his skin. Slowly she twisted his arm so his wrist was facing her and what she saw made her already irregular breathing literally stop.
"You found him, Rukia!" Renji finally managed to reach her.
"No." Rukia muttered still gripping Ichigo's arm.
"What do you mean-?" Renji asked confused.
"He's not in there..." Rukia answered simply in a soft voice.
"What do you mean he's not in there? He's breathing ain't he?..." Renji countered but his voice faltered slightly as Rukia only kept her head down.
"I'm afraid Kuchiki-san is correct. Kurosaki-san isn't the one in there right now..." Urahara stated carefully as he briefly examined the body.
"Is it Kon?" Renji asked hopefully even though they all knew how ridiculous that thought is.
"No...Not the mod soul either..." Urahara replied patiently as he looked up at them from behind the rim of his bucket hat. "It's something else..."
Silence followed his words but only a moment as Rukia spoke, "There's also this..." she removed her hand from Ichigo's wrist where a two inch brand was glaring at them all. It looked like a crest of some kind where a single character was stamped inside a horizontal diamond.
They all heard the unmistakeable gasp that escaped Yoruichi's lips. "There's no mistake..." She said rather thickly. "That crest cannot be forged."
They were all drenched from head to foot even Urahara who was unable to bring his trusty wagasa with him. They were all dripping on the entrance of the shop. The moment the shoji slid close behind them it took only a moment before they were all bundled up in towels and being served hot tea by Ururu in the sitting room. Tessai having already took care of Ichigo, easing him out of Renji's and Ikkaku's support and carrying him into one of the many rooms in the house.
"There's no need for those kinds of faces." Yoruichi said with her eyes closed as she sipped her tea.
The Senkentai was ordered by the Soutaichou to find Kurosaki Ichigo and bring him back to Seireitei after he mysteriously disappeared from the care of the Kuchiki mansion three days ago. His reiatsu was traced back to Karakura but no one could pinpoint his exact location. And then this happened.
"No pulse at all...but his breathing is regular. There's a faint trace of his reiatsu on the...thing. But not a mod soul at all...definitely something...else..." Urahara muttered to himself as he examined Ichigo. He was utterly fascinated. In all his years of studying and developing mod souls he has never, not even once came across something as remarkable as this. This was a different technology; a power he has not yet discovered exists in the world of making artificial souls.
It was made of pure reishi but it has a slight trace of the owner's reiatsu that kept it inside like suction. He had a feeling that if he were to push it out of its vessel it would look exactly like Ichigo would look as a human.
But the reiatsu surrounding it throws him off a bit because it shouldn't be there at all. He couldn't think of anything how it was even there at all. He could not be wrong about the scent and the feel of this rather oppressive reiatsu. It was Kurosaki Ichigo's reiatsu that acts as its suction makes it cling tightly to the body so there was no way he would be able to push it out just using the ordinary Shinigami seal alone not that it'd even work since there was an extremely strong barrier keeping outside force from penetrating.
Since this thing is the only thing keeping Ichigo's body alive at the moment, he wasn't about to begin experimenting on it. Instead he should concentrate on stabilizing it to make sure this stays functioning for as long as Ichigo was still outside of it.
He proceeded with his examination when suddenly he caught the scent of a different reiatsu. His eyes immediately widened as he recognized its fleeting presence. Just when he was just about to make sure it suddenly disappeared almost like it was never there. But he knew that reiatsu well enough to cause him a bit of worry and utter curiosity.
"Yare, yare! This has really gotten pretty serious then..." Urahara muttered to himself as he softly slid the shoji close and shoved his hands into his sleeves. He paused for a moment to take a breath and made his way to the sitting room where everyone was waiting.
Heaving a deep sigh Urahara steeled himself and entered the stifling room purposely avoiding a certain violet gaze as he quickly scanned the room before he plopped down on Yoruichi's left with his head bowed. He felt the tension in the room escalate the moment he stepped inside.
Today is definitely turning into the worst day ever in the long life he has lived and the anxious faces before him were not making things any better.
Just to be informative of the terms... :x
haori - the captain's coat
wagasa - traditional umbrella
reiatsu - spirit force
senkentai - vanguards
soutaichou - commander general
shoji - sliding doors with small square partitions covered with paper
reiryoku - spirit power
gotei juusantai - 13 protection squads
shinigami - death god
seireitei - court of pure souls where shinigami live
There we go. And off to more otaku-ness! wee~!
Please do review! Onegaishimasu! :)