Yo. It's my second try at a good story. The first one flamed out badly.
Only doing this once: I don't own Bleach, or any of the characters.
What could possibly be worse than Aizen and an army of murderous Arrancar?
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To hell and back
Prologue: New Enemies?
Yoruichi streaked across the sky of Karakura, searching for any threats that could possibly materialize. After her run-in with the new Arrancar in the park, she knew that no one in the town except herself, Tessai and Kisuke were ready to defend themselves against any attack, let alone all of Karakura.
She paused while perched on top of a bridge. Until Ichigo finished his training with Shinji and company, the three of them would have to take a more active role in defending the town. She didn't entirely mind. Doing mindless hollow-slaying was a way to keep herself from pondering what she could possibly have done to help to avoid the situation that all realms had to deal with now: Aizen's defection and perfection of the Arrancar.
She sighed. His defection was trouble enough seeing as he took two others with him, one of which was the older prodigy among the captains, Ichimaru. Ichimaru was one of the most cunning captains that the Thirteen Court Guards had, and an irreplaceable asset (although he had never really been one to begin with). But Aizen hadn't been content merely to take one of Soul Society's best and brightest. He had also dragged Isshin's son into the mess, stolen the Hogyoku and had built up an army of Arrancar capable of destroying Soul Society. She sincerely hoped that no other threats would materialize. There was little chance that the three of them would be able to adequately defend against it.
It was not to be.
"Still the Goddess of Flash eh? I remember when my sister continuously fought you for that title, Yoruichi."
She whipped around, praying that it wasn't who she thought it was.
"Enishi?!"
The short hooded figure that she called Enishi perched on the other side of the bridge, his head angled slightly.
"Not happy to see me?"
"But you were sealed away! You and-"
"Don't remind me."
She got into a ready defensive stance.
"What do you want here?"
"Oh, nothing much. I was just ordered to find where Kurosaki Ichigo is," he replied casually.
"What do you want with him?"
"I don't recall that it's any of your business."
"If anything concerns the safety of Karakura town, it is my business!" she hissed.
If she could have seen under the hood, it's possible that she might have seen his eyebrows jump slightly.
"Am I to take it that you won't be telling me anything?" he asked.
In answer, a concentrated burst of reiatsu erupted from Yoruichi's back and a small white aura formed about her.
"Shunko."
Enishi shook his head. "Very well," he said as he grasped the dark gray cloak he wore. "it appears that I will have to use force." He yanked the cloak off himself. Underneath, he was covered in a silvery gray reptilian armor embossed with glowing symbols. The most prominent features were the large rune on his chest, the smaller one on his helmet, and the helmet itself; two side slits served as eyeholes and three short horns protruded from an otherwise featureless mask. He cracked his neck and positioned himself in a ready stance. Unlike with Yoruichi, there was no swirling of barely controlled reiatsu. Yoruichi reminded herself that this man didn't have control; he defined what control was.
She charged forward in an attempt at a fast front strike. Enishi casually swatted her blow away. She tried to follow up with a kick to the left. He blocked with his right arm, slid his left hand under her foot, palm down, and shoved her leg away from him. The element of surprise completely forfeited, she engaged him in blindingly fast close combat. What surprised her wasn't how easily he blocked her blows, but the fact that he was making no attempt to counter with strikes of his own. He seemed content to remain purely defensive. Suspicious, Yoruichi withdrew to a safe distance. Enishi smirked behind his mask.
"I see that a century in exile hasn't dulled your skills. But they appear to be somewhat deficient in a case like this."
"Speak for yourself. You haven't landed a blow on me either!"
Enishi cocked his head. "Oh haven't I?"
With a loud crackling sound, Yoruichi's arms and legs were suddenly encased in thick growths of ice. She looked at them, stunned, as the coating froze her limbs.
'What?! When did he-Shit! I forgot that he was the master of all ice techniques!'
"You made several mistakes Yoruichi. Number one: I didn't have to attack you myself. You lunged at me. Every one of your blows that I countered gave me a contact point. Number two: I am the best of the four of us besides him when it comes to controlling energy. Your Shunko is a simple exercise at best," he demonstrated by revealing a cool blue aura around himself. "Number three: ice defeats lightning, and your natural affinity is lightning. Number four: you attacked despite the fact that you are severely outclassed. A warrior should choose their fights carefully.
"And number five…"
"I'm faster than you," a second Enishi whispered in her ear as he delivered a palm strike to her back. Three things happened. Both images of Enishi flickered out of existence as he left the scene. Yoruichi fell from the aerial battleground, unconscious from the blow. And as she fell, another thick coat of ice was spreading from the contact point on her back. She would have shattered upon striking the ground if a gigantic flying blanket hadn't wrapped around her, halting her downward movement, before unfurling to reveal that next to her was a worried Kisuke Urahara, eyeing her frozen form from between his infamous bucket hat and his fan. As they were transported to Urahara's shop, he glanced up at the place where she had fought.
'Did she really fight him? I thought that he was gone for good. Get a hold of yourself Kisuke. Speculation won't get you anywhere. Best wait for her to wake up.'
***
A certain mustached shop assistant was waiting for him when the carpet arrived. Wordlessly, he and Urahara hauled the Shihouin Princess to the hot spring in the training chamber underneath his shop. Then, while Tessai tried to thin out the ice, Urahara went back up to greet a wary white-haired midget, a busty orange haired woman and a tattooed red-head who had sensed what had happened near the bridge.
"Why hello Hitsugaya-san, Abarai-kun, Rangiku-san."
"Urahara…" Hitsugaya drawled. "what was that disturbance near the river?"
"Um, well… you see…"
"Urahara…" the midget growled, vein pulsing on his forehead.
"Maa maa, taicho-san. It would be easier for you to see first."
"If we see what first?" Renji queried.
Urahara simply beckoned them to follow him. They all jumped down into the training grounds. Tessai walked over.
"Ah, hello. Perhaps you could help me with this."
"Having trouble Tessai?" Urahara asked.
"The coating is incredibly resistant. My kido hasn't shown any effect on it."
"Hmm…"
"Um, Urahara-san, what is this about?" Matsumoto wondered.
In answer, he led them over to the spring. Hitsugaya's and Renji's eyes widened, while Matsumoto let out a startled gasp.
"What the hell-!"
"Yoruichi-san!"
The ice was completely unchanged. Scorch marks and gashes in the nearby rock supplied silent testimony as to Tessai's efforts, and yet not a single sliver of ice had come off.
"Hitsugaya-san," Urahara began. "explanations can wait. Can you help us remove the ice?"
Vacantly nodding, Hitsugaya unsheathed his zanpaku-to and attempted to cut the ice away while trying to figure out who could have done this. Renji and Matsumoto followed suit. As it turned out, zanpaku-tos were much more effective, and much of the ice was soon on the ground rather than covering Yoruichi. Urahara and Tessai then carefully lowered her into the hot spring, hoping to melt the ice quickly. Then Tessai ran off to set up a bed for her after she thawed out while Hitsugaya demanded an explanation.
"Maa maa. I have no idea what happened myself other than the fact that she was frozen and about to hit the ground when I got there."
"But she was attacked. All of us could sense the spike in spiritual pressure. And off-hand, I don't know of anyone in Soul Society or anywhere else that is fast enough to catch her, particularly if she could evade Kuchiki-taicho. And we definitely don't need new enemies."
"Sir?" Tessai interrupted. "Ishida-san, Inoue-san, Kuchiki-san and Sado-san are here."
Uryu, Orihime, Chad and Rukia came down into the training grounds.
"Rangiku-kun?" Orihime chirped.
"Hitsugaya-taicho." Chad inclined his head respectfully.
A familiar vein pulsed on Hitsugaya's forehead again.
"Finally, someone remembers my title..."
"Renji? Matsumoto-fukutaicho? So you guys sensed it too?"
"Alright, we're all here," Urahara commented before Renji could respond to the violet-haired midget. "Now, I know you all have questions, but they will have to come later." He indicated with his fan where Yoruichi was, now half-thawed. To their credit, the four newcomers didn't ask more questions; instead, they opted to wait until the other ex-captain was conscious.
***
As Yoruichi opened her eyes, Urahara's concerned face swam into view. He seemed oddly tinted, as though she was seeing him through a screen of some sort. Shivering, and with a great effort, she looked to the side to see Orihime with her hands outstretched kneeling and facing her. 'Her Soten-Kishun. So that's what it is…wait! What happened?' Behind her, standing against the wall of the room she was in, were Renji, Matsumoto, Rukia, Uryu and Chad.
"Ah, you're awake." Urahara stated, deadpan "You gave us all a scare when we found you looking like an ice sculpture."
'I remember now. Enishi…'
"Hnn. You acting serious for once, Kisuke?"
"How can you say that?!" he exclaimed, his face in mock denial. "I'm always serious! Aren't I?" he turned to the others, who turned their heads away and whistled nonchalantly. Yoruichi smirked weakly.
"I rest my case."
Urahara hung his head in overexaggerated depression as a miniature thundercloud poofed into existence and began pouring rain over him. Uryu broke the comedic moment.
"Who did that to you, Yoruichi-san?"
Yoruichi eyed Urahara as Tessai and Hitsugaya entered the room.
"Takahashi Enishi, former captain of the ninth division."
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Please tell me how it is. All reviews welcome.