Chapter 2:
"Ichigo!" Rukia exclaimed, running over to him and dropping to her knees, Renji not far behind. She put a hand in front of Ichigo's mouth.
"Is he breathing?" Renji asked as he kneeled down beside Rukia, his worry for Ichigo coloring his voice.
"Yeah...barely." Rukia said, dropping her hand to Ichigo's shoulder and gently shaking it. "Ichigo? Ichigo, can you hear me? Wake up."
Ichigo moaned slightly, opened his eyes, and tried to sit up. Rukia put a bit more pressure on his shoulder to prevent him from sitting up. "Ichigo, don;t try to sit up. You've been badly injured."
Ichigo's pain glazed eyes roamed until they focused on Rukia.
"Ichigo, what happened to you?" Rukia questioned, trying to get some information out of the half conscious Soul Reaper now that he was awake.
Ichigo continued to struggle until Rukia could not hold him anymore, and he sat up, holding his chest.
Ichigo's mouth attempted to form words, but then his eyes rolled up into his head, and he went limp, falling forward into unconsciousness.
Renji deftly leaped forward and caught Ichigo before he could do a face plant in the dirt. "Ichigo, wake up and tell us what happened to you. Ichigo, wake up damn it!"
But no matter how much Renji yelled, Ichigo remained unconscious. Renji sat back on his haunches, still supporting Ichigo, and sighed. "This is bad." he commented, tilting his head back to look at Rukia. "We should get him to Urahara's shop and see if either him or Yourichi can do something to help him."
Renji gathered up Ichigo in his arms and stood. Ichigo moaned slightly and shifted in the Lieutenant's arms. Rukia's head snapped up, hopeful that Ichigo was going to wake up again, but he soon fell silent, unconsciousness taking him once again.
Using their flash step, Rukia and Renji were able to make it to Urahara's shop in a little over 3 minutes. Renji held Ichigo close to him throughout the journey, so as not to jostle him and aggrivate his wounds. Ichigo stayed unconscious, to which Renji was extremely grateful. He He didn't want to imagine the pain that he would have been in had he been awake. By the time they got to Urahara's shop, Ichigo had started shaking and his breathing had become labored. They entered the shop, and Renji kicked the door closed with his foot before following Rukia through the aisles to the back of the store.
Not seeing the shop owner anywhere in the front of the store, the group proceeded to the back, where Urahara's sleeping quarters were.
"Urahara!" Rukia shouted. "Get out here. We need you right now!"
They heard a scuffling sound coming from behind the closed door, and a couple seconds later, Urahara's head popped out. "Okay, I'm coming. You don't have to be so..." He faltered when he saw Ichigo in Renji's arms.
Yourichi, in her cat form, stepped around Urahara and also faltered at the sight before her.
"What happened to him?" Yourichi exclaimed.
Renji side-stepped Urahara and Yoruichi and entered the room, laying Ichigo down on Urahara's sleep mat.
Just like he had done when Renji had picked him up back at the park, Ichigo moaned slightly, and everyone else turned their attention to him, but Ichigo soon fell silent again, his breathing heavy and shallow.
"Are either of you going to answer my question?" Yoruichi demanded. "What the hell happened to him?"
"We wish we knew." Rukia responded, her gaze never leaving Ichigo's still form even though she was addressing Yoruichi. "Renji and I were just taking a walk and talking when I sensed Ichigo's spiritual pressure, but it was weaker than what it usually is, so we tracked it to a clearing in the park. That's where we found him. Whatever did this to him was gone by the time we got there."
Yoruichi immediately took charge. "Kisuke, see if you can get Orihime on the phone. We are going to need her Soten Kishune to help heal Ichigo. While you're at it, see if you can contact Chad and Uryu too. We may need their help taking down whatever did this to Ichigo."
Yourichi left the room and walked down the hall as Urahara went to the front of the store to the phone. They both returned a few minutes later, Yourichi now in her human form, and she was rolling up the sleeves of her shirt.
"Renji, there are bandages in the bathroom." Urahara said as he and Yourichi went to Ichigo's side. "I got a hold of Chad, Orihime, and Uryu. They're on their way. I didn't tell them why."
Yourichi and Urahara started undressing Ichigo trying to get a better idea as to where and why he was bleeding so profusely. They both gasped at what their inspection had uncovered.
Ichigo had stab wounds through his right shoulder and his lower abdomen, as well as several slashes covering his upper body.
"Dammit, what the hell happened to him?" Yoruichi said under her breath, low enough so that only Urahara could hear.
"The wounds to his abdomen and his shoulder..." Urahara stopped there, glancing back at Rukia, who was still standing by the doorway, but she was no longer looking at Ichigo. "...these are stab wounds. Ad we all know that there's only one kind of weapon that can harm a Soul Reaper."
Yoruichi looked up from where she was examining Ichigo's wounds to glance at Urahara. "You don't think..."
"I don;t know for sure..but it certainly looks that way to me." Urahara responded.
Renji returned to the room, carrying a large amount of bandages and other medical supplies under one arm and balancing a pan of water on his other hand. He took both over to Yoruichi and Urahara.
Catching sight of Ichigo's wounds for the first time, a look of realization came over Renji's face. "It looks to me like some of those wounds were made by a..."
Yoruichi cut him off with a sharp glance and a slight shake of her head. Renji shut up immediately...
...but not fast enough. Rukia looked up at Renji's sudden silence. "The wounds look like they were made by a...what?"
Renji stuttered and stammered, trying to come up with an answer, but he didn't want Rukia to worry any more than she clearly already was.
The opening and closing of a door and several pairs of muffled footsteps alerted the group that someone had entered the shop.
"Hello?" Orihime's voice drifted back to them from the front of the store. "We're here. Where is everybody? Urahara?"
Yoruichi looked up from her ministrations on Ichigo to glance at Renji and Rukia. "Someone should go explain to them what's going on so it's not so much of a shock when they see Ichigo like this."
"Well, this should be interesting." Renji muttered as he made his way towards the door, but Rukia put a hand on is arm, preventing him from going any further.
"I'll do it." Rukia said quietly, and without another word, left, closing the door with a soft snap.
Urahara glanced at Renji. "What's her issue?" he questioned with his usual tactfulness.
Renji was staring at the door. "She blames herself for what happened to Ichigo."
Yoruichi once again glanced up from where she was bandaging Ichigo's wounds to stare at Renji. "Why on earth does she blame herself? She wasn't there when Ichigo was attacked. And besides, Ichigo is extremely powerful. Rukia knows that he can take care of himself. So why does she..."
Renji finally tore his eyes away from the door to look Yoruichi straight in the eye. "She knows all of that. But Rukia once told me that if her and Ichigo had never met, and she had never given him her Soul Reaper powers..."
"...he wouldn't keep getting hurt, because he never would have known that Soul Reapers existed, let alone becoming one himself." Yoruichi finished for him.
Renji nodded.
"But her reasoning is flawed." Yoruichi continued. "The Hollows were after Ichigo before he became a Soul Reaper, because of his innate Spiritual Pressure. So, with that fact in mind, turning him into a Soul Reaper and training him to use his Spiritual Pressure was probably the one thing that saved his life."
Renji nodded again. "I understand all that, but try explaining it to Rukia."
Yoruichi had been continuing to tend to Ichigo's wounds as she spoke to Renji, but now she sat back with a sigh. "The rest is going to be up to Orihime. I didn't wanna say this in front of Rukia, but I'm not sure if Ichigo is going to survive."
Okay folks...that chapter was a little longer that the first one. Hopefully, I can get a new chapters posted for this story every week. So go to the little button that says review at the end of this page and tell me what you think of this story! Until next time!
