Chapter 2: The Stratagem of the Century! Tsukishima Makes His Move!
"And I see that you recover fast. That's important. Tell me when your fullbring was finally complete, you saw something right?" Ichigo widen his eyes at Ginjo's questioned. "I knew it. You should've seen me glowing as a spiritual being even your vision destroyed. That's why to make sure that I was on the right track so I forced you to fight me without your sight. It was a way to prove to you that your soul reaper powers are coming back. You look confused so let me explain it a little better. After you lost the bulk of your spirit energy, the remnants inside laid dormant in one location for a long time. We believe that through Fullbring, we could use the spirit energy that flowed inside you from inside of your combat pass to stimulate your remaining spirit energy. Once you've build up your stamina and learn to fully control your fullbring, your soul reaper powers will merge with on its own. You'll gain powers beyond that of a soul reaper." Ginjo stood up from his chair and toss the combat pass to Ichigo. "Take this." Ichigo caught his combat pass and looked at it. "Give it a try. Let's what you can do. Your fullbring powers should be fully functional already."
Ichigo stood up and took a deep breath, pouring his spirit energy into his combat pass. Then the spiritual pressure erupted from Ichigo's pass and surrounded him. The smoke cleared and revealed Ichigo wearing a white armor over his chest, shoulder, arms, and feet with a stripe across his face. Ichigo looked at his combat pass and a blade with a hilt coming out on both of the badge. He looked at his new weapon tried some practice swings with it.
One of the hollows charged towards Ichigo and he disappeared. Then the hollow's arm was cut off and it was cut in half. Ichigo charged the second hollow and easily cut it half as well. The third hollow charged towards and threw a punch at him. Ichigo dodged it cut the hollow down. Ichigo sheathed his new sword as he turned towards Ginjo, who was applauding Ichigo's demonstration.
"How was that?" Ichigo asked.
"That was very impressive." Ginjo said. "Not bad, kid. Now you're going to need a name for your fullbring."
Outside of Unagiya's building, Uryu knocked on the door but nobody answered. "I don't see their car." The Quincy said. "They must be out." As Uryu started to leave, he sensed something off. He placed a hand over his doorknob and sensed the same spiritual pressure from before.
At the Xcution's hideout, Ichigo and Ginjo appeared before the other Xcution members after exiting from Yukio's game space.
"Welcome back, you've managed to master your Fullbring." Yukio said, causing Ichigo to look at the Fullbringer. "I had to plug my system in. You were taking so long; I was worried that the battery on this thing would run out."
"Yeah, sorry for all the trouble." Ichigo said. Yukio looked at Ichigo and then looked away.
"Apart from all of that," Said Ginjo, getting Ichigo's attention. "You should go home for today and see your family. I assume that they must be worried after not hearing from you."
"Right, I haven't called since I've started training!" Ichigo said frantically. "How many days has it been since I've began all of this?"
"Just about 24 hours in total." Yukio answered. "You didn't know but I've fast-forwarded time while you were inside. You should be thanking me. So you should head on home now. I'm sure that your family is anxiously waiting for you."
Ichigo nodded and said his good-byes Ginjo and the others as left. 'Now I'll be able to protect them.' He thought he walked back to his house. 'My friends…my family…everyone…"
Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Uryu was walking down the street, thinking the spirit energy he's been sensing throughout the day.
'It's strange.' Uryu thought. 'I keep feeling that odd spiritual pressure hanging around. But none of the people that I've met today seems to be aware of it. I couldn't ask if they've ever remembered meeting that guy. Orihime said that she was attacked by the same guy who attacked me. I wonder if it's possible that it's happening because of his powers. If that's the case, then…'
"Now that was really impressive." Ginjo laughed, thinking about Ichigo's Fullbring. "The kid was actually able to complete has fullbring training. With that completed, we can all finally say goodbye to our cursed powers. The question is, how would Tsukishima act?" Ginjo looked at his fellow Fullbringers and noticed that none of them were looking at him. "What's wrong with you guys? Aren't you happy about this?"
Yukio stood up from his seat and said, "It's just that we've finally remembered."
"About what?"
"About exactly what we're supposed to do." Kutsuzawa said.
Ginjo looked at the Fullbringers with confused on his face. Then he widens his eyes, thinking that they all were attacked by Tsukishima. "Damn it!" he cursed.
"Dirty Boots!" Jackie shouted, activating her fullbring.
Ichigo walked towards the front lawn of house and saw that the lights were still on. "It looks like they're still up." He said. "They must have been worried about me." Ichigo walked to the front door and opened it. "I'm home." He looked down at the floor and noticed a pair of boots between Yuzu and Karin's shoes.
"Welcome home!" Yuzu shouted, running towards his older brother. "Thank goodness that you're finally back, Ichigo!"
"Yeah, sorry that I was so late."
"We were all waiting for you!"
"Whose shoes are these?" Ichigo asked, pointing the mysterious pair of shoes on the floor.
"You won't believe who came by to visit us." Yuzu said, dragging Ichigo to the living room.
"Hey don't pull, who is it?"
"You have to guess."
"You have to at least give me a hint."
"Alright fine, here's the hint. He's one of our cousins."
"Cousin?"
"Yeah, now you have to guess his name."
"That's going to be hard. What cousin would drop by unexpectedly?"
Yuzu opened the door to the living room and ran inside. "He finally came home!" She shouted finally as Ichigo walked behind her. His eyes widen as he saw Tsukishima in his home, let alone sitting on his couch.
"Hi, Ichigo." Tsukishima greeted the orange hair teen. "It's been awhile."
"See?!" Yuzu said, not aware of the change in Ichigo's expression as Tsukishima got up and walked towards Karin. "I told you that was a surprise Ichigo! It's cousin Shu! We haven't heard from him since Grandpa Ryu's memorial service! And how long has that been?! He came by earlier this evening and we all had dinner together. It's so to catch up with him after all of these years."
"Yeah, but it would have been nicer if he told us that he was stopping by." Karin said. "I have to say Shu, that part of you hasn't changed much."
"I'm sorry." Tsukishima said. "Was I too much trouble?"
Karin looked Tsukishima and looked away. "Oh no, of course not." Ichigo glared at the man who attacked his friends and balled his fist, knowing that he got to his family too.
"What are you waiting for, Ichigo?" Yuzu asked, walking towards to her brother. "Come and say hi."
"Tsukishima!" Ichigo shouted, grabbing the fullbringer by his collar. "You bastard! What are you doing in my house?!"
"Ichigo!" Yuzu shouted, surprised by Ichigo's actions.
"What's wrong with you?!" Karin shouted.
"Stop it, Ichigo!" Yuzu shouted as she and Karin tried to pull Ichigo off of Tsukishima. "What's gotten into you?!"
"Yuzu's right! Have you gone crazy?! You let go of his collar! You're hurting him!"
"Are you mad because he dropped by without calling?!"
"Hey, it's not that big of a deal!"
Ichigo's glare towards Tsukishima intensified. "What have you done to my sisters?!" he shouted angrily.
"Stop it, Ichigo!" Yuzu shouted.
"Let go him now!" Karin shouted.
"It's alright girls." Tsukishima said calmly. "I understand. Ichigo is always so serious. I figure he's just angry for staying so late."
"Answer me!" Ichigo shouted. Then the sound of the door bell caught everyone's attention, causing the tense to stop."
"Um Yuzu, would you mind?" Tsukishima asked.
"Ok…" Yuzu said, running towards the door.
"I bet that our friends are here." Ichigo looked at the fullbringer with widen eyes.
"Hey Yuzu, long time…no see." Mizuiro's voice rang into the living room, causing to tense up.
"Hi…here, hurry up and use these slippers." Yuzu said.
"Thanks a lot." Keigo said as Tsukishima grabbed Ichigo's wrist and pulled off of his collar.
"Yeah, for everybody…" Tatsuki added.
"Shu, we're here!" Keigo shouted as he, Mizuiro, and Tatsuki entered the living room. "I see that Ichigo is here as well."
"Oh yeah." Mizuiro said, looking at his orange hair friend.
"Hey Ichigo, we hear that you've staying out late for the past few days." Tatsuki scolded. "You should be more sensitive to your sisters. You've been them all alone each night."
"It's ok." Karin said. "We were alright without him."
"I've asked everybody to come." Tsukishima said, getting Ichigo's attention. "I wanted to see the whole gang since it's such a long time." Ichigo glared at Tsukishima. "Don't give me that scary look. I'm sorry that I've invited everybody so late. But tomorrow is Sunday, it's ok right?" Tsukimaru took out his cell phone and opened it. "I know what? Maybe I could call Chad and Orihime as well." Ichigo's eye widen as Tsukishima dialed the number and started talking.
"Hi Orihime, it's me." The fullbringer said. "That's right, it's Tsukishima. Huh, what are you talking about? I just ran into the other day. Actually, I'm in Ichigo's place right now."
Ichigo had enough of Tsukishima's game. He charged towards the Fullbringer and punched him in his face, causing him to drop his phone. Tsukishima stumbled backwards to one of the window and shattered it.
"What the hell?!" Keigo shouted shocked.
"Tsukishima!" Tatsuki shouted, running towards the Fullbringer.
"Alright Tsukishima, tell me what in the hell did you do to everyone?!" Ichigo demanded.
"Tsukishima, are you hurt?" Tatsuki asked concerned.
"No, I'll be fine." Tsukishima said, wiping the blood from his lip.
"But, you're not fine." Keigo said. "You're bleeding."
"Tsukishima!" Ichigo shouted, threatening to hit the Fullbringer again.
"Ichigo, what's wrong with you?!" Tatsuki shouted, causing Ichigo to stop. "I have no idea why you're acting like this but that's no way how you treat a relative that you haven't seen in years!"
"What relative?! No…this guy is…"
"I don't want to hear excuses! Just apologize to him!"
"Wait a minute! You don't understand!"
"You need to say you're sorry right now!" Ichigo looked down at the ground, gritting his teeth as he tries to figure out what going's on.
"What's the matter?" Keigo asked. "What's gotten into you? You're not acting like yourself at all. It's like you've gone nuts. I've never seen you like this."
"Ichigo…" Yuzu said. "Why are you so upset? What did he ever do to you?"
"You're being so mean." Karin said.
"Just apologize…" Mizuiro said.
"Come on, Ichigo."
"Why are you so angry?" Yuzu asked scared.
"Ichigo, talk to me." Keigo said. "What's going on?" Ichigo slowly backed and quickly ran out of his house.
Uryu stopped walking as he sensed something wrong with Ichigo's spiritual pressure. "Ichigo…" he said.
Ichigo ran down the street, images of his sisters and friends looking at him like he lost his mind. 'What's happening?' he thought. 'I don't understand. Is this Tsukishima's power?' Ichigo stopped as he saw a car coming towards his direction and stopping. The window on the driver's side rolled down and revealed Unagiya, Ichigo's boss.
"Is that you, Ichigo?" Unagiya questioned. "What's the matter?" Ichigo got into his boss's van and Unagiya drove away. She looked over at Ichigo and said, "Look at you. You're drenched in sweat. Did something happen?" Ichigo didn't respond to her question. She stopped her van outside of her building. After they got inside, she poured a drink for herself and Ichigo.
"Here, drink this. It'll help you calm down." She sat a cup down in front of Ichigo and took a seat on her couch. "If you feel like talking, I'm here to listen."
"Thanks so much, I appreciate it." Ichigo said. Then Unagiya grabbed Ichigo by the head and put it close to her breasts. "Wha…What are you doing?"
"Just relax and be quiet!" Ichigo looked at Unigaya confused but slowly started to calm down. Then a sound of the door bell was heard, getting Unagiya's attention.
"Who could that be in this hour?" She asked as she got up and walked to the door. "I'm coming."
Ichigo looked down at the drink Unagiya gave him with the thought of what happened in his home still plaguing his mind. 'How am I supposed to tell her what happened?' he thought. 'There's no way that she would understand. She doesn't know about Soul Reapers or Hollows or Fullbring. Telling her that stuff out of the blue would frighten her.'
"Ichigo!" Unagiya shouted, getting Ichigo's attention. Ichigo looked up at his boss and widen his eyes when he saw a familiar figure behind her. It was Tsukishima. "It's your lucky day. Your friend Tsukishima came here to pick you up." Ichigo quickly stood up and ran out of his boss's building.
'What is this?' Ichigo thought as he ran. 'What the hell is going on? Somebody…anybody…is anybody left who is still sane?!'
"Ichigo!" a voice shouted, causing Ichigo to stop and turn around. When he did, he saw Ginjo trying to catch his breath.
"Ginjo!" Ichigo said surprised.
"He got them." Ginjo said. "Riruka…Kutsuzawa…Yukio…and Jackie. All of them…Tsukishima got all of them!" Ichigo widen his eyes when he heard that. Tsukishima has gotten to Xcution as well.
To be continued…
Next Chapter: It Enters Memories! Tsukishima's Fullbring Power!
Hi guys, sorry it took so long upload this chapter. I was busy with mid-terms and finals are coming soon. But I will try write more chapters before the finals come around. There is a poll on my profile so check it out. Later.
