Chapter 2: Hollow welcome
A/N: So I noticed in my last chapter i didn't do a disclaimer, i doubt i need to but best to be safe.
Disclaimer: I do not own any form of bleach except for original characters. All rights to bleach are owned by Tite Kubo.
"Damn it, where did that brat run off to?"
The blue-haired and cloaked arrancar walked across the sands of Hueco Mundo looking through the vast emptiness.
"Where could she even go? Everything here is just SAND!" Growled the arrancar. Suddenly the sand underneath the arrancar starts to rumble.
"What now?"
Grimmjow Leaps from the ground just in time to avoid the surprise attack. "Shit, I thought we had lost them" as he say this, a mole-like arrancar rises from the sand.
"Thought you could get any grimmjow? You should know better than to escape"
"Shut your mouth you pest. Better yet, i'll just detach your head from your body."
With that, Grimmjow begins to draw his zanpakuto. Grimmjow then vanishes from the mole arrancar's vision and reappears behind him.
"With all that talk of finding us, i'd of thought you'd be faster" he goes to slash the back of the arrancar, landing a direct hit.
"Damn you Grimmjow" Screech the arrancar as he backs away.
Grimmjow goes in pursuit for another strike but miss as his target digs underground. The arrancar then goes for a strike below grimmjow, grazing him just as he dodges it. Just, before the arrancar buried itself back into the sand, Grimmjow catches of glimpse of him to notice that his appearance had changed.
" So you went into your release-state, huh? Big deal, it doesn't change the fact that you're still gonna be buried in the sand".
The mole arrancar then release a barrage of attacks from the sand, each time being blocked by Grimmjow who was being kept on the defensive. Grimmjow would of switched to offense if it wasn't for the fact that each time the mole arrancar attacked, he would then bury himself in the sand as cover.
"I'm getting real tired of this game of whack-a-mole" With those words, Grimmjow proceeds to cut his two fingers on his sword.
" time to blast you out the ground, Gran Rey Cero!"
Grimmjow then fire a blue colored cero into the ground, causing the arrancar to be blown out of hiding.
"Gotcha"
Grimmjow dashes towards the dazed arrancar, slicing him in two with his zanpakuto. As Grimmjow lands, the arrancar disintegrate into spirit energy.
"That was an annoyance"
Grimmjow, then sheaths his sword and continues to walk through the desert .
"Now back to finding the litt-" Before Grimmjow could finish, a female arrancar with greenish-blue hair crashes into him.
Nelliel rubs her head as she sit up from the ground
"huh, I could've sworn i saw Grimmjow just a moment ago"
Suddenly, Nelliel feels a hand grabbing her butt, to which she looks down to notice that she is sitting on Grimmjow.
" Oh, there you are Grimmjow, what are you doing down there?" Ask Nelliel in her usual cheerful manner.
"Shut up you fat ass goat and get off of me"
with that, Grimmjow pushes Nelliel off. As he gets up from the ground, he notices that Nelliel had a cut on her Cheek.
"Are you ok?" asked Grimmjow as he points his gaze to the mark on her face.
Nelliel then notices what Grimmjow is staring at,
" it's nothing to worry about, i just had to deal with one of the Arrancars from the Prison"
"So you too huh? I also had a run in with one of them"
As Grimmjow looks around, another thought comes to his mind.
"Why were you falling from the sky anyway? Don't tell me one of them sent you flying"
"To be accurate, i was dropping from the sky. The arrancar i was fighting was carrying me in the air when defeated him. You being here made for a soft landing"
Nelliel lets out a laugh but Grimmjow just stares at her.
" You had me worry about you"
Nelliel looks up to see Grimmjow staring at her with worried eyes.
"It's not like you to be this soft Grimmy, don't tell me you have feelings for me?"
"As if, I just don't want to lose anymore of my comrades" Says Grimmjow returning back to his usual rude demeanor.
" You don't gotta dismiss it so quickly, you need to treat a lady better, like ichigo" Says Nelliel as she finally gets from off the ground.
"That softy? I still can't believe he was the one to defeat Aizen."
"yeah, he really is something…"
Nelliel face shows how see misses her orange-haired friend.
"Did you forget Nelliel? If everything goes as it should, you'll you get to see him again."
Nelliel starts to cheer up when she realizes that Grimmjow was correct.
" You're right, i just know our plan will work, come on Grimmy"
With her positive energy restored, Nelliel Drags Grimmjow across sand as she runs at full speed.
Back at the soul society, Rukia was on her way back from the captain meeting. Her short encounter with Captain Homura was still fresh in her mind. She was stuck in deep thought about the situation, she couldn't tell if she mistook his spiritual pressure for a hollow or if it was something else. But what? Rukia had kept asking that questioning in her head as she made her way into squad 13's barracks. When she opened the door to walk insides, she was greeted by a crowd of her subordinates gathered in a crowd mumbling amongst themselves. Rukia raises an eyebrow as she looks around the crowd, curious as to what has their attention. In the center of the crowd, is a Tall man with Pitch black hair that reached his shoulders. He had a calm expression on his face, and look as if he belonged to nobility. For a split second she thought her brother had reverted in age, but of course this was not the case. This man's whole presence was different from byakuya's, this one was more welcoming and freeing. When Rukia started to inspect the man more, she had noticed a Lieutenant's badge on his shoulder. It looked very familiar to Rukia, it should of course since she worn the same exact badge two year prior to her becoming captain. Suddenly The man looks over to she Rukia staring at him, he smiles at her and gestures the other soul reapers to make a path for them. As Rukia walks up closer to her new Lieutenant she notices that his eyes are a golden color.
"It's good to meet you Captain Kuchiki, I'm sure you already noticed but I'm the new Lieutenant of squad 13. Names Kaiyo Shiba"
With those words, Rukia's eyes widen. She was hesitant at confirming her Lieutenant's name.
"If you are wondering if i know about the incident with Kaien, then i do. Don't worry, i hold no ill will against you Rukia, you did what had to be done."
With that, Kaiyo gives a big grin to Rukia that reminds her of Kaien. Surprisingly, Rukia smiles back, being remind of how her old friend would smile the same way. "You a actually remind me very much of Kaien, he had the same stupid grin."
"Pretty sure that smile runs in the family. Anyway, I'm sure you have a lot of questions about the situation of my promotion"
Rukia ponders on if it was a good time ask.
"Maybe later, today was already a shocking experience."
" You are referring to the new Captain? I Heard the other Lieutenants talking about him. Sounded like mysterious guy, but i don't see any reason to doubt him"
Rukia only hears parts of what Kaiyo was saying, as she was lost in thought about the new Captain. He just appears now, after being missing for so long, and then gets promoted to Captain. These thoughts kept racing through her head until she notices Kaiyo was talking.
"I'm sorry, i was lost in thought. What were you saying about Captain Homura?"
Before Kaiyo could answer, a hell butterfly comes through the barrack delivering a message to Rukia.
"What?!"
without a moment's notices, Rukia runs out of squad 12's barracks to senkaimon. Kayio follows right behind her, wondering what excited her to leave so suddenly.
"Captain what's wrong?"
"two Arrancars have been sighted in the world of the living. Also it appears that they are currently attacking humans" Shouts Rukia as she speeds up.
There was more to it then just what she told Kaiyo, the humans in question were Orihime and her friend tatsuki. Rukia knew that if it was those two in danger, that Ichigo would rush in without thinking, she had to hurry before the worse is to happen. Rukia and Kaiyo reached the senkaimon and are greeted by a group of soul reapers from squad 7.
"Move aside, quickly" Shouts Rukia as she slows her pace to prevent crashing into the group.
"Oh Captain Kuchiki is also here. Those arrancars are as good as dead at this point." Says one of the soul reaper as the group makes a path for Rukia and her Lieutenant.
When they finally reach the world of the living, Rukia and Kaiyo stops instantly as they see Tetsuzaemon and his Captain around there standing.
"Tetsuzaemon had a feeling you'd hurry here Miss Kuchiki, but I didn't think you'd get here that quick" Says Homura with his back towards the two soul reapers.
"What are you doing here Captain Homura"
Suddenly Rukia takes notice two an Orange-haired soul reaper and a quincy fighting a pair of Arrancars.
"Why are you two just watching?!" Shouts Rukia.
Tetsuzaemon stays quiet and only looks to his Captain.
"I wanna see how strong this Ichigo is. I Heard he is very powerful, and is the one who defeated Aizen. If that is true, this should be a piece a cake for him"
Rukia kept her angry towards Satoshi at bay as she also began to watch the fight. She started thinking deeper into Satoshi's words, Ichigo is strong, definitely strong enough to beat two arrancars. So why is he struggling.
"What are you trying to say? That Ichigo got weaker? If that is the case, we should help him"
With that, rukia draws her Zanpakuto and releases her sword.
"I wouldn't just charge in, take notice at how Ichigo is slowing down with his reflexes while the quincy is having an easier time dodging"
It finally start to clicks in Rukia head, at what Satoshi was getting at.
"They are slowing Ichigo down!"
"Correct, I'm not sure as to what is causing it, but it has a short range since it not affecting the quincy. That or it only affects soul reapers"
After analyzing the situation a little longer, Homura then finally reveals his zanpakuto. It was average in size, being only slightly smaller in length to rukia. The guard had a circular shape with the hilt being curved slightly.
"Rukia, i want you to go assist the quincy, only you"
Kaiyo glares at Homura, to which homura takes notices.
"I don't mean to offend, but we don't know what's making ichigo weak at the moment. Best to let us Captains held this"
"Don't worry kaiyo, it will only take me a moment to finish this" assures Rukia, making her Lieutenant settle down.
Rukia then heads down to where Uryu was fighting off the beast-like arrancar.
"Tsugi no mai, hakuren!"
Instantly, the Arrancar that was fighting Uryu was encased in ice. Two both Ichigo and Uryu surprise, Rukia appears above them.
"Long time no see you two"
As Rukia is greeting her two friends from the past, the Arrancar breaks free of the ice.
"Gawrrrr. Who dares to surprise attack me?!" Shouts the beast-like Arrancar.
"Rukia Kuchiki, Captain of Squad 13. And that was just a warning shot."
Rukia begins to prepare for her next attack as the Arrancar charges towards her.
"Shi no mai, shiroiyari"
Rukia swings her sword, sending a large shard of ice at the Arrancar, which then breaks after piercing right through him. It's stops the arrancar in his tracks but he continues to taunt his opponent.
" Is that it? You have to do more than throw ice at me to ki-"
In mid-sentence, the arrancar's body begins to be encased in ice, instantly shattering as Rukia sheaths her sword.
"Don't understatement a Captain of the 13 court guard squad"
Rukia turns to see how Ichigo and Homura were doing against the other arrancar. Ichigo looked more tired than he was when she last show him, and so did Satoshi.
"So i was correct, the arrancar is sapping spiritual pressure."
it could be heard in his voice that Satoshi was tired.
"I give this arrancar six out of ten"
with those words, Satoshi resheathed his sword
"dry the sea, sabaku no umi"
A huge gust of wind and sand surrounds Satoshi. When it dispersed, Satoshi's zanpakuto changed into a double-ended fan axe. Both Rukia and the two spectating Lieutenants realized that beforehand, Captain Homura was holding back. With great speed, Satoshi had already closed the gap between him and the arrancar.
"You can sap my spirit pressure all you want. In return, i'll be taking the moisture in your body"
With those words came a slash from satoshi's zankaputo. Suddenly the arrancar's appearance started to change. It's body began to shrivel up, slowing its movement.
"Hey Ichigo, you mind finishing him off for me?" ordered Satoshi in a confident tone.
With that order came Ichigo's signature technique
"Getsuga Tensho!" Shouts Ichigo as his attack completely erases the arrancar.
Once both enemies' spirit pressures were completely gone, Ichigo went to make sure Orihime and Tatsuki were safe. Uryu took a final glance at the unfamiliar soul reaper Captain before taking his leave.
"Captain Kuchiki, you were amazing. It really is true that you have a beautiful shikai"
Kaiyo continued praise Rukia but she heard none of it, She was too busy staring at Satoshi.
"That spirit pressure, it felt familiar" mumbles Rukia under her breath.
"What you say Captain?" Asked a confused Kaiyo.
"Nothing. Let us regroup with Ichigo"
Rukia then point her attention back to Satoshi
" i know one thing for certain, i can't trust you Captain Homura" Thought Rukia as she continued to glare at him.
Satoshi was too busy in his thoughts to notice the cold that was being sent to him
. " So that was Ichigo Kurosaki. He may just possibly be the one".
A/N: Ok so i just want to make note that i always hated bleach for the zanpakuto naming and ability naming. Mainly because it translation don't match what they supposedly mean. Not to mention the fact that japanese kanji confuses me, or at least the kanji for Rukia's abilities. Like first dance, white moon in japanese is Some no Mai, tsukishiro. First off when the kanji of some is the kanji of hatsu which means first in certain meanings. Second, dance in japanese is dansu and mai is a form of dance in japan. Good news, tsukishiro is correct. So just know that in advance, every dance after third, i'm using the japanese pronunciation for numbers.