Well, here we are again. My next chapter. This time I tried to add some more action, and I also tried to show the characters' personalities (Enma mostly) a bit more. I hope you all enjoy it. Once again, the disclaimer. I do not own Bleach or any of the related titles or characters. I hope I'll be able to reveal more about the story next time.
Karakura town
"Phew." Enma said to himself. According to the directions he got from Arisawa Tatsuki, he was supposed to be near Kurosaki Ichigo's place. It was really a good thing he stumbled across that girl. Probably saved him hours of searching.
"Should be 'round here somewhere... Ah, there it is!" He said as he saw a house with a big sign saying 'Kurosaki Clinic'. "Hard to miss that. Why would a clinic have such a colorful sign?" he wondered.
As he was thinking about it, a Shinigami with bright orange hair and a huge cleaver on his back jumped out of one of the building's windows, followed by a girl with short black hair. She was wearing a school uniform, so Enma covered his eyes, just out of respect. As he watched them run, he felt the presence of a hollow.
'That must be where they're headed, and those two have to be Kuchiki Rukia and Kurosaki Ichigo... I'd better catch up with them.' he thought as he ran after them. Just before he caught up with them, they took a turn, and there it was.
One. Freaking. HUGE. Hollow.
And a large group of children near him.
'Fuck! Unless one of us speeds up, we're never gonna get there in time. Those kids are gonna get eaten!' Enma thought. The Kurosaki kid must have been thinking the same thing as Enma, as took that oversized sword of his off his back, and shouted: "Getsuga Tensho!"
Enma felt a huge burst of spiritual energy as a wide, blue blast of pure reishi was flying towards the hollow, cutting it's mask through half. As the hollow vanished, Enma felt impressed at the sheer power of the attack. Still, he felt quite relieved. The captain must have been right, Kurosaki had gotten a little rusty. Although the attack was strong, there was no way that could have fought at par with the captain. That being said, he was still miles from the captain himself. He was still scared, but he swallowed his fear as he approached the duo, saying: "You must be Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia, or my memory must be seriously lacking."
"Yeah, that's us." Kurosaki spoke with a rebellious attitude "You're dressed like a Shinigami. Whaddaya want?"
Enma's started grinning and as he unsheathed his Zanpakutou and pointed it at Kurosaki, he said "I was asked by a certain person to come here and fight ya. He liked the fight the last time, and wanted to see if you hadn't gone rusty. He thought it wouldn't be enough fun to kill you if ya couldn't fight at his level anymore. Can you guess who it is?"
"Ugh..." Ichigo said "You're with the 11th Division, aren't you? You're probably a lot like this person, as the first thing you talk about is fighting, and those words have Zaraki Kenpachi's name written all over them. Well then, if you want to fight that badly, let's go."
"W-wait!" It was Kuchiki. "You can't just fight in the middle of the street like this!"
"Of course we can! You did the same thing just now!" Enma said, and as soon as he was finished he charged at Kurosaki.
In fact, Enma didn't feel comfortable doing this. Not at all. He was scared, down to his core. But he had to fight. He had to protect his pride.
'A coward, eh, Zaraki? I'll make you take those words back. NO-ONE calls me a coward!"
His first attack was only just blocked by a surprised Ichigo, but now the substitute Shinigami was ready for him, and he started attacking just as fast as Enma. Enma was fast, but Kurosaki was faster, as he suddenly ducked and tried to stab Enma from below. Enma was only just able to jump to the side, but the attack still gave him a nasty cut, just below his right ribs. "That was a little too close for comfort," Enma said, as the wound stung like hell.
"Enough playing around, I'm going to get serious now too."
He brought the blade up to his face with both hands and shouted: "Break the foundations of the world!"
"Yochihakaisha!" (1)
The sudden outbreak of energy sent dust flying everywhere, blinding Kurosaki and Kuchiki. As they opened their eyes, Enma was just standing there. No weapon, no visible effect, nothing.
"Huh? What happened?" Kurosaki mumbled softly.
"You wanna know what happened? You just lost every chance of beating me!" Enma said. He still wasn't feeling very comfortable, but his Shikai state always gave him a rush of confidence. As soon as he finished talking, he dissapeared, leaving nothing but a little dust behind.
"Where'd he go?" Ichigo said.
"Pay more attention! If you don't speed up, I'll kill ya! Kaen (3)!" A voice spoke behind him. Enma knew they were big words, but he didn't care. As Ichigo felt a sharp burning pain in his back, he was sent skidding across the pavement.
As he looked up again, he saw Enma standing where he had just stood a few seconds ago. Well, more like floating. He was hanging a few inches above the ground. His appearance had changed as well. On his hands, Ichigo saw bright orange flames burning, and where his eyes had been a bright yellow before, they were now a deeper gold, and shining with a hidden fire.
"Hmpf. Flight and fire, that's quite something. But not enough. You caught me off-guard a few moments ago, but you're going down now." Kurosaki said.
As he took a stance for bankai, Enma thought 'Oh FUCK. I have to stop him some way. If he releases his bankai, It's bye-bye for me.' He gathered his confidence, sneered and said: "You need bankai to beat a regular Shinigami? Wuss! You're not even trying!"
"He's right, Ichigo!" Rukia yelled. "You've been relying on bankai way too much! Try beating him without using it!"
'Thank you Kuchiki Rukia, thank you.'
"Alright. I don't need bankai to beat you. Bring it on!'
As the fight continued, both of them landed hits on the other, but because Enma's attacks were fire based, and he didn't use a sword, he was only able to punch Ichigo, and thus unable to inflict any serious wounds besides some burns. Then Ichigo noticed something. Kasei's wounds weren't bleeding.
'Why isn't he bleeding? Must be some sort of trick... Well, let's see if he can stop the bleeding when he's dead!' Ichigo thought. He yelled: "Getsuga Tensho!", sending another bright blue blast at Enma. It struck head on.
"That should've done it. Come on Rukia, we should take him some help before he bleeds to death," Ichigo said. But as he came closer to the cloud of smoke created by his Getsuga Tensho, something came flying by, punching him in his stomach on the run. Stunned, he fell to his knees.
"That was impressive, I must say," Enma's voice spoke from behind him. Ichigo noticed he was trembling. "But you were still holding back. I can feel your reiatsu, kid. You weren't even trying. Still, it would have cut me in half if I wouldn't have had Yochihakaisha's defensive powers. I'm impressed."
As Ichigo got back to his feet, he noticed something about Enma's uncovered arms (2). Instead of flesh, they were made out of a brown-grey rock, and they had a blackened stripe across them, probably where Getsuga Tensho hit. 'Damn that Kurosaki! Even though Yochihakaisha protects me, it still hurts like hell.'
"Lucky I was able to activate my Chou (3). Let me tell you a little bit about Yochihakaisha. In Shikai, he grants me slight control over all four elements. Earth for defense, Chou, Fire for attack, Kaen, Wind for speed, Hae (3), and Water for enhanced perception and bodily functions. He also helps me stop the bleeding ofwounds, see? That's called Shuu (3). Still hurts though. Wish he would finally fix that, but he's too lazy to do so." He showed Ichigo one of the wounds, who noticed the bloodstream was just going on like nothing had happened. "But enough talking, le-"
Suddenly, Enma's head jacked backwards. "I sense... A hollow... Come on, Kurosaki. Although I'd love to keep fighting you, this is more urgent. We've got work to do." Enma said, running off. 'Saved by the bell. I never thought I would be this happy with a hollow. Wait. Is that even an ethical thing to think?'
"Hey, wait! You can't just run off like that in the middle of a fight!" Kurosaki said.
"Yes, I can." 'Thank god I can. I wouldn't be able to go on like that for long. I'm really damned tired.' "I sensed a hollow. Your order should be coming in right about..." Ring, ring "now. If we keep fighting, that hollow might hurt innocent bystanders. I know, I know, I'm tired too, but no more time for small talk, let's go."
"He's right, Ichigo." Rukia said. "There's a hollow nearby. We should follow him."
As they ran through the streets of Karakura town, they arrived at a building site. There were at least four hollows there.
'Damn... That's a lot of hollows. Let's hope I can take them on without passing out from exhaustion.' Enma thought, breathing heavily.
But before Ichigo could even draw his sword, Enma had already started with the first hollow. He grabbed the evil soul by the hips with one hand, and put the other under the beings armpits. Then, with a mighty pull, he ripped it in two.
'One! That was easy, but I think that fight lasted a little too long.'
When Ichigo arrived, the hollows, Enma had already grabbed a second hollow by the throat. As he put his other hand onto the being's mask, he pushed as hard as he could, causing the second hollow's head to explode in a fountain of brains and blood.
'Two! I'm starting to feel my muscles ache now...'
As Ichigo cut down hollow number three, he saw Enma drop-kicking the fourth hollow, and then introducing the monster's head to his heels.
'That's three and four. We made a bloody mess, but I can worry about that later... Whoa... I'm feeling light-headed...' Enma thought as he felt his legs start shaking.
'Damn, that kid's fast.' Ichigo thought.
"Ugh... That was tiring." Enma said. "Well... As long as no-one got hu – ugh..." He collapsed.
"Huh?" Ichigo was a little surprised. "What just happened?"
"As I thought," Rukia said "The combination of having to concentrate on stopping his blood loss and taking out three hollows in a row after your fight has completely worn him out."
"Damn." Ichigo swore, "Now he's knocked out, his Zanpakutou wil return to his sealed state. The wounds can start bleeding any second now."
"True. We should take him to Urahara." Rukia said.
"Yeah, good idea. Even though I don't like him, this would be one pathetic way to die for someone like him." Ichigo said as he picked him up and threw him over his shoulder.
Urahara Shop
As Enma came by, he looked around, and noticed he was no longer on the building site. The last thing he remembered was a group of hollows. After that, everything was blank.
"Where am I?" he mumbled to himself.
"Heeeeeey! You're awake! Welcome to the Urahara shop!" a voice spoke. One of the doors in the room opened, revealing a man, seemingly somewhere in his thirties, with ruffled light-blond hair sticking out from underneath a bucket hat, which almost fully covered his eyes.
'God, that guy is creepy...' Enma thought. "Yeah, apparently I am. Who're you?" he asked.
"My name is Kisuke Urahara. You must be Kasei Enma, right?"
"Yeah. How do you know? Oh, of course. Kurosaki-san and Kuchiki-san, huh?"
"Yep. You're smarter than you look, especially for an 11th Division member." Enma didn't know if it was a compliment or an insult. "The wounds you got from Kurosaki were deeper then theyseemed. Tessai and I patched you up."
Enma had no idea who this Tessai was, but still he said "Then you and Tessai-san have my thanks. But where's Kurosaki? I want to apologize for my behaviour, earlier this day."
"Well, actually...You've been asleep for a day. The wounds Kurosaki-san gave you were pretty serious. I'm surprised you were actually capable of beating those hollows. But still," Urahara said, a creepy grin reappearing on his face. "When you passed out, Kurosaki-san and Kuchiki-san had to carry you back here. If you want to thank him, or apologize, he's downstairs. We'll see what his reaction is."
"Ok, I'll go take a look. Thanks again." Enma said as he stood up. He grunted as he felt the first wound, the cut underneath his ribs, give him a nasty sting.
A few moments later, Enma was wandering around the store. "He said downstairs, but I can't see any stairs..." Enma muttered to himself.
"You're looking for the stairs, Kasei-san?" a huge voice spoke from behind him. As he turned around, he saw a huge man, easily 6"6, standing behind him. "Ah, I believe we haven't been introduced yet. My name is Tessai Tsukabishi."
"Ah, so you are Tessai-san. Urahara-san told me you helped heal my wounds. Thanks for that."
"It was no problem at all. Now, you wanted to get to the basement? Follow me, please." Tessai said as he walked through another door, which led them to what appeared to be the shop entrance. Enma noticed two children sweeping outside. Well, one was sweeping, the other was swinging his broom around, apparently indulged into in some sort of crazy fantasy.
"Step aside for a moment, please." Tessai said. As Enma snapped back to his own situation, he got out of the way, as Tessai effortlessly pushed the shop's counter aside, revealing a small square hole in the floor. As Enma was about to climb down the ladder, Tessai said: "It's a long climb, and you're wounded. Just climb on my back, I'll carry you downstairs."
A few moments later, Enma was feeling a little strange, sitting on the large man's shoulders. This discomfort faded into awe as they climbed down into a huge room, at least five times the size of the shop itself, and completely decorated and painted like the outside world.
As they got to the ground, Enma got off Tessai's shoulders and muttered: "Who made this..."
Tessai heard him and replied: "The manager and I did. Do... you like it?"
"Do I like it?" Suddenly Enma brightened up and started grinning. "I love it! This is awesome! Wow... If I had known about this, I would have stepped by! And you guys made it? That's amazing!"
Out of nowhere, Tessai started crying and said "Th-thank you! Truly, thank you."
Enma, still grinning like an idiot, thanked Tessai for helping him, and started looking for Ichigo. Suddenly, he felt an outburst of reiatsu, and the rock to his right exploded, causing a rain of sand and small stones.
"Hey, watch out when you blow something up!" Enma yelled. "Sorry!" a voice yelled back from somewhere inside the cloud of dust. As Kurosaki Ichigo emerged from the large cloud of dust, he saw Enma and said: "Oh, it's you. How are your wounds?"
"I'm fine, thanks. Listen... I want to apologize for my behavior earlier. I didn't really want to fight you to start with, and even though I acted tough, I was scared every second of the fight. I'm really sorry. It's just that, when I noticed you had indeed gotten a little rusty, like my captain said, I was a little relieved. But you were still way out of my league. Zaraki called me a coward, and I never forget something like that. I wanted to prove myself, and tried not looking scared. So I started acting like an ass. Once again, sorry, for the challenge, as well as the verbal abuse I threw your way."
Ichigo was silent for a moment.
"Don't worry about it." He said with a slight smile on his face. "I know how scary Zaraki is. I would have done the same if I were you. And you were right, I've gotten a little out of shape. But what really surprised me was that, according to Rukia, you aren't a seated officer. How come? You're pretty fast, and although I'm not really good with reiatsu control, I can feel you hava a respectable amount of spiritual power."
"Yeah, you're not the first person to tell me that. The reason I'm not a seated officer is because I'm kind of an outcast in the division. My Zanpakutou is Kido-based, I use a lot of Kido myself, I've got quite a lot of friends in the 4th and I don't like fighting half as much as most guys in the 11th. I've recently applied for a transfer to the 9th division, because their lieutenant is a respectable man, and, without a captain, they can use all the help they can get, I guess. Plus, their uniforms are a lot better for my fighting. Without the sleeves, it's a lot more streamlined."
"Yeah," Ichigo said. "I think you and Lieutenant Hisagi will get along quite well." Muguruma Kensei, one of the Vizards, popped up in his head. "Hey, have you ever heard of Muguruma Kensei?"
"Yeah. Wasn't he one of the criminal captains who were kicked out of the Soul Society a century ago?"
"That's the guy. I... From what I've heard about him, he's a lot like you."
"Yeah... I know..." A flash of sadness shot across Enma's face, only to be replaced by a wide grin. Ichigo saw it was fake, but he didn't ask about it. "I should be getting back to bed... My wounds started aching again just a moment ago."
"Ok. Rest well. See ya." Ichigo said.
"Thanks. Catch ya later," Enma answered as he got up and wandered back to the ladder.
Cut! That's a wrap! So far for the chapter. Did ya like it, or not? Whichever way, press the 'review this chapter' button below. Next chapter, I'll show you why the story is called 'The Great Uprise' when Ichigo and Enma take on a mysterious opponent! Hope you're looking forward to it! Also, my thanks to Sir Eagle for beta-ing again!
Notes:
Translation: World Destroyer.
I decided to give Enma a uniform comparable to the 9th Division uniform, without sleeves. It would be easier to show the defensive power of Yochihakaisha.
Chou: Block, Kaen: Blaze, Hae: Fly, Shuu: Dry up.
