"Kon, is there any reason you're clingin' to my shell like a scared little girl?"
Ichigo/Kon looked at Raphael scornfully. "Surely you jest," he remarked. "Why on Earth would I, the great and powerful-"
"That was a rhetorical statement, ya coward," Raphael muttered, shaking Kon off of him. "Judgin' by your antsy behavior and the way you've been babblin' ever since we got to Williamsburg, I'm guessin' we're getting' close."
"You really can't feel it," Leonardo murmured. "Remarkable." Raphael looked at him, confused, before he saw that his brother had caught sight of something just past them. When Raphael turned to see what it was, he noticed that Ichigo/Kon had ducked behind Leonardo, trying to make it seem like he had simply meandered in that direction.
Raphael looked about. It was the middle of a cold evening, and the streets were as quiet as they usually were the day after a big holiday. Judging by the elementary school nearby, most people around here were either still in the commute from work or out enjoying a winter break from classes. At least no kids are gonna get caught up in this, he thought as he kept a weather eye out for signs of trouble.
The trio ducked when a nearby stop sign suddenly dented, as though something had been catapulted at it with great speed. Apparently, Ichigo/Kon and Leonardo both saw something, but Raphael remained frustrated when he realized that he could only faintly feel another presence in the vicinity.
"Is that your shinigami?" Leonardo asked, gaping at the stop sign.
Ichigo/Kon didn't answer. When Raphael looked at him, he saw that Ichigo's brown eyes were focused on something unseen coming from behind the school building. "M- m- m-," he finally stuttered. "Menos Grande."
"Buh-wha-?" Raphael sputtered. "I thought you was from Japan. Ain't that Spanish?"
"Oh shell," Leonardo suddenly breathed, looking in the same direction as Ichigo/Kon.
Raphael whirled around again. Though he still couldn't see anything, he definitely felt it now. There was something huge, something powerful, and something inherently evil approaching them. And whatever it was, it rendered Leonardo speechless and was enough to force Ichigo/Kon to scramble towards the warped stop sign, trying to revive the invisible person who apparently lay on the concrete.
"Talk to me, Leo," Raphael said, withdrawing his sai. "Where is it? Where're its vitals? C'mon, I didn't call ya so you could stare at the scenery."
Leonardo shook his head, trying to snap out of it. "Sorry, I… I've never seen anything like it." When Raphael once again asked where he should strike, Leonardo shook his head and tried to pull Raphael back. "Raph, if you can't see it, then you really shouldn't-"
"Where is it, Leo?!"
Leonardo didn't answer for a moment. Instead, he took a step back. Raphael knew that something was drastically wrong, considering that Leonardo was never one to back down from a fight with a bad guy. "Raph… it's bigger than the school."
Raphael blinked at Leonardo before turning back to the empty spot where something stood. Bigger than the school? Taller than the five-story school building? Can something really be that huge and not make the ground shake as it moved? Did things like this really move about on a day-to-day basis, going completely undetected by those normal individuals who didn't have a high spirit sense? For once, Raphael found himself lumped into the "normal" category, and he loathed it.
"Raph! Move!" Raphael hardly had the time to react before Leonardo put his arms around him and tackled him to the ground, rolling them across the street. Raphael was dimly aware of a car approaching, and his blood froze in his veins when he heard the squeal of tires. He pushed Leonardo off of him and just managed to see something hit the small Toyota and send it skidding across the street. Both turtles scattered away from the vehicle before it rolled towards them, stopping on its roof.
"Raph, help whoever's inside!" Leonardo ordered. "I'll do what I can with this Menos… whatever." Before Raphael could object, Leonardo had already drawn his swords and was racing towards the violent emptiness.
Raphael growled deep in his throat. He didn't like this. He didn't like this at all. Whatever that Menos Grande thing was, it apparently beat the crap out of Ichigo, and he had only been about ten minutes ahead of them. He knew that battles were quick, but he would have thought that death gods could….
Can death gods die? The thought pushed its way into Raphael's head, causing him to pause on his way towards the Toyota. He looked back at Ichigo/Kon, and it looked like he was dragging something away. A body? No… technically, it was a soul. He was the body. Raphael thought back on Karin and Yuzu and tried to imagine what would happen to them if Ichigo didn't make it back.
No time, he realized, continuing towards the overturned car. If I don't work fast, we might have more bodies lyin' around than I'd like. He didn't smell any gasoline, so that was good. At least he didn't have to worry about a climactic explosion or anything like that. Still, he had to move quickly. He was surprised that no one had come at the sound of the screeching tires.
He knelt by the driver's side and saw a woman strapped into her seat, limp and bloody. Raphael tried not to think about how very lifeless she looked and instead reached in and began undoing the seatbelt, careful to cradle the woman's head. There was something on her chest that kept entangling itself with the seatbelt, making his job more difficult. He finally managed to free her and gently pulled her out of the wreckage. He picked her up and set her down a few feet away, just to be on the safe side. It wasn't until he stood and looked down at her that he realized what was wrong.
The thing on her chest was a chain. It looked like a heavy metal chain, the sort of thing that you'd be more likely to see in a dungeon than in the middle of New York City. Raphael stooped down and traced his fingers over it. Something about it seemed ethereal, as though it would fade away if he pulled his focus away. Even though the battle behind him sounded dangerous, he discovered that he couldn't bring himself to look away from the strange attachment this young women had on her trunk.
He unbuttoned her coat and then the blouse beneath it, looking for the source of the chain. It was embedded into her flesh, disappearing under the skin. It didn't look like it was a foreign object, though. Something about it seemed eerily natural. He traced the chain and looked for its other end. It looked as though something had once been attached to the other end, but had broken free.
Something… but what?
Raphael shuddered. Something was happening here. Something important. He tried not to let his frustration get the best of him. Instead, he remained quiet. Calm. Focused. And soon he heard it. Crying.
He turned around. By the lamppost on the corner, he saw a figure sitting on the ground and sobbing. He froze for a moment. Her shining black hair. Her gray wool coat. The hint of a purple blouse beneath. It was the same person as the woman at his feet. The dead woman at his feet.
He didn't know which was worse: the fact that someone had died in front of him, or the fact that he could see her ghost. Or maybe it was the fact that he knew it was her ghost. Or maybe it was the fact that he had always had the ability to see ghosts, if he had only kept his louder emotions in check. Trippy, he thought, putting a hand to his head. I think I'm gettin' a little dizzy.
"Easy there," he suddenly heard a voice say. "Easy. Don't cry, miss." Raphael looked around, trying his best not to get flustered and thus lose this ability so soon after having acquired it. Though he couldn't see him, Raphael recognized the voice as Ichigo's.
"I know it seems sudden and horrible," Ichigo continued. The woman looked up, as though seeing someone directly in front of her. If he tried, Raphael could make out a dim distortion in the air, in much the same way he had almost seen the Hollow by the Metro Bridge. "I'm sorry you got caught up in this. The least I can do is to send you where you're supposed to go quickly and painlessly."
"Is it Heaven?" The question hardly left the woman's lips before a bluish-white light shone from her forehead. Raphael found that he had to shield his eyes from the bright glare. He panicked for a moment, seeing the woman's body fade. He couldn't lose this, not yet.
By the time the glare subsided, the woman was gone. Raphael wondered what had become of her, and was momentarily distracted by the appearance of a small black butterfly. It flitted towards him before moving upwards. He followed it with his eyes until he could no longer distinguish it from the dark night.
"You could see the hell butterfly, couldn't you?" Raphael almost gasped as he looked around. Ichigo's voice had been close, but he still couldn't see him. "Hm. I'm still invisible to you, though. But you can hear me, and you could see that spirit. I'm wondering if that means that you can see the Menos."
Having almost forgotten about the fight that he had come here to help with, Raphael quickly looked back towards the public school building. His eyes widened as he finally saw what it was that had scared Kon and set Leonardo ill at ease.
Saying that it was bigger than the school was a gross understatement. It was at least twice the size of the building, and decked in a long black cloak. Its white face looked either skeletal or mask-like; Raphael couldn't tell which. But when it reached a bony hand towards Leonardo, who had somehow made it atop the school's roof, Raphael snapped out of it.
"Oh yeah," he growled. "I can see it."
"Good," the still-unseen Ichigo replied. "Then let's see an urban ninja at work."
Sai in hand, Raphael ran towards the freakish thing that was going to try and make for his brother. He scaled the iron fence to the schoolyard in a flash, hoping to get the Menos' attention. He did. The thing slowly turned to regard him. "All right, chump. Ya caused enough damage for one day."
"Raph, you can see it?" Raphael didn't get to answer Leonardo's question. A crimson flash came from the creature's mouth, aimed towards Raphael.
"Move, Raphael," Ichigo told him. "That's cero, one of its deadliest attacks!"
It seemed to take a moment for the cero to get warmed up, and so Raphael took this moment to ask, "Is that what caused the accident?" Ichigo said nothing. The flare intensified, and Raphael yelled, "Ichigo, is that what killed that girl?!"
"Yes," Ichigo replied lowly.
Just then, cero was shot towards Raphael. He dodged the attack, despite its enormity. He again marveled over the amount of property damage and the lack of eyewitnesses. I'll kill this thing, he thought as he scaled the school building. I'll kill it with my bare hands.
He turned to see the thing reach out for him and jumped, ready to land on its arm and use that to launch himself at the Menos' face. When he took to the air, his eyes widened. The Menos in front of him wavered before quickly fading away. No! No way! I… Is it gone?
Raphael landed then, and got a sense of vertigo when he felt the ground move. Looking down, he saw that he was standing on some imperceptible platform. The Menos was still there… just invisible to Raphael's eyes. Oh crud.
"Good call, Raph!" Raphael saw Leonardo jump from his post and land besides him. "Let's take this thing down before it hurts anyone else!" He ran deftly up a nonexistent path, presumably up the length of the Menos' arm.
Raphael was having a difficult enough time keeping his balance on something he couldn't see. Still, he gritted his teeth and tried to follow Leonardo as precisely as he could. He almost fell a few times, but his ninja training aided in his fight against an unseen opponent.
When Leonardo lunged with his weapons, Raphael did the same. The ground disappeared beneath him, and he was hanging onto his sai, which were embedded in something. The creature that they had attacked made broad gestures, hopefully in pain.
"Drop!" Ichigo called from somewhere behind and below. The turtles looked at one another and pulled their weapons out, landing on their feet on the cold cement. Hearing Ichigo cry out something else, Raphael grabbed Leonardo's arm and ran to the side just before something large and formidable blew past them.
Both brothers were forced to their knees, ducking their heads and thankful for their protective shells. All the while, Raphael could feel himself shake. What happened? What went wrong? He had somehow managed to achieve a high enough spirit sense to see a spirit and a Menos… and lost it just as quickly. Did it have something to do with his focus? His anger?
Anger's what helps me fight in the first place, he told himself. I know Splinter says I gotta control it, 'n I do. But… if I didn't wanna avenge that woman, what woulda been the point 'a fightin'? And then another question came up: If she hadn't died, what woulda been the point 'a fightin'?
He didn't get to answer these questions, though. Someone placed a cold hand on his shoulder, causing Raphael to jerk his head up. When he looked back, he saw that Ichigo was standing behind him and Leonardo, a hand on each of their shoulders. He was surprised by how stern the young boy's face was.
"Raphael," he said quietly. "I appreciate the effort, but don't ever do that again. You could have gotten yourself and your friend in trouble." He stood then and offered them each a hand to help them up. Leonardo accepted it. Raphael slapped his hand indignantly away.
"Whaddaya mean, comin' off all high 'n mighty?" Raphael asked. "'Don't do that again?' Ya were getting' pulverized when we got here. If we hadn't at least distracted that thing long enough for ya to get yourself back together, ya woulda-"
"Raphael, that woman died because of unsuspected intervention." Raphael's mouth snapped shut at Ichigo's blunt accusation. It looked as though saying the words hurt him just as much as it hurt Raphael to hear them. "I called in to Soul Society to have them put something that's best described as a spiritual barricade around this perimeter, meaning that any people who get too close will receive a strong subliminal suggestion that they stay away from the area. By consciously looking for me, you weakened the barricade. That woman would have either made a detour or, at the very least, the Menos would have been too focused on me to allow for someone else to get caught in the crossfire."
Ichigo took a deep breath after his tirade. He knew that Raphael had the best intentions in mind, but he couldn't help it. He had seen enough death, even before becoming a shinigami. It tore Ichigo up on the inside to perform a soul burial on someone who was simply an innocent bystander in one of his own battles. He knew that it sounded as though he were trying to shift some of the blame off to someone else, and was about to apologize for it when Raphael spoke.
"Y'know," the turtle said lowly, putting his sai back in his belt, "… I think I kinda knew that." Looking up at Ichigo, he shuddered as he clarified, "Not about the barricade or nuthin'. But… the Menos was tryin' to get me 'n Leo. If it hadn't aimed at us, it wouldn't have… yeah. I knew that."
"Raphael, I'm sorry," Ichigo murmured after a while. "I… I didn't mean…." Feeling terrible now, he offered, "It's not the first… the first casualty, you know. Countless people have died because of Hollows and Menos, and more will die in the future." His words didn't seem to do anything but make Raphael paler and paler. The turtle didn't strike him as one who would pale in the face of death.
As though confirming Ichigo's suspicions, Leonardo said, "Hey, Raph… you okay? You… you don't look so well, bro." Raphael turned away then, seeming shaky on his feet. As the other turtle tried to talk to him, Ichigo remembered that Raphael had staved off sickness earlier today. Perhaps the stress of everything that's happened was too much for him?
And then another thought struck him. It hadn't escaped Ichigo's notice that Raphael's rietsu seemed to spike at odd times during the course of the battle. Its untamed ferocity struck a familiar chord with the substitute shinigami, and the more he dwelled on it, the more he knew that meeting the ninja turtle and his sensei earlier hadn't simply been a matter of chance.
"Leo, yes?" The turtle in blue looked at Ichigo at the mention of his name. "You're Raphael's brother, and one of Splinter's students, right?" When Leonardo nodded, Ichigo stated, "You'll have to help me with your brother. He might be falling ill, and for right now, I think the best place for him will be the place where my family and I are staying."
"Uh, are you sure about that?" Leonardo asked, propping the already-wavering Raphael up. "I mean, your family… I don't really know how you guys met up with Raph and Sensei, but-"
"It's all right," Ichigo affirmed. "Trust me."
Ichigo said nothing else. After looking at his intense eyes for a moment, Leonardo nodded. "Right. Just show me where to go." He began to follow after Ichigo, but stopped suddenly. "Wait… where's Kon?"
"In my pocket." When Leonardo looked at him oddly, Ichigo almost smirked. "You don't really know much about us, huh? I'll explain along the way. Have you ever heard of modified souls?" He began explaining as he led Leonardo back towards the motel.
Even as he nonchalantly discussed Kon's origin, Ichigo knew that he was going to have to place a call to Kisuke Urahara.