Chapter 3 ; what now?
Byakuya's P.O.V.
Me and my lieutenant were walking towards Kurosaki's house. He was in his gigai hence the walking. He was going to ask Kurosaki's family if they knew anything about the current situation.
I still cannot believe he would betray his friend like that. A few days back they would gave risked their lives for each other. Why is he now hunting his friend?
"Captain, can I say something?"
I nodded.
"I probably know what you are thinking, about why I'm not supporting Ichigo. Well the truth is that I am afraid."
This is not what I expected.
"You should have seen him, Captain. In the fight the other day, that hollow shot a massive cero at Rukia. I knew if she got hit by that she would have been in serious trouble. As usual Ichigo jumped in front of the attack. When all the smoke and riatsu cleared I saw him. He had a mask on his face, like a hollow's. And his eyes, his eyes turned yellow. They held so much anger.
Then he charged at the hollow and completely destroyed it. There was nothing left of it. I knew Ichigo was strong but that power frightens me.
I don't want him dead but what if he's turning into a hollow? What if someday that power gets turned on to us? I don't want to wait in fear until that day comes. So it's better this way."
Even more disappointed now at my lieutenant, a friend would never doubt his friend. I look at him, he is staring at the ground. I take my time before I answer him.
"I must say, I did not expect from you to give up on your friend. I expected your complete support for him, he saved your life and that of Rukia multiple times. If you would encounter him now, what would you do?"
He was surprised by my reaction and hesitated before answering.
"I can't kill him, I owe him my life as you said. But I will fight him if he comes near me. The past doesn't matter if your future is in danger. I will probably keep him busy until back up arrives. With the power he has I can't beat him."
After that we stopped talking. Well now I know that Renji is out of the picture to help Kurosaki. He is too afraid to see that Ichigo was not a threat. But now he could be, I would be furious to if I was betrayed by the ones I thought I could trust.
When we arrived at Kurosaki's residence Renji knocked on the door. A little girl with black hair opened the door.
"Oh, it's you. What do you want, Ichigo's not home. You better not tell me you got him into trouble with you faking to be a cop and all."
"Hi, you're Ichigo's sister aren't you? Can I come in, I need to speak with your father."
"fine."
She stepped aside and let us in. I am surprised she can see me. But then again, this is a Kurosaki. I should not be surprised.
"Dad! Someone's here to see you!"
She yelled into the house. But instead of the father another girl came running towards us.
"Karin, dad is still unconscious against the wall where you beat him there. You shouldn't do that Karin. Dinner is almost ready and I don't want it to go cold because dad couldn't eat."
"Whatever. Do you still wanna see him? I guess you can wait in the living room until he wakes up."
I never met the brat's family before. But now I understand why he does not care about any formalities at all. Still I'm slightly amused to see a former captain knocked out by a human girl.
Urahara's P.O.V.
I should have seen this coming. But I put too much fate in the kid. I believed that he could subdue his hollow but he did not. he choose to become a vizard. Why is beyond my imagination, he knows hollows are bad, he knows he should not interact with them. Everyone told him so, and still he did use his hollow.
I'm mad at him and at myself. I should have done more to insure that that hollow could not exist. I should have taken away his powers when I had the chance but I did not. And I regret it.
"When I see or hear from him I will let you know immediately. But if I could ask for a favor. Bring him here before killing him. I can take away all his powers. That way you can clear out the debt he has on the Soul Society for saving it."
Captain Sajin considered my offer.
"I will inform the head captain of this. If you could do that it would be indeed a better option than to kill him. We do have our pride to honor the debt."
"Fine, but if it's to much of an hassle then I will just kill him. Pride or not, he's still a thread."
Soi Fon answered.
"Okay, then I will keep on the lookout for him. I want this mess to be over as soon as possible."
Ichigo's P.O.V.
Nothings feels so great as waking up from a nice sleep. Even if you wake up with a horrible stench of alcohol all over the place.
I rose out of bed and began stretching. I need a plan of action. I cannot hide here forever. First I need to find out who that Shinigami is who send me that text. And I also need to find out who else still believes in me. I do not want to hurt anyone who is still on my side.
I closed my eyes again and searched for the riatsus of all Shinigami's in the real world. I found Byakuya's and Renji's at my home. Toushiro's was close as was Kenpachi's, the rest of the captains and Rukia were at Urahara's. I also found weak riatsus all over town. Good thing I decided to come here. I was not in fighting condition before and I will probably have to fight for my life when I encounter someone.
Opening my eyes I felt my stomach rumble. I was hungry. I felt the need to devour souls of Shinigami's or hollows. Guess that is a side effect from merging with a hollow.
I decided to eat any hollow I encounter and eat the souls of any regular Shinigami when they would attack me.
My stomach rumbled again. Looks like I have no choice. I have to eat to stay alive.
Checking that my riatsu is still concealed I prepared myself for a long day. I jumped out of the window in search for some souls.
I did not take long before a group of Shinigami surrounded me.
"Surrender yourself, Kurosaki Ichigo. This is an order from the head captain and the central 46. Drop your Zanpakto and put your hands on your head."
"Yeah, I don't think so. Leave me alone or I will kill you. You are warned."
As expected they attacked all at once. They were weak and I did not even had to use my riatsu to take them all down.
I raised my hand and summoned their souls into my palm. Absorbing them did little for my appetite. But I felt a little better.
Distracted by my new ability to absorb souls I did not notice that Toushiro was suddenly standing behind me. When I did notice I turned to him and got in a fighting stance.
"Relax Kurosaki, I'm on your side."
Hitsugaya P.O.V.
I jumped from rooftop to rooftop searching for that familiar riatsu from Ichigo. I was worried because I could not find it. Normally it was not difficult to find him as his riatsu flowed freely from him.
I was so lost in thought that I almost missed that familiar orange hair in the distance. I flew towards it as fast as I could.
When I arrived he was surrounded by several Shinigami's. I hid myself from sight and saw how Ichigo told them to back off.
As the idiots they are they attacked, the battle was over in an instant. What happened next shocked me. He ate their souls!
I got a better look at him and I saw the changes. You cannot blame me for being surprised but I cannot blame him either as he will need all the power he can get to defend himself.
Suddenly he turned around and got in a battle stance. I crossed my arms and smiled.
"Relax Kurosaki, I'm on your side."
"How do I know you're not lying?"
"Because I was the one to send you those texts."
He relaxed after that.
"Wow, alright. I'm sorry but I did not expect those messages came from you. How did you get my number?"
"Captain Kuchiki got a cellphone from lieutenant Abarai in the past. Your number was already in it, and yes captain Kuchiki is on your side as well."
"Great, anyone else that I should know of? So i can expect who will attack me and who not."
"As far as I know we're the only ones to support you. And about that, Soul Society does not know this. Officially we are enemy's. Got that?"
"Yes, of course. So what are we going to do? I have no clue what to do next."
He looked so at loss for a moment.
"I suggest to stay low for a while. After the shock of you having a hollow in your soul, maybe everyone will calm down and reconsider what they're doing."
"Maybe, but if they think I'm still gonna fight for them after this. They could be no more wrong."
At that second I felt the riatsu off an Shinigami of the second squad. He was too far away to hear what we were saying but it would become suspicious if we did not fight after this.
"Kurosaki, don't look but we are being watched. Pretend to become angry and I will attack. Got it?"
"Yeah, I noticed it to. I'll text you the place where I'm staying. But now come at me !"
I drew Hyourimaru and did not waste time. I released my Bankai from the start and came at him with everything I got. He blocked my first attack with ease. Good. I do not plan to hold anything back but I know Ichigo can handle it. I just hope he can defeat me before the others come to join the fight as well.
Line break
AN: another chapter done, they are becoming longer.
another thanks for the next reviewers:
Hylla, Heavenly God (again :3) and Dragonaut344Doomed
Dragonaut344Doomed you actually gave me inspiration for the next chapters, about the protecting thing. Thx for that.
Love
Neko
