Sorry for the long delay, homework and christmas shopping's been eating into my writing time

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, although if I did, the Shinigami Womens association would have a restraining order on Mayuri, Chad's band would've gone multi-platinum and Renji would be the newest addition to the Kuchiki family

Chapter Seven: The Belts of a champion

The Kuroasaki clinic stood out in the late afternoon sun as it slipped away under to horizon, bathing the building in a warm orange-yellow glow, giving the place a calming, serene appearance. Unfortunately that didn't extend inside the building

"GET OFF ME YOU FRUITCAKE!" Ichigo yelled, throwing his father back across the kitchen after he'd taken him by surprise, yet again.

"Oh Masaki, what a terrible child we've raised" Isshin wailed, kneeling before the massive portrait of his wife on the far side of the kitchen

"Do they always go at it like this?" a woman's spirit asked Karin, who ignored it as she sat at the table, sipping from her juice carton

"It's not polite to ignore people Karin" Yuzu told her sister. Karin shrugged

"Meh, I'm still in denial about this whole spirit seeing thing" she replied taking another sip of juice as the ghost behind her groaned and banged on the table, trying to get her attention.

"I need some air" Ichigo declared, stalking past Yuzu and Karin to his room, the ghost made to follow him but he turned around and the glare he gave it made the spirit shirk away and cower behind the table

"Is he always this…moody?" it asked Karin

"Pretty much" she said, not turning around

In his room Ichigo opened his window and sat down on the bed, enjoying the cool air drifting in from outside.

"Ichigo, Ichigo" a muffled voice cried, Ichigo stood up and looked down to see a flattened Kon on the bed where he'd been sitting

"Oh, it's you, didn't see you there" he told him, grabbing a magazine and flicking through it

"Didn't see me? You nearly killed me. And would it kill ya to cut back on the fast food, you weigh a ton" Kon yelled

"Do not" Ichigo replied, pummelling Kon with his right hand

"THIS WILL NOT STAND, PREPARE FOR MY REVENGE ICHIGO KUROASKI!" Kon cried, lunging at Ichigo, arms outstretched. Not looking up Ichigo grabbed Kon and threw him forwards, out of the window

"Maybe I can get a good nights sleep tonight" he muttered before seeing a hollow on the opposite rooftop

"Guess not" he said, sighing as he looked down into the dumpster beneath his window, trying to see Kon

"This is perfect, he'll go after that hollow I sent there as bait, then we can grab him" Tenalava told Szayel

"Are you sure he'll take the bait?" the Octava Espada asked the 5th

"Definitely, he's a chivalrous fool, he won't run the risk of the hollow devouring anyone, his kind are the easiest to manipulate" Tenalava replied, smiling wickedly

"Not if we've got anything to say about it" said a trio of voices from down below them, looking down Szayel, Yoruichi and Tenalava saw Orihime, Tatsuki, Sora, Kio, Hanataro and Uryu looking up at him

"How charming, we'll play with you kids later, we've got a soul to corrupt" Tenalava said, turning to leave. A blue energy arrow struck the rooftop right next to him, blowing a small chunk out of it

"You sure about that?" Uryu asked, aiming the arrow at the 5th Espada

"Positive" Tenalava replied, snapping his fingers, all around them hollows appeared from behind trash cans, out of the shadows and dropped down form the sky to surround the group

"Are you sure you want to go through with this? We have you at quite a disadvantage" Szayel asked the group. A small cat like hollow to Szayel's left was struck down by a blue energy arrow

"That answer your question?" Uryu asked

"Quite" Tenalava replied, the hollows converged on the group and battle commenced

Tatsuki immediately assumed her fighting stance, determined to meet to oncoming charge of hollows head on. Suddenly Kio stepped in front of her

"Stay back, you don't have any powers, you'll only get in the way in a fight like this" he ordered, more harshly than he'd meant it to sound but to many people had been killed in the hunt and he didn't want to add another one to that total

"Just do what he stays Tatsuki, I don't want to see my best friend get hurt" Orihime told her kindly, summoning her Santen Kesshun to protect herself, Tatsuki and Hanataro

"Don't worry, this happens to me a lot, you kind of get used to it" Hanataro told her to reassure her, unfortunately it didn't work

"I should be fighting out there, I'm not a coward, I'm not weak" she muttered under her breath

Sora, Kio and Uryu all stood back to back. Uryu drew his bow, Sora activated Acidwires shikai and Kio raised his left hand, preparing a cero blast

"You do have a zanpaku-to you know, maybe you should think about using it for a change" Sora told 12th Divisions third seat

"You've got a point, I have been neglecting it a bit lately" Kio said, drawing the weapon

"Valazachi Oniga (Berserk Wolf). Unleash the blade storm!" at his command the zanpaku-to transformed into its shikai. Now Kio sported a blade on each wrist, elbow, foot and heel. With a war like cry he leapt into the air, a whirlwind of blades and landed in the midst of the hollows, two bird like hollows dropped to the floor, hacked to ribbons. He somersaulted, spun, kicked and swiped, his unique caporea style of combat sending many hollows to the Soul Society, after being hacked to pieces.

Uryus arrows landed amongst the hollows, dropping a dozen within seconds, blood trickled down his hands onto the sidewalk but his pace or the intensity of his stare didn't falter once

Soras Acidwire danced and arched through the air and through the ranks of the hollows, many dropped or fell back shrieking in agony, limbs or masks melted away by the 10th Division shinigami's zanpaku-to

"Damm it, it took me all morning to get those hollows into position" Tenalava growled

"All morning? You mean you anticipated this would happen?" Szayel asked, amazed. The 5th Espada scowled

"Not really, I'd planned to ambush Kurosaki with this trap but it works just as well for these meddlesome Soul Reapers and Ryoka" then he noticed Tatsuki standing behind Orihimes shield and the look on her face and grinned wickedly

"Follow me, this ought to be fun" he cackled, leaping down from the rooftop, both he and Szayel used flashsteps to vanish and re-appear behind the shield. Tenalava hurled Hanataro off to one side, hitting a wall, which collapsed on him with an almighty crash and the Octava Espada knocking Orihime down with a backhanded blow

"You want to fight Ryoka? Then why don't you try us?" he asked, she glared back but said nothing

"Guess you need a little incentive" Tenalava said, reaching down and hauling Orihime up roughly by her neck

"Let her go!" Tatsuki yelled, Tsubaki and the Shun Sun Riku not used in the shield all flew at Tenalava, but he swatted them aside like flies. Uryu saw the two Espada but he and the others were too busy fighting the hollows to get through to help

"Make me" Tenalava said, almost childishly, tightening his grip. Tatsuki balled her hands up into fists then realised how futile it would be if she punched him

"How can you defeat an Espada if you can't even defeat yourself?" Szayel asked her mockingly. He drew and swallowed Fornicaras, turning into his released form and spraying black liquid form his back. It fell on Tatsuki and slid away, creating eight copies like it had done with Uryu and Renji back in Las Noches

Szyael gave the command and the copies rushed Tatsuki

'What can I do? Orihime always used to need me to protect her. But now she's got these powers she doesn't need me anymore, all I do is get in her way' she thought as she blocked and kicked back two of her clones

'I don't have any powers, I can't do anything anymore. I can't even save Orihime, like I promised her I would' two more of the clones grabbed her arms as flashes of colour appeared around her torso, then vanished again

'I'm pathetic, what would Ichigo say if he saw me now?" she thought as a third clone pummelled her abdomen. Through the pain she saw an image of Ichigo and herself appear, she remembered it from the talk they'd had before he, Uryu and Chad had gone off to Hueco Mundo

'I want to go, Orihime's my friend too carrot top' she demanded. Ichigo shook his head

'You can't, Uryu and Chad have their own powers, you don't, you'd only get killed and then who'd protect Orihime?"

"I can't anymore, you guys fight those monsters, all I'm good for is beating up mean kids" she said, her eyes downcast. Ichigo reached out and grabbed her chin, lifting her head up to look him directly in the eye

"You can stop the pity party right now Tatsuki, Orihime still needs you. You made a promise to her and you're gonna keep it, no matter who she needs protecting from. You got that?" he didn't wait for her to reply before casting her his usual scowl, turning around and walking away as the image faded

"I got it Ichigo, I got it" she whispered, suddenly there was a massive gust of wind and a blinding light, throwing the two Espada and the clones backwards, with Tenalava letting go of Orihime

When the light faded Tatsuki looked down and gasped at what she saw. Her street clothes had disappeared, being replaced by a black and white giko and there was a white headband around her head with two black flower symbols on it. But most surprising of all were the belts looped around her torso. There were eight, one red, one black, one blue, one green, one made of metal, one encrusted with clear gemstones, one that was just a length of black chain and one bright yellow.

"Wow Tatsuki, you've got powers now too" Orihime said, standing up, rubbing her neck where Tenalava had grabbed it

"I do?" she replied in amazement, reaching down and touching the yellow belt, which instantly disappeared and re-appeared around her waist

"Powers schmowers, you're still doomed no matter what fancy belts you've got" Tenalava sneered, hurling a cero blast at Tatsuki. The karate champion stretched out her hand, caught the blast and threw it at one of her clones, which was vapourised

"Cool, looks like each of these belts gives me a different power" Tatsuki said, touching the blue belt, which re-appeared in place of the yellow one at her waist, which returned to its original position looped around her torso

"Get her" Szayel yelled to the clones, who rushed Tatsuki, only for her to disappear and re-appear behind one of the clones, as if she was using flashsteps, she swapped the blue belt for the red one and delivered a kick to the clones back, which was propelled into the air and smashed into a wall on the other side of the street. It fell back onto the sidewalk and faded from sight

"Awesome, I think I'm gonna like this, the belts of the champion" she said, deciding on a name for her new powers

"Nice name" Sora commented, dodging an attack from a nearby hollow

Tenalava hurled another cero blast at Tatsuki, who touched the yellow belt and caught the blast again, and hurled it back at the Espada, who had to throw himself to one side to avoid being vapourised by his own attack. Tatsuki swapped to the blue belt, disappearing and re-appearing behind Tenalava. She swapped belts again, this time to the metal one, balling her left hand into a fist she watched as it transformed into metal, then brought it down on top of the 5th Espada with all the force of a wrecking ball. He flew backwards, landed in a flowerbed and came up spitting out soil

"Szayel, screw the trash, we're getting out of here" he snapped, Szayel floated beside him and turned to leave, Yoruichi followed obediently behind him. Before leaving Tenalava pointed a clawed finger at Tatsuki and Orihime

"This is not over, not by a long shot, I hereby swear one of you shall die by the others hand, in the name of the mightiest Vasto Lorde I swear it" he hissed before leaping away. Enraged, Tatsuki made to go after the cowardly Arrancar before Orihime grabbed her shoulder

"Let them go, we need to finish up here" she told her. Tatsuki touched the blue belt and leapt headfirst into the hollow battle royal

Far away Ichigo jumped from rooftop to rooftop, following the small hollow he'd seen near the clinic. It disappeared behind an air vent and he followed it, when he rounded the side of the vent he saw the hollow wasn't there and the sound of clapping filled his ears.

"Well well, you've certainly given my friend Nitruz here a workout" a mocking voice said from the shadows, Ichigo raised Zangetsu as Tenalava stepped out, flanked by Szayel and the little roadrunner like hollow Nitruz.

"You! What're you doing here?" Ichigo demanded, Szayel laughed

"Me? I'm just here for the show" he replied as Tenalava stepped forward

"Which would be my show. Tenalava Conquistes, 5th Espada, at your service" he said, taking a small bow

"You can't be the 5th Espada, Nnoitra's the 5th" Ichigo replied, noticing another figure standing behind the Arrancar. Tenalava let out a horrible, grating laugh

"Please, you think that chauvinist was Aizens real choice? I'm the real 5th Espada, Nnoitra's just a poster boy to stop idiots like Grimmjow from taking the post. Now I'd like you to meet my 'sister'" he said as Yoruichi stepped out of the shadows and Ichigo's eyes nearly bulged out of his head

"Yoruicih? What're you doing with them?" he practically yelled

"Honestly, I'm not sure anymore" she replied honestly before Tenalava clicked Cascavela and she sprang into action, fulfilling her role as the goddess of flash. She darted forward and retreated back with Zangetsu clutched in her hand which she handed to her 'brother'

"Hey, give that back" Ichigo roared, activating his hollow form and lunging at the Espada

"Excellent, you just made my job a lot easier Ryoka. You three keep him back while I use this" Tenalava snapped at Nitruz, Szayel and Yoruichi. The three ran to intercept the substitute Soul Reaper while Tenalava grasped the tenshintai in one hand and plunged Zangetsu into it with his right. The doll shook violently for a minute before its appearance changed to resemble that of a 30-40 year old man, the spirit of Zangetsu

"Who are you? Where's Ichigo?" it demanded

"Sorry old timer, wrong number" Tenalava replied, stabbing the doll again. Zangetsu vanished to be replaced by a deathly white figure with soulless black and yellow eyes. Ichigo's inner hollow

"Hey, where am I and who're you?" You'd better tell me quick or you're dead" it snarled

"I'm Tenalava Conquistes, a hollow just like you, and I'm your ticket out of that soul prison he shoved you in" Tenalava told it, jabbing a finger at Ichigo

"O.K, I'm listening, what do I have to do?" it asked, relaxing ever so slightly

"Just take out all your frustrations on his nearest and dearest. Then to top it all off you get his body when you're done and a free ticket to the Arrancar army, sound like a good deal?" Tenalava asked, holding out a clawed hand. The hollow smiled, a cruel, evil, sadistic smile to match its rescuers

"Well when you put it that way, I'm in" it replied, shaking the hand of the Espada mariachi

"No…Zangetsu…stop him" Ichigo moaned, slipping into unconciousness

"Sorry Ichigo but Zangetsu doesn't live here any more. I'm El Agateau, hollow extraordinaire" it cackled as it's formed changed again, becoming a white, humanoid lizard with long orange hair, the last link to Ichigo Kurosaki

"So what now?" El Agateau asked Tenalava. The 5th Espada looked down and saw three Soul Reapers and one Espada racing along the street towards them

"Well now, we'll take this team for a little test drive" he replied as Ichigo faded out and lost consciousness

In chapter eight – Rukia, Renji, Ikkaku and Grimmjow try and save Ichigo, but have they arrived too late?

To be cotninued, all reviews and feedback are encouraged and appreciated