So, when I first started this I told myself that I wouldn't care whether I got many reviews or not but I would really appreciate just one review that wasn't my own sister trying to troll me. Thanks.

Chapter 7: Safe and Sound

Kenpachi Zaraki was pissed off. He'd finally found his damn lieutenant, only for her to lead him dead end after dead end. How was he ever gonna find this Ryoka if he kept just kept running around in circles? "Are you sure this time? Cause if it's another dead end …"

"Of course I'm sure Ken-chan, if you wanna find the ryoka you'd better turn right now" said Yachiru, hopping further up onto Kenpachi's shoulder, a gleeful smile on her face. Kenpachi turned right at the nearest corner and by some miracle it wasn't a dead end but they were still nowhere near where they wanted to be.

"See, I told you I was right" said Yachiru.

"I guess" replied Kenpachi, "wait a minute, what the hell is going on here!" At the end of the road, lying face down on the ground was Kenpachi's third seat, Ikkaku Madarame and beside him, half way through a wall was his fifth seat, Yumichika Ayesegawa. Ikkaku woke up startled, stumbled to his feet and said "Captain?" with a mixture of terror and bewilderment before falling back down again.

"What the fuck happened to you guys?" asked Kenpachi, inspecting the state of Yumichicka and once satisfied that he wasn't dead, walked over to Ikkaku.

"We had a, uh, run in with our former third seat" said Ikkau.

"You mean the brat's here aswell, this just keeps getting better!" exclaimed Kenpachi. Yachiru suddenly jumped up onto his shoulder.

"So you met Takikitty as well baldy!" she yelled, "Ooh, you got beat pretty badly baldy."

"SHUT UP! AND I AM NOT BALD!"

"Wait a minute" said Kenpachi, looking over at Yachiru, "you knew that Takeshi was here this whole time and you didn't tell."

"Oops" she said as she sunk back down his shoulder. "Wait, Ken-chan, I know where him and the other ryoka are going" she popped back up, hoping to make Kenpachi happy again.

"Oh really?" a disturbing smile crept onto Kenpachi's face.

"Yeah, they're going to the big white tower to rescue that girl" she said.

"Well I guess we know where we have to go then" he turned around to Ikkaku, "don't worry, I'm sure some squad four guys will be around sometime soon, see ya." He turned and ran, heading straight for the repentance cell.

"It's your fault Ichigo," said Renji, raising his sword and pointing it at Ichigo, "It's because of you that Rukia has to die." Ichigo tightened his grip on his sword, Renji's word were getting to him, making him angrier.

"Ichigo" said Takeshi trying to get through to him, "Don't make any rash decisions. Charging in angry and getting killed isn't going to help."

Ichigo ignored Takeshi's words and rushed at Renji, who swung his sword, firing its whip-like blade at him. Their Swords crashed together and Ichigo was stopped in his tracks, trying to push Renji's sword back. Izuru and Momo appeared on either side of Ichigo and were about to strike him down.

"Shit, come on we've got to help" said Takeshi gesturing to Kyoshi, and flash stepping away. Kyoshi snapped out of his trance and followed. Takeshi appeared beside Ichigo and just managed to block Izuru's blade with his own. The surprise made Momo stop her swing and Kyoshi appeared in front of her, sheepishly avoiding her eyes.

"You just have to make things more difficult don't you" said Takeshi to Ichigo, a smirk on his face as he pushed Izuru away. He turned to Izuru and raised his sword, "alright, let's do this" he said and his sword fell out of his hand and crashed to the ground with a loud clang.

"What the hell?"

"Everything I strike with Wabisuke gets twice as heavy, that zanpaktou is unusable now" explained Izuru.

Takeshi raised his fists and set himself into a fighting stance, "Congratulations, you've just managed to make this fight last a little longer than it was going to."

Ichigo used the distraction to push Zabimaru away and charge at Renji. He swung his sword down but Renji dodged to right and it crashed into the ground. Renji then retracted Zabimaru in such a way that it cut right into Ichigo's left shoulder causing him to fall to one knee.

"Damn!" Ichigo shouted, blood splattering from his wound. He stood up and swung his sword at the same time. Sparks flew as the two zanpaktou's clashed. Renji overpowered Ichigo, pushed him away and attacked with Zabimaru, sending Ichigo crashing into a wall on the other side of the clearing. Renji walked over purposefully, intent on finishing this off.

Meanwhile, Kyoshi was easily dodging the fireballs which Momo was firing, but his sword was still lowered and he wasn't counterattacking. "Why don't you attack?" asked a bewildered Momo, "Are you making fun of me or something?" she charged again, attacking straight on this time, forcing Kyoshi to raise his sword.

"N-no, o-of course not" he muttered, trying desperately not to look at her as he pushed her away. He clenched his eyes shut, 'She's not Kasumi!' he thought, 'Kasumi's dead! Pull yourself together'. He opened his eyes to find that she was no longer in front of him. He turned around to find her, standing there, palm open, casting a kido. "Bakudo 61, Rikujoukourou."

Six beams of yellow energy suddenly surrounded him, closing together and entrapping him. He desperately jerked around, trying to escape while she stood there, her sword pointed at his forehead. "You are under arrest Ryoka."

"No … Kasumi … please don't" his head was down and he was shivering from fear.

"But my name's Momo, not Kasumi …" she said with a perplexed look on her face, "wait, what is that?" she said pointing at his hands. There were black, vein like lines growing slowly from his fingers up his arms. His reiatsu was also changing, becoming colder and darker; it felt like you were being engulfed by the while Kyoshi was just standing there, still trapped, shaking his head and muttering, "Please don't … please don't … please don't."

This sudden change in Kyoshi's reiatsu caught Takeshi's attention. 'Shit, not now' he thought as he easily ducked under Izuru's attack. He twisted on his heal and kicked Izuru in the jaw causing him to stumble back. Takeshi jumped at him and delivered a mid-air kick to the side of the head, sending Izuru flying across the clearing and knocking him out.

Takeshi flash stepped over to behind Momo and swiftly hit her in the back of the neck. She fell to the ground straight away and her Kido disappeared. Takeshi put his hands on Kyoshi's shoulders and bent down so he was at eye level, "It's alright, I'm here for you" he said softly, "everything's alright."

Kyoshi, looked up, the whites of his left eye had gone completely black, and the black veins were creeping up his neck. "She … Kasumi … I couldn't …" he stuttered, tears flowing down his cheeks. Takeshi bent down further and held Kyoshi tighter.

"I know" he said, "don't worry; it's not your fault, it's okay." The veins slowly began to recede and his eyes started changing back to their normal colour. Once the veins were all gone Takeshi stood up again but he kept one hand on Kyoshi's shoulder. Just then a massive amount of reiatsu exploded out at the other end of the clearing. Takeshi turned around swiftly to see what was going on.

There, standing in the middle of the rubble was Ichigo, reiatsu pulsating out in all directions, blood dripping from a cut just above his right eye and from his shoulder wound. Renji had stopped walking and was standing opposite him, "I'm surprised you can still stand after that last attack" he said as he prepared to swing his sword again, "Let's finish this, Ichigo Kurosaki!"

He swung, his whip-like blade flying through the air at Ichigo. Ichigo raised his left hand, opened his left hand and caught the blade, stopping it dead.

'What the fuck? He caught it!' thought Renji, frightened of what he was seeing. Ichigo raised his sword high, releasing more and more reiatsu, shattering Renji's sword shattered from the force. "WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!?" yelled Renji.

"I found my resolve" said Ichigo as he swung his sword down, a blast of blue energy shooting from the edge of the blade and striking Renji. Takeshi and Kyoshi just watched as Renji managed to stumble his way out of the giant crater in the ground that the attack had left, his blood red hair no longer tied up and hanging over his shoulders, and stagger over to Ichigo. He grabbed Ichigo by the shirt and fell to his knees, blood pouring from the gaping wound on his chest.

"It's your fault" he said.

Ichigo looked down at him, sadness on his face, "I know" he replied.

"Please, you have to save her" he fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood. Ichigo looked up, towards the white tower in the distance.

"I know."