I hope you guys enjoy Chapter 8 of Science and Faith.
Chapter 8: In Hueco Mundo
Saru growled at Tora. He greatly annoyed her. His not give a shit attitude about their situation was starting to irritate her. Hebi's silence was also bothering her. She was aware that if they did not get away soon Renji would die and where would that leave them?
Tora growled back at Saru. He did not care for her. She was bossy and loud and a pain. He blamed her lack of drive for why Renji had become "weak" and "disabled". He did not like how she tended to the fading shingami's soul. He could care less if Renji died. He was just a weak link anyway. Tora grew tired of carrying around such a weak individual on his strong legs.
"Just let me kill and absorb him alright , Saru… I have saved this body like you requested but I do not see a reason to save his soul." Tora replied drawing his double of the blade Zabimaru.
The red haired monkey growled at him and drew a copy of Zabimaru herself.
Hebi just stayed out of the way as the two older and stronger willed spirits duked it out. "You know… If you don't straighten up soon… you'll really fade away... You know that right?" He asked the translucent outline of Renji Abarai that lay collapsed on the path.
Renji was unresponsive and remained broken on the floor.
Mariya looked out of the window at the approaching shinigami. "What do you plan to do? I'm sure they've come here to look for their missing comrade."
"Are you ready to part with him?" Leona asked without looking up from a computer monitor. "I have been monitoring my experiment from here and it seems to be successful. I think we can proceed to the next step."
"At the moment he seems healthy." Mariya replied. "But I have this feeling if we don't put an end to those two shinigami here we will have problems in the future."
A young man in a light grey pant suit got up and cracked his neck. "No one will get in my way. I will have that the destined one for myself and we will give raise to Kamui and see to the end of that world."
"Leon…" Mariya began, "To get to Kurosaki again since you set off so many alarms last time. Will be quite difficult."
"I will do anything for Lord Kamui." Leon replied, "Even kill useless shinigami dogs." He growled.
Mariya shook his head. "Then let us go greet our guest and see what they want." He smirked. "I shall go wake the kitty. I bet he'd like to get some exercise."
Tora kicked Saru in the gut then moved to strike down with Zabimaru when Hebi finally intervened. The two blades met just centimeters from Saru's abdomen and remained there. Tora growled then suddenly disappeared returning to consciousness.
"We're going to play a game…" Mariya said once golden eyes focused on him. "I have something I want you to deliver to Kisuke Urahara." He said slipping something into a sleeve of Renji's clothes. "Don't be forceful now." He said unleashing the chains that bound Renji's body to the cell.
There was a huge amount of reitsu released from the far side of the compound near where Shuuhei and Byakuya were traveling. They paused at the sight of two lower level arrancar chasing something.
The two shinigami approached quickly to find it was indeed Renji and he had apparently managed to escape whatever confines he'd been kept in. The two arrancar pursuing him caught the fleeing redhead with little effort.
The first arrancar held Renji down while the other began to rip the disarmed shinigami's clothes from his body.
Byakuya was disgusted by such a barbaric display. He rose his hand to release his shikai when he turned to find Hisagi had disappeared. He turned back and found Hisagi kneeling beside Renji whom appeared unconscious between the two beheaded arrancar bodies.
Renji was unconscious on the ground. He looked different as Byakuya approached. The noble almost gasped as he stared at his fukutaicho.
"RENJI!" Shuuhei called but received no response. "Something's wrong..." Shuuhei said a moment later as he began to remove some of the ripped clothing. "Kuchiki-taicho... I think Renji's dying..." He had this extremely frightened look on his face. Slowly a rough hand traced a pale unmarked body.
Shuuhei tried to rouse the red head again to the same result. The redhead has extremely shallow breathing.
"We're in the open here let's return to base." Byakuya commanded.
Just as they got Renji off the ground a blade came to rest against Byakuya's cheek.
"Why hello there... You must be Kitty Cat's taicho." Mariya teased. " Shakkahō." He launched the red Hadō into Byakuya's back.
Izuru froze in Urahara's kitchen. He felt like someone has just hit him with cold water. He placed a hand over his chest and squeezed.
" Kira san..." Kisuke said taking in the other's strange behavior.
" Something's wrong..." Kira wheezed before he hit the floor.
Kira passed out.
"You could have been nicer..." Wabisuke complained .
"Shut up Wabisuke. " Saru snapped.
"Oh so Gloomy is here too..." That condescending voice that could only belong to Kazeshini.
Wabisuke glared at Kazeshini.
"These two are useless... You need to call their Shinigami here ." Saru scolded. "We need the shinigami !" She shouted in Hebi's ear startling the red haired child.
Hebi looked at her. "SHOUTING ISN'T GOING TO MAKE THEM MATERIALIZE ANY QUICKER!"
Saru's eye twitched.
Hebi rolled his eyes and went back to concentrating.
Ichigo yawned as he woke from a nap. He sat up in bed and nearly jumped out of his skin upon seeing Grimmjow sitting in the chair across from his bed where Byakuya usually sat. "HOLY SHIT!" he said grabbing his chest.
"Oh good you finally decided to wake up." Grimmjow replied ignoring the teen's startled behavior.
"We need to have a talk..." Harribel said causing the teen to look over to see the blond woman standing there.
"How did you guys get here? I thought you were dead." he added that last part looking at Grimmjow.
"It's not just us." Harribel informed him. "Ulquiorra and Nelliel are also here..."
"Ulquiorra..." Ichigo replied with an odd expression. "He's dead."
"Was..." Grimmjow replied.
"Is." Ichigo retorted. "I saw him turn to dust."
"Listen shit stain he's not dust now got it?" Grimmjow hissed. Panthera tended to be rather territorial of their things and at the moment Ulquiorra was very important thing to Grimmjow.
"Calm down Grimmjow." Halibel warned placing a hand on his shoulder. "He doesn't mean to disrespect Ulquiorra."
The blue haired male regarded her out of the corner of his eye. He growled clearly losing patience with the teenager.
"Since when do you care about Ulquiorra? Orihime told me you guy never got along." Ichigo questioned.
"Shut up! You don't know anything about that." Grimmjow hissed.
"My my he's so touchy..." Shiro's voice echoed. " Ask them why they're here. .." Shiro was sitting by a koi pond in Byakuya's inner world. " King, you should invest in some decent grass and animals for our place." He placed his finger in the water and smiled when a koi nipped his finger.
Ichigo rolled his eyes. " you're as pleasant as ever." He looked at Harribel. " How did you get here? Why are you here?"
" We are awaiting the return of Lord Aizen. But in th-"
"WHAT?" Ichigo interrupted her. "Aizen was jailed."
"As we have been informed..." Harribel continued. "As i was saying. In the interim Hueco Mundo has had some unpleasant guests settling in..."
Grimmjow let out a low growl.
"Yes, the Cazador are proving to be rather troublesome especially with the loss of Sosuke. They've felt now is their chosen time to enact their 'Birth Rights King'. " She continued. "So we have come to you... the chosen heir."
"Sorry... to interrupt your story... but I had to put King away... He cannot be told just yet about the hand fate has dealt him..." Shiro chided.
"Aw you're the one we need to speak with." Grimmjow said sitting forward.
Shiro smiled. "My my... Flattery will get you nowhere..." he teased.
Grimmjow looked at those black eyes. "You are the one aren't you?"
" Why yes... I am... and I'm going to tell you now. You're king is different from ours. But we have a mutual interest in the downfall of the Cazador so yes... We will assist you."
Shiro turned his head. "I'm needed elsewhere. Come with me." He said looking and Grimmjow and shunpoed out of the room.
Grimmjow followed suit leaving Harribel behind.
Warm blood splattered on the white sands of Hueco Mundo as Byakuya stumbled back and Leon landed a few feet away sword drawn.
Chapter 8: In Hueco Mundo concluded
TBC...
