"Speaking"
'Thoughts'
Flashback
Zanpakuto/Technique
Disclaimer: I do not own any mangas or animes.
Chapter 8:
Attack in Tokyo
Dong! Ding! Dang! Dong!
The sound of the ringing bell indicated that it is the time for lunch, just like in every school. All of the students in each and every class are able to have a long hour of break time, just to eat lunch and hanging out in the school, that includes the school grounds. It is like that in every other school. No exceptions, no restrictions, just an hour of break.
Hirako Shinji was seen standing against a wall next to a window, in one of the hallways in the first floor. Although that he was spending a good time in his first day in school, he didn't forget about his mission: to investigate the large Reiryoku that is found somewhere inside of the school. However, he couldn't tell the exact place where it was stored. But that wasn't the only thing he has to do right now. He also have to keep an eye on a certain someone. The brown-haired boy who can actually see Shinigamis without anything strange that occurred to him. Shinji couldn't sense a powerful Reiryoku within that boy, yet, he can see Shinigamis. But why?
Right now, Shinji could see the brown-haired boy standing a little far away in the halls, standing against the opposite wall, eating his home-made sandwich with no one around. It was weird. He seemed to be an honest boy to have friends with, but he doesn't have any friends to eat with. Shinji wondered... Then, he decided to try and speak with the brown-haired boy, in hopes to learn more about him. He got off from the wall and proceeded to walk towards him. "Hey there." he said to the boy with a smile.
The brown-haired boy looked to see Shinji walking towards him. "Oh. You're the new student, right?" he asked.
"That's right. And you're the guy who I met up in the rooftop, right?"
The boy nodded. "Yeah."
"Well, since we're now speaking face-to-face, how about I just introduce myself to you? My name is Hirako Shinji. It's nice to meet you, Mister..."
"Ibuki. Ibuki Keita." answered the boy, named Keita.
"Ah, Ibuki-san! Nice to meet you." Shinji said, grinning at Keita in a polite matter. "So, um... Do you have any friends around? Any friends at all so you can introduce me to them?"
Keita simply shook his head. "No. Not really."
Shinji raised his eyebrow. So it was true. Keita doesn't have any friends to begin with. But why is that, he wondered. "Hm... Sounds kinda lonely having no friends, right?"
"Yeah... I guess so."
"Hm... How about this? I can be your friend no problem. Dunno why no one is friends with you, but I can be a very good friend for you. What do you say, Ibuki-san?" said Shinji, as he lend out his hand towards the brown-haired student.
Keita stared at his hand for a while, then he slowly turned his head away. "... I don't think so. Thanks for the offer."
"Huh?" Again, Shinji raised his eyebrow. Why was Keita rejecting him being his friend? What was the problem of having friends?
After a while, Keita got off from the wall where he stood against, as he was preparing to walk away. "I'm sorry. But I need some time for myself, will you?" said Keita. "I don't mean to sound mean to you, but I still want to have some time alone. It's nice to chat with you, Shinji-san." With that, Keita walked away from the blond, heading to another location where he could have some time alone.
Shinji simply watched him go away from him, with his hand not being grasp once. Then, he finally put down his hand, as his look became serious. "... So he's rejecting making friends, huh?" he said, as he could tell a piece of information from the lone boy. The reason of that rejection was something that he was not going to make it out of Keita. But he will still try and learn more about him as much as possible. But right now, he still has to find the large Reiryoku within the school, where ever it is...
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"Three large Miso Ramen, please!" said Orihime with a cheerful expression on her face to the owner of a Ramen stand, which was found in one of the large sidewalks in the city of Tokyo. Since Shinji was busy trying to find the large Reiryoku in the school and investigate more on the brown-haired boy from the rooftop, the others decided to go and hang out inside of the city, for a while, just until school is over.
As the Ramen stand owner was done with the four bowls of Ramen, and placed them on a large plate, he handed it to the aubern-haired girl. "There you go. Three Miso Ramen, just as you ordered." he said.
"Thank you very much!" said Orihime, as she took the large plate in her hands and walked towards her table, trying not to bump into people and their own tables. After she reached her table, where Uryuu and Chad are waiting for her, she settled it down on it and sat down on her seat. "Here we go! Three Miso Ramen for the three of us!"
"Thanks, Inoue-san." said Uryuu, as he took one of the bowl of Ramen to him, with Chad doing the same with his own. "It's been a while since I've eaten Ramen like that. Won't you agree, Chad?" he asked, as he received a nod from the large boy.
"It's nice to enjoy some Ramen every once in a while! They're one of the best things ever!" said Orihime, as she giggled. "But it's too bad that Kurosaki-kun and the others won't be joining us because they're Shinigamis..." When she said that, she frowned a little. But then, she quickly got over it and her joyful expression came back on her face. "Oh well! Itadakimasu!" she shouted out, before she took the wooden chopsticks in her hands and pulled them off from each other. Uryuu and Chad did the same thing, and the three of them began to enjoy their food.
Meanwhile, just above a certain building next to the large sidewalk where the Ramen stand took place, Ichigo, Rukia and Renji were stuck sitting and waiting on the building, while they watched the others eating their food with ease. At the smell of the Ramen that's been floating up in the air, Renji's stomach growl, as he frowned at the sound and feel of it a little. "Man... This sucks. Why can't we just join the others to eat Ramen as well? Just the smell of it really annoys me...!" he said.
"Don't be ridiculous, Renji." said Rukia. "You know that everyone else can't see us, and they'll be scared to see a ghost eating Ramen with the others. It will lead to a commotion and we'll cause trouble around the city. It's best that we should stay up here and avoid making a huge commtion in the city."
"But we haven't eaten anything since yesterday...! Can't we just eat something before I go crazy about it...?!"
Rukia sighed. "Alright, alright... But we'll have to ask Orihime to buy us some food, when the coast is clear. So until then, just keep hidden, Renji." Not much to her surprise, Renji let out an annoyed groan, as his stomach continued to torture him with the thought of eating food.
Ichigo was the only one who didn't say anything when they were up there. His thoughts weren't about food or to stay hidden from the crowd. They were about the boy from the rooftop of the school. He was still thinking about why that boy can see him and the others, when they're Shinigamis, a spiritual entity not visible to normal human beings. He could understand that the boy wasn't normal, but what made him see spirits? And how? "That guy..."
Rukia turned to Ichigo, after hearing him. "Huh? What's wrong, Ichigo?"
"That guy from the school... He can see us, right?"
"Uh... yes, that's right. And what are you trying to say?"
Ichigo paused a little, before answering her. "Well, it's kinda odd for him to see us like that. I don't feel any strong Reiryoku within him, and he can still see us... There might be a reason for him to be able to see us, but I don't know what..."
"Hm... Well, we'll have to wait until we meet up with Shinji again. If he was able to get something out of that boy, then maybe we can understand clearly. I mean, I'm sure that there was something that occurred to him before, which made him see us..."
Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, you're right... I guess it's not something to worry about." he said, in which Rukia nodded. The three Shinigamis continued to sit still and wait for Orihime and the others to make a move after their lunch. Suddenly, a beeping sound was heard. And Ichigo quickly looked down to see his Shinigami badge on his belt blinking bright. "Huh?"
Both Rukia and Renji looked at the badge at the same time, upon hearing it. "Ichigo, that's your...!" said Rukia, upon remembering the badge.
After seeing it blink and beeping like that, Ichigo widened his eyes in shock. "That means...!" he stated, before looking elsewhere, alerted. "A Hollow...? In Tokyo?!" As he said that, he and the others heard a sound of the many glasses being shattered, alerting everyone who can hear it from afar.
Orihime, Uryuu and Chad got alerted from their feeding session, as they turned to look at where the sound was heard. "Huh? What is...?" Orihime began to ask, wondering what caused the shattering glasses.
"Orihime!" The three people heard Rukia's voice shouting from above, as they looked up to see her on top of a building. "You guys! We gotta get to the area where the sound is coming from! There's a Hollow over there!"
That made everyone gasp of shock, upon hearing the news coming from Rukia. "A Hollow?! In Tokyo?!" exclaimed Uryuu.
"We have to get to that Hollow, before it could cause any more damage in the city." said Chad, as he got up from his seat and ran towards the direction of where the Hollow was supposed to be. Both Orihime and Uryuu nodded, as they followed Chad in his sprint to get to the area.
Meanwhile, Ichigo, Renjo and Rukia were already jumping from building to building, heading quickly to the area where the Hollow is. They got to there quicker than they expected, as they were able to find it, stopping on one of the buildings. However, it wasn't only one, but a group of Hollows in one place. Rukia widened her eyes in surprised. "A group of Hollows?!"
Down to the street, many windows of the buildings where shattered, and the civilians were running and evacuating from the area. There existed a group of Hollows that were working their way, rampaging through the area, as a group, to the Shinigamis' surprised. They were only five of them. Three Jibakurai in different colors, and two Shriekers in different colors as well. "That's not right... How come there are Hollows working in groups?!" exclaimed Renji.
However, his exclamation alerted one of the Shriekers, as it looked up to see the Shinigamis on one of the buildings. As it shrieked out loudly, it flew up towards them, attempting to attack them. "Damn it! It comes!" shouted Ichigo, as he grabbed his Zanpakuto from his back and moved it in front of him. Both Rukia and Renji, however, both jumped out of the way, with Ichigo dealing with the Shrieker. "You're too stubborn!" he shouted, as he quickly slashed the Shrieker into two, just as it reached him.
Both Rukia and Renji landed on the ground of the streets, in front of the group of Hollows that they are currently facing. Upon seeing the two Shinigamis, the rest of the Hollows were all alerted. All three of the Jibakurai lunged at them, with their claws ready to swipe them. However, the two Shinigamis jumped out of the way, before they could get to them, as each of them jumped at each side. One of the Jibakurai turned to face Rukia, who was still in the air, and lunged at her. "Damn!" she shouted, as she drew out her Zanpakuto. As the Jibakurai reached her and attempted to swipe her with its claws, she quickly slashed off its attacking hand and kicked it off from her, sending it crashing to the ground.
When Renji landed on the ground next to the two other Jibakurai, he quickly drew out his Zanpakuto, calling out its name. "Howl, Zabimaru!" By placing his hand on the bottom of the blade, he moved up to the top, turning it into a long, six segmented blade. "Take this!" he shouted, as he swung his Zanpakuto to the side, as it extended into a whip. One of the Jibakurai noticed the attack and jumped out of the way, by the other was unfortunate enough to be caught in the blade, as it was being pulled into the swing. "Go down!" he shouted, as he swung his Zanpakuto up, pulling the Jibakurai with it, and then he slammed it back down to the ground, crashing it hard.
Orihime, Uryuu and Chad were able to join up with them in the area, as they could see that the battle has already started. The other Jibakurai, which landed back on the ground, noticed the three arriving in the battle, as they gasped to see it looking at their way. It lunged towards it in the effort of eating them. However, Chad, with his right arm transformed, quickly went in front of the two and punched the Jibakurai hard on its head, sending it flying far away from them. "Inoue-san. Protect Ishida-san, while I join up with the others against the Hollows." he said, as he charged into the battlefield.
Orihime nodded in confirmation. "Right! Stay behind me, Ishida-kun!" she said, as she stood in front of him.
Uryuu nodded. As he stood behind Orihime, a black void appeared behind him, as he noticed it quickly and turned around to look at it. "Inoue-san!" he alerted Orihime, who then turned and see the black void.
Coming out of the black void was another Jibakurai, as it lunged through the void and at the two people. Orihime quickly stood face of the Hollow, as she called out her technique. "Santen Kesshun!" A large, triangular barrier appeared in front of her, as it blocked the Jibakurai's lunge. Both her and Uryuu jumped away from it, as she began to call out another technique. "Koten Zanshun!" As she called it out, a small and sharp barrier appeared, as it flew straight at the Jibakurai. Just as the triangular barrier disappeared, the small one went through the Jibakurai, cutting it into two, as it disappeared into a blurry mist.
"Thanks, Inoue-san." said Uryuu to her, as she turned to look at him with a smile. However, before they have the time to relax, four more black void appeared around them. "There's more?!" Uryuu shouted, as they positioned themselves to guard themselves from the upcoming attack of the new Hollows.
One of them lunged out of its black void, appearing itself as a Shrieker. Before it could even reach the two of them, Ichigo quickly slashed it off from the sky. "I don't think so!" he shouted as he landed on the ground upon defeating the Shrieker. A large Hollow appeared from the black void next to Ichigo, revealing itself to be a Fishbone. Upon going through the void, it turned its head to look at Ichigo, who quickly turned to face it. With a large cry, it swung one of its arm towards him, which he easily dodged by jumping away. The Fishbone began to move towards Ichigo to attempt to attack him once more, but suddenly, it was attacked by a large energy blast that was shot out at it, as it was disintegrated by it. As Ichigo turned to see who shot it, he saw Chad with his right arm pointing at the direction where the Fishbone was. "Thanks, Chad!" said Ichigo with a smile. Chad responded with a nod.
Two Hollows lunged out of the two last black void, attempting to attack both Orihime and Uryuu. "Inoue-san, look out!" Uryuu shouted, as he and Orihime quickly turned to look at the two Hollows from behind, one of them being the Shrieker and the other, another Jibakurai. Before it could reach them, Ichigo quickly slashed the Shrieker to the side, as well as blocking the Jibakurai's attack from reaching the two of them.
"You two! Move to a safe spot!" shouted Ichigo to the two of them. They both nodded and they ran out of the way of the battle. As Ichigo continued to struggle against its hands, he quickly pushed it off of him and made a quick slash at it, putting an end to it. "Don't waste my time!"
Meanwhile, Rukia was fighting against the last Shrieker, as she dodged every attack that it dived at her. She was trying to find an opening to attack. With another dive being dodged, she found it. "You're open!" she shouted, as she charged at it and slashed off its arm. However, it wasn't done with her yet, as it swung its other arm at her, as she was sent flying to the side. However, she quickly recovered and landed on the ground safely. "Damn it!" she cursed, as she saw the Shrieker lunging at her, as it cried out.
However, Renji's Zanpakuto, Zabimaru, was quickly swung down towards it, its picks stabbing against it. "Not on my watch!" shouted Renji to the side, as he quickly pulled his Zanpakuto towards it, ripping the top of the Shrieker hard, ending it in a painful blow. As Zabimaru returned into its normal lenght, Renji ran up to Rukia to see if she was alright. "Hey, are you ok, Rukia?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Renji."
"Rukia! Renji!" They both heard Ichigo shouting at to them, as they turned to see him and Chad running up to them. As they reached them, Ichigo asked of their condition. "Are you two alright? Nothing bad happened to you?" He received a nod from the two of them. "Alright. That's good to hear." After he had said that, suddenly, numerous of black voids appeared next to them, but not where Orihime and Uryuu were hiding for safety. Numerous of Jibakurai, Shriekers and even a few Fishbones appeared out of those black voids, facing the group. Ichigo growled softly at the sight of them, as he prepared himself to fight once more. "Here we go again!" he shouted, as the rest were in their attack position once more.
However, strangely, the Hollows did not do anything at the sight of that. But instead, they moved out of the way to each of the sides. Behind them, there was someone who appeared himself so suddenly from behind, surprising the others. "What...?" said Rukia, upon seeing that someone.
The mysterious figure began to walk through the way that the Hollows were making way for. As he got closer to them, they could see the appearance of the person. It was a black, muscular and bald man with a black beard, with a pair of golden-yellow eyes. He wore a black jacket, in which the sleeves were assumed to be rippen off of it, as well as red shirt underneath the jacket. He also wore a pair of black pants and black steel boots. He also wore a pair of steel, fingerless gloves. He stared at the group with a serious expression. "... Kurosaki Ichigo." he called out to Ichigo, as he widened his eyes in shock after hearing his name from him. "... I am lucky to find you in this populated city. It saves me the trouble of finding you everywhere in this world."
"What the hell...? Who are you?! Are you the one who controls those Hollows?!" Ichigo shouted at the black man.
The black man smirked. "Indeed. It was a plan to lure you out, by sending a large number of Hollows to find you and to attack you. And it went pretty well, as expected." he said. "Now, to answer your question, allow me to introduce myself to you. I am called Carlos La Bestia."
"... The beast?" said Chad, upon being able to translate the black man's last name.
Carlos nodded. "It seems that one of you understood Spanish. But it is not important now. For I am here for Kurosaki Ichigo."
"What do you want from me...?" asked Ichigo, who was still standing in his offensive position.
"My lord sent me to find one of you, Ichigo. And once I found you, I am ordered to kill you." Carlos said, as he received a shocking gasp from the attacking group. He smirked. "That is right. I am ordered to kill Kurosaki Ichigo, because he is one of our nuisance to our ambition to dominate the fusion universe."
"Fusion... universe?" Rukia asked.
"Correct. But I don't have the time to explain all the details to you, just to waste my time. My lord is growing impatient, and he wants all of you dead, just as he ordered us to do. In fact..." As Carlos said that, he slowly moved himself into his attack position, as he moved his right leg back and moved his arms in front of his face, as if he was in a boxing match to get started. "... Before I can go all out, how about I test out your strength, to see if you're worthy to fight against me?"
Ichigo growled, as he was already to fight against him. "Don't act like you're stronger than me. Just because you look strong doesn't mean that you can beat me, with those hands of yours." he said, as everyone around him are ready to fight alongside with him.
"Heh." Carlos chuckled slightly. "Poor fool. You shouldn't look down at the strength of your opponent, just because those muscles are just for show..." With that said, he moved one of his arm up to the sky, before ramming his fist to the ground, suddenly creating a large wave of the ground being pumped up from its current position, as it moved towards the group in a fast speed.
"What the...?!" Ichigo quickly noticed the attack that Carlos just suddenly made, as he, Chad and Rukia all jumped out of the way from the wave, after noticing it. Renji, however, noticed the large wave a little too late, as it hit him and he was sent flying towards a building from the far back, as he crashed onto it, creating a crater around him.
"Renji!" Rukia cried out, upon seeing Renji being attacked.
"Damn it!" cursed Ichigo, as he dived towards Carlos in a effort to slash him with his Zanpakuto. "You're mine!!" he shouted, as he attempted to slash Carlos as fast and hard as he could. However, before he knew, Carlos stopped his slash, with his hand holding his blade before it could reach even a few inches from him. Ichigo was shocked at how easily he blocked his slash, with only his hand. "What?!"
Carlos smirked. "That sword that you're wielding... Impressive. I can sense the energy radiating from it. You must have put everything into your sword to fight an enemy as strong as me." he said. "However, it seems that it is not enough to slash through my hand, as it is as dull as toy!" As he said that, he pushed his Zanpakuto off from him and quickly moved forward towards Ichigo, thrusting his fist at him, as he was sent crashing towards the pumped ground, which stayed up even after the attack.
"Ichigo!" Rukia cried out to him, as she landed on the ground. Upon looking at Carlos and learning of his strength, she had to use at least a spell against him. She moved her hand at him and called out an incantation of the spell that she was about to use. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!"
Carlos heard of the incantation and looked at Rukia, who was preparing to use out the spell. "What is she...?"
"Hado Number 31!" she shouted out. "Shakkaho!" A small red ball of energy emerged into her hand, as she shot it out towards the enemy.
Carlos widened his eyes, as he saw the red ball flying towards him at full speed. He quickly moved his hand to guard himself from it, and upon impact, the red ball exploded in his hand, creating a large smoke around him.
Rukia smirked, as she thought that it got him. "That's it." she said. However, when the smoke started to clear, she gasped of shock, upon seeing Carlos still standing, with no sign of scratch on him, even in his hand. "What...?!"
Carlos smirked. "Interesting spell... A spell powerful enough to even defeat the most minor enemies..." he said. "However, it takes more power to even lay a single scratch on me!" As he said that, he quickly moved closer to Rukia, surprising her at how quick and closer he is. He grabbed the top of her hakama and threw her over behind him, sending her flying through one of the windows of a building. "You're just simply weak."
Then, he quickly noticed someone attacking him from the side. He turned around and quickly blocked the attack, finding Chad who had his fist being blocked by a single hand. "What...?!"
"Hm... Yours is even more interesting." he said, as he looked at Chad's armored arm. "Your arm can change into this. I can sense a very powerful energy coming from it. Very interesting indeed..."
In response, Chad shook his fist off of Carlos' grip and attempted to thrust out another attack from the same fist. Carlos easily dodged the attack by moving to the side. Chad then made three consecutive punches, two from his left, and the last on his right. Carlos dodged the two first ones and blocked the last with his hand again. Chad shook his fist off from his grip, just like last time, and stepped back in order to move forward for a charge punch. However, Carlos dodged it as well and in return, he thrust his elbow at Chad, hard enough for him to slide back with his feet. As Chad stopped himself from sliding more, he attempted to make an attack from his technique, by gathering the energy into his right arm and thrust it at Carlos, sending out a large energy blast from it.
As the energy blast got closer and closer to Carlos, he easily deflected it with his arm, by slapping the blast away to the side, as it was moving towards one of the buildings, before it exploded into a fiery mess around the area. Chad widened his eyes in shock, to see his technique being deflected that easily. "That's strange... You seem to be the strong one around here." said Carlos. "But I can see that you're just weak. And that I will quickly put an end to you with just a single punch!" He began to charge at Chad with his fist ready to punch him. Chad quickly moved his arms in front of him in a cross position, with the right in front of the left, in attempt to at least block his attack before it could seriously injure him. With Carlos' fist making contact with Chad's right arm, he called out an attack. "Fist of the Hundred Slash!"
As his fist touched Chad's right arm, a series of a hundred swipe was felt into it, as Chad widened his eyes again at the feeling of a hundred slash on his armored arm. After the final slash was dealt, he suddenly felt no control of his right arm anymore. Looking down, he could see that it had a hundred of deep and large, cutting wounds on it. He was shocked to see his arm like that. And it fell limp from him. "My... My arm...!" he said.
However, Carlos quickly moved forward at him, as his eyes were locked into his. "... The end." Carlos said, as he quickly slammed his fist down at Chad's fast, as he was suddenly crashed into the ground by it, creating a large crater around them.
Ichigo was just in time to get out of the pumped grounds that he was crashed into to witness Chad's defeat at the hands of the enemy. His eyes were widen with shock. "CHAD!!!!" he screamed out to his name, as he quickly charged at Carlos with his Zanpakuto, growling out of rage. "YOU BASTARD!!!"
Carlos turned to see Ichigo charging at him. He smirked. "Too slow!" he said, as he thrust his thrust towards Ichigo, hitting him as he was sent back to the pumped grounds. He walked forward just until he was facing it to look at Ichigo, who was struggling to get out of there. "Now, to finish what I had started..." he said, as he placed his hands down on the floor, evoking some kind of a technique. Then suddenly, the grounds around Ichigo were moving somewhere, and before he knew, they envelopped him completely. "Earth Grave!" he shouted, as the grounds around Ichigo suddenly tightened themselves, presumably crushing Ichigo in their clutch. He smirked. "... Farewell, Kurosaki Ichigo."
"... Bankai!" However, he still heard Ichigo's voice inside of the crushed grounds, as they were all being blasted apart from around him, surprising Carlos. There stood Ichigo, in a different clothing then he was wearing before. He was now wearing a long-sleeved, ankle-length black coat, as well as a pair of black pants. His Zanpakuto's form was different, as it was more shorted and it resembles a long sword with black blade. He stood there, facing Carlos with his eyes filled with anger and determination. "Tensa Zangetsu!"
"... His power... it increased." said Carlos, as he noticed the increase of Ichigo's energy and power from within him. He smirked. "... This might be interesting."
With no time to waste, Ichigo quickly disappeared from Carlos' sight, and reappeared behind him, preparing to attack him with a single slash. Carlos noticed Ichigo's presence behind him and turned around, moving his arm in front of him just in time to block Ichigo's slash. However, unlike before, his blade seemed to have cut onto his arm, surprising him. "What...?" Before he could have time to react, Ichigo quickly kicked him with both of his feet, sending him sliding away. He soon stopped however. Carlos then looked at the wound that he received from Ichigo's Zanpakuto. "... Impressive. It's even more power to be able to cut my arm!"
"You didn't see everything yet!" shouted Ichigo, as he moved his Zanpakuto up to the air, before swinging it towards Carlos, making a large stream of black energy from its swing. The stream of energy went flying towards Carlos, as he prepared himself to block it with his hands. As the stream of energy made impact against his hands, he was pushed back from the amount of power within the attack.
"Ngh!" he groaned, as he continued to block the technique, but continued to be pushed back by its power. However, he maintened his balance and ripped the stream of energy apart, as it disappeared. "Hah hah hah! Amazing!" he shouted. "You are proven to be more of a challenge to me, Kurosaki Ichigo!"
"Bankai!" Suddenly, he heard another voice from behind him.
"What?" he said, as he turned around to look, before a large head skull of a snake came crashing through the pumped grounds and got him by the jaws, as it flew up to the sky from the grounds. "Ngh!!" he groaned, as he was being pulled up to the sky inside of the snake's jaws. However, he was able to open it wide enough with much effort, as he quickly got off from them, before the head of the snake could close it quickly. As he was falling from the sky, he looked at where the snake came from.
To his surprise, it came from the person who got hit by his first attack. But he also changed, much like Ichigo. Renji wore a fur cowl around his neck, which seemed to be that of an ape, and his weapon was changed into a very long and large skeleton form of a snake, with numerous of segments and resembles a vertebral column and pick-like protrusions on each of its segments. "Hihio Zabimaru!" Renji shouted out the name of his second version of his Zanpakuto.
"Him too?" Carlos said. Then, he smirked once more. "... This is even more interesting than I have expected!" With that, he quickly dived down towards Renji through the sky. But not when he was suddenly clashed against Ichigo, who quickly appeared in front of him and blocked his dive with his Zanpakuto. "Still fighting for more, Kurosaki Ichigo?!"
"You're gonna pay for what you've done to Chad, you bastard!" Ichigo growled, as he struggled to keep Carlos in his grasp.
"Oh, don't worry. It'll be your turn soon, once I'm done with him!" Carlos said, as he grabbed one of Ichigo's shoulders and pulled him off to the side, as he resumed his dive at the red-head Shinigami..
"Oh no you don't!" shouted Renji, as he swung his Zanpakuto towards him, as the snake head, which was moved back to Renji's side, was flying towards him once more. However, before the head could reach him, Carlos threw his fists down at it, making it fall down from its target. Carlos increased the speed of his dive, as he was getting closer and closer to Renji. "What?!" he shouted, as he saw him getting closer to him from the sky. Before he could have time to attack him again, Carlos landed on the ground close to him, as he threw his fist up to Renji's chin, making an upercut, which sent him flying up to the air. "Ngh!!"
"You're strong! But you're too slow!" Carlos said, as he jumped up towards Renji. As he found himself just above him, Carlos lifted his fist up, gathering energy into it to form a strong blow. "Titan's Might!" he shouted out the name of his technique, before he crashed his fist against Renji. At the sudden impact of it, Renji was suddenly being thrust down to the ground in an abnormal speed. And as he crashed the ground, it created a very large crater around him, resulting from the immense strength of Carlos' technique.
"RENJI!!" cried out Ichigo, upon seeing Renji being crashed to the ground hard.
With was enough time for Rukia to come out of the window that she was crashed through, to see Renji being crashed into the ground in a strength that was abnormal to everyone. She widened her eyes in shock, upon seeing him like that. "NO!!! RENJI!!!" she cried, as she quickly jumped off through the window to get over to where Renji crashed. Upon reaching him, she could see his current condition. He was lying on the crumbled ground, completely immobilize and wounded, as the blood was beginning to flow around him. "Renji! Speak to me!" she cried out to him, holding his shoulders and shaking him, trying to wake him up.
"RUKIA! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" shouted Ichigo. Rukia realized, and she looked up to see Carlos diving down towards both her and Renji, his fist ready to make another destructive attack.
"Say good night, woman!" Carlos shouted, as he was getting closer and closer to her. However, a stream of black energy got him to the side and he was pulled into one of the buildings. As the stream of energy disappeared, yet another one was made after it, hitting Carlos once more, once he was crashed into the building. The process was repeated by Ichigo every time, to keep Carlos trapped in the assault inside of the building.
"Ichigo!" shouted Rukia, as she looked to see Ichigo making an endless wave of black energy.
"Rukia! Get Renji and Chad to Inoue! Hurry!" shouted Ichigo, as he continued to make multiple of slash, creating multiple of streams of energy at Carlos. Rukia nodded, as she grabbed Renji from under the shoulders and pulled him up from the large crater.
As Ichigo made another multiple of streams of energy to keep Carlos busy, the black man suddenly emerged out from the building that he crashed into, punching through each streams of energy that Ichigo sent out at him. "Are you going to keep doing this until you run out of energy!?" shouted Carlos, as he continued to punch his way through each streams of energy.
"I'm not gonna let you hurt my friends anymore, you bastard!" shouted Ichigo, as he continued to make an endless assault of the black stream of energy. "I'm not gonna stop until you go down!" With each and every streams of energy that he shot out at Carlos, he expressed his anger, his hatred and his rage towards him because of the injuries he made on both Renji and Chad. He didn't want to stop. He didn't want to until Carlos is defeated.
"... Ah... I can feel it!" Suddenly, he heard a voice somewhere inside of his mind, as he stopped attacking after hearing it.
'Wait... That voice... No... No, it can't be!' thought Ichigo, as he widened his eyes in shock, to know who the voice belongs to.
When the streams of energy had stopped firing for some reason, Carlos looked at Ichigo, in attempt to charge at him and strike him down, just like the other two. However, when he looked at him, Ichigo was completely immobilized. "... What?"
"I can feel your anger, Ichigo... Your desire of winning over an opponent you want to defeat! That desire... I can SENSE it!" said the voice inside of Ichigo's mind.
Ichigo then felt himself losing his consciousness, upon hearing the voice of a certain person inside of his mind. 'No...! No! I have to control it! I can't let it take over...! My friends are there...! And if I lose control, I'll hurt them!'
"Too late, Ichigo!" said the voice, who cackled, as it was beginning to feel itself taking control of Ichigo, removing his consciousness and replace it with its. "I'm in control now! And there's nothing you can do to stop me this time! This is MY fight now!!!"
"No...! Don't...!! STOP!!!" shouted Ichigo, as he began to cry out of agony, as his consciousness was taken away from his body. A large energy was then surrounded around him, as his body was slowly taking over by the spirit inside of him.
Carlos widened his eyes in surprise, as he saw Ichigo crying out in agony, with a strange and unfamiliar strong energy coming from him. "What...?! What is...?!"
When Rukia got the unconscious and injured Renji out of the crater, she looked up to see Ichigo crying out in agony for some reason. "What...?! Ichigo!!" she shouted out to him.
Somewhere next to a building, Orihime and Uryuu were hiding there. But not until they took a look out there to see Ichigo crying out in agony. "What the...?! What's wrong with Kurosaki?!" shouted Uryuu.
Orihime widened her eyes in shock, as she felt a strong and powerful Reiryoku coming from Ichigo. But it felt rather different than Ichigo's. And it was more savage. "Kurosaki-kun...!"
Ichigo continued to cry out of agony, as he was losing his consciousness completely. With that, a stream of white energy was gathering around his face, plunging itself into it before it started to take form. Ichigo looked up to the sky, unable to control himself, as he lost control of his body. And that the spirit inside of him started to take control of it. He stopped crying out, at the same time as the energy was formed onto his face. He was immobilized for a few seconds, before something happened. "... Heh... Heh heh... Heh heh heh heh...! Hah hah hah hah hah hah!!!" he cackled suddenly, in a voice that is very different than what he used to sound like, as it was more distorted and more inhuman.
Carlos widened his eyes in surprise, to see Ichigo cackling like that in a demonic voice. "What is this...? What happened?"
Ichigo continued to cackle outloud, until later on, he soon stopped cackling. His face was still facing up to the sky. "Finally...! I am free again! It is so good to have been freed from that awful and goddamned place! It was starting to get boring in there...!"
"... What... What is the meaning of this? What happened to you, Kurosaki Ichigo?!"
"Ichigo...? Oh yeah, that weak pussy! Ichigo is out of the way for now, big guy!" he shouted, as he moved his head back down to face Carlos straight in his eyes again.
The sight of Ichigo's face made Carlos gasped a little. "... What...?!"
Ichigo's face was now more demonic and more Hollow like. The left side of his face was covered by a Hollow mask, a half of a face shaped like a skull, with three red stripes on the top of it. And his eyes were no longer brown, but the entire eyes were all black, with a golden-yellow orb in each of his eyes. He was grinning menacingly at his opponent. "I'm your opponent now, big guy! I'm gonna show him how to really kill someone like you!" he shouted, as he quickly appeared right in front of Carlos, surprising him a little. Then, he grabbed the collar of his red shirt and threw him over behind him. As he was sent flying, Ichigo's Hollow self immediately launched out a quick stream of black energy at him, hitting him as he was sent flying faster than normal.
"Ngh!!!" Carlos groaned, as he was hit by the stream of energy. However, before he could have the chance to recover, he found the same stream of energy flying next to him, as it moved itself at him, pulling him into a building hard.
Hollow Ichigo cackled, after making that move. "See that, Ichigo?! That's how you beat up a guy! Just attack him before he has the time to react! This is how you kill!!" With that, he quickly launched another stream of energy towards his downed opponent, who was still inside of the building.
However, the stream of energy has been spread back, as Carlos was already up from the crash and punched it hard. He quickly looked at Ichigo to witness the difference from before and now. "His energy is really different...! And he has a large intent to kill...!" he said. It wasn't before long that another stream of energy was launched towards him, as he punched it off once more.
Hollow Ichigo continued to launch out an assault of black stream of energy at his opponent, cackling all the way through, as he got him cornered. "HAH HAH HAH HAH!!!! Die! Die! Die! Die! DIE!!!" he repeatedly said, through each and every stream of energy that he launched.
While it was keeping on going, Rukia watched in shock at the battle that was becoming more feroucious than normal. "Ichigo...?!"
"Kurosaki is insane!" shouted Uryuu, as he watched how the battle was unfold right now. "He's not his usual self anymore! He's something of a monster right now!"
Orihime could only watch in horror, as she watched Ichigo assaulting his enemy with countless of streams of energy. Just the sight of him attacking and cackling at the same time... Made her scared. It wasn't the same Kurosaki-kun that she remembered. He was very different... And very monstrous. "No... No, Kurosaki-kun...!" she whispered, as tears started to form in her eyes, as she continued to watch the battle. She couldn't take it anymore. Ichigo isn't himself anymore. She had to stop him and make him snap out of it! "Kurosaki-kun!!!" she shouted, as she ran towards Ichigo recklessly.
"No! INOUE-SAN!!!" cried out Uryuu, as he reached out his hand towards her and tried to stop her from going straight to Ichigo.
As Orihime passed through Rukia, she shouted out to her as well. "Orihime! No! It's too dangerous!!" However, Orihime ignored them. She ignored them in hopes to try and stop Ichigo's maniacal assault.
Carlos continued to punch through each and every stream of energy that Hollow Ichigo shot out at him, at the very same way as before. "Damn it...! I don't have time to do this forever!" he shouted through each of his punches. However, when he looked elsewhere, he saw Orihime running towards Ichigo for some reason. He had an idea, as he smirked. "That's it..." he said, as he quickly disappeared from Hollow Ichigo's view, before the stream of energy could touch him.
"What?! Where the hell are you?!" shouted Hollow Ichigo, as he looked around to see if Carlos was anywhere in the area.
Orihime soon stopped, as she saw him stop firing for some reason. However, before she could have time to do something, she suddenly felt a presence behind her, as he took hold of her around her body. "You will do much." said Carlos, as he was able to take hold of her. Then, the both of them disappeared.
"Orihime! No!" shouted Rukia, as she saw both Orihime and Carlos disappearing together.
Hollow Ichigo was still looking around vigorously for his enemy. "Damn it! Come out, you son of a bitch! I know you're out there!!" he growled at Carlos, somewhere.
"I'm right here, Kurosaki Ichigo." He heard Carlos' voice somewhere in front of him. He looked over there to see him standing on the ground, with Orihime being lifted from the ground and grasp on her head by his hand. "Do not attempt to do anything, when I have her in my hold!"
Hollow Ichigo stared at his enemy with Orihime in his hand. Then, he grinned. "What? We're playing hostage now?! Don't make me laugh, jackass!" he said, as he landed on the ground, after being on the air for a long period of time. "What good will come if you take her as hostage?! Nothing is going to work on me, asshole!"
"... Kuro... saki-kun...!" Orihime whimpered, as her head was still in Carlos' hold. She couldn't do anything, with the fear of him crushing her head in his hand with the tremendous strength of his.
"But she is your ally, Kurosaki Ichigo!" shouted Carlos. "You don't want anything to happen to her, do you?!"
"I don't care!" he scoffed. "If you want to kill her, then fine! Let me see her death with your hand!"
Orihime gasped quietly. She couldn't believe her ears... Ichigo didn't care about her dying in the hands of the enemy? It really isn't the same Kurosaki-kun that she remembered...
"Hmph... We'll see about that." Carlos said, as he began to strengtened his hold on Orihime's head, as she cried out of pain of her head being tightened in his hold.
At the sound of her cry, Hollow Ichigo suddenly became immobilized. And then, he felt that his body was reacting against his own will. "What...?! No...! This can't be!" he shouted out, as he was unable to control his body still. "Not now! I didn't even got started yet! Damn it, Ichigo! Let me have some fun!!!" Hollow Ichigo cried out of struggle, as he was battling to take control of his body from Ichigo, who was beginning to regain control of it. However, his left hand suddenly took a hold on the top of the half of his mask, as it began to pull it off of his face. "NO!!! NOT NOW!!!" Hollow Ichigo cried out, as the moment where the mask was taken off, he lost control of the body, and he was being put back deep inside of Ichigo's mind.
With that done, Ichigo was panting hard, having being able to regain control of his body from his Hollow self. He was lucky to have regain control of it. Or otherwise, everything will be put into chaos with it rampaging around. After a while, he looked at Carlos, who was holding Orihime in his hold by the head. He widened his eyes. "No! Inoue! Let her go!"
"Hmph... I will let her go." started Carlos. "... If you surrender to me and face your death."
"Let her go! or else, I'll...!" Ichigo was about to move forward, however, when Carlos saw the moment of his movement, he began to increase his hold on her head, making her cry out of pain once more. It stopped Ichigo at the moment where it was heard. "Inoue!"
"Move any closer, or I will crush her head like an egg!" warned Carlos. "That goes for the rest of you as well!"
"... Kurosaki...-kun...!" whimpered Orihime, who was still becoming hopeless in that kind of situation.
Ichigo couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand the sight of Orihime being hurt because of him. It was because of him that she was now like this. All because of his anger towards his opponent. Now, he had to decide between two options. To surrender and that Orihime lives, or to resist and that Orihime dies. "I'm begging you...! Let her go! She's not worth it! It's me that you want, right?! Let her go and you will have your way with me!"
"Then choose, ignorant Shinigami!" shouted Carlos. "This is all about life and death! If you surrender to me, then she will live! Resist any further, and your friend's head will be as crushed as an egg! Decide, Kurosaki Ichigo! Life or death?! To let her live or to leave her to die?!"
Ichigo was feeling hopeless in this kind of situation. He had a hard time trying to choose... He wanted to live, just because there are still some things that he had to take care of before he could die peacefully. But he really wanted Orihime to live, because he couldn't stand losing another friend to die.
As Carlos waited for his answer for far too long, he scoffed, as he decided to end it with one thought in mind. "So undecisif...! If that's how it is, then say good bye to your friend!" he shouted, as he was about to strengten his hold completely.
At the sound of it, Ichigo widened his eyes in shock and fear. "NO!!! INOUE!!!"
"ORIHIME!!!" Rukia cried out to her.
"INOUE-SAN!!!" Uryuu shouted out to her.
However, suddenly, before he could do that, his arm that was holding Orihime suddenly got cut off, as he widened his eyes to see it happen. "Wh... What...?!" he said.
Just as Orihime was about to fall off, she was suddenly being taken away from Carlos, and reapeared next to Ichigo in the arms of a mysterious person. "... Wh... What...?" she whispered, as she looked up to see who was holding her. At the sight of her face, she gasped.
"... Man, oh man... You're really helpless in this kind of situation, huh, Ichigo?" said the mysterious person who is holding Orihime.
Ichigo gasped, as he remembered the appearance of that person. Blond hair with a school uniform... "... Shin... Shinji?!"
Shinji looked at him with a sneaky smirk. "Surprised? Well, I was expecting that, since I'm supposed to be at school at this time of the hour... But I still got ten minutes left before class is about to begin."
Carlos looked down at his severed arm, surprised to see it being cut by someone with much of an effort. "... Impressive... He cut off my arm... Without me noticing his presence..." he said, ignoring the burning pain that resides in his arm. He looked at the two Shinigamis with a satisfying smirk. "... Kurosaki Ichigo... It seems that you have a lot of allies who could be a match against me... Just like him, for example." he said, as he looked at Shinji.
Shinji lend the injured Orihime into Ichigo's arms, as the orange-haired Shinigami unexpectedly caught her in them. "Take care of Inoue-san, Ichigo. I'll take care of the rest now."
"Shinji..." said Ichigo.
"Come on, Ichigo. The princess is safe. And all you have to do is to get her to safety. Don't worry about me. It won't take long before I finish this guy off." Shinji said, as he drew out his Zanpakuto from its sheath. He moved his eyes to the side to look at Ichigo once more, as he smirked at him. "Getting your friends to safety is one of the important tasks that you have to do. It's what a true warrior does, right?"
Ichigo didn't say anything for the moment, but he slowly nodded at what Shinji said to him. "... Alright... I'll take her to safety." he said, as he jumped off from Shinji to rejoin his remaining allies, with Orihime in his arms.
Shinji nodded to see Ichigo jumping out of the way, as he looked back at the injured enemy. "Well... Looks like it's just you and me." he said.
Carlos, however, chuckled, as he took a few steps back from the blond Vizard. "Heh heh... Sorry about that. But with my arm being slashed off by you, there is no reason for me to be able to continue on... For now." he said, as a black void suddenly appeared from behind him. "Kurosaki Ichigo is strong... However, he is far too fragile to be able to decide between life and death, for the safety of his comrades, and for the death of them."
Shinji, although that he was fighting by Ichigo and the others' side, couldn't decline that fact, after seeing him taking a risk of deciding which one that he would choose. "Indeed. He hated to see his friends hurt. It was hard for him to try and bring about the safety for them."
"Heh heh heh..." Carlos continued to chuckled, as he was backing away closer and closer to the black void. "One of the heroes of the prophecy...? How can he be the one, when his heart is too fragile to decide on its own? He is a fool to have ever let his comrades fight alongside with him, when he could not stand seeing them hurt..." As he was getting far more closer to the void, it slowly engulfed his body, as he was beginning to disappear into it. "The Substitute Shinigami... A fragile being who is not worthy to gain the title of Hero..." he said, before he completely disappeared into the black void, which vanished after his departure.
Shinji raised his eyebrow, upon hearing some of the words that he said. "... One of the heroes... of the prophecy?" he wondered. When that guy said that... Does that mean that Ichigo is a hero of some sort? Well, he couldn't deny that, since he said Rukia from being executed, but still... Is Ichigo really that kind of a hero? He sighed, as he let go of that thought, as he sheathed his Zanpakuto back into its sheath. He decided to walk over to the others, to see if they are alright.
Ichigo was seen kneeing down on the ground, with Orihime in his arms. He looked down at her face with his eyes filled with regret and failure. He had let Carlos injured her when he was acting so recklessly, and that he lost control of himself to his Hollow self. He couldn't forgive himself of being so reckless. "... It's all my fault..." he said. "... I couldn't protect them... And I almost lost Inoue, if I weren't so reckless..."
"Kurosaki... It's not your fault." said Uryuu, as he placed his hand on one of his shoulders from behind, to comfort him. "That guy was too strong... And you tried your best to defeat him as much as possible. It's not your fault that the others are injured..."
Around that time, Rukia was pulling Chad towards the group, having being able to pull Renji to safety before. "The Hollows are gone. Looks like the city is safe from more danger for the time being..." she said to the others.
Ichigo still couldn't cope out the feeling of letting his friends hurt, because of his recklessness. The feeling of unable to protect his friends was something that he couldn't get over with. "Renji..." he said, as he looked at the defeat red-head Shinigami. "Chad..." He then looked at the severely damaged Chad. "... Inoue..." He then looked back down at the young aubern-haired girl, who looked at him with her pained eyes. "... I'm sorry... All of you..."
At that time, Shinji walked over to the group, stretching his arms up to the sky to relieve himself from being cripple much. "Well... The big guy is gone. So everything is alright for now. Good to see that most of you are safe." he said. He then looked down at ichigo, who he found him still looking regretful because of everything that happened to his friends. Shinji sighed. "Come on, Ichigo. It's not so bad. The princess will recover soon enough, and she'll be able to heal the two guys in no time. It's not something to regret about."
"... You don't understand..." said Ichigo, who didn't want to look up to Shinji with the feeling of regret inside of his heart. "... I'm not strong enough... I'm not strong enough to protect them! I let them get hurt by Carlos and because of that, I lost control of myself again! If I keep this up... I wouldn't be able to save them again... And it'll be all my fault....!" He gritted his teeth, as the anger of not being able to save his allies was running through his body.
"... Kurosaki-kun..." Orihime whispered, as she could feel how much it caused him pain. It wasn't hs fault that she got hurt. It was her need to stop him that made her hostage to the enemy. She didn't want to see Ichigo hurt like that. It pained her heart to see him like that.
Shinji sighed. As he went over to Ichigo and Orihime, he suddenly kicked the orange-haired Shinigami to the side of his head, sending him flying a few feet away from them, as well as letting Orihime go at the moment of the kick. Everyone are shocked to see this. "Ichigo!" shouted out Rukia.
Shinji walked over to Ichigo once more, as the Shinigami was trying to get up from the ground after the kick. "Damn... What the hell is up with that moody attitude, Strawberry?" he said, looking down at him as if he was inferior to him. "So the others are hurt, but what's the problem? If they're hurt, they're hurt. It's not like they're dead or something. You shouldn't be worrying about not being able to protect them, like you said so before. There is always a next time, Ichigo. It's not something that you can regret about."
"But... But I'm not strong enough..."
"So? You can always train yourself to become strong enough to protect your friends. That guy won't be back for a long time, with that severed arm of his." He awaited to see if Ichigo had something to say, but all he received as Ichigo being speechless, looking down at the ground once more before of the feeling that he still held in his heart. He sighed once more. "... If you really want to protect your friends that much... Then there is only one option that you gotta take." he said, as he lend out his hand to the downed Shinigami, who looked at it and looked as if he didn't understood what Shinji was trying to do, until later, he realized.
"... You mean...?"
"... Join me, Ichigo. And we will help you overcome your Hollow powers and become one of us, a Vizard. There, you will be able to grow strong enough to protect your friends from any harm. To be a Vizard... also means that you can overcome any challenges that might occur to you. So what do you say?"
Ichigo had nothing to say for the moment. If he joins Shinji, he'll become one of them. However, he wasn't sure if it's right for him to do so. He is a Shinigami, a warrior born to slay Hollows. If he becomes a Vizard, he'll be a Shinigami with Hollow powers. At first, he didn't want to join Shinji and his gang of Vizards. But when he looked at the others, who all looked at him, waiting to see his decision about it, especially Orihime, who looked as if she didn't want to see him in more pain than she had. '... Inoue...' he thought. However, now, he had nothing to be undecisif about. As he closed his eyes, he grabbed hold of Shinji's hand, lifting himself up from the ground, as he opened his eyes once more. "... I'll do it. I will become a Vizard, if it takes to protect my friends from harm.
Shinji smiled at his decision. "Good to hear. Welcome to the group, Ichigo. I'll make sure that you won't regret it even once." Ichigo nodded. But still, could him becoming a Vizard be able to protect his friends? Is its power strong enough to be able to protect them from any enemies that he fought against? He could wonder...
"... Kurosaki-kun... It'll be alright..." He heard Orihime's voice, as he looked at her to see her standing up from the ground.
However, at the moment that she stood up, she suddenly lost balance and was about to fall down, until Rukia quickly got up to her and hold her steady. "Orihime, be careful..."
"... You have nothing to worry about, Kurosaki-kun..." Orihime said, as she looked up to Ichigo and gave him a soothing smile. "As long as I'm ok, there is nothing that will bring me harm, once you become stronger... I have faith in you, Kurosaki-kun... And I am sure that you'll be able to protect us from anything, once you become stronger..."
"... Inoue..." Ichigo was touched by her words. As long as she is ok, there is nothing to worry about. He smiled back and nodded. "... I will. Don't worry."
Shinji smiled at the two of them. However, when he looked down at his watch, he groaned, which got everyone's attention. "Aw man... I only have one minute left, before the next period starts... Well, gotta get going now. Take care of yourself." he said, as he began to walk away from the group.
"Hey, hold on just a minute, Hirako-san." said Uryuu, who wanted to ask him something. "Did you find anything about the large Reiryoku inside of the school?"
Shinji shook his head. "Sadly, no. I still have a long way to go, before I could find out where it is... However, there is only one thing that got my curious..."
"What is it?" asked Rukia, curious to know what Shinji found out other than the Reiryoku.
"There is something special about the boy... Ibuki Keita-san."
"The boy from the rooftop?"
Shinji nodded. "Yes. It's not that he is not a normal human being, but when I spoke to him... It looked like he was rejecting having friends for some reason. But I think I know why he rejected them..." As he said that, everyone's curiosity increased. "... It may be possible that something terrible has happened to him in the past... Which made him stray away from the others. I don't know which, but I'll find out soon..." He then looked back at the group. "Tell you what. I'll try to persuade him into coming with me to meet up with you guys. It'll be fine, since he can see Shinigamis. So meet me in front of an entrance ot a certain mall, alright?" He received a nod from all of them. "Alright. Catch you guys later." With that, he jumped off from the ground and into the direction of the school.
After hearing what Shinji said about the boy, Ichigo began to wonder... Something terrible had happened to him... Which caused him to see spirits, such as Shinigamis. What kind of event made him be able to see them, and what made him stray away from friendships? "... Ibuki Keita..."
----------
Inside of the school, in one of the hallways, with only one minute left before the next period starts, Keita was seeing standing on the wall once more, looking down at the picture that he was holding in his hand. His eyes were filled with sorrow, at the sight of a single person from that photo.
Inside of it was a picture taken in his ninth birthday. The young Keita in this photo was looking at the camera strangely, with a party hat on his head. There are two others in this photo. A young, short auburn-haired girl who seemed to be at least 2 years older than him and the one next to him was a long, black-haired woman, who was smiling at the camera, holding her son in her hands, while she and the young girl smiled at the camera, with the young Keita still looking at it strangely.
The sight of the black-haired woman, his mother, made hims reminisce about the past, about the terrible day that cost her mother's life... However, before it happened, when the two of them were taking a stroll around the city, they came across a woman... With the same face as his mother. And after that, an accident occurred... A large accident that costed his mother's life... And the memory was tainted into his mind for all those years to come...
"... Mom..."
End of chapter
Hey there. It's me again, with another action-filled chapter! I hope this is good, because I did everything I could to make the fight more possible and original... I guess. Well, I don't see anything bad, while writing the chapter, so it's all good!
If you guys are wondering who Keita is, he's from KuroKami (Black God). However, there is a large difference between his version in both the manga and the anime. His manga counterpart is a straight up guy who always spends money of his friend, and is a video game developper. He's really much of a jackass. But in the anime version, he's a highschool student who is calm and honest, but usual doesn't want to make any friends, because of certain events from the past. He's not really antagonistic as his manga counterpart. If you guys wanna know more about him, go watch the anime or the manga... Oh yeah. And in this fic, I chose the anime counterpart in the story.
Anyways, you guys all know about the mangas/animes that I put in the fic, right? Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, DragonBall Z, FullMetal Alchemist, Inuyasha, Soul Eater, KuroKami and Gundam 00, right? Well, here's the thing. I'm gonna ask you guys to name certain mangas/animes that you want me to put in the fic, and I might consider doing it. However, those mangas won't necessarily have a bigger role in the fic than the other 9. But still, it's pretty nice to add those mangas up.
Well, Ja Ne! And review, Kudasai!
