Chapter 9: Onwards to Seireitei

By now all of them were running away from a weird thing that was just a few feet away from them. Yoruichi the talking cat was explaining what it is but Sakura paid little attention to its words and focused on outrunning the object. So suddenly the object took hold of Ishida's cape and he was struggling to get free but his efforts were futile. Finally Chad released him from his struggling and carried him along the way. She sighed at the two but continued to run trying not to undergo Ishida's fate. She could now make out the other end of the tunnel-like path and now the walls beside them were collapsing. Now a different thing was catching up to them by which Yoruichi explained as the Capturinf Thrust. It was faster than the first thing that was after them. Seeing as their chance to escape was so thin, Sakura thought of a way to save all of them. Then finally she saw Orihime putting her hands upon her flower hair clips which were blue Hibiscus. "Kotenzansuru, I reject!" she said and an orange formed itself behind all of them. It hit the object which caused a huge explosion repelling them out of the way and into the bright end. When they came out, they were thrown onto the warm dusty earth and each of which were in peculiar landing positions, especially her cousin. Sakura sat up from her supine lying position and dusted her black robes from the earth. She stood up and brushed the dust off from the rest of her clothing. She looked at everyone and found Ishida pulling out from his polo another cape. She could feel a sweat drop from her brow as she looked at her friend. 'Ishida, you're really peculiar.' She thought.

As soon as everyone was settled, Sakura's inquisitive cerulean blue eyes scrutinized the area. It was like an old Japan, the houses stood just a few feet away from each other but the place looked like slums. It was barren she couldn't see any living soul asides themselves in the area. Yoruichi began to explain about the area and here she knew that the place they had landed was Rokungai and that the Shinigamis stayed in the Court of Pure Souls or Seireitei. Ichigo looked at another portion of the place, which Sakura's gaze followed suit. Indeed it was different, the ground was cemented and its infrastructure and walls differed from that of Rukongai. "What is that place over there?" Ichigo asked. "That place is-" The black feline darted it's head on what looked like a white city that stood out from the slums of houses. "I understand1 That's the place where the shinigamis live!" Ichigo without further ado ran towards the place and Yoruichi tried to stop him. Sakura ran after her cousin and the others followed suit. So suddenly tall walls came crashing down from the sky barely squashing Ichigo, after the dust was blown away, a huge man stood in front of the gate. "It's been quite a while since anyone tried to breach into Seireitei." The man bellowed. He was quite muscular with two enormous axes in both his grasp. Yoruichi by now was giving a brief description of the man in front of them. Sakura looked at Jidanbo with her casual cerulean blue eyes, 'He's huge…' Her left hand fell upon the hilt of her zanpakuto which situated itself on her waist and put in place by her obi. But what really caught her attention was not Jidanbo but the gate that stood behind him, "The White Way…" Yoruichi was about to ask Ichigo formulate a plan when it noticed that Chad, Orihime and Sakura were already running to help Ichigo. He cocked his thick brow upwards and the others tried to follow Ichigo but he drew his axe upon the ground and disarrayed the earth making a barrier around Ichigo and the latter. Jidanbo began to enumerate the rules he had but Sakura most especially remembered the third one, "When you duel, one at a time." Orihime gave an annoyed look and Chad told the two girls he had a plan but Ichigo, who was on the other side of the rocks, told them to stay. Ishida came running he didn't want to waste time but Ichigo told him the same. Sakura looked back at the towering rocks, 'Ichigo…'

Sakura could hear metal clashing against metal and rocks fell from every direction, their origin from Ichigo's and Jidanbo's battlefield. She bit the tip of her thumb, feeling a bit of nervousness towards the fight. Rocks continued to rain down from the other side. No sooner Jidanbo drew his axe into a horizontal attack and destroyed the upper portion of the rock barrier. His face showed a shocked expression and smoke and the remaining rocks gave way revealing Ichigo who by which was defending himself with his zannpakuto from Jidanbo's enormous axe. Jidanbo who was appalled for a while recovered sooner and took out another axe. This shocked everyone except Ichigo and his tomboy of a cousin, Sakura. 'So all those figting weren't put to waste.' She smirked as she saw Jidanbo doing an attack with his two axes. Ichigo gave out a counterattack. This pushed Jidanbo a few feet away and he fell on his back while his face expressed a flabbergasted expression. Even as Jidanbo sat up straight, his face still had a astonished expression. Recovering from his shock, Jidanbo jumped to his feet and told them excuses. But when he looked at his axes, he found they were no more blades and Yoruichi jumped onto one of the blades that had plunged itself on Rokungai's dusty earth. "So Jidanbo's axes broke apart just after one attack." The black feline concluded. Ishida was surprised and the giant gatekeeper was speechless for a while. Tears welled up in Jidanbo's eyes and no sooner he began to wail for his broken axes while punching the earth with the base of his axes' hilt. His wailing and activity seemed to bring an earthquake upon them. All of them felt stupid, seeing a full grown man sobbing over his broken axes. Ichigo went towards the defeated shinigami and comforted him with words. No sooner Jidanbo stood up, wiped his tears and told Ichigo how good hearted he was. He kept on blabbering until Sakura heard him say, "Enter." He gave them the permission to enter Seireitei. This got their utmost attention and Jidanbo told them that he should let them in after losing to their leader which he thought was Ichigo. At this Ishida gave a bit of resent since they never had Ichigo as the leader but only as a comrade. All of their faces brightened up, all except one, Sakura. She could feel a looming presence on the other side of the gate. Jidanbo droved his fingers underneath the gate and ever so slowly raised the gate with his Herculean strength and little by little it lifted. Sakura could see the white cement pavement and infrastructure she had seen minutes ago but her attention was focused on something. Ichigo noticed that Jidanbo had suddenly became quiet after raising the gate so he ran in front of him. He looked at Jidanbo's eyes and noticed that they were fixed on something that was behind him(Ichigo). When he turned to look, his eyes narrowed. Someone stood in front of their gazes. A man with short silver hair stood in front of them, his eyes were closed but he had a mysterious fox-like grin playing on his lips. "Who is that?" Ichigo asked with a serious expression on his face. "The third division captain," Jidanbo muttered as he balanced the gate upon his hands, "Ichimaru Gin." The man's grin grew wider as he set his close eyes at them. Sakura looked up at Jidanbo and noticed that he kept on trembling as his gaze never left the silver-haired man. She shifted her gaze to the stranger once again but now her left eye was a blood red. 'Ichimaru…Gin…' she thought. And so suddenly, a deep cut situated itself on Jidanbo's left forearm. Blood stained the white cement and Jidanbo cried out in pain. Sakura narrowed her eyes, she had seen what happened, 'His sword…it…elongated.' Jidanbo withdrew his arm from supporting the gate and he let out a cry of pain but he managed to support the bridge. He fell to his knee and this surprised Ichigo and the others except Sakura. Her eye turned back to its original cerulean blue color. "Jidanbo!" Ichigo cried in concern. Sakura shifted her narrowed gaze to Ichimaru who by now sheathed his sword. "That ain't right." Gin spoke, "The gatekeeper ain't there to open the gates." Jidanbo lifted his head a bit and replied, "I lost. A gatekeeper opening the gate makes a perfect sense." The third division captain grinned before adding, "What are ya talking about?" He walked nearer to Jidanbo, "When a gatekeeper is defeated," his grin grew wider, "It means death." Jidanbo's eyes widened and Ichigo rushed towards Ichimaru, his zanpakuto clashing against Ichimaru's sword. They both jumped away from each other. Ichimaru never wiping his fox-like grin from his face and Ichigo whose eyes were narrower than before. He pointed his zanpakuto at the shinigami, "Any person who attacks an unarmed man without a second thought is mine to kill." Gin looked unfazed, "What a funny kid. Aren't you afraid of me?" "Quit that, Ichigo! We have to retreat!" Yoruichi cried at Ichigo. Sakura looked at Yoruichi, 'Is this Ichimaru Gin that strong?' Ichigo and Yoruichi soon after began to argue and Gin merely looked at Ichigo. "You're Kurosaki Ichigo?" the silver-haired man questioned. This caught Sakura's attention as well, 'How could he possibly know Ichi's name?' They continued to blab about things. Gin walked a few feet away from where he actually stood before. He got into position and Sakura wondered what he would do with that distance with his wakizashi. No sooner, the idea struck her and seconds his blade elongated once again but Ichigo shielded himself with the broadness of his zanpakuto. The force was so strong that it oushed the orange-haired teenager and the gatekeeper from their positions. Sakura had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by Jidanbo's body. The gate fell from its height and Gin waved as he spoke, "Bye bye." But his eyes widened a bit and they were focused on her.

Sakura followed after everyone as they ran towards Ichigo who by now was complaining his injuries. Sakura looked back at the gate but it was now closed. She sighed, 'All that fighting for nothing.' Slowly, people began to get out of their houses and surrounded them. Sakura looked at each one of them, they wore kimonos. Sakura excused herself from the group and made her way out of the crowd. Sakura looked around among the houses for familiar faces, 'Could they be here somewhere?'